A note from the first baby of Arcadia

My human sister was born 3 weeks ago and since then i have learned some interesting insights into the human psyche. Humans are pretty simple creatures with simple needs and simple desires. As long as you give them love and attention they will generally do ok. Here are 10 things i have learned since the birth of my humansister.

Mom and Dad now think crying is cute, so long as it comes from a human.

At least I am housebroken.

We go on more walks now with the four of us, but humansister's car is constantly running into my heels.

Babies make good people to blame funny smells on.

I no longer have to worry about the chickens replacing my role.

Humansister's crib makes for a great new hiding place.

Stroller compartments are great for holding dog biscuits.

Mom and Dad no longer dress me in "cute" outfits.

Dad gives me more treats than he gives baby, but Mom seems to have a constant flow of treats coming from her bosom that she only shares with baby, despite Dad and my pleas.

Mom and Dad like to include me in their photo shoot shenanigans with Aspen.

I have been able to procure an alliance with Aspen where in she has agreed to "accidentally" drop food from her high chair in the future.

The first baby,

Bella Paws Dzubinski

Aspen's 2 week Check-up

Yesterday we took a trip to our pediatrician's office for Aspen's 2 week check-up appointment. It was really nice that the whole family (well minus Bella) got to go to the visit. I imagine as your baby has more and more of these visits and a person has more children, you start to make less of an "event" of every tiny thing. However, I couldn't resist taking photos of my baby girl's progress in just a short 2 1/2 weeks of life.



Two weeks ago at Aspen's newborn check-up she weighed 7lbs. 9oz. (down from her birth weight of 7lbs. 11oz.).


Yesterday she weighed in at a whopping 9lbs. 0.1 oz (75%ile)! The two of us both feel very blessed that Aspen took right to eating well with no problems. I guess her weight is proof that she getting all the nutrition she needs. Our doctor was very happy with her weight gain and said we could stop worrying about feeding her every 2 1/2 to 3 hours and to start letting Aspen dictate when she is hungry. This will be a nice break for mommy :)

When Aspen was born she was 20 1/2 in. long.


Yesterday she measured in at 21 1/2 in.(80%ile), gaining a whole inch in 2 weeks. It's good to see her growing both ways.

I'm not sure what her the head circumference was originally, but she measured in at 36.2 cm. (55%ile). Neither Jason or I have big heads, so I think she will always fall into an average head size.


At every doctor's appointment the medical assistant writes up all the measurements for us on this "certificate" for Aspen. It's very cute and helpful to remember everything.

Here a couple more photos of our little girl. I think she is the most adorable thing I've ever seen (although I know I'm biased). Don't you agree??

Aspen Turns 2 (weeks)

Tomorrow will mark Aspen's second week in our life. It's been such a joy watching her change a little bit everyday. She seems to be already setting a schedule for herself-- long morning nap, long late afternoon nap, and waking up twice in the middle of the night for feedings. We both feel so blessed to have Aspen in our life and have so much love to give her. This is what Aspen has been up to the past week...

Her first formal night out on the town in her fancy tutu dress.


We went over to Poppy's house for some snacks and visiting. Our first official activity out as a family was to Mandola's Italian Market. We made sure Aspen ate before we went and she slept the whole time we ate our pizza.

Aspen and I have been having lots of snuggling time together.



Mary Aspen Dzubinski received her first piece of mail!


It's exciting to know that she is a legal alien from the planet "Cutetonia".

Bella has been enjoying the benefits of Aspen also.


She loves sleeping in the boppy pillow (a nursing pillow for those of you that don't know the in's and out's of every mother/mother-to-be item) and sleeping on the blanket the hospital gave us for Aspen. I think we can say this blanket can just be Bella's from now on...

I love this picture of Jason and Aspen. Look at the expression on Jason's face; now that's one proud Dad.


It also looks like Aspen is laughing at something her Daddy said. Hopefully she'll always think her dad is hilarious with all his crazy, silly jokes.

Aspen and her dog-sister Bella lounging in her room.


** Don't worry...we didn't leave them alone.

This past week Aspen has been having longer time periods were she is just happy and content.


This has lead to some silly family time with the camera. Jason insisted on swaddling both of us; I don't think Bella would let him or he would have thrown her into the mix too.

If you remember back when I was 36 weeks pregnant and we had another ultrasound we posted a picture of our little girl.

Here she is again sticking out her tongue... our silly little monkey!

Aspen Turns 1 (week)

Today marks Aspen's one week birthday (yes we have become those people). She has had a full and exciting life thus far.

So far she has completed a trifecta on both of her parents. A trifecta is when she poops, pees and vomits on you in the same day, not necessarily at the same time, although that does elevate the drama of it.

She has ridden a wild stallion.



By wild stallion I mean I held her on top of Bella while Julia took the pictue.

She took her first bath with mixed reviews.


We think she liked the warm water, but as soon as it ran off her little body she got cold prompting her to show us those powerful lungs (check out the video of the week).

Aspen also went to the park for the first time with her dogsister Bella.

She really enjoys offroading in her stroller becasue the vibrations lull her to sleep.

She practiced being an acrobat by swinging in her swing.

Hey, Everyone has to start somewhere.

Finally, Aspen rounded out her week by posing like a sleeping Angel. I know she's our kid and we are biased, but doesn't she break your heart.

The Joys of Parenthood

Finally I'm back for my first post since the arrival of Aspen. I've heard from many of you and also read the comments that Jason's blogging over the past few days was great. I couldn't agree more! I'm so glad that our family and friends that don't live near by are able to share in this experience with us.

As Jason kept everyone updated, the labor to bring Aspen into this world was exactly that...labor! No matter how many books I read or mother's I talked to, you don't know what the experience is like until you are in it. Going through labor gave me so much more respect for every mother in the world. After the 14 hour process I was completely overwhelmed with joy to finally see my baby girl. In the end the memory of the pain started to disappear and all I could think about was how lucky I am to have an amazing husband (I could not have done any of this without him) and a beautiful, healthy child.



Today is the fifth day we have been home from the hospital. Overall things are going well. We are learning how to be parents step by step. The pros are that Aspen is a big eater and anytime she can she wants to eat more. She also sleeps fairly well. We figured out that the A/C was on to cool for her and every time we moved her into her crib she was really fussy and upset. Once we shut the vent in her room to keep it more toasty she has been sleeping wonderfully. Sunday night she slept for 5 hours straight....Jason and I finally felt like we got some rest for the first time since she was born. Jason has been doing almost all the diaper changes and I must say it's a great help (as he says "I can't feed, so it's the least I can do").



I look forward to all the different milestones we will cross with Aspen. Although both of us are completely sleep deprived every time we look into her beautiful blue eyes our hearts literally melt and sleeping suddenly doesn't seem so important. I feel like I can tell she already has quite the personality and is going to easily be the life of the party.

Thank you from both of us to everyone who commented and sent us warm wishes. Aspen is so lucky to have so many people loving her already.



We know that many of you have not be able to meet Aspen yet, but below are the pictures we have so far of those you that were able to make it to the hospital to welcome her into the world. As more of you get to meet her, we will keep this log of photos updated (somehow we didn't get pictures of some of our family...it's gets crazy with all the visitors, but I'll upload as soon as I get copies from someone).

Walk around the block

Julia has been pretty much bed ridden since the labor began, so our
nurse told us it would be a good idea for her to do some walking to
prevent muscle atrophy as well as ease the transition to the post
hospital world. So today when my parents were visiting we left the
hospital room and went on a walk around the hospital. Since hospital
gowns offer as much privacy as a Greek bath house, Julia went macgyver
on us and put on another gown backwards so that back would also be
covered. I told her that her little buns peeking between her gown was
absolutely adorable, but she didn't want to give the rest of the
hospital that pleasure. We walked for about 15 minutes and Julia did
great. She was a little light headed at first, but overall the walk
went great. We can't wait to get home and go on a family walk with
Aspen and Bella.

Hearing Test

Baby Aspen had her requisite hearing test this morning. She passed
with flying colors. After the test Aspen gave mom and dad a hearing
test by screaming her little head off. I believe we passed as we
quickly picked her up, bounced her and realized we are at her beck and
call.

Breastfeeding

Prior to birth one of julia's greatest anxieties about having the baby
was breastfeeding. We knew we wanted to exclusively breastfeed, but
friends, books, and the Internet were full of horror stories about the
subject. Cracked nipples, and unwilling latchers were all we could
think about. Fortunately, Aspen's teeny mouth and julia's nurturing
nipples were made for each other and Aspen latched on within seconds.
So far she has had 4 feedings, and we couldn't have asked for better
results.

Jason watching Aspen sleep

Introducing Mary Aspen Dzubinski

Mom and baby are fine and are currently breastfeeding. Aspen weighs 7
lbs 11 oz and is 20.5 inches. She scored a 9 out of 10 on the apgar

Miricle of life

7:33 am, 14 hours after arriving to the hospital julia's and my life
changed forever

Focused And in charge

Rocking and rolling

Julia's moved to the rocking chair to get her hips moving to encourage
baby to get moving. The contractions have become really intense and I
can no longer take pictures during contractions. Julia is on top of
them though her breathing and serenity are inspirational. I think sex
Ed classes should include a field trip to the labor room as watching
labor is not all that different from watching torture. It's
interesting how something that started out so pleasurable ends so
painfully.

Really big contractions

Notice the contraction graph went to the very top. That means it was
really big. I don't understand how woman do this

Waters part

Julia's water just broke and the pregnancy will soon progress to the
heavy pushing. Julia's truly taking it like a champion. Never before
have I been so proud of her

Popsicle

Julia eats a Popsicle as she waits for the baby to pop

Air

Julia's iv machine started beeping at us like crazy and the led
monitor said air. Leah told us that it was no big deal and quickly
fixed the problem

First contraction

Julia had her first big contraction since the pitocin drip. The
contractions are still somewhat minor but the intensity should
continue to accelerate. We have a new nurse, Leah, she seems Nice
enough. Julia's spirits are still high but she is a little drowsy.

Pitocin

The pitocin was administered at 6:10 pm. Dr. Mills, our obgyn decided
to induce because julia's blood preassure was a little high and the
baby is larger than average and Julia is smaller than average.

IV time

Julia gets her iv which will supply her with the potosin as well as
fluids. Rina got the vein on the first time

Informed consent

Julia's nurse Rina having Julia sign the requisite informed consents

It's time

We checked into the hospital around 5 today. Julia is nervous but
spirits are high

What Happen to those Chickens??

Since we have been approaching our due date I noticed that the past few blog post have been centered around how far along I was, how baby was doing, when I thought this little girl was going to grace us with her presence, etc. However, I think focusing SO much on the progress of the pregnancy it has made me nuts! All I can think about is..."Oh could she be coming tonight??", "Maybe I should take another shower...just in case I wake up and I am in labor!", "Let's have a huge delicious meal just in case this is the last one for a little while". So I'm going to shift the attention from our baby girl to something else, at least to keep my mind off of the arrival for the amount of time it takes me to write this post.

On Saturday this past weekend Jason and I decided to finally introduce our two smallest chickens (who I call the "babies") to the four others in the flock. For the past few weeks the babies have been sectioned off in the coop so that the larger chickens wouldn't pick on them. The babies are still quite small and will never get to the size of Toula, Latika, or Nala. Satine is our bantam chicken (which we suspect may be a rooster, but there hasn't been a crow yet), so she is relatively small in comparison to most chickens her age. Although, she is one of the more aggressive out of the 6 and is always trying to keep all the chickens "in line" (one reason the rooster suspension started).

The introduction has gone pretty smoothly. I don't think chickens have the greatest vision or senses because at night it seems like the 4 don't even notice the two babies. Although during the day they have definitely taken notice to the newcomers. There is the expected amount of pecking going on in the coop. The two babies being so much smaller has Jason a little worried for their safely against the elders. I figure they have to learn how to protect themselves at some point! Hopefully the transition will be over soon and the 6 chickens will be flocking together before we know it.

Here is a video of the chickens hanging out on Saturday afternoon. Nala and Latika were playing in a mud bath Jason had made for them.