Date Night!

Good pic.

Although one could argue that last Friday night was a date night to Brian and Dani's wedding, tonight we're actually going to dinner and a movie!  We're going to try and make this a periodic thing.  So...we'll be watching the Huskers today throw MSU into the Pit of Death (or at least Pit of Defeat...Death seems so...morbid..) then we're off to pig out and enjoy a good flick!  We've certainly had some times this week. 

Parasite.

Daniel is continuing to grow, but perhaps the greatest feat continues to be his sleeping habits.  He's already had a few nights where he sleeps through the entire night (I'm talking 8-9 hour!) He wakes up fairly hungry, but never in hysterics.  I'm sure he has his reserves built up.  Last week he weighed in at 12lbs 7oz...little under my guess, but eh.  You'll get there buddy.  He tends to like playing in the morning most (which I sadly miss), but still has some nice play times throughout the day.  Play time includes the following:  Standing up, sitting down (in his Bumbo), laying on his play mat, shaking a rattle in his face, taking advantage of his Palmar grasp reflex to have him hold something, and having him dance (which looks like a noodle flailing in the wind.  It's a lot of fun. 

Watching Greys.

He was also able to have a play day at the Coopers (our eventual day care).  It sounds like it went well and I think he's looking forward to Hangin' with Mrs. Cooper (shout out to Mark Curry)...I throw that reference to Jason Cooper too often...I'll give me two more times.  This always gives Katie time to actually get some stuff done rather than acting as a host to our cute, parasitic son (I said "cute' to offset the parasite comparison).  This week is a big week for our family as Daniel has his 2-month birthday, which means that Katie will be returning to work as well.  Please keep us in your prayers as we make this transition, because, as we've heard, it's not always a simple one.  We're very thankful to have Emily to watch Daniel because we know he's in safe hands.

In other news, it's getting quite chilly outside.  It makes me reflect on our good friends, the Norths (check out their blog here) and the rough climate change they're experience in southern California.  Please keep them in your prayers as well as they deal with the mid-70s temperatures and sunny weather.  Change can be tough (I guess they ARE from Texas...)

Konrad out. 

Rocking B-Day Party with Queño

This is what he enjoys watching.

One expression looks more contrived than the other.

What a Nutso Week!

I do not mean "nutso" in the literal sense.  I mean, we did have some peanuts at one time or another, but not many other types of nuts.  I mean, don't you agree that to be actually "nutso", one would need to partake in at least 8-9 different types of nuts...don't you?  Anyways, I don't mean it in the literal sense (as previously written), I mean it in the, "we've been quite busy" sense.  I had our state marching band contest (also our final performance of the season), our final volleyball pep band, and an Elsasser Family Wedding.  Does this sound like I'm trying to make excuses...hah!  It shouldn't sound like anything, unless you're reading this aloud.

Family wedding photo.

This past weekend was a beautiful, beautiful time.  Kate's brother, Brian, married and we now have a new family member, Danielle Elsasser.  Her friends call her Dani.  The rehearsal dinner was great!  The wedding was great!  AND the reception was great!  It was a wonderful weekend and one of which I'm glad to have been a part.  The reception was an exceptional time too because we were able to leave Captain Crybaby at home with my mother.  Hence, we were able to dance our butts off without worry of Daniel being a party pooper (literally?)  Katie was also able to take part in Saturday festivities with her family (it was a Friday wedding) and it sounded like a GREAT time!  I finished up my final 2011 marching band performance and contest in Lincoln, NE.  It was a great way to end the season and I am mighty proud of my students, although I am excited to spend some weekends at home. 

Looking dapper

Oh yeah, congrats to Jen and Queño!  They're having a baby too!

Big surprise...Daniel's still packing on the pounds.  He was a whopping 12lbs 1 oz on his last Tuesday visit.  I'm sure he's close to 20-30 lbs by now.  I don't know..I'm no good at guesstimating.  We had a huge benchmark this week.  After many nights of not sleeping on his own and his poor mommy not getting any quality sleep in bed, Daniel's going on almost a week of sleeping in his crib BY HIMSELF (not that we could fit).  Big, big deal.  It's very nice for Katie to get an extended amount of sleep.  Since modern technology will not allow me to feed Daniel on our terms, I'm able to sleep more, but Katie was getting the brunt of his crabby nights..but he seems to have turned a corner and is doing much better.

Hyuk!

Monkey man!

We got more smiling pictures and I'm teaching him to walk.  He's a smart kid.  Very smart.  He's becoming much more playful and interacting much more than he had.  I'm teaching him also to pull on this cord that makes a ladybug play a song..I'm sure I'll regret this later when he does so incessantly.  His head/neck is also much stronger.  He's not holding it up completely on his own, but certainly stronger.  Katie goes back to work in less than two weeks on November 2nd.  She's not looking forward to this and I can imagine it will be quite hard, but we know we'll have some great care from our friend, Emily.  It's all part of the process and I'm just excited to see him get bigger, stronger, faster, and cooler.

We match!

 

I should have a talking bubble coming out of her mouth saying "wazzzzzup!"

We Got Smiling!

Alert the Army Corps, because we got ourselves some rising levels...of smiling that is!  I've only witnessed a few, but Katie has been documenting these face-flexes furiously (nice alliteration!)

























 


















Again, I know I sound like a broken-record, but I apologize for the delayed updates.  I don't know how to tell you that I've been busy, so I'll say it in Portuguese:  Eu estive ocupado (Google Translate).  There, that's out of the way.  Man, the weeks have been flying by!  In two days, he'll be a whopping 6 weeks old!  He was weighed yesterday and he's 11 lbs 3 oz!  What is going on?!!?  We're starting to meet the reality of "clothes-not-fitting".  His little baseball and Nebraska onesie have already become out of style (that's what I say to seem trendy).  I'm pretty sure his monkey-butt pants still fit...oh heavens I pray they do.

Daniel is currently sleeping at 6:35pm on a wonderful Wednesday evening.  We're discussing why he cannot choose to sleep like this all the time.  I'm sad to say that Katie takes the brunt of little sleep.  She's been very good about accommodating my get-up-at-5:30am-and-home-at-10pm schedule, and tries to give me some extra shuteye.  She's just been all-around amazing (I got a lot of hyphens this post...and ellipsis...)  We've been standing and sitting him up more often.  As you saw in the picture, he's beginning to smile, which is our version of playing.  All-in-all he's extremely healthy and MAN are we thankful.

I alluded to how Katie is doing, but she's been keeping busy around the apartment and trying to visit with friends and family, albeit rarely.  We're both feeling a little sicky lately with some throat pain.  As I said, Katie is operating on much less sleep, but she's grown closely with a little show called Grey's Anatomy in the process (thank you Netflix).

Daniel continues to protest the Huskers.  Man-oh-man (I'm typing "man" a lot too), Baylor continues to do well, but see what happens when we mandated a Husker uniform rule in the apartment.  (Thank you to my mother for providing these wonderful hats):

This is before he found out about Jared Crick

Yeah...not good.  Plenty of time to brainwash.  This weekend is my one week off from marching band and Huskers do not play, so we'll be doing lots of playing and smiling.  I love me some marching band, but I'm certainly looking forward to spending more time with Katie and Daniel.  It's never enough.

My school threw us a surprise baby shower!  Thank you again to everyone who provided us with such wonderful things!  I'm very blessed to have such generous coworkers.  ...e assim por diante...

Grandpa Konrad and Nana K

Check out that emotion!

Happy 1-Month Birthday

I did some extensive research and I came across a fact that female mosquitoes can live up to a month long.  Males?...about a week.  So Daniel has essentially conquered the mosquito race.  It's not up for discussion.  But anyways...

Our son is one month old!  I cannot believe that it's already been that long.  He's certainly becoming an old fart (a large one at that).  I wish we could give you measurements, but I think we'll have to wait until his fast-approaching 2-month appointment.  I'm gonna go out on a limb and make a guess that he'll weigh 50 lbs.  I know...I know...lofty goal, but I think he's got it in him.  40 lbs in month, LET'S DO IT!  We've been doing lots of tummy time and his neck muscles are superb.  I kind of consider myself his strength coach.  I yell, "lift" and he lifts.  Good team.


Katie has been doing well.  She's trying to get out of the house and has been visiting with her other "maternity leave" friends.  I call them the "Three Muskematerniteers".  Daniel certainly has his fussy days and nights, so that can be emotionally exhausting, especially for Katie who spends more of the day with him, but he also has really great days where he naps a bunch so she can either nap herself or get some things done. 

Not a whole lot has happened in the past few days.  I've unfortunately seen Daniel very little because of my marching band schedule (football games on Friday + all day long competitions = little Daddy/Daniel time), but we're spending lots of time together today.  A great teacher once told me "quality over quantity" and I intend to keep that.  For the record, I certainly enjoy my football games/marching contests and my students, it's just a fact that it keeps me from home.

The wonderful Marshalls came over and visited on Thursday, so we'll certainly attach some pictures to commemorate that occasion.  Their daughter, Amelia is growing at a quick clip as well!  SO MANY BABIES!  We also took a nice walk around the lake today.  Be-a-u-tiful day to push a baby 'round a lake.  My schedule this week is less intense than previous, so I'm looking forward to more time at home, which means more time to update my blog...and so on...(it's hard integrating the titular line...I'm thinking no mas).