It has been a while

Ok so, let's keep it real.  Part of the deal with having a baby is that you don't have time to blog about your baby.  Hopefully, the next post won't take as long to drop, but to be honest, who knows?  Mostly we have had a sick baby.  He has really only had a span of about 2 weeks since that September 30 post in which everything was gangbusters.  Otherwise its been ear infections, congestion, bad reaction to medication, and teething.  I cannot remember a time that he wasn't teething.  What a pain.  I am sure it hurts us much more than it hurts him.  Anyway, on with the show...

Yes, just like his father.  A little tie whore in training.  He is super grabby and he loves labels.  I told Nicole instead of buying him Christmas gifts we should just go to the fabric store and pick up some labels as he loves those the most.  I guess he sees a tie as daddy's label.  Daddy doesn't like to be labeled, or to get whiplash from a baby.

Getting ready for Christmas and Epiphany? Well here you go, three wise men.  My face is a little blurry to protect the innocent. Pugsley and the baby have gotten along pretty well.  Just tonight Pugsley was in the baby's face and he died out lauging.  Something else he got from his dad also I guess.  He's a dog man.

This picture was everyone's phone wall paper for some time.  It's a pretty good one at that.  Nothing like a happy baby to help pass the day.

 Thug life.  Getting ready to go out into the frozen Mississippi Tundra.  It was probably 50 degrees out when he first put this on.  As you can tell he is pretty thrilled.  He looks like my little George Costanza in his gore-tex coat.  Totally imaneuverable, but super warm and weather resistant.

 Here he is dressed like Kurt Cobain for Halloween.  I kid...I kid.  This is actually more Barry Bonds.  That syringe contained an oral steroid that we had to give him for croup.  This is the only time he has just fallen asleep in his chair after eating.  I was washing out his bowl and bam, he is a PSA.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Here is our American Indian stereotype in action.  Yes, he is waving bye-bye, thanks for noticing.  He also claps when you say yay and clap.  That's Miss Jackie holding him.  At least Mommy was there to take the pic.

Speaking of taking a pic.  Geeze this took forever.  The Russians in front of us couldn't decide which picture of their surly drunken daughter they wanted to use, so they stood there and stared at the choices for a good 5 minutes while the baby sat in this guy's lap.  They were pretty cool with it.  Anastasia ended up getting back up there after we went, but she never smiled.  Suck it Anastasia.

After the pics with Santa we sat in the Lakeside mall and ate some peaches and let loose a bit.  Gotta come out of those socks.  The baby likes to scream out to hear his own voice and I often scream with him.  However, he doesn't really distinguish between a mall, a restaurant, and the table at home, so we are working on it.

Hopefully I can update this more often, if not, why don't you come keep him for a night and maybe I will have some time to do it. 

Um, you've got a little something right there...

Just a busy life.  We babble, we eat, we have baths, and we sleep.  Although, we generally wake up and need a pacifier a couple times a night.  One night, the baby managed to stick his leg through the bars on his crib.

Being part Italian, the baby already needs a shave.  I kid, I kid.  This is generally what he looks like midway through the feeding proces, at least before we started green beans (see below).

No, I meant further below (there is a video at the bottom).  Here is the exersaucer.  The chameleon in front of the baby turns three colors, red, blue, and yellow, in that order, when you hit it.  Then on the fourth hit is seends  a song that goes "red, yellow, blue."  Now this chameleon is extremely sensitive so it plays a lot.  I am slightly confused as to why the three color song says the colors in a different order than it lights up individually.  Am I over analyzing this? 

Now, this contraption is called a "Johnny Jump Up."  However, it appears that for the near future, it will be used as a "Sit and Hang."  Part wrecking ball, part baby sitter as long as it keeps him happy, I don't really care if he goes off label.

And without further delay, here is a brief snippet from our first attempt at eating green beans.  He actually enjoys them now regardless of how it looks.

Big Boy (delusions of grandeur)

When we started this adventure, the baby was at the very tail end of the dragon, you couldn't even see the word "pie" in "lilypie" so it looked like we named him Lily.  That's not his name of course and he is nearly halfway down the dragon's back.  But if you were to ask him, he would probably be demanding the car keys.  He has gotten to the point where he runs his mouth a good deal of the time.  For those of you who know either or both Nicole and me, you know he comes by that trait honestly.  He thinks he is a big boy.  He wants to control when you put the bottle in his mouth and he is generally not happy unless he is sitting up. 

He also has decided that he is going to get involved in cereal time on a more active basis.  He will only eat his cereal if I am giving it to him and he doesn't like for others to be in the room.  Nicole stayed in the kitchen to long and he wouldn't eat it this evening.  So, I gave him the spoon.  He tried to get it in his mouth, but it mostly ended up in his hair.  When I took it away from him, he pitched a fit.  Now he has a clean spoon to play with whenever we eat cereal.

Here he is sitting up on the couch.  He was flailing, not falling over, that is why it is blurry.  He has his bib on all ready for nachos.

Here we are after tummy time.  He is close to crawling, but hasn't quite figured out how to get his belly up off of the floor.  Generally he tries to move forward and then ends up rolling over.  He gave it the college try, so he got to play with the elephant anyway. 

And there it is.  Times like this are well worth the price of admission.  He may think he is a big boy already, but as long as he is still cranking it in his pants and getting cereal in his hair, he will always be my little boy.  Actually, he probably always will be anyway.

We've been busy

It's really a Catch-22, the busier you are, the more you have to blog about, but the busier you are, the less time you have to blog about.  People with four month olds are very busy. So let's get into it.

So here we are at Pan-Asia and the baby is awake!  This is always a dangerous situation because one does not know if he is going ot be content sitting and looking at everything going on, or if he is going to be fussy.  He was a little fussy so Nicole took him out.  I thought it was cute so I took this picture and I just love the look on his face.  Shortly, after, literally seconds after, I took this serene photo, he reached out and grabbed the bowl.  Had Nicole not stuck her hand out to stop it, they both would have been covered in create-your-own stir-fry.

What time is it?  Game time.  Here the baby is all decked out for his first real football game.  Well, it was real for him because he fell asleep halfway through the 1st quarter (like his mommy!).  So, the whole time he watched it, it was a close game.  I wonder, how many MSU fans can say the Bulldogs won the first game of their life?  Well apparently I can since we played Memphis 1st in 1981 as well.

Our little guy was also baptised on August 28, 2011, which was also 4 months to the day after he was born.  Here are the "Wearers of the Gown."  The gown in which our baby was baptised was also worn by me, and his Aunt Jessie.

Here is a lovely picture of the baby, us, and his two sets of grandparents.  Grampa, Grammy, MeeMaw and Papi. 

Here we are with the baby's great grandparents.  Of course you already know PawPaw and Grandma officially makes it on the internet!

 

Finally, back at home, here he is in front of his cake.  He didn't get to eat any of it, but he sure seems to want to do so.  I did; it was good.  His baptism was a wonderful experience and we got lots of help from Grammy, MeeMaw, Aunt Jessie, LT.  It was a great opportunity to celebrate our little man and to make a committment to his future. With all of the people that came to show support for us and him, I know he is off to a great start.

Funny guy... that got sick

Well, we have had our first illness. A sinus infection. Luckily mommy's intuition got him to the doctor before it turned into an ear infection. Good old bubble gum amoxicillin. It's amazing how much stuff has changed since our parents raised us, but bubble gum amoxicillin remains the go to drug for treating infections. He has gotten pretty good at eating off of a spoon, though he still gets messy. He also spent his first night away from home. After eating with Meemaw and Papi, Nicole just blurted out, if you want the baby to spend the night with you tonight he can. Prior to this, the thought of him spending a night away, much less an hour and a half away was unthinkable to her. In the words of Clark to cousin Eddie "If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised." I spent the next few minutes in a stupor trying to wrap my head around what had just happened. Then, that night I spent 12 hours sleeping. Talk about a sleep debt. Ok, now for the fun stuff.

We have become much more vocal over the past month or so. I figure everyone is due a happy noise after the Horton incident.

Yes we are now grabbing things. Some, like the Caterpillar are meant to be grabbed. Some things like our bib and burp cloth are ok to grab. It's not really cool when he tries to grab the cloth that covers him up and prevents us from being squirted during diaper changes.

Hello ladies. You will notice in the older pictures, he had that really dark hair that he was born with and was really skinny. He has filled out. The nurse when he went to the Doc this week said he was not even recognizable because he has filled out so well. He has literally (correct usage) doubled in weight since he was born. Also he lost all of that dark hair he was born with, except a ring in the back, and it has filled in with some nice lite colored hair.

Last but not least, breakfast with Papi, in Meridian. No word on what either of them ate, or how many outfits they had both worn to this point in the day. I think everyone involved had a big time. Especially Pugsley, who got his daddy back for almost 24 hours.

Horton has at least one friend

We have tried to read Horton Hatches the Egg on a number of occasions. The first time we made it to the part where Horton meets the bird. As those of you unfamiliar with the story might suspect, that is pretty early on in the book. Recently, we tried to read it again. The baby laughed at the parts where Horton built a support for the nest, and the bird enjoyed her vacation. But when the hunters came and captured Horton...

Otherwise, things have been pretty fun we started eating rice cereal, with mixed results. The baby and his parents would like to give special thanks to everyone who came to help keep him after Nicole returned to work last week. On Monday we start daycare, and we are going by to visit tomorrow. Here are some pics.

Yes, we have a new toy. This is an activity center with lots of things to do (at least as soon as I can score 9 AAA batteries. Seriously, NINE!). So, until it is complete, he can just dangle in it (his feet don't quite touch) and practice for the baby body building competition on August 17th.

Here is our first cereal face. It's not exactly Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but it adds some excitement to diaper changes.

Taken just today. Baby sleeping on daddy. It makes for a nice afternoon.

Monkey about town

I am knocking on wood as I type this because we have baby that is generally affable. He has had a good time playing, and he loves to smile. His favorite song is probably the ABCs at this point. For the past three weeks or so, he has been locked in a mortal struggle against his hands. He knows they need to be in his mouth, but his hands do not want any part of it. For the first weeks his hands were a force to be reckoned with. However, over the past couple days, the baby has gotten the... well, he's gotten the upper hand. Now after a few seconds of staring intently at said hands, he is able to get part of his fist or finger up to his mouth, by what seems to be sheer force of will alone. Over the past few days we made our first trip to the grocery store, we have gone to two restaurants, and we went to Sunday School and church. He could not have been a better baby while we were out and about.

Cutie pie on aisle 6. When we went to the store, people tried to act like they weren't looking at the adorable little man in my cart. We know the truth.

Hey when you look good, you look good no matter what you are doing. Get ready Sears Portrait Studio, we've got our posing down.

What's that? The Mermaid Cafe is impossible to find? No son, it's not impossible, it's just not easy and nothing easy was ever worth doing ( I might as well start passing on wisdom). This is it, while third chronologically this is the eponymous picture. This pic was taken Friday night at the Mermaid Cafe somewhere in Madison County. It's the first time we have had a table for three.

Our waiter took so long at Nagoya at our first every Sunday lunch out that some of us didn't even make it to the Edamame. That's ok though, his first solid food shouldn't involve sucking a bean out of a pod.

1st trip to NOLA and 2 months old!

This has been both the fastest and longest two months of my life. I think any parent can appreciate where I am coming from. I had intended to update this blog nearly a week ago, but a screaming baby got in the way. Which screaming baby? This one:

Well yeah its that one just a different version of him. The above photo is I am trying to sleep and I am full, please stop shoving that bottle in my mouth.

We got to go to NOLA for Father Roy's last service as the parish priest for the church Nicole grew up in. The baby got to meet the man himself.

As a note: if your church has a cry room. It is for little babies like ours that don't really have any control over whether or not they cry, not for your 5 year olds you refuse to control. The baby did very well even though a large Lego war was being fought on the pew behind us. I have only been doing this a couple months, but if I didn't want my kid playing with Legos at church, I probably wouldn't bring them to church. Apparently our baby missed out because Father Roy is known for lifting babies up at their baptism Lion King style. It was a good testament to the man that so many people came to his last service and the reception afterwards they couldn't all fit. A refreshing change from the negativity you hear in the news.

And finally on June 28, 2011 we became the proud parents of a two month old. Here is his 1 month old pic and his new one for comparison.

Yeah, I can't really tell the difference either (the first one is the new one).

Oh bouncer where have you been?

If we had it all to do over again, I think we would have bought the bouncer before we bought anything. It calms the baby so it calms the parents (and the pug). I took a picture of it to post a shot that was hot off the presses, but my phone died and I couldn't email it. The baby (and his mother) did a great job of making my first Fathers' Day a happy one.

Developmentally, he has hit a new level. He has been staring at lights for a few weeks now, but as of this he is able to track objects well, and he smiles at lights. He also smiles at the baby in the mirror. He likes to grip objects now. He especially likes to grab handfulls of Nicole's hair. He has also gotten to the point where he has started batting at his rattles and objects he wants to manipulate. At his first visit to the doctor, she wanted us to get some weight on him. Now he has a double chin, so I think she will be pleased.

Ok here are some pics, including the one mentioned above.

Get your roll on

Sorry, it has been too long since you have gotten an update (I actually tried to do this last night but the software was messing up). The baby has become fascinated by anything that projects light, windows, lightbulbs, and mirrors are his favorite. He still likes to scream and he is adjusting to sleeping in his own room. But the biggest even of the past two weeks has been rolling over. Pretty much anytime he is on his stomach now, he wants to roll over. I have tried to get a video of it to no avail, until yesterday. Enjoy!

Shh! All the babies are asleep

1 Month Old & 1st Camping Trip

One month old! My where has it gone? Time and diapers have just flown by. Here he is with a stuffed animal. See this is a good way to show how much he has grown because while he gets bigger, the stuffed animal won't. I know what you are thinking. "Wow that's super clever!" It is, but we didn't think of it first. Lots of people have done this before us. Still, they didn't have such a cute baby. He was our addition.

Speaking of diapers... Here we are either just before or just after a diaper change. What's so special about this one? Its because we are camping!!! The baby enjoyed being out in nature and everyone enjoyed having him around. It's not easy to eat and hold a baby, but lots of people tried.

Here is the baby and his PawPaw, or is it great PawPaw? (he didn't need a new baby to make him a great PawPaw in my book). At any rate, his little onsie says "There's a new sheriff in town." So criminals and people that need to be served process watchout!

But how can he be the new sheriff in town when he is obviously a smooth criminal? Somebody call internal affairs. Annie, are you ok? This was on his way out to camp the first time. No sun or mosquitoes for our baby.

More fun

Well, he has been awake a lot more recently. We already have him practicing for the Little Mr. Sunshine Pageant.

He was very alert when I changed his diaper and his clothes the other day. It is really fascinating. He knows he has hands, he can see them, but right now he basically only uses them to fill his gaping maw. Just think how amazed he will be when he finds out they are really much more useful.

Its also really funny which things he just absolutely hates. It does not really have any rhyme or reason. He doesn't really mind being in his car seat. I put him in it a lot and put it on the table while I get supper ready. However, his swing, which is basically a car seat on a rotating arm, caused him to lose it. I mean, screaming like he was being dropped into hot oil (like baths used to be). Since he screams when he is still, we started out giving him the juice (it only goes up to 6 not 11). After some more screaming, with classical music playing in the background, we eventually settled on setting 1 and womb sounds. He likes the classics I guess. This is a pic of mommy and Pugsley watching the baby swing. Pugsley, for what it is worth, is scared to death of the swing.

3 Weeks Old!

This has been the fastest three weeks of my life. The baby is doing great, he is eating pretty well and sleeping through the night, other than feedings, about four days out of the week (although the statistical sample is too low for that number to be entirely accurate). He had his first set of professional pictures taken yesterday. Thanks to Aunt Jessica for coming over to help get him ready. As soon as those pics are ready, I will include a link to go see them. I am working on video editing so I can start posting some videos on here. No rants, no political opinions, just baby for this blog.

He was born April 28, 2011. I put his stats on the very first post. He was "grunting" and working really hard to breathe so he did not get to come straight to the room. He was first kept in the well-baby nursery for observation, then they decided to hook himwhile a up to a constant monitor to keep up with his breathing. This meant he had to spend some time in the NICU. Luckily, he did not have to be put on oxygen or a CPAP and was only hooked to monitoring equipment (and a little IV for some antibiotics). He was only in the NICU for about 1 1/2 days and then on Sunday May 1, 2011 we got to take him home. We were being discharged while a prayer was being said for him at church... Well it worked. Since he has been home, he has been exactly what you want from a baby - eat, poop, sleep. Sometimes he does all three at once, what a multi-tasker. In fact, I had intended to write much more in this entry but it is nearly 10 pm and its time to feed him.