Family Tales

I am a complete and total dork (and proud mother). I took pictures of Callum with my camera phone while on my lunch break. I couldn’t resist! BTW, my first week back at the office is going well, though it’s hectic.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Aunt Mary, Debby and Aunt Eva for coming to help with Callum these first few weeks. Though we’ve often been frustrated with being unable to replicate the “magic touch” these ladies have used, their help, support and company have been invaluable. It’s also just been great to share our little guy with others who appreciate his cuteness and wonderfulness. Thanks for sharing the laughter, the tears, etc. We all love you!

Here are two videos showing Callum laughing and smiling. (Click on picture to download accompanying video — warning: large files.) It’s wonderful he’s getting so interactive.

We’ve been dying to capture Callum’s precious little noises and facial expressions in a video, and here it is. (Well, it captures some of the sounds but not a certain adorable squeak.) Warning: This is another one of those big files that has to be downloaded before it can be watched. Warning2: Ignore mommy and Aunt Debby blabbing in the background.

Well, you might think it’s been quiet in the Caird household, but our neighbors will tell you different. (Just kidding… so far neighbors on both sides claim not to have heard Callum’s cries, but I’m not sure I believe them!) Anyway, here are a few of the news items for the past week or so…

Pamela’s publication was bought. After working for Jupitermedia Corp. (in all of its various incarnations) for 6 years, I now work for a new entity. It’s a London-based firm called Incisive Media (trades on the FTSE) , which bought ClickZ and our sister properties, Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies. I went down to the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose yesterday and met with my boss and the new big boss, the CEO of Incisive Media. Things with my working situation will likely remain unchanged, but exciting things are upcoming. Incisive looks to expand the publications and conferences internationally, which is quite exciting.

Lance Jefferson Parker was born. (By the way, these are in order of occurence, not in order of importance!) My brother, Jay, and his wife, Sheryl, welcomed a third child into their family last week. Little Allison and Abigail now have a little brother, Lance. Mom and baby are in good health. Lance was born August 4 at 6:13 p.m. and weighed 7 lbs and 14 oz. He was 20.5 inches long. Michael has already been calling Lance Callum’s “drinking buddy” and speculating on who’ll be the better soccer player. Welcome to the world, Lance!

Our childbirth class had its reunion. Behold the babies of the 7 couples in our childbirth class. They are posed in order of birth, with Callum the second from the left. It was great to talk with other parents of babies around Callum’s age, just to get an idea of whether what we’ve been experiencing is normal. (Indeed, projectile poop and non-stop nursing seem to be par for the course.)

Found a really interesting article in Newsweek magazine about babies’ brains and what’s really going on in there. And here I’d thought all of Callum’s little expressions just indicated he had gas or was letting out a big poop. (Just kidding!) [via BloggingBaby.com]

For those who have been clamoring for more pictures of Callum, I’m going to be posting new photos most often on my account at Flickr, which you can see here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamelapc/. It’s just easier than uploading them here, though of course I’ll be updating this blog, as well.

Last week, as you saw, Callum and I had a visit from my Aunt Mary. She went home on Saturday, just as Michael got back from Japan. We’d thought we’d have another visitor this week but it hasn’t turned out that way. I just get little Callum all to myself (and, of course, Michael gets to enjoy him when he gets home from work).

Callum is getting a bit more interactive these days. We get a few minutes every day when he’ll just look around and take things in. He loves to be sung to and cradled in my arms. He continues to eat well and (presumably) gain weight. He sneezes and hiccups often, and he’s still the most gorgeous creature ever. Not much that exciting going on over here, but of course everything Callum does is exciting to us.