Independence Day on Main Street U.S.A.

Friday, July 3, 2009 at 7:30 am (The Higher Nest)
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In less than 24 hours, we’ll be celebrating 4th of July at the Happiest Place on Earth.  That’s right.  We’re taking a 3 month old to Disney World. On 4th of July weekend.  ‘Cuz we’re crazy like that.

Can’t be any crazier than taking a baby at 6 weeks, which we’ve done, too.  You’d think a 6 weeker would just kinda sleep through a trip like that, sort of like the tiny 3 weeker we saw by the pool at our resort the very same weekend, just happily hanging out with her mama and older brothers.  But this was our baby we’re talking about, so yeah, he pretty much imploded.  And actually, that’s an understatement.  You can ask our dear friend Jorge all about it, who suffered through the trip with us, bless his soul.  He shared a room with us as well, which if he’s got any sense, he’ll never do again.  When the child’s cries woke everyone up at 3 am, Jorge turned to us and said, “honestly, I’m not sure how you do it.”  We don’t know how we do it either bud.

And anyway, we can’t imagine a more perfect place for celebrating Independence Day.  I am so psyched for tomorrow’s re-opening of the Hall of Presidents, which has been refurbished and will now feature a Barack Obama Animatronic.  You can read all about the revamp and see photos here as well as watch the White House behind-the-scenes video tour of the President recording his audio here.

Then of course there is the pin trading.  Time anew to fuel the obsession.  And if I’m lucky, The Hall of Presidents Re-Opening Pin won’t yet be sold out.  Otherwise I may just cry.

So here we come Main Street U.S.A.!

We’ll have us some corn dogs at Casey’s…

…and try to catch up with our man Scoop:

We’ll be sure to otherwise partake of many air conditioned interiors, one awesome baby care center (complete with large changing tables, high chairs, a general seating area and private nursing areas with rockers for BFing mamas), a sunhat and our new stroller’s full-blown hood.   Proof we’re not entirely without common sense.

Happy 4th of July y’all, however you’re spending yours!

(All the amazing photos above courtesy of our dearest friend, super talent and travel companion extraordinaire georgewithaj).

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Storyboard

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 6:50 am (The Higher Nest)
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(Click to view larger)

Evidence that Wes doesn’t just play with his toys:  he also eats them!

*By the way, you can download the Photoshop action I used for this storyboard for free here courtesy of CoffeeShop Rita.

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Mes Amis

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:42 am (The Higher Nest)
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Meet Wesley’s best friend Jacques:

And his newest companion, whom I have dubbed François because he’s a doudou:

Looks like we’ve got ourselves a francophile. Now if only I had a tiny beret…

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Month Three Newsletter

Monday, June 29, 2009 at 5:30 am (The Higher Nest)
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Dear Wesley:

You will notice there are no newsletters for months 1 & 2.  This is due to two things:

One is that halfway through my draft of Month One Newsletter I broke down uncontrollably crying.  It was probably too soon, you see, what with all the crazy hormones still in me and your inability to sleep more than 2 hours at a time.  Good thing we’re in a better place now.

Two is that I started thinking the monthly letter thing a bit cliche.  But here’s the thing — you have a mama who blogs, and these letters, well, they’re part of the gig. And besides, already — already! — I have begun to forget: what was my 2-week Wesley like?  My 5-week Wesley?

One week you’re this crazy baby who cries the second we walk in a store, and the next you’re a baby who’s smiling at strangers.  And then even as I write about your new calm ways, as I blog about your much-improved naps, you go and give your mama some of the worst nights ever so far, I think now to remind me who’s the boss.

By our unofficial measurements, this month you are 26″ tall, and yet again outgrowing clothing, this time your sleep sack.  You’ve evened out a little weight-wise, 15 lbs. this month, which is only annoying because you’re still in range for 3-6 mos. clothing for weight but at the maximum for height.  Are we destined never to see you in delicious footed pjs again?

This past month marked the days your hands became your treasure.  Day in, day out, you work so diligently at getting your right hand in your mouth.  Now, bringing your fist over your forehead is your self-soothe move of choice.  Maybe next you’ll work on grabbing skills?

At night, I watch you on the video monitor diving after your pacifier so desperately, it is like watching Ewan MacGregor in that toilet scene in Trainspotting.  In other words, you are a junky my love, and I’m convinced that if your little 3-month body soon rolls back to front it will be solely in pursuit of the darn thing.

Sadly at 3 months your head continues to be riddled with such craptastic cradle cap that I’ve become obsessed with constantly brush brushing it away.  This is only okay because sometimes at night, before I go to bed, I take a long whiff of that brush, it smells so WeFo-like.  Which is to say it smells like heaven.

That is a smell to remember,  along with all your days.

Forever and ever,

Your Mama

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Currently Coveting…

Friday, June 26, 2009 at 3:39 pm (The Higher Nest)
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An aden+anais muslin sleeping bag:

But…

1. the elephant one I like is currently out of stock

2. I can’t seem to find a sizing chart (waiting on a response e-mail from aden+anais) and

3. Wes is already at the maximum length for his current Halo sleepsack…probably should just run out to the store to pick a Medium up rather than wait for one in mail, no?

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To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 6:38 am (The Higher Nest)
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That there is a happy baby.  A happy baby after a happy nap.

You have to understand, nap times here have been the bane of our existence.  Worse than getting Wes to sleep at night, daytime sleep has not come easy.  And to keep my son from becoming the monster he becomes when awake for far too long, we have at different times cajoled him into napping in the swing, in our arms, in a car seat, you name it.  And many of these naps have not been good, have not been long, have not been restful.

For some time now though we have tried to stick to some routine when it came to bedtime.  We aren’t always perfect with it, but we bathe (every other day or so), diaper, dress, huggle, crib, sleepsack, paci, sometimes read book, sometimes aquarium, sometimes just shush.  (We broke the swaddle habit weeks ago when I could no longer stand the pitiful look on my son’s face.  He wanted access to his hands bad). But then the fussing would begin, we’d walk back into that room, replace paci, restart shush.  Rinse and repeat.

And then a couple of days ago I just decided that at nap times, I would do a mini-version of the routine, too.  Diaper, huggle, crib, sleepsack, paci.  And something miraculous happened.  I set my boy down in his crib, he placed his hand over his face, turned that face to one side and just fell asleep.  No cries, no fuss.  He slept one solid hour.  And an hour after being awake, because really, that’s all he can still give ya, he fell asleep like this again. And again.  All.day.long.

Yesterday, running errands, taking a walk, we fell out of the routine.  Wes stayed awake for give or take three hours, and he completely broke down.  The child could not be pacified until I took him with me to bed and blackmailed him with an ounce of formula.

How we need consistency!  I’ve learned that if I find myself questioning if he’s ready for a nap, the answer is bound to be “yes!”  Of course, teething or some other developmental milestone is bound to come and make a mess of things.  But until then I’m holding on to that smiling face come time to wake.

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Papa’s Weekend

Monday, June 22, 2009 at 10:13 am (The Higher Nest)
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Okay, Father’s Day weekend?  Best family weekend ever!  And whom do we have to thank for that?  Our boy Wes who is truly growing up before our very eyes each waking minute.  Everyone said things would take a turn for the best around six weeks or so: those people lied.  Okay, they didn’t lie ;) — they just didn’t know that wouldn’t apply to our willful son.  But 12 weeks?  Oh yes, I’m convinced some real changes are happening now.

We started the Father’s Day celebrations early Saturday since it’s the only day of the week Craig is off from both school and work.  Papa opened his presents (a sweater vest from Wes, some XBox Live points from Niles) and headed down to Miami for a Disney Family Pin Event, where we met up with our dear friend Jorge and thankfully picked up some cheap trader pins for our upcoming trip to the Happiest Place on Earth.  Wes was such a super-star that someone actually told us, with a straight face, that our son was so “good.”  Good.  As in well behaved.  Our son!

He was, in fact, so “good” that we were able to for the first real time eat out in public — and did so without incident.  Hallelujah!

And Sunday was just as nice.  We strolled around the mall, did a little shopping, got a bite to eat, went to Mimi’s (Grandma’s) and slept the whole visit through.  Late in the day we survived the entirety of bath time without a single tear (when there’s always a few at the time to get out) and went to sleep “like a baby” without the usual battle.

How lovely that this 180 happened over Father’s Day weekend — no doubt my boy is slowly but surely growing up (only big boys “wear” ties), and people now say looking more like his Papa every day.   Today outside I’d swear I heard him laugh at the bubbles I blew, and did I maybe spy his eyes turning Papa-green?

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To My Papa on the Occasion of His First Papa’s Day

Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 5:20 am (The Higher Nest)
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Dear Papa:

There are so many things for which to say thank you.

Thank you for holding my hand from the second I was born.  It was no fun lying in that stupid plastic box away from my mama for three whole hours so soon after my birth, but you still made me feel so closey-close:

Thank you for holding me so tight the day it rained for the first time in my life.  Together inside we were dry and safe and warm:

Thank you for each and every one of your huggles and kisses, beard or no beard!

Thank you for the times asleep in your arms.  It’s okay if you sleep, too:

For all the rocking and shushing, feeding and burping, bathing and diapering, building and assembling, constant paci replacing and 3 am waking, storybook reading and master puppeteering — for all the loving — and more, thank you.

All my love on this first Papa’s Day and forever and ever,

Your son, WeFo

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To Teach Is to Learn Twice

Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 8:07 pm (The Higher Nest)

I break away from regularly scheduled WeFo updates because I learned today that my beloved 11th grade AP English teacher, John Ruppel, died yesterday, Tuesday, June 17, 2009.

I wouldn’t call myself a particularly sentimental person, but I was so terribly saddened by the news.  You have to understand, there is no doubt in my mind that I pursued a career in teaching English because of this man. How could I not have, what with the fire he’d ignited?

Ten years later I stood in front of my own students, an 11th grade AP English teacher myself. And what did I do but show them the many Ruppel notes to which I’d so dearly held, the binder full of crazy daily reading quizzes — as Mr. Ruppel said, “un dia sin quiz es un dia sin sol,” — an infamous monumental Moby Dick test for which we seriously crammed, my first failing essay (a humbling experience). I was more like my students than I was like Mr. Ruppel — to whom I could not hold a candle.

In 1993, I acquired a photo of Mr. Ruppel from an overstock of yearbook photos. Whether in my college dorm room or in my home today 16 years later, I have held on that photo that he may inspire me:

Ruppel

So many of us came to love Moby Dick or The Sound and the Fury because of him. But we loved the man more.

Teaching really is a noble profession.  And to be honest, unfortunately, many people don’t do it well.  But my friend Liam does.  My friend Sarah does.  My husband will.  And Mr. Ruppel did: the more than 800 (and continually growing) members of his Facebook memorial group are testament to that.  May that bring his family some small comfort.

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Jumping Jellybean

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 4:22 pm (The Higher Nest)
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What a difference a day makes.

Yesterday Wes was all torment and fury and today, why, someone musta gone out and switched him with a happy and fun baby.

We slept in ’til a decent time this morning, enjoyed one morning stroller walk and one midday Bjorn walk despite the hellish heat, more than tolerated floor time and napped without a fight.

Then Papa kindly put together our jumperoo.  I missed the maiden voyage seeing as how the boys were kind enough to let me nap myself, but I didn’t waste any time testing the goods out later in the day.

In typical Wes fashion, the second first impression was one of “woman, are you for real?”:

And though he never cracked a smile — he’s stingy that way — he did manage to reach out for toys and even possibly, by Jove, enjoy himself:

Heck, I’m really just amazed by long bean’s not-quite-three months tippy toes could already reach the floor, no propping required!

More days like this, please?

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