Kaitlyn's first day of school!

Wow, what a day! talk about tears. Today was Kaitlyn's first day of Preschool. She will likely be one of the youngest ones in the class, it's for 3 years olds, and Kaitlyn will be 3 next month (but of course developmentally, she's still more like a 2.5 year old). We'll see how it goes for this month. Kaitlyn will be evaluated for special school in a few weeks and she'll likely qualify. We may do a combination of both, we'll see.

As I stood back and watched Kaitlyn jump right into drawing, the tears started rolling (of course, did you expect anything different?) All I could think of was joy and sadness at the same time. Joy: thinking of how far my little darling has come from lying in an isolette, weighing just a mere 1.5 pounds. Now she's going to school without her mommy! And sadness: sadness for missing Corinne that should be right there by her side. It was quite an emotional moment for mom, that's for sure.

Kaitlyn didn't show much separation anxiety with my leaving, I told her I was going to be leaving, and she said "ok". But when I came to pick her up afterwards (it's a 2 1/2 hour program, very small class size) she was showing signs of separation anxiety. It was sort of cute. She loves her mom and does miss me! After going home, boy, did she fall asleep easily for nap time.

A mom I had just met at the meet and greet last week gave me a big hug as I was tearing up, her daughter is in class with Kaitlyn and her younger son has a lot of disabilities, so I think she really understood how proud I was that Kaitlyn was in mainstream school as well as being sad over missing Corinne. Thank you Jennifer for the hug!

Kaitlyn drawing at school (yes she's drawing on the pen cap). She hyper focuses on things all the time.

Mom and Kaitlyn having walked to school from our house, Kaitlyn just said to me: "hold my hand"

Kaitlyn with her lunch box and backpack, very excited!
Mom and Kaitlyn in the classroom
One of Kaitlyn's teachers, Meggan

Kaitlyn & Feeding:
We've had some backwards development. Her weight started dropping and we started getting more worried about the calories we are getting in her (like old times). She has started misbehaving, refusing food, batting us away and basically making meal-times very unpleasant again. We've also had some vomits again (however, the vomits we had were due to her not-chewing as opposed to being full, she still swallows things whole when she needs to chew them (even though she can chew) I think she gets lazy. But I do attribute some of the behavior (in general, not just around feeding) from her little brother. I think it's setting in that the little fella is here to stay and she's not super happy about it. As well as our worrying more about the calories and her weight. Grrrr. it's so frustrating. Id love to be one of the those parents for when their child doesn't eat that I can just say, ok, who cares, she'll eat more next time. Maybe some day?

More updates:
Brian went back to work today, so this afternoon and tonight will be my first day on my own. Saturday, 26 hours I'll be totally on my own...uggghh..I'm a bit nervous actually. Trying to pump, feed Kaitlyn and bottle feed a crying Quinn at the same time is going to be crazy. Oh and work too! Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure it out. Not sure how long I'll be able to keep up the pumping this time around. I've got a little stash stored up at least, and hope to try to pump for at least another 3 months, but we'll see!

I still freak out all the time that Kaitlyn really has a lot of developmental disabilities. She is always so much more interested in things than in people. She is so hyperactive in busy environments. Her NICU 3 year follow-up is in a few weeks, it will be interesting to see what they say. But how much can they evaluate in a few hours?

Quinn:

I think the little fella might be refluxing a bit. We've had quite a few marathon feeding sessions (or maybe this is normal, I have no idea) which usually happen at night (not fun) where he cries, wants the bottle, drinks, falls asleep, you put him down (on an angle of course) he fusses more, but won't take the bottle, until maybe 10 minutes later, then drinks some, and does the same thing all over again. I can get big burps out of him (that helps), but is this normal, I have no idea???

He also is still anemic (have to have another blood draw this week) so maybe that's where the tiredness is coming from, he has a horrible case of baby acne (poor little fella) and one of his tear ducts is a bit blocked (all normal baby stuff, really). All-in-all, he's really doing quite well, is growing and we are more in love with him every day!

Super Busy:

Brian's dad Edward (Quinn's middle name) was here for a week and just left on Sunday. He was wonderful and helped a lot with the kids, especially for the early morning Quinn feeds (we are NOT morning people). My dad and stop-mom had also visited last week and my mom was here for 4 days not long after Quinn came home. While Ed was here we went to the Zoo, (to try to cool down in SF with a heat wave going on at our house, which I think is adding to Quinn's baby acne), Train Town and a haircut. With all those house-guests, it's been a bit crazy around here and I'm sooo behind on everything, announcements and especially hand written thank you notes for all the wonderful presents for Quinn we've received! I promise they are coming!

Kaitlyn's 2nd haircut, no tears this time. she "wanted" to go!

Ed, Kaitlyn and Dad at Train Town

A fellow Micro preemie and surviving twin, Sam, and Kaitlyn
One of the best things about the support groups I run is getting to meet moms that I know "on-line" in person. Amy Collen (above left), her husband John and Sam, (a 24 weeker surviving twin) belongs to both my local preemie support group as well as my Micro Preemie Support Group (global). It was so nice to meet Amy and Sam in person, they came to visit us and brought us some yummy cookies!
The McCarthy family taking a break from the heat at Train Town in Sonoma County. Going out in public! We couldn't do any of this with Kaitlyn after she came home . This is such a different experience this time around, it's amazing to me. I don't have a feeding pump, syringes and have to worry about vomit at any time. Wow! I had this baby carrier with Kaitlyn but was never able to use it, as it was too hard with all of her feeding supplies. I feel like a real mom this time around!

Brian and Liz celebrating their 4th wedding anniversary at Forbes Island. A cool restaurant in SF. This picture was taken from the light-house. You have to take a boat to get to this restaurant and can go up to the light house to watch the sun-set. It was over 100 degrees at our house when we left (only 26 minutes from SF) and it was so chilly I had to borrow Brian's jacket due to the wind in this picture! You can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the background We haven't been out to dinner for ...well, I don't know when it was last. We were able to get out twice this week (for my birthday and for our anniversary) as Brian's dad was in town. It really makes us miss the fact that we don't have any local family.
A better sunset picture of the bridge in the background.
Brian and Liz, alone at last! After almost 2 months on bedrest, 2 weeks in the hosptial, it's good to be "free" again!
Dad and Kaitlyn pointing out giraffes at the zoo
Ed and Kaitlyn at the zoo.

Please say hello for 2008

I realized this is a bit late, but I'd love to know who is checking in on the McCarthy's for 2008:

Please add a coment with:

1. Your name (last name can be anonymous if you want)
2. Where are you from?
3. How long have you been visiting my blog?
4. Has my blog helped you?
5. If my blog was made into a book would you be interested in purchasing/reading it? Giving it to a friend? (This is something I've been considering for some time, but can't seem to find the time nor have the energy to edit it). I'm open to any suggestions here!

Thank you for all of your continued support. It's amazing to me what started out as a way to update my friends and family when my water first broke back on 7/26/05 has turned into a blog that has had well over 1/4 of a million hits and the number of people who have told me I've inspired them or helped them in some way. This was never my purpose, but I'm so glad that I've been able to help others.

I know that I couldn't have survived this far and been as well educated on issues surrounding my children if it weren't for others out there. Many I've met in person, many I've met via the Internet. Either way, many millions of thanks go out to "YOU" for everything you do to help me and my family.