Adeleine at 5 months (corrected)

So, haven't posted in a couple of weeks because we've been busy getting OUT OF THE BUBBLE!!!! Yippie! Flu season finally ended and our little girl was cleared to have visitors and be a social butterfly. She attended her first few family gatherings and it was sooooo good for us to get to see everyone again. I have been waiting very impatiently to show her off all winter. She really is the cutest little girl in the world, full of big smiles, loves to gnaw on everything, bats her eyelashes and stares you down with her big giant eyes. It was so very hard to have all that cuteness in our house without our family and friends to share it with! But now we can! Yay!
I have also discovered that Adeleine is a very good shopping partner. She snuggles right into her sling and watches quietly as we wander through the stores. We have been spending some time at the craft stores lately as I have taken to scrapbooking Liam's art and soon I'll do Adeleine's baby book. We were banned from grocery stores because that's where sick people go - sick people need to eat too - (and if you ask a NICU nurse, they will probably tell you we should still be banned) but just this week at 5 months (corrected age) we did a full grocery shopping trip. Big milestone! I think she was ready, but we won't make a habit of it. And I sanitized my hands no less than five times during this trip.
She's right on track with her development. At 2 months corrected age she was in the 50th percentile for her development (she had some muscular things to work on: tight lower back and shoulders and working with her hands at the midline was hard) at 4 months corrected she was at the 75th percentile! Yippie! And this is compared to TERM babies! What an accomplishment! She won't see the Developmental Follow Up Clinic again until she's 8 months corrected. Woohoo! She really is doing just fine. Trust me, I know how lucky we are and I'm grateful everyday for her life, but I'm over the moon at the fact that she is progressing so well. She amazes me every single day. She is exclusively breastfeeding like a champ, and I remember each time she nurses that is uncommon for preemies of her gestation (we both struggled and fought hard for that one and I'll blog about it later). Every time she smiles her GIANT toothless open mouth grin and happy big eyes I just melt. I am so very happy just to have her here and to have her be such a joy is just so... wonderful. I can't really describe it well. It's just a feeling in my gut that takes over me. When you meet her and she smiles at you and you know her long journey you might feel a little bit of it too.

*Please note that this blog is not medical advice. It is simply our story.*