photo dump

Here are a few pics of the little guy "meeting" one of his great grandparents via video chat. Crazy what these kids are up to these days. :)





Awesome post bath hair:



I love this picture of him and his mom. The sleeping strong man pose...

cloth diapers and tummy time

We go a few days here and there putting cloth diapers on this kid.  The first time he was still a bit small for them and there was too much cloth all over the place.  The second time they seemed to fit fine, but we ran out of the smaller pre-fold cloths (or whatever) after a day.  We will probably just need to get more of the smaller ones, but maybe not for long.  The kid is already 9 lbs.



Also, so far he doesn't seem to mind tummy time too much. But then again, he isn't going for too long just yet.

The Room

I have been meaning to put up some pics of Oliver's room, but as it turns out, time flies when you have a new kiddo around.  We went for an international-ish theme.  Stuff we have collected over the years from trips, safari kind of animals, maps, world attractions - you know.

That decal on the wall took a surprisingly long time to put on... We like it though.  Sara's sister made the quilted wall hanging and her mom made the quilt on the bed.  We refinished and re-upholstered the rocking chair and stained the dresser there, which I really like.  The stain is a really light, semi-clear/grey finish so you can see the grain through it.  Sara sewed the changing pad cover.  The room is fun because it is for him, but packed with a lot of our memories from over the years.

Two weeks (for real)

originally uploaded by a b franzen.

So tonight, at 10:02pm, is Oliver's 2 week birthday. We love this kid like crazy and feel really blessed to have him. I can only hope and pray that we can be equally good parents for him.

Two weeks!

Oliver had another Dr appointment today and has gain 12 oz in the last week and surpassed his birth weight. He also grew an inch and a quarter, so cheers to you, Oliver.

Today is also Sara's birthday! The big 30! It has been fun watching her as a mother now and Oliver is a super lucky kid to have her as his mommy.

Grandparents

Well, we brought one set of grandparents to the airport last night and picked up another grandma today. The little guy is loving all the attention, even if he is a bit more fussy today.  When he sleeps, he sleeps like a champ though.

Play mat

We got Oliver's little play mat put together today. He is just beginning to focus on stuff, so soon this may be more fun for him.

Here he is just hanging out by himself a bit and also with grandpa...

look at those genes

So we have been trying to figure out who Oliver is more like or who gave him what characteristics... Sara or me.  Here is a list:

Sara:

1. His hair
2. his ears (he has ear lobes...)
3. probably his nose
4. his hands (contested)
5. he burps, loudly and proudly 

Aaron:

1. He is a boy
2. his hands (contested) 

Don't worry - we don't let him sleep on the couch or on his side... he was supervised here.  It was just a funny sleeping position.  And funny that he is trying to roll over already.  Who knows... the kid already lost the umbilical cord (yep... 5 days...).  

Baby wearing

In the last few years Sara helped get a baby wearing advocacy project off the ground here in Dallas. Since then, we have had all these homemade wraps laying around the house and we finally get to put them to use!

It's all good

After this guy eats he is just all happy and content. Eyes all open and looking around. This lasts for a bit and then he usually goes into a bit of a milk coma and sleeps for a good bit.

If you hit that awake window, it is a good time for visitors. So far not to much luck on that, ha.

Babies and technology

Sara and I have been talking about how much is different today with the technology we have now. I am writing this on my phone, posting a picture taken with Sara's phone. We we able to video chat with both sides of the family in the hospital, on our phones. I was sending live group updates and pics to my family as his birthday progressed (Stroud side, hook yourself up with Google's Hangouts and I will do the same for you...). And I just checked on how he is sleeping on a wireless audio and video monitor. Crazy.

Well, what post is complete without a picture? Here he is after his first bath at home. His hair is awesome.

Nap time

I was using one of the baby wraps that Sara made to carry Oliver around as I did some laundry and ate breakfast, and it turns out to be a good nap aid when left partly on. This kid thinks daytime is actually nighttime I think...

Home again

Just came home from the hospital. Real adventure begins now!

Oliver!

So I will probably just start dumping some photos here without much story, but then again with pictures of such a cute kid who reads anyways? Here is Oliver Jeffrey Franzen. 8lbs 10 oz, 20 in long. Born at 10 pm last night.

Oliver 2...

Here he is getting some love from mom and sporting a bow tie already.

Is being 'spiritual' enough?

This just became available online today.  Pretty excited about it.  It was a fun study to work on and it got placed in a really good journal.  Always nice to move on from projects...

If you are in need of some self-flagellation, let me know and I can send you the article.  (There was a page break on the abstract, so the screen shot wouldn't get it all...)

Re-integrative medial interactions

The dream of reason did not take power into account.     - Paul Starr

Something I have been thinking a lot about lately (besides the fact that we are about to have a kid) in working on the dissertation is the place that power and authority plays in our interactions with other people.  We all have what Peter Berger call 'typification schemes' that allow us to quickly process, make sense of, and project our experiences of reality.  We get used to understanding certain actions of others as meaning something always - hugs show affection, yelling communicates heightened emotions, etc.  We use these cognitive tools to make sense of everything we experience and 'assign' meaning to it; we make sense of it.  We then assume that other people generally assign the same meaning to shared experiences, and on this basis are we able to have generally predictable interactions with other people. 

Sometimes, however, we are unable to make sense of some experiences.  When this happens we seek the help of someone we think can help.  This is what a physician is, essentially - a professional whose job it is to make sense of the experiences of others and ameliorate those experiences, assuming they are adverse ("so what do I have doc...").  Another dude, Talcott Parsons, once wrote about how illness is essentially the result of any given person shifting their self-perception to that of an 'ill' person.  This makes sense if you think about it - two people could both have a cold, and one asserts that they are 'fine' and goes to work while the other asserts that they are 'sick' and stays home from work.  One has shifted their identity while the other did not. 

Parsons asserted that one of the jobs of a physician is to re-integrate 'ill' people back into society as 'normal' people. 

What happens when a patient does not listen to their doctor though?  For example, someone may have trouble breathing but refuse the advise of their physician to stop smoking.  Starr, the dude who said the quote at the start, would say this is an instance where the physician has not successfully asserted their authority over the patient.  He thinks that one of the jobs of the doctor is to asses the nature of reality, which in this instance is the patient's experiences and needs.  The physician needs to interpret those experiences and the needs of the patient and literally create the conditions under which the patient thinks their advice is appropriate. 

This is where the interaction between a patient and a physician gets interesting though.  What if the patient is religious and makes sense of their world and experiences through a lens tinted by an engaged God?  The patient has a 'broken' identity when they are ill, and they are in need of being brought back to a state of 'normalcy'.  This requires that their physician successfully interprets and assigns meaning to their reality, but very often in a medical setting this meaning invoked by the physician does not include religious beliefs.  So we have a professional whose job it is to bring a state of normalcy back to a religious patient, but that 'normalcy' and meaning introduced by the physician is devoid of religious beliefs and meaning. 

Is it really possible for a religious person to be 're-integrated' with who they are in a setting that implicitly rejects religion?  Often this just leaves a bit more work for the patient to do on their own time, but recent changes in medical practice have gravitated more towards understanding patients in a wider sense than just a broken machine that needs to be oiled.  This is likely a good thing, but just as before, the interpretive work of the physician is a big challenge.  Cheers to you doctors who fully dive into the work you do.  Short cuts are easier, but they don't always get you to the same place or even where you wanted to go. 

Who knows

We had another baby appointment yesterday and this was the first time that Franklin Maverick has shown any sign of getting ready to leave his current home. It was actually, according to the doctor, a pretty big change from last week. So who knows, maybe this kid will decide he doesn't actually need to be 10 lbs when he arrives.

This is a picture of him from a sono two or so weeks ago. Just forgot to put it up till now.