Fun at home...

Stella finds Daddy hilarious!

Stella's first attempt at rice cereal...

I have been home from the hospital since Friday morning. The surgery went well and now I am just really sore. Stefano has been off all week to take care of Stella and he has been a very busy boy!!! We had a really nice Thanksgiving and Stella was the center of attention, of course. The next morning I went Christmas shopping with my mom and sisters at 4:00am. We shopped til we dropped and had a great day!! Princess Stella Marie is doing wonderfully! She is the happiest baby and her personality is hilarious!!! Everything she does makes us laugh and it is a dream come true to have her home with us. As of yesterday she is 12.9 lbs and easily gaining the weight that we worried she would never gain. Life is much more beautiful since Stella has been in it.

Quick update on Sara's surgery...

Mommy always knows best...

A proud Dad of a tough little girl!



She'll eventually outgrow it.



She likes to play on her swing.



Stella working out on her mat.



Wearing her hat makes her smile.

Sara had her surgery Monday morning, and everything went really well. It was not an easy one, and there were lots of things to take in consideration before making that decision. She is still in lots of pain, and was pretty sick at her stomach most of the day. When I brought Stella to visit Mommy yesterday, she immediately felt better. It's amazing how some things work...
Hopefully she'll be able to come home Wednesday afternoon, if not, it's going to be Thursday morning. -(Can't wait!) (So can't Stella!)- Stella is really missing her Mommy, she keeps glancing around the room as if something is not right, then looks at me with a big question mark on her head.



Stella is doing great, she keeps gaining weight. She is probably a little over 12 lbs. right now. We have a Dr's Appointment on Friday so she can get her monthly RSV shot, and hopefully they'll want to start some solids as well.

Welcome to our new blog!

It is so hard to believe that Stella has already been home with us for 6 weeks now. We have been very busy this week with doctor appointments. On Wednesday Stella saw her Cardiologist who is very happy with how things are looking. Today we went to a follow-up neonatal appointment where we met with a Neurologist, Nutritionist, Physical Therapist, and Pediatrician. Her muscle tone is a little weak throughout her entire body. We will start really working mainly on her upper body. Other then that they were all very happy with what they saw. Princess Stella has gained 3 pounds since she has been home and weighs in at 11.5 lbs and is 22 inches long. We have gotten very strict orders from her Pediatrician concerning RSV season. We will not be able to really take her anywhere except doctor appointments until late March. Needless to say, we are going to have a long winter! It took Stella a couple weeks to really get settled in. She had a hard time with the environment change. Now she is as happy as can be and it is wonderful just to be a normal family. We are very happy that Stella is a good sleeper at night. During the day she refuses to take naps in fear of missing something exciting. By the time night rolls around she is exhausted and so are Stefano and I. We are still waiting to get our house sold in Italy. Unfortunately they are having the same economy issues as the US. On December first I will be having a hysterectomy. I cannot wait!!!! My uterus, ovaries, and cervix have made my life hell now for a lot of years! I will not miss them in the slightest. I hope you all like the new blog. Stefano did a great job on it and we can do a lot more stuff with it. I will update again in the next couple days. As of now we are doing pretty well.