Stopping By

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.