Noah Revisited - Part 1: Birth through Bris

Noah Aron Folman was born on April 8th, 2011 in Santa Monica, CA, weighing 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measuring 22 inches long. This is his first picture, taken moments after his birth:

These next two were also taken moments after his birth as his lay under the warmer.

The new family.

This video was taken when Noah was only two hours old. He was alert and adorable right from the very start.

Noah and his Mommy.

Noah and his Daddy.

Noah and Giraffe.

With Grandma Barbara

With Grandpa Howie

On the way to his new home...

Just home from the hospital.

With Grandma Toby

and Grandpa Bob

and Uncle Dave

and Auntie Trish

Noah's first bath.

At the bris. Rabbi Brous, blessing Noah.

Noah, in the kippa Mommy made him.

Noah with his new cousins.

The familia, post-bris:

So we had this son...

Carin and I have neglected the MiniFolman blog for the last 4 months. Let's see, what have we been up to these last few months? I'm trying to remember...Ah yes, being parents. An occupation which has been thrilling and wonderful, if sometimes challenging. And it has left precious little time for blogging. We've been living life, as opposed to journaling about it, and this has left us several months behind the ball.

This wouldn't bother me so much if a certain spouse of mine (not naming any names here) hadn't posted one singular blog post that has remained at the top of the queue for all these months--and if that singular blog post hadn't had the unfortunately melodramatic title: "Languishing." Hardly the headline with which to hearken the birth of our precious child. She can be forgiven because weeks 2 through 4 were particularly challenging ones with Noah, but I feel the need, for the sake of our internet record, to try and recap Noah's first few months in a manner that more accurately expresses the joyfulness, wonderment, and nuclear powered cuteness that these months have comprised.

This leaves me in a bit of a pickle because I happen to still be a parent, in addition to being a writer--and husband, cooker-of-dinner, scooper-of-kitty-litter, etc.--and frankly, I don't have the time to work backwards and properly chronicle the last 4 months and 3 weeks of our lives--not with words anyway. What I'll offer instead, in these next few posts, is a brief recap of our recent history in pictures and videos. For most of you, these pics and videos will be old news, so please bear with me. Once we are caught up, then we can start posting the new bits of cuteness as they happen. In the meantime, please enjoy this trip down recent memory lane...

Languishing

I promise I haven't forgotten about this blog altogether. It's just... this s@&* is HARD. The hardest thing I have ever done. Harder than getting a PhD in Biomedical Engineering.

Thank goodness the payoff is worth it.

Noah - in a rare state of relaxation that WASN'T swing-induced

I promise I'll be back soon with some updates on how this little man entered the world.

41w1d

Right. So I am now 8 days overdue. Here are the things I have tried in the past week:

• walking
• "The" salad at Caioti Pizza Cafe in Studio City
• spicy food
• the "insert euphemism here" method

I'm scheduled for a non-stress test and an amniotic fluid check at the OB tomorrow morning (if I don't go into labor before then). So we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm getting lots of nice family time with my parents, who arrived on Wednesday, and my brother's family who live in AZ. They were conveniently on a cruise last week that left out of LA, and figured they'd be returning yesterday to a new nephew/cousin. Sorry folks!

Bill and my nephew "playing basketball":

Me and my nephews having a belly contest:

Finally, here are some fitting fortunes that we all got when we went out for Chinese food last night:

• Your lucky number for this week is the number three. (April 3rd????)
• You will be showered with good luck tomorrow!
• Your blessings will multiply this coming month. Good luck!
• An enjoyable vacation is awaiting you very soon. (Ummmm...)

Come out, baby! We want to meet you!!

"1 Day To Go!"

It's pretty wild to look at our baby ticker this morning and see "1 days to go!"

We are VERY excited here in Folmanville. Any day now could be the day. The picture above was taken last night. Note how far down OLG has dropped. He wants out, and we can't wait to see him.

A few links to share today:

First, for those who didn't get the word on Facebook, Carin has set up a baby pool. You guess OLG's birthday, weight, etc. Today is the last day to make your guesses and enter. You may just win a shipment of tangerines from the tree in our backyard. If you're interested in playing, you can enter here.

We've also had a bunch of people ask about where we are registered for baby stuff. The answer: a few places: Diapers.com, Babies R Us, Target, and Amazon.com.

Finally, here's a link to a video I find quite funny. Dave, I fully expect you to be rocking this tune when I see you next.

Today, we continue to get our house (literal and metaphorical) in order, and I'm looking forward to getting some more writing done. But we are also at the ready. At any moment, our little guy may decide to make a break for it. We'll keep you updated when he does.

Ready to Drop - Pictures from the last 7 weeks

Yes, it's been a long time since either Carin or I have blogged. We've just been a little crazy. Carin was busy finishing up work, and I've been trying to juggle writing, teaching, and husbandry. We've also been preparing for OLG's arrival. Prepping his nursery, prepping our own room, prepping our lives, etc. At some point, we'll try to post some before/after nursery pics. Carin is futzing around in there as I type. All this preparation has been tiring, wonderful, and all consuming...and he's not even here yet.

There's been much I've wanted to write about that I can't even get to today (my office and script beckon), but I did want--at the very least--to post some pictures from these last 7 weeks. Sorry they've been so long coming.

The shot above was from this Thursday: Carin's birthday. We went out to what may be our last fancy, romantic dinner for a little while at Rive Gauche in Sherman Oaks. (To my brother: we both ordered duck in Chambord sauce, I also enjoyed the crab stuffed mushrooms in Hollandaise sauce, apologies for no food pics).

Now, we'll go back a few weeks and work our way forward.

The shot below is Carin on Valentines Day, 34 weeks 2 days pregnant:

Now at 35 weeks, 5 days (with cat):

As for Scottie, we have successfully kicked her out of her favorite place in the world--our bedroom--in anticipation of OLG's arrival. OLG is going to sleep with us for the first few months, and we don't trust Scottie in the same room as him while he's sleeping (at least not until he has the power to lift his own head up).

So we've kicked her out. It was painful at first because she likes to sleep in our bed, and there was some late night meowing for a little while. But we figure it's better now than when we ALSO have a crying baby to contend with. Scottie has mostly gotten used to the arrangement, but we still occasionally hear her meowing to come in (like this morning).

Her new hangout is the couch:

We've tried to get her to use the comfy cat bed we got for her, and she does sleep in it sometimes. This took a while, however. At first, it seemed she didn't know quite how to use the darn thing (see below):

Carin at 36 weeks, 5 days:

It's raining as I type this, but the weather has been beautiful lately. We've been enjoying everything blooming at our house.

and speaking of citrus...

After 15 months in our new house, we finally bought a citrus juicer! It produced the best OJ we've ever tasted. Liquid gold! Come over, and we'll make you some.

This is Carin at 37 weeks, 3 days, looking very belly-tastic.

...and now we're back to this week. This is my wife again on her birthday, standing in front of our beautiful snapdragons, 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

We are now 39 weeks and 1 day in. Baby is definitely riding lower than a couple weeks ago, and Carin has had what she believes are Braxton Hicks contractions (prelude to the real thing, these can start weeks prior to delivery). She's pretty uncomfortable these days, but also very excited. We both are. We are in the "any day now" zone.

Stay tuned...