4 Days, 2 Weeks, 3 Years, 5 Years (Angel Kisses and Bum Hand)

We have been to the doctor a LOT this month!

When Skye was 4 days old we had to go into the office for a weight check.  After a c-section you can't drive (not until your doctor clears you - don't want to rip open your incision pulling evasive driving maneuvers).  So my dad took Skye and me to the weight check.

Skye - 4 days

Height: 20.00 in (73%)
Weight: 7 lb 4.5 oz (48%)
Head: 34.0 cm (45%)

Then two weeks later we went for another check up.  At first Skye had a little day/night confusion that I needed to work on.  I learned a lot from the lactation consultants with the twirls so I used that info to get her on a schedule.  I wouldn't let her sleep more than a 3 hour stretch during the day.  Babies only get one long stretch of sleep every day so I wanted to force that to the evening.  During the day we kept her on a 3 hour schedule.  In the evening I cluster feed her - every 1.5/2 hours until we go to bed.  Then something miraculous happened - Skye started sleeping 5 hours when we went to bed.  She does that almost every night now!  What an angel baby!  

Skye - 2 weeks

Height: 20.25 in (42%)
Weight: 8 lb 6 oz (50%)
Head: 35.5 cm (51%)

Have you heard of the new Vitamin D drops?  Literally one drop you put on your nipple before feeding at night.  No more trying to get them to drink a whole syringe full of yucky medicine.  Amazing!

Another great find, my breastfeeding app: Feed Baby.  I wanted to design my own app with specific features but this app has all I needed and more.  It helps me track which side I feed on, how long, poopy and wet diapers, and it even has an alarm go off if I haven't fed her in 3 hours and again in 5 hours.  I am even using it to track my Tylenol intake.

Dr. Tosto sent us to the dermatologist to get Skye's birth mark checked out.  We just wanted to make sure it wasn't Infantile Hemangioma (like Siena).  The doctor said it is just Nevus Simplex - a normal birth mark.  If it hasn't faded by 5th grade they can laser it.  I learned that a stork bite is on the back of the neck and an angel kiss is on the face.  How cute!!!!  I told Scarlett about her kiss and she said "Mom, did angels kiss us [Scarlett and the twirls] in heaven too?"  Sweet!

Angel Kisses and Stork Bite:

The girls in the dermatology waiting room:

Jaide and Siena had their 3 year old check up.  Dr. Tosto asked the girls several questions.  She asked Jaide how old she is and all she could reply was "I a big sister!"  Haha!  She is so proud to be big sister.  If I sing her songs or call her "baby" she replies "no, I a big sister now!"  Dr. Tosto is so nice.  She keeps teasing me that we need to have more kids because I handle mine with so much "grace" bwahaha!  I've got her fooled!  ;-)

I know that they are identical but it always amazed me at how identical they are.  They are basically the same size (in fact when weighing Jaide the scale said 30.8 until she wiggled).

Siena - 3 years

Height: 3' 1.8" (67%)
Weight: 30.8 lb (50%)

Jaide - 3 years

Height: 3' 1.8" (67%)
Weight: 31 lb (52%)

A new stroller for a new baby!  This one holds one baby then has a little bench seat.  The twirls just barely fit together on it.  Scarlett was feeling left out so Grammy gave her a ride.

Do to weird timing Scarlett had her 5 year check up that same week.  Because I still couldn't drive Grammy took all of us.  She decided to camp out in the parking lot with the littles:

Scarlett - 5 years

Height: 3' 8.25' (75%)
Weight: 47.8 lb (85%)

Scarlett passed her hearing and vision tests with flying colors.

During our conversation we discussed that Scarlett was breech but never had a hip ultrasound like the twirls.  She wanted to verify that her hips were aligned properly.  (apparently being breech or being twins can force the hip sockets to not form correctly.)  So she sent us downstairs for an xray.  While we were waiting for her xray I tried explaining the process to her.  I told her that it was a machine that would make a loud sound.  She asked "like thunder?"  "No, more like a washing machine."  Then she replied "Oh well, sometimes when the car engine starts the pistons have loud explosions that scare me - but then the car moves and I'm not scared."  My little nerd!  She did a great job getting her xray.  The lady asked if I wanted to stay and hold her legs.  She asked if there was a chance I was pregnant - hahaha!!!!  I sure hope not!!!  Scarlett's results came back normal and her hips are great!

After my surgery I noticed that my right hand was numb.  My first three fingers are weak and numb to the tips, plus they have less dexterity.  At first it was just bothering me, but the symptoms kept persisting for days.  It really is annoying cause it makes it hard to text, fix hair, or really anything.  Finally I decided to call the nurse and see what they thought.  Since I had an IV port in that arm that wasn't used, she wanted me to go back to the Labor and Delivery emergency room to get checked out and make sure there wasn't a blood clot.  Jake took me (and Skye) back to the hospital.  No clot.  Apparently pregnancy can cause a hormone-induce carpal tunnel.  Only time will tell if it will go away on its own.  So far, it's still bothering me but seems to be a little better.  I call it my "bum hand" (My dad then acted out a little hand sticking off his bum.  It was hilarious.)  Jake wondered if the real cause was using chop sticks (inside joke*).  

*Explanation: When I was a preteen I went to Ashley Martin's birthday party at the BYU bowling alley, then we went to the Cougar Eat for Teriyaki Bowls.  The next day my wrists were KILLING me.  I was convinced that the chop sticks I used to eat my food had caused the problem.  My mom said "don't you think it was from the bowling?"  haha.  Well, yes, that makes more sense.  Now my family teases me mercilessly every time we eat with chop sticks.  Even Jake.  "oh no, don't sprain your wrists Jenni!"  "Hurry someone get her a fork before her wrists get injured!"  etc...

While I was in the hospital waiting I remembered a few things from her birth that I forgot to blog.  When they started the saline IV my mouth tasted like salt water taffy!  How cool is that?!  One evening the nurse took Skye to the nursery so we could sleep.  I miss that service, haha!  I must be allergic to their laundry detergent because my skin was soooo itchy!  As the morphine in my spinal wore off it made me itchy, but the fabric was a different sensation.  Oh my goodness, it drove me crazy.  I think I could have stayed one more night in the hospital - and I probably would have if I wasn't so darn uncomfortably itchy (and if they had better shows to watch, haha!)  Seriously I had to keep begging for more Benadryl.   

One morning before work Jake kissed me and said "remember you only have 5 min and you can take more pain meds."  What a cutie - so concerned with my comfort.  Luckily this surgery went so much better than last time.  Plus not having a NICU baby my stress is much lower!  So I was only on the heavy pain meds for like 2 weeks.  And since I'm off them and my incision looks great Dr. Bernardoni said I could start driving.  I have already been to the Hob Lob!  I am taking Tylenol round the clock still.  The pain is manageable but persistent, so the Tylenol helps take the sharpness out of the pain.

Siena asked me "I want to see your surgery" (meaning my incision).  After showing her "Oh, owie!  A bandaid help you feel better."  haha, cute!

And since this post has very few baby photos, here are pictures from Skye's first bath at home.  Yes, yes, I know.. she still has her umbilical cord.  We were very careful to keep it dry.  I can't believe how different she looks from these photos and it's only been two weeks! 

April Showers Bring May-hem!

I know, I know... you want to see more baby pictures! I promise I will show them to you. I have 1,574 photos in my month of May photo folder - so there are a lot of photos coming your way! But first I want to recap what we did in April prior to baby Skye joining our family. I have a ton of funny quotes and stories to share with you that I don't want to forget!

Lately Jaide has been picking yellow a lot (glow sticks, band aids, etc). I think the only reason is cause it bothers Siena so much! Stinker! Siena is really into order (OCD?) and she knows that yellow is her color. Well for April Fool's Day I got them to switch bows for a quick picture. Jaide liked it and Siena thought it was funny for like ten seconds then threw the green bow on the floor. I quickly put the proper bow on the twirls and they crawled away like happy little puppies.

The twirls will yell yes-no-yes-no back at each other over nothing. They sometimes just like to disagree. It reminds me of the kids on Emperor's New Groove (see here).

We were driving somewhere and Scarlett told me: "I don't know how many minutes till we get there. Kids don't have a sense of time." bwahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!! What 5 year old says that? She cracks me up!

One morning Scarlett's hair was straighter than normal. She said "My curls are out of curly business today!" Another day her sinuses cleared out and she said "Hey one of my nose pipes is open now!"

Jake and I were in bed one Saturday morning. Scarlett came in our room and around to Jake's side of the bed. She then exclaimed "I was thinking it was time to get a motorcycle cause I can do my turns really well and look how fast I can run!" *sprints around room* Jake was so proud. He was ready to buy here a motorcycle that day!

Toward the end of my pregnancy I couldn't sleep. I was just too big and uncomfortable to slumber. Then if I did fall asleep I'd have to go potty minutes later. Ugh. So the girls would wake up and charge in my room trying to get me out of bed. They would pull my eyelids open and say "bake up [wake up] mommy!" then they would peel back my warm covers like I was a teenager or something! Thank goodness Jake started making them CM (chocolate milk) before he left for work. Then all I had to do was turn on a cartoon while they drank and I got a few more minutes of blessed rest.

Scarlett was playing makeup with her sisters: "Come on, let's make ugly people into pretty people!"

Taking turns playing baby in the nursery. And little treat bags so I could take a shower in peace.

The twirls are darling with each other - sometimes. Other times they can be a bad influence on each other. I have caught them several times egging each other into doing something against the rules. Like turning on the bath tub, locking a bedroom door, or touching the TV screen. Most of the time I find it's Siena talking Jaide into doing it. But not always. They are little shoulder devils for each other but no one is their shoulder angel! We need Matt from Studio C!

Playdoh fun. And the twirls taking turns sitting on each other after showering. Because, why not?

I showed you how we fix owies Karate Kid style. But we didn't really have a name for it. Now if they want us to fix their boo boo, they ask for "Miyagi?"

Siena will ask where everyone is - even if they are just in different rooms - sometimes when they are in the same room! Often she'll ask "Where'd daddy go?" And I ask her what she thinks. "Werk? Scub scouts?" [work, cub scouts] She likes tickles and will tell me if she wants slow tickles or fast tickles. Most of the time it's both.

Siena loves this hard copy book of 101 Dalmatians. She will pack it up and down the stairs so it's with her all day. The funny part is that she always flips it open to the inside of the front cover. Apparently she likes to look at those pictures and only those pictures.

We had a Honeycomb cereal incident one afternoon that quickly turned into Honeycomb-Angels! Thank goodness they like vacuuming!

There are several words that Jaide says that sound like the f-bomb and they make me chuckle to myself every time (words like frog and fork). Lately Jaide will tell me when she's coming down the stairs "a big step and I brokea my arm." I don't think she remembers (I hope not!) I think that maybe Scarlett told her the story!?! Jaide is Miss Independent. She's ok doing things on her own. Even when I paint her nails it's a power struggle "No, I do it!" She also likes to put stuff in her mouth, like toys and huge handfuls of food (we're working on that).

When the twirls are upset or very tired they will call each other "yucky":

I took the girls out on a walk (it was more of a waddle for me).

Watch Jaide fly on the Strider bike:

We are excited for babies around here! They also figured out the swing looks like giant headphones!

We had a playgroup meeting at a local gym. The girls and I showed up a few min after the open gym time but the lady at the desk said they were all full. Laura came out and spoke with her and she let Scarlett in to play. I sat out in the waiting room with the twirls - it worked out great cause they were too scared to go in anyways. I think they were afraid I was going to drop them off and leave cause once we got inside they both started crying and made me hold them both (with my huge belly - I was so sweaty!) Luckily my friends who were in there with their kids sent me some great pix of Scarlett having a ball...

The twirls calmed down and were fine in the waiting room. Then about 15 min before it was over the lady said they could come in if they wanted. They were shy and timid at first, but warmed up. They really hit a groove about 5 min before we left. Which made it that much worse when we had to leave. Lots of tears shed that day.

One of my friends from the BYU Formula SAE team (2004-2006) told me that he would be in town for the SAE conference. Jake and I thought it would be fun to go to dinner with him in downtown Detroit. We had a blast hanging out with Charlie (I was sad his wife - also an engineer - was back at home with their kids, I love their whole family! They were the ones who introduced us to Blaze and the Monster Machines!) But Jake and I had a great time. Emily Layton was a champ and offered to watch the girls - including bath and bed time!!! We got these great photos from her while we were at dinner:

Ironically the last 3ish weeks of my pregnancy the nausea started to get better (still needed Zofran but it worked so much better) and I felt like a person again! So right before my mom flew out we scheduled a bunch of play dates with friends. I felt like we hadn't seen them in forever!!!

The older girls organized these games all on their own. So fun to see them all playing so well together!

Rachel told me that Blake wanted to know about DNA. Then he asked her "Why does my DNA make brown hair and not black, pink, and blue hair like Miss Jenni?" haha!

Coloring themselves with chalk - caught red (and blue) handed!

Like I said, my 9th month of pregnancy I felt great. I had to drink baking soda water at night for the heart burn and I wasn't sleeping, but so much of my awful symptoms were better. We even went on a family hike! This trail is right next to our church building.

There is an old, random tile floor out in the middle of the woods:

Jake sent me this convo he had with Scarlett. We love her little science mind.
Scarlett: I need a bandaid.
Dad: Are you bleeding?
Scarlett: No but my foot hurts.
Dad: Some times we give them to little kids because it makes then feel better, but they really don't need them. Band-Aids are only for when you're bleeding.
Scarlett: Why?
Dad: They stop your bleeding.
Scarlett: I want to understand how that works.
Dad: Well, blood is really neat stuff. It isn't like water. When air touches blood it makes the blood get hard and the band-aid helps stop any more blood from coming out of your skin while this happens.
Scarlett: *Looks up amazed and feels a scab on her elbow.* That's exactly what happened to this elbow!

Family picnic outside (lasted all of about 5 minutes before the kids thought it was too cold and windy and we ended up back inside at the table!)

Jake replaced out sump pump - always some project to work on. Never a dull moment!

I just love these little rompers - how cute are they!?

Jake lifting both twirls together:

At night the twirls have used their glow sticks as magic wands, pointed them at Jake and said "Abracadabra! You are a stinky diaper!" They think that's soooo funny!

The girls love to play London Bridges - which got more and more difficult as my belly got bigger!

One thing I love about Michigan is all the little wild life we have in our yard. Ducks, squirrels, and geese showed up this past month:

Often I will look at the weather on my phone rather than opening the back door and just figuring out the temperature myself. Despite my "indoor" attitude, the girls have had lots of backyard time lately. In fact, the twirls showed me how they can close the back door together:

I went to Kroger one evening by myself. I happened to have makeup on and look more put-together than typical for a grocery store trip. Anyways, there was an older guy stocking the chips. He looked at me and said I was glowing! I thanked him and told him it was probably just from being 9 months pregnant. At the end of our convo he told me again that I was "truly radiant". Probably just looked gleaming from the sweaty nature of pregnancy. But it made me feel great. Something that doesn't happen often in the "woolly mammoth" phase of pregnancy.

And last, but not least, I had the opportunity to design a wedding invite for my cousin Emily. She's been living at my parent's house this past year so I have got to know her better through stories from Jami and my mom. Her fiance is great and Jami has had so much fun hanging out with them. Well, for her wedding she wanted lemons, yellow, green, and something fresh. She sent me a link to some lemon art that she liked and that was it. I used the artwork to make a border and I came up with this design. I thought it was fun to play off the fact that they were having receptions across the US! Luckily they both liked it!!!

My mom took their engagement photos and Emily sent me their favorites. I did my normal photoshopping stuff to the image. But I thought it would be fun to play with the colors a bit. So I muted Blake's shirt a little and I modified Emily's sweater to match the lemon invite a little better. I gave them several options to pick from, but this was their fave. They were way easy to work with! Congrats to the newlyweds! (see before/after)