Update 08-31-08

My mac is still "in the shop."
My hands are still numb...

I have a lot of catching up to do and will work on adding pictures as soon as my hands are the mac are back in working order!

But here is a picture taken of Aunt Ann-an and Grandma Susie with Phin yesterday:

(Note the SOCK MONKEY that Aunt Ann-an found for Phin. Since I was pregnant, I have been looking for a sock monkey online. Yesterday Aunt-Annan mentioned a place here in town where they were for sale! We got one straight away! I know Phin doesn't really care, but I am super excited! This will also be cool for him to be able to see how tiny he used to be (the same size as the sock monkey at 23 days old!) when he's a big kid!)

This is Aunt Ann-an with Phin this morning before she left to take her fight back home:

Note how he looks a little sad - wishing his Aunt Ann-an could stay longer!

AND, here is what is happening with Phin right now:


I will update more often ASAP!!!

Another doctor visit!

Today was just another visit to the doctor. Phin was just looking particularly cute... so I asked Daddy to snap a picture.

More to come by the middle of the week...

I still have very numb (pins and needles) hands (which makes typing hard)...
and in the wee hours of the morning, my mac book BIT THE DUST.
(Lucky I am married to a computer geek!!!)
Dan thinks I will have the mac book back by the middle of the week and hopefully my hands will be better!

In the mean time, if you were THERE at the birth and have photos or videos of Phin - please PLEASE please save them for me. I had not backed up to the external hard drive before the mac died - and so, all of those pictures and videos are most probably gone forever...

Have a happy Sunday!

Square Dance!

Dan has some rules about clothing - most specifically - Dan and I can't wear matching clothes (colors) when we are out. If we both have on, say, the same color of green shirt - Dan will say "We are not going to a square dance!" and one of us will have to change into a different color.
It seems, as shown below, that Dan and Phin can be matchy matchy and it's just cute father - son stuff!

Good Morning!

Phin Speaks!

Just tonight did I realize that, actually Phin is able to talk right now.
He has to really want something and it's better if he's a little tired...
I was cracking myself up over this so Dan thought we need a video to share the occasion with family. So, ENJOY!

Fun outfit for a day OUT!

Today Dan & Phin accompanied me to my doctor's appointment.
It was just a checkup that I am supposed to get every year.
My old doctor left the "system" so it was a new day with a new doctor.

We put Phin in his airplane outfit from Great grandpa Allen. It's super cute and it makes his eyes look really blue!

I really liked this doctor.
Her specialties were more in line with the type of medical issues I happen to have.
Also, she seemed really knowledgeable and tried to help me trouble shoot this *thing* that is happening in my hands. You see, my fingers and hands are tingling numb ever since I was in the hospital having Phin. Mrs New Doctor is checking my blood to see if it's that I need a reduction in one of my medications.
The thing is, Phin was so unbelievably cute that they medical staff forgot to have me sign a release of some of my medical records. They were just staring at him and talking about how beautiful he was (I had gone to the bathroom and Dan was with Phin at the checkout desk.) So now, I guess we will go back to the doctor on Thursday after Phin's checkup. :)





In other news, Maggie is still be uber guard!

My baby is STRONG!

Phin is 11 days old - as of today at 12:32pm

At 9.5 days old he was able to get out of his swaddle and push himself to the corner of his crib where he starting trying to suck the crib bumper. The "trip" caused his diaper to be pushed down off of his bottom...

This is an example of his strength today. It's not quite as dramatic, but, still impressive for such a young baby.

This is picture of how he looked when I put him down after his noon feeding.


This is how he looked when I went back to wake him up for his next feeding.
Notice, he spun his whole little body around by, like 90 degrees.



Maybe this is normal for newborns.
It just seems - early
and it reminds me of my brother
DAVID!

My favorite part of Phin

(I love his stylish little sideburns that he was born with!)

Miss Maggie

Maggie is a great guard dog.
The whole time Grandma Susie was here, Maggie was on patrol 24/7.
Maggie would wake up with me to feed Phin in the wee hours of the morning and would check on Phin, go to Grandma Susie's room to check on her and then go back to bed in our room.
All of this really wore Maggie out. This is how I found Maggie the other day:



Additionally, here is an example of Maggie. I had just let her in from outdoors and her first stop was to go to the nursery to check on him. When she didn't find Phin there, he came back to the living room to check his baby jail. (Phin was, in fact, in the baby jail - sleeping.)

Day of firsts

Today, Grandma Susie wanted to visit Overland Park to look at a truck.
She had been looking since February for a very specific truck and we happened to see one in Kansas City on the day she was planning to go home.
Dan, Phin and I rode along so that we could make a stop at Old Chicago after seeing the truck. See, since Old Chicago left our city, any time we are going to the Overland Park area, we try to visit the restaurant there.

Well, Grandma Susie decided to get the truck


and after, we went to Old Chicago.





Today was Phin's first time in a new state (Kansas).
He went to his first car dealership and learned from Grandma Susie how to make a hard deal on a car.
AND
It was his first time to eat out at a public restaurant.

Daddy feeds Phin

On our second day home from the hospital, I asked Dan if he would like me to pump some milk so he could feed Phin. He said we would do it later.
So, tonight Dan suggested I pump some milk so he can feed Phin and I can go to bed (Phin and I were both WIPED OUT from our day out on the town!)
So, I pumped the milk, for Phin and his Dad and then it was time for Phin's dinner.



Phin's dad multi-tasked feeding Phin while video taping what he (Dan) was seeing.



I think Dad enjoyed being able to nourish his baby because we have decided that I will start expressing milk for Dad, so sometimes he can help with feedings on days I may be extra tired.



Grandma got her video out too - to capture the moment.

He got it from his GRANDMA!

Grandma is in love with Phin - which I totally understand - 'cause so is his daddy - and ME TOO! I walked over to snap a picture of grandma with Phin as she'll be going home soon.



What did I find but my little boy sucking his thumb for the very first time. I mean, he's sucked the side of his hand and even his middle finger in the hospital. But today, he found and started sucking his thumb on his own (or maybe with the aid of his grandma!)

Out on the town

Today, we (Phin & I) went out on the town with Grandma.
We went shopping at a variety of stores, we visited mom's old department on campus and even went to Dad's office to say HI!
Phin wore a cute "bugging out" outfit!

LOOK ALIKES!

Mom and I came across a picture of Given (Phin's cousin) today. Mom held the picture up to Phin and was amazed at how similar these two little boys look. I have always thought that Given looks a lot like my sister - although my sister and I don't look as much alike as I do with my MOM.
However the genetics happened, Given and Phin definitely have a family resemblance.
I am thrilled by this as Cousin Given is a super cute kid!

Good Night!

First doctor visit!

What can I say? I am a proud mama!
At the doctor, they wanted to see a 2oz weight gain. Mr. Ethan P. gave them a HUGE 6oz. (SIX OUNCES) weight gain! The doctor was VERY impressed.
They were also quite impressed that he's on a three hour feeding schedule with a five hour night (recommended by the doctor).
He got a huge "ATTA BOY!" and we'll go back next week for his next visit.

Grandpa Jerry

Grandparents Routier brought Phin some baby bibs.
Today is his first doctor appointment for his one week checkup.

He changed from the woof outfit into a cute green turtle outfit with a matching green diaper.



We wanted to make sure he would stay spit-up free, so grandma put a bib on him to keep him clean for the doctor.



Phin's Grandpa Jerry loves him and Phin loves his Grandpa Jerry

Daddy's MINI Me:

Tonight, Dan went for a run in the neighborhood.
Once he got home, it was time for him to spend some time hanging out with Phin.
Dan has decided that the (computer) GEEK training should start early - like before baby Phin is less than even one week old.

Lesson number one:



As you can see, baby Phin is still very young, so he got quite tired rather quickly!

Sleepy day!

Phin's first bath

There are things we all know how to do. We often do these things daily. However, if asked to preform these daily tasks on or for someone else... it causes us to pause. This happened when I thought about bathing my baby. So, Grandma gave Phin his first bath. We did a couple of videos, but the second video (where he's soapy) could technically be considered porno... so all you get to see is part one of his bath.





Phin in his little blue robe (THANK YOU AUNT ANNIN)


Brushing out the curls:


Dressed in his white diaper and ready for some breakfast:

Blue eyes

Ethan was born with blue eyes.
Granted they are dark blue - like his daddy...

It kinda freaked me out. A blue eyed boy. My parents had brown eyes. I have brown eyes. My sister has brown eyes. A blue eyed boy... whoa!

Tonight, we dressed him in blue and it really made his eyes stand out.
This picture doesn't do his eyes justice.

Warning: (Doting mother with a camera)

Grandma was holding my baby and the light was kinda beautiful and he looked so peaceful... so I snapped a pic.





I was really hoping that Phin would get his daddy's chin. Maybe he'll grow a daddy's chin as he gets older, but right now it looks like he has MY chin.
SO, check out his happy little double chin... just like his mama!

Smile for me!

Grandmas are truly amazing things!
Not only do they help to answer questions for new mothers - they can also do perform miracles like taking an infant who is less than one week old and help him to make his first smile.
This video is not his first smile, but it's the one we caught on the flip.
I hope to see this beautiful smile a crazy amount in the future!

burp baby, burp, burp!

I can not help but photograph my little boy each time I see him doing something cute - which happens all of the time. These particular pictures happened when grandma was burping Phin. On the first picture, I was just loving his chubby cheeks and they look like they are starting to fill out some.




The second picture was Phin flashing his gang sign. He does cute stuff like that and it makes me think about our first ultrasound. He was just 19 weeks along, but he was moving and kicking and hiding his face from the ultrasound technicians. Phin is a little boy and I can't help but be amazed by him on almost a moments basis. I honestly don't know what I did without him!

Squirreling = CRUST

Dan likes to call me a squirrel.
It's because I like to put trash into the door pockets of our cars (instead of on the floor) - as the trash is then contained. I like to put things away in little spaces so that I know where they are and then get that stuff out later for use. He calls this "squirreling."

It seems that baby Ethan has my squirreling habit too.
The difference is that Ethan likes to squirrel a mouthful of milk away and not exactly SWALLOW it. So, when you pick him up to burp him, it spews forth from his mouth down the front on him and his designated burper. Due to this bad habit, my baby had become a little crusty. To rid baby of said crust, tonight we gave him a quick sponge bath. Grandma Susie was there to catch it on video.
Enjoy!

Sometimes a boy needs his daddy.

A good example of this would be when the boy is going thru something new - something he's unsure how to deal with. His daddy can help walk him thru and teach him a think or two for when this type of situation comes up in the future.
Well, Dan was able to be there for Phin tonight.
Phin got his first case of hiccups tonight. I have been told that some babies get the hiccups before birth. While I hoped for a case of the hiccups for Phin, it did not happen. So, when it happened tonight, Phin held his daddy's hand and they worked thru the problem together - until the hiccups ended.
Good job daddy!

BOO TAY

We were repeatedly told how naive we were - as new parents when we spoke of our decision to use re-usable diapers for Phin. Well, so far, I am happy to report that I kinda love these diapers.
Granted, they are more than a little HUGE on Phin right now. But, let me tell you, they are working out really well and the washing isn't a big deal.

At the end of the day, all I can say is "MY BABY'S GOT BACK!"

Ethan's Day 4

First day home from the hospital

This is what Phin was doing up until he was born. (not the meditation part, but the indian style sittin' part).
My little boy is so tiny!

Nap-time in his bed for the first time. The crib seems so big that he almost gets lost inside it!

He's such a good boy! This was the start of his nap - he was happy to have a little rest.

Finally home:

Leaving the hospital

It was time to leave the hospital and I'm sure we were all ready to go home.
The nurse had to carry Phin in his car seat down to the vehicle.

Blow OUT!

In the wee hours of the early morning, the night nurse (Ann, I believe) brought me a baby that smelled Johnson & Johnson fresh! When I commented on how good he smelled, she told me the truth.
Last night, while in the nursery, my little baby had a "complete blowout" in his diaper.
Turns out, there was human bio substances all over the place, and yet, little Phin wasn't so much worried about the mess. He was sleeping right through it.
Nurse Ann ordered up a bath straight away and brought me a sweet smelling baby.
Thank you Nurse Ann!

We will both be discharged later on this morning.
Happy Sunday and your first day out of the hospital Phin!

Sweet, sweet baby sounds:

Day 3

Grandma comforts Phin in the morning...

Phin naps with the hat Daddy bought for him this morning. (the other hats were either too big or too small).

Daddy on "burp duty" after the evening meal time.

Grandma on "burp duty" while Daddy talks to Phin.

Mom holding Phin while he naps. (Mom has been known to sleep this way when there is too much light in the room!)

One more picture of little Phin working it out to his preferred level of darkness.