18-1

Iris is ready for the big game

She says GO PATS!!!

Good luck charm

Iris went to her first Sonics game last night, against the Cleveland Cavaliers. We were disappointed to find out that LeBron (AKA Bron-Bron, LBJ, King James) would not be playing. I guess he didn't think it was worthwhile to play against a team with a losing record. Iris was excited to be there when the Sonics scored 40 points in the first quarter, the most they've scored in a single quarter all season. The Sonics did make it exciting, blowing a 20+ point lead, but eventually winning with a 101-95 score. Last night's game was the Sonic's 11th win of the season (they've lost 35). We like to say that Iris was the good luck that the team needed.

10 Weeks Old!

Happy Ten Weeks Iris! She's smiling at us lots all of a sudden - it's a great feeling when she flashes those tiny gums.

I don't have any good pics of her grinning yet so here's one of me enjoying a maple bar with bacon from Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland that I've been meaning to post for months.

(We found out about this new Breakfast of Champions when Anthony Bourdain had a couple of them when his Travel Channel show featured Portland)In other news, we discovered that Iris enjoys Pink Floyd. We've been putting on "Dark Side of the Moon" when we want her to sleep. It's worked a few times & hopefully it'll keep working for a while longer. Surprisingly she doesn't seem to care much for "Wish You Were Here"

duuuuuuuuude! put on some Floyd!!!

How you've grown

What a difference 8 weeks make? Compare the photo of Iris on the day she left the hospital and the one taken today. She's wearing the same outfit in both photos.

Baby Name Genie

I discovered this site thru my gmail links today - if only we had known about it in November. Here's the perfect name for our little girl, according to the genie:You can keep pushing the wish again button as long as you like, and the genie will keep supplying names, though he gets pretty sarcastic after you've used up the 3 wishes he prefers to grant.

8 days till a Patriots victory

Iris enjoying tales of the mighty Patriots as told by her dad.

2 Month Check Up

Iris turned 2 months yesterday. Today she got to go the pediatrician for her check up. Jim and I are proud to say she now weighs 10.5 lbs., and measures 22 1/4". She's getting to be such a big girl. Those 2 measurements are right at the 50th percentile for length and weight for 2 month olds. Where she really excels is in head size--hers measured 40.5 cm, which they told us is in the 75th-90th percentile. I suppose that means that 40cm is 75th and 41 is 90th, and she's around the middle of that range.

She was super brave too because she had 3 vaccine shots. She cried of course but was fine by the time we got her dressed & left the exam room. Maybe she had a flashback to her first week of life when she was constantly poked and prodded while in hospital.

It's Cold Outside, Baby

With Jim back at work, I'm alone with Iris all day. She's not sleeping much during the day, and she's more aware of herself and things around her. To keep boredom to a minimum and provide stimulation for Iris (and me), we go out for walks. Iris seems to enjoy the walks and sleeps better at night.

I have carpal tunnel syndrome, and it's too painful to push a stroller for long walks. So, instead, Iris gets to be in her Baby Bjorn on the walks. The weather hasn't been great with temperatures below the norm. I have to bundle her up before our walks. Luckily she doesn't mind wearing layer upon layer of clothing.

Update on Fred

With all the excitement (and drama) with Iris, we've neglected to mention Fred in any recent postings. Fred is now 14 1/2 years old, and he's really showing his age. He's taking glucosamine and pain medication to help with his arthritis. Once again, we're trying to get him to lose weight since being overweight worsens his pain. He weighs in about 16.5 pounds now. I'm not sure how much weight he can drop since he's already on a diet (though Jim has been known to offer food scraps off his dinner plate occasionally). Too bad it'll be awhile before Iris can chase Fred around to help with the weight loss.

Fred has been getting acupuncture to help with his pain (and possibly with early signs of kidney failure). He's not completely happy about the treatments, but they have been working. He appears to walk around with less signs of pain after his appointments. It's hard to see in the photo but Fred has about 8-9 needles in him.

Jim's last day of family leave

Today is Jim's last day home before returning back to work. I can't say how much help he's been with Iris. Iris loves her daddy, and I'm sure she'll be as sad as I will be to say goodbye to him tomorrow morning. It's hard to believe that Iris will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. Stay tuned for updates when Iris has her 2-month check up next week. She'll be getting her first shots then. Let's hope she doesn't scream her head off at the doctor's office.

Here's a pic of Jim's favorite way to spend time with Iris (and Fred).

Come here often?

Jim's Mom in Town

Jim's Mom arrived from Florida on Tuesday to meet Iris.

Here's one of the first photos of Iris meeting her Memere:The day mom arrived was also the day of the NH primary so we spent much of that night watching the surprising returns on CNN. I took this pic of Wolf Blitzer right off of CNN that night--can you believe it's the 2006 elections already??!!
Kelly - please tell me someone's head rolled for that one

Bath time

Iris' belly button scab finally fell off last Friday - here's a photo of what it looked like (yucky I know): so we were able to give her a real bath rather than the sponge baths we'd been limited to when it was still attached. Here are a couple pics and a movie of how she reacted during her bath:

Baby crimefighter

I know I've been lame for not posting in a long long time. I'm glad Jim's been better about updating the blog.

I had to post this clip after seeing this. And no, this isn't Iris. We've seen her do the same moves; we just hadn't thought to film her.

Iris Visitors & Merry Christmas!

Iris has had many visitors since being born on 11/21, so I thought I'd post some of the pictures we've taken. Oldest photos are on top (the first 2 are from the day Iris was born) and the newest are at the end, taken on Christmas Day. (Click each image to view full size)

Here's Aunty Robin - Iris' first visitor at Ballard Swedish Hospital

Aunty Kris - Iris' first visitor who brought a dead camera battery:

Iris' first actual Aunty to visit - Irene's sister Shirley, who visited
from Portland during Thanksgiving weekend

Irene's sister Sheila - the first sibling to fly in (from NYC) to see Iris:

Jim's friend Eddie - I've known him since 8th grade (that was in 1978!!!)

Jim's first sibling to visit, Aunty Geegy (AKA Denise)

Here's Iris sharing Aunty Geegy's lap with Freddy.
I don't think Freddy much cared for this arrangement.

Jim's Dad Gerry, AKA Pepere Martel - the first grandparent to visit.
Note Iris' smile - that was the first time we caught her smiling on camera--
usually she only smiles in her sleep.

Here's one with mom & dad on Christmas day - she's wearing the
"Baby's First Christmas" jammies that Aunty Geegy got for her

Finally here's one of Iris & Freddy with their first ever Christmas tree

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

My Baby's Getting Big, My Baby's Getting Bigger; Rock Shows!

Iris had her 4 week weigh in appointment yesterday and though we knew she had gained some weight, we were very happy to hear that she's now 8 lbs 6 ozs, up from 7 lbs 2 ozs 16 days earlier. That's a gain of 20 ounces in 16 days, above the ounce a day our doctor said she should gain.

We were very happy to hear that all of Irene's hard work nursing has been paying off. It's pretty obvious looking at old vs new pictures that she's getting bigger but not as obvious when you're around her all the time like we are.

Here's the proof : a pic from the day we brought her home:Compare that to this one from last week:And this one from earlier this week (so tired!):It's amazing how she changes from day to day when you look at the pics. and I bet I'm the first parent to ever make that observation, right?

ALSO: We've been discussing the number of rock shows that Iris attended while still inside so I compiled a list of them:

• 3/29 The Tragically Hip The Moore Theater Bad seats, great show as usual from the Hip.
• 4/25 The Kaiser Chiefs The Showbox Great newer Brit band, great live
• 5/3 The Arctic Monkeys The Showbox LOUD, bouncy floor show. I think we were the oldest people there.
• 5/6 Morrissey Paramount Theater A typical 3 shirt night for sweaty Moz
• 5/13 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club The Showbox Great live show from a great underrated band
• 6/7 The Police Key Arena One of the first shows on their first tour in 20+ years - pretty good! I had no idea how good a drummer Stewart Copeland was until we saw them live.
• 8/12 The Redwalls Chop Suey Sparsely attended late Sunday night show - good band though.
• 9/2 Crowded House, Pete Yorn, Liam Finn Schnitzer Hall Portland CH's return tour in Portland over Labor Day weekend. We saw CH at Roseland in NYC back in '95 - Sheryl Crow opened that one - that's how long ago that was.
• 9/18 Editors Chop Suey One of our favorite newer Brit bands, along with Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys, etc. Great to be able to see them in such a small club (with Millsy!).
• 10/8 The Cure Key Arena This one was cancelled, but I'm sure Iris would have liked it
• 11/17 Travis The Moore Lead singer Fran Healy (he has small kids too) rubbed Irene's belly & kissed it for luck when they entered the hall from the back to start the show. Iris was born 4 days later. We joked that if she went into labor at the show we'd have to name the baby Travis, but Iris was able to hang in there for a few more days--I guess she didn't want to be one of those girls with a boy's name.

Iris also went to Fenway Park on Memorial Day (5/28) for a Sox win over eventual ALCS opponent Cleveland, and maybe 20 Mariner games at Safeco, so she's not just a rocker chick, okay? She's a sports fan too

Iris Fashion Show

Hey everyone - Apologies for the week-plus it's been since I uploaded any photos to this here blog. I'll try to upload less photos more often from now on.

Here's Iris wearing some of the new outfits she's received.

Sherpa hat from Joe & Andrea (It's kind of big for her--hopefully it'll still fit next winter):Iris's first party was last Saturday - a Hanukkah party at the Rossans (Izzie's parents) with the Woosters (Sebastian & Helena's mom & dad) & Policars (Sarah's). The bib Iris got says 'Chanukah' not 'Hanukkah'- I never know which way is right:The Hannawalts (Henry's parents) gave her a set of Red Sox gear (somehow word got out that her dad's a fan):Arlene and Dan's daughter 17 month old girl Cornelia will be supplying Iris with lots of hand me downs, I think. Here she is in one of them, a sweet tie dyed number (with visiting cousins Ryan & Emily:Davis's parents Beth & Scott gave Iris this cute one from the Gap's RED line:Here's one from Jim's dad--us French Canadians call our grandpas Pepere. And that's a personalized Christmas cookie from Aunt Kris up in the corner there.

Lastly, Irene wanted to buy Iris a hoodie so we picked one up last week. She was sleeping on the couch in it & kind of rolled over on her side and ended up looking like a drunk sleeping one off in the park. I couldn't stop myself from adding a prop & taking this one:Iris - please forgive your daddy for it not being Makers Mark.
The Knob Creek was right there on the counter when the photo op happened.

Happy Due Date Iris!

Today is Iris' due date - December 5. We'd never have guessed that she would have arrived 2 weeks early but could not be happier with our little girl.

Happy Due Date Iris!

Love, Mom & Dad

Iris' first few days at home

Iris has been home since last Tuesday & getting used to being home with mom & dad since then--sleeping a LOT, eating whenever she feels like it, dirtying many many diapers, living the life! Sorry I haven't updated with new photos in a while - here are a bunch:

Here's our girl in the car seat for the first time, ready to leave the hospital & finally come home with mom & dad. (Not sure why she's giving dad the finger in this one - hopefully she won't do that too often once she knows what it means)

Here she is ready to go with mom & being carried into the house for the first time by dad

Some couch time with Daddy & Fred (not quite sure about that cat yet)and look how damn cute I am!

Yesterday (saturday 12/1) it snowed in Seattle and mom & dad decided it would be a good idea to get baby Iris dressed up in her Winnie the Pooh snowsuit (thanks Baltazars!) & have her experience the winter wonderland. Iris had other ideas - I think she was asleep the whole time we had her bundled up and outside.

This last one is a movie of Iris with the hiccups - not sure if the upload will work or not but I sure hope it does because it's pretty funny!

More pics soon!

Love,
Jim Irene Iris & Fred