Just one question. Who loves his new niece?
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Category Archives: Baby
A confluence of visitors
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Catherine got to meet a bunch of new people today!
First, she met Ken and Terri, out visiting the northeastern states and provinces from Mount Vernon, Ohio.
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Catherine and Terri
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Ken and Terri took us out to [Acapulcos](http://www.acapulcos.net/) for lunch, took a brief walk with us down to the ocean, and then went to meet my parents and my aunt and uncle John and Joan, who were in the area to take their granddaughter to see Charlotte’s Web at Beverly’s own [North Shore Music Theatre](http://www.nsmt.org/). We met for ice cream at [Cherry Farm Creamery](http://www.cherryfarmcreamery.com/). I think I’ve had more ice cream in the past week than I have in the past year. 🙂 Which is not an entirely bad thing… 😉
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The Woods
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Thanks to the Farnhams for taking a photo of the Woods. 🙂
Tonight, we just hung out at home with mom and dad, ordered some pizza, and adored the lovely Catherine. After they left, Becky and I got to spend some quality time with our daughter. 🙂
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Laptop and Stomachtop
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I love my daughter. Can you tell?
For pics of the good times, see [Farnhams and Woods](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/farnhams_woods/), [At Home With Catherine](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/home_catherine/), and [Grandma and Grandpa Wood](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/grandma_grandpa_wood/).
Grandma and Grandpa Wood
It’s been a busy week here in the Wood household!
My parents arrived here on Wednesday evening, so we have spent quite a bit of time with them, giving them plenty of opportunities to hold Catherine and get to know her. I’ve put up an album with [photos of Grandma and Grandpa Wood](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/grandma_grandpa_wood/), as well as an album with photos of a trip we took yesterday to [look at furniture](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/furniture_trip/) – rocking chairs in particular. They’re here through Sunday morning, and the three of us will miss having them around… but we will get to see them again in July for my cousin Johanna’s wedding.
On Tuesday, [Jenny](http://raingirl3179.livejournal.com/) came down to visit Catherine, and also brought dinner for us. We had pasta with a meat sauce recipe Jenny got from the Food Network… yum. 🙂 I also took a few [photos of her and Catherine](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/jenny_visit/).
On Monday, we drove out to Townsend to see Becky’s parents, and meet up with her aunt and uncle Kevin and Susie and their boys Hugo and Elliott. The boys did some frog hunting out at the pond… I think they ended up catching (and releasing) in the neighborhood of 3-5 frogs. Nice work, guys! They also got to meet their new cousin (first cousin once removed, that is). We took some [photos of the day](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/frog_hunting/), but that album requires a family login to view. If you need a family login, just register for an account in [our gallery](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/), and I will add you to the family group.
Today, we’re meeting up with [Amy](http://waltondammerung.prwdot.org/) and [Will](http://pulchersentio.prwdot.org/)’s parents for lunch. They had plans to be out in the northeast for a trip, and asked if they could stop by to visit Catherine. Of course! In the meantime, my parents are making the rounds, visiting my dad’s siblings in the area. We’ll be meeting up with them later this afternoon for ice cream.
Tomorrow is my last day before going back to work – alas! It has been a wonderful two weeks off. Some people might not consider it a vacation, but I definitely enjoyed getting to spend every minute of it with my family and friends. It will be hard to leave my girls at home and go back to work, but I think it will be good for everyone to get back into a routine.
First Father’s Day
I write this as two of the lovely women in my life are fast asleep. Becky is on the couch, Catherine is in her car carrier on the floor in our apartment, both enjoying the darkened room and air conditioning. We just got back from a trip to the [Old North Bridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_North_Bridge%2C_Concord%2C_Massachusetts) for a father’s day picnic with Ken, Dianne, and Corey. We ate in the picnic area at the North Bridge parking lot and then went for a walk across the bridge. The weather was very nice, although it was a bit hotter than I would have liked. After our walk, we got back in our cars and headed over to the [Kimball Farm](http://www.kimballfarm.com/) in Westford for some ice cream. Yum. Now we’re at home getting in some R&R. You can see our father’s day pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/fathers_day/).
Yesterday, [Jenn](http://www.misspresident.net/) and Matt came up to visit. We went to the [Atomic Cafe](http://www.atomicafe.com/) for lunch, and then drove up to [Gordon](http://www.gordon.edu/) to show Matt around (it was his first visit to the North Shore). It just happened to be the day that they were having the groundbreaking, *finally*, for the new science center. At my commencement in 2001, all of the science majors presented President Judd with bricks symbolizing our desire for a new science building to be built. Since I started at Gordon in 1997, I’ve seen three new dorms, a new cafeteria addition, a new music building, new arts building, new parking lot… Finally, almost 10 years after I started at Gordon, they’re getting started on a new science building. Sheesh. Anyway, after we finished our tour of Gordon, we went to [Lynch Park](http://www.bevrec.com/lynchpark.html) and had some ice cream at Dick and June’s, and then Jenn and Matt were on their way. You can see our pics from the day [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/jenn_matt_visit/).
Beautiful day for a bridge walk
Yesterday we had some gorgeous weather here in our city by the sea. Becky and I took the opportunity to go out for a walk over to the Beverly-Salem Bridge with Catherine.
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You can see all o’ the pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/bridge_walk/). Incidentally, you may notice that I have filed this album under ‘Events’ rather than ‘Baby’. I figure that most of the photos we take in the forseeable future are going to have something to do, at least tangentially, with Catherine, so I’m going to start placing them into the appropriate albums, either ‘Events’ or ‘Travels’, depending on the content and context.
Also, for those of you who have just started reading our blog since hearing the news of Catherine, you should know that we normally write posts about topics other than our baby. While Catherine’s birth has certainly been the main event of the past three weeks, and thus has had an overwhelming number of posts dedicated to it, don’t be surprised if you see a few posts here and there related to something other than Catherine. 😉 If, however, you are only interested in reading about Catherine, you can simply bookmark the ‘Baby’ blog archives. You can find this by looking at the left hand side of our site, clicking on ‘Blog Archives,’ and then clicking on ‘Baby’.
First Bath, First Concert!
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Yesterday, we gave Catherine her first bath at home! She seemed to like it pretty well. Since her umbilical stump hasn’t quite come off, we just gave her a sponge bath, but it was still fun to get her nice and clean.
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We also went out to Townsend for the Thursday night Military Band concert on the common. There were a ton of people there, many of them friends and fans of Catherine! We made the rounds with her and showed her off to all of the Townsend folks.
You can see all of yesterday’s pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_15/).
Blogging This
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Finally, today Catherine and I got to wear our matching shirts. 🙂
Becky had a dentist appointment at 10:30, so I came along with Catherine, and the two of us hung out in the waiting room while mom had her teeth cleaned. Catherine slept the whole time, which made it very easy for us. 🙂 We went to Panera for lunch, and then headed home for the rest of the afternoon. Catherine and I took a nap, which was really wonderful… there is nothing more peaceful and relaxing than a warm baby curled up sleeping on your chest.
You can see all of today’s pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_14/).
Fun With Catherine!
Yesterday, Catherine had her first ‘well baby’ doctor’s appointment. She passed her checkup with flying colors! We dressed her up in one of the [geeky onesies](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/craftiness/geeky_onesies/):
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We also took her on her first trip to Taco Bell! 🙂
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Well, actually it was just to the North Shore Mall food court, and only Mom and Dad got to eat there, but still… 😉
Today we took her on her first walk down to the ocean, in the sling that Becky bought for her earlier in the day:
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She’s a happy baby! And we’re happy too. She’s doing great and we’re having a great time getting to know her and taking care of her.
You can see all of the photos from yesterday [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_12/), and all of the photos from today [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_13/).
Second Day Photos
Just a few photos from [Catherine’s second day home](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_11/)! Ken and Dianne stopped by, so we got a few more pics with them. Catherine’s doing really well, and we are loving having her at home!
Things That Went Right
I’d like to thank everyone who offered up prayers for our little Catherine. I know that her recovery was not only due to having fantastic doctors and nurses, but also due to your constant prayer.
Several people have asked me about my labor and delivery experience. Without going into the super personal or gory details I thought I’d let you know how things went.
Catherine was born with a severe case of Meconium Aspiration. Despite the complications that arose due to her condition my labor experience was almost enjoyable. It would be easy to focus on all the things that didn’t go as planned that day, but I’d like to tell you about the good things.