Livin' & Learnin'

Another good week in the books.
He's been really happy lately, and, while he's not sleeping perfectly, he's not having sleep problems.
We've still had the problem of aliens breaking into the house and rolling him over in his sleep. That's the only plausible explanation for him ending up on his back every night, as we still haven't seen him in the act of rolling over.

We got Joan a bike this week, so we've been on a few family rides in the evening. He still seems indifferent, but it at least gets us outside.

Friday, he got to ride on the Jeep for a few minutes. Again, he seemed indifferent, but we'll break him in slowly. And, despite what the pic below would lead you to believe, he was happy once we got moving.



Once at Hub City Diner, he tried to be mature and take part in the conversation, but it's hard to give respect to the opinions of a man with a big drop of drool ready to fall from his chin.



or to take seriously a man who can be entertained for 10 minutes with nothing more than a mirror.



Saturday, he accompanied us to our traditional anniversary breakfast, which has now relocated from IHOP to Another Broken Egg. He was happy the whole time we were there and put on quite the show (for all the ladies) with his table dancing.



(don't worry, we are still married. she just happened to forget to put her rings on the one time that we happened to get a pic with her left hand clearly visible. It's probably better for the camera though. All of that bling would have fried the electronics.)

After the meal, he gave in to the magical calming effects of falling water and even cooled his legs of with a little dip in the fountain.




He's learned to be friends with the frog that hangs from his car seat, but sometimes tries to eat the back legs.



and he wants to thank cousin Codi for the comfortable animal print socks. They fit well [even though they are probably made for girls ;)]



And thanks to the Breauxs for his first piece of authentic Disney World clothing. He could feel the magic through the threads and anxiously awaits his first trip.



We didn't get to make it to Blue Moon this week, but we are not missing the show next Saturday, for The Figs' cd release. They'll be playing with Dire Wood (Joan's cousin J's band, and he produced the Figs cd).
It should be a great night of local music.
You can listen to the new music on their MySpace page. Great music for adults and kids.
http://www.myspace.com/thefigsband



Thanks for stopping by.

Growth Spurt

After a few weeks of sleeping 8-9 hours straight every night, the little tot decided it would be a good week for a growth spurt, which requires him to wake up every 3-5 hours to eat. Despite still being a small kid, he seems so big to us. And his hair is getting a lot thicker, drowning out the stark contrast of his mullet. He almost looks like a human.

It's funny to think that at this time last year, he was, literally, just a couple of cells that no one knew existed (even us). Now he's got his own website getting a couple hundred hits a week. Pretty cool progression.

The work week was pretty uneventful, nothing really to talk about other than the fact that he continues to roll over, but only when no one is looking. And he's paying a lot more attention to the things around him, regularly staring at Jimmy (the dog) or at Anna playing on the floor.

Saturday we went to BR, where he got to meet Ms. Heather (a lawyer worth liking) again and meet Lillian and Mr. Trey for the first time.





After watching the whirlwind that is 18 month old Lillian, he headed over to spend some time with his far more subdued cousin Caroline, who has the ability to sleep in incredibly uncomfortable looking positions.



One complaint we had when living in BR, aside from LSU's existence, was the lack of restaurants. Yesterday though, Paul and Liz introduced us to a new place that, while not 5 star, was definitely worth the trip.
The eatery is called Nagoya and is on Sherwood, south of I-12 (next to Picadilly, in the old Marcello's/carwash building) It is a huge buffet, but not like most Asian buffets around here.
The focal point of the bar is sushi. Now, most sushi on buffets sucks-- low quality and little variety. Not at Nagoya. They have probably 20-30 rolls, of every different variety, to choose from, including gourmet type rolls that would run $10-12 at most sushi bars. Plus, they're well made and fresh.
It's probably the only buffet Joan can eat, because, unless it has cream cheese, it's a pretty sure bet that sushi rolls don't contain dairy, unlike the mystery trays at all other buffets.
They also have the traditional Mongolian grill, and fruit bar. Their hot food is more limited and is more Japanese than most buffets. Their cold salad section includes octopus and squid salads which I tried, once.
For dessert they have 12 different types of ice cream, including ginger, green tea, plum wine and red bean if you want to venture away from the typical anglo flavors. The price was a bargain ($11 at lunch, $15 after 4) and the service was great. At one point, while I was trying to eat and entertain Riley at the same time, the waitress came and took his teddy bear from me and played with him for a few minutes. That's service.

He could learn a little from Caroline, who was happy to sit in her car seat and blow spit bubbles the whole time, while he demanded a little more attention.



He calmed down once he spotted the big screen TV above the table and became hypnotized. He's also begun spotting the TV at home, so we'll be fighting that soon. I don't know how well we'll hold up with the "No TV Till You're 2 Rule", but we'll try our best.
And despite the appearance of the pic below, no we did not let him have any sake.



But by the looks of the tension around his waistband, he might have been hitting the buffet when we weren't looking.



(i acknowledge that he is wearing different clothes in those two pics, but they are from the same day. He had what would be properly called "a blowout" between them which required emergency wardrobe modifications.

Next Saturday he'll get his first, outside of the house, baby sitting experience when he stays with Joan's parents (who I don't think have settled on grandparent's names.) They'll be pulling the evening shift while we celebrate our 6th Anniversary by going back to what used to be a regular Saturday night itinerary of going out to eat and then heading to the Blue Moon (the only "bar " worth going to) to check out Richard Revue, after their long absence from the Moon's stage.



Adios till next week.

Redefining Interesting

Having a kid sure can change your view of what is considered interesting.
I write here every week about things that are really cool to us, but your average person would consider quite dull.
No need to break tradition, so I'll keep it up.

This week was different because my mom got sick and we had to come up with babysitting substitutions. Virginia held down the fort on Wednesday, and I took the helm on Thursday.
Fortunately, Anna and Riley are both really good, so the day wasn't that difficult.
However, it was the SLOWEST DAY EVER.
I was able take advantage of Anna's size to do something fun. Her weight balanced out the seat in the bike trailer some, thus allowing Riley to stay upright, which he cant do when he's the only one in the trailer. So, we went for a ride around the neighborhood. Anna loved it and Riley had no idea what was going on.



It was a good little ride, but my thighs were sore the next day just from riding around with the extra 50 lbs behind me. I need to get my bike muscles back.

Saturday, Riley went to his first wedding. We hung out in the cry room with 4 other kids. He was actually really well behaved, but, in a big church, during a wedding, even the slightest baby noise sounds would have seemed like a freight train.

As promised, he wore his little sailor outfit, given to him by Kathleen and Meredith (sp?) Will. (I know Chris had no part in picking it out)
I must be honest, it was actually pretty cute on him. Still not daily wear, but it works for special occasions. Thanks Wills.





My favorite look though, is when you take off the jacket and he is just wearing the overalls. That attire, combined with his usually serious, faux-thug, facial expression, makes him look quite Trailer-park-boyish. It goes well with the ever thickening mullet.

Saturday night he got to hang out with some out of town family at BJ's Pizza. Despite the pic below, he was actually very happy chilling with Aunt Summer. He did tell me though that next time he wants to visit them on their home turf. (Destin)



We got him a walker this week, despite the fact that modern "conventional wisdom" considers them too dangerous. Unfortunately, he can't put it to any dangerous uses as it is more of a "sitter" than a "walker" until he grows a couple of inches and his feet start touching the ground.



On the developmental milestone front, he's learned to consistently grab and hold the toys on his hanging gym. (but not when the camera is around.)



And he rolled over (stomach to back) two and a half times this week, though we are still yet to catch him in the act.
Thursday night, I checked on him and found him propped up on his side against the bumper pad. He had attempted to roll over, but was too close to the side and couldn't make it all the way.
Thursday though, my mom put him in the crib, and later came back to find him on his back laughing. Monday morning we found that he had rolled in the night.

His bed also underwent a little bit of Cajun engineering this week. He had gotten into the bad habit of pushing his head into the corner of the bumper pads at night, which worried me. In order to, literally, give him some breathing room, we took off the end pads. The law of unintended consequences though, led to him waking himself up when he smacked his head on the now exposed rails at night.
Solution= individually wrap the rails with burp cloths.
No smothering and no head bonking yet, so I think it worked.



That's about it.
Nothing big coming up this week, so next week's update may be boring.

Semi Strangers

It was a big week for the little man.
All week he got to see lots of people he's only seen a couple of times before.

Uncle Eli stopped by during one of his short stints in town and taught the kid how not to take a pic.




Friday morning, we got to visit Joan's side of the family at their compound out in the country. The relatives there were too numerous to list.



Riley even got to meet his 98 year old, great-great-grandmother, and take a pic with 5 generations of Joan's family.




Friday night, we headed out to the symphony show with Roddie Romero. It was a pretty cool show, but, then again, I'm a sucker for a good symphonic accompaniment to non-symphonic music (Metallica's S&M show (Symphony & Metallica, sicko) is one of the best ever)



There, he got to see his future friend Gabe, along with Gabe's handlers Brad & Lindsey, and a special cameo by Steve O. Both babies were good before the show when we ate at Legend's Annex(try the Hawaiian burger), but we did get plenty of funny looks for having two 4 month olds in a "bar." (it's no smoking, so he was never in "danger")

He made it through most of the show alright, mostly because he was asleep, but we had to leave before the fireworks because he was ready to eat and go to bed.




Saturday morning, he got to hang out with Cousin Tesha, Aunt Susie, and my grandmother, while Joan tended to the flower bed he has caused her to neglect this season. Tesha had the magic touch and was able to calm the savage beast. Way to go Cuz.



Saturday night, he taught us a lesson. We decided we were brave enough to try to go out to eat, without support staff. We wanted sushi and picked Oishi since it is close. Within 30 seconds of being in the building, he let us know that we better get the food to go. It may have been better if we had been in a louder restaurant, but Oishi only has 6 tables, relying mostly on to-go traffic, so his restlessness was obvious to everyone.

All weekend, he got to hang out with his godmother Lesley, who soothed him and put him to sleep when he decided he didn't want to watch us eat breakfast at Another Broken Egg. He loves that fountain in front of the restaurant, but hates it when you dip his feet in. (so I did a few times, just to show him who runs the show, after his Oishi episode.)



Sunday, he got to see Ms. Nicole who he hadn't seen since he was a week or two old, and I got to realize how nice it is to have a 14 pound baby, after playing with Nicole's 2 year old, 37 inch tall son, Garrett.

As a milestone, Riley learned to imitate a non-facial, physical gesture this week. Knowing that he is fond of bringing his hand together in front of his chest (see pic below), I began doing it myself and saying, "worry, worry, worry, fret, fret, fret" and sho' 'nuff he started copying me. And we've tested it enough, that I don't think it was coincidence.



Plus, he's learned how to hold his stuffed bear and gum on the ear. It's surprising how quickly artificial fur can become completely, disgustingly matted. Baby spit is magic.



We've also found that he's content in the morning just sitting on the counter watching Joan do her hair and makeup. I don't think you can shape career paths that young, can you? If so, I'll make him watch me attempt something more manly next weekend.



He really did have a great week, and next weekend will be a real test, as we're going to try to bring him to a wedding. He's never had a meltdown in a church, but I also have no problem sitting in the back row and stepping outside at the first sign of vocalizations. And, just for future embarrassment fodder, we plan to dress him in the sailor outfit that Ms. Kathleen gave him. It should be good stuff.