New clothes

Here are some things I've made in the past couple of weeks.

First, I turned an adult sweater that didn't fit into a fun wintery dress for Lucy. And look: sleeves!

Front:


Back:


I haven't tried it on Lucy with all the finishing touches complete (it hasn't been cold enough to wear it), but I'll take a picture when I do.

Edited to add:



Yesterday I patched together a bunch of pieces of fabric I had left over, and I turned it into a summery shirt (using a pillowcase dress idea). I really like how it turned out.

Ice cream

I heard about this ice cream from a friend. It's made from coconut milk and is GFCF and soy-free (a requirement for Nate), and it actually tastes wonderful! Nate and Lucy had their first taste tonight.





... and Levi enjoyed himself on the sidelines.

Another giveaway: The Conservatory Overcoat

I'm linking to this giveaway because I know just who I'll give the jacket to if I win. :)

The Conservatory Overcoat GIVEAWAY!!!!

Cute stuff

Here is a picture sequence from a couple of weeks ago. Nate is so sweet with Levi. Here he was laughing because Levi kept "tickling" him.








And Lucy "counting." Notice how she skips six. :)

Back home

We returned from Virginia on Thursday with a long day of traveling. Amazingly, the travel days weren't that difficult, but I certainly wouldn't attempt them by myself (without Jon)--at least not until Levi is three or so.

We had a great time in Virginia, and I can't believe I didn't take any pictures! The ones I did take were on my mom's camera.

Jon took Nate to Amazement Square (a children't museum) one day; it sounded really cute. Other than that, we had a lot of good family meals, relaxation, and visits with extended family.

Now we're trying to coax the kids into readjusting to west coast time!

Crazy big sis

Lucy is always getting in Levi's face, touching, patting, rubbing, pinching. Despite this, he is becoming infatuated with her. Here he is with Lucy up close; he smiles at her and also looks to see where she is (probably part infatuation, part worry).







And some sweet smiles:

Quick check-in

Things are normal and good around here! We are counting down the days until our VA trip--just 6 days left! Nate has been talking about going on the airplane to Virginia for weeks and weeks.

I took Lucy this morning to get some blood drawn for a CBC. She is fine (hated the blood draw, of course), but the doctor at her last well check kindly agreed to run some tests, because Lucy's diapers have been atypical for a long time (more info if you really want to know: very mushy, not formed). I am almost sure it is diet related, though I did try completely removing dairy but saw no positive results after nearly two weeks. Anyway, the doc said we could do some blood work and analysis of a stool sample... we'll see if that gives any answers.

I went to Nate's school for a half-hour observation yesterday. It was fun to see him "in his element" in the afternoon portion of his day and doing so well. The teacher had many good things to say about Nate, and from looking at the other 8 or 9 kids in there, he seemed to be the highest or among the highest functioning. The teacher said that she wouldn't normally say something like this to a parent, especially a parent of one of the 3 year olds (as opposed to 4 year old), but she believed that, with how well Nate is doing, he would be mainstreamed for kindergarten (in a year and a half). (This means he wouldn't need special ed anymore--a great thing.) Cool!

Time to feed Levi and do school pick-up. ;)

Pictures

Nate loves to hold Levi this way



Lucy after some of Jon's blueberry pancakes



Levi today. I think there will always be some body part of Lucy's in all of Levi's pictures. :)



And here is Lucy sort of talking. I've been trying to catch her on video, but every time she sees the camera, she clams up.

Melted heart

Levi came down with another cold. This had me worried--did this mean the same thing that happened before (he stopped breathing) would happen again? I spoke on the phone to Levi's doctor, who assuaged some of my fears. (No, him getting another cold doesn't mean he will have the same serious reaction. Just watch for the same symptoms he had before, but don't assume it'll happen again.)

Then, my little Levi smiled right at me for the first time. It was like, "Thank you, God, for that confirmation that he is OK."

This is late for a baby to have his first smiles, which of course also had me a bit worried (is he developing OK?). I think Levi's being born a little early contributes to his smiling a little later, though.

This is what melted my heart this morning; he was cooing in addition to the smiles:

Sayings

Cute things Nate is saying:

• "Can you do me a flavor?"
• "Smarshmallows" for marshmallows
• When Lucy was here last week, she overheard Jon and Nate reading a Bible story. Jon was trying to explain burnt offerings, and Nate said, "Oh, they're making a pizza?" Jon said, "Kind of..."

Crafty kick: gifts

Two friends are having baby girls in March; their shower is in February and I decided to make/embellish a few things for them. (Neither of them reads this blog, so I can post everything now!)

Three onesies for baby Hailey



And two longer shirts for Hailey


Two onesies for baby Mallory (the cupcake is an iron-on)



And my favorite: a dress for Mallory


I was thinking of trying to make some soft-soled shoes to go with the onesies in the apple/pear fabric, since it wouldn't take much fabric. But I might just decide to be done, since my "crafty mood" for the week seems to have passed. :)

Cute girl

I made my first pair of pants today (from a pattern I found on Etsy). I am in love with this fabric and keep thinking of things I want to make with it. :)



Tonight I added some green pom-pom trim on the bottoms to finish everything off.

(In sadder news, my sister went home today. We miss you, Luce!)

Loving Lulu

Nate and Lucy are in love with Lulu. :)

Thankful

We have been home since Thursday afternoon and are doing great! Levi seems better than ever... He hasn't coughed all day today. And each night since Thursday has been the best sleep Levi has ever slept---thank you Zantac!

My sister is still in town, and I wish she'd never leave. I'm having a lot of fun just doing normal life with her around. :) She's here 'til Wednesday.

Going home

Yes, we are indeed going home today! The doctor is finishing some paperwork, and then we will be able to go. :)

The upper GI test the doctors ran on Levi revealed "moderate reflux," so they are giving him a prescription for Zantac. Perhaps this will stop what he used to do at home: constant groaning (seemingly about his tummy) all night! This reflux issue seemed secondary to me--not really related to why we entered the hospital in the first place--but the doctor said that reflux could have made Levi's breathing/congestion/infection worse.

I'm so glad to get home, take a shower, and get back to normal!

Sometimes you just need your mom (... or sister)

I got back to the hospital this evening after having gone home for the afternoon (a good family friend came to the hospital to stay with Levi) to find out that they're probably keeping Levi here until the end of the week. I was definitely stressed about this--not because they're keeping Levi but because finding people to take care of Nate and Lucy has been so hard. It seems all of my non-working friends have children who are sick or are sick themselves (e.g., Casey, Lissa, Janel, and Kim). All of the emotion and stress from the past week I think have just been building up, so I called Mama in poor spirits. Within an hour, a flight had been booked: my sister is arriving tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.! I am so thrilled! I haven't seen Lucy since June. Lucy, hurry here! :)

P.S. They are going to do some "breathing treatments" (albuterol with a nebulizer) on Levi to see if they help with his cough.

P.P.S. There is a very loud child (sounds like 3 years old or so) next door. Poor thing--I'm sure he/she is sick and feels terrible, but I hope the crying dies down soon, or it'll be a long night for all of us!

Still in the hospital

The pertussis came back negative, which is great! We are staying in the hospital another night. They want Levi to go at least a full 24 hours with good numbers on his monitor (monitoring his heart rate and his oxygen saturation/breathing). I'm happy about staying a bit longer to have him monitored.

Ray and Colleen came and stayed with Levi for a few hours today while Jon and I both spent time at home with Nate and Lucy. Things have been out of whack for the kids all week, so I know it was good for them to have several hours of "normal" today with both Jon and me home.

This week has certainly given me an appreciation for how things normally are!

We're still in the hospital but doing well. Levi still has lots of congestion and needed to be monitored another night. I'm happy about staying since it means he's being monitored, but I also miss Nate and Lucy! And of course, Jon and I have really only seen each other in passing this week.

The doctor sent out for a pertussis (whooping cough) test on Levi, and the results haven't come back yet. I haven't seen the doc yet this morning, so we'll see if she knows anything yet and whether she thinks we might go home today.

Another update

We were moved to the Pediatric wing yesterday (good), and Levi is off of all assistance (IV, canula, etc.) and just has one monitor on his little foot. There's a chance they'd send us home today, but I'm kind of leaning toward staying another night so they can monitor his pulse-ox, which dipped a few times last night. We're doing well!

Pictures from this week

Levi on Monday night in the PICU


Levi today


Levi leaving the PICU today (going to Pediatric wing)


Doesn't he look so cute leaving the ICU today? Levi is doing wonderfully and looks like himself again. He is nursing well but we still have to be sure to "suction" him before he eats because he's still quite congested.