That's One Christmas Down

Owls, the kid is surrounded by owls.  On the walls, above his bed, printed on his bed and now this giant plush one.  He seems to sure love them, as you can see here, but let's be honest for a second, owls are creepy.  They're predators of the night, stealthily and silently killing all sorts of little creatures.  Oh well, it's cool, I kinda like 'em too.

 Anyway, Tuesday was Kathy's last day with us, Porter and I dropped her at the train station and she was off.  In about another four hours from now she'll be back in Canton.  If you're struggling with the math, that's 53ish uninterrupted hours of Amtrak's finest service.  I'm glad she was able to visit us this year and got to meet her grandson.  We'll miss her and look forward to her next visit, likely to occur somewhere other than Seattle.

Porter Meets His Other Grandma

Michele's mom, Kathy, has made the trip out from Ohio for Christmas.  She got her on the 21st and will be here until the 28th.  On top of that, Michele starts a nice four day weekend today so we'll all get to play together for a while.  Merry Christmas everybody!

Flying Solo

So, Michele's been back at work for a couple of weeks now leaving me to care for our kid on my own.  I don't mean to blow my own horn or anything but I think I'm pretty damn good at it.  Anyway, to help with the transition, my mom came out from Arizona for a little bit to help with the transition.  The most important part of her being here was as a safety net as I found my routine, what I need to be thinking about at different times during the day, how I get my normal stuff done without neglecting my child too much, etc.  As an added bonus, mom made dinner every night while she was here, dinners that conformed quite nicely to my diet no less.  She left yesterday just before noon and I'm feeling pretty good about how it all went.  Smooth sailing from here on out, right?

Thanks mom, I got it from here.

Updates Away!

Things are starting to get exciting(like they weren't already) with the boy.  He's regarding his hands all the time, he'll turn them over and clasp them together right in front of his face, looking a little cross eyed the whole time.  He's smiling all the time and Michele and I are starting to figure out things we can do to trigger those smiles.  Just in the last couple days he's started to grasp things that are within his reach, still not the easiest thing for him to pull off but it's pretty cool nonetheless. 

Also, Brandon came over Sunday and graciously took a bunch of pictures for us, I'm still in the process of sorting through them but I'll put the best ones up somewhere soon.  On a related note, Brandon's wife Crystal is at the hospital right now in labor with their own kid.  Is it just me or is everyone having kids right now?

2 months old

Porter is 2 months old now. He had his well child check today and everything seems to be great. He is fatter and taller than most kids his age. His head is so big that it is off the charts compared to kids worldwide and in the 94th percentile compared to american babies (I think he has his dad to thank for that...). He got his first set of shots, and it was most definitely more traumatic for his mother than for him. He cried for maybe 2 minutes. I know that will change as he gets older. And we still have the whole night ahead of us.




I go back to work tomorrow. Sean also goes to work! He'll be taking care of Porter full time, which we both agree will be a tiring but fulfilling job.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Unfortunately the outfit got puked on before we could make it to dinner, but at least I got a picture before it's retirement.

Porter speaks!

Porter has been talking a lot lately. Here is a video where we discuss such important topics as the snow and his cuteness.

Snow Day

Porter got his first exposure to snow today. I don't think he really cares much but it was kind of a big deal for Michele and I. Maybe not a big deal, but a deal nonetheless.

Smiles, For Reals!

Only one day after waxing about how hard it is to catch a smile I'm lucky enough to get the real thing on film(or flash memory as the case may be). Two months old in only a couple more days.

Elusive Smiles

So, the boy's been smiling more and more lately, but never long enough to really get a good picture of it. Every time he starts smiling and I whip out the camera, he stops just before I can capture it. This is the closest I've gotten.

Porter Meets His Uncle

Pat made it up yesterday to see his new nephew and stay the night. He's gone now and hopefully didn't leave too much of an influence on my kid. Can you believe he actually thinks he can make my boy a Raiders fan? I couldn't give two shits about football but I'm going to make Porter into a 49ers fan just out of spite. Seriously though, it was good to see Pat and I was really happy to see him and my boy together.

Just Visiting

John, Eithne, and Atticus have been in town for the last week. It's been a good visit, unfortunately they head back to Detroit tomorrow. Hopefully we'll live closer together in the future and won't have to wait a year plus between get togethers(it turns out we're all thinking seriously about the 'nix as on option right now).

Happy Halloween!

From my lil' skeleton boy.

One Month (Almost to the Minute)

Well, Michele, Porter, and I have made it through the first 30 days without any major incidents, unless of course you count that the kid keeps a pair of hair trigger loaded weapons in his pants. Doesn't look dangerous, does he?


On the plus side, we seem to be getting closer to a bit of a pattern where he will do the lions share of his sleeping during the night. Not all nights are working out so well of course, last night for example consisted of a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth much to my disappointment. At the moment however he is sleeping quite soundly and that's just about right by me.

Porter and His Seven Ackbars

So not long after Porter was born there was a lot of doc talk that was taking place all around me. This is how things normally go with Michele around, she and the doc will talk in their own secret code and Michele will decipher everything for my benefit. However, with Michele in her post delivery state I was not getting the interpretation. There was a lot of talk about his Apgar score and what it was at 1 and 5 minutes. Anyway, what I heard was Ackbar and I just kept imagining my boy with the admiral that led the Rebel Alliance against the Death Star in Return of the Jedi. So, later while sitting in our hospital room I worked up a Photoshopped image of what I was seeing in my head.

May I present Porter and his seven Ackbars:

Welcome to the World My Boy

Porter was born last night at 10:59. At the time of birth he weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces and measured 19 inches long. Both Porter and Michele went through the wringer last night(and me a little too) but everyone's doing fine and we'll all be headed home soon enough.

The Biggest Misadventure to Date

This is Porter:

Michele and I found out that she was pregnant at the beginning of the year. As of right now she's just shy of 20 weeks and due in early/mid September. We found out we were having a boy last Friday and named him Porter. While I actually couldn't give a shit if we have a boy or girl, I've had a boy's name picked out for the last 4 1/2 years. Char, our lovely elderly neighbor from Phoenix, used to tell me all about her husband Porter. He sounded like a good and decent man and I instantly fell in love with the name. On Sunday I told her the news and she wholeheartedly endorsed Michele and I using the name(not that we really needed the endorsement). Anyway, Michele's wrapping up residency in a few months and headed into fellowship while I finish my education in the middle of August. The timing couldn't be better for Porter to come along. I'm getting more excited by the day.