Brenna's 4 months old!!

So time flies when you are having fun huh? Brenna has been doing better since she got out of the hospital. She went back to the doctor on Friday for her hospital follow-up and her 4 month checkup. The dr is happy with her progress and only hears a slight wheeze on her right side. We've cut back on the breathing treatments and she is going back to the babysitter tomorrow.

At 4 months old Brenna weighs 12 lbs and is in the 20th percentile for weight - this is up from 10th percentile at 8 weeks old. She is also 25 inches long - that puts her in the 75th percentile for height! To compare (which the doctor specifically told me not to do) Jacob weighed 14lbs and 3 ozs at 4 months old and was 25.5" in length.

Here are a few pictures from this week:

Jacob showing off for the camera..

Daddy giving Brenna a breathing treatment.. Brenna sleeping right through it all

Brenna getting ready to eat her first food. Not quite sure what to expect and is looking a little scared. I find it odd that with Jacob they specifically told me not to give him any food until he was at least 6 months old. Apparently there is new research that indicates that food allergies are avoided when introducing foods earlier. Squash here we come!
Looking sad.. Mom what are you doing to me?

Hmm.. maybe this is good!

Nope, initial reaction was right. This is not very good and I'm going to spit it at mom! LOL

Brenna's 4-Day RSV Hospital Stay

As most of you already know Brenna was admitted to the hospital last Sunday. We debated all day Sunday if we should take her in because she was worse than when we saw the doctor on Saturday. Finally at 6pm we called the doctor and described her symptoms. We were told to go to St. John's Children's Hospital for an evaluation.

Matt stayed home with Jacob and my mom and I headed in for what we thought would be a quick ER visit. Not so much.. We were admitted after they confirmed her oxygen levels were low. Not so bad timing as all the weather reporters were predicting a huge snow storm to hit St. Louis. Unfortunately, the mega-storm never came but our little girl had high respiratory rates (rapid breathing), low oxygen saturation levels and crackling and wheezing in her right lung.

The next few days revolved around supportive care including breathing treatments every two hours and oxygen. We tried several time to lower/eliminate her oxygen but she wasn't having it until Wednesday. Brenna was so good during it all - every nurse commented how happy she is and on the huge smiles she was giving them all no matter how much she was struggling.

We are home now and will follow-up with the doctor tomorrow (Friday). Below are a few pictures from the last 4 days.. they were taken with my phone so I apologize for the fuzziness.

Brenna and Nonna - Nonna was our only visitor since the weather predictions were horrible. Nonna was also nice enough to deliver my meals morning, noon, and night. Without her I would not have been eating as I was alone at the hospital with Brenna. Matt was hunkered down at the house with Jacob waiting for the storm to hit. For those of you that do not know, my mom is the director of surgery at St. Johns and was stuck at the hospital with hundreds of nurses, therapists, techs etc who did not leave for days based on the weather predictions.

Brenna so close to rolling over. She did do it once at the hospital but I think it was a fluke thing. Nothing like rolling over for the first time when you are in the hospital.


Happy baby with her oxygen

All smiles even sick!!

Thanks for all the prayers, calls, e-mails, etc while we were in the hospital. Also, thank you to our neighbors Steve and Crystal for feeding Matt and Jacob while we were in. A HUGE thank you to my mom for taking good care of us while we were there as well. Again, I will say we have the best pediatrician ever. He came to see us each day even when it was snowing or he had the day off. He would call us at night as well to make sure we were still okay. Dr. Bob is honestly the best and I owe him LOTS of cookies for taking care of our sickly children.

RSV has hit our house

RSV has struck the Beffa house! What a sickness filled 9 days it has been. First, Jacob had croup last week and was home for 5 straight days. Then on Tuesday Brenna started to have a cough. I assumed it was a small touch of what Jacob had and didn't think too much of it. On Saturday we grew a little more concerned and asked Nonna to come listen to her chest. She suggested we see the doctor. Saturday morning we called Dr. Bob and he met us at the office to see her personally. He heard the wheezing in her lungs too and wanted to test for RSV. The test came back immediately as positive and minutes later she was getting her first breathing treatment. After a little scolding from Dr. Bob about how I should have brought her in sooner, we were on our way home with a nebulizer machine for breathing treatments every 4 hours. We are continuing to watch her very closely and are doing our best to stay out of the hospital .. so far so good but no promises from Miss Brenna. Please say a little prayer for her!

Here are a few pictures of the kids the past few days...

They LOVE their Anywhere chairs from Pottery Barn. Brenna got a sneak peak at hers since Jacob found her 1st birthday present. This was when Jacob was just getting over croup and Brenna was just getting her cough. I believe this was Brenna's 3rd outfit of the day as well (in case you were wondering why it doesn't match at all).. ha, ha

Brenna getting a breathing treatment at home... doing well here but she hates them!
Breathing treatment at home

Taking a nap on the couch today

Mommy's angel

Jacob & Brenna 3 months

Here are comparison pictures between the kids.. do they look alike? I see it for sure..

There is a very big difference in their personalities . Brenna is extremely laid-back and a very easy baby. Jacob was more high-maintenance but has grown into a very independent little boy. Honestly, it's likely the difference in parenting between our first and second child. We followed all the books exactly with Jacob and are much more relaxed with Brenna and that has likely impacted her behavior. We are very lucky parents to have such awesome kids!

Brenna 3 months

Jacob 3 months - in Husker gear!

Brenna 3 months

Jacob 3 months

Next month Brenna goes for her 4 month check-up. It will be interesting to see how she falls on the charts compared to Jacob. Jacob was always off the charts for height and petite Brenna is lucky to even be on them!

Random January

Here are some random January pictures.. Brenna 3 months and Jacob 2 years

Tummy time for Brenna - Trying to ignore Jacob who is likely bothering her

Jacob is being a ham here - this is the night after we got their formal pictures taken and he is now doing what the photographer wanted him to do the day before.

Again being a ham.. Betsy wanted him to kick his feet for pictures the day before while laying like this and he refused.. during this picture he was saying "mommy kick, mommy kick".. little stinker!

Peaking out of his tent.. he loves to play in here

Brenna sleeping like the angel she is..

Jacob and Daddy - Matt was very sick at the end of December and beginning of Jan so Jacob was very Daddy-deprived. He couldn't wait to spend time with him again.

Baby Sister smiling

This picture just cracks me up.. look at those cheeks!

Last Thursday we got a lot of snow in St. Louis. Official measurements in our area were 9.6 inches. When I picked Jacob up after work I was warned that he didn't feel very good. We were home about 2 minutes and he threw up all over. Over the course of the night he got progressively worse. Around 1am, Matt woke me up and told me that Jacob's cough was sounding odd. It sure was! I immediately got him up and tried to figure out why my little boy was barking like a dog when trying to cough, keeping in mind he is allergic to pertussis so he is not vaccinated against whooping cough.

We made it through the night and Nonna took him to the dr the next morning. Turns out he has his first round of croup (thank goodness it was not whooping cough). He has been sick ever since with fever, throwing up, a horrible cough, runny nose, etc. The worst part is he has suddenly developed a horrible fear of medicine and when we force him to take it he throws up all over. It's been a real joy the last 4 days and to top it all off I'm feeling sick now too. We are hoping to all get well soon. Below are a few pictures of Jacob falling asleep while watching the Cars movie in front of the fire place. He was one tired little boy as he has not been sleeping well at night.

Once we realized he had moved his chair so close to the fireplace (where he couldn't see the movie) we knew he had to be sleeping over there. Such a pitiful little guy when he's sick. Mom loves the cuddle time though!

Jacob Turns Two!

Happy Birthday Jacob! We celebrated in style with a truck party! Lots of family and friends were able to join us and Jacob has the best time! He had so much fun over two days it was truly amazing !

Just woke up from a nap and was surprised by the balloons and hard hats. He wanted to get into the hats before his friends arrived. Sure, why not? After all, it's Jacob's birthday!

Ready to go .. balloons in hand and hard hat on (even if it is on backward).

Jacob and his best buddy Daniel waiting for the party to start!

Opening presents with his cousins.. he really liked the firetruck as you can tell.. he wouldn't even let it go to see what the next present was (by this point his older cousin Ella was helping).

Brenna - eying Jacob's presents!

Opening his favorite present of all time - a VACUUM!!

Jacob vacuuming with his cousin Anthony

Home-made Truck Birthday cake... this stretched my expertise a little but turned out pretty good.

Cupcakes with hard hats and tools

Blowing out his #2 candle

At the end of the night and wouldn't let go of that vacuum!

The next morning and the vacuum is still here! YAY!!

Jacob's actual birthday (the day after his party). We celebrated at home with cupcakes and he got to blow out the candle again.

Eating a cupcake on his actual second birthday!!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Milestone Pictures

Jacob and Brenna got their pictures professionally taken and they turned out fabulous. We were celebrating Jacob turning 2 and Brenna being 3 months old. Jacob really doesn't like getting his pictures taken but we opted for a private photographer which worked out so much better. Here are the final shots.

Jacob 2 years old!

Mommy's favorite!

I love this one too - he was looking up at a balloon and laughing

Brenna 3 months old!

Really like this one - looks like she's a little snow angel

Mommy's favorite of Brenna - she is such a sweet baby and this face matches her personality.

Pictures are the work of Betsy Piemann - www.imagesbybetsy.com