Thursday, October 9, 2014

ELLIS PAIGE - 2 MONTHS

Our little girl turned 2 months old on June 11, 2014.  She had her 2 month checkup that same day, and moved out of her house in Austin the very next day!  


As evidenced by these pictures, she is very smiley!!  
 


AT 2 MONTHS, ELLIS:

-Loves her brother and smiles when he comes around.  Hands out smiles to others often, and even likes to smile at inanimate objects!

-Loves to kick her legs and move her arms.

-Is outgrowing all newborn clothes and wears 0-3 months now.

-Has big feet!



 


-Likes riding in the sling with Mommy.

-Lives at Mums' house!  Will be moving to Evanston, IL next month.

-Starting to sleep longer stretches at night and is awake more during the day.




-Is still nursing exclusively and eats about every 3 hours, but is pretty much fed on demand.  Rarely takes a bottle, but when she does she eats about 4 oz.

-Mommy has to avoid Mexican food and pizza--they make Ellis very gassy and uncomfortable!

-Is gassy so often, that we have to do a trick with her legs to get the gas out!  We lay her on her back and move her legs back and forth, then push them forward towards her chest.  It works almost every time! Mommy is best at it and once got 21 toots in a row out of her!  WHOA!!



-Is happiest mid-mornings and is fussy in the evenings.

-Is still very snorty and grunty.

-Sits well in the Bumbo!

-Stretches out like Superman when taken out of carseat.

-Loves to be held on someone's hip looking out at the world, and prefers to be moving.



-Is pretty good in her carseat, but gets mad when we stop at stop lights.  Is fine while in motion.

-Her milia is starting to disappear, but she still has a few bumps.

-Still LOVES bathtime!!

-Stands really well with help.  Has strong little legs!




-Wears size 1 diapers, newborn and 0-3 mo clothes.

-Went to the Dr on May 23 (6 weeks) and was treated for an umbilical granuloma.  Basically a part of her umbilical stump didn't heal properly, so they had to dry it up with some silver nitrate.  She weighed 10 lbs 2 oz clothed.

-Weighed 10 lbs 14 oz at her 2 month checkup on June 11 and was 22 3/4 in long.




-Really wants to roll over back to tummy, but her arm gets in the way.  Won't be long!

-Truly laughed out loud at Mums when she was making a noise with her tongue close to Ellis' face.

-Tries to imitate when people make noises with their tongue.

-She drools a lot and loves to grab things with her hands.


 


-Makes lots of cute coo-ing sounds.  
   *a-boo
   *ooh
   *gah
   *goo
   *oh
Lane says all the time "Ellis said her first word!"  One time he said, "She said baboon!"






This little 2 month old has our heart!


Wednesday, September 24, 2014

So long, Austin

After a stressful night of worrying about Lane and staying up until nearly 3am packing, the movers arrived bright and early the next morning.  Kyle's brother, Trent, came in town to stay at the house and help with the movers that day.  I am glad we had an extra person there for when I had to go tend to Ellis and Kyle had to go to the office to put in a few hours on his last day of work.  We had everything that was to go to Chicago labeled with red duct tape, and the remaining things were going to be moved to the storage unit in Mansfield by Kyle and Trent.  The movers were so fast!  By mid-day, they were loaded and gone, and I stuck around a little longer to do some last minute things and get my car loaded.  The kids and I were planning on living at my mom's house for a full month before moving to Chicago, so I had quite a bit of stuff that needed to come with me to her house.


Our Austin home.  We will miss you, Sautelle Lane!


That afternoon, I loaded up Ellis into our packed car, and we left our home in Austin behind us!  I was excited to get to Mansfield to see Lane, who was discharged from the hospital at about the same time I was on the road.

A sweaty, tired Mama and baby girl in her car seat mirror!  So long, Austin!


Kyle and Trent stayed behind to load up a U-Haul truck with the furniture and boxes to be kept in storage in Mansfield.  Since we were downsizing to a 2BR apartment in Chicago, we had LOTS of things that we had to store.  The guys had a tough job ahead of them!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

A Day Full of Doctors

JUNE 11, 2014

**This post was so hard for me to write!!  This is a day I will always remember.  It was the day before we moved away from Austin, the day Ellis turned 2 months old, the day we had her 2 month checkup and shots, and the day I got the scare of my life with Lane...


Our day started with some frantic packing.  Lane was in Mansfield with Mums and the movers were set to come the next day.  We still had so much to do!!!  Kyle went to work that morning and I packed a few boxes and took Ellis' 2 month pictures while she was happy and awake.  (Coming in the next post!)  That afternoon, we had Ellis' 2 month well check.  Kyle was able to meet me there to help me out!  She looked so sweet in her pretty mint bubble!  


Healthy, happy girl!   Waiting to see Dr. Wagner



Kicking those legs!


Mommy's baby girl!



These pictures are soooo sweet!  Daddy's little princess!



Our sweet girl got a great report!  The doc was pleased with her weight gain and said she is just perfect!  She only cried a little with her shots, but HATED the heel prick for the newborn screening blood test.  




After the checkup, Kyle went back to work and Ellis and I headed home to get back to packing.  When I say there was still a long way to go before we would be prepared for the movers to arrive, I mean it!  We totally underestimated how big of a job it was to pack that entire house.  Around 4pm, I took a break to call my mom and sister to check on Lane.  I was talking to Kori on the phone and she said they were out in the backyard letting Lane swim.  Kori said she was pushing Evin in the swing and then all of a sudden the call cut off.  I figured her phone died or we lost service.  I called back and nothing could have prepared me for what Kori said.  My heart is pounding just typing this....


She calmly told me that Lane had taken his floaties off without anyone knowing and she had to jump in to pull him out of the water.  My mom was watering her flowers around the pool and saw him first.  Kori said he was floating on his stomach and she didn't know exactly how long he was under.  She told me they had called 911, but that Lane was breathing, talking, and awake.  Thank GOD.  I was completely in shock.  Panicked, terrified, so, so sad that I wasn't there with him.  I stayed on the phone with Kori until she said the firemen/paramedics arrived.  I let her talk to them and she called right back with the news that he was going to be transported to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth.  My mom had been holding Lane and talking to him while the paramedics took his vitals and checked him out, and said that he was acting a little tired and groggy, but alert enough to carry on a conversation.  The paramedics said that everything looked ok, but to be on the safe side, they would like him to go to the hospital for further observation and testing.  With all the recent talk about "secondary drowning," I was glad that he was going to be checked out and monitored.


They let my mom get Lane into some dry clothes, and she rode with him in the ambulance to Cook Children's.  Kori got herself changed and Mitch's mom came to get Evin so that Kori could meet them at the hospital.  Mitch was working that day and happened to be on a call at the hospital, so he was able to go check on Lane as well.  I got this picture text shortly after they got to the hospital.  I was so happy to see Lane awake, playing on Mitch's phone.




I got constant updates from Mom and Kori.  Kyle was still at work, so I was having to pass on the updates to him as well.  It was so hard to decide if I needed to drop everything and drive from Austin to Fort Worth to be with Lane.  On one hand, I was desperate to see him and make sure he was ok, but on the other hand, we had soooo much to pack still, and the moving company was set to arrive at 8am the next day.  The nurses and paramedics assured me that Lane was going to be just fine, and that the only reason he was admitted to the hospital was for observation to make sure no fluid had accumulated in his lungs.  Everyone kept saying that he would most likely only need to stay for a few more hours, so Kyle and I decided I should just stay in Austin and drive there the next day, as originally planned.


They took an x-ray of Lane's chest, and the doctor said everything looked clear, but they wanted to wait a couple of hours and do one more, just to be safe.  Mom said Lane was really good for the doctors and nurses.  He, of course, carried on conversations with them and made them laugh.  After his x-ray, one of the nurses gave him some stickers, which made him happy!  He also was well enough to walk around and go play in the playroom for a while.  He evidently told the nurse he was a little bored, so she gave him clearance to go explore!

Mom said that they were playing library with some books and a toy scanner.  She said she played the role of the one checking out some books, and Lane was the librarian.  She cracked up when he told her "M'am, now don't forget, we have DVD's to check out too!"  
 


They took another x-ray in a few hours, and this time, the doctor thought they might have seen a tiny bit of fluid in the lungs.  The risk was that it could turn into pneumonia.  Apparently, the chemicals in chlorine can also have an adverse affect on the lungs if they get inside, so that was another risk.  He would have to stay a bit longer at the hospital to continue to be monitored and have another x-ray in another few hours.  At this point, I was back to getting stressed out about things!  Just as I was thinking everything was ok, the worrying crept back in.  My mom and Kori were so great with Lane.  I am so glad they were both there with him, since I couldn't be.  The good thing was, Lane was acting completely normal.  Talking up a storm, wanting to play, wanting to eat, and showing no signs of being ready for bed.

Along with every x-ray, Lane accumulated more and more stickers!  He thought it was pretty neat!  Kori and Mom kept me updated with new pictures of our brave boy and all of his bravery stickers!
 



He looks real sick, doesn't he?!


He got his favorite meal of Chick Fil A for dinner that night, and Aunt Kori stayed late into the night reading to him.  Around 1am, they decided that his x-ray still showed the fluid/swelling in the lung, so they decided to go ahead and keep him overnight.  It was hard for me to get to sleep after that news, but I knew in my heart that everything would be ok and I would get to see Lane the next day after our house was all loaded up and I could drive to DFW.  Mom slept in the room with him that night and kept me posted by text message any time she got an update on him.


Ellis sent her well wishes for her big bro.  Written on a large piece of packing paper!


Lane did fine all night, and by the next morning the nurses said he was in the clear.  He celebrated with a popsicle and waited until the doctors made their rounds to discharge him.


Evin and Kori came back up to visit, and Evin indulged in a rainbow pop as well.  She even scarfed hers down before Lane finished his!
 

Finally, around noon, Lane was discharged!  RELIEF!!!  I thank God that this little boy is ok after that scare.  No parent ever wants to receive a call like that, and no Aunt or Grandma wants to have to go through a scare like that either!  We obviously had a long talk with Lane about never taking his floaties off without help from a grown up, and talked long and hard about pool safety.  I'm so grateful he made it home safe.  I couldn't wait to see my little man the next day!!!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Our last days in Austin...








Our last weeks in Austin flew by!!!  Movers were set to arrive on Thursday, June 12, so we squeezed in lots of activities between packing!  Luckily, Ellis was relatively easy while Kyle and I packed boxes and prepared for the move.
A little tummy time while Mommy packed!  

Our cute little cupcake!



Sweet girl!


Eating carrots, holding his sister, and watching TV.  A big brother PRO!


Happy little lady!


We made one last visit to Kerbey Lane for breakfast.  Lane and I LOVED going to Kerbey Lane for pancakes.  We already miss that place so much!


A couple of nights before the move, we finally went over to Kyle's great aunt Margaret's house for a visit.  She lives in Austin close to the UT campus and in the 2 years we lived there, we never got around to getting together!  We were happy to get to visit with 2 of Kyle's aunts/uncles, as well as his cousin, Mae, who was a flower girl in our wedding years ago!

Hanging out with Mary


Coloring with Mae.  I can't believe how grown up she is now!


Margaret lives on the 14th floor of a fancy apartment building overlooking the UT campus.  This was a pretty view off of one side of her balcony!  Lane loved looking at the tower and the football stadium.


Mommy and Ellis posing by the tower



Coots fam bam


Sara was able to come too, and loved holding baby E.


Aunt Margaret and Ellis


Lane had a fun time playing with old toys that Margaret had saved and listening to the player piano.


The next day it was back to packing!  Ellis wanted to be held all morning, so I ended up having to put her in the sling to get anything done.  My view that day was this sweet face and loads of boxes!



Little darling!


Josh, Carrie and Abigail were coming to Austin for a short family vacation at a nearby resort, so they came and spent a night with us before getting to their hotel.  They had no bed upstairs since we had already moved our big bed out, but they made do with an air mattress.  We were happy to get to see Miss Abigail and spend one last weekend with the Bays fam!



We ate dinner at Contigo, which had a great outdoor patio and plenty of open space for Lane to move about.  He and Abigail had a blast playing at the table!


Taking it like a man!  She loved pinching his face!


Sweet kisses!


Ellis tried out her bumbo chair for the first time...and she liked it!


"Check out this new trick, Mom!"
My little paci unicorn


We squeezed in one last movie night in the media room.  We didn't utilize this room quite enough, and I know we will miss it like crazy!  We watched The Sandlot, and Lane LOVED it.  (Even though he tried to say he only liked it a little.)  He somehow memorized lots of quotes from watching it that one time.  We heard "You play ball like a girl!" more times that we could count!


Sara came to babysit Lane for a bit while we got some packing done.  She took him to her house to meet her baby chicks and he had such a fun time!  He begged for Mama Fu's on their way back to our house, and ended up falling asleep before he could even eat it!  Aunt Sara wore him out!



My mom came to visit a couple days before the movers arrived.  We hit up some of our favorite Austin spots and even stopped by the Austin mural to take an updated picture now that Ellis is here!


Wearing one of Evin's hand me downs.  I asked Kori if these were supposed to be capris or pants.  Answer: pants.  But Ellis rocked them as capris!  Must be a long-legged girl!


A trip to Panera...another one of Lane's faves.  Each season they have a different iced cookie and he was excited that they had baseballs this time!



My mom left on Tuesday the 10th, and took Lane and Scout back to Mansfield with her so that I could work hard on getting everything packed and so that we wouldn't have Lane and Scout to deal with on the day the movers were coming.  I snapped this gem right as they were about to leave.  Scout is like "Sheesh!"  


Posing on a few of the many boxes in our home.  Although this wasn't our favorite house ever, we made so many great memories there!  Our two years in Austin flew by and we made the most of it!  Lane had 2 great years of pre-school, Kyle gained great experience at a job he loved, we had our favorite restaurants and stores we frequented, had lots of fun when visitors came to town, Lane made friends with our neighbors, and we brought our baby girl home to that house!






The last time posing on the front steps for a picture.