Anyone Remember me?

Wow, It has been more than a month since I last posted on this blog. The last time I posted was just after Kiari came home from 9 weeks in the NICU. That should tell you a little about how things have been going here. They are CRAZY!!!!!

Headbands made by my friend Kim.

Kate LOVES posing with her little sister.

She is so fabulous to have home. I really enjoy not having to drive to the NICU every day just to visit my little girl and be frustrated with her lack of progress. I knew that as soon as we got her home that things would get better with her eating. Particularly because I didn't keep her on her schedule and just let her eat when she wanted/needed to eat. Turns out, that worked out great for her. She is now over 9 whopping pounds. She is just a little more than 1 month adjusted age. She holds her head up and is starting to smile. In fact, just today I got her to smile and laugh, repeatedly. It is so much fun!

She looks JUST like my husband. There is NOTHING of me in that little girl. I tease that I am going to change her name to Garthina. She is feeding rather well both nursing and bottle. I am sure that I could exclusively nurse if I wanted to, but quite honestly, her form is awful. She doesn't stay latched. She will suck and swallow about 4 or 5 times and then squirm and come off and relatch, often by sucking me in.... OWIE!

Riley got glasses

The girls have been wonderful having her home. Riley has really stepped up her game. She will hold Kiari when she is crying, change her diaper, feed her bottles and play with her. Kate doesn't do a whole lot with her, but does like to hold her or play with her every now and then. Apparently at school they hear about all the new accomplishments every day.

I wish I could say that Kiari was an easy baby, but she isn't. She has to be held all the time. Her favorite thing is to have her back pat. She doesn't like it if you rub it, only pat it. I can get her to sleep, lay her down and I have 5 - 30 minutes to get things done before she is screaming again. It isn't related to reflux or gas, at least not that we can tell at this point. But it sure is making things difficult in terms of getting my house ready to get on the market. My house has never been messier and it is really hard to look at day after day.

Daddy and his "Mini-Me"

Caught a sleeping smile and laugh

She had another blood transfusion (#8) just a couple of weeks ago. We had her blood drawn last Friday and her numbers were still pretty low. She has some more blood work next Friday and we will see if we are headed in for transfusion #9 or not. People ask all the time how long we will have to do these, it is only until her body kicks in and starts making its own red blood cells. Right now her body is being lazy because of all the transfusions. Add to that the remaining antibodies in her body that continue to destroy the new red blood cells that her body does produce. She also still has a little bit of jaundice and that doesn't help things either as it also contributes to the breaking down of the red blood cells. This isn't any surprise to my husband or I. As I did my research going through the whole ISO process I found a few other moms that had been through the same thing. We knew to expect blood transfusions for 3 - 6 months post birth. We are now just at 3 months, so we will see what happens. Hopefully things will kick in soon and she will no longer have any vampire tendencies.

I wonder what Kiari really thinks. HAHAHA

I am recovering well from my ear surgery. It is no longer looking like I am dopey. I can finally lay on my right side again (I missed that part a LOT.) I had a check up yesterday where they removed the last of the tissue supporting my ear drum. I still have a bit of hearing loss, and I also have a bit of tinitis (ringing) but that may continue to improve. But for now the surgery is a success and the large hole in my ear drum has closed off.

I came home from the store and Riley had Kiari in the Bjorn. She said, "Mom, she just wouldn't let me put her down. I couldn't get ANYTHING done."  ~Hmmmmm, Really?

 

Pregnancy does strange things.
My hair is no longer straight.

We did get word that we may not be moving to Dallas as soon as we thought we would. So that kind of throws everything out of whack and we are still trying to figure out how to plan around some of the changes. But for now, when the house sells, the girls and I will move to Dallas and wait for Garth to join us later in the year. Things are NEVER dull in my household.

So for now, we are just plugging away. I have made it into the studio a couple of times, but it is never for very long, and certainly never long enough. Kiari has had a few good nights sleeping, but if I try to work while she sleeps, then I don't get sleep. One of these days we are going to get on the same page with one another. As much as I love having a newborn, their little hands and faces are so stinking cute.... but I really dislike the newborn phase. However, given how close we came to losing her, I will just try to grin, bear it and be grateful for the opportunity I have to be a walking zombie with a horribly messy house.