Cookies in the Park  

Posted by Amber

On Sunday, May 31st, Matt and Henlie made cookies, so we headed to the park to eat them :)

 Eating cookies.

 Cookie face

 A nose!

 Ooo, and an eye ;)

 Henlie throwing away the plates we used to transport our cookies to the park. She can be such a good helper when she wants to be.

 Then it was time to collect a plethora of leaves.

 Still leaf collecting.

 Family selfie :)

 She thought I needed to hold her leaves. Soon after, I was looking through them and discovered two different leaves with little spiders making their homes on the backs of them. That put an end to the leaf fun immediately.

 How you keep the baby warm on an outing to the park.

 Silly faces!

 It got chilly.

 This neat mansion-y house was for sale. Matt likes it a lot, so I took some pictures.

Front of the house.

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Little Tidbits - Part 20  

Posted by Amber in , ,

 05 16 15 - My 1am.
05 16 15 - Andrew wearing the baby chullo we got him before he was even born. Even before we knew he was a boy!

05 17 15 - Stylish girl ready for church.

05 17 15 - Matt actually told Henlie she could climb on the couch to look out the window - the one time she has permission to do so - and she fell right over the couch and hit her face on the window and floor. Poor girl :(

05 18 15 - We had Andrew's appointment at the embassy to get his Consular Report of Birth Abroad or CRBA (birth certificate equivalent) and apply for his passport.

05 18 15 - A colander full of grapes is an excellent lunch option.

05 19 15 - You can't see me!

05 19 15 - Andrew got his 2 month shots. They do all of the same ones as the US, except pneumococcal, which they do at 3 months. Also, aside from the rotavirus, which was an oral solution, everything was combined in one shot. Andrew did well and just slept most of the day.

 05 20 15 - Henlie loves to help in the kitchen.

05 20 15 - I straightened her hair to see how long it really is now. She was not a fan. Also, thanks to the humidity here, it didn't last :)

05 22 15 - Bahaha, that face!

05 22 15 - And a cute one :)

05 26 15 - Skin-to-skin time!

05 26 15 - Uncombed hair after his bath.

05 26 15 - "When he gets bigger, he can play with toys like me, but he's still asleep." ~ Henlie about Andrew

05 26 15 - Andrew had another weight check = 2.69 kg or 5 lbs 15 oz

05 28 15 - Another random morning picture :)

05 29 15 - Hop aboard the truck to the zoom!

05 29 15 - Some of the animals in the "zoom."

05 29 15 - Only way I could get her out for a walk was to keep looking for animals. Surprisingly, we found some. Henlie took the picture (with a little help) of this snail.
05 29 15 - My silly little family :)

05 30 15 - Found a Henlie-sized drum set at the music store.
Bonus pic! I don't know when this was, since my friend Holly took it, but how cute are these two? This was one Sunday afternoon spent at the Wells' house. This is her future husband, Everett ;) She calls him "Egrett" and he calls her "Hemlie." They're adorable. Also, she always asks Tía Holly for cheese for lunch. Silly girl.

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Little Tidbits - Part 19  

Posted by Amber

 05 01 15

05 01 15 - Andrew after his caffeinated bottle. (Caffeine citrate for apnea.)

05 01 15 - Henlie tucked her giraffe and Piglet into bed on a doll pillow :)

05 02 15 - Henlie loves holding Baby Andrew. Here they are showing off their monkey PJs from Aunt Camile. :)

05 03 15 - Andrew eating from his bottle.

05 03 15 - Henlie dragged her car seat over, stood on it, and got in the laundry detergent. She told me she was doing laundry. Please note, that is our dryer. It had clean clothes in it still, plus she added her own dirty articles, Piglet, and some other toys before adding detergent to the dryer. It was everywhere.

05 04 15 - Henlie was kind of infatuated with her little brother.

05 05 15 - Watched a movie while snuggling my little sickie.

05 05 15 - Yawn.

05 07 15 - random morning photo

05 07 15 - Matt and Henlie brought me home a balloon from the store for Mother's Day :)

05 08 15 - Henlie using the nursing pillow to lounge on the floor.

05 09 15 - Sharing the nursing pillow for a nap.

05 10 15 - Mommy's Little Monster on his monster blanket. Our friend from the ward, Rachel Engle, gave us the outfit and Great Grandma Jean Ann Christiansen sent the blanket.

05 10 15 - I didn't pull out the camera, but Andrew visited a park for the first time!

05 10 15 - The ladies in Matt's office, Betty and Rosario, also sent me flowers for Mother's Day :)

05 11 15 - We finally made it to RENIEC and got Andrew's Peruvian birth certificate and applied for his DNI (his official ID). We also set up the US Embassy appointment to take care of his US documents.

05 11 15 - Andrew caught Henlie's cold. He really didn't like coughing, and it was hard for Momma to listen to :(

05 12 15 - Andrew had another weight check.  He weighed 2.41 kg or 5 lbs 5 oz (1 ounce more than his sister was at birth!) He was 48 cm or almost 19 in long. He dropped the caffeine citrate, but added fortifier because my babies grow slower than people think they should. He also kept his vitamins and iron supplement.

05 12 15 - Andrew set a new record - 7 sneezes in a row. He doesn't like sneezing either.

05 13 15 - Henlie and Piglet napping on the couch. Her napping routine (taking a walk in her stroller) was disrupted after bringing Andrew home.

 05 15 15 - Andrew fresh from a bath.

05 15 15 - Happy 2 months to Andrew!

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Andrew's First Week Home  

Posted by Amber

Andrew's first week home was an exciting adventure. Even though he'd been born for 5 1/2 weeks, we'd never purchased a bed for him. So on his first day, we hung out while Matt went to buy a pack and play. (There are some actual cribs in this country, but trying to find a stand-alone bassinet is nearly impossible. It seems most people use a pack and play. Most seem to have a bassinet level, though.) We did shop once for a bed, so we knew where we were going to get it, but just never did. (It was at Wong, our local grocery store.) 

 Love the oo face.

Daddy and Henlie checking out Baby Brother in his makeshift nest before Daddy got him a bed.

Henlie helped Daddy set it up.  Although, it took us forever to finish setting it up. It's made in China, and the fabric is sewn all around the frame, and there just isn't quite enough give in the fabric to get both short ends locked. Matt finally accomplished it. I think he had to use his foot to push the one side far enough to lock it. We are never moving it until we leave lol.
Henlie helping Daddy put Andrew's bed together.

We also tried nursing, because I wanted to. Andrew did amazing and latched and sucked well.  However, I only let him nurse for a few minutes because I didn't want to tire him out before his bottle. Henlie also got to hold Andrew for the very first time. She had a bit of a cough as well, and the pharmacy didn't have any medical masks, so Matt improvised and got construction masks to help shield Andrew.
 Henlie finally getting to hold her baby brother.

All snuggled up in his bed :)

 On Friday, we asked our friend Rob McMillen to come by and help give Andrew a blessing. He graciously came by during his lunch, and brought some oil since he didn't have any consecrated oil either :)
 Feeding Andrew was a pretty intense ordeal.
First, prep bottle and add any necessary medicines or supplements depending on time of day.
Next, feed bottle to Andrew, but you have to help him eat and make sure to watch his face to ensure he keeps breathing.
Andrew could take up to an hour to eat a bottle.
Then, if I was the one feeding him, I would still have to pump and clean the bottle and pump. It was nicer when Matt would feed him so I could pump at the same time.

Tío Rob holding Andrew - the first non-family, non-medical person to hold him :)

 On April 28th, we took Andrew in for a weight check. He was up to 2.15 kg or 4 lbs 12 oz and 47 cm or 18.5 in long. He hadn't been eating the amount they said he should be eating, instead only eating about 30 ml at a time, but Dr. Meiggs, Andrew's pediatrician, wasn't concerned since he was gaining weight and having an appropriate amount of diapers.
04 26 15 - Andrew napping

04 27 15 - Daddy feeding Andrew

 04 28 15 - Andrew holding his binky clip while waiting at the doctor's office.

04 28 15 - Our first photo as a family of four - selfie style!

It was definitely another adjustment period getting used to taking care of Andrew and having to take care of Henlie still. She loves her baby brother and helping take care of him - sometimes.
04 29 15 - I responded to a text while feeding Andrew, then I had to take a picture of how it's done lol

04 30 15 - Andrew holding hands with the bear Ricardo got him at 6.5 weeks old.

 We are so grateful that we got to bring Andrew home, and that he has done so incredibly well considering how early he came. I'm also grateful we had a few preemie outfits given to us, because the newborn outfits were super big on him!

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