Quick Hits

It'd been awhile between posts, so here are a few highlights to keep you all satisfied:

Nate's belly button finally fell off, after more than 2 weeks of hanging on. It means he can now enjoy a full emersion bath, and enjoy them he does.

I'm going back to work this morning on a 4-day/week schedule. It's been a grand month playing with the kids, but it's time to come back to earth now. Slightly bummed.

Mia continues to impress and terrify us with her emphatic pronouncements, "you're not going anywhere", "Don't sit there", and my all time favorite, "stop being bossy".

Nate is still waking up about 3 times a night, but Mia has just started a 2:00 or 4:00 routine of wanting milk. Walter for the most part is content to sleep late. His stock is rising in my estimation.

And finally, you pictures. More later:

Tag Team

(While some nap...)


(...others drink coffee)

We can't possibly complain about sleep. Comparatively speaking, we're doing just fine. (note for the record though that 'fine' means getting to sleep from 1:00 to 5:00 on a good night). The big fear was that, in a small space, one would wake up in the middle of the night and set off the other. It's happened a few times, but it's warm enough to have a small fan in her room drown out some of his more fervent cries. That being said, it's a blessing that we've occasionally gotten to see that glorious window where they both sleep at the same time.

Getting along

(Can I keep him?)

We were curious as to how Mia would react to losing her only-child status, but so far it seems to be working out just fine. She wants to hold him, inspect his ears, toes, and belly button. I'm not sure she understands fully that he isn't just the most interesting doll that we've given to her so far, but as far as first impressions go, w couldn't have asked for more.

the benefit of experience

Boy seems to be having trouble sleeping tonight. When I needed to bring out the heavy ammunition to get Mia to sleep, I could always count on 80's dance music. Worked. Every. Time.

So it's 1:00 post is more for me than the rest of you all. Nate is sound asleep in my arms already, but it took me some time to find this clip. Posted here for easy access next time he can't get it together.

Coming Home

Finishing up a few odds and ends here, but hope to be coming home early this afternoon. Mia is at school today, so we should be able to get comfortably situated in time for the introduction to her baby brother. (We've already gotten her to say "I love Nate").

So before the daily logistics drown out everything else, I wanted to post just a few shots of our boy from the hospital. Take particular note of the thick, lustrous hair (says his balding dad).

Say hi to your public

It's hard to capture his true 'Nate-ness" in still photographs. This short clip though was from yesterday afternoon, when he was roughly 2 hours old, and I believe does justice to what he's been like so far. He's spent a chunk of the day today sleeping off yesterdays trauma, but we know he'll be rocking tonight.



We'll get some pictures up as soon as we're able to get some good ones. Until then, I hope this will tide you over.

Happy Birthday Nate

Yesterday, April 5th 2008 at 5:35 pm, we finally met our boy, Nathaniel Jonah Johnson. 7 lbs, 14 oz, 20" long, healthy as could be with a full head of jet black hair. We'll do a more detailed play-by-play later, but most importantly, Corrie was able to avoid a C-section, despite some last minute (literally LAST MINUTE) drama.

Last night , for the first time since last Thursday (11 days ago), Corrie was able to sleep for more than 15 minutes without either recurring contractions, or stabbing back pain. Mia is happily being smothered with hugs and cookies by Grand mom back home, and we're scheduled to be released tomorrow morning. Walter is off at camp in CT, but soon enough we'll all be reunited as the nuclear family we had long dreamed of, 2 kids, a dog and a little pink house with a tomato garden in back.

(Pictures to follow as soon as we get the proper cables)

Here we go!!

Posting from the hospital this morning, and it looks like today is the day. Corrie suffered through some powerful contractions from 9:00 last night until about 5:30 this morning before we decided to come back to the hospital. She's been admitted, got the epidural, and finally, for the first time since last Thursday really, is able to breath easy and close her eyes peacefully.

We'll do a larger update later, but for now, she's comfortable, and is making good steady progress. One way or another, it looks like this boy is coming today.

Little boy Godot

And so we wait.

In the meantime, Mia does what she can to keep us all entertained.

While we wait...

(A different parenting model)

Still no boy.

From what I remember of infant Mia, there was a period of time in which she didn't do much. It was always great to just hold her and read, but given that she couldn't understand anything beyond the sound of our voices, there wasn't much benefit in reading the Hungry Caterpiller over and over again. Back then, Mia was treated to the beauty and power of John Banville

This time however, the boy might get something more age appropriate, the story of Nim Chimpsky

In a nutshell, as part of a language experiment, a NY family adopts a baby chimpanzee and raised him as their son, to see how nurture may overcome nature. Apparently as chimps are want to do, poor young Nim became too agressive and uncontrollable as he grew, to the point where he was sent back to a chimp world. What we're talking about is the real life story of Tarzan, in reverse.

Banville was dark and heavy, this one looks to just be sad, but fascinating. We'll see if the boy, when he finally comes, appreciates it.