Heft, hips, and hickeys

We had a busy day yesterday... Langston had two appointments; a four week checkup with the midwife and a hip ultrasound.

At the midwife, all was fine. He just has a little bit of congestion, compliments of his older brother and Kahlil's daycare. But the 'big' news is his weight... He is now 12 pounds, 4 ounces!!! I knew he was approaching the 12 pound barrier but apparently he zipped right by it.

In the afternoon we went to the hospital for a hip ultrasound. The pediatrician wants to make sure there are no hip displasia problems from his breach birth. The ultrasound found no issues - everything is where it should be. yeah!

And finally, a mystery was solved. Shortly after coming home from the hospital, Mom and I noticed a little red mark on Langston's wrist. It went a way after a day or two so I didn't worry about it. Then the mark came back, but I was pretty sure it was on the other wrist... but maybe I was mistaken. Then a mark showed up on both wrists. Now I'm starting to get a little interested in what's going on. Then I see a mark further up on his arm... now I'm getting concerned so I go to Jay. He looks at it and asks if Langston bit himself... AH-HA!!!! He solved the mystery... Langston likes to hang out with his arms and head up on our shoulders and while up there he often sucks on his hands and wrists. Apparently he's giving himself hickeys. Crisis avoided.

Happy Birthday Langston... one month old today.

Four Week Update

Today is Langston's four week birthday. I can't believe it's been four weeks already! He is still doing great... eating, sleeping, growing. Jay and I are getting better at NOT getting peed on... yeah.

We went on our first road trip as a family. We headed to the coast for the night on Friday (5/16). It was beautiful there - sunny, clear and not too windy. While Langston and I hung out in the shady grass, Kahlil and Jay played in the sand and water. It was very nice.

Here are some close-ups of Langston...






















here is one to make you smile...
















and one to make laugh...

Langston's First Post

Ok... here we go. I'm going to try and keep some photos and updates posted of the new addition. I suppose I should start a "Langston the Lad" blog, but I guess that is one of the perks of being the oldest... the family blog is named after you.

The quick update is that Langston and I are both doing great. He is an 'A+' nurser and my healing it going very well. Of course this could all fall apart when Mom and Dad go home. It's easy to relax and recover when you have somebody else doing all the cooking, cleaning and shopping.

Any way, here are a few photos of the new big guy...

Still at the hospital


















Kahlil is holding his little brother and says "He likes me".

At home napping with Mom and Big Brother Kahlil:















Hanging out with Papa and Mom

Aren't I cute!

Update: Skip ahead to Easter

I thought I should skip to the next big event we had at our house - Easter - then I'll start filling in day to day life.


Aunt Pete and Uncle Lloyd came up for the weekend. They haven't seen Kahlil since he was just a couple months old, yellow, and we were still breast-wrestling. Things are a little different these days!


We had a great time during their visit. Saturday we stopped in EVERY shoe store in downtown Corvallis. I never really thought about how many shoe stores there are... but it's quite a few. We also went to the tulip festival at Green Gable Gardens... a garden about ten miles away in Philomath. It was really beautiful. We've never been there before and we plan to go back. Oh yea, we also went to The Toy Factory and Pete and Lloyd bought Kahlil the best toy ever!



Since two of Kahlil's words are 'tractor' and 'wheel' he really loves his tractor. It will be awhile before he can reach the pedals. In the mean time, he likes to push it around, touch the wheels, and sit on it while Mom and Dad give him rides. I'm working on teaching him to steer but we haven't made much progress yet.


On Sunday the Weisels came over for brunch. Aunt Pete threw together a fruit salad and whipped up a few quiches (bacon/broccoli, sausage/mushroom, and crab/asparagus), Lloyd made yummy potatoes, Jay brewed some Gin Fizzes, and the Weisels brought some carrot muffins (VERY tasty) and sweet buns. It was SO good! (Notice I'm not on the list... :-) We had a great time visiting and eating... it was a nice, relaxing day.

Baby Jack seemed to enjoy his first Easter, but he wasn't much into chocolate or eggs this year. Maybe next time.


And now here is a picture the chocolate and Easter industries don't want you to see. This the beginning of a life long addiction...

Catching Up... Curacao

I'm FINALLY sort of caught up and settled in at home. It has been a very busy time since we got back. A few people have asked about this blog, so I thought I better get back to it. It might take a couple days to bring you all up to speed so I better get started!










First on the list is our trip to Curacao. It was really great... exactly what we needed. We got to the resort and didn't leave for the whole trip. It was a conscious decision to NOT go anywhere. We really just wanted to sleep, play, and eat. As it turns out, we are really good at doing those things.


Here is how a typical day went... Get up in the morning and put on shorts, tank top, and flip-flops. Wonder down to the breakfast buffet and eat. Go back to the room and wait for 'poopy time' to come and go. Put on bathing suites and head for water - pool and/or beach - for a couple hours. Get washed up. Eat lunch. Back to the room for nap time (on some days this was also massage or SCUBA dive time). Get up from nap and play for a while, maybe go back to the beach. Eat dinner. Hang out by the pool and watch live music. Go to bed. Repeat the next day. Not a bad way to spend a week.

We also learned a couple things about Kahlil while there:

1. He tans better than me
2. He is a little afraid of pigeons when they go under his chair but parrots in a cage are fine
3. He REALLY likes to play in water
4. 

Home Again, Home Again...

This is just a quick note to let folks know we made it home safe today. Our 'day' started at 1am pacific time to catch an early flight out of Florida. We got into Corvallis about 3pm. Kahlil and I visited Soft Star for a couple hours... just had to go see the shop and say hi to everybody. Tivi was THRILLED to see Kahlil and after about ten minutes, Kahlil was pretty happy to bee seen. All three of us popped next door to meet our new neighbor, Jack. He showed off some pretty adorable dimples and did a little drooling on his dad. It was great to finally meet the little guy. I'm running on empty so I'll have to give the scoop on Curacao and post pictures later.

Last Ireland Post

Well, our time is nearly up. The computer has to come apart tonight, so this will be my last post from Ireland. As expected, the time went very quickly. This was a great experience and I'm SO thankful to Trish and Soft Star for giving me the support to come. I'm a pretty lucky girl!

Kahlil's last day at the creche was today. The kids were very sweet and made him a card and an Irish flag. I'm sure the teachers gave a lot of help with making the card :-)

Today was windy, but very nice out. I saw several pairs of shorts walking around town today. There are trees in full bloom, birds sings, sun shinning and lots of daffodils. I'm sad I wont get to see Dublin in full spring, but I'm looking forward to getting back to my own yard before spring really sets in.

We had a great time here, but I think the Ireland we experienced was different from that of our 'single' friends that were here before kids. We didn't partake of the night life as much as we would have a few years ago... of course that could be as much because we are in our mid-thirties as it is we are parents. Either way, we still had a few nights out and lots of fun.

As for having kids here... the Irish are very accommodating for children. Most restaurants offered to make a side dish, mash potatoes and gravy or cooked veggies, for Kahlil free of charge. And they were generally taken with his "gorgeous brown eyes". That seems so strange to me, having grown up around mostly brown eyes.

We got recommendations to live in Dublin and out close to HP. We decided to live in the city and I'm very happy we did. Being here in the city center allowed Kahlil and I to roam around during the day. There were lots of options when I was looking for childcare and I could walk to every thing we needed. Of course we didn't get a chance to connect with many of the locals since we lived in a part of town where most people just visit or work, even the Irish. But Kahlil did charm the receptionists at the architect firm in our building.

We saw all the main things I wanted to visit while here. I do wish we had made it out to one of the fishing towns and more time exploring the Wicklow Mountains. Oh well, now we have something left for next time! I am VERY bummed we didn't get a chance to meet up with U2; our schedules just didn't allow it this time ;-)

I think that's it.

Cheers Ireland!

Corvallis... see you soon!