Brandan's Thoughts » Baby

Mary Gets Baptized

Brandan — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:32:07 +0000

Warning: this post could be considered PG.

Mary got baptized yesterday. We got her up, and due to the hot weather (It has been 90+ for the past few days, and us without air conditioning) we decided to let her laze around in the morning in her robe. She played and smiled for a few minutes and we were able to get that on video [MP4, MPG, AVI]. I would have liked to see her get baptized in her robe (after all Jesus wore a robe), but mommy got her all dolled up in her baptism outfit before we left. The dress that she is wearing is the same dress that Sherri was baptized in 30 (or so) years ago.

She was very good during the whole thing. Everyone we spoke to, after the ceremony, said so. I told them that it was because she was very advanced for her age. She is already screaming at a kindergarden level. We got in to the church and she was in her car carrier so we decided to let her sleep until shortly before her part in the ceremony. I got her out of the car carrier while the congregation was singing “Amazing Grace” just in case she decided to sing along as well. She fell back to sleep in my arms during the Offeratory and woke just before we were called up. She seemed to be amazed at the whole congregation and was quiet until very close to the end where she seemd like she was going to fuss, so I popped the binky in her mouth and she was content. Of course we sat back down and right after the congregation finished singing during a long moment of silence she decided to put poopy in her diaper, very noisily, and drawn out. If you remember the scene in Autsin Powers where he got out of cryogenic suspension and then peed for two minutes straight stopping and restarting, then it was kind of like that. With poop noises. So I left the service to change her diaper and we made our grand exit. I’m sure that the choir was laughing when I left. Of course I couldn’t tell because I was also laughing, silently, to myself.

As usual, having her out and holding her after the ceremony meant that I got to talk to tons more people than I normally would although they spent the whole time staring at her. I guess I know what a Hooters waitress feels like now. I wanted to say, “Hey, my eyes are up here!” Anyhow, we went out to brunch at the Broadmoor to celebrate and then came home to relax ourselves.

Update: I have added multiple versions of the video (AVI, WMV, MP4, MPG). One of them should work for you. The WMV is the default as most of the people reading this will be running windows. I also updated again to fix the MP4 link that I mistyped.

Why haven’t I posted

Brandan — Sat, 27 May 2006 02:46:58 +0000

I’m just a little busy. I will post more tomorrow.

Progress Report

Brandan — Mon, 15 May 2006 14:45:55 +0000

Alright everyone! I know, I haven’t posted in, like…, forever. We have been very busy listening to the sweet, sweet music of our little Mary screaming all night long. In fact, Saturday night was the first night that she slept through the night. Mom has cut dairy products and green leafy, gas producing, vegetables out of her diet. I don’t know how she does it. If a doctor told me I had to cut steak out of my diet I would be, like, “yeah, whatever! I’ll do what I want!”. So three cheers for Sherri, “Hip, hip hooray!, and so on”.

Personally, I think that Mary slept through the night on Saturday night for one or two of the reasons below:

the whole green leafy vegetable thing above,
the dairy stuff discussed above,
the baby, baby, please go to sleep CD that Grandma Marasco sent her (we received Saturday afternoon),
to fool us into letting our guard down,
as a Mother’s Day present for Sherri.

You choose. So I am trying to get some pictures out of my camera to put on the web but time keeps passing me by. Time is actually lapping me and I can’t keep up. I am going to take Thursday off, Nana and Poppa Turner are leaving to go home, so I can be home to be with Sherri and she won’t lose all her help around the house right away. Grandma and Grandpa Marasco are going to be here on Saturday and I have a half day Friday since we (SI International, my company for those of you way out of touch) are moving to our new building over the weekend. Then Aunt Corinne will be out here next Saturday, leaving on Tuesday. This gives Sherri another two weeks or so until she is on her own. Then her brother, sister and their two daughters will be coming to visit in late June.

Having the help around the house is very nice, and everyone has been great. For anyone who has sent a gift, Great Aunt Kat and Great Uncle Jim, thank you. We are going to get out thank you cards soon. We tried to put Mary in charge of them so that she could feel like she was contributing but she just tried to eat the crayon.

Thank you all.

First Night Home

Brandan — Tue, 09 May 2006 14:35:06 +0000

Mary didn’t want to sleep last night. Perhaps it was the new house, maybe she slept too much during the day or it was too much excitement coming home from the hospital. Or it could have all been gas. Who knows? I doubt even little Mary does.

We, foolishly, let her sleep until 2000 (part of the reason is because the time went by so fast that we didn’t realize how late it was). We, and by we I mean mostly Sherri, fed her and got her ready for bed then we spent the next 3 hours trying to get her to sleep. We set up a pack ‘n play in our room that also doubles as a bassinet so that we could keep her close but every time we laid her down she started to cry. We tried all sorts of things. A fresh diaper, bouncing around the room a little, leg kicks, singing, pacifiers, bottles, breast milk, etc. But she wasn’t having any of it. She was crying at a pitch audible only to dogs (and mommies and daddies, well, and probably a great part of our neighborhood).

Finally, I collapsed into a rocking chair with her and rocked her and she quieted down and would take a pacifier. At around midnight we laid her down in the pack ‘n play and she slept for a bit but I woke up at 0120 when Sherri was laying down (painfully due to the C-section) for the who-knows-how-many’th time and the next time she cried I got up with her and changed her diaper and rocked her for about an hour. Sherri took her for the rest of the night and rocked with her so that she slept until I woke up and got ready for work around 0600.

Thank goodness Sherri’s parents are here because Nana Turner was able to take her this morning so that Sherri could pump and rest for a few hours. Sherri says that she slept with her during that 0200 – 0600 time period but that couldn’t have been too restful. It is a good thing that I had my “Cool Daddy” t-shirt, that Corinne got me, on or I may not have been able to handle it.

We hope that she sleeps tonight or that Abu-Ghraib stuff will look like nothing in comparison when Mary is done with us.

Comic Writers Use My Life as a Template

Brandan — Mon, 08 May 2006 16:45:21 +0000

In Saturday’s Rhymes with Orange yet another comic was in reference to babies.

Sherri Coming Home

Brandan — Mon, 08 May 2006 14:15:12 +0000

Sherri is due to come home today. Hopefully she will be released after 1PM sometime. I am getting pictures up as fast as possible. Thank you all for the well wishes, phone calls, and emails. If I haven’t returned a call or email you will have to forgive me, we are concentrating on getting “the girls” home safe and sound.

Our new baby

Brandan — Sat, 06 May 2006 00:07:34 +0000

We had our baby last night. Her name is Mary Elizabeth and she weighs 6.2 pounds and is 18-1/2″ long. I have posted some pictures online. Sherri is still at the hospital:

Penrose Community Hospital

3205 N. Academy Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80917

Yet Another

Brandan — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 17:58:59 +0000

This one is from Baby Blues.

Baby Comic

Brandan — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 13:06:34 +0000

Today’s F Minus comic.

Baby Announcement List

Brandan — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:41:06 +0000

I have added an announcement list on TheLloyds.Net homepage. This announcement list will only be used for news about the “New Baby”. Two weeks after the baby is born I will change the list to a different address for people that will still be interested in information from two new parents about their kid. This way you can safely sign up for the announcement list and not worry about unsubscribing since I will delete the list and all subscribers.

Once we are sure what “little gift” we are getting the new list will be set up and personalized for the baby. Once you add yourself to this list I’m afraid you are stuck on it until you remove your address or until the baby turns 48.

So sign up now!