Check-ups and Dedications...so much going on!

Julia had her 4 month check-up on February 13th. She is doing very well. Her lungs are still clear and she is growing on target. She is 25.4 inches long (78th percentile)-very tall; weighs 15 pounds; 13 ounce (83rd percentile) and her head circumference is 16.73 inches (80th percentile). She is hitting all the developmental milestones. She got 3 immunizations and cried for maybe 20 seconds and then was fine. Shots are a piece of cake compared to what she has been through with her surgery and multiple IV lines and monitors in the past! She is holding herself up with her arms during tummy time and now loves sitting up in the high chair or bumbo seat. She can't sit up alone just yet, but that seems like it will be happening soon. Everything she sees or touches goes straight to her mouth. She is such a curious little gal. She no longer wants to sit in her swing or bouncy seat or be held for too long. She wants to be entertained and play with her toys or read a book. On Sunday mornings I read the comics with her and one or two articles out of the newspaper. She seems to enjoy this time, probably because she hears mommy's voice (not the dire news of the economy!) She is extremely vocal and coos and ahhs all the time. She is squealing a lot and loves to smile and receive smiles and happy faces from others. The doctor would like us to hold off on giving Julia solid foods until at least 6 months old. This will decrease her chances of developing food allergies (which Mike has) and also decrease her risk of obesity (not that she is really at risk for that). Julia does love to eat and is certainly packing on the pounds...as evidenced by her three chins and cute, chubby thighs! She is storing up all that fat for when she becomes more mobile within the coming months...I am sure the fat will just melt away (lucky girl!). Right now, mommy is having a great time pinching those chubby little cheeks.

On Sunday, February 15th Julia was dedicated to God at our local church. Child dedication is like baptism, just without the water or oil. Julia can decide to become baptized if she wants to when she is older. We felt it was important to dedicate her to God, but wanted it to be her decision if she wanted to be baptized when she was older and old enough to understand the concept of baptism and its meaning. The pastor, Pastor Schommer, did a wonderful job of briefly explaining Julia's entrance into the world and the bumpy road we faced the months after her arrival. He articulated the story well and said a very comforting, praising prayer dedicating her to God. I had to hold back the tears and was so happy to be on that stage with her so healthy now. Before the dedication, Mike and I had to meet with the Pastor to go over the logistics of how the dedication would take place. We were chatting about where we were from and I said I was from Fond du Lac, WI. Well, low and behold, Pastor Schommer was born in Fond du Lac (same hospital I was born at) and graduated a year after my mom did from the same high school! An extremely small world!

Valentines for the Grandmas and Grandpas

Checking out a future husband prospect!

Giving daddy my Valentine's Day gift...but I really wanted to eat it!

My Uncles do kick butt!

How do I get the chips out?!

Pictures

As promised in the Friday post...here are some recent pictures of Julia

Check out this pose mommy. This is my good side.

Ahhh, fingers taste good and are so soothing on my achy, teething gums.

I like this baby swing much better!

I love it when the grandparents visit. I get spoiled and held all day long! :)

Julia is 4 months old!

Today marks the day Julia is 4 months old! We can’t believe that she is 4 months already and it is amazing how much she has changed and learned in those 4 months. She is doing extremely well, besides catching a cold recently and bringing home a fun stomach flu from daycare. I was the unfortunate one to get sick with the stomach bug, twice! Luckily, Mike didn’t catch anything, so he stayed the healthy parent while mommy was recovering from nausea, vomiting and dehydration. Also, Grandma and Grandpa Stephany and Great-Grandma Voelker were here last weekend to help Mike take care of Julia while I laid in bed. I had my mom there to take care of me! It also didn’t help that I was studying for my boards which I took and passed on January 30th! It feels sooooo good to be done with that!

Julia is recovering from her cold. She has had it for about a week and a half. She was so congested at one point that her little coos and ahhs sounded like Darth Vader! Sometimes when feeding her she would smile and then make a noise that sounded like a growl when we knew she was just trying to make a nice, happy cooing sound. The congestion has made her sounds like a growling dog at times! J We can’t help but laugh at her and she laughs and smiles with us.

Julia is growing so fast and she is developing her own personality. She is extremely long! She is so tall/long that she is wearing 6 month old clothing already. She is up to about 16 ½ pounds. Mike and I were looking at pictures the other day of Julia before she went on breast milk and after. She really porked up and grew once she got off the no-fat, high carb formulas! She can now hold her head up very well without any shaking or wobbling. She is also supporting her head and chest when she is on her tummy. She can lift her head and chest up with her arms when she is doing tummy time. She is also wiggling her legs while on her tummy as if she is trying to figure out how to become mobile now that her arms are stronger. She kind of swims around on the floor and moves a little, but hasn’t figured out just yet how to move more efficiently. She is going to be mobile in no time. Her legs are getting strong and she loves to stand in her exersaucer/jumper. We have a fun, new interaction with her when we are changing her diaper. The second we put her down on the changing table, she start wiggling all over the place and smiling and giggling. We entertain her by giving her big smiles and saying words in happy tones. She eventually gets so excited that she squeals in delight. It is so fun and cute! This is a welcome change to when she first came home from the hospital and just hated having her diaper changed and would cry bloody murder until the changing was done. She is an extremely smiley baby and very happy. The only time she really cries is when she is hungry or tired. We can’t complain…except that we wish she would nap more during the day. She is still a catnapper and naps about 20 minutes 3-4 times a day. Since she doesn’t nap much, she goes to bed pretty early…around 6:30-7pm which is kind of nice because it gives us the rest of the evening to do what we want and unwind. She is still waking up once in the middle of the night to eat, but we are hoping this will change after her 4 month appointment on Feb. 15th where we are hoping the doctor will let us start solid foods. She sometimes sleeps through the night, but that only happens about once a week right now.

Julia has certainly changed our lives over the past 4 months…much, much more than we imagined. I was thinking about all the things she has taught us and what we having learned from her (good or bad). Julia has taught us:

1. No matter how much you plan, plan, plan before your daughter arrives, no book or anyone can ever prepare you for parenthood.
2. There is no parenting book out there with a chapter titled: “What do to do when your full-term baby has to be in the NICU for 7 weeks” or “How to decide if your baby should have surgery”
3. Medical insurance is EXTREMELY important (comprehensive coverage is key). After all was said and done…Julia racked up about $450,000 in medical bills. We ended up paying only about $650 out of pocket for admission co-pays and a hospital-grade breast pump rental. We gladly paid the $650 instead of the $450,000! Imagine how much that lady with 8 babies has to pay for her kids in the NICU!
4. You don’t eat or sleep until your baby has eaten or is asleep, even if it means you have to skip a meal.
5. Your bladder adjusts to not being able to go to the bathroom because your daughter does not want to be put down anywhere without screaming.
6. Your child comes first in each and every situation. If you want to go somewhere, you have to decide if she will come with or stay home with mom or dad.
7. If she goes somewhere with you, you have to plan the trip around naptime, feeding time and make sure you pack everything. You bring along more stuff and equipment than what is needed to hike up Mt. Everest and camp there for a month!
8. Having a little gas is no big deal….just let the toots fly whenever you want!
9. Being at home with Julia is more exhausting, but more rewarding, than being at our full-time jobs!
10. Cherish every little thing and person around you. Everything is new to Julia and she is so enthralled by everything and it really makes you realize how wonderful our world is.
11. Hands and fingers make great teething rings/soothers and work better than the actual teething rings sometimes
12. You can spend $130 bucks on a baby swing, but there is absolutely no guarantee your baby will like it. We had to buy a different swing for Julia because she just hated the one we had. The new one swings side to side; the old one swung back and forth. Go figure! (we think this is a preference she got from the hospital)
13. Watching mommy and daddy make faces and noises is much more interesting than playing the many toys we have.
14. Pooping is a welcoming, relieving (no pun intended) event when she didn’t do a #2 the day before!
15. When teething, babies are dripping, drooling faucets! Julia must drool a gallon a day. Makes laundry day much, much longer!
16. Your child loves you more than anything else in the world. Julia now knows who we are and gets worried and sometimes cries when one of us leaves the room
17. You will never, ever love something or someone else so much ever in your entire life. No matter how much sleep you lose, how hungry you may be, how tired or irritable you get—we love her more than we love each other and would do absolutely anything for her.