2013: A Year in Review

Here is a recap of some of my favorite moments of 2013:

January - Tinkerbell Half Marathon

February - One Year Anniversary

March - We Moved!

April - Matt Turned 30

May - I Was Sick From Being Pregnant and Didn't Blog!

June - We Announced My Pregnancy

July - 4th of July in Inkom

August - Found Out We Were Having a Boy

September - Boise State Football

October - Sibling Preparation Class

November - Tyler is Born!

December - First Christmas as a Family of Four

It sure was a great year!

Christmas Happenings

What a merry Christmas season we had!  This Christmas was extra special for one big obvious reason (Tyler), but it was also fun to have our first Christmas in our new home.

One of the main reasons we selected the front elevation of our house (besides the fact that we just liked how it looked) was because Matt thought it would look awesome with Christmas lights.  I was so nervous for him to put the lights up I couldn't even watch (my vote was to pay someone to do it).  He had a ladder to get on the roof, then another ladder on the roof to get to the next story of the roof.  From there, he was hooked into a harness with a rope tied to the fence post so that if he slipped on the extremely steep pitched roof, he wouldn't completely fall off the roof and die. It took him about 12 hours over the space of a few days to get all the lights up (including putting in all the light clips), but he did it and they looked awesome!

My mom was excited that even though we had a new baby, we carried on the tradition of making gingerbread houses.

With Kylee spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at her mom's house and Matt working the 23rd through the 26th this week, we made the most of the time we had together and spread Christmas out over the space of a few days.  We had the traditional bowling with Matt's family on the afternoon of the 24th and prime rib and king crab legs with my family for Christmas Eve dinner.  Tyler and I spent Christmas morning with my family, followed by visits to both my parents and Matt's parents Christmas afternoon after Matt woke up and we picked up Kylee.  Santa came to our house one day late, and we celebrated "Christmas morning" today with Kylee.

And of course, the best Christmas present this year was this kiddo.  I can't get enough of him.  We are so happy that he continues to do well, weighing in at 5 pounds 10 ounces this week and measuring 19 inches long!

 

2013 Christmas Card

Just like every year, I made plans with my friend Mandy to make Christmas cards. The only problem was the day we had planned to get together was the day Tyler was born!  We were able to get together a couple weeks later, but I didn't have quite as much time with traveling back and forth from the hospital, so couldn't make as many cards as I usually do.  Sorry if you didn't get a card this year!  Anyway, here is what they looked like, along with the letter I put inside:

What a year this has been for our family. We started off the year by moving into our beautiful new home. Building was so fun for us and we enjoyed watching the entire process. We have loved settling in and getting to know our neighbors. Kylee has made several friends - it's been really nice having girls Kylee's age just two doors down on either side of us! Our sweet Kylee turned 5 this year and is our little social butterfly. She enjoys playing with friends, going to the park, coloring, and watching My Little Ponies and Horseland on the iPad.

We had a great summer enjoying the pools and parks in our new neighborhood but the highlight of our summer was probably our two family camping trips - complete with shooting, fishing, 4-wheeling, and dirt biking. We are already looking forward to camping when it gets a little warmer.

Shortly after we moved into our home this Spring, we found out we were expecting. Tyler Michael Hudson joined our family on November 16th, almost 7 weeks early and just 3 pounds 4.5 ounces. After 24 days in the NICU, he was finally able to come home, and we are looking forward to enjoying our time as a family of four.

Matt is still loving his job and enjoys his extra training as part of the Special Response Team. I had a great year at work, having a couple large projects with successful implementations, and I also earned my project management certification.

We have been greatly blessed this year, and we are thankful for our loving Father in Heaven. We are grateful for the joy that surrounds this Christmas season and wish you a very Merry Christmas!

One Month!

I can't believe our sweet baby is already a month old!  This last month has flown by, especially with the fact that Tyler has only been home for one week.  We love having him home.  I love being able to hold him or cuddle him or even feed him or change his diaper without having to drive to the hospital.  I do feel like I'm constantly feeding him though!  We start by breastfeeding.  When he gets too tired to continue to breastfeed, we feed him a bottle of breast milk that has had calories added to help him grow a little faster.  After he finishes the bottle, I have to go pump, followed by cleaning the bottle and breast pump parts.  The whole process takes close to an hour, and with Tyler eating every 2-3 hours, there's not much time in between the end of one feed and the start of another!  Matt has been amazing.  When he's awake, he does all the bottle/pump part cleaning and also does most of the bottle feeding so I don't have to wait to pump.  Matt's night schedule has been quite nice, because he's able to help out when I'm the most tired.

The entire feeding process is paying off though!  Home health weighed him in at 5 pounds 2 ounces this week!  Hooray!  I'm incredibly happy Tyler is doing so well at home.  He still sleeps a lot.  Tyler is a side sleeper - we are pretty impressed at how good he is at rolling himself onto his side!  We're still working on getting him to sleep at night instead of just during the day.  He seems to be getting better at this thank goodness.  He can be quite noisy when he's awake and laying in his cradle while I'm trying to sleep.  He doesn't really cry, more of just fussy noises.  I wish we could have blankets in his cradle with him when he sleeps - he loves being all swaddled up and is completely quiet when he is!

Kylee is loving being a big sister.  She is always saying how cute "baby Tyler" is and thinks he must be the cutest baby ever.

Dear Tyler - [NICU Day 24]

Dear Tyler,

You got to come home today!!!  Your dad and I couldn't be happier to be able to hold you in our arms whenever we want without having to drive to the hospital.  On one hand, it feels like we've been waiting to bring you home forever since we've been robbed of hours and hours of cuddles with you your first few weeks of life.  On the other hand, with all the back and forth to the hospital, meeting with doctors and nurses and lactation specialists, etc., time really has gone by quickly.  Regardless, we are all smiles to have you home.

Unfortunately, today of all days, I came down with mastitis.  I am in tons of pain and have a fever and chills and am pretty miserable.  But I'm getting on some medication and I won't let not feeling well hold me back from giving you extra loves tonight.

I got lots of information from your nurse today.  Here are a couple of the things we talked about:

• You gained over 2 ounces yesterday!!!  That puts you at 4 pounds, 9.8 ounces.  It makes me feel so good that you can gain that much weight taking everything through your mouth.  That, more than pretty much anything, makes me confident you will do well at home.  At home I will need to continue to add NeoSure to the milk I pump so you get extra calories.  I also need to give you vitamins every day.  To do that, I will mix 1 ml of vitamins with some milk and feed it to you in a bottle.  Unfortunately it doesn't taste very good.  I apologize in advance!
• You passed your car seat test with flying colors.  I was totally wrong on why you have the car seat test.  Besides making sure you fit okay in the car seat, the main part of the test is making sure your oxygen levels don't fall while you are in the car seat.  The test is 90 minutes and I am told you did very well.
• You have lots of doctor appointments coming up.  Tomorrow you will meet with your pediatrician for the first time.  You'll also be going back to his office on Friday for a metabolic test and weight check. Next week you have a pediatric ophthalmologist appointment to get your eyes examined.  You qualify for the eye exam because you were so small when you were born.  I also received a call from the hospital today that the doctor has placed an order to have home health nurses come to our house a couple times a week for 3-4 weeks to do weight checks to make sure you are growing okay (they want you to gain about an ounce a day) and to answer any questions I might have.

Anyway, enough of that for now.  I need to get back to cuddling you and giving you loves.  And I'm guessing you probably need to eat again!  I love you!!!

Love,

Mom

Dear Tyler - [NICU Day 23]

Dear Tyler,

What a great day! My morning started with an email from your nurses letting me know that you took 90% of your food by mouth yesterday and gained .9 ounces, bringing you to 4 pounds 7.5 ounces. Wow! That's awesome!

My morning got even better when I got to the hospital and the doctor told me you might get to go home tomorrow. If not tomorrow then within the next couple days. I don't know exactly what she'll look for before she makes the final decision, but I do know that you need to gain weight today. I'm anxious for you to be weighed here in a few hours! I was seriously so happy at the thought of you coming home that I have to admit I cried a little. I can't wait.

The other thing thing that made my morning so good was seeing your cute little face without a tube up your nose. I loved being able to see your right cheek (which is getting nice and chubby by the way - that's a good thing!).

So in preparation for you coming home, you got your Hepatitis B immunization and you had a hearing test (which you passed!). Tonight you will have a car seat study to make sure you'll be safe in your car seat and can keep your head from flopping around.

The other exciting thing about today is I am "rooming in" with you tonight... which means I will be sleeping in my room at the hospital and you will be in your crib right next to me. It will be some good practice for when you come home - I will wake up when you do and feed you when you're hungry. I will change your diapers and take your temperature throughout the night. I've never been so excited for restless sleep in my life. Let's do this!

Love,
Mom

Dear Tyler - [NICU Day 22]

Dear Tyler,

Today marks the start of week 4 in the NICU.  It's hard to believe you're already 3 weeks old!  But you've sure made some great progress in three weeks.  Your latest accomplishment is taking 68% of your food by mouth!  That's right - 68%!!!  One of the nurses called you Mr. Piggy yesterday - I told her we'll take that! We were all so impressed.  You get a gold star for your hard work yesterday.

Because you did so well yesterday, the doctor suggested taking the tube out of your nose to see how you do.  The trick is that you'll need to eat enough by mouth to gain weight before you can come home (and keep the nose tube out permanently).  The doctor set a "12 hour minimum", meaning you need to eat 130 ml through your mouth in 12 hours and the tube would be removed. We don't gavage (give you food through your nose) during this period, and we don't necessarily stick to your specific eating times every three hours. We let you decide when you want to eat... whenever you wake up and give us cues that you are hungry, we'll feed you (either breastfeed or bottle feed or both, just as long as the feeding doesn't take longer than 30 minutes). Sure sounds like good practice for when you are home!  You were so sleepy during the day today (for the entire 7 hours I was there!), but the nurse told me you perked up after I left, and you met your minimums! The day nurse was going to let the night-shift nurse decide if she was going to take your nose tube out or not.  I guess I'll find out tomorrow what they decided to do!  I can't wait to see your cute little face without a tube up your nose and taped to your cheek!

I also gave you another bath today... and this time I gave your bath all by myself!  It's a little tricky holding your head up and washing your body all at the same time, but I did it! Again, it's good practice for when we come home because I'm sure daddy won't always be around to help at bath time.  And each time I give you a bath, I notice that your hair seems to be getting lighter in color.  It's turning to a pretty brown color.  Daddy thinks you'll go blonde since that's what color his hair changed to when he was a baby.  I guess we'll see!

After your bath, we got you dressed in some festive Christmas clothes!  I think it was pretty appropriate since it's December and it was quite snowy this morning.  I thought you looked pretty adorable.  In fact, I couldn't keep my eyes off you :-)

One last thing... I can't remember if I've told you this, but you have some really great nurses watching over you.  It makes me feel good to know that you are in such good hands when I'm not able to be with you 100% of the time.  When I got home tonight after visiting you, I made up these thank you gifts.  I plan on giving them to your nurses when you finally get to come home.  I can't thank them enough for what they've done for you and our family.  Here's to hoping we'll be passing these out soon!

Love,
Mom

Dear Tyler - [NICU Day 21]

Dear Tyler,

I spent most of the day with you and Daddy and I came back to the hospital and spent part of the evening with you. I loved watching as Daddy held you and sang to you. It was precious. I love you both so much.

I am looking forward to the morning when I will see how much food you took by mouth today. I know you took at least two of your feedings today 100% by mouth! We didn't do that great with breastfeeding, but we'll keep trying.

Love,
Mom

Baby Shower

This post is super late, but I still wanted to make sure it got documented!  My sweet friend and coworker Jami threw me a baby shower at the end of October.  It was very nice and made me feel loved.  I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures until the very end.  Thanks to Natalie for taking a couple during for me!

Dear Tyler - [NICU Day 20]

Dear Tyler,

You are just growing right before our eyes.  You are up to 4 pounds 4 ounces, or almost an entire pound since you were born almost 3 weeks ago.  You are also starting to find your voice... you aren't crying much or anything (thank goodness!) but you are starting to make little noises with your mouth when you are awake, mostly when you are feeding.  My nurse told me a little story about how when she had her first baby, her nurse told her that if the baby makes noises like that they will be a talker later on.  I guess we'll see!  I wouldn't mind that :-)

Speaking of being awake, you're starting to do a better job of waking up when it's time to eat.  You are still pretty sleepy during the day, but the night nurses tell me you do a great job of being wide awake for your feedings at night.  Let's work on switching that schedule before you come home, okay?!

Love,
Mom

Dear Tyler - [NICU Day 19]

Dear Tyler,

I was one proud mama today - my morning update from the nurses told me that you took 59% of your food yesterday through your mouth!  That's AMAZING!  There was even one feeding late last night where you drank the entire bottle!  Keep it up!  Nursing today wasn't quite as successful as yesterday (as far as how much you drank), but you sure did a good job of sucking.  You really fooled me - I was convinced you got more milk than you actually did.  That's okay, though.  You are trying so hard.  Here's a picture of you on the scale before one of your feedings.

I love how your cheeks are starting to fill out a little bit.  I'm sure that will help you to eat better!  You're also starting to outgrow the preemie outfits that the hospital is putting you in.  You are still so tiny, but you are pretty long so your legs hardly fit in them.  They'll be putting you in newborn clothes soon... I'm thinking they will look pretty big on you, but maybe they'll be more comfortable and allow you to stretch out!

I hope you're enjoying the pictures we have up in your crib.  Did you realize that your sister Kylee drew the family picture for you?  She's becoming quite the artist.  Since she can't come visit you, she was pretty excited to see this picture and hopes you like what she drew.

Have I told you lately how much I like to cuddle you?  I could seriously cuddle you all day long.  I don't think you would mind that at all :-)

Love,
Mom

Dear Tyler - [NICU Day 18]

Dear Tyler,

I have a feeling your days are going to start sounding a lot alike... eat and grow, eat and grow.  And if that's what your days are like, then I'm happy!  You gained another ounce yesterday putting you at 4 pounds 1.5 ounces, and because you are eating so well, the doctor decided to increase the amount of milk you drink at each feed from 34 ml to 37 ml.  I'm thinking that because you will be eating more, that your percentage of milk taken by mouth will probably decrease a bit initially... but the extra food will help you get stronger so that you can eat more, so I will just need to be patient!  Also, starting tomorrow you'll get 1 ml of vitamins instead of .5 ml of vitamins - hopefully those vitamins will help you get stronger as well!

You did a great job of breastfeeding twice today - taking in 9 ml one time and 16 ml the other time.  And of course, I enjoyed my cuddle time with you.  I just can't get enough of it.  I love you!

Love,

Mom

Dear Tyler - [NICU Day 17]

Dear Tyler,

Guess who hit the four pound mark today!  That's right - you did!  I was seriously so excited for you when I got the update from your nurse.  Not only that, but you nipple fed 55% of your intake yesterday.  That's a great number!  Hopefully you can keep this up... if you do I'm sure you'll be home in no time :-)

I spent pretty much all day at the hospital with you.  You did a great job at breastfeeding again - you're really starting to get the hang of it.  I look forward to the day when you can breastfeed your entire meal.  Eating is so much work for you that it typically wears you right out.  This afternoon, though, you stayed awake for an entire hour!  I really needed to go pump some milk for you, but I couldn't bear to put you down while you were awake... it's just so rare to see you with your eyes open!  Needless to say, I decided pumping could wait!  I treasure our time together.

Love,

Mom

Dear Tyler - [NICU Day 16]

Dear Tyler,

I got to give you another bath today.  I love doing these little things for you.  And you sure seem to love your bath.  You've got it kind of cushy right now - you take a bath in warm water under a warming machine and get warm blankets the second you are out of the water.  The hospital is setting a pretty high bar for baths - I'll have a hard time matching that when you come home!

Giving you a bath really is a two person job because one person needs to hold your head up while the other person washes your body and hair.  I was hoping to take Kylee with me to the hospital to help with your bath, but when we picked her up from her mom's this morning she had another cold :-(  Bummer.  That means she won't get to see you again until you come home, since starting tomorrow nobody under 18 is allowed in the NICU because of RSV season.

We tried breastfeeding a couple times today, and one of the times you were so wide awake when we started that we weighed you before and after eating to see how much you ate.  It's not super accurate, but according to the scale you ate 12 ml!  I was so proud of you!  That is awesome.  You are getting so much stronger each day.

Love,
Mom