BFF

they make a cute pair, don't they?

Flower Dress

Sorry for the light posting. We're all recovering from a cold (sniffles and congestion mostly). Little Froglette is doing well - she's discovered that she loves the bath. Her Aunt and Grandma made her curtains for her room and she's fascinated by the way that the light shines through them, turning the room orange and red.

Here's a new picture.

Smiles

look how you've grown

A quick series showing Froglette's rapid weight gain!

With Grandma at the hospital 3 days old

With Grandma 13 days old

You can see how in just 10 days, her face filled out! This was the day we went to the pediatrician too. She weighed 6 12 at birth and was 8 pounds even 13 days later.

my new best friend

My friend Kari loaned me the most amazing baby device when we went back west in August. I was talking on the phone with her a few weeks ago, lamenting that little Froglette wouldn't let me put her down for hours at a time. Kari reminded me of the Moby wrap and told me that it saved her sanity at the beginning. Boy was she right! We love the Moby!

It's a million miles (I guess 20 feet?) of stretchy fabric that you wrap and tie around you before slipping in baby. The first few times I used it were a little confusing, but thanks to the helpful videos While Froglette loves it when she sleeps, we haven't yet mastered using it when she's awake. But, you can see by the smiles on my face how happy I am to use my hands again.

Remembering childhood

I'm resting on the couch at the moment, enjoying a quiet moment with Froglette and letting my mind wander. I'm struck by the unbidden memories that float to the top.

When I was little, we lived in the country in Idaho for a while. My parents bought a house with some acreage and we farmed alfalfa while my dad was a computer engineer for HP. I have the mostly hazy memories of a young child, but one of my favorites is of the pheasants. They loved to nest in our field, and our dog Tinker would go out and bring home their eggs. Pheasant eggs are beautiful things, large (maybe the size of duck eggs?) and lovely shades of greenish brown. Tinker could bring home the eggs completely unblemished in her mouth - an impressive feat it always seemed. I brought them to kindergarten at least once to share with the teacher. I wonder know what Mrs Heart must have thought of that. Was she appreciative? Was it a strange act?

We have pheasants here in the Middle as well. I saw many of them last spring while driving back and forth to the SLAC I taught at. They were so beautiful with their white ringed necks and shiny green heads. They must like nesting in the corn and soy fields as well.

I wonder what stories and half formed memories Froglette will have of this time in the Middle? What stories we'll tell seven bajillion times until Froglette can repeat them without having experienced them first hand? I'm sure that stories of Miles will figure prominently. I can tell stories of at least 2 cats that were around before my time as if they are my own memories. And I know stories of my parents' dating and college days, building houses, and traveling on the motorcycle. I love how these stories and memories come floating to the surface unbidden, triggered by random thoughts and associations.

The baby and cat series

So Cole has been excellent with the baby, mostly by being indifferent to her presence. He hasn't licked her yet, nor is he interested in snuggling up against her in her bassinet. But, he does get jealous when she sleeps on our chests - as that location used to be reserved for him alone.

Cole getting close

Who's bigger?

Mom with cat and baby

Cole trying to fit - no room!

We of course keep an eye out, in case he decides that he's tired of this little creature, but he's given us no evidence that he dislikes her at all, not even responding when she grabs a tuft of his fur (accidentally, he was in arms reach when she flailed about and managed to grasp something).

Happy Birthday!

Today is little Froglette's 1 month birthday. She's celebrating by joining her mom and dad out at a coffee shop so they can use the internet!

4 weeks!

Today is four weeks since little Froglette was born. We were even up this morning at 2 am (although not celebrating her birth!). It's been an amazing four weeks and I'm overwhelmed by how much she has grown and changed in just four weeks.

She started out at just 6 pounds 12 ounces, but now is clearly over 8 pounds (she was 8 at her doctor's appointment 2 weeks ago). She not only weighs more, but her little body has filled out. She doesn't look as lean and skinny now. Mom bought some newborn sized clothes while we were in the hospital (she was just too small for the 0-3 month clothes) and now they are all very tight. Once we get settled into the new place today and tomorrow, we'll start transitioning her into the 0-3 clothes. She'll have many more options for clothes too, so that means less laundry! Hopefully I'll be able to start wearing some of my old clothes too - so less laundry for me too!

Her voice has changed as well - she's added some new sounds to her happy repertoire. She's not cooing yet (see here for a description of verbal stages in babies) but she is making little squeaks and chirps. Peter says that she almost sounds like a video game! Her cries have changed as well. They're a little less "small" sounding. I know, what does that mean? I had no idea that I would be able to hear the differences in cries - but apparently that comes with parenthood.

So, what have we been up to for the last month? Well, Froglette has figured out how to nurse (she's a pro) and we've spent roughly 9/10 of every waking hour breastfeeding. She's also an excellent pooper - none of this 5 poopy diapers a day that the breastfeeding book recommends. She's so good that we might go through 15 diapers a day - at least. Froglette is also an excellent burper and farter. Sometimes I think I'm living with a frat boy or truck driver - these noises are so loud you can hear her across the room! Froglette also seems to be getting some control over her eyes - they generally track in the same direction these days (they started out kinda wandering independently of each other). She's also expanded her facial expressions - she's smiling more (not in the poopy way - but also not a sincere happy face- I think she's just figuring out how to move her face in a smile). She's also able to make these wonderful little bird faces when she's hungry - you can almost hear her going "cheep, cheep feed me".

Froglette has spent the last four weeks mostly at home, but she's made a few trips out into the world. Of course, she has slept through most of the outside forays, which has been good for us! She got to take a few walks when we first got home and before the snow started falling. Unfortunately, the weather has turned pretty cold so no more walks in the stroller any time soon.

Today, for her four week "birthday", we will be moving into our new home. This will be the fifth place that Froglette has slept in since her birth. We just couldn't move back to the old place, and we found a great duplex to call our own. Pictures coming soon as we get settled in. It's been rough, moving a few weeks postpartum, but it'll be worth it in the end. The new place has more room and a yard - and Froglette will get her own room when we move her out of our room in a few months.

That's the news around here. I hear some little grunting noises, so I think I'm being summonded!

.

This is a Strange Place

Hello? can you hear me?

I'm going to keep this short, since my little hands don't work so well on this keyboard. In fact, i don't really know what a keyboard is. Or a computer. Or an internet. Or a blogspot.















I mean, I'm not even 4 weeks old yet.

Anyways, I just wanted to come out here and say, damn, I'm cute. I mean really. Look how cute I am.

































OK, that's all. I need to go eat. Then sleep for a while. Then eat, a little more sleeping, eat, cry, eat, and sleep. It's surprising the cat and I don't get along better. Oh well.















Til next time.

The weather outside is frightful

written Tuesday, Dec 8th

So, little Froglet and I are snowed in. I sent the Moms back to their B and B after lunch today so that I didn't have to worry about them driving in the snow. We're forecasted to get somewhere between 8 and 17 inches of snow tonight! It's been snowing now since the morning - but we're nice and toasty inside. All I'm missing is a cup of cocoa!

Well, and all of my own furnishings and comforts of home. Because, well, we're stuck in temporary housing. We haven't spent the night in our own house since the Friday after Thanksgiving and it looks like we'll never sleep there again.

Most of the way through our Thanksgiving dinner (which MomK and Sissy were here for), our carbon monoxide detector went off. We followed the procedures and called security and the fire department. They found high readings in the apartment and aired it out for a while. Then, on Friday they brought us a new stove (as they thought it was something with the stove) and a new carbon monoxide detector. Then, on Saturday, the carbon monoxide detector went off again! This time, I really freaked out. Froglet and I went out to the car to keep warm and away from the gas. Then PEter brought out the cat, and Sis went back on forth getting us blankets and the diaper bag. Eventually, we decided to take Froglet to the ER to get her checked out.

We were seen quickly at the ER - helps to live in a quiet town - but it was a traumatic experience. They needed to take her blood to test her CO levels, but they were unable to get a vein in her arm. Eventually they had to get the blood from her heel, one drop at a time. It was terrible watching them hold her down as she screamed. The ER doc decided to give her oxygen as a precaution since there's little research about safe CO levels for infants. Sis did a bunch of research from her cell phone in the room and also coordinated with Mom to get us a place to spend the night - since I was NOT going back to that house again. Peter and Sis managed to get Froglet and I safely ensconced in the B and B and then went back to the house for provisions and to drop Cole off at the Veterinary Hospital for his overnight stay.

so, now we're in temp housing. The university has been trying to figure out the cause of the CO levels, with little success. We aren't willing to move back without an identified cause of the problem - so that we could have some reassurance that it won't reoccur. And thus, we've been camping out for 10 days now. Hopefully we'll have a resolution soon.

Grandmama

Grandmama died last Saturday. With all of the events of Froglet's birth and our current living fiasco (more updates on that in a few days), we've barely had time to process her death.

My grandma was 93. She lived a full life and always talked about how lucky she was to have wonderful children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We always told her it was her "fault" - she must have done something right to end up with a great family!

Grandma was the matriarch of the family and held us tightly together. I hope that we can remain close without her presence to tie us together.

Little Froglet will never get to meet her great grandma - but Grandmama got to meet her. The last time I visited in August, I held Grandmama's hand to my belly and watched her face light up as Froglet kicked her hard! So, we'll get to tell Froglet the story of how she kicked her great-grandma and how excited she was to hear about Froglet's impending arrival. Of course we'll have tons of other stories to tell about great-grandma - picking blueberries and huckleberries at her house, making hotcakes, and working in the garden, and how much fun stacking wood can be.

Fingernails of Death

Apparently babies are born with fingernails. Long ones. And boy are little Soro/roso/froglette's fingernails long and sharp.


She hasn't started gouging herself with them yet, so we will wait before we trim them down too much. And apparently, it's real easy to cut the actual baby while trimming the baby's nails. Hopefully our hands aren't too shaky from a lack of sleep.


Also, the little one seems to really enjoy this whole swaddling thing - basically, we wrap her up like a burrito inside some blankets. Who would have ever guessed that working at a burrito shop during college would have paid off so handsomely.

It's A Girl

6 lbs 12 oz

1:52 am, central time

19.5 inches

she's a brunette

mom and baby are happy healthy

and baby is currently nursing

we're looking for a good psuedonym for her, so if you have one, let us know. right now, we're leaning towards Soro

Gratitude

to some amazing men.

First to Mike and Doug, our super awesome handy men. They're not only amazingly responsive, but showed up with a new front door yesterday! We've been hoping for one for over a year, and they've been working some special magic to make it happen before Tadpole arrives. They're also trying to get us a new window! Yay for no ice inside the house this winter.

And to PEter, for rubbing my back and swollen feet. I've been whining a lot the past week as everything gets more and more uncomfortable. I'm lucky to have such a wonderful partner.

Happy Birthday

Grandmama turns 93 today. She's a special woman. Although I can't talk to her any more - she doesn't really do the phone and doesn't really remember who we are often, I hold on to the memories I have of special times we spent together.

Happy birthday Grandmama

Due date count down

We're down to single digits today. 9 days until our estimated due date. Come on baby!!!

The craziest museum we've ever been to

Now that we're pregnant, it seems time to discuss the very strange museum we visited during our trip to Italy in the summer of 2007. A post has been pending about this museum almost since we walked out of the door, that's how memorable it was. But life has gotten in the way and then everyone started getting pregnant. Given the theme of the museum (we call it The Uterus Museum), it seemed slightly inappropriate to inflict it on pregnant women. But, now that I'm pregnant, I've decided that it's time to share the wonders of this special place.

The museum is officially called the Museo Ostertical aka the Obstetrical Museum (and you can find the official museum page in English here). It's not large, just a few rooms, but it carefully documents the training and practice of obstetrics in Italy from the past. Note that this museum makes me super grateful to be living in the 21st century!! A great review of the museum from the journal Nature can be found here (see review).

We don't seem to have any pictures from this museum, it must have been one where they strictly monitored photography or else I was just too distracted by the amazingness of the museum.

The bulk of the exhibits in the museum are various models of the birth process as well as how birth can become complicated. There were models of breech positions as well as techniques to help women manage these types of births. Models showed how to use forceps and other assistance to extract problematic babies.

photo from the Nature.com article

In addition to the birthing models, there were also displays that documented various problems including conjoined twins, internal injuries, as well as models of various deformities that can occur. We found the exhibits just fascinating, particularly considering the era of the museum's displays. It was also an interesting contrast to all of the artwork and church exhibits that are so readily available in Italy. By the time that we reached Bologna, we were ready for other, different things to add to our sightseeing list. Bologna turned out to be a wonderful city for us at this point in our visit as it was full of strange and bizarre museums as well as wonderful food.

Takin' it easy

Peter and Cole - spending quality time together.

The flu

So - the flu is going around. It's getting rather prevalent here. I have had several students out sick with suspected flu as well as classmates and those on my office floor. We got our normal flu shots a few weeks ago, but haven't been able to get in to get the H1N1 shots yet. They had a clinic last week in our county, but canceled it before opening their doors. Tomorrow they're opening the clinic again so I'm headed out to the middle school in a small nearby town to get my shot.

Seeing people's pale and sickly faces as they make they way around campus - until they get thrown out and chastised for exposing the rest of us - is further motivation.

After this, I'll be close to being up-to-date on all vaccines. I'll get my pertussis (whooping cough) booster in the hospital after Tadpole is born (it's not a booster they want to give to pregnant women). If you know someone with a small baby, make sure that you're current on your whooping cough. Unfortunately, babies are very susceptible and there have been cases where parents and grandparents have transmitted this disease and babies have been very sick, and died in some cases. It's an easy thing to do and increases the immunity of all of us.