Christmas 2008 - For Real This Time

We had a lovely Christmas in Toronto with my parents and sisters. We really missed Michael. At least we got to see him in November. Right now my head is being bombarded with information that I want to share. Not posting for over a week is a really long time for me. Let's see where to begin?

-Travelling on either end went smoothly despite the fact that we were pulling into our parking spot approximately 48 minutes before our flight was supposed to take off. It will probably take Matt and I a while to recover from lugging our bags through the airport. Due to the new luggage fees, we carried as much a humanly possible which included Daniel, a stroller, the giant carseat in its bag, a carry on suitcase, a backpack, and the diaper bag in addition to all of our outerwear. For customs we got to carry our other two giant bags as well.

- Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were great. Daniel decided to sing along for mass on Christmas Eve. Every time the congregation would sing, he would squeal. The kid knows how to make a joyful noise :) The Brown's joined us for Christmas dinner, so great to see them.

-Matt and I were able to catch up on some sleep because Grampie would play with Daniel each morning for an hour or two. I think they enjoyed their special time over Cheerios and the paper.

-We made a trip to see Niagra Falls. The Falls are amazing. If you ever go, you must cross the border to see the Canadian side. They are much bigger. Matt was a little nervous about the height. That is why he is a little stiff in the video, but he was a real sport and even looked over the edge. We had dinner in Niagra-on-the-Lake where Daniel discovered that he really likes Kraft Macroni and Cheese.

-Daniel loves dogs. As you can see in the second video, he enjoys screaming at them. Unfortunately for all of my family members, this was at 7 am. Daniel would also chase them around (crawling) and say, "Dog, dog, dog, dog..." The dogs were so great. They would just walk away.

Christmas a Little Early

Since we are headed to Toronto tomorrow, Santa came to our house this morning. Here is a long video of Daniel playing with his new grocery cart. I think he likes it. We have had tons of snow this week. I want to say that the total is more than a foot. I attempted to blow the snow off the driveway today, but it was not going so well. The combination of sub-zero temperatures, extremely light snow and swirling wind were a ripe situation for frostbite. Of course I had a lovely snowblowing outfit on. Just imagine every color covering almost every bit of skin. I'm going to have to invest in one of those baklava things that cover everything except your eyes for future snowblowing adventures. Sorry no video or pictures of the snowblowing. Just imagine a person all bundled up in a cloud of snow. It was a whiteout behind the blower.

One of Daniel's Favorite Toys

A few weeks ago, I purchased an enormous amount of daipers at Costco. It took me a while to get them on the shelf and get the box ready to dispose of. I was so happy that I was going to get rid of the box clutter. Well, in the meantime Daniel has taken quite a liking to this box. He has played with it almost every day for three weeks while I get ready in the morning. I'm glad he likes it, but it is starting to give our room that messy feel. I just can't bring myself to get rid of something that allows me to blowdry my hair and put on my makeup in peace.

I had no idea that a box could provide so much entertainment for a baby this age. He likes to make faces at the baby on the box. He sees that little boy and thinks he has a friend. I wonder if he is trying to tell me something. He also stands up on the box. He bangs the box. He climbs on it, uses it as a step, and pushes it around. It can be used in any position - low box or tall box. For only $40 and a Costco membership, you can have your own box. I can see all of you rushing out tomorrow to find a great box.

Here are a few picutres of our latest baby decor.

More Playtime

I'm going to put lots of pictures up today, so that when I slack off over Christmas, you won't feel too deprived :) Our nanny took these on Thursday. She did such a great job. I guess she had a pretty easy subject.

Objects in Motion Stay in Motion

Daniel was having a grand adventure on Friday afternoon.

He had a taste test of the curtain pull.

He played in his favorite drawer!

He found a new plug.

He looked under the tea table. (I missed the picutre of him underneath the cart. Not quick enough.)

No children were harmed in the taking of these photos.

Playtime and a New Hairdo

Here is a video of Daniel somewhat entertaining himself and one of my new haircut. Enjoy!

Where to Begin?

Our normal crazy life has seemed even crazier recently. Well, at least until Friday. Daniel really knows how to celebrate his 8-month birthday. We had been in full holiday swing until Daniel came down with Croup on Friday. We were scheduled to go in for his flu shot with a nurse, but that morning he was so unusual that I rescheduled for a Doctor's appointment. He was being relatively lethargic and quite clingy. No big red flags, but I just wanted to get him checked out. Well, we get to the doctor, and everyone keeps asking me if it started last night. I kept saying maybe. I had to describe his cough about 10 times. Apparently, 'barky' is the correct term to describe a croupy cough. Anyway, they check him out, everything seems ok, and then Daniel let out the slightest cough, and the Doctor proclaims it croup. I guess the cough is quite telling.

Well, Friday night we found out why they kept asking if it started the night before. Daniel went to bed like usual and slept fine until about midnight. Then he was up every hour from then on. All he wanted was to be held. The poor kid was miserable. He would cough, pause, and then cry. It was a long whiny cry. He stayed fairly miserable until Sunday morning. Luckily it is nice and cold outside, so we can expose him to nice cold air to help his throat feel better. He is feeling much better now, but the croup still lingers a bit. It is the worst between 6 and 10 pm. I'm afriad that the sleep training might be out the window.

Daniel also started crawling in the traditional sense this past week. He is getting faster each day. It is really entertaining to watch him learn. His arms will start going faster than his legs, and sometimes he just misses and has a faceplant. He still gets right back up and goes again. Maybe I shouldn't laugh at him, but I need the peace of mind sometimes. He is also getting better at getting down from a standing position to sitting without bonking his head.

The past three or four times I've gone to get him when he wakes up, he'll be standing in the crib. At least twice, he could have been standing there for a very long time. He is a stealthy stander. He'll wake up and stand up with only making the slightest noise. Like a noise similar to a sigh. I'll think his is just napping away only to go in and check and find him standing there looking around the room. I guess if he had a problem, he would let me know.

His top two teeth are just about to erupt. You can see the little white pieces under the skin. I hope they aren't too terribble for him. I'm ready to get back to the normal sleep routine. I'm thinking he will be into a great routine around December 22 when we head to Toronto for Christmas. At least we will have lots of help there!

I'll work on getting more pictures or a video up on Friday.

Swimming Lessons

Peggy came to swimming on Tuesday. She was nice enough to take a few videos. I made a little movie of the videos. I'm still experimenting with the software, so bear with me. After taking the time to get it done, I still feel like it is worth it to post them even if they are just ok.


Winter has arrived in full force. We got 4 inches of snow today (just in time for me to spend my day outside at a farm), and it is going to be in the 20s later this week. I'm not quite ready for this yet.

Pictures

Going for a stroll in the French Quarter with Dad

Daniel with his Great Grandmother Mahoney

A multi-tasking Granpie feeds Daniel his daily dose of orange-colored food. Daniel had a lovely lunch with Granpie, Declan, and Uncle Phil.

Daniel and Non hanging out during cocktail hour on Thanksgiving

Daniel loves his bathtime, and he has many toys to play with!

I need to focus, just a bit

I'm finding it difficult to focus these days. There are so many things that I want to do and so many things that I need to do, but really I just spend most of my time being a mom. Daniel is doing so many new things that it is quite enjoyable to just play with him. It's either that or that fact that he cries when I leave the room that keeps me by his side. He is rather content and entertained when he is eating Cheerios or other finger foods or playing in the jumper or new horse from Aunt Maggie. We are considering naming the horse Cheesebiscuit. Matt and Kelly think it is a great idea. I'm not sold yet.

Ok, back to the focus thing. So I'm here while Matt and Kelly are at the gym and Daniel is napping. This should be the perfect time to get a few thoughts down or pick out a few pictures to post, but the problem is that Daniel has been asleep for over 2 hours. I have this fear that he is going to wake up any minute now. I'm also starting to think that I need to wake him up so that he will go to sleep tonight. All these thoughts can be somewhat paralyzing.

He is really fun these days. He is pulling himself up on everything and eating everything in sight. He has taken on a little color recently because so many of the baby foods are orange. I guess a bit orange is better than really, really white :0 He has also started giggling all the time, and playing lots of games. Well, any variation of peek-a-boo that you like. Yesterday he clapped for the first time. He was so pleased with his accomplishment or maybe he was pleased with my excitement over his accomplishment. Positive reinforcement really does go a long way.

I working on getting into a rhythm with our new busier, more demanding baby. I'm not sure how I would have made dinner on Tuesday night or prepared our dishes for Thanksgiving without the help of Aunt Maggie and Aunt Kelly. They were both here for Thanksgiving and helped entertain Daniel much of this past week. I hope you all had wonderful holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving

We made this video with our new Flip from Aunt Maggie. I must say that I think I like it. It is so easy! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

Weekend Update

I uploaded this video last weekend. I can hardly remember what I did last weekend. I could have had something important to share, but oh well, it has slipped my mind. Now this past weekend was more notable. Matt, Daniel, and I headed down to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for my Aunt Meg's wedding. The ceremony was beautiful, and the priest had the most thoughtful homily. Almost all of my Mahoney relatives were there - great aunts and uncles to first cousins. We only get to be together every couple years or so. As an added bonus, all of my immediate family was there and we got to see a bunch of my Mom's family, too.

If you are feeling a bit confused by all the families, don't worry. That's kind of how I feel.

Since we left on Thursday morning, here is a brief description of what we did. Woke up at 4 am to catch our flight, arrived in NO, had a po boy, drove to BR, went to LSU with Aunt Sue, had an amazing dinner (shrimp stuffed chicken) at Aunt Sue's, visited with Mimi and Papa, and went to bed early. So that was Thursday. On Friday we chilled in the morning, went to the bridal shower luncheon, hung out with the parents, met up with Uncle Mike, headed to the wedding and reception, danced our feet off, party in 207, finally made it home 3 hours before Daniel woke up. Saturday started with an 8 am playdate with the new 16-month-old twin cousins, headed home for a nap, went to Aunt Meg's for a jambalaya party, Matt went to the LSU game and came back, put Daniel to bed at the party, made it home the same day ;) Today we drove to NO, had biengets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, met up with Uncle Mike in the French Quarter, enjoyed the nice weather, and travelled back to Madison.

So this puts Daniel at 6 states and 2 provinces. We are looking forward to this week. We get to see a bunch of Lee family for Thanksgiving, and two of Daniel's aunts will be in town!

Looking Forward to Tuesday

Tuesdays are a very special day now. Not only is it a day that Daniel and I get to spend together, but it is a mid-week day that offers a blank slate for activities! I have Fridays with him, too, but scheduling events on Friday seems less exciting for some reason. It must be the whole weekend mentality.

Our latest Tuesday activity is swimming. We are participating in the Mommy and Me swimming lessons at our gym. Last week was our first class, and he absolutely loved it. I wish there was a way to get a video of Daniel in the pool. I might have to get Matt to come as a spectator one day because he is just too cute. There are about six kids in our class ranging in age from 6 months to just over 2 years, half girls, half boys.

The 2-year-old girls are nice and sweet and follow the instructions perfectly. They might even be a little shy at times. Well, Daniel gets in the pool with me and promptly starts kicking and splashing and screaming. He even puts his face in the water from time to time. It is great when we are doing the kicking lessons, not so great while practicing floating on the back. I'm just so glad that he enjoys the class. Hopefully all the other moms won't be annoyed that my kid is the one splashing during the instructions. I guess I'll know when they all start giving us just a little more space :)

Lazy Sunday Morning

Matt and I are just hanging out waiting for Daniel to wake up. It is such a strange feeling. The time I get out of bed has been dictated by Daniel since he was born, which was 7 months ago! Daniel never really caught on to the whole daylight savings thing, so he's been going to bed between 6 and 7 pm, waking up at 5 or 5:30 am to nurse then going back to bed until around 8 am. Today I couldn't make myself sleep in that later.

The big downside is that this change seems to be at the expense of his afternoon nap. I love the afternoon nap. I need the afternoon nap. The morning nap is great it's really long, 2+ hours, and I get lots done. But the afternoon nap helps me preserve my sanity. I just need an hour to take a nap or tune out and watch TV. Afternoons get really long with a little one. We will see how this evolved over the next couple weeks.

We had a wonderful weekend despite the Irish's pitiful performance last night. We went out with friends on Friday night to have some much needed adult time, and yesterday I helped out with Expanding Your Horizons at my work (it's a program for junior high girls to get them interested in technical fields). Then the Lee's came over to have dinner and watch the Irish. I'm glad they came over, it gave me an excuse to make a real meal. I've been super lazy about cooking recently. It is just that I want to spend my time in the evening with Daniel, not cooking dinner.

He is changing all the time now. He loves his toys and has discovered that he likes to be higher in space. Unfortunately, him pulling up on things leads to many more bumps and bruises. He is a pretty quick learner, so I think that letting him fail occasionally ultimately helps him master skills. It is kind of scary that Daniel has entered a phase where we need to help him devleop rather than just love him. We are expanding his finger food selection. Seeing him try to eat bananas is pretty amusing. He never knows what to think of new things in his mouth.

Here is a video of him trying to crawl. I'm starting to think that he is only going to do the army man crawl until he learns to walk.

Halloween and ND vs. Pitt Weekend

I have to warn you, this post will probably be really random. I just feel like so much has happened since I last posted. Daniel is more and more mobile each day. Each time he moves into a new part of the house under his own will, I'm amazed. I'm sure this is nothing big to most folks, but, as a new parent, you just get so accustomed to your child being in the same place when you leave a room and return that the possibility that they might actually decide to leave a room one day and actually do it is so far from your mind. Then when it happens, you are in shock. Weeks later, you are still in shock.

Daniel peeking at me from his hideout.

So we headed to ND on Friday. Me at 5:20 am. Matt, Daniel, and Dan at 11:30 am. I met with some engineers over lunch and spent the rest of my day shopping and hanging out on the couch. I was daydreaming on the way in and missed the exit, so when I drove by Macy's on my way back into town, I stopped. It was wonderful to shop without worrying about a stroller or diapers or naps or feeding someone other than myself. After my lunch meeting, I headed to the grocery store. I really enjoy grocery shopping alone. I have time to think about meals rather than just grabbing stuff and leaving.

Matt, Daniel, Dan, and my parents all arrived around 5 or 6 pm. We were going to go out to eat early, but it was so beautiful outside that we just hung out on the patio and enjoyed the wonderful weather. The first ND game my parents ever came to was the first weekend of November. It was freezing for that game, you know less than 32 degrees. This weekend it was in the 50s and 60s. Mom and I stayed home with Daniel while the men went to CJ's for burgers. Daniel decided that he was done when the sun went down. This weekend he slept the best he has ever slept while we were out of town. We put the pack'n'play in the walk-in closet where it was dark and quiet, and he was a happy camper.

Daniel and Grampie on the patio

I wonder what they are talking about?

Of course he had to wear the shamrock sleeper!

Since Daniel did not really get to enjoy trick'or'treat this year, we had him in his sock monkey outfit for tailgating. He was a great sport for about two hours, and then he wanted his freedom back. This kid likes to play and has a limited tolerance for chatting with adults in a civilized manner. Mom and I took him back to the condo and he fussed the whole way home. Once we put him on the floor with his toys, he was thrilled. Mom watched Daniel while I went to the game! I came home to relieve her at the thrid quarter so that she could see the band and go to mass with Dad. Luckily she found a nice enough usher to let her back in with my ticket. The first one rejected her request! It was only after I left the game that I realized that my Dad did not have a cell phone and we had no back up plan. Also, the halftime show was fantastic. They started with Mama Mia! and finished with Livin' on a Prayer and a guest appearance from Jon bon Jovi himself! (Katie, I called you for Mama Mia! I just remembered that you don't have your phone.)

So the weekend was great, and Daniel was great too. He made it the whole way home (4.5 hours of driving) with less than 5 minutes of fussing. Then today he decided to have a new bunch of firsts. He crawled on his hands and knees! We got a full hand-knee-hand-knee. He also pulled himself up to standing on the Exersaucer without assistance. Doesn't he look proud? I was so afraid that he was going to let go with one hand, swing himself to the floor, and smack his head while doing it. At least Matt was around to take the picture so that I could play guard.

Look at me, I'm standing!

Sleep Training Night 5

Daniel slept right through last night. He went down at 8 pm and woke up at 5 am. I'm starting to think that this was more of a parent training exercise than a baby training one. I am sure it was much more difficult for us to let him cry than it was for him. I know that Daniel would have slept better for those 40 minutes with us than in his bed, but we are all sleeping better now because of it. I guess like many things in life there are short term pains for long term gains. Hopefully we are past the point of giving daily updates.

Hello Zippy

Daniel's Halloween costume arrived today. We had a little fashion show. Here is Daniel with his first Zippy. Zippy was what his Grandpa Dan called his sock monkey as a boy.

Holding hands with Zippy.

All the Zippy's together.

The End!

Sleep Training Night Four

Last night Daniel went to bed at the normal time around 8 pm. He woke up as I was washing my face at 10:30 pm. Remembering the previous night's experience and knowing that he last nursed at 5:30 pm, I decided to feed him. He ate and was back down with minimal fuss. He attempted to cry, but that only lasted about 20 seconds before he realized that sleep was a much better option. He didn't wake up until 6 am this morning. Nice job Daniel! Hopefully I can say this without jinxing myself, but I think our sleeper is back.

Now the real question is what to do this weekend when we go out of town. We need to come up with a plan that will reinforce Daniel's excellent sleeping habits rather than sending us back to square one. I hope that does not mean that he needs to have well rested parents. That is quite the challenge at ND.

Halloween Playgroup

Well, if you were ever wondering what happens when you put four 6 month olds in a room together, here you go. If you ask me, this is absolutely hilarious. Maybe Daniel was a little intimidated by all the cute ladies. Thankfully, he was pleasant after the costume portion of the event. He has on his bear bunting here, but the real Halloween costume will be debuted later this week. His Aunt Katie has been hard at work on his very special costume.

Sleep Training Nights 2 and 3

Night 2

Went to bed at the usual time.
Up at 12:30 am crying.
Matt did the check, change, and leave.
20 minutes later, still crying.
Down before the 30 minute mark.
Up at 1:15 am according to Matt (I must have slept through this one).
Up at 3 am, I nursed him.
Slept until 6:30 am.

Not the best night of sleep if you ask me.

Night 3

Up at 12 am crying.
Matt went in to check, change, and leave.
5 minutes later, asleep.
4:30 am, I can't sleep because my boobs have taken on a rectangular form.
I toss and turn in my uncomfortable state.
All I can think is, I hope he wakes up soon.
6:15 am I finally go in just to check on him after my shower.
Thank goodness, he wakes up.

Maybe this is a sign of things to come.

Fall Fun!

Yesterday Daniel and I spent the morning together watching football on TV while Matt attended the UW game. Daniel was decked out in his ND attire, and I was trying to do a little brainwashing with our ND book.

He got a little hungry during the game, so we had a Cheerio break. Cheerio time has become one of his (and my) favorite times of the day. He will focus so intently on the Cheerios to make sure that he gets each one in his mouth that it will keep him entertained for what seems like a really long to me. The Cheerios disappear rather quickly, and I know he gets lots in his mouth, but there also seem to be many in the seat when he comes out. Practice makes perfect, right?

When Matt got home, I was starting to get a little stir crazy. I've been taking it easy a bit in order to recover from WEFTEC and reduce my expenditures. Seeing the market these days makes me nervous. I can only do so much hanging out around the house.

We decided to bundle Daniel up and head out to Treinen's farm to do a corn maze. It was totally another Rachel adventure, but it was such a lovely day, we needed to get out of the house. Matt was a little unsure about his enthusiasm until he found out that this year's maze was a dragonfly. Here are a few pictures of us on our adventure. I think Daniel had a great time. We dressed him up in the bear bunting that Peggy loaned us for our trip to Chicago. It was perfect. People kept saying, "There's the bear, we must be on the right track."

Lack of Sleep

Daniel has not been sleeping as well recently. He likes to wake up at some point in the night and stay up for a couple hours. Not the best habit if you ask Matt and me. We have decided to set some ground rules. Now, I can't say they are the best guidelines since we came up with them in the middle of the night while listening to a crying baby, but at least we have guidelines. Hopefully it will be better than our typical debate that we have when Daniel wakes up in the middle of the night.

Rule 1 - Daniel only gets fed once between the time he goes down and 4 am.

Rule 2 - Daniel has to sleep in his crib until at least 4 am.

Well, I started this post yesterday or maybe even Thursday. Last night we did some reading about sleep methods. We decided to use the method recommended in the book "The New First Three Years of Life" by Burton L. White. It is a pretty strict method, but I'm convinced that Daniel is waking up more for company than anything else. He recommends going in, checking on the baby, changing the diaper if necessary, and leaving for 30 minutes. If the baby is still upset afer 30 minutes, he recommends checking the baby again, and if everything is ok leaving and not coming back. As a parent, I can say this is not an easy thing to do, but after a week of spending much time awake each night, we needed to do something.

Last night Daniel went to bed as usual. But he woke up at midnight in a fit. Matt went in, change him, and put him back down. We sat there listening to Daniel cry for a little while, but I must say that knowing we were not going back in for 30 minutes let me rest a little. Daniel wasn't in any sort of distress, he just needed to get back to sleep. He finally fell asleep after about 20 minutes and slept until 6 am. After I fed him, he actually fell back asleep until 8:30 am. I guess he was tired, too. Last night was definitely an improvement on the sleeping front. Hopefully, he will get better at settling back down, but we need to be past the days of rocking to sleep at midnight, 1 am, 2 am, ...

We also have to work on him falling asleep unassisted at naptime. I attempted this a couple times today, but then I decided that he just needed a nap and rocked him to sleep. We will try self-soothing tomorrow.

Here is a little video of him moving around and babbling. "Dada" is a regular in his vocabulary these days.

WEFTEC 2008

Sometimes I have really great ideas, and sometimes I have not so great ideas. WEFTEC was a great conference, but maybe not the best idea for my family this year. I learned a lot, was able to see many collegues and clients, and generally had a pretty good time. But being out from 7 am until 10 pm for three days in a row is not a good idea for a nursing Mom. It might have gone better if we could have been in Madison for the event, but we were in Chicago.

It took an army to get through the week. Note to self, if something takes an army to accomplish, it might not be the best idea. This conference is something that I had been wanting to do since graduating college. Why was this my year to go? I just got it in my head that I was going, and there was no looking back. So we got through it. I am totally exhausted, and so is Matt. Maybe we will be able to take it easy for a week or so until we head to ND for the Pitt game.

So the general summary is - time at the conference was awesome, everything else in my life suffered the consequences.

Pictures

Daniel is doing great these days. He is loving eating solid food and mastering the army man crawl. He has been getting up on all fours, but can't go anywhere yet. I know that he will be crawling around before we know it. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

So Daniel likes to chew on the furniture.

Catholic Vote

A non-Catholic sent me the link to this video, www.catholicvote.com. I thought it was a pretty powerful video and would encourage you to watch it. Matt really liked that Fr. Ted Hesburgh was in it, too.

Thoughts on Dairy Farms and Breastfeeding

After spending so much time at dairy farms recently, I've learned a bit about the business that is milking cows. Even though my project is a manure project, I've picked up a bit about the milk production as well. Basically it is all about cow comfort. They will do anything to keep these cows happy, well not anything, but many large expensive projects. They also very closely manage what the cows eat.

I never thought anything too much about all this before I had Daniel, but now that I'm breastfeeding, I think about it in an entirely new way. My only conclusion is that I need to be more comfortable for Daniel's sake, really. In fact, all breastfeeding moms should be more comfortable. We should all get new bedding and have optimal diets. Maybe we should add some brewer's yeast to our diets for the phosphorus and protein.

All this combined with the latest PETA request is really disturbing, http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=11993. I really can't get the image of the work it would take to do this out of my head. Also, I think this would be mighty expensive ice cream.

Blog Issues and More Rambling

So, I'm not sure how to get draft posts to post in the most recent slot. If any of you more experienced bloggers have any advice, please let me know. There is a new video and post that I just put up today, but it is shown 'before' the birthday post. Enjoy!

Also, this background thing is not working out. I was right, it looks like slime green instead of soft mint green. Maybe I'll have to try a blue or white.

Off to the farms today. I'm looking forward to it since the weather is going to be lovely! 65 degrees and clear. The farmer I met with yesterday offered to have Daniel out one day. He also offered to send me home with a kitty. I was tempted, but decided to pass. My coworker actually had to rescue the three little kittens because they were hiding under my car. Just what I would need to do, right? Run over a little kitten with the client in my car. That would almost be as bad as the time I got a speeding ticket with the client and my boss in the car.

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday

Sunday we celebrated Matt's 28th birthday and Daniel's half birthday. It was a relatively mellow day, but we squeezed in a few events. Matt's parents came over in the afternoon, and we went on a date that night. It is so nice to spend time together without Daniel sometimes. It is especially nice when we get to eat tasty food, too. We ate at Restaurant Muramoto in the newly opened location. It is one of Matt's favorites and it was fun to see their new location.

So I was not exaggerating when I said we had a mellow day. Here is a video from our morning. I kind of hesitated to put it up because there is not a ton of action, but since I am a new parent, totally in love with my boys, I decided to go for it. The video is 2 minutes long, and there isn't even any big payoff at the end like a spitup or Daniel grabbing the spoon and smearing baby food all over his face. One day he will wave bye-bye when we say so, but we aren't even there yet. However, he is being his usual cute self here.

Tuesday Ramblings

- I've been playing with the blog colors a bit. I always pick colors that look good on our home computer, but then they look scary on other computers. For instance, this color looks like a soft mint green on my home computer. It might look like green slime on your computer. I'm aiming for soft mint green.


- Matt took care of Daniel this morning while I did a talk at the BioCycle conference. He got a bit more than he bargained for because he had to take Daniel to get his 6-month pictures. They did great. Matt must have really worn him out because he slept for 2.5 hours when we got home. It is so nice to be able to go without worrying about them.


- Here is a little video of Daniel working on his army man crawl. He is getting more adept at reaching his goal as each day goes by. I'm thinking that it won't be long before he is on all fours moving across the room. In this video he gets one of his favorite new toys. It is one of those wooden puzzles with handles on the pieces. He really enjoys chewing on the pieces and waving the puzzle board around in the air. There is nothing genlte or delicate about this baby.

- Daniel always goes for the largest toys. I think he prefers the basket that we keep his toys in to the toys themselves. The other day in the doctors office he bypassed all the toys and went straight for the footstool.

- He is eating a ton these days. We introduced yogurt yesterday. He was a bit confused by the texture and temperature of it, but seemed to like it after a few bites. Then he grabbed the spoon and made a huge mess! He even had yogurt in his eyelashes.

- We started finger foods this week as well. The first time I gave him Cheerios, he looked at them intently for what seemed like forever. He was so quiet! I'm thinking that Cheerio time might be part of our daily routine from now on.

- He is still quite the sleeper. He has started going to bed in the 7 o'clock hour, so we get quite a bit of time in the evening. Even if he wakes up once or twice, it's usually before 11 pm. Then he will sleep until sometime around 6 or 7 am. I can't complain about that. Thursday update - Ok, maybe 5 am :)

A New Welcome

Here are a few before and after pics of our front door. The old door was ok, but had peeling paint and gold spray paint around the windows. The screen door was awful and all the mechanics were broken. I love the new window and the hiding screen on the storm door.

Busy Times at the Lee House - Conferences Galore

Life has been really busy this week. After returning from South Bend things did not slow down at all. Matt has been working like crazy, and I've had a ton going on. We got a new front door and screen door installed on Tuesday. It's a major improvement. I took before photos, so I just need to get the after, and you can see for yourself.

On Wenesday, I spent the entire day at the World Dairy Expo. It is a huge event held in Madison each year. I think there are about 1,000 vendors and 65,000 attendees there. I have been talking to about 10 of the vendors over the past year about my community manure digester, so it was great to get to meet so many of them in person. The nanny brought Daniel out for lunch. I thought he would enjoy the outing and seeing the cows. He was ok with the situation, but he was not having his best day. By the end of the day I was talked out. It happens occasionally. Too bad it was really chilly and overcast that day. I know Daniel will love it when he gets older. There are tons of cows and tractors, and some of the vendors have full milking parlors set up. As a bonus, you get chocolate milk when you leave :)

Thursday was the big day this week. I had a presentation to do at our state operators conference in Stevens Point (about 2 hours away) that I needed to be there at 8 am for. I was a little worried about doing the drive in the morning, so Matt agreed to watch Daniel overnight while I drove up to Portage and stayed with his grandmother. Great idea, right? Feed the baby, put him to bed, drive to Portage, Matt gets him in the morning. Well, Daniel woke up and cried for 45 minutes right after I shut the garage door. Being alone with a crying baby for 45 minutes is rough. Daniel was just not having a great day. I'm not sure if it's teeth or growing or what, but some days he is just generally out of sorts. I mean it's not like he's tripling his body weight and learning new things daily this year? Why can't he just be happy all the time ;) Anyway, Matt called Peggy in for backup, and they made it through just fine. My talk went great, and I had a wonderful time at the conference. Many of the people that I have worked with and for in the state were there yesterday.

****Warning, mommy stuff coming****

The most awkward part of the day was pumping. I ended up pumping in the handicap stall of the ladies room three or four times. They all blend together after a while. So I had my backpack pump with me most of the day. The guys I work with were quite curious, making comments like, "So, are you going for a hike?," "Headed to class today?," etc. All pretty friendly stuff, I just knew that they did not want the real answer. But after a few questions, you just answer. Whatever, it's part of the deal these days. Thankfully there were a few new dads in the group who were up to speed on things. It is such a huge part of my life now, I don't really care that they know, but I don't think they will ask many more questions :)

****Ok, done with the mommy stuff******

So Wednesday night to Thursday evening was the longest time I've been away from Daniel yet. Non, Matt's grandmother, asked me how I felt about everything. I was ok, but I really missed him. The only way to describe it was that it was kind of like I was missing a limb or a critical accessory like a wedding ring or watch. You know, something that you are constantly aware that you are not wearing.

The next couple weeks are busy, but nothing far out of town. I get to visit some farms next week, but they are all close by. The next big trip is the WEFTEC conference in Chicago. That is going to be big. Potentially, I could have things to do from 7:30 am until 10 pm. That will be rough. We will see how things play out.

Have a great weekend and Go Irish!

Playing with Daniel

More Pictures