new changing table

actually it's the same old table, but with a new paint job and new knobs. I like it MUCH better than the other way...you know, the way I was all excited about a year ago or so? Yeah, I got over that fast. The gray is much nicer and low-key. And the knobs are just awesome.



My mom and I also painted the bedside table and once it gets a bit warmer out I plan to do the dresser in Milo's room as well.

a few photos

First hotel room - Pocatello, ID





Just chillin' with his weirdo -



Flying -



With Grandpa Parins -

spud drive in

Last night was Milo's first night at the drive-in. We took him to see something completely age appropriate - 'XMen Origins - Wolverine'. I think he especially liked the fighting and bloodshed. Kidding!!! He was totally conked out before it started. Here are some pictures of him with our friends and neighbors Emma & Trask before the movie started.










You'll notice Emma is wearing a hat while Milo is not. Yeah, we forgot to bring a hat for him. Or a jacket. Thankfully we had plenty of blankets and wrapped him up like a tiny little potato bud and he was cozy as all get-out. So cozy that he slept all night. In his carseat. Completely strapped & tightened.

stupid crib

We are having no success whatsoever getting Milo to sleep in his crib at night. He can be completely passed out, snoring, drooling, practically comatose, but the instant his head touches that mattress he is wide awake, looking around and eventually crying like we were trying to kill him. Or at least torture him in some new and horrible way. We've tried sitting next to him and patting his belly to try to soothe him, picking him up and setting him back down once he's relaxed a bit, putting his mattress at an incline...no luck. For some reason sleeping flat is only acceptable if it is in our bed.

Oh well, as my friend Emilie said to me via Facebook - don't worry, he won't still be sleeping with you when he's 20. So at least there's that.

It's looking like I'm going to have to stop wearing dangly earrings for a while - pretty much everything that his hands come into contact with immediately get swallowed up into a Vulcan death grip, which wouldn't be too bad except as soon as he gets something in his tiny little fist he immediately tries to put it in his mouth. And although my earrings are long, they aren't THAT long. Ouch.

But in better news, I've put new pictures on the website! Hooray!

high chair and new shoes

The other night we put Milo in his high chair for the first time as a test drive to see how he liked it. Turns out he loves the thing - he was laughing and bopping around like crazy. I got some great video of it but here's a pic for now -



And for those of you who have been closely following the great shoe debate of 2009, we decided to keep the Vans. The Chucks were just a little too burly for a kid who isn't walking yet - they were just like regular Chuck Taylors but smaller, rather than the soft crib shoes we got from Vans.

baby einstein

We got the Baby Bach video for Milo the other day and he loves it. Loves it! Who knew?

Here's his first watching -





totally entranced. he could hardly even be distracted by his bottle.

easter treats

they were addressed to Milo, but he's not really on the solid food yet so I suppose Nate and I will just have to take care of the candy. It's a hard life, really.

QUAX.

jumperooooooo

a few months ago i went in on the purchase of a jumperoo exersaucer with my friend ingrid - her little boy is about 5 months older than milo so the timing is great - riley grew out of it just as milo is getting old enough to start using it.

i brought it home last night and he looooooves it. sat in it for about a half hour and just goggled at everything. the seat is suspended on springs so it moves whenever he does, causing a chain reaction of rattles and squeaks and as soon as we get batteries, flashing lights. he can *almost* touch the ground to bounce and spin, I don't think it'll be much longer.

The coolest part though is that it seemed like he was actually trying to grab for stuff! I'm sure when he starts pulling things off the table and spilling drinks we'll long for the 'non-grabbing' days, but right now it's very cool to watch him become more aware of his surroundings.

Daycare is going well. I've started to bring bottles for his morning and afternoon feedings and go over there around lunchtime to nurse him. It's been working out perfectly, except for the mornings when he sleeps until 10 AM and then isn't hungry again until 2 or 3. it doesn't happen too often, but it definitely throws my schedule out of whack when it happens.

Pics of him rocking the Jumperoo -

jumping baby

this one is from early january when my parents were here - as milo bounces he executes these awesome leg kicks in mid air. hilarity ensued.

hopefully now that we're shooting more video I'll get better at it. This one is a little jerky.


in other news, his first (short) week at daycare went really well. we're settling into a good routine - he's usually asleep when I drop him off, they give him a bottle when he wakes up and then I go over there around lunch time and again mid-afternoon to nurse him. He seems to be adjusting really quickly, which is great. He even likes the swing they have! It's situated in a corner so he has a good view of everything while he's in it. He's the youngest in there by 3 mos or so - most of the other babies are crawling and pulling themselves up on things already.

His first day of daycare:



and yesterday, looking all grown up in his sweater and jeans:







hopefully i'll get a chance to update his website this weekend as well!

babies fart

A lot. Who knew?

He actually seems to have most of the general bodily functions pretty well dialed - peeing, pooping, farting, burping, and throwing up are all well within his grasp. Sadly, cleaning up after himself is not.

My mom and dad are here for two weeks and it's been just great! My mom is cleaning the house - getting to all the stuff that Nate and I would never ever have done like cleaning the woodwork and actually pulling the knobs off of the stove to clean behind them. My dad has been doing projects that we also have not gotten to - on the agenda are shelves for my bathroom, taking the ski rack off of the Jeep and he and Nate have already weather-stripped the windows. It's warmer in here already. Plus they're putting in a ton of baby time, which is just great as well.

Speaking of great, Nate took Milo on his own all night last night while I slept. I went to lay down in Milo's room around 9 and didn't wake up again until 7 AM. It was amazing. I was so confused when I woke up - I couldn't figure out why it was light out or why the baby wasn't crying for his breakfast.

Milo and I got a lot done yesterday - pediatrician's appt and we stopped by my friend Johanna's house to visit her and her new baby, Desi. Too cute! Maybe she'll email me the pic of Milo and Desi so I can post it here...hint hint nudge nudge. :) The ped appt went great, he is up to 8 lbs 9 1/2 oz - 21.5 oz in 18 days so he's still excelling in the eating dept. He is about 20 3/4" tall, so he's grown about an inch and three quarters since he was born.

We also stopped by my office and picked up his ski pass and visited with people at work for a while. I think I'm going to go in on Thursday for a while to help out with some stuff and possibly even pick up some work to bring home. I don't know though, I don't want to get ahead of myself. If nothing else I'll take a few runs while I'm out there, that should be hilarious. Fat, weak, out of shape, bad knees...sounds like a GREAT combo for snowboarding.

I've posted some new pictures to the website and soon will be making a 'best of December' slideshow for those of you that don't want to look at hundreds of pictures of someone else's baby.

slings and things

I have a love/hate relationship with our sling.

For those of you that don't know, a sling is like a tiny hammock that the parent can wear around one shoulder (in the same fashion as a shoulder bag) and put your baby into the wide, hammock-y part. This part then cocoons around the baby, holding him all safe and secure and right next to you. It enables you to hold him (or, in modern terms 'wear' him. baby-wearing is all the rage these days.) and have both of your hands free and still be sharing warmth etc. with your baby.

Love - Milo falls asleep pretty much immediately upon being put into it. He really seems to like it in there and it's nice to have him so close and still be able to use both hands.

Hate - it is impossible to get him out without waking him up again, sentencing the wearer to hours of back strain (who knew 7 1/2 lbs could weigh so much?) until Milo wants to eat. Or until you decide it's worth risking his wrath to give your back a rest.

Also hate - I'm afraid he's going to suffocate in there. He likes to sleep on his side and there is definitely some stomach squishiness for him to push his face into.

In other news, it's been a crazy couple of days out at the Village - www.tetonat.com . It almost makes me want to take up x-country skiing. Almost.

There are some new pictures up in the Dec08 folder of Milo's website and I hope to get some xmas pics up soon as well. Thank you so much to everyone who sent him cards and gifts, thank you for thinking of us!

And since I know you've all been dying to find out, here is the picture I decided on for his ski pass:

36 weeks (well, almost)

Crenshaw melon. Is that a cantaloupe from the 'hood? A gangsta' honeydew?

He's most likely approaching 6 lbs now and is about 18.5 inches long...coincidentally that is the approximate height of the ledge I drove off as I picked up Nate for the appointment today. We're all fine, I was turning the car around and didn't see it - there is some damage to the charcoal filter in the exhaust system but I think that is about it. That didn't stop me from going into a hysterical crying fit or sending my blood pressure through the roof (it had returned to normal by the end of the appointment).

Other than that, everything went fine. Dr. George recommended that I cut down to 4 days a week at work and try to lay down at least 3 times a day while I'm here, so from here on out I'm working Mon-Thurs (ooo gotta change my voicemail!) until I deliver. Except for next week, when I'll be working Mon-Wed and taking Thanksgiving off. But working a halfday on Sunday to train the cashiers.

It's all very complicated.

At our appointment next week he'll start checking on my progression to see if there is any dilating or effacing going on, that'll be so cool. Of course the answer will most likely be 'no', but whatever. The more you know, and all that.

Some more pictures from our weekend outing:











1-4 weeks to go!

35.5 weeks

this week he is the biggest honeydew melon on earth at 5 1/4 lbs and 18 inches. his development is pretty much done and he's going to spend the next few (....very few....) weeks putting on weight.

not much else to report really, other than i wholly agree with the idea of the last few weeks being the most uncomfortable. we had an all day seminar thing at work on friday and I could not make it through the morning session without getting up and walking around because it hurt far too much to sit in a chair for 3 hours. plus i think i hit the restroom about 5 times in that same time frame.

yesterday we took a trip to an abandoned school house and took some more belly shots, including a story-type sequence that is pretty cool (but will remain under wraps until the unveiling of the new website - after the goober is born). nate has been doing an amazing job setting up and taking pictures; he's got a real talent.

this is one i took though - all i can see of my feet at this point -















there are more on flickr, plus i'll be adding EVEN MORE tonight, so check back!

4.5 or (eek) 1.5 weeks to go!

edited to add - new pictures are up on flickr, just follow the above link to see them all.

31 weeks, 1 day

4 navel oranges. so he's rounded, but very lumpy.

He's about 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 pounds. He's putting on weight and filling out quickly at this stage and moving around like crazy.

I had a good appointment yesterday, my blood pressure was a bit high so Dr George asked me to monitor it for the next week and keep a log (I borrowed a home BP cuff from a friend at work) and it was much lower today, so I must have just been stressed out or something yesterday! I have another appointment next week to go over the results from this home monitoring.

We also talked about the whole procedure of what to do when the show gets on the road (call the clinic or the hospital if it's after hours, they will page him. Both numbers are now in my cell phone. I may also have a secret weapon....he's Matt's neighbor, so I possibly have access to his actual phone number if I need it. I shouldn't need it. They do this stuff a lot.) and went over my (incredibly vague) birth plan a little bit. He said that most birth plan checklists seem to come from the 50s...they don't do a lot of the stuff that used to be done as routine; i.e. take the baby to another room for newborn procedures, episiotomies, etc. It seems like St. John's is very flexible and definitely wants each mom to have her own experience and not overly control everything, so that sounds just great.

Another belly pic from Dillon -



6-9 weeks left!

30 weeks, 1 day

This week the goober is a head of cabbage.

He weighs approximately 3 lbs and is almost 16 inches long. His eyes are continuing to develop, but will not be very good until....well, considering his genes, he'll have good eyesight when hell freezes over.

It seems like he's probably getting more cramped in there, it seems like every movement I feel now is a big one. The other morning he had jammed his foot up almost against my ribs, Nate and I could both feel a hard little lump where his heel was poking through. I think I've started having the Braxton-Hicks contractions as well; I don't feel anything happening unless I happen to touch my stomach and it's super hard in there. It's very odd. I'd imagine as they get stronger I'll start to feel them more.

We've started the baby classes at the hospital; the first one was pretty fun! I even know a couple of people in the class, which is nice. The next one is all about pain management options and the hospital tour - it's definitely the one I'm most looking forward to.

My glucose tolerance test came back normal, so I do not have gestational diabetes, hooray!

A picture from our trip to dillon the other month that I really like....




10 (or 7, or somewhere in between) weeks to go...

23 weeks

all right, time to start the dance party!

the gremlin can hear and feel music and dancing now. he's 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound and pretty soon i'll be able to see him moving around from the outside. it'll be all sigourney weaver in Alien. or the end of Spaceballs. probably Spaceballs.

i've noticed that by the end of the day over the past few days my feet are swollen. not fat-swollen, but wide-swollen. they look like flippers, or possibly vaguely foot-shaped pancakes. so far i've avoided cankles (the lovely look of the calf that goes right to the foot without stopping for an ankle) and with any luck i'll just skip them since the weather is starting to cool off.

I'm missing yoga this week! last Wednesday's session was super-challenging, I'm definitely going to try to go twice a week. at least once a week, but hopefully monday and wednesday both. i think it will help my back pain tremendously and Dr. George keeps telling me that exercising now will make me happier later, so i'm all for that.

i've been in WI for the past few days and it's been super fun! my mom and i are going to shoot a wedding for my good friend brendan on Saturday in madison and I'm very much looking forward to it.

the lake -

22 weeks, 1 day

the gremlin is now about 11 inches long and weighs one pound! he's starting to look like an actual baby instead of some weirdo from the planet uterus - he's even developing eyebrows. he is still very wrinkly; he's just waiting to pack on the fat layer to fill out those wrinkles. or maybe botox?

i feel him kicking every day now, it's pretty cool. i would imagine in another few weeks that nate will be able to feel him as well, that'll be exciting.

here are some more pictures from our road trip last weekend - nate did such a good job.











and my absolute favorite - i want a big-ass print of this one -



there are more up on flickr - here is a link to the slideshow.