We welcome our little girl!

I realize this post is a bit long over due. We welcomed our new daughter, Gianna Noel, into this world on Sunday December 23rd at 3:27AM. She was a shocking 7lbs. 13oz. (as our others were significantly smaller: 7lb, and 6lb 8oz), and 19.5 in long. Labor and delivery went very well, and Gianna was perfectly healthy and beautiful! We are so blessed. Life is starting to get back to normal around here, as we all adjust to this new little person in our lives. Dominic is very sweet with her, and loves to hug and kiss her. Stella was at first excited, then indifferent, and now solidly jealous of her. I know in time though, they will be great buddies! It is tough making the adjustment to having a new baby in the house. While I am so incredibly in love with little Gianna, and never want to put her down, I also realized how much I was missing Dominic and Stella, as I have spent this last month trying to learn how to balance my time with my three babies. I think overall, I am finally getting the hang of things. Gianna is mostly a good sleeper during the day, and content while being held or nursed. She also loves her bouncy seat, and the sling (which is actually a mei tai). She will almost always fall asleep in them... at least for now! I am making it a point to try and spend special time with Dominic and Stella while Gianna is sleeping.
The other day, as Peter was driving us all to Mass, I looked in the back of our van, and it suddenly hit me...we have three kids! Wow. Where has the time gone? It was not too long ago that it would have been just the two of us driving together, and now we are a family of five! Life is never easy, but it sure is good.
Gianna is now 6 weeks old. She is gaining weight like a champ. She was spitting up quite a bit, and seemed to be in alot of pain with that, so her doctor prescribed prevacid, a reflux medication, which is supposed to cut down on the amount of acid her stomach produces. I also started cutting dairy out of my diet to see if that would help her, since a dairy intolerance can sometimes be the cause behind a lot of reflux. Some days are better than others, but overall, she seems to be doing better. While she does still spit up, she seems much more comfortable. Night time has been a bit challenging though, because she needs to be upright after she nurses for quite awhile so she doesn't spit up, or have discomfort. Needless to say, we are not getting too much sleep. But we seem to be managing OK. I am just hoping that she grows out of this soon! Gianna is such a joy to have, and we are so proud of her.