CARTER is BACK!!

It has been a long time since there has been an entire post dedicated to my first baby, Carter. Today we had our first day outside with the SPRAY BALL!!! Carter stayed home with me today (because of a chicken pox scare at daycare, who gets the chicken pox anymore? apparently the vaccine isn't all it is cracked up to be sometimes!!!)

We had a fun day starting at the mall where we exchanged a pair of 2 month old shoes because the stitching came out of the toe (most likely because Carter decided he was going to drag his toes as he walked, but we got a brand new pair out of it!!) and bought him a pair of Keen's for the summer. We used to get Crocs but he has a tendency to trip while he is running in them and I think the Keen's are a little more sturdy and supportive, not to mention fashionable!!


We wandered around the mall, rode the merry-go-round, and ate lunch. When we got home Carter had "quiet time" in his room for an hour and then we played in the spray ball! Here are some pictures I took of him playing in it...


...hasn't he gotten so big?! Take a look here if you don't believe me! You can even look here

Sophia didn't have such a great day...SCREAMING at the top of her lungs when she wasn't eating or sleeping and the sleeping didn't happen very much. Carter and I had a good day together! It will definately be an interesting summer!

Home Organization Projects

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been organizing some spaces in our house in preparation of being home with two kids. Well, I took some pictures. I don't have any before pictures but I am sure you can imagine what a disorganized pantry, cabinets, and closet look like. Here are our new and improved spaces...

The pantry

The hall closet

Under my bathroom sink

Under Nick's bathroom sink

Under the kids bathroom sink

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!