Blog?

The word "blog" has been on my radar for about half a decade or so. At first, I didn't get it. Why would I want to read about the daily humdrum of a virtual stranger, especially one who's not a professional wordsmith? Then one day, the stars collide: you're bored enough to read anything, you happen across a blog that's not half bad, and before you know it you've been sucked in like quicksand, and you just. can't. stop. reading. It's a lot like reality TV in that sense. There even a TiVo of the blogworld: Google Reader.

I remember the first blog that sucked me in, The Trixie Update, by Ben MacNeill. Back in the day, it was the masterpiece creation of graphic designer turned stay-at-home-dad, where he not only kept track of all the earthshattering things that his newborn did (eat, sleep, and poop), but he found astonishingly cool ways to analyze the endless data and depict it in graphic form. But alas, like puppies, blogs grow up, and the sleep cycles of a 4 year-old just don't make the same pretty artwork. BenMac posts a couple of times a year these days.



Someday, I should post some of the sleep charts (a la Trixie Telemetry) from Noah's early months. They're kinda cool, in the same geeky way the dot map is cool. Besides, at some point, I might ought to earn my "Math Mommy" title. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't able to keep up with my data collecting very long. Life gets in the way of silly stuff like that.

Be a Dot!

I just added a SiteMeter widget to my page, so I can see exactly how many people are(n't) reading it. It's really nothing more than a geeky gadget, but it's fun for us math-type people. One of the coolest things SiteMeter can do is show where my visitors come from, on a world map. So come visit my page, and become a Dot! Oh, wait, you already have! Better yet, leave me a comment and say Hi! (see that little link at the end of each post that says "143 comments"? I know you're hiding out there!)



Unfortunately, the SiteMeter people are clever enough that I can't show the dynamic map here, so you'll have to use you imagination to see YOUR dot until I post a more updated version.

ETA: Thanks to all my dots! I feel so loved today!!!

Happy Easter!

Being Texans, we have to take the obligatory Bluebonnet Baby pictures, but with Easter being so early this year, we only had a few small patches (in mom's yard) to choose from. Funny, after Noah's 5-minute photo session, this patch had half as many bluebonnets as when we started. All boy!

Some things can't help but be cute in miniature...

... like Crocs!

(and baby Pirates!)

Happy, Happy, Happy!

We topped off a weekend of birthdays on Monday by taking Noah to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse with family. Maybe I should phrase that differently: we went to Ruth's Chris and Noah got to go along. I'm thinking they don't see many babies in there, but the valet was patient as we unloaded our boatloads of baby stuff, and the hostess hid her surprise well, and best of all, Noah was a perfect gentleman! If anything, he laughed a little loudly, but then, so did we! While we were there, he finally grasped the concept of eating puffies instead of throwing them on the floor (nice timing), and he even got to sample some of the bananas out of our cream pie dessert. All in all, it was a great evening.

Funny how now that I'm a mom, my wish for a happy birthday revolves around the baby being happy. Happy baby, happy mommy!


(Noah with Aunt Susan and Uncle Lou)

Tag, I'm It!

I've been tagged:

Ten years ago today, I was:
- Turning 21...
- in a tiny little barrio of a barrio outside Guayaquil, Ecuador...
- on an Alternative Spring Break mission trip, as ...
- a junior in college at the University of Dallas, ...
- clueless what I was going to be when Igrew up.

Five things on my to-do-list today:
1. Buy a swimsuit
2. Go to dinner with family for birthdays.
3. Grade exams (not gonna do it, but it is on my to-do list)
4. Grade other papers (again, not gonna do it on my birthday!)
5. Give Noah a bath.

Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire:
- Be a stay at home mom.
- Fund college for Noah, his cousins, and any future babies.
- Pay off the house and car, or buy new ones!
- Take a nice long second honeymoon to Hawaii, with Noah.
- Give generous gifts to my family so they could all do what they want to do and be where they want to be.

Three of my bad habits:
1. computer time
2. fast food
3. TV

Jobs I’ve had:
1. college professor
2. teaching assistant
3. tutor
4. computer programmer/website developer
5. data filing in a law firm
6. daycare teacher
7. babysitting

Five things people don’t know about me:
1. I love to cook (but I don't very often)
2. I'll research a new purchase till it drives me batty
3. I'm terrible at making decisions.
4. I used to play the oboe.
5. I'm allergic to eggplant.

Now, who am I supposed to tag? I'm so slow that Tara and Julia and Aimee and Robyn and =) have already tagged everyone! Christi, I don't know if you've been tagged, but since you haven't posted yet, I tag you too!

Argggh!

Where did Noah learn how to make this face for the camera? It sure makes it hard to get a "good" picture these days! Does he think he's smiling, or is he just being ornery?

Ahoy, Matey!

Baby Pear Tree

Dave finally got his pear tree this year. It's a four-in-one, with four varieties grafted onto the root stock. So hopefully we'll find one that we like. If not, we might be grafting a fifth variety in a year or two! Noah got a real kick out of watching Daddy plant it. He thought it was especially hilarious to see Daddy on his hands and knees pushing dirt around. I've never heard the boy laugh so hard! Since Noah and the pear tree are just about the same age, we thought we'd snap a photo so we can watch them grow up together.

Choo-Choo!

This Busy Ball Train is a favorite recently.

Suspiciously Quiet

Noah's been pretty vocal these past few days, so when I realized he wasn't chattering anymore, I should've known he was into something good...

Bye-Bye

Noah's 9-month checkup was last Thursday, and I told the pediatrician he wasn't waving yet. Aside from a clear "bye-bye" to his Uncle James on Thanksgiving Day, he hasn't really waved on purpose since, even though we've been working on it lately. (Ms. D. says she can see his little fingers thinking about moving, but she had to point it out to us.)

Then this weekend it's like a lightbulb went off and he can't stop waving at everybody and everything. His favorite thing is to wave bye-bye to mommy in bed when daddy takes him out to play in the morning. (Mommy loves that one too, on so many levels!) Sometimes he waves and I can't even see what might be worth waving at. Must be angels...

Maybe that's who he was talking to at church this morning too. He was
VERY noisy, in that what-should-we-do-with-this-distractingly-happy-child sort of way. It's so nice to hear him so happy! If you were within earshot this morning, I hope you thought so as well!