b.rox

Persephone weighed in yesterday at 7 lbs, 5 oz. That means she gained 22 oz. in 12 days. The doctor congratulated Xy on getting off to a great start with the breastfeeding, which was a bit challenging at first.
Everything’s been pretty much optimal except she ’s had an outbreak of baby acne. Sometimes it looks [...]

Today’s my mom’s 70th birthday. I usually call her on the telephone but I can’t because right now she’s in Cambodia, part of a short-term mission team with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. I’m somewhat envious, but hopeful that when I’m 70 I will have the means and health to visit faraway places. Many [...]

So you thought Story #28 was the final chapter in our renovation saga? Not quite. Check today’s Times-Picayune for installment #29, the final final chapter. Check the online version for cute pix by Kathy Anderson.

Xy has had a trio of weird dreams over the last couple nights.
In the first, she dropped our girl three times in a row, banging her little head on the floor. She was weak from the c-section and couldn’t hold her properly.
In the second dream, Xy was nursing a tiny baby (not our girl) and [...]

We got the receipt from Tulane University Hospital & Clinic’s Healthcare Payment System. For the record, we racked up $2,484.00 in room charges (two nights’ stay) and a whopping $16,499.28 in “ancillary” charges.
But we have group insurance through our employers. We actually paid $250 and just got billed for $170 more.
I can’t even begin [...]

Today her umbilical stump fell off. To celebrate, we made a pilgrimage to Bayou St. John.

She’s definitely growing. Her loose folds of skin are filling in with baby fat. Xy has been breastfeeding, and the results can be seen daily. Funny, by sheer coincidence we watched The Life of Mammals just before the birth. Mammals [...]

Keep N It Real Social & Pleasure Club was in our neighborhood today. It ended just two blocks from our house. Actually we missed the parade, but we caught these fabulous DIVAS (acronym for something but I forget what) just as things were breaking up.

Persephone had her first social outing today.

I didn’t even know there was a Louisiana Derby but apparently there is. So we went to a party at the home of Sue, Steve and Sebastian, who live near the track.
We didn’t go to the race itself, but the party was fun. There were lots of Bloody Marys [...]

From our friend MF in China comes the following awesome weirdness:

It’s a hand-embroidered bib with a gun that says “poop” on it.
No, I don’t know what it means either, but you’ve got to admit it’s cool.

We took the girl in for her second appointment with the pediatrician this morning. She weighed in at 5 lbs. 15 oz., up five ounces from last week and almost back to her original birth weight. (I understand a slight weight loss is expected at first, at least for breastfed babies.) The doctor said she [...]

The Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guarantees we can take twelve weeks off from work to have a baby or care for a sick relative, and that our job will still be there when we come back. It does not, of course, guarantee pay during such a leave. That’s a benefit, and different employers [...]

We took our first stroll around the block yesterday.

Many of the sidewalks are impassable, so we had to push the stroller in the street. On Iberville I saw a renovation underway; they were sanding, with clouds of lead-based paint dust going everywhere. (I’ll be placing a call to the city’s Department of Environmental Health tomorrow [...]

I’m not the kind of guy who carries around pictures of his newborn child.
But I will post ‘em on the net.

I can understand that our geographically dispersed family members would want to see more pictures of our little girl, but I was surprised that friends and co-workers have requested more as well. I mean, generally [...]

Trying to bring this journal up to date…
We spent two nights in the hospital and were discharged on Saturday just after noon. We got home less than 48 hours after the birth.
As I was running errands to the pharmacy, Xy of course overexerted herself. She was excited to be home and started trying to do [...]

Xy woke up around 3:30 Thursday morning and discovered her water had broken sometime during the night.

This took us by surprise just a bit, because we expected to have a couple more weeks.. Xy racked her brain and remembered what the doctor said: “Three reasons to come straight to the hospital: 1) blood, 2) contractions [...]

Break out the cigars and pass em around — it’s a girl.
Persephone Jean Everpax
Born on the cusp:
February 21, 2008
6 lbs. (just barely)
17 3/4″ long
Mother and child are both healthy. Persephone was delivered via Caesarian section, so Xy is recovering slowly.
More to come.
In the meantime, you can find the earliest known photos of Persephone [...]

We think the baby dropped sometime yesterday or the day before. Xy is feeling a lot better and seems to have a lot more energy.
Speaking of dropping, perhaps it’s time to drop the pretense that we’re keeping the child’s sex a secret.
See, four or five months ago Xy asked me if we should opt to [...]

I mentioned last June that I was going to be a grand uncle. About five months ago, my niece gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. Last month she ran off to Nevada with the father, whom I’ve never met. A few days ago they got married. He is joining the Marines, and my niece [...]

Our friends DJ and Daisy and Anna and Lili came over, and we spent the day moving furniture from room to room.
My office has moved in to the front room which had been serving as our “living room” (such a strange name for a room!) since our lower floor was flooded. Our bedroom has moved [...]

I got some clothes and a swell electric garlic roaster for Christmas this year, but by far the coolest gift comes from my dear departed Grandma Mildred.

It’s a crib blanket that I used as a child forty years ago, handmade by Grandma. The theme seems to be travel. It says: “BY AIR, BY SEA, BY [...]