One week in

The little one is a week old as of this morning! Here's a birthday picture.

She has an appetite like you would not believe and seems to be packing on the pounds (well, ounces anyway). In the past four days or so, she has gone from eating about 1-1.5 ounces at each sitting to about 4-5. Take my advice: buy stock in Enfamil.

After the holiday tomorrow, I settle back into the routine of heading off to work each morning. I'm not so excited about leaving the Peanut each morning. I feel like she's already changed so much in the last week, I don't want to miss anything while I'm away from home each day. And I kinda like spending time with her. She's pretty good company.

Jocelyn, presented in Technicolor

Here's a little taste of the sights and sounds on Jocelyn's birth day.

Settling in

Jocelyn seems to be getting acclimated bit by bit to being home now. Up until a couple of days ago, she had been fussier at home than in the hospital, but we changed the way we were feeding her and she seems to be much more content now. The first few nights I thought she was going to lose her voice from screaming so much when we changed her diaper or clothes, but now she's much more sedate and much easier to handle during the night. Hopefully this trend continues! (This is me knocking on wood.)

She definitely is beginning to show little personality traits, and as a result has acquired a few more nicknames. She has been known as the Peanut ever since we received the news of her impending arrival, but now has also been dubbed Maggie (after the Simpsons character, for her love of the binky and the way it moves when she's working on it) and Wilbur (for the snorting noises she sometimes makes when she's really hungry and settling in for a nice meal, like a little piggy). She's quite adorable if I and Julie do say so ourselves.

One thing that's been a little bit of a challenge is trying to figure out what she's trying to tell us when she cries. All of the baby books will tell you that a baby has different cries to ask for different things, and that you can identify what she's asking for by listening carefully to her cues. Sounds like a nice idea, but they all sound the same to Julie and I. Maybe we will become better listeners over time.

Another thing that's a little challenging is fighting the tendency to be a neurotic, overprotective father. Every little sneeze or cough around her makes me anxious, and I find myself wanting to wrap her up in a little cocoon, safely sheltered from the world around her.

At the same time, I am amazed at how strong she is already at six days old. She surprised us all in the hospital by being able to hold her own head up almost immediately after being born. When we saw the pediatrician on Friday, we told him about this and he seemed a bit skeptical, but then he put her on her belly. Not only did she hold her head up to be able to look straight ahead, but she propped herself up on her elbows and pushed herself to one side, almost rolling over. She also has fought through the swaddle blanket we wrap her up in for naps several times, working her hands free so that she can move her elbows around and put her fingers in her mouth. So, maybe I shouldn't be so neurotic, because it seems like she will be more than capable of taking care of herself.

Nah, I'm pretty sure I'm still going to worry. How could I not be overprotective of a daughter as beautiful as this?

Arrival!

Jocelyn Isabelle Gesner was born on Monday, December 24, 2007 at 6:38 am. She was 8 pounds 9 ounces at birth and 21-1/2 inches long. Santa outdid himself this year, because she is absolutely gorgeous!


The little angel arrived complete with her own halo. Mom had a bit of trouble during the delivery and the doctors needed to use a vacuum device to help Jocelyn proceed through the birth canal, and the device left a little ring on the crown of her head. The halo is fitting given the Christmas season. :)

I was surprised at how emotional I was when she emerged. Obviously the anticipation had been building for weeks, and I had been excited to become a father, but when I first saw her I just couldn't hold back the tears of happiness. Instantly, she became my inspiration. I want her to be as proud of me as I am of her, so right then and there I vowed to do everything I could to make that happen. It was a powerful and transformative experience.

Overload

Dear Jocelyn,

Years from now when you are having a look at this blog, you may ask us why we didn't post anything from the beginning of November until the end of December, so we missed almost 2 months just before you were born. When that happens, my little treasure, we will tell you the story of how we discovered that our previous house in Manchester had been built on a landfill, and how we had to move into a tiny apartment in Arlington just before you were born to make sure you were not exposed to anything harmful. We will tell you about having our lives turned upside down just before you arrived, and how we were forced to sue the person who built and sold us the house to get back our money and move on with our lives. Hopefully we will be able to tell you that things worked themselves out quickly and relatively painlessly. Hopefully.

Love,
Dad

Nervous? Ummm...:-)

Although, I agree that trial by fire is probably the best way to learn, I think we could use a bit more time to prepare for Jocelyn Dave is right...we do have the nursery furniture, some beautiful clothes and some fabulous books. However, we have no car equipped with a car seat in which to get Jocelyn home from the hospital . We do have the car seat, thanks to Jocelyn's second cousin Dawn, but it is still be in a big box in the basement. And since the doctor seemed to think the car seat was important (she asked me about it at my last visit and I had to promise her we would have it ready to take Jocelyn home in when the time came), we should probably get to the local fire department to figure out how to put it in correctly!! Besides the car seat and all the other things that Dave is unaware that we still need...baby bottles, baby soap, etc...I am not mentally ready. I would love a few more weeks of mental preparation before the next phase of our lives. And maybe the thought of labor is an afterthought for Dave but it's a fairly good size mental hurdle for me...Give us (me) a bit more time, Jocelyn:)

Jocelyn = Godot

Some day soon, when I am in a sleep-deprived state, I will probably regret saying that I would like to fast-forward through the rest of the pregnancy and just go straight to actual parenthood, but that's pretty much how I feel. We've got the nursery set up, we've got the stroller, we've read a bunch of books, we have enough baby clothes (thanks to generous gift-givers) that we may never have to do a load of laundry, and now we're pretty much just waiting for her to decide that it's time to join the party. I say, let's get on with it already! (I say this with full knowledge that Julie probably feels like we are not even close to being ready.)

In all seriousness, I think there's a finite amount of knowledge and skill one can acquire by simply reading about how to care for a baby. After that, one needs to learn by doing. I'm excited to dive in and get to know the Peanut.

Bump Report, Vol. 2

Jocelyn continues to physically announce her presence, as these pics will attest. It's pretty wild to watch Julie's belly as Jocelyn moves around - these little protrusions, little knees and elbows, shifting about. We'll have to see if we can catch that on video sometime soon.

Jocelyn seems most active when there is ambient noise in the room - like when we are watching TV or out having a meal (she seems especially drawn to telecasts of the Sox and Pats). I think she is going to be drawn to action, and not a very sedentary baby. Hopefully she will like her rest too. :)

We took a baby CPR class yesterday with our parents. It was very informative and more fun than I expected - we really can't say enough about our experience thus far with Mass General. We learned not only about techniques for resuscitation and what to do if the child is choking, but also how to baby-proof the house and what types of things we should and shouldn't have in the nursery. And we found out that the instructor's in-laws live about 3 doors down from the new house in Wellesley, and that she lives just a couple of streets over. Small world. She had a lot of great things to say about the neighborhood, and affirmed what we had heard about it being "The Diaper Belt" (apparently there are quite a few young families within a few block radius). We are very excited to get settled in there.

Julie tells me that the pain she had started to feel from the skin stretching around her belly has pretty much subsided. She feels great and continues to look wonderful. We feel very lucky.

If any of you out there have requests for specific information on Julie or the baby, let us know and we'll d our best to post on it!

T-Minus...

Today is November 1st. Which means that next month I am due to become a parent. Uh oh. Am I ready?

The Nesting Instinct

This flurry of posts is due to us realizing that we can post photos with each blog entry (a couple of technical gurus here)! Blogging is so much easier when you can let the pictures do the talking for you. And since we also discovered that we can post videos, AND just got a new Handycam yesterday, maybe we'll do the Bump Report Vol. 2 live on location from Manchester, MA. Stay tuned.

Here's one more photo - Jocelyn's nursery. We just got the furniture last week. Actually there will be an addition to the room shortly, as the UPS man just arrived with a glider chair that we ordered. On the window sill are some of the stuffed animals Jocelyn received as gifts at the shower this weekend, and on the foot of the crib is the beautiful quilt that aunt Janet made for her. Tucked away in the armoire are all the clothes she received. You all are going to make her a very well-dressed little one, and helping us make her feel welcome! Thank you all again.

Baby Shower #1

Julie had a baby shower this past weekend with friends and family from New Hampshire. She had a great time celebrating with everyone (and her Dad and I had a great time killing a few hours at the Portsmouth Brewery while the shower was going on). Jocelyn got some wonderful, generous and thoughtful gifts, and she thanks everyone who came out to help us prepare for her arrival. Here are a few shots from the party:



Those crazy Gagne girls.














A few future babysitters.














Cousin Alex was there to meet her new BFF.











Julie has a second shower scheduled in a couple of weeks with friends and family from MA. After that I was thinking we could convert it into a musical and take it on the road. :)

Thanks everyone!

The Bump Report, Vol. 1

Here's Jocelyn in all her glory. Actually this picture was taken about a week ago, so another update is due soon. Maybe we'll work on that tonight.

Yes, we've been a bit lax in blogging lately...actually, since no one had posted any comments, Julie and I assumed that people had stopped reading it after the first few entries. But a couple of people mentioned it to me this week, so I figured I should get a post or two up here.

Julie is feeling great. She is a bit more tired than usual, and less mobile, but overall her body is handling the pregnancy wonderfully. She had a checkup a couple of weeks back and the doctor said she and the baby are in great shape. And she looks fabulous. :)

The baby furniture is being delivered to our house in Manchester this week. I'm excited to have it set up and to have things organized before the stork arrives. It is starting to feel more real every day now. We both have our noses buried in how-to books, cramming for the big day rapidly approaching.

It is looking more and more like we will be in Manchester for the winter at least. We dropped the price substantially (again) and had a bit of traffic at an open house this weekend, but so far no word on an offer being made. We did have some good fortune with the Wellesley house, though, in that we found some short-term renters. Julie was down visiting the house about a week ago and was approached by a neighbor who said she had some friends who were pretty desperate for a rental, since their place is being renovated and they have no heat. We explained the situation with the dog smell, and said we didn't think anyone would want to live there. As it turns out, the husband manages commercial real estate, and agreed to have the carpets removed at no charge to us to see if it would take care of the smell. So far it looks like it did, so they moved in last weekend and will be there for the next 3 months. So I guess we have the option of moving to that house in 3 months, if we choose to do so. I am holding out hope that we can sell the Manchester house and just start construction in Wellesley when they move out, but I guess we will see about that.

Signing off for now...

As I sat waiting in my customers' offices today, Jocelyn was having a field day doing jump and jacks inside me. It was as if she was as bored as I was but could actually do something to keep herself occupied!! It was an unusually warm day for October so I was wearing a dress where her movements were clearly visible to anyone caring to look. Hi there Peanut...Have fun!

This blog is quickly becoming much more about Mom and Dad's travails than about Jocelyn, but this weekend we had yet another misadventure which could change where we are living when she is born.

We closed on a new house in Wellesley on Friday. Our original plan was to stay in the Manchester house until it sells, then move to a rental unit while a new house is built on the lot in Wellesley. However, a few weeks ago we changed our minds and decided that we would live in the Wellesley house until we sell Manchester, and then move to a rental. We wanted to take advantage of the shorter commute and proximity to friends as soon as possible.

Well, we moved into the Wellesley house on Saturday and quickly discovered that the dog owned by the previous occupants of the house had put quite a stamp on it. It was bad enough on us (Julie and I were both awoken by the stench Saturday night), but it did quite a number on the cats. We decided to move back to Manchester on Sunday, and as soon as the cats got home they fell asleep for about 16 hours. Poor things.

We have now changed directions about 18 times in the past 3 weeks. I hope things reach a steady state soon and stay there for a bit, as I'm sure all of this angst and stress can't be good for the little one. Watch, now that I have said this we will probably sell the Manchester house this week and have to move in a month.

Dear Jocelyn

Dear Jocelyn,

I wanted you to know how wonderful your father is and how lucky we are that he is the man in our lives. On Friday night, while I was calling him to complain about the rental truck company's customer service, he was sitting in traffic (not complaining) driving home to Manchester with a bouquet of red roses from my favorite florist and a bottle of my favorite champagne. He was showing me, in the many different ways that he often does, that he loves and appreciates me. He is a romantic, that father of yours. He could not be more excited about the prospect of being a father to his little "peanut", which he nicknamed you months ago. And this blog was entirely his idea and creation.

I envision our life with your father to be full of love and pleasant surprises, such as Friday night. And one of my strongest desires is to create a home that is warm, loving and inviting to family, friends and most importantly, to you and your father.

You Can't Go Home Again

So after a long, drama-filled week, we closed on our new place in Wellesley today. In a nutshell, we found out on Wednesday that the town had just published a new set of zoning regulations which (we thought) would prevent us from building a house big enough for 3 adults and 2-3 kids. We then spent hours on the phone with the builder, his attorney, our attorney and our mortgage broker. As of Wednesday night, we had decided that Wellesley was just not going to work for us, so we were not going to go through with the closing, forfeit our $30K deposit, and start from scratch on the real estate search, while continuing to suffer through the daily commute from Manchester to Boston.

Then on Thursday morning, Julie went down and spoke at length with the head of the Wellesley Planning Board, the publishers of the new regulations, and learned there were wrinkles to the regulations that had not been apparent to us earlier. We then concluded that we could build a house big enough for all of us. This was obviously a big relief, but also added to the emotional roller coaster of the week overall.

We closed this morning and are now the proud owners of a 1,273 square foot Cape that Julie has affectionately dubbed "The Trailer." Unless we sell the Manchester house soon, it is in all likelihood the house in which Jocelyn will be born. Quite an adventure, this real estate stuff.

Driving in to work this morning, I kept wondering what type of person she will be - what type of innate qualities she will have.

Will she be an extrovert or hang back in the crowd? Will she seek thrills and excitement, or calm and serenity? Will she have to be asked to be kind and gentle, or will that come naturally?

Will she be outwardly feminine or more of a tomboy? What type of people will interest her?

Will she be passionate, and if so, what will be her passion? Will she be more scientist or philosopher (or neither, or both)? Will she gravitate toward the arts, or will we not be able to pry the ball out of her hand?

So many questions. Can't wait to get to know her.

Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Jocelyn Isabelle Gesner. I am a Sagittarius (assuming Mom delivers on time) who's into kickboxing and water gymnastics (just ask Mom). I have two sisters, Sam and Teddy, who seem awfully curious about what's going on with Mom's belly these days. I plan on growing up in Wellesley, if Mom and Dad can ever sell the house in Manchester.

I had a chance to say hello to Mom and Dad today at our third ultrasound appointment (see my glamour shots below), which went OK except that one of the technicians was pushing me around a little bit. (She was trying to determine whether I need to be delivered by C-section. Luckily, we heard that all systems seem to be go for a normal delivery in December.) She kept poking me with that wand, and I took the opportunity to practice my kickboxing skills on her hand, earning some admiration from Dad.

Oh, and Mom and Dad learned that it's OK now to paint my bedroom pink...the technician seemed much more certain of this today than in previous visits. Glad we got that settled.

All this conversation is tiring me out. I think I'll take a nap...