Love is Patient: Seiden Grace...You are FOUR Months Old!!! (2-19-14)

Time. Needs. To. Freeze!!! As I sit here typing this post, I am just blown away at how fast time is going and how much Seiden has grown and changed. I still call her my newborn...and that she is definitely not. Although...I think she will always be my newborn baby. No matter if she's four months old or 40 years old! Her fourth month of life was a big one though. A lot happened and, more than anything, Seiden has changed so much!

First things first...Seiden had four...yes FOUR doctor's appointments in her fourth month of life. I swear...I felt like all we were doing was turning around and going to another doctor. But...it was all worth every car trip and every second worth of waiting in those doctor's offices. The first one she had was on January 28th with her cardiologist. She was born with "speckles" on her heart and none of the specialists knew what they were or what they could be caused from. We just said that it was glitter on her heart because she is a natural born princess...duh! So, we had to have a follow-up appointment with her cardiologist to see if they were still there and what they may possibly be. When we got to the waiting room and the doctor came in, he told us that several other cardiologists had looked over what was on her heart and none of them knew what they could be. So strange. And, he also told us that she had a little hole in her heart that connected a valve to another part of her heart. That, he said, was completely normal. He told us even if it didn't close up, she wouldn't have any problems with having that hole in her heart. We had no idea about that though...so that was kinda scary to hear. So, then she had to have some tests run. The two main ones they did to find the speckles and determine what they were and see if that hole was still there, were an EKG and an ECHO. As we waited for the results, we just prayed and prayed that when the doctor came back in, he would tell us everything was all clear. About 20 minutes later, the doctor came back in. The news couldn't have been any sweeter. Her heart was ALL CLEAR and completely normal!!! The speckles were gone and that hole had closed up...praise The Lord. Then, he discharged us and we don't ever have to go back!!!

Next up...we had to go back to have a follow-up with her geneticist on February 14th. We were kinda confused as to why we had to go back to the geneticist. Whenever she was born, they ran two different blood tests on her to make sure that cyst wasn't connected to something genetic or chromosomal. And, both those tests came back negative. But, when I talked to the nurse when she called to confirm our appointment, she told me that sometimes traits can develop after the baby grows some that didn't show up before. So, there were even more extensive tests they could run...more so than the two she had already had. It was a little scary to hear at first. Especially because we thought those first two tests tested for anything and everything. But, we trusted that God was going to deliver her and protect her from this just like he has everything else. When we got to the appointment, we both had to give our family history. Just so that they knew of any problems, diseases, illnesses, etc. that could possibly filter down to Seiden. Thankfully...both of us come from extremely healthy families. After we had that consultation, we went back to a waiting room to wait for the geneticist to come in. When she did, she measured Seiden's eyes, ears, nose, mouth, arms, and legs. She said that if one is drastically bigger than the other, it could mean that something is going on. But, everything measured out evenly! She does have one ear that's a little bigger than the other...but it was 3.9cm and 4.1 cm...so nothing that was out of the ordinary. The geneticist told us that that's pretty typical to have one feature that's a little bigger than the other. So, she basically just checked her over, gave her some stickers to put on her car seat, and we were discharged from seeing her anymore!!! She was so sweet though. She told us she was sad to discharge us because she wouldn't get to see what a cutie Seiden was...we'll just have to go back and visit!

The next two doctor's appointments were just for her four months shots (yuck!) and a little cough that wound up being a double-ear infection. Bless her heart...that was tough. She had been coughing, but not anything that made me worry. Until, she started fighting her bottles. She never had problems sleeping. But, man, she was fighting eating. I just thought it was all because she would get choked up, from flem being stuck in her throat, and then her throat would hurt her after coughing and she just wasn't interested in her bottle after that. She never ran a fever, never put her hands up to her ears, and never fussed, complained, or cried from being in pain. The only thing she did that made me think she had a little cold was cough and fight her bottles. My parents took her to the doctor for that appointment. My dad had taken the week off, he had some vacation time saved up and just happened to be off when I called the doctor, and my mom took half a day off to go with him. Cody and I both had to be at work. We've been off a lot with taking her to Ft. Worth for all her follow-up appointments along with all her monthly check-ups, not to mention, we still have a few more appointments to go to in Ft. Worth. So, my parents offered to take her so that we wouldn't have to take off. Little did any of us know that what we thought was just a cough was a double ear infection. Seiden's pediatrician was my pediatrician, so it helps a lot when it comes to knowing my background because Seiden, obviously, has a lot of traits that I had when I was little. Unfortunately, one of those traits is having tiny little ear canals that don't drain out the wax the way they should. And even worse, the only way to get the wax build-up out, is to scrape it out with an ear pick. Which, is an awful, tiny, metal tool that her pediatrician uses to go into her ear canal and literally scrape out all the wax. My poor mom had to hold her down on the table while it was being done...just like she had to do to me all those years ago when I had the same problem. I finally got referred to an ENT. So, if this happens again...we will just go ahead and ask how soon she can go ahead and go to the ENT. Anyways, the day of her appointment and the next day, she was definitely not herself. When dad got her home, she hardly ate the rest of the day. I'm sure her ears were just throbbing and it hurt her too bad to drink from her bottle with the added pressure. She woke up in the middle of the night and her cry nearly broke my heart. I knew she was hungry and I knew she was in pain, and it just broke me to hear her cry that way. When I first went to go get her, I just sat and rocked her for a little bit. Then, I went and got a bottle ready for her to see if she would take even a little bit of it. Thankfully, she ate all but an ounce and fell back asleep after about an hour. She slept until I got her up at 6:30 and she ate about 2 ounces at that feeding. That day, she ate about 2 ounces at every feeding and woke up again in the middle of the night. We did the same thing that night that we did the night before. It was definitely tiring...for both of us. But, it's been so long since I sat up with her in the middle of the night and fed and rocked her. I hated that she was sick. But it was also a precious two nights together. Thankfully, after the second day, she was back to herself and started eating so much better than she was before we took her to the doctor. It was such a blessing that my dad had taken off work because she was able to stay home from day care and recover at home. The other nice thing was that because of all the crazy winter weather we've been having, I was also off on Thursday and Friday that week. Then, I was also off on Monday and Tuesday the next week because of the weather. So, she had stayed home from day care for a week and a half. It was just so nice for her to be able to rest and recover at home...no one wants to be anywhere but home when they're not feeling up to par! She was such a trooper during those few days. She never fussed or complained. She was pretty much her happy, smiley little self with the exception of not wanting to eat and waking up those two nights. Precious little angel!

And finally...her last doctor's appointment was just her four month check-up plus shots...YUCK! She weighs a whopping 10 pounds 3 ounces and is 24.5 inches long!!! Her pediatrician said that she is in the 3rd percentile for her weight and the 50th percentile for her length! He said that she's just perfect and growing and developing just as she should...music to this momma's ears! I asked him if we needed to start her on cereal or any other type of solid foods while I was there. I know some people started introducing things other than breast milk or formula around her age. But, he said there was really no reason to unless I just wanted to start that right now. He said, nutritionally, she won't need anything other than breast milk until she's 6 months old. But, signs of her showing she's ready for other things would be her dis-interest in her bottles or her really watching (and he even said drooling over) what Cody and I are eating. And, she's not doing any of that...so I'm holding off! As for the shots...she took them like a champ...but it hurt my heart so bad. She screamed bloody murder when she got the shots. Like...the hold her breath for about 30 seconds and then let out a blood curdling scream...cry. Then, she cried for about 5 minutes while I held her and tried to snuggle her and soothe her before she finally calmed down. I always give her Tylenol about an hour before her appointments so that it's good and in her system and (hopefully) relieving some of that pain when it's time for her to get her shots. By the time we left, she was looking around in her car seat and as happy and content as anyone could be after just getting 3 shots and an oral vaccine...bless her heart! I had barely gotten her loaded back up in the car before she fell asleep. She slept the whole car ride home and continued to sleep until it was time for her to eat at 12:30 and I had to wake her up. This little girl is one tough cookie. Round 2 of her shots went just as smoothly as the first round did. She had no reactions, didn't fuss or complain, and was just as happy as she could be after that first 5 minutes. I did keep her on Tylenol through the weekend. Giving it to her every 6 hours...unless those 6 hours fell in the middle of the night...then I just gave it to her as soon as she woke up...just to prevent a fever from spiking and to help with any pain she might have had. Hopefully her 6 month check-up will be just as smooth...although I wished I could stop time so that it wouldn't get here so fast!

Gosh...I am just in awe of her. My heart couldn't be any more full of love for this precious, sweet, beautiful, angel that Cody and I created. She continues to amaze me. From the tiniest of things that she does to how well she adapts to every situation she's put in to how God continues to heal her...she's just amazing. Everyday I fall more and more in love with her. She is at such a fun age, not that the newborn days weren't great too. But now, she recognizes us as soon as she sees us. And that smile that goes all over her face when she does...man...there is nothing like it. She smiles so big that her entire body smiles along with her sweet face. It's like she just can't contain her excitement...it's heart-melting! When she smiles, her arms and legs stretch out and she waves her hands in the air (like she just doesn't care! Haha...I had to!) and her smile is so big, she'll turn her face from side to side. I wished I could capture every single one in a picture or video so that I can always remember how she looks at me and how happy she is to see me. It's the best thing when I pick her up from day care and she sees me walk in. Really...it's the best thing anytime she sees me...even if she's just looked away and looks right back at me and grins from ear to ear. And she's such a little talker now, she'll coo, and do this cute little high pitch laugh/giggle/coo thing that is just about the cutest thing ever! She says "hi" and when we tell her "I love you," she responds back almost every single time. Talk about heart melting! She absolutely LOVES it outside...which is so wonderful...especially when the weather cooperates! One of her new favorite things to do is sit in one our laps on the patio and watch the dogs play. She really gets on a roll when they start running around and playing...and she loves it when they whiz by her and make a little pit stop for some sugars. This girl loves her some puppy sugars! She just talks to them and lets them give her loving...which they absolutely love! It's the sweetest thing watching them with her. I can't wait (well...yes I really can!) until she's old enough to really interact with them. They will be the best of friends!!! She is also starting to play with toys, especially ones that make noises. And, she also loves her exersaucer. She will sit in it and grab at all the fun things and bounce herself around in it...so cute! And...she loves, loves, loves to be held and loved on...my favorite!!! She is wide awake for most of the day and does not want to miss a single thing. Her long naps have turned into cat naps and then she's awake again and ready to play and tell you all about it. She is eating 5 ounces, 5 times a day and now goes to bed by 9:00 pm and is up between 6:00 and 6:30 am. She is still sleeping through the night...but every time I wake up to use the restroom...I go in and steal silent moments of just gazing at her sleeping so soundly in her crib. She is growing too fast and these precious moments of my precious baby will be memories one day. I am realizing more and more everyday how fast time goes and how to just cherish and savor every single moment. She has made me stop and appreciate everything. I never knew that I could love something so much, and yet, she has completely captivated and consumed me. My heart explodes with love for her. Cody and I talk all the time about how much she has changed us and changed our relationship. God has truly blessed us and given us an angel, a miracle, sent straight from heaven into our arms. We have our struggles...don't get me wrong...but they are struggles that we are ever so thankful for. Our life couldn't be more complete and we couldn't thank God enough for all He has done for us. Happy Four Months Seiden Grace Kelley!!! We love you to the moon and back one million times over!!!

More pics from our little 4 month photo shoot!!! We are really liking our hands these days...maybe teething???