Uncle Steve

The last couple weeks have been very rough in many ways. The most tragic was an accident my uncle Steve was in while in Scottsdale. Three weeks ago this Friday, my uncle was riding his bicycle and was hit by a drunk driver in an SUV. Steve was NOT wearing a helmet- actually he had promised his friend that he would the night before. Sadly, he was a stubborn guy. This drunk driver was at a BAC of .18 in the early afternoon crash. It sickens me to think of such a senseless act. The court system in Arizona is maddening also... this guy won't even see the court room for another 2 years because everything is so backed up. He gets to just keep hanging out like normal until then.
   Enough ranting about the drunk driver, sorry. My uncle was in a deep, deep coma right away. The prognosis even at the start was bad and he kept getting either worse or the same. All the scans showed no brain activity. He ended up passing away this past Thursday, January 26th. We are all devastated by this accident. My parents were down in AZ as soon as they heard about the accident and just got back this past Monday. They did all the logistical work, which was so draining in itself.
   Steve was a great, fun guy. My brother, Andy, started a memory blog post about him if you want to see our memories. Another memory I didn't add to my brother's blog was when I was younger, he used to take me to Best Buy when he was in town. He drove a sparkly corvette and I just felt so cool in it, and any chance to look at the newest music was a treat (especially before internet and iTunes were the main sources for music). We always kidded around with each other and when I started drinking coffee we even had a couple coffee outings at Caribou. Talk about a cool uncle. We didn't see him too often, but when James died he made a point to come to the funeral. He was pretty invested in the quads even if most of the time from afar. He hadn't met the girls yet, but he was probably going to this summer when he was back in Minnesota. When he was younger, he was a bit of a wild child- the complete opposite of his brother, my dad. He was living a really happy life as of his accident. He had just bought a condo in Scottsdale for winters and was biking all the time.  Here's his official obituary from the Willmar and Scottsdale newspapers.

Steve in Scottsdale, probably at a coffee shop

    To top off the emotional turmoil, our family was hit with a stomach bug. I don't have to give you the details- I'm sure it would be TMI. Let's just say we had three mornings in a row of walking into their room with a surprise. Josie started with a fever only Jan 22, and we only just now can say we are healthy (as of yesterday). I only had a fever for one day, so I was spared. We really didn't get out of the house and everyone was just tired, sick, and crabby. Elmo was on TV a lot. When I think of my uncle's accident, we really shouldn't complain of a little virus.
  Minnesota is in Spring-time mode and it's only February 1st! I'll include some pictures from a walk yesterday. Even getting out of the house for walks these past couple weeks was a big relief and refreshing. Today, since they have been healthy, we made it to ECFE. The girls had fun and didn't care when I left for the parent discussion time. I was told that they don't usually stick together while playing. I wish I could spy on them and see what they do!

Josie: slow and steady wins the race! (she walked for the longest)

Madeline off-roading it

Madeline

Sofia found my hat! Someone graciously left it on a bench after I lost it yesterday! Thanks, whoever you are!

Sofia is way in the distance! Run, Sofia!!

Even though we can't walk as long, I really love when the girls can run free instead of being cooped up in the stroller. I always feel a little bad when they just sit there for a half an hour walk! I don't have any other fun pics this post...just wasn't in a camera happy type of mood! Anyways, hope you all are avoiding the winter bugs, but if you aren't,  "this too, shall pass!" Thanks for reading.

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!!

Merry Christmas!

Countdown to Christmas!... here is our Christmas card this year.

Hope everyone is having a great week leading up to Christmas! Tomorrow, Dan and I get to see some friends from college, and Saturday we head up to Duluth for the week! The girls are doing great- they have little colds but just a runny nose thing.
    The two year appointment was fine. The doctor said Sofia's weight gain was getting better. She weighs 19 lbs 8 oz and is 32 inches tall. She made the growth curve for her REAL age for height (not so much her weight)! Her head is 45 percentile for her real age too (they have all been on the growth curve for their head sizes every appointment so far).
  Madeline is 22 lbs 6 oz and is close to 32 inches tall (which is hard to get accurately anyway- I think they're the same height).
  Josie is 21 lbs 2 oz and also close to 32 inches tall. Both Josie and Madeline had similar sized heads to Sofia. Nice big brains! The doctor thought the girls were developmentally on track- similar to other 2 year olds. We don't have to return for another year. (Let's not come back for illnesses, OK, girls?)

Have a very Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays!

Two years old! (Belated birthday post!)

I had the intention to write a post closer to their birthday, but this is the best I did!   What a bittersweet time of the year. Two years ago today, James was still alive, though at this point we were getting to be certain he was brain dead. Their actual birthday was a happy day, but we knew it was just too early. 27 weeks and 1 day...definitely not even close to my hopeful (maybe lofty?) goal of 32 weeks.
   On the other hand, look at our three healthy girls! We couldn't be luckier in how they turned out. In early winter of 2009 we weren't sure if Sofia would pull through her sudden illness/surgery, whether Madeline would resolve her unexplained blood gas issues or even whether, late in the NICU stay, Josie would be sent home with a trach. Now, they are pretty much like any other 2 year old! (Maybe too much like a 2 year old lately!)
   We had some family over for their birthday party this past Saturday. It was more low key than last year (when they had a party on top of a reaffirmation of baptism). They got a lot of fun presents and had fun opening them.  Their BIG birthday/Christmas present they couldn't open- both sets of grandparents chipped in to get them a sweet play set. Of course, we also had cake at the party. When we sang to the three girls, Sofia started bawling! I felt bad but I still got a couple pics. All three of them get pretty hesitant around a crowd, which I am sure is common (but I'm more introverted than extroverted so I could have passed on those genes).
   

Party before the party

The girls and grandma

Opening presents with mom and dad by our side (the room was filled with people, though!)

We're ready for some cake!

Sofia: "wait, I didn't agree to the singing part!!!"

Sofia exhausted by the end of the party (laying on her new sleeping bag)

Here are some random 2 year stats (besides weight/height- I'll give those next week after their 2 year appointment)...

Sofia
favorite food- I would have to say blueberries, but she definitely will eat all the lasagna or scrambled eggs you put in front of her. She would mostly prefer fruit to anything else.

favorite toy- stuffed animals (especially dogs), dolls, books, the doll stroller and grocery cart. She currently has no real attachment to anything- she likes to sleep with something but if we don't have a particular thing she doesn't freak out. 

tidbits- loves wearing shoes (but NOT the ones I want her to wear), picking out clothes (and micromanaging her sisters' clothes too), loves Elmo, has been fighting battles with mom such as where she gets to eat a meal (trying to refuse the high chair, but I'm winning that battle) Sofia can hang holding onto a bar the longest- I discovered this at the jungle gym at ECFE (of course I'd like her to weigh more and not be so great at it!!!)

Sofia on her birthday

Sofia

Madeline
favorite food- cottage cheese, sweets (like the rare occasion I give cookies, etc), lasagna
favorite toy- still has to have her blankie ("kinki"), anything to climb on, books, dolls, the doll stroller and grocery cart.
tidbits- she loves fighting battles too (where to sit and when she doesn't want to get clothes on).... she is acquiring the love of shoes also, has some extreme oppositions such as hitting and pulling her own hair. Still the biggest daddy's girl and recently was soothed at bedtime when Dan was out of town by me telling her "Daddy says goodnight, I love you".

Madeline on her actual birthday.

Oh, sweet Madeline.

Madline

Josie
favorite food- mac and cheese, vegetables, all fruit...basically the least picky but who knows if that will change (AND she doesn't battle over where to sit since it freaks her out to sit on the stool- but we had a recent battle of removing her cat).
favorite toy- blankie ("kinki"), her cat stuffed animal, other stuffed animals, puzzles, the new fridge farm toy, books, stroller and grocery cart.
tidbits- Making the quickest strides verbally and possibly cognitively (she usually has the best patience so that helps). We're worried she's going to start getting deformed because she constantly has her cat tucked in her arm- she's always trying to do things with mostly one arm (we're not actually worried!)

Josie on her birthday

I'm happy because I have my cat :)

Josie playing peek-a-boo!

Here are some more random pictures. Sofia and Josie had a long hugging session today that I have to include. I also have to add a couple videos I sent to Dan JUST in case he's missing them a little bit. ;)

Sofia and Josie. Sister hugs melt my heart!

Josie can still hug holding her cat!

Sister hugs inevitably lead to sister wrestling. (I like how Josie is still happy with her two sisters on her!)

Last week at the Macy's display with grandma. Fun times!

OK, sure, but can you do pull-ups?

Dan has been gone for work this whole week, but amazingly it has gone by pretty quickly. It helped that I got to go to the play "Cinderella" on Tuesday night with a bunch of the ladies in Dan's family. Thanks, Pete, Steve, and Dave for babysitting! I know it was the first diaper change for a couple of you!!! Lara and I were impressed with a job well done.
This weekend is the last weekend before Christmas- crazy! One fun thing planned is the family Christmas party at a nature center close by where they can meet Santa. After all the holidays, we get to anticipate the NICU followup evaluation. We better study up, girls! Have a nice weekend, everyone.