The Big Apple (and one Big Pretzel)

Angus got his first REAL taste of the great American classic, the Road Trip. My brother and I spent MANY hours in the back of several quite uncomfortable cars growing up. I didn't so much recognize the discomfort at the time, only because I was not aware that in the future, there would be a revolt  against making kids actually entertaining themselves on car trips. So, while my brother and I were forced to read, listen to "Phantom of the Opera" for the 96th time, or indulge in the ever-so-popular license plate by state game, kids today have it far cushier.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Christopher, Angus and I drove up to NY on Friday to meet my brother and his family. Well, Christopher drove and I, on the way up, entertained everyone with my singing and, on the way back, distracted Angus from melt-down. Because it was the weekend after Thanksgiving, we thought we might get lucky with traffic. And the way up was great - very little traffic and a smooth trip, including Angus sleeping for a solid 3.5 hours. The way back? Not so lovely, given that a fairly major snow and ice storm whipped through about an hour into our trip. So a normally 5-hour trip took more than 8, with poor Christopher driving the entire way. But, since he'd smartly had winter tires put on before we embarked on the trip, we were ok. I can't begin to count how many stalled cars and accidents we saw, though...brought back lovely memories of the drive back from Deep Creek Lake the previous Christmas (when I, yet again, avoided driving myself).

But the trip itself was great - NYC itself was of mixed success, simply because trying to navigate 5th Avenue on a Saturday morning near Christmas was, apparently, akin to wading upstream through a crowd of World Cup fans post-victory. We finally arrived at a café near Rockefeller Center, a bit worse for the wear, and Angus met his cousins, Nathan and Olivia, and my brother and his wife, of course. His only cousins on my side. Nathan and Angus got along quite well, though Olivia didn't seem to be as sure of this new face in her life. :) It was great to see them, and we walked around NY after indulging in some major slices of pizza. We did try to get into FAO Schwartz, but there was a longer line there than there was at Studio 54 in its heyday. We soldiered on in the cold, and Christopher and I warmed ourselves up with some large street vendor pretzels. Completely worth the overly-full feeling.

We then met again the following morning in Greenwich, where we were staying, for breakfast. The service at the restaurant left a little to be desired, but it was kid-friendly, and we were able to almost get a picture of the 7 of us as requested by Grandpa. Of course, we stayed with Christopher's brother and wife in Greenwich, which was great.

I somehow knew my brother would beat me to the punch blogging about our weekend. My excuse is that our trip back was longer ;).

Nathan being shy at the beginning of the day. He warmed up quickly :).

Olivia the cheerleader!

Angus and uncle

Sort of group shot

Breakfast

Bath time!

Lunch. Not a bit of pizza left!

Angus with his aunt.

We made a mean posse

Several people asked us if Angus's jerry-rigged bottle holder was a legit product.

Our morning Greenwich run

Angus's first rest area

Beginning of the snowy ride home

Turkey Day!

Despite not being able to fully take part in the feast (I say fully because we did give Angus some mashed sweet potatoes, which he loved), Angus seemed to enjoy his first year of Thanksgiving festivities. In typical fashion, I was extremely ambitious in the amount of food to be prepared, but thanks to Christopher slaving away at the cutting board for hours on end and everyone else more or less staying out of my way (yes, I have turned into a kitchen controller, are you happy, Dad??), we were able to get a pretty solid feast on the table by about 2:30. Christopher's brother and sister-in-law came down from Connecticut, and my friend and her husband joined...all the way from Silver Spring. There was a ton of food, but we made a solid dent in the smorgasboard, and Angus fell asleep sitting in my lap for much of the meal. He then stayed up until almost 10, chattering away and being passed around like a party favor. All in all, a successful Thanksgiving, I think.

Now on to Christmas, my true love. In addition to a fairly successful present-buying trip yesterday, we also got a tree. Christopher then spent about 6 hours stringing up the lights outside. While we aren't the first in the neighborhood with the lights (we're the 2nd), he outdid himself this year, so it'll be bad Christmas music, hot chocolate, and pine needles in our house 24/7 for the next month :). I do love buying presents for others, but surprisingly, I've only bought Angus two toys. I don't want him to become a spoiled child who expects mountains of presents at Christmas and birthdays, and let's face it, he's too young to even know what the hell a present is. I can't be held accountable, however, for what grandparents do.

These pictures are a bit out of order, but I took Angus to the National Building Museum in DC for a "play date"with my boss's daughter this weekend. He looks pretty fascinated by her. I guess he likes the older women :).

Post-meal pass-out with my friend's husband.

Molly hamming it up in front of the buffet.

Lovely stain on your shirt, Kate. Is that spit-up, gravy, or some other Angus-related delight?

What?? You talking to me??

Add caption

Angus was very fascinated by the wreath.

Let's PARTAY!

Several seemingly innocuous things happened this morning. First, as I was changing Angus's diaper in preparation for our morning run, I looked at the clock and it was almost 6am! Oh my! It is true that I've been an early riser for quite some time, but the fact that 6am seemed late to me was a laughable reminder of the days when I would be OUT until 4am. Second, Angus peed on me - an impressive, high-reaching arc, as I was changing said diaper. He hit my legs, my hands, and the floor (kid's got aim). Did it phase me? Did I immediately change my pants? Did I bother to wash my hands? Ok, yes, I DID wash my hands, but you know you're a parent when getting peed on doesn't remotely phase you. Of course, Angus thought the whole thing was hysterical.

Finally, I switched my radio instantly to NPR this morning. Saving grace of this tale is that I wasn't trying to find Car Talk (sorry, Dad), but the fact that NPR is more enjoyable to me than the other "top 40's"-type stations was marginally horrifying. There is absolutely, 100% nothing wrong with NPR - it's important to be privy to what's going on in the day's news, but even the music on NPR was appealing to me. Now THAT is horrifying.

Anyway, perhaps I'm a bit introspective because my 27th birthday is in less than one month. Truth be told, I hadn't given it a single thought until this morning. I've been concentrating so much on how many weeks old Angus is that I forgot that I, too, am getting older. But I have heard the rumor from many people wiser than me that age is just a number - it's how you feel that's most important. So, Angus, my commitment to you to try to stay as young as possible so I can keep up with your shenanigans!

Angus continues to grow and grow and grow. Dude probably weighs 16 pounds at this point. I had to carry him through Trader Joe's last night just to pick up a few things. We were probably there for 5 minutes total. I was sweating and my arm was trembling by the time I put him back in his car seat. It is a work out! But he's doing very well. He's an incredibly happy, smiley baby, and his daycare providers seem to be pretty in love with him, too.

Pictures, of course, to follow. I should probably mention at this point, too, that Christopher and I are engaged. Wedding to follow in roughly 7-10 years :).

Typical Angus photo. Obligatory bib, crazy hair, and drool bubbles.

Sleeping in my arms last night.

This morning sitting in the bathroom while I got ready. Active little boy.

Guest appearance by Maya, who is now an indoor/outdoor cat. She spends much of her time doing god-knows-what outside, and when she comes in, she generally sleeps for hours on end, eats, then heads out again. BUT she is a happier, more affectionate cat for it, so I'm not complaining!

'Sup

I'm including this picture because it captures his constant movement. His legs are ALWAYS on the move.

In a onesie courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Marden.

That's a very cool outfit, young man. Who so stylishly dresses you?

3 months old! It's high time to get a job...

Angus is three months old today/13 weeks old yesterday, and he's growing, growing, growing. He's starting to gain control over his own movements (though he's still quite spastic much of the time...not sure if that's him being a baby or him being my son), and he's very alert pretty much all of the time. He has discovered how tasty his fists are, and he is also an uncontrollable drooler (yes, insert appropriate jokes about my drooling here, Dad). Interestingly, his doctor said that he drools so much not because he is teething (which is what many people have speculated), but because babies simply don't bother to swallow at this age. Interesting fact for the day.

But Angus seems to be doing well at daycare, and I've gotten back into the routine of work - it doesn't really feel like I was ever gone, to be honest. I guess 3 months really isn't that long in maternity leave world :/. He is supposedly quite well-behaved during the day, which I definitely appreciate, and it always makes my day that much better when I see his goofy smiles when I go pick him up. He's a pretty sweet little dude.

Yesterday was, of course, Halloween. Angus being only 3 months old, we didn't take him trick-or-treating or get him an actual costume, but he helped greet trick-or-treaters at the door, and he was rocking pumpkin-themed pajamas and a massive spider bib, so he was in the Halloween spirit, for sure.

Next up, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I may have been fairly restrained in my "Angus's first Halloween" celebration, but the gloves come off for the next two holidays.

I hope he likes brussel sprouts...

That bib was completely soaked through within about 15 minutes of my dressing him.

Someday, this picture will come back to haunt him. No pun intended.

Angus waiting in line with me at Babies R Us. It's amazing how big he looks now compared to his car seat. Yikes. That blanket also started our shopping trip neatly tucked around his legs. Dude does not know how to keep them legs still.

Exhibit A. Wild Leg Syndrome.

Back to Work We Go!

It's been a while (again) since my last post, and the biggest thing that's changed is that I went back to work this past week. Albeit part-time and only Wednesday-Friday, but it's a pretty big step for any first-time mom to leave their baby with a stranger when they've gotten used to spending 24/7 together.

Anyway. It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be, I'm happy to report. I didn't cry or make a complete ass of myself at the office. I was sad, for sure, but I also realize that I can't keep Angus to myself indefinitely, and it's for his benefit for him to be around other kids. The daycare we chose (as if we had THAT many realistic choices in the absurd competitive world of Arlington childcare) is an in-home situation run by 3 people (I think of perhaps Iranian or Afghani origin, I'm not sure and am far too conditioned by my job to directly ask the question). There are 5 other kids of varying ages, and so far, so good. Angus has proven to be a star by eating his way through an impressive number of bottles in the short 5.5 hours he's been spending there daily so far, pooping through a shocking number of outfits, and generally being a pretty calm baby. I'm back to work full-time this coming week. I doubt I'll struggle more with that than the part-time care, but I guess we'll see.

Going back to work has been, for me, a no-brainer decision. Partially because we don't have a choice financially :). But it is a choice a lot of women struggle with, partially because of how they think they'll be perceived by their peers. On the one hand, there's the concern that, by going back to work, a woman will seem less caring and like a lesser mother. On the other hand, by opting to be a stay-at-home mom, some women worry they will be deemed less relevant and taken less seriously. However, for me - I don't, quite frankly, give a shit what other people think of my decision - it was pretty simple. Angus will be better off with a mother who has her own life and thus fulfilled in more than one way. Staying home with him for my leave was wonderful, and I wouldn't trade that time for anything - nor would I turn down the chance to have additional leave - but he will need his world expanded beyond his mommy and daddy eventually, anyway.

Next up for him: pushing ME in the jogging stroller and getting a job! I hear mowing lawns is the cool thing to do....

In other news, Grandma and Grandpa visited for about a week, leaving a bit over a week ago. It was, as always, great to have them here. Not only did they get plenty of Angus bonding time, they were also immensely helpful in watching him and feeding him when mommy needed a quick break. A few photos from their trip are also included

Wee man being a good sport mid- road trip back from Williamsburg, where we went for the wedding of one of Christopher's coworkers/friends the night after Ragnar.

Abandoned baby!!!! Well, Dad trying to encourage Angus to go to Georgetown. His mommy is very much discouraging this decision.

Grandpa and Angus time.

Stop-off in Jamestown en route to Arlington from Williamsburg.

Starting line of the Ragnar race. I ran about 16 miles, a far cry from my 43-mile effort at last year's DC Ragnar, but still a solid effort, I think, less than 3 months after an emergency C-Section.

Someone "tagged" us with Obama 2016 during the race. We thought it was pretty funny until we started getting aggressively honked at in rural MD. At which point we erased Obama and wrote in Carfax. Now, most people would realize the joke, but we decided it wasn't worth getting chased down by an angry Republican in the bumblef**k of MD for.

Smiling like a champ :)

Watching a Celtic game with daddy

His new play pad

Chubby cheeks



Loving his new pad

Photo Dump before Grandma and Grandpa

Well, Angus is almost 9 weeks old - officially 2 months old today - and he's growing, growing, growing. He hasn't lost his hair yet :). Quite the contrary, it seems to grow each day - or at least find new ways to stick out each day. Grandma and Grandpa Marden are coming tomorrow, courtesy of a $138/roundtrip/nonstop fare I accidentally stumbled upon completely unawares. Well, I figured they weren't doing anything about their second fall trip yet, so I took the reins!

Anyway, I'll have more pictures after the coming week of: Mom's first post-baby race; wedding of friends; Civil War Grandpa/Angus bonding time (?); and taking full advantage of grandparent babysitting options. So I wanted to post a few of Angus from the last week or two now...enjoy!

Looking very alert and old for his age. Hopefully that trend (the age, not the alertness) won't be a constant thing for him!

A nice walk in Old Town - I'll miss these days with Angus :(.

Waiting for my friends to come over, poor little Angus couldn't keep the party going.

Blowing bubbles in another dorky outfit.

A rare glimpse of Angus napping during the day. Trust me, it's not a frequent occurrence.

Awesome hair.

Passed out again.

A hand-me-down sweatshirt he's wearing for our morning runs. It's chilly for a little boy!