The Baby Sleep Solution

Alright here we are again at last. As of late Jack is smiling and talking a lot more. Here is a video compilation to prove it, though the smiles illustrated are unusual one that I thought were funny. The second clip is Jack in his pajamas that are on backwards (got to love Chris putting him to bed every night!)

Jack is also an awesome sleeper. We owe it all to our new favorite book- the baby sleep solution. Jack goes to bed at 7 pm then stays in his crib until 6:30 am; he doesn't even wake up then, we get him up to eat. He has been sleeping about 12 hours since about 8 weeks. Seriously, the book is great.

Other notable events- we've started potty training as well! Not really. Hopefully he won't hate us in the future because of this picture but it is so cute.

He did however go swimming for the first time (even though he looks grumpy he kind of liked it for a little while.)

went to a Independence day parade,

and is now blessed. Check out his awesome vest and tie. In the lives of Chris and Hilary, Chris pasted his thesis defense and will be able to graduate with his masters in August. Hilary has only 3 1/2 weeks left of work. Then we move to Maryland after a brief jaunt to Alaska.

Our fate will be decided on July 15th. We have entered into a housing contract and have our financing all lined up, but we just now need approval from the home association to buy our unit and be allowed to the live there. The board of directors will meet on the 15th to determine if we qualify. If we don't get in, I don't know where we will live and that will make me quite unhappy.

1 month!

Jack is now 1 month old as of Thursday, and I can't believe it. He is now 9.5 lbs according to Wii Fit, but the 0-3 mo. clothes are still a little big so he is still in the newborn size.

To celebrate his month occasion I made a cake. Actually I wanted to make a cake and found an occasion to do so. The inside was my inspiration, three flavors: Orange, Lime, and Lemon.

And now a picture of Jack with his alligator outfit because I like it (shirt and pants from Grandma Verhaaren and accessories from my co-worker). We are determined to make the alligator toy his favorite.

Because we have to show off

Well, a lot has happened since we posted last. Or at least it seems that way, but this might be due the extra amounts of time we’ve been awake (especially Hilary) to observe happenings. It’s hard to believe that Jack is almost four weeks old, and he still won’t talk to me. I’m okay with that though, I can still beat him in chess three games out of five.

Some of the excitement of the last few weeks we’ve been able to record in pictures and on video. Our first use of our video camera we particularly exciting, since it allowed us to save for posterity Jack’s better spit up on Dad experiences.

Spitting up has not been all Jack’s been doing though, for instance he occasionally smiles The only downside to these occurrences is that they seem to have little to nothing to do with the external world. He’ll be sitting staring at nothing or the wall behind me and suddenly break out in a grin. That we even captured one on film (or whatever digital cameras have) was dumb luck, but we’ll take it.

He’s also been helping me out around the house. Here’s a picture of him giving valuable feed back on my thesis.

Here are two shots of us wrestling. The first is shortly after he tackled me (totally unfairly I might add, he gave no warning) and shortly thereafter he had me pinned. Seeing that physically he had me outmatched I challenged him to a sleeping contest which I won hands down. That boy has not mastered the art of sleeping.

We try to help him out in that regard by wrapping him up like a baby burrito, but he has grown tired (get it!) of this recently. At least, when I try to swaddle him he tends to fight me tooth (figuratively) and nail (literally). I have found that a sure fire way to get him sleepy is to keep him warm. If he’s lying in the sun or basking by the space heater he calms down and passes out immediately.

This may just be a ploy to get me to leave him alone. The other day I walked in unannounced and found evidence that he works as a superhero when I think he’s asleep. If you look closely you can see that his super name is NINJA, and his powers are to wear socks on both his feet and his hands. What villain can stand before this cuteness? Of course such a job requires him to stay in shape. Most of his work out routine consists of lifting his head.

After a strenuous work out like that he likes to relax with some feeding and nice bath.

To get the food he calmly cries with increasing intensity and facial folding until his Mom gives in. A typical beginning to such a cry is here recorded:

Another technique he uses to get what he wants in ridiculous amounts of cuteness. For instance, he might lounge around with his shirt off waiting for someone to lavish him with gifts of modeling contracts.

All in all he’s pretty great and we look forward to him supporting us in our golden years.

Hilary's note: I am a little more literal in my posts so just to clarify some things...first of all, I do interact with my child, I'm just the one behind the camera so there is no proof of it. Jack had a little bit of Jaundice when we brought him home so we would let him lay in the sun to help. At work we had a little baby party where my co-workers could decorate onsies and so we got a lot of cute ones and a lot of fun ones, so in the future Jack will be a Boston Red Socks fan and a Pittsburgh Penguins fan among other things. The head lifting is one of my favorite things Jack does. At the hospital when I would hold him on my chest he would lift his head up and look around and it would be oh so cute. His head just keeps getting stronger.

All in all, it is nice not to be pregnant now, pregnancy was not at all what I was expecting. Oddly enough, the best weeks of my pregnancy were the last two (the last time I threw up was at 36 weeks, but I was still nauseous) and I never felt like I was huge or got full use of my maternity clothes. I actually enjoyed labor and am considering going without an epidural next time (and yes there will be a next time despite how much I despised the first 36 weeks!).

NICU: A Nice Place To Visit, But...

In our last post we left our hero, Jack the brand new Verhaaren, in the birthing room being weighed and otherwise measured. It was only fair that since Mom had spent the most time with him up until now that Dad go with him to explore the nursery downstairs. This involved a lot of firsts for Jack. His first elevator ride, his first bath, and his first shot. He didn't really notice the elevator, he didn't love the shot but took it stoically, the bath he hated. "Please, just give me shots," he seemed to scream. The nurses tried to oblige him by drawing blood from his arms and heels, and indeed he was much more calm than he had been during the bath.
While all of these exciting things were happening the nurses noticed that Jack tended to moan when he breathed. Their guess was that his lungs weren't working at full capacity yet and so they decided to keep him in the nursery for a while so that they could keep an eye on him.
A few hours later he was still moaning so they called down a doctor from the NICU. He suggested an x-ray be taken of Jack's chest. At this same time the nurses were trying to get a hold of the pediatrician who had been assigned to check over Jack the next day. This pediatrician happened not to be in that day, so they got a hold of his partner who agreed to come in and check things out. In the mean time the x-ray was taken and looked at, and the diagnosis by some was that it might be pneumonia.
It should be said at this time Mom and Dad were becoming more and more anxious. They also found out the the pediatrician thought they needed another x-ray, the first being difficult to read. They finally made some decisions when the new x-ray was taken and the pediatrician got to the hospital. They said Jack's lungs had some residual fluid in them that was preventing them from working at full capacity. This meant he needed a trip to the NICU where they could blow air into his lungs. Luckily, after a few hours they pronounced him healthy enough to breath on his own and so about twelve hours after his birth Jack got to leave the nurseries and NICUs in favor of Mom and Dad's room. Now he has the time to learn how to eat, which he has been looking forward to since conception.
Post Script: Both sides of the family seem to like the name Jack. Also, both sides have asked if Escher is a family name from the other side. Well, Escher is now a family name on both sides although it wasn't two days ago. All family names must have a beginning.

Babies Come from Hospitals

It was early in the day on this the twentieth day of April in the year of our Lord 2010. Hilary, rising up early, found some tightness in her uterus and some leakage. When she returned to bed a little later in that early hour I half jokingly asked, "Did your water break?" I said this full of hope that she would say "Ha ha, no," and we could both go back to sleep. However, her firm reply was, "Maybe."
Maybe indeed. After some preparations we found ourselves at the hospital to let them know Hilary's water may have broken. In order to clear up the maybe they ran some tests. The first was a definite negative. The second a surprising positive. This brought us straight back to maybe. So, how did we deal with this maybe? We decided to run the same tests half an hour later. This time both test unanimously decided her water had not broken, so while she was dilated to three and a half centimeters and was having some contractions we were sent home to think about what we had done. In all fairness, they said we could come back when the contractions were very painful and more regular. In all lack of fairness they wanted these symptoms to continue for two to three hours before we came back.
I was thinking I might as well get some work done so up to campus I trotted, it was nine in the morning. I called home about ninety minutes later to check on the situation at home. From this call I learned that life was becoming more painful, so we planned to go back to the hospital at noon. Half an hour later Hilary called to tell me that actually what with one thing and another, for instance the very long hour of very painful contractions, we needed to go to the hospital right now rather than wait another hour. This being a better option than passing out at home.
Now properly motivated I ran home, we drove to the hospital, and took the elevator to the fifth floor. All this while Hilary was moving slow due to very painful contractions. Another fun side effect was the uncontrollable flow of liquid soaking her pants. This made it very easy to get our old room back. I mean we had already been there once that day and we were making a puddle on their floor, so they guessed we were kind of serious. Once we were situated they checked Hilary and found out she was dilated to ten centimeters. It was then that things got busy.
It was clear to the nurses that the baby would be out soon so we quickly had a room full of people preparing. A doctor showed up and got the epidural going in record time much to Hilary's relief. Once that was working the nurses, who had hooked up the monitors on contraction and baby heart rate, wanted to give pushing a try. So, during the next handy contraction Hilary gave a push and our baby moved far enough that they lost him on the monitor. Now, due to the epidural Hilary had no control over her left leg so my job became official leg assistant when it came time for pushing. This was great as it gave me something positive to do. About one round of pushing later the baby was crowning. A few more rounds of pushing and one nurse decided they should call the doctor while he still had something to do. He showed up quickly and our son, Jack Escher Verhaaren, was born soon after. To give an idea of how fast this was, only an hour a fifteen minutes elapsed from the time we got to our room the second time and Jack's birth. Looks like it tired him out though.

The pregnancy post

Basically, pregnancy is awful. I really am not one to complain too much and I do have good things to say, but I will get to those later. I hate being pregnant. I just want to be normal again. Some people seem to handle it quite well, but not me. I’ve got one of the worse cases that I know of.
First of all, I have been sick the entire time. What was annoying too is people don’t seem to understand how sick I really was/am. People who were or are pregnant would tell me, oh just make sure you eat regularly and you’ll be ok, or eat right before you go to bed and that will help a lot, or drink a lot of water and you’ll feel better. Yeah right, believe me I tried everything to help but nothing really did.
The first half I was throwing up about 3 times a day, sometimes just once, or sometimes 10 times. The worst day was the day before my ultrasound when I didn’t keep anything down the entire day except a popsicle and half a can of ginger ale that I had right before bed, but then threw up again in the middle of the night so I’m not sure if it counts. I only threw up twice in public, once in a trash can on campus and once outside our church building with people going into church, I’m sure they loved that. But it was ok, I covered it up with snow. I kept plastic bags in the car and I needed them twice, once was when I was driving home from work, that was not fun. Several times my throat would bleed, I hate that. And it just happened again last week.
My 24 week appointment was the first one in which I gained weight, and it is probably about that time that I started averaging about once a week and that is still where I am. It is great not to be throwing up as much, but I still feel nauseous at some point everyday. I did get medication, but it didn’t help like I wanted. From what I read online most people considered it to be a miracle drug, they took it and felt a ton better. I took it and maybe didn’t throw up as much but still felt pretty awful. When I took it after 24 weeks though, I did notice a big improvement in how I felt. Now that I’m out of medication I don’t feel like getting a refill so I get by without. (This is beginning to be very long and I am definitely not done yet-oh well.)
My second complaint is related to the first- food. For the first time in my life I hate having to eat. I like some foods still but I hate the fact that I have to eat multiple times a day. I’m sure this sounds odd, but I never feel hungry anymore, instead I feel nauseous. So I know I have to eat when I feel like eating the least. What I would love is a pump that would give me all my calories and nutrients directly into my stomach at a constant rate so I would never have to worry about eating. It is so bad I would seriously give up tasting anything for 9 months if I could have that pump and not be nauseous.
Another complaint is my face, I look like a before photo for an acne commercial. I’ve always had acne, and I’ve always had more than other people, but now it is 10 times worse. Chris says he doesn’t really notice it but I definitely do and it is bad. Never before have I felt like I need to wear face make-up everyday so I don’t scare people, and putting on face make-up everyday is really annoying. So I’m really looking forward to clearing up a little bit.
Another complaint is saliva. I have way too much of it and hate to swallow it because that makes me feel sick. So I spit, a lot. It has gotten better though, but I still have a little plastic cup by my bed for spit. Sorry Chris.
And since nothing in this blog is pleasant I’m not embarrassed to share my last unpleasant experience (that I can think of right now) which only lasted about a week, so I’m fine now, is incontinence issues when I would throw up. There was a week when I went through every pair of pajama pants I have and the bathroom rug. Not to fun but there was nothing I could do. I do have to say though that being pregnant has prepared me for all the bodily functions of children. I’ve been terrified of other peoples vomit but now that I’ve had to clean my own up several times from not making is to the toilet or sink in time, I might be a little better at handling my child’s.
Now I do have good things to say like I promised. Nothing is “I like being pregnant because…” because there is nothing that I like but more its “things could be worse and I’m glad there not…”. 1) Heartburn-has not been too bad. I do get it occasionally but nothing too terrible. 2) thanks to genetics and not being able to gain too much weight, I don’t have any stretch marks (yet). 3) Not being able to gain too much weight-I haven’t held back at all or am trying to be food conscious, I eat what I can and don’t worry about it and am not ballooning so that is good. 4) I’m still quite comfortable. I can sleep rather well and don’t have any back pain or swelling like I hear a lot of people do. So at 33 weeks I feel like I’m doing better physically than a lot of other people. I’m sure the constant un-comfort will come, but thankfully it hasn’t come yet. 5) There haven’t been any complications with the baby. 6) Hating pregnancy so much makes me so excited for labor. I’m excited for painful contractions because then I know the end is near. I have no fear at all. 7) I know it may be sappy but I love Chris so much more now because he has been so nice and willing to take care of me, I really don’t know what I would do if I was pregnant without him (though without him I wouldn’t be pregnant!)
All I can really say is, this kid better be worth it because he has been so hard on me so far!

And now a belly shot because Mom wants to see them. This was at 30 or 32 weeks, I really can't remeber. I think its 30. We took a 33 week picture but I look even worse than I do here so I'm not posting it.

This Time there is a Title

And not only a title, but rather fetching capitalization in the aforementioned title.
First, to clear up some rumors, no we're not dead. We just have the blogging consistency of a woman who can't update a blog from home or from work and a man who forgets that he's part of a blog. (Also, simile is not our forte.) Still, no harm done. Those who follow our blog know that this is typical of our blogging style.
Second, Hilary is still all kinds of pregnant. She is working toward one vomit free week, and keeps reminding me that the baby would survive if born today. I (male chauvinist that I am) feel that we should keep him (the baby) in the oven (the womb) for a few more months. I think a full nine has a good feel. This makes me an insensitive jerk. Just a joke (not really).
Third, graduate schools are playing a different tune this year. Some of you may recall the trauma of last years sitting by the mailbox waiting for the good news that never came (kind of like the Great Pumpkin). This year however, we've already been accepted by two schools almost immediately after applications were due. This brings a measure of peace to our minds, which is only slight marred by my worries about being able to graduate on time. But you can't have everything.
In conclusion, we apologize for our lackadaisical attitude with respect to blogging. We will do better! (I like vague goals.) Also, we apologize for the five paragraph middle school essay style of this entry and the multitude of parenthetical comments (if you don't like them stop reading our blog. I have a feeling they are here to stay.) Please don't actually stop reading our blog, just skip the parenthesis if they offend you.

THE END

(for now)