Joe Shlabotnik Is My Hero
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Below are the 28 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Peter, Not Joe" journal:
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11:33 am
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Summertime Non-Blues
It's been a relatively uneventful summer for us. We went to Maine for July 4 weekend, and we're visiting my parents near Jacksonville next weekend. In between, we've had seven glorious weekends of staying close to home.
In Violet news, she has finally said her first clearly recognizable word other than "daddy", "mama", "ba-ba" (for bye-bye), and - less recognizably - "bvoo" (for balloon). Happily, that word is "happy"! She'll repeat it clear as a bell when she's (we assume) happy. It's so darling, it's ridiculous.
Tags: violet
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02:47 pm
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Old Greek Dress
As is the tradition, we spent the Fourth of July weekend up at Sue's grandmother's cottage on the ocean in Maine. It's much the same every year, only this time Violet was able walk around and play in the cold, cold water. She was initially shocked at just how cold the ocean was, but quickly warmed up to it (ha!), and certainly outlasted our tolerance to it. Funny how a cold ocean doesn't seem to bother kids as much as it does adults. Even when it was foggy and 55 degrees (and that was probably warmer than the water temperature), there were children brave and foolhardy enough to splash around without wetsuits. I got extra chills just looking at them.
Sue's grandmother had a surprise for us. She pulled out a dress that she bought in Greece when Sue was a baby, and dug out a photograph of Sue wearing it in front of the cottage. So of course we had to re-create the photo with Violet (shown here). We're keeping the dress in case the cottage is still in the family when we have a granddaughter. Check back in thirty years.
(For now, here are more photos of our trip to Maine this year.)
Tags: maine, vacation, violet
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04:30 pm
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Father's Day
What a nice Father's Day present - Violet finally took some steps today! She's been *so close* for over a month now - walking holding on to the furniture or our hand, even taking one tentative step here and there - but we were beginning to think she wouldn't be walking on her own until the fall. It might still be a while before she'll walk without us goading her on. But that's okay; now that we know she *can* walk, we can relax and let her crawl around some more so she's easier to keep track of.
Tags: video, violet
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09:53 pm
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The Name Game
The Social Security Administration has just released their list of the most popular baby names in 2008:
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/
Violet has gotten more popular in recent years, ranked the 184th most popular girls' name in the U.S. in 2008, up from #229 in 2007. And that's up from total oblivion in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, when it almost never even made the top 1000; 1999 was the first time it cracked the top 900 since 1968. Which explains why I've never met anyone named Violet before. It's the name's highest rank since 1937, but still below its peak popularity in 1919 (when it was #74).
At the rate the name is gaining in popularity, it could be a top 20 name by the time Violet gets to elementary school. Which is kind of what we were trying to avoid - we were looking for something classic, not too crazy, but not too popular. Perhaps we're bigger trendsetters than we had thought.
A name that might better fit that bill these days is Susan. Poor Susan. The second-most popular girls' name back in 1957 and 1958, it was still #24 the year my wife was born, but dropped out of the top 100 in 1985. And now? It's a pitiful #712. What the heck is wrong with Susan? Does it deserve to be less popular than Shyanne, Destinee, Yaretzi, Paisley, and Payton? (Payton? Who names a girl Payton?)
As for Peter, it's a semi-respectable #183 for boys, not nearly as popular as it used to be, but not dropping off into oblivion. Yet.
(PS - Violet is two places below Brooklynn. Brooklynn? Come on people, even with one n that's just... I mean... Brooklynn? Really?)
Tags: violet
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10:53 pm
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Violet Is One!
It's cliche to say "I can't believe my baby is one year old already!" so I won't. I don't actually feel that way. On the contrary, I'm amazed that she's *only* one - it feels like she's been around forever. Yet paradoxically I'm still surprised that we have a baby at all. Even after a year, it feels normal and not normal at the same time - like we're Violet's parents, but we don't feel like parents. You know what I mean? Other parents of one-year-olds might.
We didn't do anything spectacular for her birthday - my parents came up from Florida, my brother and his family came down from Westchester (twenty minutes away), and our neighbors came from next door. Some cake, some champagne, some presents, and boom - Violet is officially one.
She's pulling up and sitting down, doing some cruising, and loves climbing stairs (but can't come down - fortunately, she's usually good at knowing not to come down). She's not walking or talking yet, but it really seems that could happen any day now.
Last week she went to her first foreign country - we drove to Canada to go skiing at Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. It was our first ski trip in two years, and our first with the baby. And it was fantastic. We picked Tremblant mostly because the daycare situation was ideal - our hotel was right at the lifts, and the resort's daycare center was right inside our hotel. Plus with the pedestrian village, it was easy to walk her around at night for dinner and some window shopping. She didn't mind the 5-degree weather at all. Without any wind, it wasn't as bad as it might sound.
Violet loved being in daycare. Perhaps too well - other babies were crying and clinging to their parents; Violet just zoomed right off in the morning with nary a glance back. I guess that's good. She probably picked up a few words of French there, too. Maybe. She didn't seem to understand "ne mange pas!" any more than she does "don't eat that!".
Sue was worried that a two-year hiatus would make her skiing pretty rusty, but we needn't have worried. We got right back into it, and didn't fall once. It hadn't snowed in a long time there, so the trails were quite icy and slick. Which we got used to. At least it's less tiring than pushing through snow (or slush, which was the conditions in the 65-degree weather when we were at Tremblant six years earlier).
It'll be two or three years before Violet is up on skis, so we have time to prepare - as much fun as it will be to ski with her, daycare has got to be easier...
(PS - photos of our ski vacation can be found here and photos of Violet's birthday and other March photos can be found here. As of now, I have tons more photos to upload to each set, so feel free to come back often in the next few weeks...)
Tags: skiing, vacation, violet
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12:43 am
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Wordle
Okay, this is cool. Enter your LiveJournal URL (or any blog URL, or any text) into Wordle and it'll create a "word cloud". That is, an image of the most commonly used words, where the larger the font, the more often the word is used. The colors, fonts, and orientation are infinitely customizable, too.
I don't know how many entries it goes back, but I'm not surprised that my biggest word is "Violet".
Tags: violet, wordle
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05:43 pm
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Welcome To 2009
In the month since I last posted, we drove down to Florida for Christmas at my parents' house, and I went out for New Year's Eve while Sue stayed home sick with a bad cold. There were regular updates on Facebook and Flickr and Geni and my other blog. Some work, some sleep, a bunch of nights of LittleBigPlanet on our new PlayStation 3, and there, you're all caught up with my life.
Now to catch you all up on Violet's life: she's ten months old today! Within the past week she's become able to stand holding on to things (though she won't pull up - we have to put her there), and two days ago she got from her stomach to her hands and knees for the first time, and then to a sitting up position all by herself for the first time. She still won't crawl, though - she prefers to get around by rolling, which greatly amused all the other moms at a playgroup that day. From one end of the room to the other, as long as the path is clear. I have to admit it is kind of funny to watch, yet it seems rather normal to us. You mean to tell me that all babies don't go through a rolling phase?
She's still a very good eater, she's beginning to take some sips from a cup (but useless at a sippy cup), and she has no stranger anxiety whatsoever. When in a restaurant, it's hard to get her to eat because she's too busy smiling at the waitresses, who more often than not positively moon over her. Her sleep schedule is two or three naps a day, in bed between 10 and 11pm, then up between 8 and 9am. Maybe once or twice a week she'll get up crying around 6ish; fortunately putting a pacifier in her mouth puts her back to sleep instantly. Even more fortunately, she slept in until 10am both days this past weekend.
I've had dozens of people tell me she should be a baby model, though it's hard to brag because it's impossible to tell who's being sincere and who's merely being polite. I should carry around a polygraph....
Tags: violet
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03:35 pm
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Magic Kingdom
We've been to Magic Kingdom a bunch of times before, but we never noticed before that most of the rides are designed so that a baby can easily be brought on. Without a baby, I guess you don't pay much attention. But when you're traveling with a baby, and you see all the other babies on line, it becomes obvious. It was a pleasant surprise.
So Violet's first theme park ride was Snow White's Scary Adventures (which aren't that scary), and she seemed to like it enough. Ditto for Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, It's A Small World, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (which is a laser target-shooting ride where she could play with the lever that spun the car around, thus ruining daddy's aim). She sat patiently through the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor and Mickey's PhilharMagic. But I think her favorite ride (judging by her bouncing and laughing) was being pushed around the park in her stroller.
She didn't even mind the lines, of which there were plenty, it being the day before Thanksgiving. We spent over 12 hours at the park and didn't get to do everything, but at least it was a gorgeous day, and Violet behaved perfectly throughout. Sue's parents live half an hour away, so there's no question we'll be back to do what she missed the first time.
The rest of the week we pretty much did nothing except eat turkey, play bridge, and drink lots of wine. Which was fine by me.
Also, Violet was a perfect doll on the plane, so we were worrying about nothing. Though airport security was still a pain in the ass. They made us take Violet's shoes off. But then didn't blink at the 8oz bottles of formula we brought through. I don't understand them at all.
(PS - Here are photos of our day at Magic Kingdom if you want to see...)
Tags: disney, family, florida, vacation, violet
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02:01 pm
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On A Plane
This evening we're going to be at Sue's parents' house in Orlando. Which means in a few hours we're going to be taking Violet on her first airplane trip. We've gotten all the advice we can, now all that's left is for you to wish us luck...
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tags: vacation, violet
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04:05 pm
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Eight Months
Violet is eight months old today! She's sitting up quite well (if we place her that way), but isn't even close to standing, and while she can roll from her back to her front pretty easily, she seems to have forgotten how to roll back to her front. So after a few minutes on her front she'll complain until we rescue her.
She definitely recognizes her pacifier and her bottle and knows what to do with them - she'll hold the bottle herself with no problem (though if she's sitting up, she'll only suck air), and she can find her pacifier if it's anywhere within reach and put it in her mouth the right way. She happily eats from a spoon (though a bottle is still much easier for us) and can feed herself a cracker. She was never much of a spit-upper, but now it happens almost never. And she's just barely getting her first tooth (finally) - a bottom incisor that we can't yet see, but we can feel.
We're really happy that she's quite consistent at sleeping 10 hours a night. Sometimes nine, sometimes 11. Usually from about 10pm to about 8am - it's a wonderful schedule.
(PS - Sorry this isn't the most interesting post for you all to read; this one's mostly for me to look back on to remember what she was doing when.)
(PPS - she's nine days shy of eight months in the photo, but I love this photo!)
Tags: violet
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06:59 pm
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Election Results
Violet won her first election! "Scariest Costume" at the baby Halloween party we went to this past Saturday. Well, she did run essentially unopposed in the category - most of the thirty or so other babies were ladybugs and turtles and ducks and flowers and adorable things like that. Here we thought we were being lame in just buying a skeleton sweatsuit for lack of energy to think of anything better, yet it turns out it's quite the unique idea, especially for an eight-month-old girl. I probably should have guessed that.
Cute Halloween photos here!
Tags: violet
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12:21 pm
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The Portable Baby
Violet is easy to take places - she's done remarkably well in restaurants and cars and parties and caves and zoos and weddings and amusement parks. At the wineries this past weekend she was a big hit; everyone loved her. Now we're hoping our luck holds as we take her to watch Princeton beat Harvard this weekend - it'll be her first sporting event, and probably the first time we have her out in chilly weather for a good length of time. We're apprehensive about her first plane ride (to Orlando for Thanksgiving) - she's become very restless in our laps and it's been months since she's fallen asleep in our arms. Perhaps we're not as comfortable as her bouncy chair or the floor. And we still plan on taking her skiing this winter - she won't be skiing of course, so it'll be her first time in some sort of day-care arrangement. So far she likes strangers, but who knows what she'll be thinking in two or three months?
Tags: violet
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06:25 pm
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St. Gertrude
There is no patron saint to call upon to help you avoid traffic jams.
There are many patron saints of travellers, but somehow I doubt that they would be too sympathetic to my heartfelt pleas that I make it through the Lincoln Tunnel in less than half an hour. When the old saints had to go to State College, Pennsylvania, they had to walk. Still, before I left, I sent out a Facebook shout-out to St. Gertrude of Nivelles to do what she could.
I had plenty of time to wonder if I had made the right choice as I was crawling through the random streets of Hoboken and Weehauken after it turned out that the expressway leading out of the tunnel was mysteriously closed. Traffic didn't ease up much through New Jersey, but we did eventually make it to State College that evening (directions: drive to the middle of nowhere and hang a left), only to find that our room at the Ramada lacked the crib that we had been assured they had for us when I called eight hours earlier.
Fortunately, we had a AAA guide and a laptop, and soon we were calling every other hotel in town, all of which were at least $50 a night more expensive than our room. $100 is more than one wants to spend to make an angry point. But then the last hotel we called (and the last we were going to call) was Penn Stater, run by the Penn State School of Hospitality Management. They had a room - and a crib - for the same price! Sold. It turned out that the lack of the crib at the Ramada was totally a blessing in disguise, as the room at the Penn Stater was just so much bigger and cleaner and newer and nicer. We settled in (at 12:30 in the morning - I left Queens at 3:30), much happier than we were just an hour or so ago.
It seems that St. Gertrude was also the right saint to appeal to earlier that day; among her many duties is helping to obtain lodging while travelling. So hooray for St. Gertrude!
(Why were we in State College? For a wedding of course (photos here). It was fun, as most weddings tend to be. Unlike most weddings, there's a second party to look forward to - a Chinese banquet a few weeks from now here in the city. I should not eat until then so that I have enough room in my stomach...)
Tags: violet, wedding
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12:47 pm
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Food!
We've fed Violet some rice cereal a few times now, but last night was the first time she ate some "real" food: eggplant!
Why eggplant? Because Sue and I don't much like eggplant. Yet we keep getting eggplant in our CSA share every week. We've tried to work with it, and we've discovered some eggplant recipes that aren't so bad, but now we're just finished. We've had our fill of eggplant this year already. So I decided to steam and puree one of them to see if Violet liked it.
She didn't hate it. She made a weird face at the first spoonful, but swallowed it all. And swallowed most of the next six or seven spoonfuls (making much less of a mess than she did with the rice cereal). But then I could tell she had her fill of eggplant, too. I can't really blame her. Poor girl...
Tags: violet
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05:15 pm
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August Is Almost Over?
I don't have much to say, so I'm just going to post another photo of Violet.
Tags: violet
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05:23 pm
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8/8/8
Violet is 5 months old today! We don't have anything special planned for the occasion. We'll just be home watching the Olympic opening ceremony with friends. I imagine that being on the Olympic Opening Ceremony Planning Committee has to be great fun; judging from previous opening (and closing) ceremonies, I'm thinking that they drink good liquor until they're nice and tipsy, take suggestions for a few hours, and then use *every single drunken idea* that was suggested. A million balloons? Of course. Giant puppets representing Olympic values? You betcha. How about Ferraris doing donuts on a sheet of ice while lasers and fireworks blaze? Why the heck not? (Yep, that Ferrari thing happened. Torino Winter Olympics. Let's see the Chinese top that!)
(Okay, I'm pretty darn sure that the Chinese can top that.)
Tags: olympics, violet
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12:11 am
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Home Stretch
Well, this is it - my last week as a free man. I pick up my linux machine from the office on Monday and then I have a whole week to curse at it and try to add it to my wireless network before I'm officially starting work again. It's going to be great to work from home, though I'll have to fight the urge to constantly go upstairs and check on Violet - not that I'd think the nanny will be doing a bad job, I'll just want to spend time with the baby like I've been doing.
No, I'll have to do my job and the nanny will have to do hers. It's weird to be picking some stranger to come and be a huge part of Violet's life for a few years; I feel like I'm relinquishing my #1 spot. Reluctantly.
One nanny we interviewed told us that the family she worked for forbade her from telling the kids she loved them, and vice versa. We thought that was thoroughly ridiculous, but now I kind of understand. I can feel the pangs of jealousy already. Of course, that's still ridiculous. We'll try not to be those parents.
We finally got Violet baptized a week ago (photos here); I think both my brother and I were baptized within a week or two of being born, but these days the Church doesn't seem to have the same sense of urgency. Anyway, hottest day of the year and there I was walking eight blocks to the church in a new suit. I thanked God for air conditioning when I got there. Our parents were there, as was my brother and his wife (the godparents) and their kids, and two other families having their babies baptized at the same time. What sounded like a hundred bored whiny toddlers (including my niece and nephew) were running around as well, which kind of robbed the ceremony of some dignity, but then again, theirs is the kingdom of Heaven and such (Matthew 19:13-14)
Sue's parents could only stay the weekend; my parents stayed all week. It was nice to have them around, now that Violet can keep them entertained simply by breathing. And they're only too happy to take care of her. My mom even seem thrilled to change her poopy diaper; too bad I can't hire her to be our nanny. One can let one's kid love her grandmother all she wants without being jealous.
Tags: violet
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05:10 pm
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Paternity Leave
When I tell people that I'm taking 12 weeks off to stay home with the kid, the most common reaction by far is along the lines of "that's so great that your company lets you do that!" Which is kind of an odd reaction, considering that it's the law; my company (and probably your company, too) has to let me take leave. If it were truly up to them, they wouldn't.
It's unpaid leave, but I wanted the time off more than I wanted the money. Because being home with Violet is great. It's much better than working. Sure, she can be demanding on occasion, but so can my job. And my job isn't as rewarding.
Oddly enough, I think I'm getting less done around the house than I did when I was working. Violet's "down time" (when I'm not actively feeding, bathing, changing, walking, or playing with her) is maddeningly unpredictable. I can't say there's not enough of it; it's just that when she goes to sleep and/or plays happily alone, I never know if it's going to be for ten minutes or three hours. So I never know if I can finish what I want to start. And yet I feel like I have an infinite amount of time. So nothing feels urgent.
And now all of a sudden it's 5pm. And it's Friday. I should start dinner.
(The lovely father-daughter moment captured at right is of Violet's first dip in the ocean. We went to Jones Beach on her third-month birthday and it was a smashing success. We must do it again. And indeed we are, a week from Sunday, just before my birthday. Are you joining us?)
(Yesterday, I took her to her first mall - plus it was the first time I've driven her anywhere by myself. We survived. And now that she's been to the beach and the mall, she's a true Long Island girl.)
Tags: violet
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11:06 pm
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Reunions 2008
I am perpetually surprised. Every darn month it's "I can't believe it's [name of month] already!" It's never "Well, I'm certainly ready for [name of month], it definitely feels like [name of month] should be here right now." No, I apparently still haven't gotten the hang of this "time" concept.
And in May, I always think "I can't believe Reunions is coming up!". And right now it's "I can't believe Reunions is over!" You'd think after 20 Reunions in a row, I'd start believing it.
I don't know what Violet believes yet, but she handled her first Reunions like a star. And we did, too. Reunions is a bit different with a baby, as you can imagine. We've now noticed that here are lots of stairs on campus. Pushing through a crowded eating club for meals is tricky. And while Violet is good at staying up until midnight (or later), or sleeping in her stroller whenever she feels like it, we forgot that most courtyards get REALLY LOUD once the bands start playing. That's probably not good for baby ears. So Sue and I took turns finding quiet places for her while the other hung out with friends and partied. Or we found quiet places with friends together. We managed to stay out past 2 a.m., which is more than I can say for some of our childless friends.
At 12 weeks, Violet wasn't the youngest baby there (I met babies of 8 and 6 weeks), but she was adorable enough to get lots of attention regardless. And I didn't mind the attention, either, especially when it was from a gaggle of gals from the Class of 2006. But it was fun to have a bunch of wives of the Class of 1962 moon over her, too. They were so sweet and grandmotherly - I probably could have convinced some of them to babysit while we went out. Maybe next year.
So as always, it was a fantastic weekend. And of course I took hundreds of pictures. Then Sue had to start work again on Monday. Poor Sue. I can't believe she's back at work. Me, I'm home with the baby for about two more months, and then... well, we haven't really figured that out yet. Stay tuned.
Tags: princeton, reunions, violet
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12:09 pm
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Universal Stroller
It turns out that taking a two-month-old to a theme park isn't such a bad idea!
This past Thursday was Violet's two-month birthday, and so we (Sue, her dad, and I - her mom was at work) celebrated by going to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. (Well, the timing was really a coincidence, but we're telling her it was to celebrate her birthday, and that's the story we're sticking to.) We were a bit wary, unsure of how she'd handle the day, but she behaved like a perfect little angel (not like the Old Testament angels wrestling and carrying flaming swords.) Or maybe the heat just conked her out. Regardless, she was remarkably easy to have around.
As a bonus, she worked as our own personal Express Pass. All the rides at both resorts have a "baby swap" at the end of the line, where one or more people can wait with the baby while the others in the group go on the ride. When they're done, they swap places with the people waiting with the baby so they can go on the ride. Or some can go again; they don't check too closely. Pretty nifty, no? And the bonus part is that the baby swap room is almost always set up at the end of the express line. So essentially, if you show up with a baby, you get to cut the line. Sweet.
Not that there were many lines to cut that day. Being a Thursday in early May, the longest line we saw was a mere 30 minutes, and even that was rare. Zero to five minutes were more the order of the day. Even the brand-spanking-new Simpsons ride (which officially opened the day after we were there - it was still in "previews" on Thursday) had an easy ten-minute wait on the regular line. With clips from Simpsons TV shows running, it was probably the most fun line I've been on. And the ride was great, too.
The question now is whether we hit another theme park on Sunday, or just stay in and not push our luck with Violet, in case Thursday was an aberration...
(If you're interested, click here for all my Universal Orlando photos...)
Tags: florida, violet
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04:10 pm
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Squill!
In my previous post, I had a photograph of Violet lying down in a bed of pretty little blue flowers that covered her great-uncle's lawn. Which, by the way, was the first time we had ever put her down on the dirty ground outside. Before doing so, we had a moment akin to psyching oneself up to jump into a cold swimming pool (okay, okay, on the count of three put the baby down, okay, one, two... okay, let me catch my breath first...)
Anyway, neither I nor Sue nor any of her relatives knew what the flowers were. "Bluebells" was the best guess, but it didn't sound right, considering that the flowers weren't bell-shaped. Well, some knowledgeable people at the FLOWERS Flickr group identified them as "squill". Probably "Siberian squill" (Scilla siberica), to be exact.
I had never even heard the word "squill" before (have you?) but apparently, it's real. Not that I'm surprised that there are flowers I've never heard of; identifying nature-type things such as flowers, trees, and birds is not at all my strong suit. But even though I can't identify a marigold or a zinnia, at least I've heard of them. This "squill" concept is entirely new to me, and yet there it is all over the darn place. Shows how much I know.
In other news, today is my last day at work before I go on twelve glorious weeks of paternity leave. It's unpaid leave, aside from my vacation time, which I have to use all of, so I'll have no vacation time when I come back at the end of July through the end of the year. But I still think it'll totally be worth it. After over twelve years here, I sorely need a break. A longer one than twelve weeks, really. Who knows, maybe that can be arranged...
Also, "squill" is a fun word to say. Squill squill squill...
Current Mood: squilly
Tags: violet
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05:26 pm
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Violet's First Vacation!
I'm happy to report we successfully brought Violet to Boston and back this past weekend. It was her first time out of New York City!
We were there for Sue's cousin's wedding - actually, her second cousin. Me, I wouldn't know if my second cousin was working in the same building as me, but that side of Sue's family tends to stay close. Much of the weekend involved introducing Violet to lots of relatives, including her third cousin, Helen. Who in the world has (knowingly) ever met any of their third cousins? Given that Violet is only six weeks old and Helen is only six months old, I doubt they'll remember meeting (though I do have photographic evidence). But given that there are three guys in Sue's generation who are still years away from getting married, I have no doubt that the two will be playing happily at some future family wedding.
Violet slept through almost all of the car trip, and was very good while various relatives manhandled her. She only melted down when we got to the church and - of course - right in the middle of the wedding ceremony. (What can I say - gals always cry at weddings.) But a quick feeding made her happy and she was content to sleep through the entire reception. We stayed awake and had a fun time. All in all, the weekend worked out great. Sure, it helped to have lots of relatives eager to take turns holding the baby, but we're still confident in our ability to pull off a road trip to Florida next month.
(More photos from the wedding are here - as of today, I've only uploaded a quarter of the photos I have, so check back over the next few weeks if you're interested...)
Tags: violet
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03:11 pm
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New Experiences
I knew that once we had a baby, I was going to do lots of things I had never done before. I was not expecting that one of those things would be to buy a humidifier. You see, having grown up just over a mile from the ocean, I had always viewed humidity as something to be conquered, not encouraged. Our evil foe humidity caused mold and warping and out-of-tune pianos. So our dehumidifier ran nearly nonstop from spring through fall. In the winter we could enjoy dry, spark-filled air naturally.
But when Violet came down with a little congestion a couple of weeks ago, the pediatrician recommended that we get an un-dehumidifier. That is, a humidifier. We were told it'd help clear her up a bit, though I'm not clear on why. Still, "anything for our girl", so I bit the bullet and bought this adorable penguin humidifier . And I'm happy to say Violet is breathing much better now. Whether the penguin had anything to do with that is unclear, but at least it's really cute.
In other news, we took Violet to church for the first time this weekend, and she behaved admirably. Somehow the organ and the singing put her right to sleep, and when she woke up later in the Mass, it seemed to keep her calm. So another thing I might do that I've never done before is install a pipe organ in our house. Hey, you go with that works.
Also, here's a short video showing how much Violet loves her swing:
( Baby video behind this link... )
Tags: violet
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04:22 pm
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Violet On Video!
Flickr now allows users to upload short videos! Given that my point-and-shoot camera has video capability (a capability I have never once used in the nearly two years I've owned the camera), and that I have a one-month-old baby hanging around the house (you may have heard the news), I found Flickr's offer irresistible. So behold: my first two masterworks!
( Warning: baby videos behind this link... )
Tags: video, violet
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04:55 pm
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One Month!
Well, we've successfully parented for one month! So far, so good. Aside from a bit of congestion, Violet's been doing adorably well. These days, she's often alert without crying, she played with a toy for the first time this past weekend, and she's even gotten used to the idea of being changed (initially, she hated it), though she still hasn't gotten the hang of when to pee (hint to Violet: either before we take the diaper off or after we put the diaper on, not in between.)
Also this past weekend, to celebrate Sue's birthday, we took Violet out to her first restaurant (thankfully, she slept), and the next day we even ventured into Manhattan to visit friends - our first road trip with her that didn't involve a pediatrician or a Babies-R-Us.
Our next planned trip is a big one - we're driving to Boston to go to Sue's (second) cousin's wedding next weekend. And that's just a dress rehearsal (baby steps, if you will) for our potential two- or three-week road trip extravaganza in May to visit the grandparents in Florida, as well as friends down the East Coast. We've been told that we're crazy for even considering such a trip, but then again, we've been told that we're crazy for having a baby in the first place (oh wait, that was us saying that).
So right now, unless there's a massive meltdown on the way to or from Boston, Violet's looking forward to spending her second-month birthday in sunny Orlando (okay, I'm projecting - I'm looking forward to it. Violet is just along for the ride. And if all goes well, she'll be sleeping for most of it.)
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04:57 pm
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A Bit Of Doggerel
Penelope the Pup
Would eat Violet all up
But she's eaten enough
So thank goodness she's stuffed!
(A coworker of Sue got Violet this massive stuffed dog. Now where are we going to put it?)
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11:06 pm
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Violet Go Bragh
Today (St. Patrick's Day) is Violet's due date, but instead she's nine days old. So far we've done well, but that's because right now it's not too difficult - all she does is sleep, eat, cry, and poop (sometimes all at the same time) and we have those four events covered. But somehow it takes all day to cover it all. We can probably stand to get a bit more efficient.
Anyway, I promised details: There we were, a week ago Friday, about twenty minutes into Bender's Big Score, when Sue felt a sharp, painful kick. Which was odd, because up until then, none of the baby's kicks had hurt. A few minutes later, having gone up to the bathroom, she shouts down to me: "How can I tell if my water broke?" Darned if I knew, but she soon decides that that's what happened and calls the obstetrician, who tells her to get to the hospital as soon as she could.
Sue was surprised; after all, she hadn't felt anything other than the kick. No contractions yet. But the doctor, presumably remembering that she had been dilated 4cm all week, insisted. So I started packing last-minute items while she showered (knowing it'd be the last shower she'd get for days), and that's when her contractions started. Three minutes apart, just like that. At exactly 11pm, less than 20 minutes after her water broke, we were pulling out of our driveway and hoping for good traffic into Manhattan.
And traffic was indeed good, thank goodness. 23 minutes later, we're at NYU Medical Center. I drop her off on the 8th floor, and go back down to park the car (the valet isn't there at night) and then to get her properly Admitted. The guy at the Admitting desk wasn't in much of a rush (we were to discover over the next few days that nobody at the hospital ever seemed to be in much of a rush) and I wasn't back to her room until nearly midnight. I see her surrounded by a dozen nurses and interns and med students and doctors and find out that she was 7cm dilated when she was first looked at.
Our obstetrician suggests she just start pushing, as the baby could come pretty soon, but Sue demands the epidural. Which she gets, although not as quickly as she would have liked. By 12:45, the drugs have kicked in, and most everyone leaves. A nurse or intern or someone would occasionally wander in to check in with us and the monitors, but for the next two hours, it's mostly just us doing nothing. Sue tells me that before the epidural the contractions were very similar to a leg cramp - slightly less painful, even - only they keep coming, and there's nothing you can try to stretch to make it go away. But at least there's an epidural.
At quarter to three, the obstetrician seemingly randomly decides it's time to start pushing. He had been in another room delivering another baby, so had that baby come sooner, we suspect she would have started pushing sooner. The nurses holding her legs were very supportive (in both an emotional and physical way), but it took us a while to catch on. When they were both shouting things like "Great job! That's an excellent push! Come on, you're almost there!!", I initially took them at their word. Half an hour later, I began to realize that while they may have meant what they said, it did *not* mean that the baby was about to come out. So I kind of got a bit jaded, and even after the doctor came in, put a sheet over her knees, and got all the instruments out, I figured that it'd still be another hour or two or three of pushing. Yet a minute or two later, after being resigned to the fact that I'm never going to see this baby, boom, there it is. Totally took me by surprise.
In case you didn't keep track, water broke about 10:45pm, contractions start about 10:55pm, we're in the car at 11pm, at the hospital at 11:23pm, epidural is administered at 12:30am, kicks in at 12:45am, Sue is told to start pushing at 2:45am, and the baby is born at 3:50am. Five hours from start to finish. Everyone tells us that Sue's lucky. But it was long enough.
After they poke and prod the baby for what seems like an eternity, we're left mostly alone until about 6am, when she's moved to her room, and I'm told to go home. Fathers can't stay in non-private rooms, and visiting hours don't start until 8:30. The bastards. But I was secretly glad to be able to get home and sleep. Only I didn't sleep much. So I uploaded pictures, and then the rest of my life started...
Tags: violet
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11:38 am
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It's *Our* Girl This Time!
Violet Antonia Dutton
Born 3:50am, March 8, 2008 at NYU Medical Center
7lbs 1.4oz and perfectly healthy!
Everyone's doing well. Tired, but well.
Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/sets/72157604072917161/
Details later....
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