Here is a fun video of Noah eating outside at 7 mos 3 wks...
His favorite foods are pears for breakfast and oatmeal mixed with mommy's milk for lunch.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Crawling!!
Noah has been a bit advanced in terms of his physical development. He was born practically holding his head up and he was sitting up by himself (for 20 seconds) at 4 months. At six and a half months, Noah has perfected the tummy crawl. He started out pulling himself just a little distance, but now he can make it from the living room to the dining room in seconds. Time to baby proof (um, we haven't started)!! Here he is going after my drink on July 2:
Latest developments
Noah traveled to Austin, TX in May and to Westerly, RI in June! He did so well on both trips! The flight to Austin was pretty smooth, and he enjoyed meeting his grandfather,
flirting with his friend, Winter,
and learning about beer:
In Westerly, he met his great grandfather,
explored an antique car,
and saw his second cousins Liam and Shane for the first time:
He also started solids for the first time around 5 1/2 months. Sweet potatoes were not a big hit, but he loves oatmeal and bananas.
One of Noah's favorite outings is to the park. Here is a video of him swinging (at 6 months old):
flirting with his friend, Winter,
and learning about beer:
In Westerly, he met his great grandfather,
explored an antique car,
and saw his second cousins Liam and Shane for the first time:
He also started solids for the first time around 5 1/2 months. Sweet potatoes were not a big hit, but he loves oatmeal and bananas.
One of Noah's favorite outings is to the park. Here is a video of him swinging (at 6 months old):
Monday, June 2, 2008
Falling in love
It is really incredible how much a tiny little creature can make its way into your heart, and then continue to grow and grow, taking your heart with it all along. The love is so great it encompasses your whole body, making you heartsick and yearning to constantly connect with that beautiful little body and soul. His smile is a window to sheer dependence and unconditional love, and there is nothing sweeter than his little body sleeping on mine.
I think back to those early days with such tenderness! His little movements were so slow and tiny, though his strength was always evident. We celebrate every little milestone of development and wonder at his amazing feats. All the sleepless nights in the world are so worth it!
I think back to those early days with such tenderness! His little movements were so slow and tiny, though his strength was always evident. We celebrate every little milestone of development and wonder at his amazing feats. All the sleepless nights in the world are so worth it!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Laughter
Okay, nothing in the world beats the laughter of this little one. It makes our hearts bubble over!!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Funny
So I read this in a babycenter update about Noah's development:
You didn't know becoming a parent meant...
You didn't know becoming a parent meant...
• Stacking today's unread newspaper on top of yesterday's unread newspaper.
• Eating dinner like you're trying to break a Guinness world record for the most pasta swallowed in the shortest amount of time. Standing up.
• Letting your partner choose between poop and laundry as a conversation topic.
• Figuring out how to pee without putting the baby down.
• Spending three hours getting the baby to sleep and then waking him up two minutes later to make sure he's still breathing.
Nano started getting the Wall Street Journal to keep on top of financial news, and I think we must have had at least 37 newspapers stacked up waiting for him to read... he actually wanted to read them in order, but I think he's finally up to date...
We definitely started eating dinner as if we were breaking world records for fast eating...
And I can tell you that peeing is not the only thing we got done in the bathroom without putting the baby down...
Studying Fertility with Baby
Most people who know me know I am in a PhD program in demography. However, only the bold few ask, so what the #@%& is demography, anyway? I'm sure there are more eloquent descriptions, but I'll put in a plug here. Demography is the study of populations and how they change over time as a result of health and mortality, fertility behavior and migration patterns. Health and mortality are affected by public health measures, sanitation policies, medical advances, health systems and many other forces. Fertility behavior is affected by marital patterns, female labor force participation, education, use of contraception, and a host of other behavioral characteristics. We learn about all those things, plus theories to describe the forces behind the demographic transition, or the historical shift from high mortality and high fertility to low mortality and low fertility among developed nations. Demographers also have their own set of analytic tools and are particularly concerned with age-composition effects on various measures in a population, since fertility and mortality rates are different for different age categories.
So, here I am in the spring semester taking a course on fertility, while caring for a new baby. It definitely gives me a different perspective on the articles I read! For example, I just read a paper entitled Why Have Children in the 21st Century? The paper basically asks the question, given the huge costs involved in having children these days (education, etc), and the excellent alternative opportunities available to women in particular (excelling in one's career, living off the fruits of that success), why would anyone choose to have children at all? It highlights three major theories in the literature: biological predisposition, social coercion and rational choice.
As you might imagine, the biological argument suggests that humans have evolved to reproduce. We have a strong sex drive, and genes for pleasure-seeking. We have an underlying biological desire to reproduce. The social coercion argument centers around social institutions that generate different fertility environments for individuals. For example, consider the baby boom in the U.S. -- the economy was good, people were moving out to the suburbs and had lots of free time and space on their hands. Everyone started having lots of babies. The social environment was saying, make more babies! The rational choice argument points out that we make rational decisions to have children. Reasons behind having the first child may be emotional and or psychological (i.e., to have a child to love, to carry on the family name), and reasons behind having additional children may be for family building and sex composition in the family.
So why did we have Noah, anyway?
I definitely think there is a biological predisposition. When I was in my early 20s, I could not imagine wanting to have children. Then around age 27-28, the maternal instinct kicked in, and I knew I wanted eventually to have a family. Also, I think women are genetically wired to respond to their children. When I hear Noah's cry, it causes a surge of adrenaline to rush through my body. I wake right up if I have been sleeping. Other babies' cries however don't have this affect at all. As one of my friends said, "other babies' cries sound like a tape recording." Other women have told me they feel the same way -- even previously deep sleepers will wake up in an instant if the baby starts to cry (of course, on the other hand, you get so sleep deprived that this has to break down at some point...).
I also think there is social coercion. This is not to say that society forced me to have children, but rather, that social institutions matter. One of the reasons I could not imagine having children when I was in my early 20s was the deep fear that had been instilled in me since I was in high school. The dark message booming from all of society was, "getting pregnant will ruin your life." It took a while to get to the point where I realized that message was no longer relevant. Then, of course, I would be lying if I said I wasn't affected by the fact that virtually every single inhabitant of the country of Chile asked Nano and me when we were going to have a baby.
And, of course, we also had Noah because of the emotional bonds we suspected it would create, to watch him grow, to enjoy the warmth of a family, and all of those other motivations behind a "rational" decision.
Another thing that struck me in one of my readings was a series of interviews with new mothers in which two major themes emerged: "1) Women are surprised and overwhelmed by the amount of work and energy their young child requires and 2) they did not anticipate how completely they would fall in love with their offspring." (This is Morgan and Berkowitz King 2001 discussing McMahon 1995).
I completely recognize both of these themes! I knew that you don't get any sleep after you have a baby and that it is exhausting. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. However, superficial knowledge is entirely separate from the intimate understanding of having experienced it! You are completely exhausted from +/- 17 hours of labor, and then you never really get to sleep again. On top of that, it takes infinite energy to keep baby content!
The love is also infinite, and yet continues to grow each day. In the beginning, it was more of a protective kind of love, and that desire to protect him has since grown. I have dreams that I leave him with someone else for a few minutes, and terrible things happen. When he started smiling around weeks 4-5, we finally got some feedback. Now, he interacts all the time, and every day there is something new. I love it when he wakes up fussy and uncomfortable, and then when I smile at him, he beams his beautiful smile back at me and forgets all his fussiness. I love holding his little body against me, and there is nothing more fulfilling then having him with me.
So, here I am in the spring semester taking a course on fertility, while caring for a new baby. It definitely gives me a different perspective on the articles I read! For example, I just read a paper entitled Why Have Children in the 21st Century? The paper basically asks the question, given the huge costs involved in having children these days (education, etc), and the excellent alternative opportunities available to women in particular (excelling in one's career, living off the fruits of that success), why would anyone choose to have children at all? It highlights three major theories in the literature: biological predisposition, social coercion and rational choice.
As you might imagine, the biological argument suggests that humans have evolved to reproduce. We have a strong sex drive, and genes for pleasure-seeking. We have an underlying biological desire to reproduce. The social coercion argument centers around social institutions that generate different fertility environments for individuals. For example, consider the baby boom in the U.S. -- the economy was good, people were moving out to the suburbs and had lots of free time and space on their hands. Everyone started having lots of babies. The social environment was saying, make more babies! The rational choice argument points out that we make rational decisions to have children. Reasons behind having the first child may be emotional and or psychological (i.e., to have a child to love, to carry on the family name), and reasons behind having additional children may be for family building and sex composition in the family.
So why did we have Noah, anyway?
I definitely think there is a biological predisposition. When I was in my early 20s, I could not imagine wanting to have children. Then around age 27-28, the maternal instinct kicked in, and I knew I wanted eventually to have a family. Also, I think women are genetically wired to respond to their children. When I hear Noah's cry, it causes a surge of adrenaline to rush through my body. I wake right up if I have been sleeping. Other babies' cries however don't have this affect at all. As one of my friends said, "other babies' cries sound like a tape recording." Other women have told me they feel the same way -- even previously deep sleepers will wake up in an instant if the baby starts to cry (of course, on the other hand, you get so sleep deprived that this has to break down at some point...).
I also think there is social coercion. This is not to say that society forced me to have children, but rather, that social institutions matter. One of the reasons I could not imagine having children when I was in my early 20s was the deep fear that had been instilled in me since I was in high school. The dark message booming from all of society was, "getting pregnant will ruin your life." It took a while to get to the point where I realized that message was no longer relevant. Then, of course, I would be lying if I said I wasn't affected by the fact that virtually every single inhabitant of the country of Chile asked Nano and me when we were going to have a baby.
And, of course, we also had Noah because of the emotional bonds we suspected it would create, to watch him grow, to enjoy the warmth of a family, and all of those other motivations behind a "rational" decision.
Another thing that struck me in one of my readings was a series of interviews with new mothers in which two major themes emerged: "1) Women are surprised and overwhelmed by the amount of work and energy their young child requires and 2) they did not anticipate how completely they would fall in love with their offspring." (This is Morgan and Berkowitz King 2001 discussing McMahon 1995).
I completely recognize both of these themes! I knew that you don't get any sleep after you have a baby and that it is exhausting. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. However, superficial knowledge is entirely separate from the intimate understanding of having experienced it! You are completely exhausted from +/- 17 hours of labor, and then you never really get to sleep again. On top of that, it takes infinite energy to keep baby content!
The love is also infinite, and yet continues to grow each day. In the beginning, it was more of a protective kind of love, and that desire to protect him has since grown. I have dreams that I leave him with someone else for a few minutes, and terrible things happen. When he started smiling around weeks 4-5, we finally got some feedback. Now, he interacts all the time, and every day there is something new. I love it when he wakes up fussy and uncomfortable, and then when I smile at him, he beams his beautiful smile back at me and forgets all his fussiness. I love holding his little body against me, and there is nothing more fulfilling then having him with me.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Adventures in Poo
We took our first outing together when Noah was around 3-4 weeks. As any new mom can understand, I had a need for a couple of new shirts. Since it was cold outside, we were using the "Bundleme" liner for the car seat, which is basically a really warm sheepskin covering to keep your baby nice and toasty. Well, we managed to forget to unzip the thing when we got him inside Old Navy, and after about 15 minutes of Nano strolling him around the store, he literally began to toast ... and then to fuss. We unzipped the thing, and pulled out a now red, crying baby. Poor little dude! We took him into a dressing room to nurse, since his 2 hour internal hunger alarm clock had gone off. When he was almost done nursing, I felt something wet on his clothes, and asked Nano, "Did he pee?" Just as Nano was about to reply, Noah ripped out a two-minute long wet one [pbfpbfbpfbpf], louder than Nano's reply. Then his back really started to turn wet...and yellow...and the poo started to ooze through his clothes. Somehow it seemed like there weren't enough hands to hold the baby, keep the poo away from our bodies, pull out a new outfit and change his clothes. Amazingly, I was able to ward off the yellow mustard flow long enough for Nano to pull out the change of clothes that we had miraculously had the foresight to pack. Yes, we were very clumsy, but we managed to get him into a clean diaper and clothes!
Then, just a few weeks ago, after our trip to Miami, we went to Cosi for lunch on a quiet Saturday afternoon. Nano ordered his standard sandwich, and I got my favorite salad. We had just purchased a new comfortable convertible carseat, convinced that Noah's infant seat was too uncomfortable, so we didn't have the old car seat to put him in while at the restaurant. We took turns holding him on our laps instead. We heard the telltale sound of a poo, and so we prepared to change him. I checked the ladies' room for a changing table, and while one was available, it was covered in dirty paper towels and nasty old poo. The men's room wasn't much better, so we decided to change him on the booth's bench instead. I laid out the diaper pad, placed Noah on it, and got the wet diaper off. Just as I was starting to clean up, [pbfpbfpbfpbfpbfpbfpbfpbf!], out shoots more projectile mustard! I looked over at Nano for help, but he had become incapacitated with raucous laughter. Everyone in the restaurant must have turned to look - if not for the sound of the poo, for Nano's guffawing. I tried to shield myself with the wipe, but of course, the poo got all over my hand and shot all over the diaper mat. By some stroke of luck, it did not get onto the booth (really, I swear). It took about 10 more wipes and 3 trips to the bathroom before we got that one all cleaned up...
Then, just a few weeks ago, after our trip to Miami, we went to Cosi for lunch on a quiet Saturday afternoon. Nano ordered his standard sandwich, and I got my favorite salad. We had just purchased a new comfortable convertible carseat, convinced that Noah's infant seat was too uncomfortable, so we didn't have the old car seat to put him in while at the restaurant. We took turns holding him on our laps instead. We heard the telltale sound of a poo, and so we prepared to change him. I checked the ladies' room for a changing table, and while one was available, it was covered in dirty paper towels and nasty old poo. The men's room wasn't much better, so we decided to change him on the booth's bench instead. I laid out the diaper pad, placed Noah on it, and got the wet diaper off. Just as I was starting to clean up, [pbfpbfpbfpbfpbfpbfpbfpbf!], out shoots more projectile mustard! I looked over at Nano for help, but he had become incapacitated with raucous laughter. Everyone in the restaurant must have turned to look - if not for the sound of the poo, for Nano's guffawing. I tried to shield myself with the wipe, but of course, the poo got all over my hand and shot all over the diaper mat. By some stroke of luck, it did not get onto the booth (really, I swear). It took about 10 more wipes and 3 trips to the bathroom before we got that one all cleaned up...
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Who could resist this smile?
Noah has developed the most beautiful smile. I'm sure all parents say this about their babies, and I even read that the smile has evolved to charm caregivers into giving babies the care they need. Well, it works! We melt every time we see it. Here is a recent video of his smile:
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