Bringing up a Girdler Baby....to Chicago

Last weekend we had some good friends come up and hang out with us in Chi town. The visit was great for two reasons; we had not seen them for a long time, and we hadn't yet met their 5 month old baby boy.

Brian, Brynn and Jacob rolled up from Bloomington/Normal last Saturday and we crammed as much fun and excitement into a day and a half as we could. This is the same Brian, Brynn and Jacob whose blog we follow (link to the right). We hit a couple of our favorite spots and got to catch up on lost time. Their baby, Jacob, is all smiles and if ever there was a dad-baby lookalike contest, these two should enter.

We did some shopping on North Avenue first thing. The stroller AND Baby Bjorn came out for the first time, and both worked great! I have to say that this was definitely one of the more surreal moments of my still very young fatherhood experience. Me, walking next to Brian Girdler, each with a baby strapped to his chest. It was not that long ago when it was me, walking next to Brian Girdler, each with a 30pk of beer under our arms. Fun stuff.

We hit up the Goose Island Brewpub for dinner, then back home for cocktails and hanging out. We ordered a Giordano's pizza that night too, so they could experience the famous Chicago deep dish. 

Sunday was brunch at Crossroads Bar and Grill, our fave bar brunch in our neighborhood. We were joined by Nick DeVries, another friend and frequent All Together Now character. It was definitely a Sunday Funday, but alas, they headed home that evening after an action packed 36 hours. 

Can't wait till you guys come back up! I promise Chicago is even more fun in the summer...

 The Girdler men. In case you weren't 100% sure, Brian is the one holding Jacob in the pic on the left

The Babies together on the left, and a couple of mama's boys on the right

Jacob could not be happier to get his picture taken....Jude, not so much 

We bundled up and headed out on the town, so Jude rocked his fave hat, and the mama's relaxed when we got home 

Brynn took this pic of us standing in Old Navy when we weren't looking. Baby Bjorn; check. Starbucks for fuel; check. Vanilla Bean soda bough on an impulse; fail.

Baby JB Loves his Mee Maw

Jude and his Grandma Kim having a one-sided conversation.

The Best Part of Wakin' Up....

6 Weeks, 6 Hours

Jude is 6 Weeks old today (at 1:52pm to be exact). And to celebrate his 6 week birthday he slept for 6 hours last night. Amazing!!! Mom and Dad needed it, too. Whew. Here he is today, well rested hanging out with Mom while dad's at work. Let's hope this was the first night of many where we get to enjoy a nice chunk of zzzzzzzz's.


Dapper in Doggy Pants



And We're Back!

For the several (and perhaps dozens) of people who periodically check our Blog; sorry it's been so long since our last update. The White Stripes broke up a couple of weeks ago and I'm in mourning. Thanks for understanding.......Anyway......

Jude's one month appointment was this afternoon, and he passed with flying colors. He's grown an inch and a half since our one week appointment, and he's gained two pounds.

Current Height: 20.5"

Current Weight: 9lbs 11oz

The weight gain was no surprise. This kid is sucking down milk like a baby goat. He's got a perma milk mustache and seems to be perfectly fine with a liquid diet.  Also not a surprise; the short amount of time it takes to go from the mouth hole to the B-hole. I went on a liquid diet once and I couldn't get 50 feet from the bathroom.

The height gain was a bit more of a surprise for us. As Bennet's we have to acknowledge that height is not our strong suit. However, he's in the high percentile for height right now, so I figure if we can get his self esteem up early, it won't affect him later on when he peaks at 5' 6".

He also had to get his second hepatitis B shot today, so he's pretty much in the clear for that. I don't know how predominate Hep C is, but I figure as long as we keep him away from Pamela Anderson, we'll be OK.

All in all, the baby is great. At times it feels like we may slip into a netherworld from sleep deprivation, but it comes with the territory. Thanks to the book "Happiest Baby on the Block" and the 5 S's we have more good days than bad. 

I'm as happy as the smiley on my pacifier!

This could be the beginning....

...of a Beautiful Friendship.

Last Saturday we spent the afternoon/evening with our friends the Springer's. Adam is John's co-worker and Summer softball teammate. He and his wife Shawna welcomed their baby girl Addison about six weeks before Jude came along, and it seemed only fitting we get them together for their first (play) date!

As Adam put it; "this is their first date, we're just the chaperone's"

So, we hit up the new brewpub down the street, knocked back a few IPA's and headed home for games, margarita's and socializing.

The Springer's are also proud owners of a Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Margarita machine. They transported this beautiful machine to our place on Saturday and we put it right to work. We had a great evening catching up and talking babies. And of course, Neil and Sidney made a cameo appearance to make the night complete.

 Addison and Jude getting caught up

 Jude giving Addison the ol' Wink Wink        And the new mama's having a Marg

 The proud papa's ...................................and the happy babies

Feeding in action. Just a couple of kids feeding their beautiful babies

Good Friday

Last night Ashleigh and I did what we've come to doing a lot of on Friday evenings; we watched DVR'd episodes of Jeopardy, ate something microwavable, and stared at Jude for about 4 hours using words like "precious" and "perfect." Parenthood.

Then, as we're laying in bed, Ash feeding Jude for the last time before we try to sneak in a couple hours of sleep, I hold the computer on my lap and scroll through Ashleigh's favorite gossip sites so she can see the latest scuttlebutt around Hollywood. There are a lot of sacrifices I knew I would be making, having to look at Perez Hilton was not one of them. Love.

Other things have been changing too. The first couple weeks Jude was here I just about washed the fingerprints off my hands. I've always been a wash-often kind of guy, because I dread being sick, but because of Baby I've taken to washing my hands just about every 5 minutes.....or at least I did. 

Babies are a little like the remote control in a hotel room. At first you'll barely touch it, and when you do you wash up right before and after, then after a while you're just like "ah, screw it", and grab the thing. Or, if you're like me, you put a kleenex in between the buttons and your hand (or in this case, a swaddle blanket). Issues.

It's a similar situation with the pacifier. At first, if the tip of the pacifier touched any surface I was boiling water while wearing rubber gloves to sanitize that thing. Now, as long as it hasn't been in Max's mouth I pretty much just give it a good blow and we're back in business.

So things have changed, and we've adapted like I knew we would. Friday nights are still entertaining, just in a different way. Bottles of milk replace bottles of wine. A garbage can with empty bottles now has full diapers. Most of our conversations are dominated by things like poop color, when was the last feeding and which boob was it? But honestly, all that change is good. We are where we are because we wanted to be and that is a great place to be.

And that brings me to now; Saturday morning, sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee, listening to the Harry Potter Soundtrack and writing this post. Some things never change, and I love it.

New Home Movies: First Baby Bottle and Just Hangin' in the Play Yard

Have You Seen This Boy?

Here's a side by side of John's newborn pic and Baby JB. Any resemblance?

Chicago Chnowstorm Leaves Bennet's Chnow'd In....Aww Chit

Call it whatever you'd like....Snowapalooza, Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, Blizzaster, Snotorious B.I.G, SnObama....we got a lot of snow over the last 24 hours. It's pretty ridiculous out there right now, with about 12 inches on the ground, but drifts shoulder high in areas.

John walked Max this morning and got some pics of the craziness. It's not as quite as bad as we thought (at least in our area), but it's safe to say this is the biggest snowstorm the area has seen in 40-50 years. JB and AB are home taking a snowday today, so it's coffee, Weather Channel, and movies! Stay Warm Everyone!

I can't remember where we parked....I swear we left the car right here!!!

Our grill may have grilled it's last hamburger. RIP.

Monroe Street, those white lumps are buried cars

When you gotta go, you gotta go.....even in the snow