It's almost 2009

Solomon longing to pull off some ornaments.

Zoe posing.. where on earth could she have learned this vital skill?

Solomon in his monkey PJs.

So Christmas has come and gone. We did xmas eve with my parents and then drove up to Lawrence on Christmas day to hang out with Alex's family. It was nice. We now have more toys than ever in our house. It's just a constant mess. I think solomon's favorite toys include Elmo's kitchen, pressing the button on the Crayola marker thing, the piano and the Thomas the Train car thing. However, he plays with almost everything for at least a few minutes a day. Some of the toys are a bit old for him right now, but that's okay. The funniest moment of Christmas day was when I opened a card from Alex's mom that contained money for his college fund. After opening the envelope, I noticed a postcard which had two women talking on the phone pictured. I thought that was odd.. so I turned it over and noticed that she had accidentally placed a "remember your pap smear" card/cervical cancer awareness card in the Christmas card. I announced this and everyone started cracking up. It's just an odd thing to find in a little boy's christmas card. She had also patched up a few holes in some of the Christmas wrapping with return address labels. Hmmm.. still haven't figured that one out completely. I always tell people that this will all be in a book someday. While in Lawrence, we went to see a house where the family had computerized their Christmas lights to match a series of songs. YOu could tune your radio into a station and listen. It took a while, but it was pretty cool. I told Alex to get started on ideas for our display for next year! Then, we laughed, knowing he loathes putting up lights so it's doubtful that it will ever happen.

I got lots of good clothes from my family and a few fun electronics from Alex.. such as an iPhone and a bluetooth headset. He also got me the Roomba vacuum cleaner thing. I love it. I watched it for about 30 minutes the first time it ran. Pretty cool.

My next mission is to get all of the Christmas decor down. I usually leave it up until Jan. 1, but I'm sick of it so I think it will come down tomorrow.

I'm listening to the KU game b/c it's on ESPNU, a channel we don't have.. bummer.

Tomorrow, is NYE. We have some plans for early on, but i'm sure we'll end up at our bar by midnight. Have New Year everyone!

Busy Times

So, I feel like I've been everywhere, but really haven't been any farther away than Dallas. It's just been a really busy couple of weeks between work and Thanksgiving and Solomon and all kinds of other stuff. For instance, we are finalizing our purchase of Kirby's Beer Store, a local bar, this week, so Alex has been really stressed out with all of that stuff. We did manage to find time this weekend to get our holiday picture of Solomon taken. I was also able to get the holiday decorations up last weekend.

This weekend was fun. I went to my friend Jackie's wedding reception. She was married in September in Maui, and another friend of hers held a party for them here. Today, I went on a run in the morning and this afternoon, we went to Brooke and Andy's house for pizza. There were tons of kids there which is always crazy but fun.

Speaking of kids, I have posted a few pictures of my kiddo, Solomon: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/Solomon-at-14-months

Here's a cute little video of Solomon saying "mommy". :)

Solophant

I think I totally forgot to post the link of Solomon's photos from Halloween to my blog. Here it is: www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/solophant. They are so sweet.. I have looked at them about a million times.

Baby Love

Yes. I'm still alive. Work has been extremely crazy lately, so I've had zero time to blog or even barely email anyone outside of work. I think things are finally going to slow down for the holidays.. Hooray!

Solomon has been cute and sweet and fun as usual, with a bit of crazy and annoying toddler stuff thrown in there at times of course. He's been very affectionate at times lately which is so fun for us. He had his normal 14-mo. check-up on Friday. His stats are below:

• Weight: 23 lbs. 6 oz. - 41%
• Height: 30 1/2" - 45%
• Head circ.: 47 1/2" - 45%

So, he's much more proportionate than he was last time and just about average. He had his flu shot and four other vaccinations, so he ran a fever and was pretty irritable off and on, on Saturday, but overall he did just fine.

Above, I've posted a few pics.. one of Solomon in his sweet little PJs and another with Alex that I find funny. Alex was getting ready to go for a bike ride so he had on one of those thin cold weather shirts.. It just happened to match Solomon's outfit. Below, I've also posted a few videos of "baby love". :)

"Oh What a Night!"

One of my fav songs says it all... "Oh What a Night!" Last night was truely awesome for me. Obama's speech was outstanding and he really knows how to deliver a speech. Most of the press surrounding Barack Obama's win seems to be focussed around the fact that he's the first African American president of the U.S. That is amazing, but I also think the enthusiasm he and obviously the people running his campaign were able to garner from people all over the country and overseas is amazing. We will soon have an incredible person in office. Now the hard work really begins for Barack Obama.

Silly Solomon

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I would post a fun little video of Solomon being happy and running around the house. He's so silly lately. He knows how to point out his nose and he's working on his ears. He'll just grab them, but I don't think he fully gets it yet. He's jabbering about something all the time and says "Mama" in a very dramatic Sopranosesque kind of tone. He falls alot now too b/c he doesn't know his own limits with the walking/running thing. I've heard boys are crazy about that. Basically, he has a bruise on his head almost every other day. :( He and Coco are still pals. He's still eating well too. We also figured out that he's not lactose intolerant. He just had some issues getting adjusted to the regular milk vs. formula, but seems to be over it now. His favorite toys include his little car that his daycare bought him for his birthday, his monkey, Wheels, the refrigerator magnet set by Leap Frog and random stuff like one of those pitchers with the mixer stopper thing in it.. LOVES that.

We had a great and relaxing weekend.. Friday night, we did some shopping. SAturday, we did some stuff around the house and went out with Brett and Abby at night (left Solomon with my parents). Sunday, we watched some football while Alex worked on the magazine, went over the Brett and Abby's house and played with Solomon. Hope everyone else had a good weekend.

Solomon update and other things

Solomon has officially entered the phase where it'll be hard for me to remember the exact number of months old he is. 13 is the present number. Anyway, I've posted some random new pictures of him at the link below:

http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun14

His hair is always curly and crazy now and people often mistake him for a girl b/c of it I think even when he has on very boyish colors. I think people are unobservant and I think Solomon is just a very pretty boy. He really is though. :) People will come up to me all over the place and tell me how adorable he is. I'm sure most parents experience that, but I think he is the cutest. People also tell me that his pouty face is irresistable. In fact, a couple of his daycare people have told me that "everyone likes Solomon. He's just so cute." Okay, okay, enough of the endless bragging.

He's started to put things in drawers like his sippy cup. I currently can't find one from this morning, but since it's full of milk, I"m sure the smell will soon lead me right to it. Delightful! He also loves it if he says "oh oh oh" and I repeat it. It makes him squeal with delight sometimes. He's settled nicely into his 1 yr. old classroom. I don't like it as well as I did the first year, but we'll give it some time.

As far as the rest of my life goes, Alex and I hosted an engagement party last weekend for Brett and Abby. It was fun. We had a really good time and I think everyone else did too. My parents kept Solomon and the dog. It was such a nice thing to sleep in.

Alex is on a camping trip right now for another friend of his who is getting married. It's his bachelor party of sorts. He gets back tomorrow and I think I'll do my best to dump Solomon on him for a while! :)

I also had this saga with Craig's List and getting rid of our shed that's too long to go into, but it's pretty funny. The good news.. We no longer have a shed and a really nice man took it off our hands. We're glad to have the eyesore gone.

Some girls are coming over tonight. It should be fun. Tomorrow, I'll watch the KU vs. OU game! Go KU!!

Pics from Vegas

I'm in Dallas until tomorrow morning. I'm ready to get home and see Solomon. He's so funny lately. I have a few pictures from my Vegas weekend that I've posted below.

The Ex-KSN Crew - Jennifer, Jason, Mark and Me
Jason, Mark and Me

Jason and Me

Me and Alex

Alex and Me

Vegas Baby

Near the resort where Mark got married.. huge homes.
Mark and Liz getting married and back of Jennifer's head

Alex and I got back from Las Vegas on Sunday. As is typically the case, we were both dead tired when we got back as we had been up very late on Saturday and up early Sunday to catch our flight. We were there to see my friend Mark, from my KSN days, get married. It was at a resort in Lake Las Vegas, about 15 miles south of the strip. We left Friday afternoon and had dinner with Mark's (the groom) other friends and family at a restaurant near the resort. Alex and I not only got to hang out with Mark, but also my friend, Jason, and his partner, Tim. It was a great time! I miss Jason and Mark so much. We used to have a lot of fun together. Jason has promised to send me the pictures he took of all of us. The ones above are from Alex's camera phone b/c I forgot to bring mine. After the dinner, we gambled at a resort casino nearby and slept in Saturday morning! How lovely that was!! Saturday, I had scheduled a couples massage for Alex and me. It was truly awesome.. one of the best we've ever had and that's saying something b/c we get them semi-frequently. We hung out by the pool and relaxed, shopped and got ready for the wedding. The wedding was beautiful. I had forgotten what a truly great writer Mark is. He now writes for the TV show Extra. His wedding vows were to die for, what every girl would want to hear! I think many of us were choked up. Another friend from KSN, Jennifer, and her husband, James, were also at the wedding. It was great to see them as well. We ate, danced, and even watched a party crasher get kicked out! The funniest part was much later in the night. We went to the Planet Hollywood Casino on the strip as a group. Planet Hollywood is one of the newer, hipper, younger casinos. Girls in garterbelts and not much else were elevated and dancing between the craps and poker tables. Mark's wife had gotten us all in free, with no waiting in line and with bottle service (so Hollywood) to this super hip club at the casino. It was awesome people watching as we don't go to places like that typically. In fact, the first time I was in Vegas in '97, there was only one club like this. Now there is one at all of the newer casinos. It's crazy there. Of course, there were more scantily clad women dancing high above the crowds, lots of pumped in smoke, crazy lighting and dancing. There were also tons of security/bouncer people acting like the secret service.. so funny. The best was that a female weightlifter convention was in town! There were so many EXTREMELY masculine-steroided out women walking around with hardly anything on. It was horrifying and awesome people watching all at the same time. A club like that is SO NOT LIKE MARK, who barely sips on a cocktail ever, but it is important to soak up the Vegas experience when you go there. It was such a good time. I really wanted to hang out with my friends for a few more days, but we came back and the best part was, I got to see Solomon. He had been with my parents and we really, really missed him. He missed us too b/c he wouldn't even think about taking an afternoon nap, he just wanted to hang with us. It's good to be home. Hopefully, I'll post more pictures soon!

Week between weeks

Before I forget, I posted some new/newish photos.  Some are of our family reunion early last month from Alex's camera, that he just never processed and also the ones he took of Solomon's birthday last week. I love the photo above of Solomon and Lauren hugging. It's so sweet.

Family Reunion: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun13

Solomon's 1st b-day: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun12

So this past week and this week are just the two weeks between Solomon's b-day and our short trip to Las Vegas. My friend, Mark, is getting married just outside of Vegas at Lake Las Vegas on Saturday. He and I met when I worked at KSN and we've always just kept in touch. He came to Wichita for my wedding and we will go to his. It should be a good time. It's very quick and we're leaving Solomon with my parents for the weekend.  It should be a lot of fun to get away and see a few friends I haven't seen for a while.

Alex and I mostly spent this past weekend catching up. We installed the new carseat that I had to get, due to being rear-ended a few weeks ago. I did some yardwork, went on a bike ride, etc... On Friday night, Alex and I went to Brett and Abby's house for a while and Saturday afternoon, Solomon and I went to Sara and Shane's while the guy's worked at Beerfest.  Our kiddos napped half of the time and we chatted and watched TV. Sara and Shane are as crazy about Notre Dame Football as I am with KU Basketball, so it was fun to watch Sara.  Alex watched a documentary about a guy who lived among grizzly bears on Saturday night. I did the usual thing where I try to watch, but fall asleep a mere 10 minutes in. 

My parents bought Solomon a swingset for his b-day so they put it together this past week and Solomon is REALLY enjoying swinging in it. In fact, he usually get svery upset when it's time to get out. :(  It's fun to watch him giggle in it though.

Solomon is ONE!!

Solomon turned the big O-N-E yesterday! I REALLY can't believe it. It's been such a fast year with so many changes. He's such a sweet little kiddo and we're so lucky to have him. We had his birthday party on Saturday. A lot of family and a few friends attended. All in all, I think we had about 35 people, so our house was super full, but it was a lot of fun. My mom and sister made the special monkey cake you see pictured and some extra special cupcakes.. just ask me later about the humor I found in those... :) Solomon raked in tons of good clothes and toys. It was so fun to open fun stuff like toys and little clothes. Plus, he got some money for his college fund which we all know is the best.. at least it will be in 18 years when it costs an unimaginable amount for college. Let's just hope he gets a huge scholarship! Also, that's my nephew, Sam, playing Happy Birthday on the fiddle. It was such a treat. :) I'll post some video and other pictures once we get them loaded.

A couple of the other pictures are from our photo shoot last week. Alex took some photos of Solomon and a quick family picture as well. Solomon was so sleepy so we felt so lucky to get a few good ones.

My friend Amy and her husband Jeff stopped by last weekend as well to drop off a gift for Solomon since they couldn't come to the party. Their little girl Natalie is the one on the couch next to Solomon. It was cute to see them side-by-side. I like how their feet are touching and Solomon's gut is sticking out!

Things I've learned this year:

1. No first time parent ever has ANY earthly idea what they're in for before his or her child is born.


2. You spend half of your time as a new parent trying to get your child to sleep at night and as a result you get very little sleep.


3. Sleep is a cornerstone to my sanity, therefore explaining why I felt insane and outside of myself for most of the first four months of Solomon's life.


4. I used to waste a lot of time doing something, although I'm not sure what because now I get almost everything done, more or less, that I did before and take care of another person.


5. Boogers, poop, pee and puke are bodily fluids/solids that aren't as gross as I used to think.


6. I'm officially an adult.


7. A baby's giggle is almost the sweetest thing in the world.


8. A sleeping baby is even sweeter.


9. Solomon's little face is the sweetest and that makes me very, very lucky.

Our Little Walker

Every time I think to get video of Solomon walking, one of the following happens: he sits down, I can't find the camera, or the camera isn't charged. The clip below is very dark, but it's funny. He likes the guitar, but it reminds me of someone playing a harp.

So much, so little time

So much has happened since my last post! I had such a fun Labor Day weekend. I took last Friday off and got so much stuff done that I never have time to do. I went on a bike ride on my new bike which was so much fun, although a little scary at first b/c it's been so long since I've ridden a bike. Then, I cleaned and played with Solomon. The recycling place wasn't open so that's the one thing I didn't accomplish. My parents came over Friday night and helped us with some house stuff. I finally put the cabinet door kid-proof things on two of the cabinets in the kitchen. I was tired of dealing with Solomon opening them and discovering all kinds of potentially harmful chemicals. He can't get in now and it's one less thing I have to deal with.

Saturday, Alex and I dropped Solomon with my parents and we went to Lawrence. Erin, Cherie and I met up, had lunch, had manis/pedis and some drinks at Free State. It was so much fun to catch up and gossip. Then, Cherie dropped me off at Sol's and Alex and I went to the KU football game. It was sold out, record attendance. We had gotten suite tickets through my job and that was awesome. Afterwards, we hung out with Sol for a bit and headed to Alex's brother/sister-in-law's house. They are always so nice to let us stay with them. We actually slept in until around 9:00! Alex wanted to sleep more, but I made him get up. :) Meanie Kelly.

Sunday was my b-day!!!!!!! We hung out in Lawrence for a while, drove back to Wichita and relaxed a bit.

Monday, I went on another bike ride while Alex took Solomon to a political rally that he didn't end up finding! :) It was soooo incredibly nice out in the morning. We went for dinner to Saigon for my B-day and came back to my house for my favorite, DQ ice cream cake. My mom actually bought the new variety that is topped with reeces pb cups crumbled up... YUMMY.

in other news, Solomon is just changing so much everyday. He is walking all over, across the room and everything. He's doing his best to get into everything. He loves being tickled more than anything else so we do that a lot and while he loves sleeping at home he doesn't at school, so I think he recovers on the days he's home with me.... ahh to be a baby and be able to sleep whenever you want!

I'm a facebook member

I like this picture. Solomon has his Elvis shirt on. My sister-in-law got it for him at Graceland. it says, "Moms love me". It's so cute. Check out the video below.
So, I'm officially a Facebook Member. My friend, Dan, from high school convinced me to join and now I'm there. Check it out. Search for me. I've already had a small world connection.
Also, I've posted some new pictures in our gallery at: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun11.
This past weekend, we put the finishing touches on our bathroom that we mostly finished a month ago. All we have left is to dot the nail holes with some white paint. Can't wait to be finished.
Solomon is officially walking. He stands for long periods of time and walks across the room. He's just working on getting up when there's nothing to balance on and he'll be set. He's also dancing a lot.
My birthday is on Sunday! We're headed up to Lawrence on Saturday for a day of fun with my friends and KU football. I can't wait!

My New Addiction

I use it several times a day, yet it's not something I feel like I should do in front of others, especially that often.... It's tall and slender and red... and plastic... Yes, it's my new Gazelle, a handy broom vacuum cleaner for hard surface floors. I have caught myself using it multiple times a day when no real vacuuming needs to take place. I just really like how handy it is and how I never have to sweep, my most hated household chore, ever, ever again. :)

The picture above was taken when we were waiting for the MARTA train in Atlanta. Solomon was such a happy traveler. It's fun b/c Cherie's kiddos have the same "My Dad Rocks" shirt. So cute.

Solomon is walking with just the help of me holding his hand now. It's so fun to watch him. He still like the ease of getting around via crawling though the best. He's just all over the place. Right now, he totally digs avocado, cheese, bread, bananas and dehydrated apples. He's also getting much better at the sippy cup. Hopefully, it won't be long until I can get rid of the dreaded bottles completely.

So, how exciting have the Olympics been? I have ALWAYS loved the Olympics, so this has been a really fun time for me b/c of the swimming of course. The gymnastics events are so strange this year. It seems like the judging is so messed up. Alex and I always laugh at some of the strange and awkward floor exercise "dance" moves. We also think the commentators are pretty funny at times but not b/c they are meaning to be. Some of the gymnasts are very odd too look at as well b/c they tend to be so compact and muscular. Did anyone see the woman gymnast who was in the vaulting finals the other night? She looked like a tiny middle-aged man. She was 33, which is ancient in gymnastics I guess.

Alex is not an Olympics fan. I just don't get it. He just doesn't get my love for the Olympics. I think it comes from growing up in a household where he just didn't watch it much. Whereas, we watched it all of the time. It's so strange to me especially b/c he's such a sports fan otherwise.

Speaking of sports, Alex and I are going to the KU football home opener in Lawrence on Aug. 30th. My b-day is the next day, so it should be a good time. Plus, I think Erin and Cherie are meeting me for pedis and manis that day! I can't wait for a little girl time!

Fake sunburn

Did I pay for a sunburn? Yes, in a way I did. I had my entire face (besides the desirable eyebrow part) waxed today. Never have had my cheeks done before, but did today... Ouchy that hurt, almost worse than the upper lip area. Anyway, I look like I have a sunburn right now or that I'm wearing lots of pink blush.
I posted some pictures today of our trip to Atlanta. There aren't many. Alex needs to add the whole family picture. We will soon. http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/view_album.php?page=1
Solomon's newest thing is that he dances when he hears music. As you might guess, I find it amazing.... :)

Travel Highs and Travel Woes

So we've been on the road more than off the road over the past two weeks. Last Thursday, we took off for the Thomas Family Reunion in Atlanta, GA. I had cashed in some frequent flyer miles after Alex and I decided it might be too much of a pain to drive with a 10-month old that far. So, the plus was the trip there and back was basically free. The minus was we were delayed in a major way there and back. We had to spend the night in Chicago on the way there and were delayed about six hours on the way back. It was a serious pain. Airlines pretty much suck these days. I really don't think it would have been bad if we could have just skipped Chicago, but that wasn't an option this time around. Solomon was a great traveller. He liked all of the attention from other travellers and slept on the flights, which was great. We had a great time in Atlanta. It was actually cooler than Kansas b/c it was SOOO hot last week in Kansas. We did some touristy things and went to an Atlanta Braves game (see picture above), but mostly just spent some time with Alex's uncles and cousins that he doesn't see much. It was nice. We got back Monday the 4th and headed out Wednesday again for Topeka. I had a business meeting in Omaha so we combined the trips. It worked out great. We had our meeting on thursday night up there and I drove back Friday. alex and solomon hung out with his mom in Topeka. On Friday night, we stayed at Alex's brother Zach/Ray's house in Lawrence. Alex's sister and brother-in-law also joined us for a nice dinner! Saturday, I got to visit my BF's friend new baby, Cleo. She is SOOOO incredibly sweet. I love that little baby cry. It's just heaven even though it seems annoying when you're the parent. Then, we came back to Topeka for a get-together planned by Alex's friend Spencer. It was nice to see everyone, especially Bill and Christina's little boy and girl. Their little girl is so cute. their little boy, Dayton, played with solomon for a while. It was cute. Alex and I were so exhausted last night. We are headed back to Wichita soon. Good times, but I'm excited to get back for a while. I'll post some pictures later.

Solomon Stepping Out

Our little guy is starting to walk little, unassisted steps. The video shows his a few of his wobbly early attempts. It's so cute to watch, especially with his little giggle. Soon enough, he'll be all over the place I'm sure.

New pics posted - Lindi's visit

I've posted new pictures from Lindi's visit to Wichita. Lindi, send this link along to Henry please!
http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun09?&page=1

Movies, Steps, Parties and Friends

So as the title indicates, we've been to a couple of movies recently. We went to see "The Strangers" starring Liv Tyler and some others I didn't know at the cheap theater with Brett and Abby. It was so scary and of course Alex and Brett both later tried to scare us more by doing something sneaky at home. Boys.... It seriously made me jump several times.

We saw "The Dark Knight" on Thursday night. Kandi and Zoe nicely came over and watched Solomon for us. It was nice to get out with just the two of us and I enjoyed the movie. Christian Bale is a hotty. I did like Heath Ledger as the Joker. I thought it was entertaining even though it was fairly predictable.

Some Solomon firsts: On Tuesday, the 22nd, he took his first steps.. He can take two to three without anything to balance on and then falls. He's definitely balancing much better than he was before. He's also been progressing on soft veggies, fruits, bread and cereal pieces and he's been doing really well with two of the sippy cups. He doesn't do the others so well. I'll just keep the for when he's a little more skilled in that area.

We had my dad's 65th surprise b-day party on Friday night at the Ville at St. Vincent de Paul. He was TOTALLY surprised too which was fun. I think he had a good time. A lot of people were there, some he hadn't seen in a while. I also enjoyed seeing everyone. It was fun and was a perfect way to end a miserable work day! :) He bought a bbq grill with all of the gift cards people gave him to Home Depot. I can't wait to see it.

Last night was also a lot of fun. We went to Brandon and Tobie's house. They have an 18-mo. old and Tobie told us she's preggers and due in February. There were several people over and we all played Rock Band. Alex did a bit of bass, guitar and singing. I sang and did some drumming, but I totally suck at the drumming. It was fun though. It was a late night and of course Solomon is always up early, so thank God, he actually went down for an early short nap and I slept a little more.

We're getting ready for our trip to Atlanta later this week. It will be Solomon's first trip on a plane, so it should be interesting, but we're both looking forward to getting away and relaxing a bit. We may do less of the tourist stuff and more hanging out since we NEVER get to do that here.

I also have to give Chris Baker a "shout out". He turns 33 today, or rather, 21, or whatever age he is using these days! :) Happy Birthday Chris and many more!

Hope everything is going well for everyone!

Miss Cleo, not the psychic lady, is alive!!

One of my BF's, Erin, had a baby yesterday!!! We're so excited for her, Andy (her husband), Gus (her son) and the new Miss Cleo!!

Name: Cleo Anne
Weight: 6 lbs, 9 oz
Height: 19.75"
Birth date & time: July 22, 2008, 12:47 p.m. CDT

I can't wait to meet the new arrival. I'm sure she is beautiful just like her mommy.

Congrats Erin and Andy!!

10 Months Old - tomorrow

We took this picture at Solomon's 10-mo. check-up today. I like his little tummy. It's sweet.

Here are his new stats:

Weight: 20 lbs. 11 oz. - 40th percentile

Height: 28 1/2 " - 35th percentile

Head Circumference: 46 1/2 cm - 75th percentile

In other words, my child has a huge head. I was wondering where all of the food he eats/drinks was going to. Apparently, it is his head! The nurse practitioner said he is one of the oldest kids she's seen with so few teeth, but she said it's nothing to worry about. He'll get a full mouthfull soon enough. He has two coming in on the top and one halfway in on the bottom. She also said she was very impressed with his language and motor skills. Yea!! Go Solomon! He also had a good iron count, so he's a healthy little guy. We love him tons.

Bedhead and birthdays

This weekend we had my niece Zoe from Saturday at noon through Sunday around noon. We had a lot of fun with her. The first picture of her is from this morning. She had some MAJOR bedhead! It was pretty funny though. Our friends Sara and Shane brought their daughter, Claire, over to play with Zoe. I think they had a good time. They were crazy.

We also spent much of the weekend on our bathroom renovation. It's getting close to being over.. I am SOO SICK OF IT.

Today was also my dad's 65th birthday! Happy birthday Dad! Solomon was so excited that he decided to wear a tie to my parents' house in celebration of my dad's b-day.

So, Alex was one of the Mac nerds that stood in line, starting at 6am on Friday morning to get the new 3G IPhone. He is IN LOVE WITH IT. It is pretty cool. He loves all Mac products. Alex is so not a morning person so the fact that he got up so early means he was really excited about it.

Well, iIt's almost time for bed...

Solomon pictures posted

New pictures of Solomon are posted at: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/9-5-10-mo

4th o' July & this week

We went to my parents' house on the night of the 4th. It was pretty uneventful, but nice because it was low-key and we could see fireworks all around their house going off. Plus, I ate tons of good food and my favorite cornflake cookies. Yum, yum, yummy. During the day, my dad helped us with the bathroom renovation.

This week, the tile guy came over and retiled our floor and shower. It looks really good. I can't wait to post a picture or two when the whole thing is finished.

Solomon did some fun stuff this week. First, we went to LIndi's parents' house for a bbq last night and he played a lot with Chrissy Henry's little boy. They were crawling after eachother. Chrissy's little guy, grabbed Solomon's hand as if to say, "Follow me this way." Sooo cute.
Today, he was really trying to stand on his own without anything to balance on. I think he will be doing it for more than a few seconds soon. It's so hard to believe that he used to be so small and just sleep all day.

BTW, congrats Lindi on completing your Masters degree while having two kiddos! That's quite an accomplishment. Also, it was her little daughter, Izzy's b-day. She's a cutie.. just like her little sis.

Alex is going to be a big geek and stand in line tomorrow morning for the new IPhone. He has wanted to get one forever and knew he would get the second round of IPhones released. He plans to get there at 6am... Wow, he must really want that thing.

Alex is going to do his radio show tomorrow night and we have my niece Zoe for the night on Saturday. It should be fun. Hopefully we'll mostly finished the bathroom this weekend as well.

I had a seriously annoying day today. Our internet connection was out all day and I was so annoyed. I tried going to two coffee houses and didn't find a working connection. It must have been a widespread outage. It just came back up this evening! I can't do a thing workwise without the internet. Hate it..

Teething really does suck

My friend Lindi blogged yesterday about how much it has been "sucking" having her daughter scream and yell while teething. Same here. Solomon goes through phases in the day when he cannot be pleased and is just sad and weepy and needs constant attention. I guess I'm a bad mommy, but it gets on my nerves. I just need him to self-occupy and he's not capable of it when his gums hurt so bad. Poor guy. Anyway, Lindi said her first daughter had no teething symptoms, so I sure hope that's the case if we ever go insane and have a second child. Maybe the 2nd will be fine with having teeth pierce his or her gums. Thank God that he seriously is the cutest child ever or I would have thrown him through the window so many times.

On a lighter note, Solomon is finally exploring real solids. He snarfs babyfood, but has been reluctant to eat anything that isn't pureed. He will actually now put cereal puffs in his mouth without gagging. He seems to like them and I love watching him negotiate picking up the cereal puff and then getting to his mouth. It's funny.

He is into EVERYTHING. He absolutely pulls on, chews on, stands up on, crawls through and falls on everything he isn't supposed to be in or on. It's cute, but we're dismantling everything as we go so he won't hurt himself. The standing, sideways walking and crawling has definitely moved the whole thing to a new realm. Our house is really not babyproofed at all!

I've posted a few pictures: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/9-months. Some of them show him digging into all of the places he shouldn't be. When I tell him "no", he simply turns around and giggles at me and goes back to what he was doing.

Alex and I just got back from tile shopping. We are redoing our master bathroom. It's basically gutted right now. I can't wait for this little project to be over. It will be so nice.

I can't wait for a day off this Friday!!

1st Tooth

It's coming. I can feel a very sharp little tooth starting to poke through. Solomon was a complete mess yesterday so that explains why. Poor little guy. Oh well, soon enough, he'll have a mouthful I'm sure.

Our Little Teapot

Alex with the plaque that Solomon made him at daycare.

This is super cute..

Road Trip and Kisses

We went to Dallas last week for my job. Alex and Solomon came along. Solomon did really well in the car. We were kind of scared about it, but it was fun. The first pic is from my phone in the car.

I found myself googling kids songs/nursery rhymes on my phone on the way back from Dallas. I don't know the words to many of those songs and felt kind of strange making them up.

While in Dallas, we saw Alex's ex-roommate, Doug and my friend, Brett, a.k.a. Bretty Crocker. I ate a lot of good food too.

We had a good Father's Day. I gave Alex a shower radio that he wanted because he's somewhat addicted to his morning radio. Solomon gave him some flip flops and a super cool plaque that he made for him at daycare. I'll have to post a picture of it later.

Solomon has been a bit fussy lately.. drooling non-stop. Still no teeth though. My sister had good luck with some homeopathic teething tablets by Hyland, so we bought those. They seem to work a bit. Whatever works, I'll try!


On Saturday, we saw Molly and Dan and their sweet little baby, Louis. He is just the cutest. Molly joked that she liked holding him b/c he makes her feel so tan. However, when I held him, I discovered that I am the same color... :) Yes, the same shade as a caucasian infant. :)


Solomon turned nine months old on Sunday. He is a big-time giggler these days. It's so cute, so I'm always getting it on tape. He also loves to kiss people and stuffed animals and once in a while he likes to wave at people. He's starting to use his M's more now. I love that b/c of course he can say "Ma Ma".

Excuse my ugly leg in the second video below! I promise I washed his pacifier that I touched with my foot! Gross... someone send me a giftcard for a pedi! :)

6/6/...08

Remember a couple of years ago when everyone was freaking out not wanting their baby to be born on 6/6/06? Kind of funny.

Nothing too big going on. Alex and I worked hard most of the morning from home. Then, I worked from his office for a few hours while he met with some potential clients. Solomon was a bit restless b/c he was confined to the stroller. However, it's always fun taking him somewhere that people don't see babies everyday. Everyone said how cute he was. :) We also went by the garage sale they are having for the owner of Kirby's Beer Store. Steve passed away about a month ago. Alex picked up some CDs, a record and a beer poster. Steve, being the owner of a bar where a lot of small bands had played over the years, had a very different music collection than that of most 61 year olds.

Solomon is pulling up on everything and crawling everywhere. It's nice on one hand b/c he's much happier being able to get around. However, it requires constant observation. I like to put him on the floor downstairs b/c there's more open space. He can go for a while without really bothering much.

Alex and I are watching "Band Of Brothers" on DVD this summer. It's a good series so far. They have some of the actual vets that are portrayed in the show talk a bit before each episode. Pretty cool. It reminds me of my grandpa's twin brother, Uncle Bob, who died several years ago. He served in the war.

Speaking of older relatives, we are going to my Great Aunt Sister Hildegarde's 90th birthday party tomorrow. She's been a nun for 75 years! Isn't that crazy? She was just 15 when her parents "let" her go into the convent. Wow, I can't imagine. She is my mom's step-aunt technically because my mom's real mom passed away when my mom was a young girl. So, my grandpa remarried the grandma I knew growing up. Sister and her sister, my late grandma, are/were truely two of the best people I've ever known.. always positive and friendly. Sister has had several strokes in the last few years so her memory is now failing a bit, but hey, she is 90. She worked for years as a teacher and librarian. I believe she has a masters in Library Science. She knows her Dewey Decimal system. Congrats Sister on 90 years!

Alex just left to record a podcast that he is doing with some of his friends now every Friday night. It's pretty funny. I think you can listen live or they also post it at http://www.thebasementshow.com/. Just FYI, not too kid friendly, but funny. It's a lot of guy humor. Just don't get too worked up by anything they say b/c they're just being funny. They really are all nice guys, Alex included. :)

And finally... another video of our little guy. I again, for some unknown reason, turned the camera sideways... I don't know why... I guess b/c I'm used to doing that when it's in regular photo mode. Anyway, "taco" your head to the left and view if you wish. Solomon is just playing with one of his toys and then crawls away towards Alex's old chest of drawers that I refuse to keep upstairs.

Half a decade!

So Alex and I celebrated our fifth anniversary yesterday! I can't believe it's been so long. That's nothing to people like my parents who are celebrating their 40th next January... but it's still an accomplishment in my eyes. We didn't do anything too crazy. We bought each other a pair of shoes :) after lunch, watched the season finale of Lost at home, went out to eat and then to the Delano District to The Vagabond for some coffee and a few drinks. It was nice and low key, but fun. While at The Vagabond, we were able to watch the fireworks going off just for us I'm sure (at ballpark, for the new baseball team, the Wingnuts). My parents had Solomon for the night, so we were able to hangout, which was nice.

Also, while in D.C., I was able to see our friends Chris and Kristen Burley. That was nice. We had a nice conversation and were able to catch up a bit. Getting back to the hotel proved to be quite a challenge but I'm obviously back in Wichita so all is well.

Alex is playing a little softball today despite the soggy ground and I'm getting caught up! The three of us are headed for Dallas next week. The drive should be interesting! :)

Memorial Day Weekend

Busy weekend as usual... I just figured out Saturday morning that I love going to places like Target really early in the morning before everyone else is up and out. I just fed Solomon, changed into workout clothes and headed out. There was hardly anyone at the store and it was so easy to get around. Plus, Solomon loves the mornings, so it was easier to get him going.


I've posted some new photos of our little man at: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun08.
Also, here are a few new videos of him. I've had trouble getting one of him crawling. He seems to sense a video camera, as I do. I'll grab the camera as he is crawling and instantly, he stops and looks back at me... so the one on here is so so..

Chewing while Giggling

Talking about something very important

Part II
I'm in Washington D.C. for work today and tomorrow. My flights were a little messed up yesterday but I ended up getting in on time afterall!! Yea! The weather is great here. They had fireworks last night and a today they had a George W. Bush impersonator. Definitely catering to an older crowd, humor-wise, but he was actually really funny... he just ran a little long. We went to some super hip club last night that was annoying. Tonight, I hope to grab some dinner and sleep a little!

It seems like Solomon had a good day with my dad yesterday. He's at daycare today and with my mom tomorrow. I can't wait to get back to see the little guy. Alex put me on speakerphone when I called yesterday and said that Solomon's face lit up when he heard my voice. He's such a sweetie.

A few more videos.......
Our Malaysian-Caucasian jumping bean..

Crawling towards himself...

Update

I don't really have too much to update...
Solomon turned eight months old on Thursday. He's been waving bye/hi to people, which is kind of fun and randomly clapping as well.. although there's not really much sound, just the movement.
We went to a friend's BBQ on Friday. It was fun, but I had to leave early to get Solomon to bed. A deer walked right in front of my car on the way home.. a little scary, but it wasn't too close. We took Solomon to Waterbabies on Saturday morning and then to my friend Kerri's graduation/early b-day/housewarming party that afternoon.
Today, we installed the upright carseat in one of our cars. It was kind of a nightmare, mostly b/c of the cryptic instructions. After we had it installed, we realized how easy it was. However, the instructions were annoying and Solomon wasn't really cooperating either.
I did find a good deal on baby formula at Target today. Solomon is fully on formula now. I had almost two months of free formula from my doctor, so I'm having to buy some now.
Back to work tomorrow.

New Videos/Pictures

Sunday is my first Mother's Day, so Solomon decided to make me a little something at daycare. His teachers assured me that he made this flower pot. At least I do know that he contributed the handprint. Either way, it's pretty cute!

The next picture is of Solomon in his swim trunks right before Waterbabies a few weeks ago. He's already sporting a better tan than I've ever had in my entire life. What a sweetie.

Solomon is really starting to respond to Coco. It's pretty cute. He really likes her as you can see in the video below.

Solomon is trying to figure out the sippy cup. For now, it's more of something he just gums. The squeaky sound cracks me up.

Gettin' a move on

Solomon officially started crawling today. We had him on a blanket on the floor while we were watching TV and he just took (slowly) for a folder of Alex's on the floor. Then, we put the remote control in front of him and he went for that too. I guess we have to watch him much more closely now! Hopefully, I can post a video of it sometime soon. He's mobile!

Good times...

It was a fun and busy weekend. I started the weekend off by going to the KU Barnstorming Tour with my friend Bethany. It was so much fun and I got to meet all of the National Championship winning KU basketball players. Everyone knows how much I love KU basketball so I was a giddy mess by the end of the night. The highlight was that I went up to Darnell Jackson for an autograph and told him he was my favorite. He proceed to give me a hug and I took this picture with him!!! It was awesome. I think he might think that I'm a stalker as I told him that he is my "side salad" and that Alex is my "main course" and that I was going to make a sign that said, "I'm married Darnell, but can we still snuggle". He laughed and said that we could still snuggle! Ha ha ha!! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and the game was fun to watch too. Former KU star and Wichita Native, BJ Williams, also played on the other team.

Saturday, we went to our first Water Babies class with Solomon. It was fun and he really seemed to like the water. The teacher said he was a good floater (on his back). He totally crashed after the class. He was so tired. After that, Alex took a bunch of photos of Solomon and Zoe.

Saturday night, Alex and I went to Sumo with Sara and Shane and then to see "Baby Mama". It was really funny.

Sunday, I spent most of the day working on pulling junk out of our house for the garage sale this weekend catching up on other stuff. I still need to plant flowers and do yardwork!

Giggly guy

I just shot this video. He does this all the time where if I look away and then look back at him, he giggles. So, every time , he laughs you know I've just looked at him with a silly face. It's so cute!

Still Coming Down

I feel as if I'm still on top of the world right now after our National Championship victory that happened already over a week ago. I am still reading every little bit in the news media that I can find and still get nervous, as if I don't know that we won. It was awesome to see that about 100k people showed up for the parade in Lawrence last weekend. We would have gone, but it was my niece, Zoe's 5th b-day party. She's a cutie and was VERY excited to open presents, especially the "Fur Real McCaw", a creepy fake bird that does lifelike things, such as eating a fake cracker, talking and blinking. I can't believe she's five already.

I posted some new pics of Solomon, cute as usual! Check them out: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/view_album.php?page=1

Solomon starts a new daycare next week and Alex's mom is here through tomorrow to help us out while we don't have daycare this week. She brought along some diapers and wipes... always needed baby supplies!

It should be a fun weekend. Solomon has his first "Water Babies" class on Sunday. We'll have to take photos. Alex's dad is also visiting us on Sunday for some IT help (from Alex).

We are the Champions!!!!

OMG... I don't even know what to say! As Bill Self said, this couldn't have been written better..

KU last won the national championship 20 years ago with Danny and the Miracles. Danny is now a KU assistant coach. We beat UNC, where our former coach, now coaches. We beat Memphis, the big, bad only one loss team, in overtime. We were the underdogs. A last minute 3-point shot took us into overtime. Half of our players had tragic events happen in their personal lives, such as family members shot to death, etc... To top it off, even our football team did super well this year. It's just amazing. It's amazing! I can't believe it. I was shaking and I could FEEL my heart beating.

I just can't get over it. My friend Erin called weeping. My friend Jackie called so excited for me as well. My friend Cherie and I texted. My sister texted. A friend of mine, LCM, was at the game and texted me from there! It was simply an amazing night. I think I appreciate this more than I would have when I was in school b/c it would have been a party then. Now it's just awesome. Finally, the "One Shining Moment" song included tons of clips of the Jayhawks!! It was spectacular.

I need to get my T-shirt! This just is hard to believe for me. I can now officially squelch all of the KU haters who have said stupid things forever like, "KU can't quite finish it" or "KU sucks".. Whatever, we've always been a great team and I think people are always jealous of winners. Therefore, the haters can offically SHUT UP for a while...

No more negativity. We had an awesome win for an awesome team!!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!!

OMG... We are sooo close!

I am on "pins and needles". I have been all day long. I have my lucky KU shirt on. Solomon has his lucky KU outfit on. Alex and I have elected to stay home and have friends over b/c we have had better luck doing that. We feel that if we go out for the game, as we had originally planned, we will jinx it. This is stress. My "side salad" a.k.a. Darnell Jackson is pictured dunking a ball above. He's such a cutie and I LOVE him. We talked earlier.. okay that is a lie... and he said he was dedicating the game to me. :) :) :) We WILL win.

Moving on... I can't. Basically, my life is currently wrapped around tonight's game.

Here is a funny picture.... I wish I could make the waahhh waaahhh waaaahhhhhh sound effect for you.

And to think I have Jerod Haase's (pictured far left) book, autographed, on my bookshelf... disappointing. Oh well, I will just think of him as being a college student at KU and get over it.

This is going to be a crazy night!!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!!! GO KU!!!!

Near Heart Attack game

EEKKuh! The KU game was far too close today!! I screamed so loud a couple of times that Solomon started to cry. I know that makes me a bad mom, but come on.. he has to learn how to hang during intense KU games. It's what we do. "All is well that ends well..." right?? Sigh... (exhale). I was teaching Solomon how to do high fives.. About the ONLY time I can stand to do a high five is during a KU game. I feel stupid and annoying doing them at any other time unless I'm trying to be overly dramatic and funny about something. I think our little guy is catching on, but that could be wishful thinking.



I made my first trip to Chuck E. Cheese today for my cousin's kid, Braden's 3rd birthday party. Alex and I had fun playing "pop a shot" and "skee ball". I love those games. I also had a yummy mint chocolate dilly bar.

Two random "Good Housekeeping" types of thoughts I was just thinking about: 1 - Now that I am always dishwashing bottles and other small plastic items, it is essential that I have JetDry in my dishwasher. It makes them dry when the load is finished instead of speckled with drops of water. 2 - My mom turned me onto Shout Color Catchers for the laundry. You just throw one sheet in the washing machine, much like you would throw a fabric softener sheet in the dryer and you don't have to worry about bright and dark colors running onto your lights. It's like magic. I use it almost everytime I do Solomon's laundry b/c his clothes are so small that I don't want to run two loads for lights and darks. The CC's work great.



The video below is fun. Alex and Solomon hungout alone on Friday night while I went out with some of my girlfriends and watched the KU game. I think the two of them had a pretty good time as you can see in the video below!

New Solomon Pictures

What a long day. Alex and I went on a super long walk with Solomon tonight. It was really nice, but my allergies are killing me.

I am sooo tired. I've posted some new pictures of the little guy at: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun06.

Big baby

My good friend that I've almost known for my entire life had baby #2 today. For such a small person, Cherie produces large babies. Her new little guy weighed in at 10 lbs. 1 oz. and 21.25". His name is Keenan Isaac Rourke! I love that name. It's so cute and it makes us think of one of the members of one of America's funniest families, Keenan (sp?) Ivory Wayans. I hope Cherie is doing well. She texted me the information, so I don't know what the whole experience was like for her yet. She's a trooper though so I'm sure it went well. BTW, Cherie's first baby was a 10 pounder as well. Her husband was a big baby apparently. Just think how big the kiddos would have been if Cherie weren't such a "little" gal!

Speaking of babies, Solomon is a big cutie these days. He giggles a lot and is almost always in a pretty good mood except for when his teeth hurt. He is eating a few different kinds of cereals now and will soon branch out to some veggies such as carrots, squash and sweet potatoes.. yum yum. He's still very close to crawling, but not quite there. My mom is now in the habit of saying, "Kelly, make him laugh!" I can't do everything on demand people! :)

Easter was fun. We went to church with my parents and then went to eat dinner with my sister, Zoe, Jimmy and my Aunt and Uncle in the evening. Solomon received some fun toys as well as some baby food from my parents... I mean the Easter Bunny.

I'm easing away from nursing and towards formula gradually. It's been nice already to not have to deal with as much as full time nursing entails. Solomon seems fine with it, but does seem to spit up just a bit more.

TV for the week: Dancing With the Stars began again last week. So far most of the guys are really bad. We are watching a few seconds of "Rock of Love" right now. The women are horrific tramps. It's a trainwreck... Maybe I will DVR it! :) We watched the finale of The Gauntlet III last week. It was horrific b/c the fat guy,Eric, passed out in the final challenge and was seriously almost dying. The whole time, his teammates were just concerned they were losing out on money and considered dragging his nearly lifeless and dehydrated body across the finish line. Only one of the teammates was reasonable about it. Pretty pathetic.

I'm tired and ready for bed.

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day!!

Grandma buys Solomon an outfit for almost every holiday, so St. Patrick's Day was no different. It says, something about being Irish on it. Solomon is such a mixture of cultures. Irish, German, Indian.. other ones as well I'm sure.

I saw Cherie over the weekend. She's about ready to pop. She looks great though and her little guy Eli is so cute and so big! He's definitely on the larger end for his age.

KU won the Big 12 tournament in a great game, so that was fun. We went to Alex's theatre reunion which was actually pretty fun. On Sunday, Alex had to have his Mac laptop fixed at the Mac store in KC b/c he had spilled a drink on it. Alex LOVES that computer and he uses it for work, so he was stressing, but the Mac people were very friendly and helped us out on short notice after some negotiating! Whew....

It's only Tuesday and has already been a busy week. Dancing With the Stars also started again last night. So far it was only the men. Adam Corolla is one of the dancers. He's so funny but of course not so great. I'm anxious to see the women perform.

I better go. I hope everyone has a great week. KU plays on Thursday during the day, so I just might have to take a break from work for a couple of hours!!

Solomon's 6 mo. check-up

Solomon had his 6 month check-up today. Tomorrow is actually his 6 month birthday. He's still very proportionate, average in size and most importantly, HEALTHY.
Stats:
Weight - 17 lbs. 6 oz. - 50th percentile
Height - 26 1/2" - 50th percentile
Head Circumference - 17.1" - 48th percentile

I learned something new at the doctor's office today. Dr. Chavez told me that tylenol is fairly ineffective for teething and Oragel (sp?) doesn't last too long. He suggested using Chlorasceptic spray because it lasts longer. So, we bought some of that. Also, Solomon can start branching out to other solid foods besides rice cereal now. We already gave him some oatmeal and he was a big fan! He had four vaccine shots today, including the flu shot. As usual, he cried big time for a few minutes, but seems fine now. :) It was sad as usual.. :(

We are going to watch the KU game tonight so of course Solomon is all decked out in one of his KU outfits.