Four Months Old

Well, the Qster turned 4 months old this past weekend and celebrated by getting up at 3:30 am to start the work week. He's sort of like an adult - he sleeps in, or in his case through the night on the weekends and likes to start the day early on the week days to the chagrin of Mom and Dad. He did two nights in a row of sleeping all the way through the night and we foolishly thought we may have stumbled upon a sleeping break through. That would be one of those knock on wood moments that passed without actually knocking on some wood and man, did we pay the price. I had to travel out Monday night and didn't arrive to my destination until midnight giving me far too long of a day. Carrie won rights to being home alone with the mutt and our infant solo. We are really getting accustomed to cruising through the day dazed and confused. To our surprise I don't think anyone has really noticed. It's a good thing we don't use chainsaws for a living.

The big news of the day is Quentin has contracted some diaper rash. His first rash! Put it in the baby books. Believe it or not we went out and bought something and I am being literal here (google it) Butt Paste. Apparently, the paste works really well. He doesn't appear to have any discomfort by it but I know I wouldn't want to be running around with a rash so to be freakishly cautious parents he's heading in to see the pediatrician on Friday. I'm sure the doc will enjoy inspecting our child's first rash. What a great moment. I think this is exactly why we bought the HD video camera. It's these kinds of moments that the grandparents want to be a part of but due to long distance living were not possible until now. And in stunning HD. Good thing we'll have the goods to bring to Sconny next week for all to view. I know Q will appreciate these moments when he's dating in high school. This is exactly the kind of thing that assures your child makes curfew on the weekends.

Speaking of foolish incidents and adolescents. It turns out my brother-in-law (16 mature years under his belt) was "performing" some sumo wrestling techniques in geography class and was taken to the floor while having his arm snapped. Yowsers, that's one tough A in geography. I guess they were studying Japan and this is how the school system in Iowa teaches geography. (Anyone smell law suit)? It sounds like the local doc thought the break was a little out of his league and sent him to the orthopedic surgeon. That's not a good sign right before the snow melts. Will it actually melt? Is spring ever going to arrive in the Midwest? The nerdy weather guy says yes, but the weather gods seem to say no. At any rate say a little prayer for our fallen teen as his sumo career, brief but extremely entertaining to classmates, came to a crashing halt today. I leave you with one laughing, extremely happy Q turning 4 months.

Did I just sleep through the night?

Quentin slept all the way through the night yesterday and his timing couldn't have been better. On Thursday night we had a guest and stayed up a little late catching up on old times. That made for a rough Friday as we didn't get the number of hours required to be a parent so we applaud Quentin's sleeping powers and impeccable timing. He didn't let us get off quite that easily, though. I got up and decided to change him this morning. Since his "changing table" on the first floor is his pack and play it sits low and forces you to lean over for a few minutes creating havoc on your back so I decided to put down his changing pad on our bed and change him there. Well, all was going well and he was happy as ever. I get the diaper off him, turn around to grab the diaper from the pack and play staging area (while holding on to him - we learned that in parenting class) and of course in the 3 seconds it took me to turn around he's vandalizing our bed with his whazzer. In that 3 seconds he managed to spray himself, his outfit, our comforter, our sheets and mattress pad - all while smiling enjoying every minute of it. It's the first time I've had a whazzering incident while changing him. It's safe to say our linens are being washed today and we may be in the market for a new duvet. That thing is dangerous. I am happy I didn't turn around and get sprayed myself, so that was a bit of a relief. In the first two hours of waking up I've had my bed thoroughly peed on, picked up 3 dog dumps (I know?!) and upon coming back in from doing that have Q drop a load and get to change his very nasty diaper. I think I want to go back to bed. No one told us having a dog and kid was going to be similar to working at the water treatment plant. I have a bar of soap permanently attached to my hands for more efficient cleaning.

We don't have much going on this weekend and we're happy to hear it. We got a family walk in this morning and showed off Q to some of our neighbors. We think we are going to check out an art show in Tarpon Springs, which is a little north of here. It's a little warm today and pretty humid. I think we are beginning to lose our optimal weather as the humidity has been creeping up a little. We could really use some rain. They have banned all sprinkler use, car washes, any fountains public or private and whatever else you can think of using water. You can only use a hose (with a shut off device) to water your lawn. In other words you have to have a nozzle so you just can't run the hose. It's crazy. We need the rain. I leave with a picture of Quentin in his car seat. As you can see he doesn't like it and immediately upon strapping him in, this is the sad look he gives you. The wailing starts shortly after...

Smiling and Giggling

Quentin had another round of pictures taken with a photographer and learned how to smile in these. They turned out great. We were very happy and Quentin looks like he enjoyed the experience as well. I have included the link to the photog's site. I'm not sure how long they will remain up but you can check them out at http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=f7126acd-d556-4bf2-983b-c6527d82a587. Apparently this won't hyperlink in blog-land. It did when I tested it across email so it looks like you will have to copy and paste the address into a browser if you want to check them out. I was just informed that the photographer was an attractive blonde and Quentin was putting on a good show flirting, contributing to the smiles. Yes, he is all man even at 18 pounds.

Quentin is also learning how to giggle and if you laugh at him for an extended period of time you can contagiously give him the giggles. Once he gets going it's pretty funny as he learns how to hysterically laugh. It's hard for you to keep laughing for minutes at a time but I can fake it pretty well and he seems to really get into it. As you can see from the pictures he's really gaining personality and growing up. It's been a lot of fun to watch him mature if only for a few months. He's really close to learning how to roll over from his back to his tummy. (Apparently, it's a lot easier to go the other way as he's been doing that for quite a while). We're hoping he picks that up soon. He can almost get over, but can't quite make it, which causes him to spin around like the hands on a clock. We will put him to bed facing horizontal in the crib and come up in an hour and his head will be facing the opposite direction. He's trying so hard to roll over he ends up spinning his whole body all the way around (like the stooges). This is causing him to rub all his hair off so we figure the sooner he learns to roll over the faster it will grow back because he won't be constantly sleeping on his back.

I leave with a great picture. We call it milk-gut. It must be so nice to let it all hang out with no fear of what other people are thinking. Hilarious. What a great comfort zone!

Staying up all night!

Well, I've been getting a taste of Carrie's life the last few days as she hasn't been feeling well so I've attempted to take over "mommy" duties in the middle of the night. I'll be honest - crashing and burning might be too nice of a way to describe my mommy skill set. I think it's good we have two parents (male/female) in this household because the experience has made it crystal clear that a mommy I am not.

I (read she) decided I would take the 2:30 am feeding on Saturday night. That lasted until about 5 am when junior decided he was finally ready to retire after that marathon of a feeding. "But Dad, I just want to play all night." That's sweet, now go to sleep! That right there pretty much cured me. I have no problem sleeping through the night while the wife gets up for several wee hour feedings. Not so fast she says. Fortunately that was Saturday night and we could "sleep in" Sunday morning. I was a zombie, which was a good thing because the Badgers couldn't buy a hoop in their elimination game on Sunday. This left the swear jar relatively free of my loose change. I was too tired to complain, rant and scream as I do so well during games. But, wait there's more. I woke up last night at 4:30 to find an exhausted wife throwing in the towel. What's that noise? Oh, our son wanting someone, anyone to pick him up. Lucky? Um, hello? You cost us a lot of money and provide minimal babysitting. Nothing. That dog is so lucky (pun intended) he doesn't find himself at the pound. I guess that's my cue. Ya, never made it back to bed after arriving at the crib at 4:30. So the work week started a few hours before dawn. We are going through coffee like we have our own bean factory out back. Juan! Has anyone seen Juan Valdez? We're ready for another crate of coffee.

While I was up in the nursery at 4:30 am I did get to see Martha Stewart's weekend handiwork. The nursery has been deemed finished, complete with Quentin spelled out in wooden letters above the crib. The curtains have been hung, the paintings painted. Yes, Carrie painted four, count em' four paintings that match his bedding. I'm telling her to start marketing this stuff on ebay or something for extra income. The store were we bought our rocker/recliner for the nursery was selling kids' names (wooden letters) painted on a dowel for $30/letter. Yikes. I told her to make em' and sell them for $10/letter. She could quit her job for that kind of coin. At any rate it looks great so that's the pictures for today.

St. Patrick's Day

Uncle Spuke made it down from Wisconsin to celebrate his birthday on St. Patrick's Day. This was his first opportunity to meet Quentin so it was nice for them to finally be introduced. Everybody got dressed up for the occasion and I have attached a few pictures of Quentin debuting his new St. Patty's Day outfit complete with shamrock sunglasses. Too cute! I took some time off, which gave Quentin less time at daycare, which made for a happy family. Quentin was ultra-crabby on the days we took him to daycare around noon so I think taking him out of his routine made him fussy. We couldn't figure out why he was being so crabby so on the third day we took him to daycare early again and didn't have any problems. I guess even a three month old doesn't like change.

The teachers at daycare have been putting him in a bouncy seat where he sort of stands and bounces around. He seems to really like that so the other day when Carrie was picking him up they put him in there to show Carrie how much he liked it. Guess what? We're buying one! He is much more into walking/standing than he is in to tummy time, which should be the precursor to crawling. The teachers have "shamed" us for not putting him on his tummy more. (He's supposed to be spending an hour a day like that and he probably doesn't clock that much time a week). Can babies skip that step all together? He doesn't last long when you put him on his stomach but he sure does like standing around and jumping up and down. We just hold him under his armpits for balance and he jumps all around happy as a clam. The next few months should be interesting as he continues to gain coordination. This week he learned to pull on his toys that play music. Spuke was there to witness the inaugural pull. We were not standing near him and all looked at each other trying to figure out how the music played and looked over to see Quentin, with his kung-fu grip, firmly attached to the toy. He's got that part down, but is having trouble letting go and since to pull these toys it's a stretch I think he wants his arm back so we have to pry his fingers off to get him to release, but he's making progress.

He continues to grow like a weed and is wearing 9 month old outfits now. We are curious to see how much he weighs. The wife thinks he will come in around 15-16 pounds but I can tell you he weighs more than that. I think he's closer to 20 and will come in the 17-18+ pound range. His next doctor's visit is the first week of April so we'll find out soon. We bumped into some other parents of infants who thought they had a large child and when they saw Quentin's birth date on his crib and how big he was they knew there son was no match for our future NFLer. Quentin - making parents jealous everywhere. He is losing is locks though at breakneck speed. He's definitely developing some male pattern baldness. He's pretty much lost a solid ring going around the back of his head and only has really long strands that we do our best to comb over to keep up appearances. Fortunately, we are quickly becoming comb-over experts. It's a bit of a bummer so I hope he learns to move around more while sleeping so it can grow back. He's like Samson, his hair is his calling card so we want to keep it.

Lastly, if you missed it last night I'll provide a quick recap of the very exciting Badger win over the Florida State Seminoles in the NCAA tourney. The Badgers played Florida State in their bowl game for football this year and got their clocks cleaned so I wasn't looking forward to another local loss but Bucky pulled it out in overtime last night after being down 12 points at the half. Do yourself a favor and turn on sportscenter and watch the highlights. It was an awesome game and the win means Quentin and I will have something to do on Sunday as we watch Bucky take on Xavier in round two. Enjoy the pics!

So much to catch up on...

I need to update everyone on what's going on. I have been out enjoying the beautiful 4 degree temperatures of the great state of Iowa and just returned. I can't believe it's the middle of March and still so frigidly cold. When you can count the temp on one hand you realize how nice it is that we live in Florida. Upon getting off the plane and watching the mercury rise nearly 80 degrees it's like having new life breathed into you. I am wearing travel clothes/warm clothes so I get home and change into shorts and a t-shirt. It's mid-afternoon so I decided I would run to daycare and pick up the Qster a little early to see him. I get him and he's pretty happy. I take him home and Carrie is still working so we get to spend some quality time together, which he uses to poop on me. What a cutie! So, I have this shirt on for a whole hour and already I'm on number three if you count changing upon getting off the plane. Carrie finishes up with work and the dog is dying and I mean dying for some attention so I take him outside to throw the football around. He too is hoping for an NFL career. I sit down on our patio and feel something hit me on the neck. What was that? I got pooped on by a bird. Can you believe that? I've been home for three hours and I've changed one outfit and had two more pooped on. I'm a friggin magnet for poop. I'm giving up at this point and not even putting another shirt on. I go inside, get rid of the bird poop shirt and pick up Quentin who proceeds to give me a purple nurple. He's got the kung fu grip on my nipple looking for who knows what and he's twisting baby. It hurts and because his hands are so small it's impossible to pry your giant hand inside his to get him to let go, so I'm running around the kitchen trying to get him to let go. Carrie walks into the kitchen asking what's going on? She's got her husband shirtless (looking all buff) and her son hazing him. What's going on in here? What's going on indeed. Welcome home dad.

Quentin has discovered his lungs and let me tell you he knows how to use them. Yesterday, he straight "talked" at full volume for well over an hour. It's cute for a while but can also cause a headache. It's screaming. You can't believe how loud it is. S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G at full volume. He's been waking up doing it too, so we truly do have an alarm clock. Picture yours with no snooze button. We are really working on dada and the occasional mama. Yesterday in preperation for his Uncle's arrival we worked on Spuke for a while. Spuuuuuke. It's a lot like moo so I think we may have a shot at that one.

Daycare has been going a little better. They still don't speak English and I am thinking about teaching them English an exchange for free daycare. We did go an entire week getting his correct bottles returned so we are making some progress. Carrie bought some fancy labels and everything has our Quentin crest (a fish) and his name complete with German heritage 11 letter last name. I can't imagine any kid in there that can compete with that. One of the other infants in there was diagnosed with RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). I guess it's highly contagious and pretty common. Once a kid gets it the virus spreads like wild fire. These kids don't cover their mouth when they cough and sneeze. Super strength Quentin's immune system prevailed though, and he made it through the week without contracting the virus. I think this also bodes well for the daycare folks being good at deep cleaning the facility.

Quentin and I got all ready for the Big Ten Tourney yesterday. Mom took off and got a pedicure. It was a win-win for everyone. Here he is in his gear. We lost the game, but we're not very good. We will get another chance to win one most likely when we get picked for the NCAA tourney starting next week. Here is one with him sticking his tongue out at the beach. He's got some sunscreen on his face. I also have him riding Lucky one day with a little help. We need a saddle!

Sun, fun and moving out

Well, our little shorty Quentin made it through his first full week of daycare. I decided to get back in the saddle and picked him up (without Carrie chaperoning) on Wednesday. He was fussy but I was far more prepared with corks in both hands, toys, the AC blasting and lots of mooing. I got him to sleep about half way through the trip so I am making progress. After analyzing his schedule a bit it shows he is eating and playing and then we are picking him up, which would mean we are getting him when he is at his crabbiest and in need of a nap. He likes to be held, rocked or whatever and then he falls a sleep and you can put him down to take a nap. Well, we are picking him up and playing with him a bit and then putting him in the car seat leaving him alone in the back crabby and crying so we need to adjust our technique a bit. After the wailing you would have to be pretty stupid to not adapt; a real glutton for punishment. I am not and we adjusted nicely and had minimal incidents the remainder of the week.

Carrie picked him up today and I think we are making some serious progress weening Q off the constant mom attention. Actually, it's more like we are weening Carrie off Q. She is progressing nicely through the daycare process and after weeks of nagging I think Quinny is going to move out of our room. Yes, he is still in there. One of Carrie's aunts commented about one of her children that she says was in their room for two months and acted like that was about 5 weeks too long. Well, he's 14 weeks old and still living with mom and dad - in the same room, with the dog. It's getting crowded. Thankfully we didn't have twins or we would need to remodel our bedroom. Today was the elusive day a baby monitor was purchased. The $8 million fortress of the emperor we built for him upstairs is actually going to house someone before they become a teenager. Did you know baby monitors come in video form these days? We can now spy on our child 24/7. Not only that but a beach umbrella was purchased today so we can finally make it to the beach again. It's been ages and the weekend is supposed to be beautiful so we are heading to the beach tomorrow. We'll report this weekend on the results.

I would upload a picture but Verizon's wonderful internet has been down since yesterday morning. They have really been pushing us to get Fios and being a cynic I see this as a ploy to attempt to upgrade us to the same internet at a higher cost. I loathe Verizon and their onslaught of marketing. They are "sending a tech out on Monday at 7pm." Wow, how convenient. So, there won't be any pictures until Verizon techie guy gets us a new modem because our miraculously died at the same time they are putting the full court press on us. How convenient.

Spitting like a man

Well, Quentin has learned a new trick or skill depending on who you are. I thought he was turning into a premier spitter, possibly on his way to the Skoal championships, but more advanced parents have told me that he is blowing bubbles. This is when you pucker your lips like you are going to give someone a smooch. Not a tongue wagging make-out session but a peck like you would give someone on the cheek. And then, well spit. Apparently, all children go through this stage. I was helping him practice as we were spitting on the floor and really doing a good job at it and then someone told me that wasn't the point. What a buzz kill! We have finally gotten past the pooping on everyone and his outfits and yours, so you think you've moved on, but I have just come to the realization that there is a never ending amount of bodily fluids that are going to be ejected from the Qster. When one ends another just picks up where the last one left off. So we have moved on from being covered in poop to being covered in Quentin's spit. After pondering for a moment you realize just how good you've got it. Soaking wet is a lot better then looking like you work in the manure business. I'll take pool boy over manure boy any day of the week. (At daycare today - two outfits got pooped on. Attaboy)!

He's also puking a lot more, which is significantly more disgusting. I don't know what the movie was but around Christmas there was a trailer out there with some kid puking on an unsuspecting guest who was childless (Reese Witherspoon?). It was gross and there was a lot. Yup, that was perfectly accurate. There is a ton. You almost wonder if he is actually eating any of it. Then you look at that gut he's grown and you realize some of it must be going down. He's really growing horizontal more then vertical at this point. He's got one heck of a gut. He's also starting to get the doughboy arms and legs where it's pudge-central. Good for him. I'm trying to lose, he gets to put it on. What a perfect life!

He is officially in full time daycare getting every dollar's worth. Carrie and I have been working on a schedule so we can find some sort of routine. She has been dropping him off in the morning and I've been picking him up in the afternoon. Yesterday was my first day. I almost resigned. I forgot my key so I can't get in. These places are notorious sexist so upon hitting the buzzer I'm immediately judged as a sex offender. Male? Daycare? Obviously he's here to molest the children. Lock down! I need to play 20 questions with the person in charge proving I'm actually related to a child in the building. Note to self to never forget key again. I then don't know how to sign him out so I have to deal with the same lady to walk me through it, all the while giving me the stink eye or maybe it was the evil eye wondering if she should check the sex offender website. I'm clear. I only have to pick up my child, his belongings, strap him in to the car seat, ask a few questions to the non-English speaking teacher who nods politely to all my questions. Wait that wasn't a yes/no question. Forget it. I grab my kid, who is happy to see me and get him into the car. Success!

I drive 10 feet and the wailing begins. He's strapped in. I'm strapped in. He is screaming like I've never heard before. I immediately think my wife has set me up. She purposely chose the morning shift because he's still sleeping and the afternoon is all mine because he's crabby at that point. I knew it! I hit every red light in the state. He's still screaming. I'm slamming his cork (pacifier) in his mouth but within nanoseconds he's spitting it out wailing some more. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Will this traffic please move! For the love can I make one light please!!! Twenty minutes. Still screaming. I round the corner into our subdivision at a conservative 30 MPH. There is some tire screeching. I am hauling into the driveway. I lock the brakes up and get him out of the car like I get paid by the second. I throw the door open, find his mother, pass him to her, immediately make a very important pit stop at the beer fridge. I find the calmness of Heineken. The dutch know how to calm. I think George Bush had it all wrong "torturing" these Al Qaeda folks with rock music 24/7. No, that's a vacation. He should've been pumping in my kid screaming at full volume. After 10 minutes they would've told anyone anything they wanted to know. Osama Bin Laden would already be in custody. I am hoping this was a one time incident or on top of paying for daycare we're going to have to pay for a chauffeur because I can assure you no one can take that on a daily basis. Fortunately, this (hear that sound of knocking on wood?) was a one time incident right? Check out Q growing up. He looks so big already!