Tasty Toes, Smelly Hands

Good and Bad News

The bad news first. Video-a-Day has ended. But I do plan on being more consistent this next year on sharing pictures and videos here on the blog. Below is one of our favorite activities with Atticus- balancing things on his head. He makes the cutest face in the world when he scrunches his nose and squints his eyes to try to shake it off.

Christmas Morning

Here are some pics and videos of this morning. At enjoyed himself thoroughly with the wrapping paper, books, the tag blanket I made for him, and Rudolph's nose.

Afternoon Fun

Yesterday afternoon, while I did some organizing in Atticus' room, Daddy kept him well entertained with what I call "rocket mouth"...

Where's the Christmas Tree?

A few days ago, we noticed that Atticus looked at the Christmas tree when we were talking about it. So we set out to check our hypothesis that he understood the words. And he did! We captured a couple of our tests on video, but since, he has had a lot of practice of entertaining us.

The Toys I Love

Boxes and plastic bags (don't worry, we only let him play with the bags when we're with him). Yesterday, Atticus received a Christmas package from his grandparents. Though we saved the gifts inside for later, "Christmas" came early for At. Here's him enjoying some cardboard.

Tummy Time

Future Driver

Almost Crawling

Atticus is wanting to crawl so badly, as you see in this video, mainly so he can come to us instead of waiting for us to go to him.

Here's today's video...

Video-a-Day

I'm going to try to share a video a day of Atticus' adventures until Christmas; here's the first installment:

First Snow and a Funny Video

We had our first dusting of snow in the Ville last night, so we woke up to a semi-white world. Atticus wasn't as pleased to see the snow as we were; he looked at it open-mouthed, pretty much the same as he looks at anything we show him in order to get a response. But he did look darn cute in his jester's hat.

Unrelated to the snow. But funny:

here are some recent videos...

First Plane Ride and Attention Overload

Atticus and I travelled to Oklahoma to see family this past week. He spent wonderful time with both sets of grandparents, three aunts, three uncles, four cousins, one great aunt, three second cousins, and even his great-grandmother. Mommy got to hold him to what probably adds up to a total of two hours in one weeks time due to all of the eager hands ready to grab him up. He did amazingly well with all of the new faces and places and gave lots of cute smiles and giggles. He must be a born traveller, because he took the plane ride completely in stride and didn't bat an eye at turbulence or airplane bathrooms (how in the world did they get a changing table in there). He was a hit with all of the other passengers, and two flight attendants completely fell in love with him on the way home.

Despite bribes and threats, though, Mommy and Baby made it on the plane to return to Daddy in Louisville. And we were greeted with the biggest smile, warmest hug, and prettiest bouquet of flowers we have ever seen. It's good to be home.

Random Updates

Atticus and I are getting ready to fly to Oklahoma to see family this Friday. Unfortunately, CJ is unable to go; he's made me sign multiple documents that I will be returning in one weeks time and no longer. I think he's afraid Atticus will start walking and talking while we are gone.

In honor of his daddy, Atticus is sporting a cool Theodore Roosevelt onesie in the picture below.

Atticus has a few foods under his belt: rice cereal, carrots, apple sauce, oatmeal cereal and avocado and green beans, both of which he didn't care for. So far, carrots have gotten the funniest reaction. He warmed up to them, though, after the second or third time.

Rice Cereal! Oh My!

Atticus dipped his toes into solid food this morning for the first time. Well, I guess I should say his tongue. He'd been eyeing our plates longingly for a couple weeks now so we decided to see how it would go. He was very eager to begin, as you can see. He did wonderfully for the first few bites. Then his face started to scrunch up more with each successive bite and rather than turn him off "chewing" forever, we decided that was enough for his first time.

for your viewing pleasure

These photos are

a little over a month old. They're from another photo shoot a friend of ours did for us. Atticus loves doing cute poses that make everyone go "Aww". 

Teething Again

Well, Atticus is teething again (still with no fruit). So I'm sitting on the couch while he takes a nap on me. He's not sleeping too bad, but he definitely sleeps better on Mommy. I don't have any pictures to post because someone spilled water all over our laptop, causing it to shut down, never to return. We won't point any fingers, but suffice it to say, CJ got to be the incredibly forgiving one this time. We'll soon figure out our new computer and post some pics of Atticus at his first peach picking party. We went to a local farm and picked fresh peaches and nectarines on Wednesday and had a blast. I think his favorite part was riding on a trailer pulled by a tractor. He loved all the sunshine and trees and even got to wear a hat.  

OUTSIDE?!!

Atticus loves lounging on his back looking up at the sky on beautiful sunny days. It's become a pretty regular activity (at least twice a day), since it also gives Mommy a chance to do some reading (which is one of her favorite activities). So it's a win-win situation.
The other day, he got so lost in la la land that when I spoke to him, he almost jumped out of his skin. He had begun to think he was all alone in the world...

Laughter- the best medicine

Here's a couple videos of Atticus enjoying Daddy chewing on his legs. We think he's starting to teethe, but he still knows how to have a great time. This is a regular morning activity and one of his favorite of the day- time with Dad on the floor.
His second favorite activity is time outside with Mommy...pictures forthcoming.

three months of growth

Here's a side-by-side in the same car seat at three days and a bit over three months.

Sorry... no time to write a post, but here are a few pictures to enjoy. Atticus is doing well and is a very happy baby, as you can see from the photos.

My Love-Hate Relationship with Swaddling

I know I can't control my hands yet, and they flail about in quick motions resembling gang signs or orchestra conducting most of the time, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with you tying them down. I mean, sometimes when I sleep I like to suck on my hand. And how am I supposed to do that when they're "swaddled" (as you call it) in a blanket? I've gotten pretty good at getting that hand out, eh? Sure, that means I usually bop myself in the face and am startled awake. And yes, then I'm grumpy because my nap has been interrupted... Granted, when freedom is elusive, I sleep better... But I'm still not convinced you guys know what is best.

Atticus at 2 months

Atticus' first farmers market

A couple weeks ago we took Atticus to a farmers market in our neighborhood. He loved it (as told by his lack of crying).

Atticus turns six weeks old

What has he been up to? He's progressing well with tummy time. He hasn't really liked being on his stomach, but CJ has been playing with him for a few minutes each morning before he goes to work and he seems to be growing in his tolerance of it. He's also following us with his eyes more and focusing on our faces when we talk to him. This is especially exciting! He's making more non-crying noises (grunts mostly) and is gaining better control of his hands (though he still looks like he's flashing gang signs sometimes). The tree CJ painted in his room is a favorite staring past time. He loves going for walks in his rugged stroller and is wide eyed at all of the sounds he hears on the street. Oh yeah, and another of his "adventures"- he's beginning to master the bottle. For your viewing pleasure:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

It's pretty amazing how quickly our lovely son can go from peaceful bliss to scary terror. We're told babies cry for an assortment of reasons (hunger, tiredness, they're uncomfortable, have a dirty diaper) and that you should first examine the situation to see if any of the above apply. But after correcting anything that may be wrong, if he still doesn't cease crying, he could just be fussy and that's just what babies do. This is what I don't like. I like to be able to fix the problem. I like a calm baby. I have learned (no, I didn't really know this before) that I don't like a crying baby. I am learning (and probably will be for awhile) to be patient during the crying and to remember that it will pass and my calm, peaceful, I-can-sleep-through-bombs-dropping baby will return.

Atticus' first photo shoot

A good friend of ours, whose also into photography, did a photo shoot for Atticus at one week old. He cooperated for the most part, considering posing for pictures isn't something he has learned yet. It shouldn't take him long, though, with all the shots his parents have taken of him.

preview of a future musician

Seeming disproportionately long, Atticus' fingers may (some say) foretell a future life involving music... though his father (who likewise was born with lengthy digits) shows no sign of ever playing a musical note.

the birth of atticus

After 17 hours of labor, young Atticus was born on Friday, April 3rd at 7.29am. With his loving parents, he spent a few days in the hospital and returned to his home on the following Sunday afternoon.
Here commences the adventure of learning life together.