Audrey's 9 Month Well Child visit!

Audrey was feeling under the weather over the weekend so I got her an appointment with the pediatrician.  While we were there she went ahead and did Audrey's 9 month visit since we're moving on FRIDAY (yes, as in 3 days from now...I'm so excited!).  Here's the stats on our little lady:

Weight: 16lbs 6oz
Height: 26 1/2 inches
Head Circ: 17 inches

Now, here's the tricky part.  She was measured against the statistics of all other 9 month old baby girls-- her chronological age.  However, because of her prematurity, she is *really* only supposed to be turning 8 months old...so the numbers are skewed a little.  Here's her stats with the 8 month percentiles in purple  and the 9 month percentiles in green:

                                8 Months                9 Months 

Weight: 16lbs 6oz       17th %                     9th %

Height: 26 1/2 inches   24th %                   12th %
Head Circ: 17 inches   33rd%                    21st %

As you can see, when she's measured against babies her adjusted age, she doesn't seem so shrimpy!!  Regardless, she is small, smaller than I thought.  Our pediatrician said to go ahead and "treat her like a regular baby" and feed her table food instead of just baby food.  We got the go ahead for pretty much anything she will eat (except things like peanut butter, honey, cow's milk, etc. of course..)  So it looks like she's going to get to try some new foods soon!  Last night I looked to see what we had available-- it's not much considering we've been trying so hard to eat all the food in our house so we don't have to move it, haha!  But I was able to find her some corn and some shredded cheese, which she really liked.  I feel guilty that we don't have much to offer her but next week will be better. :)   She also needs to get better with her pincer grasp, because right now she mostly palms the food and then she can't figure out to open up her palm to find it.  It's cute to watch but I feel bad for her since she gets frustrated when she's not getting to eat! 

Look for an update about that sweet princess on the 2nd, when she's really 9 months old.  Thanks for checking on my little ladies!

Twins!

Bet that title got your attention, didn't it?!  :)  JUST KIDDING- there are no twins on the way for us. Ever. Let's just make that clear, ok?

I'm talking about Emily and Audrey being twins.  Aside from their looks (because, with the exception of Audrey's eyes, which appear to be turning green [like her mommy's!!!!!!], we think they look exactly alike)....I'm talking about the eerily similar ways we're noticing that they are alike.  

For instance- when Emily was a baby, her feet moved NON STOP.  I mean every minute of every day- even in her sleep!  We are now seeing that Audrey's feet are doing the same thing!  I've been around lots of babies and I don't think most babies move their feet quite this much.

Also- when Emily was a baby, she didn't crawl for the longest time- she would do this rolling across the floor routine and would arch her back and scoot on the back of her head....guess who is doing this now!  I'm just shocked at how similar they are, especially given that Emily does not act like a baby at all, so it's not like she's showing Audrey how to do this stuff.  It's so funny to watch Audrey grow up and do so many of the same things that Emmy did.  Here's some pictures to prove my point:  

Emily

 

 

 

Audrey

 

Emily modeling the back arch.

Audrey's own version of the back arch.

Emily

Audrey

Emily

Audrey

It's crazy, right??

Emily is 3 Years and 7 Months Old!

I can't believe it's time for another monthly update!  Time is going by so very quickly.  Here's what life is like for Emily this month:

- she has really progressed a lot with her writing.  She can consistently write her own name with no help and knows how to spell Mommy, Daddy, Audrey, Emily, Katie (our dog), Abbie (her BFF at school), and milk.  How do we know this? Because I mentioned Abbie to Paul in the car one day and spelled her name....and Em piped up from the backseat "A-b-b-i-e spells Abbie!  That's my best friend!"  and so then we felt compelled to spell a bunch of other words.  We were amazed at how many she knew!

- She can write lots of other letters- I know for sure she can write A, B, C, D, E, F, H, I, J, L, O, P, S, T, U, V, and Y.  So smart!

- She has adjusted to her new classroom and is now doing better with staying quiet during naptime, even if she's not napping.  Her teacher is allowing her to draw on a magna-doodle during nap and this is helping a little.  She is also still doing her sticker chart at home and was SO excited last night to go to Walmart with me and pick out her Grand Prize- a brand new toy!  She picked a trio of mermaid dolls-- Ariel and her sisters Atina and Arista.  She even took it easy on me and picked a toy under $10! 

- She is SO imaginative right now.  Everything is pretend and she is constantly acting out different scenarios with her toys.  She also really likes for us to play along which is fun too!

- I told Emmy one day that she couldn't do something because it was "only for grown ups". She got very serious and asked me if she is "grown down"...love that funny girl!  She is constantly saying super funny things right now and is very interested in learning new words.  She also understands more things and is starting to become more rational...although it's slow in coming, haha!

- I asked Em to help me with something  on Mother's Day. She said, "ok Mommy, I can, because of Mother's Day...because of Mom's Day.....because of Allison's Day." So to all you moms out there--I hope you enjoyed Allison's Day, hahaha!

- She is getting very excited for the move to "new house".  She doesn't seem to completely grasp the concept of moving--it has to be very hard to understand-- but she is very excited to go to a new school and make new friends and also is very concerned about where we're going to put the Christmas tree in this new house.  I'm not kidding about the tree- it comes up every couple days in conversation!  I think she is excited for all the new things but she doesn't understand that she won't see her North Carolina friends anymore.  We have been meeting up with friends over the past couple weeks to have sort of "last hurrah" type get-togethers...mostly so we can all say goodbye.  Emily doesn't understand that we're not going to be seeing these people again, perhaps ever.  It is SO hard for me to watch her interact and play with her friends and then to tell them goodbye at the end.  I am so hopeful that we will find some new friends, fast, and can get her some playdates. It is so upsetting for me because Paul and I already know people and we're comfortable back home and we honestly, truly WANT to go there...but the girls are just along for the ride.  I know life is what you make it, but I am nervous and anxious about our "new life" and hope that Emmy makes new friends quickly and we can meet their parents and hang out outside of preschool.  She is a very social little lady and this will be quite a transition, starting over again. :/

- Speaking of preschool, Emily DID get a spot at the awesome one near our house! We are very excited for this new place.  When I visited them in the spring I was SO impressed, not only with the staff and the facility but also with how clean and healthy the kids looked and how well mannered and smart they were!  This particular center only does half-ratios, so instead of being in class with up to 24 kids (2 adults, 1:12 ratio) she will only be with a max of 12 other kids.  PLUS, these kids are all kids who could potentially go to her elementary school, so that's great to get to meet them early! I am so hopeful, SOOOO HOPEFUL, that we can make some friends for her fast!  This preschool also has video surveillance (major plus!) and follows an actual curriculum.  I am so excited!

- She is being really sweet to Audrey lately, which completely melts my heart.  In the car if Audrey gets cranky Emily will sing to her and she calms right down...it's amazing.  Emily is also doing much better with sharing with Audrey, although she still flips out when Audrey tries to chew on her toys. :)  I hope so much that they will be best friends when they grow up!
- She will be taking a weeklong dance camp starting the week of June 13.  I am so excited for her to get to try it again, plus, my friend owns the studio so it will be great to see her and let her get to know Emily a little better.  Let's hope she's on her best behavior! ;)


That's what's happening around here for now.  We will likely be MIA for a little while as we move this coming weekend.  Hard to believe our 3 years of time in North Carolina is almost over- it went by so fast! 

Audrey's 8 month swallow study report

Paul took Audrey to her swallow study follow-up on Tuesday.  She did great with the foods-- took nice, big bites, swallowed correctly, did not aspirate.  So that was great!  So glad that she can continue with solids, even though we thicken all her solids with either rice or oatmeal (more of a mess-reducer than a necessity for safe swallowing, lol). 

Then they began trying liquids.  She aspirated on the plain formula, 1:1 liquid, and formula mixed with rice.  She swallowed correctly when it was thickened to Nectar Thick, which is the current thickness (viscosity, if you wanna get real fancy) that we were already using.  So essentially, since her diagnosis, there's been no change for better or worse. 

Which is really fine.  We've gotten it worked out now to where we know exactly how much water/formula/thickener we need to use to make her food for the day.  We have a great system with Miss Jamey that lets us send her daily food over there and then we refill at night.  In fact, now that all the expressed breastmilk is gone (*tear), it's actually a little easier since sometimes there was some variation in the amounts in the bags.  We would be lying if we said that we hadn't wanted to see some progress, but it's ok.  Her adjusted age is only 7 months, so we are still ages away from "around a year" which is when they said she MIGHT start to outgrow it.

In the meantime, we'll thicken the same way we've been doing it.  (If you're curious, it's 20oz of water, plus 10 scoops of formula...then hand blend.  Then 6 squirts of Simply Thick, then hand blend again and transfer to bottles/ Miss Jamey's container and refrigerate). It's also made her very low- maintenance- she doesn't care at all if her bottle is straight from the fridge, which is nice since we don't have to take time to warm it up.

Besides...who could be disappointed in someone who looks this precious?

Audrey is 8 Months Old!

I cannot believe that 8 months ago we gave birth to our sweet Audrey Grace.  She is seriously the most adorable baby I have ever  seen since Emily was a baby. :) She is precious and excited and bubbly and loving and smart as a whip.  We just love her so much!  Here's what she's doing right now:

- She can sit completely independently for an extended period of time.  I usually put a Boppy around her just in case (especially if we're on a hard floor), but she never falls over anymore.  Sometimes she'll lean back enough to fall but she has super strong abs and just goes down gently. 

- After leaning herself back, she will roll ALL over the floor.  I'm serious- you can turn your back for a second and she'll be across the room, stuck under some piece of furniture or chewing on one of Emily's toys.  It's crazy!  Reminds me a WHOLE lot of this little girl:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emily, 8 months

Audrey, almost 8 months

- She has now tried all the vegetables and all fruits except pears, which we're doing this week.  She loves everything but peas.  Can you blame her? :)

- She moved up to 6oz bottle this month.

- She wears size 3 diapers.

- She has starting doing a lot of pre-crawling movements like pushing herself WAY up on her hands, inching forward, pushing with her toes/feet, humping the floor, etc.  I even caught her today with her knees under her body!  Won't be long now...

- She can transfer items to each hand and when she loses her pacifier, she either gives up on it and uses her thumb...OR, she can now pick it up, turn it the correct way, and put it back in.  So helpful!

- She has begun to babble a little bit- says ah-goo a little and used some new consonant sounds this month.

- She likes to use toys sitting up now- we need to get out some more toys for her to play with in this position.  We're trying not to clutter up the house (with boxes and things out it's a hard task) but she needs some new things!

- She loves to be tickled and when you make "I'm gonna get you" hands at her she breaks into peals of laughter- it's adorable!

- She goes on Tuesday of this week for her follow-up swallowing study.  Paul will be taking her to the appointment.  We are so hopeful that she's made some progress and maybe her foods won't have to be thickened as much anymore.  We also need the go-ahead to try other fluids besides formula (we want to try a little water or juice in a sippy cup and let her practice with that).  I'll post an update after we get the results of the study. 

That's all the news we have on our sweet little girl right now.  Thanks for checking in and following our family!

Pretty Little Sunday/ "Peeling Corn"

Today was gorgeous and we spent it together as a family...making it double-y good!  We decided to have a nice, relaxing day cleaning the house (sort of), packing some odds and ends, and playing with the girls.  Fun! 

Emily told us that she wanted "long corn" (aka, corn on the cob) for dinner...so I made sure to buy some this morning at the store.  I thought she was probably old enough to learn to shuck it, so I set about teaching her.  She LOVED "peeling corn" with me!  It was so cute.  She was so proud to eat the corn she had "peeled" tonight at dinner.  Look at these precious pics:

Our corn, pre-peeling.

I'll leave you with a shot of one of our beautiful roses.  At each home we've owned (we're on number 4 now, if you count the new one!), Paul and I have planted those $6 roses that are sold at Sam's....and each time, we've been amazed at how many blooms we have gotten!  I am not kidding you when I say that there are currently 10 roses in my kitchen in a vase and another TWENTY SIX outside on the bushes!  They are gorgeous and I will really miss them! 

Emily is 3 and a half!

Our big girl hit a major milestone- 3 and half years old!  She is growing so much and is such a delight right now- this is a wonderful age!  Here's what life is like right now:

- She loves to play pretend games.  Anything- teacher and students, princesses and princes, dress up, doll house, animals... you name it, she'll play it!  So much fun and she has SUCH an amazing imagination already. Super fun!

- She can now write her name by herself- with no help (like she doesn't need someone to say the letters for her).  She is so proud of this!

- She moved to a new classroom- now she's with other kids who are 3.5-4 years old.  It's nice for her to be the youngest because it gives her some new friends to play with and she can learn something from them and be a bit more of a follower instead of a leader...er, a boss. 

- Speaking of being the boss, she'll gladly tell you that she IS the boss.  As her last teacher put it, Emily has "Leadership Qualities"....hahahaha!  That is TOTALLY Teacher Speak for "your child is bossing around all the other kids".  I always knew Paul and I would make a bossy kid- look at us!!! :)

- She loves to play outside but is terrified of bugs.  I definitely never use that to my benefit to get her out of flower beds, etc....never!

- Emily loves to sing and now is singing all kinds of hilarious songs that sound like this:
...she's a girl, yes she's a girl...
and she is a PRIN-cess, and she is a girl.
and she has a dog named Malalalshaya and she has a mommy
and a daddy and a SISter and she likes to PLAAAAAAAY and she
is a princess and I like to go outside and I am a girl
and I like to sing a song
sing a song 
sing a SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
and I am laughing and
and
and
and
 I 
I 
I am a girl and I am Rapunzel's Mooooooooooooother...

it is HILARIOUS to eavesdrop when she starts singing!

- She ate lunch in WV last weekend and was an absolute ANGEL- never got up out of her booster seat, never spoke too loudly, ate her lunch and listened so quietly.  It was AMAZING!

- She plays well with Audrey but gets very upset when Audrey puts Em's toys in her mouth.  Then she comes and tells me to please wash her toys since Audrey has made them "sooooooo dirty". Haha!

- She's getting super excited for the new house/ the move.  We spent last weekend there and she LOVES her new house, the river, etc. and is kind of over living between 2 places.  Not much longer now!

I'm sure there's more but that's what I can think of right now.  She is so much fun and we're so proud of her!