Archive | PermalinkRafe's 1 Month Birthday

And so the boy is a month old! (More than that by now but thank god for backdated blog entries, teehee!) This month has really flown by. Since Adik's adventures in bilirubin, it has been fairly peaceful for us. Like most newborns, his activities are confined to eating, sleeping, pooping, peeing and crying. He does have a sweet disposition and is definitely far more mellow than Yaya at this age. In fact our challenge is mostly trying to get good pictures of him while he's awake. Seems like all the pictures I post on Facebook is of him sleeping. Here's one of him with his eyes open:

* Mouse over pictures for captions

Keywords: alya,birthday,rafiq

Archive | Permalink42 Months

It has been a milestone month for everyone! Yaya spent her first month as Kak Yaya (big sister Yaya), and we all had to adjust to having Rafe in our lives. And now the girl is officially three and a half years old! Halfway to four! Craziness right?

Note: Mouse over the pictures for additional captions.

Keywords: alya,birthday,lily,rafiq

Archive | PermalinkTwo Covers, One Customer

Two cover artwork were commissioned by Ebb & Folks for their Iqliptiq Books science fiction imprint. The first is for a prequel and the other a sequel.

Rhittach: The Beginning

This short story tells the rise of Rhittach, the Payan warrior featured in the novel The Adepts Book 1: Furato, which was previously shown in this blog post.

Four Of A Kind

This is a sequel to Iqliptiq Books' short story Three's Company, also featured here previously in this blog post.

Both books were written by science fiction author David Leyman.

Keywords: artwork,book_cover,ebb_and_folks

Archive | PermalinkWhile Becky was here...

As you know, Vin's cousin Becky and her family were here for Rafe's birth. Everyone arrived the day before Rafe was born, and everyone except Becky and Aunt Mary (Becky's 98-year-old grandmother) left the day after he was born. Becky (and Aunt Mary) stayed to help us out for the next few days. Here they are with their beautiful smiles:

Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions

Keywords: alya,around_the_house,artwork,rafiq,toys

Archive | PermalinkThe Bilirubin Files

As mentioned in the previous entry, Adik was going to experience some complications in his young life. On Saturday January 7, we took him to see the doctor because his left eye was gunking up despite our best efforts. His usual pediatrician was unavailable given that it was a Saturday but we saw one of the other doctors in the practice. She looked at Rafe's eye and prescribed an antibiotic ointment to put on his eye. She also expressed concern over his color and sent us to the satellite Dayton Children's Hospital that was in our town to get a check on his bilirubin levels. So off we go where Rafe gets his feet poked and blood taken for said test. Then we got his prescription filled and went home.

That afternoon we got a call from Rafe's regular pediatrician, telling us that his bilirubin levels were too high (21.2) and he was jaundiced and needed to be taken to the main Dayton Children's Hospital in Dayton and that she would call ahead so they would be expecting us.

So it began. I took Rafe in while Vin and Yaya stayed in the car. I would keep Vin updated via cell phone. It seemed unnecessary to bring Yaya into the ER and get everyone exposed to who knows what in there. First Rafe had his foot poked again for another blood sample for the bilirubin test. Then he gets strapped into this contraption:

Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions

Keywords: alya,rafiq

Archive | PermalinkRafe's 1 week birthday

Here's an excuse for gratuitous baby pictures, Rafe's 1 week birthday! I've included pictures of the boy taken over the past week, including some professionally taken ones that we purchased.

Note: Mouse over pictures for captions

Keywords: alya,around_the_house,birthday,rafiq

Archive | PermalinkThe Arrival of Rafiq Charles

The new member of our family has arrived. Vin and I welcomed our son Rafiq Charles Renstrom to the world on December 29, 2011 at 4:35 PM, Eastern Time. He weighed 8 lb 11.2 oz (3.95 kg), and was 20 1/2 inches long. In other words, he was 2 oz heavier but the same length as his sister Yaya was at birth.

Here are some pictures of Rafe's (a.k.a Adik) birth.

Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions

Keywords: alya,birthday,pregnancy,rafiq