Pretty much normal baby stuff!

"So... I've been meaning to ask, but felt weird - how is your daughter doing?"
"Great! Pretty much normal baby stuff!"
"Really?"
"Really!"

It's a conversation I'll never tire of having... I can have it over, and over, and over again. It never gets old!

We're taking it as it comes, soaking it all up - and every once in a while, thinking about what a wild, mucked up summer it was. In a way, the entire summer/fall gets compartmentalized; neither Sara nor I think too much about the NICU days. Instead we are focused on normalcy, or as close to normal as having a newborn and a toddler can be!

I've been meaning to get a post up for weeks now - the next thing you know, Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is almost upon us! Straight to the point here - Lily is still doing wonderfully... she now weighs TEN AND A HALF POUNDS - almost six times her birthweight!  She is wow-ing her doctors with her neck control, ability to roll over, and visually track objects (like mom and dad!) from across the room, without our even making sound. She can see. She can hear. She can smile, and she can coo.

A while back - what seems like an eternity ago - I wrote a list of doctors' quotes on a very, very terrifying day. Today I can re-write the list - and these days are filled with much, much better days.

"You guys are really lucky. She looks great, you can't even tell she was preterm."
- Lily's pediatrician, at her first checkup

"That's unheard of, even for a fullterm baby at this age."

- Lily's pediatrician, on her rolling over from back to front on November 15th

"I wouldn't write it down, but I've seen a lot of preemies, and this is going to clear up."
- Lily's retinologist, on what he thinks about her stage 1 r.o.p.

"I think you're holding a miracle in your arms."
- Lily's Neurologist, at her 5 month checkup

"She made it on the charts!"
- Lily weighing 10.5 lbs on her 5 month, 4 day checkup

Having Lily home - it puts me in a perpetual state of awe. Just sheer, absolute amazement that Lily is home, she is alright, and she has shown no noticeable developmental delays. She's alert, interested in her environment, she smiles, recognizes us, she is just on the verge of laughing - she eats like a champ, sleeps well (through the night most nights, now!), and loves watching her big sister run around the house.

The biggest difference between raising Addie (who was full term) and raising Lily is that now, we're sailing in uncharted waters. With Addie, sure, we were first time parents... and along with first time parenthood comes all sorts of uncertainty. But ultimately, the first time around, we pretty much figured (assumed?) everything would be ok, as long as we were careful and didn't do anything stupid - feed, new diaper, sleep, start again.

This time around there is a lot less certainty around things. What will Doctors say? Are we not noticing something subtle about her muscle tone, maybe something else? What should we be expecting? She's five months old... but not really. Kinda-sorta... she's five months of age, but she (her "adjusted age") is two months, since she was due on October 11th. But that doesn't mean we should necessarily expect her to be two months old 'developmentally'. And that's just it. We don't really know what to expect - but we are very, very hopefuly that everything will turn out OK for our little girl, and that there won't be any lasting effects of her early birth.

So if it's uncharted waters we're sailing, then we'll map the course as we sail - and so far, so good! Sara and I have learned that with preemie parenting - hope still matters. It doesn't just end when you walk out of the hospital - the crisis ends, but hope continues - hope that Lily will have a normal life. I am ecstatic to say that this hope will, slowly but surely, turn into confidence! Every time she smiles, every time she follows us across the room with her eyes... more confidence. Writing this blog post - looking at her pictures - more confidence.

Thank you again, everyone who follow's Lily's story this past year - for your support, thoughts and prayers - I've said it before, and I'll say it again - they worked a miracle!