Dax's Journal

Weeks 12 and 13

Dax got to meet his Poppa last week and I'm pretty sure he is in love. I mean, look at this face. Does this not look like the face of a boy who is beyond thrilled to meet his Poppa?

My mom and dad "stopped by" the house last week. You know, because they were in the neighborhood. The neighborhood being Nevada. Dad took mom to Laughlin for her birthday and they figured they'd just keep driving. (Note to Dax: If you want to know how much Nana and Poppa love you, go get a map and let me show you how far away they live and then think about having to be in a car for that long. That's love, my son.)

Dax very much enjoyed his time with his grandparents. He even took advantage of a comfie Poppa snuggle and took a little nap.

Dax is 13 weeks old now. He's wearing some of his 6 to 9 month clothes already. It is just insane how quickly this kid is growing. Is it possible to slow time down just a bit? Anyone?

Tonight our neighbors (who will likely be referred to from here on out as "the cool neighbors") invited us over for some apple pie and chat. They have three adorable kids, one of them just 10 weeks older than Dax. These are the neighbors who brought us a yummy home cooked meal when Dax was just a few weeks old. These are also the neighbors who gave us freshly grown veggies from their backyard garden. I love these neighbors. And I'm so glad that Dax will have a little buddy right across the street. The boys seemed pretty interested in each other and Becky and I are going to plan some play dates.

(By the way....I ripped off all these pictures from my mom's snapfish account. Thanks, mom!)

Chameleon-Like Tendencies

Dax has not decided yet what color his eyes will be. In certain light, his eyes are blue, yet at other times his eyes are hazel or brown. His hair is also a very light brown in certain lighting and then dark black in other lighting. Dax’s skin tone also changes based on who’s holding him. If I’m holding him, his skin looks very light, but if Michelle is holding him, his skin looks dark.

If Puck (one of the cats) is next to Dax, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dax is able to make himself look like the cat.

NEWSFLASH: Roley poley

At 6:24 PM Dax rolled over for the first time. He rolled from front to back. Cat and I both got to see it but we were unable to get him to repeat it for the video camera.

I reacted as if he had just won an olympic gold medal. Sheesh. You'd think I was a first-time mom or something. Erm. Yeah.

The Name Game

Coming up with a name for a baby can be a long, ongoing process. Some couples can agree on a name in no time, whereas other couples can disagree for months on end. Michelle and I fit the latter profile.

Much like George Costanza on Seinfeld (where he announces that if he ever does have a child, he would name it Seven), I had decided back when I was 17 years old that if I ever had a child, and it was a boy, I would name him Drake Johannsen. Don’t ask me why. So when the Baby Name debates started, I would always throw in Drake. (I have to admit though that as I got older, the name did lose its appeal. Plus, Michelle hated it). We would spend hours upon hours on possible names.

My name suggestions tended to be somewhat out there: Locutus, Morpheus, Three, Carlos. The main reason I threw these names into the mix was because I knew they would rile folks up. Michelle would tell someone I suggested a particular name and people would go up in arms. Funny.

What surprised me though was the suggestion of “Common Names” like Doug, Ron, Pete, Bob, Andrew, Bill, Steve, etc. Throughout the pregnancy, people would ask if we had a name yet. We would say no. But if we did mention the possible “Common Name”, every single person had a smirk/harumph/experience/opinion about the “Common Name” and how we shouldn’t name our baby with the “Common Name”. Ok, that’s your opinion. But what if we liked the “Common Name”?

And that’s the thing; coming up with a baby’s name can be very personal. So, after I hear someone tell me their new child’s name, I don’t diss them. They most likely went through a lot of pain and trouble to finally reach a decision, so I’m not about to go and burst their bubble with the typical snide response of “Why’d you name him/her that?”

It wasn’t until about the 4th month of the pregnancy that we finally did decide on Dax Michael. Michelle and I both liked the name Dax and it was the unanimous choice out of all possible names. After months/years of disagreement, this one name did it for us. We both knew that it was THE name the moment it left my lips. That moment of enlightenment when Michelle and I looked at each other, raised our eyebrows, and said…"cool".

Based on my observations, people who like the name Dax tend to be more open-minded, whereas people who don’t like it tend to be more conservative. Michelle and I tend to walk the middle of the road on issues so that’s probably why we ended up with the open-minded/conservative name: Dax Michael.

By the way, if we do happen to be blessed with a second child, my new suggestion will be Roofus.

Let the debates begin!

First Date

WARNING: This entry contains copious amounts of cute. The Management is not responsible for any side-effects of said cuteness including an increase in blood sugar levels from the sheer sweetness of it all or the uncontrolled outbursts of squealy appreciative noises.

You've been warned.

My friend Siobhan's beautiful daughter is one month younger than Dax. Her name is Miranda Lilliana and she possesses adorable, edible cheeks and the sweetest and most delicate little hands and feet.

Today? They had their first date.

Dax got a little fresh and tried to hold her hand right away. She wouldn't have it because she's such a little lady. So imagine her reaction when he grabbed hold of and lifted her little dress. Oh, my!

They really seemed smitten with each other. Especially Dax, who actually grabbed her little bum at one point. We're definitely going to have to have a discussion about appropriate first date behavior.

Siobhan and I are both on maternity leave for the same length of time so we've decided to have a weekly play date. This is fantastic because, prior to today, I hadn't seen Siobhan for over a year and I missed her intensely.

I just hope Dax will be a bit more gentlemanly on their next date.

11 Weeks

Dax slept through the night again last night....8.5 hours. Woohoo! Let's all collectively cross our fingers and hope that this is the beginning of a long and illustrious partnership between Dax and the Sandman.

He's gotten quite chatty this week. He will carry on a "conversation" for a pretty long time. He's moved on from just oooooing and ahhhing and has thrown in several new sounds. He's still not a big fan of consonants, although he does get a nice "gah" sound going sometimes.

Mom and dad are coming for a short visit at the end of the week. We are all very excited to see them. Dax is especially excited to meet his Papa for the first time. His Nana hasn't seen him since he was 5 weeks old and I think she'll be quite surprised by how much he's changed.

Conventional Wisdom

This is the face of a well-rested baby. The face of a baby whose mommy is also well-rested. This is the face of a baby who slept for EIGHT hours last night. Woohoo!

According to American baby, "Conventional wisdom has it that most babies sleep through the night--loosely defined as six to eight hours--by 12 weeks of age." Dax will be 11 weeks old tomorrow. He has been fairly consistently sleeping 5 to 6 hours at a stretch for a couple of weeks now. And last night, we hit the mother lode.

See, I had been waking up after those 5 to 6 hours to the sound of Dax sucking loudly on his thumb and I would get him out of his cradle and feed him a bit. When I say, "a bit"? I mean he would only eat for about five minutes and then he'd fall asleep again. Then he'd sleep for another couple of hours. But yesterday we read a tip that said that I shouldn't respond to him immediately upon his waking because he might go back to sleep again. Usually when he wakes up in the night he doesn't cry. I just hear him doing that sucking thing. So, I figured I could wait it out without traumatizing him. That's what I did last night. Lo and behold....it worked.

So I know we are on the right track with the sleep plan. We've started a little ritual to cue him that bedtime is coming. He has been going to bed at the same time every night. Before we put him down to sleep he gets a diaper change, some cuddles, a bedtime story and a feeding. We can put him down in his cradle when he is still awake and he will put himself to sleep. He has the cutest little comfort thing he does. He sucks his thumb and rubs his head. Works every time.

10 weeks

Dax had his two-month checkup today. The poor little guy had to get his first vaccinations. Awful! I've never seen him so mad. But now he's playing on his gymini and seems to be completely over it. If not for the bright blue snoopy bandaids on his scrumptious little thighs, you 'd never know he'd had any shots at all. Well, ok....the bandaids and the slightly traumatized look on his wussy mommy's face.

He showed off for everyone at the office....batting his long lashes and smiling sweetly at anyone who came near him. He demonstrated his tummy time skills and showed Dr. P how he can stand up with assistance. He also "ooooo'd" and "aaaaaa'd" for her.

He's up to 12 pounds and 15 ounces and nearly 23 inches! That puts him between the 75th and 90th percentiles for weight and between the 25th and 50th percentiles for height. His noggin measures right in the 50th percentile.

As for me, I had to go in on Friday and have my blood sugar tested to ensure that the gestational diabetes has truly gone. Today I got my results and they were very good. My fasting level was 85 and it needed to be below 110. My 1 hour test was 169 and it needed to be below 200. My 2 hour was 99 and it needed to be below 140. So now I will need to be tested every year at my annual exam because having gestational diabetes puts me at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Fortunately, because my results were good, I only have to have the fasting level tested. No more drinking that nasty glucola and having multiple blood draws. Yay!

Baptism

Dax was baptised yesterday at St. Joseph's Church. He was the only baby who didn't cry. In fact, he slept through the entire ceremony including the part where he was getting cold water dumped on his head.

He wore a very stylish outfit. I think he looked like he belonged in a P. Diddy video. I also think there is something inherently adorable and hilarious about a baby in a vest and tie.

Cat's mom and sister drove up for the ceremony. I was thrilled that they could make it. Mary Ann took lots of pictures with our non-digital camera. Unfortunately, the way they had everyone standing during the ceremony made it difficult to get any really good ones. There were 6 babies being baptised and tons of friends and family watching. The ceremony took place in the church vestibule and there wasn't a lot of seating available so most people just stood around behind us all. But we also took a lot of pictures after the ceremony and those should turn out great.

Here are a couple of digital pictures of Dax with his Godmother, Janice. Janice is one of our favorite people in the whole wide world. She is kind and intelligent and beautiful and fun and she will be a fabulous Godmother.

She brought Dax an entire basket-load of baptism gifts including a beautiful cross to hang on his wall, an adorable little blue outfit with duckies on the front, a keepsake Godmother coin, a beautiful keepsake book for us to record the happenings of the day, a soft and yummy little teddy bear that smells like mint, a beautiful and cozy white crib blankie, and a very cool book for us to read to Dax called "50 Things That Really Matter".

When we get pictures developed we will scan some in and post them here and to Snapfish for anyone who is interested.

9 Weeks

Remember the Umbilical Cord Hat that Cat's friend Whitney made? It was modeled earlier in this journal by a stuffed cat. I think Dax looks much cuter in it, don't you?

The little mister is 9 weeks old now. He's recently started squealing and laughing out loud. And last night? He slept from 9:30 PM until 3 AM. (He slept more but it was broken into little bits.) That's a record!

Aunt Carol and Uncle David sent Dax a gift of some cash. He can't wait to thank them for the very cool mobile that was purchased with it. It is very cool. The toys that hang from it have a simple pattern on one side and a more complex one on the other side so it will grow with him. Also, when he is too big for it as a mobile, the toys detach. It also has a music box and it is controlled by remote. So he'll make good use of it for a long, long time.

Hey! This thing is cool!

As you can see, he's quite pleased with his new toy.

Another portion of the money they sent went toward a Baby Bjorn. Cat and Dax have made excellent use of that as well. They used it at Borders and at Sears and they also used it to walk around the neighborhood to admire the changing leaves before they fall. Sorry I don't have a picture to post yet. The ones I took were not with the digital camera.

Speaking of pictures....there are a ton of them posted out on Snapfish. If you want to check them out, send me an e-mail at mmadayag@comcast.net.

Happy Halloween

This is Dax in his first "costume" for halloween. Ok, it isn't really a costume. It is a very cute little romper handed down from cousin Colby. You can't see in the picture but it has little jack-o-lanterns on the body and it says, "Boo" and "Eek".

This is the "costume" he ended up in after his diaper leaked. This is the Giants outfit that my friends Caren and Michele bought for him. It's a 6-9 month outfit. I can't believe it fits as well as it does. The hat is still way too big but we had to put it on him anyway.