Random Davis Pictures

Davis in the swing for a nap.

Napping in the car seat.

Napping on dad in the rocker.

Playtime on the map. Very focused on the whale toy.

With Grammie in the carrier.

If we ever mention his "concerned look", this is what we are talking about.

In the crib.

Leaving Davis is hard work

Davis turned 11 weeks old this weekend! When Grandma M. gets here in a couple of weeks she's just not going to recognize the little guy. A real turning point in his weight came the last couple of weeks when he put on a couple of pounds in a short time. I realized how much he changed when the instructor of our new Mommy and Me class said "Hello Davis, it's nice to meet you..how many necks do you have??" Talk about making a Mom self-conscious for her little one! We are still get comments about how beautiful his eyes are, this weekend a stranger at a restaurant called them 'devastating'.

I don't have much time to blog anymore..right now I'm posting something quickly while some of my code runs in the background and I can't do much in the way of work until it's done. I guess the biggest news is that we did start a new Mommy and Me class. It's amazing how different this class is. We've moved on up to the alert baby stage and so the class is all about 'circle time', music and games and much less in the way of quiet discussion. I don't know about Davis, but I was pretty overwhelmed. The other thing is that today has definitely been my hardest day to leave Davis. I've had to fight back tears all morning. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a yoga Tuesday to look forward to with him! John and I have started to struggle with who gets to hold him when we are home. Both of us seem want to make up all our time away from him on the weekends and at night. I'm really excited that John gets to take next week off for a whole week of just Daddy-Davis time. I think it will be a great experience for both of them.

I could use your help on naming a new blog I've started! I kept finding myself absorbing new information from other moms and different resources and then retelling it to other people. One woman actually asked me if I was in education..which, I am in a way, but not in the way she was thinking. Anyway, my hope for the blog is to post one factoid or tip a day with an occasional resource post for the local area (like things to do and free drop in groups, swim groups, etc.). I called it the Parent's Water Cooler to start, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but now not so much. So please send me your suggestions! John has suggested "Kristen's quick tips", but their not really my tips, they are tips from other people and books, so I can't claim them as my own!

New pictures

Here are a few new pictures of the little guy.

This weekend we went to a strawberry festival in Lexington, then made strawberry jam later. Davis did really well in the carrier and got his first balloon.

The balloon was great when we got home - we tied it to his seat and he watched it bob in the breeze. This entertained Davis and Domino at the same time. Unfortunately, we were too busy supervising Domino to take an pictures.

Tonight Davis and I did some tummy time on his play mat before bed.

Unfortunately, the camera battery was dying and it wouldn't let me change the focus area, which was apparently his butt.

I put an elephant toy in his hand which he held and chewed on for at least 10 minutes.

More pictures here.

I'm that guy

You've probably heard about that guy. The guy that your wife or significant other comes home and tell you a story about something really stupid their friend's husband did. You chuckle about it, feel sorry for him deep down and feel a little proud that its not you. Today, I'm "that guy".

Last week, I managed to unplug our deep freezer in the basement. I'm "that guy" because I only found out about it today. I managed to waste all the breast milk that Kristen had stockpiled, all the food we had prepared and froze over the winter and about $150 worth of food from Costco and Trader Jo's.

Signs that I'm losing my mind

I'm really starting to wonder if I'm completely losing my mind..some bad signs:

• On Monday I told someone to have a good weekend
• Today I thought I had a 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00 meeting. I was late from the first to the second so I asked my officemates how the seminar was and Megan said "You know that was yesterday, right?" Huh?
• I had a whole conversation with my friend Sonya about bringing my wallet to the gym so I could stop by her office and give her the ten dollars I owe her from lunch a few weeks ago. I immediately left for the gym and forgot my wallet.
• John just asked about the post I said I wrote yesterday, which I just found out I never published until today.
• There was something else....
  

A time for change

This week marks my second full week back at work ('full' is relative). You may have noticed the change with even fewer posts than normal. I have to say I'm struggling with the back-to-work thing. When I'm in the office, it's a totally different feeling than before. Before, I could go to work, do what I needed, and if something got in the way (like a longer lunch or a longer workout), then I would just go home later, or work at home in the evening. Now, those 8 hours are my only 8 hours I can work during, so everything has a heightened sense of stress and anxiety. I see it in the way I program (nuts, a bug, not making any progress today) and in the way I interact with my co-workers, which is to say, I don't. I also feel a lot of anxiety around pumping, when should I do it? How will I fit it in between that meeting and that other thing? How can I make any progress if all I do is pump?? In some ways I think my anxiety around pumping is really a metaphor for all my anxiety of returning to work and leaving Davis. It's something concrete, whereas all my sadness about being away from Davis and the life we had during maternity leave is a lot harder to harness. I feel so lucky that we have Jill (Grammie) here during this transition, dropping him off at daycare would make this a whole lot harder to handle! We have a website where we can track Davis' sleeping and eating and I find myself constantly checking it during the day (especially late afternoon). I knew life would be busy with a baby, but I didn't realize that everything in my life would feel like a tradeoff, or that I would feel like I can no longer do anything very well. I currently feel like I don't have enough time with Davis, am not working well, not getting enough exercise, and definitely not keeping up with my friendships. I'm trying to be patient with myself since everything is new, I need to give myself time to adjust to a new way of life. (But gosh darnit, why haven't I adjusted already?! :)

On another note, Davis is also going through a whole lot of changes! He's gained a pound a week for the last two weeks and he's now a whopping 14.5 lbs at 10weeks old. He's had two nights of 5 consecutive hours of sleep! John and I got really excited, but the last two nights have been back to the normal of 3-4 hours of sleep in a row maximum. All Davis wants to do now is stand.. he hates laying down and he wants you to hold him up so he can stand on his own two legs. Oi, he's gaining weight faster than I can adjust to carrying him! He's getting really close to finding his feet, right now he loves to rest his hands on his thighs and knees, which is super cute. He joins us for dinner most nights at the table in his high chair, he really likes to see what's going on. John has found a new giggle game, which is to 'airplane' Davis towards me and I smile and laugh and he giggles when he sees me! Up until now, no one has said he looks like either of us, but I had three people at yoga today say he looks like me! (Of course, they haven't seen John). One of them told me he has my smile! He's growing up so fast. I remember when things were really rough in the beginning I told myself that pretty soon I would look back on that time and wonder where it went...I'm already there!

Some things I've tried or am going to try to improve my productivity and reduce stress:

• I take really good notes towards the end of the day about what I'm doing, so I can drop whatever I am doing to get home on time. (This is a suggestion from my friend Katharina, who learned it from a former labmate of hers). It has definitely helped me get going faster the next day.
• I refrigerate the parts to my pump between uses, so I only have to wash them once at the end of the day.
• I'm going to focus on catching up on reading current literature during pumping.
• Pretty soon I can combine my exercise with our morning routine when Davis can go in the jogging stroller.
• I'm debating about working another afternoon at home (right now I work at home on Tuesday mornings, and am way more productive and relaxed than I am at work).
• Make sure to have plans with at least one friend on the weekends.
  
• Workout at lunchtime and eat lunch at my desk (this I do, good for productivity, bad for lab socialization, maybe I can move one workout to the mornings and make sure to eat lunch with people once during the week).

And now there's lots to do to get ready for tomorrow...but more suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
-

Meet our niece Melanie

As John mentioned in an earlier post, our niece was born on Monday morning. She's a beautiful baby, born at 9 lbs 2.4oz and measuring 22.5"! However, their first week checkup she measured 20.5" (so we're not real sure...)

Last 'Great Beginnings' Class

Today was the last day of our 'Great Beginnings' class at the local maternity store. It's been a pretty great experience for both Davis and me. Each class included an introduction, where all the moms shared the changes the babies experienced in the last week, followed by a topic of the day (for example sleep or physical development), led by the instructor. Typically, we would also learn a few songs or games and then it would close out with an open discussion based between the moms (like how is everyone dealing with their new body or what are their plans for returning to work). Lucky for Davis his mom finally learned some kids songs (he loves 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'). Most weeks we would also go to lunch at a local restaurant. It was a great group of women (some of whom I shared more of a natural connection than others...and it turns out someone having gone to MIT as an undergrad is almost a sure way of guaranteeing that I won't connect well with them). Since it was the last class, we have pictures (two moms and babies are missing and Davis is the one in stripes and a moose on his shirt)! Sorry the pictures are blurry, I try not to use a flash with babies. Just an update, Davis was 12 lbs 8 oz of last Thursday at his doctor's appointment, and Tuesday, not even a week later, he was 13 lbs 8 oz. Yowza! He's now moving into 6month clothes. John and I stocked up on 6 month clothes, but they're all long sleeve/full leg outfits since he's not six months old until October! We'll be doing some shopping this weekend it looks like.

Weekend Update

This weekend went by in a blur. Davis' sleep schedule, or lack of a sleep schedule, has Kristen and I both a little frazzled. Not frustrated, just unable to remember anything for any period of time. This makes reporting on the weekend a little hard, but I'll give it a shot.

Saturday, Kristen and Davis went to visit a a graduated friend from her department in Weston where she lives with her husband, cat, chickens and two beautiful daughters. Kristen was ostensibly returning borrowed maternity clothes, but it was also a great chance to get out of the house, see a chicken coop (very exciting for us) and take Davis on a "play date". While Kristen was out, I went for a mountain bike ride in the Fells with a friend. I was a great day for a ride and we saw two good sized snapping turtles meandering along the trails. The rest of the day, as far as I can remember it, we spent doing chores, playing with Davis, running errands and entertaining cats. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but like I said, it was a blur.

Sunday, we had been hoping to leave Davis with Grammie for a few hours and head out for a bike ride together, but the weather didn't cooperate. We had a nice breakfast, then my Mom and I headed to REI and the garden store for some shopping. After we got back, Kristen and I walked to Arlington center with Davis to get out of the house and relax (note: shopping is not relaxing, walking is relaxing). Kristen carried Davis for almost the whole trip which was great progress. Usually, he is only happy being carried for at most 10 minutes before he gets very fussy, but he was happy being carried for almost 30 minutes. Sunday night, ran a few more errands before we went over to our friends Dave and Megan's for dinner. Megan made a sinfully delicous lasagna and we even managed to have some conversations about things other than how awesome Davis is.

The big achievement Sunday was with Lilly. Kristen has previously classified the levels of Lilly's affection, but I don't think she mentioned that for the past several years, part of our bedtime routine has been Lilly coming to bed with us and ferociously cuddling with Kristen several times a night. Usually this involves Lilly curling up in Kristen arms and kneading, licking, and purring herself to sleep. Over the past several years, I've been on the receiving end of a few of these cuddles (mainly when Kristen is away). With Davis' arrival, we've been mostly keeping our door closed and night and as Kristen pointed out before, Lilly has generally been keeping her distance from Davis and us. However, last night marked the first night time cuddle with her in a long time. I think the secret was for me to get up at midnight, pet Lilly just enough to get her really excited then go back to bed.

Up and down day

Today was a day of high and lows for me. This weekend, upgrading my desktop computer failed and I ended up having to re-install the operating system (it wasn't Windows by the way). In this process, I ended up reformatting my drives, which I thought wasn't a big deal since I've been diligent about creating regular backups to two external usb hard drives, one of which I keep at work and swap every month. However, today I took at look at the backups and a) the two disks have radically different files and b) I have no pictures since September 2008. Needless to say, this was the low of my day. Fortunately, I made a DVD of a bunch of pictures when Kristen's parents were here and we have the pictures we've uploaded to Picasa and that are still on our camera, but a lot of great pictures are just gone.

The high of my day was finding out that I'm an uncle. My brother James and his wife Stephanie welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Melanie, into the world at 8:30 this morning (pacific time) after a long and tough labor. I've been really excited ever since we found out they were in labor last night and I can't wait to meet my niece. I have a niece, how cool is that.

Davis turns two (months)

Today marks Davis' two month birthday (calendar months that is). We celebrated it with a visit to the pediatrician's office and his first shots. I forced John into coming too since I knew I wasn't going to be able to stand watching him get shots (and I was right). I think we're all still recovering (Grammie and John had to deal with the aftermath since I headed to the office after the appointment). The good news is he's growing beautifully. Our big boy is now 23" and 12.5 lbs and seems to be developing all the skills he should at this age. I don't know that she believes he spends most of his day (including 3am) smiling. I can't believe I found myself telling my son not to be smiling at 3am, that he should be sleeping. What a precious little guy he is though, but he seems to want to wake up to play at 3am every night. Ugh. Grammie wonders if he's taking cues from the cats.

Today was my first day (afternoon really) back at the office since two days before he was born. It was good to ease back into it. I checked out the ladies lounge where I can pump and caught up with my officemates and our group admin. I also managed about 20minutes of work (and I saw my undergraduate researcher). A few things struck me though since this is my first time doing things since I was pregnant:

• I don't need to use the elevator anymore! I caught myself hitting the button and realized there was no reason I needed to take the elevator anymore. (In fact, I figure I really should be taking the stairs at this point).
  
• I reclaimed my chair from my officemate. I think at about 8 months pregnant, my normally great office chair started to kill my back, so I switched chairs. I felt kind of bad reclaiming it so soon, but I had warned him!
• I can stand on the subway again! Good thing, since it was packed.
• I didn't have to remove layers of clothes on the subway because I was running an extra 10degrees warmer.
  
• I can run for the bus! (Which, I had to do). My lungs felt like they were going to burst, but I made the bus.
  

Grateful audience of one

It's been a while since my last post. Davis, John and I have just been enjoying life together as a family. Our big adventure of the weekend was a wedding! Our friends Bill and Sonya were married in a very small ceremony at a local park followed by a fantastic lunch at Oleana in Cambridge. John and I had never been there before, but the food was fabulous. Technically, we were the wedding photographers, but we didn't do a very good job of capturing much once the food came out. However, I did take lots of pictures of the beautiful cake that Sonya made. Davis and I 'helped' with the cake on Friday, which involved me holding Davis while we watched Sonya and Bill make the cake. Here's a picture of the cake from above. It was three tiers with sugared rose petals and a rose top.


On Sunday we went to the Farmer's market in Harvard square and then stopped in to see our friends Josh, Courtney and Mack (who was napping). The new development (and the reason for the title of the post) is that last night we discovered Davis enjoys my guitar playing and singing. His enjoyment outlasted my ability to play. I seem to always pick up the guitar for a bit, just enough to get back to where I was in proficiency, and then inevitably I drop it again (and lose the required callouses). Perhaps, now that it's entertainment for Davis, I'll play enough to finally get better!

The other big news of the week is that Grammie comes in on Wednesday night and I officially begin working again on Thursday. The term official is loose for a couple of reasons, 1) I've been working when Davis naps for the last month and 2) I still plan to take off some time during the week for things like mommy-baby yoga (today). It's funny how now that we have some good moms and babies to hang out with and I will no longer be able to hang out. I'm still torn between being sad for having a lot less time with Davis and my excitement over getting back to my work and finishing it off (not to mention having conversations with adults that doesn't revolve around babies). I wonder how long the latter feeling will last once I'm back.

You can't take the scientist out of the Mom

Davis and I had a nice walk yesterday to Davis square (can you believe they've already named a square after him?), where we met our mom's group friends Alicia and Rainn for lunch before we headed to the farmer's market. It was a great way to spend the day. We picked up some heirloom tomato plants for Daddy's garden and a bunch of swiss chard. Our farm share starts next week and we can't wait! The thing that struck me yesterday during lunch with Alicia was she said "You must be a scientist". I thought it was interesting in how little she knows about me that she would pick up on that from a simple conversation about pacifiers. Yes, I told her how we managed to find a pacifier that would work (some of the time) for Davis. It started with observations, followed by hypothesis and then experimentation. Lesson, you can put the mom into a scientist but you can't take the scientist out of the mom.

11 lbs 6oz and loves yoga

Davis and I had a fantastic time at Yoga..we managed to participate in almost the whole class today!  He has such a great time watching all the other babies (and himself in the mirror).  I tried to capture a picture just before class started when he was smiling, but I missed it.  I got a pretty fun one anyway (this picture also demonstrates the thumb between the first two finger thing that he pretty much does all the time).  At the maternity store, I weighed him for the first time in a couple of weeks and the big guy is 11lbs 6oz!  I took a picture of him in his stroller with his 'concerned' face, but it shows off his chubby cheeks!  

A new development is that Davis does not want to nap during the day anymore.  I spent most of yesterday trying to put him down for his morning nap, finally I just took him for a walk at 1pm (clearly, not a morning nap at that point), and he fell asleep and slept for 3.5hours!  A similar thing happened today, he wouldn't sleep until I took him for a walk and then he only napped for a half hour, but he was still happy for yoga and then he had a great nap afterwards when I went out to lunch with other moms (our yoga class is getting really fun now that I know most of the women and their babies).  I just don't understand how a 7-week old can possibly get by with an hour nap in an 8.5 hour window.  I guess the good news is his sleep schedule is definitely starting to show a separation between day and night.  Although he wakes up a lot at night he can mostly be put back to sleep.  The bad news is having to walk him means I don't get to nap at the same time, but the good news is it gives me lots of time to call and talk to people I've been meaning to call for a while!  Luckily, as he's awake longer, his attention span for playing by himself is increasing too.  Below is a picture of him on his play mat where he was looking really intensely at the whale.  I swear he was trying to figure out how to make it move or to grab it...of course, I've been known to overanalyze and read too much into things.  

And now it's time for me to head to bed!  John watched Davis while I went on a women's ride (the same one I've helped lead for the last couple of years).  They have four different speed groups and although I figured I would be in over my head, I went with the second group (versus the slowest group) thinking that I would get home faster (even if I got dropped).  I haven't hurt like that for a long time.  I got dropped, many times.  I bonked even.  Tonight I think all of us will sleep well (fingers crossed).