Gas

Until we can figure out a way to harnass the gas that comes from Thea after a feeding or the type that results in a changing at 2:30 am, check this site out to find the cheapest gas in your neck of the woods.

Announcements--

By now (hopefully) you have received Thea's baby announcements and this is your first visit to our family blog. If that is the case, welcome! We're excited to have new visitors to our family blog so you can see the latest pictures, read stories about us, the dogs, fixing our house, etc. Feel free to look at past postings and we'd love to read your comments.

Thea and I went for a 6 week check up and we both are doing well. Thea tipped the scale at 10 pounds, 12 ounces! That's 3 pounds more then her birth weight so she is doing great in that department.

I've received another box (this is box number 2) from my sister Debi and her daughter Kendall. More girl baby clothes for Thea!!! Very excited to have Kendall's hand me downs and fun to go through the box remembering Kendall in these outfits too. Like all babies, Thea outgrows things so fast so it is nice to not have to spend money on clothes that will only get worn once or twice. We are very thankful Debi and Kendall are sharing these items with us and appreciate it very much.

For those wondering how Thea is doing sleeping (read previous posting about 2:30 am), she is doing great! Our latest trick seems to be working and last night we put her down at 9:30 and she didn't wake up until 3:30!!! I was up at 1:00 thinking she'd be waking up "any time now" so I still didn't get the extra sleep like I should have.

Step right up....

Step right up....step right up and take a guess. Guess little Thea's weight. She has an appointment on Friday so we can see where she has gone from her 8 lb 1 oz visit four weeks ago (at her 2 week check up). Any guesses???? What is the prize you say? Well we will dedicate an entire blog entry to the winner! That's right, your name on the internet!

Last night was a successful night for us. Thea did her normal wake up at 2:30 am, however this time she went back to sleep in her own crib. For those who don't know, Thea will sleep in her crib when we put her down but for some reason, at 2:30 am, she won't go back to sleep in her crib. She'll fall asleep in our arms but when we transfer her to the crib, she starts crying again. So one night a while ago I brought her to our room so she could lay down with us in our bed and guess what? She instantly was asleep the moment she hit the bed. So each night when I was unsuccessful at getting her back to sleep, I'd bring her to our room and she'd sleep there until her next wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 am. Then she would be fed, changed and we'd put her in her crib with no problems. The 2:30 am situation was something Chris was determined to not have become a habit (although I found it really cute--having her in our bed and all even though I don't sleep while she is in our bed because I'm nervous one of is going to roll over on her). So the other night Chris was up for over an hour with her and finally came back to our room.....with Thea in his arms. Chris 0. Thea 1. Actually it is more like: Parents 0 Thea 113.

So, how'd we get Thea to sleep in her own crib??? We got advice from Chris's friends from work (some are nurses) and from my sister Debi. I changed her routine from changing, feeding, then swaddling to changing, swaddling then feeding. This way, after she gets sleepy from eating she goes right into her crib without getting moved around from being swaddled.

It worked last night so let’s hope for another successful night.

Silent Bob vs. Joel Siegel

Allow me to deviate from Thea Vision for a moment and indulge me in something that I just can't pass up writing about.

I am excited to watch "Clerks II" by Kevin Smith. I am a big fan of Smith's movies, one reason being is that he goes out, makes the movie that he wants to make (and not the one that the studio but holes want him to make) and they are fan favorites every time. After reading about the recent battle between Joel Siegel, the no talent ass clown critic from one of those stupid morning news shows, and Silent Bob himself.

The other night, "Clerks II" was screening in NYC for a group of critics and Siegel was in attendance. He took issue, only 40 minutes into the movie, with a scene that included a donkey and, well I will keep this family friendly, but use your imagination. To get a deeper insight into this read Kevin Smith's blog, My Boring Ass Life.

You also have to listen to the exchange between Siegel and Smith on the NYC morning radio show Opie and Anthony.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Thea Vision!

Four Generations

This past weekend we drove up to Hodgdon, Maine, to introduce Thea to the Quint family. On Friday, the Quints' came over for a BBQ which Thea slept through while being passed around to various family members and she didn't fuss once (which is more then I can say for myself and Chris).

One of the more beautiful sites was watching Chris's grandmother, Maxine, hold Thea. Maxine has Alzheimer's and is in the in the middle stages of the disease. She can feed herself when it is in front of her with some coaching but she doesn't know who anyone is. She can still socialize and talk, which is nice, and she still has a very good sense of humor. In fact, she told Chris that she didn't care for his driving and that he he was going to fast (a whopping 35 mph) when he took her back to the nursing home. He cut his speed down to 20 to appease her.

We wanted Maxine to see and hold Thea (with help from his folks) and it was amazing that she instinctively knew how to hold a baby. She automatically moved her hands to support her head and the other hand to support Thea's bottom. It was really special to watch Maxine with her great grandchild. We have a photo but it's not on our digital camera so we will try and post it later.

Thea also got to meet her other great-grandmother, Mona. Below is a photo of Mona, Chris, Thea and Chris's mom, Jill. It was fun to get a photo with four generations present. That's a baby book photo for sure. Hopefully I can get a photo with my grandmother in Phoenix so that we have a generational photo from each side of the family.

Baby Blue Eyes and Beards

I was talking with my sister, Jen, telling her how Thea will just stare off into space or at me. (My two sisters actually know the real story about the dentist office and Thea staring at me but it's too long to write and it involves me crying to I'm going to leave it at that.) Jen said, "when I was there she kept her eyes closed the whole time so I have a hard time picturing her with her eyes open". So here they are. I have to apologize that this picture isn't worth a thousand words. Trying to take a digital photo of a baby is hard. There is a slight delay (either from the camera or me) so it appears Thea is pissed but she actually wasn't. Her head bobs around too so it was hard to get her at just the right angle. Enjoy these blue eyes......we certainly do.

Also take a look at the good looking guy in the beard. Can you say renaissance man? :)

Finally--more postings

Sorry folks for the delay in posting on our blog. With all the visitors and just adjusting with life with baby--we haven't had time to really post anything. But now that we are used to the sleepless nights, the naps (both mom and Thea) and the round the clock feedings--you should see more posts and photos too.

The above photo is my favorite site that I see a lot around the Quint household. Daddy loves holding Thea in this position and she loves it too. It always puts her right to sleep and daddy has that magic touch. I'm not as lucky with her in this position. You see, when she is that close to me--she can sense and smell that her food source is only inches away and will start "rooting" or moving in the direction. So I leave this special snuggling to dad and daughter!

I'll get more photos of how big Thea is getting. She looks much different then her birth photos (but I guess you could say I also look different from the photos taken during her birth too) :-)

Another visitor come and gone

A Big thank you to Debi and Kendall for their most recent visit! We enjoyed having you although your trip seemed too short. Debi (Kim's sister) and Kendall (Kim's 6 year old niece) made the long trip from Colorado to Maine to visit Kim, Chris and meet Thea. Along with just hanging out and talking while Debi held Thea, we also managed to go to the beach, out to dinner and to see a lighthouse. Kendall hasn't seen the ocean so that was a first and a joy to watch! We went to dinner to Flatbread Pizza which any visitor to Maine will go there with us. It's almost a tradition now and it is so good. It's right on the water, it's all organic and it's wood fired. We also went to a light house which Kendall says was the highlight of her trip (after Thea, of course).
Debi helped out by making dinner for us and changing Thea on more then one occassion. Plus--she held Thea which freed us up to do things as well.

So thanks Debi and Kendall. It was great having you here!