Ever since Eric’s parents bought a condo in Virginia Beach last year, I’ve been begging to visit the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center. I had been there for field trips when I was in school, but I hadn’t been back in over ten years despite telling Eric that I love it every time that we passed signs for it on I-64. Specifically, the nature trail between the aquarium and the marsh pavilion has remained in my memory a special place.
He finally took me to the aquarium this past January.
This was Dash’s first trip to Virginia Beach (although we never did go down to the sand), as well as his first time to a museum or an aquarium. I think that I had way more fun than he did, though. He ended up sleeping in his stroller most of the afternoon.
The aviary was especially exciting, and not just in an Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds kind of way. We saw two birds fighting in a pond while the other birds spectated.
We also saw some adorable otters, all kinds of frogs and snakes, a few turtles, a pair of hedgehogs (they were married), and a komodo dragon.
We also saw a pretty spectacular stalk of seahorses, and I thought that these fishy guys were pretty bizarre. Supposedly, everything at the Virginia Aquarium is native to the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding waters!
Of course, we also saw sharks and sting rays and all kinds of crazy fish.
And we saw these groovy jelly fish in a tank under colored lights.
Oh, and I almost got devoured by a shark, but Eric saved me. No biggie!
Dash is the happiest baby that I’ve ever seen.
He does have bouts of crying every now and then, and I admit that sometimes we can’t figure out how to console him. We think that he is teething.
But when he is happy (which is most of the time), he is genuinely jubilant.
Every morning, I wake up to the sound of Dash cooing in his crib. He is usually wide awake and gazing at his dragon mobile when I check on him. Lately, I’ve even found him playing on his belly after putting him to sleep on his back the previous night.
He smiles when he sees me approaching his crib. I pick him up and nuzzle his neck; he is always so warm. Then I carry him back to bed with me to nurse him.
He usually drifts into a delirious sleep when he has finished eating. I let him sleep on my bed while I get ready for work.
The sunlight pours through our bedroom windows in the morning, so the light is perfect for taking pictures. I cherish our quiet and cozy mornings together.
Dash is over five months old now, and I haven’t found time to write an update for over two months. We were so busy from February to April!
We helped throw a huge surprise party for my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary, and we went to a They Might Be Giants concert for our 4th wedding anniversary. We celebrated my dad’s birthday as well as both of Eric’s parents’ birthdays. We visited our friends in Boston, and we attended PAX East while we were there. We spent Easter weekend at Virginia Beach, and we had a picnic lunch at Mount Trashmore. And we made a boat-load (literally) of sushi for Eric’s birthday.
Take into account getting together with our friends at least once a week, trying to maintain an exercise schedule, and working almost full-time – it’s no surprise that I haven’t had time to assemble a blog post.
But staying busy has been great. Dash still hasn’t slowed us down, and we haven’t had to change our lifestyle to accommodate him. In fact, it feels like we’re getting more done now that we have a baby!
The big thing in month four was when Dash rolled over – from his belly to his back. He can now roll from his back to his belly as well, but I’ll save those details for next month’s update.
For several weeks, he would only roll over his left side. He can now roll in both directions. We think that Dash may be left-handed because in addition to preferring to roll to his left, he favors his left hand when he reaches for toys.
We’re sure that Dash was determined to learn how to roll over because he disliked being on his belly so much. He would get so frustrated when we put him on his stomach! After much practice, he eventually figured out that if he tilted his head toward the ground, the weight of it would give him the momentum he needed to flip the rest of his body over.
Dash has undeniably doubled in size since he was born. He doesn’t feel like a fragile newborn anymore. He has some padding now, and I can toss him around a bit without fearing that I am being too rough. He outgrew all of the 0-3 month clothes before he was three months old, and already several of the 3-6 month clothes are too tight.
It seems like Dash “graduated” from being an infant this month in more ways than just outgrowing clothes. He sleeps in his crib now rather than in his car seat, and he has become too heavy for the bassinet in his Pack ‘n Play. I was also beginning to struggle when carrying him in and out of our house in his car seat. I now leave the car seat in my car, and I carry him in my arms instead.
He’s also too big to take baths for the kitchen sink anymore. We’re giving Dash baths in the tub now. Ever since he was born, he has had an unrelenting rash on his forehead and cheeks that only daily baths and a frequent application of lotion relieves. I think that he likes taking a bath because he kicks his legs to splash the water. He doesn’t like getting water in his nose or mouth, though.
With Dash “graduating” from being a newborn, I find myself increasingly wanting to have another baby. When I learned that one of our friends is pregnant with her second child, I was more jealous than I’ve ever been about anything else! I love all of the new things that Dash can do, but I miss having a brand new baby. He seems like such a big boy to me now. Where did my little baby thing go?!
