First Two Weeks!

I know this is back-tracking, but the first 2 weeks were a little crazy so I want to document them. The first 2 weeks included: a sweet baby, biliruben, a kidney infection, and sweet friends!

1st - A Sweet Baby!
Marlee is a sweetheart. I love her so much. She is just adorable and I feel so blessed to have her in our family. She eats and sleeps most the time, and when she is awake she just sits there content as can be. She is a great sleeper so far and if she keeps it up it will definitely help me with the adjustment to 3 kiddos!

2nd- Biliruben Testing!
Because of our different blood types and Marlee getting some of my blood into her system, she had high biliruben levels and had to be treated with the bili-lights in the hospital. After an extra day in the hospital they let us take her home, we just had to keep her on a "bili-blanket" - more like a small board/bili-light. It meant she couldn't wear any clothes, so that it could always be on her back. The first week we were in the hospital 3 days, and had to return to the hospital 3 days to have her bili-levels checked, which meant testing her blood. Her poor little heals had about a dozen cuts in them by the time they were done. Thankfully after a week we were able to take her off the bili-blanket and let her start wearing clothes - yay!

3rd- Kidney Infection!
4 days after Marlee was born it was time for Ryan to head back to work and my Mom to head back to AZ. They left about 11:30 Saturday morning and I was on my own with the 3 kiddos for my first time. I had had chills and been achey all morning, but thought I would be ok. By 1:30 I was running a fever of 102 degrees and feeling awful. Fortunately right when I was ready to break down, my sweet friend Raquel came to pick Brinley and Casen up to come play at her house. It was perfect timing! After the kids left I called Dr. Nye and told him my symptoms, he wasn't sure what was going on, so we decided to give it sometime. I took a nap and felt a little better when I woke up. Fortunately Marlee was an angel and ate and slept as usual. Ryan was able to get off work a little early and got home to put the kids in bed, I was so grateful because there is just no way I could have done it. By 9:00 the kids were in bed and I was feeling horrible, so we checked my temp again and I was up to 103 degrees. We called the L&D unit and they told us to head to the ER. That is when I broke down (again). Besides feeling awful I didn't want to leave my newborn baby and I just didn't want to be dealing with this on top of everything.... but everything was ok. Another sweet friend, Karrissa, came and stayed at the house with our kids while Ryan took me to the ER. I was so grateful to know my kids were safe and so thankful to have Ryan with me at the hospital. After LOTS of blood being drawn and a couple hours of waiting, we were told I had a kidney infection. I was glad to know what was going on and get started on the antibiotics. I felt like we were really watched over that night, Ryan being able to put the kids to bed and friends being willing to help at just the right time, the ER visit was only 2.5 hours and I was able to get back home before Marlee needed to eat again - everything went as well as it could have and I am so grateful.

#4 - Sweet Friends!
Over the next week I had so much help from my sweet friends! Despite being so sick I was able to survive the week, and really couldn't have done it with out the help of my wonderful husband and great friends. From delicious dinners, to playdates, to groceries being picked up, to phone calls just to check on me, I feel so lucky to have received so much support when I needed it. Thank you, thank you to everyone!!!



Bili-board and sunlight!


Brinley was SO excited to help us give Marlee her first bath at home.




Casen loves Marlee and is always wanting to hold her and lay by here. I love it when they snuggle.

Brinley helping Marlee get some sun!

I love how she looks so chubby here :)

Casen often says "Hi Beautiful" to Brinley, which I love :) This day we were all sitting on my bed and Casen was in the middle of Marlee and Brinley. He looked at Marlee and said "Hi Beautiful", then he looked at Brinley and his face lit up. With a very exited look on his face he looked at me and said "Beautiful! (pointing to Marlee) Beautiful! (pointing to Brinely).... 2 Beautifuls!!" :) I am so glad he loves his beautiful sisters! I told him I needed a picture of him with his "beautifuls", so I snapped this shot.



I love when Marlee is awake. She is so alert!



Most the time I prefer to have Marlee sleep upstairs out of the "Danger Zone" , but during dinner we have been putting her in her swing so she can be with the rest of the family... before dinner is over the kids can be found on either side of her. Not exactly her most restful sleep, but at least Brinley and Casen get to enjoy her.


Marlee and Daddy. Poor Ryan hasn't been able to spend as much time with Marlee as he did with our other newborns... with me being sick I was focused on just taking care of Marlee and he took care of Brinley and Casen.


Ryan got me a new iPhone a for Christmas and so now I snap pictures of the kids ALL the time! This is one of the many pics I took on my phone, there are quite a few others in this post too.

A lot of fun in February!

I took a lot of random pictures in February... surprise, surprise :) We also had a couple little outings, but I am going to have to do one big post before Miss Marlee wakes up!


My Mom brought this dress 3 years ago from Russia for Brinley when they went to adopt Madeline and Brooklyn. I found it when I was cleaning out my room and it fits perfect :)




I love it when these 2 are friends. Every so often the hold hands in the car and I was so glad I got a picture!


3 times last month I found Casen like this while checking on him before heading to bed. Amazingly I was able to put his jammies back on all 3 times without waking him up!



Brinley and I went to get pedicures and manicures the week before Marlee was born. It was a fun girls outing and my favorite part was watching Brinley. She was so cute... love her excited face here.


They put little flowers on her nails and she loved them!


Casen likes to do pull-ups on Ryan's pull-up bar, this is his lastest stunt.


My brother Mark and his wife Clarissa had a baby girl on February 11th, little Haley. She is so cute and I can't wait to meet her! It will be so fun for her Marlee to be friends, yay!


My friend Annie made a green shake at a recipe exchange and got me excited about making them again. I have been making them 1 or 2 times a week and the kids love them. A typical shake includes spinach, tomato, cucumber, carrots, blueberries, strawberries, banana, apple, and apple juice.

Brinley wrote this card to Grandma Q to thank her for the cute clothes she brought her.


We had never taken the kids to the Springs Preserve and we finally decided to go on one of Ryan's days off. The kids had a great time and we had fun following them around.

It turned out to be colder then expected and Brinley got to wear Ryan's extra jacket.


The kids favorite part was looking at all the little dessert lizards, snakes, etc.


Casen's Valentine sugar cookie, love this boy.

Brinley on her way to her friend Ava's birthday party. It was a Rapunzel theme and she loved it!

Ryan got accepted to Wharton and will be starting their MBA program on May 22nd. I am so proud of him!



I got this chocolate milk for Ryan, as with most things I get Ryan, Casen claimed it as his own.

Brinley and her swedish pancake. My Mom made these going up and they were one of my favorites, now my kids love them!

Marlee's Birth - Raquel Wilbur Photography

My friend Raquel is an awesome photographer... so when she offered to come do "birth photography" pictures for Marlee's birth I was pretty excited. I was a little nervous how the timing and everything would work out, but it ended up being perfect. I am so glad she was there to help us capture the moment. She also made an amazing slide show for me, I love it so much and am so glad she was able to help us remember Marlee's birth in such a special way. Thanks Raquel!


Ryan and his friend Nate, or "Dr. Nye" who delivered baby Marlee.


Trying to breath through the contractions while my epidural wasn't working!


Ryan did such a wonderful job at helping me through the labor. I really felt his love and support for me the entire time and am so grateful for him.


Trying to relax as we are nearing push time!


Push!!! It may look like a lot of people in the room, but there are 4 more you can't even see in the picture! It was very different having a room full of people... in both my other deliveries it was Ryan and I, and the nurse and doctor! In addition to Ryan, Raquel, and I, we had 2 doctors, 1 nurses, 2 techs that take care of the baby, and 2 students (and 2 people supervising them) and a pediatrician because there was meconium in the water.... which was pretty gross when my water burst at 11:00 that morning!


First breath


This was Ryan's first time to actually watch the birth instead of standing by me, he even cut the umbilical cord.


Getting cleaned and weighed... I was pretty excited about her weighing 8 lbs 8 oz, 8 is my favorite number :)




It really 1s such an amazing experience to look into the eyes of your newborn baby. I am so grateful for her and her safe arrival.



She looks so chubby here, I love it!