Four! (Month Checkup)

Claire had her checkup at the pediatrician today, and she passed with flying colors. He said she is beautiful and so alert and social (all of which we knew, but it's good to have it confirmed by a less-biased person). He also thinks that she's a little ahead on her motor skills; she can do 360s while most babies her age are just getting started with rolling. She also gave him a good demonstration of what I call "baby pilates" by pulling herself from flat to a "V" position in my lap--repeatedly. It's good and bad, really. He had a hard time checking her joints because she kept kicking him. I was on the receiving end of a couple particularly strong kicks. Below are the stats for our tiny little miss.

during a recent trip to the zoo

Length: 25 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 12 lbs. 9 oz. (25th percentile)

Head Circumference: 16.-1 inches (25th percentile)

Gigglicious

So cute I made up my own word. They did this for about 20 minutes; all he was doing was shaking a cup with a few grapes in it.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Existentialism for the preschool set

Scene: driving to the zoo; please keep in mind that Mason hates driving on the freeway after our window blew out. He will beg, barter, and plead to keep us on the side roads.

Mason: STOP THE CAR!

Dad: ... why?

Mason: Why not?

Is anyone laughing as hard at this as I did?

Four fabulous months and still growing strong...

Claire turned four months old yesterday. I failed; it's the first time I haven't made the post on the actual anniversary. Oh well, I think she'll forgive me. On a side note, Claire has been pretty dedicated to sitting up on her own since, well, the beginning of her time. She visibly strains to lift her head up constantly when she's laying down. So we love the Bumbo and highly recommend it!

Likes: chewing on things (especially her index and middle fingers), being tickled by Grandpa, kicking those long legs constantly (especially when you comment on it), "flyin' ", any music but most especially ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man", snuggling into mom for a long nap, having her toes "omped", being pulled with her arms from laying to sitting to standing and back again, working out her vocal cords, outside, chewing on towels

Dislikes: having the bottle removed from her mouth while she thinks she's still eating, being put down, having her toes "omped" with her brother's teeth, her carseat

As of yesterday, she holds her own bottle in her mouth. She's rolling from her back to stomach and back again, and has exercised the ability to turn this in to her mobility. She only catnaps during the day, but will snuggle right in to sleep at night. Sometimes she sleeps through the night and sometimes she doesn't. She's especially happy to see everyone in the morning and generally only giggles when she's being tickled or someone is blowing raspberries on her stomach. She's still long and skinny and we'll see where she's at next week during a trip to Dr. Johnson.

Note to Self

Don't do this again. You put the Mat Kearney tickets, still in their envelope, on the top of the bulletin board. If they aren't there, check beside the dryer as they may have fallen.

09/09/09

I was trying to think of something cool to post today. This is what I came up with. I listened to "Things That Must Go" on X96 today, so you get my "life" version first. Then, the second list is because I feel guilty ranting without acknowledging the good stuff.


Nine Things I Could Do Without

1. Snow -- hate it. Really.
2. Laundry -- the housework chore that never ends. As soon as I finish, I start again.
3. Whining -- the hallmark of a three year old. Even when you wish for silence.
4. Bills -- I wish we could have what we need without having to feel so overcharged for it.
5. Car Problems -- things should work properly when you pay tens of thousands of dollars for
them.
6. Stupidity -- if everyone saw the world the way I do, that would be boring. If everyone could
articulate what they were thinking in a way that doesn't bug me, it would be
much better.
7. Yardwork -- especially since it never looks like I did any.
8. Time -- I have no concept of it, and would enjoy not always feeling like I'm so far behind
the 8-ball.
9. Carpet in weird places -- I hate vacuuming my bathroom!


Nine Things I Couldn't Do Without

1. My family -- my husband, my kids, my parents, my in-laws, extended family... they all make
my life a pretty good place to be. Dogs are begrudgingly included (check with
me again when they haven't recently destroyed property while we were gone).
2. My Job -- you never know what you're going to get when I go to work. It's a crazy job and I
love it.
3. Music -- all kinds. Playing it, listening to it, introducing my kids to my favorite stuff.
4. Wipes -- baby wipes, Clorox/Lysol wipes. A good wipe can fix almost anything.
5. Pedicures -- feel good and make me feel good about myself. Plus it's an hour to read #6.
6. Books -- I have a go-to book for just about everything. Plus, there is such a feeling of
accomplishment to finishing a book.
7. Sleep -- so renewing. So necessary. And often so hard to come by.
8. Date Nights -- that allow me to appreciate the relationship I have with my husband, and the
fact that we can have an "adult" good time together on occasion.
9. Bunker gear -- firefighters are hot. Need I say more?

Doing something ahead of time...

...is inconsistent with my personality but oh well. At some point I have to function like a responsible adult despite my best efforts to the contrary.

I've found a few public safety blogs recently that are mighty a) entertaining and b)wryly comedic about the day-to-day experiences shared by myself, my husband, and many others. I've been enjoying them. One of the standouts is Your Happy Medic. He does a weekly "You Make the Call" segment every Friday that has sparked some interesting conversation between Alan and I. So, imagine my surprise when his segment this past Friday was about getting your family prepared in the event of your death. Whoa. Heavy.

He specifically talked on Friday about preparing your will. Alan and I actually have an appointment coming up with an organization who helps public safety employees and their families do just that. However, the writer at Happy Medic takes it one step further and offers details on putting together a Family Emergency Plan, including this living will, and making it accessible to those who would need it.

Anyone who wants to do this with me is welcome to do so. Tonight, I created a new Word document that includes the following:

• Personal information about each of our family members: a recent photograph, full name, date of birth, and descriptors including height, weight, eye color and hair color. Obviously with two growing children, this page will need frequent updates. I'm thinking I'll do it when we change our smoke detector batteries around the semi-annual time changes.
• A complete list of personal telephone numbers. Our home number, cell phone numbers, the main numbers for all our workplaces, non-emergency dispatch numbers (obviously, the emergency number is 911), the pediatrician, my doctor, the veterinarian, and a family friend within walking distance.
• Written instructions for shutting off the gas, water, and electricity inside the house and/or to the house from outside.

This took me about 20 minutes to compile, including the hands-on demonstration Alan gave me into how to shut everything off. Again. Have I mentioned lately that he's rather patient with me sometimes and I appreciate that? This format was so much better than the "fire drills" he used to give me when we were first married. But anyway, I digress.

I'm going to put this all in a brightly colored binder and store it in a to-be-determined location in our house; I'm thinking it will be in the cabinet above the phone in our kitchen. I know I will have another area for our wills, once we've finished preparing those. I'm also still working on (have mostly abandoned but not totally forgotten) a home inventory that will go in. At some point, I'm going to copy down all our insurance info. And Happy Medic discusses a sealed envelope that makes me shudder to think about it. It won't be required for everyone's household, but is a must for ours. The title given is "LODD". I knew immediately what he meant, but for those not living in our firefighters' culture, it's "Line of Duty Death."

You may also wonder what ever happened with our Just Kidding They Are 96-Hour Kits. I haven't forgotten about them, but they got a little cumbersome considering I would have to carry 2-3 by myself. I'm thinking something like this might be a little more practical for us. However, I do still have the list, broken down into each week, that would enable you to make a 96-Hour Kit over the course of a year if anyone wants it. For now I'm just focusing on our family plan and hoping that we don't need anything else before I get around to it. Happy Planning!

And the Little One Said...

... roll over.

And then holler because you have nowhere to go from there.
(she just started this sequence last Saturday--it's been fun.)

An Economics Lesson

Mason: Dad, can you fix my train track?

Dad: Unfortunately, due to the slow economy, the county has run out of funding. You'll have to wait until the next budget year.

Mason: What did you say?

Dad: Yeah, buddy, I can fix your train track.

Meeting of the Minds

I've been kind of MIA in posting lately. It's been a super busy couple of weeks with the kiddos, but the last few days have really killed me for some reason. We have a few new developments to share, but I want to give each one it's own post. So for now, this is all I've got.

This past weekend, my cousin was in town for a family funeral (the other side of her family, not mine). The good news about this was that it provided a rare opportunity for us to get together and chat. Plus, her daughter Arianna was born on the same day as Claire. I share a birthday with another cousin of mine so the two of them sharing a birthday was a fun surprise.

Arianna is beautiful and has lots of long hair. She's so cute and teeny she makes Claire look like she's about ten feet long. Someday, we might be able to get a picture of them together... where they are both looking at the same camera. But for now this will have to do.

Where were the boys during this, you ask? They were checking out Cowabunga Bay. I was also supposed to go to a bridal shower (sorry again for being so busy visiting that I missed it entirely), so they had planned a 'boys-only' afternoon before the brunch ever materialized. I took the not-water-friendly camera with me, so there are no pictures. However, I am told that Mason showed not a lick of fear or hesitation. The only reason they didn't go on the tallest, 70-foot-high water slide was because of the long line that came attached. He is still talking about the next time we can go back.