Rock Star!

Wes is quite the rock star lately...he loves to party and get passed around. Considering all the spitting up he does, I told Neil he needs a "Party Till You Puke" shirt...then he'll be dressed for the occasion!
We went to the 2L Thanksgiving dinner tonight, and he was such a trooper. I looked over one time and some guy I had never seen before was holding Wes, who was just looking around like "this happens all the time". There was another group that were posing for pictures with the little rockstar. Through it all, he smiled, looked around, and only puked on a couple of people.

Sneaker

Wesley has this new game that he likes to play whereby I compose and post this great update to his blog, and then he hacks into my computer and deletes it.

OK, so maybe that's not entirely true.

The truth is that, for the past two months, I have been touring around with the Boston Red Sox, impersonating Josh Beckett. The real Josh Beckett is out of shape and lives in a van down by the river. I would have posted some updates, but hey, the Sox need me, and you must admit my curveball has been quite devastating lately.

OK, so that's also a lie.

I really have no excuse -- the blog has been languishing here and it's time for an update. Where to begin?

As Tina mentions in her last update, Wes has discovered how to smile. In fact, he's all about the smile. He's even mixing in the occasional chuckle. It's almost reached the point where I don't know whether he is laughing with me or laughing at me. Nonetheless, I love the smiles, so keep 'em coming, Wes.

In other news, he's at the 75th percentile for both height (length) and weight. This is not surprising, considering he's long outgrown all his 0-3 month clothes. And, in case you were wondering, no -- he's not sleeping through the night yet. He'll go from 8pm to about 2am or 3am, and then he's up again around 6am. So, we're getting there, but he still enjoys his middle-of-the-night bottle.

Wes is also building quite a book collection. He's been loading up on Dr. Seuss (Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, ABC, In a People House), The Clumsy Cowboy, There's an Alligator Under My Bed, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. We read a book to Wes every night after his bath, before he goes to bed (and sometimes AS he's going to bed).....

Smile for Me

Wes is finally smiling for us all the time. He laughs, too, at the funniest things -The Itsy Bitsy Spider, getting his diaper changed, the monkey on his bouncy seat. Neil and I will do anything to get him to smile - we must look like idiots to those on the outside looking in, dancing and singing like fools. But those smiles are worth their weight in gold. I'd do anything to get one!

Tar....Heels!

Wes had his first trip to UNC's campus yesterday and it was a very BIG day. The Tar Heels were playing their season opener against James Madison that evening, so we decided to head up to campus for the Old Well Walk and Tar Heel Town. It was finally a nice mild day so it was perfect for a football Saturday. We all got in our Carolina gear and dressed Wes up in his Carolina onesie and socks. At the Old Well Walk, a lady that seemed to know a lot of the players asked if we could take his picture with a few players and put it on their posters that she hands out at the Walk. We said sure - we have no problem exploiting our adorable baby! :) So during the Walk, she pulled aside Brooks Foster and Scott Lenahan and had them pose with Wes and me for a picture. It was very exciting! We had lots of people stop us to tell us how adorable he was, and some people were even sneaking pictures of us. I think he might have been the youngest Tar Heel in attendance.
All that excitement tuckered us out, so Grandma, Mom and Wes went home while Dad and Grandad went to the game.
Neil has a video of the Old Well Walk that we'll try to post soon, but for now, here are some pictures of the Carolina family!

Reluctant Friends

In case you can't tell, that's Wes and Allie on the couch together. I titled this post "Reluctant Friends" because Wes isn't yet aware that Allie exists and Allie isn't yet sure how she feels about Wes. But the day this picture was taken Allie jumped right up on the couch beside me while I was feeding him and let him touch her fur with his tiny wandering hand.
Every day she lets him get a little closer and becomes more curious about him. She smells his head, lets him put his feet on her and rub her, and today she gave his foot a good rub with the side of her face, thereby marking him as her territory. I think they'll be best buds before too long.

Out and About

After spending much of his first week-and-a-half at home, Wesley did a little research on the outstanding male-to-female ratio at UNC and decided that it was time to make a public appearance.

His first stop would be none other than the hub of all activity in southwestern Durham: The SouthPoint Mall. Though his first adventure would be a relatively short one, Wesley nonetheless covered some serious ground, making stops at Panera Bread, Belk, and Nordstrom while cruising around in his Graco SnugRider.

Confident from this first foray, Wesley decided to make his next appearance a few days later at a well-known Chapel Hill watering hole. There, he made the acquaintance of several law school persons, befriended a nice bartender (who gifted him a free appetizer), and received his introduction to microbrewed delights.

Milk Coma

One of the things I've gleaned after just a few short weeks of fatherhood is this: the sooner you decipher your baby's various noises and mannerisms, the better off everyone will be.

On that note, I have learned that, for Wesley, there is a point of optimal milk intake. As this point is reached, Wesley's eyes begin to close, his arms suddenly become much less active, and he begins to groan as you or I might after taking one bite too many at the dinner table ("uhhhhhhhhhh"). I like to call this phenomenon the "milk coma."

Make no mistake, this is a good thing.

When Wesley enters his milk coma, the end of the feeding session is in sight. You can almost feel that pillow under your head. It's just a matter of time before he's rendered incapable of fussiness for at least another three hours.

I am convinced that there are other such "optimal" times (for instance, the optimal time to change the diaper, so to avoid the post-change poop). Rest assured, we have people working around the clock on these items. For the time being, it's nice to know that it *is* possible to satisfy Wesley's hunger at 3 in the morning, if only temporarily.

My boys...

I love this picture of my two boys! This was taken right after Wes was born. I just love to see Neil interact with Wesley!

More pictures are coming soon...I am having problems getting the computer to recognize the USB card reader for some reason. I need my tech support guy to come home from the library to help me!

sleepy head...

Just a few adorable pictures of Wes' second
favorite activity - sleeping.

For the record, eating is number 1 and pooping is number 3.

At the hospital...

Wes has several friends already. We had lots of visitors at the hospital and home, including some of his new girlfriends, Molly Harrell and Caroline Bowman. Molly and Caroline are both older women but right around his age...I know we'll have fun comparing notes as they grow together. Here is a picture of Wes and Molly at the hospital together - his first visit from a girl! :)

Welcome to Wesley's Blog!

Eight days later than anticipated, Wesley Lawrence finally arrived on August 5, 2007. He weighed in at a very stout 7 pounds and 12 ounces, measured 20 inches in length, and promptly announced that he will be playing baseball for the Tar Heels in 2025-26.