Aunts and Uncles

Two nights ago, Dad commented that he found it really bizarre that I refer to all these non-family people as "Auntie" and "Uncle," both in the blog and in real life.  I explained that as a mark of respect, I was raised to call people Auntie and Uncle when I was a child and they were adults.  This applied within the family, i.e., to older cousins who weren't technically our aunts or uncles.  And it applied to family friends, and the parents of my friends.  For example, my best friend's parents were "Auntie J" and "Uncle P."  Similarly, my friends would always call my parents "Auntie J" and "Uncle F."  [N.B. There would be real names involved, not just the letter.] 

Anyhow, so far I have been introducing our friends to X and referring to them as "Auntie/Uncle [insert name]."  And Dad finds this highly, highly strange.  This led to a discussion of how we were both raised to tackle this issue, and an examination of what our other friends with kids are doing.

We have friends who refer to adults by their official titles, i.e., "Say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Smith!"  "Say bye-bye, Mrs. Smith!"  To each his own, but that is far too formal for us. 

We have friends who refer to adults by a title, followed by first name, a la elementary school teacher, i.e., "Say hello to Miss Jane and Mr. John!"  "Say bye-bye, Miss Jane!"  To each his own, but that just won't come naturally to us at all.

And then we got around to my asking how Dad was raised.  As in, what did Dad call other adults when he was growing up?  And what did his friends call his parents when they came over to play?  And honestly, I don't think I picked my jaw up off the floor once.  He called adults by. their. first. names.  And his friends would call his parents by. their. first. names.  As in, he would go over to someone's house for a play date, and then say something like, "Ellen, could I have a snack?"  or "Hi Monica.  I'm playing with trucks now."  TO THE OTHER KID'S PARENTS.  Okay, okay, I'm trying to stay calm.  But even typing it gets me worked up.  I didn't think I was so firmly...committed...to the way I was raised.  But I simply cannot raise my child to call another adult by his/her first name.  I can't.  Call me stuffy or un-American.  But it's just not going to happen! 

Which brought me to wondering, what will happen when other kids come over here, walk into my kitchen and say something like, "A___, can I have a cracker?"  How will I resist the urge to slap them senseless for what I perceive as a lack of respect?  Well.  That's going to be a challenge.  I think in the early stages, I may visibly cringe.  But I will take deep breaths and remind myself that culture is culture, and some people do things differently.  They're not calling me A____ to be rude -- they're calling me that because American kids apparently do that sometimes.  And that's oh. kay.  I'm not going to force other kids to call me something that's weird for them just because it feels right to me.

So the flip-side, of course, is whether X is going to make other parents feel weird when he calls them Aunt/Uncle so-and-so.  I mean, I don't know.  Is it all that weird?  Won't there already be a mix of other practices out there anyway, between the Miss This, the Mrs. That, and the first-name basis? 

The amusing thing is that Dad and I hit a complete impasse on this one.  He thinks it is TOTALLY weird to call people who are not related to you Aunt and Uncle, and I think it is BEYOND ludicrous to let a child call adults by their first names.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion, which may involve some sort of compromise like having our child call people "Lord Protector John" and "Queen Jane," thus enabling him to use both the first name and a non-familial term to convey respect for one's elders.

Before I go, photos from last night's applesaucery.  Smiles notwithstanding, he distinctly preferred the avocado.

Ze photos

I am having the kind of day where I am just going to post ze photos.  Because all of life's minor* annoyances and tribulations appear to be taking a field trip to my house today, and I'm busy welcoming them in, baking them cupcakes, and inquiring about their intentions for me.  I hope they will all make themselves nice and comfy because I really don't have time to deal with them en masse right now.  So they're going to be here for a while.  It's cool.  If life were too perfect, it'd be boring, right?

So without further ado, ze photos.  These smiles are brought to you courtesy of my having stated: "Let's take a photo to send to Daddy at work!!!"  And nothing more than that.

* Truly, they are minor.  Don't anybody be sending me all these, "OMG what HAPPENED?!?!?!  Are you guys OKAY!?"-type emails.  Because I will just reply with eye rolls, sighs, and leftover imaginary cupcakes from my pity party.

Oh, ooh ooh, I remembered one really good thing!  X slept 11 hours last night, without waking up!  Credit goes to the folks at Moms' Club, who suggested that I give him a lovey (basically a teething blanket with a toy attached) after I'd walked around with it all day.  That way, X got to feel like he was snuggling with Mama all night.  Apparently this is a well-known solution to four-month wakefulness!  So far, so good!

Sticking to The Plan

I'm sitting here at the computer with X in his bouncer next to me.  Every time I look at him, he pulls his thumb out of his mouth and gives me the most RADIANT smile on earth.  Which means a) he's probably forgiven us for letting him cry it out at 3 a.m. last night; and b) I'm starting to hear voices whispering "unpaid leave...unpaid leave..." somewhere in my brain.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Fear not, I shall not heed the voices!  I mean, I am sure the temptation will only increase as these fleeting days pass and I'm that much closer to being back in the office.  But unpaid leave would just be a crutch, enabling me to delay the inevitable.  I am going back to work.  I *want* to go back to work.  And adopting a "just two more weeks" mentality at this point just won't be helpful.  Of course, I've come up with all these perfect rationalizations, e.g., "Well, but if I take two unpaid cycles, then he'll be at day care by the time I get back, and we can make one seamless transition" and "Well, I need the second Friday in May off for a wedding, so rather than announcing a vacation day the second I return, I might as well extend my leave past then!"  And my personal favorite: "How about we just make it to the six-month Growth Chikin photo shoot?  That will be the right time."

Rubbish.  We're going back to work on April 14.  X will be in temporary, but excellent hands, for three weeks.  And then he will start coming to work with me on May 9.  It's settled. 

In other news, X did wake up at 3 a.m. last night.  But we provided him with a snuggly glowing seahorse, which seemed to help a bit.  He woke up a couple other times, but we (i.e., Francisco) toughed it out and allowed some crying, which led to self-soothing, which led to sleeping until 7:15.  Here's hoping we've made a crucial break in the cycle of "comfort nursing" at night, and now he'll realize that no food will be forthcoming in the wee hours! 

Today is going to be a messy day at headquarters, as we have a contractor coming in to tear down our basement wall to address a bizarre buzzing noise behind it.  Although we wish it didn't have to come to demolition, we've tried everything else we could think of.  So here we are.  I hope that sledgehammers and wrecking balls are involved.  But seeing as how it's drywall, I think they're just going to use an electric saw.  Boo.

Wish us luck!  And here's hoping the temperature goes up to the 50s or something -- I need to run a few errands down the road and I'd so love to put X in the stroller and walk, rather than drive...

Help me, Baby-Wan Kenobi

You're my only hope...

Three days ago, a friend (with a baby one week younger than X) told me about the dreaded "four-month wakefulness" phenomenon.  I shuddered as she told her tale, and thanked my lucky stars that this had not happened to us.  And then I chalked it up to the same type of thing as "second-night syndrome," colic, or reflux, i.e., real and terrible problems, but things that happen to other people.  Not to us.

But of course it was our turn.

So...what gives?  We had a perfect sleeper.  An absolute angel.  Down at 8/8:30 each night, up at 7/7:30 the next day.  It was incredible.  Life improved by leaps and bounds.  And our fear that each night was a fluke gradually diminished until we felt secure in the knowledge that our baby was a champion sleeper.  We fretted about the trip to Ecuador and how that would shake up his schedule.  And although we had maybe one or two bizarre night wakings down there, he generally continued to be pretty perfect.  Down at 7:30 each night (automatic adjustment to US daylight savings -- which Ecuador does not use), and then up at around 6 the following morning.  Great.  We've been back stateside for six nights now.  The first three were fine, even though he woke up a little earlier than normal.  Down at 8:30, up at 5:30.  But eh, I could live with that, especially in light of my turning-into-a-morning-person-anyway plan.  Then the next three nights...were different.

It began inauspiciously.  A regular bedtime, six or seven peaceful hours of sleep...and then, the Screaming.  At around 4 a.m. the first night...then 3 a.m. the second night...and then 2 a.m. last night...X became a banshee.  In the past, he's occasionally woken up in the middle of the night, fussed for a couple minutes, found his own thumb, and then soothed himself back to sleep.  Oh no, not this time.  I don't typically wake up when he cries. (Yep, despite what people tell you about your becoming a light sleeper when you have a child, not true at all for me).  So I learned of what had transpired when I awoke in the wee hours to find X asleep next to me.  Dad, gentle soul that he is, had rescued our crying baby.  And I think I was willing to let it slide once.  Twice.  But having hit the third strike last night, and this coupled with the fact that his wake-ups are getting earlier and earlier, I am ready to admit that we may have a problem. 

I turned to my best friend, Google.  And she betrayed me with nonsense, mixed reviews, user comments, and lots and lots of "To learn how to combat the four-month wakeful period, just buy my fabulous sleep manual for only 3 easy installments of $9.99"s.  Rubbish.  We had a perfect sleeper on our hands without literature before, I'm not about to start amassing a paperback collection of Sleep Lady, Sleep Whisperer, and How To Sleep a Baby in 10 Days.  Forget you. 

Seeing as how the Finger of Science has failed, Google has failed, and my brief romance with baby magic seems to have come crashing to an end, I do not know where to turn next.  But I remain resolute in my belief that once a perfect sleeper, he can be a perfect sleeper again.  Until then, curse you, four-month wakeful period! 



Ah, these were the days...



Possibilities

We had kind of a great weekend here at headquarters.  Walks, doggies, playtime, visiting old friends, meeting newborn friends, shopping...  All in all, it was the kind of weekend that made me feel like work/life balance might be possible.  After all, Dad is still powering away full-time at his firm and he even had to work on a pitch this weekend.  But he still managed to spend lots of great quality time with us too.  So maybe when I start back in a couple weeks, I can get some decent weekend time too.  A girl can hope.

And on an unrelated note, we just e-filed our federal and state returns.  I wish that life were more like JCrew.  Don't tell me how much the tax is.  Just build it in somehow.  But don't tell me.  I don't want to know.

Saturday (around the park)

Okay, forget it.  The weather is never going to get nice.  Having accepted that, we decided to test drive our stroller today anyway.  Beautiful sunshine, low forties.  Eh, you take what you can get.

Having accomplished a successful stroll around the park and then around our neighborhood, we decided to show some love to our other sons.

We capped off the evening with our second night of avocado introduction, a bottle of milk, and then bedtime (for X) at 8:30.  X is now snoring soundly, and an evening of long-forgotten Netflix awaits Mama and Dad. 

All in all, a perfect Saturday (albeit a bit cold). 

Tomorrow heralds a visit to Auntie A (a law school friend who hasn't seen X since he was literally four days old), and then a visit to Baby H (hooray for smaller babies)!

Solids!

Dear American Academy,

As a former resident of the colonies and a lifelong supporter of Her Royal Highness, I have decided to go with the Brits on this one. 

So...X started solid foods today! 

First up: avocado.  It went a little something like this...

Oh, hello!  Why are you grinning?  What's going on?  What's about to happen?

Wait, what?  That is not milk.  What am I supposed to do with that?

Oh.  Wait, that's weird.  Very weird.

And you say that these "solids" are supposed to be tasty?  I'm not so sure...

Wait, actually, that was fun.  Maybe I'll have a little more.

You know what, just give me the spoon.  I got this.

I've got the hang of it now.  What's next, Mama?

Bonus Post: Three Weeks

We're officially at the three-week mark.  In 21 days, I, Mid-Level Mama, shall once again be a functioning mid-level associate at a large law firm.

*gulp*

The *excellent* news is that yesterday, we learned that a spot had opened up in our day care center of choice!  YIPPEE!  I had been agonizing about our lack of child care over our trip to Ecuador, and I'd been seriously contemplating a request to go part-time until a spot was available.  In fact, I was in the process of logging into my work email account to send the request when the email about the spot came in!  Thank heavens!  For various reasons, I didn't want to feel forced into going part-time right off the bat.  And now I don't have to!  We will have a three-week gap between my re-entering the workforce and X's start date.  But that will be easy to fill with the help of dad, a grandmother, and maybe a few days in the backup child care center.

In case I haven't gushed enough about this day care option, I shall take a moment to do so now.  It is ACROSS THE STREET from me.  It is TWO BLOCKS AWAY from Dad.  It is OPEN UNTIL 7 PM.  It is a lawyer's paradise.  It basically means that X can commute to work with us in the morning, and I can run in to collect him at 6:59 p.m. if necessary.  (Heck, I could probably sneak him into my office if I needed to wrap up a quick email or something before heading to the car.  Attorney-client confidentiality totally doesn't get violated when the witness is pre-verbal.  Shh.).  The center has an open-door policy, so that means if I have a freak-out or a really bad day or something, I could theoretically dash over there and hug my child, then go back to work without losing more than 15 minutes.  Basically, it's a dream come true for me. 

In the past month, when I wasn't sure if/when we'd get in, I started looking into alternate child care arrangements, e.g., nannies, nanny shares, other day care centers.  Aside from the exorbitant cost of a nanny, the common problem across all other options was that I just didn't see how I could reclaim X in a timely manner each day.  I simply cannot see myself leaving the office at 5 p.m. each day while remaining a full-time associate.  And that's what I would have to do to fight traffic at that hour to get back up to our neighborhood for the 6-6:15 pickup times at the day care centers, or to relieve a nanny at our house before 7 p.m.  (Do any nannies work a 60-hour week?  That's what we would have needed...)  Even though I'm sure some days will be harder than others, I think I can hold my head high and respectably march out of the office at 6:45 every day.  Sure there will be some remote access when I get home, I bet.  But that I can handle.  I just couldn't handle the constant feeling of frazzle, being rushed out the door, and then being gridlocked during the peak traffic hour.

Maybe I will need to revise this utopian world view when I see how this day care thing works in practice.  But for now, let me have my jubilation.  In three weeks, I'm going to go from having every waking hour with my baby to maybe having three or four each day at most.  The other emotions I could potentially feel right now are not good ones.

My feet are FASCINATING.

You better soak up these next three weeks, Mama.

Baby's Equatorial Adventures

As promised, the long-awaited X-does-Ecuador post...

I posted so many pictures on Facebook, I'm not going to repost them all here.  I'll just sprinkle in a few visuals with the text.

X's trip to Ecuador was a smashing success.  Despite my many fears about traveling with a baby, he really was the perfect traveling companion.  He was adorable, smiley, and generally either in a very good mood or fast asleep.  He slept almost the entire duration of all four flights (there and back). Occasionally, he got a little cranky while we were waiting around at the departure gate or boarding the aircraft.  But those were a few minutes of fussing at worst.  I was so proud of him!  By far, the most difficult part of baby traveling was LUGGAGE.  It's pretty difficult to wrangle a baby, a car seat, a diaper bag, hand luggage, and checked luggage all at once.  We tried to pack as light as possible, but that still ended up feeling heavy when you add in the car seat, diaper bag, and baby -- three items we had obviously never traveled with before!  Thank God for Dad; I have no idea how people travel with a baby when they are by themselves.  I think you would have to check a lot more stuff, and take a stroller instead of a car seat...

I am a most excellent traveling baby.

Next, we worried that X's schedule would get completely screwed up being in a strange bed in a strange room, and after all that traveling.  Nope.  Not only did he sleep through each night on the trip -- he somehow automatically adjusted his bedtime back an hour to correct for daylight savings time.  Unfortunately, he only adjusted the bedtime...not wake-up time.  So it looks like I might have a 5:30 a.m. riser on my hands for a while...oops.

Anyway, in Ecuador, X met dozens and dozens of loving family members, starting off with his aunt's birthday bash the day after we arrived...and capped off with his 80-plus-attendee baptismal reception the following weekend!  I discovered Spanish vocabulary I didn't know I possessed.  And X was privy to lots and lots of natively spoken Spanish, which made me very happy indeed.

Photographic highlights of the trip included:

1) Meeting animals on the family ranch:

(He was a little too young to be sufficiently excited about this).

2) Standing in the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time:

3) His very first professional haircut!

[Alas, the pictures of this weren't on my camera and I don't have them yet.  But it was hilarious and amazing, and the hairdresser did SUCH a good job!  I didn't realize that was how you cut a boy's hair...combing it upwards and snipping over the top, using fingers as a guide!  We will try that for our next home haircut and we'll see if it turns out better than last time...]

4) His baptism:

X looked completely angelic in a baptismal gown that handmade by his great-grandmother, and worn by his grandmother, granduncle, father, aunts, and second uncles (or second cousins? I don't understand family trees...).  He also behaved magnificently, remaining stoic and cheerful throughout a ceremony that involved all kinds of excitement, such as inundation with water, musical interludes, and open flame.  I was so proud of him!  And so happy to be a part of such a rich family tradition.  Even my own family made it down to Ecuador for the occasion, so that was particularly wonderful!  It was their first visit ever!

Overall, the trip was characterized by X being generally delightful and adorable.  He charmed everyone he met, and made me extremely proud of his adaptability to new people and new surroundings.

I feel like there were a million different mini-adventures during our trip, but they are really hard to condense into blog fodder.  I'm sure I will remember them and share them over time, but for now, this makes a decent summary!

p.s. Some of you have asked how the dogs fared in our absence.  They did GREAT.  The lovely people who boarded them said that they were a delight.  The brown one cuddled, and the black one played ball all the time (which is what they do at home too!).  Apparently they were very sociable and nice to people and other dogs!  And they were healthy, well-fed, clean, and joyous when we got home.  I went downstairs to give them dinner when I got home, and all they wanted first was hugs.  I'd never seen that before :)  God love those pesky little sausage dogs! 

Home!

It might be one day and eight hours after we thought we'd get here, but all's well that ends well!

The house is still standing.  The dogs are healthy and happy to see us.  And X is fast asleep.

I cannot wait to start uploading and sifting through photos from our trip, but I really need to get a decent night's sleep without waking up at 3 a.m. tomorrow! 

Before I go, however, I leave you with a clip of some Miami airport fun with the best traveling baby ever.*

* I thought about my "That Guy" post a lot on this trip.  I wasn't ever That Guy!  My proudest moment was when a woman sitting in the row in front of us turned around after our Quito-Miami flight today and asked, "What did you do to him to make him so quiet?"  Hah!  Yes!

One Day More

Greetings from the Umbilicus Mundi! Yes, we are in Ecuador for one day more! While I cannot wait to upload and share stories and photos from this amazing trip, the extra day of rest and family time is kind of wonderful, especially after our action-packed weekend.

As a preview of things to come, however, I shall be sharing the tales and snapshots of:

- X the wunderkind, sleeping through the night and automatically moving his own bedtime to adjust to daylight savings time
- X meeting a series of animals on the farm
- X in the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time
- X's first professional haircut
- X looking like a little angel in his not-quite-200-year-old baptismal gown
- X being much beloved by dozens of family members
- Mama's family's very first trip to Ecuador

Truly an emotional and fantastic trip. Lots to share when we get back.

The Great Indoors

All my outdoor strolling plans have been thwarted.  First, by nightfall/bedtime.  Second, by cold.  Third, by pouring rain.  And although today is not freezing, it's not exactly nice out there either.  Besides, X and I are busy doing laundry and packing for our big Ecuador trip. 

All the same, I refused to let this stroller sit untested.  Thanks to the wonders of raised rambler living and wide enough doorways, X and I went strolling in the great indoors instead.

Here are photos from our adventure:

And with this little post, X and I bid our readership adieu for a little while.  We are off to the equator to introduce our child to his extended family and lots of friends.  And he's going to come back a good little Catholic baby, freshly baptized and all.  Now if only we could get him to sit through a church service (total meltdown on Ash Wednesday -- we fled after 20 minutes!)

Hasta la vista.

Four Months

It's time for the four month stats!

Height: 26.5 inches (99th percentile)
Weight: 14 pounds, 12.6 ounces (75th percentile)

So X continues to be a beanstalk, but now has chubbier cheeks.

Unfortunately, for his four month birthday, X received four nasty vaccines.  He did NOT respond well.  And his idiot Mama failed to take Growth Chikin photos before going to the pediatrician.  Ever the stickler for accuracy in his record, however, I made a valiant attempt.

Take one:

Mama, NO.



Which part of NO did you not understand?  GO AWAY, CHIKIN!  GO AWAY, MAMA!

Realizing that the situation was grave, and that our pediatrician had banned the use of Tylenol for several hours, I decided that a warm bubble bath was indicated.

Thus, take two:


A happy baby, but looking a little too much like Hef for my liking.

But because the bath had done the trick in terms of perking X up, I decided to just wait until bedtime and then try another photo shoot in his PJs.

I give you take three:


Mama, is it okay if I suck my thumb?



Oh, it's my four month birthday and I can do whatever I want?  Well then!

 

I choose to suck my thumb!

Happy four month birthday to me.



Sacrifice

Waking up at 6:14 a.m. today in the quiet of our house, I decided to reflect on the concept of sacrifice.  Per the rules of Operation Dawn Treader, I am sacrificing my mornings for Lent.  But ultimately, I'm sacrificing them for the sake of X (and future children) because I know that being on a more kid-friendly schedule will benefit us all in the long run.  This led me to wonder about all the other things we sacrifice for children.  And honestly, I was drawing blanks.  Let's go over the typical issues:

- My body: Honestly, I loved being pregnant.  And sure, I'm a little rounder these days, but I feel pretty good about the general structure.  I don't think you'll ever hear me whining about how X has ruined me forever. 

- Money: Thus far, our house and our dachshunds have been way bigger financial drains than X.  And sure, there will be big X-related expenses in the future, e.g., day care, school, college, but none is a massive lump sum payment.  Plus all of the above feel more like investments than sacrifices.  And as they say, you can't take it with you!

- Spontaneity: Have you met me?  I don't have a spontaneous bone in my body.

- Travel freedom: HAVE YOU MET ME?  I know it sounds appalling and uncultured, but I simply DESPISE travel.*  The idea of paying money to leave my comfortable house and my cozy routine to go jostle up on various forms of transportation, stay in strange places, and walk around cities where I don't know anybody or speak the language is a form of torture to me.  I distinctly remember taking trips to Rome, Athens, and Scandinavia (three places that I dreamed of visiting in childhood), standing in front of the Colosseum, the Parthenon, and the Kon-Tiki, and just wanting to go HOME.

- Peace of mind: Anxiety has always been my favorite pastime.  I actually feel more mellow about X than I do about most everything else in my life.  And I didn't become one of those moms who check whether the kid is breathing all the time or douse the kid with triclosan every five minutes.  Life is messy.  Kids are hardy. 

- Free time: Okay, this is true.  I no longer have as much "free time."  But when you trade "free time" for doing something awesome, like hanging out with a cool baby, again, it doesn't feel like there's much of a sacrifice there.**

- My career: ? [Note to self: ponder after returning to work]

- My marriage: Oh please, we've basically spent the entire past week congratulating each other on X being our best joint venture to date.  More babies forthcoming.  [Not in calendar year 2011].

- My friends: I definitely do miss seeing my work friends every day.  But they have been amazing about emailing, calling, and visiting.  And I'll see them all again regularly when I start back next month.  I've also made new friends, e.g., in Moms' Club...and I've reconnected with old friends who have wanted to find out about life and the baby, etc.  So these days, I'm feeling pretty good about friendships.

- Fun: First off, X is fun.  Second, we believe in babysitters, so we haven't lost the ability to go to movies or restaurants on our own.  Third, having X has motivated us to have new kinds of fun, like going to the local playground, joining Moms' Club, stroller play dates in Rock Creek Park, play dates at our house, zoo and museum trips, or just taking walks in nice weather.  So...the level of fun might actually have increased.

- Space: While X is tiny, his entourage of junk is impressive.  Hence the whole moving-to-house-in-DC-boonies-and-having-an-attic thing.  It's called planning ahead.

In short, the only thing that *really* feels like a sacrifice at the moment is my mornings.  It should be my biggest problem. [That sounds better in Yiddish, I think].

Huh, I'm amazed that I'm in such a chipper mood even though the black one's surgical needs have become more urgent, and we learned yesterday that we need to tear down a wall in our newly painted basement and rebuild it next month.  Go figure.

Okay, I hear X stirring, so I am off to help him get started on the day.  It's grey and gloomy out, but oh we are GOING to test drive that stroller.

I leave you with two recordings from my current project: the Audubon Catalog of X Calls.

I call this one, "Monkey Call."

I call this one, "Toucan Shriek."

* Lucky for X, Dad likes to travel.  So when it comes time to expose him to world culture and such, at least he'll have one ally.  And I will suck it up and go with them. 

** This paragraph would have read differently in the first ten weeks.  Frankly, it wouldn't have even gotten written because of the exhaustion and chaos ruling my life at the time.

Delayed Strolling

Yeah...I know I promised that I was taking X out in his new wheels, rain or shine, darkness or light.  Except I didn't have a chance to assemble the thing until well after his bedtime.  So our inaugural stroll shall have to be tomorrow. 

Not much to report today.  I leave you with pictures of X falling asleep slowly while wearing a pointy hat.

The Blog Rules

When I announced my plan to start a blog, I faced some "resistance" from Dad.  He had the typical concerns, i.e., the exhibitionism evinced by broadcasting one's private thoughts on the Internets, embarrassing poor X, and of course, my telling MY half of the story in ways that might not do justice to his half (or as he might call it, "the truth").  

So before I launched, we established ground rules.  First off, no names.  Hence our super cool aliases, a rule that I extended to cover the dachshunds as well.  Second, nothing overly graphic or intimate.  No birth story, no marital issues, and no baby poop photo journal.  And third...and this is the kicker...the blogging ends the day I go back to work.  Yes, this is a maternity leave blog.  NOT a "mommy blog."

So far, I've been okay with all the rules.  But today I feel myself feeling kind of sentimental about the blog's impending death in fewer than six weeks, especially as I'm about to take a hiatus starting this weekend (X's baptismal voyage to Ecuador).  What will I do with the blog?  Should I print out the posts and keep them?  Should I poke around just frequently enough to prevent its deletion from the cyber realm?  Or should I completely dismantle?  (I think I originally pledged that I would completely take it down).

Or... *insert hint of rebellion*... should I attempt to amend the rules to permit blogging after April 14?

We shall see.

And now ze photos.