ericakeithley

ericakeithley @ 2009-04-25T06:36:00

2009-04-25T13:33:11Z

Naptime!

2009-04-02T21:47:53Z

At 1:15 Alex started crawling over to the staircase that leads to his room.

"Are you sleepy, Alex?" asked the puzzled mommy.

"Yes!" replied Alex via the vigorous eye scratching he does when tired.

So he started climbing the stairs!

The astonished mommy couldn't help asking again as he ascended, "Alex are you tired?"

Pause in the crawl. More emphatic eye scratching. Continues upward. Into his room. To the crib.

My son likes to take naps! Did I luck out, or what?

I have to say that it must be congenital, however. My mom likes to tell about how I would come to her when a kid and ask, "Is it bedtime yet?" Weird. But handy.

In the works ...

2009-03-24T17:09:57Z

Well, Robb and I have a new project going: Minneman baby #2! We saw first pictures of the peanut-baby yesterday, and everything is looking good. Our new arrival should get here around Halloween, making her (Robb insists on referring to the baby as a girl) about 21 months younger than Alex.

I'm really excited about another baby, but I'm a little freaked out. 21 months seemed much longer before we knew about this baby than it does now. Plus, I'm sorry to admit, I dread hearing people exclaim about how close in age they will be. Interestingly, I don't think anyone has had that response so far; I guess I'm just paranoid. I know I shouldn't care, and when I mention this concern to people they just tell me to blow people off if that's their attitude, but still .... I'm way too much of a people-pleaser. Ah well, if that is my biggest concern during the next 7 months, I'll be doing terrifically!

(PS Why is it that somewhere between Alex's first smile and his first utterance of the magic word "mama" I completely forgot how horrible morning sickness is? Is this nature's way of insuring the continuance of the species?)

Busy Boy!

2009-02-18T21:48:56Z

Suddenly Alex seems much more like a little boy than a baby. This afternoon he play a game of sorts: stacking his board books back on the shelf. Previously he has only pulled them off the shelf, but today he very single-mindedly put them back on the shelf from the floor. Whenever the pile of books became unstable and toppled he would laugh and clap his hands. Then he grabbed daddy's old phone, flipped it open, pushed a button, and held it to his neck/shoulder and started babbling. I've never seen him do that either. He's also starting to imitate a lot of words. If he seems interested in an object I'll say the name several times in a row, and usually he will try to repeat the word until I get tired of saying it. He does well to get the first consonant and vowel, but it's pretty cool. I didn't expect that he's really remember many of these words from one day to the next, but he was saying something like "car" today, and he only just learned that word yesterday!

How cute is that?

2009-02-03T05:14:39Z

My mom taught Alex how to sign please. This is accomplished by clapping and (theoretically) saying "Bitte, bitte!" Alex totally gets the clapping; however, the "bitte" part doesn't register on his radar. But hey, it's better than nothing, and he *is* only just one year old.

Mommy starts eating a cookie. Alex grunts and lunges for said cookie. Mommy says, "Say please!" Alex claps, mommy laughs and hands over a bit of cookie. Alex smiles and eats. This continues as the two eat one cookie.

Mommy splurges and gets out a second cookie (I mean, after all she had to split the first one with the kid, right?). Alex starts clapping immediately and doesn't stop until the cookie is gone.

Way to go, son. You're training mommy up right.

Second Word and Signs

2009-01-12T22:14:51Z

Second word = Cheese (pronounced approximately: "Tzeeez!")

Kitty, cheese ... seems like my son is a mouse, not a little boy. :)

First sign (which happened months ago) = pick me up! (arms up)
Second sign (right around Christmas) = feed me! (fingers tapping mouth)

Now, if only he'd learn the sign for drinking rather that pointing and shrieking!

First Word

2008-12-05T05:19:59Z

It's official. Alex's first word is (drumroll, please):
Kitty!

(Pronounced: "Keee!" and accompanied by vigorous pointing the the direction of the nearest specimen.)

The Spirit of Bi-Partisanship

2008-11-04T23:11:43Z

My sister has the most excellent sense of humor of anyone I know. Today was my birthday, and as part of my gift this solid Democrat mailed her conservative sister a Palin/McCain '08 shirt. Now that's sisterly love. I think everyone should set aside party differences to celebrate my birthday!

Thought for the day

2008-10-17T23:26:25Z

"I see no virtues where I smell no sweat." -- Francis Quarles

(Quoted in "First Lessons in Extemporizing on the Organ" by MacDougal (c.1922)

I like it.

A day behind and a dollar short

2008-10-02T17:04:57Z

Happy birthday, Robbbbbb! I feel sorry for you that a friend you've never met in person (the notoriousphd) was able to post you a birthday greeting before your own wife did. Bad wife. No biscuit. But I love you very very much and I hope you have a wonderful birthday anyway.

Alex the Explorer

2008-09-15T15:28:45Z

It's not yet 8:30 and Alex has already studied:
*the spring on the crib wall that lowers
*the vent on the heater in his room
*a bag of clothing that used to belong to his daddy
*the threshhold on floor between the bathroom and the hall
*the louvers on the closet door
*the baby monitor cord
*the button for raising and lowering the exersaucer

Who knew ...

2008-08-18T17:43:00Z

I was just preparing an announcement for the church bulletin to alert choir members (and newbies, I hope) that we're on the verge of starting rehearsal again. I had planned on using the "He who sings prays twice" quote from Augustine as my catch line, but I did a double check on the internet to see if I had the quote right. Apparently (even though the quote I just gave is used a lot) it is not found anywhere in Augustine's writing. However, I found this one which, while not as succinct and cute, is way cooler (in my mind).

"He who sings praise is not only singing, but also loving Him to whom he sings." -- St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo

Naptime ...

2008-08-18T16:41:08Z

is God's gift to mommies.

That is all.

I'm a Cute Little Bunny

2008-08-17T22:29:56Z

With my cute little bunny towel:

More here.

75% less time, 100% less angst

2008-08-04T16:39:15Z

Trim the baby's nails while he sleeps.

35 minutes

2008-08-01T23:16:29Z

Enough said. Sigh.

Appropriate time for Old 100th

2008-08-01T22:43:24Z

After 1.5 hours of fussing, nursing, and watching his mom pull her hair, Alex decided that he could actually take a nap. And there was *much* rejoicing. I guess getting 6 mo. shots and teething are about as bad as the dire predictions I've been getting. Let's just hope this nap lasts for more than 30 minutes.

Old 100th
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! Praise Him, all creatures here below! Praise Him above, ye heav'nly hosts! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

(Sung very very very quietly, so as not to wake the baby.)

First piano lesson

2008-07-30T22:41:33Z

Please play the piano with your hands, not your mouth, Alex.

Humoring mom

2008-06-16T20:19:10Z

Alex learned a game today; I'm calling it "humoring Mom." He was lying on a blanket on the floor, looking at me when I suddenly tickled his ribs and put my face near his and giggled. He giggled back. I liked it so I did it again. He obliged by laughing again. We probably went through this fifty times. I have to guess that, despite how terrifically funny I am, he didn't really think this was humorous after the 35th time. But, as I was laughing and smiling and enjoying it, he continued to play along pretty much indefinitely. Nice.

Mmmmm ...

2008-06-16T20:13:29Z

I just discovered herbal iced tea. I hate regular iced tea. I hate the sweet iced tea Southerners drink. But I really like herbal iced tea. No caffine, lots of water, and a good but fairly subtle taste. So far I've tried making iced tea with raspberry tea, mango/passion fruit tea, and peppermint tea. Yum! I'm looking forward to trying lemon/ginger and blackberry. Anyone have insights on herbal teas that might make good iced tea?

ericakeithley @ 2008-05-29T12:16:00

2008-05-29T19:13:53Z

lex had his 4 month check up today, and yet again the doctor asked if Robb is really tall. The reason for the question: Alex is now in the 97 percentile for height and weight. Of course things may change, but we're on track for a 27 lb. one year-old. (Which, by the way seems in harmony with his birth weight - the doctor said most babies triple their birth weight by one year). In the meantime I'm stuck lugging around an 18 lb., 27" baby. I think I need to start working out. :)

By the way, thanks for the replies to my last post. As usual I'm a day behind and a dollar short, so I haven't replied yet. My bad. But here's a cute pic:

Why do you want to have kids?

2008-05-20T19:10:07Z

This is a question posed to me about 2 years ago by amperlj. It really caught me off balance at the time; I was puzzled not only by the question but by the fact that I had never thought about it. Quite frankly, I think I just stammered, hemmed and hawed and didn't give her a coherent reply. Her next question,"What do you think motherhood will be like?" brought out a pretty negative answer,"Well, I don't really know, but I guess there will be a lot of sleep deprivation, responsibility, sacrifice, the need to balance career with childrearing ..." etc. That reply actually surprised me a bit, because I've always assumed that I would one day be a mom. So why did I want to be a mom when all I could think of was the downside? I've been culling this conversation over in my mind for a couple of years and finally think that I have some conclusions.

I've always assumed that I would one day get married and have kids. While I'm a strong introvert who would much rather spend time reading a book or playing music than socializing, I've always known that I'm much happier when I'm involved with a few people in a deep way. Looking forward to marriage made sense. I'm Catholic, and I believe what the church teaches about the purposes of marriage (the mutual support of spouses and the creation of children), so kids were a given. I suppose that this line of thought doesn't appeal to many people for a variety of reasons, but there it is.

Last spring Robb and I were finally ready for kids, and suddenly we found that Alex was on his way. I kept thinking about why I wanted to have kids, and started to get a few more answers. Life is good - I actually love it despite the ups and downs. By having kids Robb and I give that gift of life to other people - how awesome is that?! Because we decided to have Alex, another soul will get to listen to opera and see the beauty of Washington and taste Thai food and get lost in a good book and puzzle out a game and fall in love and do things that I've never done nor thought of doing and enjoy himself roundly. I'm sure that he'll have bad times - sickness, losing people he loves, disappointments. But, despite the troubles of life I firmly think that Hamlet was crazed in his quandry: to be is infinitely better than not to be.

And then Alex got here, and our world was turned upside down in a good way. A most wonderful way. Life with a baby looks very different from the inside than it did from the outside. From the outside I could only see the sacrifice, the responsibility, the in-the-wayness of having a child to tote around; from the inside I see baby smiles and gurgles and even guffaws; I see amazing learning and growing; I see a little person with his own personality, and I wonder at the miracle of it. The sacrifice looks different from the inside, too. It would be a lie to say that it isn't important or I don't feel the pang of dying to self now and then. But it's sacrifice with a purpose, it helps Alex and it helps me grow too.

So pardon me if I don't post much, I'm too absorbed in being a mommy and wife. And just smile indulgently if I prattle on about my family. And forgive me if I highly recommend parenthood to you. I just want you to be as happy as I am!

Oh wow ...

2008-04-30T23:44:45Z

Letting the baby "cry it out" is waaaaaaaaaaay harder than I had ever guessed. And takes longer. Much. :(

Sad Day

2008-04-10T20:36:20Z

Today I got news that one of our church choir members died. Her daughter called me to let me know that my soprano passed away suddenly and unexpectedly yesterday at home. I called all the choir members this afternoon to let them know about it before they get to rehearsal tonight. A. had been in the church choir for something like 56 years and was a lovely lady. Her husband died before I met her, but he was a professional hockey player back in the day. Consequently, A. was really into sports in a way that seems atypical for 80-something year-old ladies. It cracked me up to hear her having in-depth discussions of the Mariners with H., another soprano who sat next to her in choir for 30 years. It's really sad that she's died, and I know that the choir is going to take it really hard.

Hearing what the choir members have had to say when first hit with the news has stimulated a lot of thought for me. It seems that maybe people's age influences how they think about it. M. and P. (two altos who are sort of in the middle age bracket in the choir) both remarked that at least she wasn't ill or suffering before hand. H., who is more of an age-mate with A., talked about how horrible it would be to be alone when you die, as A. was. "No one was there to help her!" Or to just be with her. While I agree with both of the sentiment expressed by older people, my initial response was completely different. Of course I was completely shocked and saddened. But shortly I started thinking about how many more times we will go through this in the next decade or so. Most of my choir members are over 60, many of them are over 70, and some are over 80. I hope that they will all live to be 100, but I know that we can't really expect that. People die. These lovely people in my church choir whom I've grown to love in the short time I've known them are two generations older than I, and (provided nothing untimely happens to me) I'll witness all of them passing away. It's really sobering. I'm so lucky to know them - they have the most awesome stories and experiences, they are generous with their time and talent, and they are truly people of faith. It's going to hurt a lot to lose them.

Momma's big boy

2008-03-31T18:36:27Z

Baby Alex just turned 2 (months). Today at the doctor's office he weighed in at 15 lbs 2 oz and measured 25 in. Go go 95th percentile! In other news, I think the three shots that he got upset me more than him. He's gleefully chewing on his thumb and grunting about it right now. On this topic, I seem to remember a story about my mom that goes something like this:

The doctor does something to Veronica or me while we were babies that caused the child upset and cry. Mom naturally gets a bit stressed. Dr. Ryan (small town, down-to-earth GP with a dryish sense of humor) says: "Oh, Karen ... I haven't lost a mom yet!"