Merry Christmas! For our Christmas, we are going to the O'Shea side of the family for Christmas Eve and the Kelleher side on Christmas day after a visit with Grandma and Grandpa O'Shea. Christie, Alexis, and I would like to thank everyone for all of the wonderful gifts that we have received. We would also like to thank everyone that has come out to visit Alexis. So far, Alexis has been visited by her Grandma Jean and Grandpa Tim, Uncle Scott, Uncle Brian and Aunt Melissa, Joan and Mrs. Wagner, Alexis, and Travis and Marissa.-Cort
Alexis Anne Fornero was born on 12/21/05 at 12:33 AM at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois. This was the same hospital that her Mom was born in. She tipped the scale at 8 lbs. 0 oz. and is 20.5 inches long. Alexis has blonde hair and blue eyes. We went to the hospital at 8 PM on 12/19/05 and waited 28 hours until our little bundle of joy was born. She was well worth the wait! The three of us were then taken to our recovery room and spent the next day and half there before coming home today. Alexis has spent the day getting used to her new surroundings and Max and Stormy have spent some time getting used to their new sister. She's the best present we could have asked for this Christmas and we love her so much.
-Cort
Meet our new cousin, John Evert Ditty! Here is a picture of the Itty Bitty Ditty on his birthday, Dec 1, 2005. He weighs in at a hefty 7 lbs 5oz, is 20 inches long, and has dark hair. John is the son of our cousins Patty and John Ditty. According to the new mom, he is creating havoc in the NICU by kicking off his oxygen tent, which is there to help him out with his breathing, but he should be tentless in a few days and ready to go home with Mom and Dad. Congratulations Dittys!
-Christie
Our cat, Stormy, has decided that her new favorite spot to take a nap is in the baby's bouncy seat. My brother thinks we should teach her a lesson by springing her out of it like a catapult. She is not going to be happy when the baby arrives and takes over all of her favorite spots! -Christie
Last Thursday, we took our final class at the hospital. This time we learned how to perform CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver on infants, children, and adults. We watched a video made by the American Heart Association that explained all the techniques used to revive someone that has had a heart attack, cardiac arrest, stroke, or is choking. While watching the video, we used life-like manikins to practice our rescue breathing and chest compressions until we were proficient. Although it wasn't a certification course, we will hopefully know how to act and what to do if we are ever placed into a situation where we need to revive someone.
-Cort
It seems like the baby went through a growth spurt overnight. Chistie keeps getting bigger and there are still 5 weeks to go!
-Cort
This weekend we had baby class from 8 to 3pm on Saturday and Sunday. Although it took up a majority of one of our few remaining free weekends and cut into some important football games (thank God for Tivo), it really was interesting and we did learn alot. Saturday was spent mostly learning about the birth process. We learned all the stages of labor and many different techniques for staying relaxed. We also learned and got plenty of practice on something we have mastered since the second we were born - breathing. One more thing guys, I think this whole baby class is the mom's ploy to get the dads to constantly rub their back. One other thing we did was watch movie after movie of completely naked women giving birth. I think this is something you can only appreciate when you are actually there experiencing it, otherwise it just just very graphic and very gross. Sunday concentrated on what to do after the birth. We got to practice with baby dolls on how to pick up and hold a baby, how to change diapers, and how to feed them. We also got to practice swaddling them, which is basically just bundling them up in a blanket to mimic being in the womb. Some other topics we covered were grooming, normal and abnormal baby appearance at birth, and some of the sicknesses that they can get and how to treat them. Finally, we got to take a tour of the maternity ward, which at Palos Community Hospital is a very warm and inviting atmoshpere and a great place to start a life.
-Cort
Welcome to our page about our new family. I plan on using this site to allow those people that don't get to spend alot of time with our new baby to still keep up on his or her life. We finally got around to setting up our nursery. We had been waiting until after our baby shower because my Mom was coming to visit and still needed to use our guest room. But now that that is over with, the room is being converted from our guest/computer room into our nursery. Yesterday, Travis and Marissa came over to help us move some of the heavier objects out of the room and also to help us assemble the baby crib. The crib is really beautiful and looks even more adorable with our "Zanzibar" bedding theme. Today, we took advantage of daylight saving time and got up early and repainted the room. We kept it the same color as before - yellow, however it really needed to be painted again and it was worth it. Anyways, we are not quite finished with the room yet, but it is much closer to being done.
-Cort
