Weather can bring us full circle

Today's weather in St. Louis (sunny and 80 degrees) just simply reminded me of the day we brought Holden home from the hospital nearly 5 months ago (it was sunny and 80 degrees then, believe it or not, in November). And when I came home from work this evening, Bryna and Holden were hanging out on a blanket in the backyard, and after Bryna left to go to a lecture, Holden and I had some very chill time playing and rolling around outside in this amazing weather. Just pleasant, and worth posting, I thought.

Here's our little buddy on that day in November that seemed like today's "weather doppleganger."

And here's a snapshot from our time today in the yard, chillin' on the blanket and watching the sky and trees. I want more days like this.

Whoah! Look at Him Go!

Thanks to the wonders of digital video editing, I can humorously show-off Holden's miraculous attempts at crawling and rotating today. Before videotaping, he managed to shuffle himself forward about 2 feet -- but when the camera is on, he just loses his motivation. Anyway, watch the short, fast-paced video below ... and pay special attention to Holden as he motates, and, of course, turn towards the camera (if you pay attention, you can see daddy's hand swoop in to catch some drool from time to time).

Beastie Babies!

Tell me you don't look at this photo of Holden and his buddy Wolf and immediately think of the Beastie Boys! Well, I do. Maybe listening to the YouTube track below will help, or the iconic photo of the internationally acclaimed group below. I know, I know ... we just have a "Mike D" and "MCA" so far (third hardcore baby needed). Stay tuned for more Beastie Babies updates as this dynamic duo gets into more trouble ; )

Video Update

I've been meaning to post a short video of Holden rolling from his back to his stomach (something he did for the first time a while ago, but has begun to regularly do just in the past week or so). Man, we can't leave that boy alone for more than a minute and he's done rolled over. So we slowly enter the stage in babydom when he starts to move a lot more ... a trajectory toward crawling.

Holden's first beer

No. Not really. But we did think his fascination with this beer glass in the pictures below was quite funny. He's really become interested in all drinking glasses, plus most food we put into our mouths. Seriously, I can entrance him for 20 minutes if I just sit there and eat carrots and go "mmmmm, yum." Sooo...maybe we'll start solids soon. Why haven't we yet? Well, supposedly--according to books and blogs anyway--American Association suggests parents wait until 6 months (I say supposedly because they seem to be more lenient on their website). And well, it's just one more thing to try to figure out, and we have a lot going on in our lives, professionally and otherwise, over the next few months. So 6 months, or closer to 6 months, works for us.

Baby Awesome

You may have forgotten that Mike was considering naming the Short Stranger "Awesome," but Mike didn't. And now Holden has the shirt to prove it:

Teething

Over the past few days Holden's teething problems have kicked into high gear, leaving Mike and I to wonder, does he really need teeth? Because--besides the whole chewing food thing--they really are just a bother, aren't they?

The books tell us the first tooth is the worst, and we're hoping this to be true, because our little guy's become quite the fussy mess. Not all the time, mind you (and not everyday), but by mid afternoon on some days, the pain--or impatience with the pain, perhaps--builds to a climax, leaving him ranting in little crying fits, grabbing our hands, and chomping down. Last night, the teething woes woke him up twice, forcing us to pull out the tylenol, a cold wet washcloth, and some orajel. Yet besides some slightly swollen gums there is no hint of a tooth to be found. The books say this could take weeks (already has), or...months. Gulp.

Holden vs. the Jellyfish

One of Holden's favorite toys is his jellyfish.

The two have become fast friends:

Congrats to Kimberly and Dave!

A quick congrats to our friends Kimberly and Dave (who I know check out this blog from time to time), for their beautiful new baby girl who was born two weeks ago. Mike and I had a chance to visit the little lady this weekend, and even though she was born bigger than our guy, we couldn't believe how tiny she was! And a full head of wavy hair at that. Jealous about that one.

Memory plays funny tricks on you when you have a growing baby of your own because, um, I totally forgot how to hold a baby that small. They just fold right into your arms at that stage. I soo forgot about that. I know you're not getting much sleep guys, and I know it can suck at times, but treasure the newborn stage, journal about it, and savor it, because before you know it, it's gone. But of course, there are always great adventures to come. (And yes, you will get to sleep again!)

Today, I hate George Vernon Hudson

As I sit here and listen to Holden cry for the last hour as he resists bedtime, I have nothing but terrible and/or bitingly-sarcastic things to say about George Vernon Hudson, the lame bloke that supposedly "invented" daylight savings time. First of all, who the [bleep] decides to change time ... what gall!?!?! I mean, we all want to change time, and this 'nancy' from down under just up and gets it done over a hundred years ago. Of course, the real crime (and what really pisses me off these days) is that OUR government still implements this (as if Congress's approval ratings weren't low enough already, they needed to mess with when this time change happens, and so it landed on us today, as Holden finally had developed a nice bedtime schedule and routine ... and then, WHAM!, time freakin' changes).

Sometimes I feel like I live on the TV show "Lost," but just not on a beautiful tropical island. Maybe time will change again several times before I go to bed tonight ... perhaps sending me back to that dark day in New Zealand's history when George Vernon "The Loser" Hudson delivered his paper on the value of after-hours daylight, and then I can take that paper (with the help of Richard Alpert -- yes, he's there, too) just before a bright flash of light brings me back to a nice quiet night at home where Holden is sleeping ... because TIME NEVER CHANGED!

it was the best of times...

I'm gonna leave off the rest of Dickens' quote, since I'm positive he was not writing about the wonders of having a 4-month old baby (I'm not sure he even had any kids). As I've read in many books and blogs, the 4-6 month time period can be the "golden age" of raising a baby -- I think Bryna even referenced that in an earlier post. And I have to agree -- what a great stage this is! I was just saying tonight, "Boy, when he's 16 years old, or even 2 or 3, we're probably going to pine for these days right here." Small problems with sleep and napping aside (which are really rather minor in the whole scope of things), he's just such a cool little dude. And here's a short video complication from just the past day or so to prove it.



And with the warmer weather of spring, we've already had some great outings to nearby parks and the Botanical Garden. Holden just loves to take it all in from the perspective granted him from the Bjorn (again, love that thing!). We've pretty much built in a walk into his daily routine -- also healthy (physically and mentally) for mommy and daddy.

Maternal medical care

I don't usually do "issue" posts, but since this article on Time.com caught my attention, I thought it warranted a mention. It relays a study on ob-related health care in the US performed my Amnesty International, the results of which are troubling. According to the study, maternal mortality rates are 5 times greater in the US than Greece, 4 times greater than Germany, and 3 times greater than Spain. As the recipient of a ineffective induction that resulted in the use of vacuum suction, I can't say I'm that surprised. Sadly, many of these deaths are preventable, the result of a fragmented system that is more worried about covering their a** than in thinking about the birth of a child in a comprehensive way. Hospitals overly worried about infant mortality (and dare I say, the possible lawsuits that might arise) jump to the use of invasive tools and procedures that often create a domino effect. The system is based on anxiety which feeds on itself, creating unnecessary emergencies. And as Amnesty International points out, in allowing it to happen we, as a culture, are engaging in a systematic violation of women's rights.

I'm so vain, I probably think this post is about me

Holden meets Holden and decides he's in love.

Or more accurately, he decides he needs to touch this baby in the mirror, tries to crawl towards it, fails, and cries in frustration.

Okay, I'm sold

Like Mike, I am now convinced the bjorn is just about the greatest thing ever. Now that spring has sprung in St. Louis, Holden and I have started taking lunchtime walks, which puts him into a state of cooing happiness almost instantly. Much to my surprise, I've learned that if we go for a walk he: a) can stay up longer between naps, and b) will nap much later in the afternoon. So I've now incorporated it into our daily routine and crossing my fingers that it doesn't rain too hard the over the next few days. It's nice to know our boy loves the outdoors as much as we do.

4 months!

Wow, where did the time go? Between sleep issues, unexpected travel, and work and school craziness, we barely noticed that Holden turned 4 months last Thursday!

A month ago I was mourning the fact that our little guy was no longer the snuggly scrunchy newborn that he once was. Now, I've adjusted and have really come to love this 3-6 month stage. In one of my books I read that this is the "golden age" of babyhood because their social, giggly, and talkative, but they're still fairly stationary, and thus fairly easy to manage, which is indeed wonderful.

When I look back at the entries of the past month I realize that we've been fairly obsessed with the whole sleep thing and little else, and I think that's partly because he hasn't changed nearly as dramatically as he did between months 2 and 3. That's not to say he hasn't grown or isn't doing new things (like sleeping better!), it's just that it wasn't a month of major milestones. Rather, I feel like this was the month that Holden decided start practicing just about every trick he could think of even if his little body's not quite strong enough for most of them. He's been trying mightily to sit on his own, which amounts to him propping himself up on his hands for a few seconds before toppling forward. He's recently decided he also wants to practice standing too. And he's started working on the volume of his voice (which I hear might become a nuisance for us when we go out in public spaces).

Next up on the list of challenges for us seems to be teething, since he just started throwing mid-afternoon gnawing fits on a semi-regular basis. Hope that gets better after the first tooth or two comes in!

drool drool fuss drool fuss

Yep, we think Holden has started teething. Although the little guy had been drooly for a while, the last few days he's been reaching a new level, completely soaking his onesies. This has been accompanied by extreme (but totally random) bouts of fussiness that just seem to overtake our generally happy tyke. It takes a while of letting him gnaw away at our fingers to soothe him, and then just like that, after about a half hour of crankiness, he's good to go again. A little variable in mood, but generally good again. Since he's a little on the early side for getting his first tooth, I worry this may be a long process. At least it's pain with a purpose, right?

The night heard round the world

And now, another installment in the sleep saga.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this week we had to take an unexpected trip to Iowa for my paternal grandpa's funeral. Because my brothers were staying at the parents' house, we stayed at my maternal grandma's house, in her finished basement. And since the visitation was Tuesday evening and the funeral midday Wednesday, we decided to stay 2 nights. This was the first big test for Holden away from home, only about two weeks after we had started sleep training. How'd he do? Well let's just say that Holden's not quite ready to take the show on the road yet. In retrospect, we wonder if we wouldn't have been better off leaving after the funeral events and arrive home to our own beds late Wednesday night.

The first day went surprisingly well. We arrived just in time to go to the visitation, from about a 4 1/2 hour drive that Holden mostly slept through. Despite the fact that it was cutting into his bedtime, the little guy was a real trooper and even a bit of an entertainer that evening. He apparently decided that the large room would be a good space to test his vocal cords, much to the amusement and entertainment of his older relatives. That night he went to bed about an hour later than his usual bedtime and fell asleep within 7 minutes of being put to bed. I was amazed by this feat, considering that we were a) staying in a really dark, kind of creepy basement; b) he was in a pack n' play; and c) we had him in a rather large room just outside the door of the bedroom we were sleeping in. After about 30 min, he woke up, but settled fairly quickly after I went to check on him. And then thankfully, he slept the rest of the night.

But the next day we weren't as lucky. In the morning we tried to put Holden to bed for a nap to no avail, which pretty much resulted in an hour-long struggle of wills. This was okay though, since thankfully, he made up for this nap by sleeping through the funeral. The real struggle came that night when, after a day of too many new faces and not enough daytime zzzs, he just would not sleep. We did our usual routine, put him to bed, sat quietly nearby in the bedroom....and he wailed. He wailed and he wailed and he wailed. And we checked often, but with little luck. So in fear that we might wake my grandma and the neighborhood, I nursed him until he was pretty much asleep, and put him back in bed. And after a few fusses he fell asleep for the night...or so we thought.

About 30 minutes he woke up again, and we tried to console him. This didn't work. He would stop, and about 5 minutes later, start up again. We waited and checked again, and again, and...well you get the picture. We started writing frantic notes to one another in the nearby room "what we do? I don't know...you try something...." I tried to nurse him again. Didn't work. Etc., etc. Finally, about 3 hours after he we had first put him to bed, Mike took him in his arms and somehow, was able to soothe him to sleep. And then he gingerly put him down, crept into our room, and we both held our breaths. Finally, he was asleep, and amazingly he didn't wake up until morning. And thankfully, because my grandma's hard of hearing, she didn't hear a thing!

So it looks like Holden needs a little more practice before we leave home again. That's the bad news.

But here's the good news. Last night he went to bed with few problems, and this morning he napped for 2 hours straight. In other words, this blip didn't seem to affect his overall schedule. And this trip helped us to think about what we can do better next time he has so much trouble. Which is fortunate, since we have another trip coming up in mid-April! Are you sure you want us at your house, DC peeps?

To Iowa we go, to say goodbye to the oldest of the Campbells

Today Mike, Holden, and I take our first out-of-state trip--to Iowa, where sadly, we're attending the funeral for my grandpa Campbell who passed away over the weekend. Holden and his great-grandpa never got the chance to meet one another, unfortunately, though my grandpa had already been blessed with many great-grand and grand children. So although the circumstances are not the best, this will be his chance to meet the rest of this extended family.

Our little guy was grandpa's 6th great-grandchild from a set of 9 grand-kids who used to spend many a summer day at his farm. There, our imagines ran wild as we built tree-houses, played hide-and-seek, and explored the little creek that ran through the back side of their property. Back in those days, our grandpa was spouse to our boisterous, kooky, wonderful grandma, who died about 10 years ago--a matriarch if ever there was one. He was the quieter of the two, and was until the day he died a simple man, a farmer in the richest, truest sense. A man who valued small talk, who could track the weather by looking at the sky, who--on those summer days when we'd stay over at their farm--would stand outside with us at night and tell us about the stars. I just discovered, too, that this man who was far more comfortable in well-worn flannel than a suit would give away most of his money to charities.

Perhaps what continually surprised and delighted me most about my grandpa was his scholastic knowledge, which I only knew about through chance conversations. Hidden behind the almost incomprehensible rural dialect by which he was known was a man fascinated by history and by stories. When I would come home from college we would often trade stories about Shakespeare or Leonardo--and often he remembered more details than me. I sometimes wonder if my own interest in academia came from him, who as an only child seemed to have found comfort in the written word.

This trip will be the first of Holden's outside the state, and the first after beginning sleep training. So I'm sure it will prove to be an adventure (hopefully a fairly smooth one). More on that to come.

But for now, Grandpa Campbell, you will be missed.

Can you feel the love?

Just in case you were wondering, I still LOVE the Baby Bjorn ... and so does Holden. Even though it's been pretty chilly outside (and about the longest winter ever), we've found moments to walk down to the coffee shop, brunch place, etc.

I absolutely cannot wait for it to get warmer, and we can pop Holden in the Bjorn (without his snowsuit) and go to the park or walk around the neighborhood.

The 4 month appointment

Another doctor's appointment has now come and gone, and Holden has lived to tell the tale. Yes, this morning he had his 4 month check-up (wow, time flies!), and this time the whole experience was a lot less traumatic than previous trips. For reasons not worth going into here, we switched pediatricians, and Holden seemed to really like this doctor a lot. He even giggled when she checked ears, and was in really good spirits the entire time, until--of course--the shots. This was the second round of the same immunizations he had gotten at the 2-month appointment, which had made him pretty fussy the rest of the day...so, we expect that it will probably be a long evening once he gets up from his afternoon nap. But as the picture shows, he left the office all smiles.

And for those of you wondering, he received a clean bill of health, and the go-ahead to start solid food whenever we'd like. We haven't decided when to do this yet, but when it happens I'm sure there will be a post or two about it. And as has been true in previous appointments, lil' ole Holden is, well, still little. He weighed in at 12 lbs, 3 oz., or at about the 7th percentile. But we don't mind--I'd rather he be a little guy than have lug around a 20 lb. kid. And it means we don't have to buy clothes quite as often as the parents of those bigger rounder babies (although he really does seem to go through them quickly). Besides, to us, he does seem big. He's almost doubled his birth weight!