A growin' girl! 11 weeks!

So, I've been meaning to update for several days now....but I keep having to decide: 1) Blog update or 2) Sleep for a little while. Sleep is TOTALLY winning these days. I really am very tired...much more so than with Ava. It's just been a really long time since I've had good, uninterrupted sleep. We're going on week 12 of waking every 3-4 hours to eat (or pump, for those early days)...and it's totally catching up to me. Ava slept through the night by week 7.....so, this is killer!

Sometimes I really see a bit of Ava in Bella (though, usually I just see Patrick). But, here's a pic of Ava when she was about 3 weeks or so that the above pic reminded me of!

But, overall, Bella is doing really well. I have to remember that her adjusted age is really only 3 weeks. So, with that in mind, she's right on target for everything. She's begun to smile...although, it's not super consistent yet. She'll usually smile once or twice a day, and I LOVE it when she does. She just looks like such a pretty baby when she smiles! Here's a pic of a litter teaser grin. :) And, by the way...that shirt says "Sassy," and ain't that the truth!!! Bella is not gonna be one of those quiet little babies! She knows what she wants...and it's being held. 24 hours a day. Awake or sleeping. Otherwise, she lets you know all about it! I call her my cry-baby. :) She's just so content being held and is a super great sleeper in your arms...but, let me tell you, there's nothing wrong with this babies lungs! They work just fine!! But, really, she's a sweet baby- as they all are- and I just totally adore her.

Her health is great. She's 11 weeks old now (how did that happen?!?!) and has more than doubled her lowest weight (3lbs, 15oz) and almost doubled her birth weight (4lbs, 1oz)! She's right at 8lbs now!!! She's growing so well! She's been exclusively breastfeeding for 3 weeks now...no pumping and no bottles!!! (A special thanks to Patrick's cousin, Megan, for really supporting me through the transition to breast feeding, as she had personal experience with a preemie of her own)! She's obviously getting what she needs, and her docs are very happy with her weight gain....and chubby cheeks!!! Check them out!!

I think this picture is hilarious, and she actually makes this deer-in-a-headlight-look all the time, so I had to include it! She's always so wide-eyed...taking it all in!

This picture reminds me of a picture of Ava (at 3 weeks of age, which is just about Bella's adjusted age).

Ava's a great big sister to Bella...but sometimes Bella has had enough!

Ave looking through her "spotting scope" for birds! (Just like Diego)!
Sweet sisters. :)

The little nugget sleeping. (Probably for only like 5 seconds since she's not being held)!!
All decked out for the UGA game!
Pretty sure she's watching Dora here...she's in her trance!
Thank goodness Ava is really good at entertaining herself since I have to spend quite a bit of time tending to Bella's needs. We got the play-doh out the other day!
It's a family affair on the play mat!
Hanging with Daddy watching the game! This is the outfit that Ava came home from the hospital in (remember, she was born at the University of Florida)!
It got pretty chilly here a for a few days and I had to quickly go out and get the girls some warmer clothes. Of course, not it's back up to the mid-80's. Good ole' Georgia weather!
My little bear. :)
I think her face is so sweet here...just had to share!

So, that's about it for the Bella update. I PROMISE I will do an Ava update soon...hopefully in the next few days...we've done some fun stuff the past few days....and she is really giving me a run for my money these days....the threes are NOT for wussies!! So, I'll have updates and more pictures!

I hear Bella-boo now....off to feed her...then to bed! Wooohooo! :)


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Bella's due date has finally arrived!

Yep, you heard me. Today is Bella's due date! And she is NINE WEEKS OLD!!! That is still totally crazy to me! This is one of Ava's (semi-creepy!) looking dolls dressed up in Bella's preemie onesies that were TOO BIG when she was born! (For some reason, my pictures are looking blurry on the blog, which is really irritating. I'm not sure why, but you should be able to click on the picture and see it non-blurry if you want).


She is doing SO well- I couldn't ask for anything more from her. It was a week ago today that we started the transition to breast feeding, and I'm happy to say that she hasn't had to supplement with milk from a bottle since this past weekend!! She did (and is still doing) really well with the transition. There's really only 2 issues- one is that she's been eating a little more often with the nursing cause she wants to sleep instead of eat (flash backs to Ava are coming back), so she sometimes doesn't get a full feeding. And because of that, I have to nurse more often and I am T-I-R-E-D!! Nine weeks of waking ever 3 hours is really starting to catch up to me...my eyes are burning as I type! .....I should totally be sleeping now...

Here's some pics of a tired Bella- I hear ya, girl!
The other issue we have is that she doesn't like to OPEN her mouth enough quite yet...she was used to those little bottle nipples. And, not to talk too much about my boobs- but, HELLO!, there ain't nothin' little about these things! So, we're still working on that whole open-wide thing!

She had her 2 month checkup and got her first round of immunizations. Five shots and an oral vaccine. (Sniff). She cried. LOUD! But, thankfully, she is a seriously tough cookie and it was pretty short lived. At her appt, she weighed 6lbs 6oz, but I weighed her again yesterday and she was 6lbs, 10.5oz!! She's gaining weight, nice and steady! Her doctor is happy with her weight gain (it has been a gain of about 0.5 oz/day since birth, on average). We just gotta keep those ounces coming! :) But, check out her cheeks!! They're getting so chubby! ...Okay, maybe not quite chubby, but they're getting there!
Ava is still pretty wonderful with her! She's constantly wanting to touch and love on her. (Although, outside of big sister duty, Ava has apparently hit the TERRIBLE THREES....but that's for another post)!!!
But, let me tell you, the girl can entertain herself! Which is totally AWESOME!!! Here she is immersed in one of her many books!
Oh, I remember the hold-the-baby-while-you-study days!
A sweet little pucker. This reminded me of Ava's "monkey face" when she was little! Well, it's bedtime, folks! I should be able to sleep for at least another hour before she wakes again....ugh. I think I can, I think I can...

Leave me a comment and say hello!! :)

Got Milk?

So, as most of you know, I've been pumping breast milk since Bella was born because she has been unable to nurse efficiently due to her prematurity. And you probably also know that we had to buy a new deep freezer to store all the milk because it was taking over the regular freezer!

Weeeeelllll..............we have a little problem. Now the deep freezer is full. Kinda crazy, huh? And maybe a little disturbing. ;) Although, I think it's a great problem to have...it's kinda like having too much gold! Not really possible. :) We had to reorganize it in order to get it all to fit! These pictures are from 2 weeks ago, so now I've filled more than 2 more crates...ridiculous. :) Yet awesome.


Now, the regular freezer is filling up once more...but hopefully I'll be pumping much less in the next 1-2 weeks. I've had a plan in place (thank you SO much for the experienced advice of my cousin, Megan, who went through something very similar with her little girl 8 years ago!) to slowly transition Bella to nursing from me instead of drinking from the bottle.

To make a long story short, I've been using different types of nipples on the bottle- different levels of flow- to wean her from something very high flow and easy to drink to something very low flow in which case she has to work a little harder to get the milk (more like nursing). So, we're in the last week of almost all bottle feeds and will (hopefully!!) be transitioning to almost all nursing in the next 1-2 weeks. She's 7 weeks old today, and my due date is still 2 weeks away. Hopefully, by around her due date, we'll be just about transitioned to nursing- at which point I can cut WAY down on the pumping...hopefully to none at all until I go back to work in December! Hence, my freezer problem solution! :) We'll see if it works!

At 7 weeks old, Bella has broken the SIX POUND mark! She was 6 lbs-even when we weighed her yesterday! YAY!! She's doing great! Here she is hanging out with Michee.
And chillin' with Daddy. She looks JUST like Patrick, but hopefully, her head wont be as big as his! ;) No offense, honey. :)
Here's Ava waiting to "pet" Bella. For the most part, Ava does a GREAT job keeping herself entertained while I tend to Bella. She still absolutely loves playing with her dollhouse. Notice the exact lining up of the family members....can anyone say OCD?!
Well, that's it for now! I'll keep you posted on any changes! Otherwise, we're doing great!

6 Weeks Today!!

Can you even believe that Bella is SIX WEEKS OLD?!?! Today is also exactly 2 weeks that she's been home with us! And the really amazing thing is that she's still not supposed to be here for 3 more weeks!!! That is completely insane to me. And she's just so perfect. And everything works. And we are incredibly blessed. :)

She's really doing great- the monitor hasn't gone off for the past few days. She's had 4 "episodes" of bradycardia since she's been home, but none since Monday. We'll go back to the doctor tomorrow for another check just to make sure things are still good. We have a scale here at home, and when I weighed her today, she was 5lbs 9oz! She's almost gained 2 pounds from her lowest weight (which was 3lbs 12oz)! Most 6 week old babies are WELL over 5 lbs, but not my munchkin. :) She's getting there, though! She's doing great with eating, and I have a plan of action already in place to get her to transition from the bottle to 100% nursing. I'll keep you posted on that one...but still need lots of prayers for help with that. :)

Ava still is very good with her...and very gentle. She's still totally obsessed with hand sanitizer and uses Bella as an excuse to get her hands on the stuff all the time!Other than that, things have stayed about the same. I'm a bit tired, but Ava goes to school Wednesday through Friday, so on those days, I can usually squeeze nap in. Which is total heaven! Last Friday night, I was already looking forward to my Wednesday nap. (Which didn't actually happen since I had a doc appt that day....oh well. I got one today, though, and it was all I thought it would be and more! :)

Catching a snooze on Mommy.

Does she look like her Daddy or WHAT?!?!?

A little less like Daddy, and a little more like Bella with that big ol' bow!
So, that's the update for now! Hope all is well out there!!

Ava-isms

So, Ava is crackin' me up these days! She sometimes says the funniest, cutest things. There are some things that she says ALL THE TIME and I just had to start jotting them down so I wouldn't forget! Other times, there are just little stories, conversations, or comments that she says that are hilarious...or cute..and sometimes oh-so-deep for a a barely 3 year old! :) Here are some of them...

While pretending to talk on her play phone.

Ava: Can you please stop talking cause I'm talking on the phone!

Gee, I wonder where she's heard that! :)
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Ava: You feed Catcher and I'll feed Salsa.

Patrick: Why do I have to feed Catcher?

Ava: Cause you're a boy, and Catcher's a boy. And I'm a girl, and Salsa's a girl.

Duh.
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A conversation I had with Ava one night after prayers:

Ava: Can God come to our house?

Me: Well....God doesn't really come to our house, but God is always with you, right?

Ava: Right. But maybe we can go to God's house?

Me: Well....God lives in Heaven, and Heaven is very far away.

Ava: Can we go to Heaven?

Me: Yeah, one day we'll go to Heaven.

Ava: Can the doggies go to Heaven, too?

Me: Yes, doggies go to Heaven, too.

Ava: And then we'll just come back to the lakehouse.

And that's that! :)
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Showing a bit of her bossy personality...we're not exactly sure what she means by this, but she usually says it in response to us telling her not to do or say something. We think it's her way of trying to be in charge. She says it a lot! :)

Ava: You don't say what I say.
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Before Bella was born:
Ava: Mommy, when the baby comes, your stomach will be flat again.

After Bella was born:
Ava: Your stomach isn't straight, it still has a bump.

Oh, the honesty.
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Ava: Where are you going?

Patrick: I'm gonna go to the bathroom.

Ava: I'll just come watch you.

Patrick: No, I think I'll go by myself.

Ava: Why?

Patrick: Well, sometimes Daddy's want some privacy when they go to the bathroom.
Ava: Oh.

Later...
Ava: I'm gonna go potty. (Holding her hand up as if saying "STOP!"). Don't come in, I need some propicy.

Privacy. Propicy. Whatever. :)
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Ava has a blanket that she sleeps with and she sucks on the tag. She/we call it her "taggie," and it is really nasty! For the longest time, she said she was going to stop sucking her taggie when she turned three. I think her birthday snuck up on her because when we were talking about how she was almost three and how she was going to stop sucking her taggie...she said...

Ava: I switched my mind. I'm not gonna stop sucking my taggie when I'm 3. I'm gonna stop sucking it when I'm 10 or 20 years old.
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Patrick was around a lot this summer while he was on his one and only summer break from school, and Ava got used to having him around. Two weeks ago, he started school again and she noticed that he was away a lot. There were two things I've heard her say something to Patrick, and I thought they were very sweet. I've heard her say the second comment several times. :)

Ava to Daddy (hugging): I miss you when you're away.

Ava to Daddy (usually at bed time talking about the next day): I'll miss you, Daddy.

I'm glad she didn't say that to me when I was in residency. I probably would have quit!
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FYI: We have a random (ugly) black toilet in our house.

Ava: Mommy, I can't see my poop in the black toilet, but I can see it in the white toilet.

I guess there are few things that 3 year olds notice that they don't tell you. :)
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Speaking of poop...a recent conversation...I was in the living room and Ava was going to the bathroom. She was in the hall bathroom and she yelled to me...

Ava: I pooped on the floor, but it was an accident.

Me to Patrick: Did she just say she pooped on the floor?

Patrick: I think so.

Me to Ava: (walking to the bathroom) You pooped on the floor?

Ava: (very mater-of-factly) Yes, it was an accident. It landed on my fancy pants (...which apparently she had taken off and put on the floor so she could go potty).

Me: (looking for the poop...) Well, where is it?

Ava: I picked it up and threw it in the potty.

Oh, dear Lord. Well, at least she knows where it belongs, right?!
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Long overdue!

So sorry it's been a while since my last update...but I've been a little busy. ;) Bella's been home for almost a week now- tomorrow (Thursday) will be one week at home! Bella will also turn 5 weeks old tomorrow. Today, I was supposed to be 36 weeks along in my pregnancy...now I can't even imagine still being pregnant and not already knowing Bella. So weird. I feel like she's only ONE week old...cause that's how long I feel like I've had her. I've enjoyed my time with her...especially today. It was the first day that it was just Bella and me for the day. It was actually quite enjoyable. :) ...now, for my first night without help....

Anyway, as far as updates go, things are pretty good. Bella's doing great! She's super sweet and still likes to sleep a lot! She's on a pretty decent schedule already- she wakes every 3.5-4 hours to eat. At night, she goes right back to sleep and during the day she might stay awake for a little while. Usually there are about 2 times a day that she stays awake for about 1.5 hours before heading back to sleep. She's a good girl.

**Breastfeeding talk ahead, so if you're grossed out by the mere mention of breastfeeding, avert your eyes **
The only real challenge so far is nursing. It has been a bit of a struggle. She has been latching on, but not in a way that allows her effective sucking- enough to get a good bit of milk. And then, after she latched (ineffectively), she usually falls asleep shortly after that! Then, after about 10 minutes of trying, I switch to a bottle and she's too darn tired to take enough for a good feeding! And the cycle continues. Today, though, was the first day that she latched on like a big girl! I saw a glimmer of breastfeeding hope today- so I hope that continues. (Prayers still needed in that department.

She's still on her monitor. We'll get the first report after 1 month of her being monitored. It has gone off a few times- sometimes for bradycardia, but most of the time for the darn leads being messed up and not able to get a good signal. It hasn't yet happened while she's sleeping, though. She's had a few bradycardias while she's been eating. It's seriously the loudest noise ever. Totally ear piercing. Here's a picture of her with her leads on. They're not too difficult to deal with, but I look forward to the day when she's not attached!! I'm getting pretty good at lugging the monitor around everywhere we go, too!

We got to enjoy some time outside the other day. Bella seemed to enjoy looking around at the scenery!
Put a cute little bow in her hair- just for fun- since she's got ALL THAT HAIR!Caught her in a yawn. I love baby yawning pics! ;)Sweet Ava with a super cute hair do- thanks, of course, to Aunt Sarah!
Looking cute as can be at breakfast!
Ava and Catcher bonding at lunch time. Catcher was just hoping for a little bite of her sandwich! :)
Ava has been incredibly helpful and gentle and loving towards Bella. I didn't really know what to expect once Bella actually came home...but Ava's been great. She's super helpful and always wants to be right there to help during diaper changes. She actually is (for real!) quite helpful! there have been many times that I've needed a diaper or wipe pronto and she's right there ready!

Here she is giving her sister some love. She especially loves the rule we have that requires her (or anyone) to wash their hands or use sanitizer before touching Bella...she'd put sanitizer on 45 times a day if we let her! Ava likes to hold her hand because Bella actually holds it back. So sweet!

Well, Bella had her first post hospital doctor appointment for a weight check and Ava had her 3 year checkup! Ava was a little shy at first but did SO great and was perfect! Here she is getting her blood pressure taken!
And getting measured. She was so proud that she's gotten "a lot bigger than when I was 2!" She's in the 45% for height and has increased to the 28% for weight at 29 pounds.

Ava was very interested in watching Bella's exam as well. Wanted to make sure everything was okay. :) Bella has been a good eater and a great grower and now weighs 5lbs 2oz after only 5 days at home! (Her hospital discharge weight was 4lbs. 12 oz). She'll go back in one week for another weight check.
Got a few pictures of Bella with her eyes open! It's not as obvious in this picture, but Bella is looking more and more like Patrick everyday. I mean, the similarities between their baby pictures are insane!!
Look at the difference in the size of their heads!! Wow!
Sweet Ave. Lately, when I ask her to smile, she gives me this HUGE toothy grin! I kinda love it. :)
Guess who took this picture?! AVA! Lately, she's really been wanting to take pictures with my camera, and this is the first time that I let her do it all by herself. (I hung the camera strap around her neck, of course, just in case). :)
Daddy's had a tiring first week back to school. He started off awake...but it didn't take long to get to this...
Ava has gone back to school! She goes Wed-Fri now; we added a day from last year. She loves it and looks forward to going! I'm getting tons of help from my and Patrick's mom to get her to and from school for a little while until I can get a little more settled with Bella. Thank GOODness for them!!
We tried out the swing just today, and she seemed to really like it. She didn't actually swing much, but she sure did love looking up at the fun stuff above her!
Bella finally had her first bath since she's been home today! I've tried to do it a couple other times, but she would always fall asleep before I could get to it!! Before I put her in, she was crying and crying, and the second I put her in the warm water, she immediately stopped and closed her eyes. I guess that's what she was used to for the previous 31 weeks! It was crazy how it calmed her so fast! Hopefully, the bath will have that calming effect for a long time- just now starting to establish a bedtime routine, but this will definitely be a part of it!
As long as I kept that nice and warm wash cloth on her, she was happy and sleepy!
Here she is all bundled up after the bath- went right to the fetal position when I wrapped her up. So sweet! Here she is being super drowsy with that seemingly huge passifier! Pure sweetness!
So, that's basically it for now. I'll try to update again in about a week or so. Hopefully, I'll have some good (or at least improved) nursing news to report by then! Until then, have a great week!