1 Month Update

As promised, a more detailed Molly update:

At her 1-month appointment, Molly weighed in at 9lbs, 3ozs. This is really good news, as she gained just over 1lb in the 14 days since her last appointment. The doctor congratulated me on doing a great job!

This success was especially important, because Molly has developed quite the habit of sending at least part of her meal back to the "kitchen." I blame Andy for this unfortunate trait (apparently he had the same bad habit at Molly's age). I can only imagine how much she'd weigh if she kept all her food where it belongs.

Molly doesn't always make it easy for Mom and Dad to put her down to bed at night, but once she goes down, she's usually down for 4-6 hours on that first stretch. I was a little worried about this at first, because most of the books will tell you that this is NOT normal for a baby her age, but the pediatrician said her weight gain and general good health/vigor speaks for itself... essentially... enjoy it while it lasts!

She's starting to vocalize (other than screaming, of course)... and she's smiled at me a few times now. I'm not 100% sure it was intentional yet... but she's definitely more and more interested in engaging with us and the world around her.

As for Molly's parents... we're adjusting. The first two weeks in particular were hard on both of us, but particularly hard for me. Without going into gory details, between recovery from childbirth, raging hormones, a challenging breastfeeding start, and the realities of a peaceful world turned on its head, I was a bit of a wreck. Okay... I was a few cards short of a full deck. Luckily I had the help and support of Andy... my parents, his parents, and a few friends who stepped in to remind me that this adjustment is a major challenge for everyone... and what I was going through was normal. Things have improved quite a bit since that rough start. But I know we still have plenty of adjusting left to do.

Current feature tally:
Andy: Nose, ears, feet... hands?
Katie: Mouth, eyes (? appear to be heading towards hazel - my eye color - but remains to be seen for sure)
Wild cards: hair - currently strawberry blondish or light auburn... a little bit of curling behind the ears... hard to tell what it might become later on

A few pictures of Molly from this afternoon:

Having a cat

The Evidence:

The Culprit:

You don't look as innocent as you think you do kitty.

Just A Few Pictures

A more complete update to come after Molly's 1 month check-up next week. Hopefully.

It Takes A Village

So far this week we've only had to figure out one or two dinners. This is not because we've been so exhausted that we've skipped dinner. No, there's a much better explanation. On two occasions friends or neighbors have dropped off pre-cooked dinners for us. All we've needed to do is pop stuff in the microwave for a minute or two (the "reheat plate of food" option is magical) and poof! we have dinner.

First on the menu was flank steak, baked potatoes, bread, and green beans brought to us by our neighbors. We were able to easily make two meals out of this.

Next up is a summer herb chicken. This meal was cooked by one of our friends who is also a local chef. Needless to say it'll be much better than anything we could ever come up with. When our friend dropped this off she also picked up Harry for a few hours of greyhound time (she also has a greyhound). To say Harry was thrilled is like saying the surface of the sun is warm.

We are extremely thankful to everyone for all their help.

"Mom? Can I have some of the yummy steak? Please?"

"Pretty please?"

"Thanks Mom, you're the best!"

Despite what this looks like, Harry wasn't actually being vicious. I was able to capture this shot in the middle of Harry licking his lips. It's only up here 'cause I thought it was a funny picture.

Week One

Molly is a few hours away from being one week old. Over the past seven days she's come quite a ways as have we. As other parents know, you start to learn that 8 hours of sleep is no longer an option and a three - four hour stretch is a miracle. Thankfully Katie's family was able to be down here and ease our transition from well-rested individuals to parents of a newborn. Without their help I'm not sure where we'd be right now.

This was from when Molly was still at the hospital. She's already decided it's a good idea to hold Gramp's hand.

Molly has done a relatively good job of eating, sleeping, and pooping (I'll spare you the details on the many 'poopsplosions'). On the first issue, eating, she has probably exceeded all needs. We've been to the pediatrician a few times this week for various, non-serious reasons. At one of the visits the nurse told us they like to see newborns gain 1oz every day... Molly had gained 7oz in three days. The little girl can eat! While we're thrilled she's putting on weight like a champ, we're a little worried for the world's food supply when she gets older. You all might want to start buying stock in food companies now.

With the plethora of cameras, it's taken me until now to get some pictures of Katie and Molly leaving the hospital.


One of the bigger surprises has been Harry's reaction. Though he doesn't look like the most excited dog in these pics, he's been quite the trooper. Throughout the week he's preferred to be in the room with Molly - even when she's screaming her heart out - than elsewhere. Prior to Molly's birth, Harry wasn't the biggest fan of her room. If we were up there he might come check things out for 5 mins and then leave. Now he's in there almost constantly. It's obvious he understands she's part of the family.

My mom is happy to finally have a girl born into the family.

As you probably saw in Molly's first post, her eyes were pretty swollen in her first few days of life. Over the course of the week she's begun to open them more frequently. Right now they're blue; it'll be interesting to see what color they end up.

On the visitor front, Uncle Nate was able to make it down for a few days to see his new niece.

What a rough life.

Thankfully the weather has cooperated for the most part and we've been able to get Molly out of the house and into some fresh air for brief stretches of time. Thanks to the Poulins we were also able to use our grill for the first time in about two years.

Bath time! (Obviously she's thrilled)

Hi - I'm Molly

Things have been a little hectic over the past few days. Katie's mom was in town last Friday after a conference in Baltimore. Originally this was just going to be a quick visit over the weekend. Instead it turned into welcoming her first grandchild into the world (talk about good timing)!


Mariel Katherine "Molly" Magoun was born at 11:12pm on Saturday, 17 April 2010. She was a healthy 8lbs. and 1.9oz, and 21 inches long.

Luckily Katie's dad was able to hit the road relatively early Sunday morning (before 4am) and show up mid-afternoon and my mom was able to rearrange some flights and get down here for a brief visit Monday - Tuesday (my dad will be down in a few weeks to see his first granddaughter). All three grandparents have been a huge help around the house taking care of house stuff while Katie and I focus on figuring out our new responsibilities. Probably the most important thing we've learned so far is Molly makes the decisions.


Molly wore this (courtesy of Diana) on Sunday.


Right before we left the hospital.


The outfit Molly is wearing is the same one my mom wore home from the hospital when she was born.

We'll obviously have more photos and stories to share. Wish us luck.

End of an Era

First things first... as Andy and I noted the passing of the 25th of March, and I officially passed the 36 week mark, we continued to work on preparing for baby girl's nearly imminent arrival. (By "preparing," I of course mean that we kept busy so as not to panic about this fact...) Once again, IKEA saved the day when we found this lovely canvas reproduction of a Gustav Klimt painting for mere pennies (almost). I saw it and knew it was exactly what I wanted for the wall next to the glider... it's just perfect.



We did a handful of other errands, and I'm happy to say that we're making progress. On the docket for next weekend: install car seat and pack hospital bag. Andy is in charge of the car seat installation, so wish him well as I've heard horror stories about the challenges this task can present. Good luck, Andy!

Speaking of progress... here is the pregnant belly at 36 weeks:



Finally, perhaps the biggest development this week... my last day at work. As of Wednesday, I'm done with full-time work for a while. Not sure how long "a while" will be, but I can tell you that it will be longer than the measly 3 months of FMLA maternity leave that most working women receive. I have to say, it's definitely bittersweet... I started earning a paycheck at 16 and I've done so almost continuously since then (including while in school). That's 12+ years of earning my keep, and though I realize that I will most definitely be earning my keep at home, it's hard for me to imagine not seeing the tangible financial result of my efforts. I'll miss my friends at work, and the daily adult interaction that working in an office provides. I'm ready for a new adventure, though... the work I'm leaving is not the career path I intended or wanted to be on, so I look forward to this new chapter of my life and for the potential to eventually end up doing something that makes me happy (be that staying at home, going back to school, or changing careers). Time will tell.

Furniture, 34 Weeks, Oh My!

Furniture for the baby's room was delivered and installed on Friday. Once again, we have to give public appreciation to Great Beginnings in Maryland. Their delivery team arrived on time, carefully moved things upstairs and... perhaps most priceless... assembled everything quickly and properly. They were here for about 20 minutes to accomplish something that might've taken us half the day. Phew. Too bad we couldn't get them to install the car seat while they're at it.

A few pictures of the furniture in the room....







And because I'm being pestered to post another obligatory belly shot... the nursery's future inhabitant at 34 weeks...

Snow (removal)

Earlier this week the City's crews were still working 12 hour shifts to dig out from the storm. At about 11pm that night they were by to dig out our car (okay, so maybe they weren't specifically digging out our car; maybe they were just removing the 6-foot pile of snow at the intersection... nah, they were digging out our car). Since then we've had many above freezing days to melt the snow. Even with that, there are still massive piles throughout the city and many two-lane roads are really one-and-a-half lanes.

Snoverkill

First it was Snopacalypse in Dec. '09. Then it was Snowmageddon this past weekend. Now it's just Snoverkill. We're in the midst of the storm right now and already have 8 inches according to the National Weather Service (as of 11:15am). Prior to this storm the DC area officially had about 45 inches on the year, making it the third highest total on record. 45 inches is also more snow than the last four years combined (35.5 inches). By the time Snoverkill is over we should be close to or over the record of 54.4 inches... set during the winter of 1898-99.

(graph from the Washington Post's website)

Here are some shots taken from the comfort of our home (with blizzard conditions and near zero visibility, I have no desire to go outside. Heck, even the snow plows are waiting it out.).

Our back patio. It's out there somewhere. I swear.

Harry's been enjoying seeing what's going on outside. He hasn't enjoyed actually experiencing what's going on outside though.

That's probably because this is what's going on outside.

And, despite the blizzard conditions, the near zero visibility, the urgent pleas by everyone in a position of power for people to stay off the road, there are still some people who just don't get it. Apparently our neighbors are those people. We saw them driving around the other day with only the driver's side windshield area cleaned off. The rest of the car, including the majority of the windshield, was covered in two feet of snow. Snojoke.