4/28/09 Epic Fussy Bebeh Day #1, a bath, and a magic pill

Oooh did we have a doozy of a day today with the Bebeh. I was at work, and by the time that I got home the Mama was a bit harried looking, and the bebeh was pretty inconsolable when awake and not nursing. She did nap, but in fits and starts, and she did eat, but also in fits and starts. And she did a lot, a whole lot, of crying.

We both were worried she was going into some Colic phase or something. Pretty terrifying proposition, to be honest. Anyone who has dealt with a Colicy baby needs to have an automatic sainthood registered for them. Intense.

So, although we could kind of console the bebeh, I called the BBDR. She suggested a bath, for starters. She also said that little Vivian was at a bit of a disadvantage, because she had the gut of a 7lb. youngster, but the body of a 10lb bruiser to feed with that immature little gut.

Also, that you just get "rainy day bebeh" days. They just happen, and don't get alarmed about them.

So we bathed, and we used a homeopathic remedy
to help her with her gas, and things went smashingly. More info below:

Boy oh boy was Vivian not pleased with the world this day. She wore her mama out with crying.



I am assured that this is about the ONLY moment that the bebeh cried in the bath the whole time. She apparently loved the bath itself, but not the transition out of it. Boy, look at that SQUALL -- awesome.



So the bath was a prescription of the BBDR, and it certainly did mellow the kiddo out from her day of crying. The other magic pill was a homeopathic called Cocyntal. It helps babies expel gas and soothes their cramps as well. It gets a HUGE thumbs up from us, the Bebeh calmed right down -- and farted like a linebacker, to boot.



All's well that ends well,

Bp

Photos from Monday 4/27/09

A normal day in the baby bubble.

Such as:

Common scene around here, Mom with the bebeh conked out and Sula conked out as well... pineapple upside-down kitty.



Look at that face. I mean, really.



Mr. Michael was a good bebeh handler. The drum above his head looks kinda like a halo doesn't it?

It's not.



Rightio then,

almost caught up now, aren't we.

Bp

Sunday the 26th -- not as many pictures, I was gone

I was away today at a Curriculum-building day for Peace Warrior. I'll have a website for you soon, very soon, about Peace Warrior. I'll explain it then, but for now suffice it to say it's a project I'm excited to be a part of.

The Wife has been needing to eat -- a lot. She weighed in at the last BBDR appointment at the same exact weight as before the pregnancy. Ostensibly, folks all yell "GREAT." However, there are some who feel that 15 lbs. up is where a mama wants to be while she's breast feeding, to make sure there is plenty of milk and the quality is high.

Sooo, she needs to be on top of the eating thing.

Remember mention I made at one point of the limits of empathy? Yeah, well I find myself eating a lot too now. Like... teaching by example? Geez.

Although we don't have as many pictures, there are a few of The Wife -- so beauty abounds.

Ok, on to the pictures:

Katye rocking the purple robe, in the good chair, with conked-out bebeh.



Vivian often adopts this pose when she's sleeping. She either rests her hand on the side of her face or grabs her ear outright. We assume it is a prenatal habit. We melt from The Cute every time she does it and thought we'd share.



This picture just begs a caption, don't it? Sula is cracking me up.



Enjoy a lazy Sunday,

Bp

Still catching up, pics from 4/25/09 Saturday

Saturday was nice and relaxing. Mr. Pitts FINALLY got to see the bebeh, he was going crazy with waiting but was too kind to come over with his virus and infect us all.

To the stills:

This is our work right now. Tough stuff I tell you.



Mike is the most baby-crazy male I know (followed closely by Big Chocolate). He's been gnawing at the bit to get over here and hold the little one. After two weeks of fending off a virus, he finally got to come over and was pleased as punch.



Ms. Viv often has a serious scowl on her face -- Mike is asking "Why so serious?" here.



And there we go, a nice, gentle Saturday lounge-about.

And, I'm caught up on blogging. I'll see ya'll on The Morrow.

Bp

Playing catch up, photos from 4/24/09 Friday

Been a long and eventful weekend. Not only visitors, but a trip to a social event -- with strangers and everything!

Going straight to the stills:

Look at those snazzy diaper covers!



You ever wake up from a particularly ferocious nap and just don't know where you are, and feel like you got hit by a truck? We think that was the experience Ms. Vivian was having here.



Another picture of Ms. Vivian recovering from The Ferocious Nap of '09 (tm).



Ken is a new acquaintance and an excellent bebeh handler. Welcome here any time sir.



Our friend Kate knit this hat for the Bebeh, and she's almost already outgrown it. When it's on for a little bit more, it becomes a raiment of the Jewish faith.



Ms. Vivian at a charity auction a friend threw on Friday night. It was her first big outing that included not only a car ride, but socializing with tons of strangers/new friends. Auntie Amy was a great shore in the storm -- Ms. Viv was none too pleased when we took her away from her Amy nap to go home. None too pleased at all.



Enjoy catching up on your chores,

Bp

First car ride, The Luddites, and more

Yesterday was another epic day for the Bebeh. Viv took her first car ride, and we got a taste of how that goes for her.

Basically -- she doesn't like being put in the carseat. She got a good cry on -- with the shuddering "I'm really pissed off" aspect and everything -- for a while after we strapped her in. She was still fussy as we were at the first trafficky section and a few stop lights, but once we were rolling she chilled out quickly and fell asleep. I think she's going to be an easy traveler.

We also had a nice house full of visitors and we sat around, chatting and laughing and passing the Bebeh around. It was real nice.

And -- for the record (I hope Google's servers exist long enough for this blog to be a good record) I'm so happy I could just bust. I haven't mentioned that, but I am. I know life will ebb and flow, but right now I'm just pleased as punch.

I am noticing a lack of pictures of my beautiful wife lately, I will endeavor to fix that.

Here goes:

OMG it's a bebeh in a carseat! You go Viv.



The Luddites (especially Autumn) thrilled with bebehness.



Uncle Aaron's beard, and one seriously conked-out bebeh.



Aaron's hands. Something very cool about this pictures.



Ms. Leslie, back from abroad, gets her first visit in with Ms. Vivian. She's a very experienced auntie, we're lucky to have her.



Enjoy the next thing,

Bp

Keepin' on keepin' on

So these posts are now reflective. What happened yesterday -- seems like a year ago, or at least a week ago.

One thing that happened was another Bath. It seems Wednesdays are bath days for the Bebeh. Mom gets one too of course. I was so involved with the process that I didn't get pictures, yet again. I suck, I know. Plus, taking Pg pictures of the bebeh and mama in a bath is kinda hard.

Going right to the pictures:

Auntie Hanna holding the Bebeh after delivering some fine home cooking for us. Many thanks Hanna:



Ms. Vivian, with a full flash. We were experimenting using natural light today and the results were -- well Green. This picture will give some contrast to the weird color palette to come:



And.. flashless... yikes:



More flashlessness -- we're not zombies, I swear:



Flash or no, you HAD to see the Bebeh Mohawk post-bath hairdoo:



Uncle Tait with the Bebeh (apparently Tait-holding-the-baby pictures have a huge following, I am hearing through the grapevine):



Got to love the conked-out bebeh pictures:



A couple pictures of our friend Hunter holding the baby. He was so photogenic I had to post more than one:





And... I'm off to bed.

Bp

Pictures from yesterday -- Visitors, gazing, some shoulder action

Hello all,

It looks like the format of the blog is shifting just a tiny bit. I'm going to be posting pictures from the day before. It seems to make more sense, and be happening anyway.

So, pictures from the 21st below.

Here is a nice picture of Kt and the Bebeh doing some eye gazing. Also, Kt is using one of the signiture "Brianna" moves, putting your knees up, resting baby against them, then swaying baby back and forth as you watch each other. Memerizing way to spend a few hours a day, I tell you.



Here is a good sleeping picture of Ms. Viv. Somehow, once Kt laid her down for a nap she got on her belly. Of course pediatric folks "in the know" are WARNING PEOPLE IN ALL CAPS not to have babies sleep on their bellies, but you know what -- 30 years ago folks were being told the opposite, and ONLY to sleep them on their bellies. So we figured, if the kiddo was zonked out and happy, and being monitored (which she was, by both of us) then sleep on your belly bebeh, go for it.



Here is Matt from Kt's work rockin the baby-holding. Matt is a hell of a nice guy, and someone to whom we owe a great debt for taking on a bunch of extra work, during tax season, to cover for Kt's absence due to Bebeh. The baby seemed to like him just fine, another redeeming point.



And lastly, here is the bebeh on my shoulder. We snapped a photo because of the cute face she was making, but it doesn't seem to be given any justice in this photograph. At least I'm rocking one of Grandpa's old shirts, so that's a redeeming aspect of the photo.



Enjoy squeezing one out at the last possible minute,

Bp

Photo dump, April 20 -- invisible mama mentor, healthy bebeh, and the men

I got back late last night from my weekend up by in the Gifford Pinchot forest, helping a friend with her (very scarily wired) cabin. It's a bit safer now, yikes. Bad wiring plus live propane lines gives one pause.

So the photos span from Friday through the weekend, through today.

It was a big weekend for a few reasons -- it was the first time I had been gone over-night since the birth, and our dear friend Brianna came down from Washington to be with the new baby and babymama. Briana is an expert at this, having 6 kids of her own, spanning from 14 years on down. I was gone most of the time, but I heard lots of comments about the new, slick holds and swaying positions, and burping positions that Tait and Katye learned while she was here. Brianna, you rock. I'm sorry to tell the blog audience that she remains unphotographed with the bebeh -- a crying shame. We endeavor to do better in the future.

Having been gone for 2 days in a row really showed me how much the Bebeh is changing, and how quickly. Her eyes aren't as dark as they were when I left, looking much more blue and much less darkbluemaybebrownishgrey like they were before.

Her face continues to change as her weight rebounds and her skull reshapes after the squoosh of birth.

And today -- she's been fussy. This is new, she had one brief jag of fussiness early on and then it went away. Generally, as long as she gets fed and held, she's good. But today, when the feeding stopped (by her own prompting), soon after she'd start fussing. We'd try to burp her, sometimes hitting pay dirt, but even then she would cry.

I'll not post the multitudes of lay speculations that Katye and I have been running as to why she's fussy, or what "symptoms" we can see as we try to figure out her signals. I will post when the BBDR gets back to us if there's anything we find out for real.

Honestly, she could just be getting her lungs on and dumping some cortisol.

Right now, the baby is sleeping next to mama and not crying, so all's well.

Now to the pictures:

Here is my Qi Gong training partner and friend Leslie holding the baby on Friday the 17th.



Here is our friend Kate, who has knit some astoundingly cute socks and caps, holding the baby on Saturday the 18th.



What's there not to love about a Bebeh with its tongue out and its beautiful mother (taken today).



Close up of Ms. Vivian for admirers to note the subtle yet persistent changes happening, also taken today.



Tait and I trying to make the experience of putting on a pull-over style onsie less onerous for little Viv (she pretty much hates the whole pull-over maneuver).



Enjoy keeping up to date,

Bp

Pictures from today -- April 17th: Shaolin papa, sleeping burrito, auntie

Kind of a bonus post today (tonight), or a very early post for Saturday, depending on how you see it.

I'll be gone this weekend, no computer for me -- so you and The Mama are on your own for posting. Of course, this will kinda post Saturday and I'll be home Sunday PM so we'll see if there's any interruption in The Bebeh Channel at all.

The wonderful Brianna is here this weekend to help out with the bebeh, hang out with KT (they are soul sisters), and relax a bit from her work-life and family. So no fretting about me leaving Kt all alone before she's all healed up now.

I'll get right to the pictures:

As any of you who know me already know -- fashion is a priority of mine. Ever more so now that we're in The Baby Bubble (tm). Katye dubbed this my Shaolin-papa look. I expect it will be all the rage with the kids soon.



Here's a picture of the bebeh, who is apparently concerned about something. She never did explain what.



Auntie Kathy from the coast. Auntie Kathy is the proprietor of La Luna Loca, a great shop in Cannon Beach, Oregon and online if you click here. (Why yes, that was a soft plug -- and also a troll for some google space, every little hit helps) With worldly and together aunties like this, how can Viv go wrong.



And finally, a little sleeping peanut burrito.

All together now... "Ahhhhhhhhhh"



Enjoy,

Bp

Photos from yesterday, 4-16: Auntie Care and The Boss

My first full day gone went off without a hitch. Two aunties -- Alethea (below) and SJJ (that's what we actually call her, btw, not just some intartube moniker) came by and held the baby, and cleaned, and helped with baby's first bath (sorry about no pictures on that one, we'll remedy the "no baby bath pictures" situation soon). Apparently it was a smooth, fun, eventful day in the Baby Bubble (tm).

Also, a couple people from KT's work swung by. It was the day after D-day for them, so a celebratory baby-holding was in order.

Pictures below:

Auntie Alethea, one of the fine, fine helpers for the day.



Uncle Tad, who was thrilled to see Ms. Vivian



The Big Boss Kim -- our baby is a warm-up for Kim's next grandchild, due in July I believe.




Stephanie, also from KT's work -- whose daughter (nicknamed "Chiquita Banana" by Kt) is dying to come by and see the munchkin as well.



A great photo of Auntie Heidi. She is a preschool teacher and loves the kiddos. She was pulling off some good story telling by talking to the adults about this and that adult thing, but doing it as she was gazing at Vivian and in a storyteller voice. Vivian was absolutely enthralled. Then, later, when Ms. Viv was nursing nearby, Heidi was talking and Viv looked her way again -- obviously she has the magic voice.




Who knows, maybe more pictures today -- could be a bonus Friday.

Bp