1 month check up

Oona had her one month doctor visit today and she is now 8 lbs 12 ounces. Nice going mama Keely. This team has obviously got their feeding gig down. Not only that, but they made it out to the doctor and other baby errands by themselves today. Keely has needed a little emancipation from the house lately. The total number of hours outside the home in the last month has remained exceedingly small. So, I stayed home to grade papers and catch up on work while they went to our pediatrician, Mr. Magoo (I mean Dr. Legouille), who Oona seems to like. We like him too. Maybe it is because he's French. Anyway, Oona is healthy and doing great all around.

grandma taylor visits

Grandma Taylor flew out for a last minute Oona visit this past weekend. We had a great time and realized we are starting to get the hang of this, though by no means expert. Since every visitor changes the dynamic considerably, Oona had a tough day on Saturday when we had 5 people in the house (Keren and Dan came up too). Sunday was great though with a walk to Stone Barns and a generally lazy day at home.

taking our first stone barns walk

with grandma taylor

roosting in the hammock

Oona's now taking her naps in a comfy all cotton hammock (read washable) which we purchased from Nova Natural. A while ago we settled on the hammock as the ideal solution for where to put Oona down that gives her some sensation remotely similar to the womb. Hammocks are fairly common all over the world and we are hoping this will help extend her sleeping hours. Originally we wanted a modern design hammock that cost way too much but looks great. It is difficult to find baby products that don't have 13 loud colors, synthetic fabrics, and loads of plastic. The most popular and what seems to be the most successful hammock on the market is the Amby Baby, which still fails the "looks good in the house" test. We almost bought it purely on testimonials of 6 hours of night sleep in a row and happy babies all over. Then we realized that the main difference between the Amby Baby and any other hammock was the spring, which gives babies up and down motion in addition to the tight 360 swirl when they move around, all supposedly womb-like.

Keely's bright idea was to save the $250 and look at Home Depot for a $5 spring. I found it in a garage door replacement spring rated at max. 38 lbs. which gives the perfect bounce for little Oona. Even better, as she gets bigger, we can simply replace the spring as needed. The Nova Natural hammock also has a 5-point harness that we'll strap around her once she is big enough to squirrel her way out. So far so good. She's getting used to it and has been sleeping better the last couple days.

It's all about the spring.

We've also installed a hook in the attic near our bed for night time sleep which means we don't have to have multiple pieces of baby furniture, merely a traveling hammock.

Click on video to see the "womb-like" motion!

mommy and me yoga

Keely is feeling so good that she and Oona had their first yoga session together. Well, Oona just fooled around.

I've also realized that I ought to record a few early Oona moments here and there on our extremely low quality point and shoot camera. Click video to play. I'll try to take a more active video soon.

oona-la : two weeks

Well, Oona is two weeks old today and we finally found an outfit in the drawer that almost fits her. She's still pretty little so all the 0-3 months look more like 3 months on her. This one was close enough that it deserved it's own photo shoot. Or, more likely, I just can't stop taking pictures.

Happy Valentine's Day Oona-la.

aunt keren visit

Even a fussy Oona is fun!

Last night my sister, Keren, came up from the city after work to spend an evening with us. She's been dieing to see Oona since she was born, but some strange flu sickness kept her away. Anyway, we had a nice evening before Keel, Oona, and I all crashed at 9pm. We tend to go to bed around 8:30/9 because the sleep deprivation is slowly taking it's toll.

bath time

this morning

Keely is starting to get a few more pictures of Oona and I, which is fun since I've already taken about 400 of the two of them in the last week. This morning Oona and I slept in while Mama had her morning tea and stole some shots.

getting to know each other

happy baby

After watching "The Happiest Baby on the Block" video last night we decided to try a few of the techniques, which are not terribly different from things we already do such as wrap Oona up, jiggle her when she's upset, croon in her ear. But this video takes it all another step. So, we swaddled her much tighter than we have in the past. Much more womb-like. And she loves it. She slept an extra hour last night between feedings and seems more content.

The theory is that humans babies are born very early developmentally because of our large brains. Horses, cats, dogs, etc. can get up and run around a day or two or even immediately after birth. We can't because we are actually born "earlier". The reason for this is that if we were born more fully developed, our heads would be too big to pass through the mother's pelvis. So, the first few months after birth are really the fourth trimester of development. Therefore, the theory goes, the more womb like you make her fourth trimester, the more relaxed and "happy" she will be. How exactly you make her first few months womb-like is obviously the trick. And this particular pediatrician has his tricks down. So far Oona is a fan.






We've moved out of the nursery/guest room and back up to our attic bedroom loft which is much more comfortable for mama and poppa. In bed we all get to look out the skylight at the big red maple tree above our heads.

sleep

Click to play sleep video. You may notice a bit of "Catch 22" in the background.

takin' walks

Grandma Taylor sewed the flannel bundle bag underneath. Jack and Shannon wove the wool blanket. Josh donated the wool hat. Grandpa and Nana Nelson gave Oona the stroller.

Keely sewed her hat.

I like all this baby stuff.

one week old today!