Guess who found his hands! ...

Matthew, and it's about time, his writing has really improved.... Sorry - I've been watching a lot of House. Bronson did! I looked over at him today and he was looking at his hands and touching them. He seems to have grown alot today, because he's showing some awesome neck support ... it seems we may not be too far away from facing forwards in the Bjorn after all!

... anyhow, here are some pics from today, I know that's the real reason y'all check the blog :)

Bronson played santa today and gave dad an early Christmas present - a desk. He figured he could use it sooner as well as later. Here are some pics indicating how he felt about assembling it today (excited, unsure, confused).

Well, it's off to bed for me, B and dad are starting out on a 4 hour Instrumentation midterm.

A weekend out

This weekend was one of sleep and adventures for this Stevenson family. Friday evening was the Halloween party at Matthew's office. It was fun. Many pictures were taken of Bronson, and he ended the evening with a lipstick kiss on his forehead which we're not sure who it came from :)
There was a great bobbing for apples competition, a couple dressed as Borat and Ali G who were funnier than the actual Borat and Ali G, and Bronson's best friend Jesse was there! (Although they have yet to actually discover each other or realize that they're being forced to be best friends) Yes, it was really great to see Elina and Joey and their son Jesse who's 1 month older than Bronson. Although Jesse and Bronson are the same size, Jesse has his neck support and was forward facing in his Baby Bjorn - something Matthew and I are really looking forward to with Bronson.

Saturday was a day to catch up on sleep for Matthew and I, and that's what we did all morning and early afternoon. We even had to skip our soccer game to work on this. To be fair it was a 10am soccer game, and it's just not that easy making it anywhere that early with the babe. In the afternoon we lured Matthew out for a walk and grabbed lunch at the Baja Grill. This is a fast food mexican grill restaurant that is popular in SoCal. It's 2 blocks from our house and although I have a hard time going out for Mexican (because it's so easy to make!), this was worth it. BEST burrito I ever had. Saturday night we watched the "highly political" and totally disappointing 'American Dreamz', save yourself the money, it never really pushes the limits that it claims to.

Sunday Matthew needed to write a midterm exam. CalTech grad studies works on the basis of trust. So, he downloads the exam off the net and works on it 5 hours straight, and that's it. Finished. This one was open book, another one he has to do by Thursday is closed book, 4 hours wherever you like. It's cool for them to show that trust. It makes me think of all the times I saw cheating in University and realize that those people didn't make it in to grad institutions.
While Matthew did his exam Bronson and I endeavoured to be out of his hair. Our first outing was to the Pasadena City College Flea Market - people come from all around LA for this, it happens the first Sunday of every month, and is only ~ 4 blocks East of us. We walked there and walked around and came home disappointed. I'd hoped for a market, but it was like 480 garage sales in one place. Not good garage sales, either. Dirty junky ones.
At various times in my life it would've been awesome, second hand clothes, reto things, etc. But not anymore, I'm really no longer into any of that. PLUS, everything was really overpriced! I was shocked. Just because you call it an antique, doesn't mean it is. There were 3 things that tempted me; 2 for Aimee, a dress but it was expensive, and a beautiful pink guitar where the hole in the front was shaped like a heart, but it was WAY too expensive, like, if I won the lotto expensive. The other was the dvd's, there were many of them, new even, but they were all mostly the latest hits and as much as I like Mission Impossible, my dislike of Tom Cruise far outweighs it and I can't bring myself to see it much less purchase it. Also, they were unwatched and very cheap and I just don't know where they came from. Although, I have my suspicions.
So, that was a major disappointment.
After a brief stint home to change diapers and feed, we headed West to do some Lake Avenue Christmas shopping. I think Bronson had alot of fun, he was all smiles and sleep.
After this, we went home and hung out in the small back yard of our building watching twilight set in while Matthew continued his exam. We met some of the kids who live here, they liked to watch the baby, and I enjoyed lying on a blanket under the sky with my son and no mosquitoes around to bother us. It was sunny and warm yesterday, I'd been wearing sunscreen, and the smell of that coupled with lying on a blanket made me think of Rathtrevor beach. I think we need to take Bronson there as soon as he can run around and enjoy it.
Anyhow, there's our weekend in detail - I was so exhausted by my day yesterday that I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow - so much for catching up on sleep :)

Bronson takes time out to goof around with mom

Bronson is really getting into playing with people now. He and mom play two games that never fail to make him smile. Of course dad has other games that he plays which involve rolling and flying.
Game 1 is mimicking mommy's faces, usually done with air kisses and yawns. Sometimes after playing for a bit, when I stop, he'll re-instigate it. This one is nice, too because we can play it while walking him in the stroller.

Game 2 is the hand walk. I walk my hand from his tummy to his face and poke either his nose or a cheek while making a baby sound "boo bo bo bo bo bo boop". It's like a tickle and he never knows where I'm going to poke, so I get big smiles out of this one. These are some pictures from playing game 2 this morning.

...and still he sleeps

Bronson continues to appear to want to sleep today - after waking for a feed at 4:20 of course
:) I mean, he's got to draw the line somewhere, right?
Yesterday we went to CalTech in the early afternoon and met up with dad for lunch. I love the CalTech cafeteria, there's tons of vegetarian options and 5 or 6 different types of food to choose from - they have a brick oven right there to make pizza for you, a Mongolian wok area, a mexican buffet, various warm entrees area (yesterday was greek), sandwich maker person, pasta area, sushi and my favorite - an awesome salad bar. I really don't know how Matthew forgets to eat when he's got that place to go to. Maybe it's because he's not a breastfeeding new mother?
I love that I had fresh locally grown watermelon yesterday :)

After sleeping all afternoon, Bronson suggested we take an early evening walk to the grocery store. We also did some christmas shopping and then ended up at - and this was a bad idea on Bronson's part - Ross. The american version of Winners - only way better. With a TON of baby clothes at great prices beckoning out to me. Saying "It's getting colder Bronson needs a sweater..." and "He's growing out of his longsleeved, long pants pj's and could use some more. In the end the kid got 5 new outfits for ~$6 each. Unlkie his mom he didn't have a fashion show when we got home. He prefered to go back to - you guessed it; sleep.

Well, I'm going to join him for a morning nap on the couch, then we'll see what the day brings us.

Love and missing our families and friends.

Sleeping like a baby

Our little boy wonder is at it again. He slept most of yesterday. He slept some of last night. And today he's sleepy, sleepy, sleepy. I believe he's doing another growth spurt. I thought I should post this picture now that he fits his soccer outfit, before he outgrows it!

Today in Pasadena it's cold. I'm wearing long sleeves and very excited about this. After being so hot for the last month, I'm glad that the temperature has dropped for awhile. I'm not talking snow in Manitoba dropped, but more jeans weather than shorts weather is welcome by me.

Not too much planned for today - a walk and then some top secret shopping and then maybe some napping later on. I prefer taking advantage of his sleepy days and just resting up with him, but first some matters to attend to.

Welcome to my blog.

So I finally managed to wrest control of this complaint column from my over-controlling wife. Good for me. Now I'll tell the real story.

It's all Jenn's fault. Yep -- everything. Well, just the bad stuff. The good stuff is due to me. So, for instance, things that are due to me:

1. Bronson is handsome.
2. My tummy is full.
3. The collapse of the USSR.

To contrast, things that are Jenn's fault:

1. Bronson poos a lot.
2. Sometimes I forget to eat lunch.
3. China.

I think I've made myself clear.

Here's a picture of the kid:

Guess who hates Halloween?

Bronson. Although Matthew's not so keen on it either after getting a serious burn on his lip from the Halloween pizza he made.
We're not sure wether it was his costume that upset him so much, or mom's makeup (there was lots of it - I was a vampire) but he spent the evening screaming and the trick or treater kids at the door asked "Why's he screaming?" We dismantled the outfit and washed our faces off after a few trick or treaters and some pictures, but the Halloween party we're attending is on Friday, so I guess I'll dull down the makeup and we'll see if he's okay with being Dracula again.