Shelby's Life and Whatnot

Bedtime!

So we've been very schedule-free in this household as of yet. Theo eats when he wants, which is pretty regular give or take an hour here or there, sleeps when he wants, which is generally after eating and some playing, and so on. I've heard many people preach the gospel of having a schedule, but it's working for us so far, so meh, we'll do it if we need to.

Theo has started falling asleep at or around the same time every evening, which is 10:30, usually getting up between 7 and 9am. Now that he's doing this we're working toward getting him to actually fall asleep in his crib instead of just carrying him there once he's asleep. The last couple of nights we've had success with putting him there mostly asleep. Tonight he was sleeping in the living room but in the crib his eyes were wide open and he was wiggling a little. We sang the good-night song and closed the door, and although he was fully awake going down, he hasn't made a peep! So hopefully soon we'll be able to just pop him in the crib wide awake and he'll fall asleep on his own.

Comment spam

Sadly I've been inundated with huge amounts of comment spam, so I've turned off all comments for prior entries. I can turn them back on manually, so comments will be open for the newer entries, but go thank the people who ruined it for everyone. They're very into sex and Prozac.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

We had a couple very brief tears at swim class tonight. We ended up standing next to "Raymond" aka "The Splasher Kid" who really really REALLY likes to splash his hand. Unfortunately Theo got splashed in the face and that kind of put him off a bit, but after some shushing he regrouped and enjoyed the rest of the class (except where I accidentally got his face wet again and he wasn't expecting it). We're still having a lot of fun and Theo is just as cute as can possibly be in the water. I'm really glad we're doing this early so that he'll never be timid around the water. Although we did have a fuss or two tonight, it was nothing like the little 14-month-old who screamed her entire way through her first lesson and about 75% of this lesson. Her mom was REALLY nice (when one of the other parents said, "Oh yeah, [name] did that too" she responded "Oh good, I'm not a freak."--haha). I think the little girl just needs to get used to it, she definitely did some participation today so that was good. I love our instructor, John. He's very fun, great with the babies, and is just a really nice guy. Theo has taken to him too, so that's great.

We also got to visit with a good friend of mine, Nell. She was in town (from Fresno) so she, her mom, and her cute-as-a-button 20-month-old Meg stopped by for a bit. It was very fun to see them--the first time Nell has met Theo, and the first time I've seen Meg when she wasn't a sleeping infant. Digory was boisterous at first (*sigh*) but Meg really liked him, so he made a friend. Scout of course immediately rolled over for a tummy rub. Because doesn't everyone who walks in the door want to rub her tummy?

Sears #2

I mentioned we had our Sears portrait session #2 the other day. Here are a couple of pictures. They feature a pocket diaper from Green Acre Designs (love!).

Baby Pictures

So we went for Round 2 at Sears yesterday for some portraits. Theo was ridiculously cute as usual. I love how the people always try to put the best possible spin on every picture. Like "Oh, isn't that one cute?" No, actually he totally looks stoned. Anyway, I only ordered a couple from this round since we'll be going back for a 6 month shoot. We joined the super saver club or whatever it's called, so we get free sittings, a free 8x10, and buy one get one free for any sheets whenever we want to drop by. Which is all the time, because he's so damned cute. Anyway, I've got some leftover wallet photos from the last round. If you would like one, leave me a comment or shoot me an email!

A bit of a shaker

We had a bit of an earthquake in Southern California here this evening. It turned out to be a 4.7 right near my parents' house (who didn't feel it because they were in the car). I normally don't react much at the smaller ones, but this one lasted a long time (in earthquake terms--"long time" means like 15 seconds, but when you're waiting to see if your bookshelf is going to come crashing down, it's a long time). I was feeding Theo when it hit and initially I stood up, but when it continued and increased in intensity, I headed for the kitchen and ducked-and-covered under the table. No damage or even unsettled things on the shelves, but it was interesting. Boy, my reaction has changed a lot since having Theo! I can't remember the last time I felt compelled to duck and cover!

Theo was completely oblivious. There was no interruption of service with the bottle, so he just kind of looked like "why are we eating on the floor under the table?"

I'm so funny!

Theo got a set of finger puppets from Ikea the other day.

More Theo excitement!

Theo and I had our very first Mommy and Me swim class! He was a little surprised at first, with a look on his face that said, "Well I've never done THIS before" (but when you're 4 months old, that pretty much describes 90% of your life) but he really started to enjoy it. This was our free trial class but we both loved it so we'll be going once a week. Click on Theo below for more swimming pictures!

We also headed over to Disneyland where Theo got to ride Dumbo, the carousel, and It's A Small World. They completely renovated Small World and while I was a bit apprehensive, it actually looks fabulous. Theo LOVED it--the colors, lights, and motion blew his mind. He also really loved the ceiling lights. There are also some miscellaneous pictures in the link below...

And the Long Dog pictures continue--see how Theo has changed!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there!

This Mommy got a set of gorgeous handcrafted brass candlesticks and this:

A crepe kit!!!

More more Theodore

A small collection of more Theo pictures (click on the Mouse):

This just in!

In a truly stunning performance, Theo has captured the gold medal in this year's Poop Fest '09. He celebrated his accomplishment by taking a nice, soothing Victory Bath.

Scout demands that Theo pet her.

I've been voted Mother of the Year!

And I didn't even know I was nominated! Thanks Anita! Click on the image to watch the news report!

Etc.

Life continues to be very fun with Theo. He gets more and more fun every day. He's a real smiler and loves to laugh. His favorite word is "Doggie" and while we hope that his first word because that would be so dang cute, we're kind of loading the deck by speaking entirely in the word "doggie." The real-life doggies are doing well with Theo. We know that Scout has officially assimilated him as a part of the family because she now includes him in her bark-fest when we arrive home. Scout is a great watchdog. She could care less about strangers (thank God Digory is keeping us safe from the UPS Men of the world) but if someone she knows walks in the house, she barks and barks and barks. Now when we walk in she goes to me and gives me a piece of her mind, then over to Kevin, and then swings by the infant car seat carrier to let Theo know how she feels. It would be heartwarming if it weren't so damn loud.

Kevin is nearly done with the wine cellar. I'm very excited about it and it looks great so far. He partitioned a corner off of the garage and built two walls, then insulated the heck out of it all. My dad provided us with the cooler unit that used to be in his wine cellar (it was practically brand-new and he had planned to use it until he found that he wasn't allowed to vent into the garage, or something--I'm kind of unclear about the details but hey, his loss is our gain!) so we've got that in store. We're going to set up some inexpensive Ikea racks for now, but eventually we hope to do a custom racking system that looks all cool and stuff. Soon we will be selling our wine cooler. Anyone want a Vinotemp?