An apple a day...

...keeps the doctor away. Although Ashley hasn't technically had any apples, she is keeping the doctor away. We went in on Wednesday this week for a weight check and she gained 15.5 oz! That's her biggest gain and it is more on track to an average weight gain for a 2 week period. The dr. was very pleased with this increase and said we could wait a full month before her next check. YES! So that means no trip to consult a surgeon right now. YES! He also said we could return the apnea monitor since we haven't had any worrisome alarms since we've had it. YES! He said Ashley is now in the 41st percentile in weight and the 52nd in length. YES! He recommended increasing her acid reflux medicine to 2 doses each day to try and help with some of the spit up she has been having lately. She threw up on Saturday about an hour and a half after getting her medicine and the vomit was purple?!?! It was a little scary seeing that color come out, I could not think of anything that would have made this happen. Then on Monday she spit up after eating and it also was purple, the only thing we could come up with was it had to be the medicine because it was always after her dosage that we saw this. But, the medicine is clear not purple. The nurse recommended mixing the medicine in with her milk to see if that settled better, after we did this the remaining milk in the bottle turned purple. So, that answered where the purple was coming from. Now we will see if 2 doses help ease her tummy.  We are so grateful for a good report and the BIG weight gain, now we just have to keep it up!


While we were there dr. mentioned he thought Ashley's soft spot was on the large side, so he ordered some blood work to check her thyroid. Ashley is a pro at blood work, with all of the billirubin tests she had, she knows just what to do. But, the nurse threw her for a loop on this one, all of her other tests had been a heel prick, for this one she got a finger prick. The poor thing turned bright red immediately and screamed the whole time. She had to fill 2 vials too, so it seemed like it took forever to fill them up. But, it's done and we are over it, hoping not to do that again! The doctor's office called today and said all of her bloodwork came back normal and there was no concern on her soft spot at this point. YES! God is Good!

3 months old

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

You are 3 months old and each month gets better and better. You are quick to smile and think it's really funny when daddy tickles your tummy. You enjoy looking at books and are fascinated with each page. You've discovered your hands! You keep looking at them and locking your fingers together trying to figure out what exactly you can do with those things. It won't be too long before you start picking up toys and playing with them. You've gone to Judy's for 3 weeks now and it has been great. You like to help her cook and to play with Addie. She has you on a good schedule and you've been a good napper for her too. You've been doing great with your bottles, drinking about 3 oz at each feeding. You do miss mommy though and when I come to pick you up, you are usually ready to eat a little something. I think it's just for comfort, that or mommy just likes to feed you for comfort!  :) Your hair is getting longer on top and still looks like it will be brown. Your eyes are still blue! We think you will be a brown hair blue eyed girl! You weigh 12lbs .5oz and are 23.5 inches long. You are growing very quickly in length, that's close to 6 inches in 3 months.You are still sleeping for about 4-5 hours a night, but you always just eat and go right back to sleep. Bath time is pretty fun, and it will only get better. We bring our rubber ducky to bath time, but so far you haven't played with him. We are excited for the warmer weather to come so we can play outside more. We have gone outside a few times in the last week and it's been wonderful. We went on a walk today. You smiled and laughed the whole time. You like it outside, but when the wind hits you, you always take a big breath like it scared you. We love learning something new about you each day!

Excuse me Mr. Giraffe, could you please scoot over...

ummm...wrong way

 

so BIG- 3 months old

they're cousins...they laugh alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alike.

Okay maybe not all of those things, but they are cousins and they had their first meet and greet on Saturday. Tate behaved very well, Ashley and Carver were fussy off and on, during our photo session, good thing it didn't last very long. Callista also came over to Hudson's so Gigi and Papa Bear got to have a picture with all 5 of their grandkids!

Ashley Grace 11-20-10       Tate Christian 11-16-10         Carver Levi 1-6-11

 

Kids and Cookies and Kids

I love to bake and was ready to bake some valentine sugar cookies, so I made up some dough on Friday night and then we went to Gigi's Saturday afternoon to bake and decorate. The first kid that we ran into for the day was this one...

Chase and Annie's new baby goat

We baked and decorated our delicious cookies, and we got to eat some!

GIVE ME THAT COOKIE!

These were all the kids that came over to help us!

So Stylish!

Cookie decorating can be dangerous, we must wear mouth guards

We finally convinced him to stop reading his books and come decorate!

Yummy!

Happy Valentine's Day

Super Bowl

 

Instead of watching the Super Bowl, we decided to play with Cousin Carver. He is such a big boy. He was 4 weeks on Feb. 6 and Ashley was 2 1/2 months. We are pretty sure that Carver weighs just about the same as Ashley.We tried to weigh them both on my parent's scale, but we took Ashley to the Dr. the next day and she was more than a pound lighter, so I guess our method wasn't totally accurate.

Weight check

Ashley went to the pediatrician on Monday for a weight check. We were supposed to go last week, but with all this snow, we rescheduled for Monday. It was 2 and a half weeks from her previous appt. She weighed11 lbs 1 oz.. That is a gain of about 7 oz. She was 22 1/4 inches long. I was expecting her to be longer, because she seems to be growing out (in length) of some of her sleepers. But, she grew 1 1/4 inches in 5 weeks. The doctor was glad to see that she did gain weight, however he wasn't as pleased with the amount. When we first started going to this doctor. Ashley was in the 50th percentile for weight, at the next appt she was at 45th, then 42nd and now around 35th. Because of that downward trend, he is still concerned. He has recommended that we come back in 2 weeks and do one more check,. At that point if he is not happy with the rate of growth, he will talk more with Dr. Regehr and we will go ahead and go to Children's Mercy for a consultation with the surgeon. This doesn't necessarily mean that surgery is our next step. But, it would be more of another opinion and from someone who sees a lot of little ones with laryngomalacia and might have a better picture if she would do better with surgery.
With that being said, I do think that Ashley was had more times when she breathes quieter when she is sleeping. She still is pretty noisy when she is awake and eating, but we pray that she is getting stronger and improving each day.

Cousin Tate

Cousin Tate is finally home from the hospital. He came home on Sunday, January 9. Ashley has been over a couple of times to meet him, but he was always sleeping so we hadn't actually introduced them. Now, Tate is starting to be awake a little more, so on Saturday we put the two of them together and took some pictures. Tate is now around 8lbs, and we hope Ashley is getting to be around 12lbs. Tate turned 11 weeks on Tuesday and Ashley was 11 weeks on Saturday when we took these pictures.

First week at Judy's (and at work)

This first week could not have been easier, God knew just what I needed to get through the week, that was more time with Ashley. Monday went okay, it was easier than I thought it would be to leave her, I didn't even cry. I dropped her off and was at work by 9, I worked until about 12:30, went and picked up Nate and we both went to Judy's to visit our little one. She did well in the morning, she helped Judy make some peanut butter kiss cookies and drank a little from her bottle. I went ahead and fed her while I was there and then she fell asleep so I put her down. I was back to work at 2:00. Judy called at 3:45 and said the afternoon did not go as well, she woke up about 15 min. after I put her down. She'd been crying and Judy did everything she could think of and couldn't get her calmed down. I had forgot to give Ashley her reflux medicine that morning so I thought she could just be in pain since she didn't have her medicine. I worked for about 5 more minutes and decided to leave and go get her (I was supposed to be done at 4 anyway). By the time I got to Judy's she had Ashley on her tummy laying across her legs (which is usually a comfy position for her) and she had settled down and wasn't crying. So, I left and we hoped for a better day on Tuesday. It was a better day, but in a different way. We had a big snow storm come through and school was canceled Tuesday! Yay! A much needed snow day for me to stay home and spend time with Ashley. We loved it, we baked a crumb cake, got out some toys, did tummy time, took naps and cuddled up with our blankets. Then, even better we had another snow day on Wednesday! The wind chill has been negative 20 something so it is just too cold to even go outside. We enjoyed another day all snuggled up and warm at home together. The only thing missing was daddy, he doesn't get snow days! Thursday went pretty good for both of us. I'm not really sure how to adjust back into work, it's been different. Ashley did well with Judy...once again I forgot to give her her medicine...oops! So, I prayed she would still have a good day. And she did She took 2 naps and ate a couple of times. She only ate 2 ounces each time, so 4 ounces in the span of 8 hours is not a ton. We have to make sure she's eating good to keep gaining weight. Judy thinks she found the right bottle/nipple combination so hopefully that will make things easy for Ashley to take the bottle. I picked Ashley up at 4 and nursed her. Then we went out to my friend Jessica's to help her with birthday invitations. Ashley cried for about 80% of the time we were there. :( At least she didn't cry like that for Judy. And Jessica, I promise she is a sweet baby, she just gets an upset tummy sometimes!  :)
On Friday I dropped Ashley off and they were going to go shopping at Kohl's (starting her shopping habits early). :)  So I left them our stroller and headed off to work. I wasn't sure what Ashley's day would be like since she had slept for so long, but she did well. I didn't go see her at lunch, instead I went to a lunch at Nate's office (and everyone kept asking where Ashley was), it's no fun to be anywhere without her. After finishing an uneventful day at work, I picked Ashley up and heard about her day. She did really well again. Very little fussy times and took good naps, and ate a ton!  I guess missing some of her night feedings (from her 9 straight hours of sleep!!!!!) made her hungry during the day. She ate 3 oz in the morning and then around 1 ate 4 oz. She fell asleep for a bit and then woke up at 2:30 and ate 3 more oz. That's 10 oz in the 7 hours she was there. Much different from the day before. I think she's getting bigger every day! Each time I go to pick her up I think she looks different!

Ashley with her friends at Judy's.

Little Jack and Baby Ashley

Judy

Nate and I had been praying about what we would do with Ashley when I returned to work. In the back of our minds we knew that both grandma's were able and willing to watch her, but it would just be a matter of figuring out schedules for her. With both of them working, I knew it could be possible that we would have to add one more person in the equation. But, I decided that I would not worry about it and put it in God's hands to show us His plan for us (and I was a little in denial of having to go back to work). It did not take long for God to show us what He desired. Ashley was born the Saturday before Thanksgiving, on the Friday after Thanksgiving I received a call from Judy S. I didn't know the number that called and when I checked my voice mail I could not think of any reason that she would be calling me. Her daughter Taylor went to Trinity and graduated in 2009, she graduated in Uncle John's class and the 2 of them have been good friends for awhile. She said in the message she had a question for me and asked me to give her a call when I had time. When I called she said she was wondering if we had already found someone to watch Ashley for us. She was just sure that we would have already have someone lined up, but we didn't. She said she was interested in doing it! She had been praying about the idea of watching a baby and felt God was leading her to do it. Then she was praying about how she would find someone and who that might be and said our name kept popping into her mind. She said when she was talking to Taylor about it she mentioned to Taylor that she had thought of us but wasn't sure if she should call because she thought we would have already found someone and didn't know if we would be interested and Taylor told her to call because she could be the answer to our prayers...so true! Judy has three children, Her 2 older sons are out of college and Taylor is a sophomore in college. Taylor was accepted to College of the Ozarks for this Spring semester (she is attending C of O with Uncle John). They have also adopted a sweet little girl, she is 2 and a half (they received her through foster care when she was 3 months old). Her name is Addie, she is a sweet little girl. Addie is blind and she attends school for the blind on MWF mornings each week. So, Judy knew that with Taylor being away at school and with Addie at school in the mornings, she would have more time and would like to bring in a baby to watch. I loved that she just wanted one, and that it was not an at home day care with a number of kids. We are so thankful for her, we could not have found someone better to love, care, and watch over our sweet little girl. While I am sad to be gone all day, I know she is in great hands and is loved and adored all day.

Sleeping

My first day back at work was Monday. I thought we would be on  a pretty good morning schedule to get this going. Ashley typically would wake up between 1 and 2 am and then again between 4 and 5 am. She would always eat and then go right back to sleep. Usually she would wake up again around 7 or 7:30 and would eat a bit more and then would be awake and ready to play and talk and smile...she is very fun in the mornings!
Well, she decided to change things up. Sunday night she fell asleep around 9 p,m and did not wake up until 4 am! That's 7 hours straight certainly her longest stretch yet. After eating at 4, she went back to sleep and then was beginning to stir at 7:45, I went ahead and woke her up because we had to leave by 8 and I wanted to make sure she had a full tummy when we got Judy's. So, her "new" schedule was okay, just surprised me. I certainly did not sleep 7 hours straight. By 3:00, I was awake about every hour checking on her and beginning to wonder if I should pump because I was getting very full!
It was a fluke though, because the next 3 nights she went back to her previous schedule. Last night she fell asleep around 9:45 pm and is still sleeping as I type this at 5:40 am. So, she is setting another record, I've been up for about the last hour and finally decided I couldn't sleep unless I went to pump. So, now I figure she has to be up again soon and what better time to update her blog than first thing in the morning! We'll see if she begins to continue her 7-8 hour stretches, I suppose I'm ready for the full night's rest, but I do miss holding her, and since I'm at work all day, I feel like my holding time has decreased by a million!

Baptism

Ashley was baptized at church on Sunday (January 23) along with cousin Carver. Both of our families attend Heartland and thought it would be a good memory (plus easier for our families) to have a joint baptism. They were both perfect little ones and did not cry at all. Nate and I were excited to do this for Ashley. We feel it is important to make a commitment to raise her to love and serve God as well as have the support of our church to help us along the way.

The Mathews clan was there, but Papa Rog was sick, he and Awma left before pictures!

Mimi and almost all of her "greats"

Papa Bear and Carver - Gigi and Ashley