A day in the life of Abigail.....

Abigail gets up several times a night. Mainly for eating, changing and the occasional cry. Moms a big sucker for a crying Abigail. Dad has been doing his best to help out and he's done a fantastic job. Abigail has slept in the bed a few times, like I said moms a sucker.

We had been eating every 3 hours during the day but at times Abby was not terribly hungry so on occasion we stretch it to 4 hours.

We had our two week doctors appt and Abigail did a phenomenal job and gained almost half a pound. She now weighs 5 lbs. 7 oz. So all of our hard work at getting this girl to eat has paid off. She still doesn't fit in her newborn clothes and is wearing premie diapers but she is growing!! We don't have to go back for 6 weeks so hopefully we will do lots of growing in that time. The Feldmanns got us a great gift to help us track abigails weight.... A baby scale!!

We have had several visitors come by to see us and while Abigail loves all her visitors she usually sleeps through them! Hopefully she will have more awake time soon. We have noticed that she is more alert in the evenings.

Since Abigail came home we have had several changes around the house. We got new carpet and our furniture came too. So we finally have our family room back and dad has most of his man cave back too! Dad has kept quite busy fixing a few odds and ends around the house and helping with Abigail.

Dad went back to work today so mom is going to have to do this all on her own. We shall see how that goes. Wish us luck! We have the added benefit of granma being up the street so if we need help she can come down. Mom is slightly nervous about going it alone but is hoping we are successful.

Jack continues to be unsure of this whole change in lifestyle. He is not a fan of being the #2. He is showing some signs of being more curious about Abigail. He will come and cuddle up to you while you are holding her, tho I'm not convinced it isn't his way of demanding your attention.

Its hard for me to tell if she is growing or not since we see her all day long. But I am starting to notice that things are not looking as big on her as they did those first few days.

Her favorite spot is still laying on daddy's chest. Seems to be dads favorite too.






Dad Loves his new couch!


I think she was trying to strike a pose!








Still her favorite spot






This is about as close as Jack will get but notice he is not particularly pleased with his new location. He would much rather be where Abigail is.

One Week Old!

Well it has been one fast week. I don't know where the time went. We really have been enjoying each and every moment.

Abigail is a sleeper as are many newborns but this does present its challenges when trying to get her to eat. So feedings are a battle that we tough out about every 2.5 hours. Thankfully, we did gain about 2.5 oz when we went for our second doctors appointment on Saturday. We are hoping the scales are reading even better when we go back on friday!

Abigail also loves to sleep during the day but not quite as much at night....go figure! So night time has had its moments. Dad was quite delirious the first few nights and last night was mom's turn. We have both had conversations we don't remember and said things that were totally out of left field. It helps pass the time at 2 am.....and 4 am....and well you get the picture! Jack has learned after the first night of getting up and down with us everytime we had to feed or change her that he really enjoys his sleep much more, so now he stays in his bed and leaves us to figure it out.

We have had lots of help from our families which has been amazing. Its nice to not have to think about everything and just pay attention to our little bundle of joy!

Jack still isn't sure what to think about this new addition to the family. He really enjoyed being the #1. He has his moments of interest with her and will come up and sniff sniff sniff seeing whats going on. He will also come and lay near mom or dad who are holding Abby but the moment you try to move her closer to him he takes off. Its funny that he can get up in her face but try to put her in his space and thats the end of it.

Dad has been absolutely amazing this past week! He has changed more diapers than mom and is doing a great job at keeping track of all our "ins & outs" to make sure everything is on track. I don't know what I would do without him!


Most of the time she absolutely LOVES to be swaddled. Its like magic, she may be screaming but the moment you finish wrapping her up she stops almost immediately.


When you do let her out of her swaddle she loves to stretch!


She is always a bit more awake during changes. So we have to try and catch those eyes open!


We can't decide for sure what color her eyes are. They have a blueish look to them but they are also still slightly grey. Guessing time will determine our color for sure.




She's working on her smile! She has the frown perfected but the smile is coming along nicely!


She loves her daddy!


I'm not sure who enjoys this more, dad or Abigail. I'm sure Abigail loves it but I feel pretty certain dad loves it even more.

The Princess has arrived in her castle!

We made it home early this afternoon. Everyone is happy to be home from the hospital. Abigail is enjoying checking out all of her new surroundings. Jack is enjoying checking out Abigail. So far so good. Jack seems to be adjusting. Something tells us that he will be on his best behavior over the next few weeks because he is trying to steal the #1 spot back.

We thought we were going to be super lucky to have a little one who didn't mind diaper changes and really wasn't a big crier. Well that was night #1. Night #2 delivered us a new and improved Abigail with a new and improved set of lungs! We decided tho that we will still keep her, we were kinda already attached!

Dad has been doing a SUPER FANTASTIC JOB with everything. I think he kinda likes the whole dad thing! Mom is still important but there certainly is a new #1 in his life.

Abigail has had lots of visitors and many people checking in. She can't wait to meet everyone!

We have our first doctors appointment tomorrow morning at 9:15. Mom isn't sure how we are going to make it there in time. Guessing we will have to start getting ready super early, its a process now for sure.

Lucky us our new carpet will be installed tomorrow! So Abigail will have a new play room until the furniture arrives.

Here are a few pictures to enjoy. There are many more to share and take! :-)


Mommy & Abigail







The paparazzi has arrived!









Dad has been taken to the diaper changes like a champ! Mom has yet to change one all by herself!



She has had lots and lots of visitors! She is one lucky little lady!




















Dad somehow snuck in a picture of us taking a nap this afternoon after we got home from the hospital. He loves his cuddly time!


She's so tiny she gets lost in her big girl crib! Not to mention that she doesn't nearly fit in her newborn clothes! She was swimming like a fish in her coming home outfit!

Thank you everyone for the well wishes and happy thoughts! Abigail is one blessed young lady.
Love,
Matt, Krystal & Abigail

Abigail Elizabeth Mauriello

5 lbs 3 oz. 18.5 inches long.
Arrived at 8:29 pm

Everything went well. Baby and mom are doing great!
Epidurals are like magic and I can't begin to imagine doing this without one!

All the grandparents and uncle ricky arrived a bit before her big debut and went to grab a bite to eat thinking we had some time. Well 6.5 quickly went to 8-9 and then 10. Matt, Abigail and I were even waiting on the doctor for a few minutes before we could start pushing.

This little one needed a bit of extra help coming out as she had her cord wrapped around her neck twice! But after about 20 minutes she was out and crying!

Dad did a great job helping during the whole process. I am amazed that everything went so quickly. I could never have imagined waking up this morning that 12 hours later we would have our baby girl!!

Hopefully we will get some pictures up soon!! She's a cutie.

It's time!

After lots of cramps last night, and some leaking this morning, our water has broken!

We're at the hospital now getting all hooked up. We haven't really started labor yet, but it will happen one way or another.

We'll try to keep you all updated from time to time, but we expect it will be some time before any more major news.


-Matt

Baby Update Week 38!

Note mom's comfy pants! I was so tired this morning I completely forgot it was picture day so we didn't get any pictures until this evening and I was already nice and comfy!

The countdown begins.......14 days to go!! :-)

Baby Size: A Watermelon....a very low watermelon!

Krystal's Weight Gain::
Enough! ;-)

Maternity Clothes:
I am so tired this week that I may just start wearing my comfy sweat pants to work.

How Mom's feeling:
Very, very tired. I may sleep for 8 hours a night but it certainly doesn't feel like it. Here it is 6:45p.m. and I could go to bed right now without any problems!

What's Growing This Week:
Well we should weigh somewhere around 6.8 lbs. The doctor last week seemed to think she will come out somewhere around 7lbs. So we shall see. She is about 19.5 inches long, which is really hard to imagine all of that curled up inside of me!

Baby Movement:
Well this little girl is running out of room. So movement has slowed down a little bit. The doctors think she is settling in for her departure.

Food Cravings and Dislikes:
I think I am going to start kicking up the spicy foods and throwing in some pineapple too! I hear its great to help get things moving along!

What's New in the Baby Room:
I think we are 99.5% of the way there! We finished getting everything we need, just need to put the last few items away.

Baby Name:
So this week's letter is an A. so you have I I L A

What I'm looking forward to:
I am looking forward to meeting this little girl. Everyone knows I am not the most patient of people so these last few weeks are killing me! I am ready to have this baby and start the fun stuff!

What I miss:
A quality nights sleep, which I don't imagine I will be seeing for quite some time!

Excitement of the week:
We continue our weekly doctors appointments and everything seems to be moving right along. We are just about 2 cm dilated. Still have a ways to go but I certainly like the sound of progress! The doctor seemed quite surprised and said that most first time mom's don't start dilating on their own before active labor has started.

The baby has certainly dropped into position and is getting nice and comfortable in the pelvic area. I remind her everyday that she needs to come between payrolls so that I will still be able to get that done at work! We'll see if she listens or not!

Everyday at work they are surprised to see me there. We'll see how much longer I can make it. I'm not making any promises!!



She already has a nice little library going!


Mom cannot see her feet anymore, which is probably a good thing considering they are pretty swollen these days! Jack likes to take his toys into the babies room when he is following mom around and then he leaves them there for later!


Changing table all ready to go! I think we'll have dad do the first diaper change!! :-)


This little girl has very little drawer space left. And some of them are overflowing!


She seriously does have more shoes than mom and dad!


We have enough bibs and hats and burp clothes to probably never have to do any laundry!


More clothes and tons of cute little socks!


A drawer full of onesies! A pile for every growth spurt! :-)






She certainly has a LOT of clothes! We will be making multiple outfit changes throughout the day to make sure we get pictures in everything!!!


Thank goodness daddy redid the closet! I don't know what we would have done with all of these toys and things if he hadn't!

She is one lucky little lady!