Spring Weather

The past few weekends the weather has been fantastic....clear skies, cool breeze, and warm sun, so it's been nice to have a few outings to enjoy it. Two great outings to speak of over the past month were a trip to the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival and the Palm Beach Zoo. The pictures are mixed from these trips, but just wanted to share some cute ones of Tyndell exploring all the fun things to do down here (and by exploring I mean sleeping through most of them haha).

Tyndell's BFF...Welcome Madelyn Brie

She's here! Tyndell's new best friend forever (BFF) finally arrived last week after much anticipation. We are so excited for our good friends, Aaron & Shelley, and it will be so amazing to be able to go through this stage of life together. Madelyn is precious and we are all looking forward to her and Tyndell growing up together. HOORAY!

2 Month Update!

I just suddenly realized that I never did do a 2 month old update! When we went to the doctor on February 10th - exactly 2 months - Tyndell weighed in at 8 lbs, 10 oz and 21 inches! Even though that's lots of growing for our preemie princess, she's still only in the 20th percentile. It's all good though b/c we are catching up fast...she's eating and growing like a champ! Here are some pictures recently - just hanging out mostly and being smiley (seeing the smiles are the BEST part of the day for sure!). Even though the one with Karma the Bear is a little blurry and might scare some of you (i.e. dog near small child phobia - don't worry - the dogs have been SO calm and good around her)...I just had to share b/c Tyndell was leaning on her one morning and just loved it! She started laughing and skwirming around like crazy (hence, the bluriness factor).

Fire Down Under

I don't know if any of you have been hearing about all the fires in Australia right now but I got this email forward that I just felt like stealing/commenting on b/c the pictures are so cool and adorable. Apparently - the koalas are coming into the residential areas like crazy to get away from the fires. The funny thing is that koalas don't really drink water - they get all they need

from eating leaves, but the fires have been so drastic that they are thirsty! People are helping them out and getting them water - I think it awesome how people can become compassionate like this in a drastic time. If this happened in America, I'm not sure there would be pictures circulating of people helping animals, I think the news would say how they are invading OUR space and we have to get rid of them. The truth is that we invaded all their spaces.

Oh well - regardless of how you feel about it - the pictures are cute! Special shout out to my old timey BFF from when we were kids - Shannon - enjoy!!!

Tyndell Found Her Thumb!

Yep...I looked down last night while we were watching a movie and there she was...sucking away!  

Zen Loves Bananas!

So...the bananas have been ripening in the yard the last couple of weeks and we keep catching Zen eating them off the tree!  It's pretty funny...she runs away when we catch her like she's doing something wrong.  Are you kidding?  She's helping us!  We could never eat them all ourselves.  

Out to Dinner

This past weekend, Mom and Dad and we all went out to a quick dinner...proving we can make it out of the house sometimes!  haha...no, I don't think we're that bad.  Anyway - got some cute shots while we were waiting.  

One Month Old Outing - Downtown Delray

So yesterday officially marked one month with Tyndell since it was January 10th.  I'm not sure if we count months by every 4 weeks or by the date.  Either way - we are so excited that we've had this precious child for the past month - it's been so amazing.  We managed to get out for a bit yesterday and enjoy the beautiful day.  My parents and I went to the downtown Delray green market for a bit - Tyndell learned all about vegetables and local commerce haha.  Then we went to Starbucks and out to Boston's on the Beach (famous Delray restaurant on the beach) for lunch where Jeff met us.  

As some of you know that have been following my facebook posts - this week Tyndell also learned to breastfeed which makes life and time so much more flexible!  I don't have to worry about warming bottles and pumping every three hours like I have been doing - we can just hang out, feed, and go where we want.  I feel like a free woman (in a sense!). We are still figuring out the logistics (i.e. using the breastfeed cover in public so no one actually sees any secrets...) but she pretty much has it down pat which is awesome and can also still take a bottle every once in a while if needed and not be confused by it.  I'm really enjoying my time at home with her - especially since the first couple of weeks after her birth we didn't get that quality bonding time since she was in the hospital - I feel like the past week has really made up for the lost bonding time.  I'm also going to give a shout out to my great friend Cecily, who gave me the baby sling that you see in the market picture!  This thing is awesome - makes carrying Tyndell out and about SO easy and comfortable.  She'll sleep the whole time she's in it.  The other cool thing about that picture is that I am wearing pre-pregnancy jeans!  Wahooo!  It was a great feeling to be able to fit into them again!!  I mean - they are stretchy but it still felt good.  It's the little things in life!  

4 Weeks Old Today!

We can't believe we've had Tyndell for 4 weeks already!  It has flown by - I guess this is only the start of that feeling.  And to think that she wasn't even supposed to be born yet!  Wow - for someone that should still be floating around in a big belly - I'd say we've made some big accomplishments and experienced a lot this month:

1. Being born; was in the hospital NICU for 11 days

2. Came home; survived meet and greet with the puppies!  Karma and Zen have become very protective of their baby sister and like to "check in" on her when she's sleeping.  

3. Celebrated Christmas with the Tyndell family - even Uncle Brandon came to visit!

4. Have been on Skype numerous times with the Ahrens family!

5.  Gained about 1 1/2 lbs since being born!  We are now about 6 lbs 8 oz!  Newborn size clothes are starting to fit finally!

6.  Learned to bottle feed well and are still trying to figure out breastfeeding (making progress today though!)

7.  Have enjoyed all the cool toys - vibrating chair, car seat, stroller, sling, crib, comfy chair, pack and play, and the softness of many blankets!  I don't think Tyndell hates trying any new toy!

8.  Have visited the doctor twice already!

9.  Enjoyed tummy time, bath time every other day (okay - she didn't like it at first but I think she does now - it has to sooth diaper rash, right?), story time, and walks to the park 

10. Tyndell has been to church twice! Granted she didn't hear the sermon since it was during feeding time, but that's ok.  

11.  Tyndell has also been to Babies R Us once - she was adamant to buy more diapers!

Well - that's just a summary of the last few weeks - it's been awesome!  We appreciate everyone's concerns and prayers for us!  Thanks!

When at Home - Make Faces

So now that we are home - we are pretty focused on our three-hour schedule - sleep, poop, eat, pump, repeat.  But somehow in the midst of each cycle, I usually get to see all these faces from Tyndell (I already posted these on facebook but wanted to put here for those of you that aren't able to see them there).  She is definitely very expressionistic already!  

When in NICU - What to Do?

So - when Tyndell was in the NICU for 11 days and we were trying to keep ourselves busy in anticipation of her homecoming, we got a few things done!  As horrible as it was that we couldn't bring her home right away, we hadn't quite finished all the little projects we wanted to do before she was born, so we took full advantage of the time.  These are things that we did to pass the time (mostly it was my parents that did the preparation! Thanks to them!):  my dad made a new and improved duck head for our mailbox, we cleaned out the garage and put things we didn't need on Craig's List, worked on my milk expression techniques, and got caught up on thank you notes and cleaning up Tyndell's room.  

Baby Modeling...

The other day, my friend, Karyn, who did my cool preggo photos last month, came over to the house and took a few shots of sweet little Tyndell - check out her blog post with the photos (see link at the right).  These turned out so beautiful!!  Thanks so much for capturing our little baby girl so early on, Karyn!    You rock!

Tyndell's Homecoming

We took Tyndell home yesterday (Dec. 21st) 11 days after being in the NICU!! We thought it might be sometime this week before Christmas, but were totally surprised when the nurses called us in the morning before we were about to go for a visit and said - "just bring the carseat - she's coming home!" Over the weekend, the doctors said it was ok to take out her feeding tube and try to do bottle feeds everytime to see if she could do it or if she'd get too tired. Well - she did so well and got back to her delivery weight, so that made for the decision. We got home about lunchtime yesterday and have just been focused on keeping Tyndell on her 3 hour feeding schedule. We are so excited to have her home with us finally. The hospital visit schedule was honestly very tiring and it's nice to not have to go back and forth anymore. Plus - we get to spend this whole Christmas week together and focus on our new family! We are so thankful!

Special shout out to Aunt Judy for the super cute duck outfit - we always wanted to use it for Tyndell's homecoming outfit - who can resist duck feet?

Introducing Tyndell Eve Ahrens!

Tyndell Eve was surprisingly born on Wednesday, December 10th at 8:42 am - 5 weeks early! She was 4 lbs, 15 oz and 18 inches long!

And the [insert "descriptive"] labor story starts with Tuesday being just a regular day - work, home, dinner - then right when I sat down at dinner, I thought..."hmmm...I think I just peed myself." So I went home to change and come back (we've been hanging out across the street from us a lot lately b/c my parents have been renting a house there! Thank goodness for their help!) to eat. Through dinner, things just didn't seem quite right (or dry for that matter) and when Jeff and I went back home, he said, "Well - I'm super tired and am going to turn in early." And I replied, "Um - I don't think I actually did pee myself....it keeps coming..." So we called the midwife and they confirmed that yes I just might have had my water break so we needed to go to the hospital to be sure. We arrived there about 9pm to find that it was true so I had to be induced right away to prevent infection even though I was so early. So after a couple of hours of preparation/cervix softening medication (whoa - can I write that here? Sorry if this is too descriptive...), I was already having contractions even though they thought it would take up to 12 hours initially. So - they began to give me pitocin at about 2:30am and I had contractions through the night. At about 7:30am - the contractions became really really intense and about 45 minutes later, my midwife confirmed that I had reached 10cm and that it wouldn't be long. I pushed from about 8:15am onward and our sweet girl came out 30 minutes later.

So - we were in the Boca Community Hospital from Tuesday night to Friday afternoon, but Tyndell cannot come home yet since she's a premie. We go back to the hospital's NICU about 3 times a day for the feedings, to hold her, and drop off what I've pumped that day (whoa?! can I write that too?!), but haven't heard yet when she will be home with us. Essentially - she has to stay under the UV light for a few days, be able to keep the feedings down and not need to supplement with an IV anymore, gain weight, and learn to either bottle or breastfeed well before coming home. She's doing better every time we visit her but it seems like it's just going to be a slow process for her to get out of NICU.

Other than hospital visits and finishing up the things we thought we'd still have a month to do before Tyndell being born, we've just been enjoying some family time and trying to get lots of rest. My parents are here til the end of March and Jeff's parents came down this weekend for a quick visit too so we're all together hanging out right now. Obviously - I'll try to do updates when we can, but it just depends on when Tyndell gets out of NICU.

Thanks for everyone's support, thoughts, texts, facebook posts, and prayers - they've been super encouraging during this time!

Thanksgiving Day 2008

Here are a couple of cute pics from Thanksgiving Day - we went over to our friends, Aaron and Shelley's, for an incredible feast! I had some other photos but my phone deleted them without my knowing - oh well! Anyway - these were some fun ones of me with Jeff and Shelley that I did manage to find again and wanted to share. Thanks again for a great day Getchells!