Made it through my first day back at work

Erin here....
For those of you betting I wouldn't make it to noon, you were right! I called Elizabeth around 11 to find out what time Xander was likely to want the lunch cart to roll in. I was able to spend 40 minutes with him and nurse before heading back to work, which was great!

Work had changed shokingly little in the 3 months I'd been gone, so I don't think I'll have trouble picking up where I left off. I enjoyed being back at work, to be honest, although I did miss my little boy. Xander did very well in daycare but his sleep schedule was pretty off during the day. He was so tired by the end of the day that he slept 5 hours in a row last night... a new record.

What big eyes you have!

We love our little boy!

Father's Day weekend

I asked Jake what he wanted for father's day weekend. He suggested taking the dogs and the family into the mountains for a little backcountry exploration. Water levels were high so we chose an easy route that didn't have big water crossings.... good thing too because this one was supposed to be a small creek!

The Jeep treated us well though and we found an awesome secluded campsite for the night right next to Jenny Creek. This is the same creek as above, and we camped on the "safe" side... Jake just crossed it because it was there, he had a Jeep, and he's a boy. Our son and heir, however, stayed to protect Mom!

We finished off the weekend with a wonderful visit up in Nederland with the Perrys who have a new puppy *and* a new baby on the way! We went for a short hike. Xander got to be "face forward" in the Bjorn for the first time and was totally checking out the world around him.

A little laughter is the best medicine

Stolen from Bill Pawlak, who stole it from "Baby Blues"

So True.....

And our niece McKenzie, who's father is really hoping for a genius... but which type?

Photo update

Smile for the camera!


Asleep or awake, this little bear is adorable!

Xander's Parents are so lucky!

Xander's girlfriend Leah gets prettier every day!

Best friends.... and sparring partners!

Check out the Kung Fu moves!

Would you like cream with that?

We weighed Xander at the doctor today. 14 lbs. That's 1 lb 6 oz gain in 2.5 weeks.

So why aren't I losing the weight that he's gaining?

Getting the s**t scared out of you

So I'm told that breastfed babies don't get constipated (yes, it's going to be one of *those* posts). This, however, does not mean that the baby cannot get "clogged up" Rather, it seems to mean that the stuff stays in reserve for up to a week without ever becoming firm, and simply awaits the most appropriate, or inappropriate, time to appear. 2 such incidences come immediately to mind, as they both happened this past week. Clear violation of Rule #2 in both cases!

The first incidence of "blow out" happened just as I was about to load the boy into his carseat and head to the doctor for my long delayed "6 week checkup" post-partem. The short version is that I immediately noticed the smell, ran upstairs with the boy (yea hardwood floors!) and got him changed, but not before his staining a very cute and brand new outfit. You know you are in trouble when you are scared to "open the diaper" without being over the tub with your kid. Clothes went into the sink, kid got a fast hose down and new outfit, and off we were again to the doctor, only a few minutes late. Too bad I was 100% sure I'd left the sink water running and had to call me neighbor to break into my house before those wonderful hardwood floors were ruined. (Turns out the water wasn't running after all).

Second incidence a few days later was as I was enjoying the company of Sarah Brown, having finished a short hike with the kids, and feeding the boy in her kitchen. We'd been having late afternoon thunderstorms and another was rolling in. BOOM goes a thunderhead right over the house and makes both Sarah and I jump about a foot (even though I was sitting). Several minutes go by and all of a sudden I realize there is something dripping... and it's canary yellow... and its all over my legs, my son, and his clothes, my clothes...and more is pouring out every second!! "help help help help!" I cry. Sarah points at me and absolutely busts out laughing. Another bath for the boy, new clothes borrowed from Leah, a shower for me, more clothes borrowed from Sarah.... And who says that parenthood is boring?

Something in the water

I started drafting this last week, so ignore the posting date: This was posted Monday, June 15, 2009.

We had a great BBQ party yesterday, and it was markedly different than previous years. Namely, there were children *everywhere* and more on the way. Really makes me think about how life changes.

Congratulations to everyone!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc



Alex Spuhler was born October 19, '08
Leah Brown was born October 27, '08
Phillip Williamson was born in March
Xander Lewis was born April 2
Noah Martin was born April 14
Morgan Jacob Wier was born April 17
Jackson Fossum was born May 1
Isabella Sophia Kaufman was born May 25

Nelda Guerra and Kevin Smith had twins this spring

Jessica Shatto is due June 29
Ryan and Lori Cooper are due in July
Melissa and Ariel Tesher are due in July
Tracey Whittley is due in August 12
Yvette and Greg Bellomo are due in 9 weeks or so
Mike and Tina Ogburn's son is due September 17
John and Amy Perry are due September 20

Jeremy and Laura Pallotta are expecting as well!

Books-a-Million

Ok, not a million, but what a haul! While we were in Virginia, our friends threw us an incredible post-baby baby shower, and the theme was "favorite books." We came away with over 55 kid books, and amazingly not a single duplicate!! Many were favorites from our growing up, some were newer books but we were familiar with them, and some were absolutely unknown to us, but soon to become favorites. Thank you *so much* to everyone at the shower, and especially to Susan Price, who hosted the shower at her gorgeous home. This was the second shower she has hosted for us - she also hosted our wedding shower! Thanks also to Helen Spence and Julie Keeny who were real pros at getting and keeping a baby happily asleep.

To Grandmother's house we go

Another weekend, another series of new challenges and adventures for Xander (and his parents!)

Friday morning around 4 am, after his meal, instead of putting the kid back to bed, we packed up and headed out bleary-eyed to the airport on our way to visit Gran and all our friends in Northern Virginia. Choosing the minimalist approach, we did not carry the carseat, the stroller, the boppy, the jumbo bag of diapers, the bottles, or other "essentials". We asked Jen to pick up a convertible carseat that will work for visits to Virginia until the kid is 40 pounds, and a bag of diapers. We carried the Bjorn and the Binky, and Monkey Pillow of course.

Amazingly, we ran into the President himself en route... I was incredibly excited, but Xander isn't big into politics and found him "stiff" and boring. ZZZZZ.....

Xander is a born traveller, and did really well on the flights. He was so happy and curious and cheerful in fact, that he charmed the staff at NW Airlines into some really fantastic photo ops. We even got to hang out in the cockpit- a rare treat.

Check it out!

Xander, Fourth generation at Whiteoaks