Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. We celebrated on Saturday rather than on Thursday because with Pawka's chemo he typically doesn't feel great on Thursdays. Both sides of our family came to Nanny and Pawka's house. We had 21 people total.

After dinner the kids went outside to play. They had a blast. I think Bryce got dirtier than every before. He and Mandy were scooping up dirt and throwing it everywhere. At one point Bryce took off his boots and used them to scoop up the dirt. When they were finished playing we took them straight up to the bath.

Faith - 1 Month

Faith is now almost the exact same size Bryce was when he was born. She is 9 lbs 5.5 oz - 50 percentile (Bryce was 9 lbs 5 oz at birth) and 22 1/4 inches - 80 percentile (Bryce was 22.5 inches at birth). Her head circumference is 14 1/4 inches. The doctor said she looks healthy. He did give us a prescription for her eyes since they still get goopie, especially in the morning. He doesn't really think there is an infection, but he said just in case it would be a good idea. He thinks more than likely her tear ducts still aren't working properly, but that by siz months they should open up and be just fine.

She is still waking up just twice a night. The last few nights she's been awake around 2 am and again around 5 am. I'm so thankful that she is a good sleeper. She has also not been fussy at night like she had been.

On her one month birthday she smiled for the first time. I tickled her cheeks and she gave me big grins over and over, and no she wasn't just gassy. It was the real deal.

She is becoming more and more alert and making lots of eye contact. She is also really strong. She pushes herself up when you hold her on her tummy against your chest and turns side to side.

Her eyes are still blue and appear to be getting lighter, so they may just stay blue.

Faith's Baptism

Faith was baptized along with her Godsister Emily Rose on Sunday, November 16th. We did a double baptism. Auntie Rachel, Uncle J, Samantha and Emily flew down from Spokane for the special occasion. Both of the pastors participated in the ceremony.

Later that day Nanny and Pawka held an open house to celebrate the special day. Faith was an angel and slept most of the day. Bryce had a good time playing with Mandy and Jackson. Gramps even buried him in the sand.

Playtime

The Dunne's came to town for the double baptism of Faith and Emily. It was great to see them. Bryce and Samantha had a blast playing together. Too bad we don't get to see each other more.

Faith- 3 weeks

Faith continues to be a fairly easy baby. Every night between 7 and 10 ish she is still pretty fussy. She has not vomited for over a week, but she still spits up a lot. She is still waking up just twice a night, however the timing is not consistent.

She is really started to look at us and focus on our faces. When she is awake she is very alert and appears to be taking in her surroundings.

Things with Bryce have been really tough this week. He is continuing to act out in every possible way, including hitting Faith, the dog and us, biting, kicking, throwing toys, throwing food on the ground, yelling, etc. Sometimes he manages to do all of these things within an hour or so. Other times he is still really sweet with her and wants to kiss and hold her.

Faith - 2 Weeks

So far Faith is a fairly easy baby. She is consistently waking up only twice a night. The first time between midnight and 1 am and again between 3 and 4 am. She generally eats and goes back to sleep without much fuss. When she does fuss I just hold her and let her sleep in my arms. That way we both get sleep. On two separate nights she has only woken up once, the first time it was at 3 am and the second time and 2:15 am. I really hope she continues to be a good sleeper. Bryce was over a year old before he was up this few times.

She typically sleeps all morning long, which allows me to either play with Bryce, or run errands if he is at the Toddler's Playgroup. Then she is awake most of the afternoon taking little cat naps here and there. Evenings are her toughest time. For the past several days she has been fairly fussy from 6 or 7 until 9 or 10. Nathan and I have to take turns bouncing her or patting her back until she stops fussing. I think her fussing is a result of tummy trouble. She spits up a lot and at night it gets worse. She has projectile vomited several times already.

At her 1 week check she was almost back up to her birth weight, weighing in at 8 lbs 3 oz. Dr. Wolf said she is doing great. She does have lots of gunk in her eyes, which he said is probably a result of blocked tear ducts and that they should clear up on their own.

Nanny gave Faith her first bath on Nov. 2nd. She was a really good girl and didn't cry. She seemed to like lounging in the warm water.

Bryce - 2 Years, 4 Months

So far Bryce is adjusting fairly well to Faith. The first week he was really sweet to her. He would ask to hold his "new baby sister." When she cries he says, "Face (Faith) needs her Mommy." The last few days however, Bryce has resorted to hitting Faith, the dog, and me in order to get attention. This results in an automatic timeout without any warnings. We've been trying to be a little more lax about his behavior knowing he is going through a lot of adjustments, but hitting is just not acceptable and we want him to learn right away that he can't get away with this.

Thankfully he hasn't regressed with his being potty trained. I've read and we were told that often times toddlers that are potty trained with regress and start having more accidents with the arrival of a new sibling. He is continuing to do great and has very few accidents. He still wears diapers at nap time and to bed. We are going to try and stop letting him have water before bed and in bed because every 2nd or 3rd night he wakes up crying saying, "my jammies leaked" having peed through his diaper.

For the past month or so, Bryce has not been napping consistently. Some days he never falls asleep, other days he goes to sleep right away, and still other days he falls asleep after laying in his crib for over an hour. The past few days he has taken a nap so maybe we are going to go back to napping regularly - I sure hope so.

People have been really generous in bringing us meals since Faith's birth. I've been really happy that Bryce has been open to trying all the new dishes and has really enjoyed them. I hope he remains open to new foods so that we don't have struggles over food as he gets older. It seems like there is always something on his plate he really wants, for example bread. When he doesn't want to eat the main course or the fruit/veggie we have him take one bite of the less desirable food for each bite of the food he really wants. This seems to work well with him and hopefully it will teach him not to value one food over another.

Bryce went to a birthday party at My Gym and had a blast. He played in the ball pit, jumped on the trampoline, went across the zip line, climbed ladders, and went on the obstacle courses.