Grace is now 2 months old and is doing really well! She has pretty much recovered from the RSV and just has an occasional cough and nighttime stuffiness now. She still has the best nights when we steam her in the shower before bed. We are getting Grace into a good routine, which is good for all of us. She gets a bottle and goes to bed at 8 then eats before I go to bed, then she sleeps until 5am, then until 8am. We all feel better now that we’re getting more sleep.

Grace is awake a lot more during the day and smiles often. She looks for Ben when she hears his voice after work and when she saw him walk into the room today at the doctor’s office she gave him a HUGE smile! She loves to sit with Eden and listen to Eden tell her stories and she often “talks” back to Eden.

We had Gracie’s two month checkup today and she weighs 9 lbs, 10 oz and is 22 inches long as of today! She looks so big, but she is almost the exact same size that Andy was at 2 weeks. 🙂

Our first month with Grace has flown by.  She’s had quite an eventful month with lots of visitors and a stay in the hospital with RSV.  She is growing and weighed 7 lbs, 7 oz at her one month check-up and was 21 inches long.  It was a relief to find that she had continued to gain weight even when she was sick.  Her cough has stuck around but otherwise Grace seems to be all better.  We’ve found that steaming her in the shower before bed and letting her sleep in her car seat help her to sleep much more comfortably at night.  Last night she slept for 6 hours between feedings which was good for all of us!

On February 20th, our baby boy officially became a toddler!  Some (like my parents) would argue that Andy’s personality entered the two’s a little early, but now he is really two.  We celebrated the day by having a mac and cheese lunch and cupcakes, which was Andy’s choice.  On Friday he had his two year check up and weighed 30 lbs, 12 oz and was 38 1/2 inches tall.  He’s grown two inches since we came back from Kenya in November!  We had his Cars birthday party on Saturday with some friends and family and he had a great time.  He was so excited to open his presents and blow out the candles.

Andy is still a sweet boy, but has definitely become more physical and more prone to meltdowns.  I’m holding out hope that these are due to all of the changes over the last month and that Andy will settle down once we find our rhythm.  Otherwise, Andy loves to play with Eden and wrestle with Ben, and always wants to hold Gracie.  He likes to play with his cars and trucks and runs everywhere.  Andy is talking a lot and he has likes to yell, “I did it!” after every accomplishment, no matter how great or small.

Grace Elizabeth Wolfe was born at 10:31am on January 26, 2012.  She weighed 6 lbs, 6 oz and was 19 inches long.  She has a little bit of blonde peach fuzz and blue eyes and very pink skin which turns bright red when she’s crying.  She looks a lot like Andy did when he was born.  She is doing all of the things that she is supposed to do, although we would like her to sleep more at night.  Grace made a very fast appearance, just two hours after the doctor broke my water and with a quick few pushes.  She did end up with a fractured clavicle, but the pediatrician told us that is fairly common and they don’t really do anything to treat it, and it should heal itself in a couple of months.

Andy is very interested in Gracie and gets very upset every time that she cries.  He loves to hold her and then refuses to give her up to anyone else.  Eden doesn’t seem all that interested in Grace, but she really likes to be the helper and does a great job getting diapers and blankets and paci’s when we need them.

We’ve been blessed by people bringing meals and helping with the kids and are now trying to get into a routine.  We’ve had a lot of changes recently and the big kids have done a great job, although we occasionally see the effects.  Ben and I are hanging in there and running on not much sleep.  It makes us really appreciate having my parents willing hands around because these days we need all the help we can get!  🙂  There are a few pictures of Grace below and some others on the ‘photos’ tab.  There’s also a video coming soon!

We’ve been back together for over a week and we’re loving it!  Eden and Andy are so happy to be together and follow each other around playing and hugging each other.  We haven’t settled into a routine, but are certainly happy and adjusting.  Eden is still doing a lot of processing.  She talks about riding on the plane and leaving Eldoret saying “Now I live in the US!”.  Andy gets very concerned if Eden and Ben aren’t near by and then needs to know where they are. Ben was able to squeeze in two days of work this week and now he is off for the next couple of weeks to help us all recover from the arrival of Grace (see next post).

We’re all enjoying being a family of 5 and getting into a new “normal”.  We will post more pictures soon, but here are a few from our reunion at the airport.