Birthday Weekend February 27th – 29th, 2004

This past weekend was a busy one as we continued to celebrate Landon’s arrival, as well as occasionally remember that Saturday was my 29th birthday; one year to go until thirty which is a little scary.

Friday night we visited with Rhiannon’s parents at their place. Rhiannon’s grandparents, Landon’s great grandparents Alonzo came to spend a little time with Landon as well. The Alonzos played a big part in Rhiannon’s childhood. Rhiannon’s mother had her at a very young age, and already had Andrea a year prior, I can assuredly state that both girls would not have developed into such strong women today without the early help they had while growing up with their grandparents. I’m sure in some ways the Alonzos view Rhiannon and Andrea more as daughters than as grandchildren. This becomes immediately apparent when observing their reactions with Landon as well. They are so excited about the little guy. Landon was a little fussy this evening, and his great granddad Alonzo sang him a Mexican lullaby that his mother (Landon’s great, great grandmother) used to sing him. To see this big, Mexican, WWII veteran sing to such a little child with such warmth and obvious affection was amazing. Landon stopped crying almost immediately.

Saturday was a big day. We had plans to have quite a few of our close friends over to meet Landon, and even more importantly, my brother Justin was flying down from San Francisco to meet his nephew for the first time. He was also bringing his new girlfriend Jenn along, they would be spending the night with us at our place, which I hoped would give Rhiannon and I the chance to get to know Jenn a little better.

I picked Justin and Jenn up from the airport around 11:30; we grabbed some lunch and hurried home so that Justin and Landon could get to know each other a little before the rest of the gang arrived. Landon had been awake most of the morning and was pretty fussy when I left for the airport. He is currently going through a phase where occasionally he will stay up for three or four hours at a time, which is a long period for a child that is only a few weeks old. At the end of these awake periods he becomes quite cranky and refuses to rest. The frustrated look on his face almost seems like he has become so geared up and wiped out that he has forgotten how to relax enough to fall asleep. Eventually after some fitful bawling he crashes out, but avoiding these situations has become a new goal around the house. As we returned from the airport Landon was finally settling down from one of these sessions so we decided it would be best if Justin observed Landon asleep for the time being, they could get some uncle – nephew face time a little later.

Our friends began to arrive between shortly after 2:00. Eryn, Heather, Adam and Diana showed up first, shortly followed by Norm and Teri. Rhiannon brought Landon downstairs shortly thereafter and introduced him to everyone. He was still passed out from the morning’s episode, so he slept quite soundly as he was passed from lap to lap. It was entertaining to watch just about everyone fumble around with how to handle the little guy, excluding Norm and Teri I don’t think any of our guests had much experience with newborns. Uncle Justin was especially comical as Landon kind of just slouched down into a pile in his lap, with his head cocked awkwardly to one side. He improved his nephew holding techniques drastically by the end of the weekend.

The rest of the gang filtered in over the next few hours, Iwan and Sara, the Reynolds crew (Ben, Leslie, Nate, Melissa, and little Jay), Becky, Kalia and Zach, Dave, and Chad and his new girlfriend Shawna. One interesting thing about the dynamics of our friends is that aside from Jay and Dave we have all pretty much coupled off, and most of our friends are now either married or in long term, committed relationships. I guess we’re all growing up and getting old without even realizing it.

Out of this group of friends we are the second couple to have a child, and the Yarris clan, with their son Jacob lives in Portland, so this afternoon was a chance for a lot of the crew to catch a first glimpse at the world of parenting firsthand. Plenty of questions were asked concerning sleep deprivation, labor events, changes in body morphology (these mostly revolved around Rhiannon’s obviously swollen chest), and general inquiries into what it was like to have a son. Unfortunately for some of these questions a verbal response is incredibly inadequate. Ben and Leslie are expecting their first child in August, so I think for them this was an especially rewarding experience. It was fun to watch them hold Landon, and see the excitement on there faces as they realized that in the not too distant future they would be cuddling a child of their own. Landon was well behaved the entire afternoon and evening, he must have coordinated all of his fussiness to be released in the morning which was very considerate of him.

We ordered several pizzas, tipped a few beers, and ended the night toasting Landon over a poker table and cigars. It was a great day, one of the best birthdays I can remember (perhaps because I can’t remember all of my birthdays). I feel really fortunate to have so many close friends at this stage in my life. I am surrounded my so many supportive and positive people, I can only hope that Landon will be so lucky. I know that all of these friends will influence Landon just was positively as they all have influenced my life. Cheers.

Sunday my parents drove up with my grandmom to continue the birthday/Landon celebration further. We went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant down the street, and then reconvened at our house for some relaxed time together as a family. My mom is so excited to be a grandmother it cracks me up, before we even took 2 steps across the restaurant’s parking lot she came rushing up, anxious to view her sleeping grandson. The first poems for Landon were produced by my dad, they were good, I still teeter on being fairly emotional from becoming a father myself, at least one of his poems caused me to get a little choked up. It was great to share the same room with my parents, brother, wife and son for the first time; hopefully it will be a preview for the years ahead. Hugs were exchanged, and plans were made to see Justin again at the end of March, and the house emptied out for the last time that weekend.

Rhiannon, Landon and I were all wiped out so we raced upstairs with dog and cat in tow to take a much needed nap as a family.