I still can't believe there are three

Smiles!

Two months

Happy two months little Adele!  

It's been a rough month for little Adele, but she has been quite the trooper.  She has been sick twice in the last month, the first time landing her at two day visit in the hospital for bronchialitis due to RSV.  We have all had colds, but they take a bigger toll on little babies.  We took her to the doctor because she was congested, coughing, and had lost her voice.  Thankfully, she didn't have a fever, but even though we knew it was just a cold, we thought we should check in with the doctors because she was so small.  The doctor agreed it was just a cold, but thought we should watch her cough, and come back if it lasted more than a week.  We were about to go home, but her oxygen saturation measured low.  They thought this was bizarre because she didn't show signs of labored breathing.  But after being checked by multiple nurses on different machines, they realized her numbers actually were low.  So after a chest x-ray that didn't show anything concerning, we got ambulanced over to the ER at Stanford for more diagnostics. We had to go in an ambulance because by then they wanted her on oxygen to keep her saturation up.  At Stanford, the diagnosed her with bronchialitis, and tested for different viruses, which later told us it was RSV.  Then they admitted us (another ambulance ride over to the Packard floor at ECH) so she could be monitored, given oxygen, and keep her nose suctioned well until she could maintain better oxygen saturation.

We think we caught it early, because she didn't seem too sick when we got there, but got a little worse the next day.  On the second day, we were really tired, and hoping we could go home.  They would periodically take her off the oxygen to see if she could maintain good saturation on her own, but she would usually dip down after a while, even though she was gradually improving.  We had everyone praying she would get better quickly so we could go home.  That second morning, our pastor's wife came by to pray for Adele and for us.  After she left, I went to get some coffee and a snack while Wes stayed with Adele.  While I was out the doctors tried taking her off the oxygen, and for the first time she kept her saturation up.  We were so glad! It was wonderful to feel God show up for us in this way.  She was able to keep her numbers up the rest of the day, and we went home that evening.  Anyway, it was an exhausting few days for her, and us, and we are incredibly grateful for all the family and friends who prayed, jumped in at the last minute to help us watch the older girls, and bring us meals during all of this.  

But throughout that experience, and even now with a second cold, Adele has been her sweet, mellow self.  She of course has been fussy at times, but even in the hospital, she just slept most of the time, and cried minimally.  Her little cry is very sweet.  Just enough to let you know she needs you, but she really doesn't dwell on whatever is bothering her.  

The sickness has disrupted her sleep some, but she has shown to be relatively easy to get to sleep (except for her fussy period in the evening), and she takes long naps, and gives long stretches (usually 6-8 hours) at night.  We're hoping she will return to sleeping well when she feels better and to recover from all the sleeplessness of having 3 sick kids for so long.  

Adele has also started smiling!  It took a long time, and the smiles are hard to get sometimes, and even harder to capture on film.  But after our stressful hospital time and her bouts with not feeling well, seeing her smile is so therapeutic.  It lets us know she is doing alright!

Here are a few attempts at capturing her smiles during her two month photo session today.

Look at her grow!

 

One week, 6 lbs 15 oz (birth weight of 7 lbs 2 oz, 20 inches long)

One month, 9 lbs 10.5 oz, 21.5 inches long

Two months

Happy Valentines Day!

The week of Valentines Day we were stuck at home with more fevers and colds.  One of our at home activities was making some Valentines Day cupcakes.  Baking is always a hit with the girls, albeit a little stressful for mom.  I try to relax and let the mess be ok.  Some days I'm better at it than others.  This day was full of cuteness though.

Tasting is always the best part!

Emeline is getting very good at helping.  She's good at mixing, dumping ingredients, putting in the cupcake liners, and even filling up the molds.

During the baking process, this little one learned how to take off her own shirt.  

At least that meant the icing only got on skin.

Emeline is also a good help at putting on the decorative touches.  Here she is proud of our work!

The best part of Valentines day was opening their cards from Papa!

Faces of Adele

We are loving the newborn phase again.  It's tiring of course, but there is so much sweetness.  The faces, the stretching, the little grunts and coos.  Such fun.  It's hard have time to get out the camera with number three!  Here are some faces of Adele I captured the other day.