We're home!

Well, we've been home since Sunday, but I haven't really had time to post until now. Probably in another 30 seconds, Brooke will start screaming, though...just like she's done almost every other time today that I've gone to do something : /.

Our trip was fun! The ride down went great...very little traffic, which always puts me more at ease. We stopped for a pee break once and got to Bev's just in time for Brooke to eat. It took us just under 3 hours to get there. In a nutshell, this was our weekend:

Thursday night, Doug, my sister, and I went to the mall after supper. My sister and I split up from Doug pretty fast (he hates shopping with me, lol...not that I really bought anything). We took separate vehicles so we just met back at the house later. I ended up getting Ryan a new hat from The Children's Place for $2.97...can't beat that : ). Then we hit Babies'R'Us and I got Brooke a couple outfits for next summer in size 12 months (hopefully they fit) and a sleep positioner for her to sleep on that would keep her on a slight incline (she ended up sliding right down off of it all night and we took it back the next day).

Friday we went to Hands-On House in the early afternoon. There was a pretty big group of us....Me, Doug, Ryan, my parents, my sister, Bev, and Bev's ex-daughter-in-law and her daughter (who I think is 6.5?) and 2 year old son. It was a lot of fun! Pics coming later. Late afternoon, Diane and I headed back over to the mall for her to return some lip rings she bought and then to Babies'R'Us so I could return the sleep positioner. I also got Brooke 2 more outfits. Friday night, we went to play mini-golf. I almost didn't go because Brooke was sooo fussy (the story of our evenings lately), but I was talked in to it. I put her in the sling and she was good for awhile, but I ended up leaving halfway through to go feed her. Ryan had a blast and has been asking to go play again ever since : ).

Saturday was mostly a "lazy" day. Except about 3:30, Doug, my sister, and I went to Target. We got Ryan a couple pairs of shorts (one camo pair, like his daddy always wears) and a pair of jeans for school and Brooke a couple sleepers. I also got another pair of flip flops exactly like the pair I got there last year that were now shot. YAY : ). On the way back, we stopped at Sonic and Ryan and I got Cream Slushes and Doug and Diane got Sonic Blasts. We don't have a Sonic! Not even in Altoona (an hour away) where a lot of the stores/restaurants we don't have are (KMart, Target, Olive Garden, etc.). That night, Bev had a cookout and had some other people over. We ended up making a run to Rita's (another place we don't have) for Italian ice (I got a gelati....yum) and Dairy Queen.

Sunday was the day we left to come home. We got a later start than planned because we were waiting for Brooke to finish eating. Then we got lost on our way to get on to the turnpike and that added an extra 40 minutes or so to our trip. Not long after getting on to the turnpike, it started raining. More like pouring...buckets. And it was SO freaking windy. We had to cross a bridge over the Susquehanna River. It was so windy that the car kept getting blown. Doug said, "What the heck is this? A tornado?" and I yelled at him to shut up, lol. (My dad said later that he pretty much said the same thing to my mom and told her to keep an eye out.) I was SO, SO scared. And we couldn't pull over while on the bridge. Right after crossing the bridge, the driver's side wiper blade SNAPPED! Thank God there was an underpass right ahead that Doug was able to pull under and thank God he was able to switch the passenger's side blade over to the driver's side so he could see to drive. It didn't rain too much longer after that. By the time we'd been driving about 2.5 hours, Brooke was ready to eat again. We stopped at a rest stop and took a pee break and fed her and then it was a straight shot home. We got home about 20 'til 8. It's good to be home, but I miss everyone already! Ryan has been asking to go back before we even got home. LOL. He had a blast.

I guess that wasn't really a nutshell, but oh well! I'll try to get pics up soon.

P.S. We now have an 8lb. (2oz.) baby, as of yesterday!!

More later.

Bye!

We're headed out in about an hour for our weekend trip and will be back sometime Sunday. Don't expect to hear from me until Monday, though! Have a great weekend : ).

P.S. Li'l Miss Piggy is up to 7lbs. 13.5oz.!!

Video of Brooke rolling over

This is my 3rd post for today....lol. Sorry this video is so dark!

Chiropractor visit (and 100th post!!)

We took Brooke to the chiropractor last night and just as I suspected (from her spitting up so much lately), her spine was tightened up again. He got it loosened up some and wants us to bring her back Thursday morning before we leave for the weekend. For some reason he didn't charge us a copay yesterday, which was very nice of him! I'm hoping he can get her straightened out and she stays straightened out and we don't have to keep taking her so often. He said once she gets a little bigger, she'll probably stay better and not get out of whack so easily.

Here's some pictures in honor of my 100th post on this blog. LOL. (I was going to post them anyway...just happened to notice this is post #100, lol.)

Wearing the adorable outfit Aunt Diane, my sister, got her!

There's something so sweet about a baby sleeping on his/her belly!

One of the rare instances of her sucking her thumb.

Hanging out on my lap. Don't mind the PJ's, lol.

Riding his Jeep at my mom and dad's on the 4th. Didn't last long. He's afraid of it. We got him for it last year and he's probably ridden it for a total of 5 minutes. Seriously.

How Brooke spent her 4th of July, when she wasn't puking.

Before going to Doug's brother's house for a belated 4th of July picnic.

As soon as I figure out how to post videos, I'll put some of those up, too! (Anyway know how to do it using Photobucket??)

Be sure to check below for my 1st post for today!

Some then and now pictures

As you'll probably find out (or may have already figured out), I LOVE comparing "then and now" pictures. Here are a few! (The dates are on them.)

and

The day she came home.

and

I'd already unbuckled her and taken her out...then remembered I wanted a pic of her in there, so I just sat her back in. I wasn't buckling her back up ; ).

and

Pukey weekend

I don't know what was up with Brooke this weekend, especially Friday! We were at my mom and dad's most of the day for a cookout. She puked at least 6 or 7 times there and a few times it was probably at least half of her bottle, if not more. I was starting to get nervous that she had pyloric stenosis. Doug's dad, oldest brother, and brother's 2 kids all had it and it runs in families. I almost took her to the E.R. to get checked, but decided to wait until we got home (which was around 7:30) and see how she was doing. She didn't puke again after we got home! Saturday she had one pretty big spit ups and then a few smaller ones and yesterday she had one big spit up and a few smaller ones. I'm not real sure what's up with that. She has an appointment with the chiropractor this afternoon and I'm curious to find out how he says she "feels" (as far as the tightness in her spine and whatnot). It's been over a week since she's last been there and the first time she hasn't gone ever 2-3 days since she started going. So I don't know if that's just a coincidence that she's now spitting up more or what.

The home health nurse was here again today and despite all the spitting up Brooke did over the weekend (especially on Friday), she still managed to gain an ounce a day and is now up to 7lb. 8oz.! And she measured 20 3/4in.! She's starting to fit nicely in the bigger 0-3m sleepers we have.

She's still eating well, but driving us crazy. No longer does she take a large amount and is good for 3.5-4 hours...at least not always. Sometimes she decides she only wants a "snack" and then wants to eat again in 2 hours. It's kinda frustrating when she does this, but what are we gonna do about it, ya know? It's not like we can just let her scream and be hungry until she is "supposed" to eat again. But the good thing is she is taking her last bottle about 10:00 and then going to sleep between 11 and 12 and sleeping a good 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hour stretch! So I can't complain there. Hopefully she'll be one of those babies that is sleeping through the night be 3 months (adjusted age) old or so! : )

Friday, we had the cookout at my mom and dad's. Then on Saturday we had a big cookout at Doug's brother's house. Brooke got held by lots of people and she just ate it up, lol. Yesterday our friends came in from out of town for the day. I met Heather through an AOL message board when we were pregnant (me with Ryan and her with her oldest son, Zachery). We were both due in December (and Zach was actually born one day after Ryan's due date). She also has a little boy, Logan, who is 18 months old. We first met at Ryan's 1st birthday party and we've been going to each other's kid's birthday parties ever since (we've only ever missed one each and the same year (2nd), actually!). She came with her husband, Jeramy, and we just hung out and let the kids play and had yet another cookout, lol. It was lots of fun! The kids had a blast : ). I had fun, too, and I hope Heather and Jeramy did as well (I think they did) : ).

We are leaving for the weekend on Thursday to go visit a very close family friend that my mom has known since before I was born! She lives about 3 hours away. When I was kid, we used to go almost every summer for about a week at a time. We took Ryan 2 years ago, but didn't go last year. She has been up to visit several times over the last year and he's gotten pretty attached to her and has been asking to go see her ever since we told him we were going about a month and a half ago. LOL. So he's excited! My mom and dad want to take him to Hands-On House while we're there. It's a hands-on kids museum. They took my brother, sister, and I when we were kids and we loved it. I'm hoping Ryan will, too! I'm not sure what else we'll be doing while we're there, but it will be nice to just visit with everyone!

I don't have pics ready to put up yet, but I'll try to get some up before we leave! I also got a video clip of Brooke rolling over last night! I'll have to post that, too : ). She rolled over 5 times in a row, so I KNOW it's not just a fluke. I can't believe she's rolling over when she's only 2 weeks adjusted age! That's crazy! I want her to develop "normally" and not have the delays like Ryan had/has, but I also hope she doesn't hit all her milestones early....she's my last baby and I don't want her to grow up too fast! :*(

Sleep is good!

Tuesday night, Brooke decided to stay awake until 2am!! Then was back up at 6:30. I was SOOO flipping tired yesterday. She's usually awake in the evenings from about 6-7:00 on, but Tuesday night she was sleeping and we didn't wake her up until like 8:30 and I think that was the problem. Big mistake! Yesterday I kept her awake as much as possible and I made sure she was awake around 6pm. Of course after she drank her bottle at 6:30, she went back to sleep for about an hour and I tried everything to get her to wake up to no avail. But then she was awake from 7:30 on. I went to bed at 10, right as Doug was getting ready to give her a bottle. The next thing I knew, I woke to her fussing at almost 2:30 to eat. I was so excited she slept! LOL. (Of course, I found out this morning that Doug fell asleep on the couch with her and didn't bring her up until almost 2, but still...she slept!) She drank her bottle and then was back to sleep by 3:15, which is awesome because lately she's been wanting to stay up awhile. And then she was up at 6:30 this morning. I consider that a very good night! : )

I took her to the doctor yesterday because I suspected she has thrush and she does. Her tongue was all coated white and she has spots throughout her mouth. He prescribed Nystatin for her, which she HATES, but it's working already. I do think it's going to give her diarrhea, though, because she just went #2 and it was almost pure liquid : /. Hopefully it won't be bad. At least the thrush isn't affecting her eating! Little piggy was up to 7lb. 3oz. from 6lb. 14.5oz. on Monday! And today when the home health nurse came again, she was 7lb. 4oz.

The doctor calculated what she's gained since she was there on June 9th and it averaged out to an ounce a day, which to my understanding is very good and what they like to see. However, he said "it could be more." He said he'd rather her gain more now rather than later. I know preemies generally have to play catch up, but for being almost 2 weeks past her due date and at just over 7lbs. already, I think that's pretty darn good! He wants to see where she's at in 2 weeks and he said if she doesn't gain enough, we may "have to" add more calories to her formula with cereal or try her back on the Neosure. I don't want to do either of those things if she's gaining like she is now. I have considered trying the cereal for the reflux and may even do that, but I don't want to try to "fatten her up" with the cereal. And she was terribly gassy on the Neosure, so I don't want to go back to that, either. Anyway, hopefully he'll be happy enough with her progress in 2 weeks that he won't push for that.

I would have some pics for you and maybe even a couple videos, but Doug ran a recovery or something on the computer the other day and now when I hook my camera up to the computer, the picture program isn't popping up like it normally does and I don't know what to do! So I'll have to get him to fix it.