Go Tigers!

Lilliana is ready for Daddy's banquet



look at all that beautiful BLUE!



watching the game with Nana



the following morning, chillin with Daddy


waiting on Mom and Dad to leave


Well, even though the Tiger's lost tonight to UT we are a true blue family through and through so we are still very proud of our Tiger's. They played a great game and I wish we had been there. Unfortunately Clay had his big dealer's banquet this weekend so that is where we were during the game. My mom came down to the Westin where we were staying to watch Lilliana while we were at the dinner and then she left during half-time so she wouldn't get stuck in traffic. We were able to watch the game and Lilliana stayed up the entire time! She is becoming such a night owl. It is killing me :) I would like to be in bed around 10:00 at the latest but lately I am struggling to get her in the bed at night. She is just exhausted but she is fighting sleep. I am still having a difficult time allowing her to cry so it takes multiple attempts to get her to bed at night. I don't mind though because she won't be small forever and I am just such a push-over. I don't blame anyone but myself for this but I just love her so much.

New Pics

Baby Shower

beautiful Pi Phi's



Lilliana with one of my best friend's Angie



ready for the shower


Today, Lilliana went with me to her first baby shower for one of my friends from college. She was so good and slept the entire time thanks to my friend Lauren who held her while we were there. My friend Tai is expecting a little girl and I wish her the best of luck. I have informed her how wonderful motherhood is and told her to call me with any questions. I know she is going to make a wonderful mom, good luck Tai and enjoy every minute of it :)

8 things

Ok so I got tagged by Tricia to share 8 things about Lilliana:




1. She is truly a miracle baby. After losing Cooper in October of 2006 and then having a difficult pregnancy with her she stayed in her mommy for 36 weeks 1 day. I thank the Good Lord above and my wonderful OB, Dr. Williams for working so hard to keep her in there. :)



2. It was completely worth every minute. When I was pregnant with her I would say every time I went into the hospital or had continual contractions that I would never do this again but my feelings have changed. Having her in my life has completely transformed our lives and I would do it all over again 10 fold to experience the joy she has brought to my life.



3. She is definitely a mommy's girl but her eye's really light up, along with her fathers, when he comes home.



4. She has her mommy's personality (attitude)! We realized this pretty early on as her first 2 days in the NICU each time we would go to see her, we would receive a bad report from her nurses. They would tell us that she had an attitude and that she had been a little grumpy :) It wasn't until Saturday evening that her nurse told us what a good baby she was and how cute she was!

5. She was born with a head full of hair and still has almost all of it. I just love her hair, and she has been called Woodstock since birth because it sticks up all over the place after her bath and when she wakes-up in the morning. It is one of my favorite parts of her :)

6. She has just recently started sucking on her hand. It is usually her entire fist, not just her thumb or fingers but the whole fist. I think it is just the cutest thing ever and I try to get it on videotape all the time.

7. Clay and I could just sit and stare at her all day long. She is such a precious gift and I pray over her every night when she is going to bed and each time she wakes me up in the middle of the night. Even though I am exhausted from waking up still every 3 hours at night to nurse I wouldn't give it up for the world. I just love her so much and could hold her all day long.

8. She is pretty rotten. I can only blame myself for this and I figured it would be this way. I just feel like we wanted her for so long and struggled so much to get her here that I would be a complete push over. There are times that I just like to call her "loved" instead of rotten but we all know the truth. I just can't get enough of her and thanks God for her everyday!

2 month check-up

Well today we went for Lilliana's 2 month check-up and immunizations. I can't believe she is already 2 months old! She is growing up so fast. She had to get 3 shot's today and the oral rotavirus. She did pretty good with them as I gave her Tylenol before we left the house and then every 4 hours for the next 24 hours. She was kinda needy and wanted to be held a lot but that was ok with me :) I did better this time also, as there were not as many tears shed as the first shot. Now for her stats, she weighed in at 10 pounds which is in the 50% head circumference was 38 cm 25% and length was 20 3/4 inches 25%. Dr. Kloek was impressed with her and said that she looked great. He called her a petite little thing even though we think she is such a little chunker :) We are supposed to go back on March 1st for her 2nd synagis shot and then again on March 31 then we should hopefully be done for a while.

First time to visit brother Cooper

Today after we had our professional pictures made we decided to take Lilliana by the cemetary to see her brother Cooper. We did not purposely dress in black it was for our pictures. We are very thankful for the way things happened with Cooper and feel that God has truely blessed us with both of our children.

Professional Pics

Today Clay and I had professional pics made with Lilliana. We had an appointment with a lady from Collierville at 11:00 and at 9:30 when we were walking out of the door to head to Collierville, she cancelled on us and told me that she would not be rescheduling. Needless to say, I was livid. I had woken up at the crack of dawn to get myself ready prior to waking up Lilliana to feed her and bathe her. I think the thing that made me so mad was that I spoke with this photographer in December to schedule Lilliana's sitting and she told me that she was off the month of January and that the earliest we could set up a time was February. I really wanted her pics made earlier than that but seeing as she was recommended to us I decided to wait until she could fit us in. Well, after receiving her message I started to look for someone else who could complete her pics, preferably today. I found the website of a sweet lady online and called her around 10:00 and thankfully she had a cancellation at 12:30 so she was able to work us in. Her name is Michelle East and she is wonderful! I can't say enough wonderful things about her and I am so excited to see the pics when they are done. You can visit her website at www.michelleeastphotography.com . She was so professional and has such a cute studio just inside of Germantown. I highly recommend her to anyone in the Memphis area who wants some professional pics done :)

Eye infections, tornados, hot water tank trouble, oh my!

Well last week was somewhat of a crazy week. Clay left to go out of town on Monday the 4th and was not due to come back until the 6th. My mom was planning on staying with me at night to help out so I wasn't that worried about him being gone. On Monday when I was taking a shower and bathing Lilliana I noticed that the hot water was running out very quickly and I got worried that our hot water tank was trying to go out. When we bought our home, that was the only appliance the inspector noted was older then the rest and would possibly need to be replaced soon. I called one of my dad's old friends who was going to come over and look at it but within about 3 hours everything seemed to be back to normal so I am not sure what was going on.



Then when we woke up on Tuesday morning I noticed that Lilliana's eye was crusted over and kept watering. I called the pediatrician's office around 9:00 and at 12:30 I still had not heard back from them. I started to get frustrated because Lillie was just not acting right. She did not look like she was feeling well and so I decided to take her temperature. Well, after getting an axillary temp of 98.0 I proceeded to take a rectal temp because I just didn't trust the previous results. Well, upon taking a rectal temp I got a result of 100.2. I know that is not very high at all but Lillie is only 7 1/2 weeks old so I kinda freaked out. Ya see, the nurse in me knows that if a child under the age of 8 weeks gets a fever they are supposed to have a full septic work-up which would include an ER trip and and lumbar puncture! I called Clay crying to tell him, which completely got him worked up as he was sitting in meetings in Dallas, TX and couldn't do anything to help. I decided to call the doctor back and see if I should come in so this time I pushed the button to make an appointment so that I could speak with someone. Of course they suggested that I come in and I asked if I could go to the well baby room, even though I already knew the answer to that one! Well to no surprise they said no, and so I proceeded to tell her that it wasn't worth me to come in during RSV and Flu season and risk my baby contracting either one of those viruses. I started to cry on the phone and she probably thought I was crazy so she told me we could wait in the hospital lobby and that they would come out and get me when the doctor was ready so I agreed to come in. We were unable to get in with the pediatrician Lillie normally sees because he was not at the office that day so we saw Dr. Jones. I told him about her slight fever earlier in the day and that I had given her a dose of Tylenol and I got a slight scolding for doing so. He knew I was aware of protocol for infant's with a fever and told me that they don't always require a septic work-up especially since she is so close to 8 weeks. He was very nice about it but told me that they would have liked to know if her fever would have risen any more. He had figured out that I was a nurse after looking through her chart and asked where I worked at LeBonehur. After I told him the PICU her infromed me that the children I see are worst case senario and that he thought Lilliana looked great. He listened to her lungs and said they sounded clear which was a huge relief. I told him I had not gotten the stethescope out at home yet and I was trying to be the mom. :) He sent me home with a prescription for some eye drops but I ended up not having to get them filled because her eye looked much better the following day. He was wonderful and I figure there is now a big "H" on my chart for hypochondriac!



After all those fiascals you would think things would get better but on Tuesday night there were some terrible tornados headed for our area that actually caused a lot of damage in Memphis and Jackson, TN. It was pretty scary as I was here by myself for the first round of them but, I just took Lillie and Maggie into the hallway and we covered ourselves with blankets and pillows. I just kept praying the whole time that things would be ok and that He would shield us from the storms and thankfully we were alright.



Needless to say we were so greatful when Clay returned late Wednesday and brought with him nice weather, warm water and a happy healthy baby :) It is amazing how things turned around when he got back in town. I guess we were just all really missing our Daddy and trying anything in our power to keep him home!

No more big girl bed

That means crib to Lilliana. I started placing her in her crib for naps on Saturday and then she slept in there on Sunday night without much difficulty. That is, she slept well but mommy did not as I was so worried about her and I was used to being able to just reach over into her 'moses basket' to check on her but now I had to get up and go across the hallway. Anyways, last night when Clay was coming to bed he checked on her around 1:30 and she was resting comfortably and then aroung 3:30 I woke up to check on her and found her swaddled tight in her blanket but she had wiggled her way down into it and it was covering her entire face. Well the PICU nurse and mother in me panicked and immediately ripped the covers off of her which woke her up to my relief. I picked her up and decided to go ahead and nurse her since she was awake but could not stop thanking God for keeping her safe. I just kept thinking what could have happened if I hadn't woken up. I am sure her big brother Cooper along with our Heavenly Father was watching out for her and I am so greatful. Since then she has been back in her 'moses basket' next to our bed and I have slept much better. :)

Today Lilliana also had her first playdate with her friend Palmer. Well actually the girls slept most of the time but it was nice to be able to visit with my friend Tracy and have some grown-up conversation. We went out for lunch at McAllister's after the girls naps and then headed home. This is the first time Lilliana has been out to a restaurant like this and she slept the whole time. I was so proud of her she was so good in her carseat. Daddy arrived home soon after we did and we were able to spend some time catching up and loving on Lilliana. Then I got a phone call from the pediatrician's office asking me when I was coming in to get Lilliana's synergist shot. This is the shot to help prevent her from getting RSV. I told the office I wasn't aware she was approved for this as her pediatrician told me he was going to try and get her approved but thought the chance was slim. I called our insurance company to double check she was approved and then we packed up and headed into the office to recieve her shot. To say it was a traumatic experience for both of us is putting it lightly. You would think since I am a pediatric nurse it would not bother me, but to hear my baby scream like that brought tears to my eyes. I felt so bad for her and just held her and then nursed her again while we were waiting the 20 minutes you are supposed to, while observing her for any adverse reactions. By the way, they had to weigh her while we were there to make sure they gave her the correct dose and she weighed in at a whopping 9 lb 7 oz! Can you believe that. She was 5 lb 6 oz at birth just 7 weeks ago! She is such a little chunky monkey and I guess if there were any doubts whether she was getting enough to eat they were disproved after that sort of weight gain. I can't believe how fast she is growing up :)

Priceless!

Our DAILY portion insurance didn't cover for terbutaline pump $ 70.50



Package of soothie pacifiers $ 3.99



Our out of pocket max, we met during pregnancy with Lilliana $ 3,500.00



Cost of Lilliana's 1 week NICU stay $32,000.00



Being a mommy and daddy to a healthy little girl. The amount of joy that she has brought to our lives in such a short amount of time, and spending every waking moment doting on her and loving her. $ PRICELESS

Night out!

Well, tonight Clay and I decided to get out and go to our neighborhood progressive dinner party. Nana came over and watched Lilliana while we were there. It was really hard for me to leave even though we were just down the street and were only gone about 2 1/2 hours. That is also the longest amount of time I have been away from her so it made it more difficult. I fed her around 7:00 and then my mom was kicking us out of the door by 7:30. I was trying to explain to her that I usually rock Lilliana starting around 8:00 for at least 30 minutes then lay her down and don't allow her to fuss more than 10 minutes and if she starts to scream then to just get her up because she is not going to stop. My mom looked at me like I was crazy and asked if I thought she had forgotten how to care for a baby. :) I called to check on her around 9:00 and of course she was not asleep. This is probably our most problematic time, from 8:00 - 10:00. Clay says she just wants to be around us, like Maggie does because if I keep her in the living room with us she is just a doll. Usually after feeding her again at 10:00 she will go down much easier but it just depends. Again, we are going to work on this this weekend and hopefully we will see some results.

6 weeks already!

Well today I had my 6 week check-up with my OB. I brought Lilliana with me and they were very glad to see our miracle baby. Today, Lilliana is also 6 weeks old! I can't believe it has been that long already. She is such a joy and I just love her more than I ever thought possible. She is getting so big and I think her eyes are beginning to get more blue. Her daddy has beautiful big blue eyes but mommy has brown eyes so I am not sure who she is going to favor yet. She has started a new habit that is mostly my fault. She really isn't enjoying sleeping in her bed anymore. I guess this started last week when I thought her belly was hurting her and that she possibly had colic but now I am thinking she is just a little rotten :) Twice this week she has fallen asleep on Daddy's chest at night and now doesn't like napping in her bed either. She just sleeps so much better when she is in my arms. I was telling my mom about this and she said if she starts to cry, when in her bed, and then upon picking up immediately stops and falls asleep she is obviously tired and just fighting sleep. This is exactly what she does. I just hate to listen to her cry. It just breaks my heart and is comforting to know that when I pick her up she stops crying. She knows her mother is a pushover and she is definately working her charm! We plan to work on it more this weekend when Clay will be home more so we will just see what happens.

Clay and I went to get ice cream
the other night and even though
we didn't even get out of the car
I guess I thought Lilliana needed
to stay toasty warm!


Practicing our tummy time


I caught her smiling at her Daddy!




Well Lilliana and I continue to do well. She is growing like a weed. When I weighed her on Friday she was up to almost 8 pounds! I guess, there is no doubt that she is getting enough to eat. Lately we have had a few problems with either colic, or some of the things I am eating are starting to hurt her belly. I have decided to stay away from spicy foods and things that may hurt her belly so we will just see if that solves the problem. On Saturday night she cried for almost 4 hours off and on and I just could not calm her. After the first hour I would just cry right along with her as I felt so bad for her that I couldn't calm her. Usually, all I have to do is pick her up and hold her if she is crying but nothing was working that night. She kept drawing her little legs up and had not pooped all day so it could have been a combination of it all. Finally around midnight she fell asleep on her daddy's chest on the couch were she slept for the night. We tried laying her down in her bed around 2:00 but she immediately woke up and started screaming so we decided it wasn't worth it. Then when she woke up on Sunday she was a new woman so we will just have to see. I am praying that it is not colic and that I just ate something that didn't agree with her. On Sunday afternoon, I decided to get out for an hour or so and run to the mall and left Lilliana with Clay. Shortly after I left I recieved a text message saying that he thought she was feeling better as she unloaded her 2 days worth of poop on him! That's my girl :) She continues to be such a joy and I just love every minute I have with her.

Lilliana is telling me to quit taking pics of her
and feed her already

So Lilliana and I are doing great. I am impressed with how well she is taking to her schedule and she is still nursing like a champ. Clay did give her a bottle of pumped milk the other day and she took it pretty well. It took her forever to take the first 15 cc's but then she took the last without a problem. I was glad that she didn't completely refuse the bottle from Clay, and we will probably give her one every couple weeks to make sure she doesn't refuse it when it's time for me to go back to work. Wednesday was her official due date and on Thursday she turned 4 weeks old! I can't believe she is that old already. I know they say time really goes by quickly especially when they are young so I am trying to cherish every moment I have with her.


Clay and I weighed her last night and I can't believe that she is weighing in at 7 pounds 3 ounces! That is almost a 2 pound weight gain in a month. I am so impressed with her. She is finally fitting into most of her newborn clothes and getting pretty chunky, according to my standards :)


Today one of my friends from nursing school came over to see Lilliana and she stayed awake the entire time. I was so excited as usually, she seems to want to sleep when company comes to see her. We are working on finding time to get some professional pictures made of us with a lady from Collierville and hope to have that done in the next few weeks.

She is growing so fast!

Lilliana in one of her new bow's!



Tonight we placed Lilliana on the scales and she is weighing approximately 6 pounds 6 ounces! I knew she was growing as she has grown out of most of her preemie clothes by now. What kills me is that most babies are her size when they are born if not bigger and I think she is just HUGE. We are still working on our schedule but so far things are going great. For the last 2 nights after waking at 10:00 pm for feeding, she has not woken back up until between 3:00 - 3:30 to feed again, and then up for the day around 7:00. She is such a good baby and I just love her so much. Today, Lillie and I got out with my mom to go to my work so I could add her to my insurance and then we ran by Little Lambs and Ivy so I could buy her some more bows. Actually, Lillie stayed in the car with her Nana the whole time while I ran into work and the store but she was able to leave the house!

New Years Eve

Since the weather in Memphis today was so nice, Lilliana and I decided that we would go for our first stroll while Daddy was at work. It was so nice to be able to get out and enjoy the nice weather, and it was so wonderful to be strolling a baby around the block. :) I just feel so blessed to have Lilliana here with us and I still feel that it is not real sometimes. So far, Lilliana is sleeping pretty well and next week we are going to start working on a schedule, but she is already eating about every 3 hours around the clock, so I feel we are doing well. Nursing is still going great and we plan to try a bottle again soon. I want her to be able to take one incase Clay and I have somewhere to be when it is time for a feeding and for when I go back to work. As of right now, I plan to go back either part-time or PRN but hopefully it won't be until around April so I am trying not to think about that right now. Even though I plan to be in the bed before midnight tonight, we wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and we look forward to spending 2008 as a family of 3!

Christmas Baby

Well yesterday we celebrated Lilliana's first Christmas Eve and today her first Christmas. We feel so blessed to have her home with us healthy and happy. We decided that with the cold weather and since Lilliana is still so young that we would stay put this year for Christmas. Our families are going to come over to our house to see us and bring us some yummy Christmas food. We are just hanging out at the house taking a million pics of our sweet girl and just enjoying her every minute. When I look back on how much our lives have changed over the last 2 years I am amazed. This time last year was so depressing and I just felt like things would never get better but God had a plan for us that we were unaware of at that time. I can't thank God enough for Lilliana's life and the joy she has already brought into our lives.

First Doctor Appointment

Well today was Lilliana's first appoitment with the Pediatrician. I was so nervous taking her there as it is RSV season and the doctor's office is not the place to be with a premature infant in the winter time. When we first got there I had Clay wait with Lilliana in the lobby of the hospital while I went into the office and filled out the paperwork. Then they sent us to the well baby room while we waited for the doctor. We kept Lilliana in her carrier until they placed us in her room and then I had to strip her down, which she didn't enjoy, to go and weigh her. Well, according to their scales she weighs 5 pounds 12 ounces! I think that may be off a little bit considering she was just over birth weight before leaving the NICU yesterday but who knows. At least we know she is gaining.

The first picture was when we were getting ready to leave the doctor's office and she was ready to eat and not happy. A paci did the job for the ride home:) The second pic is what Lilliana looked like until we saw the doctor. Not only did she stay covered the whole time but when we arrived back home I washed everything that came with us to the doctor. You can never be too cautious especially when your mommy is a crazy PICU nurse! :)

We are out of here!

Well this morning when we arrived in the NICU, Lilliana's nurse met us at the door and said "are you ready to go home with her?" We were so excited but a little bit unprepared, as when I called this morning they were not for sure yet. I did not bring her coming home outfit and Daddy still had not installed the carseat. Granted, it was sitting in the car but not properly installed yet. After speaking with her nurse, I informed her that I would like to try and nurse Lilliana upon arriving home and she said we could meet with lactation consultant during her next feeding time which will be around 12:30. After that we will do all of her discharge planning and be on our way.

So after feeding Lilliana this morning we left to go complete some last minute things before she came home. I went to the house and did some last minute disinfecting and Daddy went to get a hair-cut and installed the car seat. Then it was time to go get our new addition. Upon arrival Lilliana was just starting to stir, so we paged the LC and she met us there to see if Lilliana would latch on, and did she ever. She is a nursing champ and I am just feeling so blessed. This is something that I have prayed about since learning we were pregnant again as I feel very strong about nursing. I really do believe that babies were meant to be breastfed so I am glad that Lilliana enjoys it so much. Anyways, even the LC was impressed and after a good feeding and some paperwork we were out the door. We said our good byes to everyone in the NICU along with those in L & D and they all just thought she looked just precious in her coming home outfit, as do we. Daddy got her strapped in her seat and off we went with Daddy driving more cautious than ever!

Honest weight gain!

Well tonight when we arrived for the evening visitation Lilliana's favorite night nurse was taking care of her. She decided we would go ahead and weigh her while I was there so I could see if she had gained weight. Well, I am glad to say that she now weighs 5 pounds 6.4 ounces, so we are actually more than birth weight! Yay, it looks like tomorrow may be the day. I also got to give Lilliana her first bath by mommy. She was not a happy camper at first but when I started to wash that head full of hair she just seemed in heaven. It was such a special time and I was just giddy upon leaving the NICU. I plan to call in the morning to see if tomorrow will be the day.