Happy New Year

And in this corner....

Quinnie "The Meatball" Sellers

At a fighting weight of 11 lbs and 9.5 ounces (8th percentile for a four month old, Quinn's adjusted age)
And a fighting length of: 23 inches (5th percentile for a four month old)

Pretty sure that means she is fighting in the feather weight division.

The good news is she has stayed consistent with her growth (always somewhere between 3 to 10%) since she was born. Growing too fast for preemies can cause long term health problems, so this is a good size for her.

Dalan and I also tried to measure her head since our pediatrician never has, and we got 16 inches, which would put her in the 29 percentile. Who knows, how accurate we were, but it is fun to try.

Favorite Moments of 2010

Here are my favorite moments month by month from 2010

*January: Trip to Vegas



*February: End of my first trimester/Announcing Pregnancy



*March: Good bye hair



*April: It's a girl



*May: Meeting Quinn Ava



* June: Holding our baby



* July: Quinn is off the ventilator/ into a crib/ wearing her own clothes



*August: Due date celebration


*September: Eyes maturing/ROP decreasing


*October: She's home!


*November: Solids/More time on room air



*December: Christmas!

Favorite TV shows of 2010

(In no particular order...)

1. Amazing Race
2. Dexter
3. How I Met Your Mother
4. Glee
5. Parenthood
6. Modern Family
7. Glory Daze
8. 16 and Pregnant
9. Teen Mom
10. Real World/Road Rules Challenge
11. The Office
12. Big Bang Theory
13. Always Sunny in Philadelphia
14. Entourage
15. Californication

(Quinn staring at the TV)


(There is my cute focused on mom, not the TV, girl!)

Go Shorty

Quinn got a walker* from my parents for Christmas. She is such a mover and a shaker, we were so excited that she got something that she could move around in. However, our short little child is about 5 inches to short to reach the ground while the walker is on the lowest setting. HA! She still really liked sitting in it, and being pushed by her daddy. She could be walking on her own, before she is tall enough to reach the ground. She is seriously so tiny. Dalan calls her the opposite of a giant all the time! Funny, tiny, yet strong baby.








*She will only be using this on the ground floor of the house. Perfectly safe.

Favorite Jams of 2010

My favorite jams from this year have included:

1. Nothin' On You by B.O.B and Bruno Mars
2. The High Road by Broken Bells
3. Dream On as sung by NPH and Mr. Schuester


Quinn's favorite jams have included:

(The girl loves Top 40 music....she is a wiggleman, and needs music she can dance to...)

1. Forget You by Cee Lo Green (but we listen to the unedited version. Good thing Quinn doesn't know English yet.)
2. California Gurls by Katy Perry
3. Single Ladies by Beyonce (an oldie, but a goodie)

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was full of fun, family, and food. Quinn took her very first adventures out of the house, and did wonderfully, despite being around new things and a lot of stimulus. She is a great baby. Everyone got a little spoiled, including me.

Our little Christmas angel....


Family self portrait....

A very tired little elf....

Did Santa come?

The meatball, getting her eyes shaded by Uncle Cole...

Our little elf....


Look who was ready to party in her new Johnny Jump Up at 11:30 pm....

Stuffed Animal

Piper trying to blend in with the Christmas animals.....

Quinn the Eskimo

When Quinn the Eskimo gets here, everybody's gonna to jump for joy!

Thumb

Over the weekend, I cut my thumb while trying to peel a yam for Quinn. There was an even part on the yam that I could not get to with the peeler, so I pulled out a knife to get the job. In fact, it was our "mystery murder" knife that recently fell out of our couch, even though we had never seen it before. Scary. Anyway, then the baby started to fuss, so I was rushing and totally sliced my thumb. It bled pretty badly, but slowed down eventually. About an hour later, I was defrosting some milk for Quinn in the microwave, so I could add the formula and have a batch for the day. When I went to get it out of the microwave, it totally exploded all over my hands. I cried and cried. It hurt so badly. I ran them under cool water, but it pretty much took all day until may hands started to feel better. Luckily, they never blistered.

The next day, my thumb was still bleeding on and off, so I came up the the "brilliant" idea of Super Gluing the wound together. After Quinn went to bed, I showered, and started my surgery. Well, the Super Glue went all over my thumb, but I still decided to use my other fingers to press it closed. And proceeded to glue my fingers to my thumb. I then pulled my fingers off my thumb, ripped the wound open further, and blood was everywhere. I spent the next couple of hours, trying to contain the bleeding, and get the Super Glue off my other fingers. I could not get it off my injured thumb until the next day due to the excessive bleeding.

Ali suggested that I used tape to close the cut, rather than a Band Aid, and that is working nicely. I think it is finally starting to heal, although it still has not closed up all the way. I probably should have gotten stitches, but alas, I did not. I at least should have contacted one of the many nurses I am friends with before embarking on my Super Glue experience.

(thumb, right before the Super Glue incident)

(thumb, taped up Monday night)

(thumb, last night)

Mouth

Quinn loves putting everything, toys, fingers, hands, utensils, into her mouth. Sometimes, she gets frustrated with it, like it can't satisfy her enough, but that doesn't stop her from putting everything in her mouth. She even started grabbing the spoon while she eats her solids, and wants to "feed" herself.

A bad case of shrimp eye

Last week, Quinn pulled her feeding tube out. And cried and cried and cried when we had to put it back in. Her little eyes got all red and puffy. She calmed down, and fell asleep. When she woke up, one eye was still red, puffy, and watery. Of course, it was after hours, so I paged the on call doctor (because there was no way in hell I was taking her to Instacare, she would catch way worse things than shrimp eye there.) She prescribed some drops for her eye. (Well, she actually asked if I wanted ointment or drops, and I was like I am going to have to defer to you, the one with the medical degree on this one.) The drops cleared her eye up within a day and half.

We decided she had shrimp eye, minus the exposure to shrimp. You see, last year McKay did get shrimp eye, for real, after whacking my vegetarian sister with his raw shrimp. He must have gotten some shrimp juice in his eye. He had very similar symptoms to Quinn, but worse. He had real shrimp eye.

I am glad Quinn's shrimp eye cleared up so nicely. I am also glad that this was the first time in two and half months of have my preemie home that I had to call the doctor.

(Quinn with the shrimp eye)

She's got spirit! Yes, she does!

Quinn has Christmas spirit, despite her Grinchy beginnings this holiday season. The list could go on and on. To name a few, she loves opening her Twelve Days of Christmas gifts from her grandma, reading Christmas books, watching mom wrap presents, wearing holiday themed clothes and jammies, and posing in front of the Christmas tree (kind of) for pictures. We even think she might be part elf! Looks like she is taking after her mom, and not her Scroogey dad. I can't wait to celebrate Christmas with her, and have Santa come visit her. It will be so much fun.