Merry Christmas!

Update on both kiddos

First our official birth announcement for Maddy!

These beautiful photos were taken by Heather at Heather Parker Photography. She was awesome to work with and got soe beautiful pictures. I will post a fe more at the end of this blog.

Now for an update on my best boy...As most of you know he spiked a fever of 104.9 on Sunday and wound up being airlifted from Cook Children's ER to Houston. His doctors were pretty concerned when he arrived in Houston as he did not look well. Our initial thoughts were that he had either sepsis from a line infection or pancreatitis. Luckily, he made a fairly quick turn around and has parainfluenza. He is still not feeling great. His temp was back up to 101 yesterday and he has a pretty nasty cough that started last night. We are watching him closely. We are sp grateful for the long stretch we have had without needing to be hospitalised. We are praying this is just a small bump in the road and that we will have another long stretch infection free!
We are also trying to once again get him nutritionally sound. After several months of him looking and feeling great he has declined over the past few months. He has not gained any weight since last February and he is once again deficient in several vitamins/minerals. Unfortunately, the special prescription vitamins that he was on that he actually absorbs have been backordered. We are working hard with our Gi to find an alternative and get him feeling great again!

While we were at the pediatrician following up on Alex today, we weighed Maddy. She has gained a full pound in the past 2 weeks. She is now 7 lb 14 oz! Woohoo! We are continuing to struggle with reflux and both our pediatrician and allergist are pretty sure she is reacting to something I am eating so I am having to change my diet in order to keep her as healthy as possible.

Alex is gearing up for his next belt testing in Taekwondo. We are continuing to enjoy our break from school while we relish this time to enjoy our new baby. We will restart right after Christmas. Grandpa was hear visiting for Thanksgiving and we are excited for Mimi and PopPop to come for Christmas so it is pretty busy around here!

Here are some more pictures from the past 2 weeks as well as some from Maddy's photo shoot:

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us over the past few weeks.
Love,
Ali

Three Weeks

Three weeks! Crazy. In so many ways it seems like Maddy has been with us forever. I am finding my feet and figuring out how to care for all of Alex's medical needs and take care of Maddy and play with my boy and still find time to eat and sleep! It will be interesting when I add school back in for sure! Luckily, Maddy continues to be such a good baby. We are loving watching her little personality develop. She is staying awake for longer each day and loves music and especially her brother. She is such a content little girl. She rarely cries unless she is hungry or her reflux is hurting her little belly. We are all so in love with our "smooshie" as we've taken to calling her. She loves to be held, but also likes to play on her floor mat or in her bouncy seat. Alex continues to be incredible. I am not quite sure how I would manage if he wasn't such a huge help. He is always willing to get me what I need, watch his little sister and help me in the mad dash to get out the door on time! He has not complained at all about being asked to step up. He cannot get enough of his sister. He is forever kissing her.

In medical news, We had to head to Cook's twice this week. Alex is struggling a little bit with his nutrition and therefore his energy. The special vitamins that were prescribed to Alex last January and that made a big difference have been backordered for months. We believe this is the main thing behind the decline we have seen. As we wait for those vitamins to become available again we are going to add more calories to his TPN in an attempt to get some weight on those skinny little bones!
As for Maddy, we had to go back to Dr. Benzick on Monday for a weight check since she hadn't regained her birth weight at 2 weeks. On Monday, she had gained a few ounces to 6 lb 9 oz, but still wasn't back to birth weight. We started reflux meds and changed the way I was nursing to try and increase weight gain. We had to head back yesterday. We needed a minimum of 4 oz of weight gain for Dr. B to feel okay with where we were. I have been worried all week about her weight gain. She is still so tiny! On Thursday morning, I decided to release my worry and just turn it over to God. I was already doing all I could! My prayers were answered and she had gained exactly 4 oz! So my little peanut is up to 6 lb 13 oz. Dr. Benzick is willing to let me monitor at home and call if I have concerns, but we don't have to go back next week! Yay!

Thanks for checking in!
Ali

Two Week Check-up

I am not sure where my days are going! So many times over the last two weeks, mom and I looked at each other and said how could it possibly be whatever time? My sweet Maddy will be 2 weeks old tomorrow! She has brought so much joy to all of us. We had her 2 week check up today and she is doing great. Her jaundice is much better, she grew 1/4" and is meeting all the milestones she should be. She also lost her umbilical cord a few days ago and we were given the go ahead to give her her first real bath. The only concern is her weight gain. They hope by 2 weeks that they regain their birth weight. She is only back to 6 lb 6 oz. So she is 5 oz short of where they had hoped. We will go in next week for a weight check, but there is no reason for concern yet.

 

On Monday, we had a photographer come and do a newborn session. I can't wait to see those pictures!

 

Tuesday, we were all sad to say goodbye to Mimi. I am so grateful to my Mom for leaving her life behind and coming to Texas for 3 weeks to help us in the last week of my bed rest and the first two weeks of Maddy's life. I have loved watching Alex's relationship with my Mom blossom over the years and it was so nice for her to be able to get so much time to start that same bond with Maddy.

 

My Sweet boy has been incredible. He continues to astonish me with his maturity, his kindness, and his joy. He is so in love with his sister. There has been not one drop of jealousy. He has been so helpful to me. He has watched her for a little bit each day to let me get a few things done. He has dried my tears over Mimi leaving. He has loved on his sister. He has helped me load things into the car or get things for me. I could go on and on. If Maddy is crying, one of the things that can settle her is her big brother singing to her. She is so lucky to have Bug.

In the meantime, Buggy was approached by the Grand master at Taekwondo and told he needed to move up to a different class. he has been in a class for white and yellow belts. The grand master wanted him to move up to the class for yellow to green belts. He went yesterday for the first time and did great. It is a much better fit for him. he is almost ready to belt test again, but one of the requirements to test for Orange is that you are a yellow belt for two months.

 

I think that is all. Thanks to everyone who has shared in our joy over the last few weeks.

Ali

One Week Old!

How does one week go by so quickly???? My little munchkin is a week old. Here are some pics.

More Pics