photos and videos...whatwhat!!

Presents!

Quilt made by Aunt Sherry
Bumpkins diaper from Grandma Beulah

And for your viewing pleasure, here are two videos of Attison not rolling over.  He can do it, but only when no one is looking.

Thank God for Anne

Ann Lamott -Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
November 22

"I wish he could take longer naps in the afternoon.  He falls asleep and I feel I could die of love when I watch him, and I think to myself that he is what angels look like.  Then I doze off, too, and it's like heavens  but sometimes only twenty minutes later he wakes up and begins to make his gritchy rodent noises, scanning the room wildly.  I look blearily over at him in the bassinet, and think, with great hostility, Oh, God, he's raising his loathsome reptilian head again.

When I go over to the bassinet to pick him up, though, he looks up at me like I'm Coco the clown - he beams, and makes raspberries and does frantic bicycle kicks like he's doing his baby aerobics. Then I feel I can go on."

Attison went through a growth spurt this week, so he ate every hour, slept for 15 minute stints and SCREAMED for me whenever we weren't slowly rocking him in my arms. Sometimes I think that he is a demon sent to deprive me of my sleep and life and to remind me that I'm not really that important, just an avenue for others to get to the baby.  But most of the time I just look at him, fall in love, and feel my heart grow like the Grinch who stole Christmas, only my heart wasn't a little back turd to begin with, it was more normal sized.

I love this book by Ann Lamott. She wrote it as a journal and then had it published, so it is very honest, raw with emotion and so, so true.

Play time with a thingamabob

Here is Attison playing on his thingamabob.  He waves his arms and kicks his feet and looks at himself in the mirror.  The keyboard plays individual notes and every so often will automatically play a whole song. 

Developmentally, he isn't aware yet that he has control over his flailing limbs and can't connect the sounds and movements of the toys to his own movements.  This is good entertainment for him for up to 10 minutes and I have learned to block out the sound.  He will coo and make other noises when "playing" with this thing, until his coos turn to shouts and eventually into cries, indicating the end of thingamabob time. 

Baseball Uniform

Bath time x3

He just makes the funniest faces during bath time it is worth it to have a 3rd round of pictures.  Pretty soon he won't fit in the sink anymore and we'll be moving to the tub!

Aunt Carolyn's hat and a teddy bear

Aunt Carolyn made Attison this hat for Christmas.  It fits juuuuuuuust right and there is room to grow! We have to remember to take it off though when we get it the car or it falls down over his eyes, which he does not like.

Also notice Attison's first teddy bear, bought by his parents.  We searched high and low for a bear that was the right size - correctly proportioned appendages, regular looking face, small eyes, no beans in his feet or hands, no excessive clothing, bear colored (brown/tan not blue or pink, etc.), perky not floppy ears, not too human looking, button nose, soft and fuzzy.  You can see we set our standards high and we were happy to find this guy at the Happy Hippo in Moorestown, NJ.  

Pittsburgh Marathon Relay!

Last year on May 6th, I ran in the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay and helped raise money to send to Haiti for an organization called Haiti h2o. I happened to be 3 1/2 months pregnant and training for a 1/2 marathon in Florida.  I couldn't quite figure out why I was hitting a major road block at 7 1/2 miles- until I realized I was preggo.  I wasn't able to run that 1/2 marathon, so we've set our hopes on running one this year.

Here is a picture of Attison and I running (note: he is in my belly).

6.1 miles later, here are Attison and I stopping and Aunt Sarah starting her 4.7 mile leg.

This year, some of the Yorko Women (my mom's family) are running the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay as a charity race for The Pittsburgh Project.  (see The Pittsburgh Project!)  If you are interested in supporting The Pittsburgh Project, or The Yorko Women (our relay team name: consists of myself, Linda, Sarah, Gloria and Erin), donate through the widget below!  Our goal is $750, but as with all fundraisers, we can always raise more!  The minimum gift is $10.