Missives continue to pour forth from South Dakota, where Big Daddy Whitebeard and his ol' lady, Sue, continue to whimper about a lack of updates to Max's blog. One must assume that in their luxuriant grandparenthood they have misplaced their memories of exactly how much time a baby demands, especially one such as Max, who though loveable is fussy. He does not deal well with being put down by himself. He needs to be near, and even then doesn't sleep as much as all the experts say babies sleep. Not even close. Which means we continue not to sleep much either, though it must be revealed that Garnette suffers more than me in this aspect. Because although I can take him off her hands, she has the power (actually a pair of powers) to soothe him. Mostly.
So we've been leaning hard on Kim and Todd for advice and emotional support, and reading a lot on Dr Sears' website. Dr Sears has a section about fussy babies, how some babies are simply wired differently and do not transition well from womb to world, from wake to sleep. Max does however transition quite well from quiet to loud. In fact, by Dr Sears' measure of high need babies, Max fits every marker nearly perfectly. He just needs love and attention. We can do that. I think. This morning I asked if there were any convents nearby where we could drop him off in a basket. Ha ha.
Few photos these days. There's not much to take photos of anyway except more of crying baby and of tattered parents.
And yet through this veil of desperate exhaustion we know there are good days as well as bad. The good days are great. His smiles are fantastic. Even when he wets 4 or 5 outfits in a 6 hour span, a baby smile can make all the shit worthwhile. But still it's tiresome. Stress filled. Exhausting.
Garnette got a nap today when he finally collapsed in the sling (the only place he really relaxes) for 3 hours or so. Later she told me she dreamed that she was helping a friend of ours with her baby. She was having Garnette help her "express" milk from the breast. Garnette was milking her friend. And the milk poured forth as from a tap. Considering the troubles we've had in this area, such dreams are horror and humor rolled into one. Just like real life.

What?! Speak up, I can't hear you!

So... it's been a while since the last post. Max has been keeping us busy. Is he intolerant of lactose or not? Is this formula o.k. or not? What about this other kind? We don't know. Sure we shopped carefully and the ingredients look good but maybe he should have the lactose free. Or the soy. Or maybe he's allergic to soy. It's a minefield of seemingly mundane issues that have a direct affect on Max's mood, and therefore on our continued challenge of sleeping.

On the up side Miracle Max turned 1 month old on sunday. He's grown at least another inch and seems to be gaining weight. He is a very hungry boy, hence the bizarre stream of consciousness debate regarding if and what kind of formula to give him. He's started smiling and sometimes mimics faces and responds to Happy Voice. In short, almost in spite of our clumsy, bumbling struggle to learn how to read him, Max is a crawly, wiggly, screamy, happy, alien monkey boy. Go Max, go.

Miracle Max on the mic:


In other baby news, a few days ago our friends Bernie and Angie had their second boy, Lennon. All reports so far indicate everybody is doing well. What a nice Christmas gift.

Auntie Kim's birthday was yesterday, and we were invited over for dinner, so we went. It was grand. Max wore his new sweater knitted by grandma Diane. Max did not choose to hold still for the picture.



Max got to see his cousins Izzi and Xavier. We had tacos for dinner. Izzi made the guacamole. Xavier ate a lot of chicken. In fact both these kids ate a lot, and they're not that old. This makes a certain reality hit home. Still...



And that's that. Makes you feel all good inside. It is that time of year, after all. So hoist a mug of wassail and be kind and good to each other. Merry Christmas everybody!

Bathtime




Yes, tonight was bath night, and the warm water once again soothed the kicky beast. Bug got in on the act, checking out the tub early.


Obligatory baby in the tub shot:



Version 2:



Later, Max was installed into his NASCAR designed baby driving suit, made of fire retardant Nomex.

Strangely it is not water proof and he changes driving suits several times a day sometimes.

The last several days have been a whirlwind in slow motion, with lots of diapers.
Grandma and grandpa Kuznia left, then grandma and grandpa Corson came and stayed a day before leaving to beat a winter storm (with more visit coming after Christmas, when they drive up with Max's uncle Schuyler and his younger son Ben).

Mom did more knitting than is indicated by this photo.
The temperature was above freezing for a few days, then plunged down as a front moved in. It was 38F yesterday. It was -6F this morning (before the extra 15 or so degrees lower figured for windchill). And it's been either snowing or blowing here for days, so I keep going out to shovel.
And then as if by magic (or sheer persistence) Max turned 3 weeks old yesterday! He's growing some we think but it's hard to tell. Looking at pictures seems to show some difference in his face.
This one was Dec 11:

And this one is yesterday:


These days he's been making funny faces. And angry ones. And thoughtful ones. And looks that make us think the lights are out entirely. Today he's making screaming face quite a bit. He's sleeping more at night. Some nights. Last night. It changes around. He's also hungry almost constantly the last few days. Everything's different. Everything's the same. We loved having people and we like having the house to ourselves too. Life doesn't wait, and jobs must be kept up with, and babies tended to alike. This has been my desk lately. My job is being great about letting me do as much work as I can from home. But it won't last forever.

And daily living. The simple things like making a meal without help at all. Even a bad one. The neighbor across the alley told me the other day he has a pregnant daughter suddenly living at home. He's 56 and about to be raising another baby. He's recently updated the garage, fully insulated, with a heater.
The future beckons. What to do? Well, this guy:

Sends this advice:

Finally the new camera arrived. Our old one died the day Max was born. Guess he has the same effect on electronics that his parents do. But now I've been messing around, getting in peoples' way taking pictures.
Floyd and Nettie are still here visiting. They leave tomorrow. It's been nice having them here. Tonight we all sat together after dinner and watched Fortune Wheel.



As for Max, he sleeps his days and stays up at night. This has made for some very long nights recently. He does this a lot:

But he also does this a lot:

So it all evens out.

Concerned Citizen G. Grant, aka Big Daddy Whitebeard, writes:

"Andy,
You are going to have to speak to that boy of yours. He hasn't added
anything to his blog since Dec 3. Nearly 1/4 of his life has passed,
and his followers and supporters haven't heard from him. Inquiring
minds want to know. I suppose that Max has just been sleeping away his
days rather than getting up and tending to business.
Jeff
"

True. Max has in fact been sleeping much of his days away. It's at night that he stays awake. But he continues to grow. Garnette's mom and dad, Floyd and Nettie Kuznia, are here for a few days, and Nettie says he's definitely putting weight. You can see it in his face and legs. And did I mention he grew an inch in his first ten days? So that's good. Coming soon: grandma & grandpa Corson.
Max's 2 week birthday was yesterday and he has begun to get concerned looks on his face, like a supreme court justice deliberating cultural ideals, and then he poops. But he also looks around, is interested, follows movement, and likes having people around. The voices interest and calm him. Go Max, go.
There is a funny story about the photos, which will be updated soon. Well, maybe not funny. Not ha-ha funny. And by soon, I mean Any Day Now.
Dinner tonight: Venison sausage (venison bagged by Uncle Mike Kuznia), broccoli, and safron rice.

As mentioned previously, Max is a kicky boy. He doesn't like to wear socks. He kicks them off. He also is showing the beginnings of crawling, pushing with his feet and worming his way up my sweater when we lay down. So it was funny to hear Dr. Mackey exclaim what a vigorous baby he is when we visited her today... our first foray out together as a family. He did good. All systems normal. We're tired and happy.

Well Max, you're 8 days old today, and things change so rapidly. You reveal yourself more everyday. We've learned these things about you:

You do not like to be swaddled because you want to move your arms and suck on your fingers.
You are more awake at night than during the day.
You love to be held close, so you like your sling but don't like the cradle.
You are interested, aware, and interactive already.
You are a kicky baby, and a wiggleworm. You will not be contained.
You like us and feel better when you are near us.


We've also learned these things about ourselves:

Those loads that weighed so heavy were so easily let go.

We're totally in love. This mortal coil never seemed so beautiful.

Here We Go Rabbits, Here We Go!

That was Garnette's high school rallying cry. Not much, I suppose, since rabbits aren't all that fierce, but it's been our mantra for a while, and especially now. We intoned it as Max was having trouble getting enough to eat, and then we figured out a solution to get more ...ah... flow. Now meal times are a bit happier, as are the times between. We got a full 4 hours of sleep last night (with an intermission for feeding)! That is huge and we are almost giddy with restfulness. Of course that's relative. This is, of course, a house where everybody likes to sleep. A lot. Someday.
It snowed last night here in the MPLS, and it's beautiful. First snow that's sticking this year, and it's hard not to find it beautiful, even in the foggy delirium. Yesterday it was 47F. Nutty.
Things are getting somewhat normalized now. Max has expressed interest in meeting the people we keep talking about. Soon, little pumpkin, soon.

Frazzle-dazzled

Well, Max is 5 days old. The title of this post says it all: this is a roller coaster. He is simply the most kissable, amazing little creature we have ever run into, and he's so instantly lovable, but he's a lot of work! Luckily, he is a healthy baby, and a happy one too. Except when he's hungry. And since he's 5 days old, he's hungry about every 2 or 3 hours around the clock. The advice we got from so many people to eat and sleep when he's sleeping is somewhat easier said than done, since there are so many things we need to do too. Prolonged lack of sleep, we've found, leads to emotional incontinence, bringing out a spectrum of emotions from both of us. I have been thinking about a story our friends Eric and Shannon told us about the fights they'd have in the middle of the night which, when considered the next day, didn't seem to make any sense. But Max has been pretty understanding about all of it. He even went to Target with me yesterday to help pick out house supplies. I can report that he has very good taste. Must be his mom's influence.
But if you're reading this, you either know about stuff like sleep deprivation already or you have no real idea what I'm talking about. Max thinks you're really here for the pictures. I think he's right.

On the scale minutes after he was borned up:


Trying out his new baby carrying sling. Two thumbs up... and then sideways. And then in his mouth. Garnette may actually be asleep in this picture.



Bug (our cat) is doing well. She seems mostly disinterested, sniffing him occasionally and backing off when he starts crying, but otherwise still the happy, loving cat we've always known. Here's a picture from a few weeks ago. Lap space was expensive real estate for a while there, but the view was great.


Sleepy baby on his birthday:



We pretty much missed Thanksgiving, but that was o.k., because we got a big reminder of what it is to be thankful, and it sure didn't involve turkey and stuffing. We did have company briefly. The home health care nurse from Park Nicollet clinic came by yesterday to do a check up and declared that Max is doing good, and so are we. We're not so confident, but it's good to hear.

Thanks for all the well wishes, cards, and calls. Your support is invaluable. We love you all very much and can't wait for you to meet Max! In a few more days we'll feel more settled and when we are, I'll post visiting hours right here. Stop by and meet Max! He's looking forward to it!

-Andy

Hi everybody, and thanks for checking out Max's own webspace! He's only 2 days old and already he's got a webspace. That's nuts. We'll see as we go how coherent this first entry is (and how many more after?) , as Garnette and I are operating on very little sleep. Any of you with kids know about this part of parenthood intimately. In fact, I think every single one of you warned us about this while Max was in G's belly. Thanks. You were right.

Max was born on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008, at 6pm, weighing 8lbs 7oz. He was 21" long! We were scheduled to "be induced" the next Tuesday, and had been working on fixing up the house all day Saturday. That night, in an attempt to induce labor, I gave Garn a foot rub. It worked. It gave her contractions right away, which built through the night. About 2:30am we started timing them, and about 3am her water broke. It was at this point I put the eggs and sausage I had been cooking into the fridge (G asked for them, as we had been advised to eat protein as labor started since we'd have a long time before we could eat and sleep again) and got our bags out to the car. At 3:30am we drove to the hospital (Methodist Birth Center. They put the meth in Methodist. Seriously: they were really great.), waiting almost comically for red lights as Garn's contractions got stronger and closer, where I got her into a wheelchair and we promptly got lost. It's a big building and pretty empty that time of day. A couple tense minutes and three floors later, we got directions from a night desk attendant and made our way to the birthing center.
Garnette was in labor for about 16 hours starting at 2:30am Sunday morning. We had been awake since about 9:30am Saturday morning. The labor was tough but medically uneventful, except that Max kept flipping over and was born face up. Garn was so strong and so focused. She is super tough, and I am amazed by her now even more than I already was.
Max was born 39 weeks to the day after his conception, and although he somewhat resembles Winston Churchill, he is pretty darn cute. More stuff to come, but I need some sleep.
Thanks to all of you for your amazing love and support. You are the best friends and family ever!

Andy