Goodbye, Dr. Johnson

This man has been our awesome pediatrician since the day Matty was born.  We were sad to hear he was retiring even though it's awesome he's now going to serve mission with his wife in Chile.  We're thankful for all the years we got to have our children in his care.  This picture was taken at Alice's 2 week appointment which we thought would be our last with him.  Of course, that was before the mess of kidney stuff for her.  We finally said goodbye to him for real at the end of July.

Speaking of kidneys, we FINALLY got in to see the pediatric urologist just last week after waiting a month and half to get in and doing daily antibiotics as a preventative measure.  The specialist told us that they discovered a duplicated ureter on Alice's right kidney, but they can't tell from an ultrasound where it joins together or if it's completely separate.  He said it really didn't matter though.  It's a common abnormality and shouldn't affect her at all, and it did not have anything to do with the kidney infection she got at 3 weeks old.  After looking at all the scans and everything, he said basically her infection was just bad luck.  She may be more predisposed to UTI's as some people just are.  (She's only had the one so far.)  So no more antibiotics every day for her and she should be just fine.  Hurray!  

Like Herding Cats

Bedtime with these crazy little people is never dull.

But oh how nice a dull moment once in a while would be!

Learning To Be Ducks

I had planned on having my kids take swim lessons at the very end of summer since we were having a baby at the beginning and I didn't want to commit to anything too soon.  Little did I know the main reason we wouldn't have been able to have them before that time would be all the illness in this house!  Fortunately everyone was well enough to go for the last session of the summer, and they were ECSTATIC.  My little duckies had a great time swimming while Lacey and I watched from the sidelines and Alice slept during every lesson.

The Beginning of a Friendship

Having kids two years apart is definitely a challenge I haven't had before.  My other kids being 3 years apart seemed like a wonderful span with a newborn.  But even though it's hard now, I look forward to these two girls having each other to grow up with. 
 
(Lacey is our resident nudist, by the way.  We're just thrilled if we can keep a diaper on her and get her to wear anything when we go out shopping. )

 

 

Lacey loves her baby sister a little too much sometimes.  Kind of reminds me of someone else from the past . . .

A Work in Progress

I'm totally willing to admit that I'm horrible at doing hair, always have been.  Jossy doesn't let me practice much though so not all the blame is on me, right?  Doing your own hair isn't the same. (But I stink at that, too.)

One day last week my girls actually let me do their hair for no reason other than to practice!  I may have begged a little to get Jossy to let me.  Lacey always wants hers done if I'm doing Jossy's, I just have to be quicker with her. It was so cute on them that we ended up repeating it for church.  I wish they'd let me play with it more often!

 

Counting Up

And so the count up begins . . .

1 month

2 months

Alice is such a sweet baby.  Her whole first month she pretty much slept.  Now she may not be the perfect sleeper at night (we're lucky if we get a 4 hour stretch once a night, the rest are 2-3 hour apart feeds still) and she's not always a solid napper every time, but in every other way she is wonderful!  At her 2 month checkup she was 11 lbs 6 oz (around 50%tile) and around 24 inches tall (about 89%tile.)  She's usually pretty content on her own, though she would rather be held or sitting upright than laying on the floor.  She'll whine and fuss if she's not happy where she's at, but she rarely all out cries.  She is a really smiley baby if you can get her attention on you, and she loves to talk back and have little conversations.  She watches her siblings and often smiles at them when they aren't looking. My favorite thing about her after her beautiful smile is the fact that her blue eyes are sticking blue!  Yay!  Alice travels in her carseat well and usually falls asleep if we're driving anywhere more than a minute away.  Her most awake and happy time is around 9 or 10 at night.  Yep, a night owl like her momma!  (Only this momma is too tired to be much of a night owl these days.)  Her personality is a lot like Matty's as a baby.  She loves to sit in her bouncey seat.

Oh, and she detests tummy time. 

These Stinkers

Whenever people tell me I have the cutest kids (and I get told this a lot) I tell them their cuteness is what keeps them alive some days!  I swear God gave me cute ones just for that reasons.

And cute they sure are. 

 

2 months ago . . .

 . . . I took Alice's newborn pictures but just never got around to showing them. This was the first time since becoming a photographer I seriously considered having someone else do it.  I was so exhausted, only 1 week postpartum, and trying to take pictures with 3 other kids needing me.  It was not easy even though I took them over a 3-day period. Some babies are more mold-able and easier to get into a deep sleep.  She was not one of those babies that week.  Since just the effort to take them had me in tears, they really should be shared even though it's 2 months later!  These are ones I didn't use in her birth announcement.