Voyages in Parenthood

Tonight, Brock and I got the biggest scare of Leda's short life. She fell down the steps. Yes, you heard me. She fell down the steps. Those three steps I mentioned before that lead from the great room to the dining room. She fell down those steps. How could she fall down those steps, that have a gate guarding the child from being able to access the steps in order to fall down them, you ask? Some how, the gate didn't latch. How could she fall down those steps when someone HAD to be watching her at all times, you ask? Mama had to use the bathroom and Daddy was on the phone. Mama thought the gate was latched, as did Daddy, and she left the room for a quick relief break. Usually the room is secure enough to allow this to happen. What I heard next I don't think I will ever forget...the thump, thump, thump of my child falling down those darned steps. I was to her before she started to cry, but to see my child lying at the bottom of those steps, in obvious shock at what had just h

In the past week or so, we've tried to give Leda mandarin oranges...they are small and delicious, but she won't eat them. She ate them once, she will eat oranges (regular ones) but she won't do mandarin any more. In the past couple of days, we have given Leda her food in a bowl, and last night, Brock put her fruit in a small ramekin. I've always hesitated because I wasn't sure that the food wouldn't end up on the floor or else where, but she's been pretty good about it. And, she seemed to love it, like it was one more step to becoming an adult so she could get the heck outta here! So, tonight, I put her mixed fruit (which she loves! Luckily they make it in natural juices so it doesn't have added sugar) in a ramekin and put 4 mandarin oranges on the top. The kid didn't even bat an eyelash as she pushed the mandarin orange out of the way to get to the good fruit at the bottom! She continued this effort, barely touching the oranges until she got to the

Okay, I've mentioned the "largest cat" searches that end up here before. Well, lately, we've had some strange ones (searches, that is) end up here. And, we still get searches for largest cat! So, lately, we've had: Orange Elf (???) having fun brock one? (Totally don't get this one) cute cyndy spit (Don't even want to know) jones beach jimmy buffett tailgating (well, this isn't strange, but made me feel bad since we aren't going :( ) Brock Seafood (which led Brock to think he should start posting recipes) parenthood expereince (which alerted me to the fact that I completely forgot to spell check that day!) baby + clingy + whiny + warm (which we have had our fair share of in the past 11 months!) brock little today (??) Now, doesn't it make you wonder, when you do a search, how your search might look to another?? Scares the bejesus out of me! ;-)

Better late than never! I wrote this earlier today, just didn't get the chance to finish posting it until now! 11 Months today! One month to go until the Big 1! Leda moved from infant to toddler this past month. She's been walking for over two months, but this past month, she's just looks and acts more like a toddler than an infant. She walks everywhere, she even walks in circles, stomps like she's dancing, dances! She's totally aware of her surroundings and attempts to get everywhere and anything she can! The remote and the phone are still always in her eyesight and if either becomes available to her, she's got em! We are a gated community now! Every opening is either gated or door closed in order to keep Leda from getting into things she shouldn't. The bathroom fascinates her, and we really can't keep her out of there, since that's where she has to go to brush her teeth. She especially likes the trash can and the toilet paper roll...especially the

Posted at Yates Video Blog ...two of em! Not the best, but show the stomping that Leda has started doing...and not when she's mad (although, she does it then too!) Mostly, she does this when she's having fun! It's cute!!

Not a whole lot yet! Basically I am in training. My title is system integrator. I will be installing shipping systems. Lots of programming involved. I am working for a friend, which is something I have done before and it worked out okay, so here's hoping this works out okay too! Steve and his wife Kate happened to go out to dinner and a show ( the Poco concert ) with Brock and I the day I was let go from my previous job and heard the whole sorted story about all the stuff that went down (yep, not gonna talk about it here in specifics - have learned the "blog about work" lesson from fellow bloggers, don't even care if I don't work there anymore.) Steve asked me to email my resume to him and a couple weeks later, here I am working for him. We had our discussion about being friends and working together and how we just need to stay in communication about everything to make sure that one relationship or the other doesn't end up in the pooper! Anyway, started on Thu

Her favorite stuffed guy...sleeps with it, plays with it, cuddles with it. It's a lamb, we can't figure out what to call the thing. I am thinking of naming it Fred...easier than Lamb guy or Lambikins. Or anything else we can come up with (mostly, I call it her Lamb Guy! Can't wait until she can start naming her own stuff!)

T.O. is outta here! Yep, gone and forgotten! Dallas has him now. I'm not gonna gloat yet (well, not too much just yet), but it couldn't have happened to a better team. Hope they have all the fun that we had. I just can't believe that the guy is gonna keep his antics in check or keep his mouth shut while in Dallas. But hey, he's learned apparently (that's what he said). Someone else I am happy to be rid of...that darned Drew Rosenhaus...good riddance to him. I don't know who was more annoying, T.O. or Rosenhaus. As my grandmother would have said, "what a pistol!" That's it...last post about T.O. (well, until I can truly gloat about his stint with the Cowgirls!) hehehe Seriously, I wonder how Dallas fans are gonna welcome him!

What a busy week. Lots of interesting things happened this week. I started my new job on Thursday. Leda learned to walk up stairs this week! Not sure which one is scarier, but I am pretty sure I won't end up in the emergency room with my new job! We have three steps (open) that go up from the living room to the dining room. We didn't have a problem before because we had Leda "barricaded" in the middle of the living room, she couldn't get to the steps. But she was really starting to out grow the area we had her in - it was getting harder to keep her in than just opening up the living room to her - so we did. So she started climbing up the stairs. She will watch to see what we will do while trying to climb up on the bottom step. I called Brock from work yesterday and he informed me she made it to the second step - standing on the second step. So, our eyes are now glued to the kid while in the living room! She's quick, that kid...she RUNS! Not just walking - runn

We have a wonderful little piece of earth that we get to call our own. We've got a creek that runs between our property and our neighbors that flows into a pond...it used to be the local swimming hole many many decades ago, before it filled into be a little swampy on one end and probably about two or three feet deep at the other end. Not much for swimming, but the life that lives around the creek and pond is abundant. In the 8 years we've lived here (yep...8 years at the end of this month), the creek and pond haven't always been full of life. There have been a year or two when the creek barely flowed and the pond actually dried up. In fact, there was the one year we went to bed with a pond and woke up without one! (the "plug" that was used to create the swimming hole finally rusted and fell off! The whole pond drained over night! I think we've got pictures of Brock and/or John (our next door neighbor) saving the hundreds upon thousands of tadpoles we had that

She's dumbfounded!

Okay, seriously, $126 for a seat at a concert? Even a Jimmy Buffett concert. Seriously, you will pay $126 for the last seat in the last row at the Buffett concert in NJ. There's something wrong with the cost of concert tickets. Considering that, what, maybe 50% of real people actually buy a ticket directly from ticketmaster...all the rest go to resellers who end up charging $200 bucks for a ticket on the LAWN that goes for $36 face value. Really, I would like to meet the people who will spend $200 to sit on the lawn with all the other crazies! And, if it rains...well, then is it really worth it???? So, for two people, you get two reserved seats, that's $260. Then you gotta get to the venue and park...probably gonna cost ya around 10-20 bucks...then you gotta eat...more than likely you'd tailgate, so you'd have to chip in....let's say you spend about $20 for food, and about $20 for alcohol (okay, $40 - this is a buffett concert!) Then you might get a drink/water whil

Unbelievable! Our friend Bob calls yesterday to inform us that Jimmy Buffett tickets go on sale today at 10...when do I remember to try and get the tickets???? At 10:08! Do you think I got any tickets????? Nope. Not even one freaking Lawn ticket! Just checked ebay and only thing I've found so far are lawn tickets going for no less than 100 bucks! Geez the darned things are 36 bucks face value! The idea of no Jimmy Buffett this summer hurts! Hopefully Bob got some or we can get some for Jones Beach instead (if he schedules a date there, which I am sure he will!) I just can't believe I totally forgot to get tickets! Geez, my brains are mush!

Don't know what this look is, but I like it!

What a beautiful day today is...a little windy and a little cloudy, but warn enough we spent some time roaming the property. We saw a snake and we saw all the fish hanging out in the pond (they've been busy this winter...there's like 20 new babies!!)

I am tired! It's amazing how tiring work can be when you haven't been working for a long time! I spent the day with my boss (it feels completely weird to call our friend Steve my boss) at a client at which the product the company installs was going live. It was very interesting! And tiring! But in a good way...and no, I am not saying that because it is completely possible that Steve will read this! ;-) We had to go to Newark, NJ, which is a two hour ride easily. So up early in the morning. I had set the alarm for 6am in order to get up and get ready and, by chance, spend a few minutes with Leda before I left...she was going to day care today, so it wasn't like she was going to miss me too much, but anyway! Well, Miss Leda had other ideas! Up at 5:30 AM! Love my new alarm clock! ;-) Well, that makes for a long day! Off to Newark around 7:30am and wow, what a day! Okay, so I've had long days when I didn't get a chance to eat until I got home, but those days were SO

Well, we are all (relatively) healthy again. That's a marked improvement over this time last week! Leda's been motoring all over the house these days. She's like a little freight train - running from room to room (well, between the hallway to the bedrooms, the dining room and kitchen) and picking up whatever she wants along the way! Mostly, that's whatever we give her, as there's nothing else within her reach - except the kitchen towels, which she has taken a liking to! For whatever reason, she pulls the down from their rung and flips them over her head and around her neck...kinda like she's putting on a cape. It's quite humorous! Another interesting thing she has been doing the past couple of weeks is carrying cans of food around the kitchen and dining room. We've taken to allowing her full access to the upper part of the house when we are up there, usually making her dinner or our dinner. It allows her the opportunity to walk around a lot more (since w