Our Bouncing Balding Baby Boy

We were very surprised when Jake emerged with a nice head full of hair, and lots of people told us it would fall out. Well, just a few days ago, we realized our baby was starting to go bald. It started out in the front, with his hairline receding. Now he sorta looks like a balding middle-aged man. Ralph and I were joking that he was going to start dating babies half his age and insist upon being pushed around in a fast red convertible stroller! Ralph thinks Jake's hair resembles James Gandolfini (of the Soprano's fame), but with Jake's light (almost reddish) hair, I though he looked somewhat like Ron Howard's goofy-looking brother, character actor Clint Howard. You be the judge...

MOVIE TIME!

I am not sure if everyone wil be able to view this or not, but I made a Quicktime movie out of the pictures I took of Jake yesterday. Hopefully this will work for most people...

(The link below will open in a new window and the movie will begin to download)

Jake - The Movie

Is there ever a break??

Wow. I had always heard "having a baby changes everything". Damn straight! My life now revolves around the projectile vomiting of a three-week-old. It seems something is always shooting out of this child! He surprised me the other day by peeing all over my neck as I was checking to see if the diaper was actually wet, and trying to carry on a conversation with Ralph, who was downstairs below me. Serves me right for not paying FULL attention to Jake. Today he cried non-stop (it seems) unless he was being held. Daddy has toearn some money while Mom is on maternity leave, so the job of holding the crying, peeing,projectile vomit machine was all mine, during business hours at least.

So I tried to eat a little while holding Jake, but he eventually had another wet diaper, so I put my chinese leftovers on my bedside table and went to change the little pisser. It was an uneventful diaper change (this time), but once I got back to our room, I caught the dog chowing down on my beef lo mein! She knew she was caught red-handed, which of course made her shake nervously. I shooed her away, but needless to say, I am not finishing the lo mein. Ugh.(UPDATE: Kelly forgot about the lo mein, but Ruth didn't. She went back upstairs later and finished off the entire container. Ralph found her leaning onto the bedside table from the bed, licking out the last bits of the leftovers. This had been a FULL serving of beef lo mein.)

In the four minutes Jake let me put him down today, I did manage to get a few really good pictures of him with my new camera that I never get to use anymore because I am always changing diapers...

...Okay, I must admit our little peeing machine is quite adorable.

The umbilical cord falls off... and other adventures in parenting

Jake in his first Yankees t-shirt and XXXS Yankees hat

After a very stinky couple of days with the umbilical cord stump, it was finally just hanging by a string after his bath the other day. I might mention that he needed a bath because he threw up all over himself and his father. Ralph has been the victim of two big Jake barfs lately. Mom has avoided them, but she has been hit with a poop spray, and gets peed on daily. Today Mommy was hit square in the chest... at least he has good aim. (Sidebar: I must say I never imagined I would be discussing bowel movements in detail on the internet...) So anyway, we decided to try to help the cord along, and then just fell off by itself! It quickly went directly into the trash - I know some parents are very sentimental d like to keep such things for the scrapbook, but our baby's belly button stump was so gross (even though we cleaned it multiple times a day as directed) that we couldn't wait to toss it in the nearest garbage can - you're outta here! Some cultures actually bury the cord stump in the yard and plant a tree or something over the stump. Ralph and I are not planning to live in this house forever, so that idea didn't seem all that appealing. Plus, having to spend another second with that stump made us want to scream!

Professional pictures!

We went to Laura Novak's new studio to get Jake's first professional pictures taken on friday - a few images are posted on Laura's blog.

We had another nice visit with Grandma Valentine - she was nice enough to give us a break from our favorite baby, who wakes us many times during the night.... Grandma may not have had much sleep this weekend, but she still seemed to enjoy the visit. We really appreciated the babysitting, and Ralph and I had a nice date at the movies. (We saw the Benchwarmers - funny!)

We also had a very nice visit with the Boyds on Saturday. Jake got to meet his great-aunt Marianne, great-uncle Bob, and cousins Brad and Caley. Ruthie really enjoyed the visit, as the Boyds have three Boston terriers of their own, so they know exactly where to scratch and what games to play with our little Boston. Jake managed to poop all over both Mom and Dad during the visit, which our guests found wildly amusing... Never a dull moment with a baby around! :)

One week old!

Today marks one entire week that Jake has been here "on the outside." It sure went by quickly! I can't imagine how fast the next 18 years will go! We are getting used to some sort of a routine, with feedings coming at 11 pm, 3 am, 7 am, 11 am, 1 pm, then 4 or 5 pm, and 8 or 9 pm. He is a big eater! He is already scarfing down an average of 4 ounces at each feeding. He is also managing to average at least one "parental peeing" per day. He peed on both of us yesterday (Ralph got hit twice I think), and so far today no one has been targeted, but trust me, it's coming.

No new pictures today (I have been waaay too busy and too tired to take any half-decent shots), BUT, tomorrow we are going to visit our favorite photographer, Laura Novak, to have Jake's first baby portraits taken!! :) Some of you may remember Laura's name - she was our wedding photographer, and she is EXCELLENT!!! We are looking forward to seeing her new studio in Trolley Square, Wilmington.

Getting used to it all...

Ralph and I are settling in, getting used to it all, getting used to the the diaper changes, the crying, the late-night feedings, the overwhelming tiredness all the time (for all three of us)! Jake is our beautiful boy and we just can't stop staring at him! He has the cutest chubby little cheeks, and makes the funniest faces!

We had lots of company over the weekend and it was so nice to show him off!
Thanks so much to Grandma and Grandpa Valentine, Mema and Papa Vasami, Great-Grandma Mancuso, Great-Aunt Barbara, Aunt Laura, Uncle Danny, Great-Uncle Robin, Cousin Beccah, Cousin Jess, Bill, and "Aunt" Jen Baker who all came to visit Jake his first weekend.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Grandma Mary Ellen and Mema Mary who stayed with us and did many many loads of laundry, diaper changes, trips to the store, and all kinds of errand-runningto keep Ralph and I sane and functioning while trying to adjust to being parents.