trip home part1

Well, unfortunately our time in the Chicagoland area is coming to an end. We have had lots of fun visiting with friends and family. Mary was as sweet as ever on our flight to Chicago, hardly a peep out of her. She got to celebrate Christmas twice, first with the Kozlowskis and then with the Lubniewskis.

We had to carefully watch Brendan, who is now more mobile than ever, because he wanted to play with Mary.

(That's Brendan coming to attack me! haha).

Mary got to meet some of her surrogate aunts. Here she is with aunties Nori and Jacqui

Ready for Christmas

We are all ready and excited to have a MARY Christmas this year. She is especially excited to see both sets of grandparents:

It says Grandma but it should be Grandmas and Grandpas. She's ready for more spoilings and lovings!

2 months today

I can't believe our little Mary is already two months old. She is the sweetest. She's smiling and starting to make little goos and gurgles. It's so cute. She went to the doctor's today and got her immunizations, which she did not like. Poor Mary was crying after they stuck her. When I picked her up and gave her a pacifier she was good. Though as soon as I would put her down she'd cry again. She just loves her momma. And she did not like the rotavirus vaccine that supposedly tastes good to babies. She weighs 10 lbs 7 oz and is 22 1/2" long. Her second cousin who was born just 10 days before her, weighs at least 5 lbs more than her! He is already in his 3-6 month clothes. I'm glad Mary is a little lady, not a burly boy.

Tiggy went to comfort her after her traumatic day. He's such a good big brother.

We can't wait to go back to Illinois and visit with both families. Mary will get to meet Uncle Ian and Aunt Erin. She is very excited!

i know i already posted today but...

it's funny how i went from never posting to non stop posting. but i captured the cutest video of mary. even though i feel like crap because i'm sick with a cold, mary is as sweet and happy as can be!

We are family

Yesterday Brent, Mary and I made the 4 hr drive down to St. George. My grandma had a stroke early last week and we wanted to go down on Saturday but we were unable to because of the snow storm that weekend. Unfortunately she passed away on Saturday so we missed being able to see her one last time. Luckily the weather was ok on Wednesday for the funeral. Mary decided to deviate from her normal sleep pattern and stay awake until 2:30 am Wednesday morning. Usually she falls asleep by 11 at night and stays alseep basically all night. I was very frustrated because we had to be up by 5 and out the door by 6 to make it in plenty of time for the funeral. maybe she knew that she'd be in the car for 4 hrs so she stayed awake at night and slept all through the trip.
We made it there safe and sound. The service was very beautiful and we enjoyed seeing family. It was nice to have everyone meet Mary.

Today, after giving Mary a bath, I took her into her room so she could take a nap. I didn't have time to clean up in the bathroom and when I came back in to empty her tub and pick up other things, I saw this:

As soon as I took the picture he looked at me with this innocent expression. He was caught red handed, or wet pawed because he was dipping them in the water.I guess he just figured since the water was already there he might as well take a bath too!

Some pics of Mary with Grandparents Koz

So we finally have pictures of Mary with Grandma and Grandpa Koz from when they were out here visiting. Have a look!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

On Saturday and Sunday there was a lot of snow fall here in Utah. Sunday morning was especially hard because Brent had to work really early so I was by myself. Our neighbor below us helped by clearing the snow of my car. I got Mary all bundled up for what so far was one of the coldest days this winter. She finally got to wear the stockings that her aunt Valerie got for her. And she looks so cute in the hat that Brent's cousin Ashley got me. Mary loves her vibrating chair, especially the view of the tv. She seems to stare at it whenever she sits there.

Here's a video of just how much she enjoys the chair. Sorry it's sideways, I wasn't thinking when I took it and I can't turn it now. It's still fun to watch.

For some reason Tiggy really loves blankets. He used to always steal mine from me. Now he is in love with Mary's (but only when she's not using them). Right now he is really digging the quilt Erin made for Mary (obviously Tiggy thinks it was made for him, maybe purple is is favorite color). I got up to get something in the kitchen, the quilt fell on the ground, and Tiggy jumped at the chance to steal it away.

This next picture is the funniest. I promise Tiggy got in that position with no help. He is a snuggler.
Can you believe that cat of ours? Haha. I think he's competing with Mary for attention or someething. He's being even cuter than usual.

updates

Well, Mary is getting bigger by the day basically. She is starting to smile which is amazing. Unfortunately, we can never get a picture of her before she decides to stop. Here are a couple of pictures of her where we almost got the smile.

We went to a photographer's today to get some pictures and luckily she was a sweet baby as usual. She even smiled for the camera. It was adorable. However, she did pee when we tried to do some diaperless shots. The photographer was ready though, she was expecting that.

Mary loves her daddy time. Her favorite thing is sleeping with him and just relaxing on the couch. However, sometimes she wants to be a big girl and sit up. She's so cute with Brent.

explosion!

Today Brent, Mary and I went to Costco to do some grocery shopping. We were chatting with some employees and then after we had purchased our things, we had to feed Mary. When I picked her up to burp her, she was covered in poop. She had an explosive poop sometime while we were in Costco and never even cried or anything! It was pretty gross, especially having to take her to the bathroom changing table. Luckily I made sure I had a change of clothes in my diaper bag otherwise it would've been a long drive home. She didn't seem to mind though. Oh well!

gobble gobble

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We haven't enjoyed our turkey, stuffing, potatoes, or pies yet. We'll be going to Brent's Aunt Julie and Uncle Richard's house tonight for that. And we'll get to make gingerbread houses. We're excited, especially me because last Thanksgiving I was sick and couldn't eat ANYTHING! So until we can stuff our faces, we thought we'd make a list of things we are thankful for:

Mary

each other
Tiggy

family, especially grandparents who spoil our child

having a roof over our heads

football, especially BYU, who'll beat Utah this Saturday(that's Brent's)

having the gospel in our lives

jobs so we can earn money

friends, both near and far

Mary - I know she's already listed, but we're just that thankful for her

There's so much more but these are just some of the most important things in our lives (yes, BYU football is THAT important to Brent).

Last night I was sitting on the couch with Mary laying on the left side of my chest. All of a sudden Tiggy jumped up and settled down on the right side of my chest. So I had my two babies at the same time. It was so cute when Tiggy stretched out his leg and put his paw on Mary, almost like he was hugging her. He loves his little sister!

Today after giving Mary her bath, she looked so cute bundled up in her towel, I had to take a picture! Good luck to all those brave enough to shop tomorrow!

happy birthday valerie!

At my baby shower, my friend Alisha gave me the cutest hat for Mary. It is black with a cat face and ears on it. I never had a chance to take pictures of Mary wearing it, so here they are, better late than never.

This one is a little fuzzy but it's such a good close up with her awake:

She really didn't like wearing it. It's a miracle I got those two pictures without her crying. But even her crying is cute!

Tonight Brent and I were able to go out to Tepanyaki with Valerie, Chris, Brendan, and Angela to celebrate Valerie's birthday. It was yummy. Mary basically slept the whole time, except towards the end so that Val and Angela could hold her. Brendan was hilarious, throwing kix on the floor as entertainment. He was so cute when Valerie turned him to face Mary because he started to smile and reach out towards her. He already loves his baby cousin!

Well, I held out as long as I could, but I gave in yesterday and cut off all my hair. Brent, Mary and I went to his aunt Malia's in Sandy for free hair cuts. It's so nice not having to worry about paying money to get my hair done. I think Brent was a little sad to see all that hair fall to the floor. Some of the women in the salon were shocked to see me cut so much off. It was really long, the longest since I can remember. It'll be much easier to get ready in the morning with such little hair!Mary likes it too!
When Brent sneezes or coughs (which admittedly are quite loud), Mary gets really startled and sometimes lets out these really adorable cries. Well last night, Brent coughed and Mary got scared and started crying. A minute or so later we heard her let out a big poo. Brent literally scared the poop out of her! It was so funny.

a little peek at Mary

Just because we love to watch Mary, we took a little video of Mary. So everyone can hear how she loves to grunt and listen for a bit at her cute cry (which she doesn't do very often).

We had her Mary necklace on because we were trying to take pictures (which didn't turn out very well) and just decided it would be fun to capture her on video.

Last night Mary went almost 5 hours between feedings so I got a good chunk of sleep. It was amazing. Hopefully this is a sign that she's on her way to sleeping throught the night without interruption.

Hope you enjoy the video!

pictures of Mary

On Sunday the 4th, Brent's cousins blessed their baby boy in their ward in Lehi. We were able to go and be a part of it. Mary got all dressed up for the event. She looked so cute in her denim dress from grandma and grandpa Koz and the pink cardigan from grandma and grandpa Lubniewski.Mary is doing well. She is still sleeping well at night, only waking up to feed. Sometimes she stays up later than we'd want, but then she sleeps til about 9:30 the next morning. It's so nice when Brent has the day off from work, because after his classes he can spend quality time with Mary. Julie called the other night after having seen a baby picture of Brent. She was so emotional at the sight of it because Mary looks just like him in that picture. I took a picture of Mary the other day and have to agree that she is her daddy's girl for sure.

2 week appointment

So Mary had her 2 wk check up yesterday and we are happy to report that she is a healthy, growing baby girl. She weighs 7 lbs 14 oz, exactly one pound more than her birth weight. And she's 20 1/4" long, so 1 1/4" more. Plus her umbilical cord finally fell off so we're excited we can give her real baths.
Glen and Julie came into town on Friday to see the BYU game and visit with Mary. They brought plenty of presents for her including a beautiful pair of diamond earrings and a "Mary" necklace that belonged to Julie's mom (who Mary is named for). Mary already has bling bling! Plus they brought lots of cute outfits for her. Between the two grandparents, Mary will be spoiled rotten before she can even crawl. Julie left on Sunday but Glen is still in town and took Mary shopping for more clothes. Unfortunately, all the pictures that got taken were on Julie's camera, so we don't have any to post yet, but we will soon. Most of them are of Mary anyway, because they just couldn't get enough of her.
Mary has discovered her new favorite spot, laying on daddy Brent's chest. When she's fussy he just sets her on her tummy and she calms right down. It's so cute.
We'll post pictures just as soon as we get them!

Mary's not even two weeks old...

Check out this link. It's from a newspaper in Illinois covering Glen's high school football team in Wauconda. Mary's already making an appearance in the papers. She's such a special baby!
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=64549

Mary and Tiggy

Yesterday Brent and I decided to get Mary one of those vibrating chairs so we could have a place to set her down when we needed both hands. She seems to like it, only problem is so does Tiggy. He's been feeling really left out lately. Up until Mary came, Tiggy was our baby and I was definitely his momma. He can tell there's a difference and doesn't like it. He like Mary, just not the lack of attention he gets now. He sees all these new things and wants to play or sit in them and we won't let him. Last night while I was feeding Mary and Brent was eating dinner, Tiggy quietly crawled into the chair and settled down for a nice nap. Brent thought it was so cute and snapped a picture before taking him out of it. It was sad because Tiggy definitely did not want to get out of there.

We also took Mary to Costco yesterday. We went in to buy some bread and two hours later we finally left. Everyone at work was so excited to see her that we had a hard time getting away. It was fun hearing everyone coo over how cute and sweet of a baby Mary is though. Mary even got to wear a pair of her cute booties that her bisabuela made. They looked so cute on her. Afterwards I was so tired from being up on my feet and walking around for so long! Mary was tired too and slept peacefully when we got home.

once there was a yellow baby...

So Mary was jaundiced when we left the hospital on Saturday night. We went back to the hospital on Sunday to get her tested again and her levels went up. She finally pooped, a lot by the way, on Sunday night so we were hoping that on Monday when we went to get retested we were hoping the levels would have gone down. They hadn't, so we were sent two different types of light bed things for her to use. One was a suitcase bed and the other a flap that she laid on. Poor Mary had to be down to her diapers while in there, and was only supposed to come out for feedings and changings (or if she needed to be comforted). She actually did alright in there. Tuesday when we took her to get retested yet again (by the way it was really hard watching her little foot get cut and hear her cry every day that she got tested) we found out that her levels were dropping and we could take her off the lights! We're lucky it was only a 24 hour period of being on the lights. I guess she's a good eater and a good pooper (it's a Kozlowski thing I'm sure). She's still a little yellow, mostly you can see it in her eyes, but every day she's looking more pink and healthy. Mary's already gained back her birth weight and then some! From 6lbs 14 oz down to 6 lbs 7 oz, all the way back up to 7 lbs 1 oz! Again, she's proving to be a Kozlowski and eating well. We're so glad that her little stint with jaundice ended quickly and she is such a healthy baby.

We were lucky enough to have Grandma Julie in Utah for the weekend that Mary was born. It was great luck that she had planned a trip for Tyler's game that Saturday and that Mary decided to come on her due date, the day before the game. It was nice that we could spend some time with Julie and that Mary could get to know her. Also, Tyler came to visit us while we were still in the hospital. He seems really excited to be an uncle, even if he may be a little scared to hold her, at least for awhile. i told him to hold her like a football. She is little enough to be one. Tyler's also wasting no time at all in pimpin out Mary's wardrobe. He bought her a Jordan outfit: onesie, hat, and booties all in pink. She'll look so cute in them when she gets big enough to wear them.

This past week Brent and I were so glad to have my parents come out and stay with us. They landed on Tuesday and then my dad left Saturday and my mom on Sunday. They were so helpful with Mary and just helping to keep our place clean and our bellies full of food. Every morning around 4 or 5 am Mary was able to enjoy spending time with grandma, just hanging out and sleeping in her arms. I think she already misses grandma. And Mary got hooked up with a lot of presents from grandma and grandpa Lubniewski. She got lots of clothes and blankets and even a Halloween costume! Too bad we don't really have anywhere to take her in the costume. but at least you can all see her as the sweetest cow ever.

Mary is such a sweetheart. she is a really good sleeper (just like daddy). She really only gets up at night to feed. And yesterday she was awake for such a huge portion of the day that she slept til about 9am. I am so lucky! Let's just hope she keeps it up.

More Mary news to follow soon.

Mary Eva Kozlowski is here at last!

Yes the wait is finally over!
It all started a little after 9pm on Thursday the 18th. I was laying in bed, watching some tv, when my water broke. I was a little hesitant about the whole situation after hearing a story about a girl who went in to the hospital saying her water broke only to hear that she had only wet herself. Not that I thought I peed my pants, but still. Obviously, when the liquid didn't stop, I knew what it was.
I called Brent up and told him. He was so excited! He got home a little after 9:30 and we got our stuff together and left (earlier that day I had a feeling I would go into labor either that day or the next so I busied myself with getting everything together). We got to the hospital around 10:15. It was so funny when we walked into the entrance because the security guard who was sitting down eating, tried to get up to tell us where to go and almost fell out of his chair! We checked in with a nurse who told us that there was some meconium in the fluid, but not to worry. Then we headed up to the labor and delivery room. We got the suite which was awesome. By the time they got me hooked up to everything it was around 11-11:15. They hooked me up to pitocin (or however you spell it) to get my contractions going since I was only dilated to a 1 when I got to the hospital. Shortly after that I got up to almost a 3 but was 100% effaced. Only a couple hours after all this, my contractions were coming on so close and so strong that there really wasn't time to rest in between them, so I asked for the epideral. The anesthesiologist kind of mentioned that it was soon and that made me angry, as if he knew what it felt like. Good thing I asked for one then because the next time the nurse came to check me I was completely dilated. Brent was asleep at this point. We were both certain we'd be waiting for awhile. In fact, Brent had been saying earlier that he wished it would go quicker because he's so impatient and hates hospitals. God heard his plea, apparently, because we had only been there for about 4 hours at that point.
I started feeling a lot of pressure and wanting to push but the doctor on call was leaving in less than an hour and there were two other women who were ready to push also. The nurse had me push some to see how I would do and to see if we could get Mary's head to move down even more. I was glad that they had me wait to push, even though the pressure was beginning to be unbareable, because my doctor came in at that point so he could deliver me. After less than an hour of pushing, Mary came flying (almost literally) out! Brent cut the cord and they cleaned her up, and finally after nine months I got to hold our precious little baby.