Roadtrippin'

Hola amigos, Just a quick note to say we have hit the road to see Dan's grandmothers...we'll try to post a couple times this week. That is if I can resolve the conflict between the iPad and the blog; right now they are not getting along. Any how, to Nebraska we go! With newborn in tow!

Old man v. Teenager

Sometimes we just need a good laugh. We discovered we had a pair of newborn pants--in a pile of hand-me-downs from Tamra (and Carter)-- and Calvin had a little fashion show with them. 

First he dressed as a sagging teenager complete with a little baby acne.

Now this is really how you sag. Calvie knows; he's down with the trends.

Then he posed as an ol' guy sporting his trousers a  wee bit higher.

Complete with a shift in posture and he could pass for an older gentleman.

Summer Reads #5

Book #8 Split by Swati Avasthi

This book was about a boy who has an abusive father who gets kicked out of his house and has to figure out where he'll live, what he'll do and how he'll act. He wants to make a fresh start, but his old live keeps pulling him back. It was an interesting book and the author used several flashbacks to convey that Jace, the protagonist is being held back by his past experiences. I'd say that this book (and Stupid Fast) would be texts I would recommend to my students.


Thus concludes my young adult reading pile for the summer. (I had doubts I would get through that many books!) Now I am going to take a break and obsess about getting through my to-do pile--yearbook business, thank you notes, publication critiquest, etc. Of course I might get distracted by Bossy Pants... and there's a whole shelf of texts I have been waiting for years to read!

One Month face

Of course, Calvin is changing a lot. That's what babies do. Interestingly, but not totally surprising, during the first year of life is when people change the most. Our little guy is doing just that. On the eve of his one-month birthday, he slept five hours (that's what is considered sleeping through the night by the experts--though Dan and I have yet to figure out how sleeping five hours is really sleeping through the night! On what planet?!) But, it was a milestone in our household to be recorded none-the-less. And, here he is at one month:

Now we can snuggle without being swaddled.
Penguin Arms still strike out, but not always.

Arm control is getting better every day, and the double chin is almost permanent.
(So, obviously, eating is going well!)

When Penguin Arms aren't flapping and hitting his face, they usually move in slow motion.
Tai Chi Baby Arms. That's what we call them then. We'll hone his qigong skills next.

Calvin's one-month face.

The Usual

Dan figures out how to compute one-handed. I have yet to master that very well. So, it looks like business as usual here.

Caught at the computer.

My Love and Little Love.

Katrina + Baby Luna

Katrina stopped by one morning with delicious breakfast treats--and with little Luna. Luna loved the baby--until it took her momma's attention away from her. She told me that she and Calvin would be friends, though, and that she liked him. She was pretty concerned about everything that he was doing--she even checked on him one last time before she left because he was crying. While she was here, she checked out the baby toys, played with all the gadgets, and convinced us that she was a baby, too. When Katrina was leaving, Luna insisted that she be carried like Calvin. So I said, "Bye bye Baby Luna." She smiled and waved.

Man, after three weeks of hanging out with a newborn (and Dan, of course), it's great to have adult conversations that don't revolve around eating, sleeping and pooping. Katrina is a woman up to some pretty big things, and I always love to hear what's happening in her life. She just went to a pretty exclusive conference of super bloggers--fascinating! (I am a regular reader of a couple of the folks she met at the event. So cool.) Anyway, conversations with Katrina usually leave me with a few more things to explore and consider. Here's to more fabulous convos in our future!

Luna checks out Calvin's little hands. Katrina helps her hold him.

He doesn't have a NuNu; she doesn't either. What a sweet girl.

Calvin is wrapped up; Luna is swaddled, too.

Both of the babies sleep. ;-)

Butterheads

Family outing: Katie's Butterhead Birthday Bash.

First of all, what you should know is that our friends Katie and Tim (you met them in an earlier post) are in love with all things kitschy (kind of reminds me of my cousin Lori Keeling Campbell who is an artist in Montana). Katie and Tim go on vacation and see roadside attractions--think Paul Bunyan, World's Largest Ball of Twine, etc. There are soooo many wacky things to see in MN that they haven't even had to venture to our neighboring states. (Hello, New Salem cow in ND or House on the Rock in WI!) 

Anyway, Katie's husband commissioned her likeness to be carved out of butter--just like they do here in MN at the State Fair for the Dairy Princesses. He also rented a corn roaster from a local farmer to roast corn on the cob for the shindig. The contraption reminded me of the conveyor belt that toasted bread at the cafeteria in college--you put corn in and by the time the corn escalator made its way back, the corn was roasted. Awesome.

This party was all kinds of awesome.

And, Wee Calvin was a Giant Hit.

Tracy meets Calvin. Calvin meets Tracy.
He coerces her to stay at the party a little bit longer.

Yay! New friends!

Meanwhile, Dan enjoys his roasted corn--with butter, of course!
You can see we are not the first people at this event.
Katie's bust is already missing its mouth and nose.

Her buttery hair will be fine.
(In case you were wondering: that's  a 55 pound block of carved butter, folks.
The heads at the Fair are made from 90 pound bricks. Yikes.)

We meet more new friends. It's Baby Leo and his parents.
Calvin does the Thriller dance. First impressions are important, you know.
 Lady Gaga would be proud. 

C: "Don't worry, Leo. Buddy, I'll teach you my dance moves another time.
Like, maybe after I discover I have legs. For now, I like you. Let's be friends. K?"

The Statue of Liberty (or Houdini Strikes Back)

Give this kid a torch and he could pose as the Statue of Liberty:

Or he could do an impersonation of Michelle Obama at the Inaugural Ball in 2008. 

He sort of looks like he could be philosophizing here. Plato perhaps? Socrates?

He could rail his fist on the pulpit.

And exorcise the demons.

We may try to pose him as famous folks who also wear robes. (Thanks for the idea, Katrina!) Mother Teresa? Dalai Lama? Who else??

Summer Reads # 4

Book #6 Unforgettable by Loretta Ellsworth

Here's another summer book read for my students. This is a story about a boy who can't forget anything. He suffered a head injury when he was three and now can recall every detail of every day of his life. He moves back to Minnesota to get away from some of his bad memories and makes some new realizations about himself. This is a classic coming of age text! (Hello, ninth grade English). However, though the concept was original, the plot was predictable (for an adult reader who is an English teacher). As a designer, the cover of this text was by far the best! What a cool wordle.


Book#7 Stupid Fast by Goeff Herbach

This book is about a kid who's life changes pretty quickly over the course of a summer. Because of his quick trip through puberty, he finds himself being recruited to be a part of the football team even though he considers himself to be a loner and a loser. Through the course of his summer (of eating, sleeping and becoming a jock) he discovers some secrets about his family--and about himself--that he can't run away from. No matter how fast his legs move. What I especially loved about this book was the author's voice and the cadence of the writing. This book captured how my writing style and my brain worked in high school (I mean, minus the testosterone!). Zing! 
Because of the interesting voice and style, this is my favorite book of the three summer reads. One more to go!



I can't believe I have read seven books this summer! I was going to consider myself lucky if I had been able to get through three or four. I wouldn't say I have read anything too heavy or dense, and it might have taken me a few days to get through these during a previous summer, but I am pleased as punch to say that I have read a stack of books with a newborn in my arms. Now, for the last young adult summer read in my pile: Split.

Snuggletime thoughts

Tonight I put my baby to bed and thought about all the things he might do. I had this thought:
I don't want him to get any bigger than he already is.
Right now, I can hold him in my arms. That won't always be forever.


I am in love.

More Practice Visits

I waited to post this because the news had not broken yet. Our friends Katie and Tim came over to meet our little guy; they brought pizza and we ate way too much key lime pie than is healthy for anyone. (Damn you, Costco!) They also brought particularly sporty onesies for Mr. Calvin; I think Tim's insistence on having the hottest colors will have Calvin be the coolest kid at daycare. 

While they were visiting, they fell in love with our little dude. And...told us they were expecting! We are sooOOOOOoooo excited for them!! I just know our little babies are going to be great friends. If not, we'll force them to be. (It's called parenting, people.) Yay for babies!!

Here's Tim getting some practice holds in.
He looks pretty good holding a baby, huh?

And, here's Katie looking like a pro.
Calvin looks like he's giving her tons of advice.
He's a pro now, you know.

What They Didn't Tell Me #2

Here are a few more surprising, shocking, hilarious, and (almost always) helpful insights:

• You might start a journal/log that includes every poop your child makes, every time your kid pees, and every time your little person eats. You might do this longer than you think. You might do this longer than your husband thinks is necessary. You might think this is normal. You might be okay with that.
• The literature says sleeping "through the night" is five hours. You might disagree with that.
• Your baby might "sleep through the night," but that doesn't mean you will. Your alarm clock is now obviously internal. And, if you don't do something about your internal alarm clock(s), you'll wake up in a pool of your own milk. (See "What They Didn't Tell Me #1)
• Just when you think your husband has it so easy and he doesn't do anything, you realize how irrational you are. While you were taking a leisurely bath (the doc suggests 20 minutes 2-3 times a day!), he made the bed and replaced the comforter with your wedding quilt. You realize he loves you. 
• You might defend your husband's abilities to change a diaper/swaddle/parent your child. You might defend this publicly. You might be face-to-face with another new dad (with a lot of machismo) at a social engagement and have to talk yourself down from your soap box (because your husband is off changing a diaper and you are left to your own devices).
• When encountering other couples with babies, you might observe them as though they are their own ethnography. They are. You might realize that your little family has some things figured out. You might use the word egalitarian to describe your arrangement. You are definitely okay with that.
• Taking naps is a gift even though you feel like you are missing out on life/summer/precious time to complete the pile of "to-dos."
• It's okay to send your husband to bed. He needs naps, too. 

Houdini Baby

Some babies love to be swaddled. It's the cornerstone for soothing and early sleep teaching, apparently. What swaddles should normally do is keep the baby's arms down at his sides so that he doesn't whap himself in the face and disturb his milky dreams. And, that seems to work for MOST babies. Apparently, we have an exceptional child. 

The online sources have a name for his tactics. He is a Houdini Baby. Which means he wiggles out of his swaddle and gets his hands out. Calvin does this EVERY SINGLE TIME he's swaddled. Sometimes he just gets his little fingers to poke out. Sometimes he gets one arm partly or fully exposed. (He sort of looks like Michelle Obama at the Inaugural Ball then.) Other times, he manages to get both of his arms free. If it's possible, this little guy is going to get out of a restricted area. (Let's hope this is a phase.)

Right now, it's pretty cute.

According to our 14+ ultrasounds, this is how he rested in utero;
it's not surprising that this is comforting.

He looks like he is at rest, but he's really plotting his escape.
Those velcro flaps are supposed to hold him in. Not for long.

See? Slowly escaping... both hands are out!
15 minutes from now we'll need to reswaddle.

Venturing out with Momma

On our first venture out together--alone--we went to have lunch with Ginna and Ann. It was a perfect adventure. (Despite the fact that I got peed on; I am not the Diaper Queen at our house!) 

You know, there are women in my life that I am so grateful to know. Sometimes I wish we would have met 20 years ago, but we didn't. But, it doesn't matter. 

These are the relationships of kindred spirits who may have actually met each other several generations ago in other lives past. Ginna and Ann are two people that I really could express any crazy thing that's in my head and, despite the famed Face of Judgment, they would "get it." :-) So, it really was a perfect outing, because anything could have happened and it would have been just fine. And, it was.

I am so glad to have friends like these two smiley-faces! 

Better Bathtimes

This week's bath went a little bit better than last week. (At least Calvin didn't poop in his hooded towel this time--by the way, thanks to Heather for the gift. Obviously, it came in quite handy last week!) He's getting used to the special spa treatments and didn't put up too much of a fight this time.

Ahh...bath+towel+pacifier = Ahhh...

Ahh..bath+towel-pacifier = Ahh...

No complaints here.

Check out the new post-bath hairdo!

Also, check out these great faces! He's got more when he sleeps, but here's a tiny sampling. 

Pacified

Our family friend, the home healthcare nurse stopped over and we asked about when she thought would be a good time to introduce the pacifier. You see, Calvin has a good fist grip and a good mouth grip. He likes to suck on just about everything--and often that calms him down. Linda said we could introduce it whenever we wanted since he had well-established feedings so he is now pacified. Seems to work great! We even took Aunt Maggie to a movie (the Pixar production Brave--which was pretty good, by the way) and the plug worked like a charm! Now we use it regularly...

Here he is being pacified:

Not sure about the magic of the bouncy chair yet. 

But, the pacifier is effective.

Grandpa Morris

A few days after the wild celebrating of our nation's freedom during the week, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us. This time Grandpa got some snuggle time in with his youngest grandson. We're glad that they can come to spend time here to hold him and love him. They lived so far away from their other grandsons that they didn't get to do this very often, so we don't mind handing him over. (Besides, we get to hold him a lot--especially after 1 a.m.!)

Firecrackers and Sparklers

For the Fourth of July, we took our first road trip. We went to visit my parents in St. Cloud; we did not attend any fireworks shows or light off any bottle rockets. I think Calvin was the main entertainment attraction. He got to meet Auntie Barb and Uncle Dave, to take a nap with Grandpa and to be snuggled up with Grandma. I would say that our overnight adventure was pretty successful. Here's to many more ventures with little C!

One little peek.

Calvin looks pretty peaceful here--even though he's plotting his Houdini escape.