Christmas 2009

For Christmas this year, it was just our little family at home.  We had a really good time together and are thoroughly enjoying each other's company.  Reid has off until after the new year and we're excited for that time with him.

On Christmas Eve, Kai helped me to make cookies for Santa.  We made M&M cookies, since they are Kai's favorites.  Kai also went outside to play in the snow with his daddy in his new snowpants.  Unfortunately, the snow was not good sledding snow, but they had fun with the snowballs.  Most them went up and fell back on Kai's head--he loved it!  His little face was all red when he came in.

That evening, we went to a friend's home to enjoy a traditional turkey dinner.  They had invited another family and so there were 16 people in all (counting Finn).  The dinner was delicious and the company fantastic.  Reid spend most of his evening in the basement with all of the kids watching them play as Kai was slightly hesitant to go by himself.  I, however, got to converse with the adults and snuggle with Finn. After dinner, the family had a short program that included trumpet and piano pieces, story reading, and sing-alongs.  It was fun.  The evening finished with pie and hot wassil.  Yummm!  Finn was a hit in his Santa suit.



We got home for the Christmas Eve festivities around 8:30pm.  Kai quickly got ready for bed and laid out cookies and milk for Santa.  Reid and I did not make it to bed until much later, but we were able to see Santa arrive and watch him set-up the toys!  So fun!  Shhh....don't tell Kai, he'll be sad he missed it.

Christmas morning was fun.  Kai slept in until about 7:30 and then got up to find that Santa had come and eaten all of his cookies and milk.  Kai also found some fun toys in his stocking and under the tree.  Kai had asked Santa to bring him trains and a baby doll stroller.  Under the tree was the stroller, but then Kai asked "Where's the doll?"  Apparently, Santa did not get the memo about the doll and thought that Kai just wanted the stroller to push around his other toys.  So, we told Santa that mom and dad would take care of that later.

After opening all of his presents, Kai and I were playing upstairs.  Suddenly we got a call from Daddy to come downstairs and see what he found.  Kai was happy to find a train set that he had wanted all set-up in our basement.  He has spent HOURS with that train set already!  Santa was very good to Kai this year and he was very happy.

As promised, the day after Christmas, we all went out to get Kai a baby doll.  Now Kai can say his Christmas is complete.  To sum it up, he got an airplane, race cars, books, trains, playdough, a slinky, and a stroller and baby doll.  What more could a little boy want!!

 Note the leg up.  This is a required step to launching

       any car, didn't you know??  :P

Oh and Finn got a few things too, but you'd never know--both Kai and Reid have enjoyed his toys more than he has! 

We are so very blessed to celebrate this time of year together as a family and to remember the Savior's birth and all that it means to us.  For me, this year was a bit more tender as I thought about how the Savior's birth ultimately lead to his atonement and resurrection.  With Finn's health condition, those blessings seem so much more essential and special and I am so grateful for them.  I look forward to teaching him about the promised blessing of a resurrection with a perfect body, not one burdened by CF, and the joy that will be his when it is finally received.  What a wonderful plan and gospel!  I thank the Lord for Christmas!

9, 9, 9!!!

Finn is 9 weeks old today!  WOW!  It's been a long, but good, 9 weeks.  In celebration, he had his 2 month well-baby check yesterday.  It was his 9th doctor's appointment.  And that's just doctor's appointments, not labs or anything else.  No wonder the 9 weeks seem to have gone so quickly.  The most exciting part of the doctor's appointment was his weight.  Finn weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce!!  Go Finn!  He gained a whole pound in just 11 days.  It's weird that we don't have to go back to the doctor until after the New Year, but it'll be a nice holiday break. He's growing so fast, I wonder how much he'll weigh at his next appointment.

Well, I don't have any pictures right now, but they'll be coming soon.  Just wanted to put up his 2 month stats.

Height--20.5 inches (2nd percentile--yes, he's on the small side)
Weight--9 pounds 1 ounce (5th percentile)
Head--I don't have the exact number right now, but it was in the 50th percentile.  So, even though he's little, he still has a big head just like his brother.

If you Chance to Meet a Frown....

Poor Kai can't seem to catch a break.  The Monday before Thanksgiving he started in on a cold that lasted nearly two weeks.  Now that he's been cold free for just a matter of days, last night he started in on the stomach flu.  He was running a low-grade fever and threw up several times throughout the night.  Reid camped out in his room while I stayed in our room and took care of Finn.  By the time I got to Kai's room this morning, he was sleeping on towels and garbage bags and wearing clothes because he had run out of jammies.  Poor kid.  He's been watching TV all morning while I've been doing the laundry.  He's also asking for food, but the only thing I've given him so far is a Pedia Lyte.  It seems he's keeping it down, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

While Kai is not doing so well, Finn was full of smiles this morning.  Do you think someone told him that he weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce on Monday??  Hmmm....or is he just happy that he left a load in his pants for me?  Unfortunately, I think it's the latter.  But I love the smiles!!

Sorry it's so dark.  I didn't want to flash

the camera in his face.

Kids say the Darnedest Things

While sitting on Reid's lap this afternoon to get his shoes on Kai says, "Sometimes you have to sit on a man's lap to get your shoes on and say "MAN I NEED MY SHOES ON!"

I was laughing so hard I cried! It was just what I needed this afternoon.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we stayed in, just the 4 of us. It was the first time in our marriage that we had not had a Thanksgiving dinner with another family. We had agreed to split up the cooking duties, but in the end Reid ended up making about 90% of it. Am I a lucky woman or what??!


We enjoyed our dinner of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, egg nog, sparkling drinks, and pumpkin pie. Kai couldn't find a single thing on the menu that he thought was worth eating. Ugghhhh...hopefully he'll come to appreciate it in the next few years.


As Kai managed to pass his cold on to Finn, Finn spent the day in his carseat sleeping. You could tell he was just not feeling good. The doctor has actually put him on an antibiotic, as coughing could stir up the bacteria in his lungs. It seems the cold is passing and I'm grateful for that. Having a sick baby is scary, but it seems to be even more scary to me with Finn's CF.

Weighing In

Finn has had several opportunities to be weighed in the last few weeks.  Here are some of his stats.  As you can see, he's gaining weight!

Finn at one month

November 19--At Children's Hospital--2.9 kg, or 6 lbs. 6 oz (we think their scale is a little screwy)
November 20--Pediatrician's office--6 lbs. 13.5 oz  (this is the scale we've been using all along, so we go with this one.  It was his first weigh in where he was above birth weight!)
November 27--Pediatrician's office--7 lbs 6 oz

Our next weigh-in will be at his pulmonologist appointment on Monday.  I'm shooting for a number that starts with 8.  Wish us luck!

Kai's foot is small for his age, and Finn's foot is just tiny!

An Open Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

The last two weeks or so have been difficult and emotional ones in our home. Yes, I know the arrival of any newborn is filled with all kinds of emotions--excitement, stress, and so much more. Finn's arrival has brought all of those normal emotions and few extra ones as well.

I remember when Kai was born that my first thought was "He's so little!". When I first saw Finn my first thought was "Oh no, is he OK??". He was just so purple and little. Something seemed wrong. Within an hour he was taken away for chest x-rays and subsequently admitted to the NICU for aspirating meconium. While he was able to seemingly quickly recover, there have been other medical difficulties. Most importantly, he has struggled to gain weight which has resulted in a lot of doctor visits.

I was at the point two weeks ago that I was planning on asking the doctor to look for reasons other than lactation, when the doctor called me. On the morning of Thursday the 12th I received a call from our pediatrician's office. On the other end of the line was the PA/lactation consultant that we had been seeing. She told me that Finn's newborn screening had come back with a marker on the Cystic Fibrosis test and that his blood had been further analyzed. At that point, they were requesting that we go to Children's Hospital in Denver for further testing as soon as possible. It took literally dozens of phone calls to our insurance company, doctor's office, and Children's Hospital to finally make an appointment for Wednesday the 18th. In the meantime, Reid and I read a bit about Cystic Fibrosis and decided not to worry about it until we needed to. We weren't living in denial, just trying not to work ourselves up over it.

Our appointment on the 18th was at 8am at the outpatient lab. We were told the test took about an hour and so we both went and took Kai with us. We arrived right on time and Finn was quickly set up for his sweat test. The test involves placing electrodes with sweat stimulants on his arms or legs, leaving them for 5 minutes, and then wrapping him up in as many blankets as we could so that he would sweat. He wore the sweat collection devices for 30 minutes while we went to get breakfast at the cafeteria. After the half hour we unwrapped him to find that Finn does not sweat!!! Only a small sample was collected. We were nicely told that the sample was not large enough to run the full battery of tests they needed. A call was placed to our pediatric office and we were told to repeat the test. The lab wanted to wait until noon.

For the next three hours, we wandered around the hospital trying to find things to interest Kai. We also went to the cafeteria and had a small lunch. We finally headed back to the lab to repeat the test. Once again, after the time was up there was no sweat! Another call was placed in which our pediatrician told us to go home for the day and to come back the next day to repeat the test. We were exhausted and slightly frustrated.

After about a half an hour at home, I decided to place a call to the doctor to see if I could get another answer. I did not want to go back to Denver with Kai in tow for another all day adventure. While on the phone, our call waiting beeped and I saw it was Children's Hospital. I hung up on the doctor (yes, I really did!) and switched over. It was the pulmonology nurse saying she had results. What?? Apparently the first sample was enough to run only one test and they had run the one test they needed to diagnose Cystic Fibrosis. The results were enough to lead them to a full diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis (CF).

I'm sure you can all imagine how hard that news was for us. I don't think I need to explain to any parent the desire for the best for all of your children and how hard it would be to accept a diagnosis of a rare genetic disease that will cause medical problems and a shortened life expectancy. To say we were devastated would be accurate. The nurse went on to tell us that she had made an appointment with a pulmonologist (the CF doctor) for the next day for Finn at 2pm. We were relatively silent while she explained a couple of things to us (I don't remember what they were) and then we hung up.

The rest of the day is a bit of a fog. The only thing I clearly remember is a knock on the door during dinner. It was our hometeacher who had randomly dropped by to drop something off. I invited him in and we explained the situation. He quickly volunteered to take some time off of work the next day and sit with Kai while we went to Children's. It was such a blessing and I was so grateful to the Lord for sending some help in that moment.

The appointment the next day was a good one. I was surprised at how many people came into the room to meet us and Finn. We met two nurses, three doctors (one was a resident), and a social worker who were all there to lend support and help Finn. We were in that room for 2 and half hours discussing what Cystic Fibrosis is, how it effects people, how you get it, Finn's current treatment, and future prospects for Finn. As CF is something that most of us don't understand, here are some important points that I'd like to share with you.

What is Cystic Fibrosis?

Cystic Fibrosis (also called CF) is a rare genetic disease that affects the normal movement of salt (sodium chloride) and water into and out of certain cells, including those that line the lungs and pancreas. This results in thick, sticky mucus and other secretions that can seriously impede breathing and digestive functions. Only 1,000 babies each year are diagnosed with CF and there are only 30,000 individuals in the US living with CF. CF is predominanatly a caucasian disease, and typically seems to affect individuals with heritage in Northern and Western Europe. Only 70,000 people worldwide are living with CF.

How do you get CF?

CF is passed to a child by two carrier parents. CF is a recessive gene, therefore an individual needs two recessive genes in order to have CF. About 1 in 29 people in the US are carriers of CF and most have no idea. According to the UVA medical website, about 8 out of 10 new cases of CF are diagnosed in individuals where there is no known family history. Two carriers who have children have a one in four chance of having a child with CF.

How does CF affect the body?

Though CF affects many different parts of the body there are two main areas of concern -- the pancreas and the lungs.

• Those with CF have difficulty gaining weight and growing as the thickened digestive fluid blocks the pancreas ducts leading from the pancreas to the small intestines. This prohibits the enzymes produced by the pancreas from reaching the intestines and digesting fats and proteins. As the food that the person consumes is not digested, it passes quickly through the body and is not absorbed. (This is why I felt like I was changing way too many dirty diapers with Finn.) As the food is not absorbed, neither are the fat-soluble vitamins (Vitamins A, D, E, and K).
• The thickened mucus of a person with CF clogs the lungs, causing breathing problems. The build-up of mucus in the lungs also provides a breeding ground for bacteria to grow. This leads to frequent lung infections, which eventually damage the lungs and contribute to early death.

How was Finn diagnosed?

The newborn screening completed at the hospital came back with high levels of IRT (over 200). Next, they looked at his second newborn screening completed around 2 weeks of age. His IRT levels were even slightly higher at that point. From there we were told that they analyzed the blood sample and were able to locate one "defective" gene for CF. At that point, we were called (we had no idea all of this had occurred) and asked to come in for the sweat test. Normal chloride levels are about 40, 50 is borderline, and those with 60 are typically diagnosed with CF, So, when Finn's chloride levels came in over 100 from his sweat test, he was diagnosed with CF.

How are we treating Finn's CF?

Finn has been fortunate to not have had any respiratory issues yet. As Finn's CF so far is only manifesting itself in his pancreas, we have needed to put him on a few different medications.

• First are the enzymes. Since his pancreatic enzymes are not reaching his intestines, we have to give them to him. The enzymes come in the form of a capsule. Since he is unable to take pills, we are feeding them to him with a bit of applesauce. We break open the capsule over the applesauce and feed it to him before every feeding he has.

• Second, he needs his fat-soluble vitamins. We give these to him after he has had his enzymes so that his body can absorb it. They are nasty looking and smelling, poor kid. I've been mixing them into his milk and he seems to take it a bit better.
• Third, he needs salt. People with CF sweat out more salt than the average person (hence the diagnosis after the sweat test). In order for his body to have the salt it needs, we have to give him extra. Salted milk, yumm.
• Finally, Finn still needs to take his Zantac for reflux. The CF doctor says it's a good idea to continue treating him with Zantac as it will help to quell the stomach acids and make it easier for his enzymes to be absorbed.

Finn's medication--I call it his morning/evening

cocktail. It consists of salt, zantac, vitamins and

about an ounce and half of milk to help wash it all down.

What does the future hold?

This has to be the hardest question to answer. CF is a progressive disease and can vary in severity. It's hard to know how any given individual will respond to CF until it progresses. Denver Children's Hospital is ranked number 2 in the country for pulmonary treatment, for which we are grateful. They treat everything aggressively in order to give their patients the best possible prognosis. Odds are that there will be hospital stays and strong antibiotics in our future. We don't know when we'll need them.

They say that people with CF can live a relatively normal life. Sports are even recommended as they are good for the lungs. (Reid has a friend of a friend with CF that finished 30th out of 600 in the Colorado's Leadville 100 mile Ultramarathon!). They can go to school, go to college, get married, and with today's advances, even have a family. The current life expectancy for an individual with CF is 35.

For now, Finn has to see his CF doctor once a month until he's 6 months old. At that time we go to visits once every two months. When he turns one year old, we will have visits once every three months for the rest of his life.

Other than CF, Finn is a normal baby and we can expect the same things from him that we can from any other baby. One of the reasons we wanted to go private is that Finn may choose at some time in the future not to share his diagnosis with everyone--and that needs to be his decision. Most people don't understand CF and we do not want him to be treated any differently or become an object of teasing among his peers. Because of his disease, he will always have trouble gaining weight and growing (great....just what one of my kids needs to hear!). Once he starts eating solids, he will be able to enjoy a high fat, high calorie, high salt diet. (Can I throw in another "great, just what Kai needs to see!" here?) Of course, all of that will have to be eaten with the enzymes and vitamins, which he will be taking his whole life.

We've received a lot of support in the last week as we've learned about CF and Finn's future and we're very grateful for that. The prayers and thoughts are greatly appreciated as we continue to fight this battle. I admit I'm still having a difficult time with the diagnosis, but I have noticed that day by day, it's getting easier to accept. (though I don't think it'll ever be easy) We still have a lot more questions than we have answers, but we want you all to know that you are welcome to ask whatever questions you have. It's important to us that our close friends and families be educated about CF. There is a lot of information on the web, some good, some bad. A great resource if you have any questions is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Or feel free to ask us and we can get an answer for you.

I apologize for the length of this post/letter, but there is so much that I want to remember for our family and there was a lot to share with you. Thank you for your patience.

With love,

Reid, Angie, Kai and Finn

A Need to go Private

As you all know, I have used the blog to record our family events and to provide a record for my boys of their childhood. In the last week, our lives have changed in a way we had never imagined. To not document it in our blog would be to leave out what is and will forever be a part of our lives, and I don't want to do that. However, I also don't want to air such personal, private matters for the whole world. Therefore, we feel it is time for us to go private. I hope to have the transition completed by Thanksgiving. If you are a family or friend and would like to be able to continue reading our blog, please post your email address in the comments and I will ensure that you receive an invitation.

Love to all....

Growing Up

Kai's bunkbeds finally arrived last week! We were excited to receive them and set-up the "big boy room". The bed was put together by Friday evening and Kai spent his first night in the room that night. We finished hanging pictures and curtains on Saturday. It's nice to see Kai's room looking more like his bedroom. We still have a few things we'd like to get and arrange, but for the most part we're done.

As for night time, it's hit or miss right now. About half the time he makes it through the night by himself and then gets up around 6 or 6:30am. The other nights he has gotten up and wandered around the house looking for us. It's really cute, but tiring, to hear him call "Momma come play" at 2am.

We're so proud of our big boy and so happy to have Kai in our family!

Catching Up with Finn

So last Wednesday I took Finn in for an appointment with the lactation consultant. She watched us nurse for a bit and noted that his latch was fine, his suck was strong, and my milk supply was plentiful. (Things I was pretty sure of anyway.) What she noted was that he wore himself out quickly nursing and didn't finish the feeding. Nursing is a much harder way to get milk than a bottle. So, what she asked us to do was to feed him bottles until he got his strength up to return to nursing. That means that I have to pump 7 to 8 times a day to keep supply up, as well as feed Finn 8 to 10 bottles a day. It's a bit of a process and a bit overwhelming, but so far so good. He had weighed in at 6 pounds 1.5 ounces.

Yesterday we went back for another weight check. He weighed in at 6 pounds 4 ounces. We talked again about how much he was eating (at least 2 ounces every 3 hours as directed) and how nursing was going. (He is only allowed to latch on 2 times a day for a few minutes, just so he doesn't forget how.) We decided to up his bottles to 2.5 - 3 ounces every 3 hours and to go back in a week for his one month check-up and weight check. The interesting thing that came out of this appointment occur ed when I asked about his spit-up episodes. I wanted to know what to do about feeding him after he throws everything up and she started to ask questions. The next thing I know she says that it sounds like he has reflux and I'm holding a prescription for Zantac.

In the NICU, the nurses made a point out of the fact that they thought Finn was quite "spitty and gaggy" and I had gotten the impression that they suspected reflux. I think that made this diagnosis and prescription easier to accept. And the more I have heard about reflux, the more I realize that probably is a big problem for our little guy. I'm hoping that this Zantac will help him keep more food down and that he'll start gaining weight faster. Only time will tell. In the meantime, Finn can't stand the taste of the medication. He makes the funniest face when I give it to him. I'll have to snap a picture next time.

Finn at 3 weeks

Saying Goodbye to Grandma

My mom came to out to help for two weeks. It was so nice to have an extra hand and to have someone around that I could trust with either of my kids. She did about everything around here--laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, babysitting, baby feeding, vacuuming, clean toilets.....you get the picture. We didn't take too many pictures with grandma, but here are the kids saying goodbye on Saturday morning. Thank you Mom!

Finn's First Bath

On Sunday the first of November, Finn had his first bath at home. He did not like it at all!! Such a different reaction than we had from Kai. Hopefully, he will grow to enjoy bath time, because he is such a spitty baby that he always smells like he needs a bath.

Saturday is a special day

Just a month ago, we called Saturdays "Mommy, Daddy, and Kai days". We loved spending our time together and Kai loved having two parents to dote on him.

With Finn's arrival, Kai has a hard time getting one parent to dote on him, let along two. But the last two Saturdays, Kai has had some good outdoor fun with his daddy and I think it's been good for both of them.

On Halloween, the weather was in the mid-50s, but thanks to the shade from our house and trees, we still had snow on the ground from a large snow storm earlier in the week. Kai and Reid decided to take Kai's sled outside and give it a test run. It turned into a fun hour or so playing in the snow. They sledded, built a snowman, threw snowballs, and Reid demonstrated how to make a snow angel. Since grandma was here, she watched Finn inside and I got to join in the fun. It was a lot of fun! After they were done, Reid brought Kai in and introduced him to "warm" chocolate. He thought it was great!

This past Saturday had some more nice temperatures, and so Reid wanted to rake the leaves. I sent Kai outside with him and they had fun playing in the leaves. Reid made a big pile and showed Kai how to run through it and fall in it. Kai loved the raking and didn't want to come in.


With everything else going on, I'm glad Kai is getting in some good old-fashioned play time and that I can occasionally even join in! Fun family moments.

Finn's Birth Announcement

Click Here

Finn at 2 weeks

We took Finn in for his 2 week weight check last Friday. I was very disappointed that he had only gained 2 ounces since coming home from the hospital. He weighed in at an even 6 pounds. We still have quite a bit of weight to gain to reach birth weight. I'll be in honest and say that I am at a loss as to why he is not gaining weight. He latches on well by himself, and sucks for quite a while. It does seem that my milk supply is lower than it was with Kai, but I figure that's because the demand is lower. Kai nursed every hour for the first two weeks or so, and Finn instead is a sleepy baby that I have to wake up every three hours all day and all night to eat. Anyway, after our appointment I started pumping to increase my supply and was very successful. I even have started storing milk in the freezer because I have some extra. And I've been nursing Finn and then offering a bottle afterwards. Although I have to admit that I've hesitated to do that these past two or three days because we've found that he'll just keep eating until he throws up. I wonder if he's not getting enough calories and that's why he's so sleepy. But if he would demand the milk, it'd be there....I know that. At Kai's 2 week check-up he was one pound over birth weight. By one month he was 2 pounds over birth weight. So, to be having this kind of problem is baffling to me.

Today we have to go back to the pediatrician to meet with a lactation consultant and get Finn weighed again. I'm crossing my fingers that he's gained a few ounces. If he hasn't, I might just get really frustrated. And as much as I want to nurse this kid, if it's not working for him we'll have to switch to formula. More than anything, I want to do what is healthy and best for him....which I've always thought was breastmilk. But maybe there is an exception to every rule?? We'll see what they say today.

One Cute Pumpkin

We dragged our feet on getting a Halloween costume for Kai this year for a couple of reasons, but last Monday when I got an email about the ward Halloween party that was to take place on Wednesday, I knew we needed to do something. On Tuesday afternoon, Kai and I went to the costume store and found only one left his size--a pumpkin. Now, Kai had his heart set on being an elephant this year. On the way to the store, he changed his mind and said he wanted to be a monkey. And at some point in the weeks prior, he had mentioned he wanted to be a pumpkin. So, I worked the "mommy magic" and talked about how wonderful the pumpkin was and how cute he would be and that he would get lots of extra candy for being so cute. It worked--and we walked out of the store with the pumpkin costume.

Wednesday came and brought a huge snow storm. During the day, we stayed inside and made some Halloween cupcakes. We kept our hopes up for the party to go on, and as we were getting ready to get Kai in his costume we got the news that the party had been cancelled, but that we were invited to join the other ward's trunk or treat on Friday. Not wanting to disappoint Kai, we did "practice trick or treating" in our house that night. My mom, Reid and I all hid behind a door, Kai would knock and say "trick or treat" and we'd give him candy. He LOVED it!


When Friday finally arrived, Kai was ready (but a bit tired). We talked him into his costume again and Reid took him over to the church parking lot. They were gone for about 45 minutes and came back happy and excited. Kai loved it and got a fair amount of candy. For Kai's first time trick or treating, I'd say it was a success!

Finn at 1 week

Brotherly Love

"Momma, I think maybe I love him."

Giving kisses

Giving hugs

Rocking Finn and making sure he has his binky

My 3 Boys!!

So, I am seriously outnumbered here in the Jones household, but I'm loving it! I love being the mom of 2 boys. One of these days I'll have to share how I feel about being the mom of boys, but in the meantime, I wanted to share a little about each of my boys.

First, Reid. What can I say except that he has been amazing this week! I'm really not looking forward to having him go back to work. It has been so nice to have him home and he has been a huge help to me. I love seeing him play with Kai (right now they're playing the Wii) and holding Finn. I love having help clean things up a bit and I love that he does it so willingly and is so supportive. I have a wonderful, wonderful husband.

Kai is our precious boy and always will be. He has had a bit of a tough time sharing mommy this week, but things have gotten better. We've had a few meltdowns and demands of "Momma put baby down" but today he insisted on giving Finn hugs and cuddles and told me that he loves him. Thank goodness! I have a feeling we're not done by a long shot with some of the meltdowns, but I'm so grateful that he has the vocabulary to express himself and so the meltdowns don't involve much physical violence. They're more just crying and demanding. On Monday, he spent the morning with my visiting teaching companion while Reid picked us up from the hospital. Once we got home Kai proceeded to tell me that he had slammed a door at "the other house". When I asked him why he said "I was sad". I asked why he was sad and he said "Because Momma and Daddy no come get me.". Heartbreaking, huh? But so wonderful that he could tell me. Now I just have to ask my companion if the story is true. :)

Finally there is Finn. He has been a very calm and generally easy baby this week. I know that no good thing lasts forever, but I appreciate that he has given us this calm week to ease into parenting two little guys. His nights and days are completely backwards (I don't think I could emphasize that enough) and so he has worn us out, but at least it's somewhat enjoyable. He has become a fantastic eater, which I'm hoping will help fill him out a bit. At his appointment on Wednesday he still weighed 5 pounds 14 ounces, so we have weight to gain. At least he's not going backwards.

I love my family! I love that we've had this week to be a family of 4 and to enjoy each other's company. We are looking forward to the help that's arriving tomorrow, but this week really has been wonderful.

Finn Alexander Jones

We are so excited to have Finn as part of our family! He came 10 days before his due date and after a relatively quick labor (about 6.5 hours), taking us all by surprise. He gave us a little scare at the beginning as he managed to aspirate meconium and required oxygen. Because of his oxygen requirements, Finn was placed in the NICU and given an IV. Poor little guy was hooked up to all kinds of monitors. But I was happy to wake up on Sunday morning and find that he had come off the oxygen at 1am that day and we only had to give him a few more good feedings before he could come off of the IV. He was finally released from the NICU at about 4pm on Sunday (after 24 hours there). We were happy to have him join me on the mom/baby floor and meet his older brother for the first time. They exchanged presents and we had a little birthday party. Kai had picked out cupcakes and foot rattles for Finn, and Finn brought Kai a Percy train and bathtub markers.Finn and I were released from the hospital on Monday morning and were excited to get home. At home Finn had one more surprise for Kai--a tent and tunnel set-up complete with basketball hoop and balls. Kai has been thrilled with his presents! Finn, in the meantime, has been content to eat and sleep, except between the hours of 10pm and 2am, when for some reason he wants to cuddle and be held and not let me sleep at all!

The last time Finn was weighed was Sunday evening. He weighed in at a mere 5 pounds 14 ounces. Wow! Needless to say, he seems so tiny and all of a sudden Kai seems huge! We have him wearing premie diapers and newborn clothes, which are just swallowing him whole. He is eating well and so I expect he'll be gaining weight in no time. His first doctor's appointment is tomorrow, so I'll let you know.

Welcome home Finn!