Fingerpainting is not for sissies

We had some great pictures taken of Calvin yesterday (thanks, Lamaze, for the certificate for a free sitting and newborn package!), and we had this great idea that we would get prints from his feet and hands to put into a collage with the photos.  Right.  We naively shopped for non-toxic paints and mixed them to get the color we wanted.  Then we carefully set up the kitchen table with damp paper towels, a bowl of warm water, and the special paper we planned to print on.  Again we say...right.  Though the foot printing went okay, it never occurred to us that the reason no one has hand prints from their newborn is that newborns don't open their hands.  Needless to say, if we go solely by the hand prints we got everyone would think we had an alien baby.  In the end we were rewarded with some great looking footprints and one ornery baby.  Luckily he enjoys taking a nice warm bath.

The animals are still here...

Just so that you don't think we got rid of the animals, or forgot all about them, or have become incapable of taking pictures of anything other than Calvin...here's a couple of the other stinkers living in our household.

Becoming parents

We decided to take advantage of Calvin's easy going nature and 3 week old portability by going to Top of the Park tonight.  The weather was fantastic and we really enjoyed the evening out, as well as the all too fattening food.   We thought that would be the interesting part of our evening but, while it was fun, it was not the highlight.  Instead we came home and topped off the evening by exploring our own collection of folk music.  The trip through our music player quickly became a vocal exercise, and Jon even played some of it on the piano.  Though Calvin slept through the performance we sang to him for hours, even video taping some of the fun.  We both remember the wonderful gift of music and song that our parents gave each of us and we want to share that with our own son.  Of course it may be too early for Calvin to enjoy it, or for him to recognize the nostalgia that was thick in the room, but somehow we feel that it brought us that much closer to being parents in the sense that we understand.

Baby wearing and ice cream

Not necessarily in that order.  The ice cream came first.  It was a beautiful day and  Jon did not have plans to come home for lunch so Calvin and Cortney decided to meet him at the church (a midway point between work and home) and go for a lunch time walk.  So today marked Calvin's second visit to campus for ice cream.  After all, we had forgotten the camera the first time and needed to re-enact the visit for the purpose of age enduring photography.  You can see the results here.  And the baby wearing came after dinner when we were finally able to try Calvin in the Baby Bjorn front carrier (he had to make 8 lbs first).  We enjoyed a wonderful trek around the neighborhood with Calvin safely ensconced in said front carrier and plan to use it again soon!  We see a zoo trip in our near future.

 

The doctor confirmed it

Calvin is definitely growing - and at a rapid pace it would seem.  In his appointment today he was charted at 8lbs, 4oz., and 21 5/8 inches.  Evidently that was more than they expected from him even at 4 weeks, so he really impressed his doctor!  So for all you skeptics out there - we told you he was bigger - specifically longer, since that's where most of the weight went.  If he continues at this rate he'll  really take after his uncle Curtis, but that's a fairly tall order (ha ha.  Sorry - it just had to be said).