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| December 2008 |
growing well at 2 months
Jonas had his two month check up today with our very nice pediatrician Dr. Clark. Biff and I bet on his percentiles (I said 40th and Biff said 55th) and we were way off. He is still 50th percentile in length but is 75th in weight. Dr. Clark called him a "chunk" and said he was doing great. He got 3 shots and an oral vaccine. He cried for a second and then was just fine, although he spent the afternoon sleeping. Here he is waking up and fussing. Note the band aid. And, yes, his face does get THAT red.
Jonas visits Greatgrammy
Jonas took a trip to Charlotte with his Mama, Grandmama and Aunt Cecelia to visit his Greatgrammy. Greatgrammy is a very funny and stylish lady with a serious sweet tooth who very much enjoyed his visit, although she was not overly impressed by her Vosges bacon chocolate bar that her daughter (my mom) gave her. Although I haven't tried the bacon one, I'm pretty obsessed with Vosges chocolate. However, I was pleased to discover her Twix stash in the toaster oven. Jonas was his usually happy self, playing until he passed out on the couch and then slept the whole ride back. Here are some photos from the visit, including Greatgrammy's butt in her rhinestone bedecked silver jeans. Yes, no pictures of me, seriously bad hair day.
Jonas meets Santa
Biff and I aren't religious, but we enjoy the midwinter lights, food, and foliage of Christmas, although NOT the music. So, when Jonas and his baby friend Ryder were hanging out while the moms walked UMall instead of the trails due to some inclement weather, I had Jonas pose with Santa. Santa was always such a fun part of my childhood, plus I love the kitsch factor.
Baby friends
Our friends Leslie and Joe and Quinn and Galen came over to meet Jonas and introduce him to Ash, Q and G's 3 month old son. Ash has a lot of syllables and Jonas has a lot of coos. We are hoping they will be BBFFs-baby best friends forever. The good pictures were taken by Galen, Ash's dad, whose Flickr site is here. The not-so-good ones were taken by me ;).
Saturday outing to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh
We've been trying to make lots of family outings on the weekends during the day since we can't go out much at night. This Saturday we went to the Natural Sciences Museum in Raleigh. It's free and has some really cool exhibits, like whale and dinosaur skeletons, meteorites and geology, and recreations of different regions of North Carolina. We didn't get to see everything (next time we will budget more time), but we did get Jonas to pose with an Archaeopteryx!!!
Jonas's first Thanksgiving
Since Jonas is only 6 weeks old, we weren't traveling for Thanksgiving. We had a nice, local, laidback celebration with my parents, Lee and Tara, Cecelia, and Susan, Shaw and Anderson where we had Tofurkey and vegetables before heading to Jenny and Les's. Ben, Marilyn and Michael where in town, as was, Aaron and Sukie, the famous returning cat.
Jonas's first protest-babies against H8
Today was the national day of protest against Proposition 8, the California ban which just passed making same sex marriage illegal. This is a very important issue to us, so we packed Jonas in the Baby Bjorn, braved the rain, and rallied and marched. It was very inspiring and a rainbow flag was raised over the Governor's mansion. Surely equality will come in Jonas's lifetime.
Hope and Change
It's no secret that we are a big Obama family. We resisted early voting to take part in the historic day. For the first time in a long time, North Carolina was a swing state, so it was really exciting to think that our votes would make a bigger difference. We took a walk in the rain to our precinct, a school across from the park and cast our ballots-numbers 386 and 387, I think. We then decided to go back out to Chapel Hill and watch the election returns at my parents' house with them and Lee. No one was more excited than Jonas when North Carolina finally turned blue!!
We look a bit bedraggled, but Jonas looks adorable!!!
Librarians are crafty
I'm in the right business. When you're a librarian and your wife is having a baby you're going to get some really amazing craft gifts. It just comes with the territory.
Here are two that have been given to us in the last few days. We are absolutely blown away by how great they are - creative, well-made, and beautiful.
The first is a baby winter hat with stockings that my co-worker Rachel made for Jonas. Look at those colors. And the photograph doesn't do justice to the small details.
Second, is a pair of baby booties that my friend Jessica made for Baby Boy. They're made to look like little furry monster feet. So freakin' cute!
Thanks ya'll. We love them and so will Jonas.
Fair is fair
Kate recently shared one of her baby pictures and has been encouraging me to share some of mine. Maybe if you overlay the two you might get an approximate preview of Jonas?...
Well, this weekend we were lucky enough to procure a FREE all-in-one Lexmark x75 printer/scanner/copier. So I scanned in a couple of old prints of me as a baby and toddler. So here's the slideshow. You can click on each one if you want a closer look.
Well, this weekend we were lucky enough to procure a FREE all-in-one Lexmark x75 printer/scanner/copier. So I scanned in a couple of old prints of me as a baby and toddler. So here's the slideshow. You can click on each one if you want a closer look.
Thinking about birth
So the countdown continues, less than a month to go, at least until the estimated due date. However, Biff discovered it happens to fall on a full moon, so it's not as an unlikely estimate as it could be. I'm getting very unwieldy and noticeably forgetful. But the weather has just turned cool in the last two days, and it is a very welcome change. For me, fall is a time of new beginnings, the real start of the year, coming from 16 plus years of following school calendars. It's crisp and sharp with change, which makes it both exciting and emotional for me, the ultimate sentimentalist, every year. This year will obviously be quite poignant. It just so happens that my due date is a day before the anniversary of my father's death 9 years ago. I'm not religious; I don't believe in a plan, but I believe in patterns, or at least or ability to create them as ways of giving meaning to our worlds. This coincidence seems somehow appropriately cyclical.
In more practical terms, we have created a birth plan for our ideal birth (uninduced, unmedicated, and mostly laboring at home). Of course you never know what will happen, but you have to at least know what to aim for. Our bullet points:
No, he will not be circumcised. Yes, he will absolutely be vaccinated.
Here's a picture of me just born, with the proud parents.
In more practical terms, we have created a birth plan for our ideal birth (uninduced, unmedicated, and mostly laboring at home). Of course you never know what will happen, but you have to at least know what to aim for. Our bullet points:- We strongly prefer a quiet, serene environment with minimum noise and disruption. We will probably play soothing music and would like to eat light foods and liquids throughout labor.
- We are looking forward to a natural unmedicated birth. Please do not offer or administer any pain medications before, during, or after birth. We will let you know if we want pain medications under any other circumstances.
- We prefer to have a Heparin lock and not to have an IV unless necessary.
- Freedom of movement is very important to us. Kate should be free to try different positions during labor and birth, including use of a shower, tub and/or birthing ball.
- Intermittent external fetal monitoring as long as Kate is not required to lie down.
- We prefer to have a minimal number of vaginal exams, ideally administered by the same person throughout and only when there is a change of labor or we request a check.
- Bag of waters to remain intact until they break naturally
- We intend to try to keep the perineum intact. We will use perineal massage, warm compresses and oils to achieve this goal. No episiotomy unless deemed necessary for the safety of the baby and this decision is discussed with Biff and our doula.
- If labor stalls, we prefer no artificial induction of labor. If augmentation is needed, we would prefer natural methods first.
- If a Cesarean Birth becomes necessary, prefer to have husband, Biff, in the room seated at mother’s head during surgery. We would like the baby to be held by Biff as soon after birth as possible, and Biff will remain with baby. We hope to attempt to breastfeed as soon as possible.
- After the birth, we would prefer the baby to be laid directly on the mother’s chest without washing and allowed to nurse as soon as possible. All testing to be administered while the baby lies on the mother’s chest.
- We request that the baby remain in mother’s room at all times
- We would like the father, Biff, to cut the umbilical cord. However, we would prefer to wait until the umbilical cord stops pulsating before clamping and cutting.
- We prefer eye ointment and vitamin K to be delayed for at least one hour after birth to allow for bonding.
- We prefer to breastfeed only – no bottles, glucose, artificial nipples, formula or water
No, he will not be circumcised. Yes, he will absolutely be vaccinated.
7 weeks to go, growing a little reader
I was a big reader as a child, and still make regular trips to the library and semi-regular purchases at Half.com. I've been planning out baby J's reading material for a while, collecting books and book ideas since before he was conceived. I am using an old Moleskine notebook that I had taken with me on a trip to London in 2005. I was a children's book buyer for a bookstore at the time, so I wrote down a bunch of great books that I saw at the Tate Modern gift shop to order later. I don't think I looked at the list after I got back, but recently I checked it out and ordered some that I thought looked good. Two came in the mail today, one called I Saw Esau , which has funny poems and great illustrations, and the Everyman's Library book Lullabies and Poems for Children. The one book I couldn't wait to buy was a version of Jabberwocky, beautifully illustrated by Joel Stewart.
I wanted it for my future baby's nursery, and now we have two pages being framed!
My next search is for some Ant & Bee books, which I've heard are being reprinted this year (fingers crossed). They currently are about $100 each used.
Also on his shelves is a book my Dad gave me, which is still one of my favorites. It's an illustrated book of creation stories from around the world. It's perfect for a non-religious Anthropology major.
To end, I wanted to post a poem from the Lullabies and Poems for Children book that I found beautiful.
WOMAN TO CHILD
You who were darkness warmed my flesh
where out of darkness rose the seed.
Then all a world I made in me;
all the world you hear and see
hung upon my dreaming blood.
There moved the multitudinous stars,
and coloured birds and fishes moved.
There swarm the sliding continents.
All time lay rolled in me, and sense,
and love that knew not its beloved.
O node and focus of the world;
I hold you deep within that well
you shall escape and not escape-
that mirrors still your sleeping shape;
and nurtures still your crescent cell.
I wither and you break from me;
yet through you dance in living light
I am the earth , I am the root,
I am the stem that fed the fruit,
the link that joins you to the night.
Judith Wright 1915-2000
I wanted it for my future baby's nursery, and now we have two pages being framed!My next search is for some Ant & Bee books, which I've heard are being reprinted this year (fingers crossed). They currently are about $100 each used.
Also on his shelves is a book my Dad gave me, which is still one of my favorites. It's an illustrated book of creation stories from around the world. It's perfect for a non-religious Anthropology major. 
To end, I wanted to post a poem from the Lullabies and Poems for Children book that I found beautiful. WOMAN TO CHILD
You who were darkness warmed my flesh
where out of darkness rose the seed.
Then all a world I made in me;
all the world you hear and see
hung upon my dreaming blood.
There moved the multitudinous stars,
and coloured birds and fishes moved.
There swarm the sliding continents.
All time lay rolled in me, and sense,
and love that knew not its beloved.
O node and focus of the world;
I hold you deep within that well
you shall escape and not escape-
that mirrors still your sleeping shape;
and nurtures still your crescent cell.
I wither and you break from me;
yet through you dance in living light
I am the earth , I am the root,
I am the stem that fed the fruit,
the link that joins you to the night.
Judith Wright 1915-2000
Help around the house
Biff has been renovating the kitchen from top to bottom, changing out the floor and counter, fixing and painting the walls and cabinets, and making the flow more cohesive into the small attached breakfast room. He's also painted and put together all the furniture in the baby's room. I keep telling everyone that he is doing this by himself, but that's not exactly true. He's had some assistance.
Prickle Socks has been very kind to test out the crib and changing table. She not overly enthusiastic, but she says they will work.
She also helped paint the cabinets. She thought the paint was too light, so she added some dark accents.
Balthasar is slightly less hands-on, but he shares his artistic opinions with us. He laid out a possible tile pattern which we actually really like.
Of course all this hard work is pretty draining for them, so they pass out after a long day.
Balthasar is slightly less hands-on, but he shares his artistic opinions with us. He laid out a possible tile pattern which we actually really like.
Of course all this hard work is pretty draining for them, so they pass out after a long day.
current thoughts on living
Something about bringing a new human being into the world makes you really want to clean up your act. We've both had an almost reverse nesting instinct. We're trying to cut back on the amount of unnecessary stuff in our lives and household, much to the chagrin of excited future grandparents on both sides. I thought I'd post this to try to explain.
I was really inspired by this simple post "to buy or not to buy" and we had actually been following this philosophy to a large degree in preparing the nursery. We haven't bought a single new piece of furniture for him to date, everything has been Craigslisted or Freecycled. Freecycle also allows us to give away things that we don't need knowing that they are actually needed/wanted by the person who picks them up. We are borrowing a lot of things from friends and family who have recently had babies. With the speed that kids grow out of things like car seats, strollers, and clothes, it makes sense to just pass these around. We've also redone two pieces of furniture that we already had to go in his room, and repurposed others.
I love to shop for baby clothes, and a friend told me she had gotten nearly everything (and she has a really cute collection) from thrift and consignment shops. I make biweekly trips to the area thrift stores and have gotten many many cute things, which I can give right back to the community when he grows out of them. The one exception is handmade goods which we have found on etsy or locally.
Some lifestyle change successes we've had so far: We have only one car, and Biff takes public transportation to and from work in Chapel Hill. We use a clothesline for drying clothes. We save our shower water and use it to flush the toilet. We reuse what we can and recycle the rest. We compost. We (well me really) have been making weekly trips to the library instead of buying books. We have a farm share from Lil Farm, which gives us a box worth of local, organic produce each week.
Next steps in the stuff-reduction plan is to do away with all of the unnecessary cleaning and hygiene products and their plastic packaging. I'm searching for shampoo and detergent refills, with the eventual plan to make homemade laundry detergent. We're using up our current spray bottle cleaners which will be refilled with a simple vinegar, water and baking soda mix from the recipes in the How It All Vegan cookbook. I have several reusable shopping bags and am trying to get Biff to carry the one I got for him. I definitely have to curb my urges to just run to Target, or shop for shoes and clothes online.
Since most likely we will be living with a lower income and increased expenses, we need to scale back anyway. We still have the guilt of being Americans in terms of energy and resource consumption (25% of the world's total energy consumption, 4.56% of the world's population), you've all heard this spiel from me before....but we're trying to shrink our footprint as much as possible.
The Story of Stuff video is one of my favorites and sums up our thoughts pretty well.
I was really inspired by this simple post "to buy or not to buy" and we had actually been following this philosophy to a large degree in preparing the nursery. We haven't bought a single new piece of furniture for him to date, everything has been Craigslisted or Freecycled. Freecycle also allows us to give away things that we don't need knowing that they are actually needed/wanted by the person who picks them up. We are borrowing a lot of things from friends and family who have recently had babies. With the speed that kids grow out of things like car seats, strollers, and clothes, it makes sense to just pass these around. We've also redone two pieces of furniture that we already had to go in his room, and repurposed others.
I love to shop for baby clothes, and a friend told me she had gotten nearly everything (and she has a really cute collection) from thrift and consignment shops. I make biweekly trips to the area thrift stores and have gotten many many cute things, which I can give right back to the community when he grows out of them. The one exception is handmade goods which we have found on etsy or locally.
Some lifestyle change successes we've had so far: We have only one car, and Biff takes public transportation to and from work in Chapel Hill. We use a clothesline for drying clothes. We save our shower water and use it to flush the toilet. We reuse what we can and recycle the rest. We compost. We (well me really) have been making weekly trips to the library instead of buying books. We have a farm share from Lil Farm, which gives us a box worth of local, organic produce each week.
Next steps in the stuff-reduction plan is to do away with all of the unnecessary cleaning and hygiene products and their plastic packaging. I'm searching for shampoo and detergent refills, with the eventual plan to make homemade laundry detergent. We're using up our current spray bottle cleaners which will be refilled with a simple vinegar, water and baking soda mix from the recipes in the How It All Vegan cookbook. I have several reusable shopping bags and am trying to get Biff to carry the one I got for him. I definitely have to curb my urges to just run to Target, or shop for shoes and clothes online.
Since most likely we will be living with a lower income and increased expenses, we need to scale back anyway. We still have the guilt of being Americans in terms of energy and resource consumption (25% of the world's total energy consumption, 4.56% of the world's population), you've all heard this spiel from me before....but we're trying to shrink our footprint as much as possible.
The Story of Stuff video is one of my favorites and sums up our thoughts pretty well.
around our house in July
This week we finally had a 200 year old dead read oak tree cut down that was literally a sword of Damocles over our house and two of our two neighbors' houses. We were sad that it had to go, but we were tired of cringing every time the wind blew. We imagine that it is becoming really nice floorboards for some fancy loft in New York or somewhere. Having it removed helped us to appreciate the rainstorms that we've been having and the incredible mushrooms that have sprung up around the yard. And finally, I just think baby clothes look really cute hung on the line. We hit the thrift shops every couple of weeks to stock up then wash and store.
