expanding vocabulary

Hailey is surprising me and everyone else for that matter with her expanding vocabulary. Everyone who meets her cannot believe how much she talks! At least speech therapy is one less therapy we have to worry about :-)
Right now the words we can understand are ... please, mommy, dada, baby, nana, dooda, papa, unca (for uncle) and I swear she says Meme, but Meme doesn't believe me because she never says it around her. Now as of yesterday she has added a few more words to her vocabulary. First off, in the morning I was getting her up and she was reaching for her blanket and said banky! Then that evening she was playing peek-a-boo with one of mommy and daddy's friends Jami. Well, right in the middle of the fun, Hailey said peek-a-boo clear as day!!! We were all shocked. Lastly, daddy was holding her last night and she was fussing because her binky fell out, well, I went to take her from him to calm her down and right out of nowhere she stops crying looks at me and says "binky". So add banky, binky and peek-a-boo to the list. She also, loves to sing and absolutely LOVES music. She walks around and hums on occasion, for some reason she especially likes to hum and kick her foot while eating. She also loves to exaggerate her chewing and then just looks at me and laughs! She has a cd player/radio in her bedroom and while we are in there playing I turn on the radio. As soon as she hears it she turns around, smiles big and walks over to it to start dancing.

Also, a walking update, she is now a pro. The things we are now working on is when and if she falls to be able to stand up and get back to walking in the middle of the floor. If she does fall she crawls to the nearest surface to stand herself up again. Also, for some reason the PT brought up climbing stairs and climbing on the couch. Well, she mastered the stair climing, but we are working on the couch. Who would have thought I needed to teach my child to climb on the couch?! Really, its to high for her so I have to give her a boost. She does know how to turn around and get off.

I don't have any pictures, but I had to note that last night Hailey was able to play with her friends Adia (16 months) and Jazmine (13 months). They are all walking now and its so cute to watch them all interact and play.

Here are a few new pictures ...

Hailey and "baby" Sarah

After her bath, can you tell how tired she is?!

Drinking her milk before bed with Meme -
Look how big she is getting!!!!

On that note, we have finally switched to whole milk and this time we did it without any strange rashes or vomiting!!! YEAH!

growing up

Hailey is growing up way too fast! I am enjoying every stage, but some days I wish I could savor the moments forever. Finally she is over her sickness and thankfully hasn't caught the sore throat I have had this week. She has been in an incredibly good mood and makes for loads of fun.
I think her new found independence has made her a new little person. A few fun stories from this week ...
As you have seen before she likes to raid the cupboards, but she used to raid them and then go onto other things. Well, I don't know if it just didn't click before that what was in the cupboard was food or not, but now she it all figured out. So when we get home from picking her up at my mom's house after work she walks right on over to the cupboard, opens it and pulls out her snack of choice - then finds me and looks up with those puppy dog eyes and says - pease ... pease (please) ... how can I resist such a polite little girl?! She also likes to hide things now. If you don't want to lose it, don't put it within her reach. I find the strangest things in the cabinets, laundry basket and even wedged in her crib under her mattress. Figure that one out?! Ha, ha!
And one last funny story ...
Most of you know my husband is a songleader at our church, well because of Hailey being a preemie and needing to keep her in last year we are able to get the services live via our tv. So many time we stay home and watch daddy on tv. I think she believes her daddy is a movie star :-) Well, now that he has started third shift he was sleeping last night during church service and I had it on to watch it, well the songleader was on the stage, but it wasn't close up and all of the sudden Hailey looks up and walks over to the tv chanting dada, dada, dada ... I pick her up and sure enough she points right to the songleader thinkings its him. So CUTE! The funny thing was at that moment Tim came out of the bedroom and her eyes lit up so big as she said DADA - I don't know what she was thinking when she saw him walk out, but I do know she loves her dada!
Well, enough stories for today ... here is a cute picture from yesterday.

Mom, that was so funny!!!


Does this piece go here?!

Prematurity Awareness Day

November is Prematurity Awareness month and the 14th is Prematurity Awareness Day. Please check out the March of Dimes website (www.marchofdimes.com) to find out ways you can help these tiny babies survive. Many people look at Hailey now and think she is healthy and all is behind us, but the worries never end, they last long beyond her NICU stay. I worry not only for her life and future, but for those who I have met through her premature birth.
Also, I worry about the future, I would LOVE to have more children, but the fear of what may happen and how early the next one would be stops me from dreaming. I hear about my friends getting pregnant and having babies, and I am happy for them, but it is tainted with longing for another baby that might never be.

Please keep all our preemies and those yet to be born in your hearts and prayers!

breaking curfew already

Here are a few pictures from this weekend so far ...



Hailey and her friend Wyatt raiding the cupboard.



Yum, we got the cookies!



Hailey and her friend Pooh, I mean Elijah at his birthday party!


Playing before bedtime ...



So far Hailey has had a great weekend with her friends. She has played, gone out for dinner, attended a birthday party and stayed up way past her bedtime dancing to surfing safari (don't ask). Today she is going to meet Sara, who was born this morning at 7:30am. Congrats Tim and Elita! Hailey is going to LOVE meeting a real, live baby!!!!

Goal Met!!!!

Goal Met! That is what is listed beside Hailey's 6 month physical therapy goals. What beautiful words. So as you know Hailey started walking this week, well she not only started walking she also gained a whole new confidence so today when we went to PT, Jen's exact words - shocked! She said that Hailey was a different little girl than 2 weeks ago. She was set up to work with her and ended up just watching her and checking off goals met. Let me tell you, Hailey walked better yesterday then I have ever seen her walk. I guess my pep talk telling her to impress Jen really worked :-)
So no more PT, except for quarterly check-ins and no more OT evaluation. We had a meeting set up for Nov. 20th to discuss future OT plans and I am hoping we can cancel it altogether though they might still want to go ahead with it since the occupational therapist is different from the physical therapist and she might want to see the change herself. Either way we are done with all these therapies! YEAH!
Hailey had her friend Wyatt over yesterday while I was at work and my mom said they really enjoyed eachother and played well. Today, not only will Wyatt be back, but George and Deb are visiting for the weekend so I am sure Elijah will stop by to play. It should be cute to see them all playing together! Hailey is such a talker and her new favorite word is baby, so she walks up to every child big or small and either pats them or points and says, baby, baby ... so darn cute!

recognition

Today Hailey finally got her 15 month shots including her flu shot. I figured by now she would be used to doctors, she spend the first 2 months of her life living with with them, spent last winter going in every month for shots, weight checks and check up, had a little reprive this summer, but still has seen them almost every month or two for one thing or another. Well, she does recogize them now, but that doesn't mean she has to like them :-)
Surprisingly, she is in a great mood as we walk into the office doors, she points at all the little kids and says baby, baby ... she points at the fish ... baby, baby ... she looks in the little mirror they have ... baby, baby ... she has smiles for everyone and seems to really enjoy the waiting room, but as soon as we walk into the little room the cries begin and do not stop till we are back in the waiting room. It is so hard to voluntarily sit in a chair and hold your screaming child as they poke her 4 times. I just kept telling myself its for her own good. I was also scared because last time she got shots she started vomiting the next day and just wasn't herself for a good 48 hours and yesterday was the first day in about a month she has been acting herself!
Well, we made it through and surprisingly the shots haven't seemed to affect her yet. Last night she was in the best mood, playing, laughing, walking. I even put lotion on her legs and she didn't scream. This morning the same thing, happy and acting like nothing is wrong. Maybe we lucked out! This time we are hoping and praying to set a record and not see the inside of the doctors office till her 18 month check-up in January ...

Here are a few pictures from before bed last night. As you can see she LOVES Elmo and her blanky!





Next on the agenda, try switching from formula to milk once again. Also, be on the lookout for some cute pictures. Hailey's two "boy" friends are going to be hanging out with her this week/weekend. Wyatt will be visiting Wednesday and my mom will be watching both him and Hailey Thursday and Friday. Then Friday Hailey's friend Elijah will be visiting from Maryland for the weekend to celebrate his first birthday. They will be moving up the 18th of this month. So Hailey has a fun-filled week ahead!

keep on walking ...

Today was Papa's birthday and we had a party for him. Happy Birthday Papa! One of the main reasons we moved (a year ago this week!) was so Hailey could grow up close to our families. It is fun watching her grow up and now being able to play and interact with her cousins.
Here are a few pictures from today of her playing with her cousins ...


Look Taylor ... baby, baby ....


Luke, I love your cars!


Alyssa and I are trying to get a turn ...

On the walking front she is getting a little better everyday!!! I was worried because the first time she took some steps, she got sick and stopped completely, but this time it was different and each day she amazes us even more! I can't wait for PT on Thursday, Jen will be amazed!
As you can see she had lots of fun today and only slept on the way home so she was quite tired tonight. She is going through a phase where she doesn't seem to want to sleep. Naps and bedtime are a challenge. I am trying to figure out what needs to be done to fix this problem :-)
I don't know if she needs a later bedtime, one less nap or just keep with the schedule and this phase with pass. We will see ...
And for other news ... Tim will be working for the railroad! For those who follow my blog and don't know my husband Tim, he has always loved trains and has wanted to work in some way for a railroad for a long time. Well, a few months ago he applied for an Operations Manager position with Pam Am Railways and after months of applications, interview and a physical he starts tomorrow! Since moving we have hit alot of roadblocks financially and this job is just what was needed. I am very excited that he is able to do what he loves and excited about all the benefits this job will bring for our family!

walking!

I don't know how many steps a child has or how long they have to stay upright to be an official walker, but we are quite close. Each day Hailey gets closer and closer. Today she would take about 5 steps holding nothing, then cruise the furniture and take a few more steps. She defintely spent most of the evening on her feet and hardly crawled at all. We were so excited and I was able to catch it on video! I will post it below. Notice the flashlight (her new favorite toy at the moment) and please forgive the screams at the end, but I was just so proud of her!!!


*click on the video to view it

And for more smiles and laughs, here is a picture of Hailey raiding one of the cabinets. The only one that is not child proof. Also, please note the gerber biscuit cookie in her hand. I think she is trying to tell me something :-)

15 month checkup and OT update

So Hailey is now officially 15 months! She had her checkup yesterday and right on time she developed a total body rash. It started Sunday and has progressively gotten worse though it doesn't seem to bother her. I worried all day yesterday thinking of all the things it could be and come to find out its a viral rash. The ped asked if she had been sick in the last few weeks and yes she has, so I guess once the immune system rids the body of a sickness it sometimes produces a rash for about a week. It is not contagious, just looks awful! Because of this lovely rash she was able to put off her shots for a week, she doesn't realize how lucky she was, but I surely felt lucky (ha, ha)!
On to her appt ... drumroll please ... she weighed in at 18lbs, 13oz and 28inches long. The ped was very happy with this and said even though she is not on the charts they do not expect her to be starting out at 2lbs and they are very happy with her growth being at a steady rate. She did really well on her height because at her 9mo appt she was about 26 1/2in and at her 12mo she was only 26 1/4in so I was starting to worry, but 28in is a great jump!
Other than the rash though she is doing great and the ped says she is right on track developmentally. She even said not to let the PT and OT therapies stress me out because Hailey is just perfect with no delays.
On to the OT update. The OT did say she thinks Hailey has some sensory sensitivities due to gravitational insecurities and also due to pulling at her clothes when she is mad or taking her bib off when we put it on. For those of you who know her daddy I wonder if some of this is just not her personality, but I guess I should go with the flow. What tips me off is one day she might be sensitive to something and the next day she loves it, such as swinging or riding in the car (gravitational insecurities). At times I think these therapies are more stress then they are worth. Lastly, Hailey doesn't seem to know when she is full. She will eat and eat till I stop her. I brought this up to both the OT and the ped, The OT wants her to see a nutritionist for this because she said Hailey could be using this as a soothing method. Also she is concerned about how small Hailey is. What does she want me to do, make her eat all kinds of bad foods to make her jump on the chart?! The ped says its a normal preemie thing, she has seen it where it is hard to get a preemie to eat and also where preemies eat and don't know when to stop. She said Hailey will grow out of it and I have noticed a slight improvement. SO now add to PT, OT and a nutritionist. When does the madness stop or do I just put it to a stop?!

treats and sweets

Yesterday we took Hailey to Meme and Papa's to get her goodies. Every year Meme puts together a bucket of candy and a couple extras for all her grandchildren. This was Hailey first year of being able to enjoy the fun. We took her over in her costume and she was spoiled rotten. You can see below Papa even let her eat part of a Peep, that is until daddy said it was to much sugar and ate it himself :-)




She only tolerates her costume for a short period of time before it becomes to hot. Saturday night she enjoyed a harvest party at the church, tonight there is a parade through town where all the kids wear their costume and walk through town before trick-or-treating. That should be fun to watch! We are trying to enjoy all the festivities we can!
A couple cute stories, Hailey's newest word is baby, and she says it really well. So now whenever she sees her friends, she rubs their heads and says "baby". It is sooo cute! Also, my mom watches her while I am work and taught her to say please. I have the most polite baby in town! Whenever she wants something now she say please - its sounds more like "peas". How do you say no to that?! And she just keeps repeating it until she gets what she wants ... peas, peas, peas!
As far as kisses go, Hailey does give them, but only on her terms, so many times we ask for kisses and don't get them. Well, last night we went to read to her before bed and she kept going back and forth between us giving free kisses. How can we resist such sweetness!
And on the walking front, I have tried off and on to walk with Hailey holding only one hand, but she has been pretty unsteady, this weekend starting Friday when we were out shopping she kept wanting to get down so I tried holding one hand and she did great. I have been practicing with her all weekend and she is becoming a pro. As soon as I let go she plops down on her butt, but I really think this might help give her the confidence she needs to get up and go!

baby its cold outside!

Its officially cold! The wind is howling and shaking the window, but inside Hailey is staying warm!

OT eval

This morning I received an email from Hailey's PT (physical therapist) reguarding her OT (occupational therapy) evaluation a couple weeks ago.
She said Hailey, given her adjusted age is preforming where she needs to be from a fine motor perspective. She did find some issues with some of the sensory areas, but we cannot qualify for OT therapy unless it is impacting her progress. Jen thinks it is impeding her progress/participation in PT. So it sounds like OT will consult with Jen to add some of those sensory activities into her PT treatment. So the good news is we are pretty much on track. She just needs a little extra support with the sensitivity to movement we are seeing.
So all in all I think that is good news ...
Now see my post from below about Hailey's PT appt yesterday and you can see a picture of her walking on the lite gait!
Next week is Hailey's 15 month appt and shots, yuck. I think I forgot to mention that when she was sick and was seen at the peds office she weighed in at a "big" 18lbs, 9oz. I am not sure of her length, but she is growing because her clothes aren't so long anymore.
She has started a picky phase, I never thought we would go through this because she LOVES food, but she has now started throwing it over the side of her highchair if she doesn't like it and it is food she has eaten before and loves. She also arches her head back against the highchair and pretends to scream. We are in trouble! She is so much fun though and I wouldn't trade these moments for anything!

walk, walk, walk

Today was physical therapy, Hailey started off o.k., excited to see Jen and play with all the toys, but this time Jen decided to jump right in and try the lite gait. Jen has learned after working with Hailey for 3 months that Hailey doesn't mind letting us know how she feels and so we work through it. It used to be that when Hailey threw a fit we would give her time, now we just go for it and let her work through it. So we put her in the harness and started the treadmill. As always she started crying. Well, for those who know Hailey, she loves dogs, so we brought Buddy down and he settled her down enough to walk for 5 minutes pretty much all by herself. We then took her out and did other exercises till the end and then tried again, this time for 11 minutes. Now take note that Jen said Hailey has the best walk she has ever seen and if she just gained the confidence to go she would have no problems. Well, after impressing us all with her great form, this time she learned she can rely on the harness and drag her feet so doesn't have to walk, so Jen now has to move her legs in the walking motion. Hailey does what she wants and when she wants, meaning she will walk when she wants, but if we want to work with her or stand her up and tell her to come to us she plops back down. With that personality I think we could be in trouble :-)
Anyway, for all of you wondering what is a lite gait I finally was able to take a picture today. As you can see Hailey is not quite happy, but the theory is that she will get the motion of walking better than using a walker, because with that they don't get as many steps. Each week I do see an improvement. She balances like a pro, she can bend down pick up a toy and stand back up without losing her balance, she can even hold something heavy and play without losing her balance. Just for some reason she doesn't have enough confidence to just walk. The PT thinks it is her personality, plus some sensory issues. She said to keep in mind her adjusted age of 13 months as well. We are still waiting to hear back about the OT eval. Either way the PT thinks she will outgrow these issues, but why not get help now and have her overcome them early. Oh and before I post the picture, this week on top of still trying to overcome her cold, she is getting 3 teeth at once! Two on top and one on bottom! Oh the joys of growing up!!
Here is Hailey "walking" -

The Preemie Experience

The Preemie Experience
by Sandra D Moore

The preemie experience is the shattering of all your dreams
For a normal, healthy delivery,
Of the ability to carry home a beautiful squirming bundle
After a short stay in the hospital.

It is lying there in your hospital room listening to
The happy sounds of whole families joined
Together by the birth of a grandchild, cousin, niece,
Or nephew, and knowing that your
Child is miles away and may not survive long enough
For you to see or simply touch.

It is that first glimpse of a skinny, scrawny, not much bigger
Than a Barbie doll child
And feeling, fear, awe, and joy for such a fragile soul.

It is sitting by your baby’s “bedside” day after day,
Week after week, month after month,
Alternating between the emotional high of
“Look, her eyes are open,” or “She’s crying!”
And the lows of “I’m sorry, Mrs. Moore.
Something has shown up in Lauren’s ultrasound,
”Or even “There is nothing we can do…"

”It is hearing the alarms go off for the twentieth time in less
Than fifteen minutes because your
Child’s heart rate keeps hitting zero.

It is watching children dying around you, wondering
if your child will be next.
It is hearing your child’s cry of distress as the nurses
Insert yet another IV and do another round of daily blood tests.
It is meeting other parents of children who are doing far better
And wondering, “Why me?”
And meeting parents of children who have just died,
And praising God for His mercy
To your child and feeling guilty because your child is alive
And someone else is grieving for theirs.

It is days of nightmarish testing and coping with less
Than positive results to the tests.
It is days of joy at seeing the first eyelash appear,
The child gain a whole ounce in one day,
And two bright shiny eyes look at you and into your soul,
And knowing that your child now recognizes you as Mama or Dada;
Or perhaps looks at you and does not see you at all…
It is that final hurdle before coming home!

It is the sorrow of waiting for the monitor company
Representative to show you what to do
If the alarm sounds when your child is choking,
Gasping for breath, or simply dying.

It is the joy of just being away from all those nurses
And tubes and wires and beeps, and
Walking into the nursery you hastily prepared because, after all,
The child wasn’t due for another three months!
It is thinking the nightmare is over…only to realize it still
Continues in the form of such acronyms as
PVL, RSV, BPD, CP and numerous others.

It is the final realization that those developmental delays
Have to be dealt with, that reflux is a normal and unfortunate
Occurrence in most preemies, that the constant fight to gain weight
Is in direct proportion to a preemie’s ability to do so.

It is watching a child struggle to pick up his or her head, sit, crawl, or walk.
It is witnessing only silence when the child should be babbling,
Because the child cannot hear.It is the mental images of a child
running and playing and communicating with others in a
Perfectly normal manner that are marred when you face years of therapy
In order to simply get the child to eat by himself or herself,
To talk or walk and then run.

The preemie experience is a journey…
A journey through your soul in order to find the faith and strength to cope,
A journey of the mind when you face the emotional weariness,
A journey of the heart…to accept that, no matter what,this child is yours,
And you will love this child no matter what.

I found this poem on another preemie blog and had to share. This really hits home on alot of points and explains the experience all too well.

Here is Hailey at this time last year. Notice the HUGE jeans, they were 0-3 months and I couldn't wait for her to fit into them :-)

finally - a pumpkin!

Well, Hailey still has a runny nose and slight cough, but is defintely starting to feel better. Last weekend, after planning this for over a month, we were supposed to go apple picking and to get a pumpkin with Tim's family to get all the cousins together, but since Hailey was sick we missed out. So this weekend we set out to find Hailey a pumkin. I figure we could not let this season go by without getting at least a picture of her with one :-)
So on our way to Starbucks we saw a sign for pumpkins and followed it to a little school that was selling pumpkins. So we finally got our picture and we even brought a little pumpkin home for her. She wanted to hold it in her car seat the whole way home and if I took it away she cried.
Anyway, here is Hailey's pumpkin picture!



I think she wanted to take that one home!

Dr. Hailey is in the house!

Well, Hailey is still sick, but at least now its draining, which must mean she is on the road to recovery. Also, mommy finally put her back in her crib last night. Ever since last Friday she has either slept with us or in her pack and play so I could keep her propped up and keep an eye on her. Really, last Friday scared me because she never cried and just kept dry heaving and bringing junk up all night before I heard her whimper around 4am. I just felt so bad that she suffered for that long so I think keeping her with me has been more for my benefit :-)
Anyway, when she was born my brother bought her Dr. scrubs at Hopkins, well, finally after 15 months they fit and just in time for halloween. Here is a picture of the front/back. And the last picture was taken yesterday, I just thought it was a great pix (minus her poor raw nose)!

1 step back

For those of you with preemies you will appreciate the title of my last two posts. The famous NICU quote, “two steps forward, one step back”. Well, when I wrote my last post that is the first thing that came to mind so I thought someone would appreciate it. Little did I know at the time that my next post would be one step back.
A couple days after her first steps Hailey has caught a bad bug, I mean a really bad bug. She has been so sick she has hardly moved out of my arms let alone walk. I have been sick with a bad cold/bronchitis for 10 days now and I am just finally getting better. So Friday when I started hearing rattling in her chest I figured she caught my cold. Little did I know that this would be a double-header as I was woken up around 4am on Saturday to Hailey gagging and vomiting. I originally thought she was choking and bringing up the mucus from the cold, but come to find out it was the flu. We took her the ER because she was vomiting every 15 minutes and all that was coming up was yellow gunk. Sadly, all we could do was hold her and let it take its course. The flu lasted through Sunday and by Monday she was a limp - no smiles, no energy, just wanted to be held. Finally, yesterday the fever broke and she started eating again, but the cold is so bad she is choking on the mucus when she coughs and can't catch her breathe. Again the ped said there is nothing they can do.
On top of it all Tim and I haven’t felt the best so we made for a great threesome! I am hoping today is a better day. I had to go to work so daddy is home with her this morning and then we will switch off. She got up with me as I got ready for work and ate some toast so that is a good sign. Her congestion was still bad, but I think she is learning to cope. I hope she can fight this off better than I did. 10 days is a LONG time to be sick and I don't know how many more sleepless nights I can survive :-) Actually last night was a little better. I have her in the pack and play beside my bed so I can watch her. I didn't sleep well because I was trying to keep her upright for the congestion and this baby moves, but she only woke up once around 4am and was up for about 45 minutes. The problem is I had to get up at 5:45am for the day!
On a side note, last night I was feeding her dinner and she started singing. I got it on video on my phone and will try to get it so I can post it. She was saying words, but added a tune to it. I couldn’t get over it …it was so cute!!!!!
Please pray my little baby starts feeling better soon so we can get on with the steps forward!

Here is a picture of her a couple Sunday's ago with her Dooda - notice the ponytail I desperately tried to pull together enough hair!

2 steps forward

Hailey took her first steps today!!!!! YEAH! I came to pick up Hailey after work at my parents house and sat down to talk to my dad for a few minutes. In the meantime Hailey was hanging onto the table in my dad's office and out of the corner of his eye he saw her take two steps, but we weren't sure if it was real. So my mom picks her up and she stands like a pro and I start calling for her and sure enough she took two steps toward me - then she didn't even fall just stood there looking at me!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! I have to admit I started crying because she has been so close to walking forever, but I just didn't expect it at that moment.
That of course is the major PT goal, but also it is a goal for her to stand up in the middle of the floor not holding anything and sure enough she did that tonight as well. We were at my friend Val's house and Hailey was playing with Wyatt when all of the sudden she just stands herself up in the middle of the floor!!!!
I think she is gaining confidence more and more. Soon there will be no stopping her. Daddy has been working 3-11pm so he wasn't able to see it. I can't wait for her to show off her new skill to daddy!

future musician

pictures

Not much to update since my last post, but I wanted to share these great pictures we took at the park today.

trains, trains and more trains

Trains, trains and more trains! Yep, its already started. Those of you who know Tim well, know he has an "obsession" with trains and the minute we got pregnant he was hoping for a playmate. Hailey is only 14 months and has already been train watching and now she has the whole Thomas the Tank Engine set and I have no say in the matter. HELP! His mom who "lovingly" encourages this obsession bought Hailey the whole set at a yard sale for $34.00. Can you believe it? Also, those of you who know my apartment wonder how it fits. Lets just say now my bedroom is a playroom as well as every other room in the apartment.
Well, here is Hailey and Daddy putting together the track ...



And here is Hailey after her photo shoot last week with Elmo ...



Lastly, for a health update, those of you who remember Hailey's NICU days will remember that she dealt with alot of "bowel" problems and was glycerin dependent for probably 6 months of her life. Well, we have dealt on and off with constipation since then. Now it is so severe it is causing bleeding so they have started her on miralax once a day and will check in with us at her 15 month appt. In the NICU they had said we should probably run more tests when she turned a year to check for problems, but since she was doing so well I didn't bring it up. We will see what the doctor says next month.
Also, Hailey had physical therapy yesterday, it went well, but now she is not as comfortable with Jen as she was before we started trying the lite gait. She is so afraid of it that she is much more clingy which makes it harder to do the therapy. We are still waiting on our eval for OT, it could take up to 6 weeks. Jen, our physical therapists, thinks they won't get us a specialist because Hailey isn't that bad off, but might give Jen the o.k. to spend more time with Hailey working on sensory as well as physical aspects. She is so close to walking its crazy. Actually, she took her first step yesterday and stood alone for the longest I have seen her. She has the motion of walking down and has great balance she just won't give up the security of holding something unless you distract her. Last night though if you put her close enough to things she would let go and move between then with ease actually taking a step toward them not holding anything.
GO HAILEY GO!

occupational therapy

Well, another week (ha, ha). What can I say? Hailey had a good week overall and seems to be over her ear infection. We decided to slowly start adding whole milk to Hailey's diet on Sunday. By Monday her body was covered in hives. The ped said to try Lactaid milk instead, after that she developed welts. Finally, we started soy - she hates plain soy - so tried vanilla soy tonight. She drank it tonight before bed so we will see what happens. Needless to say I have every kind of milk imaginable in my fridge. What is strange is that she eats cheese, drinks milk-based formula, she has eaten mac 'n cheese, ice cream and other milk products with no problems. I guess whole milk is just more potent?! I just hope the rash goes away soon and the soy does the job.
As far as therapy is concerned, she has her physical therapy today and the therapist has some concerns so she is referring us to occupational therapy as well. She did up a report and said its nothing serious, but how do you tell a mother not to worry? I looked up online about sensory issues and came upon "sensory processing disorder". When reading up on that it would explain alot of Hailey's behaviors. I found this explanation on a website ... "in the womb, a baby spends her time curled up, cozy and warm in the dark, listening to her mother’s heartbeat and muted sounds from the outside world. Meanwhile, her nervous system is developing at astonishing speed, forming thousands upon thousands of essential nerve cell connections. When a baby is born prematurely, her immature, disorganized nervous system isn’t ready to handle all of the sensory messages bombarding her". The good news ... "with appropriate interventions and time, most children develop needed central nervous system connections and sensory input starts getting more familiar and more comfortable. Not always, but most of the time, children can overcome their sensory problems, especially with parents who develop their own "sensory smarts."
So, needless to say, as a mother I am worried, but the outlook is good and we caught it at such an early age that she can easily be worked with and we can all develop those "sensory smarts". I just don't know how I am going to keep up with all these appointments!
Just for reference in the report Jen put that Hailey has made tremendous progress in the past 2 months and what she is concerned about is gravitational insecurities, apprehension with movement, not being able to remain in one spot for an activity etc ... So we will see where we go from here. Today I felt guilty because if she wasn't born prematurely she wouldn't have so many hurdles to overcome. Really, overall she has done amazingly and I guess I have to focus on that.
On a better note ... Hailey is so darn cute and here are some pictures to prove it :-)

My dad had a photo shoot with her on Saturday ...

Happy Adjusted First Birthday!

As of tomorrow Hailey is "officially" 1! Ha, ha ... Tomorrow, September 16, was Hailey's due date. Can you believe it - 64 days after she was actually born! This is why I am always adjusting her age because whether she was in the womb or outside she was still developing as if she was in the womb. That is why she needed help breathing until her lungs developed, why she couldn't suck on a bottle etc ... So even though she is now actually 14 months, her adjusted age would be 12 months. They adjust preemie's age until 2 because they meet alot of milestones between birth and 2 years of age and as long as a preemie is on track for their adjusted age there is nothing to worry about and Hailey is right on track.
She is finally feeling better! YEAH! Hopefully we can enjoy the nice weather this weekend. Yesterday, we went and had PT at her therapists house. She has a machine called a lite gait and it has a harness that holds the child up over a treadmill which is supposed to eliminate them holding on to anything and have them get the feel of walking. Hailey is SO close to walking, but as the PT says she is just not confident enough to let go. So we tried this machine and she screamed - as I assumed she would. She did settle down at times, but didn't like it overall. She kept looking for something to hold on to for stability even though the harness was doing that for her. Jen did say that in the 3 years she has had the machine Hailey did the best first time walking. So even though she was screaming, she was walking on the treadmill. Funny ... We will try this for a few minutes every week.

Here are a couple cute pictures of Hailey at the park -

double ear infection - ouch!

So I know Hailey wasn't getting better, but when she started getting sicker I started to worry. Last night she wasn't acting right and ended up with a 101.6 temp. The ped said to start giving her motrin/tylenol every three hours. She thankfully slept through the night and we kept the fever down, but this morning it started to climb again and she just wanted to sleep so we took her the peds office for an emergency visit. Well, the verdict is she has a double ear infection. Yep, both ears. Oh Boy! She has been very tired and cuddly today (which is kind of nice since she is ALWAYS moving), but I do miss my spunky baby. He put her on antibiotics so hopefully she will be feeling better soon. Before she gets better she did make sure to pass on her cold to her Daddy, Nana,Uncle Matt and Kare Bear. Isn't she kind? I am hoping I don't get it! We made them a peace offering of chocolate chip cookies today to try to make them better :-)
I do want to note in the midst of this she is getting steadier on her feet and cruising furniture like a pro. I think she will be walking in no time. On Thursday she is going to the physical therapists house (she has a clinic) and trying out a machine called the lite gait. It is a harness they strap on her and have her walk on a treadmill. Sounds interesting, but I guess it can speed up her walking.
Well, I am looking forward to the extra hours I can spend with Hailey during this time with my job and know God will provide either my hours back or a better job. Please keep praying!

fears realized

You know how I have been writing about my "fears" of RSV season approaching?! Well, she doesn't have RSV, but she did catch a bad cold. I know, I know, many have told me its a part of life and it builds her immune system etc ... but it still stinks and she is miserable. It started Tuesday night and she was up all night crying. I think mostly she is miserable because she can't suck on her binky due to not being able to breathe and that frustrates her. If she wasn't a binky baby she might sleep better. But what can I do?! Yesterday you could hear that the cold had moved into her throat as she is raspy. I am just praying it doesn't move into her lungs because that is where it gets scary. Tim also woke up this morning sick ... ARGHH ... and to think this is the first (in a while) and probably last 80 degree, sunny weekend we will have this year!!! Hopefully we can enjoy some of it!
On a side note, I did take her to the pediatrician because of the constant crying (to make sure it wasn't an ear infection) and to check on her reflux, because it has become quite worse. And we found out her zantac dose was not even therapeutic. We hadn't increased it because she seemed to be doing better at her 12mo appt. So it was doubled from 1ml 3 times a day to 2ml's. We can even go up as far as 3ml's if this doesn't work. She hasn't been cringing and choking so much so I think the zantac is starting to work though she is still spitting up which makes her congestion worse. An almost 14 month old spitting up - I thought that stopped early on (ha, ha)! Oh, and before I forget to top it off, our baby who carefully and slowly grows teeth has decided now would be a great time to bring in her top teeth. YES - a teething, sick, reflux baby! And I wonder why all she does is cry ... I just wish I could make it better!!!! Keep us in your prayers!
Oh, and on a good note. Tim has a job, not only a job, but a great job! He goes in today to meet with the owner, get his letter of employment, salary and start date!

Happy Homecoming Anniversary!

Today marks 1 year that Hailey has been home with us. Can you believe it?! 53 days after her birth she came home ... What a wonderful year it has been! I have been thinking back on this day for the past week and just can't believe how far she has come! She came home weighing 5lbs, 3oz and is now a "big" 17lbs, 3 oz. She is still the same feisty, precious bundle of joy we brought home and I am so lucky to be her mom.
Just think in only 12 more days it will be her adjusted birthday/due date! Funny, huh?! So many days to celebrate, we just better not celebrate them all with cake or I am in major trouble :-)
Well, on to this weekend. It was pretty uneventful. We relaxed, did a little shopping, celebrated my brother's birthday and took a trip to the beach. I have been pretty sad that summer is over (the season is to quick up here), but I am now getting into the fall mode and looking forward to pumpkin picking, halloween, thanksgiving, christmas and all that comes with those fun holidays. Just think how much fun Hailey will have this year as those holidays approach!
Since I went on a picture taking "spree" this weekend I just had to share ...

Trouble with a capital "T"

Well, not much to report this week (that is usually a good thing :-) Hailey had physical therapy on Monday and did well. Jen said again that she probably won't be with us much longer. Pretty much Hailey's only issue is still her "core" strength which makes her accident prone. She can crawl, cruise etc, but due to low tone in her core she is extra wobbly. I can't take my eyes off her for a second or she is bumping into something with her head! She did suggest buying Hailey a walker because she is independent and likes to walk on her "own". So we took her advice and Hailey is now a happy to be up and walking around with her toy whereas she preferred crawling or cruising before - God forbid she have to hold our hands to walk (ha, ha).

Here are some pictures of her walking ....





Also, I had to post this picture my dad took at my birthday party. Here is Hailey playing with her friends, Wyatt and Adia.




Still no more teeth to report. Not sure what is going on with that. I guess they will come when they are ready. I also have to mention for the records that as Hailey gets older the more I realize how much she is like her daddy. She now even mimics habits he has that annoy me half to death! I won't go into details - but Tim and Ms. Tim Jr. spell TROUBLE with a capital "T" for Mommy :-) This weekend is my brother's 21st birthday. Can you believe it!?
Happy Birthday Uncle Matt! We love you!