Growing So Fast!

Hi Everyone!

Lily was three weeks old yesterday! Wow! Where did that time go? She is doing so fantastic. At her doctor's appointment on Tuesday, the doctor was thrilled with how she is doing. When Lily was born she weighed 8lbs 2ozs. When we left the hospital she was 7lbs. 6ozs. At her very first doctor's appointment she weighed 7lbs. 14ozs. On Tuesday she was 9 pounds 4 ounces! She's always eating...which is a good thing. Yes, I nurse her. I nursed Isabella until she was 18 months old and donated breast milk the entire time. I weaned her at 18 months because Chris and I wanted to have another baby and we knew it would be a little harder to conceive if she was still nursing. So Isabella and I went to visit my friend Nikki when she still lived in Kentucky. A vacation, in my opinion, is the best way to wean a baby. I was able to distract her from nursing with no problem.

I've had a lot of people email me asking about Lily's delivery. I didn't know people were so interested. So I'll share a little of it. No, I wasn't afraid that Lily would have Down Syndrome. The odds were so slim. I was however a little worried that my pregnancy would hit 30 weeks and my body would say, okay, time to get this baby out! Thankfully, that didn't happen. Lily was born via C-section. This was my third C-section and I knew it was coming. I opted not to have a natural birth with Raymond and Lily. I was fearful of the complications one can have with natural birth after having a C-section. I must say, I wasn't disappointed not to be in labor or hours. All I had to do was show up at my scheduled time and lay there while someone else did all the hard work. Easy if you ask me! I was up an walking around a few hours later. I had Lily on Friday and went home on Sunday. It's been a blast ever since. Once when I was pregnant with Raymond, I was watching a birthing show on TLC. The featured couple was having their fourth baby. I remember the husband said having baby number two was the hardest. After that, it's pretty easy. I doubted his fatherly wisdom at the time. Our second birth obviously didn't go as we expected. Even with all the complications, once we got Raymond home, I thought it was going to be much harder then it was. I was remembering the father from TLC. It was, well, easy. He just fit right in. Now with Lily, I feel the same way. I thought I might have a hard time dividing my time between three children but I don't. Maybe the TLC dad was partially right. Adding baby number three has been a breeze. All three kids are great!!! We are truly blessed!!! (And yes, as crazy as it might sound to some, I'd have another one.)

Isabella and I made mermaid magnets. We molded them, waited for them to dry, then Isabella got busy painting. The magnets didn't stay on the backs very well so I have to glue them on today for her (we used self-stick magnet tape the first time). She's my crafty girl!

Since Raymond is cruising everywhere, we keep the doors in the hallway closed. He stays out of trouble that way! : ) In this picture he's sitting outside of Isabella's room because he knows she's in there. He was banging on the door like a crazy man until she opened it and let him in.

Friday was a nice day outside so I decided to load everyone in the car, including Sadie, and go to the Daniel Boone Homestead. It's such a nice place to walk around. I took a plastic zip-lock bag and Isabella filled it with things from our "nature walk".

Lily and Raymond were riding in our new triple stroller. It's considered a triple because there is a seat with a lap belt that pulls out in the back for Isabella to sit on.

Raymond has been having a lot of trouble with seizures again. We are hoping he just outgrew his dose of medicine. His neurologist has increased the amount but it takes almost a week for it to take full effect. I hope it helps because the seizures are very intense. Much more so then before. Yesterday we got the delivery of Raymond's medical equipment. His new car seat is huge! Chris put it in the car and Raymond loves facing forward now. His new stroller is going to be a big help too. It has an IV pole and a bracket to hold his oxygen tank. They actually forgot to order the oxygen tank holder but said it should be here within two weeks. It's a $5,000.00 stroller. Yikes! Some people's car's didn't even cost that much.

This morning Lily and I went to the Eastern Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Center's Membership Meeting. Chris and I decided it would be better if Raymond stayed home because of the seizure problem. We are used to seeing him have seizures but it can be pretty upsetting to others. I'm on the Buddy Walk Committee again. Hopefully I can count on everyone's support again this year! : )

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,