Week 2

Zoe and Kylee

Zoe introducing Kylee to Umizoomi on her DVD player ;)

Bunny Jammies

Playing ball with Daddy

Uncle Greg, Zach, and Jadyn with Kylee

Jadyn held Kylee

Jadyn thought Kylee was hers, she said, "Mine"

Auntie Heather, Jadyn, and Kylee

Ryder wasn't too sure at first...

but then was intrigued.

Picture DayStill calm despite an upset baby sister...

Big Sis is holding tight...

Kisses!!!

Uncle Todd and Kylee

Week 2 has gone fairly smoothly. On Monday, Auntie Heather, Uncle Greg, Zach, Ryder, and Jadyn came to visit to celebrate Zoe's birthday and to meet Kylee. The cousins played inside and outside. They played dress-up, dolls, baseball, rode bikes and scooters, played on the swing set, and they rough housed with Shaun. The kiddos were so excited to meet Kylee and Jadyn just couldn't resist sneeking a peek any chance she got. The twins actually held Kylee. Jadyn was thrilled, but Ryder was much more reserved and timid. After a minute, he was okay with it and seemed pretty proud of himself. On Tuesday, Shaun went back to work, so that began my days mostly on my own. My mom took half days Tuesday through Friday to help with nap time juggling and Thursday she helped with our outing to get the girls' pictures taken. That was a great set up. The mornings are pretty smooth. I even ventured out on a longer walk with the girls to the park on Wednesday. There were no real expectations for the trip, but everything went very well and Zoe played for a little over a half an hour at the park. Pictures were a MAJOR success this time!!! I was so pleased. Shaun and I have been so disappointed with the picture places lately, so I set my expectations for that experience very low and was instead, very pleasantly surprised. When I get the photos, I will post them. Kylee has developed her fussy time (due to gas) around bedtime...not ideal for Daddy, seeing as he is best at soothing her at that time. That means Daddy is a bit zombie-like for work in the morning, but we are working to alter that time. Hopefully we can get that under control, then we would have no complaints. She eats and sleeps well and snoozes for 3-4 hours at a time at night. Next week I will have the girls all to myself, so we shall see how it goes!!!

Happy Third Birthday Zoe!!!

April 11th was Zoe's third birthday. We cannot believe our baby is already three and that she has a little sister now too! I wanted to make it as special as possible and give Zoe all the attention she deserves on her birthday. She woke up to find a new wardrobe for dress up clothes, built by Jeff. He did a great job. I gave him a picture of one that I found in Pottery Barn Kids and I wasn't about to pay an astronomical amount for it, so Jeff said he could make it. It turned out great and Zoe loves it! She hangs up her clothes and plays dress shop with us now. Plus her baby sister got her a dress up trunk and we supplied the summer wardrobe. She went to lunch with Daddy, Nana, and Uncle Todd and Grandma and Grandpa came over with Chinese for dinner. Grandma helped me out and made Zoe a heart shaped cake. We sang her Happy Birthday and she blew the candles out before we could finish. Daddy relit the candles and she blew them out for a second time after we were finished singing.

The First Week

Eskimo Kisses
Daddy and Kylee

Last Shot Before We Went Home

Thursday, April 12th

April 13th

Jeff and Kylee

Snuggling with Kylee

April 14th

This week has been good. Kylee is getting used to being at home and is adjusting very well. We couldn't be any luckier! The goal that I had for Kylee was to breastfeed her instead of pumping like I had to do with Zoe because she never latched. We have success!!! She struggled a bit and I was beginning to get discouraged until Wednesday and Kylee was coming around. I took Kylee in for a lactation consulting appointment on Thursday and found that she had lost 10% of her body weight. That is the key number and the consultant told me that the doctor may make me supplement. I was bummed, but after my appointment with the lactation consultant, she had full confindence that Kylee would be just fine. She wanted me to start feeding her every two hours and go back in to reweigh her the next day. I was able to successfully feed her every two hours and when we went back in the morning to the office, the lactation consultant weighed her and was pleasantly surprised that she had gained 3 oz.!!! She said she would have been happy with 1 oz. I was so relieved and I am so excited that Kylee is such a champ and has persevered! She sleeps well and puts up with her sister poking and proding her, kissing her and snuggling her. It will be so fun to see our girls grow up together. They will learn so much from one another.

Hospital Visitors

Nona, Tasia, and Zoe Visited
Nona

Nana

Tasia and Zoe

Uncle Todd

YiaYia

Papa

Grandma

We had a few visitors to the hospital while we were there. We were only there one full day, so many of our friends and family had other things going on and weren't able to visit. Our extra special visitors were Nona and Tasia from Montana. Kylee came in the knick of time and Nona and Tasia were able to swing by prior to going to the airport. We are so glad that it worked out and they were able to see Kylee before they went back to Montana. In addition to them, we had Nana, Uncle Todd, Papa, YiaYia, and Grandma come to visit us. Kylee is so lucky to be so loved already!

Kylee Meets Her Big Sis

Kylee and Big Sis, Zoe

"Holding" Kylee for the First Time

Big Sis Present

Balloons from Zoe

Holding Kylee at Home

Kisses for Baby Sis

On April 9, 2012, Kylee was lucky enough to meet her BIG sis, Zoe. At first Zoe was very timid and didn't know what to think. It was important for me to have all my IVs and everything out, so that I didn't scare Zoe and I was successful in doing so. Zoe didn't want to hold her or touch her, but as some time passed and the more she stared at her, so wanted to give her kisses and she was so amazed at how small her little hands were. When she was a little more comfortable, we asked her if she wanted to hold her sister. She said, "I can't...because I can only hold her when I am on the couch." That is completely my fault...as we were prepping Zoe for the baby, we went through a bunch of things and one thing that came up in discussion was whether she could hold Kylee. My answer was only when Mommy or Daddy help and you must sit on the couch. She is sometimes to smart for her own good. Well...we kind of forced her to hold her and she was over it really quickly. Kylee got Zoe a big sister present that she got to open in the hospital and when we got home from the hospital, Kylee brought her a big sis upholstered rocking chair. She loves the chair!!! We even let her hold Kylee in the rocking chair. She is definitely digging taking care of her baby sister. Every so often we do see pretty serious tantrums from Zoe, but we are hoping the more we interact with both of them together and give Zo her own time, we should be just fine.

A Special Blessing!

Kylee Mae Blumfield

Born on Easter Sunday, April 8, 21012

at 10:34 pm

7 lbs., 6 oz., 20 in. long

First Bath

In the Incubator

Proud Daddy

Footprints

April 8, 2012

It all began at 8:00 am...I woke up and got in the shower and upon getting out I was "leaking". Hmmmm...I was really looking forward to having a great day with family and going to the hospital for an induction at 8:00 pm. Well, Kylee decided to have a different plan. It was fine with us because we felt terrible that Shaun's grandma and Tasia had been visiting from Montana all week and we still didn't have a baby for them to see. It was a little nerve racking for me because the same scenario kicked off labor with Zoe. Then it was almost 26 hours later that we would finally meet little Zo. I did not want to have such a lengthy process AGAIN. We stayed home until 1 ish and after we ate lunch we said goodbye to Zoe and were off to the hospital. When we arrived we walked into Labor and Delivery and it was very quiet, except for a brand new baby crying. A baby was born as I was checking in. That crying was music to my ears. They eventually checked me around 3:00 pm and decided I was admitted and dialated to 2-3 cm and 50% effaced. At 4:00 pm they moved me to a birthing room and then started pitocin shortly after that. I had one little problem with the epidural that I got around 6. It felt like I had a lot of pressure, so I got a booster in my epidural. That made my blood pressure go down and they had to give me medication to get my blood pressure back up. It was no big deal to them, so it didn't worry me at all. The only thing that freaked Shaun out a bit was that I was shaking a lot, but he learned that it is common to do that too. I felt pressure and never had anything like it with Zoe, so I got checked around 8 or 8:30 and I was 7 cm. Woohoo! Major progress in my book. I was very pleased. Then at about 10 I was feeling pressure again and the midwife came back in and decided to check me. I was almost fully dilated and at 0 station. She said that I had a lip of cervix still and I immediately asked, "Is it on the left side?" She looked at me like I was a crazy psychic. It was a lip on the left side and she wanted to know how I knew that. I told her it was dejavu because that is exactly what happened with Zoe. I waited 4 hours for that part of the cervix to thin with Zoe and they finally decided to guide it around Zoe's head. After telling the midwife that, she shrugged and asked if I would like to try now to get rid of the lip. I said, "Sure!" Anything to get Kylee out sooner. I pushed once or twice and the midwife guided the cervix, she said she thought I was ready to have a baby. Shaun and I were stunned!!! It was only 10 something and I was going to get to push. I looked at the clock and thought Kylee could have the birthday 4/8/12 (counting by 4's :) ) if I could push her out in less than an hour and a half. With Zoe I had pushed for 2 and a half hours. I was DETERMINED! I started pushing at 10:20 and about 5-6 pushes later, at 10:34, Kylee Mae Blumfield was born!!! Kylee was 7 lbs., 6oz., 20 in. long, and had the darkest hair. And a lot of it! She was grunting a bit, so they decided after a little skin on skin time, she needed to go to the NICU. On the way, the NICU nurse said she was sounding much better already and wouldn't need to stay there. They bathed her and Shaun brought her back. Meanwhile I got some juice and fruit and was good to go. I was amazed at how fast I was able to get all my monitors and IVs removed. That made me such a happy camper. Kylee had a bit of trouble initially latching, so I thought we may have to go down the same road as Zo and pump all the time, but she has been a trooper and is latching like a pro :). Shaun is enjoying life without bottle cleaning and pump cleaning, plus tons more sleep for him :). I can't complain at all. Our little one is sleeping well and eating well, so what more could you ask for as parent?

Zoe is such a fantastic big sis! She LOVES her little baby sister. She had a timid moment in the hospital, but once we got home she has watched her like a hawk and is such a great helper! Every time Kylee cries she wonders what she needs and is right there to check on her. She holds her like a champ. Emotionally, she is adjusting, so we have seen some SERIOUS tantrums lately. We expected some of that type of behavior and I am hoping that it will taper soon.