Happy New Year from Gaby!

As we close on what was an outstanding year (because Gaby was born), we wanted to update you on the last week or so since our last posting. As is Gaby's style, we just keep doing new things and meeting new people!

Gaby's first bath! Among our new activities is a new-found fondness of Gaby's bath! Since her pediatrician gave us the OK to move beyond the sponge bath, we have enjoyed giving her baths in her new pink bathtub. I've seen a number of newborns scream to high heaven the first time they hit the bath but Gaby took it in stride and seemed to enjoy the process. she was only sad when it was time to get out. Check out a couple pictures below as evidence of her fondness of getting squeaky clean!

Gaby really likes the special shampooing she gets from mommy, followed by a blow-out and styling!

Gaby was sad to get out of the bath...

Gaby's first road trip! On Christmas Day, Alex, Lisa and Gaby packed up the essentials and headed to Grammy Michele's and Grandpa Arnie's house. Of course, the essentials included all of Gaby's earthly possessions (even her bouncy seat). We were welcomed by Lisa's Aunt Judy and Uncle Steve, who came all the way from Illinois to meet Gaby (and to see the rest of the family as well!). We were certainly happy to see them! We stayed with Grammy/Grandpa for two nights and enjoyed getting some sleep while they handled the nighttime feedings!

Aunt Judy was an especially good "Baby Whisperer"!

Uncle Steve enjoyed some cuddle time with Gaby too!

While at Grammy and Grandpa's, Gaby received many visitors including cousins Barbara and Bruce, and dear friends Cheryl and Corinne. We also had visits from Aunt Annie's parents Harry and Yetty as well as our dear friends from Costa Rica - Aunt Annie's Tio (uncle) Carlos and Tia (aunt) Amalia as well as her Aunt Bernice from Canada.


Gaby's first party! On our way back home after two days with the grandparents, we celebrated the next to the last day of Chanukah with our friends, the Lipson's. They had a house full of people and enough latkes to feed an army! Gaby made a "brief" appearance as she was ushered upstairs to sleep. She received a fun toy from Auntie Gayle, Steve, Eliana, and DJ and a lovely outfit from Auntie Wendy and Louis.


Gaby's first visit with Great-Babushka (Grandma) Anya! Last Sunday, we received visits from Alex's family, including Gaby's great-grandmother, grandmother (see picture below), Aunt Galya, Uncle Fima, Uncle Jacob, and Aunt Alisa along with her daughter Catherine. Gaby enjoyed being passed around to the family and especially enjoyed getting to meet her one and only great-grandmother for the first time!

A first photo opportunity with Great-Babushka Anya...

Aunt Galya and Uncle Fima enjoyed a moment with Gaby.

Uncle Jacob, Alisa and Gaby have a moment...

Gaby's first roller-coaster ride! OK, not really a roller coaster but Gaby received as a Chanukah present from Aunt Judy and Uncle Steve a new swing and they, along with Grandpa Arnie and cousin Isabella, helped put the swing together after enjoying a lunch together on Monday. The swing was a big hit from the very moment she got in! It swings both side to side and back and forth so she has different ways to enjoy her new toy.

Isabella helps show Gaby how to enjoy the ride!

Gaby is looking forward to many more firsts in the new year: learning to turn over, crawl, walk, talk, eat some banans and other solid foods, and get lots of kisses from her mommy and daddy. As we leave this post on the eve of a new year, Gaby wishes you all a happy and healthy new year with lots of first for you too!

Gaby - our little overachiever!

So today Gaby went to the pediatrician for her two week check up. The doctor was most interested in seeing that she had gained enough weight to return to her birth weight (6lbs, 4oz.). He said that gaining an ounce a day was a sign she was getting sufficient nutrition. Well, our Gaby far exceeded everyone's expectations and gained a full 14 ounces in one week - that's an average weight gain of two ounces a day! She now weighs 6lbs., 14 1/2 oz - a full 10 ounces more than her birthweight! She's such a star!

Cousin Jessica and Gaby meet for the first time!

We also had a visit from Gaby's cousins Allison and Jessica today. Jessica got the chance to hang out with Gaby a bit although Gaby was asleep most of the time. Speaking of being a star, Allison brought her a Chanukah present that she made - a beautiful cross-stitch (see photo below).

Allison's beautiful handiwork will decorate the walls of Gabriela's room.

We also got a chance to try out Gabriela's new bouncy seat tonight. She seemed interested for about five minutes and then started crying. I guess it's something you have to ease your way into...

Testing out the bouncy seat...

This is a short update today - stay tuned!

Gabriela is Two Weeks Old!!!

Wow - so much has happened since we last blogged! Gabriela turns two weeks old today! She also celebrated her first Chanukah yesterday with Mommy, Daddy, and Grammy Michele. But let me back up and let you know a bit about her activities last week.

When we left off last, Grandpa Arnie was coming to stay with us for the night. He showed up with several home cooked meals made with love by Grammy Michele - boy, were we happy and well fed! Grandpa was quite the champ - he took over for the late night feedings so that Lisa and Alex could get more than a couple hours of sleep at one time. We never heard a peep from Gabriela - as soon as she so much as whimpered, Grandpa Arnie was up and ready to tend to her needs. I believe she will have a lifelong love for bluegrass music as Grandpa was playing the music all through the night to soothe her!

Aunt Dee Dee gets a cuddle!

We had a visit from Gabriela's Aunt Dee Dee (Daniella) - their first meeting! Daniella just finished the last of her finals at San Diego State University and came home for the winter break. On her way home, she and Babushka Maya visited last Friday and we had some yummy Italian food together. We look forward to other visits from Aunt Dee Dee while she is home from break.


We took Gabriela on her first errand Saturday afternoon. We forgot that this was the weekend before Christmas and foolishly ventured off to our local Babies R' Us/Toys R' Us store. It was packed and there were long lines but Gabriela was an excellent shopper and really handled it all well (actually, she just slept the entire time).

We had a lazy start to our Sunday morning and shared some cuddle time with Gaby.

Gabriela's first Chanukah - lighting the candles...

Sunday evening was the start of Chanukah. We had a bit of a challenging day - Gabriela was a bit on the cranky side for much of the day and no matter what mommy or daddy did, we couldn't console her. It was a big change from her usually mellow self. We ruled out all the obvious causes (hunger, wet diaper, etc.) and eventually concluded she was either really gassy or just overtired. The solution was a long drive with daddy through Playa del Rey, Manhattan Beach, and Redondo Beach. By the time they returned she had fallen asleep and took a long and well-deserved nap! While she slept, Grammy Michele arrived and the three of us made a great dinner including excellent latkes fried up by Alex. We lit the candles with Gabriela and sang the blessings while she listened attentively. Grammy Michele brought her a Chanukah bear - it's head was bigger than hers and may have been a little scary at first (see photo below).

The Chanukah Bear was a little intimidating!

It's hard to believe that Gabriela is two weeks old already! I think back to what we were doing that weekend before she was born - Alex and I hosted the annual family Chanukah party (a little early since I was supposed to give birth during Chanukah) and Uncle Jeff and Cousin Dan helped Alex install the car seat base in his car (we thought we were well ahead of the curve by doing it so early!). The next day, we went to the gym and worked out, had our friends over for lunch, and procrastinated on packing our bag for the hospital even after 'Aunty' Gayle warned us how important it would be to do so before going into labor ("sure, sure - but we still have two weeks" is what I said!). I was far more focused on making my list of "projects" I was going to get done before Gabriela arrived. And I spent time organizing my music on iTunes - which, as it turned out, was a good thing as having my soothing music to listen to during labor was a major saving grace!

We just threw this picture in because she just looked so cute in this outfit!!!!

We look forward to sharing stories of more fun days with all of you in the near future!

Gabriela's Welcome

Welcome to Gabriela's Blog! Since Gabriela's manual dexterity is a bit lacking at this time, this blog will be authored by her mommy, Lisa. This first entry may be a bit on the long side but, Gabriela has already been in the world for nine days so there is much to fill you in on!

Here's Gabriela just a few minutes after her birth.

Gabriela Irene entered this world at 6:28pm on December 8, 2008 at Santa Monica UCLA Hospital, one day before her daddy's 36th birthday. She weighed in at 6lbs, 4oz. and was 19 inches long. She was born a bit early - her original due date was somewhere around December 22nd. At our 37 week appointment, our obstetrician conducted an ultrasound and, based on Gabriela's measurements, estimated she weighed 6 1/2 lbs. at that time! The doctor predicted she'd weigh in at 8.5 to 9lbs at birth - clearly the margin of error was large here!

I went into labor at 12:15am on the 8th when my water broke. After the urging of the doctor on call, we started packing our bags and headed to the hospital. We arrived just after 3am and, after some assessment, our nurse determined that in fact, I was in labor and there for the duration. Although I was having the occasional contraction, I couldn't feel them and by around 8am, pitocin was added to the mix to get things going. Even then, the contractions were manageable for quite some time. However, by around 11am, the pain level went from "zero to sixty" and took us all by surprise. The anesthesiologist was in surgery and so a dose of fentanyl was administered - it didn't get rid of the pain but certainly helped me relax. Still, it wore off within half an hour and I spent the next two hours seriously thankful that Alex and I took those Lamaze classes and had a repertoire of breathing exercises to use to manage the contractions that were coming fast and furious. Alex was the best coach - he really helped to keep me distracted as the contractions came and went every 1-3 minutes. Finally, the anesthesiologist showed up around 2pm and administered an epidural and all was good with the world again.

Within just over 3 hours, I had moved from 3cm dilated to fully dilated and ready to push. We pushed for just about an hour and, at the end, received our beautiful baby girl. The delivery was somewhat eventful as I developed a fever and Gabriela's heart rate went up right at the end. She was also coming out at an angle and had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck a couple times. So, as soon as she was born, she was gathered up by an incredible NICU team that worked on her to get her to breathe and cry her first cries. To Alex and I, it seemed like an eternity before we heard her cry but it couldn't have been more than a couple minutes.

Alex was able to cut the umbilical chord.

We got a few precious minutes with her in my arms before she was taken to the NICU for observation. Later that night, one of the NICU doctors visited us in our room to examine Gabriela - she was "perfect" according to the doctor (we knew that!) and claimed that Gabriela was what they called a "drive by" in the NICU - only there for observation. Even after the excitement around her delivery and her drive by in the NICU, her APGAR scores were really good - 6 at one minute, 8 at five minutes and 9 at ten minutes. We were told by the nursing staff that no one scores a perfect 10 so we were pleased with the final score.

Mommy, Gabriela, and Dr. Olivia Crookes, who took such good care of us!

We stayed two days in the hospital following Gabriela's birth. We were visited by many friends and family. Of course, Grammy Michele and Grandpa ("Papa") Arnie as well as Babushka Maya kept us company while we were in labor. Aunt Annie also came and kept us company during that time (and gave me a wonderful foot massage!). The next day, we received visits from Uncle Jeff as well as from "Aunty" Gayle and "Aunty" Wendy with her husband Louis. Alex's Aunt Galya also visited, along with his cousins Leo and Svetlana, who brought a birthday cake to celebrate Alex's birthday. Our last day in the hospital was a quiet one. Mom and dad were at our home, getting things cleaned up and ready for our arrival back home. We were in no rush to leave, and spent the day getting visits from Gabriela's pediatrician, my obstetrician, a lactation consultant, and a variety of nursing staff taking vitals, getting our paperwork in order, and otherwise checking on our well-being. We felt really well-taken care of by the staff at the hospital.

Here we are getting ready to go home!

We made our way home with our extra prescious cargo - it was probably the slowest ride we've ever taken! We were welcomed by Grammy and Grandpa, who stayed with us for dinner. Aunt Annie arrived later in the evening to spend our first night at home with us and help out with the late night feedings. What an incredible help she was - after having nursed her own three children, she was better than any lactation consultant in helping Gabriela and I negotiate a "good latch" and getting her feeding well.

Alex carries Gabriela into her new home...

We received delivery of Gabriela's crib and glider on Thursday, the day after we came home from the hospital. The delivery of the furniture was scheduled the day I went into labor, thinking that we'd have it well in advance of Gabriela's birth so we could get the room in order. Little did we know...

Gabriela's cousins welcome her home!

We returned to the pediatrician on Friday. Gabriela lost a bit of weight, which is totally normal, but it indicated we really needed to get her feeding more often to avoid her getting dehydrated and so that she could regain the weight she lost. Babushka Maya stayed with us on Friday night and helped us out and Aunt Annie returned on Saturday to give us a little more help in getting Gabriela eating enough. We also had a visit on Saturday from Gabriela's first cousins Isabella, Michael, and Lucas - they are so happy to have a new cousin! By Sunday, Gabriela had a wet diaper with every feeding, a sign that she was getting what she needed. Grammy Michele stayed with us on Sunday night and Monday and Tuesday night, we were on our own. We returned to the pediatrician on Tuesday to learn that Gabriela had regained 5.5 oz - more than an ounce a day since our visit last Friday! She's feeding like a champ now! Grandpa Arnie is staying with us tonight (Wednesday) and will be taking the late night feeding to give Alex and I a break so we can get a bit more sleep (yeah!).

Here's Gabriela just "hanging out"...

All in all, Gabriela's first nine days have been a joy. Yes, we're sleep deprived but it doesn't matter. Gabriela is a sweet and mellow baby although she will let us know when she's hungry in her own high-pitched squeal! We call her the "Littlest Houdini" - no matter how tightly we swaddle her, she will find a way to get her hands free! She loves to suck on her hands - it's very soothing for her. She's filling out as she gains weight and is absolutely adorable (an unbiased assessment, of course!).

Our Little Houdini!

Gabriela also smiles often. I like to think that she is remembering good things from the womb. Or she may just already have a really well-developed sense of humor! We look forward to sharing more stories about Gabriela as she grows - stay tuned!

Gabriela gives us one of her smiles!