Gabe Earned 100 Experience Points! (Why am I not happy?)

Gabe has been getting smarter and smarter everyday. His cunning and will power are amazing at this point. However, I am not jumping for joy over the size of my son's brain...I am a little scared (and annoyed). "Alex!" you say, "How can you call your smart baby annoying?" I'll tell you how...actually I'll show you.

This is a picture of Gabe sitting up in the swing. I know he looks cute and all, sitting up...swinging. However the swing was the place where, if Gabe was tired and fighting it, his eyelids couldn't resist the gentle rocking and white noise the swing produced. In a matter of minutes he would be blissfully asleep. This was essential when Gabe would wake up at 4:00 in the morning, and with the shrill cries of an angry banshee, demand to be put back to sleep. We would try to soothe him, then if that didn't work, to the swing he went. There were some nights he would spend the whole night in that thing.

No longer.

With his increased upper body strength and will power, he has learned to conquer the swing. He Grabs the tray, or the side of the swing and pulls himself up into a sitting position. He does this as long as he can. When he tires, he props one arm behind him (keeping the other on the tray) and leans on that. This entire time he is screaming that cry that makes all of the glass in the house reverberate.

I left him in the swing for 10min. More than long enough to make a normal baby pass out. He screamed the entire time. I know he was tired, but his will power was too strong. I picked him up out of the swing and he passed out immediately. One less tool at our disposal.

Here is an example of Gabe using his brain for good. After months of us showing him how to place the balls in his musical dinosaur toy, he has finally started doing it on his own.

In Celebration of Valentine's Day...

For Valentine's Day Alex and I decided to do something that we used to do A LOT of before Gabe was born, but that we have done VERY little of since he was born. Go to the movies, of course! What? What did you think I was going to say?
We went to see Coraline, which is based on a Neil Gaiman book. If you haven't read it already, you should. It's a very quick read and super creepy. Anyways, this was the second movie we had been to together since the birth of our drool monster and it really managed to make me thankful for that new 42'' LCD TV we bought last month.
We go in, buy our outrageously priced tickets and head straight for the theater (no stops at the ridiculously priced concessions). We have the whole theater to ourselves, because we get there a little early, so we pick our prefered "middle" seats. Then, the next people that come into the theater (a group of 4 or 5) have the entire theater of seats to choose from and sit directly behind us! I HATE that! You can't sit at least one or two seats to the side of us and behind us?! No! You have to sit DIRECTLY behind us and then start talking about completely meaningless and obnoxious things entirely too loud! Then, naturally, the next group of 5 people enter the theater and choose the seats DIRECTLY in front of us! We are immediately sandwiched by morons, who proceded to talk loudly all during the Inside Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Preview! I was already making rude comments loud enough for my neighbors to hear before the movie even started!
Finally, the movie starts and I think, "Thank God! At least we all came here to do the same thing....enjoy this movie. Surely they won't continue their conversations through the movie." For the most part, I was right. It wasn't until the first slightly funny scene in Coraline that Alex and I knew it would be a while before we went to another movie in theaters. The man sitting directly in front of me had the most obnoxious, loud, ridiculous, annoying laugh I had heard in my entire life. Even the people that he came to the movie with were giving him dirty looks! I'm 100% positive that they won't be going to a movie with that guy again any time soon.
So, for our second movie experience in the last 6 months, it wasn't all bad. The movie itself was very good, if only I can stop that man's laughter from ringing in my ears.

4 Day Weekend for Kids = Normal Weekend for Me

Parent Teacher Conferences.

(((shutter)))

I totally understand why these are a necessary part of the educational process, however, when I see a four day weekend on the calendar, I expect to be work free for four days. Without the kids at the school its just a big empty building...where I can finally get a little peace and quiet. I would still rather be at home with Beth and Gabe.

I spent a lot of time cleaning my office and getting an extra desk out off the way, I now have enough room to practice my cello, or have a student set up in there so I can give them a playing assessment. Now all I need is some sweet wall art to fill all of the empty wall space that used to be taken up by the desk and an ancient apple computer.

Upon the recommendation of the School Librarian, Beth and I picked up the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. She said that many of the people she knows, who have read these, say it is the best series they have ever read. That would mean it would have to surpass The Ranger's Aprintice (seriously, you need to read these), Lord of the Rings, The Abhorsen Trilogy, Harry Potter... We'll see about that. I'll let you know how the first one turns out.

While I'am in book mode, those of you that like graphic novels or manga should check out the Scott Pilgrim series, a Canadian's spin on the manga. It is quirky and entertaining no matter what kind of books you like to read. The only way you'll not like this series is if you're a person who likes to torture cute little bunnies; and I know you're not like that.

Don't Be Jealous!

If you weren't already jealous about where we live, look at the caliber of stars that come to visit the Golden Heart City.

Don't all rush up here at once.

Gabe Has A Tooth!

After the fever, chapped cheeks, crying, and pain. Gabe's head has finally produced a tooth. I would post a picture of it, but it has barely poked through his gums at this point. When Gabe officially announces the arrival at his next press conference, we'll be there, camera in hand. Until then, here is a picture of Gabe trying to use an object that is too light to help him stand up.

Our Car and the Infinite Sadness :(

They replaced the hose, yay, but...now the power steering pump has died. They wanted me to pay $500 for a new one. I quickly said no, picked up my car, and using all of my muscle to turn the wheel, I drove my butt home. That's where the Infinite Sadness comes in.

Yesterday, Beth calls me and says, "The house is cold. We're out of fuel!" Awesome. I called the fuel company and hoped they would be able to emergency fill us, but nothing goes right when you need it to. After giving all of my info I asked them when they would be able to fill us up... 7:00, 8:00???

SATURDAY!?!? Which meant that we were S.O.L.

Beth had dropped me off which means I had no car to go home and get our gas cans to fill with diesel (@ $3.44/gal). Beth came to pick me up and we went her parents house. Wayne has plenty of gas cans I could borrow...none of which I could find. So I gave up and went to Fred's and bought one, filled it up, and headed to the front gate to get a pass (since I wasn't driving my car).

10 gallons of diesel later our house went from 48 degrees to 68 degrees and the day finally ended. Now I just hope the diesel lasts until Saturday when we get filled up.

On a different note...here is a picture of the pillow I made Gabe on Super Craft Sunday.

Our Car :(

Our car is in the shop. Once again the stupid power steering hose has sprung a leak, again. We took it to the shop we took it to last year when the exact same thing happened. The "car guys" replaced the hose in question and all was good. It got cold again and the same hose got another leak. This time they tell me its going to cost $200 for parts and labor. That sucks, but there is nothing I can do, we need our car. The thing that gets me is that they are replacing the hose with an Arctic High Pressure hose that will "not spring a leak" again. My question is why didn't they use this "special hose" last year when they "fixed" my power steering.

Sick and Tired

Gabe has a runny nose comparable to Niagara Falls and it has turned him into a grouch. Snot is constantly running down his face and down the back of his throat which has given him the nastiest of coughs and causes him to sleep very lightly. He hacks and hacks and wakes himself up, and in turn, wakes us up (which leads to unhappy parents).

He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, which involves weighing, measuring, and umm...long pointy, red-faced-cry producing, needles. It definitely is not a fun process. Gabe is all happy and looking around the bright colored room, there are the fish from Finding Nemo on the wall, a mobile on the ceiling, plenty of things to catch his attention. I then have to hold his arms and chest down (he still has no idea what is going to happen). The nurse then stabs him in the leg with 3 different needles. I am glad Gabe is too young to hold grudges. During all of this, Beth is in the corner covering her eyes and ears.

I have to be at work tomorrow which means that Beth is going to have to be the Blood Traitor. I'll be interested to hear what happens...because I will hear it...over and over.

Super Craft Sunday!

Well, after the last blog Alex posted, I promised I would begin contributing to the website as well. So, here it goes. Alex proclaimed that today would be Super Craft Sunday in our family, instead of Super Bowl Sunday. So, naturally, while he is in the other room hard at work on an amazing play pillow for Gabe, I am in the living room finding myself looking at random people's profile on myspace while eating the dinner Alex made. My god, I am such a......man. I used to be so good about staying current on our scrapbooking, but I have fallen dismally behind now that work has all but consumed my life. So, with this new post and this new year I would like to try to dedicate more time to home and family. When I am at home I will try harder to refrain from work related activities, such as completing Parent-Teacher Conferences or writing lesson plans. As Alex knows, this is an often occruance. My goal is to be finished with our Wedding Scrapbook and well into Gabe's by the time summer comes. Wish me luck!