Oh Christmas Tree

This is our first REAL christmas tree! We got to put our HIGGINS FAMILY star topper that we got last year on top of it! I want to start the tradition of putting the tree up the first Sunday after Thanksgiving so we can enjoy it for the full month! It hasn't shed that much and I loved getting the ornaments out of our travels. Everytime we go on a trip we buy an ornament at the attraction or city. We have them from all over: Paris, Jackson Hole, Empire State Building, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon.

Pa Pa Time

On Sunday, Maggie was able to snuggle with a happy Papa who celebrated the Noles win!


Maggie was sad when they had to go back to Vero Beach. :(

1st REAL Christmas Tree- not decorated

On Sunday, we went to pick out our first REAL tree. Mike was less than thrilled to do so, but once it was here it looked great. We decorated it and will have to wait till someone comes to visit to get a great shot of it with all the lights, decorations and star.

Grand Ma and Nana time

This weekend we had lots of Nana and Grand Ma time. John and Mike went to the FSU vs FL game in Tallahasse so in turn, Maggie got to spend lots of quality time with Nana. Grand Ma also came down to celebrate the Noles Victory over the gators.

Love from Chicago

Today we got a package from my dear friend Michael Triola. He is an HR Director at Chipotle. We have been friends ever since I started at Chipotle when he was just a trainer. He is so funny and always have lots to talk about when we are together. He sent Maggie this beautiful pink and green Ralph Lauren dress and bloomers. Adorable.
I also tried to do some practice portraits of her to get ready to do a Christmas Card in the coming days. I am going to get a Christmas outfit or bow and take the photos myself. She will get professional photos done mid-January on her 3 month birhtday.


Maggies First Smile

Blessed on Thanksgiving

Today I can't believe how blessed I am. I have a beautiful daughter who I love more than words can say. For the first time, we spent at home with just the three of us. Here are a few photos of our first Thanksgiving with Maggie.

O, heavenly Father: We thank thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May these remembrances stir us to service,
that thy gifts to us may be used for others. Amen.

Love from Germany

Today I just finished giving Maggie a bottle and the door bell rang. Buster goes crazy and I head to the door and found a package from my dear friend Keely. Keely's husband Dave is in the Army and they are stationed in Germany. She sent Maggie an adorable outfit, book, rattle, bib and onesies. She also sent a very special onesie that she designed that represents the company that Dave is in. We miss Keely and can't wait for her to meet Maggie. Hopefully she won't be too big before that happens! Below are some of the photos of Maggie unwrapping her gift. She loved the ribbons that the gifts were wrapped in too!

2nd Annual CB Thanksgiving Breakfast

This morning we had our 2nd Annual CB Breakfast with our dear friends. Last year at this breakfast Shannon announced that she was pregnant with Zander. Wow that year went fast. I wasn't even pregnant with Maggie yet! All of us and our babies! We hope to continue this breakfast with the babies every Thanksgiving. It is breakfast like this that is the perfect gift of the season. We are so blessed and I am so thankful for all of my friends.








Patty Cashin meeting Maggie for the first time. (Above)

6 weeks old

Now that your baby's awake for longer periods during the day, you can use these times to support his sensory development. Try singing your favorite lullabies or playing music.

You don't have limit yourself to children's songs. Fill the house with the sounds of music — from the Black Eyed Peas to Mozart — and watch as your baby expresses his pleasure through coos, lip smacks, and jerking arm and leg movements.

Your baby might also enjoy the sound of wind chimes or a ticking clock. The more varied the offerings, the richer the impact. Inevitably, you'll notice that your baby responds to and favors some selections more than others as he begins to develop preferences.

Don't feel like you need to bombard your baby with music all the time, though. Babies need quiet time, too. An overstimulated child may cry, look away, tense up, arch his back, and become irritable. Try giving your little one time to regroup before moving on to more play.

Self-expression
Your baby may not be able to talk yet, but his face is sure telling you a lot. He's experimenting with different facial expressions — pursing his lips, raising his eyebrows, widening or squinting his eyes, and furrowing his brow.

Your baby may be trying to tell you something — perhaps a diaper change is in your future — or maybe he's just exploring his newfound abilities.

______________________________________

This week we have few milestones:

* Maggie started to pull her head up- She likes to look around and bright light captures her attention.

* Tummy Time- We have introduced tummy time to her daily schedule. We have a play mat upstairs and have another one we tried down stairs. She is starting to reach and kick the hanging toys.

* 0 t 3 months- She does not fit at all in her newborn clothes.

* Bath Time Routine- We have started to get her in a routine with bathtime. She takes a bath, lotion, onesie with the sleep sack, and then we give her a bottle, we read to her and she usually falls asleep.

* We are starting to understand her cries.-We know the difference between feed me and change me. We know the difference between "I just want to fall asleep" and "I need a change of scenery."

This morning after she woke up she was changed and fed a 4 ounce bottle. We had play time and now she fell back asleep at 10:30.

When we put her in the crib at night we watch her on the video monitor that is recording via our computer. We also have her speaker monitors that let us know if she is crying.

Slowly but for surely we are getting better day by day.

Yesterday at the OBGYN I had to have a small procedure done to fix the granulation tissue from the delivery. We got to see Dr. Cohn who gave us a big hug and was excited to hear the birth story. We have to go back next week for a follow up. I also got a tetanus and vaccine for a whooping cough to prevent me from getting it so Maggie won't get it.

Maggie's Birth Annoucement

Earlier this week I worked on getting out Maggie's birth annoucements. I went back and forth deciding on if I should order and send any out or just wait for christmas. I bit the bullet and decided to do both. After addressing 150 of these and know I will probably do another 150 for Christmas, I may have thought differently. For now, I am so happy I got them done and out in the mail... five weeks after she was born no less.

Moving on up

The bassinet was something I thought before she was born I would never want. I thought I just didn't want another big piece of baby furniture. I thought baby comes and you put them in a crib. My SIL put both the twins in the crib right away and many of my friends that have kids did the same thing. Some though used the pack and play and others a bassinet. My mother in law found this beautiful bassinet that she gave us to use and said that we should try it in the room for when she gets here. Before Maggie came, I was like, we'll put her for the first two nights and then we will move her. Boy was I WRONG. Maggie has now been in the bassinet for five weeks and I have loved having her there. Many said I would want her to nurse, but since that didn't work out I have realized I just want her there so I can check to make sure she is breathing! Many of my friends who are first time parents say they check on their little one many many times the first few weeks just to make sure they were ok.

Her bedroom and crib are just on the other side of the wall. Every time she wakes up I take her in there to change her and then downstairs to feed her. Believe it or not she is getting too big for the bassinet. She is 23.5 inches long two weeks ago. Mike is another reason she will be moving to her crib. He has said for the last several days that she should make the move.

Here all this time I didn't think I wanted her in the bassinet and now I am kind of sad that I am moving her over. I think it will be good for her as she begins to stretch out even more! She loves to kick those legs and stretch. Sally (the seahorse) will be making the move with her, yes I named the seahorse.

Next week, starting on Monday I plant to get us in a bedtime routine of sorts. We need to start somewhere. Nightly baths, milk, etc., at an earlier time say after her eight or nine o'clock bottle. The pediatrician said we should have a goal of her sleeping through the night at two months.

Every day this week we have had goals. We had our first goal of getting the announcements addressed in the mail... 150 of those bad boys later... and we did get them in the mail on Tuesday. Yesterday, our goal was to get the anniversary book done. At 11:45 last night, the book was sent to the printer. Today's goal is to line up our 2011 health benefits. Open enrollment ends tomorrow, so we need to make our elections today. I guess it is never to young to start having goals.

5 weeks old

Your baby may gurgle, coo, grunt, and hum to express his feelings. A few babies also begin squealing and laughing. Be sure to coo and gurgle back, and talk to your baby face to face. He'll enjoy holding your gaze now.

If you have things to do, your baby will still enjoy hearing your voice from across the room. And don't feel silly about using baby talk — babies are particularly attuned to this high-pitched, drawn-out way of communicating, which can actually teach your baby about the structure and function of language.

Smiling is universal. A baby's first smile happens at about the same time in all cultures, so get ready for your baby to reward all your loving care with a beaming, toothless, just-for-you grin. This will probably make your heart melt, even if you've just had your worst night yet.

TUMMY TIME


As I post stuff everyday now, I am trying to take advantage of the time that being home with her allows me to do this. Who knows when I go back to work on January 1st, if I will have as much time to update everyday. All I do know is that I want to cherish everyday with her and hopefully in a few months I can look back and see all the progress we have made.

On Monday, she had a rough night and day. I believe it was gas. She brings her legs up to her chest and grunts and sometimes turns red even to get it out. Up and down most of the night and day, she was not sleeping in her three hour blocks like she had been doing. I then realized the only thing that changed in the previous 24 hours was the bottles. We switched from Mike's bottles that he made to my bottles that I made. I thought maybe I didn't make them right and she didn't like them as much? Then I had these Mycalin drops that are suppose to help gas and since she was clearly struggling with the gas and they are completely safe, why not try it. Well, by then at the same time I made the next set of bottles. I am not sure if it was these magic drops or just the new batch of bottles, but she went right back to her normal routine and didn't seem to be in much discomfort. I have read that formula babies do have more reactions like gassiness and that is common. Many people I have talked to swore by these drops. We won't use them all the time, only when she appears to be struggling with the gas.

On a seperate note, her insurance card came today!

Bathtime

We have been starting a bath routine as of late. Maggie LOVES it. She loves the water on her, soap not so much. We do a lotion massage afterward and it help relaxes her.

Bye Newborn Diapers

See diaper on the right, that was our newborn diaper. It was so delicate and tiny. It had a cutout for the umbilicord. So tiny around her 6 lbs little waist. See diaper on the left, that is the "LEVEL 1" diaper. Big and holds more liquid for her 8 lb 12 ounce waist. She is getting bigger. In four weeks time she has grown out of her first diaper. :(

99 Bottles of Milk on the wall

Mike is known as the mixologist, but since he is working in Tallahassee I thought I would give a glimps of what her seven bottles look like. We make one big batch in a special Dr. Browns pitcher and then divide it up in 4 ounces. These little bottles won't be around much longer as she continues to get bigger. You can only keep formula for 24 hours max, so this will go pretty quickly.

Maggie's 1st Month Highlights

Here is a quick run down of us at four weeks:

Weight: 8 pounds, 12 ounces
Length: 23.5 inches

* Sleeps 3-4 hours in her bassinet.

* Drinks 4 ounces from the bottle. Breastfeeding ended at week three. My milk never came in. I have been beating myself up about this ever since I took her off breastfeeding. I really wanted to breastfeed her, but my body just didn't produce the milk. We feed her every 3-4 hours, usually every time she wakes up from a 3 hour stretch. She burps about half way through which sounds more like air going out of a balloon than a burp. She usually gets the hiccups after her feedings. Mike is known as the "mixologist" or "bartender" and prepares the bottles. I am the one that cleans them and typically gets up for middle of the night feedings. Mike is the early riser and changes her and feeds her for the 6 am/7 am feeding. I am sure this will change once I go back to work.

* Diapers- We were using newborn snuggies from Huggies. We liked them because of the line that turns from yellow to blue after she pees. Plus, they had her umbilicord cut out. However, she is filling up the newborn ones and we are about out of them. We have plenty of the "Level 1" diapers so we will begin to transition her into those this week. We have all different brands, several packages.

* Umbilicord- fell off at about 2.5 weeks.

* Poop- this has been a big deal at our house since the beginning. She is all over the page in this department. She is random. When she poops, it usually takes about 2-3 diapers for her to get it all out over an hour period. But poop usually comes every other day. And it is green.

* Crying- she usually only cries if she needs something. So far so good.

* Baths-we give her a bath every other day in her special recliner that sits in the bath tub. She enjoys the warm water over her and likes it overall.

* Clothes Size- We will begin to pack up the NEWBORN clothes this week. They are getting snug and typically go up to 8lbs. Since she is almost 9 pounds, the 0-3 months are where we are heading. Her favorite outfits were the sleeper with the owl on it, FSU t-shirt, green and white striped onesie, and the green/brown combo outfits with polka dots and FUN TO BE me shirt.

* Toys/books- She loves her bouncy seat and swing. We tried the play mat with accessories attached to it for about 10 minutes today and she loved it and looking all around at the patterns. We read to her daily. Some of her favorites are the Runaway Bunny, I will see you in the morning and Brown Bear.

* Pacifier- She usually only takes this at night. She won't take if she is full from feeding. She will only take it for a few minutes if she is wanting to eat before projecting it across the room.

At four weeks we have settled in a bit, but have lots to learn. The nerves have worn off just a bit and we have gotten to know her better and she has gotten to know us. She follows our voice with her eyes and likes to be sung: ABC's, Itsy Bitsy, Wheels on the Bus, Brown Bear. Buster has been great with her. She smiles in her sleep too. Every morning when she starts to stir I sing her, "Good Morning Miss Maggie" song.

At times, I can't believe she is here and that I am Mom and Mike is a Dad. We are truly blessed. We are so fortunate to have such a beautiful and healthy baby girl. The amazement of having a baby has not worn off and I am so thankful for her.

In the next few weeks we need to decide our plan for when I go back to work. I have been searching non-stop for possible leads in the Brandon area. We have two leads right now. Cori, my mom's friend Lynn's daughter who is a USF senior that takes mostly online and night classes and Amy, my intern's girlfriend who is studying to be a nurse and is a Junior at UT. Amy is only available Wednesday's, but that is one day down, four to go. Cori has bit more flexibility, but is confirming her internship schedule. Stay tuned on that front.

Mike is wonderful with her. He is very calm and relaxed. A natural. He watches her with out any hesitation. He changes diapers and holds his breath with the stinky ones. She is definitely going to be Daddy's little girl.

4 year Wedding Anniversary

Today we celebrated our four year anniversary. Before we went out to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse we snapped this great shot of our family. We are so blessed. Thank you to Grand Ma Kutsch for watching Maggie.

Meet Dr. Bishay at Grand Ma's Work

I was getting a little cabin fever and needed to build my confidence about traveling with Maggie. So after our wonderful weigh in at the doctors office where Maggie weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces we went to Zephyrhills to introduce her to the "girls" at my mom's work. Dr. Bishay even gave her a bottle!

We even stopped at the house for some tummy time with Pap Pap so I could eat a sandwhich from Olga's, my favorite!

Look Maggie can hold a bottle

Since taking the bottle, Maggie always loves putting her hands near her mouth and sometimes will reach for the bottle. One hand grabbed the bottle right away, but with a little help with the other, she was holding her own bottle... at 4 weeks! Like a great Kutsch...she has learned the motto, "Keep'm Grazin!"

Nipple Confusion

Since we have been bottle feeding her, we have had random times of good feedings-- meaning no drool, no spit up, just sucking the bottle down. Other times, we have had not so good, lots of milk drool and spit up. I went to BRU on Friday in search of smaller nipple because I thought that Maggie was just getting too much formula from the current nipple. I knew that when we opened the box of bottles that we got an assortment. Meaning, an assortment of tall 8 ounce and some small 4 ounces. We threw out the box long ago. But it never crossed my mind that their would be an assortment of nipples. Even when I went to get a preemie nipple, it never crossed my mind that I could have an assortment of nipples from the original box. I was just concerned that she was eating too fast and the flow was too fast. Solution- preemie nipples. I bought a package of three. This afternoon I boiled them. We tested this out around 1pm feeding... it was flawless. No drool, no spit up. Victory for all.

Mike comes home. I just used one nipple and was about wash them, but now I had put the one preemie nipple with the rest and I couldn't tell them apart. I ask Mike, "Help, I can't figure out which one is the preemie nipple." We examine the nipples for about five minutes. Seriously, picture it... us in the kitchen struggling over which one is the golden preemie nipple. We are looking at the hole at the top, we are looking at the base, is one smaller/larger? Surely, we are smart educated folks, we should be able to figure this out.

Then all of sudden, as I am examining the nipple in the afternoon light, I see wording on the base that says, "LEVEL P" meaning preemie. I quickly grab another one and it says, "LEVEL 1". Surely all the rest of our current nipples were Level 1.
Yep, think AGAIN!! THEY WERE ALL DIFFERENT!!! Some were Level 4- meaning for "aggressive eaters" Some were Level 3 for 6 months and above. Some were Level 2- 3 months and some were Level 1- newborns.

This explains everything. This explains why sometimes we were getting mega drool, because she was taking the flow of a 6 month old or an "aggressive eater". I mean she comes from a line of Kutsch's that surely can eat, but to label her "aggressive" at 3 weeks old is a bit much.

So we are not saying that she will never drool again or she won't spit up. But surely now she will have a consistent flow of level 1 nipples.

We also switched her to Emfamil from Similac. We also want to see if this helps her tummy get settled better and help her poop more. They say that some formula works better for newborns than others. Our pediatrician says that the difference in formula is like the difference in COKE and PEPSI. So we'll see how this change treats her.

Meet Mrs. Janke

Mrs. Janke came down from Dade City to meet Maggie. I spent countless hours riding my bike around her drive and she is such a sweet and special person in our lives.

Meet the Whalens

On Saturday, Jeremy and Deza came to visit. Deza who is pregnant with Baby Whalen number three brought Maggie an "Itsy Bitsy Spider" book. Jax and Johna were less than impressed with Baby Maggie, but loved climbing our stairs. Jeremy and Deza have been friends of Mike's since they went to college together at FSU.

Maggie 3 weeks

Maggie at three weeks... notice the thumbs up she is giving us on the photo on the right.