Month: March 2008

Greetings from a very, very dark room where the Finnfatha is dozing while Margot catches a late-evening shower. We’ve had a nice week with the Liggetts in town, helping enormously as I’ve made the transition back to working full time. I should have a few more pics to share soon, but this whole making-a-living thing kind of cramps my photographic & blogging style. 😉
Before my folks headed back to Illinois, my dad reminded me of some silliness I hadn’t heard in years. Instead of the traditional “This little piggy…” routine, his aunt used to get after his feet with a different approach. She’d start with the baby toe, calling them out by name & building up the drama:

“Peety Weety…
Polly Lutey…
Lady Thistle…
Lotty Thostle…
And a Great Big Domendite!!“

Heh heh–nice n’ bizarre, eh? 🙂
In any case, we had fun today “Documenting the Domendites” via a little kit given to us by Margot’s friend Janine.

We’ve chosen a shamrock theme for Finn’s blog, but from the looks of the image below, he might rather imitate his dad’s blog. 😉

We look forward to li’l Finn gaining the power of locomotion (well, we think we do…), at which point we’ll convert our basement to “Finnland.” Maybe at that point we’ll invest in things like an awesome kiddie Skullcave (a mere 2000 Kroners). 🙂 (Who comes up with this stuff?)

That, apparently, is the number of blood cells that the Cord Blood Registry was able to capture from our young master’s U-cord. (The idea is that the stem cells in that blood can be used later in life if medical needs arise.) Apparently the registry was hoping for at least 100M cells but was able to store nearly 2 *billion*. Now, for all I know 2 billion is nothing, or maybe they always give parents these stats so that it sounds like your kid is a real champ (for all I know, they could tell me that his fan belt needs to be replaced and I’d probably buy it). Even so, it’s music to his new parents’ ears.

John and I want to take a minute to explicitly thank all of our friends and family who have been so tremendously supportive in advance of and during our first week as parents.
We feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have pals who will bring us delicious chow, call to check in and see if there’s anything we need, how we’re coping, and offer helpful advice on breastfeeding and other mysteries of babydom. Not to mention all of you who’ve sent books, clothes, toys, and everything a little boy could need to get off on the good foot. We can’t say “thank you” too many times! We do hope that we are able to return the favor to all of you at some point. You all mean the world to us, and of course to little Finn, who has a lot of really fantastic grandparents, aunties and uncles to get to know as he grows up.

As probably everyone knows by now, babies can hear their parents’ voices in utero, and it’s possible that playing music for bambinos stimulates their development.  Not wanting The Artist Soon To Be Known as Finn to hear only his mom’s voice, and having learned that babies respond more to high-pitched sounds, I decided to “serenade” Margot’s belly with the falsetto tones of Neil Young’s Vampire Blues.  Instead of singing “Oh I’m a vampire, baby, suckin’ blood from the earth,” I changed it to “Oh I’m a Vampire Baby, suckin’ juice from my mom…”  This seemed to go over pretty well, earning a few kicks in my general direction. 🙂

Other Finn-themed faves:

• Devendra Banhart “Michigan State” — which I relentlessly turn into “Finnegan State”
• Coldplay “Yellow” — but not anymore (adios, jaundice)
• Traditional “Finnegan’s Wake” — totally incomprehensible, but high-spirited good times.  (We won’t actually keep a bucket of whiskey by dear Finnegan’s head.)
• The Who “Finnball Wizard” — got such a supple lip.

We are just back from the pediatrician’s office for a jaundice and general health check-up. Good news all around! Finn is pink, not yellow, and has gained 7 oz in the past 4 days. He’s now back up to 9 lbs 2 oz and is eating like a champ. His little belly button stump came off at the Dr.’s office and she cauterized the little bit that was left with silver nitrate so it will shrink up and the button will be an “innie” instead of an “outie.”
Barring any other unforseen issues, we’re in the clear until our 1-month check-up when we start immunizations.

Some years ago Brent Spiner, the actor who played Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, released an album called "Ol’ Yellow Eyes Is Back."  I’ve thought of it several times over the last few days, as Finn’s peepers (and skin) have had a decidedly yellowish hue.  It’s pretty common for babies to have a little jaundice as their bodies learn to process bilirubin (which sounds like the name of someone’s accountant, but isn’t).  Fortunately Finn seems well on his way to working it out of his system, and he’s pinking up nicely.

The whole thing made me think of a cautionary character from my mom’s family’s past.  My mom and her sisters (and subsequently the next generation of us kids) were always told, "Don’t drink coffee, or you’ll end up yellow like Michael Scrima!"  Kids love hearing about this magical power of their parents’ drink, not to mention getting to say "Screee-ma."  Poor Michael; who knows what happened to him, or why he was yellow, or whether he even was yellow at all.  He’s probably at a Starbucks somewhere right now, enjoying some Grande Vente caffine bomb and wondering why his yellow ears are burning. 😉

John’s groovy cousin Alicia hipped us to the “Dunstan Baby Language” method for interpreting the different sounds and cries that all babies make to indicate whether they are hungry, uncomfortable, gassy, or tired. We picked up the DVD’s and watched them last night. Really fascinating stuff!
There are about 5 distinctive sounds/cries that babies make, and the one we can confidently say we’re hearing the most is “Neh!” which means “I’m hungry.” We’re also hearing quite a bit of “Eh!” when he gorges himself on milk and needs to burp a lot. It’s pretty exciting to be able to decipher a bit of what Finn is trying to tell us, and I’m sure we’ll be passing along the DVDs to our neighbors, who we just found are expecting in August.

Hibernaculum \hy-ber-NAK-yuh-lum\ noun

1. From Merriam-Webster: A shelter occupied during the winter by a dormant animal (as an insect or reptile)
2. From the San Jose delegation: Camp Finnegan, a room occupied by three often very sleepy Nacks

Maybe I’ll write to the dictionary folks and suggest that they add a "K" to the spelling. 🙂