Finally some videos

Okay I took some expert blogging advice from my good friend Kara a.k.a. McTriplet Mommy on how to make these videos work. Can you see my precious little babies? I have to tell you that today - despite the four colds, two ear infections, feeding issues, and general sleep deprivation in our household I had a moment of sheer bliss when I saw our little Zo-Zo "chewing" for her nurse. It was the kind of joy that overtakes your body, you feel it from the top of your head to the tip of your toes. And I just keep thinking about this little 2 minute moment and that sense of joy keeps coming back and back and back. Isn't it incredible how these little people that WE create can make you feel something so powerfully?

All three of the girls have had moments like this for me lately - especially Zoe because it's like she's decided to hit these developmental milestones one right after the other...she rolled over all by herself this week and now we can't stop her she rolls from one end of the playroom to the other and back again. The night before I saw her roll over by herself she was very restless just rolling side to side, up every hour. I now think it was like she knew she could do this and she was so excited she couldn't wait to show me in the morning. Sure enough I had all three of them in the nursery getting the girls dressed, diapered and hair brushed. I was working on putting Lily's diaper on as she did some move from Cirque du Soleil, and I happened to glance down to my right and there was Zoe on her tummy. It was almost like the time that I walked into her room at the hospital and walked right by her bed to head for the sink to wash up. I got halfway to the sink and stopped and went back to her bed, I looked at her, it was oddly silent in her room. This was odd because at the time she was on bubble CPAP (the step between ventilator and nasal canula) and the bubble CPAP always makes a loud bubbling noise (like a pot of boiling water). I looked at her, saw that she had a canula in and not the mass of tubing that is CPAP and I had to get a nurse to confirm what I was seeing, that she was indeed on the canula. Anyway, my very long winded point is that I did a double take. I saw her, went back to Lily who now I think was trying to mimic the performers and climb up the side of her crib upside down (not really, but sometimes it feels like this) as i try to diaper cream her tiny tush and fasten a diaper around her teeny tiny waist, I think to myself, I know I didn't put Zoe on her belly...OMG she rolled over she rolled over she rolled over!!! I all but drop Lily (diaper cream everywhere all over her legs and feet by now) and practically do a cartwheel in the middle of the nursery. Then she rolls back to her back and then she does it again, she does it over and over....and hasn't really stopped. I think if I let her she could roll from one end of the house and back as long as there was something in her sight that she wanted. I am constantly amazed by this little girl. This child who one year ago today had just had her PDA surgery and was completely snowed on norcuron, nebutol, fentanyl, and probably ativan and was so bloated from fluid retention - we were all praying she'd make it through the night and be one more day towards coming home, one day. Well....here she is!!! WOOOHOOO!!!

I have to say that Avery just makes me laugh 'cause she's so mischievous, I didn't know a one year old little girl could be so spunky. She is so cute when we "turn them loose" at nighttime to go back through the "forbidden living room" to get to the bathroom for bath time, she and Lily both shriek with joy and their little tushies just shake side to side as they crawl as fast as they can...but...they always stop a few times along the way to make sure you're following them or better yet chasing them. Avery has also discovered the dog's water dish and the electrical outlets. Most of the outlets are covered but sometimes we forget to cover one back up after doing Zoe's nebulizer and she'll crawl over towards it, stop about a foot away, arm outstretched and look over her shoulder as if to say "yeah, I'm gonna do it are you going to try and stop me". By far the funniest thing she does is when she imitates Zoe. Zoe has a cough b/c of all the gunk in her lungs (it kind of sounds like an old lady who smokes) and it's especially bad now since she's got a cold, but this morning Avery was on the bed with me and I was getting ready to change Zoe's diaper (she's in a co-sleeper next to our bed). Well Zoe had a terrible coughing fit which of course I responded to with "oh poor baby" pats on the back, etc...to which Avery looked at me and went "cough, cough" (not sure how to actually write the way it sounded, but you get the point) so I said "oh poor baby" and then she smiled and did it again so I imitated her and she did it again. Too cute!

Lily, oh Lily...our little daydreamer. Sometimes I wonder if she needs me. Isn't that a terrible thing to wonder as a mother? But it's like she's kind of in her own little world most of the time and doesn't require me like Avery does. I admit that I am an avid TIVOer of "Jon and Kate Plus 8" and Kate said something the other night about how the kids like going to the doctor because it means they get special alone time with Mommy. So i had to take Lily in to the ped on Tues b/c of her cold and we had to wait in the room a while...well for a kid with a cold, she had a ball. And I finally got that look in her eyes that Avery gives me constantly...that said I love you Mommy and I love this moment together. She is so sweet. Sometimes it's hard for me to even be frustrated with her feeding issues because she'll just sit in my lap in the chair, snuggled up in the crook of my arm and it's like she'll just starting talking to me. Not the loud consonant sounds Avery does, but this sweet sing-songy dialogue she has. Our Georgia PINES parent advisor always says that Lily makes the most beautiful sounds. I had never before thought of baby babble as being beautiful...but Lily's baby babble is beautiful. And that smile...that first thing in the morning smile is priceless...wild hair everywhere...clutching her wubbanub...and she sees us and this grin just slowly creeps across her face and just goes on for miles.

Okay so basically...no matter how frustrated I get sometimes or how little sleep I'm running on...I love my girls so much!!!