More Video

So you will probably only like this if you are Daniel's relative. I'm getting better with the video, but I need to work on lighting now. I will say that I feel like Daniel has become a new person in the past week or so. He must have picked up a few tricks from the other babies. He is starting to stand on our legs, and he is talking a ton. Enjoy the video!

Videos from Kristin and Tim's Wedding Weekend

This past weekend we went to Notre Dame for Kristin and Tim's wedding. It was a great weekend! All three SFD babies were there. Here are a few amateur videos of the babies. They are not advanced in any way, and we only now figured out that vertical videos don't work. Maybe future videos will be better. So feel free to check them out.

Daniel's Baptism

Daniel was baptized today. It was a very special event, and we were lucky enough to have many family members in town. I'll write more updates soon and post more pictures. Here's one for now.

Sleep Update

I wish that Daniel appreciated little rewards like gold stars. If he did, he would have a wall full by now. He has slept through the night (my definition) for three nights in a row, and it is almost like he is on a schedule. He sleeps from around 9 or 10 pm until 6 am. Now I know that since I have described his habits as a schedule, they will change today, but I'll enjoy them for the time being.

This flat spot maintenance is going to be quite the challenge. You see, the spot is on the right side of his head, and he sucks his right thumb. When he takes naps, he likes to suck his thumb to put himself to sleep. I've tried moving his head to the other side once he is down, but that results in more hunting for the thumb. At least it is pretty easy to move his head when he goes down for the night.

I wouldn't be obsessing about the flat spot this much if it was just a thought I had, but we have been requested to work on this from Daniel's doctor. It kind of felt like we got our first parenting slap on the wrist.

Hanging Out with Daniel

Daniel has to spend lots of time on his tummy these days. His head is developing a slight flat spot. He really does not like tummy time. It is awful to have to listen to him whine. Hopefully he will learn to like it as he spends more time like that.

Matt and Daniel hanging out over the weekend.

Daniel wore this super cute outfit to church on Sunday for the Jubilee celebration and for Grammy's happy birthday video. Grammy loved the video. I personally hope it does not travel far. I'm singing in the background while Daniel waves his arms and legs. Then we move into a long babytalk sequence where I tried to get Daniel to talk. Extremely rediculous.

Matt and Daniel watched the Brewers game together (with props). Daniel is not quite sure if he likes baseball yet.

Sleeping Through the Night

WARNING: This post might contain topics that could potentially be uncomfortable. However, I would say it's pretty normal new parent stuff.

Matt and I have been enjoying parenting for the most part. Daniel has been a pretty easy baby and continues to reward us with daily smiles. I must admit, it's pretty nice. His long hours of sleep seem to be gravitating toward adult sleeping times. Let me explain that a bit. The technical definition of "sleeping through the night" for a baby is sleeping for five or more hours at a time. Daniel has been doing this for quite some time, but he was beginning his five hours of sleep around 8 or 9 pm, so he would still wake up around 2 or 3 am. Now he is starting to go down at 10 or 11 pm and wake up sometime around 6 am. On these nights, Matt's alarm will go off, and he will roll over and say, "Did he wake up last night?" in an excited and relaxed tone. To which I respond in a somewhat distressed and annoyed tone, "No, and my boobs feel like they are about to explode." As if to suggest that Matt should already know this. Like his Daddy-sense should be able to tell him that I'm beyond the point of full and starting to spill out of the tank. I have no problem sleeping when I'm full, but once I'm up like within seconds of being up, I need relief and my mind is totally consumed by this thought. It is all I can do to not go to Daniel's crib and poke him. I guess I could pump at these times, but I'm sure that Daniel would wake up right after I pumped. So given the additional worry that pumping would create, I just grin and bear it until the baby wakes up or makes the least little noise so that I can use that as an excuse to pick him up and nurse him. That, to me, is the definition of sleeping through the night.

Matt Puts Daniel to Bed

Matt was out relatively late last night, so in an effort to help out, he volunteered to put Daniel to bed. Now Daniel does not really have a schedule yet, but whenever he is ready, he will go down for the night. This week that was around 11 pm. That is a little late for my taste, but I can't complain because he gives us plenty of hours of sleep each night. Anyway, back to Matt. So Matt sings Daniel all the Notre Dame songs and then a few Billy Joel numbers. It looks like things are moving in the right direction, so I decided to go and check on a few things in another room. Well, when I got back Matt was sound asleep on the bed and Daniel was lying next to him wide awake kicking and cooing. I would say that Daniel won round 1. Matt was down for the count.

I seem to recall many nights where my father would put us to bed and fall asleep. One of his sleep techniques would be to play a round of golf in his head. When he was desperate for an idea he would talk through the golf game with us. This might work for little boys and Dads, but is not very effective for little girls. I guess it was somewhat effective because eventually I would just give up on being awake and fall asleep because it's no fun to just hang out with someone sound asleep next to you. I don't think that Daniel has reached this point yet ;)

PS - Once he did go down, Daniel slept from 11 pm until 6 am! He's slept for 7 hours before, but it was from 8:30 pm until 3:30 am.

2 Months Old!

Things are going pretty well these days. It has been really fun seeing Daniel's personality develop. Smiles are becoming more and more a part of our days. Today Daniel got to pose for his passport photo. I had to hold him up in front of the white background while he tried to hold his head up. Not an easy task. To add to the complication, Daniel was sound asleep when we started this effort, and I had to take the pictures before I could do any of the other things I had to do at the post office.

I'm so glad my sister Kelly is here for the summer. She has been a huge help. Yesterday, when I was totally pooped from all the life management tasks I took on (health insurance, roofers, refridgerator repair, passport application and name changes, bills, tickets to Nova Scotia, etc.), she came home and made dinner and cookies for us. I'm not sure why I was so possessed that I decided to take all that on in one day. Daniel was being really good at self-entertaining (see the napping picture below) and I just kept going. Ok, back to Kelly. She is really easy to live with and is great with Daniel. It is going to be super challenging to lose her and go back to work at the same time. It is also really nice to get to know her better. We have not really lived in the same house much since she was nine.

We have some exciting things to look forward to in the weeks ahead. Next weekend is Daniel's baptism, and my parents and grandparents will be joining us for the weekend. The weekend after we are going to Notre Dame for my good friend Kristin's wedding. Daniel will get to meet Will and Grace, the other two SFD babies.

Sorry for all the random thoughts crammed together, but you know, that's how I roll. Now for the part you have been waiting for, more pictures!

Dad really likes this outfit :).


Grandma Peggy comes over for photo shoots every now and then. On good days I'm extra cute.

Today I took a nap in the Rainforest Gym today. It was great :)