Roseburg, Oregon Welcomes You!

After claiming we would be better about blogging once we got to Oregon, we have done a very poor job of meeting our promise.  But then again, things have been surprisingly busy.  Sebastian was an excellent traveller.  He barely made a peep during the entire flight across country!  Fred was also a fantastic traveller.  He stayed under the seat the entire trip and was easily transported here, there, and everywhere.  Getting to the airport was a bit stressful...  There were times when we doubted everything would fit in the car.  Somehow, everything worked out well.  Sebastian did manage to pee all over Matt in the airplane lavatory and he went through several outfit changes to get to our final destination.  The trip was certainly an event for the family.

Since arriving in Roseburg, we have had amazing weather.  Sebastian finally met his remaining grandparent, The Grand Poobah, Howard.  The Poobah and Nana have cooked up a storm and we have been enjoying home grown tomatoes, greens, beets, and eggs.  We have even taste tested both the Tempranillo and the Malbec grapes.  We are eaglerly awaiting the first harvest of Foon Estates' first season of grapes which will occur in a few weeks.  Everything has been fantastic.

On Sunday night, the Waltman clan arrived to see Foon Estates and to visit.  Everyone was coming from Matt and Audrey Waltman's wedding in Seattle.  Zaide, Bubie, Laurence, Joseph, Phyllis, and Taras showed up on Sunday night and Danny came to visit on Monday.  We had a great visit with everyone and even had the opportunity to hit up one of the local wineries for a tasting. 

Matt started his rotation at Mercy Medical Center on Tuesday.  His preceptor was nice enough to give Matt Monday off.  Unfortunately for Matt, STEMI (ST elevated MI) call starts tonight.  Let's all hope that no one decides to have a mycardial infarction tonight so that Matt can get some sleep. 

We have taken a ton of pictures over the past week.  I am going to include the highlights so that this post doesn't become excessive.

xo,  Matt, Anna and Sebastian

Sebastian and The Poobah

Poobah and Sebs

Jet lagged boys

Great Auntie Phyllis



Homegrown sunflower



Foon Estates at night

Sebastian meets Tilly

Great grandmother

Cousin Danny makes an appearance

The crew, missing Matt

The Waltman siblings and Sebastian

Laurence and Sebastian

Taras and Sebastian

Great gramps

Joseph and Sebs

Tilly and Sebastian, take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Take 4

There is something so honest about this picture...

Too much fun for one baby

Laurence, Joseph, Matt (with Sebastian), Taras, Phyllis, Howard, Bubie, Zadie, Marjorie
Anna, Danny, Django

Four generations and spouses

Mama and Daddy, baby, and the greats

Packing up and heading out!

Family photo

We have been a little behind on the blog lately as we are in the process of trying to organize for our two month trip to Oregon.  Nana was nice enough to upgrade the family to first-class so that Sebastian's first plane trip can be in style.  Unfortunately for our neighbors in the first-class cabin, we will be flying with a three week old baby and a cat!  I hope no one has allergies or particularly good hearing.  We are hoping that Sebastian sleeps and doesn't get cranky.  We are also drawing straws for who will be responsible for changing a poopy diaper in the aircraft lavatory. 

As we have been packing this evening, Nana has been holding Sebastian.  We managed to snap a few incriminating photos of her sleeping on duty.   We also were able to capture equally telling photos of Papa Mike's form of "babysitting."  For whatever reason, grandparents seem to like to nap when they are taking care of the grandchildren.  Napping must be nice...

Wish us luck as we set sail for the opposite coast!  We should be blogging more regularly when we get there. 

Bube wins the award because her eyes are open

Papa, definitely not winning the award

Take two... more evidence of sleeping on the job

Nana, who is holding the bottle?!

 
Grandpa Howard has not yet been pictured asleep with Sebastian as the two have yet to meet.  Pictures of their sleeping sessions should be posted shortly. 

Dooleys' Visit, etc.

Papa Mike and Bube (pronouced "Bubbie") Claudia arrived in Boston yesterday to visit Sebastian.  Nana Marjorie left for West Hartford to visit with Bubie and Zadie Waltman for Yom Kippur.  Nana will be back on Sunday so that we can all have dinner together on Sunday night.  Papa and Bube will head back to St. Louis on Monday and Matt and I will start to pack for our two month trip to Oregon.  We are pleased to report that Fred appears to be improving, finally!!!  He has gone over 36 hours without vomiting (a dramatic improvement from his 2-3 times daily puke fest).  

Three generations





Ladies with Sebastian

Bube, Matt, Papa, and Sebastian

Matt and I have been staying up all hours as we continue our attempts to adjust to Sebastian's ever changing sleep wake cycle.  As of late, Sebastian sleeps a good 4-5 hours (usually from about 11:30p-4am or so) and then torments us from 4am until 10am.  Fortunately, Matt and I work as a good team... We trade off duties entertaining Sebastian and changing diapers.  The whole process is pretty freaking exhausting.  However, there are many wonderful aspects of parenthood as well which make the the process worthwhile.  We are amazed at how quickly our baby boy is growing.  His head is so big now, he already can't wear hats that fit him last week!!  He is rapidly becoming stronger and stronger as well.  He can kick himself up the changing table and he can do push ups on Daddy's chest.  He is going to be a big, strong boy for sure.  We are excited to watch the process unfold as he grows and becomes his own little person.

I am including a hodge podge of random pictures collected over the past week.  Enjoy!

Mr. Perfect Puss

Fred is starting to feel like himself again!  Yay!

Bath time with Mommy

Suave Sebastian

Mommy and her clean little boy

Sebastian's huge hands with Daddy's finger

Sienna's 1st Birthday and other happenings

Apologies for a few days off from blogging.  We really haven't been doing a ton.  We are still trying to get to know Sebastian's routines and we are trying to sneak a little sleep in on occasion.  The biggest household concern has been Fred's health.  He isn't eating.  For anyone who knows Fred, this is VERY concerning.  Fred not eating is like a fish not swimming.  He has also had a few episodes of vomiting, diarrhea, etc.  We can't tell if he is stressed out, sick, or both.  We are going to try to get him into the vet this week.  Fred is starting to act like himself after several days of weird behavior but the food thing isn't back to normal.  We are working on the situation.  And, we are doing our best to give him attention when he wants it (usually at very bad times).  

Fred's attention demands... Trying to meet them

 

 

 

 

 

On a more positive note, we had the pleasure of celebrating Sienna's 1st birthday.  Sienna is the daughter of Walid and Zoe.  Walid and Matt went to Holy Cross together so they have know each other for a while now.  Sebastian was very well behaved.  In fact, he slept the entire time with a few pauses in his sleep schedule to eat.  The party was full of crazed toddlers.  We watched our future unfold as we saw the little boys smashing into things, banging toys, and climbing up and down stairs.  It is hard to think that in a mere few months, our little guy will be so big and destructive.  We got a few pictures of the wee ones playing and of the birthday girl.  Enjoy!!

Sebastian sleeping while the little ones play

Sienna and Zoe

Sienna, Zoe and Walid

Sienna, Walid, and Matt

Sienna and Sebastian meet

Birthday cake... yummy!

Daddy's football hold

The Dooleys

Zoe and Sebastian

And a few more shots we took just hanging out around the house...

Daddy and little dude

The wine glass, Nana, and Sebs