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This post is exclusively Jackie. As you can see in the videos, she’s really starting to verbalize. She still hasn’t mastered the words, “cool whip.” Practice makes perfect.
Eating time comes after sleeping time, and after sleeping time comes playtime. Playtime occurs on a very cool jungle mat (including lights, toys, and music) that Rich and Mindy gave us. Two distinct activities make up a typical playtime session with Jackie. First, Jackie lies on her back for about 20 minutes and looks up at the colorful toys, squirming back and forth and sometimes reaching for a hanging stuffed animal. Second, Jackie is rolled over on her stomach for tummy time, which is not nearly as fun or relaxing. She still doesn’t really like being face down. The video below captures the first half of playtime, and not the second, less enjoyable half. There’s also a Baxter cameo.
Finally, I’ve posted a few images from last week.
Katie and I don’t claim to be expert parents. Our decisions about our daughter have been a mix of bad and good, and as a result, we’ve ridden the emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows that most parents experience during the first couple of months. If our parenting skills were ever evaluated by an objective observer, I’m confident that our evaluation would read like this:
They are competent as parents. They have really good taste in music. And most importantly, whether a parental decision earns them a black eye or a feather in their cap, their parenting is motivated by love for their daughter.
Now that I’ve shown how humble we are, allow me to brag on my wife. I came home from a long day documenting technology in RTP, and Katie treats me to the meal pictured below.
Grown-up dinner for real
This was the menu:
- Pan-seared salmon with a homemade Greek yogurt sauce
- Haricot verts
- Roasted potatoes with seasonal herbs
- Sparkling white wine
- Double fudge brownies with Mayfield ice cream (not pictured)
So, just in case Katie isn’t an early frontrunner for 2009 mother of the year, consider this a nomination. Three cheers for the cook:
Hip hip hooray!
Hip hip hooray!
Hip hop hooray!
We had a great weekend with Nana, and we even introduced Jackie to some of the Watson family at a gathering in Burlington. I’ll post on the weekend events a little later in the week when I have time to go through video and pics. In the meantime, I wanted to give quick propers to Baxter and Robah (so I can look back on this someday soon when they chew up a shoe or dig a big hole).
The baby is really getting settled in, and so are her canine brothers. It’s funny to see how much closer they are now — literally closer, as in their proximity to each other in and around the house, and emotionally closer in terms of their relationship. A couple of months ago, Baxter wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out in the same space as Robah. Now, they often sit side-by-side.
I even caught them sunbathing earlier in the week. They reminded me of high-school BFFs checking out the action at the community pool during summer vacation.
Last Thursday, Alison Saville flew all the way from Denver to visit Jackie and the rest of our household for the weekend (she also attended a wedding in Durham on Saturday). We always enjoy having Aunt Ali around. She didn’t bring Steve, but she did bring kool gifts for the baby and a desire to help out with whatever needed to be done around here.
We really appreciated the meals she cooked, dishes she washed, groceries she bought, and everything else. She even changed some diapers, fed Jackie the bottle, and accompanied Katie and Jackie on their visit to the pediatrician last Friday. On top of that, she coined the phrase “Beanie Katie” to describe Jackie’s resemblance to her mom. We’ll wait until Jackie is a little older to tell her about her Aunt Ali’s behavior in high school (hehehe). Thanks for coming Alison!
Our baby is changing in front of (and away from) our eyes. Today is her one-month birthday and it took five inches of snow, which is essentially a debilitating blizzard here in Raleigh, to prevent Katie and me from going to the Cupcake Shoppe Bakery to score celebratory cupcakes. Instead of birthday sweet treats, we sustained ourselves at home with inauguration coverage and my return to the working-from-home world.
This past weekend our family, minus the four-legged members, visited the grandparents, uncle, aunt, and great grandmother in Boone. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and my parents were gracious, loving hosts despite their hectic move back home a couple of weeks ago. The Watauga Literary Society, also known as my Mom’s book club, threw a wonderful shower for Jackie. Our daughter was able to attend one of her own baby showers ex utero and Trimella Chaney, Susan Dubberly, Jeannie Caviness, and the rest of the Pearl Girls were extremely generous. Little Jackie was even initiated as an honorary Mini-Pearl Girl. Thanks to the entire group for the food, fun, and gifts!
We also appreciated our time with Uncle Rich and Aunt Mindy. Little Jackie has been showing emotion for a couple of weeks now, but it took some quality time with Uncle Rich to bring out a bona fide smile. Some of our daughter’s amusement at her uncle’s silliness was captured in this video:
Great Grandmother Jones met Jackie, and the highlight of our visit to the retirement home was seeing my daughter’s tiny hand in the hand of a woman three generations older. Here are a few pictures of that visit and some other fun had over the Dr. King weekend:
Finally, Katie and I took the baby out to brave the elements in Boone. It was her first snow:
Little did we know that her second snow would come today in the eastern North Carolina piedmont…
It has now been a full week since Jackie’s birth, and our new family configuration is really starting to thrive. After a difficult and fussy first three days, Jackie settled into a peaceful, healthy routine. Katie deserves all the credit for making our daughter happy in her new home. As I told my mother (big Jackie) and mother-in-law (Katie’s mom Janet), I have a new appreciation for mothers after seeing Katie face and successfully meet the initial challenges of childbirth and nursing.
What, me worry?
Janet has been with us for the past nine days, and we’re very grateful for all her help looking after the dogs while we were in the hospital, cleaning up around the house, running errands and shopping for us, and helping prepare meals. When she isn’t helping with things around the house, she can usually be found doting on her granddaughter. Life during Jackie’s first week would have been chaotic and extremely difficult without Janet’s hard work, love, and support.
Joyous Nana and her granddaughter.
Nana also gave Jackie her first bath the other day, and it went much better than I ever dreamed it would. Our old house stays pretty cold in the winter, so a mid-winter’s sponge bath couldn’t have been too comfortable for the baby. Give Janet credit for making it as pleasant as possible…
I’m also appreciative of Jackie’s two older brothers, Baxter and Robah, for their good behavior. We predicted that Baxter would be curious at first, and then disinterested with a tiny human who can’t even hold a tennis ball, much less throw it for him. We predicted Robah would be loving and slobbery. We were right about both. Surprisingly though, both dogs are quite protective of their little sis. The five of us went on our first family outing today — a thirty-minute walk around Five Points.
Baxter and Robah meet/sniff Jackie.
Daytime feedings have become fun-with-music sessions. I guess we like to nourish Jackie’s ears while Katie feeds her stomach. First, I play dance or big band music and dance with Jackie to get her awake and ready to nurse. When Katie takes over, she plays oldies and sings along as Jackie eats. Jackie may or may not like these meal-time theatrics, but I assure you that Katie and I are having a ball.
The rest of the family, including my parents, Katie’s dad Ben, my brother Rich, and Katie’s sister Sarah, haven’t had too much time to visit Jackie yet. Sarah and Rich did hold Jackie at the hospital…
Here are some assorted pictures from the past week. Feel free to come visit whenever…we want Jackie to meet the rest of her family and parents’ friends.
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- What, me worry?
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- Baxter and Robah meet/sniff Jackie.
Many thanks to the Burns family who traveled from Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Florida to be with us in Raleigh for the Thanksgiving holiday. Our time together was fantastic. The effects of post-visit depression are already obvious in Robah and Baxter as they mope around the house looking for attention.
Dinner on Thursday was traditional and resplendent. On Friday, some of us witnessed a Lady Tar Heel soccer team beat Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament regional finals in Chapel Hill. On Saturday, a different group of us witnessed the Carolina football squad eke out a victory over Dook [sic] in Durham. We truly enjoyed laughing, eating, and hanging out with everyone.
I think I spent the dog food money 