7 weeks old!

not much new in quentin-ville. he still likes to eat. he's still getting bigger. he does think that 7 p.m. is the best time of day to sleep really well. after he finishes eating around that time he goes down hard. we usually have to wake him up around 12 or 1 to feed and change him because we can't stay awake any longer! if only we could shift that a few hours later he'd practically be sleeping through the night! so here's some pics to get you through a pretty boring update.

nursery progress

quentin's nursery is coming together. the lilac walls have been painted a shade of white. we have assembled his crib and changing table, and even dressed the crib with the wicked awesome vintage peanuts crib set i got on ebay. now we need to buy the shelf from IKEA that we will use in there in lieu of a dresser. (we went to buy it last week but it was too big to fit in my jetta - need a new plan for getting it home.) his room is super tiny but it seems like it is all going to fit just perfectly! we're still planning an ambitious painting project - fun bright stripes on the walls. just waiting until all the furniture is in place so we can figure out where to put the stripes.

belly envy

i went to the doctor yesterday for my 6 week check-up. everything is fine. my doctor even gave me a prescription for something that will increase my milk supply, which has been very low since i was sick several weeks ago. yeah! while sitting in the waiting room, i looked around and saw all the soon to be mommies with their big round bellies (and there were some really big ones!) it made me so sad. i miss my big belly. don't get me wrong - i adore quentin and absolutely do not want the grossly swollen feet and ankles, the heartburn, the back aches, the nausea, and the general crabbiness back. just the belly. and the stretchy elastic waisted pants!!! in other news, quentin is grandma-less for the first time in over a week following the overlapping grandma visits. he definitely misses their constant doting. mommy dotes but not as much since she has to unpack and set up a whole house. :) now he is anxiously awaiting when he gets to meet aunt leah and aunt becky in a few days! quentin also took his first train ride yesterday. since we all needed to be in the city (me to the doctor, jeremy to work, and his mom to the airport) we took the commuter rail in. got some weird looks from the commuters - don't think they see someone hauling an infant carrier on the train every day. Q enjoyed it thoroughly. then he got to ride the subway from south station to the hospital stop. jeremy did very well holding the car seat amid the typical rush hour hoard of people. no one seemed to really care that he was holding an infant. he got pushed and shoved as much as the rest of us, and even swatted at by an old man when jeremy accidentally bumped against him when the train lurched. but on both rides, nice ladies eventually gave up their seats so that jer could set Q down. good times.

quentin's first real bath!

because of our recent nomadic homelessness we haven't been able to give the Q a real bath until today. but grandma sweeney is here and we have access to all the necessary bath stuff so into the tub he went. he didn't mind it so much at first, well, at least after he peed in the tub (see the first pic for an action shot that i was lucky to capture!) but as the water got cold he grew less patient and the screaming kicked in. he was certainly happy to get out. and he is just too cute in his hoodie towel!!

edited to add: we have bathed our child before this, just not in the tub :) we used a bowl of warm water and a wash cloth previously. didn't want people thinking that we had the world's dirtiest baby!

and a few more

heeeere's quentin!

6 weeks old!

no pics until we find and set up our card reader, but hopefully that will be soon! we have officially moved in to our new house. the PODS have been unloaded and returned and only a few things remain in other various locations (we have stuff at my parents' house, my brother's house, in our shed in richmond for my sister to bring up with her at the end of the month, and at jeremy's mom's apartment.) the house is much smaller than our last house so we have to figure out what stays and what goes. we (which means i) have too much stuff. we'll have an awesome yard sale soon enough (and we'll need the extra cash to continue paying two mortgages!) it's a long process but the house is slowly starting to come together and the unpacked boxes are dwindling. we're doing a lot of painting because the all the rooms were either painted a hideous shade of purple or white, complete with grubby hand prints everywhere. we are also adjusting to life in a small town. richmond isn't exactly a huge city but hanson is a small town. we knew we were in for a shock when we received something from the post office talking about how rural route delivery works. our town has only about 10,000 people. no interstates run through it. there is no trash collection - we have to bring our trash to the dump ourselves!! but it's fun. it's nice to hear the crickets at night instead of highway traffic and gunshots! we love our little house and will be much happier once we're settled in. quentin is doing very very well. he is growing so fast. some of the 0-3 clothes are starting to get a little snug and he'll be out of the size 1 diapers in a week or so. he's staying awake a lot more and loves to watch the world around him. he likes to look at the trees outside the window and is thoroughly fascinated by our black leather couch. so cute! he's had a lot of grandma time this week. my mom was here monday through wednesday and jeremy's mom got here on wednesday. it's very nice to have them around. q enjoys all the attention and it allows jer and i some time to get settled into the house. his crib and changing table arrived yesterday, and we painted his room today. the walls in his room are a creamy white (sea salt to be exact!) we will be adding some bright colorful stripes to the walls in two fun shades of green, red, and blue. but we're holding off on that until we figure out how to place the furniture. my mom and i went to ikea on tuesday to buy the shelf for his room since he doesn't have a closet, but the shelf i want was much too big to fit into my little jetta so we couldn't get it yet. jeremy and his mom assembled the crib tonight so we're getting there! i've got to get to bed and get some shut eye while the boy is actually asleep, but hopefully now that life is getting back to normal we'll be able to post more often!

i hate comcast slash i love internet

a comcast haiku a full week later comcast finally came here now internet works actual quentin related content coming soon. just had to express my joy to finally have internet access again and express my utter disdain for comcast.

5 weeks old!

another quick check in while i have internet (our cable should be hooked up tomorrow and assuming we can find the modem in the mounds of unpacked boxes we'll be back online then!) quentin had his one month check up today. he's doing very well. he weighed in at 10 pounds, 14 ounces and is 22 3/4 inches. he's in the 50th percentile for height and 75th for weight - much better than at his 1 week visit when he was in the 25th percentile for both. we'll get some new pictures up as soon as our computer is set up! we have ordered his crib and changing table and i bought the paint for his room today. quentin should have a fully functional nursery by the end of the month! of course most people have all that done before the kid is born, but what can i say, it's been a challenging summer!

house!!

quick update while we have internet access... closing went well on friday so we are now officially homeowners twice over. the process is very different up here than it was when we bought our house in richmond. closing happened right at the registry of deeds in a dingy conference room where another closing was also happening. the sellers were there too so it was quite a party - me, jeremy, quentin, the sellers and their 3 year old, our realtor, their realtor, and our lawyer. their lawyer couldn't attend. but we've signed our lives away and have another house! now we don't have to answer the question, "what's your address?" with, "well that's complicated." the three of us spent the night in the new house on friday, quentin in his car seat and jeremy and i on air mattresses. we bought cleaning supplies and did some work. we also figured out where furniture would go. saturday we did some painting because there was a horrible pinky purple room that needed to go away. it is now a nice light yellow. also painted below the chair rail in the dining room - a lovely shade of red called cranberry whip. right now we're back in western mass. jeremy and my dad have gone to pick up the big old moving truck and mom and i will head up to my uncle's house to meet them and start loading. there's a lot to load but it's worth it to save a couple of grand!! we're not sure when our cable will be hooked up so our internet access will be somewhat spotty until then.

4 weeks old!

quentin is 4 weeks old! he is getting very big and is still eating like a mad man. i think he may have a little bit of a cold. he's sneezing and has a bit of a runny nose. we've gotten to use our booger sucker for the first time! he stays awake a lot more during the day, generally for about an hour after he eats. he's fascinated by everything around him and has thoroughly enjoyed swinging in his swing. it is a very exciting week for all of us, as we will be closing on the new house tomorrow morning and starting to move things in. finally!! it will nice not to be homeless! as you know, all of our earthly possessions are contained in 3 PODS in storage in ludlow, mass. i called PODS yesterday to determine how much it would cost to have them delivered to our new house in hanson, mass. it's about a 100 mile trip so i expected to pay a bit for delivery. i couldn't believe how much they wanted for it - $2480!!! it only cost us $3400 to move all 3 PODS from richmond to here - a 600 mile trip. so needless to say, we will not be paying the PODS company $2480 to take a short trip down the mass pike. instead, the 3 PODS will be delivered to my uncle's house at a total cost of $51. then, we have rented a massive 26' truck from penske for a whopping $286. throw it a bit of sweat equity to get the truck loaded and some gas money and we'll get the same end result at a rough savings of $2000.

the great chipmunk detective

a non-baby post for your amusement...

as you know, quentin, the cat, all 4 dogs, and i are staying at my parents' house while we wait to move in to our new boston house. my parents live in a wooded area and have a huge fenced in backyard that the dogs love. our dog abby really loves it because the dog door from the house gives her unrestricted on-demand access to the outdoors. she loves to be out there sniffing, and only comes in to get a drink of water and make sure no one in the house is eating steak or something like that.

all day monday, abby was outside. but instead of her usual patrolling of the yard, she was OBSESSED with the trailer hitch that my parents have to haul their car behind their rv. she was sniffing circles around it, trying to dig under it, scratching at it, etc. we thought maybe there was a chipmunk or mole hole near by that she was trying to infiltrate. or that the chipmunks were stealing tomatoes from the garden and abby was trying to sniff them back. (abby has fallen in love with fresh from the garden veggies of all kinds.)

after like 4 hours of her pacing out there, i decided to go check out what was so darn fascinating. i watched her circle the hitch and then try to gnaw on the steel center beam. when she started trying to get inside the hitch i finally figured it out. i heard squeaking. there was a chipmunk (likely, but could have been mouse) stuck in the center beam of the hitch. abby is sniffed it out and was trying to coax it out of the hitch and into her mouth. not sure if it couldn't, or just wouldn't come out, but that little squeaker was not budging.

my mom came outside to see what all the drama was. with her help (and now the help of 4 more hounds), we identified two spots where the little bugger could have gotten in and should theoretically be able to escape from. but we couldn't coax it out either, not with all the hounds around.

so when my dad got home, he got involved in the rescue. if there's one thing my dad loves, it's teaching rodents lessons. he had the great idea to prop the (really heavy) hitch on its side with a random piece of metal so that the center beam where the chipmunk was hiding would be slanted upward (see picture.) he then got the garden hose and shoved it in one of the escape holes mom and i had found, leaving chipper no other option but to run for the hills out the other end. the hose was then turned on and the remaining space around it plugged up with a plastic bag so that the beam would start to fill with water and push the critter upwards and onwards.

this is the point where i started worrying about the darwin awards, or at a minimum being that really sad but funny news story posted on the cnn.com front page. i could just see it - man, wife, daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and several hounds killed in tragic chipmunk rescue. i made jeremy take quentin inside - the boy should not have to bear witness to the death of his family at the hands of a rodent. he also corralled all the hounds and got them inside too.

the water was a good idea - it got the critter right to the very end of the beam. it was getting dark at this point, and there are no lights by the hitch, but we could see its beady little eyes.

giving up of the flush it out approach, dad decided to drop the hitch back down flat on the ground - thinking the impact might scare the little bugger out. that hitch is heavy so it hit the ground hard with an intense thud. but the chipmunk did not budge.

jeremy heard the crash from inside and came running out to make sure we were all ok. but he forgot about the dogs so the whole pack came running straight towards the hitch. and that's what did it. the now soaked chipmunk came flying out of the hitch and ran straight into the wood pile to avoid the hounds. he resisted abby's prodding, a thorough soaking slash near drowning, and a massive drop to the ground but the sound of a pack of hungry hounds was enough to make him throw in the towel.

bet he never goes in the hitch again. rodent lesson learned. poor abby has been depressed since - she worked all day for the chipmunk and never got a taste.

happy due date to you!

happy due date quentin! i think he was hoping we'd due something special today to commemorate the day he was supposed to be born. but the combination of a still-sick (though feeling better) mom and dad and the fact that the heat index here today was 110 degrees meant that we stayed in the only air conditioned room in the house all day. i think this disappointed him because he has been cranky all day. or he's hot, sick, and/or going through a growth spurt. he's been sneezing fairly often - baby sneezes - so cute. he's also been eating like a fiend, demanding 4 ounces (or more!!!) every two hours. and then there's times where he's been fed, changed, is being held, and still just screams his head off. fortunately he really seems to like the womb bear which calms him down. and he also digs the pacifier. probably hurts less than his little talons :) the boy's finger nails have gotten a little sharp. he's got a little scratch on his face. it's a little weird that the day i had spent months anticipating was so uneventful, but i suppose very few babies are born on their actual due dates. quentin just couldn't wait to get out!

just so darn cute

my fever is gone!

now to eat something!!!

i forget the best part...

he latched for 45 minutes last night and was actually getting milk. i could see a bit dribbling down his cute little chin. it's hard to say how much he actually got, and he did take about 2 ounces from a bottle afterward (after some serious bloody murder screams!) but progress is being made!

3 weeks old!

the little doodle is 3 weeks old today! he's getting huge - it's already time to loosen the straps in his car seat a bit. he's putting back 4 ounces a feeding. making it difficult to keep up with pumping. but we're doing the best we can and only supplementing formula as necessary. he keeps his eyes open much longer each day now, usually for about an hour after eating so he's got a little brightly colored toy dangling from the handle of his car seat. he can barely reach it but he just stares at it and i've even seen him grasping the very tip of it when he's sleeping. not surprising because he has very busy little hands! his social security number came in the mail today - he's legit!! now hopefully my insurance will hurry up and finish processing his application so the pediatrician can get paid! in other news, it is my turn to be sick. i don't seem to have what jeremy or my dad had but some other fun crazy virus. i have a fever and alternate back and forth between the worst chills ever and the deepest sweats ever. one minute - sweatshirt on, socks on, slippers on, burrowed in blankets, next minute dripping in sweat and have to lose all the layers and change shirts because the other one is soaked. i slept all day yesterday and the day before which i think helped. today i have been able to stay awake but the chills, sweats, and fever are still here. i really just hope quentin doesn't get sick. he's been sneezing a bit but doesn't seem to have a fever and he's not fussy. fingers crossed!

Father of the Year?

Unfortunately, not right now. Sunday morning I got up to feed Quentin and noticed my throat felt a little scratchy. This had me worried because Mr. Bard had been dealing with a sinus infection. All day Sunday, I had a runny nose but it felt like bad allergies. Then it happened, it was like I was hit by a ton of bricks. I started hacking, had a thick mucousy snot, and chills and aches. At about 8PM I told Keira I was going to lie down and then didn't get out of bed until almost noon yesterday. When I did get up, i felt a little better and helped out with the boy for most of the day. Last evening again, I felt horrid again. I literally had the aches so bad I felt like I was in pain. I haven't felt this sick for almost a year and half. Keira will tell you that I can be a little "dramatic" when I don't feel well, but this time was different. I truly felt KO'd. Hopefully, Keira and Quentin do not get this. I just feel awful because I have to go back to work tomorrow and have been no help to Keira and haven't been able to spend a lot of time with my son :( It just really hurts.

belly button!

quentin's cord stump finally fell off today so he now has a belly button! he's got an innie!

2 weeks old!

time flies!! the little dude is already two weeks old. he's getting big - weighed in at 7 pounds 14 ounces at the pediatrician on monday - so he's regained his birth weight (and more!) the little newborn onesies barely fit anymore and the newborn sized diapers cannot contain his incredible emissions. he certainly eats enough. last week he took about 2-2.5 ounces of milk per feeding. now he easily puts back 3.5 or more each time! i have created quentin's first excel spreadsheet to track feeding times and amounts each day - i'm sure folks at capital one will not find this surprising!!! what can i say - i love excel and so will quentin :) (cof folks may also have noticed that i conveniently didn't go into labor until after i had finished reviewing the 10131 moi! quentin knew he should let his mommy do her thing!) it is a little depressing that my paid maternity leave is already 25% done, but oh well!

look at me!

some random pics

just a few cell phone (hence the low quality) pics of my favorite little guy!

on our own

jeremy flew back down to richmond today to wrap things up at the richmond house - the project that little quentin so dramatically interrupted last time! he'll be back on thursday and hopefully we won't need to go back! taking care of a newborn by yourself is tough! i had to do the 6 a.m. feeding entirely on my own since jeremy was already gone and my mom was back in bed after bringing jer to the airport so early this morning. by the time i finished changing his diaper, changing his onesie, attempting to nurse, pumping, feeding, burping, washing the pump parts, washing the bottle, and changing his diaper again it was almost time to start the whole routine over again. so much easier with two sets of hands!! is it thursday yet?!?!

Wicked Pissa'

To borrow from the Boston vernacular, Quentin is a wicked pissa, literally. This kid pees like a race horse. He's a little small for the 8-10 lb diapers but we have to use them. If he's wearing the newborn diapers and lets fly, he soaks through the diaper! We have been averaging ~6-8 onsies per day. Since going to the bigger diapers he stays dry longer :) BTW, the down side to the bigger diaper is when the little waste factory drops a mega-deuce, which is often. I think you can imagine what i'm talking about it. It's okay, he's so cute and daddy loves him :)

hope is not lost!

quentin has latched twice in the last 24 hours, once last night and just now! he still loves the bottle, but at lease he's still giving the boob a chance! :)

quentin and the pups

we were a bit worried about how the dogs would react to the new baby. the four hounds have been our "babies" for so long and they are a teeny bit spoiled. we worried about jealousy issues, especially from bailey who is the ultimate mama's boy. but so far so good. jackson, abby, and martini have shown almost no interest in the baby. bailey has, but it's been pleasantly surprising. he LOVES his new baby brother. he loves to sit on the couch with us when we hold quentin. he follows us to the nursery when we need to change diapers and lets us know when quentin is crying. it's very very cute!

it's been one week

happy one week birthday quentin!

give em what they want!

baby pictures!!! he's really hard to get with his eyes open!