Giving A Pint for Paige (and no, I don't mean beer)

Sunday was one of the blood drives that are held quarterly at our church. I was unable to donate in December since I was having my wisdom teeth extracted, but I'm making every effort to give blood in honor of Paige. Shortly after her birth and throughout her stay in NICU, she was the recipient of donated blood products, and would not be here with us today had it been unavailable to her. 

I was quite happy with myself because even though I've donated in the past, I've always been a bit woozy, and even blacked out (that's right, I can poke you and watch you getting poked, but don't do it to me). Not this time! I believe I'm actually halfway to my gallon pin! Matt isn't too keen on the whole needle thing, so he watched Paige while I was at the drive. 

We strongly encourage everyone who is able to at least try to donate blood. It's a short moment of discomfort that could mean the rest of someone's life! Here are a few facts that I pulled from the Michigan Community Blood Centers:

• More than 4.5 million patients need blood transfusions each year in the US and Canada. 
  
• 43,000 pints of donated blood are used each day in the US and Canada.
  
• Every three seconds someone needs blood.
  
• Each donated pint of blood can help up to 3 people. Giving blood takes 45-60 minutes for the entire process (actual donation takes just 7-10 minutes; the rest of the time is for registration, health screening, and rest/snack period).
• Giving blood will not decrease your strength.

Follow the link above to find blood drives in your area, or if you're outside Michigan, check out the American Red Cross. C'mon, you get cookies too!

Baby, Slow Down, You're GROWING Too Fast!

Oh my...where did the time go? Our little Paige is SIX months old (yes, that also means we haven't posted in over a month)!! Paige's "half-birthday" on March 15th was shared with her Aunt Hillarie's birthday, who is now 20! We hope she had a birthday as fabulous as she is. 

Paige had a great 6-month checkup. She smiled a didn't even scream for very long after her vaccines!Even though she was slow to roll over, she has developed many other skills, like passing objects from one hand to the other, reaching for objects, babbling ("yayaya", "dadada", and for some reason, she only whispers "mamama") and the like. She also seems to have a great sense of rhythm, banging her rattles in her lap in perfect 4:4 time! Paige continues to sleep through the night (9 or 10 pm until 8 am!), but whenever she's tired and in need of a nap, she tends to fuss and fight the need. We, on the other hand, do not understand why anyone would want to pass up a nap!

One of my favorite newer things is Paige's belly laugh...honestly, how can you resist laughing yourself when a baby is laughing?!? Unfortunately, the only time we thought to catch it on video was on our camcorder, and since Matt is off running the Irish Jig, and I'm not very technologically savvy, it will have to wait.

Oh yes, and March Madness is upon us...leave it to Dad to make sure Paige is ready for it!

 

Well we're off to enjoy some bananas. Enjoy your weekend! Go State!