Miriam Therese at 1 Week!

Miriam turned 1 week old today!

We were still quarantined on the Master suite side of the house at the time, so here's a couple of pics that we were able to snap, check 'em out...

Life in the Last Month

Howdy ya'll. Matt here - sorry for the long delay in putting up new posts. Let's see - here's a quick run down of our life of late:

04 Apr - Matt & Carly Find New House to Rent
05 Apr - Application for House Put In
07 Apr - Lease for New House Signed
08 - 16 Apr - Packing the House & Organizing the Move
11 Apr - Carly's 30th BDay
12 Apr - Easter Sunday
17 & 18 Apr - the Move
19 Apr - Last Day at the Old House
19 - 26 Apr - Matt in OH for military training classes
21 Apr - New House Discovered to have Fleas (that are now gone!)
27 Apr - 11 May - Unpacking the House, Taking Care of the Ladies
07 May - 1st New GPS Satellite Arrives at Cape (ie Matt's Job Gets Really Busy)
12 May - Miriam Therese Hale is born
15 May - Cecilia Diagnosed with RSV
16 May - Miriam and Momma Come Home


So I was gonna say sorry for being so delayed, but typing that list made me rethink things. We've been busy, that's life guess. Anyway, just thought you should know, we just back-dated, so lots of new posts:

• 11 Apr - Cecilia in the Morning
• 12 Apr - Easter at Our House, Polish Style
• 13 Apr - What Easter Baskets are Really For
• 13 Apr - FL Sunset
• 07 May - Our Little Bookworm
• 08 May - Helping Mamma Cooking
• 09 May - Making a Splash
• 11 May - Relaxed Mother's Day
• 13 May - A few more pics...
• 15 May - A Change in Plans as Miriam Comes Home
• 16 May - Chillaxing at Home
• 17 May - Our Little Sleepyhead
• 17 May - A Thank You

Thanks - we'll try to stay on top of things a bit more and send lots of pics of Miriam and Cecilia!

A Thank You

Just wanted to take a moment to thank two folks:

Thanks, Katy, for all the help that you've been over the past week. Katy stayed at our house on Tues and Weds with Cecilia - and when the RSV diagnosis was had, came back out for another two days to give us a hand while we struggled to get our lives in shape to deal with keeping Miriam safe from the virus. Katy, we appreciate your generousity with your time - thanks very much!

Katy feeding Celia "fishies" at the hospital

And our (old) neighbor, Jackie, came over to watch Cecilia for a day too. Thanks for the help, Jackie - even though I ended up taking her to the doc and plans changed a bit that day, it was a huge help to have you there with Carly and talking to her while I was at the doc with Cecilia. Thanks for taking time out of your busy life to help out!

Our Little Sleepyhead

We're happy to report, all is still good on the home front. Miriam is at home with us, hidden away on the "clean" side of the house with Momma. She's doing all the things a baby should - eating well, pooing well, and (as evidenced by these pics) sleeping like a champ.

We plan to keep the slpit house through this Friday, at least. Momma is getting a bit of cabin-fever over there, so if you have a chance to give her a quick phone call, I'm sure she would appreciate it (if she's resting, just leave a voicemail, she'll get back to ya!)

Chillaxing at Home

Some pics of Miriam at home - enjoy!

Miriam Making Baby Noises in Her Sleep

A Change in Plans as Miriam Comes Home

Yesterday was full of surprises.

Katy was generous enough that she had stayed at our house and watched Cecilia for Tuesday and Wednesday - our first two days at the hospital. I came back home early on Thursday to watch Cecilia for a few hours before another friend could take over. During my shift - I noticed Cecilia sneeze up some dis-colored mucus, so I talked to Carly and decided to take her in to the doc to have it checked. Carly had also been tipped off by a nurse to have me request a test for RSV. Long story short - the doc was able to diagnose Cecilia with a sinus infection - and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

Now RSV isn't anything too special. Just a virus that is very contagious, very common, and has the symptoms of a bad cold. Its not a big deal for adults and children - but RSV is the #1 reason for hospitalization in infants under 1 yr old, and it is life-threatening for infants and geriatrics, potentially causing pneumonia and airway compromise.

In other words, its pretty serious for an infant to get RSV.

By this point, Cecilia had been to the hopital 3 times to visit - so Carly had to tell the nurses, who ended up testing the entire maternity ward for the virus and giving all the babies a (very expensive) shot to boost their immunity to the virus.

But for us, Cecilia's RSV caused us some problems. The pediatrician told me that Cecilia and Miriam would have to live in different houses for the next 3 weeks! After talking with Carly, we decided that that wasn't even feasible for us. So we started talking with the hospital staff and our pediatrician - and developed a new plan. To completely shut off one side of our house from the other. Carly and Miriam would be on the "clean" side, which consisted of the master suite - bedroom, bathroom and closet. Meanwhile, Cecila and I would reside on the "infected" side. Cecilia would be contagious for 8 days, so our separation was at least that long. Maybe longer - and we would be banking on a deep clean of the infected side of the house to eradicate the virus from all surfaces, as it is contagious in that vector for up to 3 wks. The only reason that we open the door between is to quickly pass things like food. People going back and forth require a full shower, new set of clothes, and a face mask to get into the "clean" side.

On Thursday evening, I came back to the house and stayed with Cecilia. Katy had called up and offered, so she came back for Friday and Saturday to help out again. On Friday, Great-Grandma Wanninger, Aunt Connie, and Uncle Bruce came to visit Carly, Miriam, and I at the hospital, which was nice. They we on vacation at Daytona, so the visit worked out well. The rest of the day Friday I spent deep-cleaning the master suite to be the "clean" side. On Friday evening, after Cecilia was asleep, we bundled up Miriam and headed home.

Pretty crazy, huh? Oh - our house is now very well stocked with hand sanitizers, bleach wipes, and aerosol cleaners. Cecilia calls the hand sanitizer lotion!

My Mom and yonger bro, Stephen, are coming down from OH to just be here with us for a bit - be that extra set of hands when needed, the other person to talk to, all that.

Anyway, the separation is going well so far - everyone is healthy, which is the purpose of all this. That being said, Carly's still taking it kind of hard - just not what you expect when you're bringing a little one home from the hospital, you know? I think the hardest part for her is just not being able to have Cecilia there to get to know Miriam...

So if you have a chance, give Carly a call over the next week. I'm sure she would love to hear from you and to welcome the chance to talk. And please pray for us - especially that everyone stays healthy!

Miriam at the hospital - getting ready for her big trip!

In her travelling outfit

Miriam in her carseat

At home, on the "clean" side!

Katy with Miriam - the facemasks are for Katy and I, because we have been around Cecilia so much for the past few days

Momma and Miriam

A few more pics...

Today was Miriams 2nd day out and about!






Katy already hit all of the high points - but we had a few more fun pics that I wanted to put up...

Cecilia Eating - at Home with Katy

Ready to go!


Eating a Granola Bar with Papa

Taking my blood pressure

Baby Miriam - Fast Asleep Amidst the Rucus

So for months now, Carly and I have been working with Cecilia to get her ready for new baby sister. She's been working on sharing, being gentle, and being quiet - and is pretty good at all of them. We've also been working on teaching her where baby sister and Baby Miriam (we used both names) was - in Momma's belly. We would ask where Miriam is, and she would point at Carly's tummy. Now, we get to teach her that Baby Miriam is out with us!

Cecilia and Miriam - Getting to Know Eachother