Baby Dedication

We couldnt have asked for a better day. The sun was shining, the trees in the back yard were a variety of beautiful fall colors and the air was a perfect fall crisp with the sun shining brightly on family and friends. It was the perfect Sunday to pray  for Francesca and to unite/dedicate our little girl to God and to the church. Our family and friends gathered for the perfect little sunday afternoon. I wish I had a picture looking from the inside out that captured this day. We were blessed to have the same pastor that married Tyler and I come to my parents home. Although we do not attend his church do to the distance from our home, he seems to just understand where we are in our lives both religiously and spiritually. He successfully made another moment in our life very special and personalized. Tyler and I feel very honored to have had him be apart of Francesca's special day. He preached a little about the difference between baptism and baby dedication and choose a few stories from the bible that outline this. The purpose of a baby dedication and why we chose this over baptism is because we want our children to be able to develop a personal relationship with God and with the right guidance choose to follow the God that they feel comfortable following. Baby dedication is the starting place for developing this relationship. Eric stressed that a baby dedication is just as much about Francesca as it is about everyone who chose to be gathered  with us on this day. Each person in her life will be commiting to helping her be all that God wants her to be. There was a few points that Eric had in this cerememony that hit home for me and I wanted to share them with you all. The first thing he said that we could do to help Francesca to be all that she will be is to Love one another. We must be an example to her and show her what real love is. Tyler and I must be as one and help her to feel the security that we feel when we are together. I have always felt that this is very important in a child's life. Love can be shown and heard through so many differnt forms of communication, words, gestures, feelings, emotions, etc. I think that both Tyler and I have the love for eachother that this commitment takes. Eric's words were a great reminder to both Tyler and I to remember how conneted we are. Ty and I have not had much time together since Francesca was born, and Sunday was a gentle reminder to spend more time on us as well as our little girl. The second thing that was pointed out was to teach our children well. Teach them to follow the rules, to listen to god, be there example, help them by involving there lives in the church, help them be around people that you know will teach them valuable things and also help them find and follow God. And last but not least to spend time with our children. He stressed that teaching children takes time. This part really got me thinking: Time is of so much value, I firmly believe that we must spend our time surrounded by the people that we love, those people who make us laugh and bring joy in to our lives. Surround yourself with great people the ones who trully make everyday enjoyable and worth living. Too many times, time is cut short, so we need to make the most of the time we have an spend it with those that are willing to live everyday. You dont need money to be rich in life, it does not buy happiness, it does not make good parents, it does not shape your future. What you do need and what I have been working on lately is living a rich life, which for me is filled with my small family and my few really good friends and there families. Love one another and your life to will be rich. We are so happy to have all these good people in our lives. Aunt Ellen and Uncle Arch were chosen as Francescas Godparents. They were chosen because we have love and trust in them that they will help us raise her, encouage her throughout life, be a good example for her to follow as she goes through this thing called life. We trust that they will put themselves in her life and make her better. I am so thankful for having them both in Francescas life now and into the future. Eric made sure to recongnize our Angel Great Grandma Rossi who passed just a little over a week before Francesca was born. One of my favorite Proverbs says: Grandchildren are the crown of the aged. We can only hope that Francesca will bring as much joy into the lives of others and My grandma Rossi did. I cant stress enough what a beautiful weekend it was. I am thankful for everyone who was there. Tyler and I have decided that even though the church in lake zurich is far from where we live that we want to be able to learn from Eric and the people at his church. We want to become more involved so that we can teach Francesca the right things. We are going to make and effort to become more involved in his community and in our own faith as we realize how improtant it is in todays society.

Here are the pictures from my camera! ENJOY

                                                    MoMa and Franki

                                                        Aunt Kathy and Franki

                                                                Proud Daddy

                                                          The GODFATHER :)

                                                             Papa, Arch, Ty ,and Kurk

                                                           The GODMOTHER :)

You know your a mom when....

You know you are a mom when..

For the last five years the smell of breast milk has made you sick, actualy even the thought of breastfeeding kinda grossed you out. Now your so used to the smell you actually kind of like it (it reminds you of your little love bug) and you whole heartedly believe that breastfeeding is one of the greatest things a human body can do and you love it!

You no longer wear pretty necklaces due to the fact that your child is either attached to you in a wrap or a sling or your carrying them around and well what used to be fashion just gets in the way..hey Franki is much cuter than any necklace I have ever had!

You used to look at websites like Nordstrom, Arden B, Victoria Secret, now your favorite bar consists of pampers (for pamper points of course), babies R us, GapKids, and any other baby website you can possibly think of!

When at the store you actually get super excited when you see that the pacifier your daughter likes has come out with a new design ( of course we have to buy it , even if we have 10 at home already). The new design is just so cute.  (Hey its the little things in life that make us happy, rught?)

You go to target for a couple of necessities and end up with at least 2 new outfits for your peanut!

Your baby is only 2 months old and your already planning the first baby food you will make.

You secretly wish that the clothes your little girl is wearing came in your size, everything just looks so comfy and cute!

Your day revolves around your little one, who cares if i havenet had time to brush my teeth and its already noon ( this has actually only happened twice) :)

Even when your exhausted at 12, 2, 4, 6 when they wake up to eat, when you see that smile your whole world is turend upside down and your heart melts just a little bit.

You cant remember what your life was like before she was in it and in truth really dont want to. Your whole life seemed to begin when she came into our life.

There is so much more, but theses where things that were fresh on my mind today. I love my Franki soo much! and I love everything about being a momma!

Franki has had a full week of Fall, Football, and Baseball! Enjoy some of her adventures below!

2 Months!

I cant believe how quickly the time has passed. Francesca is already 2 months old and growing right on track! She is now 9 llbs 15 oz and 22 inches long! Both of those only put her in the 25th percentile for her age. Her head is 14.5 inches which is the fifth percentile! She has a tiny little head! We happen to think this is probably why her head is so strong, she doesnt have a big noggin to carry around! We have had quite the eventful month, yet she continues to thrive and grow just as she should. This month she started really having control over her head. She can sit in the jumperoo and in her bumbo chair and hold her head up high. I can put her forward facing in the baby wrap and she absolutely loves to be able to face forward so that she can look all around. She is always on the move, her legs/arms are in constant motion. When you hold her up she immediately holds her own weight on her feet and mimics walking by picking up her feet. Her eye coordination continues to improve and she tracks both people and objects 180 degrees. She is still working on that hand/arm coordination although it is getting more precise by the day. She often hits herself in the head while trying to get her hands to her mouth. She does this wind up motion each time she tries to get her hands to her mouth and occasionally during her wind-up she catches her ear and she holds onto it. It is pretty funny to watch. Her personality continues to shine through. She loves to smile. Her favorite time of day is the early morning when she first gets up. All you have to do is talk to her and she her whole face lights up. I love that you can tell when she is going to smile because first the corner of her eyes have a slight upturn just before she smiles. She has that sweet little smile in that her whole face shows how happy she is. She still loves to be held. I think during our few bumos in the road she got used to the loving feeling of being held 24/7. So we are gradually trying to get her back to taking naps in the swing, bouncy, crib, or pack and play and not in her Mama's arms. I have found myself only getting things done when i strap her in the baby wrap. She sure loves to snuggle right up. The entire month her sleep schedule is slowly improving. She has even had one 6 hour stretch of sleep! The chubbier she gets the more she sleeps overnight and this makes for one happy baby and happy Mama! She continues to love being on her playmat, although she only hits the hanging toys by accidents, she does enjoy to look at all of the different things and to look at herself in the mirror. Every morning I have been reading her a new book. The past couple of weeks we have started to read Halloween books. I can usually keep her interested for about five minutes while reading to her. Now that she is getting more visual acuity she seems to enjoy looking at the pages in the book. She loves to dance! Tyler and I have always been big on playing music for her and it seems to instantly relax her. The other nigh t we put zac brown band into the CD player and we took turns swayying, swinging and dancing to the music. She was busy smiling and enjoying all the movement. I am determined to make her a country loving girl! So I still play country music, however I have started to play some Disney Music on my Pandora and that always seems to help lull her to sleep. She loves being naked (she takes after her Aunt Elle on this one!). I think next time she is crabby I may just try stripping her down and letting her be that is how much she seems to enjoy it. I think part of it is that she knows that being naked means that bath time is approaching! Today I had so much fun with her in the bath. Normally she gets her bath at night, in her little bath tub, because she enjoys the water so much i decided to try a different approach today. I put her in the bath with me. I held her while she was able to kick her legs and swing her arms. I let her back float by supporting her head in the water. We spent about twenty minutes in the water. SHe absolutely loved it! I cant describe hotw happy she looked. I think it will serve two purposes putting her in the bath with me occasionally. It will get her used to the water so she will love to take swimming lessons next year and it puts her back into her old element where she got to swim around everyday.  I know I am one proud Mama, but she is so special I cant help but tell you all about her new accomplishments and to document all of her achievements over the past month!

Bump in the Road

We are just trying to keep the hospitals in business or so I like to think that is why we have had a few Bumps in our road. Post-fever Our little Francesca who loves to wiggle and move decided on sunday to wiggle right from under her Daddies vision and onto the floor. Luckily Daddy is very quick and caught Franki just as she hit the ground. We werent totally sure that she didnt hit her head although we were pretty confident that Tyler had caught her. She cried immediately and was acting just like herself. Yet being the freak that I am I had to make sure she was ok, so back to the ER we went. They checked her over and saw that she was happy and eating and a.o.k! Thank goodness. We both quickly learned our lesson that in the blink of the eye she can slip right out from under you. We were both happy she was fine. We were finally on our road to recovery..or so we thought...

On wednesday night Tyler came home and said he was not feeling well. He took his temperature and he had a fever and body aches.  Wonderful! UGH not. I did not want to continue to pass around this virus or bug or whatever it was that seemed to be growing despite my loads of Lysol all around the house. Franki and I packed up and headed to Moma and Papa's house for some germ free R & R. Tyler recouperated very quickly and we were able to come home on friday night. I am a germ-a phob so of course I hired a cleaning service to ensure that our house could trully be germ free and that every nook and crannie was clean as a whistle.  I also put a bubble around Franki and didnt let Tyler hold Franki until Saturday night. You cant be too safe right?

Franki finally got to meet some of her other family members including her Uncle Tom, Aunt Kim, Aunt Kari and her great aunt and uncle nancy and chris. Everyone was very happy to finally get to meet her.

Satruday Aunt Kathy came and Franki and I had a great time shopping and lounging around together. Franki loves when her aunt kathy comes! I was also finally able to get some clothes for myself! It has been awhile since I have bought anything and since I am no longer pregnant I needed some real people clothes! Maybe now ill be styling just like my lil girl!

On Sunday Tyler, Francesca and I went apple picking in Wisconsin. With all the "bumps" we have not had much time to spend all together. It was the beggining of one of our many fall traditions. Fall is Ty and my favorite time of year. We have several traditions but are always looking to add just a few more! This was our very first time apple picking together. We headed to this beautiful orchard and got all bundled up in our hoodies and picked some mighty delicious apples. Franki loves the fresh air so I stuck her in the Maya wrap  all snug and warm up against Momma and we strolled among the apple orchard. We got home and with some football on television we cut and peeled lots of apples. The crockpot had homemade applesauce brewing and the oven was crisping our apples! The house smelled of fall and we all snuggled up together on the couch and enjoyed every minute of it. The applesauce is the best I have ever tasted cinnamon apple delicious! Apple crisp might be my new favorite dessert. We will be making some other great apple treats this weekend and I cant wait!

We may have had a few bumps in our life and I am sure there are many more to come. It is Sunday's like yesterday that make all of those bumps worth it!

Enjoy some new pictures of this Sweet Girl!

Fever

This post seems suddenly IRONIC after reading my previous post.

Wednesday morning around 4 a.m. Franki threw up after eating it was all milk, so at that point I just suspected that I didnt burp her well or she did not get her reflux medication soon enough. She woke up at 8 a.m to eat again and immediately threw up again a ton of milk. At this point in the morning she is usually all smiles and happy baby and is up until around 11. This particular morning was different she fell right back to sleep after throwing up. An hour later when I went to pick her up she started screaming and crying ( very unsual behavior for her) usually she only cries when it is time to eat and not even then does she alwasy cry. I took her temperature it was 99.8. So at this point I am casually concerned but not overly worried. I try to wake her up a bit to see if she would eat some more, but she continued to either cry or sleep (but even in her sleep she was moaning). I gave her another hour to sleep. At that point I was just sitting here starring at her watching her sleep. I checked her temp again and it was 100.1. I immediately called the Pediatrician to see if I could bring her in. She said that because she is so young with a fever I should bring her to the office have her checked out. I tried to feed her before leaving to go to the pediatrician but again she had no interest in feeding and just wanted me to rock her. By the time I got out stuff together to head out, she was breathing a little heavier and decided I was not comfortale driving 25 minutes by myslef to the pediatrician office, so instead I called the pediatrician and told her I was more comfortable taking her to the ER. Knowing that she was less than 60 days old, made her having a fever at higher risk than if she was already out of the 2 month period . We got the ER and we were seen almost immediately. The doctors agreed that she did look pretty lethargic and dehydrated. Her fever had increased by the time we had gotten to the ER to 100.8. She just looked so sad. She was pale with mottled skin and she was wimpering and making sad faces while she slept. I knew the drill since I work in the hospital. A fever in a newborn less than 60 days old is treated the same from hospital to hospital. They want to take blood, urine and spinal fluid from the patient in order to check for any bacterial infection. They have to rule out weather or not it is a viral vs. bacterial infection. As a bacterial infection is very dangeruous and is often a type of meningitis in the young infant. While viral is less severe and will work its way out of the body. I knew that these tests were all needed in order to treat Franki appropriately and quickly. This was were the going got rough. I have dont theses tests to babies thousands of times, but here is your little child, this precious little girl who means the world to me and I have to watch her get poked and proded. Infants are not easy to get blood on in general but usually after a few times someone will have a successful stick. Unfortunately Francesca was not that lucky. We had 6 differnet people try to get blood on her and 14 seperate pokes later we finally had enough blood to send the blood culture and complete blood count. I think that she cried more in 24 hours than she has in her entire 7 weeks of life. The piercing cry was so hard to listen to but I talked to her or sang to her the entire time so that she would know I was there and that I was going to pick her up immediately to console her. I spent most of the day holding back tears of my own. They then tried to get spinal fluid from her and what do you know again were unnsucessful .I had reached my breaking point at that point. No one else was going to touch her or stick her unless it was with an antibiotic injection and I wanted her to get tylenol to help with both the pain and her fever. All of the doctors were very respectful of my decision at that point and we went ahead and gave her the antibiotic. At that point we got into a new room that was not in the emergency room anymore. I think 7 hours in the ER was enough. We settled into our room and overnight she continued to have fevers. We continued to give her Tylenol and I cuddled with her all night. They actually said it was a good thing that she wanted to cuddle, because often kids with a bacterial infection are so sick and in pain that they would rather not be touched by anyone. She just wanted to nuzzle up to her momma, so that is what I have done for the last 36 hours or so. Her complete blood count was reassuring that she had a viral illness. (We thought this woudl be the case becasue the kid ellen was watching was sick and we didnt know it). The doctors knew that I work as a pediatric nurse practitioner and knew I would keep her fever down and watch her closely at home while the virus works its way out of her system. It is better to be at home than in a hospital there area less germs at home. We came home late yesterday afternoon. By the time we got home, Franki was already feeling much better. I was even getting a smile or two. She was making up for not eating by eating every 1-2 hours all night long. She is still wanting to be held but overall is doing so much better. She has kept her fever and milk down. I cant even begin to explain how scared I was. I dont know if Ill ever forget watching her go through all of that. I would have done anything to take all the pain away and give it to myslef. I love her more everyday. I literally spent the entire night in the hospital just staring at her thinking to myself how lucky I am to have such a precious gift. Im glad she wont remember any of this, I know that Tyler, Moma and myslelf will be hearing that sad little scream and picturing her sad little face for quite some time though. We all love her so so much it was unbearable to see her in any pain. Im just glad that she is doing so much better and on the mend. I love to see her smile and look around at her little world. As a matter a fact as I sit her right now she is snuggled perfectly against my belly just like when I was pregnant. I love to watch all the little faces she makes while she is sleeping. At least that happy little smile has returned, it just cracks me up when she is sound asleep with a huge grin! Must be dreaming up something good. I hope everyone in there lifetime gets to feel this much love from someone. I look at her and my whole life is complete. It feels so good to be a mom to this beautiful baby girl. We will be doing lots of cuddling in the next two weeks, becuase we will be hibernating until her immunizations are given on September 30th.

On a very funny side note, Hullk was so happy when we came home from the hospital. It was like for the first time he realized that Franki and I are a packaged deal. We walked in the door from the hospital and he couldnt get enough of us, he was licking her ears and her toes and he just wanted to be right next to her. He may not always act like he is happy she is around, but he definitely missed us while we were away.  I cant wait to see what he does when she starts crawling!

P.S. Did I mention what a great husband I have? He took one for the team and spent last night sleeping on the floor of our bedroom on an airmattress so that Franki and I could sleep in the bed. She would not sleep unless I had one hand on her butt (it was pretty funny) I would take my hand away and she would wine or cry. This might be the beggining of her little personality shining through. Either that or Hulk  has been teaching her tactics behind my back. Hulk usually growls at me if I am petting him and I take my hand away, but as soon as i put my hand back on him he will stop growling. They are both pretty stubborn! ( I wonder where they get that from? :))

Closet Hypochondriac

My friend and fellow PICU nurse came to visit Fanki and I yesterday. She came over and was cuddling with Franki while we were catching up on life! While we were talking she was quietly assessing Franki, such as, noting that she had a soft and flat fontanel (the soft spot on the top of her head), she was feeling her pulses and even checking her capillary refill. All of these little things that nurses do on a daily basis to there patients. This took me back to a post that I had blogged on during pregnancy. I talked about my history of being a hypochondriac about everything and the fact that most of my friends pictured me taking my kids vitals and doing physical assessments on them every night before bed. I have to admit that I am a closet hypochondriac with Franki. I frequently (70 times per day) check to see if she is breathing, either by staring at her while she sleeps, or feeling her stomach move. I often wake up during the night just to make give her the once over. I also have taken her temperature approximately 10 times. Occasionaly when I am outside and her hands or feet feel cold, I double check that she has a good strong capillary refill and good strong pulses. I often feel her fontanel (to assess for hydration), and also look at her muscous membranes (inside her mouth) to make sure that it is pmoist and pink. I am my own worst enemy. But hey you can never be too safe right? On the other hand, I have yet to get my stethoscope out to listen to her heart or lungs ( Im not saying that I will never do this, I just have not had a reason to do so yet!) I also have not checked any other vital signs besides her temperature. I know it seems weird, but to a PICU nurse and a pediatric nurse practitioner this is everyday life. We check patients every two hours. I havent been quite that bad, but you still worry. I have seen it all from the simple to the complex and you can never trully relax and believe that nothing will be wrong with your child. I did not diagnose her with reflux although i knew she had all the symptoms. I waited until her one month appointment and just like any other mom explained the symptoms to the pediatrician, she suggested it sounded like reflux and that she needed to be on zantac. Sometimes knowing to much is a nightmare. Most days I worry about getting her just the right stimulation, such as, talking to her and telling her all the things I am doing, tummy time, mat time, music, etc. I worry about everything. I want to ake sure I do it all perfect ( i know this is not realistic) but I am going to  try my best to teach her and make sure she gets lots of love! Oh the joy of knowing way to much about sick kids and not enough about healthy ones. At first I thought maybe I was just being a hypochondirac about not traveling and making sure that everyone is up to date on all there vaccinations before getting to see her. Franki's pediatrician actually told me before I voiced the above concern, that no babies under 6 months should travel especially not during this time of year whent he Flu/H1N1 and pertussis are on the rise and affect the very young and very old. She also said to make sure that no one is allowed to see the baby this coming fall/winter that has not been vaccinated. I was glad that I wasnt being crazy, that the american academy of pediatrics agrees that babies should not travel right now and that everyone needs to be vaccintaed against H1N1 and the flu! Even the safest mom's dont get it perfect, but the harder I try and advocate for my little love bug hopefully we will be a healthy and happy growing baby!

On a side note: I love Franki sooooo much! I cant get enough of this sweet beautiful baby. She has the most beautiful little lips and this adorable dimple on her left cheek when she smiles. She is going to be a heartbreaker with that smile. When you love someone as much as I love Franki you would do the same thing. As a momma you take on the reposnsibility to do whatever it takes to protect you little one. It is in the job description. I know my mom and aunt both were the best mom'sand did theie best to advocate for us. I can only hope to be as good as they have been to me. I hope that Franki and I will be best friends like my mom and I. Love, Love, Love. I cant get enough of my baby girl! Cant wait to spend the weekend with my girl, hubby and family!!!

Anniversary

Lots of fun and exciting things have happened since my last blog. Tyler and I celebrated our one year anniversary. It was my first time leaving my Franki girl. Moma and Papa came to babysit so that we could enjoy a couple of hours out on our own and celebrate our first year as a married couple. We had a wonderful dinner. Francesca was very good for her Moma and Papa. She drank good from a bottle and shared lots of hugs and kisses. It was a great way to spend our first anniversary (with the exception of missing the architectural boat tour: Ill save that story for Tyler to tell :)), especially since we got to come home to our sweet baby girl wide-eyed and ready to play.

On Labor Day we went to a BBQ with my old friends from highschool, Catie, Kevin and there little girl Emma. It was so good to see them and spend some time catching up. I feel blessed to be able to find and reconnect with old friends. I am excited to get to spend more time with them in the future and reestablish a lifelong friendship with them. It was such a nice time to hang out in a backyard and spend time with the little ones!

The last two weeks have been AWESOME! Aunt Elle started babysitting for Jett a couple weeks back and it has been so much fun hanging out with her. They only live a couple miles from us, so we have had time to hang out everyday. It has been a great experience to deepen our friendship and to share some quality time together as sisters. I feel very lucky to have her around both Franki and I. We both absolutely love having her around. We took the babes to the Lincoln Park Zoo this week to look at the animals. I think Elle and I probably had more fun looking at the animals while Franki and Jett slept the day away. It is really nice to be able to get out and enjoy my time off of work with the people I love so much. Franki is going to be one lucky little girl when Aunt Elle gets to watch her and Jett. They are both busy busy babiesand they are going to get lots of love from Elle when I have to go back to work. I cant wait to enjoy the next 6 weeks or so with my little girl and my sister.

New things Franki has done: She now tracks people and objects with her eyes. She loves to look around at everything and follows you with her eyes. It is amazing to see all the things she is learning just by looking around. Her arm movements are becoming a little more coordinated.(She still smacks herself in the face!) But she is starting to bring her hands to her mouth more consistently. This morning when I woke up she was trying to immitate my smiling. She was looking right at me with this googly smile. It was the most amazing thing to see. She becomes more alert by the day. She still loves her playmat and she becomes more aware of all of the things hanging from it by swinging her arms and her legs in all directions. She absolutely loves the bath now. She has this very curious look on her face the entire time, but does not cry at all anymore. She loves when you pour the water on her, the look on her face is priceless. Bathtime is one of my favorite times of day with her. Afterwards she always wants to eat and we get to spend quality time snuggling and getting warm after baths. She can't wait to sit up, whenever she cries she want you put her in a sitting position and she immediatly stops crying and looks around. As her head continues to get stronger she will be able to sit longer periods of time in her Bumbo chair. I think she will really love that! We call her Bobble head because when you hold her upright against your body she is constnanlty bobbing her head trying to look at you, or looking for a breast to eat at. Needless to say it is pretty funny to watch her do this and we figure it strengthens all of her neck muscles, so we let her bobble her head around and usually laugh with her while she does it! She really changes everyday. I look forward to updating what new things she can do next week!

Enjoy a Look at her first Googly smile!