Ahead of the game

So...it's not normal for a 3-week old to be holding up his head on his own, right? Because my baby is HOLDING UP HIS HEAD ON HIS OWN!

We're all a bit freaked out by this over here even though he's been showing signs of having abnormally good muscle development in his neck since he day 1. Still, when I walked into the family room this afternoon and saw him holding his head up for over 30 seconds (completely unassisted) while my dad was playing with him, I couldn't quite believe it.

In other news, Luke had his first bath last night, and while I'm not going to post the pictures (he will be a teenager one day after all) I'll tell you that he did great and didn't cry or scream at all. We could immerse him in water every day of the week as far as he's concerned, that's how much he enjoyed himself. Hopefully he'll continue to enjoy bathtime when it's just him and me rather than him, me, my parents, and J. It's far easier to deal with a squirmy, slippery, screaming baby when you have backup than it is when you're by yourself.

One thing I won't mind at all if he does early? Sleep through the night. He was up every other hour last night and I've felt like death warmed over all day as a result. Poor J had to go to work after that night, though, so he wins for feels-most-like-crap today.

Secret Weapon

Is it just me or have an unusual number of Bush administration officials started resigning since my son was born? Coincidence? I think not.

In related news, J bought Luke the following onesie that will get him fired if Luke wears it to the hospital.



And finally, courtesy of Slashdot's comments section, a joke:

Q: How many Alberto Gonzalezes does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: One, but he does it multiple times because he can't recall doing it before.

Suggestion for pregnant readers

When you have your baby and realize that the only pants you can fit into are still maternity sized (and really, at some point you just start craving pants with a button and zipper) do yourself a favor and get some new pants. In your new size. With a button and a zipper.

My parents are in town this week, and my mom and I took advantage of one of Luke's naps to make a very quick trip to Ross for some non-maternity clothes for me. I'm still pretty far from my pre-pregnancy weight and body shape, but I was DYING for pants that weren't either sweats or demi panel so we went out in search of some cheap regular pairs that I could wear until I fit into my old clothes again. Thirty five dollars and three pairs of pants later I walked out of the store a much happier woman.

So yes, even though I won't be able to wear these clothes for very long, I give two thumbs up to post-partum clothing purchases. Psychologically, it feels very good to know I have some cute clothing options back in my closet.

Never blog about work

Okay, so this is basically rule #1 of blogging. You don't blog about your job unless you're willing to lose said job over the things you write. I've always tried to follow this rule, especially since I started teaching, therefore I won't go into details about what's happening with my job at the moment except to say that hearing "Oh, don't worry about it" after receiving two very disturbing pieces of information this week isn't exactly making me a happy camper today. I love my job. I love teaching, love my students, and really do love my school. That said, I don't love how they're handling my absence at the moment, and I'm more than a little anxious about how things are going to pan out while I'm gone.

Now here's a cute baby picture to make me feel better about not being able to blog about my job.

Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep little baby...

Oh dear, I think we have a boy who's mixing up his nights and his days.

(gulp)

Luke took two long naps today and now here it is, 9:00 at night, and he is wide awake. Not hungry, not fussy, just AWAKE. Awake and needing to be held. Daddy's on snuggle duty at the moment, and as adorable as Luke is when he's awake and happy, I'd really love to see his beautiful blue eyes close so we could go to bed!

Still, who wouldn't stay up all night for this face?



(memo to my son--this is what you should look like at bedtime, okay?)

Harder than it looks

We made a visit to the lactation consultant today. Breastfeeding has been an uphill battle for us over the last 6 days, and when it got to the point where I was bleeding, we decided we needed some help. The good news is that the LC was very helpful and we seem to have located the source of the problem. We're supposed to do some simple exercises with Luke prior to every feeding to help him learn how to properly position his tongue to feed. I'm still worried about how we're going to do long-term, but at least for now I think things will improve.

I never knew just how upsetting and all-consuming it can be to feed a newborn. When we came home from the hospital, Luke really wasn't getting enough to eat. We didn't realize it for several hours, and when we did we had no choice but to give him a couple of bottles. Then the pediatrician told us that he'd lost a bit more weight than she'd like to see (around 11% of his birthweight) and I felt horrible. Intellectually I know that we did the best we possibly could for him on that difficult third day of life. Things have gotten SO much better since then (thank goodness my milk came in quickly), and we know that he's getting enough. The lactation consultant was very reassuring on that point. Still, I spend virtually all day, every day thinking about how much Luke is eating. Is he getting enough? Is he really done with a feeding or is he just getting sleepy because his tummy is starting to fill up? Will he have a long enough nap after this feeding for me to take one?

Breastfeeding is hard. I truly, truly believe that it's the best thing I can be doing for him right now, but I can really understand now why many women give up. It's hard. Very, very hard.

Edited to Add:
We're back from the pediatrician and Luke has gained 6 oz! He needed to gain at least 3 to be back on track weight-wise, so we're pretty happy with 6.

Baby Luke--Day 4

I don't think I ever fully appreciated just how much a child can turn your world upside down until this week. Everything revolves around the needs of this little, tiny being. It's exhausting, but also wonderful. I had no idea.

Luke is doing pretty well for someone who's only 4 days old. We had a really rough day on Sunday because he wasn't getting enough to eat, and while I'm committed to breastfeeding for the forseeable future, it was such a relief to know that he wasn't going to go hungry or get dehydrated as long as we supplemented with formula. Things really turned around early Monday morning when my milk came in, and we've been doing very well since then. He was circumcized today (which could really be a post in and of itself, but just thinking about the three hours we spent at the pediatric clinic this morning is making me hyperventilate again, so I'll save that one for another day) and we have yet another broken swamp cooler, so keeping him comfortable has been top priority. It's also been harder than it probably should be, but we're doing our best.

Vital stats--8 lbs 2 oz at birth, 7 lbs. 5 oz. at his well-child visit today. It's a bit more weight loss than our pediatrician wants to see, so we're going back in (*shudder*) on Friday to have another weight check. I'm pretty sure Sunday's setbacks are to blame, but I'm glad that our ped is keeping on top of things and making sure that he starts gaining again. We also got his official length, which was missing from the paperwork we got at discharge. He's 19.5 inches, which puts him near the top of the charts. Just looking at his feet (he's definitely got Juan's Hobbit feet) you can tell that this kid is going to be tall.

Likes: the Baby Papasan, Mama, Daddy, FOOD, and snuggles

Dislikes: the heat, spitting up, getting hungry, and not being able to chew on his fists at all times

And finally, a few more pictures--I may not be the most impartial judge here, but I think he's the cutest baby ever.


Playing with Daddy


Snuggles with Mama in the hospital



Coming home for the first time!

Introducing...

Lucas John, born 9:11 pm on August 10, 2007. 8 lbs, 2 oz, and absolutely beautiful.



More to come soon!

Watch as I distract you with a cute cat story

No baby yet, but we have had some interesting goings-on at our house lately that might at least distract everyone from the fact that this kid is now six (SIX!) days overdue.

Last week Codi and Arcadia decided to go on a rampage. One night they were fine, and the next they were holy terror kitties. They raced around our bedroom at 2:00 am (repeatedly using the bed we were sleeping in as a jumping-off point, of course), attacked each other, attacked US if we weren't actively petting them, and harassed the dog (who didn't really know what to do--he's usually the one chasing them) until he ran into his crate just to get away. In short, KITTIES FROM HELL replaced our normally sweet, cuddly girls.

J and I chalked it up to the full moon or possibly the changing weather. Animals are supposed to be sensitive to both, so we figured that it was just one of those weird cat phases that would pass. It did, however, strike me as odd that the main instigator of the chaos was Codi. For those of you who haven't met our cats in person (or who don't remember my string of Arcadia-centric posts last year) Codi is the calm one. She's the good cat who never acts out, even when she's deathly ill and really should be trying to get our attention in any way possible. Codi just doesn't DO things like bite your feet while you're trying to sleep or attempt to chase the dog.

In any case, after around 24 hours of kitty mayhem, they seemed to calm down. They started crying whenever they saw me, though, which is usually a sign that they're out of food. I checked the hidden nook upstairs where we keep their dishes, and sure enough there wasn't a speck of food left. Piggy kitties had gone through two heaping bowls in less than 48 hours, which was almost a new record for them. When I went to pick up the bowls to refill them, though, I noticed something was in their water bowl. It was small, brown, and had clearly been dropped in there by a cat who couldn't decide if she wanted to play or have a drink.

When I pulled the object out, I immediately realized exactly why my girls had been such holy terrors for the last day. You see, it wasn't just any cat toy they had put in their (full) water bowl. Oh no, it was a catnip stuffed bear.

Catnip stuffed toy in a bowl of water. Picture that for a moment. Then picture the water I poured out of said bowl.

It was BROWN, ladies and gentlemen. Once the water had soaked through the bear, the catnip had steeped in the water creating a kind of tea that Codi and Arcadia had been drinking for at least a day. At some point it clearly got too strong for them, so they switched to the downstairs water bowls (which probably explains why their behavior normalized) but still. They were drinking CATNIP TEA and were high as kites until they switched to the fresh water!

In any case, I'm now keeping a very close eye on all of their catnip toys and making sure to check the bowl at least once a day. I think they learned their lesson--neither of them has played with that particular bear since it happened--but you never know.

Okay, OW!

I think I overdid it today.

In an effort to trick my body into going into labor, I've made all kinds of elaborate plans for the next seven days. Today I lugged all off the school supplies I bought over the weekend to my classroom in the hopes of getting the boxes that were already there unpacked. The administration moved me to a different room last weekend (at my request--I didn't want to be in the stinky hallway anymore) so I also needed to check out the furniture situation in my new digs.

Three hours later my room looks great (seriously, it rocks) but my back, pelvis, and feet are KILLING ME. I don't think I've been this sore since our move last year.

Baby is kicking away, so I know that he's doing well, but I feel like crap. It's all I could do to lift my foot from the gas to the brake while I was driving home, and now I've collapsed into a giant, moaning heap on the couch. Think I could train Jasper to get me a snack from the fridge?

Tomorrow is supposed to be devoted to finishing up some lesson planning and writing out the calendar for my long-term sub, and then I have a meeting with said sub on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday--makeup shopping. Then I'm going to do some serious art shopping on Thursday (after 13 months, J and I finally hung up some pictures yesterday and now I'm on a roll) followed by cooking/baking for post-baby meals on Friday. After today, though, sitting in my recliner and knitting for the next week sounds pretty good!

Of course, I'm really hoping that all of my activity will convince my body to just go into labor already, and I reserve the right to be seriously ticked off if it doesn't work.

No baby, but hey look at what I found at Target!

My 40 week appointment wasn't much fun. I still haven't made any progress whatsoever in spite of the fact that the baby's head is as far down as it can come. He's clearly ready, but my body has just decided that it would really rather stay pregnant forever, thankyouverymuch. The induction that I had assumed would be scheduled for late next week isn't going to be until the 13th thanks to a conference my doctor has to attend in DC. The news that I very possibly may have to stay pregnant for another 10 days (and that saying that my induction will be on the 13th is a bit disingenuous since I'll just go in that night to start Cervadil before really hitting the Pitocin hard the next morning) did not sit very well with me. In fact, I actually started crying a bit. So, it's no wonder that I left the hospital in a rather foul mood, which was compounded by the fact that we had even more rainstorms pass through yesterday.

I woke up in a slightly better mood this morning, though, so J and I went out for breakfast. Afterwards we headed to Target since the 4 Tums I had left in my last bottle clearly weren't going to be enough to sustain me for the next 9+ days. Once there, though, we hit the mother load. SCHOOL SUPPLY SALE!!! By "sale" I mean $.20 glue sticks, scissors, Crayola markers and crayons, 10 for $1 packs of spiral notebooks, etc... In other words, every teacher's wish come true. I loaded up a cart with the best of the goodies, and we headed over to the home improvement section to buy a thingamajig for an electronics project Juan is working on.

Before we got there, though, we glanced at the home decor department and found THE PERFECT RUG. We've been searching high and low for THE PERFECT RUG since we moved into our house last summer and realized that hardwood floors like ours need rugs. Pretty rugs. PERFECT rugs. We're too picky for our own good, though, because everything we saw had something wrong with it. This one had too much green, that one was too thin, and the one over there cost $700. THE PERFECT RUG, however, is, well, perfect. It's red and dark orange, looks fantastic with our redwood baseboards, and even compliments my armchair, which is may be the hardest piece of furniture in the world to match something with. It was also less than $100, making it THE PERFECT RUG.

Jasper thinks that it's Christmas morning or something, he's that happy about the rug (why? Who knows.) and I must say that getting all of the supplies my classroom will need for the next year has made me a very happy camper. I'm still not thrilled by the thought of staying pregnant for another week and a half (not to mention the though of a lengthy induction) but today's finds have certainly perked up my mood. Never discount the benefits of retail therapy, my friends. Never.

EDD

Well, it's here. My due date. Apparently nobody forwarded that memo to the baby, though, because he seems to be perfectly content to stay right where he is.

Actually, in spite of the fact that I may or may not have promised to give him lots and lots of presents if he decides that today is a good day to have a birthday, I'm okay if he just hangs out for a little longer. We just had the worst rainstorm of the season (it's starting to slow down now) and many of the roads between our house and the hospital aren't in great shape.

That said, we're serving him an eviction notice at my appointment tomorrow. My doctor doesn't want me to go much past 40 weeks, so we'll schedule an induction for sometime next week, though hopefully I'll go into labor on my own before then.

I know I've said it before, but I just can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone by. A year ago we were just starting to work with the amazing Dr. M, and now I'm getting ready to have a baby. Un-freaking-believable.