Celebrating Six Weeks and Dad's Birthday!

What a week! We started the week by celebrating Jim's birthday with a party! Brody had lots of fun getting to spend the day with Nanny, Bobo, Grandma, Uncle Neal, Jenny, Daddy, Mommy and Addisen! There were a lot of people to play with!

Uncle Neal and Jenny took Brody outside for some fun! It was more of a workout for Uncle Neal than Brody!

My mom made Addisen a matching hat and sweater! We were afraid that it might not fit since she is growing so fast - but it looks like she will at least get a couple of wears out of it!

This week has been a trying one for me. Yesterday I took Addisen to my work to see how much she was weighing (up to 10lbs 12oz already!). While I was there a few of the doctors commented on how "orange" she still was. So off we went to the hospital to get some labs drawn. It was heartbreaking to watch Addisen cry as they collected the blood from her. By the end of the day our doctor had called and said that her levels were the same as when she came home from the hospital - so we needed to do some more looking. Unfortunately the lab forgot to collect for one of the tests so we had to go back again today for labs. I took her back and this time instead of a heel poke she had to have blood drawn from her arms! I thought the heel was bad - but I had no idea what it would be like to watch your 6 week old baby suffer as they tried to find a vein in her arm! We heard back on the results today and the good news is that everything appears normal. So we are trying to figure out why her jaundice hasn't gotten any better. We are going to try giving her formula instead of breast milk this weekend to see if this will help things clear through her body. We will be back to the lab on Monday - so please pray that the levels improve and we won't have to continue this process!

Brody is still in love with his baby sister! Tonight he was sharing his toys with her (notice the octopus under her arm). He was so excited to pose for pictures with his baby sister and his toys!

Five Weeks

This week Addisen got to meet her Nanny (Jim's Mom) for the first time! We are so lucky to have her staying with us for a week. Brody was so excited to go to the airport and pick her up on Wednesday. He was so patient waiting for her to come off of her airplane (although at first he really wanted to go and get on her airplane).

Addisen celebrated her 1 month birthday this week! We celebrated by taking Brody to see the Yogi Bear movie at the local theatre. It was Jim's idea to take the two kids - and I have to tell you I was so nervous! Luckily Brody was very well behaved (probably helped that he ate 1/2 of the BIG bucket of popcorn) and Addisen slept through the whole movie.

Addisen is a little more active this week - but definitely still likes to sleep during the day. We have some good nights where we get 3 hours of sleep at a time and some nights of basically no sleep!

Brody has been out of daycare since last Thursday and enjoying every minute of being at home! We have been watching a lot of movies and playing a lot of games. He sure is happy to have his Nanny here!

Four Weeks Already!

When I was pregnant with Addisen four weeks seemed SO long when I was waiting for her due date! Now that she is here, four weeks has gone by way to fast!

On Monday I took Brody and Addisen back to my work to make sure that Addisen's jaundice was getting better. While we were there our doctor wanted to weigh Addisen because she looked bigger to her. Sure enough, in just four days Addisen had gained 10 ounces! She was up to 8lbs 15oz! I am sure by today she is well over 9lbs - this girl can put on the weight!

This week Brody had his "Winter Gala" at Daycare. So Addisen made her first appearance to the daycare she will soon be attending too! It was so fun to see how much Brody had grown since the last time they had a gala. During the last performance Brody clung to his teacher and hid from the audience, this time he stood next to the other kids and sang his songs (even with hand movements!).

We are still adjusting to life here in the house. Brody has started to go to daycare just Tuesday - Thursday so I can spend some extra time with him while I am off. It has been working out well, except on the days that Addisen decides to not sleep the night before! I am sometimes running on empty - but it is worth it to get to spend more time with my family!

This week will be exciting with Jim's mom coming to visit us! We are all excited for her to get to meet Addisen for the first time and spend time with Brody!

Three Week Portraits

Addisen and I set up for some portraits today. I really wanted to try to recreate some of the pictures we had taken of Brody when he was a month old. I was lucky enough to catch her with her eyes open for about 15 minutes and I think our session went pretty well! Here are just a few of my favorites!

We went back to my work yesterday to have Addisen weighed. She is definitely doing a good job of packing on the weight! She is up to 8lbs 5oz - that is 8oz more than when she was born! I think I can finally stop worrying about her eating schedule! She is still jaundice so we will be going back on Monday to see if it has gotten any better. If not then we will probably be going to the hospital for some more blood work. I am really hoping that she will be fine so I don't have to watch her get poked!

Jim and I have been laughing about how much our life has changed in the last few weeks. Brody had finally gotten to the stage where we were back to going out to eat and running errands whenever we wanted to. Now with Addisen joining us we are rarely out of the house and if we do leave it is on her schedule for no more than an hour or two. Our big Friday night consisted of grocery shopping, giving the two kids a bath and then watching tv on the couch! Oh how life has changed in the last 4 years!

Post Number 100!

We are starting off the new year as a family of 4! I thought it was fitting to update the look and name of the blog now that Addisen is sharing the spotlight with Brody! It all worked out perfectly since this is also my 100th post to the blog! It is crazy to think that I have been doing this pretty consistently for 3 years! Hopefully I will be able to continue it for at least the next 3!

My brother gave Addisen the cutest onsie for Christmas! Who new that Uncle Neal could pick out such cute girl clothes! She definitely has her Uncle wrapped around her finger already!

Brody is obsessed with Toy Story (especially Buzz Lightyear). He got the wings for Christmas from Uncle Neal and then got the belt, binoculars and gun from Neal's friend Jenny. He is so funny wearing everything around the house - even pretending to fly! Oh what fun it is to be a 3 year old!

Addisen has been doing well. This week she has finally started to wake up for about 15 minutes at a time. This is a big improvement from last week when we were lucky to see her eyes for 5 minutes! We went to see the doctor last week to make sure everything was okay with her. She was very difficult to wake up to eat and I was worried that she may not be eating enough. But to my surprise she was back to her birth weight! So we stopped worrying so much about staying on a schedule and have let her decide when she wants to eat. Things are much easier now for both her and I! The nights are going much better then with Brody! She typically sleeps 3-4 hours at a time and then we are up for about 30 minutes.

Brody started back at daycare this week. I think it is good for him to have some more stimulation, but it was difficult for me to see him go again (everything seems difficult for me right now - guess the hormones are still going a little crazy). Jim was taking him to daycare yesterday morning and Brody said to him "Dad, I'm going to miss my little sister today." What a great big brother!

We hope you all have had a great start to 2011!