Cameron & Evan Turn 4

Our fellow former preemie buddies, Cameron and Evan, celebrated their 4th birthday this weekend. As always, it was great to see them (and their sweet parents). Marino had a great time at the party (and scoping out gifts he wants to ask for when his birthday rolls around).  It's amazing how far these boys have come!

Do they look excited to be 4?

Marino had lots of fun with this tunnel and the twin's older cousin, 

who Marino introduced to me as "This is a grown up Cameron."

Our other former preemie buddy, Simon, was there as well.

Happy Birthday, Cameron and Evan!

3 Year Stats

We had Marino's 3 year check up today. Everything is great - his lungs were clear, his development is great (advanced, even) and everyone was super impressed with his language/vocabulary.

His weight is 31 pounds (this number is debatable...he was 29 lbs just 2 weeks ago and was squirming around on the scale), which puts him in the 43rd percentile.

His height is 37 inches, which puts him in the 29th percentile. The doctor said she would guess he will be around 5'9 or 5'10 when he's finished growing.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

We had a fairly low key start to the summer this Memorial Day weekend. It was so brutally hot and Marino's skin has been reacting badly to the pollen, so we were house bound a lot of the weekend (and this week as well).

Friday night, Aunt RiRi, Aunt Chelle, and cousin Sammy came over to visit. Aunt RiRi left on Sunday for Mumbai, where she is doing an internship working on supply chain economics. We are very proud of her, as well as Aunt Chelle, who is moving into her first apartment this week!

Marino was loving on Sammy. He definately thinks "guys" are cool, and Sammy was willing to play dinosaurs with him, so that made him even cooler. These pictures crack me up!

Aunt Chelle and Aunt RiRi - we are so proud of them!

One wired boy and his aunties!

Sammy was such a hit that today after work when I told Marino Aunt Ronnie (Sammy's mom) was in the car when we picked him up from daycare (she and I work in the same department), he announced, "I don't want to go home! I want to see Sammy!!!" Luckily, Sammy was home so we got a chance to say hi when we dropped Ronnie off.

Saturday morning, Marino got up at 5:45am, which meant he was super tired by 10am. We met up with our preemie pals Cameron, Evan and Simon at Wheaton Regional Park, where we all met for the first time two years ago.

Wheaton Regional has a decent playground, but it's closed until September while they build a super awesome playground in it's place. We took the boys on a little nature walk and they had lots of fun chasing butterflies.

Unfortunately, we had to leave a little early, since Marino was really tired from the early morning. After a nap, Marino woke up to Gramma and Grampa Ray visiting. Evan put together their birthday present to Marino - this awesome new train table (Note to moms of toddler boys, get a train table! We could get rid of all our other toys and Marino could care less - he LOVES his train table!).

Marino, Gramma and Grampa Ray spent most of the rest of the weekend in Marino's "train room"! They had a great time together.

Summer Preemie Get Together - Day 2

Saturday morning, Marino and I headed out to the National Zoo to meet up with our preemie friends again. Everyone who was at dinner the night before was at the zoo, and Megan, Seth and Simon joined us as well. I have to say, we saw less animals on this trip to the zoo than ever before! The toddlers just wanted to play on the playground equipment and Marino was only interested in seeing pigs (he is still obsessed with the movie Babe).

Here's a group shot of all the mamas and little ones:

L to R

Jen and Annabelle, Laura with Cameron and Evan, Karen and Brandon, Megan and Simon, Martha and Campbell, Marino and I.

Some "flat" friends joined us, as well: Ivory and Emma, Trish and Robbie, Corey, Kiera and Claire

Brandon petting a cow
Playtime in the "pizza garden"

Cute superhero shirt Cameron and Evan got Marino for his birthday (it also has a snap on cape!)

Prairie dog tunnels...the kids loved playing in these!

Marino and Campbell

Brandon smiling, as usual
Later that night, most of us moms went out for toddler-free time (our flat friends had some drinks, too). It was really great to catch up with everyone - thanks to our friends who came from out of town!

Summer Preemie Get Together - Day 1

Preemie Power!! This weekend we got together with a group of our parents of preemies friends and (former) preemie toddlers. We had a great time and although most of us are through the toughest of times, we have a unique shared history and I really love these girls (and their kids).

Friday afternoon, we headed up to Baltimore to Port Discovery. Traffic was awful so we didn't get there until very late, but we had fun with the time we had. It was all boys at Port Discovery: Karen and Stu's son, Brandon, Drew and Laura's sons: Cameron and Evan, and Marino, of course.

Here's Marino, clearly enjoying himself...

If you looked inside of this box, there were mice inside, partying.
Brandon, enjoying a slide

Marino, enjoying the slide in a unique manner:)

There was a Bob the Builder exhibit at Port Discovery and all the boys were obsessed with this box that had buttons that lit up and "talked"...someone remarked if we all had one at home, we'd all have clean homes! Here's Cameron and Evan checking it out.

I love Brandon's smile!

All the boys in one spot!

Brandon can't believe this mess!

Cooking in the diner...

Daddy and Marino sharing a moment

Leave it to toddlers to go to a children's museum and spend half the time playing with legos;)_

On our way out, a band was setting up, so Marino was listening to the drummer practice.

After Port Discovery, we walked over to the harbor and had dinner at PF Chang's (which I love because they have a gluten-free menu, but FYI, not many egg-free options there).

Our friend's the Compton's: Martha, Robbie, Campbell and new addition Maggie came from South Carolina and met us for dinner, as did new friends Jen, Tim and their daughter Annabelle.

Here's Annabelle - how cute is she?!

Annabelle and Campbell

Campbell posing for me

Baby Maggie (born full term). Marino was not happy about me holding her...he was at the end of the table crying.

Happy Brandon