Monday, October 29, 2007

Another week goes by...







The whole Talley crew managed to survive the first week of "get-back-into-the-real-world" life.
As predicted, Leigh had a rough first day away from her baby boy. Mitchell's first day, however, went swimmingly. Frankly, as long as he has a little chow and a few cuddles with someone of the feminine persuasion (that's my boy!), he's happy wherever. Kamryn managed to get over whatever bug she had but we had a good day together. Kamryn stayed occupied by Scooby and toys in the living room and Dad was able to get some work done in the office. All was well. Once the first day was over, Mama did much better and finished off the week with some semblance of normalcy.

Overall, the work week was pretty uneventful. The weekend, however, was a little more hectic.

Kam and her Mom went to a birthday party on Saturday morning while Mitchell and Daddy hung at the house. Afterwards, the whole family went to the Fall Festival at our church. One of the booths was for free chiropractic adjustments and Mitchell got his first real spinal adjustment.

While one might think 7 weeks is a little young for a spinal adjustment, the chiropractor (who is also a friend of Leigh's) indicated that simple manipulations can assist with gastro-intestinal issues. This sounded like a winner to us as Mitchell is a 4 day pooper and, undoubtedly, one of the gassiest babies I've ever seen. Regrettably, it didn't work. He seemed to enjoy the attempt, though.

**As an aside, we keep hearing about how we're in an energy crisis and everybody is on a search for the perfect alternative fuel. Without getting into a political rant about the uselessness of ethanol, I have a different idea. I'm willing to offer up a few ounces of Mama's milk to any scientist who would like to identify the exact chemical make-up of said milk. Another group of scientists can work to replicate Mitchell's digestive tract to act as a refinery of sorts. If the milk can be mass-produced in crude form, it can then be refined through this large-scale version of Mitchell's intestines and the resulting product will be a powerful (and plentiful) alternative fuel source. The only downside to this would be the foul odor resulting from the burning of this fuel but, hey, it is but a small sacrifice to make us energy-independent.

Before I start to peddle this idea, I should probably confirm whether or not Mitchell's gas is even combustable. Maybe he and I can hang out on the couch tonight and, when he starts to scrunch up his face, I'll light a match and see if he can make a blue flame.

Alas, I digress.

Sunday was a fairly typical Sunday. We went to church, watched the race and, at 5:15, I left for youth group. Last night's activity was Trick-or-Treating for canned goods for the food pantry and, after several years of not dressing up for Halloween, I decided to re-visit my own youth and dress up. After racking my brain on what to wear, I settled on being a Goth Club-Kid and, if I say so myself, looked pretty Goth Club-Kid-y. Kamryn was unfazed over the fact that her Daddy was wearing earrings but was a little put-off by the fact that I'd painted my fingernails black and was wearing make-up. She seemed relieved after I came home, showered and started looking like Daddy again.

While I was gone, Kam hit a major milestone in that she wrote her first AND last name all by herself. The "Y" and the "N" need a little more work but how many 4 year-olds do YOU know who have perfect penmanship? That's what I thought. Watch out Kindergarten!!!!

Mitchell didn't have any real milestones this week. He's just hanging back and taking it all in.

Mom and Dad didn't have any more milestones either. We're just sitting back, scratching our heads and trying to figure out what we did RIGHT to get two of the smartest, sweetest and most beautiful children to ever grace this joint. Leigh must've stored up some really good karma because I'm pretty sure it wasn't from me.

That's all for now. More updates after Halloween!

Monday, October 22, 2007

First Day at School!





Today represented a major milestone in the life of Mitchell in that he's now spending his first day with Ashley!

While Mitchell and Daddy seemed to take this in stride, it caused much sadness and consternation for his mother. She'll be OK, though. Not sure I'll see much of my son this afternoon, though. I have a feeling that Leigh and Mitchell will make a beeline for the bedroom when they get home and lock themselves in.

In addition to Mitchell spending his first full day away from Mom and Dad, he's also spending it without his big sister. Unfortunately, after a big pumpkin carving party on Saturday night, Kam came home and did her best "Exorcist" impression. The shame of it is that she didn't even have that much to drink that night. Just a couple juiceboxes. Since she was sporting a good 101 for part of yesterday, it was decided that she and her Daddy would spend today at home getting her nursed back to health.

The silver lining to this cloud, however, is that it will give Ashley an opportunity to spend a day getting used to Mitchell without "Big Sister" critiquing her performance and telling her how to do her job.

Everything else here has been going very well. Lots of company over the past few weeks. Otherwise, we've just been getting used to each other. We're starting to get our schedules down pat.

This morning, Mitchell and I started off with a bottle (for him, not me) and, after some chow, headed upstairs for a shower. Much like his sister when SHE was still an infant, Mitchell LOVES the shower. Since we didn't have to worry about getting Kam ready, it was a little more relaxed but, as long as her morning attitude is good, she's pretty easy in the mornings. Leigh and Mitchell headed out the door at 6:45.

This afternoon, Leigh and Mitchell will come home, we'll play for a bit, have some dinner and play some more. At 10:30, Mitchell and Daddy will wrap up the evening with a bottle (for both of us this time) and head to bed. The next morning, we'll start all over again.

Not a whole lot of other milestones to report yet. Mitchell's working diligently on finding his smile and, occasionally, succeeds. He gets a kick out of being kissed on his dimple. He's also been doing some bodybuilding and is progressing well towards his goal of holding his head up by himself. A little more tummy-time and he'll have it down.

As for the recent blog silence, we hope that is now resolved (until the next problem comes up) and we should be able to provide pictures and anecdotes on a more frequent basis. Keep your fingers crossed.