this is the pic from my cell of mason and sophie playing the other day…
hello email, it’s been a while
so i’m finally getting around to taking care of my electronic responsibilities: email, facebook, blog, pictures, other stuff that comes up through email. in honor of my current state of focus, i thought i’d blog like i email, with no regard to capitalization. i don’t know why i find it acceptable in email but abhor it most other forms of communication. i mean, come on, anyone who’s been around me and a typo know that i can’t just sit there, i have to point it out. i don’t think that i actively search them out, it just happens that way. anyway, i’m able to do this because mom came over to pick up sophie for a few hours so that i could have uninterrupted time to get through this stuff. of course, my first though is: i could vacuum, pick up the house, cook some lunch, clean the bathrooms, wash mirrors and windows, and countless other things. it’s a combination of free time and yet again procrastinating and avoiding my electronic obligations. but i’m going to stick to it…right after i finish this post.
sophie has been in a good mood lately. her nana bought her the cutest little dog hat yesterday at the outlet – i can’t tell you how many people commented on that hat! it really makes her face look chubbier so i think she looks like a little eskimo in it. she’s really working on pulling herself up to her knees and trying to stand. we don’t really have much for her to grab on to though so mostly she just climbs on me when i’m on the floor.
she’s also perfecting her fake cough. i think she picked it up because paul is usually coughing and then sophie was mimicking the sound and we all laughed so now she’s been doing it quite a bit. i’m sure it will fade as our response does… she also likes to be chased…usually when she’s getting into trouble, playing with something that she’s not supposed to. if i say something and start to walk toward her she’ll turn around to look at me, squeal, and then take off in the opposite direction. it’s a fine line between an OK game and reinforcing the trouble she was getting into because it turns into a game. parenting is a constant fine line to be walked.
next week will be busy, i have a couple days lined up for subbing and a couple of game management days. sophie has her 9 month check up, so hopefully they don’t poke her too much. now that i think about it, this might be the one time she doesn’t have shots. i hope it is! we’re also going to try and go to the toddler and baby playgroup at standish elementary that morning. the baisd puts them on and sends out notifications so that may turn out to be a busy day!
oh, and sophie loves strings.
I know, I know, check my email!
Sophie is still not sleeping great through the night. I really think we’re in another teething phase. I really liked the old days when we all slept through the night.
Sophie and I got a chance to hang out with Mason (Deborah’s little dude) today. The kiddos played really well together – you should have seen them playing together, sharing a book, crawling over each other and stuff.
Tom and I golfed 9 at Singing Bridge today. Not great at the beginning and OK later on. But, it was nice to be outside. Some of the trees are turning so it was a nice chance to enjoy some of the outdoors. I really like maple trees (who 
So yeah, I guess that’s it. This is a distracted post, but I guess it’s better than nothing.
It’s Raining Pandas?
German Fest
We took Sophie to the German Fest in Frankenmuth. This was her first time outside of the womb at the Festival and it was not a big hit with her. I think things got off on the wrong foot by the tapping of the keg (Shhhooosh…..followed by everyone yelling and cheering); this scared her and set her in a wary mood. This mood was worsened by the loud playing of polka music. I guess she just doesn’t realize her Polish/German heritage requires her to embrace polka music (I know, this can be a foreign concept to some, but she’ll eventually come around and be singing: Roll out the barrel… or my Grandma’s old favorite: I don’t want her, you can have her, she’s too fat for me). But, this was not the year for her to join the fold and since she can’t drink beer or eat brats, she was not impressed with the German Fest and proceeded to scream and cry real tears (not just crying because I can’t talk and this is the only way I know how to communicate, but crying like “get me the hell out of here can’t you tell that I’m miserable) so we left and went home. It was a long day of shopping for Jen’s shower and German Fest so she seemed pretty happy to be in the car. We did have to stop for a diaper change before hitting the road and the bathroom had the changing table in the stall and the toilet was one of those motion sensor flushers which sounds like, you guessed it, a tapping keg. So needless to say, it is now a disaster to change Sophie when out in public because the sound of the toilet scares her now. Uggh.
Jen’s Baby Shower
Jen had her baby shower the other weekend. I think things turned out pretty good and she got some really nice stuff. It reminds me of my shower and the wonderful gifts and my insane need to organize and sort it all right away. Although, in hindsight, it wasn’t such a crazy plan since Sophie came 3 weeks early so it would have been a disaster (in my mind) to not have everything sorted, put away, and ready. It was so cute to see all of the little clothes that she got too…they’re so tiny! When Sophie was here the clothes just seemed normal because that’s how big she was. Now though, it just seems improbably that a baby could ever be that small. For Jen’s sake, I hope the Jones Family Genes don’t take over too much or she might be jumping right into the 6 month outfits.
In other news:
I subbed last week in AuGres and found out that it was National Punctuation Day. Why would this be exciting you say? Because I could tell the Panda joke! I know, it’s Tom’s joke, but I still think I did a good job telling it (but my audience was Middle Schoolers – they laughed without actually getting the joke). Not sure what joke I’m talking about? Ask Tom, he’ll tell you.
Mom and I took Sophie to get her pictures taken. 5 diaper changes later, we had so many good ones to choose from that it was almost impossible. (By the end of the day, Sophie was crying when she saw the changing table, before I even put it down to put her on it! She really hates public bathrooms now! Shhhooooosh!) I had it narrowed down to 4 and Mom helped me pick the final one. Tom and I just picked them up yesterday and they turned out great! As an added bonus, the lady behind the counter accidentally gave us the extra teaser ones that they print up to try and get you to buy so I got three more poses in different styles. My lucky day!
Picked gourds and pumpkins out of the garden yesterday – they really turned out great. Also cut down some corn stalks to use for decorations. Hopefully we’re going to get some over to the house today and decorate.
Working the football game tonight, golfing in the Homecoming Scramble tomorrow morning with Liz, Becky, and Shirley, 10 year class reunion tomorrow night at T&C and class breakfast Sunday morning at H&H. Monday is Mike’s birthday but that’s about it for next week. We’ve been staying pretty busy since we moved up but it’s a good busy; it’s great to fill our time with friends and family!
OH, and I almost forgot until I was looking through pictures, Sophie is an army-crawling fool! She can get where she wants to go and get there in a hurry. She still army crawls, not sure if she’s going to figure out the whole belly-off-the-ground thing. I imagine walking won’t be too far behind, she definitely likes to practice every chance she gets and took a few steps with the walker toy the other day!
To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question…
I mentioned before that she has two teeth on the top (not symmetrical though, middle one, skip one, and then side one) – well, now she’s trying to fill in the blanks. I can see the middle one starting to poke through and I’m sure that other side isn’t far behind. Because of this, she is definitely chewing on anything she can find. The only time she chews on her fingers is when her teeth are bugging her and there’s been some serious chomping going on lately! Mike gave her a chicken bone (drumstick) the other day to chew on – she really enjoyed getting at that; probably didn’t hurt that it tasted like chicken too! She definitely gets all smiley when she sees her Grandpa, but then she turns her head like she’s being shy. I’ve come to the conclusion that this might be a little game of peekaboo though because she does it at home too.
I think we’re really close to all-out crawling. She’s got the quick army crawl down (though yesterday without pants she moved her legs back and forth better, still out to the side a bit though – try to keep pants on her though because otherwise she’s getting a rug burn from dragging her legs behind her) and can get from the living room to the kitchen in no time. At first she’d just go to the edge of the couch and then turn around but now she is into exploring the house. She’ll also try and get you to “chase” her because she’ll look back and if you say you’re gonna get her she’ll turn back around and squeal and start moving and kicking. She still has a lot of fun if you carry her around to chase people or the dog. Making noise is definitely a favorite pastime as Mom can attest since Sophie likes to take anything hard and then find the wood floor to bang. In our house she likes to get to the kitchen wood floor and either bang her hand or slide it back and forth so it squeaks. Yes, that sound is annoying.
In other news, I am working to get the pictures up to Ofoto and will repost links on the side of the page. Thanks to everyone who’s mentioned reading the blog lately, it’s nice to know who my silent-because-I-won’t-comment stalkers are! We are maybe/probably/kinda looking for a boat right now so I’ll give you a prompt for comments: boat name ideas. If we do get a boat and are going to name/rename it I’ll put up a poll – who knows, your idea could end up there (but you’ll never have the chance to see your idea in pixels unless you COMMENT). It’s easy and painless…trust me!
Don’t Call Me a GIMP!
Took the opportunity to play with GIMP a little today since Mom had the baby while Rosie and I had lunch (and she was keeping her until dinner). Thought I’d post and share…
(this is cropped for a 5x7)
Bye-bye summer…hello fall!
Well, it may not have been a warm summer (there was that one week…) and I guess it’s still here for another couple of weeks but for all intents and purposes, fall starts today. I think we made the most out of our last summer weekend; here’s a recap:
Friday 
Saturday
Saturday should probably be considered the unofficial start of fall since Michigan opened up the season against Western. Ok, I admit it, I was dreading this a little. I didn’t know if I could take another fall where I was apathetic about Michigan football. I didn’t even care last year if I watched the games, that’s how bad it got. But I have hope this year. The offense isn’t completely offensive where was last year it was completely offensive (read the two meanings into that word and you’ll get what I’m saying). Seriously, last year I was the absolute biggest critic of the Spread Offense because it was ridiculously bad. I still prefer the Pro Set and it was just one game, but I have more hope than last year and it actually looks like an offense. Keep your fingers crossed…
Sunday
Started the day off early with a little harvesting in the garden. Need to head back today and need to spend a day canning some stuff. Waited too long on the potatoes, some were giant and others actually fused together to form crazy giant Mr. Potato heads. Something is killing our plants right now, they’re getting brown spots and dying off. Not sure what it is (bug or disease) but it’s threatening to end our growing season quite soon. Second round of corn looks like it’s about ready. I think it will be hard to use this summer as a judge for next year’s garden just because it wasn’t really warm. Ever.
After gardening it was a quick nap for Sophie and then off to Ingrid’s for a cookout. The whole crew was there (except Connie and the kids…apparently the commute from Florida can be a pain…) and it was a nice day to just hang out. Sophie was pretty good for the day, especially since she really didn’t nap much before. Other than just kind of sitting there and chewing on things, she got a chance to show off her army crawl (can’t just throw any old toy out there for her to get, it has to be something she’s not supposed to have and then she’ll really move!)
After Tom went to the gym on Sunday we had a few people over (Jamie and Keri, Mike and Stephenie, and later on Dwayne and Marsha) for a little Apples to Apples action. It’s usually a funny game and it started out with giggles on the first card. Mostly it seemed like we were poking fun at Mike (Wow…wow… – …wow) and Tom (well, the Mississippi River thinks it’s the best river around). There were definitely a lot of laughs for that game – it was a great way to wind down the weekend.
Monday
…and that brings us to today. I think we’re heading back over to the garden to finish up some harvesting. Other than that, Rosie is coming up tonight with Cali to take her to the vet up in Tawas to get a tooth pulled (and a cleaning while she is under). It is ridiculous how much more expensive that stuff is in the city and opposed to up here. When Zeke needed his pulled (was it getting run over by a car or kicked by the horse that broke it…it’s hard to tell) the vet down in the city wanted to do a root canal. A root canal?? Are you serious!? He’s lived a pretty good life with one less tooth so I’m glad we just got it pulled. Tomorrow Sophie and I will hang out with Rosie for the afternoon and then it’s time to start waiting by the phone for someone to call for a sub. 6-12 Social Studies/History anyone? Anyone? no? ok then…maybe next time.
Cruisin’ for a Bluesin’
yeah, the titles are the favorite part of the post for me…
Sophie’s been a little clingy lately – I think because of the teeth. I’m not sure, but it seems like she’s trying to get all 4 top front teeth at once. She got her left one that’s just left of middle and it looks like the opposite one is getting close but her right middle one might come in first. All in all, it makes for an inconsistent little baby.
Not much is new around here. Tom built some nice shelves for the basement so I finished organizing some stuff down there…now I just need to bring some more stuff back from Mom’s…
Garden is going well – in spite of the fact that we had about 5 days of summer. I’m not complaining too much, I actually enjoy fall weather, but part of the reason I like Michigan is that it usually gives me just enough of summer or winter to make me sick of it and then I look forward to the next season…not so much this year.
Sophie is still working on her army crawl…actually, she only works on it if there is something forbidden out of reach so when I want her to show off her skills I just put a remote or phone just out of reach and watch her go for it. She might actually be saying DaDa and DaoDao (dog?) because she does make those sounds when Tom or Zeke come around. Or maybe that’s just her excited sound.
The start of school is just around the corner and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any openings (but I sort of expected that I guess). Another year of subbing is not very appealing, but what choice do I have? I know things will turn around eventually, but I really do wish I could get into my own classroom.
Scoot scoot scoot
Well, the days of the immobile baby are fast drawing to a close! Sophie is able to get up on knees and elbows and rock (and usually get one good push forward but hasn’t figured out to move the arms) – once she makes the initial push she resorts to army crawl. She doesn’t go far yet, just far enough to grab whatever toy was previously out of reach. So my big plan for the weekend? Moving the shelf into the bedroom, the chemicals into the hall closet, and basically crawling around my house to see what else is going to be a problem!
I had other things I wanted to write about but for whatever reason my brain just went dead today. Maybe it’s the weather, not sure really.
I need to load more pictures up and maybe some video too if I get ambitious…but that will probably wait until next time.
Oh! I remember one of the things: canning is going good and we expect tomatoes soon (that is if we could have a little bit of summer and don’t jump right into fall) so we’ll be even busier but we’re running out of pint jars so if you or anyone you know would like to donate your unused and unwanted glass pint jars, we’d gladly take them off of your hands!
OK, that’s about it for writing motivation at the moment, but I’ll try and get pics up later.
I’m afraid we’re gonna have to put her down…
Enjoy the pics. I’m working on getting them up to Kodak. I need a rainy weekend with nothing planned! I really like this one of Zeke. He’s been such a good boy with her – he always lays by her when I put her outside (but he might just want to steal the blanket!)
Sleep, sweet, sweet sleep
More harvesting from the garden – this heat should really help the tomatoes. Corn is coming along nicely. Lots of plans for next year.
Took Sophie swimming again…she absolutely LOVED it. It was funny because she’d just be kind of sitting there and you’d say “swim” and she’d kick and kick and move her arms. If you leave her upright, she likes to splash too. She’s big into the leaning/reaching for something so in the pool that means going for more water. She’s definitely a water baby – I wish I would have had my camera to capture it. Maybe we’ll be lucky and summer will continue for a few more weeks and we can go again!
Let me know what you think of posts/pictures/and the new format.
Savor the moments…
I was going to write this post anyway, but in light of the events today it takes on a new meaning…
When we were golfing today, I was struck again by how short life is and the fact that we only get to do it once (that we know of at least). If you only had a year, a month, a week, or a day left to live, would you live it like you currently are? Would you change your life? Sometimes you need to take stock and savor the moments and make sure that you can live a life free of regrets.
Some of my savored moments today:
- sharing a joke with Tom
- watching the reeds blow in the wind
- marveling at Sophie’s hands
No pictures this time…
Wow! What a couple of weeks!! The Pirate Fest went off with only a few minor hitches (but hey, who can control the rain??) It was a great event – I can’t wait to see how the numbers compare to years past and think of ways to keep getting better. Pictures will be up soon, but I’ve got a few other things to catch up on first.
Sometimes I have to just sit back in wonder at Sophie and how much she’s changed in less than 7 months. She went from hardly ever opening her eyes to sitting up and smiling and laughing. Still not much of a talker (nothing discernible, but it does sound like she says “ball” when she’s chewing on the ball). She likes to make noises with the toys in her mouth more than just trying to copy me.
Her palate is expanding as well. Now that she’s figured out how to eat pieces of food, we give her little bites of just about everything. So far, she’s liking most everything. She really likes the yellow squash from the garden – which is good because we’re gonna have a ton of it. I pureed some the other day when I was on a baby food-making kick and she ate it right up. I also pureed some blueberries that were left over and as a bonus could save the water as blueberry juice to give her to drink or to add to cereal. Did the math on blueberries; they have to be $3.00/quart or less to be cost effective. The stuff that comes from the garden is obviously worth converting, but when buying stuff I want to make sure that I’m actually saving money by making her food because if I’m not then I’ll just save the time and buy the jar.
Harvested again yesterday. Pulled the rest of the green onions – just chopped and froze most of those for next year. We dug up a potato mound because it looked like one of the plants was dying and most of the potatoes were large and ready to go. Need to read more about potatoes though because I still don’t know much. Thinned out carrots again and brought a bunch home…going to make chicken and dumplings today with the carrots and potatoes. All we need to do now is raise some chickens and it’ll be a really homemade meal! For this round of squash I just sliced it, blanched it for 3 minutes (and then threw it in an ice bath for about 5), and through it in a bag to freeze. I don’t know how long Sophie is going to like pureed foods so I don’t want to have a bunch that I can’t use. I can always put this bunch in the food processor or I can just heat it up and cut it into chunks for her to eat like that. Tomorrow I’m going to try a new recipe for the squash: fry it in EVOO with onion (from garden), green onion (from garden), green pepper (from garden), and snap peas (from garden) and some seasoning. I’ll have to check and see if we have any fresh parsley – that’d go good with it.
Well, enough of a break! Back to the monster list that I’ve created for myself today. Hopefully I can get through most of it!
