Gossiping in the lunch room...

Check this picture out and tell me that these two young ladies aren't gossiping about something or another over their lunch hour. It's seeing pictures like these, with food so well organized in the trays, none on the table, and sweaters still in a pristine state that reminds me Charli is moving on up!

Hackin'...

Q: Hey Charli! Wacha doin'?
A: Checking my e-mail.

I kid you not. (of course, she doesn't actually have an email account, but that's details...)

Busy busy busy...

At long last, Charli finally got a chance to push Buster in the stroller. She has mentioned wanting to do this every time she sees the stroller in the garage. Here is her debut!!

Now we've got 2!

Here is a heartwarming scene from this morning at the Lawler home. It was my intention to go into work today, but once I saw this I decided that really nothing good could come of it. Add in the fact that I have screwed up my sleep schedule a bit and the result is, clearly, a slightly adjusted schedule: go get a flu shot, work on taxes until I pass out (probably 5 minutes or so) drive in to work for a meeting, and go pick up Charli.

Quinn is reliably sleeping about 3-4 hours at a time, so it isn't terribly difficult to get sleep. It's just that you only get a couple hours at a time.

Now, off for vaccination! Man do I hate shots.

Health updates on the small one...

So back to #2. Here we see a picture of young Quinn taking a break. He spends most of his days taking breaks actually. About the only concern at this point is of jaundice, typical for newborns but in Quinn's case, not clearing up as quickly as it's supposed to. Korin and I are presently sitting in the doctor's office and getting many reassurances that he's fine and everything will clear up in a couple days.

While waiting for the Dr. To come in to the examination room, we were changing Quinn and he gave us a surprise that only little boys can give. Gotta remember to cover that willy when it's diaper changing time!

Spring time party!

Charli's friend Serena and her parents, Justin and Helen had a little get together on Sunday to celebrate the first day of Spring. The party would have been bigger but they were expecting bad weather and decided to scale things back substantially. Instead, there were just a 3 little girls and parents on hand. It turned out that the weather was actually just fine, so Charli and I got on the bike and rode over to their house. Activities included a little hide & seek outside in the back, some early egg painting and rabbit ear headband making, and then some fairy dress-up and jump on the cushion time (pictured).

Unfortunately, the joy of this day vanished as Charli had a problem cleaning up after herself. After flat-out refusing to clean up a mess she had made, her Purple Babu got grounded and she went to bed without her favorite blanket and without a story. She had several chances to make things right, but refused to do so. How could it be that such a sweet child jumping barefoot in a fairy dress not 3 hours before could turn into such an obstinate little monster, staring down authority and refusing to comply with reasonable requests to clean up her mess?

Come to think of it, this is a trait that Korin continues to demonstrate to this day, so I blame her. But I will likely feel the consequences for sharing that opinion, dear reader. Pray for me.

Morning treat...

Charli wants very much to be able to help in the proper care and feeding of Baby Buster. This morning, as Buster was crying away in Binka's arms, Charli scurried off to the kitchen to get one of her milk cups. She even put the empty cup into the microwave to pretend warm up the pretend milk contained therein. Buster wasn't fooled for long. After that, Charli sang some songs for Buster that kept him entertained for a little while too.

Observe this rare photo...

This photo is of the rare Shirleyfongus Hawai'icanus (also known as mother-in-law, and to some simply as "binka") thriving in her natural habitat, the Safeway. The Shirleyfongus is seen here diligently gathering food for her young. This particular species is characterized by an intense affection for the offspring of its offspring. This photo was taken under duress by the most common prey of the Shirleyfongus, the son-in-lawus carry-the-grocerycus. Almost immediately after this photo was captured, the prey was buried under the crushing burden of another load of provisions bound for the gaggle's lair. The Safeway is a unique place in nature that contains many of the raw materials that the Shirleyfongus needs. She has a unique ability to then transform these materials into sustenance for all of her gaggle back in the lair. Today's outing was one of the many that are undertaken over the course of a day to augment the already enormous supply of provisions in the lair with small additions that will later be transformed into a delicious pile of food that will feed the gaggle for days to come. The Shirleyfongus is extraordinarily skilled at creating something called Jook, whose recipe has remained a mystery to researchers for many years. One of the great mysteries of this species is its tendency to keep many months worth of food on hand, even in the face of an unbelievable bounty of food within crawling distance of the lair.

Equally mysterious are the migration habits of this species. Rather than being seasonal, or based on its own mating patterns, the Shirleyfongus seems to migrate based on be the mating patterns of its offspring. Indeed it's true that if their own offspring do not themselves make offspring, the Shirleyfongus is rarely to be seen. But as soon as their young begin to produce young of their own, the migrations, sometimes across great distances, become far more frequent. The Spring 2011 migration has been particularly fascinating in that it is not clear when, or even if, the return migration will occur. And in one of the many intricate dances choreographed by Mother Nature, it would appear that the Spring 2011 migration has also miraculously happened to coincide with a once in a lifetime event for the Shirleyfongus - commonly referred to as The Retirement. It is not known for sure, but strongly suspected, that somehow The Retirement and the unusual migration pattern this year are in some way connected to the recent birth of another of the Shirleyfongus' offspring's offspring.

But what should not go untold in this, one of natures great mysteries, is the extent to which the alleged "prey" (the aforementioned son-in-lawus carry-the-grocerycus) is actually appreciative of the tireless efforts put forth by the Shirleyfongus. Without the tireless effort put forth by this very unique creature of the wild kingdom, the entire gaggle would suffer from severe exhaustion brought on by the recent birth of the newest offspring who, while a good sleeper, still seems to manage to wake up right about when REM sleep begins.

A roundabout way of getting there, but thank you. You're a tremendous help and we really appreciate it! (you too, Grandpa!)

Clean bill of health, now back to convalescing...

The nurse has now come and gone, and has given both Korin and Buster a clean bill of health. As you can see in the attached photo, they are both quite relieved.

It was actually pretty cool to have a house call like that - seems like a throwback to a time when the doctor carried around his case, stethoscope around his neck, to do his rounds. The tools of the trade are largely the same as well, stethoscope, thermometer, teeny scale, etc. The nurse actually had a smartphone to record bits of information on, but she still insisted on writing the measurements down her pad just to be sure she got them right.

One thing that has changed, even since Charli, is how WE are recording things. Last time we had pencil & paper to write down when diaper changes and feeding happened. Now we have smart phones! Korin has an android phone, and has an app on there that makes it really easy to record feedings and diaper changes, and to have little reminders go off when it's time to take pain killers. It's a fun time to be a geek!

Anyway, things are going pretty smoothly here. Korin is obviously in a bit of discomfort, having given birth just a few days ago, but she's getting better too.

House call...

Day 4, and someone comes over to your house to check up on mommy and baby. Our nurse brought a scale and all the normal doctor equipment. Heart rate's good, temperature's good, digestion's good. And Quinn's doing ok too!

Morning report, and random hiking picture...

First night at home with Buster, and it went pretty well! At 3 days old he is sleeping 4 hours at a time through night, and he continues to snooze away right now. Man that birthing thing really can wear you out.

On a completely unrelated note here is another great picture from yesterday's adventure hike. Note the ersatz Baby Buster in Charli's backpack, and the great view of the City in the background. Good to be home...

Quality time: adventure hike...

After a couple hours of having young Quinn at home, Charli was ready to get away for a while. Korin was crashing on our own bed for what seemed like the first time in a very long time, Quinn was napping in his very cozy car seat, and binka and grandpa were reading or otherwise occupying themselves so Charli and I slipped away for a little adventure. We have taken this hike together before, but something was different about it this time. Back home, another sibling was waiting to hear tales of out journey up the treacherous heights of Bernal Hill.

I left home at about 4am the father of an only child - a little girl who was the center of everything. I now find myself hiking up a hill only 2.5 days later with a totally different, no longer so little girl who has all kinds of new responsibilities. Already, she has made some room in the center of everything for someone else. I have experienced nothing that made Charli seem so much older so quickly. Or is it just that now my own personal mindshare is split between this little girl, now so independent and able scale uneven paths of gravel under her own power, with the help of her walking stick and bearing the burden of her backpack with her own little baby inside, and a brand new infant boy at home who could probably have fit into the backpack.

Looking at this picture again though, I am more inclined to think that she is actually older now and she knows it, despite her protestations to the contrary. "I'm a little girl" just ain't gonna cut it. Your a big girl now!

Back to Bernal Hill...

Now that we are back home, it's time for us to settle back in to our favorite things, like going up Bernal Hill and enjoying the view on a nice afternoon...

All the time is naptime!

Quinn has yet to cast a wakeful eye on our home, but he is certainly making himself comfortable. And Charli is keeping a very close eye on Baby Buster so far.

Charli has a new job...

Buster has made it home, and Charli is now quite busy taking care of business. She is now getting all kinds of stuff to make sure he is comfortable and his needs are attended to. More to come...

Charli gets to hold Buster!

Charli us here with us, and Binka and Grandpa have gone out for some late lunch/early dinner. So after Charli helped change Baby Buster's diaper (she wanted to do it all herself) she finally got to hold Buster by herself (almost).

German lessons for Buster start today...

Nina and Bella came by today to say hello to Buster, and Nina immediately began Quinn's first German lesson. Needless to say, they hit it off quite well.

The bummer about being a newborn...

So outside of the fact that you have just been forcibly extracted from the most comfortable place you will probably be your entire life, being a newborn generally seems to be pretty cool. No one really expects much of you and hour every need is sought to, by multiple people. Even if you keep your parents up all night, that's ok. It's expected of you. You really are a little angel when you're born, just because there is really nothing else you could be.

So in light of all that, you would think that having a kid come out of the womb a already be able to sleep for fairly long stretches at a time would be taken as a blessing. That's what Quinn has been doing from the get-go. But it's not a blessing. Now, instead of being thankful that you've got a kid that may turn out to be a great sleeper, you worry about whether he is getting enough to eat. If he eats too much, then you worry about whether he is pooping too much. If he poops too much, now you're worried about some other damn thing.

In a parent, this phenomenon makes you suddenly quite appreciative of things that you never thought you would be thankful for. Today, Quinn woke up at one point around lunch time and started in with a good honest cry - not just the whimpers that he would occasionally blurt out from time to time during the night. How bizarre it felt to be relieved at hearing this cry. And further to let it just continue for a minute or two, just to make sure he was getting good deep breaths in. He's still not really big on the breast feeding thing, but at least we know that he has it in him to be heard.

In other news, he had his ears checked today and they're perfect. It's pretty cool that they can test your hearing before you are even able to properly control your own arms and legs.

-B

The view from my bed...

We made it through the first night really well. And after 14 hours on the outside, Buster finally figured out that he was hungry and took to eating quite nicely. He also did all of this very quietly, which meant that both Korin and I also managed to get some sleep in the process.

One big difference between the C-section and normal vaginal birth for the baby is that in a C-section, they take this little baby vacuum pump thingy and clear all the stuff from your lungs and throat. Not so on the vaginal birth - so Buster will occasionally choke on stuff that is still in there and require a bit of a snork from the little mouth/nose snorker. This is not at all unpleasant or anything, but it is, needless to say, a bit alarming to hear your newborn gagging on something.

Gory details aside, even though we are in fact in a room with a window, the view now is in the other direction from where I lay.

All quiet...

Korin, Buster, and I have graduated to the postpartum suites now. These are the rooms where dad actually gets a bed too! So here I lay with my 2 snoozing angels. Korin has already begun her recovery and early indications are good that she'll be back on her feet pretty quickly. Buster so far has proven to be a really relaxed infant, quite alert when he's awake but also quite content when he's asleep.

He is currently quite snugly swaddled in his baby bed right next to Korin, and has been sleeping without a peep for an hour. As is the policy, I took him to the nursery at midnight to weigh in, and rather than the customary weight loss that you expect in newborns, we actually saw Buster gain weight! He went from 6lbs 15oz at 6pm up to 7lbs 9oz at midnight. Presumably this means he was mid-weighed at birth, and perhaps he is a bigger Buster boy than we thought!

First bath...

Charli got in on the action early with Buster's first bath. Under the helpful guidance of Barb the Nurse, Buster is now squeaky clean and relaxing in his tiny bed.

Meet the family!

Buster's out! And he now knows he has an Auntie Sam and a big sister. Charli's fascinated so far. And Sam? Well, she was on hand for the actual birth which was completely overwhelming for everyone in the room. The good news is that Charli wants to take him home. Let's hope that lasts.

Done deal...

With a lot of effort, at 5:34pm on the Ides of March 2011, Gerald Quinn Lawler was born. It's our 2nd birth but man was this different than the last time around. Korin was able to have a perfectly normal delivery this time -- no C-section! And she's totally fine. Quinn is 6lbs. 15oz and 20.5in. long.

Saddle up!

We're in the stirrups and ready to ride! Quinn is now ready for the longest few inches he'll ever travel!

-B

The beat goes on...

Smiles all around! We are now entering purr 12th hour and are at 8cm dilation. That's right folks -- 2cm to go! Could be within an hour! As you can see, Korin is still in good spirits and laughing at my jokes. With the epidural in place, she has the sensation of trying to push something out of her. Something big.

Korin just finished reading the final pages of her "Your Journey Through Pregnancy" handbook, and from the looks of it she finished it just in time!

Dilation...

I suppose that as far as birthing status reports go, the most telling metric would be the dilation. Korin's at 5cm... Half way there!

-B

Foggy Day...

It's a foggy day here in the northwest corner of San Francisco. We are 10 hours into our ordeal, and it has taken a turn for towards the serene. Unfortunately we don't have a window in our room, so young Quinn will have to wait a bit to see his first glimpse of daylight. Quinn Lawler is a decidedly Irish name I think, hopefully our little Irishman won't wait until St. Patrick's Day to be born. At this point, we are settled in, relaxed, and waiting for nature to take its course. Or in our case, "nature" plus some pain killers and a slight dosage of petocin.

The Happy Cart...

Meet Derek. Derek drives the Happy Cart. The Happy Cart has drugs in it that make mommies happy. On a scale of 1 to 10 Korin's contractions had gotten up to a 7. But the Derek brought in the Happy Cart and now everything is going to be just fine. As we speak the epidural is kicking in, and Korin is doing her best to relax and catch up on lost sleep. The room is quiet, but for the machine humming in the background monitoring baby Buster's tiny rapid heartbeat. Poor little guy has no idea what's about to happen...

I can't believe it's already 12:30PM. We've been at this for 9 hours already, but it seems like no more than 3. I imagine that Korin would disagree.

Not-so-modern technology...

I think these devices have been in delivery rooms for years, but in case you have never seen one, this is the machine that tells you how much labor sucks. That little graph on the far right goes up when contractions happen, and it goes up a lot when big ones happen. So Korin is having those things right about now. The good news is that there is a few minutes of rest in between. And because we were up at 3am, it actually seems as if Korin gets a little teeny nap in there! But when the little graph goes up again, it's back to reality. No pain killers yet, but something tells me that is not far away.

Checked in to our room...

Just after 9AM, about 6 hours after our first indication that something is happening, we are now officially checked into our room here and waiting for the fun to begin. It is unclear at this point whether Korin will need a C-Section or not. But it looks like not much is going to happen for the next couple of hours...

3:30AM...

Korin: Daflink? I think my water broke.

Brian: drool... Huh?

-B