Jen's Wishlist

So... in a strange way, I've started a sort of wish-list of things I'd like before Baden #2 arrives. I made some headway today thanks to a Craigslist posting -- I acquired a pregnancy pillow called the Snoogle for $10. I think a combination of old age, pregnancy and heaving a 30lb toddler around have been making for some sleepless nights, so I bought the pillow and figure it's worth a shot.

But - after Baden #2 arrives, I think I definitely need to invest in a couple of the tops from MilkStars. I think breastfeeding is great, and I plan to do it again - but there are definitely times when a shirt like this would have been insanely handy! I also plan on getting and trying a nursing cover this go-around but these shirts just look really awesome. Spendy, but if they work and you don't show off the goods to the unsuspecting public - well then YAY! No need to go hide in the car or in a restroom, etc. I'm sure that's too much information for some of you -- sorry!! :-)

A few other random things on the list that I didn't know about the first time with Atticus are on the list. I'll have to try writing down the list at some point before it all gets jumbled up in my head.

In other unrelated news -- I uploaded some new photos tonight of Atticus goofing off with Greg. I also created a new folder called Atticus's Artwork. I figure this way, I have a little momento of all his works even if I can't hang on to all of them...

Happy February

Here are a few photos from the month thus far -- and a video clip of the snow falling yesterday morning. I should have taken the video later in the day when there was actually snow on the ground, but since I didn't know how long it would last, I snapped this video pretty early in the day.

Well - foo. Go to the Baden Family Photos link to see the pictures. I haven't quite mastered the Mac, and I've got copies of the photos in both iPhoto and Picasa, but I've only edited the Picasa ones and I can only seem to import the iPhoto versions. Boo hiss. I'm sure there's a way, but it's late, I'm tired and you can just click on over to the photo link. :-) I did get the video into YouTube, so enjoy that one first!

ASL (American Sign Language)

How cool is this site? It has little video clips to teach you sign language. Some are slightly different than how I learned/taught Atticus -- but pretty groovy!

No Need to Panic

No joke. I just got an email from our Pediatrician's office and they're closing the office in 10 minutes. It's snow people. And only a little. It was 75 degrees two days ago, the chance of anything sticking is really pretty small. What I think is funny -- Greg took Atticus to school this morning without his coat. Ha. I don't know what's going to happen when we move to Ohio. You can't put the kiddo in the car seat with the coat on - but by the time you get them out of the seat and into coat, you could have already made it inside. Hmmmm....

I did get a couple pictures and a 30 second video earlier this morning. If I have any more time during lunch, I'll try to get everything uploaded.

It's just snow people. Calm down. It's going to be O.K.

Chinese Astrology Birth Chart

This chart was right for Atticus. Think it will be right for Baby Baden #2? If so, we'll have a girl in May. Was it right for anyone else out there?

I started thinking about all the old wives tales earlier today when I thought I was going to consume an entire bottle of Tums. That link doesn't say it explicitly - I must have read it somewhere else, but I've heard that girls cause more heartburn than boys. I'm not sure I buy that -- I had a lot with Atticus too. I think it's my price to pay for not having any morning sickness.

I suppose we'll have to wait and see..

Words!

Wow, what a difference tubes have made in the little man's life. He is now babbling and repeating and working on a ton of new words. In the past week or so, Greg and I have heard the following (sometimes clearer than others... but definite attempts):

Truck
Water
Doggy
Bath
Bus
Bubble
Bubbe
Pops
Hot
Cracker

I'm sure I'm missing some... but it's been great watching him say something and then get the proper response from one of us.

Playing at the Park

This was the second take - once I realized that Atticus wasn't going to go flying off the end of the slide. I wish I had the side angle of the slide however... this really is the "big" steep slide at the playground.



Just before we left, we also took some time to play on the swings.

Where to Begin?

I've started about a dozen posts in my head - but none have made it to "paper" yet. Been a busy week, but what else is new? Atti is still refusing to nap over the weekend and to complicate matters his ear started oozing this weekend. Ewww. So, ummm.... yeah - here's how my Valentine's Day went down:

6 am - Atticus wakes on cue

6:15 - spend who knows how long with a warm wash cloth trying to figure out what in the hell is oozing from Atticus's ear

7 ish - I decide to make myself a treat and pull out the Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls from the fridge. (I know, very exciting...)

7:45 ish - pull the rolls from the oven

7:46 - go to put the oven mitt back in the drawer next to the oven

7:46 and 30 seconds - scream loudly, drop the mitt, grab Atticus and run from the kitchen

7:47 - send a still half asleep Greg into the kitchen to catch and dispose of the humongous roach that was camping out in the drawer next to the oven

7:48 - continue doing the ewwww-icky dance convinced that there are more bugs lurking somewhere unseen

7:50 - wonder why the only times you see a roach they're 3" long?

The remainder of the morning was spent playing with Atti, puzzles, crayons, musical instruments... I did cave and let him sleep on my chest while in the rocking chair for a couple of hours. I don't know what to do about the napping... I think it's a phase and a side effect of growing up a bit and being more aware that Mommy and Daddy are in the other room and some crazy fear that he might miss something. Not sure, but the minute you tell him it's time for a nap he starts wailing. Saturday, he screamed for about an hour, we gave up and took him out of the crib and just continued about the day. He sat down in Greg's lap about 4pm and just c-r-a-s-h-e-d. Boom - sound asleep leaning up against Greg. But I digress -- Sunday was a beautiful day, so the three of us did make it to the park for a while in the afternoon. Slides, swings, rocks, dogs, airplanes -- it was a good afternoon until the blue northern appeared with crazy wind and we had to head home.

Monday morning we went back to the doctor for the confirmation that Atti did indeed have another ear infection. Poor kid. At least now the goo is draining out and not collecting behind his ear drum. After seeing the amount of goo that's oozing out, I can only imagine how painful that must be when it's just sitting in your ear! Yuck. We're back on the ear drops - which sucks. I'd rather give the bubble gum medicine. Atticus is NOT a fan of ear drops and that is the understatement of 2010. The ear is oozing less however so hopefully we've turned the corner on this ear infection...

In other Atti news - we're definitely signing more, babbling more and becoming more and more fascinated with buses of all varieties. :-) Austin is a good town for spotting buses. Green ones, purple ones, white ones... He likes to say the "b" sound. There are slightly different sounds for all his "b" words which is good because we haven't quite mastered the second syllable. But, we're all about bus, bubbles, Bubbe, box, bumblebee, etc etc. Maybe he takes after me - one of my favorite books was (and still is) "The B Book".

Ok, well I'm going to attempt to free some of the recent photos and video from the park, then head to bed. Goodnight all...

Otto

Otto is the dog next door. Otto is about to be Otto no more.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge animal lover, but I'm starting to understand how people lose their marbles and go after the pet in an effort to get them to be quiet. I know logically that we need to approach the neighbors, but ummm - they're a lawyer and a judge for crying out loud! And they're leaving their dog OUTSIDE for the majority of the day and he won't stop barking!!!

Grrrr, it's really freaking annoying and I'm not sure how to approach them to tell them that the non-stop barking is driving me crazy and waking my toddler!

Good Monday, Bad Tuesday

Yesterday was a pretty good day. Atticus played in the morning, we had breakfast, we did a little singing and dancing and he was in a pretty jolly mood when he went to school. No crisis at work, talked to my Mom and she seems to be doing a little better with the knee surgery recovery... After dinner and getting little man to bed, I went downtown to meet a couple of colleagues at the Iron Cactus. They were in town doing recruiting/interviews. It was a great night out - meeting some "kids" that are seniors at UT, learning what they're interested in, etc... and then talking shop with a VP and some senior managers. I got home and was still awake and was able to stay that way long enough to get through the Craig Ferguson monologue - dude, that guy is just a hoot. I really wish he were on at 10:30 instead of Jay/Dave/Conan, etc...

Alas, then today started. The family was woken up by the neighbor's dog barking outside for 9 minutes starting at 5:32 AM. Had it just been a minute or two - you figure, hey, it happens. But seriously people, our neighbors are smart people (judge and lawyer), and you'd think they'd figure out that a barking dog at 5:30 AM is NOT the way to make friends. So, now Atticus is awake and crying, I'm dragging my sorry tush out of bed and the day begins. I actually broke down in tears while trying to feed Atticus breakfast because we were both just cranky and tired! And now my passwords for work aren't working. And I just got another voicemail from the J that Atticus was bitten again today - this time on the arm. Ugh. I need to talk to the management when I pick him up to see if they also talk to the parents of the "biter". How many chances does their kid get before he's "suspended". I mean, I know he's 18 months give or take -- but two bites in 3 days, one actually breaking the skin is not good people. Is he biting anyone else, or just my son? And I'm sure Atticus is just having a hoot of a time with it all because he already woke up this morning with the green snot again and teething like a baby. Sigh...

Well, I'm off to call the helpless desk and see if they can resolve my issues because rebooting didn't do it. On the upside of today - I do get breakfast for dinner. Kerbey Lane in T-2.5 hours.

Lunch and the Food Network

I admit, this is kinda funny....

I'm sitting on the sofa eating my Lean Cuisine for lunch and watching Barefoot Contessa on Food Network. But let me just say... Oh My Goodness - the salad she just made looks so friggen delicious! See the recipe HERE. Granted, maybe I'm just really hungry - but this just sounds so yum!!

Next up on her menu using farmer's market finds - zucchini fritters. And I do looooove the zucchini! Wow I'm hungry. :-)

Nap? I Don't Think So!

Well, the nap crisis continues. He's exhausted. We read a story and sing a song and he lays his head on my shoulder half asleep. I place him in the crib (he's standing) and all is ok. We say good night to the pillow, the blanket and his "guys", he gives me a hug, I walk out the door and he starts WAILING. Yesterday, he kept up the wailing for an hour.

Seriously - he was a perfectly good napper until 3 weeks ago.

Sigh...

UPDATE: 30 minutes later. He's still standing. Still wailing. Poor guy, he's bloody exhausted.

Kosher Face

After watching Lady GaGa on the Grammy's the other night - thought this was kinda funny.

Thanks to my Mom for the link. :-)

New Words

We've been a little slow starting to talk, but now that Atticus can hear properly, the babbling and the words will start flowing. Greg took Atti in for his 1 week ear recheck on Monday afternoon. His hearing is back in the normal range (had been at about 50%) and the tubes look great! Yippee!!

Atticus has discovered he can call Greg and I both Mama & Dada -- or Mommy and Daddy. It's cute. When he says Mommy or Daddy he gets all excited. He's been saying these over and over lately. The other new favorite word is banana "nana". He'll go running to the kitchen and point to the counter shouting "NANA".

There are lots of other repetitive sounds that I'm trying to discern. He's also making up some signs for words that he can't say just yet. He has one for "music" when he wants the cd player turned on that's pretty cute. He runs over to the player, and turns a fist upside down and taps the table. Not sure where he came up with it, but he does it every time he wants the music on...