Some Firsts

Last week was action-packed, with E getting her first visit from her Dad's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Grissom. The Grissoms got the news of Edie's birth while they were on vacation in Hawaii, and as a result Edie received a smashing summer wardrobe from the Honolulu Babies R Us. Four words: Tiny Bathing-suit + Matching Hat. It's going to be raining cute this August when we visit the US. And I won't complain if Edie deflects some from the post-pregnancy, Casper-white beach look that I'll be sporting. Anyways, Edie spent much of the week happily napping on her Grandma, being showered with love and snuggles. They spent a week with us and left yesterday morning. It is hard to be so far from family at a time like this!


In other news, Edie got her first bath a week or so ago. We were going to wait and do it with my midwife, to get tips and advice, but Edie's digestion caused us to shake up this plan. This baby is no conformist. I think she liked it. It was a little nerve wracking, honestly, but a de-stunked baby was a nice reward.



And E has started on cloth diapers. We waited until her umbilical cord fell off and was healed since it's hard to fold down the cloth diapers. These days, you don't have to pin the clothies and instead you seal them with diaper covers that have Velcro closures. "Seal" is not totally accurate really; we have a long way to go before the cloth diapers are provide a reliable barrier between tiny butts and my formerly clean home and person. But we soldier on.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We hope you are all having a Valentine's Day filled with love. We certainly are.

Little E is decked out in her only pink outfit for the occasion. Her sex was not known until she was born, so her clothes are gender neutral (which means that her pj's have a lot of ducks on them. Some giraffes. Mostly, lots and lots of ducks.) But I bought a bag of clothes from craigslist for $5, and while most were white or yellow, this pink one made in in there too. She looks pretty dang sweet in it.

Department Stores and Soccer Hooligans

Will and I took our first optional outing with Edie yesterday, heading to a department store to pick up a few things for my in-laws visit. It was also the stroller's debut. (We are the proud owners of a gently-used Bugaboo that we bought in San Francisco. For those who don't know, this is a premier stroller; once Will tried it out, all necessary sacrifices were made to make one our own.) The department store we aimed for is connected to a subway station that is only 5 stops from our own so it seemed like a safe goal.

About 10 minutes after arriving at the department store, Edie lost her good spirits in a big way. Though Germany is very breastfeeding friendly, I am not quite skilled or comfortable enough yet to feed her on the only chairs that the store had available, each of which were positioned directly in front of an escalator. I made two failed starts, but the gazes of the streams of of Saturday shoppers finally did me in. So we found our way to the store's cafe and did right by the baby. Fed and sleepy, we tried to muster a second wind and headed home.

Arriving at the subway platform, I noticed that there were too many people. And too many of them were wearing tacky scarves. A flashback from my year living in Seville, Spain clued me in - soccer game. Our subway station is en route to the stadium, and in fact there is no other train that we can take to get home. We waited as about ten trains came, their doors opened to drunken men, packed like sardines, singing team songs, and pounding their fists and/or beer bottles against the train walls. Even if we could have bent the laws of physics to squeeze ourselves into any of the cars, the thought of any of these super-fans bumping into my baby or making her unhappy in any way flooded my mind with visions of me turning into a Tasmanian Devil-personified and going absolutely loco on the offender.

So we were about 3 miles from home, at night, in sub-freezing weather, trapped in the subway, and baby's food clock was ticking. Cab was impossible because we have no car seat. Logically, I cried a little because that usually solves things. After my tears curiously were not a magic solution to our predicament, Will pointed out that we were not far from my mom's apartment. As fortune would have it, she was on her way there at that time, so we went to her tiny abode to wait out the mayhem.

Will had planned on cooking us a Valentine's Day dinner (a day early since his parents were arriving the next morning). This ostensibly simple trip to the store turned a home cooked meal into Thai takeout, and we finally made it home about 3 hours after we were done shopping. Happily, only we were worse for the wear. Princess Babystuff didn't seem to mind one bit.

[Edie pictured with her Amma, Big Edie, who once again saved the day.]

This baby looks like I feel

Babies are inadvertent comedians, or at least when you are as exhausted as I am, you find find humor in them. You find humor in the simplest things, or else you find something that makes you cry for no reason. One or the other, with laughing obviously being preferable.

The first couple of nights, she slept 3 1/2 to 4 hours at a time during the night. I didn't tell anyone but my mother this because I am a little superstitious and I didn't want to jinx it. Well, Billy must have been bragging to the neighbors because we are now on a super-fantastic 90 to 120 minute interval feeding schedule throughout the night, and during the day, she eats whenever it is most inopportune, even if that means she has to buckle down and drink only 20 minutes after last feeding. [NOTE: At this point during the 10 minutes it will ultimately take to write this post, Edie soiled all of her clothes and then needed a feeding.]

So be assured that while she might be subjected to photo sessions whenever she is comically situated, Little E is quite rested and happy. Her mother is neither as cute or as refreshed but has a new found respect for all mothers.

Will's Corner: Feature or Bug?

Ever since installing the newest iLife, I have been obsessed with the facial recognition feature in iPhoto. I have been carefully going through my photo library, attaching names to the faces it finds. But sometimes, the auto face recognition is a bit off, such as when it identifies Sugar's tail as my daughter, or this gem of a (as I'm going to call it) feature: Bill Cosby puking spaghetti is identified as my lovely wife. I love technology!

No news is good news?

Well, I officially have only left the apartment for two ten minute walks since I returned home on January 29, so I lack any information or insight about the outside world. On the inside, I have gotten up to 2.5 hours of consecutive sleep and am looking forward to the big 3 in the near future; I started watching season 1 of Friday Night Lights and so far it is excellent; I started watching "Dewey Cox: Walk Hard" and in spite of Will's promises, it was not excellent; and Edie has gained 80 grams.

In dog news, Sugar has at long last realized that the baby is here. Sugar is a lot cuter than she is observant. The dogs are both very cautious and inquisitive about her. Billy likes to stand baby guard, lying on the floor by her bassinet while she is sleeping and looking at me anxiously when she is crying while I change her. These three have a bright future as pals together.

And so I'll leave it at that, with some new pictures as well. Sweet dreams!


Happy baby in her cool new hat gifted to us by the Geburtshaus Munchen, where she was born
Sugar taking a tentative sniff

Mom and E

Baby Bird Face

Little Edie is doing very well home here on day five of life after birth. And she is working hard on getting less little. Our hungry munchkin gives us this not-so-subtle mug as often as every forty-five minutes. And so goes my existence as a baby au lait machine.

My midwife has been by the house every day since the birth. That is standard practice in Germany, whether you deliver in a hospital or birth house and it is wonderful. She is very happy with baby's progress, and even happier with Edie's cool American duds. I told her today how much baby clothes cost in the US compared to Germany and she suggested that I never buy anything in Germany. Save for some baby liederhosen and a onesie with a pretzel on it, we'll probably follow that advice for the most part.

Will is taking two weeks off from work, but he is running himself ragged with baby work. He is a diligent poopy diaper counter, alternately found either muttering lamentations over Edie not pooping or rejoicing over her active digestive system. This kid is very loved.

Amma (what Edie will call her grandmother / my mom) is equally busy making muffins, ironing sleep sacks and authoring her own blog. I keep expecting her to not show up one day, casting off the shackles of her self-imposed servitude. But luckily, grandbabies are magical and Edie keeps her coming back for more.

As for me, I'm even getting some reading done these days.