Why I Love March of Dimes and Alyson Hannigan.

Some of you know this. But Declan was a preemie. He came at 32 weeks, hard-core, flailing into this word and scaring us to death. On a Friday the 13th no less.

He spent 6 weeks in the NICU and after that, took 2 years to fully catch up to where he was supposed to be developmentally. Technically, that is “perfect” for a preemie. They are expected to go home from the hospital around their due date and then take about 24 months to stop having the phrase “adjusted age” applied to them constantly.

I don’t talk about it much anymore because he is 8+ … healthy, recovered. No lasting effects other than being the world’s biggest clutz, but who are we kidding? That has more to do with being related to me than anything.

Still, those first years were hard. Preemies are really susceptible to germs in the beginning. Being born in September, Declan had to get (really, really expensive) shots monthly to protect against RSV all through that first winter – and he made his very first appearance in a grocery store the next May. I still cringe when I see itty bitty babies out around town. Not that those moms are doing anything wrong – just that our experience was SO DIFFERENT.

But we all have our stories, right?

As parents, there is no way to survive without the worry and fear that accompanies all that joy. That’s why it was really cool that I was able to get on a conference call with actress Alyson Hannigan, to mainly just chat about her daughter. (And NOT about that one time at band camp.)

Alyson clearly loves being a mother. I was surprised to hear how much acting allows her to flex her schedule for her daughter, and how she brings her to work as much as possible. She also mentioned that acting helped her in the funny face department when making her daughter laugh.

She said she tries to make life as normal as possible for her family, even with paparazzi around. She will smile and pose, and then try to quickly get in the car. Which isn’t all that easy while lugging a baby carrier, right??

Random Alyson trivia: Her favorite app is Angry Birds and since How I Met Your Mother is on summer break, she hasn’t had as much time to play. Apparently they all use the time between between takes to fling birds at rocks. NICE!

So WHY did we get together on the phone some random day in May?

Johnson’s Baby is supporting March of Dimes, and if you were paying attention above, I kinda love March of Dimes.

If you go to their Facebook page and like them, Johnson’s Baby will donate $1 to March of Dimes, so basically, those likes are going to support kids like Declan.

And well, kids like Alyson’s daughter. And your son or daughter.

Because we do really all have the same stories, right?