Sharon's Theories of Nature and Babies

Adam hasn't quite figured out his hands yet. When he's hungry and he sees his bottle, he immediately reacts by trying to use his hands. But, not being sure what to do with them or how to do it, mostly he shoves them in front of his mouth. This is a pretty effective way to keep someone from putting a bottle between your lips, and I bet you can imagine how he LOVES that when he's hungry.

He's also losing his hair--he's got a great Bruce Willis widow's peak going on right now. I understand it's pretty normal for a baby to lose the hair he's born with, and I'm okay with that. I just wish he'd get on with that--there's nothing wrong with a bald baby, but a balding baby is a little like playing peekaboo with the Commish, if you know what I mean.

He also has baby acne, and some dry skin. Really, it's a tough puberty he's going through. Which brings me to:

My Theories on Babies and Human Nature

1. Baby acne is designed by nature to make mothers view pimples as adorable (because anything babies do that doesn't involve the destruction of mom's eardrums or a cleanup with Comet is adorable). This makes adolescence more tolerable by reminding mom of babyhood.

2. Grown-ups think belching and other gas is funny because, in their infancy, everyone got REALLY excited every time they burped. Everyone was PROUD of their gas when they were tiny. So their instinct is to celebrate their gas, but they're not quite sure how or why or what to do with that instinct. Hence: giggling, fart jokes. It's NATURE, man.

3. I've already told you the one of how nature created babies' love of loud noise and vibrations in anticipation of the long car ride to Grandma's house at Christmas. Sadly, what nature forgot to predict is the backup at the tollbooth on the Pike, leaving us with someone kind of screamy every time we stopped the forward momentum.

Ah, the mysteries of the universe.

A Very Tomasulo Christmas

Christmas! We're home now, cleaning up and finding places for all our awesome new swag, listening to music on our MP3 speakers from the kitchen.

The drive down went poorly traffic-wise, but very well baby-wise. It should have been a 4 hour drive, but it took us 2 hours just to get to the turnpike (usually about a 20 minute trip). After that it was mostly smooth sailing, except one weird chunk of traffic outside Hartford--not in the city, which we drove through at rush hour without a pause, but about half an hour later, where we were practically stopped for almost an hour. So we spent 7 hours in the car, and as far as I know (I was in the front seat, after all), he slept pretty much the whole time, except when we stopped specifically to change and feed him.

I have a theory that babies like white noise and bouncing motion, evolutionarily, so that they would be able to go on long car rides. It's a new theory; we're looking into research to back it up.

New York and Christmas were lovely. Photographic evidence of this follows.

Steph the proud auntie.

Adam in his cute outfit (pants and a shirt! He thinks he's people!) cuddling his new puppy.

Our family, in the mirror. I tried to use the sling to let him sleep or hang out so we could all eat at the same time. It didn't work as well as it did last weekend, but it bought us a few minutes.

We used this blanket for tummy time and floor time, but I though the stripes might make another good sizing photograph background.

And finally, let us admire the handsome creature.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Catch Up Post

I'm doing this cheating thing where you back-date the posts, because we have so many great pictures for the week, and so many adventures to tell about, that I need more than one post to catch up.

So: Monday was Adam's one month checkup. He's doing great--the doctor said that if he doesn't have a regular fussy period every evening yet, that he probably won't have one (sigh of relief all around). His weight is 10 lb 4 oz, which is just above the 50th percentile according to the charts. His height (23 1/4 inches), though, puts him way up at 95%--meaning he is a tall boy at this point! Of course, these things change all the way along, but for right now, it means his legs are already too long for some of my favorite footie pajamas. He's outgrowing things already!

So, to capture his growing, I'm taking a picture from my friend Becky's playbook and getting pictures of him with the same toy once a month, for comparison. Sadly, I didn't start till one month, but I still think it'll be something to see.

Month 1:


Also, hands-free baby! No Bluetooth required.



Tomorrow we drive to Middletown to visit Grandma and Gramps (did I mention that the grandfather question was resolved? Grandfather Mike picked Gramps, which I love. The spelling of Grandma (Gramma? Granma?) is still pending, but I figure we have a few weeks before Adam writes his own thank you notes). Let's see how Li'l A does on the road!

Just A Couple Of Pictures

Nana with Adam at the farm

Adam and Sharon in macro-vision

No Paparazzi!

Something's wrong with our camera--it reports batteries dead the instant you put them in. This has been compounded, as a problem, by the fact that my mother's internet is out, so I can't get her photos. So we've had a shortage of pictures this week, and I'm sorry.

It's been a busy week, though. We had dinner at Brenda and Jason's on Monday, where Adam had to fight their new kitten Oliver for lapspace. Also for his bottle, though we mostly fought that battle for him. For the record, we HAVE photos of Brenda and Adam, and I'll post them as soon as I get them from them.

Tuesday we went to New Hampshire to visit the farm. This marked our second successful ring sling walk. (I really do love it, though it's still tricky to get him in.) For the record, I didn't walk across the border with the baby in a sling, pilgrimage-style--I just roamed the farm a little. Marsha made us a lovely lunch (partly as an excuse to hold the baby while everyone else was eating) and Pa finally put his paws on Adam, which he had heretofore been reluctant to do. We have photos of that, too, somewhere. Sigh.

The rest of the week has been about Christmas shopping; Mike and I took turns. I feel guilty going out, sometimes--I'm not supposed to want to leave the baby, am I? And most moms can't leave for three hours, because they're nursing. It works out really well, being able to run those errands, and of course, once Mike is back at work Adam and I will be joined at the hip (my hip, probably), but I still feel slightly like I'm doing motherhood wrong. I try not to let it worry me, though, and a cute baby will go a long way toward canceling out that concern.

Finally, for the record, Mike Sr. has chosen "Gramps" for his name, which I think is great. So we have Nana and Grandpa, and Grandma and Gramps. These names are subject to change as Adam learns to talk.

Grandma and Granddad...or Someone

Mike's parents were in town this weekend. In addition to bringing us piles of clothes, formula, and gifts from friends, they provided us with that rarest and most desirable of delicacies, a nap.

They also cuddled with Adam, braving his fussing because of their dedicated affection.

And isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?

We got some family portraits...

...and can you tell we did a lot of photography? I will admit to touching up the photo above--I have a pimple right now that y'all don't need to see. You can have fun guessing where it was, though--I'm no artist.

There appears to be a bit of debate on the grandparent naming front. I think the grandmothers are sorted out--we have a Nana and a Grandma, no problem. But of course, being men, neither of the dads cares what we call them. Now, I feel that grandparents need distinct names, so that I don't promise a trip to Grandpa's house and then end up with a confused child when we wind up with Grandpapa instead, so I think we're going with Grandpa and Granddad. But who's who? I appear to have been telling different stories to different people. I figure we can wait till Adam is old enough to start making eye contact before we try to sort this out, though.

We also tried to get a baby-with-teddy photo. This was the best of a bad lot. He didn't enjoy that--I'll try again today.

A Visit, A Walk, and Good Stuff

Yesterday was a very exciting day! First, Auntie Marsha came to visit. Now, for those of you who are not, perhaps, New England natives, it is important to note that this is pronounced AHNT-ie Marsha--not ant-ie like the insect. I suspect that Steph will be "antie," like the insect and the rest of the country, but we here in New England don't cotton to no outsiders' pronunciations, and really it should be pronounced Ahntie Mahsha.

So, the exciting upshot is that Marsha let me take a photo! Of her! And the baby. She even smiled for it. I'm so proud.

Adam looks at her skeptically in that photo, but he had a good time and cuddled cheerfully. And, because he's so cute, let's look at him again.

Then, because the weather was actually pretty darned nice, and because we mostly stay in the house all the time, we decided to go for a walk around the block and try out the new sling. Now, I still need to learn how to use it properly--I've been shown with dolls and in pictures, but never in person with a real baby. So we did what seemed right theoretically, and he was all curled up and asleep, but I'm still not 100% sure it was right. So I kept my arm wrapped around him the whole time.

He's outgrown all his newborn hats (already! My boy's growing up so fast!), but he fits pretty nicely into the adorable one that Liala made for him, and it was good that he had something plenty warm on his head.

And I love the sling! He was easy to carry, it was comfortable for me, and most interestingly he seemed really comfortable! He doesn't really like the Baby Bjorn (his legs dangle in that one), but if sleep is an indicator (and with a newborn, I think it is), he loves the sling. Which I got for a great deal from this lady online. It cost about half of what the one I was looking at in the store did.

It was a really nice walk--we went to the Italian food store around the corner and got some fresh mozzarella and some fancy foreign sodas, and we walked home with a sleeping baby on a mild November evening. Life is pretty good.

Bathtime Redux

Adam had a bath the day before yesterday, and he did great. He still howled, but less than he usually does when you mess with his clothes. It went pretty well, I think, but I might try washing him in the sink next time. I hear people do that--but even when my sink is clean, it doesn't FEEL clean to me. Still, the convenience is hard to argue with, and I can always line the sink with the towel.

We're hoping he learns how to suck his thumb soon--he's fallen back in love with the pacifier. But he knows how to chew his hands, and occasionally he seems about to get his thumb in there. I don't see how such a tiny thumb can be satisfying, but I hope he disagrees. He's on his way, though, because yesterday he started sucking his daddy's thumb.

He's really pretty cute, isn't he? His Grandma and Granddad are coming up this weekend to start spoiling him. I also plan to take a fabulous nap while they're here. There should be good photos coming up from that visit!

Medical News

We went to the doctor again today. He's growing like a champ now--9 pounds and half an ounce (up 4 ounces from Saturday! I was worried, but the doctor says that's okay.), 22 inches long. His head circumference and weight are right at the 50th percentile, and his height is a little higher--though they did make the point that any individual measurement is not as useful as the curve of how he grows over time, so it'll be a little while before we see how he really fits the percentiles. Still, I do like to hear 50th percentile--it just sounds so normal. Love normal.

Oh, also in medical news, he lost his umbilical cord last night! It seemed almost wrong to throw it away, but I'm not someone who can scrapbook something like that. He's growing up so fast!

We also did some tummy time today, which he took to very well. I think a lot of kids hate it, but he's precocious, at least in neck strength. He lifted his head a few times, though I didn't get it on camera. So he was awake and perky through the morning, and then we all napped the afternoon away (many thanks to his Nana on that one). Now he's sleeping in his bassinet, completely resistant to any attempt to wake him, resting up for a perky, alert stretch all night.

Adam's Social Life Picks Up

Well, we're going to have to get better at taking photos, because there were plenty of great ops this weekend--Katie holding the baby above her pregnant belly, Tom cooing at him just before Adam peed on him, Tracy patting his monkey-PJ-clad foot. And by now, how do we not have a photo of Liala holding him like an old pro? He slept on her for at least half an hour today.

But no, Adam's busy social weekend is undocumented. Yesterday we went to Jo and Tom's for lunch, which the baby obligingly slept through. He then woke up for admiring cuddles, ate a small snack, peed on Tom, and finally, during a diaper change, pooped, peed and screamed bloody murder. Jo and Tom got the full picture of cuteness side by side with mess and screaming--I hope the cuteness was more influential.

Then today, we went to Tracy's house for Katie and Joe's baby shower. Katie is at 8 months, which is funny for me to remember--really, very uncomfortably pregnant, so dying for the baby to come already, but also so much more restful and simple than having a baby. It's a doorway that's hard to look past, from either direction--from there, you can't imagine this side, and from here, you can hardly remember what it was like before.

Mike asked whether bringing a baby to a shower is like wearing white to someone else's wedding. I thought that, too, but everyone seemed to like Adam, and we like hanging around with him, and also with our friends, so hopefully this will work out for the future. I think that three hours at a bustling party (with an amazing cheesy potato breakfast bake of some sort, and fruit salad with cinnamon yogurt on top, yummy!) wiped him out, and he's been sleeping like a rock almost since we got home. I only wish it would last all night, but I have to doubt it. Sigh.

Another doctor's appointment tomorrow! Then a good nap for Mama and Daddy, I think.

More photos in the future, honest. I'm goign to start making a point of documenting things, not just for cuteness, but posterity!

Mopey Pants

Yesterday was a fussy day for Adam, who would only nap on someone's chest. I'm not sure if he was having a problem with gas, or some other slight ailment, or if he was just in a mood, but he appears to be doing better today. I hope the pictures I took of him cozying up on Mike came out all right (we'll see when we try to post them).

It looks like we'll be formula feeding him--we've been working with a lactation consultant, but I don't appear to have much milk at all. It's sad, but after two weeks of working on it and struggling, it's nice to be resolved on a path and going forward with a plan. Plus, Mike and I get to share feeding, which is nice both on a level of getting sleep, and on a level of sharing all the cuddly bonding moments. Mike is the most amazing father--he's completely smitten and thrilled with our little milkmonster. It's pretty amazing.

 

 

Bathtime!

Adam had his first bath today. It was complicated by his tendency to pee on anything that's near him when he's naked, but we made it through intact. You wouldn't have guessed that, though, from the howling he did while we were washing him! As soon as he was wrapped in the towel after, though, he eased into a warm blanket coma.

Yesterday was his first trip to a restaurant--Mr. Crepe in Davis Square. I'm bad with firsts, but so far so good!

Nana, I'm Adam

He're a picture of Adam with his Nana. She's been helping us out a lot just by hanging out with Adam while we catch a nap.