The Countdown Has Begun

I have been so horrible about updating my blog, but I have been enjoying the weeks I have at home with my little girl before I have both my angels home with me full time (I don't know how I will update at all when this happens!). That, my friends, begins in 2 weeks!!! I have been preparing for this by frantically organizing all the spaces in my house. So far I have cleaned out and organized the hall closet, under the sinks in the bathrooms, the junk drawer, the junk cabinet, and have moved all of Carter's art supplies to the basement. My next projects include the dreaded pantry and the garage.

Sophie has grown and changed so much in the past 6 weeks, like the cliche goes "They grow up so fast!" I forgot how quickly they grow out of newborn clothes and begin to have a personality of their own. We have begun to settle into somewhat of a routine and she sleeps pretty well at night. (only getting up twice and usually going right back to sleep after) Her facial expressions are priceless and we have even started seeing some little smiles. I know I will miss the days when she falls asleep on me and I am trying to soak it all up because she will "grow up so fast" and before I know it she will be a big 3 year old! Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks... I can't believe she is already 6 weeks old!

First nap in her crib...She is now sleeping at night in her crib instead of in our room and she is sleeping very well, 4-5 hour stretches. I never was as exhausted with her as I was with Carter!!

Funny faces and first smiles!

Playing with my friends is exhausting!

In my girly sunsuit

We are Back at Home!

After a VERY long 3 days at the hospital, the Crivella clan returned home! I was so ready to go home and was so glad to be back! Tuesday included a few more tests for little Sophie and the end result is that the doctor thinks she may have had a UTI. Nick and I aren't convinced of this diagnosis, but we are treating it as a UTI and following up with our doctor tomorrow. Nick took the day off yesterday and is home today for a half day. We let Carter stay home with us today since we hadn't been around all weekend and he was shuttled from grandparent to grandparent. Nick was so great last night feeding Sophia when she got up so I could catch up on some much needed sleep and Sophie slept great giving Nick a 5 hour stretch. Needless to say this weekend was a nightmare! It was so hard to see my little baby go through so much, but we are so grateful that everything is ok and she is healthy and able to be home with us! Moral of the story...don't let a baby under 8 weeks get a fever! Thanks to everyone who helped us get through this weekend, we are so greatful for you!

Memorial Day Weekend!

Now I know all you blog readers are going to be jealous, but I couldn't skip documenting our 2009 Memorial Day weekend, here it goes...

While many of you were at the beach, relaxing with family, just hanging out at home enjoying the weather, Nick, Sophie, and I were enjoying our delux accomodations courtesy of Care First...at the luxurious Howard County General Hospital (pediatrics unit). Yep, sounds like tons of fun (I knew you would be jealous)

Here is the story...

Saturday night Sophie had a stuffy nose, she was grunting, startling herself awake, and just having a little difficulty breathing. Finally around 2am I told Nick that we should call the pediatrician and see if they had any ideas on how to make her more comfortable and actually go to sleep little did I know they would recommend that I take her to the Emergency Room. So, off I go leaving Nick and Carter behind thinking we will get some oxygen, a breathing teatment, and go home to nap all day long. Boy was I ever WRONG!!!

We got to the ER and they saw us right away (Howard County has a separete pediatrics emergency) they took her vitals and found that she had a fever. According to the nurses a fever in a baby her age is not normal. So the tests begin. We started with a boogie test for the flu and RSV. They then needed to test her blood and urine. They take blood and put an IV in at the same time so they only have to poke her once (it took three tries). I will let you imagine how they retrieved a urine sample. When the flu and RSV tests came back negative, meaning she did not have a flu virus, she now had an unexpalined fever so the next step in treating a baby under 8 weeks old is to do a spinal tap. By this time it was 6 am and I hadn't slept more than 2 hours. I was a mess and wanted it all to be over. She did great (I think I cried at least as much as she did) and now we are waiting for the results. Yep, the results take 48 hours. So, we were admitted to the hospital and so far so good. She is being treated for a bacterial infection with antibiotics and is being really, really good. She still has a stuffy nose, but all the test results have come back negative, including the one for spinal meningitis. Needless to say I am exhausted (now I know how comfortable Nick was sleeping at the hospital after I had my babies). We hope to be discharged tomorrow around 9am. We are so thankful to our parents for helping out with Carter while we go back and forth from home to the hospital and are so grateful (again) to the great care Sophie has gotten at the hospital. I have already told her that hospital bracelets are not something that we are going to start collecting! Happy Memorial Day everyone!

1 Month Old!!!

Can you believe it?! Sophia has been here for ONE WHOLE MONTH!?

Here are my attempts at taking a picture of the one month old...

Here is a little recap of her first month... (ok a big recap, but she is just so cute it is hard to choose from the hundreds of pictures that have been taken!)

2nd Anniversary

Where were you April 28, 2007?...

Yes, Nick and I made it to our 2nd Anniversary! Since it was only 6 days after Sophia was born we (mostly me) were not quite up for a night out. Nick surprised me with a very nice dinner compliments of the Elkridge Furnace Inn. We chose our meals and they delivered to us on real plates and everything! They don't normally do this for just two people (they have a 10 person minimum) but my husband sweet talked them into doing it for our special occasion. It was very nice and I didn't mind sharing our food with Carter! I also received 4 dozen roses and of course our sweet Sophia!

Here are some pictures Nick took of the meal.

Nick's gift from me!

Busy Busy Busy!

As most of you know, I have been busy. Maybe not as busy as I will be in the coming weeks when I have 2 kids full time, but I do have my hands full with my little lovey Sophia (who is already 3 weeks old!!!) Here are some pictures that have been taken in the past couple of weeks to tide you over until I have enough time to make a real post! Enjoy!

But first the CRAZY big brother!

1st Bath

The Crivella Cousins

Happy B"Earth"day!! (My 100th Post!)

Sophia Elyse has arrived!

She arrived 6 days late but in a huge hurry! She was born April 22nd (Earth day) at 7:14am, maybe she will be our little save the Earth, hippie chick. Just 6 short hours after my water broke at home. Once we got to the hospital (at 3am) things just kept on moving! I was admitted into a room (with my contractions coming 2 minutes apart) and was checked at 4cm and 90% effaced. Once I was all checked in and the consent forms all signed I was signaling for the epidural! I got it just in time around 6am...not 10 minutes after the epidural was in I was fully dilated and ready to push! We could not believe it! After only 20 minutes of pushing out came Sophia letting everyone know she had arrived! The nurse had predicted that she would be born at 7:03am and she wasn't far off. It was the most intense 4 hours of my life, but all the waiting and pain was worth it (as all of you Mom's out there know).

The hospital visit was very different the second time around. I was so much more relaxed and up and around than I was with Carter. One of the things that really worried me was having Carter come and visit and be ok with Mommy in the hospital. The first day he came to visit, I was still in the gown, had an IV needle in, and although I was up and around he was still a little nervous about why Mommy looked so different. So the next day before he came I took a shower and put my own clothes on so that he would be more comfortable around me and he was!

We had a great experience at the hospital, the nurses were awesome and very helpful. Although we had to share a room the first night in the hospital (April 22nd was a very popular day to have a baby!) We made it through and had a good experience at Howard County General.

Since we have been home I have once again been in awe of how AMAZING my husband is! He is by far the best father I have ever seen! He has been great with keeping Carter busy and trying to keep the house normal for him. He is also great with the baby changing diapers, helping to feed her, changing her clothes, and just keeping her content! He is AMAZING and I don't know what I would do without him!

Second, I would like to thank everyone who has helped take care of my first baby and helped him to adjust to his new baby sister. My parents, my in-laws, both of who watched Carter while we were in the hospital, and my sister and brother in-law who have taken Carter to see the movie Earth to give Nick and I some time at home. I am so grateful for all the help that we have recieved this past week!

As far as Sophie is going, she is GREAT!! She is eating like CRAZY, so much that I can't keep up yet and we have had to supplement with formula, but that is ok with me and hopefully we can nurse exclusively this time around, but if not, that is ok too. She is just so lovable, snuggly, and content as a baby could be. We love her and cannot get enough of her!

I will leave you with some pictures of our new baby girl, who by the way is getting TONS of love from her big brother Carter, who cannot give her enough kisses!