Not sure what prompted me to do it, maybe I just wanted something shiny and new... Either way, this blog has scooted over to a new URL and platform: ShotwellWallace.Wordpress.com
I'm not quite tech savvy enough at this point to create any automatic redirects (anyone want to tell me how to do that?), so please bookmark, follow, add to your Google Reader, or at the very least take note of the new site.
Thanks!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Uncles!
Oscar got a visit from two of his uncles this weekend--Joey's older brothers Jeremy and Jason. Consequently he also had his first trip to Mongolian BBQ, enjoyed lots of uncle snuggles, and got to be the subject of some healthy debate about whether his eyes are from the Wallace or Shotwell side :) Oh, and we finally put him in his (still a little too large, but totally adorable) Colts jersey. Behold, the Wallace brothers (Jeremy in gray, Jason in stripes) and the two best looking Manning fans I know:
8 month photo 1 week late
Getting these shots is much easier with my fabulous photo assistant (aka my husband) by my side to elicit the best smiles. Also a big thanks to my mom for knitting the cutest little sweater ever! (Not pictured: the adorable matching blue hat she also knit for him, but trust me, it's adorable)
Friday, November 12, 2010
Flash(waaaay)back Friday
And for today's flashback we're heading to March of this year. It doesn't seem so far back when you think about it in terms of real time, but when I look at these photos of me almost 39 weeks pregnant it seems like a lifetime ago. Our little guy was born soon after these were taken, at exactly 39 weeks.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Mother Madness
Don't mean to get all 'intellectual article' today (made even more irritating, I'm sure, by a lack of Oscar photo), but I discovered a really interesting read that I wanted to share. It's basically about mothering, today's expectations, attachment parenting, and presents a strong opinion about it all by Erica Jong.
A couple of my own quick thoughts, then the link:
1. While I have personally chosen to nurse, use cloth diapers, and make most of our own baby food, I also relish the fact that I had the choice to do so. These were mainly monetary choices, as we found them cheaper options than the alternative in the long run. We're not all or nothing, though, and feel totally fine using disposables at night sometimes or while traveling. We also feel fine about store-bought baby food, esp. when it's more convenient.
2. I love the idea of attachment parenting, and understand the philosophy behind it, but also agree with Ms. Jong about much of the inconveniences associated with it and the expectations of the modern woman. Yes, I love wearing my baby, no, I do not wear him all the time (and do love our bouncy seats and jumparoo!). I've enjoyed co-sleeping, but this will change soon due to my son's own sleep habits, and he does have a schedule during the day. I think it's sort of a 'take what you want from each parenting philosophy and make it your own' type of arrangement, and it works for us.
Go ahead, have a read and see what you think: Mother Madness
A couple of my own quick thoughts, then the link:
1. While I have personally chosen to nurse, use cloth diapers, and make most of our own baby food, I also relish the fact that I had the choice to do so. These were mainly monetary choices, as we found them cheaper options than the alternative in the long run. We're not all or nothing, though, and feel totally fine using disposables at night sometimes or while traveling. We also feel fine about store-bought baby food, esp. when it's more convenient.
2. I love the idea of attachment parenting, and understand the philosophy behind it, but also agree with Ms. Jong about much of the inconveniences associated with it and the expectations of the modern woman. Yes, I love wearing my baby, no, I do not wear him all the time (and do love our bouncy seats and jumparoo!). I've enjoyed co-sleeping, but this will change soon due to my son's own sleep habits, and he does have a schedule during the day. I think it's sort of a 'take what you want from each parenting philosophy and make it your own' type of arrangement, and it works for us.
Go ahead, have a read and see what you think: Mother Madness
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Update + 8 Months Old!!!
Firstly: Happy (1 day belated) 8 months to my little man!!! (Haven't taken the 8 mo. photo yet...that will follow as soon as I can get my sh** together)
Secondly: Happy birthday to Emily, a new friend I've recetly met in Indy, and who I'm looking forward to getting to know better!
This morning I said goodbye to my mom, who arrived on Sunday--the day Joey left for his conference--to visit with Oscar and help a bit while I'm on my own. I wasn't prepared for how hard that would be. Who would have guessed that saying goodbye to one's mom would actually get harder the older you get? We had a great visit, Oscar and Lucy both thoroughly enjoyed her company, and thanks to her my home is cleaner, laundry is done, and I actually have some food to eat this week. Sadly, I also woke up feeling kind of awful today...here's hoping it's just exhaustion and will go away with a little bit of rest. Not good, though, when paired with saying goodbye and facing another 3 days before Joey comes home.
The sleep experiment continued...sort of. I slept on the couch the last couple of nights until Oscar woke up. He didn't sleep as long as that first night, but his nights have been a bit better than previously, so that's good. He's also been making sure I'm on my toes by puking in my bed two mornings ago, then puking during breakfast this morning. He seemed totally fine right afterwards and was happy all day, so I don't think it's an actual illness (fingers crossed), but it wasn't fun. We've also had some blowout poos and fussiness, all of which I'm hoping magically go away for the remainder of this week (HA!).
Because I've had too many posts without pictures recently, I'm tacking a few on here. Not that they have anything to do with anything specific, but enjoy :)
Secondly: Happy birthday to Emily, a new friend I've recetly met in Indy, and who I'm looking forward to getting to know better!
This morning I said goodbye to my mom, who arrived on Sunday--the day Joey left for his conference--to visit with Oscar and help a bit while I'm on my own. I wasn't prepared for how hard that would be. Who would have guessed that saying goodbye to one's mom would actually get harder the older you get? We had a great visit, Oscar and Lucy both thoroughly enjoyed her company, and thanks to her my home is cleaner, laundry is done, and I actually have some food to eat this week. Sadly, I also woke up feeling kind of awful today...here's hoping it's just exhaustion and will go away with a little bit of rest. Not good, though, when paired with saying goodbye and facing another 3 days before Joey comes home.
The sleep experiment continued...sort of. I slept on the couch the last couple of nights until Oscar woke up. He didn't sleep as long as that first night, but his nights have been a bit better than previously, so that's good. He's also been making sure I'm on my toes by puking in my bed two mornings ago, then puking during breakfast this morning. He seemed totally fine right afterwards and was happy all day, so I don't think it's an actual illness (fingers crossed), but it wasn't fun. We've also had some blowout poos and fussiness, all of which I'm hoping magically go away for the remainder of this week (HA!).
Because I've had too many posts without pictures recently, I'm tacking a few on here. Not that they have anything to do with anything specific, but enjoy :)
Sunday, November 7, 2010
this is what desperation looks like...
2 full grown adults having a slumber party on the hard living room floor--complete with pillows borrowed from the bedroom and blankets underneath and on top--with a deliciously comfy king-sized bed sitting empty in the room next door. let's not forget the video monitor glowing brightly and the baby resting in the cosleeper next to aforementioned king bed.
This was my crazy experiment, thought of at the last minute while watching TV before bed last night. Having tried just about everything else, I figured that it might be worthwhile to see how long Oscar could sleep if we just never entered the room. The result? Our little dude lasted until about 3am or so (regular time, before we set the clocks back). Then woke up to eat, slept more, and woke up to eat again once before waking up at about 5 or 5:30 (gotta love daylight saving time).
Success! Sort of... With this evidence in hand I'm going to continue the experiment with Joey out of town--he left for a conference today and will be back Friday--and try sleeping on the couch tonight until our man wakes up. If he continues to sleep well without anyone in the room we get to begin the process of officially transitioning him to his crib. Which will be infinitely more difficult for his co-sleeping-loving mom than for him. Stay tuned for more from our sleep adventures :)
This was my crazy experiment, thought of at the last minute while watching TV before bed last night. Having tried just about everything else, I figured that it might be worthwhile to see how long Oscar could sleep if we just never entered the room. The result? Our little dude lasted until about 3am or so (regular time, before we set the clocks back). Then woke up to eat, slept more, and woke up to eat again once before waking up at about 5 or 5:30 (gotta love daylight saving time).
Success! Sort of... With this evidence in hand I'm going to continue the experiment with Joey out of town--he left for a conference today and will be back Friday--and try sleeping on the couch tonight until our man wakes up. If he continues to sleep well without anyone in the room we get to begin the process of officially transitioning him to his crib. Which will be infinitely more difficult for his co-sleeping-loving mom than for him. Stay tuned for more from our sleep adventures :)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
sleep? what's that??
A lot has been going on around here, and it's a busy week already. As you can probably guess from the title of this post, Oscar has chosen this very busy week to not sleep AT ALL. Yup, fun stuff. A bit about what we're up to:
1. I started work this week. (I mentioned a bit about my new position in this post.) I'm a little stressed out since this involves a whole new skill set within the online marketing world, and it's been a while since I've felt like a fish out of water. It's additionally stressful figuring out how to effectively and efficiently work from home without a dedicated workspace, and with an infant around 2 days/wk.
2. Oscar started daycare this week. Even though we've done the daycare thing before, starting up again after being home together for a month is a little difficult...
3. Joey got to go on a fancy dinner date on Mon. with a visitor/speaker at IUPUI (who happens to be a dude, so I wasn't too jealous)
4. We're doing our first round of house visits tonight--I'm super psyched since looking at houses may be one of my most favorite things ever. I'll have to update about how the house search is going later.
5. Lots of Lucy appts: daycamp, vet, grooming
6. There's also the matter of Oscar's twice-weekly swim classes, which we've decided to skip this week in order to give everyone a break due to what I can only refer to as...
SLEEPOCALYPSE. As in, the end of sleep as we know it. Now, many folks already know that our little man has never been the best of sleepers. We've chosen to cosleep with him in our room, and with all of the transitions that happened in his early months we also chose not to move forward with sleep training, cry it out, and didn't even really attempt to do much night-weaning. So I tried my best to refrain from bitching about sleep since I figured that once we put some effort into changing his habits we could get things squared away. HA.
We bought the 'No Cry Sleep Solution' book and started in on some of the suggested solutions. We couldn't even stick with it as long as it said you should, because before we got to the 2nd set of sleep logs Oscar started waking up more and more frequently until a couple of nights ago when he woke up when we came to bed, and then didn't to go sleep until, oh, about 5am. We abandoned the various sleep techniques in favor of 'whatever works' so that we can semi-function during the day until we can have a chat with his pediatrician to rule out medical issues (such as food allergies, reflux, etc.). This type of non-sleep has continued the past two nights. Our ped appt. is Friday afternoon. Wish us luck...
1. I started work this week. (I mentioned a bit about my new position in this post.) I'm a little stressed out since this involves a whole new skill set within the online marketing world, and it's been a while since I've felt like a fish out of water. It's additionally stressful figuring out how to effectively and efficiently work from home without a dedicated workspace, and with an infant around 2 days/wk.
2. Oscar started daycare this week. Even though we've done the daycare thing before, starting up again after being home together for a month is a little difficult...
3. Joey got to go on a fancy dinner date on Mon. with a visitor/speaker at IUPUI (who happens to be a dude, so I wasn't too jealous)
4. We're doing our first round of house visits tonight--I'm super psyched since looking at houses may be one of my most favorite things ever. I'll have to update about how the house search is going later.
5. Lots of Lucy appts: daycamp, vet, grooming
6. There's also the matter of Oscar's twice-weekly swim classes, which we've decided to skip this week in order to give everyone a break due to what I can only refer to as...
SLEEPOCALYPSE. As in, the end of sleep as we know it. Now, many folks already know that our little man has never been the best of sleepers. We've chosen to cosleep with him in our room, and with all of the transitions that happened in his early months we also chose not to move forward with sleep training, cry it out, and didn't even really attempt to do much night-weaning. So I tried my best to refrain from bitching about sleep since I figured that once we put some effort into changing his habits we could get things squared away. HA.
We bought the 'No Cry Sleep Solution' book and started in on some of the suggested solutions. We couldn't even stick with it as long as it said you should, because before we got to the 2nd set of sleep logs Oscar started waking up more and more frequently until a couple of nights ago when he woke up when we came to bed, and then didn't to go sleep until, oh, about 5am. We abandoned the various sleep techniques in favor of 'whatever works' so that we can semi-function during the day until we can have a chat with his pediatrician to rule out medical issues (such as food allergies, reflux, etc.). This type of non-sleep has continued the past two nights. Our ped appt. is Friday afternoon. Wish us luck...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Happy Halloween!!!
Despite not really having anywhere to go this year, and a kid who's a bit too young to appreciate trick-or-treating, Joey and I dressed Oscar up for the occasion anyways. Meet our little Halloween narwhal. Not sure what a narwhal is? I can assure you that yes, they do exist, and you should check out this Google image search and this informative and educational video. Enjoy and hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
the wedding went swimmingly...
As the title suggests, our trip to the north Georgia mountains (the town of Dahlonega, to be exact) went well. While the drive wasn't so fun mainly due to the length--10 hours--once we were there we had a great time. Oscar wowed everyone with his exceptionally sunny disposition, we saw some beautiful mountain landscapes, and our friends Jeremy and Jenny are now husband and wife after a lovely ceremony and reception. My favorite new Oscar nickname following this past weekend? Oscar the Anti-Grouch :) Sadly I don't have any photos to share, mainly because with Joey actually standing up in the wedding my hands were full with our little man most of the evening. You'll just have to take my word about the picturesque backdrop and Oscar's ADORABLE wedding outfit.
I do, however, finally have photos to share from swim class. Oscar's still loving the water, and since Joey came yesterday he was able to get some shots. I'll have to apologize for the quality, though. While Joey takes great pictures, he was a bit far away in the stands and I had to do some cropping in order to ensure that I wasn't posting photos of other people and their babies on the internet. Online photo courtesy...
Enjoy!
I do, however, finally have photos to share from swim class. Oscar's still loving the water, and since Joey came yesterday he was able to get some shots. I'll have to apologize for the quality, though. While Joey takes great pictures, he was a bit far away in the stands and I had to do some cropping in order to ensure that I wasn't posting photos of other people and their babies on the internet. Online photo courtesy...
Enjoy!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
thank you, internets
Apparently whining to the internet is much like making a doc's appt: as soon as you do, everything starts to clear up. Joey's feeling much better today, despite the open sores now on his tonsils (gross!). He's healing, the fever's gone, and we're set to head to ATL this weekend. Now that my husband isn't miserable and I'm not worried about him 24/7 things are sooo much better :)
Quickly (since it's almost Oscar's nap time) a few other updates:
- 1st swim class a success! Oscar was absolutely adorable in his way-too-big 12 month clearance swim trunks, enjoyed the water a ton, and we can't wait until the next class. Joey will come next time to take photos so that I can post some.
- I'm super excited for my family to come in the next few weeks: my sister for Halloween weekend, my mom on Nov. 7th, then Joey's brothers come the weekend after that.
- I accepted a job with a small SEM (search engine marketing) firm called EverEffect here in Indy. They don't have an office currently, so I get to work from home meaning that (I hope) I can spend more time with Oscar and get away with just part-time childcare for him.
- We have an appt. with a daycare today, so fingers crossed we like it--if so we'll have everything squared away before leaving town!
Quickly (since it's almost Oscar's nap time) a few other updates:
- 1st swim class a success! Oscar was absolutely adorable in his way-too-big 12 month clearance swim trunks, enjoyed the water a ton, and we can't wait until the next class. Joey will come next time to take photos so that I can post some.
- I'm super excited for my family to come in the next few weeks: my sister for Halloween weekend, my mom on Nov. 7th, then Joey's brothers come the weekend after that.
- I accepted a job with a small SEM (search engine marketing) firm called EverEffect here in Indy. They don't have an office currently, so I get to work from home meaning that (I hope) I can spend more time with Oscar and get away with just part-time childcare for him.
- We have an appt. with a daycare today, so fingers crossed we like it--if so we'll have everything squared away before leaving town!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
there's always a bright side
To balance out the negativity of that last post, here's one of the many beyond-adorable photos of Oscar that I've taken recently. Eat your heart out, Gerber Baby.
the one where i cry a little...
I'll have to apologize ahead of time for all the bitching and whining, but that's kind of where this post is headed. In the past few months, Joey and I have managed to undertake just about all of life's biggest stress-inducing events all at once--Joey got a new job, I left a job, we moved to a new state, and if you go back about 7.5 months we had a baby, too. We managed to survive all of it and end up on the other side intact... Well, now I may have finally discovered the straw that breaks our camel's back: strep throat.
We had a lovely first weekend in Indy, with my parents in town to watch Oscar so that we could go to a football game. It was awesome. But we were also looking forward to our 2nd weekend, just about the only weekend we had in the near future with nothing to do but enjoy our new home together. We had planned some apple picking, maybe a farmer's market or two, and just hanging out. Cue Joey feeling sick early last week. Below is a list detailing what happened next:
- Fever Wed. night
- MinuteClinic visit Thurs: positive rapid strep test and penicillin prescription
- Still not well Friday
- Urgent care visit Saturday: 103.7 degree fever, antibiotic shot, pain/fever killer shot, new antibiotic prescription (Augmentin)
- Still not well Sunday
- Emergency room visit Sunday night when fever was still not manageable: they said to give the antibiotic more time, gave prescription for Tylenol 3 for pain
- Still not well Monday, starting to lose hope :(
So we missed our fun weekend, poor Joey feels totally out of control, and I've been taking care of Oscar, Lucy, and Joey for the past week. I'm exhausted. I'm also worried about my husband, and feeling terribly for him. We've had a hell of a time figuring out how to get to a doctor, because being new here we don't have a PCP yet and everyone seems to be scheduling new patient visits 2-3 months out. I finally got him in to an office (chosen only for the availability of immediate care) this afternoon.
Let's also talk about the fact that Joey's supposed to stand up in one of his best friends' weddings in Atlanta this weekend. That friend has chosen an emergency backup just in case, but we're still crossing our fingers that we can magically make him better in time. Wish us luck.
OK, I'm done bitching now. But seriously...could we all just ask Life to please give it a rest and allow me a breather? I could really use some sleep.
ps: One piece of good news...I just accepted a job :) More on that another time, but I'll get to work from home (and it's not a stupid work-from-home scam, either)
We had a lovely first weekend in Indy, with my parents in town to watch Oscar so that we could go to a football game. It was awesome. But we were also looking forward to our 2nd weekend, just about the only weekend we had in the near future with nothing to do but enjoy our new home together. We had planned some apple picking, maybe a farmer's market or two, and just hanging out. Cue Joey feeling sick early last week. Below is a list detailing what happened next:
- Fever Wed. night
- MinuteClinic visit Thurs: positive rapid strep test and penicillin prescription
- Still not well Friday
- Urgent care visit Saturday: 103.7 degree fever, antibiotic shot, pain/fever killer shot, new antibiotic prescription (Augmentin)
- Still not well Sunday
- Emergency room visit Sunday night when fever was still not manageable: they said to give the antibiotic more time, gave prescription for Tylenol 3 for pain
- Still not well Monday, starting to lose hope :(
So we missed our fun weekend, poor Joey feels totally out of control, and I've been taking care of Oscar, Lucy, and Joey for the past week. I'm exhausted. I'm also worried about my husband, and feeling terribly for him. We've had a hell of a time figuring out how to get to a doctor, because being new here we don't have a PCP yet and everyone seems to be scheduling new patient visits 2-3 months out. I finally got him in to an office (chosen only for the availability of immediate care) this afternoon.
Let's also talk about the fact that Joey's supposed to stand up in one of his best friends' weddings in Atlanta this weekend. That friend has chosen an emergency backup just in case, but we're still crossing our fingers that we can magically make him better in time. Wish us luck.
OK, I'm done bitching now. But seriously...could we all just ask Life to please give it a rest and allow me a breather? I could really use some sleep.
ps: One piece of good news...I just accepted a job :) More on that another time, but I'll get to work from home (and it's not a stupid work-from-home scam, either)
Saturday, October 16, 2010
flashback...saturday
Sorry, Joey's crazy case of strep caused me to miss flashback Friday, so here it is a little late. FYI: still no fever or signs of strep in Oscar (thankfully), although he may be constipated and decided not to take more than 1 hr (total) of nap yesterday. Awesome. He seems to be on the same trajectory today, thanks to a 30 min. morning nap and some unusual fussiness. At least Joey's fever isn't hitting 101.9 anymore...wish us luck with the rest of the weekend :P
Thursday, October 14, 2010
7 months...a week late
Wow, this week got away from me. Can you believe it...Oscar man is 7 MONTHS!! Some cool stuff he's been up to recently:
- Eating like a champ (as you probably saw in the video), and he's added apples and carrots to his repertoire recently.
- He's really, really trying to move. He's making valiant attempts to pull up on anything and everything--but not quite succeeding all the time--and flopping around on the floor like he wants to crawl. Unfortunately for him, his adorable fat little thighs aren't really getting under him very well...the curse of short legs that many in my family are familiar with.
- He's got one little tooth rapidly shooting up, and the 2nd is almost through the surface.
Sadly, a milestone we're not psyched about is that he may be on his way to catching the strep throat that Joey's battling. We're on the lookout for fever :(
- Eating like a champ (as you probably saw in the video), and he's added apples and carrots to his repertoire recently.
- He's really, really trying to move. He's making valiant attempts to pull up on anything and everything--but not quite succeeding all the time--and flopping around on the floor like he wants to crawl. Unfortunately for him, his adorable fat little thighs aren't really getting under him very well...the curse of short legs that many in my family are familiar with.
- He's got one little tooth rapidly shooting up, and the 2nd is almost through the surface.
Sadly, a milestone we're not psyched about is that he may be on his way to catching the strep throat that Joey's battling. We're on the lookout for fever :(
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
flashback friday
Figured it might be fun to post a few pics of the little man from the earlier days every now and then. We've taken so many and so few end up on this blog that it'll be nice to share some of those other newborn photos with folks. [Side note: is that an obscene gesture he's flashing in one photo? Why yes, yes I think it is...]
Monday, October 4, 2010
Family Photos!
All images by Heather Saunders Photography
Thanks for taking awesome photos of us, Heather! If you're interested in seeing the whole set check out our gallery on Heather's site (passcode is A2 if asked).
Thanks for taking awesome photos of us, Heather! If you're interested in seeing the whole set check out our gallery on Heather's site (passcode is A2 if asked).
Thursday, September 30, 2010
quick update...
Everyone should be happy to learn that at the follow-up we had Tues. the doc thought Oscar sounded much better. Also,just a couple of days after starting the antibiotic his ears looked good, too. We discontinued the breathing treatments (for now) thank goodness, but we can always resume if the wheezing starts up again. We can also discontinue the antibiotics tomorrow. Hooray for healing!
Unrelated note: I'm about to head into my exit interview at work and am having very mixed emotions... Not going to go into it, but it's very strange realizing that my time with this employer is actually ending. It's also Oscar's last day at daycare here and they're all very sad to see him go. On the bright side, maybe we can kick this cold and get him fully healthy now :)
Unrelated note: I'm about to head into my exit interview at work and am having very mixed emotions... Not going to go into it, but it's very strange realizing that my time with this employer is actually ending. It's also Oscar's last day at daycare here and they're all very sad to see him go. On the bright side, maybe we can kick this cold and get him fully healthy now :)
Monday, September 27, 2010
cute or sad? probably both...
So remember that breathing treatment I mentioned a little while ago? Well, we're on ear infection #3, more antibiotics, and this time the nurse practitioner thought that the treatment we gave him in the office DID help. So we are now the proud owners of a brand new nebulizer, complete with a fulfilled prescription for albuterol. Have you ever seen anything so sad? (Or somehow kind of adorable?)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
the paper mama photo challenge: fingerprints
One of the mama/photo blogs I've been reading recently, The Paper Mama, holds various fun photo challenges and I've finally decided to toss a photo of Oscar into the mix.
Her challenge this week was titled 'fingerprints,' and each entry must be a photo of your child's feet or hands. I pulled a couple from a set I took this morning:
Since you can only enter one I ended up choosing the bottom one :)
Her challenge this week was titled 'fingerprints,' and each entry must be a photo of your child's feet or hands. I pulled a couple from a set I took this morning:
Since you can only enter one I ended up choosing the bottom one :)
Saturday, September 18, 2010
some wins for michigan (and food!)
Hooray for football, food, and husbands! Joey's in town this weekend, and after two weeks apart everyone seems to be enjoying the together-time a LOT. When Joey and I showed up to pick Oscar up from daycare on Thurs (the afternoon Joey arrived), Oscar smiled at his daddy and immediately started clapping his feet...so adorable.
Daddy in town also means football watching. Oscar experienced his first football game at a sports bar--The Arena, of course--which is documented in a photo below.
We're introducing more food these days, too. Oscar now has banana added to his repertoire in addition to the avocado and sweet potato. We've also been giving him Cheerios to play with. He likes to pick them up with his fist (still working on the thumb/forefinger pincer grasp) and shove them towards his mouth, usually missing. If he does get one or two in, he'll gum them for a while and usually you'll see either a whole or part Cheerio slide out of his mouth and down his chin in a river of drool. Sounds gross, I know, but is actually pretty hilarious. He does get some down, but mostly we're just having fun watching him learn how this food stuff works.
The only real downer that's happened recently has been his six month doc's appt. Everything looked good, except that the doctor didn't like the wheezing that he heard in his chest. I'm almost positive that the wheezing can be attributed to the summer cold that he hasn't shaken since he got it back in July, but since I have asthma the doc wanted to see if a breathing treatment would help relive some of it. Well, after trying to wrestle a screaming and scared 6 month old into allowing us to put a little mask over his face that was full of mist containing saline and albuterol (and having him eventually give up and fall asleep on my shoulder), then waiting about 30 min. for the doc to come back and listen to him, we discovered that the treatment made no difference at all. After all of that we finally got his vaccinations (oh, so fun) and all in all spent a pretty unpleasant two hours in the office. At least it's over now. We're supposed to go back in a couple of weeks before we move for the doc to follow up and listen to his chest again. Good times will be had by all, I'm sure.
Anyhow, not much else to report. Joey heads home to Indy tomorrow and Oscar and I will resume our normal routine at my mom's until we visit next weekend. After that it's only one more week until I move down for good. Yikes :)
photos:
- cheering for michigan at the bar
- hanging with daddy after the first pool experience
- short video of the first pool experience
- showing everyone how much he wanted to eat bananas today before dinner
Daddy in town also means football watching. Oscar experienced his first football game at a sports bar--The Arena, of course--which is documented in a photo below.
We're introducing more food these days, too. Oscar now has banana added to his repertoire in addition to the avocado and sweet potato. We've also been giving him Cheerios to play with. He likes to pick them up with his fist (still working on the thumb/forefinger pincer grasp) and shove them towards his mouth, usually missing. If he does get one or two in, he'll gum them for a while and usually you'll see either a whole or part Cheerio slide out of his mouth and down his chin in a river of drool. Sounds gross, I know, but is actually pretty hilarious. He does get some down, but mostly we're just having fun watching him learn how this food stuff works.
The only real downer that's happened recently has been his six month doc's appt. Everything looked good, except that the doctor didn't like the wheezing that he heard in his chest. I'm almost positive that the wheezing can be attributed to the summer cold that he hasn't shaken since he got it back in July, but since I have asthma the doc wanted to see if a breathing treatment would help relive some of it. Well, after trying to wrestle a screaming and scared 6 month old into allowing us to put a little mask over his face that was full of mist containing saline and albuterol (and having him eventually give up and fall asleep on my shoulder), then waiting about 30 min. for the doc to come back and listen to him, we discovered that the treatment made no difference at all. After all of that we finally got his vaccinations (oh, so fun) and all in all spent a pretty unpleasant two hours in the office. At least it's over now. We're supposed to go back in a couple of weeks before we move for the doc to follow up and listen to his chest again. Good times will be had by all, I'm sure.
Anyhow, not much else to report. Joey heads home to Indy tomorrow and Oscar and I will resume our normal routine at my mom's until we visit next weekend. After that it's only one more week until I move down for good. Yikes :)
photos:
- cheering for michigan at the bar
- hanging with daddy after the first pool experience
- short video of the first pool experience
- showing everyone how much he wanted to eat bananas today before dinner
cheering for michigan at the bar
daddy cheering
yummy bananasWednesday, September 15, 2010
enjoyable videos
...sorry, not of Oscar. While I'm in this odd transition period with computers that makes it difficult to get my photos together, I thought I'd post a couple of videos that I found via a couple of other blogs recently:
a mushy video that might make you a little teary-eyed if you're a mom (or if you're expecting) via higher highs, lower lows:
reflections of motherhood
a sweet skateboarding video for a sweet song via smonk you:
forever young, youth group
can you tell my google reader is filled with mommy/parenting blogs these days? :)
a mushy video that might make you a little teary-eyed if you're a mom (or if you're expecting) via higher highs, lower lows:
reflections of motherhood
a sweet skateboarding video for a sweet song via smonk you:
forever young, youth group
can you tell my google reader is filled with mommy/parenting blogs these days? :)
Saturday, September 11, 2010
nothing exciting...
I wanted to update, but realized that we don't have much exciting going on here...which is actually really nice after the crazy month we had getting all of our moving done. I really, really miss Joey (and Lucy), but I'm having a great time getting to hang out with my family and I'm trying to enjoy these last few weeks in my hometown before moving on.
I'm participating in a digital photography workshop right now. Despite lots of photo experience thanks to the photography part of my major in undergrad, I'm still experimenting with my DSLR. Having not picked up one of my 35mm or medium format film cameras in a while it's been some time since I've really experimented with aperture, shutter speed, and all of that fun stuff. Despite already knowing how these things work, I figured that a nice, relaxed and low pressure online workshop would motivate me to get shooting (and more than anything, really thinking about my shots). I'm including some photos I've taken for the class below: a supercute one of Oscar at bathtime, and a photo that tries to capture the dishes I do most nights for his bottles, etc.
Tomorrow my mom and I will be trying our hand at making rice cereal for him, and hopefully I'll get some good pictures of that :) Also, my new computer has finally arrived, and it'll be much easier for me to upload all of my pictures and get things organized after Joey and I wipe it and reinstall the operating system. He'll be up in A2 next weekend, so hopefully we'll have time to do it then and I can get back to posting more pictures.
I'm participating in a digital photography workshop right now. Despite lots of photo experience thanks to the photography part of my major in undergrad, I'm still experimenting with my DSLR. Having not picked up one of my 35mm or medium format film cameras in a while it's been some time since I've really experimented with aperture, shutter speed, and all of that fun stuff. Despite already knowing how these things work, I figured that a nice, relaxed and low pressure online workshop would motivate me to get shooting (and more than anything, really thinking about my shots). I'm including some photos I've taken for the class below: a supercute one of Oscar at bathtime, and a photo that tries to capture the dishes I do most nights for his bottles, etc.
Tomorrow my mom and I will be trying our hand at making rice cereal for him, and hopefully I'll get some good pictures of that :) Also, my new computer has finally arrived, and it'll be much easier for me to upload all of my pictures and get things organized after Joey and I wipe it and reinstall the operating system. He'll be up in A2 next weekend, so hopefully we'll have time to do it then and I can get back to posting more pictures.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
6 months (or 0.5 years)!
HAPPY 6 MONTHS TO MY WONDERFUL SWEET LITTLE GUY!!
Can't believe it's been 6 months already--here's one of many shots I got of him this morning (will have better ones later...when I have access to my usual editing software).
Can't believe it's been 6 months already--here's one of many shots I got of him this morning (will have better ones later...when I have access to my usual editing software).
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
1st visit to see Daddy (also: 1st Football Saturday)
This past weekend Oscar and I took our first trip to Indy to see Joey since he officially moved down there and I officially didn't. Yet. It was both fantastic and not-so-fantastic at the same time:
Fantastic:
1. SEEING JOEY
2. Seeing Lucy
3. Hanging out in our mostly-put-together new home in our new city
4. Discovering fun stuff and places (see more about that later)
5. Buying a new dining room table :)
Not-so-fantastic:
1. LEAVING WITHOUT JOEY
2. Leaving Lucy (and seeing her get sad and mopey the morning I left)
3. Oscar getting yet another fever :(
4. Feeling at home, and then realizing I still had to come back to work
So, onto the fun stuff. I got to see Joey's new office (awesome!) and his new lab (super awesome!) and marvel at his sweet parking pass that allows him to park EVERYWHERE. We went to Rib America, a BBQ festival on IUPUI's campus, and I managed to eat pulled pork, brisket, and ribs--all while wearing Oscar in a carrier on the front of me and not even dripping a bit of sauce on his head. We also went to an adorable Indie handmade store called Homespun and talked to the shop owner for a long time about things like good city neighborhoods, cloth diapers, indie handmade festivals, etc. Joey commented after we left that I had found "my people" :) We briefly explored the Keystone Fashion Mall, made the mistake of walking into Restoration Hardware, and bought a dining room table. We watched both Georgia Tech and Michigan win their games, got a little emotional hearing the U of M fight song, and took lots of pics of Daddy holding Oscar while watching his first game. As for O-man's fever, he's doing OK--we went to the IHA after hours clinic as soon as we got back to A2 and discovered that he's got another ear infection. So, back to the antibiotics.
Whew. Now back to real life. Not seeing Joey again for a couple of weeks, since he has a bachelor party to attend next weekend. Also apologies for not attaching photos. I'm still in the midst of trying to get my photo storage stuff organized and I just recently found and brought back my camera cable from Indy. I promise more pics soon.
Fantastic:
1. SEEING JOEY
2. Seeing Lucy
3. Hanging out in our mostly-put-together new home in our new city
4. Discovering fun stuff and places (see more about that later)
5. Buying a new dining room table :)
Not-so-fantastic:
1. LEAVING WITHOUT JOEY
2. Leaving Lucy (and seeing her get sad and mopey the morning I left)
3. Oscar getting yet another fever :(
4. Feeling at home, and then realizing I still had to come back to work
So, onto the fun stuff. I got to see Joey's new office (awesome!) and his new lab (super awesome!) and marvel at his sweet parking pass that allows him to park EVERYWHERE. We went to Rib America, a BBQ festival on IUPUI's campus, and I managed to eat pulled pork, brisket, and ribs--all while wearing Oscar in a carrier on the front of me and not even dripping a bit of sauce on his head. We also went to an adorable Indie handmade store called Homespun and talked to the shop owner for a long time about things like good city neighborhoods, cloth diapers, indie handmade festivals, etc. Joey commented after we left that I had found "my people" :) We briefly explored the Keystone Fashion Mall, made the mistake of walking into Restoration Hardware, and bought a dining room table. We watched both Georgia Tech and Michigan win their games, got a little emotional hearing the U of M fight song, and took lots of pics of Daddy holding Oscar while watching his first game. As for O-man's fever, he's doing OK--we went to the IHA after hours clinic as soon as we got back to A2 and discovered that he's got another ear infection. So, back to the antibiotics.
Whew. Now back to real life. Not seeing Joey again for a couple of weeks, since he has a bachelor party to attend next weekend. Also apologies for not attaching photos. I'm still in the midst of trying to get my photo storage stuff organized and I just recently found and brought back my camera cable from Indy. I promise more pics soon.
Monday, August 30, 2010
FINALLY...*deep sigh*
Maybe I underestimated how much time moving takes. Scratch that...I think I underestimated how all-consuming it really is, since our move didn't take much time at all. It was a whirlwind of unpleasantness that, thankfully, is now mostly over. It didn't leave much time for updating blogs, however (ahem, sorry about that). Anyways, we managed to box up our house, load it up, unload it, and unbox it all within one week. Joey and I are now back in A2 (as of yesterday) for a few days to close on our house. I'll have to write more about that later, since I'm in the middle of crazy phone call swapping with Joey thanks to some house selling drama that's going on now :(
So, to provide the abridged version:
1. Two weekends ago we went down to take possession of our apartment. Cue the illnesses that Oscar and I got that have already been written about here. We also got some super sweet new toys for the O-man (that I've included photos of here).
2. We got back to A2, had family pictures taken (yay! Will have to post about them once we receive the proofs), and Sunday afternoon 8/22 we began our packing.
3. We packed Sun, Mon, Tuesday, and Wed. the movers came to load up. When they finished Joey headed down to Indy, met them there, and despite having a scheduled unloading of the next morning they asked if it was OK to unload right then (!!!). Joey obviously said yes, and hence our move was completed in ONE DAY. (Oh, and cue Joey getting sick right when all of the moving was in full-swing)
4. Myself, Oscar, and my mom followed Thurs. morning, and the unpacking commenced.
5. We unpacked Thurs and Fri and were able to spend this past Sat. doing some relaxing and organizing.
6. We returned to A2 Sunday (yesterday), me to stay for a while and Joey will be leaving Tues. evening or Wed. morning to go back to Indy.
Some cool stuff to note:
- Oscar had his first food this past weekend: avocado. We mashed it up and without a baby spoon on hand I fed him with my finger. He promptly puked it all up.
- Oscar had his first swim this past weekend as well. He was OK with it, not sure about the cold water at first but seemed to enjoy himself once he got used to it. He has a cool floaty thingy to sit in, and he just lounged. Didn't get super excited, though, and when I noticed that he was slumping a bit and getting water in his mouth I figured it was time to take him out.
* I managed to forget my camera this past trip, and so we used my mom's. Will post photos/videos of both of these events when I get them off of her device.
I'll also have to locate my camera cord so that I can post some photos of our new place. Who knows where that might be now that our belongings are strewn across two states, in my mom's house, our apartment, a storage unit, and probably still in our cars as well :P
In the meantime, enjoy the photos (descriptions in reverse order):
- Oscar with his cool green and yellow ball that helps him sit up
- Oscar with Rody, his new inflatable horse-like friend (that Joey finds creepy and that I LOVE)
- Oscar and daddy from the first trip to the apt.
- Oscar napping on the guest bed right after we moved it in, also during the first trip to the apt. two weekends ago.
So, to provide the abridged version:
1. Two weekends ago we went down to take possession of our apartment. Cue the illnesses that Oscar and I got that have already been written about here. We also got some super sweet new toys for the O-man (that I've included photos of here).
2. We got back to A2, had family pictures taken (yay! Will have to post about them once we receive the proofs), and Sunday afternoon 8/22 we began our packing.
3. We packed Sun, Mon, Tuesday, and Wed. the movers came to load up. When they finished Joey headed down to Indy, met them there, and despite having a scheduled unloading of the next morning they asked if it was OK to unload right then (!!!). Joey obviously said yes, and hence our move was completed in ONE DAY. (Oh, and cue Joey getting sick right when all of the moving was in full-swing)
4. Myself, Oscar, and my mom followed Thurs. morning, and the unpacking commenced.
5. We unpacked Thurs and Fri and were able to spend this past Sat. doing some relaxing and organizing.
6. We returned to A2 Sunday (yesterday), me to stay for a while and Joey will be leaving Tues. evening or Wed. morning to go back to Indy.
Some cool stuff to note:
- Oscar had his first food this past weekend: avocado. We mashed it up and without a baby spoon on hand I fed him with my finger. He promptly puked it all up.
- Oscar had his first swim this past weekend as well. He was OK with it, not sure about the cold water at first but seemed to enjoy himself once he got used to it. He has a cool floaty thingy to sit in, and he just lounged. Didn't get super excited, though, and when I noticed that he was slumping a bit and getting water in his mouth I figured it was time to take him out.
* I managed to forget my camera this past trip, and so we used my mom's. Will post photos/videos of both of these events when I get them off of her device.
I'll also have to locate my camera cord so that I can post some photos of our new place. Who knows where that might be now that our belongings are strewn across two states, in my mom's house, our apartment, a storage unit, and probably still in our cars as well :P
In the meantime, enjoy the photos (descriptions in reverse order):
- Oscar with his cool green and yellow ball that helps him sit up
- Oscar with Rody, his new inflatable horse-like friend (that Joey finds creepy and that I LOVE)
- Oscar and daddy from the first trip to the apt.
- Oscar napping on the guest bed right after we moved it in, also during the first trip to the apt. two weekends ago.
Monday, August 23, 2010
marcel the shell
Working on getting photos uploaded and ready to go so that the Indy weekend post is appropriately illustrated. In the meantime I wanted to share something that has nothing to do with babies, our move, or us at all. Watching it made my day, though, and so I thought that if some of you hadn't seen this yet it might be fun for you, too. Enjoy.
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On
Friday, August 20, 2010
hives
So, did anyone else know that when a kid is recovering from a virus they might break out in hives? If the answer was yes then I'd have to say that this information would have been helpful a day or two ago. If the answer is no, I'd have to say ME EITHER...
In case you hadn't guessed, the man developed some yucky hives yesterday and freaked his parents out good. He was totally fine, then all of a sudden it was like 'huh? What's that weird bite-looking thing on his face?' Then, 'ohmygod, it's on his tummy and even bigger.' I called my mom to see if she knew, but since they weren't bothering him we left them alone and mysteriously the rashy-looking thing cleared up right quick. Then this morning was back with a vengeance...so much so that we called his doc's office and found out that it's common for babies to have some hives appear right after getting over a virus. They also said that apparently when they're really little, they don't always itch (hence Oscar seeming totally oblivious).
Either way, they'll come and go over the next day or so and we'll just keep an eye on it. In the meantime, we got out apartment!! I'm in Indy now and will post more info and pictures (of much more fun things than hives) before the weekend is out.
In case you hadn't guessed, the man developed some yucky hives yesterday and freaked his parents out good. He was totally fine, then all of a sudden it was like 'huh? What's that weird bite-looking thing on his face?' Then, 'ohmygod, it's on his tummy and even bigger.' I called my mom to see if she knew, but since they weren't bothering him we left them alone and mysteriously the rashy-looking thing cleared up right quick. Then this morning was back with a vengeance...so much so that we called his doc's office and found out that it's common for babies to have some hives appear right after getting over a virus. They also said that apparently when they're really little, they don't always itch (hence Oscar seeming totally oblivious).
Either way, they'll come and go over the next day or so and we'll just keep an eye on it. In the meantime, we got out apartment!! I'm in Indy now and will post more info and pictures (of much more fun things than hives) before the weekend is out.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
5 months re-shoot
Aaaand, success! Got a few of him sitting forward :)
Is it just me, or does he look fake in the first one?
Is it just me, or does he look fake in the first one?
5 months!!!
Here are two photos from the 5 month shoot this morning. I'm hoping to get more (fingers crossed I can get one or two with him sitting forward and actually holding/grabbing the 5). But I figured it would be nice to give our little model a break for a few min :)
Saturday, August 14, 2010
the plague
So I may be slightly over-dramatizing, but I think we were hit with the plague this past couple of weeks. In my last post I think I mentioned Oscar's croup and my fever. After that, right as I thought both of us were getting better, I lost my voice just about completely and Oscar got his own fever. We took him into the IHA after-hours clinic on a Sunday and I attempted to croak out to the doctor what was up with him (I'm sure we were everyone's favorite family in the waiting room...2 out of 3 people looking and sounding not so good). It looked as though he may have a very slight ear infection, and the poor guy also had some sort of hand, foot, and mouth disease, also known as herpangina. It caused some uncomfortable looking blisters and redness in his throat :( So he's on Tylenol and antibiotics, and the nurse informed me that she thought I probably had a virus which meant that there wasn't much to be done for me.
Since then, in the past week or so, my voice has come back and given way to a much worse cold (so gross...there's just so. much. mucus.) Oscar has been getting steadily better, although he still has some congestion going on. It's really funny when a mama who can't breathe out of either of her nostrils is trying to keep her kid from blowing bubbles out of his own nose. Anyways, now that everyone is thoroughly grossed-out I'll report that now it FINALLY looks like we may really be on the mend. Fingers crossed.
To make things even better (please note the sarcasm) Joey was gone for three days this week in gorgeous Santa Barbara. He was getting wooed by some AFM companies since he has to buy a very expensive piece of equipment for his new lab. He missed us, we missed him, but hopefully his being gone will keep him from the worst of the Wallace family illnesses. Oscar and I stayed at my mom's, who was very generous considering she was housing two sickies and our crazy dog. Needless to say, we survived, we're home now, and planning for our upcoming move. Oh, and sorry, but I don't have any photos to post right now. We're taking his 5 month pictures tomorrow (a week late) and I'll post a couple of those very soon.
Since then, in the past week or so, my voice has come back and given way to a much worse cold (so gross...there's just so. much. mucus.) Oscar has been getting steadily better, although he still has some congestion going on. It's really funny when a mama who can't breathe out of either of her nostrils is trying to keep her kid from blowing bubbles out of his own nose. Anyways, now that everyone is thoroughly grossed-out I'll report that now it FINALLY looks like we may really be on the mend. Fingers crossed.
To make things even better (please note the sarcasm) Joey was gone for three days this week in gorgeous Santa Barbara. He was getting wooed by some AFM companies since he has to buy a very expensive piece of equipment for his new lab. He missed us, we missed him, but hopefully his being gone will keep him from the worst of the Wallace family illnesses. Oscar and I stayed at my mom's, who was very generous considering she was housing two sickies and our crazy dog. Needless to say, we survived, we're home now, and planning for our upcoming move. Oh, and sorry, but I don't have any photos to post right now. We're taking his 5 month pictures tomorrow (a week late) and I'll post a couple of those very soon.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
relocation insanity
And here is where I insert the obligatory apology for not updating more frequently. Seriously, sorry about that. I do have a good excuse, though, what with all of the craziness that goes into moving for a new job. A few notes on what we've been up to:
- Lots of work on the house to ready it for listing (building a mantle over the fireplace, lots of caulking and painting of woodwork, boxing up non-essentials, etc.)
- Listing the house (meeting with our realtor, getting more tips on things we can do to stage, staging the house, etc.)
- Scheduling showings (keeping the house clean AT ALL TIMES, coming home during workdays to get Lucy out, stressing when we don't get feedback)
- Going to Indy again
- Renting an apt. in Indy (!!!)
- Receiving offers on the house (!!!)
- Accepting an offer on the house (!!!)
I'd like to point out that those exciting last 3 points happened this past weekend. I'm not saying anything about how excited we are to have received an offer, since we're far from done. There are still inspections, contingencies, and all of those other scary things that happen before a closing. Wish us luck.
We do, however, have a place to live when we get to Indianapolis. We're renting for a year in a nice complex with a fitness room, pool, and all of that good stuff that we don't get in our house. Our place is just over 1000 sq ft and has 2 bedrooms. Come visit us!
Other not so exciting/fun things that have happened include Oscar getting his first illness, and his mama catching something yucky from him :( Our little man started with a dry cough last week, and it progressed to immense stuffiness, coughs that sound like a seal barking, and not much sleeping to speak of (except for during the day...not much help at all to his parents). The doctor said she thinks it's croup, and he's probably past the worst now. I managed to come down with a 101 degree fever Sun. night, but aside from some wicked post-nasal drip I appear to be on the mend now.
OK, not much else to post, and this has gotten long enough. Now enjoy a few pics I've taken in the last few weeks, and I promise to post again soon.
- Lots of work on the house to ready it for listing (building a mantle over the fireplace, lots of caulking and painting of woodwork, boxing up non-essentials, etc.)
- Listing the house (meeting with our realtor, getting more tips on things we can do to stage, staging the house, etc.)
- Scheduling showings (keeping the house clean AT ALL TIMES, coming home during workdays to get Lucy out, stressing when we don't get feedback)
- Going to Indy again
- Renting an apt. in Indy (!!!)
- Receiving offers on the house (!!!)
- Accepting an offer on the house (!!!)
I'd like to point out that those exciting last 3 points happened this past weekend. I'm not saying anything about how excited we are to have received an offer, since we're far from done. There are still inspections, contingencies, and all of those other scary things that happen before a closing. Wish us luck.
We do, however, have a place to live when we get to Indianapolis. We're renting for a year in a nice complex with a fitness room, pool, and all of that good stuff that we don't get in our house. Our place is just over 1000 sq ft and has 2 bedrooms. Come visit us!
Other not so exciting/fun things that have happened include Oscar getting his first illness, and his mama catching something yucky from him :( Our little man started with a dry cough last week, and it progressed to immense stuffiness, coughs that sound like a seal barking, and not much sleeping to speak of (except for during the day...not much help at all to his parents). The doctor said she thinks it's croup, and he's probably past the worst now. I managed to come down with a 101 degree fever Sun. night, but aside from some wicked post-nasal drip I appear to be on the mend now.
OK, not much else to post, and this has gotten long enough. Now enjoy a few pics I've taken in the last few weeks, and I promise to post again soon.
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