Christmas Stripes

I just had to post some cutie pie pictures of Amelia in the Christmas outfit we just got from cousin Meghan!

Dad's Corner

Welcome to "Dad's Corner."

This is the section of the blog where you will be getting a very male perspective on this whole family gig.

Today's issue: "Women are Complicated"

No, I am not about to go on a rant about how emotional my wife is, how I never understand her and how I am always in trouble. (For the record, you will be hard pressed to find someone more even keeled than Christy, she communicates well, and on those seldom occasions I get in trouble, I know exactly what I did, and probably knew full well I would get in trouble, and then proceeded to do it anyway.)

I am talking biology and the functioning of a woman's body.

Men are simple. I am pretty sure the entire design of our bodies is centered around impregnating a woman. (Preferably your wife.)

Women, on the other hand, are complicated. WAY complicated. The very first insight I got into this was the following: (For you single men out there, you may wish to stop reading here if you want a little mystery to remain in life.)

Quite a few years back, I was sitting with my then girlfriend and my sister in Iowa, when I discovered something: WOMEN COME EQUIPPED WITH WIRELESS NETWORKING! To my amazement, I discovered that women, while living together for an extended amount of time, will start cycling together. (And no, I do not mean bicycles.)

Yes, pharamones apparently are constantly shooting out of women like pollen from plants, spores from fungi, and over-simplistic, shallow political cliches out of Sarah Palin. Apparently women also have collectors that detect these pharamones, and through some sort of vodo witchcraft, their bodies SYNC up (copyright Ford Motor Company) and the aforementioned non-bicycling activities commence at the same time. Bizarre.

To further add to this bizarreness, there are apparently "Alpha Females" who force other women onto their "frequency." This can only lead me to the conclusion that women are pack animals. (Which coincidentally would explain their group behavior regarding public restrooms.)

What brought on this discussion, you ask? Well, I will tell you:

This morning, as we finally arose from bed around 10ish this morning (IN YOUR FACE, ALL OF YOU WHO SAID OUR DAYS OF THAT WERE OVER!!!) Christy decided to feed our daughter. Amelia was not very awake yet, so Christy set her down (in an extremely safe, OSHA approved manner) and started to prepare for the feeding.

Suddenly, Amelia awoke, realized she was, in fact, hungry, and started to announce this discovery with a mighty bellow. Instantly, with absolutely no physical contact, milk spewed forth from my wife's left bosom! Christy yelled, and dove for a nearby burp cloth to protect the couch cushions.

Let me recap for those of you (men) who missed it:

Amelia's mere cry caused excretions to flow forth from my wife!!!

I really staggered in amazement at this connection between mother and child. (I was also informed that other babies' cries will also sometimes illicit such a response!)

In this mere one month, I have been amazed at how Christy's body (and I would extend this to all women's bodies) is/are built for this whole mothering thing, psychologically, emotionally, physically.

I rarely get preachy on this blog, but this was so astounding this morning that I can't help it:

"I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it well." Psalm 139:14

I think even fearfully-er and wonderfully-er if you are a woman.

Now, since I am NOT a woman, and therefore not equipped with wireless networking, nor am I equipped with mammary glands, I need to quit blogging and do the dishes while Amelia is eating second breakfast.

That's the view from Dad's Corner for now.

One Month Picture

Good thing other people like Alex Rodriguez had kids before I did so I can steal all of their good ideas. Here is Amelia at about 1 week (I missed the day we came home) and 1 month. Amelia obviously doesn't think it's such a good idea, however. We also got an awesome whale stuffed animal from my cousin Cherri that I'm going to use as a frame of reference...unfortunately we didn't have it for the first picture. You can see how much she has grown already though!

1 Week

1 Month

One Month Old-If it's wet and isn't yours, it's Amelia's

It's hard to believe that we've had our sweet girl for a month already. As promised by all baby literature, as the 6 week mark approaches she is getting fussier but things are getting easier all at the same time.

Amelia has decided, like her mother, that pooping every day is for the birds and therefore stores it up for a few days. This causes a less than ideal bowel situation, more crankiness, and less sleep for all. Then, however, the "movement" (why is it called a movement anyway?) passes, and after mommy cleans her clothes, diaper pad, walls, and the neighbors house, all is right with the world. The cycle then repeats about every 3 days, I think, since this has only happened twice. Not much of a routine I suppose.

To move on from the subject of bodily fluids, our precious girl has soaked Mommy to the point of needing to change all of her clothes three times this week. Twice, the stream of barely digested breastmilk has exceeded the volume of an average inground pool. I have to admit, I was more upset about the loss of my liquid gold that I worked so hard to produce than the need to change my whole outfit...again. Consequently, the diaper bag is now stocked with a change of clothes for Mom as well as baby. This extra supply of clothes came just in time because at breastfeeding group this week as I carried my naked baby to the scale (she weighed 9lbs 11oz!) she peed all over me. She probably would have been 2oz heavier if she has waited 30 seconds to pee.

Despite the impressive volume of excretions my daughter produces, she has gained 2.5lbs since birth and has apparently reached the magic weight that allows her to sleep through the night. Now, according to the bible (aka: What to Expect the First Year), "Sleeping through the night" means 6 continuous hours from the beginning of one feeding to the beginning of the next. This is not the average adult's definition of sleeping through the night. As the one providing the meal, I must be awake to feed our little munchkin, change her diaper, swaddle her and place the sleepy girl ever so gently in her crib which causes her to switch to a wide awake state. By now it has been an hour since the beginning of the feeding. Then I lay awake in my own bed listening to her protest about being alone in her room. Luckily, this protest has shortened over the past few nights and sometimes only lasts 30 seconds or so. So I don't actually get 6 straight hours of sleep, but all of this is a drastic improvement to the 3 hour schedule which, as you can imagine, only leaves an hour for sleeping. Way to go Amelia!

Enough with the blab...here are the pictures and another video:

How do you bring the laundry and the baby upstairs?

A minor spit up...that sweater is hand wash only. Why did I buy that?

Sporting the "I'm so cool" outfit. She is much trendier than her parents.

She discovered the mirror on her floor-play-mat-with-hangie-things thing. She talked to herself for a half an hour while I folded laundry! Ahh...the life of a stay-at-home mom!

Hiccups and Coos

Just because she is so cute!

Smile for the Flip

Week Three-Attack of the Purple Face

I guess I haven't had nearly as much time to blog as I thought I would with a newborn in the house. Rob went back to work this week and I have been busier than ever. Luckily, Amelia is quite portable at this stage and seems to love her car seat.

Last Monday I finally called the midwives because something wasn't right with breastfeeding. My nipples and breasts burned all the time and it felt like shards of glass were being pounded into them when Amelia ate-everything I read said "Breastfeeding is not supposed to hurt" but nothing told me what to do if, in fact, it DID hurt...which it did. Jerri, one of the midwives at Back Cove is also a lactation consultant so I called and made an appointment with her. She diagnosed me with a yeast infection and prescribed Gentian Violet. If you feel so inclined, do a Google Image search for Gentian Violet and you will see many adorable babies with purple mouths (also see the pictures of Amelia below). This stuff stains. Who knows what it is made of and you can only find it at homeopathic herbal voodoo stores-BUT IT WORKS! Amelia never got thrush, which is a yeast infection in babies mouths, and was never bothered by the purple face. It is finally gone (the pain and the purple face) as you can see in the top picture (this blog puts pictures in reverse order for some reason). So, my warning to all of you young women who may someday breastfeed...it's not supposed to hurt! If it does, go see someone! It can be better. Learn from me, I waited way too long to seek help.

In less painful news, Amelia is now 9lbs 11oz...she has gained almost a full pound in a week! She is starting to smile in response to us and loves to stare at faces. I spend most of the day just staring at her (and taking pictures). My neck is actually a bit sore from looking down at her when she eats. Ahhh....love.

She is a great sleeper, she has pulled a number of 5-6hour stretches at night letting Mommy and Daddy get almost a full night's sleep! See...no more purple face.

The Boppy Pillow specifically says NO SLEEPING...

She loves to sleep on us...notice the burp cloth to protect Daddy from purple spit-up.

Staring at the Christmas Tree.

WARNING: NO SLEEPING

Obviously a girl with a purple face and a giraffe growing out of her head would be enthralled by a hanging zebra.

A newborn outfit that might be officially too small. She can't quite stretch her legs out.

Much more interested in Daddy than Blueberries for Sal

Brief nap in the crib...she prefers our arms.

Purple face.

Helping Mommy decorate the tree

Ooooohhhh.....water....

Week Numero Deuce.

Hello Sports Fans!

For those of you playing along at home, yes, it has been approximately a week since we last posted pics or any sort of narrative of young Amelia's (or her parents') lives.

Sorry. I know you were probably expecting daily updates. That may not happen.

Let us start this week by acknowledging the new title to our blog: The Reed Read. This reflects the movement of the blog away from such an Amelia-centric focus (Spike's Story) to a blog more reflective of our life as a family, which will hopefully eventually include siblings for Amelia. Credit must go to Mr. Brian Vos of Silver Spring, MD, for the new title. He wins the "Name the New Blog" contest, and has now received his full reward of being mentioned in the blog. (Thank you, Brian, and we now consider this matter closed. So please, have your lawyers quit calling us. They always do so while Amelia is sleeping and keep waking her up.)

So what has happened this week:

Amelia has aptly demonstrated the benefits of the trendy, "All Breastmilk Diet," as she has added approximately 1 ounce per day since coming home from the hospital. She also continues to fly in the face of current societal beauty standards by gaining weight and staying remarkably cute. Take that, 21st century USA! (As of Monday, November 29, Amelia weighed 8 lbs, 3 oz.)

GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!

We have successfully made some excursions out of our new baby quarantine this past week. The Amelia Reed '10 tour has thus far included:

Our neighborhood.

Fort Williams Park, where Amelia did NOT see the Atlantic Ocean and Portland Head Light since it was cold, and she was all bundled up in the Ergo-Baby, and asleep.

Church. (mdchurch.org) Where she enjoyed "Behold the Lamb" performed by a group of musicians that included a couple of Missio Dei'ers and a lot of other people. (She was raptured the whole time. Or maybe looking out the window, thinking about breastmilk, or staring into space. It is so hard to tell...)

OTB. (That's On The Border for those of you less in the know.) Amelia was introduced to the finer points of Mexican restaurants, namely free chips and salsa. (True, she did not experience this right away, but later when she consumed chips and salsa in breastmilk form, and listened to Mommy and Daddy groan about how they ate too many chips and consumed too much salsa.)

Cambridge Coffee House, again.

Otherwise, the past week has been:

Eat. Sleep. Poop. Repeat.

Fortunately, Amelia is able to carry out pretty much all of these functions anywhere we go. She is imminently portable, which is handy. (This should not be confused with "potable," however, which means she is safe to drink. She is not potable, so please, do not try to drink Amelia.)

One exciting event: Amelia experienced her first power outage last night. She did marvelously, remaining calm and not panicking. (More on that in the photos, below.)

Another exciting event: Amelia had her newborn photo shoot with Cathy Clicks Photography. (cathyclicks.com). The teasers we have seen so far on facebook have been beautiful. Obviously, our little girl is blessed to be well above average in both the looks and brains departments, if we do say so ourselves.

Ok, enough blogging, on with the photos:

This is the pillow cousins Jack and Lexi made for Amelia. Thanks, guys! As you can see, Amelia is really excited about it!

Here, Christy is displaying the usefullness of the Mobi-Wrap, which allows the holding of Amelia while household tasks are performed. (Rob is taking the picture instead of helping out with said tasks.)

Yes, we still have a cat. Here is Soxy attempting to claim the play mat Aunt Steph made for Amelia. (Amelia likes is to, so we may be set up for some pet/child rivalry.)

Camp Powerisout, located in our living room. The gas stove still works, except the fan does not, so we sleep in the living room during winter power outages. Of course, just when we got set up, and got Amelia situated in the pack n' play, the power came back on.)

Amelia's first Advent! Amelia could barely contain herself as we pulled out the first Advent magnet (the guiding star) and put it on the manger scene.

That's all for now. Tune in next week, by which time we expect Amelia to be doing Algebra.