Pics from last week

A bit out of sequence, but some pics from last week.

It takes a village

While I was pregnant, I had conversations with some of you about our child care plans. I remember telling some of you 'Spencer is planning to bring the baby to work with him. He took his son to work, and he's looking forward to having a baby with him during the daytime.' How humorous those delusions seem now. You'd think that those of you with children could have said something instead of laughing silently to yourselves.

So, what have we done with Olivia this month? Olivia was lucky to stay with Spencer's parents during my first three weeks back at work where she spent most of her day being doted on by her SF grandparents. My parents didn't want to miss out on the fun, so they came out last week to shower her with love and attention before we put her in daycare next week. It's been a huge help for Spencer and me. Thank you Mom and Dad and Susan and Richard!

"No, the donut store is to the right."

Come on Auntie Margaret. Fork over that college money!

What if they mated?

Which 50% is Daddy?

Does the beer belly come from Mommy? Or Daddy?

And Olivia's waist measurement? About 18.5 inches.

New Poll: Olivia's girlish figure

Take a guess, what does Olivia's waist measure?

Some Pictures

New Polls

One of the benefits of having a November baby is that you get to piggyback your birth announcements onto your Christmas cards. Or so I thought when I ordered 100 birth announcements imprinted with 'Happy Holidays.' I got around to sending about 50 at which point I ran out of both stamps and the will to live.

The first poll question -- should I send the remaining birth announcements anyway?

And the second poll question -- is it odd to get a birth announcement with a picture of Gerald Ford on the stamp? Was this the Postal Service's way of getting back at me for my cynical remarks about 'Love' stamps?

Obama!

Olivia, Spencer and I are all very excited about Obama's results in Iowa. More later!

Swaddle me

In my last month of pregnancy, my friends loaned us their 'Happiest Baby on the Block' DVD. Before selling the DVD on eBay*, we played it to learn the 5 Ss of quieting a crying baby.

The baby wasn't very happy when I brought her home yesterday, so I jogged my brain to remember the Ss 1) Swaddle 2) Side 3) Shhh 4) Suck 5) Swing. The theory is that the first three months of an infant's life are an adjustment from the first 10 months, the 5Ss provide comfort to the baby by simulating a few sensations he or she felt in the womb.

Swaddling is the first 'S.' Swaddling a baby simulates the close quarters that the baby shared with my liver and kidneys. The first thought that crossed my mind is whether the baby would be even more comfortable if I went to the meat market and bought some offals to put in her crib with her. Unfortunately, the meat market closes at 6:30, so it was me and the blanket.

I'm not very good at swaddling infants. The picture below shows the best I could do (after 4 tries.) The point of the swaddle is that the arms should be close to the body. Not flailing out to the side as they are in my swaddle. Luckily, the girl did finally fall asleep. Probably more due to exhaustion from trying to free herself from the blanket.


* Rebecca, if you're reading this we have your CD, and will be dropping it off soon :)