Monday Mornings

If I were to be generous with myself, I would say that I devote Monday mornings to updating myself on the latest trends and news in technology. It's important, as one who works in technology for a living, to keep current on emerging gadgets and gizmos, as well as to get a feel for where things are headed within the industry. But really, that's not why I do it.

In truth, it's just hard for me to get going on Mondays, and it's much easier to read a bunch of articles than it is to jump into my work assignments for the day. I usually don't really get started until either 1) after lunch, or 2) a client calls needing my help. I always think that I'll get a good start; in the car on the way to work, I sometimes think through all the stuff I need to get done that day or week and try to map out a plan for the day. When I arrive at work, however, emails and news articles await, and my grand plan gets shifted until after lunch, unless a client calls, at which point the plan is usually thrown into the garbage altogether. (I would say "thrown out the window," but, you know, us techies tend to be confined to windowless basements, so garbage it is.) Oh well. I don't really know if I want to give up catching up on the latest news, but I probably do need to get more organized about my day.

Or rather, my days, since now that I've thought all this out and typed it up, my Tuesday is running behind. Later!

Ohio Trip (Brief Review)

We haven't really said much about our trip to visit Angie's family in Ohio, other than to say that we had a good time and that it was a long drive. Here, then, is a brief review: We drove up Sunday night and arrived Monday morning. This was good, in that the kids slept a lot of the way, but not good in that there are many crazy, creepy people at the last gas station in Tennessee before the Kentucky border at 3:15 AM, whereas at that same gas station on the way back at 7:30 PM or so, everyone was easy-going and friendly. Upon arrival, we slept a while.

That evening we played outside:
The next two days we went swimming and played with Angie's cousins' children:


On Thursday, we went to the Air Force museum, which wore Maggie out and made Joshua hot and thirsty. Angie's uncle was there to help:


Friday, we went to visit Angie's mom's grave with Angie's grandmother:

That evening we went to a carnival where we apparently took no pictures, although we had a great time. Saturday, it took us almost all day to pack, after which we drove from about 3:30 PM to roughly 3:30 AM and collapsed into bed. Final review: a great trip - no hustle and bustle of a cram-packed itinerary, just a good week with our extended family.

What are YOU crying about?

Over the past 5 months, I've re-discovered something that I really thought I'd learned before: babies cry a lot... about anything and everything. In fact, there are times when our particular baby cries for seemingly no reason whatsoever. He'll be well-fed, burped, clean of diaper, and laying in his crib, and he'll just be crying his heart out. Seriously, kid, what have you got to cry about? Huh? I mean, you never have to worry about what clothes to wear, you have no bills to pay, loved ones are always cooing over you, always eager to give you hugs or entertain you, and on top of all that, your favorite meal is available whenever and wherever you ask for it! Who could want a better life?

Still, he cries. However, tonight, I re-discovered something else. If all their needs are met - they've eaten recently, been through their bedtime routine (as much as possible), been placed lovingly into their crib - if all is right with the world... they will still cry. A lot. But eventually, if you leave them alone and don't bother them, they will go to sleep. Sometimes it's a matter of minutes, sometimes more, but they will drift off at last, and when they do, they are powerfully, powerfully cute. At least mine is. And that's all I really wanted to say.

Gimme that giggle

I got Joshua to giggle a couple of weeks ago. He was sitting in an infant seat and I decided to see what he would do when I played peek-a-boo with him. Lo and behold he gave me his first giggle. Daniel and Maggie were in the backyard so I called them in so they could hear it. Joshua gladly performed again. But, I couldn't get him to do it again after that, and of course that meant Davis didn't get to partake in the fun of hearing that precious little chuckle. I would make an occasional effort to get him to giggle again but he was not giving it up. Finally, yesterday, during a diaper change I didn't some hand movements and noise and I got him to giggle again. This time I had the digital camera (with the new battery charged and ready) so I had Daniel film me getting Joshua to give us a giggle. This way Davis got to hear it too. There's not much sweeter than the laughter of a baby; so enjoy.

Update: Thanks to Alert Reader MommyOctopus for letting us know that the video wasn't viewable. This has been corrected. Now, as we said before, enjoy.

A Great Deal of Thought

I want to say that the reason that I've been absent from this blog is because I've been giving this particular post a great deal of thought. The problem, of course, is that it's not true. In reality, we've been busy with the new baby, and I'm pretty sure the lack of sleep has hindered my creativity, so I'm having trouble coming up with interesting posts. So, just to catch you up, I've been reading some interesting books, taking a more active interest in Lost through blog reading and podcast listening, and working on improving my Brain Age. This last activity is made possible by the fact that Daniel bought a Nintendo DS with his own money for his birthday. He's been doing chores, earning his commission, and saving up for months. He'd managed to save over $80, and on his birthday friends and relatives gave him enough to cover the rest of the DS! He was ecstatic, and we were, of course, very proud of him. My dad then paid for us to get a game for the DS, and we got Brain Age 2, which is a great game, and a lot of fun, except that it is based on the bizarre idea that the perfect brain age is 20-years-old. This is a problem for Daniel, since a lot of the tests are over his head, but it's also a problem for those of us who are sleep-deprived and over 30. Still, it's got a lot of fun Sudoku puzzles, of which I'm a big fan. Anyway, I'm sorry this is so rambling, but those are my thoughts at the moment. Now I'm going to bed. I hope to be more coherent for my next post. G'night!

On its way

I'm pleased to announce that I ordered a new battery for our digital camera. As I mentioned here, we are sans digital camera because the battery wouldn't charge, but that won't be the case much longer. I will be sure to get up some pictures as soon as it arrives.

Summer Vacations

We are planning to go to Ohio to visit my mom's family in June. We haven't been since I was pregnant with Maggie (she's 5 now) so our visit is long overdue. It is sad that I haven't done a better job of keeping in touch with my relations. My mother made sure we visited them once a year while I was growing up, but once she passed away and I moved out of my parents home, there was nothing to ensure that I stayed in contact. I'm looking forward to reconnecting and introducing our children to their only great-grandmother (Daniel was one when he last met her so it will be just like meeting her for the first time again). It's thanks to my gracious Aunt Shirley and Uncle Kenny that this visit is possible. They are letting us stay at their house so we don't have to use a hotel (which we can't afford while we are still doing our debt snowball). It should be a lot of fun if we can get Joshua to enjoy riding in the van.

We also hope to go back to the condo in Perdido Key with the Hipps family in August. It all depends on whether Davis can get off from work (although if he can't I may just have to brave taking the three kids by myself since it was so great last year). Hopefully that works out and we will have two inexpensive family vacations this year. Can't wait!

Gotta love the iPhone

Here is a picture I took with Davis' iPhone. As I mentioned in my previous post, our digital camera is broken, so it was great to be able to capture this moment with the iPhone. We had gotten all the kids ready for bed but we still needed to give Daniel a breathing treatment for his wheezing. We thought we would just keep Joshua up until the treatment was done (10 minutes), but the hum of the machine put him to sleep. It was too precious and I was so glad that we were able to get a picture of it.

Blogging without pictures

As a novice blogger I rely heavily on pictures (mainly of my children)to make my posts interesting. Frankly, I'm not that great of a writer (it was always very difficult for me to reach minimum page requirements in English class) so it helps to have a visual. Unfortunately, I have discovered that my digital camera isn't working because the battery is broken (i.e. it won't charge anymore). I hope that we will have the money to replace it next month, only our budgeting meeting will tell. Thus, the lack of blogging lately (for me, I don't know what Davis' excuse is).