2013 Project 52

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

2 weeks old

Tessa was 2 weeks old yesterday! We celebrated with yet another trip to the pediatrician. We are thrilled to announce that she has surpassed her birthweight and is now 7 lbs 2.8 oz! In addition, her jaundice finally appears to be under control. Yay! It was a tough 2 weeks trying to figure out how much she should be eating -- as well as trying to get her to eat since she is always so sleepy. In the last few days, she has definitely become more alert (and vocal), which is great. As you can see, she has even graced us with a few little smiles!

**Thanks to Neala for cluing me in on how to make a picture collage! :)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

First Bath


We gave Tessa her first bath at home last week. She had absolutely no reaction to having her hair washed...but she wasn't as fond of the body-washing part! Maybe she'll be happier when we aren't limited to sponge baths. She was also treated to her very first manicure! This little girl was born with the longest, sharpest fingernails ever!

First Bath from courtney on Vimeo.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

BIG NEWS!

Why is this little boy so excited???
Because he pooped on the potty!!!!! We really haven't been pushing the whole potty training thing...primarily because we don't think he's quite ready, but also with a new baby in the house, we don't want to introduce too many changes at once. However, while Dave was giving Calder a bath tonight, he noticed that he was about 'to go'. So, he persuaded (read: bribed) Calder to sit on the potty, then distracted him by discussing the bathroom habits of his rubber ducky. Within moments, Calder had successfully produced something! We all cheered very loudly and, once he had his pj's on, we danced the 'poopy dance' all around the house. Hurrah for our big boy!

Belated Birthday

Since we had to spend my birthday in the hospital while Tessa was being treated for jaundice, we celebrated a little later in the week. Calder proved to be a good little chef, by helping daddy make the cake.Calder and Sandhya helped me blow out the candles...

Mmmmm! Delicious!
Tessa didn't get to enjoy the cake, but she did enjoy getting to know Uncle Sean!

Under The Lights

Both of our little ones had to undergo phototherapy for jaundice shortly after their birth. Here's Tessa under the lights:
And, here's Calder:
Poor little babies!!!

My Handsome Boy

These pictures are a few weeks old...I just never got around to posting them. I can't get over how handsome Calder looks in his new Christmas sweater from Grandma Peggy and Poppa!"Fixing" his rocking chair with one of his new Home Depot tools!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Big Brother In Action

Calder fell in love with Tessa the moment he first saw her. He is such a loving big brother, and it is so much fun to see him in action. He loves patting her head gently and giving her little kisses, and he insists on always knowing where she is. No signs of jealously...yet! Earlier today I overheard him saying to no one in particular... "Hi, my name is Calder. These are my friends, Mommy, Daddy, Lucky and Baby Tessa!" So cute.



She's Here!

Well, it's been an eventful few weeks! It all started when I went in for my routine 36 week prenatal appointment on January 9th. We were shocked to find out that I was already 3cm dilated, and to hear my doctor's prediction that I would be giving birth within the week. I hadn't had any contractions, so the news came as a complete surprise. And, since I had been induced with Calder at 41 weeks gestation, I didn't really believe that I would be having this baby early, let alone this early! Nevertheless, Dave and I spent the rest of the weekend in panic mode, as we tried to finish up some of the things on our 'to do before baby' list. I had a few contractions on Saturday, but nothing regular. On Sunday, I didn't have a single contraction all day, and I started questioning whether or not the baby really would come early. I went to work on Monday still pretty skeptical, but I tried to wrap things up as much as possible...just in case.

It was a good thing I did...because when I got up on Tuesday morning to get ready for work, my water broke! We called Vandana, who came right over and picked up Calder, and then we headed off to the hospital. I had mixed feelings about going into labor at that point - I was only 36 weeks and 6 days pregnant, and a baby is not considered full term until 37 weeks. However, I had been hoping for a VBAC, and an early baby meant a smaller baby, which would likely increase my chances of delivering. Things seemed to move really slowly once we were at the hospital. By 12:00 I was 5cm dilated, but still wasn't having contractions. They gave me a small amount of pitocin which kicked in the contractions, and I was dilated to 10cm shortly after 2:00. Unfortunately, after an hour and 15 minutes of pushing and failed forceps and vacuum attempts, my doctor reluctantly told me we needed to do a c-section. I was pretty upset, because I really didn't want another c-section, but at that point I just wanted a healthy baby in my arms. We later learned that our little one was misaligned, and coming out forehead-first, and the doctors said she never would have made it out that way.

Finally at 3:43pm on January 13th, 2009, Tessa Camille arrived! She weighed in at 7 lbs, 2 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long. She is absolutely adorable and we were instantly in love! We've had a bit of a rough start -- she had a low red blood cell count at birth (likely due to her early arrival) and ultimately ended up with jaundice. She was treated for jaundice before our discharge on Friday, but had to be readmitted on Saturday since her levels rose significantly overnight. We came home again late Sunday night, and she has been doing great. It's so wonderful to be out of the hospital and able to enjoy the comforts of home with our new family! We couldn't be happier!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

"Watch out for duck poop"

About a month ago, Calder and I went to Dave's office holiday party. While we were there, we walked across the lawn to get to another building. They have a lot of ducks in the area, so Dave told Calder he was going to carry him because we had to watch out for duck poop on the ground. This made a lasting impression on Calder -- a month later, whenever we say goodbye to daddy in the mornings, Calder will usually say (very matter-of-factly) "Daddy, you have go to work. And you have watch out for duck poop." What a funny boy! And sometimes, just for good measure, he'll add on "That is very, very yucky."

Monday, January 5, 2009

So Romantic...

I meant to post this picture a few weeks ago after Calder's holiday party at day care. I just love the little smile on his face as he "reads" to his girlfriend, Teya. There aren't many girls in Calder's class, but he enjoys playing with them more than the boys. When I ask him who his favorite friend is at school, the answer is always Teya.

Quotes