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