Dessert Dilemma

What's a mama to do when she has a serious craving for caramel brownies but her baby just wants to be held?

She brings in reinforcements

Bonus if she gets her to go to sleep

Six Weeks

Katie is six weeks old today

at least someone is happy about that

A Week in the Life of

Beware – it’s a long post, but for posterity’s sake I have documented it and for no one else’s sake I have posted it.

Now that Katie is gaining weight and eating well I’ve regained several hours during the day. I wish I could say I’ve been able to use them to do more of the things I’d like to, but instead I’ve just picked up where I’ve been slacking off over the past month – carpools, soccer practices, grocery shopping, etc…

We’ve had a busy week:

Friday, May 14th was the annual Father/Son campout. Justin and Jason had a great time camping while I enjoyed an evening with my girls - Abigail actually had a birthday party so Carly and I were able to hit the town and redeem several free goodies she’s earned at school (McDonalds, Subway, Starbucks) – Katie slept the entire evening.

My boys soundly sleeping in the tent – photo courtesy of their tent-roomies

Last Saturday was our annual neighborhood garage sale. We're talking about hundreds of homes. It gets crazy busy and driving anywhere is next to impossible. Justin’s sister lives 20 minutes away and comes down every year with a group of friends - people love this thing. Garage sale shopping is not my thing, but I'm all about getting rid of our junk and making a few dollars. The girls were super excited to sale a selection of snacks we had lying around the house. They ended the day making $20 - half going to me to cover the “cost of goods sold” and the other half they got to pocket as profit. It was a fun day and the weather was perfect.

Carly’s sporting a new smile these days - she must have spent all morning at church last Sunday wiggling her front tooth because by the time we got home it was ready to be pulled out. Of course I took it upon myself to do the honors. Carly loves her new smile (she discovered later that evening that it was the perfect space for a straw). For me, I was a little sad to see her smile change so drastically. Still cute though!


Tuesday was a big day for Jason. For the past year Jason has been receiving services (primarily speech therapy) through the county birth-to-three program. As his third birthday approaches its time for us to figure out the next step. His speech therapist has already told me he qualifies for weekly speech therapy through the school district which will be good for him, but what I really, really, really want is for him to qualify to attend the school district pre-school program. Abigail attended pre-school there as a peer model so I know it’s a great program and that Jason would benefit from going. Tuesday was the big evaluation and we went in with high hopes of failure. It's not very often that you want to tell someone every weakness and challenge your child has. But come on, two years of free pre-school, with a bus picking him up at our house and bringing him home four days a week with many fun field trips throughout the year, and teachers and specialists to help him progress... who wouldn't want that for their child? After just a few minutes meeting with the professionals it became clear that he doesn't really meet their requirements. They agreed that he does still need speech services, but by the books that isn't enough to qualify for the preschool program. However, the teacher that evaluated him told me if it were up to her alone she'd love to have him in her class, although he'd basically serve a peer model role. The other gal there was much more difficult to sway and kept trying to keep the teacher from enrolling him on the spot. We won't know their decision for another month, but I’m remaining hopeful.


Jason’s playgroup had the opportunity to get on a school bus last Wednesday. Jason LOVES buses and points out every single bus he sees so we weren't going to miss this activity. He was disappointed that they didn't get to go on a ride, but he enjoyed sitting on the bus and didn't want to get off. Here he is with his good buddy Mitchell listening carefully to the bus driver’s instructions:

Abigail and I had our first Mother & Daughter breakfast for activity days on Saturday morning. We had a late night enjoying dinner and a movie with friends on Friday, but it was worth waking up early for this. I got a kick out of what she wrote on the placemat she made me:

“Dear Holly, You are my best and only Mom. Thank you for watching over me. Love, Abigail”

We played a newlywed type of game – which we did great on. She knew my favorite food was potatoes and I knew that she wanted to be a Mom and that playing games is her favorite thing to do with me.

Saturday afternoon the whole family went to Abigail’s soccer game. She only has one game left and her team remains undefeated.

Grandpa was able to come to one of Abigail’s games this season

Katie enjoying all the action

Last night Justin and I watched the series finale of LOST – are we the only ones who are still confused??

Anyhow, as we were getting ready for bed Miss Katie gave me two big, beautiful smiles – melted my heart. Justin was there to witness it and agreed that they were definitely the real thing. Hopefully I can capture it on camera in the next few days.

a Month

Say it ain't so!! It doesn't seem possible that Katie could already be a month old

Here’s a few tidbits about Katie:

• Still likes to be swaddled - although I only wrap her up at night
• Stays up with Justin and I until we go to bed (or more like we stay up with her until she's ready to go to bed)
• Is usually wide awake for a few hours in the morning and a few hours before bed
• Enjoys baths
• Awesome burper
• Likes to stretch out - before she was born I could tell she wasn't a baby that liked to be curled up in the fetal position
• Has very dry, flaky skin
• Pediatrician thinks its likely she may end up with allergies based on how sensitive her skin is now
• Makes squeaky noises when she eats
• Looks most like Carly
• Doesn’t cry often, but when she does you can't miss it
• Hasn’t stayed awake during the night since her first few days
• Rarely spits up – although the last two people that have held her had a different experience
• Is working on a smile - from her gassy smiles I can tell the real thing is going to be gorgeous
• Justin and I still aren’t used to her name, we definitely like it but there are times it just doesn’t come out naturally
• Is incredibly gassy and can stink up an entire room

Yesterday Katie had her one month check-up with our pediatrician, here are her stats:

Weight: 10 lbs. 1.4 oz. – 75th percentile – it only took a month, but Katie is finally back up to her birth weight (and beyond) and is eating wonderfully

Height: 22.5 inches – 90th percentile

Head: approximately 39 cm – 90th percentile

AND here are a few of my favorite pictures of Katie we've taken over the past few weeks:

I love those pictures of newborns where there's something or someone in the shot that puts their smallness into perspective. But since I can't simultaneously cradle Katie’s body in my arms and take a picture I needed Justin’s help. We finally found a time last Sunday when Justin was home AND we still had some decent natural light.

I showed Justin what I had in mind, stripped Katie down to her birthday suit and put her in Justin's hands.

Here's my first shot:

I put the camera down so I could turn Katie’s face toward the camera, then it happened. Katie peed. And since Justin was lying on his back holding her in the air above him, it trickled down his arm onto his chest and as he bolted up screaming "take her, take her" it trickled under his shirt, pooling in his belly button. The girls and I were hysterical, I was laugh-crying so hard I couldn't do a thing to help him. Needless to say I didn't get the shot I was looking for and Justin put an end to assisting in any more naked baby poses.

Perspective

When I was pregnant with Katie I had a conversation with a friend about enjoying each moment. At the time her baby was around 9 months old and still waking up several times at night - what surprised me was that she had such a great attitude about it. She had decided to enjoy her baby, even at the hard times (including at three in the morning), knowing that time would pass too quickly. I decided to try to take on that same perspective. So while it's been difficult to spend at least 12 hours of my day either nursing, pumping, or bottle feeding my sweet baby I am grateful that I’ve been able to see that this too will pass and that I'll probably never again have the excuse or opportunity to spend this much time with her.

You can’t tell, but Katie was wide awake just watching me – have I mentioned how much I LOVE this girl?!?

Sunday Jason had a runny nose and slight cough which by yesterday morning escalated to his asthma acting up and lots of wheezing and coughing. We did several treatments throughout the day, however last night he was at his worst. His little heart was pounding so fast. It's so hard to see a child struggle and not be able to fix them. We seriously considered taking him to the emergency room. Jason was wiped out though and was able to sleep well considering he had to work so hard to breathe. He woke up a once during the night so we were able to continue the treatments and he has been MUCH better today.

Only a few hours after the picture above was taken I sat in the same spot holding my suddenly ginormous boy while he slept though a treatment last night

As Justin and I were getting ready to go to bed yesterday we were watching an episode of TLC's "19 kids and counting" where the 19th child in the Dugger family (born 15 weeks premature) was fighting for her life. Her entire body could fit in the palm of Justin’s hand. It sure did put things into perspective. Sure we have our struggles and obstacles but we are blessed with four beautiful, healthy children.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there!

Today we finally got a picture with all SIX of us

I am so grateful for my role as a mother – there’s nothing I’d rather be doing

Cinco de Mayo

Katie had her weight checked again today
she’s not gaining the weight she should be
but she’s not losing weight - that’s a good thing
so the feeding “process” resumes
it’s a full-time job

the nurse thought Katie’s outfit was perfect for today

Happy Cinco de Mayo!
thankfully Stouffers makes yummy frozen enchiladas

Do Not Disturb

Can you blame me for not wanting to wake up this sweet girl?

In the Yard

I am a list maker. I have a Wal-Mart list, a grocery list, a Sam's club list, my personal to-do list, and of course a honey-do list. As a list maker, I like to cross items off my lists; it proves that something was accomplished. Unfortunately there are items on my list that never get crossed off - for example yard work... is there ever such a thing as a yard that isn’t in need of some sort of care?

Our yard has been neglected since last summer. First trimester nausea/exhaustion last fall kept me from cleaning up the yard before winter set in, then winter was.... well, winter, then I was enormously pregnant and my body would not have tolerated me hunching over and pulling weeds for hours.

Yesterday we finally got outside. The girls were excited that we had an excuse to bundle Katie up in a little snowsuit they’ve seen hanging in her closet.

While Justin worked on cleaning up the garden and planting some vegetables for our summer harvest I started the daunting task of weeding. Oh, how I wish I was one of those people that love gardening, but unfortunately I'm just someone who wants a fabulous yard without all the work. I estimate I may have gotten 2% of the weeding done before it was time once again to feed my little girl.

While thinning out the strawberries Justin found a little something he knew the kids would LOVE.

waiting for Justin to reveal his surprise

Jason’s first time holding a frog

Week Two

Well, the biggest change this week is that I’m on my own. My Mom has gone home and now it’s up to me to get the kids off to school, do the dishes, prepare meals, wash laundry, etc… She was a HUGE help and we all really enjoyed having her visit, but it went by way too fast.

Grandma’s got the touch – Katie’s out cold

Katie is eating better. On Saturday we retested her bilirubin level and it went down from 17.2 to 14.5 so thankfully that is no longer a concern. Hopefully by the end of the week the “process” of feeding Katie will no longer take an hour.

Katie continues to sleep a lot and I still have to wake her up to eat most of the time. Hopefully she’ll still want to sleep all night when I can actually let her. She’s starting to have more awake time though. I read in a magazine this past week that most babies cry between 2-3 hours a day. Thankfully, we’ve never had a baby that has cried that much. I can’t think of a time since we brought Katie home from the hospital that she has cried for more than 2-3 minutes. Hopefully that’s not just the jaundice and she truly does have a content and happy nature. She’s such a sweet baby.



Carly has been looking forward to giving Katie a bath since before she was born. I think her excitement is partially due to this picture she loves of her giving Jason a bath.


A few days ago Katie’s umbilical cord fell off so we were able to get out the baby tub and give her a good soaking.

For a nine pound baby she sure does look scrawny, but maybe that has something to do with seeing Jason in the same tub at 6 months old.


Yesterday was Katie’s first day walking Carly to the bus stop for Kindergarten. We’ve had a Baby Bjorn for several years, but I’ve never really used it much with the other kids. Katie really enjoyed it and I love feeling her snuggled up with me.

Doesn’t she look so small? Yet the fact that she was crammed into my belly just a few weeks ago blows my mind.

Week One

What an exciting, exhausting, busy, and wonderful week. Bringing home a new baby certainly has its challenges, but I'm in baby heaven and can't get enough of our sweet baby girl.

One of the first questions people ask is, "how is she sleeping” I really can't complain, Katie's been giving me 5-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night. There have been some nights when she'll want to stay awake for a little while after eating, but again in the newborn world I consider myself pretty lucky.

We gave Katie her first bath on Monday. Her favorite part was getting her hair washed and rinsed – doesn’t she look so relaxed?

Katie is taking a binkie very well and prefers the Mam brand (like Jason) over the Nuk brand (like her big sisters). She also enjoys sitting in the bouncy chair our friends loaned us.

Carly could seriously hold Katie all day. Okay, after a while she may ask for a little support underneath her arm, but it just doesn’t get old for her.


Jason adores his little sister and so far I haven’t noticed any changes in his behavior. I think if we are going to experience a little revolt it won’t be until after my Mom leaves.


I'd hoped Katie would be my child without any feeding issues, but it seems she's starting to follow after her big brother and prefer to sleep rather than eat. At her doctors appointment on Tuesday she was down a pound from her birth weight. We went back in today and although she hasn't lost any more weight, she hasn't gained either. So we're going to have to start a feeding "process" over the next few days and hope that she starts putting on the pounds. This also means that I can’t let her go more than 2-3 hours during the day without eating and 4 hours at night… oh, how I hate waking a sleeping baby. Today the Dr. tested her bilirubin levels and the results came back at 17.2 which is high, but not high enough to necessitate phototherapy treatment. Hopefully, the next few days her jaundice levels will go down and will result in a less sleepy and more hungry little girl.

Katie’s Arrival

We didn’t think we’d see the kids on Wednesday morning before heading to the hospital, but the girls were so excited for the big day that they couldn’t sleep in.

Me and my girls as we’re leaving for the hospital

7:10am - checked into the hospital

7:30am - two failed IV attempts... not fun

7:40am - Dr. checked me and I was already dilated 4cm. He broke my water and told me I could have my epidural as soon as I was ready.

7:41am - Told nurse I was ready for epidural (I was not going to take any chances not getting it in time or suffering any longer than necessary)

7:55am - third times the charm, different nurse finally gets an IV started, they start filling me up with fluid, penicillin (for strep B), and start pitocin

All morning - express desire for epidural, nurse insists she needs to get entire bag of fluid in me before I can have it

9:20am - anesthesiologist finally called, but she asks me if she can do someone else first. I tell her I want to say no, but feel bad making some other poor woman wait. We tell her about my history of quick progress once I'm dilated to 6cm. Thankfully, she decides to give me my epidural first which wasn't nearly as painful as the three IV attempts.

9:55am – measuring at 5-6cm according to nurse

10:07am – Dr. measured me at 6cm

10:30-10:45am - still feel somewhat uncomfortable during contractions, feeling like I want to push, asking for more drugs. Nurse gets me in stirrups and tells me she wants me to push a little through next contraction to see if I'm ready for her to call the doctor. I push for 0.01 second and she tells me to STOP. Thankfully doctor already on his way.

10:49am - Dr. arrives

10:50am - one contraction, two pushes and wala she was here!

As the doctor is delivering Katie I heard him say "she's a two _____ed baby." I asked him to repeat himself two times as my mind tried to figure out what my baby had two of. Thankfully, he had just said that because of her size he had to use two hands to hold her - so she was a "two-handed baby". Our nurse had thought he'd said two-headed.

That moment of meeting her was incredible. I wish I could find the words to adequately describe how I felt or there was some way to bottle those feelings up so I could relive it again and again. It was incredible. As Justin later described it, seeing Katie enter into this world was experiencing a bit of heaven.

We thought it was funny when the nurse commented that I was made for pregnancy. Difficultly getting pregnant, months of nausea and vomiting, extreme weight gain, back problems, painful recoveries, challenges with nursing, and many, many months (years) it takes to even get close to pre-pregnancy weight. I never thought it possible that I could make any aspect of pregnancy look easy.

Katie came out screaming and we thought we were really in for it, especially when she was awake from 2-6am our first night in the hospital. Thankfully, she’s done awesome since then. Of course it’s only been a few nights, but we’re hopeful she’ll keep it up.

Hearing she was over 9 lbs was just what this Momma wanted to hear. Having had feeding issues with all of my kids a little extra chub is a good thing.

Katie loved getting her first bath. The nurse said most of the hair on the top of her head fell out when she was washing it. She still has quite a bit of dark hair on the back of her head, but I’m sure she’ll lose that soon enough.

Justin was exhausted after our exciting morning.

The kids came by that evening to meet their new sister. They were all so excited to hold her.

We’ve been talking to Jason about the baby coming out of Mommy’s tummy, but I’m sure he didn’t understand. He’s been great so far though and wants to hold her anytime someone else is holding her. He’s also been very interested in helping me burp her.

Because I test positive to the Strep B virus I’ve always needed to get penicillin during labor to protect the baby. Because this labor went so quickly I wasn’t able to get the desired amount before she was born. As a precaution our doctor wanted us to stay in the hospital until she was 48 hours old so they could keep an eye on her. We’ve never stayed in the hospital more than one night, but it actually ended up being nice to have a little extra time with her before heading home.

We sure are enjoying our sweet little girl and feel so blessed to have her in our family.