Firsts

The babies got to experiences a couple of “firsts” this weekend. Friday was their first time going to a fair, petting some animals (Mady liked the lambs but was not so sure of the horses, Johnathan like the pigs, and Annabel didn’t actually touch any but was curious looking at them), riding on a carousel, and then going to a parade on Saturday.

Saturday we met up with the Austins for the parade, who their daughter Kailyn was a 27-weeker in the NICU the same time as us. Both of our families have been blessed with precious little miracles. God was so good to us! It was so great to see all the babies together, doing so well! Johnathan and Kailyn hit it off quite well, they were very curious about each other!

Saturday night we went to our friends housewarming party. In some regards I love that our babies take a bit longer thru each development stage since it goes by so quick anyway but in some ways (although it will present a whole new set of challenges) we can’t wait for them to be walking and playing with all the other kids so we can actually interact with other adults when we go places. With 3 and them not quite feeding themselves yet, there’s still a lot we need to be doing most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining, it’s just different than what we initially pictured life would be like when we were first pregnant and thought we were having 1 baby. The babies were so good all weekend (we really have been blessed with how good they are), transitioning great from their car seats to bed and even all sleeping until 7:00 on Sunday!

Friday was a big day for Mady and Johnathan – they are officially done with the helmets!! It feels so good to be able to check that off! Annabel has been sleeping on her tummy almost every night and is very content on it for large periods of time now, just propped in prone, looking around. I love it! She has also been doing even better with focusing on us lately which is another relief for us. Mady now has her top right central incisor in, her and Annabel have grooves all over the place and are constantly chewing on their fingers or toys. Mady is starting associate da-da and now even da-dy with B.J.! Her and Johnathan’s latest thing is to put their heads on the ground with their arms and feet straight, as if trying to stand, they just can’t get their heads up. I’m waiting for them to do a somersault! Johnathan has been doing better with eating, taking a few good spoonfuls (about a tblsp.) at each feeding and feeding himself crunchies. He still tries to gag but if you help him chew and cheer him on he gets distracted and does what he’s supposed to. This Friday Early On starts again so our PT will come along with an OT for Johnathan with eating and to help Annabel with fine motor skills. I can’t wait!

Tomorrow is Johnathan’s lung function test, please pray that all goes well with this. It will be an exhausting day. I have to get him up at 4:30, give him a bottle and then keep him up until his 9:00 test. His test will last for about 2 hours and then an appointment to discuss results will be right after. I was worried we were going to have to reschedule again as the kiddos have been a little nasally from either allergies or a touch of a cold and we had to given Johnathan a couple of breathing treatments here and there but the doctor said she thinks he’ll be fine so hopefully that is the case! I really don’t think he has any asthmatic issues. He only seems to need a little extra help when he’s fighting a cold, he’s a lot more active now and when he’s feeling fine he doesn’t have any wheezing going on from the activity so hopefully everything will go well tomorrow. Friday he has an OTO appointment and I believe he will be tested at this one again so please pray that his loss remains stable, or if a miracle could occur, improves? I’ll take stable as I don’t think that’s possible with his hearing loss. So this week is Johnathan’s week, next week starts Annabel’s week since she starts the CHAMP program on Tuesday!!

And we have a birthday in the family today – Chloe turned 5!! She officially beat Mommy to 30! The pictures below are Chloe giving a kiss to Annabel and then Annabel’s expression right after. She has really been in to the dogs lately, I think Hershey likes her the best.