Moving on up

Daniel:

Hi all!  I thought I’d take some time and give you guys an update about what’s going on over here.  Best I can tell, we’re on the backside of the really rough stuff with Alex.  For a while, Mommy was feeding Alex or holding him a LOT at night, so she stayed pretty tired all the time, but apparently that’s getting better.  At least, I think it was the late night baby stuff.  I sleep through all that.  It must be genetic, though, since Daddy seems to sleep through it all, too.

For a while now, Mommy and Daddy have been expecting me to keep my room clean.  Now that Alex is here, I sleep in the room with all my toys, so it’s important that it stays pretty well picked up.  Turns out, I REALLY don’t like cleaning my room.  Usually, I just piddle around in my room instead of really cleaning.  It’s not because I’m trying to be naughty, but every time I pick up a toy, I just want to play with it.  I don’t get spankings for having a dirty room, but I do lose privileges.  Sometimes Daddy goes to the man store without me or I’m not allowed to watch my shows or play with certain toys.  Also, when my room is clean, Daddy tells me a story and sings me a song at bed time, but when my room is dirty, I lose one or both, depending on how dirty the room is.

Speaking of, that’s a pretty bad system.  It’s based entirely on how dirty the room seems to Mommy and Daddy.  That just seems too subjective, so I’m drawing up a proposal for a better way.  We’ll make a table and assign every toy a numeric value, based on volume and aspect ratio.  Then, we can add up the value of toys on the floor and compare it to a second table, that explicitly states which privileges are granted or revoked based on the numeric cross reference.  So, maybe a hundred points would be very dirty and I don’t get food or water until I clean it, and zero points would be perfect and I get a pony.  And of course, z-score analysis could indicate statistically significant levels of clutter and neatness.  Then, we’d have a quantifiable standard for determining if the room is “unusually” dirty or “cleaner than usual”.  As far as privileges to be earned, I’m putting together a list: getting to play with favorite stuffed animals, being allowed to play in the back yard, being allowed to choose my own clothes to wear, and being allowed to take the car out for a spin if I promise to wear a seat belt…. it’s a work in progress.

Daddy and I have put over 50 miles on our new rail buggy!  It’s a lot of fun.  Daddy uses google maps to find cool roads near us (cool meaning curvy and hilly, and sometimes even dirt!)  Last time, we came back covered in mud.  It was awesome!

Alex:

Must.  Eat.  I think I heard Mommy call this a growth spurt.  For the last few days, I’ve been eating a TON.  Apparently I’ve also showed the signs of being ready for big boy food, so I’ve also gotten to try some rice cereal.  I’m not sure it agrees with me quite yet, but this all-liquid diet thing is getting kinda old.  Lucky for all of us, though, I’ve been sleeping well at night.  Mommy and I have our nighttime routine, wherein we start with a bath at 6pm, I eat at 6:20, and I’m in bed at 7, and I’ll sleep until about 6 or so.  This is a big departure from a month ago, when I preferred breaking up that sleep into 5 or 6 fun little chunks.

Mommy keeps changing the diapers I’m using.  We’re still using cloth diapers, but I’ve moved up a size and now Mommy’s gotten some super fancy ones for fast changes.  Cloth diapers are definitely less convenient, but apparently they’re a lot cheaper and they’re environmentally friendly.  Of course, I have no concept of relative $$$ value and I have no idea what an environment is, but it seems to make Mommy and Daddy happy.

 

Updates

Alex:

Apparently, when I take up massive amounts of Mommy and Daddy’s time, they seem to quit helping me and Daniel blog.  Mommy keeps alluding to a book that I was supposed to read, which seems to have said that I should be sleeping through the night now, not needing late-night feedings.  But alas, I’m hungry anyway.  We do have a sort of routine… Daniel goes to bed about 8:00 or so (the fact that I’m not bed means they must love me more, of course), and we do my bath at about 9:00.  I love bath time, actually.  The warm water is nice, and I like that Mommy can’t be doing anything else except 100% taking care of me during that time.  She can’t slip away to do those other silly activities she tries to slip in like cleaning, cooking, taking care of Daniel, or, most ridiculous of all, sleeping.  After bath time, the idea is to feed me and put me to sleep.  Though I’m often put to bed in my own room, I always make sure that I wake up enough times during the need and demand attention, that it ends up being easier to just let me sleep on Mommy’s chest.  Mommy’s chest is preferred, of course, since food is within thrashing distance.  Daddy sometimes sits with me after the first night feeding and we can sleep together, but it’s usually Mommy that takes care of me at night, since Daddy usually has to work the next day.

I’m definitely growing fast… last doctor’s appointment, I was already over 12 pounds.  I smuggled a pen into my crib, and I calculate that I’ll be heavier than Daddy in approximately 29 months, at which point I’ll launch my coup and take over control of the main living spaces.  I’ll keep Mommy around for the food and cleaning, but Daddy may have to be completely ousted if he makes a fuss.  I don’t really need him, since I can support myself with my blogging, of course.

But yes, I’m pushing 3 months old now.  Not exactly walking and talking yet (blogging, of course, though), but I am smiling and putting my fingers in my mouth.  I only just discovered my hands, and they’re quite fun to gnaw on.  I’ve heard mention of something called “feet”, but I haven’t been able to locate any on myself yet.  That’s about it… still eating, sleeping, pooping, crying… now I’m also looking, smiling, laughing (kinda), and growing.

Daniel:

Hi all!  Things are kinda crazy right now.  Sorry it’s been so long.  In the interim, I turned FOUR!  We had a little birthday party, and I got a lot of really cool presents, including a lot of cool transformers and cars, and even a set of armor.  I’ve been going to preschool twice a week, which has been a big adjustment.  I was getting very comfortable spending all my days at home.  When I started going to school, it took me a while to be good at sharing and playing with friends again, but after the first few days, I had it all figured out again.

A few days ago, Daddy found a note on our front door that read “I killed a copperhead in front of your house last night. – Your friends in 208″.  I play in the yard a lot, so we were very glad this nice man killed that snake for us.  Mommy made him cookies!  … which has gotten me thinking.  I’ve drafted up a note to Mommy.  Think it will work?  “Mommy, I killed a spider in your bed.  Please send cookies”.

Pictures to follow

Welcome Baby Alex!!

So I’ve been lazy.  I know.  Things are a bit crazy around here, and have been for a while now.  Like every time I disappear for months on end, I’ll again  claim to get better.  Maybe I even will this time

And as was much anticipated by all, I’d like to introduce my new baby brother: Alexander Steven Morgan.  He was born at 10:46 on 6/30, weighing in at a respectable 7lbs, 9.2oz, and measuring 19.5in long.  My presumption is that we say “long” until he can stand up, which, as it turns out, he can not yet do.  In fact, there are a lot of things he can’t do.  When Mommy and Daddy told me that I was going to have a little brother, I was imagining a playmate.  This fella is more like…. well…. really noisy, high maintenance house plant.  I’ve held him some and help him with his pacifier occasionally, but he’s too young to do cool stuff like play with squirt guns or ride bikes, so I mostly just let Mommy and Daddy take care of him.  Mostly, Daddy hangs out with me and we play, and Mommy takes care of Alex.  We’ve also had other family come stay with us, and they’ve helped take care of me, too (Grandmama, Grandpa, Nana, and Uncle Paul), and Aunt Sarah and Uncle Todd have helped take care of me during all this craziness, too.

Things have been fun, though.  Despite all the craziness, I’ve gotten to do some really neat stuff.  For one thing, Mommy and Daddy got me a real bike.  Instead of my motorcycle trike, I have an actual big boy bike with training wheels.  Grandmama even got me some streamers for the handlebars.  I used to ride the trike while Mommy and Daddy walked, but now Daddy has to ride his bike to keep up with me on my bike.  We can go really far, too.  The first weekend, we went on a 1.5 mile ride, though I did start to get worn out towards the end.  I mostly ride up on the side walk, but sometimes Daddy takes me down to the cul de sac, and I get to ride in big circles, which is pretty cool.

Let’s see… OH!  Daddy got me rockets!  These are the kind with real rocket engines that shoot up in the air and come down with parachutes.  Daddy, Uncle Chris, and Uncle Paul took me to launch them.  I got to push the button and chase them down, and the grownups packed the parachutes and got them ready to launch again.  It was awesome!!!!  They go really high.  I told Daddy that I wanted a real rocket that I could fly in.  He told me we’d start with these and maybe talk again in 20 years.

I’ve been doing some fishing with Daddy and playing in the yard a lot.  Nana is staying with us this week to help out, so it should be fun.

Well, I guess it’s time.  See, considering how hard it is to keep this blog up to date, there’s no way Alex will be able to do his own, so I’ve decided to share.  For now on, we’ll preface each post (or section) with a note about who’s talking.  So allow me to introduce Alex.

Alex:

Goodness gracious it’s bright out here.  And loud.  And cold.  Who’s idea was this anyway?  I had a pretty sweet setup in there.  Cozy and quiet… I had even put up some posters and had a pretty decent wifi connection.  I was set for a while.  There’s a lot to get used to out here… eating with my mouth, not floating in a bubble of fluid, this ridiculous diaper concept.  I’m managing, though.  I’ve found that eating 12-16 times a day really helps.  I’m trying to drink away the pain.

Mommy, Daddy, and I play this great game.  First, I get upset because I’m not swaddled up tightly, then they lay out the blanket and put me in a really tight wrap, and then I completely dismantle the thing in under 10 seconds.  Repeat until I have the opportunity to pee on the blanket during a diaper change, and we start it all over again.  I could keep this up forever.  I’m starting to think I might should back off a bit, though.  I think I saw Daddy eyeing the stapler.

My routing is pretty simple, though.  I spend the night on Mommy’s chest, though I hear rumor that it’s only a temporary arrangement.  I’m getting better at sleeping by myself, so they may be trying to move me to that soon.  Apparently Mommy needs sleep, too.  During the night, I mostly sleep and eat.  I’m more active during the day, which seems to be the best time.  See, in the day time, there are more people around to hold me, so I can frustrate them more efficiently.  I don’t really scream very much (unlike Daniel, I’m told), but I get in a mood most afternoons-evenings where I just gripe.

Oh, and this sponge bath idea is a sick joke.  Whoever decided that the best way to clean a baby is to put them on their back on a kitchen table and wipe them down with luke warm water is just masochistic.  Next time you need to get clean, instead of taking a nice shower, just lay on the bottom under the faucet, and spray yourself sporadically until you’re sufficiently drenched.  It’s fun, really.  Make sure people are standing over you, making funny faces and sounds, and taking your picture.  It really adds to the soothing ambience.

Much much much too long

So… obviously, a lot has happened since the last time I posted.  It’d be a bit difficult to try to bring you up to speed with everything, so I’ll just pretend like I never quit posting.

Mommy’s tummy is getting SO big!  Sometimes I can feel the baby kicking, which is kinda funny.  It always makes Mommy happy when the baby kicks her.  Unfortunately, they must like the baby more than me, because I always get in trouble when I kick Mommy.  Then again, I suppose it’d be a bit hard to put the baby in timeout.  I’m not sure tummies have corners.

If you haven’t heard, I’ll be having a little brother!  He’s due around July 6th, and Mommy and Daddy have already picked a name out: Alexander Steven Morgan.  Not too shabby.  It’s no Daniel Benjamin, but we can’t all be so lucky.

Nana visited this weekend (and Daddy had Friday off work), so we did a lot of work in the baby’s room.  Nana and Mommy painted, and then the grownups put together the crib.  If Daddy could remember to bring the memory card home from work, we could take some pictures of the new room… but you’ll have to wait.

This weekend was also warm enough to do a little fishing.  Daddy said I needed a better fishing pole, so we picked one up first, and then we hit the lake.  I mostly just practiced my casting, but we caught a handful of fish between me and Daddy.  My new pole is REALLY nice.  I think I can cast it about eleven million thousand feet, but Daddy says it’s more like fifty feet, but that it’s still really awesome.

Here are a few recent pics for your viewing pleasure:

More Excerpts

The other night, Mommy went for a run without using her inhaler first.  Part way through her run, she started feeling bad and called Daddy to come get her, so me and Daddy hopped in the car.  That was, of course, very exciting, and I had this to say:

I save Mommy!!
I bring her medicine!
I make her feel better!
I a hero!
I super!
I SPIDERMAN!!
I shoot web!! PEW PEW!!!

Excerpts

Daniel: Baby Micah!  MICAH MICAH MICAH MICAH MICAH
Mommy: What about Micah?
Daniel: Baby Micah poop his pants!  HAHAHAHAHA.  … I want baby sister!
Mommy: Mommy and Daddy are trying
Daniel: Try hard?
Mommy: Yes
Daniel: Really really hard?
Mommy: Yes
Daniel: Really really really really hard?
Mommy: Yes
Daniel: Really really really really really really hard?
Mommy: Yes
Daniel: Right now?
Mommy: No
Daniel: Oh

Mommy: Are you ready for preschool?
Daniel: Yes!  Watch out preschool.  Here I come!
Mommy: Did you just say “watch out preschool.  Here I come?”
Daniel: Yes!  Here I come, preschool!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

I’m three!  My birthday was on Tuesday, and it was really cool.  I didn’t have a party or anything, but Daddy brought home awesome balloons and I got some really cool presents.

Also, Ms. Mallory (a friend of Mommy and Daddy from college who’s now working in Huntsville as a NASA Co-op) joined us for dinner and cupcakes.  I took a picture of her so everyone can see:

That’s her with the arm.

OH… and since Mommy and Daddy just noticed that they have incriminating photos of me at every birthday, allow me to introduce: THE ICING CHRONICLES – Birthday 1, 2, and 3.

Notice a trend?    I make messes.  It’s just how I roll.

In honor of my birthday, I thought I should list which wishes came true and which will have to wait until next year -

Fulfilled Wishes:

• Getting Balloons!
• Receiving Truck and Car Toys
• Eating lots of Cup Cakes
• Being THREE!

Wishes not yet fulfilled:

• Getting to go to bed whenever I want
• No more time outs
• A puppy
• Getting to play with playdough every day

Maybe next year…

Updates

So… you know what’s bad about being as cute as I am?  Posts just aren’t as interesting without pictures.  The problem here is that most of the ways that I post pictures seem to be having problems lately.

But that’s ok…. we’ll find a way that works.

I promised you all a pic of my newly shortened hair.  Well, here it is.  It know it’s a little dark, but almost all of the pictures we have are dark (because they’re inside) or I’m outside but wearing a hat.  After all, it’s is summer and a little fuzzy headed boy like myself would hate to get a sunbun atop my noggin.

And yes… I’m eating french fries out of a car.  How cool is that?!

I’m sure you’re wondering what I’ve been up to lately.  As you might imagine, it takes a lot of crazy to keep me away from blogging this long, but a lot of crazy is just what we’ve had.

We have had a lot of people visit lately and it has been a lot of fun!  I’ve gotten to see Grandmama, Grandpa, Opa, Uncle Paul, Aunt Courtney, Nana, and Aunt Rebekah!  Plus, with Uncle Todd and Aunt Sarah living so close, I’m getting to see them a lot, too.  This next weekend, Uncle Chris and Aunt Stacey are coming to see us, and the weekend after that Grandmama and Grandpa are coming back!!

The best thing about relatives is that they can’t help but shower me with attention and affection.  I mean seriously… how could anyone pass up a rare opportunity to chase me around the house playing hide and seek or reading a book or fishing.

FISHING!!!  I love fishing!  I know what you’re thinking… Yes, I’m only three.  Yes, I’m supposed to have the attention span of a chipmunk on speed.  Yes, fishing requires a level of finesse and patience that most kids my age could never muster.  Just chalk it up to one more proof that I’m exceptional.  The first day I went fishing, Daddy and Opa took me and we fished for 3 hours straight before dinner and another hour after.  Since then, I’ve had Daddy take me several times, Grandpa and Daddy take me once, and Daddy, Uncle Paul, and Aunt Courtney take me.  Now I’ll admit, I only stay really attentive when the fish are super active.  There are some times when the fish just aren’t as hungry, and I take that opportunity to wave my fishing net in the air, toss rocks into the water, rummage through tackle boxes, tear plastic worms into tiny pieces with needle nose pliers, and ask “why” fifty billion times.  Many times, though, the fish are super hungry and I’m more than happy to just relax and reel them in.

I’m rapidly approaching my third birthday!  It’s September 9th, and I’m very excited about being a year older.  It is my understanding that anniversaries of one’s birth carry great cultural significance, hence the celebration and offering of gifts.  I also believe that children are generally given more freedom and responsibility as they age, so I think this is my chance… I have it all planned out:

Me: “Mommy, can I get a tattoo?  I want a giant S on my chest like Superman”

Mommy: “What?!  NO you can’t have a tattoo!”

Me: “Ok, then I guess I’ll go wtih the belly button piercing”

Mommy: “ABSOLUTELY NOT.  You’re not getting a piercing either.”

Me: “Aww… how about a puppy?”

Mommy: “Fine.  But you’re not getting a tattoo or piercing”

And there you have it.  Many of you will remember that we had Zeus until we moved to Huntsville.  Zeus was a difficult kitty.  He liked to pee on laundry and would take most opportunities to run outside.  At one point, he disappeared for almost two weeks.  We ended up letting him stay with Nana.  They have another cat (Captain Jack), and the two seem to really enjoy eachother’s company.

Mommy, every boy needs a puppy.  That’s just the truth of the matter.  We don’t need a big one, either.  How about one of these?!

Norwhich Terrier

French Bulldog

White Terrier

See, Mommy!  I’m little and the dogs are little.  It was meant to be!  I think this is the part where I insert empty promises like “I’ll feed him and take him on walks every day” and where Mommy quietly considers how much work “my” puppy would mean for her and Daddy.  Still… it never hurts to ask.

Say Goodbye to the Hair…

It’s gone now. I’ve been buzzed. While practical, I’m not sure it’s a stylish. Of course… I like looking like Papa, so I think I can deal. Notice how my hair looks wet here? It’s because I’m seconds from having it removed. This might be the last picture ever taken of my beautiful, beautiful hair.

Air Show!

Last weekend, Daddy took me to the Huntsville Air Show.  It was awesome!  There were a lot of really cool things to check out.  When we first got there, we had to park in this big field and walk all the way to the airplane area.  Ok… Daddy walked through the field.  I rode in my stroller.  Personally, I thought my position was worse, as the ground was really bumpy and I nearly spilled my water on myself.  I’m sure Daddy wasn’t having any trouble pushing a 35lb toddler in an umbrella stroller a half-mile through a bumpy grassy field.  Did I mention it was over 90F?

We paid for parking at the entrance, which was the only cost of going unless you wanted to not die from dehydration… boo at $4 for a frozen lemonade.  Luckily, Daddy had brought water for me, and the man at the entrance said we could bring it in, since it was for me.  I think Daddy stole a swig or two, but I drank about half a gallon of water myself before the day was done.  I think Daddy didn’t want to drink my water because it was so hot.  He said if we ran out of water, we’d have to go home.

Anyway, we made our way inside.  We walked past the blue angels jets, first, and then made our way over the some REALLY big planes.  Daddy let me touch them and we even went inside some.  I buckled myself into one of the benches with those cool airplane buckles, which seemed difficult for many of the nearby adults attempting to achieve the same feat.  I guess I’m just that cool.

After we checked out that, the show was starting to kick off.  They had a few stunt fliers, which were neat to watch.  They did some funny tricks, and they weren’t too loud.  There were also some… um… what did Daddy call them?  I think pair-o’-jumpers?  I don’t know why he called them that, since there were actually 3 and not 2, but their parachutes were cool.  We stopped and watched them for a few minutes, but I got antsy and we headed off to go touch more stuff.

We went back and forth between the carriers and the flying show for a while, and then we headed over to the big static area.  Over there, they had a LOT of smaller planes and a bunch of helecopters, too.  They had a lot of stuff we could climb in and on, and I had more fun there than anywhere else.  We also sat in the chinook helicopter for a while.  I was having a lot of fun, but I heard Daddy say something about giving me a chance to cool down.  I drank water all day long and Daddy put sun screen on me several times, but he still tried to get me in the shade every so often.  With so many things to go inside and so many big plane wings around, it was pretty easy to get out of the sun for a few minutes.

The only thing I didn’t like was having to leave stuff. I’d get to see an awesome airplane or helicopter or get to climb up into something awesome, but there were other people waiting to see the same stuff, so we didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time anywhere. On our way out, though, I did get to play around in a few really cool things.

The whole day was a lot of fun. Apparently they don’t have one of these every year, which makes me sad. Hopefully I can go to another one some time.