Outings with Jeff -- March

For the last several months Jeff has been taking off one day every couple of weeks to get extraneous errands done and to spend bonus time with the kids.  Usually these days are pretty low-key; sleep in, enjoy a big breakfast, curl up on the couch with me and read a book together, bond with the kids over a computer game, wash the vans, go to Costco, whatever.  But sometimes he takes the opportunity to get us out doing something we would never do otherwise, and sometimes I remember to take pictures :-)

I was going to write about them all in one great, big, picture-heavy post, but it got a little too, well, picture-heavy, so I've split them up into separate posts.  

One Friday in March, after the kids were done making a mess doing the dishes,

 Jeff took the time to make a helmet for Nathan out of a cardboard box

 (don't they make a cute couple?)

 ... and then we headed out to go pick up his new work van

(the kids in action)

 ... and went out for supper (pho) with Dad and Mom C. after.

                     

Pipsqueak and his Two week photo shoot

First of all, for those who have been waiting for the prognosis, we did get to Dr. Dickson today, and he said Daniel is just fine.  He never even heard Daniel squeak (he was either sleeping or screaming), but he did a physical check on the nose and voice box -- which I guess is why we went to him in the first place, so that's good enough.  He said everything looks just fine, except that there's a bit of extra cartilage (see bottom right of accompanying illustration) around the trachea, that must be flopping in a bit when Daniel breathes.  The only cure is for Daniel to grow into it, which normally happens by 18 months.  So everyone around us, or listening to the meetings, will have a good opportunity to practice not getting annoyed by unusual noise, aren't we too kind! :-)

Well, Daniel turned two weeks old this Tuesday, so I did another photo shoot with him.  Pulled some undyed silks out of my fabric bucket, strung them across the yard (fancy schmancy, eh?!) ...

 and started snapping some pictures.

 He was sound asleep the whole time.

Then, today, I got a little excessively carried away playing with all of Picasa's cool editing features.

Maybe ironing the silk first would've been a good idea?!

Later that evening I decided to do a few more picture while he was awake.  The lighting wasn't the greatest, but some of the tweaked versions turned out really fun, in my humble opinion.

"Golden Boy"

And that's all for now, folks!

Update on Pipsqueak

Our Daniel has already obtained many nicknames, like Sparrow, Squeaker, Whistler and Pipsqueak.  He has been likened to a baby bird, a guinea pig, a spinning hamster wheel. For those of you who haven't had the privilege of meeting him in person yet, here's some insight:

This video was taken on the 12th, 10 days old.

This noise was not present in the hospital, but showed up on Friday, I think.  By Lord's Day it was definitely there, and I got great amusement from watching people trying to figure out where that noise was coming from as meeting started!

On Tuesday (one week old) we went to Dr. Ng (a 'consulting pediatrician' we had seen in the hospital), where she was pleased to tell us that his heart murmur was considerably improved, and she expected it to be entirely gone by one month old.  She commented that is was very hard to hear his heart over the sound of his squeaks!  Since Daniel's lungs are clear, she referred us to Dr. Dickson, an ear-nose-throat specialist.  (Our appointment with him is tomorrow.)


The next day, Wednesday, we went to Dr. Pushie for his one-week checkup.  Her only comments on the matter were that it's a good thing it's not cold season, or it might be a cause for more immediate concern; and she was glad I had already been to referred to a specialist; and really, I Really need to go to all follow-up visits with him ... (unlike what I do with prenatal visits to her!)


On a funny side note, when Daniel was weighed at Dr. Ng's office he weighed 9lbs 9oz, but at Dr. Pushie's office the next day he weighed almost 10lbs.  Why the huge difference? I wondered -- and then I realized that he was starving hungry at Dr. Ng's, so that I literally started feeding him as soon I took him off the scales, whereas the next day I nursed him while I was sitting in Dr. Pushie's waiting room.  A full tummy makes a big difference!  


Either way, though, he gained back his birth weight very fast, and is obviously healthy, which makes it easier for me not to worry about his squeak.  The fact that he never squeaks while sleeping is reassuring, too.


Oh, I've also heard that if you want to hear more of his squeaking, just tune in to our meetings some time when he's awake ... it comes through loud and clear :-)

Newborn cuteness

When Daniel was six days old, I did another photo shoot with him, just for fun.  Forgive the multitudnous pictures, I can never decide which picture is better than another, so you get them all :)

 There's something special about such tiny little toes, isn't there?

 I really like this little kid :)  Sure, I loved all my babies, but for some reason I'm definitely liking this little newborn more than I did the others.  I don't know if it's because all the kangaroo care helped me bond better, or my experience that this stage is so short, or my awareness that it may be my last, but I really Like him!!  Which is fun :)

And a gratuitous picture of a very pleased big sister, because I took it on the same day.

Playing Dress Up

The first photo shoot I did with Daniel was on the 6th, three days old.  He has various 'heirloom' outfits that must be documented as being worn by him before he up and grows out of them ... which will be awfully soon!

First up, the outfit that Jeff wore home from the hospital

(There was some face painting going on that day, Nathan's nose is not about to fall off)

Next, a little sweater / hat / booties set that Dad (Wayne) wore when he was little.  
A 'boughten' outfit, as far as anyone can tell or remember, not knit with love by his great-grandma or something, but still cool.  The booties are the only things I have that are the perfect size for Daniel's feet right now, and they stay on beautifully, which is always hard at this age!

The background blanket in these pictures is one I knit.  Just so you know ;-)

This jacket / hat set is also one Dad wore, I think.  There is a blanket with the set, but I forgot about it until a couple days later.  Oh, well.

This is one from Muth (Bonnie), that she wore as a baby and has a picture of all of her grand-babies in.

yawn!!!

Ditto for this one, I do believe