Happy Halloween, 1 Month, 15 Months!!

Today we had Wells the Penguin and Claire Bear. It was soooo much fun to see my kiddos all dressed up!!! It was sort of a hectic day going from one set of grandparents to the next, feeding claire in the meantime, then pumping, then back home for our neighborhood block party, but it was worth it all! Life with 2 is just hectic, but again, a blessing! We not only got to have a very fun halloween with neighbors, friends and family, but we also got to spend a "date" morning with Wells. We really want to make an effort to spend some family time with just Wells while he is adjusting to life with a Sissy!! We spent this morning going to the Galleria to ride the carousel, stroll around and eat lunch together. Chris and I really wanted to take him to the Pumpkin Patch, but the rain killed that. So the galleria was good cheap entertainment for sweet Wells. And I think he quite enjoyed himself!! Chris and I had lots of fun with him as well. Then we had halloween fun. Wells' penguin costume was found at a church consignment sale and it had never been worn. It still had the tags on it!! I LOVED this costume and it actually fit him great!!! And we already call Claire "Claire Bear" so it was only fitting to have her in a little bear outfit. Chris' mom found this on clearance at Babies R us. So we came out cheap this halloween and these will probably be my favorite halloween costumes they ever had. We all had a blast at the block party and then we loved giving out candy once we got home. Wells just didn't understand why he couldn't walk all over the neighborhood with all the other kids. He wanted to leave with every kid who came to our door! What a hoot! Now we are all exhausted and ready for bed. But I can't leave this post without wishing Claire a happy 1 month (tomorrow) and Wells a happy 15 months (on November 4th)!! It's hard to believe Claire has already been here a month! My post below from the other day gives you updates on both so I won't bore you again! What a fun night to celebrate both of these milestones! I hope your halloween was as happy as ours! Now, we are just praying for good sleepers on this night of time changing!

My Birthday/New Challenges

Well, yesterday was my 30th birthday and boy are birthdays different now...especially with a 4 week old and almost 15 month old!!! Claire did sleep one 6 hour stretch which was quite the gift!! I'm not counting on it every night, but it was awesome for one night at least!! I spent lunch with my mom, dad, sister and claire while wells was at school. And then I ate dinner with my sweet hubby at La Paz. It was so nice to have a date night!!! We know they will be few and far between so we definitely enjoyed it. And we were back and ready for bed by 9!! Thanks Jupie for keeping the kiddos!! It was actually a very nice birthday!

As for the new challenges, Claire now has clogged tear ducts. I know this is pretty normal, but I hear they can last a long time. Any suggestions for this is greatly appreciated!! All I know to do is massage her tear ducts and use a warm wash cloth when her eyelids won't open. It's kind of yucky!! But the good news is that we think my feeding her is okay now and her jaundice levels are leveling out. yeah!!! Wells is also a bit whiny these days. We hope it's teething!! But he is also hilarious!!!!!!!! He makes the funniest faces and truly loves to show off!! So I will leave you pictures of Claire (and we don't know who she looks like yet), Wells, and Chris and I last night.

Finally Healthy...We Hope! 3 Weeks!

I have some huge praises that I want to share! First of all, Claire's bilirubin count was down to 10.1 on Tuesday. Yeah!!! We know it can fluctuate, but we do not have to go back to the doctor until her 8 week WELL appointment! We pray we don't have to go for any sickness before then. Also, Wells had the fever virus and he did have 104 temp (which scared me to death), but he is much better now as it only lasted 48 hours. I then got the virus, but the praise is that today we are all HEALTHY!! We just pray now that the cloud will leave our house and we will all stay healthy!! Chris and I don't even want to look at the total for copays and doctors bills because we are just thankful for a healthy house at the moment! Another HUGE praise is that I was very surprised this past weekend by my awesome husband a one of my best friends in the world. Friday as I was still down about Claire and just hormonal, Mary (the best friend) showed up at my front door with a package saying "she just couldn't find the address and had to deliver it herself". She lives in Oxford, Ms. and we see each other about 4 times a year. Well, she was coming to surprise me and stay for the whole weekend, take me to dinner, and help me with the kiddos. It was such an amazing surprise!! I cried... a lot! It just meant so much for her to do that and for Chris to plan it with her all along. He babysat for us to go to dinner, to go to costco and shop a little the next day, and watch some football saturday night. It was a HUGE blessing and I needed it more than I knew. Thanks Chris and Mary!!!

Now, we have survived 3 weeks!!! yeah!!! We are not sure now if Claire has reflux or just GI issues. The poor girl has such tummy issues all day no matter what I eat and she isn't spitting up much. So we are just perplexed. She constantly has gas and goes to the bathroom A LOT. We are praying it is just immature GI and not problems. We'll just see in time I guess. But now for the fun things for three weeks. Claire LOVES to be held and touched anytime of the day, she sleeps okay (not great) but I'll take what I can get, and she loves trying to focus on any person who is holding her. She doesn't even look cross-eyed! She does not like baths...at all, changing diapers, or changing clothes. We still keep her wrapped from head to toe all day so luckily we don't change her clothes much!

As for Wells, he is loving his "sissy" as he calls her! Every time he sees her he says "Hey Sissy!" He still loves to rock her no matter where she is laying. He also likes to take his golf clubs close to her...not so sure about that! But he is just changing so much and coming up with new words daily! We may not understand them, but he just talks and talks all day! We laugh hysterically. So that is all the updates for now! Prayerfully things will get a little easier as each week passes and we'll begin to see who she looks like! She is still gaining weight like a champ so those cheeks and thighs are resembling her mamas!!!! :)

Update on Claire and Life!

I wish that I could do a daily post because I have so mainly friends that are praying hard for my children right now and have been so faithful to check in and see what is going on. Reality is that I just don't have a minute to get on the computer. And the only reason I have a minute right now is because Chris is with Wells at the doctor. Yep, Wells is now sick too. We pray it's not flu, strep, etc. and that maybe it's just a quick virus. We just couldn't take any chances with a baby at home and I want him well. In the meantime, we have been back to the doctor 3 times for bili checks, bloodwork, etc. Her levels continue to fluctuate. 12 was an "okay" level for jaundice, but as of yesterday, her level was 13.9. Our doctor is so perplexed because Claire is gaining weight above average, and everything looks "normal". So why is the jaundice not going down? We don't know. All I know is that we go back again this week and we will continue to go until we figure something out. As far as her reflux goes, the doctor wants me to get off of all dairy, nuts, tomato sauce, chocolate, and veggies and see if her digestion gets better. The past couple of days have definitely been better, but boy I don't know what to eat!!! So with all this being said, we still don't have answers...for Claire and now Wells. Please please please continue to pray with us and I'll try to update more often. Prayerfully my posts can be bright and cheery soon. And sorry for no pics this time...no time to download!!! :)

Claire- Week One!

Well, to say that Claire's start to life has been eventful is an understatement. I will give you some fun things in a minute, but if you will please continue to pray for her we would appreciate it so much. She got to come home from the hospital on Wednesday and at our follow up appointment on Friday, her jaundice levels had gone back up. We go back Monday and if they are still up we will either have to go back to the NICU or get phototherapy lights at home. Either option is not good. We feed her every three hours and she eats close to 3 ounces every time. She is gaining weight like crazy, which should bring down the bili count but is not. We stay so busy so I'm so sorry if any of my friends or family feels neglected. We don't have time to breath at the moment!!

Now onto the fun stuff. Wells is loving her. He rocks her when we have her in the bassinet or her carseat. He also loves to take her pacis, which is not so fun for us! He is so full of life right now and is ALL BOY! So it is difficult with two babies FOR SURE!!! It is definitely harder than I ever imagined and have to pray all day. And right now my mom is helping me out a ton and Chris' mom is helping too. So what will I do when I'm on my own for a whole week? We'll see! As for now I appreciate any kind of help offered!!! I have to admit I've also already had lots of tears. Tears from hormones, tears from exhaustion, and tears because I miss my time with Wells. Claire is such a blessing and i love my time with her, but I just miss my one on one time with him as well. As you can see from the pictures, Claire loves her hands and loves to have them in her mouth or up by her face at all times! It's hilarious. She also loves to look around and see what's going on. She is really alert for a one week old!! We really think she has her own look and we can't tell who she'll look like yet. She definitely looks different from Wells.

We still can't believe we are parents of two!!! We will settle in soon and we know that we will adjust, but for now please pray with us. We want to enjoy both kids, enjoy each other, and try to have some sanity with very little sleep! And please continue to pray for Claire. I will keep you posted.

Claire is here! Please Pray! Wells 14 Months!

So the title of the post sums this up! Claire Christine Sheheane was born at 11:20 a.m. on Thursday, October 1st, 2009. The labor was a cakewalk (praise the Lord) and she was born in fifteen minutes after beginning to push. After Wells 24 hour process and 3 hours of pushing, God blessed me with this labor!! She weighed in at 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. She is just precious. Now this was the only exciting news we've had. The "Please Pray" part comes in because from the get go she had some troubles. She couldn't hold her temperature well, so she went on the warmer twice while we were in the hospital. Her bili rubin count continued to rise, but we weren't surprised as wells was on the phototherapy light last year for five days because of jaundice. I was trying so hard and praying this would not happen with Claire. I fed her every 2 hours, supplemented with formula and pumped EVERY feeding trying to avoid all of this. But when you have a history of it in the family, we've realized it's something that can't be beat. So we left the hospital with Claire on Saturday afternoon and went straight to the pediatrician on Sunday morning. Saturday night I just knew something wasn't right. She squirmed and fussed anytime that I didn't have her on my chest and we both slept 1 hour all night. So the next morning at the doctor Claire's temp was really low and her bili count had doubled. The words from our ped. were "go straight to the hospital". So after many many tears, and prayers we checked her into the NICU at Brookwood. God gave us blessing after blessing once we got there. A good friend from church works three 12 hour shifts and week and was there THE DAY we had Claire and then again when we checked her in yesterday. Wow, it was so comforting in the midst of my tears. Claire has still not kept her temp very well, but her bili count has finally gone way down. We go every three hours (really every two b/c we are there an hour for feeding) to visit with her and it all feels like a bad dream. We know she is in the best care in the world and we LOVE Brookwood, but it's really hard. We look around though and just praise the Lord that she was on time and not a premie, and she is definitely one of the healthiest in there. We are waiting to hear results from all the tests and just praying all is well. In the mean time, precious Wells is getting shipped all over birmingham. Praise the Lord that both of our parents live 5 minutes from Brookwood and they are passing Wells back and forth. We have also been spending the night with my parents so that we can be with wells and also have a super quick trip to brookwood. He turned 14 months yesterday and bless his heart, we have no pictures. The picture you see is Wells and one of his best buds, Jack Harpole. They Love each other! it's so cute! The past four days have felt like a big blur and we have not taken a single picture since day one. I promise once she is home (Lord willing will be this week) we will take tons of both of them!! In the meantime, pray pray pray and I'll keep you all posted, just can't promise when! Thanks for all the calls, texts, etc. We love our friends SOOOOOOOOOO much and are so thankful for all you are all doing.