Watching our baby blossom...

There is nothing more special as a parent than the connection with your baby.

When Chris went to pay the DirectTV bill online, he saw that they were offering a series of engaging, educational programs designed to providing you with new opportunities for learning and playing together.

BabyFirstTV goes above and beyond traditional TV – it is an educational tool that provides a positive learning environment and an engaging experience for both you and your baby. Their programming features original new content including “Rainbow Horse”(hello... they really know how to target gay dads, don't they? Not sure which I like more, the rainbow horse or the rainbow flower they use as their logo), “Sandman,” and “I Can Sign” to name a few, as well as new tools that help parents better understand the developmental benefits for their baby with each of the programs.

With your baby’s safety and well being in mind, they offer content specifically tailored to meet the needs of babies and toddlers up to three years of age, in a safe and positive, commercial-free learning environment.

Kensington just loves the channel... though I'm not sure what to make of Tec the Tractor. I know that this is based off of a popular children’s book, and the book with a farmyard setting itself maybe great for kids, but the show freaks me out. His eyes seem to follow you no matter where in the room you are. Not to mention, no ones mouth moves.

Shushybye Baby has short series of songs, stories, healthful sleep tips and much more – all designed to encourage your toddler to look forward to nighty-night time! Not sure if it actually helped tonight - - Kensington has fought her naps all day today. We have a '20 minute rule' in our house (put her down for a nap, not letting her cry more than 20 minutes without calling it quits and letting her stay up). In 7 months, we've only have to get her once because she's cried more than 20 minutes. Until today.

We all know Kensington loves food. As mentioned in the past, she's been called an 'aggressive' eater by many, and one can easily tell by the photo's online (for those reading this on Facebook, check out our blog http://itsdaddiesplural.blogspot.com) that she loves being held. When ever ANYONE reaches out their hands, she will go to them.

Tonight bedtime was a hoot and a holla. Yes, I said holla.

Kensington was in her explorer gym and Chris walks in with her bottle and asks me if I want to take her up for bed time. Sure. This should be a piece of cake considering how much sleep, or lack thereof, she's actually gotten today.

I reach out her and instead of reaching for me, she grabs a toy and starts jumping up and down in her spring chair. I start laughing. "Come on Kensi, lets go to bed." Nadda. I clap my hands a little and she turns (the seat can go 360 degrees around the activity center). "Chris, She knows it's bed time and she's not wanting to go." I walk around to her and reach out again. She turns. Chris tries and gets the same response. We're now both laughing uncontrollably.

Here's the kicker... we show her the bottle, and she doesn't even reach for it. This is a child that when in school, they have to feed the other kids in the opposite side of the room from where she is because she wants to steal their food - even after she just finished hers. The same child that thinks any bottle (coke, mustard, salad dressing) is hers and will let you know that she stakes her claim to it. She didn't want it because she knew it meant going to bed. Needless to say, she cried the entire trip up to the room. After her bottle, a few minutes of rocking her and singing to her in my best Beyonce impersonation, she went out.

Hopefully the Shushybye Dream Band will have better luck tomorrow night. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Daddies Daylight Savings Time...

I don't know about you guys, but this "daddies daylight savings time" change is kicking our butts. It's disrupted Kensington's scheduled naps, feedings, and bedtime... and when those are disturbed, our sleep schedules get out-of-whack.

Chris had to go into the office this morning (he works from home 4 days a week). When this happens, I make sure to cover the night shifts so he can get a good nights sleep because he's up at 5am and out the door by 5:45-6.

So yesterday I tried giving her her naps a half hour early, which would make them really a half hour later (I think... I'm still sleep deprived so I may not be making any sense here). Kensington didn't like that at all... and I paid the price. At 9 pm I gave her a feeding and put her to bed. Then I stayed up until 11:30 (big mistake). She was up at 2. So after another feeding, and about 45 minutes of rocking her back and forth, I thought I got her to sleep. Once I got into bed, she talked to herself for about 30 minutes which kept me up (darn monitor).

At 4:30, there was a thud on the bed. It was Miss Gossip... the cat. She always make a noise when she jumps up.... it could be the effort and force it takes to get her 80lbs body on the bed. Okay... i exaggerate a bit. She's only 60lbs. :)

She waddles up to me and kisses my face and meows. Now... if I would have gotten enough sleep, I would have known it was Gossip. When my mind lead me to was nowhere near reality. I thought it was Kensington. These words honestly came out of my mouth, "Kensi, how did you get out of your crib? You're going to hurt yourself by jumping out of it." All I got was a meow. (Seriously, if you were Gossip, what would you have said?) "I just fed you". Another meow. "Okay baby girl... let's get you another bottle." I lifted her over my shoulder and walked down stairs into the kitchen and proceeded to make a bottle. Mind you... I left my glasses on my night stand. Not that I'm using that as an excuse not to be able to tell the difference between my daughter and my cat, but it should count for SOMETHING.

For those of you that know Gossip, you know she'd normally never stay on my shoulder for long, but with formula just inches away from her, she'd pretend to be the Gerber Baby if it would help her case.

After the bottle is made, I head back upstairs into the Nursery and put Kensi/Gossip on the changing pad. Kensi jumps off to the floor and out the door. That's the moment when I realized something was wrong. Yes folks... it took me that long.

I ended up giving Kensington half the bottle and went back to bed. Kensi stayed sleeping until 8... and so did I.

Wow... what a rough night. Let's hope Duncan doesn't jump on the bed tonight and I try to put a diaper on him.

Happy Birthday Kensington!

Wow... can you believe it's been two months already. Where did the time go? Let's just recap a little bit of what's happened in the last 8 weeks:

• Over 7000 visits to this blog, from 33 countries. We're impressed, and honored.


• Over 540 feedings & 700 diaper changes. Yes people, we do count. When we took her from the hospital, they gave us a Pampers baby feeding and changing schedule chart - but only 5 days worth. So I scanned it and modified it and then made multiple copies. It helped with the first doctors visit because it was two weeks after delivery and it helped identifying constipation. We've made the template available here, because i couldn't really find anything online when I checked.


• At 2 months now, she's just now fitting into her 0-3 months clothing.


• Her sleeping patterns are irregular. She'll sleep through the night for a week, and the next night she'll be up a couple times (which last night is the first night I didn't wake up to her cries. Chris did. I was so proud of her when I woke up this morning thinking she'd slept through the night until I saw an empty bottle next to the glider).


• With that being said, we've lost approximately 150 hours worth of sleep, collaboratively. Don't get us wrong... we're not complaining. We just can't wait to ship her off to boarding school so we can sleep in on Saturday mornings.


• She's been to a sitter 4 times. Once for the day, and the others between 1-2 hours.


• I've now gotten over the guilt period. Meaning, I felt guilty when someone offered to change or feed her. I don't know why... I just thought, "I'm her dad... you don't have to do it. I can take care of it." Now, you want to change her, go for it. I'll pick her back up next week.


• We've taken over 900 pictures of her. Now, not all 900 are great quality. Anytime you're taking pictures of a squirmy baby, you have to take 15-20 to get one that's in focus and not with a crazy baby face. But we've kept all of them.
  
• I've cried in public multiple times while holding her. We were at Michael's this week and over the intercom, the song, Amazed, by Lonestar came on and I started sing out loud to her. Every time our eyes meet, This feeling inside me... Is almost more than I can take. Baby when you touch me, I can feel how much you love me and it just blows me away. I've never been this close to anyone or anything - I can hear your thoughts. I can see your dreams. I don't know how you do what you do. I'm so in love with you. I didn't care who was looking... and people were looking (it could have been me walking up and down the aisle sing to her at a normal volume). Tears were flowing down my face uncontrollably.


• I've been pee'd on over 20 times, pooped on at least 3. Chris's numbers are also impressive, but I still hold the record. Not that I'm proud of that.


• We've gone through five... yes 5, bottles of Shout/Spray-n-wash. It aint pretty.


• Katy Perry has competition... I too have kissed a girl, and liked it!

To Be... or Not To Be

Mazha Dearest,

Back in high school and college, you told me theatre was a waste of time and wouldn’t prepare me for anything in life. Let me tell you how wrong you actually were. I’ve been able to take the fine teachings of Pro, Doc, M’Liss, Strick, Vic, Jacque, and Faulds and it has helped me become a better parent. Let me take a few moments to make my point:

Lights: We have installed dimmers throughout the house to create the perfect ambiance for Kensington. During the day, the lights are set to the maximum level to encourage her body to realize that it’s daytime (which means small naps, but lots of activity – including her tummy time). At night, the levels are dropped. We also have motion-detector nightlights that illuminate the major hallways so when we’re up at 1 am, we can make it to the kitchen without walking into a wall or tripping over Gossip.

Make-up: Chris and I haven’t slept in days, but you would never be able to tell due to the amount of “yellow-mellow” we’ve used under our eyes. Also, we haven’t seen the light of day in three weeks, but I remembered that Max Factor liquid base is a versatile foundation that creates a natural finish that won′t streak, smudge, slip or transfer onto our clothes… unlike Kensington’s spit-up.

Box-Office: Sales, sales, sales. Mazha Dearest, the gift of the crib (which not only is loved by Kensington… but commented on and adored by EVERYONE) is like an appetizer. It’s the starter piece. We got the crib, you got pictures and photo albums. Now… if you actually want to see her in person, it’s gonna cost you a little bit more. Kensi would like a Grand Victorian Playhouse. Please click on the name to be directed to the place where you can purchase it. Thanks in advance.

Sound: Please see Thursday, January 15, 2009 posting… enough said.

Props: Having gone out a couple times, we’ve realized that we need to focus on our Prop-list for her diaper bag. One cannot get caught without the proper nipples for her bottles, additional binkies in case one falls and we’re not able to wash it, and the right suction bulb for her nose. We’ve learned to always check the list twice before going anywhere.

Set Design: We’ve used the right color combination in her nursery to create a calm and soothing environment. We’ve structure the layout of the room to enhance the mobility and functionality of the space provided. The pieces used have purpose & meaning and accent the room to leave one in awe when entering the room. The mulberry and HTHAP pieces have been woven seamlessly to complement and fashioned the necessity of the room.

Costume: While “premature” clothes may be to small, and newborn clothes too large, we’ve altered pieces to enhance her petite frame. We’ve also created and used a colour palette that compliments her skin tone and the hue of her eyes. To ensure continuity in style, we’ve assembled coordinating outfits, bibs, blankets and accessories in hatboxes to provide for easier access when preparing for the morning routine.

Choreography/Vocal: I have created an original dance number to my original song entitled, “It’s a warming up”, that is preformed at each bottle warming session. Within the coming weeks, the dance-mix version will be taped and posted on the blog… but the steps go a little something like: 5-6-7-8… Weight on right foot, stamp left foot down, take a few steps backwards, hop forward on one foot, Weight on left foot, stamp right foot down, etc.

Directing: We’ve become ‘those’ parents that are directing people to use Johnson & Johnson’s Purell hand-sanitizers before holder her, positioning her in the right angle when holding/feeding, etc. We’ve taught Kensington to emote when she’s in need of another bottle, and to move with purpose. We’ve also ensured that she’s positioned properly for each picture and have created an overall well-orchestrated environment where everything comes into play.

PR/Marketing: This blog has been viewed over 3800 times and in 16 different countries. Chris and I just added a map on the blog that will start tracking countries that are logging on. Keep an eye on it – it refreshes every 24 hours with the hits.

Acting: This whole thing is an act. She’s a perfect child that sleeps through the night and never cries. This blog was just created for an over dramatization on how hard parenting is. To tell you the truth, this parenting stuff is easy. [are any of you buying this? Okay… maybe I needed to work on my acting skills a little bit more]

Thanks Mazha & Fazha for all the support! We love you and appreciate all you do.

Outfit from Dave and Theresa, Blanket from MK and Kat. Thanks gang!

Eureka!

[Kensington is napping, so time for a quick post]
Chris and I have found the routine that works... so for now, we're sticking to it. It goes a little something like this.

7:oo p.m. - Warm Bottle
7:02 p.m. - Take bottle and Kensington upstairs to her room. Turn dimmer light on low. Turn on humidifier.
7:03 p.m. - Put bottle next to glider, turn on her iPod. "Lullabies" play list. First song is All things are Bright and Beautiful, by Fisher-Price Rainforest Music.
7:04 p.m. - Place Kensington on changing table. Prepare diaper, Johnson's baby wipes and butt paste. Change.
7:06 p.m. - Spray a little saline and clean out her nose.
7:07 p.m. - Lavender Blue by Fisher-Price Rainforest Music is now playing in the back ground. Bring Kensington to glider. Feed her two ounces and then burp.
7:19 p.m. - Jewel of the Earth is now playing. Feed her remaining 1.5 ounces, then burp.
7:28 p.m. - Are You Sleeping begins to play. Rock Kensington with Carter's Plush Bear Security Blanket over her eyes.
7:32 p.m. - Bring her to her crib (thanks again Mazha and Fazha), and place her in her baby snuggle nest. Hover on the side of the bed to see if she makes a noise. Upon the Clouds is playing.
7:35 p.m. - Leave her room. I See The Moon starts.
[24 songs play, ending with Ingrid Michaelson's Morning Lullabies]

Repeat these steps again at 9 p.m., 11 p.m., 1 a.m., 3:30 a.m., 5:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

While reading Luca (and now Matteo) Has 2 Mommies , We came across the "Mom Song", which as you all know, can also be the "Dad" or the "Parent" song (lol), but I guess this gives us something to look forward to :)

Still a little sniffly...

We tried taking pictures of Kensington the past couple of days, but she still has her little cold and is groggy and doesn't want the paparazzi tailing her (may have something to do with the saline that gets sprayed up her nose every half hour and then sucked out). The doctor said she should be 'in good spirits' by Wednesday.

This little outfit is from the Jackie, Jamie and Howard and it's one of her favorite sleepers. It's part of the Taggies collection.

[frame source - Natali Design]

Home Sweet Home

Well, we're certainly glad to be back!
We just want to thank everyone for the wonderful emails, phone messages, text messages, etc., welcoming us back home. You all are the best!

We got home last night and the kiddo's were extremely excited that we were back... and confused about this little chickpea we had in the car seat. Duncan immediately came and sniffed around her. With a, "gentle" command from us, he went and kissed Kensi. It was so adorable. Now... if he'd only acknowledge Gossip every once in awhile, we'll be fine. Gossip sat in the corner and watched us bring everything in. We set up the pack and play in the living room and Gossip walked around it a couple times, sniffing, trying to figure everything out. Duncan is about eye-level to the top of the pack and play, so every time Kensington made a noise, he'd go to see how she was doing [just wait, it gets cuter].

Who knew the comforts of home, and a real bedroom, was what Kensington needed. Two nights ago, the batteries in her sleepy chair died. So it didn't vibrate or play music. Top that off with a cold you have a recipe one unhappy baby. In the car ride home, she was a complete angel, but once we got her home she was still cranky. We felt so bad for her.

We started to get a little worried about her and called Momma Peckens (yes, we have her on speed dial). Well, wouldn't you know it, just the fact that we put her in her bed (with the vibrating mattress) and turned on the iPod with a lullaby playlist, she went right to sleep. Crankiness gone... and wouldn't you know it, Eureka, the little stinker had a stinker!

Oh, to be able to use a baby monitor (thanks Eric!!!). Last night we were able to sleep in our own comfy bed, allowing Kensi to sleep in her own crib, and yet hear and see everything she did. And... to be able to use a glider, instead of an office chair on wheels worked SO MUCH better. Being home is what we all needed.

We had the normal feedings (9pm, 11pm, 1: 30am, 3:30am -and added 4:30am - 5:30am and 7:30am). I had to clear her little nose out because she kept on getting congested. At around 3:30 when I did it, she let out a blood-curdling scream. Duncan bust through the door - he's a smarty, he can open doors by jumping up on the knob and pressing hard with his nose - and rushed in for her rescue. He nudged me because he thought I was hurting her and wanted her to stop crying. It was the most precious thing. The cat on the other hand decided to jump up on his bed and get comfy on his spot which just frustrates him to no end.

Oh, by the way, we've now become a pros at filling and assembling a Dr. Browns bottle with formula and steaming it with using only one hand. Not bad for being a dads for only 12 days.

Around 6:30 I heard the neighbor shoveling his icy driveway. We had about an inch of ice, and it's something that a snow blower just won't break up. He was at it for an hour. And his driveway is less than half the size of ours. Chris went out and threw three 20lb bags of salt on the driveway, I pulled the covers over my head and dreaded having to do that to ours. If it wasn't for our doctors appointment, I'd just hibernate indoors today.

The 20 minute drive to the doctors office took almost 45 minutes. So much for getting there early to fill out all of the paper work. When I walked in they made an announcement, "We have a New Baby!!" in the bubbliest of voices. They then handed me a stack of paperwork and, in the same bubbly voice, instructed me how to fill it out. This is the same voice that they use on the phone, and as I found out, used in the examination room. It's cute at first. After 20 minutes, not so much. Seriously. No, seriously. :)

Kensington got weighed and she's back to her birth weight of 6lbs, 6oz. I was concerned that this was low, since she was discharged at 6lbs, 5oz, but found out that she lost more weight than that and getting back to the birth weight at two weeks is ideal. So she passed that test.
She's now 20 inches - she grew a whole half inch.

Doc's report: she's in the 50 percentile of weight, 50 percentile on the circumference of her head, and at the 40 percentile of her height. He says, "she perfect". Well, duh!.

He wants us to use a saline spray several times a day to help clean out her congested nose, and gave us some eye drops to help clear up the cold-related gunk in her eyes. Also, he's suggested that we not take her out until she's about 2 months and her little immune system needs to build itself up [I think this is my doctors note to get out of the board meeting this Saturday. Sorry Pete, doctors orders]

After about 2 hours at the doc's office, it is time to visit the local CVS to fill her prescriptions.

We are greater at the drop-off counter by Bunny (who has checked us out countless times) and she looks at Kensington and puts a death grip on my arm, "Oh my... she is so precious! I want to eat her up!... oh, I'm so sorry about your arm. I hope I didn't hurt you. But come on... look at her. She's adorable. P A U L A... come here, look at the baby".

After the admirations I hand over my prescriptions and inform her that the company insurance just changed so she'll need the new card to update the system. She looks at the prescription form. "What's her last name?", "Irwin-Dudek". Shes write Irwin on the top left side of the paper and Dudek on the top right side of the paper. Then she scratches it out.
"What is it again?"
"It's hyphenated."
"Oh...", she says to Kensington with a cute little smirk, "you have to love mommies who hyphenate their last names."
"Kensington doesn't have that issue... she has two daddies that got married and now have a hyphenated last name."
Bunny does a double take and I laugh. Pause. She looks at the form. Pause. Pause. "are you Chris's..."
"Husband? Yes I am." She throws herself over the counter and gives me a hug. Again, I've been there with Chris on multiple occasions. "Everyone... this is Chris Irwin's little one." They all come back to stare again.

Ummm... hello. Look at me. I'm cute too. :)

We're now home and she's sleeping. Oh... this is the life.

Chris Daughtry couldn't have said it better...

I'm going Home to the place where I belong... well, let me put it this way:

We're going Home to the place where WE belong.

We just got a message on the blackberry from our PA home study agency letting us know that we have clearance! In just a couple hours we'll be in our own space and able to put Kensington in her bassinet and roll it up to the bed. Oh... my Eddie Bauer Classic Goose Feathers & Down Pillow has never sounded so good.

Captain's Log...

Stardate 2009.01.01

While playing with our warp engines after three days of test driving the "ItsDaddies.Plural." Fleet, Kensington has warped us into yet another uncharted region of our galaxy - the black abyss of sleepless nights.

Okay guys. You all warned us... and we laughed in your faces. I will admit, you were right. Yes. I said it. YOU WERE RIGHT. Babies cause sleep deprivation. And quickly. :)

Kensi is on this "sleep all day / up all night" routine... No big deal - we're super parents. We can tag them this baby. Well... not when your partner has a cold and a sore throat. Though Chris was trying to be the trooper, I quarentined him to the upstairs loft bedroom to sleep so he wouldn't be near her. We started with a quiet New Years Eve evening: a To-Go dinner from the Texas Steak House that was situated down the road from the Residence Inn, and two tabs of orange flavored Alka Seltzer in tap water. Yummy!

We fed and changed her at 7pm and I ended up going to bed around 8:30pm... hoping to catch a couple hours of rest since we was up the entire night before with her.

(for the interest in saving time from typing, please fill in gaps between time frames with crying and sobbing... from Kensington. And yes, Kevin/Carmen/Kevin/Nathan/Jeff, we're logging her diaper changes and feeding because the pediatrician has asked us to)

9:04pm, Hurricane Kensington hit. She took 3oz of formula and had her poopy diaper changed.

9:21pm, Changed a wet one. Kensi wasn't done when I saw the blue line on the diaper and she peed while changing her (yes... so far, Kensi still has the highest score in this game).

9:43pm, Chris comes to help. I banish him back upstairs.

9:58pm, Kensi wants another ounce. What Kensi wants, Kensi gets.

10:20pm, Another poopy.

10:25pm, Another poopy. Should have waited until she was done. Darn blue lines. You see them and you just want to change the sucker!

10:30pm, Chris comes down again, and right back upstairs he goes.

11:45pm. She wants more food. I start with an ounce... she takes two.

12:12am. Happy New Year. A poopy and a wet diaper (well, just for clarification... the poopy and pee could be listed as 'wet', but I'll just use that phrase for "#1").

2:30am, another 2oz.

2:42am, wet diaper.

5:00am, another ounce.

7:00am, Chris comes down. I give in. Let's hope the Alka Seltzer worked.

Today...

Kensington learned how to write her name in cursive. Her penmanship is BEAUTIFUL.

Okay... she's not that advanced, yet, but she's getting there :o)

While she didn't learn to write her name... she did learn to cry when she wants food. Yippee for us. Last night Kensi' appetite grew... instead of her normal (can it really be classified as normal if she's only been doing it for 4 days???) 2 ounces a feeding, she increased to 3 ounces. She work up again at 2:30am and took her 2 ounces and after her burping and changing, she wanted an additional ounce. This routine happened again around 5am. At 8am and 10:30am she took her regular 2 ounces. She's been sleeping and we've decided to forgo the pediatricians "2 ounces every 2 hours" to a feed-on-demand routine. It works better for all of us here in the hotel. By the way mom, thanks for the advice... she burps easier when you rub her back versus patting it.

Back on January 31, 2008, I blogged about the amazing support we had receive within the first 24 hours of starting our adoption journey. We had received the cutest little shirt (that's not so little on Kensington) from Marilyn in the ACS HR department and I couldn't wait to put it on her. The design is a freebie Quick Page from Biebel Scraps.

Here she is this morning getting ready for another changing:














She already has her adoptive daddy, Chris, wrapped around her finger:


















Pictures from the hospital. Look how tiny she is. She looks like a cross between Boris Yeltsin and an Oompa_Loompa in the hat. We decided not to keep the hat on her her hospital picture - less is more (lol)

I should sell advertising space...

on my forehead.


Last night Chris and I slept with the pack-n-play butted up to the end of the bed and we both slept with our heads next to it. Kensington did great. She had a bottle around 8:45 pm and then one at 11:45 pm. Chris and I jumped at every move she'd make. I found a little nook in the bassinet area that I'd store my glasses, and we constantly checked to see if she was breathing when things got quite. She kicked herself out of her swaddle twice and, we don't know how she kept doing it, her left sock kept flying off of her.

She woke up at 3:00am (just seconds before my blackberry alarm clock went off). Chris got up and did an amazing job of feeding her and changing her diaper - but she wouldn't go back to sleep. She never cried... so just didn't want to sleep. Around 5am, she wanted another ounce of formula.

After Chris did another changing, he placed her back in the bassinet and I rested my forehead on the pack-n-play and placed my arm around her so I could rub her chin. I feel asleep in that position around 6:30am. When I work up at 8:15am (thanks Cathy Peckens for the call... did you notice I let it roll over to voicemail) I had the GRACO emblem embedded backwards on my forehead. I think I just found a new way for companies to advertise their products (lol).

Kensington slept in until 10am.

Oh, what a night. Some how I feel like tonight will be more of the same. This time, I'll make sure to place a diaper cloth over the emblem :)