Exciting Halloween.

Congratulations to Brother- and Sister-in-Law on the birth of their new daughter. A real beautiful baby girl.

Number One now has cousins 12 days older and 8 days younger than her. It's an October Miracle!

So cool.

She's even more punk than me even.

A couple of photos.

We thought we were through with the phototherapy, but Dr. said to do a couple more hours after her bili test came back a tad higher than on Saturday. Here's she is as Baby One from Outer Space. It looks like it's uncomfortable, but she slept through it like there was nothing going on.

Papa says black is the new pink.

3 a.m.

It's my shift. I usually get the time after the 1 a.m. feeding, when for some reason, she refuses to go back to sleep. After the next feeding, she'll probably sleep the rest of the morning. Unfortunately, that's about the time Mom and I wake up.

It's been a fairly eventful day. She's past her jaundice, so no more light therapy - I know, you didn't even know she had light therapy, but it's gone now.

She had her first bath, which was fairly uneventful, shockingly.

And then at the last changing, she officially made the switch from brown to green. V. exciting. I'm hoping it will mean a change in habits, too, because for the last half-day she has decided it was fun to make 4 dirty nappies in a row with a little in each rather than save it up.

Fine by me, except a) she hates having her nappy changed, and b) it uses up a lot of nappies.

I've tried a couple of times to use cloth nappies, and she's wearing one right now. She doesn't seem phased by it.

Right now, they're definitely more bulky than the Pampers, but I'm pretty sure that bothers me more than it does her.

Why cloth, you may ask? Well, I'm trying to be more environmentally friendly, which hopefully will be a part this blog. What can I do to use more products made in the United States in a more environmentally responsible way - that kind of thing.

She's back to sleep now, so I'm hoping to take advantage.

New job.

I started my new job this week.

Number One was born on Tuesday, October 23, 2007, at 4:48 p.m. Mom and baby did awesome. She's a beautiful little girl, which is obvious from the pic.

Mom's water broke at about 3 a.m., but she wasn't quite ready to commit so we went back to sleep for a couple of hours. When things had not gone back to normal by the time we woke up again at 7 a.m., she called the doctor who told us to head to the hospital. We arrived at about 9 a.m., and because the doctor didn't want labor to last too long with Mom's water broke, Mom was started on pitocin.

Our nurse was Iranian, and joked that she was giving Mom the "Persian Pitocin," which apparently is particularly potent.

Then Labor really started. If you haven't seen it before, it's painful to watch. Luckily, Mom was already 5 cm dilated, so she didn't have far to go.

Number One was born a few hours later.

Another day at the office. Right.

Since then, I've been promoted to chief nappy changer. It was decided Mom giveth; Baby maketh, and Papa taketh away.

Thus far, I haven't gained any particularly worldly or witty wisdom, but I'll keep you posted.

Final Countdown.

Until last Monday, we were perfectly content to bide our time and wait for Number One to arrive as a Scorpio. Sure, we hoped she might come a few days early and be born on Halloween, but we (well, at least I) weren't expecting her to arrive in Week 37 (or 38 - is the due date the last day or first day of Week 40?).

Anyway, since Dr. told us she could come literally at any moment, the pressure's been on. Every time the phone rings, I expect it to be SuperWife calling for her ride to the hospital. So far, though, no dice.

Maybe a haiku will help:

Come out Number One
Everyone wants to meet you
And womb rent is due

By the Numbers.

For those of you interested in stats. At the last Dr. appointment 2 weeks ago, SuperWife was at 1 cm and 50% effaced.

On Monday this week, she was at 3 cm and 80% effaced. Dr. said Number One could come at anytime, and she might see us at the hospital before the next appointment.

Here it is 5 days later and no baby.

Any bets on the over/under?

New Baby!

Congratulations to Sister and her husband who had a bouncing baby boy yesterday. By all accounts everyone is doing great. Now I'm an Uncle!

With Number One on the way, and the In-Laws expecting at the same time, it's going to be a birth-filled few weeks.

Baby Einstein follow-up.

I've got to do better about watching less of the Idiot Box, myself, because when Number One arrives, off it goes. Here's a story this week from the Washington Post apropo of last week's post, To wit:

"Some child development experts say it is highly unlikely babies know what to make of commercial baby videos, which they describe as a noisy, rapid-fire melange of images, sounds and words in multiple languages that seem to have little connection to one another but may be attention-grabbing.

"Babies can barely recognize objects at all," Zimmerman said. A picture of a horse and a bouncing cow to illustrate the concept "farm" -- along with the word "farm," which they cannot read, is likely to be baffling, he said.

"A 1-year-old is not going to learn to read: They don't have the cognitive architecture."

Lifetime Ban.

In light of the recent recall of Baby Einstein blocks, I'm instituting a lifetime ban on all Baby Einstein products for Number One.

You may question whether such a ban is necessary. I offer the following:

1. The recall.

2. Kids who watch Baby Einstein videos are dumber than those who do not. And in response, the Disney company attacks American Idol.

3. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids watch zero hours of t.v. before age two - which probably makes it hard to sell DVDs to kids who shouldn't be watching them.

4. Disney is Satan. After all, God hasn't lifted his ban of Disney, why should I?