What do those Dye kids do all day??

Sarah helped Justin adjust the sprinklers (or sprinkles, as she calls them). It turned into a waterfight as any good activity with dad does.

Henry is growing so fast.  It must be because he sleeps and eats so much. Once in a while he'll sleep 6 hours straight at night.  I love him so much when he does that and I tell him so to encourage him to keep it up.

 We hiked up Maple Canyon.  That was a rough hike, especially since I couldn't see my feet over the Snugli carrier I was wearing with Henry in it.  Justin and Sarah are good looking.  Those two did much better and went on ahead without me.

 I sometimes wonder if Sarah thinks Henry is just another one of her dolls.  He just happens to move and cry. She picked out his outfit and insisted that these shoes that are ginormous on him were just what he needed.

Justin and I left Sarah and Henry in the next room alone.  When we came back in, this is what we found. He's so lucky to have a big sister.

 We went to the park for a little while but left because it got too hot. Sarah is all about the climbing.

 Henry finally smiled last week!  I was so excited. I think I want my kids to smile more than any other milestone. I can't get a good picture of it yet because he's too unpredictable and quick for me.  But here's some good expressions. 

 I bought a big stack of puzzles at a garage sale.  Sarah is obsessed with puzzles. Ask her what she wants to do today.  "Do puzzles."

 See how happy she is?  She's doing a puzzle.

 

One Month Old

You know the feeling. You go back and forth between "I can't believe he's already a month old," versus "He's only a month old? Feels like I've had him forever."

 Henry slept a 4 hour stretch last night! Crazy the things you're grateful for when you have a newborn.

I love these kids.  Especially right now when they are napping at the same time.

Braden and Kristen's Wedding (plus pics of kids of course)

Last Saturday Justin's brother Braden got married in SLC. Here are Braden and Kristen newly hitched. 

 Sarah said, "She has a pretty dress." about a thousand times. 

Here are my kids before leaving for the reception that night.  This is the best smile Sarah would give me.  She was watching Land Before Time and wouldn't give me her full attention.

 Pretty flower girl. 

Any time anyone would compliment Sarah, she'd reply "I have a pretty dress."

 This is Sarah's second cousin, Dustin.  He's a way cute kid.

No one took the initiative to decorate the car.  Justin and his brothers thought Braden's friends would do it.  They were wrong.  So we did it last minute with the fruit dip left over.  It turned out pretty good.

 Henry seems to be changing so much.  Every day he looks a little different to me.  He's also growing so fast, I swear you can see it happening.  There are outfits that were big on him 3 weeks ago that fit snugly now.  It's kind of sad that he will only wear things 2 or 3 times before I have to put them away.

Handling 2 kids isn't as bad as I thought.  It  helps that Henry is a pretty good baby.  Well, he may just be normal but after the nightmare that was Sarah's infancy, he seems like a walk in the park. He is a really good eater and still sleeps a lot.  During the day, he stays awake for only an hour at a time and then naps for 2 or 3 hours. He gets pretty fussy in the evening and is awake for 3 hours or so straight but once I get him calmed down and asleep, he's good for the night and only wakes up to eat and goes right back to sleep. I hope as his little tummy gets bigger, he'll wake up less often at night. When Sarah was this age, she wouldn't sleep more than 15 minutes at a time unless I was holding her, day or night, so she was nuzzled right up to me all night long.  And at least once a night, we'd have to blast music, turn on the bathroom fan or do some bouncing to get her to stop crying and back to sleep. Henry doesn't mind one bit being alone or being put to bed drowsy but awake.  I can't believe how different babies can be.  It makes me less worried about every little thing I do.  Most of what I do doesn't make a bit of difference at this age. I felt like I must be doing everything wrong with Sarah because she was such a pill. But she was just a pill because she was a pill.

 She's an angel now so I wish I wouldn't have stressed so much and wished her infancy away.

She's the best big sister.  She's so stinking cute with Henry. (Well sometimes she drives me crazy because she won't back off when I want her to.)  Even if he's screaming his guts out, she'll kiss him and talk so sweetly to him.  "It's okay Henry. You can stop crying.  Just go to sleep."  She's a really good example to me not to lose my cool when he is really fussy.

Things Sarah says all the time, mostly at random times: "Mom, you have two kids?" "Punqwa's your dad?" (that's how she says grandpa) "Hi handsome" (to Henry) "Rachel is your sister." "Grandma is stuck at the cemetary?" (On Memorial Day, my brother's car broke down at the cemetary.  Sarah heard about it and still talks about it like they are all still stuck there, even though she saw them come home.)

Henry had his 2-week check-up yesterday. He now weighs 8 lbs 6 oz. That's a 2 pound weight gain in 17 days. Let's hope he doesn't keep up this pace.  My back is already tired.

 And hooray for being married for 5 years! We ate at the Bombay House in Provo and got Blizzards from Dairy Queen (We're pretty fancy people) and got back to my Mom's just in time for me to feed Henry again.

I don't have a weed whacker so I was using scissors to cut the grass along my flower bed.  Sarah wanted to help.  This kept her occupied for awhile and she has asked to do it every day since.

My goofy girl.

My goofy kids.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see them together.  For the first week of Henry's life, Sarah couldn't go into the NICU so it was so frustrating and unnatural that my kids weren't together. So even when one or both are crying and I feel overwhelmed, I relish in the feeling of being completely in over my head because it means my family is together.

 I love how tiny Henry is.

Henry is Home!

Henry and I came home yesterday from our week-long visit to the NICU. The picture in the previous post is from his second day of life. This is how he looked hours after he was born.

His umbilical was tightly wrapped twice around his neck and during delivery the cord tore and he lost a lot of blood.  He also had a hole in his lung. I held him for 10 seconds before they whisked him away to NICU. He required a blood transfusion and the doctors extracted air collecting outside his lung by inserting a needle into his side. He was a very weak and sick little baby and though no one put it into these words, he could have died.

We were relieved to see him like this Sunday morning.

This is our first time holding him for reals.

This is Sarah's first time seeing her baby brother.  "She's so cute" she kept saying.  We are still telling her "He Sarah.  Say he."

The majority of our week was spent getting him strong enough to nurse to sustain himself.  I lived in a motel-like room on the NICU floor so I could nurse him day and night all week.  They wouldn't let him go home until he could eat 45 ml every 3 hours for 24 hours.  We started off at 9 ml on Tuesday and the poor guy didn't have enough in him to nurse again until 6 or 8 hours later. After a lot of tears, prayer, water, and nursing, he was averaging 62 ml when we left Friday morning.

 

"I have to go back. I have to bring Henry home," I told Sarah one night before returning to the hospital after a short visit home. I can't even begin to describe the weight of the mantel put on my shoulders to get Henry better. He and I did it. Not without a lot of prayers and support from others but it was definitely our fight. He is my teeny little super guy.

When the attending physician told me we could go home yesterday morning, I really wanted to give him a high-five. "We did it." I said, through held-back tears. He is nearly a pound heavier than when he was born, has no lasting effects, is on no medication, and the hole in his lung healed on its own.  All follow-up will be through is pediatrician. I can't take credit for any of that.  I can't really take credit for anything.

Here's where I'd like to think Henry's life really begins.

He's Here!

Henry Justin Dye. Born May 14.  6 lbs, 6 oz, 19 1/4 inches long. 

I'm in love.

Quality Assurance

Sarah has been very interested in the baby stuff I pulled out of storage.  She also feels the need to test everything out. 

She's grown a tad since she last tested it.

She's tried to climb into the bassinet and infant carseat and open the new binkies.  She slept with tiny baby diapers in her hands a few nights ago and she won't leave a pair of his shoes in his closet.  What's she going to do with the actual baby??

Pregnancy Brain

I have a major case of pregnancy brain.  Last night when I returned something to a store, the clerk asked for the last 4 digits of my phone number.  Without hesitation, I rattled off 4 numbers, but it wasn't mine or anyone else's phone number. 4 random numbers just came out and it sounded weird and like a lie as I said it.  I was too embarrassed to correct myself so I just let it go.  This baby better be dang smart because he is taking all my braincells. 

I've been busy with tons of little tasks and projects I want to get done before the baby comes. On my to do list are chores like clean the car and stroller but also fun things like make Italian Buttercream Frosting and go to a movie. After that I'll feel ready.  Maybe.

So I am just getting around to posting Easter pictures. I thought about skipping over it but since I haven't taken any other pictures since, might as well. 

Here are Sarah and her cousins ready to go with their baskets.  Sarah looks so tiny.  Russel is 7 months older than her and Brooke is 2 1/2 months older.  Her 5th percentile in height sure is evident in this photo.

She was so focused on picking up plastic eggs that she put this bubble necklace right back down.

Checking out the loot.  I think she liked opening the eggs as much as eating the candy. Almost.

 I don't know why she is crouching.  I have a dozen pictures of this pose because she crouched like this forever in her Easter dress before church.  I love little girls in Easter dresses.

In other news, Justin is taking his first summer off in 3 years. He went to school from August 08 until this past April without a break. That's 33 months straight and all of Sarah's life for those of you counting at home. It will be nice to have him around more this summer before he heads back for his final 2 semesters.  He started a new position with his work last month.  He commutes to Draper everyday which is a bummer for time and gas money but he really likes his job and the office much better than in Lindon.  And with all this extra time and energy, he plans on finishing the basement so hopefully next winter I won't have to bundle up to check my email.

Sarah's new thing is asking for all the details about what we're doing, where we're going, what other people are doing, what's going on, etc. 

"Where are we going?" 

"To the grocery store."

"What's something else?"

"Uh, we're going to buy milk." 

"What's something else?"

"And cheese."  This goes on and on until I've recited my entire shopping list. 

Then it starts all over again and she'll ask where we're going.  I've learned to ask her instead. "Where are we going, Sarah?"

"To Macey's.  And buy cheese, and milk, and yogurt, and chicken, and crackers....."

She isn't satisfied with a simple, "we're going home and getting ready for bed".  She wants to hear that we're going home and putting on jammies, brushing her teeth, turning on her lamp, turning on her nightlight, reading stories, turning off her lamp, singing songs and saying good-night. Can you tell she likes predictability and routine?  Just like her mom so all the questions don't bother me too much. Let's hope she handles the disruption of a baby in the house well. I'm praying I do.