Real Dad of Genius

Am I aging myself with this reference or just showing my cards that I watched way too much TV as a child? Anyway, Fathers Day is coming up and you know me, lighting up this Internet with heartfelt reflections. Will had a tough break as a first-time dad. He only spent two weeks with us before heading off to JAG School, and when he returned after two months, don't you know he was expected to more than carry his weight and help with all things baby when he returned. A lesser man would have pulled the "I don't know how/I'm out of practice/why don't you just do it" card. Not he. Will got right back to fathering that baby like he'd been doing it all his life. (On top of growing multiple blades of grass in our otherwise barren back yard, but that is for another post perhaps.)

This post is dedicated to you, Will Brez, a real dad of genius.

Real dad of genius!

I'm talking to you, Mr. Let's See If The Baby Can Change His Own Diaper:

Of course he can. That baby has the dexterity of a jellyfish and a mind like a steel trap. 

He'll figure it out eventually.

A real baby of genius.

Mr. Wrecking Ball Lullaby Singer:

Why wouldn't that Miley jam be the perfect soothing tune to lull your baby boy right to sleep? It's the perfect soundtrack to his life in light of his new skill of tipping rolling over.

Mr. Baby Fashion Trendsetter:

Tank tops and diapers. Why are pants even a thing anyway? To get pooped on? This baby fashion trend will surely catch on. Your spirit animal is fashion blogger.

Speaking of fashion, I'm looking at you Mr. Masculine Baby Wearer:

You wear that baby to perfection. 

Fatherhood looks good on you.

Real good. 

---------

You may have noticed that Fathers Day isn't for a couple of weeks. I've always said we should celebrate Fathers Day every day! JK, Man Crates is celebrating Fathers Day for an entire month. Man Crates is a new company that ships awesome gifts for guys in custom wooden crates. Their stuff is manly (and obviously husband approved). They are giving away a crate a day for their favorite Dad Brags. To enter, just brag on your dad or husband's super parenting skills on social media using the hashtag #DadBrags. We are banking on winning a Grill Master Crate, so that Will will be enticed to cook dinner for us every night the rest of the summer. 

Although we are already winners with a real dad of genius like Will Brez.

Date Night 7QT

Linking up with Jen today for some even quicker-than-usual quick takes...

1. Will and I went out to dinner last night to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. This was our first real date since baby Will was born and I could not have been more excited. Will's friend from work and his wife agreed to sit for us and everything.

2. Is my level of joy borderline inappropriate?

Jail-break!!!!!

3. We arrived at the couple's house to drop off little Will. I walked up to the door with a bottle of breast milk in one hand and a bottle of pinot noir in the other. 

Me: "Date night! Poppin' bottles!" 

Friend: "Ahh, I see you brought a white and a red option."

Booby milk humor.

4. Getting away from the babies are when adults can reconnect and have meaningful conversation, eh? While driving past the Rams' stadium, Will commented that we were in a bad area and pointed out that a fence looked like it had been knocked down, like the set of The Walking Dead. Thus commenced a competition as to who make the most realistic walker growl. 

Source.

Will won.

Naturally.

5. We drove into downtown St. Louis to a restaurant called Bridge. The owner of this place has a whole chain of restaurants that are notoriously hipster. When we first walked up, yep, there was man in skinny jeans and a long, well-kempt beard dining with another man in skinny jeans donning a feather in his hat. Ironically, however, when we got inside, there was a law student happy hour going on. My lawyer friends will understand that this is the least hipster thing that could ever happen in such an establishment. And, my goodness, it was so hard to contain our inclination to eavesdrop all evening. (3L is gonna be so legit!)

6. Had to take a selfie to commemorate:

No no no. All wrong. More hipster, please. 

Yes.

Gram-worthy. 

7. I tease the crunchy hipsters among us, but I know our beer-brewing, cloth diapering, NFP-loving ways kind of give us away. Happening now: 

Pinkman & Heisenberg.

It's a holiday weekend! Get out there and enjoy it.

Throwback Thursday: Bridal Edition

We are created in order to love, as a reflection of God and his love. And in the marital union man and woman fulfill this vocation through their mutual reciprocity and their full and definitive communion of life. 

--- Pope Francis

On this day four years ago, Will and I tied the old knot. The day was indeed a total blur. A combination of the whirlwind of activities and the fact that my contacts were perpetually foggy because I cried the. entire. day. nonstop. Such a shame I didn't have this blog to over-document the event with a five-part series. (Ahem . . . Pregnancy and birth story, anyone?) I have the pictures and the marriage license to prove it happened, I suppose. I thought it would be fun, in order to pay homage, to link-up with Stephanie over at Captive the Heart to talk about my "special somethings." I'm totally breaking the rules on a couple of these, but what are link-ups for if not for really pushing it with the rule interpretations? 

When it came to the minutiae of wedding planning, I was what you would call a hands-off bride. Our engagement was during my first year of law school, so I was way more concerned with Rule 12(b)(6) and making law review than I was with picking out wedding decor. I was in Florida, the wedding was in Maryland. I did manage to keep screenshots of photos from theknot.com on my computer to send to my wedding planning team (my mom, stepmom, and family friend). Had Pinterest been around, I likely would have flunked out of law school, just putting that out there. And had Etsy been what it is today, I would have gone broke. Anyway, I would send my mom photos from The Knot I liked, then I would get photo texts of options for flower arrangements, venues, cake, etc., asking me which ones I liked best. Will and I did as much as we could remotely, but it was kind of a scramble at the end to get the final touches in place. Things old, new, borrowed, and blue were no exception. 

Something Old. Basically I bought the most horrid, uncomfortable heels for the wedding (more on that in a sec) and so I wore my old, scuffed up Chucks to the reception. Yes, the bottom of my dress dragged everywhere, but I didn't care. 

I could cut a rug in 'em.

My dress kind of got dirty anyway when this happened:

Something New. Well, everything else was new, obviously. But let's talk about the newest of all the things: the shoes. 

I went into the final week of wedding prep without a pair of heels to wear on the big day. They were the last thing I needed to buy, and yes, that also means that my dress had not been altered. I arrived in Maryland and was immediately sent to the mall to find heels so that my aunt could get to work on the alterations. I really thought this would be no problem, but it's wedding season and all bridal shoes everywhere are sold out. (I don't know. This still baffles me.) Basically, I find one pair of decent-looking enough shoes that fit:

Barely. They were a little snug. 

I did not realize the HOURS UPON HOURS of standing that a bride does between dress alterations and photos. C'est la vie.

Something Borrowed. I'm sort of cheating here. Delays rendered the parish building we were supposed to get married in under construction up until our wedding day. A couple of months before the wedding, I was presented with two choices: have our ceremony in the dungeon-like basement of my home parish or move everything to a neighboring parish (same priest would say the Mass). I truly considered having the wedding in a basement because I didn't want to be difficult, but I changed my mind at the last minute. So, our church building was a loaner.

Something Blue. I truly had no involvement with this one. I think I showed up to my dad's house to get ready and this garter was sitting in the room with all my bridal gear.

And thank goodness because what would my life be without this picture?:

A Play-by-Play of a Typical Day

Copying off the likes of Sarah and Olivia to bring you a little taste of daily life here at the Brez casa. I thought about doing one of these when Will was at JAG School, but no day was really "typical" seeing as little Will's schedule was all over the place. Our days are way easier now, but I still want to document our little life together, so my future self can either laugh maniacally about all the free time I had and sleep I was getting, or sympathetically reminisce over the long-forgotten season of sleep-deprivation. (Dear Lord, please be the latter.)

This was my yesterday . . .

1:05AM: Will wakes for the first time for some food and a diaper change. He just slept for 5 and a half hours. HUZZAH! I was only asleep for two hours of it, but obviously he will go another 5 until our normal 6:30AM wakeup!

4:15AM: . . . Fat chance. I change a poopy diaper. Think to myself he should be good to go until morning.

5:04AM: Ha. Hahaha. I'm a chump. I get up, re-swaddle him, put the paci back in his mouth, and dive back into bed. 

5:28AM: Still fussing. WHYYYY, why are you acting like such a baby? I decide to nurse him and change him. 

7:37AM: It appears Will's first act of mercy for the day was giving me a 1.5 hour stretch. Our daily routine is kind of wonky now, but I'll graciously accept this freely given gift of 93 minutes of additional sleep. I change him, dress him, and bring him downstairs to discover Will already brewed some coffee before leaving for work. Today might not be so bad!

I stick Will in the Bumbo and sprint into the kitchen to grab some coffee, so as not to leave him unattended for very long. Not before snapping a photo.

I sit for a bit. Read. Pray. Sip my coffee.

I turn on the Today Show and watch a Jessica Simpson interview while on my second cup of coffee. Her lips look weird. She can't move her face. That's unfortunate. The dogs are being obnoxious fighting over their Kong tire, but at least Will is entertained. 

I try to ignore all the dog hair I'm sitting in. Didn't Will vacuum while we were gone? (He insists the answer is yes.) Decide vacuuming today is a must. 

8:27AM: He nurses less than five minutes. Not a very good one. Oh well.

8:36AM: WOWZAS. I feel the unmistakable rumbles on my leg. I change him. I'm still using leftover disposable diapers from our trip to Maryland, so I don't have to take him upstairs. He seems pretty content, so I put him in his pack 'n' play to get things done around the house.

8:42AM: Dishes from yesterday. The worst. Start the dishwasher. He's still entertaining himself, so I also start some laundry. Thankful I don't have diaper laundry today because there is a lot of laundry from our trip to Maryland.

8:54AM: I hear him start to fuss. I look at my BabyConnect app and see he's been awake for an hour and 17 minutes. Ready for a nap. I grab him and we head upstairs. I make fart noises in his arm as I carry him up the steps.

When I go to put him in his crib, by the light of the morning sun, I realize there is poop in his sleep sack. Ummm. The only clean one I find handy is a fleece winter one. This will have to do. I leave the legs unzipped so that he doesn't get too hot. Wonder whether my mom of the year app got lost in the mail because surely I should have been contacted for an interview by now.

8:59AM: Naptime begins. 

I tidy up a little and he's passed out before I even leave the room. 

9:00AM: Like a ninja with ADD, I run around and do a million chores around the house. I get dressed, brush my hair and teeth. Think to myself for the 18th time that I should probably eat something. I'll make the bed first.

9:24AM: Finally get around to eating breakfast. Kashi and Fage greek yogurt. Darn, Will bought 2%. I prefer full fat. It's still delish. I read some blogs and watch some TV while I nom.

9:51AM: I finally get around to vacuuming the entire downstairs and the couches. I feel so much better. I look at the clock and think maybe Will is down for a long nap. 

10:10AM: I finish vacuuming and dusting. At least one room in the house is clean. Here's a picture of my handiwork, highlight reel style.

That crease in the rug will be the death of me.

10:26AM: I head upstairs to tackle these guys while I wait for Will to wake up:

And I tidy up our bathroom, etc.

In the process of putting away laundry, I realize I need to go through my clothes and get rid of some pre-baby things that will no longer fit. (My pants just started fitting again, but the majority of my shirts and dresses that are non-nursing friendly and can't accommodate the new boobage/postpartum spare tire have got to go.) As a result, only one basket gets folded and put away and I now have a new pile of donation clothes sitting in our room. Whatevs. 

I change into my running gear, so that I can head out when Will wakes up. It's currently in the high 60s, but it's supposed to get up into the 80s later. I don't want to run with the stroller in 80 degree weather.

11:05AM: Wooo. That was a 2+ hour nap. We like those. I wish I had known, I would have done work instead of chores, but it's fine. There's always tomorrow. Weekends are when I get the bulk of my work done anyway.

11:19AM: He gets a nice, long nursing sesh in. My Bloglovin' app is malfunctioning for the 99th time, so I just browse Instagram and Facebook instead. I download Dropbox to my phone, so that I can read for work instead in such a desperate situation.

Done nursing . . . diaper change.

11:33AM: I hear him rip one. I go to change his diaper again. Aaaand just when I get a clean one under him, he has an accident. 

That's 3 diapers soiled within 10 minutes. This is why we cloth diaper.

11:40AM: I am just now finished cleaning up poop. 

So much poop.

I text Will to see if he's coming home for lunch because I want to head out on our run. He's leaving soon. I leave the dogs to roam the house instead of putting them in the laundry room as usual. We are testing out how they handle the freedom. I grab a berry lemonade Kashi bar and head outside with the stroller. 

Nah, this post is not sponsored by Kashi. 

I see Will pull up to the house. I say hello, a quick kiss, and head out for my run.

11:54AM: 5 miles. Will smiles at me for the entire last mile of the run and during our walk home.

12:55PM: We're home. I hear Will's bum rumble, but I learned my lesson from earlier, so I let him work the rest out while I catch up on missed calls, texts (a whopping 23 in one group text - you know who you are), and emails. A few minutes later, I bring him up to change his diaper. We switch back to cloths. 

1:09PM: I remember I wanted to do an ab workout today. I vacuum the floor of our bedroom for a workout. 

Will judges me the whole time as I huff and puff through the workout. I hate ab workouts.

We both tolerate only 13 minutes of the 15 minute workout. I pick him up so he stops crying and decide to use him in a modified kettle bell workout of sorts.

1:28PM: I wonder how much my kettle bell weighs, so I decide to weigh him. Everyone in Maryland wanted to know how much he weighed since they would be sore the next day from holding him. 17 pounds. I was on the money. Also, only 4 pounds away from my pre-baby weight. Cool.

1:45PM: He is still acting a fool so we nurse. Another wimpy 5 minute sesh.

1:57PM: It's really close to our nursing session, but I decide to try him for a nap. He didn't sleep much during the run. He starts to doze off, thank goodness.

2:02PM: He's asleep! I am starving. Food wins over showering, so I start on lunch. Even though I know I am documenting this day and will be sharing my food choices, I decide to make some mac 'n' cheese. Judge away. I eat an apple and empty the dishwasher while I wait for the water to boil.

2:30-3:30PM: Work. Eat the whole box of mac 'n' cheese. Feeling pretty gross, but I just ran, so it cancels out. Contemplate my future as a nutritionist and/or personal trainer.

3:31PM: Will wakes up angry. That was a pretty decent 1.5 hour nap, but he is not happy like he should be. I pick him up and realize his diaper leaked. Dangit, forgot to tighten it before putting him down. 

3:43PM: I nurse him again. This is a nice long one. He falls asleep on the Boppy pillow. I decide to let him sleep on me for a while and admire his rattail in the iPhone camera. I close my eyes and doze off a little, but mostly read from my phone.

4:40PM: It's been 45 minutes, so decide to wake him up. Don't want bedtime to be a struggle. Also, I still haven't showered and can feel Will's drool and sweat all over me. I feel so gross.

I change another diaper. 

He is all smiles, so I stick him in his rock 'n' play in the bathroom and hop in the shower. 

5:18PM: As I finish cleaning up, Will is home! He gets some chill time in with the little man.

We hang out and catch up on some family time. I feed the dogs and let them out back to run around. 

6:30PM: I start the bedtime routine while Will cooks dinner. Nurse, bath, etc., etc. 

7:06PM: It's a little early, but Will's been up for over two hours, so I put him in his crib. His eyes are open, but it's not long before he drifts off. 

7:07PM: I am in search of alcohol.

Will drank the last Summer Ale. I am distraught! He knows I don't like the IPAs he bought. 

Margarita it is. Extra salt, por favor.

7:20PM: Dinner of hot Italian sausages and grilled veggies. We watch the most recent Game of Thrones episode while we eat. I am very concerned over the direction Arya Stark's character is heading.

8:30PM: Clean up dishes and start getting ready for bed. I am especially tired from little Will's early morning antics. Will is taking his annual physical fitness test tomorrow at 6AM, so he is actually for once down with the early bedtime. Holla.

Brush the jammers, take out my contacts, etc. 

9:10PM: YES. I'm in bed for the night. Will and I talk for a while and then we finally doze off . . . 

. . .

Sweet dreamland.

. . .

Just enough to head into a deep sleep.

. . . 

But . . . 

11:14PM: Thought you saw the last of me? Think again! Will is up. He only went a 4 hour stretch, that rascal. I nurse him, change him, and he goes back to sleep immediately. I dive headfirst back into bed, where I remain for at least the next 30 minutes to round out this account of the happenings of the past 24 hours.

If you lost count, that was: 14 diaper bombs, 8 nursing sessions, 1 hour of exercise, 1 hour of legal work, 4 cups of coffee, 1 margarita, and 42 checks of the Instagram. 

A typical Monday.

Lazy Sunday

And just like that we are back in the 'burbs of St. Louie. Riding dirty on these Midwest streets overflowing with courteous drivers. 

Our Maryland trip was just your average Wednesday-Saturday jaunt to introduce little Will to my 'hood. He was very well received. In fact, I think he was held for 80 hours straight. Everyone commented that he was such a content, relaxed baby and complimented me on my "laidback" mothering skills (which is hilariousss because you know it's more along the lines of I freaked out too hard for too long that I'm too exhausted and I've given up helicoptering). He rarely cried and was basically just his cool, happy, drooly, diaper bombing self.

Very illustrative of the temperament I am referring to.

However, he was strangely intimidating again once we stepped foot inside the airport. 

Crazy eyes right here.

Is he intent on scaring away any chance at light conversation when I've done the worst thing imaginable in forgetting my Kindle during air travel? Notwithstanding, I was still able to make friends with a soon-to-be first-time mom at our gate. Not friends enough to actually sit with us on board the plane, but enough to chit-chat about traveling with babies. 

Progress.

I am so glad we came home on a Saturday and had today to unwind with Will before he heads into his work week. Will even let me sleep in this morning. 

Sidebar: Sleeping in was the one thing I "wanted to do" for Mother's Day. Of course, little Will caught wind of my devious plan and decided to spit up allllll over our bed, so I was doing laundry before 7AM instead. That's motherhood for ya. 

Anyway, I came down from a two hour nap to this scene . . . 

There was even coffee already brewed. Will was shout-whispering something about his bladder exploding, but really it was the best.

The rest of the day proceeded as usual. We've been in the habit of hitting up brunch after Sunday Mass lately. It's really our only chance to go out to eat together. And I will go hard on some brunch. Love love love me some brunch. Our weekly brunching is kind of like a "date night" you'll hear some fancy married couples talk about but way cheaper with, like, way way less effort. 

When we got home, I returned the favor and manned the needy creatures while Will got a post-brunch-food-coma siesta. Little Will was not impressed: 

I mean really, we just got home and you're not going to play with us? He even put on this fancy hat. "Why won't you dance with us? Is it because we have tiny mouths?" 

All in all, it was a really fun trip, but there's just no place like home and it's good to be back.

Ahhh. That's the sound of me melting into my bed.

Have a splendid week.

I'm in Maryland! (7QT)

1. First of all, WELCOME to everyone who just started following thanks to Kate's big shout out over at The Rhodes Log. I told her I got an email from Bloglovin' shortly after her post went live telling me I was "Amazing!" for reaching 20 followers. I thought something was up because I'd been cruising at 18 for so long. So so long.

Proof that I've made it to the big leagues, that's all.

(Obviously I shared that ditty right onto Facebook.) Anyway, glad to have you here! Leave a comment and introduce yourself so I can send you long-winded one-sided e-mail responses!!!

2. Little Will and I are also out of town visiting my parents. (Currently typing from the SLOWEST ancient desktop computer known to mankind and I have to upload photos from the Blogger app on my phone. So much for "quick" takes! Life at the g-parents'.) I love that trips home give our boys the opportunity to explore their feminine sides via hand-me-downs.

I'd say they both are owning it.

3. The flight here was pretty smooth. No pre-boarding blowouts. Minimal spitting up. No sleeping, but no fussing either. Solid A- performance. At our gate, there was another mom with a baby girl about the same age as Will pacing the terminal in an effort to soothe her baby to sleep in her infant carrier. I zoned in on her real hard. I mean, two first-time moms with small infants navigating the check-ins and the security lines and the boarding zones. We were destined to be instant friends and our babies would naturally hit it off and become baby boyfriend and girlfriend. Before boarding, I gave her a big smile and shouted, "Hi!!" hoping that we could start up a convo and sit together to chat about sleep and poop and diapers ("these are a few of my favorite things!") and, and, and, alas, I got TOTALLY REJECTED. I got a quick glance and she kept right walk/bouncing. You guys, I even waved. It was very disheartening. When I got on board, I snapped a photo to send to the parents a la "Here we come!!!!" and realized Will's face was

intimidation. No wonder fellow mom was afraid of us.

4. So it's just me and the little guy here in Maryland. Will stayed on the home front to save his vacation days for our big yearly July 4 trip. As always, we try and capture photos to send to him so that he doesn't feel left out (or feels extra left out, either/or).

Grandma really nailed it.

Framers, all framers.

5. I haven't gotten around to posting a marathon training update (lucky you, eh? ehhh?), but things are going smooth. My long runs are up to 8 miles and ..... drumroll..... we recently bought a treadmill! Part of my Mother's Day (slash Anniversary, slash birthday, slash Christmas, slash every holiday ever for the rest of the year) gift was Will agreeing to the purchase, and thereafter spending the hours of frustration, sweat, and beer consumption assembling it Monday night after work. He's a keeper.

I no longer have any excuses to skip training runs. Except, um, for when I'm out of town.

6.  If I were a good blogger, good at putting together the words, I would write good posts like this. Jenny has a way with words and sums up a lot of my own thoughts on NFP, and even points to why I'll continue to smile and wave to the other moms at the airport even if my kid is radiating the stink-eye (in addition to radiating that other, more literal kind of stink). But in the meantime, I don't write real good on such lofty topics, at least ones not involving minutiae of Florida contract law, so I'll just keep talking about poop. Mkay.

7. Finally, I had every intention of bringing my Kindle on this trip so that I could devour Something Other than God while my mom hogged Will all to herself all day, but in my hurry to pack for the airport, I forgot it! Huge disappointment. Know that I feel really left out.

Linking up with Jen, natch.

Three Months

Baby Billy Brez is 3 months old as of Monday. They say the first 2-3 months are the hardest of all and I have to agree. Now that Will is 3 months old, we have a good sleeper and even better napper who is as happy as a clam and loves nothing more than just sitting and observing the world around him, with frequent conversations of pitchy babbling whether with himself, his parents, or his beloved dogs. And he notably no longer projectile vomits. There's that, too.

Will made it home from TDY at just the right time, as predicted. 

I know we are basically in a honeymoon period before the sleep regressions and teething or whatever, so just let me marvel in the happy baby phase that is the third month. Indulge me, will you? Without further ado . . . 

April by the numbers. . . 

Weight: 15+ lbs. No 3 month checkup, so I just used our home scale, which has always been pretty accurate. Will weighed 16.4 lbs with clothes on, so I'll call it 15+. I have no clue how long he is, but he definitely thinned out a little during his last growth spurt that took place a few days ago. 

My tub of lard. Thanks for the toned arms and quads, bebe.

Diapers: 334+. That's right. Still tracking those diapers with a passion. I can't kick the habit! I've noticed a huge change in this area though. Instead of a constant stream of poop, now we just have blowout after blowout throughout the day. Information you NEEDED TO KNOW.

He's on outfit #3 today. This obviously pleases him very much.

Pleased.

We are still rocking (and loving) the cloths, though I put him in a Size 3 disposable for these pictures, to accurately portray his stoutliness. 

Hours of nursing: ~29. He nurses about 7-8 times a day to total about an hour a day. When he was most distracted, we got down to 50 minutes or so a day, but I've been making an effort for him to take longer feedings. He's been starting to take both sides . . . some of the time . . . which basically means I am carrying a boulder in my bra on one side from time to time. Not good for my Chi running form, but whatever it takes to get him his calories during the day.

Those arm rolls come with time and effort, people.

Feedings per night: 1-2. He goes down between 7:30 and 8:15pm every night. I know that's kind of a large window, but it's never effected his night sleep, so it's basically whatever time works for us (the parents).

His bedtime routine (with me at least) is always the same: nurse, bath, lotion/massage, diaper and dressed, swaddle, owl book (relax - it's literally 4 pages; he likes the pics) in the rocking chair, lullaby, prayers, paci, sound machine, out. It seems like a lot when I type it out, but it really only takes like 30-40 minutes and nowadays he can be expected to go until at least midnight every night. When he takes two feedings, they are typically at 12am and 4am, when he will (alleluia) go only one feeding, it's usually around 1 or 2am. When I look at the clock for that first waking, I generally know how the night will go. Oh, and unlike the old days when Will was at JAG School and little Will would have two-hour long parties after night feedings, he now goes right back to sleep! Even if he seems wide awake during his diaper change, I am always back in bed within 30 minutes. 

He is up between 6 and 7am every day, without fail, sometimes crying, sometimes babbling in his crib.

EASY fo' life.

Naps per day: 4-5. His naps improve every day, and he can be counted on to go for at least one 1.5 to 2-hour stretch per day. Glorious, just glorious. Picking up his sleep cues gets easier and easier. He generally just goes from a happy baby, talking and giggling, to crying and fussing out of nowhere. And I know what's happening because he only does it when he's been awake for at least an hour. Then I swaddle him, pop the paci in if he's still fussy (sometimes he just passes right out), and leave the room. 

I'm really happy that I was so consistent with getting him to nap in his crib for the past six weeks. I've thankfully never had to let him cry it out. Sure, it probably took longer for him to consistently fall asleep easily, but it's what worked for us. 

Pairs of sunglasses tolerated: 0.

He loves his Bumbo seat so much. Unfortunately, I think it cuts off all circulation to his feet to sit like that. He has to be squished in with a bit of force, so I can't go about letting him hang out in it for long. That's okay because he is just as happy to lay in his pack n play and have a little chat with the ceiling.

Rattails: 1. There are just no words for this . . .

Dogs he is in love with: 2. Good old Daisy 'n' Ace . . . finally coming in handy with this whole parenting thing. Anyway, Will loves watching them play, getting licked by them, and observing them in general. They save me from having to wave the remote control in his face for thirty straight minutes again. (The buttons - so colorful!) 

Laughing at the dogs wrestle. Post-wardrobe change #1.

Other notable milestones include his first big trip, his dad coming home from JAG School, being wiped clean of original sin, attending his first major league baseball game, and our first family run together. It's been a pretty good month.

And in case you haven't been following along, the previous posts:

Two Months

One Month

First Days
One Day Old