Evie visits Greenfield

Last weekend Uncle Matt, Aunt Rachel and baby Evie came to visit us!  We had the BEST time with them!  Although our house looked like a Babies-R-Us bomb had exploded everywhere, we enjoyed their company and letting the babies hang out together.  Ellie loved having them as well and handled the chaos and attention that 2 babies need very well.  I am just SO proud of her!!

I still can't believe we had babies exactly 2 weeks apart.

We of course had to have a photo shoot of them in matching outfits.

We grilled dinner Friday night, the boys golfed Saturday, and we headed out to eat Mexican and ice cream Saturday night.  We also managed to take LOTS of pictures and makes tons of memories.  I am so glad they made the effort to come all the way here to spend time with us!!!

One Month

Sweet baby Miller, you are ONE MONTH OLD!  I am only a few days behind on this post, but that is pretty good for me these days.

I cannot believe you have been in our lives for a month now, because it honestly feels like forever.  You have turned into the sweetest little baby!  I could kiss your little cheeks off and rock you all night long if I wasn't so tired.  You are getting on a pretty good schedule and eating very well.  I have a feeling you weigh well over 11 pounds now.  Your sleeping is getting much better, you usually wake up twice each night around 2:30 and 5:30 and you take 2 good naps (maybe more) during the day.  Your big sister loves you to pieces!  She has adjusted well and is staying very busy this summer.

You take 4 ounces every 3 hours.  You are in 0-3 and 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers.  We finally found a pacifier and bottle that you like.  You are a little more particular than your sister was!  We change SO many diapers with you.  Your little tummy is working very well!  You like both your swing and Little Lamb Seat as well as your car seat.  You have done well in the car everywhere we have gone so far!

You still love to be held most of all, and most of the time I don't deny you of that:)  You still aren't the most patient baby but you are getting better about your screaming.  You like to venture outside every once in a while and we have started walking in the morning.  You slept the whole time and seemed to just love the fresh air!

You are our sweet little angel baby and I am more thankful for you each and every day!

All About Miller

We are still plugging right along!

I figured baby Miller deserved a little post dedicated just to him before I forgot everything.  I try not to compare him with Ellie, but the truth is there is not much to compare because our experiences with each child have been SO different.  From my pregnancies to the deliveries and now to their personalities, they are two unique little creatures!

We had a few tough days last week.  I was afraid we were on the verge of having a colicky baby but thankfully we made a few changes that I think helped his problems!  I think our sweet baby had a little confusion when it came to what kind of bottle he preferred.  He was so used to the small bottles that I used to pump that for a while they were the ONLY ones he would take!  I had every expensive bottle on the market that we tried and he would not take any of them well.  We finally got him to take a Tommee Tippee and a Dr. Brown's this week and it has made all the difference.  No more gassy/fussy baby.  That was just not fun!  He is also just now getting the hang of taking a paci.  I was afraid he'd never take one and it was a little stressful.  You don't realize how handy those can be in extra fussy moments when it's not quite time to eat!

As far as feeding goes, he nursed great right after he was born. After our little trip to the NICU I was encouraged to start pumping and supplementing with formula because he had become dehydrated and needed to eat more to pee and help pump the antibiotics through his system.  Once again, I was disappointed because I felt that we were doing well nursing but I also wanted to do whatever was necessary to help him get better.  So we are still nursing/pumping/supplementing.  It is exhausting and I am not sure how long any of it will last, but for now we are going to try and stick to is as long as we can.  The hardest part about all of this is that Miller has ZERO patience and is a big eater!  When he's hungry, he lets you know it!  He is a big screamer and is LOUD.  He is also a very aggressive nurser which still proves to be quite painful.  I try to be tough but sometimes it is just unbearable so we only nurse a couple of times a day.  Just another part of being a mommy that you have to endure that people don't warn you about!

Our nights are going fairly well.  I really cannot complain because I am already noticing that they are getting better.  We have our little routine that works and he is sleeping in his crib!  I started this right at 2 weeks because I felt like I was running all over the house all night to try and avoid waking Ellie up.  This was a great decision and it has been a very easy transition.  I can feed, change and rock him all in one room without waking anyone up!  I have also started staying up late for his last feeding before I go to bed to avoid getting up that one extra time.  He still eats about every 3 hours and even went 4 hours the other night.  I'll take it!

Emotionally I am doing well.  It was questionable the week or so after he was born but thankfully those lovely hormones have calmed down.  I don't enjoy being a hormonal mess:)  I also feel great and have a ton of energy.  I honestly don't know where it's coming from because I have never gotten so little sleep in my life!  I guess it's just a natural mom thing because I am always so busy there's not much time to think about how tired I am.

Now that we have his fussiness mostly under control, I am really noticing that he is a sweet, laid back little guy.  I feel like he has been here forever and adding him to our family was just a natural transition.  I am so thankful for our sweet baby and cannot wait to see him grow and change.  I am trying to savor every second of this sweet baby stage though because I know how quickly it passes.  Sometimes I still have to pinch myself when I look at our TWO kiddos.

Weight:  10+ pounds
Diaper:  Size 1
Clothes:  growing out of newborn, wearing mostly 0-3 and even some 3 month clothes!
Feeding: 4 oz. every 3 hours
Loves his bath, his swing, being held, and lounging on his boppy pillow.

Life with Two...

Now that we have been home for a couple of weeks, we are finally starting to establish a little bit of a routine.  Adding a new baby is a huge adjustment for any family, ours included. I was nervous how it would all go...especially with Ellie, but I feel like it has gone very smoothly.  She could not love him more and has not shown one bit of jealousy towards him at all.  Her volume level on the other hand has increased tremendously but we are learning how to handle that.  She does love one on one time with each of us and I try my best every day to give that to her.  She has handled all of the changes like a champ.  So, so proud of her.

We had a lot going on the first week or so of Miller's life.  Things that forced us to "just keep swimming" and go along with our daily lives as usual.    As hard as it was a times, I am proud of us!  Having Don home has been the biggest blessing.  He bathes Ellie, takes her fishing or they run errands together.  They also get lots of outdoor playtime.  I think if he was still in school I would have gone crazy long ago:)

We have had lots of help and yummy food brought to us thanks to sweet family and friends.  Ellie is still going to her sitter twice a week and thank goodness for VBS!  I  think she will attend every church's VBS she can this summer.  She loves to craft and sing:)

Life with 2 kids is always busy, always LOUD, always chaotic.  But there is more to kiss, more to snuggle, more laundry and more to LOVE!!!  I thank God everyday for trusting us to raise these two beautiful babies.  I definitely feel unworthy to be given such a precious gift.

The rest of the story...

Miller's birthday was perfect!  He was perfect, my delivery was easy, and everyone was on could nine.  Just how I had hoped!  We enjoyed having lots of visitors in and out.  Ellie had come to see us on Monday with my mom and grandparents and I was enjoying a little mini vacation in the hospital! We were pretty positive we would be sent home Tuesday afternoon.

Until...Dr. Blake, one of the pediatricians on call notified us of an elevated white blood count and CRP level. They were just going to monitor it carefully and not jump the gun on any decisions to send him to the NICU. Of course the minute I heard "special care" and "NICU" I lost it.  We held our breath and waited for test results the next morning.  Dr. Smith came to by to talk to us that afternoon, and they had gone up, not what we were wanting.  So they said they would re-test again that night and let us know.  Well, they went up again, and again.  So ultimately the decision was made to go ahead and send him over to the NICU for antibiotics.  Don and I were both so bummed.  We had wanted so badly to avoid that place this time around but unfortunately that didn't happen. It's extremely difficult to send a normal, BIG, full term baby to the NICU for treatment when you really aren't sure why or what you are treating.  Deep down we knew it was best to take care of the issue before we went home and it really turned into a problem, but that didn't make it any easier.  Basically, an elevated CRP level indicates inflammation and/or infection.  This was more than likely from the meconium in my water and/or me being Group B positive and only receiving antibiotics for a short time before he arrived.

So, Tuesday night he went.  We went to see him as soon as we could and this was how he looked when we walked in.  Doing this all again the second time around does NOT make it any easier.

My two beautiful babies.  More like twins!  I need to get a better comparison picture together.

 We were zombies.  Just like with Ellie, we were the only crazy parents that never missed a feeding (even in the middle of the night) so naturally, we got NO sleep.  But he was worth it.

After two and a half days of antibiotics, we finally got the big surprise that we were going HOME!  The hardest part about the NICU is the constant roller coaster.  There are so many people telling you different things that you never know what to think.  I have learned to not get excited about any good news because issues always seem to come up and to lead to something else.  It's an exhausting process.  But his levels had continued to decline and Dr. Go, the neonatologist felt it was okay for him to come home!!  We were shocked and SO excited.

Thankfully my mom had brought Ellie up to see us that day anyway.  It had been 4 days since we had seen her and Don and I both couldn't stand it any longer.  Seeing her run off the elevator is still one of my favorite memories of that entire week.  I love that sweet girl SO much!!

Those of you that know Don well can imagine what he had to say about this coming home outfit.  I thought it was the sweetest thing I had ever seen:)

We were finally all together and headed home.  What a sweet, sweet day!