So THAT'S what it's for!!!

When I was much younger I would joke that those things hanging from the walls of restrooms everywhere were there just in case you wanted to put your food on something while using the bathroom.

  It seemed like a great convenience, and coincidence.  I never needed it, but wow, what a great deal if I did?   Of course, that's not what it really is:  These are those changing tables that Mr. Mom's like me can use when changing children anywhere.   

I finally did need this last weekend at a restaruant when I noticed there was a new smell blending in with our Mozzarella Sticks and Quesadillas.  So, with diaper bag in tow, I took Sebastian into the men's room and after dodging a few guys with beers, I easily found my destination.  It was already opened up with some food crumbs on it!!!  Seems I wasn't alone with my old idea. 

With Sebastian in one arm, I balanced the shoulder strap of the diaper bag on the other, and then grabbed a paper towel, wetted it down and wiped the table before placing my own changing pad on top. 

The changing itself went fast, and Sebastian seemed unfazed by his public display as more guys came in and out of the men's room.  I received a few sympathetic glares and a smile from the onlookers.  I just wish that person who put food on there would have come back in at that moment. 

The whole experience took only a few minutes, but proved to me one more thing, one more time.  I'm a dad now, and nothing is the same. ......Pass the Mozzarella Sticks.

A friend in need...

It says in the bible "ask and ye shall receive" and that's what has happened in our quest for an affordable, yet still cute baptism outfit for Sebastian.   Thanks to Jen (and her son) for this great suit!

"Hand-me-downs" get a bad rap in society.  I remember in school when it was assumed another student was wearing clothing from an older sibling.  They would get teased relentlessly.  But with babies, clothes from friends and family are a must.  Plus, it's not like they wear them for that long anyway.  Some of the clothes we've bought lasted about 2 weeks  before we had to move on to the next size!  There are other clothes that still have pricetags on them.  And either way, there's no way the baby-peers in his day-care would know the difference.

We have many generous friends giving us baby clothing, toys, carriers and more.  For most of them, their intentions are pure, but I wonder if any of them are thinking like me now:  I can't wait to donate, give, gift the dozens of small outfits we now have lying around to someone else who could usethem.  Simply to get them out of the house seems like a win-win.

It's either that, or put it in storage.. because I guess they could all fit....brace yourself.. the NEXT baby. 

First step in dad's footsteps

The indoctrination of my son into becoming a Maryland Terrapin fan is officially underway!  This past weekend we took him to his first Maryalnd Football game.  He's only 16 weeks old, so many of our friends told us we were "brave" for taking him..... Looking back I think they meant "dumb".

It was cold ( in the upper 50's), and we had him bundled up pretty good, but I think he was still cold.  And when he wasn't chilly, the sun was probably in his eyes.  We had him in the "Baby Bjorn" which turned out great (it even has Maryland colors).

Here he looks pretty intent on watching the game, but that was until the Terps scored their first points.  BOOM!!  Each time the Terps score, a loud cannon goes off, and somehow a 3 and a half month old baby just doesn't like that sound.. or the whistling of the fans right behind him.. or the sitting down for long periods of time. 

So... my wife walked him around the concourse for most of the game to keep him happy.  But by far, the happiest person there was me, when I was able to take my son on the field after the game.  We'll always know he made it to the endzone at Byrd Stadium! 

AND... he might be a good luck charm too.  I'm letting the team know they are undefeated when he's in attendence! 

Final Score:  Maryland 26-- Wake Forest 0    BOOM!!

Two birds with one costume

My latest enlightenment as a parent comes after the sticker-shock I've experienced the past few days.

I'm currently shopping for two things for Sebastian... a nice outfit to be baptized in, and a costume to wear to his day-care halloween parade.  My first instinct is for him to wear the same thing to both:

See?  He could be a cute baptised boy wearing a white suit for church.. and at the same time go as a headless horseman, baby-prom date to his halloween party!! 

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

Maybe I'm cheap, but many of the nice looking baptism clothes like this cost close to 50 dollars.  They are nice, but for just one day's use...., a little crazy. 

That brings us to the Halloween portion of this blog:  I was considering sending in Sebastian wearing something like this: 

But then I was told the kids can't be sent in wearing anything "scary".  This may seem like an easy request, but think about it: A cow costume may seem innocent, but what if another child has a violent allergy to dairy products?  Then the sight of this cow baby might be quite scary!! 

And isn't a "baby cow", really veal anyway? Try explaining that one to the kids.

I'll probably just settle on a Sebastian-O-Lantern.

Most of these costumes cost between 15 and 30 bucks, so I could be looking at a total pricetag of 80 dollars for just two days!!!

I've tried to talk this over with my son, but he seemed to be more interested in sleep.      

Maybe he can go to his parade as Rip Van Winkle.  Stay Tuned.

Is that a baby in your pocket?

I know it's taboo for boys to play with dolls, or at least adult boys to do the same, but to get the full joy out of fatherhood, I think you have to channel your inner Chucky (without the killer instinct).

Sebastian is officially starting to look like a boy, not just a baby.... so why not see how far we can take it?

Here he is in bib-overalls and of course, adult wrap around sunglasses.  Sure, it may be cruel in some cultures to half-torture your children by using them for entertainment purposes (after all I did have him on TV for a month), but I believe it's all part of the parenting experience.  Without all these pictures where we say "Isn't he cute," we wouldn't be able to contrast it with the times when he rebels, and dresses in ways we don't like so much.  When he's young, we can dress him however we like, because eventually he could end up like this: 

Not that there's anything wrong with that... I just suppose that "Punk Sebastian" won't be a news reporter that's all. 

One last note on clothing... why do many of the items actually mimic the adult clothes so accurately?   The overalls have real latches, and most of his pants have pockets!! 

Please tell me what my 15 week old boy is going to do with pockets???!!

Better question?  Why do I still check his pockets as if he put something in them?  Maybe I'm just concerned he's hiding some hair gel or something... step one in his quest to be Punk.

Like Clockwork...

I think Sebastian is going to be a "lefty".  It's not because he sucks the thumb on his left hand, or that he kicks with more intensity with his left leg.  No, this is the reason why:

This is how I usually lay my son to sleep, but recently, he's been on the move at night.  He's not making visits to the fridge for extra milk, in fact, he's not even leaving his crib... but look, he is on the move.

He gets perilously close to the edge of the crib, and his head is occasionally against the bar, but so far, no scars.  Just questions... like why does he keep going?

Here is how I found him on a recent morning.  Yup, that's a complete 180 degrees.!!  He's like a baby sundial, rotating clockwise every few hours.

He only does this when he is swaddled, and he kicks his legs out and arches his back in order to turn about a half inch at a time, so imagine how long it took him to move all the way around!  Clockwise is also to the left, so this is why I think he'll be a lefty.

But Instead of being concerned that Sebastian is becoming a clock, I'll just celebrate that he hasn't learned to high jump out of the crib.... yet.

He's all thumbs

It seems my boy's eye-hand coordination is coming on strong here in his 14th week of life.  First, he started playing with the "toy-bar" lying in front of his play-chair.  It's an array of rattling stuffed animals previously just out of reach, but now there for his swiping entertainment.

  But nothing can compare with amusing yourself with ... yourself!!

Sebastian now samples each one of his digits before finally settling on either his middle two fingers (which inevitably he sticks down his throat and gags), or more often, the ever-so-popular thumb.

It even gets a little red from all the sucking pressure he must be putting on the end of it.  As a result of his latest "talent", his face is totally slobber-filled most of the time.

But the real problem is this has already become a habit. Sure some people say sucking a thumb could have long-lasting results:   http://children.webmd.com/tc/thumb-sucking-topic-overview

However my biggest issue is feeding.  I used to just watch for when he started eating his hands, and then I knew he was hungry.  NOW, I can't tell if he is hungry, bored, or maybe just waiting for me to take another picture.  I'm not complaining though, I'm up to the challenge. And it just means we're one step closer to taking that eye-hand coordination to the next level .

Bloggers note:  We are officially continuing the blog!!!! 

It won't be every single day, but make sure to check back each day to see when the next post is ... uh.. posted.  I'll do my best to keep the content fresh, and the pictures fun, and as always I welcome your comments and suggestions!!  Thanks to all for keeping the blog alive!! 

Everything's "Normal"

When I was speaking to the person handling my wedding preparations a few years ago, I was concerned that it would rain during our outdoor ceremony.  In my mind, that would be a horrible thing:   The guests would be uncomfortable, our rented tuxes would get ruined, and what a bad omen to start a marriage!!!

But then our contact at the hotel told us "Oh, that's OK, it's good luck if it rains on your wedding day!"  WHAT?  I guess it's also good luck if the dresses get dirty, or the fish die too huh? (those two things also happened)  The answer to just about anything that could happen on the wedding day was the same: "Oh, that's good luck." 

Why am I telling you this?  Well, the phrase "Oh, that's good luck", has bee replaced in my life by the phrase, "Oh, that's normal."  While it's true we haven't had any out of the ordinary problems with Sebastian, it is eerie how fast pediatricians are to pull out their favorite "catch-all phrase"--- "That's normal"

Whether it is the sniffles,  not sleeping through the night, junk in his eye, a dry scalp, or breathing like a cat... the answer so far to it all is:  That's normal.  I'm tempted to ask them about the latest symptoms Sebastian has been displaying to see what it takes for them to change their well-rehearsed response: 

"Hi, this is Joel D. Smith, calling about my son Sebastian.  I'm sure it's normal, but what do you think of his head spinning completely around, while speaking fluent Japanese with darting red eyes?"

See?  take a look. 

OK, so I didn't use the red-eye reduction, but what if it were true? 

No doubt I'm just a new, overprotective parent in search of some reassuring answers... and I find it ironic I'm yearning for the doctors to tell me something is NOT normal.   Oh well, it's probably just another quirky story I'll tell my son when it's raining on his wedding. :)

Hold your breath

OK everybody, it's time for an experiment.  Try holding your breath... with your mouth and nose covered up, and then try to continue to breathe.  Impossible right?  Not for babies. Look!

If his mouth is tightly around the bottle sucking in milk.... and his nose is tightly clogged from the common cold.. please tell me how this child can still take in oxygen and continue to breathe!!

Just another parlor trick for my baby (and others too I presume).  I've already blogged before about how babies pull off the trick of breathing fluid for 10 months, then magically transition into air the moment they are born...but apparently their alternative breathing methods don't stop there. 

For the last few days I've been looking closely at Sebastian's ears and eyes to see if somehow he's pulling in air through those holes in his head as a way of compensating for his full nose and mouth, but so far I haven't been able to figure out his trick

  I'd like to see that David Blane guy try such a thing!!

I realize I'm being tongue and cheek here, but this alternate breathing idea might actually explain one of the oldest child threats in the book!  "If you don't do what I want, I'm going to hold my breath until you do!"  This may sound like a viable threat until you realize that kids don't need their mouths to breathe. 

Hey Sebastian... good luck pulling that one on dear old dad in about 10 years! 

Seriously though, here's the correct way to deal with babies and colds: http://www.babycenter.com.au/baby/health/commoncold/

Whoops!!  ... .. you can stop holding your breath now!!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Well well.  Just when I thought I was getting good at this fatherhood thing, I was sneezed back into reality yesterday.  My little guy has the sniffles right now, so I needed to buy a humidifier for his room.  As I shopped for the greatest value in this tough economy I found a few for about 20 bucks that were small, but would have worked fine.  But then I saw this: 

Tell me what doting dad could avoid buying the frog humidifier for only ten bucks more?

I told my wife it can double as a decoration because it also matches the nursery.  Everything is Green!! She bought it.

It worked well in night number one.. so much so that it broke up the mucus and he began breathing easier. That also means we had to wipe his nose a bit more, but that was OK... at least he was getting better.  So far so good in our first foray into taking care of a "sniffly" kid... that was until I drove him to daycare yesterday. 

During the ride he was ominously quiet.  I thought he might even be asleep.  Then I heard two loud sneezes.  At a stoplight, I reached back and patted his head in a soothing way, and told him it was OK.  He remained quiet.  I figured my magical touch must have done the trick.  I even felt a bit of pride seeping into my brain.  I thought, "What a good dad I am".  Then we got to daycare, and I went around to pull his car seat out. That's when I saw it.  The lower part of his face was covered with a thin layer of mucus from those two sneezes I heard!! It was just dripping down from his nose, past his chin, like he just got slimed by that thing in Ghostbusters. (wonder if they make a humidifier that looks like Slimer?)

Sebastian didn't cry though. I guess being young and oblivious has its advantages.  But here's where the story goes from cute, to sad.  When I stopped laughing, I started looking for some tissues to catch the mucus before it reached his toes... but... even though I had a phone charger, chewing gum, and golf balls in my car, I couldn't find one napkin or tissue!!  I ended up just using my hand and wiping it on an old piece of paper.  Yuck.  I'll be better prepared next time, and I guess in the long run, I have a good story to tell him now when he's old enough to watch Ghostbusters.