Rainy Friday, Fun Song

In response to our search for a theme song, our good friend Steve (in bolivia) suggested the "Bavis (Baby Davis)  song" by Endless Mike and the Beagle Club. Endless Mike is one of the better bands Steve has ever turned me on to. 

Steve helpfully pointed out that we would have to change the lyrics to Baby Raufer. 

We'll see. 
Have a listen. 

http://myideaoffun.bandcamp.com/track/bavis-the-baby-davis

A Mobile Mobile

"Behold, behold, a mobile mobile stand!"

I made a baby mobile.  I was going to buy one, but then I thought, heck, I can make one of these.

If Attison slept in his crib, we could mount the mobile above it.  But he doesn't.  He sleeps in a bassinet in our room. He also lays awake in a Rock and Play in the kitchen, and a swing in the living room, and sometimes in his car seat in the living room. So then the problem arises, how do we suspend this beautiful creation approximately 18" above our child so that his brain and eyesight can develop at an above average pace?

Tim and his basement full of rusty crap to the rescue.  7 minutes in the basement and he comes up with this:

But it wasn't practical for hanging over the baby.  So he went back into the basement and came up and said this:
"What we have here is a round peg and a square hole. I don't have a coupling, but I have this flange."
and while he was installing it it, he said "This is great!  Well, except for the rust flakes falling into the baby thing..."

He updated the mobile mobile stand to look like this:

Tim had a bunch of one liners to support his home made contraption. Like this:  "Try to knock it over. No seriously, we are going to put our infant child under this, knock it over!"  I believe the laughter of Katy, Christine and I added fuel to his fire.

 

"No, it is sturdy, it's a 6"x10". Hemlock!  It's a 6"x10" hemlock.  That is sturdy."

Check out the view from below:

 

 That Tim, he is funny.  He makes me laugh every single day.  

We'll let you know if Attison is at all interested in this contraption.

1 month!

Saturday December 1st Attison turned 1 month old! 

We went to our one month check up at the pediatrician today - Attison weighs 11 lbs. 3 oz.  He is 22" long, although we aren't really sure about some of his previous measurements because if you look at his growth chart, they aren't consistent in a way that is logical.  We'll write more on this later, because we can log into the online portal of our pediatrician and see the growth charts. 

I'm constantly amazed by his neck strength and how much he likes to cross his little arms and support his head.  We found this weekend that when in the chest carrier, if he is awake, he prefers to have his arms folded in with him instead of out the little arm holes. 

In celebration of turning 1 month old, we are being more consistent with bedtime, set for 8 pm.  I plugged in the monitors tonight and we let the little bugger cry it out for a bit.  It is a weird feeling seeing (and hearing) him cry but actually, the scary part is when the crying suddenly stops.  So I run upstairs to check and see if he is still breathing.  I believe he has finally fallen asleep for good.  Except that pretty soon he will be hungry again, so I'll head up for another feeding and my own bedtime.

The Pittsburgh Project!

Last night was the annual Christmas Party at the Pittsburgh Project.  Tim and I didn't meet at the project, but we both worked there, before and after we realized we were in looooooove.  We had our wedding at the project too.

At the Christmas party last year, they announced that even though the party is intended to be a celebration of the past year, we had to know that their finances were in really rough shape and at the rate things were going, the project might cease to exist after 2012.  The supporters really answered that call for help and this year they announced that after really difficult cut backs in staff and programming, the project is once again on solid ground.


In 2012, The Pittsburgh Project was able to do the following:

-91% of their elementary students did not have poor homework comments on their report cards
-13 high school students graduated and started college this fall
-57 homeowners received new windows and 25 received significant roof repairs
-hundreds of neighbors had a safe place to swim
-360 people became new donors for The Pittsburgh Project's work

Attison wore his new tux to the party and met lots and lots of our friends from TPP.  We were so happy to show him off to people we love in a place that means so much to us. 

To learn more about TPP and the work they do, visit their website.
www.thepittsburghproject.org

New this year - if you run in the Pittsburgh Marathon, any part of the race (marathon, half marathon or marathon relay) you can raise additional funds to donate to TPP.  I'm running on a relay team of Yorko women (myself, sister, mom, aunt, cousin) and our race fees will be donated to TPP.  If you want to run in the Pittsburgh Marathon, let me know and you can join our fundraising team!

Newborn photos!

Please visit Kelsey Kradel Photography to see a preview of our newborn photos!

http://kelseykradel.com/blog2/?p=4344

Cooper's blanket

 Grandma Linda made a blanket out of Great Grandma Cooper's shirts as a gift for GP.  Attison spent some quality tummy time on Cooper's quilt.

sleep, what sleep?

Please don't ask if we are sleeping.  Please don't even ask.

We aren't.  I've seen every hour of the clock for at least 24 hours.  Tim, while his eyes are closed and he isn't actively moving, is still not getting good sleep.  He hears Attison cry, me get up, me yell at Jenny to go back to bed...

We've been working too.  A lot more than we wanted to.  I worked almost a full day yesterday, with my child on my lap as he cried every time I tried to move his sleeping little body to a swing, or rocker or crib.  I did get to look into his cute little face while I typed, but I wished I could be enjoying him wholeheartedly, not thinking "oh you are so cute, please don't wake up."

So naturally, this morning, I'm exhausted.  While nursing, I decided to read us the Celtic Daily Prayer, thinking some prayer is what we both needed to get this sleep deprived body moving today. Low and behold, I often forget, when you open the bible, the Lord speaks.  Here is His word for me today, perhaps if it is needed, you may find solace in it as well. 

From the Aidan Readings for November 30th, the scripture readings are:

Psalm 116:7

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

Isaiah 49:15-16

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  

See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. 

2 John 12

I have so much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink.  Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 

From the daily meditations (I read the 31st by accident - or divine provision...)
Forgive me while I partially quote the partial quote...

"They were being given (not by us, but by God's answers to prayers) a demonstration that God exists.   It was a combination which could never be 'planned' or 'put on' as an exhibit...it had to be real. 
...a completely new work...would never had been possible if we had not been uprooted completely in every way, and if in that uprooting we had not decided to pray for God's solution and leading every step of the path as it wound through unknown territory."

Had I not been uprooted from my sleep last night, I would have started in on my to-do list and not stopped to pray.  Had I not prayed, I might not have found the strength to make it through this day.  May you also find joy in this day and the peace and strength of God the Father. 

Also today we will get to use the new book of Nursery Rhymes that Miriam sent us.  I'm so thankful that I have a book (and cd!) to reference for songs to sing, since my sleep deprived mind still can't recall them on it's own.