Catching Up

So sorry I haven't written in a while - gosh, where did the time go? Emily is 2 months old, Ryan is 14 months, I've returned to work, things are approaching "normal."

The latest news... we took Emily for her 2 month checkup and all is well with her. She weighs 9 and a half pounds and is at the 40th percentile mark for height, weight, and head circumference. AWESOME! That is compared to other 2 month olds - not taking into account that she was 5 weeks early! She's doing great and we couldn't be happier.

Ryan was such a little ham in the doctor's office today. Dr. Boylston is back from her own maternity leave and Ryan was really showing off for her. He was hilarious. We spent most of the appointment laughing at him - he was like a little pinball bouncing around the office from one thing to the next, trying to see what kind of trouble he could start. He ran straight into the door (on purpose) and then turned around and ran straight into the opposite wall (also on purpose). He got a little red bump on his head but it didn't slow him down. He then decided to open one of the drawers and empty out the specimen cups that were in there. They were clean. :) He is just always going 100 mph. He has really been enjoying the top of the dining room table - we can't keep him off of it. I cleared it off thinking that if he didn't find anything interesting up there he wouldn't care to get on top of it. Nope. He must think I cleared it off to give him more room to play! He pulls out a chair, and just climbs right up. He can get himself up and get himself down. Totally scares us though.

Ryan has started crafting at daycare - here are some pictures of what he's done for us!


(sponge painting, a bird feeder, a flower fan?, and a mobile)

He has also "planted" grass in a small container and I have to admit it's greener than the grass in our yard! (Darn drought!)



Also, Ryan has really taken up swimming. He has been to a real pool twice now and he just loves being in the water. It is so fun to watch him! Here are some pictures of us at Cousin Annabel's birthday party last weekend!








And here are a few more pictures of our little Emily. The first picture is her 2 month picture that we took today at JCPenneys. The quilt she is on in the second picture was made by Ms. Donna - isn't it great?




Emily is very laid back (especially compared to our super busy Ryan). She sleeps a lot, rarely gets worked up, and spends a lot of her awake time stretching! (Super cute!) She tolerates her big brother well and is just a really good baby. Her hair has a touch of strawberry blonde and her eyes are still blue. We'll have to see if they stay that way!

Phew! That was a lot! Enough for now! I'll write again soon.

(Oh, real quick - Father's Day was great - Shane's mom has been in town and she was able to celebrate with us as well as Ryan's Uncle Scott (who is also his Godfather) and his beautiful fiance Sarah. We had a nice lunch. And going back to work has been challenging but also fun. Everybody has been so welcoming and nice and I haven't forgotten everything - except all of my passwords, I had to reset ALL of them! Ha!) Until next time... much peace.

Emily's Doctor Visit

Emily went in to see the doctor today - we were concerned about the shape of her head and the shape/size of her abdomen. Her head is kind of elongated toward the back and her tummy looks a little swollen compared to the size of her chest. It turns out both of these things are very very common with preemie babies and they should clear themselves up with time. She was not concerned about Emily at all. We can start putting Emily in the bouncy chair and I can take her out shopping and we can take her to church. The doctor recommended that I carry Emily in a carrier up against me (we have a sling and a Baby Bjorn) so that people won't be tempted to touch her and give her their germs. Shane and I are germ freaks and it really scares us when people touch her without washing their hands (you'd be surprised, it happens A LOT) so the doctor validating our concerns about germs makes me really want to stick to my guns. :)

Emily is 5 weeks old today and has just reached her "due date." That is so crazy to me! She weighs 8 lbs, 1 oz and is almost 21" long. She is at the 50th percentile for length (yay!) and 25th percentile for weight. Those percentiles are for 5 week old babies, and it doesn't take into account that she was preemie at all. I am VERY happy about that! We have stretched out her meals and instead of waking her up to eat every 3 hours we go about 3 and a half or even 4 hours. That may not sound like much of a difference to you but in the middle of the night it is a BIG difference. :) And because she is gaining weight so well, we are sort of waiting for her to tell us when she's hungry and not just offering a bottle because it's time for one. (But don't worry, we don't let her go more than 4 hours. A growing girl's gotta eat!)

The current debate in our house is about getting Emily's ears pierced. I would like to have them done sooner rather than later. Shane wants to wait until she is 8 or 9. And only if she wants to have them done. I asked the doctor about it and she said that it is so interesting because in the south many people think that the baby gets her ears pierced as soon as she gets out of the womb. (She's from the Midwest so that was a real shock to her when they moved to San Antonio.) I had no idea that piercing a baby's ears at a certain age was a regional thing! Anyway, the doctor recommends to either do it when the baby is very young (2-4 months) but not before she gets her first tetanus shot or wait until she is able to understand that she can't mess with her ears and she needs to clean them everyday for a while to prevent infection. Dr. McNair had her daughter's ears pierced in Kindergarten. My fear is that if we wait until Emily is older she might get one done and then get so freaked out that she won't want to have the other one done! Maybe that's just my fear of needles but I can tell you I am grateful to my parents for having mine pierced so young. I was only two days old and I am so glad that I have my ears pierced! I'm glad it was done and I don't remember any of it! So, I will work on Shane. This will probably be as difficult as trying to convince him to get a cell phone. :) I will still try. After all, Emily already has a pair of beautiful diamond earrings courtesy of Grandma Margaret and Grandfather, Sir. (Probably doesn't help my argument with Shane though.) Ha! I wonder what Shane will be like about makeup and dating! :) Poor sweet Emily.

Sharing

I had to share a sweet story about our little boy. Last night, little Emily was crying while Ryan was trying to go to sleep. He gets a bottle every evening and when Daddy went over to pick Emily up, Ryan came over and offered her his bottle. How sweet!! When we can get him to pay attention to her (he usually just acts very uninterested) he will smile at her or try to put his head on her tummy. I think that's his version of a hug.

He has been funnier than normal lately - he does something really cute and then smiles and laughs at himself. Even if he's misbehaving (like climbing in the drawer of the coffeetable) we can't help but laugh at him. He's such a little goober! He also thinks kissing is funny. He'll come over to give me a kiss and then just laugh afterwards. It's so cute.

He's also getting too smart for his own good. He has figured out how to use the remote to knock Emily's bottle off the table so he can have it. And he knows that the remote makes something happen to the TV and he'll push the buttons while aiming it. Maybe we watch too much TV?? He also will bring a pillow over to the couch so he can stand on it to climb onto the couch. Nothing is safe around here!!!!

We are really enjoying our little ones right now. We are so blessed.

Ryan in the pool!

Ryan got a kiddie pool for his birthday this year from Uncle Scott and Sarah - here are some pictures of him playing in it yesterday!

Doctor checkups

Emily had her checkup today (she turned 2 weeks old yesterday) and everything is looking GREAT! She is gaining weight like a champ. If you remember, she was born at 6 lbs, went down to 5 lbs and 7 oz, last week was 5 lbs 13 oz, and today weighs an astounding 6 lbs, 8 oz! YAY! I'm so relieved. She is also more energetic and is acting more and more like a newborn. She actually has outgrown one of her preemie hats! The doctor said it is not unusual for preemies to kind of "sleep" until their due date so we are not as worried about that. She sleeps most of the time. She has short periods of quiet alertness (my favorite is the 1 am bout of "alertness") and otherwise is really only awake for eating. And for some reason when I feed her I have to constantly wake her up in the middle of eating! I think she just gets too comfy and cozy. Unless something else comes up between now and then, she won't have to be back at the doctor until she is 2 months!

I had my checkup yesterday with my OB and everything is looking good. The incision is healing nicely and I am feeling a lot better, too. I'm down to taking Tylenol only once a day. I'm ready to be off of Tylenol! I don't like taking meds everyday so I'd really like to decrease anything that I can. I actually went shopping yesterday at Target and then went back today. It was so fun to see everything that has changed! Today I actually drove myself! I felt so empowered! I have not been able to drive since the middle of January so it was great to actually get behind the wheel! Anyway, I couldn't stay out long - I got tired very quickly and I am still experiencing a lot of back pain. I will just keep trying - I'm sure I'll be back up to a full day of shopping soon! (But the baby shouldn't go out until she's at least 6 weeks old so that might cramp my shopping habit just a bit!)

Emily Grace

Emily Update and Grandfather Sir Update

Emily went for her first post-hospital checkup today and the pediatrician said she was doing "perfect." She weighs 5 lbs, 13 oz which is fantastic news! (She was born at 6 lbs and went down to 5 lbs, 7 oz when she left the hospital - that might sound scary but it is very normal to lose up to 15% body weight after delivery and then the baby should regain that weight in 10-14 days.) She's right on track! (Of course we have to realize that all the scales could be slightly different so the real measure will be when she goes for another checkup next week.)

Also, the "substitute" pediatrician (our regular pediatrician is on maternity leave) said that it is so good that the hospital does the Car Seat Tolerance Test because there are many "miracle" babies that are born at 2 lbs or whatever and finally get released from the hospital after doing so well and then die on the way home from the hospital because of the car seat! Who knows what might have happened had they not tested Emily and sent her home earlier or in a different car seat! We're glad she is in a better car seat. The pediatrician also said that when Emily gets to the age where she would have been "full-term" we no longer have to worry about her breathing/oxygen levels in the car seat. Until then we will limit her trips strictly to the doctor's office and back. She is just too fragile although you can't tell by looking at her - she looks and acts like a normal newborn! We were so happy to get a good report from the doctor. The doctor was very pleased at how much Emily is eating and says she's right on track. The "substitute" doctor was not the same doctor we saw in the hospital but she will see her again next week for consistency. We have been so pleased with the pediatrician's practice that we have - they are always better than we expect. Either we have low expectations or they really stand out in the health care industry.

Grandfather, Sir has finished his radiation treatments! He is in San Antonio with us for the weekend and then will be returning to Midland on Sunday. The doctors have warned him that this next week will be the hardest on him and he is already starting to feel that today. He is extremely tired and in physical pain at the site of the radiation. The radiation actually burned the hair off on the side of his head and his neck and shoulder look like they have been badly burned as well. The skin looks almost raw - I can't imagine the pain associated with that. He said it is a burning sensation. In addition, his tastebuds have been dramatically effected. Nothing tastes good, even water is almost unbearable. But he has to drink more water than usual because he had one salivary gland removed in surgery a few months ago and the other has been "blitzed" by the radiation. We take saliva for granted - you NEED saliva to be able to chew and swallow and digest food properly. Think of eating a biscuit that is already dry by itself and then not being able to produce enough saliva to break it down. It would be a big doughy ball in your mouth. Everything feels like eating a big doughy ball. Except most things taste really really bad. He says the best thing to eat is anything with some kind of broth base like wonton soup. How much wonton soup can one person eat? I don't know. I can't imagine going through this if he was a picky eater. I'm sure picky eaters would automatically have to get a feeding tube just to get enough energy to make it through the day. Thankfully he hasn't had to have a feeding tube but this has been really really hard on him. His discipline and faith I'm sure have helped him through his worst days - I hope they continue to support him in what lies ahead.

My mom is planning to go back to Midland with Dad (if Ryan will let her go - he's pretty attached - probably because he sees a pair of arms that are not too busy or too tired to pick him up!) for this most challenging week and then hopefully will be back here to help take care of us next week when Shane gets back to work. She is going to be SO EXHAUSTED by the time this is all said and done - she's going to need a vacation! (But she'll probably want to take a vacation in her own home where she can sleep in her own bed! It's been a long time since she's had much time there! Her golfing buddies miss her a lot I'm sure! Margaret?! Margaret who??!) We'd like to keep her for the rest of the summer but we'd settle for anything she wants to give. There's nothing like having your mommy to take care of you.

Anyway, I'm recovering as well as possible, I guess. I had a regular delivery with Ryan so I don't have anything to compare this c-section to. I hoped recovery would be quicker and less painful - shows how much I know. I don't know what those celebrities are thinking when they "elect" a c-section. IDIOTS! Abdominal surgery is right up there with medieval torture for me! (Okay, in medieval torture they probably don't offer pain pills afterward or a spinal or epidural of which I had both - but you get my drift.)

Mom and I want to thank everyone (again) for all of your prayers and thoughts and time and everything else that you all have been so generous with. Our friends and family have helped us through this very difficult time (you know who you are) so thank you thank you. I hope that we will recognize the opportunities to "pay-it-forward" to you or to other people that need us as much as we have needed you all. Thanks again. We are truly blessed. We will keep adding to this blog - hopefully with all things light and cheery from here on out. No more dangerous pregnancies, no more cancer or radiation, no more sadness. It will be all things bright and beautiful. :) Much love...