Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Home, Home, Home

We've been home from the hospital for two weeks and a day now. Evelyn is a beautiful little girl with lungs like you wouldn't believe.  Compared to Elise (who, if you remember, had vocal cord damage from the procedure she had done to close the PDA in her heart and barely had a voice for months), she's crazy loud.  With Elise we had to have the baby monitor up loud to make sure we could hear her in her room.  Not so with Evelyn.

Elise is gradually adjusting to life with a baby sister.  She loves to go up to Evelyn wherever she is and give her kisses, which just melts our hearts.  She's also walking quite a bit now.  I would say she's mostly walking unless she's in a big hurry to get somewhere since she's still often slow and wobbly.  She's also saying all sorts of words and sounds and babbling quite a bit.  Animal sounds are her favorite: rawr (lion), oof (woof for dog), ga (ca for crow), meh or maow (meow for cat), baa (sheep).  A couple of days ago she started saying gook (cook) although sometimes it comes our more like gock.  And she says dada, mom (sometimes), and a bunch of other words from less frequently.  Dat (that) is still her most-used word.

Two days ago Evelyn's cord fell off so I'm now enjoying putting her in little pants and onesies and not just in the little one-piece pajamas I had been putting her in to make sure her cord didn't get irritated.

At Evelyn's one-week appointment, which we went to when she was 6 days old, she was up from her discharge weight of 6 pounds, 11 ounces to 7 pounds, 8 ounces.  At her two week appointment, she was up to 8 pounds, 1 ounce.  She's growing like crazy!  Oh, and part of why she's growing like crazy is because I've had complete success in being able to nurse her!!  Nursing and lack of sleep were the two things I was most concerned about before she was born, and although I'm not getting as much sleep as is ideal, she is nursing wonderfully.

At Elise's 15-month appointment on the same day as Evelyn's one-week appointment, Elise was up to 20 pounds, 4 ounces.  It was fun to see that she had finally hit 20 pounds and that she had put on 12 ounces in less than three weeks.  Her wonderful weight gain can be attributed to her love of food.  And we bought her some forks a couple of weeks ago, which has caused her to eat even more food since she thinks it's wonderful when we spear food for her and then hand her the fork to put the food into her mouth.

Another place where Elise is growing is her hair.  Although she's close to having a mini-mullet since it's longer in the back than the front and top, it makes for some really cute pigtails and even a little ponytail.  It's seemingly impossible to keep the shaggy bits of hair on the side of her head behind her ears so she often looks a little scraggly, but she's still just as adorable as ever and is becoming more and more of a smiley girl every day.

Having two kids under 16 months is challenging, but I'm loving being a mom of two and am so excited to see the girls grow up together!  Kit has been off of work since Evelyn's birth and now my mom and youngest brother are here to help this week since Kit went back to work today.  It's been so very nice to have the help and has greatly aided in the transition for Elise (and for me!).












 This is Evie's signature look.  She loves to furrow her brow.








 Watching He-Man online with dad for the first time on Father's Day.
























Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Fathers Day

Dearest Kit,

As we spend most of our day at home with a new little one again this Fathers Day, I am honored to have you as the father of my daughters.  One of the things that drew me to you when we were dating was the father I knew you would be.  The purposeful way in which you set about our relationship and talked about having a family one day showed me what kind of father you would be.

We like to laugh about how I always thought I wanted boys since I have two much younger brothers whom I spent a lot of time babysitting growing up.  And about how the Lord had very different plans.  I was asked recently whether we were going to try for a boy.  I loved being able to respond that we are very content with our two little girls and don't plan to try for a boy.  And that their daddy had actually hoped Evie would be a girl.

These past ten days have been a joy, especially because you have been there to share in them with me.  Seeing you with Evelyn in the hospital and the tears that came to your eyes every so often when you were hit with the awe of the baby girl we made together melted my heart.  As we've been home, I've been so blessed by how you've cared for Elise and for our home so that I can focus on Evelyn and on resting.

You are a strong man, a loving husband and an amazing father.  I thank the Lord for giving you to me.  And I love you with all of my heart.

Love,
Wifey


Saturday, June 12, 2010

Over the Moon

I have begun writing Evelyn's birth story and will finish at some point.  But for now I just wanted to let everyone know the following...
  • Both Evelyn and I are healthy!
  • During the c-section, we learned that the Lord definitely had a hand in guiding us to the decision to have a planned c-section.  The umbilical cord was wrapped around Evelyn's neck twice, which would have likely caused me to need an emergency c-section or, at the very least, caused injuries to Evelyn.
  • The delivery and recovery process has gone really well, and we've been blessed with wonderful staff who have taken very good care of us.
  • I was able to try nursing Evelyn within minutes of returning to my recovery room after surgery.  With my nurse's assistance, she latched on immediately and has been doing a fantastic job overall.
  • Elise is doing wonderfully with my mom and came to the hospital today absolutely beaming because my dad and two younger brothers had arrived at our house and come with her and my mom to the hospital.  My mom visited a couple of weeks ago to help me with Elise, and we're really glad that Elise got that time with her because it has made her all that much more comfortable with me being at the hospital and Kit being gone during the day.  She doesn't even seem to be phased by going from me to my mom when they have visited the hospital (and even chooses my mom over me quite frequently).
  • As the photos below show, Elise isn't too sure how to feel about her baby sister.  She's mostly ambivalent but gives Evelyn interesting looks when she cries and fussed a bit during her visit yesterday when I was comforting a crying Evelyn in ways that Elise is only used to hearing me talk to her.
  • Evelyn is precious.  I can hardly believe we have another beautiful little girl.
  • Kit and I are absolutely over the moon with the joy and blessing of our new little girl.  Every so often we look at each other and just tear up from joy.
























Friday, June 11, 2010

Announcing...

Evelyn Jane Wagner

Born June 10th, 2010 at 12:40pm
Weighing 7 Pounds,4 Ounces
Measuring 19-1/2 Inches