Photo Shoot

A couple weekends ago, a friend from Matt's work did Magdalyn's newborn pictures and Kalianna's two year pictures. We also had her do a couple family pictures while she was here. The girls were not super cooperative by the time their own pictures were done and we wanted some family ones. But Mindy is amazing and was able to get some pretty good ones anyway. Here are some of my favorites.

Magdalyn's Newborn Pictures:

Sisters:

Kalianna's Two Year Pictures:

The Whole Family:

Cuties

I just had some cute pictures I wanted to share. This is how Magdalyn loves to sleep. On her side, hand over her eyes.

Kalianna loves to lay down next to her sister whenever Magdalyn in playing on her blanket.

Mulch

My dad had surgery last week and needed some help spreading mulch in their yard. So Bryan, Seth, and Matt came to help. And, of course, Kalianna wanted to help too. She helped load the mulch in the wheelbarrows:

She loaded some in her own dump truck as well:

Then she helped spread it around the yard and in the flower beds:

Then she helped supervise the return of the wheelbarrow to the front yard to be filled again:

Then she helped sweep up the driveway:

She sure loves to help! And yes, the bath water was brown when she was done.

Jaundice

This has become one of my least favorite words. That and Biliruben. Whenever I hear one of these, I picture this:

After Magdalyn's initial stay on the Bilibed, her levels dropped significantly and she was able to come off the lights. Then at her two week appointment, the doctor said she was looking pretty yellow again. I had noticed that too, but was hoping it was just my imagination. It wasn't. They drew her blood once again and I got a call later that day. Sure enough her levels had jumped back up. My doctor suggested I stop breastfeeding for 24 hours. When Kalianna was only a couple weeks old, she had breast milk jaundice and after 24 hours on formula, she was back to normal. Since it was the weekend and the lab wouldn't be open until Monday, I planned to stop breastfeeding Sunday morning.

I hate pumping! I love having the extra breast milk on hand in our freezer, but I really hate pumping! I think if I had to work, my girls would have been formula babies. So 24 hours of formula and bottles and sore breasts, and it was back to the doctor's.

This was my first outing with both girls on my own. Kalianna loves the toys at the doctor's office. You know the ones that all pediatricians seem to have. Where you push the shapes around the different colored wires. She gets a kick out of them! So it went well for the most part. Kalianna played with the wire toy...until she saw the stairs. That girl loves exploring stairs! She took off and wouldn't be coaxed back for anything, including the bribery of candy. So with my recently cut open stomach, where I'm supposed to be careful for several weeks, I had to run up a flight of stairs and carry a giggling two year old back down them. All the while, praying no one would kidnap my newborn.

But once we were in the room, she sat fairly well and enjoyed her sucker while they drew more of Magdalyn's blood. It definitely could have been much worse! A few hours later I got a phone call from the doctor. The formula had not done the trick like we were hoping. It was back to the lights and the Bilibed. Boo! They delivered the bed a few hours later and she will be on it until tomorrow morning (fingers crossed it won't be longer).

Magdalyn is the sweetest, most patient, calmest little baby ever. She rarely ever cries and when she does, it's a tiny little burst and then she is done. So when she actually cries, I know something is wrong. She cried a lot last night (for her). Magdalyn is very much a snuggle baby. She loves to be cuddled and held! So having to be back in that bed has been harder this time. She seems to be okay when she can see me and I am by her side, holding her hand. Or helping her with her binkie. But she didn't like it with the lights off in our room and me laying in bed, where she couldn't see me. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much last night. And today Kalianna and I have spent almost the entire day in my bedroom. Magdalyn is much happier when we are around. She is fighting the bed a lot more this time around. In fact, today she actually kicked two different holes right through the covering and I had to tape them back up. Have to admit, I am a little proud.

She is still such a trooper though! And hopefully after another blood test in the morning, she will be done with the Bilibed for good!

Easter Fun

Kalianna really enjoyed Easter this year! She is old enough now to enjoy egg hunts and decorating eggs, which she loved! While we were in the hospital, my mom took her to a ward Easter egg hunt. Then on Saturday, Matt took her to Great-Grandma and Grandpa Carroll's house for another egg hunt and Easter party. Magdalyn and I had a quiet evening at home. Kalianna loved finding the eggs and putting them in her cute new basket! And she loved climbing in Great-Grandma's tree.

Sunday, after church, Kalianna got to open her Easter basket. I wanted to get her an Easter dress, but she has so many dresses right now, she really didn't need another one. So we got her some Easter pj's instead. They are super cute with little froggies on them. She also got a new book for church, a CD with some of her favorite children's songs on it, and a few eggs with some peanut butter M&M's in them (her favorite). I meant to get a picture of her basket, but forgot until she had already pulled everything out of it. Oh well!

Then, after a tasty dinner of crab and cream cheese wan tons with rice (yay for freezer dinners) we decorated eggs for the first time with her. She loved it! Except she kept wanting to taste the dye. Gross! She had tons of fun dropping her eggs in the different colors and watching them change.

This is what Magdalyn did while we decorated eggs:

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter as well!

30 Hours of Hell

I am so glad this is over! Our last day in the hospital, the pediatrician told us Magdalyn's Bilirubin kept shooting up, so we needed to make an appointment with our own pediatrician within a few days and have her tested again. Three days in a row of painful pricks (my daughter's feet look like pin cushions) and we were told she had reached danger levels and would need to be in a Bilibed for at least 24 hours. I just bawled! After delivery, emotions are already high. Then tell me I can't hold my newborn for 24+ hours...I couldn't take it. Thankfully they deliver the bed to your house, so we didn't have to return to the hospital. And thankfully the new bed design doesn't require the infants to wear goggles. I'm not sure Magdalyn would have done as well if that had been the case. The bed wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it was still unbearable to just watch her laying there and not be able to snuggle her!

I could at least still breast feed. So every three hours I was allowed to hold her, wrapped in a Biliblanket, and feed her. Then she had to go right back in the bed. Fortunately, she didn't seem to mind the bed too much. All those warm lights made it easy for her to sleep. Unfortunately, it caused her schedule to get really screwed up. She slept all day and was awake most of the night. She never cried. She would simply whimper and all I could do was hold her hand.

Kalianna had the hardest time with it, I think. For two days she was acting out and throwing more tantrums and then it finally hit me what was wrong. She didn't know what to think of her little sister being in the bed all the time, and that was her way of dealing with it. She loves to help with Magdalyn and she loves to hold her! Take those away, and she was really upset. Since she has been out of the bed, Kalianna has been fine again. We all have. It was a very rough 30 hours, but I am so thankful she got better quickly and it didn't have to be longer than that!