Baby Down!

Last weekend, Jason, Cy and I drove up to Seattle so that all of our Washington-dwelling family could meet our newest addition. Jason's cousin John and his wife Sandy were kind enough to host us and a little gathering on Saturday. They have two boys, a 5 year old and 2 year old, and twin girls on the way. On two different occassions, John held Cy, and we all got a taste of how his youngest boy would react to new babies - jealous! As soon as John picked up Cy, his little boy began frantically insisting "Baby down, baby down!" until John handed Cy back over to one of us. I suppose the reaction is fairly common for little ones.

Well, last night we encountered the dog version of "Baby down". For the past several weeks, Jager and Cy have pretty much just been co-existing. Jager sometimes tries to lick his feet, and at times even seems a bit protective of him, but really hasn't shown much interest in general. Last night, we decided that maybe they should interact a little more. Afterall, both are part of our family, and we want Cy to be comfortable around dogs. So, put Cy on the floor, and had Jager come over and lie down next to him. That went all right, so we tried propping Cy up on Jager. That seemed ok for a few minutes, until Jager suddenly got up and walked away. Jason was holding Cy on the ground and I was sitting on the couch. Jason tried calling Jager over to lie on the floor next to him, and she promptly turned around, came over to me, and sat down. As Jason kept trying to get her to come over to him, she became more and more insistant on my attention. First she put her head on my lap and nudged my hand. Then put one paw in my lap. Finally, she put both paws in my lap and pulled herself to standing, practically getting in my lap. No matter what Jason said, she would not go to him, and she insisted that I pet her.

I guess this is her way of saying, Enough about the baby, pay attention to ME! She hasn't gotten hostile, for which I am grateful, but I am curious to see if this behavior will subside, or if she will keep insisting "Baby down". Has anyone else had luck getting their pets to interact with a new baby?

Cy's First Week Home

First, let me say that the birth story is coming...I just haven't had enough concentrated time to actually write it out.

In the meantime, Cy and I have been home from the hospital for a full week, and it has a been a busy one!

The three of us have been trying to figure each other out, and Jason and I are trying to figure out when we will ever sleep again...

Here are some highlights of Cyrus's first week home:

Meeting Jager for the first time. Cy is not sure what he thinks of Jager yet, but Jager is already very protective!

Several outings, including dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, lunch out with Aunt Angie, lunch with Great Grandma Hazel at Willamette view (pictured) and a shopping trip to Trader Joe's. Cy has done surprisingly well, and we've even figured out how to breast-feed while out and about!

Trying on some of the cute clothes we got as gifts.

Spending quality time with Mom and Dad.

We've been lucky this past week to have my mom staying with us, but she left us this morning...next week, Cy and I are on our own...I not going to lie, I'm more than a little nervous. We'll keep you updated on how we manage the chaos!

Cyrus "Cy" Thompson Wells

Here are a few photos of Cy. We will post a story of the birth a little later once Amber and Cy get home later this week.

Amber and Cy

Baby Boy's Nursery Part 2

After our marathon nursery set up, we had to wait a while to complete the design. Our friends and family were very generous at our baby shower, and we got all of the remaining elements to complete the look. This is definitely the cutest, most decorated room in our house. In fact, we often hang out in there in the evenings because it is so nice!

This is one of my favorite parts of the room. These are all gifts given to Jason when he was first born. His mom couldn't make it to our shower, but she sent a box of these items for me to open. They include homemade gifts from Jason's grandmother and great-grandmother, the star that stayed with him while he was in the NICU, and gifts from his grandparents' friends.

I have to admit that I am really proud of this dresser. I am not a crafty person, but I managed to paint this dresser and make it look pretty nice. I have had this dresser since I was 12, and it has been many, many different colors over the years. My mom never took the time to sand it, so I am sure that there are layers and layers of paint on it. The best part was that the nobs had been painted on, so in order to paint them brown, I had to do some serious precision work! Not bad, if I do say so myself!

The painting above the crib was done by my step-mom. She is far more talented than I, and I am so impressed by how well it matches!

The nursery kind of doubles as a guest room - hence the twin bed. And, it has come in handy in the last months of pregnancy as I now take up our entire queen bed, and Jason has been relegated to the baby's room. Fortunately, he's a good sport about it!

Baby Boy's Nursery Part 1

I never thought I would be one of those moms who cared about the nursery. I always figured that our baby needed a place to sleep and a place for clothes, and that was about it. We rarely put a lot of energy into decorating any other part of our house, and have always sported "craigslist shic" furniture. I don't know if it was the nesting urge, or the fact that we are finally living in a place where we can paint the walls, but I became mildly obsessed with the nursery. I wanted cute bedding, and matching crib and dresser, paint on the walls, and some kind of decorating scheme. Luckily, places like Babys R Us cater to the decorating challenged like me and have whole sets of coordinating nursery pieces, of which I took full advantage. However, the perfectionist and the cheapskate in me still came out and I agonized first over bedding patterns, then over cribs, and then over paint colors. We finally settled on what I think is cute bedding - fit for a baby but not pastels (not a fan of pastels), and we got our crib and changing table on major clearance, plus a 20% coupon!

Once we finally got the details sorted out, Jason and I kind of went on a marathon nursery weekend. We bought the paint Friday night, and finished the first coat at 2am...

The next day, Jason put on a second coat while I painted an old dresser. For some reason, we couldn't just leave assembling the changing table and crib for the next day, so we did those Saturday night...we finally finished at 3am!

As is usually the case, I am the designated directions reader and parts separator. If left to his own devices, Jason usually just goes for the gusto and ends up putting things together wrong and/or getting frustrated.

While putting together the crib at 2:00 in the morning, we both had the thought that maybe we shouldn't be putting something so necessary for our baby's safety together while in an exhausted and semi-loopy state of mind...however, neither of us said anything until the next day! I think it all turned out all right!

Reason 57 why we are leaving NYC - Mean People on the Subway

About two months ago Jason and I decided it was time to pack up and move out of the big apple.  Our departure date is set for March 1st.  While there are several big reasons why we are moving (more on that later), since our decision, we have found many more reasons why NYC is no longer the place for us.  A situation this morning sparked another reason why we are ready to go!

Here is my little story:  Jason and I often ride the train to work together.  It's about an hour to work and most of the ride we are on the same train.  This morning, as with many mornings, there was only one seat when we got on the train, so I took it.  When this happens, we usually just wait for a person on either side of me to get up so that Jason can sit down.  Depending on where Jason is standing in relation to the open seat, sometimes I scoot over into the unoccupied seat and Jason takes my seat.

So this morning, we were in this exact situation.  We had been on the train for about 20 minutes when the girl sitting next to me stood up to get off at 125th street.  Because of where Jason was standing, I scooted over into her seat.  Now, there was another guy standing in front of where she was sitting.  He was just an average guy, though on the big and burly side, probably in his 30s and apparently in good health.  I honestly thought nothing of him until I had scooted over and Jason had taken my seat and this guy became obviously angry.  He gave me kind of a dirty look, huffed a little and took off for the other side of the train.  Ok, whatever, I didn't think it was that big of a deal.  

Three stops later, I hear a knock on the window behind me, turn around that this guy is giving me the finger and a very dirty look!  Seriously???  He was so angry that someone else got "his" seat that he bottled that anger up, located where I was sitting on the train, and then took the energy to knock on my window and give me a mean gesture!  I don't get it.

Of course, being the sensitive soul that I am, I was instantly upset by this and even got a few little tears in my eyes.  I started second-guessing myself, trying to figure out if there is some subway etiquette of which, in my five plus years riding the subway, I am still unaware.  But no, there isn't.  And, I'm pretty sure that any other person travelling with a companion would do the same thing - in fact, I have seen many others do the same thing and I don't fault them.  Unless there is a person standing around who obviously needs a seat (ie pregnant woman, elderly, sickly, or injured person), why shouldn't the seated person's friend get the seat?

So, after my moment of sensitivity, I have come to the conclusion that many people in NYC have a lot of anger and sometimes they take it out on other unnecessarily.  However, I am officially done bearing the brunt of this anger and am ready to be in the amenable, hospitable environment of the great Northwest!  Just a few more weeks to go...

Two Things related to Politics

Alright, here I go. I have one commentary to share although it is a little past due...I still feel it is applicable. The Wednesday prior to the election, Barack Obama ran an infomercial on all the major networks, which makes me wonder how desperate we must be as a nation for a change. I also have to ask what it says about us that we need an advertisement to prove to ourselves that we need a new direction. Barack Obama ran an Infomercial for Change. I wonder if he consulted RonCO for tips on how to peddle his thoughts as he polished some old food dehydrator, flavor injector and rotisserie oven tactics to sell himself. There were testimonials from the WalMart demographic indicating how fabulous it would be and there were clear statements about how much better life would be. In fact, the only thing that was missing was the old..."It's not going to cost you $300.00, not $200.00, not $100.00.  This change could be yours for three easy payments of three hours in line at the local polling place."  I am glad we stopped short of the payment plan in this pitch for change. Don't get me wrong, my guy won the election, but what must be wrong with us as a society that we can't listen to ideas unless they are packaged up Ron Popeil style in a 30 minute Infomercial? We have a long way to come as a nation, let's all get ready for the work ahead

The second item on the docket today is the concept of President-elect:

This is a difficult concept for some people...especially for my friends working at the local K-Mart in the Bronx.

I made the mistake of going to K-Mart last week on Thursday. I say mistake, like I actually have a choice not to go, but unfortunately, in my neighborhood, it is my only choice for many household necessities. I rushed through the store grabbing what I needed, and rushed back to the check out line only to wait in line. There are two guarantees at K-Mart: 1) You will wait in line for way too long and 2) there are always four or five employees gathered around one register not helping anybody almost as if they are laughing at the people in line. Please open up more registers, stop talking and help get me out of this store! Anyway, on this night, the gathering of staff at one register allowed for me to have an eye opening experience.

As I placed my items near the scanner, my cashier looked over to the next register where the "staff meeting" was taking place and said, "They are still counting votes in California." Now, me being curious asked, "What are you tailing about?" She looked at me for the first time and said, "The Barack Obama election thing." I pressed again and wanted to know why she was concerned about the votes in California 48 hours after all precincts had reported and President-elect Obama won the state nearly 2-1 over John McCain and had a clear victory in the Electoral College. She said, "man, they are still counting votes in California. They aren't done counting the votes that is why he is just the President-elect and not the President!"

I took a step back, because in her excitement and pronunciation of the word President, she spit on me...just a little. I debated trying to explain the true meaning of President-elect and how Inauguration works and when it takes place and really help to educate her on the political process. Before I could make my decision, she chimed in with the following piece of incite. "My cousin Titi lives in California and alls I knows is that they aren't done counting. I'm gonna call her and get an update but until those votes are counted, he's just the President-elect" I now knew that I would not be able to compete with her knowledge and the budding political reporting career of cousin Titi. I grabbed my bags, took my receipt and parted withe the following. "Have a good evening. Good luck with California (and under my breath, "how uniformed are people? I can't wait to put this on a blog somewhere.")

That's the great thing about life...there are so many interactions that you just can't make up!