Happy St. Patrick's Day!

💚🍀 Happy St. Patrick's Day! 💚🍀

We feel very LUCKY to have you following along with our family!

Audiologist Results

Just a quick follow up from last week's post, we went to the audiologist and they could not do the full test, as Olivia did not tolerate things stuck in her ear.  So instead they did a different test, which involved Olivia sitting on my lap and turning her head when she heard noises.  And the results were that she definitely has no hearing damage in one ear and most likely does not have hearing damage in her other ear.  So all in all a great appointment. Going forward, we do not have follow up appointments for that unless we see any issues.  So we were excited for that!  

Since this is a short post, I thought I would include some cute pictures from this week:

Dad went to the last home VCU game, Olivia and I cheered from home as the start time was 9PM!

This month we have been taking part of the #21dayrealaloud challenge, where we read to Olivia everyday for 15 (ish) minutes.  It has been fun enjoying all the books from friends and family!

Olivia attending her friend Madeline's birthday party and was very excited, though her face does not appear as such!

Still loving her chair!

On Tuesday this week, we went back to the NICU for a photo shoot for some upcoming fundraising, so stay tuned for that!

Enjoying the beautiful weather and our sweet pink car from Aunt Morgan and Uncle Tommy!

15 months

Olivia is now 15 (and a half) months!  She took her first steps on January 20th and can now be found walking all over the house and sometimes breaks into a slight run!  She is certainly a cautious walker, and even our PT said that she thought she might have been taking so long to make sure she got it right when she did it!  She falls, though sparingly and she seems like such a big girl now!  What is it about overalls and walking that make my little baby suddenly seem like she is 3.5!  (Please notice how many times we had to roll up those overalls--little miss shorty)!

Olivia's currently favorite pastime (after swinging, of course), is to press her hands up to this door and say kitty when looking at any animal in the backyard.  It always makes me run to see if we have a new cat back there!  Nope, that's just Brutus (in fairness, he is a few pounds lighter than our cat, so I can understand her confusion).  But I always say, oh no, that's the doggie!  In addition to kitty, Olivia also says: Dada, Momma, bye, more (both speaking and signing) and has been rumored to say Gaga, Hi, yes, and Chicken (though it might be more sounds than anything else)This picture is of Olivia a week ago, when she was sent home early from daycare cause she had a fever.  I spent the afternoon and the following day with her playing outside, taking a walk, running errands. because this "sick kid" never acts sick.  On Friday she was slightly off, so we went to the doctor and she had an ear infection!  That is how she is, easy going and laid back. 

She is almost always happy and cheerful, but she has recently learned that she can cry in protest to get her way.  And it is amazing how quickly she can turn it on and off.  But baby girl, we are onto you now...

She loves her mom and dad something fierce and is very hesitant around people she is not super familiar with.  But is also easy going if she is handed off (so long as mommy isn't mentioned or within ear shot).  We can definitely see parts of her personality that favor both myself and Marc!

She is loved something fiercely, not just by us but by her village!  Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors and family alike.  People love her (almost) as much as we do!  And we could not be more proud of everything she has overcome in her short life!  We are constantly amazed by her progress!

I can also see a little stubborn streak in her, but I think that stubborn streak might have been part of her fight, so I will take it!  When my mom and I were at a consignment sale a week or so ago, Nannie was trying to pick out a toy for this little one, we picked up dolls, drums, stuffed animals, puzzles, noisemakers and more.  But she was not biting, then all of the sudden, she gets down, walks over and sits in this chair.  It was love at first sight and she was not leaving without it (thankfully it was only $5, so her Nannie easily gave in), but it was funny to see her determination--no, I do not want another baby doll, thank you very much, I will take my own personal chair and she has sat in it everyday since!  Please check out little Miss with her legs crossed posing for her picture! 💗

I am not even kidding, this was her last night with her book to read.  We are currently taking part of the #21daysreadaloud challenge, though we plan to do it for the whole month.  It has been a fun challenge, reading books from friends and family that were given to us just after her birth.  Reading the notes of encouragement and prayers--it is an easy reminder of where we were just a year ago and how far we have come!  I was just talking to a friend that recently had a baby, and we were bemusing the fact of how lucky we are to know that it takes a village to raise a child and how lucky we both were to have such a village!   

Its easy to fall in love with her sweet face over and over again--even if she has just pulled out everything from under my sink!  I am sure one day I may be made at her, but it has not happened yet!  (Well maybe when she wants to play at 3am....)

Per my last post, we have said goodbye to one doctor, but will be visiting a few tomorrow, so if you would be so kind, please be praying for us:

1. We see the audiologist tomorrow to make sure Olivia did not have any long term damage from her weeks of vancomycin.  This was the super strong antibiotic that Olivia was on in the NICU for MRSA and meningitsis.  One of the side effects is hearing loss, particularly in preemies, so we are praying and hoping Olivia did not experience any of that (we have not seen any red flags to indicate such things)

2. She will also get her last synagis shot.  This was the shot she has gotten every month for this RSV season and last.  We only qualified through 3/20/19, so she gets her last dose tomorrow and we are hopefully that will carry us through the reason of this RSV season.

3.  Not necessarily a pray, but an additional fun first appointment for us is to see the pediatric dentist tomorrow.  They encouraged us to get her in after her 1 year appointment.  So that should be exciting to see, so far, she loves her toothbrush! 

All in all, we have an action-packed day tomorrow!  And in maybe the most exciting news yet, Olivia will be getting to meet Mickey Mouse next month as her and I tag along to Disney while Marc has a conference down there!  The excitement (at least for me) is building!  Hope everyone has been having a great start to your March and gets ready to enjoy the longer days!  I know I am excited to light past 6pm :)

Saying Goodbye to some doctors appointments

We have said it before and I will say it again, the NICU life does not end at discharge.  Most babies can be seeing specialist up until age 2 or even beyond that, so it takes time!  For us between February 6-18th, we had 4 appointments with doctors and specialists, that is a lot (and definitely does not give Olivia enough time to forget what just happened, she screams the second she gets placed on the scale for weight)!  Thankfully that does not happen too often, but it is not unusual either.  These last few weeks, though, brought some good news and a goodbye to one doctor--Olivia's cardiologist!  Honestly, one of my favorites, Dr. Allen, is the kind of doctor you hope for, just not hope for your child to be seeing a cardiologist.  He takes time to explain everything, to interact with your kid, and understands their limitations and need to be close to mom or dad.  He has a wonderful heart, apologized profusely when he was running 10 minutes behind because he had to take his son his lunch that he had left behind, and just such a warm and caring doctor.  I cannot recommend him enough if you have any pediatric cardiology needs.  I actually left the appointment and told Marc I will miss seeing him, though I am not sad we got discharged.  We talked about Olivia's heart thrombus here (where I apparently was also singing Dr. Allen's praises), anyway, the goal was for her body to naturally absorb the calcification that occurred when she had the umbilical line placed and the MRSA infection and her body did just that.  On her echo yesterday you could not longer see the thrombus, so he signed off saying she no longer had her intracardiac mass/thrombus and had a normal echo!  Dr. Allen, like all Olivia's doctors are pleased with her progress.  We hear time and time again, you would never know she was a preemie now!

Among the other good news, was our 1 year appointment with the NICU clinic.  She was/will be seen at 6 months, 1 year, and 18 months (and 2 years if needed, but the hope is to be discharged at 18 months).  Well at her 1 year adjusted (14.5 months actual) appointment, she met her a nurse practitioner, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, and a speech therapist (at her 6 month appointment she also saw the pediatric dentist, but he was not in the office the day we went this time).  Based on their assessment, she is tracking at 14-15 months (her actual age) in both OT and speech, and is tracking right about 12 months (her adjusted) age for PT.  The nurse practitioner said she looked like a happy, health 14.5 month old baby girl.  So overall, we left the appointment feeling very encouraged.  Olivia is right where she needs to be for the time being.  We are continuing with PT services at home twice a month (they recommend continuing for at least the next 3 months) and hope that by her 18 month appointment in July that she will be able to be discharged from these appointments too!

If you cannot already tell, we are proud parents--proud of the little girl Olivia is turning out to be and super proud of how far she has come from her tiny 2 pound 4 ounce self.  (Did I mention she is now 20 pounds, over 2 feet tall, and wearing 18 month clothes--CRAZY!)

Here are some fun day to day pictures of her preciousness...

Thanks Cousin Matt for the most adorable outfit!

Bed Hair, don't care!

She wakes up every single day with that smile on her face, we are certainly blessed!

Happy Valentine's Day!

💕Happy Valentine's Day!!💕

It cracks me up how she holds her pacifier like an old man smoking a cigar! 

6 teeth, can you see them all?

Love, Olivia

Olivia's First Birthday and Beyond

So for awhile there I was doing really well with the monthly updates then we hit one year and all of the sudden we dropped off the face of the earth!  Not really, but we have a mobile child who likes the attention of her parents, so free time is non-existent!  So here is a much overdue update on our sweet Olivia!  

Just before her first birthday, we went back to her NICU and visited her favorite nurse there, she actually really did not want to go see her, but we got her calm enough for a cute picture.  This is Olivia just before her first birthday (on the left) and at the day of discharge at two months old (on the right). 

The difference a year makes, this is my first time holding Olivia on the left and probably the 857th time holding her on the right (this was at her first birthday party) :)

Olivia still loves her swing (though this picture is not a convincing one), we did finally get around to putting one up in the backyard for her. 

Olivia's first birthday party was Snow white themed (Yes I got to pick it cause she has no opinion yet) and it was well attended by family and friends alike! 

Marc's side of the family

We put up an outfit from each stage--preemie, newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and a year!  The visual difference is crazy!

Olivia loved playing in the icing, though she did not get too much actually in her mouth!

This is my ladies bible study group, who were all able to make it to celebrate Olivia.  We are so loved!

The Grumbles family and us (plus Andy joining in on the fun)

The Whitman group:

My side of the family

Quickly following Olivia's first birthday was Thanksgiving.  It is fun having her home for all her first holidays at home!

See, I told you she loves the swing:

We took a day and went to Busch Gardens Christmastown, and Olivia met Santa, neither was too impressed!

I love this picture of Olivia cause she looks so grown up, more like a toddler and less baby like. 

Mommy kisses are a faborite!

We still do not like Santa!

But all other things Christmas are okay with her--the bows, the lights, the presents...

We had a big snowfall in December and we got her all dressed up to get a picture in it.  We all lasted maybe 10 minutes outside but at least it makes for a cute picture.

Olivia was able to attend a couple of VCU games this season.  She is certainly repping her favorite basketball team.

Christmas Eve at Marc's parents house...

Olivia loves opening presents but has yet to figure out that she actually likes playing with them too. 

Christmas morning at my mom's house:

A long standing Williams family tradition is that after all the gifts are open, the youngest kiddo(s) get in the discarded wrapping paper for a picture, thus the tradition lives on.

The Friday after Christmas we were back in the car again to head to Norfolk to celebrate my mom's birthday and Christmas with my sister and her family (Andy and Kat came too).  We ended up at the zoo in Norfolk on a unseasonably warm day.

New Year's Eve Party girl, no worries, we were all asleep before the ball drop!

Olivia has taken to her German heritage well and can be seen here enjoying a Brotchen.  She thinks she is such a big kid when we let her have it.  But the best news of all for mom and dad is that it occupies her for like an hour or more and she still only manages to eat about 1/4 of it.  I think this should be a standard teething piece!

Olivia also loves looking out the window at her dog brothers. 

A few new milestones:
* Walks or Runs while holding Hands
* Freely roams the living room grabbing hold of any furniture, people, etc. 
* Gets into EVERYTHING!
* Talking lots more--she will babble off full conversations, though no one can really understand her.  Her favorite word to say is Kitty as she so lovingly grabs Felix.  
* She can sign "more" which she has taken to mean food, so sometimes she wakes up asking for more. 
* Has become a lot more Mommy or Daddy centered and often cries when she is dropped off at daycare. 
* She can listen to some commands--for example: put the blocks in the bag, give mommy high five, etc.  
* She loves bath and food
* She can clap her hands
* She can wave hi and bye
* She likes being naked down to her diaper
* and the most exciting of all, she took her first steps and can do about 4-5 steps unassisted before falling!