the eric update - day 180: meeting miss rachel! happy new year!

one of the nice side benefits of having such a special baby is that not only do we get a chance to meet complete strangers who know all about odin but we also get to reconnect with friends that we haven't seen in many, many years.

it might have been six years since the last time we had a chance to see miss rachel, so it was a super nice holiday treat to find out she was in town and very much hoping to see odin ( and perhaps us, too :-) ).

well that was quite a year!

as i look back a year ago ( or two or or three or or four ), it's odd to see what i found remarkable. it is just like that commercial.

having a baby really does change everything.

i suppose that i could hope that 2005 would be a little less eventful than 2004, but if there's one lesson we've (re)learned this year it's that sometimes things don't turn out quite the way you planned and the best you can do is make some lemonade if life hands you some lemons.

happy new year!

the eric update - day 179: The Four Bees!

i know i'm begging for trouble whenever i bring the up topic of odin's sleep habits, but i'm going to tempt the fates again. odin has been doing a fantastic job going to bed at night and staying asleep until his next feeding time. i know every child is different and there's lots of theories about what works and what doesn't and i suspect that which strategy works depends a lot on your own child's temperament. in any case, we've become big fans of having a very consistent bedtime regime that we call "The Four Bees".

there's no set time to begin "The Four Bees" process; in fact, odin tells us when to start and that's often the trickiest part. usually in the late afternoon or early evening, he'll get a "glassy" look in his eyes and start to look off in the distance. at that point, he's usually not fussy or even yawning, but he's definately telling us that he's ready for the bedtime ritual. from what i've read the "glassy" look is a common sign that many parents miss and it's far too easy to try and finish whatever your doing; but be warned(!), if you don't start the bedtime process at precisely the right moment you'll find yourself with a fussy, overtired baby instead of a sleepy, happy baby.

tonight, odin got the "glassy" at 6:50 p.m. which is 40 minutes earlier than normal, but rather than finish dinner it was time to start the The Four Bees.

the First Bee is a bath. he doesn't get a full bath every night, but the process of running the water and the smell of a hint of lavender that gets dropped in the water ( you can see the bottle of lavender in the lower right corner of the picture ) lets him know that sleepy time is fast approaching.

as you can see by the time we start The First Bee, he's already yawning, so it's important to keep quiet and keep the talking to a minimum. only humming is allowed during The Four Bees!

so, if The First Bee is a bath and The Fourth Bee is a bed - what are The Second and Third Bees?

the eric update - day 178: fun with the grandparents!

grandpa and grandma snowdeal came into town which was really nice because we didn't get to see them christmas .

grandpa snowdeal proves he's not too old to get on the floor as him and odin play with his new gymini 3d activity gym which is obviously designed with a toddler's interests in mind what with all the high contrast shapes and patterns. you never know if it's just a bunch of marketing hullabaloo, but the gymini products have won a bevy of awards and odin seems to enjoy it, so if you're in the market for such things you can feel that much more comfortable that it has his seal of approval.

there's a mirror on the bottom of one of the dangling toys and i could be mistaken, but he seems to be quite interested in looking at himself and i guess i can't say that i blame him :-)

drats! the visit with the grandparents is over far too quickly and odin enjoys one of what will be countless kisses from grandma snowdeal.

the eric update - day 177: play time with tigger!

little odin enjoys the spoils of christmas and gets in a little play time with his new "123 Baby Tigger and Me" from auntie m.

clearly he's having a fun time playing with the play things on tigger's tail!

the eric update - day 176: coaxing a smile.

uncle matt and aunt deb stopped by today and discover that it's not too difficult to get odin to smile these days.

he's always happy to see people who bring him gifts from the fantastic red balloon company in chicago ( not pictured, but you'll see the cool duds soon enough )!

but as easy as it is to get him to smile, sometimes he'll just look at you as if he's wondering why you're making a silly face.

the eric update - day 175: the perfect day for a big boy hat!

so we're getting ready to go back to grandma pam and grandpa phil's house for some holiday leftovers and kris decides to put on a hat that she bought right before thanksgiving , but which was far too big for him at the time.
br /> and what do you know? it fit him perfectly and it looks no nice it makes me want to hum ode to my hat!

some might also notice that he's growing so fast that he almost doesn't fit into his "monkey boy" outfit ( there are little monkey cartoon characters on it), which was one of our favorites. it seems like just yesterday that he was wearing his last preemie outfit and now he's busting out of some of his 0-3 month clothes!

i ask you, can his cheeks get any pudgier?

by the time we get to the grandparent's house for leftovers, odin is fast asleep in his bundle me and looks so darn cute in his new hat that i can't help snapping what i think is one my most favorite photos.

the eric update - day 174: odin's first christmas!

phew! our first christmas ended up being quite a long day! who knew that doing christmas as a parent can be twice as tiring as when you're a civilian!

you can click on each image to see a short bit of explanation.

the eric update - day 173: christmas eve!

the postcard project: happy holidays from odin and us!

we'll bend the rules a bit and include our own holiday postcard in the postcard project. it's our project so i guess we can do whatever we like :-)

after contemplating many different designs we ended us choosing to go with one that was inspired by the flickr postcard. i should probably mention that the pooh quote was originally posted on day 11 - the call on a very small animal.

hopefully nobody will be too upset that they are getting their card a little later than planned. we barely squeaked this one out and just got the cards back from the kinkos today. it's a little hard to tell unless you look at a large version of image, but the card has over a hundred images of odin from the day he was born through just last week and our Really Big Field Trip. the images are sequenced so that as you can scan from the top left corner across the rows to see a natural progression of each week of odin's life.

we'd wish we could send these out to everyone who sent us a postcard with a return address, but i'll have to see how many we have left after getting them out to close friends and family before i make any promises.

it's obviously been quite a year for us and we're grateful for all the support and well wishes we've received from people we know and people we don't know.

so, happy holidays from us to you!

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the postcard project: tuscaloosa, alabama.

tina sent a wonderful card from tuscaloosa, alabama; like me, you might not knowthe name of the city comes from two choctaw indian words, tushka (warrior) and lusa (black). see, you really can learn something new every day :-)

tina took the time to make us quite a personalized card and tell us the story of her own 30 weeker, alina. it really helped a lot to hear the stories of kids that were not only surviving, but thriving. tina also has some nice words to say about the blog; it wasn't always easy to write every day, but it was trememdously gratifying to hear from fellow nicu parents who felt that the site helped them to deal with what their own feelings.

alina's 1st birthday is approaching on december 29th, 2004 - happy birthday alina!

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 172: a big box from auntie m!

whoohoo! today odin received a really big box from auntie m!

what possibly could it be? will he be able to wait until christmas to open it?

and most importantly, did auntie m remember that he told her that he really wants an ipod for christmas?

hopefully auntie m didn't disappoint him on his first christmas :-)

the postcard project: gladstone, michigan.

grandma salmi sends greetings from gladstone. michigan which is in the up. i can't help but smile everytime i read her opening line.

i just now realized that our recent Really Big Field Trip to visit the grandparents in gladstone could be considered our first expedition to visit all the places from which we've received a postcard.

one down and many to go!

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 171: little big hand.

i've become aware of late just how big little odin's hands are becoming. of course, we all know that he's packing on the pounds, but in some ways the experience of the nicu filters how you perceive the present and no matter how hard you try to see him for how he really is, it's difficult to not impose a smallness and fragileness that's really, mostly, not there anymore.

the postcard project: chicago, illinois.

leslie sends a simple but timeless message from chicago, illinois - which you might not know was the first city in the u.s. to have a skyscraper grace its skyline.

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 170: off weego, the big boy way!

after almost two months of being forced to sit facing whomever was carrying him in the weego, little odin seemed quite pleased to be able to sit facing forward! yes, indeed - we gave his a test run today and it seems like his head and neck muscles are strong enough to allow him to get a better view of the world while we're going out and about!

it takes a lot of energy on is part to remain sitting up and straight, so we probably won't go on long expeditions with him facing forward anytime soon, but regardless it's still another Big Boy Milestone.

as you can see, he's also discovered is tongue recently.

the postcard project: austin, texas.

aurelia sends greetings from austin, texas and writes to odin that her "...mommy reads your blog everyday and says lots of prayers for you and your family."

thanks!

interestingly, while i think odin had received more cards from california than any other state, i think he's received more from austin than any other city ( there's still lots more postcards to upload ).

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 169: the case of the disappearing umbilical hernia!

what's missing from this picture? that's right, little odin's rather prominant umbilical hernia has disappeared quite quickly! where once he had what appeared to be an extreme "outie" belly button, he now has the most modest of "innies".

micropreemies are born with underdeveloped muscles which is why they are prone to all manner of hernias. in addition to the umbilical version, odin also had bilateral inguinal hernias and a hiatal hernia.

while umbilical hernias are often harmless, they can sometimes cause problems if the intestines begin to protrude through the weakened opening, so we're happy to see that that odin's belly is strong enough to keep everything where it belongs.

the postcard project: sacramento, california.

the salinger family sends happy thoughts from the state capital sacramento, california, which is also the the oldest incorporated city in the state.

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 168: the Really Big Field Trip sink bath! and returning.

it's time to get ready for the long trip home after a few days of the Really Big Field Trip.

of course, one must simply be squeaky clean for the long car ride, but even despite using a variant of the diaper trick, odin is quite clearly not too sure about the merits of being bathed in grandma and grandpa salmi's sink.

such a frown!

ahhh, but the sad situation is quickly remedied when odin discovers that his after bath blanket has been warmed!

thanks to a tip from grandparents, we discovered babies really like a snuggly blanket warmed for a minute in the microwave.

anything that makes the frowny face disappear is fine by me!

all good things must come to an end and too soon it's time to return home from the Really Big Field Trip. our return trip brings us back over the mackinac bridge in the waning daylight which gives me an opportunity to photograph it as we approach the 3,800 foot center span which is the the third-longest suspension span in the u.s. and ninth longest in the world.

it's amazing to think that the 5 mile bridge ( the longest supsension bridge in the u.s ) was originally conceived in the 1880's but not finished until 1957!

little odin slept through both trips across the bridge, but i suspect he'll have many more chances to see the straits of mackinac in the years to come.

the postcard project: vancouver, bc.

in the future, vancouver, british columbia may very well be known far and wide as the home of flickr and even if the whole world doesn't know that fun fact just quite yet, christine sends a card from a place that a lot of people like a lot for a lot of good reasons. and i doth quote from the wikipedia entry on vancouver:

"Vancouver ranked second (2002, 2003) and third (2004) in a worldwide quality of life survey of 215 cities, conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting (http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/03/03/cities030303). Vancouver consistently ranks in the top 5 in most worldwide rankings. Vancouver is almost always ranked number #1 when compared to its Canadian and American peers. Vancouver has tied for first with the cities of Salzburg and Oslo among the UN chosen cities for highest living standards the last 4 years running."

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 167: more Really Big Field Trip fun!

the postcard project: mapping with mappr

regular readers will know that i've been threatening to find some way to visualize the postcard project for quite some time, but have just never found the time to pull all the pieces together. well, as proof positive that procrastination will eventually pay off, the folks behind mappr have developed just what i've been looking for and created the software to enable flickr to server as a "collaborative mapped photo space".

as you can see they've already developed a graphic using the the postcard project dataset! i look forward to seeing how their mappr system matures.

and remember, why do today what you can put off until tommorrow when there are obviously much more ambitious people in the world :-)

the postcard project: morro bay, california.

i'm not sure how to explain that we might received more cards from california than any other state in the u.s.. as a group, are californians more compassionate? do they just have easier access to postcards?

in any case, karen sends us greetings from lovely morro bay, california which is home to one of the only "tow estuaries" in the country.

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 166: resting on the Really Big Field Trip. and the amazingly expressive sisu boy!

after spending so much time on the road for the Really Big Field Trip, little odin is quite happy to spend some quality time on grandma and grandpa salmi's comfy carpeted floor all bundled up in his favorative blanket.

there's nothing quite like the restorative power of a good nap.

of course, when odin is visiting his finnish relatives in the upper penninsula of michigan, we're obligated to have odin wear his sisu shirt at least once, since sisu is a finnish word that means "stamina, perserverance, courage, and determination held in reserve for hard times".

at one point during the day odin enjoys having a very emotive "conversation" with his great aunt dolly.

he starts by wildly gesticulating about something that is obviously quite important and continues with a series of expressions make it hard not to imagine that he's having a grand time expressing himself.

the postcard project: pasadena, california.

annie sent greetings from pasadena, california which was founded by migrants from michigan, indiana, and illinois looking for a warmer climate and cheap land. sometimes during michigan winters i can't say i blame them.

her admonition to remember that even big trees start off as small saplings certainly rang true when we received the card in the nicu.

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 165: another 'well baby' peds visit! and a Really Big Field Trip!

this post has been updated. see below.

we had yet another "well baby" visit with our peds doctor so he could make sure that little odin is growing well and staying healthy. it really is astonishing that he's gained almost three pounds since his last visit. yes indeed, if you look close at the scale, you'll see that he weighed in at 10 pounds 5.5 ounces!

and there's no doubt about it - he's getting a bit pudgy!

when you compare his weight, length and head circumerence, he's still a little small - when you take into account that he's only two months old, in age adjusted terms today ( happy age adjusted birthday to odin! ).

it's strange to think the we think he's absolutely gigantic, but really he's "only" in the 25th percentile even when you compare him to full-term two month old babies. not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, and the pediatrician couldn't be happier with his growth and overall health. and if you look at his growth curve since he left the nicu, he's on track to to be smack dab in the middle of the curve in another few months.

update:---------

i forgot to mention the really big news that odin has been doing so well with his reflux that we officially go the go ahead to stop giving him his reglan! there's a small chance that he could need to go back on it, but since his dose hasn't been increased since he weighed 5 pounds, i think it hasn't been therapeutically effective for some time. we'll still keep giving him zantac for a bit longer, but i think we'll also be able to stop that soon enough. whoohooo! no more medicines!

also - odin is doing so well that his pediatrician doesn't want to see him as frequently as we have been and we don't have to go back to see him until the end of february or march!

and right before we left we found ourselves talking with odin's doctor about when to start him on solid foods! kris and i laughed because it hadn't even occured to us that he might be getting ready for solids. but anytime between two and six months adjusted, odin will probably start showing us signs that he's ready for solid foods. the good doctor told us to watch for him "birding" or watchin our food as we eat it.

---------------

and then it's time for his second round of vaccines. he doesn't like it one bit and it's obvious that it makes him quite uncomfortable but it's over quickly and within 5 minutes he's settled down and fast asleep.

we're going to drive the the UP today which is our first Really Big Field Trip and will likely be a 7 or 8 hour drive. we'll watch odin closely and hopefully he doesn't have any uncomfortable side effects from the vaccination that a bit of tylenol can't cure.

whether or not to vaccinate your children can sometimes be a touchy subject and it's yet another area where everyone has their own opinion, but i don't have time to do the topic justice because i need to get the car packed!

wish us luck on our Really Big Field Trip!

update:---------

phew. it was a long 8 hour drive with occasionally harrowing slippery, snowy, blizzardy conditions ( but nothing unusual for a trip to the 'dah "u.p.".

for those of you not familiar with michigan, when you drive to the upper penninsula from the lower peninsula, you go over the makinac bridge which is the longest suspension in the united states. on windy, blustery, wintery days, cars have been known to be blown off the bridge; there were high wind warnings and two the bridge lanes were closed, but we made it over unscathed.

odin did remarkably well. he woke up every three hours for food and then decided after seven hours that he'd had enough of being in the car seat, but after a half an hour of protesting, he fell fast asleep.

the eric update - day 164: rolling over! and visiting the nicu with gifts!

whooohooo! little odin mastered the art of rolling over! sure, before today we could give him a helping hand just to get him used to the sensation but today was the very first day that he could roll over all by himself after we placed him on his stomach.

it seems like every milestone reference you look at is different and , of course, every baby is different - but it seems like the average advice is that rolling over is an "advanced" skill for a 2 month old and most babies get the hang of it around 3 or 4 months. so he's doing great when you consider that he'll be 2 months old tommorrow, in age adjusted terms.

here he's demonstrating a textbook example of a "pushup" as he eyes where he's going to roll over.

look at that determination!

it's been awhile since we went for a visit to the nicu and today we decided fulfil a promise we made to ourselves while we were still in the nicu. in some small very, very tiny way we wanted to show how very grateful we were for all their great care and after a great deal of consideration we came up with the most perfectly appropriate christmas gift/donation ever.

when we first arrived, of course, everyone was very happy to see little odin and from the looks of he was too. when nurse peggy picked him up and started talking to him, he immediately started giggling and smiling and making all sorts of cutesy baby faces! i swear it's the most animated i've seen him with anyone!

perhaps he somehow remembers that nurse peggy was there when we were able to hold him for the first time when he was eight days old?

we were very happy to see that nurse jan was also working today during our visit! we try not to play favorites because all the nurses in the nicu at saint mary's are special, but nurse jan is extra special. she's the kind of nurse who will surprise you by taking videos of your child when you're not able to be in the nicu; it's her hands and voice you see and hear in the fourth. part two..

it almost never happens, but i must admit that i'm a loss for words to describe just how thankful we are that we had the opportunity to have nurse jan care for odin. she's a very special nurse amongst a group of very special nurses and we won't soon forget her. hopefully someday little odin will get a chance to meet her and thank her for himself.

neonatal nurse practitioner dawn gets a chance to hold odin and she's suprised at how heavy and substantial he feels.

i'll always remember nnp dawn as always being more than willing to sit down and answer my endless littany of questions about every small detail regarding odin's care. rather than being dismissive or condescending as can sometimes happen with knowledgeable professionals, she was always more than happy to answer ever last question.

she quickly learned and seemed to enjoy that when i say "o.k. just one last question", it really means that i have one question with a hundred subquestions :-)

and what luck to see he, himself who hadn't seen odin since we left his nicu to make the trip across town to the "new" nicu.

after visiting the nurses we got to the gift giving part of our visit. after giving it a lot of thought, we decided that we couldn't think of a more appropriate gift than a digital camera and printer. diane and gina who are part of the snowdeal show ® donated their digital camera and we bought a epson picturemate personal photo printer so that the nurses and families can more easily capture all those special moments that can happen in the nicu.

it seems like such an unbalanced trade - we get a happy, healthy baby and they get a digital camera and a printer - hopefully they know it also comes bundled with a lot of love and gratitude.

the postcard project: somerville, massachusetts.

unfortunately emily from over at "the angus index" doesn't tell us exactly from where in the commonwealth of massachusettes she sends greetings, but that's o.k. because anybody who quotes such an extraordinarily appropriate passage from yeats is alright by me:

happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure, nor this thing nor that but simply growth. we are happy when we are growing."

update: emily confesses that the postcard was sent from somerville, massachusetts, which is self described as "Tree City USA".

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 163: is it sleepy time or wakey time? revisited.

it's hard to believe that it has already been a month since i was commenting on how we had a 139 day old baby with a newborn's sleeping habits.

i've delayed writing about the topic of sleep for fear of tempting fate, but in slightly less than 30 days, little odin has gone from waking up at all hours of the night and having trouble going back to sleep, to regularly only waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning for a meal and then going back to sleep straight away until 8 or 9 in the morning! and according to our sleep logs, he's getting at least 16 hours of sleep a day, which should make the author of "healthy sleep habits, happy child" quite pleased.

and even more fantastically, he's spending more and more time in his big boy bed - a.k.a. his crib! that's right, he actually appears to occasionally enjoy sleeping in his own bed in his own room instead of the co-sleeper!

i don't know whether to be overjoyed or just a bit sad.

even as i write this, he's been sleeping in his crib all by himself for over 3 hours and hasn't even awaken for a meal. kris and i keep going back in his room to make sure that he's still breathing ( you can take us out of the nicu, but you can't take the nicu out of us, i suppose ); of course, he's no matter how many times we look, he's breathing normally and sleeping like a baby.

update: he slept in his crib through the entire night! whooohooo!

the eric update - day 162: an introduction to christmas consumerism! a narrowly averted disaster.