Grant the non-sleeper

Well its all too much for Granty-claus (as we now call him in honour of the Christmas spirit) - His latest trick is to keep awake until late at night refusing to go to bed due to all the excitement of meeting new folks. He then crashes out only to wake at 12, 2, 4, and 6am.... Next he has a nap until 8am when he wakes again causing us to decide that he is now "up" for the day - so we shower/get dressed - Only for him to crash out around 8.30am for a couple of hours while we're left up thinking - "Damn I could do with some sleep".... :)

Of course its now 11.30pm and we could have been asleep for 2+ hours along with Grant but we missed that boat again...

He is loving all the attention though! Smiles galore, he's also discovered reaching and grabbing Mum and Dad's glasses! Time to put contacts in tomorrow.... Of course the Mr Poopemheimer tendancies are still there - We need a lot of clothes each day for Mr Granty-Claus - One red suit just ain't gonna cut it.

Some friends of Misty's parents also had a spare Jumperoo so he is loving using that here in Cozad as well as the one my Mum gave him for Christmas in Seattle... Much appreciate that as it really helps keep him entertained while normal life proceeds...

Off to meet some of Misty's high school friends tomorrow night which we're looking forward to especially since Joanna and Dennis had a baby girl(Addie) this summer - It will be fun to catch up both with them and their experiences.

Signing off - 'Sleepless in Seattle-errr Cozad'

Pete.

Christmas in Cozad

We arrived in Cozad on Saturday afternoon after a 2am start to the day in Seattle. The plane trip with Grant went pretty well though its amazing how many dirty looks you get from people on a plane when a baby cries! The number of times Misty and I both wanted to shout out, "Yes we love the noise to" was limitless. :)

We spent Saturday at Chris and Audra's (Misty's brother and sister-in-law) and had a great time catching up with them and Taylor and Timmy (who have grown so much in 6 months since the baby shower this last summer).... Chris daringly offered to let me try out the ATV's that he'd bought this last fall and I survied - had much fun flying off ridges around their yard. The cold couldn't stop that much fun, even if it did take some effort to get Misty to try them out...

Its was a balmy -17c here last night with a day time high of -9c - Pretty cold but at least no additional wind chill to make things truly evil. I think Grant got quite a shock going from the car to the house etc....

Grant's Grandma and Grandpa arrived back at the house after we'd driven across to Cozad earlier on Sunday afternoon.... There was a mad rush between them both to get into the house first to see (a sleeping!) Grant...

Some photos of Grant as he gets into the Christmas spirit:

our little show-off

So I think I've figured out that Grant only likes to perform his cool new tricks in front of an audience. We've always joked around about Grant having a crush on his doctor. Everytime we go to her office he's completely whiney up until the point she enters the room. She checks him all over and he looks at her with those big eyes like "look at what a good baby I am.. I'm always like this!". The minute she leaves he starts to fuss. When I webcam with my mom and dad Grant is always doing his little tricks smiles for the camera. Today at my moms group I put Grant on the ground to show everyone his little inchworm crawling. Grant started up right away and once everyone ooo'd and ah'd he flipped from his front to his back. Everyone was well impressed and after the praise stopped he'd flipped back to his front like he'd been doing this at home all the time. He also sits on my lap during the entire group and watches all the other babies as they get fussy as if he never does himself. Little show-0ff.

We're off to Nebraska in a few hours and it's truly unbelievable how much additional crap we've had to pack. I just emailed my brother who is picking us up at the airport and asked him to maybe consider bringing 2 cars. Crazy how one little guy can require so much stuff!!

off to shower and get a teeny bit of sleep before we leave the house at 2:45am!!!!

wish us luck!!!

-misty

look ma no hands! and our faceless baby...

So last night Peter watched Grant while I ran out and finished up some last minute errands before our big trip. The problem with this is that Pete tends to think all awake time is high stimulation play time. I came home at 9:45pm only to find Pete and Grant awake and singing on the floor. This totally screwed with his sleep time and he was awake every 3 hours again last night.

The good thing is that he wanted to impress Dad during Daddy/Grant time and really worked hard on his crawling. But he is a stubborn little guy. He doesn't think he's got any real need for arms or hands at this point other than the fact that they have thumbs on the end of them. When we do tummy time he kicks and gets his little butt up in the air but leaves his arms back and at his side. I move them to the front and he moves them right back to where they were. Last night during tummy time with Pete he's figured out he can do the whole crawling thing sans arms. He looks like a little inchworm sticking his butt up in the air and pushing his face and chest forward on the carpet. He doesn't get very far but seems to be pretty happy that he's finally moving. Meanwhile I think we're going to have to invest in a boxing helmet or something to avoid carpet burns on his face- we've got Christmas pictures coming soon!

At around 1am last night he went went right into the high pitched squeals bypassing the normal "I'm hungry" whiney-type cries. So I rushed in to make sure he was ok and found his foot sticking out the slats of the crib. He does this a lot and then gets stuck so I thought that was the problem but when I grabbed his foot it was facing toes down. In my sleep deprived stupor I started to panic that he'd somehow completely broken his foot and it was now dangling the wrong way around. I panned up his little body to his face to comfort him and it was GONE. Panic had really set in as I looked at my baby who'd broken his foot and lost his face. I actually stood there completely confused for a full two seconds before I realized that his cries were coming from closer to the face side of his head which was on the mattress, and that he'd figured out how to roll over in the night and got himself stuck. I know this sounds like an exaggeration.. I can assure you it's not. Somehow with the little sleep I've been getting this all made sense at the time.

We're off on Saturday and I'm totally excited but totally nervous about the whole traveling with Grant thing. We'll see how we do... wish us luck!

-misty

Grant the Husker fan.....

Grant in his cool outfit from Mistys Mum and Dad...

More photos in the album....

Next Saturday we fly back to Cozad - Grant's first plane trip. The mind boggles at the complexities involved. Planning has begun!

Rent! the movie & doodie calls...

I took Granty to this ReelMom's movie day which was featuring Rent! I was sort of addicted to the Rent soundtrack while I was pregnant and he used to kick up a storm when I listened to it. I didn't have long to find out how he'd react. He bounced and sang along to every song for the first 45 minutes. I actually missed the beginning of the movie because I was laughing and watching him "Ooooo ooooo OOOOO oooooooeeeooooo" along every time a song came on.

His sing-a-long got him so excited that he ended up doing the mother of all blow-outs during the second half of the movie. I took him up to the changing pad in the restroom and spent the next 30 minutes and all the wipes I had left in my diaper bag getting him cleaned up. I actually considered clogging up one of the sinks and just dipping his butt in it but thought I might get some dirty looks from other theater go-ers. Also, I didn't know which parts of him I could touch without getting myself dirty. Having these blow-outs at home is one thing, having them remotely is quite another. I got him changed and into his reserve outfit and patted myself on the back for having the foresight to pack extra clothes and matching socks. As I walked out I felt a spot on my arm go warm and he'd wee'd through his diaper that I'd haphazardly threw on in my blow-out changing frenzy. Fortunately it was a small spot and he didn't seem to bothered by it until we got home that afternoon.

In other news Grant is getting more and more animated and smiley day by day. I can't wait to go home for Christmas and introduce him to everyone and see Gramma and Grampa again! Only 11 more days!!!

-misty

Its Christmas early for Grant....

Grant's Granny left him a fabulous early Christmas present before returning to New Zealand....

See Grant in all his bouncing glory!!

He also just started reaching out for objects and the toys on the front of the bouncer are of extreme interest to him!

Of course none are still as interesting as his best friend lampie.







Dad being honored with a smile normally reserved for lampie!










More photos of Grant uploaded to the Flickr photo album in the 'Grant' set - You can now order prints directly from Flickr and pick them up at Target... 10 free!

and we're mobile!... sort of..

So getting Grant transitioned from sleeping in his swing to sleeping in the crib seems to have been much easier than I imagined. The last few nights he's slept all night in the crib. He doesn't like to initially go down in the crib, but I think it's more to do with him wanting to be up socializing with the adults. If I've learned anything in my 3 months as a parent it's not to celebrate these small milestones too prematurely but it's been 3 nights out of the swing cold turkey and he's doing well so I'll do my small celebratory dance quietly in the corner. :)

Now that he's got all this wide open space I keep coming in to find him in completely different places to where I placed him. At first I thought I was losing my mind or that Pete was putting him to bed sideways in his crib for some reason. But yesterday I walked past his room to check on him and his head was on the right hand side. I went back to the kitchen to get a glass of water and heard him starting to stir. I grabbed his bottle and heated it (to his exact preferred temperature :P) and when I got back to his room he'd completely flipped around. So he's mobile.. but circularly mobile. And he's not so great at working out his path of travel. Sometimes I'll come in and his legs are both hanging out the slats in the crib. Sometimes, like tonight, his head is against the railing and he's gotten himself stuck (don't worry - he lets us know when this happens). I can't work out how he's really doing it. I know when I change him he's like a snake in reverse on his back slithering away from me. So anyway, I'm thinking he could make some decent snow angels in motion (more like snow circles) when we get back to Nebraska this winter. :)

He's starting to smile and talk a lot more and wow is it ever cute. He's also taken an interest in actually LOOKING at the person holding him. He's normally Mr. Take-Everything-In EXCEPT the person holding me and is constantly looking around the room. The last couple of days it's actually startled me to have him in front of me studying my face and staring intently at me. It's kind of silly but today it actually made me a bit teary. I was so full of love it was leakin' out my eyes. :) I can't remember what our life was like before we had him.

-misty

happy thanksgiving & mysterious flying socks!...

We had a good Thanksgiving yesterday and Grant celebrated by having blowouts all day and going through 4 different outfits in about 3 hours time. He had Thanksgiving cheer coming out the rear.

When I put Grant to sleep last night he was in a little outfit with socks on. He'd been particularly fussy and woke up a few hours later. When I went to get him I once again, found one sock flung up by his head and the other up by his arm. I have no idea how he's doing this. I know he kicks his feet a lot when he's fed up and that his legs are really strong for a baby his age. But I've never seen him do high kicks with enough force to fling a sock. And while his legs are really strong he doesn't seem to have any interest in working out his hands and arms. He does occasionally grab at my hair and shirt but if you put a rattle in his hand he just lets it fall out. I really want to put our video camera in his room to find out how this is happening. If he's juggling socks when we leave the room I'd like to capitalize on that now and book him into the nearest circus. :)

On a more serious note and in the spirit of Thanksgiving I'd just like to say what I'm thankful for this year. I'm thankful for our great friends and family around the world who all send their love and well wishes via email and phone calls. It's incredibly hard to be so far away from our families especially now that we have Grant. It's nice to know you're all reading to keep up with how we're doing. I'm of course incredibly grateful and thankful for being blessed with Grant and his wonderful father, Peter. Everyday Grant does something funny and I love having Pete to share all of this with. From the time I was pregnant we referred to Grant as "our little chicken" and Pete and I were the sole members of Team Chicken. Having Pete there to encourage, share, and take care of me after a rough night has made this parenting gig that much easier (Though I do wish he'd jump up and take the early morning feeding a bit more often :) ).

Hope you all had a great turkey day!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but please feel free to leave comments here or on flicker. It lets me know someone is actually reading our blog and if anything will guilt me into posting and adding photos more often. :)

-misty

Grant and Family

Grant and his Granny - My Mum is in Seattle visiting Grant - He actually smiles for her too which is better than for his Mum and Dad!














Misty, Grant and myself at Deception Pass, Whidbey Island near Seattle.










Here is Grant laughing at his favorite friend - Lampie (a lamp in our living room!)

More photos from the above sets in our photo album - link on the right of this page.

Battle of the Bottle, Round 2.....

I think we have a little Chef Gordon Ramsey on our hands. Grant is now very particular about the temperature of his milk and will make no qualms about sending his dinner back to the kitchen if it's not perfect. If he eats his meal in a leisurely fashion then by the time he gets halfway through the bottle the temperature of the milk is suddenly UNACCEPTABLE. He'll put his mouth around the nipple to gauge the temperature and then squeal and kick and put his face up in a scowl until we make the trip to the kitchen to warm it up to his liking. If he thinks I'm warming or chilling his plates when he's on solids he's going to be sorely disappointed.

He's getting on well with Granny and Brian and slowly getting used to hearing more voices in the house. We've had a few challenging bedtimes but last night he did quite well after he finally went down. Pete also wanted to note he took his first trip to the Ballard locks on Sunday. (I'm not quite so sure why this was worth noting considering he was sleeping in his stroller covered from the rain the entire time). He also did amazingly well when we all went to lunch at Ray's Boathouse and only let the entire restaurant know he was there at the end of the meal when he had to get strapped into his carseat.

We're off to do some shopping today :)

-misty

Mum and Bryan visiting

Grant met Granny for the first time this last Fri - Pics to follow!

well that was a whole lot of nuthin'...

So for the past week I've had tons of anxiety over Grant's 2 month doctor visit (where you get your 4 vaccinations at once). I actually lost precious sleep worrying about it all. So we get there and do the normal doctor Q&A bit and Grant is totally happy and smiley. He really noticed the mirror along the back of the table this time and seems to LOVE how the paper underneath of him crinkled when he kicked and moved around. Then the nurse came in with her tray of needles while I held his pacifier in his mouth. I felt so incredibly deceptive knowing he was going to get jabbed. So she jabbed him and he of course screamed and looked at me like "How could you?!". And I cried and then picked him up and gave him his bottle and that was it. He cried for maybe 30 seconds while I was getting out his bottle and then he conked out. His pediatrician said he may sleep for 4-6 hours this afternoon. I didn't expect myself to be that affected by it all. I know it's quick pain and the benefits of the vaccinations obviously outweigh the 30 seconds of pain but I guess I don't have much experience with the "I'm hurt" crying. I didn't realize how I'd become used to the I'm hungry, bored or tired cries until I heard him squeal on that table. That made me feel more like a mom in that minute than anything I could imagine. I would have done anything to make it better. So, yeah, 30 seconds of crying and the most peaceful, angelic looking nap I've seen afterwards. Not so bad.

-misty

SCREEEEEECH.. If this were a movie this is where the record would screech and then I'd eat my words.

So an hour after this original post all hell broke loose and Grant screamed that "I'm hurt" cry for 2.5 hours straight. Poor little guy. By the time Pete got home at 5pm with the Infant Tylenol we were both crying our heads off. Fortunately the Tylenol only took about 15 minutes to work and he was fine.

Oh! he's 12lbs 8oz and 24" long and really advanced in his motor skills. 2 more inches and he's outgrown his infant carseat. And this morning I came in to find him practicing his escape out of his swing. One leg was completely over the edge of the swing and the other was over the center hump and he was lying all crooked and scooched over.

Sun, what sun?

his timing and aim are impeccable...

Grant peed on me again today... twice. It's one thing to be peed on so often and quite another to get peed on and then look down to see Grant grinning from ear to ear after he did it. One of the few times he's ever smiled at us. Pete thought this was genius.

Every time I tell someone Grant's peed on me they invariably say "Don't you cover him up?!" like I'm somehow taking off his diaper and leaving him naked for hours, dipping his fingers in warm water and running water near his head and THEN he wees on me. I know I'm supposed to cover him up. The thing is he's really squirmy. First of all, I think he'd ditch his clothes all together if he had any say in the matter. The minute I start unsnapping his clothes he starts kicking his legs. I have to capture them one at a time to get them out of his jammies. When I pull down the diaper I have seconds (or less) to get him covered. Sometimes as I'm pulling it down he starts peeing and its a quick "duck and cover" job. When I do have time to cover him up he kicks his little legs back and forth and the cover falls off. Covering him is like trying to put a sweater on a worm. When I was pregnant I saw these PeePee TeePee's advertised in the back of a magazine and considered it. But the distance and force in which it comes out leave me with images of the old cartoons with Bugs Bunny sitting on top of "Old Faithful".

So I'll keep trying to cover him as quick as I can and stay out of the line of fire as much as possible. If he grins at me again afterwards I'm going to know it's not so involuntary.

-misty

I just had a look at those PeePee TeePees.. the Santa Claus ones are great!

another one bites the dust and hand-sandwich at last!...

I realized the other night that another one of the parenting resolutions we made went out the door. I was so sure I would uphold this one because seriously, how hard could it be?

#6 Don't tiptoe around the house while he's sleeping so he gets used to normal household noise.

After spending hours trying to get the little bugger off to bed I find myself tiptoeing out of his room and doing everything in slow motion careful not to make any additional noise. I've even thought of reading the microwave manual to see if I can turn off the bleeps (I've already become a pro at doing the microwave countdown and stopping it with one second left to avoid the loud triple bleep telling me my food is done). If he happens to hear there's anything going on outside of his room he wants to be out in the mix living it up with everyone. It's going to be a sad day when he realizes the party going on outside of his room is really mom emptying the dishwasher. Pete on the other hand never puts him back to bed so he's great at stomping around, clinking dishes and doing whatever it is he normally does with lots of noise. I'm sure it's quite comical to watch me whisper-screaming at him to be quiet and use his "inside voice". He doesn't get it.. or maybe it's me that doesn't get it. :)

In other news, Grant has found out he can pacify himself pretty good with a hand sandwich with a side of fingers. It seems to take a great amount of slurping and smacking to get a good enough portion of his hand in there. His slurping can be heard in our room across the hall with both doors closed. He seems to prefer the thumb all the way down to the second knuckle and a portion of his pointer finger though on occasion I have caught him with the starfish face plant (thumb in mouth, fingers open and sprawled across his face).

Other than that not too much news to report. He's getting cuter by the minute.

Grant's Halloween outfit

DSC01437
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Grant the chicken!

More in the photo album

he rolled over!

Not sure if it was a fluke or not but we had Grant on his tummy this evening and he surprised us both by rolling over to his back! The way he moves his feet makes me think we're going to see him crawling early.

His conversations with "lampy" are now getting more animated and more vocal. We got the video camera out tonight and caught the tail end of it. We're going to edit them and put them online to share sometime soon. If conversing with inanimate objects is a normal thing please let me know. I've never heard of it.

Pete just finished editing the first video we have of Grant in the hospital. I can't believe it was 7 weeks ago. He's grown so much. At our last doctor visit (a little over a week ago) he was 23" long and 12lbs 8oz but Pete stood on the scale with him the other night and he was over 13 lbs. Every morning when I pick him up I swear he's gained weight over night.

-misty

these are a few of Grant's favorite things... and narcolepsy!

So we've been pretty unsuccessful at getting Grant to smile for us in order for us to take a picture but we've started noticing a pattern. He's MESMERIZED by this incredibly ugly halogen lamp we have in the family room. (So ugly I've been trying to get rid of it for 2 years but Pete won't let me). Every time he's on Pete's lap his eyes immediately go to this thing and he smiles and coos at it and his eyes get all glassy from not blinking. The other day Pete turned on the lamp for him and he was entranced for the next 10 minutes staring at this wondrous object. He does the same thing with the mural I painted on the wall behind the glider. I feed him there every day and in the middle of the night and he won't take his eyes off of it. If I move him so his back is facing the mural he simply tips his head back to stare at it some more. The funny thing is this mural is the one where Peter Rabbit is hiding out in the watering can in the shed. By following his eyes he seems to be particularly taken by the watering can. I have no idea what's going on in that little mind. :)

Grant also has had 2 instances of narcolepsy that have cracked us up. Both times he's been particularly fussy and sitting on my lap. Mid-whine he just conked out. Like someone pulled the plug on a little robot.. zhoooomp.. out... and he's off snoring. If he'd only do that at 3am it'd make my life a bit easier!

Halloween pictures will be posted on Monday.. (Pete's making me wait). I should warn you though.. you might just die of inflicted cuteness. :)

-misty

P.S. I've had a few people ask me about the cold bottle thing. There's nothing wrong with giving a baby a cold bottle. We checked with the pediatrician who said "lucky you if you can get him to take it.. it'll save you time!" Since Battle of Cold Bottle he's occasionally let a cold-ish one slip back into the routine.. but only if he's kind of distracted. :)

Just relaxin'

Like father like son!

One other new photo in the album.

Grant Passport Photo

Grant Passport Photo
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Grant's Passport arrives - He is now an official international man of mystery.

add one more to the list...

The Battle of Cold Bottle was lost here tonight adding #5 to our ever-increasing list below.

Since we've been home from the hospital we've given Grant breastmilk in a bottle that had been cold from being stored in the refrigerator. Out of sheer laziness I started taking a bottle out before I headed to bed so I wouldn't have to take the extra 25 steps to the refrigerator in the middle of the night. This is now the preferred temperature of milk for Grant and cold milk is NO LONGER an option.

Pete and I read somewhere that babies are the most vulnerable of all species. They're born with no instincts to protect themselves. If thrown to the wolves they'd be forced to get by on their cute looks alone. Tonight I realized they have a back-up plan - the blood curdling scream. At this point the wolves would turn on their heels and get the hell out as they have no way of covering their ears and no food is worth battling THAT noise. The same said noise causes humans to do every stupid trick in their power to interpret the cause and stop it. No matter how insane. "Fed? Yep. Diaper changed? Yep. Tired? No, just woke up. Is it his hat? Earlier he had his hat on and wasn't screaming try the hat. No, no, definitely not the hat that's made it worse. It's the oven mitt puppet... he wants the oven mitt puppet.. quick get the oven mitt.. for the love of God.. the oven mitt... that's not it?.. I don't know...put them on his feet. Oh. that's it. He likes oven mitts on his feet... now dance and sing he's getting fussy again." Please note when something works.. don't think you've now sorted out "his thing". Babies demand that you change it up. I think they're much smarter than we give them credit for and want to see how far you'll go and what an ass of yourself you're willing to make on their behalf. All controlled by that banshee-like scream.

Whether it be the insane cuteness or that banshee-like scream I think I've discovered we're not just under new management.. we're under a new dictatorship. :)

-misty

EDIT: What Misty doesn't tell you is last night I tickeld his belly and he let out a big smile and giggle - and we both melted :)

EDIT, EDIT: But it may have just been Mr Pooperheimer appearing too...

-peter

rapidly dissolving parenting resolutions...

When I was pregnant we had loads of time to discuss things we definitely were and weren't going to do once we had our little guy. Here's a list of some of them and how quickly our hard decisions were changed:

1. No pacifier - 2 days home from the hospital. Once we realized he was using our finger as a human pacifier the decision to replace it with a plastic one wasn't far behind.

2. No sleeping in his swing. Swing is to be used so I can get things done like showering - 1 nearly completely sleepless night. He loves this thing and his pediatrician said it was fine for him to sleep occasionally in it.

3. No co-sleeping, he needs to get used to sleeping in his crib from the beginning - this took about a week. As long as all 3 of us were horizontal I didn't care what it took.

4. No buying loads of newborn clothes since he's only going to be in them for a short time - 4 days home from the hospital. This is a sickness on my part. I can't resist little cute things. Old Navy and Oshkosh are killing me with their gorgeous little things that I can't pass by. I'm not sure there's any sort of cure for this. :)

I'm sure this list will only get longer and longer as time goes by.

Oh, and the sleeping through the night thing was a complete fluke. :P The instructor in my hospital class said one day is a "happening", 2 days is a "fluke", 3 days is a "coincidence", 4 days is a "trend" and 5 days is a "habit". Totally disheartening. We're a long way off from sleeping through the night.

-misty

***Update*** Ugh.. I really do need therapy for my shopping addiction.. not even 4 hours after this post I found myself in OshKosh where they were having a huge fall sale!!! How can 70% and 60% off so many little things add up to $70 so quickly? My euphoria quickly wore off when I got home and showed Pete my fantastic finds and he wasn't nearly as excited. He clearly doesn't understand the importance of smart clothes for all of these mommy groups Grant and I have joined.

a rose by any other name...

We have someone living in our household under a few different assumed names. We change them to suit the occasion. (Though I just realized that the nicknames could also suit Pete just as easily - except the last one). :)

Here's a running list of the names so far (listed in order of popularity):

Senor Fussybutt (no idea how to add the ~ above the n)
Sir Poopsalot
Mr. Poopenheimer
The Poopsmith
Mr. Wees-his-pants

I love the pictures Pete just posted. Especially the "deer in headlights" picture and the "Curly" from the 3 Stooges picture. As you can see from the pics he's suffering from baby acne. Of course I checked with the doctor and apparently I should hold off on the Clearasil and Pro-Active and it should clear up in a week or two.

-misty

OH!!! and important bulletin!!!! Last night Granty slept for 5 hours.. woke up ate and fell immediately back to sleep for 4 hours. I feel soooo well rested!! We're so close to sleeping through the night I can taste it!

Whoa I'm growing!

DSC01353
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Grant went to the doc for a check up on Friday. He's now 11lbs and 23" long!

Some more new photos in the photo album.

sleeping on the job...

I'm realizing that I'm most tired at the 8am feeding time. I do pretty well getting up throughout the night but I think after many years of pulling college all-nighters that my body is just trained to get through the night knowing it will be compensated with sleep in the morning. But when morning comes around Grant still seems to want to eat and be taken care of.. (funny, that :)). Anyway.. I have a nice little squirmy alarm clock that grunts at me when I start to dip into sleepland. I keep snapping awake and realize I've been trying to feed him through his nostril or through the outside of his cheek. The first few weeks I kept thinking "oh weird.. he must have spit his bottle out". But I think I realized that he obviously wouldn't be grunting at me if this were the case. This new manager never lets up. :)

-misty

take two...

You would think after yesterday's "pea soup exorcism" that I'd not let that happen again any time soon. You would think. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong.

-misty

the demons have been expelled...

We were having a fairly peaceful afternoon. Grant was a little fussy but not anything out of the ordinary. I opened his diaper and simultaneously grabbed a wipe. I was quietly pleased at how good I was getting at this diapering business. Then, as I grabbed the second wipe all things that are unholy were expelled out of his bum. All over me, the glider ottoman, the glider, his pajamas, and the floor. The vomit scene in the Exorcist was a walk in the park compared to this. Clean up was a 30 wipe & steam cleaner affair. I was glad it was bath night. Though before we could bathe him I finally learned the lesson of "pointing him down". I picked him up after his nap and realized his entire pajamas, undershirt, and pants were wet. I apparently left him "pointing up" after the pea soup explosion earlier and he'd peed up out of his diaper soaking everything. Pete thought all of this was hilarious and I'm glad the camera was no where in sight or you'd all have lovely pictures to click through.

And now it's official. I'm one of those parents who talk to complete strangers about pee and poop.

-misty

Sling....

DSC01329
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Not quite sure what Grant makes of his new sling for being carried around in....

More new photos in the photo album

Grant applied for his Passport at the Post Office on Friday - I've no idea what he made of it all but he had trouble finding the $82 for the application....

the best gift...

This morning when Grant started stirring I dragged myself in for his usual morning feeding. I always try and do a running commentary of what I'm doing because they say it's good for them developmentally. My normal "Good Morning Granty, Momma's here.. Let's get you some food!" was greeted with my very first smile. I thought it may have been gas so I kept talking to him and he smiled again and then giggled. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen and heard. I'm not sure when I'll get a repeat performance but it made me forget all the sleepless nights in an instant.

Today I went to the gym....

DSC01301
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

More photos in the 'Grant' photo set... Check out the photo album link on the right here...

all's good on the hearing and eyeball front. :)

So we've been quietly worried about Grants hearing since he failed his hearing test a couple days after birth. They did tell us that it could have just been amniotic fluid in his ears that hadn't drained yet. So what's a good parent to do other than constantly clap and snap fingers loudly beside your child's ear.. also shouting his name just as he's dozing off to see if he can hear is another good test Pete tried a few times. Note that all of this time a flushing toilet, the bed creaking JUST as I've gotten him off to sleep, and the microwave bleeping with my piping hot food are all little noises that can wake him in an instant (not normally signs of someone with a hearing problem). Needless to say his 2 week recheck went absolutely fine and he can obviously hear and now we have a certificate to prove it.

So now that I'm not stressed out about his hearing I have more important things to spend my sleep deprived brain worrying about.. like 2 days ago when his eyeballs didn't seem to be working together. They were cross eyed and frog eyed and all over. I had a doctor's appt. that day and she assured me this was normal and it wasn't a problem. Convinced that she obviously didn't get a look at his wonky eyeball I spent the rest of the night researching "infant lazy eye" to find out what special eye devices that were going to be in our future. Needless to say this lazy eye episode only seemed to last the day and both eyes seem to be working as a team now.

He does have a "Heather toe" though.. which is where your 4th toe hangs out below the 3rd one a little. Heather will be really happy to know he's got this in common with her. :) I've resisted the urge to do a google search on toes. Give me another day. :)

Parenting is a little crazy for the obsessive worrier.

-misty

Photos

DSC01279
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Per many requests - added a few new photos to the Flickr photo set... Use the link on the right for more...

first week at home with grant on my own...

So with my parents gone and Pete back in work this week was my first week flying solo at this whole mom thing. Pete's also been sick this past week and has had really big meetings at work so he's been sleeping in the spare room so he can get some rest from work. Here are some minor stats from the week...

Average hours of solid sleep time throughout the night and day 2
Amount of times I've been peed on 4
Number of non-baby related tasks I can manage in one day 1
Number of 1am car drives to get him to sleep 1
Number of outfits gone through per day due to unforeseen "blowout" 1-3

We had our 2 week check up today with the doctor and everything looks good. 75% percentile for height.. he's 21.5" tall now. It's amazing how much bigger he already seems. His hands and feet don't seem so tiny anymore.. however his closet is still full of 3 month - 6 months clothes that are way too big for him.

We're planning on take loads of pictures this weekend. He makes some of the funniest facial expressions and it'd be a shame to not get some of them in pictures to share. We'll try and post them tomorrow night.

Tomorrow will be Grant's first trip to Costco and to the mall... we'll see how he does and if I can work out the mystery that is our stroller.

-misty

Birth Certificates

Grant's birth certificates arrived in the mail today so we're all set to apply for his Passport once we get a Social Security number early next week. Then Misty and I need to find our birth certificates to apply for that - Complex business!

Oh No!

Tough day today as Misty's parents went back to Cozad after spending a week with us - We honestly don't know how we'll make it through without their help! Misty's mum is certainly the expert Baby Soother! Not only that but made all our meals for a week (and a supply for the freezer) - Thanks so much Irma!

On top Junior managed to not only re-arrange our messy garage into great shape but furred out our unfinished basement bedroom with 2x4's and added the closet - all we need to do now is get it dry walled and a drop ceiling put in - Thanks a ton Junior!! Not much of a vacation for either of them.

Now Grant is alone and left with Misty and I for his sole survival - hopefully we're up to the challenge! Last week he got a blocked tear duct so we have to put antibiotic ointment gel into his eyes 3 times a day - not the easiest thing!

Misty's legs/feet are still badly swollen and she has to spend much of the day off her feet until they go down....

Still need to find time to respond to all the kind emails we got after the birth - I will get to them!

under new management...

I've come to the realization that I have a new boss. He's bald, 21" long, and very demanding. He dictates when I sleep, eat, when I go to the bathroom and when I can contribute to this blog. He's amazing. :) Pete is convinced that being a baby is the career path that needs to explore. "You're constantly getting boobs shoved in your face, people are completely crazy about making sure you're well fed, well cared for and that you've gone to the bathroom enough each day." At 4am in a sleep deprived haze that was the funniest thing I'd ever heard. Lack of sleep makes me loopy and everything hilarious. Not really good if you're shaking your baby out of sleep by laughing your head off at his goofy facial expressions that he doesn't even realize he's making.

The sleep deprivation is slowly settling in but isn't nearly as bad with my mom and dad here watching the little guy and forcing me to sleep. They say they want me to get my rest but I know they really want total uninterrupted Grant time. :)

Well it's our turn to cook tonight.. my mom has really spoiled us by cooking every evening. Now where did I put those Pizza Hut coupons?

Hospital Photos

The hospital "Official" photos went live over the weekend as well.... You can view those at:

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage_view.asp?URLID=9Q9K0D0C6N

Be sure to click on the "Next photo" links near the photo to see some other, better, shots....

Also it was a BUSY day on 9/8 with eight babies born (7 caesarians, Grant was the only regular birth). http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/hospitals/template/hospitalpage.asp?hospitalID=5333

I've also uploaded some more photos to our Flickr photo site

Today he slept the longest ever during the afternoon of course - I'm sure we'll be up all night again now!!!

His first doc visit was yesterday and all was fine.... Back up to 8lbs 1oz from the 7lbs 14oz he'd dropped to post birth so things were looking good...

...And when I was two (days old) I went home

DSC01230
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Today was the big day we returned home from the hospital with Grant. That and I'm rapidly learning perhaps 'perfect' was a slightly incorrect term as it forgets about the poop - lots of poop :) He is mastering the feeding art well and its showing!

The nurses had a lot of fun with Grant last night as they took him off our hands for 4 hours while we grabbed some sleep in the hospital before going home - He loves the baby swings apparently and spent ages trying to stop himself from falling asleep working it all out...

Everything is going well - Both of us are very tired but trying to grab naps as he does right now.

Misty's parents also arrived today so Grant met Grandma and Grandpa Dishman - I'm sure he also got very jealous of the steak dinner Irma cooked us too!

Big thanks to Gail as well for picking up Mistys parents from the airport this morning as it clashed with us checking out of hospital - That and the meal she brough Misty in hospital right after the birth were life savers! Thanks Gail!!

Also thanks to everyone for your emails after the birth - While we haven't had a chance to reply yet but we've read and enjoyed each and every reply and all the kind words and encouragement have been fabulous....

I've uploaded some more photos to the photo album at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dampier/sets/913008/show/

If the link is slow or not working try the 'Our Photo Album' link on the right hand side of the page here and view the 'Grant' photo set....

OK, off to grab some sleep (or try at least!)

Grant Michael Dampier

DSC01176
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

4.14pm, 8lbs 5oz, 19.5"

Perfect.

Misty and Grant doing great. Truly incredibly day on every level.

1 day overdue...

So Sept. 5th came and went with no Granty in sight. I haven't had any sort of symptoms or indication that labor is coming anytime soon. Not that I would really know what those things feel like anyway. He's definitely still wiggling around. More in the evenings and the minute I lie down for bed. We had a pretty productive weekend and got a ton of housey stuff done. I was excited today to finish up by sweeping, mopping and dusting the baseboards and finishing up other things . Definitely the whole "nesting" thing setting in. I can't believe I just typed that i was excited about doing housework! I also prepared 2 casseroles to freeze so we can have them after Grant is born. After being quite happy with my productive day I had to go back into the OB's office for another blood pressure check. I found out that it was elevated again. They had me rest and took it again 15 min later and it went way down. So their advice was to cut out my activities during the day again and only get up to do what I absolutely have to do. So much for being pleased about my productive day. So I guess I'll sit here with my feet up for the next few days. I'm sure someday I'll read back through this and wonder how I ever could have been annoyed by this advice but for now I'd better get in some good movies.

Misty's Paintings

Peter Rabbit 3
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

This is the first wall of the room. Peter Rabbit's mum is heading into town and asks Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton Tail and Peter to head off to pick blackberries for dessert. Peter's already got other ideas. :)

Click below to see the other pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dampier/sets/861870/

Grant's room ready!

Misty finished painting the "Peter Rabit" theme in Grant's room last night. Photos to follow once we tidy the room up!

One week til babyville

Well.. one week left. I've been feeling really run down for the past couple of days and literally did NOTHING today at home. I had great plans to do painting or sketching Grant's room to finish it off but it just didn't get done. I had another appt. at the doc's office today to monitor my blood pressure. The urinalysis came back with protein in it which is another indicator of preeclampsia. I'm really hoping I can make it through this week without getting it. I don't know why but I really don't want them to induce. So I realized that I hadn't felt the baby move much today and mentioned this to the nurse. She told me they'd probably send me the hospital to monitor the activity of the baby and my blood pressure over the span of an hour. I started getting worried about the same time she put the blood pressure cuff went on so of course my blood pressure was elevated again. So they sent me off to the hospital to get monitored. It was very weird, almost like a dry run for when we actually go in to deliver. I had to get these monitors strapped on to monitor the baby's heartbeat and the other to measure contractions. She also put on a blood pressure cuff that sucked the living life out of my arm every 5 minutes. I then had a beeper for the nurse in my left hand and a button in my right hand that I was supposed to hit every time I felt the baby move. Of course the minute I was strapped in Grant started wiggling and kicking like crazy.. so it wasn't an issue. My blood pressure was also pretty normal. They had to monitor this for an hour. I must have been tired because I totally crashed out despite the fact that this blood pressure thing was squeezing my arm like crazy every 5 minutes. Anyway, all was ok for one more day. Six or so more to go. I have to go in again tomorrow to take my bloodpressure again. Hopefully I'll have a bit more energy to get some more painting done so I can post those pics by weds at the latest. :)

-misty

Car Seats

Well fitting a car seat is a major pain! Our car is meant to have the "Latch" system for attaching car seats (2003 model and all 2003 models in the US should have it) however the car manul only mentions IOFIX. So far it seems the straps to attach the car seat base are to short to reach the "Latch" anchors.... I think I'm just going to wait till we go to the hospital car seat class and get them to show us....

Our hospital also has a web page for pictures of newborn babies - That will likely be the quickest way to get a photo of Grant to begin with:

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/hospitals/template/hospitalpage.asp?hospitalID=5333

10 days to go?!

I woke up in a panic in the middle of the night and realized we have less than 10 days to go until little Granty is due. Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday I was taking multiple injections, pills, and getting sick every day. I told Pete yesterday that in spite of the rough time I had early on in our pregnancy that I think I'll miss being pregnant. I kind of like the daily little unexpected/expected moves. Since I first felt him kick he seems to have a pretty regular kickboxing routine that starts at around 2-2:30pm every day.

We've been incredibly busy with our remodeling projects and our house still seems to be turned inside out. I've got a power weekend planned to get as much sorted out as I can but I really have to make sure to take a lot of breaks and not just power through it like I normally do. The frustrating thing is everything seems to take me 4x as long. :P People keep telling me that all we need are a few diapers and a warm bed for him to sleep in. Currently that warm bed seems to be full of relocated things that need to be put away in our bedroom. With any luck I'll at least be able to finish painting the 2nd to last wall in Grant's room this weekend and have the final wall sketched out. I'll post pics when it's finished. At least all of these things haven't given me much time to develop strong feelings of anxiety over labor and the whole birth thing. Best to keep busy I suppose. Speaking of which, break time is nearly over so back to work we go. :)

-misty