Connie had her 2 week check-up today. She is the picture of baby health. She is growing like a weed and meeting all her developmental targets (which admittedly are limited at 2 weeks).
Stats:
As you can see, our little girl is very tall! Looks like she has a bit more Sharabura in her than Dougie did at this age.
We were concerned that Dougie would be jealous of his new sister. He’d had nothing but dedicated parent time prior to her arrival so it was bound to be a big change. Our concerns weren’t well founded though because Dougie loves Connie.
He asks to hold her all the time. He’s gotten pretty good at sitting on the couch and holding her.
When she’s in her swing, he likes to push her (we’re working on making sure it stays gentle) and he checks on her to be sure the blankets aren’t too high.
He’ll cuddle her
Hold her hand
He’s the first to run to her if she cries and he never misses an opportunity to cuddle.
We are so glad that he has taken to her so well. Hopefully, this is the start of a wonderful friendship between them.
We’re home! We checked out of the hospital on Saturday morning and have been taking the last few days to get ourselves into the groove of having two children around the house.
Initially, we were a bit anxious that the novelty of Connie would wear off for Dougie shortly after we got home. So far, that doesn’t seem to have happened though. He still wants to hold her and cuddle her all the time.
Connie is still doing a lot of sleeping. 
She’s starting to have longer awake periods already though. She’s normally content to just look around. She loves to be held but will quite happily sit on her own as well.
You can see the beginning of her personality coming through.
Tired
Angry
And this look – we think we’ll see this one a lot more as she gets older
We were so lucky with Connie that neither of us had any complications. That allowed us to have a very short hospital stay. The nurses and doctors there were all wonderful but I was anxious to get home to Dougie and ready to start our life with our new little girl.
We did have a few visitors during our stay though. Dougie and Grandma came the day after Connie was born to say hi.
Grandma Meets Connie
Dougie was instantly enthralled with Connie. He asked to hold her almost immediately.
When he finally got a chance to get close, he wasn’t as sure.
He had to poke her to be sure she was real.
Then he gently touched her
He was pretty excited by this new addition
Most of the rest of the time we were on our own. Connie, as most newborns do, slept a lot which gave us a chance to recover from several days without enough sleep.
She certainly had some alert moments though.
We are so excited to announce the arrival of the newest Sharabura.
Name: Constance Mary Sharabura
Born: November 19, 2009 at 8:44pm
Weight: 7 lbs 3 oz
Length: 20.5 inches
Holding Connie for the first time
Weighing In
Daddy finally gets to hold Connie
We are still waiting (some of us more patiently than others) for the baby’s arrival. Bags are mostly packed, everyone is over the flu and we’re ready.
Now if we could just get this cute kid out of her crib. Funny – he refused to sleep in one when it was an option for him.
On Wednesday afternoon I was convinced our fireplace was leaking a smokey smell into the house. It was so strong that it made my lungs uncomfortable and I was choking on it a little. Come Thursday, I had developed a notable cough. I, of course, chalked it up to the smoke inhalation from the day before. By Friday, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Every muscle in my body hurt and I could hardly get up. Not a good sign.
So, Friday afternoon I went to the doctor and they diagnosed me with “type A” flu. Apparently, 99% of type A flu cases are swine flu. They tested for the specific flu type as well but those tests take several days to come back. In the meantime, I was given Tamiflu to help me get through it. Flu and pregnancy are apparently not a good combination, especially the H1N1 flu strain.
The last few days have been spent with me locked in my room and staying away from Dougie and Scott. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts – Dougie seems to have contracted it as well. We called his pediatrician today and he phoned in a prescription for Tamiflu for him as well. He’s starting it a day earlier in the process than I did which we hope means the symptoms won’t be as bad for him. So far, he has a cough and fever but hasn’t shown signs of anything else.
He has mastered taking his own temperature.
Fortunately, at this point Scott has managed to ward everything off. We’re hoping to keep it that way.
Dougie’s doll is also doing well.
Dougie’s singing skills continue to develop as he adds his own accompaniment on the piano. Our apologies that the piano drowns him out a bit.
What starts off as an innocent attempt to show off a fire truck.
Can go down hill very quickly.
Perhaps it’s the unadulterated silliness.
Yes, there is definitely something to the silliness.
I don’t think Daddy ever did look at the fire truck.
Dougie’s musical career continues with a rousing rendition of the ABCs.