New Daddy Boot Camp

Link and I went to another New Daddy Boot Camp, for the fourth time as "Vets". Link wore the onesie we got from a previous boot camp, which says "I am basic training".

There was a three-month-old baby there as well (with his Dad). Man, two months of development makes a big difference at this age!

Johnny Jump Up

We picked up a Johnny Jump Up from Brianna's parents yesterday. Link seems to like it quite a bit, thought the quarter-inch elevation difference between the hallway and laundry room gave him a bit of a problem:

Replacing Batteries with USB Power Banks

It turns out a lot of baby paraphenalia require batteries. A lot of batteries. I got tired of replacing all those batteries. So I replaced them with USB power banks.

Now both these baby rockers run off 5V USB power, and the power banks can be recharged at any of the multiple charging stations we have around the house.

Wall-mounting the TV

I have been working on baby-proofing the house for a while now, being comfortable in the knowledge that Link will not be crawling for a number of months yet.

I came to an unpleasant realization this week: there is already a toddler spending a lot of time in our house. Our nanny brings her two-year-old son to our house while she watches Link. Our 10-month-old nephew Torsten has also begun crawling and pulling himself up on furniture. So I skipped right past "running out of time" to "over-due" on getting things baby-proofed.

Probably the most dangerous (to toddlers) item in the house was the un-anchored TV in the basement. While it is fairly stable and would be difficult to knock over, the consequences of a 65-pound flat panel TV falling on a little kid made it the biggest risk in the house (that I can think of).

I ordered a locking wall-mount kit compatible with our TV the same night I realized this oversight (the nanny was off this past week).

Here is what the old TV setup looked like:

Today, I installed the wall-mount kit and hung the TV!

Any kid that wants to move that TV is going to need a lot of persistence and a long screwdriver.

I moved the TV to the far end of the basement because Brianna and I are thinking of installing a screen and projector there sometime later this year. This allows us to get the TV safely mounted, and to try out a different arrangement of the basement.

Of course, since I was moving things around in the basement, I organized the rest of it as well:

It's a much more open rumpus room now!

Webcam in Nursery

Brianna's going back to work soon ("NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO" -Brianna) so I installed a webcam in the nursery this weekend.

The webcam is "pan and tilt" so it can focus anywhere inside the room.

The next step will be to run the power cord inside the wall, so no little boys can yank on it once they start being mobile.

In the meantime, the camera is actually performing better than I expected:

I still have to get the network configured so Brianna and I can access the video stream from outside the local wifi network. I may have to ask for help on that one - seems like an easy way to let intruders onto the network.

Lincoln's Development

He wants that tag in his mouth so badly!

Pretty much since Day 1, Link has been holding his head up and looking around (although he wasn't able to do it for long early on). Pretty much everyone who visits us has commented about it.

Recently, he seems to have grasped that his arms can do something for him, although he's not figured out the fine motor control yet. He managed to position that tiny blanket with all the tags himself, but he can't quite get a tag in his mouth on purpose.

When Link is doing tummy-time on a blanket, he has started pulling the blanket in to his chest. But beyond that, he doesn't really grasp on to things. I've been slightly disappointed by that - I've been hoping he'll grasp my finger and hold on, but he's only done it once or twice so far, despite many attempts on my part.

Bultema Baby Shower

Weekend before last Megan, Betsy and my mom hosted my THIRD (!) baby shower.  The theme was Lincoln.... you know the name of our little growing one...  :-)

I am so blessed to be loved and supported not only with my blood relatives, but with everyone in my life including people at work.   I didn't really realize how much work it takes to grow a new person and it is much easier with all the support and love that I receive.  Betsy and Megan did a great job decorating, planning and executing the party.  Thank you for all the gifts, love and support.

I got to wear a little pink Lincoln hat and there were these awesome paper top hats everywhere.

Onesies and bibs were decorated

Some were super funny, some had advice, two were super cute, and one identified the value of punctuation!  

Lets eat Mom

Lets eat, Mom

 I tried to take a panorama but only seemed to get my face and the fireplace... It was a room full of fun stories and laughter.  My favorite game was guessing my belly size with yarn.  Everyone guessed and the winner was the closest.  I way over estimated how much room Lincoln has created in my stomach... somehow my mom (who deals with pregnant women all the time) was about half an inch off and won!

 Note the cute top hat on my mom

 I love the top hat on a the traditional Chinese statue and on Brian & mine's wedding picture, together we are making a Lincoln!

 

The group was full of family, some old friend, and some of my mom's friends.  Baby showers were very hard for me to attend before I got pregnant because I longed to start a family so deeply.  This one was super fun and relaxed.

Once the baby shower was over, I got to go on a walk with Megan and Torsten. He was very happy to fall asleep in his bassinet stroller.  My brother and Megan made a super cute kid.  He likes to jump on his cousin every time I hold him. He is just getting ready to play with him when he comes out.  I can't wait to see how they interact.

Baby Car Seat

Brianna got the car seat set up today, adjusted down to infant size.

I honestly didn't know there was green fabric in there before the liner got tossed in the wash. It actually looks pretty good!