NewBaby Goes to the Movies, Both Parents Give Him Two Thumbs Up!

NewMom and I achieved a major milestone of parenthood yesterday. We took Evan out to the movies! Ever since we moved here, Christie and I have enjoyed going to a small movie theater in Jesup. The tickets are reasonable, the popcorn is outstanding, and the theater offers two major benefits:

1. The seats have built-in carseat holders.
2. If someone is talking near you, you can just roll up your window.

That's right, it's a drive-in. And you thought those had all closed! The owners of this place are dedicated to the drive-in experience. It's really only good in the fall-winter months, as summer nights can be a bit hot here. Anyway, NewBaby fell asleep on the ride there and snoozed right through the movie AND the entire 30-minute ride back home. And, as a closing act, he woke up when we got home, ate, and went back to sleep for the rest of the night.

NewMom is happy to report that she is now regularly getting 6+ uninterrupted hours of sleep on a regular basis, and this makes me happy as well. NewMom is becoming an expert at reading NewBaby's signals. She can see the early warning signs of a nuclear meltdown and launch a full-scale nap-attack and avert certain disaster. So far, she's only had one baby-meltdown while shopping. We're sure that more will come.

NewBaby has developed several new skills, some of which are on display at my photo site in the 2006-Oct/Nov folder:

• sticking his tongue out when you stick yours out
• drooling (I'm so proud!)
• lifting his head when he's on his tummy
• grasping toys and moving them around
• showcasing his ChubMaster3000 cheeks

The cheeks are quite a show...at least we have no doubt that he's getting enough to eat! We're not quite as techno-capable as our friends over at Schmoopiebeta.com, nor do we have a video camera...but if we were, we'd post a video to illustrate NewBaby's new vocal abilities. He is starting to make lots of baby sounds now. This is a good thing, because I was worried he was too quiet and would one day just start talking with fully-formed sentences. We're well into the coos, goo-goos, and happy laughs. Who needs sentences, anyway?

NewBaby Celebrates Two-Month Birthday

As of yesterday evening at 11:39PM, Evan is officially two months old. NewMom celebrated this by taking Evan to the doctor to get the most favorite baby treat of all...shots. NewBaby came home plastered in band-aids from the multiple shots he received. Apparently he is quite normal, because he put up quite a fuss during the shots. We dosed him up on some baby Tylenol last night, and he seems to be mostly better today.

I'll get right to the details, because I know that most of you could care less about the random blathering of a NewDad. Evan's new weight is 12 pounds, 2 ounces and his length is 22.5 inches. When you stop to consider that this is almost a doubling of his body weight in two months time, that's pretty impressive. NewMom is working hard feeding Evan around the clock, but she got some welcome news from the pediatrician this week...because Evan is gaining weight well, he can now go up to EIGHT HOURS a night without a feeding. If I could make "eight hours" flash on and off in neon green, I would. We usually only make 5 or 6 hours at the longest, but knowing that Evan isn't going to shrivel up if he's sleeping longer is a nice feeling.

You'll notice that the pregnancy "ticker" has been removed from the blog. In its place is a link to my photo page on Yahoo. There are few new pictures from this week there. NewUncle Jonathan (Christie's brother...it does get confusing) and NewAunt Nikia came down for a quick visit this weekend. Kudos to them for driving 8 hours here and back just to meet Evan for less than 24 hours. Those guys are dedicated. We look forward to longer visits in the future. Jonathan and I (that does sound weird) spent an afternoon installing new exterior lights on the house. We proved the second and third theorems of do-it-yourself projects this time, though.

Do-It-Yourself Project Theorems

1. Always measure twice, cut once.
2. If at first you don't succeed, then read the instructions.
3. A "one-trip-to-the-hardware-store" project is a figment of your imagination. It does not exist in reality.

So far, the lights work and we haven't burned the house down yet. I call that a success.

NewDad Receives AARP Card; Tries to File Retirement at Age 30

Here's one of the cutest photos we have of NewBaby so far. Evan's growth can be measured by how big his new double chin is. NewMom is celebrating that NewBaby is regularly going 5 hours between night feedings. Occasionally, the magical 6 hour sleep has been achieved. NewMom will be very happy when Evan is old enough to fix his own breakfast, but for now, she'll take six hours of sleep instead.

Our household has recently grown by two, as NewMom's father and stepmother recently came down for a visit. NewGrandpa Ken immediately helped NewDad tear down and rebuild a finicky toilet. NewGrandma Marti (she's much more than a stepmother...) has been busy cooking. She cooked so much today that I actually smelled the food before I came in the house this afternoon. The freezer is in the process of being restocked, and for this we are thankful.

Yesterday, we all packed up in the car and drove over to St. Simons to enjoy some crabcakes at Barbara Jean's (if you're in the area, they are about the best crabcakes ever made...they register about 99% crab, 1% veggies and whatever else goes in crabcakes). NewBaby Evan made the trip in fine form, not crying even once while we were in the restaurant. We know that this is beginner's luck and probably will not be repeated for some time to come.

I recently celebrated my arrival into true adulthood/parenthood when I checked the mail. In the mail that day was my very own AARP card. This happened the day we came back from the hospital with NewBaby. The fates are cruel. Just in case you're wondering, this was not a card with generic numbers and "Ima Member" as the name. This was a real card with my name on it, and a letter to accompany stating that I was now fully qualified to join. I know my hair is gray, but come on...

That's it from NewBaby Land, where all the parents are somewhat rested, all the freezers are full, and all the Grandparents are above average. *

*my apologies to Garrison Keillor and all the fine folks in Lake Wobegon.

NewParents Receive Abnormal Results of Medical Test: NewBaby is Abnormally Cute

We kept this one a secret from almost all of you, but NewMom and I have been sitting on pins and needles for a while. (NOTE: Everything is fine now. You can start breathing again.) You see, it all started back in the delivery room. NewBaby had just arrived and both parents were busy erasing everything out of their appointment books for the next 18 years. Enter the doctor, busy with all the post-birth stuff that goes on. Just like the car mechanic taking apart your transmission, the doctor said, "Hmmm. This doesn't look right." He was referring to the umbilical cord, which was shown during a lab examination to have only one artery carrying blood to/from NewBaby (known as Single Umbilical Artery, or SUA). I confess at this point to not having known that most babies have two arteries in their umbilical cords. My thoughts at the time were something like "Zero is bad, so one is good, right?" Enter NewBaby, still slightly gunky but 100% cute, and all thoughts of worry were gone for the next 96 hours.

Enter NewBaby's pediatrician, who upon hearing the diagnosis of SUA ordered an ultrasound of various body parts. In reading the various pages out there on the internet about SUA, it seems we escaped the more dramatic effects. Most babies born with SUA are completely normal, but it is associated with many more dramatic problems. Maybe I was trying to be overly hopeful, but a statistics lesson came back to me then...Correlation is not necessarily causation. If I am wrong about that, that SUA does actually cause defects instead of just occurring alongside them, I really do not want to know.

The ultrasound last week was to rule out any kidney/bladder problems. We got the results today, and apparently Evan is fine except for one thing. His kidneys are abnormally cute. We will be posting pictures of the cutest kidneys ever, but we will limit it to our refrigerator door. We figure that the one umbilical artery he did have must have been honkin' huge.

Now that that's out of the way, we are happy to report that NewBaby Evan is plumping up quickly. He is sporting a double chin and his arms and legs are developing a healthy layer of baby fat. How well he sleeps at night varies, but we're pretty sure that we're on the better end of that continuum. NewDad got lots of sleep during the past two weeks while NewAunt Elizabeth and NewUncle Joshua were here and took the monitor between feedings. They also cooked up a storm while they were in town. Their 1.75 year old son, NewCousin Benjamin, gave us lessons on how to toddler-proof a house.

Minor disasters have been few and far between. There has been some spitting up, but nothing major yet. Gas comes and goes. Thank goodness for whoever invented the baby gas medicine drops. In closing, both parents have gone through a rite of passage no one bothered to tell us about...being urinated on during diaper changes. NewMom hasn't been so fortunate, but I have been lucky enough to escape being pooped on so far. My diaper-changing speed has increased exponentially after the experience with #1. At least NewBaby isn't old enough to be able to gurgle and laugh after the fact.