Happy Mother's Day

Here is some more video of Aerin.

More Aerin Video

Aerin Walking

Playground Fun

We took Aerin to our community playground for the first time today. She went on the baby swings and Andrew took her down the slide and the merry-go-round. She had a fantastic time and loved every minute of it. I finally figured out which is the motion setting on our camera and got some action pics.

I will be a facilitator at the March of Dimes Prematurity Summit tomorrow, which is very exciting for me. It's my first MoD event without Aerin, so it will be very different than what I'm used to.

Update Coming

Sorry for the long hiatus. Aerin is doing great - she has figured out how to turn doorknobs. Thank goodness she's too short to turn them all the way and thank goodness for baby gates. We had a fantastic time at WalkAmerica - pictures and details to come.

Booger Boy

Aerin loves her stuffed animals. She has 3 favorites: Henrico Bear (a polar bear with a pink sweater that reads, "I was born at Henrico Doctors' Hospital"), Pork Pal (a small pig that we kept in her isolette), and an unnamed lamb (suggestions welcomed - it's a boy lamb). She will bring one or all of them over to me, climb into my lap, and hug them. It's so cute. She can do this for hours, though, which is less than ideal for me.

Today we went to the Mother Goose story hour at our local library. This is misleading in that they don't read any Mother Goose and it's only half an hour. It's the 6- to 24-month-old group. This isn't the storytime that I remember, where you sat quietly while the librarian read to you. There is singing and dancing and clapping games. Aerin was pretty unimpressed with all of that and chose instead to walk/crawl around the room. I picked her up for a bit and she was more interested in the pictures on the walls. She did participate during the times when the kids were supposed to be quiet or there was a lull - she spoke out, in full voice, "Daddadadadadadada!" Her timing is remarkable and her voice is impressive, too. She will definitely be a singer. She did enjoy the part where we all trotted in a circle with little bells. The librarian handed them out, but I just couldn't take a set or let Aerin. I know they're not sanitized between kids and there's no way I'm compromising Aerin's health. The librarian looked at me like I was nuts when I politely declined, but I'll bet she catches a lot of yukky bugs.

It was at the end of the (half) hour that we had a traumatic (for me) encounter. I was loading all of our stuff into the stroller. Aerin was already buckled in and enjoying an apple wheel when a little boy walked up to us. I'm sure he has a given name, but he'll always be Booger Boy to me. This child's face was so coated with boogers that I actually gagged. They were colorful and enormous and encased in an astounding amount of dried mucus. I cannot imagine what this child's mother was thinking. This was a situation that had surely been building for hours and there was no way she couldn't have noticed it. I know kids can be messy and dirty, but this was like nothing I've ever seen and I've seen some stuff, y'all. He eyed Aerin's apple wheel and I knew we had to get out of there, so I threw all our stuff in the basket and retreated to the YA section. Aerin was oblivious to the danger she was in, but I'm scarred for life. We'll be trying another branch for next week's story (half) hour. And we'll both be encased in a large, plastic bubble.

Prayers

Our hearts and prayers are with the victims and families of the Virginia Tech shooting.

On the Go

Aerin's Grandpa came all the way from New York City to see her and we all had a lovely time. Aerin especially liked to hear Grandpa read her favorite books in his New York accent - she was riveted. Grandpa gave her ice cream and she really enjoyed it (not as much as every other baby I've ever seen, but she's not as into food as most babies).

I finally feel comfortable reporting that Aerin can walk. Her longest sojourn to date is 15 steps without stopping or falling. She still crawls some, but she loves to walk. Aerin is a very self-aware child and knows when she should be proud of herself. She just beams when she makes it from one place to another. She stacked 6 blocks the other day and grinned from ear to ear.

We're finally cleared to go to story hour at the local library and I just can't wait. I think Aerin will be in high cotton because she loves books and she loves other kids. I'm trying to decide on the perfect outfit.

Quick Update

Aerin is almost walking. She takes at least one step each day and has taken as many as 3 steps at once. She also has drawn 3 lines with a crayon on her new easel. She still won't use a sippy cup unless she's parched and it's the only thing around (and even then she'll only take a sip or two). She will, however, drink from a regular cup. She tends to bite down on the rim, so we only use plastic cups.

Her palatte is getting more sophisticated by the day - she loves calamata olives and barley with pepper (and other ingredients, but the pepper is the only one that babies don't usually like). Her favorite food is salad with vinagrette dressing.

The reason the updates have slowed down is that we just bought a new house! We close in mid-May, so there's lots to do.

Aerin has Magic Powers - Part 1

This is so long, that I've decided to split it into 2 parts. I'm working on the second part.

Aerin might well be the most successful lobbyist ever.

We arrived downtown at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning. It took us 30 minutes to park and get to the General Assembly Building (GAB). Parking in Richmond is always a hassle, especially when the Legislature is in session. We ended up parking in the Children's Hospital parking lot, so I got to see where Aerin will be having her surgery. It was cold and windy, but Aerin was nice and warm. She was wearing tights and socks and boots along with her long-sleeve shirt and sweater vest. I had her shiny sleeveless coat over all that and I piled blankets on her. I also got her mittens on, which is always a challenge (she usually pulls the first one off while you're struggling to get the second one on). I was still afraid that she'd be cold, so I put the visor of the stroller up and draped my coat over it so that she was completely cocooned and out of the wind. She was perfectly warm when I unwrapped her inside the building.

The GAB was packed. The March of Dimes wasn't the only organization lobbying that day - there were many others. Here's a quick rundown of how lobbying in Virginia works: The legislature is in session for 30 days in odd-numbered years (60 days in even-numbered years). During that time, delegates and senators attend committee and subcommittee meetings, as well as attend the actual sessions where bills are voted on. When they are not in those meetings and sessions, they are in their offices, meeting with lobbyists and members of the public. Since this year's session was a short one, every lobby group with legislation pending was eager to get some time with the Assembly members.

The VA chapter of the March of Dimes has been lobbying for years. They reserved a conference room, which made things much more convenient (especially for me). I was able to leave my bag of blankets and jackets there, which lightened up the stroller considerably. We visited the Assembly members in groups. Aerin and I were paired with Jamie Hall, the community director of the Richmond WalkAmerica and Richmond Chef's Auction, and Pat Simmons, the state director. These two ladies do amazing work and it was an honor to lobby with them. Aerin took to both of them right away. She was in high cotton because there were tons of new people to look at and all of them smiled and waved and cooed at her. I was afraid that the crowds might be overwhelming for her (they were a little overwhelming for me at first), but that fear was quickly put to rest. Aerin smiled and waved at everyone. Two girl cadets (I have no idea what kind of cadets they were - you couldn't tell from their uniforms) left their group (squad? squadron?) so they could ride in the elevator with Aerin. They told me she was the cutest baby she'd ever seen. There was a group of schoolchildren (5th or 6th grade) on a field trip and they actually gathered around us to coo at Aerin. She loves kids, so she was as enamored of them as they were of her. There was also a group of teachers lobbying and a couple of them gathered the rest of their group to admire Aerin. She has this unnerving ability to draw crowds. We had a couple of times where I got nervous and had to excuse us, but Aerin was never fazed. She left a trail of sunshine in her wake and did a lot of good for her fellow preemies.

I was dressed in regular business attire, but Aerin was dressed in super-adorable lobby attire. She wore a pink corduroy skirt, a pink long-sleeved shirt, pink argyle sweater vest, pink tights, and pink suede cowgirl boots (under which she wore pink argyle socks). She had a matching pink argyle tam, which she kept on for about half of the visits. After she pulled it off, I put in her curlies. The cowgirl boots were an especially huge hit. We got in to see every single delegate on our list in what I was told was record time. Aerin smiled and waved at every single one of them! Even when she missed her nap! I was flabbergasted. I knew she was charming, but I had no idea that she could be that charming when it was so important. She even laid her head on my shoulder and smiled coyly at some of the delegates. And a couple of them were privileged to see her scrunchy face, taught to her by her father. It's hilarious and was tremendously well-received.

Most importantly, each of the eight delegates we visited agreed to vote for our bill! We got a good chunk of time with every single one of them, which I'm told is almost unheard of. Aerin was so delightful that one of them gave her a little stuffed dog. We did have an incident where Aerin's diaper started to leak right in the middle of my little speech. I kept on going, but here was my internal monologue, "Please, Lord, please don't let this delegate notice that I am covered in baby pee. Please stop this diaper leak, Lord, and get us out of here before he notices." Aerin somehow was relatively dry. A diaper change and new tights took care of her. The entire left side of my shirt was soaked. Thank goodness I was wearing black. I rinsed my shirt in the ladies room and dried it as best I could with the hand dryer.

While Aerin more than did her job of showing how important the MoD issues are, I was the one who did the actual speaking. As a preemie mom, I can speak from the heart about MoD issues. Our main goal was to get the FAMIS eligibility up to 200% (FAMIS provides affordable health care to children of eligible families). This means that a child is eligible for FAMIS if his family's income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty level. The eligibility was previously at 150% and I'm excited and proud to report that it's now at 200%. As you can imagine, this will cover so many more children who desperately need health care. Many of these children are preemies (there is also a program for expectant mothers - FAMIS MOMS) who absolutely must have good health care after discharge.

In our next section, we will explore the smoking ban proposals that met with mixed results and the post-lobby MoD luncheon.

Worst Group Photo Ever

We had a great time on our trip. We're still recovering, so it might be a couple of days before my next post.

Standing Tall

The good news is that Aerin can now stand unsupported and unassisted! She's been doing it without noticing it for a few days. When she noticed, she started doing it deliberately. She is very proud of herself.

Aerin actually took 2 steps today. I'm not counting them as her first steps, though. She was standing near me and started to wobble, so she took the steps in the course of propelling herself forward. I caught her, of course.

The bad news is that Aerin has learned how to take off her diaper. We discovered this when we went to get her from her nap. It wasn't pretty. No more sleeping without pants.

I am working on the Lobby Day post, but I've been having weird log-in problems and it's a long post besides.

Aerin & Grandma

Aerin's Grandma Rita came down from New York to visit her. After some initial tears and pouting, Aerin had a wonderful time playing with her grandmother.

Aerin and I will be heading to the Virginia State Legislature tomorrow for the March of Dimes Lobby Day. I'll post a full report, plus pictures, on Thursday.

Hope y'all are keeping warm.

Bundled Up

We took Aerin out on a rare outing yesterday, just to remind her (and ourselved) that there's a world beyond our house. She was great and didn't even fuss on the car ride home. I put her in her door jumper before we left and let her crawl around her room so that she wouldn't be restless.

I'll try to write more later, but this is a busy week for us.

Playtime Progress

Aerin is very serious about her play. When she decides to put something somewhere, she will fulfill her mission at any cost. She's also very goal-oriented. Since she conquered the stacking rings, she's been working on her Haba train. She wants to be able to put the pegs into the holes and to put the blocks onto the pegs. So far, she can get the yellow peg in and put the blocks on about 1/3 of the time. They are the first toy she goes for during playtime. She's also very creative - she has figured out that if she puts things on the nursing stool (which is at an incline), they'll slide down. Pull-the-flap books are another favorite toy. She can lift the flaps herself and has such a good time. I think it's like peekaboo to her and that's still among her favorite games.

Teething is making Aerin very bite-y. She bit my left na-na yesterday and it was fantastically painful. She took me totally by surprise, too, so I cried out. This startled her into crying, to which I was somewhat less sympathetic than I usually am.

Aerin understands so much now. You can ask her if she's hungry, if she wants O's, if she wants Momma or Daddy, if she wants uppy, if she wants her baba, or if she wants a bite (Gerber apple wheels broken up into tiny pieces) and she'll let you know what she wants. She will also hand you whatever you ask for and give you five. She's also very good about not doing things that I tell her not to. I usually just say no, don't do that in a firm voice and shake my head and that's the end of it. Except she still won't keep her hat or socks on.

Sock Wars

Every night I put socks on Aerin because her feet get cold. Every morning I go into her room to find the socks on the floor. I'm considering taping them on.

Aerin continues to make feeding her a challenge. I did give her a couple of white raisins, which she loved. I can't give her too many, though, because they're not so good for baby digestion. We are making progress with the sippy cup. Today I put 2 ounces of cranapple juice and 6 ounces of water into one and Aerin took a few good sips.

In other micropreemie news, we were very pleased to hear that 16-year-old Hawaiian golfer Tadd Fujikawa made the PGA Tour event cut at the Sony Open on Friday. Like Aerin, he was born 3.5 months early, though he outweighed her by 3 ounces.

More Teeth

Aerin has had some cranky afternoons, which aren't much fun for anyone. She's finally getting more teeth and her mouth feels crummy. Her 2 front top teeth are coming in and she loves biting things in half with them.

Aerin can now identify my nose and mouth. She mostly does so by trying to jab her fingers into them, but she jabs at the correct feature. She loves when I ask her to give something to momma and then thank her. Her fine motor skills are fantastic - yesterday she put a very small wooden peg into its hole. I was shocked.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Aerin's Daddy's birthday! She is so excited that she is having trouble napping (we're hearing lots of "talking" from her room). We're going out to celebrate, something that was out of the question last year.

Aerin has mastered the rings. She can get them on the stick every time and shows no sign of getting bored with them. She's also still into putting things places and has started handing me things. She really likes to be thanked - she laughs every time I say thank you to her.

We've pretty much abandoned the high chair. She is so much happier in her booster seat at the table. We don't even use the booster seat tray anymore. I think she feels more included sitting with us like a big girl. She keeps putting her foot up on the table, though. It's pretty funny, but I'm going to have to discourage it because it won't be funny when she's older. I also worry that she'll tip herself over when she's bigger.

I'm trying to get Aerin to eat more regular food in the hopes of getting some weight on her. She has eaten decent-sized portions of chicken the past few nights (cut into tiny pieces, of course). I didn't expect her to like the chicken when I offered it because I cooked it with pepper and cilantro, but she loved it. I think her palate is broader than a term baby because some of the medicines she takes with gusto are very strong-tasting (and smelling). Of course, Aerin being Aerin, she won't eat white potatos or bananas or rice or avocado, which would help her to gain weight.

Standing Alone

Yesterday morning Aerin stood without support for 5 seconds! I know because I held my breath and counted. I was very excited, but Aerin didn't even notice. She didn't even fall when she was done, she just reached her hand out for support.

Aerin loves to close her door when she plays in her room. I keep it open and gated and she just crawls over and swings it shut. Sometimes she doesn't shut it all the way and tries to open it so that she can try again. This never works because she sits in front of it and blocks it completely. It's so funny to watch.

We recently discovered that Aerin loved edamame (Japanese soybeans). I try to give her a large variety of foods so that she won't have a bland palate when she grows up. She is very game about trying new foods - she'll let you put anything in her mouth. However, if she doesn't like the taste, she'll pull it out of her mouth and throw it on the floor. She's not a spitter at all. She also has a highly-developed gag reflex and will make herself throw up if she decides she doesn't like something after she's swallowed it. I was thrilled that she liked the edamame - it's so good for her. She would have eaten an entire bowl of it, but too much can upset the tummy.

New Year's Day 07

Aerin ate 2.5 black-eyed peas tonight. She ate a half of one by itself and decided that she didn't like it, so I snuck 2 into her green beans. For those of you who don't know (aka Yankees), eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is a Southern tradition that ensures luck for the coming year.

Andrew taught Aerin to make the kissy noise and it's too adorable.