Say your prayers!!!!

Charlie Mae and Maryam played together all day Saturday while their daddies worked outside trimming Yaya and Papa's Fruitless Mulberry trees.

Tomorrow we're taking Maryam down to San Diego for her February Synagis shot. This is her second to the last one! March 2nd should be her final Synagis shot for the rest of her life! Hooray!!!!!! Now let's just pray that she makes it through the season without contracting RSV. She is doing so well respiratory wise, I'd hate for her to have such a huge set back.
We'll being staying at Auntie Sarah and Uncle Scott's house in Elsinore before heading out to CHOC Tuesday morning. We're supposed to be there at 8am. The yucky part is that Maryam is a REALLY bad eater in the morning. I know, I know, I know...you're probably thinking, she's a bad eater all the time, isn't she? And yes, you're right, she is! But the mornings are the worst!!!! If we're lucky, she'll drink a few ounces of water and eat maybe 5 Cheerios. She does her best in the afternoon and evening. I've been keeping a food log over the past few days that I have to email to CHOC tomorrow afternoon. Please pray that they accept her. This is it, this is her shot. Wish us luck!!!! I'll be sure to post Tuesday afternoon if we hear anything!

First Trip to Oak Glen, CA

WHAT A DAY! Brett and I took Maryam up to Oak Glen for the day. Cowdy Scott, Auntie Sarah and Charlie Mae met up with us on the way there and Yaya and Papa came with us from Twentynine Palms. First we stopped to pick pumpkins in this SUPER HUGE pumpkin patch. Maryam got REALLY dirty. I actually had to change her clothes when she was done. And honestly she was more interested in running free and playing in the dirt than she was in all the "balls!" She stopped calling them balls quickly. She also didn't like how prickly the vines were.
Maryam hadn't seen Charlie Mae in over a month and she was so happy to see her. Charlie Mae hugged her and Maryam smiled and leaned in. That's all the affection one can ask for from Maryam. It was very touching.
After pumpkin picking we went to Oak Tree Village where the girls got to play in the petting zoo. Maryam went NUTS! She loved it. She ran in and instantly started petting a super huge black pig. It could have very easily eaten her. She just ran around from animal to animal feeding them kernels of corn. She would only feed them one kernel at a time though. And yes, she did put a kernel in her mouth, shocker. We all had a wonderful time.
I have some wonderful eating news. While we were sitting down at lunch I was giving Charlie and Maryam Cheese Puffs. Maryam swallowed them! Notice in the photos where Maryam is wearing the pink dear shirt there is very little, if any orange on her shirt. The best part, she wasn't wearing a bib! Those Cheese Puffs were swallowed! HOORAY!
Auntie Sarah came over and gave some Cheerios to Charlie and put some on Maryam's stroller tray. Maryam took them one by one and put them in her mouth. I thought, wait for it, they'll all be coming out any second now. She has a tendency to pack them in like a chipmunk and then spit them all out in one big clump. When they didn't come out I had her say, "ah." I saw that she had a mouth full of mushy Cheerios. I quickly put a straw into a water bottle and had her take a swig. She took a few sips and swallowed 3 times. I had her open her mouth again and it was all gone! HOORAY! She swallowed 5 Cheerios. Then she did it again and again and again! Only she wasn't needing the assistance of the water anymore. It was like she just knew what to do. All in all I'd say she ate between 20 - 30 Cheerios today. I couldn't be happier. This is day 3 of Maryam swallowing food. Say your prayers that this is just the beginning of a lifetime of normal eating from now on.

Welcome to CA Carrolls

Here is Maryam and Paddy. Boy did they have a good time together. He helped her walk around the house, gave her toys to play with, helped her eat some dinner and pretty much spent the evening attached to her hip! My favorite moments were the kisses on the cheeks, him calling her "Cutie," and asking me, "Aunt Jen-Jen, what is Baby Maryam saying? Because I can't understand her."

Maryam and Collin, Collin use to be the baby, now its Baby Mayam.

Trip, Maryam, Paddy and Collin....can you guess which one is the cousin and which ones are siblings? Pretty obvious! Her brown hair really stands out next to those blond boys!

Watch out California, The Carroll Boys are back!!!!

One photo from the "WORLD FAMOUS" San Diego Zoo

Today Brett and I took Maryam to the zoo with a WHOLE BUNCH OF PEOPLE!!! As you can see Auntie Sarah, Uncle Scott and Charlie Mae were there! Also, we met up with Chad, Jenni and "The Presidents" as Brett likes to call them. "The Presidents" are their adorable sons Jackson Miller and Tyler Frank, fellow preemies from Maryam's NICU. And with them were Terry, Carrie, Colby and Gram. Carrie is Jenni's sister who also acted as their surrogate for the boys! How RAD is that? We all had a wonderful time hanging out together and getting reacquainted. The last time we saw Jenni and Chad was the day their boys were discharged from the NICU early last April. And Carrie and Terry were wonderful in blessing us with a visit at the NICU when Maryam went back in July for stomach surgery.
I'll post photos of everyone tomorrow when I get home.

Playing catch-up, photos to follow later

Happy Belated Easter everyone! Sunday was a wonderful day. We spent the day with some family, participated in a grown-up Easter Egg hunt and watched Maryam take everything out of her basket. We had Maryam in a real pretty dress that her Auntie Brande sent to her a while back.
Monday we had to head to San Diego for her (cross your fingers and knock on wood) last Synagis shot for the season. Brett actually took her to the appointment while I went shopping with my friend Jennifer for the supplies to make Maryam's baptism gown. The base of the material was taken from the shaw of my wedding dress, I'm so excited about it!!!
Tuesday Sarah and I took Charlie and Maryam to the zoo. We had SO much fun! Maryam in all of her monkey madness has been saying "oh oh oh" ever since. When we got home from the zoo I was feeding Maryam, I sat her down so I could go to the bathroom when Charlie Mae decided she wanted to play with Maryam's syringe and pulled on it. The button got pulled out of Maryam's tummy. The good news is, the balloon wasn't fully inflated so Maryam barely cried. The curious part is why wasn't the balloon fully inflated? Strange.
Today Maryam had a Barium Swallow in Riverside. A Speech therapist administered the barium in hopes that her "expertise" would help with Maryam's refusal to let anyone put anything in her mouth. Well, it took about 45 mls of barium to get 2 good swallows. She ended up using a 60 ml needle tip syringe and put it near the back of her throat on the side of her tongue and it sort of forced Maryam to swallow. Of course the rest of it stained her shirt. The good news is there is "nothing physically wrong with the way she swallows." Maryam isn't aspirating. (inhaling fluid) Hooray!!!
We've been in Elsinore at Sarah and Scott's house since Sunday, we'll probably go home tomorrow night. I'll be able to post photos once I'm back on our computer.

Honey Bear Cup

I mentioned to Maryam's EI teacher that her PT thinks Maryam's fine motor skills are grossly delayed and suggested having Maryam sit at a tray and use her hands. The PT thinks that by having her sit at a tray she'll have to lean forward using her tummy muscles and she'll work on her fine motor skills playing with her toys. Maryam's EI teacher agreed and we set up this little chair and tray to see what Maryam did. You can see what she did when she got tired! She just sort of leaned over backwards and upside down when she got tired of sitting up.

Maryam' Honey Bear Cup came in today. And of course, she doesn't like it. At first she wouldn't even let me put the straw in her mouth, but as the day moved on she got more comfortable with it. She let me put the straw in her mouth, but when the water would come she'd just spit it out. I have to work on that behavior quickly. I don't want her to think that doing that is normal or OK. She drank at least 2 ounces of water today and she enjoyed some more french onion dip. Turns out she doesn't like asparagus spears, she is definitely her Daddy's daughter!
Aunite Sarah and Charlie have been visiting for the past 2 days and Maryam has really picked up on Charlie's movements. Charlie is pulling herself up to stand, she pulls herself up on the furniture, on toys, and on us! Tonight Maryam pulled herself up to stand too! She just grabbed the reclining chair and my mom's legs and pulled herself up! She did it earlier too on a toy, it freaked me out! I kept thinking she was going to bang her head, but she didn't. She did this a few nights ago too, I guess she's just growing up! Also, Maryam is successfully pulling herself up to a sitting position all by herself now. I saw her do it at least 7 times today! I just can't believe how much she's accomplished in the past few months, I'm so proud of her.

Maryam and Charlie playing together

Maryam and Charlie playing in a play pin watching Baby Einstein.

Maryam and Charlie playing with Smokey...notice he's licking Maryam's foot.
Tomorrow we leave Lake Elsinore and head to Fontana to see the GI doc. Maryam's OT apt. in Palm Springs was canceled and we managed to squeeze a Physical Therapy appointment in its place. I have a list of questions for the GI doc ready to go. I wrote them all down so I wouldn't forget any of them. I decided that I'm going to get a notebook to take with me to her therapy appointments and her doc appointments so I can keep track of what they all say. With so many appointments all the time, its hard to remember it all. I keep a calendar so I can remember to order medical equipment and food and I also use it for keeping tack of appointments and keeping track of when I need to schedule appointments, but I think the notebook will help me keep track of time lines and medical advice. On Monday the pulmonologist gave us a 3 month plan, I want to write it all down, so next month I can look at it and remember what the goals are.
The girls had fun playing together today. Charlie crawled all over Maryam and Maryam just sort of watched her do it. Maryam is getting much better though, she's really trying hard. I really think she just gets tired fast. Its almost like she gets out of breath and decides she's had enough. And Maryam started doing this head shaking thing. She does it while either sitting or laying down, but she shakes her head quickly from side to side for a few seconds. At first I thought it was kind of cute, but now I'm starting to worry. I know as a mother of a preemie I've been warned of developmental delays and have had a list of "risks" shoved down my throat, so I often wonder if I'm "looking" for something to be wrong with her, but this just doesn't seem right. I guess if it continues I'll email the neonatologist in charge of the preemie follow-up-clinic to see what she thinks.

Fluffy baby outfits

Maryam fell asleep playing with one of her favorite things, paper!

The girls playing together.

The girls laying together.

A walk in the suburbs

Two mommies and two babies

Pretty in pink

Auntie Sarah and Charlie.

Mommy and Maryam.
On Wednesday we decided to take the girls for a walk. It was REALLY cold! But, we bundled the girls up and spent a good 20 minutes outside. It was probably in the 40's, so 20 minutes was DEFINITELY long enough!

Cousins playing together

Maryam spent a lot of time with her feet in Charlie's mouth. And Charlie spent a lot of time with her feet on Maryam's head.

But, neither seems to mind!

Sharing 101

Charlie Mae was playing with her Einstein toy that her mommy bought her. Maryam wanted said toy. Maryam roles over and grabs the toy. Charlie looks to her Auntie for help. Auntie Jennifer finds it too funny and decides to take pictures and see how it turns out.

Maryam needs more leverage so she roles on to her side to pull harder. Charlie leans back and pulls harder too.

Maryam practically roles on to her tummy, Charlie leans forward, both are pulling harder.

Alas, Maryam gets the toy. Charlie falls down and starts playing with the big blue elephant instead. Is it too early to teach them to share?

Hello from Elsinore

I'm in Lake Elsinore helping Sarah with Charlie so she can get some work done. But I have GREAT news to report. Great for me and Brett anyway. We've been able to get Maryam's feedings done in as little as 20 minutes, with VERY little retching. (Retching is what Maryam does when she needs to throw up, but can't because of her fundoplication) She's up to almost 7ozs of PediaSure and 2ozs. of water afterward. In 20 minutes!! Hooray! It was taking up to an hour and a half on her old formula with TONS of retching, so SUPER HOORAY!

The cousins that play together.....

Look at Charlie sitting all big! Of course we dressed them similarly, both in their own signature color. Charlie in purple and Maryam in pink. Charlie does real good at mirroring Maryam, but Maryam won't copy Charlie...WE'VE TRIED!
Charlie scoots around on her tummy to pick up her toys and Maryam watches her then roles over on to her back.
Charlie ate ALL her food in a spoon and we thought, if we let Maryam watch, maybe she'll try, but I got a big look of, "no thank you mama!" But that's OK!! We're going to keep on trying!
Charlie started to fall and leaned on Maryam and a few seconds later we got.....
Feet in the air!!! So cute!
But seriously, Maryam had a REALLY good feeding session yesterday morning. She took just over a tsp of single grain rice cereal mixed with vanilla flavored Pediasure. She seemed to swallow it all. Of course getting it into her mouth was the same battle we fight every 4 hours, but once I got the food into her mouth she swallowed it instead of trying to spit it out. So, that might be a step in the right direction. However feedings 2 and 3 yesterday didn't go nearly as well!

Maryam and Charlie Mae's 1st trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Yep, we dressed them alike and leaned them up against each other and pumpkins! And what great photos we got of the occasion! The Hastons took off to Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi today, so we made sure to get Maryam & Charlie's photos taken last night before they took off.

It was a beautiful night to go to a pumpkin patch! Sadly, we did not buy any pumpkins, it was more just a photo op than anything else!

Here is a picture of us Langdons minus Mr. Bishop. We didn't think they'd let us bring him in.

I forgot to mention that Maryam had an Occupational Therapy assessment last Friday. She was seen by a feeding specialist and she helped us with some new techniques that might help Maryam eat food easier and maybe suck on the bottle. She actually took two swigs off the bottle while the OT was feeding her. I was so happy I almost cried! She gave us a tool called a NUK brush and so far she's eating better using that tool than she ever did with the spoon. So, wish us luck! And I'll keep you updated on how her eating develops. So far, its been really good. She's been eating the rice cereal more and spitting food out less. And we're also working on desensitising her gag reflex. She has a VERY sensitive gag reflex, so sensitive in fact that a tongue depressor sends in into a fit of retching. YUCKY! But these exercises should help.

Maryam and Great Grams and Charlie Mae

Of course, Maryam will play with a bottle, but not DRINK from the bottle. What the heck? This picture was taken on Friday by my mother. Brett and I are were coming into Vegas when I got this picture text on my phone......funny how she at least pretends to want the bottle for her Yaya, but won't even entertain it for Mommy!!

Here is Great Grams Mary and Maryam. Maryam's sleeper says, Mommy's little pumpkin. Too cute!! Auntie Sarah bought it for her. I call her punkin, so its totally appropriate!

Here is Charlie and Maryam together. They're so cute!!! Charlie Mae has a well baby check-up today. So, we'll see if she outweighs her cousin yet!!! I would not be shocked to hear it!!! She's so cute!!!! And eats ALL the time. I sure wish Maryam would learn that from her cousin!!! No such luck.

Here is Great Grams with her two Great Grand daughters!!! Don't they look so happy? Grams left today to go back to Merced, it sure was nice having her and Auntie Kathy here. We'll miss them!

And CONGRATULATIONS Magsigs!!! Julie is having her 3rd little one!!! Everyone pray for a healthy pregnancy, an uneventful delivery and a full term baby!!! And let's throw GIRL in there too! Mason and Michael could use a little sister to beat up on!