blogging from the computer...

...allows me to do much more typing than I can handle from the phone or ipod.

We're now settling into a pattern that seems to be working for both Darren and the adults. Darren goes to sleep between 9.30 and 10, and Dennis and I go to bed around 11. This gives Dennis time to practice guitar uninterrupted and me time to do whatever I end up doing.

Darren now puts himself to sleep after each nighttime feeding and at the initial bedtime feeding each night. It's a great relief and really allows us to get all the sleep we need each night. Dennis had to walk him to sleep after each nighttime feeding for the first few weeks. Now, I get up to change and feed Darren each time he wakes up during the night; then I put him back in his bed and head back to bed myself. Dennis, the lucky guy, gets to sleep through the entire night, pretty much. He does often get up to change the diaper while I relax and prepare for feedings, but the option to sleep through it all exists.

Darren still fights all daytime naps. I'll take that any day over staying up all night, though.

We're past the 36-hour mark for cloth diapering, and it's going quite well. We've only done one mini-load in the washer so far, so I'm sure we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with after the next laundry experience tomorrow mid-day. We scored 12 diaper covers and 5 all-in-one diapers through freecycle (freecycle.org) before Darren was born, and the covers already fit him, so it looks like we won't need to put out any additional initial cash for now. That's such a huge blessing - we are saving at least $200 from what we received from the fellow freecycler. She had put all 7 of her children through cloth diapers, so I'm sure she knew exactly how grateful we would end up being.

In a few weeks, I'll be returning to work at 3/4 time. This will make our family schedule interesting to say the least - I'll see Dennis at the afternoon handoff and when he returns from work each evening at 8:30. Hopefully he'll be able to get some practicing in during the day (that would require Darren's cooperation, of course!) so that he and I can spend some time together each evening after the baby goes to bed. If not, we'll at least have time together on Fridays and the weekends. One friend recently pointed out that things actually won't be much different than before baby - we'll just have an hour less to ourselves each evening as we put Darren to bed.

Darren's biggest development has been the huge smiles. We're trying very hard to capture them on camera. His timing just doesn't cooperate yet. They are full-face, eyes-scrunched, looks-like-he's-laughing smiles.

We'll keep the pictures coming daily!

Happy almost New Year!

trying to capture one of his new huge smiles. i caught the tail end of this one.

we've now been on cloth diapers for 24 hours with only two leaks. yay!

i'm so big that i hardly fit in my seat. uh oh!

heading out to rtb.

six weeks old today. i'm just hanging out eating my banana in the car.

running errands with my banana

going home!

trying to wake him up to eat before we leave...no success so far.

dennis is a jerk and doesn't tell me he's shaving the entire beard off in addition to the scuzzy mustache he's been sporting for 3 weeks. now he looks like a high school baby.

i just noticed how bent up he's sleeping.

on leg three of our christmas journey.

fuzz head spike day

gram gram and darren

darren is not impressed...

more, more

all the babies.

Merry Christmas!

snoozing on the couch = mom can get the christmas presents finished!

hanging out in my seat with some toys.

nap time...we're supposed to be leaving to run errands...

at xmas eve mass rehearsal. thank goodness for extra arms.

at church in xmas duds with godsister elizabeth.

solid foods at one month. so advanced. (we're just kidding for anyone who gets concerned by that photo...it was a setup...)

10lb 4oz and 22 inches long today.

how dad babysits while mom cleans bottles.

yep. i'm a jaded teenager.

baby and dad. dennis is so excited to have two hands to type aand play piano again during his baby hours.

darren got a package from my cousins john and laura. it's his organic fruit basket!

sleeping in the baby bjorn.

in the baby bjorn.

i had a bath this morning, because i threw up all over my clothes. i'm such a sassy guy.

three lazy boys.

smile! a little one, but one none the less.

Darren is already four weeks old ! Dennis and I took our first leave today when we went the the dentist. Darren stayed at our house with his godmother, Stacey. Success! and no cavities!

more more

at the larson christmas party.

a rare awake darren in the car on our way to the larson party at uncle tony's.

There's an accident, and the

There's an accident, and the traffic is stopped as far as we can see. we're at a complete standstill. yuck.

We're listening to saturday night

We're listening to saturday night eighties on some station. safety dance followed by whip it. i'm not sure life could get much sweeter than this.

and and carrot juice to go to top it all off. what a luxurious morning.

the most delicious breakfast ever (post-eating!) and the most wonderful husband ever (despite the joseph mustachio).

dennis got ginger ale with his breakfast. he has a sore throat. :( on the plus side, the ginger ale is excellent!

darren's first trip to northstar. yum. we'lll have to bring him back when he's big enough to eat.

back where it all began. we're driving through campus to get to the library.

the scene upon returning from a night feeding.

i'm awake, nana.

getting ready to go on a walk.