Week 5

We're getting more efficient - we managed to get to the farmer's market before 10 this week, and finished our shopping and our chilaquiles before Brennan woke up. Bathtime is getting easier - he seems to like soaking in warm water - but we're still going through a lot of outfits per day. Today he managed to not only get poop on his clothing, but my shirt and the baby bjorn as well. Maybe there's a secret baby pooping league, and they earn bonus points for everything they hit outside a diaper... He's smiling more, and has even given his mama and daddy social smiles this week. Those help balance out the poop explosions.

Brennan met some relatives this week - my uncle (and godfather) Bruce & my aunt Cindy. They used to live in the Bay Area and had come back to visit old friends - and help with a grape harvest. They invited us up to Napa for a private wine tasting at the Joseph Phelps Vineyards. It was a beautiful day, and a very pretty location. Bren didn't think much of the tasting tutorial, but seemed quite pleased with the view from the patio.

Baby's First Wine Tasting

Week 4

Brennan's time-lapse photo #2, plus a shot with his Daddy's hands to also show his size...

Last week started with a trip to the pediatrician -

Brennan has made it

over the 9 lb. mark, and managed not to pee all over the doctor this time. If you're into this sort of thing - because it's never too early to start judging yourself in comparison to others, right? - he's in the 90th percentile for length, 50th for weight, and a measly 25th for head circumference. We've stopped teasing him about his giant pumpkin head and changed to teasing him about his pea-head. We'll probably stop this sort of thing when he starts to understand what we're saying. Probably. He's getting much stronger - it kind of hurts when he grabs my neck or pulls my hair, and he's able to hold his head up when he wants to stare over my shoulder. His crying has really ramped up in volume, and when he gets really cranked up, he bears a resemblance to a very angry (although slightly teary) tomato. He's also started taking one bottle feeding a day from his Daddy - other than a few suspicious sideways looks, he's doing really well with it.

(this is the closest I've gotten to a smile photo)

He had a good week with his Grandma Lorna, and hopefully doesn't find the adjustment to less non-stop cuddling too jarring. He also has a fancy new Bugaboo stroller - he may not appreciate the difference in handling, but his parents sure do - it's like upgrading from a second hand minivan to a sports car. Of course, this means I have no excuse for not getting out and covering some serious distance, so I guess this means the return to real exercise.

No big plans or events are coming up this week. We're all a little down and recovering from a sad event - poor old lady Kip was put to sleep Sunday. It was a really difficult decision and we miss her very much. She's been with me for over 16 years. In her prime, she loved to play chase, go on hikes in the woods, bark incessantly at Laika while he tried to play fetch, and was quite the destroyer of furry men. In her later years, she preferred basking in the sun, wandering after surfers at Ocean Beach, and performing her neighborhood watch duties from her

post at the edge of my porch in Atlanta or the top of the steps here. She saw me through vet school, two cross country moves, three jobs, numerous homes, the traumatic end of a relationship and the happy start of a new one, and last but not least, a pregnancy and our first month as new parents. To people who didn't know her, she was an unassuming black and white dog who kind of looked like a beagle and was rather shy. But those who did get to know her discovered a sweet and funny girl, with big brown eyes that always looked as if she was really listening to what you were saying.

Good night, sweet baby. I'll be there to rub your ears when you wake up.

Week 3

Hooray! Bren's umbilical cord stump finally came off, so now he can start wearing all the cute onesies everyone gave him. I'm scrambling to get them all worn at least once or twice before he outgrows them. Luckily, thanks to diaper leakage, he sometimes needs to change outfits 3 times a day. On Tuesday, we made a trip to CPMC to use the scale again - he's regained his birth weight, plus a little more. That means I can let him sleep longer at night - hooray again! However, it also means we're on uncertain ground with the diapers - the newborns are a little snug, but the next size up is a little loose. The tragedy of being between sizes - I know it all too well, although mine is more related to inseam length, and luckily I don't have to be concerned about diaper leakage. Yet.

Anyway, it's been a big week for wardrobe expansion for all, as I have been happy to discover I can get into some of my pre-pregnancy jeans. Granted, these jeans weren't all that tight to begin with, have some stretch in the denim, and have a fairly low rise, so it may not mean I'm going to snap back into shape Angelina Jolie style, but a girl can dream, right? So why not go shopping - which we did on Thursday. Well, I shopped, Brennan mostly slept. Here we are in the Martin & Osa fitting room.

Grandma Lorna arrived on Friday to meet Brennan and help out. We made another trip to the Farmer's market, strolled through Hayes Valley, and, very important, allowed Mommy To Get a Haircut. Bren seems to enjoy all cuddling and being the center of attention.