Well, Ally turned a month old yesterday and now weighs in at 9lbs.12oz. What a jump in weight! She continues to try her hardest to hold her head up. She scares us with her wobbly head, but she holds it well enough that she has advanced to only using one head support in her car seat now instead of two.
Maddie continues to be such a wonderful big sister. She has amazed us with her enthusiasm and care for Ally. She helps change her diaper, wash her in the baby tub, burps her, and much more. She is also very protective of her little sister and always wants to know, "where's Ally"? We couldn't ask for a better family!
The girls' Granna and Papa came this past weekend and enjoyed their visit tremendously. I believe they achieved the goal they set out for, which was to get as much of the girls as possible. We enjoyed the visit and look forward to seeing them again!
Today was a big day around the Almers household. Ally had her first bath in her bathtub earlier and actually appeared to enjoy it. Well, she didn't hate it at least. Her umbilical cord fell out Saturday, March 7 but it still looked a little oozy. She fussed a little in the beginning but then settled down shortly after. Maddie helped and then proceeded to play in the bath water for a little bit once Ally was done.
Earlier this week we had some incredible weather which we took advantage of as much as possible. We have gone on several walks with the girls and taken a couple trips to some of our friends' and family's houses. Yesterday was the start of some nasty cold and rainy weather that is supposed to last until the end of the weekend so it is keeping us a little home-bound.
Ally continues to sleep well at night. She has gotten a bit snotty but it hasn't posed too much problem when it comes to her sleep. The routine that seems to be working starts with us getting Maddie bathed and ready for bed around 7:30. Once Maddie is down, we have a little time with the little one and then get her fed around 9:30'ish and down by 10:00. She typically wakes up around 3:30 in the morning for her feeding and then sleeps until Maddie wakes up with yelling "Sunshine's Out!" repeatedly from the time she wakes up until the time she comes blasting through our bedroom door.
Well, Ally has been home for a week now and I must say that things are going far better than I expected. Maddie has been a great big sister and is extremely proud of the fact that she has a "lil sissur". She tells everyone that she has a little sister and her name is Ally, though she pronounces it more like "A-yee". Every day that she has gone to school, she has taken a nap with photos of her mommy and her sister that were taken while we were still at the hospital.
Ally has been incredible when it comes to sleeping. Knock on wood, but with the exception of the first night home, she has slept through the night and only wakes up once for a feeding ever since. There was some concern in the beginning that her jaundice numbers were a little high but they have started coming down and her color is returning to normal. She eats well, though she prefers to be fed from a bottle. I guess it is an instant gratification thing, which apparently she is like her father in that regard.
Missy is doing great as well, up and moving around without too much difficulty. With the exception of not being able to get super-comfortable in bed and a little residual stiffness, all of her major complaints have subsided. We have all been fighting a cold and sinus stuff, so that makes things a bit less enjoyable, but all in all I would say things are great.
Well, on February 25, 2009 at 9:26 a.m., we added another little one to our ranks. Alyssa Jean Almers was born and weighed in at a healthy 8lbs. 6oz. and was exactly 21 inches long. Both mommy and baby are doing great. We all returned home the following Saturday and started our new life as a family of four.
As you all know, I do not really keep up with the blog. Actually, I think I do a pretty good job of avoiding it. What I do post about typically has something to do with geeky stuff or cool new "whiz-bang" things that I have figured out. This post is no exception. I used the arrival of our new baby as a reason to upgrade our blogging software so, though past entries are not easily accessible, the new features of this software makes it easier to create and manage our posts.
