Two Months!

Alice is two months already! I don't know where the time went. She is STILL sleeping a lot! Which is a good thing I guess, but I feel like when she finally wakes up I have missed her! I took her to her 2 mo. check up where we found out she has caught up with her weight. She weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds and 23" long. She's in the 75% for both height and weight. Quite a difference from the 5 pounds she was at her first appointment. Apparently my babies don't like to grow in me, but they sure will grow on the outside.






Alice will go to sleep about 10 pm and will wake up around 3 or 4 to eat. She takes about 4 or 5 naps a day still. I feel like my other girls were on a 2 nap a day schedule by now. hmmmm, maybe not. She is smiling a LOT and seems to have a power over everyone where we'll all stop what we're doing and come to watch and make her do it again. She is just starting to coo a little and it's so much fun to listen to. She HATES tummy time with a passion. She's still nursing good and is big enough now to nurse with me laying down so I fall asleep at night holding her. (which is a big no-no in this family. No kids in bed is our rule...with limited exceptions:) She is still so sweet and content and we are all smitten by her.

A Blessed Day

Alice's blessing was on November 6th at our ward building here in Forney. Joseph did a great job with the blessing and Alice did a great job as well. She was wide awake, content and alert.

























It was so nice that so much family came out. Joseph's parent's had just come off their mission from Nauvoo so they came out. My parents were here from Las Vegas, My brother, Noah and his fiance were here from Lawrence, Kansas along with my other brother Adam and his cute little family from Lawrence as well. Unfortunately, after just hearing about Joseph's Aunt Geneva passing, Joseph's parent's had to leave unexpectedly. We understood but was sad to see them go.



Proud parents.



Trying to get a few last pictures in before I had to go feed Alice. She looks like she's about had it....



Ella wanted one of her with her newest baby sister. And....she's done. ha ha I love this shot.





Grandkids with Nonie and Pop.



All three girls and with Grandma and Grandpa Killian.




Alice and Grandpa


Alice and Grandma, meeting for the first time.




Ella and Murray




All the Trunnell grandkids. Alice, Ella, Carly and Murray.







While everyone was here we decided to have a mini Thanksgiving. My favorite part was just having so many people in our home. It was really nice to be around family.


My cute sister 'n law and her sweet delicious baby Murray.

In the kitchen...Joseph can't seem to contain himself. haha

Halloween!

Halloween was simple but fun. I think because I didn't have a million things to do and places to be. My mom, Carly and I went and ate lunch with Ella at school, ran some errands, I got a nap in (although I wouldn't say it was a nap, I call it more like the rest of my previous night's sleep that I had coming to me.) and then we got ready for trick-or-treating. Carly was Rapunzel, Ella was a Jaguar, Alice was a kitten, I was a momma cat (hence the pink teets. I wish I would've gotten a better picture of me because it was funny.) and Joseph went as a sweaty gym guy...mainly b/c he had just gotten home from working out and that is what he was wearing.


Ella has always loved Jaguars. I think since seeing Diego. She found this leotard at DI at Christmas time and has been waiting all year to finally wear it.



Carly chose this pose I swear. She couldn't WAIT to wear her costume and wig. She walked around all night swaying her arms and curtsying.


Ella was a little timid about knocking on doors. She would only go up to a select few doors. Carly on the other hand was a pro and made sure she hit every house and ran to the next. There was no time to waste. :)

Alice was a kitten but stayed home to help my parents pass out candy.


And now it's November! I can't believe it. It's funny how (at least for me) the year comes and comes and comes and seems like it's a normal pace. Then you have Halloween and the next day I feel like "where did the whole year go?!?" Let the holiday/birthday marathon begin.

2 Weeks, 3 Weeks, 4 Weeks....Oh my!

We've been having so much fun with Miss Alice and she's been growing so fast, I can't keep up with her! We went to the dr. to check Alice's jaundice level 2 days after she was born. She was down in weight about 7oz making her a whopping 5 lbs even. But the jaundice was fine. So we went back in at 2 weeks for her second PKU screening. So sad to have to watch your baby scream in pain and there's nothing you can do about it. On a happier note though, she gained some weight back. She was 5 lbs 6 oz and 19 1/2 inches long, putting her at 3% for weight. Can you believe that!??! She grew an inch in 2 weeks!






(She has the same cardigan on as when she came home from the hospital. Look how long her arms have grown since!)
3 Weeks






4 Weeks

I don't know why but for some reason they told me to come back when she was a month old. When I got there they said she didn't need to come in till she was 2 months. Oh well, whatever. They took her weight....at 4 weeks she was 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 1/2 inches long!! 2 more weeks and another inch. Wow, that sweet girl is growing way too fast for me. Alice is now in the 10% for weight. She has graduated from Preemie clothes to New Born size status although it looks like she's got her mommy's narrow shoulders b/c the sleeves keep falling off her shoulders. She's still in Newborn diapers...which are just about the cutest things ever. Am I right? She's doing great, following objects with her eyes and focusing on things and faces for longer periods of time as well as staying awake for longer periods of time. I'd say she's awake about 2 hours twice a day. Any other time she is just eating or sleeping. She is a great baby. Only cries when she needs to eat or to tell you, "burp me, I'm about to puke!" Oh...and I guess when she has gas. It hurts her little tum tum, but for the majority of the days she is a happy baby. I'm so grateful for that!

One Week!

I can't believe how fast time has flown by already. Here's Alice at 1 week old. We had a Dr. appt. for her 3 days after she was born to check on a little bit of jaundice in her chest. Everything looked fine with that. She weighed in at a whopping 5 pounds even and still 18 1/2 inches long. My milk finally came in and she's nursing great. She eats about every 2-3 hours in the day and about every 4-5 hours at night.

Alice's Story

I haven't updated in forever. It was on my list of things to do before the baby was born. Woops! I have so much to catch up on but I didn't want this story to get muddled before I could type it out.

The birth story:
I had been going to my regular doctor appointments and at about 25 weeks my dr. told me that my stomach was measuring small. I am tall and I have a long torso so we didn't get too worried about it. Also, because the Dr. in Las Vegas told me the same thing about Carly when I was pregnant with her. She seemed a healthy weight when she was born and we all chalked it up to just a formality that they have to take. Just to be safe my Dr. had me get another ultrasound. I did and things with her growth looked fine. 2 weeks later I had another appointment...same thing...baby was still measuring a few weeks behind. We set up another sono but this time she was a little further behind. Nothing to worry about quite yet, just to keep an eye on. Every appointment was the same. Her growth wasn't on schedule so we'd schedule another sonogram. At about 34 weeks we had a sono where we found that baby was 6 weeks behind schedule but measuring on the lower side of average for a baby that gestational age. We'd do one more sono at 37 weeks and check her weight. I went in on Monday for yet another sono but this time Joseph came with me. I'm grateful he did. After the sono the dr. came in and said, "Um, I need you to go home and get things ready, and get to the hospital as soon as you can. You're having this baby today." He said that she hadn't grown at all in the last 4 weeks and she was measuring in the 7th percentile for weight for her gestational age. I was in shock. Of course I started crying. This is NOT what was supposed to happen. The doctor was supposed to just be making this all a bigger deal than it was...plus... I still had time! I was supposed to get all my painting done and put up the baby room decorations and you know...actually realize I was going to have a baby. So we made the necessary phone calls asking people to keep the girls over night and called my parents who said they'd come right down from Las Vegas when I was in labor. (at least they got a bit of a head start) Then we headed to the hospital. I told Joseph I didn't have anything for her to wear! When we moved from AZ I had to sell everything and give things away...including all our baby clothes. My mind set just hadn't been on baby mode so I never really went shopping for clothes. I had a few things but not for a preemie baby. So on our way to the hospital we made a short detour to get a few preemie onsies and a going home outfit. ha ha

When we got to the hospital the dr. had already called to say we were on our way. They admitted me right away and I was in a hospital gown and hooked up to IV and PIT within the hour. I was talking to the nurse about how I had wanted try going with out drugs with my first baby but everyone around me scared me out of it. I thought I'd try again with my second but they induced Carly with pitocin also and I've heard of really horrible contractions with Pit so I didn't even try to go drug free. I was a little disappointed to have to be induced with this pregnancy also and miss another chance of going natural. The nurse told me that she had had 4 out of her 5 labors natural and 1 of which was while on Pit. I decided that I can do it and I'll try it by taking it one contraction at a time. I was doing well and before I knew it I was at 7cm in about 5 hours. The pain was starting to get harder and fewer breaks in between each contraction. I finally told Joseph I was really going to need him right next to me now. It was about 4 am when things started to get ugly. It was the worst pain ever. I felt like I was getting punched over and over in the kidneys and someone was drilling into my hip bones all at the same time. (I know, lovely thought right? :) I had been told that when going natural every woman gets to the point that she says she can't do it any more. And by that time, they're pretty much ready to start pushing. I was thinking about that while trying to breath through the pain. Telling myself, "I'm almost there, just one more contraction. Almost there..." But then I started with the doubt. The nurse had just checked me an hour ago and I was only at a 7. There was no way I could take more of this. I told Joseph I was done. "I don't like this anymore. I can't do it. Help me! I need you to help me." I'm sure I scared him enough to take me seriously. He made sure I was sure and called in for the anesthesiologist. They said he was on his way. (which seemed like an eternity) He finally came in and got me preped. I had to hold perfectly still through 4 extremely unbearable contractions while he put that scary needle in my back. Just when I thought I was done with the pain he said, "Ok, that should kick in in about 15 minutes." What! I couldn't do 15 minutes! I needed it NOW! These contractions were coming 1 minute apart and felt like they were on top of each other. The nurse checked me right after the epidural was in and said, "Oh! That's why! You're at 10 cm!" Really? Really. I did all of that work and got to 10 cm and THEN got the Epidural? The nurse informed me though that baby hadn't descended all the way yet and we had to wait for her to drop. My water hadn't even broke yet. I had to wait 4 more hours (at 10cm) for her to finally drop and my water to break. So yes, I am grateful for the experience of natural labor, I'm glad I made it all the way to 10 cm. However, I am also grateful for the epidural so that I didn't have to be at 10 cm for 4 more hours. And for the record, I NEVER want to do that again.

At about 8:20 my water broke and the Dr. was called in. I pushed 3 times and baby Alice was out.



Alice Grace was born at 8:33 am weighing in at 5 lbs 7 oz and 18.5 in long. She had a sweet peaceful look on her face and a full head of hair.




Come to find out, the whole reason for the stunted growth was her umbilical cord was too small. It was just really skinny which made it hard for enough nutrients to get to her body. But she herself was healthy as can be with a great set of lungs and a good strong body.

Joseph followed her to the nursery (for some reason he wasn't allowed in to give her her first bath. He's always been able to bathe our babies for the first time) and took a picture of her through the window after her bath.



Carly came to visit a few hours later. And yes, she looked SO big to me. It's funny how it does that. You leave them a baby and they come back 12 hours later a little girl.

She's a great first timer big sister!

Joseph left right after school let out to go get Ella and bring her back to the hospital. She was a pro.


It was hard to see Ella go. I think it had just been a hectic couple of days with picking up Ella from school and dropping her off at a sitter's house, telling her she's going to spend the night and then leaving to go have a baby with not much of a warning at all at what was going to happen. She was tired and full of emotion and just bawled when she had to leave the hospital with out her momma and new baby sister. Carly was great and pretty easy going about everything.



After a long drive Nonie and Pop also made it to the hospital that evening, just in time for her birthday.




We got to leave the very next day. I was fine and she was perfectly healthy so no need for the NICU. That was such a blessing.



We're home now and although that first night home is always the worst, Alice is so sweet and calm it made it easy to make it through and we've established a routine already. I'm pretty tired but I think this baby has actually been the easiest for me to adjust to out of all 3 of them. Maybe because I have my parents and Joseph here to help me. Everyone loves her so much.
The girls can't get enough of her. Carly wants to squeeze and pinch her any chance she can get and I have to keep reminding her to be soft, but she just loves her and wants to constantly hold her.



Ella is such a sweet little mommy and so soft and gentle with her. Both girls have been such a big help and always want to hold the baby or help change the diaper. They are fascinated with the breast pump and how it works. Ha!



My mom with the girls. She loves the babies and I'm thankful for that. She's a great person to pass the baby off to when I need a nap.:)

She's pretty alert for being so little and early and we just love her to pieces. She does a good job nursing and will eat about every 3 hours.




It's funny how having a new baby brings such a sweet spirit into your home. Maybe it's because her spirit is so fresh and new, straight down from Heaven. Alice is such a peaceful baby (knock on wood) who rarely cries. Every time she is awake everyone is excited and wants to be around her.

Father's Day

I couldn't go with out posting a shout out to my main squeeze. Joseph has been working so hard for us the last few months and has missed out on 3 vacations in the last 3 months already. I know he is getting burnt out, he's been getting no sleep, no time with family, no home cooked meals but he's still pressing forward working long hours 6-7 days a week for us. I love that man!





We celebrated Joseph's day on Saturday just in case he had to work on Sunday evening. While he was at work I ran as many errands as I could to get some great steaks and all the fixins. The girls helped make a flower pot that we turned into a "golf course" and filled it with candy so that when he gets his home office he can put it on his desk and fill it with pens. It was cute and the girls had fun with it. They LOVE making surprises. We had a fun dinner and afterward we gave our cards and gifts to Joseph. He got an outfit, a (much needed) 1 hr. massage gift card, his golf candy pot, and lots of drawings from the girls.

I let Joseph sleep in as much as possible on Sunday, although our church starts at 9 am so I don't know how much I could call that "sleeping in". He ended up having to leave for work after church but was able to get things done quickly and be home for dinner again! Yay! (We've seen Joseph home for dinner about 4 times in the last 3 months. So this got quite the excitement.)


Happy Father's Day sweetie! We love you SOOOO much! Thanks for being such a hard worker!