Where To Begin

Where to begin? I apologize for my slacking on blogging lately, it seems that every time I sit down and think about updating lately, something else comes up and I never get around to it. One of my new year’s goals was to keep up with the blog better, guess I’m not meeting that goal thus far! However, I have been meeting other goals that I set better so I guess you win some, you lose some. : ) Quite a few things have happened since the last post.

We celebrated Christmas and Nana Chris's b-day with her a few weeks ago. She made the girls beautiful dresses and sweaters and gave Johnathan a track expansion kit for the Thomas track he got for Christmas. We are so appreciative of all the help Nana has given, she is truly like another Grandma to the trio.










Annabel has really had a great couple of months! She continues to pull herself up to a tall kneel to play and has pulled herself all the way up to a stand along the couch a few times. On 1/25 she took her first steps along the couch with BOTH feet!! So right step, left step, right step – it was an amazing site to see!! She has done this a few times since. She has also had excellent sessions in aqua therapy (walking across and up/down the steps with very minimal assist, supporting herself with her left hand, reaching with her left hand, kicking with both feet), hippotherapy (supporting herself well while riding, commanding the horse to “go” either verbally or with her hand, eye contact and communicating with therapist), OT using E-STIM (great extension and weight-bearing thru left arm), and speech (she is now saying “no” and says “hi” quite often as well, although not on command). She recently discovered Hershey's tail and gets a kick out of grabbing it and swinging it around. She was fitted for a new walker on Monday, the mini-walker, and she’s loving it! She’s hardly constricted in it (which she loves) and she can move it forwards and backwards easily. Now we just need more room in the house for her to go!

Annabel is at the point where she generally does not like being handled or constricted, so if it’s not something that she wants to do, she can fight you pretty hard. You can hardly blame her since she’s been handled all of her life but it is making therapies a bit challenging at times. Thankfully all of her therapists work so well with her, getting thru her little protests and even getting her to do what they initially wanted. We are so fortunate to have such a great team working with her! The therapists and doctors are very encouraged by Annabel’s progress and believe that she could easily be cruising around furniture within the next 6 months! She is a determined little girl and as long as she decides she wants to do things, she will!



Madelyn has been soaring in speech (she is now saying 3-4 word phrases/sentences and is saying “please, Buckley, Brighton”, knows a fair chunk of most nursery rhymes/songs we sing, knows many animals and the sounds they make, and trys to repeat so many things that we say), PT (she is now climbing up and down stairs holding on to the railing and is loving jumping), and imaginative play (she has become quite the little mommy with their baby dolls and loves playing kitchen). She is overall much more engaged in playing with toys, solving puzzles, reading books, etc. Both Mady and Johnathan love coloring and their latest thing is to give hi-fives and "skin" with Daddy! It has been such a joy watching her grow, develop, and learn!

Johnathan has also been soaring in speech (saying 2-3 word phrases/sentences and is great at saying “please” and he also trys to repeat a lot of what we say), PT (he is now climbing up stairs holding on to the railing while coming down on his butt, also loves to try to jump, and his feet are developing well so he is going to get new orthotics on Monday that will only be inserts in his shoes), and imaginative play (also loves playing kitchen and tending to their baby dolls). Right now Johnathan loves choo-choos, cars, books, Sesame Street characters, Barney, Bob the Builder, and dancing to music. He is a great little helper, especially with helping to feed the dogs. Johnathan had his follow-up appointment from his hip dysplasia yesterday and he is looking great! The angle measurement they want to see is less than 25 degrees and his right was 20, his left 22 so he doesn’t need to be seen for 2 years!! After the Dr. appointment I took him to get his hair cut and he was such a big boy! The hairstylists had told us that after the first cut they are usually more difficult. He sat on the stool in the chair all by himself and was so good, even gave the lady the tip at the end. I was very proud of him!

The trio just completed their first round of SMILE preschool and overall did very well! They are going to continue for 2 more sessions, the therapists feel that it has been a good program for them, and will prepare them well for preschool in the fall. Plus, we still need to make the decision as to which program Annabel will participate in, 4 ½ days with Mady and Johnathan or 5 full days. Continuing her in the SMILE program will guide us in that decision. Thus far she has done well learning the schedule and what her expectations are and can now sit at the table patiently, playing with her sensory toy while Mady and Johnathan have playdough and block time so that has been a huge progress! I did learn that if we decide to start Annabel in the 5 day program in the fall that she will actually begin this June as that is a year-round program. Crazy to think about!

On 2/3 Annabel, Madelyn, and Johnathan graduated from the neonatal development clinic! Our favorite NICU fellow, Dr. Rebecca, was the one who discharged them which was so exciting. She was on the day the trio were born and was very instrumental in getting Johnathan the meds he needed to fight his numerous infections as well overall care decisions for the kids that greatly impacted their lives. She was amazed at their progress and how well they are doing. They had stats taken at the appointment so they are as follows (these are based on the normal growth charts, however, because of their prematurity they are actually measured on the VLBW (very low birth weight) charts of which I will add the data later once it’s provided). Annabel – 23.4 lbs (2%), 34.6 inches (19%), 44.4 cm head circumference (1%). And she had a fabulous blood pressure reading of 92/72 (she has her follow-up for her higher bp readings on the 15th, they will do an echo of her heart and then we’ll see the specialist) Madelyn – 21.7 lbs (0%), 34.5 inches (17%), 44.4 cm head circumference (1%) Johnathan – 23.2 lbs (1%), 33.5 inches (3%), 47.8 cm head circumference (17%)

This weekend B.J.’s parents are coming to town to celebrate B.J. turning 30 on Monday! We will also be going to the daddy/daughter dance and mother/son dance. I can’t wait to see the kids’ expressions! All of my kids LOVE music and dancing so I’m sure they will have a ball!