I now understand why...

...people have babies when they are young.

Quinn has decided that sleeping in her crib is for suckers, and she would much prefer sleeping in mom or dad's arms. This after two glorious weeks of having a baby who was sleeping 12 hours a night. My 31 year old (almost 32 year old) body just can't handle it, while I am sure my 22 year old body would have taken it in stride.

Waiting to have kids until my thirties was a conscious choice, and overall a good fit for me. I got to do a lot of L.I.V.I.N' (to be said in a Matthew Macconaughey from Dazed and Confused voice.) in my twenties. I had a lot of fun, and had some wacky adventures. I got my Bachelor and Master's degrees. Dalan and I got to live together for four years without any kids. We bought a house. We were financially secure. The timing was right for us.

But, holy cow! I am tired. If I only had the energy and stamina to stay up all night, work all day, and repeat that I once I had. I would be a happy, well rested, and energetic mama. Today, I was only a happy, yet very tired mama. Oh well, here's to hoping Quinn is digging her crib tonight. She has been asleep for thirty minutes in there, and I have not heard a peep. Last night, she had woken up two or three times by this point. Fingers crossed.

Seven Months (Adjusted)

Seven Month Stats

(Quinn's adjusted age from her due date.)

Weight: 13 lbs, 10 ounces (less than 3 percentile)
Height: 26 inches (26 percentile)



Good news: Quinn gained nine ounces in two weeks. She only gained about five ounces between the middle of February and the middle of March. It looks like tubie is doing its job. I hope it keeps up. It would be amazing if we could get Quinn back on the charts, and off the formula fortified with extra calories.

More good news: Ali came over and did a developmental assessment on Quinn for her pediatric nursing class, and Quinn scored completely in line with an average seven month old. Way to go Quinners!

Quinn in 5

1. Teeth!

(The first picture!)

2. Pat-a-cake!

(She loves to roll it!)

3. Crawling for her binkie!

(Trying to, anyway. She has the hardest time moving her arms, so she relies on her mouth.)

4. Cheese!

(Quinn loves to pose and make goofy faces for the camera.)

5. Sleep!

(Quinn has increasingly decided she hates her crib. This is us at 4 am.)

Promise

I need to start editing my posts before I publish them. BIG TIME! I read through some recent ones, and eeekkk! I apologize. Blame my baby brain. Blame a wild little ten month old who demands most of my attention. Any which way, it is not ok, and I am fairly embarrassed. I will do better, I promise.

In the meantime, here is a collage of some of Quinn's Sunday pictures. Look at my big girl! She can now balance against things while standing. Also, if you looking very, very closely, you can see her two bottom teeth.

Collage

I downloaded an app on my phone last night (and by last night, I mean in the middle of the night, while sitting in rocking chair, with a certain fussy baby), so I can make collages. Quinn has so many cute photos, and often, they are similar, and while I want to post them all, I hate posting picture after picture. I am still learning to use it, but it did give me something to do at 5:00 am when Quinn decided that she would sleep, but only if Dalan or I were holding her. It was a long night. Silly girl. Good thing she is so darn cute!



Ok, when I look at these collages....no weird white at the top, but when I post, it is totally there. Oh well, it bugs, but I'll just have to figure out how to get rid of it. Sometime.

Online Shopping

Ever since our family was put on house arrest, (i.e. having a baby who needs to avoid children and crowds through the cold and flu season) I have become quite skilled at online shopping. Plus, I have Amazon Prime, so I get free two day shipping and no sales tax! I am a little addicted right now. I am guessing it will stop once I can leave the house with my babe, and the weather is nice, but right now it a bit a necessity, and a bit of a new favorite activity. My mom calls the UPS man my gentlemen caller, and my in laws are used to sometimes multiple packages being delivered when they are here with Quinn. I have quite the reputation among our families.

Anyway, Carter's (one of my favorites) has all their clothing priced at 50% off this weekend, plus an additional 20% off when you spend $50. Plus flat rate shipping. I want to get Quinn some summer clothes. She currently weighs 13 1/2 to 14 pounds, which puts her in the low to middle range for size 3-6 months clothes. Her weight gain has been very slow since January. However, tubie should speed things up in the weight gaining area, and summer is still 2 1/2 months away. I also have far less 6-9 months clothes than I do 3-6 month clothes. So, I am stuck. I don't want to buy clothes that will be too small, and I don't want to buy clothes that will be too big while the weather is nice. Basically I am asking, what size would you buy?

On a side note, they have all these cute first birthday shirts and outfits, that only come in 12 months and higher. I mean, I guess it is not normal for your baby to be wearing 3-6 months when she turns a year, but I can't be the only one!!!!!

Quinn has...

...sprouted two bottom teeth, and there may be some on deck on top.

...formally requested a later bedtime, and I love it.

...started to maybe understand she needs to move her arms in order to crawl.

...finally slept through the night without oxygen. Just once, but still.

...watched TV on purpose, and loves her sign language video.

...tried pureed chicken, and hated it. Any suggestions for making homemade proteins?

Weekend Photos

Starting with my new favorite picture of Quinn and Dalan....


This one is much better....

Wild woman....

Crazy hair....

New favorite toy....


Big girl drinking out of a sippy with a straw....

No pants, and a balloon.....

Saturday Afternoon

This afternoon, we (Dalan, Jessi, Quinn, and Piper) ran to get some food and a movie. And no, we still can't take Quinn places with crowds or children. So, this involved going to a restaurant with a drive through, and Dalan getting Jackass 3 (I am so excited....I am secretly a 14 year old boy at heart) from Redbox. We went to one Redbox, no Jackass. So, Dalan ran (literally) to the Redbox at the gas station on the corner. He was so excited when he was successful. It was a nice, little Saturday afternoon.

Quinn and Piper waiting in the car for Dalan to get back with the movie.



Dalan running back to the car with movie in hand. Victory!

St. Patrick's Day

Ever since I can remember, Sean the Leprechaun has come to visit me ever St. Patrick's Day. He brings candy and little gifts, and makes mischief. He would mess up our rooms, and write a message for us on the bathroom mirror. This year, Sean was busy. He visited us here at the house, and he visited my students at school. He even stopped by my mom's house to bring things to Ali.

At school, he hid school supplies, left messages, put up chairs, and made messes. The students LOVED it. They went nuts for his little pranks. It was simple, and cost me nothing, but they had a blast.

Sean brought Dalan some treats, Piper a bandanna, and Quinn some little gifts. She got a bib, a onesie, some socks, a green football, some green beans, and some teething rings. It was a lot of fun. No messes at home this year. Sean took pity on me, since I would be the one in charge of cleaning it up. Quinn was so excited for her gifts. I can't wait for Easter, and for her birthday, since she kind of got that getting new things is fun.

(Quinn's gift, and Irish name)

(Quinn posing with her basket from Sean)

(Ready to dig in and get her stuff.)

(Passed out from too much St. Patrick's Day fun. She even lost a sock and her pants, and it was only 4:30 pm. )

Other new things in Quinn's world:

1. She had a tooth break through. It is a sharp little thing, and she is pretty uncomfortable and grumpy. It is almost worse than her surgery.

2. She is getting so close to clapping. If you cheer, she'll bring her hands together. She is so smart.

3. We are still adjusting to life with tubie. In some ways it is easier than her NG tube, and in others, it is harder. I can't wait until she gets her button. That will be so much nicer than bulky tubing hanging out her belly.

IMC NICU Feature

I posted this video on facebook, but I wanted to post it on here too. This is a feature on the NICU at IMC, where Quinn lived for the first 4 and half months of her life.

The tiny baby featured in the video is currently in bed D42, which was Quinn's room for the first eight weeks. That was the room she passed through the window from the OR, and where she lived and grew. It was surreal to see another little baby girl in there. Dr. King was in the video also cared for Quinn, and was one of the doctor's who helped us get her feeding plan in order so we could go home.

(Quinn in Bed D42)

t is crazy, fun, and a little emotional to watch the video and have all the memories come flooding back. Plus with being in the hospital less than a week ago, I am in full hospital flashback mode. It is hard to believe it has been 10 months since Quinn was born, and almost 6 months since she left the NICU.

We are forever grateful to the nurses, doctors, and other medical staff who cared for Quinn during those first months. They were scary, hard, and great times. I would never want to be in that situation again, but I am glad we received the top notch care that we did!

Blue Steel

Quinn now mugs for the camera on my phone. It started on Sunday with those pictures where she is so wild, but I thought it was just her being silly. Yesterday, she sat perfectly still, and smiled with her picture smile for the camera like she knew what she was doing. Today, she pulled all these cute and funny face again for the camera. I really think she kind of gets it, or I have conditioned her to smile for my phone. Either way. Cute! Cute! Cute!

A Perfect 10!

Dear Quinn,


10 months old! Hip hip hooray! You are in double digits now. That is incredible, amazing, and mind boggling! But not surprising, since you are all those things.....incredible, amazing, and sometimes mind boggling.



Milestones and other happenings this month:

1. Rolling. You are rolling all over the place. You never stay in one place for long.
2. Crawling. You are so close to crawling all over the place. You just forget to move your arms....funny girl.
3. Surgery. You handled like a champ. Again not surprising. You endured much worse things when you were much, much smaller.
4. Teething. You have one, possibly two, little teeth trying to pop out on the bottom middle. I was trying to tell you to do while you were getting the "good" drugs in the hospital, but no such luck.
5. Sitting. You are sitting pretty reliably, and look so cute doing so.


6. Playing. You love toys, especially your kitchen, your walker (although you are nowhere close to being able to reach the floor), your keys, remotes, phones, your rings, and anything that sings or makes noise.
7. Books. You love to be read to and enjoy looking and listening to stories.
8. Eating. Sigh. Still not great. Hopefully tubie will help in this department.
9. Babbling. You talk all the time, and are starting to make more consonant sounds. You might be saying dada before we know it.
10. Singing. You also sing all the time. You wake up singing in the middle of the night. You love Pat-a-Cake, and can roll your hands, and are working on the clapping.

(Dad put your arms in your leg holes, and your legs in your arm holes today. You thought it was hilarious.)

11. Temperment. You are happy and laid back. You have opinions, but usually will just go with the flow as long as you can have fun doing it. You are easily comforted, and love to smile and giggle. (Even the nurse commented on your easy going nature.)
12. Hair. Coming in nicely. You still have the most/longest/thickest right up front, and it is coming in a nice light brown. It looks so pretty with your bright blue eyes.
13. Clothes. You wear 3-6 months in most things. You can only wear 3-6 month leggings, not regular pants yet, but that works, because leggings are so in right now.
14. Body. You are still teeny tiny. But you are getting longer, just not wider. You switched from when you came home from the NICU, when you were short and wide. Now you are long (kind of) and lean. You are the same size as your BFF Odessa, of course, she is quite a bit younger. It is pretty adorable.
15. Sleep. You are a great sleeper, and still super easy to get to sleep at night. You still just take cat naps, but you easily sleep 12 hours at night, with waking up once or twice. We'll have to see what happens with your new eating schedule.
16. General Craziness. You have this down perfectly. You are wild and silly. You love to throw your body around, and do anything fun or crazy.



We love you so much!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

We're home!!!!!!!!!!!

We're home! We got home around 7:00 pm last night, after a long, boring day. But I am grateful it was so uneventful, and everything went smoothly as it should, so we could get discharged.

Highlights:

1. Awesome nurses who listened and advocated for Quinn (and us.) At one point a doctor wanted us to practice feeding Quinn bolus style (gravity) during the day, and then stay another night to see if Quinn tolerated a continuous pump feeding. I was like no way. We have been doing bolus style feeding with her other tube for months, we do not need a day of practice of that. Luckily, the doctor listened to us, and the nurses got that we are pretty medical savvy parents, and let us take control of her oxygen needs.

2. The surgery was easy and Quinn was never in too much pain. We were able to manage her pain for the most part with Tylenol and Motrin, and was close to being back to her normal self within 24 hours of the surgery. She rolled about 48 hours after surgery, and seemed ok on her belly. She is obviously still sore, but I think she is going to bounce back quite quickly.

3. Quinn slept for eight straight hours last night! It was glorious. Around 4:00 am (or was it 5:00 am...darn Day Light Savings), she got fussy, and I ended up sleeping with her on the couch on her room for a couple of hours, but that is actually pretty normal Quinn sleeping behavior. I think having her on her feeding pump through the night is going to be very nice.

4. Her tube is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It is usually hidden under her clothes, and so she has not really grabbed or pulled at it, like she did with the one in her nose. I hope we can make it through the healing period (six to eight weeks) without her pulling it out, and then it will be smooth sailing.

5. Under to new plan, she is already getting two more ounces of food a day, with (hopefully) room to add more as needed. I hope she is going to pack on some grams.

6. She took an ounce of apple juice orally this morning. Hooray! I was a little worried that after 48 hours without a bottle, she would refuse, since she pretty much hates them anyway. We'll see if she'll take some formula tomorrow.

7. Her face is tube free, although we traded a little tube in her face, for a much bigger one in her belly. Now, if we could just get rid of the dots, Quinn's beautiful face will be free of extra accessories!

8. We got new roommates, and I totally "knew" them from reading their blog. Small and crazy e-world. We totally lucked out with our second set of roommates.

9. Our NICU experience totally prepared us for this hospital stay. While I was nervous about the surgery, I felt confident in navigating the hospital setting, and was prepared for all the wackiness that can happen when you are the mercy of others for your child's care.

10. A baby that is at 80% two days after surgery.


Low-lights:

1. Sleeping at the hospital. It sucked, and was uncomfortable. One of us would sit in the rocking chair with Quinners for as long as we could stand before our whole lower body was numb, while the other would sleep (and I use that term loosely) on the pull out cot. I did get to watch some old episodes of 90210 while I was doing my time in the rocking chair.

2. No DVD player in our room. We had planned on just chilling and watching Arrested Development during our stay, but no dice. We only had a VCR, and limited channels for our viewing pleasure on the TV. Thank goodness for smart phones and laptops.

3. Slow delivery drivers. We were discharged at 5:40 pm, and waited almost an hour for our medical supplies for Quinn to be delivered. I was one ornery and impatient mama by this point. I just wanted out of the hospital.

4. I realized how spoiled we were at IMC. It is new. We had a private room. We had one on one, or one on two nursing. Up at PCMC, not so much. Although, we had top notch care at both places, so I can't really complain.

5. Hospital cafeteria food. No decent showers. Bad cell service.

BUT, we are home!!!!

Now for the pictures....

Hospital, day 2.....

(Tubie)

Home, Day 3....








P.S. Happy Birthday to my mom! Love you!