Developments

Well, it's been a solid few months since I've made any significant entries on this site or added any pictures. Now that the trick-or-treaters have waned, I finally find time to update everyone on all of the developments that have happened.

First and foremost, Leah’s development is nothing short of astounding (well, to her parents anyway).  At her two month checkup she came in around the 75th percentile in both height and weight, which was astonishing considering how small she seemed when she was born.  At that same checkup she got her first shots since the hospital.  My goodness, I didn’t think that would be so hard to watch.  It felt criminal to hold her down while they stuck her, and the look that appeared on her face before she broke into tears made me wish very badly that I could somehow make her understand that she wasn’t being punished.  If she could talk I felt she might have screamed, “I didn’t do anything to deserve this!”  Rough.

Happily, the after effects of the shots were minimal and Leah was back to her usual happy self by the next day.  Since then her neck muscles have grown enough to support her head and we now regularly put her in the “Bumbo” seat, which holds her torso upright.  Since we started putting her in this seat she seems to have developed a preference for being upright.  Just this past week Karrie tried her in an exer-saucer (which she loved) and a “Johnny Jump-Up” (which she also enjoyed).  We already own the latter, but we will be purchasing the former soon.

We’re guessing teething has begun based on Leah’s propensity to chew on everything (including her hands) and drool everywhere.  Thanks to some help from one of our neighbors (who is a physical therapist for infants) we’ve gotten some good tips on using our Boppy (an oversized C-shaped pillow for those of you watching from home) to help get Leah used to belly time and the inevitable crawling.  Leah now sleeps ten to twelve hours at night at least 85% of the time (i.e. when she doesn’t have the sniffles), although she continues not to nap well during the day.  We’ll take the night sleeping over the day sleeping, though.  Overall, we really couldn’t ask for a better baby.

Another development from this summer/fall is the loss of my venerable Crown Victoria.  We had lent it to one of Karrie’s cousins while she was on maternity leave and unfortunately it found a telephone pole about a month after.  While the exterior damage was minimal, the car’s massive weight led to the bending of the frame when the front passenger wheel was stopped by the pole while the rest of the car decelerated.  Once the insurance company finally came to the official conclusion that the car was a total loss I began a quick search for a new vehicle.  My original plan was to keep the Crown Vic for another few years until Karrie’s car was paid off and we had some money saved up to by a new Volvo S60.  After looking at some used Crown Vics, Accords, and other sedans it occurred to me to check out used S60s.  I found one in great shape at a good price while on vacation.  While I’m not at all happy about having a second car payment, I’m rather pleased with the car so my net amount of frustration is minimal.

Speaking of vacation, our August vacation this year was in Rye Beach, NH (a good location to search for cars from, due to it’s close proximity to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine dealerships).  As we do every August, we went with a solid contingent of Karrie’s family and they were gracious enough to offer us our own room in the beach house.  We brought the pack-and-play (with bassinet accessory) for Leah to sleep in at night.  She had just started sleeping eight hours a night a week or two before, but she managed to pull a couple of all-nighters (sleeping, not awake) during the week despite the massively disrupted routine.  We did lose our camera to a rogue wave that probably originated from a dying hurricane off the coast, but other than that and the car hunting it was a very relaxing week.  Not having a camera for most of it was actually somewhat of a relief; there’s no obligation to take pictures if you don’t have a camera!

After we got back I started my third and final class for this year: Image Editing.  I got a student license for Photoshop ($200, baby) so now I’m finally using the industry standard product.  I love using it, too.  Near the end of that class, Karrie and I were able to go down to Foxboro to see a Patriots game courtesy of our good friend Mark.  Aside from a somewhat chatty fan next to us and being away from Leah for the day, it was a great time.  Karrie’s aunt and uncle and my mother and her partner split babysitting duties while the three of us were away that day, and Leah didn’t mind at all.  She was sleeping happily when we returned, so Karrie was a bit sad not too see her before bed; however, it was totally worth it to see her HUGE smiles the next morning when she awoke.  She may not have missed us, but she was sure happy to see us again!

In other news, I found time to record a few podcasts with the Tweak & Geek crew during the last few months.  Here are the links:

TG #30: Nuptials and Apple Predictions
TG #31: Religion and Sci-fi
TG #32: Stargates and Wave
TG #33: Halloween Spooktacular

Lastly, I made very little progress on the basement due to time constraint issues.  I’m fine going to my friend Craig’s house to record podcasts on Tuesday nights, but I haven’t really felt like performing construction while everyone else is asleep.  Karrie insists that it wouldn’t be a problem, so I may give that a go soon, seeing as how Leah still doesn’t reliably afford me enough nap time on Mondays and Tuesdays when we’re home for me to hang drywall.

I’m sure I’ve probably forgotten some significant things since the last time I wrote a real entry, but for the most part, this should bring everyone up to speed.  I only attached a few images since I added WAY more than a blog entry could hold.  The first four pictures are highlights; the last two will drop you into the first new images in the Weblog Entry Pictures and Leah albums, respectively.  If you start with either of these, you should be able to just keep hitting “Next Picture” and see all of the new pictures in that gallery.  There are six new Weblog Entry pictures and twenty-one new Leah pictures.  Enjoy!