How to combat unhappy feelings

Madison has really charmed us with this song she learned in Cherub Choir. She goes once a week to a large Christian church in the area with loads of other children her age and they have a great time singing songs about Jesus, playing games and the like. One day she came home singing this song, and she now frequently reminds us to apply its message (generally as a result of something she has done, and often forgetting to apply its message herself). Anyway, it's a great song, and this was the best version we could get from her with the camera rolling.

If somebody makes me mad,
Or somebody makes me sad,
I stop and pray and Jesus makes me glad!

FHE

This video was taken a couple of weeks before Eliza came home, and I've just remembered to post it. There is actually another video about five minutes long that started at the beginning of the lesson. It was hilarious, but it's too big to post here, and I'm too lazy to figure out how to parse it. I wish it were easier to share though, because it is a microcosm for all FHE lessons. Very good times! So, if you know what FHE stands for and you've battled through it with small children, watch, enjoy and take heart. They don't just ignore their parents, they also ignore each other!

Eliza at Home

OK, I'm finally getting around to putting up some pics of Eliza in her new habitat. Give the old guy a break--it's tough being a parent to a newborn. Brenna and I have are experiencing the strange rollercoaster emotions of euphoria over having our baby home and exhaustion because our baby is home. Overall she's doing great, but we're remembering that newborns don't sleep through the night. And this particular newborn has reflux and routinely spits up with the added bonus that it often gets stuck in her throat making it very difficult for her to breathe. As you might expect Brenna has had some exceedingly stressful moments watching our little girl turn very red as she struggles to get oxygen into her system. No wonder she was having bradies in the hospital! So, we're finding it a challenge, but a challenge we embrace. She is absolutely lovely and we love holding her and watching her. So, that's the big update. Let me now get to the pictures:

Here we are leaving the hospital. Woohoo! We spent a couple of hours there making sure everything was in order, and then the nurse walked us out the door and down to our van (she had to make sure we knew how to buckle in her car seat)!



The big moment! I had gone back to church while Bren and Eliza stayed at home. When I brought the kids back Eliza was snoozing in her bassinett. So we took them up to our room and here are their expressions!

Such well-behaved children--sitting so peacefully while mommy feeds Eliza. You can guess how long that lasted!

The star of the show posing for all of her adoring fans.

Big sister looking the part.

All Together

Eliza was released from the hospital today! Brenna and I went down to the hospital about 10:00 and returned home at 12:30 or so. Eliza left the hospital weighing 5 lb 12 oz, which is exactly twice as much as she weighed when she was born eight weeks ago. Something about that little factoid that really sits well with the accountant in me. The nurse walked with us down to the van and checked the car seat to make sure all was in order and then we were off. Eliza was a great traveler, and we made it home with no complaints.

The children were at church, so I went over for the 3rd hour and was congratulated by quite a few of our gracious ward members. Often it seems they are as excited about Eliza coming home as we are. At length I collected the kids and we headed home. They could barely contain their enthusiasm. We walked in through the garage and had to go up the stairs where Brenna had Eliza sleeping in our room. Brenna had the video camera out and got footage of the kids heading up the stairs with smiles on their faces. I went into the room before them so I could watch their expressions as they saw her. She was sound asleep in her bassinet. When the children saw her they all got somewhat sheepish and shy smiles on their faces that soon turned into wide, wide grins.

We spent the rest of the day monitoring the kids and trying to ensure they didn't love Eliza too much. On the whole they did great. It's just hard to speak softly. For Eliza it must be like us going to a rock concert. Her tolerance for noise and rambunctiousness will definitely have to increase. But she took it all in stride and is doing great.

Hunter and Madison enjoy Eliza's presence, but Savannah is particularly taken with her. She just wanted to stay in our room and be near Eliza the whole day. After a while we were able to distract Hunter and Madison so Savannah could have a turn holding Eliza. We got her all set up on the bed, and she probably held Eliza for 45 minutes or so--both of them as content as could be. I can tell that Savannah is going to be a second mother for Eliza--and I mean that in the best way possible. She takes the responsibility of being the big sister very seriously, and I believe that will only be more true with such a little one now in our home.

The only downers at all with the whole situation are that Eliza still has oxygen, albeit a tiny amount. So she still has the tubes in her nose and a little oxygen tank that we can carry around in a shoulder bag. We hope that she won't need the oxygen too much longer, but we just don't know. It is nice that it is so portable, though. Also, apparently she has reflux, which means a lot of spitting up. Hunter was similar, and he soldiered through it all like a champ, so we'll just have to see how Eliza does. As a parent it's just painful to watch them go through the seemingly continual spit up routine. Also, because of the reflux she makes a lot of grunting and groaning noises. She rarely cries, but she is plenty noisy. Poor girl. When she finally gets into a deep sleep though, she is so peaceful and angelic.

We love having her home and are bracing ourselves for the real parenting work that has now begun. What a blessing!

As a postscript, we took lots of photos and video today, but we had to send Bren's laptop away to be fixed this week, and my desktop is such a dinosaur that it doesn't have the proper interfaces to download the photos or video. So, my apologies, but I can't give you any visual proof. You'll just have to trust me that she's home, and as soon as Bren's laptop returns we'll get on the stick!

My Fair Lady

Brenna and I bought tickets to My Fair Lady and gave them to Savannah as a birthday present back in February. Savannah has loved musicals since the time she could talk. We have vivid and fond memories of her dancing in front of TV during the "Goin' Courtin'" scene in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We took her to see Dr. Dolittle a few years ago, and she has also been to high school productions of West Side Story, Seven Brides... and Bye Bye Birdie. She was bitterly disappointed when we didn't take her to see Wicked three years ago. But she loves them all. During our recent trip to Utah she was listening to her MP3 player and piped up from the back seat of the van, "Dad, we are going to watch The Music Man when we get home." It's a pleasure to have her love musicals so much. I remember loving sitting down with my mom to watch musicals when I was growing up. So much fun. Now I get to see the wonder of them again through my daughter's eyes.

At any rate, the day for My Fair Lady was yesterday. We headed downtown to the Denver Performing Arts Center, had a bit of an adventure with traffic and parking, but settled into some wonderful seats and were enthralled from the moment the curtain was raised. This is the touring version of the UK production that was introduced two years ago for the 50th anniversary of the original. Lisa O'Hare, who played Eliza, was amazing. The man who played Professor Higgins was good, but the guy who was Alfred P. Dolittle absolutely stole the show. The music, choreography, dialogue and story were all incredible--entertaining, thought-provoking, engaging and memorable. Very worthwhile, and Savannah's smile through the whole thing is memory enough for me.

I look forward to many more such experiences in the years to come with my children.

On Hold

We're up to three straight nights with a brady. She has been pulling out of them on her own, but it appears that they stem from her having a bit of reflux after eating. So, she spits up and it changes her equilibrium enough that the heart rate drops. Nothing long-term serious, but serious enough that she won't be coming home for a bit. I've mentioned before that she has to go five consecutive days without a brady, so we're looking at late this week at best.

As you might expect it is a bit difficult to come to terms with. We've been on a bit of a rollercoaster over the last week-and-a-half or so. Once she took the bottle she started doing so well, that we basically thought it was a foregone conclusion she'd be home with us this weekend. Since that didn't happen we're a little unsettled as to how to deal with the situation. The emotions can only take so much, so now we're really trying to just stay on an even keel and not get too hopeful with the good news, but also not get too down with any bad news. No guarantees we'll be successful with that approach, but at least we're trying!

Sadly, we've become terrible at taking pictures, but I will say that I went down to the hospital this morning and fed her a bottle for the first time. Because I had been sick and then work has been busy this past week I hadn't actually held her for about two weeks. I was thrilled to really experience how much she's grown and to see how full her cheeks are and how her legs aren't little chicken legs anymore. She's getting so close to seeming just like a regular-size baby now. She's 5 lb 4 oz, and we know that a lot of full-term babies aren't much bigger than that. It's very encouraging, and she looks great! She's also very noisy. A lot of grunting and wiggling and complaining when she doesn't get her food in a timely fashion. She doesn't cry, she just makes noise. It's very sweet. I loved spending time with her today.

Delays

Little Eliza had a brady last night, so we're on hold again. Though disappointed, we are very comfortable waiting for her until she is ready. Once she leaves the hospital we won't have the ability to know whether she's having a brady or not. And the idea of having her here and something going wrong is a frightening thought. We would be heartsick for the rest of our lives if there were a problem at home that could have been caught and remedied had she been in the hospital. So, we continue to wait...a bit impatiently, but grateful for the technology that has done so much for our daughter.

One Day More

We just got word from the doctor that she won't be ready tomorrow, but she will be ready Saturday. We will pick her up in the morning. She'll come home with an oxygen tank since she is still not quite ready for room air, but she'd doing great and we're very excited!