A growing boy needs his own car

Calvin is a growing boy.  He's gotten so big that we thought we'd better get him used to sleeping in the crib because we don't know how much longer he can stay in the bassinet in our room.  We made that decision even before our suspicions about his growth had been confirmed as they were during an impromptu visit to the doctor this afternoon.  Though he wasn't supposed to see the doctor again until mid August we were a little concerned about a rash on his neck and wanted it checked out.  The positive sides to the visit were the weigh in and measuring - 10lbs 4oz, 22.75inches - and the affirmation that the rash was nothing.  The negative side to the visit was having to see a different doctor who decided that we should be concerned about Calvin's level of jaundice, even though our usual pediatrician had already decided it was just a normal case of breastfeeding juandice and nothing to worry about.  The ensuing heel prick and blood letting for the bilirubin test was more upsetting to Cortney than to Calvin, but was stressful all around. 

Which is why we decided to treat ourselves to a nice evening out.  Since a rainstorm swept through just as Calvin was finishing at the doctor the air cooled down sufficiently for all of us to enjoy a stroll through the Ann Arbor Rolling Sculptures Car Show downtown.  We figured that this was an especially good choice for the evening since Calvin will soon be needing his own car.  Unfortunately they didn't have any Power Wheels for us to look at, but Jon was considering either the Chrysler Imperial or the Corvette.  Calvin thought both sounded good and was full of smiles when we got home - we were even able to catch one on camera!

Our return to the zoo

After coming to understand Calvin's subliminal messaging system (hey, T-shirt messages are really the way to go for babies), we decided to take a family trip to the zoo last night. Since the Detroit Zoo is open extra late on Wednesdays during the summer we figured that we could beat the heat and crowds, and possibly see more animal activity by going in the evening. All of the above turned out to be true and we had a great time (and by "we" we mean Jon and Cortney, since Calvin just slept). It was great to be back and to see "our" animals again (we know they missed us, too). The highlights from this trip (besides Calvin, of course) were seeing the rhinos running and playing, and seeing the joey. Who knew that rhinos could be so graceful? And if you don't believe us we have it on video. And the neat thing about the joey was that at our last visit he was still in the pouch and so was Calvin, who was born only six days later so that at this visit both the joey and Calvin were outside their "pouches." It would be an interesting parallel if only Calvin could walk, but alas, Calvin was actually just in a different kind of pouch, riding only two layers (Bjorn and human) from where he was last time. All the crowd loves a baby, though, and several onlookers could not resist commenting. All in all Calvin's first zoo trip was a successful one.

Calvin is trying to tell us something...

... and the shirt says it all. We're all for it, Calvin!

No plan is a good plan

You can read that title two different ways, of course.  Either it is generally good to have no plan, or all plans are inherently bad.  We are definitely finding the first to be true, and the latter might be also but the jury is still out on that.  In any case, we attempted several times over the last week to actually watch a movie and were foiled each time by Calvin's strange scheduling.  Prior to the weekend Calvin had been fairly relaxed in his eating pattern, often going 5 hours without a meal, sometimes more at night.  But this past weekend it was every 2-3 hours, even at night, making Friday and Saturday nights our first really sleepless ones since we came home from the hospital, so we didn't have the energy for an evening movie (and we're not talking about going out, but simply a rented flick).  But Sunday finally saw the return of "normal," and Monday he let us sleep for 6 hours, followed by another 4 (that's more sleep than we got in a night before he arrived).  Then last night he seemed so relaxed while Jon was giving him his evening meal (the second time Calvin enjoyed expressed milk from a bottle) that we were brave enough to stay up a little later and watch a movie.  Luckily we were treated to a repeat of Monday night, we just didn't sleep for the first 3 hours of the 8:30pm to 2:40am 6 hour stint.  Ah well, these are the toughest decisions we go through these days - do we want the extra sleep, or do we want a little "us" time.

A new vernacular

We realized today that since Calvin's arrival, several average terms have taken on very new definitions in our household.
 
Blow out - No, not a flat tire on the interstate, but a diaper that doesn't hold it all
Ceiling fan - You thought this was a household item used to circulate the air, but really it's the most fascinating "toy" in our home
Genie - Not a character that comes out of a lamp, or a star from a popular 1960s sitcom, but a trash can specifically made to collect dirty diapers
A good night's sleep - Forget 10, or even 8, hours in a row, we're lucky to get five most nights
Gym - No longer a place that adults visit to work out, now a floor mat about 2.5'x2.5' with overhead bars and dangling animals (see picture at right)
Hero - Not just any brave person, but a person who willingly uses some part of their body to block a stream of urine, an explosion of poop, or a waterfall of spitup in order to protect the furniture, floor, baby's clothing, etc.
Magic fingers - No longer a quarter operated bed in a room at a cheesy roadside motel, this is our infant sized vibrating recliner chair
Making pants  - not a sewing feat, but the baby's job which always ends in his needing a new diaper which, in turn, often results in great consternation for his parents (see also Blow out, Hero)(see picture at bottom)
Midnight snack - not cookies for adults, and not usually at midnight, this is the time that the baby decides he needs to eat between when we go to bed at night and when we get up the next morning.
 
And a small sample of other terms that have also made daily usage in our house: fussies, nap, onesie, tummy time, sleeper, etc.