Markus sleeps!

For the last week or so, Markus has been going to sleep around 8:00-9:00 p.m. and waking up around 6:00-7:00 a.m. pretty consistently. From what we hear, we're very lucky. On the one hand it's nice because Sandra and I get to relax at night, but it's tough for me because I miss the little guy. I get home and I get to bathe him, change him, and feed him his last meal. He then falls asleep (although that can be difficult sometimes as he gets fussy before falling asleep).

When I walk in to his room in the morning, he's usually waking up. The first thing he does when he sees me is smile and make noises. It's truly heart-melting.

Don't get me wrong...I'm glad he's sleeping peacefully and not crying all night, but I also miss him.

Our next appointment with the pediatrician is on the 7th (next Saturday). More shots, and we're also planning on introducing some foods to him (rice cereal, or something like that) after the appointment. We'll see how it goes.

This is the picture I currently have of Markus as my desktop background:

Back Home!

We successfully moved back home last weekend, although I ended up with a slight fever Friday and Saturday. We even managed to host the International Dinner on Sunday! We were scrambling to find our glasses and plates during the last few minutes, and we even had some help from our friends. Just like the Beatles.

After the dinner was over, we put the dishes in the dishwasher for the first time, put some Cascade in it, and turned it on. An hour or so later, the cycle was finished and when we opened up the dishwasher, there was just a streak of detergent and a blast of heat, to accompany the dirty dishes. Strange. Our solution (after multiple bottles of wine)? TRY AGAIN! You can only guess the outcome.

I was pretty upset and Sandra realized that there was no water going to the dishwasher! Ahh, those idiot contractors didn't turn on the valve! Well, I remembered that the valve was in the basement, but it was in the ceiling. I opened up a hole, but to no avail. Upset, I went to sleep.

The next day (wine has left the system), I said, "all new plumbing must have exposed valves to each separate unit"...and in that moment I realized just how dumb I was. Underneath the sink! Of course, there was the valve. I turned it, counterclockwise, and "wooosh"...I heard the water start flowing. Sandra already thought I already checked there, which is why she allowed me to poke a hole in our basement ceiling. After that, the dishwasher worked great! So, a lesson to anyone who may have a new dishwasher installed in the future...MAKE SURE THE WATER IS ON! lol.

Yes, I blame the wine.

The two of us also couldn't find the "vent" button on the microwave. Again, I woke up the next day, read the manual, stared at the microwave buttons, and BEHOLD! There, all of a sudden, appeared the vent button. No excuse there, as both Sandra and I checked for that button before any alcohol consumption.

On Tuesday, Sandra turned on the oven and that resulted in smoke, a horrible smell and the smoke detector going off. WTF? Sandra was "freaking the hell out", and she opened the doors and windows. It turns out that there was some more of that blue protective plastic underneath the vent on the stove. SO, a lesson to anyone who may have a new range installed in the future...make sure to take off ALL of that blue plastic crap before igniting! lol.

Nothing wrong with the fridge or wine fridge yet. We're still finding a way to screw that up.

Okay, here's a picture of me, Sandra and Markus!

(Markus is making a funny face)

Markus's First Walk

Not to be confused with Markus's first steps, yesterday was Markus's first walk. Because the pediatrician had advised us to keep him inside for a while due to being born a little early, he really hasn't gotten out much. The temperatures have been super cold until yesterday, when it hit a balmy 60 degrees in NY.

I bundled Markus up anyway, in his little car seat (little, but surprisingly heavy, even without the ~15 lb baby inside) and his warm soft BundleMe. It works kind of like an all-over fleece blanket and creates a seal of warmth around the baby.

We walked for a good 20 minutes or so, then turned around and came back home. Before we'd reached the halfway point, Markus had fallen asleep. Here we are once we got back to the house:



The motion of the stroller plus the sound of me talking to him (really a great excuse to talk out loud to myself without looking crazy) just wouldn't let the little guy stay awake. It was a great experience and I can't believe how good it felt to WALK. Just to be outside and breathing the air, greeting people along the way, was awesome. Plus, I can tell how out of shape I am by the fact that I actually felt like I was exercising. Can't wait to do more walking with Markus!

Before I sign off, I just want to share a picture of Markus from 2/10, his 3 month birthday!


Our happy little guy! :)

Markus Speaks

Markus adds his input on what outfit to wear:

Happy 3 Month Birthday

Markus has moved from "newborn" status to "infant" status today! Happy 3 month birthday!

Today's cellphone picture (Sandra sends me one each day) :



In other news, we're planning on moving back home this weekend (President's Day on Monday), so we're excited about that. We're finally hosting our international dinner (Mexico) on Sunday, so we HAVE to be there! Our friends have been nice enough to give us a pass. Twice.

I also had the camcorder shipped to New Jersey to avoid paying sales tax (don't worry IRS, I will report it on my 2009 return next year), so we won't have new video until this weekend.

I also realize that we only update this post once a week at best, which is crazy because I can't believe how fast time goes. My commute is 1:45 each way right now, so I leave at 6:30 and don't get back until around 7:30. I'm also at the mercy of the train schedule. The weekdays go by quickly. This will improve once we get to Cranford, so I'm looking forward to spending more time at home playing with Markus.

Kitchen Project - FINISHED!

I finally cleaned up the kitchen and took some pictures. Here are a few before and after shots (they aren't labled, but hopefully you can figure out which ones are before/after):

View from dining room (the wall was removed)




Dining view #2



Window corner



Walk into kitchen # 1


Walk into kitchen #2



The Venetian plaster came out great. Many thanks to my dad for helping out!




Although the color was "peachier" than we wanted, it still looks good. We used Behr Venetian Plaster, and the color is "pompeii". It looked darker on the sample. Maybe after we complete the other 1,297 projects on our list, we'll mess with the wall color.

In other news, I was lucky to win some cash on a superbowl box pool this year, so that means we can purchase that camcorder that we wanted right away! Hooooray football!