Little Swimming Pool

Anson's first swimming pool. This was Labor Day.

Kinda cool, daddy!

Getting use to it.

This was today. He loved it!

Bella and Gretta kept coming over to see what the new toy was, prompting Anson to want to follow them across the yard.

It's so wonderful to watch him explore and enjoy new things. You really do re-live your childhood through your child.

Our boy. And, all boy he is.

My Girlfriend's Sweet Little Girl

This is my wonderful friend A. and her darling little girl. Aren't they both beautiful?

So pretty. Look at that lip!

Sweetie.

This is Anson's future wife. I could only hope to be so lucky and so would he!

Quote of the Day

Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope. ~Josh Billings

Labor Day

I actually had a full Sat/Sun/Monday off and I wish I could say we got more accomplished. I slept for about 4 hours Saturday after working Friday night and then we were off to a wedding. It was a Roman Catholic wedding that was very long, but beautiful. We didn't go to the reception and headed home to work on the kitchen. We had sushi for dinner and called it a night. Sunday Dave and I primed the kitchen and mended some areas where the 50 year old wall paper was coming away. No, we did not want to strip the wallpaper. We used a special primer to seal it and it worked great. We also set-up Anson's new fish tank (see previous post) and finally found an infant swimming pool for him. It's really small, only about 3 feet in diameter. Perfect for him. Anyway, Dave worked until about 2:00pm Monday on the kitchen and then we were off to the Upper Arlington Labor Day Festival at Northam Park. This is an amazing festival full of rows and rows of crafts for children, live music, lots of vendors with everything from ceramics to rocking chairs. It's a 22 acre park and they also had a huge video game screen that was quite impressive. We had italian sausages and elephant ears for lunch, which were quite yummy. We spent about 3 hours there and came home so Anson could "swim" in his new pool. He loved it. I'll post pictures later. More work on the kitchen, dinner, then Dave and I were in bed by 10:00pm. Anson was out at 7:00pm. It was a nice weekend. Dave and I haven't had three days off together in months. I'm hoping this Thursday will be my last nightshift and that will make life easier. Fall quarter starts the 19th. I can't believe it's creeping up on me that fast. I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Have a great week.

Naps

When Anson was born, Dave and I had several classes we were required to take and some that we volunteered to take. One class we took while he was in the NICU was about naps/eating/rountines. It stressed the importance of naptime. This is when an infant grows. I did not know that prior to being a mommy. It is so important, there have been books and studies looking at naptime extensively in the past 7 years. How it affects growth, both physically, mentally and so-forth.

My friend M. and myself have had numerous discussions about this, as she has a preemie also. This is what it boils down to for us and our families. Our entire lives revolve around our children's sleep schedules. It is that important to us and my Pediatrician has often commended Dave and I on our ability to stick to Anson's routine and what benefits he receives from this schedule. A lot of parents don't do the scheduled naps, and that is none of my business. It's just something Dave and I feel very strong about. That being said, don't criticize us about how we are "over-protective of Anson and have gone over-board on our routines with him". We are doing exactly what our Neonatologist instructed us to do. Anson is growing, he has no delays in development, has never been sick or hospitalized (which is amazing for a preemie born in the Winter) and he is actually slightly advanced for his adjusted age. So, we are doing it right and just because it's not your way doesn't mean it's the wrong way.

M. and I were laughing at work about parents who have their kids out and about at 9:00pm-10:00pm and wonder why they are "fussy" and throw tantrums. It's so funny because those same parents blame that fussiness and tantrums on teething or "melt-downs" when what the issue generally is, is plain old being tired. Just think about someone coming and waking you up at 3:00am and expecting you to play and run all over God's creation and actually expect you to be happy about it. Seriously, think about it. A child is not an accessory to your life. You are an accessory to theirs.

For Bob H. Thanks for the Beautiful Pottery

These pictures don't do justice for these pottery pieces from my friend, Bob.

He made them for me to match the new kitchen.

Bob, Dave is demanding a percent of all sales from this FREE advertisement!

Anson's First Fish Tank

Our friend, Shane, had a little (try huge) disaster with his 150 gallon fish tank last week. Long story short, Anson got all of the fish from the disaster. This is their new home. I haven't added any plants or fun stuff just yet, but I will.

Minus the glare, it looks pretty.


These are our two "suckers". They are HUGE! They looked much smaller in the container they came in. I bet they are at least 8 inches long.

This is an alien. I have no idea what this thing is. And no, it is not upside down.

SHARK!

Pretty yellow fish and we have no idea what this is either.

Impressive.