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October 30 - Our first plane trip -- he did well. I'd worried a lot about how
to get to the airport with the car seat and everything. Anyway, I'd decided to
drive myself and park in economy. I had a huge rolling suitcase, because of the
shield I'd made for Jeff's Hallowe'en costume (Heaven forbid a costume be
sacrificed for mere convenience), the car seat in one hand, and Ethan in the
Baby Bjorn. Fortunately, a nice man helped me get on the shuttle, and some
other nice folks helped me get off. Once we were there, I was actually quite
mobile, and I checked the big suitcase and car seat.
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Once I had my boarding pass, and got a coffee, I had a sobering realization: I
hadn't pushed the button to lock the car. The alarm arms itself, of course, but
it doesn't lock itself. I had plenty of time, so I got back on the shuttle with
Ethan strapped to my front, locked the car, and then got back on the same
shuttle on its way back. I'm sure the driver and some of the other passengers
were confused, but oh well.
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Anyway, Ethan wanted to nurse before takeoff, and then fell asleep. He slept
through takeoff and most of the flight. Knowing that nursing helps relieve the
pressure in a baby's ears, I tried to get him to nurse when we started the
descent, and I succeeded a bit. But mostly he just slept, and didn't seem
bothered at all. Boy, was he a good baby. So Mom picked us up and took us home,
and all was well.
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On the way home, we stopped at the grocery store, and I struck up a
conversation with a woman who had a slightly younger baby girl in her cart.
Turned out this was her fourth child. Anyway, she said she wouldn't have
guessed I was a first-time mom, since I was so calm. Of course, it's mostly a
facade, but at least it's a good facade.
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Yesterday I stopped by Karla's, knowing that Jay's back at work this week, so
she's alone with the twins. We had a nice visit, juggling various babies and
talking about new mommyhood. It was really great, and I'm sure we'll do it
again.
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Tonight I actually left Ethan with Mom, and ran off to Kiva with Erika and
Mandy. (Lovely. I'd so missed Kiva... it had been about a year, I suppose.) He
was asleep when I left, but I guess he woke up shortly after and started
crying. Mom had a bad hour or so, trying all the tricks (over the shoulder, and
the magic position), but eventually he calmed down and had some milk, and then
fell back asleep. When I got home, he was sleeping next to her on the window
seat, because she liked having him close while she worked. Oh, and she was very
amused that earlier, when he'd been awake, he and Tabo were talking to each
other. I'm sure they had a lot to talk about.
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October 31 - I didn't sleep particularly well, as Ethan woke up every three
hours. In the morning before my mom left for work she stopped in, and changed
him so I didn't have to get up. Unfortunately, she got surprised by Ethan's
poop tricks, so I did end up getting up and dealing with the poopy pad and
outfit. He's tricky, that little guy. Later, I drove up to San Leandro so Jeff
could show Ethan off around the office. Jeff was so happy to see us. We had a
lovely Thai dinner at Richard and Holly's house, and Richard was great with
Ethan when he got fussy. I guess we wore him out, because he slept for almost 8
hours that night.
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November 1 - We got up early, and Jeff brought me coffee and a croissant --
such a good husband. Then Ethan and I met Dad for breakfast (second breakfast,
I guess). Later, we had a walk to the park with Natasha and Vince. Lucky them
-- they got to see Ethan's fussy side, though he calmed down quickly while we
were actually walking. When I got him home, I just extracted him from the Baby
Bjorn and then lay down with him still on my chest so we could nap. Dad cooked
dinner for us (Erika and Mike attended as well) that night, a yummy roast
chicken with apple-cranberry sauce.
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November 2 - A big day. We bathed Ethan in the morning. We had baby soap, but
it wasn't much good as baby shampoo, we discovered -- Ethan had the most
amazing electrified hair. Angie and Dave
drove up with Nicholas and met
us at the Campbell house. Nicholas
is lovely to hold -- he feels so solid. He's
a big little guy. It was fun to introduce the cousins, not that they really had
any idea, I suppose. The six of us took a walk,
which was nice.
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And then Erika had a costume party, so we had a chance to dress up in our
costumes. Great fun. Ethan conked out for the first few hours of the party, and
then got a little fussy, so we left. Still, we stayed later than I'd expected.
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November 3 - Home again, home again. Ethan was great on the plane trip home,
too, though I fumbled a bit with all the stuff before getting on the plane.
Ethan has magically transformed into a baby who sleeps 8 hours, so I'm feeling
good. He's got several other new tricks: If I imitate the sounds he makes,
he'll just keep talking. And since we've been home, I swear he's started
laughing. We were having a conversation, and I guess he thought it was funny.
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He's gotten very twisty when he's in bed, so that he ends up cross-wise in the
co-sleeper. And his eyebrows are much more definite than they were. I suppose
that was inevitable, given that Jeff and I both have quite dark eyebrows. His
eyes are getting murkier, too -- I don't think they'll be blue for long. I
wonder why it's such a fun game to look at the baby and try to guess which
parent he got which features from? Jeff seems concerned that we not focus on it
too much, which I guess is right -- Ethan's just himself, after all. But I like
looking at him and seeing Jeff's eyes and mouth. And hair. And legs. I'm sure
there's something of me there too -- our baby. Our love.
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ethan
