Akello is one week old!

wow one week has come and gone. I feel like it has been four days. Where have all the cowboys gone? I mean time. yes, where has all the time gone.



I used to drink these things to get me going at work, or before i worked out. Ha!

working out. the only work out i get now is holding akello and his car seat. that things a beast!

p.s I highly recommend turbo tea. its the best for getting you going. you can get it at HEB

Lets talk about other recommendations. Those that know me know to buy me anything stainless steel for christmas or birthday. One of my favorite accessories has been my Sigg Mugg.



i used to be a Nissan fan, but no more. I have had the sigg for about a year, maybe 2 years now, and it holds heat amazingly well. I used to not be a handle guy, but sigg won me over.



get yours at whole foods today.

Today me and the fam went over to Special Addition on 35th and Lamar. Theresa had bought a sling from them a while back and they offered to help her with it once the baby came. well the babys here and that sling was pretty confusing, so we hopped in the car and headed on over

Theresa had been working with a girl over there named Rachel. She was there today too. Rachel is awesome and great to work with.


She taught us how to use the sling and after about 30 mins we were out of there.



its hilarious to see all the kids stuff they sell. especially college stuff. like little UT this or little A&M that. Im glad theresa is not college logo crazy. Neither of us are. In fact T has two degrees from UT and i have one degree from UT. and theres only one UT shirt in our entire house. and that's because Theresa needed a new shirt really quick while on campus one day.

Now dont get me wrong. we want UT to win and all that, but, when they do win, or loose, our lives stay the same. no bonus for making it to the playoffs, no fear of loosing my job. I dont play on the football team so i cant say that "we won".

Im glad T and i are on the same page on that one, b/c it seems like we are the only ones!

anyway sorry. fandom intrigues me, plus i have a black belt in keeping it real.

and now....your daily zen

Day 7. The Breast Pump

Hello from Gil and theresa, and a big whaaa whaaaa whaaaa whaaaa from A-kel.



today we gave the little guy a sponge bath. He actually took it pretty well. its those diaper changes that hes not a fan of. HaTES the air on his business.



We love to hear the same advice or information from a large number of people. a consensus if you will. Nothings worse than getting a Yes you should to a No you shouldnt from two different doctors.

One thing that we have been hearing from everybody is that whenever he sleeps we should have music on and speak normally. This is very hard for us. we always catch ourselves whispering and then stopping, sighing and then resuming the conversation at normal decibel levels.

If the baby gets used to silence when he is sleeping, he will always need it. (thats the thinking anyway)

so we have been playing music while he sleeps and we also went out and bought a Dex Soundsleeper from B'r'US. tHE THING DRIVES ME NUTS! it might be soothing to theresa and baby but its like chinese water torture to me! with its repetitive womb setting or ocean. you know ,,,the usual. But who cares, im just the dad.

I have been having trouble sleeping. as tired as i am, i for some reason cant go to sleep in my bed. i thought it was the temp, cuzz we dropped it to 79 instead of 77 for baby,

but the next day we put it back and i still couldnt sleep. Then i thought it was the lights that we left on, so one night, we left different light on. that wasnt it. so one day we turned the noisemaker off and listened to my FAILSAFE mix cd entitled "ambient go to sleep mix" nothing. Then i thought, AHA! its theresas snoring. She has started to snore since the pregnancy. but i went to bed before her, and still!

oh, we finished the Davinci code! we were kinda sad it was over actually, wed been reading it for 9 months.

whats weird though, is that i can go to sleep if i sleep on the floor. so i have concluded that for whatever reason it is, i cant sleep in the bed.

Akello sleeps in the moses basket next to the bed on THeresas side. iM wondering if maybe its a reflex that i have to be closer to the baby. but whats funny, is that this happens only at night. when i sleep during the day, no problem.

So getting back to the music. Akello was going to sleep and Theresa put on this CD called "On a starry night"


It is an awesome cd!
Theresa said she used it at naptime at a school she used to work at and said she loved it. I had just started to rock lil' kello to sleep when she played the first song. As soon as that song started playing i fell in love with it immediatly. i began to imagine what a perfect song this would make for a DVD highlighting akello's first days with the video and pictures that i took in the hospital. I started editing the whole thing in my head, how i would start it...etc. And thats when i lost it. I was moved to tears. uncuntrolable tears of thankfulness and joy. The song had triggered it in me. I just held him in my arms and quietly cried all over his blanket. And everytime i hear the song, i get teary-eyed.

I am surprised that it took this long. I thought i would be crying the first day! but not until now. The funny thing was, i went over to see who sang the song on the cd, because it was a compilation disc. and it was none other than Bobby Mcferrin.
yep. beleive it. the song is called common threads.



look at this picture. This is how it is, our bed is strewn with baby books. Theresa is constantly reading. constantly. and she usually will read a passage out loud for me to hear.


I have gotten rid of all my usual reading material (DWR catalog) and replaced it with
The happiest baby on the block. its a great book.



Theresa mostly reads Baby 411 (thanks Mi!) This book is awesome.



In other news, the concrete patio is now completed phase one!!!!!!
lets take a walk shall we...





Now the plan is to build a small railing out of the same material used for the fence.
it will be cedar slats. alternating between 6 inch and 4 inch slats laid horizontally. with a top cap just like the fence, for your drink to sit on. the fence will only be about 2 feet high. THis is phase 2. Phase 3 will then include a 2 foot gravel bed in front of the patio with some plants and landscape lighting. as shown in this crude artists rendition sans lighting and gravel.



ALSO! I took a picture of the stain on the fence.

this is before, the natuaral cedar


and after, the "natural cedar" colored stain and waterproofer


these pics were taken at different times of day so to show you the real comparison
check out this pic. i went ahead and stained the top and bottom of the fence just for fun in the interim. i will ultimatly stain it all the darker color as soon as i get a chance.



ok. on to the breast pump. today we went to go see a lactation consultant about a cracked nipple! Pooor Theresa has had a bit of a time and all the different advice is really begining to frustrate.



we were at her office forevor. ill make this short. She had years of training and all that, but she sucked. She gave theresa an ointment to use to heal and said to quit using lanolin, and that you had to wash off the nipple b4 each feeding. (kinda lame)
and then she sold us on these discs to put on the nipple to keep anything from touching it.


theresa - "arent you supposed to let your nipples breath? and air dry?
lact consult - "yes, thats what the hole are for"

chaching!!!

anyway so we also buy a brest pump from her and she had a great price on them. we wanted a breast pump, because A. manual ones suck (poorly) and B. whos got the time!

but seriously, T, can express some milk and then store it, and then i can handle the feedings when i get home from work.



If any of yall want to contribute to the breast pump fund, be my guest. they are not cheap, 225! but well worth it.

what sucks is that Michelle was going to let Theresa use hers, but we found out through multiple people that single user breast pumps are not to be shared!! (for health reasons)
so dont go buying one off of ebay.

OH THE NIPPLE GAURDS

so we get home and we use the ointment and the nipple gaurds. well for one, theresa looks at the ointment and im serius when i say that it said.."WARNING !! KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN, TOXIC IF SWALLOWED!!

Now theresa was using lanolin wich is totally ok for the kid to touch and you didnt have to rinse it off everytime you breastfed, wich HELLO is like every hour to 3 hours. Theresa flipped. almost drove back over there. Also the nipple gaurds. so you have this wet nipple thats usually leaking a few drops of milk, and you are supposed to sandwich this nipple shieild between the nipple and the maternity bra...and its supposed to keep dry because of the 3 little holes in it???

puuuhhhlease.


learning.....learning....

Day 6. The Pediatrician

Today we had our first visit to the pediatrician, Dr. Martha Macomber.
We chose her for a few different reasons.

1, she is close! about 3 minutes away.
2. easy parking! you can park right in front of the office, no big medical building,
no elevators.
3. the staff is nice
4. they have a sick kids waiting area as well as a healthy kids waiting area.
5. She has great bedside manner and always patiently anwers our questions.
6. She speaks spanish!
7. she takes our insurance. Ha! this should be number 1.

We have noticed that baby really likes car rides. He didnt make a squeek on the ride home from the hospital and didnt make a sound on the way to the ped. this morning. The car vibrations just put him at ease.

A few of our friends said that this was true for their infant as well. We are happy that akello is the same way!

I have noticed that my driving has changed pretty drastically. I am ashamed to say that it didnt change after T first learned she was preggers.

I am now mr. defensive driver. I stop, no I mean STOP at all stop signs and look both ways in excessive amounts. Im always on the lookout in all my mirrors for the crazy drivers and light runners. I concentrate on driving. Its all i think about when im behind the wheel.

and that goes for when im out driving by myself as well. I got stay healthy so that baby grows up with a daddy.

Well the Dr. had nothing but good news and put all of our concerns at ease.
he is gaining weight well and we will see her again in 2 weeks.

Another thing that has changed is Music. This also happened when I met theresa

As most of you know, im a huge Sade fan, and know alot of lyrics to her songs by heart. but its another thing to FEEL the lyrics. "lovers rock" used to be a cool song, but then I had theresa to think of when i heard it, and that made it more to me than just a song. And now..

The same goes for akello. Sade's "the sweetest gift" was always skipped and didnt make my "best of" mix on the ipod. Now its at the top of the heap!


Sade - The Sweetest Gift Lyrics

Quietly while you were asleep

The moon and I were talking

I asked that she'd always keep you protected



She promised you her light

That you so gracefully carry

You bring your light and shine like morning



And then the wind pulls the clouds across the moon

Your light fills the darkest room

And I can see the miracle

That keeps us from falling



She promised all the sweetest gifts

That only the heaven's could bestow

You bring your light and shine like morning



And as you so gracefully give

Her light as long as you live

I'll always remember this moment





Today i sat down to rock Akello, oh i should say, the eames rocker is wayyyyy
more comfortable when you are holding a sack of potatos. (akello) having weight in your lap really forces you to sit in the rocker correctly and really provides great lower back support. wich you really need at this stage.

I was going to talk more. but akello just fell asleep, that means i have to go to sleep.

DAY 5. GETTING SETTLED

Theresa and I are pretty tired, but having a good time getting to know baby and settling into the routine of no routine

He found his thumb today. that was pretty cute. We love to hold him and to talk to him.


We are learning very quickly about a lot of different things. About ourselves, each other, and akello.

We have a couple of questions for the pediatrician and cant wait for our appointment on tuesday.

Theresa calls Akello her little turtle. He looks like one too. That is his totem. and like a turtle i hope his years are long. He is so cute. He will stretch his head up and open his eyes, give a little yawn and his head will tuck back towards his body.



We have gotten a lot of good advice from people we dont even know through this blog. All advice and thoughts are welcome. We absorb anything and everything and adapt it to our needs.
so keep em coming and feel free to share your expireances.


A lot of you have wanted to come visit baby over here at the house. We really appreciate this but at the same time, we really need this time to settle into this new role of parents.

We know that you understand, and respect this. We want you to see baby too, (we are pretty proud) but this is for the best!

Thank god it rained. that was like his way of helping us out.

God - "dont worry about the plants...I got'em!"

I forgot to say. On the day that akello was born and upon entering our recovery room I walked over to the window to take a picture of the outside so as to remember what kind of day it was.
I took a picture of the blinds and then peered out the window.



I noticed a white bird, a dove, or maybe a pigeon. It flew aross the parking lot and landed on a lamp post high above the trees in the parking lot and looked my way. It brought with it a gust of wind and the trees flowed softly towards our room, almost as if to applaud and welcome, with the glint of leaves turning as the sun hit them, and the lone white bird looking our way, i felt as if the bird was Akello's gaurdian angel...sent down to stand watch.

I quickly made a hole through the blinds with my left hand and grabbed the camera around my neck with my right. I thrust the camera through the hole and looked through the viewfinder...
and well, you know the rest. The trees were still. The angel was gone.

Day 4. Going home

Salt $.10
Pepper $.10
2 packs of ketchup $.15 each
International Delight Creamer $.30
Breakfast Buffet Plate $5.00

Not having to sneak sugar packets from the Hospital Cafe...

Well, you get the idea. We were very happy and relieved that With the supplement and Theresas milk, baby A had his weight back up and was ready to go home.




Theresa was up and moving and feeling good. She danced with akello and finally had a chance to enjoy the flowers that some of our visitors brought in!




We were big fans of these blue Roses that Mrs. Duda (sp) brought in .

We did have a scare though, i was looking at his diaper and noticed what looked kinda like blood and urine. it was a pinkish brown. So i thought there might be blood in the urine. i stayed cool and just guessed it to be something else nobody told us about. I told theresa and we both agreed not to worry. we asked the nurse and she said, that its what happens when they urinate when they first get breast milk, some kind of crystals get flushed out of their system with it. It was OK!
whew.

Well i walked outside to get the carseat and forgot how hot it was. I had been in the hospital for 3 days never even stepping out to get some fresh air. I brought the car around valet style and brought up the car seat.



Theresas Mom was their to help us load things in and then made us lunch after we got home.




It was nice being home, bUT
its a lot harder getting out of my bed than it is the little expandable sofa in the hospital.
and of course, I was out of creamer when i got home. so i went to HEB to fill T's Rx and i thought i would go get some creamer, but they are out! so i drive over to target. OUT!!

NO horizon organic creamer in the Mopar area! lame so i bought land'o lakes.

I came around the corner and say Theresa burping Baby. too cute.



today AK whized on mama while she was changing him. i said, "dont forget to clean his penis, i think he got some BM on it." she started rubbing the warm wet gauze on it, and all of the sudden it was like the Bellagio Hotel up in here!

So BM is hospital staff speak for Bowel Movement. now we cant help but say it all the time.

We have the laptop on the end table in the bedroom and its like our little go to guide for all are problems. Hmmm...burping tips? Google it!


cant wait to put These on him!

Oh so, i have changed the description on the blog. This blog will now be out our new family and not so much about decorating. Although im sure we will be talking a lot about montessori still.

i posted day three right b4 day 4 so scroll down to see that one too.

Day 3. Great Nurses, more visitors

Day 3 was filled with visitors and family. Its so funny, You can tell alot about visitors that walk in just by if they go to wash their hands. (I would have been one of these people)

Micah, a 6 year old came in to say hi and washed his hands without being told. Then you had Middle aged people with kids of their own, (however born in a different generation), came in, no hand-washing, and just loved to kiss him. Quite interesting.


Micah meets a new freind



the day started great, Akello has his little routine and only cries to communicate a diaper change, or a need to feed.

Some of the nurses here are amazing. others are...so..so.

WE had some great night shift nurses that really helped theresa through some tough times saturday night. While she is recovering very well from the surgery, She was having a tough time with her Milk coming in and engorging her breats. She used a breast pump to releive the pressure and get back on track.

we also used a supplement to get baby's weight back up.




Theresa feeding a.k. the supplement


i love this picture. We look horrible. this is how we were. wiped out. people would take multiple pictures and our eyes were always thin and squinted we were so tired. Tired but happy

Akello was loosing weight, (as all babys do) and babys dont gain it back until they feed on milk. Well mothers milk does not come in for 4 days. until then, they nurse on collostoram (sp) a thick syrapy nutritional fluid. Luckily akello was (cluster feeding)

meaning that we would feed very often. usually every hour. This will bring the milk in more quickly. we were lucky for that, since this all went down on our last night in the hospital.

thats another thing. we were lucky with that, some parents that have natural births go home in a day or 2...and all this happens at home, and some dont know what to do!

saturday night was tough, but it's over
It was very stressful with a high degree of empathy, from me and our visitors.

Theresa is so strong, I am very proud of her. With the help of the nurse, we got through the night and theresa was feeling much better on sunday morning.


Thats another thing. We get soooo much conflicting information about baby.

it gets frustrating. Here is my favorite.

Nurse 1 "once the bottle of enfamil is open, it is only good for 4 hours"
Nurse 2 "once the bottle of enfamil is open, it is only good for 2 hours"
Nurse 3 " throw the bottle away after you use what you need, its no good after that"

You hear soo many "probably's" "maybe's" "could be's"

thats the thing. nobody really knows. its not like say... well, i'd like to say computer but..
well... car? no.....well you get the idea! oh i know, its not like a flashlight or anything where you know exactly whats wrong.

Day 2, Poop, love, Eat, love, Sleep, love

Day 2.



Yesterday was filled with visitors! Baby Boy and Mama worked with some lactation consultants to help in the brestfeeding process. It is tricky and baby boy’s got some strong little jaws. Breast feeding is frustrating and difficult but Theresa is doing great . learning more and more and determined that Akello will be breast fed.



Akello has a VERY strong suck reflex. This is very good in that it is not hard to get him to latch, he is always hungry and is always on the hunt for a nipple.



It is a pleasure to hold him and to have him fall asleep as he looks at me. Its one of my favorite things.



The hospital we are staying in is very nice but the interior or the rooms is rather lacking. It annoys me. No end tables, no rocking chair, no easy acess outlet plugs. No lighting over the guest seating area,



If this place had a 24hr starbucks they would be raking it in. They have a coffee bar (with bankers hours) other than that, the frulati café is open until 9pm, but it only has drip coffee, bad drip, plus the classic NJOY non dairy creamer. I am spoiled on organic creamer now . So I just drink it black.



Anyway, we are excited to go home on Sunday but do like the close nursing care for questions and help.

Theresa has come up with a new song for Akello,

I cant write music, thats why I play drums, but here are some lyrics

You are….my little Tortuga….your name is Akelllo…you’re a sweet little fellow!

My buddy Ron has already given him the nickname of A-Kel. Which I think is pretty cool. Tony and John like to call him mellow kello.



Theresa is up and about and feeling really good. Hopefully she will have time to go downstairs and check her email. We will see, I taught her how to change a poopy diaper today since she has been bedridden since the birth.. its is weird for me to be teaching her, seeing as how I only have 2 days expireance, but really that’s all you need I guess.

Akello has theresas toes. He is very strong, he breaks out of the strongest swaddle. I call him lil kong’ cuzz he reminds me of king kong! Breaking out of his chains!