Catherine Tate - Translator

Sean is now over 9 pounds

We went to A Mother's Work in Rice Village today. I felt pretty comfortable there since I could nurse Sean and change his diaper if I needed to. So I did both and got to do a little shopping as well. They also have a baby scale. I wanted to find out his weight since we had already moved up to the next size in diapers. Sean is 9 pounds 1.5 ounces.

Sean is One Month Old

Sean turned one month old yesterday. We kinda celebrated with his great-aunt and great-uncle at our favorite dim sum restaurant here in Houston. We used to go out for dim sum almost every sunday when I was pregnant and I was so excited to finally go out again. I was also a little nervous since I'm nursing and trying to get used to feeding Sean in public. But Matthew was with me to make sure everything went smoothly.

The first picture is after I washed Sean's hair. I love to make it spiky. When he gets older, we are totally giving him a mohawk!

Life as We Know It Will Never Be the Same...

Well, Sean is almost a month old now and his schedule is topsy-turvy. We were eating, diapering, and sleeping every three hours. But ever since the three-week growth spurt, there's been a change in our schedule. Now there is no schedule. For the past two nights in a row, Sean has stayed awake from 2 am to about 7 am. Yep, that's right. I said, AWAKE. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. *sigh*

I was checking out another blog and found a link to this italian video about how Italy is different from the rest of the EU. We saw this video years ago after we went to Italy for the first time.

We've been receiving National Geographic Traveler (thanks to a previous tenant who never forwarded his subscription), and so I've been reading about far away places and getting a little wanderlust myself. But it's going to be a while since we have a little one now. I can't even bring myself to take Sean out for more than an hour and a half (as long as his naps) right now, so anything that requires a ride on a plane is out for at least a few months.

We have surpassed birthweight!

Sean is 16 days old today and we just had a visit with his pediatrician. He now weighs 7 lbs. and 5.4 ounces. So we're gaining about a pound a week. A lactation consultant told us that he'll sleep a little longer at night (~4 hours at a time) once he reaches 10 lbs. So that's been our little goal right now. Beefcake!

Here's a pic of Sean after his bath. His hair is actually brown and kinda punky and spiky.

Baby Sean's First Week at Home

We survived the first week at home with Baby Sean. It was (and still is) really tough getting used to the sleep deprivation. Sean gets up every 1-2 hours at night to nurse or because he needs a diaper change. Before you have a baby, you hear people talk about sleepless nights, but it's nothing like experiencing it for yourself. Of course, we've taken almost a hundred pictures of him during this week. Typical new parents behavior, right? I know you're thinking that Sean is really advanced for a week-old-baby if he's already smiling, but actually that pic was taken after he had nursed and was sleeping already. I just love that smile! For some more pics...

Sean's First Week @ Home

Baby Sean is here!!!

Well, it all started with a sneeze at 1:30am on 5/23... and my water broke! So we made our way to the hospital and later that day at 8:21pm, Sean Alexander Birdwell arrived. Thanks to April and Sarah for giving the gift of chocolate. It really helped to maintain my serotonin levels and bring in my milk... ;) He is just the cutest baby, but of course, I'm biased, so check him out for yourself... For more pics, click on

Baby Sean Hospital Pics

37 Weeks

Well, we were a little surprised at last week's ob/gyn visit. I didn't expect to be 1-2 cm and 70-80% effacement. So we got crackin' to get ready in case Sean was going to arrive this week. Got the carseat checked and properly re-installed. Got a bedding set for the crib. Took a breastfeeding class last saturday. (It was very informative and I highly recommend it to any gal considering breastfeeding.) Today's ob/gyn visit was a bit of a let-down. No change in dilation or effacement. But I haven't had any contractions yet either. (As far as I know...)

This pic is from last week's lunch with some of my 3rd year friends and one of our faculty members who is also preggers.