March for Babies Team Hallie&Olivia Update

We've been fundraising really well for the March of Dimes these past 24 hours or so. So far, we've raised about $2500 dollars--about 80% of that in the last day or so (one very large donation and lots of really respectable ones), and we've added an important walker--Aunt Renee, who will happily NOT be having a micropreemie (her partner Kim is just over 29 weeks pregnant) but we still have a ways to go. Our goal is to surpass our total from last year, which was over $4000. We're taking a page from recent fundraising endeavors and asking folks to contribute whatever they can---no donation is too small. If all you can give is $5 or $10, that's great with us. If all of us band together and contribute what we can to fight prematurity, then maybe we can make the survival odds for our kids (read my last post) better than they currently are.

So please consider supporting our team. All you need to do is click on the link below:



And speaking of outcomes, Hallie hit an important milestone this afternoon: independent sliding at the local toddler playground (Three Bears Park at 3rd-4th and Delancey). We hung out there for a couple of hours after her nap this afternoon, and at first she was very timid about using the slide and even seemed to backslide (so to speak) in terms of being willing to push herself off of the slide once I positioned her on it. But after a couple of times where I spotted her as she climbed up the steps and toddled over to the top of the slide, she began to do this, and position herself from standing to sitting, on her own. At first she waited for me to climb back down and coax her to slide down but a few minutes later, she began to slide down on her own without waiting for me to get back down to the bottom. She'd sit down, propel herself, land, and then race back over to the steps to begin her climb again, over and over. She must have done this about 25 or so times total. I am so very proud of my independent little girl!