Monday, July 28, 2008

Simmer down...

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend--we did! On Saturday we took Dashiell to his first concert, and I think he had a pretty good time! The Skatalites played at the Lowell Folk Festival, so we dressed our boy in plaid shorts and a hat and skanked our way downtown. Saturday was a lovely day--warm and sunny but not too humid. As you can see from the picture, Dashiell looked like he was enjoying the concert in a true Jamaican fashion--but rest assured, he was just naturally mellow from the ska-riffic music.

I included a picture of the band and the crowd--even though there were quite a few people there and we were close to the back, it was still a really great show. I had no idea that the Skatalites have been around since 1964! Unfortunately none of the original members are still playing, but that's a pretty good run for a band regardless.

Sunday we didn't do much except hang out at home--it was a bit too rainy to motivate ourselves to get out and about. But we did discover that Dashiell finds it HILARIOUS when Rick plays peek-a-boo by covering himself with a sheet then quickly pulling it off. I had Dash on my lap at the time and I swear he was shaking with anticipation every time. No need for fancy toys for this kid--he prefers the low-tech stuff. :-)

Have a great week!

-Suzi

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

What the heck are these things at the end of my legs?

How freakin' cute is this? Dashiell discovered his feet the other day while hanging out on Rick's lap, and since then he's been constantly grabbing them. This is the first picture we got of him holding onto a toe (apologies to Rick for the headless torso shot). But heehee what a funny kid!

I'm also posting this picture of the two of us together despite the fact that I look a little unwashed. I'm hoping you all will focus on Dash's sweet expression and not on my bed head. LOL

Things in the Weber Hanson household are going really well! Dashiell got to spend last Friday with his great-aunt Sue, great-uncle Tony, and great-grandparents Elaine and Jack. He was in a good mood when I got him home so he must have had a great time with all the "greats"!

On a side note, we set up a Skype account to do video calls with friends and family, so if you have a web cam and want to chat face-to-face with us, shoot me an email and we'll connect up! Fun!

-Suzi

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Sing a song...

Now that we're trying to get Dashiell on a regular sleeping schedule, I've been trying to come up with good night time and nap time rituals to help him transition into sleep mode. Thankfully he's already a pretty good sleeper and hasn't needed these rituals much, because honestly I kind of suck at them. What I'd like to do for our ritual is pretty simple--one book (or part of a longer book), one song, sleep. And currently he's eating immediately prior to his final bedtime so that's part of the ritual as well. The "one book" idea is fine, though our boy does get a little antsy sometimes when we're reading to him. It's the "one song" that I'm having trouble with! I'm horrible at remembering the words to songs, especially lullabyes. It's been ages since I babysat and needed these lyrics at my disposal, so now I get part-way through a song and have to make up words. Poor Dashiell will never know the real lyrics to "Twinkle twinkle little star", and he'll think that "You are my sunshine" is just the refrain repeated a couple of times (and really, there's no excuse for that one--how many times have I listened to the "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" soundtrack?). We have the "Rockabye Baby - Nirvana" album that I'll play when getting ready for bed, so sometimes Dash gets a lullabye version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or "Heart-shaped Box" (I do remember most of those lyrics). Not very traditional, but at least they're songs!

Someday I'll get better at the song part of our ritual, I'm sure. Until then, we'll keep muddling through...

Oh, today's picture was taken on my phone last week--ya gotta love a baby in a tank top.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

360

Hope this posts ok--Dashiell decided to roll across the living room floor last night, and I actually caught one of the rolls with my phone! Prior to this he's only done the 360 degree roll by accident, but last night he seriously did about 3 in a row, followed by the one I recorded. And he's chewing on his burp rag the whole time--handy since he usually spits up as soon as he gets on his belly!

Just wanted to share--

-Suzi

Monday, July 7, 2008

3 months old!

Our little guy turned 3 months old this past Saturday! Wow, he's a quarter of a year old--how'd that happen already??

We had a great weekend! 4th of July party on Friday (including a 2 hour nap!) followed by fireworks in Wakefield--Dash watched intently and only got startled once during a particularly loud boom. Saturday we stuck close to home but had friends over for dinner and celebratory cupcakes. Sunday we went on a hike followed by ice cream. Yum!

Today's pictures are of Dashiell on his 3 month birthday, and Dashiell with his new friend Crispin. At the time of the picture Dash was twice as old as Crispin (12 wks vs. 6 wks). Cute cute cute!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Finally!

To those of you who hoped to get a birth announcement in the mail from us and have been sorely disappointed about not getting something to put up on your fridge, FINALLY we're sending them! Of course they're no longer announcements since y'all already know about Dashiell, but they're good pictures nonetheless. We went with pix from the photo shoot Dashiell had a couple of weeks ago with uncle David (including the picture currently at the top of the sidebar). They should be going out in the mail this week, so if you don't receive one by the end of next week it means I don't have your address. Feel free to email me your contact info if you're feeling sad about your lack of Dashiell pictures and I'll see what I can do... :-)

Can I just gush a bit about how good of a baby Dash is? That fussy period I wrote about a couple of months ago really only lasted about 2 weeks, maybe less. After that I think we got much better at soothing him and figuring out what was making him upset. Now when he cries it usually means he is either hungry or tired, which is completely understandable and easy to remedy. Sure, he was inconsolable at cousin Nick's graduation party but that was mostly because we had him out and about all weekend and he was overstimulated. We learned our lesson: too much activity + not enough naps = cranky baby. But most of the time he's a happy kid, and he gets more and more fun to be around every day. And so far he doesn't mind being held by other people (knock on wood) and he's pretty easy going. Let's hope he stays that way!

Sorry no pictures this post but I'm not on my own computer so I don't have any photos handy. Next time, I promise!

-Suzi