Busy busy busy

So there were many things going on last week--first, we had a visit from Maceo's and Kate's aunt Nene. She came down by train and Maceo and I went to pick her up at Union Station. Unfortunately, Maceo doesn't really dig his car seat. So, he tends to do some screaming from the back seat. However, Nene merely reached back to talk to him and he shut right up! We need her around for all the car trips!
Nene served as day time helper for me, since I am now the official Mr. Mom on the block, and she was a great help. And a great babysitter!

Kate took me out for an anniversary dinner to Volt, which was amazing! Not only did we get out of the house without the boy; not only did we get out of town; not only did we eat and drink really good food and wine; but we did it all without making Maceo the center of every conversation! Just a few and then we talked of other things, like the 3 ridiculously drunk, ridiculously rich guys at the table next to us (who were joined by Brian Voltaggio, the chef) as they went through at least 4 bottles of wine, ordered a la carte ("Can we have a plate of foie gras?"), and told us that the reason one of them had his dress shirt ripped to shreds was because he "wears his clothes with attitude" and so his friend had begun destroying his "$600 shirt."
All in all, a memorable evening.



On Sunday, I had my surprise plan for Kate. I had known better than to try to out-romantico her, so I went for innovative.
We drove out to FedEx Field where, in the huge parking lots there, we got to test drive up to 70 cars. Kate loves driving, so I thought it would be fun times, and it was. We drove Camaros, Corvettes

Volts, Acuras, Lexuses (Lexi?), and other cars. We also got a cool demo from a professional driver of how their Stabilitrac suspensions helps control the car when skidding around sharp turns. All in all, a fun afternoon and Mom and Maurice were the terrific babysitters this time!

Maceo and Mr. Tupelo

Dr. Evil loves his milk

Bath time, European Spa style

Circle of Life

So that Kate would not start climbing the walls in those first few weeks with Maceo, we decided she should join a mom's group of 10 other DC women called PACE (Parent & Community Education) that met twice a week for two hours and was facilitated by a group leader.  Mostly, it's an opportunity for women to sit in a circle and worry that their children are not as developmentally advanced as the other tots around them.  Kate noted that what Maceo lacked in his inability to sit still for more than 15 seconds at a time, he more than made up for in "arms in the air 100% of the time" approach to circle time.

When Gavin, the child to Maceo's left, is old enough, I'm sure he's going to find Maceo and punch him in the head.  Just like Maceo is doing in this photo. 

Nick and Maceo on their own

So, today was Kate's first full day back at work. And this is how I spent most of the morning.


After we all got up, Maceo and I went to the movies with my mother. We saw "Midnight In Paris", which was quite enjoyable and lovely to see. Then, Maceo and I whipped on downtown to meet up with Kate. There was a ceremony to celebrate the 1 year anniversary and 100th birth by the midwife program we are members of at GW Hospital. We got cake, we showed off Maceo to the two head midwives, and had some lemonade, too.
Now, Maceo and I are home for the afternoon. I'm guessing we'll have some sort of reprise of the morning's activities.

Doctor's and more

Yesterday was Maceo's two month check up (although he's actually 9 weeks, but who's counting!) and Kate and were both off work and both went in.
At this point, Maceo weighs 13.22 pounds and he's 25.5 inches tall. 78th and 98th percentile, respectively. We told the doctor we are counting on him being a professional athlete. She asked if it were because we like sports and we said, no, we need him to make millions and then take care of us when we are older.
He did receive two shots, one in each thigh, and that was amazingly emotional to deal with. He seemed quite surprised by the first one and then quite mad about the second one, and he was upset off and on the entire afternoon by it. We tried to distract him with the Johnny Jump-Up, which looks like it may be a hit some day, but isn't yet. However, if he wants to play in the NBA, he'll need to start working on his vertical.

Mr. Hand!

All the books (well, the one or two we've read) mention a child learning he has hands as a developmental point to look out for. Apparently, infants will stare at their hands like a strange new discovery, apparently thinking, "Hey, wait a sec, these things will do my bidding! You there, bring me something! Hit that and then hit this!"
It appears that Maceo is getting to that point.

At the pool...

Finally, we were able to hang out with our friend Marisol, who has been in town for training the last few months from Malawi before she and her family head out to Ghana. She and Nick played phone tag for a few weeks before finally being able to schedule a get-together. And it happened on probably the busiest weekend we've had as new parents thus far.
On Saturday, we had a bbq and invited various new parents we know, and some we have just met, from the neighborhood. Daniel and Lillian came with Elsa, their 18 month old. Leon and Gena came with Leo, their 16 month old. Bridget and Jason came with Abby, their 3 month old. (Kate met Bridget on the Brookland listserve and they've been out walking together. So they're new friends.) Eben and Erin came with Julian, a 3 month old. They live right up the street and we just met them while out for a walk. And Matt and Melissa came with Cameron, their 7 week old. We met them in our birthing class and they live nearby, too.
Mari and Marnie came by, too, and they are expecting twins, so all in all, it was a lively and lovely evening and folks didn't finish leaving until 9:30 or so.
Then, today, Sunday, Kate's PACE group had a family meeting to which the fathers were invited. It was hosted in NW DC at a beautiful house and everyone was, of course, very nice. It was unnerving to be in a room with 11 newborns; Nick had never been around so many at one time! Maceo got lots of love from the other dads and there were lots of cute kids to go around.
We left there and proceeded over to Marisol's apartment building in Alexandria, VA. She is there with her husband Yousouff and two of their three kids, Malik and Mady. Malik is two and a half (That's him in the background on the left in the photo above) and Mady is about 13 months. We all went down to the community pool and, as you can see, reveled in the cuteness.