Granddad
Uncle Roger
Aunt Leela
Uncle Ian
Aunt Edith
Poh-Poh
Aunt Edith and Poh-Poh
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Big Adjustment to Big Brother
Poor Adam had a rough first week or so as a big brother. He's fascinated by Naomi and very sweet to her, though a little bit of a bull in a china shop. But his stress came out at naptime and bedtime.
We'd recovered from the new temptation to escape his room just a week or so before Naomi was born. He'd finally gone back to staying in his bed and chatting for 20 minutes to 2 hours while falling asleep. I love his night-time chats. Then for about a week after Naomi was born, naptime and bedtime became a struggle again. He simple refused to nap on several occasions, which is a big deal because he's accustomed to a 3-hour afternoon nap. Instead of chatting, he'd play for hours until he crashed or, worse, beg sobbingly for Mommy over and over again. In the photo above, he'd fallen asleep with his seal on the hardwood mid-plea.
Luckily, the sleep trouble was short-lived. He's been back to "normal" for several days and treats us over the monitor to surprisingly clear and correct renditions of his repetoire of best-loved songs, poems, and books. Today's nap came preceded by Old Macdonald and Aura Lee. Last night, there were easily half a dozen songs, including, Michael Finnegan, Auld Lang Syne, and ABCD (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star).
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Naomi's birth
I "promised" a blog entry on Naomi's birth; so, here it is. For those of you who are wary of gory details, fear not. It was a mercifully short and simple labour and delivery.
The Coles' Notes version: I started having strong contractions around 3 pm on Friday, the 19th, called the hospital and babysitters at 4pm, parked at the hospital at 5 pm, had my own OB arrive in time to deliver, had my water broken for me, pushed 7 times (maybe only 6), and had a daughter at 6:11 pm. The End.
more detail for the terribly curious
I was feeling pretty good all through my second and third trimesters. I gained a healthy amount of weight that wasn't too burdensome to drag around with my nearly six-foot frame. At my 38-week check up, there were no signs of labour starting. I had finished my report cards on Wednesday, and so, I felt like I had been on vacation by the following weekend. Then Monday night, I had such strong fetal movements and cramping that I barely slept. Same thing Wednesday night and Thursday night. I could tell things were moving along and had our bags in the car and ready to go. At my 39-week check up on Thursday, I wasn't very dilated but 80% shortened.
In other words, we could expect the baby to arrive any time. In fact, Jenn, my OB, told me not to bother scheduling an appointment for the next week. She told me to show up at the hospital on Sunday morning, when she'd be on shift and she'd help things along, if the baby hadn't made an appearance yet. Thus, we knew the baby would be born Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. So, we made our last-minute child-care arrangements, stocked the cupboards and fridge, and Dion took Friday off work. Which... thank goodness.
I had a few contractions Friday morning, but never more than 3 in a row. Then around 3:30, I realised that I'd had 4 strong contractions spaced about 10 minutes apart. We waited for just a couple of more contractions to make sure this was the real deal. With my having had a short labour for Adam and with rush hour coming, we were not going to mess around. We called in the troops to take care of Adam, called the hospital, and called Jenn.
We were very lucky with traffic considering we pulled out of our building at 4:30. We chose a good route - Gerrard to River to Bayview to Pottery/Mortimer. We got to the TEGH parking lot in 25 minutes.
Jenn had instructed maternity triage to examine me right away. I was 6.5 cm dilated and at station 0. They got me to an L&D room post-haste - "There will be no babies in triage today!" In the car, my contractions had gone to 8 minutes and by the time I was in L&D, they dropped to 5 and then 3 minutes. Luckily, Jenn had been at her office, which is just 10 minutes away. She arrived after just a few contractions and had time to change into greens for delivery. It's really great to have had Jenn deliver both babies; there's something about a trusted friend's voice that is so encouraging and reassuring.
There's not much more to the story. It was just about the least "medicalised" hospital birth there is to be had. No IV, monitor, oxygen, anything. Jenn broke my water and stretched out one stubborn section of my cervix and we were good to go. I even managed to keep some semblance of a sense of humour. At one point, Alicia, the L&D nurse, said, "after this next push, your baby will be here." I replied, "Don't make promises you can't keep." But she was right. I think it was the seventh push and the last. Then Dion cut the cord. Jenn didn't even miss out on her Friday night family dinner plans.
The surprise ending was Jenn's announcement of a girl. I don't remember exactly what I said but it was something along the lines of, "You're kidding!" We were really, really, expecting the 21st Lew boy in a row.
The Coles' Notes version: I started having strong contractions around 3 pm on Friday, the 19th, called the hospital and babysitters at 4pm, parked at the hospital at 5 pm, had my own OB arrive in time to deliver, had my water broken for me, pushed 7 times (maybe only 6), and had a daughter at 6:11 pm. The End.
more detail for the terribly curious
I was feeling pretty good all through my second and third trimesters. I gained a healthy amount of weight that wasn't too burdensome to drag around with my nearly six-foot frame. At my 38-week check up, there were no signs of labour starting. I had finished my report cards on Wednesday, and so, I felt like I had been on vacation by the following weekend. Then Monday night, I had such strong fetal movements and cramping that I barely slept. Same thing Wednesday night and Thursday night. I could tell things were moving along and had our bags in the car and ready to go. At my 39-week check up on Thursday, I wasn't very dilated but 80% shortened.
In other words, we could expect the baby to arrive any time. In fact, Jenn, my OB, told me not to bother scheduling an appointment for the next week. She told me to show up at the hospital on Sunday morning, when she'd be on shift and she'd help things along, if the baby hadn't made an appearance yet. Thus, we knew the baby would be born Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. So, we made our last-minute child-care arrangements, stocked the cupboards and fridge, and Dion took Friday off work. Which... thank goodness.
I had a few contractions Friday morning, but never more than 3 in a row. Then around 3:30, I realised that I'd had 4 strong contractions spaced about 10 minutes apart. We waited for just a couple of more contractions to make sure this was the real deal. With my having had a short labour for Adam and with rush hour coming, we were not going to mess around. We called in the troops to take care of Adam, called the hospital, and called Jenn.
We were very lucky with traffic considering we pulled out of our building at 4:30. We chose a good route - Gerrard to River to Bayview to Pottery/Mortimer. We got to the TEGH parking lot in 25 minutes.
Jenn had instructed maternity triage to examine me right away. I was 6.5 cm dilated and at station 0. They got me to an L&D room post-haste - "There will be no babies in triage today!" In the car, my contractions had gone to 8 minutes and by the time I was in L&D, they dropped to 5 and then 3 minutes. Luckily, Jenn had been at her office, which is just 10 minutes away. She arrived after just a few contractions and had time to change into greens for delivery. It's really great to have had Jenn deliver both babies; there's something about a trusted friend's voice that is so encouraging and reassuring.
There's not much more to the story. It was just about the least "medicalised" hospital birth there is to be had. No IV, monitor, oxygen, anything. Jenn broke my water and stretched out one stubborn section of my cervix and we were good to go. I even managed to keep some semblance of a sense of humour. At one point, Alicia, the L&D nurse, said, "after this next push, your baby will be here." I replied, "Don't make promises you can't keep." But she was right. I think it was the seventh push and the last. Then Dion cut the cord. Jenn didn't even miss out on her Friday night family dinner plans.
The surprise ending was Jenn's announcement of a girl. I don't remember exactly what I said but it was something along the lines of, "You're kidding!" We were really, really, expecting the 21st Lew boy in a row.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Margaret Naomi Lew
Margaret Naomi Lew
(going by Naomi)
born Friday, June 19, 2009, 6:11 pm
7 pounds 1 ounce, 20.0 inches
Hey, look! It's a BABY.
(going by Naomi)
born Friday, June 19, 2009, 6:11 pm
7 pounds 1 ounce, 20.0 inches
She's so tiny.
Hooray, I made it!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Escape!
Adam now knows that he can escape the crib. He's long been physically capable of it but has never bothered in the past. The sleep bag, which we put on him backwards so that he cannot escape it, was deterring him because he couldn't get his feet over the rail one at a time. Today, he discovered a new method and was coming out of his room as fast as we could put him back in. So, Dion and I took turns silently watching to pre-empt escape attempts. We witnessed the escape technique:
a somersault. a front flip? I'm not sure of the correct term. Are any readers familiar with the high bar or the uneven bars?
hands on the rail,
waist above the rail,
head over and below the rail,
feet launched up, over the rail, past the head, and downwards for landing
It was all we could do to contain our laughter, lest that encourage his gymnastic pursuits. I don't mind discouraging it - he's going to be way too tall to be a competitive gymnast or diver anyway.
a somersault. a front flip? I'm not sure of the correct term. Are any readers familiar with the high bar or the uneven bars?
hands on the rail,
waist above the rail,
head over and below the rail,
feet launched up, over the rail, past the head, and downwards for landing
It was all we could do to contain our laughter, lest that encourage his gymnastic pursuits. I don't mind discouraging it - he's going to be way too tall to be a competitive gymnast or diver anyway.
Friday, May 29, 2009
big brother in training
rocking and feeding the baby
feeding the baby a little more carefully
drilling the baby?!
belly for number two
with number two at 36 weeks (out of 40)
with Adam at 38 weeks
I'm not getting quite as many comments on how tiny I am this time but still some. It still cracks me up though. I haven't been legitimately tiny since about 2 months of age.
Even though with Adam I measured the textbook size at every checkup, this time, I'm measuring small enough that my OB sent me for an extra ultrasound around 32 weeks. It turns out that the baby "could not be more average." I left Dion out of the picture with number two just in case he's looking bigger, too.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Adam's 2nd birthday party
Thanks for hosting, MacAllisters; for the cake, Auntie Joan; and for the presents, everyone.
Adam's 2nd birthday morning
In the morning, Adam, my brother, and I went to the Agricultural Museum at the Central Experimental Farm, aka, to "see some animals." All the usual suspects, excluding chickens (never found out the reason.) But Adam did get to touch a lamb - "nice and soft."
Fletcher-Patersons on Adam's 2nd B-day
There may be 4 MacAllisters, 3 Lews, and 2 Hobbses in this group shot but Fletcher-Paterson is the tie that binds.
full disclosure: One face is cropped out of another frame and into this one because some three people weren't looking at the camera in that frame but one person was grimacing in this one. It was neither Adam nor Dion. They always take good pictures.
Mischief
This is one of those times that I became suspicious because it was too quiet. very unusual with this kid. Those are my toothbrush and toothpaste. grrrr. Happily, however, Adam continued to amuse himself at the sink for about 40 minutes while we packed up to go home - we had been staying at my Aunt Joan's in Ottawa for Adam's second birthday and a hockey tournament for Dion.
We decided that the socks do match. Not each other, of course, but they do both match the shirt. A good look, I think.
Gingerbread Men
A couple of weeks ago, two strange things happened at our house. 1) Dessert. 2) Arts and Crafts.
As you can see, Adam is in a bit of a Pollock period. Me,I'm stuck in gender stereotypes. Pearls and ties? Are you kidding me?
As you can see, Adam is in a bit of a Pollock period. Me,I'm stuck in gender stereotypes. Pearls and ties? Are you kidding me?
Friday, April 17, 2009
Chinglish
This story has gotten a couple of laughs; so, here it is for posterity....
Adam has just a few Cantonese words and expressions, including "maht" (meaning to wipe) and "maht beibei" (meaning to wipe one's nose).
The other day, Adam's nose was running; so, I said, "Come here, please, Adam. Maht beibei."
Adam didn't like the idea. He shook his head and replied: "No Mahting!"
Adam has just a few Cantonese words and expressions, including "maht" (meaning to wipe) and "maht beibei" (meaning to wipe one's nose).
The other day, Adam's nose was running; so, I said, "Come here, please, Adam. Maht beibei."
Adam didn't like the idea. He shook his head and replied: "No Mahting!"
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Fever
These pics pretty much sum up the second half of my March Break. sick and clingy Adam.
Long arms are good for self-portraits.
Long arms are good for self-portraits.
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