Unorthdox Lullabies

JJ had a very rough afternoon. Lots of awake time. Lots of crying. Hours of this. I got home about 7:30, hour 3 of "screaming awake time" and got JJ from Ally. I tried everything I could think of to calm him down: the gentle walk, the big dip knee bend the walk and rock but it was the "rock and roll" that ultimately did the trick. Sorry for the cheesy pun but it really was some good old fashion rock and roll that put him to sleep. Let me recap.

As I've mentioned before JJ likes music. Good music. So I thought I could get him to calm down by singing to him...it seems to work when Ally does it. I don't know a lot of baby songs so I started off by making up ridiculous songs mainly about Stewie and JJ. He didn't like those. So I decided it was time to channel my inner Axl Rose, and try out some Appetite for Destruction. I didn't have any other ideas so why not?

I started at song number 1, Welcome to the Jungle and ended at song 7 My Michelle when JJ was sound asleep. Of course I was singing the "Walmart Edited Version" as to not corrupt the young fella. I also sang it a little sweeter than Axl ever did and vocalized the rhythm sections in a way that would make Izzy Stradlin cry.

I listened to that album (yes, album) so many times I lost track. I know it backwards and forward. However, today it was the first time it ever actually was good for anything. Usually GNR is reserved for playing loud after a tough day at work to let off steam. But today it found it could serve a much greater purpose; it could put my baby to sleep!

EDITOR'S NOTE: I decided I am not a bad dad just because I sang my child songs from an album that is pretty much only about doing drugs and living in Hollywood in the late 1980's. Right? It put him to sleep.

"Ben, how did you spend your Sunday afternoon?"

JJ fell asleep like this about 2.5 hours ago and hasn't moved since. I could think of much worse ways to spend the day. Catching up on some recorded TV while blogging from my iPhone with JJ sound asleep on my chest. Good Sunday.

Stewie Sharing "His" Tummy-Time Mat...

I was always the guy who would make fun of the parents who documented every movement (bowel or otherwise) of their child. It's clear I didn't get it. I get it now and fully understand. Baby is changing every minute of every day and I don't want to miss a thing...which is tough due to me being gone 12 hours a day during the week. Not sure where I am going with this so I will just get to the video.

I present to you Stewie and JJ...Enjoy!

Gratuitous Baby Video

I want to start out by saying this could be one of the most boring videos ever made. But we think it's neat...well everything is neat at this point. He gets more and more aware every day and it's pretty amazing. I hope you enjoy the video, as well as Allyson's phone call in the background.

Quick Hitter

I wanted to pass along a sweet picture that Ally took tonight. That's it.

Whole Lotta Nothing

Another week come and gone. JJ is getting SO BIG. It's amazing watching him grow and feeling the additional stress holding him puts on mommy and daddy's joints and limbs.

Yesterday was a big day for us. First, we took JJ to his first "non-family" outing, a BBQ put on by our friends/neighbors Audrey and Phillip. As a side note, when I say BBQ I don't mean somebody schlepping around the back yard, firing up the Weber or gas powered grill. I mean out of this world Santa Maria style BBQ cooked over oak. Check out the Santa Maria visitor information website. It's amazing stuff.

Anyway, JJ got there and slept the entire time in his car seat. He's still boring. But the good news is that I think we can bring him into public venues with friends and not worry about him freaking out! In his defense though he only has meltdowns when he's a) hungry, b) gassy or c) not hungry but wants something to suck on be it finger or his "paci". We've figured him out, for now....

Stewie had more fun than anybody running around the yard and playing with Coco the dog. If there is a cuter dog than Stewie please show me. I don't buy it.

Stewie is still having issues with JJ in that he's no longer the center of attention. He acts out by grabbing the toilet paper and running as far as he can then shredding as much of is as possible until Ally or I stops him. We need to work on leaving the bathroom doors closed. That's our bad.

He also doesn't like his new sleeping pattern or the baby screaming. He has a new look that he uses...it's a look of annoyance. I didn't know dogs could project annoyance but Stewie seems to have it down pat!

I got off topic...Anyway, yesterday was a big day not only because we have killer BBQ but because I got to feed JJ for the first time out of the bottle. It was really amazing and I can't wait to do it agian when I get home. He took right to it, like he's being doing it all along and polished it off in no time flat...then spit up on me a few times but it was all worth it! I really can't explain how great it was, but those of you who have done it before know what I mean. Pretty amazing stuff.

Ally wants me to talk to the baby, but I am not sure what to talk to him about so I end up touching different parts of his body then saying what they are called in both english and spanish. 4 years of spanish and that's all I know. Any ideas? I also tried to tell him the story of Star Wars but that seems to scare him...maybe need to lay off the light saber noises? It was a little concerning that it scared him. I am going to try telling him the Godfather tonight.

One more thing we (I) learned about JJ. Don't watch a Led Zeppelin concert film when trying to put him down. He really liked the music, especially Misty Mountain Hop, but something about the flashing strobes and other visuals (possibly Robert Plant with painted on jeans and shirt open?) seem to bother him. The moral to the story is point him away from the TV during a Led Zeppelin concert film and he enjoys it just fine. Point him towards the TV, shrieking baby. Who knew? I just hope I didn't cause permanent damage.

It's been brought to my attention that I need to post more and I will try. I will also try to add more video but he really doesn't do anything yet. Really.

In the meantime, enjoy. Happy Monday!

Tired Family

I took this picture as I was leaving this morning.

Baby woke up crying as I was getting out of bed so Ally picked him up to sooth him, laid down and created this very cute picture.

Don't worry, there was a fortified "pillow wall" keeping the baby from rolling out of bed and a "dog wall" on Ally's right to prevent rolling over that way.

Everyone is snug and content!

Huston Street Stinks

Sorry about then subject...just venting over another A's loss to the Angels thanks to another blown save by Huston Street. I'm over it.

So, JJ still doesn't do all that much, HOWEVER he has taken to staying awake for extended periods of time during daylight hours (as mentioned in my previous post) but his new trick is to fall asleep roughly 10 minutes before feeding time. And when he falls asleep it's a SOUND sleep. Good times.

Another cool new "feature" we discovered about JJ is his love for music and the soothing effect it has on him. For some reason nothing calms him down faster than music. On a side note, if you like internet radio and aren't using Pandora you don't really like internet radio and you hate me. Ok I got carried away...bottom line is Pandora rocks (see what I did there...Pandora plays music, rock is a kind of music...).

Anyway, music settles him down immediately. If he's wailing, which he's been known to do, I put my iPhone into the doc, put on my station called "Super Cool Music" station on Pandora and within 2 seconds he's totally calm and relaxed.

Now, I am sure he's not he only kid who does this, but it's the first we've seen it so it's totally new and unusual for us. The coolest part is that he gets upset when crappy songs play so I go ahead and give that song a "thumbs down" and we move on to the next song. It's awesome.

Despite the look on JJ's face, he's having a grand old time. He might have gas (takes after his parents). Either way, he's quiet!!!!

Hope everyone had a great Sunday and a great next week.

My Kid Is Boring...

I would be willing to bet that nobody expected to see a subject line like that on the first baby post. Fact of the matter is that it's true and that's not a bad thing. He sleeps, cries, eats, poops, pees and then does it all again.

I am not totally sure what I expected other than being sleep deprived (eh) and overwhelmed (eh). On the first note, JJ did test our patience for the first week or so, then magically started sleeping consistently between feedings. Not to jinx it but this has been going on since last Saturday night. The trick, it seems, is to bring him upstairs around 8:30-9pm and do his final feeding at that time, burp him, check the diapie and VOILA, he's fast asleep for between 3-4 hours. All I pray for anymore is that this continues until he can sleep even longer between feedings and not a moment earlier. In other words we need to keep gaining ground on the hours of sleep and not go in the other direction.

That covers nights. Days are a different story. JJ has been a terror to mommy this week, rarely sleeping and generally acting like a turd. He's helping out dad but mom, not so much.

Regarding the second point, I haven't really felt overwhelmed. Again, the whole sleeping at night thing. Mommy, again, probably feels a little differently. I will allow her forum to express her feelings should she so desire. For the record, she's an amazingly patient and loving mommy. She's everything I expected her to be and then some. She's a great mommy and a great wife! I am lucky to have her. However, she's been in training "raising" me the last 7 years so she's had some practice...and it's paid off.

There is so much to write I could go on for hours. I have many topics to cover in later posts. I will probably delve into how master Stewart is handling all this...as a teaser I can tell you he's rediscovered his love affair with toilet paper rolls. He's special.

To round this up I just want to say that JJ is amazing and being a dad is better than I ever imagined! Ally and I are truly blessed to have each other and now our special little guy, Jackson James.

Stay tuned...

Jackson James Brinkman - The Prologue

I know there are some folks who are anxiously anticipating a new post on young Jackson (is anxiously anticipating overselling it?). Unfortunately the waiting will continue at least until this evening when I get home and have some time to properly encapsulate the past 10 days. Told hold you over is a picture of the little guy from this past weekend...



More to come ASAP...I promise.