First Easter!

Kaylie is coming up on 11 weeks old tomorrow and has just celebrated her first Easter, but she slept through most of it!   But then, that is not particularly different from any other day.  The top photo is one of many photo attempts we made to try and capture her at home.  Photography is definitely not my calling.  I think I am going to have to rely on one of  the great beauties of digital media.  That is if the picture is not that great, delete!  No film wasted.  I suppose if you take enough photos, some have to turn out okay, right?  The second photo was taken outside Jana's parents home.  

Kaylie continues to sleep through the night so we are very relieved.  What a difference.  The gas also seems to be getting better.  Hopefully she is growing out of it.  We also made progress on the bath front.  Up until the last week, Kaylie absolutely hated baths.  We're talking primal screams hatred.  Her  little tub had this type of hammock that was strung across the tub to keep her from getting submerged.  I noticed that she had the same look in her eyes while in the hammock that she has when I am moving her through the air to go to the tub.  It seemed like she was afraid she was falling.  We opted to removed the hammock device and each bath has gotten progressively better.  They are bordering on peaceful.  Not there yet, but SIGNIFICANT improvements.

She also continues to grow.  I'll try to have some of my weight estimates next post.  I'm guessing she is 12 pounds or more by now.  We're working on tummy time now to strengthen her neck.  No problems on the lungs or legs so I'm sure she'll be rolling around in no time.

Here's to Peaceful Nights!

Kaylie Chillin' in her swing

Where's Kaylie? (our version of Where's Waldo)

The photos above were taken in the last week or so. As you can see, Kaylie is really growing. We need to weigh her as I'm sure she is at least 11.5 to 12 pounds. She is REALLY filling out. She is continuing to interact more and more. Lots of cooing, laughing and eye contact. She is still having the periods of fussiness, but hopefully she will be growing out of that in the next few weeks or months. I think it has gotten a little better, or perhaps I'm just getting a little acclimated to it.

Jana started back to work this week, so it has been an adventure during the mornings. We're still working on exactly what time we need to start our morning in order to drop Kaylie off and get into work at a reasonable time. This week, we had a friend baby sit Kaylie in our home on Monday, and then Jana's mom watched her Wednesday through Thursday. Jana is only working 4 days a week now, so she is at home with Kaylie on Fridays.

The really good news is Kaylie's sleep pattern. This week she started sleeping through the night!! We try to get her down by 10:30 PM but it is often 11:00 or 11:30 PM by the time she falls to sleep (ie stops crying..). The first night she woke around 5 or 5:30 AM. The next day was 6 and by Thursday I was waking her at 6:15 or 6:20 so I could feed her. Of course, it is still taking a us a few more days for our sensitivity to dissipate. The first couple of nights she slept the night through, I was still awake and listening for her. Since it has been four days in a row, we are hopeful that we are over the middle of the night feedings. I am sure there will be other reasons for middle of the night wake ups. But here's to peaceful nights!

Where does the time go??

Hanging with her peeps (or sheeps )

Rarrr!

I REALLY wanted to do a better job of updating this blog. I am sure many of you are not surprised. None the less, I will continue to offer my empty promises to do better! Above are a couple of photos taken in the last two weeks. As you can see, she is really filling out.

Tomorrow (March 24) Kaylie will be 8 weeks old. On Friday we took her in a little early for her 2 month Doctor visit. Originally, Jana thought she would start back to work this week, but it turns out she is at home for one more week. The good news is Kaylie is right on track growth wise. She is still at the 50 percentile but has remained consistent on the growth charts with her first visit. She is now 10 pounds 7 ounces and 22.5 inches long.

We are still trying to isolate the source of Kaylie's fussiness. We don't think it is all formula related because some feedings she is just fine. None the less, the pediatrician did suggest another formula in the Enfamil family and gave us a few small cans to try. We will be starting that in the next day. We delayed to make sure we got past the post shot fussiness.

So, all in all, we are doing well. Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and inquiries. We appreciate your interest and support. And for those of you wondering where your "thank you" notes are, they are coming! Jana is doing pretty well with hers. I on the other hand, am only slightly better at blogging than writing thank you notes! My apologies for the delay.

Almost 4 Weeks Old!

Wow! It is so hard to believe that it has been almost 4 weeks since our journey to Florida began. The photos above were taken during this past week. In the top photo, Kaylie is having a nap in an outfit from Mimi. Polka dots rock! In the bottom photo, Kaylie is looking up lovingly at her Dad who is holding her. Alright, she is probably looking over my shoulder lovingly at Jana, but I think she glanced at me a couple of times.

This Tuesday, Kaylie will be four weeks old. It's funny how some days it seems like she was born just yesterday and at other times it feels like she has been a part of our life for so much longer. Jana and I were reminding ourselves that we have to keep taking pictures. Time will go by so fast and we don't want to miss any key photo opportunities.

Overall, Kaylie is doing great. She is a big eater so she is growing without a doubt. We'll do an unofficial weigh in sometime in the next few days so that we can compare to her two week weight. But knowing her eating patterns, she has to be well above the two week weight. The only downside has been a recent development of fussiness during the late evening feedings. It seems like the feeding around 8:30 to 9:00 PM is followed by crying and fussiness that segues straight into 11:30 PM to Midnight or slightly later. It makes for a tough next day! I'm sure it will be short lived, but if anyone has some parental suggestions, let us know!

For all our friends and family, I apologize for not posting some updated photos sooner. We'll do our best to keep that from happening again!

Home at Last!

It has been a couple of days since my last post. We finally made it home late Saturday night. It was a long day but Kaylie traveled extremely well. She was a little grumpy on Saturday night and a little on Sunday, but that is understandable given such a long travel day. Especially so, since this was only her third trip beyond the confines of the hospital or hotel!

We just came from her 2 week pediatrician visit and she weighed in at 7 pounds 1 oz which is well over her birth weight of 6 pounds 12 ounces! The Dr said she looked great and all is well. She even grew a little as she is now over 19 inches long. We couldn't be happier.

I also wanted to mention how extremely thankful Jana and I are to have been chosen by Kaylie's birth mom Sena. We are so fortunate to have such a caring birth mom. Not to mention, we had the pleasure of spending a little time with Sena, her parents and daughter and they made us feel right at home. We became proponents of open adoption very early but this experience thus far has done nothing but make that stronger. We look forward to sharing more with Sena and her family as Kaylie grows. You can never have too many people who really love you and in that regard, Kaylie, and we in turn, are blessed!

A Quick Visit in Charlotte

Well, we are on our way home. We were fortunate to be able to see my parents at the airport at Charlotte. Because of the difficulty of getting through security with a baby, my parents were able to get a gate pass to meet us in the airport. Not perfect but great to see Mimi and Pepa!

This Just In

Well, shortly after I posted my last update, we received an email from the Florida agency which was followed by a call from our California agency. Our interstate paperwork has been approved and we are now able to travel home! At this point, with the various change fees, it does not make a lot of sense to try to leave tomorrow, so we will keep our plans to return on Saturday. Yeah!!!

First Doctor's Visit

Hello all. We just returned from Kaylie's first Dr's visit. The pediatrician that checked her over at the hospital wanted to see her one week after she was discharged. The good news is that she checked out perfectly normal. She weighed in at 6 lbs 9 0zs which is only 3 ozs off of her birth weight. We are told the goal is for her to be at her birth weight two weeks after birth. She also got her hep B shot as well. We have an appointment with our pediatrician in CA on Tuesday after we return for her 2 week check up.

We are still awaiting word to return to CA. We did get confirmation that the FL agency sent the paperwork to CA. However, it was a few days later than we had hoped. We THINK the paperwork is in CA today. If we get confirmation or more concrete status, we will be sure to post.

Bath Time

Snug as a bug in a towel! This is a quick shot taken after a sponge bath. She is getting used to the process, so the crying was at least reduced. Kaylie continues to eat pretty well. My diapering skills still leave a lot to be desired. Big suprise.

Sorry for not posting any updates yesterday. I was waiting for news from either our California or Florida agency to get a feel for the status of our paperwork. We hope the paperwork will be in California today. If so, we think we are still on track for returning home on Saturday. We're keeping our fingers crossed and will be sure to post an update as soon as we get any news!

Pink Polka Dot Photo Shoot

No news, just a couple of quick photos of our early evening fashion show!

Another day, another 10 diapers...

Well, 10 to 12 is the average change pace it seems. We continue to hang out at the hotel. The good news is we are one day closer to returning home. Things are not bad here, but it will be nice to get settled in at home. The picture above was just a quick snap of Kaylie shortly after a bath. Other than continuing to battle episodes of gas, things are still going well. The solution to the gas still eludes. She continues to eat and sleep well and for the most part, is weathering hotel life as well or probably better than Jana and me. I have a need to fix things when there is a problem, and it hurts me to hear her cry and I am unable to "fix it". I suppose I need to get used to this particular concept.

Jana is still fighting the cold but doing everything possible to protect Kaylie. She is even wearing protective masks when holding or feeding Kaylie. I think that is probably one of the hardest things, to have the mask between her and Kaylie, but she is a trooper as well. She's going to be a great mom!

Another day, a little more action

From the pictures above, I think you can see Kaylie is doing pretty well. She was lying around with her eyes open for quite a while yesterday. That is when I snapped these photos. She is still eating well, but we did resort to some gas drops to help her. She seemed to be getting gas cramps after eating despite giving pretty good burps and using the different bottle type. They have helped and we will probably try to minimize their use during the day to see if they really did help or if it was just a coincidence.

She slept well again last night. In fact too well. She went for between 4 and 5 hours between 3:30 AM & 8:00 AM feedings so we'll have to watch that. We had been letting her wake us when she was ready, but I don't think we will want to let her go that long again until she is at least several weeks old and at or above her original birth weight. The good news is that she ate well at 3:30 and 8:00.

Needless to say, we continue our stay in Northwest Florida. The weather has been very nice over the past few days. Usually, I only see it from inside the car while running errands, but today I did take a slow trot around the area, so it was a nice change. Jana continues to fight her cold. She is being as careful as she can. Lots of hand washing and I purchased some disposable face masks this morning so that she can wear them when feeding or holding Kaylie to try to minimize the direct contact.

Better Night

Hi all. Here is a photo of us visiting our birthmom's family. We found someone else to be behind the camera for us!

Last night was a little better for us. Kaylie slept in 3 hour increments and Jana and I tag teamed the waking moments. We think we know one thing that contributed to the short stints of sleep on Thursday night. We were using the bottle that have the drop in bag liner. Even though we were using the smaller versions, the bag was still rather large for only 2 ounces or so of formula. I think we were not getting all of the air out, and the formula was clinging to the sides of the bag. Bottom line is we think that caused more gas on her tummy and short stints because she was not getting as much formula as we thought.

We went with a different bottle last night so we are hopeful that we have made an improvement and it is not just a coincidence. Kaylie has been pretty active today. Active in the sense that she has been awake and looking around. I'm not sure what she can actually see at this age, but she is definitely trying.

The bad news is Jana is fighting off the initial stages of a cold. That could make things challenging. She is being careful and we all are using antiviral soap, and sanitizer hoping to minimize any exposure. I'm afraid we won't be able to avoid it, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Busy, Busy Night

Well no new pictures, yet, but soon. We had a busy night. It was our first full night with the baby. Wednesday night we were at the hospital until 11:45 PM, but a full night is a little different. It is even more so when you make that first full night in a hotel room. Fortunately, we are in a Residence Inn which is more like a small loft, so we have a small kitchenette and sitting area.

Kaylie was up just about every 2 hours (sometimes a little less). Usually the sequence was diaper change, then feed her, and with in minutes, sometimes while feeding, it becomes obvious that another diaper change is in the near future. She is quite a little machine. But the good news is she is obviously processing all that formula she is downing! I think the day has been a little quiter than the night, but it is still early in the day. More to follow...

Busy, busy, Day

Hi all. Well no new photos today as it was a whirlwind. The question over the past day or so was whether our birthmom, Sena, would be discharged on Thursday or Friday. We were initially thinking Friday, but the hospital and Dr. decided today. So shortly after arriving at the hospital this morning, we found out for certain that Sena would be discharged today. That meant a lot of shuffling with the agency. To help address some of the agency's scheduling conflicts, Jana, Kaylie, Sena and I drove to Pensecola to sign the necessary paperwork. We then drove Sena to her home, and eventually on to Sandestin where we are staying.

The good news is that we are over most of the paperwork issues until finalization which should occur in the next 3 to 4 months. Everyone is doing well, just tired. It has been both a hectic and emotional day for all involved. But, we knew that would be the case. Now, we are in the waiting mode until we get word from the Florida agency that we are cleared to cross state lines. There will be more pictures, but my camera was idle today. I promise, that won't be the case tomorrow!

I Didn't Drop Her!

Look at me. I'm holding the baby and didn't drop her. By the way, that is me she is gazing at so intently (ha ha). Actually, I have been holding her quite a bit but I have normally been behind the camera. And after viewing the photo above, you can see why I am better suited to be BEHIND the camera.

Today has been another day of feeding, diaper changing and swaddling. We are still working on the logistics and timing, but the birthmom and Kaylie will be discharged from the hospital on either Thursday afternoon or perhaps Friday morning. Sena, our birthmom is still recovering so we will see how she progresses. She has been great and we've all shared in caring for Kaylie.

So, not a lot to report new. Kaylie is an eater and that is good thing, but it means a LOT of diapers. All reports show her in good health so we are very greatful for that. And for those of you with little boys, I can tell you that cool air on a bare bottomed little girl seems to have a very similar effect as with the boys. Not as much altitude, but plenty of force! Lesson learned (let's hope....)

Eyes Wide Open..... Well Almost!

This photo is actually from earlier today in the nursery, but she does have her eyes open. She slept for most of the day so they were usually closed. She did finally begin to open them tonight just before we left the hospital, but of course I did not have my camera in hand.

All in all the day went well. The staff at the hospital were very good to Jana and me and seemed to go out of their way to make sure we were very much a part of the process. They even brought the two of us into the nursery for a good 20 minutes to spend time with Kaylie shortly after she was born. We fed, we changed and learned to swaddle the baby and as a result she is now affectionately referred to as our little burrito.

It has been a long day. We were at the hospital shortly after 6:30 AM this morning as the delivery was scheduled for that time, but the Dr was late. Hence the birth time an hour and a half later. Despite it being a very early morning after flying across country, it was fortunate that we started early. The hospital is a small regional hospital and according to some of the staff, average maybe 2 births. a day. Today they had 7 and one of those was twins delivered via emergency cesarian. Needless to say, things really heated up shortly after 9:00 AM this morning.

Tomorrow starts a little later for us but we still hope to be at the hospital by 8. We look forward to more of the same as we hone our feeding, burping and changing skills. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get Jana to take a picture of me holding Kaylie!

New Mom & Baby

Here is one of the first photos. We have some from the nursery but poor Kaylie has no clothes on! Can't have those making their way around the internet. Things are going well so far. Kaylie is eating and processing according to plan. We'll keep more coming as we get them. As always, thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers!

There is one update. I had incorrect info on the birth time. It was 8:11 AM versus 8:09 AM. Close!

She's Here!

Just a quick post to announce that Kaylie is here! She was born at 8:09 AM
CST and was 6 lbs 12.4 ozs and is 18.75 inches long. Everyone is doing
well and pictures to follow as soon as I can get the laptop fired up!

The Adventure Begins

Well, here we sit waiting to board our departing flight here at LAX. If
all goes well we will be in Florida by 9:00 PM tonight. We are definitely
not flying light but given we will probably be there 2 weeks along with
packing baby essentials, that should not come as a surprise to anyone. We
have about a 3 hour layover in Charlotte late this afternoon so we hope to
see my parents for a bit.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and generosity. We'll do our
best to keep you updated and will hopefully post some pictures in the next
day or so!

Sent with Good (www.good.com)

Arrangements Made

Well, after several hours tonight, we finally have travel arrangements, as well as hotel and a car. I can't say that all airlines are this way, but USAirways has really taken any enjoyment out of travel. We are using frequent flier miles to travel, but the tickets are still not free. There are award fees, there are expedite fees because we are under 14 days notice, 911 fees, and on and on. If we happen to need to change our return date because approvals are delayed, the change fee is $150...... per ticket!!! Oh well, we have flights. We leave on Monday, January 26 and are booked to return on February 7. We did have a funny aspect. While exploring travel arrangements we talked with USAirways personnel with regard to the baby. Basically, we want to book a ticket so that we will have a seat to place her carrier in. 4 and half to 5 hours is a bit long to have a lap baby. Well, we were trying to purchase a one way ticket for the baby. So, they asked her name, which we provided. They then asked for her birth date, which we also provided. It just happened to be next Tuesday! Needless to say, USAirways personnel had no clue what to do other than they could not book a ticket for someone who had not been born yet. So, we have to wait until Tuesday to book a ticket. I guess some days you can just be too honest and up front with your answers.

Our Day is Near!

Well, if you are reading this then you know that our delivery date for
our new daughter has been set for Tuesday, January 27th. We set up
this site so that we can keep our friends and relatives updated while
we are in Florida and shortly after. Hopefully, I will have our other
web site up shortly after our return to California, but until then,
we'll try to keep updates flowing to this blog. No particular news
today other than the appointment for delivery. For now, we are just
working on determining travel plans and option. More to follow!