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

Babies love fans

We don't have a mobile to hang over Andie's crib.  But we have a ceiling fan!

Wallababies

My wallabys are my favorite shoes.  Marin bought these tiny baby Clark's about 3 years ago so I could be matchy matchy with my baby one day.

Today is the day!

Thousands of Oaks

This weekend we took our little grey hair inducing squeak ball up to visit her mom's home town.

The weekend started great!  It is common wisdom that babies dig car rides.  Not our baby.  Andie usually balls her brains out everytime we put her in the car.  So we were a bit worried about the 2+ hour drive from SD to TO.  But, Andie did great, slept the whole trip.  What a good girl!

After we arrived at auntie Kanan's house the epic baby behavior continued.  She was cute, she was awesome.

Then! We make our fourth visit to the doctor in ten days.   Andie dropped a worrying quantity of blood into her diaper.  We naturally had a panic attack and ran to the urgent care.  My addled brain cannot take many more of these baby health freakouts.  I am going to have the first simultaneous stroke/heart attack/human combustion event in recorded history.  I have aged ten years in two months. Uff.

All that said... I love this baby.  It is totally worth it. I think I'll look cool with grey hair anyway.

Baby is fine according to the doc.  We are adding strawberrys, nuts, and soy to the list of stuff Marin can't eat.  Cross your fingers and toes it works.

Also today is Andie's 2 month birthday! Happy 2 months to my pride and joy.

FFF

We often have ideas for really cute baby photos.  The problem is,  count squawkula doesn't always agree.  And there really is no reasoning with an 8 week old, you are not going to get her to see your side of the story.

So.... Time for a little forced family fun!

Hopefully she is too young to start resenting us :)

Bath Time!

My girl digs bath time.  Crossing my fingers I have a little water bug.  Just as long as she isn't into water ballet, pretty much any aquatic pursuit will make me overjoyed.

SJC!

My pops is out of the town and my moms is home alone...

So Marin and I have been spending the week up at grandmas house to keep her company. Its fun hanging out with the fam, but it's to bad Groucho Farts is too tiny to remember these family moments.   I suppose we will just have to keep visiting.

It's also great that grandma's house is better insulated than the beach shack.  I think it has really helped with Andie's croup.

Please mista

My lovely wife has a baby blog as well.

http://chazshreddingtoniii.blogspot.com

Her writing is an excellent compliment to mine.  I feel my stories are for the short attention span ADD/TL;DR crowd.  Where as Marin puts down the details. 

Croup!

So there is a second time for everything as well.  Last night was the second time we had a midnight visit to the ER.  And this time Andie went ahead and made the scary noise for the doctor.

It turns out my little baby has croup.  A mild case, the doc recommended a humidifier and some moisturizing nose drops, no meds.  But even a mild case of croup can scare the holy bejesus out of some new parents.  The noise she is making is terrifying.

So, now we are locked in a room at grandmas well insulated house with a humidifier and a beautiful baby.  Wish us luck. 

Sarcasm...

My favorite thing about having a baby, aside from the lack of sleep and constant total responsibility, is that heading off to spend the day at grandmas house ends up looking like I packed the car up to send her off to college.  HOLY SHITZA is there a ton of baby accoutrements.