Isabella Danielle, born at 24 weeks and 1 day, 1lb 11oz, 12.5in

Zachary Michael, born at 36 weeks, 5lb 13oz, 18.5in

Alexander Charles, FULL TERM, 7lb 1oz, 20in

Friday, July 16, 2010

God is Good

First and foremost: HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY RHYS!!! We hope you had a fabulous day and got spoiled rotten.

Zach & Mommy Update
WOOHOO!!! 31 weeks and moving right along...what a great feeling! I had an ultrasound done yesterday. Zach was measuring at 30wks 5days and an estimated weight of 3lb 7oz. Chris and I both expected him to be around the 4lb mark. But for some reason his abdomen was measuring a little small at 29wks...everything else was measuring at 32 weeks. The perinatalogist did a dopler on the ambilical cord to make sure good blood flow was coming through and it appeared normal. They are going to monitor his abdomen closely to make sure there isn't a growth problem. I honestly think it was the way he was laying; curled up on his right side playing with his feet...don't think you can get a good picture of an abdomen that way! All organs continue to look great. In the last few days little man has been very active; making my tummy bounce from side-to-side, pushing on my lungs, and causing some general tightness.


I appear to have my daddy's nose!!!

I haven't had a contraction in 2.5 weeks, which is WONDERFUL! (I hope I didn't just jinx myself) However, I am having some major headaches. Most likely this is caused by the increased hormones with the progesterone shots. All I can take are 2 extra strength tylenol in one day, so there is some suffering. Other than that, the 3rd trimester stage of poor circulation is keeping me up at night. I really hope at some point I will be able to catch up on sleep before there are 2 kiddos in the house. On a good note, the ultrasound showed that the excess amniotic fluid does not appear to be a problem any longer. Zach has filled in the space nicely.

Bella Update
Poor girl has a small cold right now! Sniffles, runny nose, watery eyes, slight cough...all the ick a mommy hates to see. But as a plus she is being extra snuggly...is that selfish of me? I say this because otherwise the little munchkin is doing laps around the house learning all sorts of new stuff and words. In the past couple of weeks we have added the following to our vocabulary: bus, bounce, juice, kick. And the cutest thing ever...she pays lots of attention to her little brother. I cannot feed her in the high-chair, so I sit on the couch and she stands in front of me. She is mesmerized by my tummy and constantly wants to pat it. We started asking her to hug Zach and give him kisses, and she took to that very well. But now, if she is standing a good few feet away from me and we ask her, "Bella, where is Zach," she will walk up to me and place her hand on my stomach. She's already an awesome big sister!



Needless to say, with Bella's development seeming to grow by leaps and bounds week after week and having such a successful pregnancy to-date with Zach...we feel incredibly blessed.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Lots of fun

We have had a fun week! We were invited to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese and Bella is amazing us with her inquisitive nature and ability to climb on things like a monkey!! She is learning new words and doing new things every day. She enjoys walking and climbing a lot, as you will see in the pictures!! Her new favorite room in the house is the kitchen and she loves opening the cabinets and taking out the tupperware and pots and playing while we cook. She loves her books and we went and bought her a bunch more. She is constantly flipping the pages and she loves to be read to. She will walk over to a book and start saying book, book, book and pick up it up, bring it over to you and say da da da until I read her the book. She is starting to feed herself too, Machel bought her a special spoon that bends easily and makes it easier for Bella to grip and feed herself.

Machel and Zachary are doing great. I think we have a little soccer player because he is kicking up a storm in Machel's belly!! Machel has a "healthy" belly :) and we are anxious to see how much the little chunkster weighs at the next sonogram!

Enjoy the pictures and Happy 4th of July. May the Lord watch over all of you and your families!!