Still Here...

Still sleeping with her hands up :)

It seems like there is less and less time to keep up on our blog...probably because there really is less and less time to keep up on our blog :) HA! I want to keep up with the blog for updates on Alayna like I did with Grant because when I fell behind with Grant's baby book - I could refer back to the blog to fill in baby book details. Considering the only thing filled in in Alayna's baby book are her footprints (done by the nurses) - I need to keep up with this blog :)

So - what's new? HMMM...Alayna is continuing to grow. She is officially moved on to size ONE diapers :( I'm glad she's growing - but it does make me a bit sad :( She is also growing out of some of her newborn clothes. 0-3 is still looking big - but some of the newborns are short on the sleeves or getting a bit tight. I don't want her to get big on me!

SAD - on the left - the last newborn diaper...on the right - the first number 1

She's still pretty grunty - seems like she has gas pains quite a bit. She's been sleeping (knock on wood) - usually going about 4 hrs at a crack - which is pretty good.

Today she was laying on her playmat and started hitting the monkey that was hanging over her head. On purpose or by accident - not quite sure - but she did it more than once so I think it was on purpose :) She is doing pretty good with tummy time - better on Brian or I than by herself on her mat.

Nice work on tummy time Alayna

Tummy time is hard work! Daddy and Alayna both needed a rest!

Alayna's first bottle. She drank 2oz.

Alayna's first trip to the zoo. We went with some friends for playgroup. There were a total of 11 mom's and 20 kids. I'll have to post that pic sometime soon.

Growing...Not Growing

Last week we had Alayna's one month dr appointment. She is growing GREAT! She was 8lbs 2oz (which is the 25th percentile for weight) and she is 21.75 inches long (which is 75th percentile for length). These were numbers I did not expect at all! YAY! Alayna = Growing

What is Alayna up to? Well - tummy time seems to be going well. She doesn't do a lot of it on the floor - but laying on Brian's chest - she keeps her head up for quite some time. She is still sleeping the majority of her days away and liking to be awake more at night. She usually eats around 9 or 10 and just when Mommy and Daddy would like to turn in for the evening - Alayna likes to be awake. She will go to sleep ok though and ("knock on wood") has only been getting up once the last couple nights - some time between 2:30 and 3:30ish. This is GREAT! We are very thankful the being up at night has turned around a bit. When Alayna is up in the middle of the night - she likes to stay up after that feeding as well. Seems to still be a bit mixed up - but getting much, much better!

We tried the bottle once last week and Brian tried it again while I was running errands the other night. The first one went ok. She took 2oz and did ok once she figured out how to keep her tongue out of the way. The second one though - she wasn't a big fan.

She is a very grunty baby. Maybe we will be able to get a video of that soon :) Many times I think she is nearly awake and demanding to eat - she is making so much noise - and by the time I get to her side she is back sound asleep.

The last few days she has been a bit stuffy - sounding snotty, etc Not sure if that is a bit of a cold or just drainage. She seems to get a bit gassy too - I think that explains a lot of the grunts.

She seems to do better at night sleeping in the bouncy seat as opposed to her bassinett - so we let "what works" go for right now.

While we were at the dr with Alayna, we had Grant do a weight check. 6 weeks ago Grant weighed 19lbs 10oz (gaining only 3 oz since 3 mos prior). What did Grant weigh in at last week? THE SAME! He has not gained even one oz! We have totally changed what we have been feeding him for meals and snacks...foods with higher calories and fats, sticking with milk for a drink and giving very little water and no juice, etc. All of our trying - didn't work. SO...now for the next 6 weeks we are trying to help him gain by doing high calorie foods again but now he is to only drink Whole Milk with Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed in. He loves it - his milk tastes like french vanilla pudding - MMM. Grant = Not Growing :(

"I get lots of good desserts these days - MMM MMM GOOD!"

One's Room

Grant has moved to the one's room at school. It's bitter sweet for me. Brian said there were big crocodile tears when he dropped him off this morning. It's something new for him - so I'm sure he is a bit confused and scared. Things will be different now. I guess there are two sides to this room too - not sure what the split is - age or size or development or what? I will have to find out. But in this room - they only take one nap, eat on little chairs at a table and nap on cots - no crib. I feel bad he is likely confused but I'm happy b/c he is finally in the one's room at 16 mos and with the rest of the one year olds that were just moved ahead of him. So - he is now back with his "friends" :)

They emailed us a couple pictures of Grant playing with one of his friends this morning. I guess he sat in the stroller (doll stroller) and the little girl - Sophie - started to push him around. HA!

Grant Update

What has Grant been up to lately?

Grant LOVES reading books lately. He will walk into his or Alayna's bedroom and sit in the dark until we find him to read books :)

Eating is hit & miss. He still needs to eat higher calorie foods - but it seems like since we changed some of his foods - he is not eating as much. He is getting more teeth - we think the two bottom front are coming through. This could explain the slow down in eating. Above - a little spag with cottage cheese!

Hanging out - in Aunt Sheila's duffle bag!

Our first walk with the double stroller. Bummer that Grant has to sit in the back - but that's how this one works.

Grant - swinging at the park on Sunday.

He'a getting more advantageous -climbing on things like shoe boxes and leaning as far as he can to open/close the drawers.

Yeah - that eating thing - still throwing things on the floor :(

One Month Old

Alayna - 1 month old - check out those tights! Slightly big - I know - but I couldn't resist :)

Alayna Mae is 1 month old today. Wow - has this time flown by. Alayna is a great little girl. She's been eating like a champ. We have her one month appt coming up this week - we'll see how "big" she is really getting. She sleeps great...during the DAY! At night on the other hand - it's not been good at all. Last night was about the worst night since she came home. I think my longest stretch of sleep was about 45 mins - which means Brian's isn't much longer. He's waking up every time we are up - just isn't up as long. You would think - some of the times she wakes up she would just want to be held or have a belly ache or something - NOPE - she won't stop crying until she gets to eat - every time! It's been quite the challenge. Please pray she starts sleeping better - so we all start getting more sleep.

What else about Alayna? Well - she is still wearing newborn size clothes and diapers- but the sleeves are getting short on some things and she is full length in most sleepers now - so she will definitely be out of size newborn before Grant was. We will find out what percentage she is later this week. She is sleeping (well - kind of) in her bassinet in our room, likes her bath time (especially having her hair washed) and hates to be cold (diaper changes, when I take too long changing her clothes or right as she's going from bath water to towel).

This is Alayna in her bouncy after an exhausting night. We were showering and getting ready for church and she was sleeping away :)

Here she is cute but sad - you can see in here eyes she had just been crying. I don't remember why - likely b/c she was hungry - that was the only thing she really cried about yesterday :)

Who Do I Look Like

Some people think - I look like my brother...

Alayna in the hospital
Grant in the hospital

You can tell we are all siblings, but really - I share more looks with my sister than my brother. Our side profiles look quite a bit alike. Our noses are a bit different, but our lips and chin are just the same :) Mommy and Daddy are quite happy about this :)

Two Weeks & 16 Months

Daddy and Alayna - snoozing

Gotta love that hat :)

Alayna had her two week dr appt today. Now it is actually 2.5 weeks since she was born - so she has a couple extra days on her BUT...

Alayna weighed in at 6lbs 15oz (again - weighed on a full belly). The dr was really impressed and questioned whether or not it was all from nursing! It is all from nursing - yeah! She is a full pound over birth weight. HOORAY!

I looked back and at Grant's two week appt he was 6lbs 1oz and at one month was only 6lbs 5oz. We are so thankful nursing is going better for Alayna and she is doing well with her weight gain. I have a theory - Grant is much like his daddy - liked to wear his clothes forever - so if he stayed little - he didn't have to wear new clothes because all of his newborn things still fit. Alayna on the other hand it a bit more like her mommy - loving new clothes :) She is liking her newborn outfits now, but is excited to get into some of these new 0-3 outfits she has received as gifts. Good theory?

16 Months for Grant

Our fun-loving little boy is 16 months old today. He is so fun these days. Giggles over everything, is starting to run and is Mr. Curious. He checks out everything. He is eating pretty well again. It's hit and miss. In a couple weeks we need to take him in for a weight check to make sure all of our added calorie foods are helping him gain the weight he needs. For the last 2-3 weeks he has been really into books. He will even go sit in a completely dark room and wait for one of us to find him to read. His favorite book is "Baby Animals" and close seconds are any books involving Elmo.

He seems to like his big boy room. We have the majority of his things moved into that room but still need to get his name and pictures hung on the walls. He will eventually have a Fire Truck toddler bed - so we have red bedding, red letters and fire truck pictures for the walls. We found the bed at a rummage sale - what a deal! - now we just have to determine when he is ready to move into it.

He is repeating more and more and saying more things on his own as well. Today they told us at school he started "yelling" at one of his teachers (oh boy!). He went up and started shaking his finger at the teacher and babbling about something - I guess they were all laughing pretty hard at him. Since he is one of the last two one year olds in the infant room - I think he has been providing a lot of entertainment for them lately. One day he gets there and shows them his bunny nose, the next day he dances for them, etc. I hope he's not going for "class clown" title.

Grant is a great big brother and has been adjusting well. He kisses Alayna every morning before he goes to school and when he gets home - she is the first thing he looks for. He likes to give her kisses, says "oh-oh" when she cries and peaks on her in her bassinet when she sleeps.

We love these kids :)

Two Weeks Old

Yesterday, Alayna turned 2 weeks old. CRAZY! I know 2 weeks isn't a long time - but I feel like she was just born yesterday and it has already been two weeks. I can't believe time is already going fast! Alayna is doing really well.

Most of you know of our eating issues with Grant. Nursing did not go all that well. He had a bit of jaundice to start things out, was too sleepy to eat, didn't want to nurse - which meant he didn't gain weight fast enough, we had to supplement which lead to nursing, supplementing, pumping, which lead to me just pumping all the time, etc, etc, etc -----in other words - Nursing did not go well!

Alayna is a champ! She has done much better from the start. She did not have the jaundice complication her brother did - so that got us off to a much better start. She typically sleeps quite a bit during the day and will wake up to eat every 3 - 3.5 hrs. When she eats she does eat well, but about a week ago I was concerned maybe she wasn't getting enough. On Friday of last week I took her to the lactation consultants office to be weighed to make sure we were on the right track and she is doing GREAT!

She should gain a 1/2 ounce to an ounce a day. She was born at 5lbs 15oz. Came home at 5lbs 7oz and on Friday (at 12 days old) she was 6lbs 6oz (on a full belly). SO...this put my mind at ease a ton! She is gaining weight as she should be.

She has come a bit of a grunter. Sometimes she grunts in her sleep when she's not sleeping quite so tight. Sleeping has been going better (knock on wood). When we first came home she had her days and nights mixed up - sleeping 3 hrs b/w feedings all day and getting up every 1.5 hrs at night. This was partially b/c we would both fall asleep while she was eating in the middle of the night. So - now she is typically up for a late night feeding (b/w 11 and 12) and then around 3/3:30 and 5:30 or so. Not too bad. That late night feeding can be a killer though b/c she is typically wide awake after that one - which is when we want to be sleeping!!! We'll get it.