NewBaby Sells House, Buys House, and Gets Dad a NewJob

Well, not really...

The NewFamily has been busy lately in the move from one small south Georgia town to mid/large-size south Georgia city. I have been busy packing up the old house and moving everything to the new house (with help from an outstanding moving crew...thanks, guys!). Christie has been busy unpacking all of the boxes that I have been bringing over. You see, she was bold enough to stay in the new house immediately after closing on it, bringing only a pack-and-play, an Aero bed, and a high chair for Evan to sit in while eating his meals. Christie sat on the floor. After two weeks on the Aero bed, she was very happy when I showed up with the real bed.

The new house is about half unpacked. The rest is waiting for the painting crew to finish. Some members of the painting crew aren't painting at the moment, b/c I can't type and paint at the same time. Christie has been living the dream of picking colors for each room, and so far, she's doing great. I just put paint on the wall. NewGrandma Julia helped paint the dining room last week, and today helped on the living room. NewGrandDad Julius watched Evan during this time so that the rest of us could paint. During one of these times, he also managed to shoot this video of Evan...and I hope it works. This is my first venture into YouTube, so we'll see how it goes.



Evan's new amusement is pulling all of his books out of a box and "reading" each one of them. With that, he's pretty self-amused for about 10-15 minutes...which is awesome. Of course, we don't get anything done during that time b/c we're just sitting around wiping up our own drool...it's hard to stop, b/c he's so cute! But seriously, he's starting to figure out that there is something out there besides sitting on the floor. He wants to crawl, but he doesn't quite know how to go about starting that process. Ventures into this domain have ended unsuccessfully in face-plants, which are immediately followed by the dreaded breathless red-faced crying. Thankfully, that is short-lived and pretty soon he's back to playing.

Editor's Note: Christie reports that this is not my best blog post of all time...and I respond that gosh darn it, I quit my job, got a new job, bought one house and sold the other, AND packed and moved almost everything we own...what else does she expect?*

*Yes, I know...she had the baby.

Cuteness Phase II Commencing Countdown, Engines On...*

Well, I didn't think that it would actually happen, but it has. I've let this blog fall prey to the "Yeah, I'll update that page sometime soon" laziness. After editing a bunch of recent photos of Evan, I realize that you must be going out of your mind waiting for a new batch of cuteness to look at. You can see this picture and a few others at my photo website. Cuteness booster shots might be a good idea before viewing them, though.

The past few months have brought many changes. In no particular order, they include:

1. Solid food. NewMom has been diving right into this hippie-style, making most of Evan's food from scratch. So far, we've explored the culinary world of the sweet potato, acorn squash, and carrots. Ok, the carrots came out of a jar. The hands-down favorite so far, though, is rice cereal. Usually, this part of the meal results in food on Evan's face, hands, and all over his chair.
   
2. Daily baths. See #1.
3. Evan sleeps through the night for 8+ hours. We're pretty sure this has something to do with #1.
   
4. NewMom's improved sleep pattern. We're sure this has something to do with #3.
5. Sitting with some assistance. Dang, ain't that boy cute?
6. Reaching for toys, dropping them, and then reaching for them again. I could watch that for hours.
   
7. Teething. We check daily for the first one.

All in all, Evan is doing great at the 6.25 month point. Both NewMom and I are not quite sure where the first five or six months went. We have pictures to document the experience, so I guess it must have actually happened. It definitely is a blur, though.

*My apologies to David Bowie and Major Tom.

NewBaby Goes to the Movies, Both Parents Give Him Two Thumbs Up!

NewMom and I achieved a major milestone of parenthood yesterday. We took Evan out to the movies! Ever since we moved here, Christie and I have enjoyed going to a small movie theater in Jesup. The tickets are reasonable, the popcorn is outstanding, and the theater offers two major benefits:

1. The seats have built-in carseat holders.
2. If someone is talking near you, you can just roll up your window.

That's right, it's a drive-in. And you thought those had all closed! The owners of this place are dedicated to the drive-in experience. It's really only good in the fall-winter months, as summer nights can be a bit hot here. Anyway, NewBaby fell asleep on the ride there and snoozed right through the movie AND the entire 30-minute ride back home. And, as a closing act, he woke up when we got home, ate, and went back to sleep for the rest of the night.

NewMom is happy to report that she is now regularly getting 6+ uninterrupted hours of sleep on a regular basis, and this makes me happy as well. NewMom is becoming an expert at reading NewBaby's signals. She can see the early warning signs of a nuclear meltdown and launch a full-scale nap-attack and avert certain disaster. So far, she's only had one baby-meltdown while shopping. We're sure that more will come.

NewBaby has developed several new skills, some of which are on display at my photo site in the 2006-Oct/Nov folder:

• sticking his tongue out when you stick yours out
• drooling (I'm so proud!)
• lifting his head when he's on his tummy
• grasping toys and moving them around
• showcasing his ChubMaster3000 cheeks

The cheeks are quite a show...at least we have no doubt that he's getting enough to eat! We're not quite as techno-capable as our friends over at Schmoopiebeta.com, nor do we have a video camera...but if we were, we'd post a video to illustrate NewBaby's new vocal abilities. He is starting to make lots of baby sounds now. This is a good thing, because I was worried he was too quiet and would one day just start talking with fully-formed sentences. We're well into the coos, goo-goos, and happy laughs. Who needs sentences, anyway?

NewBaby Celebrates Two-Month Birthday

As of yesterday evening at 11:39PM, Evan is officially two months old. NewMom celebrated this by taking Evan to the doctor to get the most favorite baby treat of all...shots. NewBaby came home plastered in band-aids from the multiple shots he received. Apparently he is quite normal, because he put up quite a fuss during the shots. We dosed him up on some baby Tylenol last night, and he seems to be mostly better today.

I'll get right to the details, because I know that most of you could care less about the random blathering of a NewDad. Evan's new weight is 12 pounds, 2 ounces and his length is 22.5 inches. When you stop to consider that this is almost a doubling of his body weight in two months time, that's pretty impressive. NewMom is working hard feeding Evan around the clock, but she got some welcome news from the pediatrician this week...because Evan is gaining weight well, he can now go up to EIGHT HOURS a night without a feeding. If I could make "eight hours" flash on and off in neon green, I would. We usually only make 5 or 6 hours at the longest, but knowing that Evan isn't going to shrivel up if he's sleeping longer is a nice feeling.

You'll notice that the pregnancy "ticker" has been removed from the blog. In its place is a link to my photo page on Yahoo. There are few new pictures from this week there. NewUncle Jonathan (Christie's brother...it does get confusing) and NewAunt Nikia came down for a quick visit this weekend. Kudos to them for driving 8 hours here and back just to meet Evan for less than 24 hours. Those guys are dedicated. We look forward to longer visits in the future. Jonathan and I (that does sound weird) spent an afternoon installing new exterior lights on the house. We proved the second and third theorems of do-it-yourself projects this time, though.

Do-It-Yourself Project Theorems

1. Always measure twice, cut once.
2. If at first you don't succeed, then read the instructions.
3. A "one-trip-to-the-hardware-store" project is a figment of your imagination. It does not exist in reality.

So far, the lights work and we haven't burned the house down yet. I call that a success.