Month 3

Dear Corbin,

You are three months old today. It seems that the older I get, the faster time moves. I feel like time moved slower for me, when I was a child, and I wonder if you’ll eventually feel the same thing. It feels like this month has gone by much faster than the last two did.

I have been back at work for three weeks now. It’s been easy to fall back into some of my routines, but now I have to find time three times a day to pump milk for you, and that can be very inconvenient. The transition has been easier because Mom and Dad are here at the house with you, and it’s comforting to know that you’re at home in good hands. They take you on walks, and play baby games with you, and you all seem to have a good time. If the housing market was better, and if we didn’t like living in Minneapolis so much, there’s a good chance that we would have plans to move to Madison pretty soon so we could keep them as your daycare without having to keep them living in the garage. But our new plan is to win the lottery and build a nice big house with a grandparents’ suite, and then we’ll all be very comfortable until Marley dies and that first ghost shows up.

You continue to entertain us with your early conversation skills. Along with your cooing you’ve added a loud kind of shout every now and then. It always makes me laugh, and I wonder if you’ll end up being a shouting kind of kid. You have started to reach for things now, sometimes just batting with a fist but sometimes reaching with an open hand. I have seen you sucking on your thumb two or three times, but usually you just suck on whatever part of your hand happens to hit your mouth first. You’ve also started drooling. We had to look in the book to see if you were supposed to be teething yet, but you’re not. It turns out that about 10 weeks is when the salivary glands start working, and let me tell you, yours are working! But you don’t simply leak saliva out of your mouth—you end up with a froth of bubbles on your lips and chin. Someday, I’m sure you’ll have spitting distance contests, but right now you’re winning the contest for Baby Most Likely to Have Rabies.

Your hand-made blanket collection continues to grow, also. Before you were born, my Aunt Maxine gave us a blanket for you that she knit from the prettiest blue yarn. I still have the blanket that she knit for me, too. My friend Vicki sent a blanket that she knit from several dark blue yarns. It isn’t big, but it’s heavy and thick and will be perfect during our cold Midwest winters. And my friend Douglas just sent an afgan that he made, which is blue and yellow and white, and a good weight for spring and fall. These are all in addition to your more typical baby blankets, so believe me: when it comes to blankets, we’ve got you covered.

Love,
Mom

PS: Happy Mother's Day to me, for the first time!

Corbin Tells it How It Is

What it is, yo!



The video is a little washed out, since I had to brighten it up. It took place maybe 6 am Wednesday or Thursday so it wasn't entirely light. Right about the same time Mel's folks showed back up (what, 2 weeks ago?) Corbin started getting more vocal. We're both pleased with this, since we've heard that boys are less likely to be talkative than girls are. Anyway we've been aiming to get some footage of it to share with y'all, but Corbin tends to become more interested in the camera than cooing at us when we get it out and start waving it around.

This last week has been Mel's first week back at work. I've been getting up to share in the early morning fun, since we're both heading off to work now. Mel takes the 4:00 feeding, then I take the 5:00 "I'm ready to get up now." Then it's back to Mel after she's had a chance to get somewhat ready, around 6:20 or so. Mel's folks take over around 7:00.

I think the plan is to have the Grandparents Lam here until about September. They've set up their camper in the garage. It's been lovely having them here, they're helping a lot, and we're saving a bundle on childcare.

Month 2

Dear Corbin,

You are two months old. You have grown, of course, and put on weight, but what I really notice is how much bigger your hands have gotten. They seem to have grown even more than the rest of your body, and you are getting better at putting them in your mouth on command. You still make strange and funny expressions, but you have also started smiling for real, and every time we see you smile we smile big, goofy smiles back at you. We just can’t help ourselves. Hopefully, we’ll get over that before you start high school; by then, we’ll have so many other ways to embarrass you.

This month, I finally managed to wrap my head around the EASY routine, and that’s helped us (and by, “us,” I mean, “me, your perilously-close-to-anal-retentive mother”). It’s good for everyone that you’ve started napping in your crib, but sometimes I miss the days when we would sit on the couch together and you would sleep while I held you. Your nap times are still wildly inconsistent, and you have days where you simply defy any definition of the word schedule, but any kind of routine is good in my book. Of course, that doesn’t keep us from blowing the heck out of it when we’ve got a special occasion. You made it to your first house party this month (Sarah Davis’ house warming), your first art showing (John Catron’s Paper Quilts at the Pillsbury House Theater), and over to visit Chris Smith’s house for the first time, and each night the whole family got to share in the fun of you being overtired. Your father and I will simply have to get better at inviting people to come over here, so that we stop screwing up any sleep patterns that you’re starting to form.

The weather has grown warm enough that you’re wearing onesies instead of footy pjs, which means that you’ve been sporting much cuter outfits than before. Judging from some of the teenagers I see in the mall, childhood may be the only time in your life that you wear anything that can be considered a cute outfit. That’s fine with me, as long as you can do your own laundry by the time you really get picky about your clothing. My wardrobe has also benefited from the warmer weather. I have been going on walks with you, which may be one reason that I’m now able to fit back into some of my pre-pregnancy jeans. Well, until I eat dinner anyway.

Your grandparents Thorne, and your Aunt Erin and your cousin Charlotte came up to visit this month. It was nice to spend time with them, and to see how big Charlotte has grown. It’s a little bit like having a preview of what you might be like at 10 months. I’ve been very grateful this month for advice from our friends and family who are parents. Sometimes I feel that parenting is the worst kind of on-the-job training, and it’s nice to have people around who can give us advice and encouragement. So just remember: when you’re in high school and you think we’re ruining your life, blame them and not us.

Love,
Mom

2 Months!

Somewhere a post is coming that isn't entirely about Corbin. But this isn't it.

Today, 4/22 Corbin is 2 months old. He's logging more consecutive hours of sleep, and we measured him at 4 inches longer than he was at birth (24 inches, now). We're not sure how much he weighs - our bathroom scale doesn't have the accuracy to tell us. We joke about putting him on a produce scale at the grocery store, but we haven't done it. He's just starting to put his fingers in his mouth. Depending on his posture he sometimes looks tall and lithe, or squat and fat. He can hold his head up pretty well, but can't sit yet. He smiles, sometimes. He makes some conversationally toned verbalizations as well.

Here are some pics!





The life of the party:

People Visit Corbin

My Parents!

My Sister!
Sister's daughter, Charlotte. She's I think about 9 mo. old?
Charlotte has $20 says she can take ya, arm wrestling.

We visited the M.I.A. Figured we shouldn't take pictures of their stuff tho. Museums hate that.
Family gave us a "Bumbo" chair. Corbin isn't so sure about it yet.

I think he'll like it, though.

Theory: Corbin looks a bit like my cousin Ryan. For the moment, anyway.

Month One

Dear Corbin,

You are one month old today. I will try to avoid using a massive amount of clichés here, and simply say that we love you so very much and we are so happy that you are here with us. It’s been an eventful month for you. Your grandparents Lam were here for several weeks to smother you with grandparent love. You have met various friends of ours. You made your first trip to the grocery store and to Home Depot, where everyone wanted to see you and to know how old you were. Everyone warned me about strangers being intrusive when I was pregnant, but you’re getting much more attention now than you ever did when you were in my belly. You also went out to breakfast for the first of what will be many, many times. In fact, if our usual schedule of going out for breakfast at least once per weekend continues, you’ll be eating breakfast with us at least 936 times before you leave for college.

You have already outgrown your newborn clothing. We can tell simply by looking at you that you grow bigger every day. Your eyes have already darkened to brown, like mine, but we can only speculate about the rest of your features. You make funny sounds, and funny faces, and your father is funny when he imitates you. You are happiest when we’re holding you, which means you and I do a lot of sitting on the couch watching DVDs of The West Wing. That might sound like the easy life, but we’re watching the seasons made after Aaron Sorkin left the show, so there is an element of sacrifice going on.

The weather is getting nicer, and your father and I are trying to start some yard work projects. Maybe by the time you’re walking we’ll have managed to grow some grass in the front yard. Maybe. For right now, I’m just happy that my spring coat fits me again, even if most of my pants still don’t. But nicer weather also means that you and I can get out and take some walks. Assuming, that is, that you’ll let me get up off the couch.

Love,

Mom

Pic Parade

Corbin continues to change, day by day. We are trying to get him sleeping better when he isn't being held. Mel has been sleeping in a bed in the nursery, and we're hoping to get her back in the big-girl bed with the help of the baby-monitor. G-ma Lam took care of Corbin last night, and we managed to get out to see "The Watchmen." I give it a thumbs up.

More Pics

We we'll be putting lots of pictures of the little man up around here for the next few years. Here's the next batch...

Today's picture goal: include G-ma Lam, get shots of Corbin's eyes open. Mission Accomplished!

Update: Grumpy baby felt much better after a bowel movement.

Babytime!

Well, we've sent announcements in a lot of different directions, so I guess it's time to get one up here: Our baby has been born!

It happened 2/22. On Saturday the 21st Mel reported an actually painful contraction. She had been having Braxton / Hicks contractions (non labor, practice contractions) for a while, so we didn't think anything of it. Naturally, that evening I was scheduled to be out with the boys. Mel got a hold of me by 10:30 to come back, and then things started happening quickly. We got to the hospital around midnight. Mel measured 5 cm right off the bat, and 8 cm shortly after, so they knew we weren't foolin around. We went to the delivery room (from labor-admitting) without delay, got the IV in, had some light narcotics and then went on to the epidural. When this kicked in Mel was finally able to get her feet under her. She had been in a lot of pain, and with labor progressing as quickly as it did she didn't have much time to keep up with things. The epidural slows contractions down, so the nurses gave us some time to get ourselves together. After a 1 hr nap a nurse, who though unnamed shall remain forever close to our hearts, came in and said "Well, you're at 9 and a half. Would you like to push?" Our boy was carried very low the entire time, that is to say he didn't have far to go. After 20 min of pushing through contractions the nurse said "Stop!" 10 min later we had a doctor to make the catch and a few more pushes brought our son into the world.

It was 3:39 am. Not quite 4 hrs after getting to the hospital, we had reached the apogee of our stay. There were 10 babies that night, and 7 circumcisions the next day. We got outta there about 36 hrs after that.

Before we left we figured we really ought to settle on a name. Mel had said early that she didn't know if she could choose one before she had seen the guy. At that time we had picked out a few family names, and I gathered a batch from baby name resources on the web. In the hospital we ended up choosing Corbin from the short list. Faced with the need to choose again for the middle name, my own middle name was conscripted for duty.

Corbin Christopher Thorne. 6 lbs, 14 oz at birth, 20 in. Pictures follow.

Correction

I made a mistake the other day when I posted that my uterus was measuring 30 inches. I meant that it was measuring 30 centimeters. Of course, now it's measuring 33 cm, so go ahead and measure your torso again. I'll wait.

If you want a measurement in inches, my belly measures 44 inches around at belly button level.

Waiting on the lungs

That's really what we're doing right now. He could come out any time, but a few more weeks of lung development is really a pretty good idea, so I'm trying not to be too impatient. Ha ha. Hi, have you met me?

Something else you may not have known about being pregnant: your extremeties sometimes go numb. WTEWYE says it's because you've started to retain a lot of water, which swells your tissues, which press on your nerves, which go numb or sometimes tingly. So if you see me suddenly start waving my right arm over my head, it's because my hand has gone numb again. This is especially fun when I'm driving.

Speaking of which, there's been this whole discussion about the safety of using cell phones while you're driving, and how unsafe it is because you're distracted by the phone call. I think it's a hell of a lot more distracting when the kid is kicking me than if I'm on the phone, but I'd love to see them try to tell pregnant women to stop driving after the second trimester. Good luck with that.

I would also like to say that my stomach has been upgraded from a Category Showing to a Category Large. I've found myself actually running into things with my belly, which is a really good way to make yourself feel like a slob.

I spent yesterday laying around in between trips to the basement to start the next load of laundry. We did realize that we should probably freeze some meals, too, and I guess getting our bag packed would be a good idea, although that's clearly much less important than making sure that I've borrowed seasons 5-7 of the West Wing from Heidi and Garry, don't you think? Clearly.

D minus 6 weeks

And counting. So, here are some things that you might not have known about what it's like to be pregnant.

1. Eventually your uterus measures over 30 inches. Go ahead and measure your torso--I'll wait. Yes, that's right, when you're not pregnant, your entire torso (from the middle front of your pelvis to your neck) probably measures around 30 inches. And you know, there's stuff in there that you're using. Like, for instance, your lungs. Or your intestines. And those don't suddenly start living outside of your body when you're pregnant--they all just get squished up to the top. So that breath support you're used to having? Forget about it.

2. As your baby grows and displaces all of your organs upward (or back toward your spine) your ribcage expands to accommodate all of that stuff. At the same time, your boobs have continued to grow. So the comfortable bra thing? Forget about it.

3. Also as your rib cage expands and your abdominal muscles separate from each other, your back muscles pick up more and more of the work of actually keeping you upright. This coincides with the time when you can no longer even pretend that laying on your stomach is comfortable, no matter how many pillows you stuff under you. Adam has taken to making me lay on the heating pad, and then on my side while he tries to get the persistant knots out of my back. He's a sweetheart, and he does wonders, but you know the way you used to crack your back and then feel relaxed and limber? Forget about it.

My baby shower was on Saturday, which was tons of fun. My friend Heidi was kind enough to plan and host it, and her sister Laurie and mom Cora made delicious food for us. Lots of people came, and we got really nice presents, and Heidi found fun games that didn't involve simulating baby poop, and it was really a very nice afternoon. Now we just need a crib for the kid, and I'll feel like we're actually ready for an infant. On Sunday morning, our friend Doug came over for breakfast with his son Adrian, who amply demonstrated that the house might be ready for an infant, but it's so not ready for a toddler. All those stereo speakers and electronics that Adam has been assembling? Forget about it!

New white stuff

Well, it's definitely winter here. We've been getting snow all day, and it's not supposed to stop until late tomorrow. Just in time for the arctic cold temperatures to arrive. Adam and I both have off of work on Monday, which means that neither of us will have to commute in the -20 degree weather. Yay! I can only imagine how my poor brother and Lena will feel when they fly in Tuesday night to a snow storm in Madison, with temps below zero. Poor CA kids! Good thing we got them some good Christmas presents.

I just finished a small filming project with Commedia Beauregard, who I used to be a company member with last year. They got tapped by Paramount Pictures to film parts of the Klingon Hamlet, based on the fact that they've done A Christmas Carol in Klingon as a fundraiser two years running, now. Commedia asked me to come back and SM the scenes, since they were being filmed about three days after the fundraiser. It was a really great experience--I'm glad I did it--and you can all look for us as part of the DVD extras when Paramount re-releases Star Trek 6 next May. Fun!

One of the best parts was that my stipend from the project paid for a lovely new front-loading washing machine. Woohoo! I'm waiting for Adam to come home with the new high efficiency detergent, and then we're going to do our first load of laundry in our new machine. Here are some pix of Adam and Garry bringing in the new washer:

As if I had been posting all along...

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails? No. Our little boy is made of fruit cocktail.

Well, and Pizza. I made a delicious pizza on Sunday. I am going to make a pizza every week until I have mastered the pizza fu!


These images were captured with our new $35 digital video camera from Microcenter. CHEAP!

Short update

Our next ultrasound is a week from Friday. I know you're all looking forward to more horrifying pictures of the little guy!

We had a delicious Thanksgiving, and we hope you did, too. My mom and dad were up from Madison, and they gave us the first gifts off our baby registry: a carseat and stroller frame. They also brought up a couch for the spare room and took away the double bed. So we actually have some room in the spare room now--it's beginning to look like a kid could actually live in there.

I've been slowly collecting baby clothing off of cragislist, so I've been washing and sorting all of that. It's taken me a little while to get used to the idea that these aren't actually doll clothes instead of baby clothes. Newborn onesies are almost disturbingly small. Not, mind you, that I want to deliver a large baby!

Adam has been fighting with his car lately (maybe he'll post about it--ha ha ha) so that's been a bummer. Hopefully, the repairs will fall under our warrenty. Everything else has been going well, which leaves us plenty of time to wonder what the heck to buy everyone for Christmas???

The Midriff at Midway

Me at week 22 1/2.

1/4 of the new Science Bathroom

Adam and I had been convinced for a while that the bathtub and shower in the house needed to be replaced. We wanted first, to make sure that we didn't have water damage anywhere in the bathroom flooring, and second, to get rid of the very ugly tile and shower walls that were there.

Step One: Get the old tub out. As you can see, that necessitated cutting a cast iron tub in half. While Adam and Dad worked on that, I took a shower at Heidi and Garry's house and went to the Ivey Awards.


Step Two: Tear out the old tile, plaster and lathe to make sure that there isn't water damage to the studs or flooring. That process was mainly just messy and time consuming. Everything turned out to be sound, although old and not exactly standard. Here's a view of what the inside of the walls in our house look like:

Steps 3 - 468: The damn plumbing. We discovered that whoever put in the last tub ran the plumbing for it over the floor, instead of under it. So, in order to put the new tub in at floor level, we had someone come out and re-route the tub water supply lines and the drain line. The good part is, we're now up to code. Well, okay, that depends on which code you're looking at. We had to get a variance so that the wall for the shower plumbing could go in the same spot as it was previously, which was not far enough away from the toilet to be up to building code. Here's a look at the lovely new plumbing. Please note that these steps took over a week, during which time we were bathing in our basement. Such fun.

Steps 469 - 234897: Install new tub, and make sure it's level. Install new surround walls. Caulk. Sheetrock. Plaster. Sand. Clean. Paint. Plaster. Sand. Clean. Paint. Hang shower curtain rod and shower curtain. We still need to patch up the floor in front of the new tub and then wash the whole room to get the last of the plaster dust out. We also need to put the access paneling on the shower plumbing wall, and then we can start having some fun finding just the right accountrements. Here's Adam and Dad leveling the new tub:

Soon to be a famous B-horror flick actor

We're definintely in week 19, in case you were really wondering. Here's our little boy, very helpfully snuggled up to my bladder. (Thanks, kid.) This was the Level II ultrasound which took the place of our regularly scheduled Level I ultrasound, so that we could check on his heart development. He's got a clean bill of health from this one, and holy crap, I can't tell you how nice it is to walk out of the perinatal clinic knowing your kid is healthy and not wondering what the phone call will say later. Both the ultrasound tech and the perinatal doc were very pleased with how all of his organs look, so we're feeling good about that.

We're also feeling good about his chances to star in the next Chucky movie.

Yikes, dude. Good thing you've got another four months to go. Try to grow a cute face before March, okay?

What track where?

I've lost track of what week we're on today. I think it's 18 because our (third and hopefully final) ultrasound is next Thursday, and I'm pretty sure we scheduled it then because we'd be in week 19. So, hey! Week 18! Whatever.

The bathroom is slowly coming back together. My parents had driven up to help us, and we had taken the week off from work. On Monday, we took our the tub and those awful plastic shower walls and discovered that not only was the plumbing not up to code, but the wall for the shower plumbing would actually not be up to code either. So, we got a permit from the city to have our shower wall closer to the toilet than is actually code, and we had a plumber come in to move the plumbing around and make sure it's up to code. $1200 later, we were finally ready to put the new tub/shower into place.

Of course, by then it was already Friday, and it was time for Adam and I to go to St Louis, MO, for his cousin's wedding. It was a very long drive, but hey, look! This hotel has a bathroom with a whole, functioning shower! Plus, our neice is way cuter than any other baby on earth. You know, for now, until ours gets here. The wedding was nice, too. It was at the Historic Hawken House, which meant that we got to tour the house while the reception was being set up. Very cool Victorian furnishings, and some fun stories about the nine Hawken children.

We drove back up on Sunday, and on Monday the plumbing inspector came out to check up on the plumber's work. He gave the thumbs up, so we proceeded to put the tub in place and level it all out. As of last night, the shower surround is in place as well, all leveled out and waiting to be attached to the wall studs. My parents have been kind enough to do chores and more bathroom work while Adam and I are at work--we couldn't have done this project without them.

I have photos sitting on the camera at home. You'll have to check back for them later. But it feels really good to at least see the tub/shower in place. It makes me think I actually might get to stop bathing in the basement one of these days!

Oh, PS, I forgot to say that all of our tests from the last post came back completely normal. Yay!

Clinic Appt #3, or Sure, Take Some More Blood!

I had my second appointment with Sheela, our Nurse Midwife, this morning. I got to drink a hideous orange beverage (which contained sodium benzoate, thank you very much) and then have blood drawn an hour later to see if I have gestational diabetes. If I do, I must be the most asymptomatic person ever, since I've been eating ice cream like crazy. They also took blood to test the baby for Spina Bifida, and that's the last screening test we'll have to deal with for a while.

In October, we'll have our Level II Comprehensive Ultrasound to check on the fetal heart development, so we're skipping the general "how many limbs and what's the sex" ultrasound. We've seen his limbs, and we know he's a boy, and he had a lovely strong heartbeat today, so that's all good.

If I haven't mentioned it before, one of the lessons that I have learned from the past two months is that you should not be shy about interrogating (and I mean that literally) your clinic staff. You should make them tell you everything about whatever it is they're talking about, and I mean everything. If I had done this sooner, we would not have gone through the screening hell that we have, and that makes me really angry. I got on Sheela's case hard today about the fact that her secretary sent me medical forms with zero explanation whatsoever about what I was supposed to do with them, and when I called and talked to Sheela about it this week, she still didn't give me clear answers about what was going on. So, I'm now a strong proponent of the call them until you're satisfied that you're fully informed method.

Because, hi, I'm pregnant, I'M SUPPOSED TO RELAX AND NOT BE STRESSED OUT BY YOUR CRAP. Thank you.

In other news, my parents will be up next week to help us put a new tub/shower into the bathroom. I'm excited to make sure that our tub is not going to fall into our kitchen. =)