2028ndgrads: April 2008

Kelsey turned 2 weeks old yesterday. Funny how 2 weeks can seem like 2 years.

So here is some of the news about Kelsey, Addison and Lily from the past few weeks. Kelsey and I were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday April 16. Kelsey had a bit of jaundice so I was instructed to nurse her every 2 hours. She had blood tests every 2 days for the next 6 days. She never had a bad case of jaundice and by the 6th day, the tests showed the problem was going away.

Our first night at home was a tough one for mommy and daddy. Kelsey was awake and eating from about 1a to 5a. The next few days while we were fighting the jaundice, she really was not into being awakened every 2 hours to eat. We did our best though.

On Friday April 18, Pop came to Athens for the weekend. He and Gram stayed until the following Tuesday. Gram, of course, spent most of her time helping with Addison and Lily and sewing. Before she left Athens, Gram took measurements of Lily and Addison for future outfits. A & L now see the measuring tape and say "Gram".

Kelsey's room is quite cute. I'll post pictures once a few finishing touches are done.

Addison and Lily quickly warmed up to Kelsey. Lily was immediately OK with touching her and pointing to her "eyes". Addison took a day to actually touch her, but now loves giving her kisses all over her face. Lily's kisses are still given at a 6 inch distance.

Although Kelsey lost more than 10% of her birth weight before we left the hospital, yesterday on her 2 week birthday she weighed 9lbs 3oz. She's back to her birth weight and then some.

At this point we're working on keeping Kelsey on a 3 hour schedule eating schedule. But at night I don't wake her up. So far she's waking up 2 times at night to eat. I'm hopeful that it won't be long before she extends her night time sleeping.

Our first couple of nights at home, Mike got up with Kelsey and I for the night time feedings. But we quickly realized that we were needlessly interupting both of our sleep. So now, I get up and deal with Kelsey during the night and Mike gets up at 6:45a with Addison and Lily. Some mornings Kelsey and I join them for a bit of family time.

Our most hectic time of the day is bath/bedtime for Addison and Lily. Out of about 10 days, only 2 days has Kelsey allowed both Mike and I full time for bath and bedtime. Hopefully over the next week Kelsey will fall into a more regular schedule and we'll be able to plan A & L bath and bedtime better.

Exciting news from this morning. Lily went wee wee on the potty. Apparently she's now decided it is uncomfortable to have wee wee in her diaper. She walked around this morning like her diaper was full and very uncomfortable. Maybe this is a start to potty success!

Addison and Lily are both starting to read books to themselves. They will flip through the book and talk about what is going on in the book. Lily did this last night with Once Upon a Potty and Addison did it with Dr Zeuss' ABC book.

Many thanks to our friends Sue and Dave and Jon and Tasha who recommended the Leap Frog Letter Factory video. A & L have been watching it in the car when we go anywhere for about 2 months. They know all of the letters and love reading letters on signs, books, etc. It is especially exciting when a sign has a big letter on it. A realtor down the street has a sign up with a big "G" and it has been a source of excitement for a while now. Addison loves reading the letters in the Elmo Balls book where he dunks a basketball. The word is SWOOSH and she can read each letter in order. A & L also like playing the game of naming words that start with certain letters. Like J is for Jessi and Jack. T is for turtle. B is for baby and ball. And most importantly "Whose name starts with M?" --- MOMMY!

The circle of life. It is with great sadness that on Sunday April 20, Denuen passed away. She was as happy as ever during the day, chasing Jack up and down the stairs and at the front of the line for her 3:00 treat. All in all, pretty amazing for a 13 year old dog. But around 4:00 Teresa's mom noticed that Denuen was having a seizure of some sorts. She then could not stand and was panting very hard, refusing water. I carried her downstairs and she walked to her favorite spot on a dog bed in the living room. It was there, in her favorite spot, that she died. I will post a much happier update on Kelsey, Addison and Lily tomorrow, but for now, Denuen deserves her spotlight. She was faithful, caring, protective and loving. Before I knew Denuen, she and Teresa shared a common bond and trust. She had one litter of seven puppies, one of which lives with us (Peoopee) and two who live with Teresa's parents (Shelby and Nuttin'). In all the chaos that is our life right now, the house seems a bit empty without her.