Almost Done!

For those who aren't aware, this is Lance's final semester. He will receive a bachelor's degree in psychology in just a few short weeks. He has worked so hard to get his degree and I am so proud. It's not easy to go to school when you have a family to take care of. But he has worked hard to provide for his family while going to school at the same time, and I appreciate him so much.

We went up to campus yesterday to take some pictures. Here are some of our favorites:

 

Lance is currently in the process of applying for grad school here at Utah State for school counseling. 

Doctor Mania

We have spent more time at the doctors in the past month than...ever. Between baby check-ups, Will's check-ups, and now sicknesses, it seems we have spent a good amount of time with doctors.

Will has had a runny nose for what seems like forever. Pretty much all winter. Then a few weeks ago, he developed a pretty bad cough. Luckily, the cough didn't last long. But a few days ago he woke up with swollen, goopy eyes. They were practically glued shut, it was so bad. I had heard that pink eye had been going around my neighborhood and ward for a while, so I was afraid that is what he had.

I figured we may as well take him to the doctor to get him some medicine to help clear things up. Turns out it was not pink eye, but rather a sinus infection.

I have also been noticing lately that Will seems to have some sort of problem with his left foot. I cannot figure out what is wrong, but you can tell it really bothers him at times. At first I noticed when I would set him down from the table. He would favor that foot for a moment, maybe limp for a minute, then be fine. But over the last week, it keeps getting worse and worse. 

When we got out of the car at the doctors, I put Will down so he could walk. He couldn't put any pressure on that foot and when he tried walking, that leg would basically collapse and he would fall to the ground. When that happens, he crawls for a moment, then hops up and runs around like nothing is wrong. I mentioned it to the doctor, and he couldn't figure out what was wrong. It's just strange how he can't even walk one second, but then runs around and plays for a while. And this happens several times throughout the day. Mostly when he has been sitting for long periods of time. I was told to simply keep an eye on it and watch for any correlations or things that may be causing it. So far, I am clueless.

One Month Old

  Blake is already a month old (as of last week). It's crazy to me how incredibly slow the last month of pregnancy goes, but how quickly the first month after goes. She is still very much a newborn, yet she has grown a lot. Here are a few notable things from Blake's first month:


-At her two week appointment, she weighed 7 lbs 9 oz. Only 6 days before, she had weighed 6 lbs 14 oz, so that was quite a bit in less than a week. Her next appointment isn't until 2 months, so it'll be interesting to see what she weighs then.

-Blake still fits into all of her newborn clothes. They started out a bit big for her, but now newborn size fits just about perfect. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they become too small.

-She started off a great sleeper. She would sleep about 4-5 hour stretches during the night. Then we went through about a week of her waking up every 1.5-2 hours. After switching a few things, she is back to sleeping about 4 hours at night. She mostly needed to be kept on tighter schedule during the day and kept awake a lot more. She was taking super long naps during the day, but now I wake her up after a certain amount of time and keep her awake for a while. It has helped tremendously.

-She eats between 3-4 oz at a time. Though sometimes she'll only drink two, and sometimes she'll still want more. I typically just make a 3 oz bottle.

-When Blake was about 2 weeks old, I started to notice that she ALWAYS turned her head to one side. It was especially noticeable when she was in her car seat. Even when I tried to physically turn her head the other way, she would resist and turn it right back. I mentioned it to the doctor and he recommended that I take her to a physical therapist for torticollis. Torticollis is tightening of the neck muscles on one side. I took her to the physical therapist and the muscles on her right side are very tight. Because of this, she is starting to develop a very mild flat spot on her right side. I was given a few stretches to preform throughout the day to try to loosen up those muscles. Plus we are supposed to lay her down on her opposite side more often. She has a follow up appointment next week where we will see if any progress has been made. It is a very mild case and probably would have been fine without intervention. However, I wanted to catch it and get it fixed before it became a bigger problem.

-We also took Blake to a chiropractor to get adjusted. It seems to have helped a little bit, though it's hard to tell.

-Blake spits up most of the time after eating. It is more likely that she will spit up than not. And she is more likely to spit up on breast milk than formula. Probably because I was eating ridiculous amounts of chocolate and other junk during that time. Luckily, most of the time is isn't a ton of spit. Though I have had to change my clothes more than I'd care to admit. Laundry, laundry, laundry.

-She is a very good baby. When she is awake, she is pretty happy most of the time. And she still sleeps for a good portion of the day.

She likes to make some pretty goofy faces, but has yet to give us a smile.

-She loves, loves to be wrapped up. She doesn't usually like when her hands are free. It is amazing how quickly she will calm down when I simply wrap her in a blanket.

-She gets lots of hugs and kisses every day from Will. So far, she doesn't seem to mind them.

She sure is beautiful and we love her.

Blake's Newborn Pictures

  

 

Double the Trouble, Double the Fun

Two kids is definitely different. I remember when Will was a newborn, I was still pretty free to do whatever I wanted. When he was sleeping, I had "me" time and things were much more manageable. But with two that isn't the case. If she is sleeping, then there is likely something I need to do for Will, even if it's just giving him some attention and playing with him.

Fortunately, I have two amazing kids. Blake has been an amazing sleeper. For the first week, she honestly slept about 22 hours a day.

6 days old - Chillin' Sunday afternoon

She would wake up for a few minutes, eat, then go right back to sleep. Now almost 3 weeks old and she is still sleeping a ton. She is awake more during the day, staying awake maybe 30-45 minutes at a time.

Having a little girl is also very different. I enjoy dressing her up and am having lots of fun with it.

And Will has adjusted so well. He's always been such an independent kid and does really well playing by himself. He sure loves his little sister, though. He always tells me when she is crying and tries to give her a binki. The hardest part is when I'm feeding Blake and Will needs/wants something. He has a hard time waiting sometimes.



After her cord fell off, Blake finally got her first bath. She cried for a moment then was perfectly content to chill in the water.

While I was getting Blake dressed, I turned and found Will reading on the rocking chair with his sunglasses on. Too cute.

Then one day I went in to check on him during nap and found him asleep half off the bed. 

He got a train set for Christmas and has been playing with it almost non-stop ever since. He is so dang smart, it just boggles my mind. He quickly learned how to work the magnets and which sides attract and repel. 

He sets up his own tracks, only sometimes needing help with the bridges, But he is quickly learning how to do that himself too.

He also is a very good climber. He can climb in and out of most cribs, though he usually ends up flipping over the rail at some point.

There was a time I was in our computer room while Blake was asleep in the crib. And suddenly Will was laughing hysterically. I went in the room and he had climbed into the crib and thought it was hilarous to be laying next to her.

So far things are going very smoothly. I am often exhausted, as any mother usually is, but 

I am surviving. I'm much more worried for the stage when she is more mobile and I have two kids getting into things. Guess we'll just tackle that when it comes. But for now, I am trying to enjoy every minute of this stage. Kids change so fast and I'm trying to remember every moment.