First library loan

Today Will and I stopped by the library on our walk home from daycare. I was hoping to find my next book club book, but it was already checked out. I was going to leave, but then figured since we had walked there we might as well stay for a few minutes. So we headed to the children's room, just to check it out. I thought we'd just browse, but then I got the idea to look for some baby music CDs. They didn't have a huge selection (this is a small library), but I was impressed by their organization--CDs for little babies had green stickers on them, so all I had to do was take a quick look to find age-appropriate music. But what I liked best about the experience was Will's reaction. As we walked through the aisles of books he looked all around and oooohed and aaaahed. Going to the library was one of my favorite things to do as a kid, so I was really excited by his enthusiasm.

This past weekend Megan came to visit, and we had a lot of fun. We went to the mall on Saturday and Sunday were snowed in for a lot of the day. Will and I did take a quick trip to play with Carter and his mom, which was a good time. Carter was either more used to us, better rested, or just more comfortable in his own home, since he was much happier and more smiley than he was last week at our place. The babies played with toys together and the moms drank hot chocolate.

This coming weekend is going to be huge! Julie, Tobias, and Oliver are rolling (flying, actually) into town Thursday evening, which I am very excited about. And on Sunday Chris, Jenny, and Rorie are driving down from Baltimore, where they are attending a conference. I'm really looking forward to getting the three babies together and seeing so many Santa Barbara friends for the first time since becoming parents.

First Snow

This past week with Will has been fun. Last weekend he experienced his first real snow fall, which I thought he'd enjoy, but he gasped with indignation each time a flake fell on his cheek. So we didn't stay outside for very long. He did look very cute in his snowsuit, though, so I guess I'd say that it was fun for me, but not so much for him.

Also last weekend he decided again that cereal really is OK, as you can see above. Then Monday was a holiday, and his first friend Carter came over to play. I think his mom was a little disappointed that the two boys didn't interact more, but I'm pretty sure they did all right, considering that they are four and five months old, a bit young to really play together. But it was nice having them over and Will and I are going over to their house on Sunday to play again.

Also this week we had playgroup at a local library, where we sat with some of the babies and moms that we met recently and like a lot. The heat in the library must have been on overdrive, though, because it was probably 85 degrees in that room. I thought I would sweat to death and Will was wearing a fleece outfit, so I stripped him down to his under-onesie, a near-naked state that he adores (note the smile on his face as he eats almost naked above). So he had a great time rolling around playing with toys, hardly wearing any clothes at all.

the weekend

This week has lasted forever, and I'm not sure why. I got out of work two hours early on Tuesday and got to go in two hours late on Wednesday because of an ice storm. And today I didn't go at all because of a book club meeting with the moms' group (I worked extra hours last week and on Monday to make up for today). But still, Wednesday felt like it should have been Friday. And yesterday was quite an adventure coming home from work. I picked Will up at daycare and put him in the stroller, not even considering how poorly cleared the sidewalks would be between daycare and home. For anyone considering buying a baby stroller, I highly recommend the Graco Metrolite, except in the snow, where it is useless. In fairness, I'm sure it's not designed to operate on snowy sidewalks, and I really should have realized in advance that it would be a problem. I could have taken the metro home and then taken the car to pick up Will. Instead I carried the entire stroller, including the carseat, baby, and breastpump underneath, over blocks and blocks of uncleared or partially cleared sidwalks. We stopped pretty regularly to rest. At one point a firetruck (an SUV, actually) stopped and the driver asked if we were OK. I (stupidly) said we were fine, thanks. I bet he would have driven us home if I had not said that we were OK. But eventually we made it and I will never do that again. At least until the next time.

On the feeding front, things are not going well anymore. The first two days Will loved rice cereal. Since then, he's hardly wanted to touch it. I've tried mixing it with formula and breastmilk, and it doesn't seem to make a different. We've tried oatmeal the last couple of days and he won't eat that either. I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't taken so readily to it last weekend. I'm not worried because it would be fine if we didn't even start him on cereal until six months, but I find it pretty strange. I've tried at different times in the day and at different times in his eating schedule. At best he is indifferent to the cereal and plays with the spoon, thus avoiding the offense of possibly eating anything. At worst he makes this hideously disgusted face as soon as he tastes it and then chokes before spitting everything back out. Maybe he just doesn't like cereal. I don't like cereal all that much, after all.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This just in

Rice cereal mixed with breastmilk is delicious. Rice cereal mixed with formula...not so much.

An eager eater

Today is Will's five-month birthday! Instead of eating cake, we celebrated this weekend by giving him his first taste of rice cereal. He loved it. He mastered swallowing surprisingly quickly, so I think that more than half of the cereal actually ended up in his belly instead of on his bib.

Last night we went to "Family Night Out" with the moms and babies group that I joined a while back. It was fun to meet all the dads for the first time. We also reconnected with Will's first friend Carter, who hasn't made it to any of the playgroups because his mom works fulltime. They live close to us, so his mom and I planned to get together for walks and to let the babies play together sometime.

This past weekend I had the plague, part two. I thought I was better the beginning of last week, but then it all got bad again, this time with a stuffy head, sore throat, and earache. By Sunday morning I was starting to wonder if I had the flu, despite having been super responsible and getting a flu shot this year. But by late Sunday afternoon I was feeling a lot better, and I'm doing all right today, even though Will and I were up for the day at 5:40. I guess he was excited about his birthday.

Will's big-boy chair

Since Will turns five months old on Feb. 12, and that's when we're starting him on solid food, we got him a high chair. It's actually a booster seat that straps onto a regular chair. Julie and Tobias got the same one for Oliver, and Julie recommended it. So far we love it. Will can sit at the table with us when we eat, which is much nicer than having one of us hold him, which is what we've been doing for the last four months. It turns out that Will is maybe a bit small for this seat, but we started packing a blanket around him and that works just fine. We look forward to his first experience with rice cereal next weekend!

I have had the plague since Thursday and took my first non-maternity-leave sick day in over a year on Friday. Matt took Will to daycare and picked him up on his way home from work, which allowed me my first unrestricted nap since early September. Part of me felt like if I wasn't going to work Will should stay home with me, but the rest of me barely had energy to put on socks, much less keep a baby happy and occupied all day. Plus Will laughs when we drop him off at daycare and cries when I pick him up, so he seems to like it there. In any case, I'm feeling a lot better now so I'll be making an appearance at my office tomorrow, even though the high for the day is supposed to be 23 and I have to call an attorney back about a case that I really don't want to discuss.