Getting There..

Today I find myself much more pleased with this blog thing than I was around the same time yesterday.. I've been able to catch up on a bunch of things, with much more to come, obviously. And Mama D has got to get hopping on this, too.. But now I feel comfortable sending out the blog's address to family and friends, knowing that there is at least a few good minute's-worth of material to look at. To make this work, this needs to be a living site, one that inspires us to write and others to read!

Also, last night I uploaded about 40 new pictures, mostly falling into the "Iris Comes Home" category... But others as well, including pictures, at last, of the finished nursery and our extended family (pets). Who knows, maybe I'll go hog wild this weekend and spend the $25 needed to organize more than 3 sets on Flickr..?

So check everything out; only the very first post is 'old material' at this point..

naM

Catching Up..

Indeed it has been a while since I've had the chance to update this site. There have been noteworthy events on a daily basis, but have been too busy observing them (or working or sleeping) to actually note them.

Our beautiful Iris grows everyday. Stronger, bigger, more a part of this world and less an artifact. I'm looking over at a picture hung on the wall of my cube taken on her third day of life and it already looks like someone else... You can't see what I'm talking about, of course, but that is because I haven't been able to post any pictures of her since coming home from the hospital, which is already 5 weeks in the past..

Hundreds of photos, dozens of visitors, I know I know, we must catch up and maintain in order to retain.

I see below on the post editor that I can change the date/time, so I am excited at the possibility of going back and getting everything straight in chronological order. The reality is I haven't touched this site since Sunday night, October 9, in which I inserted photos of our moms and then intended to add commentary the next day at work but never did (my days at work are quite full lately, which has its pros and cons). So if I have my way, by the time you read this post I will have filled several more in before it and you'll think "what's all this crap he's saying?".

Enough; on to the task at hand. Today is not a busy day at work.

Long Long Long

Is there such a thing as destiny? Even a little bit? And if you knew your destiny, would you still follow it? Where would you get off the bus and start hitchhiking?

At barely 5 weeks old, few things are set for my beautiful daughter Iris. Perhaps the only thing I can say for sure at this point is: she will be a Beatles fan.

While visiting Michigan this summer, I was able to accomplish one of my nursery goals, which was to purchase a new classical guitar. The luminous timbre that only nylon strings can offer was too much to pass up!

So now, everyday, I try to get in a few tunes while Mama D feeds her, during 'wake time', or whenever. A few days after bringing Iris home, I remember getting up at 3:00 AM and exhausting my repetoire since she wasn't going to sleep anyway..

And in doing this, I am getting re-acquainted with two great things: Beatles music (as if I had forgotten) and the book of complete scores to Beatles music from which I can play the guitar parts (which I had definitely forgotten).

Specifically, we've been focusing on the second disk of the "The Beatles" (or the White Album for you laypeople out there). Its really a children's album, or perhaps that's just the way I'm trying to hear it.. This contrasts greatly with how I used to listen to it, which was primarily with fear. Yep, rarely would I listen to it alone, knowing that "Revolution 9" was always lurking aroud the corner.. And I still might not, and surely Iris won't hear "Number 9" until she's in high school..

But songs like "Mother Nature's Son", "Cry Baby Cry", and "Good Night" are beautifully refreshing; just the kind of thing I'd think a child would like to listen to. But the best of all is a surprise even to me: "Long Long Long". Heavy into his pursuit of trancendental meditation, George created this simple song that, when you listen to it, has way more possible meanings than you'd originally suspect.

To me it speaks of destiny and the temporary interruptions that can occur between ourselves and others along the cycle of life and death, such as the one that just ended a little over a month ago..

Besame Mucho!!

Umbilical Cord-less

Today Iris lost her umbilical cord! YAY!

The past few days, Mama D had been complaining of a foul odor. We thought it was the diaper hopper, we thought it was her clothes (Dreft is a P&G product, after all), we thought it was her 3 week old self that had yet to take a legitimate bath... And then we discovered it was the umbilical cord. What else is it, other than dead, rotting flesh? Infected! Yes, the more the cord started to separate from her belly, the more we could see under there, and the more we got concerned.

She hasn't been in the best mood lately, either. She's been having more of her mid-to-late evening fussy periods, sometimes lasting until midnight or so. Just earlier in the day I had been told a word I had never heard before from a friend at work: Mylecon. Why didn't we hear about that before? It not in any book, on any website, or even loosely discussed. But when you say that word everyone gives that 'oh yeah, we would have died without that stuff, but I'd forgot to mention it' shrug. I guess we're a part of that club, that secret society, now..

Getting back to the cord- so Mama D brought Iris in to see Dr. F this morning to have a look at this stinky, iritated hunk of black flesh protruding from her otherwise beautiful, glowing belly. First the nurse took a look, cleaned it, and dobbed the thing with alcohol. Less than 10 minutes later, Dr. F came in and opened her onesie to find the cord absent. Missing. Gone. Vaporized!

Rather, it was hiding in a fold of her clothes. It had fallen off, right then and there, and now it could be treated proper. A healthy dose of silver nitrate and her new chrome stump was ready to stave off infection. Mama D wrapped the decomposed lump in a napkin and brought it home- it joins the positive home-pregnancy test strip in our collection of Iris-related items that Iris will never want to see.

And the best part about losing her umbilical cord? Bath Time!!


I hope this silver nitrate stuff doesn't stain her clothes that bad, or her skin for that matter..

naM

Grandmas Come to Town

So both of Iris's biological grandmothers have made their first visits.. (More to come)

The First Doctor's Visit

Iris had her two-week appointment with her pediatrician, "Dr. F", today. Mama D and Iris were accompanied by my mom (Grandma Fitz)- she and Grandpa Fitz had just arrived from Michigan last night..

I'll let Mama D cover the details, but the highlights were: Iris has gained a whole half-pound since birth, up from 7-12 to 8-4, much to our delight! Her umbilical cord was still fairly attached- Dr. F predicted another 5-10 days until it would fall off.. Generally, Iris was in good humor and everyone at the doctor's office thought she was the cutest little bug- Dr. F could tell she was eating and sleeping well, so she gave her the 'all clear'..

Good night for now,

naM

The Rainbow Connection

Hello! I guess this is where it all begins. And where it ends is a pot of gold! But really - by choosing this blog title, we're not really going for that kind of rainbow legend. And we certainly are not going for the 'diversity' movement the rainbow has come to popularly symbolize in the last decade or two...

Our new daughter- the inspiration for creating this blog as a vehicle to provide e-interaction with family and friends as we begin this 'parenting' thing- would have been named 'Iris' anyway. But the fact that the Rainbow Goddess of Ancient Greek Myth, who served to deliver messages between the heavens and earth for such notables as Hera and Zeus, was also named Iris was something we found out after-the-fact. And we liked that! We like that all of the above meanings can be implied by something as simple and beautiful as a rainbow.

When is the last time you saw one? Have you ever seen two at once, with one towering above the other?

So enjoy reading- we'll do what we can to post stories and updates as they happen. And since Iris is only 10 days old today, the memories of all the events over the last few weeks, months, and year are probably something we could recount for everyone's benefit, since we live oh so far away..

-naM