See? Sleeping's Not So Bad!

It looks like our new, little bundle of joy has finally figured it out! She's less than 2 weeks old and she's already ALMOST sleeping through the night.

The last few nights, in fact, she's only woken up once or twice. Looks like she's finally figured out that day time is for playing, and night time is for sleeping.

She's also managed to find her thumb to suck on which has to be some kind of record. As I write this, she is in her swing looking at me like, "Who is that big guy in front of that big, glowing thing?"

In other baby news, her bilirubin count was finally starting to DECREASE on Friday. My wife will take her back to the doctor today to see if we can unhook her from this blanket yet.

For all of last week and the weekend, she had to stay wrapped in a 'biliblanket' which plugs into the wall and emits this bright, blue light. She's been looking kind of like baby Superman on planet Krypton in the 70's film.

We are hoping that we can unhook her today so that my wife can finally get out of the house!

How long until the kids go back to school?? "It's the most...wonderful time......of the year!" I love Fall!

Home Sweet Home

Quick update to yesterday's post...as of this evening, mother and baby are finally back home! Our little girl will be wrapped in a 'bili blanket' for the next 4 or 5 days, but this sure beats the unit they had her in at the hospital.

All's well that ends well...let's just hope things continue to go smoothly.

She's Here...and She's Back!

Well, daughter number three decided to surprise us all and arrive a few days early.

My wife decided to leave work at lunchtime on Tuesday because she wasn't feeling very good. She told me to stay close to the phone. Sure enough, around 4pm she told me that I should leave the office and get home to pack up my things.

I broke about 14 major traffic laws and made it home from work in 10 minutes flat. We packed, went to the hospital, got my wife examined, and they told us 'this is not a drill'.

After about 7 hours of labor, it was time to start pushing. My wife pushed for about an hour when suddenly, out popped a head, facing straight up at me...as if to say, "WAAAZZZZAAAAPPPPP????"

This really took me by surprise. When my second daughter was born, she came out face down and it was quick! THIS little girl's head was face up, and she lingered there for a minute before the doc pulled her all the way out. That visual is going to stay with me for a long time.

She was born at 1:33am on Wednesday morning, weighing in at 6 pounds, 15 ounces.

On Thursday evening, we went home. There have been two times in my life when I drove like a little, old man. The first time was when we drove my second daughter home from the hospital three and a half years ago. The second time was Thursday evening (my 10-year-old is my step-daughter, don't forget).

Anyway, after almost two days at home, we took our new addition to the doctor today for a 'quick checkup'. They told us to pack up and head right back to the hospital.

It seems that her bilirubin count is way up and she has 'newborn jaundice'. We took her to the hospital and they now have her 'under the lights'.

She and my wife will probably be there until Monday or Tuesday so, while her arrival at home was short-lived, we will be looking forward even more to her quick & healthy return!

The Great Sniffix

It seems that my 10-year-old daughter doesn't want to be out-done by my 3-year-old (see previous post).

Last week my parents came over to babysit for a while. My 10-year-old decided she wanted to do one of her favorite things with them...play teacher!

As my parents sat down in their 'classroom seats', my 10-year-old said,

"Today, students, we will learn about the great sniffix."

"Sniffix?", my parents asked.

"Yes...sniffix.", my daughter replied.

"Sniffix??"

"Yes! Sniffix!"

"Um, excuse me...", my parents asked. "What exactly is a 'sniffix'?"

My daughter replied, "You know, it's that big thing in, like, Egypt, that kind of looks like a dog or something?"

I imagine that, at this point, a giant, cartoon image of a light bulb appeared over my parents' heads.

"OOOOH, do you mean....The Sphinx??", they asked.

"YES! The Sphinx!", my daughter replied. "Is THAT how you say that?!"

My parents were laughing so hard while relaying this story to me, it took 30 minutes just to get the above sequence of events out of them.

I can't say I blame 'em. Sniffix! Maybe we just stumbled upon the next big name in tissue products!

Toddlerisms

Last night my 3-year-old daughter got out of the bathtub, got into her pajamas and, in a very concerned state, said...

"DADDY! We forgot the air conditioner!"

"The what?", I replied.

"The air conditioner!", she repeated, really trying her best to clarify things.

"I don't know what you mean.", I said. "The air conditioning has been on all day."

"No, Daddy! The AIR conditioner...so my hair doesn't get all tangled up!"

"OH...the HAIR conditioner!", I exclaimed.

"Yes, the HAIR conditioner, Daddy!", she said triumphantly.

English. How did we ever learn such a confusing language? :-)

T minus 24 days to new baby and counting...