March 7, 2007 - 6 weeks old!

Well, our little guy is 6 weeks old already. He continues to be more alert and active and has finally become a good eater. Because of his weight gain issues and his recent illness, Sam had to see the doctor at 6 weeks instead of waiting for the regular 2 month checkup. The good news is that he finally surpassed his birthweight and weighed in at 9 pounds 3 1/2 ounces. He gained exactly 1/2 a pound since we had him in a week and a half ago when he was sick... YEAH SAM! He is in the 25% for weight. In addition, he measured 23 inches which is the 75% for height. His lungs are now clear and we have a very healthy boy. He received 4 shots and also an oral vaccine for rotovirus. After we left the doctor's office he basically slept for 24 hours with the exception of his meals, which I had to wake him up for. We thought we got through the shots home free, but then Sunday night he was fussy from early evening until 2am..YUCK!!! Monday morning we seemed to have our Sam back and are spending this week trying to teach him to go to sleep on his own in the bassinet instead of being nursed or rocked to sleep. We'll see how things go in that regard...so far, so good.

March 7, 2007 - Cowboy Day!

Nicholas' Preschool class has been doing a unit on cowboys. To conclude the unit they all got to dress up like cowboys and cowgirls for the day. They were reminded to make sure and bring their "horses". They had trail mix for snack and Nicholas came home with a handmade WANTED poster...he was wanted for smiling too much.

March 3, 2007 - Stuck Inside AGAIN!

Another winter day stuck inside trying to keep the kids occupied. Nicholas came home from preschool with a note stating that the conclude their unit on cowboys they would be having a COWBOY DAY on Wednesday the 7th. The kids are to dress up as cowboys. So, we headed down to the basement to find the box of Halloween costumes. Nicholas was 'Woody' from Toy Story 2 years ago, so we were off to see if the costume still fit...which it does...it is a little short but fits everywhere else. While in the costume box we discovered a few other costumes that Gabrielle wanted to explore. (On a side note, I have been looking on e-bay to try to find some dress up clothes for Gabrielle and Allison as they love to play dress up at playgroup). Needless to say, mama realized it was kind of stupid to have these costumes sitting in a box to MAYBE be worn again some time when they could be having fun with them. So, we brought all of the costumes upstairs and now they have a start to their dress up collection. Nicholas also is all set for cowboy day, complete with some the boots from Gabrielle's costume and our "horse on a stick". He is excited to go to school on Wednesday, and they have been having a ton of fun with the customes ever since.

Here we have a Care Bear, Woody, and a Hello Kitty Cowgirl

March 1, 2007 - Words to live by.

Allison is now just over 19 months old. When you get to kids of this age it seems like the question everyone wants to know is "are they talking yet?" Well, Allison talks remarkably well for a child her age, at least so I have heard. There is no possible way for me to list everything she says but I thought I would try to keep track of what she said for half a day, and it didn't work---I lost count. She will repeat anything that we ask her to say, including memory verses after dinner.

Here is some of what she says on a regular basis:
Names: Mama, Papa, brother, sister, Nicholas, 'yell' (this is as close as she gets to saying Gabrielle), Allson(she doesn't quite get the middle syllable in ther yet), Sam (& where Sam?) Gamma, Gampa, Toni (for some reason she must have picked this up sometime when they were staying at my mom's house when Sam was born, she doesn't seem to have any idea that it is my name, but whenever she is pretending to talk on the phone she always says Toni and she says it perfectly), Onen (Owen), Ja-wa (Joshua)

Favorite Things: blankie, pipey (her word for pacifier), baby, Care Bear, 'Queen (for Lighting McQueen), Huson (for Doc Hudson),

Foods: juice, milke, water, 'tart (pop-tart), some, 'tatoes, dip, sauce, 'nack (for fruit snacks)

Here's a short clip of mama prompting her on some of words for the camera, for memories sake.

Click to Play

March 3, 2007 - Snow, Snow and Blowing Snow

We got quite a bit of snow over the weekend, but the worst of it out here was the blowing. We have a big open field behind us and nothing to stop the wind. The drifts just seem to keep piling up in our backyard and against our garage. Our side of the street was much worse than our neighbors across the street. On Friday, I had to clean up the drift against the garage twice just so Paul would be able to get the car into the garage when he got home. Paul spent a large part of Saturday morning cleaning up the driveway and then practically had to start all over again. He did manage to get some cool pictures though.

March 1, 2007 - SCARY !!!!!

I am going through the house picking up toys and Allison is sleeping, therefore it is usually safe to give Sam some time to lay around and kick on the floor in the den. I never would have guessed that I would be wrong. After a minute of picking some things up in the living room I walked back into the den to put the items away. The minute I walked in the door I noticed that Sam was now nicely propped up on a pillow ON the couch (right by the edge), big sister Gabrielle right beside him. Needless to say I panicked and ran across the room to rescue my son (sorry, no time for a picture...I think you'll understand). My reaction upset Gabrielle, now I had to calm her down, and then explain to her why she isn't allowed to pick up her little brother. I don't think I really want to know HOW she picked him up. After the situation settled down, Gabrielle was given a few minutes to hold her baby brother under adult supervision (as seen below).

March 1, 2007 - Looking for something to do.

Just like everybody else these days we are so sick of winter and being cooped up in the house. We are constantly looking for something new to do and always feel like we are running out of ideas. The other day Nicholas was trying to make a "castle" out of the pillows on the couch and that gave me the idea of making them a big "castle". So we got out the cardboard table and some sheets and blankets and made a great place for them to play. Later in the day, I remembered that we have a kid size tent in the garage too, so we added a wing to our castle (no picture of that though). The kids loved it and played with it most of the day on and off. The biggest problem was trying to keep Allison from climbing ON the cardboard table, and knocking the roof down.

February 27, 2007 A Sick Little Boy!

Over the weekend, Sam started doing quite a bit of coughing. We weren't overly concerned - the cold virus has been going through the house and he wasn't running a fever or anything, he just had a really bad cough. The cough gradually began to wear on him and he got laryngitis of sorts...the poor baby couldn't even cry, he would try and only a squeak would come out. The cough started to get worse and worse and he started to squeak more and more, but still no fever and he was eating well.

He continued to eat well throughout most of the day on Monday, but his cough was getting worse and he would just cough with his entire body. Monday evening, however, he started to not want to nurse. He was willing to take a bottle, so that was good. However, the last two bottles of the evening he spit up almost the entire feeding. Now, I was starting to get a little nervous, especially given that Nicholas had the stomach flu over the weekend.

I stayed up all night with him trying to get him to take small amounts of fluid every couple of hours to keep him hydrated. He did manage to keep small feedings down throughout the night, but by morning he was so worn out and exhausted that I just couldn't keep him awake for a feeding. This little boy, who has been gaining weight so slowly couldn't afford to lose any. So...a call to the doctor was made.

We started off finding out that he only lost 1/2 an ounce since the week before, so that was a good thing. At the doctor's office his respiratory rate was definately quite fast, but his blood oxygen level was between 94-95% and it needs to be above 92%---that was good. His lungs were quite "coarse" as the doctor said, but with no fever they wanted to try to keep him out of the hospital as it was just a virus, not an infection that antibiotics would help. Sam was quite alert during the visit, which was a good thing for mama to see.

While at the office, they gave him a nebulizer breathing treatment. He did quite a bit of coughing during the treatment, but they said that is a good thing. After the breathing treatment, he was like a brand new baby. He stayed alert, and before I headed home he nursed for 15-20 minutes in the car. YEAH Sam.

He has continued to improve throughout the week and his cough has changed from congested to more of a tickle in his throat. Thursday, he was finally able to get a normal cry out through his tired vocal cords. He has been eating well, and been more alert than he has been in the past.

It was a little scary for a while, but we are truly grateful that we were able to stay out of the hospital and that the breathing treatment made such a difference.

February 25, 2007 - Mama's Helper

Obviously, with breastfeeding being our choice of feeding the baby, the kids are not very involved in this aspect of Sam's care. However, we do give Sam a bottle every day or so to make sure that he is used to it for when I am away or when I go back to work. Gabrielle climbed up on my lap and helped feed Sam for the very first time. Doesn't she look proud?

February 22, 2007 - Hanging out!

Sam looks around the room from his perch on the floor. Probably looking out for siblings that may not see him there. Allison saw me taking pictures of Sam and had to get in on the action.
She loves to say 'cheese'!

February 21, 2007 - Nicholas spends some quality time with Sam

Nicholas has been fighting a cold on and off for a little over a week, so he has been told to try to stay away from the baby. Well, today he got the opportunity to hold his little brother, he was thrilled.

February 21, 2007 - Roller Coaster of a Day for Nicholas!

We woke up Wednesday morning to a world of fog, we couldn't see across the field behind us. We were not surprised to find that Oak Ridge schools were on a 2 hour delay and this includes Nicholas' preschool (which is at our church and therefore, not in our school district). Anyway, Nicholas was heartbroken to hear that there was no school because they had a field trip to Home Depot planned. Nicholas had looked forward to this field trip for weeks. The whole family settled into a slow start to the morning and everyone was still in there pajamas when the phone rang at 9:15 am. It was Nicholas' teacher wondering if he was still coming for the field trip. After a short conversation, with me inquiring why there was a field trip when there was no school and her stating that she didn't know it either until the supervisor of the school told her, I told her he would be there as soon as possible. We got Nicholas dressed in record time and Paul and Nicholas were out the door by 9:30. The field trip was supposed to start at 9:30 and we are 1/2 hour away from Home Depot on a good day. Apparently, the fog was much worse by our house than the other side of town and Paul and Nicholas got there by 10:00. They only missed part of the scavenger hunt through the store, but were able to do the woodworking project with the rest of the class. He came home with a new Home Depot apron, a wood fire truck and a certificate. He is very excited to show grandpa (a Home Depot employee in Kentwood) his handiwork.

Nicholas and the fire truck he built at Home Depot.

February 21, 2007 - Weigh In!

I had to take Sam in for another weigh in on Wednesday the 21st. This time he gained 6 ounces in 5 days, so he is up to 8 pounds 12 1/2 ounces. That is a significant improvement. He is still several ounces short of having regained his birth weight. They like to see them have regained this weight by 2 weeks of age and Sam is now 4 weeks old. We still have to be very particular about how many feedings he gets a day, and that they are good feedings. We don't have to weigh in next week, but the doctor requested that we move his 2 month appointment up to 6 weeks so we can continue to keep a close eye on his weight gain and make sure he keeps gaining ground.

February 17 & 18, 2007 - New Pictures of Sam!

On the 16th, we took Sam back into the doctor to be weighed. We still need to get him back up to birthweight. Well, as of Friday the 16th, he had only gained 2 1/2 ounces since the Thursday before. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 1/2 ounces. This is still not where we needed to be. However, at least he is gaining weight and not losing. After questions about his schedule, his diaper history (wet/dirty) etc, I was told to keep doing what I was doing as far as his feeding schedule and that I could continue to let him sleep longer at night (yeah, I was afraid they were going to say I needed to wake him up to eat). If he became lethargic or anything I would need to supplement with a bottle of formula, but otherwise I could continue as I was doing and bring him back next week to be weighed again.

Sam is definately still a content baby and rarely complains about anything. He has noticeably more awake time and therefore, is eating better at each feeding. Allison has started to become a bit more difficult to deal with, as she is now constantly crawling in his chair and many other things. She likes to touch him, try to crawl on top of him, and has been seen ripping his mini-boppy pillow right out from under him. We have to take Sam with us where ever we go in the house as the only time she can't get to him is when he is in his bassinet. I am sure this will pass, as she is probably coming to realization that he is staying, and she is fighting for position in the family. We are just having to make sure that if we aren't holding the baby, that we give her plenty of cuddles and hugs.

Sam is hanging out in his rocking chair.With the cold weather, Sam likes to wear his hat to help him warm up after his bath. After bathtime, he gets all bundled up and relaxes with his "pipey".

Sam looks around from a new vantage point, his mini-boppy pillow. We bought this for when Allison was born and the pillow has a pink side and a green side. It is very important to Nicholas to make sure that Sam always lays on the green side because he is a boy.

February 16, 2007 - A night at the pool!


Earlier in the season Cory and Catherine discovered that East Kentwood High School has open swimming on Friday nights. They have been going quite frequently with Shawn and Erin (and Owen and Joshua of course). Anyway, we got together to celebrate the January and February birthdays in the family and they invited us to take the kids swimming. The kids had so much fun. They have a wading pool that is great for the them to have a little freedom. Here are some of our moments.

Allison gets a face full...getting a little too confident I think.
Having fun!

Joshua shares his ball with Uncle Paul, Nicholas and Gabrielle.

(Sorry...we can't see your face Joshua).

Gabrielle enjoys the water.

Owen goes fountain surfing.

Nicholas checks out the fountain too.

Nicholas and Gabrielle.

Owen spent a large part of the evening just pushing himself around the pool backward.

Gabrielle pushes Allison around in Joshua's floatie.

February 15, 2007 - One for the baby book!

Just had to put this one down on paper because it really cracked me up. I know from past experience with Gabrielle and also, from talking with friends--- that it is quite normal for younger children to express quite an interest in the nursing process. We have just told them all that Sam eats "mama's milk". Allison, in particular, is always reminding me of this fact, whenever I am feeding Sam. So, I am sitting in the living room doing just that, and Allison walks into the room. She has a Little People dragon in one hand and a Little People horse in the other, she has each of them held up to her shirt and starts telling me "milk, milk". I just had to laugh. You'd think she would at least be trying to feed one of her baby dolls, but instead my daughter nurses her dragon and her horse.

February 14, 2007 - Valentine's Day

We try not to get into the whole "candy valentine's day" thing. Nicholas comes home with candy from preschool and we always know they will get spoiled by Grandma with candy too (Grandma's prerogative you know!). So, we usually try to get the kids a $5-$10 present instead. Papa usually does the valentine's day selections, and this year he found a couple great clearance items, so they ended up with 2 gifts to share between them all and they were a little bigger than usual.

Nicholas and Gabrielle open a "Lightning McQueen" game called: Tractor Tippin'

They love it....it is recommended for a little older children

but they play it very well with a few rule modifications that mama made.

They have to collect as many tractors as possible, without waking FRANK

the angry combine. If they wake Frank he sends anybody in his way

back to Start and takes one of their tractors away.

After Allison woke up from her nap we let them open present #2.

Papa got a great deal on the Little People Kingdom Castle.

It comes with a king, queen and dragon. Allison latched onto the dragon

right away and Nicholas took the king and Gabrielle took the queen.

Perfect, each of them got a character they were happy with and NO FIGHTING.

February 10, 2007 - A little time with my little brother!

Allison got the opportunity to have a little quality time with Papa and Sam the other day. Here is the proud big sister and her moment....

February 7, 2007 - A new hat!

As you have probably noticed, the tighter fitting hats are pretty popular these days. Anyway, Paul has been wearing one to work lately, as he works in a warehouse type building and it is often pretty cold, so most of his co-workers wear hats throughout the day. Well, Allison is pretty taken with his hat as well as hats in general and is often wearing her winter hat around the house. The other day, I picked up a few light weight cotton hats for Sam, so he could have one on in his car seat during this cold weather, without getting too overheated. Anyway, Allison saw his new hats and had a fit because she wanted to wear Sam's hat. I remembered that I had the same hats in pink when she was a baby. So I dug one out, and she was perfectly content wearing it around the house for half the day, saying "hat". It's a little small but she thinks she's pretty cool, just like her Papa! On a slightly different note, (sorry we didn't get a picture), Allison walks into my bedroom this afternoon saying "hat"....again, I looked over to find her with a pair of Gabrielle's Dora underwear on her head. The underwear was perfectly placed so each of Allison's pigtails was perfectly popping through one of the leg holes. (What a time for dead batteries in the digital camera).

February 6, 2007 - It's my due date, and I'm already almost 2 weeks old!

Here is a picture of our boy on his due date.... I just keep thinking that if I had carried him this far he most likely would have been close to 10 pounds. Thank you for induced labor. On Thursday the 8th, Sam did have his 2 weeks checkup. For the most part, everything is perfect, however, he has not yet regained his birth weight as he weighed in at only 8 pounds, 4 ounces. This did not surprise me in a way, as he has been a lot more interested in sleeping than eating and often sleeps 7 - 10 hours at night (not like a normal newborn as most of you know). Anyway, we have had to put him on a more scheduled eating schedule of every 2-3 hours during the day, but can still let him sleep one longer shift at night. Of course, trying to wake a newborn to eat is a difficult task. You may succeed in waking him up by changing his diaper, but getting his to say awake while he eats is a totally different undertaking. We weigh in again this week, and will see if there is an improvement, or something to be concerned about.