It's been a little quiet around here lately at My Name is Rob. In real life things have been anything but quiet. Nearly all my time at home has been occupied by our little bundle of joy, Will (now six weeks old).
On top of that I've been busier at work than I've ever been before. I am in the middle of seven projects at the moment (up from the usual two or three), one of which has completely monopolized my time for a month or so. The other six haven't gone away, they'll still be waiting for me when I finish this one. Needless to say, things have been pretty tense lately. It's no wonder Will has been able to post way more to his blog than I have to mine.
As I write, I am putting off packing for my weekend trip to Chicago for a software development conference. I really should get back to that.
We were lucky enough not to be the first of our generation of friends and family to have a child. As a result, we've been fortunate enough to receive many hand-me-downs. Will loves his little hand-me-down bouncer.
Melissa's sister was nice enough to give us (among other things) a nifty swing. There was a slight hiccup with the swing though, when I started to assemble it I realized the entire assembly was there except for the seat... which I could not find anywhere. I searched the house high and low. Finally, Melissa asked her sister if she happened to sill have the seat. Her sister couldn't find the seat.
Melissa started looking on Craigslist for swings. After a few days she noticed someone selling the exact same swing for a reasonable price, with the caveat that it didn't run on AC power (battery only). Well, since it was exactly the same swing this limitation didn't really matter because we could just take the seat off this one and attach it to the one we already had. We got the swing, swapped the seat, and Fig was good to go.
A day or two later we got a call from Melissa's sister... she found the seat. Oh well, now there's an extra. A day or two after that, a brand new swing (the exact same model) arrived at our house via UPS. My mom (who was well aware of our earlier dilemma) was kind enough to get the swing for us. In less than a week we went from zero functioning swings to three!
Well, I returned the new one, we're using the pieced together swing, and we have still enough spare parts to build an entire new swing, should the need arise. We are fortunate enough to have many wonderful people who care about us enough to help us out in these stressful times, and for that we are truly grateful.
The big news, of course, was Fig's arrival on the 12th.
In case you're interested, you can follow William's blog here, or his Twitter updates here.
Photo of the day
Running
The second best news of the month is that my knee injury is finally all better and I'm running and cycling again.
Month
Distance
# Workouts
Avg per Workout
January
109.34 Mile
10
10.934 Mile
February
55.83 Mile
7
7.97571 Mile
March
108.792 Mile
10
10.8792 Mile
April
74.85 Mile
8
9.35625 Mile
May
64.5669 Mile
9
7.1741 Mile
June
7. Mile
1
7. Mile
July
0
0
0
August
16.3 Mile
5
3.26 Mile
Total
436.678 Mile
50
8.73357 Mile
Sure, those five short runs aren't helping my yearly average (which was was hovering around 9 miles per run), but I've long since stopped caring. I'm just glad to be at it again.
Newborn babies have a tendency to unintentionally flail their arms about, which can agitate them, which can cause them to flail further, which can agitate them further, and so on.
The easiest way to calm them down is to swaddle them. If, like me 10 days ago, you're wondering what the hell that means, think of it like this: wrap them up like a burrito. With the baby's arms held closely by their side the flailing never starts. Baby will remain calm (unless, of course, there's something else wrong...).
I picked up the technique rather quickly from the nurses at the hospital after William was born.
Find a soft, flat surface like a bed or couch.
Lay the swaddling blanket (apparently this is a standard sized thing) in the shape of a diamond on the flat surface.
Fold the top of the diamond down a little ways (the exact amount is not important).
Lay the baby on the blanket so the top (folded) edge is behind the baby's neck, above the shoulders.
Pull the baby's arms down to his/her side and hold them there. The baby will resist, but you can easily overpower a newborn. I find it easiest to hold both arms down with one hand so the other hand is free to fold the blanket, but your hand-size-to-baby-size ratio may be smaller than mine. In that case just hold one arm down at a time and use the blanket to hold the first arm down while you move the second arm into place.
Fold the left corner of the blanket tightly across the baby's chest, over both arms, and tuck it in just a little bit on the right side of the baby (your right side, baby's left side).
While still holding the baby's arms down (they could still get loose at this point), fold the bottom corner of the blanket up over the baby's legs and torso.
While still holding the baby's arms down (they could still get loose at this point), lift the right corner up in the air at about a 45˚ angle and cinch it nice and tight. The tighter you cinch it, the less likely the baby will wiggle his/her way out of the burrito. Just don't hurt the baby.
Finish folding the right corner around the left side of the baby (your left side, baby's right side).
Lift the baby slightly and continue to fold the remaining slack under the baby.
At this point the baby should calm down rather quickly.
Things have been hectic these past six days, but Melissa, William, and I are managing okay (with an awful lot of help from Melissa's mother). Fig William has settled into a routine of eating, sleeping, pooping, and making funny faces (with the last two often done in conjunction). He had some real doozies today.
He's got the look.
One eyebrow raised? Come on, that's my look.
Incidentally, I've posted a number of pictures to my Flickr stream that have not and/or will not make it to the blog. So if you really can't get enough of William (Grandmas, I'm looking at you) you can check my Flickr stream on a regular basis... or better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed.
This kid sucks. I mean that literally, of course. William is a sucker. He will suck on anything near his mouth, he will suck hard, and he will not stop sucking. His favorite thing to suck is his entire fist.
We got around 2-2.5 hours of sleep (spaced out over three naps) after William was born in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. We had a few people come to visit. We received plenty of phone calls and emails from our wonderful friends and relatives. Thank you all so much for your kind words and support. The consensus seems to be that he will go by Will (or possibly Guillermo en Español).
We will go home tomorrow morning. It will be a nice birthday present for Melissa. Until then it's likely to be more eating, sleeping, sucking, and pooping... more for some of us than others.
Melissa went into labor yesterday, three days before her 30th birthday, about 10 days prior to her due date. We went to the hospital mid-afternoon. At 1:19 AM this morning (August 12, 2009) William Miles "Fig" Raguet-Schofield came into this world, waterlogged and tender. Melissa and William are both doing fine.
I am utterly exhausted after merely assisting with a day-long labor. I can't even imagine how Melissa must feel. She's one tough cookie. I can only assume the boy will be just as tough.
