Haps with Blake

The kids seem to be adjusting well to Blake.  This morning, as he was crying, Kira said, "It's okay.  It's okay."  So far, Tyler hasn't hit Blake.  He just goes for Kira. 

Tyler is finally putting some meat on his bones.  He has done well emotionally and physically but occasionally reminds us who Tyler really is with the lung-straining and ear splitting screams:  "Get me some water RIGHT NOW!"  He'll make a great boss someday.

 I like this picture because it highlights his honey-colored eyes and shows the progress of his open bite:  only open 3 mm.

 I don't know what Scott is chewing on but he has a normal overbite/overjet.
 

Kira looks just like Heidi at this age.

The docta doing formula duty

Tyler's tint is a bit blue and Blakey's is jaundiced.

 Scott wanted to hunt for frogs in the golf course but we didn't find any.

Physicals

Tyler, Kira and Blake had check-ups today so we had our first family adventure as a family with four....it went alright.  It could have been worse.

Since the kids are on spring break and physicals are needed for Kindergarten and 1st grade the place was packed.  They got us in really quickly, pulling my kids away from the Little Mermaid to sit and wait and wait and wait.  If I was smart, I would have sat outside with the Little Mermaid as my babysitter, but I was just not thinking.  Blame it on sleep deprivation.  We played hide in seek with the gloves, read the pamphlet on temper tantrums for Tyler and made up other games.  An hour later, we were seen.

Tyler did awesome until he was the only one that had to get three shots.  Before that he acted like a pro...I wonder why?  He is fine, except for his whole heart thing.

Kira went next.  She did fine.  Doesn't like when she has to lay down but still better than Scott when it comes to doctors.  She is really petite, but I have a feeling that is just her.

Blake went last and the doctor was concerned about his bilirubin so we went downstairs to get labs.  They should be back by now and I should go check my phone to see if we are supposed to bring him in, but I just don't want to. He has another appt tomorrow at 10am so the adventure starts all over.  If the labs look good, I really don't want to go back.  We shall see.

Grateful I got there physicals done for another year.  Except for Blake that is who is on the couple of month schedule for a while.  It is so nice when they turn 2 and don't have to go to so many appts with so many shots.

Thats all folks.  Now I get a little sleep.

Home

 Blake with open eyes at Kaiser Sand Creek

 Heidi enjoying the hospital food.  She drove herself and Blake home in the Swagger Wagon.

All bundled up and sleeping soundly.  I bought some formula and bottle-fed him and that has made him satisfied.  Heidi's milk should come in tomorrow and then we won't have to do formula but we're hoping for 2-3 hours of uninterrupted sleep at a time.  Wishful thinking?

The Name

This was the first kid that Danny and I really didn't have a name picked out.  We didn't even really discuss it.  We liked the name Daxon.  I pulled up a name list at the hospital and we liked Luke, Blake and Jake.  Funny how things can change.  Scott liked Blake the best, so as I was filling out the birth certificate today, Danny said we should call him Blake since that is what Scott wanted. He said they don't have a choice in having another sibling but can at least choose the name. Tyler and Scott thought the baby should be Skyler for the past couple of months since that is both of their names combined so we let them have Skyler for the middle name. I like Skyler, but it would have been too much with a Tyler and Skyler in our family. S-K-YLER (all three of the kids names).  So that's it for the name folks.  Brought to you by our three kids.  Still getting used to a boy named Blake.  I think it is cute.  It fits in with Scott, Tyler and Kira well plus he just kind of looks like a Blake.

Birth

So I went in for my 39 week appt on the 20th.  My parents were coming out for Kira's birthday and came out a little earlier so I didn't need to bring the three kids to the appt.  I didn't know how relaxing it could be in a doctors office without kids.  The doctor saw me and was very concerned about how small I was measuring.  I told her that I measure small with all my kids and after my first was born they stopped worrying about it.  Well, my smallness, an abnormal test result I had around week 20 that is an indicator of small babies and other things made her concerned.  So she tried getting me an ultrasound (which was only available the next day) and had me do an NST.  The NST was fine. But the doctor said I was having some contractions and my blood pressure wasn't great and the baby's heart rate would dip a little with contractions so said maybe we should just induce you if you want.  Hey, my parents were watching the kids, I haven't been feeling great the past couple of days and I didn't want my water to break at home and have the baby at home, so I decided to do it.

So I went home, packed a bag and Danny and I went back to the hospital around 6pm.  They checked me in and started me on pitocin at around 9pm.  I told them that pitocin doesn't do anything for me but that if they broke my water I would have the baby quickly.  They didn't want to do that because if you don't really have contractions and break water, the labor could become higher risk.  So they slowly but surely put the pitocin higher and higher.  At around 1am I was a 3, which is about what I started, but the contractions were a little more regularly spaced, so they said I could get my water broken if I wanted.  I decided to get an epidural first, which of course always scares me but is sooo DREAMY for labor.  I got my epidural.  Danny talked to the doctor more about epidurals than I would ever want to know.  I didn't get paralyzed which is my fear and they said they would break my water in about an hour after they saw the epidural was fine.  An hour later they broke my water.  I wasn't too numb that I could still move my legs and feel everything but numb enough that I had no pain.  It was AWESOME!  At 3 am I woke up and felt I needed to push and wanted the midwife to come deliver my baby.  The nurse checked me and couldn't believe that I was ready to have a kid.  Danny woke up, the midwife came in and the nurse said, you better hurry up, she really is ready to have this kid.  So she hurried a little and in about 2 pushes I had the kid.

Wonderful, painless, easy labor.  It was awesome.  

Baby boy was healthy.  Danny and I knew it was a boy.  I would have been shocked if it was a girl.  The pediatrician checked him out carefully and said everything looks good.  He'll have a hip ultrasound in about 6 weeks to check for his dad's bad hips, but he has a whole heart and whole brain.  We can deal with minor things.

We slept for a couple of hours, Danny went off to work at 8AM a tired dad.  I took a shower and felt great.  So far this has been the easiest recovery for me.  I have a very minimal tear, my epidural was in for such a short period that my back doesn't hurt and emotionally I feel so good.  I was so emotional the past couple of months with this pregnancy and worried the crazy hormones would continue, but I feel great!  I am excited to get my kidney stones blasted.  And I am so excited to have another little man in our house.

The kids came to visit with my parents yesterday at the hospital and were sooo cute!  I couldn't believe how much they all wanted to hold and love the baby.  I expected it from Scott, expected tyler to care less and expected Kira to either nurture the baby or not like the baby because I was her mom.  They all loved the baby.  They loved looking at his cute little hands and feet and umbilical cord.  It was precious and so unexpected.  Very sweet!!!

I love that Kira has these three brothers to look out for her and keep up with.  Her personality is so suited for brothers.

I was discharged this morning and looking forward to being in my own bed tonight.  Last night wasn't great.  The poor little man cried from about 9pm to 1am.  I think he is hungry so I am excited to be getting my milk hopefully tomorrow!  Fingers crossed.  He went down to 7lbs and is a little jaundice but not bad yet.  I have doctor appts for Kira and Tyler tomorrow so will just be able to bring him to that to have him checked out which is very convenient.

We are home and now I need to go through some boxes while my parents have the older kids to find some of my boy clothes that I still have.  I gave a lot of them away, but know that I still have some somewhere.
We are soo blessed!!

Resemblence

It is always fun to see what your baby looks like, even though they change into this totally different being in a couple of days.  I think it is even more fun with each child to see if any of them look like each other.  Here are pictures around the same time.  (Scott's is a little older because I don't have a close up of him as a brand new newborn).  My sister's kids look like twins.  Not so much with our family, but I do think they have similarities.  

TheThree Boys...Scott

Tyler

Blake

And Kira...

 From these pictures I think that Blake looks so similar to Tyler.  At the hospital I thought he looked just like Scott.  Scott and Blake love to scrunch their faces and look like these little old men. He has Danny and Scott's eyes.  All of my kid are born with the same dimpled chin, little noses.  Fun to compare.  I think we might have another little Danny on our hands. We shall see.

Announcing

 The man without a name.  

You'll get all the juicy details later.  I'm tired and this is the best I can do for now.

In A Week...

Loose Tooth, part 2

The tooth fairy visited Scott on Friday.  Then on Saturday, he lost another tooth, so on Sunday he woke up to another dollar. 

But he was mad.  Heidi went to talk to him and she said he felt like the tooth fairy didn't like him because he only got a dollar.  We tried to trick him into thinking that two dollars had fallen behind the bed, but he was like, "You just gave me those two dollars.  Some of my friends got five."

So that approach didn't work.  Then I tried to use some logic, since Scott responds well to that.  I said, "Some of your friends had to have their teeth removed by the dentist, and they had to get a shot.  The tooth fairy gave them a bonus.  Yours came out pretty easily, so that's why you got a dollar." 

By the time church came he was mostly over the stingy tooth fairy.  At church, he and Tyler wrestled on the floor and weren't that reverent.  Scott is old enough to sit on the bench and be reverent, or at least draw quietly.  You have to pick your poisons with your kids.  Ours are extra active, but at least while they were wrestling, they weren't screaming.  Even when Tyler is in the hall screaming, you can hear him. 

Tyler had another piano lesson this morning.  I was surprised at how much he remembered from our previous lesson and we began studying the primer level books we purchased on Saturday.  Scott has Lightly Row down and his favorite song is still Cuckoo.  French Children's Song is almost ready to be passed off.

Heidi is going through the kids' clothes so we can downsize our inventory.  When I left for work this morning, Tyler and Scott were driving their RC cars off the plastic ramps.  Good times.

Scott's loose tooth

Finally, after several weeks of wiggling his lower front teeth, Scott lost a tooth on Friday.  He came to the office to get the special tooth container so he could leave it for the tooth fairy.  We spent the night in Walnut Creek since I had to work early there, and Scott visited us at about four in the morning to show us that the tooth fairy had come.  Then, the next day, he lost his other central and the tooth fairy visited him again.

Discovery Museum of Science

UOP is on break, so I had Thursday off.  Heidi, the kids and I went in the Swagger Wagon to Sausalito to check out the Discovery Museum of Science.  We had a discount from Scott's library membership and got the family in for $11.  Normally, it's 11/person, which wasn't worth it for us.

The weather was cold and Tyler wanted to stay inside and do art projects while Scott, Kira and I explored the outside exhibits.  My favorite was the willow sculpture.

The redwood cutout was cool, too.

Back at home, Little Miss Independent paints her nails while Tyler observes.

And Scott does some laps with Bessie while I cut the grass.

Mr. T

Tyler is over six weeks post-op.  I think he is doing well.  He has the occasional outbursts and episodes of screaming, but those are lessening.  Lately, he has been into hugs and kisses.  He likes to wave bye-bye to me as I pedal off to work.

Tyler had his first piano lesson with me.  I was impressed at his attention span and the fact that he seemed to remember the notes we went over.

Last night, after work, we all rode bikes to the high school.  Scott and Tyler wanted to go on an adventure with the bikes, so we pedaled around in the dirt for a while.  Tyler was happy on insta-tandem and Scott was on his own bike.  They didn't tire of the adventures, so Heidi began towing Tyler and I drove E-maxx with Kira.  Eventually, Tyler got cold and wanted to go home but it was getting dark anyway.

Is this the calm before the storm?  Maybe.  Heidi is due in about two weeks but we are anticipating the baby's arrival any day.  I was talking to the neighbors and they offered to help out.  I said, "Yeah, I'll knock on the door in the middle of the night and you'll come down the stairs with your gun!"

Kira

This little girl melts my heart.  She is:

Independent. She goes to the bathroom by herself, attempts to wipe herself, finds me to show me her treasures, and then proceeds to empty her toilet into the big potty.  If I try to help, I get yelled at.  I am still unwilling to full on potty train her since she will have accidents when we are out.  She insists on climbing into the car by herself and buckling her carseat which doesn't help us get places on time since she can't get the buckles into the right slots half the time.  

Feisty: She is determined, always full of energy and will not put up with Tyler's attitude.  She will say, "No Tyler.  Bad Tyler." when he is naugthy.

Daddy's girl: She loves her dad.  Today she heard a motorcycle so went outside calling for dad.  Sadly, it wasn't him so she decided to have me call him.  She beams when she talks to him.  Danny started teaching her body parts in spanish this week so she was on the phone and pointing to her mouth saying "boca".  So much more verbal than our boys at this age which is nice since we actually know what she wants. 

Monkey.  She used to pull a chair over to the kitchen counters to get what she wanted...usually sugar related.  Now she somehow manages to climb them on her own.

Jumper.  She will jump from one spot to another instead of walking like a normal person.  She also enjoys jumping off couches and chairs often landing on her butt.  I would think it would be uncomfortable, but she gets up and does it over and over again.

 Finger Sucker.  She is in love with her index finger.

Social.  She will make friends with anyone and everyone.  She loves older girls.  She will often find a 6 or 7 year old girl at the park that will become her friend and thus take care of her for me, push her on the swings, go down the slide with her which I Love since Tyler has been taken all my attention lately.

Tough.  This girl is one tough cookie.

Hyper.  Non stop energy.

Sensitive.  She is so much more sensitive than my boys.  She will cry if she gets locked out of a room or feels left out.  This is why life can be so much harder for girls than boys.

She is pretty much a little me as far as independence and energy goes, but with a much sweeter personality that we can thank Danny for.

Tyler was....

A HAPPY, PERFECT, CUTE little man at his EKG this morning.  Had to record it for the record books.  We waited for a long time since they don't have appointments and Tyler was happy reading a new book from the library and Kira was happy running up and down the hall and looking out the big window. Kira loves when they put the EKG stickers on Tyler and he was all smiles and laughs.   What a great change. I am so grateful for his happy mood today and just wanted to share it with the world.  I am going to savor every minute of my happy child.

Lately Tyler has been telling me orders that Dr. Cooper, his cardiologist has given him. Such as today he said, "Tyler should eat a lot of ice cream," or "Tyler can be a twin even with his special heart."