One More Pulle: He'll Leave You with a Smile

To begin this post - I wanted to show you all that we do still have dogs (realizing there is photographic evidence of only Riley) and we do still love them...see, she's even up on the bed with us!! That said, I would be lying if I didn't tell you that there has been a huge adjustment in our house. When MP2 was first born, the dogs were flat out despondent. MP made a huge effort--and has done a great job, I might add--of making sure that they still get as many (if not more) walks and trips to the dog park. Even still, they realized there'd been a seismic shift. I think it is as simple as the fact that many times when they used to be the focus of attention, now MP2 takes center stage. I will say that I think they are slowly adjusting. In recent days, they don't look quite so sad all the time (except Tipper always looks pretty sad...even at her best). The other night, Riley even remained sleeping at the foot of our bed through the whole night. We like to imagine a time when MP2 will chase and play with the dogs, and they will have forgotten they ever didn't really love him that much.

Here I am attempting to use the Moby wrap (thanks, Whit). I have gotten better at getting it on, and getting MP2 into it. I would say about 75% of the time he seems to really enjoy being in there too. I think it's something that we will continue to use as he gets bigger. It is nice to hold him and have my hands free at the same time. (BTW - just look at that cute wispy hair in the foreground of this picture...so adorable!)

In napping news--until this past week, anytime MP2 felt his little head touch the pack and play mat, it was time to turn on the tears until someone rescued him (save for a few fluke napping occurances during week one). Ever optimistic, MP and I didn't stop trying to see if he'd just decide he liked it in there after all, and what do you know!?!? Suddenly, at some point last week, we put MP2 in there, and he looked up, focused on that mobile, and then just decided to cold chill - at least until it was time to fall asleep. Then came the major pouty lip, followed by some unhappy squeaks and grunts, followed by some serious slient fury, level 3, code red crying. That said, we feel this is still a step in the right direction sleep-wise.

Still MP2's favorite place to sleep? Right here on his daddy's chest:

Last Sunday, we celebrated MP's birthday with what was supposed to be a big birthday surprise trip to Kansas City to watch the Yankees play the Royals. Unfortunately, I did have to spill the beans when MP learned the four game series was on his birthday weekend and wouldn't stop talking about us going! Regardless of his knowing ahead of time, we had a fantastic trip. It's been so hot lately, that we were very worried that MP2 and I would be unable to go and MP would have to take someone else in our place, but the weather broke and we had highs in only the mid-80s. It was a perfect day. Our seats were covered and in the shade for the entire game.

The Yankees couldn't pull it out and lost 0-1, but MP & MP2 had a great time at their first ballgame together. Here we are arriving at the stadium and getting ready for the not so long, but quite treacherous walk across a million lane road from the parking lot to the stadium.

MP2 could barely stand to be torn away from the action to get his photo taken...

...it was so exciting in fact, that he crashed out in my lap for the majority of the game. We would hear squeaks of annoyance anytime the fans cheered, but otherwise he was not to be disturbed.

Along about the seventh inning stretch, MP2 decided to have a stretch of his own, and woke up to hang out some more.

After the game, we three headed to the Plaza area of KC. We'd heard really great things about the area--and while it was architecturally stunning, we were disappointed to find it severely lacking in independently owned shops and restaurants. We found every chain you could think of as we were walking around.

We had an early dinner at a recommended BBQ restaurant called Jack Stacks. It was really tasty--and understandably, a lot of meat....more than either of us could eat! We didn't know these folks in the next photo (and in my attempt to furtively take a quick photo, I was unable to get the zoom in effect I was looking for), but I couldn't help but notice the art on the wall. I mean, really? At a BBQ place? Even I got kind of sad - and I love beef. :)

We found the art outside to be much more tasteful (ha ha)

MP2 loves to be carried around in the baby bijorn. I haven't even learned how to fold up the stroller and bring it along. I think MP2'll have to gain about 20 more lbs before we bother with bringing it on outings (though we use it 2x daily for long walks around the neighborhood with our so-well-loved dogs, lest you think it's going to waste)

We didn't make it home until nearly 10pm, and we were all beat.

Finally, as the title of this blog post suggests, it looks like we have some non-sleep, non-gas induced smiling going on here! He's not completely reliable, but (especially in the early morning) we can typically coax one or two little grins.

We start out with stretching the mouth out a little...