Kim sent me this today, and it made me laugh. While I might fall under cantankerous and fussy, I think I resonate more with being a “husky” girl. Hehe. Love it.
(click on the image to read it better)
Thanks for the laughs, Kim!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Feel Good Video -- Worth the Watch!
Found this video on YouTube, and I fell in love. It's so feel good and happy and just makes me smile. I'm definitely adding this one to my Links I Like (plus the cool stop motion one Nina sent me). Please watch it ... it will make your day!
I recommend watching it in HD (select the lil' arrow right here ↑↑)
Monday, February 16, 2009
Blurb Addict
Another book done (my third). This one was the easiest by far because I just "slurped" my blog, and the software did all the rest. There was some formatting to be done to make things fit right, but I did my 52 entries -- 52 entries in 52 weeks, but not one every week -- and 30-some-odd pictures in about 2 hours. One thing that was really nice about the software is that it lets you choose what entries to download, so as long as Blogger plays nice and doesn't change its API next year, I'll be doing that for Claire's blog instead of spending the 2+ months doing it all manually!
My "bookstore" -- http://blurb.com/user/waysquared
My "bookstore" -- http://blurb.com/user/waysquared
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Never Ceases to Amaze
I may have already said it (I think it all the time), but it never ceases to amaze me how much Claire seems to learn and grow every day. Besides just the walking that's becoming more and more confident, I realized this week that she actually understands a lot of the things I'm saying. I think it first sunk in when my family was here and we would ask her where Kirby (the dog) was. She would instantly look around for her and even point at the stairs if she knew Kirby had gone upstairs. Other examples are the everyday commands she reacts to when prompted: "please sit down" - a la the bathtub, "ahhhhh" - meaning open your mouth and let me see what you just put inside, "look up" - super useful when washing her hair, and "put your head down" - nice when we're putting her to bed. :)
There are other funny "tricks" that she's picked up recently. She definitely knows "aye, aye, cap'n" (she salutes), "high five" (self explanatory, I think), and "hungry" (single finger in the mouth). James was trying to teach her to "punch it in" this morning; we'll see when that one sticks.
Tonight she was even identifying various body parts (well, the nose and the ear) and is starting to get curious about the bellybutton which I'm pretty sure is from that book they're reading at school. I know there's more, but that's all I've got off the top of my head.
She shows her sensitivity by instantly reacting to inflections in my voice. When I ask what happened to her sock, she'll touch her bare foot; when I ask for her to put on her jacket, she'll extend an arm; when I tell her no sternly enough, she immediately throws herself forward and does a dramatic wail (Diana's seen it; she thought it was hilarious). Yeah, this one's going to be a handful. :)
One bad habit that she had picked up was biting my shoulder (and sometimes not really wanting to let go immediately). It wasn't for attention because I'm usually carrying her at the time or in aggression because it's usually in a good mood ... I honestly think she was just super excited and needed to emote. Luckily, I think I broke her of that one within a week. And she knows when she's not supposed to do something (like bite my shoulder) because she'll start going towards it and suddenly start shaking her head instead. I just have to make sure I don't laugh else she takes it as a sign to go ahead!
I keep saying this at each milestone, but I love this age. What an amazing period she's going through, and how fun! I can't wait to get home every day to check to make sure she still remembers everything from the day before and to see whether she picked up something new. She has such a love of life and never ceases to explore everything around her to the nth degree. Sure, that may mean sometimes that she stays awake easily for 10 hours at a time (I'm not joking; today was another example), but it's all a trade-off, right?
There are other funny "tricks" that she's picked up recently. She definitely knows "aye, aye, cap'n" (she salutes), "high five" (self explanatory, I think), and "hungry" (single finger in the mouth). James was trying to teach her to "punch it in" this morning; we'll see when that one sticks.
Tonight she was even identifying various body parts (well, the nose and the ear) and is starting to get curious about the bellybutton which I'm pretty sure is from that book they're reading at school. I know there's more, but that's all I've got off the top of my head.
She shows her sensitivity by instantly reacting to inflections in my voice. When I ask what happened to her sock, she'll touch her bare foot; when I ask for her to put on her jacket, she'll extend an arm; when I tell her no sternly enough, she immediately throws herself forward and does a dramatic wail (Diana's seen it; she thought it was hilarious). Yeah, this one's going to be a handful. :)
One bad habit that she had picked up was biting my shoulder (and sometimes not really wanting to let go immediately). It wasn't for attention because I'm usually carrying her at the time or in aggression because it's usually in a good mood ... I honestly think she was just super excited and needed to emote. Luckily, I think I broke her of that one within a week. And she knows when she's not supposed to do something (like bite my shoulder) because she'll start going towards it and suddenly start shaking her head instead. I just have to make sure I don't laugh else she takes it as a sign to go ahead!
I keep saying this at each milestone, but I love this age. What an amazing period she's going through, and how fun! I can't wait to get home every day to check to make sure she still remembers everything from the day before and to see whether she picked up something new. She has such a love of life and never ceases to explore everything around her to the nth degree. Sure, that may mean sometimes that she stays awake easily for 10 hours at a time (I'm not joking; today was another example), but it's all a trade-off, right?
Sunday, December 21, 2008
I'm Working On It!
I know, I know ... it's been weeks since I last posted! And, yes, I'm talking more about Claire's blog than mine since hers is the one with pictures. I guess things have just been busy around here. My company's also being impacted by all the mess going on with the economy. When no one spends money, no one needs goods shipped. So there's that. We've had a couple of holiday parties, accidently missed a couple of parties (I swear, we've been busy), and been lucky enough to see some long-missed friends.
Then, Claire was sick a couple of weeks ago. When I took her into the doctor, he prescribed her breathing treatments which meant that we had to somehow get a fiesty 10 month old to sit still and breathe in Albuterol from a nebulizer three times a day. Needless to say, Claire got to watch a lot of TV that week. She's much better now and switched over to the liquid Albuterol.
*** I have a story here that I should probably insert, but I'll write about it another time. But you can ask me about it ... just use the keyword "nosebleed". [shudder] ***
As for Claire, she's growing more every day. She's babbling a ton, and I SWEAR that she said "duck" and used it correctly at least once. She knows commands like "up" - which is very useful when washing her hair! - and is taking baths is the grown-up tub now. She has fun activities like the blinking game where you can take turns blinking back and forth with her for minutes at a time. One of my favorite things is that she waves "Hi" and "Bye-bye" and will do it anytime she hears either even if on TV or from a toy!
I can see her imagination starting to blossom as I watch her playing by herself and talking to the objects around her. She likes to take two similar objects in each hand and knock them against each other, and one very useful interest right now is her liking to put things into containers ... helps with the picking up at night. :) She's starting to recognize the similarities between people. Not sure how to explain that, but an example is if I have something in my hair, she'll touch her own head to find an equivalent item. Or she'll touch my nose and then touch her own.
Her eating habits are crazy as usual. She somehow learned that when she's done or doesn't want something, she just tosses it over the side of her tray so that she no longer has to deal with it. This week, she's also decided that behind her ear is a good place for things she doesn't want (I have no idea why). Unfortunately, she's also become a pickier eater recently ... she knows what she likes, and she knows what she doesn't like. It has been fun, however, testing out her tastebuds with all sorts of foods. She's also pretty sure that she's going to feed herself instead of you feeding her most of the time, so we go through lots of bibs and usually head straight to the bathtub after a meal.
No, she's still not walking on her own yet, but I'm okay with that. I am in no need to have a show-off baby ... a happy, healthy one is good enough for me! Mostly she holds our fingers, furniture surfs, or pushes items around the room to get around. She definitely knows where she wants to go though, so there's no much question that she's the one driving you from place to place!
I figure there's no huge need to get Claire a lot of gifts for Christmas this year, but I am thinking about giving her some bags with tissue paper to open since she's enjoying that immensely right now. I'm hoping to institute a 2 gift rule for her ... one from us and one from Santa. We'll see how that goes.
James and I are staying in Dallas instead of going anywhere these next couple of weeks. I'm out of vacation days after using them up during my maternity leave, and we already went to Aspen this year for my parents' family vacation. My whole family is coming up over New Years and to celebrate my dad's birthday, so I'll get to see everyone then. I thought his parents would come up for Christmas since I'm sure they'll be busy once Baby James (George's baby) is due soon, but it looks like it's just us three for Christmas. We've decided that we're going to start a few Christmas traditions on our own, so it'll be hot pot, a holiday-themed movie, and gift opening on Christmas Eve, then a big country breakfast and Santa's gift on Christmas Day. Not a bad plan, if you ask me.
Okay, so there's the big update. And while I was typing this update, I was also working on sorting all the pictures and videos from this month, so look for those on Claire's site shortly!
Then, Claire was sick a couple of weeks ago. When I took her into the doctor, he prescribed her breathing treatments which meant that we had to somehow get a fiesty 10 month old to sit still and breathe in Albuterol from a nebulizer three times a day. Needless to say, Claire got to watch a lot of TV that week. She's much better now and switched over to the liquid Albuterol.
*** I have a story here that I should probably insert, but I'll write about it another time. But you can ask me about it ... just use the keyword "nosebleed". [shudder] ***
As for Claire, she's growing more every day. She's babbling a ton, and I SWEAR that she said "duck" and used it correctly at least once. She knows commands like "up" - which is very useful when washing her hair! - and is taking baths is the grown-up tub now. She has fun activities like the blinking game where you can take turns blinking back and forth with her for minutes at a time. One of my favorite things is that she waves "Hi" and "Bye-bye" and will do it anytime she hears either even if on TV or from a toy!
I can see her imagination starting to blossom as I watch her playing by herself and talking to the objects around her. She likes to take two similar objects in each hand and knock them against each other, and one very useful interest right now is her liking to put things into containers ... helps with the picking up at night. :) She's starting to recognize the similarities between people. Not sure how to explain that, but an example is if I have something in my hair, she'll touch her own head to find an equivalent item. Or she'll touch my nose and then touch her own.
Her eating habits are crazy as usual. She somehow learned that when she's done or doesn't want something, she just tosses it over the side of her tray so that she no longer has to deal with it. This week, she's also decided that behind her ear is a good place for things she doesn't want (I have no idea why). Unfortunately, she's also become a pickier eater recently ... she knows what she likes, and she knows what she doesn't like. It has been fun, however, testing out her tastebuds with all sorts of foods. She's also pretty sure that she's going to feed herself instead of you feeding her most of the time, so we go through lots of bibs and usually head straight to the bathtub after a meal.
No, she's still not walking on her own yet, but I'm okay with that. I am in no need to have a show-off baby ... a happy, healthy one is good enough for me! Mostly she holds our fingers, furniture surfs, or pushes items around the room to get around. She definitely knows where she wants to go though, so there's no much question that she's the one driving you from place to place!
I figure there's no huge need to get Claire a lot of gifts for Christmas this year, but I am thinking about giving her some bags with tissue paper to open since she's enjoying that immensely right now. I'm hoping to institute a 2 gift rule for her ... one from us and one from Santa. We'll see how that goes.
James and I are staying in Dallas instead of going anywhere these next couple of weeks. I'm out of vacation days after using them up during my maternity leave, and we already went to Aspen this year for my parents' family vacation. My whole family is coming up over New Years and to celebrate my dad's birthday, so I'll get to see everyone then. I thought his parents would come up for Christmas since I'm sure they'll be busy once Baby James (George's baby) is due soon, but it looks like it's just us three for Christmas. We've decided that we're going to start a few Christmas traditions on our own, so it'll be hot pot, a holiday-themed movie, and gift opening on Christmas Eve, then a big country breakfast and Santa's gift on Christmas Day. Not a bad plan, if you ask me.
Okay, so there's the big update. And while I was typing this update, I was also working on sorting all the pictures and videos from this month, so look for those on Claire's site shortly!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Sleeping Problems Demystified
Well, apparently Claire's recent sleeping problems is supposed to happen. I had to google the heck out of "problems sleeping at nine months" and hundreds of variations to figure out what the heck is going on. The changes is sleeping patterns could be a couple of things (and I have a feeling we got a double-whammy): separation anxiety and pre-walking. Fabulous.
Separation anxiety happens after a child learns about object permanence (oh, you still exist even though I can't see you) and suddenly realizes that Mom and Dad are out there somewhere WITHOUT THE BABY! With Claire, oftentimes she's okay, but as soon as she realizes I've left the room, I'm stuck carrying her for the next hour or so after I come back in because she doesn't want to chance me leaving her again. It's weird though because she'll get distracted and then be fine if I'm not around she's fine until she sees me again and remembers that she was upset that I left. So there's that.
Then, apparently there's another milestone in which babies mess up their otherwise pretty good sleeping habits, and that's when they're getting ready to walk. What I've read says that they're so focused on putting together the new movement patterns they're learning that they're not able to turn off their excitement at night and will probably wake every 3 to 4 hours to practice (which usually includes standing in their cribs holding onto the side and wailing). Sums up Claire pretty well, except add "mamamamama babababababa mamamamama dadadadadada!!!!" to that wailing. Nothing like it, especially at 1 and 4 and 5 and 6 in the morning. So what's the timing of THAT being resolved? After she's taken her first steps per my research. Needless to say, I tried to get her to practice walking a lot this weekend after I read that ... but with the separation anxiety, it was hard to pry her off my hip long enough to even get her to try and stand!
This too shall pass. :) I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really not. I'm in awe and wonder of the amazing transformations and growth in my baby. I know what I'm going through just watching it all happen; for her, it must be overwhelming! A few sleepless nights and less personal time is worth it for a happy, healthy baby.
P.S. A random tidbit for you as long as we're talking about sleeping. I've reverted back to the early days of sleep deprivation where I'll semi-wake in the middle of the night to make sure the baby isn't in the bed with us. Seriously. This first happened the first month -- before Claire ever even got in our bed -- when I was so sleep-deprived, disoriented, and brain-dead that I woke just certain that I carried our newborn into bed with us. Well, apparently I'm doing it again where I'll wake up to make sure Claire's situated safely in the bed ... but she's not there. Weird, right? At least it's just a "is the baby okay?" and a gentle rustling rather than the crazy freak-out like it was that first time, and it's not coupled with a James-sized freak-out to match and intensify the moment anymore, either! :D I've also figured out that I don't remotely do this at all when I'm actually IN the bed with her. Maybe the baby monitor is too close to my ear or something to where I can hear her too well. I dunno. I'm sure James thinks I'm a total weirdo, but I know he's also getting used to it and handles the situation to get me coherent pretty quickly. Oh, and I also don't really remember it in the morning (it just blends in with my other dreams), but James is quick to remind me each and every morning what a looney I am. Thanks, honey.
P.P.S. For those of you offering to help watch the baby so that I can sleep, it's not all her; it's me, too. During the crazy work hours weeks, I was pushing myself too hard. Plus, apparently my body hasn't forgetten my old habits of wanting to stay up late, yet it somehow learned to auto-wake too early. So I appreciate your offers, but I'm okay. Feel free to come over and help Claire practice walking, though. ;)
Separation anxiety happens after a child learns about object permanence (oh, you still exist even though I can't see you) and suddenly realizes that Mom and Dad are out there somewhere WITHOUT THE BABY! With Claire, oftentimes she's okay, but as soon as she realizes I've left the room, I'm stuck carrying her for the next hour or so after I come back in because she doesn't want to chance me leaving her again. It's weird though because she'll get distracted and then be fine if I'm not around she's fine until she sees me again and remembers that she was upset that I left. So there's that.
Then, apparently there's another milestone in which babies mess up their otherwise pretty good sleeping habits, and that's when they're getting ready to walk. What I've read says that they're so focused on putting together the new movement patterns they're learning that they're not able to turn off their excitement at night and will probably wake every 3 to 4 hours to practice (which usually includes standing in their cribs holding onto the side and wailing). Sums up Claire pretty well, except add "mamamamama babababababa mamamamama dadadadadada!!!!" to that wailing. Nothing like it, especially at 1 and 4 and 5 and 6 in the morning. So what's the timing of THAT being resolved? After she's taken her first steps per my research. Needless to say, I tried to get her to practice walking a lot this weekend after I read that ... but with the separation anxiety, it was hard to pry her off my hip long enough to even get her to try and stand!
This too shall pass. :) I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really not. I'm in awe and wonder of the amazing transformations and growth in my baby. I know what I'm going through just watching it all happen; for her, it must be overwhelming! A few sleepless nights and less personal time is worth it for a happy, healthy baby.
P.S. A random tidbit for you as long as we're talking about sleeping. I've reverted back to the early days of sleep deprivation where I'll semi-wake in the middle of the night to make sure the baby isn't in the bed with us. Seriously. This first happened the first month -- before Claire ever even got in our bed -- when I was so sleep-deprived, disoriented, and brain-dead that I woke just certain that I carried our newborn into bed with us. Well, apparently I'm doing it again where I'll wake up to make sure Claire's situated safely in the bed ... but she's not there. Weird, right? At least it's just a "is the baby okay?" and a gentle rustling rather than the crazy freak-out like it was that first time, and it's not coupled with a James-sized freak-out to match and intensify the moment anymore, either! :D I've also figured out that I don't remotely do this at all when I'm actually IN the bed with her. Maybe the baby monitor is too close to my ear or something to where I can hear her too well. I dunno. I'm sure James thinks I'm a total weirdo, but I know he's also getting used to it and handles the situation to get me coherent pretty quickly. Oh, and I also don't really remember it in the morning (it just blends in with my other dreams), but James is quick to remind me each and every morning what a looney I am. Thanks, honey.
P.P.S. For those of you offering to help watch the baby so that I can sleep, it's not all her; it's me, too. During the crazy work hours weeks, I was pushing myself too hard. Plus, apparently my body hasn't forgetten my old habits of wanting to stay up late, yet it somehow learned to auto-wake too early. So I appreciate your offers, but I'm okay. Feel free to come over and help Claire practice walking, though. ;)
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