We Have a New Baby

Well, through the wonders of Facebook, e-mail, Skype, and the good old-fashioned family grapevine, most of you have heard that there is a new baby in the house. Karolina Annalaura Kosina. Karolina is pronounced Kar like "car" and lina rhymes with Kosina. Anna was the name of Martin's maternal grandmother, and Laura was the name of Erika's maternal grandmother. Laura named her daughter Laurene (Erika's mother) after herself and her sister Irene, so we have lots of female relatives packed into that middle name.

So far, I like the new set up. Erika is not allowed to go downstairs for at least a week while her (extensive) stitches heal, so she spends 98% of her time in bed, which is GREAT for me, not so great for Martin, who is responsible for transporting anything that Erika needs (food, water, dental floss, water for a bath, etc.) upstairs. Luckily, the midwives are letting us hold onto the birthing tub and the potty chair for the foreseeable future, so we have created a lovely temporary bathroom on the second floor. My bathroom was re-located to Martin's office (Are you starting to think that Martin got the short end of the stick here? Yeah, me too.) But at least he did not have to push an 8lb, 11oz baby through any of *his* orifices. Hmmph.

We have been blessed by many visitors over the last few days, and the master bedroom has been converted into a sort of cocktail lounge/dining room for the duration. Last night we hosted Aunt Brooke and Tony for champagne, beef stew (thanks MOM!), and chocolate cake (for Karolina's birthday). Here is the set up:

And here is Erika in her standard position:

What? You said you didn't come here to see pictures of people eating dinner? Where the heck are the cute baby pictures? Ok, ok...
Here is Karolina's second bath (the first one was not fit for photos due to all the screaming):

And here she is sleeping:

And we still think Peter is pretty cute, even when he is doing his fake, hammy smile: