Moeskau Sprout

Today Cora is 2 months old (it seems like only yesterday…), which means we took another blue chair photo.  It’s hard to notice changes from day to day, but comparing this photo to the one we took just 4 weeks ago is pretty amazing.  As you can see she can hold herself upright pretty well now and can control her head for the most part, unless she’s tired.  She’s already growing out of some of her 0-3 month old clothing, which is amazing since at first even the newborn outfits seemed to swallow her up.  Speaking of stats…

We went to the pediatrician earlier this afternoon for the 2-month checkup.  Cora is now 10 lbs. 1 oz., meaning she’s put on 3 lbs. 10 oz. since birth.  In relative terms, this would be the equivalent of me gaining more than 100 pounds in 8 weeks.  I find that to be pretty amazing, especially considering that she’s on a liquid diet (and that between spitting up and passing everything else through the other end, it seems like there would be nothing left for her body to build on).  She’s also gained about 3 inches in height since birth.  Originally her weight/height had her on the low end of the average range (~10th percentile) but now she’s already up to 50th percentile on both (which if she’s going to end up splitting the difference between Kasi and me, is probably about right).

We also got immunization shots at the doctor today.  Let me tell you… that is not much fun.  Cora is definitely not a fan, and getting poked repeatedly pretty much ruined her mood for the rest of the day.  At least it’s over with and we don’t have to go back to the doctor for a couple of months.

Aside from that, Cora has been doing pretty well. She’s getting closer and closer to laughing, but still no dice. It will be fun once she finally figures that out.  As you can see in the photo above, she’s able to hold herself up (briefly) on her forearms with her head high (she usually starts leaning after a few seconds, then topples completely over).  Still, not bad for 8 weeks.  She’s also become quite the wiggle-worm already.  We think that once she starts moving around for real (i.e. crawling) she’s going to be a handful.

In other family news, Keenan (our older dog) has been chewing on her leg for the past week or so.  We’re not sure if she’s stressed out about the baby for some reason, or maybe has allergies or what.  It got to be so bad that I had to get a “comfy cone” to put around her neck.  It’s sorta funny (in a sad way) since she walks around bumping into everything — we lovingly call her “conehead” now.

While we men may not be able to fully comprehend or appreciate everything that you women go through during pregnancy, I certainly came about as close as I ever will on Saturday night. I woke up around 3am to some serious rumbling going on in my plumbing. That was shortly followed by chills and violent shaking. After an hour or so, my stomach was bloated and twisted into a knot. The writing was on the wall. I was in that horrible purgatory where you know exactly what’s coming next, and though you dread it, you can’t wait to just-get-it-over-with-already…

In meteorology, storms are categorized by their severity. 10-year storms drop so much rain that they only occur about once per decade on average. I believe the same applies to throwing up. Sure, we’ve all been sick many times before. Maybe we’ve had a bit too much to drink, or eaten some bad breakfast lasagna. But sometimes, on very rare occasions, you throw up so violently that you purge every molecule of liquid from your body. Your stomach rejects, not just the food you ate, but the very concept of food itself.

In my 36 years, this was my third such vomit. Here, for your enjoyment, is my complete list — as you can see, I’m right on schedule so far:

• 1982: Barbeque chicken
• 1996: Grilled chicken sandwich and fries (from the bowling alley)
• 2008: Conan’s deep pan pepperoni pizza

I pray to all that is holy that I never live long enough to experience a 100-year vomit.

So to all you moms and pregnant women, I realize that this was merely a brief shadow of everything that you go through in 9 months, and that one night of misery cannot compete with month after month of constant nausea, weight gain and all the rest. Just know that in one tiny way, on one special evening, I was right there with you.