Waverly at 4 months!

Today is Waverly's four month birthday! Happy month-day little girl!

This picture is from this morning during her tummy time. She's demonstrating one of her newest skills...sucking on her fist! She brings her hand to her mouth often now, even when she's on her back, and sucks on her hand. We've been working on this in Physical Therapy for some time now, so we are so excited that she's figured it out! Dressed up for church a couple of weeks ago.
She's also got a very pretty UVA dress that she's very proud to wear!
She's been spending time in the Ergo some, and seems to like it really well! She likes to sleep in it when she's all snuggled against me, and I kinda like it too... :) Kathryn is showing what a good mama she is to her babies also!
Waverly got to her first UVA game last weekend! She did really well for such a long day. She wasn't a big fan of the loud noises, but ended up doing really well (even though it was reallly hot!).
Of course, she reps JMU as well! Go Dukes!
Finally, here are some more pics from this morning. Jackson of course had to get in on the action!


Cooing!
Silly face.
Our biggest news for her 4 months is actually from today. She had a swallow study, and did SUPER! She didn't aspirate at all, and now we can start feeding her bottles some! We will have to take it very slowly, so we are going to give her bottles twice a day, and only do about 1/2 ounce, but it's exciting all the same! She chowed down on that bottle, and got so mad when they took it away from her!

Our other really big news is that she now has a MIC-KEY button! We LOVE the button (SO much better than the PEG tube hanging out of her), and she did really well with that surgery. Also, as a result of the button, she is now allowed to take tub baths, which is so nice! She seems to enjoy them and I am so happy to be able to bathe her!

Other news from this past month is that she is no longer swaddled for bedtime. She seemed to be waking up during the night and being agitated about being confined, so I just decided to stop and see what happened. She sleeps on her side with her hands crossed in front of her face (SO cute!). She still has a not-so-sound sleeping time sometime during the wee hours of the morning (3-4a.m.), so at that time I transfer her to her carseat to finish the night sleeping. She seems to like that pretty well and settles back down to sleep well there. During the day she really isn't on any sort of a schedule. She naps when she naps, and she's awake when she's awake. Some days she seems really sleepy, and others she hardly naps at all! We never know what kind of day it will be!

She hasn't been weighed in 3 weeks, so I'm really not sure what her weight is right now (the past few appointments she's had didn't have an infant scale). I will be sure to update her weight when we get a new one next week.

She still loves to "play" with the animals on her toy bar or on the handle that hangs over her carseat. She will smile and coo at them so sweetly. She also smiles at us some now, and will give us little coos and sweet noises. She still loves to be held by anybody who is willing! We are just treasuring these days with her, and count each one as a gift.

First tub bath!

Waverly finally got her first tub bath last Saturday! We were so excited to be able to do that, now that she has her MIC-KEY button! The whole family got in on the excitement!

When we lowered her down into the water, her eyes got really big and she gasped, then started crying! That only lasted a few seconds though, and then she settled down and seemed to enjoy herself! Enjoy the pics of the momentous occasion! (And for pics of the other two's first baths, see here for Jackson or here for Kathryn.)

Soapy head.Admiring big brother!



"Cheese!"
Aerial view.

Getting lotion on afterwards.

A few lost pics

I found these pics on a camera that had lost its battery and had never uploaded them to the computer or the blog. Enjoy a few old pics from the hospital.

Our three kids.
Cute, sweet, small girl.

Car seat study the day before discharge from the NICU.

Baseball Game

This summer we've been to the Salem Red Sox baseball game twice! The kids have loved going, and both nights we went were perfect baseball nights! The kids especially loved the popcorn and ice cream, and yelling "Charge!" after any kind of music over the loudspeaker!

3 months old!!

Waverly is 3 months old today!!! She celebrated by having her first out-of-the-hospital follow up with the neurologist! (All cool kids celebrate that way, right?!?) (More on that appointment to come.) She is definitely growing, and as of today is a whopping 9 pounds!!! Way to go little girl!

One of her favorite things to do recently is spend time in her bouncy seat and "talk" to the animals that hang on the toy bar. For some reason, when she's in the right mood, she gets so excited to see the animals and will squeal away at them. She's also spent two times in the sling, and liked it pretty well this last time.
These next two pictures are for comparison. The first was taken today, the second was taken the day we brought her home from the NICU, just before she was 1 month old. Can you tell she's grown??
The other night she was sleeping in her bouncy seat, and had her hands just so placed. So cute!
We are also finally being able to put some different outfits on her, now that she's outgrowing her newborn sized clothes. Bring on the 0-3 months! Yay!
A few other facts about our growing girl: She still eats every three hours via g-tube, and is up to 63mL/hour during those day time feeds. We hope to get her up to 65 by the end of the week. She is now up to full feeds during the night, getting 30mL/hour for 10 hours (9p.m.-7a.m.). She has dropped her Reglan medication, and is now just on two meds for reflux (Zantac and Prevacid), and is doing well with that. We still see occasional smiles from her, but are still not quite sure that they are in response to us. She does love to study faces, and will track movements with her eyes, which is great for her! She loves to spend time lounging in her boppy or being held, and enjoys being outside (when it's not too hot!). She has her first cold, which is sad for us! Please pray that she gets over that very soon! She is very loved by her big sister and brother, who love to hold her, lay beside her, and give her kisses. She brings so much joy to those around her. Waverly, we love you!

Visit

We had a special visit the other week from Aunt Judy and cousins Becky and Joey. The kids were so excited to spend time with them, especially when Judy asked Kathryn what she wanted to do for lunch. Kathryn's response went something like this. "Well, did you know we have a Chunky Cheese here? It's really cool, and it has pizza that's pretty good. Oh, and some games. I could tell you how to get there. Have you ever been there, to Chunky Cheese? It's really cool for lunch." (Chunky Cheese=Chucky Cheese) So, Kathryn conned her way into going out for a special lunch and they had a blast getting such a special treat! Thanks for the visit!

Potty Training!

Some people have thought I was crazy to try potty training with Jackson in the midst of all our craziness, but honestly this was the best week to try it (as in no appointments, etc.). So, we went to Target late last week, picked out some big boy underwear and MnM's, and got set to start this week. So far he's done really well, and we're very proud of him! I am hoping that the trend continues, and it just eases naturally into no more diapers for him (except at night). Part of the process is lots of nakedness and time spent just in undies. One morning we decided some undie soccer was in order. And seriously, there's something just stinkin' cute about a little guy in his undies! Makes him look like such a big boy and no longer a baby anymore!

Cousins!

I stole this from Lindsay, but I just couldn't resist this sweet picture of the four Sink cousins!

Bejeweled

A couple of weeks ago Kathryn had gone to VBS and gotten some jewel stick-on stickers. On the way home, she decided to decorate herself, and this is what she came home looking like...




She decided to be generous and share with her brother, who got in on the action...

2 Months Old!

Our sweet girl is 2 months old today!!! She continues to grow, although not quite as quickly as she did the first few months home! She now weighs 7lb 6oz, and is roughly 21 inches long. I'm not sure where the lies on the percentiles (she has her checkup at the pediatrician next week), but I'm sure it's on the low end, for weight at least. :) However, it is obvious to most people that she has grown. We especially notice it when she's in her car seat, as she now doesn't get lost in it!

We are noticing more and more awake time for her, with more alertness. Although she will often smile in her sleep and sometimes make smile-like faces when she's awake, we have yet to have a smile in response to someone or something. We are anxiously awaiting that moment! She is having longer periods of time where her eyes will meet ours, and that is fun to see her develop in that way! She can lift her head up when on her tummy, but it falls right back down again, so we are working on that skill. We also do Physical Therapy exercises with her, which are pretty basic right now and include range of motion, encouraging her to get her hands to her face, and tuck her feet/legs up to her middle.

Waverly still eats every three hours during the day (48mL/hour, and we are increasing it by 1mL every two days) and continuously at night for 10 hours (21mL/hour). We will work on increasing her nighttime intake once we get her daytime intake up to 65mL each feeding. She is doing well keeping her feeds down, although will still spit up occasionally.

Some other fun things she does is open her mouth and smack her lips into an oval. We aren't sure if she's trying to "talk" or doing it in response to reflux! But it's cute! She loves to be held, but does pretty well in her bouncy seat or on her boppy pillow under the play gym as well. She gets lots of love from her siblings, who also love to hold her. She does well in her carseat when we're out and about doing family activities or going to doctor's appointments. She did well this month on her first trip to the grocery store, too. Now, on to some pictures!

Every morning, she tends to have a fussy period sometime between 4 and 6a.m. If she won't settle down, I'll pull her into bed with me to snuggle and try to get a little more rest. (Although it's quite tricky to do it with her tangle of monitor and feeding pump cords...!) Here she is this morning snuggling in bed!She looks pretty in headbands... We were at a church program, and she was looking at me.





Funny face.
Sleepy smiles.
Every lady should cross her legs when sleeping on the Boppy...