Adrienne Mabel

She was born at 1:09 PM. She was 7 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long. According to her mom she is blonde.

Everyone is healthy and happy.

We are going to see her this afternoon. I am dying to see her! I am going to love that baby girl!

Waiting

We are waiting and waiting for Adrienne to be born. She is late! Her mom and dad are very anxious to hold that little girl in their arms. Our wait will soon be over. By my calculations, the latest she can be born is Thursday morning. They check into the hospital tonight.

All of our thoughts are with them.

Kung Fu Sleep Fighter

Ed Jr. has a love hate relationship with sleep - and it is driving his mom CRAZY! It is not like he doesn't get enough sleep, or sleeps too much, it is how hard he fights it.

Naps. He needs at least three a day, or so the experts tell us so. Here is the drill, tired and crying I get him to close his eyes, hang out with him until he is limp and then put him down. Instantly awake, sometimes mad, sometimes happy, but always awake. I try to get him back down to sleep and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. He will take a solid 2-3 hour nap if I hold him the entire time. So there is that. If he does 45 minutes unheld, I throw a parade. No, cars don't always work, they work SOMETIMES. No, walks don't always work, they work just until I park his stroller in the house and run to the bathroom.

I read books, I ask for advice, I am becoming obsessed with sleep, and those are just his naps.

I know, from personal trial and errors (of which there are many) that a well napped kid is easier to get to sleep than a tired one. Maybe this explains my obsession with the elusive power nap. We have been working toward a 8:00 PM bedtime. Most of this last week, he will happily oblige, as long as I (not we) hold him until 10 PM and then place ever so gently in his co-sleeper, genuflect 100 times, dance around in a circle and calculate Pi in my head.

As you may notice, I am blogging around midnight. What you don't know is that I am holding the king of kung fu sleep fighting in my lap while I type. His kung fu moves are powerful, kicks, punches, scratches and an occasional giggle, he is fighting off his sworn enemy, sleep. He did fall fast asleep at 8, but since we were at a house party, as we put him in his car seat to bring him home, he woke up and now, my friends, the real party can begin. Kung Fu Party. I know that in the morning my chest and his face will bear the battle scars of fighting off sleep, his nails are sharp, because I have to cut them while he sleeps. . .another story for another time.

So here we sit, me dreaming of sleep, him kung fooing it away. I know that I can't complain too much, I mean two weeks ago, he slept 7 hours in a row. My head almost exploded with joy. I called, texted and e-mailed all of my close friends, relatives and state and local representatives I was so excited. He has been pulling 6-7 hour stretches ever since. Yes, I am one of the lucky ones.

So, if you see me and ask me how I am doing and I babble on about naps, minutes, hours or stretches of sleep, just smile and tell me that we are doing well, that I am one of the lucky ones and that soon, we will worry about solid foods, grades, or girls.

Serious Business

Ed Jr. recently discovered that not only are his hands fun to play with, but they are TASTY DELICIOUS! All day (while awake) he has those hands going and going. He kind of reminds me of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons - Excellent! When not plotting with them, those hands are in fists pounding against the sky or jammed in his mouth.




Ed Jr. also likes to sit up these days. His days of laying flat on his back are OVER! He sits up in his mom's lap while she works on the computer or watches TV. As I type he is sitting up in his boppy, kicking my leg and yelling at me.

And to top off the Ed Jr. baby olympics, if you let him, he will use his legs to try to stand. If his pudgy body could just keep up with those legs - this kid would be walking for sure.

Jr. also had quite the weekend. Friday night we went to his Uncle Artie's wedding. He danced and danced with his Straganona. He also met another of his girlfriends, Allie. She is a week older than him and about half of his size. She is such a petite beautiful little thing.

Saturday Ed Jr.'s mom and dad drug him all over town to hang out his aunt Kim and uncle Jon who at the time of this post are still pregnant - and a little overdue. We know how they feel, don't we?

Sunday Ed Jr. and his mom jetted off to Great Falls to hang out with his Nanna and Papa. We were so lucky to have Aunt Lisa to ride with us. She kept the pacifier in during the road trip. It was a major road test for mom's new car - a Honda Element! I call it the mini van for dude brahs. Which means that it serves as a mini van, but has the outdoorsy yuppie edge. Plus you can literally hose it out. It is perfect for mom, dad, baby and two stinky labs. You can pull the back seats and sleep in it.

While in GF Ed Jr. got to meet his other godmother, Jody. Photos later. She was very happy to meet Ed Jr.

Yes, good looks do run in the family. Every day he looks more and more like his handsome daddy. Happy 9 week birthday sweet angel baby.

Happy 2 Month Birthday - INDEED!

Ed Jr. here.

So on Monday I turned two months old. Yeah party, right? Well, not so much. Apparently when you are two months old your parents drag you to see the doctor and they give you SHOTS! Lots of SHOTS! I cried and cried. It was terrible. There I am showing Dr. Frank and staff how big I am (14.5 lbs heavy and 25.5 inches tall) when suddenly this NURSE comes in ans is all like "hi how are you? you are so cute! blah blah blah." Then WHAM she goes and injects pain and misery into my legs. Observe

.

Ouch - right? I was so upset I cried a cry none of us had ever heard before. Then I slept. Slept slept slept until now.

So it is 11 PM - I am wide awake - what are you all up to?

Blinded By Cuteness

Last week our friend Liz shot some photos of the young Coleman. They are amazingly cute. Check them out here. Feel free to sign Liz's guestbook. I am sure she will love it.

As for the Bobcat football photos - those were Liz's idea - and since she was doing us a huge favor, how could I turn her down? Of COURSE we would never subject our poor little baby to the heinous experience that is Bobcat football. We are Griz fans true and true, but alas, have no mini footballs to pose our child with. Aunt Liesel. . .

I know, I know, I am a graduate of the Bobcat school, but have nothing but resentment for the sports teams. As they are major losers, much of my tuition went to paying for those dorks to get scholarships that I should have gotten. Thank you very little. Plus, since I started school in the LOVELY Moscow, ID, I have always considered myself a Vandal. Yeah! Go Idaho!

I also wanted to let you all know that Ed Jr. is really starting to smile. He has this great smile that is impossible to catch on film. Here are a few of my recent attempts. It took him a long time to get there - but man are they worth it. He is a beautiful smiler.

Daddy Day!

To celebrate Ed's first ever father's day we drove 6+ hours to Stites Idaho so that he could celebrate with all of his buddies and raft his brains out. Check out the sequence here (use the small arrow above the big photo to advance and enjoy Ed taking a nice father's day whitewater swim.) All Ed wanted for Father's Day was to go rafting, enjoy some brews and hang out with his buddies. I gave him that, plus a couple of extras.

We had a wonderful time hanging out at Philly and Becky's house. They live on the side of a mountain looking over some gorgeous Idaho country. Ed Jr. enjoyed the company of Sam, Luke and the BEAUTIFUL Evelyn Marie. Ed Jr. even handled the trip there and back like a true champ.

I know it is a little late, but happy fathers day John, Doo and Dan!

Big Week in Babytown

Last week a lot of things were going on around here. Ed Jr. had his first bottle. His dad fed him for the first time and everything went swimmingly. He took down 5 oz in no time flat. No fussing, no fighting and then went back to nurse just fine an hour later.

He also took his first shower with his mom - sorry no photos of that. He was pretty concerned at first by the water near and in his eyes, but after that, he really enjoyed being all warm and snugly.

This weekend his Aunt Karen and Uncle Keith and his cousins Phil and Shane all came to visit and run in the Governor's Cup on Saturday. Keith ran the half marathon and Phil, Karen and his dad ran in the 10K. Ed Jr. was very impressed for sure. We greeted them at the finish line.

We were especially proud of Ed Sr. for running the 10 K in just under one hour! No. 236 (runner # 2005).

On Saturday afternoon, we had an unofficial weigh in at his grandparent's house 12 pounds. That is a bowling ball! His grandpa graciously climbed on to the scale weighed himself and then weighed himself with Jr.

I don't know if Ed Jr. noticed, but on Sunday evening I took off to go see the Sex And The City movie with Allyson. I was on edge the entire time - and damn that movie was long. It was the first time I have been away from him for that long. As I left, I told Ed Sr. that I would have my phone on vibrate, and throughout the whole movie I kept my hand on that phone. While I was gone, Ed Jr. drank a huge bottle and went for a walk. All in all, a pretty successful first time separation.

He is getting pretty big. He is easily out of most of his 0-3 month clothes and fits pretty well in his 3 - 6 month clothes. Check out the big boy outfit his dad put him in on Sunday. His aunt Lisa picked that cute plaid shirt up for him.

Democracy Now!

Ed Jr. and I headed to the polls today to vote and to educate voters on the dangers of signing the petition to put CI-1hundred on the ballot. Decline To Sign!

We volunteered for two hours and handed out fliers to voters. Even people that disagreed with us were pretty nice, but who wouldn't be nice to this cute baby? Most people we talked to supported our cause and were happy we were out there.

Ed Jr.'s women's rights activism started before he was even born and at 6 weeks he is hitting the ground running. I can't wait to tell him all about Montana's ridiculously late - er - I mean the biggest EVER democratic primary in the State's history. Montana marks the finish line in the epically long democratic primary to pick between Obama and Clinton, and Ed Jr. was there. He helped me pick my democratic presidential candidate - who is it - we will never tell. . .

Baby Party

It was an awesome weekend for babies. On Friday night we took Ed Jr. to Canyon Ferry to let the dogs swim. They smelled like mold. Ed Jr. took the opportunity on his first big "out of town" outing to nurse and poop twice. Pretty awesome. Selma made friends with a cute little girl who was camping out. Dad drank beers and then we rushed back to beat the storm.

Saturday Francesca and her parents came over to hang out. Like all adults hanging out we talked about our dogs and babies. We used to talk about rafting and home improvement projects, but now it is dogs and babies. We enjoyed a fire and a display of the Coleman Waterworks Experience.

Sunday was our friend Andrew's going away party and much to my joy, when we arrived at the party, there were three other babies there. It was so awesome to show up at the party and not be toting the only crying nursing poop machine. All of our friends were very happy to meet him. Ed Jr. enjoyed the party and was very good while he was held by Andrew.

Shout out to Garland and Idella - thanks for checking in on us. Garland, I heard you caught a walleye the size of a washing machine, nice work. Idella - Andrew announced to the whole party that he too would have a baby soon. Becky was not so sure. You have got to work on that girl.

Enjoy some photos from this weekend.