Rachel slept for over five hours this morning. We were shocked at how long she went.
We went over to Renee’s for the playdate with Cameron, and Adam came home for lunch so that we could show off the baby to both of them. We had a nice visit, but she never woke up while we were there. She conked out at around 9am before we left, and woke up after 2pm when we got home.
In other news, Pickle, the company I was using to host all of my personal videos, closed its doors to consumers today. I know the guys who own and run Pickle and like them, and had partnered with them on various projects in my last couple jobs. But they were bought by Scripps Howard last year and are focused solely on corporate projects now.
So I have moved all of our home movies to YouTube. Here is the link of our home movies. Also, because I can, here is an old video embedded below of Joseph when he was six months old.
We did our usual Wednesday morning routine today with the baby in tow: music class and then a playground before lunch.
This afternoon I wanted to take Rachel outside to get some pictures, since we haven’t gotten any good ones of her with Joseph. He is generally very good around her, kissing her on the head and being sweet. A couple times he has been a little too rough near her but so far we have kept it under control.
This was the most time he had spent in direct contact with her. I held her on his lap for a couple minutes and he seemed very happy to be getting a closer look.
Rachel’s first doctor’s appointment went well today – she has passed her low point in weight and has put a few ounces back on.
We’ve been getting out with her a fair amount – yesterday was raining and all four of us went to two different kid-friendly coffee shops in the neighborhood – once in the morning, once in the afternoon. It was a little strange to be sitting there chatting and watching Joseph playing with toys, and then to think that we have an infant sitting in a car seat at our feet who is only two and a half days old.
Today was beautiful weather and after our play date with Susan we all walked her back to her house in the double stroller. We also had an afternoon trip to a playground, so Rachel is getting plenty of fresh air as are the rest of us.
So we’ve quickly adjusted to life with a newborn, though it certainly helps that we have great friends who keep bringing us dinner. Tonight was Libby, who got a little baby-time in return for an awesome meal that she dropped off.
The division of labor has been pretty clear cut: I’m pretty much 100% on Joseph duty, while Danielle is focused on the baby. We’re enjoying it immensely – having Danielle home now and having Rachel with us finally is great. If Danielle is sleep-deprived she isn’t complaining about it too much. My back has been hurting but other than that I don’t have any complaints. I haven’t gotten my hands on Rachel as much as I did with Joseph in the first week, but this evening after putting Joseph to bed I lay down on the couch with her on my chest and we both snoozed a little.
We’re back from the hospital. The whole experience was amazing and overwhelming. It was a busy night at the hospital, and the doctors told us they’d had lots of complicated deliveries. They were thanking Danielle for being so easy. It took six hours from the time they started the pitocin, and it was only three hours of serious labor and contractions.
Rachel is healthy, sleeping a lot, feeding well, and passing all her exams with raves from the doctors. Danielle is feeling pretty good, moving around, and looks great. I feel lame for not doing anything special for Mother’s Day, but it is pretty cool to come home on Mother’s Day with your wife and newborn daughter who is barely 36 hours old.
Joseph has adjusted extremely well. Danielle and I both missed him while we were at the hospital and were happy to be back in the house playing with him. He did really well yesterday at the hospital, saying “Baby Rachel” repeatedly and kissing her on the head. He seemed to really enjoy the time with his grand-mere, and he was his usual joyful self last night when I came home for his bath and bedtime, and again tonight.
Renee dropped off an awesome home-cooked meal, and we were able to enjoy a nice dinner with the new expanded family. Now Joseph and Danielle are both asleep and I am sitting at the computer with the baby in my lap, sorting through my pictures from the weekend.
Well we have had some issues with Georgetown University Hospital, but I am very impressed that they have added wi-fi since last time we were here when Joseph was born.
We came in this morning for a regular non-stress test and they decided that they want to induce, so we are now in Labor and Delivery waiting for this baby to arrive. We had brought Joseph with us so that he could see the hospital and get acclimated to the surroundings, figuring that we’d be back soon. He did great playing in the waiting room, but once we realized that Danielle wasn’t leaving with us I had to zip him home and drop him off with Monique.
Joseph loves listening to music in the car, and on the way back to the house I turned on the stereo and had forgotten that I had Simon and Garfunkel in there and it was queued up to Bridge Over Troubled Water. It was the perfect song for the occasion, and set a very different tone than when Danielle went into labor with Joseph and we were driving over the Key Bridge in rush hour traffic while she was having contractions and I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
We’re in the same room that we were in when we had Joseph. Our nurse is great, and the same anaesthesiologist is here as last time. His name is Dr. Joseph Myers, and Danielle had always joked that she would name her first child after the doctor who administered the epidural. That did have some influence on us in picking Joseph’s name.
So we’re very early in the process at the moment. They just started administering pitocin and Danielle appears to be feeling fine.
I am going to put away my laptop so that we can discuss baby names now.
We all woke up kind of early this morning, and thought it’d be fun to go out for breakfast – something we almost never do. Ever since we moved to Del Ray I have been wanting to go to the Wafle Shop, a very small greasy spoon diner in Little Chirilagua. The neighborhood is just north of Del Ray and is named after a region in El Salvador that many of the residents come from. The Wafle Shop is not Salvadoran, it’s just a little diner that was built in the 1950’s, and according to a sign on the inside it still has the same interior as the day it was built. It is open 24/7. There a small counter with built-in stools - no tables, no chairs, no kids seats, no booster seats. So we didn’t stay. The sign on the side of the building spells Waffle properly with two f’s, but the signs on the awnings have one f. Anyway we went down the street to Caboose and has a nice breakfast before heading over to Renee’s.
The play date with Cameron was fun. They seemed to be interacting with each other more than usual which was fun to watch, and we enjoyed sitting in the kitchen and watching them out the window. At one point I was standing in the doorway and Cameron came up to me yelling “nini, nini.” I finally figured out that he was saying “raining.” It had started raining lightly, but they were having fun so Renee found a couple raincoats and we let them stay out there.
Joseph didn’t nap today due to poop-related reasons, but we had a nice brief visit from Susan (SBK, not Joseph’s playmate) and did some errands. Joseph was very snoozy in the car. About to have an early dinner and hopefully he’ll crash early tonight.
Side note: my spell checker doesn’t like the word “wafle.”
Hi it’s me Danielle! Today I’ve locked Dan in a closet and am taking over his blog. First comes a blogpost. Second comes total world domination.
Well no baby girl yet. Last night we ate Mexican food and drove fast over speed bumps, but no luck. But I’m in pain most of the time, if that makes anyone feel better about things progressing.
This morning Dan’s parents departed after a nice visit (thanks Izzie for the noodle salad!). Sadly there was no payoff for them, but we hope very soon they will be able to meet the next heir to the throne.
Today I got the rare opportunity to take Joseph to his music class. I have only done this once of twice before and it’s a hoot. What was NOT a hoot was the fit J pitched right before we left for class (total hysterics over an unwanted but much needed diaper change). But the moment passed and he was a delight in class.
J does not participate much in class (as far as acting out songs that have hand motions, or singing and dancing) but he loves it when the boxes of instruments come out (drums, shakers, triangles etc). Not that he really plays them, but he likes to stack them and organize them while sitting in my lap. When we are done he loves to collect them and put them away. That’s my boy! He’s not the only kid doing this, but I can’t help but see a little bit of my own organizational neurosis in this behavior. Or am I projecting? Hmm…
Lots of pregnant moms in class. In fact there is one (due on Sunday) who used to be in my beloved Sports Conditioning class. Her son, Oliver, is adorable! Rhonda, if you are reading this- come back to Gold’s Gym! Your students have a ton of weight to lose and need your help.
After class we picked up Dan and went to playground (or “panga” as J says) for an hour. After lunch we went directly into naptime and were thrilled to find J cooperative. So mom and dad caught up on season 2 of “Entourage.” Now I’m ready for a nap and J is just waking up. Guess we’ll go drive over some speed bumps now….xo
I took advantage of my parents’ visit today and used the opportunity to join Danielle on her doctor’s appointment. I went to a lot more of her appointments during the last pregnancy, and had kind of forgotten how aggravating they can be. We waited for an hour to spend five minutes with the doctor, who basically told us nothing. Funny but sad comment: they have told us at various times that the due date was 5/3, 5/6, 5/10, 5/14, and 5/15. Last week they finally settled on the 5/3 – the earliest of all the options. Today she told us that one reliable test indicated the date would be 5/7 – one of the few choices they hadn’t yet mentioned. We both thought that was pretty funny at this late stage of the game. The only silver lining to the whole outing was that we stopped at Lebanese Taverna on the way home for an awesome lunch.
This morning we took Joseph to Buzz Cafe, which has a fun little kids corner with food-related toys. He was pretty happily occupied for a while, and we dropped him and my parents at a playground before heading to the doctor.
We’re enjoying a nice visit with my parents. Joseph is obsessed with some new books that Lisa and Marc give him for his birthday, and my mom is patiently reading them to him over and over.
Today we went to the zoo before dropping my parents at the Newseum for the afternoon. Later we all went to a playground in Old Town and ran into Christie and her two girls.
Nice to have Danielle home and to be enjoying family time this week.
This afternoon I wanted to take Rachel outside to get some pictures, since we haven’t gotten any good ones of her with Joseph. He is generally very good around her, kissing her on the head and being sweet. A couple times he has been a little too rough near her but so far we have kept it under control.
We’re back from the hospital. The whole experience was amazing and overwhelming. It was a busy night at the hospital, and the doctors told us they’d had lots of complicated deliveries. They were thanking Danielle for being so easy. It took six hours from the time they started the pitocin, and it was only three hours of serious labor and contractions.
We all woke up kind of early this morning, and thought it’d be fun to go out for breakfast – something we almost never do. Ever since we moved to Del Ray I have been wanting to go to the Wafle Shop, a very small greasy spoon diner in Little Chirilagua. The neighborhood is just north of Del Ray and is named after a region in El Salvador that many of the residents come from. The Wafle Shop is not Salvadoran, it’s just a little diner that was built in the 1950’s, and according to a sign on the inside it still has the same interior as the day it was built. It is open 24/7. There a small counter with built-in stools - no tables, no chairs, no kids seats, no booster seats. So we didn’t stay. The sign on the side of the building spells Waffle properly with two f’s, but the signs on the awnings have one f. Anyway we went down the street to Caboose and has a nice breakfast before heading over to Renee’s.
The play date with Cameron was fun. They seemed to be interacting with each other more than usual which was fun to watch, and we enjoyed sitting in the kitchen and watching them out the window. At one point I was standing in the doorway and Cameron came up to me yelling “nini, nini.” I finally figured out that he was saying “raining.” It had started raining lightly, but they were having fun so Renee found a couple raincoats and we let them stay out there.
We’re enjoying a nice visit with my parents. Joseph is obsessed with some new books that Lisa and Marc give him for his birthday, and my mom is patiently reading them to him over and over.