Monday, August 28, 2006

Happy One Month Birthday to Lexie!

The one month milestone has been reached!  Time has flown by, as time will do.  Both April and I have been peed and pooped on numerous times, but even that has been worth it.  We love our little girl so much, and it is such a joy to watch her grow.  So much has happened in a month - I can't imagine what 3, 6 or even 12 will be like.  I'm going to go write a happy birthday email now.  If you're a relative-type, you should do the same ;).

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Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Can't sleep

So here is the birth announcement, for your viewing pleasure...

Courtesy of Belly Bean Designs, who were a pleasure to work with.

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Friday, August 18, 2006

Sugar and Spice

When Grams E was in town last week, she made some of her famous Monkey Bread.  While it was sitting on the counter, I had two realizations

1) I love Monkey Bread
2) Little Girls and Monkey Bread have almost the same exact ingredient list, it just takes a lot longer to bake a little girl.

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3 Weeks and Counting

Happy 3 Week "Birthday" to Alexis!  I would say things have gone reatively smoothly.  We've (and by "we've", I mean April) finally gotten past the clogged milk ducts and Mastitis yuckiness.  The "fix" ended up being lots of massage and a cabbage compress that had been slightly heated up in the microwave.  No one is exactly sure why that works, but that's what the doctor recommended and it did the trick.

Lexie is starting to learn that whining will quickly get her attention.  Unfortunately, once she starts getting attention,  she doesn't stop whining.  We think a little bit of this is due to gas, and we are optimistic that she's not becoming colicy.  Most of the time, she is a really good baby, and like all babies she has good days and bad days. 

As far as progress goes, there hasn't been a lot.  She's holding up her head for longer periods of time, but I  can tell she's still not really focusing or anything like that.  We've seen a few smiles, but all the "experts" claim that you don't get "real" smiles until four months.  Apparently what we are seeing is due to the aformentioned gas.

When I found out April was pregnant, I decided that once Lexie was born, I wanted to take at least one picture for every day.  That way, once she's a year old we can make a slideshow of one picture for every day, and everyone would agree that we are very cool parents.  As I layed in bed last night, I realized that no picture had been taken as of about 11:15.  I spend about 30 minutes going back and forth trying to decide if I should scrap the idea, or take a picture from a different date and change the timestamp and EXIM data.  This is effectively lying, and I would always know that I had "cheated".  So I got out of bed, figured out how to mute the camera, and took a  very bad picture at about 11:30.  Neither baby nor mother even knew it happened.  Disaster averted.  I was sure that I was going to wake everyone in the room and receive the wrath of my wife, but luckily that did not happened.  I figured that, in that case, it would be eaiser to ask for forgiveness than permission...

One last point.  I was looking at recent DVD releases (on my personalized Google homepage, no less), and saw this.  I really love parenting so far, but I am not looking forward to buying that kind of crap, no pun intended.  At least that is offset is by a timely release of The Wizard, which is possibly the greatest movie ever made.

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Thursday, August 17, 2006

Winning Analogies and Metaphors

I know this is almost the same as fowarding an email to everyone I know, but I find this hilarous.  And lets be honest, there are a max of five people reading this blog anyways ;).

English Student Essay Analogies
Every year, English teachers from across the USA can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays.
These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners . . .
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. ... instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains,one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots will do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

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Monday, August 14, 2006

Getting Things Done

Lots of stuff this post because I've gotten a little behind.  I'm going to keep up this blog if it kills me.

Some of my favorite blogs have always been lifehack.org and Parent Hacks.  I have been really putting forth an effort to get both life and home organized and some sort of fashion.  My geeky side yearns to use all the spiffy web 2.0 sites out there, so here's what I'm doing so far.  I've make accounts on both Joe's Goals and Backpack, since they both seem quite popular and offer an online alternative to the piece of paper that sits on my desk.  I suppose we'll see if I actually use them. I like them so far.

I've started reading a few other parenting blogs besides Parent Hacks, mostly dad-centric stuff.  Some are funny, some are boring.  If you'd like to check them out, they're all on my Bloglines page under "parenting".

I suppose it's part of parenting initiation, so here's the count if anyone is interested:

Pooped on: once
Peed on: twice

I know that sounds gross, but it's a lot more tollerable when it's your own kid.  I'm not sure why...

A few things in closing. I thought the eWeek Top 25 Products of the Last 25 Years was a good read.  Way geeky, but they really did a good job picking out the products that have shaped the PC.  Also, this whole post has been written using Windows Live Write Beta, which appears to be the best blogging tool yet.  Goodbye w.bloggar!  Now if I can just get switched over to Wordpress.

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Monday, August 07, 2006

Gas pains

Lexie had a little bit of a tummy ache for the last 24 hours. It's been no fun, but we're struggling through it. She's still doing a lot of sleeping right now (probably about 18 hours a day), so I think she's sleeping through a lot of it. The funny thing is, she fusses as soon as she hits the cradle, but sleeps great when Mommy or I are holding her. Suspicious... We did get to go around and do a little visiting today. Unfortunately the Bishop was out on vacation, but we got to go visit some friends and co-workers to show off our pretty little girl. We had a good time, but she slept through almost all of it. Grams E is in town right now, and she is really enjoying spending time with her new grandaughter. She fixed us a huge dinner tonight! We're going to try to get a little bit of video of her with Lexie so we can send her home with a DVD. Calvin says "MA-RAOW"! He's trying to type right now...

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Sunday, August 06, 2006

The thing I hate most

The thing I hate the most is a rusted paint can. This is a newborn hatred, as I just spent an hour and a half prying open old, rusted paint cans so I could fill them with kitty litter. My sympathies go out to you if you are every unlucky enough to have this job. On the up side, I got them all finished, and that was the first step to cleaning out the garage (which is a mess). I just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who have sent nice notes or come to visit. We really appreciate hearing from everyone. Also, thanks to everyone who has sent Lexie email. If you haven't done so yet, feel free to - lexieleigh@gmail.com. We have almost 100 pictures up on flickr, and are posting more almost daily. If anyone wants to donate a nice digital SLR camera to us, we'd glady take it and be your best friends forever ;). Anyways, if you're having trouble with your flickr invite, or didn't get an invite follow these steps:
  • If you didn't get an invite email April or I and we'll send you one. You can skip this step if you want...
  • If you don't want to wait for that, or if you're having trouble following the instructions in the invite, open your web browser and go to www.flickr.com.
  • Click the big "Sign Up!" button in the middle of the page.
  • This will take you to the Yahoo! account creation/login page, where you will have to click "Sign Up" again.
  • Follow all of that hoo-hah, and get your Yahoo! account created. Creating this account does not mean you have to start using Yahoo! as your email account or anything like that. It's just the only way you can get onto flickr.
  • Once your Yahoo!/Flickr account has been created, go back to www.flickr.com and click "Sign In" at the top of the page.
  • Click "Sign into Flickr using your Yahoo! ID".
  • Login using the account information you just created.
  • Hopefully you should be logged in now, and will get the flickr main page with a couple of menu items near the top (Home, You, Organize, Contacts, etc.)
  • Hover your mouse over the Contacts button until the little triange appears, then click it. On the menu that appears, click on "People Search".
  • Type "shamsway" in the box and hit search.
  • Hover your mouse over my picture until the little triange appears, then click it. On the menu that appears, click "Add to Contact List" (or whatever option it gives you there - should be at the very top).
  • Hover your mouse over the You button until the little triange appears, then click it. On the menu that appears and click on "FlickrMail"
  • Click "Compose a New Message"
  • Select "shamsway" as the To: person, make the subject "Add me!", and type whatever you want in the actual message box.
  • Wait a little while and I'll add you. Then go back to flickr, login and look in your contact list. Click on me (shamsway) and that will bring you to all my pictures. If you see pictures of Lexie, you're golden. If you just see a picture of the pool and the cats, either you havent' been added yet or you did something wrong. Your choices at this point are: 1) Wait more 2) Give up or 3) Call/Email and beg for help.

SHEESH! I was hoping that process would be easier. For some it has been, for others, it hasn't oh well... By the way: Photo printing has been enabled for friends and family on flickr, so you should now be able to send prints to Target. I had tried to enable this before, but it just wasn't jiving. I believe it's working now, but if you have problems then let me know! Enough! Good night!

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Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Name change

It's unfortunate, but we're going to have to change Lexie's name. Her new name will be Pooty Pootwell. It's out of our hands at this point (and luckily mostly in her diaper). Hey, it's better than Princess Consuela Banannahammock...

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Things I've learned so far

Jaundice is caused by increased levels of Bilirubin, but many infant's livers have trouble processing it initially. Lanolin is a greasy yellow substance from wool-bearing animals, acts as a skin ointment, water-proofing wax, and raw material. Medical grade lanolin is used as a cream to soothe skin. Lansinoh cream, a product that some breastfeeding mothers use on sore and cracked nipples, is pure, hypoallergenic, bacteriostatic medical grade lanolin. This grade of lanolin can also be used to treat chapped lips, diaper rash, dry skin, itchy skin, rough feet, minor cuts, minor burns and skin abrasions. As an ointment basis, it readily absorbs through skin, facilitating absorption of the medicinal chemicals it carries. All this is courtesy of Wikipedia, by the way. Just an update - things are still going well. No doctors appointment today, so we got to lay in bed most of the morning. Mom and baby are doing well, although Lexie is getting a little fussier about feeding. April's milk came in Tuesday afternoon/evening, and she has been a little more difficult ever since then. She is still feeding though, so hopefully she will get past this little spell. The up side is that she is sleeping for 3 or more hours at a time, so no complaints really. We just got our first real dinner table in today. We've never had room for one before, but we got a fancy one that folds up and has storage room for the chairs. Here it is: http://www.comforthouse.com/table2.html April is telling me it's time for dinner, so time to go. We should have more pictures on Flickr tonight. BY THE WAY, if you're having problems with flickr, pleasae look at the invitation email again and follow the directions closely. If you haven't gotten an invitation, email april or I, or call us and we'll hook you up. If you already have a flickr account, just send a message to "shamsway" and I will add you to the friends and family list.

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