Packing Up

Steve, the Bry, and I are headed to Seattle tomorrow, where we will board a big boat bound for Alaska. (No John, not one of these. One of these.) We've spent the last 48 hours working on the task of packing. Guess which family member has the biggest bag? OK, Steve actually has the biggest bag, but that's because one pair of his size 12 shoes takes up half the suitcase. But Bryson still got more suitcase space than I did. The packing equation went something like this:

10 days away from home
+
0 places to do laundry
+
400 gallons of drool
+
Several likely, er, uncontained poop incidents
______________________________
A LOT OF BABY CLOTHES

(See also, creative shuffling to make the baggage weight limits for the flight.)

The good news is that we'll be traveling lighter by the time we get head for home, given the 80 pounds of diapers and wipes that are currently weighing down various bags.

I'm guessing we'll be sans internet access for the next week or so, so we'll catch you on the flip side with documentation of Bry's exploits in the land of the midnight sun. Hopefully no grizzly bear wrestling or glacier crevasse crossing will be involved, but you never know what you're going to get into when you roll with the Bry!

Stay-at-home Daddy signing on...

Greetings All! Stevo here. I'm currently enjoying perhaps the greatest perk of not only my job, but of any job that has ever existed: summer vacation! The past few days, Sandy and I have experienced a bit of a role reversal. She's been teaching a class at the U of M, which has been a more than full-time gig and I've been staying home with the Bry. So I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to make my own entry into Blogging the Bry.

I must admit that the prospect of staying at home full-time alone with him had me a bit alarmed. What, exactly were we going to do? Biking? Nope. Doesn't have the motor coordination yet. Bowling? Nope. Those finger holes are full of germs and the ball is way too heavy. Video games? Nope. That will turn him into an addict and warp him. Plus Sandy would kill me. Sit around waving a rattle in the air for eight hours in a row? Bingo. You can see why I was a bit concerned about boredom. Well, I'm pleased to report that the Bry and I have had a great week hanging out together.

Still, I couldn't help but feel like perhaps he missed his Mom. Like there was something he wanted that I simply was unable to provide...

So we ended up devoting a good chunk of our time visiting Mommy. We loaded up the Jeep Liberty all-terrain (and ever so manly) stroller and headed to the U.

The timing of this visit worked out quite well, as Bryson had also been invited to come speak as a guest lecturer in a marine ecology course. Here he is presenting his research on the effect of photophosphorylation of protein kinase C on the photosynthetic activity of foraminiferans in the benthic zone of the Antarctic Ocean.

So all told, it's been a pretty good week. I feel very lucky to have a job that allows me to spend so much time at home, getting to know my little man. There's nothing like waking up to a tiny hand punching me in the face and then rolling over to a great big smile. Or hearing his little squeals of delight as I toss him in the air or tackle him on the ground (Don't worry, Mom- I'm being very careful!). Or looking down while pushing the Jeep Liberty all-terrain stroller and seeing this little face looking up at me and smiling, as if saying "Hey, Pop! What's up?" He's a cute little man. I have a feeling we're going to have a great summer.

Crib Acrobatics

Bry has still yet to turn over unassisted during the waking hours. But come nightfall, he turns into a little gymnast. This is how I put Bry down to sleep tonight:

An hour later when I went to check on him, this is what I found:

I call it the baby 90-degree turn and flip. Score: 10/10.

The Donald Would Be Proud

I've offhandedly referenced the fact that Bry has steadily been, shall we say, getting a little thin in the follicle department. In fact, he's been steadily losing a ring of hair on the back of his head since day 1.

Our pediatrician assures us that no amount of extra tummy time or other interventions will allow Bry to escape the curse of the balding baby. He's now got this funky comb-over (but only in the front), which seems to be the only thing his hair wants to do. Luckily, I found just the solution: baby toupees. I'm partial to the Samuel L. myself.

All Grows Up

We're getting all kinds of crazy over here. In the past day, Bry has managed to roll from his back to his tummy for the first time (not counting the hundred times I've given him a little shove to "get him started"). We know this because at 2 am, a burst of crying erupted from the nursery. This is out of character for the little man, who has been in the habit of waking up anywhere from 4 am to 6:30 am (guess which end of that range we tend to like better). Being the attentive father that he is, Steve cruised across the hall to find Bry doing a face plant in the crib. Given that we always put him to sleep on his back, the logical deduction here is that Bry has learned to roll over. He must have woken up and freaked himself out upon finding himself prone, rather than supine (bustin' out the SAT vocabulary, peeps).

As if his newfound rolly skills weren't enough, this morning at his playgroup, Bry also had his first unassisted bout of sitting up. Up until today, he was all about bending forward until he was folded in half in some funky yoga pose whenever we tried to sit him up. But this morning, he started casually resting his hand on my leg to balance himself and then was all, "I think I'll sit up on my own now, mother." I'm pretty sure he's on his way to college next week.

Steady...

You ain't got nothing on me, gravity. Also, dig my baby-pattern baldness.

Just before he face planted onto my knee.

All the action must have worn him out, because he was in bed and fast asleep by 6:20 this evening. That probably doesn't bode well for him sleeping until the sun is up.

Sleeping baby pose.

Saying Goodbye

Tonight we got together with a bunch of friends to say goodbye to my friend and classmate, Julie, and her family as they pack up to move to Texas. I can't believe how quickly the three years that we've known each other have flown by. We had a "wienie roast" at a park in Bloomington to celebrate (um, all the good times we've had together, not the fact that they're leaving).

There were a couple of other babies there, leading to some competitive diaper changing:

Leave it to the boys to turn things into a competition.

It's OK, I'm sure your daddy will win next time.

Some random model-types showed up too:

Genuine CSPP grads, at your service.

I'm still mostly in denial that Julie's actually leaving.

No one else (excepting his parents of course) can exclaim over Bry's cuteness quite as enthusiastically as Julie does (and we love her for it!).

Bye, Julie. We can't wait to hear the resurgence of your southern drawl as y'all make your way back to the homeland!