The Inzerellos Meet Macy

The first weekend in February, Nick's parents, sister, and brother-in-law all braved the snow and ice to make the trip to meet Macy.

Auntie Erin is now expecting her own little bambino & we are excited to have a cousin arriving on the Inzerello side!

Papa has the magic touch.

Poor Uncle Stuart got roped into playing with Mia most of the time. She talks about him constantly and was so excited to have him visit again.

Check out the jersey Mia is wearing in this one (over her pajamas - nice). It's one of Nick's old soccer jerseys that his mom saved and brought for him. Mia would wear it every day if I let her.

Macy's favorite face is probably Mia's. They get along great already.

Not sure what Mia is up to in this picture, but judging by Nana and Erin's faces, it was probably something naughty that they were going to let her get away with.

There was a lot of picture-taking over the weekend...one of Mia's favorite things. She walks around saying "Cheese!"

And then Mia stripped off her sweater dress and it was all business from there on out.

Super Mia loves to help Swiffer.

Very intense.

We had such a great weekend with all of our family and "friends"!

Once again, thank you for making the drive!

Hooray for Zantac!

The acid reflux issues Macy had been having didn't disappear, but were greatly reduced with a prescription for rather large doses of Zantac. For the first 6 weeks or so, Macy only had three settings: eat, sleep, and scream. We could rarely put her down and with all her spitting up, she hadn't gained enough weight to be in the Baby Bjorn, so our hands were always full.

Now she is much happier and can even go for moderate periods of time without being held. It's so nice to see her more content and that little smile is golden.

A Couple of Firsts for Mia

February seemed to be a month filled with small firsts for Mia as she embraced toddlerhood. She started to really settle into her role as first-time big sister and continued to be adoring and gentle with little Macy Kate.

The feeling is definitely mutual. I think Macy prefers Mia over anyone else.

Mia was also invited to her first real birthday party. The theme was Elmo and the kids couldn't have been happier... until Elmo rang the doorbell, that is. We were pretty proud of Mia for being one of two kids who didn't burst into hysterical tears at the sight of him. She wasn't too sure about the proximity needed for a picture, but she was definitely one of the only brave ones. Yikes. I was a little scared myself.

Nick and I also decided it was time to give up on our kitchen haircut attempts and battle the toddler-girl-awkward-hair stage with some professional help. Best $10 bucks I've ever spent.

They had a pretty sweet set-up for kids. Mia was an angel and she doesn't even know who Thomas the Tank Engine is yet and had never before seen the cartoon she was watching.

Sadly, the month of February also marked the first time Mia got REALLY sick with the flu. Nick and I spent all night (and I mean ALL night) cleaning up throw-up, changing sheets, doing load after load of laundry, bathing her, and consoling her. And on top of that, Macy was up to nurse about every two hours. It was an awesome night for us all. About midway through the morning, Mia passed out listening to Josh Grobin singing on the Today Show.

I left the room to put Macy down before carrying Mia up to her bed & by then she had made her way to the floor. Poor baby. 3-5 days later... We all had our own case of the worst stomach flu ever. So much for staying home to keep us all healthy.

February was also the month when Mia started to realize that "time out" was a less desirable place to be and not just a fun way to get more attention. It still doesn't have the effect we would like on her, but maybe it's not quite as exciting as it once was.

Is she two yet?

Groundhog Day... In January

January seemed like an endless stretch of the same thing... day after day. Mia, Macy, and I were stuck inside all day, every day as we adjusted to life with a new baby and tried to keep everyone healthy. Macy spit up constantly with her acid reflux and never slept, and the snow and ice just kept on coming. Macy's face in this picture kind of sums up the way we all started to feel by the end of the month.

Poor Mia was always so excited when she could actually get outside, even if it was just to help dad shovel for a little while. Her favorite activity, however, was going down the slide in the backyard at warp speed and landing in a giggling heap in the snow at the bottom. We tried to help her appreciate snow angels this year, but she had trouble grasping "the big picture" on that one. I think she just thought we liked pushing her down in the snow (which we did). Maybe next year.

A Couple of Weeks In...

Here are a few photos of Macy after some recovery time. She looks a little less battered and swollen now.

She is pretty darn strong for only being a couple of weeks old. She has been arching her neck and back since the womb (trust me, I felt it!), so she can already hold herself up for brief periods of time.

This is when we like her best... Her sleep habits are not the greatest right now. Hopefully we'll start getting a little more sleep soon!

Macy Kate Inzerello

Here we are on our way to the hospital early in the morning on December 29th for our induction. Originally, we were scheduled for a December 30th induction, but things were progressing a little more quickly at my last doctor's appointment & our OB thought we should just move things up. This photo makes me laugh because even though I was actually measuring pretty small with this pregnancy, I look HUGE all bundled up here. Our favorite ice cream place has a flavor appropriately named Spouse Like A House & I feel like I could be their poster child here. Note to self: Animal prints are not slimming.

Once things got going, Macy Kate came pretty fast, as expected. She was a little battered, but came out healthy at 1:19pm and even a little bigger than we originally thought. She weighed in at 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 20 inches long (1/2 an inch taller than Mia, but almost a pound lighter).

Nick brought Mia back to the hospital to meet her new sister later in the afternoon. She was mesmerized & wanted to see her and touch every inch of her. She pointed out all of her body parts multiple times for us.

Mia also got a present from Baby Macy when she came to the hospital... a little pink digital camera so she could take pictures of her new baby sister.

Macy did a great job in her first few hours of life & tried to recover from the trauma of being born with a lot of sleep.

The next day, Grandma Sue & Grandpa Wally came to visit us at the hospital and meet their newest granddaughter. They were kind enough to come and help out with Mia and the housekeeping the first few days of Macy's life. It was so helpful to have them & we loved being able to share Macy with them so soon after her birth!

Needless to say, we are all in love with the newest addition to our family. We can't believe we are suddenly a family of four!

Time to take little Macy home from the hospital (and say goodbye to the nursery option).

Welcome to our family, Macy Kate!

We are trying to get this video to work of Mia holding Macy for the first time, but we are having trouble uploading it from our new Flipvideo camera. Stay tuned. It's cute.