Pulling to Stand

So big and so proud!

She has been pulling to stand for over a week now and I cannot believe how fast this first year has passed. She will be 10 months old on the 22nd and it flew by!

Jacob seemed like a baby FOREVER since he arrived so early and was (and still is) so small. He has pretty much worn every size for almost 6 months or longer and Grace has flown through every size in a matter of days. She was in 6-12 month clothes at 4 months old and Jacob didn't wear 6 month clothes until he was almost ONE! They are both wearing the same size diaper and in Grace's chubby days she even went ahead of him in size for a month or so. I can't believe that in no time I will be chasing the two of them in different directions.

We didn't start Grace on solids until 6-7 months old and she is finally getting the hang of it. She is eating two meals of solids a day (usually stage 2 jarred food or yogurt) and some table food in between. She is only nursing 4 times per day and I can feel my supply starting to tank. I guess I'd better get going on that exercise and take advantage of the extra calorie burn while I still have it in me.

Summer Weekend

This past weekend we had the nicest weather so far this year. On Saturday, it actually reached 90 degrees which is not unheard of for NE in May, but it doesn't happen very often. We've actually had an awesome Spring weather wise.

We already had plans on Saturday to head to the NE Aquarium so we took advantage of the beautiful day and spent the entire afternoon roaming around the city. The Aquarium was great, but packed and we gave the monkey harness we bought for Sesame Place a test run. Jacob did great after he got used to it, but he did keep trying to run (all the while getting nowhere) and when he realized the monkey was the culprit he tried countless times pulling him off to no avail. Eventually he gave up, but he had a blast and seemed to enjoy the Penguins and Turtles the best!


After we left the Aquarium, we had lunch at Legal Seafood on Long Wharf and took a stroll down to the Boston Common and the Public Garden. The swan boats are out and I wanted to take the kids for a ride, but they fell asleep on our way over there which was fine with us. We sat on a bench for awhile and took in the views of the city. Here is the Capitol on Beacon Hill:



After the kids woke up we took a walk back down through the Rose Kennedy Greenway to the North End and spent some time in Christopher Columbus Park. We tried getting some shots of the kids once they woke up, but as you can see they were still tired and not in the mood for smiles:




We finally headed for the car around 5 PM after a long and exhausting day. The kids slept the whole way home and headed to bed early when we got home.

This weekend is supposed to be our March for Babies, but the weather is not looking good. I am so upset! Last year it sprinkled for a few minutes, but turned out decent. This year looks like a washout and I am not going to put the kids through that so it looks like we might be mailing in our donations this year. :(

Logging into Blogger tonight, I realized I have 6 (yes, six) saved drafts that I haven't posted so my goal this week is to get at least one of them up every other day so you'll be hearing from me a lot in the next month. I have a few appointment updates for Jacob and his 6 month follow-ups are all scheduled in May and June so there will be those updates as well. I have lots of Baby Girl updates for Grace (she pulled to stand today for the first time and is crawling all over the place!) and her birthday party planning is officially underway! I can't believe she will be ONE in 2.5 months! My baby is going to be a toddler. Time flies... :(

Jacob turns TWO!

This past Tuesday, the 23rd, was Jacob's second birthday! I can't believe my little man is already two years old! In some ways, it seems like it was just yesterday that we were commuting to Boston every day to visit him in the NICU and in others it seems like a lifetime ago. It also seems crazy to me that in a few short months we will be celebrating Gracie's FIRST birthday, but I digress.....

We celebrated by having a small, Wonder Pets theme party yesterday with both of our families. We decided to have big, elaborate parties for the first birthday and smaller, family parties for subsequent birthdays. Our kids don't need 20 presents (they definitely don't need anymore toys!) and I am sure the last thing that people without small children want to do on a Saturday afternoon is spend time attending a children's birthday party! There were plenty of meltdowns to go around. With both sets of parents, siblings, spouses and cousins we ended up having about 15 people including a visit from our neighbors the Pipers!

When people called and asked what they could get him, I suggested things for outdoor use since the weather is starting to get nice and we will be outside more often. He received so many cool presents. He got a water table, a beginner soccer goal and ball (I am going to train him young!), LOTS of beach toys, bubbles, etc. When it was time for cake, I put the cake right in front of him so we could sing "Happy Birthday". I accidentally put it a little too close to him and he reached out and grabbed two fistfuls of cake and proceeded to shove them in his face. For some reason, when we gave him his own piece of cake he decided it would be a good idea to smash it on his tray and then face plant into the frosting. That should explain the following pictures for your enjoyment:

WONDER PETS!


Ming Ming Duckling (or Ning Ning if you ask Jacob)


Was I not supposed to do that?


Who me?!


Mmmmmmmm....


Can't forget the little, baby girl


Also, you may have noticed that my blogging skills have been less than stellar lately. I have been working on transferring all of my entries from Caring Bridge over to Blogger. I have most of them copied, but not published so that is why there have been no posts in over a month. I am almost done with the transfer and then I will publish them. If you follow me or subscribe, I am not sure if you will receive notifications for all these backdated posts so if you do please disregard! The reason I am doing this is because I want this blog to be a useful resource for others who may be experiencing premature birth or have a 24 weeker themselves and having all of the information in one place is more convenient than referring people to two separate sites.

March for Babies

Every year, our family participates in the March for Babies here in Boston. This year our walk will be on Saturday, May 8th, 2010 starting at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River.

Last May, we did the walk while I was 25 weeks pregnant with Grace and it was tough, but we finished! Jacob was a trooper and didn't mind the free ride! He was 13.5 months old (10 months adjusted) and it was great to see so many other miracle babies out there walking (or strolling) to save other babies. There was even a 23 weeker at our walk!

The March of Dimes is very close to our hearts since Jacob was born at only 24 weeks. After spending a long 116 days in the hospital (3 months in a Level III NICU and 3 weeks in a Special Care Nursery) he came home to us a healthy 7.9 lbs.

The reality of this is that the majority of babies born at 24 weeks do not make it and most of the 24 week survivors have multiple physical and mental disabilities. Our son is living proof that miracles do happen! He overcame all the odds and arrived home only 10 days after his original due date with no medications, no monitors and no oxygen!

My wish is that someday, every birth will be a healthy one and that is the motto for the March of Dimes. Please help this cause by donating to the March of Dimes - March for Babies. You can donate to this worthy cause by visiting our team's homepage (Team Chicken Wing....what else?!) or sign up to volunteer at your local chapter's walk.

http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1373526

Please consider donating your time or money to this worthy cause because every baby deserves a fighting chance!

Jacob's NICU Follow-Up

While I was in the hospital on bedrest with Jacob, a doctor came into my room and discussed all of the difficulties we would face if he was born that day. He explained in graphic detail all of the disabilities, hurtles and trials Jacob would have to face and overcome in order to survive or have any quality of life. At the time, I was 23 weeks pregnant and the chances of a baby surviving at all or without a physical or mental disability were slim to none. The good news was, that every day I stayed pregnant, the odds of him surviving (and/or avoiding these physical and mental disabilities) increased dramatically. You might be surprised to learn that once I hit 24 weeks every DAY I kept Jacob in my womb meant 3 days less in a Level III NICU. That is huge!

The Neonatologist that came to speak with us was running a study for premature babies born between 24 and 28 weeks. He asked us if Jacob was delivered between 24 and 28 weeks if we would be willing to particpate. You can read about the clinical trial here and for the record, they never put Jacob in harm's way! His health and survival always came first if any part of the study interfered with his ability to be resuscitated at delivery.

After discussing it with Ian, we decided that if I delivered early we did want to be part of the study. The bottom line is that 30 years ago 24 weekers didn't have a fighting chance and because of modern medicine (and the grace of God) children like Jacob DO survive and some (like Jacob) have few, if any, side effects! How amazing that because of past studies, modern technology and new medicines they are able to help babies like Jacob thrive! We decided that whatever the case, we wanted to do our part to help future 24 weekers have higher chances of survival. No parent should ever have to go through what we did with Jacob and if this increases the chance of a 24 weeker's survival then I wanted to help. You can't begin to imagine what it is like to be told that your baby has a 39% chance of living and an 80% chance of him/her having a physical/mental disability. That and the day-to-day drama that comes with not knowing if your baby will still be here in 5 days, 5 hours or even 5 minutes.

As part of the study, Jacob is seen at a "follow-up clinic" at Tufts Medical Center in Boston where he was delivered. They first saw him in January of 2009 when he was 10 months old (6.5 adjusted) and every 6 months thereafter. This past January 19th was the "big" appointment because Jacob is 22 months old (18.5 adjusted) and 18 months is when the child has developed sufficient skills for them to test and determine how he is doing compared to his peers. Most preemies catch up by age 2 and the earliest of preemies (23-28 weekers) usually catch up by the age of 3. We have a long way to go, but this appointment shows us on paper how much progress he has made. The test is not an exact science and if "the toddler" (who shall remain nameless) refuses to cooperate on certain parts of the test it can throw it off. At this appointment, Jacob met with a Neonatologist, a Physical Therapist and a bunch of fellows. They tested him on everything from fine/gross motor skills to language and cognition. This is what they found:

Cognition: 13 months
Fine Motor Skills: 13 months
Gross Motor Skills: 14 months
Receptive Language: 11 months
Expressive Language: 15 months

There were certain tests where he refused to cooperate with the PT, but overall he is where I expected him to be. When people ask where I personally think he is functioning I have been saying 15 months so I was pretty spot on with his skill level. His language has really been lagging behind and I was pretty shocked to see that his expressive language was as high as it is. He only says a handful of words (Mama, Daddy, off, chicken, duck, cat, etc.) and some of his "words" are communication, but not actual words (uh-oh, woof, moo, etc.).

The bottom line is that he is here, he is healthy and he is thriving! I am so happy we decided to join the study and I am hopeful of the results once all is said and done.

2010

Happy New Year! First a couple of pictures that we sent out as New Year cards:

As 2009 becomes a fading memory and we turn to the new year ahead, I figured I would blog about my NY's Resolution. I have never made a resolution and prior to this year didn't believe in making one. I feel we should always try to make today better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today. I try my very hardest to make changes daily in places I feel I have been lacking, but spending half the year in a high-risk pregnancy and the other half with two kids 16 months apart (not to mention that the 16 month old requires weekly Early Intervention, bi-weekly PT appointments, quarterly eye appointments in Boston and semi-annual NICU follow-ups in Boston) I have been severely lacking in every department since the early Spring.

When we found out last December that we were expecting....AGAIN, I was prepared for bedrest, weekly monitoring and bi-weekly ultrasounds. I knew bedrest was a possibility and that having to drag Jacob to these appointments by myself every week would be a trial, but I was willing to try at least one more time for a healthy, full-term baby and knew what I was getting into having had a 3.5 month premature micro-preemie the first go around. Needless to say, once I hit 24 weeks, life came to a screeching halt. Everything went on the back burner as I tried my hardest to do everything possible to keep Gracie inside just one more day. This was totally normal considering what I went through my first pregnancy, but the problem is I never found my rhythm again after having her in July.

After a 2008 that was filled with fear, anxiety and desperation, 2009 was a complete 180. There was still some fear and anxiety, but no desperation this time around. Grace was born in July just 4 days shy of full-term which was good enough for me! My baby was healthy, was able to room in with me in the hospital and was discharged to go home the same day I was! All my prayers had been answered. That's also when life got crazy. The first day home alone with both kids was quite an adjustment. I was pumping due to some latching issues, I was juggling the schedule of a 16 month old and a newborn and trying to adjust to the daily grind with Ian back to work. That first Monday alone also happened to be Grace's two week check-up so on top of everything else that I was adjusting to, I was supposed to load both kids in the car and venture out for the first time with TWO kids in tow. To this day, I have only let 3 people in on this secret: My first day out with both kids I managed to lock myself out of my car......with Grace inside......in August. As I shamefully ran back inside yelling at the receptionist to call 911 because I had just locked my 2 week old in the car I thought, "It can't get much worse than this!" Thankfully, I had used my automatic starter to get the car running so the AC was on full blast and Grace was in no harm. Three firefighters, 2 paramedics, a police officer, my Pediatrician's wife and myself watched as Grace peacefully slept through the entire thing. I could only imagine what all the emergency personnel were thinking and my Pediatrician's wife tried to assure me that every Mother does something like this once in her lifetime.....suuuuure. Thanks anyway.

I am happy to report that things only went up from there! After two weeks, we got a rhythm down and life started settling into a routine. Grace started successfully nursing again so I was able to cut pumping out of my life which allowed me to add another 3-4 hours to my day. I learned to change both diapers at once and coerced Grace into following Jacob's nap schedule so I could nap myself when they were both sleeping. Around 10 weeks old, Grace started sleeping through the night which allowed me a full nights rest and energy to get through every day without nodding off around dinner time. The only problem was I started using my free time to check my Facebook page, log on to my "Mom" message boards, surf the internet, watch TV, etc. I did dishes....when the sink was overflowing. I did laundry.... when we ran out of clean clothes. I cleaned my bathrooms.... when we had company coming. I was getting lazy and I would like to say that this was something that began after I had 2 under 2, but it has been getting gradually worse since I quit my job to stay home.

On to the point of my post.....I have decided that I am going to be everything I've always wanted to be in 2010! I will:

• Strive to be a better mother. I want to get out and do things with the kids. Play at the park, go to story time at the library, go to the beach (in season of course), have playdates, etc. Jacob is a GREAT independent player which is excellent, but quite often I find myself taking advantage of that so I can read or watch Ellen. I could do either of these things while he naps or after he goes to bed. Most days we stay inside and do nothing except, eat, sleep, play, repeat.
  
• Strive to be a better wife. With everything else I need to do on a daily basis usually Ian comes last and I want to spend more quality time with him. Even if it just means watching TV with him for a half hour at night or having a glass of wine.
• Keep up with the housework! I have set a new schedule that will help me do the housework over the course of a week so that it is spread out and not something I have to spend all day doing. For example, on Mondays I do laundry. All my laundry. This includes washing, drying, folding and putting away! On Tuesdays, I vacuum and wash my floors. On Thursday I do my bathrooms and on Friday I do the dusting. Dishes are done daily as well as a general pick-up and so far this is working out nicely!
• Get healthy! I never take time for myself and my ratio of junk food to healthy food is off the charts. I only gained 14 pounds with Jacob due to his prematurity so that was gone in a matter of minutes. While pumping/breastfeeding I was able to drop an additional 9 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. Grace's pregnancy is a different story. I gained 45 pounds and 8 of that was fluid in the last week. I developed some pretty bad eating habits while on the go and back and forth to the hospital to see Jacob and then I was pregnant with Grace. I used my pregnancy as an excuse for eating whatever I wanted. I have now cleaned out my fridge, replaced all my junk food with healthy food ($$$$!) and started preparing meals out for the week instead of winging it at dinner time. I am also excited to try new recipes! According to the scales, I am just about back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I have some major toning to do which brings me to......
  
• E-X-E-R-C-I-S-E! 5 words.....Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I bought it, I have hand weights and I am determined to do this every day for at least a month. Once I whip myself into gear, I plan to hop back on my treadmill as well.
  
• Last, but not least and most importantly - Focus on my relationship with God Bottom line...reading the bible daily simply isn't enough. I need to study His word and make sure my life is on the path that it needs to be. I have so much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful husband, two beautiful, HEALTHY babies which is more than I ever thought possible after what we went through with Jacob. I have a place to call home that provides us with shelter and we always have enough to get by which is more than enough. I need to repay Him for everything He does for me with more than 30 minutes a day.
  

I hope that I can stick with these goals through 2011 and plan to update at random points throughout the year as far as how I am doing. Here's wishing all of you a happy and healthy 2010!

B-U-S-Y

That pretty much explains how I have been in a nutshell.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, but unfortunately my camera broke shortly after Halloween. I was without a camera for the entire month of November so I don't have many pictures as far as updates go. We had so much to be thankful for this year. We were able to spend our second Thanksgiving with our little chicken wing, who was only given a 39% chance of ever spending a Thanksgiving with us, and this year we also had the incredible blessing of Grace in July who arrived happy and healthy. I thank God every day for Ian, Jacob and Gracie, but it is nice to have one special day every year to remember what we are thankful for.

Jacob has glasses! They are ridiculously ugly (sorry it had to be said), but they are a necessity and hopefully this is short term and something that will resolve on its own. If not, I just keep telling myself that eventually he will be responsible and not try to rip them off his face so one day he will not have to wear white rubber glasses. He pulls them off his face so keeping them on will be a real challenge. I feel bad for him because as a person who wears glasses (and contact lens) I know how obnoxious they are. I was hoping he wouldn't have to deal with it, but if this is the worst thing that happens to him because of his 24 week arrival then we lucked out!

Grace is starting to sit up and roll over now and life is starting to get interesting. With the two of them on the move we had to expand our play area in the living room and the "adult" area is getting smaller and smaller. I am sure eventually it will disappear all together, but for now we have one little corner of the room all for ourselves to watch TV and have a fire. Grace weighs a whopping 16 pounds and she is not even 5 months yet! Jacob is only 21 pounds and 21 months at the end of December so I am just waiting for the day she officially passes him. That's what happens when you have a micro-preemie and then a huge full-term baby.

Both kids are on their fourth colds since September and I am just crossing my fingers that we make it through this Winter without any major illness. Winter hasn't even officially begun yet and I am already anticipating the Spring. To help the Winter go by faster, I have already started planning Jacob's second birthday party (complete with a Wonder Pets theme!) and I am hoping that will keep me busy along with sending out our first annual New Year cards. I was going to do one last year, but Jacob's "Welcome Home" announcements had just been mailed in September (I was a little behind) and I found it kind of useless to send another card so soon. I already have the card designed and I am just waiting for the kids to get better so I can take a picture that doesn't have raw, red noses. :)

I will be sure to start taking some pictures with my new camera (which, by the way, is AWESOME!) and post them soon.