Cream of Potato Soup

Last night was a rough one. E was good for Daddy while I was at work, and I found a peaceful baby when I got home around 9:30. He had a bath, ate a little, and was ready for bed (or so I thought).

Evan kept getting up around every 20 minutes or so after I put him down, and I thought it was because our apartment was so warm last night. But after doing that several times, I noticed the room was cooling off but E was not. I took his temperature: 101. Uh oh. I gave him some baby Tylenol, changed him, and brought him back to bed with me so he could have some juice and the benefit of a cool wet washcloth.

The fever came down after about half an hour, but Ev was up and cranky for the entire night. I kept taking his temperature and letting him nurse so he would feel better. I am assuming the fever came from the shots he had at the doctor yesterday, and today he was doing better. But it did make for a tense evening--he's never reacted that way to shots before.

We're looking forward to a quiet weekend. It's the first one in a long time where we don't have something on the schedule. I'd just like to hang out together and enjoy the nice weather.

Posted by jenny at 07:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was our (actually Ev's) 4 month checkup with the doctor today. Everything went pretty well, though E did not enjoy his 3 shots, one in each thigh and one in the butt. Jennifer gave him some baby tylenol before we got there, and I think that helped.

The vitals: he's now 22 1/4" long (up from 16 or so when he was born) and get this....10 pounds 5 ounces! It's hard to imagine him at 10 pounds, finally, especially seeing pictures from those first days, when he dipped below 3 pounds. We promised him a party when he got to ten, and tomorrow I think we'll take him shopping at Toys R Us for a nice toy or something. He doesn't seem to appreciate the Star Wars action figures I've been buying him though. Jennifer complained that ones hanging in his bedroom are all the bad guys (Boba and Jango Fett, and Count Dooku) that I've been trying to get him more good guys. So far I've got Mace Windu, Yoda, and Qui-Gon. But Mike, you're saying, Qui-Gon wasn't in the new movie.

Actually, he was. Trust me. I'm a total geek, he was there.

Anyways, they're all staying carded and un-opened until he's old enough to fully appreciate their value, when he's maybe 25 or 26. If I had only kept my Millenium Falcon and X-wing from when I was a kid, we'd be set, eBay style.

Our nights have been going more smoothly as well, as last night and tonight he's slept for most of the time Jennifer has been at work. I think it's good for her to get out and away from us. As much as we need her to survive, she needs some time and space too. We miss her when she's gone.

Well, back to the news, and sleeping baby. Things get sweaty when he lays on your chest asleep.

Posted by Mike at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pardon my overreaction to yesterday's events. Tonight went much better, though I think Jennifer is upset that he slept for 2 hours with me and he won't sleep now during the night. Whoops.

I'm off to bed to enjoy a nice midnight thunderstorm with Ev and Jennifer.

Posted by Mike at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Remember when Jennifer was just saying that I'd do fine with Ev tonight?

She was lying. It was horrible. I'm a horrible father.

They're coming tomorrow to take back my father of the year award.

Posted by Mike at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Memorial Day weekend was loads of fun for the family. Evan forgot his tummy troubles for a day or two and got to enjoy picnics at Grandma's and Great Grandma's houses. He was well behaved at both places for the most part, but was glad to be home again with Mom and Dad Sunday night.

Monday was a lazy day for us. E and I recovered from the previous day while Daddy caught up on sleep. We stopped at Grandpa's for a little while, but soon enough E let us know it was time to head home.

He's doing the crying between 7 and 9 thing again. He usually starts up around 7:30 and needs to be walked and cuddled until he falls asleep around 9:30 or 10. At times he seems inconsolable. This is not a good thing and we're not sure what to do about it.

It's going to be worse tonight because I'm starting back to work. I'm nervous to leave him...I know Mike can handle things but I'm sure Evan is going to give him a hard time. Honestly, I don't want to go back to work--I was really hoping I wouldn't have to. I know it's what I need to do, both for the money and so E and Daddy can bond, but that doesn't make it any easier.

Maybe Evan will have so much fun with his Dad that he won't even notice I'm gone. And maybe we'll win the lottery tomorrow night.

Posted by jenny at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry that it's been a while, but Ev hasn't had the best week ever. He's been kind of off since Wednesday, and it really got bad yesterday and this morning. He hasn't been himself, has been crying a lot with no obvious reason, and seemed at times inconsolable.

I thought it was a poop issue, but he took care of that last night and that did help for a little while. We had a tense evening (Mike was gone in Rochester and I was nervous to be the only hand on deck in case things worsened) and he was back to screaming this morning. So I called Blues on Call and Dr. Scully for advice.

Blues on Call was pleasant, though not extremely helpful. After chatting about various symptoms and behavior changes, she suggested that I call my pediatrician. Oh.

So I did, and he called me back rather quickly. He suggested that E either has a virus of some sort (though he has no fever--odd) or has some stomach cramping in general. He wants me to try juice or water instead of his formula suppliment, and see how that goes.

Right now, E is sleeping, passed out from crying. I'm going to try to clear a path through the living room before Alan gets here from Pittsburgh and before Mike gets home from Rochester. I hate having a messy house, but Evan gets all my attention first.

Posted by jenny at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy 4 month birthday, Ev! You've sure grown, as you're 3 times as big now as you were the day you were born. What a four months its been!

Posted by Mike at 08:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quick post as we try to get settled back in at home. Evan did beautifully on his weekend trip. He slept all the way there and back in the car, and didn't fuss a bit. He was good natured for the most part, and his grandparents did as much spoiling as they could. Mike and I got a little alone time too, which made it a nice weekend all around.

Ev's hospital bills are finally starting to trickle in. His charge for a bed in the NICU worked out to about $41,000, and in one day there he worked up $11,000 worth of lab tests. Yikes. Once all the bills come in we'll add up for a grand total...luckily it's all covered by insurance so far. I hope our good fortune continues. We love our million dollar baby.

Posted by jenny at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evan keeps clocking himself in the face. He likes to flail his hands and feet but I don't think he knows they belong to him because every now and then he'll just smack himself upside the head. And then he looks around in shock as if to say, "Hey! Who did that?" I hope he figures this out soon or he's really going to hurt himself.

We're gearing up for a big weekend. It's Evan's first "away game" if you will....we're going to visit Granny Jane and Papa in Cleveland for Daddy's birthday. I'm going to pack everything but the kitchen sink. I hope he does well, it will be our first time away from home and the blizzard and the character prints on the living room wall. Wish us luck.

Posted by jenny at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Each day brings a new revelation about Evan and his personality. Today I find that my son hates to be alone. I've been noticing this for a little while now, but it's funny to see evidence.

He started to drift off this afternoon, so I put him down in his crib, turned the baby monitor on, and went out to fold laundry. He slept for about half an hour, and then I heard him begin to stir. Actually, he began to fart, which I think woke him up. I went in and picked him up, and he promptly looked at me, smiled, and fell asleep in my arms. He wasn't done napping, he just wanted company.

E loves to look at faces, to have people talk to him, to snuggle up on warm bodies. I can understand all this, but he seems very sensitive in this respect. He needs someone near him. He's not happy unless I'm balancing him on one hip while making breakfast, or sitting on the floor with him playing. There is no fun for him in being by himself.

Mike suggested that he is making up for the time he had to be alone and be quiet for the first month of his life. I think he just knows that he's got us right where he wants us. I don't know what of this is true, but I'll buy anything. I don't like to be alone either, so he and I are a perfect fit.

Posted by jenny at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms that read here! My first Mother's Day was today, and it was a busy one. We started off with brunch at the Colony with the girls in Mike's family, and that was a nice time. Evan was a little irritated about being there, but he calmed down after a bottle and some attention. After that he and I went to my mom's house for a visit, which was a little quieter and allowed us to catch our breath.

From there we went back to Aunt Ann's to hang out with the family. It was a chance to catch up with the boys we hadn't seen in the morning, and to let Evan play with cousin Kaitlyn. Last stop was at my dad's for dinner, and we're finally home at 9 tonight. What a day.

I appreciate everyone who sent e-mails, cards, or called today to wish me a happy Mother's Day. It's weird to actually be honored today for the first time, it makes me feel old but special. Motherhood (and fatherhood) are in a way like clubs, and you don't know the secret password until you're already in. But once you are in, you understand what the other members go through to be there, and they recognize you too. It's nice to be part of the club.

Mike and Evan got me a beautiful pair of earrings for my first Mother's Day, and I will treasure them always. Evan's Aunt Jo and her boyfriend Jon made a black and white print of E for us, and it is so sweet, I already put it up in the living room. Evan got some presents too, clothes that will come in handy as he is quickly outgrowing everything he has now.

It's been a long day, and we're all tired. I think Daddy and I are going to wrap things up, grab E and head to bed to watch tv and wind down. A lovely end to a great day.

Posted by jenny at 09:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How is Evan these days? Well, I will tell you that he is the most loved boy in all the world today. Last night he slept IN HIS BED for 6 STRAIGHT HOURS. Which means that Mommy slept in her bed for 6 hours as well. Fantastic. We are getting somewhere, people. When E woke up and I saw that it was 4:30 I picked him up and kissed him and woke Mike up to show him that indeed the child had slept in his own bed. Beautiful.

In other news, I got a Mom-style haircut. In the past two weeks or so we've encountered two problems. Evan likes to grab fistfuls of Mommy's hair and rip it out (so much so that yesterday he napped with two clenched fists full of my hair. Terrible.). Also, my hair is falling out in clumps due to all the lovely hormonal changes of the postpartum period. So I told the lady, cut it short, and make it so I don't have to do anything to it. She did, check the webcam.

Mike says he likes it, though I think he was rather shocked. He's been with me for this a hundred times over the past ten years, when I decide on a whim to chop off my rather long hair. I'd think he'd be used to it! I think Mike's mom is going to be a bit displeased, as she always compliments me on my thick shiny hair. It's still there, there's just less of it. And I'm happy, because I can shake my head and go out the door. Sweet.

Posted by jenny at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our last trip to the pediatric opthamologist was yesterday, and all is well. E's retinas are attached as they should be, so we are good to go.

Evan seems to still be vey fickle. He goes from cooing and smiling to screaming his head off in a matter of seconds. Sometimes he won't go near Mike, other times he cuddles up to Daddy. Some days he is really easy going and others he is cranky and wants to breastfeed all day. He can definitely be a challenge.

For this moment, he is sweet...sleeping soundly in my arms. I hope he relaxes now, because we've got a busy weekend coming up.

Posted by jenny at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have what can only be referred to as a "buttload" of new pictures for you today. Thanks to Alan for sending us his baptism collection. We've also got a new gallery that Jennifer took this week around the house with Ev and some pictures of the finished nursery (mad props to Jo for helping us, we'd never have accomplished anything without her!).

I think ours is the first nursery with a webserver in it, which is powering this very website.

The links are there on the right, enjoy!

Posted by Mike at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The nursery is complete! Thanks to the help of Aunt Jo and contributions from Grandma and Grandpa, everything is finally finished. And it looks really cute. Evan loves his room.

I also brought out and washed his 3-6 month clothes. He has so much cute stuff! Most of it is summer stuff and I can't wait to see him in it. Evan is growing fast now, and it seems that the 0-3 month things will become too short before they become too tight. He grew out of newborn diapers this week too, so we just need to prepare for the next step. So exciting.

It's sunny and warmish today, so maybe we'll go outside and take some pictures.

Posted by jenny at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To go out two nights in a row without Evan has been strange. You almost forget for a minute that you have a baby, but then something happens and you remember and you have a small urge to call home and make sure everything is okay.

Last night Granny Mary Jane came over and sat with E while we went grocery shopping. That was fun, we were able to get in and out of stores easily. We didn't have to hurry our shopping to make sure Evan wasn't getting pissed off in his little carrier. Now we have enough food to last us a while.

Tonight was Game 1 of the Erie Otters playoff series, and we went with Jerry and Sarah. My mom came and sat with him, and though he had his moments she said that he was good overall and she had a nice time. We had a great time ourselves, yelling at bad calls, talking to the drunk guys behind us, and cheering the team on. Mike even caught a wayward puck in the first period. Nice.

It's a true luxury to have your mother babysit your child. There is comfort there, knowing that she successfully raised you and your siblings lets you trust her with your own child. I know it sounds funny, but it can be really nervewracking to leave your new baby with someone, even if you know they are an expert. But having your mom there for you really makes it easier. We are so lucky that we have family to help us out and give us some time off.

Posted by jenny at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)