Leavin' on a Jet Plane

What's not to love about John Denver (and what's REALLY not to love about John Denver and Kermit the Frog (and by the way, Vake and I are currently really into the 35 years of Sesame Street CD and the Muppets Retrospective CD- poor Dennis who is staying with us probably has bleeding ears from It's Not Easy Bein' Green and Rubber Ducky))???

Anyway, in the immortal words of JD, Vake and I are flying to Seattle today. I am extremely apprehensive about this trip, mostly the Charlotte to Seattle leg, because if Vake decides he's not happy, we're pretty much stuck.

There's an upside and a downside to this travel. The upside is that we are flying first class because we were supposed to go with Eric. I am optimistic that the chances that we will be treated like human beings and the flight attendants will be nice to Vake are about 50-75%. The downside, we were supposed to go with Eric. That's the hard part. He had to change his flight plans because of work.

And his work is sometimes tough for a couple of reasons. First, although I LOVE, emphasis on the word love, my job, it is sometimes frustrating to realize that I am no longer the jetsetting lawyer I used to be. I sometimes miss civil practice. Second, the tradeoff for me having this extremely nice life with a job that I love, a house that I love, a family that I love is that Eric works all the time to provide it for us. And I am so grateful but there are times when I just wish he was home. It's the age-old work life balance.

Anyway, send all your positive karma to me this afternoon that Vake is true to his peppy, sweet little form and sails through 3,000 miles of air travel the way he's sailed through everything else so far.

Happy Fourmonthiversary, Vake and Domingo!

It has been a busy month at the Martin and Rivera (my sister Anne and her husband Dennis) residences. Anne and I have decided that Domingo and Vake are the same age; in fact, they share the same birthday. All the easier to schedule the JC Penney Portrait Studio pictures with, I say...

Both of the family newbies have made big strides this month. Vake, today, has decided that he can sit up by himself with some assistance. Once someone puts him in the "tripod" position, it is go-time. Thanks to Taren for figuring this out!!!

At four months, Vake is a super happy little guy. He eats roughly 40-45 ounces a day. He sleeps through the night without interruption between about 6:30 pm and 6:30 am. That's not a brand new skill, though! He weighs about 20.5 pounds and is 27 inches long. He LOVES to talk and he's very interested in his hands.

His favorite books continue to be the Pigeon Books- but I think he'd probably enjoy any books with bright graphics. He's in love with his nanny, Taren. He smiles and giggles to himself all the time.

Domingo Rivera I don't know as well as I do Vake. Domingo is weighing in at a hefty eight pounds. His preferred activities include chasing two liter soda bottles around the kitchen and teething. His big accomplishment this month is getting nearly completely housebroken- go Domingo (and special note to Vake, Mommy would not object if you caught on to the whole housebroken program...)

For all the video lovers out there, I've attached a pic of little Vake laughing at his mobile- he's just such a talker. Now those of you who know me and how cold I tend to be will ask, "Alison, why is your son clad only in a diaper in his crib? Isn't he going to bed? Why don't you have his pajamas on?"

Great question, dear readers. I can only answer by saying that the day Eric leaves town is the day that the roof springs a leak and our second floor air conditioner stops working. Good times, good times. In happier news, I can report that Taren's boyfriend seems to have fixed the icemaker. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Happy four months, Vake and Domingo. Little D, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we cannot WAIT to meet you or to take you to the JC Penney Portrait Studio. I hear they may be bringing the "Harley-Davidson" special back where you can get your picture taken on a miniature motorcycle. Maybe you can get your Mom to find a tiny little helmet for you to wear!!!!

Daddy's Taking a Trip and Vakie's Taking a Bath

Eric is heading to Seattle today- it is going to be a long summer- he's there for basically the next two weeks, home for a weekend, then back out there. Then out there again in July and then out there for most of August. As you can imagine, I am really sad about it but think that I can probably manage because I have a lot of help! Thanks Grandmary and Taren! (It's too bad that neither of them feel like a quick weekend jaunt to Seattle with a baby because V and I are flying out to meet Eric on Thursday BY OURSELVES.

Vake did try to get the preferred parent to take him early. (See below). It's too bad we've already moved for the last time- how cute a moving card would this be? Also, have you ever seen a situation where a little boy looks more like his father?

Bathtime continues to be a big hit. Taren had to have some dental work done and Grandmary stayed with Vake this afternoon. Grandmary did an excellent job of sticking to the schedule and Vake was ready for his bath like clockwork tonight at 6:00 pm. He splashed around and was ready to snooze for the night by 7:00 pm. I always forget how amazing it is that he is such a good sleeper (12-13 hours a night) until I talk to other mothers at my office who have babies who are 14-15 months old and still not sleeping.

The Little Man Who Taught Me That Baby Boys Were A-Ok.

Those of you all who know me know that I am definitely a "girl person." I LOVE girls. I understand them. I am incredibly close to my mother and my sister. I was my sorority rush chairman, for goodness sakes! All that said, my life and my vision had a huge shift on April 27, 2006, when little Wills Frederick Erda was born.

I LOVE this little boy. Like crazy. He is one of the most perfect little people that I know. He's funny and sensitive. And he's getting funnier every day. I feel so lucky that I am getting to know him as his godmother.

As a function of making sure that I know him, I've also got to know the Erdas au pair, Judy. Judy was with the Erdas for the twins' first year. I think Wills has really missed Judy and she's coming back to Richmond for a little visit.

I asked Wills what we should do for Judy and he told me we should make a cake. I asked what kind of cake and he told me that an Elmo cake would be the way to go. So I researched it on the internet and we made a cake making date for this afternoon after work.

At the beginning, Wills was a little camera shy...

We started by greasing the pans. Wills did a great job of getting PAM on the cupcake pans.

Then we read the directions. I was so proud of Wills when he was able to read and count that we needed three eggs to mix up the batter. (Please note my little friend's toque...he's going to be just like his Uncle Eric.)

Once we had the batter all mixed up, we turned our attention to filling the pans...

And we gave tasting the batter a shot. It is a testament to my friend Andrea's parenting skills that Wills is not a huge fan of sugar.

I found the directions for the Elmo cake on the internet. The only modification that we made was chocolate chips instead of black icing for Elmo's mouth and eyes.

Finally, we have confirmation that Wills is my godson- see the happy expressions as we realize that chocolate and icing are de-freaking-licious.

Here's the final product. As someone who's a little less than totally crafty, I've got to say that the results aren't bad. Poor Wills looks exhausted from working over a hot stove all day!

But the best part- always- is licking the spoon! I love you, little man. Thanks for being the first person I ever got to spoil!!! You are the best, little Spaghetti Monster!!!!

Enough with the Technology, Already...

So in case it is not totally obvious, I am one of the least technologically savvy people you are likely to meet- in fact, this blog is a huge step outside of my comfort zone (and I STILL cannot figure out how to get a Flickr slideshow to run in the gadget portion, darnit...). That said, I really want to make sure that all of Eric's family and friends get to see this little person get more and more of a personality.

Since I've figured out how to use the movie part of my camera, I wanted to send out a link to Vake talking. It is not as good as yesterday's spinning, but oh well. It is mostly not as good because the light is behind him, but it doesn't help that Daddy from offstage is the Deus Ex Machina with the burp cloth and the comments about drool.

Mommy is Officially a Loser! And Vake Shows You That He Can Spin Things.

So it is official. I am now one of the mothers that I would have mocked at any time say, before February 10, 2009. If asked on any time before that date, I would have told you that people who posted pictures, no MOVIES, of their children in their exersaucers were the most pitiful life forms ever.

Fast forward to this morning, where I invite you to have a viewing of my son spinning the spinny thing on his exersaucer. About as annoying and boring as possible, except for the fact that he is super cute. It gets better in the back 15 seconds. I promise.

Big fun.

Figuring It Out and Having a Blast!

Vake's really starting to figure out his activity seat. Today, when Grandmary watched him while I was at work so poor Taren could get her teeth worked on, he pressed the buttons that have pictures of animals on them and that make noise all by himself. He was pretty pleased with that whole scenario.

But his true love right now really seems to be the green dragon puppet- maybe because he can reach it and pull it down to him more easily.