Mr Chunk

Ewan had a check-up at the doctor's today. He's doing just fine and

certainly proved his digestive and urinary tracts are fine by going
through 3 diapers in the course of our 45 min visit!

Here are the official stats and how they measure up on the growth charts:

8lb 12oz - 25-30th percentile
21.5 inches - 60th percentile
37.5cm head circumference - 45th percentile

When he was born he was
Length = 21.0 inches - 90th percentile
Weight = 7.0 pounds - 25th percentile
Head circumference = 37.0 centimeters - 75th percentile

We think he's quite a chunk now, but according to the percentiles he's not at all. Americans must be having some huge babies these days if he is below the 50th percentile
in 2 out of 3 of these measurements!

"It's tiring work all this growing!"

Fraser's first Father's day

Today is Fraser's first Father's day. He did not have to wait long!

Once Kristi returned from her usual moring routine of taking Ewan for a 6am walk around the whole of Pasadena (we swear he's seen more of the town in the last 2 days than we have in the last two years), she prepared for everyone a hearty breakfast of her patented family recipie "First Lady" waffles with fruit and maple syrup. Yum!

For a Father's day gift Ewan had made a footprint when he was 11 days old in a foam pad which retained the impression and was then framed in a box frame with the picture on the left filling the other panel. A lovely keepsake from the first fathers day.

Grandma Kristi Meets Senator Ewan

About 20 hours after one Grandma flew home, Ewan's other Grandma arrived.

If Grandma Kristi had arrived a minute later we think she just might have burst. Fortunately she did not go pop and was thrilled to finally meet Ewan this evening.

We don't expect to get him back much for the next seven days!












In between bear hugs and cuddles Ewan showed off his best Roman Senator look. He loves to get his arms up around his head while he rests and no matter how well we've swaddled him, he'll often wriggle an arm free and looks as if he is sporting a toga. He's obviously getting practice in for college early!

"TOGA! TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!" - Eat your heart out John Belushi!

Grandma Colleen Goes Home

It's been an amazing 2 weeks, and it's marvellous that Colleen could be here in time for Ewan's arrival and share this special time. Life has certainly been less stressful than it could have been had we been alone and we're extremely grateful for all her help and gifts.

Ewan was obviously upset to see her go as he cried blue murder on the way to the car after we waved her off at LAX departures.

Not to worry Ewan, Grandma Kristi arrives tomorrow to keep spoiling you!

Hanging out at home before we leave to take Grandma to the airport.

Ewan's Belly Button Stub Falls Off

Big Day!

Ewan's belly button stub fell off this morning. I'm not sure the photos illustrate it very well, but just another little milestone as he grows up! Grandma Colleen kept the stub to take home as a souvenier for Grandad! Lovely.

Picnic in the Park and The Giraffe

We all went to Tournament Park today for a picnic. We walked there via Caltech campus and got some pictures of the Jacaranda Trees which have been awesome this year.






Once at the park we had a pleasant luch and it was just nice to be out and about and play with Ewan in the open. Can't wait till we can really go play outside!




In other news....Mum finished and framed the cross-stitch she has been working on for Ewan for many months now. It is an absolute work of art and labor of love with his full name, birthrate and birth weight stitched into it to commemorate his birth. We love it and hung it in his room just across from his crib. A keepsake we'll cherish forever.

The World Cup Begins!

The World Cup actually began yesterday, but it began today for England. 6 am, Ewan and Daddy got up and donned their England shirts to watch the game from Germany. 6:05 am Ewan made a wise decision and slept through 90% of what was a pretty dire game against Paraguay. At least England won…just!

Footprint Fun

When we left the hospital they gave us an unnofficial birth certificate to which we could add his footprints.

Today we finally got round to adding the footprints. Amazingly only his feet got black!

Let's go for a Stroll!

Just a quick one today, but enough to log that today was our first real outing about town in the stroller. He is dwarfed in there and is just about big enough to be held in place by the straps and some padding.

We made it to Gymboree and Trader Joe's and that was anough for today, but it was a milestone that Ewan got out and about for the first time today and Jennifer was recovering enough to take such a walk.

Fraser & Jen's 2nd Anniversary & Ewan's First Bath at Home

Today was Jennifer and Fraser's 2nd wedding anniversary. It actually started with a trip to the pediatrician for Ewan's first check up after we were discharged yesterday. His weight had dropped to 6lb 7oz from birth, but that was pretty normal at this stage. He was also a tiny bit jaundiced which was apparent by a little bit of yellow in the whites of his eyes. A bit more milk at feeding time should rectify that though.

In the afternoon Ewan had his first bath. His belly button stub is still healing, so it's just sponge baths at this stage. He was not a fan! His cries are not too bad yet, but he gave a really good go at screaming down the bathroom!

Clean and dry, we were able to celebrate our anniversary in the evening with a selection of nice appetizers, cheese and champagne (a kind gift from Granddad Colin). For dessert we had an ice cream cake as a combined anniversary cake and as a welcome home celebration for Ewan. With a movie as well, it was a pleasant evening and about all we could cope with at this point. Furthermore, we were pretty grateful that we still had our anniversary for ourselves as there had been a pretty good chance Ewan could have arrived today.

Going Home Day & Meeting the Cats!

Ewan stayed in the room with us both last night and fed regularly every 2-3 hours. He was struggling a bit, so we had a consultation with the lactation specialist in the morning which improved matters greatly. Once he had the right idea, there was no going back. Jennifer gave Fraser/Ewan a little gift to get the ready for the Fifa World Cup which started in 5 days. A hat and bib declaring Ewan's true football loyalty...Quite right too!


The rest of our day in the hospital consisted of an introduction to parenting class, which although we felt we had prepared quite well by reading and attending Lamze classes, gave us a few extra gems of information that will no doubt be invaluable later on. Just before the class Ewan passed the last of his check ups, the hearing test, with flying colors, which made us very happy.

By the time it came to 4pm we were ready to be discharded. Ewan was way too small for the car seat, even with the newborn insert, so we had to stuff a couple of blankets around him to secure him. Mum and baby were the wheeled out to the front door of the hospital to greet Dad, who was a little nervous about the resposibility of driving everyone home safely for the first time. Actually, the most dangerous thing about driving home is that you keep wanting to look in the back seat every 5 seconds to check everthing is alright...which of courrse is always is.

We arrived home and as you can see had a bit of a photocall outside the apartment to mark Ewan's arrival.





















Once through the door it was time to indroduce Ewan to our original little family at home, the cats. Miss PacMan, Atlanta and The Thief all took it in turns to come a sniff the new arrival and took to him very well. Very curious but certainly no adverse reactions. We think we have their permission to let Ewan stay, although we're not sure if they realize his stay will be permanent yet!

Grandma Visits and Lots of Presents

Not the greatest nights sleep Jen and Fraser ever had, but not as bad as we expected! The nurses were very promt every 3 hours bringing Ewan in for feeding. He was having a little trouble getting the hang of how to use the breast but all in all he was doing just fine.

After a bit more rest Fraser went home and picked up Grandma Colleen for a visit. She brought us lots of cards and goodies from England. More importantly she got to hold Ewan for the first time. Very exciting for everyone!

Welcome Ewan James Colin Moss

June 2nd 2006, 17:05 P.S.T, Ewan James Colin Moss arrived into our world weighing 7lb 1oz and measuring 21 inches long.

Despite arriving 4 days before his official due date, he was not in a hurry to appear after Jennifer's waters gently broke at about 01:30. Once we were sure things were really happening, Fraser packed up the bags and gathered everything we would need in the hospital and at about 02:45 we informed Grandma Colleen (who had only arrived in Pasadena about 6 hours earlier from England) that we were off to the hospital as we thought this was really it.

We arrived at Huntingdon Memorial Hospital in Pasadena at about 03:00 and were admitted to triage in the labor and delivery ward. Jennifer was monitored for about 90 minutes and was then admitted after the nurses confirmed we were on our way for real.

Her contractions were not that strong or regular, so the doctors opted to put her on Pitocin to induce stronger labor and speed things along because her waters were already broken but she was only 1 cm dilated. Up to this point Jennifer had been doing extremely well, but the effects of the Pitocin were strong and immediate, and the contractions were very painful. This is the point she opted to utilize the wonder that is the epidural. Once the epidural was in life was much easier, and she was able to "relax" for a few hours in relative comfort while the labor progressed.

The Pitocin was however still a double-edged sword. Jennifer was dilating well at about 1.5 cm an hour, but the baby was not descending and his heart beat was dropping somewhat alarmingly during the contractions. The dose was reduced for a while, and things slowed down accordingly, but baby was happier as a result.

Finally at about 15:00, it was time to start pushing. Jen was fully dilated and Ewan had finally descended into the right position. Fraser was appointed chief time keeper during the pushes by the nurse and holder of her now limp left leg, while a student nurse took up the equally limp right leg....and we were off.

16:45 - Jen is still pushing!! Ewan's head is visible, but he does not seem to be making that final progress needed to emerge. We would expect that he was pretty annoyed himself at this point. His heart rate was doing ok but was not brilliant and the doctor had attached a cranial monitor because the one strapped to Jen's belly kept losing him. How would you like a short curly metal pin screwed into your head?

The doctor informed us about this time that he was seriously considering prepping to a Cesaerian section. We didn't like that news but recognized that we did not want Ewan to be in distress. However, he would try the vacuum extractor first (a glorified sink plunger with a vacuum line attached), but was not going to apply too much force as there would be a chance that he could get the head out, but the shoulders would become stuck, and that would be a real complication!

Thankfully, a couple of pushes with the vacuum extractor applied and Ewan emerged with a healthy cry at 17:05. With the long labor and the vacuum extractor his skull was a somewhat stretched but that would soon recover and we had a beautiful healthy baby boy. Once Jennifer was able to hold him for the first time we decided that we were certain that we would call him Ewan (meaning young warrior). His other names would be James, after his Great Grandfather Montgomery and Colin after his Granddad Moss.

Both Ewan and Jennifer were doing great after the delivery and we were phoning around all the family members of the news. However the one person we could not get hold of was the person located closest to the hospital. Grandma Colleen, who although she was staying at our apartment in Pasadena had accidentally left the phone off the hook from an earlier phone call to Grandma Kristi in Ohio! Despite the mix of euphoria and tiredness, Fraser managed a bit of lateral thinking and phoned one of Jennifer's colleagues Ben, who in turn phoned another friend and one of our neighbors and fellow Caltech Postdoc, Rachel, who was able to go round to our apartment and knock our door to tell Colleen the news.

We all moved to the maternity ward about 60 minutes later. Once in the maternity ward, the nurses whisked Ewan off to the nursery for monitoring for 4 hours. Grandma Colleen was able to get a lift to the hospital from Rachel after the phone was back on the hook and spent 45 minutes with us before visiting hours ended. Ewan was confined to the nursery for this time, but she was able to watch him through the window.

And so our routine of 2-3 hourly wake-up-calls for feeding began. Fortunately, Ewan is a very good boy and as long as he has a full stomach sleeps very well. We were made all the more aware of this with the frequent cries of the new babies in the rooms either side of us, and are counting our blessings.....so far!