BPD + Other Fun Things

 Well....we have finally graduated from the BPD Clinic!  This means, they released us and we no longer have to keep the O2 (oxygen), apnea monitors or pulse oximeter anymore!!!! WAHOOO

The pulmonologist came in and discharged us from them and it was a wonderful feeling.  She pretty much cleared us for anything.  We still have to be careful of germs and taking her around sick people, but I've always been a stickler for that.  I know we have really taken advantage of having Emma Claire home during the summer and taking her out a lot and we will definitely have to back off on this when flu/RSV season takes effect.   They also told us we are no longer fluid restricted on her feedings, so we can start to liberalize those.  

Emma Claire and her teacher during their session on Monday

Since all of the changes, we have been letting Emma Claire sleep as long as she wants through the night and then making up the difference in her bottles throughout the day.  So for the past couple of nights, she has been sleeping from 9:30 to around 4:30 ~ 5 AM, so that means she skipped her 1 AM bottle, so I just take the bottle and spread it out in her other 5 bottles.  So far it has been working great and she has no problems taking the extra formula which is what we battled with before when we tried this approach. 

Yesterday, Tina, from Nurses for Newborns came for her visit/assessment and she had another GREAT report.  Emma Claire weighs....

10 lbs!!!

She also has grown to 23 inches.  We could not be happier for our little 'porker'.  We are so blessed to see her continue to grow and catch up.  

That is pretty much it for this week.  Hopefully now life will slow down a bit since we no longer have to go to BPD once a month along with our other appointments.  We go back to the pediatrician in early Septemeber and then have another NFN visit in the middle of August!  August will be pretty busy with my birthday, our anniversary, NICU birthday party, visit from my brother, Jen and Madison and a few friends birthday parties...WHEW!

EC having fun in her jumperoo! 

We are also planning a SPECIAL visit to see my Grandmother Allen in OKC...I know she is so excited to finally get to meet Emma Claire and I cannot wait to get some pictures of them together.  We will have to take a picture since it will be four generations of girls on that side of our family. 

Another picture of our fun shoes!  It will be a sad day when these are too small for her.

Prayer Request....Typically when I go to our BPD appt, I always try to stop by Baptist and visit the NICU as well as Antepartum.  I have been collecting items for antepartum over the last few weeks and wanted to drop it off to them.  The nurses love to see EC and they always want to know if it is okay to take her to see some of the mommies-to-be in antepartum.  These are typically moms which are at high risk as I was and are in the hospital for the duration of their pregnancy.  After a visit from the nurse and EC, one of the ladies wanted to chat for a bit and it was refershing to just sit and talk with her.  My heart just goes out to these ladies which are going into a world of unknowns as we did a few short months ago and they always end the conversation with, y'all are such an inspiration and we are so happy with what we have to look forward to.  I have never felt this way, but I PRAISE GOD that he can use our testimony and life stories to help others going down the same road. I'm glad that we can provide a word of encourgement to these families and I wish I could spend time down there more often just visiting with these sweet and precious ladies.  Please keep these families in your prayers and especially the family I met on Wednesday who just turned 23 weeks and is pregnant with triplets. 

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

Our Weekend in Christiana

Cohen and EC in their 'matching' outfits!  I wanted to get them vintage onsies from babyGap, but they wanted to charge me a small fortune to have two shipped since they were out in the store, so I opted to get these made with their names on them, since they are like two little monkeys!

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a bit.  We talked about going down to the Bryant's to visit and the boys would go to the 'Pull of the South' in Chapel Hill.  For those who read and are unfamiliar with this, this would be a tractor pull!  

Christin and I got all of the plans done and after EC's feeding on Saturday, we headed down to Christiana.  We had a blast to put it mildly and I wished we lived closer together.  We ate at Miller's Grocery for lunch and they just hung out at the house until Saturday night.  Of couse, we had a mini-photo shoot and I hope Christin got some better pics than I did.  You can tell, they were not too happy during this time, but we just had to roll with it.  Their outfits were to cute to not get pictures off. 

Saturday night, we went to a couple of shops at the Avenue in Murfreesboro and then had dinner at Macaroni Grill.  Food was great as usual, however, our server was a 'little' off.  Everytime she would come to our table, she always had a blank stare and we were never sure if she REALLY understood what we were asking for, hence me requesting a 'half' of cup of hot water!

After eating, we came back to the house and hung out and talked & laughed until 2 AM!  So needless to say, we slept (or tried to) on Sunday morning.

Sunday, we just hung around the house and Christin had her mom, Lulu's and Ames' birthday parties.  It was so nice to get to meet some of Justin's family and Christin's mom is HILARIOUS!  We had lunch and sweets for the party and then started on our way back home in the afternoon.  It was hard to leave, but we had a wonderful time and I cannot wait for our next visit together.  I'm hoping they can come up soon and stay with us!

Thanks Bryants for your friendship and hospitatlity!  We had a WONDERFUL time and cannot wait to see y'all again!

Chuck Taylors + 6 Month Update

My how time flies and Emma Claire is now 6 months old!  

• She weighs 9 lbs 8 ounces and is about 22 1/5 inches long
• Her head circumference is 15
• She is really trying to catch up to the growth curve based on her chronological age, she is almost getting there!
• Eating about 95 cc every 4 hours and we are going to start letting her wake us up in the middle of the night instead of waking her up at 1 AM. We shall see how this will go
• Sits up in the bumbo seat for at least 10 minutes and does a super job at holding her head up
• Laughs and 'talks' so much
• Starting to grab and hold onto things for more than a few seconds
• Loves to hold a fistful of my hair while I rock her to sleep after her 9 PM feeding
• Watches herself in mirrors, especially in the one while riding in her carseat
• Loves to listen to music
• Watching us eat and is really paying attention to things and her surroundings more
• Likes to play in her bed more and more
• Loves for others to talk to her...she is responding so much better to others and she definitely notices her mommy and daddy's voices
• Drooling so much more now
• Hopefully going to start cereal around 7 months

That is all I can think of right now.  Her teacher starts on Friday and we are so excited to see even more progress with her teacher coming out once a week. 

Her 6 month checkup went really good and they want to see us back in about 5~6 weeks to see if she is ready to start eating rice cereal...what a HUGE milestone in my opinion.  She received another round of vaccinations, but she did really well and slept most of yesterday. 

That is about all we have been up to these days.  Going to see some special friends of ours on Saturday and stay the night!  I'm so excited and cannot wait to see the Bryant's!  I'm sure there will be lots of laughter going on this weekend, HEY, may be I can shed the last 4 lbs of pregnancy weight by laughing this weekend!

So, anyone that knows me at all, knows I have a LOVE for chuck taylors...they are so comfortable to me and I would own them in every color if I could!  When Mom bought these for EC, I feel in love with them and I have been so excited for the day she could wear them.  They are still a little big on her, but how cute does she look in her pink chucks!   Even though they are a little big, you know she will have them on, OH and big bows!  I might as well dress her how I want right now, before she gets too big and then has her own opinions!

Just hanging out with Mommy...so hard to get a picture of her looking at the camera.  She is always to worried about looking around every where else!

Can't you just hear her saying...Hi Y'all in her soon to be cute southern accent!

Buddies + TEIS Update

Emma Claire's little buddies came for a visit last this week.  On Tuesday, Brendan & Ethan came by for some EC lovin' and then Kendall came down to visit (I secretly think she really wanted to see Boomer, but I got her to take a pic with EC and Boomie)

 Kendall + baby doll + EC

Ethan and Brendan want to hold her and help do things for her.  They just crack me up on everything they want 'To Do' for her.  Heather was giving her a bath and they wanted to 'help'.  EC is going to be a tough little cookie with them helping!  

Ethan and EC

Brendan tickling EC and Ethan loves her feet!

In other news, TEIS came out on Tuesday to go over her developmental results and get our goals set.  The only area she was not delayed in was eating...SHOCKING, I know!  I wonder where she gets the love of eating from! HaHa

The other areas, she actually scored in and overall only shows 40% delayed.  The compare her to babies based on her chronological age and not her adjusted age.  However, it is just a standardized test, so I took the results in stride and did not dwell on them.  They are just numbers.  Her intake person thinks it should have been less than that, and she should have scored higher in certain areas, but I digress.  I was very happy with those results and at this time, no feeding, OT or physical therapy is required for her.  We set goals for her and she has until 1 year from her first teaching session to meet those goals and we believe she will.  She changes so much each day and still AMAZES me on the things she CAN do! Starting in about 2 weeks, she will have a teacher come 1 hour a day per week and work with her and show us things we can add to our daily 'play time' as well.  I'm very excited for this and this will definitley help her move right along.  In an year, she will be re-evaulated to see where she is and we do qualify for this up until age 2 which is GREAT in my opinion.  

That's about all right now.  We go to her 6 month appointment on Tuesday so I'm eager to see what EC now weighs and how much she has grown! 

Who Do I Look Like???

Okay, okay here are our baby pictures.  I think EC is a pretty good mixture of the both of us.  What do y'all think???

Mommy (2 months old) and Daddy

Emma Claire 6 months old

PRAISE the LORD, this child was BLESSED with some hair!  When we were at Vandy a few weeks ago on the way out, a lady stopped us to ask me if I put a baby wig on her!  Oh my...do people really do that?  I told her nope, this was all natural and made for some BIG bows!

Hey.....

Just a few pics for y'all to enjoy since I know how much y'all LOVE to see Emma Claire!  I know I say this a bazillion times, but she just changes every day!  

Mom and I thought she could probably sit up in the bumbo seat (thanks aunt jen and cousin madison) and here she is!  What a big girl!  I know, I know, she is missing her biggest accessory....the HUGE bow, but today is a low-key kinda day!  I think she is PRAISING Jesus everytime she lifts those hands in the air (at least that is what nana tells me)!

EC is still our little blue eyes.  Not sure where those came from....

A quick snap of her and poppy playing.  EC is definitely staying awake more during the day and I love to hear those two in her room or the living room just playing away!

We cannot leave out Boomer.  If you are in her room, he has to be there too!  What a nutty little dog, but we sure do love him too!

So Much Love

Last week Emma Claire had a few visitors.  My friend from high school, Stephanie (who now lives in Texas) came over with her two boys, who are absolutely adorable!  It was so nice to catch up with her and spend some time together.   I think Steph would have packed her up and taken her home! 

 

On Thursday, my Grandmother from OK (my dad's mom) and Uncle Gary came in from OKC to spend a few days with us and Emma Claire.  Mom brought them up on Friday and then we spent the day with them on Saturday.  I know Grandma was so excited to see her latest great-grandbaby!  I told her so has almost as many great-grandbabies as she does grandchildren!  

As for anything else going on with us, pretty much nothing else right now.  Emma Claire turns 6 months old on Saturday and we have our 6 month checkup next Tuesday.  TEIS is coming out to set up her Developmental Plan and get us on schedule for her teacher this week, so more news to follow on that!  She is just growing and getting bigger each day!  I cannot wait to find out what she now weighs.

 Great-Grandma Barnicoat, Emma Claire and Mommy

Mom and I were able to getting a little shopping done for her next year.  Our FAVORITE children's  shoppe had a buy 1 get 1 free event.  Mom bought her some outfits for next year.  I hope we made the right decision on sizes, however, I can make these spring/summer outfits into fall outfits as well with just a long t-shirt and/or some cute baby legs!

 Here are the outfits Nana (my mom) bought for her

I got her a diaper cover to wear under her dresses and then a cute little monogrammed onesie with her initial.  They had some baby legs (leg warmers) on clearance so I got her a couple of pairs of those as well!  She is going to be one stylish little girl!  

On Saturday, Mom needed to run out to Green Hills and my friend Heather told me babGap was having a sale, so we stopped by there and got her a couple of super cute dresses, one chocolate brown and the other one zebra print (chocolate brown and white), for 3.50 a piece.  I could not pass up that kind of deal!  I should have gotten the other colors in the dresses for that price.  Again, they are big on her, however, I can add some cute leggings and a long sleeve onesie or sweater and have a cute fall outfit.  I really try to put things that will work for both seasons, especially now so we can get a lot of use out of them!

Emma Claire in the rocking chair Nana (matt's mom) passed down to us. I think I will start taking a picture once a month in this rocking chair to show her size.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he shall give you the desires of your heart

Talking

The video quality is not great...but just wanted to share what Emma Claire likes to do while laying on her chaning pad in her room.  When you talk to her, she is so response and it is so much fun to see her interacting with us so much more now!

4th of July

This year, we stayed pretty low-key for the 4th. We missed going to our church cookout, but we could not keep EC out in the heat and especially outside for that amount of time.  We cannot wait to take her next year.  We went out on the lake on Saturday and Nana (Matt's mom) watched Emma Claire for us, which was so nice!  We are so blessed to have grandparents on each side so close to us and who LOVE to watch her!  

Matt and Brynn met us out there and we had a BLAST!  They have a little girl, Hagan, who was born on December 22nd and we were talking about how so much has changed in the last year and we cannot wait to take the girls out together on the boat.  They will be a blast next year on the water!  

On Sunday, I had EC in her cute little stars and stripes outfit, but I didn't get a picture...SHOCKING, I know!  I did get one in her 'comfy' outfit later on that day. She looks thrilled...it's so hard to get a good picture of her without her 'fufu'...she loves that thing!

This was after many attempts to get a cute picture of her in her outfit!  I love this outfit and I'm saddened to see it is almost to small for her!  You can tell she was upset by this point and just wanted to be left alone (at least that was Daddy's words)

Emma Claire had her first sleepover at Nana and Papa's on Sunday night since Matt and I decided to go back out on the lake Monday.  Nana said she did GREAT and she can come back anytime! 

Nana and Emma Claire minus the HUGE bow...seems like when you take the HUGE bow off of her, she becomes a HAPPY camper...she better get used to those bows...I think I had a bow for every outfit and my hair had to be just perfect...

We cannot leave out Boomer!!! Don't you just love this little pooch!  He went to the lake on Monday with us.  I think he is the only dog that HATES water!  I will have to get a pic of him in his life jacket...what a CUTIE!!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Independance Day and we remember why we celebrate this day!  We are so thankful and gracious of our independance of so many things including our freedom and our freedom to worship. 

Hanging Out

Mom was off Thursday and Friday (typically she is always off on Fridays since she works 4 10 hour days) so she came up and spent the night with us on Thursday night and then watched Emma Claire on Friday.  They just played and had fun hanging out together.  Friday they just hung around the house until our nurse from Nurses for Newborns came and did her assessment.  Everything was GREAT with EC.  We are now on her 1 month schedule so she will not see Emma Claire until the end of July.  I loved it when she would come every week or every other week so I would know EC's weight, so we might have to make a quick trip to the pediatrician's office to see what she weighs next week since our next appointment with the pediatrician is not until July 20th for her 6 month checkup...WOW how time flies!

Nana and Emma Claire

EC definitely has some wild socks!  The bigger the better in our household....especially with her bows!!!

I love Emma Claire is really devloping her personality.  It seems like each day she does something new.  She laughs and smiles a TON at us and really tries to mimic us.  She loves to get kisses on her cheeks and especially under her chin!  What a happy baby and we are so thrilled! 

Day of Blog Silence for Cohen

Read his story HERE