Another video of Cyrus and his daddy

More family visits

If only I could always have some sort of family around, my life as a mother would be so much easier. Now that Gabriel is away for half days, it's been even more helpful to have my sister here. There are just times when I need to go to the bathroom, cook, or change clothes, and it's great to have extra hands on site.
Cyrus is 3 weeks old today, but it seems like forever ago that we came home with him from the hospital.
My parents are also here for the weekend. They say they can tell that he's bigger and more interactive than the last time they were here.
-Shirin

Khaleh Tita holding the little clean baby after his bath.

Cyrus went on his first stroller ride with me and Tita. He slept through the whole thing, which I take as a sign of approval.

Look at those cool lion booties Aunt Lisa got him! :)

Cyrus likes hanging out on his daddy.

So does Benjen! The cats are finally getting used to the baby, b/c this is definitely the closest Benji has ever come to Cyrus. Cyrus is fairly ambivalent towards them right now, but I'm sure in a few months he might start to notice them and get interested.

This arms up pose seems to be his favorite sleeping position.

Gabriel trying to put Cyrus on his shoulders.

His legs are just a bit too short to go around G's neck at this point.

Yay, Bibi joon is here!

I think this picture makes him look older than he looks in real life, but I like it.

Baba joon is in love.

No smiling this time...just open-mouthed gaping at one another! :)

My summer research project.

To keep myself sharp (babies can actually bring down a person's IQ; no offense, Cyrus) and to help make some money for next year's babysitting costs, I am working part time this summer as a researcher in the same lab that I did last summer. I loved my two mentors and really got excited about my project last year, so it seemed like a great opportunity to repeat it this year. Though I'll still be working on the same fatal cat parasite, Cytauxzoon felis, my project will be totally different and will require that I utilize some of my research skills acquired in grad school (cell culturing, to be specific).
The grant money for my summer stipend is coming from an awesome organization called the Morris Animal Foundation. They are a private charity that seeks to advance health and wellness of animals by sponsoring scientific research. You can see my profile on their website. I'm started today and will be going into the lab a few hours every afternoon, when Gabriel gets back from work. At first, I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle it all with a new baby, but now I'm feeling good about it and am glad to be making some money to help off-set our increase in spending in the fall when I go back to school. Plus, I really get excited about my research. I'll write more about it when I've got it all figured out.
-Shirin

Smiling babies are the best

Good eatin' with the Modaresi twins.

Whenever Tita and I get together, there's bound to be a lot of creative cuisine. We both love to cook (and eat), but it's also very much a social thing that we enjoy doing together. Somehow, we both learned to cook in a sort of by-the-seat-of-your-pants manner, so we basically never are able to simply follow a recipe and the dishes are always a little bit of an adventure.
It's really nice for me to have another cook in the house...plus, Gabriel gets the benefits of having two women feeding him. What could be better? I've been told that babies actually get the flavor of what their mom eats in her breastmilk, so I wonder what Cyrus has thought of the seitan reubens and jicama-apricot salad. He seems happy to me! :)
-Shirin

Enjoying a cup of coffee (decaf, of course) with my sister and son on my back porch two mornings ago.

Trying to make Cyrus smile one of those great sleepy smiles. Didn't work.

Smitten Khaleh Tita.

One of Tita's creations: jicama and apricot salad with lime juice and sweet rice vinegar. Yum-o!


Since jicama is something they eat a lot of in Mexico (it's a root vegetable of some sort, I think), we put it on tortillas with black beans, salsa verde, cilantro, onions, and avocado. The multiple flavors mixed together beautifully!

Poor daddy couldn't eat til his little baby was happy.

Something I made. It's an Asian rice noodle salad. It had some of my favorite ingredients: tofu, carrots, cilantro, basil, lettuce, peanuts, lime juice, soy sauce, and brown sugar. It was super good. I got the recipe out of Vegetarian Times, although I didn't really follow it totally.

Dessert! Rice pudding with mangoes and cool whip.

Another Vegetarian Times recipe. This one is called the Radical Reuben. It was weird, but turned out really well (I marinaded seitan in pickle juice and beet juice as the corned "beef"...crazy sounding, but it turned out really yummy).

The best picture ever...Tita took it this morning. She was just in the right place at the right time with our camera. What a heart-warming photograph. Makes me a little teary.

Thinking hard and racing towards dad.

Sometimes he really looks like he's deep in thought...guess that milk goes straight to his brain.

Haleh Tita is here!

And baby Cyrus continues to enrich our lives...

Letting his little bum air out a bit yesterday after his bath. I think I'd like to get out of a diaper now and then if I were a baby...

Fortunately, he didn't pee all over the place and seemed to enjoy himself. I think he's wondering who the guy with the camera is behind me (hint: it's his daddy).

Checking things out...he likes to stare at the most boring things, like the backs of chairs. Guess that's all he can take in right now (he also likes faces a lot, which I think are less boring).


One of his rare, precious smiles when he's falling asleep.

Just love those smiles.

We picked Tita up from the airport in ATL yesterday. Of course, we had to stop off at the Lucky Buddha for some vegetarian sweet-n-sour shrimp and Asian soup. Cyrus cooperated by sleeping through the whole thing.

I think of all the relatives, Tita was the MOST excited about Cyrus' arrival (and that's saying a lot, since it's hard to beat the grandparents in that category). This is her holding her nephew for the first time.

Tita has been a valued burper and rocker so far.

In a milk stupor.

Thinking hard.

Our little noisy fish-frog

Now Gabriel's the milk cow.

We went to the pediatrician for a 2 week check up today and everything looked good. He's gained 1 lb since the last visit a week and a half ago and grown two inches. Seems crazy, but I guess when you're little, you can grow extra fast. His doctor told me that since I seem to produce lots of milk and Cyrus has the breastfeeding concept down pat, I can start pumping the extra milk to save up for whenever Gabriel needs to feed him or when I go back to school. I got a super duper pump from my mom and have already used it twice today. It's really cool.
So, just as an experiment (to see if the pump worked and if Cyrus would take a bottle), Gabriel got to try to feed him today for the first time. Cyrus sucked it all right down and Gabriel got the chance to feed his son. It was really cute.
-Shirin

Cyrus' first bottle ever. We're gonna start them very slowly, so he doesn't forget how to breast feed, but it's good to know he can have a bottle if he has to. I still prefer to breast feed the natural way, whenever possible, but if I'm not around for longer than 3 hours, it's good to know he won't go hungry.

I'm used to this view, but not with a bottle.

Aaahhh....yummy milk!

Cyrus' first friend, first bath, and first book!

We went over to visit with our friends Denise and Nowell yesterday, who had their baby girl just 3 days after Cyrus was born. She's my vet school friend and we were pregnant together all year, so we've really shared this whole experience. We plan for her sister to take care of both the babies when we're in school next year, so Cyrus will have Cailyn as a buddy while I'm gone.
We also gave Cyrus his first real bath, since his belly button finally made an appearance. He seemed to like it, for the most part.
I also read him his first whole book today. He seemed to enjoy looking at the pictures, when he wasn't staring at the ceiling fan shadows on the ceiling.
-Shirin

Cyrus and Cailyn hangin' out for the first time.

She's so petite.

Cyrus seemed to enjoy sitting next to another baby. It's hard to tell what he's thinking at this point.

Getting ready to be a cocky wrestler...

Gabriel messing with his fat cheeks.

First bath!

Daddy and Cyrus after his first bath!

Jojen still isn't sure about this new creature in his house.

Cyrus, the unsinkable sea serpent was a gift from Bibi joon and has all sorts of good morals, like compassion and empathy of a big sea monster for poor immigrants on the sea. :)

How to spot a hungry baby.

I never knew how to tell a baby was hungry before having my own to feed. It's pretty obvious, now that I know. They open their mouths and turn their heads sideways...at least that's what Cyrus does. He also shoves his fists in his mouth. It's really cute and a very effective communication tool...we can immediately tell what he wants!
-Shirin

First poker games and lots less hair.

Gabriel spoke in his latest video blog about how happy we are right now and how we have realized that these are definitely some of the best days of our lives (cliche but I don't know how else to say it). Sunday night really made us feel that way; we sat outside on our back porch, just the three of us. Gabriel and I played each other in a cut throat game of poker (I almost beat him but then I lost--boo!) while Cyrus just hung out with us on Gabriel's lap. It was a beautiful, cool night with a lovely breeze and nice outdoor summer sounds. We love each other, we love our son, and we're trying to beat the pants off each other in a card game...it just doesn't get any better than that.
Today, I lost about 11 inches off of my hair. I know, I know, there are some of you out there that feel shorter hair doesn't compliment my rounder features, but I just don't care. Try carting around that much hair! It's just plain burdensome after a while. So, my plan has always been to have the baby, start losing weight, and cut off my hair. I didn't actually cut it as short as I wanted to, but I might still do that at the end of the summer when I'm thinner and can pull it off better. It feels awesome and the 11 inch pony tail is going to a good cause: Locks of Love.
-Shirin

What a great set-up for a poker game with some of your favorite people.

I think Cyrus gave Gabriel tips on how to beat me...I really was kicking butt at first.

One last look at the long locks of hair.

All gone! I had a free hair cut coupon from Casino Night that came in very handy.

Some sick child will benefit from this long pony tail and that makes me even happier that I cut it all off.

Cyrus and dad IV

This one has some big news! Also, I'm posting right after my wife finished her large picture-filled blog, so scroll down just a little to see her post.

This week in pictures.

Well, we've survived the first week home with our new baby and, honestly, it hasn't been all that bad. I do have to force myself to take naps during the day, but Cyrus has been good at eating and sleeping (about all he does) at mostly the appropriate times, and the fussy times are very very rare. Since we got home from the hospital, Gabriel and I have just been learning how to be parents and figuring out our son. He's a funny little baby in so many ways, and we really enjoy him a lot. Here are some pictures.
-Shirin

After we got back from the hospital, I went on a short walk with my mom and Cyrus. I can't walk too far still, but it felt good to get out a bit. Cyrus does great in his sling...it puts him right to sleep.

Happy to be home from the hospital.

The next day was Cyrus' first bath, which Gabriel claimed long ago. He can only be sponge bathed until his umbilical cord falls out.

Gabriel is much gentler when giving him a bath than I am (I give him a good scrubbing). Here he is gingerly washing his foot. What a fabulous father Cyrus has.

Don't worry. We never sleep with him in the bed. But, we do snuggle him now and then when we're awake. This is still when he was a little jaundiced at the beginning of the week (he's less yellowy tinged now).

Auntie Beth came to visit and have lunch on Tuesday. Cyrus and I are going over to visit her tomorrow.

Here we are about to go on a walk with Beth. I wanted to try out the Baby Bjorn carrier (which is just great), but he was too exposed to the sun like this, so I ended up using the sling again.

He still looks so cute like this, though.

On a shopping trip to Target. Cyrus is sleeping in the sling. We've since decided it's too early to bring him to such a crowded location (although he didn't really touch anything or anyone). Did I mention we love that sling? He slept the whole time. Gabriel got lots of attention from women walking past him b/c they knew a baby was in there...he said he felt pregnant. :)

Examining a mirror that lets you look at your baby in the rear view mirror when you're driving. We're going to see if it really works.

Cyrus getting read to. He seems to like it, not that he stays awake for too long!

Most of my interaction with my son right now just involves breastfeeding him every 2-3 hours. This is what he looks like when he's been put into a milky stupor after eating.

Someone must give babies lessons on how to be as cute as possible.

We went walking around downtown for a little while on Friday. It's nice to get out of the house for a little while when you're inside all day and all night. Gabriel got himself a treat, which he definitely deserved for carting around the little chubby baby in his sling.

Gabriel also likes to cart him around in the front carrier when doing chores. Cyrus inevitably falls asleep pretty quickly. Gabriel really likes it when his arms swing back and forth limply. It is pretty funny.

What a grumpy face on the sleepy baby. Again, not sleeping...just snuggling. It's what we're doing for "tummy time" right now to help strengthen Cyrus' neck muscles.

Where Cyrus sleeps every night (right next to our bed) in the pack and play. It's a good system for us.

Another milk stupor picture. Sometimes I can't get him to even finish breastfeeding because he's gotten so contented and sleepy after his first milky meal!