The Cure for a Case of the Mondays

I don't know why I think this video is so hilarious, but I (obviously) do. Sorry for the maniacal laughter in the background.

March Madness

Who is this "Cookie Monster" person of which you speak?

Things have been pretty busy here at the Jones house for the past few weeks. Last weekend, Matt and I took our first overnight "vacation" away from the baby and my parents came up to babysit. According to my mom (who would totally lie to me about this), Silas was a dream baby while we were gone. He ate fine out of the bottle, he went to sleep at night and stayed asleep, and, most disconcertingly, he napped great. All I have to say to that is: If that is true, well then, what the heck am I doing wrong? Don't get me wrong, I'm very relieved that he behaved well for his grandparents and I'm glad that their weekend was pleasant, but why does this child only lose his mind for me? Why can everyone else in the universe, including Matt, put him down for a nap these days with no problems, but I have to spend 45 minutes to an hour just getting him to fall asleep, just to get him to sleep for 30 to 40 minutes. It's EXHAUSTING.

Who's exhausted? Not me!

Back to our lovely evening away (which, clearly, I could probably use more of). Matt and I stayed at a small inn in Washington, VA and ate a lovely, lovely dinner, complete with too rich food and too much wine. It was heaven. Unfortunately, we didn't realize until we made it all the way out to the small town where we were staying (approximately two hours outside of DC), that there was no cell phone service in the area, which caused a mild panic in both of us as we realized that my parents could potentially have trouble reaching us. We calmed ourselves down by giving them a call, letting them know of the situation, providing them every possible number that they might need to contact us at, and checking in with them ourselves, you know, only ten to twelve times during the 24 hours that we gone. We also left them a list of instructions that was (I am not exaggerating) five pages, single-spaced. They were incredibly good sports about it all, though, and Silas really did seem like he'd had a great time when we got back to town on Saturday.

I miss my Grand and Big Papa already!

We've also been watching lots of basketball lately, which has been fun. We try not to let Silas watch television too often for fear that it will rot his brain, cause ADHD, or turn him into a juvenile delinquent, but we always let him watch basketball games. We have to get that kid good and indoctrinated before he has a chance to pick a different team to root for (i.e., Dook).

Watching the ACC tourney with my daddy.

Last night, our good friend Liz came over, and Aunt Liz babysat for a bit, while Matt and I went out for a date, which was lovely. We came back in time to all watch the UNC game together, which started at 10pm, and, despite the fact that all three of us fell asleep during the game at multiple points (man, we're old), the Heels won! We plan to lay low for the rest of the weekend, relaxing and preparing for Sunday's game.

Whose house? HEELS' HOUSE!

In other news, I start back to work two weeks from Monday, so I'm trying to get in as much good quality snuggle time with the little man before that happens. Also, Silas turns five months old today. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by!

Silas's First Food

Per our pediatrician's advice, we started Silas on a little rice cereal to try to help with his reflux symptoms. First, we put a little in a bottle with a lot of breast milk. This was not well-received. We waited a couple of days, and it occurred to me that my preference for thick and chunky vs. watered down oatmeal, grits, etc. may have been passed along to my son. So I made him a big bowl of thick and gooey rice cereal the other night, and, lo, he was a BIG fan. Once he figured out the whole spoon thing, he spent the entire rest of the meal with his mouth wide open begging for more, and was very disappointed to learn the concept of "all gone."

What happened to that wonderful deliciousness, woman?

The video, in my totally unbiased opinion, is really cute and involves none of the horrible facial expressions and/or accompanying baby cuss words from the last photo above. PROMISE.

People, Let Me Tell You 'Bout My Best Friend

This picture was too cute not to post. It's from a play date a month or so ago that Silas had with his buddy, Sam.

Redesign

We played around a little with the blog today and redesigned some elements. I hope it doesn't throw anyone off. All the content is still here, don't worry! Hope you like it.

Trip to Greenville and Visit from the Haigwoods

Gosh, Mama. Do you think you used enough parentheticals in this entry?

Last weekend, Silas and I made our first solo car trip to North Carolina and, I must say, it went spectacularly. Silas was wonderful in the car. We left Arlington around 11am on Friday morning, stopped once in Emporia, VA to nurse and made to Greenville, NC around 3:45pm. There was little traffic, Silas either slept or played quietly in the backseat, and it would have been the perfect trip if I hadn't realized about an hour-and-a-half into the car ride that I had left our suitcase with all of Silas's and my clothes in it for the weekend back in Arlington. I blame the lack of caffeine in my life right now. I freaked out and called my mom from the road, who assured me that as long as we had the important stuff (i.e., Silas's Magic Chair, a.k.a., the "crutch," medicines, etc.), we could get enough stuff to tide us over for the weekend at Target when we got to Greenville.

We got to Greenville with plenty of time to make it to Target, where I shopped and participated in a conference call for work (look at me multi-tasking!). I needed non-maternity clothing that actually fits me because, alas, I'm still working on losing the baby weight, and Silas needed 6-9 month clothes (see last entry), so although it was certainly inconvenient, it wasn't a waste of money.

Saturday was extremely relaxing. Silas and I spent the day on my parents' deck enjoying the 78-degree weather. Silas's great grandmother and Mimi came over for visits and he spent some quality time with his Uncle Haig who came to town from Raleigh for the occasion. Saturday night, after putting Silas to bed, we ate ribs (nom nom nom) and I played gin for a couple of hours with my dad, and as bad as this will likely damage his ego, I won a set and he won a set, but I definitely won by a bigger margin.

Hey, buddy, get your own vibrating chair!

I've never been outside without sleeves on before!

I think there may be some family resemblance here.

Yep, Grand figured out that I am ticklish.

Watching baseball for the first time with my Uncle Haig.

Baseball almost makes Tummy Time tolerable.

Sunday, I went to church with my mom while my dad watched Boy Wonder. Apparently Silas screamed much of the time we were gone, unfortunately. After church, Silas, my mom, and I headed to my grandmother's retirement community for lunch, where Silas was such a big hit, it took us almost two solid hours to eat between visits to our table from my grandmother's friends and neighbors.

Sunday afternoon was the Duke - Carolina game. Although I had left both Silas's and my UNC t-shirts at home, I made sure the outfits we bought at Target contained some Carolina Blue, and Silas and headed to my Uncle Tom David's house where we watched the game with him and my grandmother, who, inexplicably pulled for Duke, despite the fact that her son and two of her grandchildren attended UNC. Sadly for her, Carolina whomped up on Duke and Silas stared in amazement as his Great Uncle Tom David and I hooted and hollered and slapped each other high fives.

Go Heels! Beat those Dookies!

Wait a minute. You actually LIKE Coach K? And we're related?!?

After the game, Silas's Mimi came by again and gave him such a good, pre-bedtime snuggle that he fell asleep in about five seconds after I took him upstairs for bed. Despite the change to daylight savings time, we woke up nice and early the next morning and we were on the road back to D.C. by 8:30. Silas again did a great job in the car on the way back, although traffic wasn't as awesome as it had been on the way down, but, still, we made it back home by 2pm.

Besides Matt, who missed Silas TERRIBLY while we were gone, waiting for us at home was Silas's great aunt (and my aunt) Sarah (Tom David's wife, for those of you following along at home) and first cousin once removed (my first cousin and Sarah and Tom David's daughter) Stancell, who were in town for Stancell's spring break (from UNC!). We had a great time hanging out with them Monday night, eating the AMAZING shrimp they brought us from NC, and telling stories. Tuesday, the four of us (Matt had to work) headed out to the National Zoo, where we saw all kinds of animals, including the new baby gorilla born in January. We spent a long time in the Great Ape house watching the mama gorilla, while I nursed Silas and she nursed her baby. My chest is significantly less hairy than hers, but the other similarities were quite startling. We then held Silas up to the window to watch the mama, baby, and other gorillas and he hooted and waved his arms and was generally very excited. The mama gorilla watched him very closely and I'm sure was as impressed by his cuteness as I was by the adorableness of her little one.

That night, Matt stayed home with Silas for some boy-time while Sarah and Stancell and I headed out to dinner. Our boy had some major issues that evening, whether it was gas, reflux, exhaustion, or teething, I don't know, but there was some MAJOR unhappiness all night long. Once we got back from dinner, I slept in Silas's room so that I could soothe him when he fussed and so that Matt could get some sleep. Despite a very rough night, he appeared to be fine in the morning and we ran some quick errands with Sarah and Stancell and headed to El Pollo Rico (delicious!) for lunch before they headed back down to NC.

I'm sensing an easy mark.

Hey, so it looks like you have some french fries left, Aunt Sarah (Shorty sees them too).

Oh, I LIKE these french fries!

Wait! You're leaving? Where will I get some more of those french fries?

As far as Silas's sleeping goes, we're doing much better. He's falling asleep at night around 7:30 and usually sleeping until 7 or 7:30 the next morning. His naps are more regular (still short) and he usually goes down without much fussing. Most of the time, I don't have to rock or walk him to sleep. I usually just rock him for a few minutes, sing one song, lay him down, swaddle him and he falls asleep on his own in a few minutes. (Although I definitely rely on one of the most brilliant baby inventions of all time to ensure that this process goes smoothly--it VIBRATES the crib mattress!) If he's overtired or super nap-resistant, we move him to the swing, where he naps like a champ (it's good to have a back-up plan).

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

For the most part, he's much less fussy and generally back to his easy-going first three months self, for which we are VERY thankful. His pediatrician did diagnose him with reflux at his last appointment and noted that it may have been the cause of at least some of his fussiness and sleep issues. She recommended we start him on rice cereal soon, which we have tried a couple of times so far, but plan do more of this week. We'll keep you posted!

Big Punisher

At his four month doctor's visit last week, our (not so little) little one weighed in at 15 lbs, 4 oz and measured 26.5 inches.

I'll update on our trip to NC and visit from Aunt Sarah and Cousin Stancell later today or tomorrow.

Snow Day!

(I know! Two posts in one day--crazy, huh?)

Just chillin' in the snow (get it? "Chillin'"??? It's really cold outside!)

Yeah, someone should probably call social services. Somebody left a baby in the snow.

Can't say I'm a big fan of this "snow" stuff.

Mimi's Visit and Goodbye to Uncle Russ and Aunt Morgan

You're going to save this picture and show it to my girlfriend one day, aren't you?

We had a fabulous time when Silas's Mimi visited us over President's Day weekend. She arrived on Saturday, Valentine's Day, and we spent a leisurely day together catching up and then ate dinner together that evening. Sunday, we took Mimi for her first (and Silas's first ex-utero) visit to Gravelly Point to watch the planes take off and land at Reagan National Airport and to walk along the Potomac enjoying excellent views of all of the monuments. We had a good time, but, honestly, Silas really didn't know what to make of the planes taking off and landing so closely.

Sunday night, Mimi graciously offered to babysit while Matt and I went out to celebrate a belated Valentine's Day. We had a scrumptious dinner at Michel Richard's Central, enjoyed a bottle of wine, and probably only spent 90% of that time talking about Silas. Uncle Russ and Aunt Morgan came by to spend some extra time with Mimi and also to help with Silas.

This weekend Uncle Russ and Aunt Morgan headed back home to Durham, NC after spending the last six months living here in D.C. We are certainly going to miss them and our "Family Night" dinners. It was so nice having them here while I was on bed rest (they visited and brought food!) and during the first four months of Silas's life. We're still holding out hope that they'll decide that they loved it here too much and need to move back.

Silas is doing a little better on the sleep front. We've gotten his bedtime adjusted; so now, he goes to bed sometime between 7:30 and 8pm each night. He usually wakes up a couple of times each night and needs to be reswaddled and re-pacifiered, but doesn't wake up for a meal until around 4 or 5am. Then, I usually nurse him in his room, reswaddle and lay him back down until 6:30 or 7am, when he wakes up for the day. Naps, however, are another story. He still takes super-short naps (40 minutes or less) about four times each day, but getting him to fall asleep for these naps requires steps so complicated it seems akin to launching the space shuttle. If we fail to convince him to take a nap, the entire rest of the day will likely be punctuated by his sad little, exhausted sobbing and often my frustrated, less little, exhausted sobbing. I purchased my third baby sleep book last week and will attempt to implement its suggestions this weekend. Scanning it, this book seems much more in line with Matt's and my views (and tolerances for screaming) on parenting and am hopeful that we will get naps under control in the next few weeks.

Napping is for FOOLs! I have very important work to do.

This weekend, Silas and I are making our first road trip without Matt (pray for me) and heading down to NC to visit his grandparents and Great-Grand. Next week, his Great Aunt Sarah and first cousin once removed Stancell are coming to visit and we're all very excited.