Slugger 6.5 months (3.5 months corrected)

Slugger
Age: 6 months 3 weeks old
corrected age: 3 months 2.5 weeks
Height: 24.5" long
Weight: 13 lb 10 oz at last weigh-in
Milestones:
-rolling from back to side and hanging out there
-talking and making noises with mouth closed
-listening to herself talk
-drooling and I swear I hear her spitting sometimes
-sleeping for 9-11 hours at night
-enjoys tummy time for at least 5 minutes now
-sucking on her fingers
-taking her daytime naps in her crib

I can't believe it's been half a year since that life-changing day at the end of July. We have to start planning for her first birthday already!!!! Because she has passed the 6 month mark, we have finished a brunt of her doctor's appointments. She had her last RSV shot followed by the flu shot and her 6 month vaccinations. Poor thing, 6 needle pokes in 2 days. She didn't know what was coming. She loves talking to people and she was laughing and cooing at the nurse holding the needle. How do you tell a baby what's coming? =( But, with flu season over, no more RSV shots until next year (she should still be qualified to receive them).

We had a follow up swallow test to see if she's become more coordinated with eating. She has to drink a barium solution while they X-ray her throat and watch it on this little TV.

[Pic below: the X-ray machine. Slugger and I sit in that chair while I fed her the barium solution in the dark and the machine runs. The doctors and Scott are behind a glass partition watching it on the X-ray video]

[Photo below: Family pic after the X-ray swallow test. I'm wearing the apron shield. Thanks to reading blogs and reading about another family going through a swallow test...I thought to ask this time for a shield to put around Casey's waist during the X-ray]
She showed some progress. She swallowed the thickened solution well but when we transitioned to an unthickened solution, she started coughing immediately. No more swallow test. We're going to keep thickening her milk until she's at least 6 months corrected. So another 3 months.

[Photo Below: sporting a cute onesie her Auntie Nalani brought from the Big Island]

[Photo below: I love her expression. I think she was telling me something at the time]

She's starting to sleep a lot more now. I hope it's just a sign of a growth spurt. Since she was born with tiny heart defect, fatigue is a warning sign. That's real hard to watch in babies who sleep all the time. We were feeding here every 3-4 hours during the day and 4-5 at night. But about two weeks ago, I forgot to set my alarm and woke up at 6 in the morning to find that Slugger was still sleeping away. She went 8 hours between meals!!! The next night, instead of waking her up, I let her wake up when she wanted and it was 8 hours again!!! Since then, she's been averaging 9-11 hours at night. It's AMAZING!!! I feel like a whole new person. It literally seemed to just happen overnight.

I skimmed one parenting book but really didn't do much research into the popular methods. I got the gist of the three phases

Phase E= Eat

Phase P= Active Play time

Phase S= Sleep Time

which I've been doing for a month already. Basically feeding her when she wakes up from her nap. But Slugger really fell into a schedule all on her own.

8 am Wake up and Eat Meal #1

Read a book, practice sitting in bumble chair, talk story during active time

9:15-9:30 am Nap

11:30-12 Meal #2

She amuses herself pretty much during active time

1:30 pm Nap

3:30 pm Meal #3

Tummy time and physical therapy exercise (stretching and rolling practice)

7:00 pm Meal #4

9:00-11:00 pm Meal #5 Bedtime Meal

Notice I don't put down nap times for the last half of the day. That's because she's inconsistent in the afternoon and at night. Sometimes she sleeps for hours and sometimes she stays up to her next meal. It also means that her bedtime meal just depends on how tired she is.

I always said I would move her into her nursery at 3 months (corrected) but somehow when she hit 3 months, I was overcome with amnesia. I can't remember any reasons why I would ever want to do that. I love having her sleep in her cosleeper right by my side. What a beautiful sight whenever I open my eyes. So, we're transitioning her for our own sake. We put a sheet on her crib mattress and set up a video baby monitor that we got as a hand-me-down from my sister (LOVE IT)...and she takes her day time naps in her nursery.

She's conditioned to know it's naptime whenever she's in her crib. But, our dog, Charlie, certainly loves to choose a spot right outside her window whenever he howls at any sirens. And there's always sirens somewhere in Kaneohe multiple times a day. Sheesh.

[Photo below: I have the video feed right on my desk where I do all my work. I love the view. I'm so spoiled. I can't imagine not having the video aspect. And I can even see her chest rising and falling while she breathes. Reassuring to the power of ten]

Finally just some pics of her in her bumbo chair, tummy time, and taking a nap with daddy-o.

[Photo Below: She loves tummy time much better with this Tiny Love tummy time mat she got for Christmas from Uncle John-John]

Ten steps forward and a shift back

Tonight, the women's ministry at our church hosted a Bunco night and I invited two friends who live on the windward side to go with me. I am trying to fill my days with people and activities and it is fun. Bunco is a fast-paced game with rounds of rolling dice for points. You switch tables and partners quickly. At one particular table, a woman asked me 'How's baby doing?" Oh, baby is doing great. She's so big. She's at home with daddy. And a girl at our table who I had never met before lit up with curiousity. She was a new mom so she peppered me with questions.

"How old is your baby?"

Well, she's like a 3 month old.

"Wow, she's only 3 months. You look good."

Well, it hasn't been just 3 months. She came prematurely.

"Oh, how early was she?"

She was 3 months early. So, she's almost 6 months old but like a 3 month old.

The girl was super friendly and sociable and rattled off all her friends who had given birth early. Weeks early now, not months early. Then she asked

"Is she your first?"

Then the discomfort began. There's just four of us on a small table rolling dice and any second the horn is going to blow and we're going to change tables like little kids playing musical chairs. I certainly am not going to tell the truth but lies hedge in my throat.

I answer, yes.

I say nothing more, hoping that the conversation changes direction rapidly. The other two women on the table are quiet, engrossed in the game. I make a dismal joke about my luck rolling the dice. Still, the table is kind of quiet so the friendlly girl tries to pick up the conversation again by asking the question...again

"She's your first?"

Yes.

Now, I'm tense hoping that someone...anyone will say something else. Anything else. I don't know what other questions there possible could be but I'm wary of what other questions I might have to dodge. See, if she just asked "Is she your only?" I could answer that quickly. But "is she your first?" I can't because Casey's not my first. She's the youngest. Of three. But you can't say that. It's not the place. It's not what I feel like talking about when I'm trying to pretend I'm a normal new mom who didn't spend the last 6 months agonizing over losing two daughters in the span of three weeks.

If you read Scott's post, our good friends lost their 8 year old son tragically and unexpectedly. I can't even compare or begin to understand how you cope with losing your son. He was going to turn nine in the beginning of February. We scattered his ashes just last week and someone took a picture of her beautiful family on the beach, her, her husband, and their three daughters. As I looked at the picture, it looked so strange not to see Isaiah in the picture. He should be standing there next to his 5 year old sister, both of them side by side with identical grins. My friend says she wonders what she'll say when she meets people and they ask her how much kids she has. I shook my head. I have no answer. I'm guessing she'll do what I do. Your lips say one answer out loud while your heart whispers another.

I think I'm doing so much better now. But there are set-backs. Seeing our good friends go through pain that no one should go through. Watching a show and one of the fringe characters tells their sob story about losing a loved one. Even watching Teen Mom on MTV. One of the teen moms has twin girls and one of the twin girls seems to have nerve damage that keeps her from using her legs. I was holding Casey and floored by how thankful I am that her legs are strong and straight. I don't know why but I just started to cry, remembering how perfect my baby girls were. So tiny but their arms and legs were just perfect and strong, just in miniature. Just a little mistake in Rory's heart. And allison, so tiny, but so fierce. Brought down by an infection in her intestines.

Have you heard of that saying "play happy until you feel happy." I think I've been doing that for the last six months. And as I've been healing and feeling more happier, I play at being even happier. Just take what you feel and go up a level. Some nights when I come home, I wonder if I've "played" too hard. Have I wandered from "trying" into "faking." I can't always tell when I'm really all happy and when some of it is happy with a bit of effort. In my effort to play happy, I lose track of where exactly I am. I apologize. I don't want to be fake. I want to be genuine and real. I just don't actually know where that is sometimes.

It's when I come home and my mind keeps replaying that question "Is she your first" over and over again that I remember...I still have a ways to go.

Slugger- 2.5 months adjusted

Update on our New Year's night. It was fun....very very restful. We got the cheapest room we could find which was still pricey. It was pretty tiny and I opened the glass sliding door to step out onto the patio only to find out there was none. You open the glass sliding door to just find a waist-high railing across the opening. I tried to push it thinking it was some high tech expandable patio...but it wasn't. We had a sweet view of a building and a sliver of mountain. But it was perfect for us. We had an exciting night. Casey and I fell asleep at 10 pm and Scott was up by himself at midnight watching the illegal aerials fired from the parking lot below.

We're guessing Slugger is about 12 and half pounds. She had her RSV shot almost two weeks ago and she was at 12 lb 3 oz. The shots are becoming more hard as now she takes more time to calm down. She does a really sad cry and her face gets all splotchy. When she's cold or crying, her face gets super white but her nose turns red. We call her Rudolph. No rolling yet. She seemed to be getting close as she would almost roll over trying to get her thumb into her mouth. But now she's more coordinated so she can suck on her thumb without much exertion. She never liked her binky (pacifier) but now she loves it. She tries to suck on her hands and now we wake up in the middle of the night to slurping sounds as she tries to cram both hands in her mouth.

She's still cooing a lot and has just started to laugh. It's an explosive laugh followed by silence. It's funny. One time she laughed when she saw my car. I guess she finds it funny. The best story is this past week my high school friend came up from the big island. Nalani is pretty funny so I was telling Scott a story that Nalani told me. When I got to the punchline and we started laughing, Casey spit out her pacifier and laughed too. The timing was perfect.

She can't hold toys yet but she loves this Sassy mirror that I got from Amazon. When I put her down for a nap, I place her so if she looks one way she can look at the Christmas lights from our fake little tree. If she turns her head the other way, then she can look at the lights and herself reflected in the mirror. She loves the colors and the ladybug and in the past two days she's started to touch it. There's a part that makes a crinkly sound and I can hear it when she plays with it. This thing rocks. Now when we pack up Slugger to go to the grandparents, I make sure to toss that on top of the diaper bag. Can't wait to use it for tummy time.


I am returning to work soon so we're using this time to visit with friends as much as possible and try to get Slugger on a routine. We don't know what it will be like when we're both working so might as well make the most of now. We had an exceptional week of being able to see a lot of Casey's NICU aunties. And her other aunties and uncles, I just don't have pictures.

[here's Auntie Gina. I love this picture. I was on the edge of my seat as Gina precariously sipped her hot coffee while holding her sleeping son. Good job, Mama!!!]

[Slugger and I went to Auntie Mariko's baby shower. This is Mariko's parents who fell in love with Slugger and likewise, she adored them. Mariko told me that after we left, her dad kept talking about Casey and calling her "magic." How cute!!!]

[Auntie Laura must have known all about the dress code]

[Got to eat lunch with Auntie Leila who just got out of jail. JK!!! I know they say to avoid spicy food when breastfeeding. That's out the window. I eat spicy food every day. This was at a thai restaurant and the spicy curry was so ono]

Slugger is cooing. Here I am trying to teach her how to wish you all a Happy New Years!!! I don't think she's ready to embrace her Hawaiian side yet.

Scott's Blog "Blessed are the Pure in Heart."

A family near and dear to many of our hearts lost their 8 year old son suddenly, without warning. I hope you find time to read Scott's thoughts and memories of a little boy who made a huge impact.

5 mo/2mo "First Christmas"

Slugger
December 28 2010
5 months old
about 11 weeks adjusted

I can't believe it's been five months since our lives turned upside down. The NICU life seems ages ago although we just had lunch with some of our nurses the other week so it still lingers with us. Two days into the new year 2011, Slugger will be exactly 2 months adjusted. I may go into a lot of detail but this will all go into her baby book whenever I get organized.

Slugger is still a smiling machine. Her lips disappear when she smiles, and she's all dimply cheeks. Her left cheek still has a dominant dimple but sometimes we see a faint glimpse on the right...it's elusive so we may be imagining it. I know everyone thinks she's a mini-Scott. I can pretty much pinpoint whose features she inherited. Her hair looks black but in the sunlight it's actually dark brown (from me). She's got my forehead, poor thing (we'll be growing out those bangs from an early age). She has Scott's eyebrows and eyes but she has these beautiful, thick and long eyelashes (yah me). My nose, Scott's mouth and chin. So, all in all, Scott's genes seem to have kicked mine in the butt. But, as Casey gets bigger and bigger each week, I see less of Scott and more of Casey. I just see Casey when I look at her. And she's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Fair skin with dark hair and thick eyelashes. A cute little smirk when she looks you in the eye.

She's finally learned to bring her hands to her mouth. She sucks on her palm when she's hungry. I saw her try for an hour to get her thumb in her mouth and when she finally succeeded, she made a face and spat it out. Only to try again. When she's hungry, she'll start sucking on her left fist...we're crossing her fingers to see if she's a lefty like her daddy (although they say babies are pretty ambidextrous until they're older). Temperament wise-she's a mellow, sweet baby all morning. She'll wake up and just smile away, content just to lie wherever she is. But once the clock hits 4 pm (like clockwork), she becomes super fussy/super hungry/super needy. They call it the witching hour. After shunning the pacifier, we've just started to use it at nights until bedtime because I was afraid we were overfeeding her. We're still working on decoding the hunger cues.

It's awesome but we have the bedtime routine down great. At her 11 pm meal, we put her down in her mini cosleeper in the room and she knows that it's bedtime. She'll lie there quietly and drift off to sleep in no time. She gets up at 3 pm to eat and then she'll sleep in until 6 or 7 am. She's discovered kicking and uses her feet to push off when you're holding her. She's also started a new trick of kicking and walking on the side wall of her cosleeper so she somehow manages to turn sidewards by morning. When we're in bed, we can see her little legs "matrix climbing" her bassinet wall. I once saw that she had turned from her back all the way to her side in her sleep and I tried to wake up Scott but he refused to open his eyes. He said she'll do it again when he's awake...eventually. Oh, and she's started cooing. It's so adorable. I left her alone in the living room and she was staring at the christmas lights and talking to them.

11 lb 6.5 oz (according to our bathroom scale)
~22.75" long

[above: we can't believe how big she looks in her co sleeper]

Her first Christmas was a fun one. Scott has a small music gig every Christmas morning for Pleasant Holiday in Waikiki. So, we all woke up at 5:30 am to trek down to Waikiki to see Scott play Hawaiian Christmas songs (did you know there were other songs besides Mele Kalikimaka?) for all of 10 minutes. Then we drove around trying to find a breakfast place was open...ended up at Kenny's in Kalihi. Since we were out and about, we drove to Waipahu to drop off presents and for Casey to see her cousins only to find out that no one was awake at 11 am.

So we went to Scott's parents house to open presents and enjoy an amazing dinner. Scott's sister, Sara-Anne, was home for the holidays so everyone was all together. I borrowed some pictures from Scott's brother, Stanton.

The picture below shows Casey's grandpa, Pat. If you look closely at his right hand, you might see something pink. That's a pink pig puppet. No one seems to know where Grandpa Pat got it from but whenever they babysit Slugger, he entertains Slugger with little puppet shows. Sometimes he gets her so riled up when she should be sleeping. Well, I guess not everyone loved the frequent appearances and shows of the pink pig because somehow the puppet mysteriously disappeared on Christmas day. I believe certain members were aware of it's location but remained close-lipped. Poor Grandpa kept asking everyone where it went...I hope it didn't ruin his Christmas.

[below: Grandpa having to entertain Slugger without the pink pig]

[below: Scott and mini Scottlyn]

[Slugger with her dad, Auntie Sara, and Uncle Stanton]

[Slugger and the cousins]

[slugger, me, Scott, Uncle Stanton, Auntie Sara, Grandpa and Grandma ]

Scott's sister, Sara-Anne, gave us this beautiful framed song for Christmas. It's completely handwritten, she even did the golden inlay part herself. I, not being the Beatles expert, didn't recognize that it was a Beatles song and initially thought she also composed it herself. Hey, she did get her graduate degree in professional writing so it wasn't a far reach. At the end of this post, you'll see a video of Scott singing a Beatles medley with this song to Slugger.

Slugger got amazing gifts for Christmas. She's going to be a well-dressed baby with awesome toys. She actually had 3 different adorable Christmas outfits that she'll be wearing every day until this weekend (I don't think you can pull Christmas clothes off once you hit New Years). Here she is sporting one from my Aunty Linda.

Thanks for tuning in. Mele Kalikimaka a me Hauoli Makahiki Hou!!!!

The video clip below is Scott playing and singing a medley of "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight" to Slugger....although it's the end so you'll only hear Carry That Weight. Watch Slugger's joy and she even tries to join in singing a duet.

Christmas Newsletter 2010-all fixed now

1. Click on image below and it will open in new window
2. Scroll over picture (magnifying glass icon will appear) and click to enlarge for reading

It didn't work at first but should now. But do leave a comment if it stops working.

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!!!