Our rock star babies!

We are proud to announce that Charlie and Lily are officially kicking prematurity's butt! We've been busy the last few days - on Tuesday the babies had their 9 month check-up at the pediatrician, and today we headed up to St. Peter's for their 6 month adjusted NICU followup. At the pediatrician, the babies were weighed and measured. Charlie weighed in at 16 lbs 9 oz and was 27 1/2" long. Lily was 15 lbs 14 oz and 27" long. For their adjusted age of 6 months, Charlie and Lily are both in 25-50th percentile for weight and the 50-75th percentile for height, so we are happy about that. They both received two shots, but handled them like champs!

Today's appointment at St. Peter's was much more involved than the pediatrician, but was super interesting and encouraging. Charlie and Lily met with a psychologist, physical therapist and speech therapist who evaluated their development. The babies were tested on a variety of skills. The psychologist showed each baby a mirror to see how they reacted to themselves in it. They offered the babies toys to see how they grabbed them, gave them books to see if they'd turn the pages, offered them a bell to see if they would ring it and gave them little blocks to see if they would bang them together. Charlie and Lily did basically did everything that was expected of them with no problem. The psychologist actually called Lily, "textbook." Then the physical therapist tested Charlie and Lily on their tone, strength, movement, etc. They did fantastic in that area as well. After the evaluation, the therapists told us that it is very, very rare that they not recommend 25 weekers for intervention, but that Charlie and Lily needed NONE! They are doing perfect for their adjusted age! We are so, so proud of them!

After meeting with the therapists Charlie and Lily saw our beloved Dr. Hiatt, the head neonatologist at St. Peter's. Dr. Hiatt was super pleased with Charlie and Lily's progress - by the end of the visit he said he had run out of superlatives for them :) He also told us that in most cases if babies are going to have developmental problems or delays they would have presented themselves by Charlie and Lily's current age, so we are optimistic about their continued progress.

The one area of concern the doctors came across today was the shape of Charlie's head. From being born so early and spending so much time in the NICU bed, the back right side of his head is kind of flat. The physical therapist called it to our attention, and then Dr. Hiatt examined it and decided that it may warrant further attention. He called in a doctor from the craniofacial clinic to take a look at Charlie. This doctor (who referred to Charlie as "luscious," which made me laugh!) pronounced Charlie's head flattening to be "moderate" and recommended that we make an appointment with her office for further evaluation. The good news is that the issue is strictly cosmetic and nothing more. Charlie may need to wear a helmet (like this) for awhile to correct the shape of his head, but it's not too big of a deal. Our appointment with the craniofacial team is not until June, and until then our goal is to try to redirect Charlie to lay on the other side of his head and keep him upright or on his belly as much as possible to try to help his head round out a bit. Still, Joe and I are thrilled with the way our appointment went today. We figure that if we can come out of this whole ordeal with Charlie and Lily's only problem being one slightly mis-shapen head, we'll consider ourselves very, very lucky parents!

Before we left St. Peter's, we had to stop by the NICU to say hello to some old friends. Lily got to visit with one of her favorite primary nurses, Julia. Lily chose her outfit carefully today since she knew she'd be seeing Julia - she and Julia used to talk fashion quite often while Lily was a patient ;) We also saw Kieren, the NICU social worker, and Ann Marie, the nurse coordinator. It was nice to visit with everyone. We miss all the wonderful people we grew so close to during Charlie and Lily's three month NICU stay. However, it is wonderful to visit, say goodbye, and walk out of the hospital with Charlie and Lily in tow!

In other news, we bought a mini van! By early next week we will be the proud owners of a 2010 Honda Odyssey. The babies came with us to the dealership yesterday and helped pick out what I am fondly referring to as my new "swagger wagon." I adore my CRV, but my lease is coming to an end and the time has come for a vehicle with more space. The babies and I are excited to cruise aroud in our new ride!

Is it summer already? Temperatures here in NJ have been in the mid to upper 80s the last few days, so Charlie and Lily have been previewing their summer wardrobes.
Lily loved showing some leg in her pretty dress.
Charlie knows how to work a pair of plaid shorts!

"Hey, Mommy? I think you forgot to dress me. I don't mind though, I'm enjoying the breeze..."

On Monday, Joe headed to his friend Travis' house to watch the Mets home opener on TV with Travis and their friend Cox. Lily showed her support of Daddy's team by wearing a pink Mets t-shirt.

We are loving every second of Joe's spring break! The days are so much more relaxing when he's home with us. There's nothing like lounging in bed before breakfast!