Gran Time

My Gran was accidentally present at my birth.  She had planned a trip to visit Mama and Daddy for a long time to help out while Mama was pregnant.  Since she was already in town for a visit, I decided it was time to finally break loose of my womb and conquer the world!  So, just hours after she landed, I was born.  The good thing is that she was able to help Mama readjust to life outside the hospital, and to make some fabulous meals.  The bad thing is that she wasn't able to come back for a visit until now.

She can hardly believe the transformation that I have made in these past few months!  I'm 11pounds 3 ounces now.  I can hold my head up (most of the time...when I'm tired, I forget that I have a head), and this week I have figured out how to focus my eyes and follow objects, especially Mama's face. 

This is the first time Gran has been able to hold me since I was too little for anyone other than Mama and Daddy to hold me just after I was born.  Gran has been helping Mama in so many ways - even waking up in the middle of the night to help feed me so Mama can get a few more hours of sleep.  She's here for a few weeks while Daddy is away on a business (ie. hunting) trip, so I'm really having fun getting to know her.  I'm also inaugurating her with some of my awesome burps and other "gaseous elements".   She has three other grandchildren (my cousins), but they are all girls.  So, I'm looking forward to teaching her about "snakes, and snails, and puppy dogs' tails", instead of "sugar, and spice, and everything nice!".

  Happy Halloween!

                                                 Sister Fauna loves my bassinette

The Presentation of Hercules

After a total of 6 months of Mama and/or myself being in the hospital, we were due for a bit of a celebration.

Mama never had a baby shower with her friends before I was born, for obvious reasons, so Mama and Daddy wanted to have some kind of party after I was born instead.  They thought of having a post-baby shower, but that didn't sound quite right.  Instead, they had the idea to host a dinner party for all of our friends and family who supported and loved us all throughout this past year.  What started as a small dinner party grew exponentially over the planning process, and boy was it worth it!  With the help of a party planner, Mama & Daddy threw me an amazing Welcome Party!

50 of our closest friends and family were in attendence. People traveled from and wide to attend my "presentation." Indeed, people flew it from from Calgary, Boston, New York, DC, Phoenix, and Denver!  As the delivery trucks kept arriving, our neighbors got pretty curious too, and a few of them even crashed the party.  We had 8 foot tall stone columns, multiple Greek statues in the back yard, and even an outdoor lounge complete with a fire-pit for roasting smores.

The alcohol was plentiful, and Daddy's friends did a great job of stashing extra for later!  The food was abundant complete with kebabs and Greek salads.  The music was fun and set a festive atmosphere.  But, most of all, our friends and family made it the most memorable night of my life!  Each of them was dressed to the 9's in their finest Greek togas (again puzzling our neighbors).  Obviously Zeus and Alcmene were there (my parents), but we also had (among many others!)  my Grandparents (Electryon, Anaxo, and Rhea), Uncle Lysidece & Aunt Perimede, Artemis*2, Chronos, Icarus, Daedalus, Nebulous, Poseidon*2, Atlas*2, King Leonides, Agamemnon, Hermes*3, one awesome Medusa (and one transgendered Medusa), Athena, Hades, Persephone, Achilles, a creative Otter (from Animal House),  Pan, and the most creative costume, Chris the Minotaur! 

My scariest moment of the evening (but it was hailed by all others present as the best event of the evening), was being presented to the whole group!  From Mama and Daddy's perspective, I was dressed in my awesome Hercules costume, replete with lion skin headdress, and I was presented on my golden shield cradle for the whole group to see for the first time.  From my perspective (and the perspective of curious neighbors looking down on this weird gathering), I was nearly naked with a weird mask on my head, and placed on a golden platter as Mama and Daddy walked into the center of a large group of weird looking people in togas, standing near a fire pit!  I wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but after Mama picked me up, I quieted down and really enjoyed meeting all our friends for the first time.

Our friends partied with Mama and Daddy until the wee hours of the morning.  What an amazing celebration of my life, and the health of my Mama!  Thank you to everyone who came to help us celebrate!

Here is a link to the complete Snapfish digital album for those who want to see lots of pics:
http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4482429017/a=11239487_11239487/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Otherwise, here are a select few so you can get the sense of the atmostphere:

                                          Getting all set up for the party...

 

Aunt Perimede, Uncle Lysidece, Zeus, Alcmene, Grammie Anaxo, Grandpa Electryon

                                            Chronos (Daniel)  & Icarus (Joe)

 Daedalus (Cody), Nausicaa (Kristine),  Otter (Joel), Athena (Taylor), Bacchus (Rich), and Alcmene (Mama)

  Atlas (Mark), Icarus (Joe), Joseph of Aragon (Michael), Athena (Yonnie), Athena (Lydia)

         Chronos (Daniel), Hermes (Brian), and Poseidon (Barclay)

Hermes (Victoria), Agamemnon (Bunmi), and Medusa (Megan)

                                           King Leonides (Jason), and Zeus (Daddy)

 

C12 + Minotaur (Chris)

           Boyar & Elaine provided multi-cultural enrichment, Nebulous (Dave), and Artemis (Nancy)

                                             Alcmene (Mama), and Persephone (Cara)

                  Rhea, Mother of Zeus, and Hermes (...a nice little shop on Bond Street, Victoria)

                                       Carol, Brad, Zeus (Daddy), Rich & Taylor

                                             Relaxing by the firepit

The Presentation of Hercules!

 

Aren't I Handsome, and fierce with my snake???

 

Most creative costume, the Minotaur

 

Everyone having a great time

 

                                                                    The aftermath

My Post-Baby Shower

Mama's official post-baby shower was this weekend, hosted by Grammie and some friends of her's.  This party was initially scheduled for July 16th...one week AFTER I was born, so it got postponed until I was well enough to attend.  Mama has been looking forward to this party for a long time, and I obliged her by being calm for a little while.  Grammie had the house decorated with an African safari theme to match my nursery.  Even the cake fit the theme!  Mama got some awesome presents (really they are mine!) and had a great time with all the ladies.  So many people wanted to hold me, but Mama restricted it to my close family members so I don't get exposed to too many germs. 

Speaking of ladies...there were way to many of them, so I left the party with Daddy to spend time with both of my Grandpas at a sports bar.  After all, what were the women thinking when they scheduled the party for a Saturday in the Fall?  Didn't they realize this would interfere with College Football??  I already know all the football rules, courtesy of Daddy - we watch it every Saturday morning while Mama is still asleep. 

                                                          Me asleep before the party

                                               My awesome cake - Mama didn't let me eat any!

                   Grandpa, Grammie, Great Grammie, Mama with Me, Daddy, Boppy & Granddad

                                                         Granddad and Boppy love me!

                                                   Great Grammie with Mama & me

                                                     Auntie Kelly with Mama & me

                                           Auntie Aubree holding me for the first time

                                                         Watching football with Grandpa

Just Chillin' at home

I'm almost 10 pounds now & still without my feeding tube!  Mama & Daddy are so proud of me that I have been eating so well.  I still put up a bit of a fight occasionally, but on the whole, I'm eating like a champ.  I like to keep Mama & Daddy on their toes - I actually enjoy eating and breastmilk is yummy stuff, but I find it amusing to fuss a little bit since I get so much attention!  I'm figuring out how to wrap Mama & Daddy around my little finger quite well...though Daddy is a harder sell than Mama.  She's a sucker! 

I've been hanging out at home most days, but Mama takes me out to the store and for walks about once a day.  So far, my favorite place is the Oxbow Public Market - kind of like a permanent Farmer's Market.  Mama tells me that most of the Carbon in my body comes from the Oxbow Market - since she loves to get groceries there, and then her breastmilk is what keeps me going strong. 

My favorite passtimes are still sleeping and playing on my tummy-time mat.  I also love my showers with Daddy. 

 

Late night with Mama...note how she's using the Boppy pillow for herself!

                                                        Out cold....

Thinking about waking up....

                              Mama & Daddy's remedy for reflux - I look like a beached seal!

  Another reflux remedy...the boppy pillow helps with everything.

                                                    Hanging out with my sister, Fauna.

                                                 Showers with Daddy - I love my time with him!

Snake in the Cradle

Today marks two weeks since from my original due date, 13 weeks since I was actually born.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I have been working diligently on my feeding strategies and have been getting better and better.  My daddy designed a ridiculously detailed (and somewhat nerdy) spreadsheet to log each and every feeding, which helps us calculate exactly whether or not I am reaching my caloric goal each day.  After careful analysis of this spreadsheet, it became obvious that I was rapidly improving my feeding abilities; indeed, I have been taken over 100% of my daily requirement by bottle for 3 days straight. 

Nevertheless...Mama and Daddy were still cautious about removing my feeding tube because they don't want to put it back if I had some rough days.

Candidly, I think that was somewhat cowardly of them.  So, since my prior actions of sucking down my bottles wasn't enough to mobilize Mama & Daddy,  I took matters into my own hands (literally) this morning. 

When Mama & Daddy peeked into my basinette this morning, there was a slimy "snake" in my bed.  I was fiercely gripping my feeding tube in my hand, tape and all...and had a triumphant grin on my face!  I did it!  No more tube! I had killed the snake.


Just as the great Hercules broke the neck of the snake that Hera sent into his cradle to kill the infant demi-god, I have conquered my own "snake"! 

                                                              This is me last night!

                                                           This is me this morning!

                                        ...And this is me a few seconds after the prior picture

                                                          I win!  Take that, evil snake!