Ez in the Land of Enchantment

Young Ez and his entourage have moved the operation south and west. We write you now from sunny and snowy New Mexico.

For anyone out there still under the impression that the desert is hot and dry, let me disabuse you. We've already had multiple cars sliding off icy roads, and there's a foot of snow on the ground. It is shockingly beautiful here, and the fresh air and mountain views are nourishing our urban souls.

All I can say about the trip out here was that it could have been much, much worse. When we booked our tickets, it seemed like a great idea to save a few bucks by getting a flight with 2 connections: Chicago to Minneapolis to Denver to Albuquerque, followed by an hour car ride to Santa Fe. This did not seem so bright by Thursday morning. However, Ezra behaved pretty darned well, relatively speaking. He slept about 2/3 of the time, only yelped a few times and was generally a pretty tolerant traveler. Also, we missed the weather catastrophe that hit Chicago by just a few hours.

Here in Santa Fe we've been showing Ezra the ropes ... we went on our first real hike on Sunday. Ashley's folks live in the foothills right at the base of some incredible mountain trails. We strapped Ezra to our back, wrapped him up like that little kid in "A Christmas Story," and set out for the summit. Well, we didn't exactly make it to the top, or even close, but it was most satisfying nonetheless. After a brief nap, Ez was alert and smiley. He seemed to enjoy the vistas and the occasional snowflake alighting on his face. We were really gratified to share our love of the outdoors with the little guy.

Back on the ranch, Ez also enjoyed his first Hannukah observance. In the Jewish tradition, he then received some crappy presents (used book and a couple of used pairs of pants ... get used to it, kid).

We will soon have to buy a few more toys, I suspect: the Gross dog Winnie doesn't quite understand the boundary between "baby toy" and "doggie toy." We've had a few disembowelments already. Luckily, the actual baby has escaped injury thus far.

Ez has been having a great time with his grandparents, and his Auntie Katy -- who seems to speak Ezra's language. One word from her and the kid breaks out into belly laughs. He also met another compatriot: young Rohan, who is just about 2 months. He's the son of a friend of mine (Gabe) from college, who lives in an amazing house out here that he designed himself on the back of bar napkins.

Then last night, after dinner with some friends Ash has known since 4th grade, it dumped 6-8 inches of snow here. Much of today has consisted of shoveling and finagling cars. This afternoon, if we can escape, Grandma will babysit and mom and dad will get away to this Japanese-style spa place and soak in an outdoor tub for a while.

More adventures sure to follow!

Much love,
Gabe, Ash and Ez

Feats of Strength

Hello everyone! Ezra's mommy here. Just wanted to share some positive news from the homefront... and some continued challenges on the sleep front. 

First, the good news. Ezra can now roll over from his back to his stomach! He had been rocking back and forth up onto his side for a while, so we knew it was coming. But just last night he rolled over in slow motion on the futon. Because it's so soft, and it was slow motion, I didn't really count it. But today he demonstrated on the floor that he's perfected the skill. 

He gets more and more interactive with each day. He opens his mouth in one of those gigantic full-face Ezra smiles when I come home from work, which is pretty much the highlight of my day. And he's having fun with peek-a-boo (when it doesn't freak him out and make him whimper). The other day, Gabe emailed me a series of pictures. The first one was titled "Um, I lost the baby." And the second was "Oh, THERE'S the baby!" 

And as for feats of strength, the kid's grip could rival that of my homestate governor, Bill Richardson, who made the Guinness Book of World Records for the most handshakes by a politician in one 8-hour period. Ezra grabs onto stuff and WON'T LET GO. See the video below for evidence. Gabe says he read that the ability to let go comes later. I guess that's just one more evolutionary advancement to make sure the kid can cling on to his mom's hair when she's running away from the saber-toothed tiger. If only mom's hair weren't ALREADY falling out from post-childbirth hormone insanity.

Now... the bad news. Sleep still mostly eludes us. It just took us about an hour and a half to get the baby to sleep - by 10 pm! According to one of the well-respected baby sleep experts - the kid's supposed to be down by 7 pm. And last night he spent a good two-hour stretch awake in the middle of the night, fell back asleep, only to wake up again at 4:30 am. I worry we have a hyperactive kid on our hands. Swaddling seems to be our only salvation, but even that didn't help last night. And what are we going to do, swaddle him into his teens? 

Anyway, we're pretty exhausted. But happy. We head to New Mexico on Thursday - we're all craving some fresh Southwest air and sunshine and maybe some powdery snow. 

Love,

Ash, Gabe and Ez

Ezra's Zzzzzzzzzzs

It is 10 p.m., and young Ezra slumbers at last. Though for how long, it's tough to say. 

Getting him down tonight was a lengthy process that began around 7:00, and has gone on more or less continuously since then. Ash took the first shift, as she often does. It goes like this: nurse, doze, wake, nurse, wake, doze, wake, doze. We finally get brave enough to lay him, ever so gingerly, down in his crib. Thrashing and grunting ensue almost immediately. You'd think we'd laid him on a bed of jellyfish, or something. 

Repeat process. Same result. 

Then we play the bath card. I'm not sure if this really helps him get ready for sleep, but it at least makes us feel like we're getting somewhere. 

After another nursing session, Papa takes over. We bounce gently on our exercise/birthing ball, and I go through an increasingly consistent repetoire of "lullabies." Here's how the playlist is shaping up: "All the Pretty Horses," "Danny Boy" (or my own half-remembered version of it), "America" (Simon and Garfunkel), "Sweet Baby James" (though, with apologies to James Taylor, we go with "Sweet Ezra James"), "Sounds of Silence." Lately, I've been throwing in "Father and Son" (Cat Stevens) and "Jesus the Mexican Boy" (Iron and Wine). By then, he's usually curled around my shoulder and fast asleep. At last, I very slowly, very gently, set the child down in his crib. Thrashing and crying ensue. Repeat process. 

Anyway, the kid finally consents to sleep eventually. We are a bit worse for the wear, though. Tonight, we're experimenting with trying to ween him away from one of his night feedings. I'll let you know how that goes. 

We've been entertaining a few different philosophies on how to gradually reduce this madness. We're hopeful we can avoid the trauma of a full-on cry-it-out method, but who knows. Any tips are surely appreciated -- post them in the comments or email us at blastolives@gmail.com. 

Meanwhile, we're instituting a little poll. We've been getting widely varying opinions on which parent Ezra resembles most. I won't tip our hand as to what we think, but we're posting baby pictures of Mama and Papa below -- What do you think? Vote in the poll in the top left column of this page. 

(NOTE: Ash insists that I 'fess up to one thing: I did sort of select a pic of myself that looked especially Ez-like. Guilty.)

And on to another week. Wish us luck. 

With love, 

Gabe, Ash and Ez

Backseat Conniption

He wailed in South Bend ... sobbed in Toledo ... and melted down in Cleveland.

Yes, our dear son does not like the car. Even a trip to the grocery store can trigger apoplexy in the back seat, and we stuck him back there for a 7-hour drive. Or, at least, that's what it used to take. This trip took us more like 10.

The reason was a visit to Canton, OH to see the Spitzer clan, eat Thanksgiving fare, and display the baby. Travel hell aside, the visit was splendid. We stuffed our faces and introduced Ez to people his Daddy has known almost his whole life, and drove halfway to Pittsburgh to meet an old, dear friend of Ashley's. We went a-calling at various homes, where we graciously accepted praise, coos and joyous baby-babble from Ezra's admirers. And, grandma and grandpa babysat again so Ash and I could go see the Batman movie ( as you can tell, our pop-culture sensibility sort of froze around July).

We also dropped by Grandpa's office to visit the wonderful gals of Temple Israel -- some of this blog's most devoted readers. Hi ladies! Ez enjoyed meeting his fans, as always, and we were rightfully chided for our slacking on new posts.

While we were at it, Ezra's out-of-wedlock parents bought our wedding bands. Hooray!

We returned yesterday (Monday), and Ezra reprised his role as Lucifer in the backseat. This time, the stress was exacerbated by a lake-effect snowstorm in Indiana, and by some simmering anxiety we've had over Ezra's weight. His growth seemed to have plateaued about a month ago, and his eating has taken a turn for the worse, too. Then the whole car ride home, he refused food almost completely (I'm told this is called a "nursing strike"). We were quite ragged by the time we got home.

Luckily, we had a doctor's visit scheduled for the day after our return. We went this morning, fearing that his weight gain was lagging a lot by now. When they plopped him on the scale, we were astonished to see him top out at 12lbs 12oz! That's almost a full pound heavier than our crappy home scale said. That still puts him in a low percentile, but it means his growth curve has been steady. The doc was very reassuring, and it appears that we have nothing to worry about! We are enormously relieved. We're still a little touchy about his weight, and we wish he'd get a little more regular about his eating, but for now, it appears that the kid is gonna be OK.

We'll leave you with this little episode. Ez tried out a swing in Grandma and Grandpa's dining room. While Ez swung, his Uncle Josh began rattling off all the different ways Ezra and his miscreant uncle will misbehave together when Ez is a little older. I don't know if it was the swinging, Josh's voice, or what, but Ezra just thought it all was freakin' hilarious. He laughed as much as we've ever seen him laugh. Here it is ... (forgive the video quality. I had to film while hiding behind Josh, because if Ez saw me he'd get distracted).




Lots of warm, happy holiday wishes to all,
Gabe, Ash and Ez

Idle Hands

Sometimes, developmental changes happen gradually -- so incremental that, if you see a kid every day, you might barely notice them. 

And sometimes, they blossom practically overnight. Such is the case today. 

We had been sweating the fact that Ezra seemed to show remarkably little interest in toys. Yeah, he'd take the odd swipe at a hanging plush elephant or maybe chomp on the snail-shaped rattle here and there. But not much that you could really characterize as "play." 

We got inklings that he was posied for a leap yesterday, when he began grabbing onto a piece of one of his hanging toys. He'd hold it for a minute, maybe thrash around a touch, then his attention would wander off. This was progress. 

Then today, all of the sudden, Ez threw himself headlong into the world of play. Out of nowhere, he's now fascinated with his toys. He grabs them and bats them and watches them swing around ... he brings them to his little drooly pie-hole in a very intentional way, and he entertains himself for long stretches. 

It was such a big jump for him -- I was just dumbfounded this morning. It served as a happy reminder that we should not sweat so much about the milestones. We knew that before, but it's easy to forget. Another lesson learned. 

Much love, 

Gabe, Ash and Ez

Fairy

Some early Season's Greetings from the Spitzer/Gross family: 

As himself: Ezra James Spitzer

Assistant to Mr. Spitzer: Gabriel Spitzer

Cinematography: Ashley Gross

Editing: Gabriel Spitzer

Key Grip: Ashley Gross

Gaffer: Gabriel Spitzer

Best Boy: You Know Who

Very happy holidays from Gabe, Ash and Ez!

Other People's Babies

Yeah, we down with OPB.

Ezra got to meet a few of his colleagues over the last couple of days. One was the ghost of Christmas past, the other,the ghost of Christmas future. Or Festivus, if you prefer.

On Friday we met our friend Alexandra's charming and angelic baby girl, Isabella. Isa was born last week at 5lbs, 11oz -- nearly a half-pound

heavier than Ezra's birth weight. And yet, she looked ever so itty-bitty next to present-day Ez. They didn't show all that much interest in one another. But it was a reminder of how much Ezra has expanded in his 3.5 months. As of the latest weigh-in, he was up to 12lbs, 5oz. And believe me, the kid feels dense. Holding, bouncing and lifting him is getting strenuous. My shoulder and Ashley's back are exhibits A and B.

Then a few days later, on Monday, our friend Mara and I (Gabe) went back to the Aquarium with our little ones. Mikalea is just about 8 months old now, and cuts an impressive figure. She ate a three-course meal, served in about 7 courses (bottle-apple sauce-cheerios-bottle-cheerios-apple sauce-bottle), can sort of "walk" with Mara holding her arms, and is extraordinarily dexterous with her hands. It was a delight seeing her latest developmental leaps, and we're looking forward to Ezra catching up.

Ez, meanwhile, seems to be going through kind of a chaotic period. He's certainly not as fussy as he once was, but his sleep and eating seem to be getting even less organized, if such a thing is possible. He had been conforming to a rough pattern of three naps a day, in increasing duration, culminating in a 1.5-2 hour nap after lunch. Monday, he barely napped at all until 4:00pm, and his sleep the night before was less than restful. His eating has also tended toward the erratic. He'll act super hungry -- hands, blankets, parents' clothing all go right into his

ever-drooling mouth -- then he'll reject actual food. Try again, another rejection. Then 10 minutes later he'll act like a crazed starving person, and eat with voracity. Weird kid.

At the same time, he continues to delight. He's rolled over a few more times, and he grins so big and bright it makes your teeth hurt. It's a terrible cliche to be so heartwarmed by a smiling baby, but my God. It's a whole new emotion.

He's also taken to grunting a lot, which is a bit less sublime. It sounds for the world like he's trying to squeeze out a load, but that doesn't seem to be his aim. Anyway, it's half-cute, half-disturbing -- like so much of parenthood.

As always,

Gabe, Ash and Ez

Shift Change

AG: Well, now it's Mama's turn to bring home the bacon. My first day back at work started at 5:00 a.m., when Ezra woke up wanting "num nums." I nursed him and tried to get a couple more minutes of shuteye.... to no avail. Then I passed off a squirming, very awake baby to a nearly catatonic daddy and rushed around getting all my breast pump gear together. By 6:30 a.m. I had a couple of spare minutes to nurse the little guy again before I had to rush out the door. I got a little tear in my eye saying goodbye to him, especially when he flashed me a big grin in the dark bedroom.

At work, people were incredibly sweet - everyone wanted to know how Ezra's doing. I felt a little fuzzy-headed - kind of like deja vu - a flashback to my pre-baby life. I propped up a couple of pictures on my desk and made it till about 9:15 a.m. before calling Gabe. I heard a screaming baby in the background, but he reassured me all was well. I was a little worried, but I know Gabe hasn't met a baby tantrum he couldn't handle. So I settled in, got a bit of work done and managed to pump 13 ounces of "liquid gold" to take home to our sweet guy.

Luckily I commute with a guy who rushes out of work to walk his dog. Before Ezra was born, I often wasn't ready to leave when he was. But today I was tapping my foot for half an hour. 4:15 p.m. was a happy reunion! Ezra was sound asleep in the Weego, looking even more angelic than I remembered him. Okay, that sounds nauseatingly cheesy, I know. But it's the truth.

Oh, and we had a wonderful weekend with my aunt Nicky, who left her own cute daughters at home in Nyack, NY, to come here and meet Ezra. I even managed to take her to Second City - Gabe graciously stayed home to babysit. Here are a couple of pics of us on the 96th floor of the John Hancock tower. Now we'll hear from Gabe:

GS: Well, the day has arrived at last. Time to man up, marshal all your grit and fortitude, and dive into women's work. So to speak.

I was a touch nervous going into today, as we'd done a short dry run Sunday night. Ash and Aunt Nicky went off to a show and I stuck around with the kiddo. I'd thought we were past the days of maddening, inconsolable, ear-splitting, psychosis-inducing, hourslong screamfests. I was wrong. I was very proud of my patience all night, until the last hour, at which point I literally stopped thinking straight and began to think like a wild-eyed caged animal. We did make it through the evening with no permanent damage. I have no idea what was wrong with the little dude, but it was a bit traumatic for both of us.

Anyway, after that evening, I was skittish about my new daddy duties. I'm pleased to report that it wound up going splendidly. Ez took his bottles eagerly. We slept a lot, read, sang songs, and listened to public radio. It was like slacker yuppie summer camp. There were, however, a few things we did not manage to do today, such as: leave the house, eat lunch, shower. I have much to learn.

Although we sort of did a whole lot of nothing, it went by pretty quickly and it felt like we kept busy. Part of that may have had to do with the approximately 700 diapers we changed today. My god, it was like a Playdoh Fun Factory down there.

So all in all, a pretty auspcious start to our new arrangement. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

And I'll throw in a quick recap of our last week or so: Nicky joined us from New York for three days, and we enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing weekend. Nicky is a mother of two and is extremely adept at this baby business. It was fun and instructive to watch her with Ezra -- he turned to butter in her hands. We all went up in the Hancock Tower yesterday morning before Nicky flew back, and Ezra enjoyed a high-altitude feeding.

Also, Ash brought the kid in to work a couple of weeks ago, and passed him around once again. The picture here is our co-worker Heidi, who seemed quite smitten. She even barged into a meeting to show him to our CEO and General Manager -- the one and only Torey Malatia. He was also charmed. He later told me that all babies cry when they see him -- but Ezra grinned. Good lad. Learning to kiss up already.

So tomorrow's another day and another opportunity for disaster, I suppose ... but for now, there is reason for optimism.

Very much love,
Gabe, Ash and Ez

Vocalizin'

As I (Gabe) write this, I am embarking on a new, if short-lived career: stay-at-home papa. I wrapped up my last day of work yesterday, which consisted mostly of clearing off my desk and discovering various unwashed dishes hidden around my cubicle. I'll be on leave until a few days after New Years. During that time, Ash will head back to work 3 days a week. That means we'll have the other 4 together as a family unit. Huzzah! We're really lucky to have these few months all together, and I'm so grateful to get some uninterrupted father-son bonding time.

Meanwhile, we've been taking in the unbelievable events of this week. As journalists, Ash and I are bound to keep our political views to ourselves. But suffice to say we remain awestruck and humbled by this transformed world our child will be growing up in. We hope it will be full of opportunities for him to grow and succeed.

Ezra is gradually becoming a verbal little lad. We've taken the liberty of producing this slideshow so you can share in his vocalizations:



So for now we intend to enjoy some domestic time. Aunt Nicky will join us this weekend to meet Ezra and take in some Chicago sights. Then before we know it, it will be time to head to Canton for the annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage. There is very, very much to be thankful for.

Much love,
Gabe, Ash and Ez

The Week That Was...

Happy 3 month birthday to Ezra! We've got a lot to report. (That's what happens when you slack off for almost two weeks. That's like two years in baby time.)

Last Saturday, Oct. 26th, will be seared forever in Mommy's consciousness. Ezra not only laughed for the first time, he also rolled over! First, the laugh - he let out a few forceful ha's when I (Mom) held him tight and bounced up and down with my knees. It's a trick I'd learned the previous day at a play group. Such a sweet sound! I immediately ran into the bedroom and woke Gabe up so he could listen. Aristotle apparently said a baby doesn't have a soul until he or she laughs for the first time. Well, we obviously believe Ezra was born with plenty of soul. But there is something amazingly magical about a baby's laugh.

Then, the rollover... Ezra was busy doing tummy time under his jungle gym when he started listing to the side, holding up his legs and straining his neck skyward. Next thing I knew, he was flat on his back, looking up pretty bewildered! That was a gigantic thrill, but he has not repeated it since. I don't think he even realizes what he did.

Other than that, we have been battling the cold virus chez Rancho Spitzero/Casa Grossa. Poor Gabe and Ezra have had runny noses and low energy. Thankfully, I don't have to use a suction bulb to clean out Gabe's nose... not so for Ezra, unfortunately. But hopefully they're both on the mend by now - just in time for election night coverage, which Gabe will be hosting for Chicago Public Radio into the wee hours Tuesday night.

We also visited our new neighbors - Denise Gelb and Josh Herman! We're so happy they've moved to our 'hood. We even put on a diaper changing seminar for Josh. He showed his appreciation by covering his nose and quickly exiting the room. Denise's tolerance for baby poo was a bit higher, and she gladly held a sleeping Ezra.

And as for Halloween - Ezra went as a bat. At least, he went as a bat for about 5 minutes in our dining room, long enough for a quick photo shoot. He wasn't up for trick or treating, and we decided we were too embarrassed to go beg for candy that we obviously would be eating instead of him. Well, maybe next year we can enlist Grammy Andi to whip up one of her signature Halloween costumes! By the way, here's a picture of Ez wearing one of the five sweaters she's knit for him. At least the kid won't be cold in the Chicago winter - He also has a gorgeous, cozy green and blue blankie Grandma Cheri crocheted for him. The kid is much loved.

Love,
Ash, Gabe and Ez

Hot Off the Camera!

Check out our new Picasa album! Full of pics from our trip to Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, plus the visit by Grandpa John and Grandma Cheri Spitzer.

Reinforcements Arrive

Well -- quite the woolly weekend here at Rancho Spitzero / Casa Grossa. The Spitzer grandparents made it into town Thursday afternoon, fresh off their conquest of Italy. We celebrated by eating Laotian food. Ez now weighs about twice what he did when Grandma and Grandpa saw him last (a half-ounce shy of 11 lbs, last we checked!). It was touching to see grandparents and grandson reunited, and they lavished him and us with many gifts of Roman origin.

Friday I worked all damn day and begged people for money all evening (become a member here!). Saturday we breakfasted together and did a fair amount of sitting around, then we let the grandparents babysit while mom and dad went on a run together. This was the first joint exercise of its kind in ... oh, let's see ... a year. It was beautiful out, with the leaves changing in Lincoln Park, and we felt like a million bucks. We were phenomenally grateful for the chance to do it. But wait -- it gets better. That night, we actually went to a movie together! We had attempted to do this once before with baby in tow, the result being that I watched almost all of Tropic Thunder while Ash and Ezra haunted the lobby. Big fun. Anyway, this time we left the kid with the grandparents again and took in a flick all by ourselves. This was the longest Ash had ever been away from Ezra, the first time we had someone other than us feed him, and -- weirdest of all, to me -- the first time we drove together without Ez in the car seat. I kept checking the rearview to see if he was back there somewhere.

Today we embarked on Ezra's first walk in the woods. We headed out to Morton Arboretum to take in the fall colors. However it seems like we, and about 500,000 other Chicago families, mistimed the peak colors a tad, as most trees were still pretty green. But hey -- we like green. Anyway it was a beautiful day, we saw lovely foliage, we ate roasted corn and we saw gourds carved into cat shapes by middle-aged liberal women. Can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

The grandparents return to Ohio tomorrow, and back to the office for Papa. And now, to bed.

Much love,
Gabe, Ash and Ez

Adventures in Babysitting

It's amazing how quickly you can go from being a person who is annoyed by crying babies on airplanes to one who does the annoying. It's not a transition we were eager to make. Lucky for us, the kid decided to show us (and our neighboring passengers) some mercy on both flights -- from Boston to New York, and then on to Chicago. He slept almost the whole time.

The successful flight home followed a glorious weekend with a few rough patches thrown in. The wedding we attended (two friends of mine -- that is, Gabe's -- from college) was lovely. It was traditional and elegant, but not at all stuffy or overly formal. The groom's brother gave the Mother of All Wedding Toasts, the highlight of which was him presenting me, of all people, with a very special yarmulke -- it had in embossed silver letters: "McCain '08." He got it at a Beverly Hills bar mitzvah, where he describes seeing hundreds of orthodox Jews davening, with black "McCain '08" kippot bobbing up and down ...

It was great fun showing off the kiddo to all my old friends. He was a huge hit with the ladies, especially -- that's the bride's thumb he's holding in that pic.

The bride and groom sprung for babysitters for the rehearsal dinner, the ceremony, the reception -- basically everything. The sitter the first night was all of 14 years old. Not that she wasn't perfectly bright, but we wondered how much experience she had with a 2-month old. However, we strapped the bewildered 9th-grader into the Weego and fastened Ezra to her. We figured that, short of walking into a wall, there wasn't much she could do to hurt him. She did just fine, but the baby, um, did not. He got pretty pissed off almost every time we left him (we checked on him every half-hour or so). This trend continued the next day, when the babysitter (a geriatric gal who we were pretty sure has held an infant or two in her day) seemed a tad unhinged by Ezra's robust vocalizations. To be fair, Ez had been having a great week, but turned sort of sour friday afternoon. So it might not have been the best days to test out the babysitter routine.

When we were with him, though, he was a prince. Even though it probably bodes ill that he's not happy unless mom or dad is holding him, it feels gratifying to be able to pick him up and see him calm down. For weeks, it seemed like we had no power to console him at all. Now, at least, it feels like we can soothe him when we need to. Most of the time.

In other developmental news, all the trendlines are moving in the right direction in terms of head control, eye contact and smiliness. One new addition: gurgling. And the occasional spit bubble. I remember being really fascinated by spit and its many propoerties when I was a very little kid. I look forward to Ezra becoming a student of saliva in his own right.

This week has produced many, many adorable photos -- too many to post here. So we may put together another photo album and update the slideshow at the bottom of this page.

And lastly ... today's Poop Report: Like a firecracker in a can of spinach.

Much love,
Gabe, Ash and Ez

Island Living

Greetings from Martha's Vineyard - which the likes of us somehow managed to infiltrate! Ezra did fabulously well on the plane, bus and ferry. Aside from a few squawks, he slept and drew lots of compliments. As soon as we landed, visibly relieved passengers nearby said, "Wow, he was great." These are the same passengers who eyed us with terror as we boarded. Let's keep it up on the way home, little guy!

It's been a week of a lot of firsts for Ezra. First glimpse of the ocean, first time meeting his great uncle Thru, first time sleeping somewhere other than his bassinet.
He's slept through a lot of the scenery, unfortunately, but I'm sure in a year or two he'll be ready to build sand castles and dig up beach bugs.

But we've been missing Papa Gabe. It's sad to be separated by so many miles. I'm sure Ezra misses Daddy's rap lullabies and gentle diaper changes. (Daddy takes extra special care - Mama is all about slapping on a new diaper before he whizzes all over her.) In just a few days, Ezra's already made great strides holding his head up and definitely looks bigger. So Gabe will be impressed, I'm sure, with his son's progress! Tomorrow we'll be reunited, and then it's on to Pat and Christine's wedding. Fun times!

Love,
Ash, Ez (and Gabe, who's spending the day atoning)

Bi-Coastal

Yesterday I (Papa) dropped off Ash and Ezra at O’Hare for their cross-country odyssey. This was a difficult thing to do, to watch them roll off into the distance, all Dad-less and self-sufficient Nevertheless, I came home and rather enjoyed life without spit-up and poopy diapers and 3am wake-up calls. By this morning, I found that I really miss spit-up and poopy diapers and 3am wake-up calls. I also have found that every time I walk past his bassinet I look inside, expecting Ezra to be in there. This even happens, weirdly, when I walk to my car and look in the back where his car seat goes. Family separation does odd things to the brain.

Ash and Ez managed to make the Herculean trip with great deftness and grace. I’m told the kiddo handled the plane well (on mama’s lap the whole way), and managed to sleep through almost all of it. They negotiated the intermodal transfers to bus and ferry, and still: Ezra held up beautifully. I hear he finally melted down when he was in Grandma Andi’s car on the way from the ferry to their house on Martha’s Vineyard. But by then there were only Ash and Andi there to disturb -- and really, who cares about them? Ha, I kid. I feel pretty safe in saying I would have thrown a tantrum by then, too. So in all, it’s a huge relief that they made their journey without incident.

All the grandparents and an aunt or two have remarked on Ezra’s progress over the last few weeks. He really is filling out great -- was one ounce shy of the big Ten Pounds threshold when they left town yesterday morning … he probably hit 10 by dinner time.

He’s also begin to vocalize a tiny bit … not quite babbling, but something different from the usual cooing, moaning and grunting. I am convinced that he is saying his name … something like: “Egh-ruh.” He has said this several times over the last week, though seemingly only in my presence. Funny how that works. I like to think his first “word” came two weeks ago, when he clearly enunciated: “Egg-boo.” Though, again, I have no other witnesses to substantiate it. The definition of Egg-boo has been subject to debate in scholarly circles. It’s been posited that it’s derivative of a middle English term for “Dad, it is so awesome when you rub diaper rash balm into my butt cheeks.” I’ll check the OED.

Not much else to report for now. Ash is going to attempt to post a dispatch or two from out east, and I’ll head out to join them on Friday.

Egg-boo,
Gabe (sans Ash and Ez)

P.S. Today's Poop Report: Distant.

Ez and the Greatest Generation

After a weekend of pundit shows and bailout news, Ezra is pretty tired. Or perhaps world-weary is more like it.

We did our part to lube up the credit markets this weekend by visiting a string of chain stores. We topped it off today with a reluctant trip to Babies R' Us that, I'm pleased to say, was our quickest and most efficient ever. Speed is paramount there, to prevent daddy from having a conniption and/or aneurysm. We came out mostly unscathed, and Ezra managed pretty well in all the shuffling. He's getting to be quite the resilient little lad.

We also brunched this morning with our great friends Alex, Marion, Maggie and Ingeborg. This senior-discount crowd is easily more lively, fun and active than most of the doughy 30-somethings out there. Alex, is easily my favorite nonagenarian. They were all thrilled to meet Ezra ... and he them.

We also took him to meet his future caretaker, Felice. He'll start daycare at Felice's place in January, 3 days a week. He was not exactly on his best behavior for her, but Felice seemed unfazed. She's been doing this for many, many years, and she seemed to have an appreciation of Ezra's charms.

Ez seems to have settled into a pretty good place in terms of eating and fussing. He still loses his cool sometimes, but we haven't had the really rough days of a few weeks ago. I suspect Ash eliminating dairy has done him some good -- good for him, rough for my cheese-worshipping fiance. The whole family owes her a great debt of gratitude.

One more week, and then Ash and Ez depart on their great adventure Eastward. Any advice on traveling with an infant? Post your suggestsion to the comments, or send 'em to blastolives@gmail.com.

And one last thing ... today's Poop Report: greenish-brown, curdled, copious.

Too graphic for you? Hey -- how do you think WE feel?

Love,
Gabe, Ash and Ez

All Smiles (Well, Some of the Time)

Eight weeks ago today, Ezra James plopped into this world, all scrawny and bewildered. Now he's a chubby little baby, full of smiles and topping 9 lbs, and eagerly taking in the world around him. We're so proud! It's amazing to see him so interested in everything around him. If he's fussy inside the apartment, the instant we take him outside in the sling, he perks up and opens his eyes really wide. He can't stop staring at everything - cars, trees, people, sky. It's amazing to think what that must seem like - to not know exactly what all this stuff is. But he doesn't seem overwhelmed, in fact, he just soaks it up and loves it.

And he reached an important milestone (to us, at least). He started interacting with one of his toys! Hooray! It's a cool soft hanging toy (from Aunt Emily & Uncle Pete) that we have on the Moses basket, and all of a sudden one night last week he started batting at it. Here's a video:



His fussiness hasn't really gone away, especially in the evenings. It may be acid reflux - I've read that some flap in the esophagus of a baby doesn't develop for a while, so acid backs up and makes them spit up or just generally unhappy. Still, we seem to be finding measures to cope with it - when the Weego doesn't work, we swaddle him, when swaddling doesn't work, we sing to him, and on and on. And I've been told the reflux starts to go away by 12 weeks, so maybe it's just a temporary little hurdle to overcome before we have to start worrying about him sticking his fingers in electrical sockets and drinking Drano and stuff like that.

But like I alluded to in the title of this post, he's smiling a lot! Especially, for some reason, on the changing table. He seems to adore being naked. All the better if he can douse his parents with a stream of urine. Here's a little clip of him being smiley:



And we've been keeping the kid on a pretty active social calendar. So many friends to see, so little time (between feedings)! Last weekend, Ezra met our friends Ben, Catrin and Shawn for the first time. After some fussiness, he settled down into amazingly cute and cuddly. Here's a pic of him snuggled up with Catrin:


Sorry for the delays between posts! Gabe's been busy with work, and finding time to post when I'm holding Ezra all day can be challenging.

Love,
Ash, Gabe and Ez

Great Moments in Head Control

I'm pleased to report that we've managed to string together several good days in a row here at Rancho Spitzero / Casa Grossa. I can't tell you what a difference it makes to our mental health and general well being when the kiddo is happy.

We continue to see excellent progress on the smiley front, and especially in head control. It's been so cool to see him start to learn to look around and begin to understand that he can choose what to look at. That must be a pretty big deal for a 7-week-old -- suddenly, he gets to decide where his attention goes, instead of the world just barging in on him all the time. See the vid below for evidence.

We are beginning to gear up for our first major trip. In a couple of weeks, Ash and Ez will board a plane for Boston and on to Martha's Vineyard to see the extended Gross familia. I (Gabe) will follow a week later, and we'll head off to Cape Cod for our great friends Pat and Christine's wedding. We are excited about our big voyage, but a bit anxious about the logistics. Ash will have to navigate the airport, a bus and a ferry with kiddo, luggage, car seat, stroller and infant carrier in tow. Yikes, just writing that makes it sound daunting. But I'm confident that mama can handle it, and I'll be there to help on the way home.

Well, wish us luck, and enjoy the clip.

Much love,
Gabe, Ash and Ez

The Rollercoaster Continues...

Life on the homefront has been more challenging lately. Ezra starts crying just a few minutes into each breastfeeding, spitting up and drooling milk. This is particularly distressing to me, his Ma, because we had such a good thing going for a while there and now I'm worried yet again about whether he's getting enough to eat. But the handy-dandy infant scale that Gabe bought says he's packed on another 8 ounces since the doctor's visit and now is almost 9 lbs. So I guess I don't have to worry that much. But the crying is distressing and wears us all down.

I went to a La Leche League meeting today and met lots of other cool moms and got some tips on how to maybe solve the crying/feeding issue. We'll see if the tips work. I have to say that La Leche League is an amazing organization. The leaders even have their phone numbers on the web - I called one of them in semi-desperation one Saturday night for help, and she was really sweet and helpful. Gabe still insists on calling them "man-hating milk zealots," but he's starting to concede maybe that label doesn't quite fit, even though it's funny to say.

Still, when Ezra's not crying, he's the most charming baby on the face of the planet. And he's developed amazing head control! He can almost prop himself up on his front arms and hold his head up like a little turtle, looking around, surveying the scene. And he's just started looking us in the eye AND smiling at the same time, which of course melts our hearts.

I promise we'll make a video of all of these latest skills one of these days soon. But in the meantime, I'm posting a couple more pics to keep the Ezra James fan club happy! He sends his regards.

Love,
Ashley, Gabe and Ezra

The Doctor's Opinion ...

Not a ton to report ... I just wanted to post something in order to bump that incriminating video of me off the top of the page.

Ash took Ezra to the pediatrician today, and the report is excellent! He's still way down there in the percentiles of weight, length and head size ... but, Dr. Minkus was impressed with his weight gain and his muscle tone. Ezra is up to 8lbs 7oz (that's from a low of 4-15!). He also said that Ez is, indisputably, a beautiful baby. That coming from an accredited professional Ah, we love Minkus ...

We're noticing more progress almost every day in the kiddo's development: head control and eye contact are improving, limbs are getting chubbier, smiles more frequent (semi-smiles, anyway). Sleep, well, there's room for improvement there, I suppose. He's also taken up the pastime of sucking on his hand. He seems to really enjoy it. I gotta try that.

We're also introducing a new feature to the blog today -- The Poop Report. Today's report: green and abundant.

Much love,
Gabe, Ash and Ez