Catching Up with Azalea!

Since my last post about here, Azalea has done some growing!

Here is where we are with everything-
She is still having some health issues. She has continued to have issues going to the bathroom. And rarely (as in less than once a month) goes on her own. We have taken her for 2 biopsies, a barium enema an x-ray and multiple visits with specialists.
We still have no idea what the problem is.

She was born in the 50th percentile for her weight, but has since dropped to  25%. Her last few visits have shown her gaining roughly .25 oz per day and she should still be gaining 1 oz per day. One two week period she actually lost weight! She just broke 14lbs! It is crazy to us to have such a small baby! The boys were both 18+lbs at this age!

We go to the doctor every two weeks right now for weight checks and twice a week for Chiropractic visits. Our Chiropractor is confident that we can help her by just continuing to adjust her. We are praying that something starts to work soon!

The doctor has recommended that we start solids soon. We typically like to wait until 8 months, but in this case we have to find a balance and since she is not gaining properly on milk alone, it is time to add something more... and she refuses to take any bottles! Even when the bottle has my milk in it..

One possible explanation that we were given is that she may have possible food issues- So we are now Dairy, Corn, Oats, Wheat and Gluten Free! Which is honestly not as tough as it sounds! It has forced us to eat more veggies and Gabriel is still Dairy and wheat free so it is not that big of a leap for us.

Even though all of that sounds bad.. Azalea is actually a very happy little lady! When she isn't dealing with tummy troubles, she is a big ball of smiles!
 So here are some photos!

3 Months

3 Months

 4 Months

 4 Months

4 Months

 5 Months

 5 Months!

Despite her health issues, she is super smiley and quite happy... which makes it easy not to get too worried. We are praying that the Lord would heal her body and that it would function like "normal" so that we can put all of this behind us!

Peace,
Team Whitehead

Easter and Easter Camping

Team Whitehead has started a new tradition. Easter Camping!

Since we have no family in the area to spend the day with, we figured that we might as well do something fun that we could all do together and have fun!

  We colored eggs at home, I had some big plans to use natural dyes like berries and teas... and then when it came down to it- we just used food coloring and vinegar! Maybe next year!

 Check out Tony putting up our tent! Isn't he a stud!

 Speaking of Studs...

 Here is our nancy-boy Mercury. He was a nervous mess  the whole time, so we put him in our tent with the windows open and he slept like a baby the whole time! He is just a city boy!

 Tony took the boys for a hike! They had a blast!

 Azalea was happy as long as she was being cuddled or held... but that's just how she rolls!

 This was the solution to our fighting over that chair problem!

 It got pretty chilly that night- we all had on hoodies and pants and we still froze during the night!

 Since we were camping over Easter we thought that s'mores with peeps would be fun... But, they were gross! S'mores are perfect the way they are, we will not mess with them in the future!

 The boys enjoying their new flashlights! It really is the simple things!

 Bas looking good on the way to church!

 He insisted on a mohawk!

 Gabriel wanted a mohawk too, just like Bastian!

 We were able to get a few cute pictures of the kiddos before church.

 Azalea was less than excited about the photo process!

I love this one!

Peace,
Team Whitehead

Bradley Birthing Class Reunion

We all joked that we had the best Bradley Class ever... but I am pretty sure that is the truth! Our birthing class was full of the funniest pregnant ladies I've ever met!

The craziest thing about taking this class- is that we were the only 3rd time parents and yet we learned SO MUCH! I was a bit envious of the other moms who were smart enough to take it the first time around! Why oh why did we take hypnobirthing?!

After all the babies  were welcomed into the world, we gathered at our house to reunite and talk about babies and share birth stories! Seriously- it was so much fun!

Tony was so stoked to talk to people about contractions and placentas!

We had the parents paint the baby tootsies and then step on 10 onesies... Each baby got to take a shirt home with the foot prints of his/her "class mates!"

 Here is a table-o-onesies!  After the onesies we done, we foot printed the table cloth and signed it as a gift for our fearless leader Heather!

Photobombed by a baby!!

New Mom Chatter... probably about puke or sleep schedules or lactation...

This conversation was about scheduled feedings... 

Here was an exciting birth story!

Mercury came downstairs to steal the show!!

A baby line up! By Birth Order! Ten babies were lying on our floor all at once. It was awesome!!

Azalea has some pretty rad hair, I will admit... but check out the baby on the right!! She has a full head of super thick hair with natural highlights! She looks like a cute baby surfer!

One of the finished onesies! Azalea did the pink with blue top one.

My sweet model showing of her new threads!

Moral of the stort- if you have a baby, then invite  9 other babies to your house- it is real fun!

The End!

Crazy VA Weather...

In Michigan everyone says " if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes..." We have discovered this to be true everywhere that we have lived, including VA.

This last week has definitely been a reflection of that. We had 4 inches of snow and then almost 80 degrees within 4 days of each other! (So maybe a little more than 5 minutes!)

The good thing is that when you are a kid, this is the best week of your life!

The boys had to rush outside to play in the snow as soon as they woke up. We knew that the snow wouldn't last long! But it did last long enough for them to have a snowball fight and come in crying about cold hands! (This was on a Monday Morning)

  The following Thursday, we were all at the zoo. This was the nicest day all year! It was awesome!

Peace,

Team Whitehead