Here's a little story

I know so well...

The baby is going through The Teething, Act II. Which means she's not sleeping. Or sleeping very lightly. Which means that the Mrs. is sleeping for about an hour at a time, most of the time, and the most I can hope for is four hours a night. Which means that we're all a little fuzzy here.

And I'm always a little fuzzy at three in the morning.

So, she's crying. And I know I have to give her the medicine for her gums, the pain itself and then change her diaper and put her back into the crib and hope and pray to God that she sleeps for the rest of the morning. She won't. But God has been known to have mercy on the most destitute.

I take out the Infant Tylenol. It's administered in a droplet and tastes like cherry. She's never had cherry before, but she likes the flavor. She guzzles it like a toddler eating Flintstone vitamins, like a car needing gas, with just a wee bit of seepage spilling out. And then I rub in the Baby Orajel. She doesn't so much resist it this time. She tends to suck at it and relinquish it of its powers, but I've generally gotten better at getting it into her before she overcomes it.

Unfortunately, now I've got both of the medicines on my hands and I've already placed her down on the changing pad. I can't leave her to go to the bathroom and wash it off. And then I frantically search in my mind for a solution.

And I think, "Gosh, if only there were something in the baby room that is portable and wet that I could wipe my hands with. Kind of like tissue, but a little more durable. Something that would be delicate enough for my hands or a baby's behind. It would be preferable if it were white, so I could see in the dark. I need something to wipe my hands with in this here baby room."

If only...

Someone should invent this product. I for one would buy it.

Updates, updates, Read all about 'em!!

The baby picture sites (Flickr and Picasa) have finally been uploaded with pix of the family. Included are grandparents (including Grandpa and Granny Fronz), great-grandparents (both Grandmoozle Mary and 'Ita Rosa as well as a napper-snapper of Lo-lo Luis), uncles (The Uncle Jeff and the too-enthused Uncle Brian and Unkie Chunkie) and, finally, some decent ones of Momma with the baby. My big ol' crusty face (and bushel of curly hair) is there too.

For some strange reason, there's no auntie pix, at least not digitally.

There's also more head shots of the little one. Who, by the way, is still very healthy, even as she's been battling a bit of a head cold, heat rash and really, really stuffed nose.

The other, and much-related news is that we're going to transfer much of this baby-related stuff to a joint blogsite, name TBD. (EDIT: It's called The Family DYEgest. Get it? It's a pun - put together by mommy [I don't really do puns. So much]. Because we're overly concerned about what and how she eats.) Somewhat because I promised myself I wouldn't tell any poop-stories or jokes on this site. And I want to remain a man of integrity. EDITEDIT (I made a mistake in the link there. It's fixed now. Don't ask. Don't tell.)

On another, related note, congratulations to new members of the blogosphere, the Gotzi - or Gotzes, not sure which of the two. They just moved into Virginia (ironically, my brother and his expectant wife are just on the verge of relocating from VB, VA and the Navy. And not a moment too soon I might add. Of course, moving into Noo Joisey is a bit of into the frying pan, but still...) and have got the coolest/weirdest masthead for a blogspot I've seen. Their site is Thetwogotz.blogspot.com, with a current track of what their cat kills/eats/fiddles with, presumably.

Further proof that Stevie Wonder is blind

The classic "Isn't She Lovely" centers around this opening:

Isn't she lovely?
Isn't she beautiful?
Isn't she precious,
Less than one minute old

It's a wonderful song and a good sentiment, I'm sure, but no baby is lovely at that period. That is the ugly period.

Not to say that she wouldn't be precious...

Cause someone around here has to sleep all day

and get fed for doing nothing... (says the summer vacation teacher daddy)

The little one is Jocelyn. Welcome, little baby.

Update I:
I'm going to try to keep as many people updated as I can about our baby and her condition(s) as I can, so I may be a little lagging in the info department here at times.
Our little miss chubby cheeks is hooked up to the oxygen tube here (and some other gadgets and vials) because she had some trouble breathing, she had/has some discoloration issues going on (at times looking like a little Smurfette, which is not as cute as it sounds, Jossie being human and all), and she was throwing up some mean stuff. So, she's on antibiotics and she may remain at the hospital for another week. Hopefully, nothing worse is happening, but the staff is constantly checking up on her and monitoring her and everything.

Today, she had another tube going down into her mouth, and the staff has been directed to not feed her for awhile.

And it's difficult being in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit and seeing our relatively healthy and full-term baby and not feeling a little 'wowwed'. And we are grateful. We can, for instance, hold her. But it also hurts deeply to see our little precious one in all these tubes and crying out of frustration, a very hurt cry.

We ask and hold on to your prayers. Thank you.

Update II:

Mama and I are traveling a lot between here and there now. We can say that based on this evening's visit, our little pumpkin-head is doing so much better. She still has an infection (around the lungs, I believe), but everything else seems to be working fine and on-schedule for development (sounds like a project, eh?).

Still, we miss her here and long for the time to bring her home and hold her w/o worrying about popping off a tube or something.

Update III (July 20th):

On my way to an important (and always frustrating) teacher's fair, so I'll be quick.

Baby's doing well enough to allow her into a private room, which means that mama and/or I will have to be with her consistently until she's released (probably Tuesday, maybe slightly later). Which is terrific because mama's in recovery mode and shouldn't be doing so much traveling anyway. It also means that we may get to have a few more visitors. But, please, wipe your hands and blow your snotty noses before ya come in! (*wink*)

She's a feisty one, kinda like her mama, she even furrows her little and wide forehead like her beautiful mama.

Hopefully, I can get some pix of her and mama all cuddled up. They were running the tests on her when I came in this morning, so she was busy crying, which meant that she had the little eye-boogers on her (Joss, not Jen). Not the most photogenic, but I didn't have our cam w/ us anyhow. I'll have to steal Jen's. Jen's much more photogenic than me, but she's still cam shy. Yet how can you NOT look good cuddling next to that precious little pumpkin-head? She even makes me look good!

Update IV (July 21st):

So much I want to say, so little time. But since pictures are worth a thousand words...

Notice what's missing.
Mama and I are a little concerned about some blockage in the nasal passages, but she's off the O2 tubes, among other things.

One of the rare, valuable shots featuring the recovering mama. She's cute.

A really old picture of Jocelyn.

She's got large, spider-monkey feet.
The good news is, this is one of only two tubes left on her as of last night.

Yes, I know. We're planning an intervention.

I want to thank AJ and Therese for coming by yesterday and taking five million great pictures. (The first two pictures were courtesy Gramps Fronz and Jennie, both via the brilliant photographic capabilities of the Virgin Slver). Of course, I also want to thank Granny Fronz for exquisitely helping Jennie and the baby during the afternoon transitional period, and for Unky Chunky for coming by and bestowing his blessing on the other side of the pregnancy (Btw, Jocelyn is the first grandchild for both of our parents and obviously the first niece/nephew for our kin, so congrats to them too).

I also want to thank friends and family for their prayers, care and concern and stopping by here regularly for updates and images. I think our biggest areas of concern left are just in this transitional period (bringing her home w/o a boatload of expert staff at our every available whim for our slightest scare) and any concerns that we may/will most likely have in terms of insurance and payment.

Update V [The next one will be called Update Balboa] (July 22nd):

Not much to say. Or at least, not enough time to say it (promised Jennie I'd be back soon). But I will mention that we got news last night that we may be able to go home as early as tomorrow, Monday. She's eating well, but all of our hopes of putting her on some sort of schedule (and feeding straight from the source) seem to be flying out the window right now. O well, she's in a constant state of flux right now. We'll get it together soon and she'll pull herself up by her li'l booty straps before you know it. (You can tell I used to be a Republican?)

A picture I've been waiting to take for a while.
Don't know about you, but it makes me smile.

Update VI: A New Hope

We're still not home, after hoping to be released earlier today (although good news may come along at any given moment, I doubt they'll release us within the day). But Joss is doing well. She kept mama up all night (which I understand is perfectly normal for newborns and teenagers alike). She's also actually gained weight since birth (2 oz's. This just after we were told that she lost all-told two ounces since birth. That's a gain of like 4 ounces in one or two days. Just like her fat daddy!) - usually the babies drop that weight in the first week since they're padded with extra protection for that necessary sleep time. But at this point, we're just playing it safe. She drinks almost two ounces (the magic number, apparently) on average every three hours.

I've got more errands to do (including a trip to UPS on the other edge of town, if I can). So, I'll talk more later.

Update VII: Return of the Jossi (July 24th)

The moment we've all bee waiting for. The end of Jabba the Hut and the final confrontation with Darth V....

Sorry, wrong dramatic sequence.

I gotta go. My baby (and Jennie and myself) are coming home!

Update VIII: The Quest for Freedom (July 25th)

Look, colors!

I'm gonna clean up and feed my baby. Thanks for all your concerns, calls, texts, emails, prayers, etc.

Update IX (Jossie in Space).

We took little Joss to her first post-release doctor visit. She's not only fine, she's great. The doctor was thinking that she wasn't necessarily sick, but just threw up some milk (either mama's or the similac type stuff). Her little body (over?)reacted to defend itself and the hospital staff (overre?)acted in accordance to their policies to help the baby defend herself. But, honestly, I'm not knocking anybody. Better safe than sorry.

She's also actually gained weight already. And she's very peaceful. She can cry to stop a train, but generally speaking, she sleeps a lot, eats a lot, and poops occasionally.

BTW, I've been checking out the sitemeter to see who is interested in the news about our precious little bundle, only to find that a large contingency of international people who have visited (like, four of the ten) recently came for some insight (which I highly doubt they received) on biting beetles.

Is there something going on that I'm not aware of? (Zombie Roaches?)

Update X (The Papa Decree)

OK, and for those who just can't get enough Joss (I'm talking to you, family), we've got Flickr and Picassa slideshows above. You can get and copy pictures, I believe, just by clicking on the images.

Peace out.

Because everybody keeps calling...

in good nature, of course, we've yet to have our little bundle o' joy.

But I did get a new laptop. Almost as cool. And I have to do less reorganizing to set this little baby up.


We just moved. And we're trying to fit everything into this much smaller apartment. We buying a lot of shelving units (enough so that the landlords should be paying us, but probably will use as an excuse to raise the rent on the next dwellers).

Oh, and did I mention our new place is right next to the El? Like literally next to the Chicago Transit Authority flippin' El?



For non-Chi-townies, that's short for Elevated. A beautiful tapestry that works mightily through the structure of our grid-based town when it's working right. A perfected version was erected (and then destroyed) in Batman Begins. It was driven on some Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines buddy-cop drivel in the 80's. And Doc Ock tried to play the Speed game using one of our trains in Spider-Man II. We live in the Blues Brothers' apartment.

And it's loud.

Like a freight train running through your head loud when you're not so used to it. And hearing it every two-to-twenty minutes in your bedroom or living room (or across from your potty) can be a bit unnerving.

By the way, her name is Jocelyn Carissa. And she'll be beautiful. I say this because I have faith that she'll look like her mommy. And not so much like her daddy.

Color us pink!

Confirmation today (unless he's really shy) is that my Mrs. Jasdye is carrying a healthy half-term bouncing (and as of last night, kicking) baby girl.

Oooh, boy. Talk about your proud papa-to-be!