Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 47

2006-08-29 24:15 (John) Still sleep-deprived, still having difficulty stringing words together into sentences. I remember coming downstairs in a fog and finding Jamie watching TV with Kristen and Liam. Jamie prompted me for orange juice and breakfast cereal, which was a good thing, as it reminded us that we usually started our days off with breakfast. I then took Jamie grocery shopping and to the Dairy Queen in the morning, by which time it was somehow already time for lunch. I don't remember what I made. When it was time to take him over to Browning to pass off to Ken and Kelly for his walk, I took Liam too in his sling, to see what it was like walking with both, which I imagine I will be doing a lot of very soon. It was okay, except that it was raining hard in bright sunshine, so both kids were complaining about getting wet. I think I took a brief nap next.

Kristen says that Liam has been smiling today. I have yet to see this.

Laraine, Jennifer and Becky took the afternoon off to go shopping. I took Jamie to Treasure Island Toys when he woke up, and bought him a toy truck with a snow plow blade at his request. He asked to take it to the beach, but Kristen said no. Granted, the beach we are talking about is two hours away by car. Maybe I will take Jamie there myself.

We had to leave the toy store early because I needed to get to a planning meeting for my high school reunion. Jennifer met me at the Jackman schoolyard to take Jamie in time for me to be only a few minutes late for the meeting. While I was out, Laraine ordered in pizza for dinner for everyone.

Liam enjoyed his bath again tonight. He relaxes into it the way Jamie used to when he was a baby, despite my tormenting him by singing Rubber Duckie at him. Jamie climbed in behind me as Liam was finishing up, and for the first time in days was willing to immerse, so the scrape on his knee must be feeling better. Jamie was a little wound up and took a while to settle in bed, but eventually fell asleep beside Kristen, with Liam nestled in the crook of my arm. That's about it. Back to bed.

2006-08-30 15:30 (John) Liam lay next to me for a while staring at me while I was typing. He's been awake for a while now, Kristen says longer than he ever has. He likes me to hold his feet, which makes it hard to type very quickly, so I've just passed him back to Kristen, who is letting him exercise his neck already quite strong neck muscles looking over her shoulder.

2006-08-30 20:45 (John) Jamie went to Hakobune in the morning. He was a little out of sorts, despite the fact that the three of us boys slept in. He wanted to fly to Japan to see Mio, which I take as a sign that he is feeling as though all is not right with the world. He had a good time at the day care though, during which I took Becky and Jennifer around Chinatown and Kensington Market. Laraine took Jamie out for his afternoon walk so I could rest (thanks!).

Kristen was up early this morning because she was in a good deal of pain. Her Caesarian section incision has become infected, and she is unable to walk without a good deal of pain, despite her regimen of 600 mg ibuprofen four times daily. We went to see one of Dr. Kennedy's colleagues, Dr. Sarile, who drew a sample of pus from the wound to send to the lab and put Kristen on cephalexin until we hear back from the lab.

We had dinner at Pearls, then rushed home to meet Julie for a house call. As I write this, Julie had not yet shown up, but had just called, I'm guessing to say that she was called away to a birth. When we got home, Jamie wanted me to go over to see if Chaerim and Kyop could come out and play. They could, but were initially more interested in looking at Liam. We then all crossed back to our side of the street and spent an hour chasing Iain, Clare, each other and a hacky-sack ball until it got too dark to see.

2006-08-30 25:00 (John) Julie arrived while I was writing the preceding entry. She weighed Liam at 8 lbs. 10 oz. (3900 g) right after a poo. He's putting weight back on at the right rate after the typical postpartum loss. She took a look at the inflamed end of Kristen's incision and advised us to go to the emergency ward if the inflammation spread any further. She'll come back again on Sunday.

I bathed Liam and Jamie again. Liam continues to enjoy the whole bathing experience, except for getting out and drying off. The stub of his umbilical cord fell off after the bath, which was good, because it looked like it really needed to. I shampooed Jamie's hair for the first time. It's been Kristen's job, because shampoo aggravates my eczema (which is pretty bad now), but Kristen is only allowed sponge baths until the infection is under control.

Jamie serenaded us to sleep with an enthusiastic rendition of "Bananaphone" by Raffi. We're still working on suitable retribution for Daniel's having taught him this ditty.

2006-08-31 06:00 (John) We woke up at 01:30 because Kristen's incision was oozing heavily, and after a brief conversation with Julie we went to the emergency department at Toronto East General Hospital. Jennifer stayed home to look after Jamie, and Liam of course came along for the ride. Thanks to Liam, we got to spend three hours waiting in the "quiet room" rather than mixing with the hoi polloi, which meant that I at least got to stretch out on a comfy couch and take catnaps. Kristen sat in the comfy armchair and kept Liam happy while doing New York Times crosswords. We were seen by a Dr. Salvatore Sirna, who took a look at the incision and assured us that we had nothing to worry about, that the cephalexin seemed to be working, and that the oozing was heavy but not excessive. He prescribed hot compresses, hot baths and the rest of the cephalexin. First though, we'll see if we can get an hour or two's sleep.

2006-08-31 21:00 (John) We all woke up again between 10:00 and 11:00, even Jamie who ought to have woken up earlier as he hadn't gone to the hospital with us. Maybe he tried to wake us up, gave up and went back to sleep. Who knows? Kristen is feeling somewhat better, though we're all pretty tired. Ken took Jamie out for a brief walk, which to no one's surprise did not result in a nap. I picked him up by the Second Cup, then walked over to the pool to meet Kelly, Daniel, Ross and Becky. I've lived near the Riverdale Pool for close to thirty years but had never visited it, and was glad to have the opportunity. Jamie was not in the mood for swimming because of his lack of sleep, and grew hysterical when his swimsuit got wet. Kelly looked after him so that I could swim a few lengths. We retired to the Second Cup en masse for our usual refreshments, then stopped at the Jackman schoolyard where there were n children and n-1 toys, leading to fruitful training in negotiating and bargaining skills on all parts. We rejoined the rest of the family at the end of the afternoon.

Liam is spending more and more time awake. It's not clear whether or not he approves of us. He spends most of his time observing us with a newborn's anthropological detachment. He did smile at me once at the hospital, but I'm pretty sure it was only because I had brought him back to look at the rectangular fluorescent lights in the hospital ceiling again.

Dinner was ordered in from the Silk Road Cafe, yummy as usual. Jamie is partial to one of the curried noodle dishes, and may have some for lunch again tomorrow.

2006-09-01 23:47 (Kristen) I've been trying to keep notes during the day about what has been happening, because with two boys to watch, it's been too easy to forget things that we'd want to remember. Right now, I'm typing on a laptop in the bedroom, with Liam and Jamie at my side. Earlier, I had Liam on my lap, which reminded me forcefully of a photo that John took of me and Jamie when Jamie was not much older than this, in the same position. Currently, I am doing well, but waiting until it's time for my next dose of meds.

I woke up late, around nine, and took Liam downstairs with me to make breakfast and lunch for Jamie, as Liam looked as though he was almost ready to awaken. I am proud to say that I got him to sit in his car seat in the kitchen and be mostly happy while I went through our usual Hakobune morning routine. Jamie came downstairs by himself, after calling for me, and had raisin toast and a peach for breakfast. He wanted to help rock Liam in his car seat, and while he was too tentative to actually move the seat much, I was heartened by his help and interest.

A carload went off around 10:00, with Gary, Becky, John, Jamie, and Ayami. Mom, Jen, Liam, and I stayed behind, and did our thing, until we all decided that we were rather peckish. I was feeling much better than the day before, and so we all walked down to the Danforth to the Detroit Eatery for a goodbye breakfast. Liam was an absolute angel, sleeping in the little Zooper all the way. I think that he's a motion baby, just like Jamie: he likes the car, and enjoys the sensations of being moved around over being still. He slept through breakfast and woke up a bit as I sat in the Carrot Common, watching the shadows and light peacefully. We got home a little before the rest, and so Jamie got to say goodbye to Grammie, Becky, and Auntie Jen before they went back to Ottawa. He seems to understand that they've gone home, but I know that Jamie will be calling for Becky tomorrow morning, looking to play. He's really enjoyed having everyone here, and the extra attention has helped him to adjust to the strangeness of having a little brother and my absence for three days.

While Jamie went for his walk, Liam and I stayed home and I managed to get some paying work done while he lay peacefully beside me on the couch. Yay us! Liam continues to smile at us in his gentle, sleepy way, and has been working hard at lifting his head up. Tonight, he managed to lift his head up while lying on John's chest and turn his face the other way, twice. Strong boy! Ken took Jamie out for an hour, and we were worried that Jamie wasn't going to fall asleep when Ken called a little before three to say that Jamie was still up. However, Jamie did fall asleep for an hour and twenty minutes at 2:50, so he mercifully did get some sleep (unlike yesterday). He was woken up, we think,, either by a prodigious need to pee, or by a scratchy little cough he's working on. John thinks that he hasn't been feeling all that well today, and he did have some diarrhea, which can't have been comfortable either. He's off his food, which makes sense given how he must be feeling. However, his mood is good and his spirits bright, and he was an amazing kid this afternoon. He was helpful, and did things when I asked him the first time, in response to large amounts of praise for being helpful (like holding the diaper cream tube for me when I was changing Liam). We had a lovely time, reading a Japanese word book and playing the "Mummy says this, Papa says this" game, and singing Old MacDonald (on that farm he had a mummy/baby/Jamie/papa, with a kiss/wah!/bububu/hug here...). John's parents came over, and played with Jamie (Jack and Jamie had an interesting round of Hi Ho Cherry Oh!, a counting game with a spinner), before they left and Jamie watched Wallace and Gromit in the Spongebob Throne.

Dinner was at Browning, where Kelly cooked a lovely meal, and Jamie had a great time playing with his people while Liam took the opportunity to pee on his father and go throuugh a number of items in the (until now) overstocked diaper bag we've been carrying. We'd been joking that the bag was overstocked, and even contained Lassie in case Liam fell down a well and needed help. It needs restocking now! Liam was his usual calm self at dinner, and Jamie was his usual curious self. We got home later than usual, and John rushed upstairs to get the boys into the bath. John held Liam, who did the baby excercises that Jamie used to do on John (crawl/wriggle up John's chest while John reclines, then do it over again), while Jamie and I chatted and he fell asleep cuddling with me. We're all still sleeping in the same bed, which makes me happy as it makes me feel like we're reinforcing the idea that we are all a family unit. It's starting to turn into one of my favourite parts of the day, and while I know that Jamie will be urged to sleep in his own bed soon, and Liam will follow as soon as he stops night nursing, I will treasure this togetherness while I can.

2006-09-02 24:08 (John) It was a cold wet day as the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto swept through the city. Jamie, Liam, Kristen, my mom and I all squeezed into the car to drive to the St. Lawrence Market for Liam's first trip to the market. We dropped Kristen off at the Second Cup nearby to do some work over coffee. I carried Liam in his sling, and Jamie alternately walked and rode in his stroller. We followed our normal routine except for added oohs and aahs as our friends at the market were introduced to Liam one by one.

At Loblaws, my mom started chatting with a Japanese woman who turned out to be the mother of a little girl named Mio who sees Jamie on Fridays at Hakobune. Jamie has apparently been a force for good eating there, as his bento box always has crudites picked from my vegetable garden, which led Mio to insist that her lunch include them too.

Jamie fell asleep in the car on the way home at around 15:20 and slept through for three hours until dinner at my parents' house. After dinner, Jamie, Liam and I lay down on the couch together to watch Treehouse TV. We got to bed a little later than usual, but not too late.

(Kristen) I found Jamie spontaneously singing the Japanese rock-scissors-paper song for Liam tonight after we got home. He did the whole song with hand gestures, while Liam slept in his car seat (Liam slept most of the day, and I hope the rain starts again to lull him to sleep for most of the night!). Jamie isn't interested in holding Liam, but is very interested in helping me with him, and checks on Liam often to make sure that Liam is happy and all right.

2006-09-03 23:45 (John) I think Kristen is still planning on getting up to write the blog tonight, but just in case she doesn't, here's our day in brief. It was continuing cool but not rainy. We went to IKEA for the afternoon, thinking that it would be a good way to run Jamie around and that he would fall asleep in the car one way or the other. He didn't fall asleep and was blitheringly tired by 20:00 but not asleep until 22:45. (Despite our having him in bed by 22:00. Arggh! -- K)

Julie came by in the morning for our last house call. Liam and Kristen are doing well. Liam weighs 9 pounds now, thanks to what Kristen describes as very efficient nursing technique on his part. He's making more eye contact now, after a week of avoiding it; we're very much enjoying coaxing smiles out of him.

We saw our neighbours Paul and Betsy, who came back from France with their three sons and a lovely outfit for Liam (Betsy enjoyed shopping for a new baby in France). Peter, Leslie and Simon came by, along with bread and gelato for us, yum. Simon is crawling quickly now, which gave us all a brief glimpse into our lives eight months from now, with Jamie and Simon frenetically chasing each other around the house.

The gifts reminded me that we received a bag of really cool stuff from Millie the other day, which I will ask Kristen to describe, and which we will photograph and display in due course.

(Kristen) The Really Cool Stuff consisted of a Lucky Ducky towel, onesie, and bib, each with their old fashioned tin or box, which will look great on a shelf as a decoration later, along with a Baby Bear blanket, which is the softest, most wonderful thing. My aunt really knows where to find the good stuff. We also received gifts from our neighbours Janet and Rob Callaghan, and our dear friend Craig Rowland (and his boyfriend Mark), and our other neighbours Alexandria, Karen, and Davis (a Wedgewood Peter Rabbit mug, so that Liam will have one of his own and not steal his brother's). Trifina gave Liam a lovely green bathrobe and slippers.

Other items of note: Jamie asked to hold Liam for the first time today, and I willingly obliged. He held him for a few minutes, then that was that. However, he asked to hold him again this evening, so he seems to enjoy doing it. Jamie also enjoys hodling the diaper cream and a diaper for us when we change Liam, and is, in fact, insisting on it. He has a job, and takes it seriously. Liam was awake for three hours this afternoon, the longest he's ever been awake. He's sleeping now, beside me, as is Jamie. Finally, Jamie has really gotten in touch with his inner musician. He sings all the time--sometimes nonsense he's making up on the spot, and sometimes songs from Hakobune. He loves "Old MacDonald," and the Japanese rock/paper/scissors song the most right now, but will happily sing other songs as well. We're now allowed to sing, and he will try to sing along even if he doesn't know the tune. This is a complete 180 from six months ago, when I wasn't allowed to sing at all in his presence. I like having Jamie the Musician around.

2006-09-04 24:06 (Kristen) Jamie slept well last night, while Liam was more unsettled. At one point, I had Liam on my shoulder, and Jamie snuggled in tightly against my side. Comforting for both boys, perhaps, but slightly claustrophobic for me! John, of course, had lots of room. We all got up around 9, which is average these days. John and Jamie had breakfast, and I eventually got Jamie outside to play in order to burn off some energy to faciliate an earlier nap. We rode on Jamie's bike a bit (or, rather, Jamie did) (Jamie's legs are much longer than they were when we bought the Run-Bike for him in the spring, and he handles it quite well now); played ball; and did a little gardening before heading inside for lunch at 12:50.

John had possession of Liam while Jamie and I were outside, and found that he was quite fussy unless John had him in a sling. After John and Jamie had left for their walk (Jamie had a huge lunch of two eggs, toast, cucumber, 2 cherry tomatoes, and watermelon), I hoped to get some work done too. However, Liam was still fussy, and would only sleep when on my lap or (you guessed it) in the sling, which made working difficult. I'll have to work on that. I think that he is gassy and his tummy is a little upset, given the amount of milk he spit up and his body language. He still has trouble expelling gas. John says that Jamie didn't fall asleep until 3, and only after another heroic quantity of food was put into him. Jamie slept until 5 or so, when he and John came back from their walk.

Jamie wanted to play with the neighbourhood kids, so he, Liam, and I went in search of them while John started to make dinner at Browning. Liam slept for close to five hours at this point, stirring occasionally, but allowing us to cook and eat dinner. Jamie had a good time playing with the kids, and playing with Ross's trains, and (of course) watching Wallace and Gromit. He's a big fan, and likes to pretend he's Wallace on a motorcycle while he's riding his bicycle. I have been designated Mummy Gromit. (John: I am always Papa Gromit; Jamie is always Jamie Wallace. Jamie was eventually, after much persuasion, willing to concede that he might have misunderstood that Stilton was a type of cracker, and not a cheese.) Jamie had a very hard time falling asleep tonight, however, and I'm not really sure why. We'll have to work on that. Liam is still gassy, and not wanting to be put down; in fact, he wakes up whenever we do. We'll see how the night goes, but I hope that the gas passes quickly. Off to a diaper change.

* For the benefit of Scrabble players, words that are not in the Scrabble dictionary are marked with an asterisk.

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