November 2003 Archives
Maddie has had a very exciting couple of days so far. First, we took her to Mall of Georgia this weekend to have her picture taken with Santa. She was an absolute doll, dressed in one of her Christmas outfits. She was laughing and smiling right up until we got to the front of the line for pictures. Then it was total meltdown of major proportions. We'll post the picture soon, but needless to say her first meeting with Santa wasn't a pretty one. :)
Then, I took Maddie to her first playgroup session yesterday. We went to Gymboree, a place that organizes playgroups for kids from birth to 3 years, grouped according to age. They have activities for developmental play. Maddie was in the 0-6 months group. She slept the entire way there. We arrived and went to the play area with the other little ones. There were a 6 month old and a 4 month old there also. We started singing and doing activities and Maddie woke up. She smiled a great big smile at me and then proceeded to scream her head off for the rest of the 45 minutes. My poor baby. We left and got to the car where she smiled and laughed all the way home. I don't think she was a fan of the playgroup. Maybe we'll try again in a few months.
--------
Everybody has a movie--or a scene from a movie--that they can watch a million times but it never fails to make them laugh. For me, it's the scene from Better Off Dead where Booger (I can't remember his name from the movie, he'll always be Booger from Revenge of the Nerds to me) sticks his head down into the snow and says "This is pure snow! Do you know the street value of this mountain?" Ah, comedy gold.
Where am I going with this, you ask? Well, I have something even better than that scene at my very own house. Wanna see it?
Doesn't that just make you giggle like a schoolgirl? She does it all of the time now, sometimes cooing or gurgling while she beams. No matter what I'm doing, whenever I see it, I snort milk through my nose. Her smile is instant laughter for me. I wish I could bottle it.
Unfortunately, it's still hard to catch on film (as if she knows when we're about to shoot). But if you want to see some recent pics of a non-smiling baby, click on the pic above. They're at the bottom of the "Month 2" album, just in case you're having trouble navigating the site. By the way, pretty soon I'll probably take down the in-between page. I'm just leaving it up there so that people don't get confused when they jump from our site to Snapfish. But I think people should have gotten the hang of it by now...
--------
I have to admit that this past week with Maddie has been the most exciting so far (ok, other than her birth, that is). I feel as if she's passed a huge milestone from the week before. Not only is she smiling nonstop now, but she's also giggling and cooing and making other little sounds. Plus, she now notices when Bill or I enter or leave a room, following us with her eyes and turning her head to see us. It's awesome! She actually knows who we are and prefers her Mommy and Daddy to other people. That's selfish, I know, but so validating for a new parent.
She's also responding more to her toys. Now when she sits in her bouncy seat, she actually watches the bubble/fish display on the attached mobile thingy. It's so cool to see the wonder in her eyes.
--------
This weekend was another good one, but I won't go into as much detail as I have in the past. You can thank me later.
There were two especially memorable moments this weekend, however, and I will share those. First, on Friday night, Maddie made her first friend! We had Seth and Jenn over, with their beautiful 6-month old daughter Raelyn (pronounced RAY-lin, with the accent on the first syllable despite the fact that she's from Georgia). I would like to say that Maddie and Raelyn got along swimmingly, and played together all night, but their relationship is more of a warm apathy. Raelyn at least acknowledged that there was someone else in the room. Maddie, on the other hand, seemed a little self-absorbed. :) Anyway, I took a picture of the girls side-by-side. Actually, they were three feet apart, but thanks to the magic of Photoshop, I fixed that:
The second momentous occasion of the weekend was that Maddie got to meet her Great Grandpa Cotton! We drove over to Auburn, AL, to meet up with Alecia's mom and the rest of the crew. Papa Cotton (as he's known to the rest of us) was dressed in his Sunday finest and looking sharp. He got to hold his first Great Grandchild, and he seemed pretty happy about it. Like everyone else, he thinks she looks more like me than Alecia, but he says it's not because of the hair...it's because she has my forehead. Anyway, we also got a few pics of this memorable event:
If you'd like to take a look at any of the other pictures from this weekend, check out the new album Alecia posted. Oh, and we also have something else to post, but I need to get some stuff down around the house. But check out the site in the next few days to see something caught on film as rarely as the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot...Maddie's smile! Alecia can get her to do it almost on demand right now, and we finally got one on film. It is the coolest thing...ever!
--------
Well, it's getting close to that time of year again. Pretty soon, we'll be piling into the car and heading to Mishawaka for baby's first Christmas! I can't wait to see the snow! Can you believe it will be the first time in almost two years that I'll get to see my hometown in winter? And first time ever for Maddie!
Anyway, even though we don't want anything for Christmas except for her to be good (oh wait, that's her usual line), my mother has requested that we post our Christmas Wish Lists. For ease of use, we're using Amazon.com again this year. I used to hardcode these lists to contain links to the best possible deals online for each item on the list, but that takes too long. Now, we just surf Amazon's massive inventory. Maybe people will pay a buck more per item, but it's much easier for us.
For those of you who have long-distance family, or have kids with interests that couldn't possibly be guessed at or understood by their befuddled aunts and uncles, I highly recommend online wish lists. After all, if someone's going to get you or your kids a gift, anyway...it might as well be something you/they want! Nobody's under any obligation to buy anything on these lists. If you're not family and are reading this list, don't mock the silly things we ask for (I really do need new underwear!) and don't buy us anything ('cause we're not getting anything for YOU). And yes, we know Christmas isn't about getting gifts. Remember, people ASK US to do this!
Anyway, here are our lists. As more of our family's become available, I will post them.
Bill's Christmas Wish List
Alecia's Christmas Wish List
PS - No, Maddie doesn't have a wish list. Items for her are included on our lists. We tried to get her to pick her own stuff out, but she is a very poorly behaved child. ;)
--------
Maddie had another doctor's appointment this week on Tuesday. She's now 8lbs. 7oz. and 21 inches long. (She was 6lbs. 13oz. and 20 inches long at birth.) Hard to believe she's growing so quickly.
The past week or so has been amazing. She's awake for much longer during the day and really seems to notice things going on around her. Bill and I have gotten her to smile and even giggle at times, but not consistently yet. We've also been able to work out a schedule between the two of us that works so we can both get sleep and spend time with Maddie. Bill gets home from work around 7pm during the week and then he watches Maddie until around 1-2am. During that time, I'll eat dinner and go to bed early. I wake up when he goes to bed at 1am and we both get about 5-6 hours of sleep. It's working really well since Maddie started taking a bottle.
I mentioned it to someone the other day, but it's hard to believe she hasn't always been in our lives. She's four weeks old today and it seems like she's been with us forever. At the same time, I can't believe 4 weeks have gone by so quickly.
--------
Man, it was a wild weekend, with some real highs and lows. Here's a rundown--it's bound to be long, but that's what you get when I'm at the keyboard...
Friday: At work, we had a sort of "fun day." Chair massages in the morning, catered breakfast and lunch, a guest speaker in the afternoon, and team trivia after that. Why did we have this? I'm still not sure. Maybe we're starting to make some money as a company, and we're heading back to the days of wine and roses, like when I started here. Who knows? But I didn't look this gift horse in the mouth.
Since it wasn't a real work day, I went home at lunch and picked up Alecia and Maddie. They came in to see where daddy works (Maddie was stoked), and so everyone could tell us how cute Maddie is (duh). While they were here, Alecia got to chat with our guest, Ty Pennington, the cool carpenter from Trading Spaces. Alecia has lusted after this guy for years, so she was shellshocked to meet him. I had to actually suggest that he give her a hug, as she couldn't even speak around him. See what I do for my wife? I wanted to get a pic of just those two, but when I was about to take it, someone volunteered to take one of all of us, so Maddie (in her carseat) and I both got in on the action. Check out the picture in the latest album Alecia posted.
Later, like I said, we played team trivia in the afternoon. Those who know me know how competitive I can get when it comes to trivia. But Friday was an exercise in patience for me. I was on a team with one other guy (Paul, a fellow webguy) and four girls. I was overruled by my "teammates" four times in the first few rounds, and Paul was overruled twice...and all of our answers were correct. I sort of checked out mentally after that. I think Paul did, as well. Needless to say, we finished last and got the boobie prize. Crud.
That evening, for Halloween, we planned to get out of the house. With poorly behaved dogs, every trick-or-treater means chaos and loud barking at our house. Not good for the baby. So we walked around the mall a little, then went to Barnes & Noble. The mall was nuts. Apparently, city people trick-or-treat AT THE MALL. Seriously, hundreds of kids going in and out of every store in costume. Crazy.
Things went downhill when we went to B&N. Some yuppie-looking couple started chatting us up, cooing over the baby. We're both used to every person on Earth ooh-ing and ah-ing over the baby, but these people had alterior motives. They started talking like any other nice young couple would, but the guy soon started testing my interest in his "distribution company" and asking if I was happy where I was in life. I sort of sensed it coming from the beginning, but couldn't get rid of him. I finally gave him my junk email address, so he could send me info about his "expanding enterprise." In case you haven't been accosted by someone like this, he was basically a pyramid-schemer. I am a magnet for guys like this...for some reason, I have been hit up by almost a dozen of them in the last five years, both in Bloomington and Atlanta. They want you to sell products for them. It's sort of an online Amway. It was very depressing to find out someone was only interested in our baby so they could exploit Alecia and I.
Shortly after we broke away from this couple, I was looking at books when a lady came up and complimented me on Maddie. She then said "What's the pink on her eyes?" I explained that it was a birthmark that we were assured would go away soon. While I was talking, she reached into her bag, pulled out a palm pilot, and started blipping away on it with her stylus. She was very focused on it, so I stopped talking. There was an awkward silence, and then I asked, "Are you taking notes?" She told me someone had called her, and she was checking who it was. Ah, so your palm is also a phone, and you're just being rude! Thanks, lady.
As if that wasn't enough, as soon as she walks away, another guy walks up. I was looking at the graphic novels (basically book-length comic books), and the guy starts making conversation about the titles. I start talking to him, but reluctantly, not saying anything to encourage him. After all, he could just be another schemer. During the conversation, he says a few things about work ("I'm lucky enough to have a guy mentoring me--he's a millionaire at 29, and he's helping me start my own business."), and a few things about God ("I'm definitely against daycare. I don't think kids get the morals and sense of faith away from home that their parents could give them." and "I'd always wanted to be a youth minister.") I can't tell if this guy is a religious nut about to convert me, or an "entrepreneur" about to make me an offer I can't resist. Either way, I'm squirming. Luckily, Alecia came to find me, and gave me an excuse to break away. Later, I felt guilty. This guy could have just been a nice guy. But I felt more regret at not being able to sit down for even a minute at B&N! I didn't come there for conversation! In my defense, I was never rude to these people.
Saturday: While Alecia slept a little (the baby was up most of Friday night), I dragged myself out of bed at 7AM for soccer playoffs. My late night with baby didn't leave me as bad off as my teammates' Halloween party hangovers left them. Surprisingly, though, we all came together and played our hearts out. We cruised through the quarters and semis, winning 6-3 and 5-1. During that time, I got two assists and a goal of my own. But by the time we got to the finals later that afternoon, we were all beat. We played tough in the final game, dominating the competition, but somehow tied 1-1. The game then went immediately to PKs, and things didn't go well for our side. We missed a couple, and lost the game. No biggie, we still had a blast, and would've beaten that team if there had been five more minutes in the game, as opposed to a shootout (which is never a good way to end a game). Click on the picture below if you want to see my team (minus Karel and Mary) Be warned, the full-size pic may be pretty large:
The real highlight of Saturday, though, was getting to feed Maddie by bottle for the first time. I honestly cried while doing it, it was the coolest thing ever. I have felt pretty worthless over the last few weeks, and pretty guilty over Alecia shouldering so much of the load. But now (as long as she pumps), I can do anything she can do! To prove that point, I fed the baby, changed her diaper, and burped her before I left for work this morning. I then tucked her back in bed and kissed both my girls goodbye. A very satisfying moment. Also, Maddie seems to be learning how to smile, which is awesome. More on this later, if it proves to be more than gas.
The rest of the weekend wasn't as exciting as the first half, but it was still fun. Alecia's mom and sister came in on Saturday evening, and stayed until Sunday. We ate hamburger steaks (a southern term for a hamburger without a bun) and "Red Lobster biscuits" (which I'm sure is a trademark violation), and watched Kate and Leopold (man, does Meg Ryan look awful lately, or what?). On Sunday, I went and got new tires for the CRV, while the women chatted and played dress-up with our child. Pics from the entire weekend are in the new album, so check it out and give us your comments!
--------
