9 Months

It's hard to believe but Veronica is 9-months-old.  She is doing wonderfully and continues to amaze us everyday.  Take a look at some of her new skills:

At her 9-month doctor's visit, Veronica weighed in at 16 lbs, 2 oz and was 25 1/4 inches long.  She is on the growth charts for her actual age which is remarkable, considering she really is only supposed to be 5 1/2 months old.  On top of that, premature babies often have challenges in the area of growth.  We are so thankful that this is not an area we have to worry about, at least not for now.  The doctor was impressed with her progress and really had no concerns.  She suggested that it might be time to unswaddle her and move her out of the bassinet and into her own crib, which is something we already knew....maybe one of these days we'll actually do it.

Happy 9 months, Veronica!


   

5 Months Corrected

 This past week, Veronica turned 5-months-old in terms of her corrected age and believe it or not, she is still sleeping in a bassinet, in our room.  All of our other children were sleeping in their own crib by the time they were 3 or 4-months old.  But Veronica is different and I am not quite ready to move her out.  Maybe it's because she spent 17 weeks in the NICU and I'm still trying to make up for all that time she wasn't with us.  But one of my New Year's resolutions is to move her into her own crib....at some point.   It will happen....someday, it will.  Once she can sit up on her own it won't even be safe for her to be in the bassinet, so surely by that point we will have moved her.  She still looks so darn cute, sleeping all swaddled.  As much as I want her to grow, develop and meet her milestones, part of me wants her to stay an infant.  I love this age and they just grow up too quickly. 

Other happenings in Veronica's world:
  - she still hasn't mastered rolling over.  After rolling from her stomach to back two times on New Years day, we have yet to see her do it again.
  - she currently weighs close to 16 lbs!
  - she had her third synagis shot this past week which means we are about half way through RSV season.  Hooray!!  Spring couldn't come soon enough.
  - she continues to be fed exclusively by breastmilk but we will look to start solids within the next few weeks. 

Here are some recent photos:

Smiling at Theodore.

She loves her hands!

How cute is she?

Veronica in her Christmas dress which she wore for about 10 minutes.





Looking Back - Veronica's Baptism

Yesterday was my son's First Reconciliation (congratulations Theodore!).  We don't usually take Veronica to church for fear of germs and RSV, but we made an exception for this special occasion - and we tried to sit  away from others, with our sanitizer in hand.  While at church, we ran in to Father Rogers, the priest who baptized Veronica.  Father Rogers left our parish in June so he hadn't seen Veronica since he baptized her in April, on her second day of life.  He marveled at how much she has changed and he seem genuinely moved by her progress.  It was a special moment for us and brought back memories of her baptism. 

We chose to have Veronica baptized on her second day of life because at that point, we didn't know what the future might hold.  It wasn't as though we were expecting her not to survive; we just didn't know.   The baptism was an emotional experience to say the least and obviously quite different from the baptisms of our other children.  Father Rogers wore sterile gloves and a gown and used sterile water.  Veronica didn't wear the same baptismal gown that her siblings wore, the one my mother-in-law made from my wedding gown.  There were no family members with us to celebrate and no party afterwards.  While I cried just as I did for the baptisms of my other children, the tears I cried for Veronica's were tears from completely different emotions.  Part of me mourns the loss of that experience for Veronica and for ourselves, but I don't regret the decision we made.  I know there will be plenty of other wonderful moments and occasions in her life that we will get to celebrate. 


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New Year - New Tricks!

Veronica started the new year off with a bang.  She rolled over for the first time!!  Unfortunately I was on my way to work and missed it but Liesl caught it on video:

Hooray Veronica!! We are so proud of you!!