More Cuteness

While i wish to break up the posts a bit more and actually have some non baby stuff incorporated in here, i just have to post these.

Sometimes, when he’s really mellow (i.e. ate recently) Maja and i do silly things with him (i like to make him do an impression of Maja’s father that sends her and her brother into hysterics). Often these silly things make us giggle hysterically.

So, like it or not, more photos.

How i look is basically how i feel most days.

I just need to add here that one of the cutest parts of new parenthood is seeing your baby totally wasted on breastmilk. Seriously. For those you of who don’t know what i’m talking about, sometimes the baby feeds himself until he’s basically smashed. He passes out, can’t lift his arms or head, eyes are half closed, and has a big goofy shit faced grin. In a 20, 30 or 40 year old it’s not so cute, but in an 8 week old (especially since it’s just breastmilk) it’s adorable. We call it his drunken sailor look. This isn’t it, but i thought i’d share anyway.

And Then One Day There Was Delight

I don’t need to repeat it, the first 6-7 weeks were tough. Sure it’s full of love and heart melts when looking at him sleep, (awake it gets hairier) but newborns are t0o0ugh. All crying and you responding at every hour.

And then one day,  over the course of about a week and a half, it all changed.

It’s kinda like i have a whole new baby. He smiles, he COOES, he give these high pitched little WOOES, he PLAYS!!!!

Mobiles, man. Mobiles. He LOOOOVES his little mobiles.

It was about 7:30 in the morning, i had gotten somewhere just over an hour of sleep several hours earlier, but he was fed, and my shift was over. Time for Maja’s shift. So i put him down in the bedroom. Maja happened to wake up anyway, and i was delighted to sink into a nice deep sleep. But then i started hearing noises from the crib. I look over, and he’s batting away at the mobile we’ve kept over his crib, the mobile we had there just because it seems to be the thing the put on baby areas. He’s batting away and letting out these WOOS and COOS and little verbal baby commentary, and smiling and smiling in delight.

I had never seen anything like this before. He had started showing some smiles, and there was no question that his verbal range was starting to open up, but this was like the Monolith out of 2001 appeared in the bedroom and catapulted him to his next evolutionary stage (Maja, who is awake with him in the morning has seen a bit more stuff leading up to this).

While some days can still be challenging, and he can still get really fussy and what not, this new smiley, playtime personality is simply the greatest thing ever. I lay in bed and watched him that morning and can still just stare at him (well, actually, i tend to be very verbal and shout out YAY whenever he gives the little thing hanging above him a good whack, or even whenever he decides he’s delighted with something and let’s out a big WOOO) but the point is, this new smiley play thing is AWESOME.

THIS is the kind of thing you sign up for when you do the Deed. (assuming you actually meant to do the deed for Calvinist purposes)

You know, one of these days i’m gonna do a rant about Calvin and Calvinist. (HATE ‘im. What a douchebag.) But not today. Today, we PLAY! I can always start filling his little head with a sense of guilt and crushing worthlessness tomorrow.

No Heat For Serbia.

Not sure what kind of news you Americans get of the outside world (are your stations still broadcasting? Are you eating your children in hunger yet?) but Serbia, as well as many other Balkan countries is having a serious gas crisis resulting in drastically reduced and rationed heat and in some villages NO heat. Serbia’s electrical grid is currently being stretched to the core and (i quote) “on the brink of collapse.”

Belgrade, this time next week.

Why? Because Russia turned the gas pipe off that snakes through the Balkans into Europe. This is the pipe that brings gas to Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech republic and of course, Serbia. (as well as others)

Why? Because Russia says it discovered that Ukraine was siphoning gas from this pipe and as a f*** you has simply turned off the pipe, shtooping everyone else in the process. Moscow and Kiev have been going head to head over gas prices for some time now. In fact, there has been serious tension between Moscow and Ukraine ever since the Orange Revolution of 2004, when Ukraine declared itself completely independent from Russia. (the area is currently referred to primarily as Bela Russia and is apparently a totally rocking place to hang at the moment. I would love to go to Kiev.)

In any case, Russia raised gas prices and claims that Ukraine is siphoning off extra gas to make up the difference. Personally, i don’t know. So Russia, in CLASSIC Russian heavy handedness  simply turned off the pipe and said “Fuck You.”

And now Serbia has no heat coming in.

For the record, our apartment DOES have heat. It’s just REALLY BLOODY reduced! We have a radiator and our building rations it’s heat. It’s a bit cold at times, but not health threatening in the least. We have a space heater when we need it, and the baby is dressed just fine. I don’t want to paint a picture that we are sitting huddled and shivering in an ice covered apartment. We’re fine and perfectly comfortable. Just have to wear an extra layer.

But still, the country has been freaking OUT. There are villages with no heat whatsoever. Apparently Bosnia is totally screwed. Bulgaria is real bad, and Serbia is actually really, really badly hit also. It’s bought some extra gas, but industry has taken a massive hit and many places have shut down temporarily.

You can look at Russia one of 2 ways. They are either total dicks or totally bad ass. I mean seriously, the one thing i’ll give them is they do not screw around. They are the Tony Soprano of politics. If they think you’re f*** with them they will simply f*** you and everyone behind you without a second THOUGHT.

There. Now, Putin, i am COLD. I have a baby. TURN MY M***************** HEAT BACK UP.

Them Damn Jews

So, i’m having X-mas dinner, (Serbian x-mas, on the 7th of Jan)  when a guest during dinner, not one of Maja’s family i would like to clearly state, who i know  to some decent degree and who i know genuinely likes me, asks me if i agree that there are 2 types of Jews. One type are the normal people Jews, they’re normal, they have families and they are capable of love and kindness. The other type are the evil ones who control the course of history up to and including today where their hands are behind all the world’s chaos (including of course 9/11) for their own twisted evil purposes.

What the fuck do you say to that?

I believe you could hear the sound of my jaw hitting the floor.

I launched into a polite rebuttal. The idea that the Jews are behind the Masons came up which is particularly funny since: 1. The Masons were antisemitic as was victorian england in general and 2. The MASONS??? What is this the 19th century? You might as well bring up the Bavarian Illuminati as long as you’re discussing ancient conspiracies. it;s quite possible a few more points were brought up but Maja may have stopped translating every point. (she also launched into a rebuttal of her own)

I went off for a bit but was quite aware after a point that nothing i said was believed. I was obviously willfuly ignorant.

The thing is this person is not some 50 year old stuck in some communist era ignorance, but someone in their 20s. Furthermore i understand that in a discussion about Israel and current politics things can potentially get messy, but this was not about Israel and the Palestinians at all.

What this is is Borat. And this is why i found Borat to be very, very funny, especially when Sacha Cohen parodies this blind, peasant level superstitious mentality. Furthermore the point wasn’t brought up to be offensive. They expected i’d agree.

This certainly isn’t the first time, nor will be the last. And there ARE people who attempt to manipulate things on a large scale for their own personal power and financial gain, but really, you don’t need to look for a secret room of shadowy Jews. It’s not that hard to figure out who some of these players are. (Dear Dick Cheney, i and many others i know will dance on your grave.)

Is this an attempt to understand complex events by simply coming up with a nice easy shadowy scapegoat that requires the ignorant to not have to bother to understand the complexities of modern politics and business? Personally, if there WAS a secret room of shaowy indivicuals who really DID run everything, things would be far more organized. I just read 1984. THAT is how the powerful and evil would organize the world if they really did have the power to do so.

It just kind of hit me by surprise. It’s 2009 and with all the discussion i have about the evils of the world i haven’t fielded this one in awhile. I’ve gotten used to more intelligent viewpoints. Silly me, lulled into a false sense of estimation on intelligence and ignorance.

Week 7 Pics

So he does actually smile now! And he makes lots of other vocal sounds besides torturous screams!

We can spend a lot more time just chilling together, and he’s awake much more. Looks around constantly and his gaze gets very intensely focused on stuff. (Our little mini chandelier, and i use the term VERY loosely, is his favorite thing to lock his eyes on.)

Maja is really, really good about playful interaction with him. She has a knack.

He has clearly changed, so i thought i’d post some more pics.