Shopping Partner

Baby Trey accompanied Aunt Kacie and me at the Galleria today for some shopping. He was a great shopping partner. I don't think Aunt Kacie will disagree when I say he was even better behaved than she was - he complained less, anyway (she was tired from a late night out). He sat upright in his stroller the entire 4 hours we were there, looking at the spectacle that is the Galleria on a weekend. And he smiled and giggled at various passers-by. In fact, if I had a dime for every time someone commented on how cute he was, Trey would have his college fully funded.

Later, Mommy had to do some serious grocery shopping to stock up on everything we lost in our fridge during Ike. Because grocery shopping is easier without a baby in tow, Trey stayed back with Aunt Kacie. She fed him a good night bottle, read him a story, sang him a song, and put him down for bed. He went to sleep without a fuss. Aunt Kacie is so sweet with Trey, and we are lucky to have her so close by.

Single Mom

Daddy is out of town for the weekend, so Trey has a single mom for today and tomorrow. It's not the first time we've been alone together for the weekend. It's more like the third or fourth. The first weekend we were alone together for a whole weekend was when Trey was about six weeks old, and Daddy left us to attend a weekend bachelor party in Las Vegas. Coincidentally, that was the weekend that Trey decided to pretend to have colic, which was completely out of character for our sweet little boy. It lasted for two miserable days and then went away as soon as Daddy came home. So it wasn't the best weekend. The other weekends we've had to ourselves have been much better, but it's still not nearly as much fun as having Daddy around too.

This week I had lunch with another mom who has a little boy in Trey's class and she told me she is a single mom by choice. I think she's officially the first woman I've known personally who has chosen to have a baby without a partner. She's also a full-time litigation attorney at a big Houston firm, so she's just like me, sans husband. I don't know how she does it, and I really admire her for making such an amazing life decision and figuring out how to make it work. Weekends like this, as fun as they are, are harder than when Daddy is around. I totally respect all of the single moms of the world.

Fun with Mama C

Trey was in the BEST mood all day yesterday. Just a smiley, happy baby. From the moment he woke up until the minute he went to bed, he was handing out smiles and giggles like crazy.

Mama C came over after work yesterday to play with Trey. He had fun giggling, playing, and rolling around with her and Aunt Kacie (who is staying with us right now since their house STILL doesn't have power!). It was great entertainment for all of us. Mama C sings Trey the best songs, and he loves it!

In other news, Trey is trying really hard to crawl. He gets up on all fours and will sometimes take a stride or two, but then he falls back onto his tummy and "swims" for a little while before trying again. But his latest trick is to push up on the balls of his feet - like he is doing a real "push up." They say all babies crawl differently and it's just an intermediate step to walking, so I guess Trey is trying all kinds of things until he figures out what works.
(I know I need to post pictures of all of this stuff!)

Pictures Posted!

Here is the link to yesterday's portrait sitting.
http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=89d56d65-16d6-463d-8e50-07e93198a43e

Back to normal...sort of.

Now that we have power, cable, and Internet back at home, Baby Trey's world is pretty much back to normal. He is sleeping in his own crib, playing with his regular toys, and eating in his regular high chair. He had his first fruit - pears - over the weekend. At first he wasn't sure about it, just as he is with any new food, but by last night he was gobbling up every bite.

But because a lot of Houston is still without power, Trey has had more visitors lately. Aunt Kacie is staying with us right now so that she can soak up our a/c and electricity. Mama C and Pappa came over yesterday to do laundry. And "Uncle" Joe spent the night on Saturday night while Mommy and her old college roommates had a reunion at "Aunt" Jenny's house. Incidentially, that was Mommy's first night away from Trey. They both did pretty well with the whole thing, and Daddy got up to feed Trey for the first morning in a long time. Fortunately for Daddy, Trey decided to sleep in until 9 a.m.!

Trey also had a re-do of his portrait sitting yesterday. He was much better behaved than the last session, when he had an earache (unbeknown to us at the time). However, the pictures did not turn out nearly as well! We aren't really sure why, but Mommy was very disappointed. Oh well - we will take Christmas pictures with a "real" photographer soon enough. In any event, we will post a link to the new pictures when they are uploaded.

It also looks like pretty much all of Trey's friends are back at school today. Trey was looking forward to playing with everyone today. This morning, upon arrival, he initiated a game of peek-a-boo with Ms. Vicki. (We secretly think that Trey is Ms. Vicki's favorite baby, but don't tell any of the other parents!) That is one thing Trey loves to do lately - play peek-a-boo on his own terms. He flirts and giggles with the intended target and it is absolutely adorable. We love it. :)

Let there be light!

The Edwards house now has power!!! We have never been so appreciative of electricity. No cable yet, but beggars can't be choosers. We are excited to sleep at home tonight!

Rub-a-dub dub

Trey took his first bath in a real tub last night. It was really more out of necessity than anything - we were at Jenny & Joe's and didn't have his infant tub. But it was pretty much business as usual and I don't think he even noticed the difference. Mommy still prefers the infant tub because you can keep the water running the entire time without worrying about the water level, but we will officially put down 9/18 for this particular milestone.

Nomads

Baby Trey's home is still without electricity, so he and his parents have become nomads. Last night we all stayed at our friends Jenny and Joe's house and enjoyed sleeping with the comforts of sweet air conditioning and ceiling fans. This weekend we will probably move to a friend's apartment, and come Sunday, if Swift Boulevard still does not have power, we'll likely be back at Jenny and Joe's. We are all thankful for such good friends and their hospitality. Trey has done reasonably well on-the-go, but I'm sure he is longing to sleep in his real crib again!

Correction: New TEETH!

Trey has not one, but FOUR new teeth coming in! He's been a pretty good sport about the whole thing. Pretty soon that toothless grin we've come to love will be filled with pearly whites. Anybody know a good dentist?

Boogy Man Ike

In case you have not already heard from us, we survived Hurricane Ike! The storm blew threw in the middle of the night on Friday-Saturday morning. Trey "hunkered down" in a portable crib in our master bathroom and slept through the entire thing! The rest of us slept off and on, occasionally peaking outside to see the strong winds and glimpse at tree limbs that had fallen (we lost a huge limb from our beautiful front tree!). We were lucky and survived the storm unharmed and with only a couple broken window panes. It took us a while to clean up our yard with all of the debris left behind by what Trey's friend Lily is calling "Boogy Man Ike." Thanks to Aunt Dabney for helping us over the weekend! We are still one of the hundreds of thousands without power but we are enjoying the time together as a family.

A new tooth!

Finally, the tooth we have been waiting for makes its appearance! It's his top right front tooth, if you're keeping track. We think we can see at least two others on their way in as well. Trey's been in as good a mood as ever, though, so they don't seem to be bothering him. He's still chewing on everything in sight, but that's nothing new!

Baby's First Hurricane

All of Trey's local family, friends, and neighbors (including Aunt Dabney, who is visiting for the weekend) are bracing for Hurricane Ike! Trey, of course, has no idea what is going on and thinks Mommy and Daddy are home because it's the weekend or something. Hopefully Trey's first hurricane is not like his mother's (Hurricane Alicia in 1983), when we lost power for 3 days. Ike is supposed to blow through in the middle of the night tonight, so if all goes well, Trey will not even notice!

Arts Alive

The second and fourth Thursday of every month, Trey has Arts Alive at school. It's a sort of music/dance class. A woman comes in and leads the babies and their parents (or designated attendees) in goofy songs, dances, and related activities for half an hour at lunch-time. It's REALLY silly, but Trey enjoys it and loves the eccentric teacher who leads the class. He stares at her the entire time, probably because he's intrigued by her loud, animated voice.

Trey's Day

Several people have asked me lately what Trey's typical schedule is. Here is how his day usually goes:

7:00 - Trey wakes up and rolls around/talks in bed, snoozes off and on

7:30 - He wakes up for good. We nurse, play, and get ready for the day. Trey goes to school and Mommy and Daddy go to work.

10:00 - Short nap (30 minutes)

11:00 - Trey eats some rice cereal and a vegetable, followed by a bottle.

1:00 or 1:30 (about) - Trey takes a 1-hour nap

2:30 (appx. - after he wakes up) - Trey has another bottle

4:00 - He sometimes eats a vegetable, and/or sometimes has another bottle later in the afternoon

5:00 - Short nap (30 minutes) - sometimes this nap is on the way home, or just after we get home, and sometimes he skips it.

5:45 - Mommy (or sometimes Daddy) picks Trey up from school

6:00 - Play time at home

7:00 - Trey has dinner - rice cereal and a vegetable, and we nurse (sometimes the nursing and dinner is switched, depending on his mood)

7:30 - Bath, followed by story-time

8:00 - Bedtime. Sometimes he takes a while to settle down, but he is getting better at going straight to sleep.

His schedule is still somewhat in flux, but when he moves up to Nursery II at school (likely sometime in the next month), he'll have more of a set schedule. The biggest adjustment will probably be the regular 9:00 a.m. nap time. Trey is not a big napper, as you can see from the above schedule.

Back home

After a weekend of at least 12 hours of driving, we are back at home. Trey took his longest road trip to date to see his Riddle great-grandparents (Mimmie and Gramps) and his 94-year-old great great great aunt (we call her Aunt Seetheart) in Louisiana. Everyone loved seeing our little guy, and he did a great job in the car. He especially entertained everyone by jumping for what seemed like forever in his Johnny Jump Up, which he can't get enough of! Trey also found a new favorite toy - plastic measuring spoons from Mimmie's house.

Trey, however, tried to tell us in his own little way that he has had ENOUGH of this traveling! Our first night, he hardly slept a wink, and wouldn't settle down at all until we put him in bed with us. He did not want to sleep in the Pack and Play that has become his second bed. He was better the second night, but generally just wasn't himself until we stepped foot into our house. One look at his exersaucer and he was jumping and squealing with joy. He was so happy, he forgot he was supposed to be hungry!

Despite plenty of naps in the car, the weekend events exhausted our little one. After an attempted dinner of squash last night (which he ate, but wasn't too thrilled about), he refused to eat anything else and, following a quick bath and story-time with Daddy, went straight to bed. He woke up happy this morning, thrilled to have finally slept in his own crib!

On the road again...

Trey is headed back out of town yet again... this time to visit family in Louisiana. It will be a record-length car ride for our increasingly active little baby. We'll give a full report when we return!

Welcome Baby Charlotte!

Trey has a new cousin! Well, second cousin, to be technical. Charlotte Elizabeth Marston was born at 2:49 this morning in Charlotte, NC, weighing in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces and measuring 20 1/2 inches. Trey can't wait to meet her!!

All clear.

The hives are gone! After just one dose of anti-histamine, Trey woke up this morning to perfectly clear skin. Ah, the wonders of Western medicine.

Allergies

Trey has broken out in hives, poor little baby. :( At first we thought they were bug bites, since the bugs were biting in full force the evening before he woke up with pink spots all over his face. Alas, the spots spread, and the doctor said it is an allergic reaction, most likely to the amoxicillin he was taking. So, we have switched the creamy pink medicine for a thin, clear liquid - an anti-histamine. Trey is sleeping off the day, but we'll see in the morning how well the medicine is working. He doesn't seem to be bothered, though, by the whole thing - he is as happy as ever!

Back to reality

We're back! We all had a great time in the Caribbean sun. We learned that vacations with kids are broken down into two daily segments: before nap time and after nap time. So, with that in mind, here's a recap of our adventures:

Wednesday:
We arrived, toured the Rainbow Beach Club (where the Ketrons live), and had a yummy dinner of homemade pizza courtesy of chef Lowell.

Thursday: (as mentioned below)
Before nap time: We played at the pool with a gorgeous backdrop of the ocean.
After nap time: Walked around Philipsburg and ate dinner at the Greenhouse.

Friday:
Before nap time: Playtime at the condo (due to rainy weather).
After nap time: Fun at the beach (Le Galion)! Baby Trey LOVED the waves and the salt water. Chef Lowell prepared awesome shrimp and beef kabobs for dinner.

Saturday:
Before nap time: We headed to Marigot for the open market and lunch at a yummy French bakery. Trey loved watching the pigeons that hung out on the patio!
After nap time: More beach time! This time we headed to Mullet Beach near our condo. Later we had dinner at Pineapple Pete.

Sunday:
Before nap time: Trey had play time with Spence and Everett (thanks Jill and Lowell!) while Mommy and Daddy went on a fun diving trip. Later, Trey tried carrots for the first time. He loved them!
After nap time: More play time at the pool. Lowell cooked up juicy hamburgers for dinner, followed by an impressive Bananas Foster.

Monday:
We all slept in and had a much-needed relaxing morning before heading to the airport (during nap time). :)

Now it is back to school for our little one. Definitely a change of pace from the island life we enjoyed over the long weekend!