With Dad #10

Baby Grady, professional wedding guest, now available for fall bookings.

With Dad #9

Sometimes Baby Grady enjoys having a sit on daddy's lap beside a koi pond, where he can get some peace and quiet for contemplating.

With Dad #8

With Dad #6

Someone was playing with my camera. I'm guessing the baby had an accomplice.

Daddy is funny and baby laughs are cute

Well that is just the world's silliest baby, being entertained (off-camera) by the world's silliest daddy. Baby Grady's little laugh just gets me so good. I feel like I'm hearing hints of how sweet his little voice is going to be. 

We've since upgraded the swing, to one that can handle our baby's chub-factor, and returned this little guy to its previous owners. Riding in the new swing was almost too much for Baby Grady. Video of that to come later this week. How do you like that for a teaser?

And do you think I could have managed to say "little" a few more times in this silly little post?

With Dad #5

Yesterday was Jasper's birthday and, because we are lovely, Grady and I ran around town picking up the best possible lunch treats and then we drove all the way up the hill to the lab to deliver them to our main man at work.

Oh, and yes, I dressed them as twinsies. What?

Grady both loved and hated the lab. He really went back and forth on the topic. He adored Jasper's post-doc, which shows very good taste, because Andrew is one of my favorites too. He didn't so much care for the wind, or the machine room. (I have no idea. Do I even have the right words in that sentence?) He liked that the boobs were there too and he enjoyed getting a diaper change on Jasper's desk.

All told, I think Baby Grady and I may have found a new favorite adventure. And the Tilden steam trains are just up the road!

With Dad #4

It's so fun it's blurry.

Evidence of nerd genes

Reading with dad:

Studying his star chart:

Admiring his polyhedron mobile:

One winter day

With Dad #3

Of note: Baby Grady's cheeks are red, because this was before I discovered (with Granny J's help) that Grady doesn't like when I eat tomatoes. Well, it doesn't actually seem to bother him, but it does give him hives. And he's so much cuter without hives! But it turns out that, left to our own devices, we eat a fair amount of tomatoes. (Italian and Mexican cuisines dominate our quick-and/or-make-ahead repertoire.) So, any suggestions for quick and easy meals without tomatoes? Bonus points for things that can be made in quantities to provide multiple meals. Put them right down there in the comments, please!

Frog Baby

The thing about parenting (because there’s just one thing, you know... simple stuff here) is that there is always something to worry about. The thing about me and Jasper is that we always worry about different things. And not just different, but opposite. It’s super fun! So, I fret that Grady might be too cold (probably because I am always cold, except when pregnant, which was just such a fantastic metabolic interlude in my normal reptilian biology). Meanwhile, Jasper frets that he is too hot (because he is a difficult man, I tell you what).

To keep things exciting, when we bathe Grady, we switch roles! I know; it’s so confusing. But suddenly I am the one fretting that Jasper is making the water too hot. I like the water hot, don’t get me wrong, but Grady is a baby! Don’t babies need more mildly warm water? Can you believe that two educated adults can’t sort this out? I think we are both right, just on opposite ends of the accepted range.

In other news, bath time is the one time Grady seems to love his nakedness. He lounges back in his cushy little bath-bed (awesome hand-me-down from Auntie Shana), and just chills like a frog. It’s pretty much the cutest, but I am not going to post naked baby pictures, because I think I might have a policy against that.

Finally I leave you with a quote from Jasper, spoken as I was gingerly airing out Grady’s important bits, post-bath (because I fret about excessive moisture intrusion on the baby):

“You know, you’re pretty much massaging a loaded weapon there.”

Indeed.