One week old!

More baby pictures!

Charlotte in her hospital bassinet

New mom and baby

New going home outfit from friends Jake, Diana and baby Bridger

So small in that big carseat

Proud new grandma CarolAnn (Matt's mom)

Proud new grandpa Mark (Kristi's Dad)
We don't have any pictures with Grandpa Randy or Grandma Cindy (otherwise known as Crazy Nana Banana), but we will post one with each of them when they send us their copies.

Big bug eyes

First night in her new bed

This is a wail, not a yawn

Charlotte loves her daddy, she loves to claw at his chest with her talons!

Charlotte's first bath at home

What are you thinking about?

Charlotte's first fly fishing expedition at Chester Creek

An update from the Floreks...
First, we have had many people asking us how to pronounce Charlotte's middle name Neema. It is Neh-eh-ma, which is a Swahili word for blessing. We met several girls named Neema when we were in Tanzania last summer, and we really liked it. We also wanted her middle name to be meaningful in her life. She truly is a blessing from God to us, and we hope that by giving her that name we are pronouncing that over her life. Also, when we move to Africa someday, she can be called Neema, since the Africans will probably have a hard time with Charlotte.

Today Charlotte is a week old! Our first week as a family of three has been interesting, exciting, full of learning, and lots of kisses. She is so darn cute we can't believe we get to keep her! She is a great sleeper, usually sleeping for 3 hours at a time between feedings, even at night! The first couple of nights at home were sort of challenging--everyone was adjusting. But now we have settled into something of a routine and everyone is much happier. Mom and baby are learning the fine art of breastfeeding while Dad is becoming the diaper champ. Unfortunately Charlotte appreciates Mom's skills much more than Dad's. So far we've only had one major poop mess out the diaper, which Dad handled with grace and dignity. Charlotte's favorite trick is to wait for Dad to finish cleaning her up and then pee before he gets the new diaper under her. Who knew that a little tiny bladder could hold so much pee?!

Charlotte is becoming quite the little Duluthian. She has been out of the house each day that we've been home. This is good for everyone's mental health. On Monday we went to the medical school, the mall, and Target. On Tuesday we went to the hospital where we were doing our rotation to show her off to some of our colleagues, to the other hospital where she was born for a little check-up, to a friend's house and to our Bible study. On Wednesday she had her first trip to the great outdoors when Daddy took her fly fishing and taught her how to tie a fly. She kept her eyes closed the whole time, so she must have been listening very intently. She also went to a friend's house to do three loads of laundry and watch a movie. Today she had her first doctor's appointment (where she peed all over the scale) and to her first bakery and the Red Mug coffee shop in Superior, WI (this is where we are right now, using their wireless internet). At the doctor's she was weighed, and she has already almost regained her birth weight, which she isn't scheduled to do until she is 2 weeks old! What a little chunk!

Overall life is going really well with our family. We are really happy to have her with us and spend most of our time just looking at her. Thanks to all of you who have called or sent an email or sent a card or made us dinner. We are grateful for all of your celebrating with us! Check back with us often for more pictures (we're pretty camera crazy these days, but can you blame us with how cute she is?!).

It's a Girl!

We would like to introduce to you all

Charlotte Neema Florek

Born at 3:28 pm July 5th, 2007
St. Luke's Hospital, Duluth, MN
8 lb, 7 oz. 19.5 in

Almost There!

Still pregnant. Not that we expected not to be pregnant at this point, since the due date is still 2 weeks away. But lots of people are asking, "Are you still pregnant?!" And the answer is yes.
Matt's newest prediction is that the baby will be born next Friday, June 29. That makes it seem a little too real...less than a week from now we could have a baby! I suppose we could have the baby any day, including today! At our appointment on Wednesday, Kristi's doctor, Dr. Kruger, said she doesn't think Kristi will go past her due date since she is so active at the hospital working every day. This is ok with Kristi, since she is getting a little tired of lots of Braxton Hicks contractions (false contractions, the uterus's way of practicing for the real thing) and heartburn. But overall she really can't complain. One thing that did make her sad this week is that she started getting stretch marks. Up until now there were none, however this week they began popping up and making her very sad. Matt reassures her that they are just a part of being pregnant and her body is doing what it was meant to do, but she is still a little disappointed. So close to making it to the end of pregnancy without any stretch marks... Matt, being the excellent husband that he is, made Kristi feel better by drawing stretch marks on himself with a purple marker. What a great guy!












For those of you who were amused with Kristi's 6 pound weight gain in a 2 week time span on the last blog entry, you will be disappointed to hear that she only gained 3 pounds in the last 2 weeks. This brings the total weight gain up to 28 pounds--right in the middle of the recommended 25-35 pound total pregnancy weight gain. (Although with Kristi's recent eating habits, it is surprising she isn't gaining more...)


We are obviously getting very excited for this little one to join us! We have been reflecting on what it is going to be like to have a baby around, but I don't think that we can comprehend the changes in our lives will be like! Not just sleepless nights and poopy diapers, but total responsibility for someone else's life and overwhelming love for a squirmy pink thing. We keep thinking about each thing we do as possibly the last time we do that thing without a baby. The last time we go out to eat in peace and quiet, the last time we go to church without a baby carrier, the last time we sleep (mostly) through the night, etc. People who have kids tell us that in a little while we won't even remember what it was like not to have kids. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or sleep-deprivation induced amnesia...


Pretty soon here there will be a post saying "IT'S A BOY" or "IT'S A GIRL" so keep checking back with us! Let us know if you have any suggestions or advice for the end of pregnancy, waiting for a baby to arrive, labor and delivery, post-partum, or bringing a new baby home for the first time. We are all ears.

Let Us Reminisce...

Lest we forget our humble beginnings, please compare to pictures below! This is from November 15, 2006. Happy Father's Day!

36 1/2 weeks down, 3 1/2 weeks to go!!!!

Ok so now we will post a real entry! We again apologize for our lack of postings recently and we again thank you for your continued support by checking in with us!

On the Baby Front: Little Foot is getting bigger and bigger! He/she is now probably about 6 pounds! It is hard to be certain because weight gain in babies at this point is sort of unpredictable. Supposedly it is approximately a half pound a week for the 8th month and then slows down to about a third of a pound during the 9th month. Mom is definitely feeling Baby's increasing poundage and had a surprising result on the scale at the doctor's office last week. She gained 6 pounds in 16 days!!!!!!! Wow! That made Dr. Kruger happy since Kristi has sort of been slow to gain weight during the pregnancy. But it made Kristi feel a little sheepish for gaining that much that quickly! As you can see in the picture, the belly is quite big now. It gets in the way when trying to squeeze through small spaces, rolling over in bed at night, and attempting to keep shirts pulled down so that it doesn't peek out the bottom. Our little bun in the oven is no longer so little! Mostly Kristi is comfortable with the pregnancy, but she is getting a little tired of being really active on our hospital rotation. However, the more of the 6 week rotation she can finish before the baby is born, the less she has to make up during her maternity leave, so she is going to stick it out as much as possible (without endangering Littlefoot or herself, of course). Matt is also tired of running around at the hospital, but he doesn't get as much sympathy as Kristi, nor do people offer him a chair or tell him to put his feet up!

Since we are now 3 1/2 weeks away from our due date of July 7th, we decided it was time to get a crib and a carseat. Our parents had decided long ago in January that they wanted to give these to us as a gift when the time came, so thanks to the Grandmas and Grandpas! We set up the crib next to our bed (a tight squeeze in our little apartment, but it works) and put the carseat in our car. It makes it seem a little more real that a baby is soon to arrive in our lives!

Matt has been doing some fly fishing in his spare time this spring. He got a rod and reel for his birthday, so he sneaks away to some of the streams and ponds in the Duluth area when he gets a chance. He has caught many brown and brook trout. Below is a picture of one of them!

If any of you haven't made a guess on our Baby Pool, the last day is June 20th, so you better get your guess in if you want a chance at winning the big pot of money! Go to http://www.expectnet.com/ and enter the game password littlefoot2007 on the left side of the screen. Your $5 entry fee can be mailed to Jose Sturgeon 915 Haywood Drive Howard Lake, MN 55349.

Also, any last minute name suggestions would still be accepted via comments on the blog or an email to either one of us. We are pretty positive about the names we have picked out, but maybe one of you will suggest a great name that changes our minds!

Thanks for keeping up with us!

Sorry!

This is not going to be a real posting...but we wanted to let you all know that we do intend to post a real entry as soon as we can. Right now we are both doing a rotation at St. Mary's hospital in Duluth. We are at the hospital from 8am-6pm most days, so we now have a real "job" like real people.
Baby is doing very well, getting bigger by the day. The countdown has begun. I think there are 25 days until the due date!
We'll post an entry for real in the next couple of days. Thanks everyone for checking in with us so faithfully!

Week 31 - Onward and Outward!

We apologize to all of you out there who compulsively check our blog for new info... it has been sadly lacking recently. Thats why you find above in growing order the past 3 belly shots from the last 3 weeks. You may have thought they were the same picture, but look closely and I think you'll find a bit of an expansion in each one!





Here we have a few shots from our end of the year med school banquet held at the beautiful Greysolon Plaza Ballroom. Thats right, we are done with medical school in Duluth! We still have 2 years of school left which will be spent in the hospitals in Duluth, Buffalo, and Minneapolis, but we are done with the classroom forever!



This is shot from our first baby shower. Our fellow med students and faculty threw us a pathology-themed party where each person brought a food to share representing a certain pathological process in the body. We brought a pony-shaped cake with a tick on it for our "western equine encephalitis (look it up on www.answers.com)." One favorite was a very nice representation of a caseating (cheezy) granuloma... really just a big cheese ball. Two of the pathology doctors came and judged which food best represented its pathology. We love our classmates and faculty. Many friends enjoyed helping us out by "sponsoring a diaper" and they all chipped in to purchase our set of 24 cloth diapers! So we are ready and set for years of diapering to come. (Yes, it is a bittersweet blessing). Little Foot gots lots of new clothes and books to read and all those goodies too.



We are trying to solve a mystery. Does anyone recognize the Little Foot (from the Land Before Time movies) plush toy you see above? It just showed up mailed to our doorstep one day without a return address or anything. It looked so pitiful we just had to take the little guy in. No tags, we dont know if he's had his shots yet and we dont know the owner, but he seems to answer to the name Little Foot. So if you would like to own up to this mystery gift, or turn in the giver, feel free. We are stumped.