All is Well in Bodeville

As the title of the post says, things are going quite well. Bode seems to be getting less and less fussy each day and has very few melt-downs, although when they happen, get your ear plugs. He's going to sleep right after the final feeding at 11 pm and wakes up between 6 and 7. He'll gurgle around 2 or 3, sometimes for an hour or so. Luckily, my hearing must be going because I don't hear anything unless he screams. Ashley, on the other hand, can hear the slightest noise from the baby's room ("Jeffy, did you hear that?" "What?" "I think I heard Bode's hair grow...") Because of this, she's not able to sleep quite as well as me, but I think most mother's have developed this supernatural sense of hearing. Somehow, though, she seems to not hear me when I ask her to curtail the spending. I guess it's a kind of selective mechanism, eh?

Ashley starts back to work this week, but only half-time. She'll be working from home--hopefully she's better at that than me, because I found even the tiniest distraction at home to be the bane of progress (phone rings, the mail comes, Auburn wants to be scratched, etc.) Bode seems to be getting longer and heavier. We don't know how much he weighs because we don't own a scale; Ashley smashed ours to pieces at month 7 of her pregnancy. He feels heavier when we pick him up. We estimate that he's close to 10 pounds, and if any of you ever birthed a 10-pound baby, you have our deepest respect.

Now for some photos. Despite his growing, Bode is still able to take a nap on my chest. I've found there's no better heater on a cold night than a baby (their skin is always warm!) Note my cool hat. I was going for a Bret Michaels, Rock of Love look.


The next picture was taken when Bode was laying on our dining room table. I tried to get his whole body and also some background items for scale so you can see how big he's gotten. To give you some perspective, Bode is lying on a full-sized beach towel (only kidding :-)


Next, I tried to get some close-ups to show Bode's face. I took about twenty pictures, all of which were blurry. Damn kid wouldn't sit still. The following are the best I could do. He's got some type of smile-thing going in the second picture, but it's not one of his better ones. He'll give ear-to-ear grins to Mommy; the boy certainly knows on which side his bread is buttered.

Finally, a picture of Bode and Daddy. Bode was going for the calm, cool, and collected look. I think he succeeded. I have some goofy gay head tilt going; it's only a matter of time before Bode is too embarrassed to be seen in public with good ol' Dad. Even now, he's probably thinking, "Please, don't let Daddy post this where anyone can see it."
Pleasant day to you all.

Where, Oh Where, Does the Time Go?

Please accept my apologies for not posting in such a long time (19 days). I'd like to say it's because we've been so busy with activities and accomplishments. Sadly, no such luck. Although every night we go to bed, exhausted and drained, it seems as if we've done nothing of significance. Take today for example. Bode woke up at 0500, a good hour considering he went to bed at 2300 (6 hours of continuous sleep). He's done this before, which is a good thing, although it's not yet a consistent habit. Ashley fed him, and the three of us promptly went back to sleep. Well, Bode went back to sleep. Ashley and I remained in that daze between sleep and wakefulness, debating whether we should get up but not quite summoning the motivation. Neither of us really knew how tired we'd be once we had a kid. In fact, when we sleep, we dream of sleeping.

Three restless hours passed. Even Auburn was feeling lazy, just sitting on her bed licking her paws. Eventually Bode woke back up and wanted to feed. Once this was done, we had to scamper because Ashley has been going to a 0915 aerobics class the past two weeks. The docs gave her the go-ahead to get back to exercising and she's working her tail off trying to take off that baby weight (her tail is where most of it currently resides). Bode has been going with her. While she does kick-boxing, he has a strict workout regime of sleep and more sleep. Bode is still in that phase where even the shortest of car rides knocks him out. To date, I don't think the gym day-care employees have seen his eyes open, and he's been there seven times. After we worked out, we came home and cleaned up taking advantage of the peace and quiet resulting from the soporific car ride. Around 1130, it was again time to feed, both Bode and then ourselves. After lunch, I really don't know what we did for an hour. Bode was fussy so a lot of that time was appeasing him. He'd cry and whail, and then gurgle and coo. Just when we thought he was fine, another wave would hit. I then volunteered to watch him so Ashley could run to the store. She's just returned and is again feeding the little man. So, we've been awake for 9+ hours today and all we've done is 1) gone to the gym; 2) showered; 3) run an errand and 4) fed and changed Bode a number of times. Not exactly a superlative list of accolades, huh? But, that being said, we certainly are enjoying our time with the little man.

Bode is doing great. His favorite time seems to be in the mornings. He makes all sorts of noises (vocal and other), and he'll smile a lot, especially at Ashley. I think Bode still sees me as a guy that hangs out with the milk lady. He's had a number of baths and seems to like it (except when Daddy made the water too hot). His head still flops around like an untethered buoy, but he is able to hold it up for a few seconds every now and then. I started going in regularly the second week of January, so Ashley has been taking care of Bode solo. My Mom did come out for a visit and Bode seemed to enjoy the extra attention.

We got him into the daycare facility next to my office, and he'll start that the second week of February when Ashley goes back to work. We've introduced one bottle feeding a day, which he took to without complaint. Ashley is both excited and dreading returning to work. I know she misses talking with adults during the day. However, since 28 November, she hasn't been away from Bode for more than two hours. To ease the transition, she plans on first working half days for a week, and then back full time.

I will try to post more often--pictures especially because I know most of you don't want to read my idiotic banter. I did get the following shot of Bode this morning. He was smiling right before this, but my pitiful abilities with the camera were not fast enough to catch it.
Pleasant MLK Day (a federal holiday for you non-government workers),

New Year, New Life

Happy 2008 to everyone! What a great start to this New Year. I'm sure everyone spent New Year's Eve Day watching the Mighty Air Force Falcons play Cal in the Armed Forces Bowl. USAFA went out to a 21-0 lead, and was driving and would surely have gone up by 10 points in the late 3rd quarter when their star QB went down with a torn ACL and MCL. Without him, AF eventually lost. I'm going to declare victory anyways (someone notify ESPN so they update the bowl standings). Following the USAFA victory, Bode and I needed a nap.
And speaking of naps (a little side-bar here): I think the phrase "Sleeping like a baby," is grossly misinterpreted. From my vast experience, babies are not church-quiet when they are sleeping. Lots of gurgles, coughs, squirms. It's really hard to sleep next to one, although, as evidenced by the above picture, I did manage to do so. "As smooth as a baby's bottom" is another misnomer. Lots of bumps and undulations, creases and crinkles. But I digress...

We woke up for the night's big game: Clemson vs. Auburn. In case you didn't know, Auburn fired their offensive coordinator (for being anything but) and hired a new guy. They put in a new system for the bowl game, so we didn't really know what to expect. We screamed, hollared, and whooped for 3+ hours--Ashley did cuss a few times, but I managed to hit the sensor button and keep Bode's fragile mind untainted. The game ended with an Auburn score in overtime to win the game. Even Bode got into the spirit--TOUCHDOWN, AUBURN!
All five of us made our New Year's resolutions. Dudley resolved to sleep less--he thought he was becoming too lazy--is 22 hours a day of sleep too much? Auburn resolved to not bark at the mailman. She got through New Year's Day ok; today, she seems to have forgotten her promise. Bode resolved to learn a new language (English), Ashley resolved to not gain those 30 pounds like she did last year, and Jeff resolved to write that novel (no really, he means it this time :-)