Tiny and Two Weeks Old

Who new that a little baby only two weeks old and weighing in at a whopping 3 lbs 8 oz could bring so much joy to so many! Maylee has now been in the NICU the longest besides a set of twins born a few days before her. We now know almost every nurse and they all know her very well. She is quite popular. When I arrived yesterday to visit I came in to find a sweet volunteer with hair as white as snow rocking my sweet baby and just soaking it all in. She is pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Maylee turned two weeks old yesterday and is doing great. Yesterday was a great feeding day. She took six full feedings in a row through her bottle without needing any through her tube. She actually pulled her tube out and they left it out until last night when she was too tired to feed. I am so proud of her. She is doing so great and still gaining.

She is adored in this outfit...one of my favorites.

Her big bow brings loves of oooohs and aaaahs.

She graduated to a big girl bed and can regulate her own temperature now.

She pulls out her feeding tube with her dainty little fingers.

I got to help with a bath this week to make her smell so pretty!

She had a couple visits with Grammy and Shelley....and of course lots of kisses from daddy.

I did my first load of all PINK laundry. I couldn't help but smile seeing that sea of tiny pink clothes in the washing machine!

Hopefully it won't be too much longer until she is home and ready to meet her two big brothers! They sure have been busy waiting for their sister to come home!

Two Years Gone...Eternity To Go

It was two years ago April 26th that our precious Andrew was sealed to our family for time and all eternity. What an amazing occasion that was....one I will hold dear to my heart forever. We celebrate that wonderful day every year with a white cake. We love Andrew so much and are so glad he will be with our family for always.

Words Cannot Express

My mom left to go home today. I know she has been here for two weeks, but it was all too soon for me. I LOVE having her here. She has done SO much and I know she is ready for a break. I would not have been able to make it through all that we have gone through without her help. I can't not mention the tremendous help my amazing little sister has been as well. I think she has been at my house every day since I went into the hospital. She has toted her sweet little Hailee around to help my mom with the boys. Obviously I like to be the one to care for my little boys, but if not me and Bryan I am SO glad it was my mom and sister to take such good care of them.

There were many trips to the park, errands to run, baths given, meals fed, dishes washed, clothes cleaned, floors mopped, and lullabies sung.

I will miss my mom, but am glad to know she will be back in a month for Hailee and Maylee's blessings.

And I have to give a huge thank you in advance to Shell for these upcoming weeks in helping with the boys until Maylee comes home! I am SO grateful she lives so close, has such a wonderful baby, and is so willing to come and help me!

Maylee Updates

Out little peanut turned one week old on Thursday. It feels like the time is going by so fast, but then again so slow. Things are going really well. We had a little set back with her spitting up a bit so they decreased her volume at feedings a bit and slowed them down and she has done great. They have boosted her calories by fortifying my milk and she is really starting to drink her bottle. She drank quite a bit for me and then yesterday she took a nice amount for Bryan. We are SO grateful she is doing so well.

We wanted to take lots of pictures on her week birthday, April 22nd, but sadly our camera battery died after about 5 pictures. I will make sure it is always charged from now on!

 

This weekend has been a bit rough for me since I have been trying to fight off a sore throat. I haven't seen my little princess in almost two days! I am feeling better and am hoping to get to see her tonight or tomorrow. Bry takes lots of pictures for me though. The little stinker likes to pull out her feeding tube. When Bry went to see her this is how he found her. Her little fingers slip under the tube and pull it out! Good thing it is easy to get it back in and she doesn't really mind.

As for her growth, her lowest weight was 3 lbs 3 oz.  She gained 10 grams on Thursday, 40 grams on Friday, and 10 grams last night which bumped her from 3 lbs 3 oz all the way up to 3 lbs 6 oz! We are so excited for her to finally be gaining weight.

Bryan called me on Friday with some fun news from work. They threw him a surprise man shower! They had him out running errands and surprised him when he got back with lots of gifts, cake, and a BBQ. He had SO much fun and we got some wonderful gifts. He has a great office with wonderful people working there. I can't wait to put all the cute clothes on our little Maylee! We did get one tiny headband that I thought should fit Maylee so we took it with us to our visit that night and she looked adorable! 
 

I also found out that the nurse last night gave her a bath and put her bow on and the NICU was all raving at how adorable she is! I am so glad she is being so loved with me not able to be there.

He Did It!

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So long diapers - it was nice knowin ya!

Drew has officially earned his scooter and could not have been more excited. He loves to ride it and does it so well!

Happy Birthday Mom

I love my mom.
I loved that she was here visiting over her birthday.
I loved being able to celebrate with her.

She is an amazing women who I admire and look up to. She has taught me so much and continues to teach me through her unwavering example.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mother, example, and friend.

I am so glad you LOVED your new wheat grinder from all of us!

Looming Summer Heat

Our days of wonderful weather and nearing an end...all too soon. I am not looking forward to the heat, but hopefully we will be able to manage a little better this year having a pool of our own.

A couple weekends ago Bry was doing work on the tree out front and lifting weights with Rich so I got the boys decked out in summer gear and we headed out front to play in their little pool and wash the van. (Thinking back I probably should not have been out washing my van at 7 months pregnant with contractions...next time I will take it a little lighter on the physical labor! *smile*)

We had so much fun out front and then spent some time in the back yard with daddy while he cleaned the pool. We were all exhausted after our fun in the sun and took wonderful naps.

We all got up and headed to Walmart. I knew I wasn't feeling well, but muddled through the trip to pass our evening hours before bed time. By the end of the trip I was really not feeling well. But the end of the night I couldn't get off the couch and ended up really sick to my stomach. Turns out I had SUN POISONING! I was terribly sick for about 12 hours. Andrew had a mild case and woke up once in the middle of night sick to his stomach. We both slept out on the couch and took it easy on Sunday.

Lesson learned. Drink more water, especially when spending time in the Arizona Sun. Carter didn't get sick....Carter drank lots of water. The summer will bring lots of fun in the sun and lots of water drinking!

Ice Skating

Andrew has a wonderful physical therapist. He comes every week and plays all sorts of sports and makes therapy fun. From time to time we try other things to help Drew. In the past he has done horseback riding and coming this summer we will do swimming....and in the interim we started ice skating! Drew has only gone once, but he looked forward to it all week. It was all he could talk about...ice skating with Greg.

I couldn't take him since I was quite round and it was not safe for me to be out on the ice. Shell watched Carter and I took Drew. He had school that same afternoon and apparently was pretty tuckered out because he fell asleep on the way! He woke right up and was excited to get his ice skates on. He got out on the ice and started making his rounds. He supported his weight pretty well and let Greg guide him around the rink.

All would have gone smoothly if it weren't for those stinkin arcade games throughout the entire rink. Andrew LOVES "games". After about two trips around he was done skating and wanted to play. He threw a horrific fit. It was all Greg could do to get him to another door and he was done. If you look really closely in the picture Andrew is the one sitting down on the ice. Greg had to let him down since he was fearing gashes in his legs from Andrew's flailing!

He skated for about twenty-five minutes and then we let him loose to play. Luckily he doesn't care if he actually plays the games...he just likes to push the buttons. Next time we will have to figure out a better plan with the "games". Maybe playing before and earning more time to play after skating....not quite sure. But he sure looked cute out there on the ice!

Pocket Baby

I have loved the nurses at the hospital who take such good care of our little Miss Maylee. I have found that quite a few refer to her as the "pocket baby" since she is so tiny and cute and could just fit in their pocket. She is such a little dolly and I can't believe she is ours! We just adore her and her itty bitty self.