Moving

August 21, 2007: Casey is a crazy baby! She is on the move all the time. She rolls over and back, and is now scooting around on her stomach some times. We can no longer swaddle her at night because she will roll over onto her face while swaddled and then she can't fall asleep like that. Her newest thing is yelling. When we hold her in a standing position she loves to scream with delight. It is pretty funny. As she is developing she is more interested and capable of playing with other toys. We have tried the bouncy seat (see picture), and she loves all the rattles and things that hang from her car seat or play mat. She still enjoys the bath and we just got her a rubber ducky. We read a few books every night before bed. The negative of this stage is that her sleep pattern is getting worse. She used to sleep from 11pm to 5am. Now we put her to bed at 10pm and she wakes anywhere from 1:45 (last night) to 3am. I'll feed her, she go back to sleep until 5 or 6 then feed her and back to sleep again hopefully until 8 or 9. I talked to Jordan today who said I should move her bedtime earlier so we are going to work towards a 7:30 bedtime. Anyways, if any moms out there have advice for me on how to get Casey's sleep going in the right direction again I am all ears. She seems to also be gravitating towards two naps a day instead of one nap every three hours. Sometimes she goes down easily in her bassinet, but other times I have to use the swing. I'm so terrified of creating bad habts that all the books warn you about but sometimes you just do what you can to get by. She has her hands in her mouth all day long and drools so much. Maybe teeth are on their way? Her hair is still falling out but much more slowly. Anyhow, we had a nice week in Greenwich. Casey spent lots of quality time with LaLa and Eddie. We went into NYC one night for dinner and she had her first train ride. We visited Baba and Pop and just saw Meme too. On Friday morning we head to Duluth for Angie's wedding and Casey is coming with us. I love the last picture on here...this is real parenting, trying to quickly eat dinner with a fussy baby on the couch. Holding the paci in with one hand and eating Mac n' cheese straight from the pot with the other. How glamorous!

Holiday Road

August 6, 2007: We just got back from Italy and Casey was so easy to travel with. She had no problems on the plane rides and slept a lot. When we arrived in Rome, we managed to sightsee the first day and stay up in order to adjust. I was so worried she would wake up in the middle of the night leaving me feeling awful. Instead she slept all night until almost 9am, her longest straight sleep ever! Casey went to many famous sights in Rome and visited many beautiful towns in Tuscany in the weeks that followed. She convinced people all over Italy to let us cut lines which was great. We were zipped right thru security in Boston's airport, they let us cut the whole line to get into the Vatican museum, and on the way home we were brought to the front of the line in Rome's airport. She seems to change and develop every day. She loves chomping on her hand and can fit her entire fist into her mouth. She has found her feet for sure and is constantly grabbing onto them with her hands. She even sucks on her big toe from time to time. She rolls over all the time now. She will hardly play on her play mat any more without doing a few barrel rolls first.We'll often find her rolled right off of it. She smiles when we sing songs or make certain faces at her. Her smiles turn into giggles sometimes which is so cute. She became more comfortable with other people holding her during the trip which is good. She still gets startled from time to time for no apparent reason. All in all she was just so well behaved and a dream baby on the trip. We are home now and things have changed. Her internal clock must be all screwed up from the time change because it's like having a newborn all over again. I have been up for large portions of the night trying to get her to settle down and sleep, and when she does get to sleep it is for much shorter periods than she used to do. I am exhausted and hoping she gets back on track soon. Big congrats to Celluch and Craig on the birth of their son Rhys while we were away.

Curve Ball

July 18, 2007: Just after I bragged about figuring Casey out and having a great routine it all went kaput. She has been waking up at 3am now instead of 5:30 and not napping well at all during the day which makes her so cranky and fussy. Just keeping us on our toes I guess. We are off to Italy tonight for 2 1/2 weeks. We'll spend two days in Rome then two weeks in a villa in Tuscany with James' entire family. Casey's first air plane ride should be interesting. Our fingers are crossed that her ears are ok we don't have a plane full of passengers wanting to kill us for having a screaming baby up all night. Ciao for now.

2 Month Check Up

July 12, 2007: We are back in NH after a long trip. Apologies to all 3 loyal readers of the blog for any delays in updating it. Today Casey had her 2 month check up. She is in perfect health. She weighed in at 10 pounds 14 ounces which puts her in the 36th percentile. She is 23 inches long which is 60th percentile. Still tall and lean. After all the good stuff at the appointment came the bad part, her shots. She had to get 3 shots in her thighs for routine vaccinations. She turned purple and wailed so hard when the first one went in. It took us about 30 minutes to get her to stop crying and she fell asleep and kept sobbing for quite some time. We gave her baby Tylenol for the first time. It was a rough experience for her, but even rougher on her mother! Besides that Casey has developed and changed so much recently it is just amazing. I feel as though I have figured her out a lot more and that makes things much easier instead of trying to guess why she is crying all of the time. We have established somewhat of a routine and when I can head off any crankiness by anticipating what she needs it seems to make for a much happier, calmer baby. Usually the days go like this: she eats, plays happily for about an hour or so, then takes a nap for an hour or so, then plays until it is time to eat again. The rotation takes about 3 hours. We do this all day until bed time. In general she goes to sleep around 11 or 11:30pm and has started sleeping until 5, 6, or even once, 7am! It is fantastic when she sleeps this much. She is rolling around on her play mat and has rolled over and back several times now. She lisfts her legs into the air and loves looking at her feet. She sucks on all of her fingers and often sticks her whole fist in her mouth. She is so responsive to us and we can play little games or sing songs that make her smile and laugh. It is hard to believe how big she is and how much she changes every single day.

East Coast Adventures

We took Casey on her first real road trip to visit a few cities and friends along the East Coast. We were in Delaware to visit Casey's Great Grandmother and her Great Uncle George. We went to the beach and Casey got her first fishing pole! We also visited Washington DC and Philadelphia. We saw all of the major sites. The highlight in Philly was running up the museum steps that Rocky ran up (see Casey in pic). In DC the highlight was seeing the Marine Corps marching band and silent drill team perform at the sunset parade. Casey was great the entire trip. On the 4th of July she was playing on her play mat and rolled over onto her stomach and then rolled back. On the way home we stopped in NJ to see Paul Giblin and his new son Paul IV. It was a great trip but we are happy to be back in NH.

First Swim

June 28, 2007: Today Casey went for her first swim in La La and Eddie's pool. James and I thought she would only last about 10 seconds before crying, but she seemed to be relaxed and enjoy it. We're off shortly on our first real trip. Heading to Delaware to introduce Casey to her great grandmother.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

June 25, 2007: Almost since birth Casey has been sleeping very well. On most nights I feed her around 10:30 or 11pm and she goes to sleep until about 5 am. This week however, she has regressed. She woke up at 4:30, then 4:00, then 3:00, then 2:50am. It stinks. She has also been a lot crankier during the days, with more bouts of crying. People keep saying, 'maybe it's a growth spurt'. Maybe. Anyway, she is still a wonderful baby all in all. We took her for her first hike today. We drove to Waterville and did a 4.5 mile loop which takes you to two peaks, Mt. Welch and Mt. Dickey. Both peaks are around 2700 feet with beautiful views of the White Mountains. I carried Casey up in the baby bjorn. Getting back into shape is challenging and keeping her little white body out of the sun is too- but we managed.

First Day of Summer

June 21, 2007: Just a cute picture for today...

7 Weeks Old

June 18, 2007: Here are a few shots from today. The outfit Casey is wearing was mine 29 summers ago. Casey continues to change and develop every day. She is smiling at us more and more and makes lots of little cooing noises. It is so fun to play little games and sing songs to her and have her react to us with big smiles and laughs. Her baby acne has cleared up, she is not constipated anymore, and she is no longer throwing up. Her hair has started to fall out slowly so we'll see if she is going to be blond like I was or not. We are all getting used to eachother and it is getting easier day by day. I know Casey's signals and what she needs most of the time so thats helps alot. We put her feet in Newfound Lake yesterday and she did not like it because it was so cold.

6 Weeks Old

June 13, 2007: Casey turned 6 weeks old on Monday. She has still been sleeping really well. Most nights she goes to sleep by 11:30pm and wakes up around 5:30am. Her baby acne seems to be going away slowly. Last week we spent a few days in CT and Boston visiting grandparents. Casey also attended Harvard Graduate School of Education's graduation to cheer on Claudia. It has been an exciting week for her. Casey's first passport came in the mail. She will need it for our trip to Italy in mid July. It is so funny and cute to see her picture in the passport. Also, last night she had her first meal from a bottle that James fed to her. She took it without any problems. We were practicing as I will probably have to miss one of her feedings on Friday night to attend Angie's batchelorette party at the Red Sox game. It has been so great having James home to share in all the fun. We love watching Casey change little by little each day. She is really starting to interact with us as she smiles and makes cute little noises now. She has discovered her own hands and stares at them intently.

One Month Old

May 30, 2007: Today Casey turned one month old. It is hard to believe. Casey is getting bigger, but she still seems small to me. She is changing and developing every day. Lately James and I have noticed that she is starting to smile when she sees us. She is spending more and more time alert and content. We put her on a play mat on the floor and she will stare at the objects that hang over her head. Just yesterday she was batting at them (see the picture) with her hands. Casey has been to her first parties this week. Last night we went to the end of the year faculty party where Casey witnessed her first games of beer pong. On the walk over to the party Casey said her first word. James was carrying her in the Baby Bjorn and she was looking up at him. He said "hi" to her over and over and then she said "hi" back to him. We could not believe it. Obviously she is not really talking but she somehow imitated his sound. It was funny. The party must have done Casey in because she had a banner night of sleep. I fed her at 11pm and she went to sleep at 12. She did not wake up until 6 am. I hope this can continue!!

Meeting Meme

May 24, 2007: Today James and I took Casey down to Manchester to meet her great grand mother, Meme. She was very well behaved and they had a great time meeting. Casey has been great. She is sleeping well and eating well. Her throwing up has slowed down, she had not thrown up for 6 days and then did this morning. Also she has some little zits on her face, but they say that is totally normal. I can't image this heat is helping the cause at all. Today we took her to the post office and applied for her first passport. She is going to need it for our trip to Italy in mid-July. It was funny to take her picture for it. Anyhow, graduation is tomorrow and then there are a few faculty meetings next week and then we are off for the summer. Here are some pix from this week...

Road Trip

May 19, 2007: Today Casey returned home to New Hampton from her first road trip down to Connecticut. Mom and Casey headed down to Greenwich for three nights to meet uncle Mark and Baba and Pop as well as to visit with Sally and Eddie. Casey slept the entire way down to Greenwich. This was great for mom so they did not have to pull over to eat or change a diaper, but I had to reach back and make sure she was still breathing a few times. Here are some pictures of Casey with her cousins, her uncle Mark, and her great grandparents (4 generations are in this photo). Casey is the 14th great grand child for Baba and Pop! We also had a surprise visit from Jordan and her son William. The visit in Greenwich was great and Sally and Eddie spoiled us rotten. Eddie baby sat a few times and even managed a diaper changing crisis all on his own. In the last few days Casey seems to have changed a little bit in that she has more alert periods of the day and they last for longer stretches of time than before. She is still throwing up but it is occurring every other day now instead of every day. James missed Casey a lot and was very happy to have her home. At the moment, Casey and Dad are asleep on the couch.

2 Weeks Old

May 14, 2007: Casey turned two weeks old today and we also had her two week check up at the doctor. She has been throwing up lately which has been very unnerving for her new parents. She has thrown up once a day for the past 4 days and then twice yesterday. The first time it happened the visiting nurse was due to arrive any moment so I remained calm. The next day the doctor's office could barely understand my name through the sobbing I was doing over the phone. Lack of sleep and hormones raging can do that to a new mom I guess. Now at her two week check up we were assured that this is well within the realm of normal behavior for a newborn and that we can expect it to keep up for as long as two months. Some babies are just spitters they told us. Besides that issue things are going very well so far. Casey continues to gain weight, today she weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces. She is in the 47th %ile for weight, 76th % for height, and 40th %ile for head circumfrence. A lean, mean, fighting machine. Last night James was changing her diaper and her umbilical cord stump had fallen off. She has ended her streak of sleeping from midnight until 5 am, unfortunately for me. The past two or three nights we have been up much more often. This week we might take our first trip and head down to Greenwich for a few nights so that we can meet uncle Mark, aunt Jen and Brinley, and all of our cousins.

Visitors

May 12, 2007: The Duvals came up to visit us and meet Casey. She met aunt and uncles Jenny, Dave, Heather, Geoff and her cousin Andrew for the first time. It was very fun for everyone to see where we live but more importantly for them to see the newest Duval. Donna and Lou held Casey for the first time. They had seen her in the hospital but had not yet held her. We love having our families so close and sharing this exciting new time with them.

Casey's First 10 Days

May 10, 2007:

Here is what we've been up to the past 10 days. We went home from the hospital on Wednesday, May 2nd and since then have been adjusting to life at home. We've been for one car ride to the doctor for a check up, had three baths, played in the swing and gone for a few walks. We had a lot of bonding time with Sally and Eddie who have helped us out so much. We were sad to see them go home today, especially Little Sal. Today a visiting nurse came by the apartment to check on how we are doing and Casey weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces, which is great! Casey has been a great baby so far- eating well, sleeping well (knock on wood), and happy a lot. Mostly we just eat, poop, and sleep though. Here are a few pictures...

Casey Grace Duval

April 30, 2007:

My contractions began yesterday morning at 7:15 am. They fluctuated between 5-9 minutes apart. Around 8:30 am I called the doctor to let him know they were coming consistently at 5-7 minutes. He told us to come down to the hospital and get checked out as this was probably the real deal since I was now a week past my due date. We gathered up all our bags and headed down to Concord. Much to my dismay I was only 1 cm dilated and we were sent home to wait it out. The contractions got progressivley stronger all the time, but we were told to wait until they came every 4 minutes for an hour before heading back to the hospital. After 13 hours they finally got there and we had to leave the 'Amazing Race' and go back to the hospital. Despite 13 hours of contractions I was still only 1 cm dilated but they kept me in there this time because the pain was significant. I was lucky enough to be having back labor which is when the baby is turned sunny side up and puts pressure on your back, making labor more painful. We got into our room around 9:30 pm and had 12 hours ahead of us. I spent most of the labor standing up in my room. Around 4 am the pain was too much to take and I was only 4 cms dilated. With so much progress still to be made I decided to finally get the epidural. This was heavenly and allowed me to get about an hours rest. By 7 am my water had broken and I was 10 cms dilated. I started pushing around 8:30 am and our baby girl arrived at 9:48am. Casey Grace Duval weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. What a miracle!

Waiting Game

April 24, 2007: I am two days past my due date and just had a check up. There has been no progress since last week. I am still 80% effaced and not dilated at all. They performed something called a non stress test during the check up. Two sensors are attached to my stomach which monitor the baby's heart rate and any contractions and make sure that she is not stressed by remaining in her oven this long. She was perfectly fine and is not growing so big that they are in a rush to get her out. People have different views on when you should be induced. Doctors will not allow you to go more than 14 days late. James and I are going to wait it out as long as possible, considering both the baby and I are healthy. I have my next check up scheduled for Monday. I will have a non stress test done again, and if I am still not dilated at all then I will be scheduled to be induced at the end of next week- just shy of the 42 week cut off. So for now we are just in a holding pattern. The hardest part is for me to remain calm and patient. I am still working and will continue to do so at least through this week.

4 More Days ??

April 18, 2007: I was very excited to go to my weekly check up today in the hopes they would tell me there had been lots of progress, unfortunately that was not the case. I am now 80% effaced (I was 70% last week) but still not dilated at all. They continue to tell me that everyone is different and despite not being dilated I could be in labor tonight or 2 weeks from now. There is just no guessing. So I have another appointment scheduled for next week at which time they will do a non-stress test on the baby to see how she is doing and we will discuss dates when to induce. Hopefully I won't make it to next week's appointment and we will have a baby by then. I am doing well and feeling pretty good for the most part- despite feeling like a whale. In other news, James, Lou, and Dave all successfully completed the Boston Marathon on Monday- Congratulations!

11 Days to Go

April 11, 2007: I had my weekly check up today. I had another ultrasound since they were still concerned about why I was measuring small. But the baby is doing great. Her weight is estimated at 7 pounds 4 ounces right now and she is right in the 50th percentile- just perfect. Last week I was 60% effaced and now I am 70% but not dilated at all. That really means nothing in terms of knowing when labor will happen, but at least it means things are moving and she said it is less work that I will have to do during labor. Some teachers here say I have dropped a little bit, but it is hard for me to tell. I am starting to feel pretty uncomfortable lugging myself around but all in all feeling good. During the ultrasound today they had a cool shot of her face which just seemed so real and life like. It was almost as if I were looking at her for real. I can't wait for that day to come.

35 weeks

March 19, 2007: We had an awesome week in ID. Here is a picture of me at the end of the week on a short hike that James and I did above the Galena Pass. We had been snow shoeing that day at Galena Lodge and then went up for a better view. The weather was amazing all week and we were sad to leave the 65 degree sunny days for the cold NH weather. We had a great time seeing Jon and were lucky enough to get home despite the storms in New England. I saw the doctor today and because I was still measuring small we had an ultra sound to check on the baby's size and health. (Even though I gained 4 lbs in the last 2 weeks!) Much to our relief the baby is doing great and she is a very average size. She weighs 5 pounds 7 ounces right now and is in the 59th percentile. They said because I have a long torso that it seems like I am small even though I am not. So that was great news to hear as we head into the last stretch. I start seeing the doctor every week now and we also had our first birthing class today. Also, we think we finally picked a name for our baby, but you will have to wait until she arrives to hear what it is.

34 Weeks

March 12, 2007:

We are out in Sun Valley, ID visiting Jon for our spring break. It is really gorgeous here and the weather is unbelievable. It is 65 degrees and sunny. James is enjoying snow boarding and skiing with Jon, despite his broken wrist. I have been snow shoeing and just relaxing. Here we are at the top of the mountain with Jon one day and here is my 34 week belly on the balcony of our condo which over looks the ski mountain.

33 Weeks

March 4, 2007:

At this weeks check up the doctors made me nervous by telling me I am "measuring small". When you are 33 weeks along and they measure the size of your stomach it should match the weeks and thus be 33 cms. I am 31 cms. She said if the difference gets to be more than 2 cms we would get checked out with an ultrasound. For now though, she has said it is nothing to worry about and gave me the green light to head to Sun Valley at the end of this week. I just have to bring a copy of my medical file with me in case anything happens out there. I am still feeling good though and still running 2-3 miles 4 times a week.

30 Weeks

February 11, 2007: 30 weeks down, 10 to go. The tear in my round ligament seems to be healing and I have been able to start working out again. I have been walking and also just started up jogging again. It feels great to be able to get some exercise after a few weeks off. The baby kicks with more strength every day. I think it is weighing in at about 3 lbs now, but I see the doctor tomorrow for my check up so I will post an update after that. Mark and Jen came up to visit this past weekend and brought us some baby gear so now the nursery is coming along even more. We now have a bassinet, bouncy seat, baby bjorn, a tub, and lots of clothes.

Nursery

January 30, 2007: Today we finished painting the baby's room. Neither of us have ever painted anything before so it was a learning experience. The first difficulty was knowing what color that looked good on a tiny square in the store would look good covering entire walls. Our "light blue" turned out to be a little bit brighter than we planned, but for a few months the little one can deal. The biggest discovery I made was what a pain in the neck painting is. I hated all the taping and fine edge work. I didn't mind using the rollers in big places, but next time I hope I can afford a painter! :)

Mount Morgan

January 28, 2007: 28 Weeks pregnant today and really starting to feel bigger. I have not done any exercise in two weeks because I am letting a tear in one of my round ligaments heal up. Today was a gorgeous winter day and we decided to go for a hike. The trail was 2.1 miles to the top and you get to 2,220 feet in elevation. We took it nice and slow and got to the top in about an hour and twenty minutes. The views were fantastic. I have been feeling great and just can't really get used to being so big. It is a strange feeling. When I sit at my desk my uterus touches my rib cage and I can feel the baby kick me in the ribs.