Egan's Christmas Sock

Our whole family has hand knit Christmas socks (please drool Christie & paleoHeather). My sock was knit by my Great-Grandmother, Grandma Butch, just in time for my first Christmas. It matches my mother's and my brother and Dad have ones in slightly different patterns. Jake's sock was knit by a family friend who taught with Dinny before Jake was born. Jake likes to tease me because I take it to be a sign that we were meant to be together because we both had handknit socks (in his family, he has the only one). Of all the signs we were meant to be together (like rock geeks taking all their geology classes together), I actually place more weight on the hand knit Christmas sock sign. We travel with our socks in our carry on luggage at Christmas because I can't bare the thought of Christmas morning without them. Jake is petrified we will lose them if we check them, and I'll never recover. So we shove them into ziplock bags and tuck them into the bottom of our backpacks. I've never had a Christmas morning without my sock. It is always a special connection to my great grandmother.

When Elena was born (and when Michele joined the Kraal Clan), our dear family friend, Louise Parks, knit a sock for Elena. It's the same pattern as my Dad's sock (and Steve Parks - see it's meant to be!). Elena's sock is HUGE. She likes to brag about it. We are so grateful that Louise took the time to knit Egan his sock just in time for his first Christmas. Green with reindeer, it will be a family treasure for years to come. I cried when I opened the package and saw how beautiful it is.

Elena shows off her sock (please note and then comment on HOW BIG IT IS.)



Egan's tucked into his and ready for Christmas morning.

Yummy!

Since I don't really care for cake, Jake always has to get creative with my birthday treat. This year was the best ever...an icecream pie in cookie crust with peppermint stick ice cream topped with a chocolate pots de creme and sprinkled with candy canes!




Served with hot cocoa.

And the gift theme was the 'hoodie' year. I love me a good ralph macchio.

Sinterklaus

Elena & Egan really make out from the 'Saint Nicholas' tradition...since they are Dutch & American he actually comes TWICE. The first visit is in the Dutch tradition. On December 5th (St. Nicholas Day), while you are eating dinner, there is a loud knock on the door and Sinterklaus has left a bag of caudetjes! (presents) He rides off on his Wit Paard (white horse) before you can catch a glimpse. To help save wear and tear on the ole Wit Paard and to spend a great evening with our friends, we always get together with KBX, so the Sint only has one stop in Blacksburg (barring any other Dutchies in the area, of course). Elena has left her shoes under the tree a few days before with a note letting him know about our December 5th location, he left some sweets in exchange, and the Wit Paard ate his apple.


See how much fun Egan had!


The big kids with their loot


Elena got a much wanted doll stroller, mismatched socks, her favorite dutch shampoo, a rolling backpack almost just exactly like Xanders, and, of course, a chocolate letter E. Egan made off with some pacies and a new art deco mobile. We had pannekoeken, spekulas, and other dutch treats.

Laughter is the best medicine

The best birthday present ever!

Egan laughed for the first time today! He's been getting close when I nuzzle his chin on the changing pad. But just an hour ago while playing our first game of peek-a-boo he let out his first laugh. The event exhausted him, he required nursing and a nap in the sling.

Auntie Jo comes to town

How exciting is that! We were so happy that Jo could get time off work and join us.
When Jo arrived, we took her to WildFlour, our favorite cafe in Roanoke where everyone had lunch, then sampled the desserts:

(chocolate mint brownies rule!)

She visited Elena when she was almost exactly the same age, so it was special to have her with us for Egan's 2 month birthday. Elena, in particular, loved having her Auntie here to spoil her. In fact, now she demands and hand massage and finger stretches following her bath when she gets her lotion on.

Jo had so much patience with Elena, and I know she didn't get to hold Egan as much because Elena was so excited to have her here.



In addition to Thanksgiving and our annual tree hunt, we took Jo on a good ole fashion walk in the 34 degree rain. We'd been cooped up in the house for over a day and it looked like the rain was taking a pause, so we all piled into the car to give Auntie Jo a tour of campus....we were about 15 minutes from the car when the fog turned decidedly to drizzle, then rain. Our resident meteorologist tried to talk his way out of it, but to no avail. Can you believe this guy is paid to teach college kids about the weather! Here Jo and Jake display the Sewall Thumbs up typically indicating that they are having a good time.


In addition to Elena's hand massage, I got a facial (every keeps remarking how great I look - I just say thanks and keep my SIL's secret weapons to myself!) and Jake has even stopped washing his face with handsoap and is looking markedly less greasy.

Thanksgiving 2008

What a wonderful Thanksgiving! Not only did we have Nana and Big Opa here - we also had Auntie Jo, who arrived on Wednesday morning (but more on her visit in a minute). We celebrated the feast with our dear friends KBX (KirstenBradXander) and enjoyed our heritage turkey and all the wonderful side dishes - plus three desserts.





Egan slept through the whole dinner - can you believe it! He only woke up to nurse through dessert. What a kid! Guess he wanted to make sure that I was getting plenty for the milk factory!

We said our Grace (nana brought '52 ways to say grace' - so each kid picked on out). Then we toasted to friends and family that we were with and that were far away. Then Jake raised his turkey leg in honor of Martha! (sorry, no photo this year) and we thought of Martha, Heather, theMeegs, and paleoHeather (whose stuffing shovel towel lovingly swaddled the rolls this year).

And Big Opa makes 4

Big Opa arrived with Nana to meet Egan and celebrate Thanksgiving with us.

He got lots of cuddles from our sweetie pie.



He was here for a week and couldn't take the long grass. He refuses to use our push lawn mower, so while Jake was at work, he snuck out and rented a gas lawn mower. I caught him in the act though and he had to confess to Jake, anyway.




And he was the favored read of 'Going on a Bear Hunt' (as well as the favorite to play the bear while running through the house chasing Elena).

Wreath of Thanks

In early November we started writing every night on a hand print what we are thankful for. Here is a random sampling of some of the responses....

We are thankful for:

Elena and Egan, the people who brought us dinners after egan was born, Christmas,
Bruce Springsteen, Elena's teachers, That Egan was born, Sunny afternoons, Our garden, The internet, That people love everybody, Good friends, That my grandparents visit, Fall hikes through the leaves, That you guys love me, Mountains, Great-grandparents, Bikes, Big winter days, Farmers, Our church, That egan loves us.

Amen!

Our new day

Egan is almost 2 months old! Over the past few days he has been 'chirping' a lot more and working on batting toys. It's incredible, his newborn time is gone. Now we have a baby. A very sweet baby, no doubt.

In honor of those sweet newborn days, I made a little video. In addition to the maternity photos, we also had pictures taken with Egan when he was 5 days old. These are some of our favorites.



Photography by Isabelle Marchant
Music is You are the new day by the King Singers

And some things never change

Like Elena's outfit selection.



Believe it or not, there is actually a theme to this outfit - everything except the unders and hair kerchief were given to her as 'new big sister gifts.' You can't tell, but even her socks don't match each other. (and the arms is not actually hurt but a 'pretend sling' since a classmate broke his arm and now everyone's arm hurts.) Tami, if you are reading this, it's your hoodie butterfly shirt put on backwards!

A few small, precious changes

We have been pleasantly drifting through this newborn time with our little guy. He's growing and was 8 lb 2 oz at 4 weeks and at 6 weeks is around 9 pounds. We have been rewarded with his first smiles. They are most frequent when he is over your shoulder cuddling or sitting in the kitchen in the bouncy seat; he likes to watch his sister antics. They, of course, disappear when the camera appears. Egan is getting much stronger in the neck and head and has started a daily regime of shoulder push ups. I tried putting him tummy down over the boppy and he wasn't at all pleased with that idea, so we've got a few more week to wait on that one. He has started to make a coo'ing noise, just one sort of an 'ahhhhh' sigh. Unfortunately, he's also gotten his first case of the sickies and has a little eye infection (which involves putting eye drops in four times a day which is lots of fun for everyone involved) and general fussiness (I'll spare you the tell tale 'poop' signs of a virus.)


Almost caught this smile, but the sleeper got in the way.

little opa

And our final week of grandparent assistance was provided by little opa who had an exciting week. He cleaned the fridge, mopped the upstairs, cleaned the bathrooms. In return we took him to an apple orchard and he took elena fishing where they caught a duck (not recommended but the trauma to all parties seems to have passed.) He also got good nap snuggles with Egan and was rewarded with a much more engaged baby, as Egan is starting to see much better.


At the orchard - which is really out of production and our only method of getting the tasty, high apples was to try and 'whack' them with sticks. Very popular with Elena.


It snowed while little opa was here! You can't really tell in this picture, but there were snow flurries.


Elena introduces little opa to egan


Hanging out with the whole gang!

Bright eyes

Today Egan was looking over my shoulder through the window outside. I could tell that he was seeing something new today, that he was seeing further or with more definition than ever before. I watched as he stared in awe, his little hand gently petting my arm. I wondered what he saw--was it the pine trees bending in the strong wind, the leaves fluttering on aspen trees, the occasional leave falling through the sky, the clouds moving through the sky. Likely it was the dynamic shadows of the first wintery day - with sun, sky, bright clouds, strong wind. It was so inspiring to experience that with him. He was so fascinated with what seems every day to us now, leaves, shadows, trees, grass...I appreciated the opportunity to look outside with him.

I reflected on how calm he is. I used to describe Elena as an observer. I now think that might be slightly incorrect. Elena is actually analyzing things - where does this fit in? How do these things compare? How does this relate to me? She has done this always; she has an intense curiosity. Egan, however, seems to reflect on and just experience things while he observes. He has a calm curiosity. (at least for now!)

4 weeks!

Our 'little guy' is now four weeks old. He is getting so much stronger in the neck and can now turn his head from side to side (occasionally) when laying down. He likes to look out the front windows as well as will respond to the urgent, 'look at me, I'm your big sister!' of Elena. Egan now has defined awake and alert times. He gets over stimulated and has learned to find comfort in the sling...and in the paci. Yes, unlike his sister who rejected them in anger, he likes to 'mellow out on the patsy' as Jake says. He doesn't need it to be calm. In fact, when he is calm he doesn't want it at all. But when he's been awake for a while and is over stimulated, he likes to suck on it. In other exciting rubber nipple news - he takes a bottle! Elena basically never took a bottle so this is a huge relief! I've been pumping a little and was gone for a few hours on Friday when he took his first bottle. Then on Monday, Mom took me shopping and he had another bottle. Egan is still just a little sweety and cuddle bug. He likes his baths (for the most part). Really the only time he gets very angry is during about 50% of the diaper changes; but the other 50% he is so calm and loves to hang out on the changing pad looking at things. He is sleeping pretty well at night. Obviously he is still nursing a lot - usually 3-4 times between 10 and 7. Usually he goes right back to sleep. Around 3am we get nervous about the absorbent capacity of the diaper and Jake changes him and that usually causes anger and then an awake period.

Elena likes to call him 'little pinto bean' - I'm not sure where she got it, but it's cute and sticking.

It is still amazing to me how quickly these days are passing. He already seems so old and big to me, yet people are amazed at how little he is. We know this precious time will be gone before we know it. We are just trying to spend as much time cuddling him and watching him sleep as possible. It's such a sacred time.

Gram arrives!

and we survived our first week alone. The house was messy but everyone was fed and dressed and bathed reasonably frequently. I think that can be defined as successful with a 3 week old baby and a 4.5 year old 'new' big sister.





But the big news is that Gram arrived. Elena ran out to meet her and brought her in to 'wash her hands' and then meet Egan. Gram has taken on the role of shopper in chief and supreme declutter-er and duster. She even took Elena on her daycare trip to the pumpkin patch (bonus points!).

Two weeks plus some

I meant to do a two week update, but it's hard to find time when there is a soft little newborn head to nuzzle and cuddle.

Last Wednesday at two weeks Egan went back for a quick weight check - up to 7 lb 2oz. So he's doing very well with the eating part. He is already acting and looking older. His face has started to fill out, he's getting a bit of a double chin to cover up that 'yertle the turtle' neck he came out with. He is still sleeping in big chunks (yeah!) but has started to increase his awake and alert time. Unlike his sister, he likes to be put down and look at patterns. (elena has happy to look at patterns, but refused to be put down.) His neck is getting much stronger and he will now push off your shoulder. Elena was born being able to do this, so Egan is working his way up. It's also obvious that he is generally more aware of his surroundings. In the evening he will be awake and alert and then get overstimulated and have a hard time calming down.

Personally, I'm feeling really well. I can't say if it was the lack of pitocin/antibiotics/IV fluids this birth, how much easier nursing is, Egan's more mellow personality regarding sleeping, or the speed of his arrival, but I feel very well. So well, in fact, it can be hard to remember to take it easy. Then of course I pay later. Jake is doing well - he up at work three days a week and 'working from home' on Mondays and Fridays. Elena is holding strong - moving through the adjustment not so much with grace as with determination.

Jake's mom, Dinny, left yesterday. So we are on our own for this week until my mom arrives. Last night as we had to worry about actually putting dinner on the table we came to appreciate even more her help. On the other hand, it was sort of nice to have our family of 4 together for the first time at home. We all managed to eat mac-n-cheese. (egan enjoyed it some hours later heavily processed) and the dishes got done. So we'll call it a success.

How's the older sister doing?

Everyone has been asking, how is Elena doing?

Right now I'm watching her 'play photographer' with poppa and Egan; posing the two of them while she takes photos.

She is doing pretty well. The first few days were good, even though very crazy. Then when we got home, it was a little tough, we didn't really have a routine at home and there was a new baby. Meals happened at funny times, she was getting used to Egan's occasional night crying, and all the nursing time.

Now things are better, but she still sometimes has her tough times (which she had before, so we can't really say it is much different).

For the most part, she loves to love on Egan. She likes to help pet his arm during diaper changes, hold him on the boppy, give him 'arm hugs,' help hold his hand during nursing, give him kisses and cuddles. She likes us to all sing him songs and she reads him stories. Egan, for his part, is still working on focusing his eyes, but likes it when Elena is around and will stare at her and listen to her rambling (until he gets hungry again).

These boots

On Friday a sad thing happened - Elena tried to put on her pink cowboy boots and they would not fit. She has worn a pair of these boots for over three years. They have carried her all over Utrecht, Vienna, England and the US. I tried to find them in bigger sizes, but they only go up to toddler, and this is the largest size. So, it's the end of an era. I knew it was coming, but hard to take none-the-less, since I think of these boots as a huge part of her image.

Thanks for the wonderful memories....


It isn't possible to 'replace' the pink cowboy boots. But now she has 'euro' boots.

Keep your chin up

Like Father, Like Son:


A 1 week old chin
A 1668 week old chin.
A cleft chin, timeless.

1 Week Old

As always, time passes so quickly with a snuggly little newborn in the house.


Egan at one week old.


Egan had his one week appointment today. He is up a few ounces to 6lb 7oz. Almost bigger than his sister at birth. Everything looks great. He is such a mellow baby - much opposite to his dramatic arrival and to his sister's infant days. He is very calm and predictable. He sleeps well, although is still a bit nocturnal. The most amazing thing is how easy a sleeper he is. I always thought that people who talked about being able to put babies down and have them sleep unattended were lying. Elena had to be in constant contact with a person to be relaxed, let alone sleep. Egan, however, is happy to sleep snuggled up with you, or in the moses basket, or in the car seat. Jake and I were at first worried something was wrong with him!

Egan's had a few important firsts -

First time in sling


First bath (out of the hospital) - poor photos due to small bathroom and preschooler 'assistant'


First mail (from Grandma Joan and Grandpa Dwaine, of course!)

And the winner is...

Nana! with the closest total guess.

Check out the details at expectnet.com (game name ElenasSibling)

The date/time was a close call, Becky Lang was almost exactly one day late and Nana was almost exactly one day early. But Becky got killed by the girl guess.

Elena wins the weight pool by guessing 6lb 5oz.

And the furthest off is Aunt Joanna! We'll make her do an extra round of dishes at Thanksgiving.

Fortunately for us, Nana has already claimed her prize of dirty laundry.

Egan meets a few important people

On Thursday, we were cleared to head home from the hospital (much to the relief of both Jake and I's back pain from the uncomfortable hospital beds). Egan is doing great - discharged at about 6 lb 1 oz. After some difficulty obtaining the properly spelled birth certificate, we finally left at about 2pm. He's so tiny in his car seat!


We got home with an extremely calm and sleepy baby. Jake headed off to pick up Elena while Egan and I hung out at home.


Then Brad and Xander came over. Elena got to introduce Egan to Xander.

Elena has announced that 'Xander is like is big brother.' Brad wins friend of the year award by helping Jake clean the couch, rug, and living room while I entertained three kids (a first for me). Elena and Xander made train racing tracks around the bedroom while Egan slept.

Then Nana arrived! Elena introduced Egan to Nana.


Photos are being updated at:
wegodutch.shutterfly.com