My Due Date & I'm Three Weeks Old!

Today, March 29th, was Natalee's due date. Yesterday, she was 3 weeks old already! It's hard to believe that I could still be pregnant. For the most part, we've adjusted to life with child #4 and things are going well. We went to visit Tracey, my midwife, today, and Natalee weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz.!! WOW! She's taking after her older brothers and enjoying & using Mommy's milk to her full potential! In no time at all, we'll have a round, chubby baby girl in our arms. For now, we enjoy her smaller size and sleepy days!

It's Spring!!

Andrew - always ready for a picture!

Outside of the skating rink - we still have snow, but it's melting fast!
We got out today for a walk to a nearby skating rink that was almost all dry to let the boys burn off some energy. Caleb tried out his new scooter he got for Christmas and he was very disappointed that he couldn't go "fast". I was actually impressed with how well he did on his scooter, but I guess he thought he should be doing much better. Joshua was on his trike, and Caleb generously gave Andrew his old favourite - the purple dinosaur. Andrew is trying hard these days to run. One of these days, he'll suddenly be two gears faster...

A Real Scrapbook Page

Here it is, the real thing - my first scrapbook page of Natalee!! I get to scrapbook in PINK!! I'm not really a pink kind of girl, but I was getting kind of bored scrapbooking in blue and green and all those other boy colors. It was nice to use more color, different colors!

So you're thinking, how in the world did she find time to scrapbook with 4 children, including a newborn? Well, first of all, Natalee still sleeps A LOT! Secondly, I saw a layout like this in a scrapbooking magazine before she was even born, and I knew as soon as I saw it, I wanted to CASE it (Splitcoast Stampers lingo for "copy and share with everyone - or steal everything"). So the page has been floating around in my brain ever since Natalee was born, and I finally got my pictures developed and an hour to stick it all together. The title at the bottom reads "Fresh From God". Under the picture, I have her name stamped & hole punched on the small dots; on the little sticker, I have the details of her birth - date, time, weight, length. You can check out my SCS gallery for a list of supplies I used.

My New Model

It's funny, I always thought I blogged too much about Andrew because he was my baby and was the most cooperative when it came to picture taking. Now, of course, Natalee has taken Andrew's place, both online here and by being a great model for picture taking. This morning, after a quick bath, I arranged some blankets on the couch and had some decent day light, so I turned off the flash and tried to get some good "scrap-book-able" pictures of my gorgeous model! These are my favourites. (I was inspired by one of my scrapbooking magazines where a lady took a picture of her daughter on the same day of each month with the same stuffed animal to get a better idea of how much she grew and changed from month to month.)

First Group Shot

I finally got a chance to take a picture of all four children together...

Getting Adjusted

Andrew is thrilled that Natalee is also getting adjusted by Dr. Joel. Andrew's very selective as to the people he lets near him and pick him up, but Dr. Joel makes his list of approved people. He really enjoys going to the chiropractor to get adjusted.
Natalee's lying on her back on top of Daddy for her adjustments. There are no cracks or pops from her. Most of the adjustment is just Dr. Joel applying a little pressure to get the spine into it's correct position.

Weight Update: Natalee weighed in at 6 lbs. 5 oz. yesterday - a gain of nearly 1 ounce a day over the weekend!! Although she'll probably be short of her birthweight by the 2 week mark, it won't take her long at this pace to catch up! Way to eat, Natalee! Soon she'll be as chubby and round as her brothers were.

A Better Picture of the Ear?

Please read the previous post for an explanation of this ear picture. Just trying to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. It's hardly visible, but this is the best my camera could do.

What is a Preauricular Pit?

I'm turning this beautiful, peaceful, perfect picture into a bit of a project. Now that I've scared everyone away by telling them this is MY online scrapbook, NOW I want your help!! Guess I'll have to learn to keep my inside thoughts inside a little more...might be easier after the hormones stop raging within me and I get a little more sleep...

Check out Natalee's ear. Just above it, towards her cheek, you should be able to see a tiny little dimple. A nurse in the hospital told me it's called an "ear sinus". I couldn't find that anywhere on the internet, but I eventually came upon "preauricular pit". It can indicate problems, mainly to do with the ear (possibly more ear infections) and sometimes also linked with kidney problems. The pediatrician looked at it and proclaimed it was "just a dimple". However, the second nurse who pointed it out to me has a son who has TWO ear sinuses and also some kidney problems associated with it. However, I'm not worried, not at this point anyway. I'm just wondering if anyone has seen this, and I'm especially interested to know of anyone in the Voth/Warkentin/Bergman/Plett families who have this. It is supposedly genetic, and yet I have never seen it before, that I have never been aware of anything like it. Please let me know if you know of anyone who has this, I'm quite curious about it. I would like to know how common it is and if it is within Natalee's genetic family line.

Our Two Babies

I know Andrew's not really a baby anymore, but Caleb and Joshua still consider him to be one. So here are our two babies sitting together on the rocking chair. People always ask how Andrew is since we brought Natalee home from the hospital. Andrew has been great! Sure, he has his 2 year old moments (ie. temper tantrums), but I can not say that I see him feeling pushed out of the way by the baby. It definitely helps that Mike is at home.

Andrew's been repeating more words lately, or at least trying to. When we ask him to say "Natalee", he says "Nani". It's very cute! He knows that "Nani" is the baby.

I feel like I owe some people an explanation with regards to my blogging. The reason I blog is because I don't have time to scrapbook. I take all these great pictures of my children (in my opinion) and I know I'll never get around to scrapbooking as I would like to, so I post it here, write what I want to say about it, publish it, and VOILA - it's like having an instant scrapbook page! So fast, so easy! So I'm sorry to disappoint those of you who think I just blog for YOU. No, it's not for you! It's for me! So some day, I can look back and re-live these memories with my young children and wish for it all over again! I think I'll have to re-name my blog, "Angela's Online Scrapbook..." or something like that.

Gaining Ground

Another weigh-in today. This time, GREAT news! Natalee gained 1 and a half ounces in less than 24 hours!! The experts want to see them gain a half ounce a day. This weight gain, which puts her up to 6 lbs. 2.5 oz., also brings her weight loss from her birthweight into the acceptable range. She initially lost 11.5%, now she's at 7% birthweight loss. I think this also will mean that she will soon start to act like a "normal" baby; so far, she has been extremely content, sleeping lots and hardly ever crying. Maybe she will continue to be very content, but I'm going to count on it!

First Bath & Weight Update

Natalee having her first bath. I can't say she enjoyed it, but she tolerated it. The worst part was after the bath when I lifted her out of the water onto the towel. And as I held her in her towels (all 3 of them to try to keep her from getting too chilled), she pooped!! Again! We had just cleaned her bum before the bath, and now she had pooped in the towel! So it was back in the tub again.

Weight Update: The midwife (He Hu - pronounced "He Who") was here for another weight check-in. The first reading indicated she had gained half an ounce since Tuesday. The experts like to see newborns gain at least a half ounce every day. So I spent 20 minutes feeding her, and managed to get her weight up by 60 grams. Fortunately, she is doing all she is supposed to, as far as the number of wet & dirty diapers she is making in a 24 hour period. This brings her weight to 6 lbs. 1 oz.

Around our house these days...

Andrew in the baby bassinet. He's such a smart cookie, he only climbs in when Natalee is NOT sleeping in her bassinet. He has not yet tried to get in with her. Hopefully he won't get any ideas to do that...
A close-up peek at Natalee.
Our sun-bathing beauty. Trying to get rid of that jaundice as fast as possible. Ten minutes in the sun every day should help to clear it up quickly, as well as get some good Vitamin D.
Happy 6th Birthday, Caleb! When I arrived at his birthday party on Saturday, straight from the hospital (Mike had dropped off the boys earlier at YFC where they played with Grandma while he came to get us), I told him that Natalee was his birthday present. He wasn't even upset by that! He was quite happy to have us at home finally!
Weighing in. Today, Natalee had another weight check. We know she's gaining, how much exactly, is not quite certain. This scale was in pounds/ounces and didn't give us the more accurate reading in grams. Her weight today was 6 pounds and a half ounce. Still a ways from her birthweight of 6 lbs. 11 oz., but she's GAINING, that's all that's important!!

Natalee's Three Big Brothers

Caleb, the very proud big brother!! A baby sister, just like he wanted!
Andrew likes the new baby too. He likes to say "baby baby baby" in a very high pitched voice.
Joshua...what to say about him and his baby sister? He calls Natalee "it" and "he" more than anything. I think he likes to take care of Andrew more, where as Caleb would rather help with Natalee.

Introducing Our Newest Family Member

Does the pink give it away? Here is our LITTLE GIRL!! Her name is Natalee Ann. She was born Wednesday, March 7 at 2:53 a.m. (3 weeks and one day ahead of her due date). She weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and measured 19.25 inches long. Things went smoothly the first couple of days - she latched on well, slept lots and was a "good" baby. However, on Friday morning, the weigh scale indicated she had dropped far too much weight (the acceptable level is 8% body weight, and she dropped 11.5%), but thanks to God and with much effort on my part (pumping and squirting milk into her mouth because she was too tired to eat), she seemed to "turn the corner" over night and was able to stop her weight loss. However, I will have lots of work over the next couple of weeks (probably until around her due date) trying to keep her well fed and well rested. The boys are so happy to welcome their baby sister home. I will try to post pictures of them with her as soon as I can.