Christmas in New York - ROAD TRIP #1

Traditioooooooooon. Tradition! Christmas in my family is all about traditions and unfortunately for us all of those traditions are in New York. That meant we were in for the first Cunha Family ROAD TRIP! Sounds like fun right? With a 2 week old that has a runny diaper every 30 minutes or so, is breastfeeding on demand (anywhere from every 45 min-3 hours), and cannot be taken around crowds of people (road stops not an option) and mom and dad on literally an hour or so of sleep between them, we knew it would be a challenge. For us - not the baby. So on Wednesday December 23rd we were off. In the end it actually went okay. We only needed to stop once for him to eat and there is no need to share diaper information.

Christmas Eve was filled with the usual traditions only sprinkled on top with a little bit of utter exhaustion, constant anxiety for when he would need to eat next and where we would be when that happened, and dodging germs all along the way.

The girls got their usual Mani/Pedi's in the morning (Ahhhhhhh!). It's usually a nice experience but for a sleep ridden mother of a newborn it is a totally different experience.

We got Steven all suited up in his Christmas outfit with little santa filled corduroy pants (thanks Auntie Ellen!) for 3:45 mass at St. Annes. I know Christmas mass is commonly more chaotic than usual but dear GOD I

was guarding my baby with my life. People are CRAZY about seats for Christmas mass. I mean CRAZY! Pushing, throwing coats everywhere, not to mention how many people and kids were coughing and sneezing all over everything. H1N1 anyone?? The Spinola's got us all seats up on the choir loft and when Jose and I arrived with the baby to join them there was a bouncer at the door to the loft who wouldn't let us pass. Thanks to Godfather Jim who came to our rescue and took us out of the sea of germs and mad mass goers downstairs.

Next it was off to Leo's on 7th street. Dad and Jose got their French Onion Soup and I got a big'oll glass of wine!

Then it was home to decorate the tree, listen to christmas music (although it ended up being mainly the soundtrack to Glee - again thanks Auntie Ellen), and drink hot cocoa. Steven did his fair share of dancing - well Ellen did and Steven went along for the ride.

Jim decided the fire would be a nice backdrop for some pictures of the baby and it was - but what started out as a few nice pics turned into a photo shoot. I have at least 25 pics of basically the same shot:

Steven had so many cute Christmas outfits to wear we tried to get him in them all.

Christmas morning was great. We opened lots of presents for Steven from everyone, and he pretty much had no idea what was going but it was lots of fun all the same. Then we had our usual yummy breakfast on the spode. But the BEST present was a nap for mama and papa Cunha while Aunt Ellen, Grandma, Grandpa took turns watching the little monster.

Later Jim came over and we had a wonderful Christmas dinner followed by some good sleep for all :)

First Friends and Visits

Steven had lots of vistors in his first few days.

Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Ellen came to the hospital from New York right away!

Uncle Carlos came to the hospital too and then couldn't stay away!

Over the first two weeks Steven was visited by Maggie K., Mandy, Maggie W., Kelly, Jay, Scott, Elizabeth Ann II, Allison, Sabrina, Mike, Briana and Pete, Meredith, Kate, and Steve.

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Baby Steven was very loved and snuggled by many those first few weeks.

Baby's first Snow

So the first snowflakes of winter fell on Steven's Birth Day - December 5th, but the first real storm came on the 19th. Since he was only two weeks old it was too cold to even take him for a walk but we felt we needed to capture Steven's first real snowstorm somehow. We stuffed him into his snowsuit (thanks Cara) that was sized for a three month old. Once he was in we could barely find his arms and legs it was so big. When he was all nice and toasty we ran outside, plopped him in the snow and just snapped pictures as soon as we could. There were two little girls playing nearby so we yelled to them to come take our picture really quickly. Then we snatched up baby Steven and ran back inside. Mission accomplished. Snow pics captured.

Grandpa called the next day to say he was calling child services but I swear the whole thing was 60 seconds! Baby Steven felt no cold, in fact he never even opened his eyes :)

Baby Fingers and Nails

Those little fingers sure are adorable but dear God those nails are viscous! Poor thing was scratching the heck out of himself, and mommy and daddy. Thank God for little Baby mits. They have been like gold here lately!

Tootie was a little sad to learn that the crib, bassinet, and baby toys were not for her after all, but she seems to be getting over it. She is a little jealous at times but I think she is warming up to Baby Steven (while he's nice and quiet at least!).

So bath time is a challenge before they can get in the baby tub, because of the belly button thing (can't wait till it falls off!!!). But we are getting the hang of the sponge baths and Steven is enjoying them more and more. Especially the end when he turns into a duck!

Week 1

Week 1 at home is pretty much a blur in my mind now. Each day blended into the other and each one felt like a week. Steven pretty much slept, ate and pooped and then started all over

again.

There was a lot of staring at this little person, wondering how on earth we made him! Jose had a nesting fit and made many trips to costco. We were well stocked. One big achievement was setting up a working diaper station that was fully stocked at all times. I think this was key in surviving the first week.

Steven is a very good baby. The most noise he makes are squeaks which, are so cute and I know won't last forever. He hates being changed (or being dirty I guess) and when he's hungry he shows it! Other than that he's all joy.

The rooting and signs of hunger are interesting. Jose hands him over very quickly when that mouth opens and the head starts shaking. He turns into a little animal! It's amazing the natural instincts we have as babies. Did you know that sucking is involuntary for about the first 6-8 weeks?

The swing was a blessing when our arms fell asleep. We received lots of yummy food from friends (Six Pies from Scott and Allison!!!!) and visits too.

We were all taking in our newest TFL member and adjusting to our new life - including tootie.

Later in the week we had our first trip to the doctor. Everything looked great! Yaay Steven !!!

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit over the weekend too. Aside from spending time with their grandson (who slept through most of it) Mom cleaned the apartment, and dad hung pictures. The usual :) We also took a drive into see The Liberty Tree, opening soon!

And it all ended with a sad sad Redskins game that we would not mention except for the fact that it was Steven's first and he looked so cute:)

Birth Day

So December 5th, 2009 - the supposed "due date" - had finally arrived bringing with it the first snowflakes of winter. 40 weeks of pregnancy behind us and I was only having very mild contractions. I was concerned, however that my water might be leaking. (I was concerned because I walked two miles the day before to get my pumpkin scone from Starbucks. Mmmmm). I waited until 9am to wake up Jose and tell him that even though I was probably overreacting he was going to have to accompany me to the hospital asap. I was prepared for his reaction which

was that I was totally overreacting and this was all just a waste of time. I kind of agreed. But off we went to Holy Cross Hospital, so sure it was a false alarm we didn't even bring our bags.

It wasn't long before we were with the doctor and sure enough my water WAS leaking and I needed to be admitted immediately! So around 11am I got to the delivery room. My contractions weren't coming quick enough so they put me on petosin which meant I had to be hooked up to lots of wires and IVs and such. This meant I couldn't move around very much and since I had to be in bed anyway, I went ahead and got the epidural as soon as contractions were too much to handle. Then it was SMOOTH sailing. I took a nap, updated facebook (a lot), watched tv, enjoyed some lolipops and popsicles, I was feeling pretty good. Around 6:30 the nurse told us I was 5/6 cm dialated and this would be the last chance for Jose to run out and get some food. So off he went. Then only 30 minutes later I began to feel some pressure with a purpose. The nurse couldn't believe that I was already 8/9 cm. Jose was notified and returned quickly to make sure he didn't miss it which was a good thing because by 7:20 I was fully dialted! 10 cm! Then of course we couldn't even push for another 45 minutes until the doc arrived at 8:15. Pushing began at 8:20 and at 8:46 our beautiful Steven Joseph arrived at 19 1/2 in. and 7 lbs.

He came out crying but then he started to grunt a litte (like his daddy when he gets woken up). They were worried because my water was leaking that some bacteria could have gotten into the womb and infected his lungs. So they let us hold him for a few minutes and then took him to the NICU forantibiotics and monitoring. At first we were terrified but it ended up being a great situation! We were able to be with him almost the whole time and had such fabulous nurses 24/7 helping us, taking care of him, and giving lots of great advice.

Steven had many vists his first few days from Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Ellen , Uncle Carlos, Elizabeth Ann II, Maggie K., and Jay and Kelly.

Steven had great color, was gaining weight back and made lots of noises those first few days, well he really only squeaked. A LOT! So he got a big OKAY from the doctor when it was time to go.

We took Steven home on Tuesday December 8th, so proud and excited for the best adventure of our lives.