That's Life: July 2011

Sunday, July 31, 2011

End of July

Kayla's arrival was quite sudden therefore as soon as she arrived our lives became really busy. There were a few events in July that came and went without much notice.

July 12 - one year anniversary of my dad passing away and Sean turned 23 months old

July 14 - my 28th birthday

July 16 - 6th wedding anniversary

Anyhoo, just wanted to note those events.

2006 deployment ceremony

Life with two young ones has been different, obviously. It's not impossible but it does take more effort on my part. I believe Sean is at a great age for having a sibling introduced into his life. If he were a bit younger he might be too needy. He is right at the point where he can get his own toys, entertain himself for good stretches of time and communicate what he wants. Although, he does have a way to go on the communication thing. What is also great about his age is he won't know life without Kayla. It will be like she was there since the beginning, as far back as he can remember he'll remember his little sister!

Kayla wearing one of Sean's premie outfits =)

Can you see the similarities?

Kayla went to church for the first time today! I was super hesitant to take her out of the house, especially to such a crowded setting. But I wanted to get out, and church was just what I needed. We got there late so we missed most of the worship time, boo. I kept her covered in her car seat and the mama bear in me probably gave off a "don't try to even look at my baby" vibe. I asked my mom the other week if my uber protective senses of both Kayla and Sean, when he was a newborn, was just me or are all mommas like that with their newborns? She said it was just a momma thing.
Just like when we had Sean our lives were changed and priorities swapped around. We are getting used to the new order of priorities and slowly the new tasks are becoming routine.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Kayla is One Month Old!

Kayla is one month old. She was released from the NICU just five days ago. She is doing all the great newborn things like squirming, grunting, squeaking, and sleeping. Sean has adjusted well. He's fully aware she is a baby, but that might be the extent. He tries to give her the pacifier and is surprisingly gentle, but there has already been a moment where dad wanted to shove Sean back to keep his little girl safe. It didn't come to that but it surely will, some day. Sean will poke at her head so we are trying to teach him to be gentle. And since he is two ( in 16 days anyway) he does throw a good fit every once in a while. And we don't want those fits happening near Kayla, she's likely to take a hit from flailing limbs. But, so far, so good!

My mom came into town the night before Kayla came home to be with Sean overnight at the house while we did the "stay by parent" at the hospital. I'm not sure if I went into detail about this when we brought Sean home, we did "stay by parent" before Sean's release too. Since Kayla had episodes of apnea in the NICU, just like Sean, she was sent home on a monitor that detects her heart rate and breathing. While it is nice to have and does give us peace of mind, we know not to rely on the monitor completely. So since she came home on that monitor we stay a night in a hotel like hospital room, right there in the NICU, so they can make sure we are comfortable with the monitor and giving medication. Having my mom here has been great. I really would gave gone coocoo without her help! We are wondering how we will survive without her!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Kayla is Home!

Friday, July 22 Kayla was released from the NICU. She was 25 days old and weighed 5lbs5oz.

Right now we are watching The Princess Diaries together, well she's sleeping, but we are in the room together. Guess this is the first of fun Mommy daughter girly things we will do!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Weekly recap

I picked up these cookies to put is Sean's valentine goody bags to give to his friends. I purposely held on to more of the frosted ones and gave away the pain and iced ones! ha

Saturday before nap we gave these two cuties a bath.

My mom came to visit and brought this gadget. It works pretty well on our linoleum. They say steam is the best way to clean and kill bacteria.

Post church- pre lunch entertainment.

Sean's new belt, cute.

Mom also brought puzzles! I asked if she had any of our old puzzles at the house. She didn't but picked up a couple for me she saw at the dollar store. This one had the tiniest pieces.

We snuck out to grab a Slurppe at the new 711 in town before running errands.

I was too lazy to out in the cold for his bowl so Jake ate off Sean's dirty lunch plate.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Introducing....

Kayla Joy

Kayla was born June 27, 4lbs 9oz, and 17 inches.

Kayla made her entrance early, just like brother. Sean was born at 32 weeks and 2 days gestation. Kayla was born 32 weeks and 4 days. She is doing just fine, but will be in the NICU for several weeks. She is trying to pick up the whole sucking thing. Babies don't develop their sucking skills till 34-35 weeks gestation. Sean had the same hurdle to overcome and he did learn, it just takes time. We are basically waiting on her to grow before we can take her home. Thankfully we live literally 2 minutes from the hospital so we are able to see her often.

She is a sweet little lady and we are so blessed she is doing well. As soon as we found out I was going to have her early people started praying and we definitely felt the prayers. God surrounded us with His peace. So thankful He has entrusted us with her life, we give Jesus all the praise!