Baby J's NICU follow up!

Today was out NICU follow (ok rescheduled follow up that was supposed to happen a month ago).  Actually Baby J has advanced so much since last month, I'm glad it was pushed off.   My parents were kind enough to go with us and I took the day off so we could trek to Topeka.  Our NICU follow up included measurements, a visit from a PT and a visit from one of our NICU doctors.   We knew baby J was eating A LOT more lately, but we were kind of blown away by her measurements today.   My parents weighed

her January 18 at their doctors office at 11lbs  5 oz.  Well she has grown...Today she was 12 lbs 12.5 oz.  That's a big jump.   She is now 24.5 inches long and her head circumference was 41 cm.   One of the advantages of having a preemie is we do get weights and measurements a lot more than full term babies from all the doctors and other visits.  
The other thing that happened is they did two tests on Baby J to see how she was developing and both she was doing really really well on.  One was just measurements by her adjusted age and she passed all of them.  The other was in-between adjusted and actual age.  On all the markers she was at or very close to actual age.  I told Baby J she had to show off and not be a dud.....she is doing so much now.   And she did not disappoint.  She was so active while we were there and showing off.   We also saw our NICU social worker, our Nurse Practitioner, and a few nurses.   They were all so very happy to see her and said she looked so good.  She was in a good mood the entire time we were there.   While we were waiting we put her on a table and she figured out she could scoot around.  kind of an army crawl...but mostly

backward.  She loved that.  
I wish we could have seen more of her nurses but we hit lunch time/feeding time for their babies and it was pretty busy in the NICU.  I'm glad we got to see some people.  Everyone was so empresses by her.
We also stopped by the Ronald McDonald house.  I have always felt so bad I didn't get an opportunity to take her by when we were discharged..but it happened so late at night.  Thankfully someone we knew was there and we

visited today and also took some DVDs for their family room.

Poor Baby J was so very tired by the time we were done and was asleep within seconds of being in the car.   In fact I was the only one awake on the way back home.  I got to control the radio that way.  haha.  

In other aspects of Baby J's life....She has really figured out this rolling from tummy to back, but hasn't quite figured out she can keep rolling and get somewhere.  She is trying so hard to crawl...but will probably walk/run first.  She loves to stand and loves dancing.  She has sort of reached a stranger danger phase and is ok as long as she can see me.

She wasn't to sure about the kids last week at school...but I'm sure that will improve as we get back into rehearsals.  They did have her dancing and that was pretty cute.   She has been very vocal almost all of the time now.  She also loves her bouncer and enjoys spending time in that.   She is also slobbering like crazy so maybe a tooth is coming in soon.  Baby J LOVES food - except Pears.  Especially sweet potatoes.  We have almost made it all the way through the different level one foods.  She is so close to being able to sit unassisted, but still has some balance issues.  I don't think it will be long.   It's hard to believe she is almost 8 months.   Just two more weeks.   I love spending time with her and can't wait till this summer when I have more time.