Saturday, May 28, 2016

Evie: 2 Weeks Old




It's already been 2 weeks with our beautiful little girl! Sometimes it feels like she has been with us forever! She is the perfect addition to our family.

Headed home!

We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights (she was born at 4:38pm on Thursday and we were sent home at noon on Saturday) before bringing our sweet baby girl home. My best friend brought Holt home earlier that morning so he was already there when we arrived. However, we could tell he didn't feel good---he started getting a fever and was just crying. Why do babies always get sick on the weekends when the pediatrician offices are not open?? His fever got up to 104 Saturday night and he was up off and on---pretty rough first night at home between that and a newborn. So thankful for my mom and grandma being here to help! I called the pediatrician first thing Monday and we got him in at the same time we were taking Evie in for a checkup. Turns out he had strep! Poor buddy :( We got him some antibiotics and tried to push pedialyte for fluids and thankfully within a few days he was doing much better.

Evie's checkup at 4 days old was wonderful--our girl had already gained 3 oz back since we left the hospital and she was nursing well throughout the day and night. After that great report, we started letting her sleep at night instead of waking her up every 3 hours to eat. It's always so nice when you get to that point!

Daniel and I have been making jokes about how easy it is with a newborn. When you have your first kid, your whole world is completely derailed and you feel so overwhelmed and have no clue what you're doing. So it feels really hard! By the second kid, you instantly get into a routine of feeding and changing diapers and burping and you realize how much newborns sleep and how much downtime you really had with just one kid. Daniel looked at me one day and said, "what did we do before we had kids?" to which I replied, "we were just really lazy!" I'm sure all parents out there can relate!

Holt has been adjusting remarkably well. The first week home, my mom and grandma were here (THANK YOU) which of course he loved, and then they took him back to Conway for a long weekend so we could spend some quality bonding time with Evie. It was so nice! I love my big boy to pieces, but honestly it was really nice to have a break and be able to nap when the baby naps and get some stuff done around the house. Plus, running errands is so much easier with a newborn! {Side note: when we had Holt, we didn't leave the house AT ALL for the first month! Funny how it changes when it's your second kid haha} They brought Holt back on Monday (24th) and we have had all this week to adjust to being a family of four. Daniel has gone into work for a few half days this week--kind of easing back into full time next week, so pray for me as I start rocking this two kids under two by myself! For the most part, Holt has done really well with having a baby in the house. He is only allowed to touch her hair or her feet and for the most part he obeys that well. Every morning he comes into our room and says "Hi Evie! Mornin'!" It is the sweetest! He only gets really jealous when Daniel holds Evie and I'm talking all out fit---crying, screaming, dramatically throwing himself on the floor, the works! So we are working on the fact that Daddy gets to have a turn holding Evie. Surprisingly, he seems completely ok with me holding Evie and having to spend so much time with her feeding and everything. We will see how it goes once I go solo though.




We had a local photographer who needed to expand her portfolio out to the house to take some newborn and family shots when Evie was 6 days old. They turned out even better than I thought--especially since Holt was absolutely NOT having it that day! Here is a sneak peek:












Weight: 7 lbs 12 oz
Height: 20.5 inches

Sleep: Girl is a rockstar at sleeping. I typically have to wake her up every 3 hours during the day to eat (although every now and then she lets me know she is hungry) and at night she is consistently sleeping 4-5 hours, and sometimes 6, before waking to eat! Typically she is asleep between 9:30-10:30PM and doesn't wake to eat until 2:30-3:30AM and then goes back to sleep and doesn't wake back up to eat again until about 7AM. She is spoiling us! I'm really hoping my girl just likes her sleep and she stays this way!

Feeding: Nursing has gone beautifully! She instantly latched as soon as she was born (the LC was impressed) and she is growing well! That mama milk is good stuff!

And of course I'll leave you with some photos:

Her sweet corner of the nursery--just waiting on the bumper

snuggle bunny

Bright-eyed girl

Four generations

I love newborn snuggles

I love that I get to put hair bows on her!

my heart is mush

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Holt: 21 Months



Our little man is only 3 months away from turning TWO! My mama heart can barely believe it. He has grown leaps and bounds these past few months. He constantly amazes me with everything he observes and learns and how he processes things. Plus, his vocabulary and comprehension is just exploding! Here are some highlights from the last 3 months:

*In March, Holt started calling my bump "Evie" and gave her hugs and kisses. It made my mama heart just explode with love!



*the middle of March, Holt got another haircut. This time at Pigtails and Crewcuts in Conway---he did MUCH better! He sat in a little airplane and they blew bubbles for him and he got to eat Nilla wafers. He looked so much more grown up afterwards! We also got some maternity pictures made, taken by my super talented aunt.




*the same weekend of the haircut, I went into preterm labor and ended up being put on bed rest. We had lots of support from friends and family and Holt loved all the extra people coming over to help out. You can read all about the details HERE

*the middle of April, Holt got sick with the croup. Poor buddy! He ran a high fever for a few days, had a barking cough, and wheezed some when he breathed in and out. He did not feel good! We took him to the pediatrician and they told us it was a virus so it just has to run it's course. The good news is, adults cannot get the croup, it just ends up being a severe cold (which he ended up sharing with me). It took a good 2 weeks before he was back to himself. BUT the biggest pro to come out of him being sick is we COMPLETELY got rid of the paci! Our goal was to have it gone before baby sister got here so we started weaning him off of it around the end of February/first of March. We started by throwing away all pacis except one (without him seeing) and only letting him have it at nap time and bedtime for a few weeks. Then we knocked it down to bedtime only. I really thought it would be awful to get rid of it for good, but when he got sick he didn't want it at all because he couldn't breathe. So that was awesome! He asked for it ONE time and when we told him no, he was absolutely fine. Bye bye paci!



*April 23rd: I made it to 37 weeks and Holt was feeling much better! So we celebrated by going to the Farmer's Market and the park for a little family playdate.




*May 7th: I'm 39 weeks pregnant and we decide to spend our last Saturday as a family of three by getting donuts for breakfast and going to the Wild Things Farm in Pocola, OK for the morning. We rode a hayride, went to petting zoo where Holt got to feed and pet baby goats, he and daddy went down a huge slide on a potato sack, and we picked a couple pounds of fresh strawberries. To top it off, we went with our best friends which everyone loved.









*May 12th: Holt's baby sister was born! Evie Elizabeth Lowery came into the world! Read all the details of her birth story HERE




*May 14th: we come home from the hospital and Holt ends up having strep. His fever got up to 104 a few times, you could tell it hurt to swallow anything, and he just did not feel good. It's so hard as a parent to watch your child be sick and not be able to do anything about it! We took him to the pediatrician Monday and they started him on an antibiotic. So thankful my mom and grandma were here to help!

*All the next week, he starts feeling better and takes more interest in his baby sister. It is so sweet! We have to remind him to be gentle, but overall he does really well!



*We bought him a slide for the backyard as an early birthday gift and he loves it!

Milestones: 

*size 4 diapers (size 5 Pampers baby dry at night) but he knows what the potty is and we try to talk about going potty quite a bit. He still isn't interested, but I'm hoping by continuing to talk about it and him watching us go, it will make potty training easier whenever it happens. He also can tell us when he poops (sometimes).

*He has popped all 4 incisors---these were rough like the molars. Thankful we are almost done with teething!

*still takes one nap a day---he wakes up 7-7:30AM usually, naps from about 12:30-2:00/2:30PM and we have bedtime at 7:30PM (except on MDO days, he doesn't nap much if at all, so sometimes we put him to bed a bit earlier)

*his comprehension and vocabulary are absolutely exploding. He is a little parrot and repeats most words extremely well. A few of his favorite things to do: help daddy make coffee, help us vacuum and sweep, go outside and play, act like he is mowing like daddy with his plastic lawnmower.

*he has an AMAZING memory! He remembers toys he has played with at other people's houses, even if it's been a month or more since he has been there. Also, if I tell him "wait til daddy gets home and then we can do_____" then as soon as daddy walks in the door, he is ready!

*he has started taking more interest in TV shows and movies. His current favorites: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Dinosaur Train, Super Why, and Thomas the Train on PBS. He also loves 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, and the Fox and the Hound.

Weight: 29 lbs (85th percentile)
Height: 34 inches (60th percentile)



Photo Dump: