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Thursday, February 26, 2009

We have pee in the potty!



So sorry about my delay in posting and I have so much to post about, but so little free time...

Hopefully this will remain short (as I just sat down to blog and it's 10:45pm and I'm TIRED and should really be going to bed).

A week ago Sunday (on a pouring rainy day Sunday) I decided it was time to ditch the diapers! The first day was HORRIBLE. Kaitlyn and I spent almost the whole day in the bathroom with mom cleaning up a lot of pee from the floor and none in the potty. It was very frustrating and I was ready to throw in the towel (or a lot of towels that I ended up washing)...BUT I hung in there and amazingly, starting with the first pee in the morning, Kaitlyn got the pee thing down very quickly. After the first time (with a movie on) and the 2nd pee that she realized what was happening, the light bulb went on and she's been doing great (as far as pee is concerned).

Now the poo thing, that's another story. Lot's of poo in the big girl undies (not much fun for mom). AND tonight, she pooed in the bathtub! Ugh, was that a surprise, she's only done that time in the past! Especially as I was in a rush, trying to get on a March of Dimes Conference call right after I put the kids down.

Oh well, all-in-all, I have to say I'm happy I finally did the deed and got rid of the diapers! We use pull-ups at night and for naps and she's even mainly keeping those fairly dry too!

Weight:

Kaitlyn didn't poo one day and I was afraid that she might be holding back a bit, so I weighed her and was shocked to see the scale FINALLY FINALLY go over 26 pounds (remember, she's been wavering in the 26 pound mark since MAY of last year). It was 27.4 pounds! I thought that maybe she was a bit backed up and didn't really count that weight, but I've since weighed her 2 other times and each time she's been over 27! Yippee! It took a long time but Kaitlyn has finally gained a pound and without a feeding tube!

The Mountains and what we love!

Let's see what else. Brian's parents came to town all last week (I don't think I got a single picture with them), hopefully they'll send me a few that I can share. Mame and Gille (their names from Grandma/Grandpa) loved seeing Kaitlyn and Quinn and agreed that Q can be quite a difficult little guy at times. He's still giving us a run for our money as far as the reflux goes.

While they were here, we decided to take a first family trip to Tahoe. I say first, as Kaitlyn has only been to Tahoe once since she was born, and she vomited so much in the altitude that we almost had to go to the ER. That was almost 2 years ago for 4th of July. Brian and I haven't gone together since then, and we haven't skied much either. I skied 2 days in 2007 and Brian skied 1 day in 2008. Remember that we MET skiing. Brian used to be a ski patroller and skied over 100 days a year. We love skiing, we love the mountains, and it's been really hard for us to not share something that we love so much.

So, while Brian's parents where here we all went to Tahoe together. I was pracitcally tearing up as we hit the mountains and the snow, thinking of how amazing it was to be bringing Kaitlyn to Tahoe without feeding tubes, blenders, syringes vomit cups, etc. etc. We didn't bring any special food what-so-ever. She now eats like a regular toddler!

It's hard to explain exactly how incredibly cool this was. I'm hoping I can get it across, but the difference in Kaitlyn now from just a year ago is absolutely amazing. And how much easier it is on her parents. Wow.

I was so excited to show Kaitlyn the snow for the first time. And as I thought, she loved it. She wanted to spend all day outside. Mame and Kaitlyn built her first snowman. She loved to roll in it (sensory stuff) and had a blast!

Brian and I skied 2 days while Mame and Gille watched the kids. Although the weather wasn't all that great (a very very wet snow storm/almost rain) we had so much fun. The 2nd day ended up sunny (still chilly), but we had a blast! It was so fun for us to spend time together and doing the thing that we both love so much!

Hmm what else:

March of Dimes - I'm just starting to gear up for the March of Dimes season. 2 weeks ago I was asked to attend the March of Dimes Kick-off breakfast as we are the Bay Area Ambassador Family. It was very early in the morning, so we were able to stay in a hotel the night before (Kaitlyn's first hotel stay). I was introduced by a local celebrity from the news (formerly on Good Morning America), Spencer Christian, who I've always really liked (and Oprah even personally knows). ( Then after telling my story (with dry eyes amazingly), Kaitlyn came up on stage and said: "Thank you March of Dimes!" It was very cute. They had a lot of pictures up of Kaitlyn and even Corinne.

They showed a video of the National Ambassador family and I was actually really happy to see that they choose a family that is left with long-term affects from prematurity. On-line friends of mine www.PreemieExperiement.com have expressed a lot of concern in the past about March of Dimes limited telling about long-term consequences of prematurity, and I feel that they (MofD) is really trying to change that, which makes me very supportive of the organization.

Very soon I will get around to sending out an email about my Family Teams Walk this year and if you are local I'd love to have you join us! The walk is on April 25th. I've been wanting to make a cool slide-show of the girls early times, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. Hopefully soon!


Kaitlyn got her 3rd haircut a few weeks ago.




My smiley little man (when he's not crying from reflux)




I'm 7 months old! I just learned to roll-over (from tummy to back) but can't sit up yet on my own





Kaitlyn's celebratory pee-on-the-potty cupcake in "Bluke" her favorite color) Yes, she says Bluke.




Valentines Day with J



Spencer Christian, J and Kaitlyn at the March of Dimes kick-off Breakfast




J, Liz and Kaitlyn




The McCarthy's all trying to compute in the cabin (funny, as my husband is NOT a computer guy, but just found Face Book!, there was no internet connection, so not really sure what they are all doing!)








Kaitlyn took some convincing to get on the sled, but eventually loved it



Mom/Quinn and Kaitlyn playing in the snow



Dad and Kaitlyn in the snow



Kaitlyn really took a lot of convincing to get in the sled




Mom and Quinn first day at the cabin (a fellow-fire fighters cabin that we rented)




The McCarthy family all in the snow - FINALLY!




playing in the snow




Liz and Brian finally skiing TOGETHER for the first time since before I was pregnant with the twins in 2005!

5 comments:

Shannon said...

Liz,
I am out the door to a friend's house but wanted to say
THE SMILE ON YOUR FACE IS AWESOME TO SEE! (glad you got away with B to ski!)
And way to go K for PEE in the potty. You go girl. Have a glorious weekend!
I want you to email me your Ambassador story. (Our kick off luncheon is on Wed and we are stoked!) It's all about the babies!
Love to you all,
Shannon in Austin
ssakmary@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

The smile on K's face in some of the pictures is so amazing. She has come so far. You all are an amazing family.

Anonymous said...

This is Shannon from God Gave Me You, Tristans mommy. I haven't talked to you or anyone else since I left the preemie moms support group. Hope all is well. Good luck with the pee and poo potty thing!

Anonymous said...

Hi Liz,

I am very happy to see your family.Looks like you are having very good time and I can see from your face.
You worked so hard for your children and found the good sources to help them go through all the difficulties and get good result always.I actually requested you in your previous blog that please tell about the alternative therapy.I take care some of the special needs children and I told their moms that I found one good person's blog where she mentioned about the therapy for her daughter and I am really looking forward to know it so it will be helpful for the parents of the special needs children and they are really suffering!If you don't want to share that's o.k so I can tell the parents so they will not expect that.Please tell us whether it's o.k for you to share or not.
Thank you.

Kristina said...

Yea about the weight gain. And extra yea's for going pee in the potty! (She's way ahead of Anastasia there!)