What is this Pacific Standard Time you're talking about?

This is the picture of a boy who is lately confused by a) darkness while he's still awake and b) extremely cold temperatures. (Okay, 50 degrees but that's pretty damn cold compared to the majority of his life.) And, yes, those are mittens.

I think he's slowly getting used to it though and I'm having fun buying warm clothes. He certainly wears a hoodie quite well.

Sitting in style

Look who's a big boy now? This might change my life. Though he still is a little small for some of the bigger carts. But, man oh man, did he love sitting and watching everything. And he can see me which is obviously a plus. :)

Soothing Sounds

As is well documented on this blog, Jack has never loved car rides. Thank goodness he's past the "screaming until he chokes" phase that lasted 3 1/2 months. And he's also past general crying every time we get in the car. Now we're in a pretty good place. He stares out the window, he looks at himself in the mirror, he plays with the seat straps, he babbles away...generally he's pretty good. Until he's not of course. But I've found something that soothes him - classical music. We listen to the local classical music station and it's so damn relaxing. For Jack and for me. And it's listener-sponsored which means no commercials. Jack just focuses intently on the music. During particularly rousing pieces with horns, etc. he even "sings" along. Of course, the classical music doesn't trump my singing of camp songs, but it's a good backup.

Things to Do in LA with Kids: Lake Balboa

This past weekend John and I finally checked out Lake Balboa with Jack. I've been hearing about it since I had him and just hadn't gotten the chance to drive there. Plus, I didn't know what to expect when I heard there was a lake in the middle of Van Nuys. Not exactly the most picturesque town. But, man, I can't believe what was hidden in the middle of the city. A giant lake with a path around it and tons of grass and hills and open spaces. As well as fishing spots, one of the biggest playgrounds I've ever seen, and every type of bird imaginable.

John and I strapped the lil' guy in the stroller and started off on our jaunt around the lake. It was pretty chilly but sunny and a gorgeous fall day.

He loved looking around at all the trees and all the kids running around.

About halfway around the lake we stopped at the playground so he could enjoy the swings. Jack certainly loves a good swing.

We also stopped at a nice grassy spot so Jack could sit and look around. Here he is completely ignoring the giant egret birds a mere 10 yards from him so he could look at a pretty toddler girl walking by.

The lake also happens to be very near Van Nuys airport so there were constantly planes flying over. And, man, does this kid like to look up at planes.

All in all we had a great time and I can't wait to go back.

Photo Challenge Week 8 - Little Things

Next week....phone photo. Which is a little silly because I use my phone every week to take the pic but that's okay.

Today Jack is...37 weeks old.

Another cast week down and he was mostly all smiles. We've decided that he's so happy nowadays because of his new-found crawling freedom. He LOVES being able to get around. he crawls and chases around his ball. He crawls to the curtains to play with them. He'll follow me around rooms too. He came dangerously close to crawling into the garage a few times but he didn't know how to negotiate the steps.

(Excuse the mad man hair...he had just woken up for a nap.)

I guess the best part of the crawling is that it means he's happier to play on his own for a few minutes. Sometimes as many as 15! Amazing. It's so cute to watch him entertain himself.

His eating is still going pretty well. He loves his fruit purees and has started eating the little pieces of fruit that I put in his mouth. He loves kiwi, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberry, and watermelon. He got a hold of the watermelon rind this week and went to town.

My milk supply seems to be dwindling more than ever and I've started giving him a bottle a day because he seems like he needs it. I can see breastfeeding slowly coming to an end (though hopefully not in the immediate future) and it's a bummer. For bonding, sappy reasons but also because it's how I calm him down and put him to sleep. So, without nursing, I'm not sure what I'll do.

I also feel like I'd be remiss in not mentioning sleep...even if it's just for me to document it. He was sleeping pretty well but this past week he had some bad nights. Unusually bad nights. I'm wondering if this is the 8/9/10 month sleep regression that I've been reading about. He'll wake up around 11:30 or 12:30 and just be wide awake. Nothing can get him back to sleep. Not bouncing, not nursing, nothing. It's just terrible. He stays awake for about 2 hours. I'm really hoping these bad nights are few and far between because they make for a very tired mom and dad.

He still loves mirrors so we have a good time making funny faces. He also watches me try to high five him and practice waving and I think he's finally starting to get it! Maybe.

And now, more pics from the week!

Smiling at Aunt Leslie's dogs, off camera.

Not that you can tell, but rooting on the Steelers with Daddy's hat

Asleep because he was completely bored with my wandering through the Christmas decoration aisles. I don't know why he didn't find it fascinating.

Plum and grape puree...yum!

And this is one of John's favorite pictures of all time. He thinks he looks like a Disney character. I think it's pretty cute too. I just wish he wasn't sitting in front of a toilet. But, hey, I have to brush my teeth at least once a day. :)

Five for Friday: Things I Love About Fall

My Top 5 Things I Love About Fall:


Okay, I realize that LA doesn't get a "real" Fall but still, there's a slight climate shift.

5. The coffee I get on my morning walk tastes even better now that it's actually chilly outside.

4. I get to wear my scarves, boots, and coats.

3. Christmas decorations arrive in stores.

2. Baked goods made with pumpkin are everywhere.

1. Thanksgiving. Already looking forward to a delicious and decadent family meal with turkey, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, and cranberry!

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

I recently read this awesome article over at Jezebel about parenting and sharing in this age of blogs and facebook and open honesty. It particularly resonated after a facebook friend (who is not a parent) made a semi-humorous update to all those new parents who posted pics of their kids in their Halloween costumes to tell them that the kids look uncomfortable and miserable, not cute. I took exception mainly because Jack looked happy as hell in his tiger costume. But I get it, non-parents don't get all gaga over pics of cute kids. But with all these easy avenues for sharing (facebook, blogs, emails, photo texts) how much is too much? As the article says, if you boast too much about your kid, you're an ass. And if you complain too much about the downside, you're an ass. So you pretty much can't win. But, as you know, it is awesome being a parent and, at the same time, there's plenty to complain about. But how do you effectively describe the experience when people only want a short 5 word answer? Here's my favorite part of the article...an amazing run-on sentence: (you can read the whole article here)

In the sound byte of time allowed for humans to actually talk to each other in real-life settings such as jobs, what are the odds that you can convey the full range of the parenting experience to a childless person in such a way that everyone around you can get that you definitely don't think your kid is special in the annoying way, but that you definitely love your kid in the normal way that means you're probably gonna think it's pretty special, but that it's hard to be a parent, but that it's not so hard that you're being a martyr about it, but that it's also awesome, but that you feel like people could use more help and planning and better networks for child-rearing, but that you're definitely not complaining as if you're some kind of victim, but that you definitely chose to be a parent and could have chosen not to, but that it's super rewarding, but that it also doesn't mean that you're not allowed to say it's really extra fucking hard?

Yup, it's hard as hell. But also amazing. And my kid is normal. Which means he's the greatest, most special kid in the whole world. ;-)

High Five!

I've been trying to teach Jack how to high five for what seems like months. He still doesn't quite have the hang of it (at all) but he does think I'm ridiculous for trying.

Jack's 1st Halloween

Jack and I had a great Halloween. I started the day by dressing him in his "My First Halloween" onesie because, well, no need to state the obvious.

We then got to work carving our pumpkin. He sat on my lap while I did a very basic pumpkin. It was about all I could muster. But he seemed pleased.

Aunt Leslie came over to check out our handiwork. And to get a pic with the cutest kid ever.

And she helped by taking a picture of mom and son.

Jack humored me while I took a lot of pictures of him because I just thought he looked adorable. And he was just so excited to be hanging out in the doorway, waiting for trick-or-treaters.

Then it was time to get dressed and, man, it was hard not to eat him up he was so darn cute.

Luckily, John was able to get off work early so he could make it home in time for the festivities. Jack was super pleased.

Right around his bedtime, we put him in the car and whisked him away to the "popular" neighborhood for trick-or-treating. It was only about a mile or two away but there were a TON of kids there. Which is all he really wanted to see anyways. At one particularly festive house, Fozzie the Muppet greeted Jack and I think he liked it.

There were a lot of super decorated houses and he seemed to take it all in.

John made it his goal to have Jack grab candy himself out of bowls and he succeeded. Very quickly Jack discovered how to grab a candy and, miraculously, he even managed to drop it in his candy bag one time. Most people loved seeing the adorable tiger and only one grumpy old woman made a comment about his parents collecting candy for themselves. Yeah, I get it, he doesn't eat candy. We're just doing it for fun.

Towards the end he was rubbing his eyes and making a move to breastfeed and fall asleep so we packed the tired boy back in the car and headed home. He was wiped out but I think it was a successful first Halloween!