All Work & No Play

I never could have imagined how hard it would be to leave my baby and go back to work. Daniel is so happy and charming in the morning it breaks my heart to walk out the door. He hasn't been eating well without me so that makes it even more difficult. Wednesday was my first full day but my mom watched him and drove him to my office for lunch so I could make sure he got in at least one good meal. He charmed all the women in the office and helped me get through the day. Thursday Roxy had an appointment so I had the afternoon off again but Friday was one long, hard babyless day. I sat and sobbed after lunch and thought the day would never end. My boss offered me (without asking mind you) full time status at 35 hours a week! That will help a bit and if I can take my lunch "at the end of the day" to cut out an extra 30 minutes I will be working 8:30-3:30, miss the afternoon traffic and be home by 4:00 instead of 6:00!

Two Month Check In

Since I am back at work, I have not had time to update everyone on Daniel's growth (and I don't have any new photos to post). He had his two month check up Tuesday -- he was officially 23 1/2 inches tall and 11 lb 4oz. This put him in the 75% bracket for height, 50% weight, and still only 15% for head size. He is getting so big. His sweet smiles and alertness impressed the doctor as did his neck strength. That was the end of the niceties though. The nurse came in and stuck two needles in his soft pink thigh and he screamed so hard he stopped breathing. I opted out of a couple vaccines and he still had to get two shots the poor little baby. That evening we sat and cried together.

Daniel is Two Months Old

I can hardly believe it but our little man is two months old today! He has grown so much since we brought him home. He has gone from a baby so tiny and so floppy I didn't know what to do with him to a happy little person. He smiles a lot, I have heard a giggle or two, he can hold his head somewhat steady for a short time, he'll watch me and other objects like the animals on his swing move around, he can make his bouncy seat bounce, and is an all around adorable little guy. His two month check up is next week ad I can hardly wait to see how he's grown!

Hi Ho Hi Ho

I had to go back to work today. Daniel and I have been preparing a bit with a practice schedule for the morning's activities but nothing prepared me for how hard it would be to get in my car and drive away from him. My employers have been great though. We worked it out that I could start on Wednesday instead of Monday and work half days for a week to help me ease into it a bit. Since I am no longer full time sales I lost my office with a door (but now have an office with a window, just no door) so they designated a newly constructed office (after splitting one large office into two small ones) as my pumping station. I have been very busy learning some of the details of my new job responsibilities so the time goes by pretty quickly - I just can't imagine how I can be away from him for almost ten hours a day when I go back full time next week!

Vickey, a wonderful woman from my woman's bible study, is Daniel's babysitter. She comes to the house and takes care of our little one. He seems to like her but so far he hasn't done very well eating while I am away so I am afraid she is stuck with a very unhappy baby much of the time.

Daniel's First Picinic

Several families in our Sunday school class met at Cedar Beach this afternoon for a time of fellowship and picinicing. The kids & the dogs (Roxy, Raider and Macie) played and swam while Daniel just ate and slept. I just sat with my baby boy in the shade of the weeping willow and enjoyed the activity around me. It was a truly beautiful day.

A little baby duck waddled out of the stream and right into our party. Jason tried to return it to the water but it followed him right back out. Someone told him they saw a duck family in a pond quite a bit down stream so Jason and Rob returned him to his mom. We aren't 100% sure that was the correct family but there was a lot of chirping on all sides so hopefully the little guy will be okay. (We somehow managed to keep Roxy in check during the whole ordeal. She was going nuts and I know she would have attacked it given the opportunity. Raider just wanted to give it kisses.

Sadie had a lot of fun with the duckling too.

Blueberry Picking

Courtney, Daniel and I went to Schmidt's Berry Farm today to pick berries. It was a beautiful day but got very hot quickly, espically with a baby strapped to my chest. I picked a pound and a half of yummy blueberries and bought a quart each of green beans and little red plums all for $6! Courtney was also able to pick red raspberries and beans. Daniel ate while she picked the beans and he just didn't allow me to bend over to get to the raspberries so we just walked up and down the berry rows crying.Daniel looked so cute in his monkey outfit and little hat.

Outings

Most evenings we try to take a walk around the neighborhood to try to get Roxy out of the house. Look how cute the boys are!



Courtney and Raider came for a visit on Tuesday morning and we went to the Ironton Rail to Trail. This is one of Roxy's favorite walks because it is wooded and cool and has a stream running alongside it most of the way. After an hour Daniel woke up starving to death, so we stopped on the bridge so I could feed him and the dogs could play in the water. I forgot that when we passed by there earlier there was a duck family in the water. I walk Roxy without a leash because I trust her to listen to me. Today she ignored me completely. She jumped in the water and chased that duck for about 30 minutes, swimming in circles and down stream to the point where Courtney could no longer see her. So Courtney had to jump into the water and go after her. Roxy came back when the duck did. We weren't fast enough to grab Roxy. She kept swimming around chasing the duck until she was exhausted and Courtney could get her out of the water. We put her back on the leash and Courtney held her while she barked at the duck for another 10 minutes. Raider, on the other hand, bit a leaf that floated past him and totally ignored the duck.

Roxy barking at the duck

The duck.

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the action - I was feeding Daniel!

Look How I've Grown!

Daniel at 3 weeks

Daniel at 7 weeks

Independence Day

Daniel went to his first fireworks display at only 7 weeks old! We met Ryan, Lindsay and Jonathan and Rob at Muhlenberg to watch the Allentown fireworks. The evening began with sky divers, which was cool, and a nice (and loud) fireworks display. Daniel was a trooper in his Red White and Blue outfit. In fact, I think he was more calm all night than he has been yet in the evening!

First Baby Sitting Adventure

Last night good friends of ours, Jen and Jesse and their daughter Madeline, wanted some practice with a baby in preparation of their soon-to-arrive new daughter, Elsie. We dropped Daniel off at their place and headed off to the Promenade shops in Bethlehem.

We spent our date night walking around the pretty outdoor shops and ate at a Thai place called the White Orchid. While we waited forever for our food, Jason entertained me by imitating Daniel's most trademark faces. Here is his "Caveman" and "Pucker Face".

This was the first time we have been away for more than an hour or so. He took some food from a bottle that I prepared for him earlier that day and apparently was a perfect little man! Madeline likes Daniel so much that she even changed the name of her baby doll to Daniel!

Thanks guys! Maybe one day we can return the favor.

Daniel's First Play Date

Daniel had his first official play date today. Sure he is too little to do anything, but the invite was for a play date and everyone else was playing so . . . We went to Joanna's parent's house to use the pool this morning and most of our friends showed up with their little ones.





















In addition to Joanna and Jason with their kids Dejah and Dorian we were pleased to have time to visit with Dawn and her four kids, Christian, Rebecca, Noah, and little Matthew, Erika with Malachi and Palin and the little guy she babysits, Logan, Sarah and Macen, Lindsay and Jonathan, Carrie and Tyler (who also came over for a visit yesterday!) Jasmine and Sadie, and Jen, Jesse and Madeline.

Jasmine, Jen, and Sarah, plus at least one more of our girlfriends from Sunday School are pregnant too - needless to say, we'll need whole playgrounds to ourselves to continue with play dates if everyone shows up!

The morning was a bit cool with spotty showers but mostly we had great weather and the pool water was warm. Nothing extraordinary happened, which I guess is good, but we all had a great time. Daniel slept in the swing inside the whole time which freed me up to do some swimming of my own. It was odd to have that freedom and I didn't know what to do with myself!

My Hydrangeas

I love hydrangeas; they are one of my favorite flowers. (In fact, we carried hydrangeas at our wedding.) Last year Jason ripped out the dying pine tree we had in the front yard and planted a hydrangea and some balloon flowers. The hydrangea did not flower last year but is in its full glory now! It is a bit difficult to see the color of the flowers in the picture but they are a glorious purpley-pink and are off set nicely by the deep purple balloon flowers just in front of it. I just love it.