This week has just drifted by so casually. Amy and I stay around the house, take visitors, watch the baby, take turns finding new ways to make him happy. I cook and clean, take care of things that have been hanging… We talk on the phone to friends and relatives a lot. When I have time off work, I’m usually either on vacation or I stay home and work obsessively on my own stuff, freelance projects, etc. This time is so different – we’re not doing anything but figuring out how to be a family together.

Miles is a different boy every day. We’re beginning to wonder if we spoke too soon in declaring him to be quiet – he’s seeming to cry a bit more every day, and starting to get harder to calm, unfortunately. When it’s not the diaper and it’s not the milk and it’s not the burping… it doesn’t leave a whole heck of a lot to try. We scratch our heads and look all concerned, but it always works out.

Put up another set of images — Miles Week One (click):

While I was at it, moved the sonogram/doppler audio loop into the miles dir.

We obsess over things that would probably look small from the outside – whether his eyes are opening quickly enough (one of them has seemed kind of “sealed,” but seems to be getting better on its own), whether his breast-feeding habits are “normal,” whether he’s pooping too much or not enough… I suppose it’s common to be a bit obsessive as you figure this stuff out for the first time.

We’ve had three outings so far – a walk around the block to get some sunshine on him and to see how Amy is faring (excellently, but not out of the woods yet). Then a pediatrics visit on the 3rd day (all is well) and a trip to Rockridge Kids today to spend some of the gift certificate we received from the J-School.

Amy’s friend Sarah made a gorgeous mobile for us — hand-folded origami birds hanging from backyard apple tree branches (because Miles used to be Appleseed). It’s lovely. Will hang that over the crib tomorrow.

For those who read this blog for something other than endless baby tales, don’t give up on me yet – the newness of all this will wear off after a while and we’ll return to the regularly scheduled blah blah woof woof.

Albums Miles has heard so far in his life:

William Parker – Raining on the Moon
Sex Pistols – Nevermind the Bollocks
Nora Jones – Come Away with Me
Orchestra Baobab – Pirate’s Choice
Raymond Scott – Soothing* Sounds for Baby

*Yeah, right

Miles is coming along so well. Watching him experiment with the eyes he’s never used… we’re aware of exactly when his eyes are open, how wide, and for how long, but unsure of whether he actually “sees” anything. He does seem to turn his head toward our voices, following with eyes.

All of his parts are brand new, untested. These lungs have never been used – how to turn them on? These eyeballs have never seen anything. And they work, right off the showroom floor! These limbs have barely moved, not with this much range of motion anyway – but this elbow does flex! These lips do lick! He’s got to figure out how each and every part works. Doing great so far. Grasping motions are already seeming slightly more focused, more coordinated.

Amy’s milk came in yesterday – the real deal, not colostrum. The milk knocks him right out – amazing soporific powers. Breast-feeding has gotten easier since last post – mom and baby have both learned the tricks. Wide mouth, tongue down, chin down, lips flanged. His sucking is so incredibly strong – put a finger in there and be amazed.

Filing his nails every other day to keep his face from getting scratched. A and I are learning the diaper thing as we go – it’s not too hard.

He sleeps with us in the bed, between us. No, you don’t have to worry about rolling over them any more than you have to worry about falling out of bed – you just don’t.

We’re floating in love – melting several times daily.

A collection of images from Miles’ first 24 hours on earth, and of mom and dad’s time in the hospital.

Before Miles was called Miles, he was just Appleseed. We tried to take a profile shot of Amy’s belly each week during the pregnancy (although we missed a few), then morphed* them all together at the end.

*Technically, this isn’t a real morph since I didn’t map point to point, just iPhoto’s built-in Slide Show output.

Our baby was born on the 23rd day of September, 2002.

So maybe there was a good reason why Miles arrived a week late — September 23 turns out to be a very auspicious day. For one thing, it’s the Autumnal Equinox, so there’s a nice seasonal/celestial connection.

The 23rd also turns out to be John Coltrane’s birthday – who better for a child sharing a name with Miles Davis to share a birthday with than John Coltrane?

And then there’s the 23 connection – in the works of William S. Burroughs and Robert Anton Wilson, much is made of the significance of the number 23. We’re not numerologists, but Scot and friends have always taken pleasure in uncovering the strange preponderance of the number 23.

• Homo sapiens are given 46 chromosomes from their parents: 23 male and 23 female.
• The human biorhythm cycle is generally 23 days long.
• It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the human body.
• There are 23 vertebrae in the human body.
• Geosynchronous orbit occurs at 23,000 miles above Earth’s surface.
• A full turn of the D.N.A. helix occurs every 23 angstroms.
• The tilt of Earth’s axis is roughly 23° accounting for the changing seasons and the procession of the Zodiac.
• The Dog Days of Summer begin on July 23 when Sirius the Dogstar rises from behind the sun.
• 23 Skidoo

Technically a Libra, Miles was born on the cusp between Virgo and Libra. Like we care ;)

Too overwhelmed to write right now, need time to process all these thoughts. Such a day, such a fantastically beautiful day. Our baby was born less than three hours after Amy went into labor. It was an intense labor, very pure and very fast. We now have a dark-haired boy, six pounds 12 ounces, 19″ long, blue eyes (we think – so far he’s barely squinted up at us out of them). We don’t have a name for him yet – that will come soon enough.

The birth was so incredible. More tomorrow.

At 2:15 pm, Scot got the call at work from Amy, who had just gone into labor during lunch with Stacia, our doula (perfect timing!). Scot rushed home to find Amy having contractions a few minutes apart. We packed her bag, dug out the birth plan, and got ready to head to the hospital.

This is it: the axis upon which the rest of our lives turn. More later.