And Whose Child Might This Be?......

An ongoing debate in Circle of Trust that is our friends, family, colleagues, and my imaginary friends...who does Parker Jackson Totten actually look more like?  I dedicate this entry to all those who we love and love playing the "who does he look like more" game with us.  I know it seems like it could get old, but it doesn't - endless amounts of look-a-like assignments!

When he first came out, fresh in the hospital, the comparisons and similarity declarations were frequent and confident – by hospital staff, friends and family, the dude who wheeled Treva down to the car on our way out.  But as a newborn, it’s really difficult to tell – at least I thought so.  Immediately, you notice the eyes of a newborn, so I thought for sure he was my son.  Until, I was told that all babies are born with blue eyes, something to do with recessive and dominant genes.  Which, by the way, I'm almost certain I learned about at the infamous Camas High School, but for some reason, could not recount the net of the facts.  I was provided a cliff notes version of this story in Chelan this year by Lars and Shannon - again, kind of hazy on the memories.  Anyway, his eyes were blue but instead of being from the simple fact that he is indeed, "my son," turns out he's just a baby with recessive genes. 


So the eyes won't work for our first comparison nod.  Instead, as noted in Exhibit 1, we analyze body structure. 

Exhibit 1 - "I love it when you call me Big Poppa"

One of these babies is yours truly, the other is Parker.  I see a LOT of similarities here.  I was just at my eye doctor the other day and she explained to me that babies look most like their fathers for about the first six months of their life as a survival motion.  Otherwise, as is the case in nature, if a father's son does not look like the father, there is a risk that dear old daddy would want to abandon and/or eat his child.  I searched for this theory on wikipedia, and it's true, dad's want their sons to have some of their characteristics early on.  And such is the case with our little man - he clearly has my nose, my eyelashes, and my...belly.  I haven't eaten him yet as proof that apparently I believe he resembles me.  I would say that since he was born, we hear more that he looks like me than Treva - the lady at the coffee shop a month in told me that he looks exactly like me, a little "Mini Me" if you will....well, while we may have similarities, an exact match is a little much.  I mean, I have hair - albeit thinning, I still have it.  But closer to me than Mrs. Totten early on.....more data needed.

Exhibit 2 - "Food Coma shows our natural state"

Parker squirms a lot, so it's also difficult to hold him still long enough to do appropriate comparisons.  But, we have discovered that directly after eating, he has a space-off period where he lets his body digest and his mind relaxes.  As you can see in Exhibit 2, he's a much cleaner eater than Treva was as a baby.  But notice how his nose looks next to hers, and look at the shape of his eyes, and his eyebrow, forehead - I'm seeing a lot of Momma Tots in this kid all of a sudden.  Funny, and true story:  a couple of months ago, one of the nice women in the Church Nursery told me that he looks exactly like me, except for his eyes, and his cheeks - those are his mother's.   Now I'm not a woman, but it seems to me that having an infant with chipmunk-chubby cheeks compared to the likeness of your own cheeks...well, that's not a comfortable image.  By the way, as you all know, my wife is smokin' hot, and I'm pretty sure the Church Lady was referring to bone structure in the cheeks, not the volume of material in those gills...After closer examination, I concur!

Exhibit 3:  "Just Close your Peepers"

He's a better sleeper than I am, but Exhibit 3 suggests that at one point in time, I did sleep well.  The pictures above have been rotated so for all you physics majors out there, we're not sleeping standing up.  But what you'll notice here is equally chubby cheeks on both sides and while you cannot see my legs, you know I've got some pudgy ones.  I was a man-child of an infant - as previously noted, 11 pounds and 4 ounces of fury.  Look at Parker's legs in Exhibit 3.  Rolls all over the place,  they look like gigantic sausages!  That's how my arms were, that's how my legs were.  He's a chubby bunny, just like his old man!  While you cannot see it in this picture, Grandma Totten was quick to point out that Parker has a dimple in his chin, just like Grandpa Totten.  Well, that skipped my generation, but Dianna called that out the day he was born - and he still has it!  If you look closely at my picture, I had a little dimple there as well early on.  Again, looking like his old man....MORE DATA!

Exhibit 4:  "We have a Match!"

Folks, I think we have a winner.  These are like mirror images of each other, tell me I'm wrong!  The one on the right is standing, the one on the left is not - but besides that, you could put tracing paper over them and wouldn't miss a beat! 

While this last Exhibit is enough evidence to convince me whose child this actually is, it looks like we'll have to keep close tabs on Parker as he continues to grow, and his features (and backside) continue to mature.  Personally, I think he's looking more and more like his mother every day, and I love that - I think his mom looks good.  But we had a good run little man, you've still got some of me poking around in there!  Regardless of dominant traits, he's a pretty good lookin' mashup of the two of us.  Ask him, he'll tell you :).

Christmas Morning is here!

One of my favorite things to do is to see Parker when he first wakes up - in fact, when I'm at work, it's the one thing I constantly find myself thinking about.  He's so much fun, super happy to see us and so excited to stretch!! 

As today is Christmas, check out the little man waking up for his first Christmas morning!  You can tell it's Christmas because of his pajamas, of course....

Merry Christmas to all!

Cheers,
david.

4 months = NO IDEA how many weeks

So, who started the whole, "how many weeks is your baby" thing?  I mean, weeks run out - that's why we have months.  And months run out, hence why we have years.  I have never, and I mean NEVER, given my age in months or weeks.  Could you imagine?  So if you are one of those people who have asked me how many weeks old my child is (my wife not included), I don't know the answer.  But he was born on July 27th and I bet you could find an app for your smartphone that would get you the answer with greater velocity and less vitriol than this guy would.  From now on, when asked, my baby is “less than 1 years old.”  Until July 28^th of next year anyway. 

Sorry, where was I going....oh yeah, the kid is getting older.  We noticed a lot of change (physically) that first month but now, even though we know he’s getting bigger and growing like a chia pet, the pictures between three and four months are less distinguishable.  I can tell which is which – but only because I’m his dad and I've got it like that.  Well, and because there is a giant “3” or “4” next to him. 

See for yourself, chase the "Tag" at the bottom and see the series.  All the way back to when he was 20,160 minutes old. 

Back on Track!

I do this ALL the time with the blogging business....fall into rhythm, just to tumble back out.  To be fair, I'm not a natural born writer - I do talk a lot though, and once you hit a certain level/volume of audible communications, it may just make more sense for the sake of your vocal cords and for the love of those around you to start typing things out.  I'm a really good writer in email, probably due to kicking out an average of 600 mails a day since I joined Microsoft.  There are a lot of smiley faces and exclamation points though, a "best practice" I will be making a focused effort to land in this blog as well.  

I also took a new job in November, managing a team of people based in Central Region US, Minnesota to Texas.  Turns out managing a team of folks that are geography-based, specifically in a geography where I myself am not physically located, seems to be just a wee bit more time intensive than I originally thought.  But it's all good, my ramp-up time with the new space has been educational and exciting, and I like the majority of my new team members, which is a significant win any day of the week in my book!

All of this to say, I'll get better at the blogging, I promise. 

A lot of updates to come on PJT, stay tuned.  And thanks again for visiting.  Oh, sorry, one more try:  "Oh, and THANKS AGAIN for visiting!!!!  :) "

dwt.

A man of the people...

Two true statements:

1. Since we've had Parker, Treva and I have altered our lifestyles a considerable amount.  All scheduling items revolve around his nap and feeding times, or sporting events, and we take him with us everywhere.  I read that we're not supposed to leave him alone at home.
2. Parker loves The People - doesn't matter how we need to change our schedules, he's a social butterfly and loves visiting with friends and family.  Which again, we're blessed and thankful to have some extremely special members in the illustrious "friends and family" circle.

He's obviously an active participant in the 114 Section of Sounders home games, so he knows all of his fellow fans quite a bit.  I don't have many pictures of those people though - primarily because there's a guy named Reggie close by who shouts a lot and uses rather obscene hand gestures on a regular basis which always seem to creep into any camera shots I could ever hope to capture....so, we'll skip the 114 Section. 

Closely related though are good friends Kasey and Tyler, a couple we first met through matchmakers Lars and Shannon and who are charter members of our DP dinner party group.  Kasey announced she was pregnant shortly after Treva did they were a lot of fun to visit with and catch up.  It's an incredible experience to share in tips, tricks, and techniques with good friends who are going through the same thing.  Kasey and Tyler were over at our place the weekend before Parker was born and we were discussing baby names - feels like just yesterday!  Then all of a sudden, here we are, having eggs and coffee cake discussing tummy time and bottle feeding techniques.  Crazy!  The Little Free baby is officially named Jackson Clark - Kasey's maiden name is Clark and they named him Jackson after Treva's family name.  Or, it's just a really cool name :) - funny and ironic we both had some Jackson in our names, friends for life!  Jackson Clark looks less than happy in these pictures, not representative of that cute smile we know he has! 

Next significant meet-and-greet occurred with our bi-annual Damian visit.  Damian coming to town provides a boost of good times for everybody - Treva, of course, loves seeing her big brother and talking about his travels and sharing stories of old.  I love Damian because he goes to Targy's with me and provides the ever-important majority vote for TV control.  Olive the beagle loves Damian because she has somebody to hang out with during the day who's willing to take her on walks.  Damian's like a community servant for just our little community here - he's invaluable, and his visits are always filled with fun and lasting memories!  It's fun to see Damian with Parker - he definitely grew on Damian over the course of the week and we are so happy to have Uncle Damian in Parker's life, we can't wait for the next visit!

Matt and Sarah are repeat visitors and Parker has become very comfortable with each of them, and even Cousin Bam-Bam.  They are actually expecting a new little Johnson in about five months or so, a little girl for Parker and Philip to tease and protect for the next sixty years.  We're extremely excited to have another baby in the family - we love babies here - but equally (perhaps even a smidgen more) excited for Matt to go out and procure all those cute baby girl clothes so I don't have to do the same if we're ever blessed with a little girl as well.  Treva is going to get mad that I said that.  So I take it back.  Treva's not "equally" excited for that benefit, just I am.  Regardless, a baby girl joining the Jackson-side family tree is going to be a lot of fun and we can't wait!  Needless to say, Philip has some getting used to having another baby around, so Parker provides a nice test subject for Matt and Sarah to gauge how Philip will react to the mini-him.  So far, SO GOOD!  Philip is a champ!  Just don't mess with his cars too much, and he's all good! 

Those are just a few of our visits the past month, many more to document at another time.  For now, we're all tired and we need some rest.....turn the light off when you leave friends, look forward to seeing you again!

dwt.

First Quarter Completed!

Another milestone in the Totten household as Master Parker celebrated his first three months!  Clearly, this blog is just a wee bit behind (I'll get better!!) since I'm actually just about completing the planning for his 4-month birthday party (there will be clowns, pretty dancing girls, enough macaroni and cheese to feed a Triple-A high school, and lots of ice cream).  Even though we're a little tardy with the post, still important to note the 3-month milestone.  It just all came so fast!  Tell the kid to stop growing!!

While we're celebrating birthdays, let's not forget about another large milestone in the 418 - Olive the Beagle had herself a grand old party for her birthday as well!  No dancing girls or ice cream, but she did get some chicken broth mixed in with her food AND she got permission to sit on the couch...that's pretty much paradise for an old lady beagle like her! 

Happy Birthday my loves!

dwt.

Repost!

Trying this video ONE MORE TIME!  Let's see if we can get this crazy technology to work...

Again, read the post below for context :).

dwt.