We were planning on the IKEA "experience" today.. but I went to bed with muscle aches, stuffy nose, and sore throat. I think I wore myself out teaching songs and motions to kids this week at vacation Bible school (3-12 year olds, mostly), and left myself open to get sick. Oh, and nightskyre thinks the pain in my shoulder is a small muscle tear (probably from doing the motions too enthusiastically to try to keep kids' attention).

But hey, I'm already feeling better than I did last night! I just gotta keep up the Vitamin C and lots of liquid. And rest... if possible ;)

This time, with the baby in tow. It was a short ride, about 1.5 miles, and I stopped to check on her 3 times.




She was asleep by the time we got home.

Next time, we'll actually GO somewhere - like the library!

Claire,

You woke up at 5:30 this morning. You woke up at 4am yesterday. You've barely napped the last two days. 10 hours of sleep in 24 hours is NOT enough for a growing baby, and it only lets Mommy and Daddy get about 6 hours, which is not enough for us to keep our sanity.

On a completely different note...

When did nearly all children's toys become cheap junk? I have nothing against plastic toys, but I'd like to buy something that doesn't look like it's going to fall apart in a month, without spending an arm and a leg on it.

Inspired by my regular babysitter's (15-year-old) talky-keyboard-letters toy, I went to Toys R Us the other day, looking for a fun noisy electronic toy and/or a pull-up/walking toy. I didn't see anything I was willing to spend my money on.

(I really like this handcrafted wagon full of blocks, but that's in the "arm and a leg" category. I'd call it an heirloom-quality toy.)

If you've been following nightskyre's LJ, you know that our pool has had some problems. Our Memorial Day BBQ is now the "Save Our Pool" party. There will be no swimming :(

Donations are much appreciated, but don't feel like you shouldn't come if you can't give money. Even a show of moral support would be great, and make us feel like we're not spending the money to fix a pool that no one would use anyway.

Anyone want to spend an hour or two on Thursday afternoon with an award-winningly-cute baby?

I have a dentist appointment, and I keep forgetting to ask people about watching her. (I already tried to reschedule the appointment...)

So, nightskyre already posted this, but I need to share, since I'm a proud mama.

This picture of Claire was a a runner-up in the Knickernappies photo contest.

My girl, she's popping up all over the internet.

Now is an excellent time to buy a year of hosting from Dreamhost. Today only, you can get a domain and a year of hosting for less than $10! I had to pay over $100 for the same thing... and the deal is for new customers only.

Details on the Dreamhost home page.

So, we have our first real bout of sick-baby-and-sleepless-nights. For about 36 hours now, baby C has been alternating between cranky, normal-happy, and screaming in pain. After very little napping and poor sleep, we also threw in tired-crying-because-it-hurts-and-I-cant-sleep starting at about midnight last night. She finally fell asleep after projectile vomiting on daddy around 2am.

Got to the dr. around noon. Turns out ear infections can have a variety of symptoms, and babies won't always touch their ears if it hurts there. Started her on amoxicillin and baby Motrin. After the Motrin kicked in, she got a 2.5 hour nap.

Let's hope this clears up quickly, and that mom & dad can get some sleep tonight...

Well, that was a much longer walk than I intended to make today...

3.5 miles. I was intending to go 2 miles at the most. Oops.

Plus the ~1 mile round-trip to go to the Honey Farms (for milk) and back.

At least I was using the stroller, which makes it possible to stop and rest... but my legs are still tingling after sitting for 10 minutes.

The last panel of today's Control-Alt-Delete is awesome.
( At the risk of giving away the gag... )

Watched the pilot on hulu today. Had no idea it was going to be based on the lives of David & Saul.

I think it's a good drama (as any account based on their lives would have to be), AND reasonably accurate. The names are a nice touch: "David Shepherd" (David), "Silas Benjamin" (Saul - of the tribe of Benjamin), "Jack Benjamin" (Jonathan), "Michelle Benjamin" (Michal, Saul's daughter that David falls in love with), and "Reverend Samuels" (Samuel, the last of the judges of Israel). Even the lesser characters have names that match Biblical ones, when applicable (Eli Shepherd = Eliab, David's eldest brother).

The only thing that really bugs me so far is that Jack shouldn't envy David. It's in keeping with human nature, but not with the Biblical account. I could do without Jack being secretly gay, but I know that's a popular theory about Jonathan, so I'll let it go.

I installed the new carseat today. It just BARELY fits behind the passenger seat in our sedan. And then the front passenger's knees hit the glove compartment. And this is one of the shorter, cheaper carseats.

Obviously, once you have kids, it is only possible to get good gas mileage OR leg-room, but not both.


(We've been discussing getting a new car for 6 months, but figured we would hold off until we knew whether we wanted to get a new commuter car for nightskyre, or a bigger "family" car.)

Arg.

My tooth veneer chipped again. A nerve is exposed a little, so it hurts when exposed to heat or cold - I almost spit out my coffee this morning.

To top it off, dentist can't see me until Monday, and even then, it won't be the one who fixed this a year ago. They'd better not charge me.

Today I finally bought some Gerber baby food - tonight, baby tried some carrots (mixed with milk for flavor and cereal to keep the consistency up). So far, so good!

Food processor that we wanted wasn't available at the local store (boo) so they ordered it for us (yay!) but we have to pay shipping (boo!). Should have it by the time we're ready to start the next food in 4-5 days. Mmm... sweet potato. :)

Baby is movin' on up in the world of food - yesterday she tried banana puree for the first time. It didn't go over well. Probably because it tastes so different from everything she's had before. (Face it, rice gruel made with milk still mostly tastes like milk.)

Today, I added a little milk, and now she's eating it right up :)

We'll keep doing banana for a couple more days, then move on to introduce something else - maybe carrots or peas (bought in a jar) or maybe sweet potato (which I'll make myself).

In related news, we're about to buy a food processor.

Ever wish there was an online service for things you just need for a few days or months? You don't really want to buy them (because they're too bulky, expensive, whatever). We usually find friends who can loan us stuff, but that's not always an option. Enter Zilok.com.

Not too much in Massachusetts, yet, but I'm sure that will change. And you can enter in your own stuff to rent out to others, too.

4 hours and $400 later, my coolant system is working properly again.

Baby was very good while we were at the dealer, thankfully... but why can't this stuff ever happen in the summer, when we would have more options on how to deal with it?

Every time it snows again, I start thinking about when I'll be able to make time to shovel. At least today it started and stopped snowing fairly late, so I didn't have to feel guilty about not getting out there early in the day. In fact, I waited until Baby was down for her "bedtime nap".

I imagine that it will be immensely easier next year when I can say "let's go out and play in the snow!" rather than waiting for her to fall asleep. I'm never out there for more than 1/2 hour anyway; that's the limit of the shoveling my back can handle.

Finally saw the movie version last night. I know Tim Burton's style, and the basic plot of the musical, and yet it still surprised me just how gruesome it was.

Good, though. An artistic sort of gruesome. :)