Saturday, April 21, 2001

Mia slept through an entire soccer game tonight. She sat between Jenn and I on the couch, as we watched the New England Revolution lose to the Washington D.C. United. During the game, we watched Mia squirm, raise her arms, and clench her tiny hands. She made the occasional face. I wonder how she would have done if we actually took her to the stadium?
posted by Rick Umali 10:20 PM

Thursday, April 19, 2001

Yesterday, Jenn and I weighed Mia using our bathroom scale. First we weighed ourselves, then we weighed ourselves holding Mia. Subtracting the lower number from the higher gives us Mia's weight. We each did it, and determined that Mia is eight pounds. And because she's at least eight pounds, we tried her in a BabyBjörn Baby Carrier. It's wonderful! I can now cart Mia around, and still use my two arms and hands. Mostly, this helps with computer work, but I did wash some pots with Mia seated in the baby carrier.
posted by Rick Umali 10:25 PM

Wednesday, April 18, 2001

Yesterday, Jenn went to the dentist to deal with her tooth-ache (turned out Jenn needs a root canal). We brought along Mia (in a Graco car seat-slash-baby carrier).

In the waiting room were a handful of elderly women (taking care of their teeth too!). And they were positively delighted by Mia's presence. The reception staff, hygienists, and other patients were cooing at little Mia.

The elderly ladies sure poured on the advice, and encouragement. It's true that a baby lights up any room. Here were perfect strangers talking to me, all because I walked in with a baby in a car seat. The ladies each reminisced about their children ("my baby is forty now", "my baby is a broadcaster in Chicago", "my baby just had a baby"). They all assured me that these trying first months will pass so quickly.

Mia chose to be asleep for the duration of our stay at the dentist. Maybe the warmth of her coat put her in a sleepy mood. Maybe it was the comfortable car seat. All I know is that she didn't peep or cry once (but if she did, I told the ladies that they could each take turns holding her).
posted by Rick Umali 7:56 PM

Tuesday, April 17, 2001

Mia spent much the early, then late part of the evening crying inconsolably. I'm hesitant to say it's colic, but it sure sounded like it. I guess we'll see later today.

The key thing I try to focus on is that Mia doesn't mean any of this. Yet when she cries during diaper changes, and cries just as she's put to bed, and cries after being fed, it's hard to believe otherwise. I think often of parents' advice to me, saying she'll get better about crying and sleeping after a few months. On paper, a few months is a short amount of time. But when you're in the middle of the third week, it's hard to have the perspective yet. It's 1:13AM as I write this. We'll see how the rest of the day goes.
posted by Rick Umali 1:09 AM

Mia received mail yesterday. She got her social security number, and she got a notice from Blue Cross Blue Shield (my health insurance), asking after her primary care physician. I filed and dealt with both of these items.
posted by Rick Umali 1:04 AM

Sunday, April 15, 2001

Another bath today. Mia was much more cooperative, probably because we woke her from a nap, and she was groggy. We see her smiling at us, but we also know that she's not even three weeks old, so these smiles are involuntary. But they're lovely to behold. :-)
posted by Rick Umali 10:48 PM