Remind Me....

Some days I feel overwhelmed.
Some days I am just a jerk to my husband.
Some days I feel like I just can't do anything right.
Some days I focus so much on what's not going right.
Then I see these sweet faces and remember God has blessed me beyond belief and I have so much to be grateful for.

Trials come and go but He is good all the time.

These moments are but a blink of an eye and I shall cherish each one, good, bad, crazy, stressful, tearful, joyful and all.

When I forget, remind me!

2 Weeks...

Anna Beth had her 2 week check up today and they said she is GREAT!!

She is now up to 6lbs 11oz so she has regained all her lost weight and a little more. This puts her in the 10% for weight. She is in the 50 % for height at 19 3/4 and is in the 80% for head circumfrence at 14 3/4! (crazy how one and 1/4 cm can change it from 25 % to 80 %). I am not sure I am buying the % though!

She definitely has a cold (which has made the last couple of days VERY hard on mommy). He said I am doing everything correctly to help ease her discomfort and they checked her pulse oxygen levels and she is great so that was reassuring. Poor little thing also has clogged tear ducts so she has had a rough couple of days.

So I started this yesterday and am finishing it now and am so thankful to say Anna Beth's cold seems to finally be easing up! Of course, the MDO said I didn't have to wake her up to eat at night but the little stinker will gladly wake herself up every 3 hours at night but sleep all day if I let her. I am just thankful she slept in her cradle last night because she can finally breathe better!

Well, I am tired, I have clothes to put away and pre-pregnancy clothes to find as I inch closer to fitting into them again. Mommyhood is sure sleeply bliss...

Maybe I will just take a nap :)

Mia Grace - Around 2 weeks (only have a few pictures on this computer)

Anna Beth (around 2 weeks) and Mia Grace almost 23 months! I ADORE this picture!

A Typical Morning....

Life is a little different these days now that there are four Fishers!

Our morning usually starts like this....

Mommy finishes nursing Anna Beth around 6:45/7:00 and brings her back to the room for her post eating vertical stay to help with reflux (more on this later).

Around 7 or 7:15 we hear ..... "Daaa-Deee!.... Da-Da.... DAAAA-DEEEE.... DAAA-DAAAA" coming from the room next door.

Daniel goes in and gets my "Sunshine" and brings her into the room followed by the words .... "Bay-BEE" with kissing noises indicating she would like to kiss her sister.

We all cuddle into the bed (typically with the cat and then we hear "Muk" = Milk and our sweet Dad/Husband goes downstairs to get Mia Grace's cup of milk and Mommy's Breakfast drink.

This all is followed/coinciding with one of the following shows - Little Bill, Handy Manny, Timmy Time, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Cat in the Hat, Martha Speaks or whatever happens to be on at the hour she awakes that she will choose to watch. These days the only things that truly suit her fancy are the songs in between shows like "Choo Choo Soul with Genevieve", "Dance A Lot Robot" or whatever they show.

I cherish these moments as I know they won't last long and love getting to start each day with the three loves of my life!

Here is a phone shot of her other favorite thing to ask in the morning... "Hole... Hole...." which means hold as she begs to hold Anna Beth :)

 (Not the best quality as it was dark and on my phone but it captures the joy and the essence of our morning on the 29th of November)

Nursing round 2...

One of the joys and challenges I chose to partake as a mommy is nursing. I had made up my mind long before Mia Grace was born I would nurse and my strong will was determined to stick it out no matter what. Mia Grace and I had our ups and downs for sure as she was born early and spent 9 days in the Special Care Nursery so I was pumping milk from the time she was less than a day old! I literally pumped milk for over 365 days straight! I stopped nursing Mia Grace in February of this year and stopped pumping on her 1st birthday. Some of the challenges MG and I faced included her not really learning how to properly latch until around month 3 (and then battling going backwards throughout), overactive letdown (IE fire hoses on my chest - HA!) etc etc. I am also now convinced that the use of the  pacifier also was not our friend at the start; however it was crucial to her staying soothed in the ICU so I wouldn't change that for the world.

Anna Beth and I have been off to a much better start. I got to try and nurse her when she was about 2 hours old (beat MG by a couple days) and we did not allow the nursery to give her a pacifier. It was evident from the start that she too had a tight little jaw and thus the blisters commenced! She knew what to do though so I had a strong inclination we would be better off! It was also very evident by day 3 that my milk supply had returned in full force and so did the strong let down! Thankfully the lactation specialists are wonderful and quickly helped me master (OK so that's a strong word, lets call it get a good grasp on) the football hold which is very helpful for C-Section recovery as well as angling little ones head to help with the let down.

I am happy to say the blisters are gone and while we still work on our latch we are off to a great start! I have a good grasp of when to take her off to let her breath (poor thing gulps and swallows from first suck) and often pump off an ounce or so particularly at night to give her a breather and start building my stock of milk. I must say though, I forgot how MUCH of my time this takes up at the beginning! Silly little girl also has her big sister trait of wanting to sleep much more than she wants to eat. I still wake her up for most feedings though of course she is glad to wake herself up in the middle of the night!

I know nursing just doesn't work out for everyone for all sorts of reasons but I am so thankful to be given the blessing of sharing this gift with Anna Beth and pray we make it as long as Mia Grace did!

After our first nursing session... such a sweet moment!