Meet Baby A: Krista

PREFACE: I have not been very good about writing specific things about each baby on the blog and I didn't even start posting until the babies were 3 months old so I'm going to do a post about each baby's first six months. In the future, I hope to post a paragraph or two about each one at least once a month. We'll start with Baby A.

Krista in the womb smiling contently

Krista Joelle

born on June 18, 2008

at 8:27 p.m.

4 pounds even, 16.5 inches long

APGAR scores: 8/9

Krista was born with a full head of dark tresses. This was the first thing that I saw when she was born. At first, she needed oxygen but was able to come off after one day. She has always been a bright-eyed and curious baby. When she was in the NICU, she was notorious for staring at you from inside her isolette or turning her head to see what was going on in other parts of the room. When it came to eating, she was the laziest of the three. We feel this was because she was more interested in exploring her surroundings, especially studying mommy and daddy's faces and knew that she would get what ever she did not eat down her feeding tube.

She was the first baby to come home after 23 days in the NICU. She loved basking in the attention of mommy and daddy that first night and even decided to change the feeding schedule to feeding every 2 hours instead of every 4 hours just to get even more one-on-one time. It was fun having her to ourselves that first night. She got a rude awakening that next day though, when both brother and sister joined her on the home front. It was then that she discovered she wasn’t an only child!

Free at last!

Little girl, BIG crib

Smaller than a Cabbage Patch doll!

The first month or two at home was an adjustment for everyone, but especially for Krista because she had reflux pretty severely. During or immediately following a feeding, she would get a terrified look on her face, turn bright red and stiff as a board, and then formula would start shooting out of her mouth and nose. Poor thing! Some of her favorite things to do at the time were to fall asleep on someone's chest (but especially on mommy or Poppy), being held by anyone, looking around with her big, expressive eyes and joining us at the dinner table as to not miss anything.

Over the course of the last several months, Krista has transitioned from a “drama queen” who always demanded our attention to a very sweet, smiley, well-adjusted, happy and content baby girl! As soon as she sees you, she gives the biggest smile that lights up her entire face. The quietest of the trio, Krista has started to find her voice recently but it still not as vocal her bro and sis. She still loves to study things closely, especially people and is looking lovingly at me right now as I am typing this post. She’d much rather interact with a person than any of her toys. Krista loves being held, cuddled and loved. She’s got the most kissable rosy cheeks in town!

Ironically, she is now our best eater, downing 8 oz. in matter of minutes, making feeding time a breeze, although the jury is still out on cereal. We’ve tried both rice and oatmeal so far and neither has piqued her interest. Drool is Krista’s middle name. We have to change her bib about every hour because she soaks them with all of her dribble from teething. No teeth yet but they are threatening to cut through any time now. Krista is our little night owl, “hooting” in the crib until she falls asleep and lately has been the early bird in the morning as well. She is such a fun baby and we’re glad to have her as part of our family.