Family"s Coming To Town

Greg's sister Rhonda is currently sitting on a plane getting ready to come to Austin! And - my cousin Tony and his family are on their way here too. We're having a big 'o family bar-b-que tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait. Raymond is cooking the brisket and the ribs.... YUM!

And if that wasn't enough... we're meeting friends for CREPES in the morning. (Weather permitting)

Woo hoo! Gotta love three day weekends and family...

One Month Checkup

Yesterday was Atti's one month checkup with Dr. Owens. Technically, he was just over 5 weeks - but who's counting?

Height - 22.5 inches (I think he's actually longer, but it's hard to measure a squirmy baby)
Weight - 11 pounds 1 ounce (apparently, I'm feeling him the "good stuff")
FOC (head circumfrance) - 37.5 centimeters

This puts Atti in the 75-90th percentile for height and weight and the 25-50th percentile for head size. Funny - I don't think his head looks too little for his body!! (Check out the sexy pose!)

Yesterday, we did make the move to his 3month onesies. Crazy. I've already had to pack up the majority of his newborn clothes. Ummm... I heard time goes quickly, but I don't know if I'm ready yet to give up the "newborn" label!!

Baby Naming

Saturday was the baby naming ceremony. It went really well and Atti had lots of visitors including his Great Grandparents Jeanne and Mike and the Grand Bubbe. Uncles, aunts, cousins and a few friends thrown in for good measure too...

The ceremony was brief, but beautifully done by Rabbi Leynor. Atti was given his Hebrew name, Adi Gershon and was blessed by the Rabbi. Greg and I chose the name Adi, meaning precious or jewel with the help of my dear friend Nicole. Gershon is the Hebrew name for Henry in honor of my maternal Grandfather and several Henrys' on my paternal side. The Rabbi read a bit and had Greg and I recite some words as well. Shawn did video the whole she-bang, so hopefully I'll have a link to the video soon. Got to love the YouTube! Pops, my Dad, has posted some family pictures on the Web for those interested. There are some great pictures of everyone.

Poof time flies and it was Sunday and time to head home. Greg drove my Grandparents's car with all of us and our piles of stuff back to Austin. My favorite part of the drive... I was sitting in the third row just behind my Grandpa (who was next to Atticus). Since it was still so steamy, we had the A/C cranked up in the car and I was afraid that Atti was a bit chilly. I put Grandpa Mike on blanket duty and it was so cute to watch him looking over at Atti and pulling up the blanket and tucking it into the edges of the carseat everytime Atti wiggled free! We do have a Houdini child, so there was lots of wiggling!

Busy Busy

Where do I begin? We've been quite busy over the past few days. Last Friday was Atticus's first "official" car trip. Atti, myself and my Grandparents headed to Dallas. The drive went pretty well. The group of us stopped in Waco to break for lunch and so that I could nurse and change Atti. While there I learned that it is NOT state law (as I had assumed) that all restaurants provide a changing station in their restrooms. So, I ended up hanging out in the handicap bathroom stall to nurse and change Atti. Not the best, but it worked and then we were off and running for the remainder of the drive. (I-35 is the pitts - seriously people it's been under construction since I was born! Can we not just finish making the freeway 4 lanes each direction by now? But I digress...)

We stopped at Bryan Tower on our way north to visit with some of my coworkers. There aren't many people still in the office at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon - but we got to see a good number of folks. Atti was a trooper and slept the entire visit!

Lots more to post about the rest of the weekend, but Atti's calling for me at the moment - so the post will have to wait!!

Holy Moly Att-Man

Can you believe it? We've been a family of three for an entire month!! These past few weeks have been a blur. Atticus is growing by leaps and bounds, Greg is interviewing like a mad man and I'm just trying to keep up.

My Mom (the new Bubbe) has been down in Austin this week helping out while Greg is jetsetting across the US. It's been great having her here because it's given me the chance to get out of the house a bit. I actually made it to BRU (I'm so familiar with the place now - I don't have to call it by it's full name of Babies R US) to pick up some remaining items, I got my hair cut, took the truck into the body shop (there was that slight run in with the cement wall in the parking garage when I was soooo sick), and today -- the post office. Big news, I know - but hey - when you don't get out much, even the few blocks to the post office is exciting.

Tomorrow, my Mom and I will stop in Georgetown and pick up my Grandparents and then head to Dallas. I'm still trying to retrieve files from my old laptop to put on the new laptop. I was hoping that would be completed so I could return the old laptop to the IT guys when I stop by the office. We'll see. The process is going much slower than anticipated since I keep getting interrupted by a hungry newborn. :-)

Greg's interviews are going well. (Surprise, surprise) and he was even able to meet up with some friends in LA to catch a LA Dodgers game with Rob and his son Liam. We're hoping he's able to meet up with a few other friends in San Fran tomorrow night before heading back to Texas.

I have posted some new pictures to Picassa and there will be many more after this weekend! But, for the masses, here is one of my favorite recent pictures of Greg and Atti.

Do You Think It's a Sign

Greg can't seem to get into or out of New York City on time. I think it's a curse. Twice, he's been delayed so much that the first time he ended up spending the night in Dallas (missed the connecting flight) and last week the direct flight was cancelled, and he ended up spending another night in NYC. Fast forward to yesterday when he was on another direct flight from Austin to NYC -- when I receive a call that due to ground delays at JFK, his flight was late leaving Austin! Oy! Let's hope this interview is a great one, since he's due back at JFK about now for a flight to LAX! A couple days in Los Angeles then it's up to the San Fran area for a few days, then to Dallas to meet up with me, Atticus and the family for some extended family time. We're also doing a baby naming ceremony this coming Sunday at my parent's house.

Let's hope for good weather and easy flights for the next few days! There's going to be a lot of air miles in Greg's future!

Mazel Tov

Fabulous news...

I got a text message today from my best friend Nicole that she and Brad got engaged today! This is wonderful news and I'm over the moon happy for them. I can not wait for their trip to the states in a month!

Sweetness

Shhh... it's actually quiet here. I'm not quite sure what to make of the silence. For the past couple of days, my sweet baby boy has been replaced with a "screamin demon"... but right now, he sleeps. Ahhhh... (I should probably be napping)!

It's been a rough couple of days here at the Baden house. Greg got stuck in NYC (anyone else detecting a pattern?) and Atti and I have been home alone. Up until a few days ago, this would not have seemed like such a dire circumstance - but then, someone exchanged our peaceful, happy baby for a screaming infant. Thankfully, I think we've reached the end of THIS episode of uncontrollable screaming. I'm sure it will happen again - but for the moment, all is well.

We did have some high points too. My friend Jeanne came over with her two girls and we had a delightful afternoon. I was even able to sneak out of the house while Jeanne rocked Atti and run up to Texadelphia and pick up lunch. YUM. Cheesesteak is good!! It was nice to get out of the house, even for a moment...

Atti and I also went to see Dr. Owens because I was all panicky about some eyeball weirdness. Turns out to be nothing. The doc says most likely he had an eyelash in his eye and now has a gloopy tear in response to the irritation. Whew. I thought certainly he'd scratched his eyeball! (I think I'm beginning to see where the irrational worrying comes from....) So other than the "molting" he's in good shape. Apparently it's quite normal for babies to peel and look like they've spent a week in Aruba and slough off the first layer of skin. Granted, it's a little disconcerning when you look at your "sweetness" and his face is peeling!! At least it doesn't seem to bother him.

Oh... more good news to share! My cousin Nikki (and her fam) are moving to Austin! Have I shared that news yet? I'm quite excited since it means Atticus will have more cousins to play with here in town. Cool, huh?

Success!

I successfully gave Atti a bath this afternoon ALL BY MYSELF! And both of us survived the ordeal unscathed. Woo hoo. Actually - he was so good that he was asleep while I washed his hair, dried him off, and got him dressed. The fun news... I think his hair is starting to get some curl to it.

Quiet time

Greg finally made it back to Texas about 10 am yesterday only to turn around and take off again just after lunch today. He should be landing in San Jose, CA any moment now. I'm a little bummed that he's going to get to meet up with my SF friends without Atti and I... but, it's for good reason. The interview process continues - and we truly have been blessed with the number of firms that wish to talk to Greg further about working for them next summer. If all continues to go well - we'll have our choice of where to go next summer (and possibly after graduation). I mean... I know that Greg is great - and that he interviews well, but the response has been overwhelming.

So, now I'm home. Atti and I watched some of the Olympics this afternoon - volleyball and some swimming. I think some of the men's gymnastics competition is airing tonight. I would like to one day see the women's gymnastics competition during the Olympics. I wanted so badly to go when they Olympics were held in Atlanta, but the timing wasn't quite right. Perhaps in another 4 years?

It's kind of lonely here by myself. It's too stinking hot to take a walk outside and Atti is still too little to go many places. So - if you're reading this and you're local... give me a call and stop by, I'd love the company! Or, if you're not local - just give me a call. If I'm not sleeping or otherwise occupied I'll answer the phone!!

I have taken a few more pictures of Atticus - but he's sleeping in all of them! He tends to sleep alot (not that I'm complaining -- sleeping is way better than screaming)!! He's getting some chubby little chipmunk cheeks and his thighs are starting to chub up a bit too. His next doctor appointment is on 8-26-08 and I'll be curious to see how much weight he gains by then. He's already starting to outgrow some of the newborn onesies. However, I've learned that just like adult sizes -- each brand is sized totally different! One man's idea of newborn is NOT the same as another.

Here are a few pictures of the little prince... wearing his "If Mom says No, Ask Grandma" onsie, swinging, sleeping and showing off his sporty UT Longhorn socks. (He does have an A&M hat... but ironically no pictures in that just yet!!)

Flight Delays

Bummer news. Greg's flight out of New York was delayed so long that he's going to miss his connection in Dallas and most likely will NOT make it home tonight. I'm sure he's more put out by this news than we are... but it still stinks especially since I know he's back on a plane again in 48 hours to head to the other coast.

The upside - all the conferences are going really well and Greg's gotten tons of callbacks already. The downside - that means more travel over the next couple of weeks. The upside - potentially a fab summer job for next summer. The downside - we have no clue where that fab job will be or if we'll even be able to be together to enjoy it. It all works out in the end...right??

Ok, I'm off to wake up Atti -- if I don't get him up now, we won't make it through the night. And I really like sleeping when it's dark outside -- call me crazy!

Grrrr...

My work laptop has died. I can't figure out how to boot it in safe mode. A new one has just arrived in the mail via FedEx, but I'm nervous about trying to figure out how to get the new one working - and save all the data I need from the old one!!

The only good news - I think it became infected right about the time I went on maternity leave, so I don't have any work files that can become "lost". But -- I need to make sure that all My Documents and other files on the hard drive don't go the way of the dodo bird when I switch hard drives!!

So... forgive me if I'm offline for a bit wallowing in computer angst. I do have my home desktop setup (which is how I'm blogging) and more pictures and updates of the cutest baby ever will continue shortly. At the moment, Atti is swinging contently in his fancy swing that my Mahj friends gave us. He loves it!! We're also heading up to Georgetown in an hour or so to visit with the Great Grandparents. Can you believe Atticus is the 17th Great Grand Baby for them!!

Off to go investigate the laptop issue... and smile at Atticus. :-)

My Baby's on the YouTube

Here's a link to Atti's first video taken by Pops at the hospital...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI2upWRiK_A

Woo Hoo!

Another day of good news. Greg was just offered a spot on the UT Law Review. Rock on! Way to go!!

My First Photo Album

Check out my first album... use the link on the right side of the screen called Baden Family Photos to view my public photos!!

A Rose By Any Other Name

The story behind the name Atticus...

Most people we know associate the name Atticus with Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird, the incredible novel by Harper Lee. This is a fortunate coincidence - but not how we chose the name. Greg and I actually had quite a tough time deciding upon names... both of us have name associations from the past or present which clouded certain names for each of us. Finding a name that we both liked - that was unusual without being weird - was a challenge.

There was a running joke all during the pregnancy where Greg's top name choice for a boy was Thelonious (this came from randomly flipping though a book of 10,000 baby names). Somehow, the name stuck in Greg's mind - and whenever we discussed names, it always came back to Thelonious or Phinneas or some other Greek/Roman sounding name. I was good with Maximilian or possibly even Maximus -- but the others just were NOT floating my boat. I'm not sure who found Atticus first in the baby name book, but it struck a chord with us and the name made it to the short list. We (OK, mostly me) had made the decision that if we had a little boy, the middle name would be Henry in honor of my maternal grandfather, and in honor of several Henrys in my paternal family tree. And, well - it just sounds nice with Baden too. :-) There were a few other first names on our short list other than Atticus, but one name was suddenly quite popular, another sounded too much like an accounting firm when said aloud, and the other just lost it's allure as we sat in the hospital looking at the new life we'd just created. So, after a day and a half of post delivery discussion... Atticus Henry was inked on the birth certificate.

Now, 13 days later - Atti is the perfect name. We couldn't imagine anything else....