Crib Notes: Month 3

It's amazing how much difference a month makes. The week Park said goodbye to month two, we immediately knew month three was going to be a good one. So many changes for a little guy. Here are some of the highlights from the last month:

- Park must have heard his mom's plea for longer periods of sleep. Park went from sleeping for two hours to four hours the first week of his third month. On a good night, he can go as long as seven hours ... but those are few and far between. Baby steps.
- We're fairly certain we have a future soccer player, runner or Lord of the Dance member on our hands. Park found his feet two months ago and hasn't stopped kicking. But this month he had a whole new discovery: the hands. He's trying so hard to suck his thumb, but it does everything but make it into his mouth. He'll poke his eye, hit his forehead, cheek or chin, but the best is when he rams it up his nose.
- ROCKing to sleep takes on a whole new meaning around here. The only way to get Park to sleep is by turning up the iPod and dancing with him in our arms. Forget lullabies, the more rockin' the better.
- In addition to discovering his hands, Park has also discovered the most fascinating invention of all: ceiling fans. They make him smile and put him in a trance when he's really tired. While he thinks it's pretty cool to have one fan in his room at home, he prefers the ceiling full of fans at Jason's Deli.
- Gone are the quiet days around this house (not that Luka and Zoe are particularly quiet). Park has found his voice and has learned a little something about volume. When he squeals loud and gets our attention, he gets very excited.
- Did someone say "tummy time"? Luka joins Park for this daily activity. Zoe usually makes an appearance, too, but she keeps her distance from the official tummy time blanket.
- If only they made mobiles that never quit. Park has finally discovered the dog mobile hanging over his crib. He gets very unhappy when it stops.



What does Elvis, Dozy the Dolphin and Sir Kicks A lot (still looking for a good nickname for the kid) have in common? See Craig's three-month photos.

A year and a half in the making.

It all started out as a gift for my brother Curt, my sister-in-law Cheryl and my yet-to-be-conceived niece Hagen, but today, I'm happy to announce that my children's book "The Big Black Dog and the Big Blue Sea" is officially available to the public. It's been a long road to get to this point, but it's been a labor of love.

I'd like to thank everyone for their support, especially my family and Johanna Shoop for providing the amazing illustrations, but above all, I'd like to thank Curt and Cheryl for letting me share Zeta with all of you.

To get a paperback copy for yourself, visit www.BlackDogBlueSea.com

And as a reader of LindemanLife, enter 1DepCart0 in the "Special Promotion" section for a 10% discount.

Hardcover copies are also available through Blurb.com, however due to printing logistics, they are kind of pricey (I debated even making them an option because I just wasn't able to get the price down to where I wanted it).

Thanks again for all of your support, now go hug a dog.

And last, but certainly not least, happy three month birthday Park!

Craig

This one's for Carrie

… because I know she has nothing better to do now.

Harder than childbirth

Forget what they say about childbirth being difficult. There's drugs for that and you forget the pain as soon as you hold the little one for the first time. The hardest part of having a kid to date has been the decision of what to do once the 12 weeks of maternity leave is up. For me, that was yesterday.

Since December, we've had daycare planned out and every intention of me going back to work for a great company with great friends. Six weeks into my leave, though, we learned that the daycare we had been planning on wasn't going to have space for Park until January. To Craig's surprise, I took the news well. I guess in the back of my mind I knew something would work out. And it did. We heard several recommendations for another place in town and they happened to have one opening available. We visited a number of times, met the teacher and staff, asked the usual questions and paid the deposit. But even though we liked the people and the program, we just didn't feel like it was what we wanted to do.

So after several weeks of late night talks, number crunching and what if's, we decided to go with our gut. I resigned from SHS and it was the hardest thing to do ... a second time. Having been there and back over a span of 15 years, that place is like a second family. But for now, there's a new addition to this family that I'm focusing on.

Having one of these days.

I post this today, not because it was one of my favorite books growing up, but because, when you get right down to it, today has just sucked.

So far today I have:
1) Woke up too late to run which forced me to do a hellish weight workout down in the basement.
2) Had a minor "incident" with the Wichita State Campus Police (Wu Cops) — no, I didn't get drug off to Wu jail but that might have been kind of fun.
3) Spilt an entire glass of water on my desk and keyboard
4) Spent two and a half hours filling out seemingly redundant state paperwork only for my computer to die
5) Took said computer to the shop where I was informed it would be at least a week before they got to it
6) Was reminded of my immortality by an life insurance salesmen
7) Stressed about said immortality and the state of my affairs over lunch
8) Spilt pudding on my pants

All of this and it's only 3:00.

***UPDATE: It's now 4:45 and the hits just keep coming, I fully expect to go home and find a roofless house.

I live with the Boogey Man -- and that's snot a lie.

So far, we've been really lucky that Park hasn't caught a cold, projectile vomited or had any more than some major thunder down under (if you know what I mean). But yesterday he woke up wheezing really bad and I was pretty sure our day was going to be spent at the doctor's office where he would either send us home with drugs or tell me the little guy was allergic to the dogs. Luckily, the diagnosis was much simpler, thanks to Super Dad.

You see, I'm scared of everything in our first aid kit. I dread the day I have to take a temperature (rectal is best, so I read) and I've been gently tearing off fingernails rather than risk scarring the little guy's finger tips with the clippers. But yesterday's wheezing was Craig's opportunity to give our nasal aspirator a run for its money. While Park rocked innocently in his little chair, Craig sucked and sucked at his nose until a booger came out "like a clown's silk handkerchief." Once he finally saw the other end, the wheezing was gone. No doctor's visit. No drugs. Just one nice move from the Boogey Man.

Mark your calendar, it's coming July 27th!

After months, and months, and months, and months, and … well, you get the idea. The release date for The Big Black Dog and the Big Blue Sea has finally been set for two weeks from today. At that time, I'll post some links to a couple of Web sites where the book can be purchased directly from the publisher.

Until then, if you're on Facebook, please join The Big Black Dog and the Big Blue Sea fan page and invite your friends to do the same.

And if you haven't gotten a peek at the book yet, here are a couple of inside spreads.



Thanks to everyone for all of their support and encouragement, but mostly to Curt and Cheryl for sharing Zeta with us and allowing me attempt to capture how special she was and how much she meant to all of us.

Boom, Boom … Happy 4th of July

Crib Notes: Month 2

Park's second month went by so fast we barely had time to take pictures ... or at least any good ones. Not sure what happened, but we'll do better next month. What we did have time for, however, was enjoying the smiles and coos that Park entertained us with. A smile like this makes getting up every two hours to feed the little guy totally worth it (please ignore the tree coming out of Craig's head).



Craig and I have also gotten much more confident going out in public and knowing we can handle whatever blow up (or blow out) may come our way. Luckily, they're pretty rare.

All in all, the second month was a positive boost to our parenting abilities and we're ready for whatever lies ahead in the third month. So far, it looks like Park approves, too.