Growing!

Josie's 2-week appointment was today. She now weighs 7lb 12 oz. She is still having trouble with something irritating her digestive system, so that's not great, but at least she's able to take in nutrients and thrive in spite of it. Thank you to Ben and Erin for recommendations on non-cow, non-soy foods to help Aurora to make less disagreeable milk. We'll see a specialist next week if it's not better by then.

Max and Josie are getting lots of extra hugs and snuggles with Grandma Terry visiting this week. We've got massive rains and winds, so it's nice to stay inside and cuddle with kids.

Josie has not lost the dark hair she was born with, and her eyes are darker than Max's were at this age, so we think she will take after Chris' coloring.

Hello to our followers at the Santa Fe Opera!

Gaining Weight

Josie's 1 week pediatrician visit was yesterday. She left the hospital weighing 7lb 2oz. Now she weighs 7lb 6oz. This in spite of two minor complications that (1) she seems to be sensitive to cow's milk and (2) she is slightly tongue-tied. That is to say, the thin strip of membrane that attaches the underside of the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is not quite as long as it should be, so she has trouble sticking her tongue out and sucking efficiently. So, she had her first minor surgery with an ear-nose-throat specialist and he snipped the membrane a tiny bit. I say surgery, but it did not even bleed and she cried for about 10 seconds total. She can now stick her tongue out in normal baby insolence.

Max was also sensitive to cow's milk, so it's not unexpected. In fact, it took 2 months to figure this out with Max, but knowing the signs, we're able to help Josie much sooner.

Doing well at home

Here we are, leaving the hospital on Friday afternoon.

We took Josie to her pediatrician, who measured twice, and we are now certain that Josie is 20 inches long, not the 18.5 that was reported by the nurse at birth.

From the pediatrician we went directly to Max's preschool so that he/we could show her off. The preschool girls flocked around. The boys ignored her presence entirely. Then Max held court in his old toddlers room as they were all excited to see a baby.

Josie sleeps in good, 3-to-4 hour stretches, even at night (knock on wood) and we're getting into the new groove. Max is very sweet and even gave her his Victor lovey when she was crying yesterday.

Welcome Josie!

Today Max got to ride the bus and two trains to the hospital to meet his new sister.

Josephine Thalia
born 2/10/2010 at 7:15pm
7-lbs 10-oz and 18.5 inches long
We call her Josie.

We chose Josephine simply because we liked it, though it is also a family name as Aurora's great-grandfather was Joseph.
Thalia is the Greek muse of Comedy and we also just liked it.