4 months old!

Raedyn has officially turned 4 months old!

She is hitting new milestones and definitely growing in height/weight. She had her 4 month dr. appt. yesterday and got her fair share of shots (which she did fairly well with). Yes she cried, but it was also her nap time so she actually just cried herself to sleep. She slept all afternoon, was awake for a couple hours, then went to bed for the night and slept til 8am this morning. Today she is much happier and back to normal. She has almost tripled her birth weight @ 12lbs and 8.5oz and is now 23 3/4 inches long with a head circumference of 16 in. The doctor mentioned that her length and head are of that of a normal 4 month old, and she has a good healthy weight. The dr has no worries as Raedyn is showing great development with her growth and milestones. Woohoo!
Here are some of her milestones she has been accomplishing within the past couple weeks.

• Sucking on her hands
• Grabbing toys when she is lying on her playmat
• Laughing, cooing, babbling.
• Rolling from her back to her side (not quite all the way over yet)
• Smiling quite often, especially when you makes noises with your mouth.
• Tracking with her eyes
• Sleeping 8-10 hours a night

Everyday is a blessing to have her in our lives. We are so happy to have such great family and friends nearby to give us love and support. Here are some current pictures (which are also on FB).

Collage of newest pictures

Dressed up for church

Papa Ted singing to Raedyn

Biggest Smile

When is comes to Byron and I. We are just continuing on with life. Byron got accepted to the UW for Mechanical Engineering program which starts at the end of September. We are very excited about this next step in his life. For me, I have been back working full time for 1 month now, while Byron is at home with Raedyn. Once he starts up school, we are planning on having family watch Raedyn. We are so blessed! 

Well thats about it for our family at the moment. We are loving our new little family and can't wait to see what the future hold for us! Lots of love!

2 and 1/2 months old

Raedyn is getting so big! She is now 2 and 1/2 months old and over 9 lbs! We absolutely love watching her grow, and seeing new milestones. Her biggest thing lately is smiling, giggling and babbling. She will lie on her playmat for 20mins or more just babbling away at her toys. She is very intrigued with noises, and loves when you sing to her. We can't wait to see what milestone is next!

Naptime on mommy.

Watching daddy play nintendo wii.

Napping while mommys at lunch with her sisters and mom. 

BIG STRETCH!!!!

Loving her playmat.

2 Months Old.

Raedyn had her 2 month doctors appointment today. She is growing wonderfully and sleeping like a champ!
She currently is 9 pounds, 21 1/4 inches long, and eats every 3 hours during the day (as she breastfeeds) and sleeps between 5-7 hours at night (as she gets a bottle at night to fill her up) before needing to feed again. She is the best baby I could have asked for.
The doctor was quite impressed that she can sleep for such a long length of time at night, but is showing that she is gaining weight. YEAH! She also got her 2 month shots today, which she was not the biggest fan of, but is now doing just fine that they are over and done with.
If she were born when she was supposed to then the doctor said she is above average on all her measurements/weight, but since she was born 6 weeks early she shows on the charts to being below average. Overall the doctor was very impressed and satisfied with how she is growing for being 6 weeks early. Although she was 6 weeks early she is right up there with a normal 2 month old and their skills they should be mastering. We are so happy that she is doing well and growing normally.
She can hold her head up really well, loves tummy time, and being held in a sitting position.
Here are a few pictures from the past week.

Ms. Blue Eyes.

Our family.

Big girl loving a little tummy time on her boppy.

Nichole and I and our little ones
Raedyn and her best bud Paysen.

Paysen and Raedyn.

Our first week home...

This first week home has been quite fun. It definitely beats going to the hospital everyday. Being home has had its ups and downs. It was nice having nurses/doctors/lactation on call at the hospital, so if I wanted or needed assistance they were there for me, but on the other hand being home and actually feeling like a family it quite nice. Byron has been a huge help when it comes to changing diapers, feeding bottles at night, or just watching her so I can shower/nap/etc. We have had our ups and we have had our downs, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
Since bringing Raedyn home, our dog Nahla (who is almost 2 y/o) has taken it to be her job as Raedyns protector. She is still curious about the sounds and smells coming from the baby, but is getting used to it everyday.  Every time someone picks Raedyn up, puts her down, or she makes a loud sound Nahla will come running to make sure everything is OK.  Here are some pictures of our first week at home.

Raedyns first car ride.

She loves her bouncer.

 The next five pictures are of Nahla the protector checking out everything Raedyn is doing. 

Our first walk.

Baby Raedyn

I thought I'd start posting again as now that I have officially had Raedyn and am not doing much throughout the day except catch up on sleep and enjoying my little one.

As most people know Raedyn was born 6 weeks early (4/16/13), due to myself having preclampsia which included dangerously high blood pressure which put me at risk for stroking. In 2 hours I went from a normal 34 week checkup, to being put on bed rest and watching my blood pressure to being induced, then over 24 hours of labor I had an emergency c-section due to baby Raedyns heart rate occassionally dropping to low for comfort That was one hectic morning!
Due to her being premature, she was put in the NICU to grow and become stronger. From the very beginning she was a strong breastfeeder (woohoo!), but was having apnea/bradycardia events. This is normal for a preemie, as there body is not mature enough to regulate sleeping and breathing together. It took her exactly 30 days to get over these "events" during which she had to stay in the NICU until she could prove herself strong and mature enough. Below are some pictures from our time in the NICU.

Raedyn only a couple days old.

Proud Aunts!

 Byron came and visited as often as he could. He currently is in school, and would visit on his off days or when he wasn't slammed with studying.

I ended up being in the NICU everyday from about 10am to about 7pm at night. I was able to sleep there if I wanted as they had a bed in the room for me, but I chose to sleep in my own bed at home. 

Great Grandma Ockerman and Raedyn

Nana and Raedyn

Raedyn was able to come home on Friday 5/17 and has been such a wonderful little baby!

She sleeps at night 4-5 hours at a time which lets mommy and daddy sleep a little. She is a fantastic breastfeeder and is growing like a weed. She was born 4lbs 11oz and is already over 7lbs! She has a very strong neck and loves holding her head up to look around. She occasionally responds to sounds/noises with turning her head and focusing with her eyes. She loves tummy time, whether its on the floor, or lying on top of you. Overall she is a very content baby and only cries when hungry, or getting a diaper changed. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful content baby. 

Byron and I are doing well, we have had our good nights and bad nights, but overall good. We are both currently getting over having nasty colds, and been working hard not to get the baby sick (which has been a success thus far).

Ducks and swimming

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July as both BJ and I did. We didn't do anything special, just watched the fireworks on TV.


This past week though has been quite awesome. To start with Nahla caught a duck! She goes on a walk in the middle of the day with my MIL and Rebi (her dog), where they run through the local park which has forest and ponds. They usually just chase after the ducks and scare them away, but this time Nahla actually caught one, a Mallard duck to be exact. She brought it back to my MIL, with the ducks neck in Nahla's mouth it was a perfect picture, but she didn't have a camera with her. As she brought the duck to my MIL, you could tell how proud she was, but my MIL didn't know whether or not to praise her for it. So she had Nahla drop the duck and let it escape, then praised her for being such a good puppy. She didn't hurt the duck at all, she showed us that she has a very gentle mouth and was just holding the duck. Now everytime she sees a duck she is highly attentive, as she wants to chase and catch it. When we first got Nahla, BJ really wanted a hunting dog, as he has gone pheasent hunting when he was a kid and wanted to start up again. So when she caught this duck and didn't harm it he was estatic. 

Nahla on the cold tile with the stuffed animal duck after a fun and hot day at the dog park today.

Another thing that happened this past week was that Nahla learned to swim. We took her to the local beach just yesterday as we have been trying to get her to swim since she was a small puppy, but she was always scared and unsure of swimming. Just yesterday though, BJ picked her up walked way out into the water, grabbed her tail as he set her in the water and she started swimming. After that she would not stop chasing the stick after we threw it out to the water. How great is that! Another way to tire the puppy out! :D

Nahla with her very first time ever swimming. (She is about 7 weeks old here. Now she is about 1 year old)

Always,
Dani

Puppy Fun

This is just one of many pictures that we have taken of Nahla at the dog park. We take her a couple times a week to get her energy out. Her favorite dog to play with is probably this black german shepard also names nala (not pictured). It it too funny when they get together play rough, it sure wears her energy out

Nahla rough playing with BJ. Gotta wear out all the energy somehow. 

Mmmmm that food sure looks delicious! The only time she slobbers... when food is present.

.