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!

6 Weeks and Counting

I've been a bit lax of late in keeping this updated, so here's a bit of a photo dump and an "update" on our adventures. "Update" because I talk to everyone who reads this blog on a regular basis, but for us to look back on later, I'll rehash it all anyway! :) Before having Angus, I would have been a bit doubtful of the validity of the claim that I've been too busy and too tired to update the blog lately. After all, Angus is an infant - he eats, sleeps, and poops himself...how can that possibly keep me busy? As anyone with baby experience, as anyone who has stayed home alone with a newborn ever knows (i.e. everyone who reads this blog), it is both exhausting and all-consuming. It's hard to find more than 5 minutes during the course of the day to have use of both hands to type. When I have some time, I'm usually trying to make coffee, eat something, take a shower, clean, do laundry, all of the wonderful joys of adult life. Or, as a friend of mine calls it, the adult life = the "we've got a big Saturday planned...Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target if we have time, but I don't know if we'll have time!!" life. "Old School", anyone?

It probably goes without saying that I'm writing this after he's gone to bed :).

Angus was 6 weeks as of two days ago, and he is growing like a weed. He's not exactly what I would call heavy, and he's certainly not fat (eh-hmm...DAD), but he's gaining some heft and becoming more and more like a little dude. He's also (knock on wood) gotten pretty used to a sleep routine, going to sleep between 8 and 9pm and only waking up once or twice during the night to eat. He has his rougher nights, such as last night, but overall, we've been very very lucky with his sleep patterns. He's also started to smile (as in smiles NOT associated with gas). It's true that your baby's smiles absolutely melt your heart. I don't think there's anything in the world that makes me as purely happy as him smiling at me. Of course, that means that I instantly forget about him blowing out his diaper while in my lap, a convenient out for him, but those smiles are worth it!

Our outdoor adventures continue as fall weather arrives. My favorite season, and this kid is turning out to be the best excuse for going to parks (Potomac Overlook Park, hello?? I'd never even thought about it before!) and just wandering the great outdoors. We also went on his first play date today with my boss and several coworkers. Well, as the youngest attendee, Angus didn't do too much playing, but it was good for him to be around other kids and, of course, good for mom to have some regular, adult conversation.

Anyway, it's now closing in on 9pm and I'm pooped! Yes, I lead a rock star life!

After dropping Christopher off at the airport on Friday (he's in Denver), we went for a jog along the Potomac. Daingerfield Island, toward Alexandria.

Sideburns rock.

He's getting better after chilling in this rocker without spazzing out. Note the increasingly fair hair.

Goofball in one of the many cheesy outfits mommy is dressing him in while he's too young to know better.

Looking back toward National Airport right around when Christopher's plane took off - have a good trip, daddy!

His usual sleeping pose.

Adventures with (Crazy) Mommy

As I've expressed before, I (evidently) don't believe in sheltering babies from the outside world for the first 6 weeks of their lives. I say evidently only because this wasn't a conscious choice, but a natural development in how I'm spending my time with Angus. In addition to such shopping meccas as Loew's, Macy's, Best Buy, and numerous grocery stores, the little man has accompanied us to an Indian restaurant and Molly's school (where he was quite the popular man). Anyway, given that the weather is taking a decidedly fall-ish turn - my favorite season for weather - and given that there have been painters taking over the house all week - I decided to take Angus with me to Roosevelt Island yesterday. I've always enjoyed the "nature-oriented" walking/jogging opportunities offered by the island (and, for those in the know - i.e. all of you - the main character of my unpublished book, Natasha, was attacked on Roosevelt Island and subsequently died. NOT that I've ever felt remotely threatened there, of course. But I digress...) but haven't gotten back there as often as I'd like. So Angus and I went yesterday with his regular stroller. I'm sure it was quite comical to watch me and my chicken arms pushing that thing through the rocks. We parked it in the area by the statue for an hour or so, and I read while Angus slept. Today we went back, and I wisely brought the jogging stroller instead, which enabled us to complete a lap of the island before settling down for our reading/naptime.

All in all, a good way to spend a morning!

After his bath - now that he can be submerged in water, as opposed to having just sponge baths, he seems to tolerate them much better.

Looking very concerned.

Post-jog around the island. Angus and Teddy. I'm sure they would have gotten on fabulously.

For some reason, he looks like he is ENORMOUSLY fat in this picture - like he has just one massive chin. Though he is beefing up, I can assure you that he isn't completely a lardass yet :).

Just relaxing before heading out for the day.

Sleepy boy (again).

The bridge/entrance to the island.



This is an old one that was still on my camera - just thought it was quite cute (Dad's favorite word). Probably 2-3 weeks ago.

Yesterday with the regular stroller.





Note his hair - there seems to be a faint reddish tint. Though I am known to color my hair, erm, interesting hues, I did not color my son's hair (he's lucky he's not a girl).

Angus is starting to smile a lot more in reaction to my silly baby talk. He was smiling before, but primarily in reaction to pooping, so I'm enjoying the interaction with him.

Meet the Lynches

We've had quite the week at the newly-anointed Oakland Street B&B. Christopher's two older brothers were here last week - that's Ralph, who lives in Connecticut, and Philip, who lives in Hong Kong - and his mom (sorry, mum) and stepfather have been here since Sunday. They leave today to continue their US-tour in CT/NY, and it's been a fun, productive visit. Productive because Elizabeth is a master organizer/house planner, so we've been moving and arranging and cleaning like mad all week. Much, MUCH appreciated. There's also been ample "Angus appreciation" time, and the kid continues to woo with these grandparents, as well. I think it goes without saying that the first grandparents he met were fairly smitten.

Anyway, Angus is one-month old today, and he's growing like a weed. As for my mothering abilities/skills, I can only hope they're developing and improving at an appropriate speed. I'm certainly trying, but I'm also finding that (as my more pragmatic friends told me while I was pregnant), it's mostly a matter of finding what works best for you and your baby. So far, Angus is proving to be a relatively unfussy baby - the qualifiers in that statement are a protection against my jinxing myself by making outlandish claims of a nonfussy baby, which will surely be met with a host of "wait until..." statements. BUT so far, so good. Having said that, any and all advice/suggestions are always appreciated :).

Pictures of the rapidly-growing baby boy are attached, along with some pictures from our field trip to the Udvar Hazy Air & Space Museum out by Dulles. I'd never been there, and I was a teeny bit skeptical about the wisdom of making the trip with a one-month old, but Angus was probably the last-fussy of the lot of us. Not a single crying fit or melt down. For the most part, he alternated between sleeping and taking in his surroundings in a very Angus-typical contemplative manner. As part of my "do what works best for you and your baby" lifestyle mantra, we haven't shied away from taking him out in public. Some new parents opt to minimize outside exposure during the first 6 weeks or so - while I do understand there are reasons for this school of thought, I would probably lose the plot if I went that route, and Angus has been quite a trooper in his numerous outings. Now, that's not to suggest that I allow strangers to paw at him, and I'm not taking him to Chuck E Cheese (well, that will NEVER happen), but I do believe it's in everyone's best interest to get him started on the real world as soon as possible.

Past Angus's stellar performance yesterday, I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised with the museum. I'd been, of course, to the Air & Space Museum on the National Mall, but I preferred the Udvar Hazy exhibits. Far less touristy-packed, less shtick (best word I can think of) and more actual information and planes, etc., and overall just a well-organized place. It would have been nice if they'd had a second option for lunch past McDonald's, but nobody's perfect :).

One of his mid-sleep spaz-outs. Usually including a solid punch to his own face.

Angus with his binkie at the museum. Taking it all in.

Molly in front of the space foods and poop-bags exhibit. Quite a combination.

Who knows what he was doing. Pretty standard Angus-face.

Vietnam and Korean War exhibits.

Sleeping.

Just woke up.

I love this picture for some reason.

Back shot of the Discovery.

Sleepy boy.

LOVE this picture, too. I could watch him making faces for hours.

Terrible Twosome Left Home Alone

It's hard to believe that Angus is now 16 days old. It's hard to imagine life before Angus, a feeling I'm told is pretty normal. I mean that in all of the best ways, of course, though also in some of those "how did I not appreciate how wonderful it was to be able to walk up to 7/11 without major planning???" ways. An otherwise previously routine trip to Macy's and Best Buy yesterday turned into a major production, for example, with me spending most of the Best Buy time in the car, changing a massively poopy diaper or feeding his royal highness. Carrying a screaming baby out of the store does make you wish you'd been a bit more sympathetic to parents in the same position before you became a fellow sucker, but that's just the order of things, I suppose.

I do have to say, I've become quite adept at multi-tasking with one hand, though!

Anyway, the wee man is now about 8 pounds, so the pediatrician is quite happy with his progress. Which means that we are also very happy that he's a healthy little boy. Because, as illustrated by the pictures below, any annoyance/frustration/tear-your-hair-out moments are automatically forgotten the second he makes one of his faces. :)

The title of this post comes from Christopher leaving for Ft. Worth today for a work conference, leaving Angus and me alone. Abbey and Molly will be here during the days, but I may or may not make it out alive.

Ok, so he's not supposed to sleep on me, but he's so small and cute when he curls up on my chest, it's hard to resist letting him nap there.

Hanging out in the big bed. Onesie courtesy of our Aunt Judy.

There's a little bit of Zoolander in this picture. I'm not sure if I'm happy about that yet or not.

Another drunk face.

My absolute favorite picture of him so far. He's not really smiling at me, but this picture alone could make a shitty day seem much, much better.

We did NOT style his hair for this.