Things I'm Excited About

Spring!

Ok, it hasn't felt like spring here in New York yet.  But since the calendar says it's so, I have hope.  I'm looking forward to more outings like this one in Central Park

But hopefully much warmer and with leaves on the trees.

Side Note:  Going to Central Park was a little too ambitious with a 3-week-old, particularly the subway ride.  We might just be enjoying walks around our own neighborhood for a while.

Return of Starbucks Dates

 

As far as food establishments go, Starbucks is a pretty safe bet with a baby.  We can always walk out if Tiger Cub starts making a scene.

 Who me?  I would never make a scene at Starbucks!

My Growing Milk Collection

Yep, you can tell an infant lives here!  Pretty soon we won't have much space for real food.

The coffee and pecans must be thinking their days are numbered!

Head Support

Now here's the downfall of being human:  a disproportionately large and heavy noggin at birth.  All the better to think with, for sure, but a lot of weight teetering on top of such a tiny body.

Fun fact:  a newborn's brain is 25% of its full size while his body is 5% of its full size.

 

We're still working on this, but Tiger Cub's neck is getting stronger and his head isn't nearly as "floppy" anymore.   Which makes handling him a little bit easier.

A Week of Firsts

The past few weeks have been full of new experiences for us first time parents and for the little Tiger Cub.  We initially thought we'd hit the baby jackpot with the best behaved baby ever.  Just when our heads started to get really big about it, the little guy started having some fussy periods around the two week mark.  He's still a good baby and we've decided to keep him.

First Time Meeting Grandma GiGi

The trip from Georgia was worth it for that face!

 

First Bath

 

He handled it like a champ!  It only took six adult hands to get the job done.

 Hot tub time ya'll!

 

First Snowfall

 

And we're hoping the last one until next winter!  He's not too impressed with the heavy dusting.

"I'm a northerner!  You call this snow?"

 

First Bottle

 

Randy fed the Tiger Cub his first bottle of breast milk and we plan to keep that up for one meal a day.  Can't wait to sign Randy up for the 3 am shift!  The little guy didn't miss a beat.  Didn't seem to notice that dinner came from a different source or from a different person.  So much for mommy appreciation.

First Calculus Lesson

"You say I must learn triple integrals even though I'll never use them in real life?"

Parenting is a steep learning curve but we're picking it up fast.  

It's amazing how quickly we've gone from "Oh, he got a drop of milk on his shirt, we'd better change his clothes," to "Looks like a little poo on his pant leg, but it's dry so he'll be fine."  I mean, onesies don't grow on trees right?  Besides we have to go all the way to the basement to do laundry and that's not gonna happen every day.

Labor Day Recap

First things first...Our baby boy has arrived!

 5 Days Old

On February 20th we checked into the 10th floor of Hotel Labor & Delivery with unexpectedly nice views of Manhattan and the Hudson River.  I was induced that day (baby was a little too comfy to come out on his own) and our little boy was born 24 hours later on February 21st.

Still smiling = not in labor yet!

Couldn't ask for a better view from a hospital room.  Nighttime was nice too.

Hello Manhattan!  Thanks for giving us something to look at.

This is what contractions look like on paper (the bottom graph).  The top graph is the baby's heartbeat.  It's way more dramatic in real life.

And a day or so later, out popped our little man, squirming and screaming his head off.  That's the short story at least.

Family photo

Labor coach and new dad.

Meeting the grandparents for the first time.  And photo proof that he is a New Yorker baby.

On our way out of the hospital and about to find out why February is a cruel birth month.

 It's hard to stop taking photos of the little peanut!