3 Generations of Proulx

My mom wanted to get a picture of all 3 of us together in the same place. I had some ideas of how the shot should go... each generation holding their own spawn (the other way, which of course is totally illogical as Tobias can't even hold his head straight, let alone my body weight, was ruled out right away).

Even though my mom appears to be incredibly strong here... I'll let you in on a secret, we used trick camera angles. Sorry mom.


Here's a serious one:
Tobias decided that he'd rather sleep than suffer through this miserable experience (yup, he's a boy, already dislikes picture taking!... that's my son!)

My mom had to hold his head up, as he kept flopping over at the exact moment Christina was taking the shot.

We tried our best to make it look natural, but I think we need better stage props or something. Subltety is one of my mom's strong suits. Tobias' master ninjitsu skills were a bit lacking as well.

We were all in white t-shirts, which was a rather cool, albiet totally unplanned, coincidence.


Here's the sleeping prince in all of his majesty:

Impressive, most impressive... but you are not a Jedi yet! 

Hey kept trying to dunk his right ear in the soup, so my mom had to hold the side of his head like this the entire bath. 

1 second in Grandma's hands, and he's "Like Buttah" - notice the complete relaxation of his arms, and the laid back feet up style. 

Hey Christina, how're you feeling today? Christina...? Christina? 

Winny the Pooh, Bath #2, Grandma Proulx...

... and don't forget the poo!
So, normally (emphasis on this word), a baby goes through a few diapers in a day, they pee in some, poop in others, and we as new parents have the 'tard factor a little higher as we make mistakes during the change over period.
As it turns out, the very process of changing Tobias' diapers:
Unfasten them, hut 2, 3, 4
Lift the legs, hut 2, 3, 4
Wipe the backside, hut 2, 3, 4
Evacuate the detritus, hut 2, 3, 4
Replace with new fatigues, hut 2, 3, 4
AH-TEN-TION!
Is the action that unleashes the fecal beasts. The fresh air, coupled with a continuous pumping of his legs in and out (I swear this is part of the normal changing process), add in a little stimulation of the (*), and about the time we have the new diap's on, and the saftey pants, and the "cute" outfit Dejour, he gives us his little Toot Salute! And we're back to square one. In 4 days he's dusted 80 clean diapers... yikes! Our delivery service comes once a week, that's once each 7 days. Again, I'm using the "new" math (even imaginary numbers like EleventyEight and Thirtyteen), but the numbers don't add up.

So boys+dirt is cool, cause hey, I'm a boy and I like dirt. But poop dirt... ungh-uh! Kid needs a bath!

So he's getting another one. This time Grandma helped out. Amazingly, he was either very relieved to be less dirty and smelly, he was too tired to profess, or Grandma and Mom on the spot made him feel so much more happy.

This was the worst one I could find, and I was snapping pictures like crazy. He wasn't quite sure that he was enjoying himself here, but it definitely wasn't the Hurricane of 3 days ago. We'll dub him "Tropical Storm Tobias", downgraded from a more severe weather pattern.

And then of course, after the bath, sans clothing, we have the cute "candid" shots:














And then I found, in the recesses of my closet cave, a blast from my past. This is not a "retro" mobile, this is the original issue, circa 1975. This bad boy is over 30 years old, and has graced the cribs of many distinguished dignitaries (my sister and I only being 2 of the 2 recipients).

Grandma Proulx comes to visit

My mom came on Sunday night to visit her brand new Grandson. The bond was immediate!
We're having some camera issues, so we don't have much in the nature of "action" shots, but we do have a few dancing pictures.

She's had a lot of practice with my sister's baby girl, Emily Jeanne, who is exactly 9 months older than Tobias. Emily, and her mom and dad (Niki and Justin) live in Reno, NV.

My mom is helping my sister who is working part time and eventually as she goes back to school. My sister and her husband both work for the Department of Forrestry and are firefighters. Justin works for the Tahoe Hotshots. Niki works for the Humboldt-Toiyabe (Toe-Wabbi) BlackMountain Hotshot crew (sorry, no picture available).


This whole process will be very cool, with the cousins being so close in age.

Its bath time!

So we measured the water, moderated the temperature and stripped the boy, and we were ready for bath time. This was our first bath time, so we celebrated the occasion with a few pictures.














Then (as you'll follow the progression) things turned a bit less light hearted as the demon took over...














And then the full onslaught took place. Too bad I can't add sound to this Blog.














But all's well that ends well. He seemed to legitimately enjoy the after affects of the bath: namely being cuddled, swaddled, and clean.














Hopefully we'll be able to repeat this wonderful process every 2-3 days.

I think this is the position that I'll miss the most as he grows up. Having your little boy sleep on your chest is about the coolest thing in the world. 

Maiden voyage of the stroller

We took our stroller out for a short run to Mervyn's.
Tobias displayed an awesome ability to sleep the entire time, totally disregarding the fact that dad is a horrible pilot and steered the vehicle over/down/off curbs, large cracks, grass, rocks, and small dogs. (just kidding about the dog part)

We made it none the less, and he's still asleep now. What a trooper.

What mom's do best... loving little boys. 

Gave birth a week ago, doesn't she look great! 

Mom and son 

Tobias: WBF super ultra featherweight. 

"Hey, I just woke up. Who's there?" 

Tobias and Great Grandmother 

This was taken exactly prior to loading his diaper. The smile is a warning. 

Here's my weak attempt to get him to smile. When he does it on his own, its totally AWESOME! 

The sepia tone to the picture really makes everyone look jaundiced... he's all better today 

Darned cute alien though. Adorable!