Fiona went in for her second chemo treatment today – so far she’s handling it quite well. She’s been hanging out with Stronner all afternoon with no sign of nausea. We’re sure she’ll be feeling fatigue over the next few days though. In anticipation of losing her hair, she got a short haircut, as you can see in the pictures here. Stronner is looking forward to Fiona growing her long curly hair back, as by then he’ll be able to get a proper grip on it!
Stronner’s definitely getting more lively – you can see from these pictures that he’s exploring a wider range of facial expressions. In particular he seems to be establishing an early grasp of ironic amusement, which bodes well for us as parents, right?
Stronner is just starting to figure out how to coo and smile. A few times a day he’ll surprise us with another sign of his developing awareness!
Today Stronner is 4 weeks old. Hard to believe he’s been here a month already! He’s certainly changing though – he’s starting to eat bigger meals and feels like he’s been putting on weight at a more rapid pace. He also seems to be content being held less of the time – he’s started napping in his little reclining bouncy chair. He’s starting to get more interactive, too!
Fiona had a very early and very long day at the hospital yesterday for her first chemo treatment, so Stronner was stuck with my care-taking for about 18 hours through the night and day, until a little after 5pm. After subjecting him to a miserable blustery and cold walk with the dogs (I may be just a dad but even I knew I shouldn’t leave him at home alone), I put him through the further indignation of posing for a couple pictures in his bassinet while he still had his cap on. Fortunately Stronner tends to humor me, as long as he isn’t starving or carrying a sewer in his drawers.
As for Fiona, she definitely suffered from some nausea after she got home, but was eventually able to eat a bit. Granny Rona was with her throughout the day and has been helping her manage her symptoms and keep track of her various medications, and Auntie Brooke came down to relieve me so I could get bit of rest . . . and so Stronner could get a break from me!
Stronner still prefers to spend his days attached to a warm body, but now that I’ve gone back to work and we had a week break between grandparents, we’ve had to get a little more sophisticated with how we carry him. Thus we have started using the Moby Wrap, as Fiona models in a couple of these photos. It is a big long piece of fabric we can use to cradle him to our bodies so we have both hands free for cooking, cleaning or coding, as the case may be.
Stronner has also been meeting more people in our local community, and would especially like to thank April for attending and documenting his birth, Mark and Beegee (and Elvie) for the yummy oatmeal cookies and casserole, Mila and Helen for the lovely flowers, and Aaron and Kate of Green Canopy and Sustainable Ballard for their generous offers of food and support.
According to some definitions, Stronner has officially graduated from newborn to full-blown infant. That’s right, the first two weeks are behind us, and we are all still alive – though the longest stretch of sleep any of us has gotten in those two weeks is 4 or 5 hours. Stronner has been a little slow to regain his birth weight, still a quarter pound shy as of yesterday, but he’s making progress and has surprising strength in his neck, arms and legs. Of course, Fiona could have told you that when he was still in the womb!
Our pediatrician warned us that the next month or so will probably see an increased level of gas and discomfort as Stronner’s digestive system continues to develop, so we’ll just have to keep helping him cope. He’s particularly fond of singing and dancing – his current favorite tune is “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain”.
We can’t speak yet to the depths or complexities of Stronner’s personality, but what we can say right away is that he loves to be held, and so far has welcomed everyone who has picked him up. And that makes him the perfect valentine!
This photo from the Evans family archive reveals that baby Fiona had a quite similar profile to her future son.
After our first night in the hospital with Stronner, we were paid a visit by Amanda Tomczyk of Bella Baby Photography, who took these terrific shots of Stronner in our bright, clean room in the new post-partum wing at Swedish hospital. We have purchased the rights to redistribute and print these freely – if you would like to make large prints of any particular shots just email me the file name and I can pass along the high resolution originals.
