New Decade

Casey had her regular 2 week appointments, and weighed in at 15 pounds 1.5 ounces.  For those keeping track, that is only a 1.5 ounce gain, but after the 14 ounce gain at the last weigh-in it was really no surprise that she would have a slow couple of weeks.  I wasn't able to make it to her SST appointment this week, but Gigi reported that her therapist proclaimed her to be in the "pre-crawling" stage. At first, I wasn't too impressed as I thought, "Yes, and she is also pre-walking and pre-talking," but apparently this does not mean "before" crawling, but that she is demonstrating movements that indicate she may actually crawl relatively soon. Looks like we could have a busy summer if this girl becomes mobile!  At our last appointment, our pediatrician guessed she would be crawling in another two months or so, but she is doing some serious scooting and pivoting during tummy time, so we shall see.  She has also become very enamored by her environment, and wants to grab everything in sight (especially if it has lights on it like the alarm clock, the remote, my phone, or iPad).  She also thinks all things should go in her mouth to give them the real Casey stamp of approval.  Casey has also picked up a few new tricks lately including tons of babbling and "ba-ba" sounds, and she has even waved several times (and yes, we can be seen waving at her from across the room like total idiots multiple times a day just trying to get her to do it again).

I would love to tell you about our busy and exciting Memorial Day weekend...but that would be a lie. In reality, we stuck close to home, and had a nice relaxing 3 days hanging out together! I did however celebrate a rather big birthday over the weekend (I'll give you a hint, it starts with a 3 and ends with a 0)!  I would also love to tell you I don't feel another decade older, but that too would be a big lie.  Last week I developed the most horrendous lower back pain, and I'm pretty sure it was my body's way of telling me that yes, I am getting old(er). I can honestly say it was worse than my brief experience with back labor, and unfortunately there weren't any meds strong enough that I could take to make a dent in the pain or to help me sleep.  It stunk! And since I used up all my days on maternity leave bonding with Casey when she came home (definitely worth it though), I went to work through it anyway.  On a related note, after suffering through the pain for days and not being able to take anything stronger than Tylenol, I did decide to give myself a birthday present.  I quit pumping.  After almost 10 months, it was time!  We have approximately another two months worth of frozen milk, and since our girl is loving purees these days (apples are her new favorite), we will see how long it lasts us.

This is my last week of school, and then Casey and I will be exploring the town this summer!  Okay, so we will probably just be hanging out at Gigi's pool most of the time, but if you live in Texas, you know it is about the only way to beat this heat.  Temperatures that are already in the mid 90's in May do not bode well for the months to come!

 Birthday Pic!  We took 3 pictures, and in all of them she stuck her tongue out.  She is so her father's child!

Doesn't she just look like she is up to something?

 Happy Birthday, Mommy!

 Chillin' out!

 In case you were wondering what Casey would look like with a full beard!

 Practicing one of her many raspberry noises.

On this particular day, she was definitely appropriately dressed.  Ms. Crabby Pants only wanted her mama!

 Playing with her bib!

Looking like she might topple over

 She looked like such a big girl in her jean shorts!

 Life is good!

 Trying out her new flip-flops

And by the time we got to Gigi's, this is what I found.  Guess she had other plans for her new shoes!

Normal

Nothing particularly exciting happened last week, and as I pondered what news to update about, it occurred to me that it was really just a normal week...and then the impact of that thought really hit me. Normal. For a long time I wasn't sure our life would be "normal" again. When your child is born fighting for her life, spends over four months in a hospital, and then comes home with strict instructions to stay completely isolated for months, "normal" really isn't an adjective you often use. Yesterday, as I pushed my cart through the grocery store, baby in tow for the first time ever, it really sank in that after almost 10 months, we are finally entering into a state of normalcy. To the outsider, they would just see a wide eyed cooing baby checking out her surroundings, not knowing how significant this trip to buy groceries really was for our little miracle. A stranger wouldn't understand how close we came to never getting to leave the hospital with our sweet baby. In fact, about once a month I run into someone who knows of our story, but doesn't follow the every day details of her triumphs and struggles that I share here in the blog. A question they often ask is "So is Casey completely normal now?" I used to cringe at this question, and try to formulate a response to explain just how far she has come, but that there were still so many unknowns. While we know that our girl still has some catching up to do as a result of her extreme prematurity, for now we can celebrate that though our updates may be less interesting to read, our days are starting to lean a lot more toward normal. And I think I like the sound of that!

This face she was making cracked me up

 Daddy's girl

Another cute outfit from her Gigi

Such a cutie pie

 I don't know how I left this one off last week.  Since we have been in isolation for so long, we have had to miss out on a lot of family get togethers and Sunday lunches.  When we celebrated Mother's Day with my family last weekend, Meemaw finally got to hold Casey for the first time. 

 Snuggles with my girl!  (Please excuse my pajamas and glasses)

"Mmm, Carrots!"

She was so fascinated by the elephant on her outfit I could barely get her to look up.

She is getting a lot better at sitting up, but every once in a while she topples right over.

Venturing Out

Now that we have clearance from our doctors, we have started venturing out in public a bit with our sweet girl.  Casey has now been to not one, but two restaurants, and was the perfect little angel at both.  Despite two rowdy renditions of "Happy Birthday" at nearby tables during her first dining out experience, Casey slept through almost the entire meal and was content in her car seat the entire time.  Unfortunately my camera was dead, and the attempt on my cell phone didn't turn out so I don't have any pictures to document the experience.  The Doodlebug also got her very first shopping trip in last week at none other than Mommy's favorite, Target, although it was less than a thrilling experience after I  discovered the pharmacy managed to mess up one of my prescriptions again (Seriously, don't become an insulin dependent diabetic...it is a real pain, both literally and figuratively!)  After the pharmacy debacle, I wanted to grab the loaf of bread I needed and get out of there, and it completely slipped my mind to snap a picture. 

Casey had all three of her ECI appointments this week, and we were all quite shocked that she gained 14 ounces in two weeks, for a whopping total of 15 pounds even!  With such great weight gain, our Dietitian encouraged us to stop waking her up for the 6 am feed and let her cue us when she is hungry. Since Daddy takes care of the early morning feeds on week days, he did not have to be told twice, and I think both Casey and Brian have enjoyed a little extra sleep in the mornings.  So far, she is lettng us know she is hungry almost like clock work every four hours during the day time hours, and it is a huge relief to know that the hunger urge may have finally kicked in for this girl after so many months!  She has continued to eat baby food pretty well, and we have increased foods to twice a day before she takes her bottle.  We have also been very relieved that there has not been a recurrence of the Eczema bumps this week.  On Thursday, Casey had her 9 month well visit (6 months adjusted) with our Pediatrician, and he was extremely encouraged with her progress. He expects she may be on the charts for her actual age for both weight and height at her next visit (pretty incredible to be catching up so quickly)!

Our homework from both the Pediatrician and our SST appointment is continue to encourage her to roll during tummy time (she is rolling over from tummy to back and back to tummy more often, but is still inconsistent and she sometimes goes for several days without rolling at all).  She has discovered how much she loves to be in the standing position, and is quite a fan of jumping and bouncing on our legs when we hold her up. One of the biggest changes lately is that Casey has become quite clingy and attached to her Mommy.  She is fine when I drop her off at Gigi's, but when we are at home and she knows I am there, she wants to be hanging out in my arms at all times, and she is not shy about letting me know how she feels about me putting her down.  It is really quite sweet, but does make me a little worried about how she will handle separation since summer is just around the corner, and we will be spending a whole lot more time together!  Not that I'm complaining because I am eagerly anticipating our relaxing summer ahead!

Enjoy the latest pics of our girl:

This grin melts my heart every single time!

 It's hard work being a baby!

 So stinkin' cute

Another cute outfit from Aunt Kristen!

Seriously, could you say "No" to this face?  This is what she has been doing almost every time I put her down.  She is pretty convincing isn't she?

 "Hey Mom, look at this cool toy!"

 She was having quite a good time with the remote control!

Mother's Day 2012!  The best part of every day is being this girl's mommy.  I could not be more blessed!

Just for a little comparison, here is Casey's 2 month picture, taken just a couple of days before she moved from the NICU to Special Care.

And now in the same outfit, but a much bigger size.  Look how far she has come in 7 months!

9 Month Photos

Yesterday, II finally got around to taking Casey's 9 month photos. I tried to pose her sweetly with her bear, but Miss Personality had other plans, and it was actually pretty comical. 

This is what I intended her pictures to look like:

In order to truly document what actually occured, you have to see it in slideshow format:

This slideshow design personalized with Smilebox

I thought this deserved a post of its own. I will post last week's update soon!

Long Overdue Introduction

After several pretty quiet weeks, this past one was pretty busy.  The most exciting part was that Casey finally got to meet her cousins.  Considering today is her 9 month birthday it was certainly a long overdue introduction!  We got the green light from our Pulminologist that we could start venturing out as long as we "used our best judgement and avoided overly crowded places," so when we found out my nieces and nephew were coming in town at the last minute this weekend, we figured it was time the cousins were introduced.  The girls were so excited and begged to hold her again and again, and our nephew was giving us minute to minute updates on what "dat baby" was doing.  All three cousins were quick to check on her while she napped, bring her lots of toys to explore and supply her with her paci any time it managed to get separated from her.  They were too cute!  Casey also got to meet several other family members for the first time, including her Uncle Joe.  She has become quite fascinated with facial features, and his were no exception (if only I had thought to grab my camera!).  Earlier in the week, Casey also accompanied me to a get together with some of my co-workers, who were excited to actually meet her in person after only seeing pictures for so long. 

And because that wasn't enough excitement for one week, we also had to make an unexpected visit to the Pediatrician's office.  We noticed last Saturday that Casey had what appeared to be little mosquito bites on her leg, and initially we weren't too worried.  When they disappeared and then reappeared several times on her legs and arms over the next 24 hours, we started to get more concerned.  After scaring the crap out of ourselves via google researching on the Internet, we became worried that her symptoms might be an allergic reaction.  We discontinued baby food just in case, but we were mostly alarmed that she might be reacting to our cat and dogs.  I wasn't able to get her in for an appointment for a blood test until Thursday, so after a few sleepless nights wondering how in the world I was going to part with my precious fur babies, the verdict was...Eczema. Whew! Our Pediatrician immediately dismissed the idea that she would just be starting to react to the animals after several months, he felt there was no need for a blood test, and we were sent home with a recommendation for a specific lotion to slather on her several times a day.  Crisis averted!  We haven't seen any more occurrences of the bumps for the last couple of days, and we are crossing our fingers that they won't come back! 

Here are all the pictures from the week and from the cousin meet and greet:

Love this face!

Ready for summer in her tank top and shorts!

Morning giggles

 Adorable

She was not sure what to think of these short people

 The girls were just so enamored with Casey

 Gigi with all her grandkids

 They were so happy just to watch her and touch her

The mystery bumps

 After a week off of baby food, this girl chowed down on some green beans!

"Come on Mom, there are so many more exciting things to do than take pictures!"