Fun at the Zoo

Surprise, surprise, I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to get a few recent pictures up here while both girls are napping. Yes, I did say BOTH girls!! It's amazing! We went to the zoo the weekend before last and had a great time! Audrey was almost 11 weeks at the time.



Ava eating lunch


Kurt thought it was funny to take a picture of both girls eating lunch :)


Trying to get the peanut butter off her face


Just being cute (still wearing her lunch)


Audrey sleeping in the Beco (no her head was not leaning back like that...it's just how I had the hat on her)


Fun on the slides




There is a shadow over her head, but I couldn't resist posting this smile!!


Seriously, quit taking my picture...


We had to crawl through a ridiculously small tunnel to get this shot

Audrey is Sick :(

Wow, we've had a wild weekend! I don't think I posted about it, but Ava was sick and then got me sick. Of course, we were hoping Audrey would stay well, but no such luck! On Friday, Audrey was VERY fussy! She literally cried all day. Nothing would really calm her down. Her temperature started to go up throughout the day, but it didn't reach the magical 100.4 mark until Friday evening.

I called our doctor when it reached 100.6 to see what we should do. After talking for a long time, we decided to give her tylenol and see if she got better. He told me to call back in an hour. So, we gave her tylenol and she still screamed for the next hour and her temp. went up to 101. At that point, he had no choice but to send us to the ER at Texas Children's. Any baby under 3 months old has to be checked out for fever because a bacterial infection is REALLY bad when they are that small.

So around 9pm, we loaded up and headed to the ER. They put us in a special room to keep her away from all the other sick kids and we got to go ahead of all of the other patients. They take this very seriously!! While we were waiting, they came around taking the vitals of kids that had been waiting more than 4 hours to see a doctor!!!

We got back into a room, saw 3 different doctors and then they started all of the testing. She got an IV, blood taken, catheter (to check her urine), flu test, and a spinal tap! I can't even begin to describe to you all how awful all of this was. I never want to hear her scream like that again!!!

Basically, most of the tests came back good, but her white blood cell count was high. They were hoping this was a viral infection, but they didn't want to take any chances until the cultures came back from the lab after 48 hours. They wanted to keep us in the hospital for 48 hours giving her precautionary antibiotics, but they decided to give her antibiotics which were good for 24 hours and let us go home. Thank goodness! We left our house at 9pm and got home at 7:30am! Of course, I had my camera and took a few pictures.

My poor baby sitting with Daddy.


Laying on the table




IV in her tiny hand


Our doctor told us to be prepared to be admitted, so we had a ton of stuff!


So, on Saturday, Audrey slept most of the day and her fever was under control. The antibiotics lasted for 24 hours and then her fever spiked to 102 yesterday. This morning her fever was 101 and we went back to see her pediatrician. He re-checked the cultures done at the hospital and it doesn't seen to be bacterial. Thank goodness! He wants to talk to me every day that she is running fever to keep on top of things, but he really thinks she has the same virus that Ava had.

It is so difficult to see our little baby so sick! We hope she gets to feeling better soon!

Ugh...I just realized that photobucket cuts the right side off of pictures and that's why I quit using it. Audrey is crying, so no time to post new pictures. Basically, Kurt should be in almost all of those pictures. No, we didn't just let her lay on the bed by herself. He was standing right there!

2 Month Check-Up

I took Audrey to the doctor today for her 2 month check-up. Actually, I took both of the girls, and I hope I won't be doing that again for a long time. Our doctor is always, always on time, so I didn't think it would be a big deal. The one time I take both of them by myself, the doctor is an hour and a half late!!! By the time the doctor got in there, Ava had turned into a wild woman and Audrey was starving. I was trying to talk to the doctor over 2 kids fussing/making tons of noise. It was awesome! On top of all of that, Audrey got three shots and Ava and I got the flu mist. We'll all cranky by dinner time. :)

Anyway, here are Audrey's stats from today:

Weight: 9 lbs. 2 oz. (10%)
Height: 22 in. (25%)
Head: 15 in. (35%)

Audrey is still little, but she is gaining really well! I was glad to see she is over 9 lbs. even if it was with a cloth diaper on. I can't believe some people have 9 lb. babies! Ava weighed 6 lbs. 9 oz. at 2 months, so Audrey seems chunky to us!!

We had her check-up a few days early because the doctor wanted to check her hip click again before he sent us for the ultrasound. Her left hip is still clicking and her right hip was clicking a little too. So, it looks like we're off to the hospital on Thursday for the ultrasound. The doctor said we should have the results within 24 hours.

I'm almost afraid to write it, but Audrey has been sleeping 9-9.5 hours every night. It is so nice! The doctor said most moms of 2 month old babies would hate me. She has also moved her bedtime up a little, so she is now going to bed at 10pm. This seems so much more manageable than 11 or 12. I feel like we're starting to get some sleep.

Audrey is starting to get a little personality. She is smiling at us and "talking" to us. It is soooo adorable!! I want her to stay little forever, but I'm glad she is interacting with us a little.

It's too late, so I'll try to put pictures up tomorrow. I'll leave you with a few of Audrey's 2 week pictures.

One Month Old

Audrey Kate is one month old today. That is so hard to believe!! Time is already going by too quickly! She'll be a year old before we know it.

We took Audrey to the doctor on Monday and she weighed exactly 7 lbs. The doctor was very happy with that. She had gained 17 lbs. in 21 days. We took her to the doctor because she has been spitting up like crazy. Ava spit up a ton, but Audrey is definitely giving her a run for her money. I'm curious if that is the right saying because everyone knows I never seem to get them right. Anyway, we went through all of the treatment possibilities, but we don't want to medicate her at such a young age. We decided to hold off on medication until the spitting up seems to bother her. Hopefully, it never will. It never bothered Ava, but both Ava and I had to change our clothes about 50 times a day.

While we were there we also found out that Audrey has a heart murmur. The doctor was not concerned about this and said it will more than likely resolve itself. He also realized that Audrey has a hip click. Those of you with small children probably know what I'm talking about. At visits, they always move their hips around and push on them a bit. Apparently, they are listening/feeling for a hip click. When a child has this, there is a possibility that their hip is/will dislocate. We are having to take Audrey to Texas Children's to get an ultrasound done of her hip. If this shows whatever it is they are looking for she may have to wear some type of harness for a few months to help her hip grow together properly. This is all up in the air right now. We'll see the doctor one more time before that appointment at the beginning to September to make sure it is still there before we go through all of this trouble. If you haven't noticed, our girls like to make us worry about them both inside and outside the womb. After the diagnosis of reflux, a heart murmur, and a hip click, they doctor said he would stop examining her. :) He thought that was enough to worry about from one visit!

On to happier stuff....We are having so much fun with our little Audrey. She is such a sweet baby. She went through her one month growth spurt earlier this week and tried to kill her mother by eating every 30 min. to an hour. The last few nights, she has been back to her regular "schedule" which mommy likes much more. We would still like her to move her bedtime up a little, but she is sleeping well, so we can't complain too much! Of course, now that I said that she will eat all night again tonight. I better go find some wood to knock on...

Ava is still really enjoying her little sister! She is a big help and likes to bring us diapers when Audrey needs to be changed. She sings to her all the time and it is so sweet. We really need to get that on video!!

I'll leave you with one recent picture of her.

Birthday Cake Disasters and Sleeping Babies

Last weekend, Kurt and I celebrated our birthdays. For those of you who don't know, our birthdays are one day apart. (I had to jump back on and edit this post to let you all know that our birthdays are one day apart, but we are NOT the same age!! Kurt turned 29 and I turned 28. Only one of us is almost in our 30s!!) Anyway, Kurt had requested his mom make a chocolate cake with seven minute icing. You also may not know that Ava LOVES birthday cake!! She gets so excited when someone is having a birthday and tells them she is going to eat their cake. Well, Kurt's sister, Kirby, had decorated the birthday cake and Ava was helping her put the candles on top when Ava slipped off the chair she was standing on and her entire forearm fell straight into the cake. It was so funny! Here is the demolished cake...


Don't worry...Ava made sure to lick all the icing off her hand and arm. :) Ava loves blowing out the candles almost as much as she loves cake!


Maybe I should also mention that Kurt and Ava had gone swimming and Ava already had her bath which is why she is wearing Kurt's old Dallas Cowboys shirt in these pictures. She loves wearing Daddy and Uncle Kolton's old t-shirts to bed!!

I'm sure Kirby is going to kill me for this picture, but she is always complaining that she doesn't have any pictures with Audrey, so I'm making sure to put one on my blog.

Yesterday, Ava didn't take a nap and then we went to the playground after dinner. After her bath, she asked if she could watch a cartoon before bed. We turned one on for her in her playroom and went into the living room. Apparently, she was very tired because this is what we found when we went in there to put her to bed.

Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever seen?? Another disclaimer...Kurt let Ava pick out her own pajamas before bed. This post is filled with awesome outfits for Ava!

Rain...finally

Along with everyone else in Texas, it hasn't rained here in months. Today, I decided to take Ava and Audrey to the store by myself for the first time. We got everyone dressed and into the car and it started pouring down rain! Unbelievable!! We still survived the trip, and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. We went into a little store where I couldn't take my stroller, so Ava was on the loose. Luckily, she was so busy showing off her "new baby sister" that she didn't get into too much. :)

By the end of the trip, Audrey thought she was starving. So, she was screaming in the backseat while Ava was singing Baa Baa Black Sheep at the top of her lungs. Since I knew there was no time to make Ava lunch when we got home before Audrey needed to eat, we stopped at McDonalds because, in her words, Ava's tummy was very hungry. Yes, I know I'm going to win Mother of the Year since I talked about Chick-fil-a in my last post and McDonalds in this one, but you have to do what you have to do, right? Anyway, Ava decided that store was fun because she got McDonalds after and asked when we'll go back. Now she is sitting here telling me that McDonalds in "yummy in her tummy". Oh my...we need to get back to eating better before she thinks she gets to eat like this all the time!!

P.S. I at least got her apple slices instead of fries! :)

Things to remember...

I need to write down a few things I want to remember about these early days as a mother of 2. They will eventually go in the baby book, but I don't have time for that right now. :)

Ava is definitely a great big sister. She does not like it when Audrey cries and runs around frantically looking for her "fier". For some reason, she started calling her pacifier "fier" and it is so adorable. We call it a "paci", so I'm not sure where she got this. She'll run around the house, "where is Audrey's fier???" :)

Audrey spits up just as much as Ava did, if not more! I was hoping I would only have one child that spit up constantly, but that didn't happen. When Audrey spits up, Ava likes to inform us that Audrey just "spilled". I can't tell you how many times a day Ava is yelling, "Audrey spilled...Audrey spilled again!"

Today, I officially felt like a mother of two when I had to take Ava to the potty while nursing Audrey. Of course, Ava wanted to sit on the big potty instead of her little potty. So, I pulled down Ava's pants, lifted her onto the potty, lifted her back off, and pulled up her pants all while feeding a baby. Now, that is challenging! At least she went on the potty!!

Okay, now I have a hungry baby and another child who wants to go to Chicken-Fla for lunch. For those of you who don't know Ava well, that's what she calls Chick-Fil-A. She likes to go there and get "baby chickens". Yes, this disturbs us too, but she just wants chicken nuggets and not chicken strips. It is a little embarrasing when you're sitting in Chick-fil-a and your child is talking loudly about how she loves eating baby chickens! I'm thinking life will never be dull with my two sweet girls.

Pictures

Tuesday, I took both of the girls to get their pictures taken. Actually, they were Audrey's newborn pictures and we wanted some of Ava and Audrey together. They did so good!! Luckily, Audrey slept through most of her pictures (which we wanted) and Ava was really excited to get pictures taken with her little sister. We haven't seen her smile that big for pictures since she was 6 months old! I can't wait to see them, but the proofs won't be ready for 2 weeks!

Now, here are a few pictures of our little Audrey. It is so difficult to take pictures of them at this age. They always looked all scrunched up. Oh well...

Audrey did not want her picture taken :)




Whenever we take pictures, Ava has to pull her camera out too


Not a great picture of Audrey, but I thought she looked so cute in her little outfit!


These pictures are for Kurt. I got Audrey all dressed up in her Aggie gear today, but I waited too long to take the pictures. By the time I got around to it, it was time to eat and she was not excited about me being in her face with the camera. Oh well, screaming pictures are cute too, right?

First Day Home Alone...

Today is my first full day home alone with my two girls. It's only 10am, but things are going well so far. I may be checking back in this afternoon saying something completely different. :)

I've been getting nasty emails about not updating :), so I'll try to let you all know what we've been up to for the last two weeks. Things have actually been going pretty well. The first week was a little crazy because we were in the hospital for two days and then had to go to the doctor three times by the time she was a week old. Audrey lost about 12% if her body weight in the first 4 days. It took us a couple of days to get nursing down well and then my milk didn't come in until Thursday (she was born Monday). I really wasn't too concerned because I thought she would do fine once my milk came in. I had enough with Ava to feed 3 babies! We went to the doctor on Thursday and she weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz. By Saturday morning, she weighed 5 lbs. 11.5 oz.. On Monday morning, she was already up to 5 lbs. 15.6 oz. Needless to say, she was thriving once she actually had something to eat. The other concern was her biliruben level. It was rising while we were in the hospital, so the doctor wanted us to be checked by our pediatrician the next day. She was looking a little yellow, but he didn't check her level on Thursday. On Saturday, he checked her blood again and her level was 14.4. He had us put her in the sun a couple of times a day over the weekend. By Monday, she looked a lot better and we could tell her levels were on their way down. He said her face and eyes would be the last thing to clear up and her eyes could take 2 weeks to look completely normal.

She has done great her second week! She is actually two weeks old today. It's already gone by too fast. Audrey is eating every 2-3 hours during the day and cluster feeding just like Ava at night before bed which means she may eat every 1-2 hours for about 3 sessions before she goes to bed around 11:00-11:30pm. Of course, we've had our rough nights like every new parents, but for the most part she is sleeping 6-8 hours. She was very sweet to me last night and slept 8 hours (well, actually 7 since it took her about an hour to eat and get back to bed). She woke up about an hour before Ava, so by the time I got done feeding and changing her, Ava was up for the day. It still was a really good night.

Ava is doing absolutely great!!! She is such a good little helper. Of course, she is needing a little extra attention, but she has adjusted really well to Audrey. She is really excited to have Audrey at home with us and loves telling people she is a big sister! She is so good with her and gives her the softest kisses. I really need to get it on video. I want her to be able to see how sweet she was to her sister when she is older.

I think I have a few people who read my blog who are pregnant right now, so I have to share one of my favorite baby products. Actually, it is a life saver when you are completely sleep deprived. I bought mine off of a website called Mom 4 Life. Here is the link: http://www.mom4life.com/catalog.php?item=20
I have the midnight blue bracelet which actually looks black. You can track what time your baby last ate by moving the charm around on the bracelet. It is also super easy to move back and forth on each wrist so you know which side you started nursing on last time. I bought it when Ava was a newborn and it still looks great! I took it off to go to church yesterday and I was completely lost. I literally can't remember anything these days. Anyway, just thought I would share. :)