JAB blab

It occurred to me that all of the happy, smiley photos of dear Jackson are slightly misleading. He does have these moments as well…

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Just wanted to put that on the record.  And, yes, if you haven’t figured it out, there are updated photos on muchado.

Little Robbie Cothran is engaged to be married

to Miss Sarah Compton of Birmingham, Alabama.

We are thrilled and look forward to the wedding next June.

Dear Uncle Bobby Doat,

It’s about time. Can’t wait to meet Aunt Sassy in August. I hear she’s great.
Love,
Jack

While we were away, Jack decided to kick it up a notch in the effort to crawl. If he wants something, he can really go after it…most enticing itesms seem to include dirty slippers, dirty diapers, dirty heating vents, pretty much anything dirty.

He embraced the idea of vacationing, by starting his own daily yoga practice as well.

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Perfect plank position!

Successful family vacation numero uno! Like everything eles, it’s a bit different vacationing with a child in tow. As many times as we tried to explain it to Jack, he just did not get that five in the morning is a totally inappropriate wake up time while on vacation. All in all, though, he was rather good. He even did a supurb job sleeping in the pack n’ play. (Please, dear god, let this hold true when I am out with him in VA/NC!).
Our friends’ house is fantastic, so comfortable, and you can’t beat the location. It’s located in Humboldt County right outside the little town of Petrolia. By little, I mean population 100 which must include surrounding countryside because the town itself consisted of a few houses, a 100 year old general store/post office/gas station (we wouldn’t have made it!), an old Catholic church, a small school, and a phone booth…very quaint.

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Their house sits on the Mattole River about ten minutes from the Lost Coast trail head. Redwoods to the east, coast to the west. Kieran got some fishing in, managed to do absolutely NO work save for a couple of emails, made yummy meals for me, and spent a lot of quality time with Jack. I got some reading accomplished, a wee bit of work, and a lot of walks with the boys. We spent a little bit of time on the coast but it was very windy and cold…a little too dramatic for Jack. I did get this awesome photo of Jack on his first beach:

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We also headed up the coast to the “Victorian Village” of Ferndale and, our favorite little town, Arcata.We stayed outside the town of Arcata at the start of our honeymoon three years ago. I still contend if we ever pack it up and head for a small “country” town, it’s gotta be this one. It’s a college town so there’s that kind of energy going on, it’s in Humboldt County so there’s that kind of energy going on, and becasue it gets tourists the town actually has good eats and shops. It’s managed to stay very charming because all of the corporate stuff sets up shop in Eureka (a mere ten minutes away) so I would still have my Target. Jobs, on the other hand, might be more of a problem!

While we were away we celebrated Father’s Day…Happy Dad’s day to all you papas out there! We also celebrated our anniversary. It was fun to reflect on everything that has happened over the last three years. It’s a good life. I think I’ll stick with it.

Picture this:

An idyllic road to seemingly nowhere,

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a baby happily snoozing in his carseat, two very happy parents cruising along, Lucinda Williams playing softly on the stereo.

It’s vacation, baby. Having already spent the day before with friends in Napa,

conquered a successful 200 mile road trip with child,

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survived baby’s first night in a hotel,

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these parents are feeling pretty darn good. Perhaps even a little smug. Vacationing with child. No sweat.

Now, picture K Dog Super Daddy suddenly realizing that they are surprisingly low on gas. Oh yes, imagine the possibile scenarios. On this road to nowhere with no gas stations ahead and very few behind, no houses, no traffic, imagine what kind of hell it would be if you were to run out of gas with your seven month old child and a car full of groceries, toys, etc.

Thankfully this is only an imaginary scenario, because upon realizing our situation, we promptly turned around and just barely made it back to the gas station (surprisingly close to the hotel we had left two hours before). Smugness wiped away, we turned back on our trek to the idyllic road, this time with screaming baby in tow. But it could have been so much worse, don’t you think?

We left our house for Napa just before Jack’s nap time. He fell asleep before we were out of Oakland and woke up just as we arrived at our destination. I pulled him out of the car and brought him into the palacial house our friends, Paul and Tracy, had rented for the weekend to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. He was greeted by many bathing beauties clad in bikinis with smiles on their faces, as well as a few strapping men all willing to make funny faces in his general direction. He took this all in stride, furrowed his brow and put on his stoic face, trying to figure it all out. After a meal of yummy peas and the requisite 30 minutes digestion period (not!), we introduced him to his first swimming pool.

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Again, calm as a cucumber. He was totally digging it, but in a VERY understated way. It was if he knew he was on vacation and his only job was to chill and enjoy. He certainly fit in with the crowd.

In case you haven’t figured it out, the latest batch of pictures are up on muchado including one that will serve well for humiliating him throughout puberty:

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I finally sent the blanket I knitted for Baby G, so I can post a picture of it.

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I think it came out all right.  It matches her nursery (all white with a bit of green and blue ric rac). And no, I am not insane. My sister said she wanted a white baby blanket. My solution was to make it more ornamental than practical for obvious reasons. This, however, did not deter Jack from gifting just a little bit of spit love to his cousin…

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Life is moving so quickly. In such a short time Jack has accomplished so much. I have some more “ponderous posts” in the works, but in the mean time, I’ve tried to capture some of the every day joys and observations:

By far, Jack’s favorite sound to make right now is the “zerbert” or “rasberry.” It’s great fun and generally involves as much spit as possible.

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He has also recently taken to smacking his lips and “tsking” his tongue after a good feed. It’s as if he is saying, “Man, that was some good eats!”

He is working very hard at learning to crawl. I have to say, as exciting as it will be, I am ok with holding off for just a bit. As it stands now, he has a lot of energy and manages to expertly wiggle his way around his play mat and in his crib. I imagine once he is crawling I will be getting some serious exercise. And don’t get me started about the prospect of trying to baby proof our house of wires.

Jack is now a master at taking things out of his toy basket. He generally surrounds himself with every toy, book, remote control, and phone he can find.

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Phones and remote controls are particularly interesting. He likes to take things apart. His play mat is like a big, giant puzzle and he has recently discovered that he can take the corners and sides off on his own. Great fun.

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He seems to really like music of all sorts. Yesterday, he was joyfully bouncing to some funk music. “Flahslight…spotlight…neon light…la da da dee da da da da da da da.” Oh yeah. He is definitely starting to react to nursery rhymes and songs, his favorite being the Itsy Bitsy Spider…something about that “down came the rain” line makes him smile every time.

He is generally pretty social and tends to try to charm new people with his baby blue’s and sly smile as long as Mom and Dad are within sight. At home, he likes to play independently, but will reach towards you when he is ready to be held. He often likes to wiggle all over you like you are his own personal jungle gym. He loves being tossed in the air and held upside down. Both are sure to illicit his cute little baby giggles. 

In general, Jack has a strong personality and eagerly communicates both his joys and displeasures. There is no doubting how he feels about a particular activity at any given time.

K and I waited in anticipation and a little trepidation for Saturday to roll around. It was to be our first night out while Jack stayed with a real babysitter. And by real babysitter I mean, someone who was not already connected to us prior to his birth. We’ve been so unbelievably lucky to have our good friend, Cassie, as Jack’s pseudo-nanny and default babysitter. Not to mention a number of other friends have rolled up their sleeves and pitched in so that we could enjoy an occasional evening out. Having called in all of those babysitting chits and recognizing that we were stretching Cassie a little thin, I’d finally broken down and secured a sitter from a UC Berkeley babysitting co-op. (Gotta love the Berkeley.) 

I was a little nerve wracked at the prospect of someone new and insisted that she come super early to play with Jack, observe his bedtime routine, etc. Basically I was paying the girl to be here two and half hours before we were actually leaving so that Jack would not freak out when she had to give him his 10 pm bottle. Best laid plans…

The day arrived and (wouldn’t you know) Jack’s digestive system was in its usually state of chaos. He’d been storing up those solids for a few days despite the warm prune juice, warm “prune and pear puree” lovingly prepared by me, and gallons of water we had been administering religiously. The boy was having quite a day. His entire body would shake as he strained and grunted, his little face turning beat red, and his eyes looking accusingly in our general direction. “Do something!” they seemed to be saying.

Four o’clock rolled around and the sitter had arrived, but Jack was still VERY uncomfortable and pretty exhausted. Thanks to his “situation,” naps had been fitful and short. Jack was in no shape to play with his new friend and he was certainly not his charming self. I knew we couldn’t leave him in this state and so we called K’s mom to ask her advice. Not only is she great for the experienced mom advice, she is also a nurse.

Since we had already been doing most of her remedies, we had to resort to more extreme measures. Yes, in case you were wondering, they DO make baby laxatives in suppository form. It was indeed a night of firsts, ladies and gentlemen. And, well, now Jack has his very own bottle of K-Y.

The poor babysitter gave witness to all of this. I am happy to report Jack’s discomfort was quickly relieved. He fell into a deep slumber, we went on our merry way, and by all reports, Jack slept like a baby for the rest of the night. I wonder, though, if she will ever come back.