Two weeks

Little JJ is two weeks old today, man, time flies! On one hand, because of all the doctors visits, the NICU, and everything else going on it feels like it's been a long two weeks. But looking back, I can't believe how fast it's going.

He has been a WONDERFUL baby so far, thank goodness! I don't think I could have handled a hard baby on top of everything else.

It's just amazing to me how quickly we can forget those first few months, and how quickly those memories come flooding back once you're in the middle of it all again. So for now, I'm just going to try to soak him up in all his newborn glory, and hope that he gets his days and nights figured out soon!

When it rains, it pours!

So, just when we thought things couldn't get worse, Kevin had to make a trip to the ER last night with Peyton. We're going to see how many of these little hospital bracelets we can collect by the end of the month.:)

He had taken the girls to his basketball game, (he wasn't playing, just went to support the team), and the girls were off playing with a bunch of other kids. I guess there was a little ball with a handle on it, the kind kids can bounce on, and Peyton was playing on it and "went out of control" according to Halli, going head first into the door.

From what I hear, there was blood everywhere, her face was pretty much covered in it, and she had it all over her clothes too. Kevin said that once they got to the ER she was a tough cookie and did great when they put the stitches in. luckily, today she's been great and hasn't complained at all , except when we have to change the bandaid that's covering the stitches, and that's just because when we take the bandaid off, it pulls the little hairs on her forehead.

Here are a few pictures of our little girl in the ER

Our tough little girl sporting her 5 stitches this morning.

So right when we thought were about done with doctor visits, we'll be going back next week for Jaden, and now for Peyton as well...if only they were on the same day.

There are a few updates as well,. Kevin went to the doctor, and it's just a REALLY bad high ankle sprain. It's the worst you can do without breaking it or tearing a ligament and it'll probably take a month or two to heal, so that'll be fun!

As for Jaden, on wednesday his biliruben level was 10.9 and this morning it was 11.4 , so it's gone up, but not alot. Enough that we have to go back into the pediatrician AGAIN monday morning to have them checked. Poor boy and his bruised heels. :( But I'm feeling pretty good that by monday the numbers will be down and we'll be able to stop getting them checked.

I'm still hurting, but it'll probably take a few weeks before I'm feeling better, so thankfully my mom is coming into town tomorrow to help out. YEAH! I'm kinda excited!

I'm just REALLY hoping that this is the end, and from here on out it's getting healthy and getting used to having four little kidlets to watch over.

What a sorry bunch we are

This has been quite an interesting week and a half for us since Jaden came home. We've got three very rambunctious girls, who are so happy when grandma comes to take them to play. Especially because mom and dad are pretty pathetic right now.

Four days before Jaden was born, Kevin came home from a basketball game with a severely sprained ankle. We thought he'd still have a couple weeks to recover before Jaden arrived, but apparently we were wrong.

He's had some time, here and there, to get his foot up and ice it, but not as much as he needs. So now, he's going to see the doctor, finally. Hopefully we'll see if it's worse than just a sprained ankle since it's taking so long to heal.

Then theres me. My back was hurting while I was pregnant, but that's normal when you're pregnant. unfortunately, the delivery must have done something, beause now it's MUCH worse than it was. I can barely walk, which isn't making anything easier.

Add in to that the fact that Jaden just can't seem to keep his biliruben level down, so we have to keep going back to the doctor to get it checked, and you'll see that we are just a sorry bunch of crippled people here.

Yeah, we were supposed to get to relax this week but, I've had a couple appts with the chiropractor, and Jaden's been to the doctor twice and is going back again on friday. Not the most relaxing week, but someday, things will slow down, right?

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of what the girls have been doing to keep busy. They are way rowdy and cooped up, so they have to get their energy out somehow!



I am not saying this to look for sympathy in any way, but man-oh-man, am I ready for life to slow down and get back to some semblance of normal! Luckily for us, Jaden has been an amazing baby so far, and besides having his days and nights a little mixed up, he couldn't be an easier baby, thank heavens for that!

NICU

I don't know if it's cause I'm tall or what, but all of our babies have been on the big side. Peyton was our smallest at 8lbs 7oz. Because of this, jaundice has always been a minor concern. I guess bigger babies have a harder time taking in enough fluid to flush out all the biliruben in their systems.

We've always had to watch it, but it's never really been an issue. But Jaden just had a little bit of a harder time than the girls have had. The day after we got home from the hospital we took him to the pediatrician to have his levels checked. They had gone from an 8 in the hospital to an 18 in less than 24 hours. When they get up to 25 is when it can cross the blood/brain barrier and cause damage.

We were given a phototherapy blanket to use at home and were told to bring him back the next morning. Unfortunately, his levels had gone up again, and were now at 20. The doctor called us with the bad news that he would need to go to the NICU to get under the lights. The one in the NICU would cover his whole body, whereas the blanket just covered his abdomen.

Just what every new mom needs, I was already hormonal, and now my baby was going to be in a hospital for two days and two nights. It was the worst news I could have heard at that time. No, it's not a really serious issue, and we're thankful for that, but no mom wants to be seperated from their newborn baby.



Luckily, he's a great sleeper. Seeing that he wasn't uncomfortable, and that he was still happy and content there made it much easier to leave him. I spent the next two days going back and forth to the hospital to feed him. Sometimes I would stay up there, and sometimes I would come home to be with the girls. Thankfully, we're not too far from the hospital so I was able to do that at least.

Our little boy under the lights. The more skin he had exposed to the light, the better. I guess this particular light helps the body break down biliruben. It works the same as sunlight, except it doesn't cause sunburn. I actually think he really liked it under there with his blinders on, and a nice warm light overhead.

they had told us that after they took him off the lights, they would keep him for 8-12 hours to observe him, so I was thinking we would get to bring him home sunday afternoon. Then the NICU pediatrician gave me the best news ever at 9am sunday morning...we could take him home without needing to be observed!

I am grateful to all the nurses there, I don't think I could do what they do at all. They reassured me that he was in good hands, and would be well taken care of when I wasn't there. While I know this wasn't even close to the worst thing that could go wrong with a newborn, I am beyond grateful that it's over and that he's finally here with us. Now, after a whole week of having him in our family, and not being able to just hang out at home for a single day, I'm really looking forward to relaxing in my pajamas and soaking him up this week!

The day Jaden was born

At this point in all of my other pregnancies, I would be 39 weeks pregnant, and DESPERATE to have my baby. That was the plan this time around as well, but unbeknownst to us, Jaden had something else in mind!

On monday, July 12th, 10 days before my due date, my water broke. There wasn't a big gush, just a little leaking, fun, I know. At 8am, I woke Kevin up and told him that I thought my water had broke, he wasn't sure I knew what I was talking about since this had never happened before. But I was pretty sure, so he got up and we decided that we had ALOT to do to get ready to have this baby.

I wasn't packed, I had a project for the girls to do before the baby came that they wanted to do, I had to put the sibling gifts together for the girls, (luckily I had already bought it all), the house was a wreck, I needed to shower and clean up, and most importantly, we needed someone to watch the girls. Luckily for us, my sister had just gotten back in town and headed over as quick as she could. Kevin and I got busy cleaning and packing and trying to figure out if we had everything we needed. Then I got the girls started on their project.

I had seen my friend Sunnie's blog where she had her girls make their own big sister shirts, and thought that was a great idea. I had bought fabric paint and wanted to help make them really cute, but we were a little short on time. So I pulled out the fabric markers and they got to draw on the shirts. Halli and Peyton LOVED this, and Halli wore her shirt all day, until they realized that baby wasn't coming in time for them to meet him that day, then I hear she decided to change to keep it clean.:)

Halli went all out drawing a rainbow, and adding "love you" to the back of her shirt.

Peyton had fun just coloring in the words, "big sis" that I had written on there for her.

and Lexie did a great job of coloring on her shirt. She was done pretty quick.

Kevin and I then headed to the hospital, and found out that my water had, indeed, broken. So they set us up in a delivery room, and started pitocin around 1:30 that afternoon. After that, there was lots of waiting, and tv watching. I eventually got an epidural, and things still moved kinda slow. Around 9pm, finally, I was ready to push.

Little Jaden was sunny-side up, which made the delivery a little difficult. But, I have a great doctor, and with him turning Jaden around, (talk about a little pain there), me pushing, and ALOT of pressure, Jaden was born at 9:36pm with the umbilical cord around his neck. Kevin said the Dr. yanked it right off and everything was fine, but he was a little purple looking when I finally got to hold him.

It wasn't quite my worst delivery, Halli still owns that one, but it was a close second. I was very glad it was over, and after how huge I felt while pregnant I wasn't suprised to hear that he was an even 9lbs. What can I say? We make big babies!:)

Yes, I look happy here, cause it's all over!


Jaden getting all cleaned up. If you notice his left foot, you can see the little deformity he has. The pediatricians think it's something called 'calcaneovalgus'. It may self correct, which we hope it does, but we have to see a pediatric orthopaedic in august to get a real diagnosis, and see if there's anything we need to do to help correct it. At the hospital they said it's not a very common deformity, so they didn't really know a ton about it, and there's a possibility it could be something else that would require a surgical fix. We're really hoping that isn't the case. It's already starting to look better though, as he's able to stretch it out a little.

The next morning Kevin, my sister, and my mother-in-law all showed up to meet the newest member of the family. With every new baby, we've done little 'sibling gifts', for the kids. This gives them something to do at the hospital while they're there besides wreck the place.

The girls opening their gifts and wearing their beautiful big sister shirts.

Halli is one proud big sister, and she LOVES that she now has a brother! Peyton wasn't quite ready to hold him, but she was fascinated by him, and the first thing she asked me was how he got out!

The proud papa, and his first son. (This does not mean there will be another son):)

Our sweet baby boy, just one day old.

Me and my baby:) Can I just say how much I LOVE hospital pictures!:)
(said with VERY heavy sarcasm)

Our new family. I can't believe we have four kiddos. :)

Announcing Jaden

Jaden James Williams

(aka JJ)

Born July 12, 2010

9:36pm 9lbs 0oz 19.25in

although Kevin says the length is debatable since they didn't straighten his legs out first.

He's a great sleeper, got a big appetite, and we're loving having him here!

4th of July at the Lake

Last weekend, Kevin and I loaded up the van, and took off for Lake Travis to celebrate the 4th of July with his family. That boy would spend every weekend up there if he could, but with his calling and obligations here, he just has to make the most of it when he does get the chance to go!:)

There is so much to do up there, and it really is such a fun time. I think it would be more relaxing for me if I weren't pregnant, so I'm really looking forward to going up next summer and being able to actually use the jetski's and go wakeboarding! But for now, I'm the official picture taker/memory recorder, and babysitter.

As always, there are WAY too many pictures, but with so many cute people to take pictures of, and so many fun things going on I narrowed it down as much as I could. There's a waterslide there, jetski's, boating, we went to a parade, watched fireworks, and Kevin and I took the girls into Austin since we hadn't been there before, and we checked out UT.

Here's my cute family, all dressed up for the holiday. I can't tell you how much I love this little group of people. They're a handfull, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Another picture of my cute girls, all matching. Someday I'm not going to be able to match them all, so I'm taking advantage while I can!:) For now, they love it and think it's cool! They obviously have too many twin cousins, cause their one cousin, Katelyn, who isn't a twin, was saying that Halli and Peyton were twins cause they were wearing matching clothes! It was pretty cute watching Halli explain why they weren't.

We spent alot of our weekend outside on the waterslide. The water was freezing, but little kids just don't care about that stuff, so they shivered and played.

Lexie learned how to climb the ladder the first day, but after falling down a couple times, decided she didn't want to climb anymore and spent most of her time playing in the pool area.

Cousin Rachel playing in the tunnel

Every time Lexie went down the slide, she'd jump up and shout, "I did it!" it was so cute to see her celebrate every time.

Saturday, the 3rd, we headed out to a local parade in the area. There weren't any floats really, just lots of cool cars, and the best part, lots and lots of candy being thrown. We were at the very end of the parade route, so most people were trying to get rid of their extra candy, this made all the girls VERY excited!

See Kylie's bulging pockets? She knew it was good stuff, and wasn't letting it go!

Katelyn gathered a bouquet of dum dums.

Three of the cousins watching the parade.

I love this picture. Lexie found her candy and was so happy and proud of herself!

After the parade, it was time to spend some quality time on the water. Halli could stay out there all day, and is going to have a hard time when more of these little girls want to go boating as much as she does!

I just love this picture of Savannah, looking beautiful and windswept on the boat.

Grandpa becomes a kid when he's out on the lake. He loves it out there and has a blast creating waves for the boat with the jetski.

Kevin took Lexie out on the tube and she loved it! I get nervous they'll tip over, but they haven't yet, and she enjoys the ride!

Peyton isn't as big a fan of tubing as the other girls are, but she tries!:) This was being pulled behind the jetski, and she doesn't look happy, but she did have fun!

Dad taking her for a ride on the jetski. I think she likes this a little better than tubing.

What's better than being pulled around on the tube by dad? They thought this was tons of fun.

Our beautiful Peyton waiting on the boat dock for dad to come get her.

Yes, it was literally Kevin pulling the tube around, not a boat of jetski.

I love seeing them all play together and enjoy each other!

When we weren't out playing in the water, we were inside cooling off watching movies, doing crafts with grandma and playing with cousins. Here are some of the cousins all lined up on the floor watching a movie. Savannah was laying on the couch with grandma, and Halli was probably out on the water with Kevin.

This picture was taken at the University of Texas campus, overlooking the capitol building in downtown austin!

We also took some time to make some patriotic cupcakes. The girls had fun with this, it was so funny how many of them only ate the frosting! Gotta love some sugar!

These girls know how to enjoy a cupcake, and show it! They all (besides Halli) had frosting all over their faces!

Later that evening we headed out to do some sparklers, and watch some fireworks. The girls loved it! Here's Halli just looking cute waiting for the festivities to start.

All three of our girls, this was the best they would do for me. By now, I think they were just done taking pictures!

Some of our fun fireworks. This is Jeff, Lexie, Katelyn, Halli and Peyton with a perfect view of the lake and some awesome fireworks!

We had a BLAST last weekend, and with baby coming soon (really soon I hope), we probably won't make it back up there for quite awhile, but it is so much fun, and we feel so blessed to be able to use this great home that Kevin's parent's have. I have a feeling we'll be spending lots of summers up there in the future!