She's Home!

Lauren finally got to come home today, and we are soo excited! It's great to just be able to spend time as a family and not spend our days driving back and forth from the hospital. However, we are very thankful that everything has turned out so well and that Lauren didn't have to spend even more time in the hospital.

Big Sister Elle

Elle actually got to meet her baby sister a few days ago, and she was really excited. She wanted to point out all of Lauren's body parts and give her lots of kisses. She tries to copy most everything I do with the baby and even wanted to wear the breastfeeding pillow and hold Lauren. Elle doesn't quite understand that Lauren only cares about eating and sleeping, so she's already been showing her all of her toys. And, of course, Elle now wants to copy Lauren also and has started stealing her pacifier (even though we could never get Elle to take one as a baby) and loves to wear Lauren's hat. I can't wait to see how much she will interact with Lauren as she gets a little bigger!

An Update on Lauren

Here are some more pictures of Lauren from the past few days. She had weaned down to room air yesterday, and today, she is completely off oxygen! So now, we're just working on getting her feeding well and gaining weight so she can come home! She is such a peaceful baby, at least when we're there with her, although the nurses have said that she gets pretty fiesty and mad sometimes. Thanks again for all the prayers from family and friends--we've really appreciated all the support and well wishes throughout this whole process!

Little fingers

Daddy and Lauren

The thing in her nose is a nasogastric (ng) tube, and she gets some of her milk through that,
since they don't want to tire her out too much. She's nursing for the other feedings.

You can't tell that well in this picture, but she has really
light hair, especially in the front, and lots of it!

Snoozing in her isolette

Our First Angel

Here are some pictures of Elle taken over the past few weeks. She has been such a good sport through this whole situation with baby Lauren, especially since she had never been away from me overnight beforehand. We have such good friends here who pitched in to take care of her, and she, of course, loved spending time with Nana and Papa. It's still been hard for Elle, since we have to leave so much to go back and forth from the hospital, but we're trying to spend as much time with her otherwise, and she's done so well.

Anyway, these first few pictures are from the first two UGA football games. Kyle's mom (Elle's Mimi) brought her this adorable cheerleading outfit, and she's already gotten a lot of attention in it!







This picture and video is from our last trip to the mall. The video explains it, but she just had to get all fixed up to go shopping!

Lauren Grace has arrived!

So, most of you who look at this blog have probably gotten an e-mail update, but I just wanted to post the pictures and all in here so they'll be up.

Lauren Grace Young was born at 1:24pm today (Friday, September 12th), and she weighed in at 4lbs. 1 oz., so a little smaller than the ultrasound estimated, but still a good size for being 33 weeks. She came out screaming and looked very pink, so all good signs. Everything looks good so far, and we're just hoping that she continues to do well over the next few days and weeks. So, thank you all for the thoughts and prayers, and please keep praying for her as you think about it!

Some New Sayings and Preparing for Football Season...

So, I've been trying to post this for almost a week, but for some reason, blogger won't upload the video! I finally just uploaded it to youtube.com because I got too frustrated. Hope you enjoy!






Well, no one can accuse of us of not trying to give her good self-esteem! We're hoping that she'll have the cheer down by the first game. Now, I just have to see if her cheerleading outfit from last year still fits! Go dawgs!

Belly Pictures and Some Cute Ones of Elle

A few people have been asking how big my belly is now, so I figured I would post some pictures on here. I'm currently in my 28th week, and I definitely feel bigger than last time, but I'm sure I'm not the best judge.

And since I'm posting pictures, I wanted to post a few cute ones of Elle from the other night. She has been the pickiest eater recently and refuses to eat most of the foods she once loved. A couple of nights ago, we had chili, and I decided to try and see if she would eat it, fully expecting her to refuse. At first, she would rummage through and pick out only the black beans, but eventually she decided to dive in with two hands and thoroughly enjoyed her meal--here are a few pictures!

A Visit from Nana

As most of you already know, I was put on bed rest a few weeks ago. Luckily everything seems to be fine now, and I have been upgraded to decreased activity (meaning I can't exercise, walk for long periods, do vigorous cleaning, etc.) for the rest of the pregnancy, as long as I have no more symptoms of preterm labor! When I got put on bed rest, my mom really came through for me and booked the first flight she could to come help. It was soo nice to have her here! She helped organize and clean so many areas of my house and helped me get the baby clothes washed and put away, and I feel much better about being ready for this baby to arrive. I know Kyle didn't want her to leave!

Elle has been pretty shy about most of her relatives thus far, since she takes a while to warm up to people, and she doesn't see them very often, but this visit, she fell in love with Nana! I think part of it is that, since she is my mom and all, we do a lot of the same things with kids, and so Nana felt comfortable to her, and Elle had a blast singing, dancing, and creating with her Nana. One of my favorite memories from the visit was watching Elle dance in the mirror in my mom's room until 11 pm one night (she did NOT want to go to bed and loved entertaining Nana!). Elle cried when we dropped my mom off at the airport, and I'm sure she will be excited to see her next time. For days afterwards, Elle would say, "Bye, Nana," when we left the house, or try to hand invisible Nana a bean bag to join in a song. Even a few days ago, as we walked up the stairs to go to bed, she waved toward the guest room and said, "Night, night, Nana," and kept walking as if it was totally normal. She's too funny! I hope the Elle can develop this close relationship with all her grandparents!

Excitement

Elle has definitely become more of a daddy's girl recently. She cries a lot of times when he leaves or if we go somewhere without him, and she constantly asks where's he's at when he goes to work. She also gets really excited to see him in the morning (if he's working nights) or when he comes home from work in the evenings (if he's working days). She can be calmly playing or reading a book, and as soon as her daddy walks in the door, she starts running around and acting crazy. Here's a sample of what she does:




She gets pretty excited about other things too, including being around her friends. Last night, a number of her friends came over with their moms and Elle was soo happy! Someone commented that, "Wow, she's really intense," and I tend to agree; she just can't contain her excitement when she's really ecstatic about something. She kept chasing down her friends to give them hugs and running around shrieking with delight. This video is a few weeks old, but it will give you an idea of how crazy she can be sometimes!

Shoe Love

Trying on Nana's shoes

Elle has become obsessed with shoes recently, and any high heels within her reach are fair game! She's actually a lot better at walking in them then I expected, so I guess we already have a diva on our hands!

Morning Craziness

As I mentioned before, for the next few months, I'm watching two other children full-time, and Elle has really enjoyed having her friends around. She usually wakes up after they're already here, since she sleeps a little later, and when she comes downstairs, she gets really excited. This week, every time that Sam has come over after she's been awake, she starts running around the house excitedly and then gives him a big hug. Elle and her friend Coral also love to give each other hugs, and they love to sit together pretty much anywhere. So many people have asked me what it's like to have all three of them all day, and I have to say that it gets crazy at times, but it's a lot of fun. I definitely have to do a lot more structured activities to keep them entertained, and as I always tell Kyle (and as anyone who has or works with toddlers knows), I feel like I'm with a bunch of crazy people all day. One minute they are hugging and loving each other, and the next minute they're trying to bite/scratch/pinch/hit each other! It certainly keeps me on my toes, and I know it will help prepare me for having a second child. So, above are some cute pictures from one morning this week (yes, they are still in their pajamas) and here are a couple of videos: