Marisa Is 3 Weeks Old!

Yesterday Marisa turned 3 weeks! She had a great day yesterday and even stayed up for a few hours right before bed time. So that meant she slept really good last night. Her last feeding was at 9pm and she didn't wake up until 1:30am to eat and than again at 5:40am. I was glad because I was able to catch up on some of my sleep. I don't have an updated picture of her yet, but plan on taking some today. I will update with pictures later.

It is such a nice day out today! Mike took the boys to go hit some golf balls. We were suppose to go bowling this afternoon, but Mike wants to do something outside with the kids since it is so nice out. what that will be I am not sure. I will update you later! Enjoy this beautiful day!

Happy 70th Birthday Lolo!

Last night Philippines time they celebrated my Dad's 70th birthday! I had texted message my cousin there to see how things were going and they were setting up for his birthday party at the hotel. He said my Dad was pretty excited for the celebration. How I wish my family was there to help celebrate! My cousin said that he is going to send home for me a video of the celebration and a copy of his presentation he made especially for my Dad. I can't wait to hear the stories! I am hoping the rest of their stay there is fun and that the kids are doing well. I hope to talk to them again soon but may not be able to since I am not sure what the rest of their plans are in the Philippines.

Happy 70th Birthday Dad/Lolo! We miss you!

They Made It!

I texted message my cousin, Edel in the Philippines last night around 5pm to see if everyone made it safely to the Philippines. He texted me back saying that they had just arrived and that they were still in the airport. It was about 6am there. I hope the airplane ride went well for the kids! I can't wait to hear the stories when they get back! I'm sure there will be plenty of them!

Tomorrow I am driving my Brother-In-Law, Matt to the airport. He is leaving for the Philippines at 5pm. I am going to have to take him a little early because I need to get back in time for Jon to get off the bus stop at 4pm. I will be picking him up at 2pm. I hope his flight arrives safe as well!

Marisa is 2 Weeks Old

Marisa turned 2 weeks old on Friday. I can't believe it has already been two weeks. It seems like time is flying by! She is still such a good baby and does well eating and staying up a couple times during the day. She stays up a couple hours each time and most of the time it is during the day or right before bedtime so she sleeps really really good at night. I think she is going through a growth spurt because she has been going every 2 - 2 1/2 hours between feedings when she normally can go 3 for sure. I am wondering how much she weighs now because she is such a good eater. She definitely feels heavier, but we don't see her doctor until she is 2 months old.

The boys continue to be wonderful big brothers. They still always want to hold her and now they both like to burp her after she eats. It is so nice that they are adjusting to their younger sister. They will be great, protective big brothers when they are older.

Mike will be going back to work on Tuesday. It will be different when he goes back since he has been taking care of the boys in the morning. Getting Jon ready for school and making them breakfast. I think it will be hard for me to get up when they do since I usually get to sleep in an hour or two more. At least I will only have to do it for 2 more weeks since Jon's last day of school is June 6th. I am looking forward to summer and having all three of them in the house all day. I know I won't be saying that come August when it is time for school again! I am sure I will be ready for both of them to go back to school!

Everyone is leaving for the Philippines tomorrow. I hope their airplane ride goes well and its not too hard on all the kids. They won't be back home until the 7th of June. I am hoping my family will be able to go to the Philippines, maybe for Lola's 75th birthday we will make another trip out to the Philippines! Wishful thinking on my part. We wish them a safe trip there and a safe return home as well!

Below are some pictures I took of Marisa and the boys on sat. She looks bigger, doesn't she?








Nicholas loves to make silly faces when I take pictures of him!


Loving his baby sister

New & Improved Camper

Mike has been working all week on the camper. He decided he was going to change the layout of the beds. Instead of having the beds lay across the width of the camper in the back he made bunk beds to go the length of the camper so it can sleep 4. Below are some picks of the changes he made. He also promised the boys that they would sleep in the camper tonight so after Jon's T-ball game they got ready for bed and headed for the camper. I shot some pictures of them and they were all excited. The last time they slept in the camper it was much colder out and Nicholas didn't like the sound of the heater turning on. So they both got to pick a movie to watch and they are now all hanging out in the camper. Mike also added speakers and a radio to the camper so when the heater is on you can actually hear the movie/tv when it is on. He also made a better toilet seat in the bathroom. I'm sure he is looking forward to his next ice fishing trip next winter!

Sad News

I just received a call from my sister Marie from the clinic. My Dad's sister, Tita Marcela, just passed away. We were all hoping she was going to make it until everyone made it to the Philippines for my Dad's 70th birthday. Everyone is actually leaving on the 26th of May and not coming back until June 7th. Since Marisa is only two weeks old my family is not going. I am bummed we are missing out on a huge celebration, but Mike and I didn't think it would be safe for Marisa to travel at such an early age. Now that Tita Marcela passed away I am sure they will wait for the family to get there for her funeral. She will be greatly missed. Below is a picture of her with Jon and Nicholas in July 2005 when she came to visit with Ate Daisy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her and all the family in the Philippines. We will miss you Tita Marcela!

Funny Story

I keep on forgetting to tell this story. When we were all over at the Ramos' for Mother's Day I had asked Auntie Missy to change Marisa before she had to eat. So Missy took her to change her on their bay window. She laid down a blanket because I didn't have a changing pad and started to change her diaper. I had my back towards them and all I heard was a loud squirting noise and a scream! I turn around and all I see is Mike and Tesa laughing and than I looked at Missy and Marisa. Marisa had pooped! Not only pooped but squirted! It squirted all the way across the bay window onto the side window! Poor Auntie Missy got alittle bit on her as well, but the sad thing was, was that no one got up to help her! We were all too busy laughing so hard! I finally got up to help her and it was just a mess! Mike had to get up and leave he was laughing so hard! Poor Marisa didn't know what was going on. We ended up giving her a bath because it was all over her. Good thing it didn't get all over Auntie Missy too! Poor Marisa will have to live with this story for the rest of her life!

Marisa Took Her 1st Bottle

Last night Marisa took her first bottle! I thought it may have been too early to introduce a bottle but she took it right away. It was so nice to see Mike get involved with her. I felt like he was missing out with some bonding time with her since really all she ever does right now is eat sleep and poop! So now that she has taken a bottle we are going to continue giving her a bottle before she goes down for the night.

Other than that she still is a wonderful baby. She nurses well and usually goes right back to sleep during the night. Some nights she is just awake and she doesn't fuss which is good. Most nights she goes right back to sleep. She is staying awake more often now during the day too which helps with the night feedings. We try to keep her up at least 2 times during the day.

That's it for now. No pics this time but I will try to post some later!

Happy Belated Mother's Day

Since I was in the hospital for Mother's Day this year, we celebrated it this past Wednesday at Ramos'. It was very casual, but it was a chance for all the cousins to meet the new additions to the family. Since Tesa and I have had our kids so close together we have always taken their pictures together laying on the floor. Maria and Jon are 3 months apart, Bella and Nicholas are exactly 2months apart & Lorenzo and Marisa are exactly 3 weeks apart. So below are some pictures of that.

I have also added some pictures of the boys with their little sister. They both love to hold her and play with her when she is awake. They are both being such great big brothers to her. It will be interesting to see how they will be towards her when she gets bigger.

Marisa went to go see her Dr. on Wednesday and she was already back to 8lbs. The scale measure 17 lbs 15.5 oz., but they round it up to 18 lbs. in the computer. She was 90th percentile for height (they measured her at 21 inches) and 75th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for her head size (14inches). They have me fill out a questionnaire for each well exam and one of the questions was are you getting enough rest. I had marked down yes, and Dr. Siefferman was surprised that it was marked yes. She is such a good girl that she only really wakes up twice a night. Last night I fed her at 10pm (had to wake her up) and she only fed on one side because she was so tired and she didn't wake up again until 3:00am! I couldn't believe it! Than she woke up again around 6:30am. She eats like she was born to nurse! That is what the home nurse said yesterday. She also said Marisa is doing well! Her next appointment will be her 2 months check up.

I love how she is crossing her hands in this picture! Stay tuned for more pictures!

Marisa's First Day Home

I got discharged from the hospital yesterday right before lunch. I was so thankful that they let me go home so early! I was definitely getting bored in that small hospital room. On our way home we stopped to get Nicholas at the clinic and have lunch there. Auntie Rose and Auntie Missy were there along with Lolo and Lola. They all got their fix on holding Marisa and than it was time to go home. She is such a good baby! She even nurses really well, so my goal of nursing this one might come true. I am having no problems feeding her at all. So different than when I tried with the boys. She has been eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day and she even stays up for a little bit before she crashes for a nap. We even took her outside for a little bit while the boys played catch with their Dad. Since we were outside all the girls in the neighborhood wanted to see her. She was still sleeping so they couldn't get to hold her but they will get their chance. They were all excited to finally meet her! After awhile it was time to go inside. It was getting a little too windy for her and it was time for dinner anyway.

After putting the boys to bed Marisa got her first bath at home. She didn't like it too much and cried the whole time. Dad did an excellent job giving her a quick one. I fed her around 9pm and we all went to bed. She didn't wake up again to feed until 1 am and than again around 4:45am. She did SO good! I was happy that she let me sleep on the first night she was home. She was even still sleeping at 7:30 when I got up for the day! We are going to try to keep her on a 2 - 3 hour feeding schedule during the day and than just let her wake up herself during the night when she is hungry. Hopefully it will all work out. Below are some pictures I took of her today. She is only 4 days old now!

Marisa's Visitors

We had lots of visitors at the hospital. We tried to take picturs of all of them but Daddy forgot to bring the camera back so we only have pictures of visitors from the first 2 days.

Auntie Marie


Grandma


Papa


Big Brothers Jon & Nicholas




Auntie Christine, Uncle Doug & Ashley


Ashley LOVED holding Marisa


Lola


Lola & Lolo


Jon loves to hold his sister. The boys are both so good to her!

Marisa is born!

Friday was a long day for me. While waiting to go to the hospital, the Lions Club of Woodbury had it's Citywide garage sale. Since we had some stuff in our neighbor's garage sale I went over there to help her out. When it was finally time to go I was getting so anxious! Both Mike and I were excited as well. We arrived at the hospital at 1:30 and checked in. They brought me into the recovery room to monitor the baby and get me ready for surgery. They placed an IV in right away and than we basically waited. When it was getting closer to 3:30 they gave Mike his outfit and started getting me ready to be transported into the OR. I was in the OR at 3:30 and they gave me a spinal block. I can't believe how fast that thing works! Any way right after that they laid me down and they started to get to work. Since Marisa was bigger it actually took them a little bit to get her out. I heard a pop sound and Dr. Becicka said that they tried to use the vacuum, but the incision was too small. So they had to make it a little bigger. But my goodness! They pushed REALLY hard on my belly! I could feel it even with the spinal block. It all happened so fast. Thy showed her to me and than Mike and the baby took off for the nursery. I was in the OR for an additional 10 minutes because we deiced to get my tubes tied. After I was done I was wheeled back into the recovery room and I just waited for Mike & Marisa to return. Once they were done they wheeled me into my room. Let me tell you those rooms are not very big! Good thing we didn't have a lot of visitors at the same time. Any way, below are some pics from the day. I haven't watched the video yet, but I am excited to see it. I will update some more when I can. Enjoy the pictures!


Lola, Lolo, Auntie Marie and Gen hanging out in the waiting room


Daddy walking out from the OR


Nicholas meeting his sister for the first time


Everyone watching Daddy in the Nursery with Marisa


Daddy waiting with Marisa


Marisa getting her first bath


Marisa with Auntie Marie










Our precious, Marisa Angeline Ramos Koehn, Born May 9, 2008 @ 4:06pm. 8lbs. 3 oz. & 22 inches long.

Today Is The Day!

Well, today is the day! I am so anxious! Of course I couldn't sleep last night. I kept on thinking about today and stuff I needed to do before I go into the hospital. So, I am up at 5:45am. Plus I can't eat anything after 7:30am so I wanted to make sure I could make myself some breakfast. I am hoping if things goes as planned, shortly after 3:30pm Marisa will be born! I can't wait to see what she is going to look like! At my last doctors appointment Mike wanted me to ask Dr. Becicka if she knew how big the baby was going to be. She gave me a guess of 8lbs. 5oz. She definitely thinks this baby will be bigger than the boys were when they were born. Both the boys were in the 7lb. range. So, we will see! I am hoping to be home by Monday, so if Mike doesn't update the blog you will have to wait until after Monday. Stay tuned for pics!

3 MORE DAYS!!!

But who is counting?!?!?!

Jon's starts T-ball!

Jon starts T-ball this Friday. He actually has had two practices, today and last Sunday. His first game is this Friday (yes, the day I go in for my c-section). He was so excited to get his uniform and try it on. Daddy told him that there are 5 of his classmates that are on his same team. So the next day at school that is all they talked about. Last Sunday we ended up going to Dick's Sporting Goods after practice to buy him a pair of baseball pants and some new cleats. We were going to borrow Noah's old cleats but they couldn't find his. At Dick's we found a pair that were only $15 so we just bought those since they were so cheap. When we got home he wanted to try on his whole uniform. Below are some pics!

He is so excited for the season to start and since it is starting on the day his sister will be born we gave him the option to either go to the hospital or play in his first game. He wasn't sure at first but we encouraged him to go to his first game. We told him he would have a lot more fun playing T-ball than sitting in a hospital. He will go over to the Welch's right after school and hang out with them until after T-ball. Thanks Paula and Shawn! Than Grandma and Papa will pick him up after visiting us at the hospital.

I can't wait to watch him play. He is getting really good at catching the ball and hitting. Stay tuned for game pics and video!

ONE MORE WEEK!

OH MY GOODNESS! I have one more week left! Can you believe it?! I can't wait! I couldn't sleep last night, probably because I was thinking that I only had 7 more days left until we meet this little girl inside me! I can't wait to see what she is going to look like. I asked the boys this morning what they thought she was going to look like. Nicholas thought she was going to look like him when he was a baby. Jon wasn't so sure. He couldn't decide. He did say that he was excited to meet her and be a big brother again. As for getting ready for her arrival, we still need to do a few things here and there, but it shouldn't be too hard. I realized that I do not have a light in our room that I can turn on so I can feed her in the night so hopefully Mike will be able to put up our reading lights that go above our bed this weekend along with our headboard. We plan on making it ourselves with the help of Bev. I still need to go through the bin of clothes I received from Julie so I hope to do that today or tonight. I think that is it! After that we should be as ready as we can be!

This week for my appointments I went in again to get a BPP Ultrasound and NST. They were both good. Below are a couple of pictures they gave me from the ultrasound. One from last week and one from this week. My appointment with Dr. Becicka went well too. She said nothing much has changed, but that the baby had a growth spurt. I could tell she did because it is really uncomfortable when she starts moving around so much! I asked her how much longer I would be in the OR for getting my tubes tied and she said an extra 10 minutes. So that is good. I thought it would take longer than that.

As for my Gestational Diabetes, I am doing well. My fasting readings are good and I don't have to change anything or go into the clinic for a follow-up. Hopefully it will all go away when the baby comes out! I would hate to do this for the rest of my life.

I am not sure if Mike will be able to update our blog while I am at the hospital, but if he doesn't I will try to update it as soon as I can when I get home from the hospital. Since I am having a c-section I think I have to stay at the hospital for 3 - 4 days. Check out the pics below! Enjoy!