Monday, May 26, 2008

How about leaving mine in the tank for a couple of days?



I think someone might want to have a little wine chat with Food Lion's copywriter. Unfortunately however, having looked over their selection, the sign was pretty much accurate.

Heavy C in the house

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Conrad does all kinds of stuff now.


Hanging with Mom


Standing around


The tummy time face of determination

Friday, May 23, 2008

It works on so many levels.



Conrad tried out this device given to us by my boss Desiree. It's called a Bumbo. He liked it, but we think he needs a little more neck strength to really get the most out of it. But that doesn't mean we can't use it.



It's my job to teach him the essential rules of comedy. Today's lesson was, "Try putting it on your head."

We also gave him another spin in the Baby Bjorn, courtesy of my colleague Bev. His opinion on this particular device vacillates minute by minute.



Thursday, May 22, 2008

Where's Conrad?



I could have sworn I put him down on the blanket.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Holy &*!%, the baby's sitting up



I came home from work today to find Conrad and Bonnie sitting on the floor. Bonnie looked at Conrad and said, "Should we show Mommy your new trick?" And with that, she pulled him up by his hands and let go. And he didn't fall over. At least for a few moments. But still.

It's in the blood

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Puree that for me, will you?



Conrad watched Jean eating sausage and let us know he thinks he's ready for solid food. He followed the fork from plate to mouth with every bite.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Sunday lunch on the deck



It was a beautiful day and we celebrated with lunch outside, featuring a variety of items from the farmer's market, including sugar snap peas, toasted pecans, two kinds of Chapel Hill Creamery cheese and some local strawberries and basil that we dipped in chocolate. How local was the basil? It was grown on the same deck where we ate it.

Unfortunately not every member of the household was happy we were outside.



We found that Conrad's attitude toward hats has not changed since the winter.



Personally, I don't see what the problem is.


Monday, May 12, 2008

Our new baby monitor



As mentioned before, Hastings likes to keep an eye on Conrad. He's been sleeping in his own room for about a week and we usually hear his every blark and werfle on the baby monitor, and we can usually get to him before he even knows he wants to cry. A few nights ago we were a few steps behind Hastings, who jumped on our bed and licked our faces until we woke up, then went and stood by Conrad's door until Jean arrived.

Hey, new pics on the Flickr page, too.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Three Years of Dave and Jean

Yesterday was our third anniversary and we celebrated by going out to dinner at our favorite restaurant. This involved our good friend Memsy and her daughter, Katherine, to come and babysit. It was Katherine's first gig. At fifty cents an hour, she's a real deal. Now if she were only 16 instead of 6!

Dave's dad sent us this lovely haiku that sums it up quite beautifully:
Marvelous three years!

Brilliant dreams are coming true;

Conrad leads them all.

Separation Anxiety

All the books say that separation anxiety sets in at 9, 12 and 512 months. Right on queue, I returned to work on Monday and experienced this developmental stage. Luckily for us, we have a wonderful nanny at home keeping our boy happy, safe and in dry diapers.

It's been complicated to embrace the new logistics of two working parents and a three month old infant. So far, I've been getting up first, feeding the boy, handing him off to Dave and getting ready to go.

Of course, this all depends on Conrad being compliant to wake up and eat at an appropriate time. Tuesday, for instance, our day started at 4:45am. Today at 6:30. Today was a better day.

I've also learned to not get dressed before I'm ready to walk out the door and to put on 'play' clothes immediately upon my return. I have a big spit up stain on my new shirt that I wore Monday as an object lesson.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Well, that explains it.



He was learning how to use his hands. Bonnie arrived this morning at 8:30 for her first day as Conrad's nanny, and he celebrated by spending 10 minutes grabbing her fingers. It was very clear he had just figured out that those things on the ends of his arms are his hands, and that they can be made to do things other than randomly slap him on the head when he is trying to sleep.

It was fascinating to watch and it's hard to explain why, but it was obvious we were watching a big step forward. So that means he's supposed to sleep through the night for the next couple of nights. We'll see. I'm watching him on the BlarkyCam right now and there's definitely some flailing going on.


BlarkyCam goes to 11

Bonnie's first day went very well. Jean went out for a coffee with our friend Abe and when she got home Bonnie was not only still here, but reading a book while Conrad napped. She's already planning activities for them to do together. Next week they're starting banjo lessons.