Hank the Crank

It seems Henrik's been going through an official "fussy period" for a week, or two, now and we're getting a healthy introductory taste of the challenging side of parenthood.  We don't think he's what you'd call colicky, but as Henrik spends more time awake each day, he's been revealing more of the grouchier aspects of his developing personality, which serve to balance his undeniably cute and sweet character demonstrated during quiet alert time.  In viewing these two sides of our little man and how quickly he can go from one extreme to the other, we've come up with an alter ego for our sweet tot.

Meet:

Sweet Henrik

And his alter ego:

Hank the Crank

From what we've heard from other parents and parenting "experts," as well as what we've read about child development, we're attributing most of this phase to Henrik's pre-smile frustrations.  He has appeared to have been on the verge of smiling intentionally for a couple weeks now (not the endearing grin he gets when falling asleep, or passing gas [as shown in the "Sweet Henrik" photo above], but a real open mouth smile while he's fully awake and looking at you), but he's not quite there.  It's fun watching him try, though - opening his mouth and flailing his arms about in an effort to will the corners of his mouth up, inevitably ending in frustration.

Hitting the Bottle

Breaking News:  Mama Dawn is no longer required to be available every two hours, or less, at the whim of little Henriks hunger pangs!

Yes, it's true, on Thursday afternoon Dawn pumped 2 1/2 ounces of breast milk, then, cradled in Dad's left arm, Henrik accepted the bottle almost instantly and drank it down like he'd been doing it all his life.  This was all done under the expert oversight of Doula Jennifer who facilitated the smooth introduction of the bottle.  Many thanks to her.  Chalk up another milestone.

"What can I say?  I'm a quick study."

Support Staff

Over five weeks into our new lineup and, like any good team, individual roles and responsibilities are beginning to shake out.  Of course there's Mom and Dad, those roles were determined about 10 months ago, but what about the other five players?

Introducing, as Head Lactation Consultant, Alee (Aka, Winky Leadfoot):

Head Product Tester and Comfort Analyst - Buches:

Security Duty - Frances Liverbottom & Farls Barkley:

 

Izzy, having been uninterested in the new addition at first, has become the Interim Downstairs Lactation Consultant.  However, she declined to be photographed for this post.  We'll try to get a candid when she's not looking.

What's up, Chuck?

OK.  So I guess it's inevitable, certain things are just going to happen to you as a parent.  It's these common experiences that, I'm finding out, are the subtext to the knowing looks shared between parents that I've seen my whole life.  Two guys at the the coffee shop on a random Thursday: "Do you have kids?" "Yeah? Then you know what I'm talking about."  Wink, wink.  Nudge, nudge.  Say no more.

After just two weeks of parenthood Dawn and I already have a modest collection of these experiences under our belt.  No more than 2 1/2 hours of sleep at a time for almost 3 weeks (and counting): check.  Been peed on: check.  Held a baby up and sniffed it's butt to see if it had dirty diapers: check.  And now, on different occasions during the same 12 hour period we both have been baptised into, yet, one more common parenthood experience.  And by baptised, I'm not talking holy water, more like an entire freshly filled stomach full of curdled mother's milk.

Who me?

My personal experience was at 4 am Tuesday night when, after changing li'l h following a big feeding, I thought it would be a good idea to lay him on my chest, face down, and try to gently rock him to sleep.  Simple physics would tell me this was a bad idea, but I just wanted to go to sleep as quickly as possible.  Wouldn't you know, a few minutes into it, three enormous heaves, and out comes all of what just went in... on me, on my pillow, and all over the sheets, necessitating an early morning shower and bedding change.

I did what?

Dawn's inaugural dowsing came at much less fault of her own.  She was merely trying to burp little man over her shoulder when the fountain started.  Drenching her black shirt, and leaving a delicious pool of liquid treats on the floor for the dogs.

I'm so embarrassed.

These will be, of course, forgettable incidents when looking back in a few years, and will surely be dwarfed by many and more calamitous baby disasters, but for now they are our most memorable.

Bonus video footage of furry and not-so-furry Freemans:

*A note on comments.  It has come to my attention that some of our beloved "Followers" have been having trouble posting comments.  I'm looking into it and will hopefully have it remedied soon.  We love feedback.

So Fresh and So Clean

Yesterday Henrik had another milestone moment: his first bath since coming home from the hospital.  Jennifer, our postpartum doula, helped out and gave us some invaluable pointers on how to make bath time quick, efficient, and non-traumatic.  Judging from Henrik's other new encounters, few as they may be, we knew that he would either love it, or hate it (he doesn't have much room for nuance at this stage).  However, judging from his love response to the warm hairdryer (on low, of course) during diaper changes, we were putting our money in the love basket for his first warm bath.  Verdict: loved it!

Since he hasn't been doing much rolling around in the dirt, the most visible sign of his newly acquired "clean" status was his oil-free, light brown, fuzzy head of hair.

Here are a few bonus photos:

Oh, no.  Watch out for Mr. Hand!

Sleeping baby photos never get old.

Good bye...

Someone's Got a Bellybutton

This past week has been a series of incremental changes for Henrik, physically and developmentally, with one minor benchmark.  First off, like all babies, li'l h's short quiet awake times, as mentioned in the previous post, have been getting longer and longer.  During these periods of open-eyed alertness Henrik's personality has been coming out more and more, and he gets cuter and cuter.  A few early smile reflexes have even been appearing, giving a sneak peek at what he'll be like in a few months when he's smiling with intent... boy oh boy are we in for it then.

Friday we went to the doctor's for Henrik's 7-10 day check-up, which he passed with flying colors.  We found that he grew a 1/4 of an inch (19.5") and gained a few more ounces (8lbs) - he's almost back up to his birth weight of 8lbs 3oz, which usually takes about 2 weeks.  He also seems to have shed most of the slight, but normal, baby jaundice he had during his first few days.  Along with these measurable differencess, his hair seems to be growing into a great looking mullet and his features are becoming a little more defined.

Henrik had a few visitors this week.  Our good friend Michelle was in the neighborhood and dropped by early in the week for a visit...

and his cousins Lorraine and Robin dropped by later in the week to see the little one, bring over some delicious homemade chile, and return Allee the one-eyed cat back home (Lorraine's apartment has become Allee's indispensable home away from home whenever we're out of town, or having a baby).  Allee's appearance marked the last member of the furry 5 to meet the newest little member of the Farm, and with her approval Henrik's acceptance into the pack is officially unanimous.  All three cats and both pooches have made their exploratory sniffs and inquiries and deemed the HOF worthy of inclusion.

Finally, the benchmark.  Last night, while changing Henrik's diaper, he surprised me, again, with what we like to call an 'air pee'.  I quickly reacted by covering his midsection with a clean cloth diaper to contain the fountain, and when I removed it I saw that what was left of his dried up umbilical cord had fallen off and Henrik officially had a bellybutton.  From early indications it looks to be an 'inny'.  Early signs are also indicating an affinity for Kansas Jayhawks sports...

and for doing the handjive...

Good bye...

Due Date!

Well, here it is, little Henrik's due date and he's already 9 days old.  We've actually been having a fun time adjusting to our new roles as sleep deprived new parents of a certain age.  As for our sub-roles, Dawn has been doing a great job acclimating herself to the joys and pains and blisters of 'new breastfeeding mother', and I've been honing my pee dodging and single wet wipe maximization skills as 'lord of the diapers.'  We realize how incredibly fortunate we are to have the luxury of both staying home during this early break in period and sharing all these new experiences together.

One of our favorite things, as I assume is true for all new parents, is to spend time bonding with Henrik after he's been fed and changed, when he's satisfied, awake, and calm.

On Tuesday, after getting a little stir crazy we decided to take advantage of the rare Seattle sunshine and walk to Makeda Coffee, one of our neighborhood coffee shops, for some fresh brew and baked goods.  Dawn took the photo below while we were there.  I'm not sure how I could be more of a cliche in it.  Maybe I'll send it to Pemco Insurance for one of their "We're a lot like you" Seattle profiles ads.*  Profile #273: The unshaven, flannel shirt and beanie wearing, Moby wrap baby carring, soy latte sipping, aging Seattle hipster, and new father.

*For those of you not living in the Seattle area and/or feeling lost by this pop-culture reference, see the We're A Lot Like You series of ads.