4 months already....

I absolutely can't believe that our sweet little girl is 4 months old! Time flies when you are having fun! She has changed so much in the past few weeks it's unbelievable. Some of her favorite activities are 'talking', rolling over, chewing on her hands, drooling, and mirroring your facial expressions! She's developed quite the little personality. She's a great sleeper and still LOVES bath time and being in the water!

We had her 4 month check up and all was well. She weighs 13lbs 2oz and is 25 1/2 inches long! She is in the 90th percentile for length and head circumference and 40th percentile for weight all for her actual age not her adjusted age! He was impressed with everything developmentally. He did ask if we'd been feeding her lead in her bottles....she was 9lbs even at 2 months. I actually can't believe in her short four months of life she has gained over 8lbs and grown over 7inches! Growing girl! I am still pumping exclusively and she is getting breast milk only. And on the controversial subject of cereal in bottles she DOES get cereal in her bottles of course by the recommendation of our pediatrician. She's battled a little reflux but none of us felt it was quite bad enough to treat with meds so he suggested thickening her breast milk....it's worked great!

On another note I can only imagine what her monthly pictures are going to look like when she becomes even more mobile. As you can see the 4 month pictures were a fail! She was more interested in playing with her hands, eating her hands, grabbing her feet and scooting down in the chair far enough so she could roll over! Oh well we still think she's precious!

We love you so much ellie belly!

I can't believe 4 short months ago they brought this precious angel in for me to see on her way to the NICU. What a long 3 weeks but of course we wouldn't trade it for the world!!

mmmm these hands sure are good!

playing with these hands is so much more fun then looking at my mom

Oh well there is always next month!

2 months and other ramblings......

Today our sweet little girl is two months old! It is also coincidentally our 1 year anniversary. We've spent the day at home hanging out as a family...we enjoyed sonic for breakfast, a walk in our new BOB Stroller (LOVE it), and are currently watching the storms. Later tonight we have a yummy dinner planned and then we will test out our year old wedding cake! Our original intentions were to have the top layer recreated. Our cake lady does this for an EXTREMELY reasonable price but needless to say we've been rather busy this year....maybe next year. Next weekend Steven's cousin is getting married. Since our pediatrician still recommends keeping Ellie out of large crowds she will not be attending with us :(. However, we will take that opportunity to enjoy a nice dinner out.

Tomorrow we will get the official stats on Miss Ellie but we know she's about 9lbs maybe just over and pushing 24 inches long if not already there. As you can imagine this creates quite the challenge finding clothes to fit our long skinny little girl!! We head to her 2 month well check. We've done some research and will be sticking with the recommended immunizations. We read various reports and couldn't really gather enough decision to have strong feelings either way so we will stick with what our pediatrician recommends.

What a difference a month makes....

Ellie your mommy and daddy love you so much and thank God for you every single day. We know you had a rough start in this little world but we are so thankful for how far you've come. At 2 months old you are holding your head up quite well, LOVE to smile but you are also very selective of who you share these smiles with, enjoying laying in the floor, eating anywhere between 3 and just over 4 ounces at every feeding, sometimes you like to snack during the day too, you still are eating only breast milk through a bottle, LOVE bath time, hate when it's time for your stinky vitamins, a great sleeper, EXTREMELY content and loved to be held but definitely let us know when you've had enough!

We couldn't be more than happy with Ellie's progress up to this point. The doctor continually reminds us that it's ok that she might be 4 to 5 weeks behind on all of her development milestones and that preemies typically catch up by the time they are 2. So far she's been pretty close to right on track with a full term baby! The doctor still has waking up/making sure Ellie eats every 3 hours. Sometimes I think she would be more than content to eat a larger amount at midnight and then not eat again until about 5 am. Where as now she currently eats between 11 and 12 then we wake her up to eat at 3 and then she wakes herself up between 5 and 6. Don't get me wrong there are some nights where she wakes up on her own to eat at 2 or 3!

We exchanged mother's day and anniversary gifts already. We typically try to stay away from doing this but we both got each other combined gifts this year. Since we were engaged I've had my eye on a necklace at the jewelers that designed my engagement ring and Steven and Ellie surprised me with it this year for Mother's Day and our anniversary. Steven has wanted a new blu-ray and surround sound for awhile so Ellie and I surprised him with that for our anniversary and an early father's day gift.

WOW that was a lot for one post...I guess that's what happens when you fall behind on your blogging!

1 month old

Pictures to come!

I can't believe our sweet little angel is one month old today!!! It seems like just yesterday I got the phone call from the doctor saying she needed to come today!

We had a check-up with the peditrician today and all is well. She weighed in a 6lbs 8oz. She was 20 1/2 inches long. When we were discharged from the hospital just over a week ago she was 19 1/2 inches long. Such a long skinny girl!!

We will go back to the peditrician for the standard 2 month well baby visit where she will receive her immunizations. We discussed development milestones and he said not to worry if she seems a little behind on somethings due to her prematurity. He said that typically the delays average out by the time they are 2 years old and it is absolutely nothing to be concerned about. She passed her first hearing screening with flying colors but it is standard for NICU babies to have their hearing re-checked at 6 months and 1 year so we will get that scheduled as well.

He is also checking with our insurance on the RSV vaccination. She isn't technically in a 'high-risk' category but at the same time she is. Insurance will automatically cover for babies born at 35 weeks who are under 3 months of age. However, by the time RSV season rolls around she will be 9 months of age. He doesn't feel that they are absolutely necessary but he feels that they can't hurt so it's worth a shot to see if insurance will cover them. If insurance doesn't cover them they come with a hefty price tag of $1600/month and babies need them for the entire RSV season which last for 6 or 7 months depending where you live!!!!

Right now we are working on getting our days and nights straight. It can be frustrating but he encouraged us to remember that most of the things done in the NICU were done overnight. Her bath was typically at 9 pm or 12 am and all of her bloodwork was done at 3 am. So during all of those times in the NICU she was woken up and kept awake for some period of time. He says that over the next couple of weeks things should start to even out!

So overall we had a great appointment. I can't stress how much we love our peditrician and how happy we are with our decision to use him!