A better Halloween picture

In that first one, he looked mostly like "why, Mom, why??"

So here's a better one. And he's wearing pants!

Happy Halloween (Part 2)

Did someone cancel trick-or-treating and forget to tell us?  The kids didn't start coming until 7 pm, and even then, we only got about half of what we normally do.  I wanted to answer the door with D in his bumblebee costume, but by 7, the little guy was cranky, so I decided it was time for his bath and bed. 

I was worried the door bell ringing constantly would wake him up, but he slept through it all.  Hurray!

Of course, he's not fond of daylight savings time.  He doesn't understand that mommy wants to sleep until the new 5 am.  He wants his bottle when he always gets it, and if it just happens to be the new 4 am, well, too bad for mommy.  Same thing happened Monday morning.  I hope he gets adjusted to the new time in the next day or two.

We went to the Houston Habitat For Humanity ReStore on Saturday to check out what they had.  I was disappointed.  I was hoping for much better prices on stuff than what they had.  Cabinets that went from $100-420 and weren't even in all that good shape.  No thanks.  I'll keep looking.

Also did some of my own baby food this weekend.  Little D loves my banana oatmeal that I make for him.  Tonight, I'm thinking pumpkin pancakes for mom and dad, and maybe some pumpkin oatmeal for him. 

My Finds and Projects

Here's a cute little Halloween pumpkin candy / neat-thing holder I found at a thrift store.  Half price, so it cost $3.

I have more projects, like a jewelry box I'm refinishing, and a wooden cable spoon that I'm going to attempt to turn into an outdoor table for my patio.  But I'd rather wait until they're done so I can do before and after shots. 

Happy Halloween!

Finally, Fall

Kept waiting for that cold front to come through yesterday, but it apparently stalled around Dallas.  Last night at 7:30 pm it was 82 and felt like 92.  On October 29!!  We had the air conditioner on.  Bleah.  At least it was nice and windy yesterday.  It rained a little bit off and on, but none of the huge downpour we were supposed to have.  At least we could go for a walk in the evening, since the wind kept the mosquitoes away.

When the front finally got here around 10, the temperature dropped from 80 to 60 in about 10 minutes.  Oof.

I finally tried to go get my flu shot yesterday, since they finally said at work they weren't going to do anymore.  So off I go to the local pharmacy, and nope, they don't have any more.  Ask around and no one has any more flu shots.  Well, bugger.  First time I haven't gotten one on years, and it's the year I really need one.  Guess I can call the doctor's office, but I really hate to go in there.  There's sick people in there.

Got to work outside the office yesterday, and it was so nice.  For some reason, I've had a terrible time concentrating at work.  But when I got away from my office yesterday, I was able to finish a whole bunch of documents I'd been working on for a week.  Plus it was nice just to be somewhere quiet for a while. 

I also attended a webinar on eliminating bottled water from campus.  I had been thinking about trying to eliminate plastic bottles from our campus, but figured I'd be facing an uphill battle there.  However, if I just tackle bottled water, I might have a better shot at getting it to happen.  After all, water is free from the tap and the fountains here, and it's more regulated than the bottle water industry.

And for my craft for the evening, I made a felt carrot for little D to play with.  Well, that's the project that I finished.  I also did some painting and distressing on a jewelry box I'm playing with, and I started sanding a cable coil I picked up from the trash to try and turn into a patio table.  It's an experiment, so we'll see.

Sheesh, even my writing is all over the place lately.  No flow, and jumping from one topic to the next like a grasshopper.  What was the saying my mom had...?

"I don't have ADD, I'm just - hey , look a chicken!"

A Scarily Productive Sunday

I think the fall cleaning bug bit me yesterday.  The weather was gorgeous, and I'd had several craft projecst I really wanted to work on, but the house was in too much of a mess to do much.  I'm not sure where I started, but somewhere along the way, it turned into a full-blown cleaning day.  Let's see if I can remember everything I did...

• Vacuumed the windowsills then washed them clean. They were filthy.  I think I could have grown plants in there, with all that dirt
• Swept and mopped the kitchen and living room floor
• Cleaned the inside windshield of the car and truck
• Did 2 loads of dishes
• Did 2 loads of laundry
• Completed, then put away a 1500 piece jigsaw puzzle
• Cleaned the gutters all around the house
• Washed the outside of the kitchen trashcan
• Washed out the microwave
• Cleaned the smooth surface stove top with Cerama Bryte
• Recycled 2 old and broken TVs at Best Buy, something that had been on my list for months
• Swept cobwebs off the ceiling
• Used my knowledge of chemistry to clean an annoying spot on my cabinet floor
• Went to Sam's Club for Halloween candy and chicken and cheese
• Shredded the big block of cheese from Sam's Club and froze the extra for later
• Installed 2 new door stops
• Installed a cord wrap for the blinds on one window
• Learned how to drill out a stripped screw
• Fed the baby 4 times
• Went to the Dollar Store and Home Depot with Declan to pick up Halloween and home repair supplies
• Played with the baby for 2 long sessions
• Played a video game
• Spent some quality time with Daniel

Whew! I haven't been that busy in a long, long time.

NASA's Ballunar Festival and Open House

I volunteered to help out at our booth at NASA's open house on Saturday.  I don't know how much help I was, because I had to take Declan with me.  But there were a lot of volunteers there, so no one had to do very much.  And everyone loved holding and watching over Declan so I could do a few things now and then.  I think my biggest accomplishments were getting lunch, recycling the cardboard boxes and giving a personalized "tour" to a group of friends from Illinois.

Tom and Jan Jones, the parenst of my best friend from high school, were visiting Galveston for a week doing some missionary work and rebuilding a church destroyed by Hurricane Ike last year.  They came along with several of their friends.  It was just an accident really, that they learned about the festival.  I was visiting Illinois last July and mentioned the Ballunar Festival to Jan.  She said she would be in Galveston, and it so happened they were both on the same weekend.  They were all excited to come and see what happens at JSC.  Don't know if they saw any balloons or not, though.

I was disappointed that the balloons didn't fly in on Friday morning like they normally do.  Someone told me it was because the weather was too cold, but I don't know.  Didn't see them on Saturday morning either.

But Declan and I had fun.  I got a personalized postcard of Declan in an astronaut suit next to the space shuttle going up. And I got a picture of him with an astronaut while wearing his new astronaut t-shirt.

It was a long day, but it was a lot of fun.  And Declan was such a peach while we were out.  He didn't fuss or cry at all.  He skipped his morning nap because there was too much fun stuff going on, but he finally conked out in his stroller around 4:00 pm. I think we all had a good day.

More Veggies

Time for baby to expand his taste universe.  Lately I've been stepping up the variety he eats.  I think Daniel only feeds him cereal in the morning, maybe with a bit of fruit, and just one thing at lunch.  But when I get him at dinner, I always feed him at least 2 different solids, and I try to make one of them a green veggie.  But it seems the last few days, everything I've given him has been orange:  carrots, squash, pumpkin, banana (technically not orange, but not green either). 

So last night, I got him baby food green beans, and he did pretty well with them.  Since they were new, I gave him bananas as a follow up, since they are one of his favorite things.  He at 2 tablespoons of bananas last night, and 1 of green beans.  I also picked up a jar of turkey, since he can start eating meat in another week or two.  He still isn't a big fan of texture in his food.  If it's too chunky, he cries and won't eat it.  But if it's smooth enough, he'll eat just about anything.

My committment to better eating is to no longer drink sodas in front of Declan.  I don't want him to grow up thinking it's okay to drink sodas all the time, so it's now water, tea or coffee.  I drink my soda after he goes to bed or at lunch when he's sleeping or playing.  It also makes me cut way back on soda, to 1 a day or less.  And I'm eating my veggies too.  I try to eat something green at every dinner.

Pictures From Our Trip to Illinois (Finally)

My reasoning (excuse?) is that I work all day, take care of the baby as soon as I get home until he goes to bed, then I have about 2-3 hours to do what I want to do, and a lot of times, that's watch a tv show or play video games or read a book.  I've spent so little time on my computer in the last couple weeks.  Honestly, it's nice.  For a while, I was just wasting time doing stupid Facebook games.

So here are some of our pictures from my and Declan's trip to Illinois.

Declan's first plane flight.


Here's Declan hanging out with Poppy, aka Uncle David.


Here's Declan and Granddad.  Doesn't Declan look happy?


I love this one of Declan and Devon.  It looks like they're having a great conversation.  When we picked out Declan's name, we didn't think about how similar it was to his cousin, Devon.  And I have to apologize to Devon.  I can never remember if his name is spelled with an o or an i.


While home, Mom and I went to the Covered Bridge Festival.  The festival is huge and held at several different small towns around the area.  We only went to Bridgeton, and here's the bridge in this town.


You had to drive for 30-40 minutes down winding country roads to get to it.  Loved this barn in the middle of a field.


It's pumpkin time.  Here's the baby in his pumpkin face shirt.


We went to Pumpkin Works with my high school friend, Tricia, and her group of kids.  They all loved Declan and passed him around, loving all over him.  Maybe that's why he didn't have a lot of love left over for the pumpkins.  At least in this one, he's not crying.



His cousin Garrett had a wonderful time making Declan laugh.  I love how babies can make fools out of everyone around them.


Here we are in the Indianapolis airport, getting lunch before getting on the plane to come back to Houston.  I don't know why, but I think it's hilarious to put things on my baby's head.

My Decorating Style

Michelle, you are a Global Casual

Your home is warm and inviting, and expresses your curiosity and zest for life. You have wide-ranging interests, and an appreciation for many different cultures and ways of life. You bring a sense of the far-flung world into your home through its décor through unique or artisan-made treasures. Objects in your home tend to reflect your personality, your passions, your values, and your eclectic interests. This gives your home a sense of intrigue and comfort.

You value creativity. You are stylish and fun loving, and can be an inspiration to others. You have a natural sense of drama, and you know you have to be willing to take risks—whether with colors, finishes, furniture choices, or ideas—for your home to stand out. Your home can be happy and lively and the place all of your friends want to be.
Putting Your Style to Work!
With your style and needs in mind, here are a few tips that will help you make your home a little happier.

1. Your Design Challenge: UNIFY The good news is, you probably have many things you love and have collected, and no one would ever say your home is boring! You've done the hard part; now you just need to pull it all together. If your furniture seems like a mish-mash, unify it through similar upholsters or slipcovers. When grouping objects, try to find something they have in common. If they share a shape, color or material, they will look like a collection. A tray is every decorator's secret weapon for making groups of small objects look purposeful and sculptural. If your accessories are all over the map, try subduing the upholstery or wall color, so your small items are the stars.

2. Your Happy Place Think of your outdoor space, no matter how small, as rooms, and create distinct areas. A pair of chaises flanking a little side table makes a living room. A lantern hanging from a tree or pergola over a table and chairs makes a dining room. A cluster of potted plants on a patio can create a cozy nook, and a single urn or bench placed at the far end can draw your eye, making a space seem longer. Big lanterns with candles sitting on the ground create a sense of space and give beautiful light. Try out new ideas before you start shopping by taking a photo of your area and laying some tracing paper over the print to draw whatever you're planning first.

3. Be Party-Ready All the Time! Scent: The first thing you notice about a home is how it smells. Use naturally fragrant cleaning products. If you find a scented candle or fresh potpourri you love, stock up on it. Any scent you like, whether perfume or linen spray, can be used on upholstery, bedding or just spritzed into the air.

Mood: Nice, flattering light makes us feel good. So nix the harsh, direct light from overhead fixtures in favor of the softer glow from floor and table lamps. Also, stock up on some votive candles and a couple of hurricane lanterns for setting around the room.

Food: Devote space in your pantry or on a shelf for go-to party essentials: crackers, dip, chips, nuts—whatever you like to serve. Keep on hand a collection of attractive bowls and cocktail napkins, and you'll be able to set a spread—instantly!

Drink: The simplest and chicest thing is to have a drinks tray or table always set up. Include a mix of pretty glasses, an ice bucket, a lovely pitcher, and bottles of soda and water. When the bell rings, just add ice and limes.



Your Happy Home Colors

Yellow

Putting Color to Use!
You are probably not one to go in for crazy color, and you may want to keep things fairly neutral and sophisticated overall. But try selecting a duo or trio of colors that work well together, and introduce one or more of them into your curtains, wall color or rugs. This will tie the overall palette together in a coherent way. You could even incorporate your color palette in smaller doses, like in your tablecloths, cushions, throws, or bedspreads, for example.


Quiz from Home Goods

Never thought yellow would be my color, though.

Roll out of Ares I-X at Kennedy Space Center

Friend of mine sent me this picture today. It's the newest NASA rocket, the Ares I-X, which will be used to launch crew into orbit. It's rolling to the pad today. Guess it's getting ready for a test launch.



Linky to the news release.

Brownies on Friday

I splurged on a new cookie cookbook while I was in Illinois. I've been feeling like baking. Yes, I know I need to lose weight. But I also need to bake.

So Friday I make peanut butter brownies. They had a graham cracker crust, a chocolate brownie middle with partially melted peanut butter chips, and a peanut butter frosting. They were okay, but the graham cracker crust was very crumbly, and resulted in ants on my coffee table and floor from the crumbs. The frosting was a little too thick. In all, I think the best thing was the brownie middle, which was quite good.

I'm testing out recipes to use for Christmas presents, since I don't want to buy a bunch of junk to give out.

Finally Back From Vacation

Had to take a little vacation after my vacation, too!

Declan and I went to Illinois last week to visit my parents. I went for a whole week and it was glorious. The grandparents got to see the little guy; so did his aunt, uncle and cousins. I had more people to take care of him, and a mother to ask for advice. The weather was beyond fantastic, even if it rained for a few days. And Daniel got a week at home to play video games and sleep in to his heart's content. We all won. :)

First, the weather. When I left, it was 94 degrees and muggy in Houston. I got off the plane and it was in the upper 50s. So wonderful! I don't think Declan has ever been in weather that chilly. We dressed him in some long sleeves and pants, and he spent a long time pulling at the sleeves, like what are these things? The trees were just starting to change, so there was a lot of green with vibrant pops of yellow, orange and red. I went out with my camera one day to take pictures, but I don't think I got any real amazing shots, unfortunately.

Declan learned to army crawl while at my parents'. He also learned to roll over from side to side on command, instead of by accident like before. The week before, he could sort of crawl, but he only ended up spinning in a circle on his tummy. He also learned to eat better, and he's pretty much sitting up on his own. You still have to be there in case he makes a sudden lunge, and he can't get to a sitting position on his own, but sit him up and put toys around him, and he can amuse himself for a long time.

Declan didn't sleep too well while we were there. He didn't have his swing that he naps in at home, and he HATES going to sleep. He's definitely my child. There's always too much to do to go to sleep. He would cry and scream and flail around when he was tired and we were trying to convince him to nap. Finally, by the end of the week, I gave up and was just letting him sit up when he was tired. He did that in my dad's lap on Wednesday, and it was hilarious. His eyes would droop, then he'd snap them open. Then they'd droop again and he's sway forward, only to wake himself up. Then he finally just closed his eyes and slumped backward, completely asleep.

I feel like I got plenty of time to just relax and be a mommy. I feel like I got to know Declan a lot better by spending so much time with him, and not having to go out and do other stuff because I was at home. It was very nice, and inspired me to buy a couple of lottery tickets.

Then when we got home, I've been busy trying to get unpacked and get things put away, organize for the upcoming week, make brownies, and play Brutal Legend, a new video game. Oh, plus take care of the baby and the husband with the injured back. I'm slowly going through my pictures of the trip, and I'll post the better ones soon. I promise!

Rain, Rain, It Rained So Much

It rained all day Sunday, and it was nice. Been a long time since we've had a soaking rain that lasted all day. It's been drought for most of the summer, interspersed with a few heavy, short downpours. Our pond out back is overflowing, and all my plants are happy and watered. I need to get some planting soil to put my tomatoes outside tonight or tomorrow night.

Rusty came over on Saturday and helped me plan out what to do with my back yard that I'm trying to turn into a garden. He has some great ideas. Now all I need is the help to implement them. Foolish man, he agreed to come back some weekend to help me build some beds. :)

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

The verdict Saturday was peas - no; bananas - yes! He ate half a jar of bananas last night, and only 3 oz of formula. And he was perfectly content. Then Sunday, it was peas - no; squash - yes. I'm thinking he's not liking the peas too much anymore. And this morning, Daniel called asking how I got Declan to eat his oatmeal yesterday. I told him "runny". Apparently, oatmeal is not good eats this morning.

On the plus side, he slept great last night, after an absolutely horrible night on Saturday. Saturday, we went to Walmart for a few things from 6-7. He was falling asleep in the store, so when we got home, I put him right to bed, skipping his bedtime bath. After about an hour, he was awake again. Tried soothing, but it didn't work. We were watching the last episode of season 2 of Dexter and I really wanted to see what happened. So I finally got him out of his crib, wrapped him in a blanket, turned off all the lights except the tv, and held him while I finished watching the show. He still didn't want to go to sleep. Declan didn't actually settle to sleep until 11 pm, and even then, he kept waking up, until I finally put him in bed with me. Then he was up at 4:30 am. ugh. The only good thing about that was that I fed him, then put him down and he was asleep as soon as his head touched the mattress. Poor Daniel got kicked out of his own bed. Again.

Declan's Six Month Well-Baby Checkup

It's official. We are parents to Giganto Baby! He weighed 21 lbs 13 oz yesterday, and was 25.5 inches long. That puts him in the 100th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for length. I don't know. When I look at him, he looks perfectly happy and healthy with just the right amount of chunkiness for a baby.

I don't think I really liked the pedi we saw yesterday. Our normal pedi was recovering from back surgery, so we saw another in the group. We talked about Declan's weight, and according to the feeding chart we have from Similac, he should be eating between 24-40 ounces a day, or 4-5 bottles of 6-8 ounces each. He's been consistently eating 35-40 ounces a day, and he hadn't been eating solids foods consistently until last week. But when we told the pedi that, she immediately when, oh no, that's way too much to be feeding him. He should only be eating 30 ounces a day max. Um...How am I supposed to cut him back that much?

We started cutting him back a little bit last night. He got 4 ounces at dinner along with his peas. We tried giving him only 6 ounces for bedtime, but he wouldn't settle until he had 8 ounces.

Then he was up at midnight, screaming and crying. I'm guessing it was because he was either hungry or in pain from the shots he got yesterday. I finally ended up feeding him 4 ounces of water, followed by 4 ounces of formula, and I put him in bed with me. Poor Daniel, sleeping on the couch again.

Then Declan was up around 4 am. I soothed him until a little after 5, when I gave him his morning bottle. He was crying a lot and woke Daniel up, so Daniel told me to go back to bed for a few extra hours and he'd take over.

That was one of the nicest presents he ever gave me. I got to sleep from 5-9, and I felt so much better. I was late to work, but it was worth it. Unfortunately, Daniel is going to be dragging all day today. Declan was fussing and crying about his 9 am bottle, and Daniel was too tired to deal with it. So I fed him his peas and formula this morning. It didn't go well. I think the little guy is probably still in pain, probably a little hungry, and he might not have liked the fact that his peas were cold.

Anyway, the rest of Declan's pedi visit went well, except for the shots. But no one likes shots. He got an oral vaccine, and 3 shots, one of which was the first of 2 flu vaccines. He has to go back in a month for the second flu vaccine.

I'm afraid it's going to be another long night tonight. *sigh*

New baby pics

I've been busy lately. And tired. I'll admit it. When I come home, I have to immediately take care of Declan, and it's nonstop from 5-8pm every night. I love it, but when he goes to bed, I've been zoning out on the couch with either my new video game or watching the first season of Dexter, which is pretty darn good.

Anyway, I thought I should get caught up on my pictures this weekend while Declan is napping. I just sent a bunch to be printed out for the grandmothers. Plus I organized his pictures on my computer. I still need to upload my latest video of him babbling yesterday. It was so cute. But for now, pictures will have to do.

First I'll brag on my new hair cut/color. Here it is actually styled by Allison, so it still looks nice, instead of in my customary ponytail. I'm growing it out so Declan can't yank on it so easily.


Mommy and Baby


Happy Tummy Time


He looks so mischievous here.


And here it's more like, "Can we go home now?"


Towel on head is funny!


"Hey, look at me!"

Fall is coming

The weather has been teasing us with some nice days. I think the low actually got to 69 for 1 or 2 nights. It's back up to the upper 80s/lower 90s right now, and still humid as all get out, but the end is in sight.

Unfortunately, the mosquitoes are still horrid. I heard the mosquito spraying truck trundle by last night, so hopefully in a day or two it will be better outside. Poor Declan is covered with mosquito bites, including several on his face. Poor little guy is just fresh meat laid out like a feast for the mosquitoes. Maybe that's part of why he's been crabby lately.

He's also cranked up the drool factory, so maybe another set of teeth are coming in. His bottom teeth are really showing, and he can bite my finger pretty hard.

I had given up on feeding him solid foods for a couple of weeks. He would cry every time I got a spoon near his mouth. It was better with my finger, but still not great. So I stopped for a while. Then I picked up a jar of baby food - apples - and tried that. He loved it this morning. He ate it without much fuss at all. We only ate about a third of the bottle, but it was promising. I'll give him some more tonight with dinner. He's just been so hungry lately, that his bottles haven't been satisfying him for long. This morning he was up at 3:30 for a bottle. Maybe he just wants his solid foods a lot more runny than I had been making.

Long, long week

I had to do the contract review last week, and it took forever to get ready for it. The number of reviews we go through is amazing. 2-3 reviews in our office, a procurement office review, then the first of 2 official reviews, then the final one that determines the contract rating. ANd they're very formal and extremely important. I'm so glad it's done, at least for another 5 months.

I had to stay late several nights, and this week, Declan was super cranky. Daniel was frustrated and upset by the time I'd get home. It's really hard trying to balance work against a newborn baby. Sometimes I think the people at work don't realize what they ask when they want me to stay late. I think they think that it's okay because my husband is watching the kiddo. But if I were a single parent or had Declan in daycare, I couldn't stay late. So it's not fair to ask Daniel to work late on taking care of the baby. He gets upset, and at work, they think I'm slacking off. *sigh* Oh well, I can only do what I can do.

Rolling Over Some More

This morning, after I gave Declan his bottle, he didn't stay up for long before he was ready to go back to bed. So I put him back in his crib, but minus his leg swaddle. I went in to check on him about 30 minutes later, and he was lying on his side, rolled up against the edge of the crib. I guess before long he'll be rolling over completely in his crib.

Date Night Last Weekend

One of my coworkers/friends came over Saturday night and watched Declan so that Daniel and I could get out of the house without the baby for a few hours. Thank you, Mary and Emily!!

We went to see "9", the new animated movie about puppets in a post-apocalyptic world. It was visually very beautiful, but when the movie was over, I turned to Daniel and said, what the heck was that? The ending made no sense to me. I was actually rather bummed because it was so confusing. It felt like the movie took a hard left turn it the last 5 minutes, then just skipped to something else entirely. Oh well, it was still pretty to watch.

Then we went out for Indian food. Went to Moghul's, but they were burning some sort of very strong incense. It smelled awful. It literally smelled like a urine-soaked bathroom to me. How could incense smell so bad? The waitress tried to seat us at the very back of the restaurant, but it didn't help. After less than a minute in there, I had to get out because I was gagging. I practically ran out of the place. Ugh.

So we tried another Indian place. This one was busy. They put us in a corner and forgot about us. *sigh* Guess it wasn't my night. Next time we'll go to La Tapa Tapa.

But it was still very nice to get out and have some adult time. Although it was hard to find something to talk about besids baby stuff and video games.

Wal Mart Is Awesome

And I never thought I would write those words.

Our HDTV started to go out on us a couple months ago. Turned out to be the power supply. We had bought it from Wal-Mart with the extended warranty. When it went out, we were thrilled at first that we had the extended warranty, because it died when it was 2 months from being out of warranty.

We put in a claim in early July, and they said it would take 2-3 weeks to fix it. They didn't even send us the box for shipping it back for 2 weeks, then they held onto it for 5 more weeks. By then, we had gone past our warranty expiration on Sept 1.

When we finally got the tv back on Sept 11, turns out the picture quality was broken. The picture was ghosting and had jagged lines through it. We called the service center to complain and they said, it turns on, so it's not our fault. We called Wal-Mart to complain, and the lady said it's past the warranty date, so tough cookies.

We finally wrote an email and sent it to the Wal-Mart corporate executives. We pointed out that the repair center charged Wal-Mart $600 to repair a tv now worth $400, and that if they had been as timely as they promised, we would have had our tv back in time to notice it was broken and submit a new claim under our warranty. Apparently, we found someone sympathetic.

Within one hour of sending the email, Daniel got a phone call from a nice gentleman named Doug who said that Wal-Mart would be refunding the entire purchase price of our tv!!

I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even sure I would until I got home today, and they had sent the check overnight! Wow.

Thank you, Wal-Mart, for honoring your extended warranty and making good. You have 2 very happy customers.

He rolled over and I caught it on video

Want to see?

Rolling over

Busy Weekend

Got my hair done on Saturday, then we had to go to Sam's Club to get more formula. We decided to try the Sam's Club version, since it was $11 for the same amount as we had been buying of Similac, but the Similac was $29. That size will last Declan about a week, so it's a not insignificant savings. We'll see how he does on it this week.

Saturday night, I tried plums and he seemed to like those. I think he really only wants very smooth purees right now. He's rejected apples, pears, and green beans, but he'll eat avocado, sweet potato and now plums.

Sunday, Daniel watched the baby for a couple hours, while I did a lot of yard work. We had the stump ground out of our yard a week ago, so I started shoveling the lava rocks that had been around it. Put them from the yard into the flower beds against the fence. Worked on that for the better part of an hour, and got through maybe a third of it. Plus I blistered my hands.

Then I pruned the fig tree and my roses, moved about a hundred brinks and restacked them, built a compost pile and filled up the pond. Yep, I was busy. And now on Monday, my legs hurt and my hands hurt where I blistered them. But I'm happy I got a lot accomplished.

My eventual goal is to replant my lemon tree from by the kitchen to the spot where we had the stump ground out. I think it needs more sun that it's getting right now. Then I want to put in raised vegetable beds around it. That's the area of my yard that gets a lot of good sunlight. But first, I have to move all the lava rocks out of the way, level the ground and build the raised beds. Yeah, that's all. *rolleyes*

Rolling Over

On Friday, Daniel said that Declan rolled from his back to his belly, but he didn't actually see the baby do it. He looked over and Declan was on his belly when he had been playing on his back.

This morning, he rolled back to belly twice more. And both times he managed to do it without me seeing him. I think he forgot how to roll belly to back though, because he needed help getting turned back onto his back.

5 Month Pictures

Here's some pics I took over the last week.

5 Months Old




A Boy and His Rattle


Happy Baby. I like this one.


"I've called you all here today to discuss a very serious matter..."


"Is it naptime yet?"

My little guy is growing up fast

Yes, I know I haven't posted much lately. I've been busy. Stressful at work the last week, and then when I get home, I take care of the baby and just veg on the couch for an hour after he goes to bed, then I fall asleep. A little bit boring, but not bad overall.

Little Declan's developing fast. His two lower front teeth are starting to make an appearance, and he rolled over 3 times on Wednesday. He rolled from his belly to his back. He's getting closer to rolling from back to belly. He can arch his body and get on his side, but he hasn't figured out that all he has to do is move his leg over and he'll turn over.

He's also getting much better at sitting up. He still has to be supported, but he managed to tripod sit for about 10-15 seconds at a time before doing a sideways face plant onto the playmat. :)

I also realized last night that he sleeps like me. I'll have to get a picture somehow, but he sleeps with both his arms above his head. I was in bed last night and realized I was laying down exactly the same way. It's comfortable.

I spy with my little eye something that starts with T

As in...Declan's getting teeth!

He's been grumpy and fussy for a month now. It started with the 4 month wakefuls, and then just kept going. He'd be grumpy, even though he was sleeping through the night again (mostly). I kept feeling his gums for teeth for the past 2 weeks, but nothing. Apparently, I didn't get my teeth until I was 10 months old, so I thought he wouldn't get his for a long time.

Saturday, I took him out, and the book store owner said he's teething, look how he's chewing on his fingers. I didn't tell her that he'd been chewing and sucking like that since he was 2 months old. But Saturday night, I was feeling his gums, and by golly, there were two little white nubbins poking up through his gums.

I really hope they come in quickly and he gets in a good mood. I forget what it's like to have a baby that's happy. I'm gonna miss my toothless baby though. I love that big toothless grin.

More random pictures

Peek A Boo!


Big Foot, Little Foot...


Big Hand, Little Hand...


"Let me take the picture, Mommy!"

All About Avocado

For the last week, Declan's been regressing on his solid food. He just hasn't wanted any. I thought finally, maybe it's because of the texture. He liked the avocado we started with, so I thought I'd try that again.

I got a nice ripe one today at the store and mashed it up. At first, he wanted nothing to do with it when I offered it on a spoon. He cried and turned away. So I gave him some more bottle, then let him play with the avocado. He got his hands in the bowl and squished it around. After a few minutes of that, I put some on a spoon and let him grab that and wave it around. Finally, a baby's habit of putting everything they grab in their mouth paid off. He would grab the spoon of avocado and push it into his mouth. He ended up eating about half of what I made, maybe a little less. He wore the rest of it.

Wanna see?

What a night...

We thought we were in for a normal night last night, but Declan had other plans.

It started off normal. Bottle and solid food practice at 6 pm. Tonight it was green beans (see earlier post about the food processor). The green beans went over better than the applesauce did (is he my kid?), but I think more of it went onto his lap than into his stomach. Maybe he just needs something that's smooth. The avocado went over a lot better than either the apple sauce or the green beans.

Then he had a sponge bath to get all the green beans off. He even managed to get green beans in the folds of his neck. How?! There's probably green beans wedged in his ears, too.

He absolutely LOVES getting a sponge bath, though. I lay him out on a couple of waterproof pads, strip him down and wash him all over with a washcloth and warm water. He giggles every time I wash his fingers and his chest/tummy. Then he gets tummy time while I rub lotion onto his backside. Ever since he had a bad run-in with diaper rash, he's been getting extra tummy time and lotion, and it seems to help. No more diaper rash.

Then a little more play time, and by 7:15, he's fussy and it's time for his bedtime bottle. This kid is always so predictable. I give him his bottle while rocking him in a dark room, and by the time he finishes 6 oz, he's pretty much asleep. I rock him a bit more and put him down, and he's out for the night. The past few days have been wonderful like that.

But apparently, Declan can't do the same thing for more than a few days. I thought I might have trouble when I put him down and he woke up as soon as I laid him in the crib. I gave him his paci, turned on the baby monitor and left. He slept for about an hour, while I iced the zucchini brownies I'd made earlier. Declan woke up crying, but I snuck in, gave him his paci, and he fell asleep again. so far, so good.

Daniel and settled down to eat brownies and watch Project Runway. We got about 15 minutes in, and Declan woke up again. This time, he cried and started screaming and having a little melt-down. It was bad enough I picked him up to rock him and soothe him. Daniel heated up some formula for him, and he guzzled another 3 oz, but he refused to go back to sleep. As soon as I put him down, he woke up, and if I walked out of view, he cried. I stayed at his crib for 30 minutes, but he never calmed down.

Finally, I picked him up and carried him to our bed. I laid down with him, and he was immediately asleep. So we left him there, and Daniel slept on the couch that night. I was worried I'd suffocate the baby, and I kept waking up and checking to make sure he was still breathing. I'd move his hand or stroke his cheek until he moved. In spite of my bothering him, Declan slept from 9:30 til 5 am. Amazingly, so did I, aside from my occasional bedchecks on the baby. I think I barely moved all night, because I was worried about rolling on him or smothering his airways. But he was fine, and it was kind of nice to snuggle my little one all night long.

Still, I hope this doesn't become a habit. Our bed isn't big enough for three.

Random pictures

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I'm busy shoving applesauce in my ear."


"I'm gonna get you, little fishie!"


"Mom loves putting me in cute outfits with matching hats, but I'm not so sure this is the right look for me. I'm more of a onesie baby."

I discovered Declan hates the food processor

I was making green beans for him to try tonight. I steamed them, then put them in the food processor to puree them (as much as possible). He was in the other room in his exersaucer. I heard him cry out a little bit, and Daniel was in with him. I asked, is the noise scaring him? Then Declan lets out this enormous, loud wail and scream.

Daniel said it was hilarious. That Declan had to wind up to it. His face turned red, he took a couple of deep breaths, then he waved his hands in the air and stomped his feet on the exersaucer bottom and screamed as loud as he could.

Poor guy had tears running down his face. So I took him and cuddled a bit, then I put him in his crib and turned on his mobile. Gave him his lovey to hold and a pacifier to suck, and within 60 seconds, he was calm. In another minute or two, he was laughing and kicking. All was forgotten.

Argh, no internet

Verizon was out from noon yesterday until late this morning. Very annoying. It's not until something like this happens that I realize how very much I rely on the information on the internet.

Want to post pictures and video...Can't.
Want to look up the weather...Can't.
Want to find a movie time....Can't.
Want to find out why there's no internet...Can't.
Need to Google for a couple of images...Can't.
Need to check my email...Can't.

I really rely very heavily on the information cloud out on the internet.

Moving on to Applesauce

And back again. I made applesauce tonight. It was so easy. Just cut up a couple of apples, steamed them for 5-10 minutes, then ran them through the food mill. He was hungry and it was still hot, so I put a small amount in the freezer for a couple of minutes while he started on his bottle.

I gave him his first bite of applesauce and he looked affronted. :) Sort of like.."Hey, that's not my rice cereal. What the heck is this?" And he kept sticking his hand in his mouth with the applesauce, so I think more of it went on his hand and bib than actually into his stomach. We only got through about half a tablespoon of applesauce, and he got too upset with it to keep eating it. So we made a half batch of rice cereal and fed him that, hoping it would help him sleep through the night.

I will say, my baby is such a good boy about going to sleep. We've got our night time ritual now. He eats around 5-6, gets a bath immediately afterward, since he's covered in food. Then we play for an hour or so. As soon as he shows signs of tiredness or fussiness, he gets tucked into his swaddle cloth with his arms out and gets his bedtime bottle. By the time he finishes that, he's pretty much asleep. I rock him a little more, then set him in his crib, and with any luck, he'll sleep through til morning. This morning, he slept all the way until 6 am!

Happy Birthday To Us

It was Daniel's and my birthday recently. It was a very strange birthday. We didn't actually get each other any presents, because we were both too busy dealing with Declan. Daniel said I didn't have any hobbies now besides the baby, and he's right. I got Daniel a Grill Daddy, (as seen on tv...oooh, ahhh). Heh.

But Declan gave us such a rough time this weekend. He went 2 days without napping at all, and he was still waking up in the middle of the night hungry. I know he's a big boy and he's supposed to be able to sleep through the night now, but he was hungry enough to eat a full bottle in the middle of the night. It's not like he's snacking and just wanting attention.

Yesterday, he was so tired, and he was fighting going to sleep with every ounce of his being. It was funny and sad and frustrating to see him yawning so much, but when we put him down, he'd be wide awake and want to play. He'd also cry if he lost sight of either of us. He wanted to be upright all the time, and hated being on his playmat. All in all, it was a long, rough weekend.

Today was much better though. He slept the night through (was the rice cereal last night the reason?) and he napped twice today. I was able to make chocolate brioche, then chocolate brownies to take to work tomorrow. I even got the second set of curtains hung up in his room and did a load of laundry. I feel rather productive today.

Moving on - Rice Cereal

Can't say the rice cereal was a raging success. The first night, he didn't really care for it. Tonight, he liked it a little better, and ate about 3/4 of the tablespoon I mixed up. He was wearing most of it...


And this morning, he held his own bottle for the first time.


I couldn't resist peeking around the corner to see him sleeping in his swing today.


And the last one for today...he was in a good mood in his kick 'n play bouncer, and he just laughs like crazy when you put your foot on his chest and wiggle it around.

Starting Solids - Avocado Time

So lately, Declan's been in a growth spurt. He won't sleep the night through anymore because he wakes up hungry in the middle of the night. He's eating almost 40 ounces of formula a day and he's more than doubled his birth weight. So I decided to try him on solid foods tonight.

His first food is avocado. I had bought a nice ripe one to go with my eggs, but it got badly bruised on the way home. So I mashed it up and mixed a little bit with some formula to make it nice and runny, then it was dinner time for Declan.

We started off with an appetizer of a couple ounces of formula before we tried the avocado. I had a spoon, but we had more success if I dipped a bit on my finger and put it in his mouth. He's used to sucking on my finger, so it wasn't as strange as the spoon.


At first, he was rather nonplused. He just sat there and didn't do much. He didn't push it out, but he didn't move it around in his mouth either. Eventually, he kind of wiggled his tongue and I think he swallowed some. I kept it up, dipping a little bit on my finger and putting it in his mouth. After 3-4 times, he seemed restless, so we went back to the bottle, but I think he was confused, because there was still avocado in his mouth, so he wasn't sucking very much on the bottle.

We went back and forth a few times.

"Mom, I'm not sure what this is, and I'm not sure I like it."


and...

"You can put it on my lips, but you can't make me open my mouth."


I bought a couple more avocados. He'll get those for the next four more days until we try something new. Maybe I'll try green beans.

4 Month Old Pictures

I'm a week late putting these up. I've just been busy around the house and hadn't gotten to publishing these.

Here's the one with him in his 4 month sticker shirt.


This was the first time we put him in his high chair. He seems happy enough about it.


"Mom, enough with the stupid things on my head already!"


And here Declan's all ready to go for his evening walk.


And finally...Houston...We have toes!!

We have a tripod sitter

Granted, he only managed to stay that way for about 3 seconds, but he did support himself.

Starting Solids

Declan's pedi gave us the go-ahead to start him on solids if we want to. I keep vacillating on the issue. On the one hand, waiting until 6 months makes it less likely he'll develop allergies, and it's just plain easier to feed him a bottle right now. It's easy, it's quick, and it's relatively mess-free.

On the other hand, he's more than doubled his birth weight, he can sit upright in his high chair, and he's eating 40 ounces of formula a day for the last 2 days. He's either in a growth spurt, or he's big enough he needs to start on some solids. I figure I'll give it another 2-4 days, and if he's still eating 40 ounces, I'll start him on some rice or avocado.

I think it'll be fun, and I'm excited to cook for him and try new things. I just know that after the initial fun, it'll be lots more work in prepping meals for him, because I don't want to use commercially prepared baby foods very much. I want to make most of his meals. And of course, having the camera near by to capture his expressions.

I do refuse to put cereal in his bottles, especially at night. Everything I've read says that giving them cereal in a bottle to help sleep is a myth, and you want the baby to associate solid foods with a spoon.

Busy weekend

Saturday, we made a trek to Ikea. We talked about getting a new bookcase for the computer area to store office supplies in, but I also wanted to get some baby stuff, and we just didn't have the budget for both. So I got all the baby stuff I wanted: another set of curtains to match the first pair, a play rug, a pillow that matches the decor of the nursery, some matching stickers, and Daniel got the little guy a wooden block toy. It's the kind with different colored wooden beads strung on colored, bent wires. Daniel was so bummed after putting it together when he read that the recommended age was 18+ months. But we put it next to Declan anyway, and he immediately started batting at the blocks. He likes looking and batting at it, so we count it as a score!

And we even got to eat meatballs for lunch. Yummy. And I successfully resisted the urge to eat the cookies and different candies there.

Sunday I got a lot done, and even more undone. We bought door latches for the cabinets, to start baby proofing the kitchen. However, the cordless screwdriver's battery charger stopped working, and for some reason, my corded screwdriver wouldn't drill the pilot holes into the cabinet doors. Are they made of metal or something? So I have drills all over one of my countertops until I get this sorted out.

Then I wanted to work on my rainbarrel, but once again, I didn't have the right tools. Without a battery, I can't use the jigsaw attachment on my cordless drill. I didn't find any curtain rods that I wanted at Ikea, so I can't hang up the curtains I got, and they didn't have the one set of curtains I did want there, to hang on the existing curtain rod. If that's confusing, don't worry. It happened because we changed where the baby's room was going to be. I did get the stickers up on the wall, but overnight, a couple of them fell off.

I hung some cute pictures on the wall, over the stickers, but now Daniel wants to rehang the door to that bedroom, so that we can close it off when the baby is sleeping and do stuff that makes more noise, like cook in the kitchen. I'm somewhat opposed though, because I like having that open wall space, and the baby needs to learn to sleep through daytime household activity. Plus at night, we keep it quiet, so it's not like the door will really help.

I have a list of stuff I need to get from Walmart and/or Home Depot, and I was going to stop on my way home. I even drove the truck into work today so I could stop. But guess what? I forgot my wallet at home. No cash, no credit cards. Guess I'm not going to do that. On top of that, the soda machine ate half my coins when I wanted a drink at lunch time. Maybe I'll just take off an hour early or so.

I also made more wheat bread from the no-knead recipe I found. I like it a lot. Very moist, very dense, but not brick-like, like a lot of whole-wheat breads I've made. Seriously thinking about ordering the book.

Declan's Four Month Doctor Visit

Overall, our little guy is doing just fine. He weighed 18 pounds 6 oz and was 24.5 inches long. I must have mis-measured him at 3 months. His weight is at the 95th percentile, length is 70th percentile and head measurement at 50th percentile. The doctor was very pleased at his consistency. He's been at those percentiles each time he's gone in, so she says he's doing very good.

She also said that he had very good fine motor control for his age. He was reaching for and grabbing his toys while we were there. No sign of wanting to roll over yet, but that will come in the next 2 months. He likes sitting up, another good sign, and he's vocalizing well. Plus he learned to do raspberries this past weekend, and he said 'baa', which is a new sound for him. Maybe because we say "ba ba" for his bottles every time he gets fed.

The down side is that he has eczema on his arm, chest and bottom. His cradle cap was caused by eczema, and the fact that he has a lot of ear wax is another symptom. Weird.

The pedi said we could start rice cereal anytime we wanted to in the next 2 months. He has excellent head control, so I just want to wait a little longer until he seems to grasp the idea of eating from watching us. We now sit him at his high chair for dinner with us every evening.

I think he's getting the 4-month wakefuls, as some other mothers put it. He was sleeping through the night for the last week or more, and doing so well. Then the last 2 nights, he's been up at 2 wanting to play or eat or something. Last night he devolved into a full blown screaming temper tantrum at 4 am, and neither Daniel nor I had any clue why.

Ugh, I hope this doesn't continue for long.

Declan videos

I captured a couple of cute videos of Declan the other day.

Here's one of him giggling like crazy as we tickle his belly and surprise him.


Here's one of him finding his toes on Tuesday. For those who care, take note of the wall color behind him. It's blue! It's not the horrible ugly red anymore (as seen in the previous video)! :)

No Knead Bread

Have to give props to this recipe that I tried this week. I saw a recipe for no-knead bread on Mother Earth News website and thought it sounded interesting. Made my first loaf today and it's pretty darn tasty. It's just a white bread, but it came out better than anything I've done in the bread machine, and almost as good as the honey-whole wheat I make occasionally. The recipe is set up so you can make a small loaf every morning or two, so you don't have a huge loaf going stale or moldy.

Back from Vacation - link to picture album

Yes, I know I haven't written anything in a long time. I was on vacation for 2 weeks, and during that time, we went to Illinois to visit the grandparents and when we got back, we spent 4 days repainting the baby's rooms. Then I found a new computer game and had to go back to work.

Anyway...

Here's the link to the picture album. I'll try to sort some out later.

Visit to Illinois Jul 09

The trip wasn't too bad. It was long; 2 days each way and about 18 hours total. Anytime we stopped, it seemed to take forever, even if it was just for gas and a bathroom break. The second day up there was bad. Declan cried and cried for almost the whole day. We were so glad to get there and hand him off to his grandmother while we unloaded the car.

While we were there, we went to Moonshine's for a burger. It's a little town with a population of 2, and they server great hamburgers (moonburgers) in a little country store. It was packed. Must have been 200 people there. We had tons of cousins there because it was a Burkybile family reunion that weekend. It was nice because I could hand Declan off to almost everyone else, and I never had to hold him.

Then we went to see Harry Potter. Honestly, not as good as I was expecting. It seemed slow. And we had burgers again, this time at White Castle, since there aren't any around here.

Saturday was the Burkybile family reunion at the park. It was a great time to see cousins I barely knew. Took my nephew Devin for a walk around the park.

Sunday I went geocaching with my dad and found 12 caches. I took a travel bug that wanted to go to Galveston, and I still need to put it out down here. I won't take it all the way to Galveston. I figure someone else should get that honor, since I brought it all the way from Illinois.

So glad to get Declan's room painted. His bedroom is a soft, robin's-egg blue, and the connecting playroom is a soft, buttery yellow. I don't have drapes up yet, and it's so very bright in there. It looks so, so, so much better than it used to. Still working on arranging the furniture and I don't have pictures up yet, but that will come soon.