The Many Faces and Stages

Sorry for the long delay in posting...since my last post, a lot has changed. Caleb, for one, looks like he gets bigger every day, and has new looks and actions and little things you notice as a Dad.

At this point, I am now "Mr. Mom," as I have quit my day job and taken up the job of being at home with Caleb. I'm also committing my full work efforts to my previously-side-business TradeWind Productions, but that's a topic for another blog.

So you might wonder what it is like to be Mr Mom. Well, it's a lot like being a regular Mom would probably be...feeding, changing, sleeping, playing, all that jazz. As a guy, I approach things perhaps not as gently as a woman might. That being said, I take great care in avoiding things like rock climbing and street fighting when I've got Caleb around.

I have a hard time getting things done with my work sometimes, but then other times it seems like he'll be entertaining himself all day long.

He's doing so many things now...he's not quite rolling over (although he comes so close) but he sits up very well with some help. He's starting to mimic our speech patterns and certain things (mostly gibberish talk). He has been sleeping through the night (around 9pm til 8am most days) pretty much every single night since the end of May. Sometimes he wakes up once or twice, but he's never needed a feeding since the last week of May. THAT is particularly awesome in and of itself.

He's eating solid food now, and tonight we go from cereal to peas (or beans, I forget).

He has a TON of toys and things to keep his attention. We got him an "ExerSaucer" thing that he's starting to enjoy more and more. The thing is just LOADED with toys and activities and sounds and music...kind of noisy, but I don't really mind.

He loves to watch Sesame Street. I saw Ben Stiller on there the other day as a giant wedge of cheese...go figure.

He doesn't really like being in my office (but sometimes, I don't either). I don't know if it's just the different lighting, the paint or all the noisy computer stuff, but something inside him must know that this is the place where work happens, and he doesn't want any part of that (until he's AT LEAST 3 or 4 years old, then it's off to the canning factory for $0.35 an hour wages and a stale biscuit for lunch).

I really do like being at home. Some part of me misses the workplace camaraderie, and the safety net that comes with working for someone else, but all at the same time, I feel very fortunate to be able to experience this part of his life so closely.

Don't worry about Mommy though...when Hilary comes home in the evening, Caleb's face lights up and he knows somehow that she's been thinking about him all day long.

WE DID have our first vacation though...the annual Jolly family trip to St Simon's Island on the Georgia coast. We all had a great time, especially Caleb. Never seen a baby sleep so much on the beach. He would just lay out on the sand on top of his raft and just pass out for what seemed like hours. Didn't really care for the pool too much. It might have been a little chilly for his tastes...or maybe it reminded him of bath time (which he also doesn't like). The trip getting there and back was thankfully uneventful. The whole trip, we only stopped one time for Caleb (and his 2 weeks older cousin Taylor) apart from our required eating/bathroom breaks. They both just slept the rest of the way.

His first 4th of July was also fun, if not unremarkable. He ignored the parade after the first few things went by, and fell asleep strapped to me in his Baby Bjorn. Same story for the fireworks show at the lake...he was a bit surprised by the first couple of bursts, but then he just fell asleep until we got up to leave.

Next big adventure - another trip to another beach, this time with the Bowler family to St George. Less than a month!

Life is terribly hard. Pity pity.