Grady is one month old!

Today we celebrated Grady's one month birthday. I can't believe how fast this first month has gone. Then again, it's weird to think that a month and a day ago, I was pregnant. That seems like a long time ago!

I was surprised and pleased that Grady requested a yellow cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting and a picture of grumpy bear on top to celebrate his one month milestone. That's my favorite kind of birthday cake too! I'm not nearly the cake artist that Cat is, but here is my first stab at decorating a cake.



Here is a pretty much real-time depiction of Grady posing with the cake. Grumpy held it together much better than Grady did.







Interestingly, the amount of time it takes for Grady to decide he doesn't want to have his picture taken is exactly the same amount of time it takes for Besa to decide she does want to have her picture taken.

It is like summer today in Portland, and Grady and I went for a walk on our usual loop. Here are some pictures of him looking cute getting ready for his walk.




We also finally broke out the stroller for a quick trip to the grocery store. At first Grady was dubious, but he was a good sport about it, and he quickly found himself falling asleep once the stroller got moving.




I am proud to say that Grady's third date with Rose went really well. They were both awake at the same time at the end of it, and there were a good 18 seconds before one of them (ahem, Grady) started crying. A real improvement!

I went for my second run since Grady today while Matt watched him. I ran part of the way on a road that has mile markers, and I clocked in at 10 minute miles even. So, I've lost about a minute and a half per mile. Hopefully it won't take too much time to get back there. I signed up for a 5K race in a few weeks, just to see if I can do it. I won't be pushing any PRs.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Hope you are all doing something fun to celebrate.

Glad to be home

It's been so nice to be back home! I was worried that Grady would not sleep well last night after having 36 hours in a hospital room with no natural sunlight, constant wake ups, and the after-effects of anesthesia. But thanks to Matt and some extra bottles of milk, Grady slept like a champ last night. In fact, I got 7 consecutive hours of sleep! Have you ever heard of such a thing?? It was truly thrilling!

Grady and I had a nice day today. I decked him out in his first Red Sox t-shirt, courtesy of my friend Donna.



I love this picture because you can really see Grady's little belly. I failed to mention yesterday that Grady had a weigh-in at the hospital of 10 pounds even! He was wearing his diaper and his little hospital gown, so he's a little lighter than that, but even still - he's gained a lot of weight! I think this comparison shot shows how much he's grown pretty well - look especially in his legs.


one day old


26 days old

Grady has been smiling more and more. He hasn't quite gotten to social smiling yet, but I think he has gotten to social tongue-sticking-out (I'm not sure which side of the family he gets that from). It may be a coincidence, but it has happened several times now. Here's a shot of Grady's smile.



When my dad was here, he mentioned that they had a "Community Demonstration Project" on 9th Avenue a few miles east of us, where several houses set up displays and gardens and other things for public enjoyment. Grady and I decided to venture out that way today and see what all the fuss was about. It was a really nice walk, and a pretty cool little corner of Portland. The picture may be too small to see the explanation here, but one of the "demonstrations" was a little tea stop. Whoever wanted could stop at the corner, have a mug of tea, and then continue on.



Of course, I didn't drink any. You never know what those hippies are going to put in that water....

I was pretty excited today to go on my first "run" since December! I only jogged for about 20 minutes, but I felt much better than I was expecting. It felt good to be back out there, even if I felt like I was crawling.

Tomorrow is Grady's third date with Rose! And the day after Grady turns one month old! Can you believe it?? I don't know where the time has gone.

Home at last!

We are finally back after a long day - two days really - at Emanuel hospital. Grady was a real trooper and made it through the procedure just fine.

We checked in yesterday at 7 am and finally went down for the procedure at 9 am, by which time Grady was very hungry and cranky since I wasn't allowed to feed him after 5. It was especially hard to leave him because he was so upset. They popped the ureterocele on the ureter connected to the upper kidney. There wasn't a ureterocele to pop on the lower right, which is where the reflux is happening. The ureterocele on the left side was flat - which explains why that kidney has been functioning normally - and so nothing needed to be done over there. We have an appointment with the urologist in a week to talk about the procedure and what this will mean, but it does seem nearly certain that he will need surgery for the reflux. I've been told by a good source though that this wouldn't happen until he is older - usually around 2.

Grady was a little groggy from the anesthesia for about an hour, and then had a little trouble staying awake and eating for the next hour or so. After that, he was back to normal. He is a very resilient little guy.


little trooper

They were overbooked at the pediatric ward, so we ended up sharing the room with another little baby. The baby's family was there when we arrived, and then they were nowhere to be seen for the rest of the time we were there. I guess it was lucky for us, but I felt really bad for the little girl. Here are a few shots of our tight quarters. The first has the cot set up, the second has the two chairs.





I'm bad at estimating space, but I think it was about 7 x 7. Matt didn't stay the night, wisely, because it was tight quarters even for just me, and very difficult to nurse.

This morning, we had to wait around until 1 pm for Grady to have a follow up ultrasound to make sure that everything looked okay. Everything did look okay, and we finally got the okay to leave around 3. What an ordeal for a 1 hour procedure! Hopefully popping the ureterocele on the right will help with draining and reflux.

Here is Grady chilling out, ready to go home!



That's all the news for now. Sorry if this is incoherent - I'm pretty far behind on sleep at the moment!

Update

Just wanted to give a quick update that the procedure has been moved up to 7 am tomorrow morning. He will still need to stay over night, and I will try to post as soon as we get home Wednesday.

Photo shoot

Grady had quite a photo shoot this morning, courtesy of Dad. Grady was gifted some Penn clothes from Matt's friend Bill, and Grady looked appropriately studious for this first photo.



But like any good Penn alumnus, Grady knows how to party too!





Here's another photo from this morning - you can just see the first glimpse of Grady's smile.



After the photo shoot, we went for a walk through the Vietnam Memorial and up the Wildwood trail, which goes for miles through Forest Park. We just did a few miles of it, but it was a great day for a walk - not too sunny for Grady, and not too hot. (In case you couldn't guess, he slept through it.)



I think I've mentioned Grady is a very good eater. Sometimes he can get a bit too overzealous. What's that phrase - like getting water from a rock? This video is appropriate to that saying.



Grady goes in for his procedure to pop the ureteroceles Tuesday at 10:30 am. I may not get a chance to blog before then. I will update as soon as I can after it's over and let you know how we're all doing. Any positive thoughts would be appreciated!

Getting into our routine

With all our relatives back home (and missed), Matt and I have been settling into our daily routines with Grady. Grady has more and more time when he is awake and alert - and we are actively encouraging that time to be in the day rather than at night. Sometimes he gets it, sometimes he doesn't. Matt has been back at work for a few days, and is catching up and settling in. It's nice to have his just across the yard, and it allows him to come in every so often to see Grady (and me!).

Grady and I met with Jada and Rose yesterday for another walk in Forest Park. He and Rose both chose to sleep through most of it, although Grady woke up absolutely FAMISHED as soon as we finished the walk. I have never heard him scream so loud! Order was restored, and he is fine now. It's really nice having these walks and speaking to another new mom. For his date outfit this time, we went with his "I'm in charge" rhino footie. I need to remember to buy one of those tuxedo onesies for him - I don't want Rose thinking he's all casual, all the time.



I gave Grady a bath this morning because he somehow woke up with his face absolutely covered in milk. I've been experimenting with feeding him with the lights off at night - I guess that needs some more work. The pictures don't really capture it -


milk mustache


mo-oom, quit it!

After his bath, I took Grady to the store to get a few things. I guess his hair wasn't quite dry when I put his hat on, because he has a pretty hilarious case of hat head here. This comes with no additional styling from me.





One bit of exciting news - Grady said the word "apple" today. I know it's a little early - I wasn't expecting him to start speaking for another week or two. The really amazing part is I don't think I've ever even said the word apple to him! He must have read it somewhere. I don't have that on tape, unfortunately.

Speaking of tape, I have to share this video of Besa. I know the video camera was intended for Grady, and those who aren't interested in funny cat videos need not watch - but I thought at least Martha would get a kick out of this.

Discovering Grady

Our little boy is starting to get more and more of a personality. He is becoming clearer about his likes and dislikes. For instance, he dislikes falling asleep. He doesn't mind being asleep, it's just the falling asleep process that he is not so fond of. There are so many things for him to discover out here, he can't be bothered to waste time sleeping! Today he discovered the little animals that hang off the top of his vibrating chair. Here is a picture of him in the chair from yesterday, pre-discovery of the animals.



Luckily for me, too bad for Matt, Grady has also asserted himself as a Red Sox fan this week, thanks to a gift from uncle Cliff. He does not seem to be too optimistic about this season, unfortunately.



Here's a shot of Grady contemplating whether or not to take Pedro out of the game.



It was vaguely suggested by my husband, but I refuse to do a comparison photo now to Don Zimmer.

For those that were worried, Besa also got some enjoyment out of Grady's Red Sox present. Luckily, the sweatshirt and hat had been removed.



She is still getting used to not being the exclusive center of attention.

Tomorrow Grady has his second date with Rose. Hopefully he will be in a slightly better mood tomorrow than he is today - I think the whole not wanting to sleep thing is wearing on him. The occasional smiles I'm getting from him now make up for his fussiness ten fold.