Crying all night

Alex and I were returning from one of our superexciting adventures in the city when we got in the elevator in our building with a nice British guy.

"Oh, a baby!" the man exclaimed. "Do you live on the fifth floor?" When I said yes, he said, "You must live right below me."

I grinned sheepishly. "I hope we haven't been keeping you up with his crying."

The man shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, it's not him," he said, "it's Wall Street."

He shrugged. "It's actually kind of comforting -- knowing I am not the only one up all night crying."

Well, there's a benefit of having a baby during an economic downturn!

A walk to remember...

Alex is chilling in his swing (we just put it together, and he seems to like it). So I actually have some time today to get stuff done. What should I do? The apartment is such a mess, but I don't know where to start. Dishes? Boxing up maternity clothes? Laundry? I never was good at making decisions, so I'll just update the blog!

We took Alex on his first walk a couple of weeks ago. It was when Mel was still here, and we did a very exciting route, stopping at the bank, CVS and Pita Grill for lunch. Here's a picture of Kevin and me with the stroller:



And here's a close-up of Alex:



There was just one minor slip-up during the walk. Kevin accidentally hit some guy's bike wheel with the stroller. But this wasn't just any guy. This was a guy that lives a couple of buildings down from us. We call him "the exhibitionist." Anyone that has been to our apartment probably knows the guy we're talking about -- because that's just the way he wants it! He lives on the first floor and always has his curtains open. His television is always blasting, and, oh yeah, he is almost always NAKED!

So anyway, Kevin lightly dinged his bike with the stroller, and he calls us all "f***ing idiots"! So not only was it Alex's first walk, it was also the first time someone had directed profanity at him!

Kevin and I are doing our best to teach Alex what to do the next time a situation like that arises. This is what we have come up with so far:

Sleep deprived

So everyone knows that new parents don't get much sleep. But the reason why they are sleep deprived is a misconception. Yes, the baby has to get up several times a night to eat, and that does cut into sleep.

But the biggest reason we don't get any sleep is we spend too much time admiring the baby! Touching him, kissing him, hugging him, trying to believe that we created this precious thing...

I mean, come on, how much sleep would you get if this little guy lived with you?

Alex's first Christmas

As everyone knows, Alex was born December 22. What a great Christmas present for us! We were released from the hospital on Christmas Eve. It was a very strange Christmas Eve -- not strange bad, just strange different.

Here is a picture of Alex all dressed, ready to leave the hospital:



My parents, sister Mel, brother Mike and Mel's boyfriend Joe were all in town. When we got home from the hospital, the eight of us hung out for a while in our apartment -- yes, our 400 square foot apartment! We each got 50 square feet. Eventually everyone but me, Kevin and Alex went to see a movie, and then everyone but me, my mom and Alex went to eat a Christmas Eve meal at a local bar and grill. Just the typical Spain family Christmas Eve!

On Christmas morning, we all headed out to Long Island to visit Kevin's family. We went to his dad's house first, where we exchanged gifts. (Alex got a lot!) Then we went to Kristin's house. Kristin cooked us a great meal, and Ryan and Emily and several other relatives met us there. Alex was passed from one person to another. He was so chill, he didn't really care who was holding him!

Here is our first family portrait (well, the first family portrait in which I am not wearing a hospital gown)!



All in all, it was a great Christmas!

Reaping the financial benefits of Alex

Okay, so maybe Kevin was right. Maybe having Alex was the best financial decision we ever made!

I picked up my dry cleaning the other day. I had dropped it off one day when I was really pregnant, but just got around to picking it up this week. I brought Alex in his little sling carrier thing. After scolding me for bringing a two week old baby out in the cold (don't worry -- I swear he was warm enough), the owner of the dry cleaners commented on how cute he was. I handed her my ticket, she handed me my clothes, I tried to hand her my credit card, but she waved it away.

"No charge," she said, "because of your new baby."

I thanked her, while kicking myself for bringing in just one suit and a blouse out of the big pile of clothes waiting to be dry cleaned in my apartment.

Alex just saved us $18! He is proving to be a goldmine!

Baby pool results

The results of the baby pool are in! Lowest score wins.

In third place, with 117 points is Serena, who has pledged to teach little Alex all about the greatest state in the Union, New Jersey!

In second place, with 71 points is Great Aunt Robin!

And running away with the title, with a whopping 20 points,



is my cousin Griffin (he's the one on the right)! Speaking of right, Griffin got the sex right, the birthday right, the weight exactly right, the length within a half inch, and the time with an hour and a half! Someone needs to get this kid to a racetrack!

And, just for fun, last place with a cringe-worthy 1610 points, is my college roommate Lindsay!

A physics question

How is it that something so small can eat and poop so much?

It is one of the mysteries of physics!

Origins of Alex Brett

For those of you wondering about his name, yes, both of Alex's names are in honor of people. And those of you that know Kevin will not be surprised to find out that those people are athletes!

Alex is for Alexei "Alex" Vyacheslavovich Kovalev, one of Kevin's favorite all-time Ranger players. He wanted to name him Alexei, but we compromised on Alex. I am just glad Kevin didn't want his middle name to be after Kovalev also!



As many of you can guess, Brett is for Brett Favre. Up until about a week before Alex was born, we were set on Brett Alex as his name!



You can see Brett Favre's number in this picture -- #4. You can't see Kovalev's, but his is #27. Hmmm...4 and 27 -- isn't it just perfect that Alex was born at 4:27 in the afternoon?

Alex is here!

Kevin and I want to introduce you to Alex Brett Cohen, the newest addition to the Cohen family! He arrived on Monday, December 22nd at 4:27 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs., 5 oz. After a rocky entry into the world (earning a brief stay in the NICU), he is doing great!

Kevin and I are overjoyed and feel so blessed. Alex is just perfect -- spoken like true parents, we know! He is truly a wonderful baby (based on the less than two weeks we have known him). I thought he was going to be restless (the way he was in the womb), but he is actually very mellow!

Here are a couple of pictures that Uncle Joe took:



(These are not my hands -- they are my mother's. One of my friends was very impressed that I had had time for a manicure!)

All we need is the baby...

Here are some pictures of the baby's stuff...now all we need is the baby!

Here is the baby's corner, oops, I mean nursery:



Here is the makeshift changing station:



And here is the baby clothes drawer (yes, that is my belly in the bottom of the picture):

Cohen Kiddo's playmates

I have lots of ideas for posts, but I am pretty bad about actually updating my blog! I realized this morning that I might not have a lot of time to "eventually get to" these ideas! So hopefully over the next couple of days I will update a lot!

A lot of my friends have had babies over the last couple of months, so I wanted to introduce everyone to our baby's future playmates! In age order:

First came Elizabeth, our friends Nikki and BJ's daughter, who was born on October 22. Kevin used to work with Nikki in Denver, but now she lives in the DC area. Here is one of her first pictures:



Next came little Philip, my co-worker Susannah's boy. He was born on Monday, October 27. I went up to Rye and visited the two of them last week (one of my first "vacation tasks"). He is totally angelic. He was about six weeks old, so he was figuring out what was around him and smiling a lot. Here's a picture of him when he was born:



Next up is Sydney from Colorado, who was born the next day on October 28. I used to work with her mom (in New York, not Colorado). We obviously can't see Sydney all the time, but we travel to Colorado a lot and Sydney's family travels to the East Coast often too. Hopefully we will make it out there over the summer. Here is Sydney (trying to figure out to post the picture itself instead of the link):

Snapfish:Photo:Shared

Finally is my co-worker Sarah's little girl Mika, who was born on November 18. I was lucky enough to catch up with them last week too. Mika is precious. She was only three weeks old, so she was still super tiny! Here is her picture:



We can't wait to introduce the next baby, which will most likely be ours!

Sisters are the best...

My sister Mel came in from Chicago last Saturday. She's in school now, so she has a month off! Isn't that just perfect! She has been a huge help to me. We have just been organizing the apartment and getting things ready. Sometimes you need someone there to tell you to throw out the junk you have been hanging onto for years!

We have also been doing some of the things we loved to do growing up -- mainly watching bad tv movies and eating junk food. Cool Ranch Doritos, grilled cheese and tomato soup, Tombstone pizzas, Nerds, Sweetarts, ramen. I have told Mel that I am nostalgic for old times sake, but little does she know these are the foods I have eaten throughout my pregnancy!

Anyway, I am so grateful to Mel for sacrificing her vacation for us!

Updates

I am so sorry I have been so bad at keeping this blog updated! This "vacation" is not as relaxing as a vacation should be! Here are some updates:

So the due date has now come and gone! (Only 5% of babies are actually born on their due date.) Kevin is getting VERY anxious. I am still content to keep it in there a little bit longer, but at this point, I am ready whenever the baby is ready! Thanks to everyone for all the calls and emails. We are so flattered that you have been thinking about us this week. Sorry I have been slow at responding -- we will definitely keep you all posted when there is news to share!

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I am a little over two cm dilated. Don't get too excited -- I have been two cm dilated for over two weeks! My doctor said it doesn't mean much, just that I have a little head start. That's okay, I will take a head start! (Of course, when I was first two cm dilated during an appointment before I had stopped working, I told my officemate that it meant I was probably going to have the baby in the next six hours. Just to freak him out a bit. It worked.)

When she was feeling my belly on Tuesday, the doctor said, "Hmmm, I think you are having a contraction right now." I didn't feel a thing! This childbirth process is going to be a breeze! But Dr. Pastore put an end to that fantasy quickly. "Oh, you'll be feeling it soon!" she assured me.

I made another appointment for Monday the 22nd, if the baby hasn't come yet. If I make it that far, I will be induced on Monday or Tuesday. So we will definitely have a baby by Christmas, which is exciting!

Also, I realized I never made an update about the size of the baby. At my last sonogram (at 38 weeks), the growth had tapered off to about the 80th percentile. That sounds much more manageable than 96th! So if I was to have the baby on my due date, it would be just under nine pounds. And it looks like I won't need a c-section, which is great news!

As for how I am feeling, I really still feel great! At the doctor's office, we encountered a woman whose due date is a week after mine. "This baby needs to get the hell out of here!" she complained. I was just like, "Hmmm, I don't feel that way at all!"

Baby Pool Reminder

Tomorrow's the due date, but still no baby! Just wanted to put the baby pool link up again so you can remember what you guessed! And, so you can send me spicy food the night before the date you chose! Here's the link...

www.expectnet.com

In the top left hand corner, in the Invited Guests box, enter "BabyCohenPool". Happy guessing!

The candyman

We have another vote for a boy. The man in the candy store is also thinking blue. But not because I'm carrying like a basketball, not because my lips are full -- an entirely different old wives' tale that I hadn't heard before.

"In my country, if woman is smiling, laughing, boy is coming," he explained. (I didn't ask what country.) "If woman is --" he paused, searching for the English word. Instead he made a scrunched up a face. "Then it's girl."

I thought that was funny. I didn't think little girls made you irritable until about 13 years after you gave birth!

But I was in a good mood at the time -- I was in a candy store, for goodness sake! Until I got back to my desk and discovered that the sour Jelly Bellys I had bought had some non-sour jelly beans mixed in. I thought about going back and yelling about the mixed up candy -- not because I was terribly upset, but because I wanted to see if the candyman changed his mind about the sex of my baby!

Get the margarita mix ready...

Kevin thinks I am using this blog as an opportunity to make fun of him. He may be right, but it's his fault he gives me so much good material!

My last day of work is this week, and Kevin asked me if I was excited to be finishing up. "Because you know, in our working lifetimes, you're probably never going to get so much time off at once ever again."

My mouth dropped. "Kevin. This is not going to be a vacation, you know."

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "You feed the baby, you put it down for a nap, you change its diaper...and you can be playing video games the entire time! Sounds like a vacation to me!"

We'll see how he feels in a couple of weeks...

Learning to be parents

I want to take a parenting class that the hospital offers. Kevin does not agree -- he thinks we will learn it all "as we go."

"But there are just so many things we don't know," I argue. "How do you tell if the baby is crying because it's hungry or if it's crying because it has an earache? Can you bathe a baby before the belly button falls off?"

There is a pause, and Kevin furrows his brow.

"What do you mean 'the belly button falls off'?"

Thanks, Kevin. You just proved my point. I will sign us up for the parenting class right now.

Our Halloween

I already posted cute Halloween babies, but I just got around to uploading the pictures from OUR Halloween.

Kevin and I went as Juno and her boyfriend Paulie Bleeker. Here's a picture:



On Friday night we went out to a couple of bars with Kevin's brother Ryan and his wife Emily. A lot of people didn't think I was really pregnant -- they thought it was part of my costume! I was also told several times that I was a real trooper for being out. I just replied that it was going to be a lot easier to go out this year than it would be next year!

The next night we went to a party on Long Island, and we got to wear our costumes again. Which was a good thing for Kevin, because he really seemed to like his short shorts! Here he is with his friends showing off his legs. This is Andy in the back as a 70s cop, Brad as a seagull, Chris as Indiana Jones and Scott as a Reno 911 cop. Scott was giving Kevin a run for his money as the guy with the whitest thighs.

The best financial decision we ever made

"So, when you breastfeed, that's all the baby eats, right?" Kevin asked me one night.

"Yep."

"So it won't need any formula?"

"Nope."

A big smile erupts on his face. "So the kid eats for free!"

"Well, I guess so."

"And we won't be going out as much once the baby comes."

"No."

"Having a baby just might be the best financial decision we've ever made!"

He was so excited, I didn't have the heart to burst his bubble by talking about the cost of diapers, day care, college, etc. "Yes, having a baby is definitely the best financial decision we've ever made," I agreed.

Hey, maybe our kid will be so cute and charismatic, we will be able to sell out and get him or her into modeling!

Kevin's OCD impulses

Kevin and I went out for breakfast this morning. He ordered an egg white omelette with bacon and cheddar. He was deciding between mozzarella and cheddar -- I told him to go for cheddar. Although he ate most of the omelette, I could tell there was something bothering him. It turned out there was, but I would have never been able to guess what it was.

"I have a problem when my food is not color-coordinated," he tells me. "I wish I would have went with the mozzarella."

So it turns out when he orders egg whites, he wants a white cheese. Yellow cheese is okay when he gets regular eggs. I have known this guy for seven years, and I never knew this about him!

"Yeah, I've been trying to work on it over the last couple of months." Based on breakfast he doesn't seem to be succeeding, but I guess we can't expect to make these huge important changes overnight.

The most amusing part about this whole thing is that this is a man who doesn't even know how to color-coordinate his clothes! I once made him a chart with all of his shirts as the column headings on the top and all of his pants as the row headings along the side. Then I put a "yes" or a "no" where the shirts and pants intersected based on whether they matched, and he referred to this chart the way some people refer to the Bible. Maybe a better idea is equating each piece of clothing to a food. At least my mornings would be a little more entertaining.

"Maureen, do you think chocolate and pizza sauce could go together?"