Saturday, September 27, 2008

What the “TiFaux” is Watching – Fall ’08

Inspired by Lindsay, I’m doing my version of her regular “What the Tivo is Watching” posts. When we moved to San Antonio we decided to go with AT&T U-Verse, meaning that I had to give up my TiVo since I had an old one that was built in to a DirecTV receiver. Therefore, I’m calling the AT&T DVR “TiFaux.”

Based on the Entertainment Weekly Fall TV Preview issue and what we already regularly watch, this is what is recording. I’ll do an update later on to show what I actually ended up watching on our new gargantuan 50” plasma.

Sunday
Meet the Press
This Week with George Stephanopoulos
The Amazing Race
Mad Men

Monday
Gossip Girl – my guilty pleasure!
How I Met Your Mother
Heroes
Dancing with the Stars
Nightline

Tuesday
Dancing with the Stars Results (fast forward through this one to see who got kicked off)
Nightline

Wednesday
Project Runway
Real World/Road Rules Challenge
Nightline
*Would also be watching Friday Night Lights if we still had DirecTV, so that one will wait until the spring.

Thursday
My Name is Earl
Kath & Kim
The Office
30 Rock
Grey's Anatomy
Nightline

Friday
Nightline

Saturday
Football, if anything

We also watch some of Good Morning America, ABC World News, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report regularly, although we don’t have TiFaux set up to record them. So, is there anything I should be watching? I would be watching Friday Night Lights if we had DirecTV, so that one will be on the list come spring when it’s on NBC. I thought Fringe sounded interesting, but I’m trying so hard to drop shows rather than add them! Since I know I watch way too much, I already dropped:

The Hills – Nothing ever happens, and I always feel like I just wasted 30 minutes every time I watch it.
America’s Next Top Model – Watched through the makeover episode. Every season is the same, and it’s getting boring. Plus, Tyra kills me with her campy “acting”, and I don’t think I can take hearing “Smile with your eyes!” one more time!
90210 – Not nearly as good as the original, and there’s only room for one ridiculous teen drama in my schedule (see “Gossip Girls”). :)

Friday, September 26, 2008

Something I need to remember

I just came across this idea in another blog. What an excellent way to record memories of your child, and a great way to get a pick me up!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Week (and a Half) in Review

I almost let two weeks go by without a post - oops! As always, we've found ways to keep busy.

  • On the wildlife front, we caught another baby possum and two more raccoons. Ugh. We're SO ready for everything to go away!
  • I'm excited that the fall TV season has started! I need to follow Lindsay's lead and do a separate post on what we'll be watching.
  • We had more visitors - Robert's grandparents (his mom's side this time) stayed with us last Friday as they made a quick tour to visit some of their grandchildren. We enjoyed visiting and eating our homemade pizza (one of our favorites!) on the patio. Claire had a lot of fun with Great-Grandmommy and Great-Granddad!
  • My birthday was Monday, and we celebrated on Saturday with a nice dinner out. On our honeymoon we developed a love for Roy's and have since enjoyed some good meals at their Austin location. Since we haven't found a local babysitter yet, we drove to Austin so that Claire could spend the evening with Robert's mom and we could go out to a kid-free dinner. I got the butterfish, which is my favorite thing on their menu, and Robert got the fish trio, another good choice with salmon, tuna, and butterfish. We also splurged on an appetizer and two desserts - we can't seem to go there and not order one of the chocolate souffles. Claire had a great time with her grandmother - later I will post a video of them playing with a fun new toy.

  • Claire tried cereal for the first time on Monday! We have a video and lots of pictures that will be in a separate post. She wasn't too excited about it, but I know she'll enjoy it eventually.
  • She's really enjoying her toys now that she can easily grasp them and pull them to her mouth! We've been playing a lot and practicing rolling over (she's almost got tummy to back down, and we're working on back to tummy). We're also practicing sitting up - she can sit in the tripod position (holding one hand out on the floor in front of her to balance) unassisted for a few seconds, and it seems to get longer every day. We clap and cheer when she does it, and she gets entertained and falls over. :)

  • She still smiles and laughs all the time, especially when we fake laugh - that really gets her going!
  • Finally, a few more cute pictures that I wanted to share:

Playing with Daddy

Enjoying bathtime!

Chair Pictures

Week 23
Sitting pretty in a new outfit (she's just starting to fit into size 3-6 mo. clothes, tiny thing!)



Week 24


Something caught her eye... "I can reach it!"
"Oops!" "Well, now I can get it in my mouth." Pretty smiles!

Monday, September 15, 2008

More Wildlife Encounters

In the past week we had a few more brushes with wildlife in our backyard. First one was:

a SKUNK!

The thing we were most afraid to catch appeared in the trap early last week. It took us a day to figure out what to do. Animal control won't pick up anything other than dogs and cats. I heard about a wildlife rescue group that would come get wild animals, but they said that they've been overwhelmed with requests and don't make house calls anymore, but the lady I spoke with had some tips. Then, I called a couple of pest/wildlife control companies, and they both wanted to charge over $150 to come pick it up. Finally, I called my dad, and he spoke to my uncle who'd had a skunk problem. He used the same technique described by the wildlife rescue group without getting sprayed, so Robert gave it a try.

In case you ever trap a skunk in your backyard, here's what you do:
  1. Decide if you want to take it out to the country or just release it where it is. Since we don't have a pick-up, we didn't want to risk having the car or SUV sprayed, so we decided to just let it go in the yard.
  2. Get a tarp and hold it up in front of you, covering your feet.
  3. Slowly approach the trap.
  4. Drape the tarp over the trap.
  5. Open the trap and quickly move away.
As Robert was making his way back to the house, I saw the skunk run out and head towards the fence. Success! The rescue group had suggested spraying for bugs (which we'd done once, but did again), sprinkling cayenne pepper on areas where they'd been digging, and soaking rags in ammonia and leaving them around the yard. We sprayed and sprinkled the cayenne. A couple of days later we caught a raccoon (which Robert released out in the country)...

...but nothing since then. Hooray! We've also been leaving the patio lights on to discourage them from approaching the house, and that may be helping as well. On Saturday night we saw a family of raccoons crossing the street near our house. Dang coons. At least it appears they left us alone that night.

When I went out to take a picture of the raccoon, this squirrel apparently felt I was invading his space and kept barking at me. I've got my eye on you, buddy.

22 Weeks

Can you believe that she turned 5 months old last week? Getting so big! She's really enjoying her Bumbo chair now, and we're spending lots of time practicing sitting up and rolling over.



We had a busy week last week. We have a lot more unpacked, although we haven't touched the garage or the stuff that is going upstairs. Plus, we still don't have anything on the walls, but that will be one of the last things to happen.

Claire started "school" on Monday. The teachers really like her, especially the lead teacher. Every time I drop Claire off, she scoops her up and is cuddling with her as I leave. Each day they've commented on how smiley and happy she is!

We also spent some time trying to find a new pediatrician. We were so happy with the one we had in Dallas that we were not excited about the search for a new one. I took Claire in for a preliminary visit today with one we were interested in, and she weighed 13 lbs., 5 oz., so up a little more than a pound since her 4 month check-up a few weeks ago.
I think he will work out. I had heard good things about some of the other doctors in the practice, and something I was looking for was an office where I would feel comfortable if we weren't able to see our usual doctor. He took his time with Claire, and judging from this preliminary visit, I like his philosophies - don't give medicine unless it's absolutely necessary, instructions on feeding, etc. One of the other things we talked about was making our own baby food, which is something I'd already planned on doing. He thinks that if you make it from fresh vegetables/fruits, it makes the transition to table foods much easier since Gerber's version doesn't usually taste the same as fresh. Plus, you can have more variety that what is available in stores. Besides, I just think it seems healthier, not to mention cheaper!

My transfer to the San Antonio Junior League went through last week in time for me to attend the September meeting, and I think I'm really going to enjoy it. An acquaintance that I used to work with at the firm moved to SA a few years ago, and I found out that she is also a member. She saw me almost as soon as I walked in, and I was so happy to see a familiar face. Having someone to talk to and sit with made the meeting much more enjoyable. I was also able to meet some of her friends. The SA League is a little more laid back. I was pleased to find yummy appetizers and a cash bar - something you would never find at a Dallas meeting. There you couldn't even bring in a bottle of water! The transfer program seems to be pretty robust, so I'm excited to get involved. I'm hopeful that I will make some new friends through the League and learn more about the community.

Robert's mom is in the States, and she came to visit over the weekend. We had a fun time and especially enjoyed visiting the Botanical Gardens and the McNay Art Museum. SA has so many places to explore, and I know that we will soon make return visits to both.

Monday, September 08, 2008

A Few Firsts

Claire turned five months old today, and she decided to celebrate with a few firsts!

  • On Friday, we saw her first tooth coming in. She's been chewing on everything (teething rings, burp cloths, her fingers, our fingers, etc.) for a few weeks and hadn't been any fussier than usual, so she surprised us. By the next day we realized that another one was coming in beside it, so it shouldn't be long before I can get a picture of her new little teeth. I'm so glad they don't seem to be bothering her too badly!
  • Yesterday she rolled over from tummy to back by herself for the first time. She was so surprised! Robert and I were both standing there, so we cheered and clapped for her - she started smiling and seemed pretty proud of herself.
  • Today was her first day at her new school. This is the temporary one - our favorite doesn't have an opening for a couple of months, but we wanted to go ahead and start her somewhere so that I can get a job. She had a good day - when I went to pick her up, her teachers said that we "have a beautiful baby" and that she was so good and happy. They kept commenting on how smiley she is. She was having a good time playing with some toys on the floor when I got there, and was overall in a great mood. I'm glad she's going to have an easy adjustment.

Mom and Dad came for a few days last week, and we really enjoyed our time with them. Claire loved the extra attention, especially her walks around the yard with Granddaddy and playing the piano with Nana.




I never posted her chair picture from last week, so here it is. Another to come soon!


A couple more pictures I wanted to share - we recently got her Exersaucer set up, and she really likes looking at all of the toys and bright colors. She's still a little small for it to be comfortable for very long, but I know she'll grow into it soon.


Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Catching Up

I'll try to cover the highlights of the last couple of weeks - it's been a whirlwind!
  • The move went really well. Movers were supposed to come on Wednesday (the 20th) to pack, load on Thursday, and deliver to SA on Friday. They called on Tuesday and said that the driver wanted to pack and load all on Thursday. Something happened, and they ended up switching drivers. We could tell that the new driver wasn't too pleased with the previously assigned guy for making that call, but they managed to get it all done. Both of the crews that packed/loaded and unloaded were very professional. We did have one mishap, but it's repairable, so all in all we were happy with how it went. It was so nice to have someone else pack our stuff, but it has made it more difficult to find things! We've made quite a bit of progress, though, and are happy to be in our new house.

Movers outside our house (no, our stuff did not fill up that semi!)

  • The new house is significantly larger (and there are a few things I've been anxious to replace, so we have some new furniture purchases to make. So far, we've purchased (and had delivered) a refrigerator, a TV, and an entertainment center. Pictures to come soon (when everything is a little more in place)! Still on the list: bedside tables for Master, table/chairs for breakfast room, table/chairs for dining room, china cabinet, guest room furniture, new living room furniture (old will go upstairs). First priority is breakfast room and master bedroom - the rest will happen as we have time.
  • We closed on the Dallas house!
  • Right before we moved in, the previous owner told us something was digging in the mulch, and he thought it was a possum. Robert bought a live animal trap at the hardware store. He set it out on the Friday we moved in, and caught a baby possum on Sunday morning. The bad news is that possums apparently have litters of around 20! On Tuesday morning we found a full grown raccoon who had dug up quite a bit of sod by the patio. Robert's research found that they smell grubs, bugs, etc. and dig up everything to get to them. After a couple of drives out to the country to let the animals go, he's trying some grub killer and hasn't reset the trap yet. We didn't know we were moving into an urban version of Wild Kingdom!
Baby possum

Raccoon

Torn up sod


  • Most of last week was spent unpacking and shopping, and on Friday Ma & Bob (Robert's grandparents) came to stay with us before the big 60th anniversary celebration with the whole family in Fredericksburg. We all drove to F-burg on Saturday and stayed in the Fredericksburg Inn through Monday. We had a great time visiting with Robert's uncles and their families. Claire got lots of attention and especially enjoyed getting to nap in a couple of people's arms (including cousin Ashlee).


  • Next up - Mom and Dad are coming on Wednesday to see us (meaning Claire :) ). We're all looking forward to seeing them!

New Chair Pictures and Stats

This is the first chance I've had to post Claire's 19 and 20 week pictures in her chair - things are finally starting to settle down a bit.

19 Weeks (Last ones in our old house!)

She's such a happy baby - she smiles easily and has started to laugh. It doesn't happen very often, but you can't help joining her when she does - such a joyful noise!

Two of her favorite things - sucking her fingers and grabbing her toes

That week she had her 4 month Well Baby check-up. She weighed 12 pounds (20th percentile), measured 23 3/4 inches (45th percentile), and appears to be in perfect health and developing on schedule.

20 Weeks (In her new room)



She's decided that she likes to try and eat Elephant.

Almost got it...

there!


Caught!