Siblings Love

Brian just loves to hold Lilah! Luckily, she adores him, so she puts up with the strangling...ahem...holding, which means I get good pictures of the two of them!

Brian has also been really into his play doctor bag lately. His favorite patient is, of course, his baby sis.
Oh boy, she's gonna get him someday!!

Lilah, 6 Months

Oh how I have been avoiding this post! 6 months already?! I know it's cliche, but it just doesn't seem possible.

Lilah continues to be a joy at 6 months. She smiles easily and laughs often. She has (knock on wood) improved somewhat in the car, but still has her days. She is a snuggler and a cuddler. She LOVES her big brother. He is the funniest guy on earth. And in spite of himself, he loves her like crazy too! He struggled for awhile when he realized she was staying, but he's gotten over it and is really enjoying his role. He love making her laugh!


Lilah is (and has been for awhile) rolling both ways, scooting wherever she wants to go, turning full circles on her stomach and sitting unsupported for quite a long time without toppling over. Just when I think she's getting the hang of plopping over gracefully, she tips backwards without warning and bops her her. So we still have to watch her! I don't think crawling and pulling up are far off. God help us!

Lilah is still a pro nurser and eats all that I have most days. She is an eater in general. We have moved through all of the cereals and veggies and are onto fruits. She gets to try pears tonight! She has a routine when it comes to eating. She makes an awful face at first and the proceeds to eat every last bite. We've even moved to 2nd foods for lunch because she is such a hungry girl! We added lunch last week when it occurred to me that she had been fussy for a few days. I had a feeling she might be hungry. Yep! And it wasn't long before we realized she would easily eat double what we were offering her, and thus made the switch to 2nd foods.

All that eating makes her quite the chunk! I love it that way!! Her rolls are just adorable. She is adorable in general if I do say so myself!

We visited the doctor today for her 6 month appointment. Her stats are as follows:

Head:17 inches
Height: 27 inches, 89th percentile
Weight: 17 lbs, 14 oz, 83rd percentile

So, yeah, a chunk indeed!

Lilah was NOT a fan of the nurse or the doctor today. She was a crying mess as soon as the nurse touched her and threw a fit when the doc touched her too. He said she's just advanced as stranger fear is more of a 9 month skill. Ha! He also said he thinks she will be an early talker because she "just has that look about her." We'll take it! We've been through enough talking woes with her big brother!!

I am so sad that our baby is already 6 months old! But I can't wait to see her continue to grow and develop all the same. Happy 6 month birthday, baby girl!

Lilah's chair picture, 6 monthsAnd just to compare, Brian's chair picture, 6 months

Kiss

Just a little kiss...

Just Busy

We're still here, just busy.

We bought this...
And we close on the 13th of September!

Jon and Teri moved home and will be renting our current house once we move!

So we've been packing, and meeting with the realtor, and the inspector, and the bank.

School is also starting. Brian had his first play date Tuesday. I was there with him and he did okay. He still thinks he can do whatever he wants there. I have hope that it will work out, but not a ton of it. Next Tuesday he goes to a play date without me. The following Tuesday is the first real day of school. Pray.

Speaking of prayer, Lilah's baptism is soon. Kay made the most BEAUTIFUL dress from my graduation gown. I can't wait for Lilah to try it on! I have only seen pictures so far! I hope that it will be a special day for our family, just like Brian's was. I loved his baptism. And especially his "Lion King" moment.
I hope I look that skinny for Lilah's baptism. I remember feeling really fat at Brian's. According to this picture, not so much!

Speaking of fat...
Are you kidding me????????? My baby girl already weighs over 13 pounds.

And this one...
Well, he's not fat, just big. He's the tallest in his class as school by far and weighed in a 40.5 lbs last night. I had not really lifted him in about 10 weeks and now that my restrictions are lifted...whoa! I can't believe I was carrying him around pregnant!

I love me some big babies!

Good, But Hard

Adjusting to life with two children has been interesting! I am still not feeling 100% and that doesn't help. I don't recall how long night sweats last, but I can tell you I am ready for these hormones to regulate so I can wake up dry. It sounds like I am potty training myself LOL! My milk supply also doesn't help in that department as I have wayyyy too much for Miss Lilah to handle. This morning at 6:30a.m. I informed Shawn I was going to die if didn't pump in the next 3 minutes. He hopped out of bed and took Lilah so I could do so. Good Shawn!

I did start driving again yesterday, so I feel like we have regained some independence. Unfortunately I have to use the stairs to get to and from the car, so trips will be limited. And I honestly don't where I would go alone with these two right now. Especially when I can't lift Brian or Lilah in her car seat for another 3 weeks.

Brian continues to love on and dote upon his baby sister.

But he is still feeling insecure at times and trying to find his place. This results in some major 'tude.


(My former students can tell you how well I deal with eye ball rolling. Not well!)

He has become much louder, which I could do without and he has had at least one melt down per day for the past several days. Not tantrums really. Meltdowns...in which he is reduced to a sobbing puddle on the floor and can't gain composure. It's pathetic and I feel really sorry for him. However, I am at a loss for what to do for him other than just continue loving him and giving him as much positive attention as possible.

Lilah is getting big! She eats a lot and has many, many fat rolls. She is in size 1 diapers already (not newborn) and 0-3 month clothing fits much better than the newborn clothing at this point. In fact I went ahead and packed the newborn things away. So sad.

She is more alert each day (and sometimes for hours at a time in the middle of the night)!

I know that she will figure out her own schedule soon and I think that will help me out immensely. She's also trying to find her place in our world.

We continue to have great help. I look forward to a time when I can handle it all myself, but right now I am very grateful for my family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and former students who have all pitched in.

School starts very soon, and I am nervous about how that will go. I will have to figure out a way to do my job with two kiddos in the office and Brian is going to start going to school-yet another adjustment for him. I know it will be good for him and he will enjoy it though. We continue to work through potty training issues in hopes that he will be fully trained by the time school starts. We went to the Open House last weekend and he was so excited to go and wear his backpack! He even peed on the potty right away when I told him he had to to be able to go to school. I really hope he cooperates at the preschool. He stands to gain so much from attending!

Moving Right Along

Lilah is growing like crazy. She was over 9 lbs when mom and I weighed her on Tuesday (2 weeks old). Just like when Brian was a baby, you can literally see the weight being added to her little face, legs and arms. She is going to be a chunk just like he was. I love fat babies!!

She is so strong too. She continues to raise her head up during tummy time. She grabs for things..my hair, the shower curtain (when I lay her on the bathmat so I can go potty!), her brother's hand. She is also very alert and is becoming more aware of her surroundings. She loves the ceiling fans, her mobile, studying people's face, etc. It 's so much fun to watch her little mind develop.
Brian is making strides right along with her. Although he seems to have had an oral regression. This week alone I have caught him with money, paper clips, marbles and my hair bands in his mouth. Definitely something to watch.

On the positive side though, his speech and understanding of speech is improving by leaps and bounds. He is obsessed with the movie "Cinderella" and asks to watch it over and over. He calls it, "Rella." He's so cute when he watches it. He mimics the mice and even dances around when they are making her dress. He's dancing a lot now. And singing like crazy. He just seems to want to interact more in general and its' so exciting to see.

Yesterday we had visitors on the way, so I unlocked the doors before sitting down to nurse. When they knocked I sat on the couch calling, "Come in! Come in!" They never did, so I asked Brian to answer the door. He did! His doing things like this all the time now. He'll grab my phone for me and my water when asked. Child labor is a beautiful thing!! What was even cooler about the door incident was that later Mom was knocking on the door and Brian at on the couch calling, "Come in! Come in!" Hahahaha!!

I'm seeing him struggle a bit with having Lilah here, but overall he's doing remarkably well. He is still not happy that I'm not putting him to bed, and he seems to be a bit more emotional over things in general. Yesterday he stubbed his toe and had an absolute fit for waaayyy longer than he normally would have. He's also very tired though as he's not napping at all these days.

He also has a harder time with people leaving right now. Whitney leaving was a huge problem the other day. He was devastated! Maybe he sensed that she would be gone for a long while? It's amazing to me that he knows her even though she's only in town two or three times a year. They have a special bond that I LOVE!!



He's still doing so well with Lilah though, like I said. He asked to hold her several times a day, runs to check on her when she cries and still loves feeding her a bottle. He is very interested in nursing and often says, "Lilah eat Mama. Ha ha!" Too cute. And an easy explanation for the return of his oral fixation.

Another example of his acute and sudden awareness of the world around him is that yesterday when Tracy (Max's mom) visited, he asked her over and over, "Where is Max?" He was very insistent. Max is away at camp for 3 weeks and he was very upset to not have Max here when Tracy was. He also asked to go swimming, which is something he has done with Max and Tracy twice since Lilah has been here. His memory is definitely improving and he's able to vocalize it, which is awesome!

I'm trying really hard to give Brian as much Mommy time as possible. One of his favorite games is "tickle monster" and he asks to play quite a bit. It's kind of a strange request to someone on the outside since it's a game played in our bed. He'll come over and try to pull me off the couch and says, "Mama. Bed." Ha ha! He loves it though, so I try to play when I can!

Fun Pics

Big and small...

A perfect frame...

Big Baby Love

Just some pictures and stats. Typing one handed is no fun.

Lilah's 1 week stats...

Weight: 8 lbs 5.6 oz...66th percentile...pedi said this is the biggest jump he's seen in the last 2o newborns! Yay for good milk!

Length: 21 inches...88th percentile

Head: 14 inches...55th percentile

Heel prick results were fine on Monday. No more jaundice! Yay again for good milk!

Incredible

This week has been incredible. That's the only word I have to describe it. Lilah's birth was surreal. We were bumped back by many, many, many emergency situations. We waited forever to finally go into the OR. We were even wheeled into the hallway at one point only to be sent back because of another emergency! A procedure that was supposed to happen at 3:30p.m. didn't begin until around 7:30p.m. It was beyond frustrating. We tried really hard to keep it in perspective. Bad things were happening to the other families. The worst thing that was happening to us was that I had not eaten since 6:30a.m. Not the end of the world!

By the time I was finally in the OR getting my spinal/epidural mix I couldn't even believe it was finally happening. Everything went very fast. I remember feeling very nauseous several times during the surgery, but otherwise it wasn't bad. The anesthesiologist was amazing! He kept me very comfortable and even took pictures of Lilah as she emerged from my belly. The doc was hilarious! He even made sure to tell us he had his text book ready before he started cutting. Great!!

I remember the OR was very bright and almost seemed futuristic. Shawn was too funny in his scrubs! The nurse made sure to tell him to leave his clothing on, as many Dad's strip down completely and put on the paper scrubs. Not pretty! He and I both thought this was hi-lar-ious! Could have been all the waiting...

The surgery was quick and painless and it was just amazing to see her for the first time. I was panicking because she didn't cry right away, but Shawn said, "hold on they are just suctioning her," and before I knew it there was her holler!!


They took Lilah to my left to weigh her and get her cleaned up. Shawn went with her at my insistence and kept me posted while taking pictures. I was crying and asking all kinds of worrisome questions...how many toes, how many fingers, etc. It didn't hit me until she was born how terrified I had been that something would be wrong. It is amazing to have gone through all that we went through with Brian and then to follow it with a perfect birth this time around. What a relief.

Our second huge relief came the next afternoon. Father Jeff had come by right after we arrived in post-op the night before to bless Lilah's ears in preparation for her hearing screening. He was quite proud of himself actually because he got to hold Miss Lilah before anyone-even my mom! He won't let her forget that, I'm sure! We were very grateful to have him with her in her first hour of life. Not many healthy babies get that kind of opportunity.



I had told the night nurse that if there was any possible way to go ahead and screen her hearing without me knowing, that would be their best best in keeping me calm. She said the would probably wait until Thursday morning because they like to wait 24 hours, so I just assumed that would be the case. I intentionally did not turn in the paperwork for the screener because as much as I wanted it over with, I wanted to make sure she was fluid free to avoid a false positive.

Mid afternoon on Wednesday, and audiologist from Children's came in the room and very nonchalantly informed me that the screening had already been completed and Lilah had passed. I burst into tears. I'm not sure she was expecting my reaction, and I'm not sure anyone in the room was either. All I can say is that I experienced a tremendous relief that Lilah's hearing is okay and a huge amount of grief that Brian's truly could have been prevented (and is almost certainly not genetic) all in one breath. It was a lot to take in. It still is. Shawn was not there, so I had to tell him later over the phone. He was also very emotional. It's very hard to explain all that we have been through with Brian. I think that those who were with me when the news was delivered were offered a glimpse of that and I am grateful to them for having been there with me and for meThe emotions continued as the week progressed. Thursday was the icing on the cake. As Whitney already described in her previous post, Brian's love for Lilah has been so evident and so overwhelming this week that is has just been breath taking. No one could have prepared me for how wonderful he has been. He is truly the best big brother I could have hoped for and Lilah is very lucky to have him.

Every nano second that I spent worrying about him and how he would take all of this was for naught. I should have trusted in my child rather than the unkind words of strangers and well-intentioned, but sometimes upsetting words of friends and family. I should have heard the reassuring words instead. Lesson learned. One strangers words stick out to me. "I love my children and they love me, so they love each other. That's just the way it is." Yep, that's just way it is. And I couldn't be more proud.

My recovery has not been easy, but it has been much easier than my recovery with Brian. I feel really great. I am still generally "out of it" a lot of the time as I am continuing to take pain meds to keep feeling great. I have begun to stretch out the times between doses though, and I have been still feeling really great. Sleep is still a major issue, but I can live it that if it's the worst thing I have to deal with.

As always the support of our family and friends has been overwhelming and very much appreciated.

We will never be able to appropriately thank our sister in law for her around the clock care of Brian this past week. Teri, we are forever in your debt and we love you. Your care of our little man was the most precious gift you could have given us last week. You will be, and already are a wonderful godmother to Lilah. Both of our children are very lucky to have you in their lives. We all are.

My mother gave up most of her sleep last week so that Shawn could stay at home and get some and so that I could actually sleep at the hospital. (Shawn's snoring had me up most of the first night.) She was happy to do it-and to get the bonding time with Miss Lilah-but it was still a major amount of sleep lost that can never be regained.

Our friends and family have visited, called, sent text messages and emailed-always checking in to see what we needed and that we were okay. Thank you!

It's hard to believe that Lilah will be a week old tomorrow. Brian has continued his mature and appropriate behavior in each and every interaction he has had with her thus far. I know it won't always be perfect, but for now it is, and I'm enjoying it.