Birthday Injuries

Amidst the happiness this weekend as we celebrated Nathan's birthday, the day was marked by a couple of humorous-but-still-sort-of-painful moments as well.

The first injury was to anyone in earshot when Mark (who is an incredibly talented musician) sang Happy Birthday To You in a monotone that would rival (no, not rival... trump) even this scene from Office Space. It's ok for me to make fun of him about this for two reasons... first, because it was Ashley, not me, who noticed the Office Space-ness of the whole thing, and second because he really is an exceptional musician... the exception part being his voice box, of course.

The second injury came when Nathan grabbed for the flame on the candle atop his birthday cake. Why it didn't occur to me that a baby who has never seen fire will have the deadly combination of curiosity about it and ignorance about the heat, I cannot explain. I don't think his finger was in the flame long enough for it to really burn, though.

But immediately after I blew the candle out for him, we witnessed our third injury as he grabbed the candle and hot, melted blue wax covered his tiny little finger (and somehow even got under his nail). That time it really burned (or so I inferred from his cries).

You can experience injuries 1 through 3 in the video below (along with seeing Nathan's first bite of candle itself... I thought licking the icing off the candle would distract him from the burn, but of course he had no concept of licking icing off a candle, he just chomped the end off).

[You should mute Saturday's slide show -- if you haven't already -- by clicking on the speaker in the top left corner of the slideshow box, or just clicking the title of this post so it's the only one on the page.]


But the fourth and most substantial injury of the day (with Mark's singing being a close second, of course) came when the suction cup on Nathan's new bathtime bubble machine (pretty much the best gift ever for a one-year-old, in theory) failed to hold said machine onto the bath wall, and it crashed down into his head. It actually knocked him over, and he banged the other side of his head on the tub wall before face-planting in the water. You have never seen a more upset bubble-covered infant in your life, let me assure you. He did eventually calm down, and it ended up being nothing serious, but he does have a good looking shiner to show for his trouble.

And now I will always remember Nathan's first birthday as the day the bubble machine gave my baby a black eye.

To see how messy Nathan really got with his cake, click on the birthday hat, below.

by mgoetts

Giant Cupcake

I mentioned in January that when I was growing up, my family had an I'm-the-best plate. The plate actually says "you're the best" but whatever. That's not what we called it.

This is a plate that each kid got to eat from on special days -- days with ribbons in swim events, or good report cards, or birthdays (and half-birthdays, of course). Someone even remembered to bring it to my wedding, and I was served my first meal as Mrs. Goettsch off the I'm-the-best plate. It might sound trite, but it was actually touching. That's because this plate was sort of a Big Deal in our house. [Ed. note: Ashley just cringed at those seemingly Random capitalized Words, so I send my cyber-apologies, but I really did do it on purpose.]

I liked the tradition as a child, and thinking about it when I wrote that January post made me realize that I wanted to have some of those traditions for our family too. Ones that we didn't copy from Mark's parents (like collected sew-on patches at state parks and putting them on our yet-to-be-created family flag for camping trips) or from my parents (like collecting Christmas ornaments from friends and trips over the years, and then slowly reliving those memories every year as the tree is decorated).

Anyway, this is a very long-winded way of introducing our cake pan. My friend Kelley actually shared the idea, and I'm so glad she did.... it's a cake pan that makes cakes in the shape of a giant cupcake! How cool is that? (If you click on the idea link above, you will get some idea of how the cakes are supposed to look when they come out of this pan.) I figured that I would ask for one myself, and master the art of the giant cupcake so that our family has a special tradition for celebrating whenever cakes are called for.

Anyway, I made a carrot cake for Nathan's birthday this weekend (carrot cake because he loves all things cinnamon, and I love any excuse to have to use cream cheese icing) in our new pan. This was my first try using the giant cupcake pan. I think I did ok, considering it was my first try. I did use two boxes of cake mix (none of you were thinking I made the cake from scratch, right?), one for each side. Yeah... turns out you're not supposed to do that. So we had a lot of leftover cake after I cut off the part that baked over the edges. And it took so long to bake all that extra batter on the inside that the bottom edges burned onto the pan... and stayed there when I pulled the cakes out. Oh well, live and learn.

After I baked the cake and glued the two halves together with icing, I realized I didn't just want to smear icing all over the top half. I was worried it would just look like a strange pointy glob instead of a cupcake. So I had the brilliant idea to spiral the icing around in circles in the mold pattern.

I mean, I won't say it came out perfect, but it does actually look like a cupcake, right? Right?

Ashley thought it was a little comical. Maybe like a Dr. Seuss cake or something? So when I put the candle in the top and it was a little off-center, she sort of had an Open Mouth, Insert Foot moment when she implied that a cake looking like this should have an off-center candle.

Fortunately for posterity's sake, Mark captured the whole thing on camera. My favorite part is the look on Ashley's face when she realizes she's started a sentence that there's no non-awkward end to.

[Obviously, before you hit play to watch this video, you'll need to go down and mute yesterday's slide show -- if you haven't alredy -- by clicking once on the speaker in the top left corner of it.]



I love my sister.

Happy Birthday, Nathan! (First Year Slideshow)

Our little boy is one year old today! Here is a video with some of our favorite pictures and memories from the last year.


{Re-posted with updated video, May 2010. This song is from a CD our church gave us when Nathan was born. Every time I hear it, it brings me right back to his newborn days, rocking him in his room.}

12-Month Portraits

I know Nathan isn't quite one yet. So while we are hanging around for the rest of this awkward week of being a gestational one-year-old but not actually one, I had Nathan's 12-month checkup and took him to have some one-year-old portraits made. (You know how I love a portrait deal. This was a bajillion pictures for $10 at Portrait Innovations. Click that link if you want the same special.) So here are some updates:

Portraits - as you can see, he is as cute as ever.

Talking - this child is incredibly verbal. (I reiterate: I have no idea where he gets it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) Whatever he is lacking in size and gross motor development, his brain has more than made up for in social skills. Everywhere we go, Nathan is the loudest child there. I am starting to get an idea of what my parents must have felt when they took my sister Ashley in public. That girl has some lungs, and I think Nathan's might start to rival hers. He loves anything that makes noise, and his own voice is right at the top of that list. Besides the constant squealing and shrieking, he can say Mama, Daddy, hey, go, puppy, baby (his favorite word this week, actually), bite, hi and maybe bubble (not sure if he knows what he's saying there). He also says lalalala, which we're pretty sure doesn't mean anything, but it's really cute when he imitates us doing it, so I pretend that it means I love you, too Mama.

Size - after his rapid weight loss (and subsequent hospitalization) in February and March, and many months of counting calories after that, Nathan has finally established a growth curve for himself. And he's even (sort of) staying on it. He now weighs 19 pounds, which is about the 5th percentile, but we'll take it. And at 31 inches tall, he's in the 85th percentile for height! His long arms and legs on his skinny body (not to mention the dexterity of his feet!) have pretty much solidified the nickname "Monkey" around here.

Biting - thanks for all the suggestions you emailed and commented with when Nathan decided that my body made a good chew toy. Things are substantially better on the biting front. He still gets a little chompy now and then, but I've learned to predict it and intervene before I am actually injured. He's not happy with my intervention (which usually involves sitting him on the floor to scream for a couple of minutes) but it works. And for what it's worth, I think we're both glad he didn't have to wean before he was really ready. That would have been painful for both of us.

Mobility - no, he still isn't crawling, but he is oh-so-close. He is also walking holding onto our fingers, but not really balanced enough to cruise on the furniture by himself yet. I have decided to make peace with a physical therapy routine, which for now just involves special practice exercises at home and a follow-up once a month. I will not pressure him to move before he is ready, but if the doctors (and my mom) think this is important for his brain to develop motor skills, then I respect them and I'm on board.

The trademark open-mouth grin - he's still got it. So here's one more picture, just to show it off. I hope he doesn't grow out of that smile anytime soon. For a really cute earlier manifestation of said grin, click here.

Has it really been almost a year?

July 22

Do you think I will always remember that July 22 was supposed to be Nathan's birthday?

I spent so long (ok, only nine months... but it feels so long when you're knocked up) counting down to July 22, that it seems strange now to disregard it as just another Tuesday. I don't know whether I want to celebrate it or resent it. I think probably resent it. Instead of meeting my son last July 22, I spent the day reading Harry Potter (and racing through it, since I didn't want to be mid-novel and have to stop reading to push a baby out!), getting a pedicure (they say foot massage can induce labor), and -- after one trip to the hospital for a litmus test on leaking fluid (no dice, obviously) -- pretty much doing a whole lot of waiting around, avoiding the phone since the only question anyone was asking me was, "is he here yet?" (Yes, brand new grandparent. We totally had the baby, and he's home from the hospital now. Didn't we tell you? Doofus.)

So now that it's July 22 again, I think that Nathan is kind of already one. I mean, what day you pop out doesn't really determine how old you are, does it? The day you're created should determine how old you are. (My sister once told me that's how they do it in China. She's full of useful random knowledge like that.) The problem with that is you never know exactly when conception takes place (don't get me started on that 1950s 40-week wheel every OB nurse still insists on carrying around). But somehow I think a conception date (off of which the due date is based) is a little less random than a birth date.

Anyway, happy birthday to my baby, who is gestationally one year old today! (Or is he gestationally one year and nine months? Or one year and nine months, minus the two "pregnancy" weeks before conception? Yeah, I guess that's it. One year and 38 weeks, then. My head is spinning.)

Facebook

I have been thinking about joining the Facebook generation. Mark joined a few months ago, and he has been connecting with lots of people from our former lives (like, in high school... or in Groningen). Which is kind of neat.

But he's also "connected" with some people we already know. Like... our siblings. Do we need an internet site to find our siblings? Really?

My friend Kristy said that I should join Facebook because then Mark and I could be married... on Facebook. But we're married in real life. Do we need to be married on Facebook, too? Again... really?

And my sister said that I should join Facebook so that Bowden and Simon can be friends with her dog, Rita... on Facebook. Really? Our dogs need cyberbuddies? After Simon traumatized baby Rita last year by hauling her up our front porch by the nape of her neck (not so much in a loving parental way, you should know), I'm not even sure they should be friends in real life (though they do get along tenuously when my pups visit Huntersville).

Lest this post start to sound too much like Andy Rooney, I should admit that I will probably set up a Facebook profile anyway. That's what happens when I have so many unfilled weekend hours stretched before me (Nathan is napping and Mark is working). Maybe once I get in there and play around some, I will understand what all the fuss is about.

And if I'm too old to do this, please don't tell me.

[update: I joined! Come find me!]

On the Democracy of Ground Balls

Our family has had quite the sporty week.

Sunday morning - Nathan and I cheered Mark and my mom in the Triangle Triathlon here in town. We got there late (Nathan slept until nine... I actually had to wake him up for a change!) so we missed the bike-to-run transition (and swim-to-bike, but we sort of assumed we would miss that one).... I can't make any sense of Cary on a normal day (I'm pretty sure Ryan can attest to that), but when half the streets are closed because of the event, I should have allowed way more time to figure out where to park and how to get from wherever I would park, to the event itself. Anyway we must have done some good cheering, since mom finished second in her age group, and Mark had a new best time for the run! Yay Mark and mom!

Sunday afternoon - mom and I got a couples massage at Iatria. Ok, so it's not that sporty. But it was awesome. And she deserved it, anyway!

Sunday evening - Mark, Nathan and I went with our neighbors Amy and Drew, and Jim and Renée, to a Durham Bulls game. Remember the movie Bull Durham? Yeah, it was made 25 years ago. Don't you feel old now? Anyway, if you didn't know, the Durham Bulls are a real team, and it's a great place to see a game. There's nothing like a baseball game, a hot dog, a cold drink, or some cotton candy (or d.- all of the above, if you're preggo Renée) on a hot summer night. Nathan hadn't been to a game like that before (church softball hardly counts, when he and I are two-thirds of the crowd!), and he was thrilled by all the people and all the cheering and the noise. He's recently started pointing at things he wants (or wants us to look at), so he spent the whole game pointing at everything in sight. It was super-cute. Especially for me, since I don't care as much about who wins and scores as I do about Nathan's antics.

Monday evening - I forgot about workout class and eat Mexican food! Hey, we talked about the missed workout class, so the dinner counts as sort of sporty... right?

Tuesday evening - Nathan and I went to cheer Hayes and Mary (friends from church) in their swim meet, the last of the season. Wow, did that bring back memories. Six-year-olds who can only swim halfway across the pool, kids with heat and lane numbers markered all over their arms, teenage girls flocking around the younger boys as their "mascot" for the summer (yep, that was Hayes), belly flops masquerading as dives off homemade starting blocks, kids with heat ribbons in one hand and hot dogs in the other.... it was sort of nice to re-live the fun and nonchalant part of the swimming world, especially after watching the serious Olympic trials a couple of weeks ago on TV. Anyway, Nathan and Hayes had fun playing in between events, as you can see.

Wednesday evening - I remembered to go to workout class! But just five minutes in, they paged me from the nursery upstairs since Nathan was hysterical and no amount of hugging or games or books would distract him from his fury. The clingyness continued all night, with nursings and bottles and hugs dotting the hours of wailing, until he finally cried himself to sleep (something I try to never let him do) around 10. Whew! I have no idea why he was so traumatized - he's stayed in the nursery (there and at church) many times, with hardly a problem. And he seemed fine today. So who knows... I'm just glad it's over! So in lieu of my missed workout last night, I made a batch of brownies and drank some red wine. Not as bad as the Mexican that replaced Monday's workout... but not great.

Bonus I-love-you points for anyone who can tell me what are as fascist as ground balls are democratic.

If you want to see more pictures of the Bulls game, click on our family, below.

by mgoetts

Big Boy Bath

Seeing as Nathan will be one in just a few weeks, we thought it was finally time to "graduate" him out of his newborn tub... his legs and arms started sprawling over the sides several months ago, which isn't great since it gave him access to all manner of things we tend to leave around the sink (soap, utensils, dirty dishes, etc)... which he can pick up with not only his hands but his crazy monkey feet too. So earlier this week, we brought the newborn tub back to Millers Creek to return it to Lucas, its original owner. And tonight (yes, that was the first bath he's had since then... so we don't bathe our kid that often... does anyone really do the bath thing every day, anyway?... can I play the drought card again?) Nathan had his first bath in the big boy tub.

Don't get me wrong, Nathan has been in the bathtub before. He has enjoyed many a bubble bath with mommy (and a few with Daddy, too!) in the last 11 months. But he's never been in the tub alone, with all the water to himself, and the freedom to roam about without a parental death grip around his torso. So tonight, we put the gripper mat down, filled the bathtub with a few inches of water, dumped in some toys, and set Nathan down for a monumental first....

...And he was completely unfazed. I guess the big boy tub is a whole lot of boring, compared to the pool. Or the ocean. Or even the hot tub, which had way better bubbles than what he got tonight!

Oh, well. I found it monumental, even if Nathan didn't care much. I don't know what I'll do when he takes his first shower. Then he'll really be a big boy!

Swinging

We spent the last couple of days in Millers Creek visiting with the Churches and my Grandpa. Nathan slept like a champ, especially for being on the road (it's getting easier and easier, thank goodness!), and we had a nice time. This morning while the dads were fishing, LeAnn and I took the boys to the park. Nathan has been on swings before (I mock you, oh sign that says 3+) but today he seemed to think he was running or something. I get such a kick out of his little legs going crazy all the time! (Pun intended.)



For those of you who love to hear Nathan's voice... that's him saying yeah and hey (I know, I have taught him to be such an articulate child... HA), but it's Lucas you hear giggling (off-camera) towards the end.

For pictures of our visit to Millers Creek, click on Nathan on the air mattress, below.

by mgoetts

4th for the 4th

Nathan spent his first 4th of July cutting his 4th tooth. Yaaaaay America! That's not nearly as patriotic as Sienna Caskey, who decided to celebrate the holiday weekend by busting out of Kelley's womb early this morning and blessing us with her life on this earth. I'm pretty sure that trumps a 4th tooth. The tooth has its upside, though... even with the insane amount of slobber over the last few days, I'm sure it was decidedly less messy than Sienna's choice for celebrating.

Although Nathan would love the bright colors of fireworks (and probably the noise, too, if I'm being honest), it doesn't get dark until after 9... so it would have been way too late to have him out. He will have to enjoy his first patriotic pyrotechnics display in some future year.

In the absence of fireworks, I thought I would share bright colors by posting this picture of Mark and Nathan, taken earlier in the week.

Clemson fans have a long tradition of wearing orange overalls to football games. (Maybe Mark will de-lurk long enough to tell us why... I honestly don't get it, myself.) So this was a proud moment for Mark... baby's first orange overalls.

Happy 4th, everyone! (Seriously: yaaaaay America!)

How to Register Your Baby for Rehab

No, not that kind of rehab. I'm talking about pediatric physical therapy. Remember how everyone seems to think Nathan is pretty behind on his musculoskeletal development, and how it doesn't really bother me? Well, because his doctor wanted the opinion of a specialist in order to better determine if he really will need a regular therapy regimen, we took Nathan to the rehab hospital at WakeMed (our favorite place) for an assessment today. If you think this should have been a straightforward and simple process, then I assure you you haven't spent enough time at hospitals. It went something like this:

calling to make the appointment
me: Hi, I'm calling to make an appointment for my son to have an assessment done on his motor skill development.
man-on-the-phone-who-sounds-like-Jacquese-from-TheRealWorld: Ok, do you have the diagnosis code?
me: Um, no...?
Jacquese: Do you know his diagnosis?
me: His doctor thinks he's just a little late on hitting some motor skills milestones. he told me to tell you he needs information on how his lower extremities are developing.
Jacquese: Um... I don't have the diagnosis code for that.
me: Yeah, me neither. [duh.]
Jacquese: Well, I need the code to make the appointment.
me: Maybe it's on the referral that his doctor faxed over to you.
Jacquese: Oh, yeah you're right. ok, here it is.
me: [sigh]

filling out forms at patient registration
Jacquese: We have your son in our system here, but it says his name is Baby Boy, not Nathan.
me: Yes, well... he was born here. That's the name they give new babies who are boys.
Jacquese: Maybe I can change that.
me: Yes, maybe. I thought they had changed it when he was admitted in March, but I guess not.
Jacquese: Oh, yes, here he is. It's already been changed.
me: (silently) Then how did you think his name was still Baby Boy? [sigh]
Jacquese: Ok, what grade is he in? You left that blank on this form.
me: He's a baby. He's not in a grade.
Jacquese: Ok, I guess I'll just put "infant" so it will let me go to the next screen. All right, what's his teacher's name?
me: [sigh] He's at home with me all day, so he doesn't have a teacher.
Jacquese: We just need to know so that we can follow up with his other caregivers on his progress.
me: Well, I am his caregiver. So if you need a teacher's name you can put Mommy.
Jacquese: Haha, yeah, I guess this form isn't very good for babies, huh?
me: You think?
Jacquese: Ok, what are his interests and hobbies?
me: Seriously?
Jacquese: Yeah, I mean, I have to enter something or it won't let me go to the next screen.
me: He's a baby. he doesn't have hobbies. His interests are loud noises, and finger food. If you need to enter something for hobbies, put pooping and sleeping and peekaboo.

The conversation got even more complicated when his computer showed that we had met our deductible, so he didn't want me to pay (we haven't, but I didn't, so I guess they will send me a bill). Then we had a fun (but slightly stressful for me... I am so over the stigma of something being "wrong" with Nathan) play session with the pediatric PT, who said that she thought he was delayed enough that he needs a regular therapy routine (big surprise), so he can learn to use those parts of his brain before he loses the chance to do it effectively. I'm not thrilled about it, but Dr. Marmie concurs that he has to "use it or lose it" and it's better to acquire those movements as instinctual than have to learn them cognitively, later. Or we'll have a klutzy kid. (We probably will anyway... I mean, he's my kid, right?) She also said that he's going to be several months behind due to the weight loss at 6-7 months (you know, when other babies can focus on motor skill development instead of survival), and we should just forgive him that. She also said that since he's so tall, his center of gravity is relatively high (with his big baby head and all), which could make him a more timid walker, and that's fine.

Anyway, we left armed with some exercises to try at home to encourage crawling, and an appointment for a follow-up in a month. (Which is as often as I'm comfortable pressuring Nathan to be better! faster! stronger! or whatever. Apparently progress isn't enough... they want faster progress.)

And you know what? In the entire course of our session, no one needed to refer to a hobby list or a diagnosis code to asses his skills. I mean, who would have thought we could function at all without the beloved little diagnosis code?

[sigh.]