One Of Those Moments That Makes You Smile...

Something Bethani told me yesterday: 

"Mommy, the Bible says that Jesus was in Bethany. I love that!".

"Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper," ~Matthew 26:6

Thanksgiving 2008

... thy children like olive plants round about thy table. ~Psalm 128:3

My Brother, My Protector

And so it begins :).

Abbi has found her fist. This is a good thing because it is her first step to self-calming. On the other hand this is a not-so-good-thing because it has caused Andrew's blood pressure to sky rocket ;)! He thinks she's biting herself and every time he catches her doing it I hear, "No! No Baby!!! No!", with a tone somewhere between concern and sheer panic in his voice.

It is really quite cute :).

Happy Little Abbi

I was finally able to catch Abbi's big grin on camera :)...


She continues to gain weight very slowly, but there is nothing wrong with her developmentally! She's been smiling for weeks and yesterday she turned over from her front to her back for the first (...and second...and third...etc. ) time :).

She's a sweetheart :)...

Books and Babies...

Her favorite things :)...

Yet Another Great Update on Abbi!

Well, it wasn't all in my head. Abbi is doing great! We took her in to get her weighed yesterday and after almost two weeks of merely maintaining her weight she gained four ounces in 48 hours! The pediatrician and lactation consultant had said they would be happy with an ounce or two! When the pediatrician came in to check on her all he could say was, "Wow. That's wonderful! Wow..." over and over :). I'm taking Fenugreek, eating a ton of oatmeal, drinking a lot of water, and nursing...nursing...nursing..., does anyone have any other suggestions? They both noticed that she was a much calmer, more content little girl. She's still not having as many messy diapers a day as I think she "should", but at least she's having them! And her little tummy isn't hurting like it was. She hasn't screamed for a few days now, though she still has her occasional fussy times like all new babies. I am so thankful that we have got a plan and it's working, praise the Lord! She's sleeping peacefully in my lap right now :).

We got our first "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" comment the other day at the grocery store, and we only have five! We don't have cable and it has been a while since I've seen the one episode I've ever seen so I pulled up some clips online to see who we were bringing to the mind of the cashier. Bri and I got a kick out of a few things that we've never seen anyone else do like we do, for instance when they pulled a step stool out of their van for the little ones to get in. Even I need to use the stool or get a hand from Lee to get into our 15 passenger van. For the most part though I saw NO correlation whatsoever. First of all, I've got it easy comparatively!!! Mine come one at a time and I have big girls (11 and almost 7) to help! Second, Lee and I don't talk to each other in the midst of our worst disagreements with the tone they seem to do on a regular basis! They do appear to love each other in a way, but the seemingly constant animosity would drive me insane! Whew! I loved the clip where she put one boy in time-out and a minute later she looks down with an adoring grin at one of her little ones and says, "Hello", then realizes it is the offender who should be in time out ;). It was interesting anyway :).

I'll keep you updated on Abbi's progress and maybe I'll get some other blogging done, like her birth story, now that the decibel level has gone down a little bit around here :). 

Another Update on Abbi!

Abbi is doing great and has been for the last 30'ish hours! When we took her into the pediatrician I mentioned to him that I was still really worried about the lack of messy diapers, and then the nurse weighed her and she hadn't gained anything in over a week and I became really worried. We have never had that happen before. Of course the pediatrician was concerned as well and went to see if the lactation consultant could see us. Come to find, Abbi is a "lazy nurser with a lazy latch". She was getting just enough to sustain her, but not enough to satisfy her and give her something to grow on. And because she wasn't nursing well (she was nursing a lot time-wise, just not well) my body wasn't producing well. The lactation consultant helped me figure out what I needed to do to help her latch properly and I got some herbs yesterday to help with production. I also nursed her whenever she was awake yesterday whether she was asking or not. Within hours she was a whole new baby. She hasn't had a crying fit since yesterday afternoon. She has had TWO messy diapers just today. We'll take her back tomorrow morning to get her weighed again, if everything is going well she should have gained an ounce or two. The lactation consultant also said that once we get things "moving along" more consistently in her tummy the tummy issues will probably clear up (and it does appear to have already!). 

Thank you so much for your prayers! God is good :)!!!