Baby Blog

Still waiting

2011-01-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

To say I'm impatient is an understatement.

It's been three days since Tara reached her due date and there's still no new baby. I know every woman and baby is different when it comes to timing for childbirth, but I'm getting antsy.

At least I can take comfort in the fact that we made it through Christmas and it's likely we will not be having the first baby of the new year at Fort Memorial Hospital. That's fine by me: I've had my name in the Daily Jefferson County Union enough times as it is.

I thought for sure Tara would be in labor before Christmas. Her due date was Dec. 29, but given how Amelia surprised us by arriving a month early in 2008, I didn't think she would pass D Day.

We've been trying just about every suggestion on the Internet and from friends to help induce labor. I've walked the Janesville, Johnson Creek and East Towne malls several times in the last three days. I planned a nice date night with Tara and took her out for dinner, figuring the baby would want to ruin those plans. She's had a couple of pregnancy massages and a pedicure with an emphasis on the pressure points that can help cause contractions. Tara tagged along with her parents Thursday when they went shopping and apparently, Tara was jogging through Walmart at one point.

I wish I could have been there to see that.

Despite our best efforts, nothing seems to be working yet. At least we're both getting a good workout.

I'm trying to stay positive. I know he'll have to make an appearance at some point. I'm mostly concerned about his timing. If he waits too long, Tara will need to be induced at the hospital using pitocin, and that's not a fun ride for anybody.

In the meantime, I'm continuously responding to text and Facebook messages from people asking if the new baby is here. Each time, I feel a little more anxious. I know my friends and family are excited for the new baby and they mean well. It just feels a little overwhelming being reminded each time that we're still waiting.

It's like the old saying, "A watched pot never boils." Of course it's going to happen. It just seems like it takes forever when all eyes are on the pot.

Trust me: I won't keep everyone in the dark when the time comes. Check out the Baby Blog, find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/james.debilzen or follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/JamesDebilzen for more updates.

No longer outnumbered

2010-09-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

The gender balance is returning to the Debilzen household.

After an ultrasound at Fort Memorial Hospital on Aug. 11, we learned our new baby is a boy. Tara and I are both very excited.

For me, this means I am no longer outnumbered. My only other male companion up to this point has been Milo, our orange tabby cat... and he's neutered.

(Please refrain from any jokes referencing "neutered" and "married." I've heard them all.)

Since the ultrasound, we've moved Amelia into a new bedroom. It will be easy to turn her old bedroom into a nursery for the new baby. The green walls are pretty gender-neutral and the room is nice and big for the crib, changing table and every other piece of equipment it takes to raise a baby.

Amelia's new room was painted purple and I got a good deal on a white bedroom set that should last her through high school (that's a strange thought). She sleeps in a full-size bed now. It seems like only yesterday that she was sleeping in a crib.

She also had a toddler bed for a couple of months. We had to upgrade when she got big enough to almost climb put of her crib.

Amelia loves her "big girl" bed and it's nice for one of us to lay down with her to read a story before lights-out every night. She's adjusted well to the transition.

We talk to Amelia about the new baby quite often. She likes to pat Tara's stomach and say "Baby!" and we tell her she's going to be a big sister. She loves babies, especially her little cousin Sean, and she takes good care of her baby dolls.

I hope the new baby transition goes well with Amelia. So far, I'm optimistic.

Big news

2010-07-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Seven months goes by fast.

Last time I updated this blog, I announced I was leaving the Daily Union to become the editor of two weekly newspapers in the Madison area. That was right around Christmas.

And here were are at the end of July. I can't believe where the time has gone.

Amelia is growing up fast, too, and she’s becoming so smart. She’s been talking for months now and it seems she learns a new word every day.

She loves to give hugs and kisses, waves hello and goodbye, and recognizes when we’ve turned onto the road that goes to grandma and grandpa’s house.

When she hears music – any genre, any time, any place – Amelia stops to dance.

Tara and I have learned to spell out certain words so she can’t understand them. Tops on the list: Elmo, outside and shoes. Actually saying those words puts her into a panicked, whiny frenzy if she doesn’t actually get one of those three things.

Ah, the joy of raising a toddler.

Amelia is terrorizing our cats even more these days. Poor Milo; I don’t know how she hasn’t broken his neck.

I could talk all day about Amelia, but there’s another big reason for this new post.

In December, there will be another addition to the Debilzen household. Tara is due with baby number two on Dec. 29.

We couldn’t be more excited, although the reality still hasn’t sunk in yet – at least for me, and I’ve known since April.

At home, we’ve started getting ready for the new baby. Our house has three bedrooms and we had been utilizing one of them as an office.

A couple of months ago, we moved the office to the basement. The now vacant bedroom is still pretty bare, but I suspect there will be plenty of changes coming soon.

On Aug. 11, we’ll find out the gender of the baby and Tara will begin making plans for the nursery. When we went through this phase before Amelia was born, the reality of the situation really began to hit me as I assembled the crib and moved in all of the equipment that goes with having a newborn.

I plan to keep you up-to-date on how Tara and the new baby are progressing – and I mean it this time.

Of course, Amelia, the original star of this show, will be front-and-center, too.

Have a good weekend, everybody, and thanks for reading.

A new direction

2009-12-19T19:55:00.000-08:00

It's been two years since I first joined the staff of the Daily Jefferson County Union.

During that time, I've become a father and a homeowner, experiences that I have chronicled here on the Baby Blog.

Now, I'm moving in another new direction.

Christmas Eve will be my last day as a reporter at the Daily Union. I've accepted a job in DeForest to serve as the editor of two weekly newspapers there. My first day on the job will be Dec. 28.

That, however, does not mean I'm going to abandon the Baby Blog. I've enjoyed writing about my new role as a new dad and sharing with everyone how Amelia is growing.

The Baby Blog will be moving to a new location on the Daily Union website. Since I will no longer be a member of the staff, my writings will now appear under the "Community Blogs" tab on the left side of the website.

After clicking on Community Blogs, you'll be able to find the Baby Blog and others.

The staff will leave the Baby Blog button on the homepage for a while until readers become accustomed to the transition.

As I wrap up my last week at the big paper, I'm saying my goodbyes to the many people who have supported me and I'm finishing projects that I never seemed to get to.

Fortunately, I don't have to say goodbye here. You won't see my name in the paper or see me getting coffee at Beauty and the Bean or walking down Main Street anymore, but I'll still be here, writing about a job I care about more than any occupation.

Thanks for reading.

Approaching toddlerhood

2009-11-16T21:47:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since I became a dad and life as I knew it would never be the same.

On Saturday, Tara and I will be hosting Amelia's first birthday party with our friends and family at our home.

There has been so much change since I came home from work in early April of 2008 and saw my wife grinning from ear to ear, holding a positive pregnancy test.

I wouldn't trade the experiences of having a baby together and raising her for anything else. And while Amelia technically becomes a toddler on Saturday, she'll continue to be our baby.

I went back and reread all of the Baby Blog posts I've written since December and I was amazed by how much she's grown since then. She was so fragile and little and couldn't really do a whole lot.

Now, she's crawling everywhere, chasing the cats and bumping her head on the coffee table in the living room.

Amelia is starting to stand on her own and, with a little bit of encouragement from us, she's taking a step or two before falling down on her behind. If we give Amelia anything she can use as a walker, she'll stand up and walk down the hallway, across the living room and through the kitchen.

I've taught her how to blow raspberry's, much to the amusement of both of us (though my wife doesn't seem to appreciate it as much.) And she loves to make new sounds, her favorite one being, "da da da," usually in a hushed voice.

Amelia loves to roughhouse and be tickled. If she's playing with me in the living room, she likes to crawl down the hall as fast as she can while I chase her. She'll squeal when I pick her up.

There are no more bottles. While she continues to nurse, any other beverage, whether it be whole milk or water, is in a sippy cup. One of her new favorite games is to throw the cup from her high chair repeatedly to see how many times we'll keep picking it up and giving it back to her.

She has two teeth that are completely in, two more are working their way in and we can see two more are getting ready to cut through. She's eating just about anything we eat and we have to ration how much food is put on her plate at a time. Otherwise, she'll stuff her cheeks full until she chokes.

Some of my friends say that's one trait she supposedly gets from me. Thanks, guys.

Oh, yes, she's acting like more of a toddler than she is a baby now and it seems so surreal. How did this all happen so fast?

I've contended that ever since I graduated high school, the world around me has continued to speed up. There's never enough time in a day to get everything done that I want to do and, before I know it, another month has come and gone.

When I wrote about Darius Rucker's song "It Won't Be Like This For Long," I didn't really appreciate how true that phase actually was.

Now I think I get it.

UPDATE: Down the tubes

2009-10-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

Amelia is back to her normal self after getting tubes in her ears this morning.

We arrived at Fort Memorial Hospital at 5:45 a.m. for the minor procedure, which took about 15 minutes total. We spent more time waiting for her to wake up enough to get her vital signs before leaving.

Amelia was groggy, for obvious reasons, and she protested the fact that we wanted her to wake up.

We also found out that her left ear had yet another ear infection when they went to put in the tubes, making it the seventh diagnosed ear infection. Hopefully, the tubes will cut down on those in the future.

By the end of the afternoon, after she took a lengthy nap, Amelia already seemed a lot more happy than she has been for a while. That's quite a statement given that she seems pretty happy most of the time anyway.

That's all the news I have for now. As she begins to stand more and prepares to take her first steps, I'll keep you updated.

Perpetual illness

2009-10-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last night, I started feeling like I was coming down with another cold.

Last week, I felt nauseous, like I had a touch of the flu bug that's going around.

Two weeks before that, I had yet another cold.

I've grown accustomed to occasionally having the sniffles. In the last few years, Tara has always worked either in a daycare setting or in a classroom and has been in close contact with germ-carrying little brats she calls "students."

Whatever. I like to refer to them as "germ conduits."

Now that Amelia also attends daycare all day, I get a second daily dose of germs.

The difference has been noticeable. According to my last pay stub, I've taken 23.5 hours of sick leave since June and I have 112.5 hours left.

Given that I keep coming down with the latest trendy viruses, I wouldn't be surprised if I use up a substantial portion of what's left of my sick leave before the start of the new fiscal year in June 2010.

At this point, I believe that I will have had every single known strand of the common cold by the time Amelia is 3 years old.

Down the tubes

2009-10-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

Poor Amelia has suffered through six ear infections in the first 11 months of her life.

On Wednesday, we'll be taking her to the hospital for a brief 15 minute procedure to put tubes in her ears. The doctors and everyone else I've talked to who has experience with ear tubes says she'll be a lot happier and get fewer infections once it's done.

They also fall out on their own after about a year.

When I was a child, I, too, suffered from several ailments with my ears, but not to the extend Amelia has. While I'd get the occasional ear infection, I mostly suffered from having bad pressure from fluid behind the ear drum.

And the pain... Oh, do I ever remember the many times I'd sit at home from school with a hot water bag or an ice pack up to whichever ear was hurting the most.

When you're only 11 months old, of course, the only way of reacting to the pain is to scream at the top of your lungs. Tara and I knew we were in for long nights when we could get Amelia to sleep on our shoulders, but that would be followed by a bloodcurdling scream once we laid her in her crib.

She's been taking the infections well most recently. In the last two weeks, we had her ears checked again to find out she had a full-blown double ear infection. She was as happy as could be, however.

Amelia's pediatrician said she likely got used to the pain by that point.

I'm looking forward to having the minor tubes procedure done if it will help Amelia avoid having constant ear infections, though Tara and I are both a little apprehensive about having her knocked out with anesthetics.

At this point, there's not a whole lot else we can do for her. She's failed to react well to three or four different antibiotics (including one that makes Tara break out in hives) and her doctor had to resort to giving her the medication in the form of two shots at a time.

Amelia received six shots over a five day period just over a week ago.

I'll post a progress report after the surgery is complete. I'm taking Wednesday off from work to be with Tara and Amelia all day and Tara has Thursday and Friday off.

Luckily, we're told she should be back to her normal self by the next day, and I certainly hope so.

Fall fun at the farm

2009-09-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Tara and I took a trek up to Busy Barns Adventure Farm west of Fort Atkinson with Amelia to see the animals and all of the other wonderful fun activities the Telfer and Hadler families have put together.

I wrote about the farm recently in the Daily Union as members of the Fort Atkinson Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting and took a tour. The families were still getting ready for their opening weekend, but all of the pieces were falling into shape.

I told Tara about the neat activities, including the corn maze, the long culvert slides, the obstacle course, etc. Obviously, many of the activities were a little advanced for our 10-month-old Amelia, but we were excited to go nonetheless.

Mariah Hadler, one of the family members helping to pull Busy Barns Adventure Farm together, told me during my interview with her that they wanted to make the farm an educational experience, as well. That was evidenced by signs near many of the activities that had a tidbit of information about farm life and agriculture.

The corn maze itself was a quiz in agricultural education. At each juncture, there was a sign with a true or false question on the subject that would point you in a certain direction depending on your answer. As we advanced through the maze, the questions became multiple-choice, giving you more options to get lost.

I'm proud to say that we made it through the maze with only a few wrong turns. I suppose I could credit that to growing up in a rural area, covering several county fairs in my short journalism career and, well, probably just dumb luck.

Anyway, Amelia seemed to have a great time. We got her up close to many of the animals and she would squeal with excitement. She liked to reach out and pat the animals on the head, though we had to curb her enthusiasm a little bit when she started swatting the goats on the head pretty hard.

Sorry about that.

Taking Amelia to Busy Barns Adventure Farm is one of the first experiences where we went somewhere as a family just to have some fun. We've been to other events (sometimes work related ... news doesn't stop just because it's the weekend), spent a weekend in the Dells with Tara's family and went swimming at a local YMCA where one of our friends works, but this was something special for all of us.

Amelia is now at the age where she can really enjoy some of these adventures and it really makes me feel like a dad to plan these fun times.

I shared the photos from our trip to Busy Barns with my mother, mother-in-law and grandmother on Walgreen's photo website after we got home yesterday. My mom wrote that it reminded her of the several times they took me and my two younger siblings during our younger years to Eugster's Farm Market and Petting Farm, located on State Highway 138 between Oregon and Stoughton.

Those are moments I know I'll always treasure and look back on fondly. I hope Amelia will do the same some day.

Becoming mobile

2009-07-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

For the last eight months, I've been able to set Amelia down for a few moments to go take care of a chore and she would be right where I left her when I came back.

That's beginning to change. Amelia is in the early stages of crawling right now and, while she doesn't quite have the arm-leg coordination figured out, she's on the move.

In the last month or so, Amelia discovered she could move around the livingroom by rolling. That has now advanced to getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth, like she's preparing for a race. After building up enough courage, she'll stretch out her arm and promptly fall down on her stomach.

That doesn't stop her, though. She'll pull herself along in an "army crawl" kind of motion and turns easily on her stomach to face a different position.

At the same time, she has finally learned how to sit up and keep her balance by herself. We're still working on getting into that position on her own, but she can sit there quite content by herself while playing with a toy.

Tara and I are going to "baby-proof" the house pretty soon, especially after I watched Amelia go over to our entertainment center last night and tried to open the bottom doors.

I'll post a video of new-found mobility in the next couple of days.

Father's Day reflections

2009-06-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

It seems fitting that my first Father's Day coincided with Amelia's seven-month birthday on Sunday.

While I marvel and write about the everyday changes I see in her, Father's Day made me reflect on how I, too, have changed.

Some of the changes have been subtle. Some have been drastic. But the commonality they share is they have made me a better person all around.

When I began dating Tara in college, my focus in life began to shift. Not everything was about me anymore. Sure, I had my goals and career aspirations, but now I would be sharing them with someone I truly cared about.

Now, my focus has shifted toward providing everything I can to Amelia and, as she gets older, helping her live up to her dreams and life goals.

Having Amelia has taught me to be more open to new ideas. Never did I think I would be cloth-diapering her or advocating the importance of breastfeeding. Those were all foreign topics to me until about a year ago.

I've learned to have more patience. Babies can't tell you what they want or what's bothering them. It takes a lot of time and patience to figure out what different cries and facial expressions mean. And sometimes, they won't go right back to sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night, no matter how much you want them to.

Being patient means having the stamina to snuggle a baby soundly back to sleep and doing it again if they wake up when you go to set them down. You must do this without becoming angry at the baby and reminding yourself how much they mean to you.

I've learned how it feels to be under the cold stare of another customer at a restaurant if the baby makes any fuss.

I can remember when that customer used to be me.

And while I try to be respectful of those around me, I've learned to shrug off the occasional snide comment when I'm out in public.

Trusting my own instincts has always proved to be a challenge for me. I've always second guessed myself in many of the important decisions I make.

Since I became a dad, I've been bombarded with suggestions on different child-rearing techniques from people who mean well. Sometimes, these ideas can prove to be useful, but other times, what they say does not apply to my family.

You have to trust your instinct.

The biggest change I've seen in myself over these last seven months, however, is I have a new understanding of parental love.

In my lifetime, my parents have shown how much they care about me and everything that I do. I didn't really understand why. I wasn't an honor student. I didn't do anything really that special except write and play the violin. But they have unconditional pride and love for me. All I really give to them in return is my own love.

I get it now.

When Amelia holds out her arms to me because she wants to be held, she says she's putting her trust in me to protect her, encourage her and love her.

It seems like a little thing, but I think only a parent can appreciate it.

And my transformation into becoming a father continues...

Protecting the family

2009-06-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, I was awaken shortly after midnight by a very loud crash in my house.

Two thoughts ran through my mind at the time: Amelia's crib had fallen over or collapsed or someone was breaking in.

I thought of the first possibility because I thought it sounded like it came from the baby's room. Not that I would put her to sleep in anything I felt was unsteady and unsafe, but the crib was the only thing I could think of that could make that kind of a sound.

I sprang from my bed and went running to the bedroom door, where I met Tara and Amelia. Tara had been up with the baby in the living room trying to get her back to sleep after she stirred herself awake.

My wife was upset like I was at the time. I was upset because I thought Amelia was in the crib when it "collapsed."

But Tara said the noise came from the garage. She had been in the rocking chair in the living room and swore that's where the noise came from.

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and as if there were no walls around me. That feeling of security that my new home was finally providing was all gone.

I wasn't concerned the noise came from the crib anymore.

I found myself trembling and trying to build up the courage to face whatever intruder was becoming a threat to my family.

Based off Tara's observation, I opened the door leading to the garage and shouted "Hey!" hoping to startle anybody who could be in there.

But there was nothing. All my shout had done was make Tara think I saw somebody there and she grabbed the phone to prepare to dial 911.

Luckily, she held off.

We were both still feeling uneasy. What could have caused such a huge crashing sound?
I turned on our outside lights. Nothing.

I checked the basement and all of the other rooms in the house. Nothing there, either.

Tara and I brainstormed and tried to figure out where the sound came from.

As I originally said, I thought the sound came from Amelia's room. But why would Tara think it came from the garage?

And then it clicked: There are two baby monitors in our house. One is in our bedroom and the other is in the kitchen, near the garage.

It started to make sense. The sound did come from Amelia's room, but on the baby monitor, it sounded like it came from the garage from where Tara was rocking the baby in the living room.

What had happened was Tara picked up Amelia and lifted the gate on the crib back into position when they went to the living room.

It wasn't lifted back up all the way, however, and wasn't completely secure. When it let go a few minutes later, the gate came crashing down right next to the baby monitor, which was picked up in our bedroom and in the kitchen.

That feeling of security began to come back and we were all able to go back to sleep a short time later.

I'm not going to claim I'm a brave individual. Had I heard a crash like that when I lived alone of when it was just me and Tara, I probably would not have hesitated to call the police.

But there was some sort of internal urge to protect my family myself that night. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, I'll admit (and Tara has reminded me), but I don't think I would have done what I did if I didn't feel like Amelia was being threatened.

I can now add "brave" (and probably "reckless") to the list of new traits Amelia has brought out of me since she entered my life.

Looking back on six months

2009-05-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

It's been six months since a little baby girl began to change my life forever.

Amelia Rose reached her six-month-old milestone today in a day comprised of doctor visits and spending time with some lady with a camera who was trying to make her smile.

With little more than a whimper, Amelia received three vaccinations during her regular check-up, Tara told me, and she weighs just about 14 pounds. Not bad for a baby who was born a little over five pounds six months ago.

She now stretches out to a total length of 25-1/2 inches.

I wasn't able to be at Amelia's first appointment today because I was giving a presentation to students at Faith Community Christian School, but I did make it to Amelia's orthopedic doctor appointment, where they took an x-ray of her hips to make sure they were still OK.

As some of my readers will recall, Amelia was born with hip dysplasia and had to wear a Pavlik harness for six weeks to correct the problem.

Dr. Zambrano gave us the good news today that her therapy is complete and everything looks good.

Amelia also became a model for a while this evening when we had her six-month-old photos taken by a professional photographer.

Yes, I've taken my share of photos of her, including using the fancy Nikon D100 camera the Daily Union has issued to me. But I thought it would be nice to have a professional behind the shutter this time.

Amelia did great and gave us some amazing smiles for the photos before she quickly tuckered out. I'd post some of the photos on here, but those darn copyright laws keep me from doing it.

Overall, it was a busy day for a busy little girl and it went by fast, much like the last six months have for the three of us. I still can't believe how fast the time has gone by.

Take this blog, for instance. A month has gone by since I last updated. It's not for a lack of wanting to or trying. It's a matter of finding time between work, moving to a new house and spending time with the family.

Tara told me Amelia was beginning to "army crawl" across the living room floor a little bit today when I was at work. The doctor warned Tara to probably begin child-proofing the house pretty soon because it won't be long before she's moving on her own.

When we get to that point, I'll write more about our child-proofing efforts. I'm sure it'll be amusing.

She's begun to eat baby food usually twice a day, too. Right now, the menu comprises of mashed up sweet potatoes (her favorite), apples, bananas, rice cereal, peas, squash and avocado.

OK, maybe the avocado's a little weird. I've never tried the thing myself (nor do I desire to), but she doesn't seem to mind it.

Every few days, we try something new. Tara's been making the food herself using recipes she found online, our food processor and ice cube trays. It saves us money and it ensures she gets the nutrients without the preservatives and added sugar.

That's another topic I'll expand on soon.

The list of new experiences goes on and on. For now, I'll leave it at what I've already written.

I've been told repeatedly by colleagues, friends and family members that she's now getting to the "fun stage." I'm looking forward to it and I look forward to sharing these experiences with all of you.

Front to back and vice versa

2009-04-21T22:35:00.000-07:00

Another day, another milestone for Amelia.

Tara told me after work last night that Amelia rolled over from her back to her stomach on her own when they were getting ready for daycare yesterday morning.

I'm sorry I missed it. It's a feat we've been watching her try to pull off on her own for weeks now, only to have that darn arm of hers get in the way.

I was able to witness her first time rolling over from her stomach to her back on Sunday. We could only laugh at the disturbed look on her face as her world was, literally, turned upside down.
She's adapting to our new home in Milton and sleeping in her own crib in her own bedroom. Up until the move, Amelia, who is five months old today, was still sleeping in her basinet next to our bed.

I think it was a more difficult adjustment for Tara than it was for Amelia. But now that we're able to lock the cats away in the basement at night and both bedroom doors can be kept open, I think Tara is OK with the change.

There really wasn't a place we could keep the cats at night in our apartment and we were both worried they might try to climb into the crib with Amelia if we didn't keep the doors shut. I don't believe the baloney old-wives tale about cats "sucking the breath" out of babies, but nevertheless, I didn't want them to sleep on her face, either.

Our baby monitor is also working a lot better in the house because there is less electrical interference. All we got was radio static when we'd switch it on in our apartment complex.

Amelia is also getting a serving of runny baby cereal most mornings before she and mom head off to daycare. It all started with Amelia beginning to show interest in what we were eating and she enjoyed playing with a baby spoon when we would give it to her.

I don't know how much is actually making it into her system. Tara and Amelia are still trying to master the art of getting the food into her mouth, not just all over herself.

Either way, it's entertaining to watch, as you can see in the photo above.

A new title and a growth update

2009-04-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

I've amassed several new titles and descriptions in the last two years.

Associate Editor.

Husband.

City Reporter.

Father.

And now, there's a new one: Homeowner.

On April 3, Tara and I closed on a new house in Milton after spending the good part of a month preparing for the big day. We started talking about the possibility of purchasing a home when it became time to either renew our lease or move somewhere else.

This wasn't the first time we had discussed homeownership. We also looked into it before and actually toured a few homes when I still worked at the Milton Courier.

After a lot of thought and anxiety (mostly on my part), we thought it was in our best interests to find a permanent place to raise Amelia and any other future Debilzen children.

While I've loved living in Fort Atkinson, Milton quickly became a more viable choice for us. It's the half-way point between my job here and Tara's job in Janesville.

There goes my five-minute commute to work every morning.

It was also helpful that I knew the area pretty well. In college, I worked as an intern at the weekly Milton Courier during my senior year before joining the staff after graduation in 2007 as an associate editor. I moved onto the Daily Union about seven months later.

Since the closing, Tara and I, with the help of two close friends, have painted the kitchen, living room, the hallway, our bedroom and Amelia's bedroom, which I think is quite a feat for a group of people with very little painting experience in that short amount of time.

Both sets of grandparents have also been instrumental in distracting Amelia and keeping her happy while Tara and I have worked on everything else.

Last night, we spent our first night in the house on an air mattress with Amelia sleeping in her bassinet.

We're getting geared up for our final move with all of our furniture this coming Friday afternoon and Saturday. We're planning to finally transition Amelia to her regular crib in her own room at that time, a big step for us.

My blog posts have been a bit sparse lately and the house is the reason why. If I wasn't working at night, I was packing, moving boxes or painting. That being said, Amelia hasn't stopped growing, and that's the focus of this blog in the first place.

So, without further ado, here's the update on her in the last couple of weeks:

• Amelia is beginning to roll over more onto her side and almost making it to her stomach. She can make it all the way over with a little help, but that darn arm of hers keeps getting in the way.

• She's beginning to show an interest in what people are eating and opens her mouth if anything food-like gets near her. Doctors say this is one of the signs that babies show when they are about ready for starting on some solid foods.

On Easter morning, Tara gave Amelia a baby spoon to hold and she was getting pretty good at grasping it and bringing it to her mouth. Tara also made a runny mix of some baby serial and breast milk to try feeding Amelia, who proceeded to spit most of it out.

These things take time and we're not trying to rush the solids thing. Most pediatricians say its best to wait until babies are about six months before trying to actively give them solids.

• Amelia's ability to grasp objects and observe them is getting increasingly better. She'll even grab the pacifier out of her mouth and stare at it before dropping it. If she's on her play mat, she'll grasp onto the rattles and other objects that dangle above her.

The other night when we were at the new house, I was playing with Amelia on the floor with a rattle when I let her grab onto it. She proceeded to then smack herself in the forehead with it at full force and scream like I've never heard her scream before.

Man, did I feel guilty about that one.

• She's able to sit up for longer streteches of time with a little help. She enjoys sitting in her Bumbo chair and sitting on your lap if you hold onto her.

• Her hair is starting to grow more now and she's beginning to look like a baby chick with her fuzzy top. It's also become a bit harder to tell what her hair color will be as it's now looking a little bit lighter than what it has been.

• I've discovered that sometimes, the only thing that will soothe her when she's cranky is a car ride.

• She's fitting comfortably into six-month-old clothes at just shy of five months.
That should do it for now, but as a reminder, you can follow what Amelia is doing in between blog posts by visiting the Baby Blog's Twitter page, twitter.com/JamesDebilzen.

And I promise, promise, promise to write more often once we're settled into the new house.

A song for dads

2009-03-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

I've been intending to write about this for a while now, but there's a song out by "Hootie and the Blowfish" frontman Darius Rucker that I first heard the day after Amelia was born.

"It Won't Be Like This For Long" has been receiving a lot of airplay lately since Rucker decided to go country and the song has really struck a chord with me.

I was heading back to our apartment the day after Amelia's birth to grab something before I headed out to purchase a car seat when the song came on the radio.

It chronicles a new father's journey from the week his daughter was born through the time she gets married.

When I listened to it, I did what any emotionally-shot person who had been awake for 36-straight hours would do...

I sobbed uncontrollably in the car.

Cheesy now, perhaps. Real, raw emotion at the time, you bet.

Anyway, I've posted the music video and the lyrics below. I hope you enjoy it!

It Won't Be Like This For Long

He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Layin' there in bed listenin'
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK

It won't be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laughin'
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
It won't be like this for long

Four years later 'bout four thirty
She's crawling in their bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clingin' to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can I do
She says now don't you worry
This will only last a week or two

It wont be like this for long
One day soon we'll drop her off
And she won't even know you're gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It won't be like this for long

One day soon she'll be a teenager
And at times he'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the aisle
And raise her veil
But right now she up a-cryin'
And the truth is that he don't mind
As he kisses her goodnight
And she says her prayers

He lays down there beside her
Till her eyes are finally closed
And just watchin' her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows

It wont be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah this phase is gonna fly by
He's try'n to hold on
It won't be like this for long
It won't be like this for long

Baby's first St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

I don't have a whole lot to write about, but I thought I'd bring my loyal readers this cute photo of Amelia in her St. Patrick's Day best.

Amelia is wearing a "Baby's 1st St. Patrick's Day" onesie my mother-in-law, who's 100 percent Italian and doesn't have a drop of Irish blood in her, gave her and a shamrock headband Amelia's class made at daycare.

An additional Happy St. Patrick's Day to my mother and Grandma Van Matre, who I have to thank for my Irish roots.

Enjoy!

Remembering Mrs. Erfurth

2009-03-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

As I was reading my hometown newspaper today, I learned of the passing of a former elementary school music teacher of mine.

There was an obituary for Shirley Erfurth in this week's Oregon Observer, who died last Thursday at the age of 58 from complications related to her nearly life-long struggle with rheumatoid arthritis.

Mrs. Erfurth was an early influence in my love for music at Oregon Elementary School, which eventually became Netherwood Knoll Elementary School.

I'll always remember the massive spring concert she used to arrange that brought students and their parents together for one special night.

That memory should live on forever in the home video of my entire grade-school class singing Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart."

Yikes.

Then there were the birthday celebrations, Halloween, "The Chicken Dance" and so many other favorite childhood songs.

I learned how to keep the beat and figure out rhythm through the use of phrases like "ta, ta, tee-tee ta."

She had a way with children, making all of us feel special in our own kind of way. She was full of love for every student of hers and was always light-hearted and fun.

I credit her for giving me the basic musical building blocks that eventually led me to the violin, one of the great treasures in my life to this day.

Thank you, Mrs. Erfurth, for everything you gave to me and hundreds of other children in the Oregon School District.

I can only hope my daughter will someday get the chance to experience a great teacher like you.

Dad's role as a 'lactivist'

2009-03-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

This might sound like an odd topic for a dad to be writing about, but I think the public tends to forget about the father's role in promoting breastfeeding.

I've been told repeatedly by doctors, nurses and my wife about how important breastfeeding is for babies, especially when it comes to brain development. So from the very beginning, I've been there encouraging Tara to keep it up, even when it didn't seem like it was working.

Because Amelia was born premature and very small, breastfeeding was a difficult process for her. Many newborns figure it out right away, but that wasn't the case for our little girl.

In the last month-and-a-half or so, she's become a pro and I'm proud of her and Tara for sticking with it.

I'll admit that I was a little weirded out at first when Tara began talking about breastfeeding early on in her pregnancy. I suppose it was something I never really thought about and I feel that our society has been conditioned to treat it like a taboo subject to some extent.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw an Associated Press article in early February that said a state representative was introducing a bill in the Wisconsin Legislature that allows women to breastfeed anywhere without being harassed.

According to the AP, Wisconsin lags in the number of mothers who breastfeed, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting less than 68 percent of state moms breastfed their infants born in 2005.

The federal government is trying to get that number up to 75 percent by 2010.

The AP also reported 40 other states have similar laws that protect women from harassment if they breastfeed in malls, restaurants and other public areas.

Personally, I think its about time. I felt very anxious when Amelia was breastfed in public for the first time this weekend.

Tara and I were at a home improvement store when Amelia began to throw a fit because she was hungry. Typically, we've brought a bottle of pumped milk with us when we're out and about, but Tara had finally built up enough courage not to bring along a "safety net" this time.

We ended up heading over to a patio display, which was sheltered by several large fake plants, a canopy and an assortment of other patio equipment. I figured it gave Tara the privacy she needed, especially for the first time feeding in public.

I stood by, almost like I was keeping an eye out for anybody who might come and say something negative. My paranoia got the best of me, I suppose, as nobody seemed to care.

The anxiety I felt, however, is not without some merit. I remember hearing reports in the media over the years of moms who were harassed for breastfeeding in public.

For instance, in 2006, a mom was turned away from a Racine Victoria's Secret, of all places, when she tried to breastfeed her baby there. An employee told her she should go feed the child in a bathroom.

Right... Because I'd like to eat all of my meals in some nasty bathroom, too.

But Tara's first experience feeding Amelia in public has given me hope that maybe our culture is changing. Maybe people are more accepting of it.

Until I get used to this, I think I'll still remain guarded, just maybe a little less.

Baby Blog is now on Twitter

2009-03-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

I've taken a page out of fellow Daily Union writer Mike Schmidt's book and jointed Twitter.

Twitter is a service that allows me to connect with people via short messages, either by the Internet or through the use of text messages on my cell phone.

Being a writer is tricky and while I think everything my daughter does is amazing, it doesn't always warrant a lengthy blog post. It also becomes especially difficult when my work life gets busy.

This should help fill that void, though I do intend to keep writing about her and my experiences as a new dad.

If you're on Twitter and want to follow what's going on with Amelia, go to twitter.com/JamesDebilzen.

There's also a video below this post that explains how Twitter works. Enjoy!

Growing like a weed

2009-03-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

Since I last updated, Amelia has continued to surprise me with new sounds and physical actions.

I haven't really heard her laugh much, at least nothing as distinct as my first post about it. But she is beginning to discover her voice, making more vowel sounds and beginning to babble.
If you talk to her, she'll "talk" back to you now.

She keeps getting bigger and bigger, outgrowing some of her three-month sized clothes already. Her three month birthday was Feb. 21.

Tara has been regularly going through Amelia's dresser and removing the outfits that no longer fit, putting them in a plastic storage bin. The bin is already almost full.

Her rapid growth has almost sized her out of her basinet, too. This is cause for great concern to Tara, who's not quite ready to put Amelia to sleep in her own crib in another room.

When that time comes, however, I can only hope that Amelia's pattern of sleeping through the night continues. It's been so nice not having to wake up multiple times in the night. Now, she typically sleeps from 8 or 9 p.m. through 5 a.m., about the time I wake up every morning.

Amelia has also begun to discover that those flailing limbs attached to her are her arms and she has some control over them. Mind you, it's not the fine motor control we would expect from a concert pianist or any other great musician, but she's now able to smack the dangling animal toys on her bouncy chair for amusement.

Among her other recent discoveries, Amelia has enough skill to get her thumb to her mouth to soothe herself at times.

As I've written before, I'm always amazed by her and how fast she's growing. And when she smiles at me when she sees me for the first time in the morning or after she gets home from daycare, it just melts my heart.

Partying with a mechanical mouse

2009-02-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

Man-kind has grappled with the unknown since the beginning of time.

What is the meaning of life?

Where did we come from?

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Today, I'd like to add another question to the list:

Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to combine young children with pizza, animatronics, caffeine, sugary birthday cake and video games?

Tara, Amelia and I made the trip to Chuck E. Cheese's in Madison on Saturday, where I spent many a childhood birthday party when I was growing up. We were joining Tara's family for a celebration of her cousin Parker's fifth birthday.

Things really haven't changed that much over the years. In fact, the exact same animatronics were clacking away on the stage, though they looked a bit rougher than I remember. Jasper T. Jowls' lower jaw, for instance, was missing, which I suppose could really mess with a kid's head if they were really paying attention.

There was a line out the door of people waiting to get into the place. Once we were inside, children on sugar rushes buzzed from game to game, collecting tickets in the hopes of winning that plastic toy perched on the shelf at the main counter.

I watched as one parent tried to soothe a child that was scared by the mechanical Chuck E. Cheese.

Tara did everything she could to keep from scolding two boys that were attacking the cymbals on Pasqually's drum set (it's part of her natural "teacher" instinct).

When you're a child, these are things you tend not to notice. But now as a parent, it's all I could think about.

Then it hit me: I put my poor parents through this experience a countless number of times.

And now, it's my turn. I may not have been there for my own daughter on Saturday, but I'm sure a birthday party for Amelia at the place where "a kid can be a kid" will happen sometime in the future.

Payback's great, isn't it, mom and dad?

Getting the giggles

2009-02-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

I was on the phone with my mother at the time, but the sound from Amelia cut right through our conversation.

While Tara was holding Amelia, the baby erupted in a brief burst of laughter last night. I was dumbfounded.

What I've been learning about babies is you'll be constantly surprised by them. While some of their new actions can be anticipated ahead of time, things like Amelia's first giggles come on suddenly.

We don't even know what brought them on, but she had a big smile on her face when she did it.
Since last night, the feat has yet to be replicated, but I'm anxiously waiting.

Sneezes, sniffles stifling peaceful slumber

2009-02-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

Amelia's been battling her first cold over the last couple of days and it's made for some long nights.

I have to admit that I admire my wife's stamina as she holds Amelia for hours at a time in the glider rocker next to our bed while the little peanut coughs and sneezes throughout the otherwise peaceful night. On average, Tara's been getting a total of two to four hours of constantly interrupted sleep each night since the weekend began.

Because she's breastfeeding Amelia, Tara has tended to just let me sleep when the baby wakes up at night. And while I appreciate it, I do feel bad that there isn't much I can do to help.

Even my typical four to six hours of sleep isn't enough to keep me alert throughout the day. I don't know how Tara does it while keeping track of a room full of toddlers at work, all without a nap.

We've tried a couple of things to help clear Amelia's stuffy sinuses, but they only work so well. Do any other parents out there have remedies that seemed to help their infants when they had a cold?

Please send your ideas to jamesdebilzen@charter.net. I'd appreciate anything that might help Amelia, and ultimately my wife, get a better night's sleep. If your idea helped, I'll write about it in a future blog posting.

Catching up

2009-02-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

Regular readers of the Baby Blog will notice my posts have been a bit sparse the last couple of weeks. For that, I owe an apology.

Life as a reporter can be hectic at times and free time can be hard to come by. This last week, I spent two nights writing stories after covering evening events and spent two days in Green Bay at the Wisconsin Newspaper Association convention.

Anyway, here's what readers have missed:

Baptism

Last Sunday (Jan. 25), Amelia was baptized at our home parish, Holy Mother of Consolation Catholic Church in Oregon, with our friends and family members present.

The church holds a lot of significance in our lives. It's where Tara and I both were confirmed and where we were later married. Father Bill Connell, our pastor, presided over all of these special events.

Amelia was pretty calm during the whole ceremony. She usually screams at the top of her lungs when she has water poured on her during a bath, so it was a pleasant surprise.

For godparents, Tara and I chose two close friends. The godfather, Tom Elmer, has been friends with both of us since high school. Tom and I were in the orchestra together and we credit him for bringing us sparking our relationship in college.

During Tara's first week at UW-Whitewater, Tom invited her to dinner at one of the dining halls. At the same time, he invited me, too. But neither Tara nor I knew the other had been invited.

After dinner, Tara and I decided to hang out for a while, not realizing it was the beginning of a new relationship.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Amelia's godmother is Christina Opheim, who has been friends with Tara since early childhood. Christina's mom and Tara's mom both worked with each other years ago and have been close friends since then.

As long as Tara and I have known each other, Christina and her folks have always been more like family.

Both were very excited to be selected for this special role.

Meanwhile, in what has become a reoccurring event, I couldn't leave the church without Father Bill joking that he hopes to see us there with another baby in nine months or so. That's a story that goes back to our wedding on Sept. 1, 2007.

During our wedding, Father Bill used a bible that my godparents gave us for a wedding gift. In it, there's a family tree where we can keep a record of our relatives and our own new family. It was during the wedding that he noted it had eight spaces for children...

We want more than one child, but I think eight is a bit over the top. We'd also like to get accustomed to this new parent thing before we even think about Baby #2. Sorry to be a disappointment, Father.

Separation Anxiety

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I spent a lot of time away from home last week.

It began with a Jefferson Chamber of Commerce dinner on Monday night, which kept me from home until after 10 p.m. Amelia and Tara were both pretty tired and ready for bed, which limited my amount of snuggling time with my two girls.

Tuesday night was a little bit better when I covered the Fort Atkinson Planning Commission at 4 p.m. However, the complicated story that followed kept me glued to my computer screen in the hopes I could get to bed at a decent hour.

Jumping ahead to Thursday morning, I sent Tara and Amelia off to the daycare as I packed the remainder of my clothes and personal belongings that I needed as I headed to Green Bay for two days.

I was attending the Wisconsin Newspaper Association convention, an almost annual event for me since I became a staffer at UW-Whitewater's student newspaper, the Royal Purple. Tara usually has a harder time with me being away than I do, but I've always missed her.

This year was more difficult, though. I missed Amelia's smiles and her inquisitive gaze as she looks at the world around her. I missed the three of us sitting together on the couch listening to the baby coo as Tara and I talked about our days.

I'd be lying, however, if I said I didn't enjoy the uninterrupted sleep I finally had for the first time in I don't know how long.

In fact, I slept so soundly, I didn't hear my cell phone ring the two times Tara sent me text messages wishing me good morning as she prepared for work on Friday.

On Friday night, I left the WNA convention at the end of the awards dinner around 8:30 and made the three-hour drive back to Brooklyn, where Tara and Amelia were staying with her parents. I finally made it there around midnight to find Amelia sound asleep.

When I peeked in on her, she opened her eyes slightly and gave me one of her biggest smiles. It just made me melt inside to think I left her for two days.

I'm not going away for a long, long time.

Niagara Falls

One last story before I sign off for the night involves Amelia at bathtime on Sunday.

As I was getting the baby bathtub and supplies ready, Tara went ahead and undressed Amelia. She swaddled her up in a blanket to keep her warm while I prepped the tub.

Mother and child wandered into Amelia's room for only a moment when I heard Tara call my name in a defeated voice.

The two reappeared and I noticed a trickle of a liquid seeping from the blanket around Amelia. Tara's shirt was soaked and a frown was plastered upon her face.

Tara said when she took Amelia's diaper off, it was perfectly dry. Apparently, she decided to wait until she was in mommy's arms before letting her rip.

I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. Seriously.

Back to reality

2009-01-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked Tara's return to her job in Janesville after eight weeks off to recover. It was also Amelia's first day in daycare.

As much as we would have liked to go back to the days of the stay-at-home mom, today's economic climate (and my salary as a reporter) make the notion of mother and baby being inseparable pretty much impossible. Thus, Amelia will be left to the care of a trusted childcare professional.

For us, the notion was a bit nerve-racking. Since she was born on Nov. 21, Amelia had been in our constant care. If she wasn't with us, she was with one of the grandparents, typically for a couple of hours at the most.

It could be a lot worse, I suppose. Fortunately, my wife is a daycare teacher and Amelia will commute to work with her everyday. Though she will not be allowed to care for Amelia because of the center's rules, she will be in the room next door.

We're lucky. Tara's employer is flexible and gives her the chance to feed Amelia throughout the day. It's also comforting for both of us to know that, God forbid, something were to happen to Amelia, Tara will be right there.

Growing up, Tara and I both had very different experiences when it came to childcare. My mother-in-law, Barbara, was able to stay at home with Tara and her younger brother, Randy, for most of their youth.

My parents worked split shifts, meaning me, my younger sister and my younger brother were at a babysitter for about two hours each day. It worked out quite well.

So, the daycare situation is new for both of us. After Amelia's first day, we both feel confident that it will work out fine. Her teacher said Amelia did well during the day and took her share of naps. The couple of times Tara went to check on Amelia during her breaks, she was sleeping soundly.

It was also a new experience yesterday for us as we both prepared to go to work. In the past, Tara was still sleeping as I headed out the door to go to work at 6:30 in the morning.

To accompany our schedule, one of Tara's coworkers offered to take the later shift at the daycare to allow us to spend more time together at night. It was an offer that was too good to turn down.

Yesterday morning, Tara and Amelia woke up at the same time I did and we prepared for our days together. Tara fed Amelia while I got ready for the day, then we switched off while I got the baby dressed and spent some time with her. The morning news was on the television in the background and the aroma of coffee was in the air.

I left for work like I normally did and it didn't really hit me how different our days would become with Tara's return to work until I came home for lunch. Except for our two cats, Milo and Sheila, the house was empty.

No snuggling time with the baby.

No conversation with the wife.

The warm family welcome I had gotten accustomed to was gone.

For me, it meant we were back to a reality.

More "firsts"

2009-01-15T21:56:00.000-08:00

Amelia has been smiling on and off for the last couple of weeks, but now I think she's doing it for real reasons.

According to "The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First Year" by Armin A. Brott, babies first begin to smile around their second month. Earlier smiles, he writes, can likely be attributed to gas.

"And now, the moment you've been waiting for: your baby is finally able to smile at you," Brott writes in his book.

I've been able to make Amelia smile occasionally, though Tara is better at bringing out the smiles than I am. The baby smile has also been elusive prey for my camera, though I did capture one shot of her smiling at Christmas.

Amelia will be eight weeks old tomorrow and she has also started beginning to show other signs of her rapid development.

She's beginning to hold her head up on her own and likes to look around, especially when she's being held over mom or dad's shoulder. Brott writes that babies begin to prefer looking at more complex patterns when they reach Amelia's age.

"Instead of the simple, relatively motionless outline of your face, she now prefers your eyes and mouth, which are constantly changing shape," Brott wrote.

That's apparent as Amelia, who is now much more awake more often than when we first brought her home, likes to stare into our faces when we talk to her.

Another first for Amelia is she's beginning to outgrow some of her newborn-sized clothes. A week ago, we had her weighed and discovered she was up to 8 pounds and half an ounce, quite a jump from her birth weight of 5 pounds 3 ounces.

Everything seemed big on her when she came home and it's so hard to believe that we're having to pack away some of her clothes because their too small.

There are plenty of other firsts that we have to experience in the future and I look forward to sharing them with everybody.

Finally free!

2009-01-08T17:26:00.000-08:00

Amelia reached a huge milestone today when the orthopedic doctor finally released her from wearing her Pavlik harness.

When she was born, Amelia was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. Essentially, her hips were not properly developed, possibly because her legs were above her head for a good portion of the pregnancy.

Luckily, Amelia's case was a mild one and, because it was caught very early, it was treatable by wearing a body harness.

It was a cumbersome device that strapped around her waist, shoulders and her legs. By keeping her legs bent at the knees and at the right angle where they connected with her hips, it allowed the hips to develop properly.

As you can probably imagine, it made diaper changes at 3 in the morning all the more difficult.

It mostly impacted my wife, Tara, who was stuck trying to feed Amelia while she was wearing the harness. She was not as flexible and her lack of leg movement made her very bulky. The Velcro on the leg portions was scratchy on anybody who was holding her and it ruined one of Tara's new silk shirts at Christmas.

Amelia was cleared from having to wear the harness today following an ultrasound on her hips at the hospital yesterday.

Years ago, hip dysplasia was treated with double diapering or cloth diapering. We still intend to cloth diaper Amelia whenever we can because of the expense and the environmental impact disposable diapers have, so hopefully it will help ensure that her hips continue to remain in good shape.

We'll go back for another ultrasound in six weeks just to double check.

Tara and I are both thankful the dysplasia appears to be cured and are equally thankful that Amelia no longer has to wear the harness.

We think Amelia also appreciates not having to wear the contraption anymore. She fits in her car seat much better and she's been kicking away since it was removed.

Déjà vu on the Baby Beat

2009-01-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

The story about the first baby born in Fort Atkinson in 2009 brought back some memories for me.

In today's Daily Union, I wrote a brief story about Remington James Christopher Berndt, who was born at 7:54 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 2. He was the first baby born at Fort Memorial Hospital in 2009.

This wasn't the first baby-related story I've written since I started working at this paper nearly a year ago.

In journalism, reporters are often assigned "beats." A beat refers to the subject area that a reporter covers. Mine at the Daily Union is the Fort Atkinson city beat, meaning I primarily cover the city council, planning commission, police and fire incidents, and just about anything else that happens in the city.

Another beat that I've apparently picked up over time here is the "Baby Beat."

I've written about the Fort Atkinson mom who gave birth in a car on the Beltline while she and her husband were on their way to St. Mary's Hospital in Madison and another about the U.S. soldier who made it back to Fort Memorial Hospital from Afghanistan just in time to witness the birth of his first son.

Two of the stories had one thing in common with the birth of my daughter, Amelia: We had the same hospital room.

It was a little weird yesterday when I came to the hospital to interview Remington's mom, Rochelle, and found they were in the same room that Tara, Amelia and I basically lived in for five days.

Being in the room brought back a lot of memories and emotions.

The couch I sat on when I conducted the interview served as my bed for our entire stay.
I thought about all of the hospital food that I ate and the many cups of coffee and granola bars I consumed from the birthing center's beverage center.

It felt strange looking in the basinet and seeing a different baby lying there.

I thought about when Tara and I were anxiously waiting for the nurses to bring Amelia to us after the birth and how tired I was after being awake for more than 24 hours straight.

Most importantly, however, it reminded me about the new love Tara and I both felt whenever we held or peeked in on Amelia during our hospital stay. That same kind of love was apparent with the parents in all of the stories I've covered on the Baby Beat.

I feel like Amelia's birth has also given me a new appreciation for the baby stories I've written and it distracts me from the bad news my job often has me sharing with the people throughout the county.

I'm hoping the new year, which started out with an uplifting story, continues to bring better luck to a community that has been ravaged by floods, fires, business closings and other tragedies.

Dad's resolutions for 2009

2008-12-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

Everyone has a New Year's resolution of some kind, so I might as well hop on the bandwagon.
I've had resolutions before, but the new baby has changed my perspective on life a little bit more.

With that said, here are my resolutions for 2009:

• To my wife, I promise that I will stop whining so much when you ask me to change Amelia's diaper or feed her in the middle of the night. It'll be a struggle, but I'll try.

• Anybody who knows me well is aware that I'm not the world's healthiest eater. Because I want to be around for a long time to see my daughter grow up and have a family of her own someday, I'm going to eat less of the junk food and get the bike out more than a handful of times this year.

• Napping will become a bigger priority. I've written about this before and since that time, I've been slipping and not getting as much sleep as I should.

• I will continue to use the camcorder to document Amelia's many "firsts." I've done pretty well so far, but I don't want to let up on it. My parents were always good about videotaping us three kids when we were growing up and I've always enjoyed looking back on those memories.

• I promise to stop teasing my wife about the likelihood that we'll own a minivan someday.

Happy (one month) Birthday!

2008-12-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

Today, Tara and I celebrated one month since Amelia was brought into our lives.

It's hard to believe that a month has already gone by. So much has changed in our lives and while we've gotten used to the constant diaper changes and feedings, every day brings us something new.

Today was actually the day we were expecting Amelia to be born. We know it's a small number of women who actually give birth on their expected due date, but we didn't expect her arrival to be one month early to the day.

After one month, here are some of my observations and highlights, in no particular order:

• Amelia has learned to suck her thumb (or her hand depending on her mood).

• She is beginning to lift and turn her head on her own.

• She can follow objects with her eyes.

• She had her first real bath after her umbilical cord fell off a couple of weeks ago.

• On Thanksgiving, by pure coincidence, she started making cooing sounds after Tara asked, "What sound does a turkey make?" The timing had both of us laughing hysterically.

• She made her first trips to see Grandma Karen and Grandpa Jim (my parents) and Grandma Barb and Grandpa Randy (Tara's parents). She also got to meet Great-Grandma Roseanna and will get to meet Great-Grandma Mary on Christmas Eve.

• Amelia is now able to proudly ride in her regular infant car seat after having to travel around in a "car bed" from the hospital because she was so tiny.

• She's (hopefully) half-way done with the treatment of her hip dysplasia. She has to wear a brace that puts her legs in a set position so her hips form properly. This has made breastfeeding and even snuggling her more difficult.

• Dad has discovered that napping makes the days go by better. Mom tells him naps are for wimps.

• Dad is becoming a pro a diaper changes in the middle of the night.

• Despite my best efforts to be like some celebrities, I was unable to talk the Daily Union into paying me $1 million for her first baby pictures (OK, so I made that one up).

• For the most part, the cats don't seem to care that the baby exists. Perhaps that's a good thing after some of the horror stories I've heard when couples bring their baby home for the first time.

• Baby Einstein CDs are highly underrated.

• If you ever have doubts that a vaporizer isn't producing any steam, don't stick your hand over it to find out. It hurts.

• Half of my freezer is full of bags of extra breastmilk.

• With a newborn, doing your Christmas shopping online makes life a lot easier.

• I almost feel guilty going to work after Tara literally had not stepped outside of our house for an entire week. I said "almost."

• Bath time = screaming baby.

• It's amazing how many diapers and how much money you actually go through in a week. A box of 96 infant-sized diapers only lasts about a week-and-a-half. I can't wait (financially speaking) until she can fit into the cloth diapers we purchased a while ago.

Naps for dad

2008-12-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

I think I'm starting to turn into my father.

Dad, aka Grandpa Jim, is notorious for his ability to nap at the drop of a hat. It's not uncommon to drop in on my parents and find him snoozing in his easy chair in the living room.

I don't mean to make it sound like that's all he does. My dad works hard every day, whether at his job in Stoughton or on his next project around the house, and he's entitled to a nap or two to recharge.

In fact, his napping capabilities are something I'm beginning to admire. I've started to learn how valuable a good nap can be as I wrap up my second full week back at work.

It didn't help that I wasn't feeling well this week. I've had a headache that's lingered since Wednesday and my throat was really sore, too.

But I've taken more naps this week than I think I have since I was pulling all-nighters finishing up term papers in college.

Depending on the timing of Amelia's feedings and diaper changes in the middle of the night, I'm finding myself climbing out of bed at 4 a.m. to clean bottles and breast pump parts and get ready for work. By mid-afternoon, I'm worn out.

That can be a problem when your job might have you covering a city council meeting or another event in the evening.

It's nice that Tara also seems to understand my schedule can burn me out and she lets me nap when I need it. She's currently on maternity leave from her job as a daycare teacher in Janesville, so she spends her day tending to the baby and getting things done around the house.

Tara's repeatedly stated she's not the napping kind. In fact, she was commenting earlier this evening how every time there's been a major change in her life (i.e. starting college, getting her first full-time job, being pregnant, etc.), everyone's told her, "Oh, you'll learn to nap." She added that she finds this statement annoying.

After being back at work for two weeks, my response was, "Oh, you'll learn."

I think she had to restrain herself from reaching across the couch to smack me.

Anyway, I think I'm about due for another nap. While some people might actually be preparing to go to bed at this time of night, I'm resigned to the fact that I no longer sleep ... I just nap for a few couple-hour stretches at a time overnight until it's time to go to work again.

Pajama problem

2008-12-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

Fewer things annoy me more than smug Chicago Cubs fans. And unfortunately, my wife is already trying to brainwash Amelia into becoming one of "them."

My whole life, I've been a consistent Brewers fan. I may not know the statistics of every Brewers player to ever exist like some of my friends do, but I've always enjoyed following the team, even if they've lost every single game I actually attended.

Tara, on the other hand, has always been a huge Cubs fan. The daughter of a man who has customized license plates that say "CUBFAN7," Tara was raised to obediently cheer them on from a young age.

It's this kind of indoctrination that I'm trying to stop.

But tonight, Tara did something that is testing of our marriage.

She laid out a pair of Chicago Cubs pajamas for me to put on Amelia when we were getting her ready for bed.

I felt dirty as I dressed her in the blue outfit and I've cringed every time Tara has referred to her as "our little Cubby."

I'm hoping some unfortunate accident happens to the pajamas the next time they go through the washer. A cup or two of bleach should do the trick.

Everything to fear

2008-12-14T07:27:00.000-08:00

New parents have a lot of fear for the safety of their newborn and if they're like me, they often overcompensate.

It starts when you bring the bundle of joy home from the hospital. Even though I was only going across Fort Atkinson, I was terrified on those first couple of drives that somebody was going to pull out of an intersection and slam into the side of the car while baby Amelia was with me and my wife, Tara.

My top speed on the drive home was probably about 20 mph.

I've worried about tripping over one of my two cats while I'm carrying the baby or simply dropping her by accident.

I've worried about her bath water being too hot (it was luke-warm at the most).

You can't bundle her up enough when she's in her car seat or tighten it the seat belts enough.
Then I'm afraid I've made the belts too tight.

And the list goes on.

Last night, I was able to check off a couple of items from my list-o-fear: being in a car accident and having a large, stinging insect anywhere near the baby.

Oh, deer!

Tara and I had gone to visit my parents at their home in Brooklyn. And before anybody asks, no, I'm not talking about Brooklyn, NY, and no, it's not near Milwaukee. You're thinking of Brookfield.

Brooklyn is about 30 minutes south of Madison and the drive there from our home in Fort Atkinson takes us through a very rural area along County Highway C (County Highway A in Dane County). Around the county line, it never fails that we see at least one deer either crossing the road in front of us or standing in the ditch. I've learned to approach the area cautiously.

Last night, not a deer was in sight as we traveled through the stretch of roadway and though I'm not sure if I made a remark about it, I at least thought it was strange.

About two miles later, one decided to make up for it.

Granted, I was a bit tired on our drive home and had I been a little bit more alert, I may have spotted the deer sooner than I did. But steep embankments on both sides of the road made it even easier for bounding creature to be a big surprise.

I had just gotten back up to highway speed after making a right turn at the last intersection when, out of nowhere, one of the biggest bucks I've ever seen appeared in the glow of the car's headlights.

Tara let out a scream as I slammed on the brakes. There was no way I was going to miss hitting him.

There was a loud crack that shook the Oldsmobile as I caught the back end of the deer on the passenger side of the car.

I immediately pulled over and got out of the car, fearing the worst, but I was more concerned the impact and the hard braking had hurt Amelia. As I opened up the back door to check on her, it was evident that the crash had only startled her from her nap.

As I went to inspect the damage, I was shocked to find that everything appeared fine. A quick inspection at home in the garage revealed that only some hairline cracks had formed in the plastic bumper.

We spent the rest of our time before going to bed being thankful that the accident hadn't been worse.

Owww! $*@#%!

Fear item #2 came up as I was feeding Amelia her bottle shortly before 6 this morning as Tara was helping me deal with a spit-up incident.

I was sitting on the couch with Amelia when I heard a loud buzzing sound fill the living room. As I looked where the sound was coming from, I saw a large insect flying towards us.

It landed on the neighboring couch and when I asked Tara to see what it was, she recoiled in horror. It was a large hornet.

Now, how a hornet ended up in my house in the middle of December is a mystery to me. But the severity of the situation was still pretty evident.

Tara has never been stung by a bee, wasp or hornet before, but her grandfather was very allergic. It's this knowledge that keeps Tara afraid of stinging insects.

I've received my share of stings before, including being stung in the butt when I was a young child and stung in the neck when I walked too close to a garbage can at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and was swarmed by bees. Ironically, I was walking to the office of the Royal Purple, UW-Whitewater's student newspaper, where the adviser and the news editor were discussing doing a story about how bad the bees were that year.

Anyway, Tara took Amelia and retreated to the bedroom after a failed attempt to corral the cats into one of the bathrooms. Milo, my orange male cat who is full of energy, thought the hornet was a new toy.

All he managed to do is make the hornet even more angry and difficult to locate.

I spent about the next 45 minutes attempting to seek and destroy the flying, stinging insect of doom. After Milo and Sheila, our rotund other cat, were safely put away, I began my search in the living room.

I moved our couch away from the wall, thinking Milo had chased the hornet behind there. Moving the couch required me to move an end table ... which is where the hornet was really hiding.

I happened to grab the table right where the hornet was sitting on the underside of the wooden edge. In return, I received a nasty jab in my middle finger on my right hand.

Hornet: 1. James: 0.

Even more angry now, he flew across the living room and over into our office area. I tended to my wound and looked for sympathy from my wife, who was now protecting Amelia in our bedroom. I then resumed the hunt.

Armed with my slippers and still wearing a shirt covered in baby spit-up, I cornered the buzzing pest near the cat's litter box. With the hornet in my sights, I moved in for the kill, only to have him regain his energy and come straight at me.

I'll admit it. After being stung once already, I was a little gun shy, so I did the first thing that came to mind.

I ran away, making some sort of a cowardly sound that Tara said she could hear from the bedroom.

Hornet: 2. James: 0.

Now I was mad. The hornet had gone somewhere to hide in that same area, but I couldn't find it. I was afraid to grab onto any surfaces where it could be hiding underneath, so I began kicking everything with my slipper. The bookshelf. The desk. The garbage can. The baby swing and bouncy chair.

Nothing. No noise, no visual.

After about 10 minutes, I had to use my secret weapon: Milo.

I released the spastic orange cat from his cell (AKA the bathroom) and he was in full hunting mode. He checked where he had last seen the hornet and then sat quietly in the middle of the living room, listening.

Suddenly, his ears perked up and he bolted into the tight space behind the desk. I could then hear lots of buzzing as Milo cornered the hornet.

I feared Milo would end up getting stung, so I bribed him out of the spot with a bag of cat treats.

Next, I waited patiently to strike when the hornet least expected it. Milo had riled it up enough that it was now in the kitchen. I found it on the floor and moved in for the kill.

Game Over.

Until next time, the world is now safe for baby Amelia.

Caffeinated commentary

2008-12-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Coffee is becoming more of a staple in my diet ever since Amelia came into the world.

Though I discovered the glorious power of the potent coffee bean during my days at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, I have a new appreciation as I wrap-up my first week back at the office.
Amelia's sleep pattern is hit or miss. Some nights, she'll go four hours before waking up to be fed or have her diaper changed.

Other nights, like last night, she'll be up every hour-and-a-half or so.

I was able to handle the infrequent sleep pretty well at first, but since I returned to work on Monday, I've needed a little help to get through the day.

So, cheers to you, oh wondrous brown beverage of delight. New parents everywhere thank you for your magical powers.

A new life as a new dad

2008-12-11T13:49:00.001-08:00

"Your life is insane."

My long-time friend and co-worker, Mike Schmidt, says those words to me on an occasional basis here at the Daily Union office. And, perhaps, he has his reasons to have that opinion.

In the last two years, I have graduated from college, held three different full-time positions at various area newspapers, lived in three different cities and married my college sweetheart, Tara.

But to my friends like Mike, that's not really the insane part of my life.

In April, Tara and I announced to friends and family that we would be expecting a baby right around Christmas time. I planned to start this blog in the weeks leading up to the birth, but the baby had other plans.

On Thursday, Nov. 20, I received a call from Tara while I was beginning to work on a story for Friday's paper. She said she was just leaving her job in Janesville because her water broke.

Talk about a stop-the-presses moment.

After standing up out of my chair fast enough to send it into the wall behind me, I briefly explained the situation to my co-workers and bolted for the door.

Before Tara's call, I thought I had a good month to get ready for what I was now scrambling to accomplish.

Instead, our house was in disarray and our bag for the hospital wasn't completely packed. I ran back and forth from room to room, grabbing random items while Tara, in her calm and collected manner, explained what she needed and where I could find it.

I met her in the parking lot of our apartment building when she safely arrived and we were off to the hospital.

To make a long story short, Amelia Rose was born at 5:35 a.m. on Friday after about 16 hours of labor at Fort Memorial Hospital.

Now, Tara and I are enjoying the new little bundle of joy and marveling at every little thing she does. Nothing makes you stop and think about life and the world around you more than when you become a parent. It is this new perspective that is the driving force behind this blog.

I plan to chronicle my experiences as a new father here. I hope my stories will be entertaining, enlightening and, perhaps to some extent, helpful to other new parents.