Day 72

ready to get out of this sweatshirt and into a sundress!

well we're all packed up and ready to go to hawaii! hannah's feeling much better and the doc said her lungs and ears looked fine, just a bit of post natal drip. tracy just called from the island and said it was freezing and the place stunk. can't wait to get there.
we'll see how hannah likes sand soon.
aloha

Day 71

hannah enjoys 'good puppy' not sure if which she enjoys more - the motivational story line or the fuzzy ears

as you can see she's sitting up pretty well by herself. it could be the belly that keep s her up.

she's feeling much better, so it seems. her nose is just a little runny but it drips down into her throat. it's hard to tell if it's moving to her lungs or not.
we're going to get her checked out anyway - make sure her ears are clear for the flight and that its not moving to her lungs.

Day 70

Day 69 was just a bummer - after going to the docs only to find out there is no cure for the common cold and to hurry up and wait until thursday to see if it goes to her ears then we might do antibiotics, we headed to bedbath to get a humidifier. it seems to be helping although it's a sauna in her room and i'm a bit afraid of mold now. if it's not one thing...

she wasn't too bad all day yesterday, if you don't mind a runny nose like the mississippi, although she had a heck of a time going to sleep. she lost her voice crying so much with the sore throat. she made it through the night though and today her spirits are pretty good. we're both hanging out in the sauna trying to keep out noses moist.

she had some rice cereal and is playing happily in the excersaucer after a good morning nap and a bath. we'll lay low for today at least dreaming of the sandy shores of maui only a few days (and one long planeride) away.

Day 68

poor sick puppy

so after the second 1 hour visit to daycare she caught her first cold :-(. she started getting sniffly on friday and saturday her nose was running away. we've been using saline and the big bulb syringe so much that she's learned not to hate it anymore. today it seems to have moved to her throat and the fear is that it goes to her lungs.

she hasn't lost her appetite however (shocking). going to see the doctor since we're supposed to fly on saturday!

she's sitting up though and jackie taught her to stand 'up' and sit 'down' ! need to get some video of that soon.

weekend was nice - mom hung out with jenna on saturday while dad got a nice 50 mile ride in - from the house to tiburon

Day 65

casey came over last week for dinner and was hitting on hannah pretty hard. easy there kiddo.

in honor of her 5 month milestone we tossed her up on the scale yesterday...well, surprise surprise, she tipped the scale at 20lbs. according the this chart that puts her >97% for both height at weight. i think we're going to have to move her from outside hitter to middle blocker sooner than we though.

we hung out in daycare for another hour yesterday. she played for a while and is sitting up quite well by herself. they fed her a bottle and burped her. she's definitely one of the calmer babies in her class. seems like the skinnier babies are fussier than the, um...plumper babies. maybe i'm biased.

cindy came over to sit last night while mom and dad went out for date night number 2. melita joined us as derrick is in austin for 'work' and the music festival. we wend to le p'tit laurent
which was very good, classic french bitro. she woke up at 4 and again at 5 but we let her CIO and then she woke up at 7:30 and she was fine.

today she's been a bit off - she started spitting up a bit at the end of the day yesterday and she's still doing so today. she's not projectiling and certainly not wasting away, but nonetheless are concerned and not just because of the laundry issue it causes.

jack's working from home today, thank god, because i really did not sleep well. for the thirdd night in a row. i went back to bed for a couple hours in the morning. i think i'm getting stressed about returning to work. gonna miss the 'little' one and engineers and architects can't be put down when they get cranky.

jenna's coming over tomorrow to watch hannah while we go for a spin - very exciting.
looking forward to hawaii - we leave in a week!
aloha

Shana Tova...have a great 5768!

Happy new year everyone!

we tried cutting out the dream feed and, surprise, she woke up at 4:30. not sure we're ready to give that up quite yet.
she started holding the bottle herself a bit.
according to nurse carey the curdely spit up is just milk stuck to an air bubble and can be avoided if we're more diligent about burping (which i admit i've been a bit lax on since she's seemed fine. oh well, live and learn and an easy fix.
off to daycare for an hour or so.

Day 63

Happy 5 Months Hannah!

so much going on it's hard to keep up on the blog - yikes

• she's been sleeping through the night since the weekend - great job mom! - today she woke up at 7:30
• took her by daycare yesterday for a visit - seems like she'll be happy there. going again thursday and next week.
  
• the added water in the formula - (1/2 oz extra per 6 oz) seems to have fixed the pooper's pooper - she's back to one-a-days - and seems much happier
• she's digging both feet
• she's rolling over better and better and ok on her tummy
  
• she can almost sit up on her own
  

other stuff getting lined up

• getting set for hawaii - less than 2 weeks out
• found a sitter in jackson hole for january
• getting the couch re-stuffed
  
• getting the deck stripped and treated. the guy did a great job next door (although he did not call back yesterday.
• date night thursday woohoo!
• this damn quechup site is spamming everyone in my address book - please IGNORE it if you get an invite - it's a scam. i'm trying to get emails out but the limits on yahoo mail are killing me.
  

off to target for back to school supplies

downieville mancation

from wiki-pidia
Mancation is a word used to refer to a male-only vacation, or “when normal males engage in ‘guy’ activities that involve sports, camping, gambling, chasing women and most of all drinking amongst their all and only male friends. No wives, mistresses or girlfriends allowed. Done in order to get in touch with their male-primal roots.”[1]


of course the first rule of mancation is not to talk about it, i will share some highlights;
the ride(s), of course, were epic. the weather could not have been better - clear sierra blue skies, 85 in the sun, a bit cooler in the shade. the trails at downieville were in great shape, especially for this late in the season. 4 of us did 2 shuttles on saturday - making the most of the daylight.

the sound of no crying babies.

chillin (an undersatement for sure) in the Yuba across the street from the house.




the awards;the most blood award went easily to steve, especially after his face painting.
scott took home king of the mountain for dominating and continually running out of gears on 3rd divide. john got an honorable mention for most improved.

dylan got the turbodog - best new rider award.
oh, and todd got the pink thing for staying in his dirty shorts for the longest time.
oh, and there was eric's coffee!

as you can see by the posts over the weekend jackie and hannah had a great weekend as well.

oh, did i mention that the rides were epic and the trails were in super shape?

i can't recommend mancation or downieville enough.

oh, and happy birthday ralph!!

mom and hannah

Mom and Hannah went to visit grandma and grandpa. They were elated with Hannah's smiles ... and thighs.

Hannah had a hard time eating all morning, which we all know is not normal. After some extra water in the formula, the Q-tip trick we learned from Dad and lots of bicycling motions, she finally got to go [sky opens, celestial music].

After lots of coos and laughs with grandma, she got sleepy and we put her down for a nap. Grandma and grandpa got their first demonstration of CIO (that's "cry-it-out")

grandpa: hey, I think she's crying
me: yes, give her a few minutes
[3 minutes later]
me: she's out
grandpa: huh ... good. huh... [chuckle]
grandma: [nods approvingly]

Then, we stopped by Uncle Mark and Aunt Elizabeth's, and Hannah got more love from cousins Deborah & Isaiah. Hannah played and hugged and ate. Proud grandparents bragged about her 3-minute self-soothing before her hour and a half nap.

She slept through the drive as we adjusted from the 80 degree heat in the south bay to the mid-60's in the city. We decided to go to Derrick & Melita's, and was treated with a delicious meal, wine and good company, including catching up with Steve & Susan.

All in all, a very nice day. But, the girls miss Dad. Lucky for us, he will be back soon.

mom says...

Some of you might wonder whether I know how lucky I am. Yes, yes, I know. Though, I have this sneaking suspicion from pictures like this that Josh will NOT be playing the part of bad cop.

You get all sorts of advice about parenting when you no longer can hide that protruding belly; the best one I got was from a colleague who first planted the idea of Josh taking a bonding leave. Prior to that time, we never even thought to consider it, which seems sad in hindsight particularly given my profession. I hope Josh has inspired other men to take advantage of the law that permits fathers to take 12 weeks to bond with a newborn -- http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/ -- yes, unpaid (except for some subsidy available in CA -- http://www.edd.ca.gov/fleclaimpfl.htm), but you can't put a price tag on what you've been reading, can you?

First night ever with Hannah and no Josh. So far, the girls are doing ok. The little miss ate 4 ounces then 2 more, and wanted to sing many songs with mom before enjoying a massage and calling it a night. (Melissa, tell Chris you need a massage with that brandy). Dad already has checked in and passed on advice from his driving buddy - also a new proud father -- to give Hannah some water to help with constipation from starting solids. Posts from my mothers' group archives also seem to confirm this advice, particularly with the Organic formula we've been using to supplement. Yes, I've not let Josh write about the fact that I've started the weaning process because it's filled with inexplicable emotions and guilt that come in waves when I least expect it. Don't you worry, I'm not about to use the blog for therapy. I bought a pair of new sandals and two pairs of fabulous boots, so I'm all good.

Day 57

she's pretty much sleeping through the night. she's also great during the day till around 3:30 when she consistently has started teething and completely losing it.

finally a little brandy on the gums calmed her down yesterday - that was after motrin, 5 frozen wash cloths and a one busted daddy eardrum.

today was a little better - she only lost it for about 45 minutes.

started oatmeal today as she'd been on rice cereal for 6 days. working to get her feeds up to 8 oz and down to 5 times a day.

had a nice lunch with mom at 2.

really hitting me the end of my leave i near. feeling pretty good about it though. very excited for the boys weekend at downieville.

Day 56

post dream feed wearing the best jammy's in the world

i did forget to mention yesterday that since mom insisted on one night of crying out the 4 am wake up she's been sleeping until around 7. yoohoo! go mom!

yesterday started out great - we all had a good nights sleep, but in the afternoon she was teething and crying my ear off. we put her down early and while she woke up for the 8 and the 10:30 feed she then slept until 4, took a diaper change and then went back to sleep. who could blame her after 12 oz.? problem is she's wearing size 3 diapers at night already?!?

mom plans on dropping the dream feed while i'm away this weekend. more power to her.

Day 55

had a great long labor day weekend in and around the city. friday night we were treated to a great dinner at derrick and melita's. saturday we ran a bunch of errands.

sunday at the bells

sunday was deck day at the bells and an early cake for Tess' birthday. JenEric and the Ficshers were also in attendance but miss parker clearly stole the show. in some of these it appears tess actually resembles MK and not a bell for a change.

monday at the wymertines

monday was a small housewarming non-laboring bbq and tracy and katherine's new digs just down the street from us. dave and katherine had their hair done and the kids had a great time too.

oh, and hannah is diggin her rice cereal twice a day. she also hasn't been spitting up even though we cut out the zantac. my belief is that the base in the cereal is neuralizing the acid.

hard to believe i have less than a month to go.