Happy New Year's Eve

We hope everyone will have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!!!

Silicon Vibe, the band I'm in, will be playing tonight in Half Moon Bay at the Ritz Carlton! I will miss my family and friends terribly but I'll be having a good time too!

Meanwhile Gemma and Scott will playing Rock Band, by the same makers of Guitar Hero, all night. It is a game where you can play with up to 4 people on different instruments - guitar, bass, drums and vocals. FUN!!!!We look forward to a new year and new adventures with you all!

Love,
~Scott, Rosi, Gemma and Blitz

Bath Time

Gemma loves her bath time. :) She has loved it from the first bath in the hospital, especially having her hair washed.I know eventually we'll get to giving her a bath daily but right now we bathe her once a week. She's a very neat eater, doesn't spit up (she's spit up a tiny bit 7 times since she was born) and poops every 3 days or so. Rest assured, Gemma is a clean little baby. :)Winding down and looking adorable!She's ready for bed now - check out her curly hair! She just might have a little bit of Sandoval hair after all! :)Buenas noches!!

3.5 months!

Hello everyone! We hope the holiday season is going well for you! Gemma is changing so much! She's becoming quite vocal and making new sounds everyday. She continues her love affair with her hands. And recently her favorite games are a game we call "Earthquake or Terremoto" - yes, our little Budha baby loves to be man-handled - and a game we call "Super Baby or Super Nina" - she loves to fly! Her neck strength continues to improve and she holds her head up quite well these days.

Superrrrr Nina:Hanging out at Blossom Birth, just chillin':

Since we've been back from LA, we've been busy recuperating (mainly) but also managed to do quite a lot including, me performing with Silicon Vibe for the first time in 6 months, purchasing a new car (Scott traded in his Ford Mustang Bullet for a Ford Escape Hybrid - his idea), going to Mom & Baby Yoga, visiting CrystalD, and having visits or visiting our friends Sus & Troels, Magda, Marisa, Juli, Rocio, Mark & Nerissa, oh, and just Saturday, Gemma and I went caroling! :)

Reluctant Santa Baby:Gemma at work with Daddy:Blitz checking out the new car:Daddy time, I mean "Mass Effect" time! I think she may have dimples! :)Spending time with her friend Miriam, Sus and Troels' baby girl - they had the exact same due date! Their personalities are so different - it is wonderful to see them change and develop together!Silvia, Rocio's baby girl, is 7 months older than Gemma - I know they will be good friends one day. :)Bubble time!

Abuelito

Over Thanksgiving, my father met Gemma for the first time.  It was quite emotional and an extremely important event for the whole family but especially for me, my father and Gemmita.  

Translation:

Thank you, my Lord, for this wish that you have granted me

I praise you and bless you for such a marvelous thing

For this little person

For this jewel

I ask you Lord that you bless her always 

Straighten her roads

Shorten her paths, Lord Jesus

You brought her here for something

And something you will make of her

Unleash all of your love, all of your blessings, all of your protection on her

and her adoring parents, Rosaura and Scott

I give you thanks, Lord, because you granted me my wish of meeting her

and to tell you, Lord Jesus Christ, how Great you are, how Great you are

How will I ever repay you

So many blessings

I thought I would never arrive at this point

But I have arrived... and now I can leave

Whenever you wish

Thank you, my Lord, for the beauty, for the love, for the affection...

For all these things...

3 months!

Gemma has been growing so fast!!! All of a sudden she is much more interactive - cooing, smiling and sometimes laughing (though it currently sounds like a cough or a really excited inhale). She's a very calm and observant little girl who gives her coos and smiles judiciously right now but when she does it is about the best thing ever. :)

Sorry for not writing sooner, so much is going on in life right now... illnesses, marriages, birthdays (Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma Krotz), performances, breakdowns, healing, forgiveness... I'll write more about it all in another entry but for now here are some videos to get everyone acquainted with Gemma's world. :)

Buenos dias
Our morning ritual, I sing to her to help wake her up. This particular morning she was sooo enchanted with her hands and fingers that she didn't give us her usual coos and smiles. These days her world revolves around her hands, especially her right thumb. This new discovery is wonderful since she soothes herself back to sleep if she wakes up in the middle of the night. As a result the past 4 nights she's been an angel sleeper; 2 nights sleeping 9 hours straight, then 9.5 hours and last night 10.5 hours! Each time I woke up before she did with my boobs just aching to offload stored up milk for her.

Daddy Time
Here she is a little more awake having some daddy time before he heads off to work:

Bee Time
Play time for Gemma. She Loooves her bee mobile! :)

Ups and Downs

First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween! I can't wait for next year to dress Gemma up in a proper Halloween outfit! :)

Gemma's 2-month check-up went really well and she's grown fast!:
* Weight = 11.5 lbs (jumped to 75 percentile)
* Height = 22.25 inches (50 percentile)
* Head circumference 15.16 inches = (50 percentile)

OK - These past 2 weeks have been so very hectic & tiring with all our ups and downs.

Let's start up with an UP:
Grandma and Grandpa Krotz (Rich & Nancy) were able to meet Gemma for the first time this past week. They came out from Chicago to meet the latest member of the family. It has been really awesome to have them around to play with Gemma and give me and Scotty a little break. :)
Gemma's taken a particular shine to Grandpa - I think he sounds just like Scotty.DOWN:
This past week I've been healing from a breast infection called mastitis. It happens when milk ducts don't get completely drained and then clog and then become infected. It is an incredibly intense pain accompanied by fever and all the flu symptoms you can think of. Apparently more women than you would think have some sort of breast issue while breastfeeding, you just don't hear about it very often (unless you get something then you hear about other people's stories).

I've cried 3 times uncontrollably since Gemma was born - once when she was born (I was just so happy), another time when my mother left (I felt so overwhelmed), and the third time was 2 Fridays ago when I came down hard with mastitis. I was just so exhausted and in so much pain and Gemma refused to eat because I was stressed which stressed me out even more.

When I went to see the doctor, she asked me what was going on and as soon as I started to talk I started bawling my eyes out. She kept asking me in her thick East Indian accent, "Are you suffering from post partum depression?" I kept responding, "No" - I must have looked a mess. :) Looking back, I can laugh at it now but at the time it was the worst possible thing that could have happened to me. Scott has been such a major trouper. He's been taking such good care of me and Gemma. Before the antibiotics took affect, I was completely out of it and he was basically taking care of Gemma 100% of the time - a major crash course for sure! Well, I'm much better now, thank goodness. And thank goodness for my wonderful husband!UP:
Before I got sick, I shot my first official wedding. I wasn't the main photographer, but the 2nd shooter. I'm glad I wasn't the main photographer because it was a lot harder than I expected to get a good shot. So much happens so quickly. It is like photography on crack. Anyway, the wedding was in Santa Cruz and it was a gorgeous day and my first day leaving the house alone. I felt pretty darn great! Our good friend Marisa came down from the city to spend the day with Scott just in case he needed it. Turns out that both Gemma and Scott did great on their 9-hour tour but it was still nice for him to have the company. Gracias, Marisa! :)

DOWN:
Right around the time I was getting a little better from my mastitis, Blitz started getting ill. At about 5am in the morning one day last week Scott took Blitz to a 24-hour veterinary hospital. They ran a bunch of tests, only after having had to sedate him - he is so super feisty even at 15 years old, and they eventually found that he has a urinary tract problem and a thyroid issue. Scott came home later that day blurry-eyed with a sedated Blitzy and a stack of pills he had to give him. Now Blitz is super smart and it has been quite a headache for Scott to give him the pills several times a day. He's tried it all including hiding the pills in yummy treats which is hard to pull off especially when Blitz didn't have much of an appetite. So several times Scott had to catch Blitz and force pills and food down his throat - not fun. Little by little Blitz is starting to feel better and eating on his own. He's back to being his grouchy little self - all good! Check out his left forearm - they had to hydrate him and this is where they put his IV. I hadn't realized how skinny he is under all that soft fur! :)

UP:

My cousin Christina came to visit me just before Scott's parents came to keep me company & feed me while I recuperated. She helped me take Gemmita a bath and held her while I rested. Gracias, prima!!!! Here's a picture of me being crazy with calm Gemma. :)

SIDEWAYS:
Gemma slept through her first earthquake. We freaked out a little, but she just slept like nothing happened. :) 5.6 on the richter scale, centered in Alum Rock, in San Jose, just south of us.

UP:
Scott's birthday was Friday. It was nice to have his parents here to celebrate. We ate one of Scott's favorite foods, Chinese, and had chocolate cake made by his mom (yum!). We didn't do much, just tried to catch up on the sleep we all had been missing between me and Blitz being sick. He wanted to watch Spiderman 3 but we didn't get to it until Saturday. I think it still counts. :) Happy birthday, sweetheart!

6 Weeks - We Survived!

Yes, I can't believe we survived!!!! :)

Everyone is doing really well except for our condo - it looks like a baby bomb hit us hard. Everyone room has been taken over by baby stuff. As I scan the condo I see, a baby car seat, blankets, burp cloths, a bassinet, clean unsorted baby clothes, a baby monitor, a pack'n play, cards from all our family and friends (thank you everyone), breast pump, baby bottles and everything that goes with them, more blankets, baby bath tub and all sorts of baby products, changing table, all sorts of 'how-to' baby books, Gemma's black'n white toys, Gemma soft cloth book, nail file, diapers, diaper bag... I can go on and on.. you get the picture. :)

Gemma is doing really well, even though this past week we've been dealing with a cold and it has been rough on the whole family. Imagine trying to breastfeed with a plugged nose - not fun. She'd eat then unlatch because she couldn't breath and cry because she was hungry and then latch again eat some, cry until she was exhausted. Usually she'd tire before getting enough to eat so then she'd wake up shortly after and start the whole sequence again. Poor Gemma, poor mom and dad! :) But now we are on the very tail end of it and she's starting to sleep better (and us too)!

And yesterday I had my 6 week check-up! I've lost 20 of the 28 pounds I gained - still feel chunky, especially around the middle. :) My blood pressure was good = 102/62. Dr. Hoff said I was fully recovered and ready to have another child. Eeeks!!!! And then directly prescribed birth control for us. Yahoo!!! :) Not that we wouldn't want to have another child (still undetermined) but it would be too soon, ya know? :)


So in my family it is traditional for the children to have many nick-names. Growing up my big nick-name was 'Gibbities' - don't know why but that is what everyone called me (glad they don't anymore - hahaha). My niece Isabella is also known as Bella, Bootsie - Vittoria is also known as Peluca-lu and Lulu. Ok - here's our current short list for Gemma's nick names, but who knows what will stick and what new ones we and our family and friends will come up with:

* Gemma-jams
* Gemmita (with the Spanish accent)
* Goth Girl (just as I predicted - dark hair and eyes, light skin)
* Snow White
* Blanca Nieves ('Snow White' in Spanish)
* Squeaker
* Velociraptor (she's found her voice this past week and has been experimenting with all sorts of funny sounds)
* Preciosa ('precious' in Spanish)
* Fuzz ball
* Love Monkey
* Fake-out Queen (she pretends to wake up and then almost immediately falls back to sleep again)
* Little Houdini (she gets out of almost every swaddle we put her in!)
* Leelu Dallas Multipass :)

That's about all for now - I'm off to bed now and prepare for the next Gemma feeding. :) Hope everyone is doing super well. :)

1 month old!

I can't believe we've hit the one mark already. It feels both like it has taken forever and that she just arrived. :) I think that will be a recurring theme for the rest of our lives from now on. ;)

Our first family (sleepy) picture (we tried one with Blitz but he was not cooperative!): Gemma continues to grow and fill out. At her 4-week check-up she weighed 9lbs 5ozs (having gained 10ozs in a week). She's now in the 50% for weight (up from 25% at birth). :)A few accomplishments to note:
* She's very good at tummy time and her neck is getting strong.
* We visited Target (my favorite store after The Container Store) together for the first time. Yahoo for me!
* One night this week she actually slept for 5 hours!
* We think she's going to be an early crawler (oh no!) - she just crawled up from Scott's tummy up to his shoulder (her preferred spot these days).
* We've outgrown 'Newborn' diapers and are now on Size 1!

Daddy time - he's so good with her:Bath time (well, prep, anyway...):

This month we are looking forward to her smiling more and cooing more! Fun! :)
Love and healthy to all!
~Family Krotz

We are not supposed to know how to do this yet

One of the problems of having a baby with a full head of hair is knowing what to do with it. It's an advanced level skill being thrust upon beginner level parents and we are not coping well. Our lack of ability, coupled with her hair's natural tendency to stand straight up on top, leads to some interesting bedfellows hairstyle wise:


We don't mean for this to happen, it just does. There's a reason freshmen don't do quantum physics and it's the same reason most babies don't have much hair: you need to work up to it.

3 weeks and Growing!

Today is Gemma's 3rd week of life! In honor of her birthday the folks at Bungie decided to commemorate the day and release the long-awaited Halo3. Scott and the rest of the world are having fun playing it as I write - Yahoo! :)

As Gemma's gift to us, last night she slept for 4 hours at night - from 12:30 am until 4:30am. I was in shock since we've been trying to get her night/day switched and it has been exhausting at night. So her sleeping that much at night was like a magical gift. And then after I nursed her she went back to sleep for another 3.5 hours! Wow. I felt like a beginner golfer who after being so frustrated about her swing finally got that wonderful effortless swing and lovely hollow 'hit' sound. Or a newbie basketball player who just hit her first 3-pointer and hit 'nothing but the bottom of the net'. Aaaah :)The only disadvantage to this event was that I did wake up feeling like someone had replaced my breasts with hard large cantaloupes - ugh - I was engorged! It was amazing how un-Pamela Anderson I felt with huge boobs at that moment. Even after a good feeding, I still had plenty of milk on one side and it was super uncomfortable and painful to the touch. So there I was @ 5:30am trying to read my breast pump manual and get my head around that whole thing . Why didn't I do that sooner?!? I eventually gave up and opted for sleep only to wake up even more engorged and REALLY needing, requiring, Gemma to feed. Luckily she cooperated wonderfully. What relief! :)

Today I went to the 'Latch Clinic' again at Washington's Education Center. I have to say that those folks, Karen Smith (right) and Suzie Lindley (left), are so wonderful and helpful. The 2 times I've been there they've made me feel confident, supported, educated and even made me and the other women laugh and laugh heartily. It feels so good. Plus, again, I can't believe the clinic is FREE. For anyone in the area, please go check it out at 2299 Mowry, Tuesdays and Fridays from 11 - 12pm. You will not regret it.

At my visit to the clinic today, I found that Gemma gained 1lb this week!She now weighs 8lbs 11oz!!!! I could tell she was growing and gaining weight but I didn't realize it was that much. I was hoping she had reached the 8lb mark today so I was happily surprised to find she had well surpassed it.This week has been all about the liquids...
For a few days, Gemma had stopped pooping as much. At first we were concerned but our doctor assured us that at this point babies pooping frequency goes down. She's been peeping a lot and growing so we shouldn't be concerned.

So Scott was changing her last week and as he was holding up her legs and announcing to me that she had only urinated, a major enormous projectile poop came flying at poor Scotty and covered his hands, arms and shirt (not to mention the changing table and carpet behind Scott). He yelped so loudly that the sound-activated toy we had across the room started up. I, of course, couldn't stop laughing. I know it was bad. And as he stood there in shock and not moving, she launched another projectile at him - it was just too hilarious! He laughed too - he's such a good sport. At this point Scott was truly inaugurated into fatherhood. hahahaha! :)

This week I also found out that I am a leaker. I was in the middle of nursing Gemma when she suddenly unlatched and I proceeded to squirt milk at her! I was in shock and laughing as I was trying to reach for a cloth with which to clean her (and myself) up. My poor baby got it good! This week I also soaked my first breast pad and leaked through several shirts. Yes, this all coming from the woman who thought she wasn't going to be able to produce milk. Ha!

Oh, and this week we also ventured into giving Gemma a bath - just me and Scotty - unsupervised! :) We all did ok!Lots of love, light and sleep to you all!
~Scott, Rosi, Gemma and Blitz



Ps. My first attempt at uploading a little video of Gemma: