Catching Up

Time flies when you are a mommy of four busy girls (Sleeping, pooping, and eating counts as busy!)> Here are some moments that are worth documenting from April.

Savannah got the opportunity to travel to NYC with friends.  Typically, I would have gone with her but Evelyn was only three weeks old and I was barely back on my feet.  Savannah saw the Broadway show Cinderella which is said to have fantastic costumes.  She agreed and loved it.  Before the show, the girls went to the American Girl Doll store which was something Savannah had been looking forward to for months.  She eagerly did all sorts of jobs beforehand which resulted in a pocket full of cash.  She spent it all!  Not hard to do at the AG stores.

Don't these sweet girls look like true New Yorkers?!

While Savannah was in NYC, Alex and I took the other three (it still surprises me when I do the head count!) to Costco. While there, the twins fought over who was going to marry Alex. They weren't too happy that I get him all to myself. They decided they were going to marry him anyway.

On the way to checkout, Lila found some Easter clearance. She had enough money, $6.97 to be exact, so home came this hideous/too-big-for-my-liking chick.

Did I mention that my dear sweet friend lined up meals for five weeks? I have never been so spoiled! Can I just say the day after coming home from having the twins, I was in my kitchen cooking dinner! (Neighbors did bring lots of meals when the girls came home.) After having Evelyn, the kindness of so many overwhelmed me. Even Savannah's favorite teacher brought us dinner! This teacher is amazing on all fronts. May my girls grow to be like her!

Since I wasn't busy cooking dinner, I had a chance to squeeze in some baking with the girls. We had fun making this sunflower cake with Peeps.

Lila got to go on a special Mommy date and paint pottery. We had a great time. When you get this girl one on one she is a dream. She acts so grown up and sweet. Here she is painting her piggy.

 

That pretty much catches us up on the first month of life with four.   I will end this very long post with some cute pics of the ever changing Big E!  I love, love, love this baby.  She has moved into each and every heart in this house. 

 In case you wonder whether or not Evelyn Rose has a personality. . .

Back at the Races

Spring is always a busy time of year.  It is especially so for us now that we participate in so many running events. 

The girls just finished up their running series.  Savannah did extremely well and continues to prove herself as a runner.  Lila surprised everyone and came in 3rd and 4th out of 30 or more kids.  She is chasing after Savannah for sure!  Adeline still struggles and told us she feels like she needs more oxygen when she runs.  We have decided to let this be her last series unless she asks to do it again in the future.  She is just as happy cheering everyone on.  We also recognize that at some point, coming in last (although her effort is just as admirable as the first place finishers) will be embarrassing.

I can't say enough about Lila and her running these past five weeks.  She told me that she spreads her legs to make big steps just like Savannah does.  If you have seen Savannah run, her stride is amazing!!  Lila had nerves this time as it was obvious she had a goal of a first place finish.  She led the entire group of Kindergarteners and First Graders until the last 20 seconds of race last week.  Two girls were able to catch her at the end.  They were much taller and most likely in 1st grade.  Next year. . .

Savannah won the trophy again this year.  She also had the opportunity to run in a high school meet.  There was an open run for the elementary kids.  Savannah came in first for the girls.  She ran this race after running a very hard 5k for her Girls on the Run practice.  Did I mention this girl runs a lot?


Look at Lila getting her leg out there for a quick start.  

Two peas in a pod when it comes to running.  They have amazing strides.  The only picture I have of Adeline with her medal (my excuse for lack of pictures is that I have a baby strapped to me during all of these races.)

Savannah running on a track for the first time.  There were 1,000 people in attendance.  Good times for the big girl!

Another medal to add to her collection. 

The last week of the running series, the adults were given the opportunity to run a cross country mile.  Savannah has to run this same run next year as she bumps up in distance so she hopped right in with the adults and gave it a try.  This, after running her own race.  Daddy got third (6:07) and Savannah fell in the middle of the pack (about 8:30). 

 Look at her beating those adults!

 Medals and friends. 

 First place for the 2nd and 3rd grade half mile.  Best time was 3:12.  Not bad. 

Two Weeks Old

Weeks two and three were a little rough with Miss Evelyn.  After losing so much weight and fighting jaundice, it was clear that our "tongue tied" baby needed to have her tongue/frenulum clipped.  Evelyn's latch wasn't great which had made feeding her very difficult.  Even using a bottle wasn't the answer.

Since the procedure isn't very invasive, we decided to do it.  All seemed to go well, she cried very little, until three or five days after the clipping.  Our somewhat content baby was very difficult.  During this time her mouth was often open because she was screaming.  We were given ample opportunity to see her frenulum and it was looking less and less normal by the day.  In fact, we took her to the pediatrician and he called in another doctor because he had never seen anything like it.  This forced us to trek the hour long journey back to Lankenau to see the Dr. Clip It.  He was surprised at how bad Evelyn's tongue looked.  She was badly burned from the cauterizing agent.  The doctor mentioned that she was most likely in a lot of pain.  He even called me on a Friday night to see how she was doing and clearly felt bad.

Long story short, the tongue healed and Evelyn became less fussy.  She still isn't the best latch but feeding has become easier.

Here is a picture of her waiting for Dr. Clip It

Here are some very cute two week old baby pictures. . .

 Her two favorite things.  A swaddle blanket and swing. 

Jaundice

On Easter, we started to notice Evelyn's orange hue.  Lila mentioned she was starting to look like Ernie.  That should have been the first clue that something wasn't right.  All babies are jaundice, it seems. Everyone has a story about their orange kids and how they had to sit them in the sun etc.  This was different.  We just didn't know it. 

We were having a hard time choosing a pediatrician which happened to make the first visit land on day eight of Evelyn's life.  While some might think that is irresponsible, I think it was blind luck.  Evelyn looked great on days four and five, the typical day for the first doctor appointment.  It wasn't until days seven and eight, that it was clear something was wrong.  Her skin was orange and eyes yellow.  We didn't fret since we were headed to the doctor.

The doctor sent us away for labs with the prediction of a high bilirubin but not so high that Evelyn would be hospitalized.  The prediction was wrong.  Our doctor was going to admit her only if her levels were close to 18 or 19.  Miss Evelyn Rose came in at 22.7.  Dangerously high. Toxins can be deposited on the brain at 25 which causes a multitude of developmental delays and cognitive deficits.  We couldn't believe we were flirting with going down this road AGAIN!

We drove straight to hospital, still unaware of the above.  After Evelyn was put under the lights and on the blanket, the doctors explained the situation.  Evelyn took longer than most kids to come down on her numbers.  She was under lights the entire night.  I struggled to get her to sleep in that tiny bed since all she knew up until that point was sleeping in our bed and on our chest.  It was a long night.  It was a tough night for the big girls too.  I had just come home from the hospital and now was headed back with Evelyn.  Just a lot of juggling for them.

The next morning, Evelyn's numbers dropped and we were discharged later that afternoon.  She stayed a nice orange color for a couple of weeks and her eyes yellow.  Hopefully, that is the first and last of her hospital stays for many years. 

Happy Mother's Day

Easter

Did I mention the Easter Bunny paid us a visit? Luckily, we had a basket all ready for Miss Evelyn. The girls were very concerned about that. I was more concerned about pulling off Easter after having a baby six days before. We did though. Even Evelyn got some treats in her basket.

The girls threw on their coats and went egg hunting during this very chilly Easter.  It was a nice, laid back Easter.  Our neighbors cooked us dinner, we went to Barnes and Noble to spend the gift cards Grammy and Papa sent and Evelyn grew more orange by the minute.  More on that later.