Some live action

I know some of you who read this are far away and may not even have met Trey yet.  That's one of the reasons I am posting these silly videos that don't show much.

Here's another short video of Trey at the Children's Museum today.  I love how when watching it back it almost sounds as if we are having a conversation.

Randy's parents come tomorrow and I'm sure I will have lots of pictures to post after their visit.  Stay tuned...

The inevitable has occurred

Here is our budding rockstar playing his xylophone for the first time.  His mad skills have improved since this video, but you can see that he has natural talent!

Well, the inevitable has happened.  Trey was in daycare for a grand total of two weeks before getting sick. We have been spending the last several days trying to help him feel better, but there's not much we can do for his bad cough and runny nose.  It is heartbreaking to listen to him at night coughing in his crib.

I got a lot of tips from my friends on Facebook on how to help him and right now my favorites are the Vicks Baby Rub on the bottom of the feet, chest, and back; the baby Tylenol and ibuprofen; the humidifier; the Snot Sucker; and the Boogie Wipes.  I have tried the steamy bathroom and the California Baby bubble bath, but I don't think those did much for him.  I elevated his mattress too much at first and the poor guy kept sliding down to the bottom.  We adjusted that so now it's better.  I have the saline drops but haven't used those yet.  I think what is sucking the most right now is that I am sick and I think Randy is on his way.   I was wondering if there is any way to train your son from an early age to not fall victim to the man cold...

Trey has been using his walker to get around the house and I am realizing that babyproofing (or at least getting things out of his reach) is in the near future. (Look closely at this picture.)

Also, we often put Trey in his Bumbo seat in front of the aquarium for a few minutes at a time, especially when we are getting ready to leave the house and need to have two free hands.  I learned last week that leaving Trey unsupervised in his seat is no longer an option unless I move Randy's basket of fishing goodies to a different spot on the table.  

Last week we went up to the Firehouse for happy hour.  It is such fun to be able to put Trey in a high chair and give him something to eat while we eat.  I can't believe how fast he's growing!  

On Monday, Trey reverted to his status of Nap Resister.  He was sick and so very very tired, so I went to my last resort and drove.  I drove down to Salem to see my dad and Sandy for lunch.  When Trey is tired, he usually falls asleep within 10 minutes of being in the car.  He was a top notch Nap Resister on Monday because he made it all the way to Salem and through lunch without falling asleep.  Granted, on the way home, he was asleep before we even hit the freeway.  Thank God.  

Last but not least, I got my garden started last weekend.  Randy helped me get the soil ready, and I planted pea seeds, lettuce, and kale.  I have actually never eaten kale before, but I was so excited to get things in the ground that I thought I would give it a shot.  

Filled with love

8 1/2 months old

Highlights of the past few weeks:

- Trey's first two teeth have arrived!  They have finally broken through and are so cute!

- Trey has started sitting in high chairs in restaurants

and in the stroller facing forward. 

These two events make him seem like such a big boy!

- Trey really likes fish.  Go figure.  He loves sitting in front of the aquarium at our house, and last weekend we took him to the Wet Spot where he was thrilled with all of the fish in the aquariums.

- Trey (and I) survived the first week of daycare.  Over the three days he was in daycare, his napping increased and my crying decreased, so I think it was a success overall.  I like having him around other kids during the day and they are exposing him to new foods expanding our repertoire at home.  On Thursday night after three days in daycare, he slept for 13 hours and took two naps on Friday totaling 3.5 hours which meant 16.5 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period - a personal best for Trey.

Here he is super happy after all of his sleep!

- I think that now that Randy and I are both working we are enjoying and appreciating our time together as a family even more than before.  On Saturday we went to Bridgeport with Kris for lunch.  (Sidenote:  If I had a quarter for every time I have heard the same old sob story from Kris and Randy about the devastation of the Bridgeport remodel and how it is just not the same, I would be rich.)  Lunch followed my morning with Julie that included donuts and pedicures and preceded our dinner at Breakside with Jason and Stefanie.  Overall, it was a really great Saturday!

This picture of Kris with Sophie just cracks me up...

- Now that I am getting into the swing of working parttime and being home Friday to Monday, I am trying to get back to my playdates.  Here is Trey with Oliver, Dyer's son.  Oliver was born two weeks after Trey (actually, on Trey's due date of 7/1) but is much bigger than him.  We met at a local cafe that is kid friendly called Posie's Cafe.  They have the most delicious chocolate chip cookies ever, and I can't stop thinking about them.  Actually, when I met Dyer there last week, I chose the place primarily for the cookies and I was super disappointed when they were all gone.  

- Overall, I am just loving Trey's personality.  I love his babbling, I love his smiles, and I love his curiosity.  I love cuddling with him, playing with him on the bed, and reading stories in the recliner or rocking chair.  I love watching him in the high chair amusing himself while I prepare his meals, and I love watching him on the changing table trying his hardest to twist and turn and get anything that is just out of reach.  I love his little hand resting on my forearm or my hand, and I love when he cuddles up on my shoulder when I am holding him.  I love watching him watch his father, and I love the expressions on his face when he is entertained by or engaged with Randy.   I never thought I would enjoy my time with a baby so much, but I just love spending time with him.  Maybe this will change, but right now I don't even miss my old life.  I just love being Trey's mom so much and LOVE my time with him.

Eight months old!

I've been spending a lot of time driving.  Driving to work.  Driving around Clackamas County for work.  Driving Trey around to get him to sleep because he seems to be on a nap strike.  While I'm on these drives, sometimes I think of potentially interesting things to say on this blog.  When I get home and have the computer in front of me, I can't remember any of those things.

With his Valentine's Bear from Grandpa Gerts

Tomorrow Trey turns 8 months old.  EIGHT MONTHS OLD.  I can't believe it.  Sometimes I feel like he's not a baby anymore and is more like a little boy.  Sometimes he still seems so small and I want him to stay that way forever.  Over the past few weeks, Trey has become super curious about anything and everything around him.  He is constantly twisting and turning and trying to reach and grab anything he can get his hands on.  It seems like he can be surrounded by a ton of toys and there is one small thing nearby that you don't want him to get...of course, THAT is the thing he goes for.  We are hoping that this new found eagerness for items around him motivates him to move his little body a little more.

Randy heading out to the Bulls game with Trey in his matching pjs.

The last few weeks  have been really fun with Trey, but they also have had their rough spots.  If he isn't teething, then we are screwed when he starts.  He has been fussy, fickle about eating, and on a napping strike.  He is always gnawing on something and has a little of that rash on his chin that supposedly has to do with drool and teething.  His sleep at night has been more inconsistent than it has been in months.  It has been sort of exhausting.  I keep trying to peek in that little cute mouth of his to see if those teeth have poked through.  Not yet...

We continue to have frequent battles with Tango.  Today I got home from another drive, and since I had put everything up or away and closed all of the doors to the bedrooms and bathroom, Tango decided to pull the cereal box out of recycling and shred it to pieces.  Here is a picture of Trey's monkey who almost met his end...not sure what happened.  Somehow Tango got the toy partway out of the basket but then must have been interrupted.

While Tango seems to hate us and hate Trey sometimes, whenever he has a chance to be next to Trey, he takes it.  Trey watches Tango wherever he goes, and I think Tango's days of freedom are quickly coming to an end.  Trey has his eye on Tango's tail and it's only a matter of time...

Randy has one more week of paternity leave and then daycare starts.  There are two (and only two) things I am looking forward to about daycare.  One is that Trey will be around other kids and I think he will love the social component of daycare.  Two is that we won't have to deal with his crappy naps for three days a week. The consequence of that is that he probably won't nap at daycare and then it will be hell when we are home, but we will deal with that when it comes.  Everything else about daycare I am dreading and while on one hand I think about it all of the time, on the other, I am in total denial.

At the local play gym.  Trey could not stop watching the other kids play.  This is why I think being with other kids at daycare will be great for him.

Balancing on this rocking dog thing...

Trey often looks so serious.  

 Wearing real shoes for the first time

Other happenings of the past few weeks are that Randy and I got to go out alone to the Fly Fishing Film Tour.  It felt nice to be out together without the baby.  Also, I got to go down to Woodburn on a Friday afternoon to meet up with my old Nellie Muir friends at the local dive bar, Yun Wah's.  I used to love their super strong gin and tonics and would often go there on Fridays with my colleagues to complain about work.  I had to ask the bartender to add more tonic this time, and the look on her face was priceless.  

Grandpa, cats, and lots of bonding time

I thought my blog was getting pretty boring when I was home full time and taking care of Trey thinking pretty much only about pooping, napping, and eating.  Well, I think now that I am working three days a week and relishing every moment with Trey on the other four, my blog is even more boring...if I'm not at work, I am home cuddling with my boy and trying to figure out what to make for dinner.

Last weekend we went to brunch at Kris and John's house.  They delighted us with delicious food and drinks which we worked off with a long walk around their neighborhood with the dogs.

Trey looking like such a big boy

Kris had a mini champagne glass for Trey while we enjoyed mimosas in the grown up glasses.

Floor time at Kris' house.  Carpet works way better than our hardwood floors!

Some new toys

This guy melts my heart every day.

Trey and Tango hanging out with Dad during the day.  Randy is getting in his groove of being a stay at home dad, and Trey sure loves his time with Daddy. Too bad Randy is already over half way through his leave.  We picked a daycare which Trey will start in March.  I had my first daycare nightmare/anxiety dream this past weekend.  I know it will be harder on me than Trey, but I am still dreading it.

I wonder if Randy picked this shirt because of its colors??

While Tango seems to have a love-hate relationship with Trey, 

he always wants to be as close to him as possible.  

Randy has taught Trey how to hold the bottle himself.  I'm gone for what?  two seconds?  And Randy is already leading our boy to further independence.

This past weekend we went to my dad and Sandy's in Leaburg.  Every time we go, I show Trey the tree down by the river and say, "Look, Trey, that is where Mommy and Daddy got married..."

I love spending the weekend in Leaburg because I love watching my dad and Trey together.  This was a good weekend and they had a lot of play time and cuddle time.  We also got to visit with Sarah Long which is always a special time.  But first...the cat.

Now, I am learning more than ever that children learn many of their beliefs and values from their parents, and I am constantly trying to be a good model for Trey.  One thing I learned from my father ever since I was a young child was that cats are bad.  I have never liked cats, and I don't think I ever will.  I know people loooooovvvve cats, but I have no idea why.  Randy and I are already imparting this wisdom on to Trey (mostly because we HATE the neighborhood cats that crap all over our yard).  Well, my dear dad and Sandy got a cat a few months ago.  Tango is still getting used to the idea...as am I.

I think my two least favorite cat moments of the weekend were in the middle of the night.  First was when the cat decided to bless us with his presence in the middle of the night in our room.  You can imagine how Tango reacted to that.  We promptly took the cat back downstairs to the laundry room, but, apparently, this is one smart cat because she worked her way back upstairs.  Awesome.  The second least favorite moment was when the cat decided to join Trey and I on the bed in the other room at 5 o'clock while I was nursing.  The main problem with this is that Trey is a little AD/HD when he is nursing and having a living animal right next to us while he is trying to eat is the WORST distraction ever.  Pushing the cat off the bed did not work because she jumped right back up.  So I stopped nursing (not a fun thing to do when you haven't nursed in 8 hours) and tried to get the cat who promptly went and hid under the bed but swiped at my hands or feet as I tried to get her.  UGH!!!!!  Needless to say, Randy came to my rescue and managed to get the damn cat and take her back downstairs.  I just don't like cats.  AT ALL.

Grandpa bonding time (also one of the first times I have seen my father on the floor in YEARS)

Hanging out before we left on Sunday to get home in time for the Super Bowl

Here is a quote from Parade a while back where Oprah says something that I loved: "Everybody just wants to be heard.  Toni Morrison said that what every child wants to know is, Do your eyes light up when I enter the room?  Did you hear me and did what I say mean anything to you?  That's all they're looking for.  That's what everybody is looking for."   I hereby state that I, Kristin Clark, will spend the rest of my life trying to show Trey that I hear him, that what he says means something to me, and that my eyes will light up whenever he enters the room.  

OMSI playground

Today was our first trip to the science playground at OMSI.  Here is a short video of Trey amusing himself with a ball.  The camera work isn't great, but it is from my phone...sorry, but he still is cute!

I was thinking today that I can't believe Trey is old enough for us to leave him "alone", sitting on the floor, amusing himself with his toys.  How on earth has time gone so fast?

Trey's first trip to the zoo

We got to take Trey to the zoo for the first time this weekend.  It was gorgeous out and while a little cool, the sun was shining and the sky was blue.  It was the perfect day to introduce him to the monkeys and the elephants.

Trey in the primate house.  He was watching the monkeys and apes (I can never remember which is which and got corrected SEVERAL times by Randy), and I so wish I knew what was going through his little baby brain.  

Trey seemed to be paying attention to these apes (?) 

and their funny faces and butts. 

Trey's first time looking at real live reptiles.   

Trey and Daddy checking out the fish 

 In the elephant house

 The baby elephant was so cute!

Mama telling Trey all about the elephants

The hippos...the other animals that we saw that were super cool were the lions.  They looked so regal sitting up on the big rocks.  I was tempted to get Trey out of his stroller (again!) to see them, but he was about to fall asleep.

Before the zoo, I had gone to a brunch with a bunch of college friends.  It was so fun to see some girls I haven't seen in a long time and reconnect.  There was a lot of parenting talk at the table, and it was one of the first times I could really participate.  I met these ladies in 1992-4 at Willamette and I think it is super cool that we are still in touch.

Kellie, Bianca, me, Amy, Barbra, Dani, Melissa,

 Joy with Trey, and Mindy with Camille

Trey and Camille (Mindy's daughter)

We ended this awesome day with a trip to Hopworks with Jason, Stefanie, and Declan.  Saturday was such a fun day (and I haven't even mentioned our fabulous Friday night with Kris and John playing Uno and Yahtzee until 11pm) that I couldn't keep my eyes open while reading and fell asleep at 8:00.