Caleb 2 Years Old

This is a common sight in our house: Caleb playing with his trains while watching a Thomas the Train dvd. He will come up to me saying in a very pleading voice, "Thomas, Thomas". He loves Thomas the train! For his birthday, Caleb got several Thomas train sets, and he has had a great time playing with them. He was having such a fun time playing the other night, that he had a major meltdown because it was time for bed. He was screaming and yelling, "I want trains." It was a perfect example of a two year temper tantrum! I guess you could say that we ended up compromising because Jon and I let him take one of his Thomas trains to bed with him. He was still unhappy that he couldn't bring all of the trains, and he fell asleep with the train in his hand. Caleb still loves basketball; one of his favorite things to do is to dance to the Globetrotters song "Sweet Georgia Brown" while he plays basketball. He often says to me "music" to request that I turn on his basketball play list. He particularly enjoys this when Daddy is home to dance and play along with him. Caleb mostly ignores Abby although sometimes he says "Abby, bed" when he wants me to himself. At his bedtime, Caleb "kisses" everyone goodnight. We have done this for a long time, but he doesn't really kiss us, he just leans in so we can kiss him. However, he does kiss Abby on the top of the head each night. Caleb only naps during the day some of the time. Most days, he plays in his crib for two hours or longer and never goes to sleep. He doesn't seem to be an worse for the wear, and I am getting a break still, so this works for us. Caleb is growing up and looking more and more like a little boy. He is getting freckles on his face just like his Daddy has. While Abby was in the hospital, Caleb went to work with Jon. He got to play on the track with several gold medal Olympic athletes, and he learned how to start a race. Now Jon and Caleb "race" around the coffee table. Jon says "on your marks", and Caleb gets in the starting position, "get set" and "go", and they both run around the room. What a joy this boy is! We are so glad that he is a part of our family!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Other than Caleb being a year older, any guesses on what else is new about this post?

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Abby changed outfits four times today before 10:00, but we made sure she had on green with each one. Here are some recent pictures! Enjoy!
Sweet girl!
Caleb showing the camera one of his favorite toys!
Abby not quite ready for this position yet!

Thanks Gege and G-pa for the singing birthday card. As you can see it has brought me lots of enjoyment! Love, Caleb

My Babies

Abby at 4 weeks, Caleb at 8 weeks

Abby One Month Old

This sweet baby is one month old! The past month has flown by! Isn't she a sweet pretty little baby? She has such a cute pink complexion on her cheeks and lips. It almost looks like she is wearing makeup. Abby has recovered well from our traumatic hospital stay. Maybe I am imagining it, but she just seems genuinely happy to be at home. Our last night at the hospital was a rough one for both of us. She just didn't want to go to sleep. I know that this happens with all babies and makes their parents crazy, but at the hospital it is especially bad. I kept trying to get her to go to sleep, putting her down, and then she would instantly start crying. Along with that the hospital bed that I slept on was really strange; it would randomly start inflating in different spots and make a bunch of noise. So the night went like this: nurse Abby, sooth Abby to sleep, put Abby in bed, lay down in my annoying bed, hear Abby crying, pick Abby up and repeat all of the steps. It seemed like once I finally got her to sleep a nurse would come in needing to do vitals or something else. We hardly got any sleep. The worst was when someone from the lab came in at 5:30 in the morning to take blood. Nothing like being woken up from a hard sleep with a prick to the heel and then having the blood squeezed out of your foot. Okay- enough about the hospital- putting it behind us now! Abby is eating well, and we will work on the sleeping next. She is seeming to be more and more awake and hardly looks like a newborn to me anymore. She has grown out of her newborn diapers and out of several of her outfits. Her hair is looking more and more red/blonde. In fact, several people have commented that she is going to be a red head. Red hair or not I love thinking about all of the milestones to come for this little sweetie!

Psalm 34:4-8

"I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all of my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame. This poor woman called, and the Lord heard her; He saved save out of all her troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the woman who takes refuge in Him."

We are all home! It has been a very tough few days, but Abby is home safe and sound. We thank everyone for their prayers for our family. Most likely this was caused by a virus. Abby's fever has subsided, and she is acting like she feels much better!

Abby Update

If you haven't seen Jon's twitter posts on the side, we wanted to let everyone know that Abby had to be admitted to the hospital yesterday morning. She had a high fever of 102, which is taken very seriously in babies so young- seriously as in a spinal tap, tons of blood work, iv blood draw, catheter, heel prick, iv fluids, nasal flu swabs, and iv antibiotics every 6 hours until she is better.

We spent about 5 hours in the ER yesterday morning while various nurses tried to start an iv. Our poor little baby was poked at least 14 times (not an exaggeration)- three in the head, two on arms, three on wrists, two on ankles, one on her heel, a shot of antibiotics in each thigh, and a spinal tap. This was not easy to watch especially because many of the pokes seemed to be accomplishing nothing because they couldn't get in her veins. Several labor and delivery nurses came down to try to get a vein, and they were unsuccessful as well. Finally one of the pediatricians was successful in starting an IV, which they are using to administer antibiotics. So far, the results are looking like this is a virus, but we have to wait 48-72 hours for the blood cultures to come back. We are praying this is nothing too serious. So we will be spending at least one more night at the hospital and possibly two.

Please pray for Abby to continue to eat and sleep well and for the cultures to come back negative for any type of bacterial infection. Pray for Abby's fever to come down and for her sweet body to heal quickly. It has still be quite high today. The spinal tap came back negative for meningitis- so praise God for that! Finally pray that this iv lasts and doesn't have any problems. I really don't want them to have to try to start another one!

That's the update. Hopefully soon we will be on our way home with a healthy girl- who may never leave the house again! JK, but boy this has not been fun for any of us- her in particular!

Here are a few pictures from Grandma Pace's camera. I love the first one of Caleb holding his basketball because that is a very common sight around our household! The bottom picture is from Abigail's first bath. She definitely did not like the sponge bath thing, but now that her umbilical cord has fallen off, she can take real baths. She gets really relaxed in her baby tub and seems to enjoy bathtime (which has been a frequent activity b/c of many blow out diapers and spit up incidents!).

Our Two Little Ones

Caleb seems like he has gained about 20 lbs in the past two weeks. Parts of him seem oddly gigantic to me all of a sudden. Abby on the other hand seems teeny tiny! It is crazy to think that she almost weighed 2 lbs. more than Caleb did at birth! This picture is the first one I have gotten of Caleb holding his sister. Actually it may be the first time, he really "held" her. Right after I took the picture, he decided to move and nearly pushed Abby off of the couch. I was right there, so she was fine. Caleb gives Abby kisses and hugs, but he is still a little unsure about her. You can tell in this picture that Abby and Caleb seem to have different coloring. Her hair and skin are darker than his. I look forward to seeing if they stay this way. Her facial expressions are looking more and more like his as a baby, so I guess that is good assurance that she is our baby! I still can't believe her hair isn't lighter!

Miss Photogenic at 2 weeks

Okay, I haven't tried too hard, but I can't seem to get a good picture of Abigail. She has been sleeping, sleeping, sleeping- its daytime- not a good sign for tonight. No matter how many times, I move her head up so it isn't crooked, she ends up back like this. I guess I should just move her to her bed. I am just hoping that if she is out in the living room, she might wake up! Doesn't look too comfortable, does it?

We went for Abigail's two week doctor's appointment today. She weighed 7 lbs 14 ounces, which is a 9 ounce gain from her birth weight. I consider this an accomplish for me as the provider of her nutrition every 2-3 hours! Lengthwise, she was 19 1/2 inches. We are thinking that they must have made a mistake in saying she was 20 inches at birth. I don't think that she is shrinking! These put her at 50 percent for weight and 10 percent for height, which is different for our family. Caleb always measures tall compared to others his age.

All in all Abby is doing well. She has been sleeping for up to four hours at night. Actually I have been waking her up to eat. She has had some trouble getting back to sleep after eating. Last night Jon rocked and shhhed and held her for 2 1/2 hours with no luck in getting her to sleep. I ended up feeding her again, and she went down. So yeah, we are in the midst of the lack of sleep that comes with a newborn. Caleb's new favorite phrase is "Abby sleeping". He says this when she is awake and when she is asleep. I think he likes it when she is asleep, and he gets me all to himself. Abigail is a sweet thing...I will try to get a better picture soon!

Caleb 23 months old

This boy is only one month away from being two! In the past week, he has shown a great interest in having his picture taken because he has seen us taking pictures of Abigail. He smiles really big and squints (see the bottom picture below). Caleb is beginning to adjust to being a big brother. The first couple of days that we were home from the hospital were a bit tough- lots and lots and lots of screaming for no apparent reason. He spent what seemed like one whole day just screeching at any and every little thing instead of using words to tell us how he was feeling. However, now he seems to be feeling better about things. He and Jon have been going on adventures in the open land nearby our house, which he loves to do. He collects golf balls along the way and remembers collecting them. Last time Jon threw them back without Caleb noticing, but about an hour later he was asking for them. He made his point very apparent, and him and Jon went back out to find them. All of a sudden Caleb has been calling me "Mama" a whole lot, which he never really did before. I hear him in his bed every morning saying "Mama, mama". A couple of nights ago, Jon was about to put him into bed, and Caleb said "bed, Mama" because he wanted me to be the one to put him down. I love that he is starting to be able to express himself in this way. Our first days home, Caleb didn't want to touch Abigail, but now he likes to give her kisses. He says "Abby" and loves to peak in at her while she is asleep in the pack-n-play. He turns on the music and makes a bunch of noise- poor girl will definitely learn to sleep through some noise. For now, she pretty much sleeps through everything. We have been at home a lot lately, and Caleb has been almost constantly saying the names of his friends. He was very happy to go to Mother's Day Out today. He is definitely like his daddy; he loves to be social!

Here Caleb, Jon, and Abby pose for a picture. Of course Caleb has his eyes closed.

Another picture of Caleb with shut eyes.
This picture reminds me of a picture taking nearly two years ago...Finally, I can't end without a close up of this little sweetheart!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Abigail Day 4

My mom and I took Caleb and Abby out for a walk this afternoon. We got Abby all bundled up despite the fact that it was 70 something degrees out. So yeah, we overdid it a bit, but isn't she adorable.

Last night Abby and Selah got to meet for the first time. Selah is Caleb's friend Gianna's little sister. She is 8 days older than Abby. Abby is on the left and Selah on the right.

While we were having our baby photo session, Caleb and Gianna were busy playing together. They love to get together and entertain each other for long periods of time. Caleb and Gianna are 11 days apart in age, and we are so excited that their sisters are close too.

Abigail spends almost all of her time asleep like a normal newborn baby. Today she actually was awake for several minutes, so of course Grammy and I had to take some pictures.

Home Sweet Home

My nearly two year old, my two day old, and Grammy (my mom) are all asleep. Jon headed into work for a little catching up. We are very happy to be home with our little girl! She is wearing her newborn sized sweet pink strawberry outfit, although we just barely avoided a blowout in it right before we left the hospital. Jon had already taken out all of the diapers and wipes to the care in anticipation of our departure, but we kept waiting for the nurses to locate a wheelchair. Suddenly Abby was quite upset and had a very very dirty diaper. She was screaming like crazy and managed to soil her little pink booties (see two or so posts down) that she had on for the trip home. Eventually after Abby had alerted everyone on the floor to her distress, we located a diaper and got her changed. I am sure that this will just be the first of many outfits she will get dirty in some way right before we are set to leave. So she went home sockless, but looking cute just the same. Here are a few more pictures for everyone to see this sweetie!

Abby's Homecoming

They released both Kelly and Abby from the hospital this morning with a clean bill of health. We're glad to out of that room although it was nice to be well taken care of being home is great.

Abigail Lynn Capron

7lbs 5 oz
20 in.
9:33 am
2/10/09

Making our Preparations

Check out what Caleb thinks the crib should be used for. He will have to learn that he can't through balls into it very soon!

Today I officially put some sweet baby clothes in my hospital bag. I have had a bag packed for about two weeks, but I didn't want to put any baby clothes in it until I knew that they would like be needed. With Caleb we couldn't dress him until about a week after he was born. So now I am at 36 weeks, and I think it is possible that our little girl will be able to avoid the NICU if she is born really soon. I would like her to wait another week and a half for when Jon's mom comes to stay with us. Jon and I are feeling anxious about Caleb going to stay at a friend's house if the baby comes before Grandma does. My friends would do a great job taking care of him, but it would be nice to know he was at home. I am also getting anxious about having a super fast delivery... things are continuing to progress according to my doctor. I didn't feel much pain with Caleb's birth until about the last 3 hours of labor, which was a blessing then, but it makes me nervous now. Jon doesn't think I should pray for pain, but I am scared I won't know I am in labor until things are really far along! I guess every pregnant woman goes through these "when will the baby come?" emotions, but they are a first for me. None the less, we are very thankful to be 36 1/2 weeks along. Please pray for us to have wisdom about when we need to head to the hospital; I want to get there in time for an epidural and also I will need to have antibiotics through an IV for Group Strep B. Sorry if this is too much information- it's just all that is on my mind lately! Don't you love the sweet pink outfit? It is a newborn size, but it seems kind of big to me. I hope it will fit!