Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Modern Library Classics)
Never read it. And now's probably a horrible time to start it :)
Tracy Hogg: Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby
Anothing suggestion from parents I like...
James Bradley: Flyboys: A True Story of Courage
Felix likes the true historical stories.
A few of my parent's friends have been extolling the virtues of the baby-daddy nap to Felix. The directions are simple: get a baby and go take a nap together. Maybe having a baby on you makes your nap more restful? Maybe every nap is better because you are so sleep deprived? Well, no matter-- this is the first time I caught them at it. And I thought it was pretty cute.
When Felix left for a business trip on Tuesday, I decided I wasn't quite ready to be alone with Anders for the night. So, I moved in with my parents for two days; Mom made it easy because she put a crib and changing table and rocking chair in my old bedroom. Dad proclaims that they have more baby junk around than when I was an infant.
The wonderful thing about staying in Palo Alto is there are so many people who want to get some good Anders-time. Like Diana, Felix's sister, holding Anders after I'd just fed him. From the look on his face you might think I gave him a shot of Everclear, but no-- he's still just on milk :)
So between my family and Felix's, I got to feel like human for a few days (saw a few friends for coffee, got a mani/pedi), rather than just a walking juice box :)
...we like the bath :)
A lot of people have been telling me they are impressed with how much I've been blogging. Well, yesterday was Felix's first day back at work, and notice how I didn't blog. Anders wanted to be held or nursing between the hours of 10am and 7pm. Yes, all of those hours. Well, he actually did take two 20 minute naps. I thought I might die. Or that my aching arms might fall off. Or both.
The picture above is him sleeping this morning. Yay, sleep. And I totally risked waking him up by taking that photo, which may be one of the stupidest things I've done since he's been born. Oops.
Many moons ago, we got invited to the wedding of our friends, Alex and Lauren, that would take place on June 28th. At the time, I thought Anders would be around a month old, and that it would be a great time to take our first night out as a couple, sans kid. I arranged for my mom and dad to babysit before Anders was even born, and as I became due and then, overdue, I kept saying to myself that we still would make the wedding. And then the reality of the situation became that we were going to have to leave our two week old.
No, I'm not trying to be dramatic in this picture; my dad actually caught me in a moment of "shushing" Anders. Before we left, I was trying to get him to nap while running around the condo in my heels doing last minute things like showing my mom how to screw on the bottle nipple and writing down the pediatrician's number. And I ended up having to hand-off Anders to my dad:
I think this may be the first time that Dad held him!
We left the house at 5:10 for a 5:30 wedding with Felix remarking "I wonder if this is going to be a Chinese wedding, or an American wedding." This meant he wondered if the wedding was going to start on-time (American) or 1 hour late (Chinese). Lauren and Alex are both American (though, um, so are most of the Chinese people we know...), but I think they both minored in East Asian Studies, so the jury was still out ;)
The wedding started on-time and was gorgeous, it was in a beautiful Episcopal Church,...and I have no pictures. Though, I do have a picture of our friends we sat next to at dinner:
That's Stephanie and Keoni. We were just at their wedding down in Pebble Beach last year. Seems like forever ago and just yesterday. Keoni and Felix got in a long conversation about tying Anders' right arm behind his back so that he'll become a left-handed pitcher. Or maybe tying his right arm behind his back for a few years, and then his left for a few years so he'll become ambidextrous. Sounds great, guys...
Meanwhile, back on the home front, Anders took his first bottle:
I was stressing about this event all evening because if he didn't take the bottle, we would have to come right home. But when I called home (yes, for the third time during the wedding...), he had just woken up and slurped the thing down in 10 minutes. Well, with how Felix and I love food, it isn't a surprise that he's a good eater.
Well, we did have to leave the wedding early, but we made it through dinner (though, my cellphone was on vibrate in my lap in case my parents called...) and had a lot of fun. And he seemed pretty happy when we got home.
So, all in all, we were gone from him for about 5 hours. Pretty impressive, huh?
Look who has a belly button! We are so proud!
Is it odd to be proud of everything our son does? I mean, everything-- every burp, gurgle, poop, yawn, stretch and facial expression. Especially facial expressions-- Felix and I can amuse each other all evening by imitating Anders' newest facial expression. Or acting out the five ways he scrunches up his face before he bursts out screaming because he's starving and no one ever feeds him (please feel my sarcasm radiating out your computer). And now, even though he had nothing to do with it, we are proud that his cord fell off (which was kinda scary and a tad gross anyway) and he has a cute little belly button :)
Anders and I relaxing this afternoon. Bit of a rough day. No time to write...
Just a note:
When and if you visit us-- don't leave without signing our guestbook! We've had too many visitors who I let get away without signing it, and I want to keep a log so I can look back at everybody who has come by!
Note to self: When traveling alone with Anders, remember to not only bring an extra change of clothing for him, but for yourself...tops AND bottoms...
Today was my first solo outing with Anders. To the pediatrician. He's already been twice-- he's a little jaundiced, so he's being watched.
Anyway, I knew he would be weighed so I didn't feed him before our visit because I wanted a true weight. This was my first mistake; he was crying from the moment I woke him in his crib to put him in the car seat. So, there is this ancient wives' tale that you leak milk when your baby cries. Guess what? It's not a wives' tale. Who knew? Not me, apparently-- because my shirt was already wet as I entered the doctor's office. Attractive. And yes, I was wearing nursing pads. So I check in and beg for an exam room to nurse in (though he's weighed first, screaming the whole time) and finally get Anders to stop crying. Things are going pretty well until I realize there is no clock in the room to time what I'm doing. So I kinda guesstimate.
I'm not very good at guesstimating.
Our pediatrician comes in and I chat with her, all the while nursing. Before leaving she says that she wants a weight on Anders after he's done feeding. I guess he has another 5-10 minutes to go.
That was my second mistake. Should've stopped then.
I nurse another 5-10 and then try to burp him. No burp. So, I lay him back down on my lap and all of a sudden a gush of spit-up comes out of this baby. It was almost too much to be called spit-up. Many might call it barf. I had baby barf pooling in my skirt, running down my leg, creating a slippery goo hazard on the floor.
And, of course, all over my baby.
But hey, when we weighed him again, he had gained three ounces, so it didn't all come up. yay.
The above picture was taken when we got home. Everyone was a little grumpy. Now, I'm sure the perfect ending to this story would be that Anders also had a diaper blowout. Luckily, I was spared. Today. Probably won't be so lucky next time.
But I might invest in a watch ;)
I'm finding this rooting reflex pretty amazing and cute on newborns-- Anders shakes his head and opens his mouth with almost a hopeful look on his face while he tries to find breasts on everything-- Felix's shoulder, my arm, and above-- he's trying to find them on our friend Aaron.
Sorry little dude.
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