Cuteness defined

When Grandma Marx says "He's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen, except for you, of course." that doesn't move me. When Grandma Boitmann says "Isn't he the cutest baby in the world?" it's expected. But when Kristie Schweyer says to her cat Zoe "What's wrong Zoe? Are you upset that you're not the cutest thing in the apartment anymore?" we have arrived at a new, rarified, level of cuteness.

Edification

Some important firsts happened yesterday. Justin went to his first museum, his first restaurant, and went to Haslam's for the first time.

My friend Beau was visiting and he is a big Salvadore Dali fan so we went down to the Dali museum in St. Petersburg. Justin could appreciate the skill and thought that went into the works of Dali, but surrealism just doesn't move him emotionally. Maybe he'll come around one day.

After meeting us at the museum, Denis accompanied us to lunch at The Garden, a very nice downtown restaurant. I had the catch of the day, mahi mahi, and Justin had milk. He was flirting with the old ladies at the next table, then he took a nap.

We made a very quick stop (for our family) at Haslam's Bookstore, an evil establishment with black magic laid on its very aisles that causes anyone with the last name Marx to find one book that we simply have to buy every five minutes. We were in the store for twenty minutes. . . Justin liked the children's section, if you can believe it.

Many pictures were taken on Christmas day and the days immediately prior and after. Of these, the majority are in Louisiana and I will endevour to get a good sample online in the next day or two.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Winter Solstice

We just got home from Justin's first winter solstice stargazing night. He was a bit upset when we got to the field, but after Jenny and I walked him around for a while he settled down and napped while we looked at the stars, ate chocolate-penut butter balls, and drank hot chocolate (thank you Chris and Kristie). Maybe next year Justin will look at the stars a bit.

He's Going To Be Famous

PurpleStork.com, the company that made Justin's birth announcements, sent me an email today asking if it would be alright if they used his announcement in the card portfolio on their website. They said "We thought your card turned out so nice...in fact, it was one of our favorites!" So I'll let you know when they update their website.

A Day In the Life

Justin had his first trip to H&R Trains (the #1 train store in the Tampa Bay area) today. He hung out and looked around while I worked on his LGB train with help from the friendly employee Dave. When he started getting fussy, one of the other employees picked him up and quieted him a little bit.

The epic battle: Man vs. Sheep continues. We will prevail. . .yes, we . will . prevail. (Justin likes dramatic repetition).

You Can't Trust Sheep You Know. . .

Justin is sitting in his chair right now locked in mortal combat with his sheep toy. Staring with furrowed brow at the sheep toy hanging from the toy bar, he's beating the sheep repeatedly with his left hand, then turning to face the pig, which he can't figure out how to hit because it's on his right side. He's getting frustrated, but you can see him trying to work out why he can hit the sheep, but not the pig. OK, he got very frustrated and now I have to go wrap him up.

One New Picture

I added one picture to the gallery.

Grabby McGraberton

Justin has started grabbing onto any object that his hand happens to hit. Right now he's sitting on my lap, gripping my watch in one hand and his clothes in the other. He's also become pretty adept at getting his fist up by his mouth where he can try to eat it.

Last night when I wrapped him up for bed I left one of his arms free so he could comfrt himself during the night. It worked great! I hope he's this easy to potty train.

He can see clearly now. . .

Justin can now track Jenny and I as we move around the room. He can even keep track of us when we are up to fifteen feet away from him. He's staring at us a lot more now that he can keep us in sight.

2 month well baby visit

We just got back from Justin's 2 month check-up and everything is looking good. He is now 24 and 1/4 inches tall (95 percentile!), weighs 13 lbs. 4 oz. (88 percentile), and his head size is 15 inches (20 percentile). As you can see from the stats, he's going to be very tall, right on target with regard to weight vs. height, and his head will be very small. Don't tell Jenny I said that.

At this visit he also got 4 imunization shots. After the shots he cried for about two minutes, then went back to sleep in his car seat.

He's starting to drool a lot so we keep burp cloths handy at all times. One of the best new things is that he seems to be aware of Jenny and I and there are times when he gets upset unless he can see one or the other of us.

I've uploaded 5 new pictures. Sorry for the delay.

First Weekday Outing

Well, Justin and I went down to hang out at Emerald City for the first time yesterday. We had to set up the Christmas LEGO train display and teach some of the employees how to play Ticket to Ride. This was an important milestone because we were going to be out of the house long enough that he would require some food before we got home. This was the first time I've fed him outside the house and things went very smoothly. He was calm while I set up the display, then got hungry and fussy so I fed him, then he took a nap while we played the game, waking up in time to give me really poor advice on which cards to draw. Thanks a lot son! He even smiled and laughed (or as close to laughing as he gets right now) when Paul and Colin were giving him some attention. What a happy baby.

I know that many of you are clamoring for more pictures, especially from his two month birthday. I should be able to get two or three pictures online tonight, but it may be pretty late.

Bonafide Smile

Over the past few days we've definitely transitioned to bona fide smiling. I was in Wal-Mart yesterday and as I was walking down the aisle I was playing with his feet when he started to make a sound that was almost like giggling.

Also, his visual acuity continues to improve. We can tell because now he spends time staring at the mobiles above his crib and bassinet. This morning we had almost one hour of quiet alert time and even thirty minutes of tummy time.

First Smile?

On Sunday, Justin smiled for the first time. At least that's what Jenny says. I was watching at the time and I'm not prepared to call it a full smile, but I don't have any experience with babies other than this one. Take this as you will.

Pictures

4 more pictures have been added to the gallery.

First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Justin and I had our first day at home alone together today. Everything went well. He didn't sleep much during the day so it was hard to get chores and projects done, but perhaps that means he will sleep well tonight.

Jenny is back to work, but taking it easy for the first few weeks. She had a fine day at work and is adjusting well to pumping in the office.

All systems nominal.

Z-axis visual range 210 degrees

Justin seems to have figured out that he can swivel his head from left to right and back again to increase his field of vision. He is sitting on Jenny's lap swinging his head back and forth, back and forth.

I started playing with him by moving from one side of him to the other and he seemed genuinely confused for a minute. Then I think he decied that there were two of me and lost interest.

Happy Halloween

I've uploaded four new pictures to the gallery, including Justin in his Halloween costume. WARNING: extremely high cuteness factors present.

A Call to Arms

This morning, while sitting in his rocking chair, Justin was clearly looking at the toy pig which was hanging from the crossbar. He stared at it, reached out his arm, and swung his little fist at it. He was way off target and missed the toy, so he pulled his arm back in, concentrated, swung a second time, and hit the toy. This swinging, missing, and hitting went on for quite a long time, with his movements making the toy swing back and forth, making it harder to hit.

Also, he has started articulating all of his fingers. I don't think he has yet recognized that the hands and arms are his, but he's learning how to control them. He even maybe smiled once as we were moving the chair and the pig was swinging around crazily.

It is clear that he's right handed.

One Month Birthday Pictures

I've posted five new pictures in Justin's gallery. Follow the link to check them out.

ENT Appointment

We made a trip to the ear, nose, and throat doctor today to have Justin's lower jaw examined. His gums don't line up and we wanted to make sure it was nothing to worry about. After examining Justin the doctor broke the news.

It's nothing to worry about.

He says that it is fairly common and wants to see him in four months to make sure everything is still fine, so we made an appointment to go back in a few months. All systems nominal.

He's getting bigger. Every two weeks or so I look at him and think, "He's bigger than before." I know this is normal, but it seems weird. I will endevour to upload a one month birthday picture for the slightly unbalanced grandparents...

Justin's shelves

I added a picture of the shelves I built for Justin's room. I'll put up some more pictures of him, probably later tonight.

College savings

Justin, Jenny, and I were just going over some of the options for higher education costs. Justin feels that there are not enough options for people in our tax bracket. You should hear the screaming.

Two new pictures in the gallery

Due to popular demand I have added two new pictures to the web gallery. Over the next day or two we will be taking a lot of pictures in order to get a few more shots from which to choose for his birth announcements, and I'll upload more then.

Bottle feeding

Justin has started having one bottle feeding every day. So far, Jenny has been feeding him but tomorrow I will try to get through a feeding flying solo. There were a few problems finding a nipple that he likes, but we think we've got the hang of it now.

He had his first trip to Publix today where various passerby ohhed and ahhed over his tiny head. Just kidding.

Optical system online and church

Sometime late last night, after Justin had had a big meal, and was being burped, he reached some kind of optical developmental milestone and started looking around the room with much more alacrity than heretofore. He seemed facinated by my, and Jenny's, face, the lamp, the pillows on the couch and his blanket. He stayed alert, actively looking at everything for about 15 minutes before becoming tired, whereupon he needed the 5 S's in order to calm down and go to sleep.

The difference in his aspect is obvious in the way he turns his head and shifts his eyes to catch sight of things. I'm fairly certain that he is still, as expected for a newborn his age, unable to track moving objects with any amount of accuracy, unless moving extremely slowly and through the center of his visual field.

This morning we took him to mass for the first time. He slept through most of the mass and only started squirming around a bit during the closing hymn, keeping almost silent through coffee and donuts in the parish center as well. Jenny describes our first church outing as "ideal."

2 Week Pediatrician Visit

We just got back from Justin's 2 week well baby visit and the doctor says he is doing great. He is now 21 3/4" long which means he has grown 1 and 1/2 inches since he was born (76 percentile). He is also 8 oz. above his birth weight at 8 pounds 2 ounces (50 percentile!). Also his head is small (26% percentile). Jenny says to take out the fact that his head is small because the method of measurement is inacurate and everyone will think that the pediatrician told us his head is small. Just so everyone knows, his head is fine. It is not small. Jenny is ranting as I type this.

Justin's Financial Future

We started looking for a bank with a good kids saving program today. As I was telling Justin today, it's never too soon to learn fiscal responsibility. Also, there are some new pictures up in the gallery.

We have a belly button!

Justin's umbilical stump came off just now. Now he has an "innie."

Everyone who has a baby should read this

If any of you have a newborn or are planning on having a child you should pick up the book or DVD titled "The Happiest Baby On the Block" by Dr. Harvey Karp. The method he gives for quieting fussy babies is amazing. If you follow the steps you can calm even a screaming infant and have this:








Cheap at thrice the price.

Passive Alert Time

Justin is keeping his eyes open and looking around for longer and longer periods of time. He's also sleeping in his crib for longer stretches. We're still watching for the increase in fussy-ness that should happen over the first six to eight weeks.