Jen and Ella

On Wednesday, I enjoyed my second visit from Jen since Grace's birth.  This time, she brought Ella and treated us with a yummy meal!

Ella had been anxious to meet Grace.  She was really sweet with her.

She and Jonathan are good little buddies.  You can't tell here, but I think that's because they are both chewing their "bunny crackers."  It has been fun to watch Ella and Jonathan grow.  They're old enough now that they took themselves up to the playroom to play, and Jen and and I enjoyed a nice, grown-up chat.  Time with a friend was the best gift they brought!  I'm so thankful for Jen's friendhip.

Sheriff Jonathan

A Peek Inside

When Lucas, Cherissa, Max, and Maggie visited on Sunday, Cherissa took a few snapshots of our time together.  I was thankful that she did!  It was also interesting to me to see what our life looks like from behind someone else's camera.

Here are Max and Jonathan enjoying Legos together.

And here I am.  This is how I spend a lot of my time feeding Gracie.  (I just switched from the oral syringe to the bottle.  We'll see how it goes.  Ideally, she'll get the hang of nursing exclusively soon.)

And this is how I spend even more of my time:  feeding Gracie while paying attention to Jonathan.  I'm sure this conversation is about the Lego vehicles he built.

If you haven't checked on how Cherissa's mom is doing lately, this would be a great time to visit Cherissa's blog.  You can also get to her mom's blog from there.  Cherissa and her family can use our prayers right now.  Cherissa and Maggie flew to be with Vicki yesterday morning, and Max is home with Lucas.  Thank you for loving on our dear friends!

Just a Quick Note

If you're wondering how Jonathan is doing, he's doing much better today.  We saw him smile today and heard him rhyming all day long (which is one thing he normally does all day long!)  He felt good enough to play with Legos and visit with Ella for a bit.  His quote for the day was, "Kind of fun to have a new baby in the house!"  So, things are good.  I'll share pictures tomorrow but wanted to at least post that Jonathan is on the mend.  Oh, and he slept over 14 hours last night!  That's our boy...sleeps when he's sick.  We're thankful he's feeling better.

Milk

Grace and I went to the lactation consultant again today.  (Big thanks to Mom and Jeff, who helped out with Jonathan.  His cold isn't going away as quickly as we had hoped, so he was pretty miserable today.  We get really spoiled with how seldom he gets sick.  I hate seeing him feel this way and hope tomorrow is better.)  Grace had weighed 8 lbs, 13 oz. six days ago by their scale, and today she weighed 9 lbs, 11 oz.  That was an amazing gain, and we were all thrilled.  Apparently they like to see a gain of a half ounce to an ounce per day, and she gained about two and a half ounces per day.  Wow!  Thanks to everyone for praying!  In general, babies are supposed to be back up to their birth weight at two weeks.  We didn't make that milestone, but we'll be there soon.

We have a new plan for the upcoming week which is not quite as aggressive but still includes pumping and syringe feeding.  I'm supposed to weigh her here at home each day to make sure our new plan is still helping her gain a little each day.  I'm thankful that Grace grew by leaps and bounds and that I don't have to work quite as hard trying to make her eat as I have, although the changes we're going to make are small and gradual.  I hope that soon she'll be a good nurser and just be able to nurse without extra help.

Visitors

Grace was two weeks old yesterday! Time to share some pictures of her earliest visitors.  I have not been able to catch up on calls and emails yet...but I do have time to tell the blog to upload pictures and then walk away while it does the work!  Hope you enjoy these.  Thanks for being patient during this special newborn period!

Dad

Dad, Jonathan, and Todd

Todd

Dad, Todd, and Jonathan

Amanda

Amanda and Mom

Corinne and Grandma

Corinne and Todd

Linnea, Leanne, and Doreen

Mom

Leslie

Jen

Me with Jen

Dad

Happy Daddy

Troy

Joel

The new pediatrician

Grandma

Jordan, Sarah, and Aunt Kathy

Uncle Garth

Jonathan with Amanda

Amanda

Spoiled

We enjoyed a good weekend as a family and have been totally spoiled by all the attention from friends and family.  I've been so thankful for everyone's help, as caring for Grace is really time-consuming right now.  I have a long list of thank-yous to write, which is a great problem to have!!  We are slowly getting the hang of being a family of four, and she's slowly getting the hang of gaining weight.  I have an appointment with the lactation consultant again tomorrow.

Some faraway friends came to visit this weekend!  Lucas, Cherissa, Max, and Maggie had been on spring break and were on their way back home when they made time to come and see us.  We're thankful that they visited even though it meant prolonging their road trip with toddlers and losing sleep last night.  Lucas had to go back to work today, too.  We loved seeing all of them!  Here's the only picture I have of their visit, but it's a good one:

(Cherissa took some pictures too, and she has talent and a nice camera!)  The older kids had a lot of fun together.  Max and Jonathan are both really into Legos, and Maggie did her best to keep up.  We grownups even managed to get a little chatting in.  Big thanks to everyone for making this a special time!

Today's Pictures

So much for tummy time.  This is how it generally turns out.  By the time we finish feeding, she's worn out and ready for a nap.

He's got a little cold today.  It's been a really long time since the last one, and they usually don't last long!

Relaxed baby!

Snorkel Frog

We recieved a fun package from Anna and Brian yesterday that included a treat for each of us.  Jonathan's treat was this pull-string snorkel frog.  Here he is trying it out in the sink with some of his other animals from his great grandma.  The frog was a hit!  Thanks, Brian and Anna!

And here he is separating out the "land animals."

And here's a "baby fix"for those of you who need one...Gracie doing her favorite thing.

Jonathan shared with Jeff last night that he's feeling frustrated because he's not getting enough attention from me, especially not enough time playing Legos.  (Yes, he's just four...we were really happy he could express it!)  He was doing OK when we were just nursing, but the new long feeding sessions are especially hard on him.  (We are pretty certain we have a kid on our hands whose primary love language is quality time!)  We're working on giving him as much individual attention as we can...but there's never quite enough to go around, is there?  He's outside planting flowers with Jeff right now, which certainly qualifies as quality time.  Each day is a learning experience!

Milk Progress

Gracie gained five ounces!

I was supposed to come in to the lactation office and weigh her today, but Linnea graciously brought over her electronic baby scale for us to borrow for now.  I was able to weigh Grace at home!  (She weighs 9 lbs., 2 oz. today.)  What a great gift, not only of peace of mind, but of not having to drive into town for each weigh-in.  Gracie is eating about every three hours, which is great, but since every feeding session takes up to an hour and a half, that leaves a very short window of time to get J and G buckled in, driven to our destination, etc., and back home before it's feeding time again.  It was really nice not to have to use one of those short windows of time to drive somewhere today.

And I'm so, so thankful that Gracie's weight is moving in a positive direction!  Even with the weight she's lost, she's still fitting into her 0-3 mos. clothes nicely.  Jonathan says, "She looks beautiful when she wears her pink clothes."  I really hope she keeps packing on those ounces and that we can resolve her feeding challenges.