4 Month Checkup

Last Monday was Paisley's 4 month check up.  She was 11 lbs 6 oz (36th percentile) and 23 1/8 inches longs (48th percentile).  The past month has been a little hectic as I have been traveling for work during the week and leaving Chrystal to get both kids to and from daycare.  She has been a real trooper, but luckily the travel is over until summer for me.

Today the weather was amazing and let us get some time spent outdoors to burn off a little pent up energy.

Only 364 more days until tee ball tryouts!

Good thing we have a little time to work on it.

It was a big game for the Wildcats today and Paisley was decked out for it.

She is obviously the more photogenic one.  

Otherwise all is going well.  Paisley is sleeping well for 6 - 7 hours at a stretch over night.  We are getting some rest, but there is still some room for improvement.  Aunt Alex (and soon to be Uncle Brad ???) are coming down this month and Chrystal thinks they are going to take Paisley to get her ears pierced.  After consulting with Pa, I may have to veto that idea and earrings don't work well under a softball batting helmet.

3 Years Old

Spencer is 3!  Hard to believe its been three years since we became parents.  His big day started with a trip to the doctor.  No shots this time so the day was off to a good start.  He was 36 lbs and 39 inches tall.  That puts him in the 88th percentile in both categories.  After the doctor appointment was a quick haircut then off to Monument to eat lunch with dad and play in McDonald's.  That night we did a small cupcake with candles and turned off the light so he could blow them out.  He thought that was the coolest thing ever.

So excited to blow out the candles.

We had a party on Saturday the 28th.  We started out with ice skating @ Sertich.  It was fun to watch the parents get out and work with the kids to help them along.  We are all very thankful for the buckets pictured below.  We then all came back to the house for cake, ice cream, & presents.

A whole sea of presents.  And that is Allie in the background.  She made the trip out all the way from Georgia.

The buckets were back savers.

By the end of the day we were doing better!

We couldn't put up a post without pictures of Paisley as well.

She is a smilin' fool.

We did have a tragic event in our lives recently as Chrystal's dad passed away.  We want to say thank you to everyone who was able to make the services in Louisville as well as Omaha.  The outpouring of support and well wishes through the tough times has been amazing and we are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Christmas Update

So Christmas has come and gone as has the new year.  We did get a trip in to see Santa of course.  Spencer was actually willing to sit next to the man in red and told him he wanted "lots of stuff" for Christmas and that Paisley wanted "baby girl toys."

Such a big improvement from a year ago.

We spent Christmas in Kentucky.  The kids were great on the flight as and soon as our Crown Victoria rental got us to London we had plenty of helpers willing to take them off our hands.  Thank you so much to Johnny and Paula for being such wonderful hosts.  Thank you also to everyone for the gifts.

Look Ma! No oxygen.

Uncle Don was Spencer's hero as we got to go to the fire station and see the fire trucks.

Getting this picture took a lot longer than it should have.

As I mentioned Paisley is off her oxygen.  We are so thankful to be done with it and have a child that doesn't have a tube connected to her.  She just had her two month check up today: 8 lbs 9 oz (30th percentile) & 21.5" long (66th percentile).

Paisley Update

Paisley is just over a month old now.  She went to the doctor and we have some updated stats: 6.1 lbs (23rd percentile) & 19 3/8 inches long (73rd percentile).  We have a string bean!  Hard to believe, but one month in and she is still about 5 ounces less than Spencer weighed when he was born.

Our only picture of her without her accessories.

Spencer loves his baby sister.

All dressed up with nowhere to go.

As you can see, she is still on oxygen.  We had an overnight test, but that didn't go too well.  We will have another one the week before Christmas.  The doctor thinks we will be ok in Kentucky without oxygen so we won't have to travel with it which is a relief.

Halloween & a Household of 4

Halloween has come and gone.  Chrystal took Spencer out with the Roschs and Hecks while I went to the hospital to feed Paisley.  After I was done I raced home to hand out candy for the last few trick or treaters that were still out.

Blue from Blue's Clues is enjoying his bounty.

We have good news!  Paisley is finally home with us.  She was released on Friday and I forgot how little sleep is to be had a night.  She is on oxygen, but it is the lowest setting possible so we expect her to be off the oxygen when we see the doctor on Monday.

Paisley enjoying a nap on mommy.

Spence is so excited to have his baby sister home!

She is so handsy.  Here are some Jazz Hands.

It is a huge relief to be home.  While so many of the nurses who helped both Chrystal and Paisley were truly wonderful people, it is just nice to be settled and getting into our routines.

We Are So Sorry

It has been 9 months and that is unacceptable.  A lot of things happened in those 9 months.  We did all the fun summer stuff.  Went to Omaha to see friends, went to the Renaissance Festival, and spent a lot time at parks.  I guess the biggest thing we did over the past 9 months was grow the family from 3 to 4.  Crawford Paisley Townsend was born Tuesday October 25th at 4:27pm.  She was 5 lbs 5 oz and 17 inches long.  She decided to come see us about a month ahead of time because Chrystal was having some high blood pressure issues.

We went from the OR to the NICU.  Here she is with her CPAP on.

Big brother Spencer got to see her and he is soooo excited!

This one is a keeper.  The kid who hates pictures agreed to play nice.

Day 2 brought the removal of the CPAP.  She is ahead of schedule.

Here is Mom getting to finally hold our little Paisley.

We did have her first bottle feeding today.  That was a huge step the doctor's weren't expecting so quickly.  She is doing well and we are hoping she gets to come home by Wednesday of next week.  

A Quick Recap

As most of these posts start, it's been a while. We finally got Chrystal a new camera and just took the time today to upload all the pictures. A lot has happened since we last posted...

Spencer got a big boy bed! It's actually bunk beds.

We have hung out with our friends...

This was the only picture he let us get with Santa. He wanted nothing to do with the man in red this year.

His big present from Santa this year was a work bench. There are nonstop home improvement projects being worked on throughout the house now.

Tools were really the Christmas present theme this year. Safety first!

Mike, Laura, and Landon came out to visit in January. We went to see the dinosaur museum in Woodland Park and stopped for Mexican food.

We rented a minivan so we could all ride together. The boys loved being able to watch Cars on the ride.

There was a 2nd birthday party as well. Friends and family came over for some cupcake cake. The official stats are 36 inches tall (92nd percentile) and 29.6 lbs (67th percentile).

Poppa came to town for Spencer's birthday. Chrystal and I took the day off to celebrate and let the little man give ice skating a shot. He didn't want to leave ice.