Brother & Sister

Kai hasn't shown too much interest in holding Addie, although he is always gentle and loving (giving lots of kisses). Today he changed his mind.

Kitchen

In the past, Kai has LOVED playing with the kiddie kitchens that several of our friends have. He normally cooks me pizza and bakes muffins. I've been mentioning that I want to find one for Kai before he grows out of this phase. MooMoo (Grandma Unrein) found a steal on Craigslist and surprised us when we got home. It has been the hit at our house for several days now! Kai checked it out extensively the night we got it and kept yelling "ki-chan!" If you're hungry, come on over and Kai will whip up something to eat!

Addie's 1st week

A brief breakdown of 1st week events for Addalyn: After arriving home from the hospital on Sat. evening last weekend, we were able to just chill out as a family of 4 for a few days. It was nice to just snuggle with Addie and have both Mom and Dad around to be active with Kai (playing outside, wrestling, etc). Mon, Tues, and Wed we had doctors appts. for Addie to check bilirubin levels for jaundice. Poor baby had 4 heel sticks in a matter of 3 days.....painful looking, but she did very well with one big scream and calmed easy with a pacifier. She spent 2 days in her at-home "tanning bed" (bili-lights) before her bilirubin levels returned to normal. She's taken a few trips to the park with Kai, shopped at Walmart, and has now attended her 1st church service. She's eating well, pooping like a champ, and sleeping about 2-3 hours at a time (which is not long enough at night for my liking, but I'll take it). We have determined overall she looks like Daddy's baby pics, although has several of Mommy's features. Here's just a few recent shots:

Her little sweater outfit! It was the 1st non-sleeper outfit we tried on after the umbilical cord fell off. Thanks Madelaine. When Addalyn is awake she is extremely alert and calm. She will just lay and look around for a long time. The past few days she has stayed awake for ~2.5 hours after lunch just checking out the surroundings.

This is Daddy's newest tatoo of Addie's handprint with noticably long fingers. Kai has his baby footprint on the outside of the same leg.

Addalyn saying her prayers, silently.

Multi-Use Turtle

Who knew a sandbox could have so many uses and be so much fun?!

We were in need of more outdoor entertainment around the house for the summer......Derrick and I thought, "we can't go wrong with a sandbox!" So far we are right! We can put plastic toys in it and sit to play, transform it to a pool, climb on top of the turtle's shell, dig in the sand with our shovel and rake, and who knows what else.

This particular day was about 55 or 60 degrees outside and cloudy. Kai just couldn't wait to try the turtle out! We filled the turtle with hose water and sand toys earlier in the day and Kai played in the early evening in his swim trunks for almost an hour before starting to turn purple! He scooped and poured and scooped and poured until half the water was making great mud all around the edges of the turtle. He even poured full buckets down the front of his chest....which was very brave considering the numbing feel of the water on my ankles alone! He loved every second of it and did NOT want to get out....although the warm towel was enticing!

We are so blessed to have such an outdoor paradise for the kids to play here at camp. Kai is our little outdoorsmen and is constantly asking to go play outside (day and night). There's nothing he won't touch, dig, or taste around the house! It will be a busy summer!

Bird Man

In light of the Nuggets in the NBA semi-finals, Derrick has been giving Kai the "Bird Man" hairstyle. It is a small tribute to NBA Nuggets player Chris Anderson "Bird Man" if you're not from CO! Kai's hair is just long enough to do a mohawk that curls at the top and he doesn't seem to mind the styling process! This hair-do may some day get the ladies!

Big Brother

Big Brother seems bigger and BIGGER!

Kai's been hitting the park alot lately when weather permits. Due to my lack of shopping in the last 2 months, we had yet to get him a hat for summer. We found this one last minute to shade him and prevent sunburn thinking he probaby wouldn't keep it on anyway....but he loves it. He wears it in the house, in the car, and while outside. It's super cute. He is also highlighting one of his new tools from Addie (a gift on arrival home).

Kai is so sweet to Addie. He gives her lots of gentle kisses and frequently checks to make sure she's okay when crying and mommy isn't holding her. He also points to the "baby" when in the room with her and says "bye bye" and "nigh nigh" to her.

Kai is now at the age he enjoys watching TV/DVDs and actually is learning some things from them. He mainly asks for "Elmo" or "choo-choos" (Thomas the train). He has certain parts he really likes in his videos and will intently watch like this.

Addie at Home

Considering the lack of sleep, the week has gone by considerably fast with a newborn and toddler! Addie has adjusted well to life at home and Kai is getting used to the idea of having a baby in the house. He is so proud of Addie's yellow letters in his room and is sensitive when she cries really hard or gets a shot from the doc.

Addie has high bilirubin which somewhat contains her to the bili-lights table until the level recedes (prayerfully tomorrow).

This is Addie in her "tanning bed." She has to wear the little tanning goggles to protect her eyes! She likes it under the lights most of the time......mainly because she hates to be cold and it is alway warm in there! However, she would prefer to be swaddled and cuddled over any other circumstance.

Kai thinks the bili-lights are pretty cool. We frequently find him peeking into the pakn'play to check on his baby sister, especially when she's screaming.

Here's just a sweet pic while she has her eyes open and alert. We have resorted to the pacifier somewhat during her "not so good" feeding times. She definitely has VERY healthy lungs and will let you know she does NOT like to be cold (diaper changings especially) or is still hungry. We have also nicknamed her "our little siren!"

Just another cute gaze......the velcro stickers on the sides of her eyes keep her tanning goggles on her face. It's a pain though, she tends to stick to everything! Here's a quick clip of some of the "siren" we normally hear:

Our Little Girl

A Welcome Arrival.......

Addalyn Leslie Unrein

"Addie"

May 15th @ 2:21pm

6lbs. 4oz. & 19 in.

Kai's interest in his baby sister only comes in small spurts of attention. However, he was really into seeing she had legs and toes under all her blankets! He has given her several nice kisses and called her "sister." He can say her name, but mostly does when she's not around.

Daddy and Addie

Mommy and Addie We are home now and enjoying our time as a family of FOUR! Thanks again for all the prayers and support for little Addie and God's timing on her arrival. We are truly blessed.

37 weeks!

ALL NATURAL FROM HERE LITTLE BABY!!!

We have officially met our 37 week goal of preventing premature birth! A huge YEAH and exhausted sigh of relief.

A growing belly! Today is the 1st day without medications to prevent contractions. Probably won't be long now!

It might be slightly inappropriate to show my bare belly on the internet, but if my skin could stretch anymore it would snap like a rubberband!

Naked

This dirty little boy (with tatoos, bandaids, alot of hairspray, and supper all over his face) has really been LOVING his bathes lately! Once the word is mentioned he is repeating it over and over and banging on the bathroom door. He has figured out that if he pulls hard enough and long enough on his diaper it will eventually tear off. Then he's ready to JUMP right in the tub! Guess we can't punish him for wanting to be clean!

This was just precious....it's rare a toddler will sit and snuggle on your lap. Get 'em while they're out....that's my motto. Kai was tuckered after playing all morning at a friend's house. Gezzz...you'd think I could make more room for the poor kid in that chair!?!!??!

Crocheting

I felt I needed to document my new crocheting abilities before life gets more chaotic at our house. I had some very generous ladies from church come over during my bedrest and give me a down and dirty lesson on crocheting a baby blanket and hat. I was so grateful for the time they took to teach me, the entertainment it provided, the new blankie and hat I have for our little girl, and the only accomplished feeling I had (most days anyway) while laying around the house!

The blankie is a "granny square" that continues all the way around! Very easy & repetitive once you get going.

A 0-3 month size beanie with multi-colored yarn. I messed up on the bottom and slip stitched it instead of single crocheting the edge, but I know better for next time! The great thing about these little hats is they don't take too much yarn and you can probably finish one in 2 evenings in-front of the TV.

Since there's no baby to model them yet........thank you bears.

Handy Man

Like most little guys, Kai idols his daddy's every move! When guests are over to our house, Kai points out every project Daddy has done or fixed. He's very proud! Here's some latest work by Kai to fix things like Daddy! He has constantly been asking where his "ham-a" (hammer) is to fix his truck.

The "ham-a"

Kai's just beginning to put together 2 word phrases. He's such a sweetheart--every time he leaves me in the morning for the babysitter's house (since I've been on bedrest) he gives me a kiss and says "bye bye." A few other common phrases he says are: all done, new door (one of Daddy's projects)and see ya.