Hearty Beef Stew

Man, oh man. We have had a busy few weeks. Everyone needs to meet Jude, and of course we want him presentable. At least not screaming his head off like he was this week at the pediatrician for his 2 week appointment. But still, he remains in good spirits and health.

The Boy and I have been spending some quality bonding time. Between feeding, eating, sleeping, and diaper changes, we have managed to have some nice days together. One day we went to the coffe shop. One day we went for a big hike in the baby sling. And today?

Today we made beef stew.

Jude - Week 2

The second week with our boy went smoothly for the most part, with some exceptions. He's eating really well, somewhere between 7-9 times a day, but he's not really on any predictable schedule yet. We're trying to follow the "Baby Whisperer" Eat-Activity-Sleep program, which means that he basically decides how often he needs to eat (although we won't typically feed him if it's been less than two hours, unless he's very obviously hungry). His pattern seems to be that as long as he has a good feeding late at night, he'll go for a good stretch (3-5 hours) before he needs to eat again, then he'll eat for almost an hour, then go back to sleep for another long stretch. He'll have a couple of feedings through the morning, then have another long sleep stretch in the afternoon sometime (although rarely at the same time each day), then want to eat every 2 hours through the early and late evening. We're pretty happy with this, since it gives us a good amount of sleep at night and the opportunity for me to take a nap in the afternoon.

Jude is a very sleepy eater, and if I don't pay attention to him while he's eating, he'll quickly fall asleep and then stop eating. This was the cause of our one really bad night with him this week. We got home from a somewhat late evening out, and I was exhausted so I decided to do his late-night feeding lying on the couch. I fell asleep, he fell asleep, then he woke up an hour later wanting to eat. I tried to feed him again lying down, and the same thing happened again. After a few more rounds of this (with E Ben trying to figure out if there could possibly be anything else that he was upset about besides hunger) we decided to bite the bullet and sit up to make sure he got a proper meal. After that, he slept for his usual long stretch. Lesson learned.

Jude tends to have a fussy period in the evening on most days. E Ben has taken to wearing him in the sling during this time. This is usually enough to quiet him down, although sometimes he does need to leave the house and walk up the street before he really gives up. Thanks Jamey and Erica for giving us the sling - Jude loves it!

From Jude, September 2008

We made a trip to the coast this week so that Jude could visit his Great-Grandma Miller. She made lunch for us, then held the baby while E Ben took a nap on the floor (this was the day after our rough night).

From Jude, September 2008

We also took a walk on the beach so that Jude could see the ocean for the first time. He didn't get much out of the experience since he was asleep the whole time.

From Jude, September 2008

Right after Jude was born, we thought we'd end up continuing to call him "Jeep" (that was his in-utero name). But now that we've gotten to know him and his sweet personality, we find ourselves calling him "Little Bird". He's just not enough of a force these days to be a Jeep.

From Jude, September 2008

Weight Check

Imagine my surprise when I weighed myself yesterday morning and discovered that I'm already slightly below my pre-pregnancy weight! I guess that's what happens when you have morning sickness for the first 20 weeks, then are required to eat a low-carb diet during the third trimester. I lost 22 pounds in 9 days. Wow.

Link to Photo Album

Here's a link to our photos of Jude for August.

Happy Week One !

Baby Jude

Dreaming of the Olympic Marathon

Sleepy Time

Looking Smart


Quiet time with Oma

Jude Alexander - Week 1

Our baby celebrated his one week birthday yesterday. It's hard to believe that we've only known him for a week - it seems like so much longer! After his birth last Friday, we spent the weekend in the hospital. It was great to have the nurses and doctors around to ask our new-parent questions, like "Why are his hands blue?" (it's normal), "Why is his whole body bright red?" (it's normal), and "Why does he sneeze all the time?" (it's normal). The first 24 hours were very busy with tests and procedures, and we finally had some down time on Saturday night and Sunday morning. For a birthday present on Sunday morning, E Ben let me take a two-hour nap while he played with the iPod, making a few mixes for the hospital. I woke up refreshed and ready for a heavy schedule of visitors.

Sunday evening we found out that Jude lost a little too much weight, so we started feeding him every 2 hours around the clock. That was kind of exhausting, but much better than the alternative of supplementing with formula, which was the initial suggestion from the medical staff. After another small dip on Monday, his weight has been on the upswing, gaining an ounce a day since Tuesday. We're still feeding him every 2 to 2.5 hours during the day, but his nighttime feedings have stretched out to almost four hours, which has really helped my energy level. Between a few good stretches of sleep at night and an hour nap in the late afternoon, I'm feeling much more rested than I expected at this point.

Jude is such a good baby. He does have some fussy periods, but he rarely cries without a good reason - mainly if he is hungry, has a dirty diaper or gas pains, we're changing his clothes (he doesn't like being naked), or if he's bored. He responds pretty well to the 5 S's (swaddle, swing, side-lying, shush, and suck) and as a last resort we can always strap him into the sling and take him for a walk, at which point he passes out in about 30 seconds.

I'm going to try to do weekly updates and I'll post a link to all of our photos as soon as I get them uploaded. Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes, e-mails, and phone calls. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up and get back to everyone soon!

Hey Jude

At long last, the baby boy comes home.

Linden gave birth to Jude Alexander Cornett, born August 22 at 10:52pm. He burst into this world with personality and charm. Linden delivered him after 9 hours of active labor at 8 minutes of pushing. A miracle!

Linden had the baby through natural childbirth, a surprise to us both! She was very strong and very beautiful through the whole process. The doctor and nurses were amazed to see the baby come out so quickly!

When I saw him, I felt like it was an out-of-body experience. Even now, several days later, I have pushed away the feelings that come from watching your own child come into the world. Tests and general procedures took up most of Friday evening. We elected to stay 3 full days in the hospital to talk with the nurses about child care, diaper changing, and best practices.

Today we brought him home to our house. Welcome home, baby Jude! You will be well loved.

I'm sure that we will follow this post with thousands of new parent gushing. Please bear with us. We love him more than we thought was possible.