Not at all my night

1. I have allergies or a cold. I was thinking allergies, but now I am not so sure. Either way, a runny nose is not fun. Quinn's nose is also slightly runny, but she could be teething.

2. Quinn has decided that sleeping in her crib is for suckers times 100. She used to fall asleep and stay asleep in under seven minutes. Now, it can take up to an hour to get her to sleep in the first place. And she wakes up like a feral cat. (Or wolf....Romulus, anyone?) She is all arched over on her back, bright red, and screaming. She doesn't even look like herself. We do this at least two times a night. She used to just wake up, need her binkie, and go back to sleep. She now requires a lengthy rocking session, or a cuddle session on the couch.

I guess we need to do some sleep training. However, I am hesitant to let her cry it out for a few reasons. If she moves too much her pulse-ox. monitor goes off, and I have to at least look in on her anyway. She can pull herself up on the bars on her crib, and I am afraid her hurting herself in an attempted escape. She is hooked up to two sets of wires/tubing and I don't want her pulling her g tube out/ get all tangled up. Which leads me to my next point....

3. I pulled her g tube button, balloon inflated and all, out tonight. I went to put her in her crib, got the tubing caught on her railing (because I am barely tall enough to get her in to her crib, I really have to reach to get her in there), and heard a pop. Even though I had never heard that sound before, I knew it was bad news bears. Quinn cried, but stopped immediately when I picked her back up. Leading me to believe the cry was about cribs being for suckers, not about any sort of pain. Ran down stairs, got the necessary supplies, and put her button back in as stomach milk (grossest thing ever) spurted out of the open tubing all over the place. It was awful for me. Quinn was never too bothered. Quinn then thought it was time to party, but quickly calmed down, and actually went into a deep enough sleep, that I put her successfully in her crib!

4. Quinn's monitor just alarmed like crazy. It was telling me "sensor off", even though it is clearly on. I fixed it for now. Usually, to really fix those types of malfunctions, you need to take the sensor off her foot, and reattach it or get a new one. And you always wake up the baby in doing so. And there is no way in hell I want to risk that right now. However, I will probably end up having to do it right around one am. It really is going to be one of those nights!

Spring Break: Friends

One of the best things we got to do over Spring Break is get out with other kids. Quinn has had little to no exposure to other children, and is fascinated by them. It is like she realized that their are creatures other than Piper that are around her size. She loves to watch other kids, especially older ones.

We did lots of fun things with our friends-the zoo, Gardner Village, dinner dates, and the park. It had been warmer, it would have been perfect! We are looking forward to lots of fun play dates with all our friends over the summer.

(Quinn and Isaac V.)

(Quinn watching Annie and Ellie watch the rooster.)

(Quinn trying to kiss/bite Odessa)

(Quinn and Carter....11 months ago these two weighed less than 2 pounds.)

And before Spring Break, Quinn got to meet her cousin Keaton from Texas!

Two Weeks

There is just two weeks until Quinn turns one, which means, just two weeks until the March for Babies walk for the March of Dimes.

We are walking for....

• Quinn
• All our preemie friends- Carter, Kian, Olivia, Brooke, Macey, and Baylee.
• All our preemie families.
  
• Our NICU nurses, and doctors.
• Anyone who has a polio shot.
• All babies born too soon or too small!
  

Come walk with us or donate to Team Quinners here.

No donation is too small. This walk is all about celebrating the small!

Your donation will help babies who look like this...


Become this.....





Thanks!

Tubie or not Tubie

Last Wednesday, we said good bye to Tubie. Quinn's incision site had healed enough to remove the Foley Catheter (Tubie) and replace it with a button. It is so much nicer. She no longer has six inches of tubing coming out of her belly that we have to tape down. Just a simple button that is easily disguised under clothing. It works like a snap. We open it, attach some tubing, feed her, and then detach the tubing, and close her button. It also means we can go back to regular baths, inside of glorified sponge baths!

Quinn had so much fun waiting for the doctor. She crawled on the crinkly paper. She moved her hand like a bull before taking off the crawl. She looked in the mirror. She checked out the dinosaurs on the wall. She peed through her diaper. Then the doctor made the switch. It is a simple procedure that took three minutes. But, Quinn hated it. She screamed for 30-45 minutes straight after, and this kid almost never screams. Poor baby. It must have hurt more than we anticipated. However, she bounced back pretty quickly after that, and it has not bothered her since.

(Then...tubie)

(Now....Button, button, Who's got the button?)

The Rest of Easter

We had a fabulous Easter. We went to Dalan's parents' house in the afternoon and visited with them, VaRonica, Nathan, Mary Lou, and Dave. Dalan's dad showed me all these old pictures. I loved seeing them, and hearing the stories that go along with them! Quinn learned that crawling in a dress is no easy task, and enjoyed being the center of attention.

Later, we went to my Nana's for dinner. Again, Quinn enjoyed being the center of attention. We had way too much food, and I was grateful when it was time to feed Quinn, and I was forced to stop feeding myself.

Thanks everyone for Quinn's Easter gifts! You were way too generous!

Easter Eve

On the eve before Easter we went to my parents' house to dye some eggs. One of my favorite traditions! We had a blast.

Things I learned:

Ali and I can both fit a hard boiled egg in our mouth. Quinn also gave it a try.

Dalan prefers his eggs white, in the style of Puff Daddy.

McKay has "lots" of ideas for decorating and dyeing eggs, and will willing go over his allotted eight eggs to express his creativity.

A monster themed egg dyeing kit that comes with hair can lead to some disgusting looking eggs.

(Ali drew a Quinn egg.
Last year, she drew a fetus Quinn egg.
A new tradition has been born.)

Thanks everyone for a fun evening!

Easter Morning

Quinn was so happy for Easter this morning. She was all smiles as Dalan carried her down stairs and as she crawled, and searched for her Easter basket full of empty eggs. She was even more excited when she saw the musical table the Easter bunny left her. She really kind of got the whole thing. It was quite fun! I can't wait for her birthday!












***I have lots more photos and stories to post from Spring Break, Easter Eve, Easter Day, etc. I will get to them....eventually.