Sisters

JoElle rocked Alexa to sleep

Sisters

JoElle rocked Alexa to sleep

Tandi said...
That is one of the most beautiful pictures of the girls. JoElle is such an amazing big sister. You guys are doing a great job! Thank you for encouraing me tonight Meggie. My heart has been so overcome with sadness, but your wisdom helped me. Hey I spoke with Fred and he echoed what you said. I am luck to be surrounded by such wonderful people. I LOVE YOU DEAR FRIEND!!!!!
-Tandi

Several posts...

April 4, 2008 Alexa is 6 weeks old- Slept through the night!!
Alexa started sleeping through the night (most nights)- anywhere from 6-12 hours each night! She slept 9 hours last night, it was wonderful to have her sleep so long!

April 2nd, 2008
This morning, Alexa was crying in her crib her "I need attention cry" and as soon as I entered the room, she immediately stopped crying! It was really cool how she calmed down as soon as she saw me! She did need to eat too, but wasn't frantic about it!

April 1, 2008
Alexa giggled at Daddy tonight.
This morning, Alexa was being a little fussy in her bouncer while I was putting in my contacts. She suddenly got real quiet, I looked over and JoElle had found her pacifier and put it into her mouth. JoElle was holding it in for her and had calmed her down enough for her to fall asleep!
I went to the dentist and Shirley (the dental assistant) held her while I got my teeth cleaned. Shirley got her to sleep for me. I forgot Alexa's bottle at home...ooops. She didn't have to eat, but she wanted to, instead she sucked on a pacifier for Shirley.
We also went to the DPS to renew my DL, Alexa slept the whole time there. Why doesn't she sleep at home/at night for me as well as she sleeps out in public??
That night, she was up from 2-4 a.m. She ate and didn't want to go to sleep. I finally put her down in her crib and took a bath, she cried a little, but it was only an "I'm bored" cry. She was still awake when I got out of the tub, so I picked her up to comfort her a little, then put her back down. I went to sleep, I guess she did too, I didn't hear her cry until 7:00 a.m.

3-29-08 JoElle loves to hold Alexa. She gets upset with me when Alexa starts to cry and I have to take her. JoElle tells me "Give Alexa back to me after you calm her down Mommy"

3-26-08 (5 weeks old) Alexa loves to smile! She has been smiling at us a lot lately

5 Weeks 3-27-08
Alexa learned how to roll over from her tummy to her back. She rolled again the next day, so it wan't just a fluke

March 26, 2008 Alexa is four weeks old

We have been so busy, the days fly by! Today, Tim took off and we ate On the Border with Alexa. She slept most of the time, until I got her up to feed her. She was trying to wake up, she couldn't even open her eyes! The waitress wanted her to wake up so she could see her.

Yesterday, Alexa and I did some shopping at Target for clothes for me and Tim. She slept the entire time.

Monday, Alexa and I went shopping at Mike's Garden Center to buy a rose bush, two bushes, and some ground cover for our front garden. I held her the whole time (the car seat is too heavy for me, I figured out last week it was giving me lower back pain) and dragged around a plant cart. She slept the entire time. See a pattern here??? hehe

For Easter, Alexa slept in until 10:00 until Granny and Grandad stopped by unexpectedly and rang the doorbell and woke her up.We had planned to go to church, but that didn't happen. We did go to Aunt Ana's house so JoElle could play with Peyton and Madison. Alexa pretty much slept most of the day!! JoElle and Peyton colored Easter eggs, JoElle mixed a few eggs in several cups of dye and made cool colors. The two of them had a ball hunting for eggs in the yard, Madison only picked up one, threw it back down, and wanted to swing instead! JoElle had a ton of eggs in her basket.

Alexa has settled in to somewhat of a schedule over the past few days:

9:00 a.m. Alexa wakes up and eats, we try to get JoElle out of the bed, she doesn't want to get up, Alexa stays awake a little while JoElle gets ready, hangs out in her car seat, bouncer or on the floor watching JoElle.

9:30-10:00 ish we leave to take JoElle to school (We used to leave earlier, but who wants to wake up a sleeping baby??????) Alexa stays awake for about 5 minutes in the car, JoElle tells me "Alexa is happy! She's awake!" Then she sleeps the rest of the time

10:15-10:30 I take Alexa in out of the car seat to JoElle's daycare. All of JoElle's friends want to see the baby (even though they have now seen her every day for the past 4 weeks...) Ethan wants to touch her, I tell him please don't touch her face, he does anyways, JoElle gets a little upset, Ethan tells JoElle not to touch the baby, I remind him that it is her sister... JoElle hugs and kisses the baby, I don't really get much of a hug

10:30-12:00 I run errands, go shopping, or come home and clean up the house a bit

12:00 Alexa wakes up to eat, then falls back asleep

12:30-2:30 maybe 3:30 Alexa sleeps in her crib ON HER TUMMY, yes I said on her tummy, she is sleeping quite beautifully now on her belly, just like JoElle did; nap time for me, or chill and watch t.v.

2:30-3:30 Alexa eats again, probably falls back to sleep, may stay up and play; I either get on the computer, watch Tyra Banks show, do clothes, sometimes nap, depends on the night before

4:30-5:00 We leave to get JoElle, again, Alexa stays up for a little bit in the car, then falls asleep, she typically opens her eyes for a brief moment at daycare, then falls back asleep.....

6:00 We get home, JoElle is normally whiny by this time because she is hungry, she is probably mad at me because I can't carry her, once I get some food into her, she is extremely happy, total Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde...

6:30 Time for Alexa to eat again

7:00-7:30 I give the girls baths

7:30-8:00 I put Alexa to bed in her crib

9:30-10:30 Alexa wakes up to eat, probably falls right back to sleep

12:30-1:30 Alexa wakes up to eat, probably stays up for about an hour

4:00 Time to eat again, I don't want to get up, I let her cry for a few minutes, see if Tim will get up, sometimes he does, sometimes he is too tired and since I am not working, I eventually get up to feed her, normally go sit on the couch and turn on t.v. while she eats. She might stay up for 1-2 hours, or she might go back to sleep, it's anbody's guess...

4:30-9:00 PRECIOUS SLEEP FOR THE ENTIRE HOUSE!!!!!! (except Tim has to wake up and go to work.....)

3-17-08 Happy St. Patricks' Day!


March 11, 2008 Happy Birthday Aunt Ana!
Today is my sister's birthday, Happy Birthday Ana!

March 9th, 2008 Happy Anniverasry Tim!
Tim and I have been married for 6 years, the time goes by so fast! I love you, Tim!
Uncle Aaron babysat both girls for us so we could eat out together. What a brave man! Especially with a fussy baby. This was the first time anybody has babysat Alexa. She did great with him, was fussy and had messy diapers, but he handled her AND JoElle, quite a feat! JoElle is very demanding of her uncle. Aaron even gave JoElle a bath, too! When we got home, Alexa was sleeping peacefully in his arms. Aaron found JoElle standing in her sick, naked, trying to wash her feet off..... you can't win them all, at least she didn't turn on the water and slip.

Sleeps all day, up at night

This is what everyone who sees Alexa in the day gets to see....a peacefully sleeping baby, how sweet! Nighttime is a different story... some nights she is up every hour or two and doesn't go back to sleep. Other nights, she only wakes up two or three times and goes back to sleep fairly easily. Alexa has now been on her new formula for just over a week and is not fussing as much. She still cries some when her tummy hurts and when she has to go to the bathroom, but not anything like it was when she turned two weeks!

Both girls at 2 weeks old

Here is a picture of Alexa when she was 2 weeks old...
Check out JoElle's pic below when she was a few days old, can you tell them apart????

Here is a picture of JoElle when she was 4 days old....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Several posts...

March 10, 2008 Alexa: 2 weeks old - first smile!
We took Alexa for her two week check up today. She now weighs 8 lbs 14 oz and is 21 inches long. She hasn't quite caught up to JoElle's birth weight of 9 lbs, but she is close! Alexa has grown two inches since she was born.
In comparison to JoElle: JoElle was 10 lbs 4 oz and is 22.75 in long at two weeks
At the checkup, Alexa looked at me and smiled! She also smiled at Tim today.
We had a tough tough weekend. On Saturday night at 3:00 a.m. Alexa was screaming incessantly in pain from her formula; she is not digesting the milk protein, just like JoElle couldn't. We called her Dr. and switched her formula that night. She is now on the expensive formula, Nutramigen. None of us got any sleep; we were all worried about her. Even JoElle was up trying to help us. I got maybe two hours of sleep, not at the same time, and held her all night.
Sunday night wasn't any better, she screamed in pain all night and finally by 7:00 the next morning, I couldn't even comfort her anymore, Tim had to take her.

March 8, 2008 Second trip to the mall and reflux medicine
We called Alexa's pediatrician today and asked if we could try reflux meds, so now she is on Zantac. We hope this will fix her fussiness and spitting up/ vomitting. Otherwise, we might have to switch her formula to Nutramigen like we had JoElle on, it is very very expensive.
Alexa is starting to eat 3 and sometimes 4 oz at some of her feedings, but she still wants to eat every hour or every 2 hours. She did sleep for 4 hours today while JoElle, Uncle Aaron and I walked around the mall, shopped at Origins, and played at the play area. JoElle enjoyed smelling all the great lotions and body scrubs at Origins.
Todat Alexa also enjoyed laying on her play mat, batting at the bird hanging down, and watching the lights on the star and listening to the music it plays.
JoElle helped me clean last night; she washed the dishes for me (she does a great job of this all by herself), she folded towels, put up some of her clothes, hung some of my clothes, and wiped the kitchen table. She is such a great helper! She wanted to spend more time with Daddy, she she "studied" with him. She lay on her tummy next to him, writing notes in her Hello Kitty journal. It was very sweet. Today, she told him " I need quiet so I can study like Daddy" and when we prayed, she told God she likes to study like Daddy!
JoElle tells me all the time she likes her baby and her baby is cute (her sister). She gives her a ton of kisses each day and loves to talk to her.

March 7, 2008 First Pics at JC Penney and Day and Night Confusion
We took Alexa and JoElle today for Alexa's first pics at JC Penney; she is two weeks old already! The pictures are really cute, JoElle even got in the pics with her sister! We also walked around the mall, ate at Chick-Fil-A and JoElle built a bear for her first time. She chose a pick bear with silver fur mixed in and the bear's name is Alexa.
Alexa has her days and nights mixed up; she sleeps beautifully during the daytime, sometimes for 3-4 hours at a time. But when 1 or 2 in the morning hits, she is up, wide awake, sometimes fussy, sometimes just awake. She won't let me put her down. Most of the past week I have been up with her from 2:30-4:00 or 5. She also likes to wake up every hour at night to eat. Even if she eats 2 oz, she will wake up in an hour for 2 more, but she won't eat more than 2 at each feeding. She still hates to be changed, diaper changing is getting a little better. She is starting to look at her painting of black and white stripes that I painted for JoElle when she was a baby. Her cord looks like it will fall of soon and her vision is getting much better. She enjoys looking around her room, the living room and JoElle's room.
We are starting to think that she may have reflux the way she cries, spits up frequently and sometimes projects her spit up. Two nights ago, she slept well for Daddy; she only woke up twice and slept the rest of the night.

March 1, 2008
Tonight I was spending time with JoElle, giving her a bath and talking to her, so I asked her if she gets sad sometimes when Mommy and Daddy are taking care of the baby. She told me yeah. Then she clasped her hands together and told me "Mommy, let's pray about it" So, she prayed to God "Please help me to not be bad and enjoy baby Alexa and I like her so so much!"
Then she told me that I am her baby, her "adult baby". JoElle has such a sweet heart and is so gentle with her sister. It is beautiful to see her interact with Alexa.
JoElle was asking us questions today and last night about what color daddy, her, me and her cousin Peyton are.

February 29, 2008
Tonight while I was holding the baby, JoElle leaned over and kissed Alexa on her cheek and told her "I love you."

February 28, 2008
Alexa sleeps beautifully during the day, she barely even wakes up to eat, she just starts making little noises and opening her mouth like a bird, so we know it's time to eat; before she is even finished with an ounce, she is asleep again! Mostly I can put her down to sleep somewhere, anywhere really, the floor on a blanket or in her bassinet. Daddy, on the other hand, can't put her down; she starts crying for him to pick her back up again!!
At night, it is totally different. When she was in my belly, she would always be awake from 11:30 on, sometimes til 3:00 or 4:00. This is exactly what she is doing now most nights. She is up from 11:30, might snooze for 30 minutes around 1:00 or 2:00, but is mostly awake until 3:30 or so. She is slightly fussy (fussy for her) and her arms moving around bother her like crazy at night, so we have to swaddle her real good or she cries. Some nights she wakes JoElle up and JoElle ends up in our bed. One morning, JoElle told me "I got out of my bed because Alexa was making noises"

February 26, 2008 First Dr. Visit
We took Alexa for her first Dr. visit, she is 4 days old now. We were kinda concerned because she is only drinking .5 to 1 oz per feeding before falling asleep, whereas JoElle was eating 2 oz or more when she was first born.
She has already gained over a pound, Alexa was 7 lbs 2 oz on Sunday the 24th when we left the hospital, now she is up to 8 lbs 4 oz. So obviously she is growing well and only needs to eat 1 oz or less at a time!
Alexa loves to be held cradled in your arms. JoElle loved to be held upright on your chest or shoulder. When I am carrying Alexa around like I would carry JoElle, she will push back and fall back into my arms the way she likes me to hold her. It really scared me the first time she did this! But she does it on purpose. She tried to do this at the Dr's office when the Dr was holding her!
When she sleeps, she smiles. Tim loves to hold her and wait for her to start smiling. According to baby books, this is called "reflexive smiling". In the hospital, she startled easily by loud noises, by the time we came home, she wasn't being startled by that many noises.

February 25th, 2008 Happy Birthday Daddy!
Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to do much for Tim's birthday. We took JoElle to school because she chose to go and we brought Alexa. She slept the whole way there, at school, and home.
When we picked JoElle up, we went to Target to buy JoElle new shoes since she has already outgrown her size 8's. Daddy helped her to pick out a pair of tennis shoes, with princesses on them, and some sandals. Alexa was looking around, but then started crying when she got hungry. I was walking to feed her at the food court when a cashier stopped me to see the baby. She was telling everyone else there how beautiful Alexa is. As soon as I fed Alexa, she was back asleep....so we ate pretzels and that was pretty much how we spent Tim's birthday.
That night, the spinal headache came back, so I had to wake Tim up at 2:00 because I couldn't sit up or stand up anymore. It was horrible. I can't believe I can't even care for my own baby.

February 24th, 2008 Sunday
The nurse wheeled Alexa back into my room at 6:00 a.m., I was just wondering when she would be coming back as I was missing her! When Alexa got back to the room, she was hungry so I stood up to feed her. I almost fell back on the bed because a horrible headache came over me, it was like hitting a brick wall. I fed her anyways, but I couldn't even look at her while I was feeding her because I couldn't turn my neck even 1/2 inch. My nurse, Carrie, told me I need to speak with the anesthiologist because it sounded like a spinal headache. Sure enought, all of the neck pain and the headache were from the accidental spinal tap that the anesthesiologist gave me when he was trying to give me an epidural. The second dr. explained to me that when I sit up or stand up, spinal fluid leaks from my head and neck, since there is a hole where the spinal fluid is. He did a blood patch, where they inject your blood into the part of your spine where the hole is. Most of the pain immediately went away. I could move my neck again!
We got to go home from the hospital; as soon as Tim put Alexa in the car, JoElle was talking to her "Hi Alexa!! How are you Alexa?" She was so excited to finally have her sister in the car with her! On the way home, Alexa started to cry, so JoElle told her, "It's ok Alexa, Mommy and Daddy are right here"
When we got home, JoElle wanted to put the baby in the swing. Nana was holding Alexa on her legs, cradling her head. JoElle went over to her and informed her she was not holding the baby right and she was going to hurt the baby!
The first night home I was up a lot, most of the night. Alexa wanted to eat every hour like she was doing since 12:00 p.m. We couldn't get her to eat more than 1 oz, so she kept waking up to eat. Come to find out later, she was satisfied with a pacifier, so she really didn't have to eat each hour, she just needed to suck. Her impulse to suck is very strong, and she has taken to a pacifier quite well already.

February 23rd 2008, Saturday
I had a very rough second day at the hospital. Alexa is the most peaceful, calm baby. The problem was the neck pain. I had such horrible neck pain and nothing was helping. Tim took JoElle home so she could play with Peyton and Madison for a while. They came back up to the hospital later that evening and Uncle Aaron kept JoElle for us so Tim could help me.
Our nurse that name, Hope, offered to take Alexa to the nursery so that I could rest since I was in so much pain. I took her up on this offer and was very thankful that I did! Alexa slept well in the nursery and Tim and I got some sleep.