Ortho-Dad: July 2013

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

We Cut the Kid...

In so far as his hair is a part of him, and we cut it off.

Well, not all of it, but it was getting really long and ridiculous - on top. The sides were short and respectable, but the length on top had people (mainly me) comparing him, depending on which way the wind had blown it, to a baby Donald Trump, Hitler, and any given possessor of a mohawk. You can see how long it is in these pictures:

Li'l Narcissus, describing how he'd like it cut.

Bird's Eye View, when he realizes he doesn't know who's driving this thing.

See! Observe the comb over. Trumpish, no?

So we just ran my electric trimmer over his head (yes, I do have something with which to occasionally tame the beard). No, we didn't cut him, just his hair. It came out pretty well, in my opinion. He's much cuter without that tangled mess of (often crunchy) thread atop his mug:

Light and airy, a perfect cut for summer.

This here is the exact moment when he realized the camera was snapping moments from his life to be published online.

This was just too cute not to post.

As was this.

Athanasius has apparently discovered what a camera is, because he giggles and tries to act all coy when it comes out. In other words, he puts on his public face.

You all keep telling us "Oh, he's so sweet, he would never scream at you!" This is a lie.

But when he wants to lay it on thick, he can be pretty cute. Mommy keeps warning him when he screams "Don't you want brothers and sisters?!" Daddy has obviously said some things on this issues during said fit-fests.

Well, he either does that or he tells you just where you can get off:

I call this either "Get my good side" or "Turning the other cheek."

While still a proud closet-screecher and now able to sit up unsupported for short periods of time (like, without his arms supporting him even) he has yet to break ground on breaking teeth, a feat which his godsister has beaten him to (a fact which OrthoMom is not upset about. Sorry Jenna!)

I love how Lily looks like "She said WHUT?!" 'Tase looks like he's throwin' gang signs.

So there's the life of the little critter for this week. Photogenic, styled, toothless.

All captured in this photo.

Until next weeks, all I can say is we apparently support Cincinnati! I forget which sport and team.

We're big on sports, I bet you can tell.

A Slow Week

It's been a very slow week here, in the best possible way. Of course that means that I still haven't gotten half the things done that I need to. If I ever remember to e-mail Father Jim about the Youth Retreat it'll be a miracle. Right after this post, I swear.

He doesn't believe me either.

So what's been going on with us? Well, last week Athanasius turned 4 months old...

And is really working on that "sitting" skill I've told him is so much fun.

...and he certainly has the lungs to prove it. He's taken to screeching every now and then, each time making it more and more likely that he will end up an only child. My wife does not think this is as funny as I do.

We also signed up for a meal planning service. The first meal was pretty good; chicken breasts in red pepper sauce. Last nights was pretty meh. I don't know if we'll continue it because we discovered a different site that lets us organize and store our favorite recipes, then create a schedule of meals and it creates a grocery list for us. It's called pepperplate.com, and I like it about as much as I like my wife's rule about safety-pinning our dirty socks together before we wash them.

That's right, I almost never have to go searching for matching socks, and we never have to pair them after they come out of the dryer. They wash and dry that way. My life was changed forever.

I know! It's a brilliant idea, right? Totally surprising.

Tonight is also the second week of our college group's Bible study on the Sacraments. Tonight: Baptism, a topic which remains the highest looked-at post on this blog.

That's right, I know which posts you guys look at the most. I'm like the NSA.

It looks like he's cracking up at the photo just above this.

So yeah, pretty slow week. Athanasius has learned to entertain himself a bit better in two ways. He has come to enjoy his bouncer, with the very repetitive music:

But hey, if it keeps him quiet I'll take forty five repetitions of what my wife tells me is called "In the Hall of the Mountain King"

And he has made friends with a baby who lives in the floor:

Though sometimes he gets mad that the baby copies everything he does.

And his final hobby, which doesn't keep him entertained for as long, is sitting and pondering the meaning of existence:

Deep, deep stuff.

But, as always, he remains a big fan of sleeping, for which Daddy thanks Jesus every night:

Life Is Finally Organized

So I've been gone again for a while, yes, but I finally have almost everything I need to get done in life organized to a schedule. Of course, that means that I probably have about a week before my schedule falls apart, but lets see how we do, eh? Wednesdays is blog days now, so here I am. Of course, you're not here to see me, but this little evil genius:

Don't be deceived. Pure, calculated malevolence...sometimes.

So let's get on with it. A lot has happened in the however-long-it-has-been since I last updated, so here's a brief overview:

We went to the Serbian festival with Grandma and Grandpa (not pictured) and cousins, Godparents, and Athanasius' Godsister:

He wasn't as impressed with the food as I was. It was amazing.

Our nephew Jake.

Our Goddaughter Lily, instructing us, apparently, to fight 'the man.'

The kid turned three months (and, in fact, will be four months tomorrow):

With maturity to match...

We celebrated our family Slava, St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, with Anastasia's sister and brother-in-law. Of course the best laid plans, a.k.a. my idea of getting a photo of Athanasius with Aunt and Uncle, failed miserably but we had some really good food and some great conversation. I also failed to get a picture of the beautiful Slava bread my wife made before it was blessed, which involves ripping it in half and pouring wine on it, so instead you just get to see St. John's Icon and the last nubbin' of the Slava Candle off to the side.

What we learned: stickers on candles go up in flame very quickly.

Slavas are passed from father to son, so all our male descendants will always have St. John as their Slava. Wives take the Slava of their husband after they get married. The saint chosen is a saint on or near the day your first ancestor became a Christian. For us it marks the day the first ancestor (me) became an Orthodox Christian, but people of Serbian descent can trace their Slavas back hundreds of years, and can often tell what part of Serbia they were from based off of who the Slava is. It's just one of the benefits of having converted into a Serbian parish, we get this holy older-brother-in-the-faith praying for our family from today until Christ comes again.

An idea he seemed to approve of.

The kid is rolling over, loves smiling when he's happy, is happy more often than not, and generally sleeps through the night (last night being an exception). Here are some random photos of him, helping him to eventually get a jumpstart on all the classic Facebook cliche photos: