All work and no play makes Charlie… very popular

Charlie went with me on a catering gig yesterday.  Every year my dentist throws a “patients appreciation” party, and I cater it.  My friend and partner Cassady was doing most of the work; Charlie and I just showed up to take in some air (and Margaritas, as it turned out!), enjoy the company, and lend a helping hand.  Charlie sat on the table where we were taking orders, and loved everybody talking to him.  Though there were more requests to hold Charlie than I could accommodate, our good friend Wendy Piccus was there (she is a fellow patient) and took care of most of the baby-holding while I did have to actually work…  Thanks a bunch, Wendy!

The big highlight for Charlie was the “bouncy house”.  He didn’t go in, obviously, but we stood outside looking in through the clear plastic siding.  I am not sure if it was the colors, or the movement, but Charlie was totally enthralled.  He just giggled and grinned for twenty minutes straight.

I feel a little guilty about using Charlie as my catering front-man on account of his cutie-ness, but he had the time of his life, so it was a win-win day!

Please, sir, can I have some more?

Charlie’s meal repertoire is ever-expanding.  Recently, it finally came to include mear: turkey, to be precise.  Jean and I first tried to cook some ground turkey and then puree it.  This is exactly the same method I use for the many foods Charlie already eats like pears, carrots, bananas, peas, apples, sweet potatoes, and others I’m forgetting.  The turkey, however, was just gross!  All three of us thought so, so we just threw it away.  However, we have since started giving him store-bought baby-food that includes turkey (“vegetable turkey dinner”) and it is going well. 

He likes to eat!

For each new food you give a baby, you have to wait 3 days to determine that there is no allergic reaction before adding another new food to his diet,  If you try several new foods at once and there is an allergic reaction, you do not know to which food the baby is allergic.  Anyhow, after turkey, we will be adding zuchini, which Jean made a large batch of a few days ago, and then after that is chicken.  Soon I want to give him non-pureed food — such as small pieces of soft fruits – but there is no specific time-frame in place for that yet.

On a separate note, for anybody reading this blog, please feel free to make comments.  They are the only way we know that anybody’s reading, and believe me, that makes regularly setting aside time to blog MUCH easier!

A renewed blog effort

Jean and I have decided to try — again — to blog at least a little bit more regularly.  Hopefully we’ll stick to it, and the Charlie fans out there who haven’t been experiencing “All quiet on the Western Front” can get a little glimpse of what our little guy is up to.

Obviously, a LOT has happened since our last post, and I’m not even going to attempt to recap all that.  However, more recently, Charlie and Dad went to Boston, and then I left Charlie in the care of his Boston aunts, uncles, neices, and Alex, while I went to visit my daughter in Virginia (which was great, by the way).  Charlie had a fine time; I didn’t do so well, being apart from him for 2 days for the first time, and his poor Mom, who didn’t get to see him for EIGHT days, was very relieved when we returned home.  I think if I’d called her the day of our return and said I could save a thousand dollars by taking a flight the next day, she’d have said no.

This weekend was pretty uneventful, but in a good way.  On Saturday, we ran some errands and had an overall relaxing day.  The highlight was when we stopped at a local park on the way home, and Charlie really loved the swings.  He’s been on swings before, but this was the first time the reaction has been so euphoric.  (The picture above is from Charlie’s first time on a swing; unfortunately we didn’t have a camera with us this time.)  Also, Chalie got to sit in grass for the first time, and he was intrigued.  The challenge, predictably, was to keep him from grazing, but we managed successfully.

Getting back in the saddle

The posting saddle, that is.  It’s been a LONG time since we put up a post, and we’re going to try to get back to regular updates, and even include some photos and videos.

So much has happened!  Charlie went on his “Whirlwind Tour” for three weeks at the end of the year, and it was wonderful.  He traveled quite well (better than we had even dared hope for, actually).  Much more importantly, he got to meet his entire family.

First, we were off to Virginia, where Charlie shared his sister Maddie’s 9th birthday with her, and even got to see her lovely performance in her first piano recital.  Conveniently, Jean’s brother Steve, his wife Michelle, and his daughter Alyssa are nearby in DC, so we were able to spend a couple evenings with them (and crash there…  thanks for the hospitality, guys!)

 Boston. 

The next stop was Boston, where Charlie met his daddy’s family.  He’d already met his two Sandberg uncles, but he  got to meet the remaining uncle on this side, as well as his two aunts and his four Boston cousins.  He spent a lot of time being passed around and held and generally spoiled silly, but he didn’t mind at all.  We’re looking forward to our next trip, when we hope Charlie will get to meet his great uncle (in both title and character) Alvin.  

Then it was on to Chicago for Christmas.  With 16 cousins, 9 uncles, 8 aunts, and two grandparents, Charlie had quite the meet-and-greet waiting for him!  We got to spend some time with everybody, and because we were there for a full week, it wasn’t too overwhelming.

This is a test

New cities added to Charlie ‘08-’09 World Tour

We might be crazy for what we’re about to do, but on Friday the 3 of us head to Virginia and Maryland, then we go to Boston, then Chicago. Then when we get back from Chicago, EB, Charlie, Marisa and I are driving to Vegas. The weekend after that we go to Monterey. Why, you might ask, are we doing this? Well, it started with wanting to go to Chicago for Christmas. My whole family comes to town and we really wanted everyone to meet Charlie. We go to Chicago every year for Christmas and I couldn’t imagine not being there for Charlie’s first! It occurred to us that since we have the time off, we could go to Boston before Chicago to meet EB’s side of the family. We will be there for the 1st 2 nights of Hannukkah, which is a bonus. (Charlie will get to be one of those kids who celebrates both holidays). This Saturday Dec 13 is EB’s daughter Maddie’s birthday. EB was planning on going to Virginia for that. He was then going to fly back to CA to leave for Boston the next day. So, we thought, why don’t we all go to Virginia and then go to Boston from there? That way Charlie and I get to meet Maddie. And we could see my brother Steve and his wife Michelle and daughter Alyssa in Maryland. Although they will most likely come to Chicago after Christmas, there is some small chance they won’t be able to if they can’t fly standby.

Our good friends Jake and Chrissy are getting married in Monterey on Jan 10 (hence that trip). EB and I are both in the wedding. They are having a joint bachelor / bachelorette weekend in Vegas the weekend before. Given the grand history of Vegas trips with this group, we didn’t want to miss it. Marisa has never been to Vegas, so we thought that the 4 of us could go to Vegas and each of the 3 of us could have enough Vegas time and Charlie time. We decided to make a road trip out of it.

Somehow I was planning to go back to work Jan 5, but I might see if I do part-time that week…

Fleeting smiles and airplanes

Yesterday Charlie definitely smiled. It’s not at all clear what precipitated the smiles, and they were short, but he was definitely awake. His mouth was wide open. So cute!

Charlie will be taking his first plane trips. We’re going to Boston from the 16th to the 23rd and then Chicago until the 31st. Charlie is going to meet his grandparents, his 11 uncles, 9 aunts, and 20 cousins!

More Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/jean.sandberg/CharlieAlbum2#

Here is just one picture from that album

Gassy McFarty, The Exorcist, and Meerkats

I have all kinds of cute nicknames for Charlie – Sweet Pea, Honey Bun, Cutie Pie, and my personal favorite, Monkey (he makes the cutest eee-ooo-eee noises). But sometimes I can’t help myself when he is doing his gassy thing. One time it just sort of came out of my mouth – “Hello Gassy McFarty!” Poor little guy. He’s still having gas problems and there’s not much we can do.

Charlie likes to fall asleep with his eyes half-open. The first time I saw this it freaked me out because his eyes rolled towards the back of his head and his body jerked. I couldn’t tell whether he was having a seizure or whether we needed to call an Exorcist. I am going to assume most newborns do this but I had never seen it before. The best part about this phase of sleep is that he seems to practice various emotions. He smiles and laughs, frowns and cries, all while sleeping. His sleeping smiles are huge, and he literally laughs. Marisa says if you laugh while he does this he’ll laugh more. The problem is that since his eyes are partly open, I am still unsure as to whether he has had an awake smile. I think he has, but I would not put money on it.

Every parent thinks their kid is so smart and strong and advanced for their age. But I have to say that he holds his head up quite well for a 6-week-old. My favorite burping position for him is to take one hand and hold him under his armpits (thumb in one armpit and fingers under the other)  with my palm on his chest and belly, so that he is leaning forward a little on my hand. It works well if he will sit on my leg and bend over my hand. But lately he loves to raise his head and straighten his legs so he’s standing up straight and looking around. In this position he reminds me of a Meerkat (http://www.friedmanarchives.com/Animals/images/Meerkat%208×10%20300%20dpi.jpg)  or a Prairie Dog.

Our little insomniac

Yesterday (from 3am on) Charlie was not sleeping well. Over the course of the day, he became more and more overtired until he was pretty much inconsolable. Usually he will fall asleep in your arms and transfer to the crib. Not yesterday. When that doesn’t work, he will usually be happy in the Baby Bjorn with me as I putter around the house, and fall asleep. Not yesterday. OK, I thought, I’ll just hold him for his whole nap. Usually he will happily sleep in anyone’s arms. Not yesterday. At 3:30pm I was at my wit’s end and I brought him up to EB. Usually he will happily sleep lying down next to Daddy.  Not yesterday.

No, yesterday we had to bring out the big guns. We had to do what I remember my brother-in-law Rob doing so many times during family gatherings. We had to drive Charlie around in the car. We went for a ride at about 4pm. Charlie finally went to sleep. We combined it with a run to Target, where I went in and EB drove around and around the perimeter road at the mall. We were afraid to stop completely to let me out though – I practically jumped out with the car still moving. Afterwards we went up and down 880 for a while to give Charlie more time to sleep. We went home at around 6, and brought Charlie inside in his carseat. He was dead to the world until 8 – it would have been later but it has been 5 hours since he’d eaten and also I wanted to feed him before I went to bed. Several times I had to check to make sure he was breathing.

Between the gas and the fact that it seems easy to overstimulate him, Charlie takes a long time to settle into sleep. Today I didn’t care how he got to sleep – I just wanted to make sure he actually napped so that he would not become inconsolable. I can see that this is how parents get bad habits started.