Mommyless Monday

Today, daddy and Trey are spending the ENTIRE day together. This is a fairly new event and today, a weekday, is an exception because Patrick normally works during the week. However, he worked on Saturday in lieu of working today, Monday. Hence, his time at home with his son. It was so exciting to get out of bed this morning knowing that I could leisurely get ready for work without worrying about packing a diaper bag or having to rush before Trey woke up. The alarm clock, set for 5:30, buzzed (vibrated) until 5:38, when Patrick nudged me and said, "I think the alarm is going off." I was dreaming that the alarm was going off and I couldn't find it anywhere. Apparently, I was sleepy because I never, ever sleep through the alarm.

The past few weeks, Patrick has had many opportunities to bond with Trey; recently, they spent most of the afternoon and evening together when I had to work the golf tournament, Sunday morning, I shopped a kid's consignment sale for several hours (I know! HOURS!) and I've been running various errands in the evenings sans baby.

I'm sure I'll come home to a gigantic mess; dishes in the sink, baby toys/blankets/clothes/burp rages strewn all about the house, and whatever the dog and cats have managed to drag into the living room as well. But, I find much comfort in knowing that this mess is a result of dad never taking his attention away from Trey. I'll take a sink full of dishes any day if it means that my wonderful husband and son are getting quality time together!

Unpredictable

Babies are so unpredictable. Or, rather, they make the lives of everyone around them unpredictable. There is no better indication of this trait in Trey than when we went to the photographer a few weeks ago to get our family photos taken. Trey, as many of you know, turns into a stone-faced baby as soon as the camera comes out. This day was no different, unfortunately. AND, he was grumpy and fell asleep about halfway through the session. So what did Brian the photographer do? He just took photos of us while the baby was sleeping. He did get some WONDERFUL photos, despite having Mr. Grumpy Trey as a subject. And dad isn't so excited about photos either, but Brian is so great at just adjusting to the circumstance that he got great photos of dad, too.

Check out the online gallery to view the rest of our photos!
http://brianmclernon.com/Johnson_Web/index.html

Dad's Own Device

Dads usually find a different way of entertaining/playing with their child and Patrick is certainly no exception. While mom tends to ruin the fun: "Don't let him watch TV! Don't let him touch that! Don't let him. . .Don't let him. . .Don't let him. . .", Patrick seems to be much better at just letting Trey be, well, a baby. Stuff that I would never in a zillion years think of, much less let Trey play with, Patrick happily discovers is a wonderful pastime for the baby.

The other morning, Patrick let me sleep in (as is starting to be the usual custom for Saturday mornings). Mind you, sleeping in is catching a nap between 6:15 and 6:57, the time between Trey waking up and then, subsequently, getting hungry and tired. Trey and I happily fell back asleep for another hour once he got his morning snack, and upon awakening, I discovered that his hands were a little. . .black. Like he'd been coloring with charcoal. Or maybe it was the light. I wasn't quite sure, until Patrick heard us wake up and threw the door open to proudly display the ripped up sports page. Huh? It's pretty normal for the kitten to attack the newspaper and tear it to shreds, usually before we get the chance to read it. Well, APPARENTLY, Trey loves ripping up the newspaper. Patrick inadvertently discovered this exciting new talent of Trey's when, upon reading Metro, Trey reached over and ripped the page practically in half. So, he let him rip up the sports page, since he knew I wouldn't be interested in reading it when I woke up.

Now, our new plan is to make reading the paper a family activity. I should be thankful what Patrick can do when left to his own device. . .

Bumbershoot

(Seattle P.I. photo)
Bumbershoot in Seattle this year wasn't much to sniff at, except Patrick had a friend he hasn't seen in a few years who was coming down from Bellingham, so we decided to make a trip up there. Trey is a very experienced concert-goer now, and he even had his photo taken by the Seattle Post Intelligence, and posted on the website. Of course, he wasn't wearing any pants, but what are you gonna do? He's just a baby.

We took this opportunity to take all kinds of cute photos of our baby boy. Um. Like we don't take every opportunity to take a zillion cute photos of our baby boy.

tiny head

Trey had his 4 month old dr's appt this past Tuesday and his pediatrician, Dr. Bradeen, was very impressed with his awareness. When she came in, he was standing (with help from me, of course) on the exam table in front of the mirror and cracking up because every time he moved, the exam table paper crinkled under his feet. He thought he was absolutely hilarious. The crinkly paper would make him laugh, then he'd see another laughing baby (himself), which made him laugh even more.

He was 16lbs 3oz, 26 1/2 inches. He's pretty average weight, and his height is up in the high 80th percentile. So he's long and skinny, just as we suspected. However, his head was 42 cm. TINY. He's in the 29th percentile or something like that. I've thought his head is suspiciously proportionate to his body, and this reassured that as fact. Doc said it was normal, but our kid has a TINY HEAD. So what does that mean? Maybe he'll walk earlier because he won't have a giant head throwing off his center of balance.

This rice cereal thing is going very well. Trey now insists on holding his own spoon. Not that he can make it to his mouth, but the spoon is a little long. If we gave him a shorter spoon, he might possibly get the correct end into his mouth on his very own.

Mmmmmm. Food.

Trey officially had his first taste of rice cereal Wednesday night, and was he ever ecstatic. He's been grabby when we eat dinner the past few weeks and practically salivates as we shovel food into our mouths, totally ignoring the hungry, desperate look in Trey's eyes. His dr. said if he starts showing signs of wanting to eat, then go ahead and give it to him.

I took a trip to the grocery store last night (during which Patrick called to tell me the timer on the oven was going off and what should he do, oh, also the timer woke the baby up, but that's a whole other story for another day) and grabbed a box of Earth's Best organic rice cereal. Mmmmmm. Sounds appetizing. Particularly when you add breast milk. But for a little one who hasn't yet experienced chocolate, General Tso's chicken, and blue cheese, rice cereal is an adventure in yummy land.

Here's how it went down:
I mixed the cereal. We got Trey all situated in his high chair. Daddy grabbed enchiladas for himself. Then the moment of truth. . .the spoon went towards the mouth, then in the mouth. Trey looked, well, pissed, really. Then kinda curious. Then smacked his lips together a little bit. Then SCREAMED for joy. He kept screaming until I gave him another bite. He was grabbing my hand that was holding the spoon, directing it towards his mouth, as if I needed his help. Laughter ensued, mixed with him screaming at me for not moving fast enough.

You can catch the whole show below :) well, minus the screaming. He had stopped that by the time we shot video.

Trey loves Wilco. And Wilco loves him.

I've been a bad, bad blogger. The days just seem to get away from me when they're filled with EVERYTHING.
Last Saturday, Trey got to experience his first concert, post-birth. He went to Bruce Springsteen about a month before his was born. This time, though, he went to see a band that he really loves, Wilco! If you don't know who they are, check them out http://www.wilcoworld.net/

So if I wasn't already aware that Trey was the most adorable baby ever, I was reminded just how damn cute our little creation is. 3 different people--strangers--took his photo. We bought him little ear protectors which covered most of his head, and then they made his little cheeks squish up when he smiled. Unfortunately, we did not bring our camera with us, so this photo taken with my cell phone camera will have to suffice. His cuteness can't be ignored.

Wilco's Sky Blue Sky is an album that we use often to put Trey to sleep. He is lulled by the sweet sounds of Jeff Tweedy and usually, Daddy, singing to him. This show was also a good bonding time for Trey and Daddy, something that is few and far between (although it does show signs of getting better). They danced and sang all night, and Trey was pretty comfy in his daddy's arms. He barely fussed the whole night!

Oh, and he wore his Beatles shirt. He is one freakin' cool kid.