Archive for the ‘Out and About’ Category

Ohmeohmy, an update!

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? A long-time reader asked how we are doing, so I thought instead of replying directly, I’d post my reply here! Nifty.

In short, we are doing very well! It has gotten so much easier in many ways with Binary Boy. He does have his moments, but for the most part he is a joy! He is full of energy, humor, and fun! He loves trucks and cooking, playing outside and at the park, riding his bike (the kind that just balances with no pedals), and eating. LOL! He is a joy to cook for because he loves to try new things (I KNOW how blessed I am in that respect, especially from a 2-year-old) and loves to “help” cook.

We’ve been busy! Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been up to:

  • Went to California to visit with Kevin’s parents (Mimi and Pop-pop). Highlights included Binary Boy playing their piano and visiting a petting zoo.
  • Visited Kevin’s grandparents in Delaware. Highlights included Binary Boy seeing his Tante Cara and eating lots of yummy food. It was really cold there.
  • Kevin and I took Binary Boy to Zilker Park here in Austin to take a ride on the train. He loved it!
  • It snowed here in Austin! We bundled up and went stomping through the snow. Brr!
  • We visited the Austin Zoo for the day and saw lots of animals. Binary Boy really loved feeding the deer and insisted on getting another bag of food!
  • We all love to cook in this house and Binary Boy is no exception! He loves putting on his chef coat to help make whatever we’re working on. He’s going to be a great cook someday!

In case you’re wondering what happened to the photos, I’m removing all photos of Binary Boy (le’cry) because of this article on CNN. I’ve always had this nagging instinct not to post photos of him (I’ve even had a similar post to the article in draft forever), but reading that article really hit home for me.

PS – Thanks for caring, Cyndi!

5 Months and more…

Monday, April 6th, 2009

I am such a proud mama today, because Binary Boy sat up on his own! He’s been able to sit for a while now, but he’d sorta slump slightly or fall over after a while, but today he used those strong back muscles of his and sat straight and tall and played for a half an hour on his own!

Other developments:

  • Eating solid foods at least once a day! So far he’s tried (and enjoyed!) rice cereal, banana, sweet potato and green pears.
  • Unfortunately, the eating solid foods has lead to… ahem, shall we say, some wind breaking. It was causing him some pain, too, at night. So for the past 3 nights, I’ve been giving him a dose of Little Tummy’s. It’s seemed to help him immensely with the gas pains.
  • The teething has gotten better because his dexerity has improved vastly over the past few weeks. So, whereas he would have trouble getting a teether into his mouth then, now he practically puts anything he can get his hands on in his mouth. 😆
  • Also, in regards to the teething, Children’s Tylenol has been a huge help with night time pain. If he’s having a really rough night, I’ll give him a dose so that he’s able to sleep.

I hate to give him unnecessary medicine, but if he can’t sleep because he’s in pain from one thing or another, I gotta give in and dose him. Thankfully, the teething and gas are only temporary ailments!

Also, since I’ve started pumping breast milk (I hadn’t started until a few weeks ago), he is able to take a bottle while we are out and about. Though, he won’t take it from me, Kevin has to feed him! I only pump once or twice a week (not one or two days, literally just one or two times during the course of a week). Anyway, just that factor has made it infinitely easier to go out for longer periods of time.

So, when my grandparents came to visit recently, we were able to go out to dinner both nights with them and visit the State Capitol building (which is here in Austin) without having to worry about finding a private spot to nurse.

Here’s a photo of me and Binary Boy (he’s all cozy in his Ergo Baby Carrier):

Binary Blonde and Binary Boy at the Texas State Capitol building in Austin.

Binary Blonde and Binary Boy at the Texas State Capitol building in Austin.

Anyway, it’s shocking how fast he’s growing and doing new stuff. It seems like every day he does something new and amazing! I totally :heart: being his mom. 🙂

“Pre-First” Mother’s Day

Monday, May 12th, 2008

On Friday night, Kevin asked what I want to do for my “pre-first” Mother’s Day. Okay, all at once now.. “Awwwww…” Yes, he is that thoughtful sometimes and I’m a lucky wife. 🙂

This being my first pregnancy and so new to me, I wasn’t sure what a mom-to-be did for Mother’s Day (don’t your children do something for you, usually?), so I chose something very low key and very “me”. I told him I was craving Pad Thai and that I wanted to visit our house, which is being built nearby, to take some photos and see the progress.

So, in the tradition of Kevin’s family (and now ours), we celebrated Mother’s Day on Saturday instead of Sunday. We first went to see our house, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was framed already! It finally looks like a house, instead of a mass of rectangular-shaped cement blocks with weird metal rods sticking up everywhere. Yay! 😀

Our house is finally framed!

We walked up inside and took a look at all the rooms, of course avoiding all the nails strewn everywhere. My favorite view was looking out of the family room at one of the old oak trees. How pretty is that??

View of the big oak tree from our family room.

After we were through exploring our framed house, we went to our new favorite Thai restaurant for the Pad Thai I was craving. Nowadays, you can get Pad Thai just about anywhere, so I bet you’re wondering what makes this place so special? Well, it’s the sauce. It’s a little bit more fishy tasting and they give you plenty of it, so it makes for a very moist, delicious heap of hot rice noodles. Nomnom!

Oh, and I can’t end this post without mentioning that my incredibly sweet sister-in-law (it feels weird to call her an in-law as I consider her a real sister!) sent me a mother-to-be Mother’s Day card and an adorable little onesie with a little kitten sitting in a tea cup printed on the front with a line of paw prints on the back, right on the tush! It made me tear up, but I blame it on the hormones. 😉

So, even though I can’t officially celebrate Mother’s Day until next year, I had a very fun “pre-first” Mother’s Day thanks to two very special people! :heart:

Lizards, Snakes & Frogs – Oh My!

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

We’ve been living here in Austin for almost two weeks now, and I swear I’ve seen more critters in these past two weeks than I have in all the time I lived in So Cal. Don’t get me wrong – I love critters! It’s Kevin I’m worried about.

Earlier this week, we went out to bring a load of laundry to the facilities here at the apartment complex, and just outside our door in the breezeway was a stripped garden snake. It was a thin little thing and wouldn’t dare move when we passed by it, but Kevin ran past it like it was spitting and ready to bite! 😆 I wish I had my camera, because it was cute and tiny, nothing that could have harmed Kev in the least.

That same night, I found a large toad near the sidewalk, and pointed it out to Kevin. He wasn’t afraid of it, but wasn’t as fascinated with it like I was. Again, it was too dark to get a good photo. 🙁 I think he made a comment like, “What is this – a witch’s cauldron!?” Hahahaha!

So, last night, we were doing another load of laundry and walked passed our neighbors window, when Kevin noticed a longish critter on the screen.

Kev: “What is that, a walking stick?”
Me: “No, it’s a lizard.”
Kev: “Eh, I wouldn’t want that thing in my house!”

You probably can guess where this is going…

Little lizard on our blinds. So, last night around 3:00 AM we were startled by Kanji jumping onto (or into, I’m not sure which) the blinds in our bedroom.

Yup, there was a lizard on the blinds. It was just your average medium-sized lizard. Of course, I was unconcerned, but Kevin was not happy – at all.

As the cats chittered and meowed in frustration, I told him we should probably catch it and get it outside so we can get back to sleep.

Kev: “What!? How are we supposed to do that!?”
Me (sleepily): “I don’t know.. get a glass jar or something, grab it and stick it in there.”
Kev: “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.”
Me: “Sorry.. If you get the jar, I’ll do it.”

So, he finds a plastic tuperware instead and I corner the poor thing, catch it with my hands and contain it. He runs to open the door and I dump the container over in the breezeway. Super easy and no harm done! Guess all my lizard-catching as a child will pay off here. 😀

We shut that particular window, because the lizard probably snuck its way in through the screen somehow. Kevin vowed to check the cracks today to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And even though the cats were a little pissed off that we took away their toy, they finally settled down again and we got another few hours sleep.

Personally, I love (non-poisonous) critters, and don’t mind if they find their way inside, but would much rather they do it when we’re not asleep. 😉