Its time

This absolutely precious ticker from the Lilypie website was actually the one I used for Kaylie's "corrected" age. For those new to my site the corrected age is used for a child that was born premature and in Kaylie's case her corrected age (which is based on your original due date) was 12 weeks. That means she was not expected to meet certain milestones as a May baby but as a baby that had been born on August 8th which was her corrected age.

I am not going to lie...this is a hard thing for me to say but I am officially stopping this ticker and only using the one for her real age. Doctors and therapists stop correcting at the age of one but for some reason I was not able to get passed this and thankfully I didn't because the majority of preemies have not caught up by the age of one. If you compare a May baby to someone else's baby their is a huge difference and as a parent you do not want to have to worry about what your child is or isn't doing compared to another child when it isn't really a true comparison.

So that being said...in the past year our child has accomplished more than we could have ever imagined. She not only caught up cognitively but went ahead. She still has some delays (especially in feeding and sensory) but that is nothing compared to where she was. It always brings a smile to my face when I hear one of her therapists tell me they once feared for her and what she was going to be able to do and has far exceeded what their expectations. I can not hear that enough. That is definitely the fighter in her.

For a preemie parent having their child turn three is incredibly scary. Three is when a preemie parent loses their early intervention that you have relied on for so long and have to find a way to transition to something new. Since this is such a huge transition time I realized it was time for me to transition as well. My child is a preemie but that no longer defines who she is. She is a three year old. She acts like one, talks like one, and plays like one. Even her health is the health of a three year old. So many of her major concerns have gone away due to amazing physicians, therapists, and maturity on Kaylie's part. It has allowed us to have a sense of peace restored to our family. This is something we had not had for 2 1/2 years. I realized this peace had been restored when we no longer had anxiety about what was waiting around the corner for us. Getting rid of that anxiety has taken a huge weight off our backs.

For the past few years Jason and I have always tried to stay one step ahead in hopes of eliminating anything that might come our way. Now we are able to sit back and watch as she grows and becomes the little girl God planned for her to be. Her creativity and imagination is a beautiful thing to watch. She swims under water and loves to jump into the pool. She is a master climber and loves to soccer kick as she calls it. Her new love is dancing. She has friends that she loves to play with and absolutely enjoys learning soaking up everything she can. When she doesn't want to do something she acts age appropriately and throws an age appropriate tantrum. She is truly the definition of a three year old.

As I watch her I realize how blessed we are to have this miracle child and am grateful for every new thing she does. We still have things we are addressing but I will take these things over the things we have left behind.

So...it is time. It is time for me to let what happened three years ago go. I can not live in the past of what has already happened. That stuff is in the past and not the future. I have a beautiful child that is here and is thriving. I no longer need to hold onto the what ifs and the what could have happened. All I need to know is that she is happy and incredibly healthy. For that I thank the Lord!

New bed

A few weeks ago Kaylie had "the girls" spend the night in her first "official" sleepover. The girls brought their sleeping bags and slept on the floor next to Kaylie's bed. When Kaylie realized they were sleeping on the floor she insisted on sleeping with them so we set up some blankets, put her pillow down, and let her sleep on the floor. She loved it. She loved it so much she has had to do it a few times for nap time. This usually comes in handy when she doesn't want to take her nap. The picture below is an example. The funny thing was she was really fighting her nap. She asked if she could sleep on the floor and was left to fend for herself. When I went in to get her She was curled up in the door way with her "bed." As you can see from the picture she took everything off her bed and recreated it in the door way. Even Kitty had a pillow and was tucked in with his blanket. Her creativity makes me laugh more and more every day!!!

Nosey

Shiner has the nose of a hound. He is staring up at the candles at the bone he could not see. I looked across the room to find him sitting at attention occasionally shifting his eyes (while staying perfectly still) to see if I saw him. Silly dog!!!

Brown dog

Brown dog has officially lost all of his dignity.

Exhausted

The rest of our visit was incredibly busy. We went to Gattitown, Chuckie Cheese, played at My gym, swam, visited with the Stall family, and of course wore many of the same outfits. By the end of their trip everyone was exhausted...a good exhausted. As we said our goodbyes the two girls gave each other a huge hug. K asked about Allison all day and was so sad to know she had to leave. We are already counting down the days until we can see our friends again. Thanks again for coming to visit. It meant sooooo much to us!!!

My Gym...as you can tell they pretty much did everything together.

Swimming in our blow up pool...What ever one did the other was soon to follow. They both spent a lot of time trying to float. Even Ryan joined in on the fun and spent some time splashing in the water. He really seemed to be comfortable being in it.

The Stall's...Jolie and Laura had become friends through me so we went over for a visit and a yummy dinner so they could catch up. Dinner was yummy and the company was fantastic. We had a blast watching the kids interact.

The kids table. Getting ready to eat dinner. Too precious. They ate pretty well at the table by themselves.

Apparently the dog crate is the best toy in the world. They played in this for a good 30 minutes.

Fun without the sun

When it is 100+ degrees out and you have friends from Colorado in you have to find things to do that don't have to do with the outdoors. The results...Mac Donald's and then the Children's Museum with a quick trip to the grocery store to wrap up the day. Even Ryan loved this. He finally had some freedom to move around and not be stuck in his stroller. Definitely a great day.

Wouldn't trade it for anything...

For the past 5 or so years Laura and I have made a point to try and get together as much as possible. We have been friends since we meet in college in 1998 and have never wanted that friendship to end. I am so grateful for this friendship and all the time we have been given to spend with each other as well as each other's families and pray that this will continue on for many years to come. Thank you so much for coming to see us this year. It meant more to me than you will ever know!

Kaylie and Allie have known each other for 3 years and each year they grow closer and closer. Allison brought Kaylie a new Meow Meow and she has yet to put it down. When asked about it she immediately tells you Allison gave it to her.

They played so well together. This was the first time Kaylie was really able to play and understand how to interact appropriately. They needed very little entertaining from us because they were able to entertain each other.

I think that they brought the incredibly warm temperatures with them. The temps were in the 100+ last time they came to visit.

We started a jammie tradition the first year Kaylie was born. It was so hard the first year to find a pair of matching jammies for a child wearing 6mth clothes and another one wearing 2T. This year it wasn't so hard so they had several pairs of matching clothes.

More swimming

On Monday we took Kaylie and Kalie to the neighborhood pool to practice their swimming skills. This time things went rather smoothly and the girls had a blast. I have to say we have been swimming a heck of a lot more this year than the last few combined. Also, if you are keeping an eye out on her bathing suits...yes this is new. Got it for 5 dollars at Toys R Us. How could I pass that up?!?