Snow-mageddon!

Well, that was a pretty crazy week!  After a very tame winter so far, the weatherman finally had to earn his paycheck last week!  Of course, they were a full two days off for when the snow would come - but came indeed, it did!  We got a few inches and Seattle did the only thing that Seattle knows how to do when the white stuff falls...SHUT DOWN! 

I worked from home on MLK, Jr. Day, and we met up with the Kid Mafia (Mollie, Miles, Jack, Roark, Tatum, and Jesse) at Phinney Market up on Phinney Ridge for some happy hour food, drink, and catching up with good friends.  It was a lot of fun, started the week off right!  I'm actually kind of miffed why Microsoft doesn't take MLK, Jr. Day off in the first place - I'm taking it off from this point on, no matter what.  It's ridiculous, and fired me up for the entire day.  Thankfully, the Hueys reserved a table for 30 at the restaurant so I could wash away my anger with a nice amber and some soup....

Tuesday was when all the big weather was supposed to hit, which was concerning as I had half my team in town for something they call "Licensing University."  Yep, my job is pretty darned geeky if you have to have a "school" for four days to get people the 101 level information they need.  The problem is, they only offer this classwork once every year.  One of the gals on my team, while new to Microsoft, has worked with Microsoft licensing for years.  She could have written the syllabus.  Instead, she just distracted everybody, and then proceeded to lead a snow angel walk-out / revolt on Thursday with the rest of the students.  Go figure. 

Anyway, the snow didn't come on Tuesday.  I stayed in sunny Bellevue all day, even for a team dinner late that night...no snow.  But it was cold, and Wednesday brought the chaos!  I couldn't get off the hill on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, so I had to work from home.  Basically, Parker and I got to wear the matching PJ's Treva got us all and he listened to more conference calls in between naps...good times!

This snowstorm reminded us of our very first winter in Queen Anne, when we were snowed in and walked to Fremont with the beagle at least twice to meet the Hueys for drinks.  Thankfully, the snow wasn't as bad this time around, but we still had the good friends to meet up with for company!  Parker loved the snow.  Well, not really - he liked watching the snow, and he was so bundled up, he surely didn't feel the cold.  But watching the cars try and get by our house on McGraw was pretty fascinating for both Totten boys, and he'll remember it forever!

Good thing we have some indoor activities to keep him busy.....can't tell below if he's happy or not :).

dwt.

SLEEP TIME!!

Good times are abound in Parker’s sleeping schedule, which makes things much happier for Mama and Papa Tots as well!  Parker has always been a pretty good napper / sleeper (like his mother), but he’s always had that late-night food craving (like his father) that wakes him up and turns him into that plant from Little Shop of Horrors until he gets fed.  So, a little over a month ago, we rolled the dice and tried to let him “work it out” on his own as opposed to his regular 3:30-4am feeding.  It did not work that well.  Hard nights for the little man, and hard on Treva and I as well – I apologize, in writing, for the numerous people I’m sure ran into me on a day where I had less sleep than normal – “my bad.”  So we took a break from the official Tiny Tots’ Training Camp over the holidays and restarted in late December.  And…IT WORKED!  Sort of. 

Ready for bed!!

I mean, the kid is still a tank that has to be gassed up with fuel on a regular occasion.  But now, he’s not setting his sleep schedule to that 3:30 feeding.  Sometimes he wakes up at 5am, some days at 5:45 or 6am, and even a few days sprinkled in there he’ll sleep until 7 or 7:30!  So, all in all, while still a work in progress, we’re trending in the right direction!  Nap schedules are similar – General Treva runs a pretty tight ship on his wake time, with scheduled naps at 08:30 hours, another around lunch-time, and then a little cat nap around 16:30 hours.  That third nap is starting to turn hit/miss – he still needs to sleep, but at times the duration leaves a little to be desired.  I think he’ll quit taking that nap within the month, which hopefully will make sure we can put him to sleep even earlier than his current bedtime is now.  Speaking of, special kudos to Lars and Shannon Johnson for being the first couple we’ve inconvenienced by forcing them to eat dinner when old people eat, just so we could be back to tuck PJT in.  Thanks guys!!

Sleep “style” is also changing – Parker is rolling over onto his belly to sleep now, so no more swaddling.  In fact, the first time he did it was in his Pack and Play over at Karen and Ernie’s place on New Years, and he lost his cool with the result – he was not happy!  Treva and I are talking about this all the time, questioning his to-belly movement since he’s not exactly a big fan of “Tummy Time.”  Yet, for whatever reason, he can’t seem to sleep on his back anymore, unless he’s really, really, really exhausted.  In addition, while he’s officially an Honor Student in rolling over to his belly (specifically the lean from his right side!), he can’t seem to figure out how to roll onto his back yet.  As a result, he gets pretty fired up on his belly, but can’t help but fall asleep in that position every single time we put him down right now. 

Other sleep quirks:  Still smiles like Bill Clinton at a Cheerleader Camp when we wake him up from his nap / sleep to keep him on schedule!  He’s usually pretty happy to see our smiling faces, I love that, one of my favorite things!  But, when he wakes up on his own and is starving…well, he’s less happy.  He also makes a lot of noise – still talks to himself, a lot of grunting and “argh’ing”…in fact, Treva asked me the other night as we were going to bed, if I was worried that a Pterodactyl may be eating our son at that very moment.  Oh, it’s no dinosaur, just a kid settling into Position A to sleep the night through!  He moves a lot too – when he does wake up early, circa 5am, he usually can put himself back to sleep…unless he’s wiggled his way to the top of his crib and his face is smashed against the end.  Sleeping with your face against a wood panel seems like it may be uncomfortable – Parker concurs.  Before he was belly-bound, he used to turn himself in circles.  We would put him down with his head facing north, we’d wake up in the morning and his head is facing South.  I’m pretty sure Olive didn’t move him…so that little wiggle worm continued to readjust through the night!

All in all, we’re seeing more good sleep days than bad sleep days, and that’s fun – still some bad days, like, I don’t know, YESTERDAY??  Regardless, more good than bad and we’re thankful for that!  Sweet dreams everybody, beware of those nursery carnivores out there!

dwt.

5 Months Old!

No, not this week!  Back right after Christmas!  Parker turns 5 months old - check out those well-defined pectoral muscles...or not!  Looks like we need to spend more time on the bench press with old Tubs here....

Times, they are a changin'....

We are LOVING Parker at this age, he’s so expressive and interested in so many different things!  We have seen a lot of change in him as well – he’s growing and learning so much, every day!  Some key / fun milestones we have seen recently:

• He used to talk all the time – just sit there on his own and babble.  Now, he only does this part of the time.  If he’s being vocal now, it’s about sticking his tongue out and “coo’ing” in a steady, high-pitched voice.  It’s probably too early, but gauging his tone….I’m pretty sure we do not have the next Justin Bieber with this kid.
• Yes, he has discovered his tongue – and he loves it.  And he watches with so much excitement when I stick my tongue out at him.  Treva doesn’t stick her tongue out at him, of course – but I do all the time.  It’s kind of our thing. 
• Parker’s favorite food:  still breast milk.
• He blows bubbles.  Remember the Cosby Show, and Dr. Huckstable used to call them “zerbits”?  Yeah, he does those by himself, and it’s hilarious!
• When we’re changing him, or trying to put his pajamas up, he gets this ridiculous devilish grin on this mug and tries to grab you with his hands and bring whatever he can get to his mouth.  It’s really cute – and unbelievably annoying at 5am. 
• He has discovered Olive the Beagle – before, he didn’t even notice her.  Now, he watches her come and go – it’s only a matter of time until I try and see if Parker can ride her.  It’s going to be an epic video.

• My favorite Stupid Totten trick:  when you blow on Parker’s face, his eyes get big, he takes a giant breath in through his nose, then lets it out slowly through his mouth…making that cute baby sigh.  It’s hilarious!  It actually is so funny, it makes me light-headed.  Though, thinking more in depth about this now, that could be from my blowing on him so much.
• Parker’s favorite band:  Blink 182.
• He can roll over now – we’ve witnessed it, even have the first “official” rollover on tape!  Actually, his first rollover was technically here at the house – he went from his stomach to his back, but it was only because he was trying to see something and once his head gets to a point of no return, his body has to follow.  He’s like one of those crocodiles they hunt in his 4^th favorite show, Swamp People.  Once you get the head in the boat, the body has no choice but to follow.  Well, that’s like Parker rolling over.  He rolled from his back to his belly, then back to his front over at Grandma Jackson-Dean’s house on Christmas, after some significant training from Grandma Totten the night before  – everybody was pretty excited.  But not Parker – in fact, it freaked him out something special!  It’s never funny to laugh at your child when they cry – except for when it’s something super funny like a panic cry because of rolling over!

• Parker has a jumper – and I’m not referring to a sweatshirt in England.  He loves jumping!  Though lately, when we put him in his “Jumparoo,” he’s noticed the toys / things to look at.  So he spends less time jumping, more time analyzing.  Pretty interesting stuff on there, apparently.
• He’s ticklish. 
• He knows his dad is HILARIOUS.  Well, I guess it's just that Parker loves to laugh and smile - his face just lights up when he sees a smiling face, it's pretty funny.  I think we should actually get him some clown paraphernalia or something in fact, keep him laughing all day long.  If only I didn't have a recurring dream involving a clown....clowns are weird.  So instead, I just laugh and smile at him, and he seems to respond well to that....Check the video below as proof!

In fact, prepare to see more videos on this site as well.  My mother told me that videos don't work when viewing the blog on one of those archaic technology "iDevices"...and I support that boycott.  More videos to be posted!!

Giggles and Grins for all you do in 2012, happy New Years!

 

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.