New Fabrics!

I just purchased some adorable new fabrics!  I can't wait to start sewing.  I'm thinking they will look so cute in this style (or really any of the styles!)...

I like this one alone...

Or with this as a contrast...

This one alone...

This one alone...

And then these three alone or mix and match...


If anyone wants to pre-order before I list them on etsy, let me know!

My Three Favorite People...

Christmas 2011

Ella was very excited to spend Christmas Eve day with grammy and pop pop, and it was the first time they met Everett!

On Christmas morning, Ella opened her stocking...

Made sure Everett could see one of his gifts...

And played with one of her favorite gifts- this obnoxious beautiful pink sparkly dog purse...


However, I think her favorite gift of all was *finally* being allowed to hold her baby brother!

The dynamic duo in their matching reindeer pajamas (which I had to go to TWO stores to find and then wait in a 20 minute line to purchase)...


After opening stockings and gifts at home, we went to grandma and grandpa's house to open the million gifts that Santa left at their house and have a yummy Christmas dinner!

Siblings

Everett

He had his weekly pediatrician appointment today (he is 26 days old, but I would have only been 37w3d today so really he's negative days old!).  He weighs 5 lbs. 9 oz.  He's gaining weight like a champ!  He is 18.75 inches.

He is eating really well, still every 3 hours.  He is the most laid back baby.  He seriously just sleeps 90% of the time, and when he's awake, he'll just look around at everything.  The *only* time he cries is when he's hungry, and even that is more of a fussiness than crying.  It's so different than Ella who was screaming all night at this point.

Ella

Still in love with her baby broder.  She is SO protective of him- it's adorable.  She doesn't want to go anywhere without him.  If he starts to fuss, she yells, "daddy check on him!!".  Today at the doctor, Gary went to get her out of the car first, and she said, "no daddy, baby broder first."  She also always talks about how "cute" he is.  Today she looked at him and said, "cute, cute, cute."  She is such a sweet big sister. 

Mommy & Daddy

Are TIRED!  I know we were tired with Ella (and should have been more tired since she barely slept at night for the first 8 weeks), but it seems so much worse this time.  Could two years make that much of a difference?  We are too old for this!  I'm beyond tired 100% of the time.  I can't get anything done because if I have a break from Ella, all I want to do is sleep, but no amount of cat naps help at all.  I need to start cleaning, organizing and exercising, but I need an ounce of energy first!  I hope this baby boy is as good of a sleeper as Ella...and SOON!

Christmas Playdate

Ella was so excited for her pre-Christmas park playdate with Reese, Mason and Hannah.  It's the first time she has been to the park OR hung out with her friends since Everett was born!


I finally got some more Christmas cookies finished.  The problem is that the photo doesn't have the three other kinds I made (fudge, molasses cookies and Mexican wedding cakes) because we ate them all!  This is why you can't make some cookies and then wait a week to make the rest.  Oops.

This is what Everett and Rylee do most of the day. :)

And my sweet little Christmas angel...

Everett's First Visitor

Auntie Katie came to visit Everett today, and it was his first official visitor!  It was so fun having her over and getting some "boy" advice. ;)  She's a good resource since she has two boys!  It seems weird that he is 3 weeks old and had his first visitor today, but he's only been home for a week.  He has quickly met some friends that have dropped off dinner too (btw, thank you so much Jen, Molly, Sarah & Tenille for dinners this week- it has been SO nice not having to eat cereal for dinner every night!!!).

We're still surviving over here.  So far, Everett has been a much easier baby than Ella.  He sleeps all.the.time.  No signs of reflux yet, and he doesn't make a peep overnight (as opposed to Ella's screaming for hours) except at 3 a.m. when he wants some food- it's crazy, he's REALLY on the 3 hour schedule.  We were setting our alarms to make sure we didn't skip a feed since he's still so tiny, but now he pretty much wakes up at 3 or 3.5 hours on the dot so he's our human alarm.  If he remains this easygoing, I may consider having a third child...JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!

Poor Ella is not doing as well as Everett.  We found out she has her first ear infection!  She never complains so I had no idea and felt like such a bad mommy.  I have to admit, I'm happy it's a non-contagious ear infection rather than croup or something, but I do feel horrible that she feels bad.  The doctor said we need to suction her nose because that is dripping into her throat and causing her cough.  This poor kid.  She is now on antibiotics, which I hear works really fast for ear infections so I'm expecting her to be almost 100% by tomorrow.  We *finally* have a playdate planned with all her besties on Friday so I'm happy we caught this early in the week so she'll be in good spirits for her friends, who she constantly asks for.  Well, she's been in good spirits anyway, but she'll also feel good. :)

Some Firsts...

Yesterday we went on our first walk...


And Everett had his first bath...


Here is Ella in the same towel for her first bath. :)

Everett had his first pediatrician appointment today.  He weighs 4 lbs. 15 oz. so we are almost to 5 pounds- yay!  He still looks really yellow to me so I insisted they test his bilirubin level...it was still 11, which is high.  The ped said it was 13 when we left the hospital so since it's going down, he doesn't have to be under the lights, but I'm actually surprised they let him leave the NICU with such a high number- I think Ella's was like 5 or something when she was discharged.  Other than that, she said he looks great, and she was surprised he did so well in the hospital and got out so soon given how early he was.

We spoke a lot about our little germ monster and her ever enduring phlegm cough that will NOT go away, but the ped said she is not contagious so while we shouldn't let her cough on him (or avoid it as much as possible since she hovers over him like a hawk), we shouldn't be overly concerned.

I'm still feeling really good and kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.  It's been so much easier  than I had anticipated that I'm expecting it to get much worse very soon (easier, not easy!)...especially since it's only been 5 days!  I'm trying to remember when Ella started projectile vomiting 100 times a day and screaming all night long, and Gary says it was right away so I'm PRAYING that we have escaped both things this time.  We are VERY tired, but I can't complain too much since we only have to feed him once overnight (around 2 or 3 a.m.).  Still, we typically go to bed early so staying up until 11 or 11:30 p.m. is tough!

Ella is still completely enthralled by him.  She always wants to sit by him, touch him, kiss him- it's impossible to keep her away from him.  I've heard it can take up to two weeks for the big sibling to start to get jealous though so we'll see.  I think the two year age difference helps tremendously with curbing the jealously since it's still a bit young. 

I can completely see how having two is much harder in terms of time and energy.  I have no time to do anything but care for them.  Someone always wants your attention, needs to be changed/fed/held.  Especially since I feel that they both need a lot of attention right now, I'm *always* holding or playing with one of them.  I'm sure it takes some practice and learning how to balance it all, but I understand what my friends of 2+ kids are talking about when they say they have no time for anything!

Still Going Good

Things are still going well!  Everett is starting to "wake up" a bit more and gets fussy sometimes, but for the most part he still sleeps most of the time (granted I would only have been 36 weeks on Friday!).  Despite that, Gary and I don't seem to be getting much sleep, and we are TIRED.  Ella is still enthralled with him and shows not a hint of jealously...YET.  She is going a little bonkers from being stuck in the house 24 hours a day (throwing diapers around, taking her clothes off, hitting Rylee, etc.) so we had a little mommy/ella time this morning.

We went to Pretend City...

And made berry and kale smoothies when we got home :)

Ella Meets Her Little Brother & First Day Home

Ella met her baby brother for the first time yesterday!  She was a little shy at first, but then everything became about "baby broder".  She wants to be around him all the time and wants to help us with everything.  It's SO sweet.  I hope it lasts, but we'll see how she is when I'm home alone with both of them and have to split my attention.

It's hard because she wants to be near him all the time, kiss him, hug him, touch him, and we can't let her get too close to him.  The NICU doctors said to keep contact between them as limited as possible, and absolutely no other kids around him.  

Everett's first day home went well.  He just sleeps and eats.  He is eating 45 ml every 3 hours right now.  That's the best thing about the NICU- it gets them on an easy 3 hour feeding schedule.  Dealing with the wee wee and circumcision is WEIRD.  Baby girls are so much easier!  He peed on his face, and I think some got in his mouth- oops.  But we can't cover it up while we're trying to get ten tons of vaseline on it.  ARGH!  I'm sure it will get easier.

And OF COURSE, right before bed Ella vomited all over me, all over the couch and all over the family room rug.  I don't think I've seen that much vomit come out of a human being.  I mean, REALLY?!  The FIRST day Everett comes home?  I'm just praying it was some kind of food poisoning and not a virus.  She doesn't have a fever and is acting fine, but it was the strangest thing.  She was fine, and then she just looked at me and pulled an exorcist on me.  Vomit EVERYWHERE!  Puleez don't let the baby get sick!!!!!  Our entire family room now smells like vomit, and it's disgusting...how do I get the smell out??!!

I'm SUPER tired today.  He still doesn't cry at night, but he is so loud with his congested barnyard animal sounds.  We only had to wake up once to feed him, but I didn't sleep most of the rest of the night either because I was either checking on him or listening to him.

Need sleepy! :)

Homecoming

Baby Everett is home!  I forgot how stressful the drive home is...4 pounds is waaaaaay to small for those big car seats!  I kept checking to make sure he was breathing.  Here is the same photo of Ella the day she came home (she looks a lot smaller, but he actually weighs less- weird)...

We had the nurse take a family photo (minus Ella) before we left the hospital...

Apparently, they had A LOT of milk left over that I had brought in over the last few days!

Good thing because I'm getting WAY less milk this time than I did with Ella.  I think it's partially because my itchy nasty psoriasis rash is making me miserable and partially because my home pump is slowly losing suction (it may not make it through 4 kids Katie!!).