Bath Time and a Weigh-In

We bought a new tub at Toys R Us last weekend. We thought it would be easier to work with a tub that sits in the sink and to a degree we were right. This is a picture of Tiernan taking his first bath in the new tub (with a carefully positioned wash cloth!). He's really beginning to enjoy his baths, which definitely makes the whole bathtime experience easier.

The second bath in the new tub took place on Tuesday and it didn't go so smoothly. We discovered that we have to start baby-proofing already! As you can see, there's a spider plant sitting right beside the sink. As we were starting his bath off, I was holding him in my arms and Deb was washing his hair. He started swinging his arms around and I joked that we'd better be careful or he'd grab the plant and pull it over. No sooner had I finished saying it than Tiernan did it!! Dirt from the plant filled his tub and the surrounding area and he just sat there in my arms, still holding a frond of the spider plant! He's already making mischief, little monkey.

Yesterday, Deb and I took him to the midwife for his five week check-up. It was actually supposed to be a four week check-up, but they didn't have a spot open last week. So, off we went to get him checked out. The main question we both had was how much he would weigh. He hadn't been weighed since he was two weeks old. At that time he was 7lbs 10oz. We had no idea how much he weighed now, but Deb had been somewhat worried that he wasn't eating enough. Boy was she wrong! As of yesterday, he weighed 10lbs! He gained over 2lbs in three weeks. Apparently, he is eating plenty. Expect to see the rolls of fat beginning to accumulate!

Of course, just after I wrote the previous paragraph this afternoon, he started fussing and has been fussing for about six hours. He seems to be hungry, but he doesn't want to eat. We finally got him to eat a little bit from a bottle. Hopefully, he'll fall asleep some time soon. Sometimes, this new job of ours can be very tiring! And it sure interferes with the old job. I was supposed to get a lot of marking done today and did none! Ah, well, there's always tomorrow.

Tim

Welcome and Thanks

First of all, I want to thank you for the love and support that so many of you have offered. We have appreciated all of the visits, meals, phone calls, emails, and gifts. We will be sending out some thank-you notes soon, but I thought I'd let you know how much Deb, Tiernan and I appreciate you.

This is just a quick entry to welcome you to the site. If you are viewing this entry, it's probably because I sent you an email telling you about it. I hope that you enjoy your visit. Feel free to read as much or as little as you like. Some of you are maybe not as familiar with blogs (weblogs), so let me point out a couple of things.

1. The entries appear in reverse chronological order, with the newest at the top.
2. You can leave comments by clicking on the word "comments" at the bottom of an entry.
3. There aren't many entries yet, but I will be trying to write an entry every week or two. Check back! As the blog grows, use the archives to return to older entries if you need to.
4. There is a link to a Flickr Photo page on the right hand side of the blog.

Flickr Instructions:
This page contains a selection of photos of Tiernan arranged in both a photo stream (in reverse chronological order from newest uploads to oldest uploads) and in three topical sets (in chronological order). You can click on a set to view it. Both the photo stream and the sets can also be viewed as slide shows (look for the link on the right hand side of a page).

These photos can be copied or saved to your own computer. They can then be printed on a home printer or at a store. Some stores will print them for you if you save them on a CD or upload them to the store online. I've done that at Walmart and will be making a gallery available soon that you can prints from at any Walmart. There is an option on Flickr, when you click on a photo, that says "order prints". Unfortunately this option only works in the U.S., not in Canada yet.

I hope these instructions are helpful. Feel free to email, comment or call if you have any questions.

Tim

The First Month (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

Today is March 17th, St. Patrick's Day (notice the Irish green for both father and son!), and more importantly (at least from our admittedly biased perspective) the one month-iversary of Tiernan Marc!

The last month has flown by. Our days and nights have been consumed by looking after our son. It really is amazing how much time it takes! It's good though. I love spending time with him, just holding him in my arms or chatting to him as he stares back wide-eyed. It's already becoming hard to remember what life was like without him!

There are admittedly less picturesque moments. Early in the morning for example, when I'm trying to catch another hour's sleep and he starts crying for attention as if the world was coming to an end. Or tonight for example when I unwrapped him from his towel after his bath to find that he had pooped all over the towel and on my t-shirt as well. Yes, definitely not picturesque.

I had intended to get this blog up online earlier than this, but I've found it hard to get a lot done the last month. The day before Tiernan was born, I started having a flare-up of my Crohn's disease. Stress, I guess. I kept hoping it would go away as I got more sleep. This past week was March break. I was forced to admit that I wasn't getting any better, possibly because I wasn't yet getting more sleep! So, I got some meds from the doctor and started taking them. I don't like the side effects, but I am starting to feel better. Well enough in fact to finally finish the opening entries of this blog! So, I think I should just write a short summary of the last month.

Week 1
The first week of having a son went by in kind of a blur. I must admit I didn't expect to be so overwhelmed with fatigue. Tiernan was apparently also very tired, because he was very sleepy all of the time. So sleepy that it was hard to wake him up to feed him. He seemingly didn't have the energy to feed from the breast. Instead, Deb had to express breast milk with a pump and we had to feed him with bottles. As a result, we had to be constantly washing and sterilizing bottles and the breast-pump. Getting up in the middle of the night to fill the sink to wash them and then sterilize them in boiling water meant neither Deb nor I slept well. I was glad I could be home from work.

Other than eating and sleeping, babies also spend a lot of time filling diapers. I know that's not a shock to any of you, especially those who have children. It wasn't a shock to me either and I had changed diapers before Tiernan was born. What was amazing was just the sheer quantity of them a newborn can go through! I changed more diapers in that first week than I had in the rest of my life combined.

Week 2
The second week was a lot easier in some ways. Deb's Mom and brother were now here to help out, which was great. Tiernan began to wake up more completely and to master breast feeding, which meant all of the bottle work was greatly reduced. For me, this meant I was now allowed to sleep a little more at night. Unfortunately, I needed to go back to work, and found it hard to keep up with work and to actually spend time with my son. I'm sure that dilemma will continue for years.

As he fed better, he gained weight. At the end of that week he weighed 7lbs, 10oz, and was beginning to fill his clothes out a little better. The midwife was quite happy with his progress. Overall his health continued to be good, except for a problem with gas. He spent a lot of time squirming and crying in pain because of gas. He didn't seem to be able to burp very well, and so all of the gas had to pass in the other direction. Apparently this was quite uncomfortable for him (and for anyone holding him when he actually succeeded). It was very hard to watch him in pain like this.


Week 3
In the third week Deb's Dad and my Mom and Dad all arrived to visit as well. My parents stayed with Jon and Michele. Now, his Grandma and Grandpa Duncan and his Nana and Papa Bonnar were all around at very times to help with the workload. Good stuff! Those who have lived far away from parents will know what I mean - it is so nice to have grandparents around to help.

Tiernan started to be awake for longer periods of time. He was obviously paying rapt attention to the world, eager to learn. He went to church with his Mom and Dad for the first time. I played the part of the proud father, eager to show him to anyone who would look (at school I had only been able to show pictures). Deb played the part of the protective mother, bundling him up in enough layers to protect him from a Manitoban blizzard (remember we leave in balmy B.C.) and successfully making it very difficult for anyone to really see him as I showed him off!
Deb also bundled him up carefully for our first family walk which took place during the third week. It wasn't really all that far, a few blocks and then back home, but it was very nice to get out of the house on a beautiful sunny afternoon. He screamed to high heaven when we put him in the car seat (he still does most of the time), but once the seat was latched in the stroller and we had gone about a half a block he calmed down. Then, all of a sudden, he was asleep. This ability to switch from crying to sleeping so quickly amazes me.

About this time, Deb and I realized that our arms were getting tired and we needed to start finding some other places for him to spend time. We bought an "Aquarium Bouncer" seat that plays music and makes ocean noises while little plastic fish bob and twirl. Exciting stuff. At times it now even keeps him entertained for ten or twenty minutes. If we're lucky, he falls asleep to the sound of waves on the shore.

Gas continued to be a problem for the poor little guy this week. We gave him different meds like Ovol and Anti-Colic Tablets that worked to a degree, and tried all sorts of different ways to relieve the pressure. In the end, it was his first trip to the chiropractor that made the biggest difference. She aligned some joints and everything just seemed to be able to move better internally as well.


Week 4
The fourth week was my March break. After a couple of weeks at work, it was great to be able to spend full days with my son again to work on the bonding. After this week, I think he recognizes me so much more and feels even more comfortable with me.

A number of big events happened this week, biggest of which was his circumcision day. We had put this off because we weren't really sure what we wanted to do. However, once we decided to get it done, we were fortunate to get in quickly, on Wednesday, the 15th. I won't give a lot of details here and definitely won't show any pictures! Suffice it to say, the doctor who did it specializes in circumcisions (and vasectomies for dads) and he did an excellent job. It was over very quickly and Tiernan did not get that upset because of it. Nevertheless, it was hard to go through for all concerned. It took a few days for the swelling to go down, but there was no real bleeding after and he's doing well now.

A couple of days later we took a family picture with the Bonnar family. I'm sure I'll post that here soon or at least on his Flickr photo page. It was nice to be able have a photo of everyone together, now that there are three grandkids for Mom and Dad Bonnar.

One final sign of growth took place at the end of this week. Tiernan turned over from his stomach to his back! I lay him down on his stomach on a blanket on the floor to see if he liked that position. Apparently he didn't! He instantly pushed himself over to his back. I was so surprised I reached out to grab him to stop him (I'm so used to focusing on not letting him fall off the change table or the couch). Deb had to tell me not to stop him, that turning over is actually a good thing. We wanted see if he could repeat the action, so we put him on his stomach again and once again he twisted over right away. It must be all of the muscles developed from arching his back because of gas. I decided to try the experiment one more time. This time he just lay there and cried, upset at the man who kept putting him on his stomach!

I think that should provide a good summary of what's been happening in Tiernan's life for the last month. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!