Dance Dance Revolution!

Since I am home with Evan all day throughout most of the week, I have to think of things to stimulate and keep him active. While there are lots of suggestions I get, by far, Evan loves his daily, what I call his, dance parties. Usually every morning I will get him up, get a new diaper on him, get a few ounces of formula down him... Then I'll read to him until he loses interest and wants something more active... So I'll take him to his room, lay him on down on his play gym mat, and just put my iPhone's iPod on shuffle and find some music for him to dance along to... The song he reacts the most to is what I dub "Evan's Song-Of-The-Day" and post the YouTube video to my Facebook.

Yesterday, Evan really loved Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It". He really got a kick out of it. He was laughing, dancing and giggling...or maybe he was laughing at my dance moves? I really wasn't trying to dance like Salt-N-Pepa with him... Okay, well, maybe just a little!

Here's some other songs that he's gone nuts for:

Van Halen's "Jump": (I didn't dress him in torn spandex though...)

The remix of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation": (He's working on his Elvis hip shake!)

Bill Haley & His Comet's "Rock Around the Clock": (He likes oldies!)

Ike & Tina Turner's version of "Proud Mary": (I'm trying to help him perfect his Tina Turner shimmy!)

I'm wondering what today's song will be!

Back to work

Last week was my first week back to work. Everyone kept asking, "Isn't it sooo hard?" And the truth is, it wasn't so bad. If all things were equal and I had to choose between working and spending the day with Evan, I would probably try to find some happy medium where I could do half and half.

I wish I had more time to spend with Evan. This is one area where his advanced sleeping skills kind of work against us. I don't get to see him before I leave for work. I sneak into his room and whisper to him, but he's asleep. I'm not going to go in there and wake him up just to satisfy my own selfish needs. Maybe, in a way, that makes it easier. If I fed him and then he fell back asleep in my arms (what he always does after the first meal of the day), I'd never make it to work. Since Brian has been able to arrange his schedule where he is home most of the week, I also have piece of mind knowing he's in good hands all day long and not with people we don't know very well.

On the other hand, it is nice to be around adults again and have conversations that move beyond the letter, "Ohhhh.*"

*Evan has started interacting with us and whomever he is around. He'll stick out his tongue and if you do it back at him, he will smile and laugh and just think it is the most awesome thing in the world. My sister said that tongues are the first muscle babies can control so when they use it and you use it, its almost like you are communicating with them. Also, babies love to say, "Ohhh." So if you say it to Evan, sometimes he will repeat it back to you with delight. Trust me, it's super cute.

I think I was more nervous about going back to work because I wasn't sure what to expect. There were a lot of organizational changes that happened while I was away. Many roles changed. We are even going to be moving our offices at some point.* But my position didn't change at all. In fact, my direct supervisor and myself probably had zero change. Most of my changes happened pre-maternity leave when I was able to "hand-off" a lot of legacy responsibilities that didn't align with what my particular role is now. Now I get to do what I enjoy doing and not spend so much time on stuff that I don't find all that challenging or interesting.

*In my five years with the company, our division/department has always been on the 7th floor (top floor), which is great because we are close to all the big dogs. During those first five years, we played magical cubes 3 different times, when they "realigned the organization" and then decide that the seating chart needed to be updated. Now, we're going to move down to the 2nd floor. The silver lining is we will probably be among the first groups to try out the new workspaces that will be part of our overall building renovations.

So the actual work part. The first two days it was hard getting into the swing of things because everywhere I went people wanted to know about Evan and ask, "Isn't it SOOOOOOO hard coming back to work?" I would gladly show pictures of my baby boy and just nod in agreement with their question. I'm not sure what they were looking for when asking me that question. Did they think I might burst into tears? Anyway, I was able to go through 2 1/2 months worth of mail (all crap), clean my desk, determine the strategic locations of the pictures of Evan I keep on my desk* and book an interview with some of our experts with a writer for the Wall Street Journal,** in addition to a few other tasks. Not too shabby.

*I wanted pictures of Evan to be within easy eye sight. So I have three on my shelf just to the right of my computer and a fourth picture is to the left. That way, if someone comes into my cube and sits down, I can see my baby boy while we are having a conversation.

**Fair disclosure. I didn't cold call the WSJ and set this up. The writer's editor suggested she contact us for a waste-to-energy story she is working on. My boss' boss was out of the office on vacation Monday. On Tuesday he came back and asked what I was working on and I joked, "I set up an interview with the WSJ on my first day back, what do you plan to do today?" We all had a good laugh.

I did miss Evan's last appointment. Part of me was glad that I didn't have to watch them give him those shots and part of me was very sad that I wasn't there for my son during the most traumatic experience of his short life. I think I teared up a little bit when Brian told me about it.

Yesterday, when I came home from work, he was in his swing just smiling and laughing away. I wanted to hold him, so I picked him up. He did NOT want to be held at that time. So, another lesson learned. Don't wake a sleeping baby and don't pull a happy baby out of his/her swing no matter how much you want to hug and kiss them.

Better Late Than Never!

I've been working on this a good long while...

Below is a multimedia montage I made of Linda's pregnancy, and then pics immediately following Evan's birth meeting some of his family members...

Linda wants me to warn those of you that may get queasy or are currently pregnant. Please watch this at your own risk. These are just pictures and some video, nothing gruesome, however there is live audio of Evan's birth playing in the background. I wanted to preserve that, but tried to drown out the screams as best I could with music and some editing. Enjoy!

That Was Rough

Today was Evan's 2-month checkup with his pediatrician. I've dreaded this day since he was born. This is the big appointment when they start the first round of vaccinations. Two days ago was Linda's first day back to work since March 31, when she began her maternity leave...so I had to go it alone.

I got Evan up this morning and he was his happy-go-lucky self that he is in the morning. He was laying in his crib, awake and just kicking around. He looked up at me and I smiled to him a "Good Morning Little Man!" He sheepishly looked back at me and smiled. We played a game of "oohh's & ahh's" and got a new diaper on him. We went into the living room and I got 6 ounces in him... Truman was sitting at the other side of the couch, closely watching us...and trying to inch ever so close to sneak in a kiss on Evan. Evan got a kick outta this and watched Truman very intently and would laugh and giggle at him. Little did he know what was coming in just an hour...and that thought broke my heart.

I arrived at our pediatrician's office with Evan in his car seat hooked on one arm, and a diaper bag slung over the other, my sunglasses hanging onto my t-shirt collar. The office staff checked me in and told me to have a seat. I joined about 4 other moms in the waiting room...and I could tell most of them were expecting Linda to come around the corner. Nope, just me. As much as I wanted Linda to be there...it was just me. Dunno why it's unusual to see just a father with his infant at things like doctors appointments? I've noticed it a lot since Evan was born...even if I just take him to PetsMart or the grocery store by myself.

They called us back and we marched behind the nurse to the room. She told me to undress Evan so she could get his measurements. I was eager to see what he weighed now. He hasn't been to the doctor since he was about 2 weeks old...and that was eight weeks ago! I stripped him down, wrapped him in the blue pee-pad blanket, and carried him to the scale. When he was 2 weeks old he weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz....today he weighed 13 lbs. 10 oz.! Back in April, he measured 21¼ inches long, now he is 23½ inches! His huge head went from 15 to 17 inches! Evan then promptly peed on the blue pee-pad blanket in my rejoicing and we had to change him out...

We went back to the room...our doctor came in. Told me that he was very pleased with Evan's progress both growth and socially. He checked him over...answered a few of my questions...said that Evan was a very healthy, happy and social boy. He said he was making eye contact and flashing smiles. He also explained that Evan is gonna be a big boy with growth like this...especially with Linda & me as parents. I'm average for a guy, 5'10"...and Linda is taller than average. Plus his Poppa Gene (Linda's dad) is 6'3"...and his Uncle John (Linda's brother) is just as tall. Evan is in the 75th percentile for growth. Our doctor went on to say that if Evan were to continue to grow at this rate, we'd have a 290 lbs., 6 foot 8 inch tall, three-year-old who demands M&Ms! Can you imagine trying to potty-train that?! He then explained the shots he was about to receive. My heart jumped. I've never been anxious about shots...never really put much thought in it. Now, though, that I've got this little life to look after and protect...I didn't want my little guy to be in pain.

Our doctor left the room and the nurse came in shortly after with her tray of torture. She first gave Evan an oral vaccine...and then told me to lay him down on the cot. She then prepped him for the shots. I held onto his little hand. He looked up at me with his huge puppy-dog-brown eyes. She stuck him with one needle...and I could tell the precise moment when that needle penetrated his chunky thigh. He winced, then turned Coke-can red, then screamed and cried real tears (he normally doesn't)! I'm not a softy by any means, but I'm not a robot either...and it was every thing I could do not to cry for him. I did tear up...and I had a moment there were I couldn't speak to reassure him...afraid that my voice would crack...an obvious sign that I was choked up. I quickly regained my composure and tried to comfort Evan. I will never forget that look he gave me. Two more shots and more screams and tears...and all was done. Amazingly I got Evan diffused in no time...and by the time I was getting him dressed the tears had stopped. By the time I got him in his car seat, he was smiling and cooing!

Lots of my friends who have kids told me going in that it's much worse on the parents that it is on the baby. All too true!

Mom and Dad's night out

Last Friday was a big day for Evan as he met his Great Grandma for the first time and had his first overnight without Mom and Dad. Evan gave me two tickets to the Weezer concert for my first Mothers Day present and Friday was the night of the show down in the City Market.

Visiting Grandma M. was pretty sad for me. Grandma has very advanced dementia. She really doesn't know who any of us are anymore. Even worse, she doesn't sing anymore. She would always sing those really old songs that only grandparents sing. Now, she doesn't remember any words or melodies. But it was good to see her. She's going to be 93 soon. She's extremely healthy. Her mind has just betrayed her...

After visiting with Grandma M., we took Evan over to his Aunt Steph and Uncle John's house. They volunteered to watch him for the night, which was very awesome. At first we were a little nervous about how his 3 1/2-year-old older cousin, Brayden, would be around him. He's had some jealousy issues when Steph holds Baby Evan or Baby Logan. Steph told us the night before that Brayden said, "Baby Evan can't come here. He needs to stay at Linda's house." By the time we got there, though, he was excited to see Baby Evan - that's what he calls him. Baby Evan.

We visited for awhile and when it was time for Brian and I to leave and go get ready for the show, Brian went to give Brayden a hug goodbye. While doing so, he said something about playing nicely with Baby Evan and Brayden said, "I probably won't hit him." WHAT?

The concert was pretty fun and the Weezer sounded great. I can't say the same for the opening acts. Brian and I both agreed, however, that outdoor general admission shows just really aren't for us anymore. Everyone paid the same for the tickets, so they all thought they had to smash their way to the front on a 90 degree/90 percent humidity night. And then the crowd surfing started. Really? Crowd surfing? We joked after the show that you don't see crowd surfing at Elton John and thought the chances would be pretty slim at the upcoming Paul McCartney show at Sprint Center. Hell, we didn't even see crowd surfers at Ozzie over a year ago. We definitely are in favor of in-door, climate-controlled venues with reserved seating!

Throughout the night, Steph sent us pictures of our baby boy to reassure us that all was going well and that Brayden had not yet assaulted him. She said that she didn't make it through her first night without Brayden and had to go get him. We made it through. And while Brian seemed to have a harder time leaving Evan behind, I was the first to grab him up the next morning!

Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

Four generations: Evan, me, my Mom and Grandma M.

Enjoying a few drinks in the River Market before the show.

During the show, Brian sneaks in a smootch

We met up with two of Evan's honorary aunts: Sarah and Jenn

Two Months!

Our little man is two months old today! Time flies. So fast that I have to go back to work next week. :( Oh well, we gotta pay the bills, right? To see the progression, we included the photo from when he turned one month old. He's a little chubbier and his hair is progressively thinning. He is also capable of sitting up much better on his own. At one month, we had to prop him and I was within arms reach just in case he needed me quickly while Brian was snapping the photo!

Play time

Evan is starting to discover and become amazed and amused by the world around him. At first, we were so entertained with his newer-found ability to smile and laugh, that we didn't think to record it. Over the past few weeks, we were able to get a few clips of him enjoying his swing and his play gym. Brian did a good job of editing these clips down into a short(er) video for all to enjoy. If this doesn't make you smile, then I don't know what will. :)