We are making an effort to expose Ansel to several languages as early as possible. Macneil knows some Chinese and I know some Spanish (though I am not anywhere near fluent). Mac bought these CDs and we have been playing them a lot. They are really fun!
Spanish
Chinese

I was surprised to find that a couple of the Spanish songs are pretty morose, though ( Read more... )

We left really early on Thursday morning and got to CT at about 7:30pm. Mac's cousin picked us up and took us to Mac's Aunt and Uncle's house. His grandma also lives there, so Ansel got to meet his great grandma Curto. That was pretty sweet. Her heritage is Sicilian and she would tell Ansel, "che Bella! Bella! Bella!"

Here is Ansel after we got him ( Read more... )

I'm writing this stuff down mostly as a record.

We were really worried about reflux recently. It seemed that he would eat, turn red and scream, spit up, and scream for almost every nursing session. It was terrible! Usually reflux isn't treated unless the baby has problems gaining weight. Ansel has no problem there. He's huge. The ped said she would ( Read more... )

We just got airline tickets to travel to CT for a wedding later this month. We'll be flying with Ansel who will be just over 2 months old at that time. Are we insane?

Yesterday I took Ansel out for a walk in the Baby Bjorn. I strolled down along the large community garden area in our residential complex where people have small plots in which to grow whatever they like. Right now there are a lot sunflowers in bloom. I saw one gigantic sunflower that was shaped like a huge fortune cookie (with a yellow fringe of ( Read more... )

 Dr. Horrible

Joss Whedon's latest. More, please!

I think I'm starting to get used to the interesting style of sleep that having a new baby requires. I implemented a new strategy and so far it seems to be working well. My big problem was that Ansel would wake up extremely early, sometime between 5 and 7 in the morning, and I would be so groggy that I could not sanely deal with changing diapers, ( Read more... )

Ansel is already 8 pounds 6 ounces. In only two weeks he has gone from 7 lbs, 3 oz to a whopping 8, 6. My wrist hurts from toting him around. And he grew out of his newborn diapers which means I have three full packs that now need a new home.

Oh, and he has a belly button now, too.

Ansel is gaining weight fast! He only lost 2 ounces before he started gaining again (newborns can lose up up to 10% of their birth weight in the early days). He is a voracious eater and he's got a latch of steel. Ouch. I'm making a ton of milk and it's been a little frustrating to leak all over everything all the time. I've been nervous about going ( Read more... )

Ansel Irwin Shonle
Born at 4:26 pm, June 17
7 pounds, 3 ounces
19 1/2 inches long


( Read more... )