Aden's big cold adventure

Normally, I think that the day after Christmas may be my favorite day of the holiday season. Usually. You know, the pressure's off, there are presents to enjoy, there's probably some nice leftovers. All the good stuff. Today, however, started off a little differently. For one thing, Aden woke up at 3 a.m., and wouldn't go back to sleep. Thankfully, I was able to persuade him to nod back off with 7 oz. of formula, but the die was cast for me for the morning... after getting so knocked out of my sleep cycle, I didn't feel human again until nearly 10 a.m (with the help of three or four cups of coffee).

Melissa and I were determined to salvage the day, though, so when Aden finally got up from his pushed-back nap (he went down around 11, was back up around 1:45), we suited him up and took him out for a walk with Nugz. It was nearly perfect out - cold, but not bitingly so. I didn't even need to put on gloves. We trekked a ways up the ice-covered road, came back, and went past Mom & Papa's cabin to the abandoned property next door. There was still great snow cover there, so while Nugget frolicked, Aden got to play in the snow for the first time in his little life. He thought it was hilarious! Once he realized that you could eat the weird cold white stuff that he was crawling on, he couldn't stop bending down to lick it. Each time, he'd come back up giggling. Pretty great. When we got home, Melissa passed out on the couch, while Aden and I spent a little time playing with all of his new toys on the floor.

And when it was finally time for him to go to bed, Aden went to sleep without a peep of protest.

Special holiday bonus!

There's something to be said for hanging out in a remote location, far from work and regular life... if nothing else, it makes blogging a hekcuva lot easier. Hence, today's spectacular double-posting action, something not seen around these here parts for quite a while.

The rest of the day went very smoothly, thanks very much - people roused themselves from slumber, stumbled downstairs in various states of coherence (or were carried down, in Aden's case), and we got back to the serious business at hand... of opening presents. That was followed by some holiday video IM'ing to Joe's family back in Cali (yay modern technological holidays!), an awesome turkey dinner, and a little DVD viewing. Oh, and some serious Christmas cleanup. Lots of wrapping paper to take care of, folks, lots of boxes. In fact, I'm sort of shirking my duty right now. That also helps inspire blogging.

Well, back to work (I don't want any of my stocking stuffers to "accidentally" get lost in the shuffle). Good night to all, and to all a good night...

Christmaspalooza!

True to his usual rhythms, Aden woke up at 6:30 this morning... which would have been fine, of course, if everyone other than us had gone to bed before 5. Of course, as per our families usual rhythms, most folks (besides Melissa and Jeremy) were up all night getting the house ready for Christmas.

But the rest of the family straggled awake in good humor, and by 8:30, things were hopping. By 10, everyone (including Aden) was exhausted. So massive napping is now underway, and the bulk of gift unwrapping will wait until this afternoon. Stockings and a few particularly entertaining baby gifts have been opened, and a good time was had by all. One great thing observed about presents under the tree: when you're less than three feet tall, it looks like they really are a mountain of gifts. Aden greatly enjoyed rappelling up Mout Giftington.

And now I must head off to take my own nap. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays, everyone - here are some snapshots of this mornings brief debauchery.

Land of the Ice and Snow

I doubt that Downeast Maine is what Page & Plant had in mind when they wrote "Immigrant Song," but it sure fits at the moment. I can't help but wonder at how far away this all seems from Guatemala City, but Aden has adjusted as well as always. Basically, as long as there's a window he can smush his face up against, he seems to do all right.

Nugget is in total constant canine joy mode whenever we go outside - this is, after all, what he was made for. Bounding through snow, smelling stuff, rolling in other stuff - that's his Christmas gift right there. I'm already excited for next year, when we can watch Aden toddle along the snowbanks, chasing after Nugz.

State of the ProvWitherses

Frenzied. Packing. Looking for stuff. Checking lists twice. This show is getting ready to hit the road, folks. Is wider New England ready for the experience that is the Jeremy, Melissa, Aden & Nugget show? For their sakes, let's hope so...

Party recap, pt.2

Somewhere out in the Interwebisphere, I am sure that someone has written a number of essays on the subject of blog etiquette, like some kind of cyber Emily Post. And I am quite positive that rule number one is "Do not lapse in your posting if you expect people to keep reading your blog." Clearly, I have broken that rule to smithereens. But by now, you all know that I'm a loner, Dottie, a rebel (that's a Pee Wee Herman reference for all you keeping track)... but I'm a polite rebel, Dottie. And so I offer this excuse: Aden's been feeling a bit ill for the past week or so - at first, we just thought he was hung over from the party, but then we realized that children are little petri dishes, and this will be the first of many plague-like illnesses that the guy brings into our house.

Thankfully, he's coming out of The Sick, so things are looking up. And since I finally have a moment to update the blog, I offer all of you this peace offering: more pictures of the kid rocking out. It's kind of nice to look back on them and remember what he looks like without snot streaming out of his nose and crusting on his face. You know what? He's pretty cute when he's not all snotty. I promise that when he's cute again, we'll post more pictures...

Party review, pt. 1

As mentioned before, Aden's first birthday party was a total blowout bash, as befitting such a powerhouse little guy. There are far too many highlights to include in a single post, so we'll start with the basic synopsis of the day, and the photos off one of the two cameras.

Here's roughly how the day went:
6:30 - Aden wakes up, Grandma Marjorie takes babysitting duty, Melissa gets up to start preparing for the day, Jeremy groggily rolls over and goes back to sleep (bad dad!).

8:00 - Jeremy stumbles out of bed, says something along the lines of "Whass happenin'? Anybody make coffee?" Melissa has already arranged 700 roses into a portrait of Aden and carved a 10 ft. swan out of ice cream.

9:15 - Melissa decides the roses and swan are a little pretentious, chooses to go with a simpler 20-ft tall cake with Aden's name up the side. Bakes 15 of the 30 necessary layers in record time. Jeremy is mostly dressed by this point, but still can't find his socks. Aden still happily playing with Grandma.

10:30 - Aden is napping, Jeremy has walked the dog, Melissa has scrapped the cake plan and is now working on a sushi tray.

11:45 - Jeremy helps by moving a table! The sushi tray has been nixed in favor of a customizable cupcake bar, and Melissa has four vendors bidding wildly over the phone.

12:30 - Aden wakes up, Jeremy has gotten the digital slideshow mostly working (except for the bum adaptor cable the Mac store sold him - grrrr!), Melissa has decided that it would be simpler to go with a towering cupcake centerpiece, which she puts together beautifully in 15 minutes by herself.

1:00 - Party helpers arrive.

1:15 - Early-bird guests arrive.

1:30 - Family arrives. The party is now in full swing, and Aden is having a great time getting passed from one family member to another. Plus one of his first presents is a rocking horse! Rock on!

2:30 - Friends arrive. Whoo-hoo!

3:00 - More friends arrive. At this point, Melissa and Jeremy look at each other and ask "We really know this many people?"

3:45 - Yet more friends arrive, with kids no less. The party is officially hopping.

4:00 - Police cruiser swings by to ask us to get the band to turn down the PA, and to please keep that 5-year old with the Super Soaker off the roof. Oh, and to stop throwing couches out the window.

5:00 - Mötörhead, the headlining band, takes the stage. Lead singer & bass player Lemmy shouts "This one's for the little dude in the onesie!" as they launch into their hit "The Ace of Spades." Cops swing by for the fourth time.

5:15 - Cops give up, start moshing with the crowd.

6:15 - Mötörhead finishes their set, Lemmy shouts "Goodnight Cleveland!" and guests start streaming out.

6:30 - Aden goes to bed, still clutching the cymbal he stole off Mötörhead's drum kit and Lemmy's bandolier bass strap.

7:45 - Final clean-up crew leaves, taking the last three couches off the front sidewalk with them.

8:00 - Jeremy & Melissa collapse into a gibbering mess in front of the TV while Melissa's cousin Beck laughs at them for being so lame. They all watch the Food Network for a half hour, then pass out.

Of course, it didn't happen exactly like that, but you get the idea...

To tide you over

So, yes, we did promise party pictures... but what we didn't anticipate (foolishly, given my proclivities) was the sheer NUMBER of party pictures to sort through. Let's just say that daddy went a little crazy with the cameras at Aden's 1st bash. Though the fact that I had two digital cameras fully charged and ready to go should have been some indication.

So instead, today we give you photos taken when Aden & Mommy visited our friends Wendy & Chris and their new son Graham. The picture of Melissa and Aden is cute, of course, but the real winners are Aden and Graham side by side. We will definitely be whipping those out years from now to embarass them in front of all of their friends. If we could read babies minds, I think that these two would be saying something along the lines of the following in every shot:

Aden: Dude?
Graham: Dude!
Aden: Du-uuude?
both:Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!

Party on, Garth!

It's t-minus one half hour until it's officially Aden's birthday, and then the countdown begins for the party of the year. It promises to be quite a time, and should produce a number of blog-worthy pictures. Until then, however, we will have to do with this one, in which Aden channels the spirit of good old Bill the Cat.

Let's all join him in a hearty "ACKTHPTTHHH!"

Certified!

Just a quick note about a great big hurdle overcome without our even thinking about it: today Aden received his Certificate of US Citizenship in the mail. And our response? "Oh - huh. Wow. Yeah, I guess he needed that. Didn't even think of that. Cool."

We've still got a few steps left in the overall process - getting him a social security number and whatnot - but this certainly clears the way for the rest of the process. Hooray!

And what did Aden do to celebrate? You know - read some DVDs, chased the cats... the usual...

Action baby!

Since some of this blog's reader's seem to doubt Aden's future as a model (or maybe his parents' abilities as stylists), he's decided to consider acting. And the title of his very first film? That's right: Action Baby!

We figure he'd be a natural - it could just be a montage of his favorite activities: playing around (but not in) his activity chair, making crazy faces, belly-flopping on whatever looks soft, sucking on Cookie Monster's eyeballs, visiting his buddies in the clink... you know, the usual stuff... usual for Action Baby!

Workin' it

Derek Zoolander: Well, I guess it all started the first time I took second grade, when I was eating lunch and caught my reflection in a spoon, and I thought to myself, "Hey, you're ridiculously good-looking!" Maybe I could do that for a career.
Matilda: Do what?
Derek Zoolander: Be professionally good-looking.