Better Late...

I know. I know. It's been a while. I had exams last week and I'm kind of an all or nothing girl. When I'm in exam mode, it's alllll about exams and virtually everything else gets left behind. Anyway, exams are OVER and we're back!

I'll post more of an update during the week but for now, here are a few pics:

Hey Sydney! Look at me. Smile for the camera!

No, not a fake smile! A real smile!

So that's the alternative? A fake smile or nothing? Let's try again.

Getting better! Big smile!

Oy! You win. Fake smile it is.

We are not buying her any more toys. She played with those things longer than she had played with many of her toys.

The good old days

I've mentioned before that we used to spend hours per day holding Sydney upright during the worst of her reflux issues. It would lead to her taking her daily naps on one of us and she would sleep peacefully for hours, leaving the person holding her unable to move. We looooved snuggling with her, even if I did complain some days about not being able to do any.thing. Anyway, that came to an abrupt end when she became active and mobile and chose poking her finger up our noses or riding us like horses instead of snuggling. 

For the past two weeks she's been teething hard and then she got shots last week so she's been quite cranky and clingy. The upside is that she is all about the snuggling these days. Last week she fell asleep on me at bedtime and I stayed up for two extra hours just enjoying it. "They" don't joke when they say it all goes by so fast. Then on Sunday, it got really quiet in the house and I came upon this. 

*melt*

I know I've posted a million pics like this but this one is special because we thought we were past this stage. I hate teething, but it sure has it's perks. 

Based on all the recent pics, some of my friends have asked if I've not combed her hair at all in the past few weeks. To them I say, "Shame on you!!" I don't like hair combing  (do *you* like doing things you aren't good at?) but it's not like it's optional. Her hair is combed and brushed daily. Life is too short and her hair is too fine for me to torture myself with those elastic hair ties if we aren't leaving the house. If we are, I do my best to make sure she doesn't look like a raggamuffin:

So there. :p

The whole walking business

So my girl is still not walking. She absolutely can but she won't. It was the same when we were trying to get her to sit up and then crawl. She just would not do it. For months we would have to keep a pillow behind her and sit her up ourselves and then she would just throw herself back when she didn't want to sit anymore. She never really practices anything so we're left worrying until she just surprises us one day and does it perfectly. One day she just sat up and that was that. Same thing with the crawling...she didn't do a lot of "trying to crawl" and then falling on her face. Instead, she got around by laying on her back, knees up and moving around like a crab on the floor. I kid you not. I had never seen anything like it in my life but she perfected it and moved around with ease. Then one day we went from, "Oh my goodness, she's NEVER going to crawl!" to her just doing it the next day. She's not a trial and error kid, apparently. 

The Physical Therapist says she's her most puzzling patient but she does all the right things physically and clearly doesn't have any reason for not walking besides just not being ready to do so. Anyway, everybody set May 1 as The Date She Absolutely Must Be Walking because that's when she would turn 15 months adjusted and the"average" baby is usually walking by then. We have a neuro appt on June 17 and he would like her to be walking by then. Everybody is all a twitter because "we're so close and she's not doing it." She will walk around all day holding on the anything by her finger tip but she's just not ready to let go of that security yet.

This is where it pays to be friends with other micro preemie moms who had to wait for their kids to walk too. My friend Dianna didn't get her son (a 24 weeker) to walk until his grandmother gave him a big spoon! The spoon made him feel like he was holding something stable and he finally walked at 21 months (18 adjusted). Every other micro preemie mom I know has the same story. I maintain this blog for our family who lives far away, for Sydney to be able to look back on but also for other moms who are going through what we have been through. In the early days I would spend hours online just reading other blogs and seeing how these tiny babies developed and thrived. It's gave me so much hope then and still does now. Plus nothing beats telling the doctors, "She's doing all the right things and I don't know any kid born before 30 weeks that walked at 15 months adjusted!" There's a world of difference between a full term baby, a 32 weeker and micro preemie. It's just a fact. 

Anyway, we're not gonna stress about it in light of the fact that she is showing NO signs of a true developmental issue. The Therapist gave me a brace to "motivate" her, while acknowledging that my child is just like her mama - she's self-motivated and you can make her do any.thing until she's ready. 

I give you the brace:

There are rods at the back and front that make it impossible for her to bend her knees and sit. It's supposed to force her to balance and be inspired to walk. She thinks it's funny. 

I put them on her anyway and took this picture so that when she is a teenager and thinking about dishing attitute, I can wave it around and say, "You see what you put me through!! The things we did to make you walk! *This* is the thanks we get???" Then I'll cry and she will feel bad and tell me she's sorry and loves me and won't do it again. 

That's how it works, right?

Wordless Wednesday

Baby's Day Out

I just had a birthday, so went out to lunch to celebrate.  Sydney had been with us to restaurants before but we kept her in the stroller the other times. This time we were brave enough to let her sit on a booster on the seat. She did pretty well and even did some colouring

She eventually threw that crayon into our pitcher of Sangria but we drank it just the same. They don't make those bad boys non toxic for nuthin!

They were having a car show right outside of the restaurant so my husband, who fancies himself a car enthusiast wanted to see it all. Never mind that I would ask him the make of a car and his standard response was, "Uhh..Ferrari??"

Sydney chillaxed while we took it all in

If you pretend her hair isn't lopsided, I will too. 

B would like me to let you all know that he would like this:

It's cheap too

He didn't want to be greedy and ask for this:

This shot is for my girlfriends. I'd never seen one before and suddenly I come across a dozen in one place.

This is a Bugatti. While I was taking this picture I overheard an elderly gentleman say that he could add the cost of every car he's owned in his life and he could only buy the door of this car. Naturally I looked it up. They're only 3,000,000 USD and only 150 are made every year. Crazy.

The End. 

A letter from a father to his daughter

My friend Janis, shared this link with me today. I am just blown away by the things this man wrote and can relate to so, so much of it. I read most of it thinking, "Does he live inside my head?" Then there were the tears. A crier, I am not but this was the most touching thing I have read in a long time and obviously it had special meaning for me.

It is a very, very long read but is so similar to our NICU experience and the things we currently believe that you MUST read it. I insist.

http://ambulancedriverfiles.blogspot.com/2009/03/love-song-for-katybeth.html

I LOVE these two paragraphs in particular:

There are people, even those who love you, who would encourage you to accept those limitations, because they also fear. They fear you being hurt, or experiencing disappointment. They mean well, and they would protect you if they could.


Don't listen to them. Don't let their fears become yours.

and

And if it seems that I push you sometimes, that I make unreasonable demands, keep in mind the promise I made. Your destiny is your own. I can't chart that path for you. But my job is to make sure you don't stop somewhere short of that destiny because you settled for less than you can be.

Inside.my.head. I tell you. 

Thank you Janis. 

Where's your nose?