Adalyn's the winner

The winner of what you may ask?  Well, she was the first one to make Elli cry. We knew it would happen some time.  We just didn't know when or who would be the culprit.  Thankfully, it wasn't anything malicious and it was a pure accident. 

Elli was actually laying in my lap on Monday night when Addi went running past me with a soccer ball.  It simply fell out of her hands and bopped Elli on the head from about 3-4 inches away.  I think it scared her more than anything else because she was just starting to drift off to sleep.  Poor Addi felt so bad.  Her demeanor changed and she became very, very sad.  We just explained to her that accidents happen and that we just need to be careful around the baby.  But for the rest of the night, she really wasn't in a playful mood. 

Miss Elliana had her two week appointment on Monday as well.  She has officially surpassed her birth weight.  She was 8lbs 8oz two days ago and they measured her to be 22 inches!!  Hmmm.  She was measured at 20 1/2 inches at birth.  Something tells me that she didn't grow an inch and a half in two weeks!  I actually think she's somewhere in between simply based on how her sleepers fit.  Oh well, measuring an infant is such an inexact science - lay them on a table and try to force their leg straight.  Not easy to do.

We're still here, I promise

We're still doing well.  The girls have adjusted quite nicely to having Elli around.  I'm hoping we might bypass any jealousy issues because the big girls are used to sharing time with us.  They've never had us all to themselves...all they've ever known is that there was another diaper to change, another mouth to feed, another child to play with, etc.  So hopefully they'll continue to be very understanding that Elli has needs that need to be met as well.

Today was my due date.  I can say with 100% certainty that the past two weeks flew by.  Now on the other hand, if I would've still been pregnant, they would've dragged by at snail's pace.  My back was quickly failing me and I had such a hard time even doing the simple things for the girls...changing their diapers, feeding them, etc.  Nevermind actually trying to play with them!  And I'm so incredibly glad that Elliana decided not to "bake" much longer.  They say that babies gain about 1/2 a pound a week in the last few weeks.  So if she had stayed put, she definitely would've been well over 9 pounds!  No thanks.

The big girls make me laugh so much.  They absolutely love watching themselves on video.  I think they would do it for hours if we let them!  Anytime I take out the video camera to catch them doing something or to videotape Elli, they have to immediately see what was filmed.  Then I have to go back to previous videos so that they can watch more.  And boy do they laugh!  It's honestly so cute!

Addi just got done giving me "the look"

Livi was running from daddy when it was time for a diaper change!

Elli doesn't exactly like to be burped.

Mommy spiked my hair after my bath!

Elli's foot next to Addi's.

And Elli's next to Livi's.

 

Has it been a week already?!

At this pace, Elli is going to be as big as the girls in no time at all!  I can't believe my newest baby is a week old already.  I say "newest baby" because I have a hard time letting go of the fact that the older girls are no longer babies...they're toddlers.  They still seemed pretty small to me until I brought Elli home from the hospital.  All of a sudden, I realized just how BIG their hands and feet are.  They're definitely not babies anymore. 

Miss Elliana had her follow-up weight check today.  She gained 3 ounces in the last 3 days.  So she's back to 8 pounds even, which was the weight she was discharged from the hospital at.  The nurse said that she's still looking a bit yellow.  But since she's now gaining weight, they decided not to redraw her bilirubin levels.  And I was so thankful!  Who wants to see their newborn get poked in the heel with a needle?  I'm still waiting on some sun in this neck of the woods.  I think her jaundice would probably be gone by now if we hadn't had a week straight of clouds and rain.  All she needs is a little sun!!!

We go back to the doctor in 1 week for her first official well baby visit.

Sleeping in her carseat.  It's a safe place to put her so she doesn't get stepped on!

With Uncle Jason.

And with Aunt Chelsea.

What a precious little girl.  So peaceful.

Elli's first bath.  She wasn't exactly fond of it!

We got a brand new washer and dryer.  The girls like the box!



I'm realizing that it's much easier to take pictures of a sleeping newborn than two active toddlers!  I feel bad posting so many pictures of Elli and not a whole lot of Addi and Livi.  But if they would sit still for just two minutes, I could snap a few pictures of their lovely faces!  I simply don't have the energy to chase them down right now.  

Elli update

Bottom line is...she's wonderful.  She's such a good baby.  She eats well.  She sleeps well.  And well, that's about all she does at this point.  But she's a content little one.  The girls were chaos from the time we brought them home.  They didn't eat.  Therefore, they didn't sleep because their little bellies were talking to them all the time.  Honestly, it was downright miserable.  But little Miss Elli is a dream. 

I had a lactation appointment yesterday.  Before I was discharged from the hospital, the nurse was going over my discharge instructions.  She told me the date and time of the appointment and followed it with "please bring your baby with you to this appt."  I had to interrupt her and ask if she seriously had to tell me that.  Do women actually show up to a lactation appointment without their baby?!  Hmmm.

Anyway.  Elliana nurses like a champ.  Which is such a far cry from the girls.  We were lucky enough to keep them awake for a full two minutes to eat before they zonked out.  In all honesty, they probably could've cared less if I didn't feed them for a week.  But Elli is a great little eater.  She'll stay awake long enough to actually fill her belly...usually anywhere between 20 to 45 minutes.  Her weight did drop a bit more, but she's still in the good range.  She was 8lbs 7oz when she was born.  When we were discharged, she was an even 8lbs.  And yesterday she was 7lbs 13oz.  They expect babies to lose between 5-10% of their body weight and right now she's at about 7%.  So she's doing just fine.  We'll actually head back to the clinic on Monday just for another weight check.  By then, she'll probably have started the upward swing.

The nurse did notice that she was looking a bit yellow at the appointment.  So afterwards, she ordered a bilirubin lab draw just to make sure she wasn't too jaundice.  Her level came back on the high end of normal for a 4 day old.  Dr K just told us to keep an eye on her over the weekend and if she started to look a bit more yellow I needed to call the on call physician.  Now if only we could get some sun around here, I'd be laying her by the patio window!  But all it wants to do is rain and/or be overcast.

The waiting game ended!

On September 13th, we welcomed another little baby girl into this world!  Little Elliana Jo made her appearance at 7:25am weighing 8lbs 7oz and 20 1/2 inches long.  She's just the sweetest little girl.  And she has so much hair!!

We came home yesterday and the girls have been absolutely awesome with her.  I just hope it lasts!  When she cries, they both try to give her a nuk.  They already know which blanket belongs to her and are constantly giving it to me or Nate if we're holding her and she's not wrapped up in it.  They "pet" her nicely.  They've just been so great.

Here are some quick pictures of the newest little munchkin.  All of the girls are currently sleeping, so I should probably get some sleep myself.  We're still settling in to a routine.  After that happens, I'll have to share the story about Elli's birth and the amazing similarities it had with the girls' birth!!

Just 5 minutes old.

Fresh outta the bath.

Look at those long toes!!

So comfy.

Starting to be more alert.

But still likes to sleep too!

Just arrived home and the girls are showing some interest!

Addi trying to give Elli a nuk.

Livi giving Elli a hug.

Food coma.

The waiting game begins

I'm officially done with work until after my maternity leave.  My last day was on Thursday.  So now the waiting game begins.  I'm hoping Baby J decides to make his entrance sooner rather than later just because I don't want to waste several weeks being off of work with no baby!

I purchased one package of newborn diapers.  I didn't want to buy too many because I'm still thinking that I'm going to have a gigantic baby and won't even really need newborn diapers.  But I wanted a few on hand just in case.  And ummm, I'm not sure how we're going to diaper this baby without breaking him!!  They seem sooooo tiny!  I know we did it with the girls and everything.  And they were actually in newborn size for over 6 weeks I think.  But man!  I just don't know how we're going to diaper that little butt!

The newborn diaper compared to the girls' size 4.

I also bought three newborn outfits for little boys and two for little girls.  Nate and I just have to decide which outfit we like the best for the baby to come home in.  If the baby is a boy, we *might* keep the other outfits (depending on how big he is).  But if the baby is a girl, she really won't need anymore clothes since we have so many outfits and sleepers from when the girls were newborns.

Speaking of the girls.  With the change in weather we've had, I had to do some clothes shopping for them.  With all this shopping I've been doing, you'd think I actually like it...yeah, I don't.  But the girls needed some fall clothes.  We tried putting their spring clothes on them since their birthday is just a month away and they'll probably get more clothes then.  But their pants looked like high water pants and their shirts showed off their little bellies.  Everything is simply too small.  What's frustrating is that they're wearing 2T in some things and 3T in others!  And THAT is why I don't like shopping.  It wouldn't be such a painful experience for me if all sizes were the same across the board...no matter the brand.  So I have several returns I have to make.  Blech.  But the good news is that the girls are now outfitted for the cooler weather that made its entrance.

I'm way behind

So I'll update about my last OB appointment first.  I saw Dr L on Friday (yes, three full days ago).  Everything is going well with both me and the baby.  My blood pressure was excellent and I was measuring at 36 weeks which was right on track.  The baby's heartrate was 162bpm.  Dr L checked to see if I've made any progress toward having this baby and I found out that I'm about 3cm dilated.  I'm trying not to get too excited about that because with the girls, I stayed stuck at 3cm for quite a long time.  In fact, I even had a 72 hour stretch where I contracted every 3 minutes quite painfully and it wasn't until my water broke that I progressed any further.  So yes, 3cm is progress, but this baby could still be a couple weeks away!  Bummer.

Dr L and I discussed the possible size of this baby.  I think the baby has the potential of being fairly large because he was measuring quite big at my 28 week ultrasound and ummmm...I love sugar.  Dr L doesn't think that he's going to be *that* large because I'm measuring right on track for my dates.  If he was going to be quite large, she would expect me to be measuring a couple weeks ahead and I'm not.  So we'll see.  I just worry because at just over 37 weeks when the girls were born, Alivia weighed 6#15oz.  If this baby is following her growth curve and I actually make it close to the due date, I could really be looking at a 9 pound or more baby!  And actually, this baby was measuring a 1/2 pound bigger than Livi at the 28 week ultrasound.  So yeah.  I just don't want to "miss" my tiny little newborn.  I'll take a nice little 7 1/2 to 8 pound baby.  *smiles*

We're definitely nearing the end.  In fact, I only have 3 days left of work and then I'm done until after maternity leave.  Only THREE days!  Wow.  Actually, I wish I could skip the last few days.  I'm getting so sick of answering so many questions to all the ER patients checking in.  I feel like I want to hang a sign around my neck that says "I'm due in xxx weeks.  No, we don't know if it's a boy or a girl.  No, it's not my first, it's my third.  No, I don't have one of each at home, I have two girls.  No, just because I have two girls doesn't mean we are hoping that this baby is a boy."  I mean come on people.  I don't know you.  YOU are the patient checking in.  Let's not discuss my obstetrical history.  I feel like wearing a mumu dress for my last few days to somewhat conceal the belly.

But speaking of a gender preference for the baby...

I set up an online baby poll for some family and friends to participate in.  And I find it quite interesting that out of the 10 current guesses (myself included), only ONE person guessed that the baby would be a girl!!!  So my question is...is it just wishful thinking that this baby is going to be a boy?  Or do they honestly think that the baby is a boy?

I guess we'll find out in hopefully no more than 3 weeks if the majority vote is right!!