I Can't Put My Arms Down!

Winter is almost here! We couldn't resist putting Autumn in this snowsuit the other day, at the very first sight of a few flurries. I think she likes it!

Secretly, we hope she turns out at least half as cool as Ralphie from our favorite holiday movie. Please tell me you remember this:

Autumn's one month letter to mom and dad

Autumn turns one month old today! At her pediatrician appointment this morning we found out that she now weighs 9 pounds 9 ounces and is 22 inches long! That's the 89th percentile for height and 45th for weight. She's definitely growing! Anyway, would you believe that she chose to celebrate by writing us a letter all about her first month of life? Yeah, we didn't really believe it either, but she continues to amaze us every day!

No more Newborn clothes for me!

November 12, 2010
Dear Mom and Dad,
Now that I am one whole month old I feel like it's time for me to share some things with you guys about my first 31 days in your world.
First of all, what a wacky place your world is! On my birthday, I vowed to give this place a fair shot before judging your world too harshly. When I was born I did my best to take a good look around and soak everything in, but man those newborn eyes are worthless! Since my vocal chords were the only things things that seemed to function at the time, I had not choice but to use those more than anything else those first few days. Sorry if it freaked you out. 
Do you guys remember when we first drove home from the hospital and you let me move in to your home? Well I hope you remember the details, because all I really remember is waking up to a hairy monster sniffing my face -- you guys call it Wally. And there was another slightly less hairy monster who had a scary contraption that made clicking sounds and flashed light at me -- you guys call that monster Doug.
I want you guys to know that while I really do love both of you, I really really love staring at dad and listening to his voice. I can be in the deepest sleep of my tiny life, but when dad says something, anything, I can't help but throw my hands up in the air and try with my improving eyesight to spot him. He's a handsome guy mom, you know how to pick 'em!
Something else I love is that place you take me when my diaper is full. You lay me down on this soft little blanket, and I just want to start a dance party. I try to talk to you guys too, can you tell? I'm still not quite sure why I love this changing table of mine so much, but when I figure it out I'll get back to you. Oh, and I've been meaning to apologize to you guys about all of the recent diaper blowouts, but now that I'm almost ten pounds you guys clearly need to buy me bigger diapers. Apology retracted. What I do owe you an apology for, however, are the multiple times that I've gone #1 or #2 either right after you guys take off my diaper, or right after you put another one on. That's slightly embarrassing, but like I said, that changing table really gets me going.

Me (right) and my BFF Abigail (left). She talked me into trying out yoga.

Oh yeah, and I wanted to talk to mom about that Mom and Baby yoga class we went to the other day. What the hell was that? Don't get me wrong, I thought it was pretty cool. I got to lay on my back, make all the noises I wanted, and flail my limbs around for a whole hour! I even let out a few really good toots. The other babies thought that was pretty sweet. But what I really wanted to talk to you about was what a hot mess you were. I mean really, you guys did true yoga for maybe twelve minutes, and I have to say I was a little worried you weren't going to be able to carry me out to the car. Twelve minutes, mom? Let's hope the doctor clears you to start working out again soon. I'm not gonna be nine pounds forever you know.

This is what I wear to work with Dad.

A few other things I've really enjoyed about being a part of your world are the car rides, going to work with dad in his office, looking at things with my almost functional eyes, going for walks with the hairy monster (but can you please tell him not to paw at my head while I'm eating dinner?), bath time, and using my vocal chords on full volume when you guys sit down to eat. I also can't tell you how much I LOVE being a gremlin from 5am until you guys get up these days. And I know you guys love it too because mom has started bringing me into bed with her after about thirty minutes of this. I'll try to keep it up so I don't let her down.

Overall, Mom and Dad, I'd say you guys are doing a pretty good job. I am very happy to inform you that after my  month-long assessment of your world, I've decided I'm gonna stick around. I'll work on not vomiting on my clothes two seconds after you put them on me if you buy me some bigger diapers...and a pony. Deal?

Love,
Autumn









Deal, little one. We love you!

 

 

Being a baby is hard work!

The first weeks of Autumn

The first weeks of autumn, and Autumn's first weeks, have been quite busy around here! So busy, in fact, that she's almost four weeks old now and I'm just now getting around to updating this. But here goes, better late than never...

Our little pumpkin elf

The first week home from the hospital was deceptionally easy. My parents were both here, which meant that we had a full-time support staff that included a cook, housecleaner, photographer, personal shopper and diaper changer. Autumn was in a state of newborn bliss -- and by that I mean that it was bliss for us, not so sure how she felt. She slept at least 21 hours a day, and hadn't yet figured out how much fun it can be to refuse to go back to sleep at 3am. Brian also had that week off of work, and he quickly earned a "best dad ever" badge by getting up for half of the feedings every night. We were on a 1-2 hour feeding schedule with formula for a few days due to her losing weight and getting jaundice.

Coming home from the hospital -- sleeping of course!

I can't remember too much about her second week, except that at her two-week appointment, Autumn's weight went up to 7 pounds 15 ounces! Our hungry hippo had gained 10 ounces in just a few days (she dropped to 7 pounds 2 ounces a few days after birth, and then was up to 7lb 5oz at around a week old). I think she started waking up a little bit more around this time as well, or at least long enough to start making some special faces for us to laugh at.

Nana Gerre

Grandpa Doug J -- Autumn's personal photographer

Grandma & Grandpa Boyd

Uncle El and Lady Friend Sara entertain the baby

When she was three weeks old, Uncle Eliot and Aunt Sara (well, we're hoping she'll be Aunt Sara soon. For now maybe we should call her Lady Friend Sara) came to visit. This visit didn't involve any beverages containing over 10 types of alchol or a night at the biggest beer festival in America, so it differed slightly from their last trip to Denver. Regardless, it was really great to see them, and Autumn can't wait for Uncle El and LF Sara to move to Denver some day!

So now it's been just the four of us for almost a week. The newborn bliss has worn off. If she had it her way, Autumn would be held all day long, and there'd be a baby party in our bedroom starting at 3am every night. For some reason, she hates going back to sleep after being fed at or around 3am. Sometimes she's up until she has to be fed again, around 6am...yuck! But, before anyone starts feeling too bad for me, once Brian gets up in the morning for work he takes her into his office with them while I sleep until 9 or so. Sorry other new moms, not trying to rub it in. I just suggest finding a husband who works from home. It's totally worth it.

Autumn with Aunt Kellie

Wally's not so sure about this

Before I go, here's a quick list of, "What We've Learned About Autumn". I'm sure most of these things apply to many babies, but we only know her:

-- She grunts a lot. Like a gremlin, or sometimes like a dinosaur. In her sleep, while being changed, when she's happily awake. Pretty much all the time.

--When she sneezes, she'll usually let out two or three good ones, then she sucks in her breath like she's going for another one, and instead lets out the cutest little sigh you'll ever hear. We've tried to catch it on video but she evades us every time.
--She has her dad's stomach and rips farts like a frat guy. That will never stop amazing us.
--Almost every time we take her diaper off she pees or poops everywhere.

--Her dad cares more about what she wears than her mom. Hey, I think tapered striped 80's pants are cool, especially when worn with socks that don't match. No?
--She's a strong little thing. Again, we don't have anything to compare her to, but the staff in the hospital and at her pediatrician's office all have commented on her brute strength multiple times.
--She's strong-willed. Sometimes she likes to be swaddled at night, sometimes she hates us for stifling her freedom. On those nights she can bust free of the tightest blanket swaddle, and has even gotten out of this professional straightjacket-type swaddle wrap. One morning I woke up to find her sucking on her hand, which was up through the neckhole of her PJ's. That means she had managed to take her arm out of her long-sleeved PJ's AND out of the tight swaddle wrap, then through the neckhole. Really?
--Despite the fact that she's a TON of work, and she doesn't do much besides eat, poop and sleep, we love her more than we thought we could!

Family Picture -- and dad's favorite 80's pants

Little Boyd is Here!!

 Brian, Wally and I welcomed out new addition, Autumn Alyssa Boyd, on October 12, 2010, at 4:56pm -- just in time for happy hour, right? She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long. Her name was one we had both liked from the beginning, but we didn't make the commitment until about an hour after her birth. I was still in a bit of a fog from 22 hours of labor and some drugs that were starting to wear off. So, in other words, I was in a very agreeable state when someone asked Brian if we had a name yet. He looked at me and asked, "Autumn?", to which I happily replied, "Sure!"

The actual labor and delivery experience was a lot less miserable and gruesome than either of us imagined. I chose to be induced due to my own impulsivity and impatience. In similar fashion to agreeing to her name, I happily replied "Sure!" when my doctor offered to get this baby out whenever we wanted (after 39 weeks).  We went in at 7pm on the 11th, got started on some drugs, watched some football, waited for magic toi happen, watched a movie or two, tried to sleep, waited some more...and then it was morning. Things were progressing somewhat, and continued to throughout the day. Around noon my prince charming entered the room, in the form of a handsome young African American man wielding an epidural kit. He changed my life in the span of 30 minutes, and I made sure to let him know. To be fair, however, Brian was quite a lifesaver as well -- he just didn't have the power of anesthesia on his side.

When it (finally) came time to push the little bugger out, I was feeling really good. Brian and I had some fun conversations with the nurse and my doctor, and at some point another doctor barged in to commentate on the "race" that I was in with his patient next door. I didn't realize this, but apparently this was a pretty intense race that had been taking place since 8am. I won, she didn't stand a chance.

Uncle Dave brought cigars!

Autumn's pre-bath portrait

Within about 45 minutes, Autumn had made her entrance. To our surprise she had a full head of hair! It was love at first sight, despite her being pretty gross and slimy until getting her bath. What an amazing moment to finally meet the little person I'd been sharing my body with for the past nine months. I'm pretty sure she was worth it :)

It's a....GIRL!!.....??

At my 16-week appointment the doctor asked if we wanted to check out the baby and see if we could tell what the sex was. Of course we didn't turn him down.

Doctor (locating the baby with the ultrasound thing): "So do you guys have any feelings or ideas of what you think it is?"

Us: "Umm, not totally. Boy, maybe?"

Doc: "Ok guys, well see that white line right there between the legs? That's what the girl parts look like at this point. I'm pretty sure you're having a girl!"

Us, not seeing a white line, or even legs for that matter: "No way, wow!"

Doc: "Oh wait, hold on, that's actually a foot. Sorry guys.....but just a sec....nope, I'm pretty sure it's really a girl. I'd say 75% sure."

So there you have it. We're going with "girl" for now, or the assumption that our little peanut is about 75% girl. We're really excited! Our good friends Holly and Rob, who are about 3-4 weeks ahead of us in this journey, are also having a girl, so at least she'll have one friend!

Still a (big) girl!

Well it's been almost a month now, but we had our 21 week ultrasound in early June. This was the "big" ultrasound where the doctor makes sure everything looks good by taking measurements and looking at the heart, kidneys, brain, etc. Apparently this is also the ultrasound where the doctor tells you your baby is a big fatty and that if she continues growing at this rate she'll probably be at least eight or nine pounds on her birthday. I think she was in the 89th percentile, thank you very much. I'm still not sure where this baby beast is hiding though, as I've yet to have a single stranger notice that I'm pregnant and can still wear most of my prepregnancy shirts. Not gonna complain about that. In all seriousness though, it was really cool to see our little girl looking more baby than alien. She kicked the whole time and put on quite a show. I started feeling her move pretty consistently at around 16 weeks, and Brian could feel her just a couple weeks later. Instead of spending our summer evenings outside on a patio or rooftop bar, these days we amuse ourselves by poking my stomach and seeing if we can get the little bugger to kick us. Woohoo!

In other news, we just got back from a great trip to California -- 2 weeks for me, 10 days for Brian. The main purpose of the trip was for my good friend Erika's wedding (she swims like a dolphin, but she's not). This was something we (or at least I) had been waiting patiently to occur for over ten years now. The highly anticipated day turned out to be perfect. Perfectly cool for Fresno, beautiful bride and amazing details, so fun! I also really enjoyed the photobooth, and can only dream of the incredible time I may have had with that if I wasn't fully sober. The rest of the trip we split our time between Santa Cruz and Shaver Lake. Highlights included kayaking with my dad in the harbor alongside a few schools of dolphins, Little Girl's first baby shower hosted by my mom's "girlfriends", hours upon hours of shopping the fabric stores of Santa Cruz for the perfect baby bedding material -- only to settle on the very first color scheme I had in mind (more on that), and an unforgettable temper tantrum by Uncle El after his supposed "best ribs ever" were ruined by a trip to the lake.

 Dolphins in Santa Cruz Harbor

Google really does know everything

So before we get too far in front of those first few moments that Brian and I realized we were about to become parents, let's go back to that fateful Saturday in late January. That morning I woke up and asked Brian,

"don't you think it should be that time of month by now?"

Now, I fully realize that most guys would respond with something like,

"how the hell am I supposed to know that, don't you?"

But things clearly work a little differently in the Boyd household. Instead, Brian's response was,

"No, I'm pretty sure it should be in a couple of days...or maybe right around now. Probably not though."

This whole conversation proved to be quite pointless, however, since twenty minutes later I left for the grocery store to buy stuff for breakfast, also fully intending to purchase a pregnancy test no matter what Brian's period calculator had said. Then, although I fully intended to wait a few days before taking it, that whole inability-to-wait for things (see previous entry) took over, and within five minutes of returning home I was peeing on the stick. The little hourglass started blinking on the fancy digital screen, and before even I could start feeling antsy about waiting for the results, up popped a big fat,

"+ YES"

Somehow I missed the plus sign, and thought for a quick second, "Yes, what? Yes, you can keep your plans for drinking mimosas on the patio all day, and when you go to Park City next weekend you can play drinking games at the Raper's just like you always do?"

Then, more reasonably, I realized, "yes, there is a reason you had a hunch about this. After all, there are some things you do know better about yourself than Brian does."

So I hurried into the living room for a quick game of show and tell, since the "show" part didn't register with Brian one bit by itself. After telling him that a) he was holding in his hand a stick that was recently drenched in my urine, and b) that I'm pregnant, he immediately surprised me with the most supportive and loving response one could ask for from their husband...

B: "So what do you think the chances are that you got a false positive?"

E: "Really? Um, I don't have much experience with these, but I'm pretty sure the chances are pretty low."

B: "Ok, well you should pee on that second one just to make sure."

At this point I left Brian in the living room and occupied myself by drinking multiple glasses of water and cleaning the kitchen. I'd never hoped my bladder would fill up so quickly. About five minutes into this, Brian calls me back into the living room.

B: "Hey, so did you happen to put any lotions or perfumes on your vagina this morning?"

E: "Really?"

B: "Yeah, because if you did, that's probably why you got the positive. You know, the chemicals from the lotion or perfume or whatever can throw it off. I Googled it."

Yep folks, one of the very first things Brian did when I shared this exciting and slightly scary news was Google, "chances of false positive pregnancy test".

For the record, I don't have any idea why Brian thought the solution was as simple as vagina lotion. I'm not into that.