Smokers Are Jokers

I have some strong opinions about smoking. I think it's disgusting. So gross. And I judge smokers. A lot. Now, I generally don't care that you do it as long as there are two main criteria met:
1. You don't do it around me.
2. You don't do it around kids.
Actually, #2 is more important than #1.

Women who smoke while pregnant make me want to punch them in the face and call social services. I know, I know, back in the 50's pregnant ladies smoked all the time. But hello, it's 2011. 60 years have passed and YOU KNOW BETTER. And if you can't give up something for 9 months for someone who is helpless and you're supposed to love more than anything, then you suck ass.

And if you smoke around kids you should be shanked. All I can ever think about when I see that is their poor pink healthy lungs that are being exposed to all the cancer. I can't handle it and I'm an adult. Kids deserve better than that.

Now, if you want to judge me for judging smokers, go ahead. I'm judging you right back.

Rant over.

Happy Earth Day!

Ways I'm going to try and help the planet:

• Buy more eco-friendly cleaners


• Try and use our cloth diapers more (we have the g diapers, with both cloth and paper inserts. Richie isn't a huge fan, but I think I'll try to force them on him more...)


• Carpool. We already do this! Yay!


• Recycle. Already do this, too. At work I'm kind of the recycle-crazy-lady. People know better than to throw away their plastic bottles if I'm around. I have eagle eyes for spotting them in people's garbage cans.


• Use a water bottle instead of disposable cups. I'm hit or miss on this now. I'll try to be more hit than miss.

GO EARTH!

Uh-Oh

I have baby fever. BABY. FEVER. Is it because it's spring?
Maybe all those zoo babies I'm going to see tomorrow will help. OR, it will make it worse. I guess we'll see.

Are You Ready?

For another baby, that is. Answer: Not really. But will I ever be? No, we’re not pregnant again. No announcements at this time. But I’m getting there! I think the time is right to start to try.

But, I bet that this will be me:



Am I freaked out that this may be a long process? Yep. Am I freaked out that it might not be? You bet. I cannot image having another baby, but I also cannot imagine life with only one. It’s a strange stage of life.

I have a feeling no one is ever 100% prepared for bringing another new life into this world. You’ve just got to be as ready as you’ll ever be and charge forward! Deep breaths – and keep your fingers crossed that this isn’t a two-year process like it was for my Roo!

Updates!

I feel like I need to start by saying I’m sorry to the one or two people who read this – it’s been a long time! I’m ready to dedicate the time it takes to writing regularly. Ok? Ok. Stick with me.



Richie updates: Growing and growing and growing! Richie LOVES toddlers. He is such a mover and a shaker and he gets to be so busy and active in toddlers. He is loving the nicer weather, too. He has a lot more words these days. Granted, if you don’t pay attention to what he’s pointing at or playing with, you may not understand them, but he’s trying! What I love right now is that he is counting! It’s only to two, but it’s adorable. Other words he is saying: Ellie, Pete (iiT), eat, more, up, Bye-bye, duck, dog, Mama, Dada, Joe, Grandma, Lola, Tita, All Done, night-night, book, the end (eee en), shoes, socks, and Elmo (also called La-La). I think there are more, but I can’t remember them. He also does a LOT of animal noises and can identify a lot of animals, too.




Richie LIKES baths, running, dancing, songs, Elmo (times a million), Cookie Monster, Mac and Cheese (“Ack an chisth” – my best phonetic spelling of how he says it), oranges, cheese in general, stickers, Duplos, walks, the dogs, BOOKS, and his monkey.

Richie DOES NOT like being redirected, not being able to stand on chairs, broccoli, going to bed, wearing his winter coat, getting buckled into his car seat, or getting his diaper changed.





As for us, not much new to report. No, there are no siblings for Richie on the horizon right now, even though I feel like I’m getting the side eye from people who are on bump watch or something. Nope, just pudge  But I think #2 will be in our near future.
That’s the latest and greatest!

One Year Later

I started this post 2 months ago. It's not finished, but at least it's something!


My son is almost 14 months old. FOURTEEN MONTHS - where did that time go? I honestly don't know. Let's see, what is Richie up to these days?

TEETH - We have two. And that's it. And for almost two months, he only had one. We call it Ol' Chomper. And it's giant now and crooked and dwarfs its new little friend that grew in (also crooked) right next door. His lack of teeth doesn't seem to slowing him down, but still, we're hoping he gets a few more soon.

CRAWLING - He started to crawl on the day he turned 11 months. I think this was slightly earlier than the pediatrician had hoped for; she thought by his first birthday. He did a lot of army crawling, but is now on all fours and also doing some spiderman crawling, where his knees don't touch the ground.

WALKING - Richie has taken his first steps!!!! We know it's not much longer until life as we know it has changed forever. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES being mobile. Even once he started crawling he seemed so much happier. He now cruises around on furniture, walks very short distances, and stands up without needing to hold onto anything. These, my friends, are all signs that walking for real is right around the corner.

EATING - Richie LOVES food. All food. All the time. He doesn't care so much for baby food anymore and would prefer all his food be table food. He especially loves beans and cheese.

WEIGHT/HEIGHT/HEAD - Last check up at 12 months and Richie was in the 30th-50th percentile for almost everything. Not bad for a 32-weeker! We even moved him to a big-boy car seat!

Been Awhile

I've always been a bad blogger, but now it's just getting ridiculous - time for an update!

First, Richie is TEN MONTHS! I can't believe that in less than two months, I will have a one year old. The time has gone by so fast. And in six months, he will be moving up to the TODDLER room at daycare. Six months!

At his nine month appointment, our little Richie-roo weighed in at 19 pounds (30th percentile), 27 1/2 inches (10th percentile), and his head was in the 10th percentile, too (don't remember what numbers). So he is coming right along! Because his height to weight ratio isn't quite there, he kind of looks like a little square - a cute little square!

New things:
He LOVES table food. Loves it. We let daycare know they can start feeding him table foods and they keep commenting on how much he likes it. He seems to love chicken - I was feeding him some tonight and he gobbled it right up. He definitely has less interest in his bottle, so it will probably be pretty easy to wean him when the time comes. Which is fortunate for us.

He has started scooching! Just tonight, he was on the bed and would put his head on the ground and stick his little butt in the air and move his legs - and he would go somewhere! This is the start of something and I'm sure our household will never be the same! It's also exciting because the pediatrician told us we can expect him to crawl at 12 months because of his prematurity. I think he's going to exceed her expectations!

He is a total ham! He absolutely LOVES being the center of attention. We went to Michigan for the 4th of July and every time there was a crowd, he would look around to make sure people were watching him. Just this past week, he has also started smiling for the camera. Too cute!

Some pictures of my little monkey:

As for me, there are lots of pregnant ladies around me at work right now and just from people I know in general. It's exciting, but I can't help but be a little jealous. I didn't get my full pregnancy experience and I wish I could have. But, I'll get over it. I just have to put on my big girl pants and deal with it. Because, I am not going to be having another baby any time soon - I have more than I can handle for now! :)

Help Premature Babies!

Dear Family and Friends,

On September 4, 2009, our lives were changed forever with the addition of our son, Richmond Julian Williams. And on April 24, we are going to be walking to celebrate his birth, life, and survival. With babies being born too soon every day, the March of Dimes is working on making sure that less babies and their families will have to go through a premature birth.

Richie came into this world 8 weeks early and without modern medicine and the strides that have been made in helping premature babies and preterm labor, I don’t even want to think about what could have happened. Ways that medicine helped us personally:
• Terbutaline shot at 30 weeks to stop pre-term labor
• Beta Methazone shots at 30 weeks for lung development (steroid shots)
• Special Care Nursery – with all the machines and monitors and specialized staff to make sure that Richie would thrive

And you know what? He did! Luckily. But not all babies are that lucky. And that’s why we walk.
And now we’re asking you for your support. How can you do that? By contributing to the March of Dimes by sponsoring us HERE or by walking alongside us! Your help is so much appreciated, so that babies can
go from this:

Richie - 2 hours old. And the first time I was able to see him after they brought him to the Special Care Nursery 5 minutes after he was born.

to this:

Richie today! :)

Love, Jess, Fred, and Richie

Premature Birth Statistics
Definitions

* Premature born before 37 weeks
* Moderately premature born between 35 and 37 weeks
* Very premature born between 29 and 34 weeks
* Extremely premature born between 24 and 28 weeks
* Low birthweight baby weighs less than 2,500 g (5.5 lbs)
* Very low birthweight baby weighs less than 1,500 g (3.0 lbs)
* Extremely low birthweight baby weighs less than 1,000 g (2.2 lbs)
* Neonatal deaths = within 28 days of birth
* Prenatal deaths = stillbirths and deaths occurring within the 1st week of life

Survival Rates

* Babies born at 23 weeks have a 17% chance of survival
* Babies born at 24 weeks have a 39% chance of survival
* Babies born at 25 weeks have a 50% chance of survival
* From 32 weeks onwards, most babies are able to survive with the help of medical Technology [EPICure data]

Outcomes

* 1 in 10 premature babies will develop a permanent disability such as lung disease, cerebral palsy, blindness or deafness.
* 50% of premature babies born before the 26th week of gestation are disabled, a quarter severely so. (Fowler GA. Preemie problems: the sobering statistics. US News World Reports 2000; vol 129: pp56.)
* Of children born before 26 weeks' gestation, results in 241 of the surviving children at six years (early school age) indicate a high level of disability as follows:
o 22% severe disability (defined as cerebral palsy but not walking, low cognitive scores, blindness, profound deafness)
o 24% moderate disability (defined as cerebral palsy but walking, IQ/cognitive scores in the special needs range, lesser degree of visual or hearing impairment)
o 34% mild disability (defined as low IQ/cognitive score, squint, requiring glasses)
o 20% no problems
* This study also showed a greater risk of severe disability and lower cognitive function results for boys compared with girls. This supports the theory that male sex is an important risk factor in extremely preterm infants.
* Cognitive and neurological impairment is common at school age amongst extremely preterm children. [N Engl J Med 2005; 352: 9-19.] Epicure data

Six Months!

Richie is now six months old! Here are the latest stats:
Weight: 16 pounds, 5 ounces - this puts him in the 35th percentile unadjusted, 75th percentile adjusted
Height: 24 3/4 inches - 4th percentile unadjusted, 50th percentile adjusted
Head: 16 1/2? inches - 8th percentile unadjusted, 50th percentile adjusted

His head shape - Richie has a narrow head, but it's kind of hard to tell because of his big, chubby cheeks! The pediatrician said that it's common in preemies and will fill out soon.

Solids! This kid LOVES them! So far he's had rice cereal, bananas, apples, and pears. He loves all of them. In the next couple of days we're going to give him sweet potatoes and maybe peas. It's so fun to feed him - he makes the funniest faces the first few bites, then gets really excited and starts kicking his little sumo legs :)

Demeanor - We have a pretty happy little guy! He smiles in the mornings and if he's awake before we go in there, he spends some time just babbling to himself. He also is always happy when we drop him off and pick him up from daycare.

Daycare - He seems to like it! The teachers always tell us how great he is - he is so easygoing when he's there. He likes to be on his tummy and look at himself in the mirror. I personally think he gets a lot of attention because he's so cute!

Milestones - still a gray area. He rolled over one time, but hasn't done it since. He doesn't sit up on his own yet and his grasping is still not where 6 month-olds usually are at yet. He's coming along, though.

5 Months

It's amazing at how much can change in 5 months. I mean, that's less than half a year, yet it can be life-changing. My Richie turned 5 months old this past Thursday. And every day we love him more than the day before.

From This:

To This: