March Update

Sorry for the long droughts in posts. I’ll try to do better.

Little man is a couple weeks shy of 15 months. He’s just over 22 lbs now, and I feel every last ounce of it when I hold him. His favorite thing to do in bounce. He has so much energy.

We’ve ditched the bottle and nearly all the baby food except for some fruit. He’s eating toddler food, but for the most part just eats whatever is on Mommy’s plate, within reason. He seems to like most things, but has developed an aversion to bananas. I think we just overloaded the little guy on them, but we thought he might be allergic to apples and it’s tough to find baby food without apples in it. For the most part he’s a very good, if very messy eater. Bath frequency has picked up considerably.

He still takes a bottle at night, but it’s filled with whole milk now instead of formula.

Sleeping through the night isn’t a milestone as much as it is a treat. Some nights he sleeps all the way through, and some nights he doesn’t.

Little Man had his first ear infection in February, and when he did his talking stopped all together. We got nothing but grunts for a week. Now he’s back to saying ‘Da-da’. Everything is Da-da. I’m da-da, mommy’s da-da, sissy is da-da, the chair is da-da. He has put together than I am Da-da, but it’s like whenever he tries to talk that’s all that comes out.

He’s crawling now, actually more scooting. We’ve taken to calling him Scooter. He crawls with one leg and one knee. It’s not your standard crawl, but it’s locomotion and he can get from one end of the room to the other in what feels like the blink of an eye.

He’s also mastered the stairs. We have 3 small stairs down to our family room and he can climb up them. Down, not so much.

Princess is back and dance and practicing for the recital in the late Spring or early Summer. She’s going to be in three numbers this year, with accompanying costume changes.

She also gets very winded in practice and her instructor suggested we get her tested for asthma. We scheduled an appointment with the doctor for later in the month. I hope she doesn’t have it. I dealt with it as a kid, and I’d rather she be spared that, but at least it’s easily treatable. There are far worse things we could be dealing with.

Home school continues to go well. We have our good days and bad days. We won’t finish on schedule, so we’ll need a couple of extra days, but nothing too bad. Her favorite subject is science. She loves science and this year we are studying the human body. Her least favorite subject is math. She learns it well, but sometimes the execution gets a little tough. We’ll see how she does on the standardized tests later in the year.

That’s about it for us right now. Like I said at the top, I’ll try to keep this updated more often, but no promises.

Luvs and Hugs.

Little Man October Update

This month Little Man has learned how to go sit up. He can go from his back to his front, and then up on his knees. We found him one night trying to pull up on the crib rails so we lowered the crib. It’s got 3 settings. He was on the highest, now he’s on the middle one.

He can now get up on all fours, and he’s started rocking, but he can’t crawl yet. It’ll come with time.

Not much has changed in the talking department. We get some very distinct Ma-Ma, but that’s about it. He loves blowing raspberries.

We think we might be seeing some early separation anxiety. He doesn’t like to be left alone, and he’s started getting up in the middle of the night crying. Before he would just lay there and go back to sleep but now he sits up and cries. We change him, feed him, burp him, walk him, rock him, the whole bit. The only thing that makes him happy is being held.

He’s eating solid food now, and still gets a bottle at night. He likes just about everything we feed him. He’s on stage 2 foods. We’ve tried some stage 3s but he doesn’t seem to like the texture. We can give him the same food as a 2 and a 3, but he will spit the 3 out. Stage 2s are more finely pureed than Stage 3s. Doctor says to just keep trying it and eventually it’ll click.

Princess was doing horseback riding lessons but decided to stop, so we are looking for a new extra curricular activity for her. We are going to try to get her back into dance. She seems to really enjoy it while she’s doing it but at the end of each summer she seems to want to do something else. I think we just haven’t found her thing yet

Columbia Mini Vacation October 2011

Early in the month, we took the family to Columbia for a mini-vacation. I had Monday off as a holiday, so I took Friday as a vacation day and made it a four day weekend. This was our first time traveling with Little Man, and part of the reason we took the trip, other than needing a change of scenery, was to see how he traveled. We have some longer trips planned for 2012 and we need to know just how he does.

We were late getting started each day, and never got into our itinerary until after noon. Friday we drove up, checked into our hotel and then headed over to the State Museum. We had brought Princess up here on a trip last summer, in part to tell her about the impending birth of her brother. She had a blast at the museum then, and she was excited about seeing it again. We had to take a slower pace because of Little Man, and Princess was constantly trying to run ahead of us to the next thing.

We got to spend some time on the 4th floor which we hadn’t seen last summer. This floor is a history of South Carolina through the years, starting with the aboriginal peoples and going all the way up to the modern day. My favorite part was learning about a fight on the floor of the House of Representatives in the 19th century, led by the contingent from South Carolina. Of course it had to be South Carolina. I just chuckled to myself at how little has changed over the years.

We also saw a lot about the mill towns that once dominated the upstate. When I read about how the companies treated their workers, the unions made much more sense. These companies essentially owned these people and everything in town. Unionizing was the only way for these people to get what we think of as basic human rights.

After the museum we stopped at a local Moe’s for dinner and ran into the Wofford football team on their way to the Charleston to play the Citadel on Saturday. We wished them well, and went back to the hotel for a swim.

Saturday, we got another late start and were caught in that strange time where it’s too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. We thought about a Waffle House, they have one about every exit in Columbia, but we worried that they weren’t terribly kid friendly, so we ended up at an IHOP and everyone got breakfast, before heading over to the zoo.

Princess has always loved the zoo and this trip was no exception. We checked out the new Kangaroo exhibit where you actually walk through the exhibit with nothing between you and the kangaroos. Their handlers were close by, and you have to stay on a prescribed path. It was cool to be so close, but also a little disappointing because they really didn’t do much. After that we headed over to the reptile house. Sarah wanted to see if she could actually see the king cobra this time, but he was still hiding in the little pot they have in his cage. I took a picture of the gecko and made bad jokes about car insurance. We finished the day with the penguin feeding. They put live minnows in the pool and the penguins go diving in after them. Princess had a blast watching it all.

After the zoo, we went back to the hotel to change before heading to dinner at our favorite place in Columbia, Macaroni Grill. Every time we’ve gone there the food, service and atmosphere had been fantastic. I guess we went to the well one too many times, because everything was a let down this time. The service was slow, and the food passable. We were put off in a little corner and after a while noticed everyone else around us had children, but there were none other in the restaurant. We felt a subtle message being sent, but it’s odd because they use paper tablecloths so the kids can draw on them. So do you want us to bring kids or not? We will think long and hard about where to go on our next trip.

We went back to the hotel for a swim and then started packing up. We had another slow start on Sunday, and after brunch at Cracker Barrel headed home. Princess and I played a game of checkers, and she’s getting quite good. She’s probably going to beat her old man one day soon.

It was a pretty good trip. Little Man did really well, but it was just a two hour drive. After getting back home, we discovered that Princess had lost her camera. She was always asking to take pictures with ours, so a couple of Christmases ago, we got her one of her own. She’s enjoyed and when she realized it was gone, she was quite upset. We called the museum and found someone had turned it in, so they mailed it back to us. The memory card had been erased, but at least she had her camera back, and hopefully learned a lesson in keeping better track of her things.

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

This weekend was absolutely beautiful in Charleston. Temperatures were in the low 70s, and it was sunny. I thought it would be a perfect time to take the family out for a picnic.

I had remembered a park downtown, near the water, where we had been previously. When I ran the idea by my Bride, she loved it. So we packed up the car and headed downtown.This is when I discovered that I had not communicated well with my Bride. The park we were going to was not the park I remembered, but it had everything we needed:  an open field, an a playground.

We found a nice shady spot under a tree and spread out the neat sheet. Our plan was for a simple picnic. We made some sandwhices and watched the dogs in the nearby dog park. Once we were done eating, Princess and I played with her oversized ball. Then we broke out the kites. I had been concerned that there wouldn’t be enough wind. That was part of the reason I wanted to go to a park down on the water. I had figured on a nice sea breeze to help out with our kite flying adventure. We gave it a solid try, and several times we would get the kite up to 10 or 20 twenty feet. But ultimately, the wind was just too gusty, and it would die down and send our kite spiraling back down to earth.Princess spent the rest of our time over on the playground, and had a good time. Then it was off to Awana’s.

This was one of the first times I've really appreciated our decision to buy the van. With the picnic supplies, and the stroller, I'm really not sure how we would have been able to do it if we still just had sedans.

The weather was just about perfect and I’m so glad we got a chance to enjoy it.

Our Car Shopping Odyssey

(I have to apologize this got a little long).

Saturday, we headed out to go car shopping. A little background may be in order. About a month ago now, I started having trouble with my car, a 1995 Saturn Wagon. Basically, 3rd gear was slipping. I took it to a mechanic who quoted me $2000-$2500 to fix the car. Blue book on the car in pristine condition was $1700. It didn’t make any sense for me to put $2000 into a car worth $1700. I got him to get it to the point it was drivable and just used it to get back and forth to work short term, until we could afford a new car.

The original plan that morning was to drop my wife’s car, a 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer, off at our mechanic to get some maintenance done while we went car shopping. That plan got derailed when the mechanic didn’t have the parts he needed. So we went back home and regrouped.

Next, we headed up to the our local Blockbuster store. My Bride had seen signs the store would be closing and selling off movies and games. We wanted to take Princess to get a new game for her DS, but when we got to Blockbuster all the store closing signs had been taken down. Apparently, corporate was reconsidering closing the store, and if they did close the games would go on sale on Monday at a 10% discount. Color me unimpressed. That was not the kind of deal we were looking for. We were thinking more like 50% to 75% off.

With those errands out of the way, we were ready to get to car shopping. I had gone on Autotrader.com and looked up vehicles in our price range. The first car I was interested in was a 2003 Honda Civic at Stokes Kia. We got there and the sales guy was really nice and respectful, not pushy at all. He told us that the car was having its fuel pump replaced, and it would not be ready for a test drive until Monday. The other Civic we had found was at Summerville Ford. Summerville Ford was quite a drive from where we were, so instead we headed over to Stokes Honda. I mean, who is more likely to have a used Honda, than a Honda dealership.

As an aside, my first car after I got married was a little gold Honda Civic. I loved that car and ran the wheels off it. I’ve been partial to the brand ever sense.

Our experience at Stokes Honda got off to a bad start. The sales guy was watching us, not 10 feel away, as we unloaded our kids from the car. We found it very unsettling, but we talked to guy anyway. We told him what we were looking for, either a sedan (more likely given our price range) or a van (not as likely but still worth asking). He asked what our budget was and we told him ‘around 7,000.’ His first tacit was to try to convince us to instead put the 7,000 down on a new car. I come from the Dave Ramsey/Larry Burkett school of thought.

“Debt is dumb. Cash is king and the paid off home mortgage has replaced the BMW as the status symbol of choice.” -  Dave Ramsey

We had zero interest in a payment plan. He walked us over to his very nice looking 2007 Toyota Corolla. We asked him what they were asking for it and he told us, $9,500. Now I wasn’t a math major, but I don’t know how you get from ‘around $7,000’ to $9,500. I asked him if he would take $7,500 for the car. He said he might be able to do the high 8s, i.e. $8,900. Wow, you came off a whopping $600. Thanks, man, way to work with us. We told him flat out that was too much. He looked around a bit for another car, while I salivated over the new Honda Fit. I love love love that car, but I can’t afford it, yet.When he didn’t come up with anything else in our range, we left.

There were two more places I wanted to go, Hoover Jeep Chrysler Dodge, and Strom Altman Suzuki. Hoover was in West Ashley,and Strom Altman up near our house. We had been at this about 3 hours at this point and Little Man was getting cranky. We decided to put off Hoover until early evening since we were going to be in West Ashley for a meeting at our Church for lay staff. We headed toward Strom Altman with the idea that we would just see how the kids were holding up. Princess was still hot to buy a game for her DS or Wii. As we approached Strom Altman, Little Man was still fussy, but my Bride thought it might be best to get him out of the car seat for a bit as we walked around.

The car I had seen on Autotrader was a 2005 Suzuki Reno. The salesman was honest with us and told us that they had just replaced the head gasket on the car.This made somewhat leery, but I took Princess with me and we test drove it. It was a terrible test drive. It idled rough, and the shocks felt stiff. I turned around and brought it back.  They had another Suzuki, a Forenza. It was basically the same car. The Reno was a hatchback, and the Forenza more of a sedan. After being unimpressed with the Reno, I didn’t want to mess with the Forenza. I actually wasn’t too high on Suzuki to begin with. These particular cars were actually made by a Daewoo/GM partnership. By this point, my Bride and Little Man were back in the Lancer. I basically told the salesman we were done. As we start to walk back, he asks if we would be interested in a minivan. There was no sticker on it, so I asked how much they were wanting for it. When he said $7,500, I decided to give it a look. It was a 2004 Honda Odyssey EXL with a ton of miles (145k), but it looked to be in good shape. I popped the hood and the engine looked clean. I decided we would give it a test drive, so I got my Bride and Little Man, and off we went.

It was a great test drive. The car was smooth, and very comfortable. My Bride said she didn’t feel like she was driving a big van, and liked the way it handled. We looked at the CarFax. It had had two owners and it seemed like the maintenance was kept up with pretty well. I checked Consumer Reports and the 04 Honda Odyessy was in their above average reliability and a Consumer Report Best Bet.

I checked the Kelly Blue Book and it was $10,440. Why were they asking $3000 less than Blue Book? We got back to the dealership, and I had them verify all the ancillary systems like the DVD worked, which they did. So I asked the guy point blank, why is it only $7,500? He pecked away on the computer and told me it was actually $10,990. Stop the train! I told him we couldn’t afford that, and bid him good day. He asked if we could do it at $7500. I told him we could talk about it at that price, so he made us an offer of $7500. My head was spinning at this point, and Little Man needed a change and to be fed. So we told them we would think about, and left. I headed them off at the pass by telling them, ‘if you sell it, you sell it.’ I wasn’t going to listen to that ploy.

It was just a situation of  this might be a little ‘too good to be true’, and our head was spinning. We weren’t thinking clearly. Back at home, we got Little Man changed and fed and caught our breah enough to talked it over. For every pro there was a con and vice versa. It had high mileage, but it was a Honda and they typically hold up well. It gets lousy gas mileage, but it has the storage space my Bride has been sorely short on since Little Man arrived on the scene, and it would be nice to get something from Lowes and not fret the whole time about whether it is going to fit or not.

We were looking for a sign, or leading. That peace that comes when God lets you know He wants you to make a move, or that unsettled feeling from God telling us this wasn’t the move to make. What we were feeling was ambivalence, as if God was saying ‘buy the van, don’t buy the van, I don’t really care on this one.’ We went back and forth before ultimately deciding to buy the van. Now I will drive the Mitsubishi and my Bride will drive the van. Princess loves it, and wants us to take it everywhere.

We will look back in a year and think this was a wise decision or a poor one? That is something we will just have to wait and see.

p.s. We later found the Autotrader add for the van. It was listed on there at $8,750, still about $1200 more than we paid.

p.s. We did get Princess over to Gamestop to buy a game later that evening.

Two Months

Yesterday, we took Little Man in for his two month checkup. He weighed 12 lbs., 12 oz., measured exactly 2 feet long (24 inches), and had a head circumference of 15 – 1/4 inches. He also had to get his first round of vaccines. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

That night he spiked a fever. The doctor had mentioned this was a possibility and told us to treat him with Infant Tylenol or Infant Motrin. So being the dutiful husband, I ran out to the store to buy some. It was there I learned that Infant Tylenol had been recently recalled, and all the ‘name brand’ Motrin was sold out. I reluctantly bought the store brand and brought it home. At home, I looked on the bottle for dosing information. It read ‘Under 6 months, ask your doctor’. I love our Pediatrician. I think he’s the best in Charleston, but shouldn’t he have known that there would not be dosing recommendation for under 6 months? We put in a call to the on call doctor who was able to give us the dosing information after we told him Little Man’s weight. We gave him the medicine and it seemed to help, even if he was still a little grumpy.

Of course, Little Man wasn’t the only offspring I had at the doctor’s office. Princess also had an appointment, and in a strange twist of fate, was also due for vaccinations. Whereas Little Man was blissfully oblivious as to what was coming, Princess, now 11, was building up the anticipation of agony in her mind. So I did what any good Father would do. I bribed her. I told her if she would cooperate with the nurse, and not fight it, I would take her out to a nice lunch (go go Lunch specials!). That seemed to motivate her right until the nurse showed up with the actual needles. Now I reminded her of the incentive, but it was the Nurse who was the real hero. She worked with Princess, relaxing her muscles, and teaching her to breath. When it came time to do the actual shots, Princess hardly felt a thing. It was amazing.

I’m thrilled to report both of my kids got a clean bill of health. I thank God for my kids and that they are healthy.

NaNoWriMo

If you’ve never heard of NaNoWriMo, its short for National Novel Writing Month. If you don’t know what that is, I’ve provided a handy dandy link to the main site. I’ve got a rough outline for my story. It’s nothing like what I did for the Blizzard Short Story contest. You will find nary an elf or orc in it. While I’m looking forward to NaNo, I’m really beginning to have my doubts that I can finish it with work, church, and a very pregnant wife.The bad news is I'm not going to 'win' NaNoWriMo. 50,000 words this month just isn't going to happen and now that I'm in the throes of it, I'm not really sure why I thought it would. Check that, I know why I thought it would. I was under the delusion that 50,000 words would be easy. I had the story pretty much written out in my head, and I figured it wouldn't be too hard to just bang it out. But it was hard. I started putting off writing, finding other things that needed to be done (and with a very pregnant wife there are lots of those things). I kept telling myself I was too tired, or not able to concentrate. This went on for about a week. During that time I avoided the forums and Wave and anything else that reminded me of my previous commitment to do NaNo.

After taking some time to reflect, I realized I've done the same thing with NaNo that I've done with other areas of my life. As soon as it gets hard, or I run into a wall, I stop. I start looking for easier prey, or lower hanging fruit. I get so scared by the idea of failure that I seek out somewhere that i can win. In nearly every case previously where I've done this, I've regretted that I didn't push through and complete the project/idea that I had been working on.

I know I'm a smart, creative guy. I'm fully confident I can learn to write well enough to be published. I also know that I lack self-discipline and focus.I'm really good at talking about writing, researching the process of writing, but when it comes time to actually do it, I falter. The question I have to face is how badly I want it, and if I can overcome my weaknesses and do it.

But now, I’m back in the game. I’m up to 6,800 words and I’ll keep plugging away and see how many I have by the end of the month.