there's a first for everything

literally ... everything that Holden does these days is a first for him (and us, I suppose): his first smile, his first laugh, his first trip out, the first time he fits into a 0-3 month-sized outfit, the first time he sleeps more than 6 hours straight, etc. It's definitely one of the perks of being a new parent, but it all goes so fast. Holden's growing up quickly now, and some of the small "firsts" are passing us by quickly, so I thought I'd try to keep track of some more on our blog. Here's some recent additions to that category in Holden's life:

1) Holden's First Shopping Trip
Before Christmas, we brought Holden out for one of his most American experiences yet: shopping. We took the long trek down to the South County Old Navy to see if they had some clothes that Santa might get Holden for Christmas, including a cute Holiday outfit. Holden enjoyed strolling around the store, and slept most of the time we were there.

2) Holden's First Christmas
Even though Holden really had no idea what was going on during Christmas Eve and Christmas, he had fun. I think he mostly just liked having all his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins around showering him with attention. He got lots of great new clothes and toys from Santa, and most importantly, he got a Bob stroller (yay!). While we tried to resist dressing Holden up in holiday attire, it was to no avail. On Christmas Eve, Holden wore his little "JOY" fleece outfit, and on Christmas Day he wore a Santa's Little Helper outfit (on loan from his cousin Joey, who was likely made to wear it last Christmas when he was a couple months old). Here's the video of Holden as Santa's Little Helper (a great video that can be used later in his life for blackmail):



3) Holden's First Visit to the Art Museum
After Christmas, we decided to take Holden over to the Saint Louis Art Museum for his first trip to see art. Yes, he slept pretty much the whole time, but it's a start. Eventually he'll enjoy looking at the Ellsworth Kelly's and Mark Rothko's and the Chuck Close, but daddy's not going to pressure him to like art (... oh, who am I kidding, of course I will). I expect I'll learn a lot about art by watching Holden respond to paintings and sculptures -- I always feel that adults have a lot to learn from children about appreciating art.

Some Reflections on Labor

Giving birth to Holden was one of the most empowering and exhilarating experiences of my life, and I still think back to that day with a profound since of pride and love. With that said, my labor experience didn't exactly go as planned and was far from "ideal." Now that I've had a little bit of time to reflect on the day(s), and before the moment fades into the distant past, I thought I'd share some things I learned from the experience.

1) Best to be flexible, because you can’t always get what you want.

Two days after Holden's due date, Mike and I went in for a scheduled ultrasound-biophysical fully expecting to go out for dinner right after. Instead, Holden failed a portion of the test and thus began an induction process that finally ended two days later. Even though I had begun to come to terms with the possibility that I would have to induce, it took me a quite a while to adjust to the fact that I would not, in fact, have the labor experience I’d hoped for.

2) For some women (like me), Pitocin doesn't work.

Pitocin is a synthetic oxytocin that doctors use to induce labor. In theory, it is supposed to mimic the hormone and start contractions shortly after it enters your system. But for me, it did virtually nothing. The hospital put me on two twelve-hour rounds of the drug, with little to no result (breaking my water finally did the trick).

3) The “slow” induction process was the more humane approach.

My labor process took FOREVER. But this was partly due to the slow induction procedure they used. They started me on a pre-induction drug the first night (cervidil), and then over the next day slowly gave me pitocin. More importantly for me, in between each procedure they gave my body a break so that I could shower and eat a nice big energizing meal. Without these big food breaks, I’m not sure that I would have been able to make it.

4) Popsicles are awesome!

Had them and savored them once every hour. I could also have juice or sprite, but I preferred to popsicles. Kind of made me feel like a kid again.

5) You’ll see the nurses much more than the doctor, and their quality of care can vary.

Being there for almost a week (due in part to Holden’s jaundice) meant that we interacted with many nurses. Some, like the nurse who guided us through most of active labor, were amazing. Others—not so much. But they all like to give advice. Thus, when it came to learning to nurse Holden (a task that took weeks, not days, to master), I received a lot of conflicting advice. The lessons here—trust yourself and the lactation consultants; despite what the nurses might tell you, some babies really aren’t physically ready to nurse properly right away.

6) Watch out for those post-pregnancy hormones!

Wow, my hormones were all over the place two days after Holden was born. Right when they told us that the little guy had jaundice, unfortunately. Not a winning combination when you consider the fact that I was already completely sleep deprived, very sore from labor, and feeling overwhelmed by the monumental task of taking care of a new human being. Thankfully though…

7) My husband is awesome!

I recently read a study somewhere that suggested that husbands could be a hindrance to labor because they add an extra level of anxiety to the situation. I couldn’t disagree more. Sorry to get a little sappy here, but from beginning to end, Mike was my source of strength. Without him, I am quite sure I would have had a C-section. Simply put, he rocked!

The Newborn Top Ten

Now that we're emerging out of the newborn phase of parenting and into something that feels more manageable and even predictable, I thought a "top 10" was in order. It is, after all, the end of the year, when such lists are particularly popular.

So without further ado, and in no particular order, I give you the top ten items that helped us survive the first 6 or so weeks of parenthood.

10. Swaddling Blankets. And by this, I don't mean receiving blankets, which are the more common blankets you'll find in stores. Receiving blankets are just too small to swaddle even the smallest of babies, and they're rectangular, which means they don't wrap properly. Swaddling blankets, by contrast, are larger and square. Used properly, they would send little Holden into a sweet womb-like dreamland.

9. Diaper Rash Cream. Long story short: Holden has sensitive skin, and his mom and dad didn't realize this until a sad little rash appeared on his bum.

8. Food Made/Bought by Friends. When you're too sleep deprived and busy to cook pasta for yourself, the soups, casseroles, bagels, and take-out that friends bring are lifesavers.

7. Power Bars. Because sometimes heating up our friends' food was too much work, and because on those first few nights, when I was feeding around the clock, I would become ravished at 3 am.

6. Vitamin Water. On a tip from our friends Jen and Jeremy, we wisely stocked up on Vitamin Water in advance of Holden's arrival. This became a lifesaver--a needed energy boost on those days when we were going on 3-4 hours of sleep a night.

5. Breast Pump. Months ago, after our friend Jen insisted I purchase the pricey Medela pump-in-style advance, I hesitantly forked over the dough, sure that I'd hardly use the device. How wrong I was! Because Holden had latching issues, the pump became a necessity--for the first week I found myself using the quick-and-efficient double pump several times a day. And now, it makes feedings for those Saturday afternoons with dad so much easier.

4. Exercise Ball. Before we had Holden, we purchased an exercise ball at the advice of our birthing instructor, with the intention of using it to help ease the pain of early labor. It only became useful after his birth--when we learned that bouncing on it would almost instantly calm Holden down from crying. He's since become less fussy, but the ball still sits in our room as a last resort if the little guy becomes inconsolable.

3. Moby Wrap. This baby wearing wrap (see right) has become the go-to item in our house when Holden really wants to be held, but we need our hands free to get something done. At first, Holden was the type of active baby who did not like to be contained in any wrap devices. But once he learned how to control his body parts just a little bit, he came to love snuggling up next to his mom or dad.

2. "Total Baby" iPhone App. It's an app. in which you can track how many times you nurse, which breast use you use (or how much is in the bottle), and how often the baby pees and poops. Yes, you read that right. Because at first, keeping track of these things is really, really important.

1. iPhone! Not only did I use my iPhone for the baby app, but also to keep my sanity. At night, when I would be feeding Holden for the umpteenth time in those first few weeks, I would entertain myself with all the various news apps, with facebook, and twitter. The iPhone can be used with one hand, which makes it easier to manage than a book, and the NYTimes app, for instance, is always updating with new articles and essays. Simply put, it made sleep deprivation bearable.

And there you have it! This is what worked for us, but may not work for everyone. Of course, the best help comes in human form--in the family and friends that have been there to support us over the weeks! Thanks everyone!

Mr. Giggles

So, as you can tell, it's been a bit more difficult to find the time to post updates on the blog (it actually took me about 10 minutes to type just this sentence). Anyway, Holden's been doing great so far. He's been developing quite the personality, and responding to us with all kinds of facial expressions and movements. And, while he has rolled over many times before, today was the first day that daddy got to see him roll (and he conked his head on the floor, which really made him mad).

One thing that Holden has mastered in the past couple of weeks is laughing and smiling in response to us (not just your sleep smiling or laughing when he passes gas, but genuine responses to our not-so-shabby attempts at baby talk and high pitched baby sounds). I edited a couple recent moments together in this short video. What a stinker!?


He's been growing, too. According to our super accurate bathroom scale (ok, so maybe not that accurate), he's now about 8.3 pounds. So he's probably about at the average weight of a newborn baby right now, but he's catching up fast.

Holden's impending first Christmas should be lots of fun, and I know we'll have lots of new pictures with family to share ... and it might even be a "white Christmas" this year in St. Louis, which would be great since I'm so jealous of everywhere else getting all the snow (esp. Washington, DC ... snow hogs!).

5 Weeks: swings, slings, and other things

For the first 3 or so weeks in the life that is Holden's, our little guy's world mainly revolved around a swaddle blanket, our arms, and the occasional bright light or ceiling fan. In the past couple of weeks, this world has started to expand. Not only is he starting to coo and grunt as he gazes into our eyes, but he's finally the age (and size!) to test out the various gadgets we've accumulated. For instance, he's started to take an interest in the dangling bears above him in the pack-n-play and the sweet art cards of animals we own. And, just this past week, he's decided he likes the swing that he, admittedly, barely fits in:

And as you'll note in the first picture, he's also discovered his hands. In fact, for the past couple of days his soul interest has been slobbering all over his fist.

Yet nothing has been more wonderful for me, anyway, than the bliss he finds when he's nestled in our sling. Without the sling, I'm not sure I'd ever be able to find time for breakfast. There's no way to capture his joy pictorially, so instead, here's me, many months ago when still pregnant with Holden, test-driving one of these things at the store. Try to imagine a baby in the sling, instead of my belly:

Holden poses as Op Art

We couldn't resist...

Saturdays with Dad

We've now decided that Saturdays will be dedicated for Holden to spend some time with dad (also allowing Bryna to run errands, get work done, and have some time to herself). Today was the first official "Saturday with Dad," and it was very chill-axin' (chill + relaxin'). Holden and I spent some time taking a nap, watching the end of a movie on DVD, singing songs and dancing (most of today's songs related to the crackers that I ate with lunch called "Vegetable Entertainers" ... that provided a lot of material for some pretty inventive songs that I plan never to repeat; NEVER).
The boy is now one month old (yay!), and we celebrated this milestone with the my co-workers in the Education Division at the Saint Louis Art Museum (and they even had a cake, mmmmmm). And, we also took an outing to Noel and Elissa's yesterday evening, where Holden could celebrate and say hi to Zeke (who is in preparations for the baby derby, which WILL occur once both the boys can crawl ... date TBD).

Holden's first starring "roll"

As promised, here is a video of some of Holden's rolling from his stomach to his back -- which he's been doing for the past week now. Since Bryna basically DVR-ed the events of today's "tummy time" for Holden, we got some video of several rolls, which I have spliced together for your enjoyment. He is so determined to crawl ... if it just weren't for that pesky head getting in the way ; )



p.s. first person to name the song in the video gets a prize (to be determined).

laughing, strolling, & rolling

So what's up these days with our main man? Yes, you know ... Baby Awesome. Well, here it is in our patented photo essay format (popular with both the art-history-types and family-types):

Well, on Thanksgiving Day, little Holden began smiling at mommy and daddy (and I'm not talking the sleep smiling he's been doing for weeks, but some real smiles and even a giggle or two).
And, he's been taking short journeys in his stroller to the local Gelateria down the street, like this recent trip with Grandpa Campbell. The weather has been so warm in November, Holden's been able to get out way more than we ever thought he would.
And finally, the little bit made his first official roll from his stomach to his back today (although he had an "unofficial" roll over a week ago, but we think that was just blind luck). No pictures of the roll, but we'll snatch a video probably very soon.

Just for good measure -- to help balance out all the cuteness and milestones -- here's a picture of Holden doing what he does best ... crying! And notice that his onesie says on it "100% fun," which is ironic when he's crying like this. But he's still so darn cute.

What's Holden looking at?

First of all, to anyone who thinks we're lying when we say that Holden is EXTREMELY active for a 3-week-old, we'll post some videos showing his way-too-regular level of activity and curiosity (which usually leads to frustration due to his inability to crawl or talk yet ... although he is able to scoot and roll himself around in any way he can).

One of the things we've come to realize is that Holden absolutely loves to look around -- so much so that when we distract him from looking around, he gets really angry. But what is he looking at? Well, here's the question of the week.

Here's a short video clip of Holden's typical stare at certain objects in our house (he's really grown a liking to some random things he enjoys staring at intensely for long periods of time). Guess what Holden is looking at here (your choices follow the video):

Option 1: Lamp behind the couch.

Option 2: Painting by our friend Rachel Wagner.

Option 3: Ceiling fan.

Well, in this case, it was the mesmerizing ceiling fan (which is one of his favorite things to look at ... I mean, who's to argue with a 3-week-old). But he also enjoys looking outside during the day, and gazing out the window at the street lights in the alley at night.

And, of course, looking at daddy...

Those ears!

While both Mike and I think Holden is the cutest thing from head to toe, one of our favorite features on our little munchkin are his wonderful elfish ears. So much personality in these little dangling lobes! These I'll claim as a Campbell feature--I'll admit that underneath my thick brown hair I have quite the lobes myself, though not quite as wondrous as my dad's, which were nearly as cute as his sweet hairdo in his baby pictures (see previous post).

Without further ado, I present a few pictures in honor of these little lobes:

And obviously, Holden's partial to his own ears too:

If Holden had been a Halloween baby...

...this is what he would have worn for the holiday:

It glows in the dark! And incidentally, the reason he's been wearing it a lot over the past week is because its one of the few "newborn" sized outfits that actually fits our newborn (loosely). It's amazing how much the sizes range from company to company on these onesies! There must be some LONG legged newborns out there in the world.

He's starting to grow out of it now though, and out of the preemie diapers too. Finally those 5-packs of white onesies we got as gifts are coming in handy, especially since he can run through two outfits in one diaper changing. Oy. This little guy likes to pee when he's free.

"boy, he looks just like ________"

Holden went out for his first "outing" today, since it's still unseasonably warm for November (and we need to take advantage of every minute of it before it's freezing cold and rainy ... like next week). We strolled down to the Gelateria down the street, and said hi to owners Dana and Chris (who confirmed that their daughter Nora would be able to eat Holden, he's so small). But most importantly, now that we're a bit more out and about, people are saying the infamous phrase: "boy, he looks just like _______."

This post has been a long time in the making, as we've spent months collecting baby photos of ourselves and various family members to see where Holden is getting his dashing good looks. Here is the visual data, so you make the decision. Most agree (including me) that Holden looks most like a Campbell; furthermore, that he looks very much like his mommy. However, I'm more recently making the argument that Holden also looks a decent amount like my brother, and a little like me (although not much ... sniffle, sniffle). Let us know what you think.

Pictures of Holden during his first 9 days (above).
Baby photos of Bryna (above).
Baby photos of the Campbell boys/men (from left to right, we have Bryna's brothers Bob and Will followed by her dad, now Grandpa John).
And finally, the Murawski brothers (me on the far left, and two pics of my brother Mark in center and to the right).

Mostly, Holden looks like Holden ... and that's OK.

Week 1!

Yesterday at 10 pm, little Holden turned one-week old! There's so much we still have yet to learn about the little guy, but already we've come to know each other pretty well.

So in honor of his first-week birthday, I present 5 fun facts about Holden:

1) Holden will instantly quiet if we turn on the sink faucet. Apparently it sounded like running water in my uterus.

2) His little tush is so tiny he wears preemie diapers.

3) He is already sleeping in his crib. Sort of, anyway...

4) He is dead tired in the late afternoon... but not so much in the late night hours.

5) And...he likes to cross his legs like this, which explains so much about the kicks I felt in-utero:

What's in a name?

Us newby parentals are continuing to settle in to our schedule of no sleep, few meals, lack of showering, new found interest in daytime and late night TV, and almost no time outside of the house -- and it's worth every second of it! Holden is such a perfect little boy, and he's been doing really well settling in after his own traumatic birth experience (we always have to remember what the baby goes through during that process, worsened by that darn vacuum pump ... poor little fella).

So this brings me to one of the most common questions we've been getting: Why did you name him Holden? As I often do in my work as a museum educator, I'm going to leave that question out there and explore some responses people have had to this name (very constructivist of me, eh?).

Holden -- pronounced HOHL-den

1) Is it a family name?
Nope, or at least not that we know of. And I'm not sure why everyone assumes that your children's names have to be from family names.

2) Is he named after 1950s Academy-Award-winning actor William Holden?
Wrong again. In fact, Bryna and I had never heard of him until people started asking. However, we're very OK with any associations between our son and Hollywood's "Golden Boy" (also played Joe Gillis in the original Sunset Boulevard). For one thing, he was quite the dashing young man, and apparently quite the actor, too. And he's was born just across the river from us in O'Fallon, Illinois (fancy that). However, his career ended in tragic loneliness and alcoholism, so perhaps we'll steer clear of this name connection.

3) Is he named after the town of Holden, Missouri?
No way! This one was really from left field. This town of 2,500 residents is famous for ... well, nothing I could find. So, while we may drive through this town on the way from the Lake of the Ozarks to Kansas City one day, I think we'll keep his name free of any associations with this small dot on the map.

4) Is he named after the Australian GM-subsidiary car company Holden?
Random reference: yes. Connected to our son's name: no. But I wish. First of all, their logo/slogan (seen below) is "Holden. Go Better." I LOVE THAT, and need to print that on some onesies or something. Second, Holden automobiles were featured in many classic 1950s American films, including several Humphrey Bogart flicks, Hitchcock movies such as The Birds, and an Otto Preminger film featuring a sexy leading actor named ... wait for it ... William Holden.
4) Is he named after Holden Caufield, the narrator and protagonist of J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye?
Ding, ding, ding ... we have a winner! Although, we did not entirely pick the name from this novel (which is one of my favorite's), after re-reading the entire novel out loud to our own little Holden while he was still in the womb, we both fell in love with the character (even with his imperfections and idiosyncrasies). And we liked the name because it was fairly unique and uncommon.
And I can now take this a step farther: the last name of Salinger's Holden Caufield links to the novel's famous rye-catcher metaphor, in which Holden wants to be the person responsible for catching carefree children playing in a field of rye from obliviously falling off a nearby cliff. A "caul" is a membrane that covers and protects embryos and remains on some babies after birth, so that, in "holding caul" in his rye field metaphor, Holden Caulfield wishes for all children to retain the pure, youthful ignorance they possessed before birth (before being brought into this world)—to, figuratively, retain their caul. Our own little Holden wanted nothing more than to "retain his caul" last week -- to the tune of 53 hours of pure resistance to entering this world and a smattering of post-birth rebelliousness.

People have also asked if anyone knew the name outside of Bryna and myself, and the answer technically is "yes." This past June, our friend Becca totally guessed the name, saying that she thought "Holden" from Salinger's novel would make a great name. I had to, of course, pretend I'd never heard of that novel and that I thought the name was not very interesting at all (while simultaneously panicking that she might see through my cover and peg us on the name, which we had almost completely decided on at that point). So, props to Becca!

Nothing would end this post better than a taste of pure Holden Caufield from Chapter 18 of Salinger's gem:

"The trouble with girls is, if they like a boy, no matter how big a bastard he is, they'll say he has an inferiority complex, and if they don't like him, no matter how nice a guy he is, or how big an inferiority complex he has, they'll say he's conceited."

Holden's new home

After two long nights in the bedroom with his parents, Holden has settled into his new nursery in fine fashion.

Holden (with Mike's help) has decided the animals that hang above him serve as his protectors--Thomas the owl, Sylvester the raccoon, and Henry the hedgehog (not pictured here):

No longer a stranger

Meet Holden, the new addition to the Campbell-Murawski household!

Our little guy was born at 10:01 pm on Nov. 4, after two and a half crazy days of an induced labor. It all started when Mr. Stranger misbehaved at the biophysical ultrasound test on Monday, 11/2, choosing not to "practice breathe" for the amount of time allotted. Because he was past due, our doc decided not to take chances and have me induced in a "slow process" that started with 12 hours of cervidal, a drug designed to soften the cervix, and then a pitocin drip. But Holden/Short Stranger was not ready to arrive quite yet. After two 8-hour rounds of pitocin that didn't really work, the docs broke my water on Wed. morning, and all went smoothly that day.

Or almost--after a quick period of active labor that progressed beautifully, it took 3 1/2 hours of pushing, plus a suction vacuum to get the little guy out. After all this hard work, our little boy arrived absolutely perfect, beautiful, sweet, and ittie bittie, only 6 lbs. 4 oz., 19 1/2 inches long.

The hard labor took a bit of a toll on the little guy, and on Friday night he had to stay an extra night due to jaundice and catch some rays in a billie-bed. But we're now home, happy, and getting to know each other.

Some pictures of the new member of our family:

Playing it cool under the billie-bed while he caught some rays on Friday night:

On the big ride home:
More to come soon!

Short Stranger Arrives!!!

Yesterday, November 4th, the Short Stranger finally arrived into this world, as Holden Michael. He is the most amazing thing ever ... and quite the cutie. Holden and mom are doing great. I'm making this quick post during a stop at home to pick-up some things -- but since there was no real wireless internet at the hospital, we have not been able to post anything since his birth last night. We'll follow-up very soon with several photos, updates, and more "witty" and "not-so-witty" thoughts on what this past week has been like (pretty much all of it spent at the hospital).
Yay!!!

40 week bump goes walking

This week's bump pictures come from one of our long walks in the MO Botanical gardens--the perfect remedy, so we're told, for the overdue baby.

A gorgeous day here finally, after two of the ugliest, wettest days of the season in STL:

40 Weeks!

We made it! We've successfuly hit the 40-week mark and the Short Stranger is now officially a Pumpkin Baby! For those of you who took our poll and thought the little guy would arrive early--I'm sorry to tell you that you were wrong. What Mike neglected to mention in his poll-related post is that more than 50% of first time moms go past their estimated due date (EDD) into week 41. And this is why even though I'd hoped we'd have an October baby, I've long had a feeling he'd be a November one.

But when this little guy decides to arrive is not the point of this post...no, this is a post to celebrate this pregnancy. The Short Stranger and I have safely and happily made it through the long hall together, and believe it or not, I've really enjoyed being pregnant. Even at 40 weeks, I still feel healthy and energetic, small discomforts aside. And despite my impatience to meet him, I'm so glad the Short Stranger has stayed exactly where he is until full-term.

Though little has changed since last week, here's what babycenter.com writes about the end of this journey:

It's hard to say for sure how big your baby will be, but the average newborn weighs about 7 1/2 pounds (a small pumpkin) and is about 20 inches long. His skull bones are not yet fused, which allows them to overlap a bit if it's a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. This so-called "molding" is the reason your baby's noggin may look a little conehead-ish after birth. Rest assured — it's normal and temporary.

So what's next? Next we continue to wait, but we also start to monitor Mr. Stranger more closely--first with an ultrasound on Monday, and then with an appointment on Wednesday (that is, if we make it until then). And if it comes down to it, we'll bring the Short Stranger here by force through induction. But before that, Mike and I will enjoy what is finally decent weather in the 'Lou with lots of walking walking walking--because that seems to be the main doctor-recommended advice for helping bring labor on. Beautiful fall foliage, here we come.

That strange floating baby widget...

Does anyone else wonder what happens on Saturday to the countdown baby widget Mike added to our blog many months ago? Because I've been curious about this for a while...especially if I go over the estimated due date.

2 days left...we shall see...

UPDATE: cats vs. baby

In the newest battle between feline and unborn child, the cats now have an even greater upper hand. After purchasing a new video camera (Flip Video Ultra) so we can take videos of the Short Stranger when he arrives, the first two videos taken were of the cats ... yes, THE CATS! So, one more point for the cats.

And here's the video to prove it:

Cats vs. Baby: The cuddle offensive

This week as we've stepped up our efforts to prepare for the Short Stranger's arrival by reading up on breastfeeding, the labor process, etc., our 3 cats have responded with a coordinated effort of distraction that I'm calling the cuddle offensive. If I'm surfing early labor symptoms on my lap, one--sometimes two--cats respond by attempting to wedge themselves between me and the screen. The same goes for Mike when he tries to read any one of our books on labor and pregnancy.

This case is aptly illustrated below in two pictures of Mike attempting to read Penny Simkin's The Birth Partner, a book we strongly recommend, incidentally. It's one of the only books we know that provides an in-depth guide for a partner during the labor process (find reviews here at Amazon.com).
Notice in the second photograph that Tim succeeds at stealing away Mike's attention. Of all of our cats, he's the most skilled at this kind of face-to-face combat.

Based on these pictures alone, in the battle of cats vs. baby:
Cats: 1 pt.
Baby: 0 pt.
(Undoubtedly this will change once the Short Stranger is born.)