Tomorrow is my last day on the job. I thought I would feel very sad and overly nostalgic. I finished my last experiment today, gave away a few more freezer boxes of reagents, and convinced my coworkers to take a frozen yogurt break. I mean, I will miss THEM, and having an excuse to see them everyday. But really, it is time to move on. It's scary not to know where I am going next, but I'm actually feeling excited about it. I mean, I have lots to do.
If you are still following the "other blog" you may have seen that a recruiter called me today simply to walk me through how to make better connections on LinkedIn. It seems pretty obvious when he explained it, but I thought that looking for strangers to connect to might be a violation of.... something, I don't know. If I can find them, it's because they are willing to be connected with. So the next stage of the job hunt will be more targeted.
I also spoke with a Career Coach today. I have mixed feelings about this service- I don't think it would be that helpful to solve my imminent problem, but I suspect it might be invaluable for helping me reach my long term goals. But what it comes down to is paying someone to provide mentoring and counseling for career problems. I mean, shouldn't I be able to find mentors in real life? Like, for free? Because this career coach is the opposite of free- like $200/hr (or packages for 10 sessions! Only $750!). Not like I've shopped around much, but my impression is that these services- esp for someone with any concept of the science universe, will not be cheap.
Oh- and we went camping over the weekend and it was awesome. Beautiful (non-hurricaned) weather all weekend, great food, nice long hike and TONS of butterflies. Nice to get away, I suspect it is doing a lot for my peace of mind this week.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
I really dig my "job"
Actually, editing manuscripts about far away science is pretty cool. I thought at first it might be just tolerable, but I might look around for more opportunities to do this type of work to keep me busy in the meantime. My one concern- how am I gonna pay these taxes? If I am going to do a lot of freelance work, do those people usually become business entities, or do they just wing it and keep their invoices? Would appreciate any insight before I make a fool of myself.
But yeah, the actual work is pretty easy and not too draining (for now). I can listen to music and drink tea while I do it, too.
Also, I am almost finalized to be a volunteer at the local science center, which is a WAY fun hands-on interactive museum. I'm really looking forward to playing/ helping there. So yeah, one week of work left, and I am looking forward to it. Dr. Boss told me not to worry about getting my stuff cleaned up by the end of the month, I can hang out there if I need for a while. Very generous offer, frankly.
But yeah, the actual work is pretty easy and not too draining (for now). I can listen to music and drink tea while I do it, too.
Also, I am almost finalized to be a volunteer at the local science center, which is a WAY fun hands-on interactive museum. I'm really looking forward to playing/ helping there. So yeah, one week of work left, and I am looking forward to it. Dr. Boss told me not to worry about getting my stuff cleaned up by the end of the month, I can hang out there if I need for a while. Very generous offer, frankly.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Hungry!
Yesterday was Tyler's first shot at solid foods. Yes, we recorded it. As is traditional, we started him with 'rice cereal.' I used to think that this meant Rice Crispies, or something, and the way that all the books talked about how it was supposed to 'thicken the milk' was seriously confusing until I found the stuff that they're really talking about. It's just a rice powder, reminds me of cream of wheat, actually. Yes, I tried some first. Tastes like cardboard.
The first bite was great. Jess put it in his mouth and he just got this really confused look on his face. It took him a few tries to figure out how 'swallowing' worked, but after several more spoonfulls he seemed to get the hang of it. He got so excited he would get a mouthful of cereal and then raspberry it all over the table. Super cute, though, so we let him pass. I got to feed him some, and so did Mom/Grandma/Nana Preecs. He was very excited about the whole prospect, and occasionally chomped on the spoon with a little bit too much enthusiasm, getting it a leeeeetle bit too far back in his mouth. He also wanted to be in control of the spoon which, let's face it, is even more complicated than a bottle, and he's still only mediocre at holding that in place.
I also finally got a look at his first tooth. I've been feeling it for a while, but it's hard to really get a good look in his mouth when there's so much tongue and lip action going on. But it's definitely there. A little white spot on his bottom gums, on his right side, I think. Considering how grumpy babies can get when they're teething, he's been abnormally great. He still sleeps through the night, barring the occasional unintentional belly flip or other wake-up event. He usually goes to sleep right afterwords, though.
Our neighbors with the slightly older baby came over yesterday. He hasn't had much contact with people outside of the family, and we're trying to get him acclimatized to us so he can hang out and we can babysit him. He did a little better last time than the first time we tried, he did a lot more crawling around and exploring. Also, it's cute to see what Tyler might look like at that age. Much more control, and many more teeth.
-N
The first bite was great. Jess put it in his mouth and he just got this really confused look on his face. It took him a few tries to figure out how 'swallowing' worked, but after several more spoonfulls he seemed to get the hang of it. He got so excited he would get a mouthful of cereal and then raspberry it all over the table. Super cute, though, so we let him pass. I got to feed him some, and so did Mom/Grandma/Nana Preecs. He was very excited about the whole prospect, and occasionally chomped on the spoon with a little bit too much enthusiasm, getting it a leeeeetle bit too far back in his mouth. He also wanted to be in control of the spoon which, let's face it, is even more complicated than a bottle, and he's still only mediocre at holding that in place.
I also finally got a look at his first tooth. I've been feeling it for a while, but it's hard to really get a good look in his mouth when there's so much tongue and lip action going on. But it's definitely there. A little white spot on his bottom gums, on his right side, I think. Considering how grumpy babies can get when they're teething, he's been abnormally great. He still sleeps through the night, barring the occasional unintentional belly flip or other wake-up event. He usually goes to sleep right afterwords, though.
Our neighbors with the slightly older baby came over yesterday. He hasn't had much contact with people outside of the family, and we're trying to get him acclimatized to us so he can hang out and we can babysit him. He did a little better last time than the first time we tried, he did a lot more crawling around and exploring. Also, it's cute to see what Tyler might look like at that age. Much more control, and many more teeth.
-N
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Teefs!
We begin, as is traditional, with a list of all the new things Tyler has going on for him. And because it's been two weeks since I've written anything, it's a pretty long list.
For starters, he's quite recently started babbling. Babbling is one of those critical development stages they tell us parents to be vigilant for. It's when they start making consonant-vowel combinations over and over. To the layman, this means Tyler can say Mama! Well, technically he can say mamamamamamama, but the thrill is still the same. He's become a regular chatterbox, mama-ing and raspberry-ing like it's going out of style. It's super cute.
He's also started getting a tooth, we think. He's got a little rough spot on his bottom jaw, on his right, I think. He's definitely a little bit more fussy than he has been in the past, but he's still sleeping most of the night, with the exception of strange times when he actually manages to roll himself onto his stomach while trying to sleep.
A detour: let me tell you about Tyler going to sleep. Have you ever been so tired you've tried to eat your own foot? Tyler has. Does it all the time. We'll put him down for his sleep and he'll roll left and right and munch on his hand for a while, but when that's not quite enough, he'll kick up his legs, grab a foot, and stuff the whole thing into his mouth while rolling around and making cute sounds. It's all Jess and I can do to keep from breaking out laughing while he is trying to rest. And then sometimes he'll roll on his side and then straighten his body out and roll to his stomach. And Tyler knows that stomachs are for exercise time, not sleep time, though, he's past the real danger zone for SIDS. He's really good at getting from his back to his stomach at this point, but he hasn't quite figured out the other way around yet, so we'll have to wake up and flip him over sometimes. Other than that, though, he still sleeps through the night.
Anyway, yeah, a tooth. We'll put up some pictures when we can see it.
Tyler has also learned how to get revenge for all the nomming we've been doing to him. He's started to chew on Jessie at bedtime. She'll go in for some cheek bites and he'll get all excited and start chewing on her chin or cheek or whatever other part of her face is close enough to get in his mouth, all while making serious grunting-effort noises. It's a riot. Yes, we got some video, it'll probably be up on facebook soon.
He's also starting to get more mobile, though he's still not a threat to disappear on you if you turn your back. He's getting better at turning and scooching himself backwards via a combination of pushups and superman poses. I don't think he's figured out how to use all of it for navigation, yet, but the exercise is really good for him.
Kelsey has been a fantastic babysitter this past week. Even with some early teething he's always been happy and well fed and well rested when we get home. Tyler likes her, too. He smiles when she comes over to see him and doesn't even fuss a little when she is in charge. Evidently babies don't get afraid of strangers until 8 to 10 months. We were going to maybe try and babysit Grant while his parents went out this weekend, but Grant is firmly in the 'don't like strangers' zone, and he wasn't having any of our playtime when we tried an experiment yesterday. So it looks like we may have picked the perfect time to start sending Tyler off to Day care, before he can get too anxious about something new.
That's right, just a few more weeks and Tyler starts day care. Empty house! That will be really weird! Kelsey is going to help us pick out some more cute outfits for him. We got the advice that the cuter he is, the more attention he'll get from his teacher, so we'll get the fashion-conscious sister to help us dress him up all adorable.
Also on the horizon, solid food! We're thinking about giving it a try tomorrow when we have both Kelsey and Grandma to play witness to the mess. I'll do my best to keep the mess to a minimum, though we'll almost certainly have to give him a bath afterwords.
Non-baby Micro-News! We went out on Kayaks on town lake with some friends from work. Nice cool water, and we got to hang out under the bridges downtown. A blast, I liked it more than tubing, actually. There are no video games coming out. I'm playing some older ones to relax, but it's as dry as a Texas summer, I tell you what. Jess got me an ice-cream maker. I've used it to make Orange Sherbet already, and there's some vanilla bean ice cream in the fridge ready to get turned tonight. I completed another song! I'll post it up here a bit later, but we're going to take Kelsey out to the Farmer's market and then get some hamburgers in a bit, and then go pick up grandma from the airport.
-N
For starters, he's quite recently started babbling. Babbling is one of those critical development stages they tell us parents to be vigilant for. It's when they start making consonant-vowel combinations over and over. To the layman, this means Tyler can say Mama! Well, technically he can say mamamamamamama, but the thrill is still the same. He's become a regular chatterbox, mama-ing and raspberry-ing like it's going out of style. It's super cute.
He's also started getting a tooth, we think. He's got a little rough spot on his bottom jaw, on his right, I think. He's definitely a little bit more fussy than he has been in the past, but he's still sleeping most of the night, with the exception of strange times when he actually manages to roll himself onto his stomach while trying to sleep.
A detour: let me tell you about Tyler going to sleep. Have you ever been so tired you've tried to eat your own foot? Tyler has. Does it all the time. We'll put him down for his sleep and he'll roll left and right and munch on his hand for a while, but when that's not quite enough, he'll kick up his legs, grab a foot, and stuff the whole thing into his mouth while rolling around and making cute sounds. It's all Jess and I can do to keep from breaking out laughing while he is trying to rest. And then sometimes he'll roll on his side and then straighten his body out and roll to his stomach. And Tyler knows that stomachs are for exercise time, not sleep time, though, he's past the real danger zone for SIDS. He's really good at getting from his back to his stomach at this point, but he hasn't quite figured out the other way around yet, so we'll have to wake up and flip him over sometimes. Other than that, though, he still sleeps through the night.
Anyway, yeah, a tooth. We'll put up some pictures when we can see it.
Tyler has also learned how to get revenge for all the nomming we've been doing to him. He's started to chew on Jessie at bedtime. She'll go in for some cheek bites and he'll get all excited and start chewing on her chin or cheek or whatever other part of her face is close enough to get in his mouth, all while making serious grunting-effort noises. It's a riot. Yes, we got some video, it'll probably be up on facebook soon.
He's also starting to get more mobile, though he's still not a threat to disappear on you if you turn your back. He's getting better at turning and scooching himself backwards via a combination of pushups and superman poses. I don't think he's figured out how to use all of it for navigation, yet, but the exercise is really good for him.
Kelsey has been a fantastic babysitter this past week. Even with some early teething he's always been happy and well fed and well rested when we get home. Tyler likes her, too. He smiles when she comes over to see him and doesn't even fuss a little when she is in charge. Evidently babies don't get afraid of strangers until 8 to 10 months. We were going to maybe try and babysit Grant while his parents went out this weekend, but Grant is firmly in the 'don't like strangers' zone, and he wasn't having any of our playtime when we tried an experiment yesterday. So it looks like we may have picked the perfect time to start sending Tyler off to Day care, before he can get too anxious about something new.
That's right, just a few more weeks and Tyler starts day care. Empty house! That will be really weird! Kelsey is going to help us pick out some more cute outfits for him. We got the advice that the cuter he is, the more attention he'll get from his teacher, so we'll get the fashion-conscious sister to help us dress him up all adorable.
Also on the horizon, solid food! We're thinking about giving it a try tomorrow when we have both Kelsey and Grandma to play witness to the mess. I'll do my best to keep the mess to a minimum, though we'll almost certainly have to give him a bath afterwords.
Non-baby Micro-News! We went out on Kayaks on town lake with some friends from work. Nice cool water, and we got to hang out under the bridges downtown. A blast, I liked it more than tubing, actually. There are no video games coming out. I'm playing some older ones to relax, but it's as dry as a Texas summer, I tell you what. Jess got me an ice-cream maker. I've used it to make Orange Sherbet already, and there's some vanilla bean ice cream in the fridge ready to get turned tonight. I completed another song! I'll post it up here a bit later, but we're going to take Kelsey out to the Farmer's market and then get some hamburgers in a bit, and then go pick up grandma from the airport.
-N
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
What will it be like?
Even though I have almost nothing left to do, I am still going in to work everyday, for pretty much most of the day. I like seeing my friends, I have a desk to work at and there are a few things left to do. My classmates like to hear about my job search, and it's an easy way to stay in touch with people. Oh, and I'm still technically being paid. I'm sorta too restless for this too last much longer, but I won't be paid come next month, so that's not really an issue.
What will I be doing in September? Well, I'm trying to find a way to volunteer at the Science Center (because it is awesome), and then I've got some fellowship applications to work on. And, of course, I've got that "job." (Air quotes will continue to be used until I get paid- I'm not worried yet, but they don't have enough information about me to pay me yet, so....) Otherwise, I am going to be more focused (I hope) about just applying for jobs. This last month or so has been pretty challenging for me to identify and follow through with positions- being terrified about job hunting is pretty wearing. I'm hoping to have enough fun things going on to force me to schedule more productive things- like job hunting, and thinking about moving- into the vast expanses of free time that are coming.
It surprises me a bit to think that too much unstructured time would be my worst nightmare, but ask Matt, I'm awful at just relaxing. A long weekend of not leaving the house and I'm cooking soup out of freezer burn or making a mess of our filing cabinets. I've been working on a list of "things to do while unemployed" which include such highlights as "exercise" and "sell the old CDs" and "start packing for a move." Enough of my (less sensitive) coworkers have said they'd LOVE to have a few months with nothing to do that I will admit I should find some way to enjoy it. Any good ideas for what to do with an unknown amount of unstructured time, preferably at no cost?
What will I be doing in September? Well, I'm trying to find a way to volunteer at the Science Center (because it is awesome), and then I've got some fellowship applications to work on. And, of course, I've got that "job." (Air quotes will continue to be used until I get paid- I'm not worried yet, but they don't have enough information about me to pay me yet, so....) Otherwise, I am going to be more focused (I hope) about just applying for jobs. This last month or so has been pretty challenging for me to identify and follow through with positions- being terrified about job hunting is pretty wearing. I'm hoping to have enough fun things going on to force me to schedule more productive things- like job hunting, and thinking about moving- into the vast expanses of free time that are coming.
It surprises me a bit to think that too much unstructured time would be my worst nightmare, but ask Matt, I'm awful at just relaxing. A long weekend of not leaving the house and I'm cooking soup out of freezer burn or making a mess of our filing cabinets. I've been working on a list of "things to do while unemployed" which include such highlights as "exercise" and "sell the old CDs" and "start packing for a move." Enough of my (less sensitive) coworkers have said they'd LOVE to have a few months with nothing to do that I will admit I should find some way to enjoy it. Any good ideas for what to do with an unknown amount of unstructured time, preferably at no cost?
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Adventure weekend!
One of my friends had a birthday this week, so we seized on the excuse to celebrate. On Friday, we went to a bowling alley that does bowling and karaoke- bowlaoke. I'm not naturally inclined to either, but in combination, both are way more fun. On Saturday, Matt and I went to the Millvale Brew Festival with some new friends. That was pretty fun, sipping beer in the sunshine down by the river. I was glad to be the driver, my tummy has been giving me all shades of grief and beer doesn't help. Although, neither does the Thai food we went for after. It's hard to make good choices. That evening I went with the birthday girl out to the suburbs to see Dr. Rockstar's band again. It was a great show- lots of science songs and local color.
Today I am wishing I could find a job I want to apply for, which is just torturing myself. Is it a bad idea to go back to school? Do more loans really solve the problem I have? 16 working days left, I am hoping my friends don't forget about me after I don't see them every day...
Today I am wishing I could find a job I want to apply for, which is just torturing myself. Is it a bad idea to go back to school? Do more loans really solve the problem I have? 16 working days left, I am hoping my friends don't forget about me after I don't see them every day...
Friday, August 12, 2011
Countdown!
This is my last month of work in lab. It's pretty surreal, and quite unpredictable. I keep thinking, "this is going to be the last experiment I do here" only to have one more... and then another, and that should be repeated. Pretty sure the "last one" is going to pass without pomp or circumstance. Otherwise, passing files to the boss, getting papers cleaned up... it doesn't keep me very busy, but I've got a month to hang around and look like I belong. Well, two and a half weeks, really.
Job hunting still blows, so I am just trying to look forward to having uninterrupted free time. Free time, I'm excited about, it's the uninterrupted that I am scared of. Hoping to make some trips to visit friends, it is unfortunate that Matt has already spoken for all his days off this year. But the weather should still me nice in September, so I'll get to spend some time in the park, and um.. other fun things? Not really sure what I'll be doing with myself, really. I don't think occasional editing is going to keep me too busy, and job hunting is hard to stomach for long periods of time. We'll see. Ask me what I'm doing in three weeks, then the picture will be clearer.
Job hunting still blows, so I am just trying to look forward to having uninterrupted free time. Free time, I'm excited about, it's the uninterrupted that I am scared of. Hoping to make some trips to visit friends, it is unfortunate that Matt has already spoken for all his days off this year. But the weather should still me nice in September, so I'll get to spend some time in the park, and um.. other fun things? Not really sure what I'll be doing with myself, really. I don't think occasional editing is going to keep me too busy, and job hunting is hard to stomach for long periods of time. We'll see. Ask me what I'm doing in three weeks, then the picture will be clearer.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Married for FIVE Years
Friday Matt and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. When we were thinking about what to do to mark the day, I got to thinking about ways we have celebrated things in the past, which got me thinking about all the great things we've shared in the last 5 years. For some of our other anniversaries we've taken short trips (Niagara) or just eaten fancy food. We've spent birthday's on Roller Coasters and in warehouses tasting beers. When Matt got a job out here, we went and bought him work clothes. Matt's celebrated my seminars, and I've celebrated his race wins (which are more fun, because there is cash involved). The biggest party we've had was certainly for my graduation, which still pales in comparison to how happy I was on our wedding day.
It's nice to have this reminder of our "together-happiness" in what is shaping up to be a stressful month. With my pending unemployment come questions about moving and logistics and budgets and our lease and lots of other things that make taking a couple days to just be grateful that for better or worse we share our problems timely indeed.
Oh, and this year, we had a picnic on the front step, watched a baby raccoon in the backyard and took ourselves out for fancy coffee. It's nice enough I would do it again in 5 years.
It's nice to have this reminder of our "together-happiness" in what is shaping up to be a stressful month. With my pending unemployment come questions about moving and logistics and budgets and our lease and lots of other things that make taking a couple days to just be grateful that for better or worse we share our problems timely indeed.
Oh, and this year, we had a picnic on the front step, watched a baby raccoon in the backyard and took ourselves out for fancy coffee. It's nice enough I would do it again in 5 years.
Friday, August 5, 2011
I've got a "job"
This is my last month of work here in the lab. I was feeling more than a little freaked out that I didn't have something else to do. My boss suggested I teach a course, but I have this hope that it will take less than a semester to find a job (but what if it doesn't?) so I turned it down. This made me feel like I was being wreckless, since, y'know, there isn't a better job forth coming. We've looked at our finances, and we can get by without me working for a pretty long time, as long I don't do anything but sit at home and fret about getting a job. This just sounds miserable.
Then a former grad student from my program suggested that the company he does editing with needs new editors. They want native English speakers to fix manuscripts written by Chinese scientists before submission to English speaking journals. You can do as much or as little as you want, and he says it is a nice side gig for him. He put me in touch, they read my CV and had me do a practice edit and said I have the qualifications they need. This seems like a great way to supplement both my CV and my income. It takes the pressure off me to accept a mismatched job, and actually lets me think about enjoying some free time for a bit. That might let me relax enough to figure out what kind of job I really do want. Of course, this means the job hunt is still on, but it takes care of the short term plan in a very pleasant way.
Then a former grad student from my program suggested that the company he does editing with needs new editors. They want native English speakers to fix manuscripts written by Chinese scientists before submission to English speaking journals. You can do as much or as little as you want, and he says it is a nice side gig for him. He put me in touch, they read my CV and had me do a practice edit and said I have the qualifications they need. This seems like a great way to supplement both my CV and my income. It takes the pressure off me to accept a mismatched job, and actually lets me think about enjoying some free time for a bit. That might let me relax enough to figure out what kind of job I really do want. Of course, this means the job hunt is still on, but it takes care of the short term plan in a very pleasant way.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
It's snowing
Did I tell you they are filming the next Batman Movie- the Dark Knight- in Pittsburgh? Among the locations for the shoot, the building across from here (CMU's Biology department) is being used to stage a giant fight scene outside the Gotham City Courthouse . In mid winter. Even though the rest of us are standing around in shorts and flip-flops, it is snowing on the great columns and the fighters below.
I also got to see the New Batmobile- the Tumbler they are calling it- all three of them.
One of the buildings downtown had a Bat Signal broadcasting from it the other night. It's all very exciting.
Traffic is completely messed up, but mostly people are really excited that this project is being filmed here.
I also got to see the New Batmobile- the Tumbler they are calling it- all three of them.
One of the buildings downtown had a Bat Signal broadcasting from it the other night. It's all very exciting.
Traffic is completely messed up, but mostly people are really excited that this project is being filmed here.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Life is moving quick
Despite my promise, it's been a while since I've updated here. Things are certainly happening here. Matt's college roommate came to visit over the weekend. I had a phone interview for a job in Fairbanks (if only Matt could find one there too!). My last day of work has been determined for the end of the month. I am busy wrapping up things here and trying to get this mess under control before I leave.
I am still looking for jobs, still blogging about it, now I am on twitter to. I need to find all ranges of plans, a short term, what do I do while unemployed plan, a mid term, what If I get a job that doesn't have any opportunity for advancement and a long term, what is my dream job anyway. I spend a lot of time day dreaming and hoping that counts as research.
Matt continues to ride. The weather continues to swelter. And that about brings us up to today.
I am still looking for jobs, still blogging about it, now I am on twitter to. I need to find all ranges of plans, a short term, what do I do while unemployed plan, a mid term, what If I get a job that doesn't have any opportunity for advancement and a long term, what is my dream job anyway. I spend a lot of time day dreaming and hoping that counts as research.
Matt continues to ride. The weather continues to swelter. And that about brings us up to today.
Monday, August 1, 2011
That's a lot of baby
Tyler currently clocks in at 15 pounds, 12 oz, and 27 inches long. That puts him in the 75% for weight and greater than 95% for height. That's rather a lot of baby. I knew he was getting big, but I didn't think he was quite that big. Guess he has been putting all that formula to good use, even though he does return a lot of it to sender.
Tyler's well-baby check went just fine today. We asked a few questions of the doctor and she gave him a clean bill of health. She gave us the go-ahead to start solid foods if we wanted, but we'll probably wait until 5 months. He's less likely to have food allergies that way. He got a few more shots (frowny face) and cried quite loudly until dad broke out his phone and started playing electronic music on it. Seriously, he really likes music with a beat. He calmed right down, tear running down his cheek and everything, just starting at the phone. I'm glad I got a new one, it's paid for itself already in calm-baby dividends.
Tyler discovered he can scream yesterday. It's a little weird, until you see his face and realize he's not actually hurting, and it's really good exercise for him. He scrunches down and does this little death-metal yell. I'm surprised he doesn't have a sore throat this morning. He's actually asleep right now, and has been for quite a while. Either the vaccines are tiring him out or the 12 hours of sleep he gets at night isn't quite enough to recover from all the exercise he's doing. Between pushups, superman flexes and crunches, he's turning into quite the little body-builder.
Grandparent swap #1 happened this weekend. We dropped grandma Swanson off at the airport and picked up grandpa Preecs, who will be covering the next two weeks of Tyler-time. He's picked up on the basics so far, and I'm staying at home today to critique his technique, but he's raised a baby before, so I'm sure he knows how the basics work.
In non-baby news, I've decided on my next musical project. I've decided to try and cover a song from an old video game I played on the Super Nintendo called Actraiser. There's some seriously great music in that game, and it frees me from having to decide on a lot of the aspect of the music, allowing me to focus on 'production', if you will. Picking instruments, adding interesting twiddly bits, that sort of thing. The downside is that's it's only 12 measures long, and it loops, so it's not likely to be a particularly large project, but I'm determined to make myself create things. I'm not going to get any better if I just sit around wishing I could create something good as opposed to actually creating something.
Hey, Tyler is awake. Good 1.5 hour nap, there. Also on the plus side, the doctor told us we were feeding Tyler a bit too often, and the long nap means we successfully stretched out the time between his feedings. The next one will probably be a little trickier, though.
Jess started, and has nearly finished, a project of her own, too. We swiped a good storage box full of old family albums and school pictures, and Jess has managed to scan quite a lot of them. There's some fully adorable pictures of Jessie in her younger years. She looks a lot like she did back in high school, and even in middle school, but for some reason her grade-school self looks almost completely different to me. I'm sure you'll all be able to see them soon enough. I'll let you judge.
The North Judo school is closing. It's been sounding like the Gymnastic school has been wanting to get us out of there for a while, presumably because they have some clever plans for the space. They have already opened, however, another school to the south. It's maybe another 5 or 10 minutes drive for me, but nothing dramatic, and the space is a little bigger, I think. It's a nice little area to get thrown around. Jess, on the other hand, is in a bit of a free-fall, exercise-wise. Rec Roller derby finished a session and is trying to secure a space to have future classes. There's still hockey and plenty of derby girls are meeting up in various locales to skate around and be awesome, but nothing fully official yet.
-N
Tyler's well-baby check went just fine today. We asked a few questions of the doctor and she gave him a clean bill of health. She gave us the go-ahead to start solid foods if we wanted, but we'll probably wait until 5 months. He's less likely to have food allergies that way. He got a few more shots (frowny face) and cried quite loudly until dad broke out his phone and started playing electronic music on it. Seriously, he really likes music with a beat. He calmed right down, tear running down his cheek and everything, just starting at the phone. I'm glad I got a new one, it's paid for itself already in calm-baby dividends.
Tyler discovered he can scream yesterday. It's a little weird, until you see his face and realize he's not actually hurting, and it's really good exercise for him. He scrunches down and does this little death-metal yell. I'm surprised he doesn't have a sore throat this morning. He's actually asleep right now, and has been for quite a while. Either the vaccines are tiring him out or the 12 hours of sleep he gets at night isn't quite enough to recover from all the exercise he's doing. Between pushups, superman flexes and crunches, he's turning into quite the little body-builder.
Grandparent swap #1 happened this weekend. We dropped grandma Swanson off at the airport and picked up grandpa Preecs, who will be covering the next two weeks of Tyler-time. He's picked up on the basics so far, and I'm staying at home today to critique his technique, but he's raised a baby before, so I'm sure he knows how the basics work.
In non-baby news, I've decided on my next musical project. I've decided to try and cover a song from an old video game I played on the Super Nintendo called Actraiser. There's some seriously great music in that game, and it frees me from having to decide on a lot of the aspect of the music, allowing me to focus on 'production', if you will. Picking instruments, adding interesting twiddly bits, that sort of thing. The downside is that's it's only 12 measures long, and it loops, so it's not likely to be a particularly large project, but I'm determined to make myself create things. I'm not going to get any better if I just sit around wishing I could create something good as opposed to actually creating something.
Hey, Tyler is awake. Good 1.5 hour nap, there. Also on the plus side, the doctor told us we were feeding Tyler a bit too often, and the long nap means we successfully stretched out the time between his feedings. The next one will probably be a little trickier, though.
Jess started, and has nearly finished, a project of her own, too. We swiped a good storage box full of old family albums and school pictures, and Jess has managed to scan quite a lot of them. There's some fully adorable pictures of Jessie in her younger years. She looks a lot like she did back in high school, and even in middle school, but for some reason her grade-school self looks almost completely different to me. I'm sure you'll all be able to see them soon enough. I'll let you judge.
The North Judo school is closing. It's been sounding like the Gymnastic school has been wanting to get us out of there for a while, presumably because they have some clever plans for the space. They have already opened, however, another school to the south. It's maybe another 5 or 10 minutes drive for me, but nothing dramatic, and the space is a little bigger, I think. It's a nice little area to get thrown around. Jess, on the other hand, is in a bit of a free-fall, exercise-wise. Rec Roller derby finished a session and is trying to secure a space to have future classes. There's still hockey and plenty of derby girls are meeting up in various locales to skate around and be awesome, but nothing fully official yet.
-N
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