Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Beauty Parlor


Bee found some nailpolish this morning. Gracie excitedly asked if she could paint Bee's nails. I was weary, but decided to let her. I had them sit at the table, and Gracie started with her toes. She did her hands too, but Bee usually wipes it right off of her fingers.

Later, Grandma came over to help me out, and when we told her about our beauty parlor, she asked if they would do her nails too. Gracie replied "No, it's just for kids." She was surprised when I told her adults could have nailpolish on too. So silly! This time Bee helped with the painting!

For You, God


Jerry Richard Youngman was dedicated to God on Sunday, July 17th, 2011.


Thank you to everyone that came and made our day extra special.


Dora's House


Gracie spent every Saturday morning visiting Dora last summer. When we went last week, it was like she was visiting an old friend...


So excited!

Tummy Time

I'm not a huge fan of tummy time. Both the girls hated it, so we didn't do it often and they both crawled and walked on schedule. So it's not surprising that yesterday was the first time we tried tummy time. He did great, no complaints until his sisters got a little too close. He even lifted his head a few times!



It became a family event.


Sling

JR's favorite sling. He's gotta see what's going on though!

Touchdown!


I have pictures of all three of my children sleeping like this. Love the "Touchdown" pose.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sillies

Gracie is having a bit of trouble in Karate class. She runs around and doesn't listen to her teachers very well. I decided to take her to a park before class to get her "sillies" out.





Getting her sillies out.

Gracie's Song

Swimming


JR's first time swimming! He was three weeks old, and only lasted a few minutes. We went again today and he seemed to really enjoy it-until his sisters got a little out of control.


My waterbabies.

Friday, July 8, 2011

RF Days

Tonight we went to the River Falls Days parade with Aunt Jenni and Cousin Evan. Gracie ended up with a big bag of candy, and we all had a lot of fun. Bee was not too impressed with the loud horns on the emergency vehicles, but decided it was ok as long as she was in Daddy or my arms. One of my students even sat next to us for most of the parade, so we gave her all of the gum that was thrown to us.







The kids all especially loved the marching bands. At one point, all three kids were dancing along with the beat!

Dance Class




Gracie is in summer dance class again this year. She is confusing me, as at both Karate class and today in dance she came to sit by me and claimed that she was "too shy" to participate in class. It was fixed in dance by just having me come into the studio to watch her, but at Karate she's having a few problems with participating. It may not be her forte. Here's a few videos of today's dance class.



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Two Weeks


Jerry had his two week checkup today, and we are so proud of our little man! At is first appointment, he weighted in at 8 pounds, 3.5 ounces-which impressed the doc as his weight leaving the hospital was 8 lbs 1 ounce. Today he was at a full NINE POUNDS! This boy loves to eat! He is 21 1/4" long and his head is 37 1/2 cm around. I had so many questions for the doc that I forgot to get percentiles (plus, I had both girls with me, vying for my attention). We officially got a referral to a specialist for his hearing, but was told that it's no hurry to get him in. Any concerns about his circumcision were relieved, and I asked about his bellybutton too. The newborn diapers were not doing their job, so I switched to size one when he was just a few days old, and they are so much taller than the N size that they rubbed on his cord. The cord fell off at day 11, but I wasn't sure it was completely ready to fall off, or if the diaper made it come off prematurely. I was afraid that his belly button would remain as it is-half innie and half outie (it's really a bit weird looking at this point.) She didn't seem to think that it will stay that way, but we'll have to wait and see. Our next appointment will be at his two-month mark and I'm having trouble with the fact that I'll probably have to schedule it around work, as I told our HR person I don't plan on taking time off this fall. The summer seems to be going by much too quickly, though, and I'm afraid I may regret that decision.

JR's Birth Story

I looked back at Brianna's birth stats to compare with JR's and realized that I posted both the girls' birth stories, so I should probably post his too.
I went to be at eleven the evening of the 23rd, thinking that my water may be leaking, but not thinking that it had actually broke. I walked around a little, waiting for the "gush" the nurses always talk about but felt nothing, so I went to bed. I woke up at midnight and one rather wet, and got concerned. Finally, at one I called the hospital. They were really busy, so they said they'd call me back. I went to the bathroom, and finally felt the "gush." I headed to the hospital a little before two a.m. I told Daddy he didn't have to come yet, as I wasn't feeling contractions and didn't know for sure if I was in labor.
Upon arriving at the hospital, they tested to find out if my water had broken and announced it had, but I was only dilated to a two-which had been my status for about four weeks prior to that. Active labor is at a four, so I was at a standstill. I tried to rest as much as possible with a bright hospital room and nurses coming in every twenty minutes or so. At eight a.m. I was still only at a three, so they started Pitocin. I hate Pitocin. It makes me so sick, but it also makes labor progress so there we were. The baby kept falling off the monitor, so they put an internal monitor in to hear his heartbeat. A few hours later they came in to put an internal contraction monitor in and announced that it wasn't needed because I was fully dilated. Crazy! I literally went from 3 to 10 in about an hour and a half. However, JR was still very high and not ready to come out. sigh. The doc decided that I should try to push him lower. After two hours of pushing, on literally no sleep, I was completely exhausted and JR was in the same spot he had be in at the beginning of the pushing. My doc looked at me and stated that I needed to rest and let my body push him down for me. She declared that I would get a half hour nap. Yea! I woke up an hour and a half later, confused. They said they didn't have the heart to wake me, I was so out and snoring. It was just what was needed, though, as JR did move into position, and the nap gave me enough energy to push for another 40 minutes, which was enough to get him out, at 4:48 p.m.
When the nurse saw him, she was amazed at how big he was, and stated she was certain he was well over nine pounds. The first thing she did was get a blood monitor to check his blood sugar-she thought he may be diabetic because he was "so big." I was confused, thinking Bee looked bigger than that... His blood sugar was fine, and he came in at eight pounds, ten ounces-two ounces smaller than Brianna.
I had a rough night the first night. For some reason, I was gushing blood. It got pretty scary for a while there, I couldn't move without a huge amount of blood pouring out of me. They called the doctor, who said to give me three shots-one of which was Pitocin. With my IV already removed I felt like a human pin cushion, but it worked to stop the blood loss. However, it also made my entire abdomen cramp. Needless to say, it was a long, painful night.
After several tries, he passed his hearing test on his left ear, but has continued to fail on his right ear. We have been referred to a hearing specialist for his right ear, to try and determine what, if anything, is going on there. One of the pediatricians mentioned that his ear canal it exceptionally narrow, and that could be causing his failures. Other than his hearing, he is perfect. He looks a lot like Gracie did when she was a newborn-same nose and puffy cheeks, but with darker hair. It does still have a hint of red to it like the girls' hair though.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Karate


Learning how to bow before entering the classroom.



She was so excited! We're hoping it will help her listening skills.