Ava two weeks

Ava is two weeks old and we can't believe it!

 Weight 6 lbs 15 oz       10th percentile

Height 20.5 inches      50th percentile

Head 33.9 cm        3rd percentile

She is still our tiny little princess. We were not surprised to see that she has put on some weight. At her appointment when she was just 4 days old she was already back to her original birth weight. However seeing she has grown two inches in height in just two weeks was a surpirse. We were sure someone had made a mistake somewhere -but nope she really has grown! The first two weeks of Ava's life was great she was just a perfect little angel. Eating great, sleeping great, and digestive system working great!

The next week I remembered why I do not want anymore children.  Reflux!  

A prescription for prevacid and about 3-4 days later and she is just about back to her sweet self with a little more puke -at least the puke isn't burning her anymore. All the boys are still in love with her...even if she is screaming. Whenever Ian or Aaron see her they rush up and give her soft kisses and say how cute and tiny she is. Aaron enjoys sharing toys with her. He discovered he can stick the stuff animals in her mittens and they will actually stay. She doesn't seem to mind.

She too loves the boys!

Ian also love reading her baby books.

Do not be mislead by the boys sweetness in the pictures above. They have still been their wild and crazy selves. Possibly getting away with a little more than usual lately.  No, I do not usually let my child finger paint with ice cream sandwiches on the kitchen counter. 

We have also been doing a lot of dress up. The boys and I will go outside for a couple minutes and decide we would rather stay inside because it is too hot -we enjoy the snow not 105 degree temperatures. 

All of their stuff animals are now considered their babies. Don't worry Ava is not in her crib in this picture. All of their baby animals were sleeping.

Ava gave the boys the game Jenga for her birthday. I think this may possibly be our new favorite game. The box says for ages 6 and up. Aaron is two and is excellent at playing! Ian also enjoys making it as unstable as possible.

The boys have been begging to shoot fireworks with the fourth of July coming. We are not going to any of the big shows in the valley since Ava is so little and fireworks are so loud and big. Therefore daddy and the boys took a day trip to Wyoming for some fireworks to do at our own house (then Ava can sleep inside). I knew I should be a little worried when Tim called to say he thought he went a little overboard. If Tim actually thinks he went a little overboard it means he probably went way overboard ;) Too bad the next morning all fireworks were restricted in our area due to fire hazard :(

It seems Utah has been extreme weather lately. Either it is blazing hot or pouring rain. We were heading outside to go and ride bikes one evening and it started pouring. If only the Cat and the hat were real!

Life with Five

We had to stay at the hospital a little longer than either of us would have liked. I was really hoping maybe they would just let us go home that same day. While I was great, little Ava had to stay to be monitored in the hospital -so of course we both stayed. Her blood sugar was extremely low after birth so we had two options either give her IV fluids or a bottle of formula. Clearly we went with the bottle of formula. Which made nursing that much more difficult. They had to check her blood sugar every 3-4 hours and each time it went up just a few marks. With it going up I really hoped they would let us go home in the morning. In the morning we found out that we may be there a few more nights.

So we tried to make the best of our situation- Ava's favorite sleeping position. Any questions what position she was in inside of me? If you tried to pull her legs down she would bring them right back up. She also likes to be lying slightly on her left side. 

The next afternoon Ava's blood sugar surprisingly doubled and was looking much better! The pediatrician she if her test that evening was good then we may get to go home! Her test at 7 pm came back great and we were cleared to head home. With the promise of returning on Sunday and again Monday to double check her levels.

Tim was at work and thankfully my parents came down and spent a couple days with the boys. My dad came and pick us up from the hospital so we could head home. I don't think they really wanted to let us go home but the recovery floor was full and so was the labor and delivery floor so they could use my room. Out of 16 newborns on the floor Ava was the only girl, so she was a little spoiled by the nurses as well :) 

My dad and I got her all ready to head home and put her in her carseat. We then realized how small she really was...she weighed 5 lbs 13 oz when leaving the hospital (they lose some weight after birth). We tightened the carseat as tight as it could be and unfortunately she still had a lot of wiggle room. Thankfully they let us head home anyway and we were quite excited it was only a two minute drive.

The boys were already asleep when we arrived home. But the next morning they were happily surprised to see Ava and I home.

Everything is so much easier at home! The boys were behaving much better, Ava was doing great, I was doing great! Life with the five of us is perfect and feels like it was always meant to be! We are so grateful to have had my family here for a couple days to help occupy the boys with various activities and outings so Ava and I could nap. Aaron was quite excited that grandma made him toast with Nutella for breakfast one morning. 

As you can see Pike is still in need of some extra attention and very protective ;)

While the house is a little messier without my family here we are loving being all together. Tim has had the entire week off of work which is very weird but wonderful! The boys are still completely smitten by Ava and absolutely love her. They enjoying singing her their original songs such as "Ava wake up, Ava wake up, Ava it's time to eat." Which sometimes she will grace them with the slight opening of her left eye. They also read her books, enjoy back and tummy time with her, and have been great about following the new baby rules. 

She has been such a great baby! She is sleeping in our room for now but also enjoys some naps throughout the day in her own room. I will have to put up some pictures of her room later. It still needs some work.

The boys have also been great! Ian has been loving puzzles and I have loved doing puzzles with him! Tim's mom sent the boys some superhero ones and my mom brought down a big box full of puzzles that Andrew and I used to put together as kids. He has been doing hundred piece puzzles mostly on his own! He likes me to do the outside edge and then he completes all the inside. Although I think he could do the whole puzzle alone working from the inside out. 

I still can't believe she is here! We absolutely love her!!! Our follow up appointments on Sunday and Monday went great. On sunday we just went in for a quick lab draw, then monday we met with the pediatrician. She was already up past her birth weight which is amazing! All of her levels were great too! The other day I called her my stinky little princess (she was stinky at the time). Aaron quickly correct me and said, "Ava is not a princess, she is a baby." I had to laugh. That afternoon I went to snap a picture of her on my phone because she looked so peaceful sleeping.  Just as I took the shot she grinned! I think she is ready for the spotlight!

Ava Jean MacNair

Ava Jean MacNair

June 13, 2013          

10:16am

6 lbs 1 oz

18.5 inches

She is finally here!!! Even better "she" really is a she! I had a doctors appointment on Wednesday the 12th...I was at a dilated to a four and the doctor said maybe he would see me that night. He was surprised I had not gone into labor yet. Thankfully he was working all that week and on-call for the weekend so I was not too worried. On Wednesday night we had our neighbors over for dinner so the boys could become a little more acquainted with them incase we needed to randomly call them in the middle of the night at some point. That same night I started having contractions randomly -not bad I still slept most of the night. At about 6:30 am the contractions became more regular, about 30-40 minutes apart. I woke Tim up and told him to go and do the dishes (we did not do dishes after dinner Wednesday so the kitchen was still a mess and I did not want our neighbors having to deal with our messy kitchen) that we would most likely be having a baby sometime that day. I finally decided to get out of bed around 7:30 am and the contractions starting rolling fast. I came rushing out into the kitchen and told Tim "forget the dishes, call the neighbors, we have to leave now." The neighbors came over and I was slightly freaking out that I might not make it too the hospital in time for an epidural again. Tim dropped me off at the door and I ran into the hospital past the service desk lady (who looked at me like I might be crazy) and straight to Labor and Delivery. I walked to the desk and asked her to page the anesthesiologist. She was calm as can be and said lets get your information and check you first. I then told her probably to much information and she called the anesthesiologist right away :) Unfortunately the anesthesiologist was in surgery with my OBGYN. Thankfully when my doctor heard I was there told them to page the Nurse Anesthetist. Hallelujah!!! Ninety minutes and just two pushes later baby Ava was here and perfect!

Food glorious Food!

In usual fashion Andrew was the first one to meet baby Ava (he was also first to meet Ian and Aaron). Such a good uncle! After talking with Andrew that morning he hopped in the car and headed down. As I am sure you can tell Andrew took all of the pictures you see in this post (with the exception of the first couple), thank you! While my mother called me nearly everyday from Germany to ensure that I had not had the baby. Now that she was back in the states she forgot to bring her phone to work that day. I think she was the last person in the family to know :) We all got a good laugh out of it.

We are all so excited that she is here! The boys are completely in love with her and constantly want to hold her and give her kisses. As for me I am feeling great, even better than I have for the last nine months! I can't believe we are a family a five and have been blessed with this sweet and beautiful little girl! 

38 weeks

I never thought I would make it this far! Only two weeks left and we are all very excited for this little girl to arrive.  I know everyone says babies are so much easier to take care of when they are inside versus out. Clearly the person that made this statement was not sick 24/7. I can't wait for the morning that I don't have to wake up and take zofran. Her nursery is nearly complete (not that she will be sleeping in there for at least the first month anyway), I just need to add a few finishing touches.  

We took these pictures before church. After I got the boys dressed I realized that we all coordinated -so I told Tim he had to wear navy as well. Too bad I did not take a picture with all of us :/ Oops 

Ian looking way too grown up.

Hopefully my next post will have a picture of our family of five!

Summer Fun

We have been going and going trying to do as many things as possible before baby girl arrives. I think we have made a different dessert almost every night. Tim is hating it the rest of us are loving it!

A little downtime is still needed. So we have enjoyed going outside in the mornings or the evenings. Riding bikes, playing in the water, playing with chalk, and all kinds of randomness.

 

Aaron is still trying to find his sense of fashion! I would blame his dad but his dad has more fashion sense than me.  I have a picture of Tim's dad from when we were trying on tuxedos for our wedding in sandals and socks -one day I will find it. Therefore I blame his grandpa's :)

One of our favorite things to do is head to the little lake/beach by our house. The boys could play in the sand all day. I think we were there for about 4 hours that day and I still had to bribe them to leave.

We have been soaking up as much time as possible at The Well's house before they officially move. The kids have discovered it is much more enjoyable to swing upside down. 

Ian has been loving rock climbing.

And as usually with the beginning of summer comes the beginning of countless days spent at seven peaks water park. Hopefully with a new baby we will still be able to enjoy at least a few hot summer days here. 

Ian's 5th Birthday

On May 29th Ian turned 5 years old! He woke up that morning and we had juicy rolls for his breakfast. His favorite! Then that afternoon we picked up one of his best friends Kimball and headed to Boondocks Family Fun Center for the day. After a big birthday party last year I really wasn't feeling up for another one this year. With the new baby due to arrive soon we decided we better do something. I was thrilled when Ian just wanted to invite one friend and spend the day at Boondocks! We got the kids passes to ride all of the rides and it turns out they just wanted to play games all day long. We had around 500 tickets that they collect.

We played a very quick round of miniature golf. The boys were flying through each hole shouting hole in one! They each actually got a hole in one once!

We enjoyed lunch and Ian opened a few presents from his friend and family. As you can see both the boys were very excited.

We took Ian out shopping to pick out a new helmet for his birthday. He has outgrown the "buzz lightyear" stage and ended up going with this angry birds helmet. We were hoping for a none character helmet but he was in love with the angry bird one. What can you do? It matches his bike very well.

It was a perfect day! Every birthday should be this way. Much less stress and both the boys had a blast running around and playing together. Add more children and there is bound to be some kind of a fight that breaks loose. 

We came home that evening and started working on the dinner of Ian's choice. Chicken Taco's, Breadsticks, and marshmallow brownie cake.  I know...I questioned that breadsticks with tacos probably thirty times but it was his choice. Our cousins were able to come over and have dinner and cake with us. Although after "blowing" out the candles I am not sure that any of us wanted birthday cake anymore ;)

Happy Birthday Day Ian!