Crazyville

Yes, it is crazy at our household. Life with a two year old and a newborn is SO hectic. I love them so much and would not trade it for the world...it's just hectic!!! Maddie is growing SO fast. As of last Friday, she already weighs 13 lbs at 8 weeks old! She has outgrown her 0-3 month clothes and has moved on up into the 3-6 month clothes. Size one diapers are too small. Last week, she started to not sleep at all during the night if we laid her in the crib. I ended up taking her to the doctor because she acted like her stomach was killing her. Come to find out that the antibiotic I was on for the last two weeks for strep throat tore up her stomach. So now I am giving her a culture to straighten out everything in her stomach/intestines. I can tell some improvement already.

In order to give her the culture, I had to use a bottle with her for the first time Friday. Of course, I was really trying not to use a bottle at all, but had to. She is definitely not crazy about it. I feel she should be eating directly from me so introducing a bottle was not something I wanted to do. I don't mind nursing her around the clock if it means she is getting the best start to life that she could possible have...breastmilk!

Riley is doing very well too. He has been seeing an OT for about 8 weeks now for sensory/low muscle tone issues. I can't believe all the improvement he has made. He starts speech therapy tomorrow. I look forward to my little man talking!!!

Andy is extremely busy with work. Riley looks forward to his daddy getting home from work every night.

Maddie's first trip to Kingsport

We visited Kingsport a couple of weeks ago. I am finally getting around to posting some picts from the trip. It has been hectic here with a 2 year old and a 6 week old. Maddie is trying to recover from a G.I. bug while I am taking antibiotics for strep. Besides that, we are doing pretty well. Maddie is growing like a weed!!!

Maddie's first trip to the park

We took Maddie to Concord Park last week. Of course, she slept through the whole trip. Riley sure did have fun running up and down the trails.

2 weeks old

Maddie is 2 weeks old today...hard to believe. We are enjoying every moment of it!

Visitors

We have enjoyed all the company lately. Riley LOVES the extra attention.

Cousin Rhonda & Bill:

Grandma & Grandpa Sproles:

9 Days Old

I can't believe that Maddie is 9 Days Old!!! Where does time go? Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

Maddie is a happy baby...



Spending quality time with mamaw...



Riley likes to pick out his own music on iTunes...



Maddie spending time under the light to reduce her bilirubin levels...



Maddie checking out her swing while Riley watches...



Maddie's first time in the bouncer...

Update on Madison

Just wanted to thank everyone who has emailed me or called. It's been great catching up with everyone! Madison is doing well. Just like her big brother, her bilirubin count got pretty high on day 4 of life. So she spent yesterday and last night on a light table. After taking her back to the dr today, everything looks great and her jaundice is dimenishing.

She is nursing so well. She LOVES to eat. It was great to see that she had gained two ounces from yesterday to today's doctor's visit.

Some of you know that the hospital pediatrician thought that Madison had a heart murmur. We took her to Children's Hospital on Tuesday for an echocardiogram. Turns out that she has a bicuspid chambered valve instead of a tricuspid valve (an aortic valve that only has two leaflets instead of three). Her doctor reassured us that this is common and nothing to worry about. We will still meet with the cardiologist in August to discuss her results. So we are praying that everything will be fine with this issue.

A little bit of gardening

Andy and I decided to try and grow a few veggies on our deck this summer. The plants haven't produced alot of veggies, but we are excited about the ones that have. Hopefully we will have some raised beds next summer.

.

Welcome Baby Girl Sproles

On Friday, July 25th at 1:08 p.m., Madison ("Maddie") Emma Sproles was born. I went in for the induction around 7 a.m. My pitocin was started around 9 a.m. When Dr. Shirk checked me around noon, I had not dialated past the 4 cm that I have been for 3-4 weeks. So, he broke my water. I knew the contractions would get intense, but what happened next was not expected. My contractions came on so hard that I dialated from 4 to 9 cm in about 30-40 minutes!!! The main nurse was yelling for the other nurses to get in the room. They were also frantically paging my doctor. He got there just in time.

With Riley, I had time to get an epidural. Not with this one. Yes, I HAD NATURAL CHILDBIRTH!!! Although it was the most painful experience of my life, the results were well worth it. We have a beautiful baby girl that weighs in at 9 lbs and 3 oz!!! She is 21.5 inches long and has beautiful brown hair. Here are a few picts. I will update as time allows.

Induction Set

I went to the OBGYN today. I'm still at 4 cm so the doctor has set my induction for this Friday at 7am-Baptist West. Please say a prayer that all goes well!!!

Hanging Out & Waiting

While still awaiting the arrival of baby girl Sproles, we are trying to find some fun things for Riley to do. A couple of weeks ago, we took Riley to the UT Gardens for Blooms Day Festival. He really enjoyed running around and watching all the people. Riley has also really enjoyed mamaw Harris' company...she is helping out since I'm still on bedrest. He loves to sit and jump on her!

Riley LOVES his GeoTrax train set that he received for his birthday. Our living room is shrinking due to the ever expanding track system!!!

Lastly, one of my high school/college friends, Alice, made a beautiful lap quilt for our baby girl. As soon as I received it, Riley took a great interest in it. He loves the bright colors and softness. I'm not sure how I'm going to convince him that this belongs to his sister...hummmm.