pretty in the park

We went to the park with Allison and the girls on tuesday. It was beautiful outside!

i love my family

Nick, Allison, and the girls had the family over for dinner and Family Home Evening. It was nice to spend some time together (especially since they will be moving in August) and the kids enjoyed playing.

Nick shared a wonderful story of one of our ancestors, Thomas Mayhew Jr. He lived in Martha's Vineyard in the 1600s and was a missionary to the Native Americans. The history was written by Henry Franklin Norton, and you can read it here. If you don't have time to read it all then you can scroll down a little to the heading, THOMAS MAYHEW, JR., FIRST MISSIONARY. I love learning about what fascinating people our ancestors were - we owe them a lot for preparing the way for us to come to earth!

These pictures show Baby R with her cousin Karyna (9 months) and Nayeli (almost 3). You can also see Nick's pal Cameron chilling in the background. He was supposed to be ready to catch the girls in case one of them pushed the other one over. Luckily that didn't happen - the girls only touched each other's faces and shirts.

newborn screening

I found out today from our CF nurse that Michigan has finally passed the Newborn Screening Law for Cystic Fibrosis! I, for one, think that is wonderful news! Knowing from birth that a person has Cystic Fibrosis can greatly improve their quality of life, and may add years to their life too! You can read the article here.

I doubt that I would have had any idea how important it is to do this screening if Baby R had not been diagnosed with CF. Our family has no history (that we know of) of any person having CF, so we thought that it was not possible for Baby R to have the disease. Little did we know that Papa R and I were both carriers, and members of our families must have been carrying it for generations.

Here are a few interesting facts about CF:

• 1 in every 30 Caucasian-Americans is a symptomless carrier of CF
  
• There are more than 10 million carriers in the United States
  
• 1 in every 400 marriages involves 2 carriers
• More than 30,000 people in the U.S. have CF
• CF is one of the most common genetic disorders of Caucasians
• There is evidence that CF existed as early as 1595

For more information visit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

playing piano!

I like listening to daddy play the piano for me, and sometimes he lets me play too!

playtime with grandma

Grandma loves taking my picture almost as much as she loves playing with me!

ahhh... the birds

Anyone else hear the birds chirping this morning? I know it was "officially" spring on tuesday, but with the exception of the freakishly warm day a week ago monday, it hasn't really felt like spring. Especially when we woke up to snow on monday, was it? Well I for one was excited to wake up this morning to a thunderstorm. I couldn't really tell it was raining, but through our blinds I saw lightning, and for some reason it made me happy. Baby R and I had fun on the balcony watching the rain pour and listening to it pound on the roof over our heads. She was mesmerized! How fun it is to see baby's reactions to new things - maybe that is why I got excited this morning during the storm. Anyways, I am now sitting in my quiet apartment with the sliding door open, feeling the breeze come in and listening to the birds chirp. Baby R fell asleep for her morning nap a little bit ago. But in the midst of her dozing off she woke up suddenly when geese flew by honking. She looked for the noise, discovered it, and contentedly fell back asleep. I love watching her discover new things!

Oh, and did I mention it was 62 degrees at 7:30 a.m.? Warmer than it is now...

slowly but surely

Baby R is catching up in height and weight. Here are her 6 month stats:

Length: 26 1/8" (65th percentile)
Weight: 16 lbs. (50th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17" (75th percentile)

And because we all know you are really here for the pictures...

Oh-so-happy to be naked (well with a diaper on...)

who really knows?

Yesterday I took Baby R to the Developmental Assessment Clinic. Apparently all the babies from the NICU are supposed to go there to be "assessed." The good news is that Baby R "graduated" from the program yesterday. Normally the clinic has the children come a few times until they are three years old, but since Baby R is not behind at all developmentally they graduated her.

Here is the strange part: They told me that I should not put Baby R in a jumper, an exersaucer, or a walker - ever! Apparently they are bad for babies, or so they say. They said that it can cause problems in the legs and feet of the babies, and they can be dangerous. This came up because they said I need to keep Baby R from putting pressure on the back of her head too much so her head will continue rounding itself out. No problem... But when "Early On" came to assess her a while back, and we talked about what activities she could do to help her round out her head they told me the jumper and exersaucer were fine (along with tummy time and sitting).

And here's the kicker - both of the people who gave me conflicting advice were Physical Therapists, and both work together! How can they give me such different advice??? Oh well. Baby R's head is rounding itself out just fine, and I will just go the middle ground. A little bit of time once in a while in her jumper and exersaucer probably won't hurt her...

he's a big kid now...

For my technologically unsavvy sister, I thought I would post some pictures of Austin on his first day of preschool! His Spiderman "packpack" is so cool! Wish I had one... Anyways, we were all very excited (and sad) for him to start preschool. We are getting too old!

And since I can't help but post pictures of my daughter, here is a picture of Baby R and I with Austin on his first day. She is Austin's "best buddy." I guess that makes me second best for now...

bed head

Now how come I am not this cute in the morning? After Baby R wakes up and eats breakfast she is normally in a cheery mood - as showcased in this picture. She has developed this kinda bashful smile and giggle... everyone knows she didn't get bashful from me! Must be her daddy's genes again!

And what about that crazy morning 'do? She definitely gets that from her daddy because my hair never looks that good when I wake up! Sounds like she gets all of her cute traits from her daddy doesn't it?

new talents

Baby R can sit-up for minutes at a time now before she topples over! She is enjoying her new form of independence. She has also decided that rolling onto her tummy is not such a bad thing anymore and does it much more frequently now! Also, in her jumper she has figured out that if she jumps really hard for a little bit and then lifts her legs up that the momentum allows her to continue to bounce without any effort on her part! (A bit lazy if you ask me, must get that from her daddy!) On a side note, Baby R gets her last synagis injection (RSV vaccine) tomorrow - hooray! After tomorrow no more shots once a month!

da-da

It is official, Baby R can now say "da-da!" Well it is more like "da-da-da-da-da" but it is cute none the less. She also says "ba-ba-ba," but still no "ma-ma." I am glad she learned "da-da" first, it makes it more fun for Papa R when he gets home from work and she babbles to him.

we made it

Baby R went on her first road trip to surprise Great Grandma Firebaugh on her 74th birthday! Great Grandma was surprised and thrilled to let Baby R (and Mommy), Austin, Aunt Molly, and Grandma take over her house for three days! The weather was beautiful, so we spent plenty of time outside. We went to the park, went on walks, and even went to the zoo in Asheboro! It was fun, but too short! Grandma wasn't super cooperative with the pictures, but here is one of her with Baby R. Thank you to Jodi and Kevin for the super cute sunhat!

I also got to meet Uncle Rob, Aunt Nancy, and Cousin Julie when they came over for Grandma's birthday celebration! In June they will become Grandparents (and Julie will be an Aunt) when Joe and Martie have their baby boy!

Uncle Jon and Cousin Emily let us have the party at their house, so I got to meet them for the first time! Aunt Karen couldn't be there because Josh and Julia had their baby girl, Maya! Hopefully I can meet her sometime soon!

Austin and I had a fun time together! Here we are after a long day at the zoo, sporting our new hats! We were so tired that we napped on the ride home.

I did really well on the trip. Especially considering the car ride was 12 hours! We drove at night so Austin and I would sleep most of the trip, but it wasn't very easy sleeping all night in my car seat. By the time we finally got home monday morning I was pooped! I napped for a total of 5 hours on monday and still slept all night monday night. I guess all the excitement just wore me out. Happy Birthday Great Grandma Firebaugh!

getting ready for spring

Mommy and Daddy went shopping for me on their date night and picked me out two cute swimsuits to get ready for summer. I can't wait to wear this surfer suit at Sue and Jack's pool!

Afterwards they gave me a new 'do for spring! I can't wait!

P.S. If you look really close then you can see the freckle in my right eye. It's the left one when you look at me, right under the pupil.

one of those days

Ever have one of those days where you just want to go back to bed and sleep off a bad headache? Yeah, me too...

she loves to jump!

Baby R sure does love her jumper! She also likes that I put pictures of smiling babies on the wall for her to look at while she jumps. That is why she keeps smiling at the wall. Let me know if you have problems viewing the video... ENJOY!

then and now

In less than two weeks, Baby R will celebrate her 6 month birthday! As Grandpa was reminding me of this fact I started to look back on the past 6 months of life, and of course got sentimental. It is exciting to see Baby R growing up, but at the same time it is sad, she grows too fast! Molly called me yesterday because there is an opening for Austin to start school, no way! No longer is he the baby of the family, instead Baby R has taken that spot. How long before she is no longer considered the baby? Here is a picture of her sleeping in her boppy when she was one month old...

Now take a look at this picture of her at 5 1/2 months old, she no longer naps in the boppy, but instead she uses it to help her sit-up without toppling over!

I can no longer remember life without my miracle baby. Even our month in the NICU seems like a distant memory. I always pray that I will be blessed to know how to help her develop, but instead she teaches me new things every day. I love her more every day, which seems impossible. I love Papa R more every day, and am so thankful that he works and goes to school so I can stay home with our precious baby. I even realize how much more I love and respect my parents and siblings for all that they did and do for me. It always amazes me just how many ways she can bless our lives, countless ways. I lost track around number 9,122,006...