Claypot

For the past two days there has been this horrible medium high pitched whine on and off starting early in the morning, driving me nuts. Yesterday when Magnus and Lisa were over we had baked chicken, tomato soup and veggies. Today my claypot arrived. So now I have to wait until next week to try the chicken in it. So I guess I will just have to try bread in it instead.

Asbestos

Well Grammy and Juncle left on Monday, so, of course, Layden would no longer sit in the Johnny Jump up for hours on end or take long naps. Yesterday we had Lisa and Magnus over for dinner. Layden liked Lisa and played happily with her in the kitchen then she carried him out in to the living room and sat next to Magnus. Layden took one look at Magnus and started crying. I came out and was holding him, got him calmed down, then he looked at Magnus and cried a little. He kept looking over his shoulder at Magnus and could eventually manage it with out crying. So we played on the floor with him a bit then Lisa and I went into the kitchen. He looked around saw only Magnus and started crying. I don't know what it was about Magnus, maybe the beard. I guess we will have to visit Uncle Dave and see what happens. I also think we had a little bit of teething last night. The white spot that may or may not be a tooth felt a bit different. He just kept crying and crying. The chip bag distracted him for a bit then a carrot to chew on helped but nothing lasted long. We gave him some Tylenol and a half hour later he seemed much better.
It turns out that until about the 80's they put asbestos in everying. The backing of vinyl sheet flooring, popcorn ceiling, siding, insulation... So it is most likely that there is asbestos in our popcorn ceiling nastiness, in which case, we can't remove it. Very sad.

Ears

Today we measured ears. Poor, poor Layden. His mommy and daddy had the biggest ears in the room and mommy's stuck out the farthest and his the second farthest. His ears were only a centimeter shorter than Jakob's. I guess that explains why Layden's head doesn't seem as big as other babies' heads even though it is in the top percentile. All mommy's fault, but daddy didn't help it at all. There is a silver lining for Layden though. The measuring tape makes a really fun toy. Even Layden agrees Jake is pretty wierd.

Visitors

Jake and my mom are visiting this weekend while my dad visits my Aunt Sandy in Colorado. She recently found out she has systemic cancer and the prognosis is not good.
Aparently I am very very very lucky with Layden and can no longer claim that Layden is preventing me from getting stuff done. He is not a normal baby, he is a supernormal baby, a super baby in fact. But I already knew that I was incredibly lucky. He doesn't really cry, he will happily jump in is jumper for long periods of time and he doesn't mind just sitting there and hanging out, sucking on his fingers.

Five months

Well Layden you are 5 months old now. This last month has been full of changes. You are now starting to eat solid food and on the whole you think it is pretty cool. Now anything that mommy or daddy is eating out of or drinking from you want some too. You even wanted bath water when I pretended to drink it from the cup I was using to rinse you. Applesauce is pretty good, you like gnawing on dried papaya and after the tiny bit of her vanilla icecream that mommy gave you you have already decided that ice cream might actually partially make up for leaving the womb.
You have also decided that baths might not be so bad now that you have discovered splashing. Splashing is huge fun for you and makes up for the fact that mommy dumps water all over your head.
You also are beginning to like books. Especially mommy's books. They may be a bit heavy reading for a five month old and don't have too many pictures but the cover is generally pretty interesting and mommy seems to like them. You also enjoy Find the Duck, Inside, Outside, Upside Down, Dr. Seuss's ABC's, and The Very Hungry Catepillar. You might enjoy others, but mommy doesn't so until you are old enough to pick them out on you own that's what you get.
You think your appendages are pretty cool and shame your mommy with your flexibleness (not your daddy, he's practically a pretzel). Your feet are quite tastey or even just fun to grab when mommy is changing your diaper. But your hands are where the excitement is really at. This month they have begun to do what you want them to. Toys now go into your mouth rather than an eye or an ear. In the last few days you have realized that the two sides of your hands are different. You will hold your hand in front of your face then turn it to look at the other side, then turn it back, then turn it again. You stop when you realize we are watching you but it is too late. It reminds me of the Simpson's episode where Homer is prescribed medical marijuana and while he and Otto are smoking Otto looks at his hands and says "They call them fingers but you never see them fing... oh, there they go"
You sit up pretty well on your own now and are slowly developing your mobility skills. Once you realize that all the things you do when combined will allow you to go where ever you want and play with all of those things we take away, I will no longer have concerns about getting too little exercise.
Your favorite toy this month is plastic bags. NOT that we let you play with them but you hear one rustling and your little eyes light up. If we are holding you and one comes with in your line of sight you lunge for it. Once you start moving we will have to lock up cleaning supplies, medicine and plastic bags. Plastic bags may even require the highest security.
Let us not forget teeth. You have one poking out just enough to be seen and there it remains.One day it seemed to trouble you a good bit and there was much crying. But when I took you crying outside you happily stopped crying and looked at the grass.
You have refined your not inconsiderable talents at being incredibly cute and bringing amazing amounts of happiness to your mom and dad. We walk into the room you are in and you look up at us and smile. We smile at you and you smile. You love mommy's singing and however grumpy you may have been all day with mommy, daddy gets home and you smile. You have the most amazing smile. Your smile makes everything better and lets you get away with anything from waking me up too early in the morning to some of the yuckiest diapers I have ever seen. You are the most amazing, beautiful thing I have ever seen and that will never change.

Toys

I don't know why we would buy him toys, daddy's work schedule is so much more fun. Speaking of fun, he is being extra grumpy, yay.

Runner up

Last night was employee appreciation night at Zeppos (bowling alley) for the hospital. There was food, salad and assorted deep-fat-fried artery-clogging yummies. Then we bowled a bit. Oli is much better than me, in fact almost exactly twice as good as me. My ball tends to favor the left side... the far left side... the gutter. Maybe I needed a lighter ball, or a heavier ball, or more skill. I did much better the last time I bowled, actually made it over 100. Layden was a huge hit. The CEO stole him for a bit, then a guy from pharmacy had him, then some blonde lady that Oli didn't know. Everyone thought he was so cute, and so well behaved, he let anybody hold him. He didn't get upset until everyon cheered real loud (end of a show down between Red Sage Cafe and Summit Therapy). Then he cried, and cried, and cried. It was about 9:00 so he was tired and hungry and wet. I have noticed that usually where other babies cry he tends to yell. He doesn't get sad, he gets angry and he yells, loudly. Oli was a runner up in the drawing and won $50.
Right now he seems to be in a 3 nap routine, one around 11:00am, one around 3:00 and one in the evening around 6 or so. Sometimes they are long naps, sometimes not. I prefer the longer ones. Sometimes he wakes up from a nap just crying and crying. Other times I hear him talking to himself and go in and he turns, looks at me and smiles, I prefer that.

Lilacs

Lots of news:
1) Layden is getting a tooth. Right now it is just a little white dot and he seems to be a bit crankier. He definitely isn't sleeping as well.
2) Those baby birds keep falling out of the nest, very poor planning. One had died and we put two more back in. We had considered giving them a new nest but there were still more babies in the old. Today there are two more babies dead on the ground. I think our thunderstorm killed at least one of them.
3) Thunder storms. One last night and one today. As I walked back from the park it started to get dark and windy and I was glad I had decided to head back.
4) Layden is darn cute, not news but true. On the walk to the park I stopped so he could check out the various bushes and flowers. Then he wanted to stop and check out the rest of them. He really liked the lilacs when I brushed them against his face. We stopped at the park and I had a picnic lunch while Layden watched the birds and made an attempt at rolling into the pond but I had foiled his plan by sitting between him and the water.

Ugly Baby

Today we stayed around the house and did not much. The weather was lovely and just the right temperature in the shade. Yesterday when we were looking for a tea kettle we also stopped to look for a hat for Layden. This outfit and hat were on sale at Macy's for $6, and he looks so cute in it.
Looking for tea kettles is a frustrating. There are lots of cute ones but they are enamel and can't be used above medium heat. What's the point? If I am going to boil water I am going to use the highest heat setting.
Today I was watching a starling bring food to its babies who live in the roof and trying to get a good picture. I finally managed to get some pictures when something fell knocking flowers from the neighbors apple tree. A baby starling had fallen from the nest. Or, perhaps, it was pushed? It is so ugly it is cute. Against his upbringing Oli agreed to climb up on the roof to return him to the nest, probably to keep me from crying. Hopefully it will survive, at the least I can pretend he does.

Dinner

Oli: "I know lets have popcorn and a movie for dinner"

Me: "That's not very nutritious"

Oli: "We could do something interesting with it... broil some cheese on top or something"

Mother's Day

Well today was my very first mother's day. Didn't do much exciting though. We had lunch at a new italian place in Moscow. They copied the writing upside down thing from Tomato Bros. and they have the kind of food that is ten bucks for 4 ravioli and 4 shrimp and a sprinkling of bacon, all highly flavored with clam juice. Layden enjoyed chewing on daddy's plate and napkin. He also thought some ice was pretty good. We tried to find me a tea kettle for mother's day but I didn't see any that I really liked.
We are having fun thinking about what we would like to do to the house. Mostly the kitchen. We are thinking that at the least we will be painting the cabinets and walls and the fridge will need to be replaced most likely. Then we will just have to see where the budget will go from there.
Spring looks like it is about over here in Pullman, the temperature was in the 80's. It was nice while it lasted.

Scooting

Layden has now mastered the art of scooting. He doesn't go far yet but he is definitely moving, very scary. Once he gets a bit more coordinated we will be in big trouble. He is more and more interested in his toys now and will occasionally play with them for a bit all on his own, quite happily.
He has added applesauce to his repertoire of solid foods. Last time he had some he actually seemed to be enjoying it, though still doesn't eat very much at a time.
It would seem I have him well trained to let me take showers. Whenever I put him in his chair so I can take a shower he just sticks his fingers in his mouth and engages in a period of introspection. It doesn't seem to matter when I take the shower or if he has toys to play with, he just sits there and thinks. He does the same thing when he is in the sling. He is much more likely to smile at and interact with people when he isn't in the sling than when he is.
He is a wonderful, wonderful, happy baby. He has been a bit fussier lately and Aunt Karla thinks he is likely getting his teeth coming into his gums. Giving him a little Tylenol seems to help so that is probably the case.
The current owners of the house are having the breaker panel replaced (for the baby) but they are out of town so we haven't heard anything else. Hopefully they will be back soon and we will hear if they are willing to give us the rest of what we asked for.
Dieter is up in Sandpoint now, working. Aunt Karla came down with a minvan to haul some of his stuff up.

Look away for a minute...

Today I made some cloth bags for groceries. I am excited about the handles. Surprisingly they don't look too bad. They are less shiny in person than they look in the photo. The sewing machine did about drive me nuts though. It took me ten minutes too make one handle because of various bobbin, threading and thread break issues. Sadly I think operater error was a major problem.
Layden is getting really close to crawling. He is starting to get the idea that it would work better if he were up on his hands and knees. Today Liz and Mark left to move to Bremerton. I am going to miss them but I suppose that we will see them when we visit my parents. Layden and I went over this morning to help them pack up the van and afterwards we had some pizza. Layden was laying on the floor next to Mark and at one point Mark asked "Do you want him chewing on my shoe?" He had been chewing on the sole of his shoe, sooo gross. You look away for a minute.....
This afternoon I heard Layden moving around after his nap and when I went in to get him I found him reading the paper.

Solid Foods

We had our first solid food today. Rice cereal made with breast milk. We aren't entirely sure what we think about it but it could be good. Most of it ended up on his face, in his hair, on his clothes, on me, in my hair and on his hands. I think he might like it with a bit more accustomization. Mimi and Al visited and he still really likes Al. He thinks he is pretty awesome.
We heard back from the people selling the house. They are going to have an electrician evaluate the wiring and then they will let us know what they think.

Smile at my baby

The home buying process continues. We have asked them to take care of any electrical problems and to take some money off the asking price for the multitude of other small repairs that are needed. We would rather do the other little repairs ourselves. You can see where they have done some repairs and you can see that they weren't terribly handy. For example where they installed the air conditioner they plastered it in and it is not pretty. One of the windows is missing a pane and needs to be replaced but it really should be expanded so that the room can be a legal bedroom. If they replace it I doubt they would expand it. Also the bathroom floor might need replacing and I would much rather pick out the new floor than have them choose it. Hopefully this will work out. I am looking forward to having walls that aren't white. Though we are thinking of painting the living room a light beige/parchmenty color. The kitchen will probably be a green color.
Layden is still very cute. He hasn't been eating as often, sometimes I try to feed him and he becomes very angry when I remove his fingers from his mouth. I used to think parents were silly about their children, sure theirs were cutest, smartest, most athletic etc. Then I was walking along and I found myself scowling at a man as he walked away because he hadn't smiled at my baby. Sad.

Inspection

Today we had the inspection for the house. It went pretty well. There doesn't seem to be any major issues, rather a whole host of small ones. Many of the three prong outlets are not grounded and at some point should be replaced with gfci's. There seems to be some moisture under the bathroom floor with some swelling (the guy had a nifty little moisture sensor). Our circuit breaker box is aparently made by a company that has had issues with spontaneous combustion, so an electrician should come check it out. Part of the wall in the living room really needs to be just redone because they did a hideous job of filling in a window. The gutters are ever so clogged, one we could see grass growing out of. Some of the windows have cracks but atleast they are the single pane ones we would want to replace anyway. The furnace needs to be cleaned. But on the plus side, no major settling, no major water damage or leaks, and the roof is good for atleast a bit longer. So yeah, there might be enough little things to bury us. Once we get the official report we will have look it over, see what really needs to be done soon and go from there.
Yesterday it was very windy. I picked up Oli from work and when I got to the hospital I set my travel mug (very pretty, got it weekend before last) on the roof of the car. The wind blew it over, off the car, spilling chai tea all over the car and busticated it when it hit the ground. Layden really liked it too. He tried drinking out of it or just gnawing on it, but didn't like it when we took it away, a little scary, he is already going for the caffeine. Layden has lucky ears according to our friends Al and Mimi. They have a good shape for long life. He had his 4 month check up today and all is well. He is 15 lbs 8.5 oz and is 25.75" long. He also got 4 shots which he definitely didn't like but with a couple minutes of nursing seems to have gotten over. It was so sad though because before the nurse came in we were talking with him and he was smiling and laughing. Hard to make him sad when he is so happy. Baby laughs are very contagious though. When he laughs and smiles it makes me so happy that I have to laugh too.