So, the results of the survey that we'd posted early last month. We ended up with 18 guesses, which included some serious, some goofy ... and two after the fact. Nice work, you know who you are. To wit, though, the results:
1. As it turns out, most of you weren't fooled about the gender. About 2/3 of you guessed that Peanut would be a boy.
2. On the due date however, we weren't the only ones who waited longer than we thought. All but 3 of you (subtracting the post facto guesses) thought Peanut would arrive before May 25.
3. Nobody got the weight right who guessed before the birth, and only one of the two people who guessed afterwards did! Most people thought Peanut would be between 7 and 8 lbs., and frankly, so did we.
4. There were three categories of guesses for names: the Serious, the Founders, and the Downright Outrageous.
First, the Serious. These included boys names such as: William, Timothy Delbert, Matthew Alexander, James Paul, Benjamin Thomas, and girls names such as Molly and Sarah (though we'd decided not to go the Junior route).
Second, the Founders: We had Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Monroe (??), and Abigail Adams.
And the Downright Outrageous, mostly from my parents. We'd already mentioned the boy named Crystal Alexis, and my mother added Meredith Noel (hint: she loves Christmas). And my grandmother guessed Humperdinck, which I can only hope was a joke.
But one person, and one person only, nailed it on the head. Sarah swears she never mentioned the name Nicholas, but somehow Stacy came up with it. And so she wins the survey/quiz. And for that her prize is four nights on our couch with a screaming baby.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Random Notes
Now that I'm feeling a little more human, I have the energy to fill you all in on some of the adventures in Nicholas-land.
So far Nicholas has only had sponge baths, which he despises. However, he absolutely loves the part at the end where instead of being wiped down with a wet washcloth he gets to have water poured over his head to wash his hair. He goes from screaming bloody murder to being wide-eyed and content immediately. This makes me think that once he can start taking real baths (in the next week, once the umbilical cord falls off), he will have a blast.
We have now taken two walks. Luckily my parents saved the Snugli they had when Peter and I were little and mom brought it up when Nicholas was in his insisting to be held to sleep mode (you know, way back in a different time--three days ago). On our walk last night it was already dusk and Nicholas just curled in close to Joe and slept. Today we went out around noon and he looked stunned and confused for most of the time. We stayed in the shade, but even still he was taken aback by the intensity of sunlight, and just in general didn't seem to know quite what to make of this world outside our apartment. And, as an added bonus, not only did I get outside, but in our quest to stay in the shade we walked in the grass around our building rather than out into the subdivisions, discovering gardens we didn't know existed literally in our own backyard.
We realized that with all the time he spends curled up close against someone, Nicholas was getting overheated, so have switched from one-piece sleepers with feet and long sleeves to short-sleeved onesies for daily use. We can then add a hat and either his sleep sack or pants and socks when we set him down to sleep. It is amazing how much older he looks in these outfits. (I have added a couple pictures from today, if you're curious.)
This morning Nicholas had some sustained playtime for the first time in a couple days (with yesterday's fussing and Monday's crazy sleeping he didn't really play) and it is the absolute best thing in the world. Today when we had him on his stomach he kept pulling his knees up into pseudo-crawling position and trying to push off with his knees and feet, only to have them slide out from under him because he wasn't strong enough to push his torso forward without aid from his arms. He was getting so frustrated that I put my hands behind his feet and he pushed off of them, propelling himself forward. It was really cool to watch. (We didn't record the first time, but he did something similar, although with less forward motion, a little later and that video is in the Gallery.) Given that he is still many many many months away from crawling, I'm not quite sure what he was actually trying to do (or more likely, that he was actually intentionally doing anything other than wriggling), but it was fun to have the little glimpse of the older baby. It is so easy to get discouraged when it seems that all we do is feed him and hope desperately for him to sleep, but these moments of playtime are the perfect medicine. Joe keeps trying to remind me that as time goes on they will come more frequently, in effect that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
So far Nicholas has only had sponge baths, which he despises. However, he absolutely loves the part at the end where instead of being wiped down with a wet washcloth he gets to have water poured over his head to wash his hair. He goes from screaming bloody murder to being wide-eyed and content immediately. This makes me think that once he can start taking real baths (in the next week, once the umbilical cord falls off), he will have a blast.
We have now taken two walks. Luckily my parents saved the Snugli they had when Peter and I were little and mom brought it up when Nicholas was in his insisting to be held to sleep mode (you know, way back in a different time--three days ago). On our walk last night it was already dusk and Nicholas just curled in close to Joe and slept. Today we went out around noon and he looked stunned and confused for most of the time. We stayed in the shade, but even still he was taken aback by the intensity of sunlight, and just in general didn't seem to know quite what to make of this world outside our apartment. And, as an added bonus, not only did I get outside, but in our quest to stay in the shade we walked in the grass around our building rather than out into the subdivisions, discovering gardens we didn't know existed literally in our own backyard.
We realized that with all the time he spends curled up close against someone, Nicholas was getting overheated, so have switched from one-piece sleepers with feet and long sleeves to short-sleeved onesies for daily use. We can then add a hat and either his sleep sack or pants and socks when we set him down to sleep. It is amazing how much older he looks in these outfits. (I have added a couple pictures from today, if you're curious.)
This morning Nicholas had some sustained playtime for the first time in a couple days (with yesterday's fussing and Monday's crazy sleeping he didn't really play) and it is the absolute best thing in the world. Today when we had him on his stomach he kept pulling his knees up into pseudo-crawling position and trying to push off with his knees and feet, only to have them slide out from under him because he wasn't strong enough to push his torso forward without aid from his arms. He was getting so frustrated that I put my hands behind his feet and he pushed off of them, propelling himself forward. It was really cool to watch. (We didn't record the first time, but he did something similar, although with less forward motion, a little later and that video is in the Gallery.) Given that he is still many many many months away from crawling, I'm not quite sure what he was actually trying to do (or more likely, that he was actually intentionally doing anything other than wriggling), but it was fun to have the little glimpse of the older baby. It is so easy to get discouraged when it seems that all we do is feed him and hope desperately for him to sleep, but these moments of playtime are the perfect medicine. Joe keeps trying to remind me that as time goes on they will come more frequently, in effect that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
A Diaper Experiment
We are about 18 hours into an experiment to see if we can solve the 5 outfit a day problem that has arisen. I was baffled by how we had gone from no problems the first few days to ending up with a messy outfit at almost every diaper change. Had we really suddenly forgotten how to put on diapers? Then I realized that sometime after the first few days we had switched from Pampers to Huggies. Hmm, I wonder if that is the issue. So we went back to Pampers this morning. So far so good. We have probably 2 more days supply of Pampers in the newborn size, so we'll see how the next two days go. Then we may or may not really test the theory by going back to the rest of the Huggies. I know you are waiting with bated breath to learn the results of this experiment.
A study in contrasts
Yesterday was a phenomenal day, definitely our easiest one yet, but Nicholas made sure we didn't get too confident, so today was awful. He refused to sleep at all--even in our arms, the usual guaranteed fallback--from 5am until 2pm. And with no playtime, just rotating between eating and fussing. Luckily we went into the day well-rested, so while the morning was horrible, the short naps we got mid afternoon when he finally fell asleep in our arms and an hour ago were enough to bring us back to the world of the living.
The fact that he has now been asleep in the pack n' play for over 2 hours makes me feel much better, providing hope that this morning was an exception rather than some sort of dramatic regression. Knock on wood.
We've added a few more pictures to the Peanut Gallery, including pictures from Nicholas' first walk, my ghetto clothesline contraption in the car, and Nicholas in "Eskimo gear" (the layers of clothes we put over his onesie for the pack n' play, to compensate for the dramatic difference in temperature between being held by us and all alone).
The fact that he has now been asleep in the pack n' play for over 2 hours makes me feel much better, providing hope that this morning was an exception rather than some sort of dramatic regression. Knock on wood.
We've added a few more pictures to the Peanut Gallery, including pictures from Nicholas' first walk, my ghetto clothesline contraption in the car, and Nicholas in "Eskimo gear" (the layers of clothes we put over his onesie for the pack n' play, to compensate for the dramatic difference in temperature between being held by us and all alone).
Meanwhile, back at the car saga ...
The arrival of Nicholas did nothing to stem the tide of news about Katia, our stolen Honda Civic.
Last Monday, as Sarah's contractions began to intensify, we got a voice mail from a detective at the Baltimore City impound lot that the police had found the car! It was exhilirating to hear that there might be hope, but of course it was Memorial Day and I couldn't get anyone on the phone to get more information. On Tuesday afternoon, though, while at the hospital with Nicholas but a few hours old, I got another phone call from the Baltimore PD. It appeared, they reported, that there was some pretty bad damage to the ignition (for obvious reasons), and that the license plates had been removed, but that otherwise the car appeared in good shape. I tried not to get my hopes up, because the city has absolutely no track record of inspiring confidence. All I had to do was fax a release form (notarized) to the impound lot so that GEICO could tow the car to our mechanic, and start the process of assessing and repairing the damage.
Easier said than done.
I planned to leave the hospital on Wednesday morning for a few hours to take care of getting everything set up. I went home and printed out the form letter, and drove it over to get it notarized. Then I tried to get that place to fax it. Failure. So I drove to a second store, which put the fax through at about noon. I went home and called GEICO, and told the agent I had released the car. Great, all taken care of. I made myself a quick bag lunch to bring back to the hospital.
As I was ready to leave, I got a call from GEICO. The impound lot had not received the fax, and the agent was trying to get someone on the phone to help. After two or three minutes, she came back on the line and said she was having trouble getting through, but would keep trying. Finally, we got a detective at the unit, who said that it wasn't in my paperwork, but she would check the fax machine. A solid five minutes later she came back and reported it wasn't there. We checked the fax number I'd used, and I assured her that I had a confirmation page in front of me. "I'm a detective, I don't do faxes," was her reply. Grrr. Back out to fax the letter over again. Back to GEICO. Again difficulty getting someone on the line, but the agent this time said she would simply call back if she had trouble.
I returned to the hospital four hours after leaving for a two-hour project—by this point I had missed a visit from Nicholas's pediatrician, and Sarah's obstetrician—and assumed that all was going well because I hadn't heard anything for about two hours.
You probably know where this is going.
Apparently I was supposed to fax a copy of my driver's license over, which of course the impound lot hadn't mentioned ever, and which seemed odd since a tow truck driver was showing up with a letter I had had notarized to get the car. So now I begged the mercy of the nurses at the nurses station, who let me use the photocopier and the fax machine to send the letter and my license.
No good. So GEICO had me fax the materials to them, and would try in the morning, which somehow finally worked.
But on Thursday the car was towed to our mechanic, and I went over the look at it. The ignition is a mess, though the thieves left the plastic intact when they pulled it off. The car aesthetically looks fine otherwise, save for the plates. But—and here's where things could get messy—the right front window was down, which meant that the right front seat was soggy. The mechanic said he could fix the ignition (yay!), but we couldn't get the window up. So the battery is dead, but until they try to power up the battery, we won't know whether there was other damage to the electrical system (or, for that matter, the window). The adjuster looked at it today, and repairs are underway.
So progress. And the possibility we may get the Civic back is somewhat higher than it was a week ago. And, most importantly, the City of Baltimore no longer has any control over the car. Hallelujah!
Last Monday, as Sarah's contractions began to intensify, we got a voice mail from a detective at the Baltimore City impound lot that the police had found the car! It was exhilirating to hear that there might be hope, but of course it was Memorial Day and I couldn't get anyone on the phone to get more information. On Tuesday afternoon, though, while at the hospital with Nicholas but a few hours old, I got another phone call from the Baltimore PD. It appeared, they reported, that there was some pretty bad damage to the ignition (for obvious reasons), and that the license plates had been removed, but that otherwise the car appeared in good shape. I tried not to get my hopes up, because the city has absolutely no track record of inspiring confidence. All I had to do was fax a release form (notarized) to the impound lot so that GEICO could tow the car to our mechanic, and start the process of assessing and repairing the damage.
Easier said than done.
I planned to leave the hospital on Wednesday morning for a few hours to take care of getting everything set up. I went home and printed out the form letter, and drove it over to get it notarized. Then I tried to get that place to fax it. Failure. So I drove to a second store, which put the fax through at about noon. I went home and called GEICO, and told the agent I had released the car. Great, all taken care of. I made myself a quick bag lunch to bring back to the hospital.
As I was ready to leave, I got a call from GEICO. The impound lot had not received the fax, and the agent was trying to get someone on the phone to help. After two or three minutes, she came back on the line and said she was having trouble getting through, but would keep trying. Finally, we got a detective at the unit, who said that it wasn't in my paperwork, but she would check the fax machine. A solid five minutes later she came back and reported it wasn't there. We checked the fax number I'd used, and I assured her that I had a confirmation page in front of me. "I'm a detective, I don't do faxes," was her reply. Grrr. Back out to fax the letter over again. Back to GEICO. Again difficulty getting someone on the line, but the agent this time said she would simply call back if she had trouble.
I returned to the hospital four hours after leaving for a two-hour project—by this point I had missed a visit from Nicholas's pediatrician, and Sarah's obstetrician—and assumed that all was going well because I hadn't heard anything for about two hours.
You probably know where this is going.
Apparently I was supposed to fax a copy of my driver's license over, which of course the impound lot hadn't mentioned ever, and which seemed odd since a tow truck driver was showing up with a letter I had had notarized to get the car. So now I begged the mercy of the nurses at the nurses station, who let me use the photocopier and the fax machine to send the letter and my license.
No good. So GEICO had me fax the materials to them, and would try in the morning, which somehow finally worked.
But on Thursday the car was towed to our mechanic, and I went over the look at it. The ignition is a mess, though the thieves left the plastic intact when they pulled it off. The car aesthetically looks fine otherwise, save for the plates. But—and here's where things could get messy—the right front window was down, which meant that the right front seat was soggy. The mechanic said he could fix the ignition (yay!), but we couldn't get the window up. So the battery is dead, but until they try to power up the battery, we won't know whether there was other damage to the electrical system (or, for that matter, the window). The adjuster looked at it today, and repairs are underway.
So progress. And the possibility we may get the Civic back is somewhat higher than it was a week ago. And, most importantly, the City of Baltimore no longer has any control over the car. Hallelujah!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Where's Sarah ... there she is!
I feel like myself for the first time since Nicholas was born. Not that we have this figured out by any stretch, but I'm finally rested and seem to have conquered the nausea I've been battling for days. It's amazing how much of a psychological difference feeling physically together makes. I'm feeling enough like me that I just rigged up a clothesline contraption in the car to dry out some of Nicholas' clothes that my mom hand washed this morning. It looks horribly ghetto but I'm proud of it. We may even take Nicholas out for a walk after he wakes up this afternoon. I now just have to remind myself that progress won't necessarily be linear and there will be hard days, but right now I'm much more optimistic.
And on the seventh day ...
... Nicholas pooped or peed his way through three separate outfits in the course of about seven hours overnight. Mommy and daddy, it seems, have a bit more work to do to get the diapers on securely each and every time.
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