Celebrity transporter

Just for Uncle Doug, here is a blog update with some nice pictures. We went to Newport for a little visit, and so that Isaac could meet Uncle Doug and Uncle Chris. Also, his great-grandparents hadn't seen him for quite awhile. He almost rolled over for everyone, but we decided that he was getting too mad and that it wasn't very nice of us to let him get frustrated anymore. So, that was that. Uncle Doug asked if I feel like a celebrity transporter now. That's about accurate. Yay! I have a fancy job title again.

Isaac and Great-Grandpa

Isaac and Uncle Doug

We spent the night at Grandma's house, because she wasn't working today. In the morning, Isaac took a bath, then selected his outfit, which you see him wearing in the following pictures. I actually showed him three outfits and held them up, and he pointed to this one. I guess he wanted to wear the new outfit and try it out. Then Grandma found a bib to save the outfit from copious amounts of spit-up.

How could she say no to a face like that?

Isaac got bored because the internet was too slow as Mama was trying to find out when her final exams would be Fall Term.

This is how Isaac spends a good portion of his time if Mama has her way. I think he sleeps much better this way, and then he can wake up when he is well rested.

He actually napped in his special crib at Grandma's house for a couple of hours, and Grandma and Mama washed the car. Before leaving to come back to Corvallis, it was time for Isaac to have a refill.

And this is what he says to anyone who thinks breastfeeding isn't a manly thing to do. Don't make fun of this little man.

Finally, at home, Isaac found his fingers during tummy time.

He makes a lot more sounds now. He's been making this "hegu" sound a lot in the past few days. I repeat it as "Hello" although I know he's just playing with his mouth right now. Still, it is really fun to expand on his utterances! Sometimes we swear he's saying something. There was one thing he said the other day but neither of us can remember exactly...

The only thing I have to add is that we walked to Grocery Outlet this evening and whoever owns those cherry trees is cutting down some of the limbs and leaving them in his yard with all those beautiful cherries still on them! It is shameful - so I stole several more handfuls of cherries for Isaac on the way there and back. Obviously the cherry tree guy doesn't want his cherries.

melange

Time flies when you're having fun! What a weekend. Isaac rolled over from tummy to back twice more, so I guess it wasn't a fluke the first time. Here is a summary, in pictures and videos of Isaac's wild weekend.

On Friday, Grandma talked Isaac to sleep,

then he woke up and stretched some more,

said his prayers before dinner (which Grandma made, and it was delicious),

got a massage,


and slept well.


On Saturday, Isaac went to the Corvallis Farmers Market with Papa and Mama,


ate some food with Mama before going to Laura and Matt's barbecue,


tried to move on the couch to eat a blanket,

and watched Manderlay(Lars Von Trier - really a weird movie...) with Papa for a few minutes.

And on Sunday, Mama and Isaac went to a baby shower for their friend Brittaini, who is going to have a beautiful baby boy named Grayson any day now!

the baby chorus

We had our massage class today. There were 7 babies, 9 parents and one massage therapist, who, despite her purported 25 years of experience working with babies, was very easily distracted when they cried or vocalized. As you can imagine, that was just about the entire duration of the class. One would start crying, then another would chime in, then one of the older babies would make some babbling noises. Isaac didn't seem particularly responsive to the crying just yet, just a little annoyed that it was so loud when he was just trying to get a decent nap in, but he eventually lent his voice to the crying baby song.

So, it was alright, but if it had been a hotel I probably would have only given it two stars (out of 5). I also would not pay $30 to take it again. She tried to quit early, like around 11! (it was supposed to go from 10-12) We didn't let her though. There was some good information, and now I know of some good resources if I want to learn even more about infant massage, but the instructor needs to get over being distracted by crying babies if she's going to teach that class in the future. Isaac liked his massage though, at least the legs and abdomen parts. I did it again later, and he has been sleeping for pretty long stretches today. Not that that is necessarily a good thing, but it seems like it does something to relax him or make him more comfortable.

Other than that, we've just been relaxing today. We did a load of diapers together (well, I rinsed, Isaac supervised) and took a short nap together as well. When Henri got home, we gave Isaac a bath, which is his favorite thing to do, until it's over, of course. He got to play with Papa too, so he was pretty happy. In fact, he is still playing with Papa and having some boy time.

udder delight

Some pictures I had wanted to post before, but didn't. The ones with the red and blue striped shirt are from yesterday though. :) I think it is a really cute combo - it makes me think of Dick Van Dyke-style swimming suits. And of course, I always love the father-son pictures.

"My name is Isaac Compaore, and I love to eat. Today my Mama weighed me when she went to pick up her breast pump "prescription" at the pediatrician's, and I am happy to report that I am now 10 pounds 10 oz. I am also 23.25 inches. Seeing as I am nearly to 11 pounds and 2 feet, I think a celebration is in order. I'll have some of that rich hindmilk, please. "

Now that Isaac has had his say, I would just like to add that I looked up growth spurts in babies last night to see what the heck was going on, and found that the best way to deal with it is just to feed them all the time. Clearly it's all going somewhere though. There was some article written by some woman whose son was just a frequent nurser, called "So I nursed him every 45 minutes". If the last three hours were standard, I would unfortunately have to call my own version of the article "So I nursed him every 15 minutes". However, Isaac is currently pouring all his energy into digesting, so I get a short break. Huzzah. He did have a longer stretch this morning too. Henri and I were debating whether to feed him every time he cries or not. Now I have decided that this is just the best way, unless of course he starts crying while I'm changing his diaper, in which case he just needs to wait. Of course, sometimes it's obvious that he just has some gas and air bubbles too, so that can be dealt with. I think Henri's exact words were, "In Africa, when babies cry, we just FEED them." I felt like he was implying that I was starving the little guy, which is definitely not the case. However, as I said, I have decided that the African wisdom is right, and I was wrong. Little Mister has been waking up and looking around on his own, so I guess as long as I feed him and cuddle him, he'll get enough visual and acoustic input when he is awake.

In other news, he started smiling at me when I talk to him yesterday. I read in my Child Language Development textbook that between 1-2 months, they start doing that, then right on cue, he starts warming up to his Mama. Good job, Isaac!

Also, no more afternoon walks, unless they are just around the block. It is 82 degrees in Corvallis and I walked to the post office yesterday in the afternoon with Isaac. It was miserable and a big mistake. Luckily, I ran into a friend at the post office who gave us a clandestine, carseat-less ride back. Better than dying of heatstroke, I say. (Have you ever had heatstroke? I got it once in Japan and it is no fun.)

Tomorrow, we get to learn about Infant Massage. In other words, I get to pay $30 to give Isaac a massage. Oh well, I guess I kind of get the knowledge too, so if I massage him 30 times, well, those are some decently priced massages. They called me today to say, "Bring a towel, washcloth, and some oil or lotion." Sounds fancy. I wonder if there will be snacks. Probably not. Only snacks for Isaac.

stealing cherries

The walk campaign has been extremely successful. I managed to get three walks in yesterday, because when Henri got home from work, he wanted to take another walk to try out our new babybjorn carrier. Isaac seemed to like it, although he didn't want to be right up against Henri's chest. In the picture, he's wearing Henri's hat as a sunshade.

I found a cherry tree between our house and Grocery Outlet and I plan to steal more cherries in the future. They are pretty tasty.

Today we have had our first walk, but Isaac was asleep... Anyways, of course we went by the cherry tree again. What else? Ah, the bassinet seems to be a lot better without the blanket. I put the sheets my Grandma gave me on the mattress and I think Isaac is more content with the firmer surface. Hm. That's about it for today.

one month

One month ago today, Isaac and I were both pretty darn uncomfortable, and it was about 2 more hours until we would finally meet each other. To commemorate this event, I tried to take some pictures today (also because my cousin Kayla gave me a really cute picture frame where you put a photo in every month until 1 year old..). The results are below.

This morning we took a walk around two blocks to look around. Whenever Isaac wakes up again, I think we will take a walk to somewhere useful, like Grocery Outlet. I think I am going to try to do this every day now, if possible - one walk around a block or two, and one walk to somewhere useful. I think this will improve my physical health and keep me sane - because one can only spend so much time in the apartment - and give Isaac some new viewing material.

Also, it seems that he sleeps way better on the couch than in the bassinet. I am going to try taking the blanket out of the bassinet - maybe the harder surface is more comfortable for him.

And now, for a few pictures:


Oh my gosh, Mama, not another picture....




Favorite relaxing activity time with Papa

Finally happy.

stretch

These boys just love to sleep. Isaac slept almost all day yesterday, only waking up to eat, and then conveniently picked 12:30 am - 3:00 am to be awake, hungry and fussy. At 6 am he woke up, ate, and subsequently had a huge bubbly blowout (over the "stern" of the diaper, if you know what I mean and know some nautical terms) which landed my sweatpants and his sleeper in the laundry. As aforementioned, he is not a big fan of diaper changes, especially when they are urgent, feeding-interrupting diaper changes. This picture is from about 9:30 am.

I am sure he is growing longer. I tried to measure him this morning with my measuring tape and am pleased to announce that he is at least 22 inches now. I'll be curious to see what he is when we go to the pediatricians' again in another month. I'm going to try to measure him before then, though.

Whenever he wakes up, he stretches and then falls back asleep five to twenty times first. I have noticed that his dad is an expert at this as well. It looks something like this:

The plan or goal for today is to keep him awake for longer periods whenever he wakes up, and hopefully he will be a really good boy and sleep more at night tonight. We had a good long stretch this morning that tired him out. He looked at the Williams-Sonoma catalog some more, approved of the decorative seashell wreath and disapproved of the garbage cans advertised, then was "swung" a bit by his Papa, and then we tried some tummy time. He is able to do this sort of rotating thing where he changes the angle his body is at. This is why I like to place him perpendicular to the bed and far back when I change him. Today, however, he managed to turn himself from his tummy to his back. I guess he took a cue from his little cousin Louisa. These kids aren't waiting for any "typical" developmental milestones - six months? Are you kidding? That's waaaaay too long to wait. I was initially concerned that this was a sign that we can't use the bassinet anymore. However, first of all, I doubt he'll just do it spontaneously, for the fun of it. He didn't want to be on his tummy. Also, I know he can't go from his back to his tummy, and that would be the movement that would probably disqualify him from sleeping in the bassinet.

Yesterday, Isaac celebrated his four-weeks-old day by having me open his mail for him. He was awake for this part. All the mail was for him. I'm jealous. He got a cute little hat from his Great-Auntie Sue, and also his first bill. I told him I would pay it for him this time, but that he shouldn't get too dependent on me to take care of his financial concerns in the future. See exhibits below. Yes, I post too many pictures of Isaac. Oh well. Who wants to read my blabbing on anyways? I know almost everyone who is reading this just wants to look at baby pictures. Hi Mama :)

Pretty soon, we'll have to either go to Borders for a little walk, or see if we can wake this boy up to feed him and then let him look around and make a bunch of neural connections again.

forced literacy

Here are two more videos, for your viewing pleasure.

This one is Isaac at Grandma's house again.

And this one demonstrates how we are forcing our son to appreciate the value of the printed word.

And now, I must go work on my goal for the day, which is not anywhere near what my amazing cousins actually do every day, like sew five million dresses or quilts, take care of two or three kids, AND bake delicious bread. No, my goal for today is to create a semblance of order in our apartment. This goal can be interepreted to mean any general improvement in the appearance of things so as to promote a feeling that some microscopic quantity of negative entropy (entropy is tendancy towards chaos) has been achieved. And that is why I like that goal. I paid our electric bill. I have already succeeded.

shadow puppets

Last night, we played shadow puppets before going to bed. Isaac was enthralled by this for a good ten minutes (or maybe more) before it became overwhelming. He tried to reach for the "puppets", or perhaps add his own near the end, but I'm not sure he's quite made the connection to figure out where they come from. We may play shadow puppets again tonight if he is good.

Today marks four weeks since Isaac was born. It's not quite one month, but that's coming up soon enough. As of right now, here are some things I can tell you about his likes and dislikes.
Likes: Being loved, sleeping on people, studying objects or changes in light, swinging, esp. being swung by Papa, clothes with long arms, sucking on things, stretching, and eating, of course.
Dislikes: Having diapers changed, especially if they are really poopy or take a long time or he is not in a good mood; not having diapers swiftly changed when they are dirty and uncomfortable; having clothes changed, especially when it is more than once because an outfit Mama picked out no longer fits; tummyaches; pooping/gas; not being instantly understood and fed on demand every time. Well, all the more motivation to start talking ASAP.

Not much else to add. Form of trickery #1 is working wonderfully at the moment. I got to eat breakfast this morning without assistance. I'm going to try and post this video of Isaac and his Grandma which I tried to post several days ago when the camera battery died.

mystery

This is one of my favorite things that Isaac does. Sometimes, when I go to burp him, he will rest his sweet head on his forearms on my chest, close his little eyes, and breathe deeply in and out.

I just love it.

Lately, he'll be resting on my lap, and he'll put his little hand out and rest it on my arm. This also makes me just melt. He is such a sweet little guy (and I feel bad for being less able to appreciate this when I don't get enough sleep, but this morning we slept in).

Henri has been kicked out of the bed for the time being - partly because of his paranoia that he will roll over onto Isaac or that Isaac has stopped breathing, and partly because three people in that bed is just a little too much, even if one of them is a just-under-two-feet-long-person. (Does one need to use "person-first" language in this case? If so, I guess he would be a person who is just-under-two-feet-long. I don't think it matters. ;))

I have given Isaac the nickname "Mistah lovah lovah" (which of course comes from that old Shaggy song "Mr. Boombastic"), because he loves to be around people all the time if he is awake. He likes to snuggle, sleep, be swung by Henri; I guess in summation he just likes to be loved - but he loves back, and that is why he is Mistah lovah lovah.

After we took a much needed nap yesterday ala example in this photo, I was just looking at Isaac and thinking about how I still don't completely understand that he is here forever, just that I know I usually love spending time with him and that we are hanging out. I guess that the phenomenon of babies being born is, in a way, a mystery. Sure, there's the factual, scientific steps:

1. Sperm + egg

2. Mitosis

3. Enlarge and or differentiate cell

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 ad nauseum

5. Labor and delivery

However, for me, that does not equate with Isaac's little face when he stretches, or rests on my chest, or even when he is screaming his lungs out. When I first thought about it, I thought it was a kind of miracle, but I am starting to think it is more of a mystery. We know what happens, and we know the result, but it still can't be fully comprehended.

Anyways, my little mystery is starting to stretch and wake up in Form of Trickery #3, so... that's all I have to say about that!

Slings save lives, or sanity, or something like that.

Lately, I have started using all possible forms of trickery to get Isaac to let me have just a few minutes of time alone, or with free hands. This sounds bad - but it preserves my sanity. Usually this ends up with Isaac sleeping for two hours, and me thinking, retrospectively, of course, "Wow, I should have been sleeping then too.."

Form of trickery #1: The sling. Works almost every time. Isaac will stay asleep in this for hours. He knows the food is right there, and I think that reassures him.

Form of trickery #2: Bassinet + rolled up blankets, stuffed on either side of Isaac. This fools him into thinking he is sleeping next to someone. Effectiveness ranges from three minutes to 45 minutes.

Form of trickery #3: Swing. Mixed effectiveness. Usually more effective with Henri. Ranges from 30 seconds to 10 minutes.

To clarify, Isaac will stay glued to me all day if I do not use any of these forms of trickery, or his Grandma or Papa is here. And, he likes to nurse more than once an hour or he will scream his head off.

The biggest family

Yesterday, we went to the BIG Hurliman family reunion. There must have been about 200 people there. It was crazy to realize that I am somehow related to all these people. I guess we are all related to more people than we realize - probably we walk by people in the street every day that we are related to! It was fun, and I found out that several of my family members play the accordion. I'm not really surprised, because everyone is so hardcore Swiss, but it was interesting to find that out.

Since Henri decided to skip out on the reunion (and he has to work on Mondays), and it had been such a long drive, Isaac and I decided to stay at Grandma's house last night. It was so nice because I finally felt like it is really summer, where you can just relax, make decisions about what to do at any time, and there are very few things on the calendar.

Anyways, I thought I would start this little blog, since I so much enjoy reading all my cousins' blogs with their pictures :) It seems easier to upload pictures here, but one of the cameras just died... so, maybe I'll put some pictures from that one up later.

Henri and Isaac :)

Getting him to sleep is complicated..

because when he is awake, he is very alert!