1st Birthday Party

The babies 1st birthday party was so much fun! It was such a special day and was much better than a year ago on the 12th, which was when I was hospitalized for the final time. It is so hard to believe that they will be 1 on Thursday! Overall the babies (and Mommy) were feeling better by Saturday. I finally had enough energy to start prepping for the party on Friday but it did all come together nicely. Almost everyone we invited was able to attend, including one of our primary nurses, nurse Renee. It was so great to see her again as her and I talked a lot during my long days in the NICU. The babies did really well during their party (eventhough it was SO hot!!) and even surprised us because Mady and Johnathan dug in to their cupcakes a lot more than we'd expected! Annabel was more timid but did get some licks of the frosting.








I took Annabel to her first Mott PT appointment last week and the therapist reaffirmed everything our Early On PT had told us in that she also believes any handicaps for Annabel will be very mild. She believes that Annabel will be a great candidate for The Champ program, where they'll basically force her to use her left hand and side of her body by not allowing her to use her right. Per the PT's recommendations we have been massaging her even more than we were and it seems be helping! We set goals for this summer that Annabel will be sitting on her own (she is currently the best at this, being able to let her go for 10 seconds or so) and will be rolling more and making other movements. The therapist also recommended the Lamaze Spin & Explore garden mat for her as it's been proven to increase upper body strength and promote movement for babies like Annabel. We received it yesterday so I'm excited to get her using it!


Speaking of Annabel, she has been truly amazing us lately. She focuses on us and has conversations with us frequently and she has the cutest smile and giggle! On Sunday she brought her right foot up with her hand but continued to pull it in to her mouth for the first time! Late last week I was playing with her one day and she even reached her left hand and didn't have it fully opened but it was relaxed and stroked the rattle I was holding out to her! It's crazy to think that these things are so minor in most peoples eyes but for us they are such huge accomplishments and awesome signs of what Annabel is capable of! That little girl has definitely proven the doctors wrong and I am SO proud of her! As am I for Madelyn and Johnathan too!

Annabel is back to eating her solids better again and Johnathan is doing well eating yogurt and fruits so that is what we're sticking to right now. Check out Johnathan and his "buck" teeth (aka a puff)! We made a big step forward the other day in that we are no longer keeping a daily tracking of how much they eat, diaper contents, etc. so along with this we won't be weighing them as frequently. So, they most recent weights were Annabel 16lbs 1/2oz., Madelyn 13lbs 11 1/2ozs., and Johnathan 15lbs 10 1/2ozs.