News and Updates
***Background-Garden of the Gods Colorado
Athena/Beatrix Wellness Visits Feb 2020
It's always amazing how fast these kids grow! As of yesterday Athena was 40.5 inches tall, and 46 lbs. She is hitting the fiftieth percentile right now, but has grown 4 inches over this past year!
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Beatrix is now 23.5 inches tall, and weighs in at 10lbs 11.5 oz. she's coming up on doubling her birth weight pretty fast. This Friday (Valentines Day) she will hit 14 weeks old!
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Beatrix is in the 5th percentile for weight, and the 50th percentile for height, so she is long and slender. However since she was a month early her percentiles are based off of her actual age, but if you rolled her back a month she would be higher of the charts.
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Besides height and weights are kids are perfectly healthy!
Christmas 2019
Another Christmas in Denver down, and i can hardly believe it! It's been such an exciting year, we had our first out of state visitors with my mom and Sister, Athena started school, and we had baby Bea! They say it takes a village and ours definitely came through this Christmas. Knowing we would have a baby for the holidays and i would be out on maternity leave we started Christmas shopping back in June! Kids had lot sof gifts from family as well, and even some gifts under the tree from the kids teachers. I will make a Christmas blog shortly with lots of pictures and a breakdown of what all the kids got and from who. Since we have family from out of state some of the gifts where bought her in Denver by Brandon and I but were from out of state family, so it might be nice for people know what it is the kids got from them =)
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Personally as a kids Christmas was very magical for me. Growning up in a family that didn't have a lot of money, i felt the magic of the season when I'd see the presents under the tree.
Somehow no matter what sort of year our family had, somehow my parents made sure we had presents under the tree, and that always made the Holiday season feel special. We have some great kids, they truely work hard, and are special little people, polite and caring, and full of love. They are very deserving of magic, so we do our best to make their holidays for of surprises as well! Merry Christmas to everyone and thank you for keeping the magic alive even from afar for the kids!
Baby Bea Growth update
Last night (dec.9th) Beatrix got weighed and measured for the first time in two weeks. She has grown even better than hoped. I orginally asked her doctor how much she anticiapted her to grow since we had been coming in for weight check in's with her original weight drop so high. her doctor had guessed she would check in at 7 lbs.
Last night she actually checked in at 7lbs 5oz, 19.75 inches! This is just two and half weeks from her weighing 5lbs 2oz, 18.5 inches!
Beatrix is still small for her age, but when taking into consideration that she was born a month early, her pediatrician says she actually measures at a perfect 50th percentile for weight and Height. I can't believe how much she has grown in the past month. From Preemie clothes, to starting to outgrow Newborn!
Back To School
The kids had a nice long break for Thanksgiving, ten days! It was nice to have some quality family time with everyone. However everyone is back to school this week, just a few more weeks and the kids are back on Holiday break again!But for now this means Bea and Mommy quality time a couple times a week =)
Baby Bea Doctor update
Yesterday was Beatrix's third doctor visit since coming home 2 weeks ago. The doctor was pleasantly surprised how much weight she had gained. She is now considered to have hit full term, even though she was born back on the 8th and her due date isn't until December 4th. But she has passed her birth weight finally!
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Beatrix was:
-5 lbs 13 oz when she was born
-5lbs 5 oz when she left the hospital 48 hours later
-5lbs 2 oz when she saw her doctor 3 days later
-5lbs 4.5 oz when she came back for her weight check after a new feeding schedule (2 days later)
-6lbs A week later after revised feeding plan!
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Because Bea has finally hit what they consider full term, and her weight has increased so well, with her increased intake, we no longer have to wake her up every two hours to eat, she allowed to sleep as long as she wants wich is awesome since over the weekend we had one night of 6 hours and another of 7!
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Besides her weight, everything else with Bea is perfect, she's spending more time up and alert checking out her family, and overall is a happy baby with almost no crying unless she wants fed or changed, couldn't have asked for an easier baby =)
Report Cards
It's that time of year again, and the kids first report cards of the year (Athena's has shown up yet) are in! Donovan and Kira have both improved this year. I'd like to think that is due to them going to the same school for the second year in a row. They don't have to catch up to wherever this district is in learning they're already there. Donovan has improved from last year, you can tell he is a lot more grown up and comfortable with school. He is inline to meet his goals on his next assesment, and as far as effort goes he above and beyond. He is currently learning how to read and how to do math. Donovan seems to really like all of his specials, but has been pretty excited about working with Clay in Art class, and learning new songs and games in music.
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**The kids each have 5 "specials" they go to at school. Music, Gym and Art are week long classes that rotate, STEM and Library is every week. So Donovan has 3 classes he goes to each day, and Kira who has a homeroom teacher and a literacy teacher (1st -5th do this) has 4 classes she goes to per day.
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Kira has also improved over last year, her reading is finally on par and she is no longer behind. This is a huge win for her, who had to almost start over on reading last year, she started 2nd grade testing in at halfway through kindergarten in level, she did a lot of work at home (even though she hated it at the time), and she participated in reading partners at school, and now she is right on par with the rest of her peers. Kira has been learning multiplication this year and has really been enjoying STEM, where she has already made her own video game, and a comic book on the computer. (I wish i had, had STEM as a kid) She has also been pretty excited about art class, because now that she is in 3rd grade they are allowed to use the hot glue guns.
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So Proud of these guys for working so hard!
Beatrix's Fist Doctors Appointment. . . .
This Past Wednesday Beatrix had her first doctors appointment since coming home from the hospital on Sunday. She had dropped to her lowest weight since birth (5lb 2oz) but we were assured this would be ok since this was the day babies generally hit their lowest birth weight.
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We were put onto feeedings every two hours vs. three to get her weight back up with a hope she would gain half an ounce a a day until we came back Friday for a weight check. She was also tested one more time for Jaundice.
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Beatrix's Jaundice test was perfect, she our first child who didn't have to sit under the lights for one period of time our another. And when we came in for her weight check she did twice as good as hoped and had gained an ounce a day bringing her up to 5lbs 4.2oz! Next doctor appointment is this Friday.
Beatrix Rose has Arrived . . . .
Beatrix Rose was born on November 8th, at 5:15pm.
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5lbs 13 oz, 18 1/2 inches long
OMG Baby Number 4
Beatrix Rose is scheduled for delivery November 20th!
