4 Months Old

Weight - 12lb 8oz - 15%

Height - 24.5 in - 50%

Well, Bethie girl, your life is not defined by doctor appointments, but it will be marked by them.  And this check up was a good one!  You gained 9 oz again!  That was such great growth!  Our 98th percentile baby dropped as low as 5th percentile at one point.  So, good weight gain and 15 percent is great!  You did have a mucus episode last weekend.  So, we continue to track my diet and your bm.  

2 days before 4 months, you rolled over for the first time!  You have now rolled back to tummy; we are still waiting on tummy to back.  You are so proud of yourself for learning this new trick!  Except for in your crib.  You practice your new move, but then aren't comfortable to go back to sleep.  

You have also tackled this new trick:  sitting in the bumbo!

You love getting to sit with us at the supper table!  And, I love seeing our whole family sitting around the table!  

Your siblings are definitely your best friends right now!  They love when you sit on the couch with them.  They absolutely love making you smile, and you smile the quickest for them!

Gladys is your guardian.  She looks out for you.  Sometimes when you are crying in your crib, Gladys just sits beside the crib waiting for me to come calm you!  Many of the times I put you on the couch, she sits in a protective position on the couch with you.  And, whenever you are on the floor, she comes over and licks your face until I tell her to stop!

Being third, you come along for the ride so often.  I love that Benjamin's favorite [non-family] friend has a baby sister only 2 months older than you!  This is Ellis (Miller's baby sister).  

Some random facts about our Bethie girl:

- you have a quick smile!  Your temperament is quite easy going.  You make us work for a laugh, but in the last few days your laugh is coming a little easier.  

- You still sleep in our room.  With your weight concerns, I find it hard to let go and put you in your crib for night-time sleep.  You also still wake me up one time during the night, so you being 2 feet from me is just so nice at 3 in the morning!

- You self soothe into naps relatively easily.  You suck your thumb more often that you use your paci.

  - You nap in your crib during the day, or in the car seat while we are on the go.  Your best nap tends to be your morning nap.  Then shorter naps the rest of the day.  

- Your 4 month "photo shoot" has me convinced you just found your feet.  You would not stop holding your foot!  

- Your easy grin has us all charmed.  Your kissable cheeks are irresistible to us all!

You are loved Bethie Bethie,  

Bethie-girl,

Bet'any,

our sweet Bethany!

Anna-Kate is 6!

 Anna-Kate, you are one great 6 year old!  

Anna-Kate, as we had our last baby, hanging out with you has reminded me over and over again how great it is going to be to have kids!  You make me laugh.  You make me proud.  I absolutely enjoy you!   

Height:  44in 

Weight:  40lb

Your height is still in the 55-70th percentiles.  Your weight at this annual check up is quite skewed.  You lost weight -like 4-5 pounds- during the week long appendectomy event.  We will see how that comes back.  

This picture is how many see you.  You are a rule-follower who enjoys knowing what to expect.  You have a quick smile, a quiet spirit, a need to recharge alone but a love for people

But, as people get to know you, this is what comes out!  You are spunky.  You have firm opinions about life.  You have a fun-loving attitude.  You love being on the stage.  You have a strong sense of your own style and want that to be what is seen

You are a wonderful big sister!  

You really take seriously caring for your baby sister and little brother.  You can make both of them smile so quickly!  Benjamin can be your best playmate or your favorite one to antagonize or get antagonized by.  My favorite is to watch you and Benjamin slip into the backyard, find bugs, and then create little habitats for them.  

And, I can not help but love that you are obsessed with making Bethany smile!

You have a strong sense of style.  You love to accessorize.  You have taken over your hair care.  You want to brush it yourself, fix it yourself.  Because of this, you wear headbands a lot, or you let me slide in a barrette.  You love skirts, rarely wear sleeveless.  You get hot easily, so your favorite in cold weather is short-sleeves with a cardigan.

Your love of accessories led to this birthday request:  

Ears pierced!

You handled it perfectly.  You asked consistently for a couple months.  You seemed to understand what the care would entail.  So we went for it!

You picked gold studs.  When asked why the gold studs (over a birthstone style stud), your response was, 

"now I have my own real gold!"

The above picture also shows your true style.  Accessorized.  Colorful.  

And, the kindergarten-inspired obsession:  hand sanitizer!

Your love of animals has not waned even a little.  This statement totally says it all,

"Mom, do you know what is cuter than babies?  [dramatic pause] Animal babies!"

I absolutely loved your love of school this year and your love of learning.  You said your favorite subject was Writing.  About January, your reading took off!  You went from knowing 50 site words to reading countless words!  It always tickled me that you went straight to the nonfiction section of your school library and picked out a different animal nonfiction book each time.

Feeding you is a treat, a frustrating at times treat.  You eat very little fruit.  You have about 3 things on the approved list for me to pack for your school lunch.  

BUT,

you love some quite adult flavors.  Just like your mama, you want your meat to have lots of flavor, like saucy.  Your request for your birthday meal was sushi.  You have eaten it 3 times now and love it!  

You say your favorite foods are rice, "roast beast" (aka roast beef), cheese, and you have quite the sweet tooth!

Your imaginative play has sky-rocketed!  The time of the Barbie is absolutely upon us.  ("Mom, look at what I did.  Can I use your phone and take a picture?)  You have never played much with baby dolls, but lately you can play for hours with your Barbies!  You still love to color and do crafts. 

Anna-Kate, there are no words for what you mean to us!  Spending time with you is a treat.  We have started having the occasional girls night, which are amazingly fun times.  I also love watching baking shows with you.  You LOVE time with your daddy.  Your favorite way to relate to him is in your quest for answers to questions about the human body or about things in nature.

I can not wait to see what this next year brings!

Big Brother Love

You see this girl's smile...

...it's because her big brother is looking at her!

Why won't this picture upload correctly?  I have no idea,

but this one is my favorite!

Mom, Bethie's eyes are open!

Benjamin can not stay away from his baby sister when she is awake.  And, he gets the biggest smiles of approval from her!  

In these moments, siblings really are the greatest!

When Poop Talks, again!

3 months

We left Bethany's 3 week appointment. We were in the middle of Benjamin's poop investigation.  It was Friday night.  "Will, look at this diaper.  Is that mucus?"  And, so began another poop watch.

After the weekend of watching Bethany's diapers, it was clear:  mucus was showing up consistently in Bethany's bm's.  

3.5 weeks - doctor confirms my suspicion.  I needed to give up dairy.  One last bowl of ice cream and no more dairy for me,  

This began a weekly trip to the pediatrician.  Again, there were two findings:

#1 - After 2 weeks of no dairy, the mucus was getting worse.  This led to giving up soy.  This house knows no-dairy.  But, no soy...who knew all that has soy?!  So, for now, I am no dairy and no soy.  Because of surprises in where soy really is, I thought I had been dairy free since she was 6 weeks old, (Who knew the prenatal vitamin might have soy in it?!) but I think I have actually only been completely dairy/soy free for 2 weeks now.  With diapers about 95% clear, we hope for no more surprises and know that we will eventually be introducing food slowly.

#2 - Every time we were at the pediatrician's office for dietary discussions, Bethany's weight was checked.  After weeks of gaining no weight or half the amount she should, we had to focus on weight gain as well.  Feed, pump, supplement.  Feed, pump, supplement.  Bethany would gain, and then I would stop the supplementing.  She wouldn't gain enough and then I would pick back up the feed-pump-supplement schedule.  After about 6 weeks of this back and forth, Bethany and I finally got into the right rhythm.
Then the hospital.
A month after her last appt, at AK's 6 year appt, back to low weight gain.  A quarter of what she was supposed to gain (4oz in a month!)!
And, so it was back to feed-pump-supplement.  After 2 weeks, 9oz gained!!  more than the minimum!

Bethany is now mostly mucus-free.  She has gained weight.  Now, we need to maintain both.
Bethany girl, three and a half months of watch and wait, but
we wouldn't trade our sweet girl!

When Poop Talks

Right before Benjamin turned 3, we started potty training.  This went well in part.  But, it highlighted our frustration that his bm's have always been a little off.  (I'll spare you the specifics.)  We asked the pediatrician at his annual check up.  She wasn't concerned but agreed that it may be tied to his allergy.  So, we made an appt with his allergy doctor to look into it.  We paused potty training until we asked our questions.  

When Bethany was 3 weeks old, we were in the allergy doctor's office.  She said, "Nope.  Not due to his allergy."  But she didn't like it.  So, she started naming different possibilities, some of them quite scary (like, "does cystic fibrosis run in your family?" !!)  Seeing this through brought two findings:  

#1 - Benjamin is fine!  Questions of the pediatrician.  Concerns of the allergist.  A trip to the gastrointestinal doctor.  The GI doctor ruled out immediately any of the "big bad ugly."  The short version:  some questions and a test or two ruled out most other things as well.  An emotional roller coaster, but at the end of it potty training went much more smoothly. 

#2 - While at the allergy doctor, they went ahead and tested Benjamin for his dairy allergy.  We were ALL schocked...the test came back negative!  Benjamin did a high-heated milk challenge in the office, and he passed!  So, now Benjamin can have "high-heated milk."  Like, baked goods.  Cookies.  Breads.  Chic-fil-A nuggets. 

We - Excitedly - start slowly introducing food with milk cooked into them.  

This is life-changing for this house, ya'll, life-changing.  

Benjamin's first taste of Chic-Fil-A nuggets.  He LOVED them!  He ate all of his and half of Anna-Kate's.  (Above, Benjamin's second donut.)  It is so wonderful sharing these treats with my boy!

Sleeping Babies

I took this a few nights after we got home from the hospital, with our new friend Isabelle, an American Girl doll (a gift from the hospital).  Anna-Kate got this matching pj set for Christmas.  She quickly took the nightgown off her stuffed rabbit to dress Isabelle for bed!  

As much as we love our new friend, we have to love faithful Duck, here since AK was only months old.

I can not love this image more.  A few too many lovies.  And Benjamin in his favorite sleep position since he was a newborn.  Knees tucked in, arms brought to his chest.

As boppy sleep is slowly coming to an end, with more and more naps taken in her crib

and only a few more moments of sleep in mommy or daddy's arms

We have a new favorite sleep position.  When Bethany is quite tired, ready to give in for the night, she rolls onto her side, arches her back, head tilted back.  Will and I ask if she has gotten into "cherub position" then we know she is ready to relax into sleep.

She was quite tired.  I was cooking supper.  Look over. Bethany has assumed cherub position in her seat.

Bethany is also become quite the self-soother.

A baby sucking her thumb is too sweet!

Seriously sweet

Love my sleeping babies

3 Months Old

Weight:  11lb, 6oz

God's Love Note to Me

So do not fear; for I am with you

I will strengthen you and help you

We came home after 8 days at the hospital.

We were tired, drained, but counting our blessings.

We went upstairs to find the AC unit out and the temperature about 80 degrees and climbing.

I walk downstairs trying not to be discouraged by this new headache.

As I walk into the kitchen, I see our hawk who likes to visit our backyard often.

He was abnormally close to the house.

He flew off the ground

with

a brown snake in his talons!

I had to smile.  

I might have just left the hospital with my 6 year old.

My AC may not be working for us to sleep in our own bed.

But God just saved me from a fear of mine:

being the adult on duty when the kids run into a snake in the yard!

It may sound silly, but it felt like God's own message to me:

you will always have life to deal with, 

but I will also be hear to help you through it 

and even protect you from some of it.

Ramblings after the Hospital

 There are several things that I want to remember abut the happenings of the hospital

One, Anna-Kate's pediatrician stopped by on Thursday night.  Thursday was the day that the doctor was ready to discharge her late afternoon until she spent the afternoon throwing up.  I think that rocked my confidence.  Anna-Kate slept through the visit.  But when I saw Dr. McMillan's face in the window of our door, I had tears spring to my eyes.  With all the doctors and nurses coming in and out, seeing our doctor, who has walked us through high fevers, ear infections, tubes in AK's ears, Benjamin's allergies, and now Bethany, absolutely made my night.

Dr. McMillan had a newborn visit to make at Wake Med and saw "A.Simmons" on the hospital roster for their office.  When she realized it was Anna-Kate, she said she had to stop by.  She chatted with us for half an hour, hearing the story of how it had come about and how she seemed to be doing in the moment.  Then she just chatted with us parent to parent.  After the hard roller coaster day we had, her visit felt like an uplifting gift.

the morning after we got home.  Anna-Kate was excited to change her earrings for the first time.  This picture also shows that she was better, just thin.

Anna-Kate obviously had a hard week in the hospital.  But, man, the minute we got home, she was better.  Her spirits soared.  She went from barely eating in the hospital that morning to begging for snacks.  Home really can be the best medicine.

However.

My hard week was the week after.  Two sweet friends came with meals the week after the hospital and it was absolutely a bigger gift than they could know.  My brain was so tired.  My emotions were raw.  It was like I started to feel the week in the hospital once we got home.  It was a blessing to have the decision of dinner made for me.    

back together again

What was most helpful and what I want to remember to do for others:

- two trusted friends decided for me Benjamin's over night care

- my sister brought a box of cereal and some plastic-ware

- gifts and visits absolutely made the stay in the hospital so much easier for Anna-Kate

- meals were brought to me and Will

- what was amazingly kind...a few people got together and had our house cleaned

So many blessings to note from a hard week:

- a visible community comprised of family and friends

- nurses and doctors who gave us lots of attention, answered my many questions, and anticipated AK's needs

- the kind people at the Ronald McDonald room who laundered our clothes, and gave us so many cups of coffee

- strangers who donate to the hospital in order to make a kid's stay  more comfortable (homemade quilts, pillow cases, toys, movies, ...)

it took about 3 days but then Anna-Kate wanted to know what an appendix is and how they got it out.  Daddy and his textbooks for the win!

One of the pastors from church came to visit us.  He read us this passage, a passage that will probably apply in too many moments of parenting:

I took you from the ends of the earth,

from its farthest corners I called you.

I said, 'You are my servant';

I have chosen you and not rejected you.

So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:9-10

Benjamin's Hospital Experience

As we decided we had to take Anna-Kate to the hospital, my friend Kathryn checked on Anna-Kate.  I said we were going to the hospital, she said drop Benjamin off with her and her family.  When we dropped Benjamin and Gladys off, we just knew we were dropping them off for 3-4 hours.   I called 3 hours later and said, "Kathryn, can Benjamin spend the night?  AK is about to have an appendectomy!"   With no hesitation, that became the plan.

Benjamin and Miller on the first night of their sleepover

Can you tell how excited Benjamin was?!

 morning cartoons, even Gladys can't stay away

Kathryn kept Benjamin on Sunday night.  Then Benjamin stayed with the Browns Monday and Tuesday nights.

Benjamin loved his lessons in the Wii

No wonder Benjamin had a great time during our hospital stay!

Benjamin was back at Kathryn's for Wed and Thursday nights.  By the end of this week, Benjamin was calling Miller his best cousin! 

Gladys and Benjamin reunited

a picnic by the lake

with a little duck chasing

These are 2 of my favorite pictures!  

Benjamin showing off his true sleeping style

Miller and Benjamin went frog hunting while playing in the sprinkler.  Benjamin's frog may have gotten a little too inspected and too cuddled.  But Benjamin said that was okay, "he can go to the froggy hospital."

Benjamin spent Friday and Saturday nights at Oma and Opa's.

He absolutely had a great time!  I missed him like crazy, but I am so glad he was so well cared for! and that I was sent so many pictures of a happy boy!