First Christmas!

Odin is enjoying his first Christmas at his Grandma's house! He got lots of great presents, including some cool clothes, a hamper, a few toys, and the most perfect high-chair in which to feed him. He's been playing around all night and now he fell asleep in her spare room while we finish hanging out. We'll probably do something with Zaideh tomorrow. There are good pictures and movies to show but I don't have them yet so I'll put them up later.

I think it's been a good holiday for him, and while it might not be the first one he remembers, at least he was able to enjoy it.

Figured it out

We called the nurse about Odin's behavior last night, and one of the things he recommended that I hadn't thought of was that Odin might have been kept up because of acid reflux.

Alyssa and I talked about this a bit and decided that must have been what it was; We had given him a tater tot or two and that might have been oily/greasy enough to upset his stomach. And when we had trouble up in Portland, we had mixed his dinner that night with Dole Pineapple Peach Mango juice which is very acidic and children Odin's age don't usually start on citrus fruits yet so it probably bothered him there as well.

At least we figured it out so poor Odin doesn't have to suffer and we learned he doesn't have bad sleep habits after all.

Nightmare

We think Odin had a bad dream last night. He woke up crying harder than ever, and he refused to go back to sleep. We thought maybe he had a stomach ache because we gave him some new foods to try, but that wasn't it. He just didn't want to go back to bed, and he was really sad. All the things we tried didn't work so it had to be something new. So we just figured he had a bad dream. Poor guy.

First steps!

Odin walked! It was only two steps, but he was standing on his own, took two steps, and then stood again, before grabbing on to something! He was actually walking! He's going to be running around pretty quick!

Weekend in Portland

We had a great time as a family up in Portland this weekend.

Odin handled the train ride up just fine on Friday, and liked playing at his Grandparents' house. We walked around my old neighborhood and Odin enjoyed the sights, especially all the cool things on Hawthorne.

Saturday we went around Pioneer Place and Lloyd Center. Odin is normally stressed out in crowds but this time he liked watching all the people. There was also a show going on in the ice rink at Lloyd Center and Odin seemed to like watching the people skate around.

We also went to Saturday Market as it was closing and looked at all the cool things. There was lots to see and Odin had a good time, but fell asleep a few minutes before we left. We got him some gloves from one vendor for $2, so we wont care if we lose them, and they're quite nice.

Sunday we went to Pioneer Place again to eat before going to Omsi. They had some snow machines going inside, and they had so much stuff in them it really was quite thick like a blizzard. Odin just loved it! It was so cute watching him reach out for the snow and try to play in it. He also had a great time at Omsi, there were lots of things to play with and he had a lot of fun, thought the stuffed Polar Bear scared him at first.

He was so energetic on the ride home. One of the conductors showed us a car that was being kept empty and told us we could take him in there if he got loud or wanted to crawl around a lot. We spend most of the trip in there.

He loves playing with my mom and stepfather (goofy pictures abound, from this trip and the last one -- though I don't have them yet). He was also obsessed with their wood stove. The only problem was that the first night we had him in the same room as us so he woke up every hour to cry, whereas we're normally not in his room so he just goes back to sleep. Mom gave us her den to put him in the second night, and he only cried once according to my stepfather.

Walking!

We got this video a few days or a week ago....

First word!

Odin has been babbling a lot lately, especially dadadadada, but lately he started saying mama once in a while. So we tried to teach him to use it and today he did! He wanted Alyssa, he was looking at the door she was behind, and he called out mama! You could tell he was using that as her designation, not just babbling.

Clothes

We finally got Odin a nice winter coat. It's all poofy and has a good hood so we can keep him warm and out of the elements. We also got him a really cozy hat that covers his ears, since his head always gets so cold.

First present!

Odin just opened his first holiday gift! Sure, he's gotten lots of gifts from family, but this was the first one that we wrapped up and gave him for the holidays as a special occasion.

We didn't have our camera, so we tried to use the laptop, but when that thing is out, it's all he'll go for, so we couldn't get him to pay attention to the present. But, he did unwrap it a little, and it was a little duck puppet book.

We'd been wrapping presents earlier (finished most of our holiday shopping) and just couldn't wait to open some, but we knew we wanted to wait for the actually holidays, so we got our fix by letting Odin open one of his.

Standing more!

So Odin can actually hold himself up standing with no assistance.

He can't get to standing on his own, sure he can pull himself up to standing on things, but he doesn't stand on his own. But we can set him standing up and let go and he'll stand there as long as he wants. You can see him make corrections in his legs and actually prevent himself from falling. It's amazing!

First Thanksgiving

Odin had his first Thanksgiving! He slept on both the ride there and the ride back (we went all the way to Roseburg) so we didn't have to deal with him being upset for 2 hours. He was able to eat some of the things we had, which he loved, and played with relatives. Rylie (our cousin) is really good with him, and he played with his Great-Grandpa George as well. He had a great time.

Standing!

Odin just stood on his own! He didn't stand up, we had put him in the standing position, but he didn't fall! And this wasn't the kind of thing where he's balancing for a second and then falls, he was actually using the muscles in his legs. We could see him twitching and correcting things, and he'd sway a little bit but then move and stay standing! It was so amazing!

Also, the poor guy has a cold. I've come down with one and now his nose wont stop running, plus he's coughing a little bit. He's a little more cranky, but otherwise it doesn't seem to be affecting him; he's still energetic, happy, laughing, playing with things. We're taking him to the doctor at 3:30 as a precaution but mostly we just wanna see if there's anything we can do for him.

Whups

I just noticed that sometimes it looks like all the pictures aren't in there. But that's just because it's not sorting them right. If it sorts them by "filename" then the most recent ones will be at the end, because I number all of them. If it's not sorting it like that, some may be hard to pick through and find when I put in new ones.

More pictures!

New pix of Odin are up. Numbers are 141 through 163. There's also some Halloween pictures in that group. My mother-in-law took some as well, but I haven't uploaded those yet. I will soon.

I swear he did this by himself.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

We went and saw The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D on Thursday and when we got home we had to buy the soundtrack. Odin listened to the movie while he slept through it, and now he loves the soundtrack. Every time we play it he gets really happy, his favorite songs are This is Halloween and Making Christmas.

First blood

Odin fell and started crying, so we picked him up to make him feel better and noticed he was bleeding from the mouth. Not much, just a trickle, and very light. So we guessed it must have been from his fourth tooth finally popping out (because it has now) or he bit his mouth somewhere when he fell, because it stopped as fast as it started and he didn't seem to care five minutes later.

He's had a lot of fun all day. He's almost crawling more often than he creeps, soon he'll be mainly crawling, and he can get himself up to standing on something as easy as he can breathe, so we have to watch him a lot.

He's also really smart. I was siting outside one of Alyssa's classrooms today, she wasn't in there, but when the class got out and people started pouring into the hallway, he kept looking for her. We've waited for her there before, but this time we were just sitting there for fun. He didn't see her, and he started following the students to their lockers because he was trying to find her. Pretty clever for him to remember that she sometimes comes out of there.

Music and fun

While I was in class, Alyssa took Odin to a Baby Time at the public library. They play sing-a-long games and read stories to babies up to 12 months, and then they all get to have play time together. It's during one of my classes, but if I go with them I'd be the only father there.

Crawling! (really)

Odin is actually crawling now! He works his knees and arms and he can crawl around. He doesn't do it all the time because it's not as easy as creeping, but he's capable of doing it and he keeps doing it more and more.

First Halloween!

Odin is damn near crawling! He gets his knees under him and just starts to move!

Also, today he climbed up a step! There was a raised platform and he got himself up onto it, and just before that he was actually trying to get up some stairs.

We had him in a monkey suit for his first Halloween all day, and he go so many "What a cute baby!"s all day. We're gonna take him Trick-or-Treating in a few minutes.

Teeth! Again!

Yesterday we noticed that Odin is getting one of his front, upper teeth on his left side, and today the other one is coming in as well. He's doing pretty good with the pain, considering. So add these to his bottom, front two and he looks like a gopher.

Crawling!

We just watched Odin crawl for the first time! He isn't using it as a method of travel, but he is capable of it, and he can even get up on his hands and feet with no other part of his body touching the ground.

Raspberry

Odin can blow a real raspberry! Not just the baby kind with his lips, being silly, the real kind with his tongue, like we do. It's so funny.

Also, my Physical Therapy instructor also teaches a "Baby Movement" class, and she asked me if I could bring Odin by to be filmed. She wants him to crawl around and play for a bit and film how he does it, so she can show it to her class.

Sleeping

Odin has been sleeping all the way through the night, without waking up even once. We've been having a little trouble with sleeping in the same room as him; if we do, sometimes we wake him up a little, whereas if he's on his own, he wakes up for 5 minutes if at all and then goes back to sleep.

He's also got some mommy attachment; he starts crying immediately if he watches her leave a room, and he gets angry after a little while if he doesn't see her for a long enough time. Sometimes he'll whine and crawl over to her, and she's frequently the only person who can make him feel better. It's actually a little depressing, because he doesn't seem to care about me at all. But his cousin, Mikey, went through the same thing and now he can't stop following his dad around, so I think Odin might eventually become obsessed with me too.

First meal

Odin ate with us for the first time! We made Lentil stew, which is basically lentils, diced potatoes, diced onions, and tomato paste simmered for half an hour. We woulda put carrots and peas in it if we'd had 'em. It came out pretty good, and we put some in the blender for Odin and he loved it. It's the first meal we've shared as a family.

Doctor visit

Poor Odin had more shots today. He's so pitiful when he gets them. He's had a hard time all day as a result. It's been difficult listening to how miserable he is. We've been having a hard time calming him down.

Ritual

So now we've got a really comfortable system down; we give Odin a nice meal of baby food mixed with rice cereal so it's filling and he gets the iron in the rice cereal. That fills him up and gets him messy, so we all take a calming bath, and them we sometimes give him a massage if he's in the right mood. Then he plays for a little bit if he's still awake and we sit on the floor with him. When he starts to lose steam, around 9 to 10ish, but sometimes as late as 11 depending, we put him down and he's lowered his average crying time to about 20-30 minutes. He maybe wakes up once during the night but he's asleep again after 20 minutes, and he gets up at 7 or 8 and comes into bed to cuddle and nap for another hour with a morning nursing.

It's working out great; he's learning to sleep, and we get some rest as well, and it's perfectly timed for our school schedule.

Sleep!

Last night, Odin wanted to stay up forever, but we finally nursed him to sleep at about 11:30. It defeats the purpose of teaching him to fall asleep on his own, but we put him in his crib and he just cuddled up with Sleipnir and nodded off, barely woke up. So he's still getting good sleeping skills in there. The amazing thing is, he didn't start waking up 'til about 7ish this morning. We got uninterrupted sleep!

Standing!

Just a few minutes ago, Odin pulled himself up to standing all on his own! He proceeded to collapse as a giant tree is cut at it's base, which scared him a lot, but it was really cool to see him have no trouble standing like that.

Sleeping

Well, Odin has been sleeping on his own the last two nights. It's been working great; the first time we put him down he cries for an hour, and the second time (after he gets up in the middle of the night to eat) he only cries for a few minutes. We've eliminated all his nighttime feedings except for one, and that one is almost gone too.

So, a few days ago some guy in our apartment complex just walked up to us and gave us a beanie baby. He said he works for Ty and he gets boxes of them all the time, and he'd been meaning to give it to us since we had Odin. It was a little horse and we've been using it as Odin's comfort object instead of Alyssa. The funny thing is, in mythology, Odin had a horse named Sleipnir, which sounds like "sleep near."

Pain

Right now I'm doing one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I'm letting Odin cry himself to sleep.

I want to cry along with him. It feels like I'm torturing him, like I'm the one who's causing him all this pain, I'm the one who's scaring him so much and showing him I don't love him.

I know it's for the best, but it's just intolerable.

Doctor visit

We took Odin to Dr. Dzubay to tell her about how much Odin eats and how often he wakes up during the night. She collaborated with other information we'd received that giving him solids more often than we do now would help him feel full, and that we should just be tough and try to let him get himself to sleep. We'll try tonight.

Happy "birthday"

Odin is 6 months old today, and we think we see tooth #3 coming in....

Pix

The professional photographs came in a few days ago, we're gonna sort through them and scan them so I can post a few of them. We're gonna enter some of them into a contest for "cutest baby" run by the company that owns the photography place we went to.

Halloween clothes

We went over to Odin's grandma's house to have dinner with some family and he got some really cool clothing to celebrate Halloween coming up. And he also got this really cute felt pumpkin bag to put all the candy he collects for us in.

On the move

So, Odin can creep really well, but lately, and today especially, he's been getting himself up on all fours. He's got it down pretty good now, and as of today he started trying to actually put that into motion and make some sort of crawl out of it. He doesn't have it yet, but based on what we've seen, I'd say he's gonna be crawling in a matter of days, or a little of a week at the most.

Also, today Alyssa and I officially agreed that his eyes are Hazel. I suppose they can keep changing, but they look really cute and we think this is gonna be his eye color.

Lol

Odin had the most amazing laughing fit today.

We were walking around a store and he just started cracking up for no reason. We didn't do anything, and nothing had happened, he just started losing it. This was laughing out loud, like an adult would laugh, not little baby giggles. And he was doing it for almost 20 minutes, just going and going. It was so hilarious to watch.

He's been getting better at being independent; we can set him on the floor and just let him crawl around, and he has a play pen that he enjoys being in. It's nice because we get a bit of free time without needing to keep an eye on him.

He's been creeping really fast for a while now, but we're starting to catch him trying to get up on all fours once in a while. And some times he's successful, but hasn't figured out the "crawl" part of it yet.

Tooth

Odin's tooth has been bothering him, so we bought him some arrowroot cookies and he really seems to like them a lot. He chews on them forever and then they dissolve and he just swallows them.

Teeth! (for real this time)

There is a tiny slit in Odin's gums that he has been chewing on furiously and we think there is a tooth popping up there. His next doctor appointment is on the 16th of October so we'll know for sure then, but I bet the tooth will be up by then if that's what it really is. Alyssa says it feels like a razor in his mouth when he nurses.

Food!

Odin really likes to eat normal food. We've discovered that he likes most fruits, and carrots, and his favorite is a prunes and oats combination, and we can make baby oatmeal for him and he enjoys that, especially if we mix it with something else.

He's also creeping like crazy. He's figured out where his toy box is and he goes over to it, tips it over, opens it, and takes all the toys out. It looks like a cyclone hit the living room. He's also babbling a lot, "dadadadada" and whispering the same thing.

Professional photos

We just had professional photos taken of us and Odin, along with a few of Dad and Jake. The photographer, Kaylynne, was really good with Odin, and he took some really good pictures considering he was over-tired at the time. We should get them in a few weeks, and we got a really good deal so there will be lots of pictures to give to family members and such.

First shower

Odin just had his first shower. We brought him in with us, and he liked it a lot, all except for the part where his head and face got wet. It was too difficult to hold him though, very slippery, so I think I prefer bathing him.

Cute Pix

Some cute pictures of Odin, including some really messy eating shots!

Bigger, stronger....

He's so fast, if you leave him for 2 seconds to get a glass of water, he's already in another room, he's gonna be crawling any week now.

We also have nothing that fits him properly. We've been watching June for Brandy and John, and we are supposed to be paid for it through DHS, but they've taken more than a month to get the paperwork through, and three times now they've told us "It should be there next week" and we haven't gotten it. If they'd just send the check, we could go get Odin some clothes. Of course, we've just been leaving him naked a lot lately because it's been so hot here.

Food crazy

We can't eat in front of Odin without making him jealous. He was just screaming his head off because he couldn't have what we were having. So we got some of his baby food. Here's the funny thing, normally when we give him something, like prunes, or peas, or something, he makes a "gross" face the first few times and then he settles in to eating it, well, he likes sweet-potatoes. But this time we gave him bananas and pears and he took to it immediately; kid's got a sweet tooth.

Afterwards, he was so messy we had to give him a bath, but he was crying again until we put him in it. I think he doesn't like being messy or sticky.

Pump

We just got a $500, hospital-grade breast pump for free! It's going to be so helpful. We had paid $150 for a store-bought one a little bit after Odin was born and it works fine but we were never able to get enough out to actually feed him for more than a minute, so we always had to take him with us anyway or what not. Now, we can get enough out for Alyssa to be gone for 6 hours at class and I don't need to drag Odin there with her, and I can take over for a night and give her a break so she can sleep if he's particularly hungry during the night.

Sleep

Odin has been getting better and better about getting to sleep on his
own. He doesn't always need to nurse in order to fall asleep, which is
a big relief for us.

Faster, stronger....

Odin can creep along at nearly 12 inches in 10 seconds! It's hard to keep track of him! He loves chasing after things like remotes, game controllers, and things that make noise. He always goes for something specific, he never just wanders around.

We've had to upgrade him to size 3 diapers, he's getting so big!

He's also babbling a lot now; he pronounces lots more consonants and he sticks to some of them depending on his mood. Like, he'll go with da, and ba when he's curious, and wa, and ra, if he's hungry or wants to be changed. We can also get him to laugh really easily now.

Great-great

Odin's Great-great-aunt Rose came and visited yesterday. She's really good with Odin and she came to our place today and we got these pictures:

New Bumbo!

Here's a few pictures of Odin in the Bumbo we got him.

Points for skill

40pmh diaper change!

Odin blew it out all over Alyssa's lap on the bus and he was so messy
we couldn't set him anywhere, so I decided to just change him rather
than make us trade off holding him in the air because we'd be on the
bus for another 20 minutes. So I changed him right on the seat, and
one of my record times too!

First Fall

Odin just fell off our bed, it's his first fall. Luckily, he just slid off the edge so it was only a few inches, but it made a big thud. He's perfectly fine, but it was scary.

Yay

Paula brought over a bumbo that she got us yesterday. It helps Odin learn to sit up and use his abs, and it's really good for feeding him while he's sitting in it.

Ann and Emily came over and played for a while. Odin gets along with them well, which is good because we hang out with them a lot. He has his longest, hardest laughing fit on our bed while we were getting ready to go out shopping.

We've started watching Juniper at 5 in the morning now, but she just comes in the bed with us and Odin and falls back asleep and Odin doesn't seem to mind. They like playing together.

Doctor Visit

We took Odin to see Dr. Bradshaw since Dr. Dzubay is not available. His stool has been green and he's been spitting up a lot. She said there was nothing to worry about, the color can be because of how fast he's digesting, and the spitting up wasn't alarming. So apparently nothing is wrong, but it was still good to go make sure.

Movies!

Expect more of these....

We were sent a video of Juniper (Brandy's daughter whom we often babysit) trying to talk to her father, Jon. We showed it to Odin and he just cracked up.


Odin is creeping along our bed. Song is "Perilous Journey" from Halo.

Poor guy....

Odin's been a little upset lately. He got sick from his shots again and he's back on Prevacid to help the reflux, it's been giving him a stomach ache too. He's been a little more fussy and he's spitting up more, but he'll get through it.

Jeepers creepers!

Odin can creep around! It's not really crawling; he kinda drags himself around. He can lift his chest up, and his butt, but never at the same time. Usually he doesn't really roll around much on the floor, but yesterday he started rolling all over the place and today he started dragging himself around! Now we can't keep track of him!

He also responds to his name almost perfectly. If he isn't distracted, he'll look you right in the eye if you say his name in a non-baby-talk voice.

Flail

Odin laughs a lot now. It's easy to get him to do it, you can tickle him or bounce him around, or make him fly. He really loves lying on our bed while I jump on it a little bit.

We think he's getting a bit of bad reflux again because he's been spitting up a bit more. We're gonna call the doctors office later today. This happened the last time he had shots, so we think that's what caused it, we just wanna get ahead of it before it really gets bad.

He's also developed this arm flail thingy he likes to do. His right arm swings up above his head and then down and hits his leg, rotating at the shoulder. He does it no matter where he is and we don't know why. He does it while holding toys and they go flying, he does it while he's falling asleep, and sometimes he's just sitting there and staring and his arm is waving. It looks like he doesn't even know he's doing it, but sometimes you can tell he's enjoying it. It's really funny actually.

Poor Odin

Odin has been up crying a lot more and spitting up a bit, he even had a low-grade fever. It's because of the shots he got on Monday. He has more muscle in his leg now so it's able to hurt more. He's starting to get better, but you can tell in his cry that he's in pain. It's almost unbearable.

4 month check-up

Well, Odin just got some more shots, but he took it like a champ.

He's now 25.5 inches (75%), 15lbs 6.5oz (70%), and had a 17 inch head (75%).

Our trip

Saturday morning we took Odin to the Farmer's Market, which is totally better than the one in Eugene, and he absolutely loved it. We had fresh-baked biscuits and just-made tamales while Mom danced around with Odin to the band that was playing. We wandered around a bit and Odin soaked up all the people who kept looking at him and telling him how cute he was.

Later that day, Alyssa and I went for a trip around town and took Odin to Finnegans. He kept looking at the hand puppets so we decided to get him one. We showed him one and it made him smile, and we kept trying more and with each new one he smiled a bit more until we got to this really ugly monster thingy and he just laughed. He laughed more than we'd ever heard him laugh, like, a laugh out loud, not a baby giggle, and for a really long time. So we showed him a few others and he smiled, but when we went back to that monster, he laughed again, so we just had to get it.

Uncle Danny came over and was really good with him. We also took him to Mom's boss' birthday party because she wanted to show him off. He liked the attention for a while but all the people overwhelmed him after a few minutes.

On Sunday we went to the Zoo. I haven't been since I was a kid and Alyssa had only been twice, and we figured Odin ought to go. He slept through a lot of it, but he really seemed to like the animals. There was a big, walk-in cage for the Lorikeets and they were flying over to people's shoulders and stuff so Odin was able to get really close. He loved looking at them, they were so colorful. After that, Auntie Paula came over and just loved hanging out with him, and then Kyle came while she was leaving and thought Odin was just really cool.

He slept most of the train ride home. I'm sure he had a really great time. I'll put some pictures up later today.

First train ride

Odin has been screaming and squealing like a maniac. Mostly he knows he is the one making those sounds so he's having fun doing it, but he's also developed a few that mean certain things. Like, there's one for "pay attention to me" and one for "give me that toy" and what not.

Also, in an hour or so we are taking Amtrak to Portland so Odin will have his first train ride!

Pictures!

I've finally finished gathering all the pictures of Odin that we have and putting them into a decent online photo album. This should be everything we've got.

Pictures of Odin

(I also updated the link list on the side of the page.)

Ah crap....

Baby poop doesn't easily come out of carpet.

Teeth!

We took Odin over to his grandmother's (Paula's) house to visit with her, Matt, Denise, Rylie, and great-grandpa George. Based on some behavior that everyone observed, there was a general consensus that Odin is now teething.

It makes sense too; he's been more fussy, having a hard time taking naps, and he chews on stuff a lot more. We have a teething ring that you can freeze but Paula gave us some little reusable ice-cube thingies and he really likes them. We also bought him some baby food at the store. We got the organic kind that literally has nothing in it except one ingredient. We got him sweet potatoes, peas, and bananas. We gave him the bananas half an hour ago. He loved 'em! He kept demanding more all the time and it got everywhere! It was really cool though. He's been reaching for our food a lot and he hated that rice cereal but he really liked this stuff. We're gonna keep giving it too him once in a while so he can get the idea of eating more to add calories to his diet.

Whatever makes you feel good

We've discovered that Odin really likes being naked.

Sometimes when he's crying, we take off his clothes and un-do his diaper to change him and he quites right down. So we tried just undressing him when he's upset an he loves it. He likes to just lie around with nothing on and have fun.

First meal!

We gave Odin his first meal today! It was just some baby rice cereal mixed with breast milk, but he seemed to enjoy it. We gave it to him because he's grabbing our food at the table and showing lots of other signs of being ready to eat real food. We've been reading about it, and we're going to ask his pediatrician in a few weeks at his 4-week-check-up, but for now we're just gonna try it a bit. Here are a few choice pictures, there's more here and I'll be updating that album over the next few days.

Growing still

So we got Odin a Johnny Jump-Up (well, Dad got it for us) and he absolutely loves it. He walks around and spins more than he jumps, but he really likes it. Also, if you hold his hands he'll pull himself up to a sitting position, and then you can lift his arms and he'll actually stand up. He's really trying to get his legs going.

He's also laughing a lot now, and he really loves rolling around on the floor. He's getting really good at looking at things and grabbing them so his eyesight is improving. He's growing too fast!

Odin's first massage!

I just gave Odin his first massage! It was only his legs, but he really seemed to like it. I'm glad I was able to because it gives me a chance to bond with him extra since I'm not the one who feeds him.

Massage lesson

Jody Green just came by our apartment and gave us a private lesson on infant massage. Odin was asleep for most of it so we practiced on dolls, but it was really cool. She's really friendly and taught us very well. We learned legs, feet, and tummy/colic this time. We see her again in one week to get the second/final lesson about chest, arms, and hands.

So cute!

Odin has a really high pitched laugh, almost like a scream, and he grins so big when he does it. It's almost like he's so overcome with glee he can't help but explode. He's also discovered his feet - we think; he keeps grabbing them but then he lets go, like he doesn't know what they are or what they do. It's still really cute though.

Double trouble

Well, Brandy just dropped June off so now we're taking care of two babies! Chaos to ensue....

Massage

I just got off the phone with Jody Green who is going to come to our house to give us private lessons in infant massage. She'll be here a week from today to teach us how to give Odin a really nice massage.

Hehe

Odin laughed today! Not just little chuckles or giggles but an actual laugh out loud! Several times! It was so cute, he did it spontaneously because Alyssa was looking at him. We notice a lot lately that he'll smile for no reason, or at nothing, just because he's happy. He also smiles right at you when he wants your attention.

He also reached out and grabbed stuff today. He's been batting at stuff with his hands, but today he actually grabbed something and brought it to himself. To eat it, of course, but it was still amazing.

He's got more characteristics now, like distinct talking based on his mood or what he wants, and reacting to things he sees or hears.

Also, his eyes are changing color. They look brown, a lot like mine. It could still go either way, but my money is on brown.

Even better....

Odin can laugh pretty good, or at least chuckle a bit. He's also getting a lot better at crawling. He can communicate better so we actually know what he's asking for, and sometimes he'll babble on for a few minutes like he's trying to form sentences. Also, he can reach for stuff held in front of him. He misses most of the time, but sometimes he'll grab it and then play with it.

Bigger, stronger

Odin can hold his head up while lying on his stomach as long as he wants. He's also babbling a lot more and can move his arms a lot better.

Babies can't swim

We were taking a bath with Odin like we do on most nights and we accidentally dropped part of his mouth in the bath. He inhaled some air and started to choke. He went all rigid and wasn't breathing, but we were able to help him cough up the water.

Nothing serious, he just didn't know how to help himself stop choking. It was scary though. Good thing I took a Baby CPR class a while ago.

Dinner party

Odin's great-grandpa was in town so we took him over to his grandma's house to visit and have dinner. He was really playful and smiled a lot, we got lots of good video footage.

He's developing a lot of personality; he talks, whines different ways when he wants different things, and expresses emotions like missing us when we're out of his vision and being happy if we pick him up.

Stronger!

We put Odin in his boppy and he sat up! Lately he's been flexing his abs a lot and today he used the boppy to help himself up. Not all the way, but he did it on his own. We pulled him up all the way and he sat there with the help of the boppy. He was able to keep himself up pretty good.

We've also been giving him a lot of tummy-time and he's started to try crawling. He can hold his head up really good and smile when he does it. He's also rolled over several times.

I've been capturing a lot of stuff on video and I'm going to make a little movie of him, it'll be funny.

Sick Odin

Odin did some projectile vomiting today. It was a lot, and he's been doing it more and more often lately, so we took him to the doctor. They did an ultrasound on his stomach, he hated it so much. Everything turned out fine, but they gave us Prevacid to help his reflux go down in case that's what it was.

Doctor visit

Odin is now 12 pounds 3 ounces which is 65th percentile, and we couldn't get an accurate length measurement. He also had his shots today. He really hated that. He cried like I've never seen him cry.

Dad wanted us to bring him by the office to show him off, and he fell asleep so we paraded him around the buildings showing him to old friends from when I worked there. Everyone thought he was really cute.

I meant to add this earlier in the week, but finals kept me from it:

Odin can lift his head up really good now. And he's smiling non-stop and even babbling at us! He is trying to talk but, of course, he can't quite manage. Still, it's really cute. He's upgraded to size 2 diapers and he's outgrown his clothes so now he's in the 3-6 month stuff even though he's only 2 months! He's getting easier to take care of by the day.

Doing well

Odin has been smiling a lot, and he's much more interactive. Also, we've been carrying him around in a front-pack harness kinda thing and he really likes it. It's good for us because there isn't a huge stroller and lots of stuff to carry, and it's good for him because we can face him forward when he's awake and he likes to watch the world go by as we're walking around.

Big pig!

Alyssa managed to get me about 5oz of milk stored up so I could feed him if he needed it. Well, she fed him, and then went to class, and half an hour later I had to give him all 5oz of it! And then she got out of class about half an hour after that and he wanted to eat again! And this isn't even the first time he's done this! I can't believe how much he eats!

Concert

Alyssa, Mom, and I went to a Harry Connick Jr. concert in town, and we left Jake and Dad to babysit.

Odin was sleeping at first, but then apparently they didn't have the bottle put together correct so a lot of milk spilled out. Of course, Odin is an enormous pig so he started crying when it ran out. Mom said warm water would calm him down but they gave him half a bottle of it instead of just a little. It worked, but I slipped out into the lobby to call Jake and he told me what was going on. Basically, he was just over-tired, so I told him what to do to calm him down and when we got home everything was fine.

I wonder if they'll want to babysit again for us?

Bath with us

Alyssa and I just brought Odin in the bath with us. It was a lot easier for all of us than the little baby-tub thingy we have. He didn't scream or anything. He liked sitting in it with us, and we all had a lot of fun. We filled it with this lavender/chamomile soap stuff and it calmed him down so now he's sleeping soundly. I think we found a new night-time routine.

Fully animated

Odin has been smiling a lot, trying to talk, he can lift his head up, and move his arms and legs pretty good. It's amazing to watch how he is developing. He's really heavy now; more than 11 pounds! He's not going to stay little forever! :(

Mother's Day

Alyssa had her first Mother's Day today! Hurray for her!

Pretty decent photos for a cell phone camera.

Chaos

We went over to Paula's house and had a fiasco:

Alyssa and I went for a walk to get some diapers and left Odin with the family. Grandpa George had come down to see the baby and was brought by Matt and Denise, and Kellie came over so everybody was there to watch him. It's only a 15 or 20 minute walk both ways. Apparently, Odin started screaming his head off while we were gone, he was hungry.

The only reason I mention it is because of how everyone reacted. Kellie and Matt had gone for a ride in Matt's new truck and when they came back, Paula was in the driveway frantically waving at them to turn around and go get us like it was some extreme emergency. Denise was pretty calm, and George was swinging him in his bassinet to calm him down. Rylie was a little freaked out. But I was laughing my head off that they thought it was an emergency. I mean, babies cry. It's in the job description. We were called to hurry home when we were about 10 minutes away and we didn't even increase our pace because we knew that he was just crying and big deal.

It's like babies crying in public; I only have a problem with it if the baby is crying in the library or the movies. Then it's just common courtesy to leave. But I can't stand people who give you dirty looks if you're on the bus or in the grocery store. I mean, babies cry, live with it, if you had a baby crying would you want people giving you dirty looks? I've had lots of babies cry in a place I was hanging out and I didn't care because babies do that and I'm sure the parents didn't want me judging them.

Smile!

Odin has been smiling a lot lately, and I finally caught it on camera! These pictures aren't as big as some of his smiles, but still very cute! There's also a picture of Odin in his really cute hooded towel that has ears on it. (I also put these in the directory with his pictures under the links to the right.)

Mail!

Odin got his first official piece of mail! It's a sealed envelope with his name on it! It's still weird to me to see his name on stuff, like he's a real person and everything.

Haha

Just a funny little note: he pees all over himself during a diaper change, so we give him a bath and he pees in the bath! I can't wait until he knows where he's gonna go!

Hehe....

Nana visits

My mother came down yesterday to visit and see Odin. She crashed with us.

He spent a lot of time with her, they did really good, he likes her. It also helped to have someone to watch him if we wanted to take a shower or something.

It's good that Odin's family are so involved and want to spend time with him. We'll have to make trips to Portland more frequently to visit.

Spider-man 3!!!

Well, we wanted to go see Spider-man 3 on the day it came out, so we dropped Odin off with his grandma. First time we've been away from him since we sent him to the nursery while at the hospital.

He did fine; we left her with some milk and he mostly slept, so it looks like we have a babysitter whenever we want now. Well, we were only gone for 4 hours or so but at least we know it'll work.

Stronger

Odin can lift his head up a bit. We put him stomach-down on his boppy last night and he was able to lift his head to look at us. His head still flails around a bit if you pick him up without giving him head-support, but he can lift it to look at you. He can even push up with his arms to gain some hight. And if you set him in your lap, he can stand up. He can't balance, but there's enough strength in his legs to lift his whole body.

Shit Happens

You know that there's a warning on diaper packages that says "limit 10 pounds"? Well, they mean it, 'cause that's all they'll hold.

Odin took a crap about 3 or 4 times, one after another, and there was so much, that it leaked out, or rather, up. It turned his whole back brown/yellow because we were trying to hold him so it smushed around and almost got up to his shoulders!

Gross, huh?

We just got done cleaning it up -- it was a team effort -- and the shirt was, perhaps, salvageable, but we just dumped it because we didn't have anything to take it home in. The blanket he was wrapped in was also dirty so we rolled it up and he'll have to be cold for the trip home.

Yay!

Odin has started smiling! He mostly does it in his sleep (he even laughs in his sleep), but he can sometimes manage it when he's awake if he's looking at one of us. It's really cute!

Back to School

Alyssa is going back to school now. I watch Odin and feed him with a bottle if I need to. He behaves really well. Odin and I are going to campus with her every day this week. Starting next week, we'll only go on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Shower

We went to Emily's baby shower today at noon and had a great time. Everybody thought Odin was cute. It's interesting that Brandy had her daughter, June, we now have Odin, and soon Emily will have Ryder. I'm sure they'll cause lots of trouble as they hang out together.

Doctor Visit

We went to see Dr. Dzubay again because of the ER trip. She agreed that everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about. Apparently Odin has a heart murmur. She said it is very common and we'll get it checked in to. We aren't worried, he seems fine.

After that we went to my old office because I promised everybody there that I would bring him by once he was on the outside. Odin is quite the ladies'-man. They all liked him and he liked them.

We went for a walk up the road to visit Grandma at work. She had to emergency-change an explosive diaper while I was in the men's room, and she didn't do so well. I guess it's not like riding a bike. Funny though.

First (of many) ER trip

Odin had been up for 10 hours crying non-stop, not pooping much, and eating abnormal amounts, so at about 3am today we took him to the ER. We had called the pediatrician's office and they said it was probably nothing to worry about, but better take him just to be sure.

After we had been put in a room, a nurse poked his head in and asked how many bowel movements he'd had, which was only 1, but as soon as he left, Odin took a huge one and seemed to get better.

When the doctor came in and examined Odin, he said that it was probably a little colic or even just constipation, and his circumcision was probably hurting since we hadn't given him anything for it. We got some tylenol to help with the soreness and we're putting vaseline on it now. He's a lot better.

Circumcision

We took Odin for his Circumcision today. Dr. Bradshaw did it, she's pretty good. Odin hated the whole thing, obviously, but when it was over he seemed to calm down a bit.

Odin has been having some trouble eating, and we suspected it was Thrush which Dr. Bradshaw confirmed. She gave us this herbal stuff to pain on his tongue, it seems to help him.

Pictures

Odin behaved so well today. He slept through the night, almost all night, and was awake and alert all day. He was quite fun to be around.

However, he seems to be going through a growth-spurt right now because he's been eating for hour and now I've been up taking care of him. So, since it's so late at night, I decided to finally get around to putting all his pictures online.

I added a pictures section to the right so anybody can look at all the pictures that were taken. If you have any more that you haven't already sent me, please let me know so I can add them.

Relatives

My grandmother and great-aunt came to visit today. They brought lunch and we ate with my Dad. They wanted to see Odin and meet Alyssa since they had only seen pictures so far. It was rather pleasant, and I had a good time.

We took Odin to his appointment at 2:50 and all was well. His head is now 14.5 inches, he measures 21 inches in length, 8lbs 8oz, and they said he is 50th percentile in all categories. Good news.

First Bath

Well, it looks like his umbilical cord fell off some time during the night because I found it on the floor. Pretty funny actually. So we just gave him his first bath. He was really well behaved; didn't fuss too much, and seemed to like the warm water.

Numbers

Alyssa pointed out something really cool to me ealier;

My birthday is 8/6/86
Odin's is 4/3/07

Each number is a half, 4 is half of 8 for the month and 3 is half of six for the day. For the year, 7 isn't half of 86, but it is half of 14 which is 8+6. Also, his month and day add up to his year; 4+3=7, pretty cool.

Growing

Odin went through his 7th day grown spurt last night. He was awake all night, and he wouldn't stop eating. It was actually kinda funny. It's day time now and he still doesn't seem to want to sleep. Alyssa and I are taking turns watching him and resting/doing homework and we're just gonna lie around all day, which is what we wanted to do for the first several weeks anyway so it works out.

I'm really glad I took only online classes this term. It's allowing me to be home with my family and it has taken a great burden off of all of us to be able to stay home and just be together. Alyssa will go back to school in a few weeks (the middle of the term) but by then he'll be old enough that Odin and I can go sit in the sun on campus somewhere and just wait for her to get out of class. In the summer we'll both be online and following that we have to go to campus for classes, but never for more than 2 hours and our good friend Ann will just sit on campus and take care of him so we really did make out good for ourselves.

First Appointment

We just got back from our first Pediatrician appointment with Dr. Dzubay for Odin. She said he's one of the best/healthiest babies she's seen in a long time. He is gaining weight perfectly, his jaundice is going away nicely, he is very well behaved, and his eating/sleeping/bathroom patterns are near perfect.

The Story Thus Far....

We woke up at noon on 4/2/07 and Alyssa was already in labor. Not that painful yet, but definitely started. By 3am on the 3rd she couldn't take it so we called our friend Kellie and went over to her place. Kellie is a mother-baby nurse at a different hospital than the one we were going to deliver at, but we decided to use her as a coach for the whole thing since she knows so much about it. We took a dip in her hot-tub to help with the labor pains, which it did, but we weren't able to get to sleep at all. At 10am we decided to go to the hospital.

Alyssa's labor wasn't progressing that well, and we had been up for nearly 26 hours without sleep so we all decided that an epidural was a good idea. We don't see it as weakness or failure; she didn't give up and succumb, the exhaustion was actually causing complications and she was handling the pain just fine, she just needed to sleep. Once the epidural was in, the doctor broke her water for her. This got things going; Alyssa had been stuck dilated at 1 or 2cm for weeks, and in an hour she was up to 5, but it never got beyond that. Odin's heart rate was too low, so we decided to do a c-section now while it could be done safely rather than wait it out and see and have it be necessary to do one in an emergency situation.

Odin was officially born at 4:47pm weighing 8lbs 1oz at 20.5 inches.

That night, Alyssa was able to sleep because of the pain medications but I had gone 38 hours without sleeping so I called Dad to the room to watch Odin while I got some rest for an hour. We eventually sent him to the nursery so we could both get some rest. Alyssa was able to watch him a little after that, and I apparently used the time to sleep through every doctor and nurse visit we had for a while. I still only ended up with about 4 hours sleep since noon on the second, but it's worth it.

Dad had the day off on the 4th so he came over for about 5 or 6 hours to hang out. He took care of Odin while I slept and then Odin fell asleep with Alyssa so Dad and I watched them and played some card games. Our friends came back to visit some more, everybody is so happy for us. The whole hospital floor keeps talking about how cute he is.

Alyssa was feeling a little down that day because she can't do much with Odin. Because of the surgery, it's hard for her to hold him or burp him or walk around with him, so she feels like he doesn't like her very much. She also feels a bit like a failure because she couldn't give birth to him naturally. I talked to her for a while and she felt better about it. She keeps taking naps with him and they're so cute.

We were told on the 5th that it's okay for him to sleep in the same bed and since then he's been sleeping non-stop. He is so content when he sleeps with Mommy. I managed to get a lot more sleep -- off and on -- but not a lot. According to Alyssa, I slept so hard that she kicks me and throws stuff at me and I don't wake up. I know it's true because I would find heavy objects in my "bed" whenever she finally got me up. It makes me sad because I don't want to sleep through Odin crying, and I certainly want to be able to help Alyssa whenever she needs it, but I think I wont sleep as heavy once I'm caught up a bit on the last few days.

We wrapped Odin in the blanket that Emily gave us -- it's really soft, much better than the hospital blankets -- and he really liked it. He's so well behaved; doesn't cry often, is easily wooed, and sleeps a lot.

They said we could leave the next day.

We eventually were sent home, and some family visited, but everyone seemed to remember that we'd wanted to be left alone for the first few weeks. Odin is an extremely good baby; he sleeps until we get him up (unless we wait a really long time) but never so long that it might be cause for concern, he doesn't cry when I change him, and he is really easy to take care of.

I'll be setting up some online photo albums of all the pictures we got, so look for those.