Another Boise Trip

Nate and I went to Boise last month for his annual eye appointment. It's so much work to take him places by myself but we really do enjoy getting away and having a fun time together. We were, once again, able to stay at the Ronald McDonald house and couldn't be more grateful for them! Nate absolutely loved it this time. He watched the fish in the giant fish tank, played on the playground outside, enjoyed (a little too much) the endless supply of cookies, and played with all the Thomas trains in the playroom. I think his favorite part though was the statue of Ronald McDonald that sits out on the bench as you walk into the house. Every single time we passed by it, he would say "Daaaa Da!" (which I figured out meant Ronald) and have to go and climb on him. Still (a month later) every time he hears someone say Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald, or McDonald's he screams "Yeah!" and "Daaaa Da!"  

On to the appointment details... Unfortunately Nate had an AWFUL night sleep the night before his appointment, which is totally unlike him. And by awful, I mean really awful! He fell asleep for the night at 8:00. I must have woken him up when I went to bed at 9:30. He was awake from 9:30 to 2:30am! He wasn't grumpy, just ready to play. Of course, our appointment was at 8:30 so I had to wake him up at 7:30. You can imagine how grumpy he was after only 6 hours of sleep. The appointment included having his eyes dilated so it was expected to take about 2 hours. He cried and whined the entire time! When it came time for the doctor to look in his eyes, he had had enough. He was screaming harder than I've ever seen before, flailing around, and clamping his eyes shut. It was awful. We ended up needing 3 of us to hold him down so the doctor could pry his eyes open and look at them. The good news is, he said from what he could see, his eyes still looked very good. He is still a bit farsighted but he said it's still not to the point that we need to treat it with glasses yet. Good news!

After the appointment (and a very long, much needed nap), we met Nate's buddy Oakley and his mom at the park to feed the ducks. You may remember Oakley from some of my previous posts. He was one of Nate's roommates in the NICU and didn't come home from the hospital until just before his first birthday. We really enjoyed getting to know his parents while we were in Boise and have kept in contact with them. It was so fun to finally have Nate and Oakley officially meet and play together. They had a great time!

Nate in his sunglasses since his eyes were still dilated from his appointment. Luckily he loves his sunglasses and keeps them on really well.

The next day, we were able to go to the zoo! I have been dying to go to the Boise zoo since the babies were born. The Ronald McDonald House gives families that stay there free passes to the zoo. We never went while Nate was in the hospital and every appointment we've had since then has been rushed and crazy so we haven't ever had the opportunity to go. This time the weather was beautiful so we decided to go before we left town. We were lucky enough to be able to go with one of our other fantastic Boise friends. Carissa was one of my nurses when I was in the hospital. She was unlucky enough to be working all of the days that really crazy things happened with me and the babies. I sure kept her busy but she was still wonderful! She came down to the NICU to visit Nate several times during our 5 months there and we have kept in touch ever since. She brought her 2 little boys along and we had a great time. 

I'm not sure why I didn't get more pictures at the zoo. Here is Nate riding the little tiger. He loved the zoo! He ran around like crazy and loved seeing all of the animals.

TWO!

My friend Mishelle came over a few weeks ago to take some pictures of Nate for his birthday. We were supposed to do some fun pictures outside but it ended up snowing so we had to move in the house. She's so great at capturing Nate doing his everyday things. I love them!

Nate with his picture of the triplet's footprints.  His thumb is about the same size as his foot when he was born.

Here he is with his footprint picture and his dollar bill. He sure has grown!

Playing with his balloon

This little wind-up elephant is Nate's new favorite toy.

My favorite picture of my bug :)

He plugs his ears whenever he hears something he doesn't like

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Since Nate's 1st birthday was a little uneventful, we (ok I) decided that we had to make up for it this year by going way over the top :)

Nate's favorite thing in the world right now are balloons so we snuck in his room before we went to bed and filled up it up with balloons. He absolutely loved it! 

Later, we had grandparents and friends over for pizza and cake. Nate chowed down 3 pieces of pizza and a whole piece of cake...and he only ALMOST threw up once. I'd say it was a success :)

Here's a picture of his super cute cake that my friend Mishelle made for him.  

Cake time!!

Just when I thought this kid couldn't possibly eat any more food...

After only an hour of set up time, Grandpa and Todd finally finished putting together his car. He's going to love it once it stops snowing outside!

Macie and Ellie's balloons. Nate got to throw them this year and he did a great job.

Nate with all of his birthday loot. I'd say he is one spoiled little boy!

 This is what my living room looked like after Nate went to bed. It looked like a birthday explosion!

Once a Preemie, Always a Preemie

Anyone who has ever spent time in the NICU knows about the "NICU rollercoaster". NICU babies are super unpredictable and can be doing fine one day and terrible the next. I remember several times during our stay thinking that I can't wait until Nate is bigger and healthier and we can leave this stupid rollercoaster behind. I'm beginning to learn that preemies don't get off that rollercoaster for a long long time. It is no longer life or death situations that they face but there are still times when they take 1 step in the right direction and then 2 steps back in their progress.

PT

Nate has graduated from physical therapy for now. He is doing almost everything a normal almost-2-year-old should be doing. He's walking well, running, climbing, and trying hard to jump. He no longer has any issues with tight muscles in his legs or neck and has finally figured out how to go up and down the stairs. Yay!

ST

Speech therapy has been going pretty well. Nate is picking up more signs for different words which has made communicating with him much much easier. He can now sign more, milk, and dog. And he's made up his own signs for frog, all done, and crash. He can also tell you the sound of a fish and a lion/monster. He has finally started clapping and we're at the beginning stages of consistent waving. He's made a ton of progress over the past couple of months. We still don't have any words other than yeah and his dadadada babbling but we're working on strengthening his mouth and tongue so he can start to make new sounds. 

OT

Occupational therapy is our new major focus. Our PT suggested we have him evaluated by an OT about a month ago. She was noticing some fine motor delays as well as some other issues that she wanted to have looked at. Nate's results came back showing some pretty significant delays. They tested 2 main areas: hand grasping strength and hand-eye coordination. At 23 months, Nate is at a 14 month level for grasping and a 12 month level for hand-eye coordination. She also suggested we get Nate's vision tested again just to make sure that poor eyesight doesn't have anything to do with it. We have our annual appointment with Nate's eye doctor next month in Boise so we are going to wait until then.

The OT also did an evaluation for Sensory Processing Disorder. Here's a link to a website that explains SPD http://www.prematurity.org/child/sensory-integration-preemie.html. Many people have suspected that Nate may have SPD since he was in the hospital but this was our first official evaluation. His main areas of trouble are auditory, tactile, and oral. This explains why he seeks out the loudest toys possible, he NEVER sits still, gags when he touches something he doesn't like (like grass), and it explains his previous eating and food texture issues. The OT is confident that we'll be able to help him learn to handle the things that bug him so he doesn't have to struggle with it for the rest of his life.

Overall, we are so so proud of our little bug and all the progress he has made. We never dreamed he would be doing so well! These latest setbacks are just a short list  compared to what he's already overcome. He's the strongest person I know!

Happy Un-Birthday Nate!!

Nate never got a typical 1st birthday party. We were still in the middle of RSV season and he was still gagging and puking with pretty much all foods. So our big party was actually just us at home cleaning up a crushed up banana muffin with a candle in it :)

Todd's work had cupcakes last week and he brought home the extras. We thought it was the perfect time to give Nate his long awaited first cupcake. You can see for yourself how much he enjoyed it!

When Did My Tiny Baby Turn Into a Big Boy???

 I'm not sure how this fragile baby...

Turned into this...

For some reason, this picture made me suddenly realize how big Nate is. The first time I held him I never dreamed he would grow up to be such a healthy and happy boy. 

He takes out the garbage

He sweeps the floor

  

He no longer walks...he runs!

I LOVE my "little" Nate Bug!

I LOVE My Daddy!

Nate LOVES his Daddy! Like, REALLY loves him! When Todd is around, everyone else, including me, is just second best. This tax season has been really hard on Nate. Whenever Todd is home, Nate is literally attached to his hip.

You can't hear it very well in the video but the little toy says, "Can You Give Me a Hug?" I don't know why he's so obedient with his toys but not with me :)

We have to call daddy at work everyday. He gets super excited every time I pick up my phone because he thinks we are calling Todd.