Katie at 7 Weeks!

Four generations of the Lucia family, how cool! This picture was taken on Christmas Eve and as you can tell Miss Katie was about half-awake. Of course she was most likely overwhelmed by all of the gifts she recieved, including clothing, jewelry, money and the most awesome book called "My Own Name" which spells out her name, page by page, and tells a neat little story in the process. It made me cry, not only because it was so special but because Katie is so fortunate to have a family that loves her so very, very much.
This picture was from Christmas Day. My parents and sisters and brothers-in-law came over for breakfast and then to open gifts, my mother makes this sausage and egg casserole every year on Christmas morning that we all crave and devoured quickly, oh and you have to have it with corn muffins. Tradition! I think Katie was still worn out from all of the excitement from the previous night because she slept through the whole opening gifts process, Aunt Liz and Uncle Tim made sure she was snug as a bug, while Aunt Sarah took picutres. (Secretly we all think Uncle Doug is scared of tiny Katie so he did a lot of staring but no holding!!) Katie got books about Bikes (the pedal kind), some Hokie baby stuff, and tons of stuff from Grammy and Grandpa Sylvanus including the cutiest outfit from Baby Gap with a fur collared sweater and fur rimmed jeans, OMG it is sooooooo cute!!
Today, December 26th, Kate had her 2 month doctors visit. I know it's two weeks early but becuase she was born prematurely her immunizations are off by two weeks so she had to get her second round of one shot and they decided to give her the 2 month shots two weeks early so she wouldn't have to come back. That was horrible; I have never heard her scream like that. And why haven't they figured out a way to combine all of those shots into one needle stick, I mean come on, five pokes in her thigh, that just seemed cruel. She did pretty well the rest of the day, she was very sleepy and we actually had to wake her up to eat, but by 10pm she was back to her normal self, watching TV in bed with us (that's the picture above). Oh and ginormous news, she is now 7 pounds 1 ounce!!! What a porker! I love it, she's filling out and getting rolls, it's awesome. Ok well that's it from us for now, I hope everyone has a great new year and keep checking back for new pictures, I try to post a few a week!

Me and Kate

Katie decided that she would stay awake and alert to watch the Eagles beat the Giants today, she was actually watching the television. Is that bad? Ok that's it for me for now, she's giving Nat some problems right now so I better go help. More later.........

Just some pictures....

Just some fun pictures to share. First, Katie sleeping with her finger in her ear, why, I have no idea, but it was jammed in there pretty good.
This is a common after meal face, she get's tired of being burped and just starts blowing bubbles and making faces. I can't wait until she brings a boy home for the first time and I have all of these awesome pictures to share!
Finally, my tiny munchkin in her swing. She still can't keep her head forward facing for too long so it ends up facing the side like in the picture. Still, she enjoys the swinging and will fall asleep if in the right mood....lovely.

It's Been A While......

Sorry no blogging in a bit, we are having some sleep issues here so even if I think about blogging, I forget about it 10 minutes later!! I have posted some pictures, below, so you can see how big Katie is getting. She is doing well, except for the weird sleeping patterns, and is growing up and out every day. Last Friday, the 8th, Katie had her 1 month check-up and was 5 lbs. 11.5 oz. and 20 inches long. By Monday we were back at the doctors office becuase Katie has some green poop, sorry, and was having some gas issues so I just wanted to see if there was something I could be doing. Basically preemies are notorious for having acid reflux, or GER, because of underdeveloped digestive systems, the hope is that she will grow out of it by 4 months. Anyhow, she was 5 lbs. 14 oz. on Monday's appointment so we are pretty sure that by now she is a 6 pounder. We can tell that she is getting some fat on her becuase all of her newborn wrinkles, where there was no fat, are gone and being replaced by rolls and more rolls. It's so cute!! Ok well she is stirring so I have to go, I hope you are all ready for Christmas!!! Look for more pictures soon.........

Home Alone!!

Today is our first day home alone, just me and Kate. So far we are working through some gas issues so sleeping is optional and sparce and fussing is a very high priority. Nat was planning on going back to work full time this week but last night after some tears of frustration, on my behalf, he has decided to work today, Wednesday and Friday so every other day I can have full time help. I don't know why I thought after 6 days I would be ready and prepared to do this on my own but I made a mistake and thank goodness Nat works for a company that understands that schedules can be broken at times. Well I am going to try and catch a nap while the babe is sleeping. I hope you all like the picture, she flashes the peace sign all of the time, this time was getting out of the bathtub. (She is equally fond of giving me the finger while nursing so I don't have a good read on her yet?!)

First Doctors Visit

Katie had her first pediatrician visit yesterday and just as our lactation consultant had confirmed for us the day before, Katie is doing great!

Her weight at the doctors office was 5 lbs. 1.5 oz. and she was 19 inches long. She is gaining and growing like a weed and everyone, doctors and parents, is pleased with all of her progress. The only problem with her growth that we are experiencing is trying to find clothing that fits her, she's small enough to fit into preemie clothing but way too long for it. Right now she is in newborn outfits, they fit her long legs but her tiny body just swims in them. Hopefully she will start filling out soon, she has started eating more often so I think she might be hitting a growth spurt. I'm hoping.

Anyhow, the doctors visit went well, it was short and Katie didn't have to get any shots. We are scheduled for our 1 month check-up next Friday and we will be rolling duo since Nat will be back at work. We were told that at her 2 month visit Katie will be getting 5 shots, so I don't think Nat will be getting out of that one!

One thing we learned yesterday is that Katie likes riding in the car, she was awake, quiet and with all of the rain yesterday she had something to look at while we were on the way home. We are still having an interesting go at trying to get her to sleep at night, she doesn't appear to like her crib and nothing we do between the hours of 1am-5am seems to be the right thing. I know it will get better day by day but with Nat heading back to work on Monday I am getting a little bit more nervous that I really won't be sleeping at all!

OK well I am going to grab a quick bite to eat before the feeding machine awakens. I'll keep posting pictures and interesting tid bits when I have time, hopefully I won't lose all of my gumption this coming week, but if you don't hear from me know that I have good intentions!!