Magnolia's 2nd Month

Maggie has the best big brothers in the world.  They couldn't wait to catch up on giving her hugs and kisses. 

Big brother Evan is a baby expert. 

The girls

Our first family pictures after coming home from the hospital. 

Meeting Papa 

Maggie and I were very tired after finally coming home so we enjoyed some snuggling in the bed.  

My little strawberry princess

Oh but she has a temper!  

Sweet baby

Her sweet 5 week pictures.  She wasn't super cooperative at first.  We have been doing lots of photography "training."  

The girls are ready for church. 

Wearing her little sister outfit. 

Spending time with some of her heroes, Daddy, Evan, Black Panther, Captain America, Spiderman, and Mommy. 

Already six weeks old and making big changes. 

Sweet swan princess. 

Time for her check up and weight check. 

She is definitely "worth the wait." 

Snuggling on Mommy and Daddy are her favorite things. 

Pretty in pink

Little Diva! 

7 weeks old

Cutie pie in her little tutu. 

Naps on her boppy pillow are also a favorite pasttime. 

Big brother Mattox adores her.  He argues with Mommy about whose baby she is.  He says, "My Maggie!"  I love outfits with cute things on the booty.  My little monkey girl! 

We finally had Miss Maggie's shower over a month late.  She was supposed to have one the week she arrived. 

It was a simple affair because we did it before our Wednesday night church class, and the kids needed to use the space.  

It was mostly a chance for some sweet ladies to love on Maggie.  Mrs. Debbie and Mrs. Marla are some of our favorites. 

Miss Maggie met her first boyfriend, Oliver, who subsequently moved away.  

Mrs. Bunmi and Mrs. Betty are also favorites. 

Sweet Mrs. Felicia and Mrs. Taylor put on the show.  

We brought home lots of gifts to open.  

I have wanted my girl to wear this little Polo dress for so long.  It was big sister Mattie's. 

I do love her big bows, but she hates when they get in her face. 

Pretty girl! 

Sweet little face. 

8 weeks old

She is so snuggly! 

I just loved her little socks. 

She is just too sweet.  I never want to put her down. 

Wearing our green for St. Patrick's Day, of course.  Her first two monthly birthdays fell on holidays.  

She was not loving this photo shoot. 

We persevered. 

And got a few good ones. 

But she was done.  What a way to end the month!  Haha! My little drama queen for sure. 

Health Update:  After a long stay in the hospital, we were very happy to have Miss Maggie home; however, we weren't done with doctors and follow-ups yet.  Miss Maggie still needed to be monitored regularly for her growth, eating, her cleft palate, breathing issues, and following up with her regular pediatrician, her pediatric ENT, another hearing screening test, and MRI and evaluation by a neurologist for some slight fluid in her head to be sure it did not increase.  Her ENT recommended just going ahead with an ABR hearing test like her brother Mattox had done because it probably wouldn't be worth it to attempt another regular hearing screening.  We got that scheduled and went in fairly quickly.  The test takes several hours depending on how cooperative the baby is.  She did well but needed to be fed halfway through the test.  The test showed that both of Maggie's ears were completely full of fluid still from the womb.  I think she tends to get more fluid in her head because of the hole in the roof of her mouth so it makes sense that when she was swimming in fluid a lot was going into her ear canals too.  Her ENT wants to put tubes in as soon as she is big enough to be under anesthesia so that will happen in a few months.  We discussed doing a follow up ABR at the same time while she is still sedated so we can determine if there is an underlying hearing deficiency like her brother's and daddy's.   Maggie also had a follow up appointment with a neurologist which was a bit disappointing because that office made us wait at the initial appointment for hours without being seen.  We finally left because Maggie and the other kids needed to eat and get Mattox to an appointment.  We did get it rescheduled and got an MRI performed of Maggie's head which showed there was still the same amount of fluid around her skull and in the right and left ventricles, but it wasn't increasing and wasn't an alarming amount.  They want to just monitor her to make sure it goes away completely.  So for now, we are making sure Maggie eats enough to be able to keep growing well and waiting for her ear surgery.  The cleft palate surgery probably won't occur until she is close to a year old.  It seems like a lot, but she is really behaving more and more like any normal two month old baby so I am optimistic that all of these little issues will be resolved just as easily.  

Mommy was trying to pump breast milk solely for Maggie.  Maggie had left the hospital taking almost 2 ounces at each feeding.  By the end of her second month, she was taking 2.5 to 3 ounces 8 times a day.    She did start trying to sleep through the night by the end of this month as well just like her brothers so we needed to try to go up on the amount per feeding since she was taking one less feeding a day.  At her 2 month well check up, she had gained almost 2 lbs. since her 1 month check up and weighed 8 lbs. 1.2 oz.  She had grown about 2 inches and measured 22 inches long.   She was still in the less than one percentile for a normal 2 month old baby so she had some catching up to do.  Miss Maggie really resembles Evan so much in looks and size, and it took him a while to catch up in size too.  She is actually progressing faster than he did since she is eating well by bottle.   Maggie is just such a precious blessing to us, and her big brothers, especially Mattox and Grayson, who give her lots of love.  Evan also loves "his baby" since she looks so much like him, but he teases me that she is going to like playing sports and hunting and doing all the boy things he does.  Haha!