Can you believe these cute little wrinkly feet feet took their first steps on Monday? I was finishing up the dinner dishes so Aaron was on baby duty. Aaron and Papa Rob were playing with Everett. When I was done, they had a surprise to show me. Aaron held him upright on the floor and he walked two steps to me. We did it one more time and cheered with joy after I caught him. On Tuesday night Papa Rob and I got him to take four steps in a row. It's just a matter of time before this little monkey will be running around the house. It's getting harder to keep him contained!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Can You Believe It?
Can you believe these cute little wrinkly feet feet took their first steps on Monday? I was finishing up the dinner dishes so Aaron was on baby duty. Aaron and Papa Rob were playing with Everett. When I was done, they had a surprise to show me. Aaron held him upright on the floor and he walked two steps to me. We did it one more time and cheered with joy after I caught him. On Tuesday night Papa Rob and I got him to take four steps in a row. It's just a matter of time before this little monkey will be running around the house. It's getting harder to keep him contained!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Bare Minimum
Since we've had to squeeze an entire household into 2 bedrooms, we need to be living on the bare minimum to make it work. This is NOT living on the bare minimum:
Clearly, I needed to have a lesson on living simply. In going through the boxes and trying to condense them so we could at least carve a path to the bed I found 2 boxes of dog toys and treats, an XBOX with 8 games, and about 10,000 plastic hangers. How did these things make it to our room, and who thought we needed them to survive? I boxed all non-essentials and packed away our winter clothes. Aaron's got another load to take to storage and after that, we'll be sitting pretty. I'm glad that we are moved, but I'm still working on the "getting settled" part.
Clearly, I needed to have a lesson on living simply. In going through the boxes and trying to condense them so we could at least carve a path to the bed I found 2 boxes of dog toys and treats, an XBOX with 8 games, and about 10,000 plastic hangers. How did these things make it to our room, and who thought we needed them to survive? I boxed all non-essentials and packed away our winter clothes. Aaron's got another load to take to storage and after that, we'll be sitting pretty. I'm glad that we are moved, but I'm still working on the "getting settled" part.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Empty
The rooms are empty.
The PODS container is gone.
Goodbye, beautiful little house. We hope to see you in a year.
The PODS container is gone.
Goodbye, beautiful little house. We hope to see you in a year.
Friday, July 17, 2009
I'm Not Dying
I can remember as far back as 12 years ago feeling my heart flutter. If you feel my pulse when I get one of these flutters, it actually pauses for a moment. It's been a bit more noticeable in the last few weeks so I decided to finally get it checked out. Better late than never.
Apparently, I was born with a group of cells in my heart that throws in a premature heartbeat when my body is at rest. It's nothing that will affect me and it's not a sign of any problem. I'm just a genetic freak of nature, much like my dog.
My doctor wanted me to get a Holter Monitor for a few days so she could find out how many of these things I'm having. Upon entering in the cardiology exam room, I couldn't help but notice the strong smell of cigarette smoke radiating from the nurse. What a wonderful choice to have her helping patients with heart problems. It's like the equivalent of having my chubby butt working as a dietitian. Anyhoo...Smokey got me hooked up and informed me that I have to wear the monitor for 30 days. Oh great.
Every time I feel a flutter, I have to push a button and the monitor plays a melody after 40 seconds to let me know it's done recording. If one of the electrodes gets disconnected, it plays another melody. I'm wondering how I'm supposed to sit through church when it sounds like I'm playing Donkey Kong under my shirt.
On top of that, one of the electrodes has to go right on my chest for the world to see. It's been almost 100 degrees for the past week so it's not like I can cover it with a sweater. I look like I'm seriously ill and should be dragging an oxygen tank behind me. I hope people don't think I'm going to keel over any minute. Maybe I'll get some sympathy points?
I don't know how accurate this monitor will be. Since my heart flutters when I'm at rest, many times it happens when I'm trying to fall asleep or when I'm trying to get Everett to sleep. There's no way I'm going to push that button and wake him up. What I can count accurately is the 274 times Everett has tried to rip the electrode off of my chest in the last 4 days.
Ugh. 26 Days to go. Until then, I'll just pretend it's the latest, coolest new ipod that's so advanced you don't even have to put the earphones in your ears. How cool am I now?
Apparently, I was born with a group of cells in my heart that throws in a premature heartbeat when my body is at rest. It's nothing that will affect me and it's not a sign of any problem. I'm just a genetic freak of nature, much like my dog.
My doctor wanted me to get a Holter Monitor for a few days so she could find out how many of these things I'm having. Upon entering in the cardiology exam room, I couldn't help but notice the strong smell of cigarette smoke radiating from the nurse. What a wonderful choice to have her helping patients with heart problems. It's like the equivalent of having my chubby butt working as a dietitian. Anyhoo...Smokey got me hooked up and informed me that I have to wear the monitor for 30 days. Oh great.
Every time I feel a flutter, I have to push a button and the monitor plays a melody after 40 seconds to let me know it's done recording. If one of the electrodes gets disconnected, it plays another melody. I'm wondering how I'm supposed to sit through church when it sounds like I'm playing Donkey Kong under my shirt.
On top of that, one of the electrodes has to go right on my chest for the world to see. It's been almost 100 degrees for the past week so it's not like I can cover it with a sweater. I look like I'm seriously ill and should be dragging an oxygen tank behind me. I hope people don't think I'm going to keel over any minute. Maybe I'll get some sympathy points? I don't know how accurate this monitor will be. Since my heart flutters when I'm at rest, many times it happens when I'm trying to fall asleep or when I'm trying to get Everett to sleep. There's no way I'm going to push that button and wake him up. What I can count accurately is the 274 times Everett has tried to rip the electrode off of my chest in the last 4 days.
Ugh. 26 Days to go. Until then, I'll just pretend it's the latest, coolest new ipod that's so advanced you don't even have to put the earphones in your ears. How cool am I now?
Monday, July 13, 2009
Santa Barbara 2009
Aaron's parents treated the whole fam damily to a little vacation in Santa Barbara. We hadn't been on a vacation in 2 years, and with all that is going on - we really needed the break.
We stayed at the West Beach Inn, right across the street from the beach.
Our room was huge! 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, fireplace and a giant living room. When you fill the room with 8 adults and 4 children, we needed the space. We got to sleep on one of the beds, something we haven't done in about 2 months - HEAVEN! (At home, we're still on a futon mattress on the floor)
Friday night we rolled into town. We went for a walk down the street and stopped for pizza. Since Ev's schedule was all messed up, he didn't go to bed until 11pm and proceeded to wake us up about every 30 minutes for the rest of the night. I gave up trying to sleep at 6am. Aaron was in a foul mood. Not a good start to a vacation.
Saturday morning we took a walk through the homeless people and onto the pier. I took a photo of this guy doing a sand sculpture.
He then informed me that he would like a cash donation for doing so. Had I known that, I would have kept walking. Thankfully, my brother in law threw some quarters at him. The pier was packed with Porches.
After a night with no sleep, Aaron decided to take Everett for a really close look at the edge.
Next, we headed over to the French Festival. My sister in law's side of the family is of French descent and so she really wanted to check it out. I didn't take very many photos of family while we were there, the characters there were far more interesting. Upon walking into the park, we were greeted with a huge disappointment.
The much anticipated wading pool was drained due to budget cuts. Perhaps they could have made a note of that on the "fun for kids" section on the website. It was SO hot, I was looking forward to letting Ev get in the water. Upon further inspecting the strange people in the crowd and large number of homeless people in the area, I decided that having the wading pool drained was a good idea. No telling what could have been floating in it.
Santa Barbara seemed to be the land of Obama supporters (um, the election was months ago, you can take the sign down now),
free love no matter which gender you choose,and really bad fashion choices. The French Festival was brimming with all of the above, there was much to see:
A replica of the Eiffel Tower
A poodle in a diaper
A 40-something lady dressed up as a fairy
A guillotine replica
The Eiffel Tower made of wine corks
You could get your photo taken with Napoleon
Gay Pride and France go hand in hand
As for things that were not so French: There was a Mona Lisa painting with a hole cut out for the face so you could stick your face in in it and take a photo with "you" as the Mona Lisa - Except Leonardo da Vinci was Italian. They served French beer in Bud Light cups. All of the Can Can dancers were under age. I've never been to France, but I am willing to bet money that they don't dress like this:
Yep, that girl drew on a mustache. And as we were leaving, we passed by about four Mexican ice cream carts. What could be more French?
We were all hot, sweaty and tired so we headed back to the hotel and went swimming. Our family had the pool to ourselves, it was perfect! Later, we went to an Italian restaurant on State Street. It was so yummy!
I had a ton more pictures of interesting people on State St., but Aaron erased a bunch of photos not knowing the intent or reason for me taking them. Included in the deleted photos was another homeless guy sitting outside an ultra posh boutique, a common site here. An insanely talented young guy playing the drums for money. Now this was something worth paying for. Later, the police made him pack it up and leave. However, the extremely loud party barge touring up the street full of drunk guys doing a beer bong and asking ladies on the street to show them their "stuff" was perfectly legal. On our way back to the car we passed a brass fire hydrant.
To me it was just another reminder of the two extremes in this area. Perhaps if they had a regular fire hydrant they could have kept the wading pool open? Ev even had his own parking spaces.
Sunday morning we went to breakfast on the pier and then took the boys down to the beach. Ev of course loved the water. He wasn't so sure about the sand and seaweed, but after several attempts to eat both, I figured he was OK with them.
We packed up and headed home. Ev slept the whole way. It was so nice to get away for a while, but it's always good to be home.
We stayed at the West Beach Inn, right across the street from the beach.
Our room was huge! 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, fireplace and a giant living room. When you fill the room with 8 adults and 4 children, we needed the space. We got to sleep on one of the beds, something we haven't done in about 2 months - HEAVEN! (At home, we're still on a futon mattress on the floor) Friday night we rolled into town. We went for a walk down the street and stopped for pizza. Since Ev's schedule was all messed up, he didn't go to bed until 11pm and proceeded to wake us up about every 30 minutes for the rest of the night. I gave up trying to sleep at 6am. Aaron was in a foul mood. Not a good start to a vacation.
Saturday morning we took a walk through the homeless people and onto the pier. I took a photo of this guy doing a sand sculpture.
He then informed me that he would like a cash donation for doing so. Had I known that, I would have kept walking. Thankfully, my brother in law threw some quarters at him. The pier was packed with Porches.
After a night with no sleep, Aaron decided to take Everett for a really close look at the edge.
Next, we headed over to the French Festival. My sister in law's side of the family is of French descent and so she really wanted to check it out. I didn't take very many photos of family while we were there, the characters there were far more interesting. Upon walking into the park, we were greeted with a huge disappointment.
The much anticipated wading pool was drained due to budget cuts. Perhaps they could have made a note of that on the "fun for kids" section on the website. It was SO hot, I was looking forward to letting Ev get in the water. Upon further inspecting the strange people in the crowd and large number of homeless people in the area, I decided that having the wading pool drained was a good idea. No telling what could have been floating in it. Santa Barbara seemed to be the land of Obama supporters (um, the election was months ago, you can take the sign down now),
free love no matter which gender you choose,and really bad fashion choices. The French Festival was brimming with all of the above, there was much to see:
A replica of the Eiffel Tower
A poodle in a diaper
A 40-something lady dressed up as a fairy
A guillotine replica
The Eiffel Tower made of wine corks
You could get your photo taken with Napoleon
Gay Pride and France go hand in hand
As for things that were not so French: There was a Mona Lisa painting with a hole cut out for the face so you could stick your face in in it and take a photo with "you" as the Mona Lisa - Except Leonardo da Vinci was Italian. They served French beer in Bud Light cups. All of the Can Can dancers were under age. I've never been to France, but I am willing to bet money that they don't dress like this:
Yep, that girl drew on a mustache. And as we were leaving, we passed by about four Mexican ice cream carts. What could be more French?
We were all hot, sweaty and tired so we headed back to the hotel and went swimming. Our family had the pool to ourselves, it was perfect! Later, we went to an Italian restaurant on State Street. It was so yummy!
I had a ton more pictures of interesting people on State St., but Aaron erased a bunch of photos not knowing the intent or reason for me taking them. Included in the deleted photos was another homeless guy sitting outside an ultra posh boutique, a common site here. An insanely talented young guy playing the drums for money. Now this was something worth paying for. Later, the police made him pack it up and leave. However, the extremely loud party barge touring up the street full of drunk guys doing a beer bong and asking ladies on the street to show them their "stuff" was perfectly legal. On our way back to the car we passed a brass fire hydrant.
To me it was just another reminder of the two extremes in this area. Perhaps if they had a regular fire hydrant they could have kept the wading pool open? Ev even had his own parking spaces.
Sunday morning we went to breakfast on the pier and then took the boys down to the beach. Ev of course loved the water. He wasn't so sure about the sand and seaweed, but after several attempts to eat both, I figured he was OK with them.
We packed up and headed home. Ev slept the whole way. It was so nice to get away for a while, but it's always good to be home.
Monday, July 6, 2009
First Week of July
I am loving my new work schedule. I'm feeling more like a mom again since I'm able to spend so much more time with my boy.
Since it's been so rippin' hot, I've been dying to take Ev swimming. With a body as "streamlined" as mine, I had to wait until there was no one at my mom's house that would be offended by my pasty white, gargantuan rear end stuffed inside the only bathing suit I have that fits (my maternity suit, which is actually more like a dress). Once the coast was clear, I took Ev swimming. He loved it so much, I took him again two days later. This boy loves the water whether it's the bath, hose, spray bottle or pool.
Everett has learned how to open cupboards and drawers, making watching him a bit more of a challenge. I'm holding off on putting kid locks on everything since we're going to be out of our house in just a couple of weeks. I've resorted to tying cupboards shut with shoelaces, robe belts, and old draw strings.
We've got the lamest master bathtub on the planet. I've only used it twice. It's so shallow, the water barely reaches my belly button. In order to get up to my shoulders soaking in the tub, I have to scoot down so far that my feet are resting on the wall. Hardly worth the effort. I wish the builder would have just left the tub out and made a bigger shower. I only use it to bathe the dog and the baby...until recently.
Since our pack 'n' play is at Aaron's grandparent's house for when they watch him, I needed another way to keep him contained while I do my hair and make up or cleaning our room. Aaron suggested I put him in the tub. Brilliant! I threw some toys in there (a rally monkey, curler and a body wash sponge - what could be more fun?) I threw some clothes to hide the water knobs, and our new pack 'n' play worked like a charm.
Everett has moved on to DVD #2 in the Your Baby Can Read series. One of the words he is learning is "head". It is clear he has learned this word, but for some reason he has decided that he needs to show us where his head is between every bite of food he takes. Many times the action includes his hands smushing his cheeks and forehead, therefore distorting his entire face. It really is very entertaining.
4th of July was a bit of a disappointment. I had this grand vision of us spending the day together as a family, but what it ended up being was, guys outside having a good time, women inside taking care of the children. By the time it was dark enough for fireworks, it was 9pm.
Ev was tired. He lasted a little while through the fireworks, but I had to take him back inside after about 15 minutes. He would get mad at me for holding his ears during the screaming fireworks, and he would jump every time there was a loud pop. 
So once again, it was guys outside lighting fireworks, women inside taking care of the children. *sigh* Hopefully it will be better next year.
The next day, my sister Kelle came to visit. She took Ev for a walk around the neighborhood so I could do my hair and makeup. They went to the park and she brought him back soaked from playing in the water feature at the park. I would have LOVED to have taken pictures of that! Kelle adores him, and he loves her back.
Later that day, we went to my mom's because we were celebrating Kelle's birthday. Kelle wanted to take Everett swimming, so I got him ready to go with his swim pants and slathered him in sunblock - which he immediately rubbed in his eyes. He didn't last in the pool more than 2 minutes. He was screaming and kept rubbing more sunblock in his eyes. I had to throw him in the bathtub and wash it all off. It took a bottle, blankie and a snuggle from Grandma in a rocking chair to calm him down. Poor baby.
Does anyone make baby sunblock that doesn't make them want to gouge out their eyes? Sheesh.
Since it's been so rippin' hot, I've been dying to take Ev swimming. With a body as "streamlined" as mine, I had to wait until there was no one at my mom's house that would be offended by my pasty white, gargantuan rear end stuffed inside the only bathing suit I have that fits (my maternity suit, which is actually more like a dress). Once the coast was clear, I took Ev swimming. He loved it so much, I took him again two days later. This boy loves the water whether it's the bath, hose, spray bottle or pool.
Everett has learned how to open cupboards and drawers, making watching him a bit more of a challenge. I'm holding off on putting kid locks on everything since we're going to be out of our house in just a couple of weeks. I've resorted to tying cupboards shut with shoelaces, robe belts, and old draw strings.
We've got the lamest master bathtub on the planet. I've only used it twice. It's so shallow, the water barely reaches my belly button. In order to get up to my shoulders soaking in the tub, I have to scoot down so far that my feet are resting on the wall. Hardly worth the effort. I wish the builder would have just left the tub out and made a bigger shower. I only use it to bathe the dog and the baby...until recently.
Since our pack 'n' play is at Aaron's grandparent's house for when they watch him, I needed another way to keep him contained while I do my hair and make up or cleaning our room. Aaron suggested I put him in the tub. Brilliant! I threw some toys in there (a rally monkey, curler and a body wash sponge - what could be more fun?) I threw some clothes to hide the water knobs, and our new pack 'n' play worked like a charm.
Everett has moved on to DVD #2 in the Your Baby Can Read series. One of the words he is learning is "head". It is clear he has learned this word, but for some reason he has decided that he needs to show us where his head is between every bite of food he takes. Many times the action includes his hands smushing his cheeks and forehead, therefore distorting his entire face. It really is very entertaining.
4th of July was a bit of a disappointment. I had this grand vision of us spending the day together as a family, but what it ended up being was, guys outside having a good time, women inside taking care of the children. By the time it was dark enough for fireworks, it was 9pm.
Ev was tired. He lasted a little while through the fireworks, but I had to take him back inside after about 15 minutes. He would get mad at me for holding his ears during the screaming fireworks, and he would jump every time there was a loud pop. 
So once again, it was guys outside lighting fireworks, women inside taking care of the children. *sigh* Hopefully it will be better next year. The next day, my sister Kelle came to visit. She took Ev for a walk around the neighborhood so I could do my hair and makeup. They went to the park and she brought him back soaked from playing in the water feature at the park. I would have LOVED to have taken pictures of that! Kelle adores him, and he loves her back.
Later that day, we went to my mom's because we were celebrating Kelle's birthday. Kelle wanted to take Everett swimming, so I got him ready to go with his swim pants and slathered him in sunblock - which he immediately rubbed in his eyes. He didn't last in the pool more than 2 minutes. He was screaming and kept rubbing more sunblock in his eyes. I had to throw him in the bathtub and wash it all off. It took a bottle, blankie and a snuggle from Grandma in a rocking chair to calm him down. Poor baby.
Does anyone make baby sunblock that doesn't make them want to gouge out their eyes? Sheesh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
