The month blessed us with head colds and horrible runny noses. We were very lucky that the "worst" outcome from this was Abby having an ear infection. She also had another routine eye exam with the eye specialist. Her eyes are finally complete with no signs of scar tissue or damage. Everyone will be screened again when they turn 2.
There has been a lot of change in these little girls in the last couple of weeks, that I can hardly keep track of it all for their baby books. One thing I do know, is that nobody has gotten any more teeth and we stand at the following count: Stella:1, Zoe:2 and Abby:13.
The celebration for the 30th Anniversary of the St. Luke's NICU took place on the 14th. We were so excited to go and catch up with the nurses, doctors and support staff that took such wonderful care of the girls as well as many of the friends we made while spending our time in the NICU. We definitely didn't get a chance to get pictures with or see everyone we wanted to, so if you are reading this and have other pictures to share with us, please send them to our email. Here are some photos from the day:
A photo of the billboard advertisement with the girls for the 30th Anniversay Celebration of the St. Luke's NICU.
This is Stella with Sue. She cared for Stella a lot during her early days in the NICU as well as for all 3 girls on occasion when they all shared a room prior to going home.
While this isn't a very flattering picture of Zoe, she is being held by Stacey. Stacey was one of Zoe's primary care givers throughout much of her stay in the NICU due to Zoe spending so much time in her own room. Zoe loved Stacey from the get go and always appeared to have better saturations or days when Stacey was around. You could tell that Zoe still has a bond with Stacey as she greeted her with smiles and didn't hesitate to go to her the minute she saw her.
This is Michelle with Zoe. She also was a primary care giver for Zoe in the beginning, then she added Abby, then Stella and finally, she was brave enough to tackle all the girls when they moved in together. We all formed a special bond with Michelle as she seemed to be the one who had to brave the Fox Den on the most regular basis. I believe it was Zoe though that gave her the most grief while on the ventilator both during spit bath times and with breathing. Michelle was present for a lot of the milestones that the girls conquered while in the NICU... with one of my favorites being the day the girls moved into the big girl bed! She also took a very special picture of the girls for me to take with me on my first day when I returned to work.
(l-r) This is Allison who is being held by her mom Dianna. She shares the same birthday as the girls. I met Dianna in the elevator one morning when we were both on our way into the NICU. Next is Abby with Shiela. She was one of Abby's primary care giver's in the beginning. She taught us how to give Abby a bath. Next is me with Zoe, followed by Stella with Sara. Sara rocks. In addition to Michelle, she was another who took on the challenge of entering the Fox Den on a regular basis. She was great at anticipating each girl's individual need and didn't take any attitude from them. She also liked to give Ian a hard time.The 17th brought our 15 month check up, along with a round of shots....4 per girl to be exact. I was chosen to be the one to hold them down while this occurred then pass them off to Ian for comfort. I'm sure it isn't the first...or the last time that I will be thought of as the mean mommy. Surprisingly, they did very well. Lucky for us, no more shots until kindergarden As a whole, Dr. Nau was pleased with the progress that the girls are making developmentally, despite the fact that they are not walking yet. Their vocabulary continues to grow as well. Dada is still primary, saying mom mom when we are mad or want something. Other words include bye, bye, abba, uh oh and baby. We have figured out how to work several of our mechanical toys, get into the television cabinet and turn on the radio and climb steps. The following photos should give you an idea of what we have been up to during the month.
We have all figured out how to walk behind our cars. We are still working on the control part of it.
This is Abby. She absolutely loves the freedom that comes with exploring new ways of travel. She is the speedy one and will zip from one end of the basement to the other in a matter of seconds. She's not real good at steering and gets frustrated when she runs into things and can't keep going.
Zoe. While, she may be the least coordinated at doing this, she sure isn't letting her sister's show her up. Here, she is upset, due to Stella pulling her to the ground mid stride. I don't want to hear any comments about the clothing either...it's all Ian's doing. I think that he tries to test me on a daily basis with the clothing combinations he puts the girls in.....I think it's a personal contest on how crazy he can make them.
This is Stella demonstrating how we play peek-a-boo...with our cheeks.
Or, our chin
Here are the many faces of Abby. (in all honesty, I couldn't pick just one photo to share.) As you can see, we still have not gotten hair cuts. I cannot help but to laugh every time I see this girl. She is just so funny right now. She likes to point at things, click her tongue and can dance up a storm (which is the cutest thing ever!). She motivates around furniture real well, but is hesitant when there isn't something around to hold on to. She is big into diving from a standing position to the floor to a crawling position then she's on the move.
A couple pictures of Zoe...Ms. Attitude right now. Here she is trying to click her tongue. Auntie Lindsay also taught her how to wiggle her nose.
And here she is mid temper tantrum.
Here we are climbing the steps up to bed.
And last but not least, a few group photos:
We love when mommy cuts us loose after meals, especially when she lets us sit in our chairs the way we want!