Gentle Exploration

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Drew

I had Austin in his jumper the other day, and I was sitting on the sofa watching him play. I noticed that he had the little butterfly (who we have affectionately named “Limpy”) by the cord and was tapping him ever-so-gently against the jumper to see what would happen. This video is priceless…I love the expression of delight at 0:14, and the silent smile of satisfaction starting around 0:33.

Now compare that to how Adria treated Limpy at about the same age…

That video is a re-upload of one that I shared in this post, now that YouTube accepts HD video from our Canon video camera (technology is changing already in Adria’s lifetime!).

Posted in Adria, Austin, Stuff, Videos | 1 Comment

Co-sleeping

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Drew

We’re now putting Austin down for bed in Adria’s room.  The routine is starting to shape up.  We begin the bedtime ritual around 7:30pm, but we intentionally get Austin a little bit ahead…plus, he’s quicker to get ready anyhow because he doesn’t always need to do “one more thing.”  We give him his last bottle, make a show of turning off all the lights and saying good night to the house, sing a quick song, and lay him down in the crib…awake. Then we close the door, and he has some time to fall asleep while we finish getting Adria ready.

Often, by the time we get Austin in bed, we’re down to just books, potty, and teeth for Adria.  But Austin is a good sleeper, and so far that has been enough time.  We tell Adria that Austin is sleeping in the room and she needs to be quiet, and she does….in fact, this might make her sleep even better, because she doesn’t play in her bed so much.

Last night, though, was a February miracle.  We put them both to bed in their room (a little late, after the Super Bowl), and then they both slept all night, right up to 6:30.  I think Austin woke up at 6:25, and since Adria was awake she got up with her “sun” at 6:30.  It was glorious.   8)

They are asleep in there together right now, so….fingers crossed for more good sleeping.

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Happy 6 Months, Austin!

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Drew

Our baby boy is 6 months old today!  Whew…it’s been both fast and slow.  He is sleeping quite well, which is a mercy, and we’re just starting to introduce him to solid foods.  Developmentally, he is very active and alert now.  He gives me and Amanda big smiles when he sees us, and reacts to our moods.  He ‘talks’ quite a bit now, saying ‘da’ and ‘eh-yah-yah’ and many other word-like noises (we pretend that he’s trying to say “Adria” with that last one).  If you set him on his back, he immediately rolls to his belly…but he still won’t roll back.  He’s pushing up a lot, and recently we’ve noticed that he’s scooting backwards as a result.

In honor of Austin’s 6-month birthday, we’ve put him down for bed in Adria’s room tonight.  We also went down to the park today with the SLR and I sniped a few portraits of Austin (and Amanda, and Adria).  Here are a handful of my favorites.

Amanda giving Austin a smooch

Amanda giving Austin a smooch

Austin in the grass, laughing at Adria

Austin in the grass, laughing at Adria

Austin in the grass...no Adria, and no off-camera flash

Austin in the grass...no Adria, and no off-camera flash

Our little aviator against the sky blanket

Our little aviator against the sky blanket

Look at all of the hair that he's grown!

Look at all of the hair that he's grown!

Sucking on 60% of his right hand

Sucking on 60% of his right hand

Amanda and Austin

Amanda and Austin

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A Chicken and A Turkey

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Drew

I just finished creating my blog book for 2011, and sent it to Lulu for publishing.  The title is “A Chicken and A Turkey,” and it weighs in at 625 pages.  You can preview the book (and order it, if you are inclined to pay $120 for a hard copy of something you can get for free on the web) at this link.

It has taken me many evenings to get this book together.  For those of you wondering why I haven’t made many posts lately, this is the reason.  As I’ve mentioned before, it takes a long time just to scroll through 625 pages of anything…much less reformat and edit it.

At the suggestion of one of our friends, I tried an automated system at www.blog2print.com to create the blog book.  I was willing to make some sacrifices in the formatting for the sake of having the whole job done in 10 minutes…but alas, I was not satisfied.  I ran it through their system a couple of times, trying out the various options, and it just wasn’t giving me what I wanted.  You can change things and edit the product, but you have to do so in a little animated window in your browser, and I know from experience that editing a long project in that kind of format is a recipe for frustration.  So, with more than a little disappointment, I went back to Word.

I kept notes from the last time I did this, so the process went much faster.  I knew how to find the settings to reverse the order of the blog, and show the whole thing in one incredibly long browser window (the copy/paste operation took my reasonably powerful computer about 10 minutes to perform), and I even had some macros saved to remove the hyperlinks and format comments, etc.  It wasn’t too painful, just time consuming.  I will withhold judgement until I have the hard copy in my hands…but the 166MB PDF is beautiful.  I can’t wait to see it.   :)

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Antibiotics All Around

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Drew

Boy, this cold hit us hard.  Adria had her stomach thing, and a little sampling of the cold, but she has been well for a week.  Amanda, Austin, and I have lingered on.  It seems that Amanda is finally getting on top of it, but today we decided that Austin and I needed a trip to the doctor.  As it turns out, Austin has 2 ear infections, and I have a sinus infection.  We’re both on antibiotics now, so hopefully we’ll be back to 100% soon…

Posted in Adria, Austin, News, Stuff | 1 Comment

January Photo Album

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Drew

I have gathered the photo highlights from January and posted them on my website, here.  Enjoy!

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Social Niceties

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Drew

Tonight, when Adria climbed up into her chair for dinner, she said, “Dad, you guys sure fixed a good dinner for me!”   8)

And a couple of weeks ago, when I picked her up from daycare (which is a little unusual, typically I drop off and Amanda picks up), she said, “Dad, how was your work today?”   :)

She’s really starting to pick up on some of these social niceties that make the world go round, which is exciting to see.  Now if I can just get her to stop picking her nose….

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Heavyweight Champion

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Drew

Amanda and I have started to complain notice that Austin is awfully heavy in his car seat these days.  At last check, Adria weighed 30 pounds, so we got to wondering…who is heavier, Adria or Austin in his seat?

Tonight, I got out the bathroom scale and we weighed Austin in his car seat…together they are 25 lbs.  So Adria is still heavier…but the car seat is getting close, and it’s a heck of a lot more awkward to carry.  Only 6 more months rearward facing…   xD

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Pushing Up

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Drew

Austin is getting very strong, and he’s starting to push up with his arms:

Austin doing his wide-stance pushup

Austin doing his wide-stance push-up

I’ve tried to tell him that it would be much easier if he would pinch his arms in a bit, but he already doesn’t listen to his dadda.   :whistle:

I mentioned earlier that he will rest his head, and this is kind of the opposite of that…he will boost himself up to get a better look around.

Pushing up to see what his big sister is up to

Pushing up to see what his big sister is up to

He will stay on his belly a very long time without complaining, and I think that this feeds on itself.  The longer he’s on his belly, the stronger and more comfortable he gets, and the more he’s willing to be there.  He’s also getting much stronger in his legs, and will stand up in my lap for a long time with some under-arm support.

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Austin’s First Real Food

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Drew

On January 7th, we started Austin on solid food, namely some bland oatmeal paste.  Tonight, we graduated him up to “real” food…pureed apples and prunes.  I think this is typically something done after the 6-month checkup appointment, which is in 2 weeks, but we had a couple of reasons.  First, since we switched Austin to formula only, he seems to be getting a little backed up.  Second, he really seems to want solids…he eats the bland oatmeal eagerly, even though his reflexes still seem to want it out of his mouth.  And finally, we’re veteran parents now…we don’t feel nearly the need to wait for the doctor’s permission like we did 2.5 years ago.   :whistle:

Long story short, he loved his applesauce:

Austin contemplating the first bite of the sweet stuff

Austin contemplating the first bite of the sweet stuff

He made a bunch of worried faces and did a lot of lip smacking and tongue thrusting, but in the end he sucked it all down.

Austin trying to lick his bib

Austin trying to lick his bib

In between bites, and after Amanda was all done with the portion that she was willing to feed him, Austin would lick his bib and attempt to lick the tray as well.  Why a limited portion?  1) It was his very first time, and 2) go easy on the prunes.   :angel:

Here’s a little bit less concerned face after the applesauce:

Looking up for the camera

Looking up for the camera

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