One Month Update

It is hard to believe but Jordyn turned one month on Monday, September 17th. Wayne and I could not believe it. This past month has been a wonderful roller coaster ride of emotions and new experiences. There are days when it feels like Jordyn has always been a part of our lives and other days when it feel like we just brought her home yesterday. Even on the horrible days she has been such a great joy and excitement and I can't every imagine life without her.

Jordyn is growing so fast. She is almost out of her 0-3 months clothing mostly because she's getting to long! Everyone has been commenting on how strong she is and it's so true. She can hold her head up for minutes at a time and the doctor commented yesterday that she looks about ready to roll over. Last week she noticed the mobile above her swing for the first time. It's so exciting to watch as her eyes focus more and see her expression as she studies everything. She hasn't been doing that great at sleeping which has been a trial for Wayne and I but some days are better than others. She has also been colicky and cries for hours with maybe a 15 minute cat-nap here and there.

She went for her one month check up yesterday and everything is great. She is now 10 pounds 4 ounces, so she has gained almost two pounds in the last two and a half weeks. She has also added another inch to her little body making her 22.25 inches long which is in the 90th percentile! The doctor said she is growing at just the right rate and seems to be doing wonderfully which was very comforting to hear.

Many of you have been praying for us as I went back to school. That has been going tremendously and I'm now in my third week back. I am taking a very easy course load, two choirs and voice lessons, but it still requires me to be at school everyday. Wayne watched her for the first week and then last week the babysitters started. It was a little hard to leave her but she has been doing quite well. She usually sleeps when I'm gone which is nice for me and the babysitter. Most days I am only gone a little over an hour and so she doesn't need a bottle except on Mondays, usually. It's been nice for me to get a little break as well. I don't get much else done in the morning before class but it's nice to get ready slowly and have time to play with her as well.

I don't often post about Wayne but figured I would give a short update about him as well. He is still loving his job and the people that he works with. They're all great guys who love to joke around and hang out together, which Wayne really enjoys. Once a month they get together for a night of killing eachother in computer games and everyone once in a while they get together to watch a game on t.v. He is just now completing a huge project that he has to present next week to the head guys of Liberty University and there have been a lot of hang ups and struggles with it. Pray for him as he completes the project and as he and his colleagues present it.

I think that is all for the updates. I wish that all of you could meet Jordyn and share in all the fun experiences we are having. Please feel free to comment and email and we will try and back to you as soon as we can. We miss you all.

Playing and watching the lights.

Jordyn's first Giants game. Look at her outfit!

Just relaxing

Tummy Time!

A Video!

Well, I know this took a while but I wanted to not just show pictures of Jordyn but videos too. This is a short video of her first week. It shows the swing she loves so much, formula feeding with Daddy, her first bath, waking up in the morning and talking with Grandma Beer. We hope you enjoy it and that it gives a little more of a glimpse into Jordyn than the pictures do.

New Family!

Well, before I give everyone a new update about Jordyn I need to write a blog thank-you note. We want to thank the Royces & Lyons for the really cute outfits you sent Jordyn. We love them and so we took a picture to show you how much Jordyn loved them too.

Now, for the update. Jordyn was two weeks on Friday and we had our first outing. We went to visit Daddy at work so he could show her off to everyone and she slept like a rock the entire time! We also made another visit to the doctors because Jordyn's belly button was looking infected. We found out that it was a granuloma and the doctor burned it so as to stop the puss. The umbilical cord fell off the next day and it's looking a lot better now. Also, she's back to her birth weight of 8 lbs 9 ozs which means she's getting a lot to eat. Jordyn is still having a lot of fussy time but she's also been sleeping a little more at night which is nice. She has also developed a diaper rash which makes her a little cranky but we're working on treating it. Despite the lost sleep and crying we are so happy and thrilled to have her and can't imagine our lives without her!

For other news, we were able to visit celebrate Mackenzie's and my b-day on Sunday. We drove to Phyliss' house and got to meet Uncle Kirk, Aunt Jen and cousins Mackenzie and Riley for the first time. We took tons of pictures and it was a lot of fun. I missed out on a good chunk of the party because Jordyn had to eat so much! It was great weather and we had a lot of good food although we did return home absolutely exhausted. We wanted to post some pictures of that as well.

Gram with Jordyn & Riley

Uncle Kirk & Aunt Jen with Jordyn

Home Alone

Jordyn and I are home alone! Daddy has gone back to work and Grandma Beer left us yesterday morning. It was wonderful to have her here to take care of everything so I could just enjoy my time with Jordyn. It was also great to just hand off my squirming little daughter when I wanted to nap in peace. Jordyn and I will definitely miss Grandma. The past two days have been going pretty well with just the two of us. Jordyn has her days and nights mixed up so she sleeps a lot in the day giving me time to get a few things done but then she's up all night. I'm trying to break her of that habit but it's slow going. I feel like all I do is feed her, change her and put her to sleep but it's great to have so much time with her. Next week I go back to school and I will miss being with her. I have one class a day for about an hour and since I'm nervous about leaving her with a babysitter Daddy will be watching her during his lunch break for a week or so. Please pray for us as we adjust to that new schedule and that I still have time to eat and sleep in between school and taking care of Wayne and Jordyn. It will be an adjustment but we are praying that it will be a smooth one.

For other news, Jordyn had another doctors appointment on Monday. The doctor said she looks great and didn't even have to have her biliruben level tested again because she has lost all of her yellow color. She has also gained some weight bringing her almost back to her birth weight. She is now 8 lbs 6 ozs which means she has gained about an ounce a day in the last week which is great. I was ready to give up on breastfeeding since it's hard and seems like that's all I do but after hearing that great news of her gaining weight I have found a new strength to continue. Jordyn is full of life and tons of fun. I wish all of you could meet her and get a chance to play together.

Finally, I know that many of you are still requesting pictures. We seem to take tons but don't want to post every picture we can. I will try my best to keep the blog updated often and full of pictures but please understand if I don't post to often as life has made a complete turn around for us since our baby. Let me just tell you a little bit about these pictures.

The top picture is of Jordyn sitting in her boppy pillow. She loves to be propped up and sitting on her own! The first two pictures below are of Jordyn on her first walk with both her Daddy and Mommy. Jordyn loves to cuddle and her Daddy is the best at comforting her, except when she's hungry! Lastly, is a picture of Jordyn with Grandma and Jordyn after she has been swaddled by Grandma. She loves to be wrapped up. Hope you enjoy these!

Tons of News

Well, it's been a few days since we last updated the blog. There has been so much going on since she came home and it has been very tiring and overwhelming to say the least. Jordyn left the hospital with a small case of jaundice and so after her first day home she made her first trip back out to the doctors. While in the hospital her biliruben level, which is what causes the jaundice, was at 8 and on Tuesday when we visited the doctors it was up to a 14. If it reaches 20 the baby becomes hospitalized and so the doctor asked us to return again the next day expecting her level to have gotten higher. To the doctors surprise the next day she was down to a 12.8. This means that her liver is starting to function and we don't have to return to the doctors again until Monday. Today is the first day that she has looked a lot less yellow.

My mom is also visiting to help out. She came on Tuesday and is staying until the following Tuesday. I am not very good at relaxing or accepting help but it has been nice to have someone with so much knowledge and advice. I have been able to take naps, not cook and have my house cleaned and it has been wonderful. Also, because my mom is able to help with baby duty Wayne was able to sleep through the night last night and be refreshed for work.

Today Jordyn got a visit from another one of her grandparents, Gram, also known as Phyllis or Wayne's mom. Even though she was pretty fussy Gram was able to calm her down and we were able to get some good pictures. It was also nice again to get more advice and perspective from another mother who has been through it.

Lastly for exciting news, Jen and Kirk Yates welcomed their second child into the world three and a half days after Jordyn. Riley Hope Yates was born on Tuesday, August 21, at 10:40 am. She was 6 lbs 13 oz, and has a dark head of hair. They were able to go home today. We are planning on visiting them next weekend and it will be fun to compare babies. Jordyn will look big compared to her cousin Riley.

That is all the news for now. We appreciate all your calls, emails and cards. We will continue to keep you updated with both information and pictures. Please understand if it takes us a while to respond to you because of how busy, different and tiring our life has been this past week. It was so hard to choose between all the cute pictures we have taken already but we hope you enjoy the ones we've posted below.

We're Home!

Yesterday the doctors decided to send us home. They had originally told us that we were going to have to stay until Monday morning but since both Mommy and Jordyn were doing so well they decided to send us home yesterday afternoon. I was a little apprehensive about going home and having no nurses to assist us but so far it's been great. I have been recuperating nicely and can sit down and get back up by myself. Jordyn is doing great as well. Breastfeeding has been going well although we've had to also supplement formula since my milk has yet to come in. We got a pretty good rest last night as well. She went to bed at 12, got up from 2-4, slept again until 7:30 and slept again from 9-11:30. She has now been fed once again and Wayne and I are both working on cleaning up before she is hungry again. Thank you for all the prayers, emails and calls. We are so overwhelmed but the beautiful baby girl that God has given to us and love to show her off through pictures and hopefully we'll post a short video soon. She had her picture taken at the hospital yesterday and so we've posted the pictures below. She was the biggest baby born that day by almost a pound, and she was definitely the prettiest!

Pictures!!

We have already had many requests to post pictures and since the hospital has wireless we are able to do so. There aren't many pics because Jordyn looks the same in all of them, she's either sleeping, crying or eating but we have tried to post quite a few for you to enjoy and I'm sure we'll be posting more shortly. If the slideshow goes to fast or you want to look at a picture more quickly just click on the picture and a new page will load where you can see all the pics at your own pace. If you are unable to view the slideshow just click on this link http://picasaweb.google.com/wayates74/JordynAriannaYates/photo#5100227595338953650 and you will be able to view the pictures one at a time. Enjoy!!