we wish you a merry beanmas!

mom, dad and bean on christmas morning, 2010

i just did a quick scan of the last blog we posted and i really can't believe how much the bean has changed in a few short months. we have much to catch you up on in her life and in ours, so we can just go chronologically to stay somewhat organized about all the goings-on.

shortly after posting our previous blog, we decided bean needed to get one last trip under her belt before dad's vacation time came to an official end, although mom's schedule was already crazy the first week back at school. so, we packed up what shortly became an obviously too-small car to head to upstate new york and pay a visit to the higgs family. as a side note that ended up being rather significant, the day we left, i had an early morning at the hospital and was surprised to almost vomit all over my computer unexpectedly during morning report. i chalked this up to it being unnatural for humans to be awake and functioning at that hour, and any residual nausea on this trip was easily attributed to being folded in half in the backseat of our piece of sh*t car trying to read out of a textbook while driving for 12 hours. anyway, i digress.

the orchard at our sunset arrival--beautiful!

david, bean (4 months), barb, jeannette, dave, and heidi outside ted and heidi's house

we arrived at the higgs family farm and orchard welcomed by one of several delicious spreads we'd have that weekend. on our arrival, heidi handed bean her first screwdriver, which she promptly bonked herself in the head with (fortunately heidi had the foresight to remove the metal part first)...it's possible the higgs crafty gene might also have skipped her, but we continue to believe with early remediation, she will be redoing our floors and roof in no time.

heidi and bean on a horse that heidi and ted made, of course

david, the bean and i stayed with ted and heidi in their awesome farmhouse that they dedicate most of their free time to renovating, although they always have many side projects going on, like clearing and replanting orchards, for example. we came just a little late for some apples and a little early for others, but it didn't stop us from enjoying many walks among the different trees, munching as we went.

bean and dad on a sunset stroll through the orchard


apple face

bean picks her first apple!

we also had the opportunity to visit with bean's namesake, isabel. just nearing the end of a stint in rehab, isabel remained a very gracious hostess and introduced bean to some children's songs that bean's great grandma used to sing to isabel and her siblings when they were young. this soon became a huge project, and for christmas, bean received an incredible, hand written song book full of the words and scores of these songs, some over 100 years old, without any other existing sheet music. what a treasure! the higgses know how to do family heirlooms! our time in pultneyville was all too short, but we very much enjoyed our stay, as usual. hopefully we will make it back for another visit soon, but at the height of apple season!

dave, barb and bean

the month that followed was one of the more difficult we've had in terms of scheduling/parenting/etc. on arriving home from pultneyville, still plagued by a nagging nausea, i peed on a stick leftover from bean's pregnancy just for kicks, and in the biggest "you have GOT to be kidding me" moment of my life, that dang thing was positive, as were the three that followed. immediately my mind was racing...it had been months since i swallowed any sort of vitamin and i had just spent a week and a half on a self guided tasting tour of local breweries across much of the southern united states, all in the formative fetal stages for bean jr. not to mention the thought of being pregnant AGAIN, giving birth AGAIN, and having an infant AGAIN without an adequate onset of maternal amnesia, lacking the cushion of student loans, needing to find a job in an impossible market at 9 months pregnant, and definitely needing to replace our piece of sh*t car that can hardly fit one carseat and two adults...

where's bean? 4 months

bean at her first pumpkin patch, big girl!

and with all of this rattling around in my brain, doing about 60 hrs/week at school, bean stopped sleeping through the night because my milk supply rapidly tapered off and she woke up every hour starving, so no sleep+immunocompromised+working in a hospital= weird illnesses for which you can't take medicine while pregnant=rashes that leave ugly scars and coughs that last for months, further inhibiting sleep. i wouldn't call this a happy time.

bean (4 months), mom and dad at the st. louis butterfly garden


bean carving her first pumpkin, 6 months

this minor disaster led to some difficult adjustments, like starting bean on formula, which was very important to us as parents never to do, but when the alternative is starving, it becomes more appealing. the switch to formula led not only to very smelly poop, but an ongoing battle with constipation, which is very stressful for everyone. this led to an early introduction of solid foods, namely prunes, a jar of which is required per day to keep things moving in the right direction. bean also got her first bad cold during this time, so for two weeks all three of us were up all night with a very stuffy, very stinky bean who could neither eat nor breathe nor sleep... again, not a happy time.

bean communicating, 5 months

with mom on the balcony, 6 months

HOWEVER, this rather unpleasant stretch of several weeks came to a close around the beginning of november with great resolution. bean's digestive tract and our noses have adjusted to the formula for the most part, and her transition to solid foods was pretty painless after already doing prunes for so long. foods she has tried include sweet potatoes, peas, peaches, and most recently string beans (is that cannibalism?) along with her daily helping of brown rice cereal and of course, a hefty portion of prunes. while she makes some funny faces the first few days with new foods, she always ends up eating everything throughout the day. big girl.

bean's first rice cereal, 6 months


out for a walk, 5 months

bean also emerged from her virus/starvation/constipation with developmental leaps and bounds that were sort of stunted those few weeks. this started her transition into true, blissful babyhood where she is almost exclusively a fat, rosy, giggly, happy little ball. over the past few weeks, bean has become very proficient in sitting up unsupported and will play that way very contentedly with her toys. she's much more confident in tummy time and actually will tolerate it with a smile for longer periods while we practice rolling over (still something bean isn't inclined to do by herself). she has mostly outgrown her activity center where she lay on her back to look up at her toys, and has transitioned to her jumparoo, where she is supported upright and can put her monster quads to work, jumping frenetically, spinning around, and playing with new toys.

bean in the activity center, 5 months

bean in the jumparoo, 6.5 months

bean playing with her toys, 6.5 months

she is far more interactive and aware of conversation, tones of voice, and the presence and absence of toys, people, and cats. she *really* loves the cats. this is probably the beginning of an ongoing one-sided relationship, because she seems far more interested in them than they are in her, but even if she's crabby and exhausted, if she catches a glimpse of a cat, she starts to laugh. however, ben does like to nap next to her, and olivia will be tolerant of occasional staring contests. i don't know if it counts though, because bean giggles the whole time.


bean (7 months) vs. olivia, staring contest (if you look closely, you can see that beans fat little cheek is puckered with a smile)

she continues to increase in coordination and dexterity...her new thing is to remove her pacifier from her mouth and generously offer it to others. she's extremely tactile, and is especially fascinated by mouths, noses and lips, with some hair pulling for good measure. every moment you can see her making more connections with her toys and books. she loves her bedtime stories, particularly "touch the art" books she got from aunt linda and uncle steve. she likes to participate actively in the reading of these books, which mom and dad know well by heart since we read the same two at bedtime every night. she also has some ticklish spots on her tummy, which we enjoy exploiting as often as possible.

and speaking of bedtime, we've made some big changes there as well. bean slept next to us in her cosleeper until about a month ago. it was much easier to soothe her and feed her throughout the night without having to walk across the entire apartment. however, after the starvation/constipation/virus nightmare, she never really got back to sleeping as well as she had as a very young infant (retrospectively, these long periods without breastfeeding are likely what allowed for her little brother to come to be). while dad can comfortably zzzz the night away as bean tosses and turns, i was sleeping less and less flanked by senor snore on one side and miss whiney on the other.

bean prepping for chicago winter, 6 months


out on the town in her zebra coat, thanksgiving '10

toward the end of november, her sleep really took a turn for the worse. instead of falling asleep alone a few minutes after lights out as she always had, it started to take hours of crying. bean also appeared to be on hunger strike, and would wake up starving but refuse to eat. we first thought she was teething, but it lasted for weeks. fortunately, by this time i was on vacation, but it was still pissing me off. finally, the time had come to move bean to her own room. i was just too sensitive to every noise she made, even if she was asleep. i intended to do some research on sleep training with this transition, but it ended up not being necessary...like magic, bean slept magnificently the first night. i of course was up the whole time making sure the monitor was working, checking on her constantly, and just feeling sort of lonely, but after a week or so i too adjusted to sleeping without bean, and the two of us are both sleeping much better now. i think dad sleeps about the same as always.

working on tummy time, 5 months

we also discovered at this time that bottles have different sized nipples, and bean's "hunger strike" was actually an inability to get any milk out of the nipple anymore. now with her fastflow, big girl nipple, i think we're officially out of the woods! bean is sleeping, eating, and growing right on track. happily into the second trimester, on vacation, and also sleeping again at night, i have had much more energy to actually enjoy my time with bean instead of being constantly stressed about what's wrong with her at any given time. it's much easier to enjoy a nightfeeding and anticipate her waking up when i'm not listening to her whine all night (also, because her fat little face always has a big smile on it). we generally wake up together in the morning, have a nice bath, eat and play, then take a nap. when she wakes up from her nap, we play with her toys, watch cooking shows, go for walks, and fold laundry. we have a lot of fun together, and she's generally very indulgent and self sufficient, like playing happily while i write this lengthy blog.

bean folding clothes, 7 months


bean with nani, 7 months

obviously, our lives are 98% devoted to the bean. however, those aspects that once occupied more time and attention continue to plod along... i think david is about exactly halfway through his residency now, which is just flying by. he continues to really love his work despite the terrible hours (slightly less terrible this year!) and has had some neat opportunities that keep things interesting, like flying to martinique to escort an ill vacationer back to his home in london as his personal travel physician. he has had to sacrifice study time for bean time, but with football season coming to a close, he might have a little more wiggle room on his priority list.

bean with zeda, 6 months

right around thanksgiving, i officially concluded the classroom portion of nursing school (woohoo!). i have spent my six week break divided between hanging out with bean, completing a big chunk of my 132 "indirect hours" required for graduation wherein i do health related activities but no direct care, and studying for the practice boards i will take when i go back next week. rather than doing any targeted studying, i decided to just go ahead and read my whole 1200 page review book cover to cover, just to be able to say i did. shockingly, i'm only about 150 pages from that goal...let's just hope it prepared me adequately for the test, or i won't be allowed to graduate!

bean's first halloween, dr. bean

when i return next week, i begin my final 10 weeks in the program, called "immersion." this is like our mini-residency program, where we match to a certain area and get paired with a nurse preceptor who provides one on one instruction for a total of 228 hours. essentially, we are beginning nurses, except we pay to work. i am very happy about my placement in the cardiac intensive care unit for several reasons--i've gotten good exposure to floor nursing and feel ready to try on critical care for size, which i think is better suited to my personality and professional values. the patients are sicker, but fewer, and the nurses can thus be much more involved in the care, and command more respect from the interdisciplinary team. i really like the nurses on the unit, including my preceptor, so i'm looking forward to a very enriching and educational experience. i will be a different care provider 10 weeks from now, and that is very exciting!

mom and bean, xmas eve 2010


with dad and the xmas tree, 6.5 months

while i complete these clinical hours, i will also be working on a capstone project, the only remaining requirement for graduation. i have no idea yet what this project might be, but am hoping the idea pops into my head pretty soon. if all these things go according to plan, i get to tack "MSN" at the end of my name on march 18, and RN shortly thereafter, provided i pass the boards. unbelievable that time has gone so quickly.

bean, 6 months

other than that, we have kept busy preparing to host our first christmas, which was a huge success. now that we've had a taste of the staycation, it will be hard to convince us to travel during the holidays ever again, but you're always welcome to join us! my mom, mickey, and travis joined us here in chicago for a few days this past week--even david had a nice stretch off. my mom had a big birthday this year which we rolled into our christmas eve celebration--bean and i got to try out some of the indian cooking skills we've been practicing with the cooking network the past few weeks, and we finally got to break out the incredible tablecloth heidi (and ted) crocheted for us out of...a few miles of string? we have to get the exact stats on that. seriously, not exaggerating when i say "miles." bean and i also got to present my mom with the scrapbook we have been working on for her, which was a big success! thanks to all the contributors.

who knew 5 miles of string could be so beautiful!

bean and nani check out the scrapbook (ok, bean's checking out her toys)

after a day full of opening presents, jeannette prepared a delicious and slightly more traditional christmas dinner. she wrapped up her final chemo session almost two months ago now, and aside from the peach fuzz on her head, you'd really never have a clue she had any dustup so recently. she has so much energy (more than david and i combined) and positivity, it would be easy to overlook what a tremendous accomplishment she just achieved--few people finish a whole course of chemo, let alone without really acknowledging it's even happening. she got some dinky certificate from the hospital, but i really think she needs a tshirt that says "i kicked cancer's ass." we are so proud of her, and could ask for no better gift than for her health to be in such amazing condition. bravo!

christmas dinner at jeannette's

so, as 2010 comes to a close, we again find ourselves feeling very fortunate (and very tired!). life has been both very exciting and very busy since david and i met, and we have enjoyed the large strides we have taken in building our life together. we are very grateful for the continued love and support that pours in from our friends and family--we could not do it without you! and we are truly blessed every day to wake up to such a happy, healthy, delightful little bean who brings us more joy and laughter than we thought possible. we eagerly anticipate the arrival of her brother--he has big shoes to fill, but knowing now what's in store, we can't wait to see his own personality develop and for our two beans to grow up together.

mom, dad and bean on christmas night, 2010

wishing all of you a restful end to the holidays and a wonderful transition to 2011!