Monday, October 20, 2014

Tiny Hand (and foot!) Prints are ours to Love!!

If you have been readers of my blog for a while, you might remember last year when I did hand print and foot print impressions for Samantha and Zachary.  The plates are beautiful and the ornaments were a huge hit with our family so I knew once Eliza was born we would have her prints made as well.  I decided this time to do them right away once she was born so my friend Dawn from Tiny Prints and Paws came right to my house to do our impressions when Eliza was 4 days old.  I am not sure if she typically offers house visits to do impressions but with a newborn and adjusting to having a new baby plus two older *still little* kids, it was a HUGE help.  We had so much fun getting Eliza's prints and she was a champ at keeping her little fingers and toes straight.  I was actually quite worried since they had to redo her footprints in the hospital since she kept curling her toes!  We got all of our impressions on the first try!  Samantha loved looking at all of the color samples and using the sponge to get them dirty with clay residue.  Sorry Dawn!!

We ended up selecting a sunny yellow color for Eliza's plate.  It's not too bright but not too bland either.  You know I won't do anything dull!!  The finished product, as expected, looks great!

Dawn was also nice enough to offer me a free Baby's First Christmas ornament.  I absolutely love the way this turned out.  I tweaked the words slightly so it says Eliza's First Christmas and rather than the typical two toned options they offer (which have a natural clay background and the print and text colored) I was able to have the background one color and the print another.  It is perfect and I can't wait to hang it up on our tree this year.  Almost makes me wish I didn't give away all of our Samantha and Zachary ornaments as gifts!

With Christmas just around the corner, Tiny Prints and Paws is offering two different deals to get you all set for the holidays.  The first option is buy two ornaments get one free.  This is an awesome option if you want a few gifts, or if you'd like some for yourself and some for gifts.  You can do a hand print and foot print to keep and make an extra to give away!  The second option is a free ornament with the purchase of a larger plate.  I love this option since you get a beautiful plate that can be displayed all year long plus an ornament to bring out seasonally or give as a gift.  You could even get a little hanger and display the ornament all year.  My dad has his hanging on his kitchen cabinets.

If you would like to order plates for yourself you can contact Dawn via e-mail or phone (703.574.0488),  They can also be found on Facebook.  Tiny Prints and Paws will be at the Little Sprouts Fun Fair at Linton Hall School in Bristow, VA this Saturday October 19th from 10am-3pm.  Not a Virginia resident?  Not a problem!!  Tiny Prints and Paws can ship all the materials needed to create the perfect clay impression of your own.  Ship it back and Dawn will paint, fire, and finish the perfect piece for you!  I'm telling you now, you won't regret it!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Eliza is ONE month!

Eliza - One Month Old

I can't believe Eliza is a month old already!  This month has just flown by though it also feels like she has been here forever!!  She has already grown so much, though it's hard for me to notice.


Eliza now weighs 10.2 pounds, 2 pounds bigger than at birth.  I looked through Samantha's baby book tonight and she was 9 pounds at 2 months and 11 pounds at 4 months!!  Eliza really is chunky.  She is pretty much completely out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 months.  She has a few Carters outfits that she can still fit newborn in since they run longer, but the Garanimals and other brands she is too big for.  She is also wearing size 1 diapers (and should have been out of newborn around 10 days old but I wanted to use up the box so she was in them a lot longer).  She is pretty much outgrown the majority of the newborn cloth stash, but OS is still huge on her.  The nb setting fits but they are so bulky!  So I've just been putting her in the newborns still and changing her more often.

She is still very much in the newborn phase - eating, sleeping, peeing, and pooping...oh and crying!  No cooing or smiling yet.  She is doing great at learning to hold her head up.  She is rather strong and has been lifting it up great from the start.  She is exclusively breastfed and doing decent at nursing (I'll touch more on that in a different post).  She loves to cuddle and hates being put down.  She also hates having a wet diaper.  She enjoys looking at her big sister and brother, but hates when her brother hits her.  She also loves being outside.

I guess at this point there isn't a whole lot to update on!  I'm sure by her 2 month update there will have been lots of changes though.  They grow so fast!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Ellie's Heart

What a week we've had!  I must apologize for my lack of updates as I was all set to make many posts last week about Eliza and everything we've been doing, and then her two week check up happened.  My mother-in-law and I toted Samantha, Zachary, and Eliza to the pediatrician last Monday for Miss Eliza's two week check up and for Samantha and Zachary to get their flu shots.  The appointment went really well, Eliza was up to 9 pounds 2 ounces, an entire pound above her birth weight, Samantha and Zachary did sort of okay with their flu shots, and at the end the nurse asked if I had any other questions.  I mentioned that Eliza's legs and feet had been turning purple several times a day and asked if it was concerning.  She laid Eliza on the table and checked her legs and feet, as well as her stomach, and felt all her pulse points.  She noted that there was adequate blood flow going to her legs so she wasn't super concerned but decided to consult with a colleague just to be sure.  While she was gone Eliza got hungry and I started to nurse her.  I noticed during her nursing that her legs and feet were turning purple so as the nurse came in I said that it was happening.  She ran out to get the doctor (at least I think it was a doctor) and they both started checking out Eliza.  They asked me to stop feeding and as I sat her up they noticed that her face and lips were turning blue as well.  This really freaked them out and they raced to get a pulse ox monitor to check her.  It all happened so fast!  Thankfully the pulse ox test came back normal and her O2 levels were at 98.  However, they said they wanted us to see a cardiologist ASAP.  We waited a while while they got a referral from our insurance as well as got us a same day appointment with a local pediatric cardiologist.  Then we got to go home where I could dwell on everything until our appointment that afternoon!

I ended up having to go to the appointment solo since it was Chris's "one day off" and he expected to stay home all day.  Thank God I didn't get any bad news that day!  Eliza and I got to the doctor and they immediately did an EKG on her.


The EKG was normal and then we were sent for an echocardiogram to check for heart defects.  The echocardiogram took quite a while and was rather difficult.  Eliza was tired and upset and I don't think she liked all the goop very much so she was crying a ton.  I just kept trying to soothe her but it didn't really work too well.  Finally after what felt like forever the tech let me get up on the table with her and sort of cuddle her and she immediately fell asleep.  I don't know why we couldn't have done it that way from the start!  After the echocardiogram we were able to talk to the doctor.  He said they are watching for three things (they were also looking for more serious defects but nothing immediately serious was found): Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), and Peripheral Pulmonic Stenosis (PPS).  ASD and PFO have to do with a hole in the top chambers of the heart.  This is present at birth and should close over time.  However sometimes this doesn't happen and the hole remains.  The PPS has to do with the arteries leading to the lungs.  While in utero there is a 3rd artery that goes to the placenta and once the baby is born, the third artery shrinks since the blood now goes through the other two arteries to go to the lungs.  Sometimes when the artery shrinks away it causes the other two arteries to get kinked.  We will be returning in 3 months for another echocardiogram to make sure none of these conditions are present.  Unfortunately though (or fortunately too!) none of these 3 issues could cause her to be turning blue.  We were sent home with a 24 hour Holter monitor to monitor her heart for the next 24 hours.  I had to keep a log and write down every time she had an episode of turning blue or had any other concerning symptoms or behaviors.  They would then compare when I pressed the button (I pressed it every time she had an episode) to the heart's activity to see if her heart was experiencing any changes during the episodes.



Last Friday we made the trek back to the cardiologist to get results.  Again fortunately everything was okay.  Her heart had a few occasional early beats but the doctor said that that is completely normal and nothing to be worried about.  Unfortunately though, we still have no answers as to why she keeps turning colors.  The doctors best guess is that she is just a little behind with learning how to regulate her body temperature.  I am not sure about this because even though she appears blue/purple her skin feels warm.  The doctor is hoping it is something she will eventually outgrow but if she is still having the episodes in a few months, we will reevaluate with our pediatrician.  I am so thankful that it isn't anything serious and I am praying that she outgrows it!!  Although I didn't post about it here, I thank everyone that followed this on facebook for all of your thoughts and prayers!