Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

I will try again to post some pictures!!!

This is Rachel at 4 days old. She had just been taken off the CPAP and put on the nasal canulas. The CPAP squished her head and I thought she looked like a Klingon! Thankfully that went away :)

Here is Rachel at a month old. She looks like an actual newborn now!!!

Rachel at 2 months! Thanks to Walmart she had quite the preemie wardrobe


Rachel at 3 months - getting bigger every day!!

Rachel last week!!! Isn't she a precious flower?!?!?

The first picture of the kids! Ryan didn't get to see Rachel in the hospital so their first introduction was in the car on the way home!! Good thing we live close to the hospital - he was so excited that there was a baby next to him that he talked about it all the way home! He loves her so much. She is the last person he "tisses" before he goes to bed and the first person he looks for in the morning. I am hopeful that stays that way, but I am sure the love will be lost when she steals a toy from him!!!

Yes, we are all still alive....

I guess my lack of posting boils down to this: I can not finish writing about Rachel's NICU stay. She spent 10 days there. I KNOW there are people who spend months there and I truly feel for them. What a terrible, terrible place to be for so long. We were fortunate. I will never forget that. However, I would like to temporarily forget the whole ordeal. 'kay?
Anyway, in an effort to attempt to bring you all current in our lives I will be doing a list:

• Rachel is doing very well! She is 4 months old and at her last visit she was 12 pounds 4 ounces and 23 inches (up from 4 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches on her NICU discharge. She received 4 vaccines on Wednesday and was kind of uncomfortable but manageable afterwards.
• Working backwards here -- Rachel is totally breastfed. Well, I pump and she receives bottles twice a day 5 days a week as I am now back to work (9/11 was my first day back). It is really surprising to me that I have been able to make this work. She got a super slow start. Nothing for 3 days and then bottles exclusively as she had a "weight gain" protocol to meet. So every feeding after she came home we would try to nurse for a few minutes and then she would take the bottle. Slowly she began nursing more and take less from the bottle and by her due date she was breast feeding exclusively. Right now my goal is to get her to 9 months on BM - through the cold and flu season. If we make it that long than maybe to her birthday but I am not making any promises!!!
• Rachel will be receiving Synagis - the RSV vaccine. We are incredibly grateful that our insurance saw fit to give it to her and pay for it ($500 a month). I hope we can keep her healthy this year!
• Ryan is 2!!! How in the hell did that happen??!? He is a typical 2 year old, but still speaking like a much older child. I will post the latest Ryanisms soon - there are too many cute ones and they deserve their own post!!!
• October 1 - we baptized Rachel! She was so beautiful but so incredibly unhappy about the whole ordeal! Her Aunt Kara (my best friend) did a wonderful job with her though
• Developmentally I was really concerned about Rachel for a while. She seemed to be more than a month behind (where she should have been) but in typical preemie fashion she suddenly caught up! She is doing everything she should for her adjusted age and some of the stuff for her actual age!
• Rob and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! Has it really only been a year? It has been a hell of a year....

I guess those are the keys for now. And what you have all been waiting for....

PICTURES!

yea, I can't seem to get the pictures to load! GRRRR! I promise once I figure out what the heck is wrong I will get them up! They are worth it! Rachel is babylicious!