New Blog...

I have decided to close this blog for awhile and start a new one. Since this was my blog for our fertility treatment, I thought I should start a new one for our family updates. So the new blog is...

http://banksbrigade.blogspot.com/

The Banks Brigade blog will be updates on our family, milestones, and just fun events that we are going thru as parents.

When we begin the fertility journey again (yes, we do plan on doing this crazy roller coaster again) then I will begin blogging thru this site. But until that happens, please join us over at Banks Brigade!

End of Semester Update

So the semester is almost over, so  my life is finally slowing down at least at work.
Life at home is great as ever! We have been busy since the last post. We headed home for my cousin Amanda's baby shower. Which we figured out Kaylan had the 24 hr bug, which she gave to me and I gave to my cousin, Kari. It was not fun to be sick while we were travelling. But we all recovered.

I had a great Mother's Day...we went to church and went out to eat with friends and family. I got to go shopping by myself for a bit and then a nice walk in the evening. Overall it turned out to be a great day!

Kaylan is growing like a weed. We went to her 6 month appt on April 28th. She weighed 17lbs 13oz. I will have to update on the rest, as I don't have the information with me.

She can roll over from her belly to her back (she hasn't mastered the back to belly, as she doesn't like being on her belly). She can sit up all by herself. She holds her own bottle. We are eating our vegetables and a few fruits, but she seems to like her vegetables better (YIPEE!!!).

Here is a link with pictures from 4months - today: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Qcs2zhy4as3_Q

Pneumonia

So as stated in my last post, we had to take Kaylan back to the doctor b/c she had a fever. Well the doctor didn't think to much about it and said her lungs & ears were good, so it must be viral. But to keep an eye on her and if the fever continue for 3 days to take her back in......

Well we woke up Sunday and YES, she still had the fever. So we took her to convenient care to be looked at. The doctor thought she sounded a little weezy, so he wanted to do a nebulizer treatment on her. Well besides the fact she was tired and wanted to sleep, she did not like that funky little mask on her. So I had to bounch her and rock her while she breathed in the medication. After the nebulizer treatment the doctor thought it would be best to take a chest x-ray since she still wasn't sounding 100%. So I had to put her in this plastic body cast type device, so the x-ray tech could get pictures to see what was going on.

After the doctor looked at the X-ray, he said he thought it was pneumonia, but wanted radiology to read the films to verify. So we started Kaylan on antibiotic to help with the fever pneumonia. Its a 4 day treatment which has been helping tremendously.

We finally got a call on Tuesday from the nurse stating that the radiologist looked at Kaylan's film and it was early pneumonia. To keep her on the medication and have a follow up with our regular doctor this week. So I will be taking her in tomorrow morning to see how the medication is helping.

All I can say is she wasn't her normal self while she had the fever. All she did was cuddle and lay on you. But once the antibiotics kicked in, she started feeling better and was talking again and back to her bouncy little self. Thank goodness

Catch up time...

Sorry for the lack of posting, things have been busy as most of you know. So many things have happened since her 2 month appointment.

We've taken her to her 4 month appointment, where she got more shots. This time she remembered what shots were and started crying sooner than the last time. But she was a trooper yet again. She had grown to 14lbs 14oz, 24 inches long. She was in the 50 percentile on length and head size and 75 percentile on weight. The doctor wasn't concerned about anything as she seems healthy. She informed us we could start using cereal, which we had started a week or so before hand.

She travelled home to Bowen, to visit w/friends and family. She got to meet her new BFF..Brixley Lidaywa. She got to hang out with family at a baby shower for Kari Reuschel. It was a fun trip home but the travelling part is long and tiring.

She has learned to roll over, even though she doesn't like tummy time, we make sure she gets a bit of it every night. We've been working with her on her back muscle and arm muscles and she has finally started rolling over from tummy to back. Her leg muscles are extremely strong as she loves to stand and jump. We got a jenny-jump-up and she absolutely LOVES it. She can jump for hours in it.

We had a few night days in Illinois, so we decided to take Kaylan on her 1st walk as a family with the dogs. She wasn't as excited as we were. The dogs did great with the stroller and it was nice to be outside with Kaylan.

We had our 1st shopping spree in Tuscola for Kaylan. We went to Gymboree, Carters, Osh-kosh, Old Navy for kids clothes and we found some deals for her. We got her a bunch of summer outfits and her swimming suit. It is a 6-9 month, but is so tight on her already that I think we are going to have to go back and exchange it for a 9-12 month.

She became a big cousin, as my cousins had their twin boys...Alexander & Noah. We are so excited for the time we get to go home and actually meet the new additions.

Yesterday we had to take Kaylan back to the doctor's b/c she had a fever. She's had a sinus cold for awhile now and we weren't super worried as long as she didn't have a fever. Well yesterday she had a fever, it started off at 100.7 then by the time we got an appt to see a doctor our thermometer was saying 102.7. I started getting a bit worried at that point. When we got to the doctors office their thermometer stated 101.6. She weighed 16lbs 1.5oz. We had to see an on-call doctor and she said that Kaylan's lungs sound great. She did have some wax buildup in her ears, which the doctor cleaned out and said she didn't have an ear infection. So it is a virus that you just have to wait out, but we could give her baby Tylenol for the fever. So Marc stayed home with her yesterday and I stayed home with her today. Her fever has lowered but w/o the Tylenol it does return. I took it around 2pm and it was still 99.9, so we continue with the baby Tylenol and hope for the fever to break and remain gone. She has her moments where she is fine and acts like her normal happy self, but there are also moments that you can tell she is having problem breathing due to being stopped up and not feeling great but overall she is getting better. I hate seeing her sick but I know she will get over this as she will get over so many more colds in the future.

We have an appt for her 6 month appt coming up at the end of April. We will probably be starting her on baby food in the next couple weeks.

Life as we know it...

So the holidays are over and we returned to life as we know it...which is weird b/c life as we knew it has totally changed. We have a baby...but it seems like we have always had a baby. So now life as we know just seems like life as we've known forever. But life as we know changes everyday as Kaylan has advanced so much.

We stayed in town for the holidays and spent them with friends and family. We had a great time for Chrstmas and New Years!!! As you can tell by my baby's face... hehe

Shortly after the holidays, I started back to work... boooo hoooo :-( For the first week I only worked half days on M-W-F. On M-W, I took Kaylan with me and she helped mommy do some work.....Then on Friday, we took her to daycare for our trial run in the mornings. I think that was the worst day of my life. I was crying all week. We got up and started getting ready, as we loaded her up I was crying. I cried as I drove her to daycare (as did she) and then 2 steps outside the door I started bawling. I cried the entire drive to the office. It was a rough day...I finally left to pick her up and she was screaming so when I got her into the car I cried again and that continued for the rest of the afternoon at home. I just felt so bad, I felt like I was neglecting my child b/c I left her at daycare.

I think it is so hard on me b/c all I've ever wanted to be was a Mommy!! Then we had to try so hard to get to this point...year after year of disappointment to finally get such a wonderful little girl. All I want to do is stay with her...I don't want to do that forever but just to the point that they are out of college...JUST KIDDING!!! I would love to be able to stay home with her until she is 3-4 years old, then she can go to daycare and start meeting friends and socializing. I think its also hard b/c I know that she won't be this little for very long and soon she will be in school hanging out with her friends and mommy & daddy won't even be a blip on her radar. So I want to be able to cherish her while I can.

The following week, I started back to work full time. I cried again but each day it got easier. Not that it got easy, it just got easier. I still feel horrible leaving her but know that I have to go back to work in order to keep things the way they are. She has also gotten better at daycare, she is allowing our provider to hold her and feed her. So it is just taking time, for both of us.

So Kaylan has been changing daily. Each day she seems to do something new. She is cooing and talking to us. She tries to mimic your mouth when you talk to her. She is cackling and even full out laughing at times. Each day is a true blessing and amazing how she changes. She has gone thru so many phases...from wanting to be put on your shoulder to calm her, to being held across your chest with her pacifier...she's come up with a new one. She gets cranky and you try everything, but none of it works...so you finally just lay her down on her back (on the couch or floor) and she stops being cranky almost instantly and goes to cooing and talking. We look forward to her next phase....

She is growing so much, I think she's put on 20 lbs since birth. I see newborn babies and can't even remember her being so small. She's learned to enjoy her bath time, as we sit and kick around in the water and just have fun. See below...

She just talks and talks and talks...as some would say she is taking after her mother..hey I know I talk...I just hope she doesn't out-do me. If so watch out teachers....

So we took her into the doctor's on Monday (Jan 24th) for her 2 month appt (even though she's now 3 months). She did amazingly well at her appt. She was weighed and measured, the doctor evaluated her and said she looked good, even though she has a sinus cold right now. So she weighed in at 12lbs 13oz, her length is 23.25 inches. So she is growing nicely. It was also the day we had to get her shots, she wasn't as happy a camper as she is before the shots here.

The nurse came in and gave her the oral medication, then she proceeded to give her the shots. The 1st shot, Kaylan looked around....then realized...OUCH!!! and started screaming. Before Kaylan could take her first breath, the nurse was done with the 2 other shots. It was heartbreaking, but kinda funny, as she turned all shades of red as she screamed. But once I picked her up she calmed down pretty quickly and was fine. She took it like a woman, the nurse said!!! Due to the shots, I decided to take the day off to spend with her incase she needed more cuddles...she slept most of the day. She was a little bit crankier but we managed to handle it fine. We have her next appt on March 4th for her 4 month appt, and yet again she will get shots. Boooo

So life as we know it is beyond good...it would only be better if I could stay home with our baby but yet make the income I may now...hehe.

As you can tell, life has been busy at the Banks house. Marc has returned to work, leaving me at home with a newborn and 2 crazy dogs. Kaylan has gotten better about sleeping but we just recently purchased a new item to help on that front…

I saw this item in a booklet of Fisher Price items and thought about getting it. So while out shopping with a friend we found it at Target and I decided to try it out and see if it would work. Before getting this we couldn’t get her to sleep for more than 1 hour in her crib/bassinet. So for the last 7 weeks, I have been sleeping on the recliner with her on my chest. I enjoyed the cuddle time but am glad she is starting to sleep on her own.

So in the last 7 weeks, we have been busy bees. We traveled to Jacksonville, IL to meet Nana & Papa. Then we went to Springfield, IL to meet Uncle Aaron & Aunt Rachel (before their trip back to SC).

We bought a 2010 Chrysler Town & Country. In order to travel with the new addition and the dogs, we knew we had to upgrade to a bigger vehicle. So we found a mini-van that we both liked and decided to purchase it.

We also went to Jacksonville, IL & Bowen, IL for Thanksgiving. It was the 1^st time to see Great Grandpa Rankin and Great Grandpa & Grandma Keller. Kaylan also got to meet Uncle Jared & Aunt Heather & Cousin Haydon along with Kevin, Kari, Amy, Blaine, Dana, Roger & Judy. It was a great holiday weekend.

We had Kaylan’s 1 month doctor’s appointment. It went great, she weighed 9lbs 5 oz. The doctor thought she looked fine. I had my 6 week doctor’s appointment and was released w/o restrictions.

We’ve had multiple snow storms in C-U. Started getting ready for Kaylan’s first Christmas. Since she is so young, we decided to keep it small. We put up a small Christmas tree, hung our stocking and a few figurines.

We went back to Bowen for our family Christmas a week early. Friday night was the church play, where Marc & I played Mary & Joseph and Kaylan was Baby Jesus. Saturday we had our family Christmas. Saturday evening was the Rankin-Reuschel gathering. Kaylan got to meet even more of the cousins. She was passed around all evening. Sunday was church and lunch at mom & dad’s. Then we left to head back home. Luckily Kaylan slept the entire trip. The bad news was she had a meltdown Sunday night.

We are now back home and getting back into our routine. We will not be traveling out of town for Christmas. We will finally start our own family traditions. This year we won’t be doing to much but it will still be nice to get us as a family and have our own Christmas. The plan at this point in time is to go to a Christmas Eve service and dinner with a friend. Then Christmas day we may try to make a lunch for us an my brother.

Photos of Kaylan and all our trips are on my shutterfly account: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=13d33ab4d18e35c5&sid=0Qcs2zhy4as3Vw

Home at last...

So after I was released from the hospital, we tried to start our routine, but of course Kaylan wasn't having it. She has had her nights and days confused, so the only way to get her to sleep is to sleep in the recliner with her on your chest.

I am not one for remaining still for long so Saturday, I decided to head to the store for a few items. Yes, we all went to the store together...including Kaylan. I got tired while at the store, so I went to the front and waited for everyone to finish. It seemed strange to take Kaylan out, still waiting for the alarms to sound.

Sunday we had Kaylan's 1st doctor's appt. She was back to almost birth weight (6lb 14oz-birth, she weighed 6lbs 13oz on Sunday). They tested her for jaundice, she had a small amount of jaundice, but the doctor wasn't worried about it but wanted us to check her again in 2 days. After the dr appt we went to church and then back to the store for a few items that we forgot. Yes, I know I am a glutton for punishment.

So Tuesday, we went back to the dr office to check Kaylan's levels and they had decreased. So they released us until her 1 month appt.

Today, I had my 2 week post-op appointment. The doctor checked my incision area and released me to drive. But I am still not able to carry anything heavier than the baby. So that makes it hard to go anywhere, as I cannot carry the baby in her carseat, so I am still dependent on Marc to carry the baby when we head out on the town.

So the dogs have done great with Kaylan. They were pretty excited, but we have worked with them to control their excitement around Kaylan. They are doing great now...Zena still wants to lick Kaylan occassionally but Barkley has been amazing. He sniffs her and wants to know she's ok. He's been protective of her...when company comes over, he wants to know where she is and who has her. When I allow him into her room, he looks into the crib to see if she's sleeping (it so adorable)...

Marc has taken the last 2 weeks off of work, as the University give parents 2 weeks paid time off. It has been great to have him around but he will head back to work on Monday...so technically he's been off for 2.5 weeks. I am sad to see him go back to work, as it has been nice to have him around. He has been so helpful with changing diapers, soothing Kaylan, just anything I have asked.

I will be off work until Jan 10th, which will be nice once I am released completely from the doctor. It will be nice to be able to travel home for the holidays and not worry about when I need to return (except for Marc's schedule).