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
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