Let Me Count the Ways

How, oh how can I procrastinate from packing? Let me count the ways (so far):

1. I played with Julianna
2. I chatted with my sister-in-law (I multi-tasked, ate lunch and chatted)
3. Search Craigslist for useless things
4. Wrapped a present to send to our friends in SC who just had a baby
5. Cleaned out my inbox (both e-mails and text messages)
6. Looked at some pictures I came across while "packing"
7. Organized my sewing basket
8. Wrote to my cousin in Hungary (via Facebook)
9. Deleted watched shows from the DVR
10. Sat down and wrote this blog post

One box is packed...only all the rest to go.

A Milkshake a Day...

Julianna had her 18 mos check-up on Monday and all went relatively well. The only area of concern is her weight gain (which for preemies can be a constant battle). As everybody knows, Julianna weighed 2lbs 11 oz when she was born (if you didn't know that, then you must have been living under a rock for the last 18 mos). She put on weight at a miraculous speed! The nutritionist at the NICU follow-up clinic would always tell us that she was not a typical preemie when it came to weight. She caught up to her actual age in a matter of months and even reached the 50th percentile by her 1st birthday, weighing in at 20lbs even.

But at her April check-up (15 mos) she had only gained 12 more ounces. Dr. M wanted to keep an eye on her weight, but wasn't too concerned. Now on Monday, she had actually lost weight, only weighing 20lbs 10 oz. It actually broke my heart to see she is now in the 6th percentile for weight. As other preemie moms will confirm, seeing your baby go up in percentiles is such an awesome thing!! Seeing them go down, especially this far, is disheartening.

Julianna eats like a mad woman! She is a virtual bottomless pit! So, Dr. M has decided to up her calorie intake. We get to supplement her food with all kinds of things. Her milk now gets Carnation Instant Breakfast added to it, she gets extra things added to her everyday meals, and I think the best thing is...she is supposed to have milkshakes every few days! That is by far her favorite change.

We go back in 6 weeks for a weight check. Dr. M said she is now concerned because even though Julianna's weight gain should be slowing down at this age, there is no reason for it to be so slow or for her to stop gaining.

I have a feeling I may be the one to gain weight...I can't buy Julianna a milkshake and not have one myself.

Julianna eats most of the hours she is awake...I'm not kidding. (check out the molars that are finally through!)

Friends of Maddie

Back in April, I wrote about Maddie, a little girl (17 mos old) from California who had been a 28 week preemie. Sadly, when I wrote about her it was because she had very unexpectedly died.

Sweet Maddie

Her story evoked an amazing response from the internet world. Heather's (her mom) blog crashed due to high traffic, Team Maddie (March for Babies) raised $60,000, and people from all over the world sent their heartfelt well wishes, gifts and money.

Recently, Heather has made 2 exciting announcements on her blog. The first is that from the incredible support they received, her parents have decided to use some of the money to form the non-profit organization Friends of Maddie.

This organization is to help support families going through the NICU experience. For a $25 donation you will help give a family a tote bag filled with supplies to make their NICU stay slightly less stressful. Their goal is to eventually get bags in every NICU in the country. Please consider visiting their website and making a donation!!

The second big announcement that was made was that shortly after Maddie died, they found out Heather was pregnant. This is such an awesome event for them, and she is working VERY hard to avoid the problems she encountered with Maddie's pregnancy. It is also extremely sad, since Binky (the name the baby has been given so far) will not know his/her big sister. I wish Heather and Mike all the best an that she has a blessedly uneventful pregnancy and can avoid another NICU stay!!

Mad Skills

Check out my new spoon skills...I now eat applesauce and yogurt by myself (with minimal mess even!).

Mmmmm

Yummy mac-n-cheese!

Heló!

For the past few weeks we have had some relatives from Hungary visiting. Misi and his wife Augi and his two girls Zita and Helga (Helga is the only name I may have spelled right). Helga is my age and way back in the 80's (I know that was so long ago) Misi (pronounced Meeshee) came to visit and said that I looked like Helga...not so much anymore.

Anyway, we had a big picnic this past Sunday to get the family together. It was very nice to hang out. Unfortunately, my grandpa(Opa) is the only one of any of us that speaks Hungarian, so there wasn't a lot of conversing with Misi, Augi, Zita, or Helga. If I have this right, Misi is my dad's first cousin (my grandpa is his uncle). Augi is his wife, and Zita and Helga are Misi's girls (not sure what # cousin that makes them to me). I am always glad to meet our family from Hungary or Germany. Not many people have first cousins that live in other countries.

Well, here's some pictures from the picnic.

Ian, Erin, Julianna & Oma(my grandma)

Julianna & Oma

Augi & Helga playing cornhole

Julianna, me, Oma & my Mom

My cousin Katie fooled everyone with her glasses.

Ian & my dad

My mom, Julianna & Zita. Zita has two little kids back in Hungary.

Misi, Opa & Augi

There were so many cameras you inevitably got at least one pic of someone taking a picture.

Don't they look excited

The whole family(well most of us-those of you who know my family know its REALLY big)

Thank you to Stephen! I stole some pictures from him to post here.

Splish Splash

When we bought our "old camper" the people left behind a really nice sand table. Well, since we learned on vacation that Julianna HATES sand, we decided to use it as a water table and she LOVES it!
She has learned she can fill cups and other things and then dump the water all over herself. (Check out her awesome farmer tan!)

Since we don't have a lot of outdoor toys still, she has some of her bath toys at the table to play with. This table is the best thing ever...she plays at it all the time!