May 29, 2008
i'm not gonna write you a love song
this is one of my favorite things - aiden "reading". He love books. I love that he loves book.
i got ben mario cart for the wii for father's day. it is awesome. i am addicted. i played it for 2 hours yesterday afternoon and did something strange to my eyes. It freaked me out, but once it was better, I was back to racing around that track.
aiden is going through a growth spurt. he eats and eats and eats. he is napping well. and the gymboree chick comments that he looks bigger than last week.
it hurt if he get his finger in your mouth. his teeth are sharp!
he alllllllmost crawling. He can certainly get himself around the living room no problem.
i have not done the switch to wordpress b/c i am being unreasonably picky about the site look. there are a million choices and I can't find one like this one. I can't use the same code with same WP changes b/c WP is way cooler and has wigets that update the stuff on the right without having to go into the code. that is awesome.
Posted by christina at 3:30 PM | Comments (0)
May 5, 2008
what do you take me for? Some kind of easy mark?
the weather has warmed back up. the lake glistened in the sunshine during my run today. it was quite warm. i have a adorable track outfit for aiden. it is so cute. it makes people smile when they pass us.
i got a pedicure today. i still hesitate to pay someone to paint my toe nails, but it was nice to get out of the house and relax alone with a magazine. aiden is breaking in teeth, so our nights have backslid a little. so it was nice to have an hour alone.
i got my proofs back for my paper. and edited them. and returned them. all on saturday afternoon. there wasn't many edits - a missing m, and couple of additions to make it more uniform. all the edits were done in reader, so that was awesome. it was nice to see the paper in journal form - with all the figures and captions in the text. it is nice to to have to read it again, but it was sad to see the last bit of my science science career close. i know that i'll do research and write papers, but i do love science. and i love my research in hindsight. ; )
Posted by christina at 8:24 PM | Comments (1)
April 24, 2008
i can see the wind blowing through the fields of wheat
Ah. Spring has finally arrived. I have been enjoying running along the lake most days. Yesterday the blue blue lake glittered in the sunshine. Aiden seems to enjoy riding along the lake. I only infer this in the absence of whining. He looks pretty ready to be back at the end of the hour or so trip. This morning it was quite windy, so i put on the wind/rain cover. I was impressed. it is nice, but i think Aiden was happy when i took it off at the turn around point when the wind was now at our backs.
We've had the front balcony door and the windows open. It feels good to get a breeze going. Also, the animals love love love it. Both Pepper the dog and Izzy the cat go out there and hang out.
Today is the first day we haven't been running off somewhere for the lunch time. It is nice to sit and chill.
Ben has stand-by jury duty today. He had to drive out to a suburb (it is county jury duty) and sit in a room. I laugh at him. I laughed really hard when the dog took a bite out of his summons - including the part you have to fill out and take with you. The dog has been acting out lately. And by acting out i mean by stealing baby toys. If she steals from the baby's hand she get time out in the bathroom. So she learns.
I have signed up for a twitter account really only to follow people. Current debate: do i use it?
Posted by christina at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2008
all is full of love
yay! i have finished my revisions/response to the reviewers and sent them off to my co-author. good times. it was actually kinda hard to get them done as aiden has been teething and is whiny mcwhiny. and some of the points were quite ridiculous. one reviewer cited 4 papers she wanted to know why we didn't reference. two of them were single author papers. it wasn't hard to figure out who the reviewer is.
though we went to another ped at the office on monday b/c it had been a week of whining. i liked her a lot. she said, yep, probably teething. (directly contrary to the other dr who said in response to my "i think he is teething" with it is too early.) anyways, so yay. teething. oh well, i like co-sleeping. it is much easier to just have him in bed then getting up and rocking and putting him down 4 times before he'd stay. so easy! and he is big enough that i don't worry about people squashing him. usually get sleeps in his crib until 2 or 3. so that works out.
also at the end of his morning nap (which is always in the crib) he flipped over!
i got a latte maker for christmas and have been enjoying it immensely. i totally recommend it. it is a pain to clean, but totally worth saving the $5 per drink. and i don't have to leave the house, which will come in handy 7 on sunday. oh winter. you have come with your cold.
Posted by christina at 5:26 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2007
I can't help but to hear an exchanging of words
it is amazing to me that so many people expect their babies to do what most adults cannot do - go to sleep easily and by themselves.
i smell like sunscreen despite having taken a shower. the sun shines brilliantly today and so i remember prerun sunscreen.
i run slowly, but my heart rate is high - in the 150s - much higher than the elliptical.
lots of random people walk on the lakefront on the weekend.
ben hates comcast so much that we are going satellite tomorrow. it will end up quite a bit cheaper. my only requirements was the discovery health channel and universal hd for my daily northern exposure. i heart northern exposure. it is so. much. better than any tv on now. it reenforces my distain for gray's anatomy. northern exposure doesn't have any stupid girls obsessed with their love lives. it has interesting storylines with interesting characters.
life is about choices, and today as i spend the afternoon, as i do most, laying in bed facilitating the afternoon nap, i am happy i've made this choice - where i have little to do besides grow the baby. of course, lt is sweeter when i am avoiding something - today - the reviewers comments for a paper. I did read them and they aren't scary. I just always want reviewers to come back with oh - this is great, no changes, but of course, this is not their job. but it takes me a week or so to accept that they aren't personal and to go about deciding how to respond. but it is hard when you just want to lay in bed and watch northern exposure.
Posted by christina at 2:19 PM | Comments (0)
October 7, 2007
take these broken wings and learn to fly
so sad about the cubs.
well. so sad for other people. i will be glad to start watching things other than baseball during the evenings. i can put up with a football game a week, but everyday baseball grates on me after 6 months.
as vet-loving as our pets are, it is surprising that we made it this far without a trip to the e.r. until today. Poor pepper. She is really sick. but she will be okay. she is definitely going to have to have surgery on her legs. of course it is a condition not covered by pet insurance. i'm pretty convinced now that pet insurance is a crock. anyways, they hydrated the puppy (she's been quite sick from eating things she shouldn't) and gave us pain meds. we see dr. marks on tuesday. nothing breaks my heart more than the puppy hurting. Mainly because she just doesn't understand.
This is why i am quicker to medicate her or my child than I am myself. (i rarely medicate myself. i took two doses of advil after pushing out aiden and that was it through the whole recovery.) Anyways, because each one can't understand why they are in pain i am quick to try to control it - we have them on pain pills or on reflux meds to control their pain. And,yes, it selfishly makes me feel better because kills me to even think they might be in pain.
Posted by christina at 8:31 PM | Comments (0)
October 3, 2007
do you realize / that you have the most beautiful face
oh to have two hands to type is so nice. I spend a lot of time on the internet reading, typing is hard with one hand. When i do get two hands i usually sleep or so something else then the internet.
the weather is awesome. Last night (and today) can be classified as not great in regards to me getting to sleep. Aiden just wanted to sleep by me (i.e. in bed) or on me (on the couch). We do not co-sleep, but boy I can see why people do. We are too worried about that suffocation thing. It is rare, but it just happened to one of my mom's students (feel asleep nursing her 6 week old in bed, so sad), so we are scared of that (small sample size bias). it is (as i have read) impossible for the mother to smoother her kid (mother's instict they think). So it is usually a pillow or a third body. In the morning once ben gets up at 6, i usually bring aiden to bed. (I have usually been up and down with him since 4,) I nurse then we sleep until 9. It is nice.
Today i was quite tired but i dragged us all out for our walkjog. After I was happy I did it, the the walkjog felt good. The biggest benefit (beside my mental health) is tiring the dog out so we spend the rest of the day asleep on the couch or in the bed. (we all get an afternoon nap in the big bed.) It is amazing how goo it makes me feel just getting out for a little more than an hour in the sunshine. It is excellent b/c i get to take aiden with me. He sleeps. the dog pulls. and i walk/jog.
speaking of running - i got a jogging stroller. i did not register for on b/c (1) he had to be 6 mos to go in one and (2) i know that lots of people around here get jogging strollers and don't use them and then sell them on craig's list for half price. For some reason i became obsessed with jogging strollers on craigslist, even though it would be the spring before i can use it. All the ones i saw were in suburbs. I was willing to drive for a good deal. but low and behold a great stroller for a great price appeared in my old neighborhood. So yesterday I went and got it. I am so excited. I love a good deal. i love craigslist. i love the internet.
I really love the internet. it is full of information. it makes me feel better as there are other people out there with babies aiden's age. It is a good context as they also have babies that like to nurse a lot (though aide has gotten so much better once we figure out his reflux) and don't sleep and just exist.
Posted by christina at 7:25 PM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2007
it is another gorgeous day today. cloudless skies, 60 degree temps, sparkling blue lake michigan. When I gave up running during my pregnancy, I missed the lake front. I love the trees, the sparking water. I am very happy to be enjoying the fall on the lake.
I always say that spring is my favorite season as it is the end of winter (the season that sucks). But fall is better in some ways as the days are baseline warm with a cool breeze. The apples are in season.
On our walks, I pass by a bar that i use to spend a fair chunk of time my first year or so here drinking and dancing. This morning they had the gates open to the courtyard for cleaning. The glimpse brought back some memories of pink lemonade (very dangerous) nights. It amuses me to think about that self and how that self would never had imagined that i would be walking the same streches of sidewalk with my dog and baby.
In the warm months, a lot of restaurants have outdoor seating areas on the sidewalk. I noticed the other day that these restaurants have posted permits that cite how much they have paid the city for this privilege. I want some of this money as I have to deal with these areas being in my way. Though in a round about way, one could say that i am getting some of that money in reduced taxes.
In the past month, I have been reading a lot of blogs - random blogs from start to present. They are like a book, but only require one hand (very important while nursing). I've read the blog of a guy starting a tenture track position, but not that sure of his career choice. I've read a struggles of a women with infertilitiety, IVF, the loss of twins to early preelampsia, and the subsequent birth of a healthy daughter. Recently I've been reading askmoxie and children and sleep. Not that I expect Aiden to have any sort of schedule at this point, I like reading about what is coming ahead. Moxie is nice as she is down to earth and stresses do what works. My favorite segment:
"Therefore, in the first 12-14 weeks of parenthood you should take your lead from Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary. If your baby only sleeps on your chest with his/her head wedged up into your neck*, do it if you can sleep that way. If your baby only sleeps in the swing or sling or Amby hammock thing or car seat or car or front carrier or laundry basket or between you in bed or holding onto the cat's tail or on the bathroom floor or in a tent in your backyard, do it. If you have to run the hairdryer, clothes dryer, white noise machine, "La Vida Loca" CD, or any other noise, more power to you. Whatever gets the maximum number of hours of sleep for the maximum number of people in your household, that's what you should do. And when anyone asks you how your baby's sleeping, just lie and say everything's great."
We are actually doing well. There are good nights. There are bad nights. But all in all i'm sleeping, aiden is sleeping (in his crib) and life is good.
Posted by christina at 3:01 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2007
rainbow rider
fall has arrived in chicago. it should be a gorgeous jog tomorrow - especially with for the dog.
the big news of today is that ben got to feed aiden a bottle of breastmilk. yay for all involved! The kid took to the bottle right away (and had no trouble going back to my breast later). He just likes the food. (Like me) I am happy that I am now able to leave for more than an hour at a time. well, i will be able to when i build up a supply of bottles. i'm doing well though.
Posted by christina at 8:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2007
jeremiah was a bullfrog / was a good friend of mine
Today we went on our annual apple picking outing. It was an absolutely perfect day.
Blue skies, fall temps, no traffic out to woodstock. We filled two half-busel bags - one with courtlands for applesauce, the other with a mix of galas, macintoshes, and a couple of honey crisps. We would have gotten a lot of honeycrips but their picking bag were twice as expensive, so we snuck a couple of them in our regular bag. So yummy. There is nothing like eating an apple right off of the tree. Aiden was a champ all the out and then took right to the sling and slept as i picked. The sling is awesome. It is awesome to be able to hold him and have both hands free!
So now we have lots of apples. Tomorrow will be applesauce day. yum!
i don't know/like and lullibyes so i sing Aiden Joy to the World by three dog night. He seems to love it.
Posted by christina at 4:04 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2007
slow dancing on the boulevard / in the quiet moments while the citys still dark
in this past week and a half, i've gotten back on the exercise wagon. It started with just a walk for me, aiden, and the puppy. We went 3.5 miles with none of us worse for the wear. The puppy's luxing petella seemed to hold up, though I don't want to push my luck, so she only joins us every other time. This works out as I've incorporated any shopping I need to do during my walks. Monday I wented to the new whole foods as part of my route. Yesterday I went to the Jewl. The bottom of the stroller makes a convinent cart. This has resulted in me not moving my car in a week. A nice up side to walking is a reduced carbon footprint.
The down side to the walking is that it is boring. I just can't walk the whole 3+ miles. I've begun to jog slowly. (Like i was a fast jogger before!) I am suppose to wait 2 more weeks, but I don't think my slow jog really counts as vigorous exercise. My stroller, though not a jogger stroller, does quite week on the running path.
All in all it is nice to get out and exercise. Aiden naps for the most part. The downside is that I really get nothing done the rest of the day. During what would pass as his afternoon nap, I nap. Then Ben gets home around four (it is awesome his teacher schedule), so then I do get to do the little things like work on birth announcements or my t-shirt quilt or dinner or dessert (currently, i am loving oatmeal raisin cookies. they have fiber and a fruit so the are good for you (ha ha)).
we had our first of what i know will be many calls to my mom about breaking the baby. this weekend it was a crusty eye which was heal by 24 hours of warm wash cloths & eye massage to heal a blocked tear duct. Really, we would go crazy if my mom wasn't available to assure me that we didn't break the baby...
Posted by christina at 12:47 PM | Comments (1)
September 11, 2007
they tried to send me rehab
Today was Aiden's two weeks check-up. He has gain 1.5 lbs in the past two week. Everyone was amazed. I wasn't exactly surprised as he eats A LOT. He is now 8 lbs. Today is his official due date. Had he spent the past two weeks in the womb he would probably be almost 8 lbs. Now he is beginning to fit into some of the newborn clothes. Of course, I always pick the outfits with doggies on them. I will be sad when he can't fit into the premie outfits. They are so cute.
Fall has arrived in Chicago. It didn't get above 67 today. A month ago I would have loved this, as i was carrying around a small heater and was never cold. Now I am back to being cold alllllll the time. I get into bed and spend 10 minutes complaining about freezing to death. Ben is sad as he misses me liking the air conditioning. Now I am back to hating it. I forgot how cold I am not pregnant.
Posted by christina at 4:58 PM | Comments (1)
September 6, 2007
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September 5, 2007
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September 4, 2007
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September 3, 2007
The first week has gone quite well. I wake up in natural sleep cycles during the night to feed (every 3 hours). I take an afternoon nap and I don't feel sleep deprived. i am tired by the end of the day.
Aiden is quite expressive, especially when he is pooping. Yesterday he peed on ben during a diaper change. it was awesome. we've been getting out everyday - for a walk, for brunch, to the store. It is nice. Thankfully the weather is awesome and will be perfect for walking.
Posted by christina at 9:50 AM | Comments (0)
September 1, 2007
my mom & aiden
It is strange to not be pregnant anymore. It is not strange to have Aiden here, but strange that he is not in my tummy. I felt it the most last night, my first time out without the baby in 9 months. It is strange to buckle the seatbeat and not think about the baby within.
Society scared me a lot about pregnancy and childbirth. I thought that I was going get all the bad pregnancy stuff, but i didn't. I started the pregnancy so afraid of the pain of child birth during our first OB visit i said that i wanted an epidural immediately. But my pregnancy was easy and I read so much I came to accept the pain of child birth as something i could handle. I am thankful to my high school friend Tera, who had a baby a year ago. Last Christmas we were talking and she said not to be believe all the scary things you hear about pregnancy and childbirth.
So I pass that message along - don't believe all the scary things about pregnancy and childbirth. But I do have a couple of things that I feel made my experience better (for what it worth).
1. Work out. I did 5 miles on the elliptical every morning taking the 4th morning off for 30 mins of weight training (and abs before 25 weeks). It helped with a lot of the pregnancy and i think that helped me avoid a lot of the annoying pregnancy side effects.
2. Take fish oil, helps with the annoying pregnancy side effects
Posted by christina at 9:36 AM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2007
My immune system has returned and with it my allergies are in full force. No allergies were a nice bonus of pregnancy.
The weather has cooled off up here. It is as gorgeous day. My mom is up and we went out to bed bath and beyond for a hamper and target for other baby related stuff. It was nice to be out. My brain is still fuzzy and i totally missed some turns but me, my mom, the puppy, and the baby made it just fine.
Everyone is settling in nicely. Pepper is really cute about Aiden. She is protective when I am feeding. And gets rally concerned when he cries. She likes to smell him and lick his feet. Aiden so doesn't care. He is chill. He sleeps mostly. Eats and poops like a champ.
Posted by christina at 8:09 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2007
sweet hello
as I spent that week in prelabor I read a lot of birth stories and enjoyed them, so I'm going to share mine.
Aiden decided not to wait for my t-shirt quilt. And in true ironic fashion my water broke about 1:30 Sunday morning. I didn't want my water to break (did you know that it breaks before hard labor in only 10-17% of pregnancies). I didn't want my water to break because I was afraid of going into the hospital before active labor. They don't let you eat once you check into the hospital and so I'd been wanting to labor at home. But when your water breaks they want you there with in two hours.
So we show up to the hopital at 3 am. My contraction are regular, strong, and close together. The staff is quite good about my wishes though they obviously usally don't get someone who insists on no iv (hep lock) and the ability to drink liquids. They check with my group's on call dr and once he okayed those things i was good to go.
except that my body decided, well, let's not actually have a baby today. (hence why I was checking my e-mail during labor, sarah) I really wanted to avoid pitocin (the synthetic hormone used to induce and agument labor). I had heard that it makes the contractions way more intense. and so in order to try to avoid the epidural I really wanted to avoid the piochen. The doctor was great about it. He let me walk another couple of hours (we walked from 3 am to noon) and then I finally accepted the fact that i was going to need help. It was way more important to avoid infection (once the amnotic sac is compromised, an infection certainly develops within 12-24 hours).
so at 12:30 I got the pitocin. My nurse was great and helped me into a number of different position to help with the ever increasing pain of contractions. Through out the whole time it was really frustrating to not be able to be checked to see the progress of dialtation due to the infrection risk. At 2:30 ( i think) i could not stand it anymore and asked for something to just take the edge off of the pain. The narcotic, i was told, would take away about half of the pain for 2 hours. I decided to do it as there was no way i was going to survive the next 5 cms and pushing (they estimate that one would dilate 1 cm/hr). They gave it to me and my body, not use to any drugs, started feeling really strange and I just passed out asleep.
45 minutes later, I hear, I woke up screaming that the narcotic was not working and that i must have an epidural. They check me again - 7 cm. They got the epidrual person and while they were trying to figure out if I really could sit still for the spinal tap (I could not, though insisted that i could) i felt the need to push. the ob resident did not believe me when i said that the baby was coming (normally for a first baby it is 3 hours of pushing). the nurse did. she check and felt the head right there. a bunch of activity commenced as they quickly broke down the bed as i pushed through 4 contractions (complaining about the OB resident between contractions as he was trying to help me not tear but it was hurting and i just wanted the minute of rest between the pain of the contractions. Aiden made his appearance at 3:48 beating the OB dr into the room (they call him at 7 cm and usually that gives them plenty of time).
I was totally out of it as I gazed in wonder at this child on my chest that had just been in my belly for 9 months. Ben cut the cord. I couldn't really concentrate on breastfeeding (as my plan) as I was still complaining about the OB resident repairs that were going on (that's what I get for all the fast pushing). But it was okay b/c at that point i was so tired that i passed for an hour while they washed the baby and did all the usual tests and shots and stuff with ben supervising.
They transfered us around the corner to mother and baby about an hour after i woke up. Aiden has taken nicely to breastfeeding, so really i have no regrets about my pain management decisions. I am very glad that i didn't end up getting the epidural and am happy with my use of the other drugs. i do feel that it was due not just to the strength of the contractions, but more importantly the speed. Your body can release natural pain relievers in response to contractions if given enough time. So maybe next time I'll do it without any drugs.
I am also really happy with my hospital choice. Everyone was really supportive of whatever decisions i wanted to make while also maintaining a focus on the health of me and the baby. They helped me maintain my focus on no epidural while also focusing on the fact that i did not want the baby to end up in nicu (which would have happened if i had gotten an infection).
Posted by christina at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2007
hey love
Aiden Steven Harper was born on Sunday, August 26, 2007 at 3:45 pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs 11 ozs. 18.5 inches long. He is healthy and adorable. He definitely is ben's as he has ben's nose. I am well. We go home very soon (today, hopefully before lunch). More details to follow.
Posted by christina at 8:42 AM | Comments (4)