Spring is here!

Spring is finally here!!  And hopefully here to stay.  The past few days have been absolutely perfect and it has been so nice to be outside, enjoying the sunshine. Gabriella has been a lot of fun- she has loved being out in her stroller and took a little nap outside on a blanket yesterday. I also realized that it is so much easier to dress a baby in warmer weather than it is in the winter! 

Gabriella is growing like crazy! I swear, she wakes up in the morning bigger than she was when she went to sleep. I am sure she is going through a growth spurt because she is back to eating every 3 hours during the day and she has started waking up at 4 in the morning to eat, which she hasn't done in awhile. She is up to 5 ounces (sometimes 5 1/2!) which still blows my mind. I am thinking we will be given the green light to start cereal soon! Our pediatrician had us start her on an ounce of pear juice 1-2 times a day to help with some tummy troubles and she absolutely loves it. I am putting it in a sippy cup and she does well with it. It is a first-step sippy cup so she still has to suck on the spout, but it is a great starter cup.

Napping outside

Too cool :)

Such a big girl

Have a good week!
xo,
Mary

A hard day

Today we found out that two families that were in the NICU with us had to say goodbye to their boys. They were in a different wing of the NICU than we were, but when you are there for so long, you get to see familiar faces, and both families were always so kind and friendly to us. They always asked how Gabriella was doing and were so happy for us when we were getting discharged- even though it is so hard to see babies going home healthy and happy before yours. The news hit us hard- you hang onto hope in the NICU and block out the fact that it is an intensive care unit. You survive the long days by reading the happy going-home stories of families before you. Even on Gabriella's worst days, I would always tell myself, She's going to be fine. You forget that sometimes, there isn't a happy going-home story. I spent most of today thinking about how grateful I am, and about the staff that treat, care for, and love these babies like their own.
 I was complaining last night about Gabriella being cranky, not wanting to nap, forgetting that a year ago I would have given anything, everything, to have a baby, even a cranky one. 6 months ago when she was born way too early, I was madly jealous of friends home with their crying babies, wishing that ours was home with us. A couple of months into our NICU stay, we met with a developmentalist, because we were concerned that Gabriella wasn't making a noise, not crying out at all. And now, here we are, with a healthy and loud-as-hell baby with wrist rolls, chubby thighs, and big, pink cheeks. And today we hug her a little tighter, kiss her a little more, and thank God with everything we have for giving us the best gift.

Mid-week Ramblings

We had another Birth to Three session today and we are focusing on core and abdominal exercises so that Gabriella will be able to sit up unassisted and roll over from both front to back and back to front. Over the past two weeks she has learned to intentionally hit or pick up an object and bring it to her mouth to chew on. She is also looking back and forth from object to object or person to person. We have some homework to do to continue strengthening her core and get her closer to her 6 month goals!

Exhausted after physical therapy

This week Gabriella has also started sleeping through the night!  She sleeps on average for 9 hours! Now, nap times during the day aren't great at all, but having her sleep all night is wonderful. She wakes up happy and rested and is so fun to play with in the mornings. Because she is anti-napping and will only go down for about 30 minutes or so in the morning and then another 30 minutes in the afternoon, by late afternoon she is over tired, fussy, and her mad face comes out :) So, we are working on getting her to have longer rests during the day.

Being silly

She's not a big fan of headbands

Happy mornings

And a little side note this week.... my sister Sandy is 26+ weeks pregnant with her little boy!  She is officially more pregnant than I was with Gabriella. Crazy to think about! She is getting kicked like crazy so I think Gabby and her cousin might be two wild and crazy kids together.  I can not wait!

Thank you, Easter bunny, for my cool shades

Loves her books

Toes are finally starting to touch the ground!

Hope your Wednesdays are going well! 
xo,
Mary

Baby's First Easter

We celebrated Gabriella's first Easter this past weekend and it was perfect! We brought her to Church for the first time on Sunday and she was great.  She met our priest and after hearing that she had been in the NICU for so long, he mentioned her during Mass and asked for everyone to pray for her continued health and strength.  It was beautiful and so kind.

The Easter Bunny was very sweet to our little girl and she was also spoiled by her grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Some of her favorite gifts include Sophie the giraffe (honestly, I have no idea why babies love this toy or why it's $30, but she is in love and chews on her ears and feet), 2 pairs of sunglasses, socks that rattle, a wooden noise maker, tons of clothes, and a cookbook of baby foods. The Easter Bunny also brought the book, Olivia, which just so happens to be one of my all-time favorites (smart bunny :)) and Gabriella actually loves looking at the pages!  This past week she has really enjoyed being read to, and books that have bold pictures really catch her attention. I absolutely love reading and could spend hours looking at books so I am hoping to pass that love on to her.  Gabriella also enjoyed her first egg hunt- or enjoyed being carried around the yard in her snowsuit while Gianni picked up eggs :)  She was passed around and doted on by all of our family and loved every second of it. And we loved seeing her with everyone who love her so very much. I didn't take nearly as many photos as I wanted, but we had the perfect day.

I am hoping that you all had a great holiday weekend as well!
xo,
Mary

Photo Friday

Happy Friday! We hope your holiday weekend is starting off well! We have a busy but fun weekend ahead so for today, enjoy an overload of Gabriella photos!

Meeting her cousins!

Have a wonderful Easter weekend! 

xo,

Mary

Just another gray hair...

The other night we had a bit of a scare with Gabriella.  On Thursday night, she woke up just before midnight, crying.  When I went into her room, she began making a deep, loud, grunting noise, arched her back, and began grabbing at me. We were rubbing her back, holding her and trying to calm her down. It lasted about 5 minutes and as fast as it started, it stopped and she was peaceful and sleeping. We thought that she had had a seizure.  We spoke to the emergency after hours doctor on call, and were told to keep an eye on her, but as long as she was breathing normally, we could keep her at home and go into the office in the morning.

She was completely fine the rest of the night and in the morning was as happy as could be. We brought her into our pediatrician and after examining her and listening to our description of what happened, he told us that he was very certain that it was not a seizure but a severe bout of reflux that caused her pain and took her breath away.  He told us that while grunting noises can and often do happen during infant seizures, babies will shake and then will become unresponsive and catatonic. We adjusted her dose of her medication for reflux and he suggested that we raise the head of her crib so that she sleeps on a slight incline. He told us that we can do that with a simple  trick of placing textbooks under the legs of the crib at the head of the bed or purchase a crib wedge mattress piece. We found the wedge at Babys-R-Us and she has been sleeping so much better and seems much more comfortable.

Even though we have a few more gray hairs, Gabriella is healthy and happy!

Gabriella has been showing signs that she is interested in sitting up more so this weekend we bought her an exercise jumper and even though she needs a little bit of cushioning around her and a pillow on the floor to rest her feet, she loves it. It is so good for strengthening her neck muscles.  We also pulled up a convertible high chair from the basement.  The chair reclines so that she won't fall forward but allows her to be at counter level in the kitchen. The big food tray removes and there is a smaller blue play tray that we can attach her links to. Over the next couple of months we can recline it less and less and get her ready to start cereals and foods.

Sitting like a big girl

Practicing with the food tray

Loving her bouncer

Making sure the ceiling fan is still there :)

This week we are preparing to host Easter brunch at our house and have a few playdates scheduled. Gianni has a crazy week of work ahead of him so it will be really nice to spend the holiday weekend with family and friends. For the very first time, Gabriella will be with all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins all at once (plus her newest fur-cousin, Rosie).

Have a good Monday!
xo,
Mary

Developmental update {goals reached!}

Yesterday we had Birth to Three and we are so proud and happy to say that Gabriella has reached every single 3 month old goal! We are now working towards helping her reach milestones that a 6 month old would be able to do. She is really closing the gap and I am so thankful for all of the things that our PT has taught us.  We have a few things that we are working on for our homework over the next two weeks. 

The first goal we are working towards is having Gabriella pick up a toy or object and look at it.  Right now she can pick up and hold an object and will look at objects but not specifically look at what she is holding.  In order to encourage her to do this, we are placing things in her hands and bringing her hands into her line of vision.  We are starting with our fingers and then will use her little toy links.

The second thing we are working on is helping her get into position to eventually start crawling. Right now, when she is on her stomach, her legs will go up in the air instead of tucking up under her bottom.  To encourage this, when she is on her stomach, we place our hand on her bum and apply light pressure.  When we do this, her legs lower to the floor and she starts to bend her knees up. Her head rises and she starts to bring her hands inwards. It is things like this that I love; simple things we can do to help her muscles learn to move.

The third piece of homework we are working on is to continue to strengthen her neck muscles. As we hold her on our laps in a sitting position, we rock her slowly from side to side, pausing to allow her to fight gravity and straighten her head. She is pretty good at this but more practice will get her ready to start sitting up with less support.

She has also outgrown nearly all of her 0-3 month clothes! Mostly due to length but it is wild how many things I pack up daily.  I think she actually grows overnight because so many times I will put something on her that I swear she just wore a couple of days earlier only to find that it is too short, tight, etc. 

And some cute photos...

Last day in these pants... way too tight!

Rainy days are perfect for flamingo shirts!

Waking up full of smiles!

xo,
Mary