A New Begining

Hello all!

It has been a very long time (2.5 years long) since I have sat down any typed up a new blog. A lot has happened since Lyla was 6 months!

To start with I got a divorce last year in 2018. It was by far the hardest year of my life and I am so glad 2018 is now behind us. It's okay. In all reality my life is now 100 times better and I'm much happier. Also let's be honest, I have always been a single mom thanks to the Ex's work schedule (3pm-3am) and his unwillingness to change shifts.

So much has changed in the past year! I became a single mom, got a full time job (that I love and celebrated 1 year with in early February!!!), and found daycare for both girls at two different centers. Ginny was still in preschool and I was not willing to take her out in the middle of her year. Those days until Ginny graduated preschool in may were ROUGH to say the least! We were up at around 5:30-5:45 to get out of the house by 6:00 so I could drop Genevieve off at 6:30 to her daycare and then drive 45 minutes to get to my job. That first week or two Lyla was at my old daycare providers so I also had to drop her off there before I was able to go to work. Thankfully my center was able to get her in so that dropped off a good extra half hour to my mornings. Once May hit and Ginny graduated preschool, I was able to have both girls come with me so this made my life a million times easier and we could all sleep in just a little bit more!

Then in August we moved back home to Portage! I am so close to so many of my family members! I'm so excited to be only a few minutes away from Meijer, and all of our Dr's (since you know I live at the girls pediatricians office) My mom and one of my Aunt's are both just over a mile away and one of the best things ever is I can finally have delivery again! Living out in the boonies sucked when you wanted pizza delivered! You can't tell I'm excited about this move home .... can you??

Okay so enough about me lets get an update on the girls!

Genevieve

Age: 5 (How in the world is she going to be 6 in 4 days!?!)

Grade in School: Kindergarten

Ginny LOVES school! She is such a social butterfly and is doing great! She is learning to read and she just can not wait to be able to totally read on her own!

This past summer we found out Ginny has a severe case of ADHD just like her mom! Thankfully though she does not seem to have all the learning issues i had! We have found a medication that is working amazingly well for her and we are so grateful for having Dr's who listen to me when I told them I knew when I was pregnant with her that she was ADHD.

Sports: Gymnastics and Cheerleading

Genevieve is still in gymnastics and is still in love with it! She really still wants to compete as well. Even though we have moved to Portage we are still going out to Branch Gymnastics in Battle Creek! Simply because I love the Coaches and Staff. We have been a Branch family since she was 18 months!

Genevieve also started doing Cheerleading at 4! We cheer with Campion Force! and she absolutely LOVES it! She started a new season last Monday and it was her first practice as a Level 2! At the end of last season, she tried out for Level 2 and obviously she made it! I am so excited and proud of her and all her hard work! I can not wait to see her at her competition this summer! The past two seasons they have made it to States! Genevieve loves competition days for many reasons! I think the second reason is because we go to LUSH after and she gets to pick either a Bath Bomb or a Bubble Bar.

Favorites: Genevieve is a total girly girl. She loves Rainbows and Unicorns, anything sparkly, dancing and singing, wearing dresses (ones she can twirl in specifically) or twirl shirts. She is a shoe fanatic as well. The girl is always asking for her own makeup since she knows she can't touch mine. she also has her own body mist so she will stop using my expensive perfume!

She still loves all things yellow but now has added pink and purple to her favorite colors. (Is it bad that i am legitimately sad that she likes other colors? she has said her favorite color is Yellow since she was around 15 or 16 months!)

Genevieve has a serious love for anything and everything Wonder Woman! I have no clue where she learned about her but she is a kick ass woman to love!

Over all Genevieve is growing up to be an amazing little girls ( I refuse to call her a young lady yet!!) She is so sweet and kind. she always wants to help! She LOVES babies and making them laugh. She now wants to be a mom, teacher, and an artist. I told her she could be all 3 if she wanted.


Lyla

Age: 3 years old

School: Lyla is in the daycare I work at and she is in the Blue room (3 year olds class). She is learning a ton! She know all of her colors and shapes and a good portion of her letters and numbers as well! She is always telling me "Look MOM! L for L-Y-L-A! Lyla! I am very grateful for her teachers at work for helping me raise an amazing preschooler!

Sports:  Lyla was in gymnastics last year but I had to take her out since she was in a 10:30 class and all of the evening classes were full. I was so sad and disapointed that I couldn't keep her in. Once August rolled around I made sure I had both girls in the same night. Lyla loves gymnastics and love doing Balance Beam and Floor. I'm excited to see her in a coach only class next season! I think she will do better with them, than she does with me.

Lyla is also VERY anxious to start Cheerleading next February. She can't start this next season since you have have to be 4 by competition and I'm not sure she will be. Genevieve's competition in December 2018 was on Lyla's birthday. Plus I love our coaches too much to make them take on Lyla when she is too young still! I will say that Lyla does try to sneak in to her class every time!

Favorites: Lyla loves Peppa Pig, Minnie Mouse, Moana, and Mermaids. She says her favorite color is green but she changes her mind every week. Her favorite food is blueberries by far. She also loves quesadillas and nachos. She is not a picky eater which is awesome for me! Lyla LOVES anything that has pockets! Her natural reaction is that of any woman who has pockets in a dress... She puts her hands in them and says "Oooo it has POCKETS!" She is so much less of a girly girl than Genevieve and that is perfectly fine by me!

Lyla is defiantly my more challenging child. She is SO independent and strong willed! She gets mad when she can not do something herself of if I try to help her. Only when she has tried for about 5 minutes will she finally let me help grudgingly. Living through her not being strong enough to buckle herself in was pure HELL! Most days we have meltdowns on the way into daycare and when we leave (mostly because I don't want to wait 15-30 minutes to leave and she is SLOW!)

Lyla is also hilarious and she knows it! She is naturally funny and the things that come out of her mouth have me laughing all the time! I am told she is my total mini me and that the reason we butt heads a lot (aka I get super frustrated with her) is because she is just like me when I was her age. I'm not sure I'm going to survive her Teenage years. I have also begged both of my parents to PLEASE TAKE THE CURSE OFF NOW!!! To which they both just laugh and say it's too late.


Well I think this is the perfect place to stop for today. Its amazing how easy it was to just start typing again! I am hoping (don't hold me to this though) to posting 2-3 times a month and maybe a bit more often once i get it all going again!

 

Our First Family Picture 2018

Lyla 6 month update (plus 4 month update)

How Old:  6 Months/ 26 Weeks

Weight/Height/: Weight is 13.65 lbs (8%) 
                           Height is  24.5 inches (8%)
                           Head is 16.69 inches (45%)
She has a big head!

Sleep: She is still a very good sleeper. She normally goes down at 8-8:30 and wakes maybe once a night then is awake for the day at 7. Really I think Sprout wakes her up when coming in to our bed. Otherwise I think she would stay asleep till 8-9

New Foods: We are trying all kinds of new food! She is really loving what I call her Green Goddess inspired food. It has Apples, White Peaches, Kiwi. and Spinach. Since you really can't taste spinach it is a perfect add in to any baby food to get some dark greens in to baby! 

Health Issues: Ugh we are back to having health issues. Lyla is constipated and has trouble having BM's. The Pedi has said how she is built down there this is going to be a life long battle. I am going back today and will be asking to see if we need to go see the GI Dr. 

As of right now she is on a diet to help with the constipation. She has to have each of these every day. 

1.) 2 oz. peach, pear, or prune Puree
2.) 1-2 oz. Prune juice 
3.) Add one tsp. of Miralax to juice if she doesn't start pooping everyday. (This is the last step I still have to add but I really don't want her to become dependent on it) 

It is a good thing for us that she actually likes prunes!

We also are working with Lyla on gaining MORE weight! She isn't gaining enough as her Percentiles keep dropping. I am starting to wonder if I just make children who are small/ gain weight slowly.

Right now Lyla is getting around 24 oz. of milk every day. That is the minimum that is recommended. We have been to see a Lactation consultant and we are working on trying to get my supply just a tiny bit more. Which is completely ironic since I had an over supply in the beginning. I am now pumping 3-4 times a day trying to get my breasts to understand it needs to make more milk. Not the easiest thing to do to when you have 2 girls who required a LOT of attention.

Best Moment This Month: I loved seeing her enjoying the grass for the first time! She kept rubbing her legs and feet back and forth like you would if you were making a snow angle.

Milestones: The saying that the second child does things quicker is very, very true! Lyla has been crawling since 5.5 months old and now at 6 months is starting to pull herself up to standing! She also will let go of my hands and stand there for about a tenth of a second. I am in shock over this. The fact that she is letting go of my finger on purpose is amazing to me!

Upcoming Appointments/Events: Her next well check is not till 9 months but we are taking her in today to see if her ear infection is back. She has been playing/ hitting her left ear a lot lately and is not doing it to the other ear

What I look forward to: I am not sure if I am really looking forward to too much at the moment. I really just want her to slow down and stay my baby. She is doing things so quickly! I want to savor and relish in every part of her babyhood because I can't believe it is already half over!

Monthly Wisdom: We have made it through half a year! It has been the FASTEST 6 months of my life! I have a feeling it will only be going buy faster and faster.

 

How Old:  4 Months/ 16 Weeks

Weight/Height/: Lyla is 12 lbs 7 oz (22%) and 24 inches tall (36%)

Sleep: Lyla sleeps very well at night! Thank the lord! She will sleep 5-6 hours normally for the first stretch and then every 2-3 hours after that before wanting to be fed again. Naps are a different story. She can either have AMAZING naps or not sleep at ALL unless I am holding her.

This is literally what I said in the 2 month update and it is still 100% true!

New Foods: I have started with some foods. When Lyla decided to snatch my oatmeal spoon out of my hand and shoved it in her mouth I decided I would start slowly adding foods for her. She doesn't REALLY need food as she is going weight well with just breast milk.

Since she had my brown sugar oatmeal she does not really like her plain oatmeal. She does really

Health Issues: I want to say 99% of all of Lyla's health issues have been resolved! I had an oversupply that was causing most of the issues. Lyla still has silent reflux but it is now mild enough that we no longer have to give her medicine for it. She no longer has green bm's, the colic is gone (Thank the Lord!) She still has her nights of not wanting to go to sleep or taking longer to fall asleep.

Best Moment This Month: I love that she has been giggling so much this month! I am also so grateful that she can now roll over both ways!

Milestones: Lyla is rolling Front to Back and Back and she has been laughing a lot. She is very ticklish just like her daddy and big sister.

Upcoming Appointments/Events: No appointments till 6 months

What I look forward to: I am looking forward to start feeding her foods. She has been hawk-eyeing me as I am eating for a little while now.

Monthly Wisdom: Personalities are going to start shining through now! Lyla's personality is so amazing and I love her more and more every day!  

 

Sprout's 3 Year Interview

3 year interview 2016

I will be doing an interview every year on Sprouts birthday! I love her answers this year! I can not wait to see what the years to come are like. A little snapshot in time if you will. 

Nicknames: Baby Girl Genevieve ( her answer) We call her Sprout and Munchkaroon

Favorite color: Yellow

Favorite food: Strawberries

How old are you? 3

 

What is your favorite animal: Dog

What is your favorite TV show: Daniel Tigers neighborhood

What is your favorite movie: Bay max (Big hero six)

What is your favorite song: ABC's

What is your favorite snack: Apples

What is your favorite breakfast food: Cheesy eggs

What is your favorite drink: Lemonade

Favorite game: Babies

Favorite toy: Baby toys

Best friend: Raerae (Raelyn)

 

Favorite thing to do: Shopping at Target

Favorite thing to do outside: Gymnastic

Favorite holiday: Christmas

What do you take to bed with you: (Elmo, blanket) 

Favorite place to go? Outside

Favorite restaurant: Applebee's

What do you want to be when you grow up: Doctor

Lyla's Hospital Trip

So I am realizing with two kids it is so much more difficult to actually make time to sit down and blog. So I am a bit behind with this one.

Last month Lyla was admitted to the hospital overnight (it really seemed like it was two days and really I think it was but we went in so early). A few days before Sprout's 3rd birthday Sprout started showing cold symptoms. No much I could do but  I made sure to keep her away from Lyla as much as I could and made sure I fed Lyla as often as possible to give her the antibodies to help keep her healthy in hopes she would not get sick. Well to my utter dismay by Wednesday Lyla was congested and not happy.

I called the on call nurse on Thursday to get some advice on other ways to relieve her congestion because she was so pitiful. While talking to the phone nurse she heard Lyla cough in the background and said "Oh I want her seen tonight. That cough sounds like an RSV cough." So the earliest appointment they had was at 5:30 pm that night. We go in and by this time Lyla has not been eating very often and did not have many wet diapers. She had lost a few oz. as well. The dr basically said she wasn't going to send in to the hospital yet but she wanted me to keep a SUPER close eye on her over night and if there was any kind of change for us to go strait to the er. We were also to go to the hospital if she refused to eat for more than 5 hours. They did test her for RSV but said it would take 12 hours to get it back.

So we get home an I get the girls to bed. Well Lyla was having such a hard night and refused to eat for 5 hours that once Cody got home I packed Lyla and myself up to go to Kalamazoo to the ER ready to be admitted for a few days. Cody and I decided that he and Sprout would come up to the hospital and see us in the morning since I took Lyla to the hospital at 1 AM.

We get to the hospital and we are sent back very fast. I talk to about 4 different people and all tell the same story that she was fine not even two days ago and this came on SO fast! They suctioned her out so many times but not even seconds after they were done you could hear more mucus in her nose. So after 4 hours and her refusing to eat more than 3-5 minutes they gave me the choice of going home or staying. At this point I just wanted her to be comfortable and I was really worried about her getting dehydrated that I decided she needed to stay just even for my own peace of mind.

After getting up to her room I was kind of able to get some sleep not much since they were coming in to check on her so often and to suction her nose out with the power sucker. They had me keep all of her diapers and keep track of her feeding. They were weighing all of her diapers and would weigh her at each shift change. The next day my Pediatric Dr. called us and told us Lyla tested Positive for RSV.

She did lose a bit more weight while there. We were discharged Sunday morning because while she lost a tiny bit of weight she was overall doing OK at maintaining her weight and the insurance company would not cover her stay after that. Were told to make a Dr. appointment for the next day. I was also told that we would be getting seen every day until it was much better.

The next day the Dr. was not surprised we ended up in the er and admitted to the hospital and she warned us that this was going to be a long road till she was all the way better. We made another appointment for the next few days and finally by that Friday she was over the worse of it.

This was SO stressful for myself and Cody. We were so happy when she started to sound better and acting more herself than just a blob. I will say the one thing that was a positive about her getting RSV was Lyla's green bowl movements went back to mustard yellow. We had been battling green BM's for almost 2 months at this point. She was gaining weight and happy and did not seem to be in pain so I never though I would have an over supply. Especially since I could not produce enough to breast feed Sprout. I even did block feeding (doing multiple feeding on one breast then switching to the other for multiple feedings) for 3 days and it did not change anything. It took her not eating for almost a full week for my supply to no longer be an over supply!

3 Year letter to Sprout

My darling sweet girl,

How are you 3 years old already! I know I have been saying this in every letter to you but it seems just like yesterday we brought you home! Your Daddy and I are so proud of the smart, curious, determined little girl you are turning in to!

This past year has been a year of tremendous change for you. Not only did we find out we were pregnant with your first younger sibling only to loose he/she just before your 2nd birthday but we found out about 2 month later we were pregnant with your sister Lyla! That time between our angle baby being gone and finding out about Lyla I held you tighter, longer, and more often. You got me through one of the hardest points in my life. You reminded me that life does go on and you needed me. You needed my attention, my love, my time, just me! You helped me heal.

You were so forgiving when I was so sick that I couldn't do anything but lay on the couch from morning sickness. You gave me tiny kisses. You asked if I was okay every time I rushed to the bath room. You patted my back and said "You ok??" " Love you Mama"

You pushed EVERY SINGLE button I had MULTIPULE TIMES! You drove me crazy! You made me question what right we had to have a second child. And then it was like a switch was flipped. You would climb up on the couch and cuddle up to me and snuggle in deep while we watched a movie.

We had lots of fun in the summer with lots of water park fun! We went to lots of parks. We played outside a lot when I wasn't sick 24/7. We had fun with LOTS of friends.

You have learned SO much! You amaze me every day with how much you have learned. You can count to 20. Sing your ABC's, know all your colors and shapes, and recognize most numbers and letters by sight. You can draw a few shapes and we are working on writing letter and your name!

At the end of your year as a 2 year old your life was changed forever! Your sister was born! During the whole pregnancy you were addiment that we were having a girl and you were getting a sister! Well kiddo you were right! Lyla came kicking and screaming into our family December 9th!

Oh how you LOVE your sister! You are always asking to hold her or hug her or say hi to her. You want her to sleep with you at night. You are an amazing helper (sometimes too much of a helper ;) ) We are now helping you learn how to change a diaper! You are having so much fun learning! 

You have grown so much (well not physically) this past year! I know you will continue to grow and learn and be a blessing to our family. You made us parents and you are the only person to be able to say that!

We love you very much.

Mom and Dad 2016