Officially a toddler

Well today Brie got her first official walking shoes. She picked out a cute and probably the most expensive pair of sneakers that she could find at stride rite today. Of course Brie inherited mommy's expensive taste. She looks like such a big girl walking in her new sneakers.

Last night we went to the official meeting to kick of the march of dimes walk in our area. Brie had a ball walking all over and meeting the other children. She also met up with her boyfriend Anthony. The had fun chasing a ball around the room and playing with balloons. It was nice to exchange ideas with other parents and to hear stories of other children who were born prematurely. We are looking forward to walking this year to raise money to prevent prematurity and birth defects.

Brie had a good Easter. We spent the day at Nanna and Pop's house. Brie had fun collecting Easter eggs outside and playing with her cousins, Brandon and Christian. She got lots of new books for Easter and enjoys reading them with mommy and daddy.

Our little walker- almost

Brie is moving forward with walking. Today she walked from the coffee table to the loveseat without falling. It was about 4-5 steps. She was very proud of herself. I don't think it will be long and she will be walking completely independently. She is completely recovered from her pneumonia and has been very happy lately. Since this last illness she has gotten more cuddly. She loves to give hugs and kisses. She hugs all of her toys, even elmo who has kicked her a few times.

Yesterday Brie had her second birthday party. Despite not having an afternoon nap she did wonderfully. I don't think she cried or fussed the entire day. She loved all of the attention. Many of our friends were there from college and we got to meet all of the new babies. It was great to see everyone. We have been secluded from everyone because of Brie's preemie status and are hoping that Brie stays healthy after all of the visiting.

Mommy is starting to get Cabin fever. I cannot wait for the weather to warm up so I can take Brie to the pool and the park. Today we went for a walk and although it was a little chilly Brie seemed to enjoy it.

Brie's first birthday pictures

Brie's first birthday party slideshow

Brie's first birthday party

Gabrielle had a wonderful time on her first birthday. Despite not having a good nap all day she was in good spirits. She went to everyone and enjoyed playing with family and friends. She is still coughing, but she did not let that get in the way of all of her crawling and "walking." Brie will now take 2-3 independent steps before falling down. She got some wonderful presents for her birthday and we spent the evening playing with them before getting settled in for the night.

Because of her pneumonia, Brie lost weight this last week. She was down almost a full pound. We did weigh her tonight and she was 16 lbs 3.5 oz and 26.5 inches. We are hoping that since she is feeling better she will gain back what she has lost quickly.

Fragile little lungs

Well as many of you are already aware, we got a taste of just how fragile our little peanut is. To most of us the common cold is a minor nuisance, but to Brie it is a problem. She started with a little cough on Friday and by Sunday night she was vomiting everything she drank and was dehydrated. We debated taking her to the ER in the middle of the night, but decided to wait it out until the ped opened in the am. Well we were at the peds door at 9 am and were in an ambulance on our way to the hospital before 10 am. Brie's common cold turned into a pneumonia. After 2 days in the hospital on IVs, monitors, and oxygen she is finally home again. She is very tired, but once we got home we saw a few smiles and she even managed to crawl around her room and play with a few toys. Hopefully she will get some good sleep tonight without all of the various tubes, wires and beeps. I guess we will have to go back to our winter isolation. We had become less careful with taking her in public because she enjoys being out, but after this experience we are back to isolation. As for her birthday party we are going to see how she does during the week. If she continues to improve we will still have it, if she is still under the weather is will be postponed a few days.

Little Bruiser

Well today Brie got her first black eye. I am sure it will not be her last. While I was in the shower, Marcus was watching Brie. She has been getting more independent with walking and will take a few steps on her own before falling. Well this time when she fell she hit her eye on the plastic garbage can that Marcus was clipping his nails into. He said she did not fall very hard or far, but it was enough to give her a shiner. After a few seconds of crying she is as good as new, except for the little bruise under her eye!

The last few weeks Brie has been attending music class at the local kindermusic studio. There are 3 other kids in the class. She seems to enjoy the music and getting to play with the other kids. She has now begun dancing when we listen to music. The kids are all of similar age ranging from 9 months to 17 months. Brie is of course the smallest, but she makes her presence known. She crawls around and steals the instruments from the other children. We are trying to balance keeping her healthy, but allowing her to interact with other children.

Today we were scheduled to get Brie's one year photos done, but we got snowed in. It is probably for the best as she has a nice shiner that would have looked wonderful in her pictures. Hopefully it will be gone by next Thursday.

As for eating, Brie seems to be on a solid food strike. I think she has two more bottom teeth coming in. Her gums are very swollen and she cried out many times during the night last night. She also woke up twice to eat during the night which happened the last time her teeth came in. She also has been coughing today so she may be developing a little cold. Hopefully it is just teething and she will be better in a few days. Her bottles are going better. She basically takes 3 5.5 oz bottles and one 3 oz per day. She still will not take more then that at a time and we are basically trying to teach her that eating solid food makes her full, not bottles. We are trying to use them more as a snack. She is maintaining her weight and is now at 16lbs 11 oz. We were hoping she would be at least 17 lbs by her first birthday, but I am not sure if that will happen. This week we will have to work on more high fat foods to see if we can reach 17 by next Saturday.