NRA President Wayne LaPierre's Comments and proposal of cops in every school

While LaPierre's solution to having an armed policeman at every school is pretty crazy, his comments about the media, video games and mental health have some validity in my opinion.

I don't believe we truly need hand guns, let alone assault weapons, multiple round chambers, flak jackets, etc. If you want to hunt, I have no issue with you owning hunting rifles as long as there are strict background checks including evaluation of family members living at the primary residence. I think most people are not comfortable with the fact that you can walk into a Wal Mart and walk out with a gun and ammo legally or that you are able to own a weapon capable of firing 32 rounds in seconds.

His comments about the media sensationalizing these events is accurate, however I don't see a solution to that problem. I do think there is a need to start evaluating video games - they are so damned realistic and there are many first person shooters to choose from with a wide spectrum of people playing from all age groups. Again, not sure that is controllable.

LaPierre mentioned the state of mental health help in the US and that is controllable. There needs to be more focus on the quality of help that is available to mentally ill adults through increased access to mental health professionals via insurance, improved mental health evaluations and better mental health training for professionals. We currently seem to just throw drugs at mental health problems and expect everything to work out. LaPierre probably wants to create more "facilities" in order to jail the mentally ill, but his basic point that there needs to be more focus on the issue is accurate.

There are two issues in all of this that are controllable - gun control and an improvement in mental health evaluations and treatments. Gun advocates tell us that you can't control guns and criminals will have guns even with stringent gun laws, but if you make the laws strict enough for owning an illegal weapon, there will be a reduction in illegal gun ownership. Ask Plaxico Burress if he is packing now. Also, are the "criminals" really the ones involved in the mass killings and violence or is it the mentally ill akward teenager or the jilted lover or the disgruntled employee or anyone that reaches a mental tipping point. The mentally ill or unstable need mental health avenues in order to get over issues and learn to live with themselves and within society. We are all capable of violence, but I would like to think we could lessen violent events with some practical changes that don't involve having a cop at every school, work, event, etc.

JB

Just one day to give thanks?

As we come up on Thanksgiving I thought I should post something. It's been too long since I've shared whats going on with us. A lot of my friends on Facebook are doing the 40 days of thanksgiving and I thought about doing it. I'd like to be thankful for more than just one day but do I want to have to come up with one thing every day and do I want to share that with the internet? What if one day all I am thankful for is that the dogs finally stopped barking or that I woke up on time? I get what the exercise is about and how it can help. Often reading others posts has helped me be more thankful in my day or get out of myself. Lately though I have been cherishing the things I am thankful for privately. I hold them dear to my heart and I soak in them like a warm bath or the sun on my face. Maybe I should share them, maybe not. I just know often I don't even share them with Atticus or James, I just smile and breathe in the calm and content and happy of the moment and say a little praise to my God for giving me the life I have today.

I last posted about going back to work, I cant believe I have been back at it for about three months now. Except, I'm not at my same job anymore. That's right, I went back to work and then moved to a new position in a new company. I'm working with Interstate Batteries now. Still doing research. Its pretty good and the team is great. I like the work life balance-and it actually takes place!!! and of course being a permanent employee is always better than contract. It may seem strange but I actually like going to work. Sure there are some days I still miss Atticus and wonder if I am doing the right thing, but I have fun at work. Imagine that! Also there's a part of me that gets fulfilled by actually doing work that gets recognition and is valued- and uses my intellect and thinking. And people know me as a professional expert in my field not as someones mom. I know there's value and skill in being a mom but I was so worried about losing my sense of self and this new job has definitely helped with that. I get to feel needed not as a mom but as a smart contribution to a team that makes a difference.  It helps that I still get to wear jeans and tennis shoes too though :)

As far as whats going on in our home- Well Atticus is almost Six months! It's been a time or adjustment- getting settled into life as we came back from our road trip, went back to work, started daycare, settled into a bit of a routine and got situated. He has grown so much and has quite the personality. He is almost always smiling. We actually had a babysitter cancel on us and so we took him with us to a party where my neighbor said to someone who commented on how relaxed he was, "For what its worth, I've never seen this baby cry". 

Atticus is definitely proving to be quite the easy baby so far and very laid back like his daddy. Most nights he is to bed and asleep without crying by 8:30 and sleeps through the night till about 7am. Of course he still has an off night or so but usually its our fault for having kept him up late or getting him off schedule. But he usually is pretty go with the flow. Whether its grape-fest with friends, a party, going to a trunk or treat or going out to dinner (this past weekend we actually took him with us to a brewery! no beer for him though, no worries) he gets lots of oohs and ahhhs and attention for his cute smiles and shy looks. 

Lately he has been experimenting with his voice. Babbling, doing some squeals and most recently clucking. Who thought I would have a baby who clucks? Its almost like he's smacking his gums since he now has his first tooth. Well part of it anyway. Its broken the surface and you can feel it when he bites your fingers but it has yet to show up where you can see it like a full tooth when he grins.

He's definitely growing up to be his own person though. He has a bestie in daycare already. Romeo. They do tummy time together and talk to each other try to pull each others hair and such. Atticus doesn't have too much hair though. He also has socialized a bit to even form a clique in school. Yes, our kid at five months old already has formed opinions about others and deemed them worthy to be his friend or not. While he loves Romeo, he is so very jealous of the twins. He even started laughing when one of them started crying and mocks them when they cough by doing his own halfhearted cough. There're four boys all the same age in his day care class so they will have plenty of time as they grow up together to work it out- Atticus, Romeo and the twins- I kind of see them being their own little CasaView Christian Academy gang. Maybe they will grow up and be like the friends on Stand By Me or play baseball like in The Sandlot...who knows but I am glad he is socializing and enjoying his time there.

We are definitely embracing life as a family. The thoughts have crossed our minds about having another one already and then they quickly vanish and they come back and go again. So we are pretty sure there will at some point be another Barrowcuda but for now we are trying to enjoy the Team as it is. I've definitely been warned already that since Atticus is so easy we should be prepared for a holy terror with the next one. Lots of firsts. The first cold pointed out how much of first time parents we are and we went to urgent care with a 101 temperature. He made it through just fine though. Then, the first time being thrown up on gave me a real good shock. I was feeding him "on the go" and we stopped at Walgreens to do one last errand- I had to jump out of the car quick and held him away from me while I saw my own little exorcist spewing all over the Walgreens parking lot. My mom of course was looking for a camera to take a picture of my expression. I got to wipe myself off and take off one layer so I could get in the car to go home without getting puke on the seat. I don't think I have ever seen him smile bigger than he did right after he realized it was over. James took him for his first run (in the jogging stroller) which wore him out so much he fell asleep two minutes into it. That's only one of the ways he is getting around- he has started rolling from front to back and sometimes back to front- mainly when he wants to "chase" the dog. His first TX OU game was so much fun- I'm pretty sure he will love football as much as his daddy- he watches the cowboys games with him every week (about the only TV we let him watch is sports so there might be a little bias there). October 31st found us dressing him up as a tiger for his first Halloween. The costume was one James' mother and sister made about 25 years ago for he first grandchild. Apparently each of the cousins had worn it for their first Halloweens too. I was touched that his sister would pass it on to us. We were able to have a bit of his mom with us for one of Atticus' "firsts". My mom was with us for his first feeding of solid food- that was... shall we say interesting :) 

Another first will be coming up day after tomorrow- Thursday we take our first flight with Atticus to California. I'm sure he will do great- well he did wonderfully int he car so I'm at least hoping :) Wendy and Jason have moved and bought their first home in San Diego, CA. I cant wait to introduce Atticus to his cousin Easton and of course to visit with my family I don't see very often. Atticus was one month old when he first met Rylan and Kaden. Kaden was not so impressed, I will wonder what he thinks of him this time around. We will also be introducing him to his Aunt Wendy and Uncle Jason. On top of all that, I finally get to meet my newest niece. She is so adorable and has the cutest hair- and so much of it! I hear she is kind of a mommas girl though so I am going to try not to get my feelings hurt if she doesn't let me hold her. I wonder what Atticus will think if his mommy turns her attention to another baby? We'll definitely post again after his first thanksgiving. I'm sure there will be lots of pictures.

Ah, his first Thanksgiving...So much to be thankful for this year- most of all I'm thankful that our life is what it is. For me, I couldn't think of anything I would want to change- well we could win the lottery- but I mean the stuff that matters- we've got it!

Here's a link to pictures from the past three months. I know its very baby centric- but such is our life at the moment :)

https://plus.google.com/photos/105996072405779008814/albums/5784532473110542337?authkey=CNfVgpr2-P37vgE

Election thoughts - James

Election thoughts...Here's hoping the voting is clean tomorrow - always an issue in Florida and a few other states. I'm voting for Obama. I don't believe Romney can deliver on any of the promises he is making and I don't believe he has the character to be a good president. Gas will not go down if Romney is elected and Obama did not substantially affect gas prices during his term – that argument is childish. Romney can’t lower taxes and lower the deficit...what exactly is he going to cut besides fema, planned parenthood and PBS? We need to keep on a green direction even if it hurts us today and I believe momentum will be hurt substantially if Romney is elected. I believe Obama has done a great job as president considering that he started with two wars going on, the banking collapse, the US Auto bankruptcies and major healthcare problems. The healthcare reform act was a compromise, but it will help many Americans that need health care while holding the health insurance companies in check. The economy cannot be growing all the damned time - there are natural ebbs and flows, corrections and spikes - it can grow artificially for a period of time by manipulation of the system, which in turn leads to greater economic collapse. The economy is fine - we are “getting by” in Texas - parts of the country are living with a little less than they had before, but we all have a great quality of life and opportunity and I don't believe Americans appreciate that fact. Romney wants to run the government like a business...the corporate world is so appealing - upper management getting richer while they bankrupt the company because of their unchecked mismanagement and manipulation of the books. Also don’t believe that is actually feasible to do – economies run on different principles than businesses. Romney's foreign policy would get us in trouble - he seems to make major gaffes with little effort and do we really want to go to war with Iran, Syria, whoever. I think a new third party needs to emerge – the libertarians, green party and tea parties are not strong ­- there needs to be a breakup the republican/democrat deadlock that is killing substantial changes and advancements in our government. Gay marriage should be recognized and legal – the conservative push to keep it down is  by “family values” arguments and morality issues, but is truly about businesses not wanting to pay for partner benefits. Conservative leadership should stay away from moral issues – people can get on board with less government, but when you throw in rape, abortion, controlling views on women and a 1950's view of families, the party gets itself in trouble. Immigration and Mexico – make Mexican illegal immigrants legal citizens if they have been living in the states for more than 5 years and have them pay taxes. Work to reform immigration as much as possible to enable people to work in the country without having to enter illegally.

Contests

So along with having a baby comes this insatiable urge to photograph them. We photograph Atticus doing everything. Eating, smiling, wearing new outfits, grabbing ChaChas ear, sleeping, making funny faces, making sour faces. We pretty much always have a camera on hand- either the Sony Digital SLR, the point and click Lumix or maybe even a cell phone camera. The point being, I am sure we take way too many photos and God help the next one we have that the number of photos wont be as many- this comes from all our other friends who have more than one kid saying you do so much more for the first and the second it wanes a bit and the third there are virtually no pictures.

Anywho- the byproduct of having so many pictures and such awesome subject matter is photo contests are my friend now!

Entering requires voting... so please vote for our photos. I will update links as they come up and entries as they arrive.

Week of

9/24 Parents Magazine most adorable kid contest- we could win $200 :)
http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/1443350


Update: we haven't entered Atticus into anymore contests but are looking for a modeling agency that does baby work. Especially after last night at Central Market where each department offered people giving him longing looks and hushed whispers of OMG how adorable, honey look at him, precious and my favorite, the unable to be impressed hipster girl sneaking a second look and then waving coyly to him (though I couldn't tell if she was really checking James out- since he is looking mighty fine these days). So anyone who knows how to start this without going toddlers and tiaras route (eeew, no), let me know.
Gracias!

A Barrowcuda Summer

Wow- July has been busy! Atticus is now a little over two months old as I am writing this. I go back to work tomorrow and am a little scared- not of leaving Atticus in daycare, I know he is doing well there but I'm scared of my abilities now. I feel a little silly about it but I'm worried I might not know how to do my job anymore. I mean I haven't done much but scheduling and watching for feeding times and diaper changing times for the past two months. A whole different skill set is used for mothering versus my job as a researcher. Granted it was a huge investigation determining in those first few weeks why he was crying. And researching all the little developmental changes and daycare providers and pediatricians required some work.

Anyways, it has been a great month and I have enjoyed my time with Atticus and spending lots of quality family time too. This month we went around the country visiting family, introducing Atticus and basically getting to know our little man. He is a GREAT traveler. We are definitely blessed and want to stick our tongues out at all the naysayers who said we would have to change our hobbies to accommodate him. He was definitely born into the right family. He loves to go and see people and is enthralled with all the new sights sounds and smells when we visit places.

To start off the month we went to Houston to visit with his cousins, Rylan and Kaden, and their granny and papa (Virlena and Rick Jones). He mainly slept the whole four hours down there and then was ready to eat when we arrived and enjoyed snoozing in his cousin Rylan's lap. From Houston, we went on to Austin for a weekend trip and again he simply slept in the car and was ready to eat when we arrived. It was a bit of an orchestration between me and James to handle Atticus and ChaCha on our first road trip- bathroom stops, feedings, setting up stations in the hotel room. It worked though and everyone was good- and the cloth diapers were just fine. In fact, maybe it was easier since we didn't have to worry about a big pile of plastic disposables in the trash can smelling up the room- or worse, cha cha digging them out of the trash to play and sniff- eek! Atticus had some visitors to the hotel and was happy to have them- until he wasn't. Come bedtime, he was ready for his bottle and to sleep in his bassinet with his peacock toy. That Sunday he went to his buddy, Jude's,  first birthday party. Mainly he hung out in our arms while the other kids played and the adults had some snacks and drinks. Even though it was Jude's birthday we left with lots of presents from Jude to Atticus- He got more clothes and we can't wait to help him play in his activity centers once he can sit up on his own. (I have sat him in there and held him but he's still a bit too young to know what to do in there other than cry, lol.) On the way back we stopped at Mary Hardin Baylor for his evening feeding and learned Atticus is definitely an outdoor lover. He loved looking around at all the trees and birds and enjoyed his bottle in a swing under a tree. Even with a bit of heat, he was good.

Our next trip was a bit longer to Corpus to see his NaNa and meet some family and friends for the first time. All of my aunt and uncles came and so did his great grandmother, Juanita. Family friends came to visit too and we think Irene got the best smiles of the day! Grandma Juanita was able to sit down and hold him for a bit while scolding me for not having socks on him and letting him have cold feet. I have to say, James and I were worried about the cold hands and feet and keeping a hat on his head until the doctors told us its best not to tell temperature from that but to feel the back of his neck and make sure its comfortable. Apparently their circulatory systems are not developed enough and will send all heat to the torso so if cold feet are covered up and get warm it may mean the torso is too warm and they are too hot.... go figure. I guess that's where the saying cold hands, warm heart comes from because if the hands are warm then the heart is too hot. Or that's how it was explained to us. So the red string on the forehead for hiccups, castor oil on the belly for gas, always wearing socks and undershirts and hats... probably going to try different methods and see what works for us. So far he has been great (knock on wood) and we haven't had to resort to any old wives tales to try to "fix" anything. In fact he is already a good sleeper- we have him on an every four hour eating schedule during the day and then he sleeps or plays in his crib and "rests" from about 9 at night to seven in the morning. It's not perfect. I will admit there are some nights (usually when we have visitors) when we put him down at 9 and we have to go in every few minutes to console him and help him soothe himself to be able to sleep. Those nights he might stay up figuring it out with our help until about 10. The main thing we are trying to get to is where he is comfortable sleeping in his crib by himself and able to self soothe when he wakes up. Everyone has their own theories about how we are doing it but as our doctor told us- "you gotta do what works for your child and your lifestyle". Will he have emotional scarring and need therapy later in life because we let him use a pacifier at night? Hopefully not but I guess its a risk all parents take. A friend of mine said not to worry about getting it right because there is 100% chance we will get something wrong. She said to just do the best we can and love him as much as possible. Done!

So with two Texas road trips under his belt we were ready for the BIG summer road trip Griswald style!

We left on Friday morning to Kansas City to visit friends Helen and David and their little boy, Zach. It was our longest drive and we had Me, James, Atticus, ChaCha, NaNa and her puppy with us in the Jeep and a Sears Snail Luggage Cargo box on top. Twelve hours after starting the normally 8 hour drive- we had quite a few stops to feed, diaper change, get gas, bathroom breaks- we were at Helen's house visiting and having a beer. That was our get our rear in gear day. From that one day of traveling we learned that 1.we need to time things on his schedule not ours if we want to get the most drive time without having to stop. So even if we want to leave at 6 am, if he needs to eat at 7 we should just wait till after that 7 am bottle and then get going so we have three uninterrupted hours of driving instead of getting in the car, stopping after thirty minutes to get the bottle ready and sitting in the car feeding for one hour with the dogs wanting to go out and in and bathroom breaks. With that little nugget of learning in our toolbox we headed from KC to North Platte, NE to see my dad and introduce him to his grandson. The seven hours drive turned into 9. We were learning. We were becoming efficient. And we knew it was way too hot to stop anywhere for long unless we could take the dogs inside with us. I can say there was one time  in Iowa that James and I were vying to feed Atticus because whoever was feeding Atticus got to stay in the air conditioning while whoever wasn't feeding had to stay outside walking the dog.

Gramps was in love with Atticus from the get go and you can see in his pictures that Atticus really liked him too. I don't think I have felt so much love for my dad as I did when he was holding my son. It was a completely different, softer side of him that I had never seen before. Or it could still be the hormones- can I still use that excuse for crying over sentimental stuff? We went to eat with gramps when we got in that night and the next day we went to church and a historical museum. Gramps held Atticus in church and he slept through mass (Atticus, not gramps). At the historical museum, there were lots of cool things to look at. There was even an iron lung! I had never seen one and didn't really have an idea of what it was, except that I had heard of it being used in the "really old days". It's a chamber basically that someone who had polio would lay in because they were paralyzed and so their lungs wouldn't work and they couldn't breathe on their own. During treatment for polio, the person would lay in this chamber and air would be pumped in and out in order to compress the lungs so they would "breathe". They also had some cool farm equipment and old war uniforms. All of the items were donated by the North Platte VFW. Atticus didn't particularly like the hunting room that had some stuffed longhorns and lots of guns... I think it scared him. I personally think it just smelled funny.

After visiting gramps it was time to head to Colorado. We took the next days drive shorter and stopped in Breckenridge. OMG it is beautiful! We loved the scenic drive and cooler temperatures. When we got to our hotel James told me this was the type of lodge he would want to hang out in during the winter. There was a big fireplace in the lobby, two hot tubs out back on the deck and a great patio in back for taking your breakfast and hot chocolate. Just thinking of it while I am typing I kind of want some hot chocolate even though its over 100 degrees outside. Our room had great views of the mountains and a fireplace. Pretty spacious, nothing luxurious but rustic with windows that opened to bring in fresh mountain air (and cause there was no air conditioning- but who needed it?) We definitely want to make a return trip. One night in Breckinridge was all we were doing just to break up the drive to Telluride.

We made it to Telluride amid rain, ominous clouds, a beautiful rainbow and very twisty roadways with steep drop offs. Stepping into our hotel room, James asked if it really was ours. It was great! We stayed at Mountain Lodge in Mountain Village of Telluride. I took pictures of it since we couldn't believe it ourselves- a 1 bedroom suite had the master bedroom with master bath (awesome slate tiling in the shower/whirlpool bathtub), half bath at entry, doublesided fireplace that opened in living room and bedroom, full balcony, Full kitchen with a sub zero refrigerator, dining room, and get this- a washer and dryer! This made a huge difference with the cloth diapers. We were planning to go to a laundromat at various points in the trip to wash diapers and now we had a washer and dryer in our room- no quarters needed either! ChaCha and Preston were in heaven with so much room to run around in and play inside - not to mention a balcony to stand and bark at everyone passing by. The maid service was something else too. The first day they let us know not to lift a finger, they do the cleaning of the stove, even loading the dishawasher and that we were there for relaxing and vacationing- their job was to clean everything so we could enjoy ourselves without having to worry. YES! James said to let them know we had cloth diapers to be washed- he's a jokester. He's got jokes. The lodge area had hot tubs, heated pool (with blue lights that made it look really cool at night), hammocks with mountain views, steam room, work out room, onsite massage, bar with lodge type fireplace and a very courteous staff. The town of Telluride itself is below Mountian Village and you ride a Gondola into town and there is a free shuttle that goes around the town called the Galloping Goose. These two things, the goose and the gondola (or G as the locals called it) were free and offer plenty of entertainment for the dogs and baby :) The first time on the gondola was a struggle as we were inept at getting a bassinet stroller two dogs and three people onto a moving cabin... once we ditched the bassinet stroller for a baby bjorn it was easy peasy. ChaCha still didnt completely like the gondola for her fear of falling out of the sky in this big box- she did however, LOVE the galloping goose shuttle. It was open air and she got to stick her head out the window the ENTIRE time. It was her favorite part of the vacation I am sure. James and I took the baby and did a little hiking before it rained and then started hailing on us. Yes, hailing... and not little bits but full on quarter to golf ball sized hail pelting us until we ran under someones covered porch. So here we were in the middle of Telluride on a little porch, two adults, a baby in a bjorn, a dog shivering and cowering from hail. Then we noticed we should have gone to the neighbors large covered porch that had rocking chairs, mats, a cafe table, plants and basically a Martha Stewart oasis compared to the porch step we were under. We survived though and got back to the hotel for drinks and a fire in the room. Later in the week the power went out during a thunderstorm and it was its own little adventure in itself. We got to put Atticus in his track suit (hand me down clothes aren't always the right season at the right age but we were happy to have a few cold weather clothes for Atticus during this vacation) and we took a shuttle into town for the most unexpected but delicious italian food.

From Telluride we made our way back to Texas with a stop in Santa Fe (even though the pictures show us outside a casino with Atticus, don't go calling CPS- he stayed the night with NaNa while James and I lost at Blackjack) and Amarillo to break up the drive. Santa Fe was intriguing and we would like to visit again and maybe even take the time to go camping in Taos as well. Very colorful mountains and nice scenery made it a pretty drive and the town itself had a lot of cute vendor booths. One lucky friend will be the recipient of one of our purchases... Angel and Jay :) By the time we made it to Amarillo, we were just looking for a place to lay our heads and get up and drive the next day back to Dallas. Though Atticus was a great traveler it was still a long roadtrip and we were happy to be home in our own bed.

Since we have been back we have had our practice in putting Atticus on a schedule. He started daycare on the 30th. His first day was only a half day but he did really well and it made me feel better to have him start while I was not yet at work in case anything happened and to allow for any unforeseen meltdowns (on my part). Luckily there haven't been any. We came close though. The first day I picked him up he kind of gurgled a hello to me. I thought okay, he's good, nothing traumatic, we can do this. Then we made it home and he squealed with delight when he saw his puppy, ChaCha, and he giggled as she licked his toes welcoming him home. Yes, he missed the dog more than his momma. I will admit I was a little sad and worried to James whether he would care that I left him. Then I worried about whether he knew the difference between the caregiver and me. After this first week though, my worries of him at daycare have given way to my being worried about going back to work. Knowing he is okay and in good hands is one thing, but what about me? What if I cant do my job anymore. I feel like I have really lost some of my so called intelligence. I can go on for hours about Atticus, but presenting data on engineering satisfaction? I guess we will see how it goes tomorrow. For now, I have kept Atticus home today and am soaking up all the loving I can get. Although he is, again, more fascinated by his tiger in his bouncy chair than with me. No worries, he will someday realize his tiger doesn't really talk, its just mommy making up voices.

Click the link for pictures
https://plus.google.com/photos/105996072405779008814/albums/5761442528824375105?authkey=CKawzabHzuvokgE

New photos added

We shared photos from the first two weeks of Atticus' life with us... here's the rest of the month! Click the link below to view.

https://plus.google.com/photos/105996072405779008814/albums/5761422463995217841?authkey=CLSCvbXG_uuW0gE

Photos from the first two weeks- ATTICUS!

Click the pic to access the photo album

Atticus Modesto Barrow

Wow, its been two weeks that Atticus has been with us and what a whirlwind it's been. The intense emotions and pain and joy of the birth have not faded. James and I have written our versions of the birth story in Atticus' journal. Atticus has gone back and forth from sleeping to breastfeeding to bottle feeding expressed milk and crying for no reason. Well actually there is always a reason just not always readily apparent to us at 2 in the morning. Usually if he cries we first try the pacifier. If he spits it out its not comfort he is seeking, we check his diaper. If it's clean, we feed him. Usually we go through a mental list first. He usually has just finished eating so its usually cries for the paci since he hates being separated from the breast. He falls asleep feeding and likes the cushy pillow. However, it makes it hard for mom to sleep so he must be detached at some point. He does pretty well sleeping in his crib at night. And the daytime noises of dogs, tree trimmers, mailmen, cars and construction don't seem to phase him. We have a good sleeper. We also have a thumb sucker. He is very oral says the doctor so we did not hesitate to provide him with the pacifier.

Other than sleep, eat, and dirty diapers, he has had his first bath (and second, spit up does not smell good) and lost his umbilical cord. Atticus has an innie- Thank goodness! He went for his newborn photo session on day 5 and has not been shy to go out in public. James and I have taken him to petsmart (we weighed him on their scale so we could see in ounces his weight gain), IHOP, Target (we changed his diaper on a table in the outdoor furniture section), he went to Mass on Sunday and got a blessing from father Tito. I really am surprised by how much we have done with him. I kind of thought we might be more protective and want to stay at home more but it hasn't been like that at all. He has had a few visitors already and has definitely had his fair share of photos taken. He's really been great and handled all the popularity very well.

A lot of you are asking how us new parents are doing. James is back at work. Since Atticus was born on a holiday weekend he didn't have to take much time off work. He took a few days off and went back very sleep deprived on the Thursday after Atticus was born. James has been a trooper- my favorite diapering dude! He holds Atticus for his bottle feeding, plays with him on the floor and definitely is doing a great job of cleaning the cloth diapers. I have yet to actually do a load of cloth diapers since James is our laundry expert. And its quite helpful to have Nana here too. She has been helping with laundry folding and dishes and cooking. I learned a new way to make meatloaf with veggies and cheese stuffed inside. Very yummy.
As for myself. I have had my ups and downs. The lack of sleep has been super hard to get used to. Most of you know I used to sleep at least 9 hours a night and so taking two hour naps here and there (sometimes only 45 minutes) just is not cutting it. Add on top of that the hard duty of breastfeeding a sleepy baby who doesn't seem to swallow (his latch is great, he is just lazy) so you have to pump and feed (double duty) and you have a very cranky mommy. But the hormones seem to be regulating. During the day is easiest when its bright out and other people are awake. Night time when I'm sitting in a chair pumping breast milk feeling like a cow in a dairy production and listening to everyone snore while they sleep I definitely get overwhelmed and shed my share of tears. But then I get to hold Atticus while he falls asleep on my chest and the world is better cause while everyone else is snoring and getting rest, I get my own precious time just me and Atticus that no one else gets to see. I'm trying to remember the moments and embed the feel of his fuzzy head in my hands into my memory. Everyone says it goes by so fast and even after two weeks I feel like he has already grown - though the pediatrician assures me he still looks newborn.

I'm definitely in love with my baby boy more than I ever imagined and I cant deny the strength of mine and James' marriage after going through our birth and first two weeks at home.

Thanks to everyone who has helped out bringing food, babysitting, calling to check up, walking ChaCha and just plain visiting the little one (and letting me take a nap).

This is the real deal!

James and I are counting down the days till our little baby boy Barrow comes into this world. We are so excited we can hardly wait. But there is still much to do. Thank you notes for one! Packing a hospital bag as well is something we have been procrastinating on and we are down to the final weeks. At least the car seat is in the car and we have what we need to get the job done (mommy and baby). All the rest, while it would be nice, isn't going to stop us from giving birth if he comes earlier than planned.