Parents of the Year

It was a rough day. This week has been extra busy for both me and J. Little seems to have gotten over the rough patch that consumed the last two weeks, but has still been a lot of baby. We discovered that he's probably phasing out one of his regular three naps, which has thrown our schedules a bit off balance. Today though, we threw the schedule out the window (and Little's much needed second nap) and decided to go out and enjoy the warm summer weather. We were going to head down to the Oregon Brewer's Festival on the waterfront, but it was pretty warm in the sun and the idea of heading into crowd with Miles on edge was not in the cards. 

So, we hopped on the Max to Mississippi Avenue and picked up lunch at the food carts and a drink in the beer garden at Prost. There was a nice shady area with a corner bench to wrangle in the little dude, but also gave him the freedom to roam around. He had a blast throwing his truck into the planter around the perimeter and gently touching the flowers. As we sipped (okay gulped) our beer and blocked Little's many attempts to fling himself under the picnic table, for a split second I was reminded of our trip to Belgium and Germany last fall. It was our last trip before really thinking about having a baby and we relished our time in the sun -- today I made every attempt to block the sun by forcing our unwilling 11-month-old to wear his sun hat.

We thought we might be able to get him to nap so we could enjoy a second drink, so I attempted to nurse him to sleep. It almost worked, but then he opened his eyes and realized there was a lot of action going on. I always try to be discrete about breastfeeding in public, but today Little insisted on hoisting up my boob toward the gentlemen who were sharing our picnic table as if to say "dudes, I don't know what you're drinking, but you should order a Mass of this stuff." He was very proud of himself and we quickly asked for our check, since he literally had not napped in six hours. 

Thankfully, on the way home he conked out in the backpack, but the rest of the evening has been a bit edgy (for lack of a better term). Clearly, he's had a growth spurt because his pj top that fit just fine not that long ago was way too tight. After wrestling him to get it on, drama ensued when we realized that there was no way in hell that it would fit over his meaty biceps. We laughed mostly out of frustration that we would in fact have to take off the shirt and try to get him into another one before bedtime. He squawked and ran around like a tiny t-rex with his arms pinned to his body because the shirt sleeves were so tight. Like any good mother I photographed his misery, because we needed to kill time before the next round of dressing and honestly, it was tragically hilarious.


Little went to bed about 7:45 and is just now settling down to sleep. It'll either be an awesome night because he's so exhausted, or the worst night ever, because he's so exhausted. Only time will tell and I'm not exactly looking forward to finding out. Needless to say, we won't be winning any parenting awards this week.

New Job, New Nanny

Well, not a new job yet, but soon. My supervisor at work accepted a new academic position, which means he has a lot less time for running our lecture series. Luckily, he feels pretty confident in my abilities, so I'll be taking on some more responsibility -- as he likes to say, I'll "curate" the next season -- more hours, and more paycheck. We had arranged for a nanny to come in to watch Little a couple of days a week before we went to Los Angeles (oh yeah, should probably blog about that sometime), and her arrival couldn't have come at a more perfect time! I'm pretty busy at work "curating," J is finding his way in the new company, and well, Little has kind of been a jerk lately. Mostly it's teething, but also he's figuring out that he has control over things (like what goes in his mouth) and likes to exert that control when we all seem to be tired, hungry, or both.

He's really developing quite a personality, which is awesome and tiresome. For those of you who have been around Mr. M for an afternoon, you know what I'm talking about. He's active and fun and is strong as an ox. Walking is his new favorite activity and he's getting quite good at it. He's still taking some spills (cue bruise on forehead), but for the most part doesn't seem to mind. His personality really came out this past week as I had quite a bit more work to accomplish during the day. I was ignoring him more than usual and he was pretty pissed about it. I realized that working from home for me is not going to be possible for extended periods of time. Little is very good at entertaining himself, but not when I'm in the room. The minute my laptop opens, he's clawing at my pants, shirt, and boobs (which is highly annoying) and has even started biting to get my attention. Of course, I let him know that this isn't allowed, but really, it's my problem not his. When I'm here, I need to be present (not in front of my computer). 

As the summer moves along and I start to get a better idea of my new work schedule, we'll probably up the number of nanny hours a bit. On the one hand it's hard (especially knowing that a large part of my paycheck goes to pay for childcare), but on the days that Lindsay comes in, I'm happier, Little is happier, and as a result, J is happier too. I actually make dinner, we have conversation, and I don't count the minutes until Little goes to bed (okay maybe sometimes). And then he gives me his "night night" face and waves bye bye. How can stay angry at that?

July 4th Home and Away

The weekend leading up to July 4th was packed with activities. Friday night after a stroll in town, we stopped at REI and checked out the backpack style kid carriers. Along with another family (who had a toddler that was not very impressed by the backpacks) we peppered the sales associate with questions, had her help us get fitted and J walked around the store with Little harnessed in a backpack. We were a little worried about how he'd react, given that it was nearing bedtime and we were all a little tired, but felt a huge relief when J hoisted him up and he immediately called out "oooh oooh ooh!" For any of you who have spent even a small amount of time with Mr. M know very well that this was his seal of approval -- Little loved the backpack. After thinking about it for just a short while, we went back to REI and picked up the carrier as an early birthday present for J. Little cooed and shouted and smiled the whole way home. He loves sitting up high and having a great view of what's going on in the world. 

To really test out his tolerance for the new pack, we headed down to the waterfront for the Portland Blues Festival. It was a pretty warm afternoon, but Little bobbed along to some Zydeco music in the shade and really only fussed when we took him out of the backpack (notice how stoked he is while we pose for a family photo). Also, look at how long those legs are these days. Geez, he's starting to look more and more like a little boy.

As if one adventure wasn't enough for Saturday, we took Mr. M to his first Timbers game and sat right in the action with the Army. I was a little worried about the noise, but Little actually liked all of the waving flags, balloons, and chants (he even bobbed his head when he heard some familiar ones). Unfortunately, he only made it through the first 30 minutes of the game. However, if we didn't have general admission seats, we wouldn't have had to show up 107 minutes early and he might have lasted well into the second half. 

On Sunday, we packed our things and headed to Hood River for the night and spent the afternoon with friends and her family. Joanie's parents have two dogs, Sadie and Minnie, who were very sweet to Little. Sadie loved bringing him toys and Mr. M would grab on so they could play tug of war. Then, Sadie would give him a million kisses on his hands and face and in his ears. Little hated the ear licking and would run away, but then come right back and start the game again. It was pretty great. On Monday morning we claimed our spots in town and watched the Hood River July 4th parade and picnicked in the park afterward. Tired and full, we drove home Monday night and I crashed at 8:30pm. Little was pretty tuckered out too and slept nearly all night.