I occasionally get complacent in communicating with friends and family. To battle this, and for giggles when I am old, I am blogging the goings on of my life. Share, comment, enjoy.
Sophia is now 3 weeks old and Mother and Daughter are doing well.
I have been home from work (holidays and a great boss/colleagues) and we are now setting into a routine, at least until the routine abruptly changes.
Start with noon as we have to start somewhere....
Noon-3:30pm - Nursing and naps by Sophia
3:30-6:00pm - Sophia and Chrissy nap time
6:00-8:00PM - Nursing and play time
8:00-10:00PM - Nursing and Sophia napping
10:00-12:00am - The Beast is awake and angry!
12:00-3:45am - Stu goes to sleep - Chrissy and Sophia eventually fall asleep
3:45-7:30am - Chrissy sleeps - Stu in charge of feeding and diapers...some 30 minute catnaps for father and daughter
7:30-10:00am - Chrissy and Sophia usually sleep - Stu watches sports highlights while drifting in and out of consciousness
10:00-Noon - Nursing and play time
Sophia doesn't go into "Beast Mode" as much as she did the first 2 weeks but it's still a common sight to see Chrissy circling the kitchen island with her baby in her bathrobe.
On December 6th at 2:38 am Sophia Frances Kehrig was born.
In the short time so far getting to know each other she has been extremely cute, maddening (the midnight witching hour...shudder), confusing (hungry, gassy, cold, all of the above?) and an absolute joy for her two happy parents.
Ever since it was confirmed that Chrissy was pregnant we have been waiting to meet her. So, I don't feel too bad documenting the pregnancy through pictures before we get to what you really want - baby pictures.
Our first glimpse of her was in ultrasound and 3D imaging form at 11 Weeks.
Christina's water broke at 7:11am on December 6th and she calmly informed me "it's go time". We headed to the hospital and she was hooked up to a monitoring machine.
The baby's heart rate was strong but the contractions were extremely small. We were told to head home, relax and then come back at 6PM.
Once we were back at the hospital they hooked Chrissy up to the same machine and then gave her a stimulant to induce labor. It took an almost immediate effect and it was truly "go time".
After a few hours of contractions, a complication and some excellent nursing and Doctor attention we found ourselves to be parents...and it was a girl.
Throughout the pregnancy we declined learning the gender of the baby. As it would be a surprise we deliberating for weeks on names. Well, that isn't exactly true - we deliberated on boy names. We always knew that if it was to be a girl, she would be Sophia, after her Grandmother. We also knew that the middle name would be in homage to both of our fathers Frank and Francis. Hence, Sophia Frances Kehrig.
And here she is!
60 Minutes Old
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As the baby was cesarean born we stayed in the hospital for a couple of days so Christina could be monitored. I stayed with her during that time to make sure her and Sophia were well taken care of. I needn't have worried. The staff at Sturgeon Hospital were amazing! They nurses were extremely kind, personable and professional. I can't say enough how thankful we were for the service they provided. Truly amazing.
We tried to keep visitors at the hospital to a minimum and were a little silent in sharing the news right away with people as we wanted little Sophia to ourselves and wanted to ensure Chrissy got time to rest and heal.
Exceptions were of course granted for family. The dark Kehrig hair and eyes are her most striking features and a bit of a fascination for the fair haired family of Chrissy. It has been the first thing commented on by her family almost every time. Monica, my sister and 'on-call' professional photographer visited us in hospital and took a couple of cutie pie shots for us.
Her Father's grimace
After our 'luxury stay' at the hospital (the nurses were so good it felt like that) it was time to go home.
I am not big on tradition but one of the traditions I wanted to maintain was based on a receiving blanket. Every one of my siblings and many of my nieces and nephews have been brought home from the hospital wrapped in the same receiving blanket. With care we wrapped Sophia up in her car seat and left the hospital.
First stop when we got home was the Christmas tree with the family blanket. Just look at the joy she possesses to be home :)
The first night at home was a bit of a sleepless gong show,. This was followed in the next few days with jaundice and fussiness. However, everyday continues to get better and we are enjoying our feed, stare at baby, nap, repeat schedule.
It would be remiss if I didn't stop during this post and proclaim just how impressed I have been by my lovely wife through the whole pregnancy, delivery and early motherhood stages. She has been brave and strong beyond words. Sometimes I just have to stop and marvel at how fantastic she is and how lucky I am to have her in my life. I love her more everyday.
For the rest of my life I will strive to be as good of a father to Sophia as Chrissy is a mother. If I can achieve that I think she will be alright.
In September, I was fortunate enough to travel to California with work to do a best practise review and educational visit with San Francisco's famous Chinatown and other BRZ / BID / CBD's in the area.
With Chrissy at the end of her 2nd trimester it was still safe for her to travel so she accompanied me on the trip as our 'last honeymoon'.
The work meetings were excellent and I got a lot of benefit from them all but as the 'last honeymoon' this blog will feature more of the fun stuff.
San Francisco
Chrissy and I were just in San Francisco a couple of years ago and had hit a lot of the tourist hotspots. This time we went back and visited a couple favorites and tried to see what we missed last time.
As the reason for the trip was Chinatown, we spent quite a bit of our time touring through that area and in the various shops and restaurants.
Golden Gate Park is freaking massive. We were lucky enough to have fantastic weather and walked / waddled around as much as Chrissy could take.
Ocean Beach is a 3.5-mile stretch of white beach on the westernmost border of San Francisco.
It was a perfect day and we walked nearly the full length enjoying a respite from the big city.
We were surprised to see people fishing along the shore in between sunbathers and dog walkers.
After casting out their line, the fisherman tether their rods into posts along the surf. It just so happened that while we were walking by, one of the rods took a deep bend indicating a bite.
Tons of kids (and myself) flocked to see the fish come out of the water, I still get excited when someone lands a fish....especially a nice sized fish.
Oakland
Work took me to Oakland to visit their Chinatown as a comparable to the world renowned San Francisco Chinatown. We learned many valuable lessons on zoning, land economics, community acceptance and migration patterns but really one of the big take aways is just character. If it feels like Chinatown it`s Chinatown...
Oakland's Chinatown while not bad, is a little underwhelming. Probably the most prevalent visual aspect of the area is the graffiti. It is everywhere.
After the tour of Chinatown I ventured out to explore a bit more of Oakland of which I had no real knowledge of. I just started wandering around to see what I could see. About 8.5km`s later I ended up seeing quite a bit.
Lake Merritt, a large tidal lagoon and the United States first official wildlife refuge, is situated in the middle of Oakland and was a pleasant surprise that I spent a long time walking around.
Eventually I found myself passing by Everett and Jones. They were actually cooking their ribs right on the sidewalk. Going in for a sample was the easiest decision I ever made.
The ribs were fantastic and made all the better by washing it down with some Saucy Sistah!
Getting fatigued I headed back towards the BART station and San Francisco when I came across The Warehouse Bar and Grill. It looked both safe enough and divey enough for me to take a load off in. I walked into what appeared to be a cop bar and asked for a Pabst Blue Ribbon and was elated when I got a super-can for $3 instead of the exaggerated prices in San Fran.
My kind of bar and a good summation of Oakland. A little rough around the edges but many pleasant surprises.
Sausalito
When we were last in San Francisco, Chrissy made it apparent that she really wanted to goto Sausalito....and we didn`t. It was a sore point for Chrissy and I have been paying for it since. So, when we went back to the area Sausalito was a must do.
I was up for it this time, mostly just for the boat ride.
Alcatraz from the boat
Sausalito was alright. Obviously it is a nice looking place offering cool views back to San Francisco, but there is nothing really to do other than shop or eat. You can do very well doing those two things in Sausalito but it wasn`t really what I was looking to do.
That being said I am glad we visited as I am less in the doghouse from the last trip and Chrissy's curiosity has been satisfied.
