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August 31, 2004
bye-bye, vacation.
We're back from our Iowa road trip. No offense to those we love, but it was nice to get back home to our dirty house, to mounds of bills and to start punching the clock again.
But seriously.
We wanted to see more and do more but it just wasn't physically possible. So many friends and family that we were oh-so-close to but just didn't get to see. Pre Gus we maybe could have pulled more off but now we are forced to slow down and get out of the car occasionally (or speed up so we can take advantage of Gus sleeping).
In a weird way, I wish Gus wasn't our excuse for slowing down. Seems like we should take the cues around us and slow down for our own sake. Rest! Try doing one thing at a time. Pay attention to the details around you. Run your hand through Gustav's golden hair. Watch him delight in a song you're singing. Laugh as you see Gus waving to every stranger and charming the pants off them in the process. Listen to him make his way through the alphabet (he's getting awfully close to P=papa!). See Gus move his little fingers as you sign to him. Enjoy just being and not doing.
Highlights of our trip include:
**Visiting Kyle in Iowa City on his second day as a freshman. His excitement was palpable!
**Finally having the chance to see Lauri and Brian's home and see all the work they've put into it. It's beautiful! Thanks for letting us stay.
**Dinner at Lauri's with Hans, Lisa, Ivan and Vince. We were rolling when Vince spit up on Hans in the most inopportune of all places...
**Stopping to see Arleen in Des Moines
**Seeing my Mom teach again after being out of the classroom for eight years (and previously one year away from retirement, although that's changed now). I'm so impressed by your motivation and excitement, Mom.
**Taking Gus to the zoo in Omaha on the hottest day of our vacation. Seeing fruit bats in a cave with only a mesh netting separating us...yikes. Watching Gus watching alligators that were eerily watching him back. Back off, Alligator. Small fry is with me.
**Purchasing an 8X10 rug for our living room so that Gus can stop his second shift job as baby swiffer boy on the wood floors. I know there isn't some invisible fence around this rug that will truly prevent it, but it will take at least a few more seconds than it does now.
**Seeing Sue's new home that's being built in Omaha. Saying goodbye to her being my Mom's neighbor was not fun. She moves in three weeks. We'll miss you, Sue!
**Dinner with Missy, Pete + family, Sarah, Joe, Sally + family. Joe and Sally just had Allison three weeks ago, and we got to see Sam, who's two, just the cutest. I had forgotten how light and little the babes can be! Also got to see Jack, Missy and Pete's little boo ho is seven weeks younger than Gus. SO CUTE! I wish we were closer to see everyone grow.
**Late night talks with Mom. Don't you miss those, Mom?
**Visiting and staying with Pat and Dwight in Indianola. It was so great to spend time with them, and having Megan come down from Iowa City and Laura from Des Moines was a treat. I miss seeing you all more often, I always feel at home with you.
**Coming home, exhausted but happy.
Too many pictures to list out here, you'll have to go to another page...when I post them tomorrow. I'm so tired. Must sleep!
Here's one to hold you over...
Posted by janna at 09:40 PM
August 21, 2004
Gus + Papa
Gus loves it when John plays his bass...
Posted by janna at 11:27 PM
August 20, 2004
Relief.
Gus is back!
After several days of staying home from daycare due to the hand, foot and mouth, Gus went back to daycare today. His blisters are close to gone. You would never suspect anything just looking at him now. Gus is also eating and sleeping normally now. Way to bounce back, Gus!
The bad news. We found out tonight that our little neighbor girl, Emily, who is six months old, got the sickness...from Gus. We saw them on Friday night, before we knew Gus had it, and he had sucked on one of Emily's toys for about a minute. That's all it took. This disease can't help itself. I felt so guilty. Certainly one of many times I'll have parental guilt for some reason or another (either appropriate or not).
We're now officially on vacation! We're heading to Iowa on Tuesday, a road trip! We'll see family and friends... I can't wait.
Oh, one more thing. We're calling it official. Gus has said his first word (again and again, so it's proven...)!
MAMA!!!!
It's the sweetest thing I've ever been called.
Posted by janna at 10:40 PM
August 16, 2004
There it is...
nasty little blister, rearing your ugly head from my peanut's finger. And there, another one! Oh, and there you are on peanut's leg.
Gus has it. Hand, foot & mouth. He was actually at daycare today. We all thought maybe Gus was only having a mild case. Nope, it was just the beginning. When I picked him up, we agreed I would bring him tomorrow, but as I was leaving I looked down at his hand and saw the blisters. I told her I guess we weren't bringing him tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next. Argh.
I called the doctor...he said it was most important to keep Gus hydrated. We all know what that means! might be working overtime.
Posted by janna at 10:57 PM
August 15, 2004
Not good.
We think Gus has hand, food & mouth disease.
From what I've learned (I love the Internet!), it's fairly common, comes in epidemic waves about every three years, usually in the summer and fall here in the States, is highly contagious but there is really not much you can do except minimize the pain and potential fever. Two kids at daycare had it, and we hoped Gus missed out on the fun. But the past couple of days we noticed he was chewing on his lip. We thought he was just teething; in fact, it looked like he was giving himself littel hickies on his lower lip. Then this morning we saw the little bastard...there it was, a full-blown cancersore like thing on my little peanut's lips. No wonder he was kind of off today, getting up so early. Outside of the obvious discomfort of the sore on his mouth, he might get a fever, but he still seems pretty happy. Bad thing: he can't go to daycare for a couple of days. Give me an A... "a".... give me an R... "r"... give me a G ... "g"... give me an H... "h"...
What's that spell?
Life. It just goes to show you truly cannot plan for most things. There are too many variables, too many possible combinations of things. For example, to just catch the train in the morning on time, about 25 things need to happen, in order and correctly, in order for that to happen. You're right to think, "'It's just the train! Go to your car, get in and drive..." But what if the garbage truck is in the alley? What if you forgot Gustav's milk? What if you forgot yourself???
But you know what? He is a happy little guy and despite all the craziness I think we're doing a good job at giving him the impression that all is smooth as silk. I guess we'll find out when he's 25 and taking us on the Oprah show as examples of parents who create chaos... tee hee.
Posted by janna at 04:47 PM
Hi Gus! Bye Gus!
I'm in awe. Suddenly Gus has become a waver.
Yes, folks. Today was the day that Gus waved his hand up and down at anyone that waved at him, with a 'hi' or with a 'bye'. (Mom, would that be considered his first sign?)
!!!
Where did that come from? I felt slightly sad because it was a true sign that this little baby peanut is become a full-fledged little boy. Perhaps I'm being a bit dramatic, but OH MY GOD, GUS WAVES!
I don't have any pictures to support this, but I have many witnesses to the incredible cuteness of it. We went to a friend's bbq this afternoon and everyone that waved got a response from him, near or far. His little arm goes up and down, while his hand opens and closes.
And as we were driving away from the bbq, I SWEAR Gus said mama. I literally stopped driving in the middle of the street, and turned to him. and asked him if he said mama. He smiled at me. It wasn't like a long string of babble with mama intertwined, he said (quiet space of nothing) MAMA (another quiet space of nothing).
So amazing.
Maybe I can teach him to sign "Kerry for President"... who wouldn't be convinced to vote for Kerry with such undeniably cute influence? I'll get Gus out waving on the campaign trail! Now all he has to do is master the Edward's thumbs up...
Posted by janna at 12:04 AM
August 12, 2004
morning + evening
Happy, smiley morning boy. There is no way to be grumpy around Gus.
The only bad thing about the mornings is that they are too short.
But then night is a different story... Gus is still happy, sometimes grumpy (who isn't?)
These are from tonight, after a bath. Gustav's hair is finally getting long enough where we can mess it up. The child never gets bedhead!
We think Gus is going through a growth spurt... lots of eating, drinking more milk. So my excitement of only pumping twice a day at work may be short lived.
Posted by janna at 10:16 PM | Comments (1)
August 09, 2004
Oh, Elusive Cherrio
Oh Cherrio, Oh Cherrio, why art thou so difficult to grasp?
You gather before me, round upon round
I sneak up behind you with nary a sound
Out comes my hand, with all good intent
Closing upon you, to my belly you'll be sent
But no, Oh Cherrio, you will not have it
You fall to the ground, there you will sit
We laugh, Oh Cherrio, for you do not know
That into Zeppo's belly for sure you will go
Wait, there you teeter, on the edge of my mouth
Will you go into the deep or take another trip south?
Ah, yes, there you go, single but devine
Gustav's first Cherrio, so very sublime.
(and he didn't choke like I thought he would!)
Gus is eight months old now. Eight WHOLE months. I remember wondering what eight months would be like. I felt like he would be in high school by now, but he's still my precious little peanut. So talkative! He says so many things, with so much emotion, you just can't wait until you share the same language.
Gus loves to stand up, so much so that in his little bouncy bumper jumper hanging thing in the door he stands much more than he actually jumps (but when he jumps he's like an incredible Russian ballerina, doing that crazy jump-cross-the-legs-and-feet-a-gazillion-times-before-falling-to-the-ground thing). I love him so.
The hair! So blonde, and getting thicker each day.
The sleep? Amazing. Even naps during the day with us, in his crib, which didn't happen as much in the past. Strangely, now that I can sleep, I find myself more tired than I have been since before I had Gus. Maybe my body is realizing how much sleep I didn't have and is feeling resentful and demanding I make up for it. Full disclosure: I went to bed at 8:30 on Friday night, 9:00 on Saturday night... but then I go to bed at like 11:30 or 12 any other work night. Uh, hello?
Eating! and Eating! and Eating! The boy can pack it away, and who can blame him? He's growing like a weed. For example, yesterday he had a scrambled egg yolk and banana + cereal for breakfast, maybe 2/3 cup of sweet potatoes for lunch, 2/3 cup cauliflower/squash combo for dinner, some peaches and cereal for a snack between lunch and dinner AND he still nurses. Definitely not as much as before, but he drinks a whole bunch still at daycare, so pumping at work is still very lucrative for us. Luckily I'm down to twice a day, most of the time, so that adds to my sanity. We're trying more finger food types of things, but Gus doesn't seem to get that these things can be eaten. He'd rather growl at them and move them around.
Sitting! Gus is sitting up on his own, although he isn't pushing himself up to sitting. When he's on the ground, he's off to the rolling races, so you have to really watch him now. He can make it across the room very quickly, and has discovered cords (which means it is REALLY time to safety proof the house). When he's on his belly, he turns himself around in circles, and he's starting to push himself backwards when he's on the wood floor (hey, we try to keep him on our itty bitty rug, but the world is so much bigger and exciting than that rug...)
Did I mention he talks in his sleep sometimes? Heart-melting stuff, I tell you.
Here's Gus and Miles and Elodia at Miles' one year birthday party. Miles and Gus go to daycare together. Elodia is one of the wonderful women there that takes care of Gus. When Elodia says BAILAR (dance) in Spanish, Gus goes crazy. He loves her, and Christy, who owns the place. He loves all the women there. That makes this whole working thing so much easier, I tell you.
Gus + Elodia + Miles
Gus + Christy... not sure what either are doing!
Posted by janna at 10:13 PM
August 04, 2004
Piano lessons
Posted by janna at 10:31 PM
August 03, 2004
Happy Birthday, John
Last Thursday was John's 30th birthday.
The big THREE OH.
The challenge for myself: could I buy 30 gifts for 30 bucks? Yes! It wasn't necessarily about quality, but quantity.
One of the gifts was candles. John wasn't so happy that he had graduated to needing two packs of candles. It will be okay, John.
We decided to take the day off, but still take Gus to daycare so we could have a day together. A full day together! We haven't been out for that long (eight hours) without Gus...ever. I mean, we've both been to work, but not out together. It was really nice to be alone (I love you, Gus!) and just play.
First we went downtown to Lou Mitchell's for breakfast. It's a great diner, with good greasy food. We sat at the counter, read the paper, and revealed in our free-ness: We're not working! And we have both hands to eat with!
We then walked to the new Millenium Park...wow. Here is where the camera came out in full force. I love being a tourist in my own city.
The face video fountains...It was great watching the kids wait in anticipation of the coming water. There were two video screens with different faces.
After about three minutes, the face would change from this:
To this:
Here's the BEAN! It's still under construction, you can see the welding marks, but it is amazing.
After the park, SPIDERMAN II! A movie. A complete, whole movie, full of a large diet coke, stadium seating and me constantly whispering to John, "That's so cool!"
We picked up Gus a little early. John decided he wanted to run a lap around the high school track, just to show he could...
Go, John, Go! We're your biggest fans.
Happy Birthday!
Posted by janna at 09:14 PM | Comments (2)