Lucky number 7

Dear Quinnie,

Happy 7 month birthday! You are so much fun! I have never seen a happier baby. You spend most of your day smiling and giggling. It is awesome! You are awesome!

*You love toys! You are so good at grabbing them, shaking them, and putting them in your mouth! You can roll from front to back and from back to front. And you often get all tangled up in your tubes and cords. Although, more and more often you are on room air, so hopefully, some of those darn things will be going away soon!





*You are a great sleeper! And you always wake up happy! You go to sleep every night around 9 pm, and sleep through the night, with the exceptions of when we have to wake you up to eat. All you need to go to go to sleep is a binkie (or your thumb now) and blanket, and sometimes, not even that. It is incredible.


* You are becoming more and more of a thumb sucker. Not sure how I feel about this one, but you love it! And it is adorable!




*This week you have really started helping holding your bottle. Of course, this means you have also become more skilled at pushed your bottle out of your mouth. Guess what you do more often?


* Your hair is wild. Dad calls it your Doc. Brown hair. It has a mind of its own. It is also looking more and more brown. Here are some before and after shots, after I tried very hard to tame it.



* Your pouty face is getting sadder and sadder, and now you cry real tears. Breaks our hearts every time, good thing you are easy to comfort and that this is a rare sight.


* Did I mention you are the happiest baby and have the greatest smiles? It is true!


* You are loving your solids. You have tried sweet potatoes, avocados, yams, and carrots so far. You also love to stick your tongue out. All the time.



* You also love being silly with mom and dad!

*And you are the cutest little elf ever!





We love you so much! Happy 7 months (3 and half months adjusted)!

Love,

Mama

Cute little babe in a hat

One night in the NICU, they were using Quinn, since she was awake and ready to party, as a hat model for one of the nurses who makes hats for babies as part of the bereavement services. Since it was the middle of the night, I never got to see the show until we got the CD of pictures of the NICU. She looks so adorable and small. They ended up giving her the second hat for the letting them use her head.

yum yum yams

This little girl hates her bottle, but she loves yams!

This week has been better with the bottles and spitting though. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come. Keep sending Quinn those eating vibes!

Christmas Past Part 2

Christmas Portraits

(Dalan and VaRonica, 1981)

(Me, 1981)

(Me, Cole, and my cousin, Ben, 1985)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Reg

Today is my father-in-law's 70th birthday!

(although you would never know it by looking at him...)

We are so lucky to have Ron in our lives.
(Dalan calls him Reginald, but his name is Ron.)
He is generous and kind.
He is funny and a character.
He is just awesome.
We love him so much!

("Co-sleeping" with Quinn yesterday!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Eating

Quinn's biggest challenge for quite sometime has been eating. The first few times she took a bottle, the developmental therapist assured us that this kid could eat, and she would have no problems. Then she lost interest in eating, or it started to hurt, or something, because her eating got worse before it ever got better. But it did get better after we changed formula and did a few other tweaks. We had a swallow test done, and all her parts checked out to be working correctly. The NICU team, as well as, Dalan and I were pretty sure that once Quinn came home she would start eating whole bottles. And while her eating did get slightly better once we came home, it seems progress has stalled again.

This week has been the worse yet. I am guessing it is because I went back to work, and her routines have changed. Quinn has also always eaten the best for Dalan and me, but now other people have to feed her again. However, with the introduction of other people feeding her, she is eating worse for Dalan and me now. She is also spitting up again. She cycles with the spitting up, and I am hoping we are about to move away from it, but there is nothing more frustrating than feeding a baby that doesn't want to eat, putting the rest in a tube, only to have her spit a lot of it up promptly after the feeding is finally over.

I feel so bad for my baby and that she doesn't want to eat. I just want to fix her. I wish they could figure out what is "wrong." That being said, I am scared we are heading for a g-tube (a feeding tube in the belly). I am not even opposed to a g-tube, if it helps her, I just prefer that my baby doesn't have something surgically implanted into her stomach if possible. The doctor has not even mentioned one, and has said as long as her weight gain is good, (and it has been better the last two weeks, even with the spitting up) he is just going to see if she will out grow a lot of this. However, as of today, things seem to be getting worse not better, and that is scary and frustrating.

It just sucks to have a baby that is happy and thriving in all other areas, except for this one. Eating is miserable for her, and therefore can be pretty miserable for us. I feel like we have used every trick in the book, and nothing is working, and in some ways just getting worse. I am not looking for suggestions, just a whole lot of positive vibes for Quinn. Maybe it will be a Christmas miracle, and Quinn will start eating and maybe even enjoying it a little. I just want a happy and healthy baby, that's all.

The Quinn-ster

Yesterday, Quinn had a particularly cute day. She was happy from the moment she woke up. (Well, except for her bath. She now hates her bath. Sigh) She smiled. She giggled. She played. She talked. She was on room air for 8 hours. She was so much fun. She can now pick up a toy and play with it. She sometimes bops herself in the head, but she doesn't seem to mind too much. I also bought her some little barrettes to help tame the wild, ever growing widow's peak. I think these are some of my favorite pictures of Quinn to date! (Look at her chubby belly!)