Cooper's 2nd Birthday

We had the grandparents over this weekend for Cooper's upcoming 2nd birthday. It was Spider-rific. He's slightly nuts over Spider-Man, and got no less then six Spidey-related things, including this dancing, singing Spider-Man. The song is from the old cartoon, but the dance moves are 100% Cooper.

Hi, how ya doin'?

I guess it takes getting mentioned in someone's blog (which, by the way, is a first for me and I'm all atwitter) to motivate me to update my own.

This Sunday, Lisa, Cooper and I walked around Green Lake with Mona, Mike, and their son Nathan. Lisa met Mona through their mother's group. I met them before at a party thrown by one of the other group moms (Nathan was decked out in a sports coat, which on an infant is totally cute), but I really didn't have a chance to do more than exchange pleasantries. So yesterday was sort of the "official" first time out with them

I'm awkward when it comes to meeting people. I figure its an only child thing. I'm known to joke that it's because I dislike people, but in reality it's more likely that I'm afraid people will dislike me. As a result of this terminal neurosis, I find myself constantly evaluating my performance when going out with others for the first time.

Mona and Mike are both intelligent, friendly, and funny people. In fact, I know a lot about them (as a voyeur) from reading Mona's fantastic blog, hello insomnia. But when we hooked up yesterday I found myself critiquing pauses in the conversation (is it the lovely scenery preoccupying our thoughts, or am I so boring that I can contribute nothing to this discussion?), and discovered that I say, "that's awesome" waaaay too damn much. In fact, I hate that expression as much as the term "dude," both of which I started using ironically, but now have become regular parts of my vocabulary. I imagine I come off like as an old man trying to be hip and cool like the kids, twenty years ago. I'm also quite sure I said at least one thing that sounded insensitive or insulting, for which I'm sorry.

Freakish paranoia aside, I had a really good time and hope that we'll be able to connect again in a setting less distracting than a crowded lakeside trail. It's hard to negotiate two strollers and a conversation with four people when without walking into oncoming traffic or wandering into the bike lane and having a passive/ agressive jackass cyclist tell us to move over as he zips by. Those are the people, joking aside, that I actually, truly dislike.

Cutest...Baby... Ever

Seriously. I dare you to tell me otherwise.

Snow Job

It's commonly believed that stories of Seattle's perpetual rain were fabricated to keep Californians out of our city. This ruse has clearly failed, so now we have employed a more powerful weather-related tactic:


I've never seen it snow quite this much in Seattle. My bus last night ended up getting stuck and I walked at least a half-mile to get home. We took Cooper out to see it, and he seemed pretty enthused, but I think it will take beaning someone with a snowball or sliding down a hill before he truly enjoys the snow. As an adult though, it's all about trying to save the plants from being crushed and shoveling. I'd rather have Cooper's perspective.

Sick, Oh So Sick

Boy howdy did the family get whupped by the sick stick but good! The party started in the wee hours Saturday morning when I launched into an hourly purge cycle. Most of the heavy duty horrid stuff stopped before dawn and I ended up sleeping all day. I thought it was food poisoning at first, but it seemed too tenacious for that. Sunday was slightly better. The entire time I felt like I'd been beaten. My body was sore, and I was winded just standing up, let alone holding Cooper or doing anything constructive. By Monday things were getting back to normal, but virtually 72 hours after my initial attack, Lisa's started. I stayed home with her and Cooper Tuesday so she could sleep. While his body didn't eliminate everything from it as violently as ours, Cooper didn't miss out on the fun. We worried a little about dehydration after he deposited not one, not two, not three, but four gigantic loads of spit up all over my chest Tuesday night, but, like usual, he just smiled a big smile like he'd met a milestone. Which, I suppose, he had.

Birthday Bashed

It's time to find a babysitter. Lisa and I went out to a fabulous local steakhouse last night for her birthday, and we brought Cooper along too. Lisa and Cooper had been out all afternoon shopping and he really hadn't taken a nap. We thought that may be a good thing, because he'd be tired and maybe take a little snooze while we enjoyed our dinner. Long story short: he didn't. Atypically acting like a typical baby, Cooper started crying when we walked in the door, spent more time fussing than eating, and ultimately made it clear he was sick of his high chair right about the time our food arrived. Lisa ended up scarfing down what was probably a great filet mignon while I tried to calm our son down. I finally put him in his stroller and he fell asleep. We salvaged what was left of our meal and had a very nice flourless chocolate cake, but all in all, it wasn't really a night out as much as a work out. So, babysitters, we're taking applications.

Baby's 1st Santa

We took Cooper to get his picture taken with Santa this weekend. Like everything with him so far, it was painless. Beautiful day, old-timey Christmas carolers, no line, and an authentic-looking Santa (real beard, not drunk). I don't think Cooper even noticed him. He was more engaged with the photographer and decorations in Santa's little shack to notice that he was sitting on the knee of some big old guy in a red suit. We're looking forward to seeing the no-tears photos this weekend. On the other end of the spectrum, BoingBoing posted a link to this funny collection of Santa photos yesterday. This is not how it happened with us. Yay, we win.

Speaking of crying children, my personal blogging hero, Matthew Baldwin of Defective Yeti had this recent post. It's funny cuz it's true.

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with my family in Walla Walla. It was Cooper's first flight outside of his mom (we went to Hawaii last Christmas while she was pregnant). Naturally, since he's some sort of angel-baby, he was a peach the whole way. Even checking in turned out to be a breeze. With one exception.

Fun fact: baby formula is apparently less explosive than water. Our friends from the TSA will allow you to bring baby bottles filled with formula through security, but if those bottles are filled with water to make the formula, well, that poses too great a threat. Fortunately for us I was able to dump the water we packed in the trash. Unfortunately for the travellers behind us, they had to wait for me to dump the water into the trash.

I can't adequately express my anger at the over-hyped airport security in response to our so-called War on Terror. Finding a note in my luggage telling me that it's been rummaged through by security does not make me feel safer. It's just reminds me of yet another civil liberty we gave up to combat an imaginary threat. Really, we all stand a better chance of being poisoned by a blowfish than we do of being blown up in the air. Unfortunately, there's a historical precedent for giving up your rights in the name of defense, and it never ends well.

On a lighter note, we have a slew of Thanksgiving photos posted on our Flickr account, mainly of Cooper, that will make you pop with all its images of super baby-cuteness.

Soggy Monday

Lisa came back from the hospital yesterday. The therapy there helped, but didn't put the problem into complete remission, so it's on to the next treatment. She won't have to go into the hospital for it, so we're happy for that. Her parents went home yesterday too, so she's keeping warm and dry at home with Cooper, while outside the rain continues to pour. It's unusually wet here in Seattle, so much so that many areas are flooding and car accidents have abounded. For a town so soggy, you'd think people would be able to handle the rain, but they can't. Truth told, the drivers in this town are so bad it should come as no surprise that they are flabbergasted by rainfall.

Finally posted pictures of Cooper's first Halloween. He wore his too-big-for-him bat costume. I also put together a big fence that goes around his play area so he can't start pulling himself across the room into danger. He can't crawl yet, but that doesn't seem to stop his curious nature.

Loves Me Them Hospitals

Outpatient treatment for Lisa's ailment wasn't going as well as her doc would have liked, so she was admitted to the hospital Tuesday. Fortunately, it looks like the treatment there is doing the trick and she's turned the corner. Playing with Cooper on her bed the other day, I realized it was the first time in a month I heard her really laugh. It was good. She may have to stay in there until Monday, which isn't any fun, but my Dad and her folks have come up to help us out.

We asked for a bassinet or something to put Cooper in while we were visiting, and the nurse ended up wheeling in this gigantic baby cage. It's about the size of small bed with a frame reaches up to the ceiling. You can slide the crib's locking barred walls up and down, and the mattress is at mid-riff level, so it's easy to take him in and out. He loves it, and it's good for us considering how squirmy he's been lately. The day he figures out how to crawl we are doomed.

So it struck me that I've spent more time in hospitals with this woman than anyone else (except my folks), and I've seen a lot of hospital time. Even though I have dangerously high cholesterol that has landed me in a heart attack and stoke prevention clinic, I consider myself to be relatively healthy. Until you see my track record:

• Jan. 1995- Dec. 1996: Hospitalized for ventricular tachycardia (v-tach). Had heart ablated to correct problem. That didn't work, so I'm on a med to take care of that.
• July 2002: Hospitalized after a car turned in front of Lisa and me on my scooter. Majorly messed up and in for a long time. Lisa was fine but got to watch me heal, which I think was worse. Compound knee fracture, reconstructive facial work, lost my sight in one eye and messed up my sight in the other. And the scooter was totaled ("sniff").
• A few months later, 2002: Went back in for a second knee surgery to remove all the extra bone that grew in around it (?). Had extremely annoying biker roommate. Good times.
• Sometime in 2003: Went to the emergency room with another v-tach. I was doing one of those herbal cleansing things and apparently messed my electrolytes up or something. Damn hippies.
  
• April, 2006: Cooper.

So, except for this April, none of it has been all that pleasant. But, I suppose folks don't think of hospitals as a party destination. Which is surprising, what with all those pills.

New Pics

I've put up some new photos of Cooper on our Flickr account today. He's got this thing these days with his tongue. He sticks it out when he's happy, and he's razzing too. I have been wrongly accused of teaching him this behavior just because I played one (one!) game of Stick Out Your Tongue with him.

We've got sneak peak pics of his completely too big Halloween costume. The site we ordered it from showed an infant, called it an infant costume, but was selling a toddler-sized costume. I did not see that part, obviously. I could and may return it, but in the meantime, the little hat fits and looks very cute on him. Take a peek.

Where's Bobby?

My wife's recent and extensive illness, from which it looks like she is finally recovering, got me thinking about the last year. I came to the conclusion that I really could have done without it expect for two things: my son and my iPod. This of course assumes that (most of) the people in my life, Lisa, my family, and my friends, remain. But the rest? Eh, not so much.

It isn't that the last year has sucked. Entirely. My last year at work has, for reasons on which I needn't and shouldn't elaborate. That resulted in a year of frustration and confusion that affected how I felt about everything else, which, while not ruining it, has certainly dulled the year's shiny finish for me.

So Cooper and that iPod are really the only two new things I would miss if we hit rewind and started over. Heck, I could even do away with the iPod. I'd end up getting it anyway. Cooper, on the other hand, is the single most excited thing to happen to Lisa and I, and we wouldn't change a thing. But, Lisa was pregnant over a year ago, so I figure he's exempt too.

Why don't we just call a do-over? It worked on Dallas, didn't it? I'll just keep opening the shower door, waiting to see if things changed back to the way they were. Oh well, I guess I could always start looking forward to tomorrow.

Well, Welcome!

Welcome to the new home of Cooper, Lisa, and Branan. I started a website for us at lisa-branan.com when Lisa got pregnant with our soon-to-be son, Cooper. I was sort of blogging, after a fashion, but gave up the ghost in February. That's lame. We've been busy with Cooper since April and the former site never got updated. Well, I should change that this week, basically announcing this site and redirecting our URL. Sure...

So, I will try to keep this updated. With what? Lord knows.