October 25, 2010 by Jen.

Juliana is one year old today. She was born at 4:22 p.m. at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Her sisters were born at 4:23 and 4:24. All four of our lives were in extreme danger that day, and the danger continued for the precious babies. Although much tragedy ensued in the following days, Juliana showed her amazing strength and ability to fight for her life. She has survived to be a beautiful, healthy, determined, opinionated, smart, music-loving, book-reading, active, happy little baby. Every second of every day is better because she is in the world. She is our pride and constant joy.

She is starting to eat more solid foods, really enjoying her squash today. She is on the verge of either crawling or walking, or both. Her days are filled with reading books, playing with toys, going for walks, trying to chase the kitty, smiles, drools, and saying “ba-ba” for nothing in particular. She loves animals, playing the piano, looking at herself in the mirror, walking in the Baby Bjorn, and most of all: her mommy and daddy.

We got settled in our new house just in time to host some friends and family to celebrate her birthday on Sabbath. We will post pictures shortly.

This day will always be bittersweet for us. But the sweet grows sweeter every day that we spend with Juliana. God has given us such a gift in the blessing that is her life. We will never take that for granted. Juliana, we love you.

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September 24, 2010 by Jen.

We saw the helmet specialist this week, and she re-measured the asymmetry of Juliana’s head. It has dramatically improved in the 6 weeks that she has had her helmet. When we first started, her head was 12% asymmetrical. Now, it is only 5.5%. They generally do not recommend a helmet for any baby who is under 6%, so if we had just come to them now, Juliana wouldn’t need the helmet! We are, however, going to finish our course, since it has done so much good so far. Juliana tolerates it well and will only need it for a few more weeks.

We also went for another NICU follow-up appointment recently. At that visit, Juliana weighed 13 lbs, 11 oz, and was nearly 25 inches long. She passed all of the developmental tests for a 7 month baby, and her physical therapists agree that she is doing very well.

She has started sitting on her own for a few minutes at a time, and her back is so strong and straight! Babies have such perfect posture! She still loves to stand, although she won’t be walking for awhile yet.

Her little laugh is so sweet. We’ll try to capture it on video soon since she has finally started actually making a laughing sound.

Also, we video chat regularly with her Nana and her aunties. Juliana has become so used to this, that when she hears the “dialing” sound on the computer, she starts laughing and lunging at the screen.

She also loves to look at herself in the mirror and look at pictures of herself and other babies. These are all normal developmental phases for a 7-10 month old and so cute!

Her separation anxiety has grown lately, and she doesn’t like me to put her down or to walk away (like to the bathroom or to get some food). So, that has made packing for our upcoming move extreeeeemly difficult, and Jason has had to bear the brunt of all the work involved in this move. He has been awesome, while Juliana and I rock in the chair and give orders. haha.

We will be posting before and after pictures of our new house fairly soon. The big move is on Sunday. Yikes! You know, we have lived in this house longer than anywhere I have lived in my entire life! We’ve lived here for 10 years, and I have lived on the HVA campus for 14 years! Almost half my life! So, even though we are moving only 3.9 miles away, it will still be a bit weird for awhile. I have loved living in the Mt. Aetna community. But, one of our new neighbors came by and introduced herself today, and she seems very friendly. I know there will be lots of good things about living in our new house, and I’m so excited to share the photos with you all!

In the meantime, here are some more photos of Juliana.

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September 14, 2010 by Jen.

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September 13, 2010 by Jen.

Also known as the cutest thing on the face of the planet.

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September 2, 2010 by Jen.

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August 25, 2010 by Jen.

Hello to all of Juliana’s faithful followers! This will be a wordy update on her life.

Juliana is now 10 months old and 6 1/2 months old developmentally. She weighs about 13 lbs and is 25 inches long, perhaps longer by now. She is an angel.

We have her helmet now, which will correct the asymmetry of her head. She only has to wear it for 3 months, thankfully, but she doesn’t seem to mind it too much. She wears it for 23 hours a day and then gets a break each evening for her bath.

We went to the eye doctor yesterday and he checked her eyes. He says that her retinas are looking great! (Retinal issues are prevalent with babies who have had ROP.) Her glasses prescription has not changed, at least for now, and we figured out how to keep the glasses AND helmet on simultaneously. This is a huge relief, because we did not want her to go 3 months without her glasses. She sees things so much better with them, and she is more animated and interactive with them on.

Developmentally, she keeps on trucking according to where she should be with her adjusted age of 6 1/2 months. She loves to roll all around but is not quite ready to crawl. She is just about to sit on her own, and actually loves to stand. She is very stable on her feet, but nowhere near ready to actually stand or walk.

She smiles all the time and makes a cute little laugh that doesn’t quite sound like a laugh yet. She sleeps most of the night and loves to play all day long, except for a few brief naps.

Juliana has been eating some rice cereal (didn’t impress her) and butternut squash (she kinda likes). She still isn’t sure about swallowing stuff, but seems to do okay with the squash flavor. Next up: sweet potatoes.

I have started back to school, but I am only teaching part time this year. Jason watches Juliana until I get home mid-morning, and then I spend the rest of the day with her. She goes to faculty meeting with me for now, and we take a lot of walks.

She looks like a little aviator with her helmet and glasses on together, especially when she sits in her exersaucer and she looks like she is manning a huge control panel. Her exersaucer especially inspires her to “talk” very loudly. She also loves to play the piano and listen to music.

We’re sorry that the uploading photos part of the website has become so time-intensive that we have fallen off our regular posting. We’ll try to do better! Maybe more pictures to come later today or tomorrow.

Thanks for following Juliana’s progress. She is so sweet and wonderful and we thank God every day for her precious little life. Parenthood is just absolutely wonderful, and we are loving every second.

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June 20, 2010 by Jen.

Happy Father’s Day to Juliana’s favorite and most wonderful Daddy! Jason: you are a wonderful father in every way. Juliana is blessed to have you! (click for photos)

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A quick update for the readers: it appears that Juliana is going to have to start wearing glasses. Her check up with the pediatric ophthamologist indicated that she is extremely nearsighted. Unfortunately this will not improve as she ages, but will possibly worsen (as do most people’s eyes as they get older). Fortunately, she will be able to see clearly with her glasses, and when she gets older will be able to wear contacts. Her little (the smallest size) pink frames with prescription lenses will be arriving by FedEx sometime this week. We will post pictures when we are able.

Posted in Announcement | 6 Comments »

June 3, 2010 by Jen.

Hello Everyone! I’m sorry that we are updating more infrequently now. We still appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers as Juliana continues to grow. Here is an update on what she has been doing in the last several weeks.

All doctor visits have been great. Juliana is a very healthy and happy little baby. She is 7 months old, and nearly 4 months old developmentally (adjusted age). She is still not on the growth chart, but her growth is tracking according to the curve, so although she continues to be small, she is growing appropriately. She currently weighs about 11 1/2 lbs, and she grew a remarkable 2 inches in length in about 2 1/2 weeks! She is 23 1/2 inches long. She is eating well and sleeping well. Her nighttime schedule is rather interesting: she usually sleeps from about midnight to 6 am, eats, then sleeps again until 10 am. This works fine for my current summer schedule, but we will need to adjust before I start back to HVA (teaching part time) in August. Throughout the day she giggles and coos, plays with her toys, and really enjoys reading books and watching her mobile.

The physical therapists are still coming regularly, and they say that she is progressing very well. Each time they give us a skill or two as her goals, and she meets them within a day or two of their visit. Yesterday she surprised us by rolling over! (There was a small cheat involved, as the surface was not entirely flat, but she has definitely learned the skill!) She has started to drool all over everything, which indicates that her saliva glands are kicking in to gear to start some solid foods in a couple of weeks. We don’t think that she’s quite ready to teethe, but we are watching for that as well.

We are currently monitoring the asymmetry of her head, due to the enforced positioning on her left side while her right leg was broken in the NICU. It isn’t severe, and we are hoping that it will resolve itself, but there is a possibility that she may have to wear a helmet for a few months, later in the summer.

We went to Tennessee in May to celebrate my brother Caleb’s academy graduation. It was Juliana’s first road trip. She did pretty well with the experience, although I think it would be a fair assessment of her feelings to say that she thinks 10 hours in a car seat should be considered child abuse. The family enjoyed getting to spend more time with our chubby little bundle of joy.

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May 11, 2010 by Jen.

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April 25, 2010 by Jen.

Here are some shots of Juliana in her baby dedication dress. She looks like a little Victorian doll in one of the shots. That dress (and bonnet) is what my sisters and I each wore for our own baby dedications.

Posted in Fun | 12 Comments »