Almost 3 Months

Gavin is almost 3 months old, and clearly he has had a lot of time to practice being so utterly cute. He's really got it down, don't you think?

Ready for the sun

A rose by any other name...

Words are just words...a rose could be a turnip and yes, it would smell as sweet, but clearly rose is the better word. Do you think we always use the best words? Sure, they are familiar to us and have been used for generations, but I have recent reason to suspect that some could be improved upon, with only slight variation. Examples, with context, follow:

Finkle. Early this morning, Claire was in bed with me and just as we were beginning to stir, she sat up and leaned right over, so her face was hovering mere inches above mine. "When I make a bad face, I have ONE finkle!" she proclaimed, and pointed at the wrinkling around her mouth as she screwed her face into its fiercest expression. "Look! A FINKLE!", continuing to point and mug. I mean, could there really be a more apt word for wrinkle than finkle? After all, wrinkles are a dirty trick, one that a fink of some sort would probably enjoy. Thus, "finkle" seems perfect! It sounds close enough and I knew exactly what she meant, so maybe a change wouldn't be too difficult to achieve. Please alert Webster.

I should know better, but I went ahead and asked whether I had any finkles. Claire (sweet girl) said no, until I raised my eyebrows and she excitedly declared that I had lots.

Slyclops. We read a bedtime story called I Love You Stinky Face. It's about a curiously gender-neutral child who imagines him/herself to be any number of hideous creatures in order to test his/her mother's love. (If I were a smelly skunk would you still love me...I love you Stinky Face etc) Anyway, one of the creatures is a cyclops. Claire calls it a "Slyclops". Once again, I think this word is an improvement on the real word. Those one-eyed mythical beings are surely sly, slinking about with their big, blinking one eye-ness.

So she covers one eye and asks if she looks like a slyclops. Seriously, at least 3 times a day. I always respond in the affirmative, which is great unless she was really trying to look like a pirate. Then I just disappoint.

Clearly, I think my child is a genius, but maybe other people won't when she is still using her admittedly made-up but MUCH BETTER words in 10 years because I encourage them rather than correct!

Claire went to the dentist for the first time yesterday. She was so good. She did as she was asked, remembered her manners and was friendly to the staff. They were really great with her too. They explained everything before they did any work, let her look at and touch the tools. They also let her pick her toothbrush and toothpaste flavor by having her choose a flavor from the painting on the wall of a strawberry, a watermelon, bubble-gum etc. Cute way for kids to choose, just point at the picture of the flavor you want. Claire chose her flavor: pink; she got bubble-gum, although she's never actually had gum...she just likes pink!

Sadly, she has a small cavity in one of her front teeth, right where her two top teeth cross slightly. I never had any cavities as a kid, so I was hoping that would be the case with her too. I was slightly mollified when they said that it's a very common place for cavities to form, as that is where all the food and drink hits. Still, we have to be better about brushing and make sure to floss. Good habits should start early, I guess. She will go back to have a filling in May. We get there an hour early and they give her a demerol cocktail to drink before doing the work. She will be loopedy-loo...bad habits starting early??

I was extremely proud of Claire during her first dentist visit. My sweet little big girl.

Sleepy Babu and baths

Better Swimming Videos

Claire and the Moon

Once, when I was a little girl, I was wearing my tiger costume for Halloween, and I went on a bear hunt. And do you know what? (what?) I went to wake up the moon. And do you know what? (what?) I jumped and jumped and jumped to wake up the moon. The moon ran after me. And I ran home and knocked on the door and Daddy opened the door and my mom was there. And the moon went over the house. The moon didn't and I was running too fast. Safe with Dada and Gummy and Babu was here.
The end.

Narrated by Claire Elizabeth Scott, Feb. 10, 2008

Ahhh...Swimming.

We had a great time swimming in the little swimming pool at Gummy and Babu's house last night. The water temp got to about 85, which was tolerable for Claire and me, but G and B declined to get in. Right now Claire is anxiously awaiting our next swim. She is hovering near the edge (supervised!) and I keep expecting her to "accidentally" fall in so she can get her hearts desire...swimming RIGHT NOW!

It reminds me of when we moved to Dallas when I was 15. Our new house had a swimming pool, and the day we moved in it was glittering, blue and beckoning, offering respite from the unbearable Texas heat. Unfortunately, we had boxes to unpack and lots of moving-in boring stuff to do. My dad chose the perfect moment to push me in, effectively freeing me from chores and fulfilling my hearts desire of that particular moment: swimming RIGHT NOW!

It was great!

In this video, Claire shows off her fearlessness. She is a wonderful swimmer, and jumper! In case you can't catch it, when she and I are chatting in the corner, I ask her what she is doing and she replies that she is chasing a "boo-gah" but it is too fast. Ew!

Handsome Fellow

Gavin's hair looks quite red in these photos. I'm not sure if his new growth is coming in red or if the flash caused the red look. Either way, he sure is a cutie-pie!

Two Months

Gavin's 2 month appointment went well. He is 12.1 lbs and 50th percentile in weight, length and head circumference. Right in the middle and that's all right with me!
It's fast approaching time to go through his clothes yet again and get rid of all the 0-3 month outfits, as they typically go up to 12 or 14 lbs. I think Claire wore them until she was at least 6 months old, so this rapid turnover of clothes is unfamiliar to me.

G had a miserable few hours after the vaccinations, but one dose of tylenol seemed to fix him right up. Hopefully he will be OK for our flight today. We're going to FLORIDA!

Claire is beside herself with excitement. I told her the story of our day today, in the hopes of setting ourselves up for a good one:

• Get up and dressed and eat the favored morning snack of some Kashi hearts, a "new" vitamin (the "new" stuck when I switched types) and a couple of chocolate chips in a bowl to eat in the car!! (yes, chocolate chips...I am not sure how this started, but it gets the job done when trying to hustle out of the door...please don't judge me)
• Go to school because it is SPORTBALL day!!
• We'll pick you up and go to the AIRPORT!!
• We'll have ICE CREAM at the airport!! (Gummy and I are more excited about this than Claire. When in Austin, you must have Amy's ice cream)
• We'll go on an AIRPLANE!! (Reminded Claire that Gavin has never been on an airplane so she has to show him how to behave.)
• Who will pick us up at the airport? BABU!!!
• On the way to Gummy's house, we'll stop for PIZZA! (OK, this suddenly sounds like it is all about questionable food choices..that's not actually the case...back to oatmeal etc tomorrow)
• Once we get to Gummy's house, a BATH IN THE SINK!!! (Hope she still fits!)
• Bed in her very special bed in the little nook in Mummy's room. (By the end of the night, all three of us will undoubtedly be in the one bed together - haven't broached the subject that Daddy is not coming to FL until next week.)
  

So, is this a great day, or what?? We should be quite exhausted by the end of it. While Claire is at sportball, there's the cleaning, packing, laundry, last minute projects, feeding, bathing and changing of self, Gummy and baby before being picked up in 3 hours. (Although Gummy is doing most of the work while I annoy by sitting here typing. Better go.)

Finito!

Gummy and I worked over the last few days to spice up Claire and Gavin's rooms. Claire has decreed both of them "so beautiful" and "cool".
I agree!

In progress...

Gummy and I are fixing up Gavin's room - jungle-style. The random yellow thing is a beak of a soon-to-be parrot. Finished pics to come.

8 Weeks

It's hard to believe Gavin is 8 weeks old today. The things he can do:

• Smile (with some coaxing, but the result is truly worth the effort.)
  
• Hold his head up
• Say "Goo!"
• Scream bloody murder (he doesn't do it often, but he can bring the roof down when he gets going)
  
• Cuddle
• Compete with Dad for title of "Gassiest Scott".
• Fight sleep, but fortunately, not at night.
  
• Follow us with his eyes.
• Be incredibly cute (mother's bias notwithstanding, for two regular-looking people, Shane and I have very beautiful babies!)

He is probably close to 10 lbs, although we won't know for sure until his appointment next week. He already has more meat on his bones than Claire ever did, and I've taken to calling him my chunky monkey, although he is not really even chubby.

He loves to be held, all the time and is happiest (and sleepiest) after nursing while laying his head on my breast, or the "boob pillow".

I have a month left before going back to work and I want to relish every moment, as it will be the only time in our lives that we spend so much time together, a thought that has me tearing up as I type.

Two months ago, we were sharing our first night together in the hospital. Seems like I've had him forever and at the same time like it was just yesterday we were getting up at 4:45am to be at the hospital for the c-section by 5:30. We left Claire snuggled up in bed and drove to Seton.

Things at the hospital were very business-like and before I knew it, I was being wheeled into the operating room. Within an hour of that, we had a new son! It took a little work to get past the scarring left from previous surgeries (appendix, adhesions, Claire) but Dr. Binford had anticipated as much and had another surgeon with her for assistance. Once they started to bring Gavin into the world, there were exclamations of what a big boy he was. Not being able to see anything, I thought perhaps I was giving birth to some sort of over-sized freak. Turns out, he was just a "healthy" 8lbs 13 oz.



This time around, I was all right after the surgery since Dr. B took her time getting in. Gavin, however, had some immediate difficulties, including a low APGAR score. When they tested again, he was fine, but his respiration was not. While I was in recovery, he spent some time with his head in an 'oxyhood' to get rid of the fluid in his lungs, so once again, I was separated from my baby for several hours. With Claire it was because I needed the recovery, this time it was because of Gavin's breathing issues, which resolved themselves soon enough.



I was settled in my room for what seemed like ages before they brought him in. Each time the door opened, I asked my mom or Shane whether it was Gavin...I was disappointed several times. Shane stayed with Gavin while all this was going on, with quick visits to see me as well. FINALLY they brought Gavin in to me. "Big boy" or not, he seemed tiny to me. We had some trouble getting started with the nursing so I stripped him down (after saying something drug-induced like "He's mine, right? I can do what I want, right?") so we could have some skin-to-skin contact to get things sorted out, which seemed to do the trick. His respiration remained too rapid for the first 24-hours and they had to keep checking his glucose (protocol for "big" babies - 8 lbs 12oz they don't check glucose, 8lbs 13oz, they do. It involved piercing his tiny little heel for a blood sample every hour or so, poor thing) Gavin stayed in the room with us most of the time, and was very sweet and snuggly from the very beginning.



Having Claire and Gavin cuddled next to me for the first time was one of the proudest moments of my life - my two little munchkins!


When we were released, I was nervous, even though we had done this all before. I was sure that Gavin was secretly wanting to stay with the far more competent nurses. (Keep in mind, I was still on 2 percocet every few hours!) It occurred to me at some point (a full day or so later) that this wasn't a stranger, but the same little person that had grown inside me for months...of course he wanted to be with me - I was what he knew best...to say nothing of the fact that I continued to be his only source of nourishment! Those feelings of Gavin's disdain seem irrational in retrospect, but were very real for me. Another irrational fear was the one I had after his one week pediatrician visit where his weight hadn't come up enough. It was an overwhelming fear/feeling that something bad was going to happen to him. I couldn't even express this feeling...when I tried, I ended up crying...to Shane, at the dinner table, in the car with Sarah. Again, a feeling so real and so terrifying that I can't adequately describe it. As he has grown and thrived, that feeling has gone away, thank goodness, but the fear will always remain. Hormones, sleep deprivation, whatever it is that makes new moms crazy...come on...don't we have enough to contend with?!? Shane is fantastic through all of my craziness. Just a calm, reassuring presence reminding me that everything will be fine...that we would sort out the nursing, that his lungs would be OK, that we'll get through it all, just fine.

So here I am with a baby, not even a newborn anymore. Time flies by so fast. How can I bear to leave him with strangers in a month? I am not done hoarding him!
He is my last baby...two is the perfect number for us. So all of Gavin's "first-times" are also last times. I feel such a need to remember everything..the sensations and sounds and smells - like an obsession. I shouldn't be so obsessed and just enjoy my last month...for goodness sake, I am just going back to work, not leaving them forever (I hope!) We are luckier than most to have the things we do, and our family, so why do I feel overwhelmed with such bittersweet feelings? Shouldn't they just be sweet?