At the park

On Saturday, the weather was gorgeous so we took a nice, long walk. We stopped at a park in Valencia where I could feed Cora, and Stace ended up playing football (soccer) in a pickup game with a mixed group of kids and adults. He loved it.

This morning I realized that Cora has outgrown some of her clothes! It was a bit of a shock to this mommy's system... The newborn onesies and a couple of sleepers are just too small, lengthwise. I measured her to be 22 inches, so two inches longer than her birth length.

Also, I think we can safely say that Cora is smiling now. The first few times, we couldn't be sure if the smiles were real but she's smiling often enough now that we are certain they're the real thing. Last night we gave her another bath, and she was quiet and happy for the first five minutes or so, as Dad helped her splash her feet and arms. It was really sweet to watch her face, until she resumed her normal bathtime routine (screaming).

5 weeks old

Cora is getting excited for the start of the Dodgers' season! That, and she's also excited about her first L.A. Galaxy soccer (*football) match on Sunday. We will watch the team play against another Major League Soccer team in a charity match here in Santa Clarita to benefit a children's cancer fund.

I haven't posted anything this week because, I suppose, I'm getting into a routine and nothing seemed very exciting to write about. BUT, in interest of full disclosure, I will say that Cora was waking up earlier again this week. After about 10 days of sleeping from 10 or 11 until after 6, she woke up between 4 and 4:30 several nights this week. I think she was going through a growth spurt, and our change to Daylight Savings Time also seemed to throw off our timing. This morning, however, after she went down about 10:30 on Friday, I had to wake her up to feed her around 6:45. Other nursing moms will know why I NEEDED to wake her up!

Congratulations

Our excitement over Cora's arrival is shared by our elected officials. We received a beautiful scroll from Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and the Board of Supervisors, and a note from the president - no matter what you think of Bush, this was pretty cool - a handwritten envelope even!

In a stadium far far away......

..... well, 35 miles away.

This weekend Lisa, Cora and I went to Dodger Stadium to buy tickets for an upcoming game when Dunc, Lindsey, Connor and Chelsea come to visit.

Always time for quick photo.

Next stop was the LA Science Museum. They had a Star Wars exhibit going on so we paid a visit. Lisa and Cora got to meet some of my friends from when I was a kid. I spent hours playing with these people when I was younger. In fact, I thought I was the man to my right until I was 15 .

Cora meets R2D2

They had props and scale models from all six films. The exhibit was all about how today's technology could actually bring to life some of the futuristic ideas that were dreamt up in the Star Wars saga.

Cub reporter

Cora and I made our first visit to the Valley Press office since my last day, back in mid January. It was great to see everyone, and I think everyone enjoyed seeing Cora. We went to lunch with Allison (pictured) and Marissa, my friends who threw me a lovely baby shower in November.

Fun places to nap

When you sleep 16 hours a day, bassinets and cribs can get a bit boring...

A day in the life of Cora

Wondering what life is like for an almost-one-month old? Or for her parents? Here are the goings-on of March 6:
After going to sleep about 10 p.m. on March 5, I awaken with a hungry shriek at 5:30. Eat hungrily for about a half hour, and then get a diaper change by Dad.
6:30 - Dad swaddles me and puts me back to bed, so Mom and me can sleep a bit more. Dad kisses us good-bye and heads to work.
9:30 - Mom gets me up for Second Breakfast. Eat from 9:40 to about 10:15, with breaks to burp.
10:15 - Sit on Mom's lap while she surfs the Internet and talks to her friend JT in England via Internet video
10:45 - Diaper change
10:50 - A bit of time on my activity mat and on the Boppy pillow while Mom puts away laundry and makes a snack for herself
11:15 - I fall asleep on Boppy
11:30 - Mom swaddles me and puts me in my bassinet - then she can handle some medical phone calls, the plants on the balcony and tackle a few thank you cards
Noon - I wake up, loudly. Mom puts my pacifier in and turns on vibration and sound of water on my bassinet. This works: I go back to sleep
12:45 - Mom gets me up for a diaper change and lunch. I eat until about 1:25.
1:30 - I'm happy in my crib, watching my Pooh mobile, while mom washes a load of diapers. I've been in cloth diapers since my umbilical cord stump fell off.
2 - Diaper change, and hang out in mom's arms
2:15 - Mom puts me in sling so she can do a few more chores. I fall asleep about 10 minutes later, with my pacifier.
2:55 - Wake up, Mom helps me with pacifier. I like my pacifier, but sometimes while I'm happily sucking it, I knock it out of my mouth. I'm still not sure of how to use my arms and hands. I'm asleep again about 15 minutes later.
3:40 - Mom wakes me up, changes my diaper and feeds me.
4:45 - Mom and I meet Grandma for a walk. We also stop at Starbucks and the grocery store, but I don't notice because I'm asleep again.
6:45 - Back home, Mom changes my diaper and feeds me.
7:40 - Dad comes home from a special dinner with his workmates. He is glad to see me and takes me off Mom's lap.
8 - Dad changes my diaper.
8:10 - For no particular reason, I fuss in dad's arms for more than a half hour.
8:45 - I'm asleep. Dad puts me down.
9:45 - I wake up, yelling because I'm very hungry. Dad gives me a bottle of Mom's milk.
10:30 - Dad puts me to bed. He and Mom hope I go to sleep, so they can go to sleep. We'll see!
WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE: I decided I wasn't tired when Dad put me to bed. For the next hour, I went back and forth between lying quietly, crying, sucking pacifier, and generally fussing. Mom kept jiggling my bassinet and putting my pacifier in before giving up and taking me into my bedroom and rocking me to sleep. We came back to bed around 11:45. But, I was a nice baby and stayed asleep until 6:45.

Cora's Big Day

Friday, Cora was three weeks old and two major events in the young ladied life took place.

1. Bottle Feeding by me. Lisa pumped some milk and I fed the girl for the first time from a bottle.
She did very well, lapping up 4 oz's before falling asleep.

2. Cora's belly button made an appearance.Her umbilical cord stump (pork scratching) fell off.To mark this special occasion we gave her her first real bath, instead of a wash. That really ticked her off. She's not too keen on baths yet.

This was the one picture I could get without her screaming.

Big Eyes

With Stace's parents back in England and Stace back to work full-time, Cora and I are starting our new life together this week.

So far, so good.

Stace gets Cora up for a feeding while he's getting ready to go to work, about 6 or 6:30, and then puts her back to bed when he leaves. That allows us both to sleep until 8:30 or 9, giving me more than 7 hours of sleep! Not bad for a mom of a 2 1/2-week-old. Last night, I fed her at 10:15 and she didn't wake up until 3!

Feeding time comes every 2 to 3 hours, followed by a bit of awake time and then a nap (for Cora, not mom). In the photos, she is on her activity mat. She's happy on her mat or in her bouncer for about 10 minutes on her own; she also likes to be in her sling and close to mom (or dad) when she is awake. She does tend to get fussy in the evenings, crying for maybe 30 minutes to an hour, broken up by periods of non-crying.

Hot Water

Saturday's plans of watching the Tour of California cycle race as it passed through Santa Clarita were dented when the water heater decided to die.

My Dad had been here all week but the heater started leaking when we got back from the airport after dropping them off. Typical!

Luckily my good friend Keith gave up half of his Saturday to help me installed a brand new heater. Well! I helped him install a new heater really.

Thanks Keith!!!

OK! I know what you're thinking. Where's the kid? There'll be more pictures of Cora soon.

Two weeks

Here is Cora singing - er, yawning. She likes to yawn and stretch, soon we'll post some photos of the stretching...
We had her two-week appointment yesterday (Thursday) and the doctor again raved at her health and looks. Must be from some distant relative, obviously.
She's now back up to her birth weight, 7-11, and has grown an inch, to 21 inches. The doctor said her umbilical cord doesn't look like it's ready to come off yet, so we will keep an eye on it and maybe bring her back in next week or the week after so they can put on a medicine to help it fall off quicker.

After the doctors, Nan and Pop bought us a Snugli and we went for a walk around Bridgeport, Santa Clarita's manmade lakeside community where there are many varieties of waterfowl.

A very loved baby...

Here is Cora with all of her grandparents.
She is now waking up a bit more during the daytime, and she has been a little more fussy the last day or two.
The last two nights she has woken up for feeding about every three and a half hours; thankfully, after the 5 or 6 a.m. feed, mom and baby can go back to sleep until the 9 a.m. feed. Last night, she was fussy after her 2:30 a.m. meal, and I was up bouncing her before finally bringing her into bed. She seemed very happy sleeping in my arms. Of course this isn't a habit I want to get into, but I'm sure that at 12 days old, we're not setting any lasting habits.
On Thursday we have our first "early" morning appointment - her two-week checkup at 9 a.m. It should be interesting trying to get up and out the door by 8:40.



Say it with me now - "awwwww..."

One week later

OK, so I'm a little late putting this photo and entry up, but Cora wanted to wish everyone a very happy Valentine's Day! She's wearing the outfit Grandma and Grandpa Wahla gave her, which hopefully will fit a bit better in a few weeks.

We celebrated Valentine's Day with a walk to Starbucks. Mommy really enjoyed her walk and her coffee. In fact, Mommy is really loving NOT being pregnant anymore! She can drink coffee without stomache troubles, take decent-length walks, and the hip pain and morning sickness are finally gone! Plus, she's now losing weight instead of gaining it. (More than 20 pounds off in a week!)

Nan and Pop Howard are here now and loving their first grandchild.

Healthy Girl!

We are continuing to settle in, and Cora so far has been an angel of a baby. Yes, it is early yet...

Last night (Monday night) was much better than her first night at home. She only got up when it was time to eat, so we managed to get in a bit more sleep. When I changed her diaper in the morning, she found her thumb - quite an accomplishment, considering her hands are normally flailing all over the place when she tries to find something to suck on.

We had our first outing as a family yesterday - a well-baby doctor appointment, a stop for frozen yogurt and a walk to the pharmacy for pain meds for Mom. (Day Four - Soreness Sets In)

The pediatrician said she is very healthy and looks "perfect." Her weight was 7 lbs 5 oz, so a very small drop from her birth weight (which is expected). The doc didn't do a jaundice check, because she thought her coloring looked just fine. Her birth weight and length were both about exactly 50th percentile - can you believe her rather, um, small parents had a baby smack dab in the middle range of baby sizes?

Cora's Homecoming

Cora and I came home from the hospital Sunday. Stace and I had a quiet day learning how to operate in our new life as a family of three - diapering, changing clothes, nursing, standing over the crib watching her sleep with tears filling our eyes. We were told many times while I was pregnant that you won't be able to believe how much you will love this brand-new little person, and that is the truth.
Our first night together was, predictably, a long one. Sleep for baby and parents came in one-hour spurts around feedings, changings, and short crying spells because Cora got her arms out of her swaddling blanket. She LOVES to be swaddled tight.

For Somer, it was not exactly love at first sight. Rather, our outgoing, talkative cat turned skittish and silent. When we first arrived home, Somer would inch toward the carrier, eyes wide and fur standing on end, and then quickly back away whenever Cora made a noise or movement. She eventually got close enough to sniff the carrier itself. After a while, she seemed more like herself and now seems to be accepting of her new friend.

Ladies and Gentlemen....

.......let me introduce to you....

Miss Cora Rose Howard

Cora Rose Howard

Today at 8.59am/4.59pm Lisa gave birth to a cracking little baby girl.
Weight 7lbs 11 ozs
20'' long
It took just 34 minutes and 10 really ace pushes.
Lis was in labor since 7.00pm last night (3.00 am in England)
I'll put pictures on the blog when i go home for a kip.

Labor!

I'm in the hospital! 3 cm, 100% effaced and painful contractions that are getting more frequent. We came around 4 p.m. If I haven't had Baby by early Friday morning, I'll be induced.
Stay tuned!

Full term - come on, Baby!

I'm officially 40 weeks today. The doctor said I'm still at about 2 cm dilated, and the baby's head is quite low. I started having occasional Braxton-Hicks (fake) contractions on Sunday, and they have continued intermittently. No pain, just a tightening of my belly. When she did my internal exam, the doctor also did a thing called "stripping the membrane" - basically running a finger along the bag of water to try to spur things along. She said it has a 50-50 success rate of getting labor going within 24-48 hours; I suppose it depends on how ready baby is to come anyway.

In case I'm still pregnant at the end of the week, I have an appointment set up for Friday at 2 p.m., where they will listen to Baby's heart beat for 20 minutes to make sure there is no distress at being post-term. And I'll be induced Tuesday the 13th if I haven't delivered by then.
One way or another, we'll have a baby in a week!

One week left???

I had my 39-week appointment this morning and the doctor said I'm dilated "a good two" centimeters. Still no effacement or contractions of any sort. He did say that I could still go into labor this weekend or next week; that my slow progress now doesn't necessarily mean I'm weeks away from Baby making the grand appearance.
I have another appointment Tuesday...

two weeks and counting

It's now less than two weeks until Due Date, or D-Day, as the case may be. At my appointment Wednesday, Baby's heartbeat sounded very strong, but Baby hasn't dropped yet and I'm dilated only 1 cm. So it appears that delivery isn't imminent yet.















With our spare room becoming a nursery, we bought a new couch with a pull-out bed. It arrived today...

End of Era

Friday was my last day at work as a full-time reporter for the Antelope Valley Press. Though I am pregnant enough to need a break, and have lots of little things to do before Baby arrives, after more than six years it was quite strange to pack things up and clear off the desk. I've greatly enjoyed my time as a reporter and have made a number of good friends, including Allison, who sits near me. I can only hope to enjoy this next "job" as much.

Harsh Winter

Santa Clarita was greeted Wednesday by hail and snow. For several hours - well, minutes - the Arctic storm wreaked devastation across the Valley. Ordinary life came to a standstill; work at HR Textron came to a screeching halt as the work force rushed to the window to take in the shocking sight.
Here you see our balcony, bearing the brunt of the devastation. Luckily no one was hurt.

Winter Golf

Playing golf in Southern California is not all shorts and suncream you know.
Today it was -4 degs C (25 degs F).
Out came the 4 layers of clothing, thermal socks and wooly hat. I was still cold!
It was just like being up at Windwhistle in the winter, apart from the rain and mud.

Here we are all together, Me, Brad, Larry and Scott.
Larry and Scotty feeling the effects of the cold.
I know it looks sunny......it was, but it was bloody freezing.
I used to play in the cold all the time, even the snow on a couple of occasions, but not since I've moved over here.
I have to admit it. Today I turned into a Weather Wimp.

36 weeks

I had my 36 week checkup on Wednesday, this time with an honest-to-goodness doctor (the medical group I use has you see a nurse practitioner until 36 weeks for low-risk, normal pregnancies).

The doctor was very pleasant and professional, and explained everything she was doing - I had to have a certain routine swab taken and she was very kind about it. I'm measuring right on schedule for my due date, and she felt around my stomache and said the baby's head is down where it should be.

I would say I'm definitely feeling very pregnant these past few days. I'm swelling a lot more in my legs, feet and hands (but my blood pressure was fine, so it' s just normal late-term swelling). My hands hurt when I wake up because of the swelling, and my contacts don't seem to be fitting as well as they used to. Things are blurry, which makes driving at nirght interesting. That's another normal problem, according to "What to Expect When You're Expecting." The left hip pain and occasional morning sickness are still problems, too, and I'm not sleeping very well. Neither is Stace, for that matter.
It's all God's way of getting mom to the point of readiness for labor, I guess. (As in, Get this baby out of me!)
I'll see the doctor again next Wednesday.

Morro Bay

For my birthday, and for a last getaway before we're not willing to be more than an hour from Henry Mayo Newhall hospital, Stace and I went away for a night in Morro Bay, up on California's Central Coast just north of San Luis Obispo. Morro Bay is a beautiful, quaint fishing town with its landmark volcanic rock. We enjoyed the town, and later checked out San Luis Obispo for a few hours on Sunday. We saw a number of sea otters, sea lions and even five wild (I think?) turkeys!
It was a great little trip, and we felt a long way from home (which we were - it was nearly 200 miles up the coast).

I'm now 36 weeks along, and see the doctor for the first of my weekly appointments on Wednesday. I'll give a pregnancy update then...

Morro Bay

Stace in Morro Bay State Park, with the Rock in the background

Lisa in front of San Luis Obispo Mission