A Quilt for Eloise

I started this project a long time ago, but morning sickness, exhaustion from pregnancy, and life in general prevented me from finishing it. The project sat in my closet as a lonely quilt top for a good six months. When I heard the news of our friend Linnaea's new baby girl, Eloise, I pulled it out of that "to do" pile. I tried to make it as gender neutral as possible, which becomes more complicated when you stray from the traditional yellow/green combo. The big question was whether I should include blue? It was a tough decision, but ultimately I'm very pleased. This quilt also marks the first time that I used a dark color as the background. I played around with a few different colors, but decided that the slate fabric compliments the color palate much better than plain white sashing -- also, white and babies usually don't mix. 

Given that I was recovering from birth and settling into new parenthood, my mom was gracious enough to offer to finish it while she was in town. She finished the back, quilted the layers, and sewed on the binding. I have to say it's kind of nice having more than one person involved in a baby quilt's creation. Just that much more love has gone into the gift. While Miles was napping on Monday, I finally got a clear window of time to take it over to the post office and send it down to Santa Cruz. The quilt was packed with entire package of newborn sized diapers that Miles, my jumbo baby, outgrew at two weeks old. Eloise was just shy of seven pounds at birth, so I'm thinking they'll be useful for a while.

Welcome to the world, Eloise!

Morning Daycare

Little is one month old today. It's hard to believe. On one hand, I feel like I've hardly accomplished anything, but on the other, he's changed so much. One thing that we have developed is a pretty consistent morning routine. Little is usually awake and alert between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning. We both get up, I nurse him and J changes his diaper and takes him to the office (the dining room). Most mornings he happily coos in his swing and drifts off to sleep. I also happily drift off to sleep for another hour or two until Little is ready to eat again. 

However, this morning he was not stoked about the swing and wanted to be held like a sack of potatoes over J's arm. Unfortunately, typing with one hand is not really an option when rapid-fire emails flood your inbox, so Little was back in the bedroom with me for the morning. Even though we technically got seven hours of sleep last night, I was pretty drowsy. So, I nursed him again and instituted the Brasilliant school of morning daycare (dim lights, a nice belly rub, and a pacifier). It worked like a charm. We slept in until 10am.

Baby Houdini

Little is a pretty great baby. He cries when he's hungry, sometimes when he's wet, and when he gets overtired. The rest of the time he's quite the charmer. Lately though, he's been pretty restless and quite noisy at night. Not crying, but grunting, rooting, and rolling around. We've been swaddling him in the evening with some success, but recently he's managed to strong-arm his way out of our tightest wraps. Last night I woke up to him grunting and fussing because he'd managed to free his arms and legs, leaving only a small piece of the receiving blanket wrapped around his midsection. So the problem? His beefy arms and strong back. 

Exhibit A: Little awake (and a pretty good approximation of his sleep activity):

 

 

 

 

He is noticeably more cranky throughout the day following a restless night, so his sleep activity isn't just an annoyance on our part. Our friends gave us a Miracle Blanket as a gift when Little was born and up until this point we haven't pulled it out of the drawer. Since our swaddling techniques had been working pretty well to date, we almost forgot about it. However, tonight we're going to experiment with the "baby straight jacket" with the hope of a better night sleep for all three of us!

Purple Pesto

We got a lovely (giant) bunch of purple basil at our CSA on Monday. It was so fragrant that it filled the entire car on the way home. Had it been green, there would have been no question as to its final destination -- a giant bowl of pesto. However, purple pesto? Ick right? I've never been a huge fan of purple food. I mean, I love red beets and will eat them on their own, but toss them with some cheese, which immediately turns pink, and barf. Not really all that stoked about it. I quickly got over my purple food phobia when J started blending the leaves in the kitchen. It smelled divine. 

It's hard to tell from the photo, but it definitely cast a dark tinge on the pasta (for the record the fusilli is not whole wheat). Tossed with a few fresh cherry tomatoes, we had a perfectly spectacular late summer meal, even though yesterday was technically the first day of fall. Despite our fully stocked freezer, thanks to my mom, it was nice to be able to put together a meal on our own and eat some of the fresh summer treats from our CSA. No doubt we'll be back to kale, collards, and late fall crops in no time. Also, pesto is great for new parents because it hardly takes any time and is so satisfying. As we sat down to eat dinner, Miles decided that he was no longer satisfied looking up at us from his swing. 


So, we took turns scarfing down our purple pesto while jiggling/ making googly eyes at our little man. Notice that Jesse is not sitting on a chair, but rather our exercise ball that has gotten quite the workout this week. Little sometimes is only happy when being bounced up and down. I like to think he's just urging me to get back into my pre-maternity pants -- at this rate I'll have a rock hard core in no time.

On Our Own

My mom left for home this morning and J and I are officially on our own. I feel pretty lucky that we had three weeks of uninterrupted assistance from our parents after Little's arrival. My unplanned c-section threw curve into our postnatal plans, so having family around has made easing into parenthood a lot more fun. Also, our parents got to witness his incredible growth and development in just the first three weeks of life. He now holds his head up pretty well, can track objects and recognize faces, and he even has started to smile at me and J while awake. Oh, also, he's completely busted out of all of his newborn clothing and has moved on to his three-month duds. This little dude knows how to eat!

Last night was a big step for us all, Miles slept for two four-hour stretches and another three hour stretch after that. As a result, he was a very happy baby this morning. If we had actually gone to bed with him at 8pm, we would have gotten eight hours of sleep! I'm hoping that I'm not jinxing it by telling his great accomplishment to the internet. My mom took advantage of his good rest by getting some last minute quality time while Little was incredibly alert. He cooed and kicked happily all morning. 

Also, notice his hair? That's all natural. I let it dry without combing it after his bath last night and it puffed and crinkled up like he'd been charged with electricity. It's undeniable that he's J's son -- his hair grows straight up. I've noticed that he has some new fine hair growing in just in front of his old man receding hairline. It will be interesting to see how his non-baby hair turns out!

Driving Around

This is pretty much how my days play out. My mom or J take Little in the morning so I can sleep in for an extra couple of hours. I get up, have breakfast, feed Little his second (or third) breakfast, and he promptly passes out on my lap or shoulder. I decided to keep a book or two next to the couch so I can at least get a bit of reading done while he relaxes. With the exception of a few really restless nights, he's been a great baby, so I don't mind being his personal food cart.

Due to a couple of fussy afternoons, my mom and I have been putting off  a few errands that required us to get in the car. However, yesterday we decided to make a break for it and took a mini shopping trip with Little. It was my first time behind the wheel since he was born almost three weeks ago and I couldn't wait to get out of the neighborhood. We set out right around his regular nap time, which was a bit of a risk, since he'd either sleep peacefully as we browsed the aisles of Kohls and Target, or wail uncontrollably for not being in his swing at home. In my mind, it was worth the risk because I was in desperate need of some essentials to fit my postnatal (post-cesarean) body.  

Little handled the outing like a champ, crying only twice when he was hungry. I learned a couple of things as a result: 1) shopping will now take twice as long as it did before 2) I can never stop moving the stroller if I want him to snooze while I browse and 3) if all else fails, a full belly and bumpy car ride will soothe him into slumber. I definitely feel more confident that I will not be a shut-in for the rest of my life. This was a huge step.

Third Anniversary

It's kind of funny how certain milestones are overshadowed by even bigger life events. Earlier this year, my 30th birthday came and went with hardly a tear or second thought. Who could worry about such a huge event when there was something even bigger on the way?

Today, J and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary by consoling a very grumpy little baby, hanging out in the pediatrician's office for his two week checkup, and enjoying a quick (and very early) dinner at a restaurant downtown -- thanks to my Mom for babysitting and insisting that I not check my cell phone while on our date. We also stole a quiet moment as we passed in the bathroom this afternoon for a smooch and a hug. Oh, and my wedding band and engagement ring fit again. Bonus!

This year there weren't cards or gifts exchanged because quite honestly, we were both too exhausted to even put any thought into it. For a couple of hours it was nice to have a taste of our former lives, as we huddled together over small plates and delicious cocktails and people watched while sipping drinking chocolate for dessert. However, it was great to come home to our sleepy, chubby little boy. I couldn't imagine a much better anniversary gift.

First Outing

Yesterday, I had my two week check-up and realized for the first time that I should allot two hours of preparation time in order to get anywhere on time. I was given the choice of nursing Little (for a second time) and making it to the doctor's office at 10:30 or drying my hair, applying makeup (and possibly deodorant). I chose the baby with a full belly over my appearance. Anyway, I was given the all clear to resume some of my more regular routines, such as walking. Of course, I can't just jump right back into my two or three mile per day habit, but I'm looking forward to trying short walks here and there to build up my stamina again. Even though my incision from the c-section is healing well, I am not allowed to lift anything much heavier than Little for another four weeks, so I'll be limited to small trips to the grocery store and strolls to the park.

My parents are in town to visit with their grandson and to help out while I'm still recovering. Being cooped up inside for two weeks had me feeling a little stir crazy, so I jumped at the chance to get out for a bit last night. We drove over to a favorite sandwich spot, Kenny & Zukes, and then walked over to the Chapman School to watch a flock of swifts roost in the building's giant chimney. It only happens once a year in the first three weeks of September, so hundreds of people gather on the school lawn with picnic baskets and lawn chairs to watch thousands of birds swirl and dive in the chimney. 

Until yesterday, it had been warm enough to wear cute summer dresses and a cardigan, which were very comfortable on my still healing (and shrinking) midsection and sort of offset my otherwise disheveled appearance. However, an evening in the park necessitated pants and sleeves. So, with borrowed sweatpants, my now too large hooded jacket, and unkempt hair we went walking. I pretended not to notice my sad wardrobe state and enjoyed the fresh air and time away from the couch. By the time we got to the park I was pooped, but it was so exciting to watch Little stare wide-eyed at all of the news sights and sounds. I can't wait for our next outing.

Mesmerized

I could (and sometimes do) watch him nap for hours. Only 6 days old and we can already tell that he sleeps like his father -- active arms and legs spread wide. We quickly dispensed with swaddling. He prefers a little more room to breathe.

Welcome Little Man

Miles Chamberlain finally made his much anticipated (and delayed) entrance into our world on Saturday, August 28th at 9:04pm. I'm not sure which was more exhausting, my 40+ hour labor or the first few days of parenthood, but we are blissfully happy.