Merry Christmas 2011

This year I sent out a Christmas card/Birth announcement combined. I just made it myself. It turned out pretty cute!

 

On Christmas Eve we packed up presents and food and headed to Crandall for our annual gathering with the Sweet side of the family at Gary & Julie’s house.

Olivia & Claire got him a stick horse! It’s so cute!!!

Christmas morning we all got up at about 10 am. I went straight to Grayson’s room to make sure he didn’t come out before the camera and video was ready to capture him seeing what all Santa brought for him.

He got a tent…and that’s the first thing he went to.

Then he went to see all the other things Santa brought.

  Time to unwrap gifts!!!

He loves this thing! It’s a toy leaf blower. He says, “Momma…I blow leaves.” LOL

  

And boy does this kid LOVE rockets! His favorite Mickey episode was Goofy goes to Mars. He could watch that 100 times. It finally became unavailable on On Demand so he hasn’t watched it lately. But he loves this Mickey rocket ship. It says, 3…2…1 BLAST OFF!!!! And he loves to countdown and blast off! CUTENESS!!!

It was this little gal’s 1st Christmas! She didn’t get as many presents as her brother but I’m sure she doesn’t mind right now! :)

Look at all these fun gifts!!!

These 2 kids are what Holiday Happiness is all about!!!

G visits Santa

This is the picture we literally waited all day long for on 12/23/11. I was already way late on taking him to visit Santa. I knew I for sure wanted him to have a picture this year. I wanted to take Aniston too but after she got sick with RSV I changed my mind. There are far too many germs not only at the mall, but I’m sure on Santa’s suit. He sees hundreds of kids a day. I kept trying to bribe G with candy if he was a good boy and sat in Santa’s lap. He got up there and lost it. Poor little guy. He is not a fan of Santa’s lap. Maybe next year he will be able to chat with him and give us a smile. :)

Home Sweet Home ♥

We got the okay to come home yesterday. We arrived back home close to noon. Aniston has been doing pretty good since we have been here. We just suction her nose before each feeding. Tonight she is being such a good girl. Just as content as can be. I wanted to take pics of her in her precious gown since she hardly ever gets to go anywhere yet to wear all her cute clothes!

Hospital stay :(

Well, here we sit in the hospital with this dang RSV! Early Thursday morning we noticed baby girl really working to breathe. We headed up to the ER at 5:30 am. They admitted her since current protocol is to admit any babies one month and under. She has maintained a pretty good oxygen level but still had to get supplemental oxygen to help her not work so hard to keep her own levels up. They turned it off at 4 this morning. She needs to do well throughout tonight and then we can probably be sent home tomorrow. The virus will still be around for a couple more weeks so we will really need to watch her. It's been so hard seeing her hooked up with all these wires. I can only hold her right beside the crib. Looks like she has reached the 8 lb mark. That was her weight when we arrived at the ER Thursday. She is so precious to me and I'm ready to have her home and well!!!

RSV

Today we decided Aniston needed to be seen by the doctor. She developed a cough and runny nose a couple of days ago. She probably caught it from Big Bro who just had an ear infection and upper respiratory infection.

She tested positive for RSV. So far she doesn’t have the severe symptoms and I hope and pray she doesn’t get them. We were told to watch her closely for changes in her breathing patterns, loss of appetite, restlessness, etc. And if we notice these things, we are to take her to the ER. She could possibly need to be put on oxygen.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a very common virus that leads to mild, cold-like symptoms in adults and older healthy children. It can be more serious in young babies, especially to those in certain high-risk groups.

Happy 1 month :)

Our beautiful baby is 1 month old today! Time flies so darn fast…I can’t even stand it. I just know I’ll barely blink and she’ll be 2..3..4 months, etc. Makes mommy sad! But I do love seeing her grow and make changes. I just want to be able to keep this memory of her being little forever! She looks so much bigger in the pictures than she really is.

She is still in newborn size clothing and diapers.

She is eating 3oz bottles of breast milk approximately every 3 hours. Similac formula for a couple bottles at night. The formula helps stretch our feeding times out a bit longer. We don’t go past 5 hours right now though.

Big Brother just loves her. He calls her “Baby Sister” :)

She loves to be held and walked around the house. She loves to lay on her back and move her arms and legs.

At night we swaddle her in her Miracle Blanket. (That blanket is AWESOME!!! Love it!)

This baby girl is just too precious for words and we LOVE her so much!!!! Happy 1 month lil’ darling!

  

2 week Dr visit

Today Aniston had her 2 week check-up. Little girl weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz….so not even back up to birth weight yet but Dr was happy she had gained from the week before with all the jaundice. She was 20 1/4 inches long.

She looks great and next check-up will be at 2 months.

Aniston: 2 weeks

I can’t believe our little lady is already 2 weeks old. Time is already flying so fast! I am not a fan of that! It can slow down a little now….please! :)

She has been such a JOY to have around. She smiles so much in her sleep..it’s the cutest thing!

The first couple of days home were very similar to how they were with Grayson. We headed to the doctor on Monday morning after coming home. Her jaundice levels had gone up. We were instructed to come back Wednesday to make sure the levels were dropping and she wasn’t losing more weight. She had gotten down to 6 lbs, 10 oz. When we went back on Wednesday she had gained an ounce. They told us she was improving and to just bring her back for her 2 week appointment.

She mainly just sleeps most of the time but she is getting more and more alert every day. She likes to be swaddled in her miracle blanket at night. I usually have to wake her to eat. She eats every 3 hours during the day and will usually go 4 at night. She takes breast milk and at night we supplement with formula.

I’m loving how little and cuddly she is. She is our pretty pretty Princess!!!

  

 

Aniston Everly ~ 2 weeks old

A princess worth waiting for….

On the early morning of November 11, 2011, I stepped into my little girl’s room to take one last belly picture at home. ~ 39 weeks along.

We headed up to Medical City and got checked into room #4 to begin the induction process at 7am.

By 8:45am, the doc had already been in to break my water and I was dilated to a 3. The only thing making me uncomfortable at this point was my IV and my hunger pains. All I could eat on were ice chips.

By noon I was beginning to really fell the contractions.

My mom and Grayson came up to the room and sat with us. Grayson watched Finding Nemo and Barney @ the Zoo and we took our last picture as a family of 3.

By 3pm I was dilated to a 7 and feeling lots of pressure.

Around 45 minutes later, nurse Sherri checked me and I was fully dilated! She called the doc up and it was time to push!

I literally only pushed through 3 contractions and she was out! Much faster and different experience than pushing for 2 1/2 hours with Grayson.

Aniston Everly Parker

November 11, 2011

4:08pm

7 lbs, 3 oz

19 inches

That evening we had visitors: Terri & Wayne

Justin & Hope

Her 2nd day ~ 11/12/11

Gary, Julie, Joni and Claire came to visit.

Rachel, Cody & Ava came too..  Torrie came that evening for a visit… 

Day 3 and coming home…

She is such a blessing to our little family! :)