Today we had a visit from a lactation consultant.  According to her, my kid "sucks milk in like a vacuum cleaner"...

The Same and Nat

Day of birth

To name this blog post I am "borrowing" a chapter title "Те же и Сенечка" from Alexandra Brushtein's autobiography, where she describes the birth of her younger brother.  Except that I am using the title to refer to the birth of my baby.

1 day old

Nat is only a week old now, but I am already very proud of him:

• He never showed any sign of distress during the horrendously long labor--his heart beat was monitored almost the entire time.  If his heart rate ever did anything unexpected (like drop), I would be whisked away into an operating room for a C-section in minutes, and I am very grateful that it did not happen. 
• He managed not to lose weight between being discharged from the hospital and his first pediatrician visit.
• He managed to gain over 5 ounces by his second pediatrician visit only two days later.  (Apparently what the doctors want to see is that a baby like Nat is gaining at least an ounce a day...)
• And of course Nick and I find him terribly cute.

(I could have lived without his holding his arm up to his head during birth, but of course, no one is perfect.)

1 week old

Overall, it has been a very emotional week, as we all continue to adjust our new lives as a family.  

I think Colin Meloy said it really well:

"... it was only me and you
that made this three come out of two
My darling, what wonder have we wrought here? ...
It's weird, but mostly wonderful, dear "

Design A Sock

This is the second time I am submitting designs to the Design A Sock contest, held by Sock It To Me.  Here are my entries--I think a definite improvement over last year's attempt.

The goal is to make it into the finals--25-30 designs to be posted to Facebook in about a week for everyone to vote on their favorites.

Spring!

Or is it summer? Bare arms and legs in March in Boston after sunset!

38 weeks

The Race Is On

Despite having a thousand things that I should be doing, I could not resist starting another quilt.

8 squares for the new quilt
(the squares are just laying on top of another fabric)

So the big question is, what will be finished first--the baby or the quilt top.  Stay tuned...

Getting Bigger All the Time

36 weeks

Photo Shoot

My Marine/Whales quilt and I had a photo shoot today.

This is the "front" of the quilt

And here's the back

By the time I finished the quilt last weekend, it was too dark to take photos.  But I believe the quilt truly deserved my camera's attention, especially since it has now to go through the trials of the first machine wash.  I hope it will retain its general appearance, but you never know.

It was really nice of Nick to hold up the quilt while I took the photos.  Apparently it is not cool to be seen in public standing with your arms fully extended, holding up a brightly colored blanket.

Since we are having an unbelievably warm winter, I agreed to shed my cozy coat and be photographed outside too.  And yes, that ever growing basketball in the front keeps me a lot warmer than I would be otherwise.

33 and a half weeks

I have now shifted from reading about pregnancy and baby development to reading about birth.  I am starting to feel like a ticking bomb...