Giggles

Linden is always a lot of fun to be around, but she's been extra fun ever since she started to giggle.

She's been flashing us smiles for months and laughing from time to time, but it's been only in the past month that we've been able to really get her going.

Things that make Linden crack up include mom rocking her (LB's) behind from side to side while calling her a wiggle worm, me giving her a strawberry on her belly (is that what they call it? I need someone to catch me up to speed on dad terms), and looking at herself in the mirror. It's a great parenting reward that keeps you coming back despite the difficult times.

Linden went through spell of puking most days. Each time it came with little warning though sometimes you could sense it was coming, like an old man sensing an upcoming storm through his bum knee. One time while feeding Linden I stopped to burp her because she'd paused. As I stood up, I sensed she was going to spew up the entire bottle. In that same moment, a calm came over me as I turned her face toward my neck and shoulder, playing the bodyguard for whatever was behind me on our floor.
As the warm, sticky formula slowly soaked through to my skin I felt I'd reached a milestone as a parent. One that, previous to Linden's arrival, I thought may never come. Let me explain.

I have a distinct memory of my brother-in-law Jesse getting showered in a gush of baby spew a few years ago. The amount of liquid that coated Jesse and the floor was at first shocking (how does so much come out from something so small?!) and then repulsive. I thought, then and there, I just may not be cut out for parenting.

So I peeled off my shirt and began the (now routine) Murphy's oil floor cleaning and felt a sense of pride.

All In

Photo taken by Miss Laura

Laine and I have been very busy the past few weeks. Work has thrown some curveballs at us both but we've been able to lean on one another to make sure that Linden is well taken care of and that we're taking care of one another. I'm in awe of single parents. I have not idea how you can do this without a partner who has your back.

I posted a photo of me and Linden at an Illinois Wesleyan basketball game and the Titans kept winning, advancing all the way to the Division III Final Four. We didn't make the trip to Salem, VA to be there in person but we did watch the game as a family at the Hansen Student Center.

The week leading up to the Final Four was also spring break for IWU and for the school our day care provider's kids attend. So Miss Dee and her family took a road trip to Florida for the week and Linden got to visit some of the wonderful people who'd looked after her before she was ready for daycare. She got to spend time with Erika, Lexy and Laura and they were all so happy to see her and surprised at how big she is and all her new tricks.

Linden is now sitting up with medium assistance but she's really starting to master her hands and feet. She still looks at her hands in awe from time to time, but instead of being awed by their existance and proximity, she's now awed by their potential. She once shook them wildly but now she's much more deliberate with her movements. She brings pacifiers to her mouth, is selective in what she grabs, and even passes toys from one hand to the other. Just today I noticed her using her feet (while she was sitting) to bring a toy to her hands.

These past two weeks have been exceptionally busy for me at work. Illinois Wesleyan held it's second (annual?) "All in for Wesleyan" day on campus. The first All in for Wesleyan was last July 17 and was a very successful one-day fundraising campaign, promoted entirely over email and social media. We raised over $480,000 from nearly 2,500 donors. This year we held the day on April 2 but it was once again a surprise event. Since class was in session this year, we had an opportunity to involve the campus community. We kicked off the day at midnight with over 500 students at our athletic center and went all day. The numbers are still being tallied but it appears to be a huge success. Likely about the same number of donors as last year and over $700,000 raised. I've been preparing for this day for weeks, so I'm glad it went so well. And now I'm looking forward to spending more time with LB and relaxing over the weekend.

Kickoff event for All in for Wesl

Friday Firsts

Friday night had a bit of a green theme, and not just because of St. Patrick's day.

Linden had her very first bite of food -- avocado. She was a bit uncertain at first, as you can see, but was happily gumming it down in no time. This was just an exploratory mission to see how she'd react and it seemed to go quite well.

Friday evening, the Illinois Wesleyan Titans (colors: green/white) played Calvin College in the Sweet Sixteen. I had told Head Coach Ron Rose that if his team played well enough during the regular season to be able to host some playoff games, Linden might be able to make it to a Titan game this season. He held up his end of the bargain, so we held up ours.

It was a gorgeous night, so we packed Linden up and walked over to the Shirk Center to watch the Titans beat Calvin and advance to the Elite Eight. She slept through part of the game but enjoyed meeting new people and being part of the action.

Saturday was equally busy with Linden attending her first non-family birthday party. Our friends' youngest daughter was turning one and though they had not yet met one another, Linden somehow made the invite list.

She met our friends Chip and Val Saturday evening and stayed home with Laine while me and our friends ran to Illinois Wesleyan to catch the second half of the Illinois Wesleyan v. Dickinson game. IWU pulled out the win to secure a spot in the NCAA Division III Final Four in Salem, VA. We'll have to cheer on the Titans from home next weekend. :-)

"Rawr" is "I love you" in dinosaur

Linden's oldest and wisest cousin Chapin turned 5 on Sunday. Chapin's birthday just happens to coincide with Linden's half birthday. I'm sure there's some term for that. Maybe (Half) Birthday Buddies. I don't know. But it's a convenient way to remember your daughter's half birthday and nephew's birthday for sure.

Family dino-tees.

So Chapin turned 5 and had an amazing dino-themed party and enough kids and parents that I'm pretty sure they had to enforce a 1-in1-out policy at some point. Laine and I took in the chaos that is a 5-year-old's birthday and (at least I) became nervous. But Linden missed it all. She cashed out 10 minutes after the first guests arrived and woke up 10 minutes after the last guests left.

While she missed some serious hide-and-seek and an A+ dino-earthquake-cake, she took full advantage of the well-deserved attention from all of her aunts / uncles / cousins.

Gibson saying, "Hold It! Hold It!"

It's only now that we're realizing how much we've missed sharing our Little Bean with family and friends. She's such a social gal and loves being around groups of people, so it's just been a blast to introduce her to everyone.

Her cousins Chapin and Gibson love "Baby Linden" and are both so gentle and excited to see her. We're looking forward to the days to come when she'll learn to play, race, and sing with them.

p.s. Chapin's birthday was dinosaur-themed (as you can tell by looking at the kids' shirts). What wasn't pictured was Jesse's shirt that read "Rawr is 'I love you' in dinosaur," which is clearly ridiculous and the inspiration for this post's title.

One Tough Cookie

When Linden was cleared to start meeting other people and kids outside our quarantined house, she was basically being cleared to get sick. Well, that didn't take long.

After a couple days at daycare and some fun visits to meet family and friends who had waited patiently for nearly 6 months to meet our little girl, Linden awoke Monday morning sounding raspy and congested with a low grade fever.

She is one tough cookie though. Despite looking quite uncomfortable, she can still manage the occasional smile. She certainly does not get that trait from me. I handle pain better than discomfort and am a total wuss when I'm sick. Must get her toughness from her mom.

Shout Outs

Keeping Linden healthy these past few months has been our top priority. And since we've both had to return to work, we've relied a lot on help from people around us. Though it may embarrass them all, I'm going to publicly thank them all here (in chronological order).

Aunt Alison: Though she lives a 4 hour flight away, my sister Alison was able to watch Linden for a few days in December and January when she was home during her Winter Break from Berkeley. She took the lion's share of a week with Linden when we were still trying to figure out what a "schedule" looked like for a baby. She must have had some magical power because whenever she was in the room, Linden wouldn't take her eyes off of her Aunt Alison.

Grandma Miller: An elementary school art teacher who works 60 hour weeks can only find time to slow down for one thing -- her granddaughter. Even then, she doesn't slow down as much as she just slides into neutral. Linden loves her Grandma Miller because she understands that when she (Linden) is upset, she likely wants to either look at an arched doorway, pictures on the wall, or go up and down. Grandma Miller makes sure to come and visit on weekends and when she has a day off of school (like when she braved a snowstorm and a 2.5 hour drive down to Bloomington).

Miss Erika: A 2012 graduate from the Illinois Wesleyan School of Nursing and ICU Nurse at Methodist Hospital in Peoria, Miss Erika is perhaps the most over-qualified friend Linden has who hangs out with her regularly. She watched Linden one day per week for the early part of 2014 and was often greeted with spit-up and the occasional dirty diaper.

Miss Jen: Before Linden even came home from the NICU, our neighbor Jen came by the house to let us know that she would love to watch Linden for us, if ever there were a need. It was such a heartfelt offer and we were happy to take her up on it. Linden and Jen spent most Thursdays together in January and February. Linden loved reading stories with Miss Jen and I'm sure she'll be glad to know that, once she gets outside, she can visit her friend who lives just down the street.


Miss Laura (not pictured): A senior in Illinois Wesleyan's School of Nursing, Miss Laura stepped in at just the right time. She already had an interest in neonatology when she heard Linden's story and expressed an interest in watching her if ever there was a need. In February, there was a need and we were excited to introduce her to Linden. Laura happened to have completed an internship in a NICU in Indianapolis over the summer and is currently interning at the NICU in Peoria. Though Linden was off of her monitor, caffeine, and weighed nearly 13 pounds when she met her, Laura still seemed excited to watch a baby who had a NICU stay on her resume.

Grandma Twanow: We certainly couldn't have kept Linden at home as long as we did without help from Laine's mom and Linden's Grandma. Grandma Twanow spent approximately two days per week snuggling her granddaughter and Linden spent the same amount of time catching up on sleep while wearing a specific shade of pink (said shade of pink draped on Linden in photo). We appreciated catching up on sleep as well, since Grandma Twanow often stayed up with Linden for the last bottle of the night.

Laine and I appreciate all of your help. Linden was so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people her first few months at home.

Out and About

It has been nearly a month since my last post, so there's a lot to catch up on!
Linden's last weigh-in was over two weeks ago and she was 12.4 lbs at that time. Our best guess is that she's now about a pound heavier.

Even more important, we are now in mid-February, which is when we'd initially been told by our neonatologists in the NICU was the time when we could begin taking Linden into public. Old habits die hard and as we approached mid-February, we began to wonder if we could really begin to let down our guard.

We had a chance to check in with our favorite neonatologist and he assured us that, though Linden would likely get sick soon after meeting groups of people and littles, she was healthy and strong enough to handle it. In other words, our daughter could finally be removed from our home quarantine and treated like a full-term baby.

This was good timing because my cousin Liz was going to be in town from Portland for her wedding shower, so we were eager for Linden to meet some more Millers.

Aunt Liz and Aunt Kristin with Linden & Laine

Lucky for us, Linden loves people, so she had a great time meeting and talking to her aunts.

Even though we'd been given the green light, we decided to use the last two weeks of February to slowly introduce Linden to the world we'd been keeping at sanatized-arms length.

So, instead of sending her straight to daycare at the first chance we had (and by daycare, I mean the house across the street with a few other kids), we made arrangements to keep her at home.

The first couple days we had an Illinois Wesleyan senior nursing major (Laura) come watch her. We are lucky to live next door to a phenomenal nursing program and were glad to be able to have Laura watch Linden because she has an interest in neonatology and currently has an internship with the Peoria NICU. What a great fit for both Laura and Linden. Laura has followed this blog and knew Linden had spent time in the NICU, so I felt like we were pulling a bait and switch on her when she showed up to see such a happy, healthy, chunky, non-monitor-wearing baby. Laura didn't seem to mind and Linden loves Miss Laura.

On Thursday (2/20/14), Laine stayed home with Linden and took her to work in the afternoon. Linden then visited my office on Friday and she made a nice first-impression at both places of employment, though she fell asleep halfway through her visit at Illinois Wesleyan. But it was Friday, so I think everyone understood the need.

Part of the reason she may have been so tired was that she also spent an hour on Friday visiting her daycare. There were a few kids who were really excited to meet her. As soon as Laine walked in the door, a two-year-old girl tottled over saying "baby, baby...so cute...out...out" pleading for Laine to take her out of the carrier.

That afternoon, we hosted our first play date with my coworkers Nancy and Jason and their 9-month-old Arianna. The girls were intrigued by one another and soon found a common interest in primary colors and soft toys.

After a heavy Friday night sleep, we kept the social tour moving on Saturday with our first visit with Linden's cousins, Chapin and Gibson. The boys had just returned from an "awesome" trip to Disneyland. Though they had met through video chat, this was their first in-person meeting. But they acted like old friends.

Chapin immediately invited Linden to join him in playing a game on the iPad. After assessing her abilities, he encouraged her to maybe just watch him play instead.

Gibson was taking a nap when we arrived but he was very excited to meet "Baby Linden."  At one point, Gibson stood over Linden who was laying on a blanket on the floor and invited her to follow him over to the racetrack he'd made out of painter's tape to play cars. He was only slightly disappointed when he was told that she could not yet walk.

They'll love to playing with Linden when she's ready and she'll love watching them play in the meantime.