Big Milestone in Kaleb's Life!

This has been a momentous week for little Kaleb - for the first time in his little life, he slept through the night! This has made Karis "giddy" with delight to think that the light is at the end of the tunnel in which sleep may return to the adult members of this family at some point! Thursday night, we fed Kaleb at 9:45'ish and he through proceeded to sleep through until 5AM! Amy got up at 2AM to pump, and after that sadly enough she didn't sleep very well because she just laid there wondering when Kaleb would wake up! Last night, he didn't sleep 7 hours, but he did sleep for 6 hours, which is still a mighty blessing! He is 11 weeks old, so hopefully he'll continue to become more consistent in terms of sleeping long stretches as well as increasing the number of hours. Zachary was a champion sleeper (still is really) so we've high hopes for little Kaleb!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we had a photographer - Michelle Stromberg - come to the house to take Kaleb's newborn pictures. We haven't received the pictures to choose from yet (she took over 600 pictures that day!) but we have received a sampling as a preview which we will post below. We are thrilled with the pictures - she is a very talented photographer. She even managed to capture one of Zachary without a crabby, sick look on his face! :)

This week certainly seems to be a turning point for our Kaleb - he continues to do an amazing job at nursing (thanks to everyone who ever gave Amy encouragement during the early tough weeks!) and he's getting more filled out each day. From such a tiny little boy, he is now 10 lbs 12 ounces - it is fun to track how much he weighs compared to Zachary. At three months, Zachary was 12 lbs 1 oz, so we'll see how much Kaleb weighs by July 10th.

Zachary has officially entered swimming lessons this week - he continues to hate them just as much as last year but he does seem to be doing "swimmingly" :) in terms of learning to get over to the side of the pool and he does seem to remember how to float somewhat. We'll take pictures in a few weeks as we near the end of the lessons to show-off how well he is doing.

Demolition Man or Future Engineer?

We're not quite sure, but Zachary is showing signs of either being a future demolition man or an engineer. We're hoping that it is the more constructive of the two, but time will only tell! He has started to notice a lot of things around him that he didn't pay any attention to in the past - and has become determined to see just how much he can take apart.

Case in point - now that we've moved Zachary to his new bedroom (we'll try and post pictures of his new digs sometime here soon) we have a bunk bed in there. For a while, Zachary was having a hard time getting up into the bed (he still sleeps in a crib, but we read stories on the bunk bed, so he likes to get up there by himself) - so in order to fix this problem, we purchased an adorable little "farmyard scene" stool for him. The stool must have shown signs of weakness, because one morning Amy walked into his room to discover that the stool had been systematically taken apart - and was now lying on the floor in FIVE pieces! We're not sure whether we should be mad, or just plain impressed! :)

The next day, Zachary discovered the doll-sized crib that was Amy's as a young child - the crib has been sitting at the end of his crib for the last 2 months, and he decided that all of the stuffed animals should be taken out and strewn across the house (first time that he's ever noticed those as well!) - Amy then heard banging on his bedroom wall, so quickly made her way to investigate what mischief was going on - to discover that Zachary had determined that he was in fact "doll-sized" and had made himself "comfy" in the crib - of course he was too long to fit into the crib, so his long legs were hanging over the edge of the crib and he was taking the moment to kick the wall. GREAT - note to self - take the doll crib down to Amy's mother's house so that it too doesn't end up in five pieces!!!



In a moment that still makes Amy laugh, Zachary showed his true determination at getting things taken apart after we had installed "child-proof" locks on the entertainment center cabinet doors so that he couldn't get in and play with the VCR/DVD etc. These child-proof locks were very difficult to get open - so much so that both parents had a hard time getting it loose enough to actually get it off! Not so for Zachary - one day as Amy was looking on, he calmly walks up to the "child-proof" locks and plucks it right off the cabinet doors, calm as can be. At that point, Amy had a hard time not just bursting into laughter! How is it that the parents can't get it off, but the child can! He then took the lock and hid it amongst his toys to ensure that his freedom would continue! It took us a day or two to find that that lock - although by that point we had already taken the drive back to the store to find a better lock! Luckily that one has worked so far...

Lastly, Karis installed door stops about a year or so ago that are attached to the door hinge rather than being screwed into the baseboards. Zachary has determined that these are neat, and has figured out how to take out the door hinge in order to get the door stop off - he then carts it around for fun!
Kaleb Update:

Kaleb has improved so much at nursing that we are now having days (not every day, but hey, we'll take it!) where we are not having to supplement with a bottle except for once a day (usually in the evening). This is a HUGE improvement, and Amy frankly wasn't sure that we'd ever get there, so it has been met with a very thankful heart.

He is now 10 lbs 5 ounces, and is growing fast. Age-adjusted (meaning, he is 10 weeks old, but he was four weeks early, so technically he is only 6 weeks old for certain functions) now that he's reached 6 weeks old, we are hoping and praying that he'll start to sleep longer. He is currently giving us up to a max of 5 hours in one block at night, but we're hoping that he'll start to stretch that out a bit. Zachary at this point was going anywhere up to 7 hours a night for sleeping, but who knows what Kaleb will be.

He is starting to smile - it is such an amazing experience to see your child smile at you for the first time!

It is hard to believe, but Amy goes back to work in just over 3 weeks - where did the time go!? Karis will be staying home for the next three months with the boys, so we are very fortunate to be able to keep Kaleb (and Zachary when he was little) home for such a long time before going to a babysitters (even though we LOVE our babysitter!)

Happy Father's Day!

It is hard to believe that it is the middle of June already, but here we are about to celebrate Father's Day! We wish all of you fathers a wonderful day to be appreciated for all of the amazing things that you've done for your children - from reading bedtime stories, to teaching good behavior, to piggy back rides! :)

Zachary has returned to the land of the healthy, and Kaleb seems to repelled it (at least so far) for which we are exceedingly thankful for both. Gram-Z has arrived this week, much to Zachary's delight, and they have been having a great time reading, swinging, going for walks etc. Zachary has been at home all week to spend time with Gram-Z, and he has re-discovered the "Step and Play" toy that he used to love when he was under 1 year old - he clearly does not fit this toy anymore, and hasn't paid attention to it in MONTHS and MONTHS, but suddenly it holds great fun to try and get in and out of the seat!

Last week, prior to the "scare of our lives", Zachary and I went with Blake and Jennifer (Zachary's babysitter) to "Studio Fun" which is a local art studio in which kids can go in to do arts and crafts at a very affordable place - this lady is a genius! That week's craft was a room that she had put up plastic on every wall, and then covered the kids in "smocks" (aka garbage bags) and let them paint the walls to their hearts delight. Zachary had a great time, and ended up thinking that painting himself was perhaps even more entertaining than the walls! By the end of the experience, his smock looked like a "Monet" painting front and back from all of the paint that he got on himself! The pictures below are from the beginning of the experience to the end.

Kaleb has reached the ripe old age of 2 months - he is determined to catch up to his brother and has reached 9 lbs 11 ozs. It is funny to look at the pictures of Zachary at 2 months vs Kaleb and how they look alike or NOT alike. Both pictures are posted below for your enjoyment as well. I think from the pictures that Kaleb's skin color will resemble Amy's much more (sad as Karis' skin color is perfect for the hot Florida sun!). We still haven't been able to figure out what color Kaleb's eyes are going to be, but we are starting to see hints of brown in them. However, they may end up being hazel like Karis'.

We are hoping to have Zachary start swimming lessons this week (survival lessons) which should be interesting as Zachary has determined that he likes the water as long as Daddy is there, but once he goes under the water's surface, that may all change quickly!

Last Sunday we had a photographer come to the house to take Kaleb's newborn pictures, and hopefully some family pictures of all 4 of us. Needless to say, Zachary would have none of that! So, we'll be off to Picture People again on July 4th hopefully to give this another go-round. Kaleb's pictures looked like they had potential, but we won't know for probably another week or so when the pictures are ready for us to view. We should be getting out his birth announcement soon after (yes, most people know that he's arrived but we still have to send out a birth announcement!). The photographer was very chatty, and although female, she couldn't multi-task worth anything - very frustrating. What should have only taken 2 hours ended up taking 4 hours, so the two boys were definitely at the end of their "cooperation rope" by the end of that session!

Happy Father's Day!

Hanging out with Gram-Z

Oh the fun of old toys from long ago!

Studio Fun - At the beginning of the experience The artist at work

Face, Arms, Hair, Hands, Feet and Smock - Entirely Covered in Paint!!

Kaleb's 2 month picture

Zachary's 2 month picture for comparison

Checking Each Other Out....

The Scare of Our Lives (So Far...)

We are clear that over our lifetime, our two kids are going to scare the wits right out of us on many occasions. The first event happened this week on Thursday. I had taken Zachary to his babysitter's, Jennifer, in the morning with nothing amiss. After dropping him off, I ran errands, did the marathon nursing episode for Kaleb :), and was trying to get some things done around the house. At 11:15-ish, Jennifer called to say that Zachary had climbed up onto her lap to read a book and he was on "fire" and that when she took his temperature, it was 103'ish. So, after discussing our action plan of Tylenol and a tepid bath, I got off the phone to call and immediately make a doctor's appointment for him that day. Before I could call Jennifer back, she called to say that "Stay calm" (okay, I do not have the ability to stay calm when those are the first words out of someone's mouth, but I would have said the same thing in reverse roles! :)) - "Zachary has had a febrile seizure and is unconscious - I've called the ambulance and they are on their way. He is breathing fine and his heartrate is fine, but you need to come now to meet the ambulance." She added that I should not drive crazy! :)

I've never been one for crying a lot - but I can now say for certain that if something is wrong with my kids - I definitely cry A LOT. It was strange, because in the back of my head I knew that a febrile seizure was fairly common in kids that develop a high fever quickly because of conversations that I'd had with Jennifer (her sister's child has it when he gets a fever) and my good friend Carmen whose youngest daughter has had two seizures from fevers - but when you hear that your child is unconscious, it is very scary!

I arrived in time to ride in the ambulance with Zachary - by that time he was conscious again so that was a relief. We spent the afternoon in the ER, and the only thing that they thought might be the issue was an ear infection. As you know from my previous posts, this would be the 2nd ear infection in a month, along with the third high fever. So, my concern is quite high. He was discharged that night with a normal temperature and came home.

However, that night when we got up to check on him, he had spiked another fever in the 102-103 range. We had given him medication but it was taking a long time to work - so we took the suggestion from another friend who we'd talked to that night (whose daughter also had a febrile seizure!) that one way of getting the temperature down to a safer range was to get in the pool with your child as the pool temperature is typically that lukewarm level that helps. So, Karis and Zachary went into the pool! At 2:30 in the morning, I am sure that my neighbors were not too impressed with hearing Zachary shouting and laughing (he clearly wasn't too phased at that time with the fever!). We repeated the same scary episode with a fever spike the next morning (104.9 this time) so back into the pool they went. At 105 we had been instructed to take him to the ER, but luckily the pool worked.

At the doctor's office, she could find no evidence of an ear infection, and at this point believes that he may have roseola which is another common childhood infection that has very high fevers for 3-7 days'ish and then when the fever leaves a red rash may break out on their body (hence the name roseola). Apparently this is so common that almost all kids will get it before they enter kindergarten, but some cases are so mild that you may not even realize that your child has it. So, Kaleb should be okay with the fact that he is breastfeeding and getting the antibodies from me (thankfully I had not given up on breastfeeding with all the frustration with him nursing!!).

So, now we are watching and waiting to see what happens. His fever continues so we're managing it closely with children's Tylenol and Motrin and we're managing to at least keep it in the 100-102 range which is a whole lot better! He is very irritable and has some diarrhea (twice now it has been enough that you just strip the kid down and hose him off in the shower!).

I'm trying to look at the blessings in all of this instead of focusing on the stress and fear that has accompanied it, and there have been many:

1. The fever came on suddenly in the morning instead of at night where we may never have known that he was in trouble.
2. He was at Jennifer's who knows CPR and is familiar with febrile seizures. I don't think that I would have been able to handle it so calmly as she did if he was at home with me alone.
3. The ambulance attendant's daughter had the same thing last week, so he calmly told me all about it and why it happens, which made me feel more matter-of-fact and know that there wouldn't be any lasting damage from it.
4. There is no increased risk of epilepsy from a febrile seizure.
5. My dear friend Kelli (who reports to me at work) was able to leave work immediately and come get Kaleb so that I didn't have to take him to the ER (I knew that her boss wouldn't mind :) ha ha ha
6. Karis was off in the afternoons (every day) so he was able to stay at the ER with Zachary while I ran home to feed Kaleb.
7. Our friend Jeff called that very night and gave us the suggestion of the pool to get the temperature down out of that critical range, which we wouldn't have thought of ourselves.
8. My friend Carmen and Jennifer both had just recently talked to me about febrile seizures, so this was not unfamiliar to me when it happened.

I am clear that there are more, but they pop into my mind gradually, so I may have to adjust my list as they become more clear! I am thankful to God that Zachary is alright, and we continue to pray that he gets over this quickly and that Kaleb in fact does not get it.

On the Kaleb front, he is now 9 lbs today and has been continuing to nurse better this week (until all of the intense stress of the last two days). He is such a sweet baby - we always thought that Zachary was a very easy baby, but Kaleb is starting to make Zachary look fussy because he is so good! Perhaps Karis and I were just too much of the amateurs with Zachary to really know what to do with him to keep him happy! :)

We have some fun pictures to post, but I'll leave that for next week as this post has gotten extremely long. Grandma Connie comes on Tuesday, so we are excited to see her!

Zach being discharged from the ER

Kaleb - let's get the show on the road!