Sebastian’s Quiver

Sebastian turned 3 months a several days ago and he’s doing more and more every day.  He’s ALMOST rolling over now.  When you put him on the floor on his back he likes to do crunches with his legs.  Sometimes he’ll throw his legs over to one side along with his arm and he is SO close to rolling over.  We cheer him on every time he does it, but his underneath arm always seems to stop him.  He’s not strong enough to move it into a position where he can get the rest of his body over it.  It shouldn’t be long now.  My uneducated guess is within the next week.

He’s also babbling a lot more.  He does a lot of variations of “ahhhhhhh” sounds and sometimes he’ll do it for 10 to 15 seconds.

Sebastian is also sleeping more.  His normal bedtime is around 9pm or so and last night he slept 4am, which is his longest stretch of uninterrupted sleep ever.  He’s also starting to go to sleep on his own.  Juli drove down to visit her grandmother in Eugene last week and he slept for the entire two hour car ride.

He has also gotten really grabby.  He loves grasping clothes and fingers and books and papers and toys.  He still loves his Abima and his bunny and now he’s starting to talk to them.  He loves it when his mother plays paddycake with him - whenever the song starts he gets super smiley and his eyes get really big.  Speaking of smiling, Sebastian laughed out loud while he was awake for the first time!  It was more of a giggle, but he did it a couple of times within a span of a minute or two.

Sebastian has been getting out more and has been much more social recently.  Juli takes him to mommy/baby yoga and storytime at the library and he loves watching all the other kids and he loves it when the older kids pet him on the head.

Juli and I took Sebastian on his very first hike on Sunday.  We drove out to Sauvie Island (a whopping 20 minutes away) and we went for a hike near the big lake on the island.  It was BEAUTIFUL. (See below to see some photos of the wildlife that we saw.)  Yet another reason why Portland is a fantastic place to live.  The very same day we went on a wonderful two hour hike in 65 degree weather with the sun shining, a guy I work with (Mark) went skiing about an hour outside Portland.  Oh, and on Saturday we went to the farmer’s market and picked up some freshly laid eggs, just-picked butter lettuce (amazing!), picked some Swiss chard from our backyard, and got a fantastic espresso from Ristretto Roasters.  All in all, a wonderful weekend.

As always, more photos can be seen on the photoblog, complete with descriptions.

Click on the last photo above to see a larger version so you can see what the bird is carrying in his talons.

We went to a children’s store in the Alberta Arts section of Portland the other day (for you Atlantans, think Little Five Points, but more shops and restaurants) and they had tons of toys and brands that Juli and I really like (Plan Toys, blabla, Haba, etc.). Juli was talking to one of the women who work there (there were four people working there even though the store is less than 1000 sq ft) about how we were looking for a rattle for Sebastian. The woman asked how old he was, and when we told him that he was almost 3 months, she pretty much told us to forget about it because they can’t comprehend anything at that age anyway, and they can’t really see anything or DO anything with stuff. Ummmm….really? And you work for a children’s store? And, oh yeah, you’re wrong. Sebastian loves his rattle. And he loves his Abima.  So, Lady Who Works In The Children’s Store, maybe you should learn a little something about children before you decide to sell toys to their parents.

As for Sebastian, he’s getting more and more expressive with every passing day.  He does his share of babbling and grunting.  His manual dexterity is light years ahead of where it was last week - he’s grabbing on shirts and cat fur and toys all the time.  He does a pretty good job of trying to manipulate Abima’s head nipple into his mouth.  He definitely prefers some toys over others.  The other day I put him on the bed after a diaper change and I found Abima laying around so I picked him up and showed him to Sebastian and Sebastian started flailing his arms and legs in happiness to see Abima.  It wasn’t long before he was sucking on Abima’s head nipple.  I also found a wooden song flute and Sebastian loves it when I play it for him.  Of course the only song I can really play is Michael Row Your Boat Ashore, but I’m not a bad improviser (though I wouldn’t classify myself as a good improviser, either).

So here are some new photos.  As always, there are more photos on the photoblog.

Sorry for the recent silence, but we finally moved into our rental house (wow, what a nice house!) and we FINALLY got our internet connection installed and up and running.  No photos as of yet, but expect some by this weekend.  I’m also planning on posting a few photos of the house in case anyone is interested in seeing some.  The garden in the backyard is amazing, and we have a range in the kitchen that must be 40 years old but it works great.  There is a dial that you can adjust so that you can set how well done you want to cook your meat (rare, medium-rare, medium, etc.).  We’re still unpacking, but we’re making progress.

As for Sebastian, he hasn’t missed a beat.  Juliann (Juli officially switched her name back to her full name with the move to Portland) has been taking him out for walks every day to see the neighborhood.

When we were still in the apartment we were getting ready for bed and Sebastian was all swaddled up and laying in between us.  Juliann and I were just laying around not yet sleeping when all of a sudden Sebastian started to smile.  Then he started to giggle!  He was just giggling away while completely asleep!  It was amazing to be able to see his first laughter.  What could he have been so amused about?  And why did his first laughter occur when he was asleep?  He doesn’t laugh or giggle when he’s awake.  He certainly smiles a lot, but no laughing.  What was he dreaming about that he found so funny?  Do other kids laugh first when asleep?  Was he dreaming about someone tickling his feet?  Or telling baby jokes?  Was he thinking how lucky he is to have Juliann and I for parents?  Was he thinking of all the great times he had with his best friend Julius?  Was he watching Monty Python?  Was he thinking about all those chump physicists who believe String Theory?  I guess all these questions will remain unanswered, but it’s certainly interesting to think about.

Sebastian hasn’t missed a beat since the move to Portland.  He still eats, sleeps and poops, just like he did in Atlanta.  He also takes a darn good photo.  I thought I’d throw some up so everyone can confirm that he is as cute as ever.

We’ve had a whole lot of people tell us that he has a very mature/wise face.  I find it interesting that many people on multiple occasions have said the same thing about him.  Is it the hair?  The striking good looks?  His mother’s eyes?  His father’s dimples?  You make the call.

Here are the photos.  Take a look at the photoblog to see some more photos of the set.

Wow, it’s amazing what a difference a day makes.  One day we’re getting all of our life’s belongings boxed up and loaded into a truck in Decatur, GA, and the next day we’re living in Portland, OR.  And let me tell you, we weren’t in Portland 30 minutes before we sensed what a huge change it’s going to be.

Let me start at the beginning, but since it’s late and I’m still a bit jet lagged, I’ll make it quick.  Our great friends Julia and Kathryne gave us, and lots of our belongings, a ride to the airport.  Easy as pie.  Once in the airport, the woman behind the first class counter (yes, you read that right, we flew first class) was most DEFINITELY not first class herself.  She was a bit short with a touch of rude and impatience, but compared to the woman at the security area, she was Florence Nightingale.  If I didn’t have my wife, my son and my cat with me, and if I weren’t a decent guy, I would have rung her neck.  It’s amazing that the government can hire the stupidest, rudest, pieces of crap to secure our airlines.  If anything, these people make our airports less secure.  Do some of these people even have high school diplomas?  Can they read and write?  They certainly can’t act civil to other human beings.  They couldn’t spot a terrorist a mile way.  OK, I need to get off my rant box now.

So we got to the airport and went to the wrong terminal.  No big deal, we got there early enough that we got to our real terminal with plenty of time to spare.  The silver lining in all that was that we got to see a wonderful sunrise, our last as residents of Atlanta:

Our flight in first class (did I mention that we flew first class?) was great.  Plenty of room, hot towels, drinks, snacks and anything else that we wanted.  I even got to overhear a WWII veteran talk to another guy about some of his experiences in Europe during WWII and all the reunions that he’s been to (he was on his way to his 65th reunion, I think).  Pretty cool.  Sebastian slept for almost the entire flight, but he decided to let go a HUGE poop as we were decending into Portland.  Luckily, his diaper contained it all, but it was a close call.  Misha also did really well.  He rode in the cabin with us and he didn’t meow once the entire trip from Atlanta to Portland.

We got to Portland and you know what?  People we nice to us!  Waiting for our baggage some guy just started talking to us AND HE WASN’T RUDE!  He was just a nice guy chatting with us about our cool stroller.  And later that day more and more people were nice!  NICE!  And friendly!  FRIENDLY!  I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing.  Is this how Portlanders act on a day to day basis?  I found myself striking up conversations with strangers.  ME!  Talking to people I didn’t know for no other reason than to talk to people I didn’t know!  ME!  Can you believe it!  This friendliness, I found, was contagious.

So, in summary, we are all doing great.  My first couple of days at the office were great (everyone was, you guessed it, friendly and very happy for me to be there).  Thursday there was a bit of a party at the office and we were all eating cake and drinking wine.  Friday was Happy Hour and everyone was drinking wine and/or margaritas by 4pm.  Not bad for a first week.

Juli and Sebastian are both doing fantastic.

So, to re-summarize: Portland rocks.  I’ll take rainy winters in a great, vibrant city with wonderful people over blazing hot summers in a drab, rude, crappy city any day of the week.

I know that living here won’t be all wine and roses all the time, but it was time for me to get out of Atlanta.  I will miss my family and friends immensely, but I think I overstayed my welcome in Atlanta.  I’m loving Portland after only 2 days and we haven’t even gotten out of The Pearl district yet.  We haven’t even gone to the beautiful coast, or gone hiking or visited the wineries or brew pubs or parks or the river or the gorge or Mt Hood or really anything.  I’m excited.

So today is moving day.  The furniture is being wrapped, boxes are being loaded, and we’re just sitting around using up the last couple of minutes of internet access for the day.  I thought I would post some photos that I took the other day when my family came over and took us out to dinner.  All the photos I took are up on my photoblog, and more specifically http://www.literalshore.com/zenphoto/family.

My sister Raven holding Sebastian:

Here is my nephew Zavion holding Sebastian:

And here is Sebastian with his favorite toy.  It’s an Ugly Doll and his name is Abima: