Big boys sit up straight...

That's a long week...

Not much tonight - we're all tired here at Team Totten.  After a rather dreadful Tuesday, I worked from home on Wednesday and made sure the little man was back on track!  And then, Thursday and Friday were great days for the little man, sleeping the majority of the night and good sessions of nap and wake time.  And so here we are, our favorite days of the week...and we're all exhausted!  Just now, got back from a wonderful family dinner out on top of the hill and all three of us fell asleep downstairs on the couch.  To be fair...it's completely normal for Treva to fall asleep early on a Friday night.  Even reasonable for Tiny Tots to nod off - but me?  Yeah...it's been a long week.  Until tomorrow, pretty please let the "sleep in" angels touch their wings down on our brand new roof... 

Seaside, second post!

With more on our first family vacation ever, I humbly present the Seaside recap, version 2.0!

What's the first thing you do when you go to the beach?  I think a lot of folks would recommend to frolic – in the sand, in the surf, in the mighty Pacific….and the good lord knows, I love to frolic.  The Tottens?  We go to the beach to eat.  And if you’re going to eat in Seaside, hello The Stand!  The finest made-to-order Mexican spot in all of Seaside, Oregon – and they serve cerveza’s as well, FYI.  Parker didn’t like his quesadilla, so I ate it for him.   In the picture to the right, you can tell he's thanking God for the food - see his "praise Jesus" hand?  He does that for the good stuff in life...

Another cool thing about the Stand is that it’s actually on a block that holds significant memories for Team Totten.  Just kitty-corner is Lil’ Bayou, home of one of the 145^th best jumbalaya’s on the Oregon Coast.  Clearly, it’s not the food that makes this place memorable – the hurricanes certainly are tasty but, again, don’t support the memory queue that much.  Rather, I believe one of our first trips to Seaside with the Hueys, this is where they learned my intolerance for waste and freely accepted me into their family circle of friends, despite the occasional personality faults that rear their ugly head in fragile and over-served moments.  Even better – Tiffany’s sister and brother-in-law still actually talk to me when I see them, meaning the damage the hurricanes inflicted either couldn’t have been as bad as I remember…OR, Family Dees / Morris have a long-term view on friendships.  Anywho, I digress. 

Across the street from The Stand is the Cleanline surf shop.  When I was in high school, my best buddy Wyatt and I would tear out of Skunk Hollow before the sun reared it’s cheery face on any given Sunday, final destination Cleanline – the only trusted surf shop in Seaside.  We’d rent surfboards, we’d rent body suits (well, always except once – mistake not repeated), and we’d head south to a place called Indian Beach.  And it was magical – as magical as 46 degree water and three foot breakers could be anyway.  Still fun, and I’ll never ever forget the excitement I got when we would finally get to Cleanline after the drive….it’s just a deck full of good times associated with that shop.  I bought a ponch necklace and everything – I still have it.  I don’t wear it anymore and not because the necklace isn’t cool, it’s because my neck is significantly fatter. 

 

I feel that I may have gotten off track.  As mentioned in v1.0, staying so close to the promenade was really nice.  A long enough walk to make it feel like you were working off a Pork Burrito, but close enough to enforce a strong feeling of guilt if you didn’t trek it daily.  Olive loved walking with us but was clearly more interested in the beach.  It seemed like nobody was out there, so multiple times we just let her loose off the leash and she went nuts…so much stuff to smell!  Parker didn't have as much interest in the beach - but he liked being so close to Mrs. Tots and I'm sure he enjoyed the ocean smells! 

Day 1 in Seaside was perfect - Day 2 in Cannon Beach was even better....more later!  Until next time, just because it smells like fish doesn't mean you'd want to eat it with chips.

dwt.

Happy Baby

Coffee with the parents and sailboats on his jammies?!  No kidding, I'd be happy too.

dwt.

"Best in Show"

Treva pulled out a pretty cute outfit for the little man this past week, and we couldn't help but snap a few pics of his first "collared shirt experience!" 

After a fantastic weekend with friends and good food, this week has seen a bit of a slow start.  I did not get to spend much time at all with Parker on Monday because the day was so packed and today (Tuesday), he did not have his best day.  Unable to fall asleep, he's past the point of no return now and his attitude needs an adjustment.  I asked him what was wrong and why he doesn't just close those tired little peepers of his and catch some zzzzz's - a reasonable inquiry from my perspective.  He responded with yelling.  I wouldn't consider that "progress"....I outlasted him tonight though, and I'm on bottle duty tonight as well.  He's getting a big dose of DWT tonight and we'll get this train back on track! 

Parker has formally requested that we stop taking pictures of him when he's laying down.  He claims that being horizontal adds two pounds.  Seems a little subjective, but you can tell from the two pictures on this post, the vertical look allows those cheeks to leverage gravity a bit more, thereby producing a thinning effect and making the man appear more svelte than he actually is.  I told him that as soon as he can do more sit-ups than I can, he can choose his own portraits.  Until then, he's cute from all angles if you ask me...

dwt.

One more milestone!

Two months old, the time has flown by!  I've had to spend more time away than I anticipated with my boss being on sabbatical, and I have certainly grown more in appreciation for how amazing Mrs. Totten is.  The kid is cute - but he's also a handful, and there's no off time for her....As my schedule continues to be ridiculous, her patience and tolerance has exceeded expectations.  She's amazing.  And the kid?  Yeah, I'm hoping he's looking as long-term as his mother is with this :).  Two months old...wow!

And the weekend winds down...

Not a long post tonight but I just want to go on the record...we have the best friends on the entire planet!  Every night this weekend was spent with some of our closest and most loved ones, and we're so very blessed to have such quality people in our lives!  A fantastic weekend was capped off with dinner the Huey Gang after an enjoyable day of church-going and football-gambling, both of which Parker is legitimately an "expert" at - impressive for only a couple of months old! 

Roark Huey was so very sweet to Parker, coming up and touching his bald spot in between hugs and kisses.  Pretty cute :).  He managed to get a little jealous only once, but he moved past that pretty quickly to playing and having fun in ths new world only known to him as "a house that isn't baby-proofed yet."  He didn't fall in the fireplace - so, all is good! 

Greg and Tiffany both started new jobs recently so it was nice to get a 30-day progress report and to see how they're coping with different schedules and responsibilities.  It feels like that's Treva and I every week, still trying to figure out the right rhythm!  Speaking of rhythms, Parker had a great day today, lots of wake-time and a long nap tonight before his night-time feeding.  It does feel like he's able to sleep more soundly now (when we let him), and being awake has turned into a mix between "happy and curious Parker" and "really ticked off Parker."  This is in sharp contrast to the first month of his life when wake time was at a premium, and if he was awake, there's an above average chance he wasn't happy about it.  He looks around all the time now, and we continue to find new positions during wake-time that seem to inspire him to giggle and glance around aimlessly.  Kind of like me at work between 2-2:30pm. 

Anyway, all God's people have a ridiculously productive and blessed week - we love you all!

dwt.