Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Thanks


This is Callie's fall school picture from Goddard School.  Can you believe our little miracle will be in Kindergarten next year?!?!?!  She is growing up so fast!  We truly have so much to be thankful for!  This week Callie told me all about the Pilgrams.  She knew about the Mayflower, the Atlantic Ocean, and the American Indians.  She completely blew me away!  We can't thank the Goddard School teachers enough....they all have been amazing and have supported and taught our little girl so much.  

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Long Overdue!!!



Well, I guess to say that a post is long over due is an understatement!!!  I promise I have tried to log on numerous times, but something would happen to my computer and it would freeze me out and I would just move on to the next thing!  I decided to try it on my iPad tonight, so fingers crossed that this works!!
The biggest update for Callie has been her glasses!  This one was tough for Mommy, with guilt anyways.  Becuase of her ROP when she was a baby and then her following surgery for Strabismus, she had been being closely followed by an amazing Pediatric Opthomologist at Johns Hopkins.  Well, now that Callie is 4 and knows all of her letters, she officially took her first eye test.  They covered her left eye and she did amazingly well with her vision...switch sides, and she barely knew the E.  Poor girl! Here we thought she was just clutsy and her writing was messy, and in reality, she needed glasses!  I felt so guilty that I hadn't recognized this earlier, but at least she has what she needs now!
We have noticed quite a difference with her glasses.  Her writing has improved, her balance is much better, and her first comment to me when she put them on was "Mommy, everything is so big!!"  And our Callie is all about being a BIG GIRL!  Little miss independent she is for sure! She is certainly learning to test her boundries and has a strong will to say the least!  I have called my Mother so many times to share a funny story that just reminds me so much of me.  Such as "mommy I don't need to listen to you" or the strong willed "NO!!!".   Don't get me wrong, Callie is a sweet and loving girl most of the time.  We are always so proud at Parent/Teacher conferences because they always point out what a good friend Callie is and how they can always count on her to play with a friend when they are sad and down.  Actually, we are so proud of her all of the time.  It never ceases to amaze me what a miracle she is.  She has come so far and we just feel so privaledge to share in her journey!
Fall has been a lot of fun with all of the festivities and visits from family members.  If this post works, I promise to update more frequently.  People still comment to me from time to time that this blog has helped them or a family member wade through the trenches of prematurity and that makes me feel good that I can share her story with the world.  I guess when things stabalized, I didn't know if everyone still wanted the updates and frankly, we got busy!!  But at one of the latest family gatherings to celebrate the wedding of my beautiful cousin, Jessica, more than one person requested updates, so I promise to be better!!!
Here is a picture of our beautiful purple butterfly!  She was 100% certain of what she wanted to be this year and she had an amazing time!  It is crazy what a difference a year makes!  This year, she wanted to go up to the doors by herself with her friend Ashley, while Mommy, Daddy and Grammi watched from the sidewalk.  She does her best to keep up, but after about half of the block she asked to be carried a little between the houses, because she "isn't as fast as her friend."  I don't know if this is just because she is smaller or not as steady, but a little reminder that things still aren't easy for her.  But as always, our little fighter fights, and does her best to keep up.  We are so proud of you Callie May!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Brackets for Babies

It is that time of year again to raise money for the March of Dimes! We are so thankful for all of the care Callie received and a lot of that medicine was made possible by research funded by the March of Dimes. We had a lot of fun last year with the brackets and we raised a lot of money for a great cause!! Please forward our brackets to anyone you think would interested! Thank you!


March Brackets for Babies

Please join us for a “fun”draiser for Team Callie May and the March of Dimes!

Help Fight Prematurity with your NCAA Basketball Bracket Picks!
Enter for $10
$5 goes to March of Dimes and $5 goes into the final championship pot.

Winner gets 60% of the pot
2nd Place – 30%
3rd Place – 10%

Please sign up now by using the link http://calliemod.mayhem.cbssports.com/e
(you will need to create a cbssports login)

Password: fighter

Please forward this on to anyone that you think will be interested!

Any questions? Email me at marcicostello@gmail.com

Your $10 payment can be made to me by check or cash mailed to:
Marci Costello - 711 Scottish Isle Dr., Abingdon, MD 21009



Saturday, February 16, 2013

Happy 4th Birthday!!!

Can you believe Callie is 4 years old?!?! And she certainly acts the part!!  This was her first year having a Birthday party with her friends from school.  In years past, her parties were always families of Mommy and Daddy's friends, but this year, HER friends were included and she was soooo excited!! 
Unfortunately, it has been a rough winter for Callie's health.  It was touch and go whether or not we would have to cancel her Birthday party, but luckily, her temperature subsided and she was able to have her party as planned!
Callie absolutely loves gymnastics, so it was an easy decision to have her party at her Gym!  We had never been to a party there, but were pleasently surprised.  They had lots of playtime with the kids in both the big gym and the little gym, before taking you downstairs to a party room for pizza and cupcakes!

One of the highlights is a swing that the kids took turns dropping into a pit of foam cubes.
Then the teachers had Callie sit on the swing while all of her friends sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  Callie still has Mommy play her the video of the singing.  She thought it was so cool that everyone sang to her!!
In other news, Callie is going back to her ENT this week as she continues to have ear infections, and it appears one of her tubes is no longer in place.  And she as I mentioned in her last post, she is in the middle of being evaluated by Child Find and we will update you as soon as we get the final reports!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

WAY overdue!!

 Happy New Year everyone!  I know it has been WAY too long since my last post, but things got busier than ever with the Holiday's and the sicknesses that the cold weather seems to bring us!  The good news, Callie continues to thrive and she amazes us everyday!!
We were fortunate enough to have Callie's Holiday pictures captured again by our friend Amy.  She is the Mommy of one of Callie's good friends from the NICU.  It is so amazing to see them growing up together and how beautiful they are becoming.  We spent the afternoon together, had dinner, and watched our miracles play dolls...a true blessing!!
Callie continues to do well in school.  Right before the Holiday's, we had our parent/teacher conferences at Goddard.  For the most part, Callie is right where she should be.  The teachers were very impressed with her memorization skills-like know her numbers, letters, shapes ect.  They also were pleased with her social skills.  They told us that she is always smiling and that they can always count on her to play with anyone.  We just love that she is become a good friend!  The big area of concern for them was her attention span.  We have also witnessed this at home, but weren't sure what was appropriate for her age and also how much was capability versus attitude.  Her teachers said that she struggles paying attention in circle and is often distracted.  They asked if we would be willing to have Child Find (essentially Infants & Toddlers for ages 3-5) evaluate her.  Of course we 100% support this.  We have always believed that the more eyes and support that we can get on and for Callie, the better.  So, Mommy has completed the paperwork and she should be evaluated in the classroom soon.  We also discussed this with Callie's pediatrician and apparently there is a big correlation between prematurity and attentian deficet.  We are just hoping that we can put some plans in place to help her behavior prior to getting into Kindergarten. 
What was also reassuring out of this scenerio, was how truly amazing Callie's teachers at Goddard are.  Mommy really struggled when Callie was released from Infants and Toddlers.  While I was incredibly thrilled they felt she didn't need the support, I worried something might get missed and she would lag behind.  Her teachers involvement and concern comforts me in knowing she is absolutely in the right place!
Callie continues to LOVE gymnastics!  She is really working on improving her balance and flexibility.  But we see her real strength in her upper body.  The video above is at the end of the fall session.  We love her determination and the fact that she doesn't want help.  And honestly, we are just impressed with how well she does with the bars!
The Holidays were great! We went up to NY for a whole week and got to go sledding and we were able to have a lot of quality time with our family.  Of course, our girl was spoiled!  It was great, because this year she was really into Santa Clause.  Cal and her cousin Jack put out cookies and milk and carrots for the reindeer and she wanted to make sure she wrote her own letter to him.  In the morning, she was very inquisitive...even examining the wrapping paper that he used!!  Christmas is so exciting through her eyes!
This season has definitely been rough on Callie's health.  She is currently taking her nebulizer twice a day with her steroid inhaler and that seems to be helping her.  Her ears continue to bother her, even with the PE tubes.  Her pediatrician said that if she gets another ear infection this winter, Callie will have to go back to her ENT surgeon.  We are hoping to avoid that with some ear drops her Pediatrican prescribed.