Sicky Icky Sick

Apparently February is the Month of the Sick in the Gartner-Baca house. We have had cold after cold yielding not 1 but 2 cases of strep throat, one case of pneumonia, one bad cold for a 6-week-old, and an ear infection. Luckily this month will be over soon and hopefully so will our germs. I can't remember a time when there's been so much sick going on in the house...can't wait for spring to open the windows and disinfect this place!

She's 1 month old today

Wow-- 1 month! Cliches like 'whirlwind' and 'roller coaster' are how I think to describe the past month. My baby brain is blocking my mental thesaurus. Corinna's first month has been incredible. Overall she's a good baby and she's growing by leaps and bounds. She's outgrown her 'newborn' sized clothes and diapers. At last count she was up to 9.6 pounds, but that was a good 2 weeks ago. She just started to really smile (we think). We are learning from who she's inherited little parts of her personality as they emerge. For example, sleeping with her mouth wide open...from grandma, to m0m, now Corinna. HUGE body shaking sneezes, from her dad...her love of being wrapped and uber-warm for sleeping--from mom, her ability to not startle at every single loud noise--definitley dad and not mom! She also makes lots of cute noises all the time, even while sleeping and especially while nursing.

Her brothers love her. Constant kisses and hugs. They always say they love her and how cute she is. Jake especially asks to hold her all the time and asks about her as soon as he gets off the bus.

Aside from having a newborn and all that excitement, the month has been far from dull...snow days, playdates, Little Gym, Jake sick, Aidan sick, Spike hit a deer, valentine's day. Can't imagine what next month will bring.

Two Weeks and Counting

So our baby girl is a good two weeks old now. What an adventure they have been. Unlike the first baby who was virtually quarantined for the first 6 weeks of his life...Corinna has been out and about accompanying her brothers to some hot spots...like a play date, the doctor's office, and Little Gym. She also lost her belly button stub and had her first bath (HATED every second of it). As soon as Jake was done taking his medicine for pink eye, Aidan wound up with a double ear infection...so luckily someone in the house has been on antibiotics since Corinna has been born! I am feeling so much better than 2 weeks ago. The body's ability to heal is incredible. I feel like Corinna has grown a lot, I'm curious what the doctor says on monday.

Jake and Aidan can not get enough of their sister. Aidan constantly kisses "corinney" and tries to make her laugh. Jake just says he loves her so much...he even said "Mom, is it okay if I love Corinna just a little bit more than you and dad?" Jake runs off the bus just eager to see his sister.

Aidan had his medal ceremony at Little Gym--a little end-of-semester award for going to the gym.

The freezing cold weather has made all of us a little cabin-fevery. We can wait until the snow melts (in like 2 months) and we can play outside! The snow day from school this past week was a little much for mom. Having all 3 kids home all day long proved a bit overwhelming. But father of the year Spike grabbed dinner on the way home and ate in the car so he could just grab all the kids the second he walked in the door and give me a break. God Bless Him!

Welcome Corinna

Welcome to the world Corinna Elaine! Our little princess finally arrived (on her due date no less) on January 15, 2009. She weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces, 21 inches long. After a rather rough delivery, (let's just say back labor and an epidural that didn't work!) we were so happy to meet her! Her brothers are captivated by her and love to know what she's up to. Aunt Lainie babysat the boys while mom and dad were at the hospital. She had her hands full as both boys were sick. As soon as we got home from the hospital Spike turned around and brought Jake to urgent care for what turned out to be an advanced case of double pink eye! Aidan is really congested and we are hoping his eyes remain un-pink. Maybe Jake was just trying hard to get in the spirit of all the pink in the house now. We're so happy to be home and getting settled back in. Corinna seems like a good sleeper (hopefully it will stay that way!) and she is nursing well. She is so tiny, her clothes just float on her, which is just a world of difference from her brothers! She also runs a little cold and has to be super-bundled up--a HUGE difference from her brothers who can walk around barefoot and in t-shirts on a day like today and be fine!

Happy Birthday Nori

Mommy celebrated her birthday yesterday. Yikes, 34! We did not have a birthday baby as hoped for, but it won't be long now. The boys were wild animals all day and fought like crazy, not giving mom much of a birthday rest, but by the time the carvel cake with crunchies came out, no one cared! Got a really cool video camera that records directly onto DVD--just in time for Corinna's arrival. It's so great! Jake a.k.a Mr. Money Hunter freaked out when he saw a penny replica in a bday card Nori got, but went nuts when he realized it was a fake.

Getting Snorgasized

I was doing the dishes this afternoon (really an endurance exercise given how much my belly sticks out from the sink!) and all of the sudden, Aidan comes flying into the kitchen and immediately begins emptying the cabinet where we keep the pots and pans. Since he's never done this before I asked what he was doing. "I 'snorgasizing' them. Daddy gonna be sooo happy when he come home and see." So he thoroughly emptied the cabinet and quickly lost interest in the project. He said that when dad got home, he could snorgasize them. I convinced him that we could do it together and we put all the pots and pans back. Aidan beamed with pride at HIS hard work.