Week flies by

I have been having so much fun that I have not had much time to write. I am still amazed at how much she changes every day. And how amazing it is to have her wake up and smile at me. It is a feeling that no matter how much parents talked about I never got it. Now I get it.
It was a busy week but I will summarize.
With Alisa off on Friday and MLK day we were able to spend the 4 day weekend together. We didn't do much which was great because Iris had just a little cough. She never had a fever and it was gone by the end of the weekend. She has not been sick yet and we are trying to hold it off as long as can. In the last 10 days we have done a lot though. We have been to "Music Together" class twice. It's a parent-child music class. (You can see it in the video) We have made multiple walks to the grocery store (and pet food store for Soleil). The weather has been fantastic so that makes it easier to get out. And lastly Iris had her 4 month exam. It was a little scary because of the 2nd round of vaccines. But Iris is tough and the shots barely fazed her. She is 11 lbs and 11 ounces! (Eleven-Eleven) She is definitely going through a lot of changes. In the past week she has started holding toys and in the past few days started putting them in her mouth. We don't want to jinx her sleeping pattern but starting at Christmas Iris started sleeping around 8 hours a night. I didn't think it would last but so far she has been pretty consistent. 
As I enter the last week of my paternity leave I am struggling to stay present. Letting go of the things that I wanted to accomplish during this time is hard. It is easy to get frustrated at the end of the day and see that I didn't check anything off my list.  And to start thinking about the things that I will have to do when I return to work. It is Alisa that keeps me reminding me that right now there is only one item on my list. She's right. This time won't come again. So I gotta go now!

You can see video below and photos on her site by clicking here

Daddy Day Care survives 1 week

We made it through a whole week and the house didn't burn down and neither Iris or I suffered any permanent damage :)  Thursday was much like the rest of the week. Iris and slept most of the morning. (I had some work that had to be done so I did it very early Thursday morning. I don't know what Iris' excuse was.) The afternoon was spent eating and playing followed by another nap. After an  uneventful evening at home I convinced Alisa that she needed some rest and reluctantly Alisa turned in early. I gave Iris a bottle and for the 1st time Iris went to bed without nursing. Alisa got a much needed night of rest.

Friday was a fantastic day. Since Alisa is working 75% at her job she has most Fridays off. This means that right now the whole family can sleep in a little on Fridays. It also means we can go to a wonderful class, Music Together, taught by our friend Lisa Bush. It was Iris' 1st class of any kind and she had a great time. (She didn't do a whole lot but she had fun.) It is great way to expose her to music and dance and interact with us all at the same time.  See pictures by clicking here


With no work for either of us we had time for brunch at home followed by a visit from cousins Jacie and Josie. It was great to see them and we miss having them in Alameda. We ended the day with a nice meal at home with dear friends. All in all it was a great week.

Iris' Sweet 16

Today was Iris' Sweet 16. Only weeks but there are a lot of similarities to the 16 year old.
She doesn't speak to us she just makes some kind of sound.
She likes to sleep a lot and expects us to do everything for her.
She ignores a lot of what we say and pretends to be interested in something else.
Whenever we make plans that she doesn't like she cries until we change.
But Iris is much cuter than a teenager and just as important she doesn't talk back.

Iris celebrated 16 weeks with a long morning nap followed by a bath.  Then we had playtime and read "Peak-a-Who" . Then she took a stroll over to the nearest Peet's coffee and had a Caramel Latte. (OK, that was me but she was there.)

After that it was time to walk back for Iris to eat again and then take the afternoon nap. By the time she woke up Alisa was home and I was off to a martial arts class.

Daddy Day Care-the Beginning

Day 1 of Daddy Day Care was a smashing success. Alisa did a great job of setting up the house and Iris did a great job of sleeping most of the day :)

It was a really nice day. Iris slept almost 4 hours in the morning. (And I even napped for an hour). 

We played, she ate and then napped again. It was just in time for me to make dinner before Alisa got home. 

We didn't go outside or do anything really. It was simple but successful. 

Day 2 was less smashing but still successful. I bragged about how much Iris was sleeping and parents know what that means. 

Today was a whole different schedule. She napped in much shorter chunks (about an hour) and did that 3 times. 

The way the timing worked out I barely had time to make and eat lunch between feeding and playing. 

The upside of Iris being awake more is that we got to play more. The weather was crappy so I decided to stay in again. 

Maybe we will venture out tomorrow. 

Tonight I went to a meeting at church and someone commented on how relaxed I looked. I said this is probably the most relaxed I have ever been. 

It is strange but just spending all day with Iris has relaxed me so much. It is only the 2nd day but I thought I was going to be more nervous and stressed.

But it hasn't been that way at all. With any luck it will continue this way. 

Daddy Day Care goes live

Tomorrow is the big day. Alisa's 1st day back at work. This past week and weekend didn't go as we had planned. My recovery from a sinus infection made it a more difficult transition especially for Alisa. I also had committed to brewing beer for an upcoming fundraiser at our church. Luckily, I was feeling better and was able to get a friend to help. Alisa was home and got to spend some time with Iris. Today Alisa was able to do her job with youth at church and even get in a movie. Iris and I slept a lot.
Getting sick has in a strange way forced me to let go of the list of things I wanted to do and forced me to just focus on Iris. That has made it worth it. With a limited amount of energy I could only take care of her and everything else just fell away. I haven't tried to email while bouncing her in the chair or do the dishes while she slept. I just followed her schedule and that has made me notice more.
I am excited about spending the next few weeks with Iris. It will be a different experience for me I am sure. I know it will be hard for Alisa. I know it was heart breaking for me to go back to work after 10 days off. Alisa has been with Iris full time for 3 months. We are fortunate that I am able to be home with Iris for the rest of the month.

The latest for Iris.
She is smiling more. Seeing Iris smile at me is more amazing than anyone could have told me.
She had her 1st real laugh. (It's infectious. I hope to catch on video the next time.)
She holds her head up.
I will have lots more in the coming weeks. 


Click her to see the latest video.

Daddy Day Care transition

Jan 5,6,7 
Well, we started off really well with a plan to slowly extend Alisa's time away from Iris so that by the weekend she would have been way for an 8 hour stretch. Alas, life is full of curves and we are learning to adjust. On Wed. morning I woke up with a sinus infection. For better or worse my body doesn't generally "get sick" over a long slow process. I go from healthy to sick on a switch. The upside is that I tend to recover pretty quickly. Needless to say we had to change some of our plans for the week. Although this is a less than ideal situation ,we are lucky for a lot of reasons.
1. It happened this week while Alisa is still off work instead of next week when I would have been alone.
2. Our accupuncturist is nearby and could see me that afternoon.
3. I never had a fever and all signs point to this being a sinus infection rather than something contagious.
Alisa has been an angel. My energy level has been up and down and Alisa has had to do more than we hoped this week. I am feeling better and that is allowing Alisa to get out for a few hours at a time.
Most importantly, Iris has not seemed to notice. Other than an episode of crying this afternoon she seems pretty happy as you can see below.

Daddy Day care

This week we have begun the transition from Alisa being home to me being Mr. mom for the month of January.  Thankfully Alisa doesn't go back to work for another week so it gives us a little overlap.
Mon. January 3 we drive to San Rafael for a lovely breakfast with friends. Then we go car shopping with Iris for 3 hours. Iris was a trooper. By the end we were dazed and confused. Although we did drive a few cars we ultimately decided that we didn't find the right car. 

 Jan. 4

it seems that the morning was fine and I was able to do some things done but the afternoon and go quite the way I planned it she just didn't want to take a nap which is fine except that I had planned to do other things. I'm learning that whatever I plan doesn't really matter but it's up to her. This morning was fairly easy because she went down after just a little bit of being fussy and then was able to nap long enough for me to do some things around the house. so I thought that's what it would be like. I'm learning mostly is that there is no normal. No matter how many people tell you there is nothing like personal experience.

Iris' 1st December

Twas the night before my 1st day home from work and all through the house not a creature was stirring but me with the mouse. That's all I got of the poem. The rest is a lot of catching up. It has been a full month for us. Isn't December full for everybody? I somehow managed to light an event every weekend but Christmas. But we also had lots of fun too. There were walks down Thompson Lane to see all the decorations, the annual trip to Zoo lights (which I worked on), fudge making, the annual White Elephant, the PAGEANT PLAY at church and decorating the house and of course seeing family and friends. Alisa's mom, Joann, was the 1st to arrive and was a big help in preparing us for Christmas and other visitors. There was even time to celebrate my birthday and Iris experienced her 1st brewing day :)
(Alisa arranged for a friend to bring over ingredients and help me brew as one of my gifts.)

Iris had quite a Christmas. She started it off by making her acting debut as baby Jesus in the Pageant Play. This, in turn, meant that I was Joseph and Alisa was Mary. Fortunately for us they are small roles. Iris was perfect. She slept through the whole thing:) Alisa insists that this 1st credit go on her resume!Grammy JoJo and Grandpa Lou took Iris after the service allowing me, Godfather Tommy, and Alisa to make our traditional visit to Lucky 13.
Christmas day was an all day affair for us. We started late and went all day. Santa was good to us all especially Iris. We ended the day with a lovely meal. It was a short visit for Tommy and Grandpa Lou but we were blessed to have them make the trip. We had to settle for Skype with the Holden family in Texas.

Iris continues to grow rapidly. For those keeping track she has started sleeping 5-6 hours a night. She has even slept 7 -8 hours once. That is actually a little scary. Parents know what I am talking about. When you wake up in a panic because you thing something must be wrong if the baby slept that long. But then realize everything is fine. She is just learning to sleep more. The latest big news is (and if you know, you know, and if you don't, you don't) she has found her thumb!! I was torn about this at first but it makes her very happy. As long as she grows out of it, it will be a way for her to self soothe any time she wants.

The big news in our household is that I am on family leave for the month of January to play Mr. Mom. Woo-hoo! The less exciting news is that Alisa has to return to work next week. But that has been the plan all along. I will be the day care until Feb. and then with the help of the Grandmas we will get a month or 2 further before sending Iris to a new child care. If all goes well she will be 6 months old before she has to go.


Click here to go to Iris' photo and video site.