Do Bears Have Nipples?

Mommy and Daddy May were talking during one of my feedings this weekend. Mommy May made a comment that I was a hungry little bunny. Then, she asked Daddy May, "Or should I say, hungry little panda?" Daddy May replied, "I don't know. Do bears have nipples?" Now there's the question of the week!

A New Bag of Tricks...

Sorry it's been a few days since my last post; we've been busy, busy, busy around here with visitors! Friday, I spent some time with Yin-Yin and Aunties Felicity and Lois, and my Tia Lu also came up for the weekend. I promise I will post more about my visits soon.

In the meantime, I have been adding some new tricks now that I'm 9 days old. One of my favorite new things to practice is smiling! Here's one of me relaxed and happy:

And here I was playing with Mommy and Daddy May... it's too bad the picture came out overexposed, but it was too cute to delete!

I also spent some quality time discussing serious issues (like my cuteness) with Nani:

We don't have any pictures of it, but I have also been working on showing my displeasure. When Mommy May takes too long to feed me, or Daddy May takes too long to change my diaper, I have really been working out my lungs! I can really crank up the volume when I need to.

Of course, all of this activity takes its toll, and I have to spend lots of time catching up on my beauty sleep! Luckily for me, I get plenty of sleepy-time cuddles. Here I am with Mommy May: Daddy May and I caught a few winks together here:

And, here I am with Nani. Over 1,100 fires burning all over California due to dry, hot weather, and Nani dresses me up like an Eskimo baby! Boy, I was sweatin' by the time I got out of there!

Ta-ta for now!

To the Victor, the Spoils...

Lillian is the undisputed winner of my baby pool! She predicted that I would be born on Saturday, June 21 at 5:30 pm. As I was born on Friday, June 20, at 5:47 pm, she had the closest guess. Congratulations, Lillian!! Your grand prize, besides plenty of kisses from me, will be revealed at my coming out party in August. Take a bow!!

p.s. Mommy May also wanted me to thank you again for making your prediction so early... she would not have been too happy if I had waited till July.

It's Hard Work Being Really, Really, Ridiculously Good Looking...

Today was my 4th day of life, so I decided I better start formally documenting my cuteness. As I'm no amateur, I went straight to work on my "Magnum" look (Zoolander references are an homage to my Uncle Trav and Uncle Trevor). But even I needed a few tries. Here's take one, which was close but no cigar:

Pretty soon, though, I nailed it!

Next up, a little urban flair. After all, I am a city kid, and that's how we roll in El Sobrante:

Boy, modeling is hard work!

Good night for now, everyone!

There's No Place Like Home... No, Really...

Hello, again! After staying in the hospital Friday night, all day Saturday, and half of Sunday (cause they still wanted to monitor Mommy May's blood pressure), we loaded up into the car and headed home. I don't remember much of the ride... who knew car rides could induce coma? Next thing I knew, we were home!

The first order of business, after carting all of our stuff inside, was a formal introduction to Itty Bitty Kitty! We were both a little cautious and a lot curious. All in all, things went fine, until I made a noise and Itty Bitty bolted from the room. I guess we'll try again later.

We all settled down and got ready for our first night at home. Itty Bitty Kitty, however, had other ideas. While I was a good baby and slept through a lot of the night other than my feedings, Itty Bitty kept Mommy and Daddy May up most of the night; she meowed and meowed no matter what they did! At one point, Mommy got scared that the kitty was sick and running a fever. They decided Daddy May would take Itty Bitty to the vet in the morning. Finally, Daddy May had to sleep on the couch with the kitty; that was the only way she would settle down.

So, Monday morning, Daddy May and Itty Bitty went to the vet. The doctor said she was fine, just very upset at my arrival. I could have gotten insulted, but I just decided to keep trying to make friends.

THEN, Mommy and Daddy May had to get us ready for my first outing because I had my first doctor's appointment that afternoon. Things really didn't go too smoothly for my poor parents. First, even though they started getting ready early so they wouldn't be late, they just didn't understand how long it can take to get a baby ready to go out! Running late and rushing, Mommy May fell on the outside stairs and twisted her ankle. Now, some of you may not know this, but my Mommy May, bless her heart, is a bit of a klutz. She is pretty prone to tripping and twisting her ankles, even breaking one at one point. Is it ironic that Mommy May never fell even once during the whole pregnancy (even though everyone warns that pregnant women are prone to falling) only to fall and hurt herself one day after giving birth? Oh, Mommy May.

Things at the doctor's office continued to be a challenge, as Kaiser couldn't find information on me, and we hadn't taken my paperwork. Everything got sorted out in the end, though, and my first check-up was great. I haven't lost much weight, just 7 oz, and breastfeeding is going very well.

Once we got home, Mommy and Daddy May questioned whether they'd ever want to leave the house with me again! But, I think we'll all be fine after Mommy and Daddy May catch up on some sleep... if I let them, that is!

I will close with a picture I wanted to share. Everyone keeps saying I'm so big, but I think I look quite dainty, myself:

Hi! I'm New Here...

Well, this is me. I know, I know, I'm cute as a button! I was born at Kaiser Walnut Creek on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 5:47 pm. I weighed 9 lb 7 oz and measured 21" long (which is apparently quite large, as EVERYONE commented on it). My birth story is quite exciting (at least we think so!) and started at 4:30 am on Thursday, June 19. Mommy May and I woke up feeling contractions, and they started to get more regular by 6:30 am that morning. Mommy May was a little worried they might still be false alarms, since it was still a little early for me to arrive, but Daddy May decided to stay home from work just in case. For the most part, we were all pretty comfortable; the contractions were about 45 seconds long and 7 minutes apart for most of the day. They really didn't start to progress until after 10:00 pm Thursday night. By then, Mommy May was feeling pretty tired, I think.

When the contractions were consistently a minute long and 5 minutes or less apart, Daddy May called Kaiser to see when we should go in. One problem with the labor was that Mommy May's blood pressure was very high. Nani (who used to be a nurse) brought her kit over and kept checking Mommy May, but her blood pressure didn't go down. They decided to wait and go in to the hospital after trying to get a little sleep, but, as soon as Mommy May got in bed, she felt a really strong contraction. All of a sudden, I felt a pop near my head, and some of my water started gushing out! Well, needless to say, we all packed up and headed off to the hospital!

They settled us into our room, and all 3 of us dozed a bit off and on through the night. By morning, the doctor was concerned that the contractions weren't progressing, and we were all worried that Mommy May would end up too exhausted for the harder part if we didn't speed things up. So they gave Mommy May some medicine to move things along faster, and, boy, did it work! Mommy May was 2 cm dilated when we arrived at the hospital, and 4 cm dilated mid-afternoon on Friday. Over the next hour, even with pain medicine, Mommy May started having a REALLY hard time with all the contractions (which were coming one right after the other). When they checked again, Mommy May had gone from 4 cm to 10 cm in just over an hour! Ouch! The rest passed very, very quickly... Mommy May pushed me out in about 30 minutes! All of the hospital staff kept telling her she was a champion pusher, but I know I helped a lot too by scooting down.

Soon after I was born, Daddy May took this picture, which pretty much summed up how Mommy May felt after giving birth:


She was mostly kidding, though, and proceeded to give me lots of love and kisses:

Here's me with my proud Papa, too!

Here I am with my Yin-Yin, in between wardrobe changes:

Nani came to see me, too, and I rewarded her by sticking out my tongue:

That was my first day of life here on Planet Earth. We're all home now; more to come on that soon!

A class act...

This Friday, Mommy May got a package in the mail. We had to go the post office to pick it up; she was a little confused, cause she hadn't ordered anything recently. She was very happy to see that the package came from the school where she teaches... the students and teachers from the English class she taught had sent her a present! Rather, they sent me a present, but it amounts to same thing, really. Here's are a few pics of the adorable blanket they sent:

The class also sent Get Well and Welcome Baby cards, and there were notes and letters from the students and teachers. The timing couldn't have been more perfect! I've been a little worried about Mommy May recently, and this was just what she needed! This third trimester has been a little hard on her; first, she was really sick with asthma, and it took a long time to get it under control. Thankfully, everything with her breathing is better, but now she's just uncomfortable and tired a lot of the time. She's been staying pretty close to home, which can get kind of lonely. I try to cheer her up and remind her that I'm here and that I love her (with plenty of well-placed kicks, of course!), but I think she needed a little more than that. She has really, really missed her students, and I know she wishes she could have seen them again before summer started. She'll be sure to thank them all lots and lots when she sees them again this fall!

Belly talk...

Here we are, almost 38 weeks along! Still not a whole lot going on, really. Mommy May has not been sleeping too well at night, so she takes lots of naps during the day now. But, don't worry, I am sleeping just fine!

One thing that happened was that the 3 of us went to a breastfeeding class at Kaiser. At first, Daddy May was the only daddy there in a room full of women; he was getting pretty nervous... but, finally, about 5 more daddies showed up with mommies, so he felt better. The nurse that taught the class was pretty quirky and funny--she actually showed everyone an overhead with different types of newborn poop! Can I just say, gross?! Mommy May and I were very sleepy through most of the class, but, overall, I think they learned some useful stuff to make sure that I get off to a good start breastfeeding... yummy!

One of my favorite times of day is bedtime, when Daddy May always takes time to talk to me and say goodnight. I wanted to close with a transcript of a recent conversation:

Daddy May: Hey there, buddy, how you doin'? It's your daddy. Whatcha doin' in there? Have you been kicking mommy a lot? Yeah? Are you running out of room in there? I can't wait to meet you. All right, buddy, have a good night. I love you.

I love you, too, Daddy May!

So close, and yet so far...

Mommy and Daddy May and I went to our 37 week doctor's appointment today. These monthly visits haven't been terribly exciting up till now. They check Mommy May's weight and blood pressure and listen to my heartrate (which is always good, of course!).

Today, however, threw me for a loop. There I was, just hanging out, minding my own business, kicking Mommy May a little for good measure, when, all of a sudden, I got poked in the head! Now that I was totally not expecting. Apparently, today was the first of the internal exams, where the doctor checks to see how close Mommy May might be to going into labor. I missed some of what the doctor said afterwards, seeing as how I was so shocked, but I think the jist of it is that Mommy May's cervix is starting to lift forward and efface (which I guess means to thin out), but not much dilation so far. I believe the doctor's exact words were, "Nothing to write home about so far."

So, it seems I'm staying put, at least for now... there's still time to get those predictions in for the Baby May Pool... don't forget to include both a date and time!

You Gotta Be in It to Win It...

Well, we've already determined that the countdown has started... I'm in the home stretch, and it's anyone's guess when I will be making my entree into the world. That being said, I have noticed the lack of a traditional baby pool in my honor. So, once again, I am taking things into my own hands.

I have decided to sponsor my very own Baby May Pool, and everyone is invited to participate! Here's the need-to-know info so far: my official due date is June 28. As of Saturday, May 31, I was 36 weeks along. One last thing to note is that Kaiser will most likely induce Mommy May once I am 2 weeks overdue (which would be at 42 weeks).

So, start your calculations and post (or email me) your best guess! The winner will be determined by which guess is closest to the actual date and time. In order to break ties, your guess should include both the date and the time you predict I will arrive. The winner gets exclusive bragging rights, of course, as well as a token gift to be presented at my coming out party in August. Apparently, I already have a savings account started, so don't worry, if the Parents May don't want to pony up, I'll take care of the prize!

Let the contest begin! (Boy, this is fun stuff... might a career as a bookie be in my future?)