Fun Filled Days

We've had lots of fun these past two weeks - here are some pictures of our fun times.

AUNT Mollie holding Kaela - an actual aunt now - yeah!






















Kaela's first bath at home.

















Getting her head scrubbed. She loves having her hair washed/head rubbed.

















Christopher discovers play dough. The first thing he did was taste some, and decided it was yucky, but fun to play with. Thanks, Aunt Anna!

















Christopher got to spend a lot of time with GiGi while she visited over the past 3 weeks. It was wonderful to have her here. And Kaela benefited by getting extra snuggle time.

















"Worker hats" for GiGi.

















Four Generations: Mommy (Rachel Tolan Didyk), GiGi (Great-Grandma Sue Steury), Sho Sho (Grandma Cindy Steury Tolan) and Kaela Ruth Didyk.

















Kaela weighed 5lb 7oz when we weighed her last Thursday. She had gained 9 oz in a week! Grow, grow, grow!

















Precious sleeping bundle.

















Andy took Christopher "camping" in our sun room on Friday night. They set up the tent, loaded it with sleeping bags, books and a flashlight, and had a lot of fun. I heard them still laughing and talking shortly after 9pm. Andy said Christopher never stopped moving, even in his sleep. He'd lie it one spot for awhile, then stand up and move to another part of the tent and lie there for awhile before moving again. Andy said he was cold outside of his sleeping bag, but Christopher stayed warm even just sleeping on the floor of the tent - hot blooded child! At 4 when Andy got up to feed Kaela, he put Christopher in his bed and came to bed after feeding the baby so he could actually get a couple hours of uninterrupted sleep.

















Christopher has been doing a great job feeding himself with a spoon - even yoghurt out of the container. So when I asked Andy to help me for a minute, he left him eating at the table. When we walked back in, we were greeted with "Yoghurt in hair!" and a huge smile.

















We asked him how he got it in his hair, to which he proceeded to take his spoon, scoop some out onto the table, then put his hands in it and slick back his hair. Needless to say he went straight to the tub...after pictures, of course.

















Andy and I had some more fun experimenting with pictures - we used just natural light from the window for these. Not too bad for our first attempt - good pictures, Drew!












































Christopher has been doing well with Kaela. Yesterday, she was lying on the changing table part of the pack n play, and she started crying. As I walked into the kitchen, I told her not to worry I was getting her milk ready. A few seconds later, I heard: "It's okay, Kaela. It's ok, Kaela. Kiss." As I peaked around the corner, Christopher was on his tip-toes beside her, telling her it would be okay and trying to reach her for a kiss. She had stopped crying and was just staring at her. He then came running into the kitchen and said, "Mommy. Kaea stopped crying." I told her yes, he had been a good big brother and helped her stop crying. Then we heard her again and he went running back to tell her it was okay. This time he also said "Milk coming," then ran into the kitchen and said "Mommy get Kaela's milk."

Later she was lying beside me on the couch while I was pumping and making little fussy noises. He came over once again, crawled up on the couch, and proceeded to say the same things as before along with showering her with many kisses. I applauded his help and told him she also like it when we sing to her. So he laid his head down by hers and started singing: "Happy Birthday to. Happy Birthday you." SO CUTE! Last night, he walked over to her and said "I love you, pincess." I almost cried. Two kids is awesome! Thank you, Lord.

Christopher Turns Two!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! I can NOT believe that our son is two years old!!!!! We had a birthday party for him on Saturday while Gramma and Papa and GiGi were in town, so that was nice.

Christopher's favorite part was playing with everyone with all the balloons that Sho Sho had blown up in the basement. He loved throwing them up in the air and over his head. We had to work hard to get him interested in opening his presents.

















Christopher blew out his candles all by himself.
















Mommy made a cake with tools on it since that's one of his favorite toys right now.

















"Hmm. What's this?" His card for GiGi played "You Are My Sunshine."






















That entertained him for another 10 minutes while he tried to figure out where the people were that were singing the song and how the card worked.






















Piano from GiGi - thank you! I LOVE to sing, play music and dance to the beats.

















Rolling around...expending energy...though I don't think he EVER runs out.

















Bathtub letters from GiGi. Christopher passed them all out, sharing with everyone and most of the time, correctly naming the letter or number. Smart boy!

















Oooh! Play dough! Christopher got play dough from Aunt Anna, complete with a bunch of tools to play with too.

















A tricycle! Thanks, Babu and Sho Sho.

















Babu and Christopher, putting his new tricycle together.

















The funniest thing was watching Christopher pull his pants up every 30 seconds until someone finally rolled them at the waist for him so they would stay on.






















Yesterday, Aunt SaraBeth picked up Christopher and took him on a date for his birthday, since she had to work during his party. They had lots of fun sharing a smoothie and going to the park.

For lunch today, Sho Sho, GiGi and Aunt Anna took Christopher to the mall to eat. He really enjoys going there and getting pretzels and lemonade. He's had a great birthday, even if he doesn't quite understand what a birthday is.

Happy Birthday, Christopher! We love you and are VERY proud of you.
Love,
Daddy, Mommy and Kaela Ruth

Gramma and Papa Visit

Mom and Tony came to spend the weekend with us. It was fun to have them here and actually get to spend some time with them instead of being in the hospital! And of course, Christopher thoroughly enjoyed having more people to entertain and play with him...though I'm not quite sure that Mom and Tony didn't have even more fun than he did playing with their grandson and holding their granddaughter! Andy and I just hung out on the sidelines. =)

Gramma and Christopher playing with blocks.

















Papa and Kaela getting acquainted...or sleeping?!

















Kaela talking to Gramma and Papa.






















Reading a book before bed.

















Papa and Christopher eating breakfast outside so they could see the garbage truck.

Christopher Enjoys Quality Time With Kaela

I thought I felt an overwhelming love when I had Christopher - then my heart melted again when Kaela was born. Yet nothing can even begin to describe the sheer delight and pleasure at seeing Christopher holding his sister, Kaela...so I'm not even going to try. I think in order to understand, you just have to experience with your own children. So for those of you with 2 or more kids, remember the experience of seeing your kids hold the new baby. Otherwise, the pictures are still fun too! =)

Christopher was eating in his chair and asked to get down and hold Kaela. We told him he had so sit on the couch, so he ran over there, climbed up, and again asked to hold her.


"Kaea's mouth."



























Christopher gets a pat-pat from his baby sister.




























Proud brother.




























Hungry baby.






















We were changing Kaela's diaper, and Christopher was watching. He wanted to lay with Kaela.




























After a few seconds, he leaned his head over on hers to give her a kiss - unprompted!

Enjoying Being a Family of Four...

...at home! We made it through our first 24 hours with two kids at home! =) Andy and I each took a shift during the night to get up with Kaela...leaving ourselves each with a potential 5 hour stretch of sleep. Needless to say, we didn't really sleep much anyway. Oh well. Such is life for a few months with a newborn, and we're just glad to have her home.

Christopher's had a rougher 24 hours - not so sure he likes sharing Daddy and Mommy, but overall he's doing pretty well. He likes to look at Kaela when she's in her crib or seat, just not when Daddy or Mommy is holding her - then he wants attention and nothing to do with her. However, when I took him to the store this evening, he kept saying "Go home. See Kaea. Go home. You see Kaea." (He refers to himself as you instead of I in most sentences). And he's held her a couple times, and tried to help feed and change her. It's so precious to watch him with her - he's actually pretty gentle.

We've found out that Kaela isn't as hot-natured as Christopher was/is. We've had her dressed in two layers of clothes, a hat, and wrapped in 3 heavy blankets, sometimes 4, to keep her warm enough...so she "weighs" an extra 10lbs! (Ok - overstatement...but seems like a huge bundle!)


Christopher "rock-rock" Baby Kaea.

















Aunt Anna stopped by after school, and snuggled her nephew and niece on the couch.

















Spending some time outside - Christopher, Daddy and Kaela get some fresh air.

















"Face. Ear. Two ears." SMILE SMILE!






















Helping feed Kaela.






















Beautiful girl - look at all that black hair!





























What a wonderful day. God is SO GOOD!

51 Days, 1 Hour, 4 Min, 2lb, 5 oz And Then...

KAELA CAME HOME!!!!!

The NICU called this morning and said...bring the carseat...she's headed home this afternoon! We were so thrilled and surprised as the doctor made it sound yesterday like it would be at least Wednesday before she was discharged. But...no! We quickly pulled the carseat out of the closet, cleaned it, cleaned up around the house, bought a few last minute items, Andy wrapped things up at work...and we were off to the hospital for hopefully the last NICU visit.

Daddy holding Kaela...praying she passes the carseat challenge.






















In her carseat...ready for her challenge...1 hour with no apnea or bradycardia spells.






















And she passed! So the troops were called and Sho Sho brought Christopher to the NICU to help us take his baby sister home.

Scrubbing hands...one last time! (well...at least in the NICU - plenty more to come of handwashing).

















After watching some videos, signing some paperwork, getting lots of instructions and talking with the doctor...we walked out of the NICU with Kaela in her carseat!!!

















Christopher telling Renee and Jonathan that he was getting to take Kaela home.

















Two carseats!

















Anna, SB and Gi-Gi met us outside the house, and had decorated the door for Kaela's homecoming.

















First time outside.






















Christopher holding his baby sister, Kaela Ruth, for the very first time.






















Happy Mommy!!!!! Both babies in my arms. =)

















Aunt Anna























Aunt SaraBeth






















Gi-Gi






















and finally snuggling with Daddy on the couch for a nap.

















Babu and ShoSho holding Kaela after dropping off some supper for us.






















Christopher..................................... Kaela
51 days ...........................................51 days
4 lb 12 oz........................................ 4 lb 11 oz

Now we have two precious miracle babies at home!
















PRAISE THE LORD! THANK YOU, JESUS! And thanks to all of you for your support and prayers. We love you all.