Rugrats
About kids, ours and others, pictured or not, and Rugrat Carnival announcements
Now relegated to Blogblivion...Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Sadie Report
Sadie is six weeks old today, and boy are there milestones.
In the past couple days, she has suddenly taken on a more mature look. She noticed her feet yesterday, explicitly, and stared at them while she curled her toes. That’s on top of her love of kicking, to the point where I pissed her off last night by “burritoing” her in a blanket so she could barely move her feet. If she’s in bed and you spread a blanket on her, she makes a fast game of kicking it off. She also gripped my finger for an extended time last night, and seemed to know what she was doing.
Last night she slept for more than five hours! Straight. During which Deb got to sleep.
Then she ate efficiently and slept for another three hours! During which Deb got to sleep.
This fit nicely with her seemingly minimal sleep yesterday.
The funny thing is the first 5-odd hours of sleep were in her swing. It’s a wonder the batteries haven’t died. She woke up for a change and food shortly after I started to worry at how long she’d been doing her dead baby imitation. The other big stretch was in her bassinet. Deb got to spend all night in the bed, rather than the recliner with Sadie alternating between eating and sleeping on her. Woohoo!
For a long time she has been aware that if she needs changing and we carry her toward the bedroom, changing is what she will get. That also helps identify what’s making her fuss. That she goes silent as we approach the bedroom means diaper is what she seeks. It’s pretty cool. She does the same if she needs to eat and Deb carries her into the living room. That’s the most usual eating place.
This morning she sat in the spare carseat in the computer room, then started complaining after a while. Picking her up didn’t help, and she protested vigorously sitting on my leg in burping position. Carrying her in the direction of the kitchen made her shut up. Ah, but this time the complaining started back up as I got close to and went through the bedroom door.
Curious.
Her swing is in the kitchen. I put her in there. She’s been happy for a couple hours now. Seems to enjoy the puddle of sunlight shining on her through the window.
So there’s another milestone; she “asked” to go in the swing, rather than merely being put there and deciding this was okay.
Six weeks! We’re in trouble when she can apply that brain to full effect.
There are lot of pictures. A big backlog. I’ll try to post some soon!
Cross-posting this to Sadie’s blog for the sake of people who only read that.
Friday, October 01, 2004
Can There BE Too Many Pictures
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
Displayed here are 400 pixel wide images. Click each one to get an 800 pixel version in a new window, which can be nicer to view without being an absurd file size or larger than a typical screen. Click the text link below each picture if you would like the original, extremely large image produced by the camera.
Deb and Sadie
Really huge version
Closeup of Sadie on Deb’s lap
Really huge version
Sadie from the side
Really huge version
Sadie with me
Really huge version
Usual favorite way to quiet and sleep, until today when she decided she would cry unless I held her out in front of me in the air where she could look at my face. Then she slept and was happy this way.
Really huge version
Dad’s eye view of Sadie’s face when she’s held in my left arm.
Really huge version
She already has a spontaneous nickname of “Burrito Baby,” because swaddling her in the blankets seems a lot like wrapping burrito fillings in a flour tortilla.
She’s also closer to the strenth and coordination of a month old baby, rather than a newborn. I knew she was ahead, but a month was the spontaneous observation of one of the medical people.
Anyway, more pictures should appear here sooner or later, no doubt ad nauseum for some folks.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
September 14 Ultrasound
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
I have been remiss about scanning and posting ultrasounds of late. Not that you are missing a huge amount, as it is increasingly difficult to get clear ones. She’s dropped way down where she’s hard to see.
This is from September 14, a front view. It’s hard to see here, but I think on the print it looks like her face is under the surface of water, and her fingers are poking above the surface. Click for a larger version.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Yet Another Ultrasound
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
This isn’t much of an ultrasound, but it’s harder to get a good profile since she has burrowed way down, trying to tunnel out of there. We didn’t get a face shot, though I did get to see a couple that were good enough when we got the tour. It was also cool seeing exactly what they are looking at in the interior of the kidney, slightly oversized on the left. Anyway, here’s the latest, which you can click for a larger version:
Monday, August 30, 2004
Just A Hair Longer…
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
We went for the last fancy ultrasound and perinatologist visit today. Got some not very good images, below. She loves to block her face with her hands, which you can see in the side views.
The face shot isn’t so good by itself, but builds on the ones we have gotten to date. The most significant thing is it appears she has an impressive head of hair. Her eyes also don’t look as deep set in this one.
They estimate her current weight at 6 lbs 9 oz. Her left kidney is slightly oversized, but it’s likely just fuzzy measurement. Just to be sure, she’ll get her own ultrasound after she’s born. They can get a more accurate reading without mom in the way.
The doctor was extremely pleased with how things are going, and we should be golden.
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Mostly Baked
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
I joined Deb for the weekly ultrasound yesterday. Previously I had only gone to the perinatologist ultrasounds at the hospital. There will be another of those next week, which should be fun. That’s 35 weeks!! Depending how things seem to be going, we could have Sadie in living color, as opposed to grainy greyscale, next week.
I certainly hope things go better than that, naturally. It’d be nice to have a few weeks more to be ready. On the other hand, she’s an estimated six pounds now, and at this stage ought to put on another half pound per week. If she goes term, that ought to be about nine. A little under term might be more comfortable…
Anyway, we got two sets of prints this week. They’re almost all the same. Each pair is the same picture at different zooms. I’m putting one small version of one image here in the post, followed by links to large versions of all four images. These are her pouty lips pictures.
These all open in new windows:
Ultrasound 1
Ultrasound 2
Ultrasound 3
Ultrasound 4
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Alien Sightings
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
Deb had an ultrasound yesterday; a weekly thing now. Since the tech was kind enough to provide pictures again, I’ll be kind enough to bore you with them here. The side view below is a small version you can click on to get the larger one. The face view is a partial image you can click to get the full, larger one.
This one looks more like an alien than the last one, but there’s no doubt she has my DNA:
It’s hard to see in the scan, but this is the drama queen pose:
If you’re lucky and she’s not, perhaps I’ll also post some pictures of Deb at 33 weeks.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
What A Cutie
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
Deb went for the weekly ultrasound. It took a bit of extra time, between needing to do detailed measurements, and the little squirt being hyperactive in the face of attempts to observe her. I think she mistakes herself for a quantum state.
Anyway, we got pictures! Including a full face shot! Deb’s all excited at how much she looks like me, at least in the upper face. Click on each of these for a larger version. These were increased in brightness by 5% to make them a bit clearer. Enjoy!
Monday, July 12, 2004
Giant Baby
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
We had another level 2 ultrasound today and - surprise! - at 28 weeks the squirt estimates out at 3 pounds 9 ounces. Wow! She’s a veritable giant of a baby.
Perfectly healthy otherwise. Sorry, no pictures this time. We never got a good profile view and there were no 3D ultrasounds done today. She did show us her cute face briefly, but there was no capture of it.
We don’t go back until August 30, because, well, there’s no reason to go back. Plus there will be tons of other monitoring.
The question they were asking based on the size was whether Deb had gotten the glucose test, which she did, but the results are long since in with no urgent phone messages to report bad news. Chances are no problem with diabetes. I figure it’s just they hit her at exactly the right stage of a growth spurt, perhaps combined with less than perfect accuracy of these things.
So that’s the latest from my perspective. Oh, she was such a good baby! When the technician needed her to roll over, she did so on request. That was cool. Bet she’s not nearly as cooperative when she’s out of there…
Saturday, June 19, 2004
Where We Stand So Far
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
For those keeping track at home, here is an updated loot report list of things we have so far for Sadie. With a couple pictures!
I’m told we have a crib that my father and stepmother originally bought for my sister’s family.
We have a good high chair (or is it spelled highchair?) from my brother and his wife. Just needs a bit of cleaning and is currently in pieces in the disastrously messy storage room baby’s room.
We have an infant stroller with infant car seat transportation system. It’s a good one, given us by one of the lawyers I work for, pictured here:
After drooling over it for a few visits to BJ’s, we bought the 3 in 1 bedside bassinet changing table unit in the box pictured below. Luckily the picture gives a good idea what it is exactly:
We’re getting a big toybox made by my grandmother’s late brother, which for now will answer the “where are we going to store all these blankets” question.
Finally, some days ago we received a box of adorable baby clothes, things like receiving blankets, and even a cute rubber duckie (you’re the one) from the Jedi Parents. No pictures, at least not yet, but as we unwrapped and looked at each item, it made the baby so much more real and got us all emotional.
There you have it so far. I am thinking it might be useful to create a more compact, less editorialized list down the road, that we can update as needed, as an informational tool for family and friends who are eager to supply baby stuff. This will do for now. We may be getting more soon, from another lawyer I work for who has a whole laundry list of items she can pass on to us that will otherwise go to someone else or charity. We just have to make a point of stopping by her house to see what we want.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Hello in there…
[Originally published to the old baby blog]
So we were at 20 weeks as of yesterday. Halfway! We might even be ready by the time the little squirt arrives. We have a nice highchair hand me down, and my mother landed us a good used crib for $15 Saturday and volunteered to buy a new mattress for it. She also offered us a toybox my great uncle made for my younger brother when he was a baby. Great storage.
Deb has been feeling the little gymnast for weeks. Even though it was improbable, she kept having me try to feel what are still modest little kicks and bouncing of the walls. Which, incidentally, seems to go in not always predictable sleep/wake or active/inactive cycles, which sometimes appear to change abruptly in response to given foods.
Saturday I had my hand on The Belly™ and Deb watched me get a funny look on my face. “You felt that one, didn’t you?” I did! Kind of a smudgy brushing of pressure against my hand below the fingers. So light I needed that confirmation to be sure what had happened. That was so cool!
It’s still so early, we can only imagine the pummeling Deb will get as the baby gains size and strength. At least the wall-bouncing, gymnastic mobility will lessen. I can’t wait to be able to feel it more clearly and regularly.