The week in review

In case you are wondering why there isn't a day 3 of Juliet, followed by day 4 and so on...things took a turn for the insane right around day 3. The short version is that Juliet was losing a lot of weight despite nursing well and became dehydrated. The decision was made that she needed to be transferred to a NICU to get IV fluids and re-hydrate before figuring out what was making her spit up rather than digest the food she was ingesting. The main issue is that the birthing center I delivered at did not have a NICU which meant Juliet got transported to a hospital a half hour away. At first I (Elizabeth) thought it was crazy for all of us to be headed there in the middle of the night before it dawned on me that I couldn't go with her because I wasn't discharged yet. Joshua and I decided that he would go with her and I would stay until being discharged the next day. Worst night of our lives...by far. Juliet arrived at the NICU in the middle of the night Tuesday night and was discharged on Friday afternoon after re-hydrating and slowly doing a good job ingesting and digesting milk. We are thankful to the NICU staff who were great and we are grateful beyond words for my Mom and Joshua's parents and sister Rachel who took care of Sydney and Evelyn so we could focus on being there for Juliet as much as possible, my recovery, and just generally not losing our minds. Juliet is doing much better and had her first well check yesterday. She had gained a little weight back since being discharged from the NICU and will go again on Friday for another weight check to make sure things are moving in the right direction. We are so thankful to have her home with us. Nothing shows you how fragile life is quite like hanging out in a NICU for several days. Once we regained our composure, we started to take pictures again...here are some images from the rest of Juliet's first week of life.

Day 2 of Juliet

Adding more JAM

Introducing Juliet Abigail Munz-born this morning 5-12-2013.  She was 8 pounds 4 ounces and 20.5 inches long.  She is doing well as is Elizabeth, who is recovering from surgery.  Below are some pictures of Sydney and Evelyn's first meeting with their younger sister along with Nana Faucher.

Happy Birthday, Sydney!

Here are some photos of Sydney's birthday so far...note her new look (she cut her hair this weekend and donated it to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths!

Pancake Letters!

Opening a gift from Aunt Lorraine and Uncle George

Playing a duet with Evelyn in her "birthday" dress from Auntie Mame and Uncle Steve

Birthday bike ride

Evelyn soaking it all in

Mini cake

Opening the card and gift from Auntie Kate, Uncle Aaron and Ryan

Checking out the new trucks!

Sydney and Evelyn celebrated their birthdays at school on Monday with artistic fruit salads (that is also where they made their birthday crowns!)

Sydney's Bigi Yari

Sydney celebrated her upcoming 5th birthday in style at the Mid-Hudson Children's Museum. When Joshua and I were in Suriname, they called birthdays that ended in 5s and 0s "bigi yaris" and we decided that is how frequently we can embrace the hoopla surrounding kids' birthday parties. Here are some photos from the event! We are grateful to friends and family who were able to make the trip and to friends and family who were there in spirit!

Easter

We have a lot of catching up to do in terms of posting pics from winter-related activities on the blog but I thought some Easter photos would be nice to see...

Joshua's Birthday

Things have been a little nuts for us here (more on that in future posts). To help celebrate Joshua's birthday I asked the girls (separately) what they love about him, what they love doing with him, and what makes him special. After that, I turned their responses into a poem. The content is theirs even if the rhymes are mine and Sydney came up with the first line all by herself. Enjoy!

What does Daddy’s birthday need? Just a silly poem

There are so many fun things Daddy does with us at home!

We play games like “Dinosaur Bingo” and “Hide and Seek,”

He also traces our hands capturing each valley and peak

“Which hand is it in?” and “I spy” are favorite games of ours

And when we need some down time we read books about astronauts and stars

In short, our Dad is no slouch -

And when we get wild and crazy he warns us not to break the couch

We venture to fun places like Minnewaska and playgrounds,

On a sunny day the rail trail is most likely where we’ll be found!

At the supermarket we help Daddy and sometimes pick things out,

In the backyard we plant a garden and spread the seeds all about

At special times Daddy takes us to Maddie and Leah’s in Baltimore

And when we’re sick he takes us to the doctor so we can be sick no more!

We love Daddy because he makes funnies, laughs and jokes

He boils eggs for us and even lets us eat them without the yolks

Daddy likes us and he loves us with a smile that can’t be beat-

When we make good choices and use our manners he even gives us special treats!

We love Daddy even though he only has a face (and not a mustache like Owen’s Daddy)

To sum it up, having Daddy as our Daddy makes our hearts so very happy!

Love, Sydney (4) and Evelyn (2)