rat_girl3

Lucien and I went downtown today to have lunch with the Houghton crowd. We met up at MJ's on time! with Lucien fast asleep; so, I could eat my unhealthy lunch of cheese fries and clam chowder while chatting with friends. Geno, Kat, and Lynz were present.

After lunch we started burning a trail home when I stopped and realized it was a beautiful day and one worth taking pictures of with Lucien. He had a ball wandering around the Public Garden, checking out live ducks then climbing all over the statues of ducks. It was so cliche, who doesn't take pictures of their baby/kid on the ducks, but he was adorable and the lighting was great.

Awesome day out before hibernating for the winter; I can feel the need to hide inside coming on.

Being at a 24hr-3 day party was a different experience with a baby. We still had a wonderful time, but we apologize for not getting to talk to more people, we often had to keep our heads down as we followed our moving baby around exploring.

To celebrate Halloween Lucien had 3 costumes, the adorable chicken costume, a hand made Kublai Khan costume, and a Steve Irwin costume because it just worked.

There is more to say, but Lucien is calling and this post will have to be completed later.

Thank you Sean and Kelly for hosting, we had a wonderful time!

Here are photos from the past two weekends of fun with Grandparents Girard. We went up to visit them last weekend to celebrate Matt and Donna's birthdays. Donna made her famous carrot cake, it is by far my favorite cake I have had to date. It is perfectly moist and sweet. While I got some sleep, they taught Lucien how to climb steps. He can now make it all the way up our basement steps. Thankfully he also knows how to go back down, of course we watch him like hawks when he is crawling up.

This weekend Ron and Donna came down and babysat Lucien so we could go to a Halloween Party. We were caught on camera doing the worm synchronized in our onesies. The party was awesome, it was great to get to go out. I think more outings are going to be scheduled soon.

Lucien's nine month check up was yesterday. There was the weight, length, and head circumference checks, 75th percentile at 22lbs 6.7 ozs, 75th percentile at 29 in, and off the charts at 47 1/2 cm. The other interesting bit about the trip was how he handled having blood taken. Thankfully they didn't prick his finger and he couldn't see my or Matt's face. To take the blood they used the butterfly needle, I held him in my lap, and he could only see the happy nurse's face. He didn't react at all, apparently he has the stoic Gathy gene his Uncle Greg and Great Uncle Brian have. So, later in life when Lucien inevitably cracks his head open or needs stitches he will hopefully deal with it the same way.

Today's adventures started out with an accidental trial of habanero peppers. I decided to lick one and got enough on my finger that Lucien had a lick too. He screamed on and off for about and hour and a half. Once he had a sizable portion of bread he started to calm back down.

Mildly calmer Lucien and I were ready to start on our way downtown, however, late because I had been looking at the clock that runs slow. Walking to the bus I took out my cell to call the people we were meeting to let them know of our lateness, unfortunately it was dead. I kept a positive attitude and hoped to find a nice person on the bus to let be borrow their cell.

As we approached the bus stop I noticed the looming black clouds and no bus in sight. I crossed my fingers that the bus would arrive before the rain. The sky became covered and far in the distance I saw the wind pick up and a grey curtain come down. I had seconds to find cover, which we did thankfully, on the porch of the house behind the bus stop. We managed to watch for the bus from the porch and caught it without getting completely soaked. And since we looked so silly getting on the bus a lady was happy to lend me her cell phone.

Half an hour late we arrived for lunch, which was a celebration of Kat's 20 years at Houghton. Congrats Kat! Laura, Lynz, Kat, Geno, Lucien, and I had a fun and relaxed time, over indulging in delicious food. All of us were wanting to give in to the food coma. Now home Lucien has succumbed.

Last weekend turned into an all Chapel Hill weekend as Leah, who lives in Boston but hails from CH, came for breakfast Saturday, the Howes flew into Boston Friday, and my Mom and Mark flew in Saturday afternoon. The first gathering started at breakfast Saturday when Leah came for breakfast and Cam and Cat wound up heading over in time to join. We hit up the New Yorker a small diner in Watertown were Lucien is adored. I got to prove my new skills of parallel parking as I got within inches of both cars and parked in a spot exactly the size of our Hyndai. Cam helped, but I only hand to make one correction!

After breakfast, Leah had to leave, but not before a quick stop to Ben Franklin to grab some silly Halloween decorations. We got bloody hand prints for the windows and a tombstone. Cam, Cat, Lucien, and I got home with sometime on our hands before my Mom and Mark arrived. We spent the hour going through yearbooks, elementary through high school because I still have them all.

Pushing time once everyone was together we got lunch at a greek restaurant, then went baby clothes shopping, afterwards we needed to go back home for two minutes, before we caught a bus into Harvard then a bus to the Fluff Festival, catching Matt and Adam, and delivering Cam and Cat to dinner by 6:30. Dinner had to be pushed to 7pm but our time waiting for and riding buses put us right on time for the Fluffer-Nutters Adam and Matt had waited in line for. Cam champed up and carried Lucien back to Harvard from Union Square, he was her heating unit before we said good bye for the night. The rest of us, now making up Matt, Mark, my Mom, Lucien and I, went to the Hanerino house warming party.

Sunday was more spread out. We got up to rain, but stuck to our plans of Apple Picking with Matt's work. Warm apple cinnamon donuts and apple cider were our breakfast before we trekked out, using for the first time our hiking baby pack, into the orchard. With Matt on baby duty I was able be the one to climb the trees to gather apples. We kept our voyage short, with the rain coming down, and headed up to the shop for more warm cider and donuts. Lucien got to partake in these and even with his not-so-sure faces he enjoyed.

Monday we had brunch/lunch with Cam, Cat, and their parents at Friendly Toast. That place is wonderful, so many awesome choices. I got the Cuban Breakfast, black beans, tomatoes covered in cheese and sunny eggs with hash browns and spicy toast, I just made myself hungry. We then gave the Chapel Hillians a brief tour of Kendall Square to the Public Gardens. Terry, the Cs' dad champed up and carried Lucien all the way across the bridge into Boston proper. We did the necessary photo op at the Ducks and the stop at Starbucks for refreshment.

It was sad to see everyone go. The weekend was excellent. Even when we rushed it never felt bad, we just kept going and took it easy. I love visitors, especially when you will carry my baby for me, who's next?

Writing from flickr to link everyone to new sets of pictures from the end of August and the beginning of September. Lots of family visits and lots of fun.

This October 4th, I have a little more time to talk about this weekend. My Dad and Rebecca were finally able to come visit us, everyone was feeling good. Our plan was to keep the weekend low key, hanging around the house letting Matt make jams and us talk or watch movies.

The U.S.S. Constitution was the only expedition we had planned. We managed to make it out and on board the ship. We got Lucien a passport book to collect National Stamps of all the places he visits around the US and marked his first one, on September 11th. The trip back home hit a small snag. We had no idea how off our time schedule it would make us. A quick clean up was required, but it took us about 2 hours, which put us a dinner around 8pm. All three starving adults were suddenly unsympathetic about our growling baby. We hurriedly chose a fancy restaurant and caused commotion until our stomachs were no longer grumbling. It turned our low key into something else all together. With silly spirits we all made the best of it and laughed it off.

Saturday turned up raining so we got our chance to mill around the house and let Matt cook. He made us an amazing lunch of corn chowder, then homemade tomato sauce which we had for dinner with sausage. I love how much Matt cooks I am forever thankful for his abilities in the kitchen. My Dad, Rebecca, and I busied ourselves with playing with Lucien and the Wii. Wii Fit was a huge hit. There was endless laughter as we failed to be balanced or passed out from the overexertion required to hula hoop. The fun was so much we kept right on playing through Sunday. As soon as they got home they purchased a Wii. We are happy to spread the joy.

Even though my family is not terribly close by I am always so glad when they come to visit us. Thanks for coming!

Today was crazy and all started with a bird pooping on my head.

Timothy Basil Ering is one of my heroes. He is a remarkable person with a talent to paint and illustrate energetic images. Just looking at his work with get you pumped up because of the action flying all around the page. Lucien and I had the privilege of getting to hear him read two of his books. Finn Throws a Fit and Frog Belly Rat Bone, we also got them signed to us. While he signed our books we were able to talk about illustrating and raising kids.

After our exciting morning we got lunch with Michelle. We had a relaxing time, with Lucien sleeping through the meal. Heading back to work with Michelle we ran into Pat, literally with the stroller. He was so scared! He didn't understand why a lady would do that, he was being nice and moving out of the way. It gave us all a good laugh.

Once everyone had headed back to work Lucien and I strolled to Bob Slate and got my much needed magnets for the craft fair and planned to meet up with Elissa and Lilev once we were through. Our meeting spot was the new park at the Cambridge Common. We met a couple new babies, including a famous one, playing in the sand until it got too cold.

Elissa, the babies, and I ran into Matt before we split up, I was happy to finally get to introduce them. Already in Harvard Square Matt and I decided to get dinner as Lucien was again asleep during meal time. We wrapped up a marvelous day eating yummy warm Indian Food with Burdicks for dessert.

This was a great day. I want to be sure to mark the days like this and strive to make everyday this comfortable by enjoying every moment I can. I feel like after a lot of frustration over the summer we are finding our way into less stressful, happier times. Recalling and focusing on the happier moments I think will keep us on a better path.

Matt's cousin Alli and her husband Brian hooked up the family this year and scored a house on the Cape. There was enough room for all of us party animals.

This year there were four babies in tow. The beach isn't fun for them yet, but taking quiet walks to help them into nap time or sleep was pleasant for them and a good time for the adults to talk.

Our nights didn't go as late as before the babies. Matt and I wound up turning in earlier than anyone else since we are co-sleeping with Lucien. When he went to bed we did too.

I'm so glad we were able to have this weekend with everyone together. It will be great to look back and see the cousins all together even when they were young. The twins are beautiful and sweet and Brayden is so cute running around. Matt anxiously awaits when Lucien is up bounding over the grass and chairs and climbing the house . . . oh dear.

Last weekend we traveled to Philly to see the Weavers. Upon arrival we realized we could have taken the train in less time than that of driving and much less aggravation. Hindsight is 20/20. Next time! Anyway. We had a wonderful time, we visited the Mütter Museum, got and gave Lucien delicious Sorbeto and Gelato, then yummy greek food where Lucien fed himself. All the rest of the time we rocked out to fantastic music in the Weaver's phenomenal apartment.

Andrea also took some pictures from the weekend; we thank her for them because they are beautiful pictures of Lucien. I am sure a couple of them are going to be blown up and framed in the near future.

After and a little during our trip Lucien began to demonstrate his new abilities with moving. He can now pull himself up and crawl, mostly backwards. The crib has been moved down to the second level because whenever he is in it, he pulls himself up to look out. The easy part is totally over. We are very proud of his accomplishments. It is exciting to watch. He is turning into a little boy.

Last night Lucien got to go to his first Red Sox game. He slept through the first two innings, then the cheering got to loud to sleep through anymore. He had a blast with so many people to watch and smile at.

We sat in the RIT section, it was wild to see people signing and friends that I haven't seen in 4 or 5 years. We sat right behind Tim Hennekey and next to Danny and Mario.

As always too much time has gone by since my last post. Part of this comes from being in a place without internet for a week, then coming home to a lot of work to be done, and finally landing exhausted and behind.

Lucien has had a lot of first, first time swimming, boating, hiking, seeing deer, rabbits and bear pooh, and playing with dogs. He has taken to all of it well and from the pictures you can see how much he is enjoying it.

Mom and Dad are enjoying everything too, but we are pretty wiped out, of course this is coming from someone who is awake at 1 am. Time for bed!

Tuesday marked Lucien's half birthday. There were no gifts on that day, but some over excited parents definitely went a little wild in the toy store over the weekend and Lucien still just sees Mom, Dad, and other people, toys are a big "meh".

On Tuesday we went to the doctor. Lucien received 3 more shots and got a check up, which says normal baby. His growth has slowed down. He is dropping in the percentiles, still at 75% but now on the line and a little below rather than above. Lucien's weight is 18lbs 14oz and length 27in. He is still relatively proportional.

At the end of this visit, we decided we are going to look for a new pediatrician. Our doctors are great but there is no connection, we feel like a number as often happens and the way we want to raise Lucien is nothing like what our doctors suggest. Sleep is a big issue, we are very much against ferberizing him and that is their only suggestion. Once we say co-sleeping, they look stumped and say, "well you will wean him at a year right?". On top of that we are really curious about what to feed Lucien next and were hoping to talk to them about that. Instead we get hand outs, some of which are print outs of a general website! The hunt begins.

Lucien is flourishing, he loves being outside, taking trips into the city, seeing other people, playing hard, and watching Buddy. He is a very good baby, he hardly cries and lets us get away with going to most places, including a movie! Yes we were able to sit through a matinee, we saw the Hangover.

Last weekend he spent time with Memaw. We had a laid back weekend, in the mornings we sat on the porch until 10:30, had some yummy food, went to many toy stores, two parks, and played making some cool forts.

Then last night we met up with Cousin Tom McGinnis. It was a nice night of dinner at CBC and talking about the crazy/dumb things done in Greenup KY. Makes me sad we will miss the reunion this year.

On to the weekend!

Yesterday was awesome, the sun came out, we got out of the house and I saw a lot of my little projects get accomplished. Sometimes my list that needs little check marks gets weightier than the big list of must dos.

Matt stayed home, which is always nice. Lucien enjoys the extra time with his Dad, he smiles more all day. Around 1pm we went up to Belmont Center for lunch, a stop by the Belmont Farmer's Market, and the library. (I had Season 4 of Six Feet Under to return, tough season, but it ended on a high note, get out there and live your life, NOW.) At the Farmer's Market we purchased some local pork shoulder, onions, potatoes, carrots, snap peas (now addicted to those thanks to Evan), raspberries, strawberries (our own plant is producing fruit but not very many, yet), lettuce, and honey. Matt cooked up new recipes from some of these and made a tremendous dinner. Although, apple cider vinegar is not a taste for me, so the snap peas and carrots cooked in this were left on my plate, but I was asking for seconds of the pork.

Before dinner and after our trip to Belmont Center we came home to our mail, which held my first order of photos of Lucien. All of the frames I have bought over the past 3 months are now filled as well as a photo album from my cousin Vicki. It just so happens the album she bought me is the same album my mom recently purchased for me and populated with my baby pictures. It is interesting to compare, not likenesses, but what kind of pictures we took of our babies. All my pictures thus far are "artistic" shots, whereas hers are mainly of me in a family member's arms. I think what causes this difference is both of these albums are for me.

hooray for another sunny day!

The pictures from our adventures during June are finally up. He is a bigger, wilder, more smiley boy than ever before, enjoy.

"How is the baby sleeping?"

This is a silly question, the baby is probably not sleeping very long and the parents are definitely sleep deprived. Asking this question to a new parent is like Indigo talking to Miracle Max about Prince Humperdinck, Billy Crystal's response "and thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?"

This question is basically asking a sleep deprived person if they are getting sleep. What do you think their natural response will be? They are going to take all that frustration at not getting sleep and aim it right at you.

So protect yourself don't ask this question to new parents. You will most likely hear about how little sleep a parent is getting anyway, it is a pretty major issue to a new parent they are going to talk about it, unless you ask first.

Just some more silly advice from a new mom, much like that of the "don't ask a pregnant woman this" series.

Much to our surprise Lucien only weighs 18lbs. At least according to the Wii Fit. I was figuring he was up to 20lbs a few weeks ago. He is a very good boy still. We put up the jumpy chair, which he loves! He gets very excited when you watch him jump.

We are going back to giving him fruits, veggies, and rice cereal. There was a brief stopping of the food. However, me and Dad decided we needed to set some routines and stick to them. We now give him 2oz of food for dinner, with the intention of upping that in a week, then in a couple of weeks give him some food for lunch.

Father's Day was quiet, it was just the three of us. We mainly hung around all day doing nothing but being together. It was pleasant and a nice way to spend our first Father's Day with Lucien here.

What another busy month it has been.

Lucien gets more and more interesting by the day. He is a very strong stander. I have a photo of him standing on his own against the couch. This was taken with close supervision by Momma because he doesn't know how to stay standing. He also doesn't know how to stay sitting up. Falling is not something Lucien understands. Instead of holding steady Lucien, with all of his weight, will lean back to take a look at something throwing himself off balance and onto the floor. We always have to be on the look out.

Smiles happen often and are given to Mom and Dad and anybody who will smile at him, given his mood. Sometimes he is tired and not interested in anyone.

Food has become a new adventure. Our doctor has started us out on rice cereal and fruits and veggies. Lucien has tried and loved, pears, applesauce, carrots, sweet potatoes and bananas. He has not liked peas, however, I think this is because baby food peas are over cooked, once they turn brown at all they loose their sweet flavor.

We had some excitement dealing with his new diet right before the fruits and veggies were added. Lucien held off on pooping for 8 days. I called the doctor on day 6 to make sure we shouldn't be worried, they had zero concern to their tone and said apple juice cut with water should get things rolling. Two days, apple juice, prunes, and gripe water later we had a few filled diapers.

I said this on facebook, when poop is a call for celebration you know your life has changed forever.

Even with the added foods we are still intending to breast feed Lucien for at least the remainder of his first year. Of course if he can't help but bite once he has teeth this could change everything. So there won't be sleeping through the night for a while. Which is fine. I get enough sleep in general and I think Matt does too. He doesn't complain and I'm not complaining either.

Honestly if I get 5 hours of sleep I feel totally refreshed. More than that and I am groggy.

We love our little bug. He is a good baby, so calm in new situations and around other people. We are very lucky parents. His one issue is actually riding in the car. Most parents use the car to put their babies to sleep, we have to really work with Lucien to get him to stay calm in the car. He hates it. To aid in his not fussing we try to drive when it's close to his sleep times and I sit in the back.

Overall I think we have things under control. I enjoy working with Matt to come up with solutions about how to raise and take care of Lucien. We are a happy little family.

It's been a busy month. Lucien has been a champ through all of it. We dragged him to NH for a 450 attendee conference, lots of ladies ooing and aahing over him. Then we messed up his week with electricians running all over the house shouting to each other to connect wires. And finally we flew with him to NC so we could all see his Uncle Smuggler graduate from college.

April 24-26 we were in NH for my annual SCBWI NE conference. I organized the Illustrator Academy with some fabulous faculty, Chad Beckerman, Phil Falco, Gareth Hinds, and Annie Sibley O'Brien. Matt took care of Lucien during all three days so that I could go to sessions and spend some time in the Adult world. It was wonderful, Matt THANK YOU!!

Then the next week we scheduled some electricians to come the two days before we flew to NC. They removed all the knob and tube wiring from our house, YEAY!! They also had to make some new holes to reach all the wiring that was in the ceiling, but these holes came out as improvements because we now have some new lights, which are much better than our dark front door and dark bathroom hallway. There is one project they have to finish but what is done looks GREAT!

Then Wednesday morning we got up before sunrise drove to the airport and ventured on our first flight with Lucien. He fell asleep during take-off. Slept for an hour then was kept quiet with some aisle walks and feeding time for the remainder of the trip.

Once in NC we ate as many biscuits and drank as much Caribou coffee as we could. We had a good time with all the family and friends we got to hang out with. Our casual walk around University Mall with my Dad and come to the rescue Rebecca. The all included party at my Mom's where we got to introduce Lucien to many. Then the drive everywhere in Charlotte trip to see Greg graduate, which was very exciting. We almost took Lucien swimming for the first time, until we realized we had neglected to get appropriate diapers. Sunday we had a Mother's Day brunch, then drove back to Chapel Hill, where we relaxed the rest of our trip until returning Tuesday evening. Lucien was again a champ for the flight, this time sleeping the whole time.

Lucien enjoyed seeing all his relatives, snuggling in, giving out hugs, giggles, smiles, and drool. We hope to see everyone again soon.

Wrapping up, we had a doctor's appointment today, he is in the 75th percential on all counts, weight:16lbs 8.5oz, length 25 3/4 inches, and head circumference (I missed); being this proportional is very odd amongst babies. Anyway, he is slowing down on his growth rate and ending up more like his mom and dad's size. Even still being in the 75th percential there are many three month old clothes he still fits in. Those baby cloths sizes aren't very accurate. He is four months old today, sleeping a lot since he had 3 more shots, and when he's awake telling me all about what he thinks. He has found his voice! It's fun.

Our final excitement today was our walk with the new stroller, which works so well, the wheels don't ever get stuck and they almost pull themselves through grass, hills, and messed up NE pavement. LOVE IT! Next we are installing the next size up car seat. Making things less complicated; car seat stays where it is and stroller now packs up small.

As does with a baby. Every day is different, the challenge is trying to keep up.

Changes:
After some gentle pushing we decided to try using the crib for naps. After two days, Lucien took a long nap in the crib. I was able to get a lot done, however, at first I really didn't know what to do with myself. Yes we are using the crib, our bassinet was fine, it goes up to 20lbs but, since we hardly use it and the crib is set up, we put it away to give us more floor space.
We tried to leave Lucien in the crib for going to sleep at night, he woke up after just two hours. The co-sleeping works to get long stretches. We are no longer suffering from any lack of sleep and Lucien is quite a cuddle bug. Who would not want to sleep next to the little guy? I really don't care what the supposed negatives are with co-sleeping, this is what we are doing and we are sticking with our choice.

The second change is he can now use the stationary entertainment toy. He loves it. My favorite part is watching him push the buttons to make it play music. You can see the wheels in his head turning as he decides I am going to push this button. It is so cool. I have some new pictures on flickr of this and hopefully tomorrow I will have a chance to post a bunch more.

Thirdly he is becoming much more expressive. His hands get involved when he is frustrated and he talks and makes faces about the things that excite him.

As he grows we also needed some new stuff for him. With some careful planning of my day I went to Target this morning and got everything, socks that stay on, teething rings (yep it looks like there are two little teeth starting to come up, other indicator he crews on his hands or our fingers constantly), and new diapers, swaddlers brand. We were trying to be environmentally friendly and use the non-chlorinated diapers but, they were very rough so they rubbed his skin raw and they didn't hold much so they leaked more often. It was a good day, Lucien had fun shopping too, there was a lot to see.

On a side note I just finished 'Rebel Without a Cause', I hope I hear what Lucien is trying to ask and tell me and don't project too much of my own issues or desires on him. This is his life and my part is to help him lead it.

The sickness is finally lifting. Matt is still a bit under the weather, however, he went to the doctor and got some medicine. He should be all better soon.

With more energy we are working on some projects, Matt on my website to be ready for a conference on the 24th and me on a few pieces for a self-published book I am working on.

Even as we stay busy taking care of Lucien and working on our projects we are still trying out new recipes and cooking together. We tried out some new recipes Saturday morning some french toast chocolate sandwiches, lunch for the past few days a chicken salad from another cookbook, and tonight a Mediterranean Stew with Polenta. I love polenta, now. LOVE. I think I will even have it for breakfast tomorrow.

Lucien's progress: he is finally beginning to show interest in toys. He likes the towel toys, which he grasps and of course puts in his mouth. Then he has a jungle play mat, which can keep him busy for thirty minutes. It has hanging toys that he looks at and swats at, then a mirror that he looks at when he is having some time laying on his belly. Also, when the batteries are at full power it has a musical corner that he can kick to start up the music.