Thomas Joseph + Miles Isaak = World Domination

I am old.  Officially I’m older than when this week began, as I flipped a odometer from 34 to 35 on Thursday.  But that’s not why I know I’m old.  I know I’m old because it’s 8:30 on a Saturday night and I am so ready for bed it’s not funny.  But, before I nod off to dreamland, I figured I’d update the blogosphere on the wonderful world of Thomas Joseph.  Ok, so let’s see what I can remember from this past week.

Monday

Monday I was late-ish for work.  I was late because Thomas was up and playful – oh, and Danielle wanted a bit more time in bed.  Totally understandable as she’s the one who still gets up at least once every night to feel the little munchkin.

Anyway, I figured we’d kill two birds with one stone – pictures and tummy time.

Tummy time is hard, and sometimes you need to take a rest.

It’s nice to use window light sometimes, as opposed to flash.  Sometimes I think I’m going to blind him with all the shots I take …

Unlike the last couple of days that have been super rainy, Thomas and Danielle got out for a nice walk on Monday.  Which is a good thing, as he was being really finicky at home.  We think he might have been a little under the weather.  He was sniffly, and really, really needed to be help – pretty much all day.  But, they did sneak in a walk.  They met up with Jackie and Ellie – more friends from the neighborhood.  Kids really are great ice breakers.  They also make you feel a part of your neighborhood so much more – because this is now HIS neighborhood.   Parenting is weird.

Tuesday

Tuesday Thomas was back down in Hanover tormenting my Mom.  They seem to be figuring each other out though, and getting into a rhythm.  That’s not so say taking care of Thomas for 9 hours straight is easy though.  It is most certainly not.  He’s a demanding little guy, and Tuesday was harder than most days.

Yes, Thomas was definitely a bit off still on Tuesday, which makes for a very tiring day for Grandma Carol.  He pretty much needed constant holding.  This is pretty different from his latest behavior where he’s happy to hang out alone for a while and keep himself occupied – wether he’s chewing on a buddy blanket (or lovey for those of you who are in touch with your feminine side) or eating his hands / thumb.  He’s been doing very well just being alone.  Something that’s nice when you have to get his bath ready, or mix up some rice cereal and mommy’s milk, or go to the bathroom …

The highlight of the day was two record naps that Thomas took – something like 90 minutes each.  The only problem was that he’d only nap when my Mom was pushing him in the stroller.  The Thomas / Grandmacare workout plan is unforgiving to say the least!

Wednesday

Wednesday Thomas was up early again.  Danielle needed some more sleep, so we hung out and you guessed it, took some pictures (I might have a problem).

He’s changing so much.  He kinda looks like a little boy here, not a four month old!  I love those PJs.  :)

Thomas continues to refine his “oh, I’m so surprised” face.

Thomas cools down while waiting for a fresh diaper.

Whatever had him out of sorts of Monday and Tuesday seems to have worked itself out, and he was back to his old happy self.  He is a totally different baby since he turned four months old.  Sure, he’s still willful, and can make noise like no other baby I’ve ever heard, but as he finds his voice more, more of what might have been crying before is just his chatting.  It’s a very nice change – though I feel for our neighbors when he decides to have a long and loud conversation at four in the morning.

Thursday

Thursday was backwards day.  Danielle had a night meeting at work, so she had to take him to GrandmaCare in the morning – and then deal with the traffic.  Let’s just say it’s not good.  Anyway, this meant that I would pick him up.  This was her first time leaving him.  It’s old hat for me, and I’m pretty much hand him to my Mom and say “good luck” as I run out the door.  Ok, not quite that bad, but close sometimes.  For Danielle it was a little tougher to leave her little man, but everyone survived and Thomas even had a pretty good day – with the exception of not napping much.  He was more back to his old self for her and I think that was a welcome change from Tuesday.

When the afternoon rolled around, I had to leave work at 3:30 to get down to Hanover before 5 when my Mom was meeting with a new student.  Oh, she not only torments young Thomas, but Junior High and High School kids in the form of tutoring.  Yeah, she’s nuts.

Well, I got to my car at 3:40.  A bit late, but I thought I could make it.  Well, after much back roads shenanigans, I made it to Hanover with two minutes to spare.  Although I didn’t come screeching into the drive way at high speed, it sort of felt that way.

Thomas and I finally got home at about six.  He was beat, and I was nervous that he wouldn’t fall asleep for me.  You see, we’d only tried this Dad putting him to sleep thing once before and it failed epically.  I thought it was going to be so easy, but no, it wasn’t and he was still awake and rather unhappy when Danielle arrived home at 8:30.  But that was the first time, it could only get better.

And did it ever.  Thomas had a great bath, took a huge bottle, was happy the entire time, and crashed hard at 7pm.  Well, I think it was 7pm.  I’m not totally sure since I passed out in the rocking chair with the little full-bellied guy in my lap.  At 7:45 I awoke feeling like I had a broken neck, but with a little boy who was in such a deep sleep, I could have marched a band through the room and he wouldn’t have batted an eye.

Danielle was very happy to get home and hear that we had such a successful night.  Thomas has changed so much.  I think he’s gotten easier, or maybe we’ve just grown more patient and better able to read him.  In any case, things are much happier in our house now.  Yeah Thomas!

Friday

Wait, I have to take care of him all day?  I just took care of him last night!  Ouch.  On Friday I decided to take some pictures of our day.  Not the cute captures I normally go for, but the rest of the day.  Don’t worry, there are no diaper shots.  I draw the line at poo!

Thomas has been waking us up with his talking / chanting / yelling pretty much every morning, Friday was no exception.  It’s fun to walk in there.  You hit the light and he stirs a bit and makes more noise.  You come into his view, and he stops chattering and just beams a big smile at you.  There are so many days that I’m pretty tired and would really love to stay in bed, but that smile wipes it all away instantly.

When I came in, I found Thomas and his lamby.

Here’s the rest of Thomas.  Check out that sweet sleep sack!  He’s finally mature enough to not wack himself in the face and constantly wake himself up.  Good thing too, as he’s too strong and too large for the swaddling blanket now.

And he’s free!  He usually celebrates with some hard kicking.

A few quick kisses (I mean, how could you NOT kiss this cuteness).

I said no poo shots and I mean it.  So just trust me that I moved him to the changing table and freshened my buddy up.

The next step in his morning routing is taking his reflux drugs.  Some folks say that when their kids were put on reflux meds it was like a totally new baby.  Our experience with Thomas wasn’t quite that drastic, but it made his reflux bearable.  He still refluxes quite a bit, but where it used to almost always end in sad, pained, hard tears, he just deals with it.  In any case, we’re looking forward to moving him off the drugs soon.  But not yet.

Here it is, 0.9mL ready to get squirted into his mouth.

Sometimes Thomas spits some of the drugs out, so it’s best to have a burb cloth ready and waiting.

The first drop hits his tongue.  It tastes kinda pepperminty.  I don’t think he hates it, but he sure doesn’t like it!

Heeeeelp meeeee!

Almost done. Note that he’s holding my hand as I drug him.  Such a cutes!

Mmm, nothing like a little big toe to wash down that nasty medicine.

I’m just posting this one because I love it.

The rest of our day went pretty well with the exception of all the rain outside and having to stay in.  We did a lot of hanging out, spent lots of time in the Jumparoo, read some books, had more tummy time, and Thomas voraciously sucked down three big bottles and had some rice cereal.  Yeah, he’s figured out the food thing well.

Danielle got home from work just in time for bath time.  After Thomas’ bath, we put him in yet another cute sleep set.

So that was Thomas’ work week.  It started off a bit rough, but sure did finish strong.

Wow, this week has just flown by.  I’ve got a big project due at work this coming Wednesday and have had absolutely no time for anything.  So let’s try and remember our busy week.

Monday

Danielle thought that Monday would be her last “Mommy and Me” movie, but as it turns out, it won’t.  I’ll get to that in a bit.  Anyway, the movie this week was Get Smart.  Unfortunately Danielle forgot the diaper bag.  D’oh!  It can be crazy when you’re trying to get out the door with Thomas.  Of course, Danielle realized this once she got to the theatre – which is located north of Boston – not close.  Well, Danielle did what any cine lover would do, she went to CVS and bought some diapers and wipes.  Problem solved!  It’s not like Thomas won’t use any and all diapers we have around …  Oh, and the movie was “not bad.”

Tuesday

Tuesday saw more of the same for me at work, so no time to blog.  Danielle and Thomas made a trip down to Hanover to Thomas’ new caregiver – Grandma Carol!  Yes, those of you who know my Mom and think she must be crazy for putting up with me all these years now have proof that she is, in fact, crazy.  Grandma Carol’s going to watch Thomas on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s.  Danielle will be home from work on Mondays and Wednesdays  and I’ll have him on Fridays.  The car time is going to be rough (my parents live about 17 miles south of us – the opposite direction of both of our jobs), and we’re worried that Thomas might drive my Mom further into the deep end of insanity, but we’re all going to give it a try.  Say a prayer for everyone involved – especially my Mom!

Later that evening we did some tummy time with Thomas.  He’s really getting to like it.  Sometimes he works so hard his head gets all red.

Thomas’ eyebrows are finally making an appearance.

So close, yet so far from grabbing toes.

Wednesday

Not much happened on Wednesday except Thomas and Danielle went on a long neighborhood walk to the grocery store.  No pics as I was glued to my laptop.

Thursday

There are five, yes five dads with new sons ranging from 3.5 weeks old up to an ancient 5 months on my floor at work (it’s not a big floor).  On Thursday my bosses had a party for the five boys and their families welcoming them to our work family.  Unfortunately two weren’t able to make it (Marc and Gabriel you were missed), but Danielle and Thomas made the pretty annoying (during traffic time) trip in.  Thomas kept his hate for traffic alive and was not in a good mood on the trip.  But, he put on his company manners and was great for the entire party.

Dennis and Tanner.  Dennis and I met in high school about a million years ago.  Now we have sons 7 weeks apart.  Crazy.

My friend Joon and I share an office at work.  Here he is with the youngest man on the floor, Jaiden.  Jaiden is like 1/10th the size of Thomas.  :)

Thomas sporting a very fashionable new outfit form Kathy and John.  Overall shorts and chubby legs.  A great combo!  Thomas was having fun showing how much he likes to stand up.

Tanner being tormented.  Tanner is the most laid back baby ever.  He just chills – always.

Thomas, Jaiden, and Tanner with Jaiden’s older brother, Brian watching over.

Friday

Friday was, as everyone knows now, Thomas and my day together.  I had tons of work that I was still trying (and failing) to get done.  Thomas had different plans.  Napping for much of the afternoon was a total impossibility as we had two jackhammers tearing up the street in front of our house.  So instead of napping here, I took Thomas for the walk to end all walks.  He slept for well over an hour of our hour and forty minute walk.  It’s funny how we didn’t even really notice that we had a bike path near our home, and it’s now one of our favorite parts of the neighborhood.

Friday also saw Thomas and I picking up his prescription refill for his reflux.  He has good days and bad with his reflux, but it very obviously bothers him much less now.  Whether that’s entirely the drugs or just his increased maturity, I don’t know.  We’re just happy our boy is feeling better.

Thomas turns grabbing practice into pushing practice.

This was only fun for a little while.

When Thomas was about a month old, I saw a deal for a Jumparoo on Amazon.  I didn’t really know what a Jumparoo was, but it looked fun.  On Friday we assembled and tried out Thomas’ Jumparoo.  Ok, I assembled, he supervised.

At first Thomas was happy with his Jumparoo.

Then he was sad.

Thomas repeated this for a few cycles and then I figured it was about time to do something different.

So we went to a birthday party for Dennis.

Thomas throws down some cutes.

Thomas meets Mackenzie.

Dennis, Abby and some other folks were off to the Sox game, so we made it home at a totally appropriate early hour and got the boy to bed on time.  We’ve had some rough bedtimes this week, but last night was actually pretty easy.

Oh, and yeah for long weekends!

Yesterday Danielle actually got out of the house with Thomas (their first outside adventure with out me!) and got lunch with Karen (and Gabriel – 2.5 months) and Dawn (and her 4 month old son who’s name I can’t recall, but I really should as it’s VERY memorable – d’oh!).  Karen is our awesome friend who hooked us up with a breast feeding class (at her home, for free), with an excellent lactation consultant from Cambridge Hospital.  Wow, I am getting way off track.  Well, apparently the Moms discussed sleep schedules so last night we attempted to get Thomas to sleep before 11.  I think it worked, but I can’t be sure as I passed out cold.  In any case, we’re pretty sure a wide awake, not yet had a good night time rest, 1:30am baby is not the right idea.  

Danielle also took a video of me holding Thomas while he does his best drunk bobblehead impression, but of course I left it at home – double d’oh!  So that will have to wait until this evening.  Other than that, I’m back at work (and writing the blog … hmmm).  I have some three year old code that I’ve been wrapping my brain around and am planning on refactoring today.  Strangely, I’m kinda looking forward to it.  I got a fair amount of actual what-they-pay-me-for work done yesterday and it was kinda fun to be back at it – when I wasn’t watching videos of Thomas and missing him that is …

Yesterday before Church, Chubby Legs and I made a video on the changing table.  I admit, I was hoping to catch him letting out an epic fart (this kid could win contents!  wait, are there contests for that sort of thing?), but alas, just got him kicking and being happy Thomas.

Danielle and Chubby Legs were sound asleep when I left this am. I had hopes of being here by 7am (trying to get as many pre-awake Thomas hours in as possible), but didn’t really roll in and actually get set up until about 7:20. I think that might still count as early for me though in my Anno-Thomas world.

Our weekend had been a mixed back of fits and starts. Thomas was a dream until yesterday evening and has been very, very unhappy since then. We’re not sure what his issue is, but it’s been screaming crying after screaming crying. Tiring for everyone involved to say the least.

I did manage to finish the rocking chair that my parents got us though, so that’s a positive. It came out pretty well, but in the future, I’ll pass on the kit and pay someone to build it for me …

A few pics from the weekend:

Happy feet:

The chair as it sat (get it?  sat?) yesterday am.  This started as an unfinished kit.  The back was all one piece, the sides, front, seat, arm wrests, and rocker things were all separate.  They needed to be put together, sanded (a lot!), stained (several coats – thanks for the help on that part Peter), and then triple coated with polyurethane (though we used a water based, not truly poly one).  Needless to say, I missed the birth by 17 days, but at least we have it for the duration now (assuming I assembled it well and it doesn’t fall apart).  Oh, and then the part I was truly dreading – the weaving of the seat and back…

And how it looks tonight, sitting in Thomas’ room.   I’m still nervous when I sit in it.  

Tomorrow marks my return to work – which I am not looking forward to.  At least the blog has kept my typing skills from totally falling apart.