Fourth of July 2012

We had a great Fourth of July this year!  It started with one of my favorite activities.  Dressing my kids up and taking pictures of them.  It is so much fun to have a girl already.  This was my first holiday picture set with a girl.  I see lots of dresses, ribbons and bows in our future.

I love the colors of this holiday.  Vibrant, bold, and very happy.  All of the kids were excited to wear their outfits.  Even Macie was grinning from ear to ear.  Charlie and Ephram each got to pick their shirt color out this year, and I thought it was pretty good that they chose different colors.

Ephram saw Macie get some special picture time and wanted some of his own.  He's really cute, so of course I did as he wished.  Someday he won't like to have his picture taken anymore, so I'm grabbing all the pictures I can while he is compliant.  He wanted to pose for me.  It is the first time I have seen him strike a pose and hold it until he hears the click of the shutter.  The boy cracks me up.

After pictures we went downstairs for breakfast and another favorite tradition of ours - the SyFy channel's Twilight Zone marathon.  This year it was only one day, but I suppose that one day of Twilight Zone is probably enough.  Our kids are even already trained to enjoy the show.  (Ephram spent the first two days of his life watching that year's New Year's marathon with me in the hospital, so it should be programmed in him.)

Andy and Ephram went to the grocery store to secure some food items we needed for grilling.  Ephram also chose a balloon.  I don't have a picture of Ephram with it, but I do have one of Charlie.  Balloons are a fun holiday thing in our family.

After lunch, it was time to let the kids play.  We love living on a cul-de-sac.  All we have to do is go outside and the entertainment is right there.  Ephram and Charlie ran around for hours that afternoon.  Did I mention it had been rainy and cold for at least a week prior to the holiday?  That day we woke up to sunny, almost 80 degree weather... perfect timing.  I took Macie out for awhile too, but have no picture proof of any of the outside festivities.  Andy took some pictures with his phone, but those are not available to me at this moment.  Maybe I will add them later.  I came in to give Macie a nap.  She is cute all the time, even when asleep.

Around 6, we came in to prepare our dinner.  Most of the neighbors eat in the cul-de-sac, but we find that it is a bit too much to juggle with our small ones.  So we always come inside to eat and then go back out when we are done.  This year Andy made us excellent burgers and hot dogs.  He had a little helper.

His helper was also holding the door for everyone as they went in and out.  Anytime anyone is going anywhere, Ephram races to the door or gate to be the first one there so that he can hold it open for the person.  He is the most chivalrous toddler I know.

The fireworks had been going all day.  Actually, they had been going for about 4 days.  But they really started to kick up to a new level around 7pm.  Macie made it very clear from the beginning that she would have nothing to do with it.  However, Ephram showed interest in them for the first time.  (I spent the last two years watching them from the windows with Ephram, where they aren't as loud!)  So Andy, Charlie and Ephram headed back outside to join in the fun.  Macie and I found the central most part of the house and did a lot of nursing.  I turned up the Twilight Zone to mask the noise that I could. This year I saw very few of the fireworks.  I always love how it works in Washington.  If you watch from our bedroom window, it is like seeing 20 fireworks shows all at once.  Oh well, there will be many more years!

When the kids came in we watched the New York and Seattle fireworks shows that NBC had aired, and I had DVR'd.  The kids thought they were pretty cool too.  And it was late, so we went to bed.  It was, as always, a fun and relaxing day.

The next day Ephram was a very tired kid.  He slept on the couch until lunch time!

Half Birthday Fun

We celebrated Charlie and Ephram's half birthdays at the end of June.  Charlie turned six and a half on June 9th and Ephram turned two and a half on June 30th.

We started the celebration with a fun trip to Target.  Both of the boys had their gift cards from Grandma and had a fun time picking out their toys.  Then we went to McDonald's for dinner.  If there's one thing that I know about my boys, it's that they are in love with McDonald's.  Since it was their half birthday night, we even let them each have a Happy Meal.  They were in heaven.

Then we came home and started in on the official event.  Each of them had a couple of gifts to open up.   Charlie was very excited to get a Lego Captain America, that fits together with the Iron Man he already had.  He also received Toy Story Operation.  Ephram got a LeapFrom Tag Jr with a Cars book and a new Thomas train with some tracks.  Both of the kids were thrilled and ready to play.

Charlie decided to put his bow on as a decoration for himself.  Ephram, of course, had to copy his brother.  They both make cute gifts.

Then we went and played, and played, and played and played.  We had so much fun with all of their new things.  After a couple of hours, we moved to the kitchen for the half birthday desserts.  The boys each wanted different things, so it was double desserts this year.  Ice cream sundaes (Charlie's choice) and sugar cookies (Ephram's choice.)

Charlie finished up his Captain America while he was waiting for everyone to be done eating.

We were all having so much fun and didn't want the night to end yet.  So the boys grabbed their pillow pets and blankets and settled in on the floor in front of the TV.  They both voted to watch Cars 2 as their half birthday movie.  Charlie said he wanted to watch Meet the Robinson's after.  Alas, he passed out about 20 minutes before the end of Cars 2.  Ephram made it all the way through the movie, and three episodes of whatever was playing on Disney Junior channel afterward.

I love the half birthday tradition.  It is fun to celebrate the kids' lives more than once a year!

Macie at Three Months

Three months have passed already!  We had another month of big changes.  Macie lost her "newborn" look to us.  She became social.  She started to move away from bottle feeding.  She had a middle-of-the-night emergency that led to a 911 call.  She grew.  A lot.  And while I am fully aware that she is still the size of some babies at birth, she looks humongous to me.

Macie is the sweetest, most precious baby girl.  She continues to be a great baby and I am so grateful for her health every day.  I can't help but remember how we started, and feel lucky at the outcome we were dealt.

Stats:

Chronological Age - 3 months

Adjusted Age - 1 month

Height - 21 inches

Weight - 9 pounds, 8 ounces

*There is no 3 month well child visit, and Macie is doing so well that her doctor felt a check-up unnecessary.  I attempted to weigh and measure her on my own this month. 

Milestones:

• First fat rolls (on thighs) - 11 weeks
• Smile in response to a smile - 11 weeks
• Coo - 11 weeks
• Put weight on her legs when held in standing position - 12 weeks
• Roll from back to tummy - 12 weeks

At three months, Macie was wearing 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers.  (Both up from month two.)

Notable Experience:

At the beginning of the month, we had a middle of the night emergency that resulted in a 911 call.  Macie had a very bad reflux moment while she was sleeping on her back.  She spit up so much, through both her mouth and her nose, that she ended up inhaling a considerable amount.  I woke up to her making horrible noises as she attempted to catch her breath.  This had happened in the past, and she had recovered after some intervention.  However, on this night she could not recover.  When she did start to breathe, she was only making very fast half breaths coupled with gulping noises.  She was essentially hyperventilating.  After 15 minutes of trying to assist her and suction her nose and mouth, she had not made any improvement.  She started to turn color, and we felt we had to call 911.

Their response was very fast, they were here in a couple of minutes.  They helped us make sure that Macie was okay.  Once she was clear of the spit-up we believed that she would be fine, and decided not to take an ambulance ride back to the hospital.  I held her for the rest of the night, and the following night, until we could get into her doctor and have her Zantac dosage evaluated.

Feeding:

For the first half of the month Macie continued to take all of her feedings via bottle.  She took expressed milk fortified with Neosure formula.  At the halfway point of the month she took six daily bottles of 75-80ml.

We began the transition to nursing on June 12th.  I started by nursing Macie every other feeding, with full bottles in between.  Her pediatrician felt that this would be a way for Macie to start the process of nursing without becoming so fatigued that she would fail to get enough milk.  What actually happened though, was that Macie would nurse very lazily and for a long time (20-30 minutes on each side.)  I believed that she was getting very little milk this way, and she was taking bottles of 90ml between sessions.  We did not seem to be making progress.

After consulting a friend with knowledge and experience, we started a new plan.  I nursed Macie for 10-15 minutes only on each side.  I would then pump for 15 minutes, (prior to this I pumped for 20 minutes 7-8 times a day to provide her milk.)  I followed this up with a bottle to supplement the milk that she received from nursing.  At first these supplements were quite large, 50-60ml.  By the final week of the month I was giving her supplements after only four of the feedings, instead of all eight.  And the bottles were only 40-45ml.  I used the size of the supplement she needed to determine her progress with breastfeeding.  I felt that we were making excellent progress, quickly.  At the end of the month I started pumping only 3 times a day and was thrilled when my supply seemed to maintain.

It was important to me to make the transition to nursing for three reasons.  First, pumping 7-8 times a day for 20 minutes, storing all of the milk, preparing all of the bottles, washing all of the dishes... was tiring, to say the least.  I needed to know that things were going to change because I was starting to get frustrated with the process after almost three months.  Second, my supply through pumping was starting to drop.  Where I used to be able to pull three ounces or more during every pumping session at the beginning of the month, I was starting to see amounts closer to two ounces.  I am very pleased that I have been able to provide Macie all of the milk that she has needed since birth.  I did not have the same experience with Ephram.  With Macie's prematurity, it was especially important to me to do what I could to provide the milk she required.  Third, I know that Macie must be my last baby and I crave the bonding and cuddling experience that I remember from nursing Ephram.  I wanted to have that one more time, with my little girl.  I refused to have that also taken away as one (hopefully) final effect of the pre-eclampsia.

Macie still takes Zantac at an increased dose of .5ml twice a day to treat her severe reflux.

Sleeping:

Macie continued with her excellent sleep patterns in the beginning of the month.  Once we started to transition to nursing she started waking a little more frequently overnight, which was fine with me as I no longer had to make a bottle to feed her or pump when she woke.  Macie sleeps for one four hour stretch and two to three three hour stretches overnight.  She sleeps in a co-sleeper by our bed in a single swaddle.  Her mattress is still inclined and we now sleep her on her side, using blanket rolls for support, to help with her reflux and prevent middle of the night 911 calls.

During the day Macie went from constant sleep to establishing 2-3 naps.  Depending on when our day starts, she usually takes one morning nap (2-3 hours) and one afternoon nap (3 hours.)  She naps in her carseat or her swing.

Favorite Activities:

• Playing with mommy and daddy
• Playing with Ephram and Charlie
• Cooing and smiling at everyone
• Sitting in the bouncy chair
• Sitting in the swing
• Tummy time
• Eating

Least Favorite Activities:

• Spitting up
• Being alone

Nicknames

Macie received her first real nickname this month - "May May".  It was extra special because Ephram invented it.  For those of you that know that Ephram has a speech delay, you may remember that he lacked most vowel sounds, including the long "A" sound.  Trying to say Macie was the first time we heard him use the long A.

Here are some pictures from Macie's third month.

Kindergarten, Done

Somehow we made it through a whole school year.

In many ways this year was a long one as Charlie adjusted to his environment,

Yet it flew by at the same time.

And now we have a first grader in the house!

A couple of days before the end of school, Charlie brought home a collection of the artwork he'd completed.  I was impressed by these two!

Charlie was super excited to decorate a card for his teacher.  I forgot to take a picture of the card, which had a drawing of Charlie and his teacher hugging.  I did remember to take a picture of the envelope, which I thought he did a good job on.

 Charlie was really excited to go to school on the last day.  This picture might not show that, but he had talked about the last day of school for a couple of weeks.  The day before the last day was their class party.  So he was still a little sugar-crashed the next morning.  :)

His teacher gave them each a cute little bear as a goodbye gift.  Charlie was excited to take a silly picture with it.

The next day was the last day for the rest of the school.  Charlie's class was invited back for the end-of-year parade.  Charlie flew the flag he'd created at the class party and carried a pinwheel.  

He likes being in parades.

 Overall, I think Charlie had a good year in Kindergarten.

Next year he may attend another school that is starting a program for autistic children.

Or maybe he'll be back in the same school.

Either way, first grade will be an experience too!

Cute Kovars

Ephram loves spray bottles.

We use them to spray his and Charlie's hair in the morning if they have bed-head.

Ephram loves it when I give him a turn.

He will spray something down and then come ask me for a paper towel to wipe it up.

He's my little cleaner in training.

He also loves to build Lego cities now.  This was one of his June creations.

Ephram loves to get a good snuggle in with his dad.

I'm pretty sure Andy loves these too.

Charlie got a $5 gift card from his Grandma.

He found these three Avenger themed items in the $1 section of Target.

And is proud to still have more than $1 left on the card.

Turns out he is pretty into the Avengers.

Ephram got a $5 gift card too. 

He picked out a truck.

It moves on its own.

It makes sounds.

Including the "beep beep beep" reverse sound.

When they want to, my boys can play well together.

But even I was surprised at the cooperation they exhibited in coloring this picture.

Progress, for sure.

And Charlie?

In May his class studied jobs.

They learned about all kinds of occupations that people have.

For the final assignment, they were to color in the person on this picture with their job choice.

Turns out that Charlie, of all of his choices, feels that being a candy maker is best.

M&M

Ephram has a favorite candy.

It has become a great tool for bribery around here.

It will slowly melt in his mouth.

 It might not do any melting at all if he chews it up with a few chomps and then swallows it.

So he can open his mouth wide to show that its gone, and ask for another.

After awhile, his tongue will turn brown.

 It's true.  His favorite candy melts in his mouth, not in his hand.

But he, he melts my heart.