4 months old

Elle is 4 months old today!! 4 months old seems so much older than 3 :( Makes me a little sad. What a crazy last month we have had. Such an emotional roller coaster! But we have been more up than down, knowing God is going to take care of this. He has his hand on her and is going to make all this good. He is slowly showing us that, with Elle gaining weight and her liver enzymes going down. I know anyone that is reading this will know what has been going on with her on Facebook, so I don't need to go into all of it. The newest discovery that was made this last Friday, was my doctor put me on a birth control for non-breatfeeding/pumping moms at my 6 week postpartum check up! I told her at that appt. how I couldn't breast feed Elle because of her cleft pallet, and that I was exclusively pumping and giving her breast milk through her bottle. I have no idea how she didn't hear any of this, but she put me on an estrogen based birth control, when I should be on a progesterone pill! YIKES! Talked to Elle's pediatrician as soon as I (with the help of my mother in law and God's help) made the discovery. Elle's doctor said it can't harm her mentally, but it messes up the mother's milk supply, and can even dry her milk supply up! So thankful that the drying up part never happened, but it is possible thats what caused Elle to stop gaining weight off of my milk, and could be the main reason we got to this point. Of course there are many other things that where going on during this time too, but one of our biggest things with Elle is she needs to gain weight! Especially now that her liver enzymes are about normal, and things look good there. I am not happy with my doctor, not one bit. But my heart forgives her, and knows people make mistakes. I did talk to the nurse at the office about the situation and did let her know that I am not happy about the situation, and what has happened. But that all being said, I am thankful that was discovered!!

Elle is looking better, and feeling better. She is grabbing at things now, playing with toys, she has rolled 3 times so far, she only does it on occasion. She is starting to giggle more, especially when I tickle her on her rib/arm pit area. She is so happy, as long as mommy has her LOL. She is literately attached to me at all times, and protests most of the time if I don't have her. I love it though. Her 4 month check up went great! She weighs 9 lbs 6.5 oz (0%), 24 1/4 in long (51%), and head circ. is 39 cm (7%). She got 3 more shots and an oral vaccine. She was not happy one bit about the pokes. In fact I noticed with her, vs her brothers at this age, she is upset a lot longer after it gets done. With the boys it was like as soon as I would pick them up and comfort them they calmed right down, and then I would nurse them and they would be fine, but with Elle after she gets a shot she has to cry and tell me all about it, for 5 min. lol. I guess thats the difference between boys and girls! HA! But after she calmed down she had a bottle and was much happier. Speaking of bottles....we had an appt with a feeding therapist on Monday, and long story short we found out we can assistant deliver her bottle every suck/every other instead of every 3-4 sucks like we learned in the hospital. They told us every 3-4 sucks in the hospital because its a new born baby and don't want to over do it, but as they get bigger they handle it much better. Elle took 4 oz in 20 min at that therapy session and thats awesome! With knowing this, she will get her calories way faster which will make weight gain very successful! I had a feeling it was going to be something so simple like that. The therapist said she is an excellent eater! :) Well thats the updates on our baby girl. Just want to thank everyone once again for all the prayers! They mean so much to us! Im also thank God for answered prayers, and being there with us through all of this.

Dominic is 3!

Well Dominic's birthday was last Friday, and I wanted to write this blog then, but, pssshh, yeah right! It has been WAY busy for us! With Elle going through everything she has been going through makes our life busier and more chaotic. Trying to find time to do the basic house chores has been hard. I have been driving into Lansing 3 times a week, plus dropping Eli off to school and picking him up (Ross does go get him too) life has just been busier than normal, and I am ready for it to SLOW down a little bit! But anyways, Our little Dom is 3 now! AWWWW :( Seeing your child grow up is such a bitter-sweet thing. You love to see them grow, get smarter everyday, and discover new things, but at the same time, inside your like "no! its going WAY to fast! I am just SO thankful, and blessed to be a stay-at home mom. I don't miss anything, and I LOVE it! So on Dom's birthday we played board games, made chocolate chip cookies (his request) and had sloppy Joes for dinner (one of his favorite dinners). We sang happy birthday to him and he loves it lol. Asked for us to do it again! His favorite part is blowing out the candle. Then on Sunday my dad and his girlfriend came over and spoiled Dom  with a birthday cake, presents, tacos, and love. It was lots of fun! This coming up Saturday we are finally able to do his Ninja Turtle Party he has been waiting for. We were in the hospital with Elle the weekend I had originally planned doing it, so had to reschedule it. He is very excited for that :) So to wrap up his birthday blog I started a tradition with Eli at 4 (you can start at 3, but didn't come across it till Eli was 4) on asking the same 20 questions every year on their birthday, and see how they change. The boys like it! I highly enjoy it lol. So here are Dom's 20 questions.....

1. What is your favorite color? Green (thats new lol, it was orange for the longest time)
2. What is your favorite toy? Num-chucks (Ninja turtles toy)
3. What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries 
4. What is your favorite tv show? Super Why
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Sand which
6. What is your favorite outfit? A ball (LOL ok )
7. What is your favorite game? Mario Bros. (He doesnt actually play he pretends he is, when Eli is playing...so cute!)
8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit Snacks 
9. What is your favorite animal? A horse
10. What is your fav. song? What does the Fox say? (LOL o gosh)
11. What is your favorite book? He said "The bear one" (meaning Corduroy)
12. Who is your best friend? "Eli! Eli is my best friend" (AWWWWW)
13. What is your fav. cereal? Coco Puffs
14. What is your fav. thing to do outside? Play in the snow
15. What is your fav. drink? Water (LOL, no its not its chocolate milk, but if he wants to say that it is ok)
16. What is your fav. holiday? Halloween
17. What do you like to take to bed at night? Water
18. What is your fav. thing to eat for breakfast? M&M's (cracks me up, I don't let him have m&m's for breakfast. He wishes though!)
19. What do you want to eat on your birthday? Pumpkin drink (Wait, whaattt!??? lol)
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A flower (LOL OMG)

Love you little bug! Happy Birthday!!