Progress

Eliza's development is a funny thing. In so many areas she is making very little or no progress for what seems like a very long time. Some areas even seem to be regressing - she's not trying to roll over very much lately, nor is she babbling nearly as much as she once did. But then, every so often, she just has a sudden breakthrough that comes from nowhere. Cases in point:


Reaching for things. She used to never do this. Now she can even reach up off the floor to get something above her, and does so all the time.


Grabbing her knees and even her feet. When she first came home, she wasn't even flexible enough for us to help her into this position, but lately she's become much more flexible and has started to bring her knees and feet up on her own and play with them.


Even growing hair on her head. She was bald for a long time, then had only peach fuzz for a long time after that. Lately it's started to really take off, though it's still longest and thickest right on top of her head and nearly nonexistent on the temples. Heather's taken to styling it as a little mohawk, which looks very fetching.

Eliza and Claire

Remember Claire? Eliza's BFF from the NICU? We finally got a chance to meet up with her and her family today. It was the first time the girls have seen each other since being in the NICU together! We had a great time getting to see them and visit. Wish we didn't live so far apart!

We almost didn't make it out since on the way one of our tires decided to instantly go flat while driving down the interstate. Fortunately Glenn was able to change the flat and we located a Discount Tire place with our handy dandy GPS. Thank goodness for technology! All in all we were only about 1.5 hrs late! :)

Being awfully patient waiting for her ride to be fixed!

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All smiles! These girls have come so far! Look at the difference from this picture:

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Eliza wanted Claire to have a pair of her favorite things, Baby Legs!

Claire was more impressed with the cardboard wrapping though!

Oh look both babies wanted the cardboard!

Whoops mama changed out the cardboard for some ribbon...

...........

Total meltdown!

They really did great after a long day of traveling, missed naps, sitting through lunch with us adults, and then posing for a photo shoot. Those preemies, tiny but strong! 

Twas a Happy Fourth of July

We had a nice and simple Independence Day here. Glenn's sister came up and visited and we grilled out for lunch with some friends. After a full day of enjoying the holiday, the whole family fell asleep before the fireworks even started. :)

Trying out flying in the back yard.

Sporting the red, white, and blue

Making silly faces with Aunt Emily

Helping Dad bring in the flag before the thunderstorm!

New Lens

Glenn got a new lens for the DLSR for Fathers Day. Here are a few of the test shots. I think I like.

The Last Week in Pictures

Trying out rice cereal on a spoon for the first time this week. Definitely not into swallowing it yet. 

Bath time! Can you believe how much bigger she is since this post?! This is also the last picture of the g-tube before getting changed to a g-tube button.

This past weekend we went down to GA for Glenn's family reunion. It was a quick, but good trip. Eliza got to meet a lot of family for the first time! Unfortunately we didn't get pictures of everyone.

Chilling out with her cousins!

Uncle Mike!

Uncle Greg!

Meeting Great-Grandma Vicki!

 

Happy Father's Day! You couldn't have asked for a cuter baby, eh Dad? 

Life in Preemie World

I saw this article today and it really resonated so thought I would share it. Please read.

ABC Article


Life with a preemie is... different, and definitely not what us preemie moms envisioned when we started our journey to parenthood. I like how the article talks a little bit about life after the NICU and how it's NOT at all  like coming home with a full-term baby. Life has not been sunshine and roses since we came home even though it seems like it should be.

Sometimes I wonder if PTSD is exactly what I have. I'm having a hard time in social situations the last few months because I get many comments about how happy I must be, how great Eliza's doing, and what a miracle she is, and yes I agree ...but god I'm just so sad too. I hate how horrible this last year has been and everything we've had to plow through to get here. I hate that we've been home for several months and we STILL go to a doctor's an average of once a week. I hate that I've felt so overwhelmed with Eliza at times that I wonder how I would have ever coped with three babies in the same situation. I hate not being able to breastfeed Eliza and that we have tried EVERYTHING and Eliza still will not eat. I hate that she has a port in her belly that we have to feed her through, that her body is trying to reject it, and that we have to treat it by burning tissue with silver nitrate every 3 days.

Most of all I just hate feeling this way.


****I dislike being negative because I know that there are always people in the same and much worse situations but sometimes it just gets to me.

Myrtle Beach

We just got back from spending a week at the beach (specifically, Myrtle Beach, SC) with Heather's family. It was a great vacation, exactly what we all needed. We had a little "excitement" when I forgot to pack one of Eliza's medications, and it turned out that to get a temporary refill to get through the week with, we needed to find a specialty compounding pharmacy to mix up the medication. Fortunately there ended up being one only about a half hour away. Besides that, the trip went pretty smoothly!

Of course everyone wanted to take their turn holding and playing with Eliza. She was thrilled to have such attention from so many people, and we were relieved to have so many extra hands to make light work of the day to day of raising Eliza.

Playtime with Nana

Smiles and laughter all around

If you look closely, I took this picture just as Eliza began a spit-up. Eliza likes to spit up on Aunt Hannah!


Eliza is still not a big fan of the great outdoors, but she did make it down to the beach several times to lay in the shade, and even got to dip her feet in the waves!

Hanging out at the beach together. Eliza and Heather are chilling out in the tent.

Eliza prefers the shade, even outside

Elvis impersonation?

Testing the waters


Eliza really did remarkably well being away from home and in a strange place for so long. She didn't want to go to sleep at bedtime - too much excitement? - and continues to spit up very frequently, but during the day she was usually a content and happy baby. At the beach we saw several families with little toddlers walking in hand, a very cute sight - I guess next year we'll be one of them!