18 months old

Y'all, Olivia is now 18 months!  She is a year and a half old!  This feels surreal!  I feel like we are officially at the point where there is no trace of her early rough start anymore!  We run into other 18 month old babies and I think, wow, she can do what they can do and she is the same size as them!  We don't get as many comments about "how small she is for her age!" anymore and we are almost (*hopefully by mid-july*) at the point where we are done with any extra services or doctors!  It is so amazing what her little body has been able to accomplish in just a year and a half and I am a very proud momma!

Olivia is now walking (or running) wherever she needs to go, no more crawling for this kiddo!  She is climbing and exploring all the time.  Need your house baby proofed?  I can lend you Olivia for 45 seconds and you will quickly find all the "danger areas" she is that quick!  She has dropped her "cautious" walking from her 15 month update and is now in the "I want to give my mom a heart-attack" phase of everything!  I hear myself gasping multiple times a day; I am sure I will continue to loosen up in this parenting game!

I think I can sum up Olivia's favorite things in less than 20 letters: cats, bread and outside!  There I did it!  If Olivia does not grow up to be a cat-lady, I will be super shocked!  She wakes up at least 5 of out 7 days and the first word she says is kitty, then pats on the bed so the kitty will jump up!  Felix, poor thing, enjoyed life much more pre-Olivia!  Kitty is still probably her most used word, however, her inventory of words is expanding by the day.  She can now say a bunch of words (25ish), here is a list we have compiled: Dada Dada, Momma, Kitty, Puppy, Meow, Thank you, blueberry, Night, Yeah, Banana, Ball, More, Yes, No, Bye, Mwah (for kiss), Nannie, Oma, Hi, Meow, Boobie, Juice, Mmmmm, Cheese, and she can make sounds for a monkey!

She talks a lot, but not every word is always understandable to me yet!  Another fun thing since 15 months is that she can understand instructions much more now.  She will listen to commands and respond (most of the time favorably), so that has been fun!  She now knows that she needs to clean up her toys and can help.  We can say, "Oh you don't like that food?  You can just set it on the table, instead of her throwing it to the dogs (this one only works about half the time, cause apparently she thinks our dogs are underfed-HA!).  She comes running when you say its time to put on shoes and will sit right in your lap to "help." This has been fun seeing her understand and learn so much in such a short time!

She has recently moved up to the non-baby class at daycare and I think it has been really good for her!  She seems to look up to the other kiddos and learn from them!  And she seems to becoming more independent because of it.  She wants to always hold her fork, spoon, or drink.  How is my baby no longer a baby??  She is still a little bit timid around strangers, but that is to be expected.  She is very comfortable to regular visitors and will easily and willingly go to them (even her teachers at daycare--past and present!), but her grandparents all especially love this trait of hers.  

Marc and I both see a little bit of each other in her!  It is fun to see the parts of her personality that is shaped by both of us!  She likes to talk and she is super curious, that she gets from her mom!  She likes routine and likes to help out, that she gets from her dad...and those are just a few examples!

The last few months have brought along a few first for Olivia: 

* Her First trip to Disney:

Do not be fooled, she was not this happy the whole time!

* Her first Easter Egg Hunt:

* Her first haircut:

We also got to be featured in a marketing campaign for Bon Secour so we did a photo shoot at the NICU and got to see some of her old nurses so that was very fun!

In addition, we got in lots and lots of family time, a visit to meet Auntie Sara's new baby girl, trips to the park, maymont, lots of swinging, and strawberries (always strawberries).  

This doll was made by a friend and it is the exact height and head size that Olivia was at birth, it is absolutely crazy to see how much she has grown!

 Here are a few additional photos of the last few months....

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! 

Love, The Schinkel's

P.S.--Olivia is now 17 months and is scared of the Easter Bunny, Santa, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and basically any other character with a big fake head! So basically Disney was fun--she actually did really enjoy the rides!  She might have a little bit of her mother's sense of adventure in her! 

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