Joys of summer

Nina slipped into her bathing suit for the first time this year. (size 12 months seemed a bit tight) She also had her first taste of water ice (mango)! She preferred playing with/in the water ice over eating it. The weekend she also played in a bouncy house which she loved.

Nina LOVES being outside. She is really into birds and planes. She gets super excited when she sees or hears them and points up to the sky when you ask her where the bird/plane is. Very cute.

Memorial Day weekend-Livia

Here we are, one year later...memorial day weekend. the one year mark of Livia's passing.

At the time we were just going through the motions... just wanting her to live. We would have been faced with many tough decisions had she stayed with us. Can I be bold enough to say that God made up his mind for us, and we got a break?
Having triplet 24 weekers, I knew the chances of me going home with three babies was slim.
It was just so damn hard after holding and loving and dreaming about life with Livia that she was taken away after 2 1/2 months of knowing her. Even though she was super, super sick and her body was shutting down, it just stung.
Livia was a sweet baby. I hope she was not in much pain. I hope she heard our hearts beating as she laid against our chest. I hope when we held her she felt very loved .

Baby Food

For the past couple weeks I have been thinking about phasing out the baby food. I think(I know) the reason I am hanging on to it is because I know exactly how many calories are in each jar. Well Nina is getting a bit bored with(sometimes pushing away the spoon when she sees the big girl food coming out of the microwave) She is doing well with "toddler foods" so I am happy to report that we will be finishing up the jars of stage 2 and move up to the big time! (Thanks Grandma for buying us some of the baby food in the past...you will have to think of something new to spend that cash on ha ha)What I do now is give her 1/2 jar of veg and 1/2 jar of fruit then pasta, meatballs, fish etc... I guess now it will only be the latter. Oh My! I have said it before, and I think it to myself almost daily, but we are sooo darn fortunate that Miss Nina escaped the eating issues so many of our micro preemie friends face.
Here she is feeding her baby !

Peek-a-boo.

That's her at the end making the raspberry!

Neonatal Follow-up Appt

Great visit today! Her development is on target at 10.5-11 month level- which is her adjusted age and a little more! They evaluated Nina and she passed all their tests. Basically they wanted to see how she played, moved, and motor skills. The only thing Nina needs to work on her pincher grasp. No problem! They also want us to introduce sippy cup. I told them introductions have been made...but we are pretty lenient. I went out and bought my 7th or 8th type today! Dr Brown's makes one so we'll see how it goes.

Here's Nina's 14 month stats and % based on preemie scale:
weight 20.5 (80%)
length: 27 inches (20%)
head:45.5 (75%)

So yeah, wonderful progress being made by Nina. We do not go back until January!

May thoughts

I find myself reminiscing a bit these past days...this time last year was one of the hardest times Jason and I faced. Nina was doing well in the NICU as her sister continued the downward spiral. At the time I had no clue those weeks would be her last.
I leave a you with a shot of Nina from last year this time and as she is today! She is truly our miracle baby!

Bear Compare Part 3- 14 months!

This may be the last bear compare because Nina is a little afraid of the big bear now. I put her favorite toy on his shoulder and it sent her over the edge.

Top pic 5 months(7.5 pounds) Mid is at 9 months(15 pounds) and today is at 14 months(20 and some change)

PT appt went wonderful. Nina is progressing as she should. She is doing good, she has had a cold since Friday but the humidifier is doing a great job keeping her comfortable!

Lost preemie.

So if you watch Lost, you know that John Locke was born 3 months premature and is very, super special...he has powers one might say. I thought it was cool, Jason however not so impressed...I was like, "Oh look at the baby in the incubator". "Oh wow! it's the 1950's and he survived." I know, I know... Chill out Jude, it's TV! (and I love it!)

a few of my favorite things (as of today)

A few of my favorite things-
*Being chased. Around her little kitchen.
*Trees. She loves when I brush her up against the leaves. Just digs all trees.
*Little people (brown haired girl)
*Lights. She has to point to every light in a room.
*My new Red car.
*Pointing. At everything and everyone. A guy riding his bike, a dog, a bird, an airplane, trees etc...
*Elmo.
*Birds.
*Riding in the car facing front(non stop talking/singing to herself or to us)
*Baths given by Dad
*Peek-a-boo. Behind the little kitchen
*and finally her nostrils...(yep picking it)

We have PT appointment this Friday so hopefully that will go well. Nina is still no where near walking, but she is standing on her own for a minute or two and is getting a little better at cruising around on the couch.

Her eating continues to be awesome! She eats mostly what we give her and we are seeing she' a dairy girl. Enjoys all things yogurt and cheesy!

Happy B-day Lucia Sofia!