Waking up

Why does Oliver insist on waking up at 6 AM on Saturday and Sunday? The little Hobbit (see pic) was wide eyed and raring to go. Along comes Monday and he decides to sleep in until 8 AM? This hurts Alissa more than me, but I hurt anytime I have to wake up at 6 AM. I have heard stories from friends about not getting to sleep past 5 AM since their baby was born 2 years ago. The thought of such a horror is more than I can comprehend.

Lack of sleep is my Kryptonite.

Finally getting to enjoy the outdoors.

Today Oliver experienced his first run. The side-waIks are finally clear enough from snow for a stroller So I ran while he rode in his Chariot. I was exhausted at the end due to being grossly out of shape, thank you again New England winter. Oliver apparently was even more exhausted than I was, he passed out half way thru the run.

Once we got back to the house it was warm enough to sit on our porch swing for a few minutes. Oliver was mesmerized by a pine tree blowing in the wind. It is probably the first pine tree he has ever seen. He then tried crawling out of my arms while spinning to look up at the big oak tree in our front yard, never mind the ten foot drop beneath him, he was blown away.

He just takes it all in and is amazed by the smallest things. Those five minutes on our porch with him made me 'stop and smell the roses' as they say. Seeing the wonder in his eyes is what blows me away.

I have been looking forward to turning him on to nature ever since I found out Alissa was pregnant. I love being outdoors and I want to share my love for the outdoors with my son for his benefit. I never thought how inspiring seeing him experience nature would be for me.

How are babies like basketball?

Have you ever tried to feed an infant solid food? Getting the last two bites down is like the last two minutes of a close college basketball game.

The last two bites of food take about thirty minutes, it's ugly, and nothing much seems to be accomplished for all of the effort.

The way things change...

Alissa, Norman and I used to go hiking a lot. We would leave early in the morning, drive two hours and hike all day in the mountains. Now that we have a little one we have not been hiking once. I have been needing to get outside so last week I got online and bought a baby carrier back pack and two pairs of snowshoes so the family could all go hiking.

Yesterday, I got everyone together and we went hiking. By which I mean this; it took forty minutes getting everyone dressed and prepared to face the elements and on the way to the trail when Alissa realized she left her shades at the house I was accused of rushing all of us. :) We drove five minutes down the street to a little park with trails.

Once at the park we put Oliver in his back pack, I put the back pack on and then we tried to put on our snowshoes. I put Alissa's on her and then I fumbled with mine. It was like adjusting new ski equipment on the side of a hill but with a baby screaming in my ear.

We hiked for twenty minutes and then called it a day due to the baby being cold.

Forty minutes getting ready at the house, five minutes of driving, ten minutes of snowshoe testing for twenty minutes of hiking.

Things have changed. But I am looking forward to more experiences just like this in the future.

Things you will never see in Texas...

My beer cooler for the winter. I built it for the Super Bowl. By 'built' I mean I watched three feet of snow pile up on my back deck over the course of a couple of weeks and at just the right moment, I stuck my beer in the mound of snow.

The Characters...

Our son Oliver @ six months (not wearing new hat)

The Characters continued...

My wife Alissa and me (in summer)

The Characters continued...

Norman (our Golden-Doodle)

The Characters continued...

Our House (in winter)

First Post

I have not written the 'First Post' before now because I was waiting for something really big to happen. I wanted the first post to be something noteworthy or really funny. But, the reality of staying at home with your baby is there is a whole bunch of 'normal' and mostly routine. Not many huge events go down.

Over the past few weeks Oliver and I have been hanging around the house watching the snow pile up by the foot outside. All my spare time (away from Oliver) has been dedicated to keeping our house from loosing it's battle against the elements. I have never seen so many leaks in a house. As a consolation they say this is the worst winter Boston has seen in at least six years.

So, today, we are hanging out, listening to Radiohead's 'The Bends' with me writing this post and Oliver trying in vain to grab Norman's (our Golden-doodle) tail from his Exersaucer.

But, I did find a Oliver a new hat.