Merry Christmas 2012

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone for another year. 2013 is only a few short days away.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were jam packed with busyness. On December 17 Harrison had a Christmas Program at pre-school. It was shorter than in years past, but still adorable. I am without photos as Harrison took stage fright immediately upon entering the church and sat on his teacher's lap the entire program.

I kept Harrison home a lot of days this month. I am getting the hang of this new two child world of ours and it doesn't seem nearly as hard to please everyone as it did in the early weeks. On the days I don't keep him home (like today) I found myself staring at the shelf of toys... It's like I don't know what to do with the silence when Miles is napping.

Last Saturday was the longest stretch without Miles since he was born, 4 hours. I had the house to myself and I about went crazy missing the boy. I tried to enjoy my time to myself, took a bubble bath, painted my nails (first time in two months)...but my mind was consumed wanting to snuggle with him. This was just a taste of how it's going to feel when I return to work. I am hoping I am so busy that I won't have time to miss him.

The days just before Christmas Harrison and I did a lot of baking and a lot of sprinkling. On December 23 we went to Grandma's house and had a blast with cookie decorating and enjoyed a lot of cookie tasting.

Harrison helped me open up a early gift to me from Grandma and Grandpa. This is the framed print of the photo that won the Healing Scape's Photographer Contest back in May. It looks great in our living room and will look amazing in the entry way of our new home.

Christmas Eve Harrison put out carrots for the reindeer and we went to the LaCrosse Rotary Holiday lights.  I think his favorite part may have been to ride in the front seat of the car.

While we were gone the reindeer gobbled up the carrots and filled our stockings. We all got new pajamas and some other goodies. Next it was time to set out milk and cookies for Santa.

At Miles 3:30 am Miles feeding I caught Harrison crawling down the stairs. He told me that he was looking for his plug...I think he was really looking to see if Santa came yet. This year he could verbalize Santa was going to come to his house because he was good and land on the roof with his reindeer, leave presents and eat milk and cookies. I think we had the best behaved kid for the month of December knowing if he wasn't good Santa wouldn't be bringing him any presents. It's sad to think there will only be Santa MAGIC in his life for the next 4-5 years. Kids aren't allowed to be kids anymore and the MAGIC of Santa fizzles out at 7-8 years old.


When morning came Harrison was excited to see all the presents. We gathered in the living room and began present opening. Miles was fast asleep in our bed dreaming of warm bottles and snuggles.

A few things Harrison got were the Jake & The Never Land pirate ship and telescope. cozy coupe shopping cart, digital camera Melissa & Doug ice cream and cutting set, Red Rover and Sneaky Squirrel game, Hot Wheels Car Wash, fishing game, hockey set, Fisher Price Wheelies/Ramp, movies, books, Spider Man sleeping bag, trucks, Thomas the Train remote control, tickets to MOA Nickelodeon to ride rides, Hot Wheel ramps, etc. Miles got Disney Train. Dino Ball Popper, Taggy the Dog, and several rattles and developmental toys along with some clothes.

Mid-Morning we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Harrison was in a desperate need of a nap and rested up while Miles mingled.

We attempted family photos this year even though I forgot the tripod and remote for the camera at home. You can see a part of every ones face, so we will count these as a success.

Since we were outside freezing already---why not have little fun...

 

 

Then we headed back inside to enjoy some Miles smiles.

 



Harrison couldn't wait to play with his new Hot Wheels Car Wash. This was my favorite toy to play with of my brothers growing up, hence the reason it was on Santa's list this year.

 

 

 



Christmas is such a special time of year no matter where you. Three years ago we spent our Christmas in the NICU. Need a walk down memory lane? That can be found HERE, There are no words for the joy in our lives right now, it feels like we are living a dream. It truly is a magical time of year.

 

Merry Christmas from the Kelley's

 

Christmas Card 2012

 

I fully apologize if you didn't get a Christmas card this year. I didn't order nearly enough. I promise to order more next year.

 

Please accept this virtual version.

 

I love this design, it doesn't shout just Christmas but simply celebrates life.

 

 

 

 

The Kelley Family 2012

 

FRONT:

BACK:



 

 

iphone photo dump #4

It's that time again for another dump...

Enjoy the latest iphone captures:

 

Miles @ Urgent Care

I debated all day if we should take him in...so at 5pm I decided to call to see the wait time was at are our local urgent care.

CLOSED. Seriously an urgent care that closes at 5? For real?


More debating. Finally by 6 I had this feeling we needed to take him in. I was nearly in a panic. I mean, Harrison had EVERY sickness as a infant, but never sounded like this. I called the boys Auntie Potter and she arrived as we were packing up the diaper bag. She's such a life saver for our family, I don't know how we would function without her. Auntie stayed with Harrison and Doug and I drove to the nearest Urgent care about 35 miles from home.

It all started 3 days ago... At first no matter what I did I couldn't console Miles, he was fussy and just plain unhappy. I texted Doug while he was at work that night saying, "I don't know what is wrong with this kid." That evening he had two huge spit ups. In chatting with my mom on the phone that night as well, we chalked all this up to being just a bad day.

The next morning he woke up a little congested,but not bad and his mood, well wasn't back to normal, but not as inconsolable as the day before.

Today he woke up unable to cry and coughing. What could come out was a muffled grunt. I didn't know a baby could lose their cry. His chest rattled around with congestion and his whimpers pulled at every single heart string. He had me bawling. My heart ached for his discomfort. I called Doug and then we called his doctor. The nurse on the end of the line said using a humidifier might help and to bring him into urgent care if he had a fever or if we really thought he needed to be seen.

I googled everything online today. Most resources said to bring an infant in even without a fever if they are under the age of 3 months.

I tried steam in the shower to help loosen the chest. Harrison asked what we were doing and I said, "Miles is sick." Harrison's reply, "Take him to doctor,"

I took a three year old's advice and acted on it.

We arrived at urgent care about 7pm. The approximate wait time was 1 hr. After we met with the urgent care nurse we saw a physician within 10 minutes, the total wait time was about 20 minutes.

No fever, temp 98 degrees
Oxygen 94 %
Weight 11 lbs

The good news, this appears and maybe only viral at this time. His lungs are clear. What we have been hearing is the congestion in his throat. It's laryngitis. (I didn't even know babies could get this). The doctor was cautious in saying, "This maybe the tip of the iceberg, I might see you back here in the next 2-3 days."

Ugh... This is what I was afraid of, this is why we were there tonight. I shared the concern with ending up in the ER on Christmas Day with him. The doctor gave us urgent care hours for this weekend and on Monday they are open 7 am to 5pm.

For now it's humidifiers and frequent feedings. Hoping for a better tomorrow and not another trip to urgent care.

On our drive home tonight I turned to Doug and said, "All I want for Christmas is two healthy children."

More tears, feel better.

 

 

Sleep tight my Mr. Miles

 

 



 

Flour, Sugar & Love

 

Cookie Memory 2012

 

 

Not enough words to describe how much I love this photo.

 

 

 

 

First Snow Storm of 2012

You have to get the first time they are all bundled up like marshmallows ready to play in the first fallen snow of the season...

The first flakes of the year flew on December 9th. I'm not sure how many inches we got from this storm, but it was enough for Harrison and Doug to build a snowman. I was a little belated getting photos of the snowman but I did however capture of few shots of the snowman being tackled by Harrison before the he melted away.

But don't worry, it will be a white Christmas; it's blizzarding right now. Chance of snow = 100%

The dogs enjoyed this white fluffy stuff too:

 

Miles @ 2 Months

I'm a few days late with this post, or even a little later than that since it's taken me four days to have time to finish this entry! I've been playing catch-up with everything around here. The good thing? Christmas cards and thank yous sent out, Christmas shopping done, cookies baked and decorated, oh and a non-crying capture of Miles...SUCCESS!

 

 

 

I remember saying in his ONE MONTH post, how much more planned I would be in his second month post. The big fat truth? I lied. So here is another unorganized monthly update, enjoy.

 

 

Sleep: We are getting more sleep. Miles usually has his last feeding for the night between 10-10:30 and he wakes at about 3am and 6 am for feedings. Though most recently the 6 am feedings are turning into more like 7 am feedings (yeah). The first night he sleeps through the night we will have a party.

 

As far as day time sleeping...he still sleeps a lot. He is most alert and awake from anywhere between 7ish in th evening to about 11 PM, but not for the that entire period of time. His longest stretch of awake without a cat-nap is about an hour and a half, but I say that now and he gave me a good 3 hours yesterday evening of total wide eyed-alert. Just when you think you just got him figured out right?

 

Mom is napping. It took me six weeks to finally start napping. Now I only wonder how I survived those very first weeks. I am beginning to wonder how I will cope when I return to work without my afternoon ZZZs. For now, I am enjoy my guilt free afternoon sleep.

 

Feeding: He is guzzling 4 ounce bottles these days. Typical feedings are 3-5 hours apart, but in the evenings he cluster feeds from about 5-8ish. I am sure he is well over ten pounds by now. Sadly I packed away most of newborn sized clothing last weekend. He is officially sized 0-3 months.

 

I exclusively breast fed Miles through the 6th week, but when he began to eat 3, 4 ounce bottles between 5-8pm one person can only provide so much. I felt like I failed. I remember this same feeling I had with Harrison. I still pump 3-4 times a day and nurse him at night and in the early morning so on a typical day he has 1-2 bottles of formula. I am hoping this time around I can last longer providing breast milk. With Harrison I stopped pumping and he immediately caught every germ. The hardest part of breast feeding will be returning to work for this is when the supply usually dramatically drops off from #1 Not being with your baby #2 Stress at work and #3 Not finding enough time to pump often enough. For anyone who has breast fed before, this is a FULL time job.

 

Personality: He's a sleeper. The evenings when he is most alert he enjoys sitting in his bumbo chair being talked to or being carried around the house (vacuuming is a favorite chore of his). He likes action so he needs to be held facing outward for observation. We also use the bouncer quite often.  He isn't a fan of tummy time and I don't know any two month olds that are...We use the boppy pillow under him while he is on his belly and he tolerates that much better. And as far as a swing update, he still doesn't like it. Overall his temper and mood have improved immensely in the last few weeks. He has even started to coo a bit (something Harrison didn't do until he was 4 months old). By no means would I label this guy as an easy baby, but he is taking it a little easier on his mom and dad these days and I will take that.

 

Appearance: He is our little old man. He's still got some forehead man wrinkles and his man hair tuff near the bottom of his neck. I was shopping yesterday (a complete surprise I know) and the check out clerk said, "Now isn't he the cutest looking little old man." I guess it's a preview of what he'll look like in 70+ years.

 

The cradle cap and baby acne is cleared up since last month. Believe it or not but his hair has grown in more and has gotten a bit lighter in color. His eyes have lightened as well to a blue that I'll expect him to keep like his big brother, though we won't know his true eye color until he is about 9-10 months old.

 

He has my dimple, he has my ears. It's the little things you notice. With his spontaneous smiles you can capture the right sided dimple. I only have one, he only has one, both on the right side. The many times you feed him a day you can't help but notice the details, like his ears that are curved and unattached, not like his brother. I seem to notice something new everyday.

 

Size: He's definitely grown. Man the car seat is heavy. Doug made a comment walking into the store (shopping again? NO WAY!) "Miles, what the heck happened?" as Doug hung the car seat a little lower on our way in. Like I said I guess 10-12 lbs at least. He's too long to nurse between the car seats in the back of the car. He's heavy enough to need a pillow propped under your arm when being fed. He seems a little disproportional, but seriously what kid is perfectly the same size from head to toe? His upper boy is longer, he has long arms and I call his hands catcher mitts. Most clothes fit him snug or just to a T on the top and he drowns in pants. I am always rolling them or picking out a size smaller for the bottom. This is why I am such a big fan on one piece clothing, it seems to fit him the best and doesn't ride up or fall off. We also transitioned from size newborn diapers to size one.

 

And the rest of the family...

 

Big Brother Harrison: Harrison loves to be a big brother. The phase most heard in the house? "I do it." From changing his diapers, to bathing, feeding and carrying Miles, Harrison wants to help. I honestly couldn't have imagined a smoother transition to Miles. There isn't jealousy (not yet anyways). Just this morning I hopped out of the shower and heard Miles crying out. I open the door to find Harrison petting his head saying, "Don't cry." Harrison eventually made his way to the bathroom to tell me, "Miles hungry." What's even better is all the interaction they have now. Since Miles can sit up in the bumbo now, we include him in nightly activities etc. The other night we were coloring and when Harrison finished he said, "Look Momma, Look Miles, picture for daddy." He very much includes him in everything and likes people to know that this is his brother and he is a nice baby. Talk about melt your heart moments everyday.

 

Mommy: Is enjoying having a baby again. Last night as I was picking up the living room I was moving Miles bouncer and stopped to take in for a minute how blessed we are to get to do this a second time. Sometimes it still doesn't feel real to me.

 

I can't believe how fast 8 weeks has gone by. I am taking in every moment of these last 4 weeks I have at home with him. I step foot back in to the office on January 7th. Miles doesn't start daycare until February 11, which means we had to find daycare for 5 weeks until this opening. My mom is taking the first week, his Auntie Potter the second week. Doug the third week, me the fourth week and Doug again for the 5th week. Knowing he will still be at home those 5 weeks is good feeling. Its not that I don't trust the center, but there is something to be said for getting extra 1:1 and stay away from the germs a little longer. Within the first month of daycare Harrison started to get sick all the time. It wasn't until he was 2.5 years old before we could make it more than a week without catching something. It makes me very nervous about croup and RSV, both of which Harrison had and my memory paints a vivid reminder of those sicknesses. I asked at Miles 6 week appointment if he could get the RSV vaccine, but at 35 weeks it's too close to term birth that insurance won't pay the cost and we can't afford the $1,000 vaccine without insurance.

 

Daddy: Has been busy at work. For those that have husbands in retail management, my deepest sympathy. The holidays will soon be over and life can resume as normal. The sad thing with the holidays it's more the presents than it is to celebrate the real meaning or spend time with your family. I sometimes think Christmas would be better without any presents. You can't buy a relationship or buy love. Its such a hustle and bustle rush when all we really need to do is hug each other and tell each other, "I love you."

 

Before I know it I will be sitting down to write his 3 month post.

 

Love you my Mr. Miles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

Santa Photos 2012

There is a reason why I don't pay for those over priced mall Santa photos... We will stick to our FREE Walgreens Santa photos.

 

 

Harrison didn't scream or really even whine this year, but he was very certain he wasn't going to sit on this Santa Helpers lap!

Harrison has asked Santa for Pirate (Jake & The Neverland Pirates) and Mickey (Clubhouse) toys this year.

Miles wasn't too impressed with this Santa Helper either...sleeping through his first Santa experience and dropping a nice deposit in his diaper with the Big Guy. Next year I gurantee tears and screaming.

Miles has asked Santa for warm bottles and clean diapers this year.


 

The Holiday Train 2012

We never miss a year of this...

It's the Canadian Pacific Holiday train that rolls through our small town collecting food donations for the 10 Days of Giving on December 10th.

It was cold. It was really cold. Temperatures hovered around 16 degrees. Ok, so we live in Minnesota and should be used to this I KNOW. However, the coldness was a shock to the system with temperatures just a week before this were in the 50s. The coldness you can see didn't keep us away. But for Miles at just 6 weeks, it was too cold for him so we dropped him off at Grandma's house before we headed down to the train depot.

I didn't snap as many photos as in years past (I didn't post any last year because I lost the memory card and never have found it), this was mostly because I couldn't feel my fingers.

 

Holiday Train 2012

 And who's that cutie riding the Kiddy Train with Harrison? His best friend from Pre-School Connor. I think you will see more of these boys together. Something a little extra special about their bond? Both Preemies, Connor at 32 weeks and our Harrison at 29 weeks.

 

Oh look---Santa! And is that Harrison high fiving him?

 Why yes, it is!

 

Hope for Santa photo this year perhaps? Stay tuned for the next post!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linked 52: Smile

 

 

Nothing about this photo doesn't make you want to smile...

 

 

 

 

 

My first link post officially 2 days late after a near almost perfect year. My excuse---I forgot to schedule this post to publish. Only a few weeks left of this 52 week photo challenge!

 

Anyone still with me for a couple more posts?

 

Stacey

Heather

Jenn

Kristin

Janet

Rose

Tracy

Rhonda

Carla

Lena

Heather A.

Heidi

Liza

Jean

Kristi

Hanne

Andrea
Tracey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



A Family of Four

The four of us.

 

 

 

These are the very first shots of all of us together as a family. But that isn't the only thing special about these photos. One of my best friends Jenna took these photos of us. In just a few short weeks Jenna and her family will be relocating to Texas where her husband accepted a job offer. 

 

Jenna and I have known each other since the 7th grade...Man how time flies, we both were in each other's weddings and now have been married for over 5 years, each of us has two kids (she photographed our second birth) and share a passion for photography and a LOVE for Target. I am really going to miss her. Today we have Facebook, Skype, E-mail, Texting, etc... to stay in touch, but that can't replace our shopping dates, so I'll need to visit!

 

Thank you Jenna for capturing these moments...

 

One boy, One Girl

 

 

 And a few of me...since I am usually behind the box.

 

 

 



Lighted Parade

Who ever thought it would 50 degrees and rain on December 1st? Mother Nature must be clearly confused, this is Minnesota after all.

Well, we couldn't have asked for warmer weather for an outdoor holiday parade. It may have been misting throughout the procession but that didn't stop the crowds. Everyone was excited to get a peek at what was new at this year's holiday parade, drawing in about 400 people. This was our first year attending the parade. We usually see the holiday train roll through town collecting food for the food self, but this year we will be out of town.

Harrison doesn't get to do many things with just Doug and I anymore so anytime it's just the three of us...we try to make it a big deal for Harrison. Though honestly I don't think it bothers him if Miles comes along, he's adjusted so well...but there is something to be said to just have mom and dad to yourself.

 

It was just the three of us this night.