Bleak, bleak, bleak

Turn on the news channels, flip through the paper, surf the Internet, the same messages prevail: Economic crisis; future of the country uncertain; natural disasters; politicians slam each other.

Fear is everywhere.

As a friend recently told me, babies equal hope and optimism. When all of the negative news starts to overwhelm, I look at my son and instantly smile. I can walk down the street with Collin and a crazy thing happens. Instead of the typical stranger response of averting eyes or giving blank stares, random people break out in grins. They stop and talk to me. They're (gasp) friendly!

If only world peace were so simple...

That's all the deep thoughts for today. So turn off the news and enjoy some fluff for a change (our first summer with the new addition):

No longer a newborn for sure--5 months!

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People always tell you babies grow up so fast. Poof one minute he's a little bundle that screams and poops, Blink again, he's all smiles and coos; then all of a sudden he's rolling, laughing, and starting to soak in the world.

Collin is still frustrated that he can't crawl but I don't imagine it'll be too much longer before he masters it. He has definitely figured out that his hands can do all this cool stuff like grab, pull and hold. He's also fascinated by his feet and does some yoga moves to play with his toes (and can even suck on them!). He likes gazing at the living room lights, his night light and his frogs that turn a bunch of colors. Sometimes I wonder if he's getting a seizure by the way his eyes get huge like he's in a trance. He also enjoys watching the pets, especially Puma. Murray tries to give him lots of kisses which we discourage as Murray also likes to kiss certain nether parts of the cats...He now opens his mouth to eat and has started to figure out swallowing will actually keep the food down! He has also mastered his Jumperoo (see video below) and is discovering everything via mouth.

And a final update: he started wearing his hearing aid a few days ago. So far we haven't noticed too many changes but apparently it takes the brain a while to make the connection. Hopefully things will become more clear and he'll get to enjoy even more sounds.

I know he's just going to get more interesting and fun as he gets older but it is a little sad knowing that he'll never be this small again.

First solid food (sort of)

Can rice cereal be considered a solid? It's basically flakes mixed with formula to form this goopy paste. Collin didn't seem too impressed by it but he did manage to swallow a little. We'll move on to homemade pureed veggies and fruits in about a week--seems like that'll be much tastier!

From Summer 2008

Hearing update

As a grant writer I often get to write about social workers/mentors/teachers who provide services to those in need but didn't really feel the impact until I experienced it firsthand. On Thursday we had a home visit from Multnomah County's Early Intervention and the Columbia Regional Hearing Program. The Early Intervention people provide services for kids from 0-3 (this is all free of charge--well it's tax supported so technically we pay for it). They quickly ruled out any kind of development delay after Collin showed off his skills:

Transfer a rattle from one hand to the other--check.
Roll over from back to tummy and the other way--check
Smiles--check
Coos, babbles, laughs--check

It was apparent that the main services we needed were through the hearing program to ensure that Collin continues to develop speech and language. Carol from the hearing program will accompany us to all Collin's audiology appointments, help us set goals, link us to other help we might need, etc.

Later that day we went to get a hearing mold made for Collin where he got some foamy stuff shot into his ear. He handled everything well and gave lots of smiles to the delight of the three women working there. They snapped pictures and insisted on putting his photo on their bulletin board. We were happy to comply. (Who doesn't want to hear that their baby is damn cute?)

They had lots of funky colors to pick out for the ear mold--I went with the sparkles. When Collin is older he'll get to pick them out himself. The hearing aid unit that attaches to the mold was much smaller than I expected, it looked like a blue tooth and I immediately felt more at ease. I bet kids will barely notice it. Now making sure he stays on his ear and he doesn't stick it in his mouth should be interesting...

We get a loaner aid for four months before we have to pocket up one ourselves ($500 - $1500, most likely somewhere in the middle) which insurance doesn't pay for. Because why would hearing be deemed important for developing ears? (On a side note, apparently there's legislation pending in Oregon to mandate all insurance companies to pay for hearing aids for children!)

Collin has another hearing screen in late September per the recommendation of the Ear,Nose,Throat specialist we're seeing. He said sometimes the hearing will actually improve--nerve endings or something. And Collin will continue to get periodic hearing tests in case anything changes. We'll hope for the best but even if Collin's hearing stays the same we're fortunate that we have services and caring people that provide support!

Uh leather or flowers or silver?

Four years ago Mike and I were in a little town in the middle-of-nowhere Scotland with some of our closest family and friends to celebrate our marriage. A child was in the back of my mind; way, way, way in the back of my mind. We spent our days in Scotland drinking too much, hiking, and avoiding the dozens of sheep that occupied the sparse roads. I was 23! Without a job, living in a cheap apartment, a year out of college. Mike was about to start his career as a police officer. It seems so long ago yet in the scheme of things, it was really just the other day.

Last night we went out for our four-year wedding anniversary at El Gaucho to dine on some delicious steak. Our friends who are expecting their first babe watched Collin and were shocked to see us return about an hour and a half later. Sad I know. We originally thought we'd see a movie but after dinner we were both exhausted. In our past life we would've gone to a bar, had a couple more drinks, stayed out past midnight without a second thought, but now sleeping in our comfy bed sounded much more appealing (especially when you have a 530am wake-up call who demands food).

I laugh when I hear about people who get pregnant to save their marriage. A baby can be a huge obstacle that's placed between two people whose lives used to only revolve around each other. Thankfully our marriage has stayed strong and we had the chance to go on some baby-free adventures before Collin. I've learned what real love is in my marriage with Mike. It's not some fairy tale where you live happily ever after that's for sure. It's work, but it's worth it to wake up next to the person who helps things make sense in a crazy world. And I couldn't have hoped for a better father to my son.

Vote for Collin

I could never be one of those "stage" moms that obsessively drags their child to photo shoots, probably in the hopes of living vicariously through them. Come on, how much fun can it be for a little kid to stand in long lines for model shoots or auditions. That said I will completely contradict myself and ask you to vote for Collin for American Baby's cover contest so Collin (er mom and dad) can possibly win a trip to New York for a few days and Collin can have his shot at fame. And money that goes into his future college fund.

I have to say Mike and I produced a pretty cute kid and I can't help but look at the other baby entries with a competitive eye (please don't shoot me for sounding so shallow).


Click here to rate the photos

America thanks you

A visit to the Oregon Coast

We had our first overnight trip with Collin this weekend at the beach. The nifty inflatable travel crib blew up with ease and Collin slept pretty well in it (except for waking up at 4 am to party). We stayed in the sleepy town of Manzanita which seems to be populated by the over 60 crowd. It's just a short distance to Cannon Beach and was nice for lounging. Both Mike and I enjoyed reading for the first time practically since Collin was born. We also walked around, did some shopping and of course showed Collin the ocean. Though with the wind blowing in his face, I can't say he had much enthusiasm for it.

Here's a few pictures of our trip: