Let's Sticker the Baby and other Fun Reflections from the Weekend

On Friday night, we attended a party hosted by Mo and Cecilia in honor of 4 friends visiting from South Africa. Cecilia met them when she was volunteering at McCord Hospital in Durban. It was a great night - good food, alcohol flowing, and an impromptu music show. Winston joined us and was incredible...totally calm, endured pass the baby with equanimity, and allowed Dave, Michelle and I to mingle until midnight! We are very fortunate to have a baby that allows us to enjoy our friends every now and then.

Lili spent a rainy Saturday afternoon with us while Michelle and Andy joined the USC Alumni group in watching the game. More pictures are available here. Lili, Dave and I decided that decorating Winston with Halloween stickers was more fun than decorating a witch hat and trick or treat buckets.A few words about Lili - she is an absolutely wonderful child. Curious, loving, independent and self-sufficient. She can come over and hang with us anytime. And I agree, stickering Winston was much more entertaining than stickering inanimate objects.Michelle returned the favor on Sunday so that Dave and I could get away and try paddle boarding on Key Biscayne. While I was enchanted with her chatterbox 3 year old, she appreciated the quiet and calmness of caring for Winston. Ideal sitting trade if you ask me.

First Time Parents at 35

We had an ice cream and champagne party on Sept. 21st for Dave's 35th birthday. The living room was transformed into a gymnastic studio, with Brixton showing off his latest moves and inspiring Lili in daring feats. More pictures from the evening (including guests in Alexandra's witch hat!) are available here.


Dave and I are officially older parents. We don't feel old most of the time...we're still exploring and adventuring (tried paddle boarding for the first time this weekend), but our age is sobering evidence that time is pasting swiftly by and we started this parenting thing a bit later than most.

Our age smacks us in the face every now and then. Someone recently pointed out that when Winston is our age, we'll be 70. Another incident: I was at the pediatrician's office, shooting the breeze with a new mom. She said, "is this your first?" After hearing my affirmative response, she said, "dang, you waited a long time, didn't you?" I was shocked...but then again, she has a point: we did wait a long time.

Regardless, it has been a good life, and is infinitely richer and sweeter and more hectic now that Winston has joined us. I think we gave each other the best gift ever to commemorate our respective 35th year of life.

Grandmas are the Best

Mary visited in mid-September and reminded us the supreme awesome-ness of grandmothers. Winston gets endless love and attention, and Dave and I get extra sleep, which makes life so much better. Kathy is visiting this coming Thursday - can't wait!

Winston laughs all the time now...he has a huge silent giggle that just about stops your heart it is so sweet. However, our awesome Sony camera is a bit slow on the uptake, so none of these pictures quite capture the expression.

Win got all decked out in his Wisconsin Badgers gear to watch the game that Saturday. The Badgers won, we think it was all due to Winston's engagement in the process.

Into the Groove...

Winston, Dave and I survived our first few days of work and daycare, and now we are getting into the groove of early mornings, late nights, and constant motion. I am happy to report that at least one of us is getting plenty of sleep (that would be Winston). Dave and I are surviving, and we all look forward to our evenings together as a family.
Winston is proving a highly adaptable and go-with-the-flow baby. He accompanies me to the office each morning, where we hang out for an hour or so, and then head over to Canterbury, where we say hello to Miss Nora, Miss Dori, and Miss Vicki- the team that takes care of him during they day. We greet Sami and the twins, Kai and Tysun (all are about 9 months old and rolly polly, adorable infants) , as well as the three "little ladies" in his room - Kendall, Madeline and Molly (3-4 months old) . Dave and/or I try to come over and have lunch with Winston each day - it is a two minute walk for me, a 15 minute drive for Dave -- and I must say hanging out with adorable babies is the best work escape ever.

I pick Winston up around 5:15 pm each day, and dinner compliments of chef Dave awaits us when we come home. Not a bad deal. Our nights are organized in 3 hour segments - Winston is still getting up every few hours to eat. It makes for rough mornings, but with coffee, vitamins and the famous "green drink" of spinach and oranges, I am getting by (Dave goes for a more traditional breakfast of eggs and toast).

This weekend we subjected Winston to heat and more heat...the beach on Saturday and the Biltmore pool on Sunday. We loved the water in both locations and loved napping in the shade best of all.

We are looking forward to our visit from Mary, AKA Grandma, later this week, and Kathy, AKA Tutu, at the end of September.

PS - Winston weighed in last week at 9 lbs, 11 oz - we were sure he was 10 lbs but alas were a few ounces short. He is tiny - in the 5th percentile when it comes to height and weight, but the doctor assures us that he is growing well and that he will catch up (he attributes his littleness to being born a few weeks early). Dave and I are trying not to get a complex about our little baby. The upside is they think he is "so advanced" at day care because he looks so much younger than he actually is! I guess there is always a bright side. Dave is threatening to spread the rumor that we got ourselves a pygmy baby, and that Winston is actually already 3 years old. Now that would make for some awkward moments from the folks who say "he's so little!"

Tell Us About Your Baby...

Tomorrow marks Winston's first official day at day care and my return to work. I am ready to go back but definitely anxious about turning over our 10 week old to the care of someone else. Thankfully Winston will be right across the street from my work, which provides tremendous peace of mind.

When I asked Dave about his thoughts on this transition, he said, "Well, at least the house will be cleaner." I've never been one for neatness, so you can imagine the house is a disaster when I am in it 24/7 (who has time to clean?).

Winston and I visited Canterbury, his daycare at the University of Miami medical campus today. Canterbury has 66 children ranging from 2 months to 4 years, and it functions as a day care and pre-school program. The team is wonderful - all of them are early childhood specialist who adore kids. Winston will be cared for by Miss Nora, and there are a couple of adorable baby girls that are part of his co-hort.

As part of the "prep" for day care, we had to prepare an overview of Winston's personality, likes/dislikes, and feeding schedule. It is so funny to describe him and our schedule (especially since the schedule is not really a schedule at this point...I mean the kid is only 10 weeks for goodness sakes!).

So since we had to write it anyway, I figured we'd share a bit about Winston... During his "alert" times, Winston takes in the world with his big blue eyes, and often has his forehead wrinkled with a curious expression. He instantly recognizes both Dave and me at this point - and usually greets us both with a wide toothless grin. When we talk to him, he makes every effort to talk back...he furrows his brow, sticks out his tongue, contorts his mouth, and once in a while he is even able to make a big sound, which pleases him to no end. These conversations are the highlight of my day.

Thankfully he is not a fussy baby - he cries when he is hungry and whines a bit when he is tired and ready to sleep. When awake, he definitely prefers to be interacting with someone over being alone. I don't know if this is true for all babies, but Winston seems to be a bit of a social gadfly.

We've become more disciplined about having him sleep in his crib, and as long as we keep him filled with milk, he is sleeping well at night (ok, well is a bit of a stretch given that he needs to wake up every few hours to eat).

Winston's arms continue to be a source of endless fascination for us. They rarely stop moving when he is awake, and while his moves are a bit more coordinated, he still resembles a mad conductor most of the time. Invariably, we find him sleeping in this position...hilarious!

Baking the Baby and other Fun Memories from Labor Day 2010

Last night Dave and I learned a valuable lesson: it is very tough to do things on a whim with a child.

Case in point: while celebrating Mo and Cecilia's selection of a wedding date (1/1/11!) over champagne, beers and darn good Spanish cheese, we decided to join them for dinner. Winston tolerated the very loud and uber cool environment for about an hour, and then began to squack. With the car valeted and no place to feed him, we quickly ate our entrees, said goodbye, and sadly left our desserts for others to enjoy. Winston cried (loudly) the entire 10 minute car ride home. I promised him that I would never leave the house without a bottle again!

Since we'd already set the groundwork for a bad parenting weekend, we decided to take Winston to the beach in the middle of the day today (weather: 90 degrees, still and hot as blazes). Brilliant, I know. Winston was decked out - glasses, hat, swim shirt, and his new fancy swim diaper. He took to the water like a champ...he startled a bit when we entered but took the new experience in stride. We did spend most of the time huddled under the umbrella - here are a few photos.

While we were only at the beach for about 90 minutes, we ran into 3 people that we know...one of Dave's colleagues and my friend and colleague Leilani and her husband. Small world!

Party Time

Winston experienced his first Kuhl/Sullivan party in mid-August in California. We estimate he was held by at least 15-20 people in the span of a 4 hour period. It was wonderful to see family and friends and to introduce Winston to the California crowd. Special thanks to Mary Jo for hosting at her beautiful home and to Barb and Tutu (Kathy) for planning such a beautiful party.



Photos from the party are available here, but this is definitely my favorite:

Note: we've compressed these photos so they are easier to view online. If you want any of the original ones for printing or sharing, let me know, I'm happy to send along. Also, if you have photos from the party, send this way and I'll add to this album.

Goodbye, Land of Zsa Zsa

Winston and I bid au revoir to California yesterday and arrived back in Miami late last night. It is fitting that on our last day, we were watching the entertainment news with Mary Jo (in Los Angeles, there is an entertainment "news" show on after the NBC morning show...because who can wait for Extra and ET in the evening, right?). In the midst of hearing the latest update on Lindsay Lohan, the host grabs her ear and says "we are receiving some breaking news...." I'm thinking, oh no, there was an earthquake or a fire or a hurricane. "...Zsa Zsa Gabor is unresponsive and being taken to the hospital!" Seriously...that was the breaking news.

Anyway, I'm not sure Miami is any better when it comes to keeping it real, but it is great to be home. We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends up and down the coast - many pictures and stories to share over the next few days. We were so busy I had no time to actually update the blog!

The sad news to share is that Flurry, aka Kitty, is missing. She has been gone since Dave got home a week ago. Winston and I are headed out for a morning walk to call for her, but we fear that she may be gone forever. She was a wonderful kitty - friendly, cuddly, and fully of personality. Please send a little prayer up to the heavens (or a little spiritual goodwill if that is your thing) this way - we need Kitty to come home for our house to be complete!