1-year check up

We got to go to the doctor today. I say "got to" because we were excited to see how Madi measured up against the norm after a year. Our nurse and the doctor couldn't believe how big Madi was, "never tell she was a preemie!" I love to hear those words after so many months of having to explain to people why Madi wasn't doing what they thought someone her age should. Not anymore, Madi hit every developmental check the doc had. Sleeping, self-feeding, crawling, cruising, waving, first words, sippy cup...all checkmarks. We need to work on being bottle-free by 15 months. We can switch formula for whole milk. Madi could slow down on motor skill advancements as her language skills develop so we're not to worry. Here are the stats:
Weight:  20lbs. 33%
Height:  29" 48%
Head:  18.4" 90%
Still has a big noggin!

After all the fun and chit-chat Madi had to get her vaccinations. Today was hep A, MMR and chicken pox. We got a little opinion from the doc on the last two. We are to thank all our friends that don't vaccinate as mumps and pox are becoming mainstream again. Northern Indiana and northwestern Indiana have continually had outbreaks of both. Yikes. I haven't researched the why-not-to in order to form an opinion, just sharing our doctor's.

We're loaded up and headed to Marshall for Madi's birthday party tomorrow. Looking forward to celebrating an answer to prayer and attempting to repay friends and family for their generosity last year.

Stay tuned for birthday pics!

so darn cute!

You already saw some of the pictures taken the same day as these but I couldn't pass up the chance to share them too. Anything shiny grabs Madi's attention and she loves exploring so it didn't take long for her to start wandering around the boat.

And then we played with the box:

Then she crawled to the back door and pulled herself up. She LOVES to stand there and look outside. The other day Dan was working right outside the door and Madi crawled over to watch and jibber-jabber with him.

NICU reunion

Saturday was the annual NICU reunion for St. Vincent Women's. Wow, what a production. I was expecting a cute little get together in one of the park's shelters, maybe a hospital spokesperson would say a few words and then everyone would chit-chat about their past year. Boy was I wrong! It was a mini-carnival. There was face painting, pony rides, rock climbing wall, bounce houses (plural), lasso the steer, topple the bottles and a car merry-go-round. There was even more that we didn't ever get to - it was huge! And busy. There were people everywhere. I was amazed how many families found themselves in the NICU...and this is just one hospital's graduates. When we pulled up I was nervous we'd never find any of our staff. But we did. Dr. Pyle, Dr. Ben Saad, Nurse Sarah, Nurse Alex, Nurse Ashley, Nurse Shelley and Dot were all there. It was so nice to see them again, better circumstances this time. All were amazed at how well Madi was doing. The docs joked that they didn't need to see us except at the reunion picnic. Of course that's always our hope but should we find ourselves in the same situation I know what hospital we will be going to, no question. The timing of the reunion couldn't have been better for us. Or maybe it could have. The reunion kicked off the week everything started happening for us last year.

As of about noon today it was exactly one year ago that we walked into Carmel St. Vincent so the doctor on call could make sure everything was okay. "It sounds like everything's fine but since I'm just up the road from you, why don't you come on in to confirm." was the conversation I had on the phone with Dr. Moore. He was the only doctor in the practice we hadn't met with yet. What an introduction it turned out to be!

learning to pull up

I pieced this together from some pictures I took the other morning. Madi pulled herself up on a box we had sitting in the living room. She's getting quite independent!

Yesterday she didn't want to eat much and she's been grumpy the past couple nights. During dinner last night I discovered why - MADI HAS TEETH!! Her bottom two teeth had broken through during the day. It's way too small for the camera to pick up so you'll just have to trust me and wait for picture proof. I couldn't find her sippy cup and she was grunting for something to drink so I grabbed one of our juice glasses. Madi does real well drinking out of a regular cup but sometimes still tries to suck on the rim. She did that twice, right in a row, and I heard something *clink.* I pulled down her bottom lip...Ta Da - teeth! They do exist!
    (some micro-preemies don't develop baby teeth so Mama was getting a little concerned)
The arrival of these pearly whites explains the recent grumpiness. Sorry Madi, we should've realized. I'd like to say she slept much better last night but not really. She and Dad hung out for about an hour around 4:30a. So far this morning she's grins and giggles.