a walk on the beach

Its amazing how much a toddler can change in 24 hours. Hailey just gets more and more brilliant every day! She follows commands, says more words and is just plain cute! As you can see after visiting my dad at the hospital this afternoon we took Hailey for a walk on the beach. If we didn't stop her she would have run in the water - brrr ...



This week she learned to say Santa or as she says Sanca. Now everytime she sees anything with a picture of him she yells - Sanca!!! She also now says thank you. She has said it before but not on a regular basis, now its in her everyday vocabulary. Please and thank you are regulars at the dinner table. What more could I ask for :-)

Also, Hailey is starting to learn to sit still. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself. Don't get me wrong, sitting still for us only means for a minute or two, but thats better than a few seconds. Usually these minutes are for reading books. We used to try to read to her every night, but she just wouldn't sit. Now she brings books to me and even participates. Woof, woof for doggies, choo, choo for trains - and babies and sanca - they are all in the books and she points them out and says their names! Why does she have to grow up so fast?!



As some of you know my dad was admitted to the hospital Sunday, he is still in there today. They believe he has a blockage in his intestines, but they are not sure what it is. He has had it pretty rough, but things seem to be moving along very slowly so they are holding off surgery to see what happens. Right now I just got off the phone with my mom and he is getting worse again. Please pray somehow he can pass whatever it is and not have surgery.

feeding the baby

Sorry the video is so dark, please note her mouth as she feeds the baby. One day I was feeding her baby and smacking my lips making a "feeding" noise and then she started mimicking me. Now she can't feed the baby without making that noise. Too cute!

Also, please keep my dad in your prayers. He has been in the hospital since Sunday and they still don't know exactly what is going on.

SantaFest 2006

SantaFest 2006 sounds exciting doesn't it? Exciting is not the word, but cute nonetheless. Near where we live there is a cute narrow gauge railway along the waterfront and every christmas they light up the train and run christmas lights/decoration along the route for the kids. Then at the stop they have Santa, hot chocolate, cookies etc ... So Tim, being the train fanatic he is thought it would be a fun family trip and off we went last night. We went early enough so there was not alot of people and actually had a train car all to ourselves. Hailey LOVED it! During the whole trip she kept saying choo, choo and pretty! The lights were actually pretty few and far between and the ride was short, but the experience for Hailey will be a memory we will keep forever.



At the stop we got out and went to the "museum" to see Santa. I figured we would have Hailey look at him and that would be the end. First I didn't think she would sit in a strangers lap, whether Santa or not, and secondly can you say GERMS! But since we were the first train in and she was in awe over him we ended up giving it a try and guess what? We now have the famous baby with Santa picture that all mom's pull out to show you when you are all grown up. What's even funnier is Santa had an opinion on how the photographer should take the picture and whether Hailey should look at him or at the camera. Too funny!



All in all, it was pretty fun-filled night for a little girl and she was down for the count by the time we got home!

crayons

This week I bought Hailey a nice new box of crayons and decided to let her take a try at her first drawing. As you can see above she did pretty well with some help from us though at this point she would much rather walk around with the crayons, occasionally nibbling on the ends of them :-) She also can't decide if she wants to be left-handed or right-handed. Since I am a lefty I am assuming she could go either way ....

eating with a spoon

I forgot to mention in my last post that I am actively trying to teach Hailey to eat with a spoon. Up until this point in her toddlerhood I have mostly given her finger foods - meat, cheese, veggies etc ... Usually there was no need for a spoon and when I did give her yogurt or something where a spoon was needed it was usually in the morning when I am in a hurry to get us dressed, fed and out the door so I would just feed her.

Then, I came to the realization this weekend that I don't want my 5 year old someday using her fingers to eat and depending on me to feed her with a spoon :-)

So Sunday I gave her yogurt in a bowl, handed her the spoon and let her make a mess. After helping her for a few tries she understood the concept and fed herself. Defintely needs work, but she gets the idea. She did feel the need to have one hand in the bowl while eating with the other, but I figure whatever works go with it (ha, ha). At least there is a hope of having a five year old someday who can eat with a spoon!


Mom, what is this toy walking toward me with
a blinking nose?

choo, choo

I have talked about our christmas tree, but never posted a picture so there it is. Yes, there is a train around it compliments of Meme and The Polar Express movie is indeed playing in the background compliment of Nana (ha, ha). When it comes to trains I can't win :-)

Now that we have the train running around the tree Hailey is really good at saying ... "choo, choo". Its so funny! The train makes that noise rather loudly so she learned quickly. At first she was scared of the train, but Tim would not have that so he has slowly warmed her up to it.

As many of you know Hailey does not sit still, and she does not like to sit and watch tv yet. The only thing up until this point that gets her attention is the Elmo song and when that is over she is off and running. Well, Tim was watching Hailey the other night and put on The Polar Express movie and when I came home she was sitting down, watching it with daddy - my jaw hit the floor!



And we have some teeth ... Hailey now has 6 teeth! Thats a accomplishment for a baby who had none on her first birthday. I think we may see more in the coming weeks because she is now waking at night and during naps crying and very clingy and whining during the day. Motrin does help, but I do look forward to sleeping through the night once again.

And now for her newest word - puppy!!! Normally to indicate puppy she says "woof, woof", but not this time. You can see below in one of our many failed christmas picture attempts (no smiles), she is holding a small purse in her hand and in the purse is a puppy. She carries this everywhere and last night she looked at me, held the purse out and said puppy!

graduation day (x3)

While most children's first graduation is from kindergarten, preemies have many graduations before that day. They graduate from the NICU to a step down unit (1), they graduate from the NICU to home (2) and now Hailey has officially graduated from early intervention (3)!!! YEAH! Go Hailey!

If you remember Hailey was discharged from physical therapy a few weeks ago, but she was still being evaluated to see if she needed occupational therapy. They thought she was having some "sensory sensitivities" that impeded her progress, but as soon as she started walking it seemed to liberate her and all the sensory sensitivities seemed to resolve. In order to officially "graduate" from PT and to cancel OT therapy you have to have an official meeting. So that is what yesterday was about. Lets just say shock and awe were the words. They just kept saying they couldn't get over what a difference a few weeks made in her overall demeanor. Jen, the PT, asked Denise, the OT if she had ever done an eval and saw the child's demeanor completely change this quickly and she said she never had, but it was evident and so the recommendation was "graduation" and if I had questions or concerns to call!

For those who don't know preemies usually need some kind of therapy because they are introduced to this world too early and their immature, disorganized nervous systems aren't ready to handle all of the sensory messages bombarding them and by laying in the isolette instead of swimming in utero they can develop weak muscle tone as well.

Hailey has overcome so much, she is my little miracle and I am so proud of my little graduate!!!!

Kitty, kitty, kitty!


Night, night!

Hailey meets Elmo

What more do I have to say? We went to parade #2 on Sunday. This one was much bigger than the parade in our town and who did they have walking in the parade? ELMO! You should have seen her face. She just stared with her mouth wide open till he passed. She didn't smile, she didn't move, she didn't shriek, she just stared. I wish we had a picture of her face it was priceless!



She also played with her friend Elijah last night. She is usually this petite, calm, gentle little girl, but when she gets around him something snaps. First she usually does this high pitched shriek with a huge smile because she is so happy to see him, then she turns and slaps him on the head!!!! She then further terorizes him the rest of the time they play. I think it might be that she usually plays with kids who are bigger than her and yes he is technically a little bigger, but still crawling (almost walking - yeah!) so she feels to need to show him whose boss. I am just worried someday he will see the need to show revenge! (ha, ha)
We also tried to take christmas pictures of Hailey on Friday. I guess we will need a to try again (thank God I have my own personal photographer, lol), because she would not, did not smile once till we put the camera away, go figure! I felt really bad though because my dad set up his background, lighting etc ...
Lastly, I got so caught up last week in Thanksgiving I forgot say that we put up our tree. I am very sad to say its not a real one. I am a big advocate for wanting a real tree, but the heat in our apartment is too dry and I swear it would die instantly and with a fake one we can enjoy it a little longer. Next year though we are making it a tradition to cut one down. Hailey loves the tree and walks up to it to pat it and usually pulls on one of the christmas ornaments a few times (I only put non-breakables low enough for her to reach), then she walks off to do something else. I have to say the one who loves the tree most is Zoe. She sits under it almost all day. I will post a pictures soon of the tree.

christmas parade

Did someone say there was a parade?


Nice hat Nana ...


Wow, dadda, did you see that fire truck?!


Its hard to see, but this our churches float.


Hailey had a great time at her first/second parade. It really was her second because we watched from inside last year, but she really didn't have a clue it was even going on. This year she enjoyed all the festivities and even last through all the fire trucks. I would say there was at least 15 all with their sirens blaring and she didn't even flinch. Next year she will be catching the candy :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Picture overload! We had a great Thanksgiving over at Joe and Robin's house with the family. Now that Hailey is walking and getting into trouble I spent alot of time chasing her around the house, but she throughly enjoyed herself! Thank you Robin for all your hardwork hosting Thanksgiving!

Without further ado ... here are the pictures!









and last, but not least, after the festivities
Hailey spent some time this evening with her
Nana and Dooda -

tis the season

I love christmas! What can I say?! Its such a fun time of year! Well, now that Hailey is a "toddler" and can grasp more of what is going on I am really getting exciting! So yesterday Tim heard on the radio that the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving show was going to be on so we got Hailey all ready for bed and decided to snuggle her and watch the show to start this season off right. Hold it ... we forgot one thing ... this "toddler" does not sit still and defintely does not cuddle unless sick! So Charlie Brown lasted all of maybe 30 seconds, but at least I got a picture :-)



Also, I have a confession to make, my love of christmas has gone to my head and I decided to start decorating last night. I was the one who told my mom that before Thanksgiving was too early! Ha, ha! It was a quiet night, Tim left for work, Hailey was sleeping and I knew the next few days would be a blur so why not get a head start? It was so cute this morning when Hailey woke up and we walked out in the livingroom. She noticed it right away and her face lit up with a 1000 watt smile and she just started pointing and calling all the snowmen babies! I can't wait for the christmas tree!!!

I also had to share Hailey's newest word - vroom - you heard it right, vroom! You ask where did she get that from?! Well, she has a little doggie she can sit on and it rocks back and forth, daddy decided to use it like a race car and pushes her around the apartment at fast speeds saying vroom, vroom - and as soon as he stops she starts rocking and says vroom, vroom!!!

Are we ready to play pool boys!?

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?!