A Day

Wakey wakey! I love how he sleeps with his butt in the air. Miss Molly looking like a baby doll

Big breakfast bottle and snuggle time with Mommy

Naptime for Jack and showertime/cleaning time/breakfast time/ laundry time, etc for Mommy

This is basically all Molly does all day other than eat and poo

Playing peek-a-boo at the front door

Yummy yummy spaghetti for lunch

Auntie Ann is here to play with Jack Jack while Mommy goes to the store!

Celebrating Grandpa's birthday and playing "hat"

Ready for bed... Night night!

***

Jackson turned eleven months old and Molly turned one month old the next day. Molly goes to the doctor on Wednesday so we will see how much weight she has gained. She is getting bigger and filling out her newborn clothes. I was only too happy to pack away the preemie stuff. Someday I'll pull it out and be amazed that she was ever that little!

I'll be going back to work at the beginning of May because Andy is able to be home every weekday with the kids. I'm really happy that they'll be with Daddy seeing as Molly will only be 2 weeks in adjusted age by then.

Other than that, life has been pretty quiet. Andy is finishing up a stretch of working nine days in a row and we are sooooo excited to have him home!

Our Family

Molly went to the doctor today and tips the scales at 5 lbs. and 4 oz. We were hoping she would maybe be 5 lbs. so we're thrilled that she's picked up 6 oz. since Tuesday. The doctor says she looks perfect and we agree! It's also reassuring to know that we're doing the whole parenting-a-preemie thing right!

Jackson tips our scale at 22 lbs. so we know he's eating just fine. He was nice enough to share a little flu with Mommy this week, but we're over it and back to playing, crawling, laughing, and trying to figure out what that little, red, noisy thing is that Mommy and Daddy are always holding and feeding. He hasn't figured it out yet, but he knows it gets attention!

Andy and I want to say again just how much your thoughts and prayers meant to us during Molly's stay in the NICU. We always knew she was continuously being blessed by so many people that love her. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!

Molly is home!

Molly is home! Molly is home! Molly is home!

We went to the NICU on Tuesday just to visit and they siad she was being discharged! What an awesome surprise! Good thing we had the car seat with us!

She is doing really well... sleeps all the time. We have to set the alarm to wake her up every three hours to feed her, so we're back in the sleepy parent phase and incredibly happy to feel sleepy because SHE'S HOME!

Molly Update

Molly is still doing very well in the NICU. She is still in her incubator under the lights for her jaundice, but her levels dropped a lot and she should only be under the lights until tomorrow. She is taking a full feeding (27 cc-- a little less than an ounce) on a bottle without tiring out, so the nurses are feeding her through the bottle three times a day and the rest of the times are still through her feeding tube. I have had the chance to nurse her twice. Yesterday, she did not actually eat any from the breast, but this morning she was catching on quickly. I'm going back for her 8 pm feeding and we'll do this everyday (2 breastfeedings: 11 am and 8 pm) until she's home. I also got to changer her diaper twice and was surprisingly nervous. I've changed hundreds of diapers and Andy and I usually are quick to call "Not It" for the dirty ones, but I absolutely loved changing Molly's. It makes me feel like I'm not just borrowing her from the nurses.

The next step, as much as we can tell, is to get her off the IV and into an open crib to see if she will maintain her body temperature without the warmer. We're still very hopeful that she will be home soon.

Leaving her at the hospital and coming home was one of the hardest things we have ever done, but we're very excited to actually bring her home in the near future, free of wires and tubes.

Please continue to pray for our little girl and our family.

And then there were four...

Molly Sue Wolfe
Born Friday, Feb. 27 at 7:25 pm
4 lbs. and 14 oz.
16 inches long

I began bleeding around 5:30 Friday evening and Andy and I went to the emergency room. After seeing a tear in my placenta and signs of early labor on my ultrasound, Dr. Chitra decided it would be best to deliver Molly right away.

Less than an hour later, Molly was here in all her fuzzy-headed glory. She's very tiny, but she's really beautiful. She has a full head of dark brown hair and long legs and arms.

She has also become the poster child for a thriving premie in the NICU. She is breathing room air all on her own, being fed by a feeding tube and tolerating it very well, and sleeping peacefully. Andy and I were able to hold her today and we fell even more in love with her (if that's possible)!

In spite of being seven weeks early, Molly is doing incredibly well and we're looking forward to taking her home!

9 Month Pics

Did you notice the big haircut? We buzzed him on Monday and I almost cried as the little baby fuzz fell away. He's my biggie boy now!

On the Move

Jackson is crawling everywhere! He's definitely keeping Mommy and Daddy busy making sure he isn't getting into anything harmful, but still trying to let him explore. He babbles constantly and Andy claims Jack says Daddy but I haven't heard that yet. It is really adorable to see how excited Jack gets when Andy comes home from work, though. His whole face lights up and he squeals and smiles the biggest smiles. We went to visit Andy at work yesterday which was really fun. He got to show off Jack and Jack found out how to make echos in a really big room. Jack is also starting to eat more real foods and is getting really big. He goes to the doctor on Wednesday for his nine month check-up, so we'll have to wait until then to see at what weight he tips the scales.

Little Miss Molly is doing just fine. I go back to the doctor on Feb. 19 for my ultrasound to see if I have to have a c-section or not. I'm still hoping not, but we'll deal with whatever happens. It is starting to feel very real that she'll be here soon and I have a lot to do before that happens. I just found out that a girl who student taught at Carrollton in the fall wants to do my maternity leave, so that is a huge relief. We just need to get our room carpeted and Molly's room painted and set up and then she can make her grand appearance. As Jack gets more active and wants to cuddle less, I'm getting excited for another little snuggle-bug to cuddle with soon.

I keep wanting to post some pictures, but I honestly don't know where my camera is, so it will have to wait. Just take my word for it... Molly is getting very big and Jackson is getting more handsome everyday!