Hello!

I'm getting lazy again.

Here is a photo of my baby being awesome!

Hunger games

Yesterday afternoon Large Marge was piiisssed! Inconsolable. She had learned the way of the temper tantrum and she has quickly advanced to black belt. Shudder...

But then I thought, maybe she is hungry.  So we sat down for a snack. And I was right!

We downed a whole pack of carrots in minutes.  Followed quickly by a stoked awesome baby.  I played some tunes and she sang along with her big dirty happy face.  How sweet it was.

That's my girl.  Angry hungry. Future suitors beware, take her to dinner first.

The last days of leucadia

I am mourning the loss of my adopted homeland.  We have just under two weeks left here and we are milking it for all its worth.  My secret plan is to move Andie back here before she realizes we ever left. 

Another action shot!

Hanging out

Literally. Of her swing.  What a big girl!

Remember I said my baby was awesome

Slept for four hours straight in her shitty britches AND lands with a smile.

Breakfast party.

We party. Hard. Between the hours of 10am and 8pm.  After that we sleep. Hard. Like old folks with a baby.

Last night we went to bed at 9pm. Our hotel was ON bourbon steet.  The raucous party sounds of piss drunk frat boys and sloppy cougars lulled us to sleep in the early evening. We dug it. No regrets :)

Vacation had been excellent. Boss baby likes to nap in the humidity of the south. It's kinda cool. We are definitely looking forward to next year.

Come on back for a cold one

Boss baby, relaxing in alabama, being polite, showing keen interest in dad's dumb story.

Up in the air

The great white fang of the south west had her second airplane flight today.  And the first one of consequence.  Today we flew for four hours.  It could have been rough.

We were prepared for the worst. We (Marin) made snack packs with apology card in them for our co passengers.  We forget these at home.  We stressed about how many toys to bring. We stressed more just because that's what we do...

But boss baby is on vacation this week, and she was relaxed. Honestly not one whine wimper or complaint out of her in a four hour flight, 2 hour drive to lax, or the hour or so wait to get off the plane and get our bags.  My baby is f$&#ing awesome and you should be jealous.

We are all looking forward to cocktails and humid sandy beaches this week. It's gonna be rad.

The livin is easy...

Summer is awesome with a baby.  Pool splashin, and beachy afternoons.  Warm afternoons in the backyard.  It's like watching the wonder years in 3D super HD+ real life!

Marin is a pretty good Winnie Cooper.  I'll take her anyway.  :)

More is less

I think there is an inverse relationship between a child's age and the amount of crap you must keep with you to help them through this big scary world. 

I put big baby snacks in the stroller without her car seat today. First time! It is so much lighter without the car seat in it.  I'm ready for some baby joggering. She fit great and was pretty stoked on the new perspective.

So... six months in and one massive baby item down.... sometimes.  I am looking forward to having some (some) of my space back one day.

Mmm.... tastey

It's been a while since I posted here.  Sorry :)

I have good excuses (went to the middle east, bought a house, changes at work....) but if you are reading this you dont care about old men. You care about cute babies.

Another thing I must apologize for is posting photos of misd tiny chompers on social media.  This blog is supposed to prevent me from doing that and recently I have succumb to the dark temptation of the "like".  I am so ashamed. 

Enough about boring old men...

Andie is eating.  Mostly rice cereal but we have tried a few other items.

Avocado: thumbs down. I'll be working on this one. No daughter of mine is going to dislike avocado.

Watermelon: loved it, but didn't want to swallow it.

Grapefruit: I'm a terrible person :)

When she eats she already grabs the spoon and wants to feed herself.  It's really fun.  I love feeding her, it's great.

Sleeping on the job

Boss baby is sleeping on the job this morning.

These butterflies aren't going to Twitter themselves boss baby!

Get back to work   :)

When I sit you sit we sit

My little sitting calf.  What a great new skill.

Ill be honest, I was never that into female aviators.

Until now!

Amelia Erfarts had her first plane ride today. And she rode that plane like a boss.

Be jealous. My baby slept half the plane ride.  Pilot announcements, no problem, mild turbulencd, easy, rough landing, done!

She only woke up when the engines turned off. 

It was a super easy flight though. Only an hour.  We are flying to new Orleans in a month, that will be the real test of her cuteness/screaming ratio.

Maybe the dingo ate your baby...

And maybe the dingo is your baby.

This is the first hat she hasn't immediately hated.   Good sign I think.

Thanks auntie robin.

I'm five months old!

Also I thought of my nerdiest nickname yet.

Cuteness Everpeeing.

Very nerdy indeed.

Twenty weeks.

Little big bird is twenty weeks old!

A great Memorial day.

Baby cankels has learned two new things.  She giggles!  And she wants to touch your face.  Both these behaviors are so endearing.  Evolution is amazing. 

I'm tired, roll over

She rolled from her back to her belly!  And I got a photo sequence!  And I saw it before Marin!  What a great Saturday!

Teeth!

My baby girl had two, count em, two lower teeth coming in.

A plague on both your houses

Little Grace Smelly and I have been sick all week.  I came down with a fever and a wicked sinus infection, while she suffered with a snotty nose and rough sounding cough.  It feels as if we are both on the mend but it's been a rough week in the Vaughn house.

First my lovely wife spent mothers day caring for her sick family.  Not what I had planned for her, but I was very appreciative.

Then, sickness persisted until Thursday.  And Thursday was the day Andie's Nanny started work.  Marin started back at work full time this week.  All she had to help her get the house ready was an achey sick complaining baby, and an infant with a cold. 

To top it off our Nanny is pregnant, so we decided to evict me and my plague from the house.  Whereupon I brought my sickness up to my parents place.   To make my separation from my girls easier for me (sarcasm) Andie decided to learn how to role over while I was sequestered an hour away.  And she wouldnt let Marin get it on video even!

At the end of this tragic week my wonderful wife had now joined me at my parents place.  Here there are two spare beds, so i can sleep in another room and not be on the couch.  I adore this lady I married. She is my best friend.

And... and... when they got here my baby girl promptly displayed her new found skills rolling from front to back. All's well that ends well.

4 months and counting

The following is stolen from an email Marin sent.  Why write it down twice :)

"Today was Andie's 4 month check up. She is actually 17 lbs 14 oz and 26.76" long with a head circumference of 17.32".

According to the growth chart calculator   I looked at, she is over the 95th percentile in all categories for her age!

And adorable."

My chubby baby really is big!

What's that you got there. Looks delicious!

My little zombita is a drooley mess.  She constantly looks like she hungers for BRAINS, I mean boobies.

Also a few other new skills.  She can raspberry her lips as she drools at you.  That falls into the category of only cool to her parents, but trust me, if you are us it is exciting.

And in this photo, you can't really tell, but she is half standing half leaning on the sofa all by her self!  My girl will be walking the nose on a 5 foot log by the time she is one!

Cool onsies

I hope missy pissy goes back to look at the cute outfits we put on her as a baby and credits us with how cool she has become.

Prob won't happen. :)

Milestones

It's really interesting what you find interesting as a new parent.

The grumpster found her feet this week.  Validating the names of yoga poses and seriously exciting her parents. No kidding, we were ecstatic.  SHE FOUND HER FEET!.

Now I mean no disrespect, but I wouldn't really care if your kid found their feet.  Big deal, they are attached for f$&# sake.

And there is my point.  My baby has lowered my standards for what counts as an exciting developmental milestone to whatever it is that she is doing right now.  Because that, whatever it is, is amazing.

Friday's with momma sue

Today is the first day of childcare for wiggles the kid.  My mom has graciously offered to help us out on Friday's.  Saving us money, and befriending her grandbaby all at once.  Good plan!

So I dropped her off at grandmas early early in the morning.  Hopefully a day without parents is smooth for us all.

But.  Caveat.  It's not such a risk. Im cheating.  I work from home, so I'll be in my mom's house too.

Sunsets with the fam.

Yesterday we walked over to the beach to watch the sunset together.  Living here is so great.  I hope we are still here  when the balding babino is old enough to really appreciate it.

Keepin it cool...

Life is good.  I am a genuinely happy man these days. My little girl is a blessing and I love her to bits.

I've been back at work for two weeks already!  And so far its been great. I am really lucky to have this great flexible job at this point in my life.

My point is, cool is cool, and I'm a total spaz for life these days.  And that's not keeping it cool.  But happy is cooler than cool and I'm cool with that.

Getting psyched for the new superman movie.

She is getting old fast!

Recently it seems the two foot tooter has accelerated her learning rate to a whole new level.

Everyday there is a new behavior.  She is getting good at reaching for objects.  Can't quite snatch the pebble from my hand yet, but I expect I'll be kicking her out of the temple soon.

This afternoon I got a giggle.  That was awesome.  Coos are for the birds. Baby giggles are where it's at.

Holy Moly my baby girl is cute.

I don't know where she gets it...

Or maybe I do.

Working from home is hard.

Nahh.  Not really.  It's awesome.

Another solid contender

This is Andie vs. her (middle) namesake Great Grandmother Dorothy

Whose nose is that...

A favorite topic of conversation at family gatherings these days is the source of Miss Shartypants various facial features.

Does she have my eyes, or Marin's brow?  Does she have my pop's tongue?

The fact is, she is like no one so much as herself. I catch glimpses of familiar faces when she smiles (or poops). No one family trait can be said to have triumphed in the great evolutionary gambit.  The Vaughn and Coon genes joined forces in a true generic meritocracy,  creating a wholly new and improved human being.  There is no baby photo from the past the bears exact comparison to my sweet girl.

But that said, if we are going to play the who does she look like game, I have to say I think my little brother has a commanding lead.

Nights and Weekends

Being back to work hasn't been so bad.  I've still got my two ladies at home all day.  And we still have great times... just on nights and weekend now :)

Hi Ho Hi Ho....

Back to work i go.




My extended vacation in daddering is ending today.  I have been really blessed to spend so much time focusing on my family, but alas, starting tomorrow I rejoin the rat race.  It has been really fun being a full time dad with an income.  If my ship ever comes in I know exactly what I want to do forever.  Nothing but hang out with my baby girl all day.

I am going to make the most of my last day with Old Man Squawk.  We are going for a walk on the beach.  Then probably we will sit around and stare at each other.  Maybe, just maybe, I will get her to drink from a bottle.   We're going to go to Home Depot. buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.




I still get to work at home... And Marin is still off work for another 4 weeks.  So it wont be as bad of a transition as could be.  But I am going to miss doing nothing but looking into this cute face all day.





I will still update this blog any time Andie does something to impress me, which is pretty much daily.

What more can i say

Baby squawks has been trading her squawks for talks.  It is really cute.


https://soundcloud.com/ryan-vaughn-2/andie-talks

Hey yous guys.

Make with the boobies.  And make it snappy.

The kids are all right

We finally got ms. grumpydumps into see the ENT doctor today.  The doc stuck a camera down her nose and into her throat... and the word is good news!

He saw nothing worrying down her gullet.  So mom and dad can relax a bit.  Just a bit.  Those stridor episodes are still gonna turn me grey.  Just not quite so fast now that I know she passed the ENT exam.

Yeah for cute babies.

Teething!

My baby girl is getting her first tooth!  She is getting so big!

Lower left incisor. I can see the little white cap poking through her gums.

And she is pissed about it!  A teething baby is a pissed off baby.

The real tragedy is, with the teething pain, her breathing issues have become worse.  Andie has trouble breathing occasionally when she is upset, usually during daiper changes.  And she had been doing much better on the breathing front until today.  Then, this morning, I gained another couple of grey hairs.  She would not calm down.   And her stridor was some of the worst I've seen.

We have our appointment with the ENT on Wednesday (finally!).  So hopefully we will have some resolution soon.

I love these ladies...

I really do.

Turning back the clock

I think youth is contagious.

I don't remember the last time I saw my mom curl up on the floor like a little girl.  I doubt she realized how agile she looked getting down there to look at her grand baby.

I like turtles...

Parenting life pro tip

Using the forward facing camera as a mirror for your tiny fuss factory means you always have a baby distraction device on hand, and bonus, you can take some really cool photos.

Rock n' Play

The floor of my house is littered with baby distraction devices.  My new favorite invention of the modern age is stuff that will entertain baby so your arms can take a break or clean dishes or sip beers.  We have two bouncy seats, an exersaucer (in a box), a play mat, a crib, a changing table, and a swing.  And a rock n play!  The only room in the house without something to contain Ms. Poopants is the bathroom.   My new life is colorful and plays crappy lullabies.

And I love it.

By far the most awesome thing we have is the rock n play.  That is my new goto baby shower gift.  It's super portable (it's her crib at grandma and grandpas) and it puts her at a slight incline, which is clutch when dealing with reflux or spitups.  We set it near the window and Andie gets real stoney on the trees and birds.  We set it near the bathroom so we can have a leisurely visit without being out of ear shot.  It's rad.

San Diego is better than Orange County

We had another great day today.  But ill be honest, it took more work to be awesome in the OC than in SD.

First we checked out Portola Coffee Lab.  We are coffee tourists after all.  As far as I can tell this is the only third wavey coffee shop in Orange county. 

After coffee we hit the stay at home mom circuit and joined the stroller brigade in the soco mall.  

A quick browse in "Surface" to give my little girl the right intro to foodie snobbery.  She dug it, lots o shiny steel pots n pans.

Then after twenty odd minutes of being miserable in the parking lot of an urban wasteland we turned tail and ran to the OC/San Diego border.  Proximity brings cool air and cool establishments.  The riders club in San Clement is one of my all time favorite burger joints.

Andie was rocking her cutest outfit to date through all of it, courtesy of Ms. Bonnie Adamick.

An excellent day.

Today started with yet another doctor visit.  We headed down to the hospital to get Andie something called a "barium swallow".  This is a procedure that allows the radiologist to xray her GI system.  This is to look for obstructions and irregularities that might explain her breathing issues.  We should get results back soon, the radiologist was optimistic after a quick glance, so fingers crossed.

Next we headed off to be coffee tourists.  The coffee and tea collective is a good spot to check out if you are a coffee geek/snob and exploring south east San Diego.

After coffee we decided today was an excellent day to visit the zoo! So we bought annual passes (happy birthday Marin :-) )... We were right, the zoo is rad.  And it turns out you can walk around with a beer there, so it's also my new favorite place for midday beer drinking.

Next on our list was a brewery... because beer. 

This particular spot also has excellent pizza.  My highest recommendation to the blind lady ale house.  We had a bacon and egg pizza.  Delicious.

Next! Ice cream!  Mariposa ice cream in normal heights is good stuff.  Veronica Mars likes it, so should you.

After ice cream we hit up this rad park on a cliff.  Normal heights isn't that normal, but it's cool.

The plan was to top off the day with a craft cocktail, but I am old and my one beer at lunch was enough to make me go home for a nap.

Andie was perfect through all of this.  No complaining, no fussing, no scary breathey noises.  Truly a perfect beautiful baby all day.

And we all lived happily ever after. 

The End