Let's talk about Rory's poop...and other things.

This was Rory's first poop ever.

Please don't ever tell him I showed you this.

If, like me, this is the first first poop you've ever seen, you might be as surprised to find out that it is black and sticky.  It was kind of gross the first few days, but two months in, I would die for Rory to have poop like that.

Let's speak positively about Rory's poop before I go into the gory details.  The best attribute of his poop is that it doesn't stink.  This isn't because Rory's special, until he eats something other than his mother's milk, "his shit don't stink".  (Pardon my French, but it's a phrase.)  The second thing his poop has going for him is that it is liquid.  This actually becomes a fault later in this blog post, but for now, we'll look at it as a positive because, combined with its lack of smell, liquid poop just isn't as conceptually disgusting as real poop (to me anyways).

In the beginning, he'd poop about 8 times a day.  Not exaggerating that number, in fact, the doctor asks to make sure he is pooping 8 times a day.  Suddenly at 6 weeks, that number dropped to once a day.  I was actually concerned (as the doctor had put so much emphasis on many poops in the beginning) but turns out, at 6 weeks, 1 poop a day is enough.  While it sounds much nicer, I swear that 1 poop contains all of the poop that was once spread out over 8 poops.  And no diaper is designed to hold that much poop.  It's amazing he doesn't lose half his body weight in the middle of each day (when the 1 poop tends to happen).

You don't always know when it's coming, but you know when it happens.  Everyone remotely close in vicinity knows it happens, and unfortunately, it almost never happens at home.

Today's happenings are what lead me to write about his poop.  I began working part time from home this week (a task FAR more difficult than I ever predicted while trying to satisfy Rory's cuddly nature).  So today, Rory and I went to Starbucks (twice actually).  I got settled, he was in his carseat which was in his stroller.  I had a Chai latte to justify using Starbuck's internet, and a water bottle.  I had my laptop out and plugged into the wall.  His diaper bag was in the stroller, but several of its contents were now spread across the table as well. And then I heard the explosion in his pants.  There's no question when it happens that it will be epic.  Unfortunately, unless you're willing to risk your laptop's safety, you have to pack EVERYTHING up in order to tend to the mess...at which point, in my opinion, you might as well just go home.  Packing and unpacking all of this stuff takes about 10 minutes too long.  I made the decision to change his diaper in the Starbuck's bathroom, rather than have him sit in it until we got home, in hopes of saving it from shooting up his back.  In this regard, we were successful, his clothes came out mostly unharmed.  But that is amazing from the amount of poop we were dealing with.  By the time I was done, it was all over his socks, which I removed, so then it was all over his feet.  Up his leg.  Front to bottom of diaper filled.  I used 3 diapers in the process, every wipe we had in our bag, and some toilet paper.  My hands were smothered in poop.  Needless to say, it was disgusting.  And when we walked out, someone was waiting for the bathroom...possibly for the entire 15 minutes we were in there.

This blow-out has only been topped by our visit to Santa.  Last week Joe's parents were in town and while the guys were at the Seahawks vs Rams football game, the girls took Rory and Eli to see Santa!  All was well, Eli cried as 1 year olds should and Rory sat unenthused.

Rory's look of contentment made more sense after I went to pick him up.  Santa looked at me and said "I think he just had a blowout".  (See Santa's eyes in above picture and reevaluate Rory's contentment below.)

Luckily Rory didn't leave any residue on Santa, but it was an epic blowout.  I ran into Nordstrom and found the nearest bathroom.  And then, with Sandy's help, we removed poop from Rory's entire body.  Literally there was poop from his butt to his neck.  His cute Christmas outfit was soaked in poop.  And who designed onesies to go over their head?!  I had to pull this poopy mess OVER HIS HEAD!  It was terrible, absolutely disgusting, and I'm confident that without Sandy's help I would have called 911.  So, if Rory doesn't get any Christmas presents this year, at least we know why.

Ok, I'm done talking about Rory's poop.  Today is his two month birthday!  We are celebrating tomorrow with his first shots at the doctor's office.  Can't wait.

Meanwhile, Rory has now met almost all of his Grandparents and is excited to meet Grandpa Tom on Saturday.  Rory loved his time with Grandma Rosey and Grumpy.

Grandma Rosey and her two Washington grandsons.

Just in case you were wondering, Eli still loves Rory, despite what happened with Santa.

 Finally, I will end with pictures from our PEPS group.  We've now had 3 meetings and here's some pictures of all the babies!

Week 2

Rory's girlfriend to his left, Naomi, shares his same birthday and lives less than a mile away! 

Week 3

Naomi was getting a little two friendly with Oliver this week if you ask me.

But Rory made other friends.

Well, I hope all of your holidays are merry.  Joe, Rory, and I fly to the midwest on Christmas Eve and will be introducing Rory to what real love feels like, as he meets his extended families.  :)  I'm particularly excited because I hear many blowouts occur on airplane rides.

Thinking of you all, hoping to see most of you soon!

Love, 

Robyn

PS - I did wash my hands before leaving the Starbuck's bathroom.

Where have 7 weeks gone?

Rory's first Thanksgiving!  He's much smaller than the turkey.

Can you believe that tomorrow Rory will be 7 weeks old?  We cannot believe it either!  Time just flies, evaporates, just disappears right before my eyes.  I'm trying to embrace it, trying to remember to enjoy the "now" rather than worrying about the now passing too fast.

We've had an eventful week.  One great discovery this week is the Moby Wrap. A friend lent it to us, and Rory loves it!

Rory is doing well, though we've had to endure and figure out how to work around some crying spells.  Poor guy just gets really worked up, really fast.  Once you hear it for yourself, you'll understand how heartbreaking it is.  And when you pick him up, he immediately snuggles into your chest with relief.  Unfortunately, Tuesday night, this happened at 1 in the morning.  He's been really good lately about staying wide awake until 3am, but the additional crying was a new treat.  By 2:30am, I was desperate.  Joe was one wall away trying to sleep, and I was exhausted.  Since the car puts Rory to sleep in about 2 seconds, I decided it was time for a drive around the neighborhood.  I put him in his carseat, screaming.  I thought, once I get him in the car he'll calm down.  Put him in the car, more screaming.  Drove halfway up our alley until the screaming turned to hoarseness and I couldn't take it anymore.  I pulled over in the alley and climbed into the backseat.  I couldn't calm him in his seat so I took him out.  Instant relief.  So now, I'm standing in the alley, at 2:30 in the morning, with a very sad baby (though quiet now), a running car parked basically in the middle of the alley, in the cold.  I knew there was no way I would get Rory back in that seat, so I called Joe to rescue us.  Joe comes out in his pajamas and carries Rory into the house and I park the car.  My mission had failed....almost.  Fortunately, due to the excessive screaming, Rory was plum tuckered out, fell asleep and slept like a champ.  Can you imagine if any of our neighbors were watching!?  I'm sure they thought about calling CPS.  As eventful as that evening was, in general Rory's screams are easily comforted by food, pacifier, or a tight squeeze.

Just one of my many attempts to entertain.

On a much happier note, we started something amazing this week.  There's a very popular organization in Seattle called PEPS (program for early parent support) that places parents from within a neighborhood with similar aged babies in a group that meets once a week for 12 weeks.  We signed up awhile ago and just got placed in our group, and had our first meeting last night.  It's amazing.  There are 8 couples who all live within 3 miles of our house, all with babies that were born between October 20 and November 7th!  Isn't that incredible!?  There's a group leader, and we go to a different person's house each week.  There are discussion topics, but really it's just a time to hang out with other people enduring the same thing at the same time.  Everyone was so nice, we are so excited!  We don't mean to brag, but Rory was definitely the cutest baby there. We have heard from MANY people in Seattle (Joe's boss, both my doctors, and many friends) that PEPS is amazing.  After the 12 weeks of organized meetings, many groups continue to meet.  Some are still meeting 20 years later!  We are so excited to meet new friends for us and for Rory.  

While our house is absolutely a disaster, we did manage to put a Christmas tree up (Joe did all the work) and St. Nick managed to find us in our new apartment, and even knew we had a new family member!  

I had my 6 week follow up appointment and my body has seemed to heal just fine, so I hit the gym for the first time yesterday.  Our gym has childcare, so yesterday was Rory's first  daycare experience!  It was about 45 minutes and he slept soundly the whole time.  I made sure to go to the tread mill the furthest away to avoid temptation of checking in on him.  The very kind Japanese woman told me that if he cried, it was ok and she would take care of him.  She made me feel better and hopefully she and Rory will become good friends (translation:  hopefully Joe and I will continue to go to the gym).  I won't lie, the first day of working out in many many months was rough.  In fact, my jog quickly turned into a walk after realizing that nursing moms need new sports bras.  :)  (Sorry if that is TMI.)  But, the Biggest Loser has inspired me, and if they can do it, I can do it.  Our gym has free personal training, so tomorrow I'm meeting with one to make a plan.  What I'm not telling you is that I also had childcare reserved for today, and I canceled.  But back at it tomorrow.

Speaking of daycare, we've been getting ready for Rory to start with a nanny on January 9th.  We met a family in the neighborhood next to ours and they have a 6 month old son named Fin.  We then found a woman named Shauna and she'll be the full time nanny for both boys.  Fin is already with Shauna everyday and it's going great!  We feel so fortunate to have a good, loving situation to transition Rory into when I go back to work.  We had dinner with Fin's family the other night, and here's Fin and Rory's first picture together!

Fin's dad is Australian.  We're hoping some of his accent gets passed on to Rory through Fin.

A friend from work taught me how to knit when I was pregnant and I managed to make a sweater for Rory!  Here it is, along with a few more pictures.

Rory loves his dad.

He's very alert and wide-eyed. 

He's just awesome.

Oh how we love our Rory

Well, 5 weeks in and I couldn't ask for anything more than I have in my life right now.  These past 5 weeks have truly been the happiest of my life.  I can't explain it.  Before, if I had designed my favorite weeks, I probably wouldn't have chosen to fill them with severe sleep deprivation, hundreds of poopy diapers, and 5 hours a day spent breastfeeding.  But, now, I would take these three things for the rest of my life to experience the joy that our baby boy has brought us.  He doesn't smile yet, or roll over, or communicate in any way other than to shriek, but we could just hold him and stare at him and take pictures of him all day long.

He has had some noticeable changes in his short life so far.  He certainly is gaining weight, mostly in his belly and cheeks.  He's easily fitting into the newborn clothes now and even growing out of some.  It is amazing that there is no standard for baby clothes sizes.  Some newborn things might fit him in 3 months, others I can barely squeeze him into.  His blue eyes are big and open more and more each day.  In the last week, I have seen a tremendous change in how he looks at us.  You can tell he is really focusing on our faces, and holds his eyes there longer.  We're excited that as of yet he still has all of his hair, and in fact, I think it's growing.  He is stubborn like his mom and sweet like his dad.  And it is quite amazing that without saying a word or walking an inch,  Rory makes all the decisions in our house.

I won't lie, we are pretty tired.  Rory isn't so keen on sleeping during the hours that Joe and I are used to.  We're trying to adjust, but the world doesn't operate on baby time.  So you either give up being a part of the world, or walk around very tired.  We're trying to find the happy medium, and we just aren't there yet.  In the meantime, I've taken up a new addiction of watching The Biggest Loser and LOVE the show.  For better or worse, the episodes are almost an hour and a half each, so it certainly passes the time in the middle of the night.  Plus, it makes me really want a personal trainer...unfortunately that's not in our new Rory budget.

I honestly can't believe that it's already been 5 weeks.  I wish I could capture this time, put it in a jar, and get a taste of it whenever I wanted...because it's just the best.  Since I can't stop time, I take pictures instead.  We are certainly capturing Rory as he changes!  Here's a few of our newest favorites.  And check out the post below to see how much Rory's cousin Eli loves him.

Thank you all for all of your love, cards, generous gifts, phone calls and video chats.  We are looking forward to a visit from Sandy and Larry in 2 weeks, and then to come to the midwest for Christmas!

So much to be thankful for this year.

Love,

Robyn

Eli loves his cousin Rory!

3 Weeks Old and Due Yesterday

Rory is over 3 weeks old!  Joe keeps telling me how big he's getting...I'm going to keep denying that until he goes to college.


If you haven't gotten to meet him yet, Rory is awesome.  He really is doing great.  He's filling out and getting chubby cheeks, proof that it doesn't just feel like he's eating all the time.  He has huge bright eyes and when he's awake, he's really awake.  He hears every sound and follows you with his eyes.  My favorite part - he loves to snuggle.  And we could cuddle with him all day!   


Joe went back to work last week and so I've been adjusting at home.  This past weekend my dad and Francine were in town.  I think they loved him as much as Rory loved them!  It was nice to have a few extra hands around.  But so far, the days at home with just Rory and I have been good and we're getting the hang of how to get out of the house without either of us looking too grungy. 


Other than that, life is pretty simple in our house.  We eat, sleep, shower occasionally...in order to facilitate Rory to eat, sleep, and get the occasional bath.  Oh, and there's like a billion diapers in between each of those activities!


Here's some of his latest pics!

Meeting Grandma E and Papa Vern.

We love our family.

Joe has been waiting to watch a Steeler's game with him all year.

New blanket and puppy!

Talking to Grandma Rosey and Grumpy

Rory is here!

I have found it quite difficult to write a blog post about Rory's birth.  You can't possibly put such a tremendous experience into words - especially in any concise manner.  I figure something is better than nothing, so even though there is no way this post could explain the joy and love we have felt for the past two weeks, it's at least worth posting some pictures!

Rory's arrival on Friday, October 21st was 3 1/2 weeks early.  While having a baby is surprising no matter when it happens, we weren't particularly surprised with his early arrival since I'd been having so many contractions.  Possibly due to these prolonged contractions, my labor was surprisingly...no, shockingly, un-painful.  In fact, I practically had to convince Joe, the nurses and the doctors that this indeed was the real thing.  They all knew soon enough and were quite surprised when I was standing and smiling while dilated 9 cm.  I was equally surprised.  I did get a dose of pain for 45 minutes when I was pushing, an experience I won't forget for some time, but overall, we couldn't have wished for an easier delivery!

There has not been anything in my life that even comes close to the experience of having a baby.  The amount of love that one little person can bring is overwhelming and unbelievable.  Joe and I are happy beyond words.

Rory weighed 6 lbs 9 oz when he was born, and at his 2 week dr.'s appt on Friday we were thrilled that he now weighs 6 lb 14 oz!  (They expect them to be back at birth weight at their two week appt., so he's a superstar.)  We spent a few days at the hospital to monitor his weight, and treat his jaundice.  I was thankful for the extra time there to get support from the nurses, and we were much more confident going home when we did.

Rory has been amazing since we've been home.  He has a small pterodactyl-like cry that comes out when you wipe his butt, catch him when he's starving, or strap him in his car seat.  So far, we don't hear the cry too often; however, he's a noisy little guy and does a lot of squeaking.  Time has just begun to disappear since he's arrived.  We sleep a little, eat a lot, and change dozens of diapers...and then it's time to go to bed.

Joe returns to work tomorrow, and Rory and I will miss him.  But the three of us know our journey has just begun.  

We thank you ALL for the love you have sent us, it means so much.  Sorry if I haven't returned your phone calls...we so appreciate them though.  We look forward to sharing this journey with you!

Enjoy some photos!

Rory's first picture.

 
Our new family.

Day 1.

Overjoyed Mom.

Love from Dad.

His HUGE outfit to go home in!

Happy boy.

Chillaxin'.

Meeting Grandma Kim!

First Cardinal's World Series victory!

Sad.

Loving being held by Grandma Kim.

Rory's first Halloween...our little pumpkin.

So much love.

Amazing hair.

His dad loves him.

He does cry sometimes.

And getting happier about bath time.