Gemma is 4!

She had a great birthday party with just us and my mom. She said it was her best day ever.

How did she turn 4 so fast? I think because she's the middle child it has felt like it went so much faster. 

She still has the cutest little girl voice that I hope she keeps forever. Still says cute things like "Weg" for "leg". She also thinks everyone has Elsie's middle name and calls us by it when she's mad. "Mommy Mae!"

Likes to say "I love you mommy" when I give her a hug.

She loves to watch Frozen I and II, Trolls, Pickalicious, and Wishenpoof. 

She's starting to play a lot more with JJ and less with Elsie. She loves playing with any kind of doll and also loves to be outside. She definitely has always liked to be outside more than Elsie and enjoys the beach more than anyone I know. 

She still likes typical kid food like mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, and fruit. She loves juice of any kind. She has the biggest sweet tooth of all 3 kids and I have to watch that she doesn't sneak too many snacks. 

This is her first year of preschool and she is really enjoying it. It has taken her several months but she's finally starting to talk a little more at school. She's definitely on the shy side.  She doesn't know any of the kids names at school except one other girl. But she loves her teacher and loves going to school. 

She's kind of the best little girl I know 😉

Jay Jr is ONE!

He loved his cupcake! Ate the whole thing!

Super healthy big boy! Walking and trying to run. Eats everything.  Suddenly loves a pacifier. Says Mama, Dada, hi, night night, and will yell for Elsie and Gemma but doesn't sound much like their names yet. Claps, waves, and tries to high five. 

 

JJ is 11 Months

11 months old today. 😭😭

JJ is walking 5 or 6 steps then speed crawling to his destination. He can stand up from the floor on his own as well. 

He loves to eat everything, especially meat. I cant even think of anything he wont eat except maybe baby food.

He has four teeth. He'll bite you with them too if you're not paying attention! Hoping that doesn't become a thing. 

His favorite pastime is crawling to the bathroom to turn on the bathtub faucet and play in the water, or to the kitchen to get in the dog water. He likes playing with the cat,  cat toys,  and anything stick shaped. He'll watch Barney or Cocomelon for a little bit. He also already likes going in the girls room to mess with their stuff haha.

I can't believe he's getting to be so todller-like already. Time needs to slow down!

JJ is 8 Months

He still doesn't have any teeth! The girls both had teeth at 6 months. Love his gummy grin though!

Little mister likes to:

Stand.

Eat finger foods and the occasional pouch of baby food.

Wake up 3 times a night.

Play with his sisters toys.

Chase Cooper.

Try to eat the dogs food.

Swing.

He started properly crawling this month instead of just army crawling. Pulling up to stand. Babbling more.

He finally has a good bit of hair. It's pretty light brown.

He still takes 3 naps a day. One is usually 1.5 to 2 hours and the others are usually half an hour to 1 hour.

Doesn't really like playing with toys much. Goes after cords, my phone,  remotes, etc. He does like balls though. 

Thinking he'll walk earlier than the girls but we'll see.

Easter 2020 Covid-19 Edition

Happy Easter! 

I just wanted to document our unusual Easter Sunday this year due to the coronavirus.  We woke up and got ready for church like usual but instead of going to church we watched it on YouTube in our living room.  

 The kids opened their very minimal Easter baskets which I actually enjoyed since we're moving really soon.

We did an egg hunt in the backyard after lunch. 

We missed having dinner with family.  Being our last holiday in Ohio for the time being, it was sad to be so close but still apart. However, we had a really nice dinner of rack of lamb, brussel sprout, carrot and parsley puree, and cornbread casserole.

JJ is 4 Months Old

JJ is four months old already! Wow.

Wt: 15lbs 8oz 60th% last week
Ht: 24in 15th%

Breastfeeding like a champ. Gaining about a half pound a week.

He's had a few nights where hes slept a 6-7 hour stretch but usually his long stretch is only about 3.5 hours. Still cosleeping.

Earlier this month he had his first cold/ ear infection. He recovered pretty quickly with meds.

Rolled once from belly to back (on accident). But just this last week he started rolling consistently from back to belly and then getting mad once he's stuck there. He's my first to really roll a lot, the girls only rolled a few times until they started crawling.

Mostly enjoys sitting straight up when being held. Watching his sisters. Standing in the jumperoo. Rolling. Chewing his pointer finger and sometimes his thumb.

He is starting to get a little more hair. It seems like it's going to be Elsies color but hard to tell.

He's generally pretty calm but also very spoiled and loves to just sit in my lap. Love him.

Baby Jay's Heart

When JJ was born he initially looked great and he even cried like he should. The nurse started wiping him off a bit and he stayed a little blue not starting to turn pink like they are supposed to. The pediatrician wanted to check him out just in case so they took him over to the warmer and started him on a little bit of oxygen. No matter how much oxygen they gave him, his 02 wouldn't stay above around 70%. They just weren't sure what was wrong, usually a little oxygen boost helps a heart healthy baby get to where they need to be pretty fast. He was sent to the NICU for further testing.

In the NICU the doctors tried everything they could. His lungs looked good, his heart sounded good, etc.  They decided to do an echocardiogram which was read, in real time, by the team up at Cleveland Clinic main. This is what revealed his Congenital Heart Defect, TAPVR.

Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return is a heart defect in which "the pulmonary veins (PV), which carry oxygen-enriched (red) blood from the lungs to the heart for pumping to the body, are "anomalous," or abnormal with respect to how they return to the heart".

"There are various forms of this defect, but all of them involve the red blood from the lungs being carried by the pulmonary veins back to the right side of the heart rather than to the left atrium (LA), as in a normal heart. This means that all the red blood is mixed with the oxygen poor venous (blue) blood in the right atrium...

In the most common form of this defect, the pulmonary veins (PV) are connected by a vessel to the superior vena cava (SVC), which carries blue (oxygen-depleted) blood back to the heart. This is known as the supracardiac type. "

So little guy had to have open heart surgery within the first 24 hours. 

His surgery went well, everything was repaired. His surgeon said he should not need any further surgeries, praise the Lord!

He stayed in PICU for about 8 days, hardly any setbacks aside from some lingering swelling, which is common. He was intubated for about 3 days,  then was on high flow oxygen for about 5 more. Went to the step down unit to work on feeding. The second day there he pulled his ng tube out of his nose and did so well with eating that eating that he didn't need it put back in. We were discharged from the hospital on day 13. 

It was a long 13 days. Staying at Ronald McDonald House made it way easier for us to be there with him the whole time. I had to pump milk for him every 2-3 hours around the clock. Honestly, it was the best outcome given our initial situation. The team of doctors and nurses in the PICU are in a league of their own, I do not have one bad thing to say about them. They made sure to take the time to thoroughly explain everything from his surgery to medications to oxygen, etc. 

He went home eating fortified breastmilk from a bottle for the first week and a half or so. Once he went to his follow up cardiac appointment, we started breastfeeding directly for half of his feedings. Then about a week later we stopped bottles and switched entirely to breastfeeding.