Scenes from a Stay at Home Dad...

Emailed to me yesterday while I was at work...

Laughter Finally Caught on Tape!

Excuse the poor quality of the film...but enjoy that beautiful laughter!

Party Weekend

Two very important people celebrated their birthdays this past weekend: Our dear friend, Asher, rang in his 30th year and Daniel's GREAT Grandfather, Poppy, celebrated his 87th (or 57th annual 30th birthday). We spent the weekend in Philly to ring in the birthdays and had a blast. Not only did we stay in Corey's ridiculous apartment (yes, he LIVES in the Ritz Carlton) with the most intense view in all of Philly,
but we experienced a couple "firsts" in terms of parenting:

1. We had to pick Daniel up from the "babysitter" (our friends) because he woke up and didn't know where he was/who he was with and was a mess because of it. The books said that he would start experiencing "stranger anxiety" but we really didn't think it would happen in the middle of our dinner.

2. I spent my very first night apart from Daniel. We dropped him off at Matt's Aunt & Uncle's house where my Mother-in-Law (Daniel's "Mimi") spent the night to help out (also the home of his Cousin Lizzy... his favorite person ever, second to his Poppy). While I felt like I was naked all night long - I had one hell of a night and look forward to doing it again! This is from the morning after his first slumber party (luckily he doesn't experience stranger anxiety with his family). Luckily there are no pictures of ME from the morning after!



3. We're loosening up about the food we put into Daniel's mouth as seen here with this pickle (he didn't even flinch.. just started to devour it):


Happy Birthday Poppy & Asher. Two amazing men who Daniel loves very much!

Separation Anxiety

Today is the first time that I left the house at 8:30am and will not return until after 5. Matt is home with Daniel, beginning the process of learning his own ways of being a stay-at-home Dad, which he will be until work for the next election begins.

At 9am I went to a spin class for the first time since I got pregnant. I chose a bike at the back of the room and about 10 minutes in, I began to cry my eyes out. Luckily the music was so loud that no one heard me sob and the tears were easily masked by the sweat dripping down my face.

The day has gotten easier. I've been at my office all day meeting with people and slowly being filled with an anticipation of returning to my old self: the professional woman who is smart and successful and fun and who actually has friends who are older than 6 months old or who share my last name.

I think being a working mom is going to kick ass.

Photoshoot During a Playdate

My dear friend Lauren Himelstein took these pictures during a playdate while her 3 year old son, Jett, made Daniel laugh. A great example of why people should own an amazing camera!

6 Months

Stats:
Weight - 171bs, 11oz; 50%
Length - 26 1/4"; 50%
Head - 43 1/4cm; 50%

You know how it's often the case that the new year will come around and we'll say to ourselves "wow, where did the year go"?

Well, I can see exactly where the last 6 months have gone - I just can't get my head wrapped around the fact that it has, in fact, already gone! Daniel has gained 10lbs, 1oz. He's grown almost 7 inches and his head is 10 cm bigger than when he was born!

When Daniel was born my friends told me that they didn't remember their kids being that little. I thought it was horrible that one wouldn't remember something as special as that... but here I am only 6 months later and I can't remember how Daniel felt when he was less than 8 pounds. In fact, it seems absolutely impossible to me that Daniel was that little. I also remember my friends saying that it was OK that they didn't remember the feeling of such a tiny baby because the bigger the baby became, the more fun they were and the better it was to be a mom was.

I couldn't agree more.

These days, Daniel is just simply playful. He sits unassisted so he'll just hang out on the floor and chew on his toys or he'll flirt with us, laugh when we play peek-a-boo and try to touch himself in the mirror. He's pretty much obsessed with Poop (our cat, not the actual poop in his diaper) and he is actually beginning to get upset when a stranger takes him from us (uh-oh). While it's not super cute, he's also starting to throw little fits when we try to strap him in his carseat or lay him down to change him. The fits suck - but they show that he is a determined little guy and I appreciate and respect that quality.

This is a picture of Daniel riding on the wooden rocking horse that Matt used to play with as a child. Matt puts him on the horse every day and sings a song to him. Daniel gets so happy that it could melt your heart and I can only imagine how fast it will feel when he's sitting on it by himself and pretending that he's a cowboy.

Happy 1/2 Birthday, baby!

Avocado? Yes! Carrot? NO!

Daniel is eating "solids" twice a day.

To celebrate his eating, we finally bought him a real high chair. He seems like such a big guy when he's in it. Last night was the first night we put him in it and he screamed - but today he really liked it as he was chilling in the kitchen while I was making him some pears.

I can't say if Daniel is a picky eater yet since we've only just begun - but the kid definitely doesn't like carrots. So far I've tried carrots with rice cereal, oatmeal, avocado (his favorite thing) and parsnips and he just can't be fooled. I'm supposed to wait a week before re-introducing a food that he doesn't like - so I can still have hope.

Aside from the rice cereal and oatmeal, I've been making all of Daniel's food. Obviously this is a simple task right now... I either mash something up or steam, puree and serve. I've even started freezing food in ice cube trays. I go back to work next week (more on that later) so Matt will be on food duty. Hopefully he won't be pureeing White Castle for the baby.

Tonight he'll have pears and avocado - one at a time. So far his little belly has met rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, papaya, banana, avocado, apple, pear, carrot and parsnip. I didn't use a system and I'm obviously behind in the veggie department - so I'm going to give him peas tomorrow. Wish us luck!