Like nails on a chalkboard

Every time we turn around these days, it seems that Riley is reaching another milestone.

Her first two teeth came through on the bottom and we were excited to finally see the cause of her crankiness. Not long after that, we saw a top tooth pushing to make it's debut, but on closer inspection we realized that 4 teeth were coming in on top. Riley now has 6 teeth that she can flash, which allow her to bite with surprising force. She also has a new hobby - gritting those teeth together to produce one of the more grating sounds in recent history. Riley prefers doing this at quiet times or when she is being held close to one's year, to maximize the effect. We can hardly wait until more teeth appear to add harmony to the grinding.

Mobility has also begun, ending the era of "we always know she'll be where we left her"... Not that we leave her unattended at the top of the staircase, but it was nice to be able to turn our backs for ten seconds. Riley hasn't quite mastered the crawl - more like the "injured commando" crawl - but she gets around. Like an 1982 pinto, it aint pretty but it gets her from point A to point B.

And the words come...

Slowly Riley is starting to make sounds that resemble real words. Much to Megan's chagrin she has picked up Dada is the easiest sound to make, but it is hardly a point of pride for me since "dada" can be used in any context, be it me coming home, the toy she is playing with or the lamp in the corner. She also seems to be mastering something that is somewhat close to "kitty", which actually seems to be used only when cats are close. New sounds and word-like noises are coming to Riley every day and she always has new surprises.

8.5 Months!

Wow, our little girl is getting big! Riley is now 8.5 months old and growing like a weed! She definitely has daddy's height since she is quite tall for her age already! She eats pretty much anything that you put in front of her now including homemade chicken dinner, pasta and we even gave her a teeny tiny taste of ice cream - her favorite!

We are getting excited about taking her to Bermuda for Thanksgiving with my family. Last time we flew with her she was 3 months old and she slept the entire time. I have a feeling she maybe up for the majority of the ride this time, we'll have to see. We will be in Bermuda for 4 days and it will be fun to take her for her first "swim" in the ocean and also to take her to some of Chris' favorite spots on the island. I'm starting to realize that a short trip with a 8.5 month old does not mean we can still pack lightly though. We'll be taking the car seat, stroller, diapers, extra baby food (incase she balks at the island food), formula, etc. !!! We'll see how rested we are once we get back. It will be wonderful though to spend the time wih my family including my two nieces Margaret and Sarah.

Bath Time!

Watch out!

Well, a number of things have happened in the past couple of weeks, but life has been keeping us busy enough to keep from updating the blog. First and foremost, Riley has two teeth. They showed up together on the bottom, and it looks like she is not done at the moment. She has still be drooling like crazy and chewing on anything that will stay still long enough for her to grab. So, we’re expecting some more teeth soon. On top of that, solid foods are beginning to dominate the meals. We blend up most things at the moment, but chunks of cheese and cheerios are becoming a favorite and we have been introducing new textures a little bit at a time, which has been the key for not finding ourselves covered in recycled food. Finally, we have introduced a walker into the toy rotation. Now, there is mobility. Riley has had fun running around the kitchen and seeing what she can get her hands on and the cats have quickly figured out the radius of the mechanism so that they can avoid the sticky grasp. Cabinets are being opened, cookbooks are being groped and onions are being tasted. Pretty much anything within reach is being sampled at this point. Only a preview of things to come when she is no longer surrounded by a plastic battering ram.

Riley's new Toy!

Riley just got this new toy which is kind of three toys in one. It is an exersaucer, playtable and walker - and she loves it! It came yesterday and took me about two hours to put together, but was well worth it when I put her in it and she started motoring around (mostly after Ali the cat).

Few new pictures of little Ri!

Riley loves the Classics!

Six Months Old!

Riley is getting huge now and really starting to develop a personality! She has reached some major milestones as well, including rolling over (and rolling back), loving anything and everything we feed her via spoon, AND she has a tooth peeking through her gums on the bottom left! Our little girl is getting older, which is painful at times and at others heartwarming! Megan has been making all her baby food and she's eating everything from oatmeal to mango! We just bought her a new highchair and she loves watching us run around the kitchen making her meals. Riley has also recently noticed Ali and Chilo, our two cats, and she gets quite excited when she has the opportunity to pet them (or pull their fur out). They are less excited.

That's how Riley rolls.

So Riley learned how to roll. This should be a good thing, but as it is novel she is very excited to do it over and over. The one draw back is that she can't roll back and ends up her stomcah every 45 seconds if you leave her lying down. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but our special little flower HATES being on her stomach. So, picture the following, played out over and over and over: Place baby on a flat surface, baby rolls over, wait 5 seconds, baby screams at the top of her lungs, roll baby back over, wait 30 seconds, repeat previous steps. I think Riley is going to get a lot of jolly jumper time over the next few days.

New lessons

Riley learned a new trick this week, let's hope that its not because her jumper is positioned right next to the bathroom.

Riley's first meal

Its recommended that you wait until 6 months before you feed babies something other than formula or milk, but what do doctors know anyway? Riley has been watching us eat for a couple of weeks now and we figured that nothing magical happens at 6 months where she can suddenly deal with food that was undigestible only two weeks before. So, at 5 and a half months, we mixed up some rice cereal - only the most benign substance know to man - and decided to give it a try. To our surprise, Riley opened her mouth at the sight of incoming food and took to the new substance with no problem. In fact, she ate the whole bowl we had mixed up. In no time her face was covered in ricey goodness and the whole thing was gone. Next up, a cheese burger.

Long hiatus

Sorry for the long delay in posting. The move went well and we have been settling in to our new place in Rhode Island. We have been all over the place in the last couple of weeks, between buying a new car, moving everything in, getting things in the office in place and fitting in a quick trip to Bay Head, NJ. Through it all Riley has been a trooper, and other than throwing up all over me today during our visit to Jen and Jon's place in Greenwich, she has kept smiling through everything - even 21 relatives in one beach house yesterday. We'll be making more entries over the next couple of days, now that we are starting to get into a bit more of a routine. Stay tuned.

Riley in her Bouncer!

What was I thinking???!!!!

So I've been packing things away for a bit, doing a little here and there when I have time. Riley is teething so she is a bit more to handle lately. The boxes are stacking up and the house is looking more and more empty which is kind of sad. We've been having a bit of a heat wave up here as well, which is really not very common so lugging boxes around isn't very much fun. Chris and I have always moved ourselves and for some reason just assumed we'd do the same this time, but I awoke at 3 am the other night thinking - why don't we hire people to pack the truck on this side and upack it on that side?!!! We then don't have to drive 14 hours, sore from moving all our belongings, just to do it again at our new place. I spent the morning booking two companies and was surprised the kind of people you can find to do such a task. I spoke with these guys, but for some reason Chris just kept finding issues with them so we've settled on another company - I saw absolutely nothing wrong with them.



The days are slowly ticking away and we are getting excited about moving home soon AND ecstatic that we will not be lugging the boxes ourselves - maybe I can sit back and put my feet in the kiddie pool :)

Riley says HI!

I swear, she says it....listen! Right around 1:50!!!!

Conversations with Riley

Megan harassing Riley!

Day in the Park!

Charming as always :)

Not Too Many Days Left!

Ahhh, the weekend is almost here! Truthfully, all the days and hours seem to mesh into one and many times we have no idea what day it actually is. All I know is that the days are slowly ticking off the calendar as we get closer and closer to our big move date. Chris is busy working on prepping two presentations for his conference being held in Halifax the 19th-25th and I'm juggling a lot of the move details and entertaining Riley with various skits involving moving boxes - whether I disappear behind one or one of her toys pops out of one. Soon the crazyness will all be over .... right?

Three more weeks!

So I have started to pack.

I have realized that everything takes me three times as long now with Riley here so that is why I started packing three weeks before we are leaving. The house is an utter mess with boxes everywhere and Riley's toys strewn about. I've realized that she is quite entertained though by boxes and paper, BUT she does not like the sound of tape being stretched to seal boxes - nope, not at all.

We are so thankful that my mother offered to come up to help us move, this will be an enormous help! Chris and I have decided to move ourselves the 14 hours. We'll be renting a UHaul and filling it to the brim and driving our goodies south. I'll be in a rental car with my mother, Riley and two (hopefully well drugged) cats. It will be an ordeal, but I'm sure we'll have some great stories to tell on the other end. Our plan is to leave on the 30th and cross the border where they will x-ray our truck to ensure we are not smuggling anyone south and make it as far into Maine as we can. We'll then get up in the morning and continue to Rhode Island with hopes of having a dip in the ocean upon arrival!

Here are some recent pictures of Riley. She weighed in at 15 pounds 8 oz at her last appointment!

Laughing Ry

It took us a while to figure out what makes Riley laugh other than random things that go on around the house or something behind you that is unseen. It turns out that she is going to be one of those kids who goes on the roller coaster 15 times, then throws up on the way home. We'll be getting the optional rubber mats in the back when we buy our new car. Anyway, she seems to delight in anything that appears as though its going to hit her or if we pretend to drop her. Thrill seeker already, which makes us concerned for the years to come.

Exersaucelicious!

After a long hiatus, we're back. Between grant writing, figuring out the move and tending to the beast, we've all had our hands full over the last little while. However, that hasn't stopped us from buying Riley a few things, which is where the exersaucer comes in. Our doctor mentioned in passing that Ry's head was getting a bit flat in the back at our last visit. Nothing to be concerned about, but keep an eye on it. Then, three WEEKS after our appointment, the receptionist called and said that she was booking us an appointment with a baby head specialist, whatever they call those. Of course, no one likes to be told that their offspring needs a de-flat-head specialist, so despite the fact that her head is just fine and this is something that almost all babies go through, we decided that it would be a good idea to get some things to entertain her that would keep her standing upright. By the miracle of the internet, there happens to be a large community of (semi-crazed) online moms selling used baby gear around Halifax and if you hit it right, you can get some good deals as long as you own a hose and some anti-drool disinfectant. So, for $10 we got ourselves a spinning, rocking, noise-making exersaucer to keep the beast entertained and off her not-so-flat head. I'm considering billing it to our doctor.

Parental instincts

We just got back from a successful trip south and are settling back into things at home. After a brutal stretch of heat in Mass, we returned to spring in Halifax, with temps in the mid to high 60s. I have to admit, it's a bit of a relief to be able to go outside without sweating profusely.

After securing our house and making several trips to RI for various meetings and a nice bbq hosted by one of the members of the department so that we could meet everyone, we had some time just to catch up with family. The time flew though and we did not get a chance to see even half of the people we had hoped to, but we knew that it won't be long before we will have the time to do that on a regular basis and not in short visits.

In any case, I was afforded the opportunity to check on my parental instincts, just to make sure they were firing. We spent a decent amount of time on Megan's parent's deck while we were at their house. We even set up Riley's bathtub as a mini pool for her to splash around in. Being a responsible parent, I thought it would be a good idea to move her into the tub one hot afternoon and picked her up to do just that. Despite my familiarity with the deck, I momentarily forgot that it is multi-level and as I turned with Riley to place her in the tub, my foot found no purchase since it was extended over the lower portion of the deck, whereas the rest of me was comfortable on the higher part of the deck. Suddenly I was falling sideways, offspring clutched between my two hands, and heading for a flight of stairs that end on a concrete pool deck. Somehow I managed to hold Riley sky-ward, land on the deck with my back and contort so as to avoid the stairs-swandive (which the Russian judge would have under-scored me for anyway). Staring up at Riley, dangling in my extended arms, I saw only mild surprise at the unexpected ride, but she was hardly bothered by the experience and with only a few patches of skin sacrificed to the porch, I was happy with the end result. Since I am generally lanky and lacking in coordination, I'm sure I will find other ways to endanger her in the future, but its good to get one under the belt with doing too much damage, just as a test-drive of the parental emergency systems. Everything checks out.

Traveling

We have been bad about updates while we have been on the road. We left last Friday after after a long week with lots of things to take care of, then flew into Boston, picked up our rental car and headed down to Megan’s parent’s place near Cape Cod. We weren’t sure how Riley would be with flying, but she had no problem with it at all. We fed her on take-off and landing to keep her ears clear and she pretty much slept the rest of the flight. Even when there was a medical “situation” on board and a considerable commotion surrounding that, Riley stayed asleep or smiling for the whole trip. I think she was the only one.

We spent the weekend in Carver with Megan’s parents and her sister’s family. Megan’s two nieces were enthralled with Riley, especially Sarah who couldn’t believe her good fortune to have the opportunity to brush the hair of a real baby before the age of 5. It was great to have them meet their cousin and know that we will be seeing them more regularly soon.

Today (Monday) we went down to RI to look at rental houses and saw two. The first was near some prime beaches and was priced accordingly, despite its fairly substantial short-comings. If I’m going to pay your mortgage for you in rent, I wouldn’t mind having wall paper that is younger than I am, thank you very much. The second house was closer to campus (15 min), backs onto state forest, has an upstairs, tremendous gardens and even a fish pond. The rooms are a bit smaller than what we have now, but there are more of them, which is nice. There is also a basement and shed for storage and beach access at the end of the road. The landlord obviously cares for the place and has a few small pieces of furniture, which we liked a lot. She also is alright with cats and small dogs, giving Megan all the motivation she needs to start combing the local SPCAs for the oldest and sickliest dog who “just needs a good home” so that we can pay a fortune in vet bills over the next few years. At least it won’t chase the cats.

The realtor seemed to indicate that we could have the place as long as our references made no indication of an axe-murderer past history, so we have an appointment set up on Friday to meet the landlord and sign the paperwork. That, of course, frees up our schedule considerably for the rest of our time down here, so tomorrow we plan on looking at cars. Having been car-free for almost three years now it’ll be interesting to see what is out there that we like. The rental we got was a jeep liberty, which has been good so far and surprisingly good on fuel. We’ll make the tour of the local dealerships and see if we can’t decide on something small enough for Megan, but that I can still fit in….

Oh, Canada!

       Megan has been in discussion with Revenue Canada to figure out what her status will be once we move back home in August. The system in Canada allows for mothers to take a full year of maternity leave at 55% of their pay, compliments of the government. Well, we all pay into the fund that allows this, so its not really the government’s money, but you get the idea. A lot of employers will actually top up that amount to 80 – 100%, but non-profits do not fit in that category. In any case, we have appreciated the paid time off, but were unclear how things would change once we move. If this were the US, you can be sure we would be S.O.L. as soon as we crossed the border, but not the semi-socialist state to the north! No, we will be paid by the government for the full 50 weeks of maternity, even if we are living in RI.
        So, we face two options. 1) We give up the free money and then pay another grand a month to put Riley in daycare while Megan feverishly looks for a job as soon as we move, or 2) we collect the loonies being sent by the Canadian government and Megan can stay home with Riley for her first year while she takes her time looking for a job and we find a house to buy. Hmmmmm, tough choice. Let’s just say that this was an easy decision and Megan is excited to be around for the little milestones of the first year while getting paid to do it.

Happy Riley!

Where's my daddy?

As an annual rite to spring I decided to switch from the "woodsman" look to the "Don Johnson" faux beard. I did this with no thought for the fact that Riley has never seen me without a beard and may or may not understand the difference. I was trying to feed her tonight but she kept looking at me with big eyes and crying rather than actually eating. When Megan could get her attention, she would start eating again and she spent most of her feeding staring the other direction while I tried to assure her that I wasn’t a stranger who had been brought in to feed her. I guess I will have to do the night feedings entirely in the dark or use this as an excuse to sleep for the next couple of nights.

Rock 'em to sleep

Ange and Jay, friends of our here in Halifax, got us a CD of lullaby songs for Riley as a baby gift, but these are not ordinary “Mary had a little lamb”, type lullabys. Actually, they are Bob Marley songs, slowed down a bit and played on the glockenspiel. Riley has really taken to the CD so we decided to look up the company and find out what other music they had. The company is Rockabye Baby and covers a wide rang of artists, including Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, The Ramones and others. After a lengthy discussion, two rounds of rock, paper, scissors and a race around the block, we finally settled on Metallica covers, played in the manner mentioned above. Since there are no power chords on the glockenspiel, it takes some getting used to, but the songs are surprisingly tolerable for kid’s music. It’s not twinkle twinkle little star over and over again, it’s Enter Sandman and Unforgiven followed by No Woman, No Cry and Buffalo Soldier. Even if it is on the glockenspiel with the occasional harpsichord riff, it doesn’t drill in your head and threaten to exit in a violent way. And for that, we are happy.

We grow `em big

Riley’s doctor’s appointment today confirmed what we had thought – she’s freakin’ huge. In a mere 8 weeks she has put on about 5 pounds and has gone from being a small baby to the 90th percentile in both height and weight. We may have prematurely registered her for the traveling circus and WNBA, but we’ll see. Maybe if we are lucky she will someday be making the top salary in WBNA, a whopping $23,000.
In related news, Riley got her first bought of immunizations this morning and has not stopped screaming since 4 hours after her appointment. She can be comforted for about ten minutes at a time, but it’s small relief from the non-stop heaving cry. Megan and I will be enjoying our dinner with ear plugs and sign language this evening.

p.s. I do NOT approve of what she is wearing in the above photo, just for the record.

Weekend fun

Riley got a chance to enjoy the weekend with Grandpa Steve, Grandma Marie and Great Grandma Sal. After having dinner here on Friday night, we spent Saturday down in Luenenburg, on the South Shore, before having a nice Italian dinner in downtown Halifax. Sunday we spent the morning walking around in the nice weather before everyone had to head to the airport. It was great to have 4 generations under one roof! 

Ahhhhhhhhhhh

      After a brutal couple of days and some therapeutic fun with Photoshop, Riley did a 180 last night. Despite being fussy for most of the day and evening, she went down fairly easily at 10:00 and did not start screaming again 5 minutes later. Both Megan and I jumped in bed expecting to sleep for less than an hour before having to feed the beast. Oddly, both of us woke up around 2:30 for no other reason than our bodies aren’t used to sleeping that long. In fact, I actually got up to check on Riley and make sure she hadn’t been kidnapped. She was, indeed, still in the crib, but the possibility remains that someone switched her in the middle of the night with a child that actually sleeps. She did stir not too long after that, and after an easy feeding where she actually swallowed her food, she drifted off again. She didn’t even cry when I bonked her head off several of the bugs on her mobile over the crib. Riley next woke at 6:30, getting through the whole night with only one feeding! We don’t expect this to be the norm, but even a night where Megan doesn’t have to get up and I’m only up once is a wonderful thing.
      The added sleep is particularly good because Grandpa Steve, Grandma Marie (“Grandparent” precursor subject to change, so I am told) and Great Grandma Sal arrive today for the weekend. It will be nice for them not to be greeted by two zombies thrusting a screaming child into their arms.

Dance Party Halifax!

Riley scares archeologists and Japanese villagers

As mentioned previously, sleep is a bit of an issue for us at this point. At times, it can be a struggle to get Riley down and asleep when it is convenient. For example, last night I spent almost 2 hours getting her to sleep in my arms, only for her to wake up 2 minutes after putting her down. She may have a 6th sense that allows her to detect the sound of our heads hitting the pillow two rooms and a shut door away.
In the first couple of weeks we decided that we would let her sleep while we did things around the house and not worry about it. The theory was that she would get used to the noise and we wouldn’t have to tip-toe around. Well, sleep has become a more precious state these days and now we have affectionately labeled her “the beast”, as in “don’t wake the beast, she just went down”, or “how much longer until the beast rises?” We have turned into British archeologists exploring a tomb and hoping not to incur the wrath of the mummy, or the poor Japanese villagers doomed to be the subject of Godzilla’s rage when their activities disturb his multi-century slumber. The soft-wood floor in our apartment only makes this more of a challenge, forcing us to memorize which boards squeak and which ones can be relied upon not to betray our presence to the beast living among us.

I remember what sleep feels like... I think

THE number one topic among new parents is sleep, and for good reason. It is one of the most fundamental aspects of your life that gets totally changed when you have a baby. At first it doesn’t seem so bad, you kind of get used to it and it amazes you how long you can go getting four hours of sleep a night. Sleep deprivation was funny at first because we spent most of our time giggling like school girls at a slumber party. But like a little river that wears away a canyon as it persistently flows, the lack of sleep catches up to you. It’s not even the actual amount of sleep either, it’s the fact that you never get an uninterrupted stretch that lasts longer than a couple hours. I am a very light sleeper, so I end up waking up every time Riley cries, even if its Megan that gets out of bed to feed her. And unlike the pre-child days, there is no time when you can catch up.
I didn’t really notice the effects at first, but I found I couldn’t remember much anymore, like what I had done on a project the day before or a conversation two days previous. Luckily the people in my lab haven’t realized this and begun to exploit it (yeah, you agreed to take on that entire project the other day), but for someone who’s job centers around memory, attention to detail and problem solving, it didn’t take long before I realized I wasn’t getting done half of what I used to in a given period of time. Then came the little things like the day I put my watch on upside-down and couldn’t figure out what time it was for a morning, or when I spent an hour looking for a memory stick that was sticking out of the front of my computer. And the sad thing is that Megan does the feedings after 1:00 am, so I am only dealing with a third of the night shift.
Undoubtedly, we will soon be sleeping for longer stretches as Riley grows a bit more and adjusts to sleeping more at night than randomly throughout the day. We will likely look back and laugh at how we got through this part of the experience… if we can remember it.

You got Milk?

Swingin' baby, yeah!

     A lot of baby products are for the parents and have nothing to do with the desires of those who deal with them directly. We have bought several "soothing" devices, such as a shaky chair, swing, etc., which exist much more for our sanity than Riley's enjoyment. Of course, the things that we try don't always work. This video from today is only one of the trials. 

More Soon

Sorry folks, things have been a bit crazy. All good things, but its been tough finding a good time to post on the blog. We will start to fix that tomorrow.

Auntie Romy!

Romy, my friend from university, came up this past weekend for a visit. We had a wonderful time catching up and she was an amazing help. We just relaxed, grilled and Romy got a tour of the city. I'm looking forward to moving down south to be able to spend more time with friends and family!

Baby Legs

Apparently “baby legs” are all the rage in newborn fashion at the moment. I had no idea what this meant until I realized that the just-out-of-the-womb fashion statement is a way for parents who grew up in the 80’s to relive their younger days through their offspring. Indeed, leggings have returned and the teething crowd can’t get enough of them! Now I know that leaving a sleep-deprived new mother at home all day with wireless internet, a laptop and a credit card can be a really dangerous thing. We got our first pair of baby legs (well, technically second. The first pair came pre-installed) as a gift from West Coast residents Greta and Matt. Since then, Megan has been scouring the web looking for more. Already we have two additional pairs on the way and I worry that Megan will find a site that sells adult pairs and I will come home to she and Riley sporting a matching set.

Canadian traveler

Riley can now officially travel to Cuba without her parents and we will have no recourse to track her down unless we get on a boat with Michael Moore. We got her passport yesterday and Riley could win a competition for most absurd passport photo. It was taken at 3 weeks and it was a challenge to get her to keep her eyes open for the shot. We had never thought about how they take passport photos for newborns, and apparently, neither had the photo shop. What we settled on was laying her on the floor on one of her blankets, then feeding her to get her relaxed so that there was no crying. In order to get her eyes open we had the photo lady count down. When she reached zero, we yanked the bottle out of Riley’s mouth while she burned electrons with her digital passport photo camera. Hence, the pronounced pucker and look of shock in the photo. I’m hoping we don’t have to reproduce the look going through customs.

Bumbo Time!

Megan found a Bumbo chair for short money online and we decided to go for it. Riley is way too small for it, but we were able to take a few pictures before she slumped over like she had been shot… and yes, the cross-eyed thing creeps us out too when she does it.

Riley at 1 month

Pow! Right in the kisser.

Already we are realizing that kids seem to like to do the unexpected. Everyone has heard stories about how infant boys seem to wait until their diapers are off before peeing on the defenseless parent who happens to have drawn diaper duty. Well, its not just boys. Granted, girls don’t have the directionality, or maybe even the range, but Riley clearly delights in the sneak attack. Last night, round about 1:00 am, I decided to change her before a feeding. I have developed a system that has a pretty good track record, where I open the diaper and either fan or blow some air in there to trick her into thinking she is diaper-free. This normally works and I can close the diaper back up to absorb the intended outfit-soaker. Clearly I did not wait long enough last night as I thought I was in the clear and turned my head long enough to grab a diaper off the shelf. When my gaze returned to task at hand, I was greeted with a geyser. In my sleep-deprived stupor I instinctually tried to block the flow with my hand, which only increased the casualties by deflecting the spray towards the area where I had carefully laid out my supplies. The wipes took a damaging blow, as did the diaper cream, but the outfit she was wearing (which I had pulled up behind her) somehow survived. The news was not as good for the outfit I was wearing, however. I managed to tear off enough paper towels to stem the tide and get her cleaned up enough to move her and get her clothed again, but washing your hands and arms while holding a baby and keeping her clean is something I would suggest anyone about to have kids practice, because it is not an innate skill. Of course, after cleaning and feeding Riley and getting her back to sleep, did I return to the change table, don my crime scene clean-up gear and wash the whole place down? Let’s just say I decided that was the kind of thing that could be done in the daylight.
-Chris

Almost a month

We're coming up on 4 weeks at this point, and more than ever, its clear to me that time is relative. Most people would think that 4 weeks is not really that long, and I would have agreed not very long ago. Now, it feels like 4 weeks was 3 months ago. It probably has a lot to do with seeing far more hours in the day than we are used to, but every week seems to be extra long recently. I'm sure that will change as Riley finds fit to sleep more than two or three hours at a time. We're getting there.
In other news, we got our first night out on the town tonight. Grandma Joan took Riley on for the evening and we got a chance to head back to our old haunts. A pint of good IPA at Rogue's Roost followed by sushi! Both were firsts for Megan after 10 months away from both. Now we need to find a local baby sitter!
-Chris

Grandparents

Grandpa Gary and Grandma Joan arrived on Friday and have had a chance to spend some time with Riley. Despite the constant snow in Halifax this weekend, we’ve had plenty of fun taking Riley around town. We even got to take the stroller out for a drive on Saturday afternoon once the snow stopped and the sidewalks cleared a bit.
 

Thesis vs. pregnancy

Having gone through pregnancy (by proxy) and writing a thesis, as well as constantly being around people who are going through the thesis process, I found a number of parallels. Below is a top ten list of the most obvious, but I’m sure there are more.

10. Everyone has advice for what you should do afterwards.

9. Both are life-altering experiences.
8. Each starts off with something fun (obvious in the case of pregnancy and for non-science people, you will just have to take my word for the fact that data collection is fun) but both pregnancy and writing a thesis turn into an arduous process that you can’t wait to have finished.
7. You can’t party during either.
6. Both provoke a large amount of reading and online research.
5. There is a painful ending to pregnancy (labor and birth) and the thesis (defense).
4. Both take about 9 months and are a huge relief to have over.
3. People tend to take time off from work following each.
2. No one who has gone through either experience really tells you the whole story until you complete the process, leaving you thinking, “why didn’t you tell me this before I started?”
1. Both cause excessive snacking, weight gain, fluctuations in emotions and occasional vomiting. 

This isn't so tough

Turns out that being two and a half weeks old isn't so tough. I mean you have people waiting on you, feeding you, even cleaning up after you. Yup, its a pretty sweet deal.

All Clean!

What the heck is so funny?

We are having trouble uploading videos right now so I guess that means I actually have to write something.
One thing that has taken me off-guard in the last week is the Random Laugh. We have no idea what makes Riley smile at this point because she does it at odd times and almost always with her eyes closed. What is she thinking about and what experiences that she is reflecting on could make her smile? Is it just a reflex or is she actually happy? These are things you ponder at 3:30 in the morning when you are trying to stay awake and hold a baby and bottle.
Even stranger than her eyes-closed smile is the occasional time when she breaks out into laughter. Again, what is possibly funny to someone who is two weeks old? She hasn't even been alive long enough to see the new episodes of shows since the writer's strike ended. The strangest part is that on the rare occasion that she does laugh, she is staring past you or has her eyes closed, so it has nothing to do with any entertainment value we might have. Maybe she is just getting the jokes we made a few days ago or perhaps its a maniacal laugh of power upon the realization that we are at her beck and call, 24 hours a day. Either way, I'm sure it will only be one of the many mysteries we will encounter in the next little while.
-Chris

Babies are (paper)work

Having a baby in another country is not a trivial matter. Well, having the baby isn't so bad, but trying to make two countries believe that you have actually had the baby is another matter. The paperwork for Canada is fairly straight forward as Riley is actually a Canadian. However, she is also entitled to US citizenship, for obvious reasons, and that's where the problem arises. We were trying to buy flights to go home for a spell this summer and just before we hit the "purchase" button, I had a thought. "What happens when we need to get Riley on the plane? I bet she needs a passport."
Most people don't try and get a passport for a child before she was even due to be birthed (tomorrow, in fact), so the documents are not all that easy to come by in a timely manner. Now its a game of chicken - how much time do we give ourselves to get the passports (flight dates?) and which country do we go with to get her home? I think a Canadian passport will be the easiest to get for her, but are we going to have to answer questions at customs when our child has a different nationality than ours? Probably a bad idea to try and sneak her through in a critter carrier, but tempting. Regardless, we'll have to get the tickets soon and put our faith in the passport office to get the job done.

Speaking of government offices, we are having a serious problem with the post office. We have gotten a lot of cards in the last couple of weeks and a few packages. About 50% of the cards come with scotch tape re-sealing them and have clearly been opened. Its not clear if anything has been removed because we don't know what cards contain things and which do not, but obviously there are some unscrupulous postal employees. But who to complain to? Because both US and Canadian post offices are involved, plus customs on both sides, everyone can blame someone else. Even if we could find someone to listen, there is complete deniability. If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears.
-Chris

Happy Riley!

Riley's First Words!

Day 6

How may hours of sleep has mommy had in the past few days?

I'm making something special for daddy right now :)

and I'm done!

Who hired these babysitters? I think the one with pants on is hammered!

I never thought...

There are lots of things I never imagined doing in my life. Having kids is certainly not one of them, but some of the things that come along with having kids are. For my own amusement, I put together a top ten list and I am now hoping to avoid a lawsuit by David Letterman's World Wide Pants Inc.

Top Ten things I never imagined that a child would make me do:

10. Share my wife's boobs with another woman.
9. Rush home to spend time with something that weighs less than my laptop.
8. Constantly say "what?" when I hear Megan talking in another room only to realize that she isn't talking to me.
7. Be excited to clean up poop and interested in its color and texture.
6. Use different voices to talk to different people in the house.
5. Have no idea what day or time it is for a full week and not particularly care.
4. Sleep less at night than I did during senior week, without a beer in sight.
3. Consistently refer to myself in the third person.
2. Get twinkle twinkle little star stuck in my head to the point of wanting to stab myself with a spoon.
1. Stare at a sleeping person for long periods of time without being served with a restraining order.

-Chris

First Adventure!

Today we took Riley out and about in Halifax since it was quite warm and sunny. She travelled along in her sling curled up in a 6 pound little ball totally happy. Truthfully, half the time people don't even notice that there is something in the sling since she is so tiny.  She also got a chance to try out her shaky chair which I think shook her a little too much since she never quite settled into it.

Photos Finally

Alright, we have been meaning to take some pictures, but the flash scares the begeesus out of her at this stage, so we had to wait until day time. 

We're trying her in the various pieces of equipment we bought, such as the shaky chair, sling and swing. 

Things are going quite smoothly though and we have no complaints so far other than how much of a pain it is to upload pictures to this blog.

-Chris

Home

With no complications and both Mom and baby doing well, we were set free at our request today around 2:30. After a quick cab ride home we are now organizing all of the stuff we brought back and figuring out where to put everything. Its certainly nice to be back home and in our own space. We will post more pictures once we get settled in and the cats stop fleeing at every noise Riley makes.
-Chris

Perfect

Well, I thought I’d check in with everyone just to say, things are perfect.

I’m sitting here looking at my husband and little Riley sleeping soundly and feel such peace. The last 3 days all kind of mesh into one of the strangest adventures I’ve ever encountered and I feel so filled with joy that it’s hard to explain. I find myself staring at Riley’s every little feature and just thinking about how perfect everything seems. It’s funny, I remember the nurse saying to me in the delivery room, “Are you ready to start pushing, she’s just about here?” and Chris and I looked at each other completely overwhelmed with this heavy question in the air knowing these were our last moments as just a couple and truthfully, we were unsure how to answer; overwhelmed from lack of sleep, this question seemed so crazy and bizarre at that very moment.

All I can say is, Riley has now filled a piece of my heart that I never knew existed. We are still gangly new parents, but we now make up our own little family – I couldn’t imagine things being any more perfect.

Late Posts

Its been a bit tough trying to update this over the last couple of days, sorry to those who were hoping for some more up to date info. The hospital doesn't have internet access in the maternity side of the building and my attempt to update the blog earlier today was defeated by google having a server down. I have been writing along the way and the posts below are from the last couple of days and the epic journey it took to get here. The results are excellent, though, and everybody is happy and healthy. You only have to suffer through me posting for a bit longer before we get home tomorrow and Megan checks in. Thanks to everyone who has written in with comments, we appreciate the support.
-Chris

Delivered.

In our original birth plan we were hoping to go “all natural”. Of course, this was complicated by the fact that we had to come in and get antibiotics as soon as the membranes ruptured, and then get on the induction drugs so that we minimize the time that the baby was unprotected by the membrane. The oxytosin pushes the contractions to a higher level than they would be naturally so that few women can manage a pain med-free induction birth. Between that and the long ordeal we had gone through, there was a real concern that Megan would be completely wiped out by the time we got to the pushing stage. We decided to go with the epidural for a suite of reasons and I have to say that I am really happy that we did.
One of the many nurses we had, said to us at one point that she always found it funny how much people focus on the birth and how they have the baby when the only thing that really matters is having a healthy baby and mom. I wouldn’t argue with anyone who wanted to have a natural birth, it was we were hoping to do, but going through this changed how I think about it. The difference in the before and after epidural was amazing and Megan kept it so that she could still feel the contractions, but only very lightly. It allowed her to get some rest and made the actual delivery shockingly “easy”. The contractions slowly moved the baby down while Megan rested and eventually she said “I think we’re getting close”. Well, she was right. When the nurse checked on her we could see hair. We got everything set up for the delivery and Megan made great progress with each push. It probably took less than ten minutes before they were placing our new baby on Megan’s stomach. The reduced stress on the baby and on Megan that the epidural afforded them was amazing to me and made me really reconsider everything I had read leading up to the birth. I have a hard time thinking of a downside right now.
Anyway, I don’t know if it was because we had gotten only a couple of 15-30 minute naps in the previous 40 hours, but I’m not sure that there is anything that can prepare you for the surreal experience of being handed your baby. Neither of us were previously able to imagine walking out of the hospital with a baby that was “ours”. We were talking about it as soon as an hour before the birth, how we still couldn’t picture us as parents. Then in a span of 10 seconds it all makes sense. Even with the overwhelming emotions of the entire experience, it wasn’t strange to hold the baby and know it was ours. I don’t write well enough to put it all into words.
Riley Taylor Lane - 6 pounds, four ounces and I have no idea how long she is because as the doctor was telling me the details, I wasn’t really listening to much. All I could see was a tiny little girl trying to open her eyes and see what was around. We spent the night in the delivery room and actually managed to get some sleep. At one point she slept for about 4 hours, allowing us to get enough sleep to feel human again. Around 11:00 we were moved to a private post-birthing room on the 5th floor. We were concerned that we would be moved into a multi-family room after all of the births in the past two days, but I think the nurses took pity on our two day plight and made sure we got our requested private room. Anyway, after a bath, some feedings and some diaper changes, everything seems to be going well as we settle in to being a family.