Merry Christmas, You Pantless Baby!

So, you know how time goes by, and then you have to scramble to remember what's been happening? Yeah, guilty as charged. What is this strange blog you speak of?

Wyatt has a few new skills. They're not necessarily "milestones" but they sure are funny. For instance, this morning after his nap, I went into his room to get him. He'd managed to take off his own pants! We don't have video surveillance of the event, so I have no idea how he did it. I just know he had pants on when he went to sleep and when he woke up, his pants were scrunched up in the corner of his crib. Crazy kid. And speaking of strange slumber happenings, the kid also occasionally talks in his sleep. And by "talks" I mean "babbles unintelligibly", but still. Full volume "talking" while fast asleep. Who knew you could talk in your sleep without actually knowing how to talk? Hmmmm, what else, while I'm on the Wyatt topic? He gets more splishy and splashy with every bath. These days, I get soaked when I try to bathe him. :) But he LOVES bath time. He just grins and giggles the whole time, even when I pour water on his head and it gets in his eyes. It's pretty stinkin' cute.

Another big topic these days, naturally, is Christmas. We have lots of family stuff planned, of course. Should be fun, and crazy, and exhausting, and, you know, still fun. And I'm sure Wyatt will get lots of fun presents. Well, from family, at least. We're not really getting him that much this year. In fact, he only has two presents from us, and they both fit in his stocking. I know, bah humbug, right? But the thing is, he's not going to remember this Christmas. Plus, we already buy him everything he needs, and he's not old enough to have a Christmas list of wants yet. And we know he'll get all sorts of things from the family, so he's hardly losing out.... Gosh, I'm really working hard to convince myself I'm still a good mom, huh? :) Well, the thing is, gift-giving is totally my love language. So, even though there are a million logical reasons not to spend a bunch of money on presents for the munchkin this year, it still hurts my heart a little! If it were solely up to me, I'd go practically bankrupt buying everyone I know presents. It takes a lot of self-control not to. Seriously. A lot.

Okay, so then after Christmas is NEW YEAR'S EVE! Normally, that's not quite so exciting. But this year, we're going to a super cool party at Brian & Lesa's house. It's a pre-depression party. Totally 1927. We even have a password to get into the speakeasy. And we'll all be in costume, naturally. And of course, being a huge fan of double-meanings, I can't help but get a kick out of the whole "pre-depression" theme. I certainly hope we're not headed into another depression, but to be on the safe side, we'll have to party pre-depression style, like it's 2008! I'm so glad I'm not pregnant this year! I'm not sure I could have pulled off a wayward knocked-up flapper with much grace. And I'm pretty sure I didn't see any maternity costumes when I was looking for the perfect ensemble. Now I just need to get the right shoes and I'll be good to go. It always comes down to shoes, doesn't it, ladies?

Say it Like You Mean it.

"Mama." Yes, ladies and gents, Wyatt's first word is "mama". I win! And how, you may ask, do I know for sure that he's saying "mama" and not just playing with the "ma" sound? Oh, I know. A mama knows. Plus, you know, he just says it when I leave the room or he needs me. Yeah, guys, that's definitely "mama". That's "Where are you going? Come back! I need you." That's "Mama" with a capital M. And while there may be a day when I wish he didn't know how to say it, because it will have been abused beyond recognition by stuff he wants in stores and separation anxiety melt-downs, right now it's pretty much the coolest sound in the whole wide world.

And now for the crazy news. It looks like Ryan, Wyatt and I are moving to Boise, Idaho. Wait, what? Huh? I know. Like I said, it's crazy news. It's something we've been talking about for a while, but we wanted to be sure it was the right decision before we let too many people know about it. I won't get into too many details, but this could be a huge opportunity for Ryan's company, and a smart move for Wyatt. The schools are great. The shopping is surprisingly good. The health care system up there is great. The cost of living is really low, too. There are four seasons, but they're mild enough not to scare this California girl away... etc. I know, it's a sales pitch. Can you blame me for hoping I can lure some of my friends up there, too? :) And I guess, technically, it' not in stone yet. Ryan and I are flying up there the weekend after next so I can get a feel for the place and make sure it's somewhere I could call home. I've been there before, but never as a prospective resident, so I need to see it with new eyes. It's going to be kind of strange to live in a different state. Beyond some short stints as an exchange student in Germany and in Australia, I've never lived anywhere except California. And now a quote for my friend Jade: "We're in YOUdaho!"

WWK's Mobility Revolution

We've had our first casualty of Wyatt's mobility revolution: his head. Yeah, the little dude took a spill while climbing Mt. Coffee Table. We estimate, from his all-boy energy, that this is the first of many. Great. I guess it comes with the territory, but no Mama likes to see her kid with a fat bruise on his forehead.

As you know, Wyatt's a crawler now. He gets more confident and a little quicker every day. Well, it turns out that mere crawling was boring my child to tears. So, he decided the night before last to pull up to a standing position on the coffee table all by himself. Yes, my child is now standing without help. This is where I remind you that this kid is only 7 months old. In a month's time, he has gone from playing on his back and tummy to sitting up on his own to crawling to standing. The next step will be cruising, which doesn't seem too far off. And then, of course, comes walking. Exactly how early is this munchkin going to walk? Holy frickin' cow!

I have one last little milestone to share. This one helps me out a lot. Wyatt is now consistently holding his own bottle. Yesterday he did it for every bottle, so he's proven his capability. When Wyatt proves he's capable of new things, we don't allow him to opt out. If he wants a bottle, he now has to hold it. End of discussion. We did the same thing with sleeping through the night. Once he'd done it 3 nights in a row, we knew he was capable. After that, he never got another middle of the night feeding. (Well, except for that one time when he was sick, but those were extenuating circumstances.) Everyone has their own parenting style, but for us, enforcing things like this have been very successful. That, or we just have a really good kid, in which case I'm sure I'll be eating crow when we get around to baby #2, haha.

Well, I guess that about sums things up. Clearly my son is in a hurry to grow up. I have a theory on that. Ryan always tells him that when he gets bigger, he can go to work with Daddy. Wyatt obviously likes this idea a lot. Watch out for our blue-eyed boy in a hard hat and work boots any day now...

Fast and Furious

Dude. Seriously. This kid is in milestone overdrive. Last night, Wyatt crawled for the first time! He's been taking a few "steps" before losing his focus, but he's done it several times, so we know he has the mechanics down. He ought to be a speeding bullet of a rug rat in no time. As I mentioned in my last post, he's also learning to climb. We finally lowered his crib in order to prevent him from taking a dive over the top. Last night he also attempted to pull himself up to a standing position on the couch. He couldn't quite get there, but he looked determined, which seems to garner quick results in Wyatt land. I'm also trying to teach him how to crawl down backwards from the couch. I got a picture of him on my cell phone standing steady after a crawl-down lesson, and I expect we'll see more of this pose as he figures out how to pull all the way to standing. And since every time he's in a standing position, he tries to take steps, I foresee an early walker... I keep having to remind myself that my milestone-ramming, super tall little boy is really only 7 months old. Sometimes he looks so much older than that. Oh, but those chubby cheeks give him away... :)

I'm also happy to report that yesterday I slipped into the jeans I wore for my engagement pictures two years ago. I wore them comfortably for most of the day until Wyatt managed to get carrots on them. Fun with laundry! But it felt great. I'm not quite to my goal weight yet, but getting into some of my skinnier clothes is definitely incentive to keep fighting the good fight. It'll probably take a "mom job" after we're done having kids to get me back into my favorite bikini, but I sure do have a lot of great jeans I'll be thrilled to wear all winter. :)

More about me, me, me: I've been wrestling with an old manuscript lately. (Yes, reading Twilight inspired me.) I love my characters and the premise, but something was eating at me as I tried to move the story forward. Well, I figured it out! Now I can move forward, and potentially finish this thing! I realize this is kind of cryptic, since I'm not going to reveal my secret ingredient... or even the kind of recipe for that matter, ha ha, but I just had to share. I made a breakthrough. And for a writer, that kicks ass. :)

Here's the happy mama with her munchkin. I so rarely have pictures of myself posted anywhere, so I figured I'd drop in and say hello:

Lucky Number 7

On Saturday, the munchkin will be 7 months old. It's strange to even try to think about whether that happened quickly or slowly. Like with all things time-related, I have a mixed response with dramatic swings of the pendulum. But whether that took forever, or happened in a blink, we have a 7 month old child. And I say child, not baby. This kid quit being a baby a while back. He's such a little boy. It's crazy to listen to him growl, see him create his own game of peek-a-boo, and watch the milestones wander past us. He's cut his second tooth as of this morning (a grumpy morning indeed), and is learning how to climb. Evidently, a child doesn't need to know how to crawl forward in order to crawl up. He is easily bored, fights naps like a champ, and will always grin wildly at his first glimpse of his dad each day. He's a beautiful little boy, and he now actually knows what "no" means, and responds (usually) accordingly. Pretty stinkin' miraculous stuff.

I will now enter the portion of my blog I'll call "luck-schmuck". I'm going to give you the very abbreviated story of what I referred to at the end of my last blog. A week ago today, Ryan was called in to help his landlord evict a tenant. It was a church, which sounds innocent enough, but when all was said and done, the "pastor" had called in some thugs to break Ryan's face, and he had to pull his pistol (a gun he carries legally, by the way) to get them to stand down. (I put "pastor" in quotation marks fairly, considering by the end he was yelling "don't call me pastor. I'm not a pastor". I think that's what we refer to as a "wolf in sheep's clothing.") Well, they claimed they were gonna go get more guys and guns... As they sped of, Ryan called 911. After 5 attempts, he got through. (Makes you feel really safe, doesn't it? 5 attempts to get through to 911? Our safe society is such a thin veneer...) After a tense and scary 15 minutes, the police came to "diffuse" the situation. That means they made everyone go away, not that anyone was actually safe. But still, a gun fight was obverted, so that's a relief. Especially over a frickin' eviction of a church. Well, the next morning, the landlord got a call from the "pastor", saying the boys didn't like getting a gun pulled on them, so they were out looking for Ryan with a few "shooters" fresh out of the Pen. Great. Perfect. So there was like a hit out on my husband for evicting a church that never paid a cent of rent... and he's not even the landlord. Needless to say, we decided to leave town for a while and let things cool down. Things seem to be okay now, but no mother of a small child (okay no one, period) enjoys scary threats. So we're still on high alert for a while... Awesome. Heartwarming, ain't it? So that's the short version. I don't know if I have the energy to get into the longer version, but let me just tell you one thing: Ryan acted in wisdom and more importantly - he acted rightly. And I'll always be glad I'm married to the good guy, even if dealing with a bad guy may put him in danger. Contrary to what some may think, there's still such a thing as right and wrong, and my husband is on the good side.

On a lighter note, where are my book recommendations, people? Come on, throw this literary fiend a bone! I'm almost done with my rebound book and I'm jonesing for input. Thanks!

Read the Signs

I basically decided that if I was going to start reading again after Twilight, it was going to have to be something very different and potentially mindless. I found the perfect transition book to help me enjoy some lighthearted chick lit again. It's called Baby Proof by Emily Giffin. The protagonist is pleasantly sarcastic and completely grown up, which helps my cause. I needed something written in a voice that sounded nothing like Bella Swan, so I wouldn't keep comparing and getting bored when she didn't fall madly in love with a vampire and repeatedly almost get herself killed... So yeah, this one works. Hopefully the books keep on coming. Ideas are always appreciated!

Wyatt, now 6 1/2 months old, is really on verge of crawling. I know I've said that several times, but he actually pushes with one knee now and magically finds himself a couple feet away from his initial location. I don't think he quite knows what out of his arsenal of movements actually works best, but he'll probably figure it out any day now. I started putting outlets plugs all over the house in preparation, and Ryan even put corner guards on our ridiculously sharp coffee table corners. We haven't installed the cabinet locks or actually moved things out of their low-to-floor positions (i.e. vases in the entryway...) and we still need to get something to guard the fireplace from little hands, and I guess we're gonna need a couple retractable gates... oy. Not sure how these changes will look in our house... Get over it, Shannon. You're a mom now. These things go with the territory... And really, can I complain when I already have a pile of toys in the living room and blankets spread all over the floor for playing? How is that not an eye sore? :) Only the best fo my little dude.

Speaking of the boy, I forgot to share his latest measurements from the doctor. He was 20lb 13oz (90th percentile) and 29.5" tall (off the charts). Still on his way to some sort of high-paying professional sports career, I think. :) But you know, we'll settle for a doctor; so he has options.

I will very briefly touch on one more topic from our day, before calling this blog quits. I am exceedingly grateful to God that my husband is safe today. And I have a brand new level of understanding as to why the 2nd Amendment was written for the good guys. Holy CRAP. If you know Ryan (or me, and want to know more details) give one of us call, and we'll give you the breakdown on how Ryan's CCW (permit to carry a concealed weapon) saved his life today. I'll blog little more about it next time. Not trying to be cryptic, just absorbing it before I spit it out to the masses.

Sit Up Straight!

A month after my last post, it has finally occurred to me that perhaps I should write again. You'd think I didn't find my life interesting enough for public consumption or something.... jeez.

So, anyway. Wyatt is sitting up on his own now! He just started doing it, without immediately falling over, today! I think it was the incentive of getting to beat up a toy football, as is illustrated in the picture. :) I'm hoping maybe this will also mean he'll stop spitting up soon, spitty little bugger that he is, but I'm not holding my breath. I think I may have a son who spits up until well into high school, ha ha. He's still working on the whole crawling thing. Not quite there, but very much on his way. And no, we still haven't baby proofed our house. Yeah... we really need to get around to that soon.

Let's see, what else? I just finished reading all four books in the Twilight saga. I'm embarrassed to even say it, because until I read them, I thought they were just obsessive teen books... about as tempting to me as the Jonas Brothers. But then, you know, I read them. I blame Andrea, who convinced me that they're as fun for adults as teens. :) And it turns out she was right; they're really good! And now every time I start a new book, I'm bored after a few pages. Nothing is entertaining me! Help! If any of you have some good ideas for books that are super entertaining and fun, I'm all ears. I was digging the reading thing so much, and now I'm ruined for most of the books I had on my "to read" list. For now, the good news is that I'm back to working on a book I started writing in grad school. My goal is to write a book that entertains me as much as those did. If you can't find one, write one, right?

I guess that's about it. Have a great October!

That Bites

Wyatt has a tooth. Oh yes, after two months of sore gums, runny noses and pain relievers, my son's first tooth has finally broken through... or at least a corner of it has. So, um, how long do you think the other corner is gonna take to make its appearance? And does the first tooth prep the gums for the other 20 or so teeth that still need to arrive? I'm feeling.... underwhelmed. Poor kid. No wonder kids start to get a little grumpy and bratty in their "terrible twos". They're just finally fed up with the whole teething process! Or, um... something like that.

Oh, and there's more. Wyatt has a new sound. He has learned to shriek like a girl. It's cute, because he's squeaking with glee... but you know... it's also loud. Very loud. And it can be hard to decipher from his other shriek... the one where he's crying in misery. Glee, misery... same difference? Hmmmm.

The third Wyatt tidbit involves mobility. Our boy is on the brink of crawling. He gets his butt up in the air and sort of scoots forward accidentally. It's not quite deliberate mobility, but it's definitely shaking up his world a little bit as he stumbles upon the ability to get to some of his toys. You think maybe we should start baby proofing our house? Yeah, maybe...

Short and sweet. It's a cliché. It's also the perfect description of this blog, so you'll have to deal. Bye!

Bottle Shock

It's been almost a month since I've updated my blog. Shame. Shame. I think sometimes you get into a groove, and then sometimes you lose it. I lost my groove. (And no, I don't plan to get it back Stella-style...) So, anyway, I'm back. Hi.

Wyatt is now 5 1/2 months old. He's a kick. He's finally to an age where he's trying to do new things... where you can see the gears turning in his head as he turns things over in his hands or tries to move somewhere once he's rolled onto his stomach. He does that all the time. He starts on his back, rolls onto his stomach, and then lays for a while and tries to figure out how to crawl. So far, he rocks and squirms, but he hasn't quite figured out the coordination or how to get up on all fours at the same time. It's coming. I think crawling is about a month or two out. He's also getting closer to sitting up on his own. He can balance as long as he doesn't lose focus, but as soon as he looks in a different direction, he tends to tip over in that direction. :)

In other Wyatt news, I've decided to wean the munchkin. I know, I know. Evil Momma. Good mothers nurse for at least a year, not 5 1/2 months, right? Blah blah blah. Here's your medal for mommy sainthood. Listen, all I can tell you is that my son is teething, and he's a stubborn little monster when it comes to chewing and biting during feedings. YES, I tried flicking him when he did it. I tried it with a stern "NO!". I tried it over and over again while he alternately cried or laughed at me and then went back to gnawing on things he shouldn't be gnawing on. He's either a little thick and doesn't understand cause and effect, or he's as stubborn as his father. I think it's the latter. So the shop is closed for business. I'm dealing with sore boobs and he's dealing with bottles. Yea for bottles!

Okay, now for a paragraph about something new. We have a backyard! It's true; the dirt lot behind our house has been transformed. Beautiful stained and stamped concrete, green grass, a retaining wall, trees and a jacuzzi. It's pretty stinking nice to have a reason to open the shades. The only thing we don't have yet is the patio cover, which is being engineered for a large span. It'll be nice, pitched, and have a matching roof with our house. Pretty sweet. And then of course we'll invest in some good outdoor furniture, etc. But honestly, just seeing green grass and trees makes me happy!

I guess that's enough for today. Been following the election? Yeah... me too. It's been hot lately... Sure am glad fall is coming... So... The Trojans are playing some awesome football, eh? Yeah... You can hang up now.

Rollin' with my Homies

We're in milestone land. On Wednesday, August 13th, Wyatt rolled over for the first time from his tummy to his back. He was chillin' on a blanket on the floor with his buddy Alex, who's 2 weeks younger. He saw Alex rollin' like a pro and decided to give it a try. (Jealous, much?) To our delight, he pulled it off on the first try! (He hasn't done it again since, ha ha, but it still counts!)

And while we're talking milestones, we can add Mr. Wyatt to the solid food club. Yep, my boy now eats from a spoon. Rock on, little muncher. He seemed a little weirded out by the texture of something not-milk-like, but being the hearty eater that he is, he got over it in no time. Watch out world, Wi-Fi is learning to chow.

In other eating news, not Wyatt-related, I'm learning to cook. And by "learning" I mean "teaching myself with random recipes and expensive grocery bills". I find that the basics are boring, so I've jumped right into gourmet-land. Okay, that's an exaggeration, considering I don't even really know what all the tools do, or the difference between "chopping" and "mincing". But if I don't know, I just improvise. So far, most things have turned out pretty good. I've had a couple flops, but I guess that's the whole "learn from your mistakes" angle. Tonight, I'm cooking for the first time for Ryan's family. (I made jerk chicken for my parents a couple weeks ago, but knowing me, they have such low expectations in the kitchen, ha ha, it wasn't much pressure.) What's funny is that it's not like the Kuhns are a high-maintenance group. We could order pizza and they'd be perfectly happy. But I know Ryan wants to show off his wife's culinary progress, ha ha, and so I'm stepping up to the plate with a repeat performance of my Garlic Sesame Pork Tenderloin, Artichokes with Creamy Dill Dipping Sauce, and some Garlic Bread. Garlic is the thru-line for this meal, so my apologies to anyone in the family who was planning on having minty fresh breath tonight...

I feel like with as long as it's been since I blogged, I should probably have more to say. I should, for instance, be telling you about Wyatt and my perfectly fun day in LA last week. I should be writing about Ryan and my sans-baby trip up to the Napa area for the Bottling Party at the Housley's winery. I should, but I'm tired of typing. I'll get back to you on those. It'll be a teaser - setting you up for the sequel. Try not to be too impatient. :) And speaking of impatient, I'll leave you with a picture of the little dude, who was too impatient to take his nap to let his mommy know he was tired...

Our Little Dude is Bulking Up for Fall

Tomorrow, Wyatt will be 4 months old. He'll start eating cereal with a spoon. I had to stop by Target today to buy spoons and plastic bowls, because somehow that age just seemed so far away... I didn't even prep for it. And yet, here we are. And of course, he isn't just getting older; he's getting bigger. At his 4 month appointment today, he weighed in at 17lb 7oz and measured 27" tall. That's still 90th percentile for weight and a whopping 95th percentile for height.

Here's my theory: Wyatt's obsessed with football, because he could hear his momma watching both NCAA and NFL games through a good chunk of her pregnancy. It soaked into his very DNA. And he will, of course, be justified in his goal come the end of this month. Football season is almost here again!!! Yea! Pure heaven for me and my little linebacker. I do, after all, watch more football than my husband, even though he used to play.

Here's Wyatt working out for fall:

Post Traumatic Vacation Disorder

We're home! Mammoth was fun and exhausting and adventurous and funny. And as with so many vacation experiences, it's the old "I need a vacation to recover from my vacation" scenario. I don't really know where to start, so I'll just sort of jump right in.

First, I have to fess up. We didn't make it a week in the trailer. :) We stayed in it for 3 nights. Then, on Wednesday, after a fun, long day at the ghost town Bodie (a baby name we actually like a lot, by the way) and to the sound of the wails of a teething (more on that in a second) cranky baby, Ryan suggested that perhaps we should finish out our vacation at the Westin. Now you're talkin'. We did, after all, want to get a little relaxation into our vacation, and Ryan and I tend to find luxury very relaxing. :) Granted, we still had an infant with us, so it wasn't quite as relaxing as it would have been with a sitter, ha ha, but it definitely took the edge off! I know what you're thinking. How spoiled are you? You can't handle a week in a perfectly good trailer? Plenty of people go tent camping all the time, and they don't complain! They like it! It's fun! And hey, people even do it with babies and have a good time. Well... yeah... I don't know what to tell you. I do have a better understanding of why people enjoy camping now, but I still kind of like a soft, king size bed and daily maid service better. I'm a nut like that. Normally, one of my favorite things would be the pool and two hot tubs. I'm still, however, widdling away at the 64 pounds I gained with my pregnancy (I know, gasp!). So I just couldn't bring myself to pack a swimsuit. I'm happy to report that I didn't gain any weight on vacation, at least. So there's that.

There's no rhyme or reason to how I'm writing this blog, so hey, let's start a new paragraph, shall we? (She's a writer?) We had a few obstacles on our vacation, as I hinted at earlier. I'll start with the teething baby. My son isn't even 4 months old yet, but he's already starting to get a tooth. You can just make out a tiny white spot, but it's there. What an overachiever. I guess he figures if he's as big as an 8 month-old, he might as well prep himself to eat steak and potatoes like a man. With that discomfort, plus a ravenous appetite from what we assume is another growth spurt, (because our child clearly wants to catch up with Shaq's kids), we had some moments of pure delight in the trailer. One night, Wyatt screamed for about 2 hours straight. It was insane, and let's just say I did my share of crying that night, too. And it didn't help, obviously, that I'd just found out that day that my grandpa had passed away. I was a little, shall we say, fragile. I'm sure that contributed to Ryan's decision to treat us to the Westin.

Wow, that got somber. But we also had a lot of fun on this trip. Mammoth is a very cool place, and we enjoyed spending time with Ryan's family. Wyatt was in hold-the-baby heaven. He also really gets a kick out of his cousins. Babies seem to really enjoy other little people. :)

Okay, I'm going to change the subject. Wyatt is almost 4 months old. He has his 4 month appt. on Thursday, so we'll find out just how big our little dude has gotten. Despite some little frustrations like teething and growth spurts, he's actually amazingly fun right now. He smiles and laughs all the time. He's also obsessed with his hands, tongue and feet (in that order). If he could spend hours chewing on one hand, using the other one to pull a foot in front of his face, and experimenting with new ways to stick his tongue out and make new sounds, he'd be in heaven. (And let's face it, that's basically exactly what he gets to do for good chunks of the day, which may explain why he's always smiling and laughing.) He also thinks he can already walk. If you hold him steady and stand him up, he'll lift each foot and try to take a stroll. Again, this is a child who wants to grow up too fast! I figure he ought to roll over, sit on his own and crawl before he walks, but what do I know?

Here's more about our little dude. Let's talk binks. (Those are pacifiers, by the way.) Wyatt pretty much only uses a bink when he's sleeping or in the car (when his parents want him to be sleeping). There's a pretty strong sleep association there, so we're big fans of the bink. Well, Mr. Curious has now figured out how to pull the bink out with his hand and look at it as he's drifting off to sleep. This would be awesome if he were skilled at putting it back in his mouth. But the boy is notorious now for going down for his nap with a bink in his mouth, pulling it out to investigate it as he drifts off, but not fully falling asleep because he can't figure out how to get it back into his mouth. He's also good at spitting it out accidentally because he wants to play with his aforementioned tongue. We don't plan on letting him have the bink past a year old, but we weren't expecting it to have complications by 3 1/2 months! Oh well. It'll just be a race to see if he learns how to sleep without it, or how to put it back in his mouth first. Honestly, I'm okay either way at this stage.

More pics from Mammoth (in the trailer) of the boy:

Vacation, Kuhns Style

Those of you who know me, know that I'm not a camper. I love the mountains, but prefer to experience them in a cozy cabin with all of the amenities of home and plenty of room to stretch out. Especially a cabin with a cleaning service. When we were kids, our family had a nice cabin up at Huntington Lake. Vacation was laying out on the deck getting a tan while reading about 5 new novels and watching sailboats. There were a couple hikes, maybe a day on the lake in a houseboat, and possibly a couple hours of light fishing. Most of these were just alternate ways to work on my tan. We'd make s'mores in the pot bellied stove in the cabin, or down at the country store fire pit. To me, that's a vacation in the mountains. I like the smell of the woods and nice views of a lake. But I've never understood the point of purposely roughing it. Let's pretend we're homeless! Not you style...? Okay, well step it up. Let's pretend we live in a trailer park! I guess I've just never quite understood the appeal.



This week, we're heading off for a vacation, Kuhns style. We're going to Mammoth. We're staying in our trailer (more on that in a second) and will be spending the week doing activities with various members of Ryan's immediate an extended family. And, we'll have Wyatt with us on this adventure, of course. I really want this to be fun. I especially want it, because I know Ryan is totally excited about the trip. I like it when Ryan's happy. And there are certainly aspects of the trip that I'm looking forward to. It'll be cool to see the whole family. I like Ryan's family. They're an entertaining bunch. I also know there will be more hands than usual to hold Wyatt, which is always a plus to a new mom. He'll get to meet his new second cousin (who is only like a two weeks younger than him) Elliott, too. Ryan will hopefully not be working (on job work, project work, or any other work -- crossing fingers), so he shouldn't be overly stressed out or tired. At least I hope that's the case, because I think that's the whole point of being on vacation, right? The air will be clean. The weather should be nice. I've also heard that Mammoth is a pretty cool town. So good stuff, right? Yeah, mostly...



I do have some concerns, however. One, of course, is staying in the trailer. I know, I know. What a princess I am. But as a long-time insomniac, new mom, and general relaxer during vacations, I foresee a few discomforts and inconveniences that in the past, I have never associated with vacation. First is the trailer itself. It's nice enough for what we paid for it, but you know, it's no Ritz-Carlton. The premise for our purchase of said-trailer was for "if sh!t hits the fan". My husband was doing the very responsible thing of protecting his family in case of natural disaster, societal breakdown, or great depression. It's good to have a "just in case" trailer. I could have sworn that was why I was okay with getting a trailer, when for other reasons...like I don't know...vacationing... hadn't convinced me prior to that. So I'm mildly bummed to be vacationing in our "if sh!t hits the fan" trailer after all. Maybe that makes me a spoiled brat, but there it is. I'm also not stoked about the general lack of room when we have so much needed baby gear. And of course, to be perfectly honest, I have protested the very idea of camper/trailer/RV vacations from the moment I met Ryan, because as my grandmother always said "If mom has to take her chores with her on vacation, it's not a vacation for mom". And so... yeah... a few concerns. To Ryan's credit, though, the positives should outweigh the negatives. So there's that.



The truth is, I think we'll have fun, for the most part. That's what I'm hoping. My goal is to be positive and embrace the new vacation standard. I mean, otherwise it's a losing battle. After all, my last name is Kuhns now. It's just one of the many changes I've encountered now that I'm married. I'll let you know if I succeed with my goal to enjoy myself... :)

Ghetto Fabulous, Sorta...

This has been a seriously amusing week. I'll start with an update on Sleep Watch '08. Wyatt is now definitely a child who sleeps through the night. He now sleeps anywhere from 8-10 hours in a block. (The pic is actually of Wyatt after he fell aseep while playing, but it fit the sleep theme, so go with it, okay?) My husband has been telling people about how he suddenly has his wife back. It's true. I didn't even realize just how much my energy and mood was still being affected by the daily broken sleep until I started getting normal, full nights again. All of a sudden, things that have felt overwhelming and difficult since Wyatt was born (like cooking meals that actually require recipes and running more than one errand at a time with the baby in tow) seem totally doable. Sleep. Dude, it's a powerful thing.

While we're on the subject of my adorable little monster, I'll switch to a topic that's less about celebration and more about imperfection. The term is "original sin" when a baby starts to show his flawed humanity - when flashes of rebellion, manipulation and general pissed-off-ness start to replace basic survival reasons to cry. Wyatt turned 3 months old on Tuesday, and he definitely turned that corner. He gets impatient, even when he knows he's about to be fed, and screams to get his way faster. It's no longer "I'm hungry; feed me mama." It's "Speed it up, woman! The prince does not wait for his meal!" My son has learned how to be a brat. Tsk tsk. To his credit, he's also learned other social behaviors like smiling and laughing. And there's a lot more of that than the bratty fits, so I'm not suggesting I have an evil child. I'm just saying, you know, he's learning way too early that there's a system to be worked...

Onward to other things: I got new 20" Denali wheels and a new Denali grill for my Yukon! Needless to say, I don't actually have the Denali model. But the Yukon I have is the fully loaded, nicest non-Denali you can buy. Pretty much, the only differences are the wheels and the grill. Do you see where I'm going here? I basically just upgraded my vehicle for a fraction of the cost of buying it that way, without getting all flashy and ghetto. (No offense to the ghetto-fabulous owners of spinners and super-bling rhinestone grills, but that wasn't quite the look I was going for in the mommy-mobile.) It looks pretty stinkin' good, I think. I haven't gotten a picture of the new grill yet, so I'll have to get back to ya on that, but you can see the new wheels, which are pretty awesome. I also realize that a good percentage of the people I know read this blog could care less about the diameter of wheels, the shine of rims, or the line of a grill on a car. But I've always been a car nut, so I have to be true to my motor-trend reading heritage... :)

I also got paid on one of my latest freelance jobs. There's nothing like a check in your mailbox to brighten up your week. So basically, all of this is just to say that it's been a good week. Whaaat, whaaat.

Sleep Watch '08

We're currently in the midst of Sleep Watch '08. The star of our saga? Mr. Wyatt William Kuhns. Yep, we have ourselves a little experiment going here in the Kuhns household. We're testing out a baby sleep remedy recommended by countless aunts, grandmothers and friends, but not recommended by BabyCenter.com and other official baby care resources. Oh, the controversy... Two nights ago, we tried giving Wyatt a bottle at bedtime with a little rice cereal in the mix. I misread the measuring spoon and only gave him a teaspoon of the good stuff instead of a tablespoon. Wyatt gave us an 8 hour block. Success! Last night, I rectified the measuring spoon fiasco and used a tablespoon instead. (Drum roll please...) Wyatt gave us a 9 hour stretch! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our son went from 10pm to 7am between feedings. Ah, sweet slumber! So, that's 2 nights in a row that the controversial rice cereal has worked its secret magic. Take that, oh baby elite... My little dude likes it old school.

This past weekend, the munchkin went on a couple road trips. Saturday, we spent some quality time in Visalia. It was 108 degrees. Whoop whoop, Summertime. Thank you, Jesus, for air conditioning. We got to see lots of family and friends, which was a treat. Wyatt also met (in his sleep) my Papa, his great-grandpa who's in the hospital. We love you, Papa. Then, on Sunday, we went down to LA. Ryan was showing our sailboat to potential buyers (please buy that sucker, oh maritime enthusiasts of Marina del Rey) and I got to hang out with T and Riley. We also went down to Torrance to visit the Ludwig clan, which was a welcome surprise! Wyatt was the most excited about Riley, I think. He did, after all, get his first kiss from a girl.

Here, as usual, are a few more pics of my handsome kid. He'll be 3 months old on July 1st, but he's about the size of Riley who is more than twice his age! (7 months old.) Yeah, my husband and I both come from some hardy stock...

Ditching the Little Dude

Sooooo.... I haven't really done that much blogging lately. I've been stumped. I'm sure you all found my diatribe on Wyatt's napping schedule fascinating and everything, but... :)

I took my first trip away from the little dude this past weekend. It was a girls' weekend in Palm Springs. I got a little teary-eyed when I left because Wyatt was asleep so I couldn't give him a bunch of obsessive mommy-kisses on my way out the door. Once we got to the hotel, though (which was actually a resort in Rancho Mirage) I was perfectly content to get some quality time away from the squirt. I got to experience pre-baby things like 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep for two days in row (although I woke up in the morning with boobs about to burst...) and having three bloody maries by the pool without having to worry about the dangers of buzzed-mommying. T and I also got to bond with our pumping parties in the hotel room. It was one of the benefits of not being the only nursing mother in attendance. :) The down side was actually wearing a bathing suit in public only 2 months post-baby and the still-itching sunburn I got on my back even with "waterproof" 45 SPF sunscreen. But hey, those were minor negatives to an over-all much appreciated positive experience. And boy did I appreciate my son (who I swear grew visibly over the 2 days I was gone) when I returned, not to mention his angel of a father for taking care of him solo while I was gone.

Okay. Time to feed our little giant. Here's a couple pics of Double Dub from today:

Adventures in Napping

The napping phenomenon is an interesting part of the routine in this newly established Kuhns Family. My son is not a good sleeper. He comes by it honestly. I've dealt with bouts of insomnia and the curse of being a very light sleeper my whole life. I was hoping not to pass that on, what with those dominant Ryan genes and all, but it seems my son is about as skilled at sleeping as I am. I also hate naps. For starters, falling asleep in the middle of the day is a challenge for me, no matter how exhausted I am. And then, if I happen to overcome that hurdle, I tend to wake up grumpy and groggy - basically ruined for the rest of the day - which pretty much ruins the point of taking a nap in the first place. I'm afraid Wyatt may have a similar reaction to naps.

This morning's nap is chalk full of great examples of Wyatt at his finest. It begins, inevitably, with the slow transition from happy baby to fussy baby. This signals Mommy that he's tired, and needs a nap. And so it begins. I take him into his room, make sure he has a clean diaper, and cuddle him for just a bit to get him calm before placing him sweetly in his crib. He fusses, whines, and generally expresses his disapproval. He hates naps, after all. He grumbles and cries as his eyes get smaller and smaller. He sucks violently on his bink to make himself feel better about his terrible bad luck about being in his crib. His eyes are slits. He stares through his slits at Mommy until his lids are so heavy, he has no more strength to hold them open. And then, even in sleep, he whimpers for about 5 minutes, still annoyed at the evil nap. 30 minutes go by as he sleeps quietly, and then, out of his room, the crying begins again. Mommy is back in his room to soothe him, knowing that if the light crying gets worked up into wailing, he will not fall asleep again. He has spit out his bink and rolled his head to the side, on top of it. He's uncomfortable sleeping on a bink, naturally, and he's ticked. I put the bink back into his mouth, which he attacks like a piece of meat. He wimpers, staring at me with wide eyes, daring me to make him keep napping. I hold the bink in his mouth with one finger while I stroke his cheek lightly and stare him down. We hold a staring contest for about 5 minutes as his eyes get smaller. His "blink" is sleep, and he's out again to complete the second 30 minutes of his evil nap. (This dramatization was edited to keep it intertesting. In all honesty, there were actually about 4 trips back and forth to calm him before he napped, but that would have been overkill...) The beast wakes up hungry. He is MAD that he isn't being fed immediately upon waking. He hollers until he is given sustenance. After he eats, he smiles and gurgles and talks to mommy. He plays and he grins. Happy as can be. No beast in sight...until it's time for his next nap, of course...

Here's our 10 week-old Wyatt, post-nap and post-meal of course, testing out his new big-boy toy. He's trying to decide what he thinks about this shocking new thing. :) He's still too little to touch the ground and jump on his own, so we've added a phone book under his feet to help, which is working out nicely.

The Green in My Grass

When I was pregnant, I mused from time to time about what I missed. Sushi. Alcohol. Sleeping on my stomach. Sitting in booths without bruising my stomach... You get the idea. Today, I can have sushi whenever I want. Ryan and I have taken advantage of that gift wholeheartedly. I've sampled from my various cravings of martinis, mojitos and margaritas... (evidently, I have a thing for the M drinks?) I sit in booths quite easily. Sadly, I still can't sleep on my stomach, thanks to the boob-food supply, but I can sleep on my back without my arms going numb, so that's a gift in and of itself.

Now for my 'grass is always greener' moment. I miss a few things about life pre-baby. Pedicures. Leisurely shopping experiences and other uncomplicated errands. Uninterrupted sleep.

Now, you'd think I could get a pedicure with a baby in tow, right? But think about the logistics. You're in a massage chair thingy with your feet in water or being man-handled by the pedi lady. Your child is sitting in his car seat/carrier (which he hates) and he decides to start crying to let you know it. Do you A) Stop everything, regain the use of your feet, and go to pick him up, B) let him scream and disturb the relaxing pedis of the rest of the women there, or C) request that one of the technicians pick up your child for you and hand him to you, and also his bink, and also his burp cloth, and pray that's enough to get him quiet again? Needless to say, you do NOT want to see my toes right now.

Then there's shopping. I'm in that in-between stage where I'm still too fat to fit into my pre-baby clothes, but my maternity clothes are too big and fit weird now that I don't have a rock-hard spherical belly. I need a couple cheap get-me-through-this-lame-stage outfits and a one-piece swimsuit, because 2 months out, my mid-section is FAR from ready for prime time. But there's a very small window of time when my son is neither fussy nor hungry. And sadly, that small window is not even remotely long enough to engage in true shopping. It's just enough time to make a mad dash to Target to pick up emergency diapers. And even that is a far from enjoyable experience these days. The up-side is that the only money I spend is on stuff I need for Wyatt. No leisurely oops-I-accidently-spent-$200-at-Target moments. Those are by far a thing of the past.

And lastly, sleep. I have to laugh that I ever complained about lack of sleep when I was pregnant. I thought getting up every few hours to pee and doing a lot of tossing and turning throughout the night, was "lack of sleep". No, lack of sleep is having a baby who doesn't sleep through the night yet. Getting up to pee is nothing compared to getting up to feed (20-30 min), change (5 min), and soothe (alternating intervals of 5 - 15 min after he's supposedly gone back to bed) a baby. That half hour to hour break in your sleep cycle, a couple times a night... that's lack of sleep.

Would I change it? Would I give him back and say "no thanks, life was 10 time easier before we had a baby"? No, of course not. It was 10 times easier, but I know and love Wyatt intensely now. He's a real person, a member of our family, and I wouldn't trade him for all the sleep and free time in the world. But that doesn't mean I don't miss the simplicity of life before. I miss it like crazy. I wish I would have soaked it up a little more - appreciated the gift of simplicity, of self. I wish I could express to people who aren't to this stage yet, how important it is to enjoy that! People told me, of course, but I guess I didn't really let it sink in.

As always, here are some pics of our now 90th percentile (in both height and weight), 2 month-old boy. (Yes, he'll be playing football for my USC Trojans. Obviously.)

These blue eyes will someday get me both in and out of trouble.

The elusive smile. I do it all the time, but mom and dad have a hard time catching it with the camera! This is sort of a half smile. It's a start.

No one told me I'd be getting close to outgrowing my swing at a mere 2 months old. I guess that's what being in the 90th percentile does to ya.

We'll call this "napping". Um, yeah...

Might As Well Face It; I'm Addicted to Love.

I have a new addiction. I'm addicted to seeing my kid smile. Every day, he gets a little more free with his happy faces, and for every time I see that toothless grin, I need even more. I know it's cheesy, but it's true. It's a weird feeling. Sometimes I'll resort to just about anything to see his lips curl up, even for just a second. High pitched baby talk? Singing silly songs? Making funny faces? Taking a little longer to change his diaper because sometimes all he needs for a grin is to be naked? Yep, I've done them all and more. :)

Conversely, I have an intense allergy to his crying. The big lipped pout prior to the wail is actually pretty stinking cute, but the actual crying, when he gets really riled up, makes me feel ill. It's not the annoyance of general baby crying that I always had pre-child (although I still have that reaction sometimes). It's like an ache in the pit of my stomach... a sad heart. And sadly, sometimes it's unavoidable. My boy, for instance, hates his crib. He has to be on the verge of passing out in order to go to his crib to sleep without a fight. But given its obvious role in his future, I can't have that. He isn't going to magically start liking the crib if I don't teach him to work through his frustration. And so, I've been hearing a lot of crying lately. It sucks, because we finally got him over his massive fussiness, and now we're having to do battle with the crib, invoking crying once again. It's tough being a mommy. :) I guess as long as I get my regular fix of goofy grins, I can handle the other stuff!

Okay, now you can laugh at me. I just attempted to talk tough. Then, I went on a walk with the boy before publishing this post. He fell asleep on the walk with his thumb in his mouth. Instead of pulling him out and putting him in his crib when I got home, I wheeled his stroller right into his room next to his crib and left him in it to sleep. Why? That pesky cry allergy, of course. Here's a couple pictures of him waking up (that's the hungry cry) from his stroller nap:

Wyatt is 8 1/2 weeks old today. I guess we move away from weeks and start talking months now, right? Well, he'll be 2 months old on Sunday. We've all come a long way... :)

Babe Wisdom

I have an endorsement to make. As anyone who's been reading my blog knows, our sweet little darling Wyatt can be a bit of a handful in the fussiness department. My s-i-l babysat him last week and confirmed that he's challenging. :) Which was a relief to Ryan and I, because she's an experienced mother of 2, which means maybe we're not just baby-wimps. Well, we've gone around in circles trying to figure out why our child gets so weepy all the time. And then we started reading a book that our friends recommended. It's called On Becoming Baby Wise. And we realized what the problem was. Wyatt fights sleep. He doesn't generally just fall naturally to sleep when he's tired. And so, by the end of the day, if he's napped at all, they've been cat naps. So he's overly tired and cranky. And those strange intervals of fussiness throughout the day? Yeah...those are the times he needed to be put down for a nap. A real nap. Not just a quick doze in the swing before he eats. We've started following the loose schedule set up in Baby Wise, and have discovered a much happier baby boy.

Here's what's funny: The information in Baby Wise is really the same stuff my friend Talitha, who's a doula, has been telling me all along. I recognize the loose scheduling (which is a welcome and logical balance between the hyper-scheduling camp and the attachment parenting philosophy, both of which are based on flawed logic and extremism... I'm sure I'll piss someone off by saying that...) as the same recommendations she's given me. When she advised me last time though, I was still in the midst of baby blues and general unfamiliarity with my child, so I didn't quite understand how to implement it, and I wasn't really completely capable of understanding it. :)

So, anyway, kudos to Brian and Lesa for recommending the book to us, and to Talitha for giving us the same advice even without a book! We now have a child who naps, who isn't so psycho in the evenings and a hour after every meal (turns out, it had nothing to do with his tummy), and who is already sleeping a little longer each night. I'm starting to feel more confident about the fact that my child may be sleeping all the way through the night in a few weeks. (Knock on wood.)

Our almost 7 week old:

Truly, Madly, Deeply

I am truly, madly, deeply in love with my son. Even as we speak, he's squeaking and talking to the fish on his bouncy seat while he hiccups and gives me the occasional toothless grin. This intense feeling of adoration is amazing. And I'll admit it; it's new. I wish I could tell you I felt this way the day he was born. That I, like so many women on TV and in books, had felt a magical connection to my child the moment I saw him. But like many moms (who've felt ashamed of themselves for feeling the way so many other women feel, but don't admit), I had to get to know my son first. When Wyatt was born, I was still in pain, exhausted, and scared. I could appreciate his cuteness and wowed by his very existence, but he was still a stranger to me. I had to figure him out, discover his goodness and be charmed by his personality the same way I had to get to know my husband before I fell in love with him. In the beginning, I was angry at all the moms who'd gone before me and hadn't warned me... I'm not angry anymore, but I refuse to repeat their mistakes.

But tomorrow, Wyatt William Kuhns will be 6 weeks old. And I can't imagine life without him. Maybe it's because he responds to me now. Maybe it's because he's awake more now, so I'm actually seeing parts of his personality. Maybe it's because I'm getting a little more sleep now that Wyatt has a 4-5 hour stretch at night, and my husband is so active in making sure I get some rest. Maybe it's because my son cries less now, and seems to have more logical reasons when he does. I'm sure it's all of the above. And I'm also sure that needing those things to finally get to a place where I melt in my child's presence doesn't make me an inferior mother. It just makes me an honest one, who's getting better abd better at her new job every day.

Here are some more pics of my strapping 12 pound child:

Fun with Colic

I still don't know if I can officially call this colic, but when your baby cries for at least half of his waking hours (minus while he eats), that's a lot of frickin' crying. And if colic is even worse, I commend all parents of colicky babies who have survived without sending their babies to infant boarding school.

Ryan and I finally finished watching 'The Happiest Baby on the Block'. We'd already learned the 5 S's, but it was nice to get a refresher course. We've found that one of the only ways to soothe our son is to swaddle him as tightly as we can (although our little Houdini can eventually get out of anything...), slip a bink in his mouth, and put him in his swing. Right now, he's staring at me wide-eyed, but he is not wailing. That, my friends, is a miracle these days. A few minutes ago, you would have thought he was being water-boarded. "Fess up, Wyatt. Where did you hide your other sock, and who are you working with to vaporize all the pacifiers?" Fun, fun!

I was planning to take a walk today, but I can't find a happy medium between the straight-jacket in the swing and the screeching howls of my tortured son elsewhere. And so, I'm taking a written walk down Blogger Lane instead. It's just as refreshing, but doesn't do as much for dropping the baby weight...

In another topic entirely, I have to bring up politics. It's only fitting, because I pretty much watch the news 24/7 these days to keep my brain from turning to mush. As usual, I won't be endorsing anyone. But I do find one thing funny about campaigns in general. Themes. Right now, the focus is on the democrats, of course. Clinton vs. Obama. (I'm sure this is news to all of you.) The two themes are "Change" and "Experience". I've been entertained by how passionate the voters interviewed are about these slogans. You'd think it was the first time any candidate had based a campaign on experience or change... And yet, as far as I can remember, those have been the rally cries in just about every election in history. I'm assuming McCain will take up where Clinton leaves off with the "experience" theme. (I'm convinced Obama will be the democratic nominee... but if Hillary pulls off the super delegate coup, I guess McCain will find a way to adopt a theme of "change" instead.) The truth is: they're really just buzz words. Experience can only get a politician so far, and they're only capable of so much change. In the end, no matter who wins, he/she will be considerably more impotent than they let on. But for now, enjoy the cries of "experience" and "change". You won't hear these themes again for a long time (or at least until the next election).

I guess I'm as fussy about the semantics of politics as my son is about life as a 5 week old. :)

Good Bye, April Showers.

It's May now. Bring on those flowers! Here's a weird thought: The only month Wyatt had ever experienced until now was April. And now he's experiencing May. :) He'll be 5 weeks old tomorrow. For you and me, 5 weeks don't necessarily amount to much. But this kid just keeps changing. (I realize this isn't news to anyone, but it's a whole new ball game when suddenly it's your own kid who's changing fast!) Here are a few of the changes:

First, this kid weighs almost 11 pounds now. Just to give you some perspective, that means he's gained like 75% of his original body weight in 5 weeks. (I didn't actually do very specific math, so I could be off by a bit, but you get the idea.) He's gone from wearing newborn size diapers to Size 1. I think he'll be in size 2 before long. Luckily, he's still wearing his 0-3 month size clothes. (Well, except the Gerber onesies, which are made for midgets and fit him for about a day.) This is good because we're getting use out of the smaller sizes, but I'm also looking forward to getting to change his wardrobe. :) I'm living vicariously through him, since I have to drop all my baby weight before I'll have lots of clothing options again... SIGH.

Second, he likes toys. He's fascinated by things that jingle, swing, move, or play music. He looks us in the eye and follows our gaze, and he makes the cutest little noises. This probably doesn't sound like much, but you have to remember just how little newborn babies actually do. When he was born he pretty much just stared into space, slept, ate, pooped and cried. He certainly didn't play and he really didn't acknowledge the existence of other human beings. So suddenly our cute little blob is seeming more like a little person. :)

There is no third. I mean, I'm sure there are tons of things that have changed, but nothing else I feel like blogging about. That's tough on Americans. We like our information in 3's. :)

There's one other thing I totally have to write about. I found out that my husband is a diaper snob. We're a Huggies family. I totally thought Ryan would think that diapers are diapers. That he'd roll his eyes at the idea of paying more for a specific brand name. But having an awesome man who changes his share of the messy little numbers means he has an actual opinion based on actual experience! The cheapies aren't the same. They're more likely to leak and they don't get the mess away from Wyatt's skin as well, so they're more of a pain to change. Heck, even Pampers don't measure up. It's Huggies or the highway. Talk about a conversation I never imagined having... :)

Our chubby tough guy at 4 1/2 weeks old:

Isn't it Ironic...?

Are you now humming the Alanis song? Fabulous. More on my irony in a moment...

First, I heard a new word on the news today: tangentially. I need to work that into a conversation soon.

Okay, where was I? Ah yes, irony. As many of you know, I'm a writer by trade, among other things. I just took on a new project for a couple months or so. It's a pretty small, straight-forward gig. The irony lies in the reason they need me. The woman who usually handles the work they need me for is going on maternity leave for a couple months. Meanwhile, the freelancer taking on the job has a 4 week old baby, and if she (why am I speaking in 3rd person?) were still working in corporate America, she would still be on maternity leave, too.

I actually came close to taking on another project this week, until I reminded myself that my kid deserves as much of my personal attention in the first 6-8 weeks as any other working woman's kid. And in truth, we're in a pretty good place financially right now, so what would be my reasoning for taking on more work? And so I did something I've never done as a freelancer before. I turned down perfectly good work.

Wow. Two blogs in one day about completely different things. I'm clearly a blogging maniac. And I even got a shower today. I feel so productive...

Playing the Fool

Yesterday, Wyatt hit the 4 week mark. I have no idea what that means, ha ha, but I guess we're still counting in weeks for a while. I wonder how old I am in weeks... Nope... too lazy to do the math. Never mind.

So anyway, for a few days now, our child has been attempting to make fools of his mom and dad. And who better to do it than a child born on April 1st? He has a new trick. Crying for what seems to be no reason. Fed? Check. Clean diaper? Check. Comfortable clothing and temperature? Sure, as far as we can tell. Healthy? Yes, actually, although he's tried to fool us there a couple times too, with the newborn stuffies. Gas drops? Yep, we try those, too.

He's also employing some manipulative behaviors that all the baby books swore wouldn't start until he was about 3 months old. For instance, "Neh". The Dunston baby language DVD clearly told us that "Neh" means hungry. For about the first 2 weeks, that was pretty dead on. But now, Wyatt has learned that if you throw the "Neh" into the mix, mom or dad will come running with a boob or a bottle. He even tries to use that ace card like 10 minutes after he finishes eating. (Even if it was one of those times he had a bottle, so we know he just downed 4oz.) "Neeeeeeeeeeh. Neeeeeeeeeeh. Feed me. I'm starving to death!" Is it colic? Well, no, not technically, right? Because it doesn't go on for 3 hours straight. (And honestly, if it did go on for 3 hours straight, I probably would have started using noise-cancelling headphones.) Usually, he fusses for about an hour or so at a time, several times a day, especially in the evening. It sucks. We love the little dude, but he's trying as hard as he can to be less likeable....

But then he goes and smiles at me, and I kind of forget that he's on my bad list. Seriously, you try holding a grudge against those big blue eyes. It's work. And so I tend to give in and believe everything that tiny smile suggests: "I'm done with my fussy stage, mom. From now on, it's all cute, all the time." Two minutes later? "Neh!!!!!" Go figure.

More snapshots of the little dude playing me the fool: