The Number Field

We plan to take a trip to Babies-Я-Us on Tuesday, at which we'll start registering for baby things. With any luck, we won't have to make too many additional trips. We've educated ourselves to a certain extent, but don't have too many strong opinions on the things we do and don't want. We're taking Jenny's sister-in-law Karina along; they have two small boys ( featured previously ), and we're counting on her help to navigate the maze of baby items.

Please leave a comment with your suggestions on things to acquire, and things to avoid! If there's anything you've found to be indispensable for little ones that is not commonly recommended, we would love to know.

Also, I'm particularly interested in thoughts about stollers and cribs. Do you have any recommended brands or features? Since we're apartment dwellers, and will probably remain so for a few more years, we need a stroller that is compact and versatile, since we won't have room for several different strollers. As for the crib, we'll have room for a full-sized model, and we prefer a convertible style that can be used later on for a toddler bed, etc.. However, it seems like I've seen several different crib recalls recently, so I'm just a little bit worried, and would welcome any advice.

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So far, our monetary outlay for baby things totals in the extremely low two digits. Despite that, Jenny is currently folding and organizing dozens of beautiful baby clothes. We received a couple of things as gifts specifically for Sunflower, but the vast majority has been passed to us by other families. After he found out that Jenny was pregnant, our home teacher gave us some advice. He told us that we didn't need to worry about buying much early on, because plenty of people would give us things.

Here's an example. At Cub Scouts, one of the boys told me that his mother had baby stuff for me. At the conclusion of the meeting, she explained that their neighbor had been cleaning out and gave two boxes of clothing, toys, and items to her. She didn't need it, and decided to pass it along to us, since we're having our first child, and she (correctly) reasoned that we didn't have any baby things yet. She told us that if there was anything we didn't want, we could and should give it away to Goodwill or pass it along to someone else we knew.

We looked through and kept some things. Many of the clothes were for a child more than a year old, and we didn't want to hold onto them for that long. Jenny thought of a colleague at work who has a little toddler girl, and decided to ask her if she would like the clothes. She said yes, and then offered to give us the infant clothes that she no longer needs. So far, she has given us probably three times more we gave her, and I think that there is still more on the way.

The clothes have been cared for very carefully, and are in like-new condition. I don't have a keen eye for baby fashion, but even I can tell that they're very cute. We're so thankful for kind friends, acquaintances, and colleagues who are so giving. Does this happen for everyone? I hope so. The geeks among you will understand when I say that it's good that baby stuff doesn't come with DRM .

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The title of this post is not meant to be a fake-out about the baby.  Yesterday was Jenny's birthday.  We didn't have much planned, since we had already attended the ACL music festival as a joint birthday event.  For my birthday, Jenny made a cake, but then she didn't want to eat any of it, so I ate cake for both breakfast and dessert for a whole week.  As fun as that was, I didn't want to eat another cake singlehandedly so soon, and I didn't have any free time to make Jenny a cake.  Instead, I found a local cupcake shop and got two cupcakes.  One was a triple chocolate, one of the varieties they have every day.  The other was a mint chocolate, which they make as one of their Tuesday specials.

On my way home, I stopped by a local flower shop that has been good for me in the past; they have excellent carry-out specials.  Sadly, they were already closed (my class doesn't end until 5:50, and the shop closes at 6:00).  I resorted to plan B, and headed over to Costco where I picked up two dozen roses--the only number of roses they sold, and I did want roses for her birthday, not some other flower.

When I arrived home, Jenny hadn't started making dinner yet--she had  been talking on the phone with family.  I did want to make dinner for her, but worried that I would be home too late and that she would have already started it.  She didn't, so I got to make her birthday dinner while she talked to her brother.  By the way, since we talked with a lot of family yesterday, I found out that people are staying current with this blog!  That makes me happy, and motivates me to write more.

After opening cards and packages (thank you!), eating dinner, and talking to various family members, we responded to a request from Jenny's dad that we take some photos of her that showed off her pregnant belly.  You can see the result right here.  I think she looks great.

It was time for dessert and we turned to our cupcakes.  We split them, so we could have a taste of each, and we were both very satisfied.  The flavors and textures of the cupcakes and frostings balanced each other out quite nicely.  Most importantly, we didn't have any leftovers to tempt me at breakfast this morning.  We highly recommend the cupcakes, although we don't know how they compare to the local cupcake trailer .

As we were getting ready for bed, I remembered something I had read on the pregnancy calendar for October--it says that around this time, the baby's heartbeat is audible without specialized listening equipment.  I put my ear on Jenny's tummy and listened quietly, and to my amazement, I could hear Sunflower's little heart beat!  It's hard to explain, but I would say that her heart sounded tiny, rather than quiet.  Still, it's a miracle.  After I had heard it, we tried an experiment that played to my athletic-analytical side: I got my heart rate monitor and pressed the chest strap up against Jenny's stomach.  I wanted to see if we would get a reading of Sunflower's heart rate, but we didn't.  Maybe Jenny will let me try it again later on.  We also know someone who has promised to loan us a stethoscope, so that Jenny can listen too.

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Just after we got pregnant, but before we knew--or even suspected--anything, we went on vacation to the northeast, including a trip to my alma mater for my fifth reunion.  Afterwards, I wrote a series of extremely long emails to my family comprising a travelogue of the vacation.  Maybe I'll edit them a little and post them to the blog.  In the meantime, here are some photos from the trip:

Visiting New England

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Yesterday we went to the baby doctor for a check-up. We've been very happy with Dr. Cherry. Appropriately enough, she had cherries painted on her toenails, which Jenny pointed out. I was more focused on something I hadn't noticed before--her lab coat had the insignia from Texas A&M embroidered on it. For those who don't pay attention to this kind of thing, the Longhorn-Aggie rivalry is as heated as any in the country. That being said, we're sticking with Dr. Cherry, despite her suspect loyalties.

Our appointment was mostly uneventful, which was good. We had just a few questions, and Dr. Cherry had good answers. Then she checked Sunflower's heartbeat, which came through loud and clear. According to the pregnancy calendar, it won't be long before I can hear the heartbeat just by putting my ear on Jenny's tummy. I'm looking forward to it.

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[ This post has been revised from its original version. The first comment refers to the original. ]

Jenny and I have been lucky to agree about most things during the pregnancy so far. We're also in agreement about what we'll do and how things will be after Sunflower arrives. Just this morning, I started reading What to Expect the First Year on the bus ride to work, and thought again about how few disputes we've had.

On one topic, though, we have drawn the battle lines: diapers. I'll describe our compromise solution later. For my part, I know that I was a cloth diaper baby, and I don't have any bad memories about the experience, except for one: when my younger siblings were in cloth diapers, I would occasionally come upon a diaper that had been left to soak in the toilet when I needed to use the bathroom. Now, after reading tens of webpages, possibly representing the opinions of up to a hundred cloth diaper loyalists, I believe that we should give cloth diapers a try.

Jenny, also a cloth diaper baby, remembers them most vividly because she was an active participant in the swaddling of her younger brother. Not surprisingly, she prefers the convenience and ease of disposables, since she doesn't want to re-live the bad diaper experiences from her youth. She observes that almost everyone uses disposables, so they can't be nearly as bad as the internet crazies say they are.

We agree that there are positives and negatives to each method, and that some of the positives trotted out for cloth diapers just aren't very important to us. A case in point: environmental concerns. Although I believe the claims that cloth diapers are better for the environment, I can not independently prove them. Nor can I refute the research that shows that disposables aren't too bad. It is not enough to say that the pro-disposable research was funded by diaper companies; it could still be solid, independent research. If I try to argue the superiority of cloth diapers to Jenny, I know I've lost the moment I resort to the claim that "they're better for the environment." It's just too distant from our realm of experience and influence.

We've narrowed our priorities to the following factors: economics, convenience, and comfort. However, it's still hard to determine what's better, based on these priorities. For example, cloth diapers certainly cost less. I believe that after adding the aggregate cost of washing them (including detergent and extra energy use), they still cost much less. If I include the opportunity cost of the time spent washing them, the case becomes less clear. My time is variably valuable--it depends on whether the time I spend washing diapers diminishes my productive work time (worth something), or my internet surfing/television time (worth nothing). Although disposables are almost certainly more convenient, I don't yet know if cloth diapers are convenient enough (e.g. can I contain the smell?). As for comfort, I've heard that cloth diapers cause fewer diaper rashes, especially early on. Some claim that this is a function of the frequency of changes, that disposables would cause less diaper rash if they were changed as often as cloth diapers. Because they're super-absorbent, parents have more leeway in changing them. All in all, it's hard to say what to do.

Jenny finally agreed to the following compromise. We'll buy a bunch of cloth diapers, but also have a full supply of disposables available. The parent who changes the baby gets to choose whether to use cloth or disposable. I will be solely responsible for laundering and maintaining the cloth diapers. If there are ever issues, up to and including a yuck factor, Jenny is immediately allowed to curtail the usage of cloth diapers, or at least renegotiate the plan.

The plan has at least one unstated consequence that makes it acceptable to Jenny. Since the diaper-changing parent chooses what to use, if I really am committed to cloth diapers, I will volunteer to change the diapers more often. She believes that I am diaper averse and, without this clause, would otherwise avoid diaper changing duties. We're trying to avoid the principal-agent problem , although I guess this plan could cause it, depending on how we rotate our duties.

We'll see how it goes. As of about a week ago, we're more than halfway through the pregnancy. According to Jenny, Sunflower's kicks strengthen every day.

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Yesterday, we went to a soccer game for our nephew, Warren. His little brother Gavin was there too, along with their parents, of course. I see these opportunities as good times to practice our parenting skills, and then leave before any real parenting has to be done. I usually practice the parenting skill that includes swinging kids around and throwing them up in the air. Jenny says I have to wait until Sunflower is at least several months old before I try that kind of stuff with her.

Earlier in the week, we took care of Warren and Gavin while their parents had an evening appointment. Recently, some friends passed along some children's toys, and we took the opportunity to field-test them and decide which ones would be worth keeping. We also had a good time blowing bubbles--Warren was pretty good at blowing them, but Gavin mostly liked to look at and pop the ones that I blew. Warren enjoyed that too, so I blew until I got a little lightheaded. Then we had a bubble-blowing intermission where I practiced my child throwing and swinging skills some more.

When it was time to quiet down, we split up.  Jenny took Warren into the bedroom and read him a book, while I tried to handle Gavin in the front room.  Jenny's method worked, and Warren rested quietly, even though he didn't go to sleep before his parents came to pick them up.  I had a little bit more trouble getting Gavin to drink his milk and stay out of the bedroom, but we had a good time.

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A little more than a week ago, Jenny and I attended the Austin City Limits music festival. It's a huge concert festival that is held in Zilker Park every autumn. They have a combination of big acts and quirky ones, and we were excited to attend. I found a sub for my precalculus class, and Jenny took the day off from work. We worried a little bit about how Jenny would hold up, but decided to take the chance, even though at least one person told her she must be crazy to go while pregnant.

Since the boathouse is just across the river from Zilker Park, we got permission to park there and walk to the festival. (Any other parking would have been at least as far away, even if we paid for it.) We arrived well before the first show we wanted to see, and began the trek with our chairs and water bottles, and some smuggled-in Nutrigrain bars. Outside food was supposed to be forbidden, so we hid them in the pocket of one of the chairs. I was going to fight for the food, since Jenny needs her snacks! They didn't search too thoroughly, so the food made it through.

Once we got inside the park, we had to walk all the way to the far end to find the stage that we wanted. I think that our total distance was a little more than a mile, since the rowing team regularly does a run test that covers approximately the same path, and is two and a half miles round trip. In any case, Jenny was quite ready to sit down and get ready for the show, while I went to find a place to fill up our water bottles. In the past, they've had problems with heat exhaustion among large numbers of festival-goers, so they've worked hard to make water available. They also have a number of mist-tents, where strong fans blow cool mist on those who enter. Jenny really enjoyed that a little later.

We wanted to see two of the groups in particular: Jakob Dylan and the Gold Mountain Rebels in the afternoon, and David Byrne (formerly of Talking Heads) later that evening. I should say that I wanted to see those groups, because Jenny's main goal was to experience the atmosphere and enjoy some good music, regardless of the particulars. Jakob Dylan had a 2:30 slot, so not too many people were there, and we were able to sit pretty close to the line that divided the chair zone and the no-chair zone. Even though we were pretty far from the stage, we still had a great view due to the huge video screens hung on either side of the stage. After a couple of songs in the set, Dylan commented "You guys have more cameras here than at the TV show," referring to the ACL television show on PBS.

At one point, I left Jenny's side to go up close and take some pictures--although I didn't force my way all the way up to the front, I did take some photos where the musicians are slightly larger than just dots. One highlight of the show for us was a version of Closer to You , one of the songs we had played at our wedding reception. I read a review later, and it summed the show up by noting that they did a good job keeping the audience engaged without having to play One Headlight , the big hit from the Wallflowers.

Afterwards, we made our way to the food area. We first wandered through some vendors selling arty and crafty stuff, which Jenny looked at a little bit. Then we decided to get some ice cream, and even though the line was long, it moved quickly. To eat the ice cream, we crowded our way into a different stage--this one was smaller, and the audience area was under a tent, to create a more intimate environment. The previous band had just finished, and in the audience churn we managed to find a place to put our chairs down. We thought we might like the next show, and apparently a lot of people agreed with us, since before long all the possible room in the audience was filled. As the show started, we decided that we were sitting a little bit too close for our own comfort, and we weren't quite as interested in the show as we thought we'd be. Sometimes when they say that someone is a "real musician's musician," it means that their music doesn't sound all that good to the average listener. After a song or two, we forced our way out of there, letting people fill in behind us, so that space opened up in front of us.

With that experience under our belts, we went back to our original location to wait for the David Byrne show. We caught the last bit of Gogol Bordello . After reading about them in the program, I thought they might be interesting, but the festival program can make anything sound interesting! Independent of that fact, the band name refers to one of my favorite Russian authors. Sadly, the show was as crazy and nonsensical as the author in his later life. It consisted mostly in the shirtless front man jumping around on (and off) the stage, shrieking unintelligibly in possibly more than one language. I'm not sure how favorably he compares to Chichikov.

After that set, we moved up closer, although it was more crowded and we weren't able to get quite as close. We waited for a couple to pack up their extensive cooler and canopied chair set-up, and then moved into their location. The wife promised us that it was a good spot. Then, while Jenny rested, I went back to the food area and got some burgers and cheese fries. The food was pretty good, for being a large festival. It wasn't marked up too much, and it seemed to be a little bit more healthy and interesting than the standard festival/carnival/fair fare of deep fried and breaded fatty stuff, covered in oil and sugar. Although we got burgers and fries, we could have instead bought fish tacos or traditional English meat pies, or a chicken caesar salad.

Finally, David Byrne's time slot came up, and a huge crowd showed up. The band came on stage, all dressed in white, accented by David Byrne's shock of white hair. Byrne is touring to promote his new album, a collaboration with Brian Eno, called Everything that Happens will Happen Today , and they mixed songs from that album with some classic Talking Heads tunes on which Eno collaborated. They started out with Strange Overtones , which you can download free at the album's website. Halfway through, they took a little break and everyone (even the dancers) sat down in rolling office chairs for one song.
I tried to get up to the stage while they played two of my favorites: Life During Wartime and Once in a Lifetime . The audience was so packed together that I had to bounce out to the edge, and try to make my way up front that way. I did get pretty close, but it took a while. By the time I got back to Jenny, there were only one or two songs left. Even though the audience wanted to hear more, they had to keep to their one hour limit, so the next act could get ready to go on.

Jenny was tired, and we had seen what we wanted to see, so we started the long walk back to the car. In all, we had a very nice day.

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I just bought a Canon EF f/1.8 50mm lens for the new camera. That's a lot of abbreviations and numbers, but the idea is that it's a good lens for taking indoor pictures without a flash, since it allows a lot of light to pass through. I'm happy with it, and I'm done buying camera stuff for a while. Except for a flash card; I still need one of those.

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This post doesn't have so much to do with Sunflower. This morning, I woke up pretty early to an unusually loud sound of crickets. Well, actually, it was just the unusually loud sound of cricket. In a bleary state, I wandered around the apartment a little bit, and noticed that the sound was coming from the bathroom. I turned on the light and walked in; the noise stopped. It started again a moment later, obviously coming from the bathtub. I looked into the tub, and it stopped again, but I didn't see a cricket. I thought to myself "I should turn on the water, and see what happens," but in my sleepy state, I failed to do that and headed back towards the bedroom. As I walked out, Jewel was sitting at the bathroom entrance with a funny expression on her face. She usually loves bugs, but she also hates the bathtub. The fear won out, as she must have thought that it was a trick to get her into the bathtub for a much-disliked bath. I went back to sleep.

A couple of hours later, Jenny was getting ready for work and turned on the bathtub faucet to let the water warm up before she got in. A minute later she called out my name in a sleepy-surprised voice. To her bewilderment, I excitedly called out "Is it the cricket?" and rushed in. The cricket that I should have taken care of earlier had in fact been hiding in the drain (probably the route it took into the apartment), and the water had forced it out of hiding. It looked more scary than the average cricket--sort of like the bad guys in A Bug's Live (although they were mostly grasshoppers).

I didn't want to be chasing a loose cricket all around the apartment, and I know that they can be fast little bugs, so I grabbed the toilet plunger. I was able to get it over the cricket before it knew what was coming, and then smash it convincingly.

Crickets can be a big problem here in Austin--we had major cricket issues at the University two summers ago, but this is our first apartment cricket. Let's hope it's also the last.

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