Troy and Melanie (dot com)

This past week was pretty normal… both Mel and I had busy days at work, Cole did great at school, and we hung out with him in the evening before he conked out for the night. This weekend, however, was a different story. Let’s see if I can recall these events in the order they happened..

Yesterday morning Melanie was entertaining Cole in bed with her normally silly antics and he was squealing with delight when all of the sudden he started to giggle. Not screech, nor scream, but actually giggle. It is so adorable. We captured it using the iPhone (seriously, where would we be without our iPhones? funny note about the poker game you will read about in a few seconds… there were probably 20 iPhones there… crazy). Check out the audio:

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Last night we went over to a friend’s place to play some poker (they try to have a monthly tournament, but this was the first month since July that they were able to get everyone together) and after 6 hours of playing I won the whole thing! My prize was $240… not bad for a $20 buy-in. Melanie didn’t play since we brought Cole along, but they hung out and cheered me on. He did great for being out so long and he fell asleep on Mommy somewhere around 10:30.

Over the past couple of weeks we have been increasing the size of Cole’s bottles to see if he’s ready to begin trying solid food. This past week he was eating 6 ounce bottles consistently at school so we decided to introduce him to rice cereal. We’re pretty sure his response was typical of infants making the transition… kind of a mix between fascination with the spoon and disgust of the new taste. We’re letting him dictate the pace at which we make the transition, but if tonight is any indication it’s not going to be too hard for him to get the hang of eating from a spoon. After about 15 minutes of laughing at him spitting out the cereal he started to keep more in his mouth and actually was accepting the food from the spoon. It was fun to watch him learn… blowing bubbles on the spoon, spitting out the food immediately, grabbing the spoon and guiding it to his mouth, breaking into smiles, and eating his bib. It’s fun being a parent

Video:

Cole’s first taste of solid food from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

Photos:

(after eating we gave Cole a bath where he made a mess kicking the water around and his feet got all wrinkled up)

Today marks 33 years in which the world has had the pleasure of knowing my husband and Cole’s daddy. This is just a simple post to say happy, happy birthday and love ya, Troy! Here’s to another great year of you!

This past week was a pretty eventful week (and I’m going to include today in that week)…

• Upped Cole’s bottles to 5 ounces
• I supported a 14 hour software release for work on Saturday
• The Colts and Saints won their respective conference championship games to earn a spot in the Superbowl (for the Saints this will be their first ever appearance in the Superbowl… the subject line of this post is a shout out to them)
• We bought a Blu-ray player and upgraded our home theatre system (more toys for me)
• We had dinner with Steph, Dave, AJ, and Katie at Rudy’s tonight (always good to hang out with friends)

This coming week is going to be eventful too. My birthday is on Thursday the 28th (33 years old). Melanie and I are going to celebrate with a dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in downtown (pricey, but sooo good). We’re upping Cole’s bottles to 6 ounces and planning on introducing solids to his diet in the next couple of weeks. Cole’s teachers told us that he’s starting to roll over from back to front which is a good sign of the progress he’s making on muscle control. He’s definitely getting stronger… constantly wanting to sit up when we put him on his back (check out the photo below of him trying to sit up in his bathtub).

Photos (all taken with an iPhone):

Yes, I know we’re midway through January…given that mommy work is never done, I’m thinking that’s not too bad.  Anyway, I wholeheartedly agree with Troy’s wrap-up and love his 2010 goals.  I just wanted to add a few thoughts regarding my experience of 2009.  So, here goes…

2009 was the year I:

>  Gained a whole new respect for my knockers *heh heh*

>  Adjusted my definition of a good night’s sleep *read: SOME continuous sleep*

>  Felt most like a pin cushion

>  Met Zac Efron

>  Missed the most days of work ever  :)

>  Traveled the Pacific Coast Highway with my boys

>  Hated poultry for the first time and then miraculously loved it again

>  Perfected my rendition of “Itsy Bitsy Spider”

>  Fell in love with my husband all over again

>  Experienced the miracle of life firsthand…and it was awesome!

>  Embarked on my best adventure/undertaking yet…motherhood

There’s so much from 2009 that I’ll never forget and at the top of that list is holding my son in my arms for the first time…and then the second…and then the third…  :-)  Family defined my year.  Troy, Cole, and Bella…our parents (now known as grandma, opa, nonni, and pappi)…uncle Kev and Kelsey…friends near and far, extended family near and far.  2009 was unforgettable and 2010 looks to be a year full of Cole firsts and other Cole happiness.  :-)  Thank you to everyone in our lives in 2009 and here’s to a great year ahead!

Forgive me, friends and family, for slacking in my blogging and photo posting duties. This past week was quite busy and I found it near impossible to get some time at the computer let alone get some photos posted. The good news is that tomorrow is a holiday so I have the day off… which means you get some of my time tonight writing up a blog post and posting some Cole goodness. You’ll get photos, a video, and two audio clips below. Joy!

Melanie and I have fallen into a good rhythm with school. We wake up around 6:30, Mel feeds Cole while I get dressed and grab some food, we dress Cole, and I take him to school around 7:30. Mel tries to finish up work around 4 so she can pick Cole up between 4 and 5. It’s been working pretty well. Weekends are another story. When we don’t have to get up for work it’s hard for us to get up at all so Cole gets to wake up, get fed, and then sleep with us in our bed. Please don’t yell at us about co-sleeping and safety and all that… we know… we read… a lot.

So this week was going smoothly for Cole until Thursday when we got a call from his teacher that he had a fever and we needed to pick him up. Of course both Melanie and I, being the stellar first time parents we are, rushed over to pick him up and take him to the doctors. The school had indicated that he wasn’t acting like himself and that he had an under-the-arm temperature of 99.3 (adjusted up a degree for an oral temperature). Well he was certainly acting like himself when we picked him up and he was a happy little cherub at the doctor’s office and had no fever (odd). We kept an eye on him overnight and took his temperature a few times, but he was fine and went back to school on Friday (with a note from the doctor). Both Melanie and I believe it was an escape plan and he knew what he was doing all along.

Photos:
Is that face not the best face ever? Mommy was “attacking” him with a pillow.

Video:

Cole smiles at Daddy from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

Audio:
Cole doing some happy squealing in the morning

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Cole splashing in his bath tonight

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I’m sitting here watching the Eagles try to compete against the Cowboys… hoping they can do something on offense (it’s currently 27-7 34-7)… I have faith, but I’m not an optimist. Sooooo… on to more cheery topics. This week was Cole’s first week at school (child care, but I’m going to call it school since they are teaching him things) and he did really well (we did really well too). He’s been very consistent in his time there… 3 to 4 bottles, 3 naps, and lots of fun with the toys there. Twice this week he was so tired from the events of the day that he slept through the night… 10pm to 6:30am. He even has a buddy there who was born the same day as him… pretty cool. In fact, one day this week they were dressed the same (red top, grey pants). Apparently W’s parents have the same style we do

Today I decided to put Cole’s highchair together. He’s not ready to begin eating solid foods yet, but we’re thinking that maybe if we put him in it and give him a few toys while we eat he’ll let us get through a meal without getting bored and crying. We’ll see.

It’s hard for me to believe that 50 days ago I started my paternity leave to spend the vast majority of my time caring for our two and a half month old son. Most guys cringe at the idea of caring for an infant and I have to admit that I was a bit scared myself. I knew that changing diapers and warming bottles wouldn’t be difficult… it’s just not that glamorous… until you realize that you are building a lifelong bond with your child while doing those little activities. So along with the not-so-fun things (diapers, spit up, screaming, etc.) we had some amazing times and I loved being there to enjoy the world with him. Walks and book reading took on a new significance.

During this time I kept a running commentary of our happenings on this blog. I suspect that most of you came here not for the witty prose (ha!), but for the photos that I posted each day. Regardless of why you visited the site I’m glad you did, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. This was as much a project for you as it was for me. I do keep track of visitor stats and over the past 50 days this blog has received 2,014 page views from 203 different people in 5 countries (not bad for a family blog, in my opinion).

Over the past 50 days I have learned so much about being a Dad and I have a newfound respect for stay at home Mothers. It takes a special kind of dedication to care for an infant all day, every day. My emotions have run the gamut during my leave… there have been hopeful moments, scary moments, frustrating moments, tender moments, happy moments, proud moments, and unsure moments… and I wouldn’t have traded them for anything.

Some of the things I learned:

• your child’s smile will melt your heart every time you see it
• swaddling makes everything better
• as a parent, you will get pooped on… just deal with it
• a baby’s giggle is the happiest sound in the world
• Baby Mozart isn’t terribly inventive, but it’s like 30 minutes of guaranteed amusement for Cole
• child care is very expensive
• once you learn to be in constant motion while holding a baby it’s hard to not rock/sway even when you don’t have the baby and are talking to adults (it’s a bit embarrassing)
• I’m convinced that formula makers use scare tactics to keep us buying more product (really? it only lasts 24 hours after being mixed even while refrigerated?)
• traveling with in infant is stressful
• nothing brings a family more joy than a baby
• I miss Cole every time I’m away from him
• I love being a Dad

I haven’t yet decided how frequently I’ll be posting going forward, but I do know that I want to do it as frequently as possible (and the grandparents might smack me if they can’t get their Cole fix). I did go ahead and take approximately 325 of the 2,000+ photos I took during this time and put them together in a slideshow. I doubt it will be as emotional for you as it is for me, but seeing all of these photos going by with IZ singing in the background just hits me… every… single… time… I watch it.

I hope you enjoy the slideshow. Please leave me a comment and let me know you stopped by.

I’m returning to work tomorrow… boo hoo.
Cole is starting day care tomorrow (or as I shall refer to it, school)… boo hoo.
The Eagles lost to the Cowgirls tonight… boo hoo.

Not a lot of happy things going on today. A fun thing happened this evening, however. Cole found his feet (see photos below).

I’m going to do a Daddy Days recap tomorrow evening… look for it sometime late tomorrow evening (and expect an emotional slideshow to be included)

Today’s photos
(Cole started doing something new today…)

(If you have an Aaron Brothers in your area you should definitely go do some shopping this week… they are having their famous penny sale… buy one, get one for a penny… we sent shopping today)

This post is very multimedia intensive… photos, videos, and for the first time an audio clip. Leave me feedback on how you like the audio (I know it’s a bit quiet so you’ll likely have to turn your volume up… I’ll see if I can get a better recording another day).

Odd day, today was. Felt like a Sunday, but it wasn’t (thankfully). We relaxed today, did a little shopping at Babies-R-Us, and watched Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (cute movie).

Audio… Cole vocalizing over Mommy’s shoulder.

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Today’s photos

Recent videos

Cole… beginning to sit up from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

Cole struggles with tummy time from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

Happy New Year everyone! How did you spend your first day of 2010? (side question… are you calling it “two thousand ten” or “twenty ten”?). I spent the day hanging out with my family… watching football, movies, and making pulled pork. District 9 and (500) Days of Summer were both very good… and on complete opposite ends of the spectrum as far as movie watching goes.

Anyone make any resolutions for this year? I’ve decided I’d rather set goals than resolutions (goals have more resilience and aren’t things that either you do or don’t do… you have to work to achieve them). I have 3 goals for my personal and professional life:
1. Give more… not to give more of myself at the office, but to either volunteer my time/talents to worthy organizations or donate whatever I can.
2. Feel better about myself… this mostly applies to my health and physical appearance, but also to my emotional well being… more smiling, less complaining.
3. Love with all of my heart… be the best father and husband I can be, be caring in a world of callousness.

Undoubtedly these goals are all intertwined, but I can work on each individually to make 2010 the best year of my life . I have to admit, though, 2009 kind of rocked!

Today’s photos