Party of Four

The Rundown:
1. We had a baby!
2. My mom came to town for a week.
3. Jason's mom came to town for a week.
5. Eli had his 15-month Dr's appointment.
6. Kyah had her 2-week Dr's appointment.
5. We went to Florida for Thanksgiving.
6. Jason got a job!

Our sweet baby girl has arrived! Kyah-Lynn was born on October 29th at 10:04 PM, weighing in at 5 pounds 5.6 ounces, 19 inches long.

 

 

As for the labor and delivery, everything went smoothly. After a very traumatizing experience with Eli in which I just barely made it to the hospital in time to deliver him, I was determined for this time around to be more pleasant and preferably, less painful. Although this little girl also came very fast, I did thankfully get to the hospital enough in advance to at least get the epidural. After that, it was smooth sailing. 

Here are the variety of due dates I was given over the course of my pregnancy:

Calendar due date: October 18th

First ultrasound due date: November 7th

Second ultrasound due date: November 17th   

Basically, we had no idea when to expect this baby. Since you're supposed to be prepared at 36 weeks, I was gearing up for labor back in September! It was a looooong pregnancy and as it turns out, the last due date was probably most accurate which means in reality, she was born 3 weeks early! To make matters worse, I was put on high risk around 24 weeks because this little girl appeared to be falling further and further behind schedule. We were told that there may be a lack of blood flow from the placenta and that she might have to be taken early... but ultra sounds every 2 weeks kept showing that although she wasn't growing at the same rate as most babies, she was indeed growing and blood flow consistantly appeared normal. But let me tell you, it was agony thinking that at any time from 24 weeks on the doctors could tell me she's not growing and that they have to deliver her... with very low chances that she'd survive! I'm so thankful that she is finally here and healthy. However, she is very tiny! I never realized until having her that infant car seats have a minimum weight limit (which is 5 pounds by the way), and with a hospital discharge weight of 5 pounds 1 ounce, she barely made the cut off to come home with us! Although she is small, whichever due date we go by she would still technically be full term and she has had no problems indicating otherwise. She has strong respiration and maintains her body temperature well, we have to keep her very bundled though and keep her hat on all the time so that she doesn't have to expend any energy staying warm... that way her body can focus on packing on the pounds! Or I guess it would be ounces.

Happy family of four! Except Eli looks a little uncertain...

He was put off at first by this bundle of blankets with a tiny face that does nothing but occasionally let out shrieking cries. He's warming up to her though.

The hospital stay felt very long. I have never spent more than a few hours away from Eli, I missed him so much but when my mom brought him to visit he was too rambunctious to stay for very long.

    

Nona! We were so grateful for my mom who came and stayed with Eli while I was in the hospital. I suppose that's the downfall of Jason being in school, no paid time off : (

  

Finally headed home! 

We could have fit two of her in her take-home outfit it was so big. Ironically, I was just bragging to Jason a couple days before she was born about how I was totally prepared for her and would not need to purchase a single article of clothing for at least a year... little did I know she would need preemie clothes! Just an FYI, these are VERY difficult to come by! Once I finally found a place that carried some, I bought everything they had, paid full price (which I never do for clothing) and to be perfectly honest, they're not even cute!

Home at last with both of my babies!

I had to take this to remember how tiny she was.

Peek-a-boo!

We finally got Eli to touch her... it may just be the tip of her pinky but that's a start!

After my mom so rudely abandoned me with two kids to take care of all by myself, Jason's mom swooped in to save the day. Eli loved having 2 weeks of grandmas in town to spoil him. His mommy did not love having to "detox" him after they left.

 

Eli spends more time in the infant swing than Kyah does.

 Awwww!

First bath.

I don't think pictures portray it very well but Kyah looks just like a smaller version of Eli when he was born. She has the same dark complexion, lots of black hair and bright blue eyes... all of which will probably change in the coming months.

 

After the grandmas left, Eli did a lot of moping. He stared out the window and sucked his thumb, waiting for someone to come and take him to the park. It was really sad.

So bored...

I planned on having professional newborn pictures taken of Kyah, but she looked so scrawny and malnourished that, since newborn pictures are usually taken naked, we decided not to have have them done after all. A few weeks later she looked a little chubbier but it was too late to book a photo shoot, so a friend and I took these pictures. Obviously we're not great photographers and don't have a fancy camera or editing software, but it's the best we could do.

Those 3 pictures were really hard to get and are the only decent ones we got after about two hours of trying! And yes, I realize they're not even very good. Basically, I don't envy photographers, that's a hard job!

 Our effort to pawn Kyah off on Eli for the night. He wasn't having it... darn!

 He is addicted to fleece and because Kyah's blankies haven't yet been washed a hundred times, they are much softer than his therefor he steals them from her whenever we're not looking. And this time he even crawled in her infant sleeper!

Speaking of Eli, he had his 15 month well visit with the doctor. Well, actually it took so long to get his records transferred from Colorado that by the time we could make an appointment here in Alabama, he was already 16 months. Anyway, he is 18 pounds and 29 inches. That's a 1 pound and 1 inch gain in 4, yes FOUR months! Wow. Also, he is quite a chatterbox these days! He tries to have conversations with me as though he's speaking in full sentences, but I can't make out more than a word or two here and there that he's saying. As mentioned, he loves his fleece blankies, and that thumb-sucking habit sure isn't going away any time soon! And finally, he has officially figured out every one of my child proofing devices! He can take out the electrical socket covers and he's obsessed with trying to plug stuff into them! I'm trying so hard to keep him from getting shocked but I can't take my eyes off of him for a second! He's also figured out how to get past the little plastic things I have keeping my cabinets from opening more than an inch. Plus, last week he learned that he can reach the door handles and open doors. I'm assuming since most kids are taller than Eli that I'm lucky to have made it this long without him opening doors, but still. Having a toddler is kind of scary. He sure does make life fun and interesting though!

He insists on holding the whole banana and carrying it around the house with him while he plays. Sometimes he eats it all and brings me the peel, other times I'll just find it sitting on the floor somewhere.

I was cooking breakfast and he disappeared for a while, I went to check on him and he had turned the TV on all by himself and even changed the channel to cartoons!

He loves his daddy.

Kyah-Lynn had her two-week well visit with the doctor. She was already up to 6.5 pounds! The doctor said that is very good growth for such short amount of time. Usually my interactions with the pediatrician involve a scorning because my baby isn't growing enough... this was quite the turn of events. I felt so proud.

 

 That binky is about as big as her face and she won't take any other kind.

 

All dressed up for her first time to church.

Thanksgiving

We went to Florida for Thanksgiving this year. If you're wondering how an 8 hour car ride with a 3-week-old and a 15-month-old went, Well, I'll just say it ended up being more like 12 or 13 hours. Not the funnest.

 

Aunt Helena loved holding Kyah-Lynn.

Aunt Helena and Uncle Joe.

My first time making my grandomther's bicuits... with my mom supervising closely!

Working up their appetite.

No sleeping on my watch!

Papa feeding Eli Goobers.

 

This is Eli's favorite new face, whenever he's about to do something devious or blatantly ignore someone telling him "no," he makes this grimace.

Up to no good.

I know I shouldn't be touching this... but I'm going to anyway.

"Blue" is the Blue Herron that comes up to my mom's house for food. My step dad feeds her fish.

Eli wanted to help feed Blue, but instead he scared her away.

And that's all the Thanksgiving pictures we took, it was way too short of a trip!

And finally, Jason got a job! Well, technically an internship, but either way it's very exciting because it's his first official position in the Healthcare industry (which is weird considering he's spent the past four years working at a hospital- but that was construction). He's going to learn a lot of things that will help him in his program and future residency. It's with one of the big Health Systems here in Alabama but I think I'll refrain from saying which one because it occurred to me that I disclose a bit too much personal information on this blog sometimes. Anyway, life sure is getting busy! We came to Alabama thinking this would be the hardest two years of our lives and couldn't wait to get to the end of it, but we're already a quarter of the way done. Yay!

Happy Holidays!