All around town...

Hello all!I hope everyone is doing well.  We are doing great over here.  Lily is getting big and learning to do a lot of fun stuff.  ECI came the other day and when they got her weight and measurements they said she weighs 14 lbs 13 oz and is 25 inches long!  She is getting to be a big girl.  She is starting to grow out of her 3-6 month pjs already.  It's crazy cause she grew a whole inch since her last doctor's appointment at the beginning of the month.  I just can 't get over that she is going to be 3 months old in a week!  I am seriously dreading that day!

Brandon and I decided the other night to have Lily start sleeping in her nursery.  She has been in her bassinet in our bedroom for a little while but it's just not do-able any more.  The other night, I was up all night because I was worried about her getting too close to the sides of her bassinet.  Don't get me wrong, the small bassinet definitely did it's purpose.  She loves it.  I mean, she sleeps much better in there than her bed or even our bed, but she is just too big for it now.  We learned over Christmas and when we went to California (btw Go Saints!) that she doesn't sleep nearly as well in the pack and plays.  I think it is just because she is used to the small confines of the bassinet.  Not necessarily a good thing when you are trying to get them to sleep in a big bed, but hindsight is 20/20...  Know it now, moving on...
Anywho, she has done great!  Still sleeping through the night.  A little wiggle wormy at times, but when she wakes up she puts herself right back asleep. How do I know that?  Wellllllll, instead of buying one of those expensive video monitors, we hooked up Brandon's computer camera to her bed and we have been sleeping with my computer next to us with Skype going on both computers.  Blah blah blah...I know, ridiculous and all, but we need this right now to move forward.  I am positive this is temporary so I'm not too concerned with the set-up for now. Although, the set-up is quite genius.  It is sooo nice hearing her on the monitor, looking over and watching her on the computer.  It really tells you a lot about how they soothe themselves to sleep.  For instance, she shakes her head a whole bunch, then puts her hand in her mouth and is out.  Pretty cool and clever if you ask me.  Anywho, here are some pictures...

Eventually, we will get a video monitor...lol

Lily and I have been trying to go on a walk everyday just to get out of the house. She is like a little sponge and I love watching her look at the birds, squirrels, kids and cars. Brandon has had the stroller for the last week, so I have been putting her in her Baby Bjorn and walking her around. We went to the park the other day in our subdivision and I swang on the swings with her in carrier. We had fun, but missed Brandon's presence. Yesterday, was the first time we got to bring Lily to see the ducks in Summerwood.  They have an AWESOME pond area with an island and a small mansion in the middle of the pond that the ducks live in! I think she really liked it.  I am noticing she is kinda intrigued by animals.  Probably just the age, but she stares at them and laughs a lot when they are around.



Here is the house

Pretty cool, huh??

We went to the aquarium for Valentine's Day and she LOVED the fish!

When we got home from feeding the ducks, Brandon hung up Lily's swing that we got for a baby shower gift and she LOVED that too!
At first she was uneasy with it, but after awhile, she was smiling and laughing!

 

My favorite picture by far!!!!

Anyways, I will keep everyone updated with how she is doing, but right now I must go. Little miss wants my attention and she wants it NOW!!!!

Lily Belle is 2 months old!

Hello all! 
Well, on February 1st, Lily turned 2 months old!  We had our 2 month doctor appointment and she is 13 lbs 13 oz, 24" long.  She is in the 95% percentile, but completely proportionate.  They said her weight is perfect for her size. The doctor kept commenting on how alert and happy she was, so that made us feel good.  Personally, I think she was just happy to see someone besides Brandon and I...even if they did stick her with her shots.  She did well with that also.  She only cried for about 2 min after I picked her up after they were done. 
Brandon and I set up a mini photo shoot for her later that evening.  We decided we are going to try and get pictures made at 3, 6, 9 and 12 mths, so the little photo shoots at home each month at home will be fine.   This time, I made her a little tutu and stuck her in a basket with some organza flowing over the sides.  The organza was actually left over from our wedding.  In the other picture, she is wearing an outfit her paw-paw bought her.  It was so damn cute on her.  I just don't know how much longer it will fit her!  We are going to California on Friday to visit Brandon's parents and I will bring the outfit then.  Maybe it's a little warmer over there. 
Speaking of growing out of things... 
Lily has grown out of all her newborn clothes and pj's.  The only newborn pjs that fit her are the gowns.  Which is great.  We are getting tons of use out of the gowns.  Right now, Lily is wearing AT LEAST 3 months.  In gymboree clothes, she is wearing size 3-6 months mostly for the length.   

Lily is also sleeping through the night!  She started that about a week and a half ago.  She goes to bed between 11:30 and 12 and will sleep to 7.  She will wake up pretty bright eyed and bushy tailed, stay awake till she eats again (10ish) and then fall back asleep till noon.  I LOVE IT!  I fall asleep with her and we wake up to watch ELLEN, get dressed and start our day.   She is awesome. 

Lily is moving right along with all of her milestones.  She is raising her head and turning it from side to side, holding her head up when you hold her, cooing, laughing, grabbing and batting her toys, kicking her legs up to hit her toys (in her bassinet and on her play mat).  She loves it when you sing to her, and loves to smile.  In her bouncy seat, she has her (owl friends) who she giggles at....this seat is also known as her amazing poopy seat.  Everytime she gets in it she poops. She loves all her toys and Brandon and I have pulled out a lot of her bigger toys and are playing with her with them.  Anything with lights and music she loves.  


Anywho, that's where our little girl is these days.  No more seizures thus far.  I talked to the neurologist the other day and questioned Lily growing out of her medication. 
Unfortunately, this is going to happen soon if it already hasn't.  Her medication dosage (.45mL) was based on her weight while in the NICU (9 lbs) and now she is at almost 14 lbs.  SIGH...The neurologist said that we are waiting for her to have another seizure. Which sucks.  Another seizure in the future is Brandon and I's nightmare, BUT we have to find out if it was just neonatal seizures (Wiki on neonatal seizures) or if this will be an epilepsy condition.  The doctor said that HOPEFULLY,  since she is on medication, if she has another seizure it may be a smaller one... Not like the tonic/clonic (grand mal) seizure that caused her to stop breathing the times before. We can only pray to never have to give our little girl rescue breaths again, but the Lord is good and we have faith that no matter what happens, he is here with us.  :)

On a brighter note, our little girl is doing amazing.  We are very proud of her and all the milestones that she is just knocking out of the park.  This is very important to telling us if something else is going on, but right now she is doing great with them.  We think she is absolutely perfect and we are rejoicing every beautiful little second with her.   

I'll update again soon! Till then, enjoy some of Lily's 2 month pictures!  :)
Videos are on Brandon's youtube...Here is the link:
Lily's Videos

Cat for Sale

Well, she's gone and done it...

Gidget has gone rogue.  My nose nightmare is in full assault.  Apparently, she got pissed off for the last time yesterday when I denied her "good food" (wet kitty food).  I only denied her because she has been getting it a lot and when she gets it too much, she stops eatting her dry food which is not good for her.  Apprently, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  Gidget has started peeing on everything that is Lilys...oh yeah, and our comforter AGAIN!  She surprisingly didn't pee anywhere in her room which is surprising, but she did on blankets, the baskets under her bassinet, HER BATHTUB SPONGE...all kinds of stuff.  Now, she will do this when she gets upset and mad about something but has yet to do it since Lily was born.  Which we were kinda proud of her for.  Right before Lily came (and ever since) we have had people in and out of the house.  That would normally be enough to throw her off completely and make her act out, but she didn't and we were really proud of her.  Today, well, it is safe to say I almost killed her today.  She has peed on everything and I will be smelling cat piss for weeks...months perhaps. We rubbed her face in it and all and have barred her from all the rooms.  She is going to be so upset when Brandon goes to bed tonight and she isn't allowed in the room.   Anyways, I just had to rant.  I really feel bad for her because I know she is doing this because she isn't getting enough attention, but OH FREAKING WELL.  Neither am I...Neither is Brandon.  I know she doesn't understand and it will come in time.  Maybe she just had a kitty meltdown like I had the other day.  I don't know. 

Anyways, if you are looking for a cat, chances are I won't give her to you, but I am to the point WHERE I AM SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING IT!!!!

Little Miss Lily

I hope everyone is doing well. The days around here have gotten more organized and productive lately so that is very exciting to me. A few weeks ago, I didn't know what the heck I was doing and couldn't find order around here. I'll admit it. We had just gotten home from Christmas and didn't have a routine set. Right now, we are doing great and everyday gets better. Lily is into a sleeping routine and we are just smitten with that. She sleeps about 6 hours straight a night then will get up, eat, stay up for about 30 min and then falls right back asleep till it's time to eat again. We have also been reading a lot of books, playing on her mat and doing lots of tummy time. She loves loves LOVES the Begin Smart books.


Here is their website: http://www.beginsmartbooks.com/

They are just like her mobile. They have the bright contrasting color pictures and lines. Most possibly the most simple books in the world, but they are amazing! They really grab her attention and she will stare at them just like she does with the infant stim mobile.

The past few weeks, she is really "waking up" and taking in the world around her. It is really amazing to just watch her. She has started noticing her toys and is grabbing at them.


This is a picture I took while I was supposed to be driving. I turned around at a stop light and saw her grabbing her toy. I was alone, so I pulled over and took a picture.
She is picking her head up, turning it side and is also holding her head and neck up unassisted when we are holding her. She smiles all the time is just an all around good baby.


My mom came in last week so we could go to SAIC's Winter Party and we had so much fun. It was so nice to get all dolled up and get out of the house. We had a great time with friends and did lots of laughing. So much fun.

We have a busy few weeks coming up. More doctor appointments for me and Lil has ECI coming again on Tuesday and then she has her two month check-up next week. 2 months. I can't believe she is already almost 2 months old. Granted, her entire first month of life, she wasn't home for more than 6 days... Well, Brandon and I have gotten through her first month and are still standing.

Lily is still sleeping in the living room in her bassinet with one of us on the couch, but she will be moved in the next few weeks to her bedroom and Brandon and I will be in the guest bedroom for awhile till we make our way back to our very own bedroom. I feel bad putting her in her bed when she's still so little, but "legs for days" is growing out of her bassinet. When she starts to wake up, you see her picking up her legs and kicking them all around. I thought it would be easy to put her in her bed when she grew out of it, but with all the issues she had, we just haven't gotten there yet. We'll get there with baby steps though.

OH!!! I have also been uploading a lot of videos from my iphone to youtube so people can go on there and view them.

Here is Brandon's youtube channel:

www.youtube.com/zergcow

He's got a few of the videos of things he is working on, so ignore those, but there are some super cute videos of Lily on there. :)

Everyone take care! :)

ECI

Hello again,
I just wanted to blog again and let everyone know some good news. Today, ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) came, evaluated Lily and said that everything looks great! I was sure it would because Brandon and I are watching her milestones quite carefully and working on them with her, but still....It's reassuring when you have a specialist tell you she is on/above level. Right now, she is on about a 2 1/2- 3 1/2 month old level. That is just such great news... They came because she was in the NICU. All the babies who leave who have brain related issues get contacted by ECI. Honestly, we would be stupid not to take them up on their offer to monitor her for free. If something WERE to happen later down the line (she plateaus with her development), we would be hard pressed to get them to evaluate her for services. We are very grateful that Texas Children's is so through with their babies!!!

Anyways, They also sent out a dietitian to evaluate her and follow her. We are having a lot of problems with constipation. We were at the point where we were giving her a tbsp of Karo Syrup with each bottle and we are lucky to get one small poopy diaper a day. Anywho, so she told us to stop the Karo Syrup. It's way too much. The doctor said it was ok to get her to go, BUT she's not going like she should. He didn't mention that much can cause tooth decay before her teeth even come in. It's safe to say we are done with that. Now, be both agreed that we would rather her just do prune juice. I feel much better about that because the Karo was fattening her up and the bigger she gets, the sooner she grows out of her medication. Brandon and I are so scared for that to happen. At least before we see the neuro team in March. So, today, I gave her 1 tbsp of prune juice and just enough water to fill up the bottle a little bit. SHE LOVED IT! Surprisingly... I thought for sure she would spit it out (she is my daughter, anyway), but she didn't. She actually kinda chugged it. In addition to this, we are probably going to start her on a pro-biotic soon. A pro-biotic just adds the good bacteria to your intestine and until her little body gets better at digesting this medication, we may have to use it. I hate having to give her all of this, but we are just going one day at a time and she needs it right now, so....

Anyways, all this nonsense is coming from her medication. Keppra is known to cause constipation...all anti-convulsants do. Hopefully, we can tackle this and she will just grow out of it... Like the seizures. Hopefully, she will grow out of those too.

This weekend, my mom is coming in to baby-sit while Brandon and I go to the SAIC winter party. It should be fun. Each year it is a "casino" theme and last year we had the best time. We even won another Garmin!

See, the only gambling I do is slot machines. I LOVE SLOT MACHINES! Unfortunately, they don't have those. :( But they give everyone $10,000 in fake chips to gamble with on all kinds of tables. I give mine to Brandon because he is really damn good at craps. You wouldn't think my husband is this smart, but he calculates the odds in his head and bets accordingly. He even learned how to count cards. He just says he is too slow at it to actually do it in a casino setting. He always trys to explain it to me, but it's useless. I am like, "oh look, a kitty."

So, this will be the first time we will be leaving her for longer than just a few hours and this will be the FIRST TIME someone else may have to give her the medication. Hopefully, we will be able to give it to her before we leave, but I think it may be too late...she takes it at 9 pm.
I am really nervous about leaving her, but it will be nice to actually get dressed up and go out. Anywho, I'll update soon with more pictures. Everyone stay warm!!!! :)

Baby update!

Hello all!
I figured I would update everyone on the happenings going on around here lately.

Well, we ended up taking Lily back to Louisiana for Christmas. Brandon and I were very nervous about taking her out of the state, but the doctor reassured us that she was ok to travel. We had a plan in place as to where we were going to go if she started having seizures again, but thankfully we didn't have to worry about that! She did great!

Brandon and I were awfully paranoid about her getting sick while we were there and whilst cleaning our hands every 5 minutes, Brandon and I both got colds. That's about right. Lily didn't get very sick. She has a little cold, but the doctor said it is just a little sinus congestion. AKA...lots of boogies. She is doing really well though. We have fallen into a routine around here and enjoying for the most part. I think she enjoys it too.
She eats like clockwork all day, but the sleeping has been an issue to say the least. She has her days and nights mixed up, so she has literally been sleeping all day and up all night which is honestly quite scary sometimes. I mean, the doctor told us the the signs to look for that might indicate that she will start having episodes again are her sleeping too much, sleeping through feedings and not eating as much. Well, the last part she doesn't have issues with. She is taking between 30 and 35 ounces of formula a day. The other two aren't issues either, but you question it when she seems to be sleeping all day, but in truth, her hours of wakefullness and sleeping are completely normal.
Anywho,
Last night/this morning was our first night with colic. That is just so exhausting. We finally just threw her in the car and drove around for almost 2 hours till she fell asleep.

Well, like I said, we are doing well over here. We will figure everything out in time, but Brandon and I are finally relaxing and getting used to taking care of her. For awhile there, we were paranoid 24 hours a day, but thankfully, everyday that gets a little bit better.

Sad...

As I am sure many of you have read, a friend of mine lost her daughter to cancer this past year. Today she wrote something on her caringbridge site that I don't think I could have completely understood this time last year.
Michelle wrote,

"I need her. Now that I had her and knew her, I need her."

That really struck a cord in my heart.
I feel that way with Lily so strongly. When we were in the ER with her just a few weeks ago, Brandon and I sat outside her room after just giving the doctors permission to intubate her and thought, "oh my God, if she dies, I don't think I will be able to possibly have another child." I loved her so much already, and losing her was the worst possible thought for Brandon and I. I know some of you may be thinking how dramatic that may sound, but we didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't even know what was going on. In some ways, we still don't. We consider ourselves blessed that we even made it back home with our baby.

Tonight, When I read what Michelle wrote, I sympathized with her completely and had myself a good cry. I have just known Lily one month and I feel like I have known and loved her my whole life.
Everyday that feeling gets stronger.
Tonight, My thoughts and prayers are with Michelle and every parent who has ever lost a child. I just can't imagine...