kendall is two months old!

Our baby girl is two months old today. It's hard to believe she's been with us for that long already -- the time is going by so fast. She is now 10 lbs, 3 oz and continues to nurse approximately every 3 hours during the day. At night, she goes to bed around 7:30p and wakes up around 5:30a with a dream feed from daddy at 11p.

She's still not a voracious eater, but since she seems content, continues to gain weight and have regular eliminations, we're not concerned at the point. We'll see what the doc has to say when both kids get their checkups next week.














We're grateful that she's a good night sleeper, though it should be said that most times we lay her down she fusses for 5-15 min before settling down to sleep. We continue to swaddle her and offer her the binky if she's interested in sucking. I'm hoping that she continues to wake between 5:30 and 6a each morning, as that's when I will be feeding her prior to going back to work on June 21st.

She naps very well in the mornings, so well in fact that it's like a continuation of her night sleep. Once I feed her in the morning, she pretty much goes back down and doesn't wake up for at least a couple of hours. Her afternoon naps are more like catnaps, though if I'm not running errands, she does sleep a bit better.

Check out the red eyebrows...she's got light reddish-brown hair, we think from her G'pa Berg:














She prefers motion when in her car seat. She cries when we put her in it, but once we rock it or pick it up to carry her out to the car, she is quiet. It's funny also that when the car's in motion she's quiet, but woe to us if we come to a stop for any reason and she's still not asleep -- she starts hollering until the car's in motion again. Fortunately, once we get on the highway, she usually falls asleep so we don't have that kind of "alarm" going off the entire car ride.

She's started enjoying her swing more:














Some of the developmental things we're beginning to see:

1) She smiles. This is most often seen just after a feeding, but I've also seen them when she's just gotten up from a nap and I have her on the changing table.














2) She's now tracking me across the room as I'm walking around, which makes me feel special.

3) She will put her fist in her mouth and suck on it. It appears deliberate rather than just a random act of driving it into her mouth. This usually happens just after I've fed her and she's having her 15-30 min of contentedness before she becomes tired.














4) We also see her trying to grasp at her toys. She still pretty much bats at them, but can hold a toy for a minute or so when it's placed in her hand.

5) Like Riley, she doesn't like tummy time, but her neck strength seems good as she loves to be held looking over my shoulder. She straightens her legs out and stands straight up to get a good look around. This has made using the Ergo baby carrier more challenging as she doesn't want to keep her legs in a froggy position -- she tries to stand up and her feet appear under the waist band. I've started putting her in the bumbo seat for a few minutes at a time and she does very well as keeping her back straight and not falling over to the side.














I love how it looks like they're chattering away, in their own little world:














We'll close with some misc snaps of our girl hanging with the family:

Riley loves to join her on the activity mat:














Daddy's girl:














Riley loves his baby sister:














Not surprisingly, Kendall is more vocal than her brother was, but it's nice to see her enjoy her playtime more and get interested in the world around her. So far, she's not the malcontent that we feared we may get, after having such a easygoing baby in Riley. We look forward to seeing her personality emerge and see the ways in which she is different from her brother.

Two months have gone by pretty fast. Having two little ones around the house definitely is more of a challenge. Even so we love having our baby girl. Happy two months Kendall!














Shelby

mother's day(s)

We actually celebrate Mother's Day in two stages. The first is on Mother's Day weekend when we take a trip down to CT to see my Mom and the second is the following weekend when we do a 'celebration' just for Shelby.

This year we added on a side trip with a stop to visit some friends who have recently relocated to CT not too far from Mom. We miss the Davis family very much and it's great to have an excuse to get together. We also got to show off our baby girl, and Riley got a chance to play with Ivy who was beyond excited to see him (her mom told us she was saying, "He's my boy!")

Riley also had his first, 'sleepover' on the inflatable mattress with Ivy. Ivy wasn't quite ready for Riley's desire to snuggle with her (our boy has no knowledge of what personal space is and actually likes being as close as is possible to other kids.) She didn't want to abandon the bed with Riley however:

Tired kids after a late night play time















Baby girl had a sleepover too















The kids played together nearly every moment we were there. Ivy was also kind enough to lend Riley her pink sweatshirt on a colder than expected morning... Here's a picture and some video of jumping onto the inflatable mattress:

Nice air!















One, two, three...

After an amazing breakfast the next morning we were off to Mom's house. This was my Mom's first chance to see her new granddaughter and she was, to say the least, quite excited.

Grandma & Kendall















It was also the first chance for Kendall to meet her CT uncles Bruce and Drew (Bruce has an amazing way with babies) and also hang with her cousin Daniella:

Daniella and Binky Girl















It was a nice weekend and a great chance to show off our baby girl.

Mother's Day part two took place this weekend. I've always been of a mindset that there are a couple of celebrations where Shelby needs to have the focus on her alone. The first is her birthday (which is really close to Christmas. No Christmas / birthday celebrations allowed.) The second is Mother's Day. She does get a shared celebration at Mom's house, but I like to do something the following week as well.

For my Sweetie, any celebration means sushi! We went to Sato II, one of our favorite local spots. One of the things that we love about this place (aside from the great food) is how really sweet the waitresses are. They always dote on Riley and were equally as excited to see Kendall. How many restaurants are happy to see infants and small children? We love this place. Here are some pictures:

Mama and her boy














Daddy and his girl, who thankfully slept...















Mama's delicious lunch:

Seaweed salad















Sushi feast (with the best spicy tuna we've ever had)















Watch for little hands stealing fish eggs...















I'm thankful for the wonderful women the Lord has placed in my life. I have a mother who loves me and believes in me beyond anything I would ever expect. And I have a wife who exceeds any expectations I ever had of how a mom should raise her kids. Shelby loves our kids with the same kind of passion that I see in my Mom. My children and I have truly been blessed.


Jonathan

two years

Two years ago on May 6th life as I had known it came to an end. To some this may sound a bit melodramatic, but it's true for me on a great many levels. May 6th was the day my Dad died.

Most of my thoughts and feelings are the same as they were two years ago, although many of the emotions are at a lower level or come up less frequently now. Thankfully. Living in that kind of emotional flux for an extended period would be too difficult.

There are some things that have changed though, and this is the reason for the melodrama. My thought patterns were re-shaped in some ways by Dad's passing. There is a a certain amount of innocence, or maybe naivete that left me that day. For better or worse I don't know.

I've always been a fairly positive sort. I guess I inherited my Dad's "rose colored glasses." I've usually been good at putting a positive spin on things and, unfortunately sometimes, at seeing things as potentially more positive than they will end up being. The world has always been a mostly good place that I felt quite at home in.

When Dad died for the first time I came to see the 'wrongness' of this world and to realize that it really isn't the 'home' that I've been made for or that I long for. Until Dad's death I always struggled with the concept of not being "of this world." I now feel it keenly.

There's a passage of scripture that sums up what I'm feeling. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NLT), which says:

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

As the passage says, it's not that I want to die and get on with things spiritually. I'd like to live a long and full life, especially giving all that I can to my family. But with Dad's passing I'm that much more conscious of the "groans and sighs" that are part of life, as well as the imperfections of life as we know it. Death is the biggest of these in my opinion. And there is a growing part of me that longs for the eternal. God has prepared me for this indeed.

I'll end with a link to the eulogy I gave for Dad. He was a great man who I hope to emulate. The pain I still feel over his passing is only tolerable because of the promise of eternity spent with him. I miss him very much.


Jonathan

IEP update

Today, we met with a team of therapists and educators from Wakefield Schools to discuss Riley's Individualized Education Program (IEP) which is to begin after he turns three. This is the final step in transitioning Riley's speech therapy from Early Intervention to the school district. We've been anxious to hear what they would offer to provide for him within their morning preschool special education (SPE) program.

With budget cuts affecting so many schools in this current economic environment, we didn't expect them to propose the number of individual sessions that was recommended by the SLP at Children's Hospital. She had recommended 2 individual sessions and 1 group session per week. Well, we were delighted to hear that the school district is going to give him what Children's recommended. Praise God! Even our EI therapist (who was present at the meeting) was surprised at what was offered for Riley. We walked out of the meeting feeling encouraged that our son will be given the tools needed to succeed in his language development.

He will start SPE on May 24th, the day after his birthday. He will attend 5 days per week from 8:15a - 10:45a. Each day has a different main activity such as going to gym class, doing show & tell or visiting the school library to check out a book for the week. His teacher told us that even when Riley is not in therapy, all the activities within the class are language-based activities. The other 3 year olds will have varying language skills so some of them will be modelers for him. There are a number of different preschool classes geared towards a variety of disabilities, so Riley's will be one of the higher functioning classes and the language is geared towards functional communication.

So things will be changing yet again for our boy as he gears up for SPE in May and "regular" preschool in June. Three days a week, he'll be going from SPE to preschool until I pick him up after work. The other two days he will continue to join Jonathan at the office as the "Associate Chiropractor" -- providing his own special adjustments, handing out ice packs and providing general entertainment for the patients.

I'm excited to see our son get exposed to so many new things and get the opportunity to develop in ways that he can't while being home with me. And yet, there is a sadness at seeing him exit another season of life now that he is our big boy going off to school. I do cherish this time that I have with him right now as it won't happen again (yep, this IS my last maternity leave). So I guess there's an ambivalence that I feel as these changes are about to take place.

Another thought that has come to me recently is how God led us to Wakefield, which has such a good reputation in taking good care of their SPE kids and families. Riley was only 9 months when we moved here, so we had no idea what a good school district this could be for him. Our EI contacts spoke very highly of the people they have worked with in Wakefield and so far, J and I have been impressed at their commitment to giving their best for the kids.

As God has provided so much for our son in bringing us here and giving us a great team of caring educators, we believe that Riley will begin to close the speech gap between himself and his peers. We're already seeing him try and say almost everything that we ask him to, including two-word combinations and multi-syllable words. That language explosion could be just around the corner!

We wrote that he is talking, babbling and singing all day long now. Did we mention that he is now saying his name for the first time? If you ask him his name, he'll tell you it's "Rah Rah". Articulation will come later -- we're just thrilled to hear him trying out new and difficult words.

We love our Riley-boy!

Shelby

3 firsts at 6 weeks

1) Kendall's starting to give us social smiles. I tried to capture it on camera, but this was the best I could do:


















2) She has started tracking me as I walk around the room.

3) She did a pushup today during tummytime and got up on her knees. Hmmm... early crawler?

I tried unsuccessfully to get a brother-sister snap just before Kendall's naptime. What was I thinking?? Kendall went straight as a board and screamed. Riley was pretty much unaffected.













Shelby

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