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.