Last week of maternity leave

I thought this was a creative gift idea! We received this from some of Tobin's customers.

Just a quick update while both babies are asleep!
Tanner is doing great! He is really turning into the funniest little character! He seems to have adjusted to his sister being around and even checks on her from time to time. He loves to play in her room and would especially like to hang in her crib as shown.
Kinsey is doing well. Last night she slept for four hours straight without waking up! WhoooHooo! She has been a happy baby overall and only seems to fuss when hungry. She does; however, prefer the real thing as opposed to a bottle, so this will be quite the learning curve when I go back to work. She hasn't taken to the binkie quite yet either, so next week may be tough! I am OK with her not wanting a binkie, but she likes to use me as a pacifier and that simply cannot continue. I am worried about how I will pump while at school since I have six classes straight, and how Kinsey will do without me. I wish money wasn't the driving the decision, but I must return to teaching on September 29th. Tobin's work schedule changed just a little bit which will allow him to help me get ready in the morning and out the door with both babies and all of their stuff, plus mine. I may have to get up at 4:45 am in order to leave the house by 6:30, but I've gotta do what I've gotta do to get to work on time! Tanner, for one, is used to sleeping in, so this will be an adjustment on many levels. I sure wish I could stay home with my babies. I have really enjoyed my time with them, even though it was frustrating and tough at times. It will break my heart to leave them on Tuesday morning for sure

Kinsey's 1st road trip was this past weekend. We attended Tobin's family reunion about three hours from here. That was also Tanner's 1st road trip last year! I will blog about that soon and attach pictures of our events. It was a quick, but family-filled weekend!

My little boy

Tanner is developing into quite the entertainer with his quirky expressions and silly faces. To get the full effect, click on the picture to enlarge the photo collage.

Another health update

As I've mentioned, at two weeks old, Kinsey's doctor noticed that her breathing was irregular at times and her chest/belly would rise and fall in a way that seemed abnormal. It didn't happen all the time and I couldn't determine if it was related to any certain time of day, fully belly, or any other pattern. The x-ray showed nothing and the doctor decided it must still be transitional breathing. Well, at one month old, she was still doing it. I called and made the doctor aware of that and she decided to make Kinsey an appointment with a cardiologist the very next day.

Poor lil' girl was hooked up to an EKG and then she had an echocardiogram. The doctor listened to her heart, her head, her back, and belly. He decided that she DID have exaggerated breathing, but it was NOT related to anything vascular. He checked for an enlarged heart, murmurs, all four chambers, valves, aorta...everything checked out fine. So that is excellent news, but still leaves us with the question of. "What is it then?" His recommendation was that if she is still doing this one month from now, then we need to see a pulmonologist for further testing. Since it doesn't seem to bother her, we're hoping she just grows out of this.

We did find out that baby girl now weighs 9 lbs and 11 ounces!!!

Kinsey's nursery

In keeping with the "camo" theme of this family, Little Miss Kinsey's room ended up being a little more pink that I planned or wanted. I still like it though and hope she does too someday.

The letters are great, aren't they? My sister, Tricia, bought and painted these simply using the pattern on the bedding set. Then she hung them with the 'baby girl' ribbon. You would think that they came custom with the bedding! I just love them!

The awesome antique piece is a 5th generation-Elliott-wardrobe that most recently belonged to Tobin's maternal grandmother. Tobin's mom painted it white and his dad reinforced it and put two bars inside on which to hang clothing, rather than one. So far, Tanner finds this piece to be a great place to play! He opens the door and drops toys inside which fall to the carpet and he digs them out from underneath.

The crib belonged to my sister and Kinsey's cousin Griffin used it in Alabama. The changing table on the end is handy and the drawers beneath that are great for storage.

My mom has had the rocker for years and Tobin's mom found the dresser at a garage sale!

Last, but not least, TED the bear is a gift from Aunt Cindy. Tanner has been identifying body parts on the bear and himself as we learn eyes, ears, nose...Kinsey just finds Ted comfy!

Big T and Little K's health updates

When we left the hospital, Kinsey had dropped from 7 lbs 9 oz down to 7 lbs 3 oz. That is typical and nothing to worry about. Even though they brought her to my room every three hours, and she nursed like a champ for 15 minutes on each side, my milk had not come in. Everything else checked out fine with the pediatrician's evaluation. She noted the "stork bites" on her eyelids and the "angry mark" above the bridge of her nose. Big brother had the exact same birth mark between his eyebrows and it went away before he was one. Overall, the doctor said she was long, petite, and very healthy.

Her 1st pediatrician appointment was 48 hours after leaving the hospital. Her weight was down to 6 lbs 15 oz and the doctor wasn't necessarily worried, but hoped that turned around soon.

The scary part of that visit was that she did send us directly to a blood draw due to Kinsey's coloring. I hadn't personally noticed it, but Daddy had. Her doctor suspected jaundice. On a bilirubin scale of ten, Kinsey had 11.2. Therefore, we just needed to put her in the natural sunlight, through a window or door, for ten minutes on each side. We did this for two days.

Her next appointment was at two weeks. Kinsey is in the 75% for length, but only 25th percentile for weight. We discussed a lot of things, but the main concern was the fact that you could visibly see her chest rise and fall when she was lying on her back. With everything that I had seen Tanner go through, this didn't alarm me. The doctor, however, sent her straight over to have a chest x-ray! She didn't voice it at the time, but they were looking for an enlarged heart, which would lead to congestive heart failure, or a heart murmur. Neither were found. So, the doctor said even though it is very uncommon, she might still be experiencing transitional breathing or getting used to oxygenated air. We were told to keep an eye on her and if anything changed, race her to the ER!!! Good grief, that ought to help me sleep at night!!! UGH!

Well, so far, so good, but she still had the rising and falling of her chest area when she breathes. Not all the time, but a lot. She has recently developed some baby acne on her lil' cheeks. The nurse said it was common around 4-5 weeks and was caused by the fluctuation of maternal hormones. She said we could try polysporin and if that didn't work, then mix it with hydrocortizone, but only twice per day or it might clog up the pores. Can you believe she'll be one month old tomorrow????

Tanner is doing just fine and adjusting more and more to "baby." His personality is really getting so cute and funny! He also had an appointment at the same time with the same pediatrician as Kinsey. His height was 32" and weight almost 26 lbs. This was an appointment that I had dreaded for 15 months. He had several immunizations that day, but there was one that I had prayed about. I even prayed when they put the needle in his lil' thigh. He got his MMR shot. I just prayed that God would allow it to only help him and not cause anything negative in his body now or in the future.

Tanner meets Kinsey

I have so much to get caught up on concerning blogging, but so little time with two free hands with which to do so!

Our hospital stay was so very different this time. First of all, Kinsey was with us the whole time we were in Labor and Delivery. She even nursed for 30 minutes while there! Delivery was WAY more painful with her. I can only assume that it was because she was 2.5 pounds heavier and three inches longer. Once we got a room, she was brought to me every three hours for nursing 15 minutes on each side. Tanner never was in my hospital room. Friends and family that visited were able to not only see her, but hold her. That was nice since only two visitors were allowed, per day, to see Tanner in the NICU. I had to have two shots this time before I left the hospital with her. One was the MMR shot that they give 15 month old babies. The other was a combo immunization for diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough).

On the second day in the hospital, Tobin brought Tanner up to meet his new baby sister. We wanted it to be just family for this special occasion. It did not go as planned. Tanner did not want to meet her and proceeded to throw a pretty good fit. I have no idea if babies Tanner's age can experience a jealousy, but that was exactly what it appeared to be. He would barely even look at her and cried huge, crocodile tears. It was heart-breaking. Ever since then, I have made it a mission of mine to make sure he does not feel "second" in any way. NO one is taking his place in my heart!

Once we were home with our new baby girl, Tanner showed very little curiosity or interest in her for about two days. Then, for whatever reason, he wandered over to her Pack n Play and peered over the edge. He did this a few more times in the next couple of days. He even seemed a little frustrated that he couldn't get an eyeball on her when she was up in her crib. Every time he would walk into our bedroom, he would beeline it to the bassinet and peer over the edge. Progress!

In the next day or so, I found "gifts" in the bassinet or the Pack n Play. He had dropped one of his favorite kitchen toys, the lid to the blender, down into the bassinet!!! Luckily she wasn't in there as it might have done a real number on her! Then, I found a book in the Pack n Play. He had dropped it in there for her, I presume! Very sweet, but potentially dangerous!

He now follows me into her room when I change her diaper and checks on her periodically throughout the day. He knows the word "baby" and has tried to say it. When she cries, he either completely disregards it, or shows concern; but, he does NOT join in on the crying anymore. He also stares at her with interest when she is in her car seat next to him in the truck. I have seen him try to touch her foot and pat her belly. He will probably be too rough with her at first and we'll have to teach him the word "gentle" for sure!

He is such a happy kid that I knew he would come around. It was just hard to watch him be so sad at the hospital.