long time no blog
I guess it's true that time flies when you're having fun! Fast forward to today... Troy is a walking talking TODDLER, for cryin' out loud! Amazing! I have some cool stuff on my computer at work that I wanna post here later to catch the world up on my boy's progress in life. But suffice it to say for now that he is awesome and I love him dearly!

war of the gargantuas
Troy's growing at an alarming rate of speed. Sometimes in my heart of hearts I worry that he's gonna grow up to be some sort of superhuman gargantua... cool, huh!?

Another Doctor appointment on Monday, more shots, screaming, and crying. Ugh! Poor little guy. I aint looking forward to that. My little mann is turning into a real baby, babbling, grabbing stuff, pulling hair, he's even sitting in his MegaSaucer and everything. He is sticking EVERYTHING he gets ahold of in his mouth now, too. Day care is going good, I am still doing the Marketing gig at the Casino so we can afford it! He seems to like it well enough, he's cool when I drop him off and happy to see me when I get him in the afternoons. Troy is starting to roll over too! Still not crawling but sort of flopping around every which way instead! I think he is seeing how the older babies get around at the day care and might be starting to try some new things soon,as soon as he gets strong enough.

I guess I should be thankful, he's still easy to corral. Soon he'll be a mobile baby and getting into all kinds of trouble.

I love him a lot, still! Can't wait to get him to NY to see his family at the end of this month!

day care hero
Troy's doing great in Day Care! Kristina started back up at work and Troy started up at Kids Forever and Mia started up at Summer School. About time those 3 goldbricks got busy! I been bustin' my hump the whole time while they enjoyed their time off!

Troy seems to be doing well at Day Care. I love picking him up after work. It's cool to have him around other kids.

He's sleepinmg thru the night virtually all the time now. He's "goo goo"-ing more, and seeing more, and using his hands more. He likes to watch TV with us, the lights and colors appeal to him I think! He's getting stronger and bigger and less spazzy. He still loves his mobile over his crib, when you wind it up he smiles and starts kicking his feet in anticipation of seeing "his guys" move. And he likes his John Lennon bouncy seat, he sits in it and starts playing with the toys on it. Just like a big boy! I love him very much.

We had a big discussion yesterday about money. The Powerball Lottery was up to like $ 250 million , and I was asking the girls what they'd do with that much cash. It led to a pretty cool talk about how having money doesn't guarantee happiness. And we talked about what really makes us happy, and how a lot of those things don't really cost anything.

AGAIN SOME MORE
Mood:  hug me
We found a new daycare. Troy is going to be starting up at Kids Forever Daycare center in July when Kristina goes back to work. Kaela's cancelled out on us! We looked at a few places, but we liked Kids Forever the best, it was clean and had nice people working there, and the price was affordable for our budget too! I'm getting a little conflicted about having Troy in daycare. I'm worried about him being treated right and worried about him being away from his family all day. Buy I also think it will help Kristina and I get more stuff done and maybe be fresher and more ready to deal with him after somebody else has taken care of him while we're at work.

He is doing great, more smiling and some laughing now. He has dicovered that his hands A) belong to him (previously I suspect Troy thought they were 2 small alien invaders in his world, acting on their own), and B) there are TWO of them that can touch each other... and other things! He's been grabbing things a little bit, clasping his hands together, grabbing for his feet. It's great to watch it all happening. He's turning ionto a little kid already!

ALL GROWN UP
WOW! Troy keeps growing! What happened to that little baby I brought home from the hospital in April? He's really starting to look like a real baby now, he's holding his head up more, starting to grab things with his hands, push himself with his legs... it's pretty awesome!

We went to Breaker's Water Park on Father's Day! It was great, we had a blast. Mia is getting much braver in the water now that she has some swimming lessons under her belt. We had a wonderful time in the wave pool and I even snuck off to go on the water slides. Troy slept mostly!

We found a daycare for Troy, Kristina returns to work next month! It's called Kaela's Day Care, it's right on the way to my work, so I'll be able to take him. It's even close enough so I can visit him at lunchtime. The people there seem really nice, they are licensed and inspected by the state too which is good.

DOCTOR DOCTOR
Mood:  sad
Another visit to the doctor, more tears and screaming! yeeesh! The visit started well enough, Troy is doing great. He's almost 15 pounds now and 24 inches tall. Dr Hull says he will probably be taller than Kristina or me if he stays on this course! Which will be helpful in his lucrative pro sports career... ahem.

...anyway, then came the shots. 4 of 'em. In the legs. Poor litle guy was crying and screaming, I started crying a little too. How come I'm always the one who's holding him when these quacks start taking their licks at him? He was very brave. He finally calmed down and took a long nap, and was actually smiling and gurgling with approval when we got him home.

We're trying to get him to A) stop falling asleep nursing and B) start falling asleep on his own, in his crib. It's been a rocky road so far but it's going to be cool when he gets the hang of it all. He's still a good boy. we had to dig out more clothes for him last night, he's outgrown all his newborn and 0-3 month old clothes. He's into the 3-6 month stuff now already! He is smiling more and more and recognizing toys he likes. He likes this little Winnie the Pooh bear with these honey jars that rattle, he always smiles at that one. And he likes his mobiles over his bed too. He even smiles when he's getting his diaper changed or clothes changed. And he's goo - gooing a little bit, trying to talk, especially to Kristina. They have these in-depth discussions some mornings!

Larger than life
That boy is growing! Troy weighs about 13-14 lbs now, he's 7 weeks old and AWESOME! He went swimming for the 1st time ever two days ago at the YMCA. He was very brave about it all. He was sucking on his hand (he doesn't have that "thumb" thing down quite yet) for reassurance but did very well for a rookie. I love him a lot. He's still a good baby, waking up about twice a night to eat and poop, then usually back to sleep quickly. He's OK about sleeping alone in his bassinet about half the time we try it.

born to raise hell
I went away to san Diego for the weekend to do an Alice Cooper gig and man, did I miss that baby! It just didn't feel right, sleeping through the night like that! When I got home he even looked different, after just 3 days. That kid is changing so fast. I saw a lot of babies at the gig, for some reason! My baby radar is switched on nowadays, I suppose. Anyway, it reminded me that Troy is still just a little guy, and to not expect too much from him yet! He's only 1 month old! However, he's finally big enough to fit into the "Born To raise Hell" shirt I bought him in LA when I first found out Kris was pregnant.

2 weeks old and growin'...
WOW! The last 2 weeks have kinda flown right by! I started a new job last week, si life's been a blur of new faces, new responsibilities at work and 3 am feedings and diaper changes at home. But I'm loving it all.

Troy is growing and changing so fast, it's just amazing! He hardly looks anything like the wrinkled little guy I was handed 2 1/2weeks ago at TMC! He's gained a pound and 1/2 so he's tipping the scales @ 11.5. He's a pretty decent sleeper... he wakes us up 3-4 times a night to eat or get changed (or more often BOTH) but he usually goes right back to sleep fairly easily. He's a little more fussy than he was at first, but still good as gold.

The boy is growing and changing constantly. His eyesight is getting better every day. It's cool to hold him and see his eyes looking around and seeing things. He's so busy taking everything in! It's all so new to him. He loves looking at light fixtures and windows, the light/dark contrast really attracts his attentions.

Troy loves to be held. Sometimes that's the only thing that will make him calm down! When he's upset or "vaguely dissatisfied", as Kristina puts it, he makes these little grunting sounds, like a guy in the gym working out! It's hard work being a baby! Very cute.

Sleepy
Everybody's sleepy lately, the baby (he's sleeping a ton lately. I suspect a growth spurt is iminent!), Kristina, and especially ME! Between the frequent nightly diaper changes -and trying to get Troy to sleep afterwards- and the feedings every 2 hours or so, the night shift is pretty hectic. And then I'm up at 6:15 to get ready for school! But still, it's not so bad. And it's likely to get worse when T.J. gets a little older and we start trying to get him on a sleep/food schedule of some kind!

But really, everything's pretty awesome. I'm enjoying the time off from work, and it's nice to just have virtually nothing to do but hang out and spend time with Kristina and Troy. I'll be returning to work part time next week. So I'm doing my best to relax and enjoy this time with the litle Love Dictator.