Happy Hallowe'en!

It was Anna's first Hallowe'en and first 'real' snowfall even though it was short lived. Although we didn't celebrate Hallowe'en this year (or well any year so far for that matter) I was so tempted to dress her up as a little devil but I couldn't find a suitable costume small enough for a wee baby. :) Oh well, maybe next year!

Anna was so excited this week, she finally got to meet her wonderful Auntie from Ireland! They spent quite some time getting to know each other and I am pretty sure Anna is already attached. We can't wait for her to meet her cute cousins Eva and Finn, maybe next summer?? In any case, she sends hugs and kisses all the way from Canada to her cousins and her uncle Sven. 

Looking at her first snowfall

Auntie Inez and Anna, gazing into each others eyes and having a smile :)

 Feeding time with Inez

Little Miss Baldie at bath time

Daddy multitasking with work and cuddles ~ Anna now knows the ins-and outs of Underwriting :)

Future Global Aerospace Rookie

So as you can tell, Anna is still quite the content little baby. She is spoiled with cuddles and gifts from everyone so she doesn't really have much to complain about except maybe a tummy ache or two. :) She still really only cries if she is very hungry or if she startles from a bad dream. She loves being held which makes it quite difficult to get anything done around the house each day but well worth it. We can't seem to get enough of her and each time we see her in the morning, it's like seeing her for the first time all over again. 

We are loving every single day with her! 

M.A.A.

"I'm a big kid now!"

Anna has been very busy growing the last few weeks. It's incredible how big she has gotten, and to think she is still less than 10 pounds! I guess when you compare it to how much she has grown from her birth weight, this is a massive size for her. She is slowly starting to outgrow most of her newborn outfits, the same outfits that were far too big when she came home only a month and a half ago. She's starting to fit into size 0-3 month now, and thanks to our friend Stefanie who has handed down a lot of both of her cute daughters' outfits, she has a ton of clothes waiting to be worn!

Speaking of inherited items...Anna has also graciously inherited her Great Great Grandma's bassinet! The history is definitely there, I think Liz mentioned that it dates back to 1905 when her mother and siblings were babies, who then used it for their children, and then passed on to be used with Arthur and his siblings (Inez who was able to use it with her children), and now passed down again to Anna and one day to Arthur's brother Floris and his children.

Here is Anna with Grandma soaking in the history:

So other than that nothing much is new. She will get her second set of immunizations November 12th, as well as her first set of RSV shots (she gets one every month until February for the cold/flu season). We have to be extra careful now taking her out, it's tough having a baby home in the flu season months since I need to run errands but it's just so risky now with everyone coughing. Having said that, both Daddy and I have been sick since Anna's homecoming and she hasn't caught either of our horrid colds. I guess all that pumping did pay off! :)

Anna also had ~what we thought was her last~ eye exam last week when she reached her due date, unfortunately her vision is not up to par yet with a newborn so we have to go back again November 2nd. We will try to reschedule that of course for the next day if possible since that's Liam's birthday, but I highly doubt that will be feasible with the eye doctor. In any case, she did well physically during her eye drops, but she had no change in her results from 2 weeks prior, so that's why we have to return again. Let's hope this eye exam will be her last, I just feel so terrible putting her through that but we know it has to be done for the sake of her vision.

But we will keep everyone updated on any new changes or developments. So far Anna is acting just like a newborn still, she is almost 2 weeks corrected age so she is exhibiting whatever is expected of a 2 week old baby. She's able to hold her head up quite well but not much change since a few weeks ago. She's eating about 130mls per feed, every 3-4 hours and sleeps most of the day away up until recently. She will go three hours fully awake, eat and then pass out for three hours, then wake up again to eat and stay awake for three hours. It makes it hard to get much done around the house but if it means she'll sleep through the night longer, then I'll take it! :)

M.A.A.

Anna's Due Date!!

We have been taking it all in today, all 100 days. I can't believe Anna was 100 days early, that she is 100 days old already, considering that pregnancy is only about 250 days long, give or take a few weeks. I say only...ha-ha, doesn't seem that short at the time you're going through it!

Anyways, today is Anna's official due date. I feel like she has so many momentous days that we can't keep track. July 7th, October 4th and October 15th; all of which are special days for us! She is happily snoring away on my one shoulder as I write this, probably oblivious to how proud she has made us. I think often about the day she joined us, and despite the terrifying way in which she joined us; how lucky we are to have her here healthy and thriving.

Speaking of thriving, she had an appointment with her Pediatrician today and she is now 7 pounds and 11 ounces! She is now on a "big girl" formula as of today (no more of that high calorie preemie stuff for Skinny Minnies - now she's drinking the stuff for Chunky Monkeys!) and we are thickening it with rice cereal to try and combat her recent and very frequent bouts of spit up. Seems to be doing the trick so far so let's keep our fingers crossed.Oh, not to mention buying me some extra down time between feeds! :) Yessss!!

While I had her out today, we had the normal barrage of spectators asking me how old she is etc., and one lady asked me when she was born and I told her at 25 weeks and 5 days to be exact. She then had the audacity to say "oh well that's not too early at all". If she only knew...I guess her comment hit home for me because we have gone through so much, Anna has fought so hard to be here and I think being born at almost 26 weeks is incredible and deserves some merit!! And yes incredibly early if you ask me! I just like to give her credit where it's due. :)

So from here on, Anna will have a "true" age and a "corrected/adjusted" age -- however you want to say it. I'd like to refer to it as her 'real' age and her 'fake' age.  As of October 16th, she is 14 weeks old true age, and 1 day old corrected age. Did I confuse everyone?? :) I barely understand it myself but I'll catch on to it one day!

Anyways, today also marks a couple of other things. Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in Canada and is almost 2 weeks before Liam would have been two years old. So of course, lots of overtime in my mind and many many cuddles with Anna for appreciation. Also today, Anna's Great Great Aunt whom she sadly never got to meet, passed away at age 102 in her sleep. It is amazing how the circle of life can be so long and carried through to so many generations. It is just such a shame that we couldn't physically connect the circle, although spiritually it certainly is.

So that is today...October 15th, 2010.

M.A.A.

The First Thanksgiving

I can't believe Anna's had her first Thanksgiving. I remember when we were in Women's College with her, the one nurse had mentioned that we will definitely have her home by Thanksgiving, and she was right!! She was such a good girl and she was loving every minute of the company! Here are a few pictures of the day (she was eyeballing the turkey the entire time, I'm not kidding!) :)

M.A.A.

Anna's Ex-birthdate!

Today was the day that Anna was supposed to be born! October 4th in the morning sometime. Unbelievable. What a long journey for this little fighter. It's hard to imagine that she would still be inside of me until today, I feel like she is so big. I don't realize how little she is until I take her out to run errands once in a while and people stop me to tell me how tiny she is. The little monkey would have been 38 weeks and 3 days gestation, the same age that her big brother was when he was born.

She still pretty much acts like a newborn, sleeps most of the time with the exception of 2-3 hours a day of 'alert' time. She also still rarely cries, only when she is hungry, so she still has such a lovely demeanor. She's just overall very content and loves being held. 

But Anna is doing well, she eats like a little champion now, I'm almost scared at how much she can eat most days. She is up to 20 ounces a day, which is around 600 mls. I have a little pamphlet from Enfacare and it outlines feeding habits of newborns. It stated that around 1 month of age a newborn would be eating around 680 mls per day. So she is doing pretty good, even ahead of the game a little bit.The only thing we have issues with is that she has very dry skin and has reactions to lotions. Today she has a nice rash on the side of her face because she had a bath which meant lots of lotion. We've tried a couple of non oil based lotions and even a few drops of olive oil in her bath water but she seems to always get a reaction. So it's a line we have to choose...dry skin or rash/zits.

The other thing we noticed lately with her is that she is able to hold her head up by herself. It's still wobbling a lot so we always have to keep support handy but it's amazing how much she has changed in one week. And no wonder, the little girl is now 6 pounds and 10 ounces as of today so she is slowly getting strong.

Most of her appointments are done, she will have at least one  more eye exam, and she will have one more pediatrician appointment on October 15th, after that she will have monthly appointments for her RSV shot. Then the last few things will be the follow up with Women's College and her hearing test, both in December.

Speaking of December, we are SO anxious to put the Christmas tree up and celebrate with Anna. We have been waiting so long to share Christmas as a family with children, it almost seems unreal that we are finally able to do it. I don't think a day goes by where we aren't grateful for her little presence.

Here is a video of the little munchkin yesterday showing off to the camera. The video is cropped but in the rest of the movie it's obvious that she follows the camera around with her eyes and loves the attention. :) I think she may or may not be a star in training!

M&A&A