Bigger

Two days ago, we used the last newborn diaper. Gwendolyn has moved up to size 1.

There is one thing I can do that reliably entertains/stops Gwen from crying. With my right hand, I hold on to her torso and support her bottom with my left. Then I move her in a clockwise circle while singing a circus song. The effect is like a little Ferris wheel.

The Ferris wheel doesn't run as long as it used to. When I first discovered the trick, I could keep it going nearly indefinitely. Gwendolyn's weight didn't seem to add that much to my empty arms. Now, I can only keep it going comfortably for a couple minutes.

It's amazing the difference that a couple pounds makes.

mwz

Parenting Tip

If it's been a day or more since you baby has pooped and you finally hear her go, don't wait until she's "finished". You will wind up cutting her out of here new Hawkeye onesie (fortunately, you got it at Wal-Mart in a three pack for only $10).

Don't let this happen to you.

mwz

Baptism

We finally got Gwen baptized. So now there is a little less pressure to keep her alive (but only an itsy, bitsy bit less).

One of my brothers and my sister came down, each of them bringing their three boys. It was crazy to have 9 kids (including Gwen) around. They played together amazingly well, so there wasn't any difficulty involved (other than trying to figure out where everyone was going to eat).

My parents and Arial's mom were there too. There were a lot of people in the house. Fortunately it was nice out, the kids played outside a lot.

Really not much else to say other than the Hawkeyes beat Michigan. The only flaw was that the game pulled my attention away from the people who weren't watching.

Finally, a shout out to C who was there but didn't get mentioned in this post.

mwz

Cute Noises

Over the last week, Gwendolyn has progressed to making vocal noises other than crying. She makes these cute little uh's.

They seem to be warning noises, her way of saying "I'm not happy with the situation but not mad enough to cry... yet". She probably isn't trying to imply the "yet" on the end but that is the practical application.

Ignore them at your peril.

mwz

Hokey Pokey

A while ago, Frances, Johann and I went to Fry-fest. It's a little celebration of Hayden Fry, long-time head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The reason we went was because they were going to try to break the world record for most people doing the Hokey Pokey together (the previous record was something like 4,000 people).

Arial was really pregnant at the time, so she asked me to go alone with the external kids.

I knew that parking was going to be bad because on my bus ride home, I listened to the bus driver chatter about how the park and ride shuttles were packed. So, when the traffic started to get thick, I pulled off and parked in a motel parking lot. Others seemed to be doing the same.

The walk was pretty long, somewhere between a half mile and a mile. Johann and Frances did really well with it.

When we got to the festival, we could see a large field where the band was playing and a lot of people were standing. There was a long, long line of people. I couldn't tell really where it was going but after a little search, we found the end and took our chances by standing at the end.

That was a wise decision because it lead to the entrance of the "free" Hokey Pokey section (there was a concert later that night and if you had tickets you could get right in *and* be in front of the stage). The line moved rather quickly which was nice because we had arrived around the time they said they would start.

At the gate, they gave each of us a wrist band which I believe was how they were counting us (there were also a couple people with clickers but I doubt that is very accurate).

After attaching the wrist bands to each child, we were funneled off to the side. I was later told that they had to expand the "free" section because there was a bigger turnout than they thought (or maybe they had higher expectations for ticket sales).

We found a place at the fence which was actually next to the gate. That was interesting for me since I got to see the procedures being used to count people. When someone would leave, they had to cut the band off their wrist, presumably so they wouldn't be counted. There were Guinness people walking around presumably making sure everything was correct.

The kids weren't as entertained. I held them up to see the cheerleaders but that was about all the entertainment they had. They did well though. I guess a new experience was enough for them.

Finally, the buses stopped dumping people out and stragglers were encouraged to hurry. I don't recall if anyone was actually locked out but they closed the gates.

Some people spoke, including Hayden Fry (but we couldn't see the stage since we were off to the side). They did a warm up round of a few verses and then we did it for real.

The music started, we danced. Frances and Johann had fun. They did great at putting various body parts in.

The song ended, a cheer went up, then the music started again. I found out later that to get the record, we had to dance for 5 minutes, which was two play-throughs. I thought it was a celebratory dancing.

So, we danced again. It was a little harder to keep Johann interested but he stuck with it.

Then it was finished. We had broken the record with 7,000+ people dancing. So, now the Frances, Johann and I are part of a world record.


After the event, we went to look for cotton candy because Frances had seen some. I couldn't find any. We saw a lady whose kids had some. I tried to ask her where she got it but she was busy arguing with her child and I couldn't get her attention.

On the way back to the car I alternated carrying them. Johann declared he had to go to the bathroom.

I had one child wanting a treat and another needing to relieve himself. I thought that the McDonald's near by could solve all of our problems.

Unfortunately, that McDonald's had been torn down.

So we hurried home, used the bathroom and had ice cream.

mwz

Johann Quotes

Johann recently made a couple statements that I wanted to save for posterity.

All of us but Frances were at a Doctors appointment for Gwen. We were getting ready to go when Johann said, "Don't leave me here, otherwise they will think I'm a tiny doctor".

I love the image of Johann being handed a tiny lab coat and taken to see patients.

-----------------------

Another time Johann showed his frustration with having a sibling by telling Arial, "I wish there was a parent for each kid". When she told me about that, I accused her of watching Sister Wives with him in the room. She denied it.

mwz

Bottle

Just so there is no confusion, our newest daughter will be referred to as Gwendolyn or Gwen.

A few days ago, Arial had a dentist appointment and left Gwen and I alone for the first time. She was kind enough to supply us with a small bottle of milk. Enough to tide Gwen over until Arial returned.

I waited to use the bottle until what I thought was the optimal time, less than halfway through the alone time but before Gwen became really upset.

When that time came, I warmed up the bottle by pouring hot water over it from the faucet (which works really well). The whole time telling Gwen that she would appreciate having the bottle and that this effort was totally worth it even though standing in one place like that made her cry.

With the bottle warm, we sat down. In an attempt to make her understand what we were doing, I tried to hold her like Arial does when she feeds her.

Then, I put the bottle in her mouth. She was crying and didn't really notice/care that something was in there. I squeezed the bottle to let some milk out, hoping that she would recognize the sensation of taste. She didn't.

After a bit, Gwen stopped screaming long enough to realize that something was up. A test suck on the bottle resulted in a tiny bit of crying. Probably because the world was not behaving as it should.

Soon after though, Gwen decided to give the bottle a real try. The whole time that she slowly ate, she gave this look that expressed how dubious she was about the situation.

Gwen fell asleep after nearly finishing all of what Arial had left for her. I finished watching the episode of Supernatural that was on and lay down on the couch to nap with her.

That's where Arial found us when she returned, happily sleeping after a triumphant experience with a bottle.

As an addendum to the story, the next day, I was trying to entertain/distract Gwen with a fish-rattle. She gave a tentative look and opened her mouth hoping it was another bottle. I think that was a disappointment for her.

mwz