Daddy's impressions

Just some quick thoughts and memories from the last few weeks. I'm enjoying being a daddy and love our little guy. He is now 15 weeks old (about 3.5 months). We've had a few challenges, but overall, he is one easy-going kid!

• Loved seeing him find his hands about a month ago (around 2 mo. old). This involved huge eyes since his fists were just in front of his nose. Then watched him use one hand to shove the other fist into his mouth. He's been doing that routinely ever since.
• Loved hearing his first giggle about two weeks ago. He doesn't laugh out loud much, but when he does, we all laugh. He loves when his mom does "floppy lip" sounds or dad does bouncing while saying in rhythm "ho-ho-ho, ha-ha-ha, he-he!".
• He doesn't spend a lot of time on his tummy, but is doing better and better at pushing himself up and even turning his head.
• About two weeks ago, we moved his bedtime up from 10pm to 6pm by simply focusing on his daytime napping. He still sleeps 10-12 hours a night, but now we have a little evening time for just Libby and I. The downside? Early mornings, and I'm NOT a morning person.
• Took him to the Police Commissioner's office on Thurs. to get his exit permission (3.5 hr trip). He charmed everyone and, just before we got in the car to leave, was snatched by the police guarding the parking lot. They wanted to cuddle and pinch the white kid. I think it broke up the monotony of the day for them and Shane didn't mind.
• I was amazed (and a bit proud) when the doctor gave him a vaccination in his thigh last Saturday...and he didn't even flinch. No crying. Nothing. Wow.
• The other morning,we couldn't figure out why he'd been laying in bed babbling to himself for 30+ min. when he should have been sleeping. I tried to sooth him. Then mommy tried. Then we realized he had a very very wet diaper. Sorry, little guy. You were communicating so politely that mommy and daddy were slow on the uptake. Maybe you should scream more.
• And then there was that one diaper. It wasn't a big explosion, but the stench made daddy head to the corner of the room and start dry-heaving while calling for mommy to come finish the job. All the time I was trying to smile at him and congratulate him and encourage him to poop more, but woah, I may have to buy scuba gear to keep near the baby changing table.

Conversations with Shane

On Mother's Day, Ben and I had conversations with Shane about his day. He's got a lot to say. Enjoy...we sure did.

Taking Snaps

As we say here in India, here are just a few "snaps," or pictures from March when my in-laws visited. Shane was 6 weeks old (he's now 3 1/2 months) at the time. I finally got around to sorting them! Enjoy

The three Spotts boys

Grandpa Bob

Grandma Kim

"A boooooring family snap"--Shane

Would this be a good portrait for the next family Christmas card?

Socializing with friends after church

6 week doctors appointment

Tidbits of news

Hope all you mothers had a great Mother's Day! Here's the latest from life in India:

• The monsoons are supposed to come one week early (by second week of June). Yeah!
• Since English Premier League soccer is on TV here a lot, Libby (and I) decided she had to pick a team this year. Guess what? Her team, Manchester United, won the league (although they lost the last game of the season yesterday).
• Shane's passport arrived on Saturday morning. The envelop was ripped, but the passport was still safe and secure inside a second envelop. We're grateful. Now begins the tiring process of working with the local authorities to get his visa.
• We're making plans to visit the USA this fall. No itinerary yet but we hope to nail down some details by the end of June.
• It was only 95 F inside our house right now (9pm at night). But we're not complaining...honestly. Because the power is on and the fans and air conditioners are working!

Somebody made a funny!

Somebody made a funny, somebody made a bubble, somebody(s) made a handsome baby boy!

First Shower in Months...

Yes, I enjoyed my first shower since September 2006. We are in Chennai for a four day visit where we successfully went to the US Consulate and received Shane's USA birth certificate yesterday. He is now officially an American citizen!

But we've also enjoyed staying at a 4 star hotel which meant electricity and running water 24 hours a day! At our house in Hyderabad, we never have enough water in the tank on the roof for a proper shower. Without adequate water, the shower just trickles (it is a gravity-fed water pressure system), so we've become used to using a little dipper for "bucket showers."

Shane after his swim

Shane is drying off from his 20 minutes pool session. He fell asleep immediately afterwards. I guess it wasn't a stressful experience!

Easter Sunday Swim

This is a short clip of Shane in action at his first pool experience.

Super Size Please

Shane has found his fingers. Let me rephrase. Shane has found his fist. Why settle for a thumb or a teeny tiny index finger when you have a fist? Over the last two days I've been finding Shane slurp, slurp, suck, slurping on all five fingers. He looks up at me, face covered in slurp and spit with a happy grin and content as can be.

While he's still working hard to fit his entire fist inside his mouth, his attempts are noble at best. Shoving several fingers in at a time and using his other hand to guide him, he tries and tries. And when just his thumb makes it in, the rest of his hand is flat up against his face. I can just barely see his eyes peeking through his slurp slurping hand.

It's rather messy. It's rather slurpy. It's rather cute.

Curled Lip

I received my first curled lip from Shane yesterday.

Just before lunch we were taking a nap. I woke up and decided to get an apple for a snack, so I unraveled myself from Shane and headed for the kitchen. Suddenly a cry came from the room, but it wasn't any normal cry I've heard yet.

I headed back. Shane was lying there with his wide blue eyes and a very, very curled lip. What a heart breaker! Both sides of his mouth so totally turned down and that little lip turned completely inside out. I nestled into him immediately and apologized for making his world so sad. He whimpered a little, then settled down after a few minutes.

If too many of those sad-faced curled lips come my way I may be guilty of not letting him leave the house until he's 30.

Easter Swimming

Our first dip
Warming up Auntie Beena holding sleepy Shane. Swimming is tiring.

On Easter Sunday our friends invited us for an Easter picnic at a nearby pool. What fun! Shane even got to go "swimming" for the first time. Okay so he didn't really "swim" but he did bounce around, get wet up to his neck, lie on his back, and splash a little. There was lots of aunts and uncles to cuddle him, so Ben and I had a chance to splash around in the water too with the other kids. We had a fun day with friends and family. UTube video's soon to follow!

Mornings with Shane

Shane is particularly happy in the mornings and enjoys reading the paper, drinking a bit of coffee, and watching the world go by. Well, he enjoys the last one right now. Here's a glimpse of life from our living room this morning. By the way, he didn't laugh when I told him later (off camera) that the local government office had issued his birth certificate incorrectly. His last name is SPOFFS. True story. Have to get that corrected before we can get his passport and other documents. Sigh.

Enjoy the last of three videos for today!

Shane checks out the world

Here's Shane just chillin' and checking out life at our house. This is a longer video. Shows his typical pose...sorta fixated on something but occasionally looking you in the eye to check you out, too.

Conversations with Shane

Here is Shane talking with mommy about his 8-week doctor's appointment. By the way, he is healthy and normal. He weighed in at about 5.3 kgs (11 lbs, 11 oz) which means he has outgrown most of his "newborn" onesies and the "small" diapers are getting tight. Yikes! They didn't measure length or head Circumference (probably since that was done at his 6-week appointment across town).

Shane's first web video

We've finally figured out the whole video on the internet thing using our digital still camera. Thanks to several of you who offered tips.

Here's a short video starring Shane...well, he's sleeping, but he's still the star. Perhaps because during the pregnancy there was constant noise around us, Shane seems to sleep best when there is noise. In this case, Hillsong music blasting away. Enjoy!

(For people new to the web-video thing, just click on the "play" button twice. The voice and image don't seem to be exactly synced, but we'll work on that.)

Shane's Progress Report

Grandpa and Grandma Spotts are here and taking LOTS of pictures, some of which will soon be featured. In the meantime, a report on our little guys progress. Shane and I had our 6 week doctors appointment yesterday. He only cried, and quite fiercely, during his DPT and Hep B shots. Right in the upper thighs. But he recovered quickly. Recovery took a little longer for Grandma Spotts :) Because Shane is our "Indian baby" he will be receiving all the immunizations that babies here receive. Fine by us, although I will still be consulting my bro since he's a "child immunization pro"--this is what he does for a living.

Shane is now a very healthy 11 lbs. 5 ounces (good job me). His belly button looks great after the cord fell off 2 1/2 weeks later! He is holding his head up more and more, turning it on his own, and rocking to the left and right in my arms. I really have to hold him tight these days. He likes his baths but it's all about the timing. He coos and smiles regularly, especially in the morning which plants a smile on Ben's not-a-morning-person face. He's a fierce eater and not so much a consistant napper in the day. He and I are in boot-camp nap training these days, an emotionally and mentally exhausting must-do. He's sleeping through the night which gives me more rest than I've had in a month. This is a good thing which gets me through the tiring days.

He's an overall happy kiddo. There's lots of love being poured into his life, and that the best training of all.

Ben's other baby?

About a week after Shane arrived, she arrived. She sits in the corner of our living room 24 hours a day and hums quietly. She is white, beautiful and well-behaved. She has stolen my heart. Curious?

We bought an inverter. This wonderful piece of equipment consists of a huge battery, some wires, and a thing that converts the electricity from the battery into the current to power our fans and lights when the power goes out. It gives us power for about 4 hours and we are thrilled to have it! Power outages are common here in the summer and often scheduled for 2 hours a day.

The other new thing at the Spotts home is a beautiful coat of snow on our roof. Well, actually it is a double-layer of white paint called "Surya Cool Home". The special paint promises to keep the cement roof from soaking up the heat of the sun. And, so far, it seems to be keeping the interior of our house much cooler during the summer heat!

We are grateful for both of these things. Now if we could just turn on the tap and be assured that water would come out. (Even when it does, there is never enough pressure for a shower so we're experts at bucket/dipper baths.) Or if we could find a way to keep the mosquitoes out of the house. Or if we didn't have to drive the car through raw sewage running across our street. But that's the challenge of living in a developing country!

Some days it is fun and some days not. But we're convinced that we're in the place we should be and that makes it bearable.

Care package wish list

We're always thrilled to get stuff in the mail...and quite a few people have sent us care packages since we moved 17 months ago. Thank you because we know it is a sacrifice of money (for postage mostly!) and time for each of you!

Below is a wish list that we'll periodically update. We'll put a link to this list on the side of this blog so you can always find it. We've selected items that we can't get in India, or are very expensive here. Most of these are items that usually do fine in the mail, but for things that may melt or get stolen, contact us and we'll have someone hand-carry them over. Of course, you can use this list to brainstorm and surprise us with something not on the list, too! If you do want to mail us something, PLEASE contact us by email to confirm our address and the best way to get it here.

The list starts with the least expensive and includes a few "splurge-items" we love at the end.

• school programs or newspaper articles that mention you or your family
• newspaper clippings about local news (i.e. Hood River News, The Oregonian)
• music or book review clippings
• cartoon clippings
• photos of you and your family (our frig needs decorating!)
• newspaper/magazine clippings about children-at-risk
• microwavable kettlecorn
• Cliff Bars (carrot cake flavor is Lib's favorite)
• candy: Butterfinger, white chocolate Kit Kats, black licorice (favorite is organic brands)
• magazines: any flyfishing, any sailing, any running/health mag, Cooking Light, Real Simple, Wired, Relevant, Reader’s Digest
• powdered hummus mix
• cereal: Honey Smacks, Cheerios, and Rice Crispies (these are $10+ a box over here!)
• Parmesean cheese
• pretzels
• root beer flavored anything
• Bath & Body Works hand liquid soap
• dried fruit (non-sugared; especially pears, cherries, and peaches)

Splurge-items!

• Glutin-free products
• freeze dried fruit (non-sugared; especially blueberries, peaches, strawberries)
• smoked salmon (check out http://www.ilovesalmon.com/!)
• iTunes gift cards
• Garrison Keillor CDs (Lake Wobegon stories)
• DVDs (see our DVD Wish List)

Have enuf for now of these, but will probably "re-add" them to the list in the future:

• beef jerky
• Altoids strips (also called “smalls”) or gum
• coffee beans (whole; extra bold flavor)
• hot chocolate packets
• hot apple cider packets

Bath Time Again

Shane loves his teddy onesie. But he's about to be de-robed.

A fully exposed Buddha-belly. There's a six-pack under that milk belly.

Smelling baby-fresh, after a warm bath and Bert's Bee's Apricot baby oil on dry hands and feet. Shane loves Daddy-time.

Mossy’s: Not Welcome

Mosquitoes are definitely not welcome in our home anymore. They never have been visitors we welcome kindly, and we don’t appreciate their abrupt and intrusive behavior when they come for a visit. Especially now.

Shane had been sleeping his crib for one week when I began to notice little red swelling bights on his cheeks, legs and arms. One morning I found about eight bights on his face, bights that our friend called “kisses.” I don’t too heartily agree with that term. Nonetheless, it was time to give the mossy’s an official farewell party.

While I’m sure Spiderman “spiders” nicely, and Superman is quite super, and the Incredible Hulk is actually quite hulky, and Batman isn’t as scary as those venomous flying creature, the Super Hero in our home is quite distinctly Dad himself. And though can’t fly, he is quite super, definitely hulky and only venomous when his soccer team losses. Dad Ben swung into action!

First the packed-up Pack-n-Play was unpacked. Both he and my dad (visiting) assembled it, and found a mosquito net that fit perfectly within a few hours that very night. This would be Shane’s alternative bed until a net was found, or made, for the crib (which has slatted sides).

Ben then took careful measurements of the crib and scavenged the entire city for another net. After visiting several stores and making some phone calls, The Store was found among the rubbles. He came home as proud as a lion that’s caught his first meal of the night. The Pack-n-Play was put away, the crib reassembled and wah-lah, a mosquito net that not only fit perfectly, but wasn’t that hideous either.

Although Shane still gets an occasional bight during early a.m. feedings with mom, he sleeps much more soundly these days. Or is that mom and dad who do? Meanwhile, Super Hero Dad stands guard waiting for another mossy to bight. And when he does, watch out!

Notice to all mossy’s: The American blood-buffet has been cancelled in Hyderabad, India.