Ah, once again it's been a month since I posted. Sigh. Whatever, I guess. One of the things about having kids is that it teaches you to live one day at a time. It makes it easy for time to get away from you when you do, though. So greetings everybody! Things have been going well with us here at Chez Vanderburg. Steve did end up having an interview with the Portland office (they didn't call until five weeks after the posting closed!!) but we haven't heard back on that one. Despite Steve being such a strong candidate, we're not sure he's going to be chosen. It sounds like they need a techie, someone who can do programing, and that's so not Steve. But never fear, he has another application in at the other Portland office, as well as Cheyenne. The other Portland office is a River Forecast Center, dealing with, oddly enough, rivers. There is a lot of interesting things involved with that one, but I won't bore everybody with the details unless he gets the job. Since then ya'll are going to hear way more than you ever wanted to know anyway. As for the Cheyenne job, I know what you're thinking. Cheyenne? As in, Wyoming? WHY-oming? We're not as desperate to go just anywhere as you might think. Steve got me thinking about Cheyenne with one simple statement. 90/10. 90% of your time, it doesn't matter where you are. If you're just chilling in front of the boob tube or online, playing with the baby or doing chores, or working, San Diego is not really any different from Maine, or Kentucky. The other ten percent of the time, your free time, that's when it matters. Now, you say, yea but that ten percent in Cheyenne sounds really hick and boring. Ah, but wait dear friends. Cheyenne is only 90 minutes from Boulder, Denver, and the Rocky Mountain National Forest. That's the same distance as Julian to downtown San Diego. But we'd have the added bonus of not having to drive half an hour to the grocery store, an hour to the hardware store, or an hour and a half to the airport or hospital or doctor. All of that is in town, and it only takes about twenty minutes to drive from one side of Cheyenne to the other. Then there is the financial aspect of the place. Wyoming doesn't have a state income tax. That means the ten percent we're paying now would go straight into our pocket. Their sales tax is lower. Pretty much every fee or tax they have is lower than California (it's hard not to be). And we could get a nice house, better than what we have, for approximately $160K. Gee. And, just for Steve's sake, it's chase country. They get massive hail, tornadoes, huge supercells, summer thunderstorms. And their year round weather is always of interest to a meteorologist. Maybe not so much the rest of us, but that's okay. I've resigned myself to the fact that if we move there, I'm going to have to listen to conversation about the weather 90% of the time. Such is life. So. There you have it. Oh, and as for the hick factor of Cheyenne....we do all of our grocery etc. shopping in Ramona. Been there. Done that. Enough said.

Beet is growing so fast. He's able to grab things and hold them, successfully navigate them to his mouth. He's recently discovered his feet and his ears. He can stand up for several minutes at a time, as long as someone is stabilizing him. He's not quite to the sitting on his own yet, but he's not too far. He's still not crawling, mostly because of his sincere and utter disgust with belly time, but we're hoping to change that soon. We went to a follow-up physical therapy assessment at the hospital yesterday, and the PT gave us some good ideas about how to help him with belly time. So, we'll see if we can't get him crawling yet. We gave him his first taste of applesauce yesterday, and he actually ate some of it. Didn't like it very much and didn't seem to have a great idea of what to do with the food once it got into his mouth, but he did eat it. He'd probably eat a lot more of it if we smeared it on his toys, since he spends so much time chewing on them. But then he'd have to figure out how to beat off the dogs. Seems like too much trouble.       

For those of you who have been thinking I've gotten the long straw with the ease of my child, be prepared to have your notions adjusted. He hasn't suddenly turned into a colic-fraught individual, but he is definitely trying sometimes. He's gotten very specific about what he wants, when he wants it, and isn't the least bit ashamed to scream at the top of his lungs when he's displeased. Gone are the days of... huh. I guess they're so gone I don't even remember what they were. Oh, well. In order for me to get anything done that takes more than ten minutes, I am forced to rely on other people. Steve, obviously, is a big help. And lately Tami as well. She been coming up once a week for about a month, and playing with the beet, taking him for stroller rides, holding him while he sleeps (at least trying to) etc. I've used the sweet bliss of baby free time for the endless joy of home improvement. There was supposed to be a touch of sarcasm in that last sentence. I do like home improvement, of course. Just not when I feel like I have a dead line. That being us wanting to move and Steve applying to Portland. He did not get that job. We're pretty sure they hired one of their own offices' interns, which is just about impossible to beat. But we're certainly not giving up, and we'll keep you abreast of future applications. I still feel like I have a deadline, though. I have managed to finish painting all the walls beige (BORING!!!!) and have finished painting the countertops as well. I'll post some before and after pictures of the kitchen soon. We still need to put in new flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, and paint the deck. And once we're done with that, I'm sure some other projects will come up. It's times like these that renting becomes so much more appealing...

Will is doing really well, on the whole. He's decided he doesn't want to learn to crawl. He absolutely HATES tummy time and starts screaming pretty much as soon as he's face first into the carpet. So he's been working on standing instead, as a precursor to walking. He stands really well, needing only to be balanced, and he can stay up for two or three minutes at a time. It's quite impressive. We recently discovered that he has anisocoria, or uneven dilation of the pupils. I took him to the doctors when we noticed it, and he said it's probably nothing to worry about, but recommended I take him to see a specialist at Children's Hospital. Haven't managed that one yet, but I'm not really feeling too concerned, especially since we were looking at some pictures of him when he was three months old, and he had it then too. And last night I noticed that Steve has it as well, in the exact same eye as Will. So. It's actually a condition that affects 20 percent of the population. I'm in the minority in my house by being in the majority of the population.

Beet is starting the teething cycle. Yea. That's one of the reasons he's no longer on the easiest babies in the country list. He's got the whole gnawing on everything in sight, waking up more during the night, being more grouchy thing going. Not to mention the drool, of course. But what would a baby be without drool, right? This is why mothers should only wear machine washable clothes.

On the flip side, Will is a big smiler and isn't too stingy with his laughs. He really likes playing peek-a-boo and being tickled, and is starting to flirt with everything that moves. Those are the moments that make everything else okay.

The beet is officially sleeping in his own room now. The past several nights he's slept in there without any problems. It's been rather chilly up here at night, so I've had the heater going in his room. He still manages to squirm out from under all of his covers, though, and wakes up cold in the middle of the night. So last night I swaddled him in his SwaddleMe and and extra blanket, and he slept like a log for 10 and a half hours straight. It was fantastic! I was able to do a bit of uninterrupted painting after I put him down, and still got up and took the dogs out before he woke up. I've got him swaddled for a nap right now, and that seems to be working really well. If he can take even one long nap a day (in addition to all of his 20 minute catnaps) he's much less grumpy. But usually the only way to get him to sleep for two or three hours is to hold him. The whole time. And that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Except for the grumpiness, of course. That's worth it in and of itself. We're painting the walls a much more neutral sandy beige (which I once swore I would never do, but never say never, eh?) over the orange. It's almost mind boggling to me how much work we need to do to get the house in good sell-able condition. We've done some things already, of course that will help a whole lot, but considering how much is still to do and how little time (potentially) we have left, it's close to overwhelming. Steve is applying for the Portland job, obviously, but we won't know if he's even going to get an interview for probably three or four weeks yet. But we'll keep you posted. After all, that's the point of the blog, right?

   We have been using our forced air unit to heat the house the past month or two because it's so much easier than tending a fire. More expensive, sure, but worth it. Well, we're back to the stove now. One of the fan blades on the  heater cracked and split, so it doesn't turn right anymore. Doesn't anybody build quality anymore? I mean, come on! It's only about 25 years old! It should have lasted a whole, what, ten years total? :P Obviously, it's not that big of a deal (hopefully) and won't be too expensive to fix (please, please). It's just nice we have our trusty stove to fall back on. Ironically, when we bought the house, the guys who cleaned the chimneys told us the stove was on its last leg and we should replace it ASAP. I guess we're going for broke by using it, but we used it exclusively last winter without any issue whatsoever. I didn't even know metal stoves could get to the point of "last leg." Eh, whatever. I've got more important things to worry about. Like painting. Almost all of the walls upstairs, the kitchen counters, the entire deck...Now where'd my paintbrush get to?

The little beet had a doctors appointment for his four month shots today. Knowing how difficult it was (for me) last time, Steve got off work early and came too. Will actually wasn't too bad at the doctors or right after, but he did seem to still be in quite a bit of pain, so we gave him some infant Tylenol to help. I'm not sure if it bothered his tummy or if something else was going on, because he started screaming as loud as he could and didn't stop for a good 30 to 45 minutes. Definitely not the norm for him. And he didn't really seem to have much problems last time after we left the doctors. I thought maybe his band-aids were pulling on his skin, so I carefully took them off, using Vaseline to pull back the edges without hurting him. It worked; he didn't cry the whole time I was doing that (I'm gonna have to remember that trick for me, too). But, just a few minutes later, he was back to screaming. Now I understand what it's like (albeit briefly) to have a colicky baby. Nothing would soothe him. Finally we managed to get him to sleep, although I think it had more to do with how long he'd been crying and he was just plain worn out. None of the shot sites are puffy or red like he was having an allergic reaction or anything. Rather odd, I must say. Hopefully we don't have a repeat of that performance anytime soon. I felt so helpless.

On the plus side, the doc said that he didn't hear any trace of a heart murmur anymore (hooray!). I asked him about Will's habit of sleeping through the night and needing to eat about every hour during the day and only catnapping. He said he's just a grazer and it's nothing to worry about. Our son, the cow. Well, I guess he'd be more like a calf, since I claim the title of cow since I make so much milk. The last time we had him weighed and measured (two months ago) he was 25 inches long and weighed 10.2 lbs. This time he's 28 1/2 inches long and weighs 13.9 pounds. So, as the doctor put it, he's "going in the right direction." Well, he sure isn't going to get shorter!

Steve has not applied for Portland yet, simply because the opening has not been posted yet. He knows it's going to be because they emailed him to see if he'd be interested. That sounds more exciting than it is; they email all the interns to see how much interest there is before they post it so they know if they should open it just to the NWS employees or anybody. So we'll keep our fingers crossed about the whole thing for awhile yet.

Steve seems to have become obsessed with Portland. Woe unto us if he doesn't get the job! :D He'll probably mope around the house, sighing hugely, and stand under a cold shower with all his clothes on to simulate the rain.

 My dad is visiting us right now. I know, I know. My mom last week, my dad this week. What next, my sister and brother-in-law? That would be great, but it's not on the calendar. It just worked out with my parents. Having them here is so wonderful. It makes me appreciate the concept of multi-generational housing, even if that's not something we're set up for. Of course, I do realize that actually living with them (again) would be a lot different from having them visit. While they are visitors, they want to be on their best behavior so they get invited back, and feel that they need to contribute to the household in some way. My mom buys our groceries and watches the beet. My dad does chores and watches the beet (beet-watching being a full-time activity). It's great. I feel like I can finally take a shower by myself or actually have time to type up a blog. I've been bitten a bit lately by the writing bug (not so much in the realm of Blog, obviously), but I haven't had any chance to sit down and put pen to paper, as it were. I'm sure I'll manage to find some time, eventually. In the meantime, I just go over the stories I want to write in my head, so that I have a more refined concept as a rough draft. Put the written diarrhea through a filter. That sort of thing. Isn't that just the prettiest image? :D I just have too many damn interests, when it comes right down to it. I like to write, read, cook, sew, crochet, do home improvement projects, garden, home canning, running, hang with my huzzy. So on and so forth. Some things just take precedence over others, obviously, and that's perfectly acceptable. Being a mother is a full-time job, one I would not trade for anything. I may complain about my lack of time occasionally (like every time I blog), but I really think being a mother is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It's right up there with meeting Steve.

   Speaking of cooking, we bought a chest freezer today. Whoo-hoo! Cabbage patch, cabbage patch (as in, the dance). So now I'll be able to make extras of casseroles and pot pies and such and freeze them for a later date. This is something I've been wanting for months and months, so I'm very excited about the whole thing. Now we just need to decide exactly where we want to put it... I'll have to have Steve and my dad try it in all the spots I'm thinking it might fit to see how it looks. Since I don't really want to have to move it all over when I've got strong men about. After all, isn't that what they're for?

While my mom was here, she taught me the basics of crocheting. I really like it, and have started a baby blanket for the beet. I work on it whenever I can, meaning I get a total of about half an hour a day in on it. By my calculations, at this rate I'll finish it just in time for it to be too small to be of much use to him and will have to go into the "for the next baby" pile. At which time, undoubtedly, I will look at it and say "why did I ever want to keep this? The work on this is so shoddy!" because I will be putting out masterwork afghans by then. At least, that's how it goes in my mind. And we all know how things in our minds rarely mimic reality. Ah, well.

  The six photos from Will's shoot at Babys'R'Us are up. For those of you who want copies, let me know which ones and what size (5x7, 4x6, 8x10, wallet, whathaveyou) and I'll get them to you.

  The little man is such a good night sleeper! It's great. He's started sleeping an average of eight hours straight. Last night he went a full ten and a half, and only woke up when I got him up to feed him. I couldn't wait any longer without my boobs feeling like they were going to burst through the confines of my clothes and wave about for his attention of their own free will. I'm sure that would have been quite a sight. He may sleep well at night, but he mostly just catnaps during the day. It makes it really difficult to get anything done unless someone else is here (like Steve or my mom, Tami, Ira, my dad, the UPS guy) to hold and entertain him. It just means I get creative about how I get things done and when. All the tricks of the trade, with my personal flair.

Will has become quite the traveler. He still loves to sleep in the car, but he will no longer sleep anywhere else. He wants to be part of what's going on, checking everything out, wherever we are. This means that on a long day of shopping, he gets overstimulated and cranky. You'd think he'd just go to sleep and solve the problem, but he doesn't want to miss anything and will fight falling asleep. He's actually kind of funny, but dealing with the cranky part isn't. At least it makes him sleep well at night. He routinely sleeps 6-8 hours a night.

  We took him to Babys'R'Us today to have his pictures taken in a sailor outfit Tami bought for him. It's a tradition on Steve's side of the family to have baby pictures in sailor outfits, so away we went. They are very cute, and we have lots, not to mention a cd with them all on it. So we can print out more if we need them. If anybody would like a copy, please let me know. I'm going to post them all on here when I get them next week. 

   This is the third time I've sat down to write a blog, and so far it looks like it'll be successful. Hooray! :D Of course, as I write this, the beet is stirring from a well deserved nap. It's like meal times; whenever food is cooking or on the table, he gets fussy and wants to be held or eat too. Without fail. It's like he smells the food and decides he wants a piece of the action. It's become the norm for me to have to nurse him in restaurants while I'm waiting for my food. That's a very interesting experience, let me tell you. I always make sure I have a blanket to cover us up so we don't offend anyone's delicate sensibilities. :P

     He's starting to be very generous with his smiles. It's so wonderful! I was actually surprised we couldn't get him to smile for his photos today, although they still turned out well.  It makes me feel so important and loved to have him smile at me when he sees me coming or when I'm talking to him while I'm holding him. If someone had told me even five years ago how much I would love being a mother, I would not have believed them. By that time I had decided I did want to have kids (that was not always the case), but I pictured my life very differently than it is. But the reality of my life is so much better than anything I could have imagined. I always thought it would be really boring and tedious to be a homemaker, but I actually find that out of every job I've ever had, I like it the best. I like answering only to myself, being able to set my own goals and be my own task master, having a lot of flexibility to my days. Knowing that a lot of things on my to-do list could be postponed if something else more important comes up. But most importantly, I'm always there for my family, meeting their needs. It's very important to both Steve and I that we don't have strangers raising our kids. Watching what's happening in today's society, especially with the way we treat our children, makes me realize I'm rather old fashioned. I don't want Will to have a cell phone by the time he's eight, a laptop at ten, and God knows what other gizmos before and after. I want to actually know what my children are like, and be sure that they are capable of reading an entire book or have real conversations with people. Too many kids don't really read anything other than short blogs on the internet or texting or what-have-you. It's sad. We, as a society, are sacrificing our human interaction to technology. We stop meeting in person and talking on the phone, and hand written letters are a relic of the past. It's all about instant messaging, bloging, texting, e-mailing, even sending videos to others. And the younger generation will not want to be outdone by their predecessors. One day we're going to wake up and realize that our children don't know how to hand write anything other than their name, they are so used to keyboards. You'll have to go to their Facebook page to find out how their day was, and check their Flickr page to see what they look like these days. You'll have to call their cells to tell them that dinners ready, and try and understand their text speak anograms. And no, the irony that I'm putting all this into a blog of my own is not lost on me. I'm don't mind my children being able to function in the technological world, but I also want them to be a part of the physical one.

I'll have to keep this quick since the little one is sleeping, and heaven only knows how long I've got before he wakes up. He's at least figured out that nighttime is for sleeping, and he routinely sleeps six to eight hours at night. That's pretty nice. We're going to start having him sleep in his own room now. Should be interesting. He may sleep well at night, but not so during the day. He'll be up every hour or two, eat a lot, nod off for ten minutes, then be back up and want to eat some more. It makes it rather difficult to get much done because while he's awake, he (of course) wants to be held. Not to mention that he thinks I'm a buffet, and he wants to take his time to let the first course settle before going back for seconds. I might as well go topless with how often I have to whip 'em out. It's easy to think I'm exaggerating, but when Vanessa and Rachel were here, they were shocked to see him eat three times in ninety minutes. That's not something he does all day long (thank God); I would think there was something wrong if he did. I'm trying to work towards him eating just once while he's awake, and then sleeping for several hours. I think that would be better for both of us. But we'll see. His body knows what it needs better than I do, so we'll go by that rather than the clock.

   Steve went out of town for two days this week, and it was just me, the baby, and the puppies for the first time. Of course that's the status quo while he's at work, but it felt different this time. The beginning of the first day was the worst. The idea that I was going to have to work out how to meet everyone's needs on my own was rather daunting. But the idea proved to be worse than the reality, thankfully. It really wasn't so bad. Not that I'm in a hurry to repeat it. But it did bring home to me how much I rely on him for little things like taking the dogs out while I'm dealing with the baby, being there to hold and entertain Will while I do other things like fix dinner or work on a home improvement project. I feel like we've made leaps and bounds in that area lately, and I'm very happy about that. Tami and Ira came up last weekend and spent some quality time with us. Remember what I said about two blogs ago, thinking I should ask them up and have Tami watch the rugrat while Ira and I and Steve do some projects? :D Yea baby, yea! Tami got her grandbaby fix while the rest of us put in a new bathroom vanity in the upstairs bathroom. For any of you who have seen it, you'll understand that was a long time coming and much needed. After we were done with that, Steve and Ira jumped on the ball and installed some latice in the front yard for our new wisteria plants to climb. Add to that the new paint and hardware on the kitchen cabinets, and we're talking some noticeable changes. There are certainly more things we need to get done, but all in good time. I do what I can when I can. My mom is coming next week and is staying almost two weeks, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get a lot accomplished while she's here. I have a lot of painting I want to get done (yes, it seems we're always painting something) and it's hard to keep clean so I can drop everything and take care of lil' Will when he's feeling needy. That's where Mom comes in. I'll put her to work. She can have her own quality grandbaby time, and maybe she can do a little cooking too. She's quite a good cook and is always coming up with tasty dishes. But it's really up to her. She may have her own ideas about what she wants to do while she's here.

   Will has started doing this new trick. He knows (like any child) that crying will bring attention. So when he's in his carseat or bassinette and he's fussing, I'll go get him. Well, when the little tyke sees me standing there, putting the burp cloth on my shoulder to pick him up, he gets the biggest smile on his face. His expression is the perfect "I WIN!!" that it always makes me laugh. I just try not to let him abuse his powers over me.