Majestic View Park

This last Saturday we took the girls to a park close to where we live that has an awesome view.  Well, it USUALLY has an awesome view, and it had one Friday night when we stopped there, but due to fires south of us (New Mexico wild fires) which actually caused an air advisory, but we didn’t know that until after we went to the park Saturday morning.  Regardless, we had a lot of fun taking pictures and letting the girls play at the playground.

Anna is two weeks old!

We had Anna’s two week checkup today.  She is doing well, has no known issues, and weighed it at 9lb 11.5oz, which beats her birth weight (9 lb 4 oz) by a load (we were only concerned about her being back up to her birth weight, so YAY, she did that – if there’s one thing this mama can do, it’s grow babies!).

It is still surreal to have this little being in our lives.  The older girls adore her still and we’re still in that “new baby” stage.  However, she’s already starting to show that she’s growing and changing and she’s already meeting her “milestones” such as following objects with her eyes (by moving her head) and she knows her mama by face, voice, and smell.

What to do when you buy your first iMac…

(Not sure if you can tell, but the last one had Adam laughing SO hard that he could hardly hold still enough to take the picture…)

Big Sister Julia

Adam reminded me of this picture from when Raven was born (September 2009)…

And then we have this picture from last Tuesday when Julia met (and fell in love with) Anna for the first time…

Someone was born to be a big sister, don’t you think?

erin

Roses

I have had nothing to do with the blossoming and blooming of the roses in our yard this year, but I will gladly enjoy their beauty and smell!  We have approximately 10 different colors of roses in our yard… all gorgeous, and many of which are ending up in the house.

Our Girls

On Sunday after we had dinner, I popped Anna onto the floor with Julia and Raven and aside from a few “Be careful!” and “Be gentle!” and “Don’t stick your feet in her face!” comments, all went really well.  The girls LOVED having that close up interaction with their new baby sister.

Anna Beyel is One Week Old!

I almost don’t want to write this post because it means that time doesn’t stand still and that despite my best efforts, my new baby Anna is going to continue to grow and each day and each week and each month she’ll grow older meaning she’ll be as big as the big kids but really, it means that truly, in 10 weeks or so I’ll be going back to work and Anna will be going to daycare.  I don’t know why the prospect of that is so hard – she’s my third, and we made the choice to have her knowing that on the other end there wouldn’t be a choice other than to put her in daycare – maybe it’s a Mom Thing.

And maybe that’s why I haven’t posted much since she was born… well, that, and I was stuck in a hospital, completely drugged up, exhausted beyond belief (wow, two full days of cluster feeding!!!)… but really, I’m in this mode of wanting to capture every day and hold onto it forever and believe that next week Anna won’t be two weeks old already.

BUT.  She’s a week old already.  So that being said, here’s her One Week Old Post!

Anna had her first doctor’s appointment yesterday, and after leaving the hospital last Friday at 8lb 7oz (13oz below birth weight) and slightly jaundiced, we were happy to learn yesterday that she had gained 6oz (up to 8lb 13oz) and has no jaundice issues at all.  She has another appointment next Tuesday – our only goal is for her to be back to her birth weight by then.

Anna is a pretty easy going baby, and even seems to be handling all of the love from her big sisters really well.  And the big sisters LOVE Anna.  Every day, multiple times a day, the girls want to hold her, and we oblige.  The other night I even let them play with Anna on the floor because really, they need to get to know each other and the big girls need to learn how to be around the baby.  So far they are doing great with her and we haven’t had any jealousy issues.

(Ha, our bigger issues are the moths and Raven ended up in our bed the other night because she was adamant that there was a moth in her room, and there was no way she was going back into her room, no matter what.  Not even to retrieve Sheepie.)

I am recovering from my Cesarean well, and after a week, I've been able to reduce my pain medication to once a day.  Prior to that, I was having a hard time knowing when I was pushing to hard and would suddenly crash and need hours-long naps to recover from my activities.  Now that I’ve scaled back the meds, I can tell when I need to rest and stop and sit and rest immediately and can I say, I’m enjoying Season 4 of How I Met Your Mother.  Heh.

To wrap up this post, I figured I would post a picture of each day of Anna’s life so far. 

Birth Day:


One Day Old:


Two Days Old:


Three Days Old:


Four Days Old:


Five Days Old:


Six Days Old:


One Week Old (TODAY!):





And, a Happy Birthday today to my cousin BROCK!!! (*grin*)
erin

Update to Shutterfly Photocard Post

When I first made this card through Shtterfly, I neglected to notice that my finger slipped and I typed in 8 instead of 9 lbs. Anna was 9 lbs 4 oz, not 8 lbs 4 oz. I updated the photo card, but then was not given the option to repost it! Dangnabit!

Photo Card

Butterflies Baby Girl Baby Announcements

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Updated: When I first made this card through Shutterfly, I neglected to notice that my finger slipped and I typed in 8 instead of 9 lbs.  Anna was 9 lbs 4 oz, not 8 lbs 4 oz.  I updated the photo card, but then was not given the option to repost it!  Dangnabit!

Welcome, Baby Anna!

Anna Beyel Draeger celebrated her Birth Day yesterday -- May 15, 2012.  Adam, Julia, Raven, and I are so excited to welcome the fifth member to our family!

(Beyel is Adam's grandma's maiden name; Grandma Draeger passed away in December and we wanted to honor a woman who has been such an amazing influence in so many people's lives --- Draeger and non-Draeger alike!)

Anna was born at 1:52 PM MDT at Exempla Lutheran in Wheat Ridge, CO.  She weighed 9 lb 4 oz and is 22 inches long.  (!!! - bigger than her sisters - we are convinced that she knew she needed to beef up so she could handle the love and smothering her sisters would shower upon her!)  She is long and lean and already has a healthy appetite!

Julia and Raven were VERY excited to meet their new little sister last night!

We are also blessed to have Adam’s parents here to help us out this first week, especially with the older girls.  They are getting some much needed attention while mommy spends her time in the hospital and while daddy tries to keep up with the demands of the beer world.

Mommy and Anna are both doing well.  Anna is already a great little nurser, and has only lost 4% of her body weight.  Mommy is feeling well after having survived her third C-section, and today I was able to get up and move around after being unhooked from a multitude of machines and everything else.  I was also blessed with a visit from one of my church friends, Cristal, and she provided me with much needed adult conversation for a couple of hours.

We are hoping to head home on Friday; Saturday at the latest. 

Thanks for all of the well-wishes via Facebook and email – much appreciated!  I apologize for not being able to respond to each and every one at this point in time, but know that you are loved and your kind words mean so very much to me and the family!

Love,

erin