So much going on

A few weekends ago we took an over night cruise to Vancouver with Jason's family. It was a great relaxing time, and a fun introduction to cruising! Next time hopefully we'll be on the cruise ship for more than 21 hours. And have a car seat that's not crazy old, hehe.

The big thing going on right now, other than Baxter being adorable, is that I think our kitty Aiko isn't going to be with us much longer :( He's been losing weight, and this last month he's just dropped a ton of weight. He used to be between 11-12 lbs, but now he's down to just over 7. We spent $300 to find out it's an intestinal issue. We could spend another $200 to find out if it's one of 3 things. It could be a bacterial infection (treated with antibiotics that we can afford), a B12 deficiency (shots every week for 6 weeks, then every other week for as long as it takes, at least $1000), Pancreatitis (same treatment but different meds, still about $1000). Or it could be intestinal cancer, which they would have to do an expensive biopsy for and there's no treatment available. Since the only treatment we can afford is the antibiotics, that's what he's been on the last 9 days. We also switched him to a super expensive hypoallergenic food. He's also been really dehydrated. Since then, he stopped making the effort to go upstairs to use the litterbox, so we moved his food to the bathroom, and he's taken up residence in the bath tub. He won't budge, and can't wait to get back in it. I think he's just soiling himself too, and he's not eating enough to have any solid waste. He's eating *maybe* 1/16th a cup of catfood a day. It's just so sad. We got Aiko as a kitten before we got married, and he's only 8 years old. I wish I had the money to save him, but we just can't afford it. I need to take him to the vet again this week to make sure he's not in pain. Poor guy :( He was my first baby.

Oh, and Baxter is using more and more sign language.

This is a short and completely uninformative update, sorry!

A break from the silence

We've had a super busy summer. I'll do a quick recap. We spent the first week in Seattle for Baxter's birthday. While there Baxter had TWO birthday parties, we had family photos taken, and we went to the zoo. While in Seattle my beloved laptop somewhat died. It may be fixable, but not by me. We came home for a day then went to Chelan to spend time with friends and their two boys. Baxter learned a ton, ate a lot of grapes, and fun was had by all. So this entire time I was accumulating photos and had no way to upload them! THANKFULLY I had backed up my laptop before we left, just in case. When we got home from Chelan I ordered myself a spiffy new iMac. The goal is to have Dilley Dally pay for it. If it's not going that direction I may finally get a business license so I can claim a loss this year. Fun times.

We had some down time where I caught up on a few things and attempted to get photos up and so forth. I'm happy to say Flickr is fully updated, and there are pages and pages of photos to sort though! Well, I take that back. I have a few more to upload from recently...

Then over labor day weekend we went to Seattle. We had friends visiting from Virginia who we going to PAX, a giant nerdy video game conference. Baxter and I went on Saturday, and Jason went on Saturday and Sunday. Then Geoff came up to visit on Monday night and went home yesterday (Wednesday) morning. Sadly Jason, Geoff and Janet all contracted what is being known as "PAX Pox" - AKA Swine Flu. So far only Janet has had it confirmed with a doctor, but there was quite an outbreak at the conference. Jason is home sick, and Baxter and I are staying clear. We're feeling fine, but now we're on self imposed quarantine :(

So some of the new things Baxter has been doing.

He learned how to eat with a spoon and fork, and now all meals require them even if he doesn't use them.

Everything is a phone, including his hands and occasionally a foot during a diaper change.

We had our first experience with disposable diapers (yuck!) and Jason declared that except for an upcoming exception lets not buy them again because they STINK and leak. We had to buy them because Baxter had a terrible diaper rash caused by too much fruit and pooping during naps and in the middle of the night. His poo became acid and burned his little bum, and the prescription cream would ruin the cloth diapers, so we sucked it up and bought a pack of sposies. We'll use them again when we go to Canada in two weeks, but that's another post.

He started to say words on accident. He said "kitty" twice (but never again) and today started to say "hi" and "hello."

Cats are his most favorite thing ever. He waves, says his "ahhhh" (which is a high pitched sound approximating hi) and then squats down so he can try to kiss them on the nose. He's good with gentle pets though, and has never been scratched or bitten.

He learned how to turn the tv on and how to change the channels. His favorite shows to stop on are Animal Planet (where he waves at the tigers and tries to kiss them through the TV), daytime courtroom shows like Judge Judy, and The Golden Girls. He mostly ignores cartoons.

He's really into giving kisses, and will sometime do it on demand. But kisses only go on mouths. Never cheeks or on tops of heads. We asked him to give his cousin Riley a kiss while he was doing tummy time on the floor, and Bax had to squat down and try to get Riley to look up at him before he would attempt a kiss. It was ridiculously cute.

Baxter likes feeding other people, and has started to have an opinion on food. He really likes some things now, and it's different from what it used to be. Sometimes he will have 3 bites of food and be done, and other times he will eat a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, a whole banana, and a slice of toast (like he did for breakfast today). He tends to eat the most in the mornings.

Baxter loves sprinklers and splash pads, but can't stand bodies of water or bubbles. Lakes, pools, large bathtubs and bubble baths send him into hysterics. But he will play for a really long time in a sprinkler or at the splash pad.

Baxter is still breastfeeding, but never asks for it. Mostly if he's fussy it's how I distract him. He also nurses before naps and bed.

He's sooooo close to sleeping through the night (and by that I mean more then the "technical" definition of 5 hour stretches). He goes down around 7 then wakes up from 3:30-5 to nurse then goes back down. He's up for the day between 6:30 and 7 usually. If he dropped that last night feeding I would be sooooo happy! At least until I had to wake up multiple times a night to feed a new baby, but hey, it's bonding right? Baxter and I are plenty bonded now :)

Ok, I'm running out of things to say, so I'll just end this with some photo highlights. Because I know you want them.


Mmmm, birthday cake!


Feeding me some of his birthday cake *swoon*


Splorin the Chelan house yard


My attempt at artsy flower photos getting a lovely background surprise


Sprinkler!


Loving Spinapplemeal - spinach food processed down and combined with applesauce and oatmeal so it's thick enough to stay on an uncoordinated baby spoon.


A funny and cute capture in low light and high ISO, but I'm digging the graininess, at least with the black and white :)

Another year, another half pound

I was right. Baxter hasn't really gained any weight since he started walking. Well, he gained just over half a pound. Not much.

My computer is on it's last legs. I had to take it in and have it wiped and the OS re-installed. I was then told that the harddrive was beginning to fail, and ever since then it's just limped along. It hardly works. So once we get back from Chelan it looks likes we will be looking into a new computer for me. I love this laptop, it has served me very well. I can't say I didn't get my money's worth! But until I get a new computer I can't post or edit photos. Sorry. I'll get them up eventually!!!

My Goomba

My Goomba is adorable (especially in his Goomba shirt)


He's an incredibly smart monkey. Yes, he took the laundry basket, turned it upside down, climbed on top and used it as a stepstool.


He likes to sit in the chair. But not watch TV. Unless it's daddy playing Zelda or the creepy Arts channel.


He understands new games and toys right away.


And still tries to catch the sunlight.


I can't believe my baby will be a year old in less than a week! He can wave "bye-bye" now, and he's such a polite and sharing little boy. He loves to give hugs and kisses to his friends. We leave on Thursday to go to Seattle for a week for his birthday and family time, come home for a day, then leave for Chelan for another week. This time we're going with our good friends and their two little boys. It should be a fun filled week of bubbles, sprinklers, lake time, and card games in the evening. So I don't know how much I'll be blogging :) I'll try to keep photos updated though.

Having Jason home is great. Yesterday we took a walk around Lake Padden while Baxter napped in the stroller. And we've been taking turns sleeping in. That combined with Baxter only waking once a night has been glorious!

Oh, just a few more...

Have I commented recently on how much I love photoshop? I"m getting so much more into it! And of course, the Creative Mama is doing TWO more giveaways! One for some Florabella Textures, and one for a fine art print! *SWOON*

So of course I have to share my recent creations :) Just remember, I'm still learning!!!

A black and white kind of day

I'm getting more and more into Photography as I read the series on The Creative Mama. Today's giveaway is amazing, I'm having so much fun with actions, presets and textures. Next time I upload to flickr you'll see more. So yeah, I want to win this time!

I suppose I could tell you more about our Chelan trip, or what's happened this week. But I'm still tired! But there was a fire on the 4th of July (scary) right down the hill from us. Tony took off to try to fight it, but they wouldn't let him. Luckily it was controlled super fast. We went to the beach, and we ate good food, and had a general good time. It was a vacation, I'm not sure what else to say! Grandma Deanna taught Bax how to bang a tin tray with a spoon... And Bax started to want to read books!


Baxter liked playing the piano, and when others played.


Jessie got creative with the blocks and glass topped table (I love this one!)


My boys loved on each other


And Grandma Deanna got lots of cuddles


Maybe next time I'll share some that aren't Black and White? There are more on the flickr page, but these are some favorites :) Oh, and YES, I've been photoshopping them all. Not like switching heads or anything, just some gentle enhancements, or converting to Black and White. Ya know, the good type of photoshopping!

Home

We were here:


Doing things like this:


And taking beautiful pictures like this:



And now I'm home, catching up on more mundane things. So I'll leave it at that tidbit for now, while I still have hundreds of photos to go through. What I would really love is a new copy of CS4, which The Creative Mama is giving away in a short giveaway today... She's doing photography related giveaways all week, so stay tuned, and I'll tell you about each one! With maybe some fun photos of our vacation each time :)

Reconnecting / Disconnecting

Tomorrow morning we're heading out bright and early to spend some quality family time over at Lake Chelan. It will be reconnecting time with Jason's younger sister Jessica, my Mom and Step Dad, My Step Sister and Nephew, my Step Brother, and a few other assorted family members along the way! I'm looking forward to it... We have plenty of sun block and water toys. My camera batteries are charged, and I'm prepared to take a TON of photos!

The disconnecting part is that I will be internet-free for the most part. I'll have my phone, so I'll have email and facebook, but I don't expect to be online much :)

That's all for now! Look for an exciting photo filled post next week some time!

It's entirely too late to do this

It's after 10pm, and I should be heading to bed. But I sat down at my computer desk, and realized I have been super neglectful.



Baxter is still ridiculously cute. No worries. I actually have more pictures on my camera I should upload and edit, but as previously state, it's too late tonight. So just an update. Maybe short, maybe long? We'll see :)

Ok, it's been a LONG time! Baxter is walking everywhere now. He hates to crawl it seems like. Until earlier this week he was crawling a tiny bit so he could pull himself to standing so he could take off again, but he learned how to stand up on his own. It's sooo cute! But it means my baby boy is growing up :( Can you believe he's 10 months old already? It's crazy! He still isn't working on any words, but he has learned a few signs. He rarely uses them though. In fact, I taught him to sign "more" the other day using blueberries, but now he only wants more blueberries. He loves blueberries. Almost as much as he loves pudding.




Oh yeah, if you didn't see them on Flickr or Facebook already, we gave Baxter chocolate pudding. He made a royal mess, but it was so stinkin cute, and he loved it. I still have pudding spots on my walls though... Oops! He's starting to want to eat 3 meals a day, but not eating much. He's such a slow eater, and HATES bibs, so now that its finally warm I've just been stripping him down.

I started doing some Photography on the side, and I've been really liking it! Right now I've only taken pictures of a few friend's kids, and I have more to put up, but here's my gallery of photos. I'm hoping that if I get good enough it can bring in a little bit of extra cash next year. I've still been sewing diapers, and my newest creations, embellished birthday diapers, have been a hit so far! Check out my Dilley Dally blog for pictures of those though.

Jason is getting close to the end of the school year. His last day is the 17th, but then the 18-19 are the beginning of summer school. He's teaching a Geometry class this summer for students who want to skip ahead to Advanced Algebra next year. Usually it goes Algebra, Geometry, Advanced Algebra. So this class will be mostly online, and then Jason will be at the school for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays to be there for help. It's a pretty neat system, and I'm looking forward to having him around this summer!

Speaking of summer plans, I'm totally excited to be taking our first vacation over the 4th of July! The Spears/Irvine family is going to the Chelan house, but we're staying a whole week. So some family time, and some just us. We bought a pool/lake toy for Baxter, and stocked up on sunscreen. I even faced the dreaded swimsuit shopping, because none of my old ones fit.

Now, swimsuit shopping is NEVER fun, but it's worse right now. My old suits are all too big, which is a nice feeling, but my tummy is in need of a lot more ahem control now, and by chest is in need of a lot more support. I also can't use anything that ties behind the neck, and V-necks and low necks are out. Yes, Baxter knows where his next meal is coming from, and he's not afraid to go after it if he's hungry enough. So those had to stay on the hangar. Luckily I found the perfect suit at the first place, and scored two amazing skirts that have been a lifesaver in this weather.

Ok, that's enough of an update for now, right? Steve and Krystal and little Bruce are coming over tomorrow, so I better get some rest tonight :)