The Schroeder's

Just because we have the cutest baby you’ve ever seen.

Isaac’s almost 6 weeks old and the little guy has begun cooing and smiling, which is quite enjoyable.  He doesn’t really smile on demand or anything, but he has a good natured personality and is pretty easy to make smile.  I think he enjoys making people happy.

Here are some of my attempts to catch the man smiling.

You’ll notice he’s swaddled in these pictures.  Apparently yesterday was an eat/sleep day until around 2, so this was between meals that I got these.

After his 2:30 meal Erin and I loaded up the car and headed down to Pearland for dinner with Robyn, Roger and the boys.  Believe it or not, we actually went to Kroger (with Isaac) to get groceries and dessert for the dinner earlier in the day.  TWO OUTINGS IN ONE DAY!!!

When we got their we had to document our first trip to Pearland, so here’s proof:

I don’t have a picture of Roger holding him for two reasons.  1) Most the time he held him Isaac cried for some reason (apparently he’s only allowed to hold him in peace at our house) and 2) The only time Isaac didn’t cry while he was holding him Erin and I were eating dinner.  Hunter is still really high on his cousin and wants to hug and kiss him all the time.  I had to pick him up numerous times while Erin was feeding Isaac so that Hunter could give Isaac a kiss on the head.  And then there were these times:

All he wants to do is give him some love!

I tried to get some shots of Isaac smiling while Robyn was holding him on the couch, but I missed his smile most of the time (and all of them have red eye).  This is the best I got.

And the night wouldn’t have been complete without the band.  After dinner, Barrett decided that the time was right for some jamming.  I guess he wants to show Isaac how it’s done and make him want to learn an instrument quickly.  Hunter, however, was not into music this time.  Why would he when he has THIS to play with?

Good meal and good times in Pearland.  The first of many visits.

So the high school youth finally got around to coming to visit Isaac on Sunday night.  They came bearing gifts for the little man, a Clifford the Big Red Dog DVD and a gift card to Target (thanks guys!).  When they got around to holding him, however, it became obvious that they didn’t have much experience carrying babies (though some would argue that’s a good thing for teens to not have).

Katy was by far the most comfortable with Isaac (and based on the way everyone else held him she’s the only one we’d have babysit him right now).

Ryan was proud, even though he had absolutely no idea what to do with Isaac when he was holding him.

Before holding Isaac, some of the high schoolers decided it might be a good idea to practice.  Since Gif has been in the family for over 25 years, Tessa decided he’d be the perfect prop.

Turns out she had moments where it actually turned out that well (and other moments where it was a little worrisome).

Kyle, on the other hand, was not exactly a pro.  He needed a little help in order to not kill Isaac.  Keep practicing Kyle, keep practicing.

It was nice to have them come visit and see the reason that I’m no longer doing SNL for now.

My parents came in to spend some time with the little one and we celebrated his 5 week birthday (ah how it seems like only yesterday and/or 10 years ago that he was born).  To remember it we busted out the hand print tin that my mom bought for him and attempted to get a mold of his hand.  We have ink blots of his feet but wanted something with the hand.

Well, I don’t know how many hand prints you’ve tried with a 5 week old, but they don’t go that well.  Opening their hand and shoving it into plaster can be a demanding task.  Definitely in need of more than one person.

Yes, that’s me shushing Isaac to try and calm him while my dad attempts to get his hand into the plaster.  How did it turn out?

Maybe in a few years we’ll try again.

So today was Isaac’s official 1 month birthday.  It seems like it’s only been 2 days and it seems like it’s been 3 years.  We’ve had numerous problems but also some great times in our month.  We thought Isaac was going to get circumcised today, but apparently it was just a consult and we’ll be scheduling the real deal some time in the next week.

So here’s Isaac celebrating his big day:

Not exactly the most photogenic he’s ever been, but they’re some pretty awesome shots if I may say so myself.

So I had a brilliant idea during the day today about how we could get Isaac passed out and in bed quickly at night.  It’s quite simple.  We start feeding him dressed in his regular clothes.  Between sides I burp him and change him into his sleeper.  Then, with just a few minutes left, I swaddle him and give him back to Erin to finish off the feeding, allowing him to nurse himself to sleep.

Brilliant plan, right?

Correct.  It worked like a charm…until IT happened.

He was sitting in Erin’s lap (apparently she was about to tell me to come get him) when I hear this noise.  A noise unlike anything I’ve heard him make.  Then I hear Erin saying something along the lines of “It’s all over” and I go turn the light on.

What do I see?

A veritable TON of spit up/vomit/I don’t know what all over Erin, Isaac, the boppy, the bed, and pretty much everywhere within a 2 foot vicinity.

The end result of this beautiful plan: A change of clothes for Isaac, a change of swaddling blanket, a change of sheets for the bed, a change of boppy cover for the boppy and a shower for Erin.

Maybe next time…

Yesterday Erin and I were playing with Isaac in our front room.  We had on a play mat looking up at the toys and I was having him swat the toys.

After a little while the joy of the play mat was starting to wear off so I thought “Why not try some tummy time?”  Erin’s response was “He’s not going to like it, he’ll probably scream.”  Well, I threw caution to the wind and flipped that bad boy over to kick it on his stomach.

As you can see, not the most fun he’s ever had in his life, but he’s taking it in stride.  It lasted a few minutes until he spit up on the play mat and I had to pick him up so he wasn’t breathing it.

All in all, not a bad first experience for tummy time.  We’ll see how future ventures go.

Friday morning we had some of the kids who were in high school when Erin and I first started attending Faith Lutheran Church.  While they’ve been out of high school for a while, it’s still strange to think they’re getting close to graduating college.  I’d say it makes me feel old but it doesn’t, it just feels kind of weird.

Here’s Sara with him:

Lauren also got in quite a bit of time with the little man:

And, finally, we convinced Amara to hold him:

You may notice Amara’s laughing.  That’s because Isaac chose that moment to simply RIP a few good ones and make the diaper a nice mess.  That led to me changing him but not having any dry covers.  So I put him in this:

Yes, that’s Thing 1 and Thing 2 on his diaper.  He was only in it for a few minutes before it got dirtied as well.  Guess we changed him a little too early.

Beth got into town Thursday evening to spend the weekend with Isaac, and us.  This time, fortunately, hasn’t involved the emergency room or any other doctor visits.

Instead, it has consisted of some good food (yay for pot roast!) and quality time between Beth and Isaac.

On Friday, not only were Gil and Beth both here, but Robyn came with the boys for some fun.  Here are some pictures taken by Barrett:

It was a good time for all and it’s been great having company around the house.  Who’s next?

Gil and Beth are coming into town for the weekend to see the grandson and help out around the house (which, with people gone, has gone back to the way Erin and I used to keep it…clean-ish).

Gil got in around noon so that I could take Erin’s care to get inspected since we were nearing the end of the 5 day grace period and go grocery shopping.  I left around 12:45 or 1 and got back at 2.  Shortly after I got home Gil managed to get Isaac to take a nap and I got to do some work that will actually bring in some money (thanks Gil!).  A few minutes later I started I snuck into the living room to see what was going on and encountered this:

Which is an awesome site because the little man has been refusing to nap and only sleep 8 hours a night or so the last few nights.

I finished up one project and needed to go get my laptop power cable from the living room, so I very quietly went back into the room to find that there was no need to be quiet as they’d disappeared.

Unsure if Isaac was awake or asleep I decided to go check and see if Gil needed a break if Isaac was awake.  I found out quickly that no break was needed as the two were found in the guest room.

Needless to say I left the two alone, a boy and his dude should not be disturbed.