Stepping further out of the bubble

I just LOVE this pic of Jason and Nina!!!

Over the weekend we took Nina out to dinner PLUS a trip to Target where she said in the big girl cart seat!

Watch us roll!

Nina is doing great! She hung out with Grandma and Grandpa today so we could go to the Phillies home opener!

PT and Eye Update

Nina has had an exciting week! We took her out to dinner and she sat in highchair and ate cheerios and drank milk. She is still using the bottle, but at least she's the one holding it for the most part.

PT came yesterday and we really liked Cindy. After watching Nina for like 5 minutes , she saw that Nina always shifts to the left side. So we need to work on getting her to shift right with sitting and other transitions. She said that if Nina was a term 10 month baby, this would be a non issue, but given her history and that she's being tracked, we can work on fine tuning the quality of her movements. Sure! Why Not! I like company during the day! She'll back mid April to check up.

Today we had her 1 year eye appt. Nina's nearsightedness from last summer resolved itself and her eyes look great so do not have to go back until next year! YEAH!

In other Nina news, the milk drinking is awesome! I threw away the "just in case" can of Enfacare away yesterday!! She's trying new foods like broccoli with pasta. I like using the ditalini shape the best! So far she likes my cooking!

Milk Baby

We switched over to whole milk on Saturday! It was no problem! She loves it. Her belly is still getting used to it, but nothing a little prune juice can't help!

Nina got to taste freshly dyed easter eggs this year! She tried scrambled eggs and that went over well . No issues with them! She is trying more table foods like wheat toast with cream cheese and mac and cheese.

This week we have a PT eval on Thursday and her 1 year eye exam on Friday!

1 year check up

So Nina's following her own curve! (Man, that's some crazy hair!)
Here are her stats:
weight: 18.5 (she lost a few oz this week due to her stomach bug..she was up to around 19!)
lenght: 26 1/8 (she's a peanut!)
head: 17 3/8
She rec'd her chix pox, Hep A, and MMR shots and is still crying an hour later from them.
What else? Dr said we can use up the formula we have left and start on whole milk and can also introduce foods like eggs. I can't wait to see how she'll like/dislike milk....We are going to continue giving her the daily poly-vi-flor vitamin.

Dr is happy with her growth and we are too! Jason and I (well more me)just need to stop obsessing with the numbers on the scale and calories and be thankful she is healthy and happy!

PS. Today was the first time I saw her stand up in the crib. Who knows how long this has been going on?? She is climbing up on everything and everyone! AND as of 6pm crawling on all fours! You go Girl!

Dear Purell, what the heck?

It's just crazy! Nina's party was fun, but it also made a bunch of us sick. So far I have 16 reports of vomiting from the party goers. That's more than half the guests.
We are on the mend over here! It hit us last night around 7. Nina first. She was playing with her train and all of a sudden her 4pm meal came flying out. This fun lasted about 2 hours. The it hit Jason and me! AUGH!!!
She went to bed no problem, slept through the night and woke up all smiles. We gave her Liquilytes till around 3 today then switched over to formula and I just gave her some cereal and applesauce!
So far so good!
It's nuts, we were so worried about Nina getting sick, I never imaged I would have an outbreak on my hands! So Sorry guys! At least it looks to be only a 24 hour bug!

Party Wrap Up

Oh the fun day we had! Food, Easter Egg Hunt, Cake and Cupcakes, Presents, and even a Nap! Let's see...Grand- grandmom made meatballs, Paula made cupcakes, and we had lots of other yummy items ! Nina enjoyed watching the kids go hunting for eggs and playing around with all her family and friends especiallyAppie and Grandma! We had a really great surprise for this special birthday! Nina's Uncle Vin,(my bro) Aunt Heather,cousins Ada and Ben came down from Maine! It was a great party and a great celebration of Nina! YEAH YEAH YEAH!~

Birthday Fun!

Took Nina to Babys R US to have her first studio session! She would not put her tongue away for any shot ! I thought this one was cute! We had cake Tuesday night and she was cautious at first. She dipped her finger into the icing and licked it. Then I guess she liked it because she dug in a took a mouthful of cake and icing! As you can see, she did a pretty good job on the cake! We are having her party on Saturday! Should be lots of fun!

Happy Birthday Day Sweet Nina Rose!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

music: "Over the Rainbow"- Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Proud Preemie Parents

Before I gave birth to 24 weeker triplets, I never sought out blogs to read. What was a blog anyway? All my friends that had kids, did not blog about their kids. After I came home from the hospital and babies were in the NICU I was constantly searching for info/stats/personal stories about preemies..I never heard of the term "micro preemie" until I had three 1 pounders fighting to stay alive in the hospital.

I sat here and googled "mircopreemies" and came up with one blog and from that site I found others. I found lots about kids born 23-26 weeks.. These parents were so proud of the small victories their babies were making. I wondered if parents of term infants threw a party when their baby would take a spoon full of food or sit up unassisted like these moms did. Maybe all parents did this, but not all blogged about it daily. It was so cool to read about other 24 weekers doing amazing normal baby stuff only months after being hooked up to vent.
I am now one of these moms. I celebrate every day with Nina. I blog about her life because she is amazing to me. Watching her eat a cheerio is a big deal to me. Seeing her squeal with delight when her Dad walks in the room warms my heart. Being a 24 weeker is when Nina was born , but I do not want it to define the person she is becoming. My hope is a new preemie mom will stumble upon this blog and find a small piece of hope from Nina's story.

I always think of how it would be if Georgia and Livia were here, it would be a circus for sure, and it would be insanely different. We think of them often especially these days approaching their first birthday. I've said this before and I do believe with all my heart that those sweet babies are living on through Nina. I believe Nina is doing so well because of them. I do believe that. Through this year, I found that in order to make it, one must believe.

So as I reflect on this past year, I must thank all the preemie moms out there. Thanks for the support only you could provide. I celebrate all your small victories with your children and thank you for checking in on Nina.

Faces of Nina.

These were taken today. I love taking her picture. She has so many expressions. Most of the time she is smiling though!

Not much to report. She turns 1 next Tuesday! WOW! On Monday she has her 1 year EI evaluation and her 1 year well baby checkup is on the 20th.
She is babbling a lot now and she is trying to pull up on everything. Her main way of getting around is army crawling, but she is working on getting up on all fours for the big kid crawl. She's pleasant and sweet as ever and has brought us much joy!

I have been working on a slide show that I will post here on the 11th.