Monday, July 30, 2007

Ryan's birthday update

We are home at 4 a.m. Ryan and Dave found a place in Des Moines that said the tire couldn't be repaired so we just had to get a new one.

Happy birthday, Ryan!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Ryan's birthday surprise

Someone donated a broken glass bottle to the street in front of grandma and grandpa's house, and so when we were pulling out to leave to go back to Champaign, our tire hissed. So out of the car for us, and now Ryan is busy putting the spare on. We're probably going to have to spend another night in Des Moines since we can't get service at this time on a Sunday and we don't want to drive 400 miles on a spare.

The only things we needed to do tomorrow were to go to a food coop bagging and to work on some business card designs. We'll still need to be back by 5 for Ryan to teach a saxophone lesson. So we'll probably just have to put Stephen through the misery of daytime driving.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Hanging out with Maria

We were over at our friends' house today since they hosted a BBQ for Heidi. We took a picture on the same couch where we took one shortly after Maria was born. It was memorable because in this older photo Stephen appeared to be eating Maria's head. Both children were very mature today and let us just go crazy with our cameras. Here are a few snapshots.

We drove there separately from Heidi since she had been on campus, and we were coming from home. When we got there, we walked back to the porch where all Heidi's friends were hanging out, and Stephen just kind of looked around until he saw Heidi. He got so excited that she was there! It's really fun to see him react to people other than me and Ryan, who we are sure he recognizes all the time.

We got some sweet corn at the farmers' market this morning, but we think we're going to have to bring back some corn from Iowa next weekend. There's just nothing like the Grimes Peaches and Cream sweet corn!

Friday, July 20, 2007

A glimpse of the kitchen

I realized while looking through some photos tonight that I hadn't shared a classic baby picture. You see, Stephen thinks it's his job to dump - toys, Tupperware, scrapbooks, coasters - and he does a superb job. This is what my kitchen often looks like.

We survived another week with Thomas. He didn't sleep as much this week as he did last week. So I didn't really have any baby-free time during the days like I did last week. That's alright, though. Both boys have done really well at being fairly content.

Heidi is still here and is currently sitting eating a stuffed pepper, recipe courtesy Larry Lorimor. It's what we had for dinner.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

No More "Lorimor" Sisters


Well, she did it. Emily got married. It was so wonderful to see so many family and friends, and to meet Spencer's family and friends. Stephen was pretty clingy overall; but I was proud of him for not crying when he was pulled down the aisle by Johnny.

Now Emily and Spencer are in the Black Hills for a week. Heidi is staying with us in Champaign for a week and doing some work on her dissertation.

Today we learned that our phone service no longer works because the company we used went out of business. All day we'd been frustrated, resetting our modem (it's an internet-based line) and getting weird silences. So for the time being we'll just be reachable on Ryan's cell and via email.

I've read some interesting books recently. I really enjoyed Deborah Rodriguez's nonfiction Kabul Beauty School. She went to Afghanistan as a relief worker, thinking she'd work alongside drs and nurses. But instead she started cutting hair, and made friends with Afghan women. One thing led to another, and she started a school for Afghan women that is still in existence today.

I have sort of read The No Cry Sleep Solution about getting a baby to sleep through the night. My basic conclusion was this: Stephen doesn't have a sleep problem. He is a baby. Babies sometimes get up at night. I mostly wondered if there were things I could be doing to help him sleep better, and the main thing I think I'll start is just having fewer lights on in the evening. That won't hurt the electricity bill, either.

Ryan and I are both reading books by Frank Viola about the church. I'm just getting started on Who Is Your Covering? and he just began Rethinking the Wineskin. Both have some fresh ideas about how the early church looked as well as what the body of Christ should look like now.

We have still been having Thomas here for part of the day while Thomas's mom does research on campus. I am beginning to think that teaching my son to share is futile right now. He doesn't just get upset when he can't have one of his favorite toys because Thomas is playing wtih it; he has major meltdowns! Sometimes I'm just keeping them from hurting each other.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Warning! Rip off!

Now I'm not upset about this, because I did have the wisdom to check out the prices before I just blindly had some printouts made ... and I went somewhere else!

I knew Kinko's had slightly higher rates for making copies, but since they are close to where we live I though I'd print some laser copies there.

I had to get 63 laser copies from pdfs, and it was going to be 49 cents a copy, plus $2.00 per minute to use the computer. So assuming I could get it all done in 5 minutes, that would have cost me $40! I checked with the sales staff to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding, and they confirmed that that was indeed the price.

So tonight I drove up to Office Depot, where I knew they didn't pull tricks like this. Sure enough, I completed the entire job for $5.04.

Now, the thing Kinko's has going for them is that they are open 24 hours. But I would encourage people to stay away from their services when there are local copy shops and Office Depot to do the same thing for less money. Here in Champaign we have found CityBlue on Mattis to be a good source for plain black and white copies. The Copy Cat by Drake did a nice job for me when I used them, too.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

I took this quiz tonight. You can too!

You have 82% Iowa in you!

Nice score! Are you embarrassed or proud of being so much Iowa? I would be proud, it's great being so closely tied to the Hawkeye State.

Do you have Iowa in you?

Monday, July 09, 2007

And just how many strollers do we need?

We have a nice collapsible one that can fit in the trunk, but that isn't great for long distances, or travelling over grass. For that, we have a jogging stroller, but that one doesn't fit well in the car.

Just tonight we managed to acquire (temporarily) a double stroller. For the next three weeks I'll be watching a 14-month-old boy for about 6 hours a day, and this would enable us to more easily go to the park.

Today was the first day with Thomas, and it started out rather disastrous, in Stephen's opinion. Someone else was playing with his toys. His mommy was holding another little boy. Between Stephen being upset about toy playage, and Thomas being upset because his mom was gone and he was in a new home, there was whining going on for about an hour.

But then it was naptime. Both boys slept peacefully, and woke up happy, and played together great until Thomas's mom picked him up.

Then this evening I ate dinner with Aimee. Ryan had to be on campus for the music camp he's working for this week. I went to the evening LLL meeting, then headed to campus where Ryan was performing with his sax quartet. We watched their performance through the window at the back of the auditorium. Stephen was clapping during much of it. We'll have to work on performance etiquette :).

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Mac and Cheese

I guess he had a little bit of this last week when we were at Hickory River, but tonight he ate mac and cheese with us for dinner. He thought it was great! He also has been introduced to strawberries and kiwi, and both have gone over well. As Ryan remarked, it's fun to feed a baby who actually wants to eat!

We had a lawnmower scare today. We had bought one when we first moved here for $35, used. It broke a few months back. We've been borrowing a friends and being glad that it wasn't raining much, but we had to get another one. So we got a $75 used one earlier this week. Ryan was out mowing the front lawn this afternoon, and when he stopped the mower to come inside briefly, he was then unable to get it started!!! Argh!! 10 minutes later it still didn't start. BUT, thankfully, it did when he got back from his stagecrew job on campus. He said it had something to do with the throttle ...

We are getting excited for Emily's wedding. Stephen will be the ringbearer. It'll be a chore to get him rested and cooperative for the ceremony itself but I think we can pull it off.

He stands up quite a bit on various toys and pieces of furniture. Sometimes he even scoots across the room on them :).

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Was the squirrel crazy or was I?

So Stephen and I were at the park this afternoon. When I see squirrels, it's usually them scurrying away from me, or there are two squirrels chasing each other around a tree. But today we were playing with the wood chips (yes, it is fun, according to Stephen) and a squirrel stopped in the tree above us.

Then it started quacking. I gave it a confused look. Then it meowed. Then we got in the stroller and came home.

I wonder how this will play out in "Old McDonald" ...

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Procrastidishinating

I need to go wash dishes but but though I'd fill in some details from the weekend. Ryan already posted the photos of Stephen's haircut. That was the big change of the day. Though Stephen is greatly increasing the amount of time he is standing. He hasn't done it yet without holding on to something or someone but he likes the height that he gets from that position.

He had a pretty fussy night last night, but then was fine from about midmorning on. We are pretty sure it was either teeth or tummy bothered by his iron supplement. I'm introducing more foods every day. He loves crackers, but still rejects most all vegetables and meats.

I attended Jaime's baby shower today. She's having twins in September - a boy and a girl. It was nice to have Ryan be with Stephen for a few hours.

Sumin had her baby on Stephen's birthday! I went to the hospital to see her on Friday. And not only do Stephen and [unnamed son of Sumin] share a birthday - they weighed exactly the same at birth! He was sleeping when I visited but I hope to be able to hold him next time I see him.

Dave and Sue are coming for the 4th of July. Yeah - more grandma and grandpa time!

Shave and a haircut.......

Actually just a haircut--he's big, but not that big. It's his first one, though.

Before......
....and after!

From the back.....
No more pictures, please!



Here's the footage on YouTube!

Uncle Marc-Andre's new favorite toy!

Sorry it's a little blurry........