2 months

Here's Lyla at 2 months and pictures of Hayes & Kamri at around 2 months. Who do you think she looks more like?

I've always thought she looked more like Hayes but lately people have been saying Kamri...maybe because she is chunking out a little more.

important

Bracken took Hayes & Kamri to the Young Men church activity tonight.

So I had an hour to get stuff done.

Somehow there is always stuff to get done.

So i started on stuff (which is now looking like an extremely odd word to me)

Then Lyla started fussing.

So I held her while I tried to get stuff done.

Then I realized holding her and getting stuff done was frustrating.

Stuff wasn't important.

So I laid down next to her on my bed.

Stared into her sweet baby blues

Her hand in a tight fist around my finger

and she slowly relaxed, knowing I was there to help her fall asleep.

Kamri is 3!

Kamri turned three last week. No huge party but she did have a fun day including ice cream and cupcakes with her friend Audrey. She has been looking forward to her birthday and since Lyla's due date was May 15th I would tell her that her birthday was around the time the baby would be born. A little confusing when the baby is born 6 weeks early! So the morning of her birthday I woke Kamri up saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! and she didn't believe me at first that it was FINALLY here! The whole week before she would practice holding up three fingers and would get so excited when she would count 1, 2, 3 fingers and then show them to me. "Look mom, free!"

A little (turned into a lot) about Kamri:
She hates having her hair done and likes to dress herself. For a few weeks she would choose crazy mixes of clothes or not want to wear pants (like her lovely ensemble in the photo below, she was helping Bracken do yard work) but currently all she wants to wear are dresses. Luckily she has plenty of cute summer ones to keep her content.

She loves, loves, loves to tease her dad. (probably because he loves to tease her). Every morning when Bracken is leaving for school she asks him where he is going, he replies "the moon" then she tilts her head, smiles, laughing "Noooo, you going to school!" Then he asks for a kiss and she refuses to give him one unless he begs sufficiently.

She loves her siblings. She follows Hayes around and tries to do everything he does. They play so well together. She gives Lyla kisses whenever she is within reach, sometimes to the point of smothering....

She loves to sit and write, she concentrates so hard, hold the pencil the correct way, and writes lines and lines of her own little symbols. Sometimes she'll fill whole pages wtih it. Looks like angry terrorist writing or reformed egyptian or something...

Kamri lives in a musical, I used to think that musicals were unrealistic but not for Kamri. She will sing and narrate what she is playing or just sing random melodies in the car. Sometimes it is an actual song she has learned, mostly it is just random things about a book, or the car next to us, or what she wants for lunch, etc. Funny line from one of her "songs" last week was "Jesus loves Jasmine and PIRATES!"

She will sit and 'read' books to herself for long amounts of time. Most of the time she is talking so fast I can't understand the stories she makes up but sometimes I catch a gem. She was looking at Cinderella and the page where the step sisters rip apart Cindrella's dress Kamri narrated 'Don't rip my dress or I'll shoot you! Cinderella said' (Yep she has a brother!)

She also loves to dance, I have soo many videos of her dancing while I was laying on the couch on bedrest. She was my entertainment:



She also loves princesses, lip gloss, nail polish, Strawberry Shortcake, granola bars, Dora, the color pink, rice, playing dress up, Ratatouille (the movie), cereal, Inspector Gadget, going to nursery, having friends over to play, swimming, fajitas, adding 'ie' to the end of any word. Right now the most common is Lylie.

Kamri has a contagious excitement for life. She smiles, laughs and gets so excited for things you can't help but smile and be happy back. I believe it will be a strength that will help those around her throughout her life. I can't come up with the words to describe how grateful I am to be her mother and to enjoy her sparkly eyed smiles every day. She can be stubborn, throw massive tantrums, and demand breakfast at 6am every morning, but the laughter and smiles she brings into our home make it all worth it!

My crazy kids...

sure do love them!

Lyla Picture Overload

I have had no motivation to blog but have had requests for more pictures, so here are a few!
Lyla came home from the NICU on April 19, so she's been home two weeks tomorrow! She still was having a hard time regulating her temperature so we have to keep her wrapped in multiple blankets. You'd think we live somewhere freezing!

Our little Eskimo

The kids were sooo excited to have Lyla home and finally get to hold her! The day Lyla got home though Hayes woke up with a fever of 102! So he had to stay in his room and we just let him look at her but he couldn't hold her. So we had one child too hot and one that we couldn't keep warm enough! He was so good about staying away from her and not touching her even though he was very disappointed. His runny nose turned into a cough and into bronchitis so we took him in to the dr and got him on antibiotics. That cleared things up quick and he was finally able to hold Lyla Sunday morning after his bath! I had major anxiety that she'd get Hayes' cough and end up back in the hospital but he was good about staying away and prayers were answered and she hasn't gotten it.

Can you tell he was excited! They have been such good older siblings!

and some more random photos of Miss Lyla.

She has been a bundle of joy..literally a bundle with all her blankets but we've been easing off wrapping her so much this week and she seems to be doing okay. The girl is going to have a fear of thermometers when she is older and not know why, she gets her temperature taken so often!

She doesn't cry much, When she is hungry she just sucks like crazy at her hands, if I don't catch on that she is hungry she will let out one little Muwah! and if I don't come she'll wait a few minutes and let out another little cry just to remind me she is still there and hungry. Guess got the memo ahead of time that she'd have to have some patience!

She hasn't slept more than 4 hours at night, she is like clockwork and starts sucking noisily on her hands as soon as the three hour mark has hit. She hasn't ever stayed awake at night though so at least it's just a quick feeding and back to bed. Although I don't remember being this exhausted with Kamri or Hayes. I probably was, just have mom amnesia so I have more babies... I'm grateful Bracken stays up for the late night feeding to give her a bottle so I can get a little more sleep!

She gets hundreds of kisses a day from Kamri and Hayes has been trying to teach her how to roll over, she wasn't catching on quick enough for him so he decided to start with just having her lift her head...slowly but surely he's happy to note she is making some progress!

We sure love Lyla, she seems like a very mellow, patient baby...we hope it stays that way!

One Week Old

I have been bad on updating, Lyla is one week old today! Here is quick look at the past week:

Lyla was born Wednesday April 6 at 9:53 a.m. Her Apgar score was 8 then 9. She was put on a CPAP Machine (I believe that's what they called it) to help her lungs not collapse and help her to breathe. I believe they also put some kind of protein in her lungs to help them out. I was kind of out of it that day from the medication and being so tired from being up all night. The picture of her on the CPAP machine is on the top right. I saw her in the Operating room and then visited her that night at 10 p.m. when I was feeling well enough to get up. Unfortunatly I was nauseous most of the day so I couldn't see her earlier. Bracken got to be with her right after and Mimi and Grandpa Dane visited that evening.

Thursday April 7 they had turned down the rates of breaths on the CPAP machine and she was keeping up with the difference.

Switched to Nasal Cannula tube, breathing on her own with some extra room air on the 8th (bottom right picture). I got to hold her for the first time that morning and in the evening she met Grandpa Paul & Grandma Niece.

Breathing on her own and first bottle feed on Saturday the 9th. She also got to meet Hayes & Kamri Saturday night. They were so excited to finally meet their baby sister!

Moved to Special Care Nursery (a step in the right direction to get home) on the 10th

Went tanning under the bilirubin lights on the 11th. Her bilirubin levels were just a little higher than they wanted but went down after being under the lights for a day.

Had her IV was taken out during the night of the 11th

The 12th they slowly lowered the temp of the isolette until it was at the room temp to see if she could regulate her own body temp and she has been doing great.

Last night (the 12th) we also brought in onesies for her. Her first outfit! Right after she got done bottle feeding with Dad.

They have slowly been upping her feed amount from the bottle by a few cc's every day and decreasing the amount she is being fed through the little tube in her nose. She started out with 10 cc's and now is up to 40 cc's. Before they were feeding the difference through the feeding tube in her nose but the past three days she has eaten all 40cc every three hours and hasn't had to be fed through the tube. She is eating like a champ! I've been going up every other feeding and Bracken has been coming to the one at 9pm when he is home from school.

It has been so much fun to have some little improvement or good news every time we have visited the NICU. We must be weird NICU parents because we are just so excited that she's here and healthy and the fact that she is 34 week was exciting for us. The past two days she has been wide awake for the feedings and has kicked off her blankets and is sucking on her hands waiting for me when I show up. I already know she is a daddy's girl because every time Bracken comes and she hears his voice she smirks. Every single time!

The kids can't wait until she gets home, they keep asking when she will be home. When Kamri saw her on Saturday she said I want to get my sister out of there!

Lyla Hope Longhurst

Lyla Hope Longhurst

April 6

5 lbs 1 oz

17.5 inches

We made it to 34 weeks! It would have been nice to make it a bit longer but we are SO happy that Lyla is safely here. She will be in the NICU for awhile and hopefully the next few days will give us more of an idea of how long. We've been told to expect anywhere from 2-6 weeks. I wish it would be one but will plan on six weeks... although so far she is doing great! A big thank you to everyone that has helped us with our kids, brought us meals, and prayed for us. We'll keep you updated!