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as we continue to unpack box after box, we continue to come across little treasures. Some of which I haven't seen in over 2 years because they've been in storage.
My Newfoundland family members should be able to spot the two "family heirlooms" in the following photos that we found and added to Baby Girl's room ;-)
It'll be nice to tell her where they came from.
http://www.crappymusic.com/archives/000157.html
;-)
Yup - 2 years ago today Tim and I were married :-) We chose our usual low-key route to celebrate, with just the 3 of us spending the afternoon and evening together.
Our gift to each other this year was a nice comfy new area rug for the TV room which we went out and bought today. Although Tommy is convinced we got it for him ;-). Then for dinner I made lasagna and garlic bread which we ate at our dining room table, while Baby Girl sat on the table in her bouncy-chair vibrating away (it just seems wrong to put her down by our feet. So we sit her on the table so she can see an interact with us!) This was my first cooking adventure in our new kitchen (till now Tim's been doing all the cooking - and you'll not hear any complaints from me!). All in all, another heavenly anniversary :-)
Speaking of Baby Girl - she's now making sounds other than crying, which is fun! She also performed her very first "Grab and Mouth" this evening. We'd been "practising" for a while - ie, I hold things in front of her and then guide her hands to them. But this evening when I dangled her rings in front of her, within 2 seconds her little hand had shot out of her own accord, grabbed them in what appeared to be a quite purposeful gesture, and promptly stuck them in her mouth.
I have no idea if it was intentional or just happenstance. We were able to repeat it though... but who knows :-) At any rate, the aftermath made for a cute photo :-)
Happy Anniversary. :-) It sounds like it was a very enjoyable evening. I can't wait to be there when baby girl to tries her Grandpa's lasagne for the first time.
Posted by Sarah on August 31, 2005 10:41 AM.
Well - we had a pretty big weekend so far, the three of us! Social butterflies, we are.
First, we went to our first Friday Night as a family of 3 :-) Baby Girl did so well! We brought her bouncy chair with us, and sat her at the table by her Daddy's feet when we had dinner, thinking she'd fall asleep but she stayed awake the entire time, eyes wide, listening and watching and absorbing everything.
Saturday she met her Aunt Patti and Uncle Les for the first time, and then the three of us went for a walk along the trail, and then we went to Janel's "Hey, I'm leaving for grad school and you're not gonna see me till christmas" BBQ.
All of this activity made for a very hungry girl
and even when we were full, we thought we were hungry, so we needed some clever distracting from Mom and Dad (not sure the wrist rattles were effective in that mission, but we tried ;-))
But at least we sent Auntie Juan off in style with the appropriate amount of warm baby cuddles.
Baby Girl had her first REAL bath (as opposed to sponge bath) last night and she appeared, for the most part, to actually enjoy it! The parts she clearly didn't enjoy (and that Mom and Dad noted for next time to avoid - we're still learning, you see ;-)):
- getting water in the eyes (just a little tiny bit, mind you!)
- being set on the cold sling (we had warmed it up with nice warm water first, but it got cold before we set her on it; we'll use a warm wet towel next time :-))
Other than that she seemed to enjoy getting sprayed with the warm water and the washcloth and everything. She didn't cry or fuss! But she definitely wiggled a lot :-).
We also haven't quite mastered the timing of the removal of the diaper and the setting her in the bathtub. Last night was Mommy's turn to get peed on (Daddy got a good soaking with our very first bath).
Incidentally you can find all our Baby Girl photos together here.
We set up Baby Girl's new mobile today - one of those Baby Einstein "Symphony in Motion" things that plays classical music and has these cute and wacky-coloured animals hanging from it...and she was totally enthralled! She's not using the big crib yet (we'll take the bumper out when she does) but we put her in to test it out :-)
Hey - guess who has a real belly button now?! Actually, she lost her umbilical cord stump on her 2-week birthday. Right on schedule, along with her gaining back her birth weight :-). This means that we can start having REAL baths soon :-)
She's also officially outgrown her first pair of PJs, and I went through her drawers this morning and packed up all of the newborn "5-7 lbs" onesies after determining first hand that they are most definitely too small for our little 9lb+ munchkin (and probably always were - thank goodness for the "0-3 month" baby clothing size :-))
We've also stopped lounging around in our one-piece pjs all day and have decided to distinguish between "daytime" clothes and "nighttime" clothes (truth be told, I also needed an excuse to have her start wearing more of her fashionable wardrobe ;-)). Of course, in the 80+ degree heat (actually closer to 90 outside; 77-80 inside when not in front of the fans we have continuously going) "daytime" clothes consists of a t-shirt and diapers :-)
Too cute or what? :-)
We love her little wardrobe. The musical mobile is sure to give her hours of pleasure - her Mom had one that helped put her to sleep every night.
Posted by Dad on August 21, 2005 6:07 AM.
Baby Girl is 2 weeks old today. How quickly time flies! All 3 of us have learned a lot in the short two weeks but we've all still got so much more to learn :-)
It's definitely been an interesting couple of weeks full of the normal stress and sleep deprevation everyone warns you about, plus added stress and sleep deprevation as a result of our move. Things seem to be settling down though. Tim's back at work and while I miss him terribly during the day, it does help me get back into the "normal" frame of mind. And although I wouldn't say Baby Girl has settled into a predictable consistent pattern (just when I think I see one developing, she decides to change it :-), we have at least both become more comfortable with feeding, napping, and other little routines we do have.
Today also marks another milestone for Baby Girl. For the past 4 days feeding her has gotten progressively worse - especially at night. It started on Monday really bad - after feeding her she vomited - not quite projectile but quite a large quantity. She'd been starting to spit up a couple of days before that, but not in that kind of quantity. Feeding became more difficult too. As soon as I'd start she'd wiggle and writhe in my arms, and arch her back, suck furiously and contort her body and fuss non-stop. She'd also wheeze and get severely congested in her nasal passages. I couldn't feed her. But she'd constantly be hungry. I called the Breast Feeding Nazis - er, uh, I mean the Lactation Consultant Hotline at our hospital where we delivered - at least a dozen times over the first two days this was occurring and got a tonne of conflicting "diagnoses" and advice:
- your milk isn't letting down fast enough for her
- she's using you as a pacifier. Stop feeding her so frequently and find other ways to soothe her
- this is baby's way of ensuring your milk supply increases as she grows so that it continues to meet her needs
- your milk supply is low because it is hot and you're dehydrated and you've been feeding her constantly so you need to replenish. Drink more fluids
- she's going through a growth spurt and this is just one of those "cluster feedings" they warn you about - feed her whenever she's hungry and it'll pass in a couple of days - you just need to grin and bear it.
I also got a tonne of advice on how to deal with sore nipples from frequent feedings. All of which I already know, and it was never one of my complaints when I called in anyway - I can deal with my own soreness - my concern was Baby Girl and whether she was in pain, or getting enough food, or having some kind of reaction to my milk, or something.
By tuesday night I'd had enough of the whole "breast is best; whatever you do don't give up" rah-rah squad and Tim suggested it may not be anything wrong with the breastfeeding and that I call the 24-hour nurse's line at our Pediatrician's office (When stressed and panic-stricken mom heads fail, sleep-deprived yet still calm and cool dad heads prevail ;-)). We definitely needed an objective assessment from someone who cared more about my baby's actual real-time health than about whether or not I was committed to breastfeeding her.
I described what was happening - the contortions, the fussing, the congestion and wheezing, the not sleeping on her back (it was Tim who put 2 and 2 together and realized that she spit up more frequently and in larger volumes when on her back), the spit-up (which I learned was vomit, not so much normal spit-up), etc. The nurse told us the vomiting was a concern and we shouldn't wait but should go ahead and take her to the emergency room (of course, it was midnight, because trips to the emergency room don't happen during the convenient daylight hours :-)). So we packed her up and took her in. After waiting the requisite 2 hours to be seen by a physician we finally hit the jackpot. The doctor listened to everything, and after checking her out, he said he believed she was suffering from acid reflux. He suggested scheduling an appt with her pediatrician to get her more thoroughly checked out, and if necessary get medication perscribed and in the meantime to help ease her discomfort have her sleep in a more upright position so gravity can help keep the food and stomach acids down. So we took her home and that night had her sleep in her carseat in the middle of our bed. She still spit up, but she seemed more comfortable and peaceful, and it wasn't in such large volumes.
Today we had our pediatrician's appt. The doctor asked me to describe her feeding patterns. I went through it all again - body contortions, arched back, crying, fussing during feeding, not going to sleep on her back (she'd actually started grabbing on to us and pulling herself upright during diaper changes and when we'd try to put her down), etc and her doctor confirmed - She has a classic case of acid reflux and all of the classic symptoms.
When I got home I did some research at www.babycenter.com and lo and behold found a whole article on Gastric reflux in infants and a tonne of comments and descriptions from parents whose babies were doing exactly what Baby Girl was doing.
Her doctor perscribed Zantac, and said we should see a difference in a couple of days. I hope so - it's been so distressing watching her in what I now know to be signs of such extreme discomfort and pain. But at least we know what it is now and that there are ways to help her.
On other news - Baby Girl is now back up to her birth weight! Actually passed it by half an ounce. They weighed her at our doctor visit just to see if the vomiting had caused her to lose any weight and she weighed in at exactly 9lbs 4.5oz. Good girl!
Oh - and what kind of blog entry would this be (and what kind of Mommy would I be) if it didn't include a photo of our munchkin? ;-)
I know, I know... it looks like all we do around here is sleep. True for Baby Girl, but still not true for Mom and Dad yet. This is a rare moment for Tim :-)
Heather,
Lovely to see more pictures of Baby Girl! Sorry to hear of your troubles. If you're up for the trip, head over to the Montlake Community and Birth Center for "First Weeks." 2200 – 24th Ave E. in Seattle. Tuesdays and Thursdays noon to 2pm. It's a non-judgemental support group. Frith loved it, and still meets once a week with friends she made there, more than two years later. Discuss breastfeeding, sleeping patterns and other issues with professional leaders. Ann Keppler is amazing! Share joys and concerns with other parents of young babies. The best lesson is "the wide range of normal."
Posted by Rob Harrison on August 18, 2005 7:07 PM.Lily had the same issue and we had her on Zantac for a couple of months. Luckily, this stopped being an issue around 4 months for her. There's nothing more stressful than seeing your clearly distressed infant suffering from reflux.
In regards to the support group, Evergreen also has a similar program that both Sandy and I did with Lily when we were on our respective parental leaves. That might be more convenient for you, especially once you move into your new house. It was amazingly therapudic to be able to discuss baby rearing with other parents going through similar issues.
BTW: that is an adorable photo!
Posted by Derek van Veen on August 19, 2005 4:11 PM.
Just a couple of photos to share at this point. We still have a lot of work to do. The only artwork we've hung is our Italian painting from our honeymoon trip - over the fireplace mantle just as we had planned :-). Afterall, they say "home is where you hang your Italian landscape of Rome..." Ok, maybe they don't say that. But it's symbolic for us :-)
Tommy is certainly adept at selecting comfortable places to crash. We love your choice of colours.
Posted by Dad on August 17, 2005 5:40 AM.What a beautiful place! You do have a great eye for colors and decorating. Can't wait to see it!
Posted by Debra on August 17, 2005 8:20 AM.
12 days old - Enjoying her swing in our new kitchen :-)
She looks like a swinging pro. Excellent! :)
Posted by Debra on August 17, 2005 8:21 AM.
There's been a flurry of activity since my last entry...
Baby Girl is now 11 days old. On Friday she had her first pediatrician's appt. She's doing great, perfectly healthy, and well on her way back to her birth weight! We've sorta kinda started establishing a feeding and sleeping pattern but it's been somewhat randomized by the hot weather, which makes her really sleepy which in turn makes feeding her a challenge :-) and also randomized by all the stuff that's been going on the last couple of days. But we're slowly settling down into what I hope will be a fairly predictable routine.
And... we've moved! We are now living in our new house - the "dream house" :-) Final inspection passed, and over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday - with MUCH MUCH MUCH help from our family and our friends (THANK YOU! We really can't thank you enough and we couldn't have done this without you!) we're actually moved in. Still lots of unpacking to do, but that will happen in time. And we've got a bunch of cleaning, etc to do at the old place to get it ready to sell. So it's not entirely over yet. But it's just nice to finally be here and to have some space!
I'll post pictures of both Baby Girl and the new house all moved-into as I get time (but don't be holding your breath - time for anything other than Baby Girl, eating, sleeping, and laundry is pretty much a luxury now ;-))
Well the important things are done. We have Baby Girl to spoil rotten (thats a grandma's job too) and we have you in your dream house. Have no fear the rest of the stuff will get done.
Still LOVE you guys.
Posted by Margaret on August 15, 2005 2:52 PM.
Hard to believe it's been a week. This time last week we were in the throes of active labour and now - well... look :-)
Here she is sleeping peacefully. It's hard work being a baby!
And here she is in her bouncy chair. She's not really this red - I just didn't want to use a flash ;-)
She has the cutest little lips! :-)
Posted by Sarah on August 11, 2005 7:25 PM.So beautiful. She's obviously having a very pleasant dream.
Posted by Dad on August 12, 2005 11:05 AM.
All I have to say is: awwwwwww! I wish I could squish those little cheeks...I meant hers Tim, don't get the wrong idea!
Posted by Stefanie on August 9, 2005 2:31 PM.This is definitly a "frame it" pic
Posted by Marlene on August 10, 2005 4:16 PM.
...bring a new twist on an old tradition :-) Our first "self portrait" as a new family of 3 :-) This was taken just outside the hospital before loading into the car to come home :-)
Her little pink knit cap was a gift from the midwife that delivered her.
The staff at our hospital, Evergreen Medical Center, was absolutely fantastic.
Wow, you guys look so happy. She is such a lucky girl to have found parents in you in Tim. Chris
Posted by Chris on August 7, 2005 4:57 AM.What a beautiful edition to your family. Enjoy every moment.
Posted by Pat (Chris's Mother-in-Law) on August 7, 2005 7:44 AM.She's a keeper. ;-)
Good looking family!!
Posted by Marlene on August 10, 2005 4:17 PM.
Our Darling Baby Girl,
Today, August 4th, 2005 we welcomed you into the world at 9:50pm. You weighed 9 lbs 4oz and measured 21 1/4 inches long. And you are absolutely the most beautiful sight we have ever beheld.
Don't worry - your name isn't "Baby Girl" anymore :-) Your Dad and I decided we wouldn't publish your name on our blog, but I will tell you something about how we chose your names.
Your first name shares the same meaning as your Dad's father's name - your Grandpa on your Dad's side of the family. You won't get to meet him in person, but he is watching over you, and if he were here he'd tell you how much he loves you and how proud he is of you. We wanted you to have something special from him, which is why we chose this name to be your first name.
You share your second name with many strong, independent, interesting and inspirational women throughout history, which is why we picked it. I'll tell you about some of my favourites some day.
Your third name also comes from a strong, independent, interesting and inspirational woman: My Mom - your Grandma on my side of the family. She's so excited to meet you, and she loves you very much too.
We've been waiting for you for a long time, and we're so happy you're finally here! This has been the happiest, most joyous, most miraculous day of both of our lives and one we will never forget. It is a new beginning for all 3 of us, and I know what follows from here will be incredible and wonderous!
Love,
Mom and Dad
xoxoxo
WELCOME "BABY GIRL". I HAVE KNOWN YOUR DADDY SINCE HE WAS A LITTLE BOY. WE ARE SO HAPPY YOU ARE HERE TO SPREAD JOY IN SO MANY LIVES. CAN'T WAIT TO MEET YOU SWEET ONE.
LOVE,
BETH AND TOMMY
We took Tommy with us on our visit to the new house today, now that all the construction is done and the grass is all in. He seemed to have a good time and made himself right at home :-)
Over the last two days the house has been a beehive of activity:
- all cabinet door and drawer pulls are installed in all rooms
- fireplace trim is complete and fireplace fully functional
- all lighting fixtures are installed and so are their switches so we can actually turn them on! Including Baby Girl's lights, the dining room chandelier (the one from my old house) and the chandelier in the stair way.
- Almost all the base shoe is complete
- mirrors are all hung and trimmed in both bathrooms
- bathroom accessories (towel bars, toilet paper holders, etc) are all installed
- closet rods and shelves are installed in the entry closet and Baby Girl's room
- all the interior doors are hung and hardware installed
Not a whole lot left to do - they're touching up some of the paint spots we identified, and finishing the base shoe; cleaning crew comes in next week, as do final inspection people.
So it seems we're moving in on the 12th, 13th and 14th. 12th will consist of moving all the stuff from the basement to their appropriate rooms; 13th and 14th we've reserved a truck to haul the rest of our stuff from our current house to the new place...
Kinda hard to believe it's really happening!
The house is looking beautiful. Tommy looks very happy on the wood floor! Here's hoping baby girl's arrival goes smoothly and you can all move to your new home on schedule!
Posted by Derek on August 3, 2005 10:51 PM.Looks like Tommy already has a favourite spot - probably so he can see the squirrels. August is going to be a pretty busy month, eh?
Posted by Dad on August 4, 2005 7:20 AM.Your home is gorgeous! I found your site by searching on C2 Paint color names. Could you please post the names and brands of the colors you have used? I love the living room color, and the subtle color of the master bedroom. Best to you and your new arrival! Christine
Posted by Christine on August 5, 2005 7:39 AM.
The question at the forefront of our minds :-)
So far today I've
- spent the morning lounging around in bed in my pyjamas until around 10am, dozing between bouts of Baby Girl gymnastics and contractions (which are getting stronger but still not occurring at regular intervals)
- went to the mall and bought a new pair of comfortable slip-on shoes that I can walk in but that won't turn the soles of my feet black! (Note to self: Do not buy any more shoes that I intend to wear barefoot that have black insoles, regardless of the material). The shoe sales lady asked me when I was due and when I said "Today" the look on her face was priceless. I swear she thought I was going to drop Baby Girl right then and there in the middle of her shoe department.
- went looking for area rugs for the TV room and Baby Girl's room
- came home and had lunch (leftover spicey thai food ;-)) after getting back into my pyjamas and sleeping some more.
- cleaned out the fridge (you don't want to know what I found. Ugh).
- folded clean towels
- started a load of laundry
- packed a box of dishes. Oh - did I mention that we're potentially moving on August 12th/13th? Yeah. Our house will be done next week! Wednesday is final inspection, Thursday is Architect/Builder photo day (so they can take pictures before we move in), Friday we'll move the stuff we've been storing in the basement up to the appropriate rooms and Saturday we'll move the rest of the house. By "we" I mean of course Tim and whoever volunteers to help us move. Because I'll be hangin' with our new Baby Girl, since she'll either have come by then on her own or we'll have been induced on the 10th. Oops... there - another teaser for the delivery date betters. Of course, if I am induced on the 10th we'll probably NOT be actually moving on the 12th and 13th but a few days later than that ;-)
Of course, all of that activity was interrupted every 10 minutes by the need to go to the bathroom. Which was likely induced by the copious amounts of water I'm constantly drinking.
No Baby Girl yet though.
But the day's not over! ;-)
Sounds like you are getting that "nesting" thing started. Good sign Baby Girl is on her way. If you run out of things to clean and fold, come on down to Monmouth
Take care ;-)
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day"
- William Shakspeare, MacBeth
"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow."
-Orison Swett Marden
"The sun'll come out
Tomorrow.
So ya gotta hang on
'Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You're always
a day
away!"
- Annie
Have you ever written a word so much that when you look at it, it looks foreign and you almost don't recognize it?
Tomorrow is Baby Girl's estimated due date. However, only 5% of babies are born on their due dates. What % are born after their due dates appears to not be quite as well known - I tried finding the stat on the internet but nothing reliable popped up. I have read that first babies are more likely to be born after their due date than before though.
Ah well. Anyway - TODAY is my last day at work, AND we have our weekly dr's appointment (the one we were hoping we wouldn't actually need ;-)). Work ends precisely at 2pm. Then we go to the doctor. I hope she tells us she sees progress!
In the meantime, to keep myself amused at night and to ease my mind that Baby Girl is fine if I've woken but don't feel her moving (because she's still quite active most of the time), I've learned that a sure fire way to rouse her from a deep slumber is for me to eat a popsicle. So I've just had two. Orange and Grape. (Sugar free of course). Sorry Baby Girl. You can go back to sleep now :-)
At precisely 2:16pm today I left work for the last time until December. I did manage to get all the essential stuff wrapped up before I left; didn't get lots of other stuff wrapped up but they'll manage without me.
What a strange feeling - to think of 4 whole months of not going into the office.
Of course, there's little time for slacking off, as Tim and I are about to get a NEW boss... we're not sure when she's gonna arrive and we don't really know much about her yet, other than she's really small and demanding and I'm sure she'll have me and Tim both dancing to her beat within seconds of starting on the job.
Speaking of whom, we had our weekly doctor's appt. today. Actually, we saw a midwife since our regular doctor is... ahem... on vacation. I guess everyone's gotta take a vacation sometime, and if it wasn't this week it'd be next week when one of her other patients is due. Still :-)
Anyway, everything is measuring fine - size of uterus, Baby Girl's heart rate, my blood pressure. I've gained a pound since last week. I think it's all in my feet though. They're horribly swollen.
So here are some more teasers for those due date watchers out there:
I'm now
- 2cm dilated
- 90% effaced
And Baby Girl is sitting way low. Apparently she's low enough to be at a "station" but which one the midwife neglected to say so unfortunately we don't have that little stat to pass along.
No - I'm not going to interpret any of that data for you - you can research it yourself if you're really interested :-)
So tonight we're celebrating my last day at work by going to eat spicey thai food. Rumour has it spicey food can help to bring on labour. We'll see. Our midwife said it sounded like a good plan ;-)
Bumpy roads work too.
Posted by Uncle Tom on August 3, 2005 5:41 AM.ok, so I looked it up, and my interpretation of the internets is that Heather could have her baby anytime, like 2 minutes from now or 2 years from now. Good luck Heather and Timmy!
Posted by Janel on August 3, 2005 10:02 AM.Yup - that's pretty much what all that means ;-)Although two years is probably stretching it just a tad... our doctor has set an induction date just in case, so we know she WILL make her appearance within a finite (and relatively short) amount of time (thank goodness ;-))
Posted by heather on August 3, 2005 12:08 PM.
It's so nice to see bits of the house furnished with your furniture and art. It's becoming a home...!
Posted by Rob Harrison on September 1, 2005 11:21 AM.The ones in Ontario have pretty keen eyes, too. ;-)
Posted by Sarah on September 1, 2005 1:02 PM.I figured you, Mom and Dad would see them for sure ;-)
Posted by heather on September 1, 2005 7:44 PM.