Everyday Pictures

Play Time In The Highchair

Allie has a lot of interaction during her day. She has been doing a great holding up her head so we recently got out the highchair for her to sit with us at dinner. Makayla has turned her tray into an interactive play land. While we are cooking dinner, Makayla will have a tea party, dance with the fruit and perform finger puppet plays for her sister. It is very entertaining!

Who Is Tired Of This Snow?

WE ARE!

The weather man tells us that we are supposed to get 60-70 degree weather by this weekend. We'll believe it when we see it!

Tummy Time?

Tummy time turned into nap time for Allie yesterday. For about a week now we have been laying Allie on her belly to sleep for her naps and at night. She loves to sleep on her belly! Since we have been doing it at night, she will sleep 5-6 hours straight. Way better than that 1-2 1/2 hours! Plus she is getting longer naps in too, before it was 20 minutes here and there. Now she takes 2-3 hour naps.

What Does Mister Think About Allie?

The picture says it all ... Allie has taken over his room, he can't sit in his window or my rocking chair whenever he wants ... life is so hard!

It's Allie

Mommy Time

Yes, I agree ... Mommy needs to be in more pictures!

Daddy Time

Sissy Time

Aunt Dee Time

Cousin Jill Time

Cousin Jackie Time

I have to apologize to Jackie, I didn't get to take a lot of pictures when she came to visit. She came when Allie was a week old and I was still trying to adjust from surgery and night time feedings ... I was so tired.  We are excited that my niece Jackie and her husband Jonathan will become Allie's Godparents in the near future.

Looking at these pictures Allie is SO small!



Bath Time

 First Bath



Allie loves her bath night, she is so calm and likes the water poured on her body. She usually sticks out her tongue trying to catch the water.

Intervention

Makayla needs an intervention because of her obsessive use of our tablet. It isn't as bad as when we first got it. Aunt Dee had a great idea to make some tablet tokens if she wants to use the table, each token is worth 30 minutes. We are thinking about implementing this very soon!

One Month Old

We Are Still Here

It seems like the rest of the family has made blog updates but me and it's sad that it took me a while to log on because I couldn't remember my email address and password ... never a good sign!

We have had many visitors since Allie was born. As you know my mom was here during her birth and then my niece Jackie came a week after Allie was born. It was perfect timing as Dwight had went back to work and I wasn't sure how I was going to juggle getting Makayla ready in the morning, tending to Allie's needs and then getting Makayla off to the bus stop. I still haven't managed me getting ready in the morning and it's something that I'm going to have to perfect as I go back to work in 1 1/2 weeks .... where did the time go??  Jackie was a big help cooking, cleaning and cuddled with Allie during her week stay!

Second on the list was my niece Jill. She was here during Makayla's spring break and I was so glad she did! There would have been no way I would have kept Makayla entertained during that time. They went and got a pedicure, rode rides and played mini golf at Mall of America and worked on making a blanket just to name a few. She too helped cook and clean ... and oh cuddled with Allie during her few days with us.

Then my sister arrived ... FINALLY! She stayed with us for 1 1/2 weeks and we have missed her since she left. There is always something about sister bonding time and I'm happy that Makayla and Allie will some day get to experience that! Dee goes above and beyond ... she has taught her daughters well! A good majority of her time was spent with Makayla, working on their secret project of paper dolls that someday she will get to enjoy with Allie. They also made a newspaper and read stories. While Makayla was at school we watched movies and she too had her good share of cuddle time with Allie.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful family members in our lives and are willing to take time away from their jobs, family, school, etc. to take care of us!

I've also had many co-workers, friends and neighbors stop by. We have been really overwhelmed with the cards and gifts that have been sent!  Especially those who thought of Makayla. I have some amazing friends that have given her presents and had created Easter baskets for her.

Dwight's mom was able to meet Allie for the first time a few weeks ago. Thankfully, we had really nice weather the day we met her half-way. She too cuddled with Allie but there is only so much of that you can do in a restaurant setting. Still it was nice to see her and catch up!

Allie is now almost two months old. She doesn't sleep that much during the day and it takes her a long time to fall asleep at night. Over the last week, she has been going to bed between 11-11:30pm ... that's too late for me! She is still getting up 2-3 times per night. We were very spoiled with Makayla as she was she laid her on her stomach during her naps and she would sleep longer because of that. So, I'm going to try that tonight to see if that would work.

She camps out at the breast so it's been a real struggle for her to take the bottle. Again, we were spoiled with Makayla as she took the first bottle we gave her and formula wasn't a problem. Allie finally started to take Dr. Brown bottles but yet the nipple holes are too big, she gasps for air because she is getting too much. I did find preemie nipples so that has been working like a charm. I haven't been able to find time to pump that much since she nurses all the time, and now I'm finding out she will want to do it just to comfort herself (she doesn't like the pacifier). I know once I go back to work my milk supply will go down dramatically so we have been introducing formula a few times a day. It's pure torture for her, she hates it. I finally called the lactation specialist with our pediatric clinic and she has given us a few tips, which has seemed to worked. She had a lot of baby acne that we were concerned about but the doctor suggested that I stop consuming so much milk and cheese ... guilty!

She now smiles and coos ... I've missed that gummy smile! She found her hands and loves to shake rattles and keys. She is in love with the ceiling fan, if we need to calm her down from crying ... stand under the ceiling fan ... works like a charm! She loves to watch you talk to her, she looks you in the eyes and then watches your mouth and tries so hard to talk back.

I'm doing well but am truly missing my sleep, anyone can see that from the huge bags under my eyes! I had my six-week check-up with fasting labs for glucose on Tuesday. I'm still bleeding but very little now, my doctor thinks that my period is starting ... oh lovely. That's something that I did not miss at all while being pregnant. I failed my glucose test so they are sending me to the hospital on Friday for a two-hour test. Doesn't surprise me if I'm diagnosed as we are cursed in the family AND I had gestational diabetes twice so now I'm more susceptible in getting it. I've lost all my baby weight, plus some ... I can thank breastfeeding for that!

Makayla has been a great big sister and since the newness has worn off she has a love/hate relationship with Allie. I've been trying my best to praise Makayla and incorporating Allie into that. Occasionally Makayla will not want us to pick Allie up when she's crying or tend to her needs first. But Makayla still wants to hold her, read to her and play with her. It's been so nice to see!

I head back to work at the end of the month and I'm not really looking forward to it. Dwight will be with Allie during the day until I get home from work. I will be a single parent four nights out of the week (Sunday through Wednesday). If we can get our mornings down while Makayla is still in school I will be happy. Trying to get Makayla ready (picking out clothes, fixing breakfast, packing lunches), feeding and getting Allie ready for the day, feedings and getting myself ready for the day and putting two kids in the car and taking Makayla to school. Yikes! At least Makayla has been good at making her breakfast in the morning and we solved the clothing issue. My family witnessed this while they were here. Every morning Makayla wants me to pick out her clothes, I tell her all the time that she is old enough to pick out her own clothes but there is a certain boy in her class that she wants to impress. So I bought a holder for her closet so now on Sunday night we can pick her clothes out together for the whole week. Problem solved and we are not rushing around in the morning.

Stay tuned for pictures ....

Pictures Of Allie

 

Please click on this link to see other pictures of baby Allie: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=b536dc7a0a181331&sid=0BaNGzFq5atnFA



Baby Allie Has Arrived!

My phone rang at work on Tuesday mid-afternoon, it was my sister. We have been planning her visit for the last several months and we knew she was excited to be here for Allie's birth. Well, the phone call wasn't good as she spent the early morning hours in the hospital. She was diagnosed with Viral Meningitis ... what horrible timing. Makayla took it the hardest but understood that Aunt Dee needed to get better. We are looking forward to her rescheduled visit in April! My parents were on their way back from North Carolina so they were able to be here. Makayla really wanted to be at the hospital the day of Allie's birth but we needed someone to watch her while we were in surgery. We were very thankful my mom could be here!

We entered the hospital at 8am, I wasn't able to eat or drink anything for 8 hours before my surgery and could only take my morning pills with just a little water. My mom waited in the waiting room while Dwight and Makayla were with me. It took the them 4 times and 2 nurses to put in my IV. I moved my hand just a little bit and felt this gush of liquid run from my arm. When I looked over, blood was pouring from my hand and all over the bedding and floor. Makayla took one look and said "I'm outta here" and made a mad dash to the waiting room while Dwight called the nurse. Apparently the cap wasn't on tight so they adjusted it and all was well.

Surgery was scheduled at 10am but there were two other c-sections ahead of me and they were running a little behind. It was weird walking into the operating room instead of being wheeled in a bed like I was with Makayla. While in the operating room they gave me my epidural and then catheter. Dwight then came in by my side. It took them a while to cut through all my scar tissue and at 10:52am on March 1, Allie Lynn Swanson was born healthy and a full head of hair. She was 8 lbs, 6 oz and 20.5 inches long. After Allie was out, the tied my tubes and was wheeled into recovery for about an hour. While in recovery they immediately brought me Allie, I wasn't able to have any visitors other than Dwight and Makayla. Makayla was super excited to meet her new baby sister.

After an hour in recovery, they wheeled me to my room and played twinkle, twinkle little star (something the hospital does when a new baby is born and the mom is being wheeled to her room). I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful staff to take care of Allie and I. My friend Paulette stopped by after work with a Casey's taco pizza in hand, unfortunately I was on a clear liquid diet for the evening so I wasn't able to enjoy it. Thankfully I love it cold, Dwight brought me a few pieces every day for lunch. A delivery of flowers from my sister arrived in the afternoon. Around 9pm my nurses came in to get me to stand up. After my nurses put me back in bed, they left and I felt this gush. Thinking my catheter fell out, I called for the nurses to come back. It was actually blood, once they stood me up to clean up my bedding it ended up being all over the floor, my tubes, my legs, socks, etc. I don't remember bleeding after I had Makayla. I'm still bleeding but not as heavy or bad. They told me to watch for any blood clots bigger than the size of a quarter and it shouldn't last longer than 6 weeks. My sugars were great but my blood pressure was high and continues to be high. They upped my dosage of medication and actually made a follow up appointment with my family doctor, which was last Friday. She upped my medication again and I am supposed to continue to monitor it at home with a follow up appointment in two weeks.

The next morning they took out my IV and my catheter, I was able to take a shower and start to feel like a normal person. Makayla had me up and walking around the hallways. Over the weekend I had many visitors and Dwight would bring Makayla and my mom over for frequent visits. Makayla would fight nana for holding rights through my hospital stay, she was and still is a very proud big sister.

On a snowy Monday morning we were able to start the paperwork to head home. My nurse was able to take out my staples and filled my prescriptions (for blood pressure and Ibuprofen for pain, thankfully that is all I needed). Allie did lose weight and by the time we left the hospital Monday morning she was down to 7 lbs, 7 oz. Once a baby loses over 10% of their birth weight the hospital gets a little concerned. This is what happened to Makayla as well. A home health care nurse was scheduled to come to our home that Tuesday and then we needed to follow up in our pediatrician office that Wednesday.

On Allie's follow up appointment she had gained some weight and weighed in at 7 lbs, 10 oz. They wanted to see us back again, our appointment is Monday. On her Monday appointment we will also stop by the maternity floor to deliver all the wonderful nursing staff chocolate chip cookies and a thank you note.

Stay tuned for pictures, just need to upload them from three different cameras, two phones and one tablet. :)