Fun in the Snow!

Too small

Maggie has struggled with breastfeeding from the get-go. It didn't help that she was put under the bili-lights for two days after she was born (for her jaundice) so we've been struggling. I had been feeling more and more worried about her eating/feeding and small size lately and finally went with my gut and called the paediatrician from their parking lot to see if I could come in for a weight check. (I had been out running errands and just decided to stop) I'm so glad I did-she was only 6lb, 15 oz which was down from her previous gain back to her birth weight a week ago! I immediately felt horrible and started to cry. I was hoping to go in, be reassured that all was well and leave sheepishly with a pat on my back as a "worried new mommy." So, not the best news but at least my mama's instinct was working and now we are working on plumping Miss Maggie up! I met with our practice's nurse practitioner Deb who is wonderful. She was very reassuring and very pro-breastfeeding and not only gave sound medical advice from her end but strongly encouraged me to call the lactation consultants at the hospital to get some extra help. We did give Maggie some formula in the office and they gave me samples to take home to supplement my feedings on the breast. I used them a few times but then read more online about pumping and supplementing with my own milk instead, so we have been doing that and leaving the formula as only a last resort. So now I feed her until she seems done, then I pump and give her 1-2 oz of expressed milk to "top her off" and make sure I am giving her countable amounts. This has not been easy as she feeds 30-45 minutes on the breast, then I have to pump and then it seems like it's time to start the whole process all over again.

I went to the lactation consultant's office on Wednesday and they were wonderful! Right away they could tell that Maggie wasn't latching on fully. She was only nursing on the tip which made her work very hard and use a lot of energy to get the milk and because of this she was also only getting the "skim" milk and not the good fatty milk. She showed me how to make her latch on correctly and right away we heard her gulping and swallowing like crazy. She was fighting me on this "new way" but after a few days of making her do it the new way, she is latching on correctly on her own most of the time. I was relieved to find a reason for her inefficient eating correctly since Wednesday afternoon. She also looks and acts much better.
We went again on Friday for another weight check and she had only gained 2 oz since Monday, they weren't very happy with that but I feel okay about it as we really only had been eating but want to wait until our next weight check on Tuesday, March 11 before making any orders for additional tests. Brian and I have talked about it and as long as she has gained so more we will wait another week before consenting to invasive testing. My gut is saying that she is okay although I do have moments of wavering on this. I am putting a lot of pressure on myself since I am the one providing the food for her. I am stubborn and want her to get the best which is why I am not giving up on the breastfeeding. I am nervous about tomorrow and hope and pray she has gained some sufficient weight to make them happy and me too!!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers!! I'll let you know what we find out tomorrow and will add some more photos and updates too.

*******UPDATE******

She was 7.1 Friday and today (Monday) was 7.4 so that is good! They are still being cautious but the doctor said she looks healthy and made decent gains so she is giving us another week before making a recommendation for tests. Keep up the good work Maggie!

Baby Baby

We are slowly settling into routine with two kiddos. The hardest part we are finding is that Brian and I were so used to "tag-team" type parenting with Ellie which allowed one of us to have a break or rest or get extra sleep, etc. Now, there are no breaks since each of us usually has a kid in our arms to attend to. Maggie is at the stage now where all she wants to do is be held most of the day. I remember this time with Ellie and I'm so glad I held her as much as I did since these days it's hard to hold her in your arms more than a minute or so before she's ready to be down and doing her thing. While this time will be over before I can blink, I must say that in the midst of it all it is a bit tiresome. I've become reacquainted with doing things again with one hand and am again using my collection of baby carriers to allow myself some free hands.


Ellie is doing great and has eagerly accepted the role of big sister. She LOVES baby Maggie and wants to kiss her and hold her all the time. When I pick her up at school now and have Maggie with me, she runs over to us, totally ignoring me, and sticks her face straight into Maggie's car seat to give her a kiss and tell her hello. She is quick to find a paci when Maggie cries and tries to force it into her mouth while telling her "don't cry Maggie!"

One of the funniest things that Ellie is doing during this adjustment is that she asks to do many things that baby Maggie is doing. It's classic, but still fun to see! I've been giving Maggie sponge baths on a towel in the bathroom and one Saturday Ellie was there to watch and after I was finished, she wanted me to take off her clothes and give her a bath too. She had to lay on the towel and I had to use the bowl and washcloth just like I did for Maggie. Tonight we gave Maggie her first ever bathtub bath and I asked Ellie to help. I knew Ellie would want to get in the big tub too so I filled it up along with Maggie's tub. Ellie helped Mommy and kept telling Maggie "good job" for not crying. Once I handed Maggie over to Daddy, Ellie laid down in Maggie's tub and insisted that I give her a bath just like Maggie! Adorable! Other then that, she often takes one of Maggie's paci's and pops it in her mouth-note this is the child who almost never used a paci in the first place-she looks so funny with it in her mouth! Another thing Ellie has asked to do a few times is to breastfeed. I was prepared for this as really she only weaned 3-4 months ago herself. So the last two times she has asked, she has laid across my lap on the boppy pillow and I've let her try to nurse. The funny thing is that she really doesn't remember how to nurse anymore but she tries anyway. Apparently, she no longer cares for the taste of mommy milk and has emphatically shared that "booby milk is yucky!"

All in all we are sleepy but very happy and blessed by our two girls. Enjoy this last picture-it's cute even if we look a little rough around the edges!

Big Sister Ellie!

On Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 3:44 pm, Ellie became a big sister to Margaret Amelia. Maggie weighed 7lbs, 4 oz and was 21 inches long (although her pediatrician disagrees with these stats!) Maggie looks somewhat like her big sister but mostly just looks like Maggie right now. She has dark hair and her eyes have blue in them so we might have a blue-eyed girl! Ellie's eyes were very dark from the beginning and have stayed that way. So far, Maggie is a very easy baby. She's so easy in fact that she worries me a bit because she has slept most the night a few nights without waking me to eat and that is not normal for a breast-fed baby! Ellie seems to be taking it all in stride much like Brian and suspected. She is very curious about Maggie and likes to poke her in the eye and kiss her and always wants to know where baby Maggie is. Ellie is fighting a yucky virus this week which has been hard as we are trying to keep her from being "too close" to Maggie but are trying to encourage her to do as much with her as she wants. We hope Maggie stays strong and can avoid this bug exposure!!

It's been forever since I've updated this and I feel bad about it. I hope to do better but as I have never had two babies before I am not sure I'll still be able to keep up with it. I figure I can at least post some photos if nothing else-that doesn't take too long!

Ellie is now 21 months old and is just as delightful as ever. Brian and I just can't imagine her getting any cuter. She has been talking forever it seems and now speaks in at least 4 word sentences. She just recently started using the word "I" instead of Ellie when referring to herself which sounds so grown-up! It used to be "Ellie wants a piece of candy" and now it's "I want a piece of candy." Speaking of candy, she has become quite the candy fiend lately and it's often the first thing she asks for in the morning upon waking. I think we will blame this one on her Nana who always seems to have candy floating around in her purse! She now comes and asks us for candy, "Just one candy" she will say with her one finger up by her cheek and really emphasizing the word "ONE"-how can anyone resist that???!! Despite this interest in candy she still remains our little peanut and weighs 21 1/2 lbs right now. I'm not sure how tall she is but I do know she has grown as many clothes that would still fit her everywhere else are too short for her. Where she got the skinny genes we don't know!!

Ellie's other big news right now is that she is has taken quite an interest in using the potty! She is now in the class at school that introduces and eventually helps the kids become potty trained. They don't move up to the next class until they are potty-trained so the kids stay in this class the longest. It is divided up into two groups, one for the younger and the other for the older ones. Ellie and her friends are the newest members of this class and one thing they start having them do early on is they sit on the potty and try when they go for a diaper change. Brian and I are so grateful for this and figured we would be ready to work with her this summer on becoming fully trained. Ellie has had other ideas, she has started asking us to use the potty or telling us that she has to poopy before she goes. She also has become quite obsessed with a book we have about using the potty so we decided to humor her and bought her a tiny pink beginner Bjorn potty (the regular size one was too big for her little behind!) She LOVES this pink potty and carries it around the house to wherever we are hanging out and will ask us to take off her clothes (which means EVERYTHING, you can't even sit with socks on apparently!) So far she has pooped and peed in the potty for us once. Brian and I were so excited and cheered her on but both times she was scared and close to tears-she doesn't seem to like the "yucky stuff in her potty" and want me clean it right away. So, she's by no means close to being potty-trained right now and while we are not encouraging her too much right now we do listen to her and let her sit whenever she tells us she needs to. She may just potty-train herself despite her parents' efforts!

Well, Miss Maggie has let me know that she would like to have a little lunch so I will post this and be happy for the time being. Let me know if you have anything you want to see picture wise on here or news you would like to hear about.

Exciting News!

Ellie would like to announce that she is gonna be a big sister!! Mommy is due on Valentine's Day and has just entered the second trimester! We will not be finding out the sex until birth (just like we did with Ellie!) We are excited and think Ellie will be a FANTASTIC big sister!!

Eleanor and Honest Abe

Every summer we travel to Akron for the Akron Cup tournament with vintage base ball on the ground of Stan Hywet Hall. As always, president Lincoln attends the festivities and last summer we had Ellie's picture taken with him. I hope to continue this tradition every year although Ellie was a little unsure about her meeting this year!

Last summer:

This summer:

Summertime Slackers

Well, as several people have recently reminded me, I have been a slacker with Ellie's blog. It's summer and besides truly being busy at the beginning of the summer with a HUGE time-consuming commitment I undertook, we have been busy traveling and just hanging out enjoying those long, hot summer days! Ellie has gone to "half-time" daycare this summer so that mommy can spend extra time with her while she's off for the summer but then she also stays used to going to school and the routines there too. Frankly, she loves school right now and they do so much that I think she gets bored staying home with me some days!

Ellie turned 15 months old last weekend and is becoming more fun everyday. She runs, she does things purposefully silly to make us laugh, is talking up a storm and repeating most anything we ask of her and understands most everything we say to her. It's so awesome and Brian and I are enjoying this fun stage! She now has 6 teeth and so far they have all come in in pairs of two at the exact same time! She has four on the top and two on the bottom. She continues to be very interested in breastfeeding still although if busy enough she will forget about it until she gets sleepy. I'm okay letting her wean when she wants, so we'll keep going until she let's me know she's ready. She remains a little peanut, weighting 18lbs, 4 oz last week when I weighed her at my doctor's appointment. So, small but definitely healthy and progressing well!

I think I'll try to get more photos in the next couple of entries and not worry so much about the words that go with it. Enjoy the pictures of some of Ellie's summertime antics!