Raising Watsons

Today, Tucker went to the Dr for his second round of vaccines. We’re proud to report that at 4 1/2 months he’s 26.5 inches long and weighing in at a healthy 18.2lbs. Every ounce of it thanks to Moms milk. He’s never had anything else which was apparent during the oral vaccine.

Tucker fought it because it’s thick and sweet (like Karo syrup) and completely unlike the milk to which he’s accostomed. He spit up some and the nurse pinched his cheeks and gave him another squirt. Tucker became pretty angry so I picked him up to soothe him a bit. He fussed, I held, and the nurse said “ohhh I’m sorry sweetie”. Tuckers head did a 180, he looked the nurse in the eye, lurched forward toward her face and blared an angry stecatto “bwa waah AHH”.

Of course I’ve heard my son make that sound before but I’ve always assumed it was a general proclamation of discontent aimed no more at me than the doorknob. But what I witnessed today was a direct and deliberate communication, a warning. “Listen lady, do not come near me again with that stuff.”

He kept a wary eye on her the rest of the visit. Suffice to say, that nurse is outside the Circle of Trust (see below). I left the visit feeling a little redeemed. This guy may look like Ben but he’s clearly got some of Mom in there too.

Graphical representation of the Circle of Trust

It’s moving week and an exciting one it’s been at that.

There were a few surprises like needing to buy a last minute fridge, but for the most part it went smoothly.  Except for the fridge, we still don’t have one.  But otherwise, we’re pretty comfortable and all moved in to our new home in Manhattan Beach.

A big reason we’re completely unpacked is thanks to our nanny, Karla.  Who worked tirelessly with her daughter to help us move in.  They unpacked, cared for Tucker and made us lunch.  It’s funny thinking back on the circumstances when I took the picture below.  It was my first day back at work and I was getting the photo as evidence in case she should steal Tucker for the slave trade.  I made Ben take a picture of her license plate too.  (Someone watched too much Law & Order SVU over her maternity leave.)

Tucker had fallen asleep on her before I left for work.

Saying goodbye to Redondo Beach.

First nap in our new home.

Everyone says Tucker looks like Ben when he’s cranky.

Here we are at 4 months already! I can’t believe that we were in surgery just 4 short months ago and BANG, we had a beautiful little boy … And they let us take him home!! Here’s a picture from a few weeks ago but it is definitely worth the wait! I just could not stop laughing after I slipped this onesie over your head. You looked just like a Guillermo del Toro creature. Adorable.

Happy Fathers Day everyone!

We had to stop by the Apple store today so Mom could pick up a couple iPads for work and BOY was it exciting. Dad would have just torn the boxes open as soon as they swiped the credit card if we hadn’t gotten our iPad just a few days earlier. I figure it’s never too early to introduce the boy to the right way to do things! But who knows what company or device will be on top of the dogpile when Tucker’s old enough to choose for himself. Hopefully this won’t be one of those stereotypical teenage decisions where he chooses the opposite of what Dad likes to use. *shudder* he could be using a windows mobile device or even a blackberry. It’s too awful to think about.

May 15th, Tucker is almost 12 weeks old and Mom played her first post pregnancy game against Tucson Roller Derby.

Gramma came out to stay with us for a week and help the little man transition from spending every day with his awesome mom, to spending the day with our wonderful nanny.  Gramma has had TONS of experience with little tiny babies lately as she is the dedicated go to caretaker for all the new mommies at West Nottingham.  Mom and Dad even got to go see a movie, the first one since our guy was born!  I think Gramma had the most fun on this trip, but we could see how happy Tucker was each day when we got home from work.  He got to go on long walks down to the riviera, got plenty of tummy time (much to his chagrin), and got his first taste of the jumper.  We see the jumper as quickly becoming his favorite thing on earth since he already loves to stand and show everyone just how big he’s getting …

Standing for Something

Some Jumper Action Shots

BBQing outside with Dad on Memorial Day

he just looks so mischievous here, like a mini-mini-me

Bouncy Seat of Smiles

What a wonderful visit we had, now we just have to figure out how to get Gramma back here a few more times!

So there we were in deepest West Hillywood attending the first reunion of The Sanctuary birth class of early 2010.  Five families started with similar birth plans which resulted in five completely different birth stories. Overall we had two cesarean sections, one hospital birth, and two water births at home.  It was so nice getting together again, we share a mutual obsession for our own babies and each others.  All the babies had met previously during our many hours of class time, no surprise they were completely comfortable with each other and so curious!  At one point one of the babies let out a big belch and a unanimous roar went up from the whole crowd.

Here’s the first yearbook shot of all these babies:

From left to right: Cassius, Tucker, Mylo, Emerson, & Shyela.

And here’s their fan club …