Original Sin

My six-month-old knows that he is not supposed to grab the corner of his blanket. He had just been told no about 30 seconds prior to this picture. Look at the look on his face--he's thinking, "Oh-ho, mama, I'm going to put my hairy toe over the line and see what happens!" He may be the world's most delightful baby, sleeping well, making cute-cute sounds, and dealing well with his croupy cold, but he is going to press any boundary given him.

Not seen in photo--Mr. Cool hanging out in his Snuggie!

Cutie Pie Thursdays: Now on Sunday, Or, It's Not Always Cute

The wee lad got sick this week--a brief bout of croup, signified by a barking cough, lots of snot, and some crankiness.

We weren't very thankful for Thanksgiving, even though Grammie and Auntie Cool visited.

But by our half-birthday on Saturday, we had rallied to enjoy our first present, and hanging out in our pajamas.

Cutie Pie Thursday: A Day Late, But Not a Dollar Short

You'll note Mr. Cool hijacked Cutie Pie Thursday, but early Friday morning should work just as well. Our theme this week: new stuff. The lad has turned into the king of sitting up, and has added two small front teeth nubbins (which are rapidly growing into real teeth!), and can scootch around the floor a good bit. I have no pictures of the teeth (he's very private with his mouth) or the scootching, but I've got some great sitting pics!

See? Nothing's propping me up! (Oh, and his bald spot is growing back, just blonde, so it's a bit hard to tell!)

Check it out, mama! It's so easy to suck on rings one-handed when I'm sitting! (I also love the gut hanging over his jeans!)

Officer Safety - Pass it on!

In my five years plus of Law Enforcement, I've seen some very good training videos that reflect the practical realities of the trade. This is right up there as the best and most authentic when it comes to the use of force and arrest control. It is a short video, but well worth your time. At only 33 seconds, you may have to watch it a few times to get the full effect.

Tell me what you think, Mp.

Stay-At-Home Mom Files: Daytime TV Observations

The other thing I watch during the day!

Lest you think I am just swanning about the house in my bathrobe, eating bon-bons and watching TV, I will quickly justify myself here: the wee lad still spends a chunk of the day nursing away, which gives me the freedom to watch some daytime TV. Now, anyone who has spent some time about the house on a weekday knows that daytime TV can usually be placed in three categories: talk shows, game shows, and soap operas. Here are my top picks for each category:

Talk Show: Rachael Ray--now it might just be my Food Network withdrawal, but I like watching Rachael's show. It's fun, has good tips, she cooks a couple of times, and it's not weird or gross in any way. My one complaint is that sometimes 9:45 is a bit early in the morning to think about dinner, so I've usually forgotten her idea by the evening. Runner-Up: Ellen, who is also fun and puts celebrities in a dunk tank, and thanks to her I've learned that Harry Connick, Jr. has absolutely no aim with a baseball.

Game Show: Price is Right--my #1 daytime show, the one I'll watch even if the lad isn't having 2nd breakfast. I think Drew Carey is perfect as the "new" host, and I just love watching people lose it. I'm already working on my ideas for a t-shirt if Mr. Cool ever takes me to Hollywood and the Bob Barker Studio. Runner-Up: Let's Make a Deal, as Wayne Brady is pretty funny (although I, for one, always think of his Chapelle Show sketch whenever I see him) and Zonks are a good time.

Soap Opera: Days of Our Lives--now, I've been watching Days on and off for about twelve years, and as I watching it the other day, I realized that the fine folks of Salem are in the midst of their second baby-switch drama in that time span. Now, I had a C-section, and after the wee one was born, Mr. Cool stayed with me while they stitched me up. That's right--someone had ten minutes in which to switch my baby! This whole non-morning person stuff is making sense! Runner-Up: None. I also watched Passions, but they took that off the air. Thankfully, the best-looking guy on Passions is now on Days. Serendipity!

Not a Morning Person?

Lincoln working on a nap in his crib.

I enjoy, as Lincoln grows older, the emergence of his personality. This morning, I think I was granted an interesting peek into who he is, and it reminded me of his Aunt Sarah and Auntie Hannah.

The lad usually awakens between 5-6:30 AM to nurse. After he nurses for an hour (during which I watch an episode of Mad Men (my report in full will be coming soon, Hannah)), he goes back to sleep for about two hours. This morning, he was up at 5:45, nursed until 6:45, and then went back to sleep. I showered, vacuumed, emptied the dishwasher, read the morning paper, and drank some tea with my toast.

About 8, I heard some waking up noises from my boy, so I hurried to his room. I leaned over his crib, and saw his bright blue eyes. "Good morning, Lincoln!" I said, all keyed up to begin the happy morning routine. He looked at me, pulled his blanket all the way over his head, made some "growly bear noises" (so named by Grammie Joy), and went back to sleep for 45 minutes. I don't think I'm dealing with a morning person here.

Hobbies by the wayside:

Four months to the day from my ATV troubles – and they shall never be spoken of again (unless relevant or funny). I’m tired of reliving it, and I’m sure you’re all tired of reading about it. Sunday I go back to work full-duty and am really looking forward to returning to shift. So, enough of that. What have I been doing in the mean time?

From these pages you may have deduced my hobbies: shooting, riding, and woodworking. Of these activities, I’ve just returned to shooting a few weeks ago (awesome!), have forgone riding for a while (at least till the spring) – but have gotten back into woodworking. This hobby and skill has seen little favor on these pages, but I’ve accumulated some nice projects over my years, all without loosing a digit.

The first is probably the nicest - an entry-way shelf/mirror/coat rack, built back in 2006. Materials costs: $35 Tool costs: $125 (per unit cost would have been lower if I’d built more than one, but I needed a band saw to get the curves right - don’t judge me!). It only took a day to shape and built, and it looks great and actually hooks coats and reflects images.

Instead of spending $250 on a baby changing table, I spent $43 on a sheet or pre-finished birch plywood and built a top to cover Mrs. Cool’s old school desk and hacked it into a changing table - built in May of 2009. . Looks good, works great. Material costs: $43. Tool costs: $0 (I already had the band saw…).

My latest is a Gondorian spin on plywood – from last month. Our swamp cooler has never had a permanent cover - just cheap looking, unfinished plywood. After three years of living here, and with desire to be productive and without the ability to stand for long periods of time, I was inspired to do some wood carving. Watching the special features on the Lord of the Rings about the WETA workshop gave me an idea: carve the white tree of Gondor (one of Mrs. Cool’s favorite icons) as the center piece of a new cover. The birch plywood was cut to size and then hand-routed (read power tool) after some sketching and tracing. It took as long to trace the designs as it did to rout it out. Paint the tree, sand, and stain. Material costs: $0 (scrap plywood from Little Cool’s changing table). Tool costs: $10 (new router bit). Not bad.

It’s not all adrenaline rushes and busting caps. Sometimes in measuring, cutting, sanding, staining and getting cutes smiles from cute kids.

Cutie Pie Thursdays: The High Chair

I could post pictures of my boy all day, every day--one of our favorite games is camera! to cut down on that, though, I'm instituting Cutie Pie Thursdays, with a special theme each week. Today, our newest baby gear, the humble high chair.

The brand-new model, with Linc the Lion's meal of choice: the elephant!

The family classic, Aunt Susan's from 19(cough, cough)--he has just dropped an heirloom spoon!

Only 45 Shopping Days!

Lincoln has already started his search through the toy catalogs.

Believe it or not, Christmas will be here in 45 days. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday I was pregnant, teaching, grading and then WHAM! here we are, with an almost-six-month-old who will soon be enjoying (I hope) his first Christmas. We stashed away a few things to give him for Christmas, and luckily he will be 6 MO +, which allows him to enter a whole new world of toys. I'm working on knitting a giant mitten to serve as his first stocking, and it is turning into a giant mitten. I only meant to double the size of a regular mitten, but it has gotten a bit out of control. For the first time, I'm not only enjoying the world of snow and Christmas through the eyes of a baby, but I'm not having to cram it in around teaching and finals. I hope this season we will be able to relax and rejoice. I love this time of year, and I hope he learns to love it as well.

Hiya!

I'm still a bit too small for daddy's cap, but I wanted to say hello, and happy Sunday!

Stay-At-Home Mom Files: Microwave Popcorn

I had a great teaching idea the other day, and realized I probably won't be using it for a while. I must turn my mind to more domestic matters. So, I present a problem and solution for your enjoyment, enlightenment, or my need to write and communicate with someone.

Problem: Mr. Cool and I like popcorn. Microwave popcorn is expensive and often unhealthy. My old and reliable air popper can be a bit unreliable, spray popcorn about the room, and take too much effort for Mr. Cool. (Sorry, honey, but you said it.)

Solution: Homemade Microwave Popcorn. Take a brown paper lunch sack, fill it with 1/4 cup popcorn kernals, 1 tsp. oil (optional), and salt (also optional). Shake. Put in the microwave for about 1 min. 40 s. Keep an ear on the popcorn, and stop it when it when more than 2 seconds pass between pops. Shake bag, and pour into a bowl. Add any seasonings you would like.

Thoughts: This made me very excited yesterday. I'd seen recipes on the 'net for this--search homemade microwave popcorn and you'll find many, many posts/recipes/ideas--but I hadn't tried it yet. It tastes great, makes you feel fun and subversive, and for about $13, you can have enough popcorn and bags for 100 batches. Try it out!

Sleep Paranoia

How will I sleep tonight? You'll have to wait and see, Mama.

The babe slept great last night. Only one small peep between 9 PM and 5:45 AM, when it was time for first breakfast. He's asleep now, in his quest for nearly twelve hours. This is amazing, and tempts me to fall into a relaxed state about getting a solid 8 hours myself. Many a maternal doomsayer has warned that his quality sleeping habits won't stay--they warn of teething, illness, disrupted nights. I'm sure that's true, and thanks for the positive encouragement, but I want to be able to enjoy his good sleeping.

When he first started putting in quality hours at night, I would wake up frantic every half hour or so. I would ask Mr. Cool if he was sleeping too much, if I needed to wake him up to feed him, if this was bad that he slept so soundly. I now realize I was merely adding lines to my face, creating the white hair I pulled two weeks ago, and robbing myself of good sleep. There are many things in life we can't guarantee--I don't know that he will sleep well tomorrow--but when things are going well--when my lad curls up with his blanket and knocks out solid hours of sleep--I should relax and rejoice.

I've always tried to live by the ideal that you shouldn't borrow trouble, or worry about tomorrow, but I find these even harder credos with a small babe in house. It takes serious effort to give him up to God, and enjoy the moments as they come. It's effort I'll continue to give.

Oh--I believe my boy has been reading the parenting books. He was almost 4 months when he started sleeping in his crib, and the longest he could fast (sleep with eating) was six hours, just as the book said. The book stated that when he reached 5 months, he could make it nine hours. Sure enough, the night of his 5 month birthday, he hit nine hours before he cried to eat. He's kept to that ever since. He's pretty amazing.

1 Baby, 3 Costumes: 1st Halloween!

A little cowboy, complete with boots, a pearl snap-button shirt, and a little horse.
A small inmate, contemplating life on the inside of the crib.
A bear, lost in the first snows of the year.

Back in the Saddle Again...

Well, are experiment without the internet at home is over, and it has failed. Internet access is more expensive than it needs to (or should) be - but it has become an indispensable tool of the modern community. Wifi is nice, but when you're toting a baby - it is woefully inconvientent to rely on the library, Safeway, or McD's to find out what's going on with friends and family. So, we ponied back up - and are trying this thing again. Hopefully this will mean more pictures of the cute one - I like it already!

The leg is doing well, and am two weeks away from returning back to shift - full duty - assuming in the next 14 days I can get my running stride to work properly. I still struggle with stairs and running - but most other leg skills are doing well. Just 3 days ago I spent 2 hours shoveling snow with no issues. In other good news - the insurance company decided to pay in full the helicopter expenses, as well as my surgery and stay at MCR - a combined $74K and change. The internet is good - God is great!