Highlights of a Tennessee Vacation

This May we vacationed in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee with the rest of the R family. We had fun times and did lots of things we almost never get to do, like...

Fly in an Airplane

Taking our 11-week old on a plane wasn't really fantastic for anyone but could have been so much worse.  There was a little fussing and a lot of sleeping, which is better than a lot of fussing and a little sleeping.

"Don't look too happy, you're about to be changing my diaper on the tray table."

Ride in a Car

Tiger Cub spent some time in a car for the first time since the day we brought him home.  And he really loved his cousin's fun toy that stretched across the car seat - so much so that they gave it to us!

So this is how the rest of America travels?  That is sooooo weird!

Hang Out in the Woods

We stayed in a real life log cabin with some amazing views.  Our escape from the concrete jungle found fresh air, trees as far as the eye could see, skies with stars, and only 10 other people in a 5 mile radius (not counting the massive R family).  It had all the amenities that a New Yorker could never take for granted, like decks,  a dining room table, and a grill.  A grill!

Ahh, everything is so green!

Papa and his littlest Yellow Jacket.

Relax and Socialize with Family

Snuggles with GiGi.

Tiger Cub met his older cousin (Tigerette if you will) for the first time.  They did fun things like look at each other through the window.

Nature Walks

Lots of hills, no cars, and a neighborhood peacock made for good walking material.

Eat Barbecue

Real BBQ folks.  Southern BBQ.  Not northern BBQ that pretends to be Southern BBQ.

And with this, our trip was complete!

Have Passport, Will Travel

The Tiger Cub's passport arrived...

                                                                           ...and it couldn't be cuter!

The only thing he's missing is an international destination.

That's not to say he doesn't have eventful summer ahead.  We have trips planned to Tennessee, Georgia, Colorado, and Florida.  All involve air travel and none require a passport.  But you just never know when you might need one.  And don't think we won't be bringing it along just for fun!

We should sign this little jet-setter up for sky miles, no?

First up:  Family vacation in Tennessee starting tomorrow.  Here's to hoping for good behavior and a face that looks like this:

Please don't roll your eyes Mr. Businessman!

The world is your oyster, kiddo.

Fun with Grandpa

Last week our little guy was lucky enough to get a visit from Grandpa.  Randy and I worked much of the week, but as you can see, they had a really big time without us.  

It's hard to beat a mirror for entertainment.

Grandpa and Tiger Cub spent lots of quality time together taking long walks around the neighborhood and picking out treats at every local bakery.

To show you what a difference 9 weeks can make in a baby's life, check out these pics...

February 23 vs. April 30

Since no visit is complete without a field trip to Manhattan...

We ate lunch at a tiny cramped Upper West Side establishment with steps at the entrance and no room for a stroller (yep, that's most restaurants in NYC).  Tiger Cub got passed around while we took turns eating.

Lesson of the day:  Weekday lunchtime is the best time to take a baby to a restaurant.  Far less people to annoy at this time of the day.

Second sit-down restaurant experience (and the first where he reached for the ketchup).

We just knew that Tiger Cub would love and appreciate Central Park (more than last time at least when it was 40 degrees and windy).  And I'm sure he would have enjoyed it if he had bothered to open his eyes even once the entire time.  At least us adults got to enjoy the perfect spring day.

Yes, I was trying to match the trees with my shirt!

And lastly, Tiger Cub says:

Congrats Grandma on winning the Frist Humanitarian Award!  You're the best nurse I know! Can't wait 'til you visit at the end of this month.

It's National Infertility Awareness Week

Before this little mister was born in 2013...

...We started trying to have a baby in 2011.

As the months dragged on we eventually had to see a fertility specialist and learned that I have hypothalamic amenorrhea.  This is the hard-to-pronounce way of saying the brain doesn't send the right signals to the ovaries to produce follicles, an egg never ovulates, and there is never a chance to become pregnant.  Or something like that.

The common causes for this are overexercising and/or undereating.  But it seems that for some of us just being "on the thin side" can be enough to keep things from working properly.  As soon as I found out there is an exercise/body fat connection though, I quit running and gained 13 pounds.  Anything for the cause!

I am very lucky for two reasons.  First, this is a very treatable form of infertility.  Second, I responded beautifully to medications when I did start taking them.  We never had to pull out the "big guns" like hormone injections or IVF.  Oral medications were enough to coax my sorry reproductive system into actually doing something.  And it only took three months to get pregnant once I started taking the meds.  In the world of infertility, this is really awesome.

Unfortunately 1 out of 8 couples is diagnosed with infertility.  So chances are you know one.  And if you know you know one, you should give them a hug.

I know many others will not get results as quickly as we did.  But on this week of infertility awareness, here's to wishing everyone their much-deserved happy ending.

Down with Toys

I've had a feeling that toys are overrated.

Consider that Fisher Price didn't exist when Albert Einstein and Marie Curie were born.  How did they ever become famous physicists without loud plastic light-up battery-sucking toys?!

 Too many toys at my place?  Never!

So this article Why Fewer Toys Will Actually Benefit Your Kids really appealed to my simple, frugal, urban-living-in-a-tight-space side.  It says that fewer toys make kids more creative, resourceful, and appreciative of the finer points in life.  And as an added bonus they get to live in a less cluttered home.  Okay, that last one is for me.  But still.

Babies seem to be quite entertained by non-toys anyway.  You want to know what my 7-week-old's favorite "toys" are?  These picture frames.

Pretty exciting, huh?

No really, he loves them.   Check this out.

Tiger Cub can thoroughly amuse himself for up to 30 minutes at a time with these things.  I can get dressed and eat breakfast while he's still pumping his little legs and chatting it up with the picture frames.  We assume it's either the light/dark contrast that gets him going or he really wants to go to Africa.

Either way, it's a cheap space-saving form of entertainment.

On a related note, thanks to Facebook, I now know that for Easter you're supposed to give your child a basket full of candy and soccer balls.  Even if the child is only three days old.

Sorry Tiger Cub, Mommy wasn't in the loop on that one.  Maybe next year.  Big emphasis on maybe.

Tiger Cub did get all Baby Gapified for Easter courtesy of Grandma Gigi.

This is him wearing his first outfit - khaki pants and a sweater - that doesn't fall into the "pajama" category.  Super stylish.

Things I'm Excited About

Spring!

Ok, it hasn't felt like spring here in New York yet.  But since the calendar says it's so, I have hope.  I'm looking forward to more outings like this one in Central Park

But hopefully much warmer and with leaves on the trees.

Side Note:  Going to Central Park was a little too ambitious with a 3-week-old, particularly the subway ride.  We might just be enjoying walks around our own neighborhood for a while.

Return of Starbucks Dates

 

As far as food establishments go, Starbucks is a pretty safe bet with a baby.  We can always walk out if Tiger Cub starts making a scene.

 Who me?  I would never make a scene at Starbucks!

My Growing Milk Collection

Yep, you can tell an infant lives here!  Pretty soon we won't have much space for real food.

The coffee and pecans must be thinking their days are numbered!

Head Support

Now here's the downfall of being human:  a disproportionately large and heavy noggin at birth.  All the better to think with, for sure, but a lot of weight teetering on top of such a tiny body.

Fun fact:  a newborn's brain is 25% of its full size while his body is 5% of its full size.

 

We're still working on this, but Tiger Cub's neck is getting stronger and his head isn't nearly as "floppy" anymore.   Which makes handling him a little bit easier.

A Week of Firsts

The past few weeks have been full of new experiences for us first time parents and for the little Tiger Cub.  We initially thought we'd hit the baby jackpot with the best behaved baby ever.  Just when our heads started to get really big about it, the little guy started having some fussy periods around the two week mark.  He's still a good baby and we've decided to keep him.

First Time Meeting Grandma GiGi

The trip from Georgia was worth it for that face!

 

First Bath

 

He handled it like a champ!  It only took six adult hands to get the job done.

 Hot tub time ya'll!

 

First Snowfall

 

And we're hoping the last one until next winter!  He's not too impressed with the heavy dusting.

"I'm a northerner!  You call this snow?"

 

First Bottle

 

Randy fed the Tiger Cub his first bottle of breast milk and we plan to keep that up for one meal a day.  Can't wait to sign Randy up for the 3 am shift!  The little guy didn't miss a beat.  Didn't seem to notice that dinner came from a different source or from a different person.  So much for mommy appreciation.

First Calculus Lesson

"You say I must learn triple integrals even though I'll never use them in real life?"

Parenting is a steep learning curve but we're picking it up fast.  

It's amazing how quickly we've gone from "Oh, he got a drop of milk on his shirt, we'd better change his clothes," to "Looks like a little poo on his pant leg, but it's dry so he'll be fine."  I mean, onesies don't grow on trees right?  Besides we have to go all the way to the basement to do laundry and that's not gonna happen every day.