Saturday, March 27, 2010

Happy Homecoming Day Reagan!

It is so hard to believe that this time last year, on March 28th, we were bringing you home.  That was the day that you officially got to meet your big sister and come home to your very own house.   Here are just a few pictures of that day my special girl!  You are such a miracle...God's perfect little gift.  All those days spent praying, learning and anxiously awaiting were here.  These next pictures were of your last day in the NICU with your sister.  We thought it would only be a week or so before she came home...little did we know it would be a month.


Here we are leaving the NICU headed home.  Daddy may not show it but he was very NERVOUS!!!


Your first few days at home were full of laughter, tears, and sleepless nights.  Mommy and Daddy soon learned that although we thought we knew about having a baby at home...we had no clue what we were doing!!!  You did not follow any of the rules and kept us on our toes all the time...still do!



Happy Homecoming Day Reagan!  What a year it has been and how far you have come!  We love you so much!
Reagan blowing a kiss to everyone!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A Fun Day at Home With Mommy

We love pudding!!!!!

Cameron's Hearing Impaired Teacher...

is a miracle worker.  I was so unbelievably blessed today by watching her work with Cameron.  She had Cameron vocalizing sounds that almost sounded exactly like the real word - up.  Cameron kept saying u,u,u,u,u...which she has been known to do before but this just seemed so intentional.  She was so engaged.  She had her calling for a duck over and over again.  Cameron loves working with her teacher and all of her neat toys!

I also forgot to share that Cameron went back to Chapel Hill to see the Audiologist again.  This time they tested her left ear (her worst hearing ear) and they found that her hearing was actually better than expected.  Previously results had indicated that she had severe to profound hearing loss in that ear.  Last week they were seeing levels more consistent with just severe loss!  This is great news obviously!  Her hearing loss on both sides seems a little more similar than what we thought!!! 

Saturday, March 20, 2010

A Whole New Look

As you can see, I have updated the site...please bear with me...it is a work in progress.  I don't really know the direction that the blog is going...just know that you can count on hearing from me much more.  The previous design was so...clinical and to be honest...just made me think about life a year ago.  I feel like the bright colors reflect the bright future and just how much we have to be thankful for.  Things have really begun to "settle" down for us...if that is possible.  Don't get me wrong, we still have doctors appointments and therapies all the time but as far as the day in and day out craziness - it just seems more manageable - Praise the Lord!  So, I would love to be able to give you a glimpse into our daily lives and how much of a blessing all three of my girls are to me! 

I would love to hear from any of you...I am thinking of renaming the name of the blog - any suggestions...keep it or change it?
For now, I will leave you with a photo taken just recently before the girls got hit with a nasty stomach bug!  They love hanging out with each other!



Tuesday, March 2, 2010

We're Back!


Well, after a very busy and long couple of months I feel like I could write volumes. As you know from the previous posts, the girls have had tons and tons of doctors appointments and God has continued to bless us with more and more praises.


Since our last post, we have been set free and allowed not only to go to church but the girls have even been allowed in the church nursery - which, since it is usually only them and one other baby is not a huge feat but at least it allows for me to actually hear the sermon and sit like an adult for just a few moments!!


Cameron had tubes put in her ears and boy is there a difference. My little girl has just made so much progress. She can hear loud sounds from far away, is learning to turn toward a background noise, knows her name when it is called, and so much more. When we went to the ENT in Dec. Camerons hearing test was measuring her actual hearing at profound deafness...in her good ear! Since getting tubes put in, her right ear is measuring at moderate hearing loss - which is exactly where it should be. The doctors at Chapel Hill said that she is very hard to test because she reads so much off of the people...she focuses more on the testers than on the actual animated animals that are supposed to distract her. She is also picking up more fo the signs that we are using with her...when I sign no, she stops and shakes her head no, when I sign yes, she gets very excited, and on a good day, when I sign mother, she will say "mama." She is a Mommy's girl and always tries to watch where Mommy is and she also has been going through a time of having some pretty significant stranger anxiety.


At our last appointment at Duke, Cameron had an ear infection and so she could not have her developmental evaluation but they did mention that they were worried about her weight gain (she is still weighing in at about 16 pounds) and they also wanted us to switch to regular infant formula as a bridge to transitioning to whole milk. Poor Cameron has been getting sick ever since. Her reflux has returned with a vengeance and she only keeps down about half of her feedings a day. However, just last week she returned to Duke to do her Developmental Evaluation and they also said to try a different formula. Cameron did fabulous on her evaluation...right in line with her adjusted age (even with the hearing impairment - praise God!!!) and she really seems to like this new formula.


Reagan has continued to grow and be a little stinker. She loves her sisters and she loves to take risks (which she gets honestly from her dad!). She can climb the stairs so quickly, is pushing push toys across the room, and has begun to say more than just dada.


Both girls have had feeding evaluations because they were not progressing with eating solids. We are awaiting appointments to begin feeding therapy and the therapists believe that it won't be long before they are caught right up. Just since our evaluations a couple of weeks ago, the girls will now eat the gerber puffs and yogurt puffs and love it!