Baby Update
- She crawls quite well now. Her favorite things to crawl towards and mess with are HRH's toys & his water bowl. She's HRH's #1 fan. All she needs to do is spot him in the room and this happy squeal comes out of her that's just priceless.
- She can pull herself up to standing and sit back down readily. Sometimes, she'll stand for 10 or 15 minutes. It's pretty cool. She's not totally steady on her feet but she is standing.
- She loves walking with adult assistance. She does what I call the Frankenstein walk since she's not bending her knees as she steps and she's wobbly.
- She has 3 front teeth.
- She loves to eat. She'll try anything & everything. She's eating cereal and baby food in addition to formula. We've started giving her teething biscuits to keep her busy when we're eating. Last week we gave her a little fish to try. And some mushrooms and green peas. All eaten without issue. A few days ago she had cream of broccoli soup. Cheerio's are always welcome. She loves meatloaf. Spat out french fries & potato chips. (Good for her!!! Let her decide to clog up her own arteries NOT her crummy parents!)
Labels: Baby, Parenthood, Update
Things I've learned
Things I've learned as a new parent:
- Sleep is your freind. I used to hate sleep. It got in the way of me doing things, having fun, hanging out. It was easy for me to think that way when I was getting enough sleep. Now that I don't... Sleep is my friend.
- Plenty of planning and scheduling need to go into any attempt to get anywhere with the baby. packing bottles, checking the baby bag, packing a change of clothes.
- Set my expectations very low regarding how many errands I can run with the baby is tow. She's got her own idea when it's time to go home.
Labels: Baby, Family, Life, Parenthood, Update
Happy New Year
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!OK. So I'm a few days late. But the sentiment still holds: I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and you got lots of good stuff. I also hope this year goes great for you.
Baby's first Christmas was cool. Everybody was busy fussing over her and she was eating it up. My sister came in for an extended stay to soak up as much baby time as she could. I took a few extra days off and we spent it all recovering from colds....I wish we were all well then we would have been out a bit more. As it was, we stayed in a lot coughing, hacking, and blowing noses. Not great but we were together. We are all on the mend eventhough the baby still sounds congested. Labels: Baby, Family, Holiday, Update
Update
Things are hectic but going well.I can't belive the baby is 6 months old! The baby is growing and awesome. She's 90th percentile for length and 95th percentile for weight. So she's doing well considering the rough start she had 6 months ago.
She started rolling over on her belly and back onto her back a few weeks ago. She's also able to sit up for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. She can't get to a seated position without help, but once sitting she's there.
Nothing major to us grown ups but for a baby that's a big deal.
HRH is doing OK.My wife is doing OK. A few painting jobs here and there. It's slowed down a bit due to the economy AND the holidays. No one wants their house in mid project for the holidays.Labels: Baby, Family, HRH
Happy Thanksgiving
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. This was baby's first Thanksgiving so it was special for us since she's what we are most thankful for this year. We had my dad over along with some friends and their kids. It was a good time. We brined a turkey overnight and roasted it up nice & brown. In addition to the salt & sugar in the brine solution, we added sage, thyme, and parsley from our garden. The turkey turned out very moist and flavorful. We also made stuffing Giada style. It totally rocked! I highly recommend this stuffing. And of course we had mashed potatoes. I also sauteed some broccoli and mushrooms to give us more veggies. 1 friend brought pumpkin pie and a gingerbread cake topped with roasted pears. Someone else brought salad. We had a feast and left overs galore!!!Labels: Baby, Family, food, Friends, Holiday, Parenthood, Update
Sorry for not posting for so L-O-N-G
Sorry for not posting for such a L-O-N-G time.People warned me a baby would change my life. They said she's going to eat up all of your time. You won't have any time for yourself. Well, they were right. Baby's do require a lot of attention. It's no fault of theirs. They enter the world totally dependent on you for everything. (Food, shelter, warmth, clothing, bathing, etc...) Soooo, guess what. She's taken up all of my time & attention. I haven't had much free time. She was just at the pediatrician's last week. She's 4 months old and she's 90% for length and 80% for weight so she's in the good & healthy range!!!But it's all good. It's all worth it when she looks at me and flashes that million dollar toothless smile of hers. No matter how tired we are OR how fussy she's been. 1 smile from her and I'm reminded it's all worth it. In addition to baby, work has changed a bit for me. It got busy a few months ago. Then it leveled off & slowed down. I was in Houston a few weeks ago helping the Houston office get back up & running due to Hurricane Ike. (I'm actually back in Houston right now. More help for them...) Last week I was offered a new job/project to work on. It's going to be at least 14 to 16 months. It will invovle all the North American locations. It's going to be big & involved. I've accepted the job since I've really needed a change for quite a while. The summer came and went. It's really a sleep deprived blur. It's funny how a new born puts things into prespective and you can easily differentiate the "need to do" from the "nice to do" chores/tasks. Many things got put to a lower priority. The lawn & garden survived. None of the cars fell apart because they didn't get washed or waxed. The garage didn't become a total dumping ground for everything. The walkways & patio didn't fall apart becasue I didn't weather seal them this year.Due to the baby, we ended up getting a home equity loan and spending the money on: A new car for my wife that was child seat friendly, a new roof, a new furnace, and a new front door. All sorts of home related things. I would have thought the loan would make me crazy & nervous with the economy the way it is but I actually feel better since I'd been fretting about the roof AND the furnace AND the front door for the last 4 or 5 years. I actually feel less stress now. All of those things are taken care. I'm a worrier so it was nice to get rid of those big ticket items from the list. So yeah, the loan gave me the chance to get things taken care of and off "the list". I've been pretty good about NOT adding anything to the list of worries. I'm happier and less stressed for it. HRH had to go through about a month/ month and a half adjustment to not being the center of attention. But he's OK with the new arrangement now. I wish we would have had more time/energy to take him out for hikes this summer but it just didn't happen. We did manage to take the family out a few weeks back. We went up to Morraine State Park and spent the afternoon hiking. It was great, HRH ran around like a little maniac. The baby soaked everything in. My wife and I enjoyed the outdoors and watching the baby's reaction to things. And HRH of course. My wife is doing well. The initial sleep deprivation is starting to go away now that the baby is sleeping through the night. She's even had a few painting jobs the past few weeks. So it's a nice change for her to get out of the house and intereact with adults.Labels: Baby, Family, travel, Update, Work
Update on my life as I know it
Sorry it's been a l-o-n-g time since I posted. But it's been a challenge.
We're all adjusting to the new "normal". I knew it was going to be different and a challenge but I had no idea how different and how challenging.
For me this is much like going from being single to being married. An adjustment period needed to happen. My actions and thoughts needed to change. It took me a while to make that transition from single to married since I'd been single for a l-o-n-g time. I'd gotten used to doing things my way. Coming and going as I pleased. Not taking anyone else's needs and desires into account. Now to go from being a couple to being parents is a new adjustment.
The biggest change for me was the prolonged lack of sleep. Pre-baby, a few days of less than normal amounts of sleep could be caught up on the weekends. No big deal. In fact I hated sleep since it got in the way of me doing things. Post baby, the sleep interruptions happen every night and there's no getting caught up. It's gotten better in the last week or so. But the first month and a half were really tough. I was a zombie. The baby is sleeping from about 10:30 to 3:30 - 4 ish. AND she's in her room now instead of in the bassinet in our room. Both of these developments have helped with my sleep deficit.
My wife is doing well. She's really taken to motherhood. She's the best. Always a smile and kind word to the baby even though she's gotten no sleep. Patient even when the baby has totally melted down.
HRH has taken the longest to adjust. He's gone from king-o-the-roost to third string quarterback. Initially he wanted to lick & lick & lick. Sniff & sniff & sniff. We couldn't let him do that since she was so small and he's very aggressive with his licking & sniffing. Slowly we let him get his sniffing & licking in. I'm sure it's not as much as he'd like but.... We still don't leave the 2 of them unattended. We're not totally sure of his intentions quite yet. I'm sure he's jealous and a bit mad that he doesn't get nearly as much attention as he's used to. Oh well, he's got to adjust too.Labels: Baby, Family, HRH, Parenthood, Update
Life as I know it...
has changed.No more getting in the car and running off. It's now a choreographed process of checking on baby's diaper, working around her feeding schedule OR packing a bottle, checking the contents of the baby bag (diapers, change of clothes, bottles, blanket, wipes), strapping her to the baby seat, AND then we go.There's also not as much "me time". Maybe this will change when she gets a little older but right now there's not much time for me to hang out, kill monsters on the PC, surf the web, cruise around in the Miata, or watch TV. I don't mind. I knew what I was getting into. I knew I would not have much time for me. I knew it'd be all about baby. I think it is to my advantage I became a parent later versus in my 20's or 30's. If I'd been a dad sooner I might have resented the baby for cutting into "me time".She's just so cool to watch. Sometimes I catch myself watching her in endless facination. Such small perfectly formed feet & hands. Complete with teeny tiny nails that need to be trimmed. And when she smiles!! Priceless!! It's the best!Labels: Baby, Life
More words about parenthood
I heard all of these before the baby was born:
- Goodbye sleep!!!
- You'd better get as much sleep as you can before she comes!
- It's a highlight of my life.
- 99.999% great. .001% bad.
Labels: Baby
Chodwery Baby update
A few days ago, my beautiful baby girl was born.7 pounds 5 ounces, 20 inches long. It was amazing helping/watching her be born. It's among the neatest things I've ever experienced. Definitely a highlight of my life.The baby needed to spend a day in the hospital because she was jaundiced. They were able to hydrate her and lower her bilirubin to an acceptable level for her to come home. It's been an exhausting, harrowing couple of days for us. My wife is recovering fairly well. She's upset and getting frustrated that her milk hasn't fully come in yet. So we need to feed the baby a combination of formula and milk. She's also a little more emotional than usual. I guess this is a side effect of her hormones being knocked all over the place.Labels: Baby, Health
Words regarding being a parent
Once I started telling people my wife was pregnant, I started getting unsolicited advice and comments. I thought I'd list some of the comments:- Life as you know it will end.
- Your life will change forever.
- It's a life changing event.
- It's the best thing that has happened in my life.
- You 2 will never be able to just run off anymore.
- No more Miata. Hello mini-van!
Labels: Baby
Baby Update
Well it's official. The OB/GYN said the baby is now full term and could come "At any time."The "At any time" part really hit me hard. I'm going to be a dad sooner rather than later. Holy crap! That statement got the sweat going. I'm doing relatively OK with it. I'm not scared shitless about fatherhood anymore. I'm more anxious for her to get here than anything. I want her and my wife to get through the birthing process healthy.
No more goofing around, it's showtime!!!Labels: Baby, Family
37 weeks and counting
Baby Chowder is at 37 weeks and counting. She's considered full term now and could come at any time according to the OB/GYN. The OB/GYN is happy with the 2 cm dialation and 75% efacing (sp). My wife is still tired and gets leg cramps. Although the cramps are a bit more intermittent now.Labels: Baby, HC, Health
Baby update
We had a sonogram done last week. The OB/GYN was concerned about the baby's size.Well the good news is she's at the 45 percentile for size and is normal for everything else. The OB/GYN thought she was a good size. His view is: You really don't want to try to push out someone too big. It's a lot harder and could hurt a bit more. It makes sense. This is 1 time it's good to be average or slightly below average.Just a few more weeks to go. My wife is ready for the baby to be born. She's uncomfortable trying to move around. It's hard to get out of a chair. Leg cramps. Baby kicking. Tired all the time.Me. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to baby chowdergirl. Not too nervous anymore since everyone has been so supportive. We're still working on a name. There are a few names on the list we like but not 1 that's "The one". Labels: Baby, Health
Baby update
Last weekend was parental education weekend.
Saturday was spent at a 1 day Lamaze marathon class. We learned everything you wanted to know about childbirth but were too frightened to ask. I wish we could have started the classes sooner so we could have taken the 4 2 hour sessions instead but the class schedules didn’t work out for us. I learned how I could be helpful while my wife was in labor. That was good information since all I know about childbirth is from TV and the movies. (And that stuff was useless.)With a fresh dose of motivation, we went out Sunday morning to pick up some more baby items since she could arrive “any moment” now. (That was 1 of the things I learned in Lamaze class.) Breast Feeding/Lactation class was in the afternoon. Again, I learned more about breast feeding/lactation than I knew I needed to know. I also learned I could be of assistance. I always thought I was pretty much out of the loop since my breasts are non-functioning display models. But apparently I can help make sure the baby’s got a good latch on and in the proper position.Labels: Baby
What does a Chowderhead do on his vacation?
He works on his lawn & garden. Weed & feed the lawn. Turn over the flower beds and put down 4 cubic yards of mushroom manure. Yes, it’s THAT time of year again. We’ve learned the mushroom manure not only helps to feed the plants, replenish the nutrients in the soil, insulate the plants from temperature swings, but it also helps to break up the hard clay soil that was my flower beds. We’ve been using mushroom manure for the flower beds for 4 or 5 years and they are so much easier to turn over now versus then. In the past I might get 1 or 2 beds turned over and I was exhausted. (I had gotten a work out.) This year turning over all the beds was pretty quick & easy. Yes, it was still a few hours worth of work but it was done in a few hours versus a day & a half. I find gardening to be a good stress reliever. Yes it's work but gardening allows me to get out of the office and not think about my usual occupation. He gets a new top for his Miata. I love the new top. The glass window really increased the clarity and visibility out the rear window. People with regular cars don’t think about their rear windows much. But the original plastic rear window was starting to get cloudy, yellow and wrinkled. All of this reduced visibility making it harder to park the car & a bit more dangerous. Something else people that don’t have convertibles don’t know or think about: shrinkage. Convertible tops invariably shrink due to age, wear & tear, and exposure to the elements. Shrinkage isn’t a problem unless it rains. We live in Pittsburgh, it rains…He works on his baby girl’s room. We bought a glider/rocker and a crib. I assembled and placed the crib. He takes his wife to a surprise baby shower. Her gal pals called me months ago to get names & contact information for anyone they and I thought should be invited to a baby shower. Since we both come from small families her friends took it upon themselves to throw her a baby shower. They did an awesome job. The food was good, the games were fun, and most importantly so many people came to celebrate with my wife. She had a great time. She was floored by the number of people who came. And the distances some of the attendees drove to get to the shower. We did manage to squeeze in a few nice dinners that week.Labels: Baby, house, Miata, Update
Updates
I love the new top on the Miata. It looks nice and I can see clearly out the rear window. The old rear window was plastic and it was starting to yellow and distort what you saw. I no longer need to worry about rain getting into the passenger compartment nor the seams in the top.The baby room is coming along: We purchased a baby glider/rocker and placed it in the room. We purchased, assembled, and placed a baby crib so it definitely is a baby's room now!!! The walls have been washed in preparation for painting.Labels: Baby, Miata
Baby update
31 weeks and counting!! All is well with baby and mother. New carpet has been laid in the baby's room, all the non-baby furniture has been moved/donated.The end of June will be here sooner than I think.....Labels: Baby, HC, Health
Sorry for the lack of posts...
I'm sorry for the lack of posts. LIFE has been very busy with the baby on the way, getting the house ready for said baby, work, spring on the way so the garden will need attention, etc, etc, etc...So here's a quick update on Chowderhead's world:- I'm putting the finishing touches on the project I've been working on for the past year. The feeling of accomplishment is nice BUT I am ready to move on. I'm through with it!!
- We’ve been working on the game room: We painted, installed new light fixtures, and put in new carpeting 2 years ago. We bought a ventless fireplace, new bar, and storage chest last year. We didn’t see any sofa’s or entertainment centers we liked so we held off on those items. Until now. We found furniture we liked and now it’s in our game room. The room is almost complete. (As close to complete as we're going to get at least) There are just a few things that need to happen: I need to transfer my 1,000,000 CD collection into the storage units we purchased and secure them to the wall. We need new window treatments. Those old beat-up, nasty, vertical blinds have to go. We wanted to get the game room in order before continuing with the baby room.
- We’ve sold off the full size bed that was in the designated baby room. We need to move a family heirloom trunk somewhere. We need to get rid of/move a sewing machine that belonged to my wife’s grandmother and a small end table. New carpet is a must. It’s the last room in the house that has not been re-carpeted in the 11 years I’ve owned the place. Once we figure out where the crib & etc are going to be placed, my wife is then going to paint birds & animals on the walls. It'll be very cool once she's done with it.
- HRH is doing OK. Now that all the critters are coming out of hiding, he’s barking up a storm. It got so bad that we went to Petco the other night & bought a citronella anti-barking collar. The collar has a microphone & citronella spray pump on it. When HRH barks, the microphone picks it up, and he gets sprayed in the face with citronella spray. According to the marketing info it’s quite effective at training dogs out of barking AND it's more humane than shock collars. (J’s sister had a Jack Russell and this collar worked like a charm on him.) My wife (the 1 who wanted a dog and LOVES HRH) said “Let’s go. Right now!!!” because she was ready to kill HRH the other night. He kept finding things to bark at. So between the lack of sleep and the hormonal rage she was felling he just missed getting killed…..
- We went to the Byham Theater a few weeks ago and saw a live taping of the NPR show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell me.." It was a very entertaining night. The people on that show are very witty and quick thinkers. It was interesting to see how they put a radio program together. The radio shows always sound so polished on the air but to see the behind the scenes work involved gave me a new appreciation of "what" is involved to make it sound so smooth.
- I'm itching for Miata season. 10 days & counting down!!!
- And the best for last: We saw the OB/GYN yesterday morning and everything is OK. 26 weeks and counting!!! The baby’s heartbeat sounds good & strong. You go baby girl!!!!
Labels: Baby, Family, Health, house, HRH, jobs, Update
22 weeks and counting
We made a routine visit to the OB/GYN today and everything is OK with the baby. 22 weeks and counting!!Labels: Baby, Family, HC, Health, Update
