2 weeks in...

Wow! I can't believe Tessa is 2 weeks old already! Time is flying by for sure! So far, we seem to be extremely blessed with a content and calm baby girl. Sometimes you hear of mothers-to-be that worry about how they'll love their newest addition as much as they love their existing children. I have never had that fear myself but it just amazes me how in such little time, you can love one little being so much and how soon you forget what life was like before her arrival. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family!

Here are some recent pictures. This one is from our outing last Friday to the doctor's office. Tessa weighed 8lb 9oz at this appointment so she's definitely growing as she is supposed to!


Over the weekend, we had visits from Uncle Dan, Aunt Pam, and Aunt Beth. Uncle Dan had to hold all three of the "babies" in the household during his visit...






Gabe and Kendra are still the same ornery kids that rarely wear a complete outfit (generally shorts/pants are missing from the outfit)...

Tessa is sprawled out here on the fleece blanket Aunt Beth made for her.

And here she is all dressed up to go to her first weenie roast / hayride.

And this was her picture on Monday lying on the quilt Grandma Ochs made her.

Halloween 2009

Here are some pictures from Halloween at our house. We went to a church tailgate trick or treat event the Sunday before Halloween. For this event, Gabe dressed up as a Star Wars character...Obi Wan Kenobi. We don't know a WHOLE lot about Star Wars other than what the little boys at school talk about and what we've learned from the bits and pieces of one Star Wars show we watched but that is all he talked about being so that's what he was! And Kendra was a princess.




This is all of the Wilke grandkids...well until Tessa was born that is :)


Halloween itself was our first full day at home so Tessa and I skipped the trick or treat festivities and Heath and his parents took the kids out trick or treating for a bit. Gabe decided to be a football player this time. They wound up with LOTS of candy!!

Tessa is HERE!

So it has taken me a while to get this posted but as one can imagine, I've had plenty to do to keep me busy lately...

Tessa Jean Wilke arrived on Tuesday, October 27th at 7:34 am. She weighed 8lb 7oz and was 20.5 inches long. We arrived at the hospital around 4am and she was born 3 1/2 hours later...she was not in the mood to mess around! Not that we can really plan these things, but for those of you out there planning to deliver a baby anytime in the future, I would recommend avoiding the 7am or 7pm shift change at the hospital if you can do so...nurses, doctors, anesthesiologists, etc are really hard to find when so many people are coming and going and all that...but that is a "whole nuther story".


As I'd posted previously, children were not allowed to visit the hospital but Gabe and Kendra did get to hear the good news that morning before preschool and they got to wear their big brother / big sister shirts that their Aunts Pam & Beth had picked up for them. That evening, however, Gabe came down with a cough, fever, and sore throat. We didn't discover all of this until well after the doctor's office had closed. After mentioning this to our nurses at the hospital, they suggested that Heath stay at the hospital because if he went home and was exposed to Gabe then they would not allow him to come back. And my doctor immediately put me on Tamiflu to hopefully avoid me and Tessa getting sick. So Wednesday, Heath went home and took Gabe to the doctor where they decided he had the lovely swine flu that we had been doing everything in our power to avoid these past few weeks. They didn't actually swab him and test for it because the test is supposedly not very accuarate and produces a large percentage of false negatives. So the whole family got on Tamiflu and Heath stayed home with the kids the rest of the week. My Mom drove down early Tuesday morning and we sent her home Wednesday evening so she could also get on the Tamiflu...that way she could come back later on once she had her 48 hours clearance.


Long story short, I then had to stay in the hospital an extra day with Tessa until Gabe had been on his meds 48 hours. It was absolute torture but deep down I knew it was worth it in order to keep Tessa safe. As a Mom, it was just hard to be away from one of my babies when he was sick and deal with all the new Mom hormones in the hospital without my husband there with me when all I wanted to do was GO HOME!! But, my sister Beth went beyond the call of duty and took the day off work on Thursday and spent both Wednesday and Thursday nights with me in the hospital. She was amazing and I owe her BIG TIME!!


Here is a picture of Tessa when she was just one day old:

Here are some pictures from when we arrived home on Friday. Both Gabe and Kendra were super excited to meet Tessa. Kendra had been telling people all week how she was going to "hold her" and "change her diaper". And they both did just that! It really melted my heart to watch them love her from the very start and constantly inquire about her and basically follow me around like a shadow making sure they didn't miss a thing!






Kendra can't get enough of her...seriously...she wakes up in the morning and comes into our room asking where her Baby Sister is. She is always the first to grab a paci if Tessa makes a peep and she is often caught watching over her bassinett as she sleeps. Look at that smile of a proud big sis!!


My three sweet angels ;)


My Mom came back and spent Sunday through Tuesday with us. She cooked and cleaned and did laundry, ran errands, picked the kids up from preschool, got some snuggle time in with Tessa, etc. Mom's are absolutely amazing and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful Mom!


And her is Tessa's most recent picture from today...








Up next...the big question...HOW LONG TILL WE BREAK DOWN AND BUY A VAN?
Serious inquiries only...we will have a 2004 White Ford Escape for sale...leather interior, 47000 miles, 6 cd changer, garage kept, great condition. I've always swore I'd never drive a mini-van but the darn things are just so practical.