Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Tomorrow is Zara's one month Birthday!!


Last night, my parents and I took here on her first DC Metro ride from Tenley Town Metro to Dupont Circle for Greek Food! We all learned where all the elevators were and it was DC from another perspective that is sure! She is doing great and slept from Midnight to 430am last night; must have been the exciting Zorba's restaurant scene!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

24 days old!!! What a trooper!




She's wearing her "Sleepless Nights Motel" Tshirt from Elisabeth in Olympia, Wa!
Here's Ashley just fresh back from Vietnam, Ashley dubbed her the daintiest baby she's ever seen- it's those long slender fingers! ;-) but, not for long!
What a lucky thing! She's less than a month old and recieves fancy flowers all the way from Uncle Anthony and Becs in London! Zara even recieved gorgeous cards & little packages from North Wales, and Holland; it's all so exciting. She loves her international fans!
We also just saw Hoyt on his way to Montana from Thess, Greece! What a treat that was; Zara showed off her tumbling exercises!
Mary Rose is still with us and what a wonderful gift she is giving mommy (me). The gift of sleep!
All is well, and thanks for checking up on us! XXXOOO hiccups and burps, Katie Zara

Zara loves her Visitors!!!





Jean and Mj Weiner visited, just back from Portugal with their two cutie kiddies Tiago and Bridgette! Danny & Carolyn came over with pizza to boot! Debbie Fox and Art came to visit-- Katie Zara's first Palm visitors!

She's just got to be over 6lbs by now!!!!











She's been reading quite heavily and as you can see really paying proper attention to Mary Rose - the page turner!
She has even graduated to ordering from mommy's favorite catologues!!! Fortunately, all her money is stashed away in her piggy bank; so no actual shopping sprees!

A few days ago, we went out to Laurel Md, to meet up with Chrissy and her son Te (Devonte) since she happend to be in the area on her Military Leave! We had a brief, but nice dinner. She seemed really happy and that made us happy too. Chrissy was on her was to Baltimore to see friends and then off to Frederick to pick up her mom. We just got a call today that she arrive safely back on post in Ft Leavenworth. We were glad to hear she made the 1000 mile drive home with no worries!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

August 15th! She's up to a record 5lbs 14 ounces!


an ounce a day keeps the doctor away!
We had a lovely pool day with Katie Zara. She loved dining al fresco too!
Whne we got home, she recieved flowers from Uncle Anthony and Becs all the way from London! She was impressed i could tell!

Monday, August 13, 2007

Visitors on August 13th!






Carolyn was feeding her, then Mike and Lauren Burped her, then she was resting with Charlotte and Belle, then more feeding with Greg and Renee. The a few tumbling exercises!

Tomorrow is her 2 week Doctor's visit, we hope she surpasses 6 lbs! Keep chugging little Zara!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

WOW, Maximus Stacey visited too!


Little Zara and her new best friend-"Max" Maximus; not exactly minimus!

Thank you all for visiting!



Melissa Missy T!!!
Jill Stacey and the peanut.


Katie and Stella! We are so happy you were able to come over to see us all!

NEWSFLASH! KATIE HAS GAINED WEIGHT!


She is a healthy 5 lbs, 8 ounces passing her birthweight of 5lbs 2.5! we attribute the weight gain to constant care of the feeding schedule demanded by Night Nanny Mary Rose! ( Just kidding she's not UP ALL night.. well... hmmm.. a bit...

kisses, j

First visit to Grandma and Grandpa ROCK





Lovely visit to see our family in Hagerstown MD! We had an perfect time with Megan and Tommy and ....
even enjoyed homemade chocolate "its a girl" lollipops that Megan made!
Katie is now an accomplished traveller and loved the drive! We hope to visit again very soon. We had excellent lemon chicken for dinner and we went to beg Mom and Dad Rock to let Mary Rose return to DC with us for few more days! How lucky we feel to have her support!
more news to come!!! XXXOOO love jocelyn
Tomorrow, we have a Doctor's appointment and we get to see if she gained some weight- we are all sure she did since she now sports a fantastic double chin! ~

Grandpa ZARR and Granny rush over!



My Dad arrived first, and he was literally jumping for joy! I think we were finally letting ourselves believe it really happened!

Then my mom, Granny, arrived still with her guiding badges and licenses hanging from her neck after her morning walking tour of Georgetown!

HOMECOMING! Touchdown at DCA 9:34am


Since the flight left Kansas at 6am, we were up extraordinarially early, "o300 hours!" The only one who wasnt bothered was Kathleen and perhaps Mary Rose whoe seemed to be still awake, amazingly!

We arrived the airport so promptly that we were actually standing in line first waiting for the the desk agents to appear! Having never travelled with stroller, car seat, 5 checked bags and not to mention an brand new 6 day old creature, i was nervous! Plus = we were not even sure how the agents would respond to our custody order and identification issues! Noone even asked!

Katie Zara was not even remotely bothered by take off or landing; unlike her Mom who notoriously hates the turbulence. The only thing i can say is that having her to "concentrate on" made the shuddering of the plane seems less of a concern! Even Mary Rose, on her 2nd flight ever, didn't flinch!

While we taxied to the gate, matt's phone rang; it was Grandpa Zarr!~"welcome home"! Andrew Prevost was there to pick us up at the terminal with car seat in hand and extra room in that beautiful car; gotta love a Volvo! Thank you Andrew!

We pulled up to our home and there were the prettiest ballons and pink banners, "its a girl". It all so looked so gorgeous, i was even embarrassed that the garden looked better than when i had left! Susan, our neighbor, was at her door; i was so glad to see her! She held little Katie; it was so cute! Susan even had the forethought to bring us over a platter of bagels, cream cheese & OJ saying,"I know you'll have some guests today and you can offer them some refreshement!" It was a brilliant idea and she was right!

Inside the house never looked so good. The basinet that Sangita had brought over was right in front of the fireplace and there were more treats! Uncle Policeman Greg had brought two gorgeous Gund animals- one was a mini Guinness (his Chocolate Lab); and some hard to find premie diapers! We were just blown away by all the support! Kiki and Sumiko came in and we enjoyed their sweet expressions looking at her! Aslo, The Kunks came over, their boys were so cute as well! And Mr Liam and his mom and dad came over too! It was so much fun!

Saturday, August 4, 2007

my favorite picture!










can't wait to come home! a smattering of shots from yesterday! and Kazie just LOVES the pool! Good thing the pool was just inches from the room, Matt enjoyed calling out to us from the window- even though he was suppose to be sleeping!! We are all taking our turns with the sleep shifts! How lucky we are to have Mary Rose with us to extend the sleeping hours!

Today we will drive up to Fort Leavenworth and see Chrissy, and have a nice send-off visit with baby Kathleen. We fly out extra early Sunday morning, so we plan to pack up today and sort ourselves out; it's a whole new day for travelling; gone are the days we can fly transatlantic with just carry-on luggage! See most of you very soon!!! XXOOO love jocelyn

Friday, August 3, 2007

kazie!


feeding, feeding feeding!!!

A few snaps from the last 2 days with KAZIE, our miracle!





i know, i know! we are crazy proud parents, sorry for gushing in advance! ;-) She is so cute and I we are trying to fatten her up for our flight out Sunday morning! Today i went to visit Chrissy alone. We had a nice time together and it was uplifting for me to see her getting excited about her future.
She admitted to me she knows she will have her moments; but it was to be expected. And she said that she would be fine and that all will be well. I said to Matt later that I don't think I truly realised how much stress i had been carrying around with me worrying about her emotional health. Chrissie has been amazing and generous with her feelings. She has let us know in no uncertain terms that she is "going to do great": and not to worry.
We feel so perfectly lucky and we are! love j

WE ARE COMING HOME!!! GOT PERMISSION from KANSAS/DC!

JUST RECIEVED A PHONE CALL FROM OUR ATTORNEY in DC, HE SAID, " YOU ARE GOOD TO GO!".. ABOUT an hour later our Kansas Attorney called and said Kansas has also approved the DC approval!
I am literally on hold with USAIR, booking a flight! We land At 930am on Sunday Morning at DCA!!! YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Matt- Proud Daddy

Just a note to say that Matt has already had the hotel staff in for baby viewing! Victor, in hotel housekeeping brought two co-worker ladies by and Matt told everyone in Spanish how old she was, "tres Dias!"
She looks bigger already and eating much better! We're trying to fatten her up for the impending flight home! love jocelyn

August 2nd, Eileen and tommy's annivesary!

We just recieved the most beautiful message from Chrissie! Matt visited her today and helped her with picking up her car she bought from a friend on post! Even our lawyer said she sounded very optimistic and we feel so good that she is doing as best she can! Makes me worry for her alot less knowing she has her mom there and her son to support her.
this heartwarming email came from chrissie, we feel so lucky!
"i can already see that you, matt and kathleen are going to do so well. i don't want you to worry i will be great, expecially knowing the great parents kathleen has to love and take care of her. "
We just skyped Gail (Grandma) and Megan, what a treat that was! hope to see Eileen soon on skype.
love jocelyn
ps anyone talking to my mom: just know she wants to be called granny from here on out! LOL ;-)

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

We were discharged with BABY Kathleen Zara at 7:30pm AUGUST 1.





Where do we begin? what can we say; we love all the support and lovely messages to BABY Rock. Each call and comment and email embarrassingly makes us feel so loved,

Thank you for following my blog; which initially was not sure if it was a good idea. But after all the memorable wishes you all have sent us all, and how good you have made us feel while we are so far away; we feel so lucky to have this "super hi-tech" connection!

Last night, Mary Rose and I stayed in my private room next door to Chrissie's. We jointly did the 9, 11pm and 1am feedings. After 2am, we rolled baby Kathleen Zara (we have been calling her Kazie like Katie with a Z instead) to the nursery. We asked the nursery nurse to show us again any tricks to make her keep eating. Since she's so thin, and it was made clear to us she had to be on a 2 hour feeding regimen and must drain at least half the hospital bottle. She tends to like to sleep in the middle of feeding so we now have learned how to keep her on task. LOL

I would like to hope that she recognises our voices by now; but that is probably wishful thinking; although i can not deny that she quietens down and certainly loves to be "massaged" by us! Mary Rose is a sweetheart and tells me she is certain that she does know us!!!

Today was a roller coaster day; we were certainly jubilant (as Gail wrote me) just knowing that the legality of it all was more or less behind us. But exhausted too! All three of us remained highly cogniscent of Chrissie's feelings and I brought baby Kazie into to her room on more than one occasion when i felt i was being "greedy". Afterall, she HAD signed and it did ensure us that we would have Kazie for the rest of our lives, so why not wait another 12 hours. Easier said than done.

It became apparent to Matt, Mary Rose and me that until we left the hospital we would not feel at peace. We learned midway through the day that Chrissie wanted to leave at the same time we were discharged even though she had been free to go. Then Matt learned that she did not have a ride home and wanted us to give her and her son a ride home at the same time we would be leaving. It was a tough moment to enjoy walking out the doors with Chrissie remaining calm and controlled for her sake.

I felt badly for her because I', sure she felt too weak, emotionally, to recognise it would be better for her if she left us earlier. This fear was confirmed when she wandered into our room while the pediatrician gave us our "depature talk" and signed us out. I felt weird talking about what to expect in the next few weeks; but the pediatrician did not stop talking. She even sat on my bed and listened with us. I doubt if roles were reversed that i could have done the same.

As much as i knew we were less than hours from escaping to the hotel, I knew i would not feel "real" until we no longer felt the pressure to share. The guilty feeling i think we all were experiencing privately made us exhausted.

The nurses were wonderful and once the custody order was clipped on the baby's clipboard, they were very good at supporting our wishes.

At 730pm, exactly 48 hours after her birth, we all walked out the front doors of St JOHN, and squeezed into the monstrous minivan! Mary Rose and i squeezed into the 3rd row with the car seat-which turned out to be a blessing. When we arrived to Chrissie home On Post, i was unable to get out which make our "drop off" short; which was tough ehough as it was. Chrissie got in the back with me and was crying and when i hugged her over the carseat, she said, "you are going to make me cry more if you do that." We laughed and she got out. We said we would stop by on the way to the airport; afterall like she said," it not like its forever" and i said she was right.

As we pulled away, i think we secretly felt so close to being purely peaceful- although one of us said- could have been me-"We're alone-we made it". When we arrived "home" at the Homewood Suites i said to Matt, I can't really believe we were walking around with a newborn that is ours!
We gave her spongebath in the hotel room's sink. When I look at Kazie I can't believe something so small is active and living; i know that must sound weird but It's just surreal to suddenly have her in our room.
I finally unpacked her suitcase and we lined up all the diapers and wipes! We had fun looking at all the clothes i brought and for the first time imagined her in them! How cool!

Tonight, we sent Matt to bed because he needs his strength to drive back on base and help Chrissie with a favor at noon tomorrow. Mary Rose and I sharing the sofa couch and kitchen/dining area with Kazie. Our plan is to doze and feed baby girl til the wee hours . The we will have a shift change and switch roles with Matt! Our plan is for all of us to each get at least 6 hours in a row of sleep- Mary Rose has promised me she will takes many naps tomorrow! She has been a God send and offering help joyously beyond the call of duty!
We may even have word about being allowed to leave Kansas by Friday or Monday! How exciting! Although, i actually found myself telling Matt that there was something almost relaxing being in the hotel room, where one feels no pressure to do housework or vacuuming.., just one assignment to worry about- baby duty!(wink wink)
Signing off for now, Kazie sends a burp! Hopefully more recent pics tomorrow! i'll try and keep it shorter next time for sure! love jocelyn