Zoë's first Easter

We celebrated Easter this weekend with friends on saturday and then made our own family brunch on sunday before heading to church. Zoë wore her new sneakers, made for her by our wonderful artist friend Rebekah Plummer Rohloff , and her blue jeans.

Graduating from a breastmilk diet

Lisa and I have noticed Zoë staring at us in fascination as we eat our dinners or as we sip our beverages. Her interest during our meals have increased with each passing week indicating to us that she has been showing signs of interest in trying some solids. We therefore decided to start her on some rice cereal mixed with breastmilk this Wednesday. I also put together the high chair so she also experienced sitting at the table for a meal for the first time. All this was recorded and photographed with gusto. Zoë did well but looking at her face I don't think her first taste of solids, or more specifically rice cereal, met her expectations. We thought it was hilarious.

Midweek meal with friends

The whole family went out this evening with a bunch of friends to one of our favorite restaurants in our neighborhood, Erwin Cafe. All of us were finishing up some challenging part of our medical training this month so we used tonight as an excuse to go out and enjoy some good food and wine. Zoë was in a fantastic mood because she was filled with breastmilk prior to dinner and kept everyone amused.

Zoë gets another visitor

Our friend Brent was in town this weekend for a linguistics conference. We met Brent during our time in Champaign when Brent and I were both graduate students at the University of Illinois. We and our respective wives all attended the same church and became friends. Brent, Val and their two kids currently live in Gainesville where he is a professor at the University of Florida's linguistics department. We had a good time catching up since it had been almost 2 years since we had seen him. Zoë also seemed to sense Brent was a good dad as seen in the picture.

Zoë has her first fever

Lisa and I noticed that Zoë was really warm yesterday so we took an axillary temp which read at least 101 degrees meaning she had a fever. This could explain her extreme fussiness yesterday and lack of desire to feed. Furthermore, she also has a cough and runny nose. The picture looks very much like a viral infection so we've been just treating the fevers with tylenol. I didn't take her to daycare today and therefore stayed home with her while she recuperated. Who knows where Zoë could have contracted the infection: daycare? Or did her parents drag something in from their patients?

Mom on-call again

Lisa traded a call night at the last minute this week. Zoë and I therefore had another night alone while mom worked the hospital floors overnight. My friends Emily and Lauren from my residency program were cool enough to hang out with us for dinner. Emily even brought her dog Kenny who really got along well with our cats. Though the plans were to eat healthy that evening, we ended up consuming a Chicago style hot dog, cream based soups and ice cream (Zoë got many ounces of breast milk which is healthy for baby but, well, you know). None of us were feeling too healthy after that. I guess one would also include fat baby's feet on the menu as well.

Golden Weekend

Lisa and I had what physicians call a "golden weekend" this weekend meaning neither one of us had to go to work. Golden weekends are much cherished in residency, and we took the opportunity to spend as much quality family time as well as use every other spare minute running errands.
One fun thing we did was go on a shopping spree at Babies R Us. We realized this month that we practically have no toys for Zoë in our home so we decided to buy lots of toys. Furthermore, Uncle Bryan was able to come with us! We bought enough toys to last until she reaches the 9-12 month milestones which means we spent quite a bit of money, but we have found it's been worth every cent. Later that night, we hung out with Bryan's housemates/friends which Zoë seems to always enjoy.

Speaking of milestones, we also witnessed Zoë turning on her stomach for the very first time two days ago. We haven't caught it on film yet, but we're ready. And finally, we also restocked Zoë's clothes. She has grown out of her infant clothes (mostly because of her chunky legs and pudunkadunk baby butt). We've therefore put a bit of clothes away but also took out some clothes we've been saving for her 6-12 month stage.
The schedules have been working so far for Lisa and me. As stated before, the tough month is yet to come in April.

False Alarm

Zoë was back to her happy self today. Apparently babies can go into these periods of extreme fussiness and then back to their baselines, sort of like neonatal bipolar disorder. She still chews a little on her toys but I don't feel any tooth erupting through her gums. She has started giggling which is really cute! In any case, we're happy that she's happy. Tomorrow, it will be the first night Dad and baby are alone together because Mom will be on-call. This should be interesting...
In the meantime, enjoy a photo we snapped this evening of what Zoë would really look like if she truly roared.

Zoë says, "Hear me roar!"

Zoë has been in daycare for almost a month now. Lisa and I have to say it has been going quite well. She gets all the socialization an infant needs as well as enough visual stimulation to at least put her out each evening at 8:30pm. So far, Lisa and I have been able to coordinate our schedules so that at least one of us will pick her up or drop her off. Next month when I'm in the NICU again and Lisa is on her call month is when our wits will be tested.
Another thing has lately put a slight dent into our daily routine - Zoë is starting to exhibit possible signs of teething, and she certainly has no shame in expressing her discontent. She will in fact go into intervals of screaming fits where nothing can console her except for the constant rocking motion of mom or dad holding her. This has seriously affected Lisa and me since we work long hours and every minute of sleep counts. As an example, I'm in the general care nursery now in charge of all the healthy newborns that are born daily at the University of Chicago. On weekends, I'm the only resident which means I have been getting up at 2am to start my prerounds on the floor at 3am. Last night, Zoë didn't sleep until 11pm. I got about 2-3 hours of solid sleep before going to work. Furthermore, Lisa and I have little time to ourselves to finish our work at home since we have to spend most of our energy trying to appease Zoë. Dictations, papers, presentations and readings occur in short bursts when one of us is able to put Zoë to sleep (mostly because she's so exhausted from screaming and crying). Today, I took Zoë out for a 45 minute walk in the area so Lisa could get her dictations done. I also don't have time to come home to take a nap after being at the nursery. Fatigue therefore has begun to accumulate in both of us. I'm exhausted just typing this (and pending if Zoë sleeps, I'm going to sleep real well tonight).
We both agree that parenting is the easiest and most enjoyable part of our lives. It would be completely easy if only one of us worked or both of us were unemployed (and honestly, we really don't know what all the hype about the challenges of parenting, etc. are coming from). Medical residency is the hardest thing both of us have ever done. It's physically, emotionally, mentally and intellectually grueling. Doing both parenting and residency is exponentially harder. On top of all this, having both spouses in the field has set the difficulty bar at a whole new level. Vacation is going to feel so sweet.
In order to end this entry on a high note, I'm including all the fun/happy photos of Zoë that we've taken in the last few weeks. Besides the unhappy moments she had with her possible teething issues, she has had A LOT of smiley and giggle times. I do plan on including an entry of unhappy Zoë pictures in the future because they're quite cute too . . . in retrospect.