Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Demon Camera

Just in case you're wondering why I needed a new camera...

The one I was using before was a hand-me-down from my Grandpa. It was a good camera, but it seemed to have a grudge against me.

Sometimes after I took pictures I would push the 'arrow' button to review the photos I had taken and it would refuse to show them to me.

Sometimes it wouldn't even let me take a picture, but would somehow set the delay timer on itself, and the more I tried to fix the problem, the more seconds it would add to the delay, like it was trying to psych me out.

Often I could get the camera into movie mode but then when I wanted to take pictures again it would refuse to let me switch back to picture mode. I would have to turn the camera on and off many times before it would let me take pictures again. And all this is doubly frustrating when you want to take pictures of a moving toddler.

Oddly enough, the camera worked the best when the battery was low. It's like the camera would realize it was running out of juice and would all of a sudden be like "I'm dying!!! Nooooo! Don't let me die! I promise to be good to you!!!" and would work perfectly for me. Until I changed/charged the battery. Then it would go back to its evil ways.

Well now the darn thing has been replaced. Seems like I have the last laugh.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Photo Happy

This handsome guy here... he is so sweet. He couldn't wait and gave me my birthday present a few days early.
I am so, so thrilled to have a Nikon D40 camera to play with!! I took it out today to experiment with...
Wow, the camera is so good that I get to figure out how to put what I want into focus...

Jake and I went back to Johnson Creek to play. I had so much fun taking photos!





Compared to my old camera, aren't those photos just lovely?!? Now off to read the camera manual...

Friday, September 26, 2008

Custer Park

Recently we found that there is a THIRD playground within walking distance of our house! This one is a really nice one, too, and it is great to have a variety so none of us get bored.

Jake is really getting into climbing right now, and is exploring things to climb on playgrounds that he wasn't able to climb before. He really does need to get out and play daily since he has been climbing on things at home, too!
Snack time in the sun.
The most awesome thing about this playground is that it has a merry-go-round!! It is so rare to see one of those at parks nowadays, I am not sure why, since they are so much fun. Jake loves it.
Here Jake is telling me to "push" to make it spin around faster.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Fun Jake!

Yesterday was Jake's first day of Movement and Me dance class which he went to with his nanny, Kayla, and Skylar. Kayla is also a nanny for Skylar and often watches both Jake and Skylar at the same time. Skylar was born just 2 weeks before Jake, so they are the same age and get along really well!

This is like a first day of school picture. :)
Playing -- anyone need their hair done?

Sticker fun. Toddlers are so silly.
When he was finished with the stickers, he actually stood by the garbage and peeled them off one by one and threw them in.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Comedy of Errors Messes

Let me preface this by telling you that in the morning, Jake had a very long bath. I proceeded to dry and dress him fully (2 shirts, diaper, pants, socks) before letting him know that Mama needed to shower. He then proceeded to cry that he wanted to get into the shower with me. Well okay. So I undress him, he showers with me, I dress him.

Later that afternoon, after the mailperson has delivered the mail, I decide I want to put my Netflix movie in the nearest mailbox so it will go out that day. So Jake and I walked down to the mailbox, only to discover that pick up time at that mailbox was 1pm, and it was already 1:30. Shoot. So I decide to keep on walking to the post office. Because I had only anticipated this being a half-mile walk instead of a mile-plus walk, I didn't bring the stroller or yamo with me. And of course Jake decided he wanted me to carry him most of the way. Sigh. So we return home, tired.

I had made a quart of cold tea last night/this morning, and had poured some in a glass for Jake. While I was doing something else, he attempted to pour more tea for himself. The tea went all over the countertop, his clothes, the seat, and the floor. So I cleaned all that up.

Then he got up on the seat by himself and dumped out an entire box of crackers. So I cleaned that up.

He was running around wearing pants but no diaper (he had already pooped in the toilet, and normally only poops once a day). He was outside and I was at the opposite end of the house and he walked all the way through the house to tell me he'd pooped in his pants. It was a mess. So I had to run him upstairs for his 3rd bath/shower of the day which was a bad deal because at the same time I had just put granola in the oven, and this granola requires that you stir it every 5 minutes to keep it from burning. Plus there was poop to clean up. Thank goodness we don't have carpet.

Luckily Mike arrived home and was able to take over the bathing of the child. I ran downstairs and dealt with the granola (which thankfully, did not burn) and cleaned up the mess.

I'm exhausted and praying for no more messes today. If there are, Mike can clean them up :)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Tissue Queen No Longer

So how is everyone doing with the Ditch the Disposables challenge?

For my challenge, I decided to see what I could do about reducing the amazing amount of tissues we go through in this house. I mean, I am used to ordering tissue boxes by the case -- that 10% discount and not having to repeatedly buy tissues at the store are nice incentives. But that meant that I occasionally do have to get more tissues and it costs money.

So I ordered some beautiful handkerchiefs from Kasper Organics.

They arrived in the mail yesterday, just in time to test out on the runny nose that Jake has from a cold. So far they are working beautifully -- thin enough to use easily but thick enough so that there is no 'ick' factor when I am wiping his nose (or mine). Also, his nose isn't getting totally red from being wiped the way it does when using tissues. I got about 7 handkerchiefs, so I can use one or more a day and then throw them in the wash. I'll see if that is enough, and if not, I'll just order more as they aren't too expensive.

Growing up, my dad always had a cloth handkerchief in his back pocket. I remember using it to wipe my nose many, many times as a little girl. They were really nice handkerchiefs, too, but I'm not sure they were much fun for my mom to iron. Maybe that's why he stopped using them?

Now if only I could teach Jake to blow his nose.


Oh -- an update. Apparently my dad DOES still use cloth handkerchiefs. I guess I'm just old enough not to need to use daddy's handkerchiefs anymore :)

Saturday, September 20, 2008

27 Months

Today Jake is 27 months. He is really becoming his own person. Pretty amazing. He loves to help me out any way he can. When I do the laundry, he helps me move the clothes from the hamper to the washing machine and then again to the dryer, and wants to push the buttons to start the washing machine and dryer. While I cook, I try to involve him as much as possible so he can see what I'm doing and to foster an interest in learning to cook. This morning he helped me get the pancake batter ready (we have a Saturday morning ritual where we always have pancakes). He has also been attempting to put his socks on himself, but hasn't quite succeeded yet. Soon, though!

He also loves to settle into a chair with a book and read to himself. For a short time in the morning and after dinner he'll watch a little of Curious George on DVD, and when it's time to turn it off, it's so much easier on everyone if he is the one to turn off the TV.

He loves to get the car keys out of the drawer and play with the remotes, sometimes triggering the car alarms. I don't think our neighbors like that too much. He talks so much now, and is in that stage where he repeats what we say. He's starting to learn his colors -- his favorite way to learn about them is to see what color diaper we are taking off and putting on during diaper changes! He'll use the potty sometimes, but it is a back and forth thing.

Every day he asks to go to the playground. We're so lucky to have 3 within walking distance, in addition to exploring some of the other wonderful playgrounds in this city.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Easy, Fun Blog Post

Two Names You Go By:
1. Lee
2. Mama

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Wedding band/engagement ring
2. Favorite thin yellow hooded shirt

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. A new camera
2. A glass of wine

Two Things You Did Last Night:
1. Played tennis
2. Watched The L Word

Two Things You Ate Yesterday:
1. Ginger, Potato, Cauliflower Toss over brown rice
2. Hemp granola cereal with almond milk

Two People You Last Talked To:
1. Mike
2. Mom

Two things You're Doing Tomorrow:
1. Taking Jake to OMSI
2. Helping a friend shop for her wedding dress!!!

Two Longest Car Rides:
1. Rochester, NY to Portland, OR
2. Portland, OR to Tijuana, Mexico and back

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. my birthday (oh yes it does count)

Two Favorite Vacations:
1. Brazil
2. Toss-up between Sweden and the Grand Canyon rafting trip

Two Favorite Beverages:
1. Maude's Summer Lift
2. Lemonade

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Johnson Creek Park

Jake and I went over to the Sellwood area for some more of Maude's Tea (a subject for another blog post) and decided to check out Johnson Creek Park afterwards. I am so glad we did! It was wonderful. In addition to a playground, you can play in the creek. It was the perfect day for it, too, in the upper 80's.




Monday, September 15, 2008

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Washington Park Playground

Yesterday Gramma and I took Jake to the playground at Washington Park. It was awesome! I had seen it before, before Jake was born, and I finally remembered that I had seen it, and that I should take Jake there. I'm glad we did -- he was thrilled.

The entrance to the play structure. Jake made us laugh so hard by totally posing for the picture!
I had to go down this one really big slide with him. It was one of those covered slides so I had to lie flat with Jake on top of me. There were these older boys playing too, and I would scramble to get out of the slide before one of them took his turn on the slide. Not so easy to do with a toddler on top of you and having to practically get onto the ground to sit up and get out of the slide. Still, it was fun since Jake loved it so much.


The huge sand area was awesome. Jake spent the first 10 minutes cleaning the sand off the elephant.
Then we went back to Gramma's house where the two of them played with this cute Curious George puzzle.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Random

Random sampling of pictures that had not made it onto the blog...








Sunday, September 7, 2008

Anywhere there is water...

...Jake is a happy boy! Here you see him with his water table. He likes to make the toys drown swim.
He's been really into his toy "people" lately. I was impressed with how he lined them all up!
The toy people are watching an underwater auto show...
We were at the beach this past weekend. Friends of ours got married on the beach in Seaside, Oregon. The ceremony was beautiful. The day was very overcast, and very cold/windy as you got close to the water, but it still felt great to be there. Jake was thrilled, he went in the water and loved having the waves go over his feet then running away from them.
It was so foggy on Saturday, but Sunday was gorgeous and sunny. I totally slacked on the picture-taking after I took these 2 pictures (guess the beach relaxed me so much!) but it was lovely being there. We didn't want to leave on Sunday, but we played on the beach for over an hour before dashing back to our hotel 30 minutes before check-out time in order to give Jake a bath before driving him home. He had sand everywhere!