Biliruben Time

So, as you can tell from the altered layout of the blog, Isabelle Katherine Pack was born. She was scheduled to be induced on 11 September at 0600, but decided to come early by making a hole in the amniotic sac at 12:20 am of 11 September. After about 6 hours of labor, she was born by C-Section due to reduced heart rate during contractions. She came out with the cord around her neck, so it was a good thing they did the C-section. We had to stay in the hospital for 48 hours, and at the end of that time, she had started to develop jaunice. At first, we just thought it was her half asian side coming out, but then, she started to look like a banana, so we realized it was her Bilirubens...Jaundice is caused when "bilirubens" in her blood build up faster than the liver can break it down. It is usually harmless, and should go away in about a week, when her liver starts to catch up. To help this process, Izzy needs lots of sunlight and to eat a lot. I feed her really often now, and sometimes we try to put her in the sunlight, but it's hard to find the right balance of sunlight and getting her too hot.



Here's Izzy in her carseat, in sunlight. She didn't like the sun in her eyes, so we blocked it with a blanket.



Now you can see her face. She actually loves her car seat!



This is Izzy, close up.



And here, she is looking concerned because Biliruben time is taking too long.

Hike up Huachuca Canyon

Chris and I and the dogs went hiking up Huachuca Canyon this morning. First, we took them to the (relatively) new dog park on post and let them run around for a bit. Then, when it seemed they were tired (Rai was faking), we went hiking. We walked for about 15 minutes up, and then came back down. Because it's monsoon season here, there was more water than expected. Eden tried to drag me through the water a couple of times, but Rai was much worse. If anyone went in front of him, he threw a little fit, to include barking, and taking off across the water, regardless of how far his leash went. Twice (yes, not once, but twice), he tried to leap across a small creek, and got jerked back by his leash, and landed on his side in the creek. Twice. And because he was on his back in the water, wedged down in the rocks, he couldn't flip over to stand up and walk out. He just wiggled around on his back for awhile, until he was thoroughly wet all over, and then when he calmed down, he rolled over and walked out. He was not hurt either time he fell in, but now he smells like dirty puppy, and dirty creek water.

We also took a bunch of pictures of Chris running with the dogs. First, they were just of Rai, while I "held" Eden and took pictures, but after she barked enough to attract wild animals, we let her run over to Chris to join in the photos.


This is our athletic family.

The Death of Dot Duck Sqeak

Eden and Rai love squeaky toys. They pounce on them. They throw them around the room. And eventually, they kill them. In the current instance, Eden and Raisin put together a joint effort to destuff our friend, Dot Duck Squeak. Somehow, they ate open the stomach, then pulled the stuffing out.



In this first photo, they have just begun destuffing the duck. Usually, one of them pulls a leg off, or bites off some part that sticks out, but Dot Duck Squeak is round (hence the "Dot" part of his name), and so Rai and Eden had to get creative, and somehow ate a hole in the duck's stomach. Then, they proceeded to lick the stuffing out of him.



While Rai is all about the carcass, Eden seems to like eating the stuffing. When they are done, she'll often have stuffing hanging from her mouth, or waving around on her tongue as she tries to lick it.



When there isn't much left, they play tug-o-war over the remaining limp shell that was once Dot Duck Squeak.



There is no honor in this death.



And no decent burial...

4 weeks to go

I officially have 4 weeks to go until Izzy's is due to enter the world. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and Nurse Prince told me that Izzy seemed to be about 5 lbs so far, but that's a rough estimate (obviously). I'm glad she's only 5 lbs. I've been really worried that she's going to be huge (since I feel huge) and then she wouldn't fit to come out. Now, my only concern is that 3 of the 5 lbs are her head. Isabelle has been more rolly and less wiggly lately...probably because her big head is taking up all the space. I've also realized that she has learned that she has heels, knees, and elbows, and she likes to jab them at me really hard. I love watching her move, but sometimes, she surprises me with a good whomp.

Chris thinks Izzy is going to come early, and so do I. I used to think she was going to come late, but like I've said before, I also thought she was twin boys. I hope this "motherly-instinct" thing increases with actual birth.

Anyways, Chris is always trying to take pictures of me looking pregnant, which is not at all attractive, so I've cropped out my head, and left my belly. That's the important part, anyways.





This is what I look like pregnant. Just imagine that I actually have appendages.

Super Rai

Chris stuck a Banana sticker on Raisin's head the other morning. There's not that much I can say to explain it, other than...it seemed like the thing to do. Rai spent some of the time trying to get it off, and the other part of the time looking "Super".



See the sticker? I looks a little like a superman thing, and the colors really looked good on Rai.



Here's Rai, being good for the picture. Eden always tries to lick the camera. Rai actually poses.



In this one, Rai is trying to scratch the sticker off. He's got this phantom scratch thing he's been doing since he was little, where he tries to scratch, but never hits anything, so his leg just wiggles there in the air. It happens most often when he tries to walk and scratch at the same time.



And here's the final shot of Rai...the real question is..."super" at what?

Well, we can bring her home...

One of the big things weighing on our minds was that we had not gotten a car seat and stroller yet. My family had given us the money to get one, and we placed an order for it, but then it went on back order, and we were nervous that it wouldn't arrive on time. So, I found it at Babies R Us in Tucson, and had them hold it for us. We went up there this weekend, and looked at it, and decided that we liked a different car seat better. I had initially wanted the Chicco Keyfit 30, which would keep the baby rearfacing until she hit 30 lbs, but Babies R Us was selling the regular Keyfit, which goes up to 22lbs, as a system with the stroller we liked, for $40 less, which was great because that was actually closer to the amount my family had given us. Plus, we liked the color better. And we realized that after Izzy outgrew the infant car seat, we had to get another one anyways, and the convertible ones now come rearfacing, too, so we could keep her that way anyways. So, we purchased the Chicco Cortina Travel System in Discovery (Green), and we set it all up, and so far, it looks pretty good! We'll see if we still love it a year from now...



Here is the car seat. Unlike most car seats, it has a rounded bottom, so we will not be able to set it in grocery carts, but, I read that doing that is not safe anyways, so it will keep us from tossing her over the side.



This is the inside of the car seat. It comes with padding for when Izzy is still super little. Then, the padding can come out and she won't be as squished when she is bigger. And the head support is separate than the body support, so we can still make sure her head doesn't wiggle around. Though, if she comes out with a head MY size, she may not even need the head support...



Here is our stroller. It is in the fully reclined position in this picture, because to put the car seat in, that's the way the stroller has to be. The baby tray is removeable and dishwasher safe. The footrest is adjustable, also. The push bar thing is super padded, and adjustable also, so it works for short people and tall people. Also, there is a parent tray, for a drink, and a closable thing that can hold other stuff. The front wheels lock for different types of terrain.



This is how it looks with the car seat in the stroller. It locks really nicely, and comes out super easily.



This it how the "system" works with all the cover things up. I like that it covers her completely. And it has plastic up top, so I can see in. So, all in all, we like it so far!

New Pack 'n Play for Izzy

Since we can't fit the crib out of the door to get it in our room when people visit, we needed a pack n play. I had registered for one with cows or moons or something like that, but when we went to Target with all of our fantastic gift cards, it was gone, and Chris fell in love with the Winnie the Pooh one...which, after shipping, was about what we were going to pay for the cow/moon one. So, we bought the Winnie the Pooh one for Izzy, and finally set it up. Can I just tell everyone that Graco needs to work on their assembling instructions. There were pictures by numbers, and every once in a while, would have the word "Snap!". But, I finally got it together and moved the bookshelf in our bedroom, so there's room for it, at least. But now that I've got it up, we don't have room for the fan, so I'm going to pack it up until Izzy shows up. But here are some pictures of the newest addition to the baby collection...


We got the one with the bassinet and the changing table and the mobile.


Did you know that the mobile doesn't actually move unless you bought the windup one? So it's actually an "immobile".


While Izzy is little, she'll probably sleep in our room in the bassinet, but then later move to the crib in her room....