Baby Blase

It is a well known fact that I married Marc for his looks - and boy is he looking good these days!

Marc is a superstar dad, as I have previously mentioned, and as his reward is that he gets to go to Fantstic Fest and that his complaining wife will not be joining him this year. Fantastic Fest is a genre film fest - science-fiction, fantasy, horror, animation, crime, Asian… in other words, not really my thing. Although, last year we got to see a sneak peak of Pan’s Labyrinth which was truly was fantastic. For the badges this year the organizers asked that everybody submit a “shaky face” portrait of themselves - he’s been a bit busy, with driving across country and all so, he missed the deadline, but, his photos were so awesome that I had to put them up for all the internet to see.

Listening: Vampire Weekend

The nanny starts at our house tomorrow. We are doing a nanny-share with another family that has a son only a few days older than Harrison. She started with the other family last week. Tomorrow is her first day here. When I think about her starting to care for our son part of me feels so relieved and empowered that I can finally devote 8 hours a day to work and then totally concentrate on the kid - as opposed to what I have been doing - half-assing my way through everything. Then another part of me, the part that has yet to be coached into submission, is taken over by waves of anxiety throughout the day - paralyzing me for a moment… my mind fills with should-haves… we should have trained the kid to sleep without swaddling… we should have taught him to self-sooth already… I never should have gone back to nursing him to sleep… we should have bought a house that was more baby friendly… Then the what-ifs start… what if she can’t swaddle him and he doesn’t sleep during the day? what if he never gets on a set schedule? What if the boys are always on totally different schedules and the nanny is run ragged? what if I can’t pump enough milk?

Then I realize that the nanny is hired to help us figure all of this out. She sounds, at least from the conversations we’ve had via phone, incredibly patient, calm and confident. Let’s just hope some of that rubs off on me.

Listening: The Broken West

Dear Harrison,

I really don’t want to jinx this, but, you are an AWESOME baby! This month you solidified your place in the all-pro baby hall of fame for sleeping, eating, cooing and giggling. Quite an accomplishment for one so small. The credit for the sleeping-through-the-night-since-you-were-six-weeks-old (technically, “through the night” for a six week old is six hours, which you did, you are up to about nine, now) must be shared with your father, for he is the all-pro champion baby swaddler. We hadn’t planned to swaddle you for this long, but, you just sleep so darn well, that we are going with it…we are a bit concerned that we may have to teach your college roommate how to swaddle you to sleep - but, we’ll cross that bridge…

This last month you have become a blast to hang with. From bundling you up and dragging you all over Golden Gate Park for Outside Lands to taking you on your second airplane ride - you have been more than just a trooper - you’ve seemed to enjoy yourself. You are able to adapt to any situation and make the most of it.

Hanging at an outdoor festival all day means diaper changing on the spot - which you were fine with (you still hate a dirty diaper - so, as long as we can get the offending, soiled material off of your nether regions - you are happy). After Outside Lands we walked towards Kylie’s house while she was on her way to pick us up. We ended up walking a few miles which was great, until you started to fuss a bit and we realized you were about to loose it due to a dirty diaper, so we had to change it where we were - in the middle of the Inner Sunset on the cleanest front porch steps we could find… I’ve never been so ashamed and proud at the same time, as I am oddly equal parts yuppie and hippie.

Like I said, you are a generally happy baby and dig the people around you, but, you LOVE your daddy. If Dad is smiling - you are smiling. If he laughs - you laugh. You stare at his face in what I can only imagine is adoration and love. Marc thinks it’s his out-of-control hair that transfixes your stare. Or maybe it’s because you get to do all sorts of fun things with dad - like learn to wield large sharp knives.

But, either way, it’s really cute.

Each month we see a little more of a glimpse into your personality and we can’t help but want to know you even more. So far, so good little one.

Love, momma

Listening: Jens Lekman

The boy went swimming for the first time! I thought he might freak a bit - especially because Marc, in his “oh, he’s a boy - you don’t have to baby him” parenting-style, just grabbed the kid and pulled him in the water (only up to his neck - although Marc did ask is he could pull him under - to which my mom and I exclaimed in unison “NOOOOO!!!!!”). But, the kid was totally calm, hanging with dad in the 80 degree water of my parents pool.

Listening: Midlake

The kid, as he is affectionately called by Marc and me, has quite a collection of nicknames. And before he grows up and starts demanding we call him by the name given to him by his leather-clad biker-girlfriend commemorating the time they stole our car and drove all night to Veracruz, here’s a list of his family and friend given names:

Roscoe
Hizbunkle
Bunkle
The Bunk
Bunk
Bunk-Town
H-Town
Senior The Town
Mr. Poops
Baby
Harry
Baby Harry
Sweetie
Sweets
Lovely
Love
Cutiepie
Gorgeous
My Gorgeous
Little Man
Mayor
El Presidente

Listening: Fox News (Thank GOD we are headed back to Austin tomorrow where we don’t have cable!)

Marc and I went to our first show post-pregnancy, without the kid. It was my parents last babysitting gig for a while so, we took advantage and stayed out until after 1am. We went to Thai food with John, Kara and Chuck and then to see Built To Spill.

They are one of my all-time favorite bands. Partly because they are totally awesome and partly because “Perfect From Now On” was one of the four albums that made up the soundtrack to Marc and my first year together.

The official Marc and Aimee courtship soundtrack:

Built To Spill (Perfect From Now On)
Jets To Brazil (Orange Rhyming Dictionary) - first dance at our wedding
Modest Mouse (The Moon And Antarctica)
Magnetic Fields (69 Love Songs)

Listening: Magnetic Fields

…in order to make up for the fact that I have no time to write.

A gin and tonic costs $15

You are served an amuse-bouche. If you choose not to consume the amuse-bouche because you don’t eat goat cheese - or any cheese for that matter - they replace it with a cheeseless alternative.

When you go the restroom the staff re-fold your napkin. If while at the restroom your food arrives they put a silver lid over it to keep it warm.

The cheapest bottle of wine is $80.

You are given a pastry to-go, wrapped in gold foil for your morning breakfast.

Kylie and Jeff treated Marc and me to dinner at Gary Danko last week. Some of the highlights: bacon-wrapped frogs legs, scallops with bacon, fava beans and hearts of palm, corn risotto with rock shrimp and lobster and Marc almost kissed the waiter on the mouth when he brought the cheese cart.

Dinner was a thank you for designing their wedding collateral.

It was a fantastic meal - one of my top 5 - and we had a really great time hanging with the newlyweds. Kylie and Jeff seem to have been transformed a bit by this whole marriage thing. They seem more confident, more in love and seem to be having more fun with each other and those around them. I am so happy for them and couldn’t be more pleased to have Jeff as a brother.

I’d say we have been properly, if not overly, thanked.

Listening: Connor Oberst

Sarah Palin knows how to work an audience. She can deliver one-liners unlike anybody else in politics, but, it is hard to take her seriously when so much of what she has to say is full of half-truths and just plain lies:

PALIN: “The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.”

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama’s plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain’s plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

Click here to read the Tax Policy Center’s report.

Attacks, Praise Stretch Truth at GOP Convention, JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer

I’m including this on a blog about my baby because it’s part of his very early history and because it is my hope that we can raise our child in a thriving economy and leave the next generation a planet that is not doomed to drown itself and populated with less animals than when I was born. Palin couldn’t seem to care less about the environment:

“Her philosophy from our perspective is cut, kill, dig and drill,” said John Toppenberg, director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, maintaining she is “in the Stone Age of wildlife management and is very opposed to utilizing accepted science.”

Environmentalists can’t corral Palin, DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer

If Palin makes her way to Washington we may find ourselves on a planet without polar bears and ice seals, but, just think - if the ice caps melt, our Truckee cabin (our son’s inheritance) may just be ocean-front property and worth a ton more. Woohoo global warming!

Listening: Velvet Underground

The kid found his toes. This is equally thrilling and frustrating for the poor little guy. Apparently the flavor of his own feet is more appealing than all of the toys in the world. Or perhaps it’s the challenge of getting that foot right up there into his mouth that is so enticing. He will not allow a simple diaper change without both feet launching up toward his face after each step of the process. He is a determined little guy - and I find myself a proud momma already (I literally called the whole house into his room to see him do it the second time he attempted it - what a dork.).

Listening: Dr Dog