Week 10 - The "Mae-venture" Begins!

On Sunday, Christa and I decided we were about ready to break Maebry out of the NICU, we had had enough...and so has Mae. On Monday....Mary (the nurse practitioner) called the house to update us about all that Mae had going on this week. An MRI, hearing test, sleep study and more. We knew that these were all tests the NICU would run before Mae was ready to come home, so I asked Mary, "so, she's coming home soon right? Like in a week or so?" and she replied, "she is coming home VERY soon, like...in two to three days" HOLY COW!!! Our prayers had been answered and it was GO TIME!

Christa has a great deal to get wrapped up at work to secure her maternity leave, and I had clients to keep happy and a nursery to finish! YIKES! Needless to say the next few days were pretty intense. She could be home as early as Wednesday and as late as Friday. So we decided to go raid Babies R Us to get everything we thought we needed to ensure a successful homecoming.

Monday was fun getting to see Maebry and knowing it was one of the last times we would have to go to the NICU (and drive to Austin...ughhh). Janice, one of our favorite nurses, one last time, and we had a blast together that night. We talked about everything from Harry Potter to the trials and tribulations of early parenting.

Tuesday, Maebry had her sleep study and hearing test. They recommended that we use that time to get things ready, so that's when we went to Babies R Us and loaded up. We then stayed up way to late putting together furniture, arranged her bathroom and didn't sleep a wink.

Christa did a little more than half day on Wednesday and then....it was time to spring Mae! Heehee! We headed up to Austin, sat in traffic (of course) and as soon as we walked into Bay Five for the last time. Christa was inundated with discharge paperwork and instructions. Meanwhile, I stripped Mae of her leads and probes and got her into something much more comfy and picture worthy!

We loaded Mae into the car seat (scary!), waved goodbye to our good friends in the NICU and we were on our way to sit in more traffic on a late Wednesday afternoon. That's when the pictures and video began...

Here is Christa's holding dear Mae after a good feeding session. Way to go MAE!

One more cute sleepy Mae picture! We just love to watch her sleep.

Ok, really we can't help ourselves. Here is one more...doesn't she look sooo CUTE!!

OK, one more cute photo of Maebry in so cute Preemie clothes. Also she is waving to us all. Hello everyone!

MAE Video!!


Here is she, ladies and gentlemen, our daughter out in the world and in her very own car seat. Thank you Grandma Sue. She looks so cute with her paci and oh yeah, she had a few scrapes on her cheeks. She wanted to show everyone how excited she was to get out. So, she put her nails into her face just a little bit. Anyhow, it does not matter, we still couldn't believe she was actually coming home to us. YEAH, finally!!

Stay tuned because Dusty has a cute video that he is finishing up and will upload some time this weekend.

Love you all,
C, D and M

Week 9 - Feelin' Fine!

This week marked our first FULL week of Christa getting to Nurse with Maebry...and it's a safe to say that Mae LOVES her momma's milk! By mid-week, Maebry was highly anticipating our nightly feeding time. For proof, see pics below.

Maebry is certainly starting to show more and more personality lately...as seen in these photos.

Yeaaaaahhhhhhhh, to more sleep!

See, I told ya!

As all of you know, we like to refer to Maebry as "bunny". One of Mae's receiving blankets has a cute bunny on it (Thank you Grandmomma and Poppa!), so we posed a little "bunny shoot".

Week 9 brought us more great time with our daughter...we really can't believe we have been here over two months! We can't wait to have her home.

Love,

D, C and M

Week 8 - Ain't it great!!

This week we celebrated Christa's 29th birthday!!! As most celebrations lately, it was quick and dirty, but a lot of fun...kind of like Mae's diapers! =)

We had C's favorite...a yummy salad from Baby Greens in Austin! We washed the healthy meal down with some very delicious strawberry lemonade. It was a romantic 15 minute meal in the parking lot of the hospital...then it was off to see the girl!

Christa's birthday gift was to read her new book "Little Miss Birthday" to Maebry, which she seemed very excited about.
Which Maebry seemed very excited about...can't ya tell? Reading after a full meal does not equal an attentive Mae.
As all of you parents know, you gotta nap when the little ones do...so Christa thought it would be a cute idea to capture me taking advantage of one of those little moments.
Mae's Great Aunt Pam and 2nd cousin Jared stopped by to say hi on Friday. Jared will soon be attending Clemson in the fall to start his Masters, but just HAD to see his newest cousin. When they arrived, Jared had a GREAT surprise for Christa and Maebry...the "Pooh Pillow" whose timeline goes like this. Christa spent the first 7 or so years of her life with this "Pooh Pillow". She then gave the pillow to Jared when he was first born in 1987. Now, twenty-two years later, Jared is returning the pillow to little Maebry. Aunt Pam was sweet enough to embroider the pillow with each of the pillow owner's names and birth dates. Who knows, maybe one day Maebry will continue the tradition of the "Pooh Pillow"!
Finally, allll the grandmoms got to hold Maebry. Mamaw Charlene came up on Saturday for a great day of lunch, shopping and Maebry holding! We are so great for the video monitor...and of course more great tomatoes and squash from their garden back home. We hope to be using all of them a great deal soon! =)
All in all a great week in the life of the Kraatz family! Stay tuned for Week 9 Updates coming soon!

Love,

D, C and M

Maebry's Shower #2

Here's a story for ya. Dusty and I have a great group of friends who have been really helpful during our pregnancy and resent parenthood. They also help us out during our regular lives as well. We met most of them because of Matt and Abbey Niemann. Or as most of us call it, OK, I call it... the "6 Degrees of Separation from Wonderful Wednesday."

Some how or another we have met most of our really good friends while frequenting the Niemann's Wonderful Wednesday (WW) dinners. WW is a monthly dinner, where we meet and eat at different Austin/surrounding area restaurants. We have drinks, eats, catch up on going-ons and good 'ole fashion merriment. Dusty and I greatly enjoy these times and we are even sadden when we have to miss one.

OK, to the point. My good girlfriend with whom I met through WW hosted a shower for Maebry on June 27.

And what an event it was. I took a few pictures and I will try to post them later.

However, Jessica, who was one of the hostess, sent Dusty and I a link so we could view all the great things that happened at the shower.

Here is the link - http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=jessicamariani&target=ALBUM&id=5352178494409989249&authkey=Gv1sRgCKvUu920g__y1wE&feat=email

Please copy and paste it into your URL if the link does not work.

Thanks again to Abbey, Jessica, Savannah and Robin for hosting a great shower. Thank you Momma K for the great favors. Thank you all for the gifts that were given, the food that was made and ate and the great time that was had by myself & all the guests.

Love to all,
Dusty, Christa and Miss Mae

Oh Thanks Heaven for Week Seven! (and of course Mae!)

Well, after the excitement of Saturday night and having Maebry coming out into her open air crib, we were so surprised about her next big step on Monday....BOTTLE FEEDING!!!

That's right, the little girl started taking her first bottle feedings and we were there to do the very first one, what a treat! Mommy did such a great job!

Christa giving Maebry her first bottle...like a pro! Go Mae Go!!!

Now that's the face of a girl who loves being fed by her mommy!












And THAT is the face of a full and happy little girl! =)











At the end of the week (and a few bottle feeds later) Maebry's Aunt Cherie and Dana came to visit and HOLD her. THEN, on Friday Grandmomma and Poppa came to visit and hold the cutie pie!




Aunt Cherie holding Mae for the first time!















Grandmomma holding Maebry...in a new home, BAY 5!!! The "Big Kid's Bay"! Alright!









Poppa holding Maebry...she is as happy as can be...and a bit sleepy! =D







Well, that's all for Week 7! More mini slideshows coming soon featuring "The Faces of Mae!" Another update is coming soon as well! We love you all!

Maebry and the Adventures of Week 6!

Hello all!  We know it's been a while since we've updated the blog (what you all say is sooo true, where does the time go???), but alas we have some pics and updates for everyone!

First things first, it was bathtime once again for miss Maebry, but THIS time, we got to give her a bath in a real little tub, not just wiping her down...here's some pics...

Christa holding Mae like a pro and Amber getting some soap ready to go!

Little Mae having SUCH a good time!!!  

The finishing touch....her VERY cute "Future Rock Star" onesie!!!

Well, after looking so cute and getting a BIG girl bath, what's left to do but come on out of that little kids incubator!  That's right...Maebry broke freeeee!!!!  Here's the evidence;

The crib in the foreground and Mom, Mae and the soon to be gone incubator in the back.

Christa getting Mae all nice and snug in her new home!  Her little open air crib is a snug fit, but she seems to like it much better (and so do we!!!).

And her is Mae in her new home...snug as a love bug in a rug!  =)

That's all for this week's updates, more BIG news coming soon!  Our little girl is getting bigger and making huge strides towards coming home...and we can not wait!

D, C and M

Maebry Updates - Week 5...oh me, oh my!

Well, this post will keep with the weight gaining 2009 theme. Maebry Lucille Kraatz has been gaining weight all week long. We were given new measurements this past Sunday and Maebry was measuring in at 15 and 7/8 inches. She weighed 3 pounds & 15 ounces. Then on Monday little miss Mae decided to cross over the threshold to 4 whole pounds. Way to go Mae.

All week long we got some great shots of her to show all of you guys. Please notice her growing cheeks.

Also notice her new clothes thanks to the nurses who put them on her every day or so. Sometimes it depends on the nurse on what she wears but we too love putting in her preemie (baby born early) clothes.

Please enjoy all this week's photos.

This is a cute picture of a sheet that nurses make to update us and others about what Maebry needs week-to-week. This sheet shows us that she is 31+ weeks and needs to be wrapped snugly, turned slowly and more needs quite time because she is still growing. They write cute notes and give us updates about her developments, positions and stress cues. We just love being able to read these each week and study our daughter who is ever so changing.

We are so excited to have a family portrait of all three of us. Because sometimes Dusty and I both take turns taking photos and we have a few where we try to stretch out our arms and get us all in there but they sometimes don't come out right. So, a sweet nurse in our NICU name Tracy took this lovely photo for us. Maebry complied as best she could. You can see that she was comfortable being in her Daddy's arms, however; she liked to show everyone how high she can lift her arms. Too CUTE!

This picture was taken by Dusty using his iPhone. Dusty pushed his little iPhone inside her isolete and captured her sleeping. We just had her out and about. More than likely we were swaddling her or doing more Kangaroo Care. Anyhow, Dusty took this picture and I think it speaks loud enough by telling everyone that she is completely exhausted and would like to get some more sleep. We like to think she is thanking us for doing such a great job getting her sleepy. Yeah us!
Here is one more showing Maebry finding her thumb and yes, she is sucking on it. We love watching her root her hand around just to find her fingers and put it or them in her mouth. This picture was taken right before we left one night and she was looking up at her cute isolete cover that her Grandmomma made her, thank you Cindy!

Well, we decided to upload more photos to out Photobucket account and have them ready for all your viewing pleasure. So thanks for being so patience for this week updates. For some reason we find ourselves busier. And we wonder why...well, not really...we have the pictures to prove it.

Link to Photobucket -
http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv7/clkraatz/Maebry%20Week%205%20Photos/

Love to all!!
Dusty, Christa and Maebry