Yes Maria, do you have a question?

"Do you guys think I have the best dad ever too?"

"I think I'll go for a walk outside now..."

... well, maybe not today.

We've been blessed with good weather since Maria has been born, which has allowed us to go on lots of shorts walks around the neighborhood. Maria either closes her eyes and uses it as an opportunity to get one of her naps in, or she opens her mouth and looks around the whole time! We keep telling her that she's going to swallow bugs if she isn't careful (how about that for her first solid food?)

The rain today will probably keep us indoors.

Here are a few cute pics of our latest walk.

Gettin' in the groove of things...

"Hmmm... should I eat or poop or sleep? So many choices..."

We're starting to develop a routine with Maria. It is fun to get to know her dynamic little personality. She is definitely mellow & happy... we are so lucky. Her neck is becoming incredibly strong and she tries to turn to see where all the voices are coming from!

Jon went back to work yesterday and it was as hard as giving birth via forceps! Maria missed him so much (so did Lisa.) We can already tell that the time we get to spend together as a whole family is invaluable. I guess we will live for weekends.

Maria continues to be healthy (and "poops like a champ," according to Jon.) We had her 2 week check-up yesterday and all is well. We feel as though our pediatrician is now an old friend!

Life is good.

Maria's cousins...

Alex, Adam & Kayla enjoy playing with their new cousin! Here are a few pics of their first few interactions.

ok... we have kind of turned into germ-a-phobes

Everyone that comes in our house has to be decontaminated...





Here is Maria's first bath in the big tub... since her umbilical cord fell off!
It didn't go according to plan as you can see...

Maria comes home!!!

Maria is home, happy, and comfortable.
Our doctor called us, and she did test positive for a virus that is common for children to get, especially in the month of August. If she had been even a couple of months old, this would not have been as serious. It just was scary because she is so young. Her little body doesn't have the immunity to fight anything yet. (But now apparently she has immunity against this one virus. Ten million other viruses to go...)

We are so happy to be home, and we are so happy that Maria is feeling better. Thanks for all your prayers.

Rough Start

"Mom! Get me out of this hospital!!"

Poor kid was in the hospital until Saturday at noon.

She was such a trooper! The doctors and nurses checked her vitals every hour around the clock so she was pretty uncomfortable, but she was so great and all the nurses fell in love with her (they said she was one of the cutest babies they ever saw. Perhaps they say that to everyone... )

Lisa and I slept on a crappy little futon for 3 nights.

Thank God for some amazing Grandmas that practically moved in helping us out so much.

It was a tough way to start her second week on this earth, but we knew we were in good care. Children's Hospital has some amazing nurses. (Could have done without some of the "Resident" doctors, but overall we were really taken care of well. After Maria's fever broke she was irritable because she was so achy. We felt so bad for her and were really anxious to get home.

Maria's hosptial expereince

Wednesday night Maria had a high fever.
We brought her to the hospital, and they started a ton of tests on her. They drew blood, urine, and did a spinal tap. Being 8 days old, they told us they would treat her aggressively. They said it was important to find the source of the fever. They started her on antibiotics. (This gave her awful diarrhea!) We were admitted to the hospital.

Maria had a fever until Friday.

Hangin at Home. This is 1 of her 10 minutes of awake time a day.

Brewer fan

This kid takes after mom and dad. Thanks Uncle Andrew and Aunt Mel for the Brewer Gear!

We love the hospital. Nurses take care of you. It is like going to a hotel... except you need to have major surgery or push out a baby. Look at this little kid with her hospital gear on.

Ok... I not going to lie. This was rough. Maria (being a little stubborn) didn't want to come out. After a long time of pushing, Doctor Lee gave Lisa the option: we could use forceps or she could push for 4 more hours. We chose the forceps. You can see the little marks on her head. Poor little baby.

In the end she was ok, but she did a number on mom, and gave us both a little scare.
But you gotta admit even with these marks this kid is cute.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

Maria Katharine Metz is born!!!!

8:48pm August 26, 2008

7'11'' 21in long!!