1.5 months old/4.5 months old

10 lb 7 oz.

Last week, I saw the saddest story on the news. A family had their home broken into and their computers and cameras taken. On those computers were videos and pictures of their 18 month old son that had just passed away. What a cruel act of thievery. There are things that can never be replaced. I remember just last month my sister texted me that my 2 year old niece was playing with her flip video camera and managed to delete EVERYTHING on it. I laughed at my little destructive niece but shrugged it off. My sister brought it up again the next week and I realized what she was trying to tell me...everything on it was gone. Even the video my sister had taken of Astro the only time my sister was able to visit the girls in the hospital. It hit me and I was saddened the rest of the day. I have just a few short videos of Astro and a bit more pictures. I love the pictures but the videos mean so much more. You can see movement in them...and thus you can see the life in them. Allie was alive on those videos. When she passed away, I realized how much i wish I had just taken tons of videos every day....of her little legs kicking or her hands batting at her CPAP. It's the reason why I have tons of video clips of Casey. From that day on, I video taped everything. My heart goes out to the Stringer family and I hope there's a happy ending to this all.

Casey had her monthly RSV shot last week. Just a few more to go to get us through the flu season. Also, while we were at her nutritionist appt. I saw her pediatric cardiologist, Dr. S., and her maternal specialist, Dr. O, in the hallway. They were with us throughout the whole triplet pregnancy and it was wonderful to show them Casey. Poor things, I also peppered them with questions in the hall. Women who go into premature labor are more likely to do it again with subsequent pregancies. So, I read that even with triplet pregnancies, it's important to ask your doctor if it's likely that you would go into preterm labor again. Scott and I really hope that we'll be able to have more children and make Casey a big sister. It was wonderful to hear Dr. O say that he believes the only factor that sent me into premature labor was the stress of carrying three babies.

I cornered Dr. S about Casey's ASD, the hole in her heart, since he is not scheduled to see her until her 1st birthday. He says that he didn't need to see her soon because he's pretty sure the hole will close on it's own. Awesome!!! I brought up my concerns about heart defects. When Rory was diagnosed, I did research into it. Most heart defects are genetic but it can also occur randomly. Since Allie and Casey were fine and there was no history of it with me or Scott's family, I assumed it was random. Now that Casey was diagnozed with a small heart defect, I asked the doctor about it. He says that most of his patients don't show a family history of it. And if Scott and I are able to have more kids, we would be getting echos during pregnancy to watch for heart defects with those pregnancies. [Casey on her last visit with Dr. I]

Lastly, Casey had a visit with the retina specialist, Dr. I. He's such a nice guy. He has two boys of his own and he's always so excited to see Casey. It takes both of us now to pin Casey's head so he can look into her eyes...and she's strong enough to squint her eyes closed. So, unfortunately, Dr. I had to use a tweezer-like contraption to pry her eyelids open. I couldn't look. She did quite her fair share of screaming. But, Dr. I announced that her retina blood vessels were finished growing and there were no need for any checks until her first birthday. Another one down!!!

At 6 weeks, Casey is still smiling a lot. She's also in love with sticking out her tongue. I'm a little nervous she's going to develop the habit of licking things like her crazy cousins. I caught my niece, Lauren, licking the sidewalk at church once. Not much else development-wise, I can't wait until she starts rolling. She does love practicing holding her head up. She's getting so good at it, although, it means she has to claw at your chest sometimes to get leverage. I've got some mean scratches. Her reflux has really diminished. This past week, we've graduated Casey from sleeping in an incline rocker to her flat bassinet. She's done great. No spitting up. Of course, we've still had some incidents of major spitting up after feeding. Sometimes I feel like it would just save time if I uncapped the bottle of formula and just poured it down my back and over the seat cushions. She's outgrown all her newborn clothes and fits all her 0-3 months clothing. She's fascinated with people talking to her. She stares at your mouth and she moves her lips and tongues but hasn't figured out how to make sounds on demand.

She has one learned one crucial thing. Man, she can cry. No longer can we brag that Casey is not a criar. Before, we had time to get that bottle ready before she got so fussy she would cry. Nope. Now, it's "happy happy giggle giggle...slight pause....WWWWWAAAAHHHHH!!!!" Uh-oh.

Another monumental step is that we have started to relinquish her to Scott's parents for babysitting. We started off with Sunday mornings so I could go to church. Not only did Casey come back alive, but she is super happy at her grandparent's house. She stays awake the whole time and is treated to being spoiled non-stop. Scott's parents live right down the street and are always willing to help out. It's such a relief. It's unbelievably nice to take a few hours and run to do errands or Christmas shop. Scott and I even caught a movie, Tangled. I think I caught a cold when we went to the movies. So, Casey caught her first cold. We took her to the doctors and had her tested, but it came back NEGATIVE for RSV. Out of the three of us, she did the best. I think it's the breast milk antibodies. Scott and I are still hacking our lungs out but she had a cough just for a day. She is truly protected by prayers.

[grandma and Casey]

[she loves to just be adored]

[grandpa and Casey taking a snooze]

On certain occasions when we have needed to, we have taken Casey out with us. The picture below is a wedding ceremony at church that we took Casey too. That's Scott telling everyone "NO touch!!" Actually, he also said "Don't look at her with your germy eyes."

After staring at Casey all day every day, I've come to the conclusion that she bears a striking resemblance to Crayon Shinchan. Do you see it?

Thanks for tuning in. I love the holidays and I hope that you're all enjoying every moment of it!!!