taking in the sun

Alden - witnessing maybe his 5th day ever of Seattle sun, seemed to respond well, the sunbeams seemed to make him giggle.

thanksgiving haikus

Thanksgiving Turkey
Wild Turkey Bourbon, that is.
Better in the morn'.

Mother and daughter-
Bumping their kitchen elbows.
Dad reaps the bounty.

Happy Alden Bear:
Waking four times in a night
-- along with his folks.

Thanksgiving dinner.
Food with Lois and Dicksons --
Warm and happy home.

happy thanksgiving from 501

Had a fruitful (but insane) skype session with Springfield crew. Among other things, the following stuff happened. Happy thanksgiving to all . . .

bath dance

fall weekend

Alden had a great weekend -- or at least his parents and Lois did. The whole family got out for a hike in the Cascades - drizzly but beautiful; mom took her first post-baby run; multiple walks around the neighborhood with Grandma Lois; lots of naps all around - including a deep sleep on Dad's chest Sunday morning allowing for a full un-interrupted half of football watching, and newspaper reading. Sunday night culminated in chicken parmesan (again, Lois). Mr. Alden presided over the dinner in his bouncy chair - cooing and barking. Then, it was bath time -- were he has learned the trick of swimming (floating) around the bathtub (a serious bravery! video to follow sometime in the future), followed by some naked lounging on the toilet, and bed by 10 pm! (he had been falling asleep at 11:30+ in recent evenings). The toilet shot puts to scale how long this kid has become. Monday morning - back to work for dad, but everyone well rested with lots of good weekend memories.

post-bath

All good on the home front. Dad has the whole darn weekend off! No huge plans for the weekend - mom is going to try to attempt a short run. Dad to catch up on sleep, maybe cook some bacon. Lois to take a walk around Green Lake. Alden plans to breastfeed, nap, and stare at people. Not bad.

This video, taken post-bath, is an easy winner. Enjoy . . .

rain day

Raining in seattle (for like 3 straight weeks), so a little more couped up time inside for Alden. Here -- hanging out in the car seat on the dining room table. As an update, Grandma Lois successfully braved 3 hours on her own today -- letting the parents nap and talk to each other. A small step for this household -- a giant leap for these parents. Alden is still wide-eyed and cute, in case you were wondering.

tae kwon do

Sunday evening. Parents a bit more sleepy - what with dad back at work. Fortunately, weve gained a set of hands with Grandma Lois, she is very enamored with the dude. These photos - taken on mom's lap - show him quiet awake, but be aware of his quick hands, skilled in the ancient arts of tae kwon do.

Father's Day

Mama Koschmann writing here, as Alden and I make our way through Carl's first official (30 hour) day back at work. It's obviously not the calendar Father's Day, but I wanted to take a brief moment to acknowledge just how wonderfully Carl has stepped right into the role of a father here during the past 6 weeks. He is all the great things a father could be, and he and our little bug have become fast friends. We'll miss him around the house during the hours he's away taking care of other kids, but we're very glad to know he's the one that comes home to us at the end of his shifts, however long they may be. And here's to you, Carl, for heading back to work without a single complaint today, as we made our way through the early morning traffic in the rain.

back to work

Tomorrow, I return to work -- a whole ton of it. For example, my first shift starts Friday at 7:30 am, and goes until Saturday at noon, and my understanding is I will likely get no sleep the entire time. In the context of the bliss of the last 7 weeks, this will be a nasty jolt to the system - I would (perhaps not surprisingly) prefer to stay at home.

Walking around the block this morning (on a rare respite from november drizzle), wearing sweatpants, no shirt, a fleece sling with the Bear drooling on my belly, an oversized flannel, and drinking a cold cup of coffee -- I felt an overwhelming sense of joy. The last 7 weeks have been probably the best of my life -- suddenly having a cozy little family - all of us healthy and attached to each other. Even if I spend 85% of the next two months in an over-crowded children's hospital, we've got years and years of this stuff to go, and Im a lucky dude.

Obviously feeling a little nostalgic this morning, I pieced back to this video of Alden at 2 days of life just home from the hospital filling out a very small section of his basinet. Enjoy . . .

wide eyes

The Bear has always had big eyes, but recently they seem even bigger -- along with being able to follow faces, he now seems to be soaking in EVERYTHING - eyes wider, very rare blinks. This is fun to watch, but along with it, he appears less interested in sleeping, since it is, you know, so boring. We've created a cave-like room for naps - which has kept the balance for now. Below, friend Amber visits with a mobile from her recent visit to Tanzania -- Alden enjoyed resting on her growing pregnant belly and being 200% awake.

happy bear

uncle thom

Uncle Thom blew into town to get a look at Bear, as we have been calling him recently. What Thom lacked in lactation knowledge, he made up for in his prowess for putting the little guy into a happy calm with his "okie musk," and of course, his un-paralleled skills cooking bacon.

5.5 weeks (naked)

inefficient raking

On a sunny afternoon -- Alden and dad decided to finally do some yard work. The basic trajectory ended up being: rake for 2 min -> Alden fusses -> ride around the lawn in the stoller for 2 min -> alden sleeps -> (repeat cycle). We ended up making only a small pile one hour later, but we hung out in the yard, darn it.

mom and dude

orcas island

We took up the generous offer from our friends Heather and Ron to use their house on Orcas Island on Halloween weekend. Alden seemed to enjoy the ferry ride over -- after an initial throw-up, he settled into the hum of the giant boat, and the ocean air. He really liked the view - or at least the vestibule of bright windows (pictured here with his first novel, The Wild Things, by Dave Eggers). Mom took near-excessive advantage of the hot tub, while dad watched likely-excessive amounts of sports, having access to ESPN. All three were humbled by the beauty of the northwest, the generosity of the Rosenbergs, and the sleepy/happy joy of raising Alden.

halloween

Little man insisted that he have a dairy-related costume this Halloween, what with breastfeeding being his only serious hobby. The suit fit (with the help of a layer of pajamas underneath), but he was swimming in the hat. While in town, the general concensus of countless passer-bys was that there was some objective cuteness going on here.