Happy Birthday Papa!

Happy birthday Papa!  We won't go into how old you are.  Hope you had a good birthday even though you had to paint today.  Cason is smiling at you on your birthday.

Day 1 of work

It was an early morning today that started at 6:15 with getting everything ready while Cason was still sleeping.  Tina showed up at 7:20ish and Cason was already up and in a happy mood.  We went over where everything was for a bit and I was at the office by 8:00.  Tina sent pictures throughout the day of a smiling and sleeping Cason which was nice.  I left the office at 1:00 sharp and was home shortly after to a sleeping baby.  Tina leaves a notebook of all the activity of the day and her first sentence was "Mummy's first day back to work."  Tina is Australian and it is fun to see the different wording she uses.  Cason and I got to snuggle for a late nap and went for a walk as it finally stopped raining.  I made it through the day, but then I thought, jeez, I have to do this all over again tomorrow.  It is going to be a long week.

Asleep after our walk

the doggie lovey is getting well used

Off to work we go...

Oh the last day...
I didn't even leave the house today just to hang out with Cason more,  and well I also did a lot of final cleaning as nanny Tina will be at the house all week.  Next on the to do list is to get a house cleaner... I have been saying I would forever, but I am actually going to do it this month.  Cason and I got lots of snuggle time in this week, especially the last few days.  We have taken his last nap of the day together on the couch which is very comfy for both of us.  Luckily I will be coming home early this week to ease us (mostly me probably) into the routine of going back to work.  I will have to continue my snuggle time in the afternoons since I will be missing him during the mornings.  Steve is giving me 50/50 odds that I don't even get out the door tomorrow.

Sleeping on the couch together

Somebody needs to start wearing bibs during the day - Drool King

A little too late...

Well you can tell how much I have watched the basketball tournament this year by the following:  I thought we would watch tonight and root for UCLA, so I broke out the UCLA onesie for Cason (given to him by his Uncle Ryan) even though it was a little too big, got on the internet to see what time they played... and realized they lost last weekend.  Whoops, this little fan is a little late to the game.  Oh well, there is always next year!

Last week of good times

We are in the last few days of my leave and we have been very busy this week.  I have mastered the art of keeping Cason dry through the worst of downpours!  I end up drenched from head to toe, but he is all smiles when I pull off the blanket that is covering the carseat after our mad dashes to the car from where ever we have been.  There has been no avoiding the rain this week. We have went on lots of mommy play dates and tried out a few new things.  Cason loves trying to sit up so we tried out the Bumpo this week.  I am not sure he is completely ready for it so I limit his time to only a few minutes, but he is very happy when he is in it until it gets a little hard and then he is very focused.    

He is also starting to really grab things so I gave him a "lovey" (heard someone call it that, don't know another name for it).  He is holding onto it and brining it to his mouth.  It keeps him pretty entertained, but I am not sure he exactly knows what he is doing.

sitting up in the Bumpo

Cason thinks I make pretty funny faces at him

hanging onto the lamb lovey

Into the crib we go...

After a crazy up and down night on Sunday night that gave us a sleepless night, I decided it was time for Cason to try out the crib.  So last night we broke out the baby monitors and put Cason down at what is becoming his bed time of 8:30.  I don't think he even noticed that he was somewhere new and the night went the same as usual.  I was scared I wouldn't be able to hear him wake up but I slept pretty lightly and heard the little grunts and cries.  He was up to eat around 3:00 and again at 6:00 at which time I brought him back to my bed to cuddle and snooze on the boppy as I am not ready to be up at 6:00 yet.  Next week.... sigh... I will have to be up then.  We slept until 7:30 at which time we were up and ready to start the day.

Self picture attempt

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well for Cason's first St. Patrick's Day we decked him out in green.  Yes, for those of you wondering, he is at least 1/4 Irish as his Grammie GG is 100% Irish.  We had a good day with coffee with a mommy's group and it also included some gardening as spring is just around the corner.  Here is Cason in his Irish shirt and jammies.

Yes, it says... Kiss me I'm Irish!

Shamrock pjs

Three Months Old

Oh my goodness, Cason, you are three months old!  He is getting so big, he is basically out of any 0-3 month clothes, and well into the 3-6 month clothes.  He is even in his 6 month sleepers now as his feet have reached the end of the 3 months and we had to move on for most of them.  I did an unofficial weigh in for him and it read 14.0 even with his clothes on and after a big feeding so I am guessing he weighs about 13 1/2 lbs and at least 25 inches long by my rough measurement.

With only 8 working days left of my maternity leave, I am trying to get everything ready and Cason on somewhat of a schedule even though he is resisting all the way.  He has suddenly in the past week decided to increase his nighttime hours and sleeps for about 11 hours at night.  He still wakes up during that stretch to feed, but hopefully that will soon stop.

He is starting to sit up better and no longer likes his bouncer unfortunately.  We still put him in it every now and then to get some things done, but he only lasts a few minutes.  His current love is the ocean play mat... He has learned to kick the sides which makes everything shake.

I have missed the first two months on measuring him against something, so now I am using the Pooh bear to show how he grows.

Morning happy baby

Pooh bear with 3 month old Cason

Afternoon grumpy face... smiles are rare after 5pm

Alice in Willow Glen

Auntie Alice took the Caltrain down to SJ for the weekend to see her niece and nephews.  We had a great time hanging out (mostly just eating!) in Willow Glen on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday.  She has good experience at the "baby sway" and put Cason right to sleep on Saturday night.

Rolling rolling rolling

Well it may take him 2-3 minutes to do it, but Cason rolled over multiple times now.  I have it on video too, but it is a long 3 minute process... here is it is in a few shots.  I will start to worry about him actually rolling over when he cuts the time down to under one minute.

Tummy time

Cason has HATED tummy time... BUT he is finally coming around.  We put him on the ground the first few times and he does a face plant and just gets very frustrated as the picture shows below.  So we haven't been too diligent on this issue.  Now I have had to up my game as I only have 3 weeks left and a lot to do to accomplish 'the perfect baby' for his nanny Tina.  (we all know I am destined for failure right now)  I have used the boppy for the past two weeks and today I got a SMILE out of him and he cooed at his new monkey that sings to him during tummy time.  This is a huge improvement.  He still only tolerates about 3-4 minutes at a time but I think we turned the corner on tummy time.  On to the next task at hand... napping somewhere other than mommy's arms!!!

The face plant - just 2 weeks ago

today's tummy time with the monkey

just barely catching the smile on film

Miss Amy in town

Amy came into town on Friday to visit Cason.  I think we talked non-stop mommy talk for 3 days, though we did get the chance to catch a movie on Saturday night.  Cason is loving to show how strong his legs are getting and loves to bounce on your lap.  The trouble is, he adds a cute wiggle to it which is exhausting on your arms as you try to make sure he doesn't slide out of your grasp.  Luckily Amy has a lot of practice as Kinsley was the same way at his age and helped hold the wiggly guy throughout the weekend.

My little pooh bear

One day Cason is going to go "Mom, Really?  Did you have to dress me up in all those crazy outfits?"  I figure I am getting good practice at embarrassing my kid.  We got the pooh bear jumper before I knew whether Cason was going to be a boy or girl.  It now fits as Cason is well into the 3-6 month clothes now.  He is even pushing the height limits on those sleepers.  I think he is going to possibly be a tall one.

We had a rough Monday as I had to go back to "full-time mommy" duty without any helpers to hold Cason.  He pretty much wanted to be held all day long which was tough to get anything done.  On Wednesday I had to go to and interview for a possible new client at work.  So I had to drag out the work clothes and try to see what suits would fit.  It was very entertaining to be changing a diaper fully dressed in a suit and heels right before I had to leave.  Cason's Nana came over to help out and babysit him while I had to remember how to be an accountant again.  It was just like remembering to ride a bike. Thank goodness!

Here is my little pooh bear.