Hey, I'm still here.....
No really I am.It's been a L-O-N-G time since I've posted. So much has been going on that frankly posting hasn't been on the priority list. Baby: 1 year old!!! Can you believe it?!? It seems like yesterday that she was born. WOW!! A year goes by so quickly. She's walking now. It's both awesome to watch and terrifying to think she's going to be even faster now... She loves all veggies, fruits, yogurt, cheerios, and cheese. Not a big meat eater. Loves the outdoors. (Part of the reason there haven't been any posts from me in so long.)Wife: Is hanging in there. Business has been slow for her. Totally understandable with the economy the way it is... Her dad passed away a few weeks ago. So she's been dealing with all the bureaucracy associated with dying. (Executirx of the will, what to do with the house, his car, etc....) I don't think she's had time to start grieving yet...Me: I've never been this busy in my entire life!! Work has been out of control busy. The project I'm working on is fairly complicated and comprehensive. They've got me involved in all aspects of it. So between meeting, calls, and e-mails it never feels like I'm getting anything done. When I get home I spend my time with the baby. Soaking up baby time. HRH: Is doing OK. He doesn't get to the dog park as much as he's used to due to the baby & etc but he's doing OK. He likes the baby more now that she's giving/throwing him food.Home & garden: The house is doing OK. No new projects. (I've learned my lesson) I did have to clean out the gutters. During a heavy rain a few weeks back I noticed the gutters were overflowing.. The garden is doing well in spite of our neglect with weeding and planting annuals. The perennials have filled in and provided some color...Miata: Not driven much at all this year. To & from work and on errands but no fun trips. I did change the headlights & taillights, added rear speakers and a style bar. It looks pretty cool for not going anywhere... Rest of the family: Is status quo. I actually have time to write this since we're on our first family vacation. I haven't been able to take a vacation due to my project until now. I'm pretty burned out & tired.We're at Deep Creek, MD. Very nice place. We rented a house so we could have more space for the baby and HRH along. We went to the beach yesterday. Today we plan to go on a hike to Swallow Falls State Park. The food has been hit & miss. Some places are very nice, some are OK, others are barely better than fast food...Labels: Family, HRH, Life, Miata, Parenthood, Update, vacation, Work
Baby Update
- She crawls quite well now. Her favorite things to crawl towards and mess with are HRH's toys & his water bowl. She's HRH's #1 fan. All she needs to do is spot him in the room and this happy squeal comes out of her that's just priceless.
- She can pull herself up to standing and sit back down readily. Sometimes, she'll stand for 10 or 15 minutes. It's pretty cool. She's not totally steady on her feet but she is standing.
- She loves walking with adult assistance. She does what I call the Frankenstein walk since she's not bending her knees as she steps and she's wobbly.
- She has 3 front teeth.
- She loves to eat. She'll try anything & everything. She's eating cereal and baby food in addition to formula. We've started giving her teething biscuits to keep her busy when we're eating. Last week we gave her a little fish to try. And some mushrooms and green peas. All eaten without issue. A few days ago she had cream of broccoli soup. Cheerio's are always welcome. She loves meatloaf. Spat out french fries & potato chips. (Good for her!!! Let her decide to clog up her own arteries NOT her crummy parents!)
Labels: Baby, Parenthood, Update
I could kick myself
Sometimes the adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it" is true. Sometimes it is better to leave things just the way they are. It's not being lazy or a cop out. Case in point: The house. I thought I was being proactive by having the roof and furnace replaced. After all, they we both at the upper limits of their life cycles. And with the baby coming I didn't want to have these kind of troubles with a baby in the house. After I had both replaced in the summer/fall, I was happy that 2 items had been removed from my worry/task list. This comfort was short lived. My wife discovered a mold problem in the attic. We didn't have a mold problem in the attic before the new roof or furnace. We must have created a haven for mold when we had the new tighter roof put on AND a whole house humidifier installed with the furnace. UGH!!! I am so mad at myself!!! I feel so stupid for making a mess out of things. Neither the roof nor the furnace were broken. I just figured lets replace them before something went wrong. Well, I guess I went looking for trouble and it found me!!! So then the mad scramble to figure out what to do to fix this problem. Is it dangerous? How do you clean this up? How much will it cost? How soon do I need to do something? Can we do it ourselves? Do we need to replace the whole roof? Well, a few thousand dollars later (That I didn't plan on spending! This adds to my feelings of stupidity and anger.) the mold remediation people have started their work. Theoretically, after they are done the mold will be dead and not returning. They have also installed a device that keeps the air circulating in the attic to prevent future mold growth. They've cleaned & tested the attic twice now. They needed to clean twice because the post test after the first cleaning came back positive for mold growth. They re-tested last week. I suspect they'll be back since they left debris in the attic that was supposed to be removed. UGH!!!I'm starting to learn my lesson: Sometimes it's OK to leave things just the way they are. Not everything needs to be perfect. I don't need to obsess or worry about certain things. Me obsessing/worrying about them is not going to change them. Sometimes it's OK to leave well enough alone. "Put my hands up and step slowly away from the controls" Labels: ChowderHead 101, frustrations, house, My OCD's, Update
Things I've learned
Things I've learned as a new parent:
- Sleep is your freind. I used to hate sleep. It got in the way of me doing things, having fun, hanging out. It was easy for me to think that way when I was getting enough sleep. Now that I don't... Sleep is my friend.
- Plenty of planning and scheduling need to go into any attempt to get anywhere with the baby. packing bottles, checking the baby bag, packing a change of clothes.
- Set my expectations very low regarding how many errands I can run with the baby is tow. She's got her own idea when it's time to go home.
Labels: Baby, Family, Life, Parenthood, Update
Happy New Year
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!OK. So I'm a few days late. But the sentiment still holds: I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and you got lots of good stuff. I also hope this year goes great for you.
Baby's first Christmas was cool. Everybody was busy fussing over her and she was eating it up. My sister came in for an extended stay to soak up as much baby time as she could. I took a few extra days off and we spent it all recovering from colds....I wish we were all well then we would have been out a bit more. As it was, we stayed in a lot coughing, hacking, and blowing noses. Not great but we were together. We are all on the mend eventhough the baby still sounds congested. Labels: Baby, Family, Holiday, Update
Update
Things are hectic but going well.I can't belive the baby is 6 months old! The baby is growing and awesome. She's 90th percentile for length and 95th percentile for weight. So she's doing well considering the rough start she had 6 months ago.
She started rolling over on her belly and back onto her back a few weeks ago. She's also able to sit up for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. She can't get to a seated position without help, but once sitting she's there.
Nothing major to us grown ups but for a baby that's a big deal.
HRH is doing OK.My wife is doing OK. A few painting jobs here and there. It's slowed down a bit due to the economy AND the holidays. No one wants their house in mid project for the holidays.Labels: Baby, Family, HRH
Happy Thanksgiving
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. This was baby's first Thanksgiving so it was special for us since she's what we are most thankful for this year. We had my dad over along with some friends and their kids. It was a good time. We brined a turkey overnight and roasted it up nice & brown. In addition to the salt & sugar in the brine solution, we added sage, thyme, and parsley from our garden. The turkey turned out very moist and flavorful. We also made stuffing Giada style. It totally rocked! I highly recommend this stuffing. And of course we had mashed potatoes. I also sauteed some broccoli and mushrooms to give us more veggies. 1 friend brought pumpkin pie and a gingerbread cake topped with roasted pears. Someone else brought salad. We had a feast and left overs galore!!!Labels: Baby, Family, food, Friends, Holiday, Parenthood, Update
