this biochemical life

This is a little belated, but I thought the pictures were too cute not to post them. The E-man loved hunting for Easter eggs!

A cake made by Grandma for her grandchildren’s second Easter (you can see a picture of the cake she made last year here at “Easter Part II“). Notice the two candies missing in the lower left-hand corner - the E-man couldn’t wait!

The average high on April 22nd in my city is 59F.  Today, the temperature topped out at almost 80F!!  In April!  Less than a week ago school was canceled due to all the snow from a Nor’easter.  In light of the excellent weather we decided to have an impromptu barbecue.  My family came over and we had roasted chicken breast with pesto and red peppers, roasted corn-on-the-cob, and potato salad (not roasted, of course).  The E-man played outside the whole time.  He had the time of his life.  All the life forms, the worms, the bugs, the dandelions, were new to him.  He spent hours exploring and digging through the dirt.  It was an incredible spring (or summer?) day.

I’m ready, where’s lunch?

And finally, the perfect end to the perfect day:

I was on much-need spring break this week and got to spend some great time with the E-man.  The other night I introduced him to Play-doh for the very first time.  He loved it of course, and played with it for almost 2 hours.

Today we went to Target for a little shopping spree.  I bought “Stranger Than Fiction”, which I really enjoyed.  The E-man got a “Diego” video.  Then we went to the pet store to check out the animals.  We loved the fishes and the birds and the cats!  The small mammals were all missing though.  Hope nothing terrible happened (like a snake got loose!).  Then we went to Price Chopper to get some supplies in case coming Noreaster gets too bad.  He feel asleep on the way home.  We had a great day.  I really wish spring break wasn’t almost over.

Here are a few pictures:

Tonight I was sitting on at a plastic picnic table, watching the E-man while my wife ordered some ice cream. As I was sitting there in the warm summer sun, my son’s wavy blond hair smelling like the beach because of the sunscreen, I realized that this is the best life has to offer. Sometimes we have a hard time making ends meet, our student loans are ridiculous, and we’re tired of renting an apartment instead of having a house, but compared to the treasure that we have those problems seem trivial.  Every so often I realize that moments like yesterday are fleeting, and time passes so quickly.  The E-man is walking like he’s been doing it forever, and his personality is developing with each and every day.   I wanted to stay in that moment forever, but at least I was able to lock it away in my memory.

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday we took a road trip to explore some areas we haven’t been to in quite a while, including the secluded 10,000 acre Winona State Forest which is former farmland reclaimed in the 1930s and 1940s. It’s truly beautiful and has tons of trails. On Sunday, the E-man’s cousin had her 1st birthday party. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time. She’s such a cute baby! Today the E-man’s aunt and grandmother drove down to spend the day with him. We BBQ’d and set up the baby pool, then went out for the aforementioned ice cream! It was a great day. I hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

On Wednesday, the E-man celebrated his very first birthday! I can’t believe that 365 days have passed since we were in a hospital waiting to meet our little guy. It’s been 20 months since we first found out he was on his way. 20 months! That sounds like such a long time, but it’s gone my in the blink of an eye. Although he’s an affectionate and cuddly baby, I still miss the tiny bundle we brought home. Luckily everyday is a new adventure with him and we have so many years to look forward to. The past year has been absolutely incredible. My whole life has been turned upside-down and I wouldn’t change any of it. I never could have imagined where my life has taken me.

On Saturday we had a birthday party here at our apartment for the E-man. It was a Curious George-themed party, and all the family was able to come down to celebrate it with us - about 25 people total. It was so much fun! It was a little stressful and a lot of work, but worth all of it. The first birthday is all about the parents and the family, and everyone had a good time. We baked our own cakes, decorated an empty formula can to turn it into a time capsule (to be opened on his tenth birthday in 2015), and even had a Guess How Many Cheerios Are In The Glass Jar game (a big hit because we seem to have very competitive families!). By the way, it was 827 cheerios. Guess who had to count all those!

A big thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us, to everyone who brought a gift or sent a card, or to anyone who’s supported us over the past year!

Here’s a few pictures from the party:

We made two cakes, a small just for the E-man and a big one for everyone:

And finally, the aftermath:

It reached a high of 65 degrees here in Central New York today, a true sign of Spring. The average high for March 30th is 49 degrees, and we’ve been a lot lower than normal lately. So, as soon as we got home from work, we took the E-man outside and we played on a blanket. He wasn’t too crazy about the grass, maybe because the ground is still a little cold or because it’s such a new sensation for him. Here are some pictures from our evening outside. As you’ll see in the very last picture, it was a pretty strenuous time too!

Last Friday night, the E-man slept through the night, from his bedtime at 6:30 until about 5:00 (our normal wake-up time). He’d only done this once, way back in October, so needless to say, we were pretty thrilled! Unbelievably, he’s been sleeping through the night every night since. It’s been really great. And there’s nothing like going into the nursery in the morning and seeing him be so excited to see us, as if he missed us during the night just as much as we missed him. (It would be nearly impossible for us if we didn’t have the Angel Care Monitor, which has given us so much piece of mind).
I think there are two main factors in his ability to sleep through the night. The first is that last week we moved his crib from our bedroom into his nursery. The second is that we’ve greatly increased the amount of solid food we’ve been giving him. Every evening when we get home from work we all sit down to dinner and he eats solid foods in his high chair. It’s a great way to end the day!
So if you see me, and I look a little rested, now you know why!

I can’t believe that the Eman is now 19.5 weeks old. (Actually, I had to quickly calculate that, using a calculator I found here. Turns out I’m 1542 weeks old!). Last night he was in his swing, and he was reaching for the toys that are attached to the tray. There was a time, not long ago, when he didn’t even know those toys were there! Then he was getting upset because he could reach them and play with them, but he couldn’t pull them into his mouth. So I took out the toy and handed it to him, and you could see the joy and sense of accomplishment in his face. He’s learning by leaps and bounds.

For some reason, his favorite color is orange! That’s works out well since we live near Syracuse, home of the Orangemen! We discovered this tendency accidentally, but now his favorite toys are a Tigger at daycare and a plush Orangemen doll at home. Last night S-mom was showing him a big board book of colors, and when she turned to the Orange page his legs kicked in excitement and he turned to her with eyes that seemed to say, “Is this for real? Is there really that much orange in the world? What a great place this is!” So we had to hug him.

So there’s a growing problem in my family of three with the bottle. Not alcohol, I wish it were that simple!! The E-man refuses to drink from a bottle. He’s four months old (yesterday), and he starts daycare next week, but he won’t take either formula or breastmilk from a bottle.

Now, he used to, long ago, but we didn’t keep up the practice. And now we’re suffering because of it!! We’ve tried 5 different types of nipples, two types of formula, and all sorts of suggestions. Our doctor’s nurse suggested we make the opening of one of the nipples larger, which only made a bigger mess as it ran even faster down his chin and chest. We’ve tried sitting him up, laying him down, different milk temperatures, everything you can think of.

The funniest part about this experience is that he uses the bottle like a gerbil uses a water bottle, you know those ones that hang from the cage? He licks the opening like a gerbil to make milk come out. It’s hilarious, but unfortunately, he doesn’t get enough milk out! So we’ve decided that this weekend Mom is leaving and I will get him to drink from the bottle, come hell or high water. The guilt thing is already building, but this is a block we have to get through in order for daycare to work. Wish me luck!!!