Santa

Yesturday, while we did not do much shopping for black friday, when we finally ventured to the mall, we did make one stop, she was ok for a min, but then started to fuss.

Fight for Preemies

November is preemie awareness month but today is preemie awareness day. We need to fight for our preemies and hopefully one day all babies will be born healthy.


Before Alexandrea was born, I had been in the NICU a few times. Once for some friends who had some twins, They mainly had temp issues, but overall were very healthy and were able to go home by the time mom was released.

Then my little sister had my neice at aroud 33 weeks, she was 3 lbs 15 oz, had a fairly smooth ride and came home after 19 days

Just a few day old .

Now 16 months

When I went into the hosp, we figure we would be in and out , little did we know , we would be starting our NICU battle full of many ups and downs. We have been through so much with Alexandrea with her breathing issues, possible NEC (necrotizing entercolitis), her ASD (atrial septal defect), FTT (failure to thrive), tranfering to a higher level NICU 300 miles from home. Then not to mention the huge snow storm that covered Portland Oregon.

I met a lot of great people while we were in Porland, made some wonderful friends that were going through the same thing,and even moms that had term babies that were born with issues. The march of dimes did a wonderful job of getting us moms, dad, sisters and bothers and any other family member who wanted to join to scrapbook, make a hat or just have dinner.

Another Blogger mom posted thsi on her blog - she to had her some early

we are the luccky one, while we mand of had issues with Alexandrea, We still feel very fortunate that we have her here

Not every baby is so lucky.........Do you know a baby that was born too soon, too small, unable to suck, unable to breathe on his own? Premature birth is a health crisis that jeopardizes the lives and health of nearly half-million babies each year. It is the #1 killer of newborns and can lead to lifelong disabilities. Worse: the number has increased 31 percent since 1981. It can happen without warning and for no known reason. Until we have more answers, anyone’s baby, could be born too soon.Medical advances give even the tiniest babies a chance of survival, yet for many babies premature birth is still a life or death condition. It’s the #1 cause of death during the first month of life. And babies who survive face serious health challenges and risk lifelong disabilities.The rate of premature birth has never been higher. In half the cases, we simply don’t understand what went wrong. We need to fight for answers. And, ultimately, preventions.In January 1938, President Roosevelt established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to save American’s youth from Polio. His premise was that people can solve any problem if they work together. Comedian Eddie Cantor created the first grassroots fund-raiser for the National Foundation, asking the public to send dimes to President Roosevelt at the White House. The effort was called the March of Dimes, which later became part of the official name of the foundation. President Roosevelt created a partnership of volunteers and researchers and within 17 years, the Salk vaccine (named after Jonas Salk, the doctor who developed it) had been developed and polio was on the run. With the approval of the Salk vaccine and resulting eradication of polio, the March of Dimes turned its focus to a new mission to save America’s youth. Since 1958, the March of Dimes has been funding cutting edge research and innovative programs to save babies from birth defects, premature birth and low birthweight.November 17 is dedicated to raising awareness of the crisis of premature birth. The March of Dimes invites bloggers like you to get involved. • Learn about premature birth at marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies

1st Birthday

Today marks Alexandrea's 1st Birthday

one of my coworkers gave Alexandrea this cute dog, She lights up whn she see it and it says her name.

Here is Alexandrea in a dress that I wore on my first birthday . I just love her smile.

Alexandrea is still tiny but is growing, Our little sunshine weighed in at 12lbs 14.8 oz and was 25.6 in long. buy hey she atarte off at 3 lbs and 16 in long (mom was 14 lbs at a year)

Your favorite food is sweet potatoes and puffs

You now have been waving for about 1 month. You babble lots and when you want you can say Hi, momma, dada, and wub u. (love you )it is the sweetest thing.

you still love your swing although you are too mature for it as you are on the move. You are getting ready to crawl but have not managed to get up on your knees. Although at times you roll around the room to get around.

You still are a great sleeper, You sleep from around 8 pm to 7 am and mom and dad sometimes still get you up to give you an extra bottle so we hopefully can get some weight on you.

Happy Birthday my Sweet Princess!!

Mommy and Daddy love you

Halloween

Today we went some friends house , it was so cute to see all the little ones dressed up in their costumes. Alexandrea is now almost 12 months and we will cellebrate next month.

Where has the year gone?

wordless wednesday

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the pumpkin patch. Alexandrea was fasincated and just really looking all around we also got her first pumpkin!!


Our little pumpkin!

Alexandrea started waving this week, Its pretty cute , she just hold out her hand and waves her whole arm

Alexandrea for the most part is doing well. We stil have our struggle with eating but we are hoping that we will get there eventually.

Eleven months

Our little princess is now eleven months old, She is such a fun little one even though we have many feeding challenges.starting early on working the cell phone sending her first text message

dady holding up, not quite standing alone

happy baby!

more later

Miracle Baby Reunion

Today we went to locals hospital Miracle baby Reunion at the hospital where Alexandrea was born. it was great seeing some of the nurses that took care of Alexandrea and all the other kids and babies. But being back in the entrance of the nicu and heaing the bells and whistles brought back a flood of memories. My camera batter died so I only have a few pics.

My sweet neice , who was also a preemie, She is now 15 months.

Swaddling

Chillen in the chair, She loves to watch bella our dog.

You are a sweet Princess
You love your feet and shoes Since Alexandrea was born, she has always loved to be swaddled. Putting her to bed was about a 10 min process, Change diaper, get her jammies on, swaddle and place in bed with her paci.
Now the past few days, she wants her arms out but wants her legs wrapped . You are now nearly 12 lbs, you have quadrupled your weight and have grown nearly 10 in. Wow.

Yes she likes to have a spare.

Becky and Lars

10 Months

I just can't belive Alexandrea is 10 months old today! Wow! Where has this year gone?

Park Swing

We have had a pretty uneventful weekend but little miss Alexandrea has had lots of first the past few days


Tonight we went to the park and met some friends from church. We all had a great time and she got to go in the swing. She giggled with happiness and smiled pretty much the whole time she was in there. It was a big hit and I think we will have to make it back again before the weather changes and gets rainy and cold.

Since being home form the hospital , Alexandrea has slept in our bedroom in a bassinet. She had only slep in her crib a handful of time and that was generally for a nap here or there. We wanted to put her in her bedroom but were having a hard time with it, but last night out angel sleep all night in her room. For the past week or so, everytime I was crawling into bed after pumping, she would start to cry. It was not long 20 min or so, but I did not want this to develop any further. We did turn on tthe Monitor Just in case but she did not make a peep until 730 am . Yipee!! It felt good to get some sleep.

Alexandrea also got to go to her fisrt birthday party for her friend Lilly who turn 1. She had a grat birthday and can'twait to play with her more. Alexandrea is just now counting down the days till she gets a birthday cake.

Overall Alaxandrea is doing well, We right now do not know how long she will have her feeding tube. It all depends on her and how much she eats orally to be able to gain weight without falling furhter off the charts. She is now about 11lbs 10 oz and 24 1/2 in long .

I have also had to go through some of her clothes and pack them away as they are getting too small . Depending on who make it she is now wearing anywear form 3- 6 months. After we finish off this last pack of diapers, we will also be going up a size in diaper to size 2.

Please continue to pray for growth for little miss Alexandrea so we can at least get her on the growth charts.

Becky and Lars

Pacifier

Alexandrea was started on the pacifier when she was in the nicu , She first had a special one for preemieS that was purple , once she got bigger, she graduated to the larger one in green.

She still loves her paci when going to sleep. Tonight she could not make up her mind which one she wanted. Sorry the videa is kinda dark but we only had a small light on.

5 min later when she was all wrapped like a little burrito she was out like a light happy sucking one paci.