This Day in Forseter History

So for many, many months...today, December 6, 2009, was a date that was burned into our brains because it was the due date for our precious little baby boy. 40 weeks exactly would have been today. Lucky for us, we did not have to wait that long since Finley arrived three weeks early. Why is that so lucky you ask? Well, from what I have seen and heard--the last few weeks of pregnancy aren't very enjoyable for most people. I was nowhere near the super-uncomfortable, feeling like a whale stage when my water broke. Yes, I was walking more slowly and yes, I was feeling Sparky take up more and more room where my internal organs once were and yes, I spent so much time going back and forth to the bathroom it was ridiculous. However, I was still a very happy pregnant gal. If I need to carry baby number two to full term...I'll probably complain A LOT.

But Fin's early arrival was a stroke of good luck in other ways, too. Since he shared a roughly estimated due date with his soon-t0-be cousin, we were worried that if the two babies arrived close together my parents would be torn between being here in Boston and with my brother and his wife down in Virginia. Not a problem after all since we are still eagerly awaiting my nephew's birth! It was lucky because he was born on a Monday that allowed us to have his bris the following Monday and people from out of town were able to simply extend their weekends by a day to be with us. Also, since it was mid-November it was not that cold out and we didn't have to drive through ice and snow to or from the hospital (very lucky in my opinion).

However, the luckiest part of Finley's early appearance is Finley himself. After waiting so long to extend our family, we got to meet our little addition earlier than we could have hoped for. He took our breaths away and hasn't let go yet. He has changed our lives since the second he popped out and we wouldn't change a thing. We know that we are more than lucky, we are truly blessed to have become parents and I know we will never take this blessing for granted.

Wow...this came out quite philosophical and not quite as clever and witty as I usually try to write. Getting to spend December 6, 2009, at home with my wonderful family may not have been what we pictured last spring (when we assumed the 40 week gestational period was a given), but it is so much better than anything we could have ever imagined!

So Happy Expected Birthday, Finley, you're three weeks ahead of the curve! We love you!

Some SAHM Thoughts

With Dan back at work and my maternity leave sub officially in charge of my former class, I guess that means I'm a SAHM. Stay At Home Mom. While it is always something that I have longed to be, I still can't believe it is my new identity. Since graduating college I have had the same job in the same building amongst mostly the same colleagues...now Finley is the only student in my "class", I'm my own boss (sorry, Dan), and I don't have any other staff members around for support, right? Well, I guess the reality is that Finley isn't my student yet--he's the boss...for now. The other staff members are probably all my other SAHM friends who I am blessed to have in my life. Being a SAHM is a full time job and while it doesn't put $ into my 401K, I am already reaping a great deal of benefits that can't be measured :)

Back to the continuing Finley storyline...

Yesterday, I bravely gave Finley a bath on my own. We used his tub (even though it was still a sponge bath) and while he is cleaner than he was before, it certainly wasn't a thorough job! He wasn't hysterical the whole time (see below), but for enough of it that I rushed the job. However, he was oddly relaxed while getting his hair washed...he went into what I have dubbed "the baby trance." We don't see the trance often, but sometimes he'll do it post-diaper change once his legs are buttoned into his new outfit. He literally goes stiff as a board and stops crying instantly. If only we could turn this on and off ourselves...

Despite it being December 3, it was 68 degrees warm and sunny in Boston yesterday! I put Finley in the beco (front pack carrier) and we walked down into Arlington Heights. We stopped at UPS, the post office, the ATM, Panera, and Walgreens. How efficient!! It was downright hot by the time we got home and while Finley napped for the entire adventure, I needed a nap when we got home!

My friend, Deb, came over yesterday. Deb is a friend from work and is expecting her first baby at the end of the month. It was great to see her and terrific to be the one giving out the advice for the first time since Finley's birth. I'm already a seasoned mom with ideas to share about must-haves and don't bothers. Awesome! Deb and I are really looking forward to baby playdates in early 2010 :)

Dan had his work holiday party last night so some friends came over last night to hang out with us. Lisa, Sangwha, Josh, and baby Eliot came over with Indian food for dinner. I felt a little silly at first inviting people over to entertain me since Dan wouldn't be home until close to 9pm, but they were eager to come and it was fun! An important lesson learned: when in need, ask.

Sleepytime update: Finley is now more able to snooze in the bassinet/co-sleeper in our room during the night. We hold him on our chest or in our arms until he falls asleep (after a feeding, for example) and then make a smooth transfer to the bassinet. He can now sleep there for up to three hours before waking up to eat or request a fresh diaper. Not bad! In fact, after eating breakfast this morning at 7:30, Finley is sleeping there now (it's 9:30 already!). There is certainly some relief that he can be independent at night. Now if only I could sleep instead of watching him and checking in to see if he is breathing consistently...

Can't wait for Dan to be home tonight and for the weekend to start, the three of us have lots to do!

A boy by any other name...

In the womb, we referred to Finley as Sparky which came from Dan's frisbee coach at Tufts
who called any kid on the team who name he didn't know, "Sparky." After scoring a goal, "Good job, Sparky!" or after a poor play, "&#@!, Sparky!" We got pretty attached to calling our boy that name and sometimes still refer to Finley as Sparky. What Dan and I noticed was that we have a lot of nicknames/pet names for our little guy already and the question is, will he know his name is Finley if we continue to call him a hodgepodge of assorted names?

Here is the list names we use throughout the day (and night):

1. Finley (on birth certificate)
2. Fin (Dan's more partial to this than me at this point)
3. Sparky (explained above)
4. Buddy (as in, "come on, buddy, you're okay")
5. Squirmy Worm (my favorite pet name I think, though when he's being "wormy" in the middle of the night my love of this name diminishes a bit)
6. Nuglet (courtesy of the Tufts men's alumni message board: a nug is a bit of something so a nuglet is even smaller I guess, kinda like a owlet i assume). He's such a little Nuglet!
7. Lovebug (Dan doesn't use this one as much as I do, but maybe in time...)
8. F-squared (Finley Forseter)
9. Baby Burrito or Baby Cocoon (when he's swaddled up tight, see picture below)

I think that about covers it...though I do find myself, saying "Good boy" a lot (especially during calm diaper changes and easy feeding sessions), but Dan is worried that it sounds too canine to refer to him as "boy." I guess I can ditch the "boy" for now with so many other name choices above :) Let's hope Finley doesn't suffer from any sort of identity crisis in his early weeks of life!

P.S. Our Squirmy Worm was much less squirmy last night and actually slept in his bassinet for 80% of the night!! Hooray for progress!

Photo Gallery

Finley had his first "tummy time" session last night. Free of his umbilical cord and ready to flex his neck muscles, he really enjoyed himself! Dan and I both had some tummy time as well. I had forgotten how nice it is to lay on one's tummy after many, many months of being pregnant!

Much to his paternal grandfather's joy, Finley made his debut at Costco this morning. He rode in the front pack from his Aunt Caitlin and while he did not get to enjoy any free samples, he certainly enjoyed his trip since we equate sound sleep with contentedness.

Per doctor's orders, "you sleep when your baby sleeps." Dan predicts many dual naps in the months to come.

A wonderful surprise the day after Thanksgiving was a visit from Uncle Egon. Eric (his frisbee nickname is Egon) and Dan have known each other since summer camp and the three of us went to Tufts together. Eric was also the best man at our wedding. Since Eric lives in Austin, we weren't sure when Finley would get to meet him. Eric was in New England visiting his family for Turkey Day and was able to stop in to see us. We hope he comes back soon!

Out and About

So...I've heard from other new moms that I have come across that they did not leave the house for at least a month when their babies were born. That just seems like a frightening reality to me so I have made an effort to get out, run errands, see friends, etc. even though Finley's not yet two weeks old. Hopefully that does not put me into the "high risk mom" category!

Today, Dan, Finley, and I decided it was time to get out and get some walking done since the weather has simply not been cooperative for most of Fin's life thus far. Our first stop was to get my haircut. While I do have a salon and hair stylist that I have come to like in Somerville, the reality of making an appointment in advance and hoping that the timing will coordinate with Finley's feeding schedule (and Sangwha's schedule since I'd need to drop the boy off) seemed a bit far fetched. Instead, we went to Supercuts. In this economy, it seemed like doubly a good idea :) Finley and Dan waited patiently during my cut and then we headed off to the Burlington Mall for some walking.

We knew the place would be crawling with bargain hungry holiday shoppers, but with the weather being chilly and VERY windy we had to go for it. We circled for a while and felt lucky that we found a spot before this confused woman found her car (we followed her for a while and watched as she wandered through several aisles...kind of like that Seinfeld garage episode). The "first" for today was our use of our stroller frame that the car seat fits into. We unfolded it, clipped Finley in, and we were off. The mall was indeed packed, but it felt good to be out amongst the rest of the world. We did some window shopping, free chocolate sampling, and rode the elevator up and down several times (since I just was not ready to brave the escalator until the end of our trip and even then, just the up escalator).

The most remarkable part of our trip was two fold: my first "public" breastfeeding endeavor (under a wrap of course) and our exploration of the unreal Nordstrom's women's bathroom. I had heard rumors of how the store's women's room catered to moms so we simply had to investigate it when our little nuglet needed a diaper change. I wanted to wait for the family bathroom, but it was occupied. Finley wasn't in a position to wait, so I walked into the women's room. On the left was the women's lounge which has a love seat and two chairs. On the right was the mom's lounge that had two comfy nursing chairs and a nice changing table set up next to a sink. Both lounges had women nursing their little ones and I was next in line for the changing table. All the moms there were very friendly (and again I heard the "wow, you're out at 12 days old!). I took care of Finley's diaper and went back outside to report to Dan. What a treat it was to have a calm, clean, private place to take care of a baby! I'll probably visit Nordstorm quite a bit in the coming months :)

After finishing our mall crawl, we hopped back in the car and headed home since we had dinner plans at Mike and Tali's house around 6. Dinner went well, but Finley pushed the limits of our diaper bag. He needed to be changed and dressed in a 2nd outfit after dinner. Then, about thirty minutes later he needed to be changed again and dressed in a 3rd outfit. The problem was we did not pack a 3rd outfit...poor guy got a fresh diaper but had to ride home in a bit of his own filth, our bad :( The lessons we continue to learn...Finley was happy as clam when he got new clothes at home!

A Couple Milestones

I'm sure eventually I'll stop taking note of Finley's firsts...but there are just so many coming back to back that I don't want to lose track just yet.

We gave Finley his first bath yesterday afternoon. It was certainly a two person job since we have to give him sponge baths for a while. I held and dried Finley while Dan did the washing and rinsing. What a team! Fin was pretty accommodating until the end when he'd clearly had enough.

Last night, we got to see Finley's true bellybutton since during a diaper change we found that the remaining piece of his umbilical cord had finally come off! While we have been quite enamored with our son's good looks since his birth, both of us were not so fond of the umbilical cord attached at his mid-section. Kinda gross looking, really. We were pretty excited when we made this discovery last night.

Who knows what first will be next, but I suspect I'll still be just as excited as I was with all his other firsts. I guess this just comes with the new mom territory!

Turkey Day 2009

A new baby undoubtedly means new traditions, right? Right. For the first time in our nearly ten years together, Dan and I did not spend Thanksgiving with either his family or mine. Little Finley has proven to be a great sport at eating out, but we certainly were not ready to take him on a car trip or a plane flight to have turkey out of town.

Luckily, our good friends Sangwha and Josh (Eliot's mom and dad) invited us to Josh's parents house for the holiday. Even better, his parents live just ten minutes from our house! Finley is definitely in a growth spurt as his eating habits have increased in frequency and so it was hard to predict when he would be ready to go over for dinner. Our attention to promptness was tested, but thankfully it was a pretty laid back scene over at the McCarthy's so we were not holding anything up :)

While it was a bit odd being anywhere else but home for this holiday, the traditional smells and buzzing in the kitchen felt very "homey." Everyone made us feel right at home and aside from some diapering escapades before dinner, the evening went smoothly and deliciously! Eliot and Finley were pretty patient through dinner and when it was time to go, we all felt proud that we survived their first thanksgivings with ease (more or less).

Originally, we'd planned to follow Josh and Sangwha back to their house to watch the Giants on the NFL network (that we sadly do not get with our cable service). However, getting into the car Dan had some second thoughts and we decided we'd just go home to avoid a really late night. I texted Sangwha and she texted back in shock and awe that the #1 Giants fan was backing out of the viewing. After a few minutes of driving, Dan changed his mind and asked if we could go for the first half. I agreed and texted Sangwha our new plan, she wasn't surprised to hear we were en route to their place afterall :) I was willing to go for several reasons despite the possibility of the later bedtime:
1. I love watching the Giants, too. Bummer that they played terribly.
2. Josh and Sangwha have a baby, too, so their house is stocked with everything we could need.
3. Football and Thanksgiving go hand in hand, we couldn't do one without the other.
4. We didn't have any plans for Friday, so if we were super tired it wouldn't be a big deal.
5. Finley needs to love watching football, so we have to give him plenty of opportunities to learn about the game starting now!

The game ended up being disastrous, so it was easy for us to pack up at half time. Finley and Eliot certainly enjoyed the game--they were both actually watching it for a good chunk of the time. Now, we know that technically they can't see much past twelve inches in front of their faces and the television was some distance off but at least they were looking in the right direction!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year, maybe more than any other year. Our son is healthy, happy, and beautiful. Our family has been amazingly supportive and generous throughout my pregnancy and Finley's arrival. Our friends have continued to be a huge part of our lives and we truly know what the phrase "friends are the family you pick" means.