Traveling Man

So last weekend we went to LA for an overnight trip! We were visiting my parents' good friends Linda and Steve, who live in the northern side of LA. We left only an hour late, but of course we took the wrong road up there and got stuck in traffic for quite a while, so it was a three hour drive. Victor slept the whole time. Once we finally got there, we had a great time! Victor was the star of the show, of course, but everyone had lots of food and lots of fun. We all stayed at their house, and Damian and Victor and I shared the rec room. Victor had his pack 'n play there and for the most part slept pretty well--only a little bit of crying! We were glad to get back home on Sunday, though, because we were starting to run out of diaper supplies! The LA natives told us the better way to drive through town, so the trip went much faster and much more pleasantly. We didn't have long to rest, though, because some of my dad's clients wanted to meet us, too, and they live down in La Jolla. My parents left early to go see them while I had to tutor for an hour, then Damian and Victor and I met them all in Old Town San Diego for dinner. So basically, we were driving all day! Victor handled it like a champ, but we were all tired by the end of the day!

There have been a couple of other notables this week. I had to give Victor's fingernails a trim! I've been avoiding it, but when Victor woke up with a big scratch on his cute little nose I couldn't put it off any more. I decided to use cuticle scissors because they offer a large amount of control for cutting tiny delicate little nails. It went pretty well, as long as I remember to not point the scissors at his face!

Another happy one for me--guess who slept from midnight to 7 a.m. last night--me! and Damian! and Victor!! Victor slept like the dead until about 7, when I practically started poking him to wake him up (I'm nursing, so my girls were all like "WTF oww!"). He slept longer than I did! And then he went back to sleep a little after 8! So I may take a nap, too, after I make some phone calls. Meanwhile, my parents are sleeping in until 10 every day. Oh how the worm turns!

Support Group

So today, after a month of trying to hit the Friday meetings, we finally made it to the Lactation Support Group run by Scripps Encinitas hospital (where Victor was delivered). Not that I had anything to do with it--my mom reminded me--and not that we're having big problems with nursing, but I wanted to see what it was about, get Victor weighed, and see if I could meet some friends or something. 2 out of 3 aint bad! Mister Victor weighed in at 12 pounds for his 7 week birthday! And tonight we put him in one of his 3-6 month size footie pajamas because he is starting to get too big for some of his 0-3 month pjs! Poor thing was stretching them out, and now that his new favorite activity is standing up, he needs more room! (Have I mentioned that? Victor can hold up his entire weight if he has somebody to help him balance out that big wobbly head of his. Before he would push with his feet and we would make him "jump", and now he holds them straight out and steady when he has someone to help him balance!)

So the group was an interesting mix. There were about 10 or 12 moms there (plus two grandmas), and most of the babies were about 2 weeks old or less--there was even a 5 day old! There was another baby a couple of weeks older than Victor, one that was 3 months old (and I kid you not Victor was bigger than she was!), and a gigantic 4 month old that was sitting up and smiling at everyone. I will have you know that according to two impartial judges (me and my mom), Victor was judged to be the cutest baby there by a long shot! I can't believe how tiny some of those babies were--Victor was never that small, and I'm glad for it--they looked too tiny to be real! Most of the questions there weren't relevant to me, but there was one set of advice about positioning I will try out so that maybe we can prevent some of Victor's hiccups. Sometimes he'll get them five times a day, poor baby, and sometime he won't get them for several days in a row. It's not a big deal, but Victor doesn't enjoy them very much. Between that and the farting, man, I'm surprised we haven't started a band!

Exciting weekend this weekend--Victor's first overnight trip away from home! We're going to go visit some of my parents' friends up in LA and stay with them on Saturday night. Good thing we have a pack 'n play for sleeping--now I just hope we remember to take it, along with everything else we may or may not need! Wish us luck.... :)

The eyes they are a changin'

Auntie Anja and Uncle Jeremy left yesterday, the same day that Grandpa Tom flew back in! What a busy day! We had a few hours after Grandpa arrived and before Anja and Jeremy left, so we all went to the beach together (Victor's first time on the actual sandy part of the beach instead of just in the stroller on the sidewalk--naturally he still slept through it) but we got chased out by clouds, wind, and chilly weather after an hour or so. It even rained that evening! We were all sad to see Anja and Jeremy go, but hopefully we will see them again soon. Victor especially decided to get up at 4 a.m. and cry for a few hours, but he is feeling better today.

Today we kept it lazy because my dad is still recovering from tax season, but we did get out for a walk. Victor gifted my dad with a large spit up stain down the front of his shirt, and he chose to proudly wear it instead of changing into one of Damian's shirts. The last time my dad saw Victor we had just barely made it home from the hospital, over six weeks ago! Victor has changed so much since then! He's now almost too tall for his footie pajamas--when he came home he had a good several inches to spare! His feet especially fill the little footies way out. Some of his socks are already too small for him! His hair is still growing, and he's holding his head up more steadily and for longer periods. He can even stand for a bit, with help of course. We're all keeping an eye on his eyes--they started out a dark gray-blue, then they seemed to get bluer and a little lighter, and now we can just see little hints of golden brown starting to appear around the pupil. We're thinking that he probably won't have his dad's chocolaty-brown eyes, instead he will probably have hazel eyes like me. It remains to be seen what the final colors will be!

Happy PostTax Day!

It's a good thing there's no tax on cute or we'd have to sell all our stuff to pay for Victor! :) He's turning into such a chubby baby! Even his little fingers are getting big now! Today is his 6 week birthday, and we had him weighed last Wednesday--11 pounds, 6 ounces! He was weighed by a nurse visiting our apartment courtesy of a free (to me) Welcome Home Baby program paid for by taxes on cigarettes. She said he looks great! And the eye goopies (which recurred once for a few hours) were probably just blocked tear ducts and we shouldn't worry unless they start turning colors. And I passed my own 6 week check up, but nobody cares about me ;)

Aunt Anja and Uncle Jeremy have been visiting this past week, and Victor adored them from the moment they arrived! Jeremy has even been learning how to change diapers, and Victor helped out by demonstrating some of the liquids that can be produced during such changes. Victor is also enjoying Anja's waist-length hair--finally, something he can grab reliably! We even took them back to the aquarium, but there was no earthquake this time. Maybe next time!

Cross my fingers but Victor has been settling into an excellent bedtime routine this past week--I just hope it lasts! We feed him, bathe him, and read him a story, and he goes to bed with 7 hours between feedings (usually with the second one at 5 a.m.), then back to bed and wakes up around 9 a.m. It's great, even when it takes him a couple of hours to go back to bed! I love getting that long sleeping period in, I hope this lasts, but you never know.... ;)

P. S. There is no pressing reason for Uncle Jeremy to learn how to change diapers right this minute other than spending quality time with his nephew and learning a life skill that may come in handy some time way, way down the line.

Baby's First Goopie

Poor little Victor had a goopie eye yesterday! He was fine most of the day, then in the afternoon I put him up to my shoulder for a minute, and when he came back down there was goopie all over his left eye! There was no redness and only a little bit of swelling of the eyelid, and I think I was more bothered by it than Victor was. The baby book said to keep an eye on it (har) and call the pediatrician if it lasts more than 24 hours. So we kept wiping it, and gave Victor a bath when Damian came home after his class. (Adorable non-naked bathtime pictures to come!) He had some goo at his 5 a.m. feeding, but not as much as I was expecting, and there was only a little bit in each corner of the eye at his 9 a.m. feeding, and now there is pretty much none! Yay! First goopie successfully overcome (so far) and no call to the pediatrician needed, hooray! There is plenty of time for that later, I'm sure!

Baby's First Earthquake/Easter

We had an exciting weekend this weekend! Victor's paternal grandparents, Carrie and Jurgen, drove all the way from upstate New York to visit their new favorite little person! They got here Saturday afternoon and just left this morning, and Jurgen already has that "grandpa magic" that puts babies right to sleep. They brought lots of presents for Victor and for us--mostly all the yummy food that just isn't the same around here! Sunday we all took the scenic route down the pacific highway to La Jolla so we could visit the aquarium. It seemed like an old building but it had lots of nice displays--lots of tropical fishes you don't see in a lot of aquariums, including a kelp forest, tide pool, chambered nautilus, and sea dragons. Victor, of course, slept right through the whole thing. At one point, though, it started to feel like a herd of active children was running rampant through the building, until you suddenly realized it wasn't rumblings in the floor, the whole building was shaking! Everyone ran outside (following the directions of the staff), but by the time you realized what was going on it was pretty much over. It was scarier after the fact when you thought about all the glass around and above you just waiting to shatter on top of the little tiny baby!! We had to wait outside while the staff checked all the displays for damage, but nothing was broken. Of course Victor slept through the whole thing only to wake up hungry right as we were getting ready to leave. I have a new appreciation for Damian's truck with its tinted windows and large back seats for nursing and a nice truck bed in back for diaper changing.

Monday was a nice lazy family day--Damian and Victor took Carrie and Jurgen to the famous Carlsbad Flower Fields while I slept in, and we spent the day talking, hanging out, swimming, and eating. And then suddenly the trip was over! They started back on their long drive after one last visit this morning. Such a short trip! Hopefully we will get a longer time with them this summer when we visit New York for Damian's brother's wedding.

"Like Father Like Son"

Experiment

How do pictures look on here? I call this one, "Post Feeding Stupor"

The Name Game

It's been a quiet week around here this week with no guests visiting. My mom and I took Victor on some walks while Damian went back to work part time. Today we were going to try going to a breastfeeding support group (mostly to see how much Victor weighs now that he's a whole four weeks old) but I forgot that if you wake up a sleeping baby 3-4 hours after he's been fed, he's going to want to eat again... whoops! Maybe next week. Mostly we're just waiting around for tomorrow, because we're expecting Damian's parents to arrive sometime around noon after driving all the way from the north end of New York State! So exciting!! :)

So I thought I'd tell the story of how we came up with Victor's name, since everyone keeps asking. Probably because of all the teasing I did about what names we (and by "we" I mean "Damian") were considering. I forget who brought up the name "Victor" first (but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the TV show Dollhouse). I did, however, have a very vivid dream in which I knew it was imperative that I tell Damian that Victor would be a really good name. When I woke up, I told him, he agreed, and Victor was actually the front runner for several weeks... until, that is, Damian decided that Victor wasn't good enough, he should be named Victorious. Back to the drawing board! Once February rolled around, though, we figured it would be a good time to get serious, so we made lists of our favorite names and picked the best ones from each other's lists. Victor showed up on mine; Victorious on his; so we compromised. We took the top few names we agreed on and went with my version of the name as the first name if Damian could pick any middle name he wanted from his of the names he came up with and I approved of. Theodon was on the his list and I had marked it as an approved name (I actually thought it was Theodore at the time; Damian's handwriting is atrocious. But it's still a good name. Damian got it from one of his baby name iPhone applications, by the way). Damian paired Theodon with Victor and once our baby was born I picked Victor Theodon as the name set I liked!

I like the name Victor because a) it is a real first name b) people have heard of it before c) it is old fashioned and gothic but not horribly so d) it's not a super-popular name here and now. Damian likes the name Victor because a) it means "conqueror" b) it's full of manly consonants. I am glad we went with the noun instead of the adjective.