random updates...

Just some random updates on all of us:

Sick Days:

Sickness has hit the Berg household in the past couple of weeks. First of all, Riley appears to have gotten a fever blister under his nose, so his appearance will be altered for the next week or so:

















Poor kid. I've read that having one under the nose rather than the mouth is more painful. Of course, he can't stop picking at the scab so it may last longer than it normally would.

I got strep two weeks ago. I had this nasty sore throat that wouldn't go away, coupled with chills and night sweats. This let to taking antibiotics for the first time since the mid-90's. I hate having to use them, but had to do whatever was necessary to function. I'm now on a round of probiotics to try and restore all the good bacteria I killed off in the past 10 days.

Now Jonathan's got a cold. Not surprising since he's scheduled on the church music team next Sunday. He always seems to get congested just before he has to sing.

And with the warm spring weather we've been having, come the allergies. I used to deal with them in Nashville but seemed to develop an immunity to them over time. The past couple of years however, the sinus congestion and familiar itchy sneezes have returned. I chock it up to getting older and waning immunity. Maybe my years of getting just a couple of colds per year are finally over... so sad.

None of this has helped make the adjustment to life with two kids any easier. Someone told us that "one is fun and two is work" and we've certainly found that to be true. (I wish I had the energy that I had at 25!) Kendall requires more assistance in getting to sleep than Riley did -- all I had to do was swaddle him and lay him in his crib. With Kendall, we've resorted to using the swing, the binky & lying in bed with her if that's what it takes to help her to calm down and go to sleep. I'm not a fan of sleep props, so I hope we can wean her off of these things before she gets too dependent on them. But she is just 5 weeks old with more "stabilizing" to do, so we have some time.

Breastfeeding:

B/f is going fine, though I am still using a nipple shield to help Kendall to latch on. I've started taking it off during the last 5-10 min of the feed to get more direct stimulation. Thankfully, my milk supply is good and I've been pumping some extra each day that I'm putting in the freezer for future use. Since my supply went down after I went back to work, I'm preparing for a possible repeat of that occurrence again this summer.

Playtime:

Kendall's daily rhythm is eating -- playing -- sleeping. The past week or so she's been enjoying her playtime more and not just crying to be held. I'll put her on the playmat or in her bouncy chair and she'll find something to fix her gaze on and stay content for 15-30 min before she starts to show signs of tiredness. At that point, she is put in the swing or her bed to sleep.

Now that it's getting a bit easier to put Kendall down and have her only cry for 5-10 min before falling asleep, that leaves more time to play with Riley. I've been able to give him a little more mama time on those days that I have both kids in the afternoons. For those that don't know, Jonathan goes into the office at 12:30, so I have his help in the morning. On T & TH afternoons, Riley goes to the office with Jonathan -- an advantage of having your own practice and an open-concept office setup. This serves a dual purpose of giving me a break and giving Riley an alternate environment. The patients enjoy seeing him and he serves as Dr. Berg's helper.

On the days that Riley's in the office, I try and get out with him for a "date" in the morning. Sometimes I take him along on an errand, other times we go to the playground or get a treat somewhere. But he gets me all to himself and he seems to be ok with leaving me for the afternoon if I do this beforehand. It makes me feel better too as I really miss time with my boy.

Riley's Speech:

He's talking all the time now and willing to try more and more words. Riley's saying more two-word combinations now. He only had a handful that he would say before now, but lately he's been willing to mimic almost everything we ask him to. Sometimes they even come out spontaneously. We're encouraged.

Mama's recovery:

I'm nearing the end of my 6 wk postpartum period this coming Thursday. Physically, I'm able to do whatever I was doing prior to pregnancy, with the exception of exercise. I've been feeling good enough to be walking 45-60 min (slowly) and starting at 4 wks postpartum, began some slow jogging every other day for about 30 min. While it feels like a hard workout aerobically, I'm being careful not to overdo it.

I feel like the one time I'm really in tune with my body is when I'm working out. I've been running for so long I know how I should feel to get the kind of workout I want. So as long as I work out at that intensity, my speed automatically increases as my fitness improves. Running increases my fitness like nothing else, so coupled with good eating habits, I hope to be back in pre-pregnancy shape in the next 6 months or so.

Dad & his bike:

Jonathan's been missing his mountain biking a lot as this past winter didn't offer as much good riding and the obvious scheduling complications of having a newborn once the conditions improved. He has gotten out for a couple of good rides for the past month, of which I'm happy to indulge him. While he misses all the riding he used to do (alone and with Riley), he loves being a dad even more and is keeping it in perspective. This season will pass and soon he'll be taking Kendall out in the bike trailer in the morning, while Riley is in preschool. He'll introduce her to the fun of riding in the woods in hope of grooming another riding partner in the family.

In closing, here's some photos of Kendall's first picnic at Lake Q this afternoon:




























Did we mention how much we LOVE our Phil & Ted's double stroller?














In addition to climbing, sliding and swinging at the playground... Riley likes to put the wood chip pieces through the holes...














Thanks to Kristy C. I get to use an Ergo to tote Kendall around. My back is grateful!














Ergo Sleep














Shelby

our girl is baptized

Today Kendall was baptized at CTK. Baptism brings with it an element of mystery and hope bound up in a wrapping of faith and grace. In baptism Shelby and I are stating that Kendall belongs to God, to a believing family and to God’s church. We’re also acknowledging that we need to lean on promises God gives in connecting our girl to Jesus in this way. We’ve promised to raise Kendall in the church, to set a Godly example for her, and to pray with and for her.

Most importantly, we acknowledge the need that our daughter has for God’s grace through the cleansing blood of Christ, and we have promised to teach Kendall of the need she has for our Savior, the God who loves her so dearly. We look forward in faith to the day when our girl will profess her own faith. As part of the ceremony all of the church members promise to help us in this endeavor. I’m so glad we’re not in this alone, and I think that I feel the weight of this even more with two children than I did when we only had Riley.

Here’s video of Kendall being baptized for those who were not able to be there:

We love our God, and we love our girl.


Jonathan

one month old!

It's hard to believe that Kendall has been with us for a full month already. We continue to get used to our new "normal" and get adjusted to the changes that her presence has brought. We also note the similarities and differences between our experiences with both of our kids as newborns.

Since Kendall's day is pretty much divided up into three categories, we'll give you the lowdown on each at one month:

Eating:
Kendall weighs about 8 lbs 11 oz, up from her birth weight of 7 lbs 14 oz. While she's not a voracious eater, the doc is fine with her rate of weight gain, especially since her number of daily eliminations are satisfactory. (They seem far beyond satisfactory to me...) Using a baby scale we were given, we can see that she's taking in at least 3 oz per feeding, which is fine for this age.

She eats at least 7 times per day at approximately 3 hour intervals, with two of the feedings (the late evening & overnight ones) by bottle as she can't stay awake long enough to get her fill. So mom is still pumping a couple of times a day, but that's not a problem, especially since I'm able to feed her the bottle.

Sleeping:
Kendall seems to have gotten her night sleep organized pretty quickly as she's pretty much out from about 9pm - 6am. (Pretty Much. She's fighting sleep as I write.) We give her a late eve "dream" feed of 5 oz to tank her up for the night and she'll sleep anywhere from 4-6 hours before she cries out for another feeding. I'll give her another 5 oz using milk that mom expressed the night before. This will usually carry her through until 6-7 am when the normal feeds start up again. So we're getting about 7 hrs sleep in two blocks of 2 - 5 hrs depending on how early big brother wakes in the morning. The deprivation catches up with us pretty quickly though, so we're looking forward to her dropping that overnight feed in the next month. Hopefully Riley will get back to sleeping until 7 am again as well.

Kendall is particularly adept at 'de-swaddling' herself. The ability to extricate oneself from a tight swaddle seems to be in our genes as Riley was good at this as well. Kendall seems to be far more of a squirm than even Riley was, so we find her mostly unwrapped when she starts squawking at feed time.

My Squirmest Girl



















Waking hours:
It seemed that for the first 4 weeks Kendall was either sleeping, eating or crying. While she likes being held (like most babies), in the past few days she has starting to enjoy her after-meal "waketime" a little more. She has started to have some tummy time resting on a Boppy and has begun to spend some time lying on a play mat. She enjoys looking at the lights in the room and will also look at the toys that hang from the bar on the play mat if you shake them so they make noise. She sometimes enjoys the baby swing (Riley likes it better I think) but she isn't crazy about the bouncy seat. She falls asleep quickly in a stroller and car seat, thoough she hollers when we first put her in either of these.

Interestingly, so far the place that Kendall cries least frequently is church. She seems to enjoy the music and is generally quiet while we're there. She didn't cry during her baptism yesterday (more in a future entry) and I definitely did not expect that.

Kendall is definitely more spirited than Riley was at this age. She isn't a quiet girl, but I don't think she cries an abnormal amount either. She cries more than Riley, but that's not surprising since he rarely cried at all. She lets us know when she wants something that we're not giving her and will not stop talking until she gets it. The girl knows what she wants. Sometimes though, we don't. So this can lead to periods of crying for what seems to be 'no reason' that must have some cause. Hopefully this will tail off a bit as she gets older, or we'll figure out what it is that she's looking for.

Riley really seems to love his sister. He always wants to give her a kiss goodnight, and when we're out together and I tell him we're going home to see Mama, he will always say "Keh Ko" to ensure we include her too. Kendall seems to have fit into her place in the family quickly, even from her brother's viewpoint.

I'll close with some pictures:

Cutie in a carseat














Which she doesn't always like...



















The binky and the bouncy seat just slay me for some reason.



















She does well in the Phil & Ted's stroller...it has this handy sleeping configuration.














Fun on the play mat














She's starting to notice stuff!














Kendall is mostly OK with the swing...



















But Riley is obsessed with it, at least when Kendall is in it.














Tummy Time!














Sleepy thumb sicking girl














The new normal. It's different, hard at times but mostly good.

Jonathan

the first two weeks

Well here we are with two weeks of being a family of four behind us. Things certainly have been different.

Our first week back at home we were fortunate to still have Shelby's Mom here with us. She was a huge help, especially with Riley. She and Riley really bonded and they had a great time together. A couple of pictures:

Grammy showed Riley how to "paint with water." He loved it.














This picture was taken about 20 seconds after Grammy said goodbye to Riley at the airport. Speaks a thousand words, huh?














As you might guess we are more frazzled and less rested now than we were a few weeks back. Life now seems like a constant stream of baby feeds with occasional naps thrown in (ours and hers both.) Overall things are going well though.

It's interesting that the child who is more work is actually Riley and not Kendall. Caring for Kendall is simple if monotonous. Feed, change, hold, sleep, repeat... Although she's not as easy (so far) as Riley was (he was the world's easiest baby) she's not all that difficult either. Aside from sometimes endless feeds because she eats so slowly she's not really that demanding. Things have been a little tougher for Riley.

Riley is having to adjust to having less of Mama's undivided attention. That's made things difficult at times as he'll start to act out a bit when he's not getting enough attention. He's also gotten very clingy. He wants to follow his Mom everywhere. With only rare exceptions he stopped napping months ago so on weekdays Shelby doesn't get much of a break. It gets harder as Riley gets bored too.

On top of all that there is the sleep deprivation that comes with having a newborn. We've been in virgin territory over the last couple of weeks since Riley spent his first two weeks in the hospital. Having no routine and having to wake up every two to four hours keeps the fatigue level high. (In fact, I fell asleep at the computer for over an hour while writing this.) Add to that the fact that Riley has started waking up somewhere between 5:15 and 5:45 am and things are getting pretty ragged.

On the upside, Kendall has gotten back to her birth weight (on day 16) and is starting to eat a little more normally. She has slept a little longer overnight the last few nights which is helping us to feel a little more rested. Overall she is a healthy girl who doesn't cry excessively, at least if we're not changing her diaper...

Riley loves his sister. He is almost always very gentle with her and he loves helping out with taking care of her in any way he can. It's really sweet to see him giving her a kiss on the head or lightly patting her on the head. Also, when he and I are out and I say, "Let's go home and see Mama" he always says, "Keh-kah", which is how he says her name. It's been nice to see his kindness toward his sister. Especially since she's taking so much of his Mama time. I really hope that our kids are going to be close.

So overall things are going well. We'll close this out with a bunch of pictures.

We're seeing plenty of this, although we hope to be having more of it at night when we can't see...














Our helpful boy:

Riley helping Daddy to burp Kendall














He also helps Mama pump milk...














Some obligatory sibling shots:

I love this picture



















You can definitely tell these two are part of the same family














Riley enjoys mimicking Kendall














Riley loves Kendall














Kisses on the feet














Our girl has had some outdoor activity:

Her first stroll by the lake with Mama














Out for a nice walk at Breakheart with the Zivans















Some purely Riley happenings:

Riley is still swimming. Here's video of him using a noodle for the first time:

Our boy loves his mini tramp...to hang from














And watch TV from














High bar routine on video:

Riley got his first shiner when he fell into his table in the living room, I guess it was just a matter of time...



















Riley has a new love: Play-Doh














Ever since watching Veggie Tales "Madame Blueberry" Riley loves to make houses. On Trees. Here he is finishing the house Daddy drew on top of his tree by putting on the chimney.














I'll end with our latest family shot. We love our boy and girl!

















Jonathan