Last Day

Yes. Today is my last day at the International Pizza Hut Franchise Holders Association (IPHFHA). It is the goofiest acronym ever and took me forever to memorize, but now it seems so familiar to me. However, UMC, short for United Marketing Communications, is my new employer's acronym. I am excited about the change. UMC will mark my 5th job since graduating from KU in 1997. I am not scared to change jobs. I think it's actually a good thing. Anyway, I will miss some of the people at IPH and have learned a lot.

Moving on... The big KU vs. K-State game is tonight in Manhattan. Let me see if I can think of a few of the overused lines that have used to describe KU's 24 year winning streak. "Ronald Reagan was president the last time K-State beat KU in Manhattan." "K-State has never beat KU in Bramlage(sp? who cares) Coliseum." I can think of a few more, but won't bore you with them. Anyway, I sure hope the streak continues. I think K-State is the best team in the Big 12 besides KU obviously. I'm not a big Michael Beasley fan, their best player, because he shoots his mouth off a lot. I'm sure we'll do fine, although I am predicting a close game. We are the better team, but we psych ourselves out every year, whether K-State is good or bad. All streaks must come to an end, but hopefully not this year!

We just had my going away luncheon at work. Yummy Pizza Hut (of course) pizza and a DQ ice cream cake! So good! I will probably get very sleepy soon after all that food.

Solomon did so well sleeping last night. I think he's pretty much back to normal. I'm sure he'll be sick again soon though. He was sooo cute this morning. I can't wait to spend some time with him this evening.

Have a great evening and Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!

Lovely weekend

Solomon is pictured above in his new ducky sleeper. It has a duck tail on the back.. very cute! I have posted a few new videos below. They are short and sweet and I sound a little psycho in the second one! :) We have a better one of him giggling, really giggling, on our regular video camera, but I haven't transferred it to the computer yet. Also, we have posted a few more pictures of him on our gallery at: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun04

'Twas a lovely weekend. My friend, Chris, and I used to enjoy using words such as 'twas, 'tis and other made-up versions for our own entertainment such as tw'eeks (two weeks), 'titis (it is). It still cracks me up. That was a side bar really.

I took Solomon on a walk in the stroller on Saturday. It was great weather. I just bundled him a little and put on my sweats and even worked up a little sweat. He loved it, but fell asleep of course about halfway through. It was fun. We also went grocery shopping. We had almost nothing. Even I could barely find anything to eat and that's saying something because I will make weird conglomerations and eat them. Alex says I'm gross, but I don't care. I love my weird mixes. :) Plus, we all know that boys are gross and girls aren't!

Solomon continues to cough a lot, but then will go hours not coughing at all. I think it's just clearing out. He slept a little better, but is still waking up due to coughing at night. This morning Alex was changing him and Solomon did one of those quick flails which sent his head right into the backboard of the changing table. I heard it in the next room. Of course, he started crying. I went in to comfort him, but instead had to comfort Alex. He was so upset about it. It didn't even get too red on Solomon's forehead. It just scared him (solomon and Alex too) I think. Hopefully he'll be cough free soon.

We watched the KU vs. NE game on Saturday. It was a blowout, so it was fun to watch in the way that blowouts are fun to watch. I guess they are much more relaxing to watch. That's for sure.

We took Solomon to my parents' house on Sunday for a few hours. It was great. We went to Target and cell phone shopping for me. Alex went to play flag football and I cleaned the house and read my book. It was fantastic. My mom made us potato soup for dinner. Yummy!

My book club meeting is Thursday and I still need to read about 250 pages! I feel like I'm back in high school when we had to read a book almost every week and I always felt rushed and had to divide the number of pages in the book by the number of days I had to read it. It's a great book though so hopefully I can get through it in the next few days.

Not fun

I've not been having fun the past few days. Alex is feeling better now, but Solomon is feeling worse. Poor little guy. Our daycare lady called yesterday and told me he had a fever, runny nose and had just thrown up. I picked him up and we took him to the doctor. He seemed better by then and the doctor just confirmed that it was a nasty cold. However, this morning he had a worse fever, a new cough and a runnier nose. I stayed home in the morning and Alex has him this afternoon. He's very cranky and snotty. There is snot everywhere! I know.. it's gross.

The Sickhouse continued...

Okay, I'm not sick. Thank God! Solomon isn't really that sick either. He's just got the eternally stuffy nose that causes him to wake up frequently throughout the night and breathe like a mini-Darth Vadar. I would rock him back to sleep in the middle of the night but the minute I put him on his back, he would scream again. I finally took him downstairs on the big couch and propped him up on the Boppy pillow and he fell asleep in seconds. So, last night, even though I know you aren't supposed to let them sleep on the Boppy or any pillow, I let him sleep on that and he did so much better. He still woke up a few times all stuffy, but went back to sleep right away. I also put some Vicks Baby Rub on his chest and plugged one of those mini vaporizer things into the wall.

The real sickly one in our house continues to be Alex. He was walking death all weekend. He had a temperature almost the entire weekend. It actually got up to 104 a few times. It was at 102-103 often. He took tons of ibuprofen and that only seemed to help temporarily. I paged the doctor three times. I know it annoyed her (not his regular doctor but the one on call from the group) but he had started his second antibiotic on Friday and it wasn't helping. After all, I think I have the right to be paranoid. The last time he had a temperature like that, he had pneumonia, had to be hospitalized, and had to have his lung cut open to remove the jelly-like fluid that had formed inside. She finally told him to use a combination of ibuprofen and extra strength Tylenol. Every four hours he has to take four Advil, then four hours later, two Tylenol and back to the Advil four hours later. He was a little better this morning, but not great. His doctor's office called this morning and he has another appointment. They were surprised his fever had lasted so long so they might give him a steroid shot to help him out.

It was pretty rough because Alex was trying to work (it's deadline week at the magazine OF COURSE) and he couldn't really help out with Solomon at all b/c he felt like crap and was busy. My mom came over yesterday afternoon and took care of Solomon while I did some stuff and took a nap. It was nice. I was SOOO tired after getting up with him so many times on Saturday night. Luckily, despite being sick, little Solomon was a happy baby most of the weekend.

Big Sol also came down for a visit. I think the highlight of Alex's weekend was that he played a little X-Box 360 with Sol. Then, he started to feel like crap again.

The KU vs. MU game was good. My parents came over with pizza. KU didn't even play well at all but still won. I hate MU, so that was fantastic. It was fun to watch the game on our new TV. It wasn't even in HD on ESPNU but it was still nice. The KU vs. Iowa St. game on Wednesday is on regular ESPN, so it will be my first official KU game in HD. It is like you are there.. pretty cool. I can't wait. I watched a bit of the football games in HD yesterday and they looked awesome. It makes the other TVs in the house seem blurry.

My niece, Zoe, had her first slumber party with some of her friends on Saturday night. I was on the phone with my sister when I heard her (Kandi) explaining to the girls what the food plans were for the night. When Kandi said, "root beer floats", one of the girls, probably Zoe, let out this yelp of excitement that I can't figure out how to spell. It was so funny. I still get that excited over food sometimes, but as an adult I've had to learn how to squelch my emotions about such things... so unfortunate.

Fortunately, our daycare person is feeling better. She was sick Thursday and Friday which presented a bit of a headache for us.

Solomon's an eater!

I just thought I would post a couple of cute photos I've taken in the past few days of our little guy. Also, the video of his first successful attempt at rice cereal is posted below. We had the camera (my little still/video) camera turned sideways. I guess we didn't think about the fact that the video would be sideways. You would think after my years in the TV biz, I would have figured that out! Ha! Oh well, It's still neato. He learned from two of the best on how eat!

Good News, Bad News

Good news: Solomon had his first successful round of rice cereal on a spoon just a few minutes ago. The other times I have tried it, he would spit most of it out, but not tonight. It was kind of neat to watch. We got some video of it that we'll post later.

We bought a new plasma flat-screen TV on Monday night. Alex installed it last night. I have to admit that it's pretty cool and it's huge. I plan to watch the KU vs. Mizzou basketball game on Saturday night on it. It should be fun. Big Sol is planning to come down from Lawrence as well so perhaps we'll watch it with him. It is a neat TV even though I could have done with the old one forever just fine.

Bad news: Alex's niece, Arianna, had an appendectomy done last week, but that apparently wasn't what was wrong. We are getting the information second-hand, so I'm not sure exactly what is going on, but she had to be taken by ambulance to St. Louis. They think there is something wrong with her kidney. She is only eight years old I think, so it's kind of scary. Hopefully she'll be just fine very soon.

Solomon's 1/3 year old b-day!!

As the title indicates, Solomon turns 4-months old today. We had his 4-month check-up with our pediatrician's nurse practitioner today as well. He is doing well.

4-month stats (all in the 50th percentile):

• Weight: 14 lbs., 12 oz.




• Height: 25in.




• Head Circumference: 42 cm. (16.5")

She said he is doing great. He also received his booster shots and promptly cried for a few minutes. It's sad to watch. I think Alex almost teared up as well. We had started rice cereal a few weeks ago. She said to continue with that, but told us not to start any other solids, even the other cereals, until he's 6-months old. Starting solids earlier apparently puts babies at an increased risk for food allergies later on. She also said that 4-months is the age when children are actually physiologically able to begin sleeping through the night. She said if they do earlier then you're just lucky. She also said that breast milk-fed babies usually do not sleep through the night as early as formula-fed babies simply because the formula is harder for them to digest as it contains extra ingredients. I plan to start him on formula around 6-months. Hopefully I can hold out that long. He has seemed to do so well on breast milk.

We took the picture above on my phone as we were leaving the doctor's office, so it's not so great.

I took the day off today b/c Alex was sick, I wasn't feeling well and Solomon was up half of the night. The N.P. said he just has a cold. He seemed better once we got him dressed and ready to go for the day. I just needed a day to catch up at home and maybe take a nap. Hopefully, I can get one.

The Sickhouse

Alex is sick and now I believe Solomon is sick as well. I don't feel great, but am masking it with various cold medications, so who knows. Alex had a sinus infection and is on antibiotics. Solomon has been fussy for two days, has a runny nose and redness around his eyes. He has his four-month check-up (I can't believe it!!) tomorrow, so maybe they'll give him something then. Hopefully he's not too sick to get his shots. That would be a bummer. Poor little guy. I ran by his daycare today to bring him some tylenol. He started crying when he saw me. He was waking up which made it worse. It was sad.

BTW, Happy birthday to Amy today!!

The weekend was nice except for the sick people I was around. We hung out at home Friday night with Solomon and had Bella Luna for dinner. I LOVE Bella Luna hummus. I could drink it like a milkshake I like it so much. Saturday, we watched the KU game and Alex flipped to football. We killed Nebraska as I thought we would. Yesterday, my parents came over and picked up our two old, extra couches. One was ready for the trash and the other will be stored at their house until the next garage sale. We were able to thoroughly clean the basement in preparation for me working from home and having Solomon there a bit more. It look so much better and less cluttered! I have begun to hate clutter so it feels good.

I may take a personal day tomorrow to take Solomon to his doctor's appointment and clean the house. I might as well take the days off before I leave IPHFHA.

I'm reading a book called Middlesex right now. It's great so far. As my sister put it, it's a nice history lesson.

Big News!!

#1: Okay, so first I'll start with Solomon. He slept through the night again last night! YEA!!! It was exciting for us and recharged my battery a little bit. I could use another few nights like that. He snarfed down tons of milk last night along with some rice cereal. He was a piggy. :)

#2: I have accepted a new job. I'll be Sr. Account Executive for an advertising agency called United Marketing Communications (UMC). I will be working for my former boss (my first boss here at IPHFHA), Stuart. I'm excited about that b/c we always got along great. UMC is located in Dallas. I will be in charge of servicing our Pizza Hut accounts for some of the midwest markets. Anyway, there are many perks, such as I will get to work from home which means I will keep Solomon at home three days a week and send him to daycare two days. I think that will be a challenge but one I'm willing to face. Also, I will have access to KU tickets!! Woo hoo! Beyond those obvious perks, this will be a great chance for me to learn new things. I'm in a little bit of a rut right now. Solomon's daycare person told us this morning that she would be fine with dropping down to p/t status with him. She really seems to like him though. He's pretty likeable, but I'm fairly biased on that topic, I realize. I will start with the UMC position in early February probably. I'm excited. A full-time job with benefits from home! Yippee!

Call me at 3am. Chances are, I'm awake.

Has anyone had the peanut butter chocolate Hershey's Kisses? They are yummy and I'm enjoying one right now. I might enjoy a few more before the day is over.

I don't have too much to report except that little Solomon is driving us nuts. He was being such a good sleeper and now he's back to square one. He has not slept well AT ALL in the last few days. Alex and I were about to cry last night as he woke up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours all night long! It was so irritating and tiring. He isn't even hungry when he gets up. He's just up. We've been letting him cry it out for longer amounts of time each time, but it hasn't been working, or at least it doesn't seem like it. Finally, we were able to just stick the pacifier in his mouth and he went back to sleep the last few times. My sister thinks he might be in a growth spurt. We started him on rice cereal on Saturday and he seemed to tolerate it well, but it hasn't help him sleep as almost everyone in the world had promised me it would. We also thought that maybe he was sleeping too much at daycare, but I'm not sure. I mean, he does go back to sleep after being rocked or getting his pacifier put back in. I don't know what to do b/c I just want to sleep. I'm dying. So many parents have told me that, that is just what babies do, but then I get mad when others tell me their kids were perfect little sleepers at his age. I know every kid is different and hopefully it just means that if we have another child someday (when I have amnesia about this whole experience) it will be a very easy baby. He is easy in so many other aspects, just not the sleep at night thing. He's such a happy guy most of the rest of the time. It feels good to vent about it. He is suddenly snarfing down food like mad as well, so the growth spurt thing could be right.


I'm hoping to workout right after I pick him up tonight. I would like to get home by 7:00 so I can eat dinner and watch the KU game. It never works out so well though and I'm probably dreaming. Plus, Alex has a photo shoot tonight so I will not have a helper until 8pm and will therefore be lucky to get anything done at the correct time.... ugh...



I love picking up Solomon though and seeing his cute little face, so that will get me through it all.

Yea, it's Saturday!

I woke up feeling like crap yesterday.. sick to my stomach and achy all over. Plus, Solomon didn't go to sleep very well on Thursday night. At times, I started to feel better as the day went on, but then the sick feeling would return. I already have a doctor's appt. scheduled for Monday because of some other issues I have going on, numbness in my knee and right ring finger. Hopefully if this bug continues they can help me out with it at the same appointment.

We had pizza at my parents' house last night and I felt so tired that I could barely stand it until bed time. Solomon woke up once last night again. I don't know if it's teething or growing b/c he was doing so well. I think we're going to start rice cereal tonight as it is his 16 week birthday today. So, if it's a growth spurt, maybe that will help. He's been rather fussy off and on lately, so who knows?

I'm watching the KU game and something exciting happened. I saw my friends, Lindi and Ben. They live in Boston and I knew they would be at the game, but didn't think I'd see them. Ben had on a paper Jayhawk hat. Actually, it looked like a table stand that he had turned into a hat. Anyway, it was fun to see them. I kind of just saw the side of Lindi (or half of her really), but knew it was her b/c of her red hair. Ben was on screen for 5-10 seconds, an eternity in TV land. Very cool! The Jayhawks are killing Boston College right now so that is fun too.

I think we're going to go to the gym today and then I think I'll just lounge and clean the house a bit. It's so funny and depressing how much longer it takes to clean when there's a baby around. I will probably end up doing hardly any cleaning but will still think it's an accomplishment.

My friend Erin announced a few days ago that she is pregnant with baby #2!!! We are VERY EXCITED for her. Her little guy, August (Gus), is the cutest and we can't wait to see the newest little one that is due August 2nd!

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Holiday pictures posted

I have posted a few of the pictures we took around holidays. Check them out at:

http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/albun03

Here's a funny video I took over the break as well:

PHBs

I have the post-Holiday blues (PHBs). I always get them a bit. However, this year they aren't as bad and I think it's because it's always fun to see what new stuff Solomon is doing. Usually, there's not so much to look forward to for a while. I was sad to drop him off at daycare again today though.

Having the last 4 1/2 days off was fantastic. We got a lot done and relaxed a lot too. NYE was fun as well. We went to Sara and Shane's house and just ate, drank and played Nintendo Wii. It was nice and low-key. Plus, we had Solomon with us and he was able to sleep in their daughter's pack n' play while we hung out downstairs with the monitor on. We did a little shopping for Alex b/c he needed some clothes. I think that made him happy. We also bought one of those doorway jumpers for Solomon. He seemed to like it this morning, but wasn't quite getting the jumping thing yet! I think he just likes anything where he can be upright. The other couple at Sara and Shane's house on NYE have an 8-mo. old. He was already walking quite well with a bit of assistance. We're going to have to get Solomon moving on that! :) Get off your butt little guy and walk! Just kidding.

Since we watched "Elf" on Christmas Day, I've been using the term that Buddy uses to describe himself, Cotton-headed ninnymuggins. I just love it. It cracks me up. We now call Solomon our "minimuggins". Also, the Fresh Prince of BelAir theme song is in a constant loop in my head. The reason why is because Alex has been DVRing the episodes on Nick at Night and we've been watching them. The humor has stood the test of time (10 yearsish) pretty well. It's still funny. I used to watch it when it was new as did Alex. Carlton is our favorite.

We also went to see "American Gangster" starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, at the cheap theater. It was good. I always find drug trafficking movies interesting for some reason. The woman who plays Denzel's wife is sort of weird looking to me. My mom and dad took Solomon for that evening. They said the woman behind them in church made faces and played with him the entire mass. Babies are such a good excuse to not pay attention at church! :)

KU is playing tomorrow night in the Orange Bowl. I hope it's a good game. I have no idea how to judge it as I've never watched VA Tech play and I'm no expert on football anyway. Go KU!!

Oh yeah, Solomon has slept through the night for three straight nights now. Poor guy was super fussy yesterday though. We thought he might be sick or getting sick. My mom kind of thinks he's teething b/c he's drooling so much and sucking on his fingers on one side a lot.. Any thoughts anyone who's been through this recently?