Ducky Outfit

The ducky outfit! Katie bought this for Dallas and wanted it to be the first outfit that he wore so we made it a tradition with Wes too. Figured he was already following his big bro by coming to the NICU.

On Sunday night we roomed in with Wes and was able to put him in clothes for the first time since he was born. Almost a whole week of nothing but diapers! It sure was fun to dress them. I forget how little they are as newborns.

Love his double chin! Newborns always make the funnest faces, and I love Wes'. He makes me laugh.

Had to get myself in a photo. Love this blanket that Mom made for Dallas. It's so cute with the ducks and the yellow back. Fits with his jammies.

Sweet baby, I look forward to taking you home and leaving all the cords, IV's and hospital smells behind!!!

19 Months

Dear Dallas,

I miss you soooooooooo much! I can't believe you are 19 months old today. After holding Wes, it seems like just yesterday I was holding YOU in the NICU. You have grown so quickly and are turning into a toddler way too fast! I am so glad that you are having a great time at Grandma Lovey's. They sure are taking good care of you and it's been so fun to get pictures and daily videos of what you are doing.

Baby Wes is doing good and tonight I got to dress him for the first time. I put him in the ducky outfit that Aunt Katie bought you. This was the first outfit you wore and we thought it would be fun to make it a tradition (since he seems to be following in your footsteps......being in the hospital waaaaaay too long.......). He looks so tiny and it is a little bit too big! It's been fun to see him in clothes and out of the lights. He is so soft and has so many facial expressions that make him look EXACTLY like you! He is your little brother for sure. :)

I love you millions! Lots of hugs and kisses.

Love Mommy

ps- Can't wait for Saturday when I get to see you! I love you!

NICU decor and flowers

Christmas day we got this Christmas Tree beanie. Notice the yellow star at the top? Don't know who made it, but it was a cute surprise.

There is a family who had a baby in the NICU over Christmas and so for the past 15 years or so, they have brought in teddy bears to all the babies. There was roughly 40 babies this year! This was the bear that they brought Wes.

We brought in his stocking and a little penguin to help make his room look a little bit more like the holidays. Made it seem a bit better.

This is the picture that Grandma Lovey and Dallas made for Wes. We have it hanging up. Thanks Dallas! :)

The NICU nurses always make cute name tags for the babies. We still have Dallas'! Guess Wes wanted one too.

Cute little Christmas sign they made him. Tiny fingers, little toes.

Beautiful flowers from Toby's Mom and Dad. Thank you! They were brought to us a few hours after Wes was born. The roses sure smelled great and they were in full bloom. Thanks!

Flowers that Dallas helped Tory and Elizabeth pick out. :) They took such good care of him while we were waiting for Wes to arrive. It was fun to have flowers at the hospital and they made my room look so festive and pretty. Now they are a good thing to see after a long day at the hospital.

Thank you to everyone who has called, sent food and visited us so far. We really appreciate it and know that we are very loved!!!

THANK YOU!

Bili Lights

Hanging out under the Bili Lights. Yesterday was his last day!!! We woke up to hear that his level had dropped from 10.4 to 7.4. This was GREAT news. A normal baby's level should be under 15 but since Wes' case is a little different, they wanted a much lower number and today we got it.
This is what he looks like under them. He has to wear special eye patches to protect his eyes and since he moves all the time, they were a little crooked. Still, you can get a general idea on how he has spent the last 5 days in the NICU.

Poor baby! He has developed a bad diaper rash (sensitive skin + antibiotics + warm Bili lights = diaper rash!) so we've been letting him air it out. Just wanted to capture how he was sleeping. But up and hands tucked under his chest. Love the crooked eye wrap too.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

We got to hold Wes and be off the lights for a while. What a wonderful Christmas present! Yesterday I got to nurse him and then put him back under the lights, but when we came today, we got to just hold him. It was so fun seeing Toby get to be with him longer than just passing him to me to nurse. He is doing much better and his bili levels are slowly going down.


Got him with his eyes open!

Mom and Wes. It is so fun to hold a newborn again. And he seems so small! He's lost a few ounces and is 7lbs 10 oz. Still the biggest baby in the NICU though. :)

Dad telling him Christmas stories. It was a weird Christmas day, but we're glad he's doing well. We sure missed Baby D and I shed a few tears today thinking about him. He is having a great time with my family and I know that he's in good hands.

Updates to come tomorrow.

Wesley James Thornton

Yes, as you can all see we finally named our little boy: Wesley James Thornton. We will call him Wes. He is doing okay, but he is in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit and might be there for ten plus days. They are trying to figure out why his bilirubin levels went up so high and what is going on with his red blood cells. It is also a concern of why Dallas and Wes both went for the same reason and they want to solve this little mystery. It might be a chance that all of our children will end up there for this unkown reason and they want to try and solve it before they let us go home. It sucks being in there because we can't even hold him. Wes is so handsome and is doing good eating. We were able to give him his first bath last night. That was so much fun. We already love him so much.

Mom is doing good with minimal pain, but is sad about the whole NICU thing. Guess we won't be home for Christmas. Dallas still doesn't understand why mom is in the hospital and why he doesn't get to see his little brother. We are going to send Dallas home with Grandma for Christmas because mom will be stuck at the hospital and I will be with him in the waiting room. He won't have any fun here so we decided this would be the best for Dallas and us. We already miss Dallas because we have not seen him that much these last few days. Dallas will have so much fun with his aunts, uncle, and grandparents.
Toby

Pictures :)

BABY BOY HERE!!!!!!

Born 12-21-2009 at 1:48pm. He weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces. Toby got to deliver him. That was awesome. Mom is doing great. We already love him. Thanks Tory for watching Dallas.

Welcome Baby Wesley!

Tammy doesn't have time to post so this is her Mom reporting on the baby....

We interrupt this Christmas season to bring you a baby!

(Oh - kinda like the first Christmas...)

It was really weird to think of leaving home at Christmas time. But really great to be able to to to Boise to help Tammy and actually see my next little grandson be born. So I got all the presents wrapped and prepared 12 days in advance and packed my bags to go.

Dallas ran towards me in the airport. It is so fun that he knows me and loves me. I love that little guy so much. So fun to play with him and see Tammy be a wonderful mother.

We snapped a picture of the Thornton family on the morning of Dec 21 - right before we left for the hospital. Don't they look great!

Labor was just what Tammy had hoped for. She got her epidural in time. Not a lot of discomfort. Got to a 4 on her own. No back pain. Yeah!

When it was time for delivery, Toby changed into scrubs.
Dr. Chasen let him help with the baby this time.


What a great team. This is the nicest doctor. Notice the clock on the wall says 1:40. Baby Wes came at 1:48. 4 pushes and he was here. So different from 3 1/2 hours of pushing with Dallas. Labor and delivery was terrific this time.
Yeah for Tammy and Toby!


WELCOME LITTLE GUY!
WESLEY JAMES THORNTON
12 - 21 -09
7 POUNDS 13 OUNCES
20 1/2 INCHES LONG

Saying hello to their new little son.

What a great experience!

Tammy did a great job.

I think Toby likes him!

What a blessing!

Welcome Wes! We can't wait to get to know you and play with you and spoil you like Dallas.

The Thornton family!

Visit with Santa

LOVE the smirk on Dallas' face. He is such a hoot. This kid is not afraid of Santa one bit. He loves the old man. All he wants to do is sit on his lap and touch his beard. We tried to get him to give us a real smile, but this is all we got. Guess we'll make this a tradition-he did pretty good last year too. What a ham!

***Scanned photo

Update on bambino #2

We'll be induced on Monday-they had an opening for me at 7am.

Went to get my membranes stripped on Thursday---body was totally ready (yea). BUT, my lovely baby decided to have his hand up as if he was waving. Not a good thing if you want your membranes stripped because it could cause my water to break and then we'd have to deliver with a hand up baby---that could cause some major problems with his shoulders (like breaking them) and we'd end up with a C-section. So, no go there.

Had to have an ultrasound to make sure it was a hand and not a foot, thank goodness it was his hand. I do not want to have a C-section if I don't have to.

He'd better pull that hand down by Monday or we'll have a problem!!!! This kid is giving me grief and he's not even here yet!!!!!!

D-DAY-Tuesday the 22

Well---had my doctor's appointment. Dilated to a 3 and still 50% effaced. This baby isn't coming as early as I'd like.

I'll be induced on Tuesday the 22 unless I can figure out some way to get him here now. That's still before my due date so I can't complain.

So until then, I'll be cleaning my house, finishing up last minute Christmas things and going back on Thursday to see if she can strip my membranes. Wish us luck.

YUCK

Wal Mart + Puke = ALL OVER Mom and Dallas

I will never eat Mac and Cheese ever again-even though I'm not the one who puked. Poor Dallas. A Wal Mart trip from Hell. Details to come soon.

After I disinfect the both of us.

Christmas Train Ride

On Saturday we went on a Christmas train ride using the Thunder Mountain Line up in Horseshoe Bend. It was so much fun! We went on the North Pole Express. It was a great day with barely any snow and it wasn't too cold. We headed up there and met Tory and Elizabeth and their clan. We're glad to hang out with family!

Doesn't he look so cute?!? He loved looking out the window at the Payette River and the pretty mountains.

Elizabeth, Tory and Michelle. The train was old fashioned and decorated for Christmas. We sang Christmas carols and they passed out coloring books and crayons and we also wrote a letter to Santa. They said that he always writes back so Dallas is looking forward to getting the mail. :)

Toby, Tammy and Dallas. It was a nice long ride-3 hours total. An hour up, an hour to spend at the North Pole visiting Santa and his Elves and then an hour back. Great way to spend the afternoon as a family.

We made it to the North Pole! There was Santa's workshop all lit up with lights and a place for his reindeer.

There was a village all set up and two huge bonfires to keep warm. We were given cookies and milk as a snack-yum!

Us by the train. You could even sit outside if you wanted too. It was way to cold for me but both Tory and Toby went out for awhile.

Such a pretty day! The mountains just had a dusting of snow and were so beautiful.

We're at the North Pole!

I was worried that Dallas would freak at Santa, but he didn't. He knew exactly who he was and went right to him. We were able to capture a photo-even though D baby isn't smiling, he did have a great time. On the train on the way back, Santa came through the cabins and visited with all the families. I thought that was really nice. He let Dallas touch his beard (which was actually quite beautiful and white--and real!).

The whole clan! We had a great time. Something I would totally do next year.

****Side note-the bathrooms were the SMALLEST I have ever been in. Smaller than a plane's bathroom, and that's saying a lot. I hardly fit and and to figure out how to fit my basketball belly in so I could shut the door. I think it took me 15 minutes or more to actually get in, go to the bathroom and get out. CRAZY. I only did it once---despite how bad I had to go. :)