Hailey's Photo Shoot

Does Hailey look more like Hannah or Nathan as a baby? 

Hannah at 1 month

Nathan at 1 month

Fall Time In Austin: Hailey is 4 Weeks Old

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

We have been enjoying this amazing fall Austin weather. On Saturday, we had a MOPS brunch at church, so we went to the pumpkin patch beforehand. There were tractors available for kids to ride and you guys definitely spent your fair share of time riding them around. 

 Here is Nathan posing in front of who you have deemed to be the "Best Dancer in the World!" One day we were leaving school and you said in a very serious/admirable tone, "woah, that's the best dancer in the world." I look over to see what you are looking at, only to find this orange dancing man. I pretty much burst into laughter because you were totally serious when you said it because you pretty much dance like that man.

 This may be our very first family picture as a family of 5! 

 The post is a day late because yesterday, I was too tired to stay up and write a post. Hailey has been going through a growth spurt. As of last night, she has officially gained a pound over her birth weight. This morning, she looked and felt bigger, so I weighed her: 8 pounds 11.5 oz.

Hailey has been causing nights to be quite rough. The longest stretch she will sleep is 2 hours, but she has been averaging 90 minutes before waking up for a feed.  On top of that, she will take about 45 minutes to feed, but then stay awake for as long as 3 hours before falling asleep.

Last night, went well, we had a 3 hour stretch, followed by immediately falling asleep after feeds. Let's hope this behavior continues.

Hailey continues to enjoy baths. She no longer cries when I take her out (due to cold).

 Nathan, you've been so helpful with the baby. You find it your mission to make sure I have enough water, so that I can make enough milk for Hailey. You try to find ways to make her stop crying and you discover and teach me how to use the new features on the baby swing.

 The weather has been absolutely beautiful. We've been spending it outside on the driveway as much as possible.

 At Gymnastics, you guys have been practicing on a ninja obstacle course. The teacher actually asked me to come in to watch Nathan one morning. They were very impressed with your speedy skills as you swung from one thing to another.

I can tell that Hannah is slowly developing the motor skills needed to keep up with the other older kids. It's really neat to see you do rolls and other gymnastic rolls so confidently.

Your teachers in the ducks class have told me that you are quite bossy, in a fair way. For example, when asked to put something away, you would walk up to the person who was playing with that particular toy and ask them to put it away because they were playing with it. I feel like you will be a lawyer someday. your sense of justice and negotiation skills are quite admirable for a 3 year old.

Well, that's it for now.
Love,
Mommy

Productivity During Hailey's 3rd Week of Life:

Dear Kids, 

This week was the last week that Daddy stayed home and we  you all have been really productive. I have been sitting at nursing Hailey pretty much all the time. 

On a side note, I have now figured out why you all take forever to finish a nursing session. It's actually my fault... apparently let-downs, which are periods of time where milk is released from the breast more quickly, don't take 2-5 minutes to occur for most women. I've been asking around and most of my friends' let downs happen in less than a minute. The quickest one being from 7-15 seconds, to about an average of 30 seconds. This explains why most moms can finish a feeding in about 20 minutes and it takes us twice the time to finish a feeding...which also explains why you guys also eat so slowly. 

While I've been fulfilling my role as a set of portable udders, you guys have been working hard, cleaning up the yard. Nathan even got a chance to use the blower. Very exciting. 

 Nathan, you've caught up on Chinese homework, which you actually really like to do. You can easily finish a week's worth of assignments in one sitting and when you are finished, you actually want to do more. I hope this attitude about homework continues!

 Hannah's been trying to get in as many cuddles with Hailey as possible. You've been super helpful with getting things for the baby. If I ask you to get my water bottle, you may not agree to help, but if I say it's for the baby, you are very willing to help. Funny how that works...

 You guys have also been working on our Halloween costumes. Nathan has done most of the painting on these cars. Daddy paints the outline and you've been filling in the rest with the appropriate color.

Hannah, you tried to help a few times too. But usually you don't last too long due to loss of interest, or you end up with paint all over your tummy, or inside your mouth...how it got there, still remains a mystery to me. 

Hannah has also been helping out with Hailey's bath time.

 Monday was Daddy's last day to stay home for this round of paternity leave. Since you both didn't have school, and the weather was beautiful, we decided to meet up with Hope, Mateo and Lucas at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm to visit their pumpkin patch.

 While it was fun, I think it is not as good as the other pumpkin patches that we've been to around Austin.

We rode the tractor train.

 And there were lots of little games for the kids to play.

 The duck races were Nathan's favorite activity.

 And there were a few farm animals to look at. Pigs, alpaca, bunnies, and maybe some goats.

There was also a hay ride.

 El Tigre,
This is the week that El Tigre gets to come home with Nathan. You are so proud of El Tigre and you treat him like he is real and alive. On Tuesday, he at dinner with us,

and went outside to play with us.

Today, El Tigre lies abandoned on the living room floor. Poor El Tigre.

Today, Hailey and I went to visit you guys at gymnastics school. I was so impressed with how much stuff you guys do. You all are literally bouncing off the walls, running around, rolling, flipping, doing head stands, nonstop.

 I can tell that Hannah, being the youngest in the group still has to catch up with some motor development skills. Nathan, while very athletic, also rushes through his routines, often stumbling. I'm not sure if you are trying too hard to show off because I was there, but kid, slow down!

Newborn Shoot

Yesterday I spent the morning taking lots of pictures of Hailey. I have yet to edit them, but here are a few of my favorites as a sneak preview. 

The quilt shown in the first two was made by my dear friend Alicia, owner of stitch-a-story. Isn't it beautiful? 

 Of course, I had to include a sheep in a few of the shots.

Well, that's about it for now. Until next week!
Love,
Mommy

Hailey @ 2 Weeks

Dear Hailey,
You've had a busy week, recovering from your lip-tie surgery, re-learning how to eat, sleeping, and growing back to your birth weight. Not to mention 1 week follow-up appointments, appointment with the pediatrician, and visits to the chiropractor.
With the lip tie release, the dentist suggested that I continue to take you to get cranial sacral therapy so that you can re-learn breast feeding quicker.
The first time we visited the chiropractor, you cried and squirmed, but when we went on Tuesday, as soon as Dr. Colm started to rub your sacrum, I could see your whole face just melt and relax. Your head is starting to become less cone shaped too.

On Saturday, Ama headed back to Dallas for a few days, and today, she actually flies back to Taiwan. It was definitely nice to have her here. It was rough the first week as we adjusted to accepting differences in childcare philosophies, but eventually we learned when to hold our tongue.

It took about 3 days after the surgery before I could really tell a difference in how you were transferring milk from me and with each passing day, your suck only becomes stronger and your seal becomes tighter. We've been having to supplement about 3-4 oz of formula a day for about a week, but last night, I only had to supplement less than an ounce. Slowly, but surely, we are working towards being exclusively breastfed. 

I am pumping after the sessions where we have to supplement with expressed milk or formula. I am taking 6 capsules of fenugreek each day, and every morning, I have a bowl of oatmeal. All these things should help my milk supply increase. 

At night, for the most part, you are sleeping 2-3 hour stretches at a time, and on a good night, I can get a good 6-7 hours of sleep (broken into 3 segments). On a bad night, I'm up every hour (but that has only happened 2 nights so far). I know we have passed the most difficult time and that each day should get better and better. 

From 7-11, you go through a period of cluster feeding. During this time, you just want to nurse, nurse, nurse. 

Until then, I'll cherish the precious quiet moments that we have together at night. 

 Nathan and Hannah,
You two have been pretty good. With recent birthdays and random gifts that people send, you two have plenty to keep you busy while I'm feeding Hailey.

 Daddy is also home this week, so while Daddy plays with Nathan, I get some time to spend with Hannah between Hailey feedings. One day we worked on scissor skills.

Another day Daddy took you both out to the park to fly kites. It was the perfect day, a cold front blew in, making it a pleasant 70 degree, windy, afternoon.

Another afternoon, we went to a new Chinese bao restaurant and afterwards, we let you two play at a park. It was interesting watching you two play. Nathan, you do such a great job working yourself into playing with other kids. When older kids came and commandeered the equipment that you were playing on, you handled it well, just going with the flow...something you usually don't do at home. Hannah, you are still very timid. Simply content with watching the action from the sidelines. Sometimes you are very talkative and willing to try new things, but then there are also times where you play it safe and just watch from a distance.

Daddy goes back to work next week, leaving me home with you three by myself. It will probably be challenging at first, but I am confident that things will go well. 

This pregnancy has really opened my eyes on the support system that I have in Austin. Even though we have no family here, we have lots of friends and neighbors who we can count on when we need the help. 

Even before Hailey arrived, a friend brought over 2 weeks worth of herbal teas to brew for the post partum days. When we were overwhelmed with appointments, a friend brought us a meal. When Hailey was not drawing enough milk out due to a lip tie, our neighbor loaned us her breast pump. And then when we had to rig up a baby scale, another neighbor loaned us their baby scale. On top of that, we will have 6 meals coming in the next 2 weeks from moms in my MOPS group. We are truly blessed. 

Until Next week! 

Love, 

Mommy 

Tricky Situations and Sweet Moments: Week 1

Dear Kids,
Tomorrow will be a week since Hailey has joined our family. It's been a roller coaster full of tricky situations and sweet moments.

Tricky Situation #1
Of course, having sick kids in the house makes things just a bit more tricky. On Tuesday (of last week) Hannah started to develop a croupy cough. A fever came and went. Thankfully, by the time Hailey was ready to enter into the world, Hannah's fever had broken for 24 hours.

Sweet Moment #1
It worked out, because I got a chance to just hang out with Hannah while Nathan went to school.

Tricky Situation #2
On the night you had a fever, Daddy went upstairs to comfort and ended up sleeping with you. As a result, he woke up with a very sore back. This made things a bit more complicated.

Sweet Moment #2
Then, Thursday morning came and our family grew by 1 member. In this picture, the midwife is taking Hailey's footprints. I know, so terrible!

Sweet Moment #3

Coming home felt great. My mom is here and I could sleep in my own bed at night. And Hailey was a great sleeper. I could've spent all day just staring at your cute little features. 

Tricky Situation #3
But then day 2 came around and Hailey, you became a ravenous beast. It seemed like all you wanted to do was nurse, which was kind of expected, but I had no idea that I would have you attached to me most of the day!

Sweet Moment #4
Since Nathan, you were not sick (yet), so we secretly let you hold Hailey while Hannah was taking her bath. You were so gentle and admired all of her little features. You really love her and have been so helpful around the house.

Tricky Situation #4
Nathan seems to have caught whatever Hannah had and is coughing (with fever). Now we have to keep you away from Hailey, and you don't like it very much.

Sweet Moment #5
Hannah, you eventually got your turn to hold her, but at this point, we don't let you touch Hailey's face or fingers. Having you both sick when Hailey is home has not been the ideal situation. We are trying our best to balance bonding and not contaminating Hailey with germs.

Tricky Situation #5
Hannah, emotionally, you are having a tough time with a new baby in the house. You seem to be throwing more tantrums and you are more obstinate than usual. We try to remedy this by spending more 1 on 1 time with you, and now that you are better, I make sure I give you a few hugs a day.

Tricky Situation #5

Hailey, when we took you in for your 2 day check up, everything was great, except your weight. You had lost just over 10% of your body weight. It turns out that you, being constantly feeding, spent more calories than you took in, so you lost a lot of weight. Our plan was to supplement with formula for the time being as we tried to figure out what was causing this problem. 

The midwife suggested these things:

• Hailey, since your head w as molded so much, there may have been a lot of tension in your head, causing you to not latch well. So to fix that, the midwife suggested that you get a cranial sacral treatment. So, on Monday, Daddy and you both saw the chiropractor. He got an adjustment for his backache and you got a cranial sacral release, which involved light pressure on your skull and along your sacrum. During the treatment, I could tell that your face just relaxed, and that evening, your head seemed to be a bit less cone shaped. 
• While Nathan had a tongue tie, Hailey, you have a slight tie on your upper lip. The midwife also suggested that we go in an have you evaluated to see if we need to get your tongue or upper lip released to help with the latch. 

Over the weekend, most businesses were closed, so we simply worked on having you gain weight. I would breastfeed you for 20 - 30 minutes and then supplement with either formula or pumped milk until you were satiated. 

Daddy rigged up a little baby scale with a salad bowl and food scale. This system ended up working very well and saved us from having to make lots of trips to places with a baby scale. 

Sweet Moment #6
Now that Ama is no longer sick, she can give you all the cuddles that you want.

Tricky Situation #6

So we went in today to a pediatric dentist to get your lip tie evaluated. Turns out you have a level 3 lip tie, so we got that taken care of today. This is a screen shot of a video I took of the Dr. demonstrating how to do the daily stretches after the laser procedure. The procedure took less than 5 minutes and just immediately afterwards, I could tell that you are able to open your mouth wider. I still have to manually move your upper lip out so that it "flanges," but I know that it will just take some time to re-learn how to feed on the breast correctly. 

The procedure basically involved a little shot of lidocane to numb the area and then a laser is used to cut the skin, suturing it at the same time. As I eyed the little syringe, I started to become just a bit nervous for you and wished that I could take the pain for you. 

Sweet Moment # 7 

This took place in the dentist office as well. But it was a blessing that the procedure that was taking place next to our room took more time than expected because I actually got to sit down and just talk with my mom. At home it's so busy, with me with Hailey, Daddy playing with one of you, and Ama playing with another one of you or cooking a meal. Nathan talks so much that we never really get a chance to talk, so for 30 minutes, we got to just talk about life and what things were like before I was even born. 

Ama leaves on Saturday, so hopefully in the next few days, the breastfeeding works itself out and I can start to do more things without getting too sore. I am starting to regret naming Hailey with another "Ha" name, because I'm already starting to mix your two names up... 

But the alternative was Amber and you just didn't look like an Amber when you came out. 

Well, let's see what adventures this week will bring us. Until next week! 

Love, 

Mommy