Brennifer

Survivor: Holiday Edition

Well, the holidays are behind us, and we now realize that holidays with kids are a while new ballgame! Max is now nearly 3 months old, and let's just say that this blog post started when he was 2 months old, so that tells you how life has been in the Swanson household.

The last few months have gone very quickly, with Thanksgiving and Christmas giving us lots of opportunities for family visits, photo opportunities, and barely controlled chaos. We spent a few great days in the cold north for Thanksgiving with Brent's family, introducing Max to a new set of Great Grandparents, Great Aunts, Great Uncles, and a new second cousin, Kennedy, born just 3 weeks after Max.  A few weeks later, Auntie Ann, Uncle Will, and cousin Freya arrived from London for a long visit. It was really great having the babies together at last, but oddly enough they did not really acknowledge each other all that much. It seems that 2 1/2 months is a little early to understand that there are, in fact, other babies in the universe!

Max is definitely becoming his own person, and talking up a storm. As I write this, he is on his play mat, having quite the focused conversation with Mr. Monkey, Ms. Toucan, and George the Giraffe. I can only imagine the subject of the conversation, but judging from Max's excitement, it is either about Max's upcoming Rainforest expedition or about how much poo he can fit into his size 2 diapers. 

We are so lucky that Max is a happy kid - his smiles are plentiful and spectacular. No matter how tired, stressed, or grumpy we are, he can crack a grin that just melts us in an instant. And he has recently started laughing - and his first giggle was caught on tape! Jen and Max do yoga at Blooma in Edina, and a recent class was being taped for promotional clips to be posted on YouTube. You can view it here- Max's big giggle is near the end, during the "horsey" rides.

He is not a great sleeper - our only complaint with this little guy. We've recently had some longer night sleeps, but they are rather irregular and with Jen heading back to work this week (and still nursing) it's going to get pretty interesting. With Jen's return to work, we'll be starting day care, which will bring a whole new set of experiences and challenges. But we are ready for this next chapter - we've figured things out so far, we'll be able to figure out how to be a dual career family too!

28 Days Later

Leave it to Brent to come up with a reference to a Zombie movie for our 1 month update on Max, but given our state of sleep deprivation it is actually oddly fitting! We're all settling in just fine, and are starting to figure things out, from understanding Max’s various squeaks, grunts, and faces to adjusting to the fact that even simple tasks take much longer than they used to!

Max has already developed quite a personality, starting to make eye contact with us, and smiling a lot (and we swear it’s not gas!!!). He has a great series of “post-milk” faces that he makes, including his “oooooh” expression, smiles, and a great elvis-like lip curl that accompanies gas. Adorable, really.

We are trying to get Max to be as comfortable on his play mat as his cousin Freya seems to be, and he is starting to warm to it slowly. Max’s mat is a rain forest theme, with lots of crinkle leaves, a mirror, a monkey with a curly tail, and a giraffe (we're not letting on that most giraffes we know are not hanging out in the rain forest).  He uses the mat to log some tummy time, which is gaining him some wicked neck strength - he uses this to head-butt his mom and dad when we're not paying enough attention to him. :)

Max is also getting good with the eye contact. He locks-in on stares with whomever is holding him, and even will get excited by the pictures in the books we read to him at night (who cares that we have to hold the books a foot from his face!) We are also astounded by the strength of his little legs - his kicks are so fierce we have to hold him in a certain way to let him work it out before a feeding or bed time.

It seems like there is something new every day with Max - new sounds, new skills, new habits, and new smells, and we love it all - even the stinky stuff. This week, Max got his first bottle from Dear Old Dad, and he grabbed on to that bottle like it was going out of style. What an eater he is! He is growing fast - this week he logged in at 9 lbs 10 ounces, and we've begun contemplating how his big-time eating habits now might translate into monster grocery bills in about 14 years. He has even outgrown a few of his newborn outfits this week - a fact which makes Jen a little teary-eyed about how fast her little boy is growing!

All in all we are loving our new addition to our family, and are excited about what the next 4 weeks will bring!

Max's Arrival

Our big day finally arrived last Sunday, October 19. Our little guy, Maxwell Thomas Swanson came into the world at 11:30 a.m. with a good hearty wail. We knew our lives would never be the same!  Max, as we're calling him, weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs 13 ounces and was 22 inches in length...with some seriously big feet. The pediatrician let us know that the feet and length indicate that he will likely be a big boy - he is already working toward this end by eating like a champ (with the diaper output to prove it.)

Jen went into labor on Saturday night at about 8 p.m., and we labored at home until about 2 a.m., at which point we were pretty sure that it was the real thing and went to the hospital. We had our first taste of sleepless nights, as we labored into the next morning, but Max's big entrance was worth it. Everyone came out of the experience happy and healthy, and not too much worse for wear. Jen is singing the praises of prenatal yoga, which was super helpful both in terms of managing the labor and in helping her to bounce back from the delivery. Hooray for the community and support at Blooma in Edina!

It is amazing the changes a week will bring. We came home on Tuesday, and already we are finding some small routines starting to set in. After some initial challenges, we are getting him to sleep for 2-3 hours at a stretch at night, so we are tired but functional (so far!)

It has been a busy week, with lots of visits from friends and family. Brent and I are so thankful for all the meals people have brought for us (fridge + microwave = sanity). This week we are going to attempt to venture out in the world a little more, so we'll see how that goes. Max sets the schedule, but he's proven to enjoy the outings to the doctor and a short walk around the neighborhood, so we are encouraged that he'll dig exploring his surroundings a little more. He is such a good baby, with an even temperament and no unnecessary crying. He does, however, let us know in no uncertain terms when he is hungry, wet, or otherwise uncomfortable.

We'll post more photos and updates here, so keep checking back for more Max!

The Home Stretch

This week, we hit 37 weeks, which means we are good to go any time. Both of us have been nesting. Jen’s been working hard to get the last few nagging house projects done. She does the ones that don’t require her to bend over since her belly is getting pretty big, so Brent’s been working hard to handle the rest.

We've taken the classes, reads the books (or watched the DVD), packed the bags and feel like we have all the theoretical knowledge down cold. We know that there’s nothing like practical knowledge and are prepared for a quick, steep learning curve.

The nursery is all ready for Baby Swanson – thanks to a really fun summer of baby showers. We have great photos of many of them (including the “traveling” shower to London for Jen’s sister Ann, who is also due in Mid-October). Check them out here.

We’re getting anxious for the big arrival.  Not knowing when it will happen sort of makes us feel like we’re playing the lottery every day. We can tell that the little guy himself is getting antsy to get out. He’s running out of room to turn and kick. But we’re hoping he waits until closer to his due date to make his grand entrance. We may be ready at home, but we both hope to have the chance to get a few more things done at work before life gets turned upside down!

It's a Boy!!!

Bring on the snails and puppy dog tails, we're having a little boy!!! Check out our ultrasound scans of the heir to the Swanson empire (no, not the TV Dinners....) He is one fine looking kid, if we do say so ourselves.

He managed to sit still for a good profile shot, and he was willing to show his feet off too (just like his mom!) but he could not sit still for much else (just like his dad!) However, he was not at all shy about giving us a good, long glimpse of his not-so-gender-neutral parts. Of these, we surmise, he is rather proud, since he made sure we got a good look and weren't at all in doubt of what we were having.

Most importantly - we have it on good authority that he is the right size and shape and that all of his essentials are present, accounted for, and in the correct location. Only 4 1/2 months to go! Jen's belly is getting rounder and bigger by the day, and Brent has been nesting and getting uber-protective of Jen. Not that she MINDS having someone else to bring in the groceries....

LOST in Hawai'i

We had a wonderful time in Hawai'i and just wanted to share a little update with all of you.

View the Photos on Flickr

As you may know, this is our last BIG vacation before the "little one" arrives.

After a bit of a rocky start (Let's just say that Baby doesn't like flying), Jen caught a migraine on our flight in. And because of her condition, couldn't take anything for it. We settled into Waikiki for a couple days of "work." Jen managed an event and Brent did a photo project, both for Capella.

After making our way through baggage claim, taxi stands, and getting checked in to the Disney-like Hilton (seriously - Don Ho meets Mickey Mouse), we made a cursory review of our room, dropped off the gear and headed down to the beach for sunset as quick as we could. For the next three days, aside from a trip to Pearl Harbor, we stayed pretty close to home base and enjoyed Waikiki beach, our pool, and getting over the jet lag.

On Saturday, after all the work was done, we headed to the airport to pick up our car. After a brief consideration, we opted to upgrade to a Jeep with a removable top. We took the scenic route along the coast, winding our way along the scenic vistas and numerous beaches full people sunbathing, snorkeling and surfing.

During our drive to the North Shore, we passed by several notable "LOST" shooting locales, including the main beach area seen in most episodes. Over the course of the week, we scouted out just about every location we could get wind of. Yes, we are VERY big geeks. And we have the photos to prove it.

Turtle Bay resort, situated on the north-east corner of the island, is where we landed for the remainder of our trip. It is a MUCH more serene setting than the Waikiki. The resort is RIGHT on the coast, and our room overlooks the western coast so we get great sunsets every night. On our first night there, we walked around a bit to get our bearings, and sat at the poolside bar (that also overlooks a rocky bay and is about 20 feet from the ocean) and enjoyed frothy drinks. Jen's were virgin of course. We bumped into several stars of the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (which was filmed at Turtle Bay). They were back doing a press junket. The most notable folks we ran into were Jason Segal and Mila Kunis. Brent and Mila were shopping side by side in the general store one night, which he was quite excited about. But as a true Minnesotan, he did not say anything to her. "Why bug her? She's there working, She should be able to buy ice cream in peace!"

In our first full day on the North Shore, we drove as far North as the road paved road allowed us to. We could've kept going on the off-road path in our Jeep, but it would've voided our rental contract ad we decided not to risk it. On our way back, we stopped at Turtle Beach (different than Turtle Bay) for a little swimming + sun. As we worked our way down to the beach front, we saw a crowd of people gathered in a circle by the water. We realized that not only was there a sea turtle laying on the shore sunning itself, but next to it was a seal, doing the same thing. After the buzz settled, we found a nice sunny spot to set-up. Brent got out his snorkeling gear as fast as he could to jump into the ocean. As he made his way around the rocky shoreline, he literally came face to face with several ginourmous turtles who were swimming around, eating the vegetation growing on the rocks!

The weather was great all week - sunny, 80s, and a few stray rain drops every now and then, but nothing to ruin a day. Jen got a little too much sun one day (pitfalls of an open-top jeep) so the next day we stayed close to home and got massages at the resort spa. The rest of the week, we alternated between hitting beaches along the north shore and hiking around the beaches at the resort. Lots more snorkeling for Brent, but the giant turtles were the hit of the week.

We also ate REALLY well (surprise surprise). On the north shore, we had a few nice dinners at the resort - our favorite spot was actually ON the beach (tables and chairs in the sand) and Brent enjoyed great tuna and salmon, but Jen was obsessed with the giant shrimp. Jumbo does not begin to describe it. They were grilled with shells on and served on top of a few different dishes of rice or pasta. In other cases, we found that some of the best food came from roadside shacks, like the one across from Sharks Cove, where Brent did some snorkeling. It was basically a trailer on the side of the road, but served great tuna burgers and kabobs, with organic salads and great fries.

We'll definitely be back. Won't need much of an excuse to head back there. We've been looking at houses for sale on the beach, so we'll be in touch if we decided to make any purchases.

Preggers!

Yup, we've got a bun in the oven, due to arrive in mid-October.

We're not the only ones though. Jen's sister, Annie, is due the EXACT SAME TIME!