The Kern Baby(s)

Swings make her giggle, apparently

2012-02-02T10:33:00.000-06:00

She does this every time I put her in a swing. Best giggles ever!

Fun with Fall

2011-11-13T12:18:00.001-06:00

As I write, there are 28mph winds outside blowing our tidy little piles of leaves all over the yard. Which is a big boo. But it's also 67 degrees outside, which I suppose makes up for it, right?

We're enjoying fall here in Chicagoland, with the alternating freezing and warm weather. We're taking lots of walks, enjoying the outdoor playgrounds while we can, and keeping all of our fingers crossed for Byron's third round interviews at ACCO on Tuesday. :) If that works out, we'll be staying here in Chicagoland, which would be really exciting.

A few entertaining kiddo tidbits: in the last two days, Leo has started saying "yes" instead of "yeah." Not sure where that came from, but it seems to be a very conscious thing. He'll say "yeah," then stop himself and say "yes" instead. Makes him sound like such a big boy! The train obsession continues, so I'm sure we'll have a christmas of trains trains trains....

And Mikaela is babbling nonstop, and scootching all over the floor. It's not quite crawling, but it's definitely intentional movement.

Hoping we have good job news to share soon. In the meantime, enjoy more fall pictures in the Fall 2011 album on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157627886748578/

Trains and crawling

2011-09-25T16:04:00.001-05:00

Not sure how I managed to have such a long lapse in posting. You know how sometimes when your schedule is wide open it's even easier to procrastinate? I have that problem. I get more done when I have less time. And we've had all sorts of time on our hands.
In a nutshell, we have relocated up to Chicagoland, and are currently staying with Byron's parents in the burbs. Byron's still job hunting (had a good phone interview with one company and a couple really solid leads elsewhere, but no offers yet). Mikaela turned 6 months old this week (!) and is working really hard at crawling (!!!). I mean it's great, but wow. Not really ready for it. Kinda thought we'd be all settled in somewhere by the time we had to deal with stage 1 babyproofing again. In the last two weeks, she's progressed from just pushing up with her arms, to getting her belly all the way off the floor, to getting up on her knees, to rocking back and forth on her hands and knees, then skootching backward, to now getting a little forward momentum. I think we're just weeks away from genuine crawling. I don't remember exactly when Leo started crawling, but I'm pretty sure she's ahead of him.
We've also started feeding her a little solid food, which she is taking to with mixed results. First feed - great. Grabbed the spoon and shoved it into her own mouth and devoured it. Next few times, most of it got spit right back out. Meh. We'll keep working on it.
And she's still a pretty happy little girl. Lots of smiles for everyone, she laughs hysterically quite often (at a sneezing cat, her brother doing all sorts of things, and Daddy making silly faces). If we were settled I'd be starting to work on transitioning her into a crib (and out of my bed) but that's hard to do in a temporary space where you don't want to wake the whole house up. Oh and where you don't have a spare crib. :)

Leo has developed a real obsession for Thomas the Tank Engine, so his days are largely stuffed with trains train trains trains. Which would be OK if he didn't often insist that we play trains with him. You can only sit on the floor playing trains for so long before you never want to see a train again.

Overall, our lives are still very unsettled and up in the air. But all things considered, we are coping pretty well. Things could be worse, but we'll certainly be relieved and excited when Byron gets a job and we can settle somewhere. I'm ready to put our homeless austerity program to an end!

Plenty more pictures for your viewing pleasure on Flickr.

Pooltime buddies

2011-07-28T17:13:00.000-05:00

THUNDER!!!

2011-07-13T12:47:00.000-05:00

A short and amusing story for you. Last week, we had some severe lightning and thunder, and Great Grma taught Leo the word 'thunder.' He thought it was pretty cool, and called out "Thunder!" every time he heard it.

Fast forward to a few days ago. Leo was playing with his cars and trains with Grandma, and let out a big fart as he was squatting over to move a car. Grandma said "Oooh Leo, what was that?" to which Leo enthusiastically replied with a grin, "THUNDER!!!"

Hot Times In The Country

2011-07-05T18:46:00.000-05:00

Here is a visual sampling of some of the adventures we're having down here in Missouri - learning to wash the car, playing around Grandma's house, splashing in the creek.....

"That way, o-tay"

2011-06-21T10:31:00.000-05:00

These are Leo's new favorite words. Yes, he has become a chatterbox. We understand most of what he says, though some of it still sounds like Russian gibberish. He has started to say "otay" at the end of every request, as if he's learned that that's the word we use to say yes, so if he says it then his request will be approved. It's pretty cute. He repeats EVERYTHING we say, which means Mommy has to be very careful what she says sometimes...

Last week, Byron and I were wondering when imagination begins to flourish in a child, and I can now positively state that Leo has hit that stage. We're at my mom's house right now, and she picked up a little kitchen play set for him (which he totally totally loves). He has spent hours playing with all the parts of the kitchen, particularly a blender which he then brings around to pour us drinks. One strawberry daiquiri please! But his favorite part of the kitchen is a little plastic phone. He'll hold it up to his ear and walk around having conversations with imaginary people. The other day he was walking around saying "Hi......love you too.....bye bye." Repeatedly. It was pretty awesome.

Speaking of my mom's - we are here in lovely Potosi Missouri for a bit while Byron continues the job hunt. He graduated from the Notre Dame MBA program at the end of May. We spent two weeks in Chicago at Byron's parents house, and after here we might head down to Florida. Who knows. Leo is enjoying all the attention from family, and we are enjoying the generosity of meals and a place to sleep. :)

As for little Miss Mikaela, she is getting big in a rush (she's already 14 pounds! and almost 13 weeks old!) and she rolled over for the first time last week. She smiles alot, "agoo"s and "aga"s alot, and is already starting into the pre-teething drool stage. Nothing more fun than having two children who drool alot. She's continuing to be a great sleeper, thank god. Now if she'd stop leaking through her clothes several times a day, life would be peachy! She's even starting to find her own thumb every once in a while, which is a fantastic development for a child that has no interest in a pacifier.

Gotta go, Leo says we have to "go that way otay!", wherever that way is.....

6 Weeks and 2 Years

2011-05-08T17:24:00.000-05:00

Little Miss Mikaela is 6 weeks old now, which is hard to believe. She's proven to be a pretty happy girl so far - sleeps well, eats well, all the usual baby earmarks of excellence. And just in time for Mother's Day, she has started to smile at us. She'll smile back at me when she's in the right mood, and I saw her smile up at the animals dangling above her changing table. I haven't managed to get a picture of it yet, but I'm trying. She's currently going through the standard newborn acne period - good thing she won't remember us calling her pizza face.
And she's getting big - at her 1 month check-up she was a few ounces shy of 11 pounds. And she's a couple inches taller and her head growth is good too, so she's in about the 75th percentile in every category. Now if only she were happier to hang out with Daddy, everything would be peachy.

Mister Leo has actually been more of a challenge these days than Mikaela - this kid now has tantrums and meltdowns at the drop of a hat. Could be his age (turns 2 next week!!!), could be sibling jealousy, could be he is intentionally trying to drive us crazy. Whatever it is, it's been really challenging to deal with. He has become especially attached to Daddy (since they do more fun stuff together these days - both intentionally to give him attention but also as a side effect of nicer weather), so whenever Byron leaves to go to school, Leo gets very upset. Hopefully this will pass soon, because all his wailing is driving us crazy. Though I imagine the drama and activity of moving (to an as of yet undetermined location) after graduation means we won't see the end of his emotional roller coaster any time soon. He's getting more articulate every day, starting to speak in phrases, so maybe he'll at least start using words instead of wails to express whatever the problem is...

Bare Bottom Pics

2011-04-14T10:30:00.000-05:00

Christine Sweet, the wife of one of Byron's classmates, is a photographer looking to break into newborn photography. She took these beautiful pictures of Miss Mikaela last weekend - and I'm really excited to finally share them with you! Here are a few of my faves, check out the entire collection on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157626368710767/

Settling In

2011-04-03T21:09:00.000-05:00

Our little girl is a week and a half old now, and we're settling into the new normal at home. Just like her birth was the opposite of Leo's, her adjustment to life outside the womb has been opposite to his. She is a super sleepy girl - most nights start with a 3 to 4 hour uninterrupted chunk of sleep, with just a few more brief wake-ups the rest of the night. I can honestly (and surprisingly) say that I feel pretty well rested. And she is sleeping most of the day still - and can drift off to sleep on her own without nursing. She doesn't cry much, is happy to lay in her bassinet and look around when awake, and is generally super easy. It's basically a miracle. :) Especially for a second child, we are very appreciative of how easy she is. Leo actually gets more time and attention from me now than he did the last few months, now that I don't have pregnancy exhaustion and size holding me back.

While I do love the fact that she is a relaxed, easy baby, I am looking forward to her waking up a bit more soon. I'm ready to see her smile (while not asleep) and play.

Leo is taking to her pretty well so far - he tries to help rock her bassinet (but too vigorously), or shove her head back onto my chest when she's already finished breastfeeding. When she cries he usually says "baby cry" but mostly he just ignores her.

A funny thing I've noticed is how big Leo seems to me after handling her. I mean, he's a big toddler, but once you spend a few hours handling a newborn (so light!) then Leo seems enormous. And heavy. Very heavy. But on the other hand, I appreciate it so much more when he can do things like help us dress him. After dressing a squirming newborn, simple things like Leo helping to push his arms into the sleeves of a shirt are much appreciated. And a silent newborn makes his happy (and effusive) speech even more enjoyable. Each of them makes me appreciate the other all the more.

I'm sure we'll have plenty of challenging days ahead, sleepless nights and sibling fights, but for the moment, things are blissfully easier than expected. Now please excuse me while I go knock on wood.

I'll keep posting pics on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/

Presenting Mikaela Green Kern

2011-03-23T18:27:00.000-05:00

She's here at last! Last night was crazy, and not at all the birth I expected. I had some decent but very sporadic contractions all day, but nothing consistent. We were scheduled to come in to the hospital at 8:30pm to start me on a low dose of Pitocin (a labor induction drug) with the hopes that since I was already a little bit dilated and softened, a low dose administered overnight while I slept would get things going. I was even prescribed a sleeping pill.

So we checked in, and by the time everything was all hooked up with about 10:45. The nurses said we probably wouldn't see any action for a while, so we decided Byron should head back home for the night (we only live 5 minutes away) and get some sleep, and be ready to be called back in as soon as things started to happen. The nurses assured me they wouldn't be unecessarily waking me up all night, and strapped on the fetal heartrate and contraction monitors and left me to sleep.

I dozed on and off for about two hours before I started to get some pretty decent contractions, but I was able to breathe/moan my way through them as I laid on my side. At about 3 am they started to get really strong, and I started to wish I hadn't sent Byron home. But I figured I would wait a little while longer before calling the nurses back in (I had long intense contractions with Leo for hours, so I had no reason to think this wouldn't be the case again). Well by 3:15, each contraction came with an urge to push, which I tried to ignore, thinking I just needed to relax a bit (it couldn't possibly be time to push already, right?). Finally at 3:30, I just HAD to get up out of the bed, and had a contraction as I sat up that sent a gush of liquid down my leg. For some reason, I was sure I had just peed on myself. Ha. Turns out it was my water breaking.

I scooted into the bathroom, and the moment I sat down on the toilet I was overwhelmed by the need to push. Now I've heard other women say before that they feel a strong urge to push, but with Leo it was never that intense - I pushed with him because they said I was ready. Not so this time. There was nothing in this world that could have stopped me. For some reason (grogginess maybe?), I still wasn't convinced I was pushing out a baby - but 15 seconds later her head was out, and I reached down and grabbed her and pushed one more time and pulled her up onto my lap. She cried for about 5 seconds, them tucked in next to me.

After hyperventilating for a few seconds, I remembered there was a nurse call button next to me, and whacked it. And then sat there, by myself on the toilet, still hyperventilating, and looking at the baby on my lap. The nurse showed up about 15 seconds later, and with a very shocked look on her face, said "Oh. You had a baby." About 5 other nurses appeared about of nowhere, and limped me back to the bed, cleaned up and checked over the baby, and summoned the on-call doctor to check me over and deliver the placenta.

And oh yeah, called Byron to tell him to come back in because his wife just had the baby. Craziness.

Despite the wild delivery, she started to nurse right away (and vigorously). And nursed well all morning before spending the vast majority of this afternoon asleep. She's officially 9 pounds, 1 ounce, and 21 inches long. When I asked one of the nurses about whether they could see any of my increasing contractions on their monitor, she said that because I was laying on my side, it didn't show up as strongly as it should. So they had no idea how close I was.

So somehow, I had an unattended, self-delivered birth in the middle of a hospital. It sucks that Byron missed it, but it's still much better than lingering on for 3 days. I'll take 4 hours of intensity over Leo's 53 hours anytime.

Still waiting

2011-03-20T14:03:00.001-05:00

I was hoping to have exciting baby Kern arrival news to share with you, but we're still waiting. She was due March 15th, and here we are five days later. Boo. Not even last night's supermoon drew her out. I've had plenty of sporadic contractions, and lots of discomfort, but nothing substantial so far. We're headed back to the midwife's office tomorrow for the standard post-due ultrasound (to make sure there's enough amniotic fluid in there) and non-stress test to monitor heart rate and all that. We'll probably discuss setting a date for induction late next week assuming we get that far.

In the meantime, we can only wait. My mom came up from Missouri for the last week, with the intention of watching Leo while we were at the hospital and all that. No dice there, and she had to drive home this morning, but she became Leo's new best friend while she was here (I think every other word out of his mouth was "Graaammaaaww"). We hit up every playground in town, and even got to play outside a bit when some freakishly good weather hit for a few days. They had tons and tons of playtime and giggles, and Leo was pretty inconsolable (for about 5 minutes) when she drove off this morning.

Happily, Byron's mom is on her was over from Chicago at this moment to be on hand for Leo-watching for a while, so he gets a new Gram to play with. Hopefully this girl shows up soon! In the meantime, pictures of Leo will have to suffice.

Almost an Outtie!

2011-02-16T11:17:00.000-06:00

My belly button never popped out with Leo. You'd think a kid that turned out to be a whopping 9 pounds 5 ounces would cause a girl's belly button to pop, but no. And it may sound weird, but it's just one of this little things I always kinda wanted to happen.
And now here I am, at 36 weeks with little Kernel #2, and I have almost popped! There's still a slight indentation, but it's getting shallower by the day. Ergo, baby girl is getting bigger and bigger, though hopefully (please God) not getting up to Leo's birth weight (or 95th percentile head size...)
All seems to be progressing well with the pregnancy - lots and lots of vigorous movement, plenty of Braxton-Hicks contractions, still lots of hiccups, you know - all the usual things. We've got a stack of cute (and oh-so-tiny) basic clothes all washed and folded, and a little sleeper/rocker/bassinet thing for daytime downstairs naps. We're ready to rock!

Are we there yet?

2011-02-08T15:35:00.000-06:00

South Bend has received an astonishing 92 inches of snow this season. And don't look now, but it's currently snowing! Sigh. Ready for this winter to be over.

As you can tell from this picture, however, a certain member of our family is enjoying the weather. We happened upon a super-cheap pair of snow pants on a clearance rack in his size (miracle!) and suited him up last week to go explore the frozen tundra that is our backyard. The snow was so deep that he had a really hard time walking it in, but he had a fantastic time. And when he saw his swing dangling from the tree, he insisted on swinging in it. As you can imagine looking at this picture, he was squealing with excitement. He also tried to eat a snowball, but was a little less enthusiastic about the results.

In other ready-for-it-to-be-over news, I have 5 weeks left until little Kern #2 is due to show up. Which means she could show up (early) any time soon. I've definitely gotten to that stage of pregnancy where all the shine has come off - my hip joints hurt, I feel slow and out of breath alot, I'm always tired regardless of how many hours I sleep (when I can comfortably sleep) and I'm just ready for this to be over. Seriously, are we there yet? Medically, everything is going quite well - blood pressure, blood sugar, weight gain, belly measurement, all on track. And thank God, no ridiculous itchy rash on my arms and legs like I had with Leo. Just a weariness undoubtedly augmented by the daily demands of a toddler.....

Ride 'em, little doggie

2011-01-23T11:57:00.003-06:00

An amusing video for you from our Christmastime visit with Byron's family, wherein Leo rides, pets, pokes, pushes, smacks, and hugs Monty, Uncle Scott & Aunt Adee's dog. I don't think Monty is even aware that Leo is in the same room.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

2011-01-18T11:55:00.003-06:00

Christmas break is (finally) officially over - Byron started back at school today. It was great having time of for us all to travel and play together, but it's honestly nice to be back into our normal lives. Other friends (and their kids) are back in town now, playgroups are scheduled again, and our spring student loan payout has finally dispersed (big hooray!).

As for Christmas, we spent a week at my mom's in Missouri, then a week and a half at Byron's folks in Chicago. Leo got to see (and play with) a ton of family members, and came home with a ton of really cool new toys. He got to go 4-wheeling (that's riding an ATV for you non-country folks), make snowballs, play with a dog, show off his dancing skills, drag both of his great-grandmothers around, and help 'decorate' the Christmas tree with his Legos. Considering all the travel, new people, and unfamiliar sleeping places, he was a champ. You can see more pictures of our travels on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157625704619577/

But the most exciting part of the time (for us anyway) was hearing his sudden language explosion. The pediatrician said it would happen around 18 months, and we've really seen it over the last 3 weeks. He now repeats everything, and says words without prompting. While most people wouldn't understand most of the words he says, we can really understand quite alot. And he loves letters and numbers - he loves to watch Wheel of Fortune and repeat all the letters as they come up. We're pretty excited about this development, mainly because it means an a near end to all of the moaning and pointing he's been doing! He has also developed an absolute love of clementines (up to 3 a day, sometimes 2 in a row) and is getting pretty good at peeling them and separating segments without much help.

So our little boy is growing up fast. Which is good, considering he's going to be a big brother in about two months. Guess that means I should enjoy this relative calm while I can?

Still Here

2010-12-13T12:35:00.003-06:00

So I've been meaning to do a new post for weeks now, but every time I think about it I've got my hands full with something else. Then of course I forget. Oh well.

Leo has been something of a fussy-britches as of late, partially from feeling a little cabin fever and partially from less than ideal sleep. We think he's been going through a growth spurt the last few weeks, because he's been waking up early (anywhere from a hour to two hours early.....grrr) and eating voraciously once he wakes. We try to stuff him as full of dinner as we can, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

And he's started waking up at some point almost every night and crying until one of us goes in to give him a little comforting and tuck him back in. He goes right back to sleep at that point, but if we don't go in he just cries louder and harder....Not sure what's at play there, guess he just needs some sort of reassurance that we are still here. Regardless, all of this adds up to him getting less than the ideal 11-12 hours of sleep each night.
And in the cabin fever department, it's finally gotten cold and snowy here, so we don't get out of the house all that much. I joined a local mom's group on Meetup, so that helps us get to some more playdates, but I think he's still getting antsy. Probably doesn't help that he hasn't gotten any new toys in months - why buy a kid new toys right before Christmas? So I think he's a bit bored with all his stuff. He's about to get plenty of new stimulation though - a road trip down to my mom's for a week, then a week at Byron's parents place with all his family. Plus all the goodies that Christmas entails for a kid.

In preggo news, I've been feeling pretty good. Starting to feel bigger, but mostly just notice that when I'm trying to get stuff done. Bending over to pick up toys is starting to get fun. On the plus side, I'm still comfortable laying on my back at night, which got uncomfortable very quickly with Leo. Hopefully that means that Baby Girl is smaller than he was (though really, he was huge at 9 pounds 5 ounces, so she has to be smaller, right?)

The nurse practitioner said everything looks good so far - all my vitals are good and my weight gain has been pretty minimal so far. Here's hoping the rest of this continues to cruise along well.
Speaking of Baby Girl, she is super active like Leo was. Though while he had a tendency to poke outward, she seems more interested in attacking my internal organs and pushing straight down. Not exactly what I would call comfortable, but it's pretty minor. She also gets the hiccups pretty frequently like he did.

Just about 3 months to go until we become a family of four! Maybe I should get around to taking a belly pic sometime soon to share. Funny how entertaining a toddler all day can distract you from doing things like that....

Leo becomes a man... sort of.

2010-10-25T12:30:00.003-05:00

As some of you now know, Leo underwent surgery last week at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago for an undescended testes that he's had since birth. I know, I never mentioned it before, it just seemed kinda weird to be like 'Oh yeah by the way, Leo's got one ball in hiding...' It's apparently quite common (I think I read about 1 in 100 baby boys these days) and the surgery is considered pretty routine. It was outpatient surgery, just over an hour long, and everything went perfectly smoothly.
And I managed to not freak out, burst into tears, or chew my fingernails off. Impressive, I know. I wasn't really worried about the surgery itself, mostly just the general anesthesia (because you can't give a baby local anesthesia and hope for them to stay still...) Most people handle general anesthesia without problem, but it still carries a risk.
Anyway, he was fine, was disoriented and wailing for the first half hour after waking up (which they said was very normal due to the disorientation and confusion). He gradually came back to normal over the next half hour, then was his normal self the rest of the day. Of course, Tylenol with Codeine might have helped in that arena. Good stuff. And he's been doing swell ever since, just two small incisions to keep clean and a little bruising.

In more fun news, we were in New York City about two weeks ago for Byron's brother Scott's wedding to the lovely Adee, which was very fun. It was an intimate event in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, mostly just close family. Leo of course wore his finest, and was quite popular. More photos of the lovely event can be see here.

Next on the docket - my ultrasound is scheduled for Thursday, at which time we'll hopefully be able to tell if #2 is a boy or girl! Speaking of him/her, they're pretty active already. I'm getting lots of pokes and bumps from them, which is fun. Believe it or not, we're already over halfway thru this pregnancy.... whoopie!

The Next Kern Baby!

2010-10-03T14:14:00.002-05:00

Yes, as many of you know, we are expecting Kern baby #2! Mr. Leo is going to be a big brother around March 15th. We'll be finding out whether it's a boy or girl at the end of October. whee!

I'm sure many of you are a bit surprised at this news coming so soon. If we weren't planning to move after Byron graduates in May (to a location/job yet to be determined) then we would have waited a little longer, but I didn't want to deal with switching midwives mid pregnancy. So we gave ourselves a 4 month window to try, after which we would wait entirely until after Byron was done with school to try again.

So here we are - yours truly seems to be quite fertile. :)

We're definitely excited, though it's very different from the excitement of finding out I was pregnant with Leo. It's much more tempered now by the thought of two kids in diapers and the uncertainty of where we'll be headed to after graduation. Also the uncertainty of how Leo will handle having a sibling. But the upside is that there are alot of things I'm not worrying about (since I've already got 'em figured out), like breastfeeding and basic newborn care.

Happily, I've been feeling pretty good so far - a tiny bit of nausea and a little bit of shortness of breath, but that's it. Then again, almost all of my pregnancy discomforts with Leo came at the very end - please God let me not develop that super itchiness again......

In Leo cuteness news, we're headed to NYC next weekend for Byron's brother Scott's wedding to the lovely Miss Adee, and Leo's got himself a fancy new suit for the occasion. We had a little fashion show of the new duds, and he looks just adorable. We'll definitely be posting pictures of that once we get home!

Dizzy Day

2010-09-09T10:22:00.003-05:00

Just a little video I had to share: Leo repeatedly spinning himself dizzy.

Other fun recent tidbits - Leo has suddenly figured out how to drink out of a straw. He showed no interest in them until I was drinking one of the new McDonalds fruit smoothies (which are yummy, by the way), then he pulled the straw into his mouth and drank almost half of it! It's a random little skill, but it's cool . Now he's using a sippy cup with a straw and loving it.

He's also starting to get the hang of using a fork - we picked him up a set of toddler silverware and he loves to (occasionally somewhat effectively) use it to stab his food and feed himself.
Looks like we're now the parents of an I-do-it-myself toddler!

Settling back into home

2010-08-30T11:30:00.006-05:00

Well it's been a whirlwind summer, and it's finally done. Ok, technically it may still be summer, but Byron started back up at school last week, so it's fall to us. Byron traveled almost every week for his internship, and Leo and I took several long trips (most recently to Florida to see my dad in Miami then a week of family vacay in Naples).
Leo was mostly fabulous with all the travel - in fact on our return trip from Florida, Byron and I were on separate flights (Byron direct, me with a connection) so Leo traveled home with Dada, and did splendidly. I thoroughly enjoyed sticking my nose into a book with zero interruptions on my flight!
Our Florida trip was great - Leo got to spend a whole week with Grandpa & Elisa, lapping up the Miami beach scene - and as per usual, picking up a few more adoring grandmothers along the way. That kid is a grandma magnet. Though he did seem a little confused when they all wanted to speak Spanish to him.
Somewhere along the way, Leo somehow developed a fascination with ceiling fans (there are alot of them in Florida, no surprise). He now likes to adamantly point at them (repeatedly) until you say the word fan. And, in the last week, he has started to do the same thing with light fixtures. Future contractor? Who knows.
Leo has definitely come to appreciate the beach much better than the last time we were in Florida (when he cried as we got even close to the water) and now giggle maniacally when you first walk him up to the waves. In fact if we didn't hold him back, he would happily run face first into the ocean until it covers him. He also discovered the joy of chasing the birds on the beach - he can't fun fast enough to catch them, or fast enough to make them fly away, so he just runs after them, laughing like a madman, as they walk as fast as they can in the opposite direction. It's pretty freaking cute.
We also got to see my high school best bud Corinne when we were down south - she and her hubs are just moving to Miami so she drove out to Naples for the day, then we stayed with them the night before we flew home. Leo was all over her right away - and he was so excited by her dogs that he managed to actually scare them off a bit. 25 pounds of squealing toddler is enough to scare off two dogs, no matter how big they are.
All in all, it was really great to get around this summer and see everyone, but it's practically delicious to be back home. We're working on transitioning Leo to a one-nap-a-day schedule, and looking forward to playgroups with all the other student families. And oh yeah, Notre Dame football. :)
I'll have more of our summer's picture to share in about a week - the charging cable for my laptop died and I can't get to the pictures I had already downloaded on there until the replacement arrives. Here are some that were still on my camera.

We're Walking

2010-07-26T19:15:00.002-05:00

Not sure how so much time manages to go by between postings these days, maybe it was the marathon 2 week road trip extravaganza to my Mom's place then down to Dallas to see Vic & Sarah. Sounds like a good reason to me. Yeah, so Leo and I drove from South Bend to St Louis (approx 8 hours) which was actually pretty good, then a few days later we hopped in the car with my mom and drove 12 hours down to Dallas to see my brother's family. It wasn't 12 hours of peace and joy, but it was honestly better than I expected.
Our visit was great - Vic & Sarah's kids Thomas (6) and Elizabeth (3) were obsessed with Leo from the moment we arrived. He was hugged, carried, read to, talked to, played with (sometimes without his willing participation) and it was really fun to see them all together. Thomas was particularly smitten and told me several times that "Leo sure is a cute baby." Not what you expect to hear from a 6 year old boy. I think he really liked the idea of having another boy to play with instead of his sister, despite the fact that Leo couldn't really play with him very well.
The trip home to my mom's was less peaceful than the ride down, and our return leg home a day later was the final straw for that poor kid - about half of the ride was loud wordless protests from him about his unhappiness. But we made it! He is totally done with car trips for a while. We're headed down to Miami to see my dad in a few weeks, so we'll see how the plane ride goes on that one.
But the real exciting fun is that Leo is walking now! In about a month, he's gone from a step or two at a time, to barely crawling at all and standing up from the ground without support. He's zooming all over the place, and enjoyed a few scenic strolls through gas stations while we were traveling. And he making more and more word sounds - I think I've heard kitty, duck, bathtime, giraffe (bathtime is his favorite time of the day, perhaps because his nakedness allows him free access to get grabby with himself - so it's a happy word for him). He's looking more and more like a toddler every day instead of a baby. And I think the transition from two daily naps to one isn't far behind either. High school can't be far away.....
For travel pics, check out my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157624465430097/

13 Months

2010-06-17T19:22:00.003-05:00

It's official - our little man is on his way from infant to toddler. He's 13 months old now, and has been cruising around the living room nonstop behind anything with wheels for about a month now. And he got several cool big toys with wheels (a big train, a buggy, a walker) for his birthday, so there is usually a veritable stable of potential cruising vehicles strewn around the living room. He'll push them around, walking behind them, and move around the room with one hand on a toy or furniture at all times. Then in the last week he's increasing started letting go while he's standing still.
Then a few days ago, he took a couple little steps without any support! Granted it was just a couple little steps getting from Mom to Dad, but it's a pretty exciting development nonetheless. So flat-out walking seems to (finally) be in our near future. Which I imagine will mean more work, but also more fun.

Happily, Leo seems to be coping well with Byron's extended travel schedule this summer for his internship. He's usually gone Thursday thru Sunday, which is much better than being gone all summer like we originally expected. Leo seems to be young enough to not really know that Dad's gone until he comes back home and gets all excited to see his Dada again. On the downside, naptime has become much more chaotic and unpleasant now that I am weaning him entirely off breastfeeding. I had cut down to just nursing at naptime, which was an easy transition, but as I am now ready to regain sole proprietorship of my body, he has to fall asleep for naps on his own. It's an uphill battle, but a necessary one. He's still sleeping really well at night, so if naps are terrible for a few weeks then I suppose we'll all live.
And while Byron works this summer, Leo and I have a growing list of summer travel plans - Chicago, Missouri, Dallas, Miami.... Looking forward to it!
Check out more pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157624173884249/

Happy Birthday Leo!!!

2010-05-13T19:20:00.003-05:00

Yes - Leo turned one today! And celebrated by enjoying his new backyard swing (and he loves that thing), and destroying the rest of his birthday party cupcake. And I do mean destroy - I'll need to vacuum tomorrow.
So hard to believe he's turning 1 - I can still remember what it was like to have a life before he was born! But it's hard to remember a time before his sweet smile. Yeah, he can be alot of work, but he's incredibly sweet and an all-around happy little guy. Not to mention that he is now sleeping though the night, which gives him bonus 'good baby' points. I'm not the kind of girl that's frequently driven to sentimentality, but it's hard not to get all sweet and sappy over him on this milestone. Three cheers to all of us for surviving his first year, and looking forward to many more to come! We love him more than we ever expected, and he brings us more joy than we thought was possible.

If you want more pictures of the handsome man, they're up on my flickr page, see the link below.

Birthday Party!

2010-05-10T17:02:00.001-05:00

Birthday Party Weekend, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

Leo's big #1 birthday is approaching, so we had a little birthday party for him on Friday before all of Byron's classmates head out of town for the summer. The house was packed (cold and rainy weather, so the planned garden party idea was nixed), many delicious homemade treats were enjoyed (gourmet burger bar, homemade ice cream sandwiches) and Leo even got his own giant cupcake. Which he actually seemed a little confused by....but I guess if you've never had icing before, it can be confusing. Also his Kern grandparents came to visit from Chicago for the weekend, and he got a bunch of new toys - a Radio Flyer wagon, a push-around buggy, a tree swing in the back yard, baby Legos, trucks... all sort of super cool stuff! We'll put up an official birthday photo on his actual birthday, the 13th. Check out the rest of the birthday pics on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157623902215971/

The Blue & Gold Game

2010-04-26T15:51:00.001-05:00

Every spring Notre Dame plays a football scrimmage game they call the Blue & Gold game. It's surprisingly well attended (so many rabid fans hungry for football) and we all enjoyed it as a family last Saturday. It's free for students and little kids, so a great occassion to get the little man out into the stadium. It was unfortunately cold and a bit rainy, so we weren't sure how long he'd last, but he loved it! He enjoyed a little MBA Family Life Committee tailgate beforehand, and contentedly sat and watched the first half of the game without squirming, fussing, or anything. Hooray!

He also showed two small but entertaining developments the same day: he started to clap his hands, and started to sort small objects. The clapping we'd been trying to teach him for a little bit, and he seems to have really caught on to the idea. The object sorting is really entertaining - he started by moving a pile of goldfish crackers, one at a time, from one compartment on his stroller into another, then moving them back. Then later the same day, he started shaking all his small plastic shapes out of their bucket but then putting them back in one at a time. They're small developments, of course, but really cool to watch.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T16:20:00.000-05:00

Spring at last!

2010-04-03T15:00:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, but it's really Leo's fault. See, he's gotten really mobile, which means I have to keep more of an eye on him at all times (which leaves less time for blogging) plus the right half of my laptop screen abruptly died a few weeks ago, so I'm now using Byron's old desktop set up in the office, meaning I can't just whip open the old Lappy in the living room while Leo's playing. And oh yeah, it's been ridiculously nice outside so we've been spending lotsa time out there.
As you can see from the pic, young Mr. Leo is also enjoying this weather. He's also sporting a total of 6 teeth. And he's crawling like a speed demon, and pulling up to stand on everything. I think he's going to be walking pretty soon - then my free time really gets curtailed! He's started to really laugh and giggle alot when we do something funny or bounce him around - and peekaboo is a real favorite.
And he's got a really cute Easter photo that we will post for you tomorrow - so stay tuned!

9 Months Old!

2010-03-01T18:18:00.003-06:00

Well time keeps on moving forward (despite the occasional feeling otherwise), and our little Leo is now 9 months old. We had his 9 month checkup last week, and can report that he is now 24 and a half pounds, and is maintaining a head size in the 90th percentile. His weight and height have (thankfully) dropped from the 90th percentile down into about the 70th-75th percentile, otherwise I wouldn't be able to hold this kid for more than a few minutes. And his bottom two teeth been in for a while, with his top two joining the party in just the last week.

And he had been pseudo-crawling for the last month or so - he could move forward mostly by shimmying along on his belly. Now in the last week or two, he's really crawling with his tummy off the ground, and can really cover some distance in the 30 seconds I leave him alone to use the bathroom. In fact now he crawls to find me in the bathroom each time. Guess it's time to kiss privacy goodbye, eh?

And the coolest thing is that in the last few days he's really started to pull himself up on anything at a good height once he crawls over. And if you hold his hands while he's standing up and walk with him, he's pretty good at stepping along with you. I imagine it will be at least a couple of months before he's really cruising around and walking on his own, but it's cool to start to see a glimpse of that skill now. So the babyproofing continues, with more to come I'm sure, as we discover the new and various things he wants to play with that he really shouldn't.

And Leo has now officially outgrown the first of his baby toys. The fantastic exersaucer, which he loved loved loved for so long, now seems to frustrate him because it keeps him in one place. And ditto for his swing, and his jumper to a lesser extent. So we're packing them away, and are in the market for a big activity toy of some variety to take their place. We're happy to take recommendations if anyone has something they would recommend.

Leozeenyo

2010-02-01T20:07:00.002-06:00

Here are some photos of the project I just completed - some felt wall hangings for Leo's room with various animals on them. There are a total of 10 of them, and I have to admit they are pretty cute. I had started these a few months ago, hand sewing them, then set them aside during the hubub of the holidays. Then I bought myself a sewing machine with some of my Christmas gift money, so I did some of the border stitching with that.
In related news, I'm developing product ideas for a small baby products company I'm going to start, which I've named Leozeenyo (modified spelling of the portuguese word Leozinho, which means "little Leo.") These animal hangings (perhaps modified) may be a part of it, along with a few crib mobile ideas I have.
The rest of the pics can be seen on my Flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157623206752091/ - along with some other photos of what I've done in Leo's room. It's kind of a weird space upstairs in the former attic space, so the walls are all angled. Once I make a prototype for the mobiles, I'll post some pics of that too.

Some wintertime fun

2010-02-01T20:02:00.002-06:00

snow bunny, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

January was a pretty snowy month here in South Bend, so we whisked Leo outside for a few cute snow pics. And they were quite fun and successful until Leo got his hands covered in snow, and consequently quite cold. I have a bunch more pics on my Flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157623206708991/ - including a few more from outside, plus some other fun ones, including Leo's face after eating pureed beets.
Speaking of beets, Leo is starting to really eat like a champ - he's enjoying beets, beef, carrots, peas, barley, oatmeal, apples, and yogurt right now. Making his food is fun, and since he eats such small quantities we can afford to get him the good organic/free range/grassfed stuff. And he's got chicken livers and ground turkey to look forward to in the near future (thought I think he may have to fight Byron for the chicken livers, personally I say blehg to them). He's become a pretty vigorous eater, eating a full plate of three different items each evening, and usually yogurt with apples during the day.
In other fun news, I've been super crafty lately and have made some cute stuff for Leo's room, plus have an idea for a related small business, but I'll do a separate posting about that shortly.

Holiday Marathon = Complete!

2010-01-15T20:55:00.003-06:00

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted. But in my defense, it was a marathon holiday season. We drove down to my mom's place south of St. Louis, and stayed there a week. Then drove up to Byron's folks in Chicagoland on Christmas Day, and stayed there 4 days. Then drove back to South Bend and hopped on a plane to my dad's place in Miami for a week. So we were away from home for about 3 weeks, and it was exhausting. Great fun though. Leo got to see all his grandparents (and meet his Great-Granna for the first time!), get his face licked by a dog (which he absolutely adored) and see almost all his aunts and uncles. There was snow, ice, and beaches. Planes, trains, and automobiles. OK, no trains. But everything but that.
Leo was the lucky recipient of an abundance of adorable clothes and great toys. He even got to help open some of them (and frankly once he did, all he wanted was the paper to chew on...). While we were gone, he got really good at sitting up by himself (which is great when it comes to playing with toys) and started pushing himself up on his hands and knees when placed on his tummy. He's THIIIIISSSS close to crawling - and is getting great at scootching himself backwards when he's on his hands and knees.
Also, his bottom two teeth have broken through. There was alot of consternation and wailing before that happened (and some more since) but he now has two little nubbins poking through. Which has led to me being bit a few times when nursing, which was not fun. Hopefully we can nip that practice in the bud, pun fully intended.
As for Leo's new year's resolutions, he told me "mamamama bababa aaa dadadada" which I translated into something about eating more vegetables this year, and learning to walk by the time he's 10 months old. (True story - an aggressively friendly preggo lady in Miami aka 'Auntie Michelle' made friends with Leo while we were waiting for our table at a restaurant and while she was holding him, declared that he had strong legs and would walk by 10 months. Crazy hormonal lady, but very genuinely friendly....)
We've all happily settled back in at home, and are enjoying dressing Leo up in all his new outfits and playing with his new toys. And yes, so far he's even enjoying eating all his vegetables. That's one resolution he doesn't get to break!
There are a ton more pictures on my Flickr site if you're interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/

What? Christmas is coming? That soon?

2009-12-10T09:25:00.005-06:00

I know, I know, I just realized how long it's been since I last posted. And just how close Christmas is! The real truth of the matter is that I've been putting all my blogging energy into our food blog, www.thefoodieforkful.com. We're doing an-idea-a-day for foodie Christmas gifts. But back to Mr. Leo.
So the relieving news (for my back) is that his growth is slowing down a bit. When we were at his 6 month check-up, he was up to 21.5 pounds, slowing down from the 97th percentile in height/weight to the 90th percentile or so. Which is fantastic. Now maybe he can wear the same clothes for more than two months!

He's starting to get pretty good at sitting up on his own - manages to stay there for anywhere from 3 to 30 seconds before slowly tipping over like the leaning tower of Pisa. And when you put him on his tummy, he manages to scoot around quite a bit. Not crawling yet, but it's clearly not far off. His little butt gets up in the air a bit, but he can't get his tummy up just yet. Still giggling quite a bit when he is tickled (as long as he is in the right mood) which is frankly just adorable.
Leo will be the centerpiece of our Christmas card this year (no surprise there!). We did a photoshoot to get just the right picture, and the one we chose is really great. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are some of the runner-up shots.
Looking forward to doing the Tour De Grandparents for the holidays, starting in about a week - but it's gonna be a long time traveling around. But Leo's been begging to go visit his grandparents, so I guess we gotta go!

6 Months Old Already!

2009-11-14T15:37:00.004-06:00

Yeah, six months old, as of yesterday. Which is just wild. He goes in for his six month check-up next week, so we'll share his updated stats then. I think he will now weigh in at 500 pounds.
Leo just getting over his first cold. Yep, that was fun. Byron had it for almost a week before Leo showed any symptoms, and when he developed a seriously stuffy nose it didn't seem to bother him at all. Except for when we tried to clean it out.... that part, he didn't care for. Any attempt to either wipe his nose, or suction the goo out with the aspirator were met with wild wailing and sobbing. With actual tears, which up till now has been really rare with him. Nothing like making your child really cry to make you feel like a fantastic parent. At least the stuffy nose seemed to be the only symptom, and didn't really alter his sleep pattern much (besides making it louder).
Other than being sick, not to much excitement here - Leo and I have been enjoying almost daily walks, enjoying all the fall colors. Leo continues to get stronger and more dexterous, getting pretty good at holding items with his hands. And he soooo wants to be able to crawl, when you put him on his tummy he tries to push with his legs and pushes up with his arms a bit - just doesn't seem to grasp yet that he need to do all of this at once to move. I suppose we should enjoy this non-mobile stage as much as we can for now, once he starts to crawl I'll be spending my days chasing after him.

First pool, first ocean, first Halloween!

2009-11-01T16:26:00.006-06:00

For Byron's fall break, we headed down to his folk's vacation place in Naples Florida, for a little relaxing beach vacation. Byron's parents came down too, to enjoy a nice chunk of Leo time. Leo was outfitted with a whole bunch of great vacation gear - two swimsuits, a couple of cute hats, and an awesome pool float. He ended up loving the pool, and the pool float, partially because the water was so warm, I think. The ocean, he was a bit more skeptical about that. The waves seemed to make him a little nervous, and the water was pretty cold.

The plane rides were a mixed bag - he did pretty darn well on the way down (a direct flight) and on the first of the two flights home....but then as we started to land on the second flight, he melted down. Not too bad, all things considered.

Then this past Friday, one of Byron's classmates had a little Halloween party, and we dressed Leo up as a lion (we just couldn't resist) and we dressed as his lion tamers. I picked up a basic lion costume at a second hand kid's stuff store, then embellished it with some furry fabric, and I think it turned out pretty well. It was mostly fun just to see him looking cute, he of course had no idea of what was happening. Next year I imagine he'll be a bit more entertained by the whole thing.

Baby Byron and Baby Elise

2009-10-14T14:51:00.007-05:00

After a conversation with friends about whom Leo looked most like, I decided it would be fun to post some baby pictures of Byron and I and see what everyone thinks. I thought he looked more like Byron until I found this picture of myself, at about a year old (and look how blond my hair is!). Kinda reassuring to see that I had no eyebrows to speak of either when I was a baby. No idea how old Byron is in his picture.

Leo is now 5 months old, and currently enjoying the make-loud-screechy-noise-for-no-reason phase. It's pretty cute, though occasionally very very loud. Sometimes it feels like we're living with a terodactyle. Or a howler monkey. But a cute cuddly one.

First bite!

2009-09-28T14:04:00.002-05:00

my spoon, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

We gave Leo his first few bites of rice cereal this weekend, and he seemed to like it! Though as this photo shows, he also very much liked the spoon. There are a few more photos on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/

4 Months Old

2009-09-23T14:20:00.004-05:00

Our big big boy is now just over 4 months old! We went into the pediatrician last Friday for his check-up, and confirmed that he is indeed gigantic. He is now 19 pounds 2 ounces, 27 inches tall. Yep. Which is apparently the 97th percentile for weight and height, and oh yeah head size too. So it's official, he's enormous, already in the 9 month size clothing range! And about to outgrow his carseat too, that maxes out at 22 pounds. Time to start browsing reviews for the next bigger size.

Leo has become super duper smiley as of late, and has started to laugh too. He LOVES to be bounced up high into the air, and that almost always makes him laugh. He's still drooling like a fiend, and has enjoyed chewing on his frozen teething ring lately. Actually besides chewing it, he also seems to like just licking it.

In crafty news, I'm working on some cute decor for Leo's room: a big felt giraffe and tree to go on the wall. The giraffe is mostly done, and a bunch of the leaves are cut, just need to get the tree cut out of felt and the whole thing tacked up on the wall. I'll post pictures as soon as it's done.

The pediatrician said we could start feeding Leo rice cereal anytime between now and 6 months - given how intently he watches me when I eat and tries to steal my fork, we think he may be ready to give it a try soon. I'm sure it will make for amusing photos!

Roll Over Leo

2009-09-08T16:35:00.001-05:00

Roll Over Leo, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

I just happened to catch this footage of Leo rolling over this morning - maybe the third time he's rolled himself over on a flat surface. He's getting big in a rush!

Thumbs Up

2009-08-31T14:17:00.002-05:00

It's finally happened. Our little man has discovered the thumb on his hand, and its apparent deliciousness. He had seemingly accidentally found it and sucked it a few times in the last month or two, but in the last two days (and especially today) he has really gone to town on that sucker. Which, as a breastfeeding mom of a baby that hates pacifiers other than the mammary variety, I am A-OK with. When he needs soothing and won't take a pacifier, I've always had to nurse him. Now hopefully he can soothe himself a bit and give Mommy's parts a rest. I know everyone has their own opinion about thumbsucking. Byron has confessed that he was an avid thumbsucker as a kid, a habit which was apparently hard to break. Personally I don't remember being one myself (but I do remember chewing on my hair... which of course sounds gross now). We'll see if this thumbsucking continues - given his love of sucking on my pinkie, I'm pretty sure it will.

flying with mom

2009-08-26T19:07:00.001-05:00

flying with mom, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

...in an attempt to stop some fussin', I lifted him up into the air above my head. Which did indeed stop the fussing. But what this photo misses is the glob of drool which dripped onto my face from his drooly mouth just moments later....Ah, babies.

A happy drooler

2009-08-18T15:06:00.001-05:00

a happy drooler, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

This photo is a testament to just how drooly our little man has become - note the drip about to come off his chin! This photo also shows just how smiley he has become - he'll almost always smile back at you when you smile at him. And he gets especially smiley when Byron comes home from school, he just grins and grins at him. He has also inexplicably taken to smiling at the ceiling fan above our bed. Go figure. Developmentally, things are progressing well too - Leo is really becoming much more aware of his surroundings. Those mobiles and crib toys have become mesmerizing for him. There's one musical sun toy that we have attached above his changing table, and if you change him without turning it on he get visibly disappointed. He's just about achieved complete neck control, and pushes himself up quite well when on his tummy. And he loooooooves to stand up, with just his hands held for balance. An early walker, I bet. He's just starting to be able to control his hands well, and he loves to suck/chew on them. He gets noticeably better at grabbing things with each passing day. Pretty soon he'll be handy enough to mow the lawn or something and earn his keep! :)

3 Months Old!

2009-08-14T10:22:00.002-05:00

toes in the grass, originally uploaded by lisiegrin.

Yeah, he's three months old now. Wild, eh?
Yesterday we had lunch in Notre Dame Stadium's press box, as part of Byron's orientation. We then got to tour the locker room and field, where Leo enjoyed putting his toes all over the field's grass. More pictures can be found on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic
And of course, everyone in the MBA program loves Leo - he's been a happy, calm baby at every event we went to this week, so they all think he's miraculously good! They just don't see him in the car on the way home, wailing....

Sigh.

2009-08-09T15:12:00.002-05:00

Well the last several days in the Kern household have been less than idyllic. Leo has been pretty fussy all day long, and has become suddenly incapable of napping for any reasonable period of time. Sigh. Which has been compounded by the fact that he has suddenly become pretty chompy when eating, which has put dear old Mom in an unpleasant state of pain, and less enthused about nursing him when he fusses. Overall, a real dandy couple of days. On the upside, he's continued to be pretty good at night (thank god), just taking a little longer to fall asleep, but not waking up more than usual. I don't know if it's teething pain (our little man has become quite the drooler, which is supposedly a symptom of teething) or what, but let's all hope it stops soon, and our cute pleasant baby comes back.....

Two tongues and a toot

2009-08-03T20:03:00.001-05:00

Two tongues and a toot, originally uploaded by lisiegrin.

Some well timed video of Leo responding to Daddy's tongue antics...

The Daddy Chair

2009-07-30T17:22:00.002-05:00

Yes, I've found that Leo's favorite chair is me. the Boppy pillow provides a nice leg rest and he can just lean back on my chest. Comfy for both of us, and daddy's arms get a rest from holding him.

Leo continues to be more and more interested in the things around him - he's even managed to pull the little ring on the musical toy in his play pen to start up the tunes a few times. We're pretty sure it's only partly intentional, but he definitely looks over at it when the music plays.

His hair is getting a little darker day by day too... looks like he's gotten some reddish coloring like I have in my beard, so he may be a blue-eyed, auburn-haired charmer before too much longer!

Other news of the "Yay!" variety - Leo is pretty consistently sleeping very soundly at night, only waking up a few times, and many nights doesn't even require a diaper change. Exciting stuff! Now if we could just get him to nap on his own instead of needing to be in a lap...

Grinning at Dad

2009-07-20T18:17:00.002-05:00

grinning at dad, originally uploaded by lisiegrin.

Just took this adorable picture of Leo, and had to share his cuteness right away. Funny that he's smiling at his daddy while wearing a 'Mommy and Me' onesie.....

Just finished a short visit with Gram, who drove over from Chicago to play. We made peach jam, went to the zoo, and enjoyed Leo's antics.

If you're interested in seeing more pictures, I upload all the best of my Leo pics to my Flickr page - many of them make it here to the blog, but not all of them. Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/
Enjoy!

The cutest photo ever

2009-07-13T18:20:00.004-05:00

So our DSL internet is FINALLY up and running in South Bend, yahoo! And just in time to share this absolutely adorable photo I took of Leo a few days ago, smiling up at the black & white animals I velcroed to the bar above his portable crib. He just loves them, and will smile up at them when we place him in there during the day. Anywho, it's definitely the cutest picture we've taken of him, and might appear on his birth annoucements if we ever get around to sending some out.

Leo had his two month visit with the pediatrician's practice that was recommended to us here today, and is now a whopping 14 pounds 14 ounces. Yeah - that's in the 97th percentile for his age. And he's between the 85th and 90th percentile for his length. Big big boy! The new practice seems good, the doc examined him while he was on my lap, which was really nice. And Leo barely freaked out while getting his shots - just a brief wail then done.

Leo has had quite the social life in the last two weeks - got to meet his cousins Thomas and Elizabeth while at Grandma's in Missouri, then hang out with Grandpa here last weekend. And it looks like Gram is on tap to visit this weekend, and then maybe Grandma will drive up the weekend after! Grandparents everywhere!!!! :) And he just loves it. And so do we.

A Smile!

2009-07-02T17:38:00.002-05:00

So we've completed our move to South Bend, and our internet is not fully functional yet (grrrr to you Earthlink!) but we do have dial-up, and I have to share this cute picture with you. Little Leo is smiling at us on a daily basis, and I got some cute video of him wiggling and cooing, but that will have to wait until the DSL is up and running. We're settling into the new house, and slowly unpacking. Leo seems to like it just fine so far, and in fact loves the window right next to his changing table. We're off to his first social venture this weekend (a friend's wedding) down in St Louis, which should make for an interesting road trip. Cross your fingers for us that we survive it!

Leo and his Daddy on Father's Day

2009-06-22T17:53:00.001-05:00

Baby Leo 307, originally uploaded by lisiegrin.

Yawn!

2009-06-19T09:57:00.003-05:00

Well mom (a.k.a. The Boobie Bar) is tied up at the moment, so dad's on blog duty today.

The changes are already coming fast and furious with Leo... he's spending more and more time alert and awake, and seems to love being held upright either standing or kneeling on a lap so he can hold his head up and look around. He's totally enthralled by the crown molding in the living room - it must be the contrast of the dark wood against the white ceiling, but we've also thought that since babies are rumored to be able to see ghosts, maybe our living room is haunted by some previous crown molding and he can see that. He'll just sit (or stand) and stare up at it open mouthed and wide eyed for minutes at a time though - too funny!

He's already fitting perfectly into the 3 month sized clothing (he's a serious hoss!), and I'm guessing it won't be long before he outgrows some of that too. The cute little ND outfit is from his great-aunt Becky, and he looked ridiculously cute in it. We'll be moving to South Bend next week, so it's good to get him started with his allegiances now. Go Irish!

Mom and dad got to go out for an actual date yesterday thanks to some great babysitting by aunt Kristin and uncle Rickie, which was awesome. We went to a movie and had a nice lunch out (complete with a margarita), then topped it off with a trip to Target for more diapers and wipes. It was great to get out, but then lovely to come home to our little man. We think Leo intentionally balanced his cuteness and crying time for Kristin and Rickie while we were gone, because he knew if he acted too cute then they would likely abduct him.

And Leo is nearly smiling now! He has smiled in his sleep for weeks, but in the last two days he has started to get really close to smiling back at us when awake - his dimples appear and his lips start to move, but he hasn't quite mastered the skill just yet. Soon! Then mommy and daddy will probably melt from the cuteness...

12 pounds?!?!

2009-06-12T10:42:00.002-05:00

Leo turned 4 weeks old this week, and we went to his 4 week checkup on Tuesday. Not only has his head grown 1/2 inch and his height 1/2 inch, but he is all the way up to 12 pounds! He gained two pounds in two weeks. Whew! I mean it felt like he was getting heavier but seriously. He has also outgrown some of the newborn size outfits already, no surprise there.
He is also starting to enjoy the occasional bottle of pumped breastmilk, which is a win-win for all of us. That allowed me to get out of the house last night for a girly-girl beauty event that Kristin organized at a salon downtown, while Byron was a superdad and wrangled Leo all evening. A real treat for me! And now our major project is working on packing up our apartment for our move to South Bend in a week and a half. Whee! If only Leo would start pulling his weight and pack up his room for us.

Three Weeks Old!

2009-06-03T13:59:00.004-05:00

Hard to believe, but he's three weeks old today. Hooray! He's started to be a bit more awake during the day (and kinda fussy in the evening) then sleeping longer stretches at night (four hours for a stretch last night) which is nice. I mean, the fussing in the evening is not so nice, but the longer sleeping is good. Other than that, he's currently enjoying some baby acne, which is apparently quite common at this stage. He looks like a little teenager.
We're taking him out for little walks almost every day, mostly for our own sanity. He generally falls fast asleep about 30 seconds into any outing, from the motion. Which is fine with us! The other day we went out to the lakefront at Montrose Harbor, and walked out on the pier. Handsome Mr. Leo got to don his brand new hat, and looked very cute in it.
He also continues to smile in his sleep occasionally, which is frankly the cutest thing I think I have ever seen.
Developmentally, he seems to be ahead of the curve with his hands - he keeps them open much of the time, which apparently is not common until the third month. And he's gaining more and more neck/head control, which is great. He's definitely growing, and is already giving daddy back pain - more of that to come I'm sure!

Two weeks old and growing

2009-05-29T16:57:00.005-05:00

Our little man turned two weeks old a few days ago, and he is already back above his birth weight. Whee! As some of you know, newborns tend to lose some weight in the week after birth, then rebound. Well our Leo has been eating (and pooping) like a champion, and is now back above his birth weight. In fact, he is almost 10 pounds now. Big boy!
He's occasionally sleeping up to 4 hours at a stretch at night, which is delightful. Hopefully we can start to see some more of that kind of activity. He's also spending longer stretches of time during the day awake, and looking around at everything.
He also seems to be enjoying bathtime (hooray!) After the first bath with the water a bit too cold, we've warmed it up and he loves it. Just sits there with his eyes open, checking us out.
And I think he may end up having curly hair - while there's not much hair there yet, we're starting to see a bit of a wave in the back.
We've also started enjoying almost daily walks, which seem to put him right to sleep. And make Mommy and Daddy happy too, it sure is nice to get out of the apartment.
So overall we're doing quite well, all three of us figuring this out. I'm getting comfortable breastfeeding, and Byron has become an expert diaper changer. And we're almost rested up - hooray! Our little family Kern is coming right along...

little feet

2009-05-27T16:24:00.001-05:00

little feet, originally uploaded by lisiegrin.

Dad's Take on This Whole Birth Thing

2009-05-17T16:00:00.002-05:00

Well Elise did a great job recapping the birth, but I thought I should share my perspective too. I figure since she's already touched on how it all went down I'll just keep mine to more free-form comments than a step-by-step timeline.

First off, mom is a rock star! 53 hours of labor, and never once did she yell "You did this to me!" By the time we were, I dunno, 36 hours or so into this, by body started shutting down. I hadn't been eating and obviously hadn't slept, and I felt like I had the flu. After they gave Elise the little bit of narcotics to help her get a little sleep I was able to get an hour of sleep myself, then take a shower and grab a bite to eat. Later, at the end of labor (before the pushing) I was so tired again that I could barely function, and our doula Victoria and I took turns passing out on the fold-out chair for 20 minutes at a time or so. The amazing thing is that I felt like I was on the verge of collapse, and I wasn't going through any contractions... how Elise managed to get through all that is beyond me!

Second, for any moms and dads to-be out there, get yourself a doula! Our experience was obviously a more difficult one than average, but even if it had been a "mere" 24 hours of labor, having that extra person who can provide experienced support and let dad have a moment to eat or sleep without leaving mom alone is invaluable.

Third, I have to say that for anyone wanting to go the natural route for childbirth, if you are using an OB you're shooting yourself in the foot (high risk prenancies aside). If we had been at a different hospital or hadn't been with midwives, Elise would have been almost guaranteed to have gotten a c-section. Even with her water broken, the midwives stuck with their philosphy of "let nature take its course". She wasn't running a fever or showing any other signs of infection or fetal distress, so there was no need to go to drastic medical interventions, but in many practices they would have sent her off to get sliced open as policy after so many hours of having the baby exposed.

All told, despite the difficult labor the experience we had was pretty darned positive, considering the circumstances. The exception being the nurses! I was about ready to start slapping the nurses who came in while Elise was having tough contractions to just poke through drawers looking for something they needed elsewhere, and if one more nurse came in and then left the door open after going out again I might have lost it. They seemed to be, by and large, very blaze about something very difficult and momentous for us, with the exception of a few very caring nurses. Luckily the midwives and our doula were all from a very different cut of cloth, and all ended well.

As Elise mentioned, I got to catch Leo as he was born, which was an absolutely amazing, if slippery and slimy experience. When his head was crowning the midwife said she thought the next push would be "the one" and had me put my hands over hers, and sure enough on the next contraction out he came and into my hands. It's hard to imagine I wouldn't have been deliriously happy anyway, but I was already deliriously tired so it was a short trip!

Our little man is impossibly cute (especially when he yawns), and he's sleeping longer and longer as mom's full milk is coming in, so hopefully the three of us can get a little more sleep during the night... so far it's been tough trying to catch up on all the missed sleep from labor while being up with Leo at all hours of the night, but we're doing well enough and it gets a little easier every day.

Anyway, that's dad's quick-ish perspective on this whole thing!

5 Days Old

2009-05-17T15:51:00.001-05:00

5 Days Old, originally uploaded by lisiegrin.

Our little man, in a milk-induced sleep coma.

Introducing Leo Lamadrid Kern

2009-05-16T19:56:00.006-05:00

Well the day finally came, and our son has been born. He made his entrance into the world on May 3rd at 3:03 AM, weighing a substantive 9 pounds 5 ounces (a full 2 pounds more than the average tot) and measuring 21.5 inches long. He's a beautiful little boy, with a light head of hair and (currently) indigo colored eyes. Both Leo and myself emerged from the process healthy and with no medical concerns. That's the short story.

But the long story is more entertaining... Sunday evening at 10:30, after a celebratory birthday dinner with Byron's brother Peter, I sat down on the couch to find that my water had broken. Not the big old dramatic, sitcom gush of puddles by my ankles, but suddenly I was all wet and was quite sure I had not peed on myself. So what an exciting development - a few days before my due date (Tuesday) and on Mother's day, no less. So we called our doula Victoria to let her know, and headed off to bed, knowing that these things take time and that rest was a good idea. Little did we know. I had contractions on and off throughout the night, but they never really picked up in terms of frequency or intensity.

In the morning we called our midwives to let them know, then waited for things to pick up during the day. Which they didn't. Which wouldn't have been a problem, except for the risk of infection starts to increase 24 hours after your water breaks, and most practitioners want to get you in and have you delivered by that 24 hour mark. We knew that once we went to the hospital, the pressure to give into medical interventions would increase, but by Monday evening, we knew we needed to go. So off we went, with Victoria coming with us, to a packed Family Birthing Center at the hospital. Seems our boy had picked a popular time to show up, and we got the only remaining labor & delivery room.

The midwife on duty, which of course Murphy's Law dictated was the one midwife in the practice that we didn't really like, got me started on Cervedil, to soften/ripen my uterus which would hopefully get things moving. But this drug is an insert, not an intravenous drug, so they had to wait 12 hours after inserting it to make an assessment. Once they put it in, contractions started to ramp up, but slowly, and by 11am on Tuesday, they were finally able to determine that I was up to 5 centimeters dilated. Yay progress! But - with the contractions ramping up, I had gotten zero sleep all night, was in alot of pain, and seemed to be moving very very slowly. I was so woozy from pain and sleep deprivation that I felt like I was on LSD or something, and was about to the edge of my rope. At that moment, natural childbirth, which had been our goal all along, seemed like the most foolish pursuit, and I asked for some sort of relief so I could at least get a few hours sleep. The hour and a half between making the request and getting the narcotics was honestly one of the most miserable of my entire life, and I was practically whimpering. But I finally got two hours of sleep, before the contractions were strong enough to punch their way back through.

We marshalled the troops (and our will) and kept along this way, getting to 9 and a half centimeters by mid afternoon. Happily I was showing no signs of fever or infection, and baby's heart rate was consistently strong, so they let me continue to progress without getting too worried about the baby's state. But after I got to 9 and a half centimeters, everything stalled, and I stayed there for for hours. Back at mid morning, the midwife on duty had rotated to our favorite member of the practice, and we agreed in the early evening to give me a small (but steadily increasing) dose of Pitocin, to bring the strong contractions back. Not a decision I was happy with (because I had been in labor for two solid days at that point) and I knew it would make things pretty painful. But it did the trick, and by about 2:30AM I was fully dilated and ready to push. And after about half an hour of effort, he decided to come join us, and Byron was allowed to catch him as he arrived.

Finally, after 53 hours of labor, our baby boy was put on my stomach, covered in fluids, where he took his first breath. And opened his eyes to look right at me, which was a really powerful moment. Byron cut the cord, and we basked in the glow of the moment. If only our story capped off there. But it doesn't - the postpartum wing they were supposed to whisk us off to was full, so we were left in the labor & delivery room for several hours, which we were then kicked out of about an hour after we finally fell asleep, to be moved to a triage room until our postpartum room was ready. Lovely, right? And oh yeah, no bed for daddy in this room. So there we are, after several days of no sleep and substantial physical exertion, sitting in this temporary space until they finally found us an empty room at 7pm. Poor Byron even resorted to sleeping on the floor for a while. But we finally got a room, and it was definitely an improvement. And while we could have stayed longer, we got ourselves checked out of the hospital on Thursday afternoon to gratefully come home for a little peace and quiet. And we've been slowly settling in ever since. The End. :)

So yeah, labor and delivery was a looooooong, tough, painful, gruelling process. But it was all worth it in the end. Not everything went as planned, but hey it never does. We're now the proud parents of an adorable boy, and ready to start this next phase.

Painted Belly

2009-05-04T15:29:00.002-05:00

Check out my blossoming belly at left, with artwork courtesy of my lovely hubby. It's hard to believe, but I'm just a week away from my due date. Though of course, the term 'due date' is a misnomer, this little man will surely show up whenever he feels like it, calendar be damned.
I'm still feeling pretty good, though in the last few days I have been overcome with itchiness. At first it was just the stretch marks on my tummy, but now that I'm trying not to scratch those it's everything else that itches. Not quite sure what's going on with it, but it's annoying. I'm doing my best not to completely destroy my skin with scratching, but it's really hard.
Other than all that, just enjoying maternity leave so far. I'm getting all the sleep I can, and enjoying the glee of watching the terrible traffic reports on the morning news knowing that I don't have to drive in that mess. It's the little things. :)

DONE!

2009-04-29T10:42:00.002-05:00

At work, that is. Yesterday was my last day at work, and I am now officially on maternity leave. Wheee! I must admit, it's pretty fantastic. Slept in this morning (well, if 7:45 counts as sleeping in...) then went out for breakfast. Gotta enjoy having a life while I can.
We had my 38 weeks appointment yesterday, and everything continues to look good - blood pressure, weight, etc. The midwife thinks the baby may have started to drop (as they do around this time) so that's a good sign. I'm occasionally feeling twinges of painful sort of cramps/contractions, but they're very short-lived and sporadic at this point, so right in line with standard pre-labor expectations.
And, because I'm anal-retentive like this, we're headed for a second tour of the Family Birthing Center at our hospital this evening. We did the tour right after we found out I was pregnant, and I want to make sure we are still familiar with the place with the due date approaching. And we've done alot of research and learning about what we want since we did the tour, so we'll be able to ask some better questions this time too.
Then tomorrow, I'm headed to a breastfeeding class at the hospital. And Friday our lovely doula, Victoria, is coming over for another visit to go over all our plans and preferences. It's a packed week!

Baby Shower!

2009-04-20T20:52:00.004-05:00

This past Saturday we enjoyed my second baby shower, courtesy of super party organizers Kristin and gram-to-be Anita. You can see on the left an adorable pair of little sneakers we got, though in order to more accurately represent reality, I should have placed them kicking me in the ribs. :) The shower was lovely, with piles of super cute stuff. Little Bubba now has enough onesies to poo, pee, and vomit all over himself for a nice long stretch before causing Daddy to do laundry. My mom and grandma came up for it, so it was adventures in grandma-land as well (hence the second photo.) Happily, at this point we're basically all set in terms of the basic stuff we need for him. Just plan to stock up a bit more on diapers and order the baby sling I want, and we're ready to rock and roll. Which is great, because this little man is currently rocking and rolling all over the place in my midsection, potentially doing the Macarena or practising his kick-boxing warm up routine. Either way, he is all over the place this evening. Even Daddy putting his hands on my belly, which usually quiets him down, had no effect. Maybe he's about ready to party his way on out. At this point, I am now 37 weeks, meaning he's technically fully baked, and would be considered full term if he showed up right now. But I've told him that would place a serious cramp in Mommy's plans to see Star Trek and Wolverine at the movie theatre.
Can't believe we're just weeks away from being parents....

Holy Cankles Batman!

2009-04-08T11:37:00.002-05:00

Yesterday evening, after a stressful day of worrying about our cat being sick (and unsuccessfully trying not to let my preggo hormones get the best of me and make me cry) I got home to discover that A.) according to the vet, our cat's prognosis is quite promising, and B.) I have developed super-cankles. Byron insists that they're really not that swollen, but I know the truth. And of course, this is all just in time for the warming weather and the seasonal retreat of boots and pants...lovely!
I'm 35 weeks now - whoopie! Just 5 weeks to go, and just 3 weeks left at work. Which, I admit, is delightful. Little junior continues to get the hiccups almost daily, and seems to enjoy throwing his elbows around. My belly button looks like it will disappear in the next few days, and the angry red stretch marks continue to develop just underneath it.
We were in South Bend last weekend for Byron's Welcome Weekend for the Notre Dame MBA program, and our friends in the admissions department were already eager to start recruiting the little tyke. We met some other couples, a few with kids, that will be Byron's classmates this fall, which was great. Baby enjoyed his first campus visit (including a special performance of the ND fight song by the marching band's trumpet section, very rousing) and we looked at several housing possibilities. Of course, the one we liked most is more than we want to spend, but there are additional possibilities on the horizon. (Must find a big place with room for visiting grandparents!) I also discovered that my ability to stand/walk/talk for more than 30 minutes without discomfort is diminishing rapidly.
We're getting close - just 5 weeks (or so) to go....

Just 6 Weeks To Go!

2009-03-30T15:35:00.002-05:00

Well assuming little junior shows up on time, that is. Yep, I'm at 34 weeks now. And this morning, I must confess I had a very sad moment. I found my very first stretch mark. Yes, I know, I shouldn't be complaining. Here I've made it this far without a stretch mark on my belly. But the last week or so, the skin on my lower tummy had been feeling sore, and today it finally manifested in a pink streak across my skin. I guess I should be grateful I've made it this far without one, meaning my skin is pretty stretchy. But still.

We spend the weekend down in Potosi, MO at my mom's place, for my first of two baby showers. We got our car seat/stroller travel system (Byron's most wanted item!) and tons of cute little clothes. But the 6 hour drive each way taxed my ability to sit comfortably in one place for very long - thankfully Byron did all the driving so I got to squirm and stretch as much as I could.

Little Bubba continues to grow at an exponential rate, but has yet to outgrow his hiccups habit. I'm pretty sure he's doing it on purpose at this point. According to the sources that know these sorts of things, he is now about 5 pounds, and packing on a half pound a week. People continue to tell me I don't look all that big, which is reassuring I suppose, but I feel like I have small watermelon strapped to my tummy. A watermelon with a large squirrel suffering from ADD stuck inside it...

32 Weeks and growwwwwwwing

2009-03-17T18:40:00.003-05:00

Check out this big ole' belly! Can't take credit for the cute pose (ah, the internet), but love the pic anyways.
We had my 32 weeks appointment this morning, and everything continues to come along swimmingly. My tummy now measures 34 inches from top to bottom (the number of inches is approximately equal to your number of weeks of gestation). I think the slightly higher measurement means this kid is more likely to be early than late, but that may be wishful thinking on my part. (And besides, that would mess up our plans to see Star Trek in the theater before our tot arrives!)
The midwife says his head is downward, which is good, but explains why my ribs are suffering constant assault from his kicky little feet. Sometimes it feels like his toes are curled around the edge of my ribs, which I can assure you is a bizarre feeling indeed. Our little booger has gotten the hiccups several times in the last week or so, which goes from cute to annoying pretty quickly. A quick belly jiggle has scared him out of them on occasion. I imagine he thinks it's a sudden earthquake.
We've started working on the nursery, and are both begin to feel the onset of nesting fever. Also suddenly the intrinsic cuteness of baby items is becoming overwhelming. We headed to Ikea last weekend to pick up a dresser/changing table, and both said "awe....how cute" to about a dozen things in the kids area. And this from the woman who is not normally touched by cuteness. Now just the sight of a ridiculously small onesie is enough to get me misty. Hormones, I say. Yeah, hormones. Once we've made a little more progress on the nursery I'll put up some pictures of that for your entertainment.
Just 6 more weeks of work to go before I get off for maternity leave! WHEEEEE!!!!

31 Weeks!

2009-03-09T18:18:00.001-05:00

Check out the growing bowling ball I'm hiding under my shirt.

My first baby dream

2009-03-04T19:51:00.002-06:00

Last night I had my first baby dream. This was after hours of dreaming about cooking (we went to a cooking class yesterday evening). So I dreamt that our baby was born, and that I was out and about at the mall with Junior in a baby carrier. Then our little infant develops the amazing ability to speak at 2 days old, and looks at me and says with confusion "my butt just exploded," which apparently meant that he had pooed. At which time I realize I have made the ultimate new mom mistake - I went out without a diaper bag! And my poop-y little boy keeps telling me about his messy situation. I had just threaded my way through a huge clump of hoodlums and finally found a bathroom where I hoped to jury-rig a paper towel diaper, when the alarm went off. Whew. So in thinking about it, I guess it's a good thing that kids don't learn to talk until after they have better bowel control, otherwise our days would be filled with alot of, ahem, potty talk.

In other preggo news, I enjoyed a faaaaaabulous expectant mother massage over the weekend courtesy of my thoughtful hubby's Valentine's Day present. D-lightful. And we had my 30 weeks checkup yesterday, which went smoothly. Still have great blood pressure and all that jazz. And, for the record, still getting kicked and poked internally on a regular basis. And getting bigger every day! I'll try to get another picture up in a day or two to show you my blooming figure.

Childbirth Boot Camp

2009-02-22T17:59:00.003-06:00

Well it's been a fun weekend. We had all-day childbirth classes at Birthways, a pregnancy/birth education joint here in Chicago. It was all pretty useful and interesting, but alot to absorb in two days. Not to mention alot of sitting on uncomfortable chairs for two days... Before you ask, no we didn't learn how to breathe. Or how to relax. The theory behind the way this class is taught (which is intended for those wanting natural birth) is that information and understanding is more useful than artificial breathing techniques, and that your instinctive responses to each stage (be it moaning, or moving around, etc) are generally the most helpful. And we got to enjoy a whole lot of birth videos, which all seemed to have been made in the late 80's and early 90's. As you can imagine, this meant a whole lot of fantastic hair and fashion. Good times. As we are wont to do, Byron and I enjoyed finding humor in some of the videos, like one where a laboring woman stood in the shower and was hosed down by her husband. I mean maybe that water spraying across her body felt good, but she looked like a prison inmate being processed with an involuntary shower.
Overall I'm feeling pretty good lately, getting more of those delightful irregular "practice contractions." Not so much fun, not only do my belly muscles get all hard and tight, but I also feel a little out of breath. I feel a little out of breath alot lately, surely because someone is trying to take over my entire torso. And doing a bang-up job of it so far. Someday, someday my internal organs will all return to their rightful homes.....

I passed!

2009-02-19T17:24:00.003-06:00

Just thought I would share the good news from my 28 week appointment today - I passed the glucose tolerance test with flying colors! She said I had a perfect response and zero hint of any diabetes. Which is fabulous. So we can cross gestational diabetes off the list of potential pregnancy worries. She did note that my ankles were somewhat swollen, which I can live with. In the last few weeks my fingers have occasionally gotten swollen, but I must admit I had not been checking my ankles. So I could be on my way to getting cankle-y. For those of you who may not be aware, the term cankle is used to describe your ankles when they are very large and indistinguishable from your calves. Ankle+calf=cankle. Which led Byron and I to wonder out loud, if you already had cankles, how would you know if your ankles were swollen?

Mmmm, orange glucose drink....

2009-02-16T20:25:00.002-06:00

Today I went and took my 28 week glucose tolerance test. Which, for the uneducated, involves limiting what you eat beforehand, then drinking a delicious (by which I mean nasty) orange sugar drink, then loitering in the waiting room for an hour, then having your blood drawn. The whole point is to see how you handle the surge in sugar, to get an indication of your likelihood of having gestational diabetes. We'll find out in a few days if I passed. The orange drink is decidedly unpleaseant, basically tasting like a can of orange soda that has gone flat. Yumm!
Thursday we head in for my 28 week appointment, at which point I have to start going in every 2 weeks instead of every 4 weeks. Guess that means we're getting closer! And I am most certainly getting larger. Mostly I'm feeling pretty good, except for the continually resurging heartburn and the not-quite-going-away lower back stiffness. All things considered, not too bad. And apparently I'm not as big as I think I am - two people I know casually at work just asked last week if I was pregnant. The one told me that I'm so tall it just isn't as obvious. Yeahhhh. I wonder how long they were thinking to themselves "hmm, she's put on a few pounds...."

Well at least when I get huge...

2009-02-12T09:21:00.002-06:00

I won't get THIS huge!

Just saw this photo online of the mom of those octuplets. If nothing else, at least this part of her story will make all us other preggos feel better. Seriously, how do you even stand up and walk around with that?

Please God let me not be a waddler

2009-02-09T12:47:00.003-06:00

Not that I was ever capable of doing somersaults and backflips, but in the last week or so I have started to really feel heavy and unwieldy. And I often wonder, where did my center of gravity go - as it is no longer where I left it. I swear it was right here....
Now when I stand up it actually takes a certain amount of effort because of that dastardly force, gravity. And the really fun part is knowing that it will only get worse! It's not like I've packed on 50 pounds (I've gained 11) but they are all, how shall I put this, distributed between my top front and lower front. No counterweight at the back, which I suppose is a good thing. I'm doing my best to still walk like a normal person, although I know the day will come when I adopt the standard preggo waddle. I hope that day is still in the semi-distant future....

In other fun news, we met with our doula Victoria last week, which was great. She's very relaxed and groovy, which is essential, and, this is the best part, quite compatible with our senses of humor. I find alot of release in humor (as does anyone I chose to be friends with!) and I just know that it will be my sanity saver during labor to have someone who can sass it up with me the same way. And in two weeks we are headed to childbirth class bootcamp - a full weekend of class to ensure that we sort of know what we are doing.

Little Bubba is still quite active, and has definitely taken a shining to my ribs. He also seems to prefer assaulting my right side versus my left. No idea why. It would be awesome to have some sort of belly cam to see what in the world he is doing. Breakdancing, I bet.

Setting a High Bar

2009-02-05T13:37:00.002-06:00

Well our kid is going to have quite the educational legacy to live up to - Byron was just accepted to the MBA program at Notre Dame (and offered a huh-uge scholarship too)! Pretty damn exciting stuff. So little Junior could spend his first few years in South Bend, hanging out on campus and starting his indoctrination into the Irish mindset. And planning ahead, if both his parents are alums then they would have to accept to the university too, right? :) Besides the obvious fabulousness of the MBA program at Notre Dame, it would also keep up pretty close to family and friends, since it's less than two hours from Chicago.

That kid is going to look so cute in a toddler's ND football uniform....

26 Weeks tomorrow

2009-02-01T16:56:00.002-06:00

I'm 26 weeks tomorrow, and here's my latest pic. All is going along swimmingly, and I feel pretty good except for some unpleasant lower back stiffness. In fact, it hurts to bend over and pick anything off the floor. Or to, say, bend forward to shave one's legs. Byron suggested I duct-tape my razor to a stick to accomplish that task, but I take it as a handy excuse to avoid that drudgery.

Our little boy took great delight yesterday in repeatedly poking me in the rib, like he was trying to figure out what it was. I'm all for encouraging his scientific inquisitiveness, but my ribs however seem to be against the idea. Unfortunately for my ribs, I think Junior will keep up his poking.

It's really hard to fathom that in just three months, we'll have a child. Wild crazy stuff.

Baby dreamin'

2009-01-28T13:27:00.000-06:00

So the other night I had what I assume will be the first of several dreams about being in labor and giving birth. I’ve always had vivid dreams, and they often strongly reflect what’s going on in my life, for better or worse. By worse, I mean that any time I am the driver on a long road trip, I dream about driving all night long the following night. Which, as you can imagine, is not the most restful thing. But I digress.

As I was saying, I dreamt the other night that I was in labor, and frankly it was fabulous. It didn’t hurt at all, and it was actually quite sensual. I remember feeling warm and giggly, and very powerful in a crunchy-hippie-earth-mother sort of way. I woke up before actually giving birth, but the whole thing felt very happy and warm. I think what struck me most about it was that none of it hurt.

All of this sort of makes sense given what I have been reading lately – Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin. Ina May is a goddess of midwifery, and this book is fabulous. Actually I read the whole thing before getting pregnant, but am re-reading it again now. The section I’m reading is about the process of childbirth, and discussed briefly the expectation vs the perception of pain during the process. One study which compared women in the US to women in Sweden found that the proportion of women who expected unbearable pain during childbirth was the same as the proportion of women who needed an epidural or other similar pain relief during childbirth. And this percentage of women was much much higher in the US than in Sweden. So the expectation of pain was directly related to the experience of pain. Interesting, eh? I mean it makes sense – if you think something is going to really hurt, and you get tense in expectation of the pain, then you will really feel it. The Swedish women, who entered childbirth expecting it to be challenging but not unbearably painful, were more relaxed and better able to manage the experience.

So what does this mean to me? Mostly that it’s really important to be relaxed and confident in your ability to handle childbirth. Fear of the pain will only exacerbate the pain. Go with the flow. Ommmmmmmmmmmmm. :)

Burnin' it up!

2009-01-25T19:38:00.006-06:00

Dad here again -
I finally got all of the artwork transferred to the front of the toy chest and have started the woodburning. Certain spots are a real struggle against the wood grain (the little grooves of the grain want to grab the tip of the burner). It's interesting how some parts of the wood are less dense and the burner moves through it very easily and burns a nice, wide line, while other parts are harder and the burner just moves across the surface, not making much of a line. I'm getting better as I go though, so by the time I finish this whole thing maybe I can claim to be semi-skilled. Anyway, here are the recent shots of the box, and one shot of me hard at work (thanks to mom/my photog).

Um, still 24 weeks.

2009-01-25T13:35:00.002-06:00

So the midwife totally shot down the ultrasound tech's pushed-up due date. So I'm back to my original May 12th estimate. She told me that studies have found that after the first trimester, ultrasounds are actually quite inaccurate when it comes to evaluating fetal age. Apparently a mother's instinct about her due date (ie., will it be early or late) is actually more accurate than an ultrasound. Wild, eh?

And my evaluation of our little Bubba's physical activities as 'constant' and 'energetic' were confirmed when she went to listen to his heartbeat. Little tadpole wouldn't stay in one place for more than 5 seconds. She was chasing him all over my belly with the Doplar, moving that thing like a little kid playing with Match cars. Happily, his heartbeat is good, my blood pressure is staying perfect, and I've now gained a total of 9 pounds. So we're doing well on all fronts! If only this kid hadn't learned to punch me in the ribs and kick me in the bladder at the same exact time.

I think we're hitting a big growth spurt right now, because I'm starting to get hungry again a few hours after eating. Speaking of which, that Passion Fruit ice cream I made last night (yeah that's right, I made ice cream, and it is damn good) is calling my name...

24 Weeks!

2009-01-11T17:16:00.003-06:00

Here I am in all my getting-larger glory. Depending on the accuracy of that ultrasound, I am now either 23 or 24 weeks. I'm going with 24 weeks, because it makes me feel better. As you can see, I'm rounding out nicely. I told Byron I was on my way to looking like as house, and he assured me that I still look like a brick house. Yeah. What a good husband. :)

We headed back to Babies R Us today and did some more registry work. Kinda felt like we knew what we were doing there this time! I mean kinda. Not really. But it was still productive.

In other fun developments, I'm starting to enjoy those lovely Braxton-Hicks contractions. For the uninitiated, they're like training contractions, normal at this stage. So every once in a while it feels like my ab muscles are doing sit-ups without telling me. Then my belly feels like a rock. That's right, rock hard abs. Yeah, not really. But that's what I tell myself anyway. Other than that, the world keeps on turning, and my little Scooter keeps on kicking. Alot.....

Yes, there is a father, too...

2009-01-10T17:25:00.005-06:00

Okay, so dad's first post! I can go ahead and say right off the bat that my posts won't be as funny and entertaining as Elise's... I'll try not to put anyone to sleep though!

So this big thing up above is going to be the munchkin's 0th(?) birthday gift from me. It's a bare wood toy chest that I'm going to woodburn and then stain with pigmented stains to make it into what hopefully will be an heirloom piece for him. It's ambitious, to be sure, but I'm really happy with how it's progressing so far, and if there's a better way to stay on task than doing something for your unborn son I don't know it! The banner at the bottom will have his name, but I'm not ruining that surprise here!

I'm planning to document the process here (I'm guessing it's going to be a long one!). I made the design for the front of the box in Adobe Illustrator and printed it out (on 8 sheets of paper), then tiled it together and taped it to the box. In the first photo the box is laying on its back, so the wood you can see is actually the bottom of the chest. Step two is the 2nd photo - I'm transferring the design to the chest by using carbon transfer paper and tracing over the printed design. If it ends up looking half as good as it does in my mind it'll be a great final product!

In other baby news, I stumbled upon a group that does modern bands' music as instrumental lullabies - www.rockabyebabymusic.com
Most are decent, but the Radiohead one is truly amazing - I bought it on iTunes and have been listening to it myself! ...Have to make sure the baby likes good music from the start!

Correlation, Causation, and Babies R Us

2009-01-06T18:49:00.001-06:00

First of all, here is a pic I took on Christmas day (in pajamas, of course) to show how I see this whole situation. It's my literal view of the growing mound on my midsection. Notice, you can still actually see my legs below the belly. Won't last too much longer I suppose.

But back to the subject line. Our little Bubba's kicks and aerobics have been quite constant and noticeable. The analyst in my head got to wondering: does the kid kick because he knows it makes me move/jump/rub my belly, or are the two factors (him kicking, me reacting) just independent? Meaning is my moving reaction an example of causation or correlation? Whether I am in fact encouraging my unborn child to kick me by rewarding him with movement or noise isn't going to stop me. The real point of this musing is not to find the answer, but to demonstrably prove to you, my loyal reader, that I am in fact a nerd.

In other fun developments, after I experienced a quasi-desperate moment of panic over the fact that we have done zero planning for little Scooter's arrival, we spent about two hours at a Babies R Us last Friday starting a registry. Which, as other new parents can attest to, is an overwhelming experience. At least when you register for your wedding, it's just about your taste. Now, there's the added elements of safety and complete inexperience with 90% of the product offerings. I mean, when you're looking at toasters, you know what it's supposed to do and yeah you might look at reviews, but basically you just need to choose one based on how much toast you make and whether you plan on, say, baking a turkey in this toaster or just reheating day-old pizza. But car seats and strollers.... that's a different story. Your ability to predict just how many thousands of times you'll take that puppy in and out of your car, and just how necessary that cup holder for Momma's coffee actually is, not to mention the likelihood of you venturing into Bad Parent land by picking the "wrong" one... all these factors conspire to make every choice a challenge. Sure, you know that everything they sell is basically safe. Or they wouldn't sell it, right? But if you choose the one, right, perfect item, it may prove to be just helpful or easy enough to keep you from snapping in the middle of a Target parking lot some day. Not that I see the value in buying the $700 Perego stroller. I mean really, I'd rather be able to afford a house. But do the cool features in the $250 stroller/car seat "travel system" not only keep your kid safe but make your life that much easier? Obviously a calculated choice. So we picked a bunch of stuff, and will continue to pick some more, and surely not all of it will turn out to be god's gift to parenthood. But I'm pretty sure all three of us will live through it regardless. Cross your fingers.

It's a Boy!

2008-12-28T19:27:00.003-06:00

The headline says it all - the ultrasound showed that we're having a son! He's got a big head (visible here, along with both arms) and long limbs. That's gonna be fun coming out...
He was very active during the ultrasound, squirming and dancing around the whole time, and even flipped himself over completely. He's got all his parts, including the male parts which the ultrasound tech was happy to point out repeatedly. Apparently our boy is not shy. Surpise? :)
We even got to see all four chambers of his heart, and could see the blood beating though it, which was super cool. Overall it's pretty hard to interpret much of what you see on the screen, but you could clearly see his spine, and the bones in his hands and feet. Also, the tech said he looked big enough to move up my due date by a week, so the current estimate is now May 6th.

The whole ultrasound was pretty cool, seeing him moving around was quite surreal. It all feels so real now. In fact I've finally starting picturing what life will be like with him here, and realized that maybe we should start setting up for his arrival! So it's time to start researching cribs.

(pause for getting kicked)

He sure is active! Though, happily, he has not kicked me in the middle of the night yet. Yet. :)

Kicks and Beaches

2008-12-23T18:42:00.004-06:00

Last week, we enjoyed a balmy 6 days down in Florida, soaking up the delicious beach sun while Chicago enjoyed -6 degree weather. So here is my 19 weeks photo, on the beach. Hee hee. Note the lovely tent effect of my swim top. But alas, the lovely weather did not follow us back to Chicago. Welcome back - here's 6 inches of snow! And arctic wind! Hooray!

In other fun developments, the Mixed Martial Artist currently in residence in my middle area started showing off his/her moves last Friday. We were enjoying our standard wild-and-crazy Friday night schedule (What Not To Wear, Numbers) when I felt a real, honest to god *whack* in the lower abdominal area. I made what Byron described as a 'panicked laughing sound' then felt three more whacks in the same place. It was a surreal experience that I have a hard time describing. I'll admit, it made me tear up a bit. Since then I've felt kick/punches/elbows a couple times each day, usually at night when lounging on the couch.
On a different note, we've been very entertained at the way all of our parents very solemnly tell me to take care of myself. With the clear implication that they really just want me to take care of the grandkid. Me, I'm expendable. But the kid must be protected. I'm just a carrier. Then again, that makes the kid sound like a virus.

Tomorrow we have my 20 week midwife appointment and then *drumroll please* the ultrasound! (Merry Christmas to us!) So we'll see what we can see, if you know what I mean. After some back and forth, we've decided to find out the sex, makes life easier on those poor grandparents who are dying to purchase baby paraphernalia. Don't worry loyal readers, I'll let you know what it is. We might even show off a video or something....

Catching my breath again.

2008-12-04T16:07:00.003-06:00

So last week was pretty busy, what with family visiting for Thanksgiving (hi Mom!) and my 16 week appointment with the midwives. I popped that video up there but didn't have time to say anything about. But here I find myself, late in the workday on a Thursday, with nothing left to work on but waiting for a (really exciting) report to generate before I can leave work.... so it's blog time!
The appointment last week was the day before Thanksgiving, which was perhaps not the best time for such things. Everybody else in a 10 mile radius with a growing fruit in their belly was also there to be seen before the holiday, so I had to wait almost 45 minutes for my appointment. Which was a real joy, I must say. Actually it wasn't that bad, a few people had little kids there with them, and you could see the expressions playing across the rest of the womens' faces as the kids alternated between good behavior and utter terrorism. The visible reactions of "awe that's sooo cute I can't wait until I have mine" were then followed by "Oh my God if my child ever does that they are going to a Swiss boarding school."
But once I made it past the patience test, I got to hear his/her heartbeat again, and right away. No hiding this time - as you can hear the beats came through loud and clear. The midwife even said it sounded happy. Yeah, sure....
In other misadventures, I bought a body pillow for extra comfiness when sleeping on my side. And then, as Byron said, wielded it like an American Gladiator as I was struggling to get it into bed with me. That sucker is huge. Luckily nothing broke. And despite the fact that it now seems like there's a third body in bed with us, it helps me sleep better and only wake up a half dozen times each night, instead of a full dozen. And as an added bonus, allows the cat to think he is walking on top of one of us while we are lying down, without inflicting the annoyance of his 15 pound weight balanced on two paws on our chests. It's a real win-win I think.

16 Weeks - a much stronger heartbeat

2008-11-27T10:01:00.002-06:00

15 Weeks, a.k.a too big for my britches...

2008-11-17T20:55:00.003-06:00

Yes, literally, too big for my normal pants. Saturday I stepped out in maternity pants for the first time, and while they sure are comfy, it felt kinda weird. I mean, yes, I am pregnant, but in my head I don't look like a "pregnant woman." So somehow wearing maternity clothes just feels odd. But damn they's comfortable. I tried to brave it back into normal pants for work today, and an hour into the morning I was about ready to run out to Target for replacements. But hey, I was wearing a long shirt and no one would notice if I unbuttoned the top button, heheh.

So here is me at 15 weeks. I find it kinda entertaining how the feeling of my tummy changes during the day - sometimes it feels rock hard and other times it's like a bowl full of jelly.

Overall I'm feeling pretty good lately, though I feel heartburn-kinda discomfort at some point most days. Guess that's what happens when your stomach is shoved up into your rib cage.

And you know they say that our partners can gain weight and have other symptoms during the pregnancy. Take a look for yourself and see how this has effected poor Byron.

A little FAQ

2008-11-07T12:35:00.002-06:00

So it's pretty entertaining for me, after starting this blog with no one reading it yet (well duh, I hadn't old any of you yet) to have comments coming from people. I love it. So to answer a few questions:

Due Date: May 12th. Yes, just what the Kern family needs, another May birthday. But as us May birthday people can vouch for, it's a pretty great month for a birthday. And my little peach will have one definite advantage over me in this respect - an earlier May date (I'm the 27th) means they will be unlikely to be stuck doing finals on their 16 birthday. Which wasn't fun.

Tests: We decided not to do the standard 1st trimester screening tests (for birth defects), partially because of our low risk based on family history, and partially because we're just non-invasive types when it comes to this sort of thing. Like-minded natural-types may enjoy the following article about the necessity of all the routine procedures: http://www.mothering.com/articles/pregnancy_birth/birth_preparation/prenatal-testing.html
But my basic blood tests came out fine - and believe it or not under Chicago law all pregnant women must be tested for HIV/AIDS. Which I thankfully do not have. But an interesting requirement I thought.

My Size: Yes Adee I may very well be able to dress as Santa for Christmas. A creepy transvestite Santa, just what the kids love. :) But I've actually only gained 1 pound so far, which is nice. I've been gifted with enough, ahem, natural stores of energy, to not need to gain so much. I'm hoping the weight just continues to transfer from my rear to my belly....

A heartbeat!

2008-11-05T21:10:00.003-06:00

So at my 12 week appointment with the midwives last week, they were finally (after 8 minutes) able to find the little shrimp's heartbeat! They only caught it for a few beats, but I got it on tape and it's pretty cool.
I gotta say, I didn't really truly fully believe that I was pregnant before I heard that. But it's either that, or the creepy creature from Alien has laid a pod in my belly. Equally likely I feel.
And I told the bosses at work about the pregnancy yesterday, which was well received. I figure they'd be excited, but it's nice to have that confirmed by reality. And the real fun part - I finally announced it to all our friends on Facebook. The 25 excited comments made me feel pretty loved, I must confess.
Oh and for the record, my latest fruit size is apparently a large peach. Yeah.

12 Weeks, and starting to show....

2008-10-29T19:59:00.003-05:00

11 Weeks....

2008-10-21T16:44:00.002-05:00

And the charming fruit analogies return! Hooray! According to WebMD, it's now the size of a large lime. Is it wrong that my first reaction upon reading the word 'lime' was "mmmm, a Caipirinha would be delicious right now..." (for you heathens, a Caipirinha is a yummy Brazilian rum/lime adult beverage). But I digress - the shrimp is now a lime. Good stuff.
In other delightful news, the morning sickness is vanishing quickly. I'm getting headaches a bit more frequently again, but that is just as likely to be caused by the stupid spreadsheets I spend my days tinkering with...
So I decided recently that the wise course of action when it comes to maternity clothes is to buy them before you need them. But this theory is complicated by my resistance to going into a maternity wear store until I look pregnant. Not sure why, but some part of me feels like a complete fraud walking in there looking normal. As if they would summarily kick me out of the store for having the audacity to enter sans-belly. My rational mind clearly understands this is total crap. But, the hesitation remains. So the only safe zone is the maternity section of a department store. Which I ventured into, for the first time, on Sunday.
What I hadn't really taken into consideration until then was the extraordinary ability of maternity clothes to make you look really pregnant. Five seconds after putting on one of the poofy-waisted tops, I was convinced I had somehow skipped to month 5 of this pregnancy. Which, frankly, is not a look that I happen to covet just yet. So I picked out a few things, but I think it's going to be a while before I wear them in public.

Stay tuned for our next episode, when Elise tells her boss(es) about the baby, and of course, updates her Facebook profile with the news.

Shrimp?

2008-10-16T16:45:00.003-05:00

So the medical literature went swiftly from charming fruit analogies for size to seafood. Yes, it's now a medium sized shrimp. Upon reading that, my reaction (like any right-thinking foodie) was to wonder how many shrimp-per-pound count that translated into. You know - when you buy shrimp they are labeled with a number range, this translates into the average number of those shrimp per pound. So the smaller the number, the larger the shrimp. Is it too much to ask the medical community for a bit more specificity?

And the shrimp is also now officially a fetus. Yay! So the shrimp-fetus seems to be doing well, and causing mom less stomach distress. To be truthful, the stomach distress I experienced today probably had nothing to do with the shrimp-fetus, and everything to do with the large bag of Halloween candy I brought to work. Is it ever too early to use your child as a scapegoat?

And yesterday was the first time in this pregnancy I have been really treated as an invalid. :) We went over to Kristin's place for some wholesome pumpkin carving/scary movie fun, and she refused to let me carry the (not really) heavy pumpkins. Which was great until we were out of sight of her and my darling husband handed my pumpkin back to me. Sigh. Guess I have to start looking pregnant before I can count on the easy treatment.

Hooray for Midwives!

2008-10-09T15:42:00.001-05:00

So our first visit with the midwives group at Swedish Covenant Hospital went swimmingly! My lovely hubs came with me (earning points towards his Dad Card, while potentially losing a point on his Man Card). The midwife we met with (um, Lynn?) was cool, and said everything I was hoping to hear. She told me that I'm the driver on this bus and she's just along to help as the navigator. So whatever my preferences are, they happy to accommodate. And there was no sense of "we're the professionals who know better and you're just a crazy preggo lady who can't possibly be trusted with decisions that matter." So that's a relief. She also introduced us to the director of the midwives group, who was not only looking sassy in her pencil skirt, but wearing stiletto leopard print heels. I confess, not precisely what I expected. Though I am quite certain she would not actually deliver a child in said get-up, it was still impressive that she could spend the day on her feet like that. So 5 style points for her.
Anyways, they gave me a brief pelvic exam (and apparently my uterus tilts to the back -- which she said is uncommon but doesn't mean anything -- to which I wondered "so why are you telling me this then???") and tried to listen for a heartbeat with the Doppler. The Doppler was crazy - sounded like there was a poorly recorded drum solo being broadcast on AM radio coming out of my midsection. But alas, no heartbeat but my own was heard, as almost-nine-weeks is still a bit early for that for most women. Next time....

It was totally weird to hear the midwife refer to it as "your pregnancy." It just seems somehow more official to hear a trained medical professional state it as a fact. So..... I guess it's real.

In pregnancy-side-effects news, I'm definitely feeling some of the hormonal changes. WebMD warns that I may feel "weepy" and my reaction to things as simple as a Hallmark commercial confirms that this is indeed true. Also I continue to look forward to the day when I can consider myself the sole client of my stomach.

And for the record, my little alien is now the size of a strawberry. Which I consider a poor choice of fruit for size comparison as their size tends to vary greatly. But, hey, I don't make this stuff up.

8 weeks - weird, eh?

2008-09-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe I'm two months pregnant now. And I', wondering - is it odd that I feel morning sickness most strongly on weekdays? On weekends I feel hunky-dory, but any given weekday, I spend a large part of the morning at my desk feeling nauseous. Fun stuff. Though happily, the morning sickness hasn't been bad at all - just a general sense of stomach discomfort. I've yet to yack up my breakfast. But I'm learning that the moment that feeling strikes, I need to eat right away. Most mornings I have like 3 sets of small breakfasts.

This Friday I have my first appointment with the midwives group at Swedish Covenant Hospital, and I have high hopes for them. We toured their Family Birthing Center a few weeks ago and really like it. Their whole approach seems to fit with our philosophy quite nicely, ie. birth is a natural process that should be allowed to happen naturally and not be "managed." So we'll see what I think of the midwives I meet there. The way they do it, you meet with different members of their practice when you go in for appointments so that by the time you deliver, you know all of them and are comfortable with all of them. Makes sense to me.

So at this point, all the family members know (and are ecstatic, duh) and a handful of close friends know. I think it's about time to tell the rest of our friends, and then wait a few more weeks to tell the folks at work...

Oh and according to the lovely fruit analogies that the pregnancy info places seem to love, our little alien is now the size of a grape. Last week they were described as the size of a raspberry. What's next, kumquat?

Oh and one more thing. I'm a crazy lady. (Surprise?) After telling all the family about the pregnancy, I of course had dreams that it was all a lie and I had to figure out a way to tell everyone I made it up. After two days of becoming a paranoid freak about it, I just had to take a second prenancy test to get over it. Which, of course, was positive. In fact it was positive after about 4 seconds. So whew, no doubts there. Now if I can just get over all the horrible strong smells that seem to have found me lately.

A Bun in the Oven

2008-09-13T20:48:00.000-05:00

So like so many other things, we just can't bring ourselves to do it the conventional way. By which I mean, telling the family that I'm pregnant. A phone call, just a standard conversation-"hi mom, I'm pregnant!", those just seem non-creative. So while enjoying a fine meal at Boston Market, we hit upon the idea of taking a photo of a bun in an oven and giving it to our families. So we set up the photo equipment this morning, sacrificed a hotdog bun to the altar of Art, and took the following. We're mailing it out to the families on Monday. I know at 6 weeks, it's a bit early, but hey we just can't contain ourselves anymore. Sue me.
And by the way, 6 weeks! I mean really! Jeebus. Happily I'm not feeling sick or anything, just sleepy and occasionally a touch dizzy. I can live with that.

Oh. My. God.

2008-09-02T19:49:00.000-05:00

Probably Maybe Yes?

2008-09-02T17:39:00.000-05:00

So I think I may be pregnant. Which is good news, by the way. My husband and I have been trying for three months now, and I think this is it. I took a pregnancy test yesterday morning, one of those simple little ones with the one-pink-line or two-pink-line situations, and it was rather inconclusive. By which I mean that there was a second line (good!) but it was really faint (good?) So I'm testing again tonight or tomorrow morning.
God knows if I'm not pregnant I somehow have the most tender boobs for no reason...