7 Years Good Luck

I think that is what I get right?? Check my math. My beautiful new 19 day old daughter poops on me while I am changing her diaper = 7 years good luck. Is that old math or new math?? Either way, it will be a funny story to tell Gracie when she is about 15 and has some friends over. =) Gracie had a good day. I got to old her for a few hours (before the poop incident), then I came home so Kim could go over to see Gracie. Sophia was home with a cold so we had to play tag team. All in all it was a good day though. Gracie is 1650 grams (about 3lbs. 7 oz.), is 43 cm long. She gained 35 grams (a little more than an oz.) over the past 2 days.

Bath Day Gets Exciting (ok, nerve racking)

So, we had an exciting day today. Olivia had a cold so she could not go to Nanny's today. Daddy stayed home with her in the morning while Mommy went to the hospital to see Gracie. Olivia was getting antzy at home so Daddy got creative to pass the time. So, guess who got to give Olivia a pedicure, complete with pink nail polish (yes, it was mommy's polish thank you). After that Daddy and Olivia went to meet Emma's mommy Jen at the hospital so she could hang out with Olivia while Daddy and Mommy gave Gracie a bath. Here is where is gets a little nerve racking. At Oakland they taught Kim and I how to give a swaddle bath. This method keeps the babies (preemies especially) very calm during bath time. So the nurses at Valley Care wanted us to show them. This was our first time doing it solo so we were nervous to begin with. We started out fine and then Greg's feet caused a bit of excitement. The sink we were bathing Gracie in had foot pedals to turn on the water. I had no clue. So, as Kim is washing Gracie my foot hit the pedal and water came gushing out of the faucet. Kim just about had a heart attack and I think I lost half the hair I have left. Luckily the water did not hit Gracie's head and just splashed a little. After the nurses calmed us down and assured us everything was OK, we finished the bath and Gracie went on to take a nice looooooong nap. Let's just say next time we give Gracie a bath daddy's feet will stay firmly in one place. Later on I got to hold Gracie "skin to skin" which was really nice. She was very calm and napped for about an hour on my chest. The she had a nice dinner and went back into the isolette. A nice calm ending to a bit of a hectic day. A picture of a swaddle bath for Gracie below.

It's Official - Daddy = Sucker

OK, so I am sharing this little story for a few reasons; a)entertainment b)to solidify self awareness of my situation and 3) did I say entertainment? So, it's 5:40 something in the AM, I am back from the gym getting ready for work. Everyone is still sleeping and I am shaving; HARK! a whimper from Olivia's monitor. Shut off the water, eyes on the monitor as if I can read what is going to come out of it, duh, then some mumbles. What is she saying?? Closer to the monitor, this time with my ear turned towards it (genius I say). "I have runny noses, daaaaddy, I have runny noses!" Now, Olivia is 2 and a half, can hold a conversation with adults about the rights and wrongs of what Sophia, Daddy and Ramesses (the dog) are doing, dress herself, etc. etc., and is in a bed she can get out of and reach the tissue box (or heck use her sleeve) BUT, she chooses to sit up and declare (at 5:40 ish in the AM) "I have runny noses!" OK, back to the story. So, after hearing over the monitor, the critical situation at hand (again, runny noses), Daddy with towel around waist, shaving cream on half his face, swiftly runs down the hall with tissue in hand, enters the room and wipes the "runny noses". Mission accomplished, daddy saves the day!! Without a whimper, cry or other words Olivia, no more runny noses, puts head to pillow and goes back to sleep. Walking back to my room, the hero, I start to think.... Oh, my god!! I am the biggest sucker there is. I have lost all credibility as daddy the authority figure, and become well, daddy the whipping boy, sucker, whatever word you want to use. So, you've heard it. I realize it now. Will I change? Na. Am I in trouble now that we have three princesses I can dote over? Yes. Will Kim kill me for creating spoiled children? Definitely! Can you poke fun at me? Sure. Have at it!

Gracie Moves to Pleasanton

Gracie has a new home as of about noon today. Gracie was transported from Oakland Children's Hospital to Valley Care in Pleasanton. It was a bit of a stressful day for her as she was transported via ambulance. The noise and activity is a lot for a 15 day old preemie. She was also off her feeding schedule as well and Kim said she was crying a lot when they got her set up at Valley Care. She is like her daddy. He cries a lot to when you forget to feed him. =D She did gain 10 grams overnight and is now a little bit above her birth weight. Lets hope that trend continues. Below is a picture of her new home.

The Signs of Spring

Today was a long day, that started early with a trip to see Gracie in Oakland. She was sleeping when I got there so I just watched her for a while. She was snuggled up in a little swaddle. Soon it was getting close to feeding time, so I woke her up to change her diaper. After that, it was time for breakfast. She took the 27 ccs without a hitch. Hopefully with the added calories she will continue to gain weight. On my way back from the hospital it was a bit chilly out and I thought to myself, man, isn't it spring time. Well later on in the day there were plenty of signs to remind me that it is indeed spring. So, I thought I would share a few of the signs of springtime that I saw today. Enjoy.

The Ballerina Report

Olivia's first report card! Click on the images below to see the report card Mrs. Tamara from Tiffany's Dance Studio sent out for Olivia. The class is preparing for a recital in June which you can all be sure will be properly recorded and posted here to the blog.



Gracie is doing well today. She is still in Oakland awaiting "room at the inn" over in Pleasanton. The Dr. up'ed her feeding to 27 ccs to help get more calories in her. That will help her gain weight faster. She is back to her original birth weight at 13 days old. I was hoping to bring Olivia to the hospital to visit Gracie today, but the hospital is still on "cold and flu" season alert, which means anyone younger than 15 is not allowed in. Hopefully when Gracie comes to Pleasanton Olivia will be able to see her.

Olivia had a play date today with Kameron. Kameron also goes to Nanny's and seems to be Olivia's favorite buddy these days. They had a nice morning building tractors and playing at Karmeron's house. On the way out Olivia told Kameron; "Kameron, walk me to the door, and hold my hand, and give me a hug......". Man is she going to be a fun prom date some day!!

A New Outfit for Gracie

Kim and I got to give Gracie another bath today and put on one of her new outfits. Gap makes special preemie clothes for Oakland Children's Hospital and they gave some to us. Check out her cute little onesie and pink hat. I got to hold her for about an hour before bath time. Gracie was wide awake for bath time and for a while after. It was so cute to see her looking around. We also got a lesson in infant massage from the developmental therapist. Gracie got a nice foot and leg massage during the lesson. She looked very relaxed. It was cute.

A Laughter Blog....

Gracie is doing well today. Kim spent some time holding her today and got to see her take lunch. And of course, after lunch Gracie pooped while in mommy's lap. Ahhh the moments we have with our kids. Anyway.....
If you can't laugh a little once and a while you are just plain grumpy! Here are a few pictures that I took recently that make me laugh. I hope they will make you laugh too. You can click on the pics to see a larger version.

	Luckily Kim and I found a new place to get our hair done right near where Gracie is. Damn, they were closed today, gotta stop in tomorrow. Hey, Stephen, you interested in franchise ops with this??
	The return of the 70's genius "The Unknown Comic" now known as "Bucket Head"
	Oops! Her identity is revealed. Well, that is the end of that career!
	After Sophia amazingly removed her diaper without taking her pants off, big sis can resist the need to 1 up her little sister. No way can we show you the after shot! Lets just say Olivia had to lay down for a while after the attempt

Bath Time for Gracie

Today was a great day for Kim and I to visit Gracie. We got there just after Gracie was fed. She was sleeping soundly and mommy got to hold her for about an hour. Then it was a big treat for us to give Gracie her first real bath. It was a great to see Gracie open her eyes and even cry just a little cause we had not heard her cry yet. After bath she got dressed in a little duckie out fit and daddy took a turn holding for a while. It was a great experience to hold her and give her a bath. She was so sweet and really calm during bath time. Check out the pictures. We are still waiting for room over in Valley Care in Pleasanton. They are full right now, but hopefully soon Gracie will be closer to home.

Ballet Day!

Today, as every other Monday, is "ballet day" for Olivia. She has ballet class at 9:30 am with Mrs. Tamara at Tiffany's Dance Studio. On the sidebar there is a link to a short video of some action from class today. It's not the best quality as I took it with my palm pilot. Enjoy.
Gracie had a good day and her doctor at Oakland talked to the doctor at Valley Care in Pleasanton to arrange her transfer closer to home. Not sure what day it will be, but we think it will be sometime mid-week.

Weekend Fun with Princesses - A Picture Blog

Tanning Under a Blue Sun

I went to visit Gracie today and bring some more milk for her. When I got there she was "tanning" under the blue hue of the therapy lights to reduce her bilirubin count. She looked so cute with her eye covers on stretched out sleeping under the lights. Reminded me of a day at the beach. The doctor was on rounds while I was there and he came by to get an update from the residents on Gracie and plan out the rest of the day and the weekend for her. They are increasing her feeding amount by 1 cc every other feeding. She is up to 13 cc's and will end today at 17 ccs. She will be up to 25 by the end of the weekend. The good news was the doctor thinks if she continues to progress through the weekend and next week, she could come back to Valley Care hospital in Pleasanton. That will be great cause she will be close to home. I put some pictures of Olivia and Sophia in the incubator with Gracie so they can watch over her through the night.

So the day got more interesting as it went on. Sophia showed signs of having "pink eye" so, I had to get the doctor to call in a prescription for her. Hopefully we do not all get it. If Kim and I get it, we will not be able to visit Gracie until its gone. Lots of hand washing will be going on here for the next few days.

Earlier in the day Kim took some pictures of Sophia that really reminded us of Philip. Check em out below.

Introducing Diaper Head

The girls were so happy to wake up to mommy being home today. They had a party on the couch and it ended with Sophia dancing with a diaper on her head (see picture below). We got the girls off to Nanny's and headed to Oakland to see Gracie. She looked good today and we got to see her without her little cap. Mommy got to hold her for a while before she had to go back into the incubator to get warm. They took blood today to check her electolytes and check her bilirubin. They had to put her under the UV lights as she was showing signs of jaundice. Nanny went to visit Gracie tonight and she held her for about an hour. She thought she looked good and got to see her open her eyes a bit and smile. Check out the pictures below of all the girls and we will talk to you soon.

"Mommy, can I see the paint on your tummy?"

So I picked up the girls from nanny's while Kim was napping after the big day of getting out of the hospital and going to visit Gracie. On the way home I was preparing Olivia to be gentle around mommy cause she has a lot of pain in her tummy after being at the doctors. Well, the "pain in the tummy" comment turned into mommy having "paint" on her tummy. As I opened the door of the minivan, to get Sophia out, I saw Olivia run in the house and make a bee line for mommy. Kim awoke from her nap to Olivia staring her in the face saying "Mommy, I have to be gentle with you cause you have paint on your tummy. Can I see the paint on your tummy?" It was very cute to see how affectionate Olivia is with Kim. She has been laying with Kim on the couch and telling her "Mommy, I love you, and I like you too" It is so funny cause she has been saying that about Gracie too. Cheryl stopped over tonight to see how Kim is doing and hung out with us for a bit. I just called to get an update on Gracie from the nurse and she is doing well. She had two feedings tonight without any brady-cardias (that's when the heart rate drops). The nurse said she was active tonight and opened her eyes a bit. We have not been able to catch her doing that yet cause she is sleeping most of the time. The nurse made a good point, saying that Gracie would normally still be in the womb and there they sleep 98% of the time. We are going over early tomorrow morning so maybe we will catch her awake. We got a new camera so expect some new pictures of mommy and Gracie tomorrow night! TTYL

Mommy Comes Home and Visits Gracie

Today was a big day for everyone. Mommy was released from the hospital at about 10:30 am this morning. We went right over to the Oakland Children's hospital to see Gracie. She was sleeping peacefully and we got to hold her for about an hour. We brought some new milk over and Gracie was moved up to 6 ccs of milk for lunch. Gracie is doing good and gained about 20 grams back of the 80 grams she lost. She had a few "apnea" type incidents over the last day, which was expected, so they have her on caffeine citrate to stimulate her. The nurses told me this may happen until her lungs mature. Hopefully they will stop soon and the focus can be on her growth. Gracie looked great today, less puffy and you could really see her facial features. She has a nice cleft chin. I think she looks a little like Sophia, but I guess we will see more over the coming weeks.

The Fiesty One!

Gracie is a fiesty one to say the least. But we will get to that in a minute. We started our day today with a visit to mommy by Olivia. What a great visit. Olivia woke up telling me she wanted to see mommy, so we went to the hospital after we dropped Sophia off at Nanny's. We got there and Olivia jumped up on mommy's bed and was soooooo happy to see her. She hugged mommy and said "I love you mommy". Olivia brought mommy coffee and a bagel and they sat on the bed and had breakfast together. We showed Olivia a picture of Gracie from the morning she was born. Olivia told us "I like Gracie, and I love her too. And she likes me and loves me too." Man, was that cute! During the visit, I picked up some milk from mom to take over to Oakland for Gracie. Today the doctors said this would be the first day for a feeding. So, Olivia said bye to mommy and went to Nanny's. I went over to Oakland to see Gracie. I got to hold her again today for about an hour before lunch. While I was holding her, she let me know if I was moving too much with lots of squeaks, and if she wanted me to stop holding her hand she would push it away. When it came time for lunch, the nurse showed me the drill. She put about 5 ccs of milk into a siringe and a real thin feeding tube down Gracie's throat to her belly. Then gravity did the rest. The milk went right down into her belly. Gracie swatted the nurses hand a little when she was taking the tube out, just to let her know she was not going to get away with that without paying a little =). All the nurses say she is a "fiesty" one who protests when being poked or prodded. I certainly saw a little of that today. Anyway, her vital signs are all good and they took out the IV and stopped the anitbiotics. Her blood cultures came back good. So other than an IV in her foot I think with saline and a litte oxygen thing under her nose, she is just resting and getting stronger. She did loose 3 ozs so she is now 3 lbs 3 ozs. Losing a little is normal after the delivery. Her little cap came off and it looks like she is gonna be a blonde. She has a little bit of blonde fuzz on her head and real fine blonde eye brows. I am still waiting to see those eyes, but its really bright in the ICU so she is holding out. Maybe later this week we will see them.
Kim is doing good, and will hopefully come home tomorrow. She is in a lot of pain from the surgery, and will be tender for a few weeks. Hopefully she will get to see Gracie in a day or two. I know the girls will be happy just to have her home. We miss her.

So Small Yet So Big

Today was a good day. Gracie was taken off the ventilator at 10:30 this morning cause she was able to breathe on her own. I got there just after they took her off and I was able to hold her for about an hour (see pics below) while the nurses changed her home from an open heated platform to an enclosed incubator. The incubator is a nice warm cozy place for Gracie to rest and continue to grow and get better at breathing on her own. Tomorrow they may be able to feed her milk that mommy has been saving up for her. I held Gracie's hand and she moved around a bit while I talked to her. I met Sister Bernice, the Chaplain at Oakland Children's Hospital, who said a blessing for Gracie and put a prayer card in her incubator. She was very nice to talk to. I took a lot of pictures of Gracie today as this was the first day I could see her without the breathing tube. A few of them are below.
Olivia has ballet class today and was excited to get up and go first thing this morning. She talked to mommy on the phone and told her "I am proud of Gracie!". That was too funny. Olivia knows that mommy and Gracie are at the doctors and will be home soon. Olivia did everything at ballet class today. The mom's at ballet asked about Kim and I told them the whole story. To our surprise later on today a gift bag arrived for Kim at the hospital with gifts for Kim and Gracie from all the mom's at ballet. How sweet that was.
Kim had a tough day with the pain meds, but the good news came later in the day when her blood count went up for the first time since surgery. We hope that continues to trend up and she can come home soon. Many of Kim's friends have gotten word through the grapevine about baby, etc. and are calling and wanting to see her. They also are calling me offering help which is so nice. Jen took the girls for a few hours tonight so I could be with Kim for a while.
Sophia woke up with hives this morning, which threw daddy into a panic (of course), but it turned out not to be so bad. Sophia is apparently allergic to strawberries and the other night she ate a whole thing of strawberry yogurt. Hmm, she loves to watch Strawberry Shortcake with Olivia. I wonder if I need to cut that out too. =)
OK, daddy is going to bed now, but check out Gracie below and I will update everyone again tomorrow night. Take care.

Gracie, Gracie, Gracie

Well, here she is. Gracie, our new edition is all set up in Oakland Children's Hospital in the neonatal ICU. She has a great group of doctors and nurses caring for her. Her first day today and she did very well. Her vitals look good and her breathing is improving. She is being assisted with a ventilator, but they have reduced the amount of assistance as she gets stronger at breathing. I spent a few hours with her today and while she slept most of the time, daddy took some time to tell her all about the family that is waiting at home for her. Her big sisters Olivia and Sophia I know are anxious to meet her. Olivia told me today that "She likes Gracie" and "I am a big sister to Sophia and Gracie". Olivia really likes saying "Gracie". She knows that Mommy and Gracie are spending some time with the doctors and will come home when they are all better. Mommy is resting at ValleyCare Hospital in Pleasanton. She is in pain from the "C" she had today and is trying to get some rest. Man, are my girls strong. I can not make it through an information session with the doctors without getting light headed and turning pale. I have no idea how Kim gets through regular deliveres, c-sections, etc. etc. Good thing the men do not have to do the pregnancy thing. I would never make it!

Ok so here she is...



Click Here to see Gracie's First Video Shhhh, she is sleeping..

A New Princess Has Arrived

Welcome Gracie Mae Simons
Our new princess has arrived, a bit early, but you cannot imagine how happy we are. Gracie Mae was born today at 5:23 am. She is 3 lbs. 6 oz, 15 inches long. She came into the world kicking and screaming =). Kim's doctor, Dr. Oliveira and her partner Dr. Newman performed an emergency c-section this morning after Kim began to bleed. Gracie was taken to the nursery where she was attended to by several doctors. She is getting help from a ventilator to breath, which is normal for a "30 weeker". The doctors think everything else looks good. She sure looks good to me. She held my finger for a few seconds when I first saw her. She is beautiful. She was taken to Oakland children's hospital where they have a bigger Intensive Care Nursery than Valley Care Hospital where she was born. I will be going to see her today and will take some pictures of the new princess. How lucky am I?? I can't even begin to explain!

Good Little Princesses

Mommy was checked into the hospital with some complications related to baby #3. Everything is stable for now and hopefully will remain that way for at least 5 more weeks. With mommy in the hospital, daddy was home with the girls and got help from Nanny and Cheryl to watch the girls while daddy went to be with mommy at the hospital. Olivia and Sophia were great for everyone and went to bed easy for daddy when he got home tonight. They ate a good dinner and played nicely before going to bed. Olivia watched TV for a few minutes after Sophia went down then found her duckies and said "I'm going night night now, see you tomorrow". Daddy even got an "I love you too daddy" response when he said good night. Usually mommy gets the hugs and kisses and daddy gets a "no thanks" when he asks for a hug and kiss. Boy was tonight a treat!

"I'm trying to sleep mommy!"

Olivia is now in a big girl bed and can get in and out on her own. Well, has this ever made going to bed and getting up, fun, fun, fun. Olivia loves to jump into bed and snuggle up under the covers. She calls out things like, "see you tomorrow" and "have a good nappy daddy". Last night, after going to bed, Olivia got out of her bed, came down the stairs and said "Mommy, be quiet, I am trying to sleep up there!", then turned around, went up the stairs and got back into bed. What a princess!
Sophia is quite the little dancer these days. Last night she discovered the beat of the drum and her ability to bob her head to the beat with a little leg tap in there as well. As soon as she puts this together with her little arm wave and hip wiggle she'll be cuttin' the rug daily with daddy and Olivia.