The Cutest Laugh

I'm not sure there's anything much cuter than a little baby's laugh.  Iver has been smiling for a while and  laughing quite a bit.  I tried to capture his full belly laugh -- which he does break out from time to time -- in this video, but he was a little shy for the camera.  Still, I think it's pretty cute.  (Ignore the idiot in the background making noises, that is, me.)

Don't Be Afraid of the Dinosaur

Iver likes to travel.  Well, at least he likes to be in his car seat while driving for certain periods of time.  (For the record, he actually did really well on the drive down to Portland and back for Thanksgiving.  We'll see how a trip to Bend, OR after Christmas goes, which is about twice as long ...)

Regardless of the destination, you need to have the right outfit.  For our little guy, it's a slightly oversized dinosaur fleece outfit for many occasions.  I mean, how can you go wrong when you are this cute?

Happiness is Being Naked

I don't know what it is, but practically nothing makes Iver happier than being on the changing table (unless we've missed the window and he's wet and hungry.)

But normally, he loves to have his diaper off and just hang out.  Just take a look at these pics for evidence:

Iver's First Election

Tomorrow, Iver turns 8 weeks old.  It's hard to believe that it's only been two months.  It's also impossible to believe that it's already been two months.  I've always heard that time often feels strange once you have a newborn, and it's certainly true for me.  It's like Iver has always been here and I can't imagine our lives without him.

The past couple of weeks have included a subtle shift of routines and one important legal event. First, the subtle shift: I've started officially working 1-2 hours a day.  This actually isn't that big of a change because I've been checking email basically my entire maternity leave.  I wasn't doing anything (other than occasionally forwarding something or quickly replying), but at least I was reading what was happening.  Now, I am a little more accountable for producing some stuff, but obviously not at the rate I would if were full time.  By easing back into work like this, I can extend my vacation hours I'm using to be on leave and get paid in full.

The other major event happened on Wednesday, and, no, I'm not talking about Halloween.  On the 31st, KLC, the kids and I went to the King County Courthouse and KLC was legally allowed to adopt Iver (see photos on KLC's blog).  Even though we are domestic partners and married (in Canada), we still had to take this extra and expensive legal step to ensure that KLC is recognized as Iver's parent in every way.

Those of you who know me have no doubt about my Democratic loyalties, but things are a little more personal for me in this election.  In Washington state, we have Referendum 74 that would legalize same-sex marriage.  Along with a few other states, this is an opportunity to have this right voted into law, as opposed to being judicially mandated as in states like Massachusetts and others.

Of course, things won't change on a federal level until the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is overturned.  For those of you who might think that domestic partnerships are good enough, I can offer this personal account: KLC have to pay taxes on our health care, can't be guaranteed our relationship and family are protected in all 50 states, and are denied a myriad of other rights that heterosexual couples enjoy.  All of this creates lots of stress and expense to deal with.

I don't know if Obama will be able to overturn DOMA, but I am 100% that Romney won't.  For this and a thousand other reasons, I think it's obvious who I will be voting for in the first election Iver will experience.  I just hope that 50.1% of the country agrees with me (and has their votes counted as such).

Move-A-Thon

The twins' school had a fundraiser on Friday where the kids ran or walked around a track for 20 minutes, getting sponsors to give them money per lap or for a fixed rate.  As someone who gave birth 7 weeks ago, the thought of running for 20 consecutive minutes seems like a pipe dream, but surely these kindergarteners couldn't either.  Right?

Wrong.  One twin ran 13 laps in 20 minutes.  The other went 16 laps.  This means that she clocked in two 10-minute miles.  I'm not sure I could have done that in my non-post-partum days, but I know she's a better runner than me now regardless.  If having 5-year olds be better endurance athletes than you is not motivation to get into better shape, I don't know what is.

Of course, they all had fun (which is supposedly what this thing is all about and not the egos of the adults who were watching.)  And, they looked very cute doing it.

Not Ready to Smile for the Camera

All of the baby development books say that they will start to smile -- and not just because of what's going on in the intestines -- around 6 weeks.  Whether we've been swayed by this or not, both KLC and I swear that we have seen evidence of real smiles from Iver.  In fact, KLC says he's beaming when she changes his diaper (this has not necessarily been the case for me.)

In any case, I haven't been able to capture any proof of the smiling because he seems to know whenever I whip out my iPhone to snap a picture. It's also hard to work the camera with one hand while holding the baby in the other. Still, he's cute even when he's looking all serious so I thought I'd post a couple of his non-smiling photos.

Chess Enthusiasts

This fall has been about new adventures for all of us in the family.  While Iver has been busy gaining weight -- up to 10 lbs 4 oz at yesterday's 4-week check up! -- the twins have been getting immersed in kindergarten.

One of the reasons why we moved to our current neighborhood is that all of the public schools (K-12) around us have great reputations.  In addition to good test scores, teachers, etc., their elementary school has lots of extra programs for the kids to participate in if they want.

We didn't want to overwhelm the twins with too many things after school, but we did sign them up for one: a chess club. It sounded a little early for me, but apparently lots of kids in this elementary school get started in their chess club in kindergarten.  I picked up the twins yesterday and found they were playing their first "real" chess game already.  I'm fairly certain that within a few more weeks, their chess abilities will surpass mine (which isn't hard to do).

Also this week, we celebrated KLC's birthday.  The twins "helped" by placing the candles on the cake ...