Maya's First Night at Home

Last night was Maya's first spent at home. We were prepared for a difficult evening with little sleep, however, we got more sleep than we expected! Maya was a very good girl last night, allowing us both to get a reasonable amount of sleep. I managed to get 6+ hours between diaper changes and comforting Maya in the middle of the night. Steph actually managed 4 - 5 hours of sleep Steph between feedings.

The dogs met Maya for the first time last night. Java was quite curious about the little squirming, crying thing in our arms. Lucy wanted nothing to do with Maya. And then Maya started crying. Java started barking. They had a little chorus going, but the tune wasn't something you could dance to. Nor would it become a number 1 hit anytime soon. Then the cutest thing happened. We were getting ready for bed. Maya was swaddled in her crib when she began crying. Java immediately jumped up, ran to her room and paced around, worried about Maya! He was so cute! I think he's going to be her little protector.

Tomorrow we're seeing the pediatrician for Maya's first appointment. Since we're not going to feed Maya formula we plan on getting a breast pump from the hospital tomorrow, as well. Steph can pump and put away milk which will allow me to take on some of the feedings with Maya. I hope this will allow Steph to get the rest she needs to recover fully from surgery while making the best use of my paternity leave from work. Of course, I am also anxious to be able to take Maya out for a walk or a trip to the store sometime soon while Steph catches a well deserved nap. Unless I have a food supply that is mobile, i.e. a bottle of milk, that's not going to be a possibility.

Once I go back to work, we're going to have to find a schedule that works for us with respect to feedings and sleep so that we are both able to function... we have a week or so to figure that one out. Since I work at home, we'll also need to figure out how I can find the time and space I need to be fully functional with Mom and a new baby at home. Perhaps it is time to build an office in the basement...?

Maya's First Day Home

Steph and Maya came home today, yay! The dogs are down at Wag-A-Lot in daycare at the moment, but they'll come home soon to meet the newest addition to the family. That should be... interesting.

I can see the scene unfolding in my mind's eye: Java takes one look, a quick sniff and thinks "WTF is this little thing? It smells of baby powder! It sure is loud, too!" Lucy, on the other hand, will get a worried look on her face as she realizes that she is still at the bottom of the hierarchy in our home. Then she'll run away, tail tucked firmly between her legs, never wanting to meet the little squirming thing in the cute yellow onesie.

Congratulations Lucy!

Lucy passed her Canine Good Citizen test last night! While my wife had no faith in our daughter (well, OK, neither did I!) because she's been acting like a canine bad citizen lately, she managed to put on a good show last night and actually passed her test. Now both of the dogs have CGC certificates.

Yay Lucy!

Hike for Discovery - Sweetwater Creek State Park

Steph & Lucy
On Saturday we hiked at Sweetwater Creek State Park just west of Atlanta. Steph and I had hiked here once before, so I knew it wasn't a challenging hike with relatively flat terrain. But it is pretty technical with lots of scrambling over rocks and roots. Since I'm a masochist I added an extra 5 pounds of weight (two 1 liter Nalgene bottles) to my pack in an effort to slow my pace and still get a good workout.

This was the first hike of the season that Steph joined me on. When we arrived at Sweetwater at 7:30 AM it was already extremely muggy due to the previous night's rain. Yuck!

As a team, we decided to hike the red trail to the white trail for 6 miles with an optional 3 mile extension on the yellow trail. Off we go!

The first part of the trail is pretty flat with a lot of rock outcroppings and roots littering the trail. Its a nice hike that follows along the river past the New Manchester Manufacturing Company textile factory ruins. The factory itself was destroyed during the civil war by Sherman during the Atlanta Campaign. Al that remains is part of the shell of the original building.
New Manchester Manufacturing
Company Ruins

The rain on Friday night made it a bit more difficult on this part of the trail, especially on the rocks that you hike over. Being the incredible klutz that I am I slipped on some of the rocks and fell. The trail is ~15' above the river at this point. When I fell and slid down the rocks I managed to grab hold of the rocks to prevent myself from sliding all the way into the river. Unfortunately, my right leg was hung up on a tree, so I had no leverage to life myself out of the predicament I was in! Steph and another hiker grabbed my hands and pack to lift me slightly, free my leg and get me back on the trail.

The rest of the hike was nice and uneventful, thankfully. Steph and Lucy enjoyed themselves greatly and tired themselves out. After the hike we came home and the ladies, Lucy and Steph, passed out. I don't think I have ever seen Lucy pass out so hard! Clearly she enjoyed herself, but I believe I wore her out. I'll have to keep this in mind for the next time I want Lucy to relax!
Sweetwater Creek Rapids

Next week we're headed to Vogel State Park for the Coosa Backcountry Trail. This is the toughest hike of the HFD season and one I did not complete last year. I'm looking forward to tackling this trail again and completing the entire trail without bailing out at the road crossing. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to post from Coosa this time around!

Hike For Discovery - Second Group Hike

This morning was our second group hike of the season at Kennesaw Mountain , one of the best places to train on hills near Atlanta. This is also one of the coldest days this winter, the thermometer in my car was hovering around 24 degrees F with strong winds, making the wind chill feel like 10 - 15 degrees F! I thought I was prepared with my layers of clothes, gloves, hat and wicking long underwear, but it was absolutely bone chilling out there until we started up the mountain.

I was asked to be toward the front of the pack to make sure people knew how far to go on the hike before turning around. We decided to head across to Little Kennesaw Mountain, about 3.5 miles round trip. Once we got on the trail I warmed up quickly, even becoming warm enough to unzip my jacket and take off my gloves at one point. Today was my quickest ascent of Kennesaw ever! I was ecstatic a few weeks ago to get up the mile trail from the visitor's center to the top of the mountain in 24 minutes, last year I was hiking it in 30+ minutes. This morning I got to the top in 21 minutes! I was quite surprised since I had Lucy slow me down to make a deposit on the side of the trail!

Once I got to the top and started downhill again I was getting cold quickly. By the time the group reached the top of Little Kennesaw, I was quite cold again. It was then that we began to notice water vapor from our breath or sweat coming through my hat was forming ice! The mouthpiece on my hydration bladder also had ice forming on it. Clearly its time to get back on the trail and head home. What does frostbite feel like, anyway? ;-)

I'm not sure what possessed me to go hike in the cold twice this weekend — I did Kennesaw in the cold yesterday, too — but it was fun to get out to Kennesaw when there were so few other people on the trail. I'm sure we'll be back to Kennesaw again many times over the next few months, but I sure hope the weather turns warmer sometime soon!