Rolly-Polly Caden

Another milestone has been reached! Our little Caden has finally found a way to get himself out of the dreaded tummy time...the rollover! This video is actually of his second rollover. The first one happened so quickly that I never even got to see it! One minute he was on his tummy and I looked away to grab a burp rag, then I heard a "thunk" and when I turned he was already on his back...with a very confused expression on his face!

Reno, Nevada

We were in Reno last week for the annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists, which was held this year in the Peppermill Hotel and Casino. It was very opulent, very flashy, and very full of cigarette smoke. Every time we went past the casino floor I told Caden to hold his breath while I practically jogged the distance as fast as I could. This is the first time ASM has held its meeting somewhere other than a college campus, and we’re not too sure how we feel about that. The meeting went well, though. At the final banquet and awards ceremony Ryan won some little something-or-other that put large mammal biologists on the ASM map and made his name known to all who attended, but the exciting event of the week was that Caden met a girl.

 

Our good friends Kevin and Sheila attended the meeting as well and brought along their daughter, Sierra, who is only two days older than Caden. He was a little shy at first since he’s never met a girl his own age before, but like any true son of a scientist he decided to educate himself and read up on the subject (with a little help from Dad).

 

He discovered that girls are found under “G” in the alphabet, and that they like things called “compliments.”

  

Talking to Sierra was so much easier than he had thought it would be. After all, they have so much in common: Tummy time, sitting on pillows, an obsession for fresh milk, lying on quilts and staring at Mom, lying on quilts and taking a nap (after fighting sleep for an hour), brightly colored books, talking in vowels only, etc.

 

Their fathers could see that the relationship was serious right from the start and had a little chat with them about it.

Kevin was very concerned about his daughter dating anyone before she turned 31, but since all their outings around Reno would be chaperoned by the moms (they would be in separate strollers, of course), he decided to allow it… for now. I was happy for them, but I think the attention of a girl may have gone to Caden’s head.

 

I might have to have a chat with that boy.

First Laugh

I would have posted this sooner but the internet is difficult to get to out in the field.

Caden had his first real laugh on June 3, which would make him 12 weeks old if I've counted correctly. The first laugh was such a shock. Then he did it again and I realized what it was. I just managed to catch the third and final laugh on video and I am so glad I did because he didn't laugh again all day.

He didn't laugh again but he sure did talk my ear off. He has a lot of serious opinions for a 3-month old. :)

Starkey Babies

Spring is here and we're seeing babies everywhere. First and foremost is our own little Caden, who turned two months old yesterday. They grow up so fast. :)

He reached a few developmental milestones in the last few weeks.

 He learned how to smile.

 He learned how to pose for a picture. Every parent's dream come true! I think he held this smile for ten whole seconds while I got the camera ready.

 This face is nothing new. He's been making it since birth, but I love it so I went ahead and uploaded it. :)

 And lastly, he learned that he has hands and that those hands are sooooo tasty! He's still not very coordinated, and actually getting them to his mouth when he wants to chew on them is quite an amusing process. Actually, it's only amusing for us. He gets so frustrated when he wants nothing more than to shove that fist into his mouth and he can't quite seem to make it work. Sometimes his face will turn one direction and his hand will go in the other, and sometimes he whacks himself in the face, which is a big part of the amusement for us. We parents are so mean. ;)

The other babies that we've been seeing are the kind that you might expect to find out at Starkey. They're of the furred and feathered variety. Here are two of the three little (Little? These guys are 20 - 30 pounds at birth!) elk calves that Ryan has found so far. His summer work is going well and we hope that he'll be able to collar many more of these buggers.

I guess at some point we all fall prey to the desire to save a baby animal. Ryan found this little owl on the road and brought him back to the cabin. After making a phone call to ODFW we learned that these little guys--either the young of a great gray or a great horned owl--often fall out of the nest before they can fend for themselves and that the parents take care of them anyway. So Ryan trekked back to the northern part of the forest and left little Herman (I named him Herman) in a tree close to where he found him. We hope he's still doing well and look forward to seeing him swoop around the forest someday after mice and juvenile ground squirrels.

 You know how the old saying goes: A bird in the hand...

is worth one in the hat?

 

 Too cute!

One Month Old

Caden is now one month old. Actually, he's a month and two weeks old, but he's still in the one-month time frame, so we're good. He has grown so much in his first four weeks! It's been amazing to watch him develop an interest in his surroundings. He's also started to notice us, which is thrilling!

Here are some of the exciting things that happened around the one month mark.

He tried on his very first cloth diaper. It didn't fit too well at that point but he's big enough to wear them now.

He discovered a love of modern art...kind of. 

 Note the intense level of concentration

 He had his first bath.

Then he recovered from his first bath.

There's a fluffy white towel folded up beneath him in the tub photo. It's the exact same color as the tub, unfortunately, so you can't see it too well. (In case anyone thought I just set him on the floor of the tub.)

Last, but not least, we were fortunate enough to have our first family photos taken by our good friends Chris and Jeannette. They did such a fantastic job! In addition to the pictures they took, they put together a wonderful surprise for us: a musical slideshow that was so sweet it had us both in tears!

First Baby Pictures

Caden Allen Long

Born on March 19, 2012

Weighed 7lbs. and 13oz.

19.5 inches long

 Sleepy boy. It's hard work being born.

First hiccups!

 Dad changing a diaper.

 First stroller ride.

Nap time.

Call me crazy...

Go ahead, 'cause you'll probably really want to once you find out why I'm excited.

We got a package today that we've been waiting for all week. It was our first assortment of cloth diapers and cloth diaper accessories. We got:

• 2 Happy Heinys
• 2 FuzziBuns
• 2 Swaddlebees
• 2 Planet Wise wet bags (a big one for home use and a small one to take in the diaper bag) 
• a Flo diaper sprayer (don't try cloth diapering without one!)

All of this came from Abby's Lane. It is a great family-run website for parents who are interested in trying things a little more naturally. They have so many cute and useful products to look through and choose from, and the employees are actually helpful--unlike on some larger websites. "coughTargetcough!" I love the store, but I won't shop on Target's website anymore. They just don't know what they're doing.

In our Abby's Lane order there was one diaper color we'd chosen that was either back ordered or no longer available; I can't remember which, and one of the employees called us right away to let us know and to see what we wanted to do. She was very helpful. We got our order quickly and everything is so cute! If this sounds like a plug for their website, that's because it is. I was very happy with their service. :)

Diapers!

I'm also happy to note that I will not be the only one changing these cute little diapers. Ryan may not like to do it, but he certainly can't say he doesn't know how anymore.

 

I need tech support!

Call India!


I've been having a hard time getting my videos to play on this blog since day one. Well, I finally asked for and took the advice of a friend and I think--thanks to the handy-dandy uploading procedures of YouTube--that the video issues are over. I've been hesitating to post new things because the videos play so iffily, which has been very frustrating! So, hopefully we can now get back to our regular, irregular posting schedule. ;)