And now, pictures!

I promised some pics last time, so here they are. I only have a few relevant ones right now, but I just put the call out for a flatbed scanner so hopefully one of my friends here in Chicago has one I can borrow. Otherwise I suppose I'll just have to head to a computer lab or something on campus.

I also found a card from my Aunt LeAnn (my dad's sister) and Uncle Al, welcoming me into the world. It is dated October 26, 1979, and the back has an exceprt from William Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality.

Our Birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But in trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!



Hedley at birth


Mom when she graduated nursing school, probably around 1976-77


Dad and Hedley, probably in November, 1979.

Sleepless, a danger to myself

It seems that at the 5 month mark, my poor sleeping habits finally consumed my poor mother. Most of the entries on my calender from April through June (when this little journey ends) remark on how little I sleep, during the day and at night. I also managed to injure myself a few times, as I am sure most babies do, which probably terrifies parents and makes them question whether they are even fit to raise a child.

This will be the last journal post, I'll be adding pictures soon. I completely forgot that I have at least a few pictures of me as a baby already scanned, so once I figure out how to post them...I will.


April 1980: Took a trip down to Lewisburg to start this month out. I wasn't sleeping well, and one night while we were there, mom found me asleep with Grandma and Grandpa at 3:45 am. Nice of them to try and give my mom a night off. I continued to improve my sitting-up-alone skills, my walking-in-a-walker skills, and I started teething. Mom and Dad took me for my first bike ride, I wore a "sporty red cap," and was so thrilled that I fell asleep. Dad started taking advantage of my distaste for sleep by staying up at night and playing with me until 11.

From the "Little Book of Memories"

"Baby's Schedule: Poor sleeper. Two cat naps during the day. Awake by 6:30-7:30 am. To bed usually by nine and awake by 11. Will not sleep in a strange environment.

First and Favorites: Refusing juices [hardly qualifies as a "favorite"!]. Eating rice cereal, peas, fruits. Continues to nurse. Enjoys sucking on anything. Likes peek-a-boo. Sits up for several minutes - usually falls to side. Seems to favor rubber ruck. Still enjoys a pacifier ("binky") especially at bedtime.

Notes: Does not like to be left alone. Smiles at everyone. Happy when held. Babbles. Can move self around on floor but not crawling."


May 1980: Had a visit from Great Grandma Zook, one of my dad's grandmothers. I always liked Grandma Zook, though I never knew her very well growing up.

I was increasingly mobile, sitting up well, and getting on my knees or all fours...which probably led to my falling out of bed on May 6th. Mom was scared, but I wasn't hurt badly. Eight days later a fell down the back stairs while in my walker, prompting my parents to move the baby gate. Ha, something pretty funny about picturing that, though I am sure that had to have been terrifying. I got an incisor on the 21st and another on the 24th. Mom was trying to ween me, to no avail at that point. That had to have mad nursing a great time for her.

"Creeps fairly well." Hahahaha.

I also had started to make m, d and k noises which lead to...


June: I said "mama" for the first time on June 6th! The next day I started crawling, and a few days later started to respond to the question "how big?" by putting my arms up. By mid-June I was walking when given hands for support.

On the last day of the baby calender that my mom filled out she wrote that an upper tooth was breaking through and that I "Slept all night!"


Cheers.

Baby me becomes fussy, driven to mobility

March seems like it was a big month for me, starting out with a trip down to Reading, Pa (March 1st and 2nd) to visit my dad's parents and my Uncle Keith. Keith was already encouraging my mischievous side, as he apparently helped me annoy their dachshund, Rusty, by getting me to pull his tail. I definitely remember the quick transition my own dog Lucy and my sister went through as Emma progressed from harmless blob on the floor to a grabbing, pulling, spastic-arm-waving source of discomfort.

I also begun to exhibit signs of separation anxiety, an unwillingness to sleep in strange places, and discomfort when left on my stomach too long...hints at future fussiness perhaps? Sleeping in strange places doesn't bother me much now, as I can sleep almost anywhere, anytime, but I still hate laying on my stomach for more than about a minute. How does anyone find that comfortable?

Also in March I began pushing myself up while on my belly (hate it!), putting out my arms to be picked up while in the crib, and on the 28th, I rolled over twice...while on my stomach of course.

I was up to 17 pounds, 6 ounces, and had grown 2 inches since the end of January.

Oh. Big fan of peek-a-boo as well.

From the "Little Book of Memories"....

March, 1980

"Baby's Schedule: Waking up for middle of night feeding. To bed by 8:30 pm. Spits bubbles when mad. Sucks on 1st two fingers of left hand. Attempts to roll , quite spirited. Sits with back straight when supported. See things he wants and attempts to get them.

First and Favorites: Likes to suck and bite on anything he gets his hands on especially orange teddy bear [rubber if i recall correctly], rattles, rubber duck. Makes squeaky grunty noises! Likes to be tickled. Doesn't like to be left on belly too long. Pulls objects towards him using two hands.

Notes: To Reading the 1st and 2nd. Transferring rattles successfully from right hand to left. Holding Rusty's tail with Uncle Keith's help. Laughs at self when held up to mirror. Likes undivided attention - very happy when spoken to."

January and February, 1980

I think that after the first 2 months or so, once everyone has come to see the baby and you adjust to the new routine of having a child...the novelty wears off a bit and you realize that, as David Cross has noted, babies are pretty boring. Here is what I was up to during the first two months of 1980.

January:

"Baby's Schedule: Sleeping through the night. Nurses 2-3 hours. Napes three times a day.

Firsts and Favorites: Continues to look at red & blue clown & humpty dumpty. By end of the month, holds things [play keys and a rattle] put in fist - doesn't seem aware that he's holding it.

Notes: Sits in infant seat with clown supported in front. Has started to follow me [Helen] in kitchen when sitting in infant seat. Eyes still blue. Likes bath in sink, hair on top is growing in. Laughs, usually when being changed or when pulled to standing position."

My dad's final entry here reads "Nathan - I've never met a baby that laughed as easily and naturally as you. You are a very happy baby and laugh with your mother all the day long. You have a smile for everyone. Keep your sonny disposition."

I like how he's still trying to weasel the name "sonny" into my life. Nice one pops!

I also made a trip out to New Jersey with my mom from January 25 - 27 where apparently I "slept the entire way there and back in the car seat in the Honda and only nursed once."

February:

"Baby's Schedule: Nurses at night occasionally. Naps 1-2 hours two times a day.

First and favorites: Likes rattle with face on it. Likes rock and stack. By end of month started to enjoy wooden rattle. Sits in swingomatic but is not crazy about it.

Notes: Holds rattle, shakes it, looks at it. Drools all the time! Stands when holding hands. Has eaten banana twice. Laughs and giggles. Seems to like music. Hair growing in quite thick on top. Rolled over on 2/27 while lying on bathroom floor. I [Helen] was putting clothes in the washer and when i looked over at Nathan, he was lying on his belly - didn't do it again that entire day!

Grandpa Whittemore sometimes scares nathan with his loud voice. At first Grandpa thought Nathan didn't like him, but I thought maybe it was his loud voice. By February Grandpa had learned to talk a little softer and Nathan didn't seem scared anymore."

Ha, that last bit is so true. For as long as I can remember, Grandpa employs a kind of half-shout as his normal speaking voice. Especially when greeting someone. i can imagine him coming right up in a baby's face (because i've seen him do it with my sister and my cousin's sons) and saying "WHY 'ELLO NATHAN! 'OW ARE YOU DOIN'? 'AVE YA GOT YER SOCKS ON, YEAH?" Jarring, for sure.

Looking over the entries for the next few months, I promise I get a little more interesting.

Bop Till You Drop!

It has been a while since I've made an entry in the ol' blog, but as I have the day off (MLK), I thought I should try to make some headway this morning. During the time that has passed since my last entry, I visited Pennsylvania for about 8 days over Christmas. While I was there I had use of my Dad's car, which conveniently had the original "Bop Till You Drop 1979" mixtape in it! I listened to it several times in my comings and goings, and I gotta say, solid mix right there. When my Dad took me to the airport we listened to side A together, me writing down the titles, and him reminiscing a bit over each song. it was fun to see my dad get so excited about some of the songs. I never knew he was a Bonnie Raitt fan, but man did he get amped when "Under the Falling Sky" came on.

While I was at my parent's house on the day I returned to Chicago, I decided to look through an old photo album or two, just to see if there were some photos of my mom I hadn't seen before. I randomly pulled out the two oldest looking albums I saw, and was shocked to find that one of them basically covered the same time span as this blog does. I'm not sure if I'd ever seen those pictures before, and I was really neat, and quite moving, to see my mom pregnant with me, going to the delivery room with my dad, nursing me (tasteful shots of course!) and me interacting with my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles during my first year of life. I wish I had come across it earlier in my trip so I could have scanned some of the pictures...a task for next time I suppose.

Anyway, here is "Bop Till You Drop 1979." I posted links to lala.com and ilike.com where I could so...enjoy!


Side A:

Robert Palmer - Pressure Drop

Jerry Jeff Walker - Pick Up the Tempo

Billy Joel - Entertainer

Bruce Springsteen - Candys Room

Bruce Springsteen - Kitty's Back in Town

Bonnie Raitt - Under the Falling Sky

Fleetwood Mac - Roadrunner

Bonnie Raitt - Bluebird

Jerry Jeff Walker - Public Domain

Bruce Springsteen - Rosalita

Bruce Springsteen - Fever

Little Feat - Rock n Roll Doctor

Warren Zevon - Night Time in the Switching Yard

Little Feat - New Dehli Freight Train

Side B:

Van Morrison: Full Force Gale

Fleetwood Mac: Think About Me

Van Morrison: I've Been Working

Captain Beefheart: Crazy Little Thing

Little Feat: Fool Yourself

Billy Joel: Only the Good Die Young

Nicolette Larson: Rhumba Girl

Jerry Jeff Walker: Don't It Make You Want to Dance?

Captain Beefheart: Too Much Time

Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells a Story

Taj Mahal: 6 Days Upon the Road

Jethro Tull: Teacher

Bob Marley: Rastaman Vibration

Van Morrison: Wild Night

The Band: Who Do You Love?

Little Feat: Fat Man in the Bathtub

Little Feat: Instrumental

First Christmas and bop till you drop!

Not much going on in december until the holidays, other than the usual 3 cycle baby engine of eat, poop, sleep. It seems I also went bald. As subsequent photo documentation will show, I was not the cutest baby. Thankfully I've managed to turn that around over the last 30 years.   

So up until this post, my little project has been mostly a secret, shared only with a few close friends and my cousin Lisa. However, since there were multiple mentions of a "Bop Till You Drop" party on Decembered 22nd, I thought it was time to consult my dad for some insight into how my parents and their friends celebrated the holidays. I called my dad, and he relayed this information....  

"As far as "Bop 'Til You Drop" in 1979. This was our first wedding anniversary...i.e the anniversary of the "Love Feast", the occasion when your mother and I got married the first time. I think I told the whole story to Chris not long ago. Any way, a year later we were living at 707 (Flying) High Street. I had spent the first half of the year remodeling that old house into an office and apartment. We moved there in July and I started my practice. It was a very busy year for me and Helen.  

We invited everyone we knew...people came from all over. I think you would call us "Yuppies"...all twenty somethings who were into the party scene. I prepared a 2 hour custom cassette tape of all our favorite dance tunes...a lot of Springsteen, Van Morrison, & Little Feat along with others. I still have the tape...it is labeled "Love Feastivities" and I recently played it...a fine collection of tunes."  

So there ya have it. Doesn't sound too much different from the parties I frequent these days. I "dropped" at 10:30 that night, and slept until 7:30 the next morning. All bopped out I suppose!  

To clarify a few things, my dad's "practice" was his private medical practice in Williamsport, though he did have hospital privileges at the hospital just across the street from were we lived and as legend has it, used to roller skate over there for deliveries.  

As for the "love feast"... My parents were originally married in their apartment by a friend, with my dad's sister and brother in attendance if I recall correctly, but neither set of parents knew or were present when it happened. Not much information about that night has leaked out over the years haha. About 9 years later when they converted to Christianity, they decided to have a "regular" wedding in our church to renew their vows or what have you. My memory from that day is Uncle Keith making fun of me for my superman underwear (is 9 yrs old too old for those?) which were plainly visible underneath my white pants.  

Christmas eve was spent at my Auntie's house, as it has almost every year since then. Dad couldn't make it as he had to deliver a baby for a woman named Mary that night. 

On Christmas day we went down to Reading to see my dad's family. I was sporting a red velvet suit from my Godfather Alphonse, who had also given me a Snoopy doll. My Aunt Edna and Uncle Bob in England sent money for a stroller, and Cyndie Bowers gave my mom a picture of me nursing. Wonder where that has ended up? I'll have to poke around my parents' house next week while I am home. I'll get the full tracklisiting from the Bop party and post it here as well. Hedley out!

First month, November 1979

There isn't much more in the journal aside from the letters and the circumcision notes, so its back to another baby calender, augmented this time by "Baby's First Year: A Little Book of Memories," which breaks every page into month, weight, height, schedule, firsts, and notes. Much more manageable an undertaking I'd imagine.

Three days after I was born I came home, and my mom wrote, "Oct 29, the day Nathan was to leave the hospital Donald I saw and heard him laugh - neither of us would have believed it had we not witnessed it."

Mom also noted that the first week was "hectic and overwhelming," and that I was sleeping 3-4 hours at a time in a basinette in my parents' room. Grandma and Grandpa Whittemore came from Lewisburg on November 1st, and Auntie, Uncle Larry and my cousin Lisa came the next day. My dad's parents, the Dickerson's and my Uncle Keith drove up from Reading on the 17th. Thanksgiving was with my parent's friend Deborah Keller and her family.

My favorite toys were a cown, a wooden horse from Peter Koch (mom's favorite of my early toys), Humpty Dumpty from Sandy Capwell (my favorite), and a teddy bear from my cousin Lisa, who was nearly 4 when I was born.

I formed a quick bond with my parents during my first month. My mom wrote that, "He seemed to know me at a very early age - his arms would jerk slightly. When picked up by me he seemed to calm down. He started to smile at Daddy by 3 weeks."

Also, apparently infants are pretty boring.