house pictures and orange picture

old bathroom=new hallway


exercise room


downstairs bathroom


stairs


treehouse bedroom


upstairs bathroom


upstairs bathroom


stairs


orange food orange hair orange bib

Baby recommendations

Books I like:
No Cry Sleep Solution
No Cry Discipline Solution

Sleepsacks I like:



Found new Halo and Kiddopotamus Sleepsacks on eBay, FYI.

lottery wish list

Old Stuff

Update on sweet 7 year old: Thursday he said swim practice must be getting a lot easier, or he's getting better. He's getting better. It's very cool.
Little dude is asleep in the swing. I couldn't stand to get rid of a few things without making a record of them, so I scanned them. My friend Amy Dixon and her sister Deborah and I used to use those stencil-type letters that you had to rub on individually to make stationery prototypes that would potentially, some day get made into real stationery. Amy and I were about 10. I had to show you this one.


I also found (had delivered by my parents) a semi-Hello Kitty plastic thing for note paper. I had hardly used any of the paper because I wanted to save it because I thought it was so neat. 1976 San Rio.

Lastly, the little dude is doing very cute things such as laughing and putting his entire fist in his mouth. I think he will be standing on his own (holding on to something) soon. His reflux is better, but now he is teething. Brad thinks he is getting fangs, first. Those are the only ones he can feel. Although we know it's usually the bottom front teeth.
The first CCC swim meet is this weekend. I hope the parents can keep their Mr Hyde's at bay.
In house news, we are almost almost done. The cement floor was cleaned and sealed. The drawer pulls and towel rods got put up today. We have been enjoying our tree house bedroom for over a month. It is so awesome. Quiet. Relaxing. I have watched extremely little tv since we moved. The living room tv got moved to the exercise room, so the only time I watch taped Ellen is when I ride the spin bike. The bedroom tv is 1)too far away for me to see a)because it's small and b)because the bedroom is big! and 2) I used to watch tv before bed, and now we listen to Hank's relaxation CD. I made him 2 new ones last night. I took out the organ music. 1)because Brad didn't care for it and 2)because it had too big of crescendos I couldn't equalize with iTunes.
3)Would you like another numbered list?
4)Little dude is waking!

sweet

I have a sweet little 7 year-old boy on the swim team. I am such a sucker for sensitive little boys. I am not very tolerant of the ones that say silly answers to every question after being asked not to. Unfortunately, the sweet little 7 year-old swims like he is riding a bike. His head is up, his legs are very bent, and he doesn't really go anywhere. He improved today. I tried the seesaw analogy. While he had never been on a seesaw! he was able to understand what I mean by head goes down, feet come up.
Dude is asleep and as soon as I get done pontificating, I am going to do something intellectual!

Diagnosis spider

BH was bitten by a brown recluse and he won't go to the doctor.

I had baby duty for 24 hours because we initially thought he had the flu. For the first 2 months, I did not ever want to be away from the baby. Now, I need breaks. Especially due to his acid reflux. Poor guy. It's hard to be around him with no break when he is upset. MA and I talked about feeling guilty when we left our husbands alone with the kid. Or feeling like the husband was baby sitting the kid. In fact, the responsibility is half his, and he is not baby sitting. Our husbands never act like it is more our job or act like we should feel guilty when we leave, this is just our thought process. I even sometimes feel guilty when I go to work, particularly when BH is usually at work and is staying home to work. He can work from home any time he feels like if he doesn't have meetings. I guess this is one of those things I have to say, isn't that interesting, Mary. It's not bad or wrong, just interesting. The reality is, I love the baby, and I want to be around him 99.9% of the time. Normal people have to have moments of silence to themselves. I am a normal person. I suppose that is up for debate.

Determined to write up my dissertation as a manuscript to submit to a journal. Feel like if I had a block of 2 hours every now and then I could get it done. I cannot think long enough to write complete paragraphs when I only have 20 minutes here or 20 minutes there. I am hoping the dude will eventually get on enough of a schedule I can predict when I might have 2 hours.
I can clean the house in the short breaks, answer email, become self-absorbed on my blog. But, I can't use very much of my brain unless I have a block of time. That was true even before baby.
It's funny how almost everyone I know from age 30+ complains that their brain does not work as well as it used to, and they think they are abnormal. Maybe this is another one of those things. I am going to stop telling myself my brain isn't working even when it isn't. The other day I couldn't think of the word highchair. Isn't that interesting.

miscellaneous, but what isn't

fun/funny website

Feeling good about democratic party. Not crazy about Hillary, but appreciative of her magnanimity. Didn't like Bill while he was prez, but post-prez was doing great until he tried to get his wife elected. I figure he is still trying to make amends to her. Too bad he screwed it up! I really really really really hope Barack Obama becomes our president for the next 8 years. It will be the only way the US can continue to show its face in the world. John McCain seems like a nice person, and what a life he has had, but I don't want him to continue the beehive poking in the Middle East, and he seems determined to do so.
HH is feeling better, but is not cured from his acid reflux. It is extremely sad to see him upset.
We started a bedtime routine last Saturday night. 1. Get naked 2. Bath with lavendar Aveeno baby body wash 3. Sleep sack 4. Relaxing music - I made a CD 5. Ad lib food. Tonight he has gone to sleep 3x, but this last time has stayed asleep for an hour. His max sleep time was 7 hours, but that was a TOTAL fluke. His normal max is 4 hours. I am trying to stretch him to 5. I think once he can eat better during the day, he will be able to go longer at night.
Tomorrow starts some new classes at the J. We are changing the early spinning class to a "cardio" class. I am thinking there will be some rebellion. I thought we would do some kick-boxing. Everyone gets into punching in the mirror.
Selling some old board games on eBay. Found one similar to one I have buy it now for $54. Wouldn't that be nice. They must have been put somewhere I couldn't reach, or I couldn't get anyone to play with me. Brad said having siblings did not facilitate playing board games, either. Well, I hope Hank does get a board game partner, but I guess it's not a done deal that they will play together.
Coaching at Canyon Creek for 6 weeks. The sweet kids. I love working with/for Don. I also liked working for Steve, but this team is an entirely different animal - only a 6 week season, 2 intramural meets that only last 3 hours, and the kids are less skilled, but very very sweet.
Someday maybe I can swim at Lost Creek, again. I miss wanting to swim 5000 m. I have been lucky to swim 2x/week, and if I can make myself stay in 2000 yards, it's a success.
Even before the kid, my motivation to exercise changed. When I was doing triathlons, I think I was highly motivated by anxiety. Once I stopped being plagued by anxiety, I stopped going on 5 hour bike rides. I was still swimming a lot, but it was purely for the joy of 400 IM. I think if I could swim in the morning, I could get back into 5000 m, but if I swim in the afternoon, I have a really hard time being energetic, and for some reason my brain will not stay in the water.
It's inconvenient that Brad and I are both morning exercisers. I think we are both doing fine, though. Neither one of us has become obese or developed type II diabetes or heart disease. Well, I take that back, I could be overweight. I probably am. I don't feel huge, but I am still 15 pounds heavier than my normal. I'm fairly cool with that.
Hank is training to be a security guard. He likes to hold keys, stand around, and check all the doors.

found cat

courtesy of EBM

Blue eyes high chair