No accumulation

light snow1
Originally uploaded by redamy.

“Light snow will fall this morning, changing quickly to rain and freezing rain. Little to no accumulation is expected. Driving may be hazardous.”

It’s been snowing steadily since I got up at 9am (mmm blessed sleep- THANKS MARK!) in big, fat, wet, snowflakes. We have a little over an inch on the ground already.

UPDATE at 12:15pm: We now have a little over 3 inches on the ground and it's still snowing hard. The weather service has, helpfully, changed the forecast to "Mixed wintry precipitation. 1-3 inches of snow expected"

Ian 9 months

Ian 9 months
Originally uploaded by redamy.

Ian Kenneth had his 9 month appointment today. He weighs 20lbs (50%) is supposedly 28inches long (50%) and has a 90th percentile head. I say supposedly on the length because that means that he’s only grown ¼ of an inch in 2.5 months while simultaneously growing out of two different clothing sizes. I’ve measured him at 29.5inches which makes a bit more sense. Either way, he’s growing just fine.

His scrapes and bruises from the crib incident are all gone. He has a bit of dry skin, like everyone else in the house and a slight rash from one of his sleepers irritating his skin.

The only disturbing report is that we’ve been referred to an eye surgeon to have his blocked tear duct evaluated. The words “surgery” and “my baby” should not exist in the same sentence.

Developmentally Ian is still about 6-8 weeks behind on gross motor skills. He cannot crawl, sit unsupported, or pull to a standing position. He has, however, mastered the very important “pincer grasp” with his thumb and forefinger. This is an essential life skill because it means you can pick up Cheerios and feed yourself. The way he pokes down food now, though, he had better learn to walk so he can start running off those calories!

Socially his development is right on track for a 9 month old. He babbles da-da and ma-ma and de-da with an occasional ba-ba thrown in for flavor. He’s not really shy around strangers, but he also doesn’t see a lot of strangers for me to judge his reactions effectively.

He doesn’t sleep through the night. Yeah that sucks. Yeah I’ve pretty much accepted it and moved on with my nocturnal life.

Ian’s favorite foods are: all of them except peaches and carrots. He’ll tolerate peaches but he lets you know he’s unhappy about this disgusting fruit choice. He spits carrots as hard as he can the minute they touch his tongue. Truthfully, I’ve given up on the carrots. I was tired of wearing them. He eats about four stage 2 jars of food a day, which is A LOT. I’ve had to become a bit more frugal and start mashing up my own fruits and veggies because the price of a jar of bananas was ridiculous when compared with a bunch of bananas. I did ace economics!

The screaming from the other room tells me that it’s feeding time. Enjoy the picture of nine month Sniggett.

Beset by Y Chromosomes

Ethan Harrison stop throwing that ball in the house!

Ian Kenneth stop chewing on the TV wires!

Ethan Harrison stop KICKING that ball in the house!

Ian why are you fussing NOW?!

Ethan Harrison stop rolling that ball down the steps onto your brother’s head!

Ian Kenneth stop biting me!


To heck with "Calgon take me away", I'll settle for "Maker's Mark take me away"...

Hearts and the ER

yummy valentine
Originally uploaded by redamy.

No holiday is complete without a little excitement and last minute schedule changes.

Valentine’s Day started out ok. Ian was fussy and refusing to nap, but he’s been doing that for the past several days. Ethan was behaving, for once, and didn’t even beg to go out and play in the sleet and snow.

While Ian napped (all of 20 minutes) in the afternoon, Ethan and I made heart cakes. We poured red velvet cake mix into 23 Reynolds Fun Shapes pre-made heart shapes and cooked them. After they were cooled the plan was to top them with white icing and red sprinkles. That was the plan…

As I was pulling the cakes out of the oven, I heard Ian wake up and start fussing. Then I heard a loud crash. I yelled at Ethan, who was upstairs in his room, to cut it out. Then I heard high-pitched screaming from Ian.

When I got upstairs I found Ian wedged underneath and behind his crib. The top part of the front rail had come off but the rail stayed attached because of the bumper pads. This made it sort of like a funnel and apparently he rolled off the crib and into the drawer beneath the crib. After that he somehow got wedged behind the drawer up against the wall. I’m not exaggerating when I say I freaked out.

Ethan ran to get the phone while I pulled the rest of the crib apart to get Ian out. He was screaming, of course, and already had a welt between his eyes. He wasn’t moving his left arm very well and cried when I touched it.

Our neighbor Steve was home and agreed to watch Ethan, until Mark could get home, while I raced Ian to the emergency room. He threw up once at home and again in the car.
By the time a doctor saw us in the ER it had been two hours and Ian had completely calmed down. He was laughing and flirting with the nurses and generally making me look like an insane, over-reacting, mother. The doctor checked him out and proclaimed Ian probably had one heck of a headache, if not a mild concussion, and a few bruises. Otherwise, he’s a-ok.

Once at home Ian soaked up the attention from Mark and a very concerned big brother. “You can’t put Ian in his bed again Mommy. I think he needs to sleep with me. I will keep him safe.”

When the boys were in bed, Mark made me a delicious dinner of sirloin tips in tequila lime cream sauce over fettuccine. We watched “Fly Boys” while eating dinner and then snacked on home-made chocolate covered strawberries.

And the heart cakes? Still sitting un-iced on the baking tray in the pantry. I might get to those sometime today.

My Valentine

A video I made for Mark. Unfortunately, YouTube makes it jumpier and much less polished than the final version I showed Mark. (Yes he's already seen it, because I just couldn't wait. No impulse control, that's me!)

Here's a direct link, because the feed here doesn't seem to work at all. I'm only leaving it up for a short time.

Valentine Video

Son of Gamers

The built-in bookshelves in our office have a bottom shelf directly below the window. It’s a perfect place to keep books for the boys. That shelf is filled with brightly colored children’s books, but the sunny colored titles about Winnie the Pooh or Bob the Builder don’t interest Ian.

No, when Ian rolls his way into the office, he goes for the Prima gaming-guides every time.

That-a-boy, son.

Typical

First Ethan was sick- like FOREVER, dude.

Then Ian decided he’d experiment with this whole “cold thing”. He didn’t like it so much and gave it up for his usual routine of odd behaviors.

Then Mark came down with “the bug” and was sick for a week, which was way too long.

So now it’s 12:55am on a Saturday morning. Ian’s been asleep for five hours STRAIGHT. (Little cuss never did this when Battlestar Galactica was on Friday nights). Ethan’s in bed. Mark’s in bed. Katya is in bed. Hell, even the mold is in bed.

And I’m awake. Shivering. Head hurts. Hungry, but feel like puking so don’t dare eat. Throat’s on fire. Nose is running.

Oh… good.