Fist Lint - yummy

Charlie finally unfurled his fist to reach for the bears in front of his bouncey chair. Usually he keeps his fists tightly clenched and when I pry them open he has a nice supply of lint that somehow he has collected. nice. He has been checking out his fists a lot lately - holding them in front of himself and staring at them. I'm hoping this means that he is beginning to realize that they belong to him. He still punches himself in his sleep and often wakes himself up with his upper cuts. And because I am scared of the nail clipper he wakes up with scratches on his face too. It's really sad. I try biting them as that seems slightly less lethal than a clipper. In fact I've taken to biting his nails instead of my own - my nails are so long! (like you can actually see the white part :))

Last friday we made a mad rush for the Restoration Hardware wharehouse sale in Baltimore. Neither I nor my mom knew what Carlos was getting us into. We arrived 30 minutes after it opened and it was packed and elbows were flying. I reached for a light that I had seen online and someone screamed "MA'AM, MA'AM DON'T TOUCH THAT - it's mine." Clearly the accompanying baby didn't soften their aggression. It turns out that my mom can dish it out too as she collected drapery and fended off the circling housewives. Carlos arrived early and put so many things on hold that he managed to have the staff hate him by 10:30am. It only got worse once we finally got to the register as Carlos infuriated the incompetent cash rep and they talked eachother in circles about the various discounts until we seemed to come away with various free items. I don't know if any of it will fit in the house but it was a bargain and highly entertaining....especially as I got to hang out with the baby as my mom and carlos struggled to pack up the cars. Here are some shots of the cars...

I'm listening, but trying not to listen to the presidential debate. Forget what I said about long nails - - they are all gone!

Photo Shoot

Yesterday was Charlie’s first photo shoot. We shunned off the official hospital photographer when he was born as the samples seemed a little over the top (like blue ribbon in his hair cheesy) and I knew it was a scam when the photographer wouldn’t tell me the prices up front. My mom said that when my brother was born the photographer got her by saying that he would burn all the photos that she didn’t order of her son…so she bought them all! Anyways, it was a lot of fun as the photographer put him in a bunch of poses and even got him to smile for the camera. Usually when I put a camera in front of him he just stares at it and won’t smile. We get the proofs next weekend so we’ll see what a sucker I am then…I employed my own photographer skills on yearbookyourself.com to find out what little Charlie would look like back in the day in 1958. Big Charlie gave us the idea so I'm including his too - can you tell which is which? Hint - I kept baby Charlie's double chin...:)

We made another trip to DC to see Carlos and my brother and niece who were visiting for the weekend. We crashed his hotel and put on the robes…I was tempted to take them for a Halloween costume – I mean, really, who wears robes like these?! While down there we made a trip out to Virginia for the Waterford Fair as my dad and Carlos worked on kitchen cabinets. When we got back we found Carlos holding a flashlight as my dad drilled another cabinet in. Yep – still no electricity.

Here's him hanging out with his teddy bear friends - which he seems to like more than his mother...

Our overnight excursion

Baby Charlie and I took the train down from Philadelphia to DC on Tuesday for his two month doctor's visit and an overnight stay to see Carlos. Baby Charlie loves the train - though not the train conductor who would wake him up at every stop. And it turns out that there is no better way to keep someone from sitting next to you on the train than to flash a baby! Whether they were scared of crying or poopy diapers the masses stayed away.

We got a glimpse of what we were in for (regarding his size) when we stopped in at the breastfeeding center which is in the same building as the doctor and which on Tuesdays opens its doors to breastfeeding mothers to come talk about breastfeeding concerns. I guess this is what mothers in western countries do - support groups for breastfeeding. There must have been 25 moms and 24 babies (one woman was only pregnant - weird!) crammed into a tiny room, each sharing their breastfeeding concern and sympathizing with each other. I didn't really have anything to say so I tried to make up some worry so as to fit in! Anyways, I talked with moms around me and we shared baby facts - like how old, blah, blah blah. Well - the baby on my right was twice Charlie's age and half his size! And on the left the baby was his same age and maybe a third of his size. I wanted to ask if the baby was a preemie, but figured that wasn't polite. And she looked at me like I had the pillsbury dough baby. Indeed the doctor confirmed that Charlie is in the 99th percentile for weight!! At least my child is in the 99th percentile of something...! He weighed in at 15 lbs. According to the graph she showed us Charlie is almost OFF the chart!! He is in the 90th percentile for height and head size too. Even the doctor was surprised when she saw the size of Carlos and me -- I think she expected Carlos to be a linebacker for the redskins or something.

All that chub didn't seem to help when it came to dealing with the shots. Two on each leg and one orally. He was so pissed that he wouldn't even nurse - and that's really pissed for him. I tried to blame the nurse but he didn't seem to care. Although we had planned to all camp out at the house with no electricity or water, Carlos had the foresight to get us a hotel instead. So knocked-out-baby (he cried until he slept) and I went around town and then to the hotel while Carlos AND the diaper bag went back to work. The part about the diaper bag is key because it had - surprise - diapers (!) and tylenol. Carlos thought he'd be done by 5 so at 4:30 I freed him of his stinky diaper and covered him with a towel. Well it wasn't until 7 that Carlos arrived and in the meantime we went through every towel in the bathroom!! Finally I had the idea to take a bath with him so he could pee all he wanted. That lasted about 10 minutes before his fever started raging and he went ballistic - I thought the hotel was going to kick us out. Finally Carlos arrived with diapers and tylenol and situation improved quickly. Oh - and of course after using all the towels we decided to change rooms! I think they had taken one look at me and put us up in the attic room which Carlos didn't approve of so we ended up in a much nicer room (with more towels!).

I really appreciated that the gave us a crib and a robe just for him. Here's some pictures of me and him lounging in our robes...

I also appreciated this shot of how Carlos' closet these days....

Fun in Philly

Baby Charlie and I are enjoying ourselves in Philadelphia as Carlos roughs it out in DC. Charlie especially likes it because I've been letting him sleep in the bed with me as Carlos isn't around to use him as a pillow (a soft 14 lb pillow). I love going to sleep watching him, but it hasn't been great for either of our sleep...

Despite coming to Philly, we can't seem to escape construction. Carlos brought some guys who did work on our house up to work on my mom's house. We have confined ourselves to the living room as drywall keeps coming through the front door, drills are blasting and plastic covers the upstairs. I guess I have to stop fighting it and embrace construction; after all I grew up making saw dust pies in my dad's house projects so why shouldn't Charlie start early too. In fact maybe I'll dress him up as a piece of drywall for halloween...

Although he isn't a prolific pooer anymore, he does have impeccable timing in dealing with his gas. I was talking to my manager yesterday about my start date and other logistics and Baby Charlie was laying next to me. I guess my boss could hear him cooing and asked whether the baby was with me – before I had time to respond Charlie let out a rather explosive fart and thereby making his existence well known. At least I hope my boss thought it was him…

Baby Charlie is smiling and cooing a lot. I think he is trying to say: "how did I end up with such crazy parents?!" 8 weeks into life he witnessed a mad move - or half move....We moved out, but we didn't move in! Carlos pulled up in the Uhaul around noon on Saturday and by evening the 17 footer was full with our 4 years on 9th street NE. I wasn't the only one who didn't want to leave our home...the Uhaul wouldn't start so we had to jump the truck. And although the Uhaul was full and now jumped, it didn't really have anywhere to go! There is still no electricity or water at house II. Our belongings are staying put for a few days in the Uhaul. We did do some trips in my mom's car and unloaded while the mean old lady next door peered out her window. I can't tell if she does that to be aggressive or to fit some stereotype of some crazy old lady. I mean really - she is straight out of a movie! She stands on the second floor and just stares out the window watching us. When I see her concealed in her house, I think about how I put her in my freezer...or at least her name. I actually took someone's advice and wrote her name on a piece of paper and froze it in water. I had to clean the freezer for the move so her name is thawed, but clearly she hasn't thawed out at all.

But back to Baby Charlie! He is smiling a lot and tells long stories. I took this video but had to hide the camera from him otherwise he stops to stares so it's not the best footage. We are in Philadelphia now until the house is habitable for an 8 week old. It's pretty chilly here so he is trying out his winter clothes which are super cute and cozy.

The non-move move

We had a packing weekend. My mom went into a packing fury which was great because in the last three weeks I managed to pack a whole 5 boxes! The SAIS squadron was here on Sunday to help move, but there wasn't really anywhere to move to so instead we put them to work here and ate anything in the kitchen that wasn't going to make the move. That included a 2 year old margarita mix a la Best Buy.... It sure was tasty...or dusty :)

You can tell from the pictures just how unready the house is. Today my dad is here working on putting up kitchen cabinets. He was going to take over the electrical work as our electrician disappeared and only re-appeared after Carlos hunted him down at home. We thought he was dead or in jail, but it turns out he was just ignoring us! Carlos is working furiously to get the place done - he even suggested we fly to the Dominican Republic to pick up the tile from the factory to save shipping time and costs. I guess flights are cheaper and quicker than shipping...or maybe it's just another harebrained idea of ours...Anyways, that sounded like a plan from my previous life - but Charlie inhibits such escapades now. He doesn't have a passport, his shots or even a SSN.

On another note, we did put little Charlie in the different rooms to let him pick his own room. I think he likes the master suite...

Charlie is smiling more and more now and I think he is about to giggle. It sure melts a mother's heart. I think when a baby smiles at his mother it seems like absolute pure love. But then again his first smiles were gas smiles so I might be competing for his love with gas bubbles.

The Real 13?

We went to our new doctor yesterday and on a manual scale without a diaper charlito can in at 13lbs 7oz. I suppose because I hold him everyday I don't realize how big he is. But I got to hold a 3 week old who weighs 8 lbs - the same as charlito was at birth - and I was shocked how tiny he was. It made me miss the day he was born and having a tiny little guy.

Anyways it makes a big difference having a doctor you like!! the last straw was that during the last visit the doctor would talk to me through the baby. I tried to explain to the doctor his 4am grunting and crying and how he seems to be in pain. She talked to the baby instead of me saying: "mommy wants to sleep but she doesn't get it that babies sometimes do things we can't explain and that she won't be getting sleep for awhile. isn't that right baby?" I guess I know how charlito feels always getting talked about in the 3rd person...

I do think that 13 lbs and 6 weeks are magic numbers as he is becoming ever sweeter - at least during the day. I guess all those rolls are making him more jovial. In the mornings I prop him up to look at me and he is full of smiles. Looking at the pictures though I'm realizing he might have a crooked smile.

As for the race with the house I think we should reset it to whether the baby can sleep through the night or the house is done first. My all expense trip to Paris seems to be vanishing with every additional dollar that gets sucked into the house. That said the house looks great - it has drywall and is primed and they are starting with the floors. We have 1.5 weeks to move out and move-in somewhere....