Free at last

Schuyler's sleeping positions are varied. At left, you see her latest contortion which looks kind of like a frog beginning to dance to "YMCA" by the Village People. I guess, if you spent 9 months cramped up in some amniotic sac, you'd probably need to boogie as well.

On another note, we went for our first walk as a family today which was a really great move... it's amazing how the simple little routines from your past can restore you in the present. We had Schuyler in one of those baby carriers that strap her to your chest facing you so you spend the entire time paranoid about her ability to breathe. Then Kim swooped in and absconded with her for a couple of hours in the evening which gave us a nice break. We didn't even charge her for the privilege of Schuyler sitting. We're that generous.

Anatomically Correct

Schuyler, thankfully, has all of her fingers, toes, etc. without any of those pesky extras like a vestigial tail.
Here, her cute little foot features her daddy's toes, or what we like to call "fingers on the foot".
Luckily she also seems to have inherited her dad's long elegant fingers. Let's hope she enjoys her piano lessons more than he did!

Happy Bermuda Day!

We tried to convince Schuyler that she should go for the traditional first dip in the ocean to celebrate Bermuda Day but the prospect of floating in a mangrove swamp was strangely unappealing. She is shown here exhibiting her typical level of enthusiasm for icy* waters in her Mission Impossible style carrier donated to our family by the kind gang at Marsh Management Services.


We took her to the nature reserve at nearby Tom Moore's Tavern where she found the natural beauty so exhilirating, she almost opened her eyes.

*by Bermudian standards

Sweet Dreams

Grandma Tobe managed to capture these cute photos of Schuyler's happy slumber.

first cousin not removed

Today Schuyler was gracious enough to receive her Godmother and her first cousins, Mitchell and Walker. I think it took a second for the boys to wrap their minds around the fact that the milk in the bottle actually came from their Aunt's body. Their morning cereal will probably never be the same. And, yet, how strange is it that we think that drinking milk made for a baby cow is a good idea?

In any case, she did some socialising before her afternoon siesta.

And slept all afternoon until midnight when her parents decided to go to bed. At precisely the point that her parents shut their eyes, she decided to test the volume control on her lungs. It goes to "11".


I think good training for having a baby would be to hire an ambulance and park it in your bedroom. Then at undisclosed and random moments throughout the night, turn on the siren. Then get up, poop on your hands and wee on the floor and then clean it all up. Repeat. Schuyler is now a fully functioning baby. And we are mostly grateful.

Water Baby

As Schuyler was attending an intimate family dinner party on Friday evening she requested a proper bath using the explicit command "waaa". We felt it was only proper given that we have bathed the dogs more than her since she's been home.

She was a real trooper considering we indelicately sprayed her down with the shower nozzle like she were a miniature rioter. Well, she's clean now and she had a great time at Kim and Ward's house where she dined on a wonderful 2008 vintage breast milk and contributed handily to the conversation with such repartee and persiflage as "oooh" and "waaa waaa".

Little Women

Well, one tiny little woman and some of her family matriarchs. Schuyler is now becoming a real little person rather than a cute hungry blob. her eyes now focus on you intently, she flashes smiles that would end any argument (and possibly longstanding wars - i'll take her to Gaza and see if her smiles can forge a peace agreement). true, the books will tell you her smiles are just the pleasurable passing of wind but i know better. i know that smile is saying "there's trouble ahead for you, Daddy - enjoy this peace while you can".

We've had Grandma Tobe in residence for the past week which has been such an incredible help. i was even able to meet a couple of client deadlines this week for a change. Moreover, her other grandparents (known affectionately to Schuyler by the monikers "Ward" and "Kim") are now returned to these fair isles and have also helped lighten the load and fatten our stomachs with homemade soups and a beautiful dinner last night (Schuyler showed her appreciation by sleeping through the whole meal). It doesn't necessarily take a village, but it sure as heck helps when the village is there to help.

The Dimps...

Schuyler appears to have her daddy's dimples. They are very difficult to catch in a photograph in these early days. We certainly hope that there will be some genuine smiles in the future but for now we are enjoying an occasional glimpse of "the dimps".

reflecting

After finally coming to a solution with the feeding issues, Schuyler is now officially a wailing, eating, peeing and pooing machine weighing in at a whopping 7 lbs 7 ounces and hitting the milestone of sneaking past her birth weight.

the new regimen of breast-in-a-bottle is working much better and we are all a lot happier and saner which is a welcomed change. now we can begin having fun again with her playing games (chess, occasionally Risk or Civilization), reading to her (she is up to date on most of the Time/Newsweek reporting on the Obama/Clinton primary battle as well as some baby friendly articles from the economist) and exercises (the baby sit ups and the occasional push up).

it is still overwhelming to comprehend that she is actually ours - that she is made from us. what a gift.

Corrections

Our alert readers have pointed out the following corrections:

In our article "mudslides and fish" [May 13th 2008] we stated that Schuyler resembles a fish. This was inaccurate. She more closely resembles a mon-chi-chi.

In our article "It's a girl" [April 30th 2008] we stated her length as 18 3/4 inches which was the official length measured by the midwife. Her pediatrician stretched her to 20.1 inches. Unless she grew over an inch in a day, the latter is a more accurate reading.

BermyBaby regrets these errors.