Avelyn Kai 2.5

Trying to think back to when you turned 2 and now at 2 years and 7 months...wow. It feels like years. You are most definitely your own person.

 You LOVE to brush your teeth and wash your hands!

Your very favorite thing right now is your "Elsa Dress". Your friend Jade let you borrow it and I have been a googling nightmare trying to find you one of your own. Your Nana informed me that it was probably a nightgown and she was right. I found it right away after I realized that. You wear this dress to bed, to school, anywhere I let you. You don't want to take it off for baths and when it's in the wash (frequently) you cry until ask for it until it's all dry.

You love going to preschool. You get to do lots of paintings and you like to come home and paint mommy's hand and it put it on the paper just like they do at school.

You LOVE your gymnastics class. I watched you during your gym time and you were adorable! You listened to the teacher and did your stretching, you walked on the balance beam and did a perfect forward roll. You noticed I was there half-way through but you finished your class and did a great job!

You are quite the social butterfly! You talk to everyone and have a friend at any place we visit often. You are very possessive of toys and everything is "mine". If someone else is using something you want, you shout for them to "take turns". I love that you know what you want but it makes things a bit awkward with friends.

You are very polite and have the best manners. You say please (pretty pretty please), thank you, bless you. You love to be complimented on your pretty dress, your tiara, your drawings. I think your love language is words of affirmation. 

You are into everything these days and I have a hard time keeping up with you and baby Isla. You love to do your makeup and I let you use my clear powder and the brush. No lipstick is safe around you. I recently let you paint your own nails and you did a pretty good job!

You love animals. We took to to a drive-through safari and we saw so many animals. We saw an Ostrich, Zebras, lots of Goats, and my favorite was the Camel. We fed them and they put their heads in the car and scared us pretty bad!

You are such a performer!! You love to have an audience and will since and dance around the house all day. Your favorite song to sing is "Let it Go" from Frozen. You sing/shout it from the top of your lungs! I saw you watching the video on youtube and then you mimicked all of the same hand gestures that Elsa does in the movie. You love to twirl all around and are always asking me or Daddy to dance with you.

You recently had your 2.5 year well-check and look how big you are:

36 1/2 inches tall (75%) You finally dropped from the 90th
30 pounds (65%) which is the highest percentile you've been in since you were an infant.

You are such a sweet sister. If I forget to turn the music on when she is in her swing, you get your chair and climb up to do it for me. You sing to her in the car and kiss her when I'm not looking. If she is crying you always tell me and tell her. "Hold on baby Isla, Mommy is coming!" Oh yeah, and you like to call me Mommy now. You call Brandon "Daddy" but sometimes you call him Brandon and I just think it's hilarious!

Speaking of Daddy, you love it when he takes you swimming. Ever since it got warm out, he takes you almost every day! He is taking you to your first karate class when he gets home too! Daddy is the one who teaches you how to play fun games like Hide-N-Seek and takes you splashing in the puddles during a rainstorm.

You two have such a special bond and it's amazing to see it. Sometimes, y'all butt heads but I think that's just because you are so alike!

You will always be my first baby and I will probably see you in that light sometimes, but more and more everyday you are showing me who you are and what you think about everything. I love watching you learn and grow and see how much confidence you have! We love you so much!

Isla's 2 Month Update

Baby Isla had her 2 month well-check today which included her shots. I was so relieved getting her Hib vaccine which protects against Bacterial Meningitis (which causes brain damage). I am glad I didn't know everything about Bacterial Meningitis while we were in the hospital or I probably would have been more freaked out than I was. ANYWAYS...

Her pediatrician suggested I try using a reflux medication to see if it helps with Isla's vomiting. She projectile vomits 2-3x a day. It doesn't seem to bother her much and she just goes right back to eating. Other than causing mountains of laundry, it's also telling my body to make MORE milk and I already have an oversupply issue at the moment. I really hope this medication solves our problem. I think it's more just my forceful letdown that is causing her to throw up but I'm willing to try anything at this point. Right now I am pumping in the morning and sometimes in the middle of the night to give myself some relief. Isla doesn't take a bottle so I am stockpiling it and if she doesn't use it I will donate it to the local milk bank.

Isla's height is right at 23" which is the 75% although her dr and I both think she will end up petite like myself.

Her weight is 12 lbs 11 ounces which is the 90% for her age. Even though she throws up so much, my body thankfully makes plenty of milk for her and she is able to get those calories in.

I think Isla is ready to sleep through the night. On the nights that she doesn't throw up, she still wakes up to feed around 3 but just sort of grunts and snorts. If I don't take her out of the bassinet, she goes right back to sleep. I did that last night and she ended up sleeping from 10:30pm - 4:45am. I had to get up and pump around 3 but still! WAHOO! Once she is doing that consistently for a few nights, I will move her to her crib.

She is taking one long nap a day in her crib and seems to be fine with that. I use the Miracle Swaddle blanket for that nap and for her night sleeping. I also use a white noise app on my iphone that she loves. An added bonus is that I don't use my phone anytime she is sleeping and thats about 18-20 hrs a day. She sleeps ALOT! I asked her dr. if that was still normal for her age and she said that it is because Isla eats so much. She said that nursing is like running a marathon for infants and it wears them out. I will take it!

She had a period of what I recently learned is "Purple Crying". Basically, its like Colic but in the evening for a few hours. I think it was mainly due to being overstimulated by the day. The white noise app, swaddle and bath seemed to help a lot. Recently I've started doing Isla's bedtime before Avelyn's around 7:30. Avelyn helps me give her the bath and lotion and I put Isla to sleep in her crib. That also allows me to focus totally on Avelyn for her bedtime routine. Isla wakes up right when Avelyn goes to sleep at 9:00 and doesn't really go down for the night until 10:30.

I know this seems like tons of boring information but I really wanted to give Isla the same documentation that I did for Avelyn. :)

Isla is so easy to love and she is the happiest baby. She loves to be held but isn't too picky about who is holding her. She LOVES to hear her Daddy's voice and they already have such a sweet bond. She also let her Nana hold her all day on Saturday. She gives the best smiles and has started to Coo and make sweet baby noises. She is so precious and I LOVE having her! She doesn't mind long drives in the carseat but if she is hungry, she gets upset at the red lights. She loves the wind so I roll the windows down and have fans on in the house. She has the cutest rolls in her thighs and I just want to eat her cheeks. Her hair is getting longer and (fingers crossed) hasn't fallen out!!

That's it for now because I have to get my workout in before they both wake up! :)

Current Diet and Fitness Routine - BBG

I started reading about Kayla Itsines' BBG program when I was still pregnant. I saw so many girls join together to start #thekaylamovement on January 5th. Their energy was contagious and I so badly wanted to join in. The workouts are VERY intense though and I knew it would be safer to start after I gave birth. :)

(http://www.kaylaitsines.com/products/bikini-body-guide-1-0)

At 4 weeks postpartum I started the Pretraining Program. Kayla recommends you do 4 weeks of pre-training before beginning the BBG especially if you have just given birth. The pretraining was very challenging but it felt so good to break a sweat and get those endorphins. It really saved me from the baby blues I had been experiencing and gave me a taste of being my old self again.

I am now finishing Week 1 of the BBG so I am technically 5 week in to her workouts. They are so hard and I am sore for DAYS afterwards. On the first workout, I really thought I was going to pass out. I had to take so many breaks! I was dizzy and wanted to throw up. Now, if I get enough sleep the night before, I LOVE THEM!

I started tracking my calories using MyFitnessPal again. I wasn't sure what a good number was to start since I am breastfeeding and was still establishing my supply. I started with 2200 and after a few weeks of that I lowered it to 1900/day. I try to focus on eating whole, unprocessed food and getting in the right ratio of fat/carbs/protein. On Sunday I let myself eat anything I want.


My awesome mom got me a Polar A300 Activity Tracker for my 30th birthday along with the FitBit Aria scale I've been wanting. It's definitely a luxury item since it uses my WIFI to sync with myfitnesspal and uploads my weigh ins.

Since I've started working out, my weight loss has slowed. It actually went UP for the first few weeks (building muscles again) and now its starting to go down just very slowly. I'm okay with that since I don't want to do anything that will hurt my breastmilk supply. I want this to be a lifestyle and not a quick fix.

I started working out weighing 131 and went up to 132..now I am around 130. My first goal is to hit my pre-pregnancy weight of 121 but my final goal will be to be my wedding day weight which was 115. If I feel more fit at a higher weight though, I will be happy with that. It's more about how you look and feel than the number on the scale!

My hubs has been working out with me and while he is on his ship. It's great for us to be united in our healthy lifestyle goals and will be so great for our girls to grow up where that is the norm.

My Postpartum Recovery Weeks 1-4

I started tracking my progress when I came from the hospital just as I did when I was pregnant. I did these updated on my personal instagram account because it was just the easiest way to keep track.

Week 1 Postpartum

I LOVE before and afters so I really wanted to track my fitness progress after my pregnancy. Here is week 1:
Weight Lost: 11lbs (15 away from pre-baby weight)
Obviously that initial weight was just the baby and placenta but I'm still happy with that! I'm super swollen still and actually more swollen now than when I was pregnant. I've had to take my rings off a few times and you can really see it in my face. Overall I'm pretty happy with how fast my stomach is shrinking. The "after pains" while in the hospital this time were worse than labor so it's good to see they were actually doing something! 
Diet: I'm not counting calories or dieting and I've been eating whatever I want while my body is adjusting and figuring out how much milk to make. I'm not planning to really exercise until 6 weeks PP but I will start going on some walks when I feel up to it. Right now my abs aren't supporting me at all and I get horrible cramping and back pain after walking too much. My top priority right now is to feed Isla and get as much rest as I can so that my body can fully recover. I'm not in a hurry. :)

Week 2 Postpartum

Okay seriously, those two pics look identical minus my no makeup today. The scale showed a -2 lbs making my total weight lost 13 lbs (13 left to go). I'm halfway there but I know from experience that the last 10 pounds is always the hardest. I'm still just trying to survive over here in the newborn struggle/toddler balancing act. I'm nursing around the clock and that's pretty much it for calorie burning. I can't wait to get back into exercise! July 4th will be the 6 week mark so I plan to go for a nice jog that weekend. My appetite is out of control as my body is still not sure how many calories I need to make milk but I hope it evens out soon. I eat all the time. Someone told me that having 2 kids under 2 would be so hard I would forget to eat and shower and thankfully I haven't forgotten either of those!

Week 3 Postpartum

I am down 1 lb this week (12 left to go). I started using my fitness pal to help me track calories and nutrients. I am starting with 2100 right now to make sure I don't lose any milk supply. I've started taking vitamins and that has helped me feel so much better. I take my prenatal, 2000iu Vit D3, b12 and a Probiotic. The b12 is magic!! It gives me so much energy, which is very necessary considering I get about 4-5 hours (not in a row) on my best night. I am going to start exercising at 4 weeks PP and will be doing #bbg1. I plan to track that here as well. It is SO hard for me to stick with things and that's the main reason I track on here. I like the accountability and the support of other fitness-minded friends. :)

Week 4 Postpartum

Weight: 131 (-2 lbs this week and only 10 away from prepregnancy weight)!
This week was hell. Last Sunday Isla got a fever and long story short we were in the hospital for 4 days. She had viral meningitis. It was a very scary experience but I'm so thankful she is better. This will be my final progress picture on here because I'm starting #bbg and created a separate account to track my fitness goals (@chrissytx.bbg).

Isla's 1 Month Update

Whew!  What a whirlwind month 1 has been!

The 3 days Isla and I spent in the hospital were total bliss. I had the best nurse in the world taking care of us.



While I was in heaven (or close to it) Austin was flooding. I knew there was some bad weather because at one point a nurse came in to lock everything down and told me we were under tornado warning. I had no idea the extent of the damage. Wimberley, Tx is where my husband grew up and it had horrific and deadly flooding that weekend. Fortunately (due to Isla's arrival) Brandon's parents were staying at our house here in Leander. Sadly, many of his friends homes suffered damage and some even lost it all.

The day we came home from the hospital, Leander was under tornado warning. Brandon had cleaned out the closet under the stairs and the sky was black and green. I was very overwhelmed.

Avelyn was pretty cute when she saw me come home. I wanted to try to make her feel good so I told Brandon to bring Isla in the carseat and I would go inside first. Avelyn ran up to me and then stopped suddenly. She looked at my face and down at my (now flat) tummy and said "Where baby Isla go???". It was so precious! She handled her new sister's arrival as best as could be expected. She really didn't pay too much attention to her unless Mommy was holding her and she wanted Mommy at that point. Why did I suddenly switch to 3rd person? LOL

The adjustment at home for me was pretty intense. At day 4 I came down from my immense high of giving birth and falling in love. My hormones hit me like a train. I was crying all the time. I turned into autopilot mode but just kept crying all the time. If I was changing Isla's diaper and Avelyn needed something, I cried. I cried because I was happy. I cried because I was sad. Oh boy, did I cry.

When I get depressed in any way (which is extremely rare for me) I tend to withdraw from everyone around me. I had so many sweet friends texting offers of help and well wishes. I had family calling on the phone wanting to check on me. I felt overwhelmed with a need to respond but I was totally unable to do so. It was a rough time.


At 3 weeks old, Isla came down with Viral Meningitis. We didn't know what was wrong at the time. I was getting her ready for church and noticed that while her legs and head felt fine, her tummy felt really hot. I took her temp and it read 102. I took her straight to the Children's Hospital and had a friend meet me there to pick up Avelyn. Brandon had just gone back to his ship the week before. Once there, she had to undergo so many tests. When a baby is less than a month, they take a fever very serious. I don't want to relive that week so I won't post all the details here but it was extremely scary and hard. Brandon had to come home from work and Isla and I stayed in the Pediatric ICU for 5 days.

While I was so relieved when she was released, my depression/baby blues was worse than ever when I came home. I felt like my whole world was flipped upside down (because it was). At 4 weeks postpartum I started to exercise (more on that on another post) and finally I started to feel like myself again. I tried to put on a brave face for everyone and act like everything was normal and fine but that first month was a really, really hard time for me!

Isla started getting colicky while we were in our ICU stay. She would cry/scream/fuss every night from 8pm-12am. It was really hard. Thankfully, with Brandon home we could switch on and off with her and he really was able to soothe her. He downloaded a white noise app that she LOVES and still uses to sleep at night. Avelyn has been really used to me always doing her bedtime routine and it was very difficult for her when I couldn't be there. Brandon took her swimming and kept her busy during the day, but she started waking up again at night to get time with me.

Throughout this period, Isla threw up a lot but managed to still put on a full pound about every 10 days. She loves to nurse and cuddle!

My sweet SIL Kerry Jo stayed with me in the ER until Brandon made it home from his ship. She was such a calm support for me during that time. 

Isla's Newborn Pictures

Sweet Isla got her photos done when she was 9 days old. I can't even handle her cuteness!

I love that Abby included all of her birth stats in this photo! 

All Photo Credit Goes toAbby G Photography (abbygphotography.com)