Big boys
My little guys are really growing up!! We went and had Dominic's picture taken in honor of his 4th birthday that is in just over a week. He did great!! He even picked out two of his trucks to pose with him. I just can't resist his darling dimples.
This first one has a retro finish:
Also, we ordered a "big boy bed" for Elliott for his birthday. Thanks to Amy's idea, we went with a Maxtrix bed that should be sturdy enough to last for a while, modular enough to change around, has a great warranty, and should end up being "fun" for Elliott. Not sure when I'm going to switch him, but the top of the crib rail is at his armpits, so it will probably be sooner than I expect.
Here's something similar to what we got:
March 03, 2010 04:00 PM (UTC)
Happy Valentine's day!
I don't get flowers or cards (except from my children thanks to my sweet sisters).
I do get a wonderful husband who comes home and helps me with dinner, clean-up, bath time and bedtime routines after a 12 hour shift that starts at an obscene hour.
I can hand him a kid with a full diaper, or a kid full of vomit, and they'll get well taken care of while I clean up the aftermath.
These last few weeks, he's also helped me pull night shifts to steam up our bathrooms so our croupy kids could breathe, indulged them with pancakes at all hours of the day, and is working so many overtime hours and shifts that I don't know when we'll get him to ourselves for a day.
Whenever you get a chance to read our blog again, Travis.... I LOVE YOU and all that you are and all that you do. xoxo
February 16, 2010 02:45 PM (UTC)
Update
While we were excited about our pregnancy and spread our news to all our friends and family at 8 weeks, we were disappointed to learn that we had no heartbeat at our first appointment at 9 weeks. This pregnancy resulted in miscarriage for us. It is a loss in our hearts, but we are thankful for all the other blessings in our life, including our two precious boys.
February 08, 2010 05:51 PM (UTC)
Oh, baby!
Now that we've gotten the word out to our immediate families, I figured I'd post something here, too.WE'RE EXPECTING!!!
A new little one will be born sometime around September 7 or 8. Since we tend to deliver on the early side, we may end up with a late August baby. Only time will tell...
Dominic is cautiously curious since he knows what new babies are all about. Elliott is oblivious and is still very much our baby. He has 8 months before he has to adjust, so until then, no worries for him. We do see Elliott rocking and kissing his "babies" often, and we expect he will be an awesome big brother just like Dominic.
Here is the photo we sent out...
January 24, 2010 09:47 PM (UTC)
poo and the 20 month old
Disclaimer: this may not be as exciting for you unless you have a kid... A week ago Elliott came to me and patted his diaper and told me "pah-pah". He usually does that in the morning when he wakes up to tell me he needs to be changed. His diaper was "empty", so I asked him if he wanted to use the potty. He told me "Ung" which means "Yes" in Elliott language. We had a super fun game where he got to sit on the potty and get lots of attention while we sang songs and read stories. Imagine his surprise (mine too) when he actually WENT! Now he's asking about once a day and he's actually GOING! He's getting the poop thing figured out, but still doesn't much understand the pee thing yet. I just can't believe that he's training himself! I don't mind changing diapers, but it is nice that we have about one less messy one a day. Guess he just has to be "big" like his brother. If he quits for a while, that's fine, but I'm going to encourage his new "game". We'll see where it takes us!
January 03, 2010 12:06 AM (UTC)
Merry Christmas! (late) Happy New Year! (early)
Wow... what a busy month! We've had a lot of fun, and been really busy. Had to do a lot of shopping, and sewing and squeezed in a few fun family trips before Christmas.Finger-painting with pudding (mostly chocolate... not as much vanilla)
Went to see Zoo lights (thank goodness for snowsuits!! brrrrr...)
Dominic in front of the Chelatchie Prairie train we rode to get our tree.
Mommy and boys in front of our tree pick (They upgraded us to a noble for free... yay!)
Daddy and boys in front of our tree.
Brave Santa with all of us (except Daddy) on his lap.
Dominic in his new tractor jammies opening his stocking presents from Santa.
Elliott in his new tractor jammies opening his new kitchen. He has already played with it for HOURS and loves the pots and pans and fake food he got to go with it.
We had a fun Amundson Christmas (pre-25th), then Amundson grandparents (our boys great-grands) Christmas eve, and fun family time in the morning followed by a Robinson Christmas dinner on the 25th. It's been a lot of fun celebrating with everybody, and we all feel pretty loved, blessed, and spoiled by all the wonderful gifts. Hope everyone who reads this had a very blessed year and looking forward to a wonderful 2010!
December 26, 2009 08:58 PM (UTC)
Can it be December already?
Can it really be December already? Thank goodness I almost have all my shopping done and Christmas cards out. I got my Christmas gift early... A new washer and dryer set and I am in LOVE! Dominic and Elliott both like to help load the washer and switch clothes over to the dryer. It's even easier to fold because I have such nice clean, tall flat work surfaces on top of the machines. They couldn't have broken at a more opportune time. We have also found ourselves sitting in the laundry room to watch them work, once or twice. I have larger load capacity, and my clothing doesn't come out twisted and wrinkled or even snagged on an agitator. I'll try to post something more interesting later... like pics from our family photo session! But for now, have to finish making dinner for the hungry monsters!
December 01, 2009 05:35 PM (UTC)
H1N1
The flu news has been driving me nuts lately, and by driving me nuts I mean, it's been keeping me up at night. Ginnie gets her vaccine on Monday for it, but until two weeks she gets the 2nd dose she still won't be protected. And for all of the deaths the media has such an easy time posting, they don't post how many people have gotten over it with no complications, or with help from antibiotics. It's very hard to keep it all in perspective right now.
I remember chatting with a mom when she was in the early stages of pregnancy a year or two ago, and I realized halfway into the conversation that she was picking my brain about what the symptoms for miscarriage were. At that point I stopped the conversation and said, "You really don't want to talk to me about this. What you need is reassurance, and I can tell you that according to statistics, you'll be fine." And she was. I wish the media would do the same regarding the flu.
November 07, 2009 05:58 AM (UTC)
more kidisms
Because Kellie said I could....We played "guess who's having a baby" because our neighbors are expecting a new little one next June. Travis couldn't coach Dominic because he didn't know, so Dominic went through the list of my sisters and our friends who have had babies not too long ago. Travis tried to help and suggested "Uncle Billy". Dominic just gave him a disgusted look and told him, "No, it's not Uncle Billy... he already has a Clarke." --- 3 year old logic!
What if...
We are fully immersed in the "why" questions at age 3 1/2... Dominic asks "why" to everything and every answer (or question) we can think of. Sometimes he expands his questioning to "what if" for the little planner that he is. Here's how tonight's rapid-fire bedtime conversation went...
Dominic: Mommy, What if we had no heads?
Mommy: I guess you'd have to bury me.
D: What if we had no mouths?
M: I guess we couldn't eat.
D: What if we had no teeth?
M: I guess we'd have to eat baby food.
D: What if we had no lights?
M: I guess we'd have to use flashlights.
D:What if we had no doors?
M: I guess we'd have to go through the windows.
D: I guess we'd have to go through the windows.
--- NEVER underestimate the stall tactics of a 3 year old!
October 31, 2009 01:03 AM (UTC)
Pumpkin Patch
Friday was Dominic's preschool Halloween party. The kids got to dress up in costume and bring treats to "trick-or-treat" with each other. Wendy even worked on helping them remember to say "Thank you". Like a dork, I forgot my camera for that one, but I know many of the parents took pictures.
October 31, 2009 12:53 AM (UTC)
Puppy & brothers
Elliott is all ready for Halloween! I finished his costume last week and he kept wanting to put on the jacket even though it is double fleece! Hopefully he doesn't overheat. (He makes SUCH a cute puppy!!)
I also have the CUTEST videos of the brothers in their matching skeleton (glow-in-the-dark) PJs playing Ring-a-Round-the-Rosie. I'm putting one up, but it was so fun to see Dominic and Elliott playing together the way I used to play with my sisters when I was little. The boys made up the game on their own. Here are my observations of the rules:
October 26, 2009 04:29 PM (UTC)
kidisms2
This one's for you Joan!Dominic and I sing the alphabet and like to work on letters. There are a few different versions instead of just the plain ol' ABC song. He also likes his Thomas computer that tells him "A is for Apple", "B is for Ball"... He does NOT like that the computer says "J is for Jump". Every time he hears this after pushing the "J", he tells me, "Hey, I thought J was for Aunt Joannie!!" He also recognizes the letter C, so because we like to shop there and they have a big sign, C is officially for Costco!
Hair today...
I was showing Elliott some of the photos on our walls after his nap today. He saw Travis at the table and was excited, but wanted to study our family photo more. Then he started checking out his father at the table, then back to the photo, a few more times rubbing his head and saying "hair". As in, "Didn't Dad have a lot of hair in that photo? Where did it all go?" I have to say, I was impressed by his observation!
Front yard fun
Both boys like to play outside, and sometimes we hang out in the front yard for a few minutes when we come home from errands or go out to get the mail, etc. I swear our neighbors Katie and Julie can't step out of their doors without having Elliott squeal "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii" to them. It's a really long greeting full of high and low sounds!! When he sees them, he thinks it's time to run across the street and play in their sand box. I think I've even heard Elliott call Julie, "Gigi".
Words
Elliott's favorite words right now are "dirt" and "truck". We have tons of grass, but you'll only find our boys out playing in the dirt!!
October 18, 2009 04:12 PM (UTC)
kidisms
Of cake and idiomsI went to Costco with Aunt Kellie over the weekend and we each needed a cart between my case of diapers and her 80 lbs of kitty litter. She had Dominic in her cart and Elliott stuck with me. Dominic saw someone walking out of the store with a cake, and asked about getting some since it was "sample day" at Costco. Kellie discussed it with him, then told him, "You take the cake, Dominic" to which he replied, "I did NOT take the cake!!" She went on to explain that "you take the cake" is an idiom. In case he was missing out of something good, Dominic asked, "Can I eat a idiom?" And that's how Aunt Kellie came to teach an English lesson in a warehouse grocery store!
Cedar point
Kellie, Tammie, Joannie and Francis went to the Cedar Point roller coaster park this summer. Dominic evidently internalized all their stories well... Travis has some pieces of cedar boards in the garage for projects he's been working on, and Dominic likes to tell us, "See, Daddy didn't use all of the cedar point! There's some cedar point left in the garage". So 25 years from now when you ask him what his house is made of and he happens to say "cedar point", you'll know why!
Teeth brushing
Elliott really likes to observe his older brother and then copy his actions. Dominic is a great teeth brusher, and we always let him brush on his own and then we get a turn. Elliott started brushing better on his own after watching Dominic. A few days ago, Elliott added a twist. Now he brushes his teeth and vigorously wiggles his hips back and forth to get the job done properly! Some day I'll get it on film...
of falls and floors
Dominic tripped and fell in the bathroom the other day. When asked what he hit (knees? elbows?) he tearfully answered, "The floor!"
September 20, 2009 11:37 PM (UTC)
Vacuum cleaner
Elliott was helping me vacuum last night before bed. I had to take a video because he was so hilarious... he does a fairly vigorous job!! Here you go!
September 18, 2009 07:34 PM (UTC)
Preschool
Dominic's first day of preschool
Dominic had his first day of Preschool on Tuesday, September 15. We walked there with our neighbor, Katie and her son, Jacob, who is also in Dominic's preschool class.
Dominic's teacher is Wendy, and she is full of energy and wonderful ideas. She has great lesson plans, and a fantastic setup for all the preschoolers she's teaching out of her home.
Big boy at school!
Once we got to Wendy's the first day, Dominic had me stay 5 minutes. After we put his backpack, shoes and jacket into his little cubby, he got to play with the other kids. He worked really hard to hold it together when my 5 minutes was up, and told me "See you in a little bit, Mommy" in that keeping-back-the-tears voice from Wendy's arms while I left. Once I came back for him, he told me that he had a great time, and wanted to go again.
Today, Thursday, September 17, I had to stay 5 minutes again, and he did great when I had to leave. I found out he told Wendy that he has 2 cats named Lewis and Clarke when they were talking about pets. What a stinker... those are actually Kellie and Tammie's cats! Wonder what else he tells her (or do I even want to know).
Elliott really misses his brother when he's away at school and today when we went to pick up Dominic, he was squealing and yelling his version of Dominic's name ("Hi Dah!") in excitement. The brothers had to give each other a great big hug in greeting. On the way home, Dominic told me, "Thank you for taking me to preschool, Mommy. I had SUCH a great time!" He's just growing up too fast!!
What Elliott does when Dominic's away
September 17, 2009 11:50 PM (UTC)
Just Beachy
Our family at the beach
Trav and I took the boys to the beach over the weekend of the 12/13th. The world was one big sand box! It was gorgeous weather when we got there Friday, and there wasn't much wind all weekend. Excellent for playing in the sand, but not so good for flying our kite. Dominic and I were hit by a sneaker wave on Friday just after we got down to the beach, so he wanted nothing more to do with the water, poor guy. It hit him up to his waist, so I don't blame him! We spent time digging in the sand, swimming in the condo pool where we were staying, and a bit of shopping, too!
burying Elliott's feet in the sand
My parents came to join us Saturday, so we went out to Mo's on Saturday night. There was a band (Dominic called them a "marching band") named the "Verbtones" (I think?) playing near the restaurant, and they were really good. We hung out after our meal to listen to a few songs, or in Elliott's case, dance all over the place.
We were able to celebrate Mong/ Mom's birthday first thing Sunday morning with a big breakfast and one more trek out on the beach before we had to leave.
"Mommy, get me up and out of the waves!"
Let's go fly a kite
Daddy & Elliott
Mong and Dominic
September 17, 2009 11:36 PM (UTC)
Blanket & teddy bear
Elliott has a new blanket I quilted for his crib!! The cotton print came from Aunt Tam's, a boutique sewing shop in Battle Ground. It has a cowboys and indians theme, but in a cute way, and it's backed with red flannel. I showed the finished product to Elliott this morning, and both boys love it so I owe Dominic a new throw blanket now.
Here's a video clip of Dominic dancing to a new song... so fun!!
September 07, 2009 04:48 PM (UTC)
Fabric shopping: good boys, nosy granny
JoAnn Fabrics was having a few pretty good sales over labor day weekend. On top of it all, they had a coupon for 10% off your entire purchase Sunday and Monday, so that helps pay for tax. The boys and I went off to get a few supplies for our projects. The store was super busy, but we have learned to shop for fabric after getting a number for the cutting line so that helped speed things up a bit for us. The line to pay for purchases wrapped down and around the corner of the store, however, so we had a bit of a wait getting out. While in line, Dominic and I were working on letters because there were several large font signs toward the end of our wait. He is getting really good at recognizing them even in different fonts, and we talk about words that start with the letters he's reading. He sometimes surprises me with his knowledge, and I like to work on reading words and letters with him because it's fun and will be tools he'll use in his future.
It was getting close to lunchtime so I had to make sure and give snacks to both the boys. Dominic was happily buckling up scrapbook suitcases at a nearby display, so I gave Elliott a few baby marshmallows as a treat. In that moment, Dominic must have leaned against a suitcase and knocked it off the display and toppled off after it. He caught himself well, and didn't get upset. He seemed more surprised than hurt... In the time I took to turn away from Elliott and assess what happened, a Granny a few places behind us voiced in a very sarcastic tone, "There goes your college education, why don't you soothe him now?"
Evidently, working with letters while in a long checkout line constitues a college education... AND it was assumed that I would not assist or comfort my son? Perhaps the long line got to nosy granny, or perhaps she didn't have any snacks and was experiencing low blood sugar? Either way, Dominic was just fine and brushed himself off and picked himself back up and was happily singing a song a few minutes later. Nosy Granny, thanks for judging me... go to H*LL!
September 07, 2009 04:27 PM (UTC)
Two Excellent Vegetarian Recipe Books
People always ask funny questions about what they can possibly feed us when we come over for dinner, and these two books really underline my philosophy on cooking:
Vegetarian Planet, by Didi Emmons and
Passionate Vegetarian, by Crescent Dragonwagon (what a name, eh?)
Using these books is different that learning to substitute meat in your meal. It's more like learning how to cook without relying on meat - it's just relying on really good recipes. I think meat-eaters would enjoy most of the recipes in these books too - there are lots of adventurous recipes and some good everyday ones too. So there ya go.
August 31, 2009 01:00 AM (UTC)
Crisis of Vacation Brain
We went up to Denver and visited with Neale's sister and her family for a long weekend, and it was a ton of fun. I love seeing Ginnie and Ariana have such a good time together - they're both at fun ages, and I think they've really bonded this year because of the visiting efforts between households. Ginnie got to chase down an ice cream truck, because they live in the Big City and actually have ice cream trucks! It was quite the effort, too - we had Dave and Neale chasing that thing up and down streets, until Dave caught it and sent it our way. Ginnie's eyes got huge when she realized what the guy in the truck was selling! They also played in the wading pool in their backyard quite a bit, and we got to sample Dave's beer, which is very good. We even did blind taste-testing to make sure it was good and it was better than some German import we tested it against. So lots of beer and ice cream I guess. We went to the pool, the library and the park, several restaurants, and basically had a great time.
On the way home I started yammering at Neale about whether or not I should go ahead and finish this stupid degree I'm working on. Stupid, you say Amy? Yes. Kind of. I'm really worried that I won't be able to do the distance grad degree since New Mexico doesn't fund SLPAs (assistants) and that is what I have to be employed as to get the grad degree. The school district here has been pretty much as unhelpful as they can possibly be, so the best I can hope for is to finish the degree and work as a TA in the schools, and hope that they need a TA for one of the SLPs and that I get assigned to one. Or, I will have commute to UNM in ABQ, and there are days when I feel very optimistic that we could pull that off as a family, and there are days when I ask myself "What. the hell. am I thinking." Albuquerque is a good two hours away, and even two days a week that seems like it would be overwhelming for me to know that I can't be there for my family those evenings. On the other hand, it wouldn't last for forever, and who knows.
So right now I'm really not sure how to proceed. I'm going to hope that one of the three SLPs I emailed will get back to me this week when they go back to work, but if they don't it will be really demoralizing...more so that I already feel. I mean, I'm offering to volunteer for them. Free work, people. Take me up on my offer already. I also need those observation hours, sooo, let's go people. I also checked the schools' employment vacancies and they have two SLP vacancies suddenly. This is encouraging to me because that is promising employment at the end of this long process. But I need someone to WORK WITH ME!
August 11, 2009 09:53 PM (UTC)
More summer fun
Seems like we haven't slowed down this summer. Last week, we got to visit with Brook and her daughter, Anelise. Also, cousin Cody came over and played with the boys on Wednesday. Yesterday, we went with Daddy & Aunt Tammie to pick blueberries. Of course, we've gone to the zoo to see the animals and ride the zoo train, too!!Anelise in her pretty dress and cute hair bow
Cody getting a big hug from Elliott
Following Daddy to the blueberry bushes
A big blueberry!!
On the zoo train
August 05, 2009 04:32 PM (UTC)
Ok, I'm done with summer
I've never been a summer person. I far prefer the other three seasons, and this year I was done with summer after the 4th of July. Now I'm really done with summer, since the monsoons are slowing and it's just plain hot again. I like fall, with its routine, the pretty colors, the crisp air in the mornings, the festivals and events I can look forward to (even if I don't go), like Zozobra, and the balloon fiesta in Albuquerque, and of course Halloween, and I've enjoyed going to Ginnie's preschool's Fall Fiesta, too. This is our third and final year with the preschool, and also the first year we don't have to volunteer to run it, since we've already fulfilled our volunteer hours. Neat!
So bring on fall! My pumpkins are not going to be ready in time for Halloween though, thanks to the hailstorm. Oh well.
August 05, 2009 01:49 AM (UTC)
Redheads are a pain
And in other weird science news...redheads now have an excuse to be complete wusses. I don't know if I buy this, but for me being even just part-redhead (depending on sun exposure) this might explain a couple of weird things that have happened when I had my gum grafts done and when I woke up after my thyroidectomy. I had to go back in to get something cleaned out after the grafts were done on my gums, and the tech starts numbing me, and kept numbing me, and I was still squirming around while she was doing this cool laser-cleaning thing that was very painful...finally she got frustrated and said "I can't BELIEVE you can still feel this!" Hm! And then when I woke up after getting my thyroid out I was immediately in complete pain - to the point of panicking - and the nurse started getting angry with the surgeon and the anesthesiologist for not sending me out with more pain killers in my system. I guess maybe there was something else going on here...anyway, I actually think I have a fairly high pain tolerance...sometimes...but maybe I'm using my defensive pessimist side to compensate for being a complete wuss.
August 01, 2009 03:13 AM (UTC)
Pocket Sport and the Lazy O logo
I finally researched and decided what my Bike Friday bike was going to be, and since Neale's so ga-ga over his I went ahead and ordered it. I'm pretty excited about it. It will be nice to have an option for longer rides and in case my Rodriguez acts up. Here it is - the components are nicer than my Rodriguez, and it has bar-end shifters! neat! The Pocket Sport is the stock option of the lower-end version of Neale's bike. ha, that makes it sound cheap. Did I mention that it folds?! So the true test is going to be if the ligament in my right hand is all better. I've taken time off of traditional drop bars because braking really hurt, so hopefully there won't be an issue there.
Neale's sister April drew up our Lazy O Bee Ranch logo, which I think is so hilarious, and totally what we were thinking of! Can you find the Lazy O? I love the idea of herding bees!! Thank you April!
July 31, 2009 07:31 PM (UTC)
Comb honey
Neale and the bees have made nice, and in a show of friendship the bees gave us a bar of capped honey (well, not fully capped unfortunately, but it was a problem bar. they needed to make room for a renovation in the hive, apparently).
July 28, 2009 09:46 PM (UTC)
Now what...
My anatomy class ended on more of a whimper than I had hoped. Several things happened at once this week which all lead to me not studying as much as I probably could have for the final exam. One, Neale stayed late at work a few times, Ginnie was in tantrum mode, and I just got to the end of my rope with giving a care about the class. Oh well, I still got a high B on the last test, and a very solid A average in the class. I'm happy. As Neale said, I didn't study any more than I needed to. That is certainly a difference between the student I am now and the student I was before Ginnie came along. I can be happy with my scores in the class, because they were plenty good enough, although not perfect, and I got to spend time with Ginnie still.
We've been approached to host an exchange student this fall. I've been testing the waters with friends and family and the response is completely positive, which is encouraging, because this was a little unplanned. Now we're looking forward to it, and I'm happy that we can put our scads of living space upstairs to good use. We actually have everything we need for the student - bed (with a new mattress no less), desk, lighting, and the only thing was a dresser. Since we never actually bought a new dresser for Ginnie when we got her bed a couple of years ago, I went into CB Fox and got a great deal on a six drawer dresser. They were running a 20% off sale, and threw in another 10% off for a "scratch", which basically got me a larger dresser for just a little more than what a three drawer dresser would have been. Neat! It's the low kind of dresser that can take a mirror on top, to turn into kind of a vanity for her for when she's into the vanity thing. So now the cute little dresser that was a hand-me-down from the Robinsons will belong to the exchange student while she's here. We just need to finish cleaning out the bedroom upstairs of stupid odds and ends we should have gotten rid of a long time ago. We're giving her the north bedroom upstairs, with the twin daybed and the desk, and we'll still have the south bedroom with the queen-sized bed for guests, not to mention the pullout downstairs.
So after that little errand for the dresser we ran around town taking pictures to send to the student, and then ran home and got the application and pictures together for the exchange program. Did I mention we started teaching our bike class today? I think I'm the queen of multitasking. Ginnie got to spend what sounded like a fun evening with the babysitter tonight. That's good, because I really haven't been able to do much fun stuff with her this week.
Happy early birthday to Neale and now I'm totally wiped out. More bike class tomorrow, which don't get me wrong, is pretty fun. And then Neale's off to Las Vegas (maybe), and then when he gets back we're off to Denver for a few days, and then home in time for our student to arrive. Oh well, you can't say we don't live life to the fullest. I guess we could try skydiving.
July 25, 2009 04:52 AM (UTC)
There are days...
when I need a reminder that there is a world outside of this town, and so today Ginnie and I headed for Santa Fe. We met up with her grandparents, and we had good time poking around a yarn shop on Paseo de Peralta (ok, that was mainly me), and then over to Hobby Lobby and then to lunch. I found out that Home Depot carries the 12 foot length redwood boards we need for the deck, which means that we don't have to buy the 18 foot ones the guy at Ace was trying to talk us into. This is good, because the joists under the seams between the short boards on the deck looked a little rotted. Just under the seams though, so I think we'll be getting the 12 foot boards, thank you very much.
I decided to skip the chaos of Neale being out of town next week on top of me having my final exam by moving the final exam to this Friday. This means that this is study week, which is fine. I'm ready to be done with this stuff. I'm still scratching my head a bit as to why we're doing an Embryology section, because the relevant thing (cleft palates and lips and their variations) is rushed over in lecture. I basically got from lecture that the palatine arches or folds or whichever fail to fuse at the midline (or their fusion is interrupted) because of environmental, hereditary, or unknown factors. Soooo, we had to learn about mitosis again because of that?...what's the point? Well, at least it's interesting. I think it's pretty amazing, this cell differentiation stuff. But I guess it's not that amazing if you take into account how much control DNA has. Anyway, I'm ready to move on from this class. And also, on those early pictures of embryos, up to six weeks or so, those aren't their eyes on the front of the prosencephalon. Those'd be their nasal pits. The eyes are on the sides of the head. So there, I finally done learned somethin'.
I'm already itching to get our bedroom painted, which is my project for the weeks I'm off from school. That and the baseboards in the living room, hallway and our bedroom. Ginnie's baseboards could use touching up, since pulling the carpet up exposed more of the boards. Today I briefly entertained the idea of painting the mudroom, which may still happen. It desperately needs it, although it would mean draining the water storage container and moving the freezer...hmmm, we shall see. It would probably end up the color of the dining room or living room, since I don't care too much about what color it is, and I still have plenty of that paint.
Other things to look forward to until mid-August: the rest of season 4 of Battlestar is out in 7 days, which means I'll have something to watch on TV. It is amazing how much TV we don't watch anymore, so I get excited when something I want to see is about to come on the boob tube. Also, Lisa and her family hit town in two weeks, and then we have a Denver trip after that. A Denver trip without crazy amounts of snow and ice and scary freeway traffic because of the two former things. yay!
Tonight it is raining steadily, which feels very homey to me.
July 22, 2009 04:07 AM (UTC)
complete deck remodel
We've scrapped our original plan to try to salvage as many boards as we can for the deck. The boards were too rotted and old to put up with nail-pulling and prying off of the joists. Joists, apparently, are the long boards that sit on top of the support beams. The joists look questionable in areas, and that pretty much means that we have to rebuild completely. If we put a good board down on a bad joist, that would mean revisiting the same issue in two years instead of 25. sigh Of course it's the demolition that is taking the longest. I hate pulling nails. I hate pulling staples. And we've done a lot of that with the carpet removal last November, and now this. PLEASE let the home remodeling end!
This afternoon our daily rainstorm moved over, and we threw the tarp over the exposed joists (this was before we decided to scrap them all). Well, the dogs forgot that we had been pulling boards, so the Dink jumped up onto the tarp and promptly sank underneath the deck. Haha. Poor guy. He struggled for a second, and then sat down and looked up at me like "Ok, I don't know what to do." Of course Jada had to come and check in out, and wound up doing the same thing! Dogs! They cracked us up today.
July 20, 2009 01:47 AM (UTC)
OMSI
Yay... I got a photo. (Thanks Jean!)
L-R: Dominic, Elliott (trying to escape), Joslyn, Caitlyn, and Jack
Jean, my mom and I took 2 preschoolers and 3 babies to OMSI. We tried for the zoo, but about 50 cars were all circling the parking lots waiting for a space to open up. I finally realized that the zoo is doing concerts in the park on Wednesdays, but the lot is shared by the Children's museum and the World Forestry center. Hundreds of parking and not a SINGLE spot.
So off to OMSI and the babies, Joslyn and Jack enjoyed the infant area, ball pit, and fish aquarium while Caitlyn and Dominic played sand, water and did arts & crafts. Elliott was with the babies and with the big kids off & on. It was so much fun for the kids to play together!!! Wore them all right out!! Jean got a photo of all the kids together (I forgot my camera!!) so if she sends me a pic, I'll post it.
July 16, 2009 11:02 PM (UTC)
Weekend away
Dominic and Chad on the tractor
We spent last weekend (6/13-14) visiting our friends Chad, Claire, and their darling daughter, Sadie. Because they have 30+ acres, they have a few large "toys" that just thrill our boys (especially Dominic). He really enjoyed driving the excavator and tractor with a little help from Chad and Daddy.
Dominic & Elliott driving the excavator
We also took a side trip to visit my sister and her husband at his parents cabin by Lost Lake in Shelton, WA on Saturday. Elliott got to take his first boat ride on Uncle Billy's boat, and we had a fun time visiting and BBQ-ing. Our guys are getting to be really great travelers!!
July 15, 2009 05:33 PM (UTC)
spring/summer recap
I have obviously not had enough time to do a lot of blogging because I've been too busy having fun with the boys, and keeping up with house stuff when I'm not outside or gone. Here's a few photos from the last few months to catch up...Daddy & boys at Lewisville park
smelling & squishing tulips at the Woodland Tulip festival
Big brother pulling little brother through the park
Daddy and Dominic catching some sun
Busy mowing
Happy Dominic
Elliott mowing (and pointing)
Bubbles with Taylor
An awesome Grandma Lolo sweater
July 15, 2009 05:30 PM (UTC)
Cicada
We suddenly have cicadas this year. The first time I noticed one, I was sitting at my little computer nook in the dining room by the window, studying, and suddenly the screen on the window was attacked by this OMG THAT THING IS HUGE bug. I was slightly horrified, but now they're all over the place. When the lights get turned off at night and only our bedroom lights are on, they start attacking the screens. They're just freaking huge and scary looking. the end.
Ginnie continues swim lessons this week, which certainly eats a big chunk out of our mornings, since we stay for a couple of hours afterward. But...she's floating on her back now, something that seemed to come naturally to her. I remember learning how to do it at about a year older than she is, and I don't remember it being that easy. She can go for a half minute now, as of today, with waves moving her around and everything. For all of the new stuff she can do, she still enjoys bobbing up and down and thrashing around in the chin-deep water. Which looks hilariously uncoordinated, and makes her swim teachers laugh, but whatever. This is the first year she's been tall enough to touch the pool bottom to do that, and I can see why that would be fun. I am thrilled that she doesn't have the weird hangups about putting her face in the water that my sister had (no thanks to a couple of lousy swim instructors)...and...well, I guess I never had a hangup about swimming. My sister probably wouldn't remember what I'm talking about either...she was only three when my mom freaked out at a couple of instructors when they forced Kristen to put her face in (I mean, physically forced). jerks.
Ginnie went down the slide with her friend today. It's a pretty old-school slide that looks a little precarious (and probably is). I worry more about her falling off the short sides at the top than anything. She did it three or four times, and still looked nervous. I told her that she doesn't have to do it. Sometimes it seems like there's this daredevil bone in her that drives her to try everything she can...but she seemed relieved when I suggested she give it a break. But now she wants to try the diving board, and my rule about that is that she has to be able to swim to the side reliably after jumping in. We're not quite there yet. I think Ginnie will have some great memories of spending loads of time at the pool in the summers and riding to the pool on her bike-that-attaches-to-mommy's-bike. I remember spending lots of time at the community pool in Pendleton, and then there was that outdoor pool in Long Creek that they had to check for rattlesnakes before we could get in. Such is the rural life in Eastern Oregon. I wonder if that pool is still there...when we were kids, the local Catholic priest taught swimming lessons (yes, I know, bring on the jokes I'm sure). I remember him being a really cool guy, and totally unlike all of the other priests we ever had. I probably still have pictures of me and Mindy Walton getting our first communion at that church that was new back when I was there, which Father what's-his-face. Why do I want to say Dalton. The church was St. Katherine's, I think, and it was between this tiny cluster of buildings called "Dale" and Long Creek. St. Katherine's was built right after we moved there, and before that mass was held at Mindy's grandfather's house I think, across the road. I think the church was named after his late wife. But those are memories from when I was 6-8, and they may not be reliable. Hmmm...we hit a dog crossing the road at Dale when we were driving through once. That was awful. My poor parents were horrified. But I think the owners let their dogs wander across the 2-lane highway, and the other dog had already been killed the same way. Well! Enough reminiscing!
Lord, I think we spend 3/4 of our summers at the pool. I'm looking forward to next week when we can go in the afternoons again...
I'm definitely nearing burnout with Anatomy. The last few weeks seem a little lighter, but I think the final week has the other shoe dropping with a bunch of lectures at once. And then the exam. On the bright side, I could get an 80 on the last exam and still pull a 95% grade. After that I'm tackling painting our bedroom and the baseboards on my weeks off. And of course, enjoying the last part of summer with Ginniepig.
July 15, 2009 01:53 PM (UTC)
From hail to...a forest fire...
Go figure. It's one of the wettest springs and early summers we've had since moving here, and this is suddenly the smokiest I've ever seen the town. By the time we finished working on dismantling the deck for the day, the whole outside was glowing orange. Now it seems like Neale's lit the bee smoker and is puffing it inside the house. No joke - it's that bad.
July 12, 2009 03:55 AM (UTC)
Hail Storm and other things
I suppose I haven't told my family about the hail storm we had the other day. We had a monster storm roll into Los Alamos earlier in the week while I was about to take Ginnie to her "cooking camp" at Little Forest. I had to make a decision about walking to school or driving, and since I usually don't walk Ginnie through thunder storms that are right overhead, I pulled out the car (which always feels ridiculous being two blocks away from school). Turns out that was the right move. When we pulled into the parking lot, hail was starting to fall, and I made the split-second decision to grab Ginnie and run for the school. That was almost a bad decision - I got nailed by a giant ball o'hail on the way in (Ginnie made it just fine). After that I stood with my friend Halo and watched the sky open up and shoot 1 to almost 2 inches in diameter hail balls onto our cars...well, and everything else. There was a lightning strike pretty much in the canyon next to the school, and the kids were freaking the frak out. But we couldn't go into the classroom, because the storm was blowing from the west, and the door is on the west side of the building. So we waited it out under the overhang. Pretty exciting!
Our car didn't get as much damage as the rest of cars in downtown LA, thank goodness. But it is dented all over the hood and roof. Our new metal roof on our house got dented, but it's all cosmetic (so far...we'll know for sure when it rains next), so that's fine - you can't tell anyway, unless you're on a ladder and happen to be me, Neale or our roofer. Pictures will follow soon - got some good ones. My veggie garden is torn up pretty well and we have major raking to do around our property. The neat thing about the storm - it smelled all piney and fresh...since the hail tore the needles off the trees so much!
In other news, I don't know at what point parents can say "Yes, my child can swim," but Ginnie is pretty much swimming now. She can tread water in the deep end and is able to doggie paddle. She's pushing off of the wall with her face in the water and kicking to us in the middle of the pool. She of course isn't doing the crawl or anything yet - I mean, her arms only recently were able to reach over her head (you know how toddlers stick their arms in the air, and their hands only reach as far as their temples, which is hilarious and cute), so her "rainbow arms" on the wall are funny to watch to me. But boy, she's getting more and more coordinated and able to hold her own in deeper water everyday. It's comforting to Neale and me, because we know if she ever got in trouble in deep water, she could doggie paddle and tread water long enough for an adult or guard to get to her (whereas before, instant trouble with gulping water in and ugh...).
Ginnie's also spontaneously telling us what signs say now - only the short words (like "no" and her fav is "exit") but she's getting there.
Anatomy for me is almost over. One more test in two weeks.
July 10, 2009 06:03 PM (UTC)
Wiiii, my legs hurt
When we added on a VOIP line and signed another 2-year contract with T Mobile, they mailed us two gift cards. They were Visa cards, so they were to be used, and not money I could just put in the bank...whatever, I guess it's nice that they reward existing customers. I decided to buy the family EA Sports Active for the Wii. The poor Wii has been collecting a little dust...we just get too busy with school or work travel or just travel, although it does get turned on now and then. In the winter months, though, we are definitely more house-bound, being hermits by nature I suppose. Well, I wasn't sure how great the EA Sports Active would be compared to Wii Fit, which is fun to do with kids, but don't count on getting your heart rate up past maybe what it would be folding laundry. So Neale challenged me to do the EA thing this weekend, and we spent a half hour entertaining Ginnie and her cousin (and tripping over them) as we did the Hard version of one of the lower body workouts. I have to say, I haven't been this sore in ages. I consider myself to be in good enough shape to get through my twice-weekly spin classes and usually another workout or two, but I can barely get up and down the stairs. It's embarrassing and hilarious at the same time.
The ability to do a workout with someone is fun, and I like that there isn't a focus on weight like with Wii Fit. The weight thing can be nice if that's what your main concern is, but for some it really isn't. The other things I took away from this is that people with joint problems probably would hate some of the exercises on this thing (what with the lunges and the jumping and stuff) and the cooldown part is ridiculously short considering what they put you through in a half hour (at least on the Hard setting - I've down Easy, but not Medium yet). If you like getting stupidly competitive with your husband, it's really fun - hurling insults at each other and the "trainer" was one of the best parts. The music isn't bad - not totally awesome, but better than some. I've done it barefoot twice now, and I think I'm going to do it with sneakers next time. Yeah, other than that I think it does a pretty good job for what it is. There is some lag with the game sensing movement on the left side, probably because the nunchuk is in the legstrap on the right leg.
July 06, 2009 03:58 AM (UTC)
Anatomy
I have four weeks left of Anatomy for the summer. I'm looking forward to it being over. It's been easier in some ways than I thought it would be, and I think the most challenging part has been dealing with the other students in the class. Reading the class discussion board has been stressful, and I'm actually doing just fine in the class. There is so much defeatism going on - granted there are 80 students in the class, and only as many as 15 or so regularly post, but sheesh! I wonder how many people decided before the class even began that it was going to be Hard, and they weren't going to do well. It's tough to change your attitude, but if they think this stuff is hard, I wonder how they'll handle grad school.
June 29, 2009 06:16 PM (UTC)
Dentist
Ginnie and I went to the dentist today. She loves going to the dentist (and announced that in the dentist's office too). She so comfortable with it that we do our appointments at the same time, in different exam rooms, and whoever is done first just comes and joins the other until they're finished. The dentist gives me his report on her when he sees me, and then we're done. There are some things with this kid that are far easier than I had imagined they'd be.
We also went swimming again today, and Ginnie is now doing what my sister and I were doing at about her age - diving to the bottom of the pool and retrieving objects. Boy, I remember loving to do that (goggles are SO COOL). Only we used pennies, and not these new-fangled brightly colored rings they have nowadays. ha.
Seems like we're cramming everything we can into summer, and it only just started. Camping already, swimming three times a week at least, already saw a baseball game in ABQ, getting house projects done...only the big one (the deck) we'll be forced to focus on if we want to get it done soon. Walking the dogs in the late afternoon has been nice. We got Dingo a new halter that works so well at keeping him from pulling that Ginnie can walk him by herself. That is really nice, because walking Jada and Dingo together turns into a tugfest. Having Ginnie be old enough to do some of these things is SO NICE.
June 24, 2009 08:25 PM (UTC)
The Family Bike
Happy Father's Day to you dads! I think we had a fun day here at the Pickett household. Neale got to play with his bees, and we just poked around doing odds and ends house chores until I realized I needed more screen material for fixing up two of our front window screens (the dogs ripped one up, and the roofers ripped the other up). So we hopped on our bikes (Ginnie on the Afterburner, which is the one-wheel seatpost attachment bike that's her new and favorite ride). We ran downtown (the flag for the Afterburner randomly snapped off halfway into the ride - what was up with that?!) and on the way back Ginnie got...sleeeeepy...I noticed her swaying side-to-side a little more on the way home, and I asked her if she was awake. She turned and gave me a very serious, sleepy look, like "wha? I just woke up..." Uh, we don't sleep on the bike, Gin! This is not a trailer! So that was a fun ride home trying to keep her awake! I guess I've never actually felt sleepy on a bike, even on our century ride the other year, so I thought that was pretty funny.
Neale pointed out that since we have determined that the size of our family is permanent, we can now buy this: the Bike Friday Family Triple Traveler. That actually got me kind of excited. We have the option of getting one that converts into a single bike, so we can sell Neale's current Bike Friday and he'd still come out of this with a single Bike Friday. So two things have to happen first: we well our Rodriguez tandem and Neale's Bike Friday (and whichever other bikes Neale has lying around that he's ready to part with) and see how much we have in hand to put into getting a Family Triple. Hopefully we'll have pretty close to enough...more than half saved at least. Maybe that way we can go for rides and I can easily catch Ginnie if she dozes off!
June 22, 2009 02:36 AM (UTC)
Media Echo Chamber
I find this concept really interesting: Media Echo Chamber.
June 17, 2009 02:32 AM (UTC)
New Library
The boys and I met up with our neighbors Katie, Dallin and Jacob at our new Battle Ground Library today. What a beautiful building!! The old BG Library was small and dark (about 4000 square feet) and the new one is drastically different with 14000 square feet, and HUGE kids area with kid size tables, chairs, and toys. There is also a flex/meeting room area where the wall space is really sliding glass panels to allow it to open up to the kids area. We wondered if maybe the kids story time will be in there when they start it up late June. Elliott just wanted to play with the other kids and throw lego blocks, and Dominic decided to play after picking out a few books. We've already read the 3 we checked out, and I imagine we'll have many more trips to get new books. We also signed up for the summer reading program so that we can track our reading progress. For every 5 hours of reading, kids get to pick out a prize and get a certificate. We read a lot anyway, but this will help encourage even more reading. It's also exciting to see all the new shops that are moving in to the retail spaces. I can't wait for "Aunt Tam's" which promises to be a fabric and craft store of sorts. I spotted a coffee shop I plan to visit sometime, too. It's really neat to see all the new shops arriving in Battle Ground!
June 05, 2009 03:49 PM (UTC)
Extra rib
This is Anatomy Summer for me, and right now we're diving into the spine and ribcage. Anyway, in studying I got interested in my extra rib again, which was discovered when we got into the fun car crash a year and a half ago. It's a cervical rib on my left side, which btw, extends from the C7 vertebrae. Check this out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_rib. That part about the 125x higher rate of childhood cancer than the general population is interesting. Glad I got to skip that.
Between that and my curvy-wurvy spine, I'm surprised I can stand upright and not look too much like a freak. Well, maybe I do and everyone's nice enough not to clue me into that fact.
Anyway, I'm digging anatomy. It's a little more intense than normal because of the shortened semester, but since it's my only class that's a-ok with me.
May 31, 2009 11:39 PM (UTC)
Fraternity sacrifices...er, I mean deaths
Man, I love the Seattle Times. I read it and it seems like nothing's changed in Seattle since we left. Like today, I pulled up the Times webpage and one of the first headlines was "Man Falls from Third Story UW Fraternity Window." I immediately told Neale that I'd have enough money to buy myself a latte if I had a dollar for every time I'd seen that headline. Lo and behold, the Times published a list of all of the deaths and injuries from falls at the UW right below that headline! Pretty much all frats except for ?McMahon Hall, which boasts two deaths of course. That's what happens when you let kids have balconies in a high-rise dormitory.
Anyway, I think this list is a good basis for a horror story! Something along the lines of a university demon who demands 5 or 6 deaths every other decade by falling. On campus or greek row, it doesn't matter, alcohol-fueled is preferable! Man, I think this could have been a great Buffy episode (there were at least two great fraternity episodes, maybe three - one was a Halloween episode I think)! As you can see, the 80s had a good solid death or near-death experience every year, and two years twice. The 90s was a dry spell (wonder why that was...) but now they're flinging themselves out of windows again. I think I'm onto something here!
Anyway, that's all I've got. I dropped a 2x8 on my foot today, which hurt a lot, and I'm sure I'll be boasting a good bruise soon. Ginnie is turning into a sci-fi geek, and my failed raised veggie garden bed has been demolished in order to try to make use of the nice soil I should have started with. I'm one-third of the way through my anatomy class, and pretty much kicking butt. If all of school were about rote memorization...man, that'd be great. but very, very boring.
I need to get photos up from our vacation...
May 30, 2009 02:43 PM (UTC)
Great Wolf family vacation
The whole family went to the Great Wolf Lodge for a night. There were 5 rooms worth of people staying there, and we had a great time!! We only stayed Sunday night, but we were able to start playing in the waterpark at 1pm Sunday and until 9pm Monday.
Elliott loved splashing in the kid pool and didn't care how wet he got. He mostly liked splashing with his right arm. He also liked floating on his back and walking (with help) up and down the edge of the swim area. Dominic liked the kid area, too. He preferred going up and down the steps to the water slide to check it out rather than going down it, and even ventured out to the wave pool on an inner tube with Daddy.
Gwendolyn and Elizabeth... BFF!!
Thanks to having so many wonderful aunties and grandparents willing to play with the boys, Travis and I were also able to try the big water rides. We had such a great time! We can't wait until the boys are a bit older so they can do some of the bigger rides with us!
Dad, Liz, Mike and Joannie coming out of one of the big tube slides...
We all managed to meet up at the Bar & Grille for dinner and squeezed in some cupcakes to celebrate Grandma Lolo's 88th birthday.
dinner with the fam...
May 29, 2009 04:59 PM (UTC)
Song of the Month
Going somewhere in the car is a great opportunity to listen to kid music, as far as Dominic is concerned. He likes to call them "Dominic songs" (as opposed to my "mommy music"). Anyway, he picks them up fast, and we sing them in the house long after we've left the car. The favorites rotate... this month, it's "Little Bunny Foo-foo". The moral of the story is really "Hare today, Goon tomorrow", but listen to Dominic's version in this video clip... funny guy!(I was trying to record Elliott saying "BROP" for drop... btw)
May 29, 2009 04:58 PM (UTC)
Parade
Grandma Lolo, Mong, and the boys
The boys and I went to our first ever parade together! The Hazel Dell Parade included 26 marching bands this year who were all really rehearsed! We parked at Mong & Pop's house and walked down to the bottom of the street with our wagon. It was so convenient to not have to worry about parking, especially since the news reported that between 20,000 and 25,000 spectators were watching. Made me think back to all the years I watched my sisters march in the parade. Mong joined us, and Great-Grandma Lolo was in town and got to be there, too.
Dominic and Elliott were absolutely smitten with all the music and drumming. Elliott kept dancing every time a band would play, and he also waved "bye-bye" to all the folks who were waving to him. So cute! Dominic got into the waving a bit later, and caught on to the candy catching also. He even ended up getting to eat free ice cream bar that one parade truck was handing out.
Both boys loved the fire trucks, and Dominic really liked seeing the old tractors too.
Dominic liked seeing "Old McDonald"
Another favorite... tractors!!!
May 29, 2009 04:39 PM (UTC)
Nambe
I thought this was interesting - according to our local newspaper, Nambe is made in China now, and has been for the last year. I'm a little disappointed about that - not sure I'll be buying it for weddings like we have in the past anymore.
May 28, 2009 01:19 PM (UTC)
New Ride
Well, this Monday I wrecked our car. Tuesday the Insurance company informed us it was totaled. Wednesday morning we had the check in hand. That is some fast turn around. The police report isn't even done yet. Wednesday we rented a car for the day and went car shopping. We actually didn't go very many places. The whole process was so stressful. We ended up at a Jeep/Chrysler/Audi/Kia dealership. After 4 hours of negotiation we walked away with a Jeep Grand Cherokee for exactly what we wanted to spend. It is older, but for the money we had, we couldn't find much. The price went down by almost $1400 from when we walked in. That is amazing. I guess in these times the dealerships really are desperate to move their vehicles. Yes it is a bit of a gas hog, but not as bad as a lot of suv's. We decided we could really use the room with our expanding family. On top of that it had an excellent carfax. The max score is 79 and it scored a 73. That is amazing for a '98.
May 14, 2009 06:13 PM (UTC)
Wednesday Creative Movement A.M. Pictures
Here are some Gumdrop pictures of Nina, Sara, Ginnie, Ava, Mary and Ada! Sorry we missed you Jason, and good job everyone!
If you click on these, they're all full-size so they look good printed out or downloaded.
May 10, 2009 04:36 PM (UTC)
Let's Dance!
Ginnie had her second (and final) dance recital today. I think she had a lot of fun getting out on stage with her class. The whole recital was entertaining to watch, with some cute and hilarious moments courtesy of the really young kids, like Ginnie's class.
First off, I got an education in making a ballet bun with short hair (thank you, experienced Dance Moms). I'm fairly certain after learning how to do this that this is why God invented hair nets.
This was my first try. Not bad.
Ginnie's class were Gumdrops in the ballet (they did Candyland themes).
Mary, Ava, Ada, Nina, and the bottom two are Ginnie and Sara.
Ginnie with Neale after she came off stage. We got to stay and watch the entire recital the first night. She was thrilled with the big girls' dances, and ran backstage afterwards and handed out hugs to them all. Apparently that was a hit.
Baga and Bada came up to watch the matinee today. Ginnie was very happy about that!
Me with my Gumdrop girl.
May 10, 2009 03:17 AM (UTC)
Latest
Well here is the latest in my pregnancy. I am 20 weeks now. I am on modified bed rest but headed for full pretty soon. I had contractions a couple nights ago that sent me to the hospital.
On the up side, all of a sudden this little one is kicking like crazy. The baby is a boy! We are naming him Trent Jacob (TJ) Greb. He is a serious pill already, heheh.
May 07, 2009 09:08 PM (UTC)
Elliott grows
Elliott went to the doctor today for his 1 year check up. He is now 22lbs 7oz and 29 inches long. He also has 4 new teeth pushing through all at once. Think this explains why we've been going through so much baby ibuprofen!! Elliott enjoyed new nurse Debbie, but the tears came out for **4** shots!! Poor guy. He had lunch when we got home and is sleeping it off.
The doctor also confirmed what I already knew... Elliott has a milk protein allergy. He should outgrow it in a few years, but absolutely no dairy for him at all. He loves his soy milk, and thank goodness there are so many non-dairy alternatives in the grocery stores.
May 07, 2009 06:20 PM (UTC)
No way, sister
Funny quote from Ginnie the other morning when we were talking about going to soccer:
"No way, I'm NOT going to soccer, sister."
I cracked up when she told me that. I started calling her Sister awhile back mainly when she's up to no good (as in "Forget it, sister, we're not doing that") and she's totally picked up on it. Man, that kid.
April 29, 2009 08:03 PM (UTC)
Growing pains
Ginnie's been going through a rough development period lately. Most people would say she needs to have her attitude adjusted, but it basically comes down to her not wanting anything to do with anything except 1) Me (Mama) 2) Home 3) Preschool and 4) Baga, Bada, BA or other family members she doesn't get to see every day. Unfortunately for Neale, he's not on that list, although now that he's coming out of the haze of illness and she can jump on him again, he's starting to be OK again unless she's in a foul mood. She doesn't want to go to dance, claims that she doesn't like her friends, doesn't like soccer, and actually broke down in tears when I was talking to my friend Piper at the grocery store because...someone had the gall to talk to me. If you're wondering whether I'm carrying a whining and weeping child around with me a lot, you're wondering right.
I don't know what's up with this phase...I have a few guesses. Maybe she's still recovering from the last bout of illness or is coming down with something else, maybe it's just a "No" phase and it'll end eventually, or maybe she's tired and overwhelmed from activities. I've really tried to cool it with the outside of the home stuff, but maybe it's not enough. In any case, dance and soccer are ending in the next two weeks, and then we're on vacation for a week and a bit. When we get back preschool will meet a couple more times, and then she'll be home with no activities at all, all summer. I might be able to gauge what she can actually handle after that - we might forgo dance next year, but then again maybe she'll decide to try it again. Definitely forgoing soccer in the fall (this age is definitely not ready for it - maybe in a year). I was thinking about trading dance for gymnastics, but reports on the program in this town aren't all that hot, so probably not. I do not want to be a mom who forces her kid into too many activities - my reasons for doing dance and soccer were just that I like her to be doing something physical, anything really. But taking her swimming once a week is good too.
Anyway, I apologize if Ginnie gives offense if you run across her. She's just being a pill lately - being a pill followed by bouts of weeping and wailing. If she claims she doesn't like you, it's just the phase talking. Hopefully my mini-lectures and summertime will snap her out of it.
April 27, 2009 10:22 PM (UTC)
Bee update
Neale's still under the weather, so I thought I'd update news about the Lazy O Bee Ranch. The girls seem to be settling in just fine. After they all went into the hive yesterday, they were pretty drunk on sugar water after we hosed them down with it. A couple of hours later they were actively exploring outside the hive. They discovered the sugar water trough pretty quickly, which is good I think. In poor Neale's drug-induced stupor, he went to look after the said two hours passed, and panicked when he saw so much more activity around the hive. He thought they were swarming, having not found their new home to be up to par. Well, to say the least, they weren't. We did give them two more bars, which gives them a little more room, but they look like they're both orienting themselves to the hive and doing a typical liftoff pattern. One common flight pattern I'm seeing is exiting the hive, hovering around the top for a second and then shooting straight up in the air and away they go. From what we've read, that's a good, purposeful flight pattern. The activity level goes up and down depending on whether you're standing near the hive (especially if you remove their can o'syrup like Neale did earlier), whether it's windy and whether the sun is hitting the hive. At night they all return home, and this morning they didn't really get going until it had warmed up a bit and the sun was completely up. Right now a cluster of them is hanging out under the hive, on the bottom, and we can't really figure out why - I think they're reaching through the screen and cleaning out the poop and maybe trying to pull the dead bees out. It'll be interesting to see if that changes in the next few days. I wonder if we can help them out when we open the hive next week to check for the queen. (Edited to say: I have a new theory about why they're clustered under the hive. They seem to be in the same place that the queen cage is at the bottom of the hive, so maybe they're all paying their respects or something...or keeping her warm? I don't know how long it takes for her to be released from the cage, but the apiary we bought the bees from mentions that if they queen is still in the cage a week later, to cut the cage open to help free her...I suppose it could take more than 24 hours to eat through the candy plug...)
They are really, really docile. I've never been close to so many bees in my life, and they really don't care too much if you are close to them. Ginnie's been really good so far - she's not afraid of them at all. She keeps calling them "beautiful" (which, they are - very pretty bees and easy to recognize around the yard. Their abdomen is lighter yellow starting near the thorax, and turns honey colored and finally dark brown at the stinger. Their thorax is all fuzzy and pale yellow). She deals with them landing on her bonnet and her arms and clothes just fine. She likes to watch them, and is fascinated when they land on a dandelion and come away covered in yellow dust. They seem to treat landing on our clothes and arms like a good time to inspect themselves for sugar water to eat.
To top it off, the cherry tree we planted nearby the hive is blooming now. I'd say the bees are a hit.
Also, the weather is finally very spring-like now, although windy. I can't wait to see if my veggie garden is going to work out, although I've planted lettuce in much crappier conditions than what I put them in this time, and they came back the second season too. I do have my chiles that sprouted indoors, and my tomatoes are getting so big I think they're going to start climbing up my cabinets in the kitchen soon. I don't want to put them in the ground yet, though, since the final frost date isn't until May 15th here.
I did some spring cleaning in the garage today, and can finally park our car in there again now that the woodstove and chimney pipes aren't housed there anymore. Guess I'll go do some more work since everyone at my house is asleep anyway...
April 24, 2009 08:47 PM (UTC)
Sick, sick sick
So, Neale started running a fever after not getting over his virus/lung issues. Fevers after the virus is supposed to have run its course aren't really good things, so that raised a red flag. He went to the doctor, and the doctor basically said that something's up, could be bronchitis, could be who knows what, but we'll just throw some antibiotics at you and call it good. I'm totally fine with that - I think in this situation, antibiotics were probably a good call. I was thinking walking pneumonia personally, and apparently the drugs he has are pneumonia-strength, so hopefully this will get him back on his feet. Neale thinks he caught something else after the first cold virus, and his lungs just never got a break, but I think it might have been the constant travel during that first virus, and his lungs just weren't strong enough to deal with being tired and being sick and being on the road. I don't know.
Ginnie, on the other hand, is feeling better. She's still tired out from that virus. And me? I never catch anything. I get a sore throat every now and then, and that's it. Must be my superhuman immune system. When I get sick, I do it up in style, like having a thyroidectomy. I get stomach bugs when everyone else does, but when it comes to flu bugs and colds, I usually skip the worst symptoms, if not skipping the virus completely.
And the rest of this entry is going someplace a little more private...
April 23, 2009 07:38 PM (UTC)
Sick and on the road
I'm sitting in April and Dave's guest room with Ginnie here in Denver. We're visiting for Ariana's 2nd birthday, and of course, Ginnie fell sick. It's become this running joke that whenever the Picketts and Oteros get together, someone falls pretty ill. She's running a 103 degree fever and had the chills, but now she's warmer. She's alternating between a tummy ache and her throat hurting. Her doctor said to treat her fever, and if her throat keeps hurting to get her swabbed for strep. She's probably fine - we've all had this lovely cold virus that's affecting the throat and chest more than anything. So, we'll see how she's feeling tomorrow.
Last time April came to visit us, Ginnie came down with the croup. We've had kidney stones (Dave), clogged milk ducts (me), flus, colds, and stomach bugs over the years. I can think of maybe one or two times that we've all been well and not had to call the doctor.
Neale's really laid-back about this, but I think until Ginnie's 30 years old with kids of her own, I will panic whenever she runs a fever and complains of a tummy ache. That kidney infection was just awful - that was a 105 degree fever, so we're lower than that. I guess that's good...
April 19, 2009 01:42 AM (UTC)
Busy bzzz.eeee.
No, we haven't gotten our bees yet, but we're gearing up for them. They ship on Tuesday.
Today was a big milestone in the Pickett house - our woodstove is now installed. Not only that, our roof is done except for some gutter work, and both the woodstove and roof passed inspections! We're done!!!
We'll put the sides on the hearth in later, seal up the grout, and my god, this house is a sty. I'll be working on that too, at some point. Amazing how that happens with rearranging the house while the "playroom"'s function changed completely to be the "woodstove room." I was a little worried that the chimney coming out of the outside of the roof would be ugly and an eyesore, being so darn tall and all, but it's actually really cool looking, especially with the new lenses on the skylights and the new roof and all. Very nice. We're pretty thrilled to have this come to a close on such a high note, and very happy with our contractor. I need to give myself a pat on the back for being the Paperwork Lady for this giant house project. Between getting documents together for permits for building the hearth, for insurance for the roof and stove, and Neale and I both deciphered the manual for clearances for the woodstove at least five times...wow. I didn't really think that paperwork would be so prominent in a woodstove installation, but it really is. I'm actually not done, either - I still have to drop off documents for our insurance people.
In other news, Ginnie's doing Kinderkick with the YMCA here in town, and I think she's having fun. I hope she is. Four-year-olds and team sports are...entertaining, to say the least. I think I spend most of the time cracking up, or leading Ginnie back onto the field after she's done throwing a fit because some other kid stole her ball. Imagine that...in soccer, no less. Her coach is awesome. He sat the kids down at one point and said something to the point of "In soccer, some other kids might try to steal your ball, and that might make you sad, but you need to help your teammates and try to get the ball back." Practice is in the late afternoon, which has never been a good time for Ginnie temper-wise, but we're dealing with it. Oh yeah, and there was that great moment during the first practice when Ginnie threw her ball down on the field, ran to me and yelled "I'm SICK of all of these crying and whining BOYS!" Hah, awww, that's my Ginnie. In all fairness, they were all crying and whining, but the fact that she was complaining about the others complaining...very funny. And she hates being bossed around by other kids - that's very clear now. She's really, really REALLY independent and very strong-minded and not afraid to tell you all about it, too. I can't wait until she's 15. yay.
Our vegetable garden is in full swing. Carrots, radishes and lettuce in the ground, and we finally got a decently-priced composter from the county.
I think it's doing a great job of keeping the dogs out of our compost, and I found a good spot for it in the backyard. We have two rain barrels and plan to get two more.
School is going. I have renewed optimism that somehow, the actual graduate school coursework will all work out, UNM or otherwise. Right now I'm going to focus only on getting this first degree done, and hopefully the rest of it will fall into place when the time comes.
April 15, 2009 03:14 AM (UTC)
Ode to the bluebird
Dominic is singing his "ode to the bluebird" song...And here are both boys in their "ode to the refrigerator" pose.
April 10, 2009 10:21 AM (UTC)
Before & After
We were pretty busy last weekend updating our Master bedroom. I was tired of our faux finish and wanted warmer blue tones. We painted on Friday and Saturday, (went to Grandpa Gene's birthday party Saturday evening), then finished touch ups on Sunday, including putting the room back together. I also made new curtains and we hung those on Monday. I still have some tidying to do and have to decide where a few more wall hangings will go, but the major parts are done.Since the original paint job, we got rid of our useless security system, and we have a nice hanging light and 2 end tables (instead of the dumb brass boob light and one table).
Here's the before and after!
A better view of the curtains. I made panels and put them on sliding hardware and I like them so much better!
April 02, 2009 04:08 PM (UTC)