Labor Day Weekend

Townes now weighs a little over 14 pounds and he flipped over twice this past weekend. He can't flip over on a consistent basis, but it's fun to watch him because he really looks motivated when he tries. It's neat to watch Townes' personality develop he seems to be smiling and in a happy mood (most of the time). He's also gaining better control over his hand movements, he started rubbing his eyes when he gets tired.

We ordered Townes some Halloween outfits. Emily got him a Peeps chick outfit (Peeps= those awful sugar coated marshmallows that Emily loves), a penguin outfit, and I got him a monkey suit with a fez hat. The monkey suit I got him is for 18 months so he'll have to wear it next year, the costume was just too good to pass up so I had to go ahead and jump on it.

Townes is getting Baptized on Sept. 21st. We met with our preacher last Wed. to go over the process. Hopefully Townes will behave during the service. He's getting Baptized towards the end of the 11:00 service and he usually takes a nap around 11:45 or 12:00.

I had to write a paper for one of my classes this weekend. It's probably the first paper I've had to write in 6 years.

*Music- The Knopfler/Harris album was a disappointment, there are only about two good songs on the CD, however the Uncle Tupelo album is good.

*Auburn- Well, football season is here. It kind of snuck up on me this year with so much else going on, and to be honest I don't have as much excitement about this season as usually do. I'm sure that will all change a few weeks down the road. I'm somewhat uneasy with Tony Franklin's offense. I was expecting to see a more high powered offense than the one that played on Sat., to be honest I'm kind of worried about it. Hopefully things will improve over the next few games. Franklin needs to realize he's not in the Sun Belt anymore and step it up.

Well I guess Bama is the dark horse for the National Championship this year. Honestly the ACC should just give up football all together and focus on B-ball; they are an embarrassment to NCAA football. NC State, VA Tech, and Clemson all lost. Is Bama that good, is Clemson that bad, or is it both? Time will tell. I do think Clemson's O-Line is terrible and Coach Bowden is a known choke artist. $100 says the next Daniel Moore print is called "The Catch", depicting Julio Jones first touch down for Bama.

*- We're going to try to post every two weeks now. Trying to post every week was becoming a hassle.

Not Much Going On

Townes is starting to notice his reflection in the big mirror in our bed room. We also gave him a small hippopotamus blanket that he seems to really like. Townes is becoming more active kicking his feet up in the air (I think he's trying to turn over), he is getting better control of his hands, and is starting to like is play mat alot more. Townes also likes to talk himself to sleep.

Townes went to his first birthday party in Birmingham is weekend. He mainly slept the whole time, and fussed while wake. Even short trips up to Birmingham seem to throw off his schedule and as a result he becomes more difficult to handle. Townes also went to church the first time this Sunday, he did pretty well in spite of us dropping him off screaming and crying. Hopefully the more times we take him to church the more use it it he'll become.

I'm starting back my MBA program at AUM this week. I'm not really looking forward to going back to school at all. Having a full time job, a baby, and school work to do is probably going to be a little stressful at times.

*Music- I took off my Pandora Radio stations, and instead created a play list of music to the right. It's a little bit easier to use than the Pandora link, all you have to do is click on it.

Vacation

This past week was our first vacation with Townes. We went down to Seaside, FL. this past Tues. and got back on Sunday. I think what I use to consider a vacation is now a thing of the past. Gone are the vacations where Emily and I could spend alone time together doing what we wanted when we wanted. Townes now occupies most of our time, it's kind of like having the same daily routine only in a different setting. It's still nice to get away from work, and I think once Townes is old enough to interact with us our vacations will be more enjoyable.

The weather was great at Seaside. There was a good breeze and the water was clear for the most part. We only took Townes down to the beach one morning around 8:00 am when it was overcast. He was in a fussy mood once we got down to the beach so we quickly took our pictures and left.

Townes did very well with all the traveling we did (i.e. going to Emily's grandmother's house in PC, the beach at Seaside, and her father's in Dothan).

Townes is a real morning person, every time we wake him he always smiles back at us (almost to the point where it looks like he wants to laugh). He also smiles when I tickle under his bottom lip, for some reason he gets a kick out of it.

* Music- I ordered a CD by Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits) and Emmylou Harris; and also Uncle Tupleo's "Anodyne". I have most of Uncle Tupelo's stuff but have always heard Anodyne was their best album, and the Mark Knopfler album is just something I ran across which sounded pretty good.

* The top picture is Townes before we went to the beach, the second picture is what happened when we got down to the beach.

Short Post

Townes is now starting to sleep a little bit better without being swaddled, although nap times are still somewhat a challenge. Two of his favorite things to do now are watch the giraffe mobile in his pack n' play and layout in our front yard around 7:00 PM and watch the trees.

Townes took his first dip in the pool on Saturday with mixed reviews. He seemed a little uneasy at first then after a few minutes started to fuss. I thought he'd like the pool because he loves his baths (the pool wasn't cold), I guess the two don't necessarily equate.

*Music- I found out how to link my Pandora radio stations off our blog. All the stations are self explanatory. Townes Radio was the first one I created; all I did was input all my favorite bands. Every now and then Townes Radio will play some junk like Queen or The Eagles, other than that it's pretty good.

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend was chaotic to say the least. Emily was in a wedding over the weekend so I was left to watch after Townes for extended periods of time. Needless to say his routine was inadvertently thrown out the window. I found out that for some reason he doesn't like to eat out of bottles anymore, and it was a struggle to get him to eat. Townes use to not mind bottles that much so I'm not sure what changed. We are going to make an effort to bottle feed Townes at least once a day.

On Sunday a few of Emily's friends came over and brought their babies. At one point we had four babies over at once which became kind of hectic, but that's something we'll have to get use to.

I think this week we might try to get Townes to sleep without being swaddled. He's pretty use to this process so I'm not sure how he'll take to it.

I'm now convinced that "Gripe Water" works better than Mylicon.

Townes is starting to try to roll over and sometimes I think he's trying to laugh out loud. He's been looking at his mobile over the changing table more than the blinds lately. I also bought Townes about 5 books this week, there is one called "Black On White" that he likes alot.

* Music- I bought two Charles Mingus CD's this week; "Ah-Um" (I think that's the name) and "Mingus at Antibes". My friend also burned me some Dexateens and a Black Keys album that Danger Mouse produced.

It's been a while...

I know it's been a while since my last post. I'm going to try to get back posting every Sunday again. Coming up with content for this blog is more difficult than expected.

My aunt from Asheville, NC came by the Saturday before last and met Townes for the first time. I really wish we could take a boat ride with Townes on the river this Summer, but common sense is telling me that we'll have to wait until next year.

Townes is still smiling and cooing but doesn't care for his "tummy time" at all. I need to come up with a new strategy so that he can exercise his neck mussels. He also started looking at his reflection a few weeks ago. His favorite place still continues to be his changing table, I don't know why but he loves it (he also loves looking at the blinds beside it).

Townes got his first rounds of vaccinations this past Tues. and actually took it pretty well. He'll be 9 weeks this Thurs., weighs 12lbs 12 oz ,and is 24.5 inches long.

I really wish that I had more to write about but I don't. I'm really starting to get anxious for the upcoming football season and can't wait to see Auburn's new offense. There has been so much discussion about our offense that I haven't heard anything about our defense. I hope Paul Rhoades proves to be a good hire.

July 4th Week

The 4th was pretty fun. My parents came over and ate BBQ and we watched our neighborhood's 4th of July parade from our front porch. Townes slept through the parade so we didn't make it to the park where everyone congregates after the parade. Later that night a band played in the park and Emily, Townes, and I listened and watched from our front yard. We ended the night uneventfully by watching the fireworks displays on NBC (NYC) and CBS (Boston) on TV. Townes took at bath this Sunday without crying which is a major event, however he might have been a little bit dazed from just waking up so we'll have to see how his next bath goes.

One of Emily's coworkers (who has four children) came by to see Townes. She commented on how squirmy he was. Hopefully his squirminess won't translate into him being a hyperactive child. As far as Townes smiling and cooing, some days he's more alert than others. One day he'll smile and talk back to you for an extended time period, and some days he'll only do it in short intervals.

This past Tues. (Emily's B-day) Townes had one of the worst days he's ever had. On Monday he was pretty fussy, but on Tues. he was constantly crying (screaming at points), did not want to sleep, did not want to be put down, and was hungry all day. I think at around 6 weeks many babies go through a growth spurt so I think that's what he was experiencing. The next day Townes was his normal self. I also read that babies cry the most between 6-8 weeks; I hope this holds true.

* Music- I was really happy with the Mudcrutch album. To me it's ideal Summer time music (good for grilling out, the lake, beach, ect.) and is something everyone would enjoy. The Hayes Carll "Trouble In Mind" is pretty good as well; although if you don't like country music or Texas singer/songwriters you might not really care for it.

* Movies- We watched "Persepolis" which was pretty good. It's a black and white, animated, french film about a girl caught in the Iranian revolution. We also watched "Jumper", it's a terrible movie and I believe that Hayden Christensen is one of the worst actors of our time (along with Nicholas Cage).