So, wow, it has been a packed 5 months, but little John is so amazing.  Yeah, I know, every parent says that.  But it is so cool watching him do things new every day.  Like the first time he rolled over.  Okay, so here's his update of new, cool things he's doing:

 

-- He rolls over, both ways

-- He hates shots.  Yeah, they give him 3 at a time.  At 3 months, he got his first and was completely bewildered by it.  By the end of the 2nd, he was into this silent, only-dogs-can-hear-it, scream, and by the time the 3rd went in, his scream was so loud, I think seriously my ears rang for an hour.  Poor guy.  At his his 4 month appointment, he was at the silent-dog-scream on the 1st and full on deafening by the 2nd and 3rd.  Poor guy.  Fortunately he recovers fast!

-- Okay so he was almost sitting then, but the doctor says "in all my years, I've only seen one baby sit at 4 months.  Usually they sit by 9 months."  SOOOO, we got home and have been working on it since.  And yeah, he can nearly sit up.  "Come on sit up!!"  No, it's not that intense.  But he really LOVES to practice, particularly when he falls over.  On the bed.  Come on, I'm not that stupid!

-- He's taking regular baths -- sitting in this great seat that Brendan gave us -- and loving it.

-- He loves his play saucer -- stands and hops around in it.  For about 10 minutes.  Then it's pick-me-up-and-cuddle-me time.

-- Let's see, he's 90%ile for head size and length, but only 50%ile for weight.  So I guess he'll be a bean-pole, huh?

 

But mostly he's happy all the time.  He loves to watch people talk (lucky for us, huh?) and can't get enough of being held.  Lucky us we got a cuddly baby.  And lots of Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents that want to watch him and hold him!  Oh, and cousins that want to play with him too!!

Yes, the hiatus from theater to devote time to John Andrew has already taken a serious blow.  The conditions for the self-imposed hiatus were that I would not audition unless something really special arose.  That means I have sat out the Professional auditions at a time when I was hottest in the market (well, what's hot really mean).  In any case, that was going great, until Tapestry Theatre made a switch of shows and chose to do Richard III as their final show.  Well, what Shakespearean actor-want-to-be of leading man type wouldn't jump at an opportunity to audition for this ultimate villian.  Sooooo, I did.  With Andrea's permission.  I never really expected to get cast, but figured it'd be a blast to audition.  So, now I'm rehearsing Richard, learning lots of lines, learning some cool stage combat, and having a blast.  It's so great to work on a show like this with a director, Susan Schulman, that is actively directing a Shakespeare show in its time period!

 

We still have a long way to go, but I like how it is progressing.  Lots of table work.  Everyone is actively attacking their lines and characters.  I thought I was the only actor to approach a show with the "so it's about this guy who sells this woman a ticket so that all this stuff can happen to her".

Wow.  From one month to three months, the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons kept us so busy that I just didnt' get any time to update the "John Andrew" log.  But we made it through a whole lot of milestones in the last two months.

 

Thanksgiving at Bob & Donna's meant we got to hang out with almost all the family and almost everyone wanted a change to hold John Andrew.  It was nice because it meant we almost got a day off.  Little John loved it.  He got to spend the 90 minute ride between his Aunt Beazy and Grandma Kay - two more doting, loving souls you'd be pressed to find.

 

Christmas Shopping meant taking Little John to his first visit with Santa in our now annual trip to Montgomery Mall.  Andrea and I started our first Christmas together with a shopping trip to the Mall and then dinner at Legal Seafood.  We've done it every year since.  This year having the J-man with us meant a little more excitement but all in all he's a terrific patron.

 

Best Christmas Pageant Ever at Montgomery Playhouse (in which a quick bottle at the start of the show kept John quiet the whole time... except for a few very loud burps -- I don't know where he gets that from -- probably Andrea)

 

A Visit from St. Nick at Silver Spring Stage -- the J-man hung around with Daddy while he finished building the set and Mommy decorated the theater then came back with us to watch the show.  Well, he slept the entire time on Daddy's lap.  You'd never know he was there... other than the crowd of people he drew around him afterwards.  He's pretty cute!

 

Party at Doug & Lisa Anderson's meant visiting with their kids who were absolutely thrilled to see John Andrew.  The party was a blast and though John slept through most of it, he awoke only after demand to hold him increased.  He was a big hit.  We had a lot of fun.

 

My sneaky wife Annie decides that she wants to go out to eat in downtown Silver Spring and maybe we should just walk around a little beforehand... with John Andrew in the stroller, by the way.  And oh, look what's playing at the AFI Silver.  It's a Wonderful Life.  On the big screen.  "Hey, do you want to check it out?" she says.  Sneaky.  So we went and it was AWESOME!  Little John got fussy during the opening scene, but after a bottle and some burping, he settled into Mommy's lap for the duration.  I love the movie - one of my all time favorites, and to see it on the big screen was awesome.  If you like the movie and can see it on the big screen do so.  You see so much more than on a home screen.  And I think the AFI runs it every Christmas with an enhanced film.  We'll be back next year.

 

After Christmas, while Grandma Kay was visiting, we went to see an afternoon showing of Enchanted.  Again the fussiness at the beginning, which a bottle quickly cured, and then John settled down into Daddy's lap for some loud butt trumpeting and peaceful sleep.  Oh, and the movie was pretty good also!

 

Sweeney Todd was quite a bit bloodier and more violent, so we decided to leave him at home.  With Andrea quietly singing the songs in my ear, we enjoyed the show.  Good movie.  Johnnie Depp is a very talented performer.  Helena Carter maybe should stick to non-musicals.

 

Okay, so the "six week" checkup actually occurred at more like 9 weeks, but it didn't eliminate the outcome.  Shots.  Three of them.  For John Andrew.  Andy had his shots after they got home.  John did really well.  A little whimper after the first, a cry after the second, but the force and agressiveness of the third shot - I thought the needle was going to come out the back of his leg the nurse slammed it down so hard - well, that was all he could take and he let out an ear-piercing scream followed by that all-too-familiar sight of the crying baby when no sound comes out until the voice gets back down into a range humans can hear and then you go deaf for a few minutes.  But he calmed down pretty quick.  We'll see how he does on his next visit.  More shots.

 

Okay, so John Andrew's now ONE MONTH old.  I'm curious to observe how we monitor and report his age.  It was cool the first day because it was all in hours.  We were eating dinner in our room and thinking "we have a son and he's only 16 hours old!".  Next thing you know we were at his first DR appointment telling people he was 4 DAYS old.  Then it was weeks, NOW, it's ONE MONTH.  Then it rolls into years, and at some point we'll be back to months and days.  Fun stuff.

 

So how are we doing after a month?  We're doing great actually.  Well... as great as new parents go with all that is encompansses -- joy, wonder, amazement, and love for this new little person we created and are now responsible for... responsible for...  and then you're off into the fear it brings that you have to do EVERYTHING for him, that you're doing something wrong, there's something wrong with him, why's he crying, didn't he just eat, why can't we get any sleep? what's that coming out of his butt?  That kind of great. 

 

But truly, it's all good.  He usually only gets up once during the night, but then he doesn't want to go to bed till midnight and gets up at 6.  But no complaints.  He only cries when he's hungry, spends lots of time cooing and looking around, and LOVES to be held.  So I'm left with watching lots of sportings and late night TV with him asleep or getting there on top of my chest.  It's pretty cool!!

 

I'm back at work, Andrea's taking till January and enjoying a few weeks with her mother (Kay) visiting and helping out.  Kay's been great to have around to do all those things you don't realize need to be done or even notice have been done until they are done.  And she's beaming all the time.  The proud grandmother, it's lovely to see.  And I'm happy to say, she's been "christened" by John Andrew as we have -- she fed him nearly 7 ounces of milk and while burping him he proceeded to return that milk to her pants, the sofa, the floor, and on the back of Lily our dog, but barely a drop on himself.  Then he gives you his "sorry" look...   Fun stuff!

 

We think we'll keep him... at least till we find out if he can mow the lawn for me...

Okay, so this is my first venture into a blog.  Eating lunch, it's hard to type and eat... kind of like walking and chewing gum... except then you don't drop crumbs all over your keyboard.

 

So this is exciting... I started the site to post pictures of our son, John Andrew, that arrived Oct 19 at 2:51AM.  He couldn't have come a few hours earlier and had an 18th birthday like his mother and me.  Couldn't have come before Ugly Betty came on TV (that's what Andrea was hoping).  Couldn't have come while we still had energy.  Nope.  He waited until we (well Annie) were completely exhausted from pushing for nearly 4 hours.  But it was awesome anyway!

 

I got to cut the umbilical cord and then the DR let me put him on Annie's chest.  All gooey.  And he was as slippery as you would imagine.  Fortunately it was only a few feet to her chest where he landed as a gooey blob of wiggling crying baby.  And here's a funny part.  Picture the DR with a protective face shield, a gown on with gloves and booties -- all sanitary and sterile and protected.  And there I am, wearing the street clothes I've had on for 2 days of labor, bare hands, no mask, and she lets me grab the boy and hand him to Annie.  So much for sterile.  I think she did it on purpose, secretly laughing to herself knowing I was going to have baby goo all over my hands and no where to wipe them off.  I mean, you don't see this in the movies, but all the gook the baby is covered with?  Yeah, it gets on your hands when you pass him over to the mother.  She's got a disposable gown on.  I had bare hands and street clothes, standing there with goo dripping off my hands and no where to wipe them off... except on Annie's gown... when she wasn't looking.  And THEN I think the DR handed me a towel to clean up.

 

But you know what?  That talking to him in the womb junk the books preach works!  As soon as Annie said hello he quieted down.  Then when they took him to be cleaned and he was screaming, I went to him and started talking to him and immediately he stopped crying and opened his eyes to look at me.  Probably just checking out the face of the dad he's going to ignore when I give him advice in the future!

 

He had to spend a few days in the Neonatal ICU, but I got to visit him him about 4:30AM and then on the way to our room upstairs at 6:30am we got to stop in again and Annie got to see him too.  But all was fine shortly and when we went home a few days later, those crazy nurses let us take him with us.  I mean, new parents, with a baby, no instruction manual, what were they thinking?  Not that I'd read an instruction manual anyway.  I'm a man after all.  We don't read instruction manuals. :)

 

-- Andy