Slideshow posted

Hi all!

I've managed to post a slideshow of some additional photos of Sybilla and her first two months. It's through Picasa and theoretically you should be able to click on the slideshow and see the pictures bigger. I have to try it on another computer though to make sure I'm not lyin' to ya. Either way, you can see more of her from the slideshow which is working. I'll have more pictures and videos posted. We got a funny one the other night that our friend Anthony took with her spitting up.

Anyhoo, please enjoy and have a great day!

Love,
Kelly & the Gang

Sybilla tells it like it is...

Lights! Camera! Action! Little S is ready for her closeup, Mr. DeMille!
I took this video earlier this week. You can see the wonderful range of facial expressions...and noises : ) Enjoy and we'll post more later!

Kelly

Baby Straitjackets and MiracleGro

The little critter is asleep right now so I actually have a moment to update the fambly blog. We've got her wrapped up in what my dad likes to refer to as the "Baby Straitjacket," an unusual blanket that we purchased online specially made for baby Houdinis like ours. We discovered early on that Sybilla likes to be swaddled and will stay asleep longer when she is swaddled (growth spurts don't count, sadly). As she's been growing bigger though, we've run out of blankets that were lightweight and big enough to contain her growing chub chub. We'd read Dr. Karp's book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" (any new parent should read this preferably BEFORE they get home from the hospital and their child decides to go on a 6 hour crying jag at one week old when Daddy is forced to work an overnight shift and Mommy is still on bedrest. It will save their sanity and a lot of heartache) so we became pros at the swaddling thing, but she still managed to wiggle her way to freedom. Since trying to swaddle a thrashing, fussy baby at 3 am could be considered a form of torture for use at Gitmo, we caved and spent $30 on this thing called the Miracle Blanket. It's WAAAAAY better than the stupid SwaddleMe by Kiddopatamus and I strongly doubt Houdini could get out of this one. If you're truly curious as to what the Baby Straitjacket looks like, visit www.miracleblanket.com and watch the video!

So anyhoo, on to the update: Billa is two months old now and weighs a whopping 13 pounds. No, I am not making this up. Apparently my milk must be made up of MiracleGro and steroids because we got one chunkey munkey! Our doctor was impressed with her development and strength and informed us that she has hit the majority of the developmental milestones for a four month old. Don't be jealous...considering what I endured during pregnancy, the whole BP thing after birth, and the fact that she has to eat just about every two hours (that's from the start of one feeding to the start of the next), I've earned bragging rights. So yeah, I got a smart kid who will probably end up like the Incredible Hulk by the time she's two and a half...we won't like her when she's angry!

Since she is so big now, she is outgrown all of her newborn clothes and is now starting to fit into all of the 3 month stuff, which is kind of nice since I have quite a few cute outfits for her in that size range. Now if she'll stop the crazy spitting up I can actually dress her in them! We haven't had any Exorcist re-enactments for the past two days, which has been a relief laundry wise. I think it's mostly due to the fact that I have been pumping like crazy to try and get the less fatty foremilk and fattier hindmilk to balance out. I could go on about that whole subject but I'll refrain since some folk may find it uncomfortable or weird. Suffice it to say, whatever I am doing currently, it seems to be working and I hope I am not jinxing it.

It's getting late now and I am going to sign off so that I can get some rest before the next feeding. I will post a video on the blog (hopefully it will work) and attached is a picture I just took of Little S this week with her big goofy grin. Please enjoy and stay tuned for more!

Love, Kelly and the Gang

Sleeping Better Than the Baby (For Once)

Michael and I got the best gift ever on Saturday night. We've received so many wonderful things for Sybilla, which have all been fantastic, but nothing compared to the gift my parents gave us. They took the Little Bit for a sleepover with Mamo and Papa, which enabled us to get 7 straight hours of sleep. Yeah, you read that right... SEVEN STRAIGHT HOURS!!!! Some folks might think we're crazy, but when you have a 7 week old baby who wakes every two hours to feed for 30 minutes then grunt and sleep fitfully for an hour and half, seven hours of uninterrupted sleep is manna from heaven! We were still tired on Sunday (I don't know that we will ever catch up on all the sleep we've lost over the past two months), but not as tired as my parents! And I still woke up at 1, 3, and 5 am which is when 'Billa wakes to feed (yeah, it sucks...no pun intended), but beyond that, Michael and I felt great!

I don't think we'd have appreciated that gift before she was 7 weeks old since we'd been cruising on adrenaline and pure gumption. But starting about 5 weeks we'd been starting to wonder what the hell we'd been thinking by having a baby. I asked Sybilla one morning why she was so darn cute when I changed her diaper and she gave me this huge gummy smile and cooed at me. My smart ass husband responded that it was the only thing keeping us from killing her. I will state now that we have done nothing to harm our child, but there have been those moments when you start to understand how Shaken Baby syndrome occurs (they probably start with 6 hour non-stop crying jags).

In other news, I no longer work for Keller Williams. I was supposed to meet with HR on Friday, but was unable to make it thanks to Michael stepping on a nail and being at the doctor so I had no babysitter. Well, that meeting was to inform me that they'd made the "business decision to replace me and my position within my department." To be honest, I'm not that bent out of shape about it. I just wish I could have been the one telling them goodbye : ) I am very happy since things had been so stressful and terrible for the last few months and I was never really happy there anyway. I'm going to work for my friend Debi in her Quizno's in Buda to earn a little bit of cash until I figure out what and where it is I really want to be doing career-wise. So three cheers for freedom!

We've taken some cute videos of Sybilla and we'll post one as soon as we can! Love to all, the Guerras

Attack of the Sybilla Monster

So Little S finally got her first cold. We took her to the doctor's on Thursday since she had had some congestion for a couple of days and it was driving Michael crazy. The doctor told us that she was congested and that she had a little bit of a viral cold and that there wasn't
really anything to be done except keep her propped up (which we have for the reflux), suction her nose every once in awhile (which I'd been doing since she had some crazy boogers) and maybe add a cool mist humidifier. She's gotten better, but she gave me whatever she had and of course it was way worse. And now her Papa has it too!

The doctor also informed us that my calculations were about right; Sybilla weighed in at an ounce shy of 11 pounds on Thursday. The baby book says she is supposed to gain anywhere from 5 to 7 ounces per week, and if that's true, then she's hit 11 pounds for sure by now and is getting bigger!

As a result of the congestion and her cold, she's been spitting up more frequently and it's been really cheesy and mucousy, which of course, has found it's way onto everything. [sigh] I can't wait until she's older so that I can finally dress her in something cute and she won't mess it up in less than five minutes. I realize that as she gets older she will get everything she owns dirty, but if my friend's kids are any indication, they can at least keep their clothes clean for a minimum of an hour or so by exercising minimal restraint.

There may be some developments on the job front for Kelly; I meet with our HR director this upcoming Friday to discuss my job and coming back. I told them in an email a week or so ago that I was planning on coming back. After having lunch with some of my old coworkers and hearing about some of the changes that have happened, I am NOT looking forward to returning. I worry about the stress levels (which is why I spent the last 4 months of my pregnancy as part time) and the ability to be able to keep pumping milk for Sybilla, not to mention the pay and that we'd have to find childcare. As much as I sometimes get irked by the fact that I can't do half of the things I wanted to during maternity leave and feeling like the worst mommy ever when I can't comfort my kid, I feel sad about leaving Sybilla during this time. I've really come to enjoy watching her eat and discover the world around her.

I have a lot of thinking to do in the next few days and I will let you know how things turn out!
Until then, enjoy this silly picture of the Sybilla Monster!

Bienvenido al mundo, Sybilla!

In case you've been living under a rock in a cave on the planet Mars, Michael and I are officially parents! Sybilla Kathleen was born on February 21, 2008 at 11:27 am and weighed in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces. The labor was pretty hard and fast and I am proud to say that I was able to stick to my goal of having her drug free. My recovery however was a haze of magnesium sulfate drip since my BP shot up to 200/100 (I'm usually 100/60) and I was on bed rest for two weeks afterwards when it finally dropped to 120/80.

Sybilla is now 5 weeks old, almost 6 and getting bigger each week. By my calculations (read: I stood on the scale and weighed myself holding her then subtracted my weight) she is now about 11 pounds! I've had to start putting away her newborn stuff and dress her in bigger clothes. She's picking her head up more and more and has started giggling and smiling. The photo attached is one I took last week where you can see the start of her adorable smile.

The Little Bit is going through another growth spurt and eating every couple of hours again. She has quite a list of nicknames: Billie Kate, BK, Billie the Kid, Billie Goat (her screams sound like a goat bleating), Jungle Baby, Mowgli (if you could hear her eat, you'd agree that she sounds like a wild animal), and Sybilla Monster to name a few. The last one is in honor of her tongue-sticking-out habit. She sticks it out like a little Gila monster, like she's testing the air. We'll have to post a picture or video of it if we can get it on film!

Mommy spends most days cross eyed from sleep deprivation and trying to remember what day of the week it is. I can't believe how quickly she is growing and how fast time is flying. I will have to go back to work soon and I'm not looking forward to it. I wish I could be a stay at home mom for at least a few more months, but bills have to be paid! I may not return to KW and instead work for my friend Debi at her Quizno's sammich shop. It won't be glamourous or high paying, but at least it will be fun and Debi will take care of me! Even though I love KW overall, I don't necessarily love the department I work for and it's not very family friendly at all, but there aren't any open positions elsewhere.

Michael is working hard at World Market and is thinking more and more about what he will do in the future. We're talking about different things and we'll keep you posted as to what develops!

In the meantime, the dinner hour is approaching, so we will bid you adieu for the time being. Tune in again for the next entry in the Guerra's oh so exciting lives (I swear, it will get more interesting as Sybilla gets older!).

Lots of love,
Kelly and the Gang