King size bed adventures and hide and go seek

Well, we have decided that it is time to get a king size bed. So, we had been doing some research and decided to order a bed from Costco, because they have really good prices. The only catch is you can't lie on the bed before you buy it. Well, the bed came Thursday and it is super soft, but after sleeping on it for the night Doug and I both woke up with sore backs! The bed is awful! I am sure it would be great for some people, but it just felt like you were sinking in and had no back support. So, back to Costco that is going! We have decided we like our bed on the firm side and we have narrowed it down to 2 beds and we are going to go back tomorrow and decide on one for sure (When my back isn't so sore, so I can make a fair assessment!).

Here is a cute video of Doug and Noah playing hide and go seek at Macy's. (Noah doesn't quite get it yet, but it is really cute!) I was nursing Abigail before we left so they had some extra time.

So proud of Doug - a week and a half to go!!!

I have been meaning to post about my amazing husband and how proud of him I am! Besides being a man that loves God with all his heart, an incredible husband, awesome daddy, and wonderful friend, he is also CRAZY SMART and a HARD worker!

In the midst of everything happening with Abigail, Doug got the news that he was awarded the "Graduate Research Mentorship", which to us basically means a lot of money to help with school, that we don't have to pay back! Praise God for that!

Doug also found out that he was ranked #1 in his department! When he told me this I was very excited and proud of him, but I was thinking that this was out of the ancient history department, which I think is about 4 people, but he told me it was out of the WHOLE history department which is a LOT of people! I asked him how it was that they came up with the ranking and decided and he said that he wasn't sure. I questioned him a little more asking "Well you must have some idea what they base it on, and why you were ranked 1st?" With which he humbly responded (something along the lines of) "Well, I have taken the hardest classes possible out of the requirements, I am working hard towards my degree and going ahead of schedule, I need to know 5 languages, and I already have 4 of them done, I am getting an additional Masters in classics on the way to my PhD, and well... I think my adviser really likes me, and God hooked me up!" (He always gives God the credit!)

He is doing all of that while teaching two classes at Fresno State, teaching 3 homeschool classes (which is a passion of his), and traveling about 440 miles a week!

So, now Doug only has a week and a half left, then he will be done with this quarter, and done with the traveling down there every week! He will still have to go down about every 2 or 3 weeks but just for a day. He is pushing really hard and working to get his degree done in 2 more years, which would be ahead of schedule, so now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It has actually gone by really fast, but Noah is starting to ask where his Daddy is a lot more, and I really like to have him home, so I am glad the traveling part is almost over. We felt like God was opening the doors and wanting Doug to go to school, (I wasn't too happy about that at first!) so it will be exciting to see what comes next and the way that God will continue to work through him.

Abigail talking and smiling!

Abigail is not quite 5 weeks now and she makes all kinds of faces - sometimes it will look like she is smiling, but this is the first time that we really wondered if it might be a REAL smile??? You can be the judge. :-)




And here is Abigail "talking". So cute!

Breakfast, black eyes, blocks, and bulldozers

Breakfast of Champions: Noah is eating a yummy bowl of cherries, string cheese and banana chips for breakfast and he had a special treat this morning of being able to watch BOZ at the same time! We went to the farmers market at river park yesterday and had a nice time walking around, and came home with the cherries and banana chips.

We had a nice day at the park today. Noah would be the first to tell you that those are a dump truck and a skid steer - there is no bulldozer in the picture. But be honest - if I hadn't told you it was a skid steer, would you have gone along with the one on the right being a bulldozer? I bet so! :-)


Notice the black eye? Noah decided to get a little too acrobatic on the baby swing.





Noah is teaching Abigail to play blocks in this video... you can tell she will be a quick learner!

Pictures from this week

Just hanging out.


Noah enjoying the baby swing - Abigail doesn't like it, so I am glad someone is enjoying it!



Noah and Papa ready for their bike ride.


Sleeping peacefully - she really likes to be swaddled! And she likes her new little papasan chair from Grandma.


Noah loves to play legos!!!




This picture isn't Abigail's most attractive but I had to share it because Doug and I were cracking up - it looks like she is trying to be tough and throw a sign saying "Wuz up?" :-)

Thank you!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you who have emailed or called with kind words, a listening ear, sound advice, or offers to help in different ways. And thank you to those of you that have come over and held Abigail for a while. It is all very much appreciated!! The last few days have been a little bit better as far as the screaming goes so that has been a blessing as well.

Feeling shell shocked

Not sure what to write, but wanted to give a quick update so that those of you that have been praying for our family would know how to pray. The other day as I was explaining to Doug how I was feeling the term "shell shocked" came to mind. I am sure this is nothing close to that, but on top of adjusting to being a mom of two, I am having a bit of a rough time adjusting to Abigail's screaming. She screams a lot. Even in the NICU, the Dr. said he was sure she was going to be a soprano, and that she "sang" a lot. His nice way of saying that she was a screamer. (She is showing us her lungs are nice and healthy!) So please pray for me, as sometimes all of the screaming can be a lot to handle by the end of the day. It is also hard to get things done because if I set her down she is much more likely to scream. And then there are those times that even when I am holding her and doing all the things I know to do, she will not stop screaming. Also pray that if there is something bothering her we will figure it out! We are going to go to the Chiropractor this week to see if there might be anything out of alignment. God is good and He always gives me grace to get through the day. (Doug helps out SO much when he is in town, and my parents are a big help when he is out of town).

Phew

The other day I was scrolling through all of the different languages that you could have your blog in, and somehow I switched myself to some wierd cryptic language with totally different characters. I couldn't read anything, and I didn't know where the button with the different languages was to get myself back to English! Well, tonight after clicking on random things I finally found the English button - phew! So I am back, and here is a picture of Abigail from the other day.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! I am so happy to be the mother of two, and so blessed to have a wonderful mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother. This is a quick picture that we took before we headed out to Fort Washington Country Club for a yummy brunch with my family.

Abigail and Noah

Abigail has been doing great at sleeping and eating - like a champ! We have been so busy with those 2 activities that I haven't had much of a chance to take pictures - but here are 2 quick ones I took today of her and Noah. He is a great big brother and loves his little sister very much. He is very inquisitive and is always asking: "What is Abby doing?"

Last day at the hospital and sleeping at home

Ready to go home! Almost time to get unhooked from all the monitors!



The sign at the foot of my bassinet at the hospital.



Home and about to fall asleep with a smile.



Sleeping beauty

We are home!!!

Quick update - Just wanted to let you all know that we are home!!!!! Praise God! Thank you for all of your prayers! We got to come home 1 day early, because Abigail had pulled out her IV line that was going into her tummy, and so they gave her another IV line in her foot. That one only lasted 2 days so the doctor wanted to retest her to see if her infection was gone and it was! I am so happy to be home! I am getting the hang of the Mommy to 2 routine, and as I was already feeling worn down coming home from Modesto, now I am super exhausted. Doug got to come home last night also, so it was a big homecoming! Doug has been great, but I am thinking after last night he is exhausted to! :-) As we were saying our goodnight prayers he was praying very earnestly that Abigail would go to sleep. She did after a while, but then woke up every 2 1/2 hours to eat, and each time Doug would get up too, to get her a warmer outfit, another pacifier, or whatever it was she needed. We are trying to give Noah a lot of love and attention - and he seems to be adjusting well.

We are so thankful to have our little girl home and healthy. God is good. Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers.

I will try to add some new pictures later today. Right now I am going to take a nap!!!!!!

Pictures from today

Abigail got to wear her first dress today. Before today they just had her in a diaper and under the warmer, but today they let me dress her pretty in pink!

Papa's girl

So, we are playing musical chaperones for Heather. My mom and dad switched places with each other, because my mom needed to get a few things done at home, and that way I would still have a support person here with me. Then they are going to switch places again on Tuesday. Here is a picture of Papa holding Abigail, she was very comfortable and content and was just gazing and making faces at Papa and then nodding off to sleep - so cute. He was trying to convince her that she was going to love digging in the dirt with him and Noah... I am thinking she will probably want to do some of that, but will more want to play house and have tea parties with Grandma! :-)

Noah's visit

We had a great visit when Noah was here on Friday. I had sent Doug to the store to get Noah a John Deere tractor (which he didn't yet have in his collection) and a balloon as a gift - "from baby Abby". It was so great to see him and get BIG hugs, it seemed like he grew up SO much!!! Oh my goodness. Anyways, we had the little tractor in her bed and said that baby Abby had a present for him. He was thrilled with the tractor, and he remembers who gave him all of his different tractors and trucks - so this one will always be from baby Abby. (We didn't get any great pictures of him by the bedside, but you can be sure that there will be tons of Noah and Abigail pictures once we get home! Here is a picture (courtesy of Papa) of Noah on an actual tractor.


They were only allowed to stay for 10 minutes, so then we all went to lunch. Noah wanted to sit on my lap or Doug's lap the whole time. He was a very good boy when he stayed with my parents, but I think he did learn that he could get a way with a bit more at Grandma and Papa's house. SO - Doug had to take him out of the restaurant for a little change in attitude, and he came back in a much happier boy! :-) When he got back inside, I told him in an excited tone that we were going to have "boot camp" when we got back home!! He responded: "Boot Camp!!", as if he were in for a great treat. Doug said he has been doing very very well, and although he has been asking about Mommy a lot, he has been having lot's of fun with Daddy. Here is a picture of Noah looking at a picture of Abigail when the boys were on there way home.

Staying till Thursday

They took Abigail's blood work this morning, and the levels that calculate how much infection is in her body were not yet low enough, so she has to do 3 more days of her antibiotics. When we first arrived her level of C Reactive Protien was 14 and it is now down to 1.4. I guess it needs to be under .5 for it to be considered normal. So she has 1/10th of the infection level that she came to Modesto with. She gets her antibiotics through a tube that goes in through her belly button. She ate really well this morning, and then konked out it my arms for 2 1/2 hours. I was enjoying every minute of it because I know when we get home Noah will need a lot of attention too. Of course I would like to be going home tomorrow, but praise God that she is doing so well and that the medicines are doing their job.

Doug is going to need to go back to school on Monday, so that means that Noah will get to stay the rest of the week with Grandma and/or Papa. One of them is going to be up here with me, as there is very limited parking at the hospital here and the parking garage is a good hike away. They are being such a huge help.

Abigail's bows

People have commented on how cute the little bow in her hair was... I saw another little girl in the nursery in Fresno with one in her hair so I requested one for Abigail. When we got here all of the nurses thought it was so cute - but then it accidently got thrown out with one of the linen changes. SO - when the nursery was closed, Doug and I went to the fabric store and got some more ribbon - for some reason that simple pleasure was so much fun - to pick out the different colors etc. it made me smile. Anyways, I have made her many more bows, and bows for all of the other little girls in the nursery. It is so cute, one of her "little friends" has a beautiful purple bow. And this big headband bow is a bow that Grandma got for her today. Doug has already stated his preference that he does NOT like this kind of bow - but maybe he will have a change of heart after seeing it on his precious daughter??? So, this video is for Doug, but you can all take a peek too! :-)

Grandma is a big help!

Doug went home yesterday and my mom has been staying with me and has been a huge help! From taking me back and forth to the hospital to helping with Abigail it has been very nice to have her support. We got to give Abigail a hair wash today, and she didn't like it one bit! She is all cleaned up now though. She is so cute and I am starting to see her personality more and more. She is a really content baby, except when she is hungry! :-) She likes to be swaddled and sung to. The feeding is going better and better. She still has a line running into her tummy for nutrition, and they said that she will need to be off of that for at least 24 hours before we can go home. The nurses told me to plan on Wed. but it could possibly be a little earlier. They are going to do a test tomorrow to see if the anti-biotics have taken care of all of her infection, or if she needs to be on them for 3 more days. I need to go back to the hospital to feed her - here are a few pictures from today.

Doing better and better

Yesterday Daddy got to hold Abigail for the first time since she has been sick - what a wonderful feeling!!! Yesterday was a bit of a rough day with the eating. She did do really well on her evening feeding time though. This morning she ate really well on one side each of the times I fed her. She got her hair washed so it is all pretty - she didn't like that at all! :-) Gotta run back to the hospital for her next feeding time.

Abigail is doing wonderful

Abigail did wonderful yesterday. The doctor came in the morning and put her down to 21% oxygen which is the same as room air. She still had the cannulla in her nose but it was on a flow of 2, and then 1. By the end of the evening the respiratory therapist came and took her cannulla off and she did fabulous. She is still having trouble breastfeeding and she was having some trouble even taking my milk from a bottle. They figured that her throat and vocal chords were pretty tender and inflamed from the tube being down her throat so they ordered her some ibprofin. After that she slept in my arms for 3 hours! We then tried to breast feed her for a good nother' hour but she would suck for just a tiny bit and then fall asleep. Finally at 11:30 we needed to leave so we could get some rest - and I had to PUMP!! :-) God is so good and we are thrilled that our little girl is getting very close to ready to go home so soon!! We have had wonderful doctors and nurses (more on that later) and God gets the glory for orchestrating all of it so beautifully. I will take a picture of her without her cannulla in today, but this is one from yesterday with a little piece of cloth they had given us to take home and sleep with to put our smell on.

Missing Noah

We haven't seen Noah all week and we are missing him pretty bad. He has been staying with Grandma and Papa and from what we have heard has been having the time of his life. It is probably harder on us that it is on him. He has also gotten to hang out with Aunt Grace and Uncle Mike which he enjoys very much. My Mom is going to bring Noah up to Modesto today to visit, and then he and Doug are going to go home for a few days and my Mom is going to stay to help me. My parents have been a huge blessing. Here is a picture that my friend Paula took of Noah kissing baby Abigail a few days before she was born. This is going to be a big transition for him, but we know he will be a wonderful big brother.

Grammy came to visit

Yesterday Grammy and Aunt Marie came to visit and we had a wonderful time. Abigail was so wide awake, alert and happy when they were here. She was moving all around, grabbing her cords, and sucking on her pacifier like crazy. She seemed to like Grammy's voice! They were only allowed to stay for 10 minutes, so after that we got to have a yummy lunch together. What a nice time.

A middle name

Yesterday we officially decided on a middle name for our little Abigail. Are you ready? :-)

Abigail Courage Favelo.

We know it is a little bit "out there", and may give you flash backs to the 60's, but as we were trying to decide (between Courage or Christine) Doug brought up a great point; he said that you hardly ever use your middle name anyways so might as well get some mileage out of it and have a story to tell about it when you do use it. So, Abigail Courage it is.

We have told a few people and gotten comments from "Oh, interesting..." to "That's perfect!" Either way, it is growing on us too, and we are coming to love it. Already it seems that she couldn't be anyone else but Abigail.

She has been so strong and courageous in her short little life already, and God has been with her all of the way. So her theme verse for the beggining of her life is Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Love you all,
Heather