1 Month Old!

Yesterday our little guy turned a month old! He had his one month doctor appointment and everything checked out well. He has gained almost three pounds since his first appointment and checked in at 9 pounds, 5 ounces. He was 21-1/4 inches long. His weight and height were in the 45th percentile, but his head circumference was only in the 10th percentile. So hopefully he doesn't have a large body with a real small head when he gets older.

We can tell he is getting bigger, and he has been more awake and alert lately. Mom has been trying to read to him but we've found that's a pretty quick way to put him to sleep. The addition of the Miracle Blanket has helped with nighttime sleep a little, but some nights he just decides he'd rather pull an all-nigher than sleep. He must be preparing for college already! But all in all he is a great baby. We feel very blessed to be parents.

Also, today we had Prince's yearly vet appointment. We were excited because he looked like he had lost weight and we were sure he'd be under 100 pounds. And then he stepped on the scale and....106 pounds!!! The vet said he's not fat and he's just a big dog, but now that he's more than 100 pounds we have to buy an even larger dose of all his medicine. So we're going to feed him even less food and try to exercise him even more and see what happens.

Levi sleeps in the strangest positions. Here he is doing some sort of dance in his sleep.

A close-up of our sleeping munchkin.

Levi fast asleep with Grandma Carla, as usual. I think we're the only people who have seen this kid cry.

Levi with our friend Trisha, right after a bath.

Levi fast asleep again, Prince wondering why we're taking so many pictures.

Our little Houdini found a way to get his leg out of the Miracle Blanket.

Come on guys, no more pictures!

And just for fun...

Bath Time!

This past week has been interesting for us. I returned to work on Monday, leaving Courtney for (mostly) full-time childcare duty. Unfortunately Levi still has his days and nights switched around so it was an exhausting week for Courtney. Thankfully she was able to get more sleep last night as I got up with him and tried to bottle-feed him for the first time in the middle of the night. Two hours later, I had to go wake Courtney up because he was still hungry! Today we gave him a bath in his big tub. The highlight of the bath was when he started peeing straight up in the air and it almost hit the ceiling! Pictures from the bath are below. Don't worry, there is nothing x-rated or potentially embarrassing here....just a real cute kid!

A close up shot of our hairy little monkey.

He did well in the bath for a while...

...but then he let us know he wasn't really enjoying himself.

He coped by chewing on his hands during the bath.

After his hair was washed, right before the urine fountain.

Afterward he was all clean and calm while drying off in mommy's arms.

Good-Bye Pudge

I am an avid Tigers' fan. Most of you know that. So, part of the blog from time to time will be my thoughts about the Tigers and other Detroit sports teams. Don't worry, there will be some more pictures of Levi later in the post.

So, on Wednesday the Tigers traded Pudge Rodriguez (and his $13 million salary) for a middle reliever named Kyle Farnsworth. On paper it doesn't look like a fair deal. And I've read how people have said the Tigers got robbed, how they should have got more back, blah blah blah. I'm actually a big fan of the deal. Unlike 98% of Tigers fans, I've never been a huge Pudge fan. Everyone commends him for being "brave" enough to come to Detroit when no one else would. I wish I could be as brave as someone who signed a $40 million contract (when no one else was offering anything close to that). The owners knew they had to overpay to get someone in here. They tried talking to Troy Glaus, Adrian Beltre, etc and they wouldn't even consider signing with the Tigers. So they overpaid to get Pudge (which at the time was a deal that most people panned). He's been a decent player with the Tigers, but certainly not one worth over $10 million a year. His first season with the team was amazing. He hit .334, even hitting .500 in the month of June or July, and helped the Tigers improve from 43 wins to 72. But his numbers have steadily declined from that point on. Most people forget the controversy in 2005 when he took an extended vacation towards the end of the season, basically undermining then manager Alan Trammell. The team fell apart after that. He was ok on the 2006 World Series team, but then last year he acted like he was getting paid by the swing. He only walked 9 times in 129 games. 9 times!!! And his defense has been slipping as well. He wasn't going to be back next year so the trade allows us to hand Brandon Inge the full time job again, and the team isn't going anywhere so we're not going to miss his bat at all. So, in other words, I was never a big Pudge fan, and I'm not sad to see him go.

Now, if Verlander, Magglio, or Granderson were to be traded, I'd be a lot more upset.

We were fortunate enough today to have my good friends Jeremy and Lynn Smith visit. Jeremy is one of my best friends from college, and him and his wife (and daughter Abigail) live in California so we don't see them that often. Fortunately Jeremy's parents have a cottage in Michigan, and they come back to vacation every year. So they took some time off from water skiing and spending time with the Smith clan to come and visit. It was great seeing them again! Prince loved his new friends, and Levi and Abigail seemed to hit it off as well. She's 2-1/2 years older, but its possible that wedding bells are in their future!

The Chapin family. Doesn't Prince has a huge noggin?

The Smiths. Look at Jeremy's guns. That guy never stops working out.

Prince with his new best friend, Abigail.