Valentine's Day at the Salernos

Ella helping mommy make a Valentine cake for daddy.

Lots of help, tasty help...

Oh so tasty help...

Oh no, almost scraped the bowl clean!!!

The finished product.
(ok, so I slightly overcooked the cake, despite my new timer.
However, icing makes everything better!)

Ella enjoying part of the finished product.

So I know the goal was to be cleaning the house for company this weekend, but Ella and I were having a rough day, so we decided to make daddy our focus. We cooked a nice dinner for him and baked a cake which occupied Ella for 30+minutes when it came time to clean the bowl. YEAH!!! Mommy time!!!! Haha!

Now that both kids are on the mend, it is getting easier and easier to balance them because it doesn't effect breathing if the other one cries for a minute while I attend to the others diaper or other crisis. Yeah for less snotty noses too!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Salerno arrive tonight, and it looks like it should be a fantastic weekend weather wise. We are hoping to get some wonderful photos to share next week. Hope everyone has a good weekend and we will update you then!

Fun at home!

Renate and Fin playing with the penguin balloon Gabi made.

Renate and Fin.

Ella and balloon penguin.

Proof of pigtails!!!!

Ah, vicks for babies...so slimey, yet so wonderful!

Ella and her blocks, she loves to sort by colors.

Ella playing in daddy's closet! Won't he have fun pairing his shoes back up later?


We are doing well, getting ready for the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Salerno on Friday. These photos were all from last week when the kids were both struggling with colds. I think the worst is past for Ella, but Fin's cough continues to hang on. I think he will be better soon. At least we know that his lungs work! He is so cuddly, it is really wonderful. Fin does seem to have more gas problems than Ella ever did though, and he lets you know what is coming!!!

We will update the blog again at the latest after the Salernos visit, next Tuesday.

Aunt Gabi's visit

Superbowl Party Pics

Hayden showing off Gabi's upside down snail balloon animal handiwork.

Toby, a true Pats fan, very sad at last Giant touchdown.

Ella, all tired out sleeping on daddy.

Daddy smiles quietly at game excitement.

Ella teaching Dan her dance.

Fin dressed for the game.

Ella dancing at halftime.

Ella and daddy playing with blocks before the game.

Fin relaxing before game.

Cutest bear feet.

Ella hiding in the kitchen, her newest fort location.

As the pics show, a superbowl party with kids is very different than without! A lot more toys, more polite responses from adults to ref calls, and more rules about drinks and standing in the TV way. It was a great time with friends and family, made even better by the Giants winning!

Forgive our disappearance...

Sorry there haven't been many updates this week. I have not been able to sleep between the 2 kids having colds. Because of that, things like blogs get pushed lower in priority. Never fear, there will be lots of updates with pictures as I have still been really busy during the day.

Ella's cold is really improving, but Fin's cold is still making feeding him miserable. I really hope he gets better soon. It must be hard to eat when you can't breathe out of your nose! I will post some pictures in the few hours when Ella goes down for a nap.

Tollie and Zak make the trip

Fin and his hands

Ella loving on Fin.

Don't even think of touching Ella's baby...

Fin next to the comcast remote, just for a size reference.

Tollie holding Fin.

He has such a state of quiet awareness.

Ella needing some attention too.

We had a great night with Tollie and Zak visiting. They made the trip down after work to see Fin since it was going to be a busy weekend. Zak made Ella feel like a princess, showering her with attention and plastic blocks, while Tollie got to marvel at Fin and his sleeping skills.

Aunt Gabi flies in on Friday to see the new one and we can't wait! We will take more pictures this weekend and we hope you all enjoy the superbowl! In this house, I think the word is go Giants!

Will post update tonight...

Sorry it hasn't been so exciting to check the past 2 days. I am still adjusting to being home with 2 and recovering from having the baby. I will make it a priority to update the blog tonight with pictures though. That way you can all see how he has grown (ok, not really evident in picture form, but I assure you he has grown gangbusters) and get a picture fix to end the work week!

Hope all is well.

Lyrical Hands?!! Watch out John Mayer and James Blunt...

Fin had his first doctor appt Monday. Since we were released from the hospital less than the 36 hours they normally like to hold babies, we agreed to have him seen on Monday to make sure he was still doing well. Ladies and gentlemen, he is "thriving"! Which is a wonderful word for a mom to hear, especially when she is exhausted from late night feedings. He has not only regained weight any initial weight loss, but he has surpassed his birth weight already. So Fin is doing great and we can continue as we have so far.

Anyway, to the title of this posting...
As we were waiting to get Fin weighed, the nurse was marveling over how cute he was and how he moved his hands so gracefully. She referred to them as such "lyrical hands". Apparently Fin has a way with the ladies already and he has yet to even utter a word. John Mayer and James Blunt may be good with the voices, but our son can capture them with a flick of the wrist. This may be a good thing for Fin if he continues to have that grace because anyone who heard his grandpa Paul sing in church knows if Fin takes after his musical ability, then he will need a more redeeming trait. (My father was almost tone deaf, but he loved to sing! A funny combination)

The weather here has not been good which works to our favor this week because Mike can work from home today (Tuesday). Always good to have backup nearby, although he will have to knuckle down and keep from getting distracted with hoopla that is our home. We will see how it goes...

Some photos of our first days home again...

Fin on his way home for the first time.

Fin napping at home.
Even his premie hat is too big!!!
Who knew we could have a baby so small?!!

Renate cuddling Fin close.

Ella is warming to her brother.
This was her attempt to hug him...
it was really cute.

Daddy getting a look at Fin.

The two male Salernos getting to know one another.

We think Ella was trying to teach daddy some yoga moves,
but since we still can't understand all of her unique language,
it is really just a guess.

Ella smiling, a good photo with which to end this blog.

New Fin Photos

A tired Renate holding Fin close.

Ella touching her brother for the first time,
very carefully and with much supervision.

Grandma Engelhart holding Fin close.

Ella and Gma Engelhart looking closely at Fin.
Ella has a fascination with babies lately,
but we will have to wait and see how she reacts
when this one comes to her home.

Ella did quickly bore of her brother
and started playing hide and seek.
Can you find her?

Here she is!!!!


We have made it through day one. Fin, Mike and Renate are all recovering well, even if still suffering from exhaustion of a early morning birth. Fin is eating very well and consistently. He is looking a lot cuter with each hour as the swelling goes down. Fin is also starting to more closely resemble the newborn features that Ella had, although there are definitely differences already. He so far has been a lot quieter about his demands, and he likes to doze off a little more.

Renate is starting to recover from the hip separation and quick, intense labor (active labor including pushing was 1hr 37 min!). Just having less pressure has made a huge difference in the ability to shift and function. A shower and a homecooked meal will make a huge difference in her attitude. Renate does not like hospitals a lot, well not enough to vacation in one.

Mike is recovering from his big night of supporting a whiny Renate and Fin. Even though the hospital had a more comfortable place for daddy to sleep compared to Phoenix, the nurses are just too good at their jobs and come to check on the new addition every hour or so. Thus, a good nights sleep is hard to come by.

We are all looking forward to being home and having all our family together! We will update with more photos as we get some good ones, and settle into our routines.

Welcome Griffin Paul Salerno!

Fin arrived at 12:37am on the morning of January 25th, 2008. He was 7 lbs, 11 ozs, and 19.5" long. Both mom and baby are doing well. They should be able to head home on Saturday morning. More details and pictures to follow. It's been a long day!

Out of catchy titles...

We had a great day yesterday getting more household chores done around the house (like all the ironing that I had put to the side for MONTHS). We also got some of those pesky Christmas returns done that had been hanging over my head. Kathy (Mom to Renate), Renate, and Ella met Mike after work at Best Buy to check out fun electronics. Then we took the night off from cooking and had a good dinner at Red Robin. Let's face it, you know it isn't going gourmet when one of the attractions is the balloons for the kiddies, but man, that burger was tasty!

Ella had her hair half pulled up for the first time. She won't let mommy touch it, but Grandma can! So Grandma (Kathy) got to put her hair up now. Here are some pictures of the evening with the hair up and balloon fun.

Just an Update about baby:
We will be given a set time by Friday for an induction next week, if nothing happens this week.

Standby Induction

As of now, the doc is thinking induction is wise, but since the practice and its affiliated hospitals fall to the more natural side of medicine and standards generally mandate a 10 post due date wait, I am on standby. Yup, they have standby for flights, and apparently inductions. Who would have guessed?! The doctor will call with a tentative time after consulting the hospital, and then we can try to not get our hopes up as we would be the first bumped in the event of too many babies coming at once.

I am still hoping that the doc may have done the trick to coaxing him out on his own. We will all just have to wait and see...

Still waiting...

Wish there were exciting updates, but still waiting. Another doctor appt. today where the doc wants to talk induction times, so we may have a worst case possible end date by the end of today. While I am still not sure how I feel about induction, maybe the baby just needs a kick in the pants, or maybe like his mom, he is a procrastinator and he is just waiting to know when the last possible moment he can arrive on his own is. As always, if the doctor thinks that induction is the best step, then we will go with that plan, and just hope he beats that time and arrives on his own. I just keep thinking, what if I hadn't taken that last pill Christmas Eve to stop the contractions, would he be almost a month old? Ah, hindsight!

Honestly, after the initial part of this pregnancy I started to understand how people enjoyed being pregnant and how wonderful that time was. Since Thanksgiving, where the baby was coming "any time" and I was on meds to stop that from happening, to now where we are talking about forcing him out, it has been an emotional and physical rollercoaster! We we all be so thrilled with his arrival that all of this will be a distant memory in even 3 weeks. At least that is what I keep telling myself. Someone please remind me of how much I want him out in 3 weeks when we are all suffering from exhaustion!

I am sure that Mike is tired of hearing that today could be the day, we are both so excited to meet the little man. I also imagine him jumping anytime I call him at work, even if it is just to ask how the day is going. Hehe! I have limited calls to him for that reason. I think both of us have really been trying to spend as much quality time with Ella as we can right now, but he has been amazing. When he gets home from work, it is as though she is his only focus. You can really see why she is such a daddy's girl, and why her whole face lights up when she hears the door open.

I have had to postpone starting work again for another month. I was supposed to begin Jan. 28th, but since the baby has yet to appear, I think that I will have to make February my goal now. Frustrating since I had hoped to have started in November, but good things come to those who wait, right? Or maybe it was the early bird catches the early worm... Hmmm, things to think about and not give thought to again. At least that is just for the training and I can start helping friends looking for houses in an official capacity as soon as I can schedule the exam. That will be done ASAP!

My mom has been a wonderful help. I don't think I would be leaving the house without backup right now. Her help with making sure Ella has all the attention she needs right now has been incredible too, but what are grandparents for right?

We hope everything continues to go well for all of you, and that wherever you are right now, that you are staying warm!!!

Love, The Salernos

HOLY COW!!!

You should see her with the power saw...

Ella is a daddy's girl all the way!

After dinner she got a new towel from Grandma E.
that had her playing with the trunk for a while.

YEAH, Giants win! Daddy's girl is happy too!

GIANTS WIN AGAIN?!!!

Does that mean if we have the baby tonight, that we should name him Eli? Don't worry, that name isn't even on the short list.

We had a great day of relaxation. Ella helped daddy fix the vacuum cleaner, Grandma E. helped Renate sort too small Ella clothes, and naps were had by all. We also got a couple of photos of Ella walking around the house in her new elephant hooded towel. Really pretty cute kid when she wants to be. Tomorrow (Monday) was our original due date for baby #2, so I hope he gets the idea soon that we are all here on pins and needles waiting for him!