November 2009 - Page 2 of 2

Congratulations are still in order

I’ve more or less been avoiding sports pages and what not since the game ended last night. To be honest, this one doesn’t really hurt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m bummed about the loss. But the reality is that repeating as World Series Champions is darn difficult – heck, just getting the opportunity to try it is rare. The Phillies are only the third National League team to do it since the introduction of the divisional round. More importantly, this was the first Phillies team to ever return.

So certainly there’s a somewhat bittersweet taste to another successful season. But I look at it this way: over the course of more than 2 decades I only ever saw the Phillies go to the playoffs once; and in the last 3 seaons I’ve seen them win 3 consecutive NL East titles, 2 consecutive NL pennants, and 1 World Series championship. That’s quite a successful run by any standard. And it doesn’t appear to be over.

So congratulations to the Phillies (and… I guess… the Yankees, too) for another great season. At least now there’s less reason for me to stay up past my bedtime… wait a sec… what am I still doing up?

When you’re talking in your sleep

Too many noises coming over the monitor means a restless night for Kayleigh and for Mommy and Daddy. Maybe I’m just using that as an excuse to stay up a little later and write something. But when you have a baby in the house, sleep is the most common thing to talk about (besides poop, of course).

Unfortunately just when we got a decent bedtime routine going… alright maybe a couple months after… all sorts of crazy baby changes began to conspire against us. There’s things like teething, which just makes life miserable for children and parents alike. There’s also the fact that she’s never come close to having a steady napping routine, which leads to varied states of crankiness in the evening. And now we’ve got the whole “look at me, I can stand up on my own in the crib” thing going on. Yeah, the first night I stumbled into her room in the middle of the night to find her standing at the railing was just a tad freaky. At least she’s usually in a better mood than when she’s just sitting there…

Regardless, this new found penchant for standing up whenever she felt like it forced The Woman and I to make a change to her sleeping arrangements. Out goes the bumper! I’m sure it was supposed to be removed months ago, but we left it in – largely because a certain someone thought it was just prettier that way…

Exciting, isn’t it?

That’s more like it.

So far so good. Coupled with a little tough love and the presence of her favorite Miffy doll our nights have settled down a bit. Which is good for all of us – after all, who doesn’t love a sleeping baby?

P.S. Yes, this post is my attempt to kick start some serious photo blogging.

Milestones

Did you know that my baby girl is walking? And not just that awkward goose-stepping with her hands wrapped tightly around our fingers. No, I’m talking about full-blown, chasing her through stores kind of walking. Her little waddle now takes her on circuits around the house to pull out every puzzle, book, pot, pan, and trinket she can lay her hands on.

It all started back at the end of September. During a visit to one of my sisters’ home I casually slipped my fingers out of Kayleigh’s grip while walking her to Mommy. Unbeknown to her, she finished the trek on her own. And thus we started up a game getting her to walk back and forth between us. This went on for a week or two until she discovered her adventurous side and took detours at the couch or TV or anything that seems more interesting than her folks. Nowadays there is no need for a game as she shoves her way out of our arms with a battle cry of “Walkeee!”

These changes can really so fast. And that would be why I failed to keep track of these events here. But enjoying them first hand turned out to be far more important to me. Thankfully The Woman has kept track of most of these in ye olde analog blog – sometimes referred to as a journal or diary. Sometimes the old fashion way just plain works.

Oh well, now that she’s walking, talking, eating solids, playing peekaboo, self-aware, etc. the next big change shouldn’t be for another 10 or 12 years, right?

Sure… why not?

Call it delusions of grandeur… call it gluttony for punishment… call it whatever you like, I’m going to try my hand at NaBloPoMo again. That’s National Blog Posting Month for those of you with lives.

Since I first failed miserably at this a couple years ago, they’ve changed it to a monthly thing that encourages people to fill the Internet with mindless drivel about what they had for lunch on a daily basis (torilla-encrusted fish-based product for those wondering), but November remains the “official” month.

The real trick will be pushing myself to post earlier in the day. These late night “brainstorming” sessions go no where very slowly. The other trick will be to come up with things to actually write about. But we all know content is purely optional when it comes to the self-indulgence of personal blogging.

This time I even remembered to submit this site for their blogroll – it should now be listed under “general” because “meandering” wasn’t an option. Perhaps the potential threat of random strangers being directed here will be enough to keep me posting. Or perhaps it will simply be enough to make me finally get rid of the CSS that puts those silly blue borders around my photos…

So much to say

There’s just so much to talk about these days and I find myself unable to concentrate on a single topic and actually post. So rather than make you all wait around waiting for any little sign that an update is coming, I’ll leave you with this little teaser: Kayleigh, dressed as a monkey, playing peekaboo with herself in the mirror.

Kayleigh dressed as a monkey, playing peekaboo

Hope that satiates you for another evening…