Weirdling Files: Batman

Monday, January 21, 2013

Week 7 - Out and About

By Mom
So far Doug has been writing weekly updates about Roland, but since he has been back at work I've seen more of Roland. Sunday night Papa went back to California, and Grammy stayed to spend another week with us. Sunday was a pretty uneventful day. We watched football and hung out around the house, spending time together as a family. Doug did a race early in the morning; his mom and stepdad went to watch while Roland and I stayed home and slept in. It was the second race in a three-race series - you might remember Doug having mentioned he did a race the morning Roland was born. That was the first race of the series. Luckily I was not on the list for another childbirth. Yet.

Monday was a terrible day for weather - making it perfect for getting things done around the house. Roland was a champ in his swing which made it easier for me and Grammy to get things done around the house. There was lots of cleaning mixed with a bit of box packing and furniture rearranging done. With the list of chores completed the rest of the week was left open for more preferred activities. We went shopping, visited Daddy's school again, and visited Mama's school for the first time. Grammy found things to decorate her house and helped me find things to make our apartment feel a little more homey.

When we were shopping Roland was in his Ergo - and asleep. The bigger he gets the more he fights naps during the day. Put him in the Ergo though and he snuggles down and visits dream land. On a few occasions he has stayed awake to look around a bit, but he usually doesn't last long. When he is hungry he'll wake up to nurse. Besides soothing a fussy baby, the Ergo is fantastic for nursing on the go. I might have been a little skeptical of trying if it weren't for the instruction booklet stating that the carrier had been designed with nursing in mind.

Grammy stayed with us through Saturday night. Doug and I even went out for a couple of hours on our own while Roland stayed with Grammy. It felt weird to leave the apartment without a baby and the baby things. We had a hard time figuring out what to do with ourselves. It's only been 7 weeks and already we revolve our decisions to go out around the baby. The first thing we noticed was that it was nice to be in the car without someone hollering from the backseat to get there already. So we got off the freeway and stopped at all the lights. The highlight of our trip out was finding a Star Trek version of Settlers of Catan to bring home. Since we've been spending almost all our nights in I had the idea to shop for board games. Figured it would be easy to stop in the middle of to do things Roland needs us to, then go back to once he is happy again. Even though we were only out for a couple of hours I was eager to get back home and make sure he was doing okay. Of course he was fine, making it obvious to everyone that the mom worry has been turned on in me.

And now for the part you came here for: pictures!

Parental Tragic Face

Cannonball Tragic Face

All the smiles for mommy

Mom on the new giant pillow

Carry the baby like a football

"Why must you make me sit up?"

WOOOOOO!

King of the Side Eye

Getting the snuggles

"Tell me again why we hate the Giants, daddy."

Love my swing

Grammy + glider chair = yaaay

"I suppose you're all wondering why I called you here today."

Hair

There are four lights!

Crime fighting socks

Papa gotta fly home? No!

Yeah, I'm a frog now. What?

This is my monkey. Sometimes I smack it.

A video where I dance on my mat after playing the elephant.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Week Five of Roland- New Years, Baths, and Grandparents

By Dad
Roland's fifth week was one of changes and newness. He got to go to his first New Year's Eve party, Yay Auntie Kay and Uncle Zach! It was an exciting shindig where his Mom knitted with girlfriends and Dad played video games with husbands of girlfriends. His parents were boring old people before he was born. He's just a good excuse to be now. At least we managed to stay up past midnight. Barely. Earlier that night he also got to Skype with extended family in Colorado. Yay, a million people talking at once into a computer screen! The Future is NOW!
He did some more fussing about sleeping this week. One thing that he really seems to love is bouncing and rocking and getting his back patted all at the same time. Which is fine and we can do that because it's better than howling cries of, "YOU PEOPLE DON'T REALLY LOVE ME!!!" But what we were both thinking about it was Holy crap, if someone shook me like this my eyes would come out and then I'd puke all over them. He's a rock star I guess. A roller coaster aficionado before he knows what roller coaster or aficionado mean. The other clue for that was how much he likes going around corners in the car and even being lightly swung in the car seat while daddy lugs it from apartment to vehicle.
He got a sink bath that he didn't seem thrilled about. There wasn't a ton of crying but there were some pretty definite dirty looks.
I went back to work this week, which was nice for me. I love being at school and I love teaching. It is strange to kiss him and his mom goodbye in the morning and kick rocks. But she texts pictures during the day. I also show everyone who might look like they are asking about him pictures. Went home and told him I showed a bunch of women naked pictures of him in the bath. He didn't seem to mind.
Robertson.
His Grammy and Papa (my mom and step-dad) landed Friday afternoon for their stay on the island coo-ing and fussing over baby. They're very excited and it's been great the last two days to have two more people helping out with various things. Sometimes its soothing him while he cries (we got a near three-hour crying/fighting sleep jag Friday night), sometimes it's making dinner or doing dishes. Whatever helps. Angela and I are both excited the grandparent trips are starting. It's been a while since we've seen them, and of course we're excited to show off the cutest baby ever.
And now, pictures.