Little smiley-4 months old

Cecily turned 4 months old on Friday. She is a happy smiley baby who giggles and plays and snuggles. She is our love, our heart, our little princess.

We both got through my first week back at work fairly well. She is taking the bottle much better now (when there is no other option she adapted quickly) and is napping better too. A few nights last week she didnt sleep through the night but for the most part she is still managing to give Mommy lots of sleep. Leaving in the morning is hard, I always want to run back and give her one more kiss. But I know she has fun with her Nana during the day. The biggest challenge for me back at work is the pumping. My office has a great set up for a "Mother's Room" with a comfy chair, a fridge, a sink. But I am at clients right now. My client found a place for me to pump which was a storage closet. I felt odd and awkward in their so I have been pumping in my car instead. I just have to keep thinking that it is the best for my baby. I will keep it up as long as I can.


We hung out with some of her cousins this Saturday.












With Kaitlyn (4 yrs) and Lauren (almost 17 months)








With Kaitlyn, Lauren, Kyle (2 weeks), Vincent (3 years), and Tony (almost 6 months)

Cecily-3 months

Cecily is almost four months old now. The last month has been pretty busy. Cecily and I traveled down to L.A. and Santa Barbara to visit family and friends. We had a great time in SB with my girlfriends (Suzanne, Becky and Erin) and their children (9 month old Aiden and 19 month old Nate). The family visit was nice and my father was finally able to spend sometime with his granddaughter which was wonderful. Cecily was very very good on her first plane trip, she basically just ate and slept the whole time. But traveling alone with a baby is quite difficult with all the gear that goes with it (stroller, car seat, etc.)

Unfortunately while we were gone, a hot water pipe in our house burst and did alot of flood damage. As such, Greg, Cecily and I have had to move temporarily into an apartment downtown. (Luca is staying with Nana and Nonno in Petaluma) Hopefully we will be able to move back in 6 weeks or so. This has been my last week of maternity leave and we have been spending it playing and taking walks and meeting Greg for lunch downtown. On Monday I start back at work and I am feeling awful about being away from Ceci. She will be in good hands however, as Nana (Greg's mom) will be taking care of her during the day for the next couple of months.







View from our apartment (on Spear and Howard)..









Cecily has gone through a growth spurt (she weighed in at 13 pounds, 7 oz. last week) and I have had to pack up alot of her baby clothes which was sad. She is making lots of verbalizations and laughing out loud now (when I tickle her sides). She sits in her Bumbo seat and I am getting her to do more "tummy time" though she only tolerates it for short times. She is really showing interest in her toys now and looks around and flirts with strangers when we go on walks. I think she may be starting to teethe as she chews on her fingers alot. She has survived her first cold (she hates getting the snot suctioned out of her nose) and a rashy case of echzema (it helps to use Aquaphor to treat it) She is taking the bottle now, though still breast feeds so much better. She will be getting pumped milk in the bottle during the day and I'll still breast feed her at night and in the morning.

So we have lots of new challenges ahead, with my return to work etc., but I can just hope it all works smoothly.

Santa Barbara Trip

Tummy Time

In the Bumbo Seat

Happy New Year 2007!

About a year ago this little angel was just making her appearance as an embryo in my womb. What a difference a year makes! Cecily is growing more and more each day, becoming stronger and more alert. She laughs out loud now and makes all sorts of other "verbalizations" such as "ahhing" and "gooing" and grunting and, her favorite, blowing drooly raspberries. She is still eating very frequently during the day (every 2-3 hours) but is sleeping through the night most nights. She has been doing this since right before Thanksgiving, and I have been giving much thanks for this! But I do know that it may not last. And sometimes she is hard to get to sleep, and we dont turn in until midnight after some dozing on the couch. We are still working hard to try to get her to take the bottle. We went out and bought a bunch of nipples (every variety in the store) and she seems to like the Dr. Brown bottle and nipple. But it is more times that not that she refuses the bottle and cries for mommy and the breast. Its very hard to be tough, but I know we must as a month from now I have to return to work and she will have no choice. And so we continue...

Cecily's First Christmas

Cecily loved her first Christmas. While she doesn't understand all the elements such as Santa and presents yet, she loved being around all the commotion and family. She was very well behaved and even stayed calm during church (of course I had to feed her during mass however). She is our Christmas miracle and we delight in all her expressions and the way she takes it all in like a sponge.

Cecily- 2 months old

Our little girl is two months old now. It is amazing how much she changes every day. She reaches for her toys and giggles and coos. She loves her mobile and she talks to her toys as if she is telling them her secrets. She loves music and bathtime and making faces at the baby in the mirror. Greg finished up his paternity leave (he took 3 weeks off) and was sad to go back to work on Monday. Cecily's sleeping patterns are varied. Sometimes she sleeps through the night (up to 7 hours straight) Other nights she decides she doesnt want to sleep in her co-sleeper and wont let me put her down. Our biggest challenge at the moment is the battle of the bottle. She took the bottle very well at 2 weeks. But we made the mistake of not continuously introducing it and now she does not want it. But we keep trying...





At Ocean Beach












Hanging out in the Glider Chair

Bath Time

Thanksgiving Trip

We traveled down to So Cal for Thanksgiving, taking a nice 10 day trip visiting family and friends. Ceci did quite well on the trip, napping as we drove. We did need to stop every 2 hours or so for a feed and a change. This turned a normally 8 hour trip into a 12 hour one. We visited friends in San Diego and Santa Barbara and my family in Palos Verdes. Ceci got to meet her Auntie Kathleen and Uncle Brian and made several new friends. Cecily's grandfather (my dad) unfortunately had to go to the hospital for an infection in his knee that progressed into a rather serious medical situation. It created an emotionally charged thanksgiving but he is doing much better now, so we are hopeful for the best. Below are some pictures from the trip.

In Pacific Beach

Cecily and her new friend Brooke (in San Diego)

In her bouncy seat

With Great Auntie Jennifer in her Christmas Cap and booties

With new pal Aidan (in Santa Barbara)

Happy Times

We are having so much fun with our little girl and introducing her to friends and taking her to new places. My beloved friend Erin came to visit from Denver. We took Ceci on walks in the park and to Fort Funston (one of our favorite places in SF with fantastic views). We also took her shopping which I must admit she seems to enjoy!

At Fort Funston with Erin and Luca

One Month Old

The days just fly by, I can't believe our little girl is one month already. The days (and nights) are getting a bit more organized. I wont call it a schedule, but we are developing a routine of sorts. Though of course she'll mix it up a bit and keep it interesting by deciding to stay awake for several hours in the middle of the night sometimes. She is alot of fun, and we spend alot of her "waking time" making faces at each other and playing with the swing, bouncy seat, etc. Her favorite activities consist of eating, watching her mobile, eating, taking walks with Mommy, Daddy and Luca or Nana and Nonno, eating, dancing with Mommy or Daddy, eating, and lastly, eating. Yes, I do feel as if I am breast feeding more often than I am not. Her feedings have gotten more frequent and longer during the day and then, thankfully, more spaced out at night. But it is a wonderful bonding experience and fun to share in her favorite activity! Luca loves our new little family member and seems quite respectful and protective of her. And I love watching Greg with her, he is a great Daddy. And she is the spitting image of him!

Cecily's first 2 weeks

Cecily has been home with us two weeks now. It is a wonderful and exhausting thing being parents. She makes me feel so loved and I love so much. My emotions surge. The first two weeks have been filled with family and diapers and worries and moments of pure bliss. It is challenging but wonderful.

Cecily Anne Biagini

Cecily Anne Biagini
Born: Monday, October 9, 12:35 a.m.
8 lbs, 12 oz., 21 1/2 inches

She is finally here, and we are in love with our new baby girl. She is a week old today, the pictures above are from day one.

Baby Story: Last Friday I went in to the hospital at 7pm to be induced. After all the preliminary stuff I was finally hooked up to the Pitocin (the drug given to me to induce labor) at 12 am. I was already 2 cm dilated and was having irregular contractions that did not hurt at this point. The contractions were slow starting and took awhile to become "adequate" meaning consistent and within 2 minutes apart. They kept coming at 2-4 mins apart and were progressively starting to get more painful. I had to use the breathing techniques I had learned to stay on top of them. It was frustrating bc I kept being examined by many doctors and someone would say I was 4cm and then someone else would come and say I was only 3 1/2. At around 1pm on Saturday I was only 4 cm dilated but was getting tired of the work required to stay on top of the contractions and asked for my epidural (I was always intending to get one but was hoping to make it to 5 cm first). This definately helped get me rest but I progressed very slowly though the afternoon and evening. At some point I was starting to get pretty ill, my blood pressure dropped and I vomited a few times. I pretty much dozed off and on (as did Greg) through the next day. I disliked all the cords and wires attached to me and I really did not like being so imobile either and having the nurses and Greg having to help me flip from side to side every hour. I did not expect there to be so much pain either since I got the epidural, but there was. As the epidural would run out ( I went through three bags) the pain would start up again and was pretty intense as I reached past the 7cm mark. This was sometime on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday night at 8:15pm, I was ready to push and after 4 hours later I no longer had the strength to continue on my own and was wheeled into the OR to have the help of the vacuum. After one push with the vacuum out she came, all 8 lbs, 12 oz of her. Healthy and soft and pink. Instant love. I didnt even pay attention to all the stitching up that was being done to me (though I must note that it takes a long time for this process, at least it did for me, but I think I had some nasty tears)

Long story short, it was a long process (48 hours) but it is all worth it as she is here in our arms and we can start our life as a new family.

41 weeks-Forever Pregnant?

So yesterday's appointment went ok. It was good in the fact that the non-stress test showed very reassuring results in the way of the baby's state of being in my uterus. I have loads of amniotic fluid which is great and means my placenta is "doing its job". The baby's heartbeat responded well when I was hooked up to the monitors so all is good. Of course this didn't move me up on the induction list, since there is no danger to the baby, but it made me feel good that she is in the safest place she could be right now.

My cervix has started to dilate. But only abt one centimeter. And I had the doctor call the hospital to see if they can get me in sooner for an induction but it seems everyone is having babies like mad right now and I could not get an earlier appointment. So Friday it is. I've been having contractions all the time, just not in any reliable pattern, and they come and go and vary in intensity. Only occasionally do they actually hurt. My back has been bothering me alot tho, and I have felt kind of ill the last two days.

I am not as desperate as I was last week at this time as now I know the baby is thriving and it will only be a few more days before she is here. Everyone is waiting for her and she is taking her good old sweet time. She will probably be sweet but stubborn... just like her daddy.