I was in charge of Tyler this week while Jessie was off traveling for work. Below, you will find some highlights, I trust you will enjoy them.
First off: what didn't happen. Tyler slept fine, seemed happy, and behaved quite well with his slightly less experienced parent. He played with me a lot, explored all of the everything, and was a great baby to take care off.
The first morning I tried to feed Tyler some green beans. It...didn't go well. He wasn't having it, and while I'm sure I got a few molecules in, most of it ended up on his bib, shirt, or pants. I had to change his clothes, and that was frustrating. After that I mostly fed him fruit: apples and pears, he really liked that.
He had sort of a rough first day at day care, but after that Jess made a point of getting on Skype with us after that, and Tyler really liked seeing her in the morning. I think it put him in a much better mood. It meant that he wasn't all excited when Jess got home, but I'm not actually that sure that he knew she was gone.
One evening I tried veggies again, no luck. But since I had them out anyway, I thought I'd just let him play around with them. I'd put some on the spoon and hand it to him. About half the time the thing in his hand went right into his mouth, predictably. The other half of the time he'd flail it around and get peas all over the place. After that Tyler and I took a bath together. Lots of splashing and giggling. That's a definite highlight.
Jess needed a lot of Tyler time when she got back. So Friday was a little 'event' at the day care, where they wanted kids to dress up like characters in some of the books they had been reading. Tyler's class was reading 'if you give a mouse a cookie', which a lot of people know about, I gather, and I made Tyler a crayon costume, which was a bunch of red clothes that I drew crayola patterns on. Jess and I want to watch the event, which was mostly getting all the babies together and reading the books to everyone in the activity room. After that, there was a little parade through the halls where all the older kids cheered for the cute little babies. It was neat to see.
After that, we went back to work...for a while. It wasn't too long before Jess came strolling into the room with a baby and a sheepish look on her face that she uses when she wants to pretend that she doesn't know she can do whatever she wants all the time and I have to be okay with it because I love her so much. Anyway, we stayed at work and showed him off for a little while, and then we went home for a short day and extra mommy-cuddling time.
We've tried to start Tyler on some finger foods, but he is having a rough time of it. He doesn't know how to chew things yet. It's hard enough for him to get to food into his mouth, and when he does, he just tries to send it right down his gullet. All that accomplishes is him coughing it right back up and scaring the crap out of his mom. I got some 'textured' baby food which will hopefully make a better intermediate step.
That's all I can think of for the moment. I'm having some relax time with Jessie after being a single dad for a while. Stressful, but knowing it would come to an end eventually helped immensely. And it could have been a lot worse if Tyler wasn't, you know, Tyler.
-N
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Moving on out...
The movers came. I haven't participated in a professional move as an adult, and I gotta say, it was BY FAR the best move yet. Over the last week we'd been making lame attempts at decluttering, dusting, and compacting some of our stuff. It was just enough to remind me how flustered I get during a move. Do I still want this stuff? Can I bear to throw it away? Is there a better place for it than the trash can? How will I get it there? This resulted in basically trashing the house- we removed all the 'stuff' from the spare room to leave Raoul enclosed in during moving day.
Monday morning, three GIANT dudes show up (like, duck through the doorway guys), they walk around the place, have a short conference in the truck and bring in heaps of boxes. I went to the Science Center, since Matt was here and there wasn't much for him to do anyway. I came home in the early afternoon to see the crew finishing up for the day, everything we owned in boxes. They covered the floor in plastic to prevent tracking dirt, left aisles in the boxes and had an extra box for us to put our overnight stuff in. During the day, Matt said they would ask/remind him about things he might like. Will you need an alarm clock tomorrow? Coffee maker? Allergy meds (so glad someone thought of this- the dust is killing my allergies)? The boxes were stacked in these comical towers (who puts two wardrobe boxes together? They go higher than a door), probably because they were all stacking up to their own eye level.
Today the same guys came back, parked a big truck in front of the house, one guy doing inventory, one guy packing some last boxes, and the third guy hauling HUGE boxes out of the basement. I'm really relieved someone will unload these too, because I could not move most of them, let alone put two on my back and haul them out. The furniture was plastic wrapped, and the truck was densely packed. Of course, having standard size boxes and copious packing material probably helps, but these guys clearly knew what they were doing. They did the whole house in about 5 hours, including the basement and garage. Paper work was exchanged and we'll see our stuff in Seattle in a week or so.
The cat is dealing with this remarkably well. The movers did kinda scare him (big voices! big feet!) so he mostly hung out under the bed in the spare room. But once they left, he took a look around and was back to his usual self. He did make the most surprised sound today when I let him out into the empty apartment, the same sound he makes when you sneak up and poke him. Now he is hanging out with us while we do some cleaning and organizing of our remaining things. It gives me confidence that he'll weather the move ok.
Matt and Raoul leave Thursday morning, and will be at the new house Thursday afternoon. I'll be giving our car the bon voyage that afternoon, and will be staying with some friends while I do some more work at the Science Center. It looks like I might be able to continue some occasional volunteer work with them after I leave, which is good since they keep suggesting other things I could do if I were around longer. But, I have this exciting life to look forward to in Seattle! Starting soon!
Monday morning, three GIANT dudes show up (like, duck through the doorway guys), they walk around the place, have a short conference in the truck and bring in heaps of boxes. I went to the Science Center, since Matt was here and there wasn't much for him to do anyway. I came home in the early afternoon to see the crew finishing up for the day, everything we owned in boxes. They covered the floor in plastic to prevent tracking dirt, left aisles in the boxes and had an extra box for us to put our overnight stuff in. During the day, Matt said they would ask/remind him about things he might like. Will you need an alarm clock tomorrow? Coffee maker? Allergy meds (so glad someone thought of this- the dust is killing my allergies)? The boxes were stacked in these comical towers (who puts two wardrobe boxes together? They go higher than a door), probably because they were all stacking up to their own eye level.
Today the same guys came back, parked a big truck in front of the house, one guy doing inventory, one guy packing some last boxes, and the third guy hauling HUGE boxes out of the basement. I'm really relieved someone will unload these too, because I could not move most of them, let alone put two on my back and haul them out. The furniture was plastic wrapped, and the truck was densely packed. Of course, having standard size boxes and copious packing material probably helps, but these guys clearly knew what they were doing. They did the whole house in about 5 hours, including the basement and garage. Paper work was exchanged and we'll see our stuff in Seattle in a week or so.
The cat is dealing with this remarkably well. The movers did kinda scare him (big voices! big feet!) so he mostly hung out under the bed in the spare room. But once they left, he took a look around and was back to his usual self. He did make the most surprised sound today when I let him out into the empty apartment, the same sound he makes when you sneak up and poke him. Now he is hanging out with us while we do some cleaning and organizing of our remaining things. It gives me confidence that he'll weather the move ok.
Matt and Raoul leave Thursday morning, and will be at the new house Thursday afternoon. I'll be giving our car the bon voyage that afternoon, and will be staying with some friends while I do some more work at the Science Center. It looks like I might be able to continue some occasional volunteer work with them after I leave, which is good since they keep suggesting other things I could do if I were around longer. But, I have this exciting life to look forward to in Seattle! Starting soon!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
I want to construct something
After spending entirely too much time at www.makezine.com and volpinprops.blogspot.com, I feel like I should be making more things. I'm not even sure what, but for some reason all this time churning out music (okay, not that much music) and the occasional book has left me with a desire to make something, I dunno, physical. An object. Something I can point at and say “I made that. Me. With THESE HANDS!” I still don't know what I would make, but I'm trying to keep my mind open. Clever ideas have included buying an old car and tuning it up (giving me the opportunity to get a cool old car in the process) a synthesizer or some other bit of hardware music generation, or maybe some neat furniture, or some video game thing I can hang on my wall. I should probably start simple, maybe a question-mark box or two. Maybe I can make stuff out of Legos? I dunno, I just feel like I want to make something that's not software.
Tyler does not stop! He's been practicing pulling to stand and today he took his first, tentative step at what is know in 'the literature' as 'cruising', or walking along while leaning on something. He's used his newfound skill to get himself into his toy box and pull toys out...and put them in his mouth. I'm so proud! He also does a new, totally adorable thing where he's eating, where he'll get a bite of food and then shake his head 'no, no, no, no'. And then you get to look at him and go 'Yes, yes, yes, yes', which distracts him long enough to let you put some more food in his mouth. Fun game.
Oh, and in other neat news, our down-the-street neighbors, who pretty much my entire family has met at this point, the one with the baby a few months older than Tyler, they're pregnant again! Another little guy for Tyler to play with. They're also building out their house, which was already pretty huge. We're going to go over tomorrow and say hi and look at the construction and everything. Pretty neat.
Also, Video game season is upon us! I've picked up a few great ones, and anyone who needs help picking out video games to play, which I believe is none of you, may feel free to ask for my advice. I've been playing the new Batman game (which is great) on my own, and a new Ratchet and Clank game with Jessie. As soon as my sister finishes moving, she should totally buy it and play online with us.
Maybe some art for the walls? I could learn to paint. Or get into woodworking. Do I really need a new hobby, though?
-N
Tyler does not stop! He's been practicing pulling to stand and today he took his first, tentative step at what is know in 'the literature' as 'cruising', or walking along while leaning on something. He's used his newfound skill to get himself into his toy box and pull toys out...and put them in his mouth. I'm so proud! He also does a new, totally adorable thing where he's eating, where he'll get a bite of food and then shake his head 'no, no, no, no'. And then you get to look at him and go 'Yes, yes, yes, yes', which distracts him long enough to let you put some more food in his mouth. Fun game.
Oh, and in other neat news, our down-the-street neighbors, who pretty much my entire family has met at this point, the one with the baby a few months older than Tyler, they're pregnant again! Another little guy for Tyler to play with. They're also building out their house, which was already pretty huge. We're going to go over tomorrow and say hi and look at the construction and everything. Pretty neat.
Also, Video game season is upon us! I've picked up a few great ones, and anyone who needs help picking out video games to play, which I believe is none of you, may feel free to ask for my advice. I've been playing the new Batman game (which is great) on my own, and a new Ratchet and Clank game with Jessie. As soon as my sister finishes moving, she should totally buy it and play online with us.
Maybe some art for the walls? I could learn to paint. Or get into woodworking. Do I really need a new hobby, though?
-N
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Fever Dreams
Poor Tyler. I thought yesterday he was going to finish up his little illness and get better soon. Turns out not. Yesterday was really rough for him, his fever got up to 103 while he was home with Jessie. I was at working doing important stuff for a flight test happening next week that I'm going to help out with, so Jess was being very nice to me by letting me work.
Today I stayed home with the baby, and he did better, but he's still sick. I got a measurement of 101.2 in the...traditional baby-fever-measuring location. And since the day care wants your baby to be fever-free for a whole day before they'll let them hang out with other babies, I get to stay home with him tomorrow, too. And can you imagine what sort of strange fever-dreams you have when you get a fever and you're only 6 months old?
His nose is going crazy, too. When he woke up, one of his nostrils was totally plugged up, and I've been sucking baby-snot out of his nose all day, too. He hates when you do that, but he can barely breathe through his nose as it is.
Normally I got to got to judo today, but considering that I spent all day with a baby, and I have the same thing to do tomorrow, I think I'm going to take this evening to relax and play some games. Judo will still be there later this week.
-N
Today I stayed home with the baby, and he did better, but he's still sick. I got a measurement of 101.2 in the...traditional baby-fever-measuring location. And since the day care wants your baby to be fever-free for a whole day before they'll let them hang out with other babies, I get to stay home with him tomorrow, too. And can you imagine what sort of strange fever-dreams you have when you get a fever and you're only 6 months old?
His nose is going crazy, too. When he woke up, one of his nostrils was totally plugged up, and I've been sucking baby-snot out of his nose all day, too. He hates when you do that, but he can barely breathe through his nose as it is.
Normally I got to got to judo today, but considering that I spent all day with a baby, and I have the same thing to do tomorrow, I think I'm going to take this evening to relax and play some games. Judo will still be there later this week.
-N
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Can I talk about my baby some more?
He is really cute. He's having a bit of a rough time at the moment, but you'd never know if you didn't know how smiley and energetic he normally is. And what his normal body temperature feels like. He's got a fever, and the sniffles, so I'm going to chalk this one up to 'he has a cold' unless further evidence presents itself. He acts like I act when I'm sick and no one is around. I make that 'groany' sound and roll around in the bed, unable to get comfortable and feeling sorry for myself. I toughen up when other people are around. Tyler has no such qualms.
It's been a mostly boring weekend for us. Yesterday Jess took some mommy time and went of to roller derby and then got a massage. I took care of the baby. He's started eating applesauce, his favorite, so far. He's also gone through green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots without incident. Sometime we're going to start him on 'multi-grain cereal' (read: it has some wheat in it) but we may hold off for a little bit. He's actually mostly gone through the 'stage 2' baby food cereals (I think stage 1 is just formula) and we should be starting him on the next level of stuff: chunky things that he has to learn to mash a bit between his cute little baby gums before swallowing. It's a step. After that, we can start giving him food to eat on his own with his increasingly-well-developed little pincher grip.
And speaking of chewing, I've started brushing Tyler's teeth at night. It's mostly just to get it worked into the routine, at this point, but we have a cute little brush and I scrape it against his teeth a few times while Jess changes his diapers. He was a little startled the first time, but quickly decided he likes it. It's not a bad way to get some smiles out of him.
As for crawling, Tyler is getting more and more distance under his belt as his confidence grows. He can definitely see a thing that he wants and go get that thing, which must be immensely freeing for him. He's thinking about pulling himself to standing, but he doesn't quite have the muscles yet, and he occasionally flips and rolls and spooks himself something fierce in the attempt. You just have to hold him and smile at him and let him know that everything is okay, and before too long he'll be convinced.
Today we went out to the mall. Not for anything in particular, just to look at things and walk around with Tyler. There's lots of colors to see and people to stare at, and mommy and daddy can get some smoothies and pretzels. I considered buying Tyler his first video game system, but the point behind that little trick is to buy an old, cheap one and a million games for it. Turns out old Nintendo consoles have dipped past 'cheap' and are back up into 'collectable', or at least that's what my local 'old video game console' stores want me to think. I'll see if Ebay can't prove them wrong sometime later. Either that or Tyler gets a free upgrade to a cheap Playstation or PS2. No rush, though. I don't think his pincer grip is good enough to work video game buttons quite yet.
I think I'm allergic to mold. I've had watery (though not red) eyes and a stuffy nose for the past few days, and the allergy forecast has been high for 'mold' the past few days. Also my throat hurts. That might be unrelated. And I've been achy and tired, but only for a few days after I got the flu shot last week. I'm just saying, there are symptoms, okay?
I'm working on the Ticom Geomatics theme song in my spare time. It's hokey and simple which makes it easy to work on, but hard to get motivated by.
I'm going to to serve up dinner. Ta.
-N
It's been a mostly boring weekend for us. Yesterday Jess took some mommy time and went of to roller derby and then got a massage. I took care of the baby. He's started eating applesauce, his favorite, so far. He's also gone through green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots without incident. Sometime we're going to start him on 'multi-grain cereal' (read: it has some wheat in it) but we may hold off for a little bit. He's actually mostly gone through the 'stage 2' baby food cereals (I think stage 1 is just formula) and we should be starting him on the next level of stuff: chunky things that he has to learn to mash a bit between his cute little baby gums before swallowing. It's a step. After that, we can start giving him food to eat on his own with his increasingly-well-developed little pincher grip.
And speaking of chewing, I've started brushing Tyler's teeth at night. It's mostly just to get it worked into the routine, at this point, but we have a cute little brush and I scrape it against his teeth a few times while Jess changes his diapers. He was a little startled the first time, but quickly decided he likes it. It's not a bad way to get some smiles out of him.
As for crawling, Tyler is getting more and more distance under his belt as his confidence grows. He can definitely see a thing that he wants and go get that thing, which must be immensely freeing for him. He's thinking about pulling himself to standing, but he doesn't quite have the muscles yet, and he occasionally flips and rolls and spooks himself something fierce in the attempt. You just have to hold him and smile at him and let him know that everything is okay, and before too long he'll be convinced.
Today we went out to the mall. Not for anything in particular, just to look at things and walk around with Tyler. There's lots of colors to see and people to stare at, and mommy and daddy can get some smoothies and pretzels. I considered buying Tyler his first video game system, but the point behind that little trick is to buy an old, cheap one and a million games for it. Turns out old Nintendo consoles have dipped past 'cheap' and are back up into 'collectable', or at least that's what my local 'old video game console' stores want me to think. I'll see if Ebay can't prove them wrong sometime later. Either that or Tyler gets a free upgrade to a cheap Playstation or PS2. No rush, though. I don't think his pincer grip is good enough to work video game buttons quite yet.
I think I'm allergic to mold. I've had watery (though not red) eyes and a stuffy nose for the past few days, and the allergy forecast has been high for 'mold' the past few days. Also my throat hurts. That might be unrelated. And I've been achy and tired, but only for a few days after I got the flu shot last week. I'm just saying, there are symptoms, okay?
I'm working on the Ticom Geomatics theme song in my spare time. It's hokey and simple which makes it easy to work on, but hard to get motivated by.
I'm going to to serve up dinner. Ta.
-N
Saturday, October 15, 2011
You guys earned it!
Thanks for supporting our campaign to raise money for DonorsChoose, dearest readers! You generous people definitely deserve an actual blog update.
My last informative update was to tell you that Matt and I are moving to Kirkland, WA. Feel free to Dance around in happiness- that's pretty much what I've been up to all week. When I dropped this bomb on Nana during my visit to Spokane, she was thrilled, and then DOUBLE thrilled when Mom and Dad decided to bring us from Spokane to Seattle for the weekend. I got in a little house hunting. By which I mean I rented us a house to live in in the Northern Kirkland area. It will be a great place for us, 3br, 2+ Bath, 2 car garage, a yard. It's on a greenway, and only about 15 minutes driving to Matt's new work.
When I got back to Pittsburgh, Matt and I finally got to celebrate his good news together. We went to a foodie restaurant called NaCl to eat until we were ready to burst, and catch up from our time apart. It was fun talking about our new place, the things we'll get up to in our new life, the things Matt got up to finish up his commitments here. It was fun. And delicious.
This week I've been trying to get lots done at the Science Center. Next week is National Chemistry week, and I'll be helping volunteers do a demonstration of the physical changes of crystal forms- ie, making candy. I've recruited a few people from Pitt, and am trying to get some more hands to help out. It's pretty exciting to be able to participate in these things.
One of the things I'll miss about Pittsburgh is being able to volunteer, it makes me feel productive and helps me develop professional skills and contacts (I have a budget!). When I get to Seattle, my job hunt will hopefully change forms a bit, since I can spend more time in face to face contacts. But I'll still have a LOT of freetime. This is one reason I am pursuing a short off-site contract with a biofuel company in BC. It will keep me busy, and also provide those professional skills and contacts that my volunteer work did. The compensation will be in equity, so I am thinking about this like an unpaid internship rather than a job yet. But this does remind me that, um... I think my professional life is just going to weird for a while. I know there isn't a straight way to navigate the route I am hoping to take, so it shouldn't be surprising that I am doing a lot of non-linear things to bulk up my CV. Cross your fingers for an eventual pay-off in the form of a full-time job.
Otherwise, we are working out a timeline for this move. Movers are coming to get our stuff on the 24th and 25th. Matt and the cat will be leaving Oct 27th, which is when our lease starts in Kirkland. It's not clear yet when our stuff will arrive, but after Matt, certainly. I am planning to stay for the Nov 12 event at the Science Center, and am thinking I may stay through Monday to see a friend defend (but Matt might be tired of holding down the house alone by then). I'll get a couple extra rounds of goodbyes with friends in the meantime though.
My last informative update was to tell you that Matt and I are moving to Kirkland, WA. Feel free to Dance around in happiness- that's pretty much what I've been up to all week. When I dropped this bomb on Nana during my visit to Spokane, she was thrilled, and then DOUBLE thrilled when Mom and Dad decided to bring us from Spokane to Seattle for the weekend. I got in a little house hunting. By which I mean I rented us a house to live in in the Northern Kirkland area. It will be a great place for us, 3br, 2+ Bath, 2 car garage, a yard. It's on a greenway, and only about 15 minutes driving to Matt's new work.
When I got back to Pittsburgh, Matt and I finally got to celebrate his good news together. We went to a foodie restaurant called NaCl to eat until we were ready to burst, and catch up from our time apart. It was fun talking about our new place, the things we'll get up to in our new life, the things Matt got up to finish up his commitments here. It was fun. And delicious.
This week I've been trying to get lots done at the Science Center. Next week is National Chemistry week, and I'll be helping volunteers do a demonstration of the physical changes of crystal forms- ie, making candy. I've recruited a few people from Pitt, and am trying to get some more hands to help out. It's pretty exciting to be able to participate in these things.
One of the things I'll miss about Pittsburgh is being able to volunteer, it makes me feel productive and helps me develop professional skills and contacts (I have a budget!). When I get to Seattle, my job hunt will hopefully change forms a bit, since I can spend more time in face to face contacts. But I'll still have a LOT of freetime. This is one reason I am pursuing a short off-site contract with a biofuel company in BC. It will keep me busy, and also provide those professional skills and contacts that my volunteer work did. The compensation will be in equity, so I am thinking about this like an unpaid internship rather than a job yet. But this does remind me that, um... I think my professional life is just going to weird for a while. I know there isn't a straight way to navigate the route I am hoping to take, so it shouldn't be surprising that I am doing a lot of non-linear things to bulk up my CV. Cross your fingers for an eventual pay-off in the form of a full-time job.
Otherwise, we are working out a timeline for this move. Movers are coming to get our stuff on the 24th and 25th. Matt and the cat will be leaving Oct 27th, which is when our lease starts in Kirkland. It's not clear yet when our stuff will arrive, but after Matt, certainly. I am planning to stay for the Nov 12 event at the Science Center, and am thinking I may stay through Monday to see a friend defend (but Matt might be tired of holding down the house alone by then). I'll get a couple extra rounds of goodbyes with friends in the meantime though.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Donors Choose!
Although you all deserve a proper update on my funtastic trip to Washington (summary: awesome and productive adventures), and might be interested to hear about the emerging arch of my autobiography right now (summary: weird), instead you get to hear about the happy hour I hosted tonight.
The good folks of Steel City Science decided to host a departmental happy hour in support of the Science Bloggers for Students Challenge we are participating in at DonorsChoose. We raised nearly $100 using supplies that were mostly hanging around our homes, and hopefully got to promote the blog a bit. And we've completed out first project!
Although at the happy hour, we were promoting a local project that wants a model of the human body, the project that is really killing me right now is the classroom that wants pencil sharpeners and whiteboard markers. Yes, this is a high poverty area very near where I live. The requested budget is teeny, but would clearly make a giant difference in the education of these elementary school students. Writing utensils make a big difference when you are practicing literacy. And DonorsChoose is a great non-profit to support as they have very little overhead, your money goes directly to teachers in need.
So yes, if you guys wanted to pitch a couple bucks to Ms. Kacsur, I'm sure I can get focused enough for a proper blog post like you all deserve. The challenge is over next week, so donate now and make me feel good.
---UPDATE----
My parents are awesome. If you also want to be awesome, check out the other projects in need here.
The good folks of Steel City Science decided to host a departmental happy hour in support of the Science Bloggers for Students Challenge we are participating in at DonorsChoose. We raised nearly $100 using supplies that were mostly hanging around our homes, and hopefully got to promote the blog a bit. And we've completed out first project!
Although at the happy hour, we were promoting a local project that wants a model of the human body, the project that is really killing me right now is the classroom that wants pencil sharpeners and whiteboard markers. Yes, this is a high poverty area very near where I live. The requested budget is teeny, but would clearly make a giant difference in the education of these elementary school students. Writing utensils make a big difference when you are practicing literacy. And DonorsChoose is a great non-profit to support as they have very little overhead, your money goes directly to teachers in need.
So yes, if you guys wanted to pitch a couple bucks to Ms. Kacsur, I'm sure I can get focused enough for a proper blog post like you all deserve. The challenge is over next week, so donate now and make me feel good.
---UPDATE----
My parents are awesome. If you also want to be awesome, check out the other projects in need here.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
He'll soon be taking the SAT
I'll probably write a longer entry later, but if I don't start cataloging all of the milestones Tyler has hit recently, I'll start forgetting them.
First, and clearly most importantly, he's started saying Dada. (Yay!) He's been saying Mama for a while, and he has actually settled on Baba mostly (we're trying to show him he can use it to request bottles, but I don't think we're quite to the language-object association stage yet.) But it does melt the heart even to imagine he's asking for me. Very sweet.
Also, crawling. He hasn't quite hit marathon distances yet, but it's only a matter of time. The progress really is astounding, from barely a few steps a week ago to the point where he's actually quite deft on his hands and knees. I figure by this time next week we're going to need to start putting up more baby gates. And I'm quite glad I've done a lot of the larger baby-proofing tasks already.
He's sitting up quite well, but he's also figured out how to go from crawling to sitting. He used to do this sort of side-lounge thing (ladies..! :) but he's figured out how to get his balance and get to proper sitting, and then how to get back to crawling. It looks like a lot of work.
And he's also working on pulling himself to standing. He likes, especially, the stool that Alaska Nana made when she was here a while ago. He can get his hands up on it, and then get his legs straightened out. After that, it's all struggles and frustration, but what have you learned to do this past week that is half this impressive, eh?
-N
First, and clearly most importantly, he's started saying Dada. (Yay!) He's been saying Mama for a while, and he has actually settled on Baba mostly (we're trying to show him he can use it to request bottles, but I don't think we're quite to the language-object association stage yet.) But it does melt the heart even to imagine he's asking for me. Very sweet.
Also, crawling. He hasn't quite hit marathon distances yet, but it's only a matter of time. The progress really is astounding, from barely a few steps a week ago to the point where he's actually quite deft on his hands and knees. I figure by this time next week we're going to need to start putting up more baby gates. And I'm quite glad I've done a lot of the larger baby-proofing tasks already.
He's sitting up quite well, but he's also figured out how to go from crawling to sitting. He used to do this sort of side-lounge thing (ladies..! :) but he's figured out how to get his balance and get to proper sitting, and then how to get back to crawling. It looks like a lot of work.
And he's also working on pulling himself to standing. He likes, especially, the stool that Alaska Nana made when she was here a while ago. He can get his hands up on it, and then get his legs straightened out. After that, it's all struggles and frustration, but what have you learned to do this past week that is half this impressive, eh?
-N
Saturday, October 8, 2011
These are family heirlooms
Nana and I have been springing around Spokane, having all kinds of grand adventures. Today we checked out a Raku firing workshop, hanging around potters all day was a nice warm up to going to see the Prohibition era Perfectly Modern Millie, full of great dancing and Fabulous Costumes- such fun!
But in between adventures, Nana unearthed a folder of letters she had written to her mother during their time in Alaska. Yup, onion skin, type writer pages, that her Mom thoughtfully dated for when they became family heirlooms. (Guess thoughtful mothering runs in the family!) We are bringing it to share with Dad and Bart on our mini family reunion- well surprise them, I hope. If I can get their permission (their childhood antics being the main feature of the letters), I might try and copy some highlights to the blog. There are some fantastic Papa stories, early pioneer adventures and childhood shenanigans never previously discussed.
The adventure continues in Seattle at 0'dark thirty tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Just needed to brag a little more about how much fun Nana and I are having.
But in between adventures, Nana unearthed a folder of letters she had written to her mother during their time in Alaska. Yup, onion skin, type writer pages, that her Mom thoughtfully dated for when they became family heirlooms. (Guess thoughtful mothering runs in the family!) We are bringing it to share with Dad and Bart on our mini family reunion- well surprise them, I hope. If I can get their permission (their childhood antics being the main feature of the letters), I might try and copy some highlights to the blog. There are some fantastic Papa stories, early pioneer adventures and childhood shenanigans never previously discussed.
The adventure continues in Seattle at 0'dark thirty tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Just needed to brag a little more about how much fun Nana and I are having.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Moving to Seattle!
By now, you probably all know that Matt has accepted a job (is dream job too strong?), and that we'll be relocating to Kirkland WA for him to start work in November. He has given two weeks notice, we've told our landlord, and... the rest we need to decide. In the meantime, though, I am in Spokane celebrating with Nana. And who better to celebrate with than Nana? Unlike our friends back home who were happy for us in a "but that means you are leaving" kind of way, she and I are just blissed out, thinking of all the cool ways that this changes our lives for the better. Like, I can come visit for long weekends. Or she can come visit me! Or, it's no big deal to get the whole family together. Or to wait out time changes for phone calls. I'm going to try and convince her to move West for my sake, but really, being in the same time zone will be SOO much nicer. There are so many way this is great news!
And can I brag on Matt for a little? He made me swear to secrecy about this whole affair, from his application, to the interview he was flown to Seattle for, even through the negotiations and the final offer. He is very private, he didn't want a whiff of this to hit his current employer, and he didn't want to have to deal with any public disappointment. Even when all signs were pointing towards "THEY LOVE YOU," he was cautious. They flew him across the country, put him up in a hotel and rented him a car to go and visit his Mom in, and he didn't want me to say anything. They gave him an offer letter, which he signed, and the movers had called us, and he didn't want me to say anything until his references reported back. But Friday he got the final green light from the new job, and we are thrilled with the result. He'll be working as a design engineer at major truck company, who recognize both his years of experience, as well as his fancy degree from Western. It's a promotion in both title and pay, and it's much more in line with what he always wanted to use his eduction for. I'm so happy for him to get a chance to think about cars all day, since that is what he'd be doing if he didn't have to work anyway. It's a great offer, which he absolutely deserved!
Yes, so very exciting times. Nana and I are going to celebrate the excitement by meeting up with Mom and Dad in Seattle this weekend (see how close Spokane and Seattle are?) to be giddy with excitement some more, and also maybe all daydream about the future together. So glamourous. Yes, I have unfortunately left Matt to shoulder the burden of the anxiety about the move for the rest of the week, but I promise I'll be back in full force next week! Sorry honey!
And can I brag on Matt for a little? He made me swear to secrecy about this whole affair, from his application, to the interview he was flown to Seattle for, even through the negotiations and the final offer. He is very private, he didn't want a whiff of this to hit his current employer, and he didn't want to have to deal with any public disappointment. Even when all signs were pointing towards "THEY LOVE YOU," he was cautious. They flew him across the country, put him up in a hotel and rented him a car to go and visit his Mom in, and he didn't want me to say anything. They gave him an offer letter, which he signed, and the movers had called us, and he didn't want me to say anything until his references reported back. But Friday he got the final green light from the new job, and we are thrilled with the result. He'll be working as a design engineer at major truck company, who recognize both his years of experience, as well as his fancy degree from Western. It's a promotion in both title and pay, and it's much more in line with what he always wanted to use his eduction for. I'm so happy for him to get a chance to think about cars all day, since that is what he'd be doing if he didn't have to work anyway. It's a great offer, which he absolutely deserved!
Yes, so very exciting times. Nana and I are going to celebrate the excitement by meeting up with Mom and Dad in Seattle this weekend (see how close Spokane and Seattle are?) to be giddy with excitement some more, and also maybe all daydream about the future together. So glamourous. Yes, I have unfortunately left Matt to shoulder the burden of the anxiety about the move for the rest of the week, but I promise I'll be back in full force next week! Sorry honey!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Science Bloggers for Students
I am really excited about the stuff we've got going on at Steel City Science these days. I hope you read my latest diatribe about polyomavirus research, but today I want to point you to something I am even more excited about. There is a movement in the science blogging community (which our blog is hoping to break into) to support a non-profit called DonorsChoose. If you have not heard of this group, they help teachers gain money for small scale projects, and individual donors can support part or all of these projects. $10 for pencil sharpeners in a third grade classroom, $25 towards purchase of a laptop in a middle school, $100 for new textbooks. The donor chooses what they want to support and to what extent. Cool right?
Every year there is a challenge called Science Bloggers for Students, that allows different blogs to seek donations and encourages competition to maximize funding. I was heartbroken to see that Pittsburgh has 18 projects which are largely unfunded, including some really important requests for basic supplies (scientific calculators, ouch). So we've decided to jump into the challenge, check it out at Steel City Science. Or just follow or donation page here. From there, you can also track our brilliant successes, and I think track our progress against other blogs and blogging networks. Yeah, we are up against WIRED blogs, so we *might* not win. But if we try at all, hopefully students win, right?
Science Bloggers for Students, Steel City Science Page
If there are other projects you are more interested in supporting (the African drumming class needs drums. Ouch, my heart.), if you follow my link, it still counts towards our total.
Every year there is a challenge called Science Bloggers for Students, that allows different blogs to seek donations and encourages competition to maximize funding. I was heartbroken to see that Pittsburgh has 18 projects which are largely unfunded, including some really important requests for basic supplies (scientific calculators, ouch). So we've decided to jump into the challenge, check it out at Steel City Science. Or just follow or donation page here. From there, you can also track our brilliant successes, and I think track our progress against other blogs and blogging networks. Yeah, we are up against WIRED blogs, so we *might* not win. But if we try at all, hopefully students win, right?
Science Bloggers for Students, Steel City Science Page
If there are other projects you are more interested in supporting (the African drumming class needs drums. Ouch, my heart.), if you follow my link, it still counts towards our total.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Everyone is Always Sick
So as Sandlin mentioned, this whole illness saga starts last week on Sunday evening after Matt and Sandlin had gone home. I had a rough day, I just felt awful. Body aches all over, though no sore throat, which is what I normally get when I have a cold. I was still blowing my nose every 30 seconds from the previous cold, so I thought maybe I was having a relapse from that virus. I felt really achy, but I did my best to help around the house. Tyler was having kind of a rough day too. He was chewing a lot and generally fussy, so we thought he might have been teething, but he didn't have a fever either so we thought he would be okay. Jess and I got tired early, though, so I took a dose of Nyquil and we both went to sleep at something like 7:30 on Sunday.
At about 8:30 I woke up with a really grumpy stomach. I went over to the toilet, made some unhappy sounds, and then threw up. Jess came over to comfort me, and I went back to bed eventually, only to be awakened a few minutes later by her throwing up everything in her stomach.
Uh oh.
This continued for the rest of the night, though I'm convinced Jess got the worst of it. She had to use the bathroom several times more, where as I just spent the rest of the evening waking up every hour in the throws of some strange fever dream. I had to make couscous for some people who had gotten hit by an avalanche, and for some reason that involved waking up and going to the bathroom. Thank heavens Tyler didn't seem to have it. He still slept all night.
So morning comes, and Jess and I are *wiped out*. We have no energy, and Tyler is waking up. It took me 10 minutes to summon up the energy to go get my glasses and put on my robe. Jess manages to get Tyler up, changed, and fed, but we're not sure how we're going to take care of him today, and work is off the table. Fortunately, we gathered ourselves up enough to get him to day care, where he had a pretty good day. We, on the other hand, mostly slept. We got a text from Sandlin at some point telling us that she and Matt had picked something up and were also throwing up back home. So, yeah, it was probably something we ate, but we don't really know what.
Anyway, by the end of monday we had stored up enough energy to go get Tyler from day care...or at least Jessie had. She let me nap some more. Then tuesday came along and Jess and I felt good enough to at least be physically present at work, though not exactly bastions of production. Tyler, on the other hand, was having a rough day at school. So we grabbed him, took him to the doctor and yep, ear infection. Two of them, in fact. So he's on 10 days of antibiotics for that.
After that, at least, things have gotten better a little bit every day. Tyler hasn't even needed that much baby Tylenol, so his ears are improving, and since we had a well-(ish)-baby checkup this friday where his ears are looking better and so...we gave him four shots. Rough week for the kid. But think of that powerful immune system! Jess and I are feeling better, too, but I'm not sure how much I trust my food at this point. A lot of leftovers got thrown out.
We may have been a little early on our purchase of a front-facing car seat for him. He only weighs about 18 pounds, and the minimum weight fort eh new seat is 24. So his ridiculous growth has leveled out somewhat, and he's 'only' in the 95th percentile for height at this point, 28.5 inches. He's in the 100th percentile for cute, though. That's on his chart.
In other news, I don't have any video games to play this weekend, not because there aren't any, there are, but because I'm tricking myself into tackling a few other projects. One is a theme song for Ticom Geomatics. Think 'mickey mouse club' but for defense contractors. I've almost got the lyrics and a first guess at the melody worked out. The other I'll leave as a surprise. Jess is headed off to backed track Derby practice, so clearly she's feeling better. We're mostly just excited about having things get back to something more like 'normal' for a little while.
-N
So as Sandlin mentioned, this whole illness saga starts last week on Sunday evening after Matt and Sandlin had gone home. I had a rough day, I just felt awful. Body aches all over, though no sore throat, which is what I normally get when I have a cold. I was still blowing my nose every 30 seconds from the previous cold, so I thought maybe I was having a relapse from that virus. I felt really achy, but I did my best to help around the house. Tyler was having kind of a rough day too. He was chewing a lot and generally fussy, so we thought he might have been teething, but he didn't have a fever either so we thought he would be okay. Jess and I got tired early, though, so I took a dose of Nyquil and we both went to sleep at something like 7:30 on Sunday.
At about 8:30 I woke up with a really grumpy stomach. I went over to the toilet, made some unhappy sounds, and then threw up. Jess came over to comfort me, and I went back to bed eventually, only to be awakened a few minutes later by her throwing up everything in her stomach.
Uh oh.
This continued for the rest of the night, though I'm convinced Jess got the worst of it. She had to use the bathroom several times more, where as I just spent the rest of the evening waking up every hour in the throws of some strange fever dream. I had to make couscous for some people who had gotten hit by an avalanche, and for some reason that involved waking up and going to the bathroom. Thank heavens Tyler didn't seem to have it. He still slept all night.
So morning comes, and Jess and I are *wiped out*. We have no energy, and Tyler is waking up. It took me 10 minutes to summon up the energy to go get my glasses and put on my robe. Jess manages to get Tyler up, changed, and fed, but we're not sure how we're going to take care of him today, and work is off the table. Fortunately, we gathered ourselves up enough to get him to day care, where he had a pretty good day. We, on the other hand, mostly slept. We got a text from Sandlin at some point telling us that she and Matt had picked something up and were also throwing up back home. So, yeah, it was probably something we ate, but we don't really know what.
Anyway, by the end of monday we had stored up enough energy to go get Tyler from day care...or at least Jessie had. She let me nap some more. Then tuesday came along and Jess and I felt good enough to at least be physically present at work, though not exactly bastions of production. Tyler, on the other hand, was having a rough day at school. So we grabbed him, took him to the doctor and yep, ear infection. Two of them, in fact. So he's on 10 days of antibiotics for that.
After that, at least, things have gotten better a little bit every day. Tyler hasn't even needed that much baby Tylenol, so his ears are improving, and since we had a well-(ish)-baby checkup this friday where his ears are looking better and so...we gave him four shots. Rough week for the kid. But think of that powerful immune system! Jess and I are feeling better, too, but I'm not sure how much I trust my food at this point. A lot of leftovers got thrown out.
We may have been a little early on our purchase of a front-facing car seat for him. He only weighs about 18 pounds, and the minimum weight fort eh new seat is 24. So his ridiculous growth has leveled out somewhat, and he's 'only' in the 95th percentile for height at this point, 28.5 inches. He's in the 100th percentile for cute, though. That's on his chart.
In other news, I don't have any video games to play this weekend, not because there aren't any, there are, but because I'm tricking myself into tackling a few other projects. One is a theme song for Ticom Geomatics. Think 'mickey mouse club' but for defense contractors. I've almost got the lyrics and a first guess at the melody worked out. The other I'll leave as a surprise. Jess is headed off to backed track Derby practice, so clearly she's feeling better. We're mostly just excited about having things get back to something more like 'normal' for a little while.
-N
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