Musings of a 2am Nursing + Lockdown

I know I am not pregnant any more, but that doesn't mean I am above having weird dreams/thoughts (apparently).  I think it is because I am still waking up 2-3 times a night to nurse.  Although, last night, Kelsey gave me 6 hours....  Too bad I didn't go to sleep right after she was done nursing (at 8:30).  That would have been the smart thing to do, which I am apparently not.

Anyway, I was browsing Facebook last night before I went to bed, and saw a few pictures of my fabulous cousins who have now moved into the house my grandparents live in.  I didn't think anything of it really.  Until 2 am. 

As I sat nursing sweet Kelsey, it occurred to me that, although I don't get back to my grandparents house all that often, it will not be the same when I do.  Which made me think of the good times we had growing up.  Utah is a pretty good distance, and 6 people is a lot of people to get out there.  So, growing up, Dad would take 2 weeks off work, and he would drive the van while we sat in the back and watched movies, napped, and read.  It took about 2.5-3 days out (and the same back).  So we would have 1 week to play, and about 1 week of driving.  As I look back at those times, all I can think is "Poor, poor dad."

When we got out there, we would split the time between grandparents, staying some days with one side of the family, and some days with the other.  Since my grandparents on my mother's side haven't moved, I didn't have to reminisce about them :)

My dad's parents, well, they are the ones who now share their home.  So, next time I get to go out there (whenever that may be) there will be no more sugary cereal breakfasts at the breakfast bar in Grandma's house.  Grandma's house was where I was first introduced to Corelle dishes.  Even in my youth, I knew the super thin dishes were cool.  Grandma's dishes were (are?  She could very well still have them) white with dark red/burgundy flowers around the edges.  She had fabulous burgundy goblets to match (which I always felt grown up drinking from) and the silverware was metal, with a wood (?) tip at the end. 

I know you don't care about these things, but these are the things I remember, and these are the things that have changed, and these are the things I think about at 2 in the morning.... :)

Also, as a side note for today, some prisoners escaped from the local prison last night.  They have put Kari's school on lock down.  The nice lady who helps the car riders get out of their cars in the morning said they could only go in a certain door, and I didn't think anything of it.  Way to be observant and involved in your child's education Mom....  :p

Tummy Time

I think my sister said it best when she said "Teeny Tiny babies don't really like tummy time, do they?"

Not such much for my babies.  But, as soon as she finds her fingers, she is much more contented.

Contented to completely ignore tummy time and suck on her fingers.

So much for tummy time, and strengthening your neck muscles little one.

I guess we can work on that another day when you aren't being so cute.

Power Rangers

My children have, perhaps, a weird/unnatural obsession with Power Rangers.  I think I think it is so weird because I watched that when I was younger...  And yes, it is just as fabulously cheesy as I remember it being.  I think they like the Power Rangers also because it is a connection with their daddy.  Daddy wrastles...  These people wrastle.  Therefore, these people are as cool as my daddy is.  'Nuff said.  So, while I don't normally encourage them to "fight" with each other (because daddy is quite a bit better at being careful and aiming) I couldn't miss the opportunity to record this for posterity.  I plan on showing it at family reunions down the road and thoroughly embarrassing them...  Is that bad? :)

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii  Ya!

Playing

Today I did some organization stuff I had been putting off doing while I was 8 months pregnant, 9 months pregnant, in the hospital, and 6 weeks postpartum, etc.  You get the idea.  I couldn't put it off any longer.

Thankfully, Kelsey took a good long nap this morning, and Kaitlyn and Dylan have been playing nicely together.  It is nice when that happens!  However, I catch bits and pieces of things they say while they are playing, and it makes me laugh.  Today it seems, they have been playing "Time Out."

Dylan will use whatever his toy is to do something bad: push, hit, yell, etc.  Then, Kaitlyn's "mommy" toy will put it in time out.  We have cycled through cars, fairies, horses, crayons...  At least they are getting the idea, even if they don't put it into practice...

Spoiler Alert!

*This post is somewhat grown up in nature.  Parents, be advised :)*

Who knew it was so hard to lie to your children?!?!  Wait.  I am getting ahead of myself.  Lets do this flash back style, and go back to the beginning.

Kari got out of the hospital on a Saturday.  My fabulous in laws were still here, and we hung out most of that day.  My next visitor, my fabulous SIL was on her way and arrived later that day.  We passed Saturday evening enjoying each other's company.  And my MIL and FIL left early Sunday morning.  Also Sunday morning, Kari lost her second tooth.  For proof, see the photos below :)

 So new to being lost, it was still bleeding.  See the lengths I go through to keep you as up to date as possible?  Blood, sweat and tears my friends. 

Kari carefully placed the tooth in her purple pouch, and left it under her pillow so it wouldn't get lost (like almost happened last time).  She went to bed that night super excited.

She woke up the following morning and began to cry.  The toothfairy had neglected to make an appearance.

Now, if we were in a movie/tv show, this is where we would flash back to the opening scene, where again, the main character (I suppose that would be me...  Make up, glamorous clothes, personal chef and work out trainer...  yeah, I could get used to that.  *Sigh*) would repeat the same line

"Who knew it was so hard to lie to your children?!?!"

We panicked.  Bad toothfairy!  Bad, bad toothfairy!!!  We tried various excuses "Maybe there were too many teeth to pick up in one night."  "Maybe, since you were sick, the toothfairy stayed away until you felt better."  But mostly, we just felt like dirt.  Here was Kari, fresh from the hospital, with one thing to look forward to in her entire life, and that one thing had been a disappointment.  (Like the dramatic take?)  She did cry for several minutes that morning.  It was so sad.

That night, the toothfairy made sure that he made an appearance.  The toothfairy also wrote a note to include which said, something along the lines of "Due to a shortage of manpower, the toothfairy just didn't make it to every tooth last night.  Sorry."  (Can you guess that was hubby's idea?)  We had, in reality, again played around with all kinds of excuses, but we were scared to set any kind of precedents.  What if someone else got sick, and stayed sick for a week?  Would the toothfairy have to stay away for a whole week?  What if, heaven forbid, the toothfairy didn't make it again, and the child wasn't sick?  Then what?  Why wasn't she important enough to pick up the first night?  So, in a kinda joking way, we went with hubby's idea, and just hoped we could explain it the next day. 

We went to put the money and the note under the pillow, when what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a note from the girl herself.  She hadn't told anyone she had written it, so it was a bit of a surprise.  We snuck back downstairs to read the letter, to make sure our response was appropriate.

Things I would like to point out:

1) She included the date the toothfairy didn't come.

2) She really was listening to our excuses and trying to figure it out.

3) She totally sticks a knife in your heart ("You disupoytned me") then turns around and draws a pretty picture.

Again, with the schmuck-y feeling.  Oy.  We felt the need to revise our previous note.  When we left it under her pillow that night, it said something along the lines of "I am so sorry I didn't get to your tooth last night.  You are very special to me, but sometimes I can't always pick up your tooth on the first night.  Thank you for the note..." etc etc.  That way, we felt like it didn't lock us into anything we couldn't/didn't want to stick to later, tried to make her feel better, and apologized for making her feel bad in the first place. 

And, in the midst of all this going on at 11pm at night, the thought crossed my mind:

Who knew it was so hard to lie to your kids?!?!

That Weekend, Part 3

That night I got home, checked on the other two sleeping children (as I had gotten home around midnight) and updated Nana and Pop and my family via phone.  Then, I went downstairs to nurse Kelsey again before crawling into bed.  As I wrapped her in her swaddling blanket, and cuddled her for a second before laying her in her cradle, I quietly went to pieces.  I had been strong when it counted, helped Kari get through the hard scary parts, then left her in the capable hand of the doctor, and the loving presence of her father.  Now that all that was over, I could finally deal with the things that had been boiling under the surface for the last few hours.  I am sure it was at least partially hormone related, as Kari's predicament was not life threatening, and she was entirely being taken care of, and the hard part was mostly over.  Nevertheless, emotions are rarely logical, and Kelsey went to bed with a slightly damp swaddling blanket.

The next morning I woke up and called hubby.  Kari had already improved quite a bit in that she could move her head.  She could touch her chin to her shoulders (somewhat slowly).  She still was very stiff, but it was an improvement none the less.  We were fairly slow getting ready that morning, and didn't get over to the hospital until lunchtime.  Nana, Pop, Kaitlyn and Dylan stayed for about an hour, wherein Kaitlyn and Dylan mostly watched cartoons on the tv.  Then, Nana and Pop were nice enough to take them down to Pa's house.  Pa is Nana's dad, so she wanted to make the short trip since she was so close.  It was nice for Kaitlyn and Dylan to have a distraction and it was nice for me to only have to worry about Kelsey and I, since I knew where Kari and hubby were.

I ended up staying for most of the rest of the day.  Having heard the doctors suggestion, I was having a really hard time.  I could not stay away.  But I kinda figured that once I was in the room, we were already exposed to whatever germs we were going to be exposed to, and so long as I stayed in the same germs, then it didn't really matter....  That was how I justified it to myself.  Hubby could totally have handled the things that needed to be done.  But, I didn't want to just sit at home waiting, I didn't want to go to Pa's, so the next logical step was to be there....    I am sure I would have felt even more guilty had we gotten sick too.  I do have 4 children after all, I should think about what is best for all of them.  Thankfully, it seems Kelsey and I are both ok.  Friday passed with several hours in the hospital, and a visit from our good friends who still live in the area.  I left about time for dinner, and had a quiet evening at home with just Kelsey and I.

Saturday morning I called to hear some great news: The doctor thought she could go home today. She needed a new round of antibiotics, and she should be discharged. So, I decided to just stay home, since supposedly she would be home in a few hours, and it would take me 40 minutes or more to get there. As with all things hospital, she ended up getting home much later (almost 6 hours), but coming home none the less. When she got home, she was a completely different child than the one that left.  She was smiling again.  She even wrastled with daddy.

 So good to see that smile again!

 She had a follow up with Dr Blythe on Tuesday morning, bright and early at 8am.  He suggested that we keep her from church/school until then, and from her baby sister as we weren't sure if she was contagious or not.  On Tuesday morning I would say she was 90% back to normal.  The follow up went fine and she was cleared for school.  The first thing she said when we got home was "Now I can hold Kelsey!"  Cute girl.

 Dr. Blythe said it was more than likely a strep virus with just a very unusual presentation.  He doesn't know how or why, but hopefully it shouldn't come back. 

 Poor hubby was so tired from "sleeping" in the hospital.  And I mean, being woken up every 3 hours for vitals.  He mentioned something about not getting a lot of sleep because he was woken up so often, to which I responded "Gee...  I wonder how that feels."  To which he responded with a sheepish look.  I would say now Kari is now fully recovered.  She is done with the take home antibiotics and has started regular softball practice.  But that is a topic for a whole different post :)

That Weekend, Part 2

Picking up, right where we left off....

An abscess....  Um.  Ok.  What does that mean?  An abscess is apparently just a pocket of infection.  They don't always know where they come from or why they form.  As was the case here.  It doesn't exactly explain the stiff neck though.  Which is cause for alarm in itself.  He has mostly ruled out meningitis, but would like to be 100% sure on that as well.

So, our next step is to go across the street to the hospital, where they will do a CT scan to confirm where exactly an abscess is located and if it is an abscess at all.  Also, where they will admit us, so we can treat the problem.

Kari is pretty much freaking out right now at the mention of hospital.  She hasn't slept well, she is still in pain, this has been a much longer day/process than either of us had expected, and she doesn't want a shot.  I am also freaking out, but trying very hard not to show it for her sake.  I figure if I can be calm, then it will help her to get though this.  So, I call hubby around 5pm, who is on his way home (thank goodness) from being out of town and say "Hey Honey.  I think it would be best if you meet us over here.  We'll be in the hospital."  I also call home to tell Nana and Pop that we won't be home in time for dinner and to check on the other two children.  Again, I am so blessed to have such good helpers, because while I didn't want them to be a burden on someone else, I didn't have to worry that they would be taken care of.

The CT scan required contrast to be injected into an IV.  Dr. Blythe also wanted the CT Scan STAT, (which is doctor speak for in an hour or so), so we were supposed to get the CT scan first, before we went up to the pediatric floor.  The Radiology nurse was very nice.  She could clearly see that Kari was in pain and distress, and didn't want to stress her out anymore by fishing around for a good place to insert the IV.  So, we got permission to go up to her room, so the pediatric nurses, who had much more experience, could hopefully do it a little bit better.  The admitting nurses were lovely, and took the time to talk to Kari and do what they could to calm her down.  They wrapped her in a warm blanket, exposing only her head and arm so they could insert the IV.  I stood on the other side of her, and did my best to help her remain calm.  She didn't even cry!  She may have hyperventilated a little bit, but she was super brave.  They put it right in her elbow, because it was the best place, and they only had to stick her once.  However, they also put a little board behind her elbow to keep her from bending it, and messing up the IV. 

By this point, Daddy is waiting for us downstairs in the Radiology waiting room, and Kelsey is starting to get hungry again.  It took a few more minutes to get paper work in order, and to get the wheelchair for transportation, but we finally got downstairs.  Hubby and I switched places, so I could go nurse, and he could stand by Kari.  Then, went back up to the room and wait.  Thankfully, it didn't seem like too much later when Dr. Blythe came up stairs to talk to us.

The CT confirmed there was an abscess.  But wait!  There's more!  There were actually 2!  One in the soft tissue of her throat (that he and I were able to see with the camera), and one in the muscle tissue of her neck, which was causing her to be stiff and in so much pain.  There are 2 treatments for such problems:

1) IV antibiotics
2) Surgery to drain the abscesses

Dr. Blythe is, by trade, a surgeon, and usually would have chosen to do the surgery.  But, the abscesses had odd placements.  The one in the throat was right next to the carotid artery, and while he had confidence he could do it, in his words "That is not an area you want to muck around with".  The one in the muscle tissue would just be fairly difficult to get to.  He consulted with another pediatrician and decided the antibiotics were the way to go.  Which meant Kari would be in the hospital for at least a few days.  He also suggested (though not officially as a doctor) that Kelsey and I would want to stay away from the hospital if possible, as germy places are not exactly great hang outs for newborns (or people with such close contacts to newborns). 

Once we finally decided against surgery, Kari was able to eat dinner (since you can't eat 12 hours before anesthesia).  We dined on Arby's a la hospital bedside table and discussed what would happen the rest of the evening.  Besides be inconvenient for me to try to stay with Kelsey, the doc had recommended against it, so we decided to leave hubby there.  Thankfully, since he was coming home from out of town, he had his toiletries with him and a change of clothes (since he always takes an extra with him).  He also messaged into work and told them he would not be coming in the following day.  The first round of antibiotics was started at 9 CST and I left shortly thereafter to drive the 40 minutes home and leave my firstborn in the hospital with an IV and a sore neck that I had overlooked and down played.  Yeah.  I felt like a schmuck.

This picture is from the Saturday morning.  The antibiotics had much improved her mobility and disposition.  Yay for modern medicine!!!!  There is more to the story before this picture, but I figured you couldn't stand any more non-picture posts :) 

That Weekend, Part 1

Fine print: This post is actually what made me miss most of last week.  It was the next logical post, a fairly eventful post, a fairly emotional post and a fairly long story.  Plus, the picture I wanted was on hubby's phone, and I kept forgetting to get it off.  Sorry for the delay.  Moving on.

At the end of the post from Nana and Pop's week I alluded to an eventful weekend.  This is how the week went down.  Nana and Pop were their usual wonderful, helpful selves.  They got Kari to school, got the brakes fixed on the van, took the kids shopping for shoes, and watched the kids while we had various follow up appointments.  It was lovely.  Sometime around Tuesday afternoon of that week, Kari came home from school and said that her neck hurt.  She was still moving it, though fairly stiffly, and I just thought that perhaps she had slept wrong.  So, I dosed her with ibuprofen and sent her on her merry way.  She was content enough playing with her siblings and grandparents that she didn't mention it the rest of the day.

Wednesday, she woke up and went to school like normal, though Nana mentioned her neck still hurt.  The nurse called about 1:30 pm to say that Kari was complaining that her neck hurt.  Since there was not much time left for the school day, I asked to speak to Kari.  I asked her if she could stick it out for the rest of the day, or if she wanted me to come and pick her up.  She said she could stay, so she went back to class.  When she came home that afternoon, we stepped up to a warm compress with the meds and told her if she didn't feel better in the morning, we would go to the doctor.  By this point she also seemed to have developed a fever, though it never got over 99*, and I had no idea what could cause a sore neck and a fever, except meningitis, and the rest of her symptoms didn't seem to fit.

Thursday she went to school, though her neck was very stiff.  She couldn't turn it in either direction, look up or down, and it hurt to open her mouth, though her throat wasn't sore at all.  I had a follow up appt for my incision that day, but I made her an appt with the pediatrician before I left the house, just in case.  Sure enough, while I was waiting for the doctor, hubby called to say the nurse had called his cell phone (I don't *officially* have one: it is just for emergencies, so I don't give out the number) to say that Kari was in the nurses office.  She had, apparently, just burst out crying in the middle of class and wanted to go home.  Thankfully, Pop was still at home with the other 2 kids, so I asked him to go get Kari, while I waited for the doctor.  He again, gave her some meds and an icepack this time.

I got home from my appt, where I had been cleared to drive, and loaded Kari, Kelsey and I into the van to go to my favorite and most trusted pediatrician whose office is about 35 minutes away.  "Why do you go so far away?" you ask?  Because this doctor (Dr Matt Carter for those of you in Auburn...  I highly recommend him) has never once made me feel like he is just hurrying me along to get to the next patient.  He listens, is very smart, and when he isn't sure, doesn't feel bad calling in one of the other partners to ask for a second opinion.  In other words, I have great faith in him.  I would love to have someone closer, who doesn't use as much gas, and believe me, I have tried...  3 pediatricians later, we go back to someone who I have literally entrusted my children's life with.

Our appointment is at 1:30 central time (which is odd because we live in the eastern time zone...  we cross that boundary somewhere between hither and yon) and were able to see one of his partners.  By this time, Kari is in quite a bit of pain, though when you ask her, she says "Just a little bit".  She still has a low grade fever of about 99* and just looks miserable.  The pediatrician examines her, not quite as gently/slowly as Kari would have liked, gives her a strep test (just in case, even though neither of us thought it was, which she was not happy about because I think she didn't know what was going to happen) and then called his friends over at the Ear, Nose and Throat Specialists.  We didn't have an appointment, but we went to go wait and get worked in.  At this point, I am thinking it is a good thing I have brought 2 week old Kelsey with us.  I have nursed her once, and while there was enough in the freezer to get her through, I don't think I would have survived. 

We wait at the ENT office for about an hour and a half before the lovely Dr. Blythe (whose name will always remind me of Anne of Green Gables) has a chance to examine Kari.  The meds have worn off for Kari, she hasn't been sleeping well, she thinks she is going to get a shot, and she is just not a happy camper.  Again, the doctor tried to "help" her move her neck, and then asked her to open her mouth so he could look inside.  That didn't go over well, because it is so painful for her to tilt the top of her head back.  So, he has her smell some gas (which, I suppose, anesthetizes her nasal passage) and sends a small camera up her nose and down her throat.  At this point, he shows me through the camera what he suspects is an abscess in the soft tissue at the back of her throat. 

Great.  Enter Mother's Guilt. 

Okaaaaaaaay.  Now what?

To Be Continued.....

Woefully

I felt kinda like I was woefully unprepared for 4 children.  Then I thought, maybe not.  Maybe I am just tired.  It is not that Kelsey is hard to handle.  Actually, she is by and large the most mellow of my children (thus far).  She eats about every 3 hours during the day, gives me a stretch of about 5 hours at night, goes right back to sleep after the night time nursings, and is extremely tolerant of her siblings love and affection.  In fact, she cries so infrequently, that I may or may not occasionally let her cry for 30 seconds because her face is so precious, and the sound is so sweet and pitiful.

The fact of the matter is, I feel great when I am sitting down.  Like I am fully recovered and fully functional.  Until I have sat for about 3 minutes, then I feel tired and unmotivated.  When I am not struggling to keep my eyelids in an upright and open position I tend to either not want to do anything, or have a small, albeit precious, parasite in them.  And, this time around, I am really enjoying her.  I am sure I enjoyed each of my other babies, and I am not saying that I am enjoying her *more* or *less*.  I am just saying I love to hold this bundle that is my own, and look at her, and stroke her cheek and call her George.  But when I get up I am still more limited than I want/used to be...  Slow. Unflexible.  Jiggly.  Comes with the territory of a now 5 week old, I suppose, but these are the things I tend to forget.

Said 5 week old is having more awake time, and I love to make eye contact with her, and watch her wiggle and squirm, and watch her hold her arms in close to her body and clean out the gunk in her hands because she holds her fists closed for so long. 

Some fairly monumental things have happened in the past few weeks, and I have some catching up to do.  But, for now, I am learning to be content to be just a little bit behind.  (It just keeps me from searching for blog topics later)  Content to not vacuum or sweep weekly, because, lets face it, I totally did that before Kelsey was born.  Content to maybe not get everything done, or do it more slowly than I would have before (because while I am moving much better than I was, I am still not bounding up the stairs 2 at a time).  I guess, as I sit here with a cute bag of flesh who is sticking out her tongue and occasionally pummeling me with her flailing fists, you could describe me as content.  Content to be lazy.  Content to be slow.  Content (or at least accepting) of being chubby (where did all this extra skin come from?!?!). 

There are worse things to be....

Nana and Pop

My mom was able to stay for 2 weeks, and the day she left, my in laws were already driving down.  They were able to stay for a whole week.  Have I mentioned yet how much I appreciate all the help?  I didn't have to get Kari ready to for school for almost a whole month.  And I know it helped the older kids adjust to Kelsey easier when they had someone else to play with.  Plus with all the food and house help...  well, it just made me realize how much I would love to be able to afford a maid and a cook :)

Pop spent a lot of time reading to the kids.  The same books.  Over and Over again...

 This is just another funny picture of Kelsey (snuggling with Nana).  She managed to get all 4 fingers in her mouth.  Silly girl.

 Kelsey also got to spend some time cuddling with Pop.

 See?  That child is changing right before my eyes.  It makes me fairly sad :p

 Kaitlyn also spent some time cuddling with Daddy.

The week began like most other weeks, and progressed slowly/well.  The weekend?  That was another story entirely.

Random 2nd week

During the second week of Kelsey's life, we mostly just hung out.  My mom was still here, and hubby, unfortunately, had to go out of town, so I had no one to worry about impressing.  Kelsey continued to do cute things that baby's do.  Like suck on her thumb.

 And make the precious "O" face that her older sister Kari used to make.

 And take lots of cuddle naps...

 ...Which she occasionally woke up from.

 And make some more not so cute faces too...

Sadly, I feel like I see her growing up and changing, right before my very eyes.....  Don't be in such a hurry to grow up child!

A Progression in Pictures

Once upon a time, a maiden, who was great with child, went to do battle with swords so sharp they could cut through her belly (no matter how small they were {as in 2 inches long}) and lances so tiny they could stick into a single vein, and dragons (otherwise known as nurses and doctors) who would wield that equipment in such a way that it would harm the maiden, but only in a good way.

Having done battle with such lances before, the maiden warned the dragons that such lances tended to leave long and lasting marks on her.  But, her words were to no avail, and the IVs, I mean the lances, left their marks none the less.  This was the first one:  it apparently went right through, and we couldn't get anything out of it.

This was the second attempt.  The dragons were able to get enough precious blood out to run the tests, but then the vein blew, and we had to start a 3rd line, which (thankfully) worked.

The marks, at long last, have faded.  The maiden has returned home and left the dragons to go about their business, pricking others and wielding small swords.  Must be a tough life for them :)

Hic-cups

Poor little thing.  Happens at least once a day.  More like almost every feeding...

At least its cute.  And it doesn't seem to bother her....

Wakeful Baby

Kelsey also had some fairly awake periods during her first week or so.  (With big brother Dylan)

 This time she was awake, we took her downstairs and set up our own little photo booth and took some pictures.

 Of course you need the cross eyed picture.

 But the rest are kinda cute, purple hands and all.

 It is sad to me that I can already see that she has changed.  Her little face is filling out more, which means she is growing up, which means that I am loosing my little newborn cuddler, which means I am sad....

 She has this thing with her pointer fingers.  She keeps them bent alot, even when the rest of her fingers are straight.  Don't worry, I have checked to make sure she an straighten them.  Just appears to be a preference.

 Kelsey, that is called a hand :)

 And that is where it will spend a significant portion of time during your first few years.

 Love you :)

Things I never thought I'd say

The other day, Kaitlyn and Dylan were playing dress up, making messes.  You know: the usual.  And while Kaitlyn is quite capable of making the necessary costume changes, Dylan is not.  While other parents struggle to keep their children clothed, we are trying to teach him how to take his clothes off.

 By this point, Kaitlyn had already gone through 2 or 3 princess dresses, and Dylan was getting frustrated that he couldn't get his on.  So, I said "Bring me your dress, son, and I will help you put it on."

 And then I started giggling, because that was just something I never thought I would be saying to my son.... :)

 Then he changed to a cowboy get up, and all was right in the world again. 

Because I could say things like "Stop shooting your sister" and "Give me your sword."

Ah....  The world is no longer confusing anymore. :)

Sleepy Baby

Lets face it...  In the first week(s) of life, babies don't do much other than sleep....

 Older Sisters with fabulous 80's style hair do....

 But baby sisters do not.

 Especially when mommy still has painkiller drugs in her system.

 Then baby gets them too.

 Remember these pictures?  I don't have one of Kaitlyn...  She didn't really like to sleep like this apparently.

 This is apparently one of Kelsey's preffered sleeping positions.  With her arms tucked up underneath her.

 Then, Grandma and I played around with some bows.

 And I think she is one of the most adorable bowed children ever.  So pink and pretty!

 And no, I wasn't exactly asleep at this point, but I can promise that I was, only moments after it was taken.  Like mother like daughter.

Sweet little snorer :)

Poor child!  Being born is a tiresome thing!

Just another diaper change

I wish I had ab muscles like this.  Just to hold my legs and butt up.

 Seriously, she does this quite often.  This is nothing new for her.  Makes changing a diaper kind of interesting though...

Maybe she was just tired of not being able to stretch out for so long.

I mean, look at those delicious little frog legs.  Don't they just look yummy?