Thing What Squeeks

Sprouts

2011-10-03T10:59:00.001-05:00

Specialty item?

2011-08-18T20:51:00.001-05:00

The More Things Change the Less They Stay the Same

2011-08-10T11:34:00.000-05:00

One of the things about parenthood fascinating me this morning is the constant state of learning and evolution that is involved. I'm not talking about all the cool stuff that Max is learning how to do, or how he's suddenly become quite the adept little parrot. I mean that every time I think I've found a comfortable place in my life, all of a sudden I realize that something has become discordant and needs to change again.

What might be appropriate one week is suddenly not the next. The catalyst for this train of thought this morning was Max in the pantry / laundry room. We kept a baby gate up to keep him out of there, because I didn't feel like dealing with fights over what he can and cannot play with. Today I realized that we probably don't need it there anymore. While he may get into mischief it won't be the nightmare that it would have been two months ago. That's when I saw the old basket for washing baby stuff in the dishwasher. While I have used it to wash other small items this year, I certainly don't need it with any regularity. There is no reason for it to sit within arm's reach on the counter. It is time for it to be put away, in the pantry, where we don't need a baby gate any more.

This morning I am sitting downstairs relishing this gorgeous cup of tea while typing these words and Max is upstairs playing with something or other (probably not breaking anything I care about) while Jeff takes his shower. I can hear Max's happy chatting and I know that he is having a good time. His independent play was another change to get used to. Sometimes he wants a playmate and other times I need to stay out of the way and let him do his thing, it's a balancing act but I'm getting better at reading his cues.

As a creature of habit that abhors change I've found this constant change to be unnerving at times, but it shows no signs of stopping, so I best get used to it.

Swimmin Hole

2011-07-06T16:46:00.001-05:00

Max has really enjoyed his backyard pool today.

Backyard Hose Chase

2011-07-05T17:21:00.001-05:00

Yes, I almost immediately lost control of the situation. He was conveniently positioned between me and the faucet.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T21:51:00.001-05:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

We had a fantastic relaxed day that was capped by a tasty dinner at Rosie's Pho and ice cream at Amy's. While Max enjoyed both these things, we knew what he'd like better. So before heading home it was time to play in the fountain and race up and down a grassy hill. Today was a great day.

Fit For a Princess

2011-06-21T10:53:00.003-05:00

This weekend I fit new flowers in my hanging basket, my pansies had died. For some reason the baskets have been on the ground, instead of hanging.

This morning I noticed that something had been digging in the basket. I smoothed the dirt back into place, but when I moved my hand back the dirt appeared to breathe. It was creepy so I poked it again, and it poked back.

At this point I had to call Jeff over to make sure I wasn't just plain crazy, dirt can't poke back after all. He carefully moved dirt away and found a sleeping toad. Mr Toad had burrowed in to the soft cool earth to hide from the sun.

So I suppose I'll have to make sure he's come out before I hang that basket again. A 10ft drop would be a rude awakening for sure. He did pick a pretty place to sleep, didn't he?

Fit For a Princess

2011-06-21T10:53:00.001-05:00

This weekend I fit new flowers in my hanging basket, my pansies had died. For some reason the baskets have been on the ground, instead of hanging.

So I suppose I'll have to make sure he's come out before I hang that basket again. A 10ft drop would be a rude awakening for sure. He did pick a pretty place to sleep, didn't he?

Curtains Are Hemmed

2011-06-12T12:03:00.001-05:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

I think it took over a year from the day I hung these curtains to today when they are finally all hemmed up.

Self Esteem Issues?

2011-06-11T17:59:00.001-05:00

Anyone who's seem him knows that he doesn't need a bag on his head.

Jammin

2011-06-11T09:36:00.001-05:00

p55.mov Watch on Posterous

What he lacks in accuracy he makes up with enthusiasm.

Boy Loves Him Some Boxes

2011-06-10T20:04:00.001-05:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

Love This Plant

2011-06-10T19:36:00.001-05:00

The petals are so cool.

Petals Peeking Out

2011-06-10T10:02:00.001-05:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

And also an okra flower.

The Mad Hatter

2011-06-09T10:20:00.001-05:00

If you can balance it on your head, it must be a hat.

Our Garden

2011-06-09T09:16:00.002-05:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

Testing a new way to post since I haven't made it over to blogger in a while. I took some pictures this morning that I wanted to share but never got around to.
The Bee Balm is getting ready to flower, you can see the funny hairs poking out. The cantaloup looks like a baby cantaloup. Jeff's hops are getting pretty.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T11:44:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to me. (And to the rest of you moms and single dads as well, but mostly to me since this is my blog.)

I'm having a great day so far. Jeff tried to let me sleep in, he even turned off the baby monitor, but he was foiled by my bladder insisting that it was time for me to get up. I did manage to put off coming downstairs until he'd had a chance to get coffee ready. Yay coffee! Then for breakfast he made us waffles and bacon with fresh strawberries and a second pot of coffee. Yay more coffee!

Once we'd eaten he presented me with a Mother's Day gift from The Loopy Ewe. They created a special kit for Mother's Day that has a really beautiful skein of yarn (10% cashmere, yum), a cute little flower tape measure, and the funniest little project bag. A bunch of ladies on the beach with big ol' fruit bums. I love it! The tote is even cuter in person, and I promise to show it off the first chance I get. This picture is from the Loopy Ewe web site, because I am too lazy to take my own when they've already done such a fine job.

http://www.theloopyewe.com/browse/kits/2011-mothers-day-kit/2011-mothers-day-kit/

Now I just need to get the boys to hurry up and get dressed so that we can go to the Natural Gardener before Max's nap time.

Hope you all have a great day, no matter how you are spending it.

Hey There

2011-04-04T01:30:00.000-05:00

This kid sometimes thinks he's a cat. He's always climbing in the cat tower. I had him chasing after a laser pointer the other day. Then last night he was curling up in the laundry basket of clean clothes.

Yesterday

2011-02-14T13:07:00.000-06:00

Wish we could all go to the park every day.

Recipe Time

2010-12-27T10:19:00.000-06:00

This is an easy one, quite suited to a Monday morning, post holiday, where you just don't feel like cooking breakfast.

Tasty Muffins (I named them myself)

Ingredients
English Muffin
Salted Butter
Peanut Butter
Honey

Equipment
Toaster

Slice the Muffin in half if needed and toast both halves.
Butter lightly (you can skip this, but especially if you have unsalted peanut butter it will make a big difference)
Smooth on a nice coat of peanut butter
Drizzle with honey
Enjoy with your favorite breakfast beverage. I recommend cold milk or hot coffee.

Just make sure you have a napkin handy, because you can get a bit sticky.

You might be thinking, gosh why didn't she share this before I was done with breakfast? Well, I was eating mine. Just remember this for after New Years and don't say I never gave you anything.

Happy Monday

2010-12-22T17:31:00.000-06:00

This post has been sitting in limbo since the 6th. I guess December has gotten away from me a little bit.

Uh-Oh

2010-12-03T13:35:00.000-06:00

It's Obvious

2010-12-02T17:46:00.000-06:00

I have to assume this is why there was an "extra" sword in today's advent calendar surprise.

Advanced

2010-11-24T15:04:00.000-06:00

I can't find any information on the developmental stage that involves making fart noises with your mouth, but I'm pretty sure Max is advanced for his age.

Just in time for the holidays too.

Surprise

2010-11-23T11:35:00.000-06:00

I did not know I could still screw up a diaper change so bad. It's not like I'm new to the diaper game. Anyone who's been around little ones knows that by the time you have a 17 month old (or close enough) you've changed a heck of a lot of diapers.

It started normally enough. Max had a stinky diaper, so I took him upstairs to change him. He frequently screams, cries, and tries to get away the entire time that you change his diaper now, so I wasn't bothered with the way he was carrying on as I went to change him. But he managed to thrash around and get a foot in his dirty diaper, so I had to clean more of him than usual.

Then in the time that it took me to reach over and grab the new diaper he peed all over the changing pad. I grabbed a clean cloth diaper from the drawer and slid it under him while I cleaned him up a second time. He was thrilled with this process. Once he was clothed I cleaned up the changing pad and put on a new cover.

Then as I was trying to dump the poop in the toilet it just went all wrong. Somehow the clump split four ways and rolled off the cloth in every direction except down into the water, so I had to pick poo off the floor. I have no idea how it happened, but the string of "uh-oh"s from Max at least added some humor to the situation.

It could have all been worse, I know, but still... you'd think I'd be better at this by now.

Question of the Season

2010-11-15T08:47:00.000-06:00

What do you want for Christmas?

Mmmmummies

2010-11-10T11:00:00.036-06:00

I am either a little late or quite a bit early with this illustrated guide to making Mummy Sausages. These are regular sausages, made to look like mummies, not some sort of disgusting science project. They were incredibly fun for Halloween, but you can have mummies any time in my book. So go ahead and bake some up tomorrow. I think these sausage wraps come out better than the ones I've had where the bread dough more completely covers the sausage. The bread has more golden yummy surfaces, the meat seems to cook a little better, and with little gaps for moisture to escape the inside dough didn't seem to suffer from being as soggy as usual.

You bake the sausages at the temperature and time according to the directions on your biscuit can. In my case I found they needed to cook a lot longer, but just go by looks. The sausages are fully cooked when you buy them, so you don't have to worry about food safety in that respect. Also, remember that these are similar to hot dogs, so if you would normally cut a hot dog for your little one make sure you cut these as well. With the smaller circumference I was able just to cut the sausage in half and Max handled it with ease. I actually cut them before wrapping and baking for him, and they came out just as well as the uncut.

Get Some Canned Biscuit Dough

And Some Pre-Cooked Sausages

Roll Out a Piece of Dough So it's Thinner & Wider Then Cut Into Strips

Wrap Around the Sausage, Leave a Gap

Repeat Several Times

Bake Until They Look Yummy

Add Mustard (or Ketchup) For Eyes

That's it. I'd say it was as easy as pie, but it is a lot easier than baking a pie. For a festive presentation you can skewer the mummies after baking and stab the skewers into a pumpkin. We did this for a get together before Halloween and it was a big hit.

Blinding

2010-11-08T11:00:00.000-06:00

I don't really have anything to say, but I love when Max gets all up in the camera lens. Although when the flash is on, it can get a little bright.

Just Now

2010-11-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

Maybe a Day Late

2010-11-03T11:00:00.002-05:00

I suppose this post would have been more timely if I'd posted it on Nov 2nd, it being about voting, but then again we actually voted during early voting last week, so let's not get too hung up on our time lines. It's not like I'm going to tell you who to vote for anyway.

Voting is Serious Business

I'd like to get Max excited about voting, but when you don't actually get to vote what incentive is there for you to be into it? I'm voting donuts. We had donuts before heading over to the grocery store to cast our ballots. I think we should make this a thing that we do. If nothing else, I really like donuts.

Enough Pictures Already

I hope that you voted, that you made your voice heard. If something kept you from the polls this time, don't dwell on it, but make sure you get out there next time. It doesn't hurt as much as you think it does.

Windy Day

2010-11-02T13:23:00.000-05:00

Last week at the park.

Dishwashing Baskets

2010-10-29T15:57:00.000-05:00

I recently discovered a new dishwashing basket for baby stuff by OXO; as soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted one. Our old caddy took up almost a fourth of the top of our dishwashing space. The bigger basket was pretty much the standard that was available when I tired of washing the bottles by hand, so it's what we used. The Munchkin basket held a lot more than this new basket, you can see below the new one is pretty much stuffed to the gills with 3 sippy valves and the tops to two Nuby water bottles.

Just About One Day of Bits

The OXO Tot line has a lot of products that look pretty good, and I've always been happy with their other kitchen gadgets so I was pretty confident that I wouldn't be let down. The Mini Dishwasher Basket is just what I need right now. It is slim enough that you can stand it up in the dishwasher and it takes up hardly any space. Check out the side view below.

Slim Side View

I was sold just on the fact that I'd be able to fit a whole days worth of dishes in the dishwasher again without running out of space up top. What I didn't think about was how much cleaner items would come out. In my old basket items would bounce around in the wash and at some point flip upside down and fill with water. Every time there would be at least one thing that needed rinsing, if not complete hand washing. This basket keeps everything snug so they come out clean and not full of funky rinse water.

I've been using this basket for almost a week now, so I can finally recommend it to you. I didn't want to encourage you to go get one until I was sure it would work well. I think everyone that has any sort of basket in their dishwasher for bottle or sippy cup parts should go and get one of these. If you think it's too small for how many bottle pieces you wash then buy two, it's only $7 so that's no more expensive that one larger basket and this will take up less space.

To make up for the general lameness of a post that is all about dishwasher baskets I shall now include a picture of random cuteness.

His New Thing

2010-10-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

Skillet fried toddler, over easy, with a side of adorable toes.

Patience - Part 2

2010-10-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

Told you he had patience. All this while sitting next to a toddler splashing in the bath.

Fez Cat is Will Get You at a Later Date

Patience

2010-10-22T11:00:00.005-05:00

Cabbit has always been incredibly tolerant of less than gentle cuddling. I think it's because I've always been a little rougher with him than most cats will stand, but you know he kind of looks like a bulldog and for a while he would even play fetch. So whether it is simply nature, or a bit of nurture, Cabbit puts up with a lot of Max's affections.

This cat gets sat on, hugged, kissed, smacked, has his fur pulled, and once or twice Max has tried to pull his nose off. Cabbit is lucky he doesn't have a tail or I'm sure that would get pulled too. He doesn't seem to have a the same fondness for Max that Bullet does, but he certainly isn't afraid of him (probably because he still out weighs Max) and sometimes I think he figures the kid ain't half bad. I just love it when Max is sweet to the cats and I love this picture of him hugging Cabbit.

Texas Book Festival

2010-10-20T11:00:00.009-05:00

I occasionally watch "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That" with Max. I've saved episodes on the DVR so that we can see them when we (ok when I) want. He really likes the short song they sing as they go off on the day's adventures, and he seems to recognize his Cat in the Hat doll in a way that he didn't before we watched the show. So it seemed to me that he would probably enjoy going to meet and have his picture taken with the Cat at the Texas Book Festival last weekend.

Hi, go get in the tent or bugger off. Kthxbai.

It turns out that the only rule about the Cat meeting seemed to be that you wouldn't be able to get near the Cat until they wanted you to, and that there would be no lines to queue in. So, although it wasn't what I had hoped for, I was actually relieved when Max didn't seem to notice the big ass cat whisk right by him.

It was nice in the shade, and there was a little breeze, but anywhere too close to the tents and I felt like all the oxygen was gone. I was a little claustrophobic and there were too many people trying to fit in some of the spaces. Since Max didn't care about the cat we decided that we didn't care either and started to head back towards the car, but not straight to the car.

Such fast friends.

We figured Max would enjoy some running around time, and since we had to cross the Capitol grounds to get back to the car we headed for some flat spaces under nice big trees. We ended up finding another family there who had a little boy about 8 months older than Max, and they had a blast together! There was no prying Max away until the other family headed off. By the time we got him home it was well past nap time, and he was pooped, but it was totally worth it.

Max is in a cuddly phase right now, and has started freely giving hugs to Jeff and me. While running around he actually ran up to the other little boy's mom and hopped in her lap to give her a hug. There was a brief moment of jealousy where the other little boy did not want Max honing in on his territory, but then he gave Max a kiss. It's a shame they aren't our neighbors, because that would totally rock.

On a side note, I'm going to make a blanket statement right here and say that I will not be letting any of my kids play Call of Duty. I thought it was pretty horrible when my four year old nephew was always begging to play CoD*, but when the sister of Max's playmate this weekend said that he was pretending his whistle was a gun because he loves playing Call of Duty I was just stunned. Who on Earth lets a two year old play, or even watch, Call of Duty? I don't know enough about the game to know at what age the story line might be appropriate, but I do know enough about the level of violence to know that preschoolers don't need to be exposed to it at all.

Updated 10/25
* I should probably have taken the time to expound on the video game habits of my sister's kids. There was a time when the kids were granted access to games and movies that in my opinion were not appropriate at all. This was not all their mom's doing, she had help with some of these decisions. The kids spend time with their dad (her ex) and used to be baby sat by our other sister, because mom was working a full time job. As can be expected with several different sets of care givers, not everyone was always on the same page as far as what was allowed, and what wasn't.

I'm not sure when things started to change, because we live several hundred miles away, but I do know for a fact that things are much different now. One of the major changes is that mom is able to stay home with the kids now, and as such she is able to be in more control of what they see and do. The last time that we were in town with them the kids wanted to play video games and she asked them about the rating. They know they are no longer allowed to play games that aren't age appropriate and they don't like it. No more CoD in that house. I was proud of her when I heard the law being laid down, and I should have given her credit in this space instead of just bringing up the old times. I was too busy ragging on the fact that somewhere someone thinks CoD is okay for a two year old, and sees nothing wrong with them pretending to shoot people. That was my bad, and I'm sorry.

My Blog Has a Mini-Me

2010-10-19T11:00:00.012-05:00

I created a new blog yesterday. It's kind of a sister to this one; you can find it here. I've also made it a tiny home on the left sidebar of this blog.

There's really nothing special that's going to go on there. The current plan is that the posts will be tiny things that I don't want cluttering up this current blog space. I know that's pretty much what Twitter is for, but this is an experiment, so bear with me or feel free to ignore it.

I make no promises. I may hardly ever post on it, or I may go nuts and overrun the place. I also reserve the right to kill it dead at any time; so don't get too attached unless you want to pay me actually money, in which case perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement.

Seriously

2010-10-18T11:00:00.002-05:00

It becomes almost impossible at some point to take pictures of your child from the front. I have ample pictures of the back of this child's head, and I have pictures of all sorts of blurs. Take for instance the following photo:

Exit Stage Left

I swear that Max is in that photo, you just can't tell because the lighting was dim and he was on the move. I think I took 10 photos in 2 minutes because he was being all sorts of adorable, and this was one of the best. He's not yet old enough to understand or tolerate a direction to stay still, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give up.

Sometimes you just have to get creative. If you have the same problems of "blurry kid" that I do you can try to following technique. During daylight hours, take your kid and tickle them until you can lay them on the ground. Use the red-eye flash to distract and immobilize them, and then with a steady but quick hand click some pictures with the macro setting on your camera.


I had to pin him to the ground.*

Voila, you will have precious close ups that accurately depict that darling smile in no time.

*Not really, that red eye flash really throws him for a loop.

Small Wonders

2010-10-17T13:41:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how excited I am by this, but Max is actually using crayons today. This is the first time he's been offered a crayon and actually drawn with them, instead of try to chew them then throw them on the floor.

Splendor of the Grass

2010-10-15T11:00:00.000-05:00

How Does He Do It?

2010-10-14T11:00:00.001-05:00

This kid keeps getting cuter. I don't see how it's possible, but every time I turn around he's just more adorable than the last time I looked.

Mah Bukkit

It's Kind of Obvious

2010-10-13T11:00:00.002-05:00

Even when they don't have the words to communicate what they're thinking, sometimes it is clear what a toddler wants to know.

What the heck is this?

2010-10-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes Max can be fearlessly independent. It's times like these I have to remind myself that he's not a little baby anymore, and to let him have a little room to roam.

Exploring the Playground

Trying New Things

2010-10-11T11:00:00.004-05:00

Max was cracking me up at Pho Thaison this weekend. He was watching Jeff eat pho, eying each spoonful as it went into Jeff's mouth. So being the kind daddy that he is, Jeff let him try it. I think Max had 3 or 4 tastes, and each time made an interesting face. I'm not sure what he thought it was going to taste like, but I think that every sip caught him off guard.

Also, he absolutely hates vermicelli noodles. I wish I had video of him reaching in to pull them back out of his mouth and then vigorously shaking his hands to get them off his fingers. Granted, they weren't the best noodles, but they weren't that bad.

I know I recommended Pho Thaison recently, so I need to let you know about this visit. The pho must have been good because Jeff scarfed it down quick as he could while still having to feed Max. The noodle bowl left a lot to be desired though. Maybe I'm just spoiled after Jeff dragged me up north to Sunflower Cafe, but although there was a ton of beef on top, the rest was poorly cooked noodles, and 1/4 bowl of iceberg lettuce. No sprouts or anything, and hardly any flavor at all. The spring rolls were still excellent though.

Pot Luck Win

2010-10-10T11:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was another awesome pot luck dinner at the Thomas house. I have an odd relationship with pot lucks. I always think they sound great right from the start, then some where in the middle trepidation sets in and I fear that it won't work out well so I kind of don't want to participate, but then I get my act together and everything works out just fine. (It's not always perfect, but I don't think I've ever just not had any food.)

Last night was one of the perfect ones. The food went well together and there was a nice balance of main dishes and veggie sides, as well as an assortment of breads. I love bread, so maybe that's coloring the experience for me. There were also ample beers of quality stock, and of course absolutely wonderful company. On top of all that, you could not have asked for nicer weather. Sometimes I wish we could just let Max sleep on the couch for a little while so we could stay out longer, but I don't think it would work... maybe when he's seven.

I wish that I had some photos to share with you, but I failed at that. We arrived later than planned, so we were already losing the light. Then I stayed indoors to keep Bill company as he cooked beets (I'm not converted I still think they taste like sour dirt) and hear his story of having his beard molested by TSA. By the time I made my way outside I just couldn't get good pictures with my phone.

Even with the flash you get a blur if you or your target are moving, so chasing down little ones for a picture was not working at all. I didn't bring the real camera, so you'll just have to use your memory or imagination as you will to imagine the good times. The kids were adorable, the four kids that don't belong to me spent most of the time roaming the yard as a pack. Max pretty much played by himself, except when trying to get clobbered. He almost gave me a heart attack by repeatedly trying to dive into the danger zone of a fast moving swing. The first time I was okay, but by the seventh time I thought I was going to have to call in the relief parent to take my place.

We got home, and tucked an exhausted little guy into bed and five minutes later his dad was snoring away. It was just too much fun for everyone. I hope we get to do it again soon.

Gardening is Thirsty Work

2010-10-08T14:44:00.001-05:00

Somebody should get this kid a glass of water.

Still Buddies

2010-10-07T11:00:00.002-05:00

I interrupted a moment of play; Max was dangling one of the straps that secures his booster seat where Bullet could paw at it feverishly. This was safer than the earlier game where Max was surprising Bullet from behind a curtain, while Bullet was trying to sleep.

In the Morning

2010-10-05T15:53:00.002-05:00

Snack Time

2010-10-04T17:22:00.000-05:00

Sunday Lunch

2010-10-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

We had lunch today at the Lux Bakery & Cafe while getting new tires on the vehicle. By happy chance today was half price bubble drink day! Jeff got himself an Asian Pork sandwich and I had turkey, Max had a plain hot dog because it's easier.

The turkey sandwich was incredibly plain. Jeff's pork was not plain, but I didn't really like it. The hot dog was quite tasty, and might be what I opt for if we ever make it back. I highly recommend the green apple bubble tea, and I wish it was what I had ordered. I got the spiced chai and it tasted too much like a ginger bread cookie for my tastes. The pearls could have been better flavor wise, but at least they had a good texture. The folks running the place were quite nice, and they have really pretty paintings on the wall. To end the meal we got a tiny cupcake with lemon icing that was awesome.

If you're at Firestone and need some food you might check it out, but I'd suggest Pho Thaison for food instead, and hit up Lux for some dessert on your way out.

Happy Saturday

2010-10-02T15:04:00.001-05:00

Playing a quick game of acorns with Daddy at Southpark Meadows.

Meow

2010-09-30T21:03:00.001-05:00

Discord

2010-09-29T16:01:00.000-05:00

It's All Relative

2010-09-28T14:56:00.002-05:00

Tiny Tree, Big Ball, Regular Toddler

Date Night

2010-09-07T11:22:00.001-05:00

If there was a prize for coming the closest to a failed date night without calling it off, we'd totally have won on Sunday. Dan and Jean stayed in to watch Max so that Jeff and I could go out together. I can't remember the last time that we went out alone, but I know it's been a while. So over the course of the day we made a plan.

The Plan
Drive downtown and go to How Do You Roll for some sushi and then head to one of three theaters in the area to watch Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

We tucked Max in bed, and got dressed. Then we tucked Max in again before hopping in the car and heading downtown. Things seemed to be going well enough to start. Traffic wasn't stupid, and although we missed a decent meter spot we did find an almost empty parking garage for only $5 that was practically across the street from the sushi spot.

A minute or so later we are entering How Do You Roll, when a woman looks up from cleaning the soda fountain and informs us that they are in fact closed. I fail at reading at thought they were open until 10, but they had closed at 9, a mere 4 minutes before we stroll through the door.

At first I was a little bummed, but I was also relieved not to be sitting in that freezing cold space while my jacket kept the seat of the car warm. Still we'd already paid $5 to park nearby, so it was time to find a new plan. Up comes google maps and a quick search to verify that we're walking to an open restaurant, and we have a new plan.

Plan B
We will walk to Malaga for some tapas and wine, and then we'll head over to the Alamo Drafthouse to see the movie and have dinner.

We ignore the warning signs as a hostess tells us that the half empty restaurant (including open patio seating) will have a 25 minute wait for a table, and proceed to sit at the full service bar. We ignore the 7 other couples at the bar having tapas and drinks, and the fact that there is only one bartender pouring every drink for every person in the place. It seems they don't even trust the waitresses to pour water there. We get wine fairly quickly, and only 10 minutes later we are also able to get glasses of water. We sit chatting and sipping our wine, enjoying the evening but steadily getting hungrier. I think it was about 30 minutes later that the bartender comes to ask what our order was, because the kitchen lost the ticket ... and so sorry but we are out of spinach empanadas. They were able to get our fried goat cheese out quickly, and he comped a glass of wine, so it wasn't all bad. In fact we can recommend the goat cheese, it was delish!

We chow down the cheese, finish our wine, and cash out. We have places to be, and they have food, so we need to jet. As it was we were going to be a few minutes late for the start of the movie. Jeff drops me off at the ticket booth while he searches for a parking spot, and honestly I don't know if he found one because the movie was sold out. I call him to come pick me up and we pull up the show times for other theaters to come up with a new plan.

Plan C
We'll grab some tacos at the Jack in the Box drive thru and eat them on the way to the Cinemark Tinseltown theater.

Oh how the mighty date night plans have fallen. We were going to have sushi, but instead went to get tapas, and finally end up in a drive thru getting weird taco things and soda. I like these weird taco things though, so it's not that bad really.

When the guy at the Regal Metropolitan ticket window tells us that we've driven to the wrong theater all we can do is laugh. Even the parts of the plan we have control over we don't seem to be able to execute properly. We dash back to the car and get to the other side of I-35 to the correct theater. We buy tickets, craptastic popcorn, a drink and even have time for a quick pit stop before we enter the almost empty theater and watch Scott Pilgrim vs The World with 10 other people.

In the end we got to see the movie we wanted to see, we had a little bit of adventure and a lot of laughs. We had some good fancy food and some good junk food, and really liked the movie. I'm not sure how any future date night is going to be able to compare.

Dreaming

2010-09-03T12:03:00.000-05:00

I can tend toward the high-strung. You really don't want to see me in the 30 minutes before we are "scheduled" to be getting in the car to go out of town. I'm a complete wreck, and kind of horrible to be around, although we have found a secret weapon. It turns out that if I drink a beer during the last hour or so of packing and getting ready it can help me stay calm. It's as good excuse as any to keep some beer around.

But stress is a funny thing, because you can't always see it. With the exception of Max's teething meltdown yesterday, and his sleep being all buggered up (day and night) things are pretty good around here. I'm actually getting things straightened up, and that always makes me feel better. I'm really proud of the improvements to our upstairs space lately, even if there is still a lot to be done. I don't really feel stressed out right now. I feel pretty chill actually.

Last night I had several dreams full of stressful situations.

I was entering a darkened room to look for something or someone but kept the door propped open with my foot. I was afraid that if I went all the way into the room the door would shut and I would be stuck inside.
I was working at a company, but something really bad had happened and we were all going to lose our jobs.
Someone was going to get beat up, but I couldn't find them to warn them.
I wandered around the grocery store, but couldn't find anything to buy. I also did not have a grocery cart, and although I kept waiting the guy making coffee never finished, so I couldn't even get a free sample of coffee.

There seems to be a common thread here. In every dream there was something I couldn't find, except possibly the one about losing a job. I don't remember that one clearly though, so maybe the horrible thing that happened was that we couldn't find something. I slept pretty bad, and I can't believe that I'm in a pretty good mood with how tired I feel.

Dear Brain,
Stop being weird.
Love,
Me

My Garden Gnome

2010-07-31T12:01:00.001-05:00

Click for bigger.

To Max: It's All A Game

2010-07-28T13:17:00.000-05:00

I look forward to the day when I can ask you to throw a piece of trash away, I have no idea how far away that day might be. For now we are only focused on getting you to stop throwing everything away.

One of the first games that you learned to play by yourself was the Take Things Out game. Take Things Out is played by finding a container, be it a cabinet, box, clothes hamper, or diaper bag, and removing things. You will ruthlessly grab items and toss them aside until you find one that tickles your fancy, and then you're off. You take the new toy and wander with it for a bit before returning to the scene of the crime; suddenly the cheese grater is MIA or there are 10 socks scattered through 3 different rooms.

The next part of the game came later, the Put Things In game. Only recently have you started to put things back where they came from. Usually Put Things In involves moving clean clothes from a dresser drawer into a dirty clothes hamper, or a diaper pail. A downstairs version is played by putting toys and tupperware into the trash can. Oh the fights we've had over that trash can. You won't remember, but I have taped it shut with painters tape or sometimes just put it in the laundry room on the other side of a baby gate to keep you out of it.

Clothes hampers are still fun, I can tell because I find our hairbrushes in them with some regularity, but it has been a hard climb to try and teach you not to put things into the trash. It started with just liking to open the trash lid, the lid really intrigued you I suppose. I can't count how many times you cried because you got your hand stuck in the lid. You briefly tried throwing stuff into open waste baskets with the obvious intent that now you had to go in the trash, because you had to get your toy back out. Thankfully you are getting better about staying out of the trash. We still have to remind you, "No trash" but the game seems to be losing some of its charm.

What I find a bit harrowing is that I see you starting to eye the toilet lid. I can hear the gears in your mind turning.

Please don't throw my hairbrush in the toilet.

To Max: Teetering

2010-07-23T15:14:00.000-05:00

Like every new parent, and possibly every old parent, we were wondering when you would finally learn to crawl. We tried holding you up so that you could put your hands and knees on the floor and maybe figure it out. You'd seen other kids crawl around and I know you wanted to follow them. It was frustrating to you the way you couldn't keep up with what they were doing. You'd yell when one of the other kids around your age would scoot off to play with a new toy and you couldn't follow.

It was kind of cute.

Right around your Dad's birthday you crawled a few little inches. By Easter you were cruising along the floor fairly competently.You were only nine months old, so I don't know why we fretted about it. As I suspected, you were much happier with your new found mobility. Within a month you could pull up on furniture to standing, all on your own.

That's when the messes you could make started to grow, and when the cats became a little more nervous of you than they already were. I remember the first time that Spooky, who was laying on the coffee table at the time, saw you pull up and came face to face with you in a spot that he thought was safe. His eyes almost bugged right out of his head. He was off like a shot, jumping over the baby gate, and bounding up the stairs.

You liked to pull up on the coffee table, the couches, and chairs and cruise along them. Sometimes when I lay on the floor on my side you'd even pull up on me and cruise up and down from my legs to my head. It was one of the days when you were cruising on me that your dad came home and you took your first steps.

It was June 4th, and when you heard a key turn in the lock you stopped what you were doing and turned your head to see the front door. When that door opened, and you saw Daddy, you let out a squeal and toddled 5-6 steps over to the coffee table then cruised along towards him. Your dad just stood there with his mouth hanging open for a second, and then asked me, "Has he been doing this all day?" A second later he dropped his bags and scooped you up for some well deserved hugs and kisses.

Nope, you hadn't been doing it all day. That was the first time that you took any steps all on your own with nothing and no one to hang onto. You just saw your dad and were so excited that I think you forgot that you didn't know how to walk yet.

Within two weeks you didn't need to crawl anymore. There was one horrible day when you wouldn't crawl at all, only walk, and you also wouldn't nap. I'm happy to say that you've gone back to your two nap a day schedule, and you will also crawl sometimes just for fun.

There's this hysterical thing that you've taken to recently. You will crawl as fast as you can going "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" You aren't too loud, but louder than your regular speaking voice. Sometimes you'll run doing this too, but usually it's reserved for a crawling race. A race that you always win, because you're the only in it.

Nothing is safe from you anymore, but I wouldn't trade these crazy toddling times for anything.

To Max: Peek-A-Boo

2010-07-21T13:11:00.000-05:00

"Where's Max? Where's Max?"

Your dad and I pretend that we don't see you behind the curtain, or in the middle of the floor with a blanket/towel/piece of clothing over your head.

"Where's Max?"

Sometimes we can see your mouth and the smile that widens as the game continues. I'm pretty sure that you know this is a game, and know that we really can see you, but there's no way to be certain.

"Where's Max?"

Then you whip the covers off your head as we exclaim, "Peek-a-boo, I see you!" or "There's you are!" You take a moment to laugh and then pop the cover back over your head.

Honestly we hardly ever instigate a game of peek-a-boo anymore. Suddenly we'll realize that you've gone quiet and look over to find you hiding. You will sit there waiting for us to look for you. Rarely you'll get an impish sort of grin and rush over to shove a blanket on someone's face. That means it's our turn to hide, but you like hiding better than seeking, so usually you keep the covers all to yourself.

To Max: Sonic Screwdriver

2010-07-20T10:32:00.000-05:00

Your sonic screwdriver might not work quite the same as the Doctor's, but it's still got power. A simple plastic toy, with a noise chip, and bright shiny colors. It makes really odd sounds. I'm not sure what sort of noise I would expect a screwdriver to make, since normally they are a quiet tool, but this one makes cartoon sounds for lack of a better description. Like when someone gets hit or falls in a Warner Bros cartoon, there's boings and honks that kind of thing. It's real power though is to make you laugh.

Ever since you first heard the silly sounds and saw the blinking lights it tickled your fancy. You couldn't even sit up, and you would get angry for reasons that we just couldn't fathom, sometimes all that could fix you was that screw driver. Amazingly even now, it still works. You're bigger now, and completely mobile, but the screwdriver cracks you up. The difference now is that you can pick it up and run around the house with it, pushing the little red button and making yourself laugh. Still, if all else fails it's what we will turn to. We screw in all your loose screws and more times than not you're giggling before we're done.

I haven't managed to grab a picture of you with the screwdriver, because you're so funny that I don't want to go downstairs to get the camera and miss all the good times. So I'll just attach a random picture of you grinning at me while you "help" with the dishes.

To Max: Kitty Love

2010-07-14T15:43:00.000-05:00

Since forever Bullet was Daddy's cat. He would play with me in ways that kind of hurt, because he liked me well enough but only understood how to play as a kitten and not how to be gentle. With Daddy he would curl up on his chest and snuggle. He would crawl up and mew into his ear begging to be pet and purr SO loud. If I tried to pet him he would grab my hand, and if particularly feisty he would bite me. He was just playing, but it still meant no snuggles for me.

Bullet has always liked to come up and trick people into thinking he's sweet so he can grab them with his claws. With your grandparents the situation was more intense. He's been known to hiss and growl at them, especially if they are in his way. There has been at least one occasion when Bullet has cornered your grandma, and to hear her tell it she feared for her life.

We had no idea what to expect when we brought you home. If the cat loves your dad, thinks I'm okay, likes some of our friends, but is pretty hostile to most people he's around for more than 5 minutes, what on earth would he think of a baby? Not a single person that I know could have predicted his behavior. Something about you and your presence has brought out an incredible sweetness in Bullet. I don't know if you'll believe me when I tell you about how Bullet used to be, and I hope you never get to see it for yourself because right now he loves you kiddo.

That's right, out of all of our cats, Bullet is the one that adores you. I can't explain it. He's even nicer to me since you came along. He'll actually sit in my lap, or let me pet him and hardly ever plays rough anymore. With you it's even more insane. This cat lays there as you put your mouth up to his head for kisses. He lets you grab fistfuls of his fur, and pull on his ears. We try to keep you from abusing him, but you have yet to master "being gentle". Sometimes when you get in a foul mood and are crying, Bullet will actually come over and stand in front of you, as if presenting himself as a distraction. When your sniffles stop and you happily squeal as you tackle him I think he's happy. Even before you could crawl, when you cried for too long he would come and whine at us, he's never liked to hear you cry.

When I think about your first year, I think about you and this cat. Maybe all this time what he needed was a little boy to love. I only hope that he always feels that way about you, because it's really sweet.

Screw It

2010-07-14T15:08:00.001-05:00

I've tried a couple of times to start this post, and every time I've erased it all. I've been thinking about Max's first year in this world and it's just so hard to know where to begin. I could start with the beginning of how he was born in the hospital, or the first few days of having him home...

There, I've done it again. I just deleted a bunch of hogwash. Those first minutes, hours, even days weren't Max. Babies are like living Want. They want to be held, fed, rocked, they want to sleep. Not all babies are alike, but they all Want. And that's some boring, and not all together happy reading. If you don't believe me just ask your mom.

Okay I am totally giving up on this blog post. I've been trying to write it for almost a week now, and it refuses to come together. I can see it in my noggin, but I'm being defeated at every turn. Sometimes the writing won't come out, or what I want to say gets buried under what I don't want to say, and then there's my cuddle bug distracting me, and today that bloody car alarm was the last straw. I give in. No one wanted to read the MASSIVE post that was trying to claw its way out anyhoo. So new plan of attack, several mini-posts.

My goal is to focus on a single thing in each post that I think is really cool about Max. I hope to have 12 because that seems nice to me, one per month to commemorate this first year. I'm not going to cry if that doesn't happen though. So time to get down to business and crank out the first one.

A Matter of Timing

2010-06-30T13:07:00.000-05:00

Max, you turned one on Saturday. There was a big party, and you were charming. I have some stuff to say about this first year of ours, but I'm really busy right now. You prefer that I not tippy tap on the computer when you're up and ready to play, and we're planning a trip to Indiana that involves planes and stressful packing logistics.

I promise that when we get back, at the latest, I'll get you a proper entry. In the meantime, I'd just like you to know that I think you're a pretty cool dude and you make me laugh every day. I'm sure this next year will be even better than the last.

Who Knew

2010-06-21T22:14:00.000-05:00

So I actually made tasty brussels sprouts today. I don't just mean that they are edible, they were actually good enough that we might want to make them again. The only change I think we'd make is to make more dressing for them next time. I like to use baby brussels because they are closer to bite size, and they are cuter. You could use big ones if you liked, but they might need to cook longer.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & Mustard Dressing

Prep 1 bag of baby brussels sprouts by washing, trimming cut end, and removing outer layer(s) of leaves. You want to get rid of any yucky looking leaves, torn, dirty, etc and reveal crisp pretty little sprouts. Cut each sprout in half lengthwise.

Cut 3 strips of thick cut bacon into 2" pieces. Cook bacon on medium heat until crispy. Remove bacon from pan and place on paper towels to drain. Don't discard any grease, if you think there is too much in your pan, pour it off, but save it. You will probably end up needing to add it back, the sprouts absorb a lot.

Turn heat down to low, and put brussels sprouts into pan cut side down. Cook on low for 10-12 minutes, while they cook chop your bacon into bits. When the sprouts are almost tender then crank the heat back up to medium and cook 2-3 more minutes. You want the sprouts to brown a bit, but not burn. They should be tender but not mushy. Use tongs to remove sprouts and hold in a bowl while you make the dressing.

Take the pan off the heat and add a spoonful or two of whole grain mustard and some sherry vinegar to the pan. Scrape the bacony goodness from the pan and get everything mixed up well. I didn't measure anything, mostly went by smell. This part only takes a few seconds.

Pour the dressing onto the sprouts, add 2/3 of the bacon and toss to combine. After serving add the remaining bacon bits on top of each portion.

Makes 2-3 servings.

Mini Photo Album

2010-06-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

The other day I whipped up a tiny photo album, using the same techniques, but different materials. Each of the sheets was cut from scrapbooking paper, so that the pages would have more substance to them. The photos were just print on copy paper, and glued to the pages. I used some scrap yarn to stitch the pages together, then glued the cover on.

Things I like about this photo album, and why I want to make more from other events: It's small enough that I can carry it around in my purse to look at whenever I want a smile. It was quick enough, and cheap enough that I don't have any qualms about letting Max play with it and possibly destroy it. It's small enough and the pages are sturdy enough that Max can actually manipulate it easily.

There are 16 pictures inside, and plenty of room to add captions if I feel like it later. I did decorate the front cover, because it looked naked without something there, and I dated the inside back cover in case this does survive Max's babyhood.

Mixed Bag

2010-06-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

Lunch today was an experiment.

I went with a one pot quick-ish lunch. I boiled some chicken/prosciutto ravioli, edamame, and fresh green beans together in some water flavored with tomato/chicken broth. It was pretty quick, so that was good. And Max at his ravioli, so that was good. Unfortunately I don't think that I cooked the edamame or green beans for long enough. He seemed to like the taste because he kept returning to them and trying to eat them, but then he'd pull them out of his mouth and go back to ravioli.

Well, at least I didn't spend 30 minutes on something that he wouldn't eat. Which is good, because I've been bitten by a craft bug, and the other 20 minutes not cooking were minutes I could use making ridiculously cute little notebooks.

I've seen little folded paper notebooks online before, and even made one or two, although I normally cheese out and try to use tape to hold the thing together. For the record, that never works for me. Last night I made a pretty small one as a test and actually sewed the pages together, and learned a lot about how I want to do things differently. I've been taking notes in that notebook, on how to make new notebooks.

This afternoon's book is on the simpler side, mostly because Max was awake and all up in my grill wanting attention, and also because I don't quite have the supplies together to make it fancier. Not to mention that my raw material was part of a paper grocery bag, and the goal was a little notebook for grocery shopping lists. I am tickled with it.

The outside is an 8" by 4" strip of grocery bag with veggies on it. The inside is comprised of 5 strips that are 7 1/2" by 3 3/4". First I folded everything neatly together. Next I used a stapler (this is the less pretty way) and stapled the inner sheets together along the center fold. I put the sharp bits toward the outside, so that the center is snag free. The final step was to glue the first and last inner pages into the cover.

I should probably mention that I have a paper cutter, and didn't cut these by measuring with a ruler and using scissors. It isn't anything super fancy or large, but it makes cutting small pieces of paper a snap. It might be this model, but I'm not positive. It looks about right, and is the right color. It's the same cutter I use when I pretend to scrapbook. Although I think a lot of scrapbooking paper might bite the dust in the name of little notebooks.

Also, I glued the insides in upside down so that one of my pages says FOOD, but not in the direction that I'd intended.

Lunchable

2010-06-14T18:21:00.000-05:00

Pretty much every day I face the dilemma of what to feed Max for lunch. For dinner he almost always has what we had for supper the night before, so that one is easier. If by some fluke we don't have leftovers I have a few things stashed in the freezer. Breakfast tends to a rotation of egg, oatmeal, or pancakes with various fruits/meats as sides. That one I pretty much have covered, though the choice tends to depend on how awake I am at the time.

In my mind lunch is the domain of sandwiches and salads. Neither of which Max really knows what to do with yet. Add to the mess that I don't know a whole hell of a lot about cooking and you leave us up a bit of a creek, with no picnic. When he was a baby it was easy, lunch was yogurt time, with a side of some other almost liquid food. Once he found the joy of picking up food to feed himself those days were gone.

He will still eat some foods from a spoon, thank goodness. For instance lunch today was fresh strawberries and blueberries that he could pick up and eat, then some yogurt and applesauce that he let me feed him with a spoon. It's going to be fun* when he masters this spoon thing better and won't let me help him at all, but for now he is only interested in trying it as he starts to get full. When hunger is in full force he knows that it's more efficient just to let an adult handle that part for him.

My other issue is trying to get vegetables into him. Yes, that's already started. He has begun to reject even the green beans and broccoli that he used to eat with gusto. So far he will still consume large quantities of peas, but I worry that even that well might dry up. He hardly ever gets veggies at lunch, since he can't eat them raw yet, and breakfast veggies tend toward tomatoes and onions and such that I stash inside his eggs. We've been pretty good at making sure there is green on his plate at least once a day, usually at dinner, but we can't force him to eat them.

If anyone has some early toddler lunch ideas I'd love to hear them. Keep in mind that I'm kind of lazy, don't want to waste any of my time off cooking (unless it's cookies), and I'm not incredibly skilled in the kitchen. I will google how to do new things though, so hit me with your best shot!

*By fun I mean horrifying, as he becomes determined to do it himself a good bit before he has actually mastered getting food from bowl to mouth.

In Dreams

2010-06-14T00:23:00.000-05:00

I wonder what Max dreams about.

There are times when he cries out in the middle of the night. His arms or legs thrashing against the sheets and banging into the slats of his crib, maybe he is just awake enough to realize how cold he is, or wonder where a dropped pacifier has gone. There are other times he wakes up completely scared or angry, howling for help and sometimes inconsolable. I wonder what triggered that awakening. I wish I could do more to help him, that the best advice I could find wasn't to help him learn to get himself back to sleep, that there was something useful I could do.

The worst to me though is when he is sleeping, completely out with that creepy super still look that babies can get when they are in a deep sleep, then suddenly he is crying. He doesn't wake up, he doesn't scream, he whimpers a bit and then that turns to these gut wrenching sobs. To me it sounds as if his little heart is breaking and there is nothing I can do about it. He never cries like this when he's awake, they are not like his hunger/pain/anger/whatever cries that I hear throughout a normal day. I actually woke him once, because I couldn't take the sound, and that was a huge mistake. Max doesn't make the transition from sleeping to wakefulness with much grace at the best of times, and that was not one of the best times.

Now when it happens I know that it will pass, and that I just need to leave him to get through it, but I can't help but wonder. As I sit and wait, trying not to let myself dissolve into tears, I wonder what is he dreaming about?

Sometimes

2010-06-13T01:56:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I feel like a bad blog reader.

Most of my blog reading is done on the fly on my iPhone, while trying to make sure that Max doesn't electrocute himself or manage to eat broken glass. This means that I rarely ever comment on a single blog that I follow.

I might really adore a story, be moved by the honesty of a moment that was shared, lust after the eye candy of a picture happy post, but at most I tend to hit the "like" button or share the item on my reader. Clicking through to the original post so that i can post a lame ass "you're groovy" sort of comment falls well below the rest of my day in priority.

Maybe I don't think I'm a bad blog reader, so much as a greedy one. Sometimes it seems like all I do is take. I want you to post about your lives and dreams, be eloquent and irreverent in the same breath; here I am now, entertain me. I will read it all, the good,the bad, the wow so much more mundane than my boring day, and I will treasure it, because I am a Reader, but I will not thank you.

I have a blog. I know how hard it is to find the time to write in a blog, especially if you have anything at all else to do. (If you had nothing else to do what on earth could you have to write that would interest me?) How can I let myself get away with this? Meh, I'd make a terrible task master, also I'm pretty terrible at any written correspondence at all.

Still, I want you to know that I care. Especially you guys that read this, that know I read you, and maybe wish you got more comments... Even more than that, those of you that I drink beer with, I want you to know: I read what you wrote, I have opinions about it, and maybe most importantly to me, you make my heart swell with pride that I know the person behind that post no matter how small or mundane it may seem to you.

Sitting here at 2 am in the dark as the rest of the house snores it is easy to say that I will try to be more engaged. I will try to at least acknowledge that I did a hit and run on your blog. Many of you have kids though, and might even be laughing at my post midnight delusions of free time, so forgive me if nothing changes. Most importantly forgive me if you find that I left a comment only to say:

:)

Another Year Gone

2010-06-11T20:30:00.000-05:00

This year's Sock Madness competition is dead and gone now. I was knocked out during the 5th round, and I'm still trying to find time to finish that pair of socks. Still that was further than I'd made it before, so I'm pleased. I ended up making a lot of modifications to the round 5 sock to get it onto my leg, but this way I'll have a pair of socks that I can wear instead of a pair to look at.

The picture is actually from the first sock in progress, I'm now working on the leg of #2, but this gives you an adequate idea of what it will look like.

Max is completely fighting going to bed now. He loves to go upstairs with us and have his pre-bed snuggle time, but once you leave it's just screaming. He's screaming right now actually. If you don't have any kids, haven't raised any babies, you can't understand just how much fun this is. It's like hot barrels of lava fun. The kind of fun you just can't buy.

Looks like we're not going to Hawaii this year. Bummerville. Dan got a new job, so he wouldn't be able to stay for the week, he'd only get 2 days. That's just not right, so we're going to reschedule and try to go sometime next year. Max will have more fun the older he is anyway, so I'm looking at the bright side. Meanwhile we are going to take a flight to Indiana for the 4th of July. I apologize in advance to anyone who ends up sharing the plane with us. We will of course do our best to keep Max happy, and not screaming, but considering the way he's going on and on right now... well, I'm not sure we'll be successful.

There is no Knowing

2010-05-21T13:43:00.000-05:00

The last few days Max has largely managed to get by with only an hour or so of nap in his whole day (compared to the 3-4 hours he normally takes across two day time naps). Although it has caused him to be a little temperamental it was really me, and therefore Jeff, that suffered. I guess I need my quiet time and having that denied me too many days in a row made me quite ... not nice. Actually this post pretty much sums up what I'm like without at least one hour a day of quiet. My most common outburst is that I'm going to put the cats outside (sometimes on the roof outside our bedroom windows) or that they will have to go live in the garage.

Today Max decided to get up at 6:30 for a bottle of milk, and considered getting up to play until Jeff gently informed him that it was actually still sleep time, and that he should just get some more sleep. Surprisingly he actually did go back to sleep and stayed that way until just after 9am. Since I knew that there was no way he was going to take a morning nap after sleeping in so late I decided to drag him out to the store. I think I succeeded in finding some shorts to wear to the fountain on Sunday, so I don't have to wear maternity shorts or bluejeans.

There is no way that I could have predicted that he would fall asleep in the car on the way home and still want more nap once I got him inside. Normally once we hit the front door and he sees his stuff and his cats the nap is forgotten. He's all sunshine and giggles and want to crawl around. Today all he wanted was to lean on my shoulder until I could get him snuggled down into his crib. I did not look a gift-nap in the mouth, I just laid that baby down in his probably dirty diaper. He hasn't had lunch yet, so he won't sleep too long and it will get changed then.

Is there ever a time that kids get more predictable in their schedules? So far the longest that I've had Max stick remotely close to a schedule is about a month. Even then it's not always the same wake and sleep times, but more then same length of time that he wants to be awake before taking a nap, and nap lengths that are somewhat consistent in length. It makes it really hard to plan day time events when I don't know when the heck he's going to be awake!

Speaking of which, he's probably going to wake up soon. Time to curl up on the couch with my knitting for a few minutes and enjoy the peace, that way I can be smiling happy mommy fun when he wakes up and is ready to play.

A Pile of Socks

2010-05-19T23:28:00.000-05:00

I've been knitting away on Sock Madness again this year. Don't know if I've mentioned it or not, and if I spend time looking at the very few blog posts I've done this year to find out if I'm restating myself then I'll probably run out of time to post at all.

I've managed to make it through 4 rounds so far, which is further than I've made it any other year that I participated. I owe my success to Jeff for helping to watch Max, and my competitors that kept cheering me on when I almost got knocked out during round 2.

Round 1 was a sock knit sideways, flat instead of in the round, and then seamed together to make a tube. After that the toe, heel, and cuff are knitted on and wah-lah you have a sock!
This resulted in vertical stripes on the sock that contrasted with the rings on the bits knitted in the round. It was a new technique for me, and even though it was kind of fun, I'm not really keen to try it again right away.

Round 2 was colorwork. I don't think I've ever had more fun knitting a two color sock. Something about the pattern just felt good in my mind and hands as I worked. In case you can't tell from the picture they are covered in coffee beans, and you KNOW how I love my coffee. The funny thing was that I think it took me a week to knit the first one and only two days for the second.

Round 3 was just fast. The bright sunny colors just sang to me after all the blues I'd been using. The pattern stitch was super easy to memorize, and it didn't seem like I had to work very hard at all to finish this pair in 5 days. The heel construction was a new one for me, and I really like how they look.

Round 4 was nuts. I've never knit knee high socks before, and I don't know if I could have every finished them if I weren't racing against 14 other people to finish the round in time to continue in the competition. For the most part they are just a plain ribbed sock, but there's one large cable motif on the outside of each sock, and swooping decrease of the ribbed portion on top of the foot. It's going to be a lot of months before I can wear these, unless it's freezing when we visit Iowa this summer, but you have to admit they are impressive.

That's it for now. We're going to start round 5 sometime next week, so I might have something else to show you soon. I hope this post makes sense, but it was written while Jeff was watching robot chicken, so if anything is complete nonsense blame him.

Portrait of a Potato

2010-04-23T10:47:00.000-05:00

I gave Max some sweet potato "fries" yesterday. They didn't really crisp up in the oven, but that's okay because he still likes food he can squish.

Anniversaries

2010-04-20T17:54:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a good friend being available to babysit and to family for providing a gift card to ease the financial sting, Jeff and I were able to go to a swanky restaurant downtown last night for our wedding anniversary. Since we spent our honeymoon in Hawaii it may become a habit to try and get Hawaiian food for our anniversary. We've done it the past two years, and this year was much better than the last.

We went to Roy's and being a Monday night there was no shortage of tables. There were a few other people there though, so it didn't feel desolate. The little steamed edamame dish they serve as you are seated was kind of odd, but not bad. The wait staff was pleasant. Considering the menu prices, the wine prices weren't terrible. And either they serve really cheap sake, or they have awesome sake prices. But it's not a cheap place to eat and we'll definitely not be going there multiple times a month like one of the reviewers I saw online.

I ordered from the Prix Fixe menu and I was not disappointed. The beef potstickers were actually fried dumplings not potstickers, but I suppose most people don't know the difference anyway. Despite the somewhat flawed labeling of the dish the taste was excellent, just keep that kim chee cucumber away from me. Next up was the lamb chops. The menu lists them as "Herb Grilled Lamb Chops - Port Wine Bordelaise Sauce" and that does not do them justice at all. What I got were huge delicious grilled lamb chops with tasty sauce, on top of fabulous green beans, with a side of awesome cheesy scallop potatoes. I suppose it's either not fashionable to list what the sides will be or they want to leave wiggle room to use different ingredients, but I was quite happily surprised to find all that extra yum on my plate. I ended up bringing about half my meat home because I also had a dessert coming. The molten chocolate souffle was SO GOOD. My only complaint was the ice cream that was served with it. The boring vanilla bean ice cream would have seemed fine if we hadn't also ordered the raspberry pineapple upside down cake. The cake came with mascarpone ice cream that was out of this world. I think they should serve it with the chocolate souffle instead of the vanilla bean. Mmmm, I bet it would make a killer shake.

I tried the yellowtail sushi that Jeff ordered, and I thought it was okay, but the texture still kind of creeps me out. I have decided to continue trying it when he orders some. Who knows, maybe someday I'll like it, and then I will no longer be the world's cheapest sushi date. For dinner Jeff got Roy's trio, which is salmon, ahi, and butterfish. I tried the salmon and thought it was okay, and so I also tried the butterfish but did not like that even one little bit. As I mentioned we got the raspberry pineapple upside down cake for the second dessert, and it was not very good. Jeff felt that there was too much pineapple, and didn't even notice the raspberry because you couldn't taste it. My complaint was the dryness, it was so dry stuck in my throat in an unpleasant way. If you go I'd steer clear.

After our lovely dinner we came home and helped get Max back to sleep, because he had been a little difficult, and then bid our lovely babysitter good night. We curled up on the couch, had a beer and watched House before shuffling upstairs to sleep. It was a really great night, and I'm so glad that Jeff arranged to make it happen.

Happy Anniversary to us, and here's hoping for many more!

Optical Illusion

2010-04-12T14:06:00.000-05:00

Jeff took a sequence of pictures this morning that happened to line up beautifully... or maybe I mean scarily. With proper Photoshopping an outsider might think that we had twins, instead of just the one baby. I rather like leaving the photo boarders around it though, so I just collaged them in Picasa.

Thank goodness there's only one of him, or I might never make it off the floor. I have no idea how people with twins manage.

Fun New App

2010-04-10T10:55:00.001-05:00

I finally downloaded the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone yesterday. I'd been admiring it from afar, but never made time to go and purchase it. I only have the basic version right now, and haven't purchased any of the other lenses, flashes, or film options that are available, but I'm having a lot of fun so far. I've only taken a few pictures, but I'm going to share them here with you. There will be more of these. I find them charming. It cracks me up that we (I know I'm not the only one) seem to have a nostalgia for the badly developed photos of our youth and are using advanced technology to recreate them. I wonder what my dad will think when I show him these pictures? Will he love them the way I do, or will it irritate him that they aren't as "good" as they could be, or will he think I'm a dork for asking?

Like Forever

2010-03-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

This last week has been a long one. The whirlwind of activity started on Thursday when we traveled to Houston for a single day, to see Daniel open the envelope that contained the hospital that he will serve his residency at for the next 4 years. Well, we actually didn't think that we'd make it there in time, since we were leaving Austin at 7:30 am with a baby in tow, and we needed to be parked and in "the plaza" by 10:30. Then we were only minutes away and it seemed like we really were going to make it, but we had trouble deciphering where to go, and ended up passing our destination. Then the real fun began. We sat in the worst traffic I've ever been in as we crawled past a really cool looking park. We were going slow enough for Jeff to get out of the car, walk to a bathroom in the park, use the bathroom, then walk back as traffic inched forward.

We missed the envelope opening, but managed to eventually disengage from traffic and head toward the Mexican restaurant where the family was meeting for lunch. We stopped at a book store on the way, because I had to pee and Max needed to drink some milk before there was so much excitement that he wouldn't eat. It was a good plan, except for the part where Max wouldn't eat at the book store and the part where Jeff thought someone would call us when they were on their way to the restaurant. We did have a good time playing in the kids section where there were benches and a train set to play with. And once we hopped back in the car Max drank his milk with no fuss. We were a little late to lunch, but it was still fun to see everyone. We went back to Daniel and Tricia's to hang out for a bit and then went to my dad's for a rest before heading back to Austin. I'm still surprised by how good a time a had that day considering the amount of driving involved, and the fact that we were hauling around a little baby that does not enjoy spending his entire day strapped into a car seat.

Friday morning Jeff headed out with his mom to Iowa along with 500 lbs of baby stuff for Laura. They had a great time driving into a blizzard and making an unexpected stop at a Prius dealer Saturday morning before leaving Kansas and barely making it to the baby shower. While I'm sure it was no picnic I'd like to point out that I was the one with Max since Friday morning.

Honestly Max has been mostly pretty good. Each night bedtime seems to be getting harder. Jeff is normally the toothbrusher and every time he isn't there to do it I think Max gets a little more upset. The first night wasn't too bad, but Saturday night he didn't want to let me brush his teeth at all, and last night was worse he kept trying to squirm out of my arms and was looking all over the place. The days haven't been too bad though, we've kept busy. We went to Ikea and met up with Beth and her 4 kids on Friday. Then Saturday we went to a birthday party, and yesterday Grandpa (Jeff's dad) came to visit and we went out to lunch at Red Robin. (I recommend the Southwest Chicken Salad, just make sure to ask for dressing on the side otherwise it will come already in it.)

Today we're going to head out to a couple stores and see if we can't get Max a pair of shoes that fit and some saline drops in case his nose gets more stuffed up. Hopefully Jeff will get home tonight before it's time for Max to eat dinner. We're all missing each other and this is the longest that we've been apart as a family. I can't wait for Jeff to get home.

Blockimals

2010-02-26T18:13:00.000-06:00

Max has 4 things known as Blockimals. If you want to know, he has the 4 that are pictured on the left there. For the uninitiated a Blockimal is a block that is painted with an animal face (and sometimes body) that can be opened to reveal the same animal inside it. Like little tardis animals they can contain not only themselves but also a suitable living environment.

When Max got his first Blockimal (the yellow duck) I thought it was really cute, I also thought it was really boring. This has been one of the toys that has caused me to rethink buying toys for babies. There are a lot of things that I think are boring that absolutely fascinate Max, like a thick strip of paper from a magazine cover - he can play with that for minutes at a time. In fact he's currently occupied by wrinkling up and trying to tear a single magazine page. While earlier today a few minutes peace was bought with a purple straw from a coffee place.

The critters inside are supposedly fun. The mouse and hen squeak when you press them, the duck sproings, and the pig clicks when you twist him. Max only notices they are in there when they are convenient as handles, but then he's still below the recommend age (9 months +) so maybe in another month he'll discover something new. He does like opening and closing them. He also seems to enjoy the struggle of pulling them out of his toy bin, although I've yet to see him succeed. Still he likes these a lot more than I expected.

So I'm wondering, what other "boring" toys I should be on the lookout for. More to the point, what should Max be asking Grandma for when his first birthday comes up? Or should I just get him a magazine subscription?

Grumps

2010-02-20T00:40:00.002-06:00

I’ve been faithfully knitting on my Hemlock Ring Blanket and finishing up socks that were cast on in 2008, but I needed something new. I wanted to knit something for Max, and I wanted it to be a quick project, and one that I could use stash yarn on.

I pulled down all my knitting books. I looked at socks, puppets, toys, and even pulled out the crochet book I have. I tried a couple options but nothing was working out, so I went to my bookmarked knitting projects and Grumpasaurus stuck out immediately (it’s one of Max’s nicknames*). The first day I was able to knit and stuff the body. The next day I knit and stuffed the tail, as well as made the arms and legs. Today I knit the spiney ridge on his back, and attached all the bobs and ends.

I am very pleased with the 3 day time frame to get this piece done. Frequently I get hung up on projects like this and dawdle because I'm not really sure how to do the sewing bits involved, especially embroidering the facial features. This time I just kept momentum and plowed through no matter that I felt very out of my element. The worst part for me was trying to embroider the face before he's stuffed and completely formed. I ended up going back and adding some stitching to his face after all was said and done because it was too hard to see his eyes and mouth. Since I was already doing that, I added some fanginess to his mouth instead of the straight line from the pattern because mine just didn't seem grumpy enough.

Now I just have to keep the cats from getting hold of him and ripping him apart before Max is old enough to play with him. This would be one of those toys that doesn't do anything and doesn't feel good in the mouth, so it will have no interest for Max at the moment.

Honestly I think I may have spent almost as much time figuring out what I wanted to work on as I did actually knitting this guy. I wish that I had better pics to post, but if I wait until daylight to get the camera and take them before writing this then it may never happen. Instead I will make use of my insomnia and iPhone and just be done with it.

*Like Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Max is Snugglesaurus and Grumpasaur. Although mostly he's just Booga.

Sit Tight

2010-02-19T13:48:00.000-06:00

We're still rockin' along over here. Max is at once becoming slightly more independent and more needy all at the same time. He's got sitting down pat now. I don't think that he's fallen over in the last 2 days at all. This means that sometimes he can play by himself for a bit, I don't have to hold him up or sit behind him for him to lean on. On the other hand it is not permissible for me to leave the room, and in the living room I have to sit with him, I can't even sit on the couch two feet away. Sometimes even when he's with Jeff he'll holler if I leave his sight.

Still, at least I can face him while he plays and having my hands free is a plus. Sometimes he'll let me play on my iPhone without fussing or I can knit for a while. I'll have to see if there's a book kicking around that I need to read and see how he handles that.

Today he looked like he was going to push himself up to sitting from his stomach, but then he just kind of rolled on his side and then flopped on his belly again. Everyday he gets a little closer to crawling, and then the cats are going to be in for it. Of course, I'm going to be in for it too, but I think I'll find it less terrifying.

He's also gone back to sleeping well again. We had a rough patch for a couple of weeks where he was waking up on his stomach over and over again in the night and not being able to get back to sleep without intervention. It even disrupted naps sometimes, cutting them short by 30 minutes or more. Two nights ago he woke every hour for several hours, but after a peep or two went back to sleep without our help, and last night I only heard him once.

Since the end of December he's grown an inch longer and gained a pound. [28 1/4" and 17 lbs 6 oz] I got curious about his growth since it seemed like his 9 month sized clothes were already starting to get too short for him, so I weighed and measured him at home. Sure enough the tags say that 9 months are for up to 28 1/2 inches and then it's on to 12 months clothes. The only problem is that he weighs almost 3 pounds less than those clothes are sized for, so they are going to be super baggy on him. My plan is next week to get some washed up and ready to wear, but keep struggling him into the 9 month stuff for as long as I can make him fit.

This weekend Dan and Jean are coming to visit and have volunteered to babysit Max on Saturday. The plan is to go out somewhere new for dinner... I can't remember the last time that we went out for dinner. We've been out for lunch a few times (with Max), but I can't remember dinner. So it should be fun.

I imagine this is a pretty boring post for most people to read, so I have filled it with gratuitous cuteness.

Stopping By

2010-01-25T12:03:00.003-06:00

Hi blog, how are you doing?

Me? I'm not too bad. I mean, I'm exhausted because I haven't been sleeping for a few days now, and I think I might have a cold, and you know there's a baby in this house and I think he's teething again ... or maybe I'm teething, cause we're not really getting along right now and I'm not sure whose fault it is. Other than that I guess things are okay.

Well, it was nice catching up with you. I think I'm gonna go take my medicine and lay on the couch for a bit. See you around.

I Think I Forgot How to Blog

2010-01-05T12:26:00.001-06:00

On December 30th Max went in for his 6 month check up and shots. He passed with flying colors. He was 27 1/4 inches long and 16 lbs 5 oz. That's the same day that we noticed his second tooth coming in, the first one started on the 16th. He's been a bit of a butt off and on since then, though I think we're getting past the teething pain and hopefully he'll be his old smiley self again soon. At least we finally got him back to sleeping through the night. *knock on wood* In fact he slept through a horde of people screaming in my living room last night, so that was nice.

Dr Who was a blast. I'm not sure what I think of the this new fangled young doctor they've cast, but I really don't get a vote do I? I'm sure that by the time we've seen a few of the new episodes I'll have come around. I just don't like change. You know how set in our ways us old farts get.

I was knitting socks for gifts up through the day before Christmas, or was it Christmas day itself? I forget, but it doesn't much matter. Since then I haven't made the time for knitting. Still, I did cobble together a pair of socks for my dad that I'm quite proud of. ... Only I can't show them to you because I didn't manage to take a single picture. *sigh* Dad and step-mom both liked their socks, and were appreciative as always. I think my sisters would rather have had a purse, and I think that's what they'll get next year.

In other news I've been playing Super Paper Mario on the Wii. I'm having a blast with the game. For the most part it is not too difficult, and I'm enjoying the art style and the storyline. With a game like Paper Mario I'm not looking for a challenge, I'm looking for fun. While I do occasionally find myself a bit stumped or beating a boss in a way that seems harder than it needs to be, for the most part I just get to grab a few minutes of easy entertainment while Max is playing by himself or napping. I keep thinking about knitting that I want to do though, so hopefully there will be more of that to show you before too long. As soon as I finish playing Mario.

Since there has to be some sort of photo I give you Max and Jeff. As is usual, I have no pictures of myself with Max, but we do have some video to prove that I didn't just skip out on his first Christmas.They're saying that we're in for some "Artic Air" and I believe if it weren't horribly un-PC that they'd in fact say that it is going to be colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra. I gather that means it will be far colder than we are used to around here. So don't go out unless you have to, and stay warm no matter what. I recommend a nice mug of hot cocoa and I heartily endorse an excess of marshmallows.

Aging Postlette

2009-12-29T00:27:00.001-06:00

The holidays are upon us. The tree is up and the lights are strung, and Max hates pine trees. Well, perhaps he hates all trees without bias. All I can tell you for sure is that if you get him within touching distance of our Christmas tree he will cry. Maybe the leaves are too sharp for tender little fingers and after touching it he's learned to fear the big sparkling porcupine. There's no telling.

... Okay, so that post was started on the 8th of December. We've marched past Christmas and it's on towards New Year's now. I'm sure there is lots to blog about, so I'll try to get to that. Meanwhile Max is slightly less upset about the tree in our house. Although we do take care to keep him out of arm's reach so that he can't touch it and start freaking out again. For now I'm going to bed.

A Boy and His Bouncer

2009-11-12T22:17:00.001-06:00

Max has figured out how to get the bouncy chair really going now. In an effort to preserve videos of him being dorky, for posterity you know, I present the following.

He has no assistance from myself or his dad here. All that movement, even when it scares him, is his alone.

Tastes Like Fun

2009-11-10T20:04:00.002-06:00

Max has almost a dozen Lamaze toys. Most were gifts from his Grandma Jean, heck she's given him 2 peacocks and 2 monkeys (the extras were sent back to her to do with what she will).

The really funny thing is that he's still a baby. I mean, he's no newborn, but he doesn't have mad play time skills or anything. Most of these toys have squeakers and stuff that he doesn't know how to manipulate yet, and if you do it for him it just scares him. The butterfly and peacock have crinkle wings that he loves to wrinkle up and stuff in his mouth. He also likes grabbing the moose by his big purple horns. Other than that he plays with all of the toys in one of two ways.

The first mode of play is to whack them with his hand, and try to get any dangling legs into his mouth if I hang them from the activity gym. The second mode is ... well, you can see for yourself.

I'm also curious if there are any children's organizations that will take donations of toys that are like new, but not new in boxes. He already has too much and Christmas is still headed toward us. If nothing else I know I can donate them to Goodwill, but if they can go directly to cheering up some kid in need that would make me even happier.

In Knitting News

2009-11-06T17:48:00.003-06:00

Socktober Mystery Socks are completed. These were a lot of fun to knit, and the pattern repeat was easily memorized. It's hard to get large chunks of knitting time in nowadays, so having a pattern that I could start and stop really quickly was awesome. I love patterns like this that look so crazy complicated, and in reality it's pretty straight forward. I'm not saying that I'd make it someone's first knitting pattern, but maybe first sock pattern. It's that easy. Did I mention it's also beautiful?

Knit in Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock, Georgetown Colorway (152).

The pattern is by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops. I love it even more than the pattern she wrote last Socktober. I only just finished the 2008 pair a month ago. Between holidays, pregnancy, moving, and whatever else happened they sat on the needles a long time. Still they are pretty.

Knit in Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy Socks, colorway 1518.The monster stirs, so I've got to run. Happy Friday!

4 Months Old

2009-10-30T11:44:00.005-05:00

We took Max in for his four month checkup on Wednesday, and he's doing great. The doctor said he's still considered skinny (looks chubby to us) but that since he continues to gain length well, there is no reason to be concerned. He's pretty much stayed in the same percentiles since he regained his initial weight loss.

Weight: 14 lbs, 2 oz (25th percentile)
Length: 26 in (75th percentile)
Head: 42.3 cm (50th percentile)

The doctor encouraged us to try him on solid foods now. So we picked up the customary rice cereal and gave him his first nibbles yesterday. On the one had Max was quite excited to be able to put new things in his mouth. I mean, putting things in his mouth is his favorite past time at the moment.On the other hand, he wasn't sure why we were trying to poison him. Despite the cereal being mixed with 4 parts breast milk to 1 part cereal and certainly not resembling any solid that Jeff and I had ever seen before, Max knew something was off. Something had contaminated his milk, and he was unimpressed.The look he gave Jeff was awesome. He knew I was mean, I make him take naps all the time and won't let him wear roller blades. But why was Daddy letting this happen?Mostly he's a happy little guy. He continues to smile and laugh and is learning all sorts of new sounds. He's even starting to realize that maybe tummy time isn't as bad as he used to think.
Of course having some friends to keep you company always helps.

Henrietta Hen

2009-10-26T11:01:00.004-05:00

Jeff and I really want to see Where the Wild Things Are. After hearing a piece on the movie on NPR we were even more itching to go. Several months ago we started to hatch a plan. Alamo Drafthouse is a nice theater, and they actually have "baby days". On Tuesdays at the South Lamar location or Tuesdays and Fridays at The Village, not only are you allowed to bring in a baby to the movie but they "keep the lights up a bit, and the sound down a bit".

The plan started as thinking we'd take Max to see this as his first movie. He wouldn't watch it or remember it, but it'd be cool for us. The more we thought about it, and the closer it came to the movie's release, the more it seemed like a good gathering thing to do with some of the other people at home with little ones. We could get a group together, take up a whole row with our wee ones. Who knows, maybe with the improved lighting/sound mix the toddlers might have fun and not get too freaked out.

Well, it doesn't look like it's going to happen. It seems like every day I hear something more about the flu here in town. I'm not really easily scared and try not to buy into hype from the news, but of all the places in town to take Max a movie theater just seems like a bad idea. I mean, I know that they don't clean all that well between shows, because I was once covered in ketchup from a big mess that was left behind. So I can't justify the risk that I might be exposing Max to a flu bug just so that we can see this movie together on the big screen.

If it weren't flu season, or even if Max were just older, I know that we'd be there. For now I'll just add it to ye ole Netflix queue, and try to be the first to grab it when the DVD is available. Meanwhile, you can call me chicken.

The Fur Babies

2009-10-13T13:41:00.002-05:00

The cats already fight over who gets to sleep in the stroller. Both the storage basket underneath and the seat are viable nap spots. Spooky likes to hop up into the high chair sometimes. It seems really uncomfortable. I think he does it because he likes to get up high and so far none of the other cats desire that spot. They all love playing and lounging on the activity mat. Bullet even stole one of the toys and covered it in so much cat hair that I let him keep it.

Today Cabbit discovered the bouncer. He just climbed on in as if deciding that it must be a cat chair after all. Who knows why that strange giggle/drool/scream creature sits in it, you can tell it was meant for a cat, can't you? I mean look how it cradles his fat just so.

I wonder who will be the first to brave the swing, and what will happen when I turn it on?

Ashley is Right

2009-09-30T13:08:00.003-05:00

The other day @themagicash declared that everyone should eat Greek yogurt. I expressed hesitance and was told not to be scared, that it was tasty. I'd always been a little curious so it didn't take much convincing for me to pick some up at the store. I still wasn't sure if I'd eat it or not, but I'd taken the first step of at least getting some into my home fridge. It didn't last too long in there though, I ended up grabbing it last night when my sweet tooth had me digging around looking for a snack.

I concur with Ashley that it is good stuff. I don't know if all Greek yogurt is created equal, but the stuff I picked up rocked my world. The texture reminded me of mascarpone cheese. It was thick, rich, dense and creamy. The cherry stuff on the side was superbly sweet like the best cherry pie; it paired very well with the tangy yogurt.

I picked it up at HEB and it was not cheap. $2 for a single serving of yogurt is a bit steep in my opinion, but I think it's good enough to warrant buying again. I just can't afford to make this my go to yogurt every day. It was extremely satisfying last night as a dessert. So now I will investigate other options, maybe I'll find something more economical. Even if I stick with this brand it may be less expensive to get it without the added toppings, one of the options was honey and a honey bear is cheap. My comparison to mascarpone also has me thinking that it might be tasty with some brown sugar and nutmeg, which then led me to perhaps adding some cinnamon to the honey...

Thus begins my new infatuation with Greek yogurt. Ashley was right, it is good stuff.

The Mothers Room

2009-09-26T08:43:00.003-05:00

I am grateful that my job has created a space for mothers to be able to breastfeed, or express breast milk in private. There is no way that I could go an entire work day without pumping, and my office has neither a door, nor even walls that go to the ceiling. Without this area that has been set aside I would be forced to make use of a bathroom stall, or something. I don't even normally have a car that I could go hide in.

It would be nice if it were a bit less scary though. Yesterday I almost jumped out of my skin when a spider skittered across the table. It was a small skittle sized skitterer, but too close for comfort especially with exposed breasts. The obvious wear on the used office furniture and clinical tiles on the floor don't lend themselves to a cozy atmosphere either.

The room is really just a decent sized chunk of an existing bathroom that has been walled off with Herman Miller walls. The walls almost go to the ceiling; it has no windows, and a door that locks. You have to sign out a key from security to be able to get in. One of my coworkers voiced a bit of envy that there is a mini-fridge in there. I had to explain that it's not full of snacks & beer (or even bottled water) it's just for people to store expressed milk in. All of a sudden the fridge was much less exciting.

I don't think anyone keeps their milk in that fridge though. I know I don't. I didn't know if there would be a non-public place for me to put milk while at work, so I brought a cooler with me. Seeing as how I keep almost forgetting my purse in my office I have a small phobia that if I actually did put milk in that mini-fridge I would make it home without it. That would be the suck.

The room at least has a normal sink in it. The main bathroom sinks are strange round jobs. You press a pedal with your foot and the water comes out like a sprinkler. I dreaded having to wash my pump bits with that sort of sink. Having a hot water tap is nice too, the round sinks don't have that since they don't have regular taps.

So I'll give the company a point in it's favor for creating a room for moms to use, but I take a half a point back because it's in a bathroom and is kind of creepy. Any of you other moms out there that have had to deal with expressing breast milk at work or school, what facilities did you have to use?

Those Other Pursuits

2009-09-12T08:11:00.007-05:00

I've gone from not playing any video games, to revisiting some old ones, and suddenly I've got all sorts of digital distractions.

First there was Batman. Now, I haven't been playing Batman myself, but I have been helping. I am the Alfred to Jeff's Bruce Wayne. I sit back an watch the story unfold while helping to spot secrets. I highly recommend this game. Jeff had a lot of fun playing it, and is still working on some of the challenges which is a good indication of how much he likes it. The story unfolds fluidly through game play with lots of nice video, but the scenes aren't so long that you're getting antsy waiting for the fighting to start again. If you like Batman and fighting games then you need to play this, if you like Batman and know someone who can play it for you then you should get it for them so that you can watch.

I downloaded Word Ace for my iPhone, and it's been mostly a positive experience. The dictionary and I disagree sometimes on what is or is not a valid word, and I have a feeling that some of the people are "cheating" because there just can't be that many people who can make a 7 letter word with 1 vowel and 4 Ks without help. I could be wrong, maybe I just haven't met this subset of humanity before, these scary spelling superstars. I have enjoyed trying to stretch my brain even if I don't like some of the gambling aspects (like bluffing). With 1000 free chips a day, it's not like you really have to worry about the "money". A big plus here is that I can play it one handed. So I can play a few hands while Max insists on sleeping in my arms, and it doesn't disturb him. I did once end up at a table where the chat involved people asking for pics of each other, and talking about digging insecure *itches, but that was once out of tons of tables. Mostly there is little to no chat going on, and it's a single line at the top of the screen, unless you click to enbiggen, and is pretty easy to ignore. The few times someone has talked to/at me it was to ask about the pic of Cabbit that is my avatar or to say "nice" when I got a good word out of the letters.

It seems like ever since Professor Layton and the Curious Village I've been waiting for the next Layton game to come out. The wait is over with Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. At first I was not enjoying the game as much as I had the first. I'm not a huge fan of the voices this time around, and I think the puzzles are a little easier than before. Although that means less trial and error for me. I'm still having hell with the jumping balls over other balls to make all but one disappear puzzles, but your mileage may vary. After playing a bit I've come to enjoy at least as much as the first, and the built in mini-games I've liked quite a bit. There is the finding tea ingredients and making tea for people that is okay. The build a camera (super fun) leading to some spot the difference in two pictures puzzles that are pretty good. But my fave was the get your hamster in shape so he can spot hint coins for you game. I named my hamster Jeff.

Little Big Planet has been out for a while now, and really shouldn't be news to anyone. Jeff and I played a demo of it, and even though there was a two-player mode (actually up to four I think, but there's only two of us) I wasn't really sold on it. The controls are a bit wonky and I have a hard time navigating my sack person in the depth of field available. Still, it is a platform game so it is right up my alley. When we were outside a level and I started exploding my sack boy over and over, giggling at his different facial expressions it clinched it for Jeff. When he had to go out for cat food last night, he came back with Little Big Planet. I'm glad he did, we played through a few levels last night and had a really good time. The one and only time we tried to join an online player we couldn't get in. We were watching this other person play and finally managed to escape the level, right about the time it looked like our characters were popping in. Ah well, we'll try again sometime... maybe. Oh, and by the way, platformers where you need to swing from place to place over gaps are difficult to manage with two players. I can't imagine trying to get 4 people in sync on some of these levels. Sounds like a fun thing to try when they group has had a beer or two and something to avoid once people move on to their third. Playing as a vampire frog though, that makes it all worthwhile, a vampire frog that can explode.

The other game that Jeff came home with yesterday was The Beatles Rock Band. Totally digging it. Load times between songs (including having to hit start every time) are kind of annoying, but other than that it is a lot of fun. I enjoyed singing, and really look forward to getting more mics so that we can play some harmony with people. It would also be nice to have a mic stand so I could sing and play at the same time. This is music that I know well enough that I don't have to stare at the lyric line the entire time. It's been really great to play Rock Band and be excited by more songs than not. Usually I feel a bit musically backward for not having heard of the bands and not knowing the music. The game does not disappoint this Beatles fan. Over and over I was thrilled with the songs they chose. The videos so far have been entertaining too. I had no idea what big dorks they were, it's terrific.

Have you played any new games lately, even if they're only new to you? I'd love to hear about them.

Stalled Madness

2009-09-09T12:21:00.003-05:00

They are done. What began April 30th has finally been completed. Through moving into a new house, pregnancy, and finally adjusting to life with a newborn (which includes typing one-handed, but not knitting one-handed) I have worked on these socks.

Lucky Diamond in 3 colors of Socks That Rock - Lightweight

The socks were done a week ago, I just haven't made time for the blog lately. What free time I have has been consumed with other pursuits. Still, I worked on these socks off and on for 4 months so I think they deserve their day in the sun.

I enjoyed knitting this pattern much more once there was no deadline, no trying to get through acres of seed stitch in the fastest time possible. It was fun to watch the diamonds emerge as the lines of cabled stitches crept toward and away from each other. The heels are knit last, and ended up being purple out of necessity when I ran out of red. I've come to like the purple heels. I kind of like that they don't really match, and I think I might do funky heels on other pairs in the future just for fun. Since no one sees your heel in a shoe it's almost like a little secret you get to wear. Before that though there are still more pairs to finish. I can't believe how much knitting is half done around here.

Now if you'll excuse me, the socks and I are going to play at little Professor Layton before Max wakes up from his nap.

Winning is Fun

2009-08-24T15:16:00.007-05:00

I like to enter contests, and I like it even more when I win. I like to say that I never win anything, but that's very much not true. Earlier this year I won a copy of Tea & Crumpets from Chronicle Books. I haven't made any of the recipes in it yet, but I do like looking it over. I day dream of the crumpets, scones, and tea sandwiches it describes.

Just recently I won a giveaway through The Cradle Crush from MD Moms. My shipment arrived today. They sent an assortment of Baby Silk products: a bottle of their Hair and Body Wash, Daily Skin Protection, and Sunscreen Towelettes (both a 15 pack as well as 3 single wrap towels).
I have fairly sensitive skin, so I'm testing the lotion on myself first. If I don't have a reaction to it after a couple of days of use then we'll see how Max does with it. We haven't needed to use any lotion on him, so this is more for fun than for any dermatological reason.

I like the fact that the soap and lotion come in pump bottles. We have a gazillion bottles of Aveno baby wash and lotion courtesy of baby showers and Jeff's mom, but they are all squeeze bottles. It's easier to get soap one handed if you have a pump. Of course the big question is, what will Max think? He's enjoyed his baths and shampoos with the Aveno product. Will he notice or care that this soap is different? My money is on him not caring, but we will see.

Movie Noms

2009-08-24T12:10:00.002-05:00

For a food theme Sean picked Ireland vs Belgium. For my part I made Guinness cupcakes again, but used the icing from the cake recipe. The cake icing has less sugar in it, and a little more cream cheese flavor. Jeff made ice cream with Belgian ales, one a double and the other a triple.

I used mini cupcake pans, and so I ended up bringing a lot of cupcakes. I packed them into a bamboo steamer just to be able to get them all over to the Larson residence.Jeff made 3 quarts of ice cream all told, and it was a big hit. Tasty cold treats tend to go over pretty big in 100 degree weather. The cupcakes also went over pretty well, but I cheated. I put them out on the table in front of everyone as we watched In Bruges. Hard to resist little bite sized cupcakes when they are right in front of you. I should know, I think I may have eaten a dozen all on my own.

Another fun movie night! I think we'd all seen the movie already, but it's so good that we enjoyed seeing again. Max was fairly well behaved for a little guy; Jeff and I were able to stay through the entire movie. We took turns walking off to calm him or feed him as needed, but he hung in there like a champ and I don't think he disrupted the movie too much for everyone else.

Island Cakes

2009-08-22T12:24:00.002-05:00

Normally when I make pancakes "from scratch" I use a mix. From scratch means that I didn't pull them out of a freezer box or something. This morning though I really scratched them out. I mentioned that I had a coupon for free yogurt, the catch was that I had to buy a bag of granola. Now the granola was on sale so we went ahead and did it. Perusing the flavors revealed a Hawaiian mix (with ginger toasted macadamia, coconut, and pineapple) that sounded tasty to both of us, so I grabbed a bag. Since I didn't purchase any plain vanilla yogurt I was trying to think what else I could do with the granola. I decided that I wanted to turn it into tasty tasty pancakes, since I am all about pancakes lately. In the end I think these only merit one tasty, there is room for improvement. (see the end of the post for the recipe I used today)

My complaints today are: The batter was too thick and resulted in a very dense cake, not light and fluffy like I get with my store bought mix. The granola was not prominent enough, and the pancake in general lacked flavor. The bit of texture from the nuts and oats was quite good though. The pineapple did not stand out, but might be more noticeable with the increase in granola. Also, I need a topping of some sort with my pancakes, but these didn't taste right with maple syrup.

The next time I think I would reduce the amount of flour, maybe to 3/4 cup, and increase the amount of granola to 3/4 cup. The amount of milk may have to be adjusted to get a better consistency but I couldn't say without mixing it up first. The mix does need to be a hair thinner though, this one did not pour so much as glop onto the pan. I bet a dash of vanilla would help the general cake flavor as well.

As far as toppings my first instinct is to get some coconut syrup. We had this in Hawaii and I love it. It would be a match with the coconut shavings in the granola. Another possibility would be a fruit topping, maybe mango? Mango would compliment them well, but I'm not sure about how to go about a mango topping.

I definitely want to try this again, so I'm including all my notes here. Hopefully next time I'll get all the way to tasty tasty.

My base starting point was The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, griddlecake recipe. I added the granola mix and increased the amount of milk because the batter was way too thick.

3/4 - 1 cups of milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Udi's Hawaiian granola (chop large pieces of macadamia & pineapple before adding to batter)

Beat milk, butter & egg lightly in mixing bowl. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar & salt and add all at once to the first mixture, stir just enough to combine. Add granola mix, stiring in gently, do not over mix.

Using 1/4 cup scoop drop mix onto medium heat non-stick skillet. Cook about 1 1/2 minutes per side, until lightly browned. (My mix was so thick that I did not see much bubbling like I normally would with a pancake. Instead when they were ready to turn the cake would start to get taller.)

I got a yield of 9 (3 1/2 inch) pancakes.

This is Going to Sound Bad

2009-08-21T12:50:00.002-05:00

Babies are boring. I've spent almost 2 months now with an infant, and I feel like I can say that with authority. I speculated before Max was born that he wouldn't be all that exciting at first, but until you do it you don't really know. Maybe this makes me sound terrible, but I know I'm not the only one who's thought it.

Peaceful yes, exciting... not so much.

The worst part about how boring babies are, is that for the most part the only times that they aren't boring are really terrible. When they are wailing and thrashing their limbs about it isn't boring at all, but it certainly isn't fun either.

The first few weeks were the worst, because he spent hardly any time awake. I almost felt like I was swaddling him too much and not encouraging him to be awake. Sometimes it seemed like all he wanted to do was eat and sleep. Like all his awake time was miserable for him and my efforts to soothe him by feeding, changing, cuddling, were only to help him get back to sleep. I worried I was a bad mom for not trying to keep him awake longer.

He doesn't know he can't read.

Now that Max is able to spend some time awake I'm much more secure with my decisions to let him sleep as much as he wants. If he's awake and happy then we play. He likes his activity gym, we can cuddle up on the couch, or lay on the bed listening to music, and sometimes we read. When he's not happy we troubleshoot: food, diaper, burping, and if all else fails then a little cuddling usually sends him off to dream land. Okay sometimes it takes a LOT of cuddling, but you know what I mean.

Still, these awake times are definitely getting to be more fun, and we still have so far to go. Just yesterday we were playing on the floor and I finally got proof that Max really does smile. I missed the best ones that happened when Bullet sniffed him on the nose, but I was able to grab this with my iPhone.

Emmi Muesli

2009-08-20T14:34:00.000-05:00

With my Central Market coupon I got free yogurt. It was Emmi "Swiss Premium" lowfat yogurt, and because the coupon was 5 days old they only had 2 flavors left*. I tried the Muesli flavor, and it was interesting.

The first thing that struck me was gratitude that the yogurt had muesli in it, and not just a flavor of muesli. The second was that the flavor seemed familiar. After musing on it for a bit I've come to the conclusion that it reminds me of apple Hi-Chew candy. It's not that surprising since the candy is yogurt and this yogurt has apple in it.

Back to the yogurt, it has all sorts of stuff in it. Apple, pear, oats, nuts, including some rather nice pieces of hazelnut, and 1 huge raisin. It was pleasant, but too sweet for me. It's sweet in a fruity way, but still really sweet. If you like to add all sorts of stuff (like muesli) to your yogurt, then this is one stop shopping for you. Everything is already there and in a nice proportion to save you a step.

I would get it again for free for sure, I've definitely done worse. I might even try it again once in a while for kicks depending on how much it costs.

*I got one of each for curiosity's sake. The other flavor is pink grapefruit and I'm a little scared. At least now that I've had this sweet muesli I have hope that the pink grapefruit will also be sweet, and not some scary sour bomb.

Zombie Baby

2009-08-19T20:46:00.003-05:00

BRAINS!

Jeff finally caught a pic of Max sleeping with his arms sticking out. He also likes to wave them in the air, like perhaps he just don't care.