6 Weeks

Maylee has officially been home with us longer than she was in the NICU and we have loved every minute of each of the past six weeks! She is doing amazing and growing like a weed. She is over 5 lbs now and I don't think there is any stopping her growing.

She has discovered her thumb on a couple of occasions recently - it is stinkin cute, but I am not a fan of it. I normaly don't do a pacifier, but she needed it...but at least you can take a pacifier away. A thumb is a lot harder to break. Hopefully this will not become a habit!

Most of her day is spent being adored by one of the other four members of our family.

Just about everything she does is cute...I mean really - isn't that yawn just ridiculously adorable?!

I could have sworn the little princess smiled at me yesterday and when I told Bry about it he said he thought she did the same for him earlier, but didn't want to say anything since I probably would call him crazy. Well, we had a visit from a nurse today and I asked her about it. She said Maylee might be a bit advanced socially since she is little and at a young gestation but has been around people so much more. So yes - she realistically could have smiled at us already! I have to say it is the cutest thing to see such a tiny little baby smile - I hope to catch one on camera soon!

Time goes by fast...and faster as you get older...and even faster with each child that comes around. Please time...could you slow down a little bit? I am not ready for little little angel to get big -

Ticket to Ride

Carter is attempting to ride a tiny John Deer tractor. I love this kid.

****comic relief from the terrible two's that are too quickly settling in****

Anti-Movite

My husband claims I am the anti-movite...and I guess I just may be guilty of the name. I am not a big fan of paying a ton of money to watch a movie. I am a home body. I love to be home. I would rather rent a movie and watch it stretched out on my couch with some homemade kettle corn. Anyhow - we have been to the movies....probably less than ten times in the almost seven years we have been married (sad, I know), but we did get to the movies this past weekend. I was the picker of the movie and had heard good reviews about Letters to Juliet. Mind you, I didn't know anything about it other than it had good reviews and was rated PG so I thought it was a win win.

I LOVED it! Now, don't go thinking it is the best movie ever, but really - it was one of the better ones I have seen in a long time. I may even watch it again some day, which is saying something since I typically am not a repeat movie watcher. It is quite a chick flick, but I don't think Bry minded it toooo much. So - there is my two cents about going to the movies. It sure was nice to relax and sit though....I may find myself at the movies more often these days for a little breather!

Fun

It is always fun when Uncle Jess comes to visit. He has been in the area for a couple months for work and the end was nearing so he made one more trip over to visit. My boys had a BLAST to say the least....

and I am sure Maylee enjoyed her snuggle time. We love when Uncle Jess comes to visit.

We all went out to dinner - and yes, Jess ordered the feast for two or three! He managed to get through most of it himself too! I was quite impressed!

The waitress found out it was our last hurrah with Jess before he went back home so she spoiled him with a flaming ice cream. Lucky Carter was on his lap and LOVED it. The kids sure enjoyed the ice cream.

They have the same goofy grin - I guess that is what sugar can do to you! I love the look of their faces with the huge glob of ice cream on the spoon. Classic!

While Jess was here Shell and I got to visit with him while my boys were napping. He asked an interesting question. He asked what we did for fun around here. Doesn't seem like such an interesting question, but I was stumped! For one, I don't really have time to do "fun" things and compared to what we grew up with in Cali, there didn't seem to be much to do around here other than bowling and the movies. I have decided to find more "fun" things do to. I need to get out more with my husband and with my family. Maybe some day trips, camping....and other things of the sort. We have since been to the lake and I discovered salt river rafting which I hope to eventually do one of these days. I know this summer will be filled with swimming and BBQs, which is fun, right? I am hoping to add a little more "fun" in my life!!!

Weight Check and Changes

Our little peanut is gaining weight like a pro. She is gaining approximately an ounce a day! She weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs 14 oz today!!!!!

She is 5 weeks old as of yesterday and just as perfect as can be.

I can't believe it has already been five weeks. She has been home for two weeks now and we can't get enough of her sweet little spirit. She is starting to be awake a bit more - as in two sessions of awake time a day with one being about 45 minutes and the other about 30 minutes. She is such a sweetie and we just adore her!

She is doing great...and I am SO excited to announce that the doc gave the go ahead to nurse her as much as I want now. We were limited to before to once a day, then twice a day, then three times a day...and the rest bottle fed (with my milk and fortified with formula to bump up calories). But he said I can finally just nurse her. I know she will eat a lot more often now...going every 2-3 hours instead of every 3-4 with the bottle, but I am so excited. I have spent more time than I would have liked with this little buddy....

and my poor freezer does not have much more room for milk on top of our normal freezer food!

She is worth it though! We go back to the doc in two weeks to see how she is doing. Hopefully she doesn't gain toooo quickly or else she will out grow her blessing dress before her baby blessing!

Personality

Personalities are constantly evolving and becoming more evident in our home each day. My little boys never cease to amaze me.

This is how I found Carter with his mini oreo cookies the other day.....

Yes, I let him eat them on the couch. Yes, I will think twice before I do that again. Yes, there were and possibly still are chocolate smears sporatically placed. Yes, he did enjoy himself and asks for these little chocolately gems every time he sees the bag in the pantry.

I have seen kids lick the middle and leave the cookie....or just eat the cookie....but not my Carter he eats a little of this and a little of that and leaves a pile for later. He dunks his cookie if I have milk, he eats the whole cookie together in a nice big bite if I offer it to him, he will drink half of my milk if I let him...but left alone he goes at his cookie eating a whole different way. As for Drew......he eats the whole thing - the boy loves his cookies!

Lovin the Baby

Mommy of three - what a blessing, joy, and treasure.

Some days are harder than others and some nights are longer than others

...but moments like these make it all worth it.

Trying to figure all this stuff out - she is quite the alert little thing when she is awake. Such a dolly!

Guess Who is Two?!

May 8th, 2010

Really?    Really???

Has it been two years already that this miracle boy blessed our family with his sweet little spirit?! Two years have passed and he is now turning into such a fun little boy. Definitely opinionated and learning how to test limits, but oh so cute nonetheless.

He is 100% boy and loves to play outside. You can hear a wimper from the back seat as we drive by any park....he loves to play at the park - the summer heat will be rough on this kiddo! He loves to wear shoes and loves for anyone else in the house to wear shoes. He woke up from his nap the other day sad...and all he could say was "shoe". Apparently he did not like napping without shoes - silly kid.

His talking is coming along slowly but surely. I don't push these things too hard...things like crawling, walking and talking. I figure they will do them soon enough and there is no stopping them once it starts! Some of his words are "mama, dada, baba, ball, football, basketball, milk, cookie/cracker (coo coo), please (beep), up, school, Andrew, did it (learned this from Drew's potty training),  hot, one, two, wow wow (wow wow wubzy), bob bob (sponge bob), choo choo, shoe, animal sounds (cat, dog, cow, monkey, snake, bird, duck) and possibly a few other words.

Carter's birthday landed on the same day as the baby shower.....but we tried to make it a special day anyway. He spent the morning with daddy out and about and enjoyed some Orange Julius which he apparently inhaled! I managed to sneak away during nap time to get his gifts. For dinner we have a favorite of his....pizza - he can eat so much pizza! Drew even put down two pizza crusts - so impressive!

I had high hopes of making a train cake, but as I attempted to assemble the cake verging on 8:00 that night I realized the cake was too soft and would have needed to be frozen or refrigerated to work, so I settled for a very moist, slightly messy, but oh so tasty square cake with rainbow sprinkles. Carter didn't mind.

He was very excited about the candles!

 

I just love the way he blows. He sticks out his bottom lip and kinda blows upwards. Insanely cute, but not efficient in blowing out candles so I had to help.

He loves eating utensils these days. When I give them dry cereal in a bowl for snack he has to run off to the kitchen to fetch a too big for him spoon to eat his cereal. Adorable.

He likes to say "cheese" for the camera these days. Makes for cheesier pictures, but still cute!

I don't have a picture of the final product, but this child was MESSY!!! He thoroughly enjoyed his birthday cake.

Drew even spent some time picking the sprinkles off the cake and licking a bit of icing.

I think Carter got more presents than he does at Christmas....and Drew lucked out too. I ended up getting some extra things for Drew and so did Grammy. I was so grateful since he has been having a hard time with all the change. The morning was spent with presents for mommy and Maylee and then the night was filled with presents for Carter. It helped him make it through with a few for him too!

Drew was very excited about his Buzz Lightyear jammies!

Toy Story is a favorite in our house. Luckily Carter attached to Woody and Drew loves Buzz - whew - WWIII avoided for now.

Seriously - there were SO MANY PRESENTS! They have had so much fun and enjoyed all of them!

 As of 05/21/10:

Age: 2 years
Weight: 25 lbs 14%
Height: 33 1/2 34%
Head: 49 cm 63%

Great Things

Isn't it a saying that great things come in small packages....well, I have to agree. Miss Maylee sure is a great thing and I just adore every little ounce of her.

She was able to come home Wednesday last week and we could not have been more excited - well....I was a little nervous too, but mostly excited! There was talk back and forth about when she was coming home. Some thought she was ready since she was off all tubes and was taking all feeds by mouth, but others felt she was still a bit too small at the whopping 3 lbs 12 oz that she was. Well, the ones who thought she was ready won out on Wednesday and we brought her home that afternoon!

Such a little person acquired so much stuff in her 3 week stay at the NICU.

 

Here she is in all of her little self glory. She doens't quite fit into any of the newborn furniture so she rarely gets to sit in there and if she does she needs extra padding and a very watchful eye. But she sure is adorable though!

Daddy gave Maylee her first feeding at home. Don't mind the pink walls, etc. We are still trying to find time to get the kiddos rooms sorted out. Feeding was a little rocky for the first 12 hours or so. I actually got quite panicked when she was not eating like she did in the hospital, but that didn't last long and she is doing great!

Shelley and Rich brought over the bassinet later that night. I felt bad for taking it back so soon....we had no idea Maylee would be needing it already! Little Hailee and Miss Maylee are going to be the best of friends (at least that is what we have decided!)

On Friday I took her for her first doctor's appointment. I love our pediatrician - he is amazing. Anyhow, I only snuck one picture in, not so great, but hey - it is her first visit to the doc and that is the best I could get. She did great other than the FREEZING temperature in there. Seriously, if we are ever hot this summer we are headed to the doc office to cool down. She weighed in at 3 lbs 15 oz which was up from what she was at the hospital so we were so pleased!

I have found that I don't take as many pictures of her as I did say....Carter when he was a baby. I am worried about flasing her eyes too much and I don't want to disturb her sleep. I have a feeling that needs to change because I need more pictures of this sweet little princess!

  

Maylee spends most of her time sleeping in my room, but occasionally when she is awake and we have her out the boys LOVE to get to hold her. Once Carter gets ahold of her he does not want to let her go. It is so cute to watch the boys love on their little sister. They really are so good with her.

She had her weekly weight check yesterday and the girl is growing!!!! She came in at a very heavy 4 lbs 6 oz. I can't believe it! The doctor is very pleased at an ounce a day weight gain. He has bumped me up to allow for nursing three times a day. My hope is to have her nursing completely by the time she would be 40 weeks which is just over three weeks away. This Friday she would have been 37 weeks gestation. Crazy to think I had Carter at 37 weeks and Maylee is now a pound below Carter's birth weight. Check out the little chub that is on her cheek now!

Overall our little peanut is doing amazing. She is eating well and sleeping great (most of the time). Last night was a little rough for some reason. She was quite restless and woke up multiple times super sad. It is hard to say what is causing it, especially with using milk I put in the freezer weeks ago. Who knows what I was eating then! We may need to switch to current milk until she is older so I can watch what foods bother her.

All the while of having our little precious baby home we have been trying to find ways to pass the time and make things special for the boys. It is hard not being able to take them to the park or even out on errands. A glimpse into our time here -

We have had chocolate pudding and peanut butter for dinner (well, the boys did)

Lots of n house bubble blowing (Gymboree bubbles are the best) 

Family movie at home complete with homemade kettle corn (love the movie Meet the Robinsons)

She is four weeks old today and will be one month old on Saturday - hopefully I can get some cute pictures to update with....but is it even possible to get a picture of this little lady that is not cute?!

***Soon to come...the plan is to get Maylee's infant pictures done this Satuday and I could not be more excited!!!***

We love our little Miss Maylee.