Look at this face. Just LOOK at it.
In the background, we have a (very softly playing) mix of nice music, from Natalie Merchant and Fiona Apple to Cornershop, Gotye and Nick Drake, Vince Guaraldi, Dave Brubeck and the Wailin' Jennys. I can't imagine little Penelope not growing up with eclectic music taste, unless her mother gets too much up in her play list. Then she might get so much Gaga in her ears, there won't be room for aught else.
This is Penelope Malala Miller-Hyman, named for my troublemaking, wonderful, brilliant grandmother Pearl, and a sixteen-year-old girl who is possibly the bravest person in the world. She is sweet-tempered, friendly, loves to stare at people and things, and is one week and one day old as of this past four-forty in the afternoon. Her birthday is December 21st, as per the wishes of her auntie Sonali, who wished very strongly to share a birthday with our new baby, and had no problem delaying her birth by putting that wish out in the Universe several times on Facebook. (Love you, S!) :)
Penelope was delivered by C-section, after three excruciating days of attempted labor inducement. Birth, it turns out, is a somewhat inexact science, and no one could quite figure out whether Tina's water had broken slowly or was still intact, until it burst two days after she was admitted to Albany Medical Center. The staff at Albany Med were truly excellent, a term we don't use lightly here. They were good-natured, knowledgeable, big on explaining everything, and really big on making sure everything happened as quickly and cleanly as possible. Even the best staff, the best woman and the best little baby in the world can't always make the perfect birth happen. Sometimes God / stork / time / whatever ($5 to whoever gets the reference first) decides that a baby's route into this world will be circuitous.
Other than a small, rapidly-healing scar on Mommy's belly, though, we have nothing to complain about. Literally, nothing. Mom and her new husband, Stan, the baby's Opa (German for Grandpa), brought us furniture from downstate, helped Tina through a very trying time, babysat for a few days, and even photographed the whole venture. I have a job, the Albany community made sure we had spiffy clothes and great gear for little Penelope - and we're home, settled and just learning to love sleep deprivation.
We love you, Penelope, very very much. We hope you don't mind that we wrote this blog to tell the world all about your beginnings, and who knows? If it's successful enough, someday you may be able to type an entry yourself!
In the meantime, here's some more warm baby fuzziness for the folks at home. Enjoy, and thanks everyone for following along with our new adventure.
 |
| Hi, readers! I'm Penelope Malala Miller-Hyman. |
This is why people HAVE babies! She's tiny, she's healthy, she looks like a little cross between the two of us - in other words, she's beautiful.
As I type this (at 5am on a Sunday into Monday), that perfect little creature is several feet to my left. She was fussy tonight (because the landlady still needs to fix the heat in here), so we fed her, changed her and put her in the carseat, which she loves to sleep in, though we almost never put her in it to sleep. (NOTE: That's because infants sleeping in car seats is not generally recommended, which is why we're taking turns being awake and why we have her right next to us. Their little heads sometimes aren't able to stay up really well unless they're flat on their backs, which then could impact their breathing. So every breath is not only adorable, but a nice reassurance that we haven't harmed our new daughter.)
In the background, we have a (very softly playing) mix of nice music, from Natalie Merchant and Fiona Apple to Cornershop, Gotye and Nick Drake, Vince Guaraldi, Dave Brubeck and the Wailin' Jennys. I can't imagine little Penelope not growing up with eclectic music taste, unless her mother gets too much up in her play list. Then she might get so much Gaga in her ears, there won't be room for aught else.
This is Penelope Malala Miller-Hyman, named for my troublemaking, wonderful, brilliant grandmother Pearl, and a sixteen-year-old girl who is possibly the bravest person in the world. She is sweet-tempered, friendly, loves to stare at people and things, and is one week and one day old as of this past four-forty in the afternoon. Her birthday is December 21st, as per the wishes of her auntie Sonali, who wished very strongly to share a birthday with our new baby, and had no problem delaying her birth by putting that wish out in the Universe several times on Facebook. (Love you, S!) :)
Penelope was delivered by C-section, after three excruciating days of attempted labor inducement. Birth, it turns out, is a somewhat inexact science, and no one could quite figure out whether Tina's water had broken slowly or was still intact, until it burst two days after she was admitted to Albany Medical Center. The staff at Albany Med were truly excellent, a term we don't use lightly here. They were good-natured, knowledgeable, big on explaining everything, and really big on making sure everything happened as quickly and cleanly as possible. Even the best staff, the best woman and the best little baby in the world can't always make the perfect birth happen. Sometimes God / stork / time / whatever ($5 to whoever gets the reference first) decides that a baby's route into this world will be circuitous.
Other than a small, rapidly-healing scar on Mommy's belly, though, we have nothing to complain about. Literally, nothing. Mom and her new husband, Stan, the baby's Opa (German for Grandpa), brought us furniture from downstate, helped Tina through a very trying time, babysat for a few days, and even photographed the whole venture. I have a job, the Albany community made sure we had spiffy clothes and great gear for little Penelope - and we're home, settled and just learning to love sleep deprivation.
We love you, Penelope, very very much. We hope you don't mind that we wrote this blog to tell the world all about your beginnings, and who knows? If it's successful enough, someday you may be able to type an entry yourself!
In the meantime, here's some more warm baby fuzziness for the folks at home. Enjoy, and thanks everyone for following along with our new adventure.
<3
ReplyDeletePenelope is absolutely adorable!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy this time with her. The temptation is to look forward to all the firsts. Take my advice: Don't. Because doing so takes away from enjoying what she is doing right now. I made that mistake with my first, and all of a sudden, she is in high school, getting ready for college! I know in the midst of sleep deprivation, endless diapers, endless bottles and endless loads of laundry it seems hard to believe, but it really does happen that fast.
Mazel Tov, again, to all of you. And, if you ever come down to FL, or I venture up to Albany, I will be glad to provide my babysitting services to a second generation of Hymans! :)