home sweet home!

We are home and having a great week with Kate and Drew. I've got a lot more pictures to post of our little girl!

While still in the hospital we took this picture of Kate's feet. They are so tiny! Kate's feet are smaller than Drew's was, which is probably a good thing. Jana and I are fascinated by how delicate her features are compared to Drew. I'm sure some of the difference is in perception, but she actually seems more girl-like than Drew. Here is Kate in one of her hats knitted by Grandma Sue. As she's gotten older, some of the trauma of birth has subsided and her cute features are emerging. She still sleeps a lot, and it's fun to hold her (she's SO light!!).

Jana has been feeling pretty well, aside from being sleep deprived, and she's been up and about quite a bit for having just given birth on Monday.

By Tuesday evening we were ready to go home! With labor, delivery, and our stay after Kate's birth, we were in the hospital for only a little over 24 hours. Jana and I were so excited about going home with Kate. For those of you who watched us do this with Drew, you'll remember that we love to bundle our babies. Kate was fussing a little as we prepared to leave and swaddling her immediately calmed her down.

Jana and Kate got a ride to the front of the hospital where I was waiting with the car and Kate's little car seat. I was so excited to head home with my two ladies! Watch out Jana, there is another woman in my life now :)

Drew was excited to see all three of us when we got home. He immediately rushed over to greet his new sister. He loves to touch her and help us out with caring for her.

Jana needs something to do during those late-night feedings, so she takes pictures of Kate on the couch. She did this with Drew too! Feeding has been going very well with Kate. As with Drew, Jana is breast feeding Kate, and Kate is eating like a champ (unlike her big brother). We had a visit yesterday with the pediatrician, and Kate is doing wonderfully. Her weight is almost back up to her birth weight (she's at 6 lbs. 3 oz.) and her health is excellent. Her color is great and she doesn't have any jaundice.

As she gets adjusted to the world, Kate has been opening her eyes more and more to see what is going on around her. We can't decide yet what color her eyes are going to be. Sometimes they appear dark blue and other times they look more brown. Either way, we love to see her alert and looking around at us!

Look at how little Kate is! She got such a tiny little body! Don't those newborn socks look huge on her?!! Jana strips her down like this for feedings because Kate is still a little sleepy at times, so she likes to fall asleep while eating. If she's nice and cold, then she stays alert and on task with her eating.

This is still what Kate does most of the time . . . sleep and work on being cute!

I'll try to post more pictures from home soon. Our family is doing very well and we're well on the way to getting accustomed to having Kate around. Drew has been an amazing big brother and has handled the addition of Kate very well. He is so helpful! Despite some sleep deprivation, Jana and I are doing much better this time with having a newborn baby around. Kate lets us sleep a little more and she's eating better than Drew did, which has made a huge difference. We are VERY excited about our little girl!!

Katherine Lynn Aupperlee is born!!!!

Baby Kate has arrived!! Now that you know the ending to the story, I'll tell you how it happened and what we're doing right now. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. God has now blessed us with a beautiful little girl and we've already been blessed with a wonderful little boy. We are so grateful!!

This past weekend we had numerous indications that Kate was going to come soon. She dropped much lower, Jana started having some intermittent strong contractions, and Jana even experienced a burst of energy on Sunday night. Yesterday morning we were pretty sure it was going to be the big day that Jana gave birth to Kate, but not much was happening in the way of contractions.

I ended up going to work in the morning to tie up some loose ends, while keeping a careful watch on my phone! As I was on my way home to check on Jana, I got a call from her saying her water broke. It was time to go to the hospital!

Jana was in the kitchen doing some dishes when her water broke and she happened to get on the floor briefly to comfort Drew. Jana joked with Drew that mom peed in her pants and they had a good laugh. Then Jana asked Drew to go to the bathroom and get a blue towel to help mom clean up. Drew left and took a while in the bathroom. Jana called out to him, "Drew is everything all right? Are you coming with a towel?" Drew yelled back, "Soon!" When Drew walked back into the kitchen he was carrying a HUGE wad of toilet paper! Just the thing to clean up pee! :)

Jana and I proceeded to the hospital, and after showing that Jana was indeed in labor because her water broke, we were moved immediately to labor and delivery. Jana's water broke aroun 11:15 a.m., and we were in our labor and delivery room by noon. However, there we few contractions and they weren't very strong. Below is a picture of Jana during labor. She was in pretty good spirits for most of the labor and delivery! At around 2:30 p.m. our doctor decided to give Jana a small amount of pitocin to get things moving. Jana started to have some stronger contractions by about 3:30 and by 3:40 she was ready to start pushing. After four intense contractions and pushes, Kate emerged into the world at 4:04 p.m.!! To remind you, her full name is Katherine Lynn Aupperlee, but we're going to call her Kate. Jana did an amazing job giving birth to Kate and everything went perfectly. Jana is a total trooper and she did the entire delivery naturally with no pain medication. In process Jana officially confirmed that she's way tougher than I will ever be!! I got to cut Kate's umbilical cord, and then I followed her over to the warming lights to help get her cleaned off. After a little bit of oxygen was administered, she pinked right up and wailed away. She calmed down though when her little hand grabbed mine! She was covered in gunk and squalling away, but I loved it when my daughter grabbed my hand with an incredibly strong grib.

As I started talking to her, Kate even opened her eyes and took a peek at me! I was holding onto her with one hand and snapping pictures left and right with my free hand. Kate measured 19 inches long and weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. She is a petite little thing!

As with Drew, our doctor, Dr. Maurer, did a great job delivering Kate. He worked well with Jana and everyone was safe and healthy after the birth. We are very grateful for his assistance!

After Jana and Kate got cleaned up a little bit, it was time for them to bond! Jana is going to breastfeed, so we immediately worked on getting Kate started with that.

When Kate's footprints were taken for her hospital birth certificate, I got the chance to have her footprints inked on my arm. Just like with Drew, I couldn't wait to show off my baby's footprints!

Once everyone left and we got a little time with just the three of us, I was able to get Jana to take a picture of me and Kate. We enjoyed some time in the labor and delivery room with just the three of us.

Kate settled right in enjoying my warmth and the feel of my finger, which she kept tightly grasped. She managed to get one hand in her mouth and used the other one to give me a dirty gesture.

While we were at the hospital, our friend Amy watched Drew for a while. THANK YOU Amy!! My mom also came from Grand Rapids, and she took over watching Drew when she arrived. THANK YOU Mom! It was a huge relief for Jana and I to focus on Kate and know that Drew was being well taken care of.

Last night, Drew came to the hospital with Grandma Sue and with Aunt Christina for his first visit with Kate. Here he is climbing up for his first look at her. Jana was in the process of breastfeeding, and Drew was fascinated by it!

Upon hearing that Kate was born, Jana's sister, Christina, made the drive from Grand Rapids here to Lansing to see Kate and us. My mom, Drew, and Christina all got to see Kate when she was just two hours old!

Here is our first family picture with the four of us! Wow, it sounds weird to say "the four of us." That is going to take some getting used to! Drew was trying to wiggle away and Jana and I were trying to model big smiles for him. Kate was too busy resting to be bothered with the photo shoot. Welcome to family pictures with two little kids! :)Drew was very excited about his baby sister and he was also excited to see me and Jana. He knew something was going on when we left for the hospital, so I think he was glad to see that everything was all right. He's been very affectionate and I'm sure we'll see some more of that as he fights for his share of our attention.

Drew was fascinated by Kate, and said "That's baby Kate. That's baby Kate."

We had a lot of fun watching how Drew would interact with Kate, and so far it has been wonderful. Drew loves being a big brother. On the way home from the hospital he sang to Grandma in the car, "I'm a big brother. Woo-hoo! I'm a big brother. Woo-hoo!" He also said, "Baby Kate is here. Baby Kate is here."

Last night our friends Jeremy and Kristin came by to visit as well. Everyone is excited to take a turn holding Kate. In the picture below Jeremy is taking a turn with her.

Next, Kristin grabbed Kate for some baby time. We were totally surprised when our friend Jayme (Jeremy's brother), who lives in Traverse City, walked into our hospital room. Kristin had helped Jayme plan a surprise visit to Lansing to see me and Jeremy, but Kate surprised us all by deciding to be born!

Without Drew to distract us, Jana and I were able to pose for a good picture with Kate. We are so happy to have her in our family!

As the evening progressed, you could see Kate's face begin to take on a less "smushed" appearance. Sadly for her, she's a dead ringer for her dad. She's got my nose, she's got my lips, and she's got my tall head. Maybe she'll grow out of it! :) Jana and I agree that Kate looks cute like an old man, which is a back-handed compliment for a little girl. We also agree that she is looking more lady-like by the hour and that she is very cute!!

I'm not sure if this picture captures it, but Jana sees a strong resemblance between my profile and Kate's profile.

We took MANY pictures of Kate and lots of her face, so here is another one. Just like with her big brother, we're giving our camera a workout with Kate. So far we've got over 100 pictures and counting!

This morning Jana was perky and ready to have some time with her new baby. We were also excited by the news of getting to go home! After spending several days in the hospital for Drew, we were very excited to go home 24 hours after giving birth.

This morning Grandpa Bill got to see his granddaughter for the first time. She settled right in and was sound asleep while he held her. Last night Grandpa Bill and Grandma Sue stayed at our house with Drew, so that I was able to be at the hospital with Jana and Kate.

Here is the card that marks Kate's crib in the hospital. It also gives you a reminder of the numbers associated with her birth.

Uncle Todd got done with his firefighting shift in Battle Creek, and he also made his way to Lansing for a visit. Kate has already had lots of visitors, and we are very proud to be able to show her off!

Here is one last picture of Kate sleeping. As I'm writing this we are getting ready to go home. Kate has been doing a wonderful job of breastfeeding, Jana is feeling great, and we're excited to get back to our house. It's going to be an adventure to integrate Kate into our family and to have a new baby in the house. Jana and I are excited about being parents to TWO great children!!

One final note: I've been quickly typing this up, and as you might imagine, sleep has been somewhat precious, so please bear with me as I make grammatical and punctuation errors. They'll probably annoy me and I'll go back and fix them later, but for now I wanted to get pictures and information out! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

imaginative play

Drew loves cars and he loves trains. Also, he's getting pretty good at imaginative play. In this video Drew's using his cars to make a train by lining them up end-to-end. He likes to give his cars personalities and so he talks to the cars as well. Each car or truck has a name and he'll give them instructions or scold them if they are being naughty! Jana and I love just sitting and watching Drew do his thing!

At other times, Drew "parks" his cars to make a parking lot. This video starts with a little of Drew's playful singing. He likes to hear his own voice :) Drew proceeds from there to some serious playing with his cars and trucks. These videos are hard to get because Drew always turns around and pays attention to the camera. He won't just continue playing while I'm trying to record him!

In pregnancy-related news, Jana continues to get closer to delivering Kate and we could welcome our little girl into the world at any time. Hooray!!

See pictures of Drew

It has become ridiculously hard to get pictures of Drew right now. Any time I pull out the camera, Drew wants to look at it and see pictures of himself (that little narcissist). He doesn't like to have his picture taken and gets completely distracted by the camera, so many a cute moment has been interrupted by me trying to get a picture of it. In this video, you get a small taste of the whiny tone Drew uses in trying to see his picture on the camera. This tone results in the camera getting put away!

I've got more videos of Drew, but they're still being processed, so I'll post them later (if I have time :)

FINALLY, another post

It has been so long since I've posted that I've almost forgotten how to do it! There is no great reason for my lack of posts, just general busyness. As much as I love looking through pictures of Drew and writing about him, if I have limited free time, I would prefer to spend it with Drew himself and with Jana! Drew has been eating A LOT lately and he continues to grow like crazy. How tall is he going to get?!!

In the picture below Drew was relaxing with me on the couch on a weekend afternoon. He likes to be around Jana and me and will play by himself (often with lots of narration of what's going on).The biggest news since my last post is that Drew is officially in his big boy bed! Yay! This picture was taken the night we set it up and as you can see, his headboard hadn't arrived yet. However, we got the railings up, got his bed all ready, and I don't think Drew even noticed that his bed was missing a headboard.
Drew immediately asked to get on the bed to try it out. We've got him trained so that to get in or out of bed he asks for our permission and then we help him out. I don't think he realizes yet that he can do it on his own!We crept into Drew's room his first night in the big boy bed and took a picture of him sleeping. We ALWAYS go in and check on Drew once a night, but now it's even better than before because he's so accessible. We make sure to lean in for a kiss on his cheek and a quiet "Goodnight Drew." Other than spending time with him awake, our nightly check-in of Drew sleeping is the highlight of our day!

We were nervous about Drew falling out of bed or getting out on his own. Actually, the transition to the big boy bed was probably harder for Jana and me than it was for Drew! We moved Drew's monitor to the living room so that we could hear every move he made in bed, and when he got up, Drew discovered it. He had great fun listening to the monitor while one of us went into his bedroom and talked into the receiver. I'm not sure why he hadn't caught on to this before, but it was a big hit.

Our little percussionist loves to play the drums (or play the couch or the footstool or the floor). He'll use whatever lies around, and in this case he grabbed a spoon.

Grandma Lynn made up a drumming song for Drew, and he was having fun showing off for us with his drum. Drew definitely enjoys basking in Jana's and my attention!

Were we back in Drew's room again checking on him another night? Why yes, we were! Jana and I thought it was pretty cute how he had both his teddy bear and alligator in his arms. When sleeping on his side, Drew loves to pull something close to his chest to snuggle. By the way, our cute little 2-year-old is filling out a pair of 4T pajamas here. He's almost outgrown them!!!

Drew was a big supporter of MSU during the NCAA tournament, although he didn't even seem to notice when they got beaten badly by Memphis. We were in Grand Rapids the day before Easter (a day that MSU played) and we made sure that everyone knew who Drew wanted to win.

Drew was having a lot of fun at Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill's house playing with this barn toy. As you might guess, he does a great job of entertaining himself!Drew also got in a little golf. Drew loves watching golf on TV and will ask me, "See golf on TV? See Tiger Woods?" He also recently picked up the word "Ogilvy," which is his form of Geoff Ogilvy. As much as I love golf, I'm bummed that right now Drew prefers watching golf over basketball. All Drew gets to watch on TV are sports with me, so he probably thinks that the only thing a TV shows is sports!

Jana has now reached 37 weeks with Kate, and we are ready for her arrival any time! Drew arrived at 37 1/2 weeks, so if he was any indication it won't be long. Also, we just saw the doctor and Jana is dilated to 4 cm! (at 10 cm you deliver) Jana is at the stage where she is ready to get Kate out, so we're hoping that we'll get to see Kate soon. People are still amazed at how small Jana's belly is and she's had people at work that have just noticed that she's pregnant. They're quite surprised when they find out that the baby is due in 3 weeks!!

Drew likes playing with my hats, and here he grabbed my LSSU hat. Go Lakers!

We've been getting some gifts for baby Kate, and our friend Nora thought to include a gift for Drew. He was so excited to get to open his own present!

Jana and I have been having a blast lately with Drew. His language is exploding and he's so much fun to be around. Both of us look forward to when Drew gets up in the morning and to seeing him in the evening. Now we are looking forward to adding Kate to our family and getting to know her too! Keep posted for a birth notice for Kate because it is coming soon!