Sunday evening

*yawn* I hope everyone has had a good weekend. We surely have. We had one day of super productivity, one day of sloth, and one day of a fair amount of productivity. All in all, not a bad use of time. Andy is on 4 nights this week then off for a three day weekend then another string of 4 nights next week so Will and I are doing a fair amount of flying solo.

This weekend we managed to get Eli’s dresser painted and get the carpets cleaned with a rented Rug Doctor. I baked some pumpkin bread with cranberries and walnuts and also some muffins of the same mixture and topped them with cream cheese frosting (yum). I ran about 5 miles today and walked about another mile by taking a route that I thought was going to be a 4 mile loop but ended up being waaaaay longer. My cardiovascular system seems to have bounced back quite nicely as I was never really out of breath for it but my legs weren’t very thrilled by mile 5. I’m happy to report that the hip is mildly tweaky but really not a concern at all. It feels good. Andy and Will hit the gym today and went on a short run themselves. Eli has just been a general nut and that seems to be the case for an 11 month old. He was cracking himself up by holding a glass over his mouth and blowing b’s into it. He also cracks up at hiding behind things, opening and closing doors, pulling all the clothes out of drawers (grr), and music.

Will had the homecoming football game Friday night (they lost, not a surprise, I don’t remember the last time his school won) and the dance last night. He wouldn’t let me take a picture but they don’t dress up nearly as much as we did in my day (and with that statement, I’m going to go find my Geritol and catch an early bird dinner at Denny’s). He said that he and Ivy were going to get pictures and he said he would give me one. Andy had band practice last night so I got a nice quiet evening once Eli went to sleep. He seems to have another incisor coming in on the bottom left but it doesn’t seem to be bothering him in the least. All teething/cranky/diarrhea issues seem to have resolved and we’re back to the status quo of having one seriously delightful baby.

My computer seems like it wants to die so I need to do something about that soon. It freezes quite a lot and I have to restart it quite often. I should probably take it in, I’m sure it could use a tune up and maybe that will help. I put a new video up and also new pictures. Eli turns one in about a month! I can’t believe it. We’re going to have a little party here, not really many people at all and mostly a party for us (ME, I made it through A YEAR) on his birthday which is a work night for most. Really, my main concern is just to get the invitations done since I never got around to doing birth announcements and I still feel a little guilty about that.

I’m going to zone out and watch the PBS show about the National Parks (Denny’s, here I come). Andy is a dear and is cooking dinner tonight since he’ll be gone the next four. Have a great Monday!

3 minutes in the life

Nothing too exciting. Playing with Daddy on his day off.

Weekend

Oh, I am so SO ready for this week to be over. Eli has had a bicuspid coming in that took the better part of two days and so he’s had a hard time. We really don’t know if it’s a bicuspid or a molar but it’s big and it’s given him a harder time than he’s had so far. The accompanying diarrhea has been particularly horrible and he just hasn’t been himself most of the week and hasn’t been napping for Sharron hardly at all. I took Tuesday off because he was in such poor shape and hadn’t napped at all for Sharron on Monday. Tuesday he was sort of okay but still a bit bipolar with the moodiness and he wouldn’t let me put him down very often. My back has paid the price for that tooth! We had a rather nasty blowout this morning upon wake up which required washing EVERYTHING in his crib, teddy bear included. Andy was late for work so he could help me clean up the mess and since I had already missed one day this week I didn’t want to be late for another. Thankfully Eli was just a cheery guy despite the state of his crib and I have learned never to say (1) he’s never really had significant diaper rash and (2) he’s never really had a bad blowout because JINX! Thankfully with frequent hair dryer use the diaper rash seems to be under control and not as bad as it was yesterday. My poor little guy has had a hard week! He is sleeping like a ton of bricks right now and I’m hoping the worst is over.

We toured a day care on Tuesday and we’re on the wait list for that. It was very nice if a bit old but it’s based in a presbyterian church in Greenwood and has good reviews so far. The wait is about 6 months to a year at this point. I called on another place in Ballard that does part time and they have a wait list that has openings in September 2011. Although we weren’t really planning on placing Eli until next Spring, these calls gave me minor heart attacks. I tried another place and we have a tour for next Friday and they have only a 3 month wait list. The director said if we wanted to start him next Spring it would work perfectly so we just have to check with Sharron about how long she wants to keep him. I am not quite sure why this place has such a short wait because all of its reviews seem to be positive but the only difference between this place and the others is that it’s privately owned and doesn’t accept daycare subsidies.

Eli isn’t walking but he’s getting closer. He isn’t really showing any more interest in it than he was a few weeks ago, he seems quite content to cruise on furniture and push his little car around rather than use it as a walker. He loves the bath and you can’t run a bath without him coming to watch you shower and squeal or have him insist that you put him in it so he can get wet and play around. I think he was secretly quite pleased about the blowout this morning because it resulted in a bath as soon as he woke up and he was VERY happy about that. He is getting closer to saying something that sounds like “baby” but the syllables are off and it sounds like “buh-bay” most of the time. Also, there’s no connection to when he says it, he says “buhbay” when he looks at a wall, at his turtle bath toy, etc. So it doesn’t count as a “first word”. He’s not been into eating solid foods so much this week and I’m going to attribute that to the teething. He’s been consuming a lot of bottles instead and I think they’re probably more comfortable for him.

I am going to sleep like a baby myself tonight for sure. Everyone have a good Friday!

Andy and I are both off this weekend and I am SO HAPPY about this. Will has homecoming this weekend and now that he’s a junior he seems to be a lot busier than last year! He’s doing great so far in school and getting As in everything. Although we don’t get a date night until next weekend, we have a lovely weekend of some household projects planned (painting furniture for Eli’s room) and a lot of college football TV with Mike. I’m really looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

Short videos

Things are looking up

Not that they were really looking down but I had a real run today for the first time in over a month! I did three miles with Eli in the stroller. My hip felt pretty tight at first but it loosened up as I ran and it was great. My main problem was being out of shape! I’m really pleased and the weather today couldn’t have been better, it was sunny and 65. Andy was off for part of the weekend but then covered today for a vacationing coworker so E and I were on our own. Will was up in his loft most of today doing homework and whatever he does on his computer. He had a pretty busy weekend with a school football game Friday night and then his girlfriend took him to a Mariners game last night as a late birthday present. I spent most of today getting ready for the week and prepping the dresser in Eli’s room to be painted. I got the drawers painted but the dresser itself will need to be hauled downstairs to paint, there’s just not enough room on the decks to do it. Now that he’s almost one, I’m finally getting around to decorating his room properly! Oh well, it’s not like he really cares.

I think YouTube is finally letting me put some videos up so I’m going to try to get a few up tonight.

Alternatives

Still no running. I had a x-ray last Friday and it was negative (yay!). If it is still bothering me in a month, I get a MRI. Walking is totally fine now which is GREAT but anything with impact is still pretty much out. The theory now (simply by the process of elimination at this point) is that I tore a muscle in my hip and that’s why it’s taking so long to heal. I start to think things are getting better then something happens like today–I’m crossing the street and a car drives up so I do that hurry-walk-half run thing and my hip tweaks with each impact on that side.

Instead of wallowing in my running-less misery and trying to convince myself that elliptical machines are a good substitute, I’ve signed up for swimming lessons at my gym and they start next week. I can swim, say for survival or enjoyment but I can’t really swim for exercise. I don’t know how to swim smoothly and breathe at the same time. I’m looking forward to it. I think this will give me the kick in the pants I miss from running and hopefully I’ll like it enough to continue it as a cross training exercise when I FINALLY can run again.

Eli is fabulous as always. I think Will is even more fun than when he left. It was really a smooth transition to have him back home and things just feel normal again. We missed him! Eli is all about giving hugs and kisses these days which is why I have been late getting work several times this week–it’s tough to leave when he’s doling out the love! This week he’s eating fig newtons, grapes, strawberries, bits of our sandwiches, waffles, indian food, and pretty much anything we’re eating because he will no longer allow food to be eaten in his presence without demanding some. The purpose of the sippy cup continues to elude him and he mostly just thinks it’s a fun toy and he chews on the bottom of it. I’m thinking he might just go straight to regular cups because there doesn’t seem to be a light clicking on there. We’re on solid whole milk bottles now and he’s doing great with it. Will is great fun with Eli and voluntarily picks him up and holds him quite a bit these days which is just adorable. He’s even done a few very short babysitting favors for us when we need to run to the store or a dental appointment.

Andy’s on all weekend and Eli and I have a Gymboree music class date tomorrow afternoon. I’m looking forward to it because I haven’t actually made it to one of the music classes yet. Andy’s brother Tim is also going to be in town tomorrow night so we’re all going out to dinner and then he is staying over tomorrow night and leaving Saturday so this should be fun!

My new smile

My new smile

Originally uploaded by akanejones

Just testing out a little thing, apparently I can blog pictures directly from Flickr but I don’t think I can do more than one per entry…