Earthquake!

Today Lillian felt her first earthquake! Actually to be more accurate, Kristen and Eric felt an earthquake, grabbed Lillian out of her crib where she was peacefully sleeping through the shaking and ran outside. The 5.6 quake centered east of San Jose was big enough to rattle the house but it did not cause any damage. This is also the first quake Eric has felt since moving to California, but that's not saying much. This is the 4th one Kristen has felt, clearly she is much more sensitive to these things than Eric.

Pork, Pork, Pork

Lillian has been enjoying little bits of solid food during meals recently. This past weekend she ate some barbecued banana at a pot luck, a few pieces of rice as well as a tiny sliver of carrot which came out the other end completely undigested.

Today she has her first experience with meat. She seemed to enjoy a few tiny pieces of the rosemary and olive oil roasted pork tenderloin we were eating for dinner.

Klaus in the House

This past weekend we had a meeting of the babies as our friends Ryan and Joanna's 9 month old baby Klaus met baby Lillian for the first time. Lillian enjoyed watching as Klaus crawled and cruised around the house, exposing what a poor baby-proofing job Kristen and Eric had done. He also got to show Nash what he is in for over the next few months. Nash loved it when Klaus grabbed his bone. At 17 pounds Klaus isn't big enough to play tug with 90 pound Nash. Good times!

While Ryan, Joanna and Klaus were in town we enjoyed going out to eat ethnic food and enjoying nature. Those seem to be the favorite activities of most of our visitors these days. Of course there was also lots of baby time. Lillian eagerly watched Klaus cruise around the house. Clearly she can't wait until she is cruising around herself. For the moment all she can do is spin in circles on her belly and push her self backwards while on her back.

6 Months

Lillian had her 6 month check up last week. She now weights 15 lbs and is 26 and 1/4 inches tall, She is in the 30th percentile for weight and the 70th for height. The poor girl also had to endure some more shots but she seemed to handle them OK.

Major milestones

Let it be known that on this day, October 5th, 2007, my daughter, Lillian Husky, gave her first ever Wet Willy.

Traveling Baby, The Sequel

Lillian made her second big trip at the end of September. Lillian, Kristen and Eric traveled all the way to Springfield Illinois to visit Eric's family. She was a good little traveler, enduring a six hour flight followed by a two hour car ride. She seemed to enjoy the flight more than the car ride, if only she could fall asleep in the car like her father does. While in Illinois we had many opportunities to tour the town and visit with family and friends. Lillian had lots of fun visiting with her Great Grandma Helen, she even got to attend a tea party thrown by her three year old second cousin Hollis.

Lillian also got to hang out with her cousins Raquel and Lucas. They were very excited to see their new cousin, and Lillian was excited to see them as well. She can't wait until she is old enough to keep up with them.

While there we attended a family reunion and 84th birthday party for Lillian's Great Grandma Helen. This was the perfect opportunity to show Lillian off to all the relatives. We were able to take lots of family pictures, here is the whole Husky clan together at the party.

Lillian is getting to be a very giggly little girl, her grandma Betty really gets her going.

Check out our web album to see more pictures.

Rainy Day Babies

This weekend Lillian got to see her very first rainy day. To celebrate, we went out for a walk in the rain. Eric carried Lillian in the Baby Bjorn and zipped up the jacket over her to keep her warm and cozy. We all enjoyed the change of pace from the hot sunny days.

Lillian has also been working hard on her developmental milestones. This past week she added rolling from back to front to her repertoire. She is also able to push her chest and belly off the ground in an attempt to crawl. Eric describes the pose as somewhere between the upward facing dog, and cobra poses in Yoga. She still can't manage to get the hips in the air at the same time as the head, but she can use the pose to pivot herself around in a circle. She can also sit unsupported for a few seconds before toppling over.

Next week we are off to Illinois to visit Lillian's other Great Grandma Helen. It will be Lillian's second grand adventure in less than a month.

Traveling Baby

Besides hanging out with family. Kristen and Lillian got to have lots of other adventures during their trip to NY. Kristen attended the wedding of her dear friend Michelle. Michelle is a fellow Yorktown HS alum, and girl scout. At the wedding Kristen got to catch up with some of her high school pals.

As always we were happy to get out side and stretch our legs a bit. One day Kristen, Lillian and Grammy Elaine climbed Turkey Mountain in Yorktown. It was a lovely day and the view from the top was beautiful, we could see the NYC skyline and the Hudson River. Lillian complained the first part of the hike until Kristen realized that the brim of her hat was blocking her view of the trees. Once her hat was adjusted she was much happier.

Kristen and Lillian also spent time hanging with Kristen's dear friend Allison and her sister Danielle. Kristen and Allison were friends back when they were babies. They were born just a few days apart and were neighbors until recently. Kristen and Allison had the opportunity to stroll around the old neighborhood with little Lillian riding along in the stroller and enjoy some good NY pizza.

To see all the pictures from our trip check out our web album.

Hanging with the Family

On Labor day weekend, Kristen and Lillian flew all the way across the country to visit with Lillian's Great Grandma Nora. Lillian traveled like a pro, not crying too much, sleeping most of the flight and giggling in delight as we ran through the airport to make our tight connection into NY.

Lillian had a great time hanging out with her great grandma Nora. Nora loved having a baby in the house and Lillian loved having a new person to talk to. Nora's honey Harold was also a big hit with Lillian, she was delighted when he would clap his hands and wave at her.

Lillian also got to meet her great aunt Diane. Diane is Kristen's favorite aunt, and I'm sure she will become Lillian's favorite great Aunt.

Here is Lillian hanging out with her second cousin Matthew. Kristen used to babysit for Matt when he was Lillian's age. Now he is all grown up and enjoying holding Kristen's baby.

Lillian also got to meet her great aunt Debby and great uncle Rob. She impressed them with her loud screaming upon their arrival. Thankfully her Grammy Elaine managed to calm her down and get her to sleep. Sleeping always seems to make Lillian happy.

Laundry

Lillian has become a little laundry producing machine. She spits up all over everyone's clothing including her own. So today she got to help her mommy do the laundry. She happily sat in the basket and supervised, making sure everything was done to her high standards. Then she puked all over the pile of dirty laundry, just in case it hadn't been puked on enough.

4 month checkup

Lillian turned 4 months old recently, and last Wednesday (the 22nd) she had her 4 month checkup. She now weighs 13 lbs. 5 oz. and is 24 1/2 inches long. Apparently she is now in the 50th percentile for both height and weight and in the 75th percentile if you calculate it based on her due date. Lillian put on a little show for the doctor by holding her head up, and doing little push-ups from her tummy. Her pediatrician was very impressed that Lillian had gotten so big, and was doing things that 4 month old, full term babies can do.

Of course it wouldn't be a doctor's visit if she didn't get some shots. She seemed to handle them better this time than last. There wasn't even any noticeable swelling from the tetanus shot. She has been more sleepy and cranky the rest of the week, which we think is her immune system responding to the shots.

Ice Cream, you scream . . .

On Saturday we went to our neighborhood's ice cream social. Then we had to go back on Sunday, because that's when it was really scheduled as opposed to when Kristen thought it was. There was free ice cream, bouncy houses and lots of other babies. There has been quite a baby boom in the neighborhood so Lillian will have lots of future play mates. Lillian got to play in the grass and look at all the trees, then she took a nap. It's good to be a baby, especially when you can almost sit up by yourself for a bit.

Lillian also enjoyed hanging out on Eric's shoulders over the weekend. Yes there is a hand there supporting her, but she is holding up her head all by herself. Hooray for head control.

We also read the newspaper together, she likes the way it crinkles when the pages turn. . .

Then Eric was playing on the floor with Lillian when Nash sidled up. Poor Nash never gets to play anymore, so he inserted himself into the ongoing game on the floor.

Lillian is developing great head control and is becoming more and more playful. Eric has fun playing airplane with his little girl.

Joe and Raquel's Visit

Lillian finally got to meet her uncle Joe and her four year old cousin Raquel. Raquel was very excited to meet her new baby cousin and Nash. We hear that she has been carrying around a baby doll named Lillian and a little stuffed dog name Nash.

Raquel is a very active little girl, she had a great time playing with Nash, who is her very first doggy friend. Raquel is a good little hiker, we all went for a two mile hike and Raquel managed to get back to the car before everyone else. She declared that she "winned" us all. She certainly is a winner. Eric and Joe also found time to brew some beer since they both enjoy home brewing.

Lillian also enjoyed joining in on the dinner conversation. She is becoming a very chatty little girl.

Lillian's Abuleos

At three months old, Lillian finally gets to meet her Abuelos (Grandparents). Eric's parents Betty and Terry have two other grandchildren, Raquel and Lucas who speak Spanish as a first language. So naturally they refer to themselves and abuelos and attempt to speak Spanish to Lillian.



Here Betty gets a smile out of her. Smiling and cooing are her latest tricks.



Lillian says, "Who is this guy, and why does he keep saying, 'Hola Lillian?'"

Lillian also started playing with her toys more. The piggy is her favorite, she loves to "get the piggy".

Bath Time!

Lillian hated baths until she was three months old, she would scream and cry. Once she got a little older she realized that baths aren't all that bad . . .



. . . and, after baths she get's to cuddle up in her fuzzy towel, not bad at all.



Now that she is all cleaned up, she gets to try on the new dress that her grandma made for her.



Oh, yea!

Flying Solo

After two months of paternity leave, it was finally time for Eric to go back to work. By then, Lillian was starting to become more fun and less fussy. This gave Kristen a chance to get out and meet some other mommies. Fellow hikers Julia and Amy are also bloggers. Here's a picture of Kristen and Lillian with their hiking group, strollerhikes. Nash even gets to come along too sometimes.


It was also around this time that Lillian started to become more social and playful. This video captures some of her fist little coos.

Just the Three of Us

After Elaine left it was just the three of us. We began to get more confident as parents and settle into a routine. After a few weeks Lillian finally figured out the difference between night and day and started sleeping more regularly at night. This made us much happier parents. Lillian was quite fussy during this time and still wanted to be held a lot. Eric got lots of cuddle time in before he had to return to work after his paternity leave.

We also had a visit from Lillian's Aunt Erin. Erin got to see the worst of the fussy baby stage, but they still manged to have some fun together. During the visit Lillian got to make her first trip to Santa Cruz, and her first visit to a winery.

The first few weeks home

The first few weeks home were filled with joy and challenges. Luckily we had lots of help from Elaine. We don't know what we would have done without her. Lillian loved to be held, constantly. Luckily for her she had three sets of loving arms willing to hold her as much as she wanted.

She spent much of the first few weeks curled up inside Eric's bathrobe while he watched 2 whole seasons of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. Good times for the both of them.

Lillian also amazed us with her baby super powers when she started rolling herself over during tummy time. She hates tummy time and was very determined to get her self off her tummy.

Lillian Eleonora's Name Story

Eric and Kristen had discussed many names for our little girl. One of the names that Kristen had chosen was Lilly, and Eric had taken a liking to Gillian after looking through the name book. After further research we came across the name Lillian as a variant of Lilly which seemed like a perfect blend of our favorite names. There were still a few other names on the list that were in the running at the time she was born, but Lillian was the clear winner. Lillian's middle name Eleonora comes from Kristen's maternal Grandmother Eleonora Chandley (AKA Nora). Kristen is Grandma Nora's first grandchild and Lillian is the first great grandchild. Although we did not realize it at the time, the name Eleonora is a family name. The name Eleonora was given to Grandma Nora to honor her own paternal grandmother Eleonora Sansone in who had died during childbirth in Sicily around the turn of the century. It is an Italian custom to give the first child the name of one of the grandparents so she was given the name Eleonora. Although we did not know any of this at the time, we are pleased to continue this naming tradition.

Let's Start at the Very Begining . . . A Very Good Place to Start

Birth Story of Lillian Eleonora Husky

On Thursday, April 12th Kristen had an appointment with her midwife Lin where they discussed when the baby would arrive. Lin said that the only thing she knew is that most babies don't arrive on their due date.

On Friday the 13th Kristen had persistent back pain and general discomfort at the end of a long week at work. She eagerly awaited the weekend to relax and recover but work had other ideas. They had planned a big code release Saturday and would need her to log in from home to test it out.

Saturday morning, April 14th, Kristen woke up very early to work on the software release but as usual they were behind and didn't actually have anything ready to test. Kristen and Eric then spent the day at childcare and breastfeeding classes at the hospital. Kristen became more uncomfortable as the day went on but attributed it to general pregnancy discomforts. Neither of us considered that she might be going into labor since she still had another month of pregnancy to go. Between classes we had a nice hearty meal at In and Out Burger, which turned out to be a lucky choice since it would be our last meal for a very long time.

After class Kristen took a nap and woke up around dinner time. Since she still did not feel well and was not hungry we decided to watch some TV. It was around 7 PM, and just as Kristen sat down on the couch she suddenly felt a pop and a small gush as her water broke. Eric was in denial that Kristen was really in labor since she had not experienced any noticeable contractions. Instead of immediately going to the hospital, he frantically tried to get in touch with the midwife Lin but realized she hadn't given her phone number to us yet. Since he couldn't call her directly he tried paging her through her office with no luck. At this point he was getting desperate so he called Heather, the doula who taught the classes they had been in earlier that day, knowing she was a friend of Lin's. Heather urged us to go to the hospital and she would try to get through to the midwife.

We were taken by surprise but fortunately we had most of the necessary paraphernalia ready. A few weeks earlier Kristen had gotten together most of the recommended items for the hospital (Eric would have still been procrastinating, left to his own devices). So we grabbed our things and headed over to the hospital around 7:30. As we arrived at the hospital Kristen started to feel some contractions, although nothing too strong yet. Shortly after being ushered into a labor and delivery room Lin arrived, having gotten a call from Heather. She assured us that everything would be OK, that babies born 5 weeks early do just fine, and that we would have our baby by the end of the evening! Since she had yet to be tested for group B strep bacteria, Kristen was hooked up to an IV with antibiotics as a precaution. She was also hooked up to a fetal monitor to monitor the baby's heart rate and contractions, which really seemed unnecessary and was an irritation. When the nurse checked she was already dilated to 3 cm and the baby's head was very low. Lin had Kristen sit on a yoga ball and bounce to help the labor along. After bouncing a while the contractions got stronger but were still very inconsistent. Lin left to go put her kids to bed as Kristen continued to bounce. Eric started up some music on the computer to set a nice mood. After a half hour bouncing on the ball, the nurse came back to check Kristen's progress. She was dilated to 5 cm. The course of antibiotics was complete so the nurse put a heparin lock on the IV, leaving it in Kristen's arm in case they needed it later. Kristen got back on the Yoga ball to bounce some more, but shortly thereafter she began to feel nauseous and decided she couldn't handle bouncing anymore.

Kristen crawled into bed to ride out the much stronger contractions. Shortly thereafter Kristen started to feel a lot of pressure in addition to the painful contractions. Eric used a wet wash cloth to wet Kristen's face but during the worst contractions Kristen used it instead to bite on. Lin returned around 9:30, and checked Kristen's dilation. She was at 8 cm, and since the baby was small she didn't need to dilate any further before pushing. Meanwhile people began gathering in the room, first Dr. Sahi the on-call Obstetrician, followed by several Labor and Delivery nurses, then the Neonatolgist with his own team of nurses. With the next few contractions Kristen tried to push and let out a huge scream with each push. Lin reminded Kristen that the screaming was not helpful and that she needed to hold her breath in to help push out the baby. Lin also tried to convince Kristen to move off her back and onto her hands and knees to make it easier to push, but Kristen refused. She was ready to go and frozen in place. Kristen pushed a few more times and began to make some progress. After several more pushes the baby was close but the contractions were fading. Lin encouraged Kristen that the baby was very close she just needed to push a little harder. A few more pushes and a little more progress. Then Lin started threatening that Dr. Sahi was going to cut if Kristen didn't push harder. Kristen knew this was not true and ignored the threat. She focused on the Neonatiolgist standing across from her who was smiling as she pushed, it was very reassuring to see a smiling face. A few pushes later there was lots of excitement as the baby's head started to emerge. Once the head was delivered the rest of the body quickly followed.

Lin placed our beautiful little girl on Kristen's belly while Eric cut the chord. After a few minutes to bond, our baby was examined by the Neonatiolgist and taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with Eric tagging along. Meanwhile back in Labor and Delivery, Kristen relieved that the whole ordeal was over and that her little girl was healthy and beautiful, finally began to relax. Lin helped Kristen deliver the placenta, and Kristen assumed that she was finally done and looked forward to going to the NICU to see her little girl. However a few minutes after delivering the placenta, Kristen began to bleed heavily from the placenta site. Lin was concerned that the bleeding didn't appear to be stopping, so she called back Dr. Sahi and ordered the nurses to administer Pitocin via IV to start up contractions. The nurse tried to get the Pitocin going through the heparin locked IV but it had become clogged. The nurses then tried to get another IV started in the other arm but Kristen's veins were not cooperating. After several sticks with the needle, they couldn't find a good vein to place the IV into. Lin became more nervous about the bleeding and pushed the nurses aside to place the IV herself (she got it in on the first try). After the Pitocin was started Kristen started feeling strong cramps and the bleeding began to slow. Dr. Sahi worked to clear the clotted blood away, which was by far the most painful part of the evening. Lin gave Kristen a shot of Fentenyl to numb the pain. After the bleeding stopped, Kristen doped up on Fentenyl was finally able to relax.

A few minutes later Eric returned from the NICU with an update on the baby, just now learning about the drama Kristen had been through after he left. Despite her ordeal Kristen was determined to see her baby, so Eric wheeled her to the NICU where she could finally rock her little girl.

During our two days at the hospital, we finally figured out our baby's name, Lillian! Lillian, spent two weeks in the NICU where she was cared for by an army of wonderful nurses. Kristen and Eric returned to the hospital three times a day during this time to breast feed and visit with their little girl. We got a lot of really great advice from the nursing staff, on everything from nursing to bathing. Before we knew it she was eating well, had gained a pound and was all ready to come home!

Kristen's first blog

Hi, I just set up a blog, not sure what I am going to do with it yet.