Ever changing...

I just write about all her changes last night and then she goes and adds more to the list. Today she said "ba-by" and she looked at Maddie and when I asked her where her nose was, she pointed to mine and then found hers. Then tonight after Dave left, I put her in her crib to play for a few minutes and Reagan comes in telling me Ellie is standing. I said, "no she's not, she's probably just kneeling" but went with her to look...and sure enough, she had pulled herself to standing, then started to cry because she was stuck. I'm so proud of her!! Sydney and Reagan get just as excited about her new accomplishments. It's such fun.

I didn't get to share about how Ellie's eating is going last night....Reagan got sick for the 2nd time yesterday. Must have been a 24 hr. bug, cause she seems to be doing fine today. As for Ellie, she eats 5 meals a day and drinks 14-16 oz of milk. Yes, drinks. We finally found a cup that works and that she likes about a month ago. Her teacher brought little 1 oz plastic medicine cups and she seems to like those best. We worked with a swallow specialist from Early Intervention for a few weeks and now she is swallowing faster (it is definitely not as delayed as it was). She only needs 4 oz of water by feeding pump now. We are getting so much closer. Of course, it is always 2 steps forward, 1 step back...she's is on a bit of a drinking strike since her minor surgery. She's decided she doesn't like the cup so well now, but I'm doing my best to pack on the calories with her food and keep her from getting dehydrated. This week she weighed in at 19 lbs, 12 oz. Only a couple oz gain from 2 weeks ago...so pretty much maintaining. The nutrionist will weigh her again next week and I'm diligently keeping track of what she eats/drinks/calories.

As for Maddie, she is quite the chunk. At her 2 mo. appt. she weighed 11 lbs, 13 oz...over half the weight of Ellie. She is 3 1/2 mo now, I can't imagine what she weighs now. She smiled at 6 weeks but didn't get really good at it until last month. She was a bit colicy: my reason for the hiatus from posting. She definitely is one that likes to be held: mom, dad, Sydney, whoever will take her and rock her to sleep. But she's still a keeper. It's definitely crazier around her than it used to be. At times, I imagine it's like having twins. At night, I rock the two little ones to sleep after putting the older girls to bed. Ellie has to be on the tube at night still, so no tough love yet in the going to be catagory.

Well, that's enough for now. I'll update on the big girls next time.