Busy Busy Busy

Again, I promised I haven't died. Life has just been very busy.

Tomorrow, my chunky monkey will be 8 months old. In a nutshell, here is what's been going on:

Right at 7 months Kayden learned to clap and was sitting up pretty stably. She also got her first 2 teeth within a week of each other. She was pretty tough though.... she just started acting fussy about 12 hours before the first one broke through and the only sign of discomfort with the other was a few nights with added feedings.

The last week of April we started Infant Swimming Resource (ISR), a class which teaches self water rescue to infants and young children.

In early May, Kayden went to her first circus. It was an old fashion kind with a big top tent and everything.

The first couple weeks of May, Kayden has really honed her movement. Although she is still not crawling, she scoots very well and has just started to figure out that the scooting can get her from one place to the other. Her sitter said she pulled herself up on a basket but was back down on her bottom before she could grab her camera and she never did it again.

I am considering taking on a volunteer position which may lead to a new career path. Since having Kayden, I have discovered a passion for a field I never would have thought of. It's a long road but I am starting on the reading requirements in the few spare minutes I have.

We've been dealing with cable TV issues for 3 weeks now and it's still not right. I don't know who is more frustrated: Me or my husband...

We lost power during a big storm a few nights ago and had to break out a generator to save the fish tank... we were blessed with deep freeze space at Kayden's sitter's house so we didn't lose any food thank God...

I have started to rebuild my stash of frozen milk. I am pretty sure I've worked out all the kinks and should be successful this time around.

Kayden kissed a boy for the first time last week.... My poor husband isn't gonna know what hit him....

Kayden is growing fast. She weighs 20 lbs and wears 12 and 18 month bottoms, partially because of her personal fluff and partly because of the added fluff of the cloth diapers. I am pretty sure she will slim down substantially once she starts moving around more.

I will go into further details on some of the above events in upcoming posts... hopefully the pics will tide you over til I can post again.

Kayden In The Car

My husband wants to get me a bigger car. Part of me is excited but the other part is sad...

The way it is now, if both Kayden and I look over our right shoulders, we can see each other... the passenger seat is pushed as far forward as it goes in order to fit her convertible car seat in at the appropriate angle. I can reach her to see if she's breathing after a particularly bag choking fit (because shoving our fingers down our throat is our latest fun thing to do in the car and Mommy can't tell if it's my hand or something else I am choking on) or hold her hand if she is starting to fuss.

But the way it is now, we can't really go anywhere as an entire family. There is only room for a driver, Kayden in the car seat, and either another person or Bailey in the back seat. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, I had to smoosh myself into the passenger seat and I had to wedge myself between the dash and the seat in order to close the door...

And forget taking the stroller anywhere... my husband can get it into my trunk but I can barely get it out and I haven't figured out how to get it back in... I really want to take Kayden for jogs around the dog park when it gets warmer but it doesn't seem like a possibility...

He found a Jeep for me... I haven't seen it yet... I am both excited and sad...

I'll be keeping my car since I drive so far for work and the Jeep will be for more local errands, weekends, and next winter when the 4 wheel drive will come in handy...

So the next decision is this:

Do I invest in a second convertible car seat?

Do I buy seats according to what she needs at the time, like a forward facing and booster when the time comes?

Or do I move the current convertible from car to Jeep to car even if it means I may be doing it twice a day sometimes?

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I am not sure if I told this story already and I am too lazy to go back and search to see if I did... so humor me:

Kayden took her first joy ride when she was 3 1/2 months old.

We had just got home at the end of the day and I carefully got out of the car because we had almost a solid sheet of ice on the driveway. I got out and closed the door. Then, with my infant still in the backseat, the car started to move.

Now I drove a stick for 11 years... so although I've had my current automatic for almost 5 years, there are still times I'll turn it off, forgetting to put it in park first.... but I always pull the emergency break...

I was confused at first because I knew the emergency break was on and I couldn't figure out why the back tires were rolling...

As I quickly opened the driver's door, I noticed the front tires were NOT rolling... and as I jumped back into the driver's seat, I realized there was nothing I could do but helplessly sit there... the tires were sliding down the driveway, not rolling, so the breaks were worthless.... and we were heading straight toward the tree that sits in the ditch that runs along our driveway...

Only by the grace of God did we slide to a stop at the bottom of the driveway just a few feet from the tree... we hadn't built up enough speed to get us all the way to the ditch....

I haven't parked on that part of the driveway since... I probably won't even this summer....

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At first, Kayden hated the car... she would cry whenever we put her in the car. It was so bad at first that I thought I had pinched her or that something was really hurting her... then I figured out she just hated the car... she would scream and cry until we got to where we were going... rarely did she fall asleep...

I think she was bored. She couldn't really see out the windows or entertain herself yet and it was worse at night when she couldn't see ANYthing.

Then around 12-14 weeks of age, it began to get better. She didn't cry every time anymore and she seemed to be happier longer before she started to fuss.

Now, she likes it... but only if the car is moving and/or the radio is on... she still rarely sleeps but she does sing along to the radio, which, I must say, is about the sweetest thing I've ever heard!!!!

Like the Dead

I have been taking a lot of naps lately.

One Saturday, shortly after waking from a nice long nap, my husband came home after what I thought had been a day long errand run. When he asked if I had a nice nap, I was a bit confused... apparently he had come home earlier and I didn't even know it so he went out again to run more errands.

The day after, I didn't get to take one because I attended a friend's baby shower. I came home from that and went straight to yoga. So I didn't get home til after 6. I made some dinner and watched a little tv. My husband had a hockey game so I crawled into bed at 7:15 with the intent of flipping channels til Desperate Housewives came on at 8. I don't think I made it to 7:45.

Monday afternoon, my neighbor asked me what time I went to bed the night before. I told her 7:30 or so because I hadn't got a nap. She laughed...

I guess they had a pretty substantial fire Sunday evening. There were 3 engines and a chief's car, an ambulance (which was parked in our driveway), and half the neighborhood lining the street. And I slept right through it all...

I guess I was tired from making and arm or something...

Party Hardy

We had a Halloween Bon Fire and weenie roast back in mid October. We invited about 100 people, which included most of the nursery staff at 2 hospitals, a bunch of my husband's co-workers, half of the people we invited to our wedding, and all the neighbors on our block. We expected about 40-50 people; about 30 showed up.

We set up a heater on our back porch and had the bon fire going out back for those who wanted to hang outside. We also had a bunch of camping chairs set up in our great room for those who preferred to stay inside.


My husband worked really hard on the decorations. We spent almost $200 last year on all the clearance items and I don't even want to think about what he spent this year on the finishing touches. Our backyard was turned into a graveyard with headstones and a fog machine. We turned our pool table into a tomb with cob webs hanging from the lamps above it and a skeleton laid out underneath. We had a giant spider web and spider hanging from the track lighting and plastic wall hangings that made the room look like a castle dungeon. And outside, all along the driveway, we had chalk outlines of bodies complete with pools of blood and all. I am kicking myself now for not taking enough pictures.

The highlight of the evening was when a bunch of people, including my husband, decided to play on our fire pole.

Background: the people who lived in our house before us had an authentic fire pole installed the ran from the loft above to the bar below in our great room. There is a little door that opens from the loft so you can slide down the pole just like a fireman.

So a bunch of people decided it would be a good idea to go down the pole. Which was fine until some genius decided to go down upside down. They spotted each other, though, so it ended up being pretty entertaining.

And then one guy went down without a spotter. He hit the terracotta tile floor with a loud bang. Then he just crumpled at the foot of the pole. I thought he broke his neck. He laid there for what seemed like forever before he started to stir. I am sure it was only a few seconds because if it had been longer we would have had time to shake off the shock and run to his aid. So he righted himself and was laughing as he did so we all knew he was alright. Later he said he heard a loud bang and thought "what the heck was that?" a moment before the pain hit him...

He ended up being fine and I think everyone had a fun time. My husband is already planning the changes for next year. So if you know me personally, keep your Saturdays in mid October free...

Hubby's Hobbies

Although this happened many months ago, I saved the story just for when I needed a post and could not think of anything good to write. Some of you have already heard the story, but most of you have not. Please enjoy:

One random Friday night, my husband went out with a buddy to a race track... while he was gone, we lost power in the neighborhood... not good when you have a 450 gallon saltwater fish tank that needs a functioning pump to survive. Luckily, the power came back on soon enough as to not do any damage.

A few hours later, as I am about to step into the shower, I hear water running even though I haven't turned it on yet. I decided to investigate. To my horror, I discovered the source of the sound was a waterfall splattering onto the living room floor... The tank was overflowing!!!!

I quickly sent my husband a text message (since he couldn't hear me at the races) to tell him what was happening while I frantically searched for the outlet to unplug the malfunctioning pump and stop the deluge... said outlet is hidden behind the wall the tank is built into. There are 4 power strips behind the wall with about 4 or 5 plugs in each so I started flipping switches until I heard the water stop... all the while water was pouring out of the tank (and all over me) and I just prayed that I didn't get electricuted...

Meanwhile, I get a text from my husband that says "Unplug it from the wall"... hmm, didn't think of that :-{

After all was said and done, I had a pool of water that stretched from the tank to under the living room furniture... about 100 square feet... thank God for tile floors.

So every dry towel in the house later (except the one I saved for the shower I still hadn't made it into) I realize that all the blinds in the living room were still open... the lights inside were on... it was dark outside... and since I was about to step into the shower when the fiasco began, I was still in nothing but underwear and flip-flops...

I hope the neighbors enjoyed the show...

"Night Of The Twisters"

Do any of you remember that book from childhood? I think I read it 3 times.

Anyway, we had some severe weather come through a few days ago. I was watching TV and all my fave shows were broken into because of all the tornadoes and severe t-storms that were making their way through our area.

Most everything was way north of us but I told one of my neighbors that if the sirens went off, I was coming over. We don't have a basement and the closet that had been designated the "tornado closet" the day we moved into the house was now full of items for the care of my husband's 450 gallon fish tank, including a smaller "frag" tank.

So about 9:30 I was laying in bed watching the reports and the storm was looking like it might clip our little community. All of a sudden, the TV screen went blue (like the "blue screen of death" that you get on computers) and a voice came over the air that said "This is the (local) fire department. Please take cover immediately." So I jumped up and threw on some slippers and headed toward the door. By the time I grabbed Bailey's leash, my neighbor was banging on my door. The sirens were going off as we walked out the door.

I sent my husband a text message to let him know where I was since he was at work. I got a text from a girlfriend who lives 45 minutes southwest of us saying "Tornado heading your way!" My neighbors still had power so we kept watching the weather reports for about 3o minutes. Then all of a sudden everything was over. The sirens went off, the weather people were like "its over, see you later" and the regular programming resumed. So Bailey and I went home.

With a fish tank as large as ours, there is a lot of background noise in our house. Since I knew we were in for some more severe stuff later that night, I left my bedroom window open so I could hear the sirens if they went off again. Our house is semi-subterranean so my husband told me to take shelter in the bathroom that is mostly under ground if we had anymore warnings. I left the TV on in the bedroom and Bailey and I went to sleep.

About 2am, I awoke to a soft growl from Bailey. I wasn't sure what she was growling at until I realized the window was still open and the roar coming from outside was just like the "freight train" I hear folks describe after they have been through a tornado. I pulled Bailey up next to me and covered us with the blankets. There was no way I was gonna walk through our living room with the large glass fish tank if there was a tornado about to hit. The TV folks were not reporting any rotation at the time but they said they had reports of 70-80 mph straight line winds.

I laid there with my dog and waited for the storm to pass. There was lightening and thunder and rain that went sideways, but no sirens or actual tornado warnings. But the sound of that roaring, steady-state wind will be with me for a long time.

Here are some pics of the damage 4 blocks from the home of a co-worker:







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52.1 lbs on 5/4