Apparently we're entering the frightening age of having two mobile kids. I put Isla down on the floor-gym mat this evening . . . a couple of minutes later - "where's Isla?":
Margot's "Bears" class had their "closing ceremony" today for the first year of pre-school. It was a relatively low-key deal with parents and some grandparents and a short program including a bit of the kids' usual "movement" and music activities and a chance to say thanks to the teachers and staff.
So, just in case other methods of communication have failed to reach anyone reading here . . . We can confirm that, as we say in this household, Christi's "making fingers". Which explains why she's been more than usually tired.
So, it's been a busy buncha weeks, no surprise. Starting with Thanksgiving, when I posted a teaser and never got to the follow-up, various (and sundry) things have resulted in a general lack of posting - so, Sorry! Thanksgiving blended into a busy first half of December, culminating in my trip to Tel Aviv (as some of you guessed) and Christi's first week caring for Margot alone. The second half of December blew past as we recovered and then prepared for the holidays, and we've been with Christi's folks on Nantucket since Friday. Don't you worry, we've accomplished Margot's first Xmas - with over 500 photos snapped, so it's well documented. And that's ignoring the ice dam and water damage at home that our neighbor called about! (No big deal for us, in the end - but thanks to my folks for going to check it out!)
Topics I'm hoping to somehow find more time to post on or at least share top photos:
So, Tuesday we took Margot for her two-month checkup. For those of you keeping score:
- Tuesday was 9 weeks after her birthday
- She's 12 lbs 6 oz, up from just under 8 lbs birthweight and something under 7 lbs minimum weight around five days
- She's 22.5 in long, which is up a couple of inches (call it 10-12%) although I'm less sure of those numbers, and think they're a little less accurate anyway
- Her head is now 38 cm around - just about 15 inches. I don't remember any previous measurements.
She's in good health and the doctor was happy with everything. The less fun part of the visit was getting a couple of early vaccinations - although a tag-team of two nurses made a very quick process of the shots. She seemed to have a rough afternoon and evening after that, but a day later she's none the worse for wear.
She's making a lot more noises now, I think, than even a few days ago. She can also look at you, if she's in the right mood, when you talk to her. And, we think we can make her smile and even kind of laugh, although an attempt at video documentation of such an effect failed this evening. We'll keep trying - it's like magic when her face lights up.
Friday her Grandparents Andersen are coming for the night, to visit, which will be great as they haven't seen her since she was a week old. How things change!
[Edit - as Christi points out, they HAVE seen Margot, a few weeks ago in Cambridge. I guess I was up too late - I was just thinking that they hadn't been at our house again!]
OK - Blogger's not cooperating on letting me post a picture tonight, so you'll have to wait. Sorry!
Guess who's on the front page of the Boston Herald's Business section today? (And a blurb on the front page, no less.)
Christi and Derek have done fantastic work on Zyrra over the past couple of years. They've also both had first babies this year, just to make things easier (Derek's little boy Miles is a few months ahead of Margot).
I won't put a lot on here, but I know a lot of you know a bit about what Christi's trying to do, and have been great supporters. (If the Herald can make puns, I can make mine.) It's not always easy to keep people up to date with what's going on, but there's a lot of great activity for Zyrra and exciting things happening, so hopefully this is just the beginning of the drumroll....
Congrats to Christi and Derek for pulling so much together. Good luck!
Our new baby is Margot Louise Andersen-Smith.
Margot, this is Everybody . . . Everybody, this is Margot!
Dear Friends and Family -
Just before 7AM this morning, our new baby girl joined us, after a several increasingly intense hours at home and less than half an hour after making it to the hospital. She's 7lb 14.4oz and 20 inches, and healthy, and Christi is tired but recovering. Me? I had the easy part.
Missing something? Nah - who needs a name . . . we're matching our ideas to this actual little one, and letting the likely choices settle in. Got to keep you string along somehow, don't I?
Ten minutes old and nicely swaddled!
In this moment of rest (believe it or not she's napping), we want to say an immense thanks for everyone's support so far (and, in advance). Having everyone's help has made this feel almost sane. Almost ;-).
. . . baby. Yes folks, it's a baby. We had our second-trimester ultrasound survey a couple days ago, which among other things is when they start offering to try to tell you the sex of the baby. After some complex thinking that may or may not be a topic for future posts, we decided not to find out (at least now). So, it's a baby! And more importantly, it's a healthy baby in all the ways that they can tell at this stage.
So here's the little future rugrat in his/her/its updated mug shot. This time facing to the top left, in profile. The dense (whiter) bit center-left is the lower part of the jaw and face, a divot for the eye-socket, and the bright arc from there around from 10-o'clock to 6-o'clock is presumably the skull. There's a C-shaped blur in the middle there that kind of suggests an ear, but for all I know could be some mid-brain structure given the depth of the imaged scan.
Things that we "saw" in the ultrasound:
. two arms with hands with fingers, substantially close to five fingers per hand
. two legs, with feet with toes, substantially close to five toes per foot
. a head with a face, and a brain inside (they assured us)
. a stomach, kidneys, and a liver. Christi thinks also a bladder, which was apparently hard to find.
. at least one femur, which was measured for length (a couple centimeters, if I caught it right)
. a spine and a buncha ribs, which were some of the coolest things as you (or at least I) could imagine the structure as the technician scanned deeper and shallower across them
. a working, pumping heart (straight-on 150 beats-per-minute) with multiple chambers
. an "aortic curve", I think, which is the major blood vessel leaving the top of the heart and curving down into the body cavity.
Yay parts! Apparently they all look healthy/nominal/good, which made us happy. In a growing tradition, we went for ice cream afterward.
(or two)
So - the last time I started thinking about doing this Blog thing, I got it set up but never publicized. And I lost momentum. So here we are - two and a half years later, and I have some excuses to try again.
Maybe I'll try to fill in some of the details along the way. I guess we'll see. The more folks read and comment here, the more I'll know whether it's a worthwhile thing to keep up. However, the first new headline practically writes itself.
Christi and I are expecting a baby in September! (That's 2007, in case this is the last post for another two-and-a-half years.)
So - I won't dwell for now, but I'm thinking of the blog as a vehicle for helping to spread the news and document how it all unfolds for me/us. Check back and find out, or bug me if I haven't lived up to this hope!
Another thing that I'd like to share with people is that Christi graduated from her MBA program (an entrepreneurial MBA at Babson College)! YAYYAYAAY!!!
Click for photos:
