Baby Blase

Marc’s mom called asking for a photo of her grandson on his 2-month birthday.
Marc sent her this:

I know that it is “politically incorrect” to let your child get drunk. But, come on…it was his 2-month birthday, we were on vacation in Tahoe and it was really good tequila.

Marc is so pleased with this photo that he made it his background on his phone. And any time anybody speaks about the kid he whips it out and asks if they’d like to see his cute baby.

Nancy - we thought we’d torture you for just a little while until we sent over the real 2-month old photos. So, here you go, courtesy of Tari.

Listening: The Hold Steady

Aimee: “So, today I’ll be presenting two concepts for your website, both based on the…”

Baby: “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAH WAH WAH WAH…AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … AAAHHHH .. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … WAH AH AH WAH WAH … AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH”

Marc runs around the house with the child doing anything he can to quiet him.

Baby: “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAH WAH WAH WAH…AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … AAAHHHH .. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … WAH AH AH WAH WAH … AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH”

Aimee (internal dialog): Make him stop. Make him stop. Feed him. FEED HIM. MAAAAAAAARC! FEEEEEEEED YOOOOOOOUR CHIIIIIIIIIILD!!!!

Baby: “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAH WAH WAH WAH…AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … AAAHHHH .. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … WAH AH AH WAH WAH … AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH”

Marc leaves baby in his crib to scream bloody murder while he goes to kitchen to fix a bottle.

Baby: “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAH WAH WAH WAH…AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … AAAHHHH .. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … WAH AH AH WAH WAH … AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH”

Aimee (internal dialog): Where is my mom? Can’t she hear this? Marc - get my mom, she can make the bottle while you comfort the screaming child. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM WHERE ARE YOU? AREN’T YOU HEARING THIS? PEOPLE - GIVE ME A BREAK! I’M ON A CONFERENCE CALL HERE!

Baby: “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAH WAH WAH WAH…AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … AAAHHHH .. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH … WAH AH AH WAH WAH … AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH … WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH”

Aimee (internal dialog): Please… for the love of all things quiet - SHUT THAT KID UP!

Marc goes to child’s room with bottle in hand.

Silence.

***

Even with all that chatter in my head I was able to carry on a somewhat coherent conversation and sell the concept. Working mom test #1 - passed with flying colors.

Listening: Johnny Cash

During the eight months that I knew that I was pregnant I must have Googled “work at home mom”, “work at home graphic designer pregnant”, “work at home do it all well mom and still run a successful business” about a thousand times. I couldn’t find much in the way of guidance or inspiration. I really wanted to find somebody out there who had a baby, stayed at home to work, stayed inspired, found balance, did great work, raised an awesome kid, had time for her husband, ate great meals and partied with friends within the course of a week. I didn’t find her.

So, I suppose, I’m setting out to be her.

The list of goals is long - I know that. But, I’m willing to try. The first order of business was to not take off any time after giving birth. I don’t recommend it, but, when was the last time that I listened to my own advice? The theory behind not taking time off was to get all ongoing jobs done and then spend some quality time with the new kid. Well, those jobs - of course - are still going and and the kid has passed the two month mark. My work flow has had to change a bit. I’ve had to become more efficient and able to work within shorter stints of time. I can now only fondly remember those beautiful days when I could laze around with a concept all day.

Second challenge - to stay inspired. For me that means listening to music, trying not to watch TV (other than the few programs we rent on Netflix), drinking a lot of coffee and getting out of the house as much as possible (which is turning out to only be about once a week).

Then there’s BALANCE. The goal I’ve had for years. Oddly enough this is the most balanced my life has ever been. A few things may have been lost in my effort for work/life equality… like hygiene - but, come on - isn’t a shower every day over kill anyway?

“Do great work” - so far so good. I’ve been doing some of my best work, albeit slower than I’d like.

“Raise an awesome kid”. Check.

“Have time for husband” - uh… I think I talked to Marc yesterday at some point… does that count?

“Eat great meals“, “Party with friends“. Check. Check.

So, yeah, there’s some some room for improvement. We’ll see how it all goes…

Listening: Pete Seeger sings “Ticky Tacky”

Two months old and the kid gets a better party than I’ve ever had.

A feast, two kegs, a band and amazing friends. We all had an incredible time and the kid was a rockstar. We are very lucky people - to be a part of a community filled with such natural beauty (minus the smoke) and such generous, loving and fun friends. Thank you to Tari and Albert who put us up for the weekend, hosted such a great party and treated us to a wonderfully relaxing mini-vacation. Thanks to Tim for bringing his talented new band mates to play. Thanks to Moody’s for gifting the kid with three tubs of meat (Kalbi Ribs and Pulled Pork - do these people know us or what!?). And thanks to FiftyFifty for the great beer.

Listening: Mad Cow String Band (Tim’s old band)

Dear Harrison,

We’re two months in and I think you’re beginning to like it here. You started this month by starting to smile.

You had been smiling in your sleep and when the synapses were firing in that little brain of yours, but, an actual smile as a reaction to us… that is an outstanding development. For the last few days of the month you started to coo and man oh man is the smiling-cooing combination a killer. Mark my words kid - you will get far in this world if you can harness that kind of charm - here’s hoping you choose to use it for good and not evil-world-domination (I can’t imagine there’s much joy in that).

Speaking of joy… you really are becoming pretty great to be around. Don’t get me wrong, we have loved you since the moment you joined us out here in the air-breathing world, but, now, you are becoming more and more of a person. And we LIKE you. We LIKE hanging out with you. You don’t stare off into newborn baby-space as much any more and like I said - that cooing and smiling… wow.

We headed back to CA last week. We left stifling 85 degree heat in Austin for sweltering 100+degree Green Valley. We’ll be staying here until you’re about 4 months old - living here with the grandparents and getting up to Truckee and into San Francisco as much as possible. This month we took you to both places and you are a rockstar with the traveling. Thank you for rolling with our gypsy lifestyle!

You are still growing like mad - I’d say you’re around 13 1/2 pounds right now and our arms are feeling it. You eat every two to three hours when you’re awake and… did I forget to mention that you sleep through the night! Holy moly kid - you are a sleeper! Right now, after adjusting from our travels to CA, you are sleeping 8 hours, then you’ll wake up for a mid-night snack around 5am and then sleep for another 4 hours. In the morning you are really cute… you get up, do a little cooing and smiling, eat breakfast and then go down for a nap. We’re trying to only let you stay up for two hours at a time and sometimes you don’t even want that much. It feels counterintuitive to let you sleep all day in order to ensure you sleep at night - but, it works for you.

Listening: Black Keys

The unofficial littlehellraiser community meet-up was held in San Francisco on Sunday, at the home of the original. Our kid got a chance to hang with his new pals Owen and Tyler.

It’s always nice to discuss children with parents of similar aged kids, but, this was even more fun, because even though I knew of Nicole from college (we all went to Fres-yes State) we had never really spent any time together. But, since I have gotten to know her and her lovely family via her blog - we have become friends - my first internet-based relationship.

We had a blast - thanks to the great company, gracious hosts (John and Kara) and fun kids (Marc and I - try as we might - can’t stop ourselves from wishing for Harrison to grow up already… Owen is two now and it is RAD!).

Listening: The National (I’m telling you Livy - you’ll like this one)

Marc, me and the kid were recently invited to dinner by a new acquaintance. This guy and us have nothing in common… that was until we had a kid. Now, we are invited to become BFFs - destined, I’m sure, to share evenings filled with cocktail-sipping, story-swapping and firefly-catching with our angelic children. This guy is THE cool-guy. There is no doubt about it. In high school there isn’t a chance in hell that he would have spoken to me, let alone invited me over to create fond memories with him. He would have been too busy skipping school to go surf or skate and chase girls who didn’t look like me - you know, girls who didn’t wear marching band uniforms at football games. I do realize that when I married Marc my cool-quotient was raised quite a bit. And I feel pretty confident that I can now hold my own with the popular kids. However, it is odd how many more invitations we are receiving because of the kid. This leads me to believe that kids are the ultimate equilizer OR that parents are so desperate for adult company that they are lowering their standards.

Listening: Vampire Weekend

Jack doesn’t seem to be having any problem adjusting.

Listening: Midlake

The kid just had his first visit with Aunty Margaret. It lasted about 30 seconds.

Marc and I gave him a bath, made sure he was fed and tried to keep him awake for her arrival. I knew we had kept him up too long, but, she would be arriving soon, so we pushed it. When she arrived he was content in his Chinese-rainforest but, I picked him up and gave him to her to hold. And of course he started to cry - we really have to work on those manners. Marc whisked him off for a quick nap, thinking he’d go down for at most an hour. Marc’s baby-coma-inducing skills must be at their peak because that was 3 1/2 hours ago, he is still asleep. We know better than to wake a sleeping baby, so, we all sat around his vibrating chair that is parked in my parents big closet (the coolest room in the house) while he slept soundly swaddled tight. He was definetely an angel-doll-baby, next time we just hope that he can be a cooing-smiling-angel-doll-baby.

Listening: Interpol

Driving 1,994 miles from Texas to California in two days with two cats; surviving 114 degree heat, a tire blow-out and running out of gas 15 miles from your destination at 1:00 in the morning OR driving 1,994 miles from Texas to California in two days with two cats; surviving 114 degree heat, a tire blow-out and running out of gas 15 miles from your destination at 1:00 in the morning with broken ribs*?

Listening: Vetiver (thanks Heidi!)

* Three weeks ago Marc’s bike broke while riding downtown, in traffic, near the Congress Bridge. He flew over the handlebars and came home with road-rash, eight inch bruises on his back and side, a bump on the head and sore ribs. He didn’t go to the doctor because I had leftover vicodin from our last trip to the hospital and he thought that the pain would subside. Three weeks later the rib pain has gotten worse, so, I’m guessing they are either very badly bruised or possibly broken. Either way, it makes for an uncomfortable drive.