Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Month in Review: November 2009

Once again, this has been a month during which I was too busy to post. *Sigh* Well, at least y'all get to see the monthly slide show. Yay!

During this last month my parents finally closed a sale on their house and found one to move into here in town. They were in temporary lodging for a week, and on November 23 – the Monday before Thanksgiving – the movers brought everything to their new home. Hooray! Insane as it may seem, my mom insisted on hosting Thanksgiving at their new house, to break it in and make it feel like home. So after a whirlwind 3 days of unpacking, the house was ready to receive two families – 13 adults and 2 small children – for Thanksgiving dinner. It was great! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to the occasion, so I'll have to get some photos from my folks. But there's plenty of November goodness to feast your eyes on in this slide show, including some from the November 1 Turkey Feast at the home of our friends, Brad and Liz. Enjoy!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Month in Review: October 2009

Another month has rolled by, and so much has happened. (You know there's a lot going on when I don't post anything about it, because there's no time.) Korie and I had our third anniversary. Inen has taken his first steps and is now walking. (Watch out!) We cooked for the Art Retreat again and spent some good time in Newport. My parents sold their house and bought one out here. (Praise Jesus!) And instead of posting these things to the blog I have been reading.
Brandon's sanity: 1. Brandon's blog: 0.

Oh well. At least you get to see the pictures now, right?

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Month in Review: September 2009

It's time again for another slide show of the last month's goings-on. Can you believe Inen is 13 months already? Wow.

I hope y'all enjoy the slide show below. Check out the captions (as if I need to tell you). When you get to the end, take a good look at the last picture, and see if you can come up with a good caption for it. If so, leave your idea in the comments section below.

Have a good October, and enjoy the pictures!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Inen's first Trip to the Zoo!

Today (Monday, Sept. 14) Korie and I took Inen on his first trip to the zoo. This milestone trip in a child's life was all the fun and excitement we could have hoped for, with perfect weather to boot! Thank You, God, for the great weather; and thank you, Oregon Zoo, for the great wildlife experience with our son.



Some experiences of note:

When we were looking at the leopard, Korie was telling Inen what it was and he said "leopard" right back!


At the lorikeet aviary, Inen enjoyed the colorful birds, particularly as they landed on Korie's head while she was holding him (twice). This was my personal favorite part of the trip. No family members were pooped on at this exhibit.




Inen got to see pygmy goats butting heads:


We also got to see the new lion exhibit...


... where Inen made his own lion face...


... and did a lion deed of daring:


After having lunch and seeing a number of other animals, we got to see one of the elephants before Inen finally tuckered out from all the excitement.


He just missed seeing Samudra, the baby elephant born right around the same time he was.


Korie and I saw bears, primates, native northwest critters, and a few other animals before the day was out.


Inen had a good long nap after several hours of animal antics, and we all had a very fun day!



If you'd like to see a slide show of the day, here it is:

Friday, September 11, 2009

Inen's first Birthday!!!

Inen turned one year old this August! So exciting!!! We survived the first year! And so we celebrated. Here's the evidence:

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Inen's first (full) August

Sorry I'm late again. We've all been ill of late... at least that's my excuse. Regardless, here is the monthly slide show of the life of Inen. This one is particularly noteworthy, however, as it is the culmination of his first year. Yay! Following this one we will have a slideshow of his first birthday party, so stay tuned! For now, tide yourselves over with a heaping helping of slides from August:

Monday, August 31, 2009

Inen's Allergies, Part 2

A while ago I promised that I would give an account of what we found out from the appointment with the allergist. So here is what went down:

At the allergist appointment we ended up not drawing blood for a RAST test, but instead the doctor recommended just doing a simple skin prick test for the biggest concerns. When we told him about Inen's previous two reactions, he concluded that the second one had to have been the cashews. They did not do skin tests for the cashews or peanuts, figuring that those are definite known allergies, and not wanting to cause a severe reaction by administering the test. What they tested for was cats, dogs, dust, wheat, soy, sesame, citrus, milk, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds, and tomatoes.



So what this test, past experiences, and the previous RAST test tell us that Inen is allergic to

  • milk protein (casein)

  • eggs

  • peanuts

  • cashews

  • pecans

  • and walnuts


is slightly sensitive to

  • almonds


and is not allergic to

  • cats

  • dogs

  • dust

  • wheat

  • soy

  • sesame

  • citrus

  • tomatoes

  • and hazelnuts.


We are very relieved and thankful to find that he is not allergic to wheat, soy, or sesame (yay! he can have tahini!); and especially that he is not allergic to hazelnuts. That is the one nut that we have in abundance in our area, so we can get them from the farms and know that they were not processed with any other nut. It's also good to know that while he has allergies, they are limited, and the things he can still eat make his diet very very do-able. Praise God!

We are still going to look into a full panel of foods just so that we aren't having to do trial and error so often. There are still allergies that can pop up that we haven't tested for, so it will be good to know. In fact, we may have found a new one on Saturday while preparing for his birthday party: chocolate. We'll keep y'all updated if we find anything out about that.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Inen's first Birthday!

Today Inen turned one year old.

Can you believe it? I can't. It seems like it's gone by so fast, while at the same time, it seems like it's been a lifetime. So much changes so quickly about this boy. And of course, for you faithful readers, the Inen in this post will seem like a very big change indeed, since I haven't been posting updates for the last (oh, goodness... am I that delinquent?) three months. So I had to be on top of this one, even if it meant losing precious, valuable sleep. Here's a recap of Inen's first birthday. (Remember, I'm losing sleep for this post. Savor it.)

Inen got up not too terribly early this morning. Just before 5 AM. Korie managed to get him to go back to sleep until 5:45. That was his gift to us.


After he was up, we did our normal routine of getting everyone ready for the day, and getting breakfast. After Korie headed off to work, it was time to head to the coffee shop.



We played with toys, read books, talked to people, and then headed out as nap time approached. From there we stopped at Tim's place to see his new Scottish terrier puppy, Bonnie. Inen was absolutely thrilled.





Once home, Inen took a nap while I got stuff done. When he got up we did some more reading and playing until Korie got home for lunch. (Yay!!!) Always a happy time for Inen. After Korie went back to work and he was fed, we headed out for groceries. We stopped at the community garden for some corn, and then to Freddy's for the rest. Once home, it was time for another short nap before heading off to Grandma Kathleen's house.

Here's a story. We got to Grandma's, and while Inen eyed the toys, Grandma and Daddy talked. Suddenly, there's Inen wanting Dad to pick him up. I picked him up, and what does he do? He points to the door, says "door," and then looks at me and waves, saying "Bye-bye!" Sheesh! I can take a hint! So I left him contented with Grandma Kathleen.

Meanwhile, I works on getting the grill going and dinner started. Inen got home with Korie, and soon Grandpa Mike and Grandma Kathleen arrived. We all had a good dinner, Inen having loads of fun making a particularly large mess of his. After dinner Inen got to see the gift that the Jones Grandparents goot for him: a fabulous green frog rocking chair.




We wrapped up the evening with many huggs, kisses, and the usual bath and bed time routine. And off to sleep went our amazing little one-year-old boy.

It was a good day. It has been a great year.
Here's to many more.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Inen's Allergies

So I said in my last post that I would let people know about Inen's allergies. Here's a brief overview of the story so far:

We picked up on his allergy to milk protein in January. He had really bad eczema, and we figured that it was related to diet. Korie gave up milk, and in a few weeks his eczema had largely cleared up. We know it's milk protein (casein, possibly whey), because Korie and he could still have things with lactose in it - which is milk sugar, not protein - without problems. Then one day several months ago I was playing with Inen and kissing him on the face and neck when he broke out into hives, and his neck started turning red and getting swollen. We gave him Benadryl and the symptoms abated in a few minutes. Thinking about what may have triggered it, the only thing we cold figure was that I had just eaten a peanut butter sandwich before playing with him. At this point we made an appointment to have him tested for a peanut allergy. Korie had also noticed that he was fussier when nursing after she had eggs for breakfast, so we had them test for an egg allergy while they were at it. (Later I would wish that we had just had them test for everything, since it was pretty traumatic – mostly for me, I'm sure – to have this tiny baby stuck with a large needle to have blood drawn from his teeny-tiny arms.) When the test came back, it showed that Inen is on the lower end of the "Highly Allergic" part of the scale for eggs, and at the higher part of the "Highly Allergic" part of the scale for peanuts.

We have an appointment with an allergist early tomorrow morning to get him tested for... well, everything. We'll let everybody know what the results are when we get them.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Inen's first emergency room visit

Okay, okay... so I know I have a lot of content to post still, and plenty of catching up to do. I'm still editing videos and uploading content, so June and July updates will be forthcoming. I realized, though, that does not mean I can't post about what's currently happening. (Yes, I'm a bit obsessive compulsive, feeling that if I'm going to post it, I must post it in chronological order.)

So what is happening?

Well, last night Inen had his first trip to the emergency room. Yay! ("Yay" that he's back, not that he went.) Here's the story:

I was making vegan mac and cheese for dinner, the "cheese" for which has myriad ingredients - potatoes, carrots, earth balance margarine, nutritional yeast, raw cashews, tahini, miso, lemon juice, and dijon mustard. The "cheese" goes over rotini and broccoli, and is then baked with bread crumbs on top. Yum yum!

Korie wondered about giving Inen that for dinner, to save me work and see if he might like something more to chew on. I thought this was a good idea, briefly going down the list of ingredients in my head for any of the things Inen is allergic to: milk, eggs, peanuts. The dish is vegan, and we don't even keep peanuts in the house because of his allergy, so my mental once-over produced no red flags. (I just realized I haven't posted anything about Inen's medical history, including his allergies, of which we know only the three aforementioned. Mental note: I'll have to do another post on that.)

So we put some on his tray and he grabbed up noodles with both hands, greedily shoving them into his mouth, and promptly coughed and hacked on them (I'm reluctant to say "choked" - he didn't aspirate) due to his eagerness. Korie removed the food from his mouth, and we were about to resume feeding in a more controlled manner when Korie noticed Inen's neck turning red and swelling up with hives. We immediately gave him benadryl, but he was looking pretty swolen so Korie announced, "We are going to the emergency room."

We packed him up and headed for the ER. By the time we got there he was a little better, but still red with hives. He was admitted, we told the story, and they said, "You did the right thing, he's not having trouble breathing, we'll just observe him for a bit." Korie had called our parents on the way down, for prayer support and because it's and unwritten rule that you let parents in on emergencies like this (because they need more to worry about, and they'll kill you if you don't share the anxiety). So Korie's parents came down, and we played in the hospital for a while. I ran home and got him dinner that isn't life-threatening. After an hour, we paid our $100 copay and went home with a prescription for an EpiPen. ("Just because his reaction is so severe, and just in case. Only use it if he turns blue.")

Inen was back to normal within 45 minutes of giving him benadryl. He's just fine and dandy. The best that anyone can figure is that one or two ingredients were "processed in a facility that also processes peanuts, etc." Given that it would be such a minuscule trace amount (a little bit of peanut got on a little bit of a minor ingredient in a sauce for a dish that he only tasted one noodle of...), it gave us some perspective on what the label "Highly Allergic" really means. We had a good scare, are thankful he's okay, and are now really pondering the future for our child in terms of his peanut allergy.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Inen's first July

It's that time again! Your monthly slide show of what Inen has been up to. This one has got a wealth of photos (more than double the length of the last one). He had his first Independence Day, he attended his first wedding, he saw his first parade... all sorts of fun!

Now, I know that I have been delinquent posting June and July happenings. A lot has happened in these two months to post, which is also why I haven't been posting: so much has been happening! I promise that I will have photos and videos of all that Inen's been doing in the last couple months.

Meanwhile, enjoy the slide show:

Friday, July 24, 2009

No, my name is "Daddy."

I've suspected this for some time now, whenever Inen goes on a little daddy-rant. ("Dadadadabwdadandadadada....") I just always thought I was imagining things. But today I know I heard it. We were near the entryway to the house, just at the edge of the living room. Inen wanted to feel the air from the box fan on his face, but also wanted to touch the fan. I repeatedly told him he couldn't and made him keep his distance. At one point he sat himself down a few feet from the fan and, in frustration over his plans being foiled, began to go on a daddy-rant (because his disappointment was all my doing). Well, amidst his repetition of "daddy!" (imagine each consonant being spat out in displeasure, each word given distinct pause) was a very clear "Brandon!"

Shocked, right? Yeah, so was I. Okay, so maybe it was closer to "Bwandah!" But I knew what he was saying. Teenage rebellion at not-yet-11-months. Sheesh.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Inen's first June

It's time again for another slide show recap of the previous month. And look! This time the month hasn't been past for more than 2 days! I'm actually on top of things! (We'll see how long that lasts.) Without further ado, here is Inen's first June in pictures:

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Inen Likes Nalgene Bottles

Korie and I each have a BPA-free Nalgene bottle that we use to keep hydrated during the day. Korie's is bright blue and mine is bright red. Inen is infatuated with them both. He loves the color, he loves the weight and the liquid splashing around in there, and he loves the idea of drinking from them. For that reason we try not to let him see us drinking from them, otherwise he just goes nuts and has to have the bottle for himself.
Just now I was sitting with him in the living room. I had my Nalgene hidden behind his book basket, and would only drink from it if he wasn't looking. Inevitably, he looked up just in time to see me mid-swig. His look of excitement as he shot up an nearly jumped over his big stuffed dog, scrambling furiously toward me in an attempt to grab the bottle, was almost enough to make me spray the mouthful of water I had. He got the thing from me just as I closed the lid and busted up laughing. It was hilarious. But maybe you had to be there.

Monday, June 29, 2009

May Recap, Part 8: Inen Clears His Throat

At some point last month Korie cleared her throat, and Inen thought it was hilarious. Of course then we both started to clear our throats just to get a laugh out of him. Some time later he just started clearing his throat to try to get a laugh out of us. It worked. Here's our little throat-clearing boy:



... and again:

Sunday, June 28, 2009

May Recap, Part 7: Inen Brushing His Teeth

During this last month, Inen has also learned to brush his own teeth! Well... not with the best technique and latest hygienic methodology, per se, but he's getting there. Take a look:

Saturday, June 27, 2009

May Recap, Part 6: Inen Sees the Light

Okay, so the title of this post is a bit misleading. Inen was sitting in the living room in the sunlight streaming through the window. He did one of his little raspberries and noticed the spit particles illumined by the sunlight. When he grabbed at them it was nothing short of precious – and a bit amazing. I love that he is noticing little things like that. I tried to get him to notice again, and this is the resulting video:

Friday, June 26, 2009

May Recap, Part 5: Inen Chuckles

Inen loves taking a bath. More than that, he LOVES the naked time and winding down time after a bath. He started doing this funny chuckle thing when we were at Newport (which you can hear a bit in the last video post). I get a kick out of it.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

May Recap, Part 4: Inen Riding Korie

Every child loves riding on the parent's shoulders and playing "horsey." Inen likes doing this with me, but it's more fun with Korie because she has so much more hair to hold on to. This video was taken during our Newport trip:

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

May Recap, Part 3: Nye Beach

As I mentioned earlier, we visited Nye Beach during our Newport trip. Here's a video of me being silly while Korie walked along the beach with Inen strapped into the Ergo Baby Carrier:

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

May Recap, Part 2: Inen Says "More"

When we were at Newport on vacation in May, Inen did the "more" sign! He asked for more O's (in the video below), and later on when he was playing with Korie's foot, she moved her foot away, and he signed for "more" then. We are so proud of our little boy!

Monday, June 22, 2009

May Recap, Part 1: Inen on the Swing

Inen went on a swing for the first time in May. He loves it! The video below is his first time on the swings, with Mommy and Daddy, and all that joy and excitement. I love how he giggled and squealed with delight! He held his arms out to Mommy and just beamed. I love having a child and being able to experience those moments.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Inen Says, "Feed me NOW!"

This post is dedicated to my Dad. Happy Father's Day!

Inen was really REALLY hungry, and I didn't feed him fast enough. Well, this will teach me not to be so slow in the future.

 

 


Okay, so actually I was feeding him a mixture of beets, carrots and potatoes, which looked disturbingly like a bloody mash. I had to get some pictures with it all over his mouth, hands, tray... and of course, my "bitten off" finger. He he he... :)

Saturday, June 20, 2009

May Trip to Newport

Last month we took a little vacation. It was our summer vacation, despite it not yet being summer. That's just the kind of family we are. We went out to the family getaway place in Newport for a long weekend, to take a breather before the busy summer season with school and the Newberg Public Library summer reading program started.

It was a great weekend with lots of walking and hanging out. We feel very blessed to have a place we can go to that isn't home, but feels like home when we're there. We save money by bringing our own meals and cooking our own food. There's lots to do within walking distance or a short drive, but it's relaxing enough that we don't feel like we have to go out and do something. It's just nice to look out at the view of the water from the deck sometimes.

While we were there Inen managed to sign "more" for the first time! At night, however, he did not sleep well at all (it being a strange place). The next morning Inen got up early, and I got up with him, got showered and dressed, and we gave Korie a chance to sleep for a while by taking a walk. Our favorite coffee shop in Newport is the Coffee House, just a short walk from the condo. I got an espresso con pana, which I think they make better than anywhere else. On our way back Korie called to say she was up, so we met her part way and walked back to the Coffee House with her. We were reminded that the further one gets from Portland, the harder it is to find food that does not contain dairy or eggs. Unfortunately, we were there on a Saturday morning when it was packed, and after waiting in line for a while, discovered that everything Korie thought she could eat was cooked in butter. However, our original plan was to go Monday morning before we headed back to Newberg. We decided to stick with this plan, and finding no one in the place a little after opening on Monday morning, we were able to order food cooked in oil just for Korie. Yay!

Also, my mom came out for a day to visit with us and see the old town area. We had a good lunch at the Rogue Ales Public House and a good walk around the old bay front.

It was a great trip. Even with the lack of sleep. Sometimes it's just nice to get away.

Here's a little bit of the trip in pictures:

Friday, June 19, 2009

End of the Day Hysteria

When he gets tired enough, Inen will laugh at everything. When he gets really tired, he'll go from laughing to crying and back. We try not to let the latter happen, but the former is fun. Below is a video if Inen at the end of the day, laughing hysterically at... well, whaterver the heck I was doing off camera. Check it out:

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Inen's first May

At long last, here is the recap of Inen's first May. It is, as always, in slide show form for your enjoyment:

Sunday, June 7, 2009

My "To Blog" List

So it's been a while since I've posted a slide show. And aside from the month or two late video updates, I haven't posted much. I'm simply getting behind. Of course my biggest and best excuse is The Boy. But also our camera died the day before Easter, and it took us nearly a month to get a new one. This means that any April slide show would be pitifully small (unless I can get photos from the Grandparents - hint hint). And in worrying about getting April materials up I am getting behind in posting the abundant May materials (now about a week delinquent).

"Why waste my time posting excuses instead of material?" you ask. Well... excuses take less time. But also I wanted to let you know what was coming so that you wouldn't give up on me all together. Here is the "To Blog" list:

  • Inen's first Easter

  • April slide show

  • Trip to Newport

  • May video series (4 parts or more)

  • May updates

  • May slide show

  • June updates so far


This should give you 10 (that's TEN!) new Inen-filled posts to look forward to!

Now let's see what I can cross off my "To Blog" list:
"Stall by giving excuses for not posting."
Check.

Monday, May 25, 2009

March Recap, Part 5: Inen's Happy, Mommy's Not

Inen had a blowout. He was thrilled. He squealed with delight as Korie changed him. Korie may have squealed when she changed him, but it probably wasn't with delight.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

March Recap, Part 4: Inen's First Word

Another big first happened in the month of March: Inen's first word. This happened on the same day that he sat up by himself for the first time. (Through 15 minutes of story time!) On March 17, Inen said "Dada." Some skeptics will tactlessly respond "Oh, but that's just a sound that he's making. Lot's of babies say dada, but they don't know what they're saying." Those who would so flippantly rebut an excited father declaring his son's first word to be the ubiquitous paternal epithet are nothing but cold-hearted and soulless lamentable excuses for humanity. (Can you tell I had that happen?) I have plenty of evidence to support this first word theory, chief among them being that Korie says so. Behold:



Oh, in case you were wondering what happened at the end of that video, the rice started boiling over. ("Save the food!")

Saturday, May 23, 2009

March Recap, Part 3: In 'n' Out

So one night Korie was feeding Inen, and I guess he just needed to make room. Each time Korie would give him a bite to eat, he would hunker down in this strained position to try to push something out in order to make room for what was coming in. Hilarious! Poor little guy... :)

Friday, May 22, 2009

March Recap, Part 2: A Good Laugh

You can't help but laugh at a baby giggling. Especially not at Inen giggling. So if you need a good laugh, take a look at this:

Thursday, May 21, 2009

March Recap, Part 1: Epicurian Opinions

Inen had only been eating solid food for like a month at the time this video was taken, and already he has culinary opinions. Here's Inen commenting on the squash I was feeding him.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Breakfast in Bed

Yesterday was Mother's Day (as if you didn't know), and it was a special one for us. This was Korie's first Mother's Day as a mother. Yay!!!

In honor of this special occasion, Inen decided to get up real early to do the classic "breakfast in bed." Yep, he got up at 5 a.m. and had Mommy give him his breakfast in bed.

Happy Mother's Day, Korie!



PS - I apologize for being negligent about the videos I said I'd post. As soon as I've got the time... :) Please bear with me. Also, our camera broke the day before Easter, so the usual end-of-month slide show didn't happen. I'm sorry.

Friday, April 24, 2009

3 Spoonfuls

We were dishing up Inen's food tonight using a tablespoon. A heaping spoonful went in the dish, and we fed it to him from there. I took my turn feeding him for a while, and I was quite tired from a full day. He had a bit of a runny nose. He was also getting close to being done with dinner. At one point, the conversation turned thus:

Me [observing Inen's runny nose]: "Inen's got quite a bit of snot."

Korie [observing Inen getting full]: "He's already had 3 spoonfuls."

Me [in all seriousness]: "Of snot?"

Hilarity ensued.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Inen's first March

It's time again for the monthly slide show!

Below we have tidbits from Inen's first March. I will be following up on this with a few video posts from March as well, so stay tuned!

Friday, March 13, 2009

February Recap, Part 4: Flatulent Baby

First of all, happy birthday to my beautiful, wonderful wife! This post is for you!

Inen started blowing raspberries on his mom. This is quite possibly one of the funniest things ever. I have way too much fun blowing raspberries on his little tummy, and it seems he's picked up the habit, blowing raspberries on Mommy. Now that he knows how to create mirth for all around him, what else does he need to learn? My job here is done.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

February Recap, Part 3: Giggly Baby

Inen laughs. I love it. Inen laughing is the best thing in the world. When he laughs, it's like the world's problems melt away, the sky becomes bright and sunny, and my insides get all warm and squishy. Here's a little bit of Inen heaven for your enjoyment:

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

February Recap, Part 2: Sick Baby

This last month both Inen and Korie got sick for nearly 2 weeks. (See this post for a snippet of what that entailed.) During that time, poor Inen lost his voice. We have the pitiful and heart-rending video here:

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

February Recap, Part 1: Munchy Baby

I've got a bit of catching up to do for the month of February. The pictures in the February slide show aren't as numerous or as representative of the last month as they could be. Since I managed to take a good amount of video, however, I feel the need to supplement last month's slide show with a few movies. So this is part 1 of a four part series illustrating Inen's first February.

This last month Inen started on solid food! Yay! This is such a fun milestone, and I love feeding this little man. So here for your enjoyment is a (lengthty) video of the first time Inen had solid food. (Just rice cereal, for those who are wondering.)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Inen's first February

Oops! Sorry folks, I forgot to post this earlier. Here it is once again, the latest month in review, Inen's first February.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Future Football Player?

I frequently joke with Korie that Inen will end up playing football, because she hates the idea of her son participating in a sport that lends itself so easily to injury. (I don't blame her, but it's fun to tease anyway.) Could the moment caught on video below be a portent of future football exploits? You decide.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Quarantine Journal: Day 6

Inen has been sick with his first cold for 7 days now. I have not left the house apart from necessities for 6 days. If I don't go to the store soon, I may go stir-crazy.

... Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but being in the house this long is a bit trying. At least I'm home with my family. Unfortunately, I'm home with my family because they are both sick. All in all, Inen has been in good spirits throughout most of it. And he has been very, very snotty. There are two good stories related to the mucus-y effluence:

The first story was from a few nights ago, when Inen was up at about 1:00 AM (his third or fourth awakening of the night). He was not happy about being awake and exhausted and sick (ans rightfully so). His indomitable crying had gone on for at least 20 minutes, and Korie and I were at a loss for what to do. We had tried everything we could think of, and at one point put him down on his changing table to take his temperature. Korie turned on the light in his room so we could see what we were doing. In the light we could see Inen's face, red and puffy from prolonged crying, covered in snot and tears. Around his eyes and nose we saw what looked like capillaries turned black. "Oh my goodness! What is that?!" I said. Korie promptly declared we should go to the emergency room, and went to get dressed. I was flabbergasted. When she came back in the room she said, "Let me wipe his face." After wiping off the snot and tears, the black capillaries had disappeared as well. We both started laughing (shaking with adrenaline and exhaustion, but laughing) as we realized that his wet and gooey face had picked up tiny little fuzzy threads from the sweater I had been wearing while holding him.

The second story is on a lighter note. Inen was blowing snot bubbles this morning, and from the couch I heard Korie exclaim, "Look! Double bubble!"

Friday, February 6, 2009

I'm such a nerd...

So a few weeks ago (yes, I've been delinquent in my posts again), my wife and I went shopping for much-needed clothes. I got 3 pairs of pants: some jeans, a pair of tan corduroys, and some cargo pants with a red lining inside the waistband. A few days later, Korie opened up the tub of 6-9 month size clothes for Inen, since he's growing out of the old ones. Included in his new wardrobe were (you guessed it) jeans, a pair of tan corduroys, and some cargo pants with a red lining inside the waistband. I was so excited that Inen and I could match, that I just had to take a picture.

Yes, I am such a huge nerd.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Inen's first January

Here's another monthly slideshow for your viewing pleasure. This month included a huge amount of sheer cuteness. Enjoy!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Baby Typography



For Christmas my son Inen received the awesomest one-piece outfit. Layered with texture and color, it's a testament not only to the love between mommy, daddy, and baby, but also to fun type styles.

I love that although there is an instance of Comic Sans, it's actually used appropriately, and in moderation – compacting a comparatively large block of text into a small space, thereby balancing it with all the other really groovy type.


Thursday, January 1, 2009

New Year's Resolution

Last year, my New Year's resolution was simple: Don't remove any of the stickers on the back of my Chapters gift card.

Let me back up. Chapters is one of the local coffee shops I frequent, and they have gift cards. Rather than always carrying cash, or risk putting only a couple bucks on a credit card and incurring a 50 cent charge, I acquired a gift card that I refill once a month with my allotted coffee budget. This makes it easier to budget my coffee habit and avoid the aforementioned pitfalls. In order to keep a running tab of how much is on the gift card, Chapters will put a little sticker on the back with the current amount. For the most part the stickers are torn off when a new one is ready to be applied, or at least when the total is down to zero. This is not for me.

For 2008, I decided I would not let those stickers be torn off. Now that 2009 is here, I can see the fruits of my labor: a thick stack of stickers on the back of my Chapters card that somehow miraculously managed to fit into one of the card slots in my wallet time and again. This stack represents a year's worth of Chapters coffee purchases.



The question this year is not "Should I do it again?" (The answer is, "Of course!") Instead the question is, should I (or can I afford to) try to make the stack larger this year than it was in 2008?

See the record stack below... and tremble!