Shannon Phillips

Gosh, the weeks are just flying by. We took Robin in for another check-up yesterday: the doctor pronounced him the cutest baby ever in the history of the world (well, okay, his exact words were “That’s the best smile I’ve seen all week,” but we extrapolated from there). He’s almost fifteen pounds, and 26 inches long—placing him in the 75th percentile of baby height for his age! What, I’m a mom, I’ll be proud of random growth fluctuations if I want to be.

The doc also agrees with us that his teeth might be coming in (he pronounced one lower front gum “very suspicious”). Robin’s been drooling a lot and he wants to chomp on our fingers. Sadly, he’s not been sleeping very well at night, but I am hoping this is because he’s going through a growth spurt and that he’ll go back to sleeping for long stretches soon.

Robin has been enjoying this playset his Auntie Nina sent for some time:

If we lay him down right, he can kick the struts and make the hanging toys shake. This is good for nearly a half-hour’s entertainment every day. But yesterday, he actually reached up and grabbed the little ducky! Yes, that two-headed mutant spotted ducky right there in the photo! He reached up with both hands and carefully patted it for several minutes! His father and I are predictably delighted with this new display of manual dexterity. Our clever baby is figuring out that hands aren’t just for sucking on!

Cousin Tina from England sent us this most awesome Sherwood-themed outfit:

If you can’t tell, the fleecy vest has little trees on it, and it says “Forest Path.” Perfect for my merry little man!  It’s a little big on him right now, which is good: he’ll be able to wear it for a while!

A quick Google search reveals some confusion as to what color “Lincoln Green” originally was. It might have been a fairly garish blue-green created using blue woad and a yellow overdye. It may even originally have been red, “green” being a corruption of “grayne” or “graine”, referring to the scarlet grain insect used to dye the cloth. Interesting! I have to say I like the subdued green & brown a lot better.

And now we’re off to see a man about a turkey!

Kitty says: Oh noes this pumpkin iz haunted!

There’s an article in the New York Times about co-sleeping, which is what they call it when your baby sleeps in your bed, next to you. This is what we are doing these days, even though we have a lovely and confusingly-named “co-sleeper” that is like a little crib attached to our bed. I posted a picture of it before:

The thing about the dedicated co-sleeper is that we started calling it the “Baby Wake-Up Box” when we noticed that, after a midnight feeding, he was vastly more likely to fall asleep when placed in his daddy’s arms than in the co-sleeper. He likes cuddling with us; who can blame him? So we pretty much gave in and brought him into bed with us. Now he sleeps between us, where with one well-aimed flailing motion he can punch us both in the nose at the same time. It’s fine actually, I like it. I like feeling his warm little body curled up against mine, and hearing the breathy little sounds he makes in sleep. I don’t feel that there’s any danger of rolling over on top of him. I’m very aware of him even when I’m asleep.

Actually Robin doesn’t like being out of physical contact with us in general, when he’s awake or when he’s asleep. I think the thought process goes like this: “No Mommy you cannot put me down, tigers might get me! Oh no my mommy has left my eyesight! Maybe I am lost! Maybe I am lost in the middle of the dark dark woods with tigers circling around me! I must cry very very loudly so that my mommy can find me again!” So I do hold him most of the day, or wear him around in a sling, which he also likes.

I’ve drifted off the topic of co-sleeping. I dunno, people have big arguments about this but I don’t see what’s to argue about. Some people do it and some people don’t. Presumably everybody just picks the sleeping arrangements that work best for their family, right? There is nothing here to argue about. It’s exactly like the so-called “mommy wars,” which are also awful, because there is not one right answer and everybody should just do what suits them best. I mean, duh.

Anyway, I liked the article, if only for the Doritos dream at the beginning. “It was such a good dream, Mom!”

The nip of autumn is in the air, and Babies, you know what that means: it’s time to update your wardrobe with the latest and hottest looks from the top designers. After all, you’re almost two months old now, and those newborn outfits you’ve been rocking for the past seven weeks are getting more than a little tight. You’re due for a fashion overhaul! Yes, it’s time to step out of the onesies of summer, and into the onesies of fall. We’ve put together this photo spread to help you find the ultimate fashion-forward gear.

Coordinated accessories are key this season. Here, our model sports an understated onesie with yellow trim, but the outfit is punched up by the addition of a matching skullcap for that put-together urban look.

You can also layer this outfit with footed pants—very on-trend.

Blending comfort and chic, this streamlined take on the classic baby gown evokes timeless sophistication. Coordinate with a simple cover-up when stepping out, or for an elegant evening at home.

Again, it’s the accessories that make the man. Our model demonstrates that you can wear a bib with style, even if you’re not actually eating solid food yet!

It’s the details that set these trendy footed pants apart from the herd. (See what we did there?) A giraffe appliqué is very fresh, very now.

Fashion trends cycle, and sometimes the best way to look cutting-edge is to go retro. You’ll be a man for all seasons in this vintage knitwear set—the bright colors and ducky details bring home a little bit of springtime just as the winter blahs are setting in.

(Many thanks to our “sponsors” for providing us with these dandy duds! Unfortunately Robin started to get sick of having his clothes changed so much long before we got through all the cute outfits that people have sent us!)

I should add to my last post that Robin isn’t cranky all the time, just a lot of the time. His other new (and vastly more charming) trick is the smile. I get a big smile every day, sometimes two of ’em. I tried to take a picture of him smiling this morning but only got a blurry one:

Also, here’s the mobile Sam made:

Yesterday Robin celebrated his one month anniversary (lunaversary?) of existing in the world outside my tummy. He marked the occasion by variously nursing, pooping, sleeping, fussing, waving his arms and legs, blowing spit bubbles, and blinking up at us with a wide variety of funny and curious expressions, one of which is illustrated above.

Today we went back to the doctor’s office for a check-up. Robin is gaining weight nicely—he’s nine and a half pounds now! He measures 21 and three-quarters inches from top to toe. He also got the second of his Hep B shots, which he did not consider a nice lunaversary present at all. Little does he know that next month he has five shots scheduled. It probably would not even help him to know that mommy and daddy have to get a shot too—the doctor “strongly recommended” that we both get a flu vaccine, as a way of protecting the baby from an illness that for him could be a very big deal. (He’s too small to be directly vaccinated for the flu.)

Au naturel:

In hand-knit booties:

In clever little socks: