10 months!

Adorable Adelyn is 10 months old.  She is such a delight.

She is pretty laid back overall, which is a wonderful quality, especially in second children.  She sleeps so well at night.  We are working on adjusting her day schedule.  Sometimes she wants one nap to be 3.5 hours and sometimes she wants a short nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  I feel like we are on the edge of dropping down to 1 nap but not quite there yet.  Either way, she is sleeping through the night and that is what I really care about!!!  Her attachment to her bunny has grown.  That is her comfort for sure!

She is cutting 3 teeth on top right now.  I think 2 have cut and one is close, but she doesn't like me to inspect them too often.  The two on the bottom that she cut at 6 months are getting bigger.  We have started her on some puffs and some yogurt bites.  She has had fun starting some solid finger foods at meal times, too.  She makes a mess, but it is adorable! ;)

This month she started clapping when anyone says, "yay!" or if Josh or I come home from work or class.  That makes us feel so loved!!  Plus it is so cute to see her little face light up!

She says, "Momma"  "Dada"  "Nonono" "Dooooooo" and "Uh oh."  (She doesn't always associate these with Mom & Dad yet, though.)  She makes lots of other random sounds, too.  She sings often when she is in her crib.  And her little laugh makes my heart swell!

This has been a tough month for her physically, but she is a little trooper.  We are so thankful she is well and back to her old self.

1 night in the hospital

 

We made it through the night!  Adelyn slept pretty well considering where we were.  She was a miserable baby yesterday and I was really thankful to not be alone in caring for her.  Even though there are certain aspects of being in hospital that are unfortunate (noises, lights, constant people in and out), I was happy to have other people helping me in caring for Adelyn.  By the time we went to bed, she was crying tears again.  So we were all hopeful that the worst was past.
 

She woke herself up with diarrhea several times, but not as often as I expected.  Around 1:30 a.m. I was awoken by something and I looked over at Adelyn.  She was sitting up (for the first time in 24 hours!), sucking her fingers, and staring at me.  She didn't look like she felt very well, but she gave me the sweetest look.  I enjoyed that moment with her, both of us watching each other for a bit before we went back to sleep.
 

This morning she was able to keep 4 oz of formula down along with all the IV fluid.  She is still having diarrhea, but it is slowing.  All of those factors, along with the fact that her blood showed a greater hydration level, allowed us to leave this morning.  We were released around 10:45 a.m.

Adelyn has been eating 2 ounces an hour since we have been home.  She has napped a little bit and desired to be held a whole lot.  But she is better.  She even crawled around for a few minutes! ;)

We let Hunter have chocolate milk for the first time.... he refused it!  HA!  He didn't like the way it looked.  We tried again the next day in a sippy where he couldn't see through it and he LOVED IT.  He said, "I didn't like chocolate milk yesterday, but today I do!!!"  Adorable. 

 We got to do a lot of cuddling, which made this momma happy! ;)

 When she woke up this morning, she was smiley, and actually crawled around her crib a little bit!! We knew she was better!!!

Here is our hospital room:

 YAY!  We get to go home!!!!

We are thankful for all the prayers and love as we have been caring for Adelyn!

9 months

 She is 9 months old!!!
Weight: 17 lbs, 2 oz (15th percentile)
Height: 26.5 inches (or 27.5?  Got different measurements by different doctors) (20th or 5th percentile)
Head: 17 1/2" (75th percentile)

 Adelyn sleeps 11-12 hours at night and 2-3 hours during the day.  She still has only 2 teeth, but 2 top teeth look like they could come through at any point.

 She no longer lets me put bows on her head.  If I sneak them on her, they may stay on for 5 minutes or so.  But as soon as she can, she likes to rip it off and then eat it of course.

 The doctor was particularly impressed by her use of her hands.  She has long fingers that she can manipulate well to pick up small objects.

 She still sucks on her two middle fingers for comfort.  She has become very attached to this bunny, too.  She loves to have it on her face when she falls asleep.

What a big girl...  She pulls to standing on anything she can get a grip on!  She loves to crawl and explore the whole apartment.  She is very playful!

hosptials

I am laying in a hospital bed next to my beautiful daughter as I type this.  She caught a terrible virus that got so bad through the week that by today she ended up dehydrated.  I brought her in to MoBap this afternoon after she didn't have a wet diaper for about 18 hours.  She was crying with no tears and throwing up every ounce of food she ate.

As I walked into the ER today, carrying my daughter who pressed her head into my chest, I felt the weight of helplessness.  I had tried everything I knew to make her better and knew she needed more help than I could give her.  I hated that I couldn't take it away for her.  But at the same time, I was overwhelmed with thankfulness for a place to go that can treat my dear daughter.  It is so nice to live in a time where modern medicine takes some of the pains and sicknesses we experience away.

We got a room shortly after arriving here and the doctors quickly determined Adelyn needed an IV.  They took some blood, took some urine, and started her IV fluids.  Later, they came in and said her hydration number was really low.  They began to prepare me to be admitted.  They gave her another hour of fluids and then said with how much she was losing through her diarrhea that they simply couldn't reverse the cycle of dehydration in a few hours.  We all felt more comfortable keeping the fluids going overnight.  So, she was officially admitted, and we got put into this fancy room with a bed for me, a couch, 2 recliners, as well as a crib.  Josh & Hunter came to visit when we got put into this huge room.  The four of us ate dinner together-- and the hospital food was actually amazing.

Adelyn is happily sleeping now.  It has been a long day.  I hope to get some rest but recognize that sleep in a hospital is a rare luxury.

Just 10 days ago, Adelyn had a VCUG (voiding cystourethrogram-- read about it here). She officially has the same thing Hunter did at her age.  She has Grade II-III reflux on one side.  Since she has already had 2 bladder infections, the doctor put her on antibiotics that she is to take every day for 9 months.  This will prevent further bladder infections.

So these past few weeks have been sort of miserable for her.  I hope the worst is over and we will be released from this hospital in the morning.

What has Hunter been up to?

Hunter, Hunter, Hunter.

I haven't written about him in a while!  This kid has the unique ability to be both the sweetest, most affectionate three year old I know one minute and then act like an unruly monkey the next.  Being three must be tough-- all these new things around you that you can't physically do or comprehend.  And then, of course, there are all the RULES.  He must feel constantly squelched by our insistance that he obey.  I can tell you that it isn't easy to raise a three year old.  Josh & I both feel the weight of trying to shape this little boy into a decent, well-mannered human who loves the Lord and seeks to help others.  But sometimes just making it through the day is a feat!  I have this image of lovingly teaching and encouraging my children to make good choices, while cuddling them on the couch and stroking their hair.   But in reality, some days it seems more like we are in a battle of wills in a wrestling ring.

Hunter is strong-willed.  He is bright and hungry to learn.  He can be so stubborn (and Josh & I know that he was really doomed to this, as both of us are stubborn!).  He is good at playing by himself and very imaginative.  He has started giving his toys unique voices and creating story lines as he plays.  He likes to set his own pace and sometimes tells me to "go away" when he is in the middle of play.  At other times he loves including Josh and me in his games.

Hunter loves to wrestle his daddy, which usually turns into an hour of burying daddy and then squealing with delight when he busts out of the pillows and blankets.  They also do a lot of sword fights and hide-n-seek.  With me, Hunter likes to build train tracks, read books,  and enjoy "baby sister" as he calls her.  We also like to cuddle when Hunter slows down enough to sit still!  He likes to twirl my hair and press his cheek to my face.  That makes my heart melt.

His verbal ability constantly makes Josh and I stand in awe.  He understands and comprehends so much more than we give him credit for.  When he starts to verbalize it, we begin to understand what an incredible memory this child has.  He associates things very well and often can tell us where we were when we heard things or saw something new.  According to Hunter, everything happened, "yesterday."

He is really into numbers right now and often talks about when he will be TEN.  He can't wait to be 10.  He says when he is 10 he will go to school, run fast, and be able to watch Toy Story 3.  When he asks for something small like fruit gummies, he asks for "A HUNDRED!"  He can almost count to 29. He usually has problems with the number 13 and 15.   But if we help him with those he can make it to 29.  Then he says "Twenty ten!"  We are still working on understanding the concept of 30, 40, 50, etc.

He is almost completely potty trained.  He still wears a pull up at night and during nap time, mostly because I haven't wanted to risk changing the sheets multiple times a day.  He does great during the day, though, and even takes himself to the potty now!  Hooray!  Hunter still has his paci at night and nap time, too.  I keep telling him that is about to come to an end.  But it is hard to take something like that away from him.  He loves it.

Hunter is really into Bob the Builder right now.  He walks around the house singing the song all the time.  We have been taking weekly trips to the library to get new Bob the Builder DVDs as well as Clifford books.  He also chose a few Dr. Seuss books this past week.  When he sees any book or movie he wants he always says, "Mommy, can we buy this at the library?!?!"

Hunter does spend a considerable amount of time in Time Out.  We do 3 minute time outs where he has to keep his hands on his knees.  He usually knows when he has to do a time out and is generally good about staying put.

(Hunter in time out) 


 He is a sweetheart.  We are thankful to have him filling our days with laughter, trains, hide-n-seek, pillow fights, peanut butter toast, sweet hugs, discipline questions, PBS, and curly red hair.

8 months

Adelyn is now 8 months old!  She is crawling, eating 3 solid meals a day, and babbling gibberish.  She loves to click her tongue and she giggles like crazy when people do it back to her.   Her other sounds include a whole lot of squeals, "dadada,"  "ssssssssss," and the occasional "mmmmmm."  

She has begun pulling herself up on things-- mostly just to her knees, but occasionally she gets her feet under her.  We lowered her crib right around her 8 month birthday.  Josh went in to get her up from her nap and found her standing, chewing the top of her crib.  So now it is lowered all the way down and she can stand up with no risk of toppling out of the crib.

Stranger anxiety has settled in a little more.  She has become more picky about who can hold her, which has made church nursery a little difficult.  Adelyn has two moods: happy and mad.  There is a fine line between the two.

Just in the past week she has begun to crawl one hand at a time.  She is fast!  She gets around our apartment pretty well now and is usually on a mission.  She loves to explore and find as many things as she can.

Hunter is still doing pretty well with her.  He loves her very much.  But he is teaching her to be tough from a very young age.  The other day I walked into the kitchen for approximately 10 seconds.  In that time, Hunter picked Adelyn up and put her on our recliner.  She was not stable at all and I literally ran to her to make sure she didn't fall down.  He thought he was helping her out.  She has been hit and slapped, had toys taken out of her hands, and had multiple items thrown at her.  It is hard to be a second child!

As far as eating, she is a champ.  A usual day includes oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, fruit and veggie for lunch, and rice cereal and veggie for dinner.  She goes through 2 jars of baby food and 6-7 Tbsp of cereal every day.  We do 4-5 bottles a day, too, at 6 oz each.  She loves her food!

She sleeps about 11-12 hours at night and 3-4 during the day.  When she sleeps, she puts her two middle fingers in her mouth and cuddles her minky dot bunny.

We love you Baby Adelyn!  So thankful for you!