NICU Follow-up Evaluation

How's everyone's January? We are finally getting "real" January weather- hitting below 0 temps, snow, etc. I don't mind so much but I am looking forward to Florida, not going to lie! The girls have been doing well except they have been waking up at night a lot lately. Normally, they just cry for a couple minutes and go back to bed on their own.

The main news is the results from the NICU evaluation. Each girl had one caregiver and one therapist running the tests. Sofia was with her grandma (Dan's mom), Madeline was with Dan and Josie was with me. I wish I could say they all tested well, but no! With all the other NICU follow-ups, Sofia has never tested well and the other two did better. This time, Sofia did a great job! (ehhh, and Josie and Madeline not so much.) When I was with Josie, it was just apparent she just didn't want to cooperate. She was not comfortable. Dan told me Madeline was cooperative until a certain point, but then the therapist would want a toy back, which would push her over the edge.
   The sections included: cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, receptive language and expressive language. None of the girls did that well with gross motor but all three were past the point of cooperation at that point (this was the last part of the test). I can't say this for sure, but I think they would have scored better if the therapists watched them play at home or open gym.
    One funny tidbit from Madeline's test: one of the fine motor tests was putting Cheerios in a little film canister. She totally ignored directions and would stuff all the Cheerios in her mouth! So the therapist would get more Cheerios out... but Madeline would stuff them all in her mouth again! This went on for a while, until I finally said "You know, she's just going to keep eating them- she's really hungry apparently!" Needless to say, she did NOT pass that test! The test has to use little objects that aren't choking hazards so we couldn't use different small objects. That test was towards the end and hitting lunch time- luckily I brought lunch so they could eat while we waited for results.  Here's how the girls did.... ("Normal" is scoring between 85 and 115)

Madeline-
Weight- 23 lbs 9 oz (10th percentile on the regular chart- as opposed to the preemie adjusted chart)
 Height- 32 1/2 inches (25th percentile)
Head- 18 1/4 inches (25th percentile)
 Cognitive Score- 95 (age equivalence 24 months)
 Motor Score- 91 (fine motor 21 months, gross motor 22 months)
 Language Score- 94 ( expressive language 21 months, receptive language 24 months)

Madeline, just reading a book.

Josephine-
 Weight-  22 lbs 1 oz (under the 5th percentile)
Height- 31.5 inches (under 5th percentile)
Head-  18 1/2 inches (25th percentile)
Cognitive Score- 95 (age equivalence 24  months)
Motor Score- 97 (fine motor 26 months, gross motor 20 months)
Language Score- 94 (expressive 22 months, receptive 23 months)

A new thing Josie does with her mouth.

Sofia-
Weight-  20 lbs 15 ounces (under 5th percentile) *this would mean she gained more than a pound in the last month so I think either the weight was wrong at her 2 yr appointment, or wrong at the NICU. I would be happy if she really is almost 21 lbs, though!!
Height 31 1/2 inches (under 5th percentile)
Head- 18 1/4 inches (25th percentile)
Cognitive Score- 100 (25 months)
Motor Score- 100 (Fine motor 28 months, gross motor 20 months)
Language Score- 115 (expressive 29 months, receptive 31 months)

Sofia putting the eyes on Mrs. Potato Head.

We truly believe Madeline and Josie are at least as skilled in fine motor, verbal and cognition as Sofia, so we just see Sofia as representing them all. I think we're caught up to their real age! (except size... Maddie is  the only one "caught up"-kinda- in that department.) We'll work on those gross motor skills, though! All three girls showed no red flags, even if all the numbers were accurate. We don't have to go back until they're 4 1/2 years old for an IQ/school readiness test.

Here are some pictures! The snowy ones are from New Years Eve weekend up north. 

The whole family up north at the cabin! (Sofia, Josie, Maddie L to R)

Sofia and Madeline getting pulled in the sled.

Josie and me!

Hmm...are we supposed to be on these shelves??

Group picture on my birthday! (I'm 28 now!) S, J, M

Madeline and Josie- sister love!

More sister love... (and thanks, Elmo, for letting me cook!)

All for now! I hope everyone has a good work week!

It's 2012!

Well, I feel like we're almost settled in after getting home this past Sunday... we were in Duluth for over a week. We are putting away Christmas decorations, catching up on laundry, and trying to keep up in general. Duluth was great- Christmas Eve with my family (we missed Andy and Aimee as they had to get back to Iowa, Ben couldn't get time off busy residency, but Jon was home!) We spent Christmas day with Dan's family. The girls got fun new toys- highlights being new dolls, a little people set, movies, books, and trikes (trikes were from Santa!)....and so much more. We probably need to clear out old/baby toys to make room!

New Year's Eve was spent at Dan's family's cabin. The girls did NOT make it to midnight (but their parents made it- barely).  There are a couple of things I'm looking forward to in the next couple of months. Mid-January we bring the girls to the NICU follow-up appointmet to see how they are doing developmentally and physically. I'm not expecting them to be fully caught up quite yet but it's fun to see what they can do. In February, we are taking the girls on the plane to Florida! My parents are renting a condo so we will stay with them. I'm so nervous about the plane part but I don't have to think about it too much yet.

I don't have much to report on- this post is mostly to show-off the latest pictures- but I did want to throw a question out there. Everything I have read says not to be a short order cook, but to me, it's different when we're struggling to make the growth curve. We're on the fine line of turning Sofia (and a lesser extent the other two) pickier than they would because I end up making her other food when she refuses a new meal. Arg! Any ideas for picky eaters? I will try to keep introducing new foods over and over but I need to get calories in her! Plus some of the fattening stand-bys are not working anymore!

Here are some new pictures.

At the winter carnival at the nature center by our house. The girls are looking at the "snow dogs".

Sofia is still not a fan of big animals!

Turkeys and chickens aren't so scary.

The very scary Santa. We were with him 0.2 seconds.

S, J, M in their Christmas dresses! (stuffing their faces with crackers and cheese- yum!)

Josie opening her doll with daddy (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!)

Maddie with Grandpa

Langager family (minus two brothers and a sister-in-law)

Watching the Christmas train with Grandpa

Grandparents with all their grandchildren

Christmas morning discovering the trikes Santa left them (Sofia, Maddie in background)

Cuddling up watching Winnie the Pooh. Peaceful!

Sadly, I didn't get any from the cabin, but I know I will get some from Dan's dad (the designated photographer of the family). Here is a video from our Christmas Eve church service (the church I grew up going to). They attracted quite a little crowd watching them. Lots of pent up energy!

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years! Here's to great things in 2012!!