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.