HELICOPTER!!

This morning while I was getting Naylor dressed we heard a helicopter that sounded really low, so I scooped him up and ran to the backyard so he could see it. Boy, were we in for a treat! The helicopter was low and was circling our back yard - Naylor was so excited (I was too)! After a few times circling, it landed on the track just behind our house - pretty cool. Ended up it was like a field trip for the students there at the school that came to them.

We were able to get a short video of the helicopter when it was leaving... not the best video, but it's enough to keep Naylor entertained; he's already watched it about 30 times!

Whitley Ann's newborn photo proofs

We went last Thursday and the proofs are up to view for the next week. Click on this link and the password is higgins (case sensitive).

http://www.michellestudios.com/slideshows/

We saw the pediatrician yesterday and she's looking good and weighed in at 8 lbs even. Got a good report and go back in about 2 weeks for her 1 month check.

First ride with all 3

Whitley, Lalon and Naylor. I'm pretty sure this isn't what Uncle Kevin imagined in his back seat when he went to get his cool Range Rover - ha!

Thanks for the temporary car switch Uncle Kevin!!

This was last week when the girls (it's funny saying girls) and I went to pick Naylor up from school. I know two girls that have triplets (one also has a 3 yr old) and I have a totally new level of admiration for them... I was impressed before, but now I'm amazed with how they get it all done! Elizabeth and Jessica, you are my new inspirations! ;-)

Everyone did great in their new assigned seating; I was a little worried that Naylor and Lalon would start the, "he's touching me!" stuff early on, but so far, so good. I think the key to sanity is a LOT of patience, prior preparation certainly helps and not having to be in a hurry... slow and steady is another new motto of mine.

Funny pictures

Lalon's first pigtails; her hair is a hot mess, maybe this will be our quick fix

.

Naylor taking his nap. No wonder it sounds like he's tearing the house down; I think he was!

It's another GIRL!!

Christie and Jamie went to the doctor this morning for another check on their # 3 (due mid August) and found out it's a GIRL!

Poor Naylor will have to hold it down for the boys and keep these girls in check!

So excited for them and especially for Anna - she was really rooting for another little sister. ;-)

My new mantra!

If you've been reading the blog then you know Friday just wasn't my best day, but in the scheme of things, one bad day in two weeks time with 3 kids under 2.5yrs isn't a bad track record, so I took it in stride and we've moved on.

That evening I was emailing with my sister Christie, and she sent me this quote from the show Everybody Loves Raymond... it was exactly what I needed at the moment! I keep thinking about it and laughing out loud; I think I may have it stenciled on the wall in the kitchen, just changing the age to 2.5 yrs - ha!

Lady to Ray: "So what's it like having 3 kids under 5?"

Ray: "I tell folks it's a lot like living in a frat house. Nobody sleeps, everything's broken and there's a lot of throwing up."

Whitley quirks

This Whitley sure is a funny baby... we really aren't sure who she looks like yet; my mom thinks maybe some of her family on both the Witt and Edwards sides. The two crazy things (well for our family at least) that I've noticed is that:

1) her eyes are blue (Pa's family has them and Grammy too, but we all have green eyes) and

2) she has a tiny patch of hair in the crown of her head that is blonde!

I wonder if that blonde patch is a fluke and will turn brown over time or if she'll have a streak of "natural highlights" all of her life?? Only time will tell! And who knows, her eyes may still turn green like the rest of us, but they are certainly blue right now and neither Naylor nor Lalon's eyes were this shade.

Supermoon!

During the full moon on March 19th 2011 the moon was only 221,565 miles (356,575 kilometers) away. The closest it’s been in almost 20 years. It appeared 14 percent bigger and 30% brighter than usual.

Saturday weight check

From Saturday, March 19th.

Poor girl, she was just hungry. Yesterday was 7 lbs 4.5 oz - has had formula for past 18 hrs with 8 wet diapers and 4 poops (more than she's had in 2 wks time) and weighed in just now (after a wet diaper) at 7 lbs, 8.5 oz!

I'm continuing antibiotics for the mastitis, we've moved to formula. I had a pity party for myself to grieve the loss of breastfeeding last night and have moved on. Hate we can't do it, but getting some form of nourishment is more important! And, everything I've read has mentioned how "relaxing, calming and bonding" nursing is supposed to be... we weren't exactly there just yet, so we've moved on and that's okay. We return to the pediatrician this coming Thursday for another weight check and then should resume a normal new baby well-check schedule.

Today Whitley is 2 weeks old and doing really great. Naylor also turned 2.5 years old today - he's grown up so much and is such a great helper with Lalon and Whitley. I think he's going to have a good watch on his baby sisters over the years to come.

Breastfeeding... the saga continues

Catching up; this is from Friday, March 18th - also, lots of information about breastfeeding, so if it's not your thing... stop reading now!

Well, I thought we were doing great, especially after meeting with lactation and the 5 oz gain in 2 days last week (went from 7lb 4 oz last Wed to 7 lb 9 oz last Fri). Yesterday she started doing those cluster feeds around 4.30pm until about 11pm where she was nursing every 20 mins to hour, but I was knowing she's in that 10day growth spurt range so figured that was it. Was not feeling great yesterday, got real achey / chills and around 7pm realized it was those same mastitis symptoms from Lalon and around 7pm saw that on breast was red / inflamed on the surface. So I broke out the books and read up on what to do to keep it at bay... did all of those things and this morning felt better, but still had the red skin - basically have gotten the mastitis most likely from bacteria that would have gotten in from the "traumatized / cracked" nipples from last week's poor latching. Although, we had corrected that and they have actually been healing, although not back to "normal". Called my dr this afternoon and have started antibiotics to treat the mastitis.

So this afternoon was her check up. Other than the mastitis, which was really my problem, I was truly feeling confident about my nursing - no bottles, feeling let down, hear her swallowing, I'm thinking we've got this. Well, the nurse weighed her in at 7lbs 7 oz (was 7lbs, 9 oz a week ago), so she should have been way more, or at the very worst, had maintained last week's weight. So, dr comes in, we talk - she's not been pooping very much - and he says, let's weigh her again just in case we hit the wrong button on the scale and maybe you can meet with lactation again... we go to the scales, put her on, she's peed and weighs in at 7 lbs 4.5 oz. BOO.

Dr Artman then sends me to the Raleigh office to meet with the lactation lady again and says I need to come back over the weekend for a weight check. Go through all this info again with lactation and so then she watches me nurse - sees we're doing everything right. She then sets me up with that SNS thing where they put the formula through a tube next to your breast - I hate those things - anyway, we did that for what seemed like forever to make sure she consumed at least 2 ounces of formula plus the breast milk. After 2 ounces of formula that we watched her take in, lactation lady goes to weigh her... she should weigh at least 7lbs 6.5 oz maybe more with the breast milk she should have gotten. No, she only weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz, which the lactation then says she's "greatly dehydrated". She wants us to now make sure she gets at least 2 oz of formula or breast milk every 2 hrs. This should help with weight gain obviously and also making sure she poops... guess there's not enough in her to poop anything out right now.

Been sticking to the regime since we've been home, go back in the morning at 10:15 to have her weight checked and then supposed to go back Monday morning too...

Came home and tried to have a beer, but when I was going outside to enjoy it while watching kids play it fell over and spilled out all over me and the couch... not sure if I wanted to cry or grab the liquor! I can certainly take the gold medal on getting pregnant and having a baby, but my body just can't / won't do the breastfeeding deal. She's still 10 times healthier than the other two put together at this stage of the game, so it isn't the end of the world, just really thought we had it going this time around. Brian is taking over, I'm going to bed and going to start fresh tomorrow. Oh well... tomorrow is another day.

Family Pictures!

First full family photo!

It's so great to have the whole gang all home together.

Lalon Hope, 17 months; Whitley Ann, 1 week, 1 day; Naylor Reid, 1 week shy of 2.5 yrs

Grammy with Lalon, Naylor and Whitley

Naylor wanted to hold "his baby"!

Pre St. Patrick's Day Fun!

Lalon and Brian taking a nap yesterday morning.

Mary-Clare, Naylor, Lalon and Carson

Maybe Naylor will be a professional bull rider?!?

Maybe not... too many potential injuries!

Brian, Lalon and Naylor

Naylor and Whitley; he was actually hugging her, not hurting her!

This morning Brian and Grammy loaded up Naylor and Lalon and headed towards downtown Raleigh for a fun trip to Marbles. When they got there, the entire Moore's Square was set up with lots of fun stuff in preparation for the St. Patrick's Day parade. So they played around there and ended up running into Blaine, Lizzie and Carson along with Blaine's sister Ashley (who Brian graduated high school with) and her husband Pat and their little girl Mary-Clare - how fun!

Sounded like they had lots of fun in a big bounce house, a mechanical bull and watched the parade. After they got home, we were playing on the 3rd floor and Naylor kept saying Whitley was "my baby", "my baby sister", "my baby Whitley" and wanted to hold her, so we got some good pictures of that too!

While they were out, Whitley and I hung out and enjoyed a nap. She had kind of a long night with some gas, but seemed much better today working most of it out. She has been eating great and sleeping well too and each night has done at least one 4.5 hr stretch, which is great! I'll enjoy it as long as it lasts.

We went to the pediatrician again yesterday and she got a good report. On Wednesday, she weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz (born at 7 lbs, 12 oz) and Friday she was already up to 7 lbs, 9 oz - almost back to birth weight! She's a little jaundiced, but not to a point of intervention and she's getting less yellow each day.

Naylor & Lalon meet Whitley

Naylor and Lalon came home Wednesday night and were so excited to be back. It was their bed time, so we played quickly in their rooms while getting ready for bed and introduced them to Whitley.

Naylor was super sweet with the baby, giving her lots of hugs and kisses. Lalon didn't pay as much attention to her, but when I asked where the baby was, she came over and touched her. She also gave her one sweet hug. That was all great too; I was worried about her reaction - at least she didn't hit her on the head!

Welcome home Whitley Ann!

In her pretty coming home dress. This is the same dress (style, not actual dress)

that Anna, Ava James and Lalon have all worn home too!

Grammy was there to welcome her home.

Monday we were all given a clean bill of health and were released from the hospital to come home. Once again, our experience at Rex was amazing and this time they even sent us home with food! They have a new program in place for new mom's and they sent us home with a salad, bread and a baked ziti - pretty cool!

We got home early afternoon and then Whitley and I spent the remainder of the day taking naps interrupted only by eating. She did great her first night home, sleeping in her crib and even slept one 4.5 hr stretch in the night! Not sure that will be a permanent trend, but I enjoyed it all the same.

So far, so good - she's eating, sleeping and pooping - everything she's supposed to be doing!

Weekend Review

What a wonderful weekend it has been finally getting to meet Whitley and today we will be taking our newest little girl home.

As ready as I was to meet our newest addition, I've already seen so many good things in waiting and having a full term baby. Having Whitley when she was ready to be here has been a completely different experience than having a pre-term baby. From our birthing experience and not having a NICU team in the delivery room to whisk the baby away for a few hours, to a baby that immediately knows how to latch on and nurse, to lots of tests that aren't necessary - all have been pleasant new experiences!

We are excited (and maybe a little nervous) about having Naylor and Lalon meet their little sister. After some debate, we decided it would be much less chaotic to have them come to the hospital and to meet her once we are home. So, they are going to stay just a couple of more days with Annie and Pa so we can get Whitley settled at home and then they will be coming home for good!

Annie was giving me some updates on the kids and had some funny stories I'll blog separately later on, but this one was too cute not to include now. Naylor has a few things that he says that anyone would understand, however would probably be confused based on what he's saying and what he actually means. For instance, when he's referring to either a tractor or a cracker he says donut... no idea why, but donut doesn't actually mean a sweet treat in his world. Well, Mama was showing him pictures of sweet Whitley and teaching him her name, repeating it for him and he says "Bennett"... the funny part is, Bennett is what Naylor calls Bentley one of Mama's dogs! I'm hoping somehow he hears them as the same and isn't thinking little Whitley looks like a dog - ha!

SHE'S HERE!!!

40 weeks and 1 day - baby will be here soon!

Whitley Ann

Whitley Ann with Mama and Daddy

It's a GIRL!

Whitley Ann Higgins born Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 9:34 pm weighing in at 7 lbs 12 oz and 21" long. Everyone is doing great and she's just as precious as she can be. We can't wait for her to meet her big brother Naylor and big sister Lalon!

Whitley Ann is named after all of her Grandmothers. Whitley is Grammy's last name (Brian's mom) and Ann is Annie's first name (Robin's mom) and Grandma T's middle name (Brian's step-mom). Technically, Grandma T spells hers Anne (with an 'e'), but with two special grandmas both having Ann(e), picking the middle name was a no-brainer!

For anyone that's curious, if she had been a he, the name was Whitley James.

I did joke around with some family members though that our names were Willie Tate or Euva May - Tate being short for Rhotate (who married Euva), and yes those are all family names! Maybe Christie can use one of those on her baby coming in August! So while we may have unusual names for our kids, they all have family meaning and are pretty much the cream of the crop that Brian and I could agree on! :)

Cute random pictures

Bath time!

I don't know what's going on here... guess they were bored with the play room!

What in the world is Lalon doing??

Naylor being silly before bed!

I found these on Brian's phone - just some random cuteness to brighten your day!