Relay for Life

Hi everyone -

Relay for Life has snuck up on me this year and we start walking on Friday night! I am behind the curve on getting ready and just started fundraising a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to everyone who has already donated!

This year in addition to walking for Grandma Calnen and Gary I am honored to be walking in Support of Emily too! If anyone else is interested in sponsoring me, you can do so by going here: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/andrearobillard

Fingers crossed for good weather!

Andrea

The calendar...

It looks like Vermont is going to be a busy place this summer - check out the calendar at the bottom of the page, let Meredith or Andrea know if you want us to update with your family visits.

And don't forget that family weekend is going to be Labor Day weekend!

A month of catching up...

Has it really been that long since I sat down to update the blog? Here's what we've been up to...

A week after being home from this hospital Dave, Becky, Gretchen, and Savannah came to visit. Claire enjoyed playing (and fighting) with her cousins.

The Snider grand-daughters, the grandson is due in September.
Jenna just hanging out - I think she was just about 2 weeks here.
During our trip to Massachusetts, Claire got to spend some time playing with Hayley while I visited with Megan.
Dan was trying to make his love for Phish wear off on Claire. She loves wearing her bandana.
So I bought Claire this shirt before Jenna was born and we finally got the matching shirt once Jenna was named. I was so excited to get them in their matching shirts, but unfortunately this was the best picture we got. Maybe next time....
Claires first trip to JJ's for soft serve - think she enjoyed it?
Another shot from playing at Megans house, love those baby blues....
Claire still loves her baby sister and constantly wants to hold her. Every night Claire asks us to lay Jenna in bed with her, and once we do she tells us to leave. They have a few minutes of sisterly bonding before bed.
Time for Jenna to start learning about Clemson - she's big enough, right?
Claire has not been so good about going to bed lately, but she is good about staying in her room. Honestly, we don't really care if she goes to bed, but we do make her stay in her bedroom. Ever wonder what she does in there - here's one example. She pulled Jennas bumbo seat out of the closet and put it in the rocker so she could be comfortable while reading...what a stinker!
More snuggle time
and helping us during bath time
trying to get some smiles before bed
You think we wore her out, this is how she fell asleep. I thought it was so funny that I grabbed the camera and totally forgot to move her into her bed. She slept like this for at least an hour before we remembered to move her to bed.
Do you think Jenna has any idea what she is in for?


A visit from Auna before her trip to Lake Tahoe. Andrea watched Jenna while Mom took a trip to the dentist. Fun times!
So we have been busy - visits from Dans family, a trip to Massachusetts, and a trip to Maryland to visit friends. It is nice to be home with no trips on the horizon until July 4th weekend.

Where has the time gone? - Claire is turning 3 on Monday.....3, can you believe it?? Let's celebrate on Saturday, July 2nd at 1:30 PM on Wishing Well. We will have drinks, BBQ, swim, and have some more drinks. Sounds like my kind of afternoon with family and fun.

Tornado Video

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DpSYQm_xnCC0%26feature%3Dyoutube_gdata_player&h=7eb4a

This is a video of just some of the devastation in our town, some of this was our neighborhood. Fortunately we are all OK.

Family Weekend 2011

Hi everyone -

Here is the PSA from Auntie Paula that Family Weekend is officially Labor Day weekend to ensure Julie is able to join us. Mark your calendars!

Also, don't forget if you email Meredith or Andrea when you plan to be in Vermont, we'll update it on the calendar at the bottom of the page so you can get an idea of when everyone will be around.

Happy Monday!

We've been home for a week

and surprisingly we all survived. Claire is still loving on Jenna as much as possible and Jenna is still sleeping great. Dan and I would much rather stay up late and get Jenna to bed than get up in the middle of the night. I usually nurse Jenna and get her down around 11-12. She goes down great, wakes up once, about 4-4:30ish and then sleeps until 8:30-9. We have had longer stretches, but lucky for us, no short stretches of sleep at night. And she is great going back down to sleep after she eats. Now, if we could only get Claire to not wake up while I am feeding her - Dan loves his girls, but I am sure he would prefer to not have all of us in bed and awake at 4:30 AM. It's just so hard to tell Claire she can't help...she just wants to watch me feed Jenna, change Jenna, and of course sing to her and kiss her and kiss her and kiss her. And now for what you really care about - more pictures.

She constantly wants to hold Jenna - I love it!


Nana worked more than double duty this week...spending most days with me and nights working to help get Andreas new place cleaned up and settled. Well, it's not really "hers" yet, but it looks like it will be come Tuesday.
Love love love this picture - Claires smile is priceless!
After a long week in Germany, Pipere also did lots of work this week. If you didn't hear, Andrea hurt her knee Sunday, MRI is pending. She can't walk so she wasn't able to help much with the moving. Unfortunately, her new townhouse has the garage on the first floor and the second and third floors are living space. Needless to say, Mom and Dad had to do most of the packing and moving. This is how Claire set up Jenna
Claire being a goof....she thought she was soooo funny (and I'm too tired to flip the picture)



Hope you enjoy the pictures - say a little prayer for Andrea as she has a big work decision to make this weekend. I'm sure she'll be happy with whatever decision she makes. Tomorrow Dans brother and his family are coming into town until Wednesday - Dan turns the big 3-0 on Tuesday!! Claire is so excited to see her cousins and I am sure we will have lots of fun. We are heading to Massachusetts for Memorial Day weekend - we would love for everyone to meet Jenna!

Settling in

We are all settling in at home and doing well. The back to normal routine began today as Dan is back to work and Claire went back to daycare. Everything went surprisingly well this morning.

Before Jenna was born I had convinced myself that Claire was such an easy baby and we were destined to have a not so easy baby this time around. So far around we have been proven wrong and we are left wondering what we did to deserve this wonderful baby. First night home Jenna went down around 11:30 and I had to wake her up at 6:30! I was convinced that was a fluke. Next night we put her down again around 11:30, she woke up fussing at 4:15, I nursed her and she was back down and slept until 10AM! Sunday night was the first night it was just the 4 of us - Claire went down without much trouble - she just kept poking her head out to check on "my baby Jenna." Jenna went down around midnight and woke up at 5:45, just about the time Claire was getting up and running into our room. She sat with me while I nursed Jenna, then Claire got up with Dan to get ready for school, Jenna and I went back to sleep until she woke up again at 9:30. We're just hanging out until her pediatrician appointment at 3:00.

Jennas reverse sunglass tan after her stint under the lights. I feel like the pictures make it look worse that it really was.
Claire never liked having her arms swaddled up and so far Jenna likes to have only her right arm swaddled. She looks nice and comfy in her bed.
Hanging out getting ready for bed on Saturday night
Guess these pictures aren't in the right order....this is us breaking free from the hospital. Claire didn't quite understand the wheelchair.
The entire time I was pregnant, Claire said her baby sister was going to bring her a stuffed lion and she was going to bring her baby sister a stuffed elephant. She makes sure Jenna has her elephant at all times.

Jennas umbilical cord fell off Sunday so she got her first bath - it entailed her peeing all over her towel before she got in and then pooping in the tub - fun times!
Snuggling with Mommy :-)
Pictures with Titi before she had to head back to Vermont.

Claire enjoyed giving her baby sister a bath!

More updates

*Update* - Jennas bilirubin levels were down slightly to 10.7 so we were discharged around 7:30 PM. Claire came to the hospital with Daddy and was happy to bring her baby sister home. We will take Jenna back to the hospital in the morning for one more blood test.

Where do we start - I feel like we have been at the hospital forever, but it sounds like we are breaking free tonight.

The name...Miss Jenna Marye Snider. Dan & I had decided on a short list for first names - Jamie, Jenna, Emily, or Abby. It was just a matter of meeting this little girl before we decided for sure and we definitely made the right choice. Jennas middle name was Dans grandmothers first name - pronounced Mary, spelled Marye (there's a story behind it, but I'll let Don explain so I don't mess it up).

Claire has been up to the hospital twice and has enjoyed loving on Miss Jenna. Claire generally pays attention to Jenna for about 15 or 20 minutes and then seems to lose some interest. There is just too much going on. Kristin arrived yesterday to meet Jenna and will be around for the weekend. Pipere arrives from Germany tomorrow night.

Also yesterday morning the pediatrician let me know that Jenna had a mild case of jaundice, with her bilirubin level at 10. He wanted to make sure I was pushing fluids on Jenna and wanted her levels to be tested again Thursday night. She is breastfeeding great and also taking a bottle as part of her feeding. Last night around 11:30 her bilirubin came back at 11.7 - boo for it going up and not down. Around 3AM, the nurses woke me up to let me know they were going to put her under the lights. I woke up around 6 and asked them to bring her in so I could feed her. She had a great feeding, took a bottle and we sent her back to the nursery around 8 AM for another blood test and to be put back under the lights. I passed back out until almost 10 and then found out her levels went up very slightly to 11.9 :-( Now I was getting worried that they were going to keep Jenna and discharge me, but we had to wait for the pediatrician to make his rounds after lunch before we knew anything. After getting up and showered, I asked to nurse Jenna around 11:00, but she was passed out under the lights so we waited a little bit. Just as I was finishing up nursing her and giving her a bottle, I wheeled her back to the nursery just as the pediatrician was walking in. He recommended we keep her under the lights until 6 tonight and then he will order another blood test. Assuming her levels don't shoot up - we will be free (all of us!) to discharge tonight. BUT, we have to bring her back first thing in the AM for one last blood test.

Claire enjoyed giving Jenna a bottle

and so did Auntie Kristing
Claire wasn't really into the pictures as you can tell


Claire was pinching Jennas cheeks to give her a better kiss.
I felt much more rested on Thursday
You can see the yellowish tinge to her skin here - poor thing!




Under the lights on Friday afternoon - hoping this helps!
Can you see how yellow she is around her little eyes where the mask was?
We're still keeping our fingers crossed that tonights results are the same if not lower than they were this morning - we would really love to bring Jenna home with us tonight. Say a little prayer for us...we will keep you updated once we hear something.