Milking it

So I dressed Andy up for daycare in his Tigger costume. We have certainly gotten good use out of it. It's also really warm so I just dressed him in his regular clothes and put the costume on top. It's supposed to be 70 this afternoon so he won't need it later. His babysitter loved it and I ran into one of the other moms who loved it, too. He was a hit with the other kids, too. Andy has no idea why they were all smiling at him (he just assumes they always smile at him, I think, and they probably do). Just precious.

Tonight I think I'll put the costume BACK on and then walk over to see a couple of neighbors. I don't think we'll go door to door.

One more

I like this picture, too. You can really see how blue his eyes are.

Pictures

I took these today and some were too cute not to post.

More Halloween

We're really getting the most out of this Halloween season. Today we went with Andy's friend Sophia who turns one next week to the Halloween Festival in the neighborhood. It was cute with games and a moon bounce, but mostly for older kids. Next year...

Daylight savings time? What's that?

Andy on cue woke up at 5 am (formerly 6 am) this morning. He normally sleeps until about 7 am, but the last few days it was 6 am so I was worried about this morning with Daylight Savings Time sending us back an hour. Fortunately, I was able to tuck him back in and he slept another two hours until 7 am (formely 8 am). I was psyched!

I had a miserable soccer game this morning. We hate this team and even though they were winning, they bitched and moaned about every call. What. Ever. I'm hopeful they get sent back to the upper division where they get their asses kicked, a lot. I know, bitter much?

Sweet thing

He's really pulling up on everything. I have a feeling we're not too far from walking although I have no idea if that's two days, two weeks or two months! Now if we could just get him to wave or say, "Mama."

Playdate

I got together this morning with a friend who has a four-month-old daughter and a friend from college who is due in February. It was nice, but I think the one that's pregnant is now properly freaked out. Andy decided to try to climb into the bouncy seat that Elizabeth was sitting in. Too funny.

More Halloween

Here are some more choice photos from the party yesterday. Just hysterical.

Terrible

So this morning Andy decided he wanted to check out the kitty litter and cat food. I shooed him out of the bathroom where we keep the stuff and in closing the door, managed to wedge his tiny pinky finger in the door. I felt TERRIBLE. He cried - hard. It was awful. He seems recovered although his pinky is a little swollen. I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it returns to its normal size. I doubt he broke it (I wasn't pulling hard!), but you never know with this little chickens.

More Halloween

Some more gems from today. It's close to bedtime here. Andy is running around naked since he has a bit of a diaper rash and I wanted to give it a chance to air dry. I should get a diaper on him sooner rather than later.

Tigger

Andy looked away before I could get his picture and now I'm realizing I didn't get a good shot of him in his costume. This is the best I have...for now.

Halloween

My favorites from the party today.

Clean house day

Today is clean house day as the maids are coming. Well, they're actually here. Of course this would be just as I've put Andy down for a nap. I usually try to get lost when they're cleaning to stay out of their way, but it's rather impossible. I won't trade them being here though. The house looks so much better once they've come, you know, almost livable.

Yesterday Andy and I went with my friend who is a realtor to look at houses. She needed a pretend client to scope things out. She actually didn't NEED a pretend client, but the houses were a couple of neighborhoods over and I always like to nose around. She likes taking me because I have done enough home stuff to point out places that they've messed up (she has that, too, which is why we get along). It was weird, one of the places was empty and they had really tried to start renovating it, but did some wacky stuff, like putting in nice paneling in the living room only to not match the baseboards up with each other and sometimes the floor. Oh, it also had the original oven. Impressive for a 1950 house.

Fall colors

I took this the other night and it was too cute not to post. Seriously, how cute is that?

A tooth?

I think I see signs of Andy's first top tooth coming in. The only thing is that it doesn't appear to be his front teeth, but it seems that it's the one to the right of the middle tooth, which seems so random. My niece (who, gasp, turns one next week!) had her first top teeth be her eye teeth so she looked like a vampire so I guess this is an trait from my side of the family. Aren't genes random? I tried to take a picture of the speck that may or may not be his tooth. This picture was the best I could do. Enjoy.

Halloween

At playgroup on Friday, folks are bringing their kids in costume. It should be fun to see everyone dressed, especiall since it's not like at this age we're really going to be walking them around door to door. I think it gets dark after his bedtime anyway (although that makes me wonder how I'm going to get him to sleep with the doorbell ringing, hmmmm....). We have a Tigger costume that was originally his cousin George's. The label says 18 months and it was too big on him when we dressed him in it a few months ago, but I'm secretly hoping it's too small so I have an excuse to go buy another one. There are just so much fun choices that will be used for blackmail later.

Night fits

It's weird, the last two nights around 9:30 or 10, Andy has woken up very upset. I don't know if it's teething (I'm expecting to see buds on the top at any minute now) or what, but it's strange. He's been pretty difficult to soothe at that point since he's sort of awake, but clearly unhappy. The first night it took about 30 minutes to get him back down and last night only about 20 so that's a start.

Big Blue Bear

Someone sent me a picture of the big blue bear from the Denver convention center. How cool is that?

Yarmulke

Precious angels

Here's a picture from today. It's the best of the lot. Too bad I cropped his head. The hat actually looked pretty stupid so it's probably just as well. I got some cute ones of Mark wearing the hat that looks more like a yarmulke than a baby hat. These men do have enormous noggins though. It's taking ages to upload, but I'm going to try to get them up.

Cheese

So my friend in Brazil was telling me he was watching this totally cheesy 80s mini-series and now I'm so bitter I don't have a copy. Remember this? That's good stuff.

Cool weather

Now that it's cooler, we're breaking out all the sweaters and sweatshirts. Today Andy is wearing a darling striped zip-up sweater his grandmother gave him. I need to take a picture. He's not wearing the matching hat though. He's very worried about it mussing his hair, I think, because he rips hats off the moment they get on his head.

Highchair

I have had a booster chair for some time, you know, one that attaches to a chair, but I was missing having a high chair to put at the dining room table (just the way the kitchen/dining room is, I couldn't easily drag a chair back and forth). So I looked around and yesterday invested in a $32 chair. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done. It's nice to have him at the table with us. It will make it easier to feed him and feed myself at the same time now that he can pick up finger foods. It's pretty cute. Now I just have to figure out all the doo-hickeys that go on it (raising the level, moving the seat back, etc. etc.) He was just beautiful and precious again today. I do think his top teeth are getting close though so that will probably alter his cuteness when he doesn't feel so good. This is a picture of the highchair model. The pattern is something different and queer sounding like "rain forest" or something silly like that. Why can't they just be a color or something simple?

I played soccer today. I'm always surprised how sore I am afterwards considering I don't think I play that hard. We did win -- three in a row. I also got to catch up with my soccer friends that I generally really like.

Nap time

My beautiful husband let me sleep in. Until nearly 10. I feel like I won the lottery. I'm now trying to put Andy down for a nap that should have started a while ago. It's not pretty.

Cutie

I took this earlier and it was too cute not to share immediately. We went out to Target earlier and his hair got a little wet and dried funnier than normal. Cracked me up. He's shirtless though as he's been practicing with his sippy cup. He's got the sipping part down, but inexplicably, the swallowing doesn't seem to be a natural next step so the water/juice seems to land right on his chest.

Reading

The little bugger even likes to read in the tub. I can't say I blame him.

Paul and Judy

I just put Andy down for a nap and he wouldn't go without hanging on to Pat the Bunny. I hesitated wondering what would be wrong with sleeping with a tiny book. I couldn't think of any so he's in there talking to them as I type. It is just the cutest thing, maybe ever. It's funny, after months of trying to get him interested in books, in the last week or so he's really taken to them. He wants to hold them, flip the pages, chew (of course). I am hopeful this means he'll be a reader when he gets older like the two of us, but it's way to early to tell that now.

Turning the page

Oh, and the fun thing right now is he's sort of figured out turning the page. Right now he seems to really like "Pat the Bunny." He seems somewhat over patting the bunny, but he does like to play peek-a-boo with Paul and Judy. It's just so cute I can barely stand it.

Victory

So they won the big football game. Mark had a catch for a first down and was really excited about it (as he should be). I'm bummed to keep missing these, especially the interesting games since so many are total blowouts. My husband talked to his mother about Andy's check up at the game. Par for the course, she was thrilled that his weight is slowing down. Seriously? He's a BABY. I get a 10-year-old, but a nine-month? Just pisses me off at this point. And I'm stupid because I knew she'd react that way and he still irked me.

The stats are in

We went for his nine-month check up today and he was reported in very good health. The stats:

Weight - 21 12/16 (75th percentile)
Length - 29 3/4 (90th percentile)
Head Circ. - 18 3/4 (95 percentile)

He stayed the same percentile from his 6 month check-up, but he's dropped from the 90th for weight to the 75th. The nurse practicioner that we saw (we really like nurse Dena) said that's pretty normal for his weight to drop off a little since he's more active now which makes less interested in eating since he has so much new stuff to see and do. She said it would only be cause for concern if he had dropped all the way to the 50th percentile in between check ups. This would have been his only needle-free visit this year, but we opted to get the flu shot. He has to go back in a month for the second part of it. Apparently under one year old they get the shot in two doses. I'm not a fan of the flu shot for me personally, but I'm not in the high risk group like he is. We also scheduled his next visit, which is his one year. Hard to believe he's coming up on that! That means my niece will be one shortly. I can hardly believe it.

Big football game tonight between Robinson and their rival, Oakton. Both have a lot riding on the game, but with a 7:30 start AND the fact that it's drizzling, we're home. I'm hoping to make at least one game this season for more than 15 minutes. Maybe some of the playoff games will be day games.

Playgroup

We had playgroup this morning. We had another mother announce that she's pregnant. It was interesting because another woman was complaining that she hasn't gotten pregnant already. Sheez. In both cases, the kids will be about a year and a half apart. That just seems to fast! I suppose it's not really THAT fast, but it was interesting to learn how many are already trying again. I would have thought two years gap was the soonest people wanted, but I was wrong. Granted, this is generally an older group. I think the youngest regular is probably 30 and the average age is probably 35, but still, the thought of having two kids that close together just seems so speedy!

Back in the saddle again

I'm slowly getting back into our routines. Although as I type that, I realize that the routine really changes every day. But at least I'm getting back in the swing of an ever-fluctuating schedule. It's cold and rainy today. It feels like winter already. Sigh. I am so ready for the cooler weather, but I'm not prepared for all the garb that goes with of getting us in and out of the house every day. We're off to playgroup in an hour and then back at three for a doctor's check-up.

Now I really mean it

Andy teased me. He went to sleep for about 10 minutes and then woke up cranky. It took another hour or so to finally get him back down. Now I'm exhausted and ready for bed myself. I sure could use the sleep.

She hath returned

Yes, I have returned. I'm tired, but I'm back. I got back home around one this morning. We were all on the last flight out of Denver that got to Dulles about 11 although by the time I got my bag and lined up for a cab, it was after midnight. I went to work for just a couple of hours and then came home so Andy and I could play all afternoon. I was hoping we would both take a nice nap, but he decided that about 30 minutes was plenty. Hrmph. Although it is 7 pm now and he's out. Turns out he really needs his nap. I think we both do as I'm going to try to go to bed early myself. Tomorrow we have Andy's 9 month appointment. Bjorn is hoping he's 40 pounds and 40 inches, but I have a feeling that's a tad optimistic.

Exhausted

Another long day today. Things are actually slowing down a little which is actually making me more exhausted as I come off the high of all the activity. I'm tired now. We got up this morning to get to the Denver ABC affiliate for a news piece. It went really well, but it was another early morning. We also had three articles in USA Today, which is huge for us. My boss is psyched with the coverage so all is well except me needing several drinks and a good night's rest.

I am excited to be coming back in town tomorrow. It will be late, but glad to know it's just over 24 hours before I'm back home with the ones I love. Well, I do love some of my coworkers, but they're not cuddly, which is a good thing.

The coolest thing about the center is they have this bear looking into the convention center. I just Googled it and it's temporary. Pretty funny when you first see it.

Denver

Things in Denver are great. Husband is great, baby is beautiful. I was so glad they came. They are leaving as I type. It was wonderful that they came. I know it was a pain, but it made my life sooo much better.

The press conference went amazing. We're getting super coverage today. I also got a shout-out from the President during his course. I feel so loved.

Back in town Wednesday. Yay.

Back later

I leave shortly so there will be no new posts for a few days. Try to contain your disappointment.

Countdown

I leave tomorrow morning. I left work early for some extra play time. Andy was great until about 6 and then has been fussy ever since. I tried feeding him some chicken as had been recommended. He wasn't having ANY of it. It was amusing except it got really old, really fast. It was cold and drizzly out but I finally parked him in the stroller for a walk just for a change of scenery. I think he may be teething. He's chewing on his hands more than normal (although hard to say if he's just discovered them again). Who knows. Tonight was a battle getting him down. I finally got another four ounces of formula which he gobbled up as if he hadn't eaten all day. Funny, sometimes he really tosses the bottle around and sometimes he just goes to town. I guess we're all like that. The picture is from this afternoon before he got so cranky. He's looking more and more like a toddler vs. a baby, especially in his jeans and shoes.

Test prep

With this meet, I feel like I've been studying hard for a test and now I'm ready to just take it and get it over with. I have probably done just about all the prep I can at this point so I need to just get to Denver, do what I gotta do and get on with it. Some of it will be pretty exciting, but the anticipation it killing me at this point.

I called the hotel and checked on a crib for when I get there. I have heard from friends that hotels usually provide a pack and play, but that I should bring my own sheets just in case. They say they'll have sheets, but just in case. He sleeps in his sleep sack so a blanket really won't be an issue. Bjorn says he can pack Andy's bag, but I might get a start tonight, you know, just in case...

Whiny

Andy is so perfect and so beautiful, but he's really getting into a whiny stage. It seems partly due to separation anxiety and I'm sure it has to do with him wanting to articulate what he wants, but he's frustrated since he really can't. I have been working on him saying "Mama" which he generally thinks is funny when I say it to him. He never says it although I swear the last couple of days he has cried out "mama" when I left the room. I tried to tell him he could have whatever he wanted if he just said that so perhaps it's catching on.

Sloooow day

When things are busy, I generally like work. The fast-paced atmosphere suits me and I mostly like my coworkers. Right now, we're in the lull before the meeting starts so it's really quiet here. I've largely gotten my stuff together so I'm just tying up loose ends. It's times like this that I really miss Andy.

Football

So I leave for Denver on Friday. One of the reasons my husband isn't coming until Saturday was so he could go to the big football game on Friday night. We've been talking about who would watch Andy during the game (it's at 7 and away so too late for a little kid). My mother-in-law finally agreed to leave early if he got cranky. Well, after all that planning, they've moved the game to Saturday night. Turns out the other team had their game rained out last week so they moved it to this Monday and they decided it wasn't fair to make them play twice in one week so they pushed it. So sad.

Opinions

So my kid is getting opinions. What's what all about? I knew it would happen eventually, I guess I just wasn't ready for it. This morning he was up and happy like usual. Then he got pretty cranky and I realized he just wanted a change of scenery. I also gave him some Cheerios, but after that, he was happy to crawl around and try to climb the stairs some more. Go figure.

Robeez

Here's a picture of the shoes we already have. Precious, but they just don't match everything (you know, since babies are all about fashion). I'd buy another pair, but spending $26 on baby "shoes" seems a bit ridiculous. I know Target sells knock-offs for about half that so I might have to splurge on another pair.

Precious darling angel baby

Andy had a good night and a good morning which makes the day much better even though it's cold and rainy. Well, it's not cold per se, but 60s with rain feels chilly at least. It's funny having to get a baby dressed in cold weather. He doesn't walk so he doesn't really need shoes, but socks are so slippery on the floor. The little leather Robeez we have work great (they also stay on easier than socks), but I'm not sure how warm they are.

Celebrity nonsense

So I just read that Katie Holmes is planning a "Scientology" birth that requires the mother to be unmedicated during birth and to keep silent during the whole thing to protect the child. Okay, I get unmedicated. Well, I get the idea of it. It seems insane to me, but I know there are benefits, like a faster recovery and not having the drugs in your system. But to do it unmedicated and then keep your mouth shut during the whole thing doesn't just seem crazy, it seems impossible. I can't imagine someone telling me they were going to drive a nail into my toe and then say I had to not scream. That's just crazy talk.

Fall?

I love fall something fierce. The cool weather coming on, the leaves changing, the briskness of the air, the promise of snow. Fun, fun, fun. The days also get considerably shorter, which I never much thought about except that taking walks in the evening now means we have to get started way early or else it's dark. I'm not sure what we'll do when it's all the way dark and cold. That's going to stink. I think we both really like the walks plus it's fun to see what people are doing in their yards and houses. A couple along our regular route are being added on to so I like watching the progress.

Andy survived the bathtub without incident this evening. Although I got a call from my sister that my neice decided to do that tonight for the very first time. Cheers!

Below is a picture from Sunday. I love the look Andy is giving. It's actually a pretty good picture of everyone.

Dumbass

Today is Columbus Day. It's a holiday I've never had off from any job in my life, but it turns out daycare is closed today (as is apparently every other day care, who knew?) So I showed up at her house and felt like a total tool when she said it wasn't open. And I woke her up, too. I felt terrible. And stupid. And panicked. I was practically in tears when I figured it out. Since I was out for part of last week with a huge thing coming up, I just can't afford to be out. Fortunately, my husband was still on the road and picked him up and took him to his office today, which was so nice and so wonderful. I'm swamped with our meeting coming up and did not need this added stress!

So many new things

Lots of new things going on that I haven't recorded. Today Andy stood for a full ten seconds before he realized what he was doing and promptly sat down. It was fun to see. My husband and I were both pretty psyched although it was funny because Andy didn't realize why he was getting cheered. It was cute. Of course, later after his bath he promptly peed on the baby gate so I guess for every step forward, there is some inching backwards. He has also figured out how to pat the bunny in "Pat the Bunny." It's really cute to see him purposely pull his hand over the bunny. He hasn't figured out the other three pages of that book (hard to believe it's such a classic since there are like 25 words in the whole darn book).

It was nice that he went down without too much of a fight tonight considering the afternoon nap plan didn't happen. After lots of screaming and retucking, I finally got him out figuring we'd wear him down instead. I kept meaning to take a walk in the early evening before it got dark, but first off, it got darker faster than I imagined and then the baseball game was in the 18th inning. Seriously, the 18th inning. I couldn't leave then! Although had I gone in the 11th like I planned, we could have gone and come back in that time.

The picture above is just before he decided to pee through the gate. We're going to have to burn these carpets at some point.

Out of sync

We threw things off today by going to visit my mother-in-law at her new place. My grand plan had been to go in between naps, but that somehow threw everything off and he missed his afternoon nap (well, 10 minutes in the car didn't count). So now it's 4:40 and I'm trying to get him down for a nap and he's furious with me. He's exhausted mind you, but that's not stopping the tears. Just awful. Sometimes I don't think I have the stomach for this!

I leave for Denver Friday morning. I'm nervous to go, but partly ready to get the damn thing over with so I can stop worrying about it. We have a wedding in South Carolina that we have to go to in a month. I haven't booked a room since we haven't figured out if Andy is going with or not. We asked my mother-in-law who did not seem interested in the prospect of an overnight guest. Maybe we just caught her on a bad day. Either way, I'm eager to line that up at this point. My husband has been really sweet about me freaking out, but I think he's ready for this to be over as well.

One of my other precious angels

I have been neglecting the cats lately as Andy is new and interesting, but I caught a cute picture of Miles on the window ledge earlier today. She was on the ledge to stay away from Andy's grabby hands and to look longlingly out the window at the rain that didn't want to stop. The downside of my new fancy came is that images take forever to upload. They're much clearer on my computer so I think they get bumped down to a Web-friendly resolution in the process.

I've been getting wrapped up in the drama of my own life lately then I just read about the earthquake in Asia. They think right now 18,000 people are dead. Seriously, 18,000? The entire town my mother is from is about that big so imagining something happening to wipe it out is just hard to comprehend.

Cabin fever

It rained all day today. Not just a little bit of rain, but rain alternating with pouring. The whole yard is totally soaked with pockets of standing water. It started yesterday around noon and lasted until maybe 5 today. I felt totally cooped up. I think Andy was getting bored with me, too. It finally stopped long enough for us to go on a walk. The temps have cooled quite a bit so we both got suited up in sweats and hit the road. We normally take a tour past the lake near the house, but with all the rain, we stuck to the streets figuring the paths were soaked.

He then had some dinner and a bath. The only bad thing is that for like the third day our of four, he's chosen to, well, go to the bathroom in the tub. I have that cute new duck tub so I think perhaps that's it? Either way, it's a mess to clean up afterwards. Tonight my husband was around fortunately so I could get him to help me hose Andy off. What a mess!

Mega pixels

The new camera rocks thus far. I can take pictures much quicker than the old one and the resolution is higher. I'll probably have to get a memory chip so that I can take more than a couple of pictures. Fortunately, took the old chip from the other Kodak and it seems to be working. Score.

Here's a picture from earlier. You can read the blocks Andy likes to play with in this and you'll see they're perhaps not the first words you want your kid to learn. Then again, living in Washington, that might help him get a job someday if he learns them early.

Breakdown

I just broke down and bought a new digital camera. I got it 10 percent off at Wal-Mart so I considered that a bonus since I went in looking for that particular one, the Kodak DX 7630. I'll update later today with new pictures once I figure out how to get it loaded.

Chaos out of order

So we have this set of blocks with political words on them. It sat at my husband's office at Freddie Mac for ages before making it home and onto a bookshelf where it has sat. For years. To the point that it has discoloration from the sun. I found it the other day and pulled it out for Andy who just loves it. If he sees it out of the corner of his eye, he rushes over to take them apart. I hear some kids like to put things back. Not mine. He prefers only to dismantle. Good thing he can't read what's on these blocks.

Rainy days and Fridays

It's raining here. And by raining, I mean pouring. They're calling for 3-5 inches of rain today alone and there are flood watches through tomorrow for all of the D.C. area. That's great because we need the rain, but bad because I'm paranoid about my basement leaking. We had some problems with it last spring and early summer. I checked on it this morning and was bummed to see rain, but I went out back (during a nap, of course) and the gutter downspout was disconnected. I hooked it back up and things have seemed to be drying up despite the downpours, but I'm nervous about it still. Sigh. The joys of home ownership.

Andy and I had a fairly calm day. He had a blast at playgroup and then seemed to fizzle at the end, which made sense since he was due for a nap about then and had just about enough stimulation for the morning. We made it home and he passed out fairly quickly, but didn't sleep very long. We played until about 5, but he was still exhausted so I put him down for a nap. A late time for a nap, but it seemed like the right thing. Then he slept from like 5 to 7:30. I was paranoid he thought it was time to be down for the evening, but he did get up for some home-grown zucchinni (could that possibly be spelled right?) and playtime. His dad made it home just in time to kiss him on the head for bedtime. He's in there now, but I haven't had the nerve to see if he's asleep or if the basement is wet. Sigh.

And for all my fears about my husband and stepson, guess who is home bitter on a Friday night for getting caught?

A sign of things to come

So my stepson is 16. And the very nature of him being a teenager means he's attracted to beer, but I do not like finding a few stray beer cans hidden in the basement. It's one thing to sneak a few, but another thing to get caught. It's easy to sneak a couple since we don't have a count of them (although it would be easy to notice if more than a few disappeared), but how hard is it to get rid of the evidence? Now begins the fight with my husband. He always thinks I'm being too harsh, but I think if he gets caught, he should be punished by having his activities curtailed. So the football game he wanted to go watch tonight? That should be curtailed. But my husband will argue that keeping him from watching a game is too strict. Ugh. I realize I have a lot way to go with Andy, but I'm not relishing this fight in 15 years!

Snotmonster

Andy slept okay last night, which is always an indicator of how the rest of the day will go. I did get up like at 12:30 to tuck him back in at his request, but otherwise, pretty good. Today we have playgroup, but I'm worried about his runny nose. The doctor Wednesday said he wouldn't be contagious come Friday, but I'd hate for these folks to think I'm bringing the sick kid. Of course, after being home off and on all week, I could use it!

Meanwhile, I just read that Scientology requires women to have an unmedicated "silent" birth? That's just insane. Unmedicated is one thing, but silent? Crazy. Some man must have come up with that. No woman would think it was a good idea or even possible.

How cute

Seriously, how cute is my kid in this picture? This was from July back when we had gone to our friend's place. The pictures at their house aren't as cute as this one taken about the same time. I love it. He still gives this expression a lot, but he has more of a neck now than he did in this picture.

Stairmaster

It's official - he can climb. Before he could make it up the landing step, which is pretty big, but now he can get his legs underneath him and crawl up the stairs. YAY! And damn. Now I've got to figure out how to babyproof all that. We were over at a friend's place over the summer. At the time, their daughter was about one and was walking. What a pain. She pulled stuff off the table and was generally in everything. It's so cool she could walk, but at the same time, what a pain in the neck that she was in everything.

Mr. Fussbucket

Actually, he wasn't that bad, I just wanted to write "fussbucket" since it sounds funny. He had a good nap in the afternoon and woke up feeling better. I started off trying just to give him droppers of Pedialite, but that didn't work well since he wanted more so we moved up to a bottle of it. He managed to keep it down and eventually we went to formula. He seemed in better spirits, but still not 100 percent.

My husband was absolutely wonderful. He knew I was stressed and came home with flowers, ordered dinner and was generally sweet. It made a big difference. I also told him I was worried about our trip to Denver and entertaining him and he said not to worry, that he didn't expect to be entertained and was going to enjoy seeing the sites. That was a relief. And getting a good night's sleep helped a ton, too.

Andy can't go back to the sitter's today so he's home with Bjorn in the morning and then we'll swap out around lunchtime. I got in early to get work done. And read the tabloid blogs (my fave is www.perezhilton.com). Nick and Jessica splitting? Tom and Katie pregnant? Britney and Kevin sex tape? Now I'm so up on my gossip that my People magazine seems stale by the time it arrives.

Poor chicken

Yeah, so that fatigue I couldn't get a handle on? Yeah, that's a stomach flu he's got. Poor thing wouldn't eat at his babysitter's and then slept only to wake up and throw up his breakfast. Poor guy. He seemed just miserable. We went to the doctor. We saw a new doctor in the practice, a really young (probably my age) and sweet looking Indian woman. I liked her. Anyway, she looked around and said he's a little red in the ears and throat, but nothing really to treat at this point. His stomach also seemed okay to her touch. She said to give him fluids through a dropper (this for a kid that can put away 6 ounces in a minute almost) so that he doesn't throw it up. Nice. He has been asleep off and on since we got home about 3. Poor chicken. My niece in Dallas is sick too. Perhaps they will turn out to have some cosmic connection. Creepy, but wouldn't it be kind of cool?

Meanwhile, the lazy-eyed tree guy is here trimming the trees. I hate spending $800, but the trees have needed this for years and were all over the roof at this point. I'm justifying to myself that it was good money spent to protect the roof and keep the house safer in case of a bad storm, but it sucks to write that check.

I ordered some pictures from Ofoto and had them sent to a local CVS (it saved $10 on shipping and Bjorn picked them up two days later. How cool!) I was looking back at pictures. My, he's come a long way in just a short time. Look at that picture from late May when we started him on solids. He was barely sitting up at that point and his face even looks different.

Sleep? What's that all about?

Ugh. Well, Andy slept fine, but I didn't. My meeting where I've be gone a mere FIVE DAYS is next Friday, but I'm already stressing about it. I'm stressing about the meeting, the work, the people and then I'm stressing about my husband and the baby. He has kindly agreed to come to Denver in the middle so that I won't freak out missing them, but now I'm worried about making sure I spend enough time with them while I'm there. It's all stupid. He's wonderful, the baby is wonderful and I'll just do the best I can, but it's tough juggling it.

He's still cranky this morning. He slept okay, but he woke up tired and I just couldn't get a handle on it.

Mr. Crankypants

I don't know if it's a cold, or teething, or fatigue, but Andy has sure been Mr. Crankypants the last couple of days. It's hard when he just whines sometimes. My older sister thinks it might be an ear infection, but part of me thinks it might just be that he's getting opinions about things and realizing that he can REALLY push my buttons. He even whined tonight and arched his back when I put him back in his stroller after playing on the swings at the playground. Damn opinions. It would stand to reason that genetically he's prone to be opinionated, but dang, I'm not ready for it yet!

I talked to my younger sister tonight. She's a vet and it's just so cool that she's got a job where she's helping people (well, animals). And cooler yet that she decided a long time ago this is what she wanted to do so she studied, worked hard and now she's doing it. I admire that.

Restraint

I ran out to Wal-Mart at lunch to get more baby wipes. I usually get them at Costco, but I like to mix up the brands a little bit. I get bored with the same stuff and I'm always curious to try out new things. I got what I needed and I'm impressed that I showed amazing restraint. There were some cute long-sleeved shirts on sale for $2.88 that I decided I didn't have to get after all since he has a dozen like it already. I also saw the digital camera I think I want on sale for $297. It is 6 mega-pixels (what I have now is only 2) and if I ask nicely they'll slip me the Father's Day special one that comes with a battery charger and docking station. Before I buy though, I wanted to make sure that's the one I really want. I have decided that rather than get a professional photographer for Christmas cards, I'll buy a new camera and get a friend to take the pictures, which will probably cost about the same. I hope they turn out decent. I probably would have just hired the photographer, but when he didn't seem eager for the business, I lost interest in tracking him down to pay him money.

Washing dishes

Andy had a good night last night, which puts me in an infinitely better mood. I'm not sure if he had a cold or what, but I talked with a friend who said he might have allergies so I closed the windows upstairs. It not only didn't get as cold, but he seemed better. I guess time will tell if it was allergies or just a cold. I'm hoping for a cold because a life of allergies sucks.

Meanwhile, funniest thing happened. So I was unloading the dishwasher and Andy was on the floor and decided to help. He pulled himself up on the bottom rack of the dishwasher. I knew it was unstable, but he was so damn cute to watch. He had done it a few times so I wasn't that worried about it, but of course, he got the right torque and I watched him every so slowly fall backwards holding onto the bottom rack as he pulled it off the track. He didn't really smack his head or anything - just scared him a bit, but he was lying on the floor, crying, holding on for dear life to the bottom rack. I tried to separate the two, but he cried harder as I tried to lift it off so I just pulled the rack up with him holding on. Then he was fine. It really cracked me up. He's really getting opinions about things he wants and doesn't want. I'm not sure I'm ready for this part as eventually I'll have to get into discipline about what he can and can't have. I know that's when the real job of parenting starts and I'm loathe to have to tell him no, even if it's for his own good.

Bed time? Please!

Andy and I were both exhausted by the end of the day. I did stop by Baby Depot on my way home. For baby stuff, they generally have a decent selection, but it's generally pretty ghetto in that it seems, well, dirty most of the time. But the prices and selection of gear is usually pretty good and it was on my way home. I wanted to find some sort of tub arrangement whereby he won't be able to smack his head on the cast iron as easily. A friend recommended a type of blow up tub that goes inside the big tub. I found one for $10 made by Munchkin. Well, it was okay. He still smacked his head, but I think I might be able to watch him more carefully in a different way. At least he can't slip down quite the same way. He seemed to perk up once we got home. I fed him some applesauce and his first Yo Baby (after yesterday's event, I am bold, I know, to try something knew, but I can barely help myself sometimes). I'm hoping he has a good night. I'm hoping I have a good night. I'm exhausted.

Phew

I just called the sitter and the good news is Andy seems to be feeling fine. He was fine enough to try to eat the phone while we were talking so I think that's a good sign. I hope we're on the end of this. I hate it when he's not himself.

Hysteria

Last night was a weird night. Andy was tired and initially went down with no problems only to wake right back up (I think it was the cold) and then take about an hour to finally settle down. Then about midnight he startled awake and would NOT calm down. It was terrible. He didn't want to be held, he didn't want to play, didn't want to eat. He was arching his back so I couldn't really contain him. It was just awful. He finally calmed down, had a bottle and went to sleep, sleeping until about 6:30. He was tired when he got up, but his stuffy nose was what got him up. I feel bad taking him to the sitter's today, but work is insane the next couple of weeks. After the 20th, I am going to try to take a few days to spend with him. Poor guy. He seemed tired this morning, but still playful and was happy to see his sitter, so that was good.

Man, still freaked out about last night. I always worry it's a bad sign about something else, but I think he was just really tired and pissed to be awake.

Fingers and toes crossed

There is just so much stuff that can happen to Andy, I almost can't even think about it. A friend of mine's toddler has been diagnosed with a speech disorder. Good news is they think they can fix it with therapy and he'll be caught up by school. It also is a relief that it's not autism, but man, that's just scary stuff to think about. I really thought that after I survived the whole pregnancy with him intact with everything seemingly working okay that the general worries ended, but I'm realizing now there is a lifetime of worry about one thing or another. I suppose that's true about life in general, but it's tough when it's someone I just want to hold and protect.

Played soccer this morning. It was a beautiful day on a nice field. We had lots of subs. Man, that makes a big difference. We also won, which made the game more fun, too. Winning is always more fun.

The never-ending cold

Andy has another cold. I swear he gets over one and the next one is right there to make his nose run and disrupt his sleep. Last night he was up between like 2 and 4 because he nose was stopped up and he was having trouble breathing. We fed him, put saline in his nose, gave him so water and calmed him down generally. Oh, and changed him twice during all this. He finally went back to sleep and then slept until 7:30 when he woke up so happy. I love hearing him talk to himself when he's in a good mood although this morning I would have been happy to have that wait until 8 maybe.

Violence

I can't say pre-kid I was much into horror flicks or what have you, but now I can't even do mild violence. And it's not for some silly reason like those people (actors, of course) have mothers, too, it's just...well, I'm not sure why. I suppose you could say my emotions have been heightened or something queer like that. I'm somewhat embarassed by this, but I just can't do it anymore. Thrillers are even gone, too. Shoot me now. I'm doomed for a lifetime of sitcoms and romantic comedies (so long as everyone plays nice, of course).

Climbing

That's it, the world is coming to an end as I know it. Andy has figured how to climb. He managed to get up two stairs tonight (with constant supervision, of course). It's just a matter of time before he's flying up them. We have a few more baby gates that I guess we'll have to put at the top and bottom of the stairs to prevent this on occasion. I've dabbled in baby-proofing and I imagine it's time to finally get serious about it. Ugh. I'm so not ready for that.

Bjorn got a great nap today and was in a fabulous mood when he got up. It makes the world brighter when we're all in a good mood it turns out. We took a nice long walk just before sunset. Always fun to walk around the neighborhood and get ideas for our house. There are also tons of additions going on right now so it's interesting to see what they're doing and fantasize about what we'd do to ours. We really don't need the extra space, but it would be nice!

Fall festival

I went with a friend and her daughter to the fall festival at local Cox Farms today. It was really cool with lots of rides and animals as well as a band and stuff. It was also a gorgeous day, but Andy wasn't having any of it. I think he was really too young for it anyway -- probably next year he'll be into the farm animals and slides. I also brought the wrong stroller. The Graco with its plastic wheels were NOT comfortable on the bumpy paths. He also was super tired, I'm not sure why since he had just gotten up for a nap. But the tiredness combined with the sun in his face wasn't doing it for him so we bailed early. It was neat though. Next year I'll drag Bjorn and we'll all go.

The other strange thing was my friend brought a friend. Not a problem really, other moms with kids are fun, but the friend brought her husband which really threw off the dynamic. I don't think he was into being with a bunch of women and remarked that there weren't many dads there. In truth, there were lots of dads, but he wasn't hip to being with a bunch of women, I guess. Nice family, but it was a weird day.

The upside is I did get a couple really cute pictures. How cute is my kid? That's right, prety darn cute.

Cry it out theory

Ugh. Andy is getting so much more mobile in his crib that it's getting harder to settle him down at night and for naps. He will sit or stand up in his crib and he's so tired he can't figure out yet how to sit down so he just cries. So I go in and settle him back down and that, naturally, stirs him up a bit, too. I imagine he'll figure it out before too long, but this interim step is hard because I really don't like listening to him cry.