littlehippie

A Fine Deal

January 18, 2009 by littlehippie Leave a Comment

I don’t think that it’s normal that I get excited when I go shopping (unless it’s for some new electronic piece), but I did get excited at the store this morning. We were up in the Park Meadows area looking for a baby gate, and we decided to stop by Old Navy. We stumbled upon the kids section, and a groovy sale that they have going on this weekend: 50% the lowest marked price of the clearance stuff: they were dumping their winter stuff for summer attire. We found him some winter stuff….some for this winter (it is only January, after all) and a jacket for next. The total price of everything as originally marked? $121.00. The total price of everything today? $21.00 (including tax).

Sorry for the consumeristic excitment, but saving over $100.00 is a nice gift in today’s climate. 🙂

Filed Under: Life in General, Photos Included

Safety First

January 17, 2009 by littlehippie Leave a Comment

We figured that along with the crawling, which he is getting really proficient at (he will motor all over the place in no time…at the firehouse he crawled all of the way from the living room, under a table, and into the dining area; roughly 25 feet….and he did it 5 or 6 times), we would add some safety features to the living room area – where he spends the vast majority of his time at home. We let him sit there and play (now crawl), and have found him closer to the top of the stairs to the garage than we would have liked. He also made one attempt to pull himself up the coffee table – successfully lifting his whole body off of the ground – so we added the corner protection. And finally, we put some stuff up to hopefully prevent him from becoming a DJ before we are ready.

Oh yea, the ‘simple, easy to install’ gate wasn’t. The advertised 10 minutes turned into 60, including a trip to the hardware store. Argh.

One picture of the gate from Ezra’s point of view.

Filed Under: Life in General, Photos Included

The Army Crawl

January 15, 2009 by littlehippie 4 Comments

Yea, it seems to be becoming more and more perfected over just the past couple of days. Once again, generally it’s the cat that is inspiring some of the these moves, and just about every time that we set him down to play – and the cat is within sight – he drops and army crawls over to her (ps: I have found them several times locked together via her claws….but just on his clothing. I suppose it’s good that it’s winter and he is wearing long sleeves). We have also started to notice that in conjunction with learning how to use his hands for the army crawl, he is starting to apply the same techniques to attempting to crawl on his knees. I suppose that it won’t be long how.

Filed Under: Ezra!, Video Included

Six Month, Err, Seven Month Dr Visit

January 15, 2009 by littlehippie Leave a Comment

So Ezra finally had his six month well-baby check yesterday. He’s basically 7.5 months for those counting. It was a whole scheduling/vacation thing in December, so it had to get postponed to now.

Everything checked out okay. He is growing well, in good health, and the doctor is please with his development. He is currently dealing with a upper respiratory system problem that is causing a cough, but no fever or any other symptoms. We also had a question about some rash/dry skin looking stuff that has recently developed on his back, and the diagnosis was excema. It seems like Ahna had it when she was a baby, and now Ezra gets to feel the fun. According to the doctor, it tends to flair up more in the cold months due to the dryness, but that it isn’t really much to worry about. We were given the task to make sure that the soaps, detergents, etc that we are using are fragrant-free to rule out any other potential causes. He hasn’t shown any awareness (pain, discomfort, etc) about the excema thus far, so no big deal.

He did get two shots (HIB and Prevnar) at the visit, and as always did really well with them. Because he was a little tired and hungry, he did cry when he got them (two nurses gave him a shot each, at the same time, to ‘get it over with’), but stopped almost as soon as we picked him up, and stopped altogether when he went back to feeding. So, there was a little “what the heck was that?” cry, but nothing lasting.

Next visit is at the nine month spot. It will mark the first time that we will go two months between visits.

Here are the numbers:

Head: 18″ – 75%

Height: 27.5″ – 75%

Weight: 19 lbs, 4 oz – 65%

Filed Under: Ezra!

More On The Schedule

January 14, 2009 by littlehippie Leave a Comment

Okay, here’s a few more thoughts on the last couple of days….

It pretty much lived up to the expectations that we had. Work was fine. I have worked 96 hours straight in the past, so being at work for 48 hours wasn’t a strange sensation…but being there with the same crew and the same shift was a little strange. Some of the typical routines were a little shaken up for the better: one trip to the grocery store for two days, only doing chores one time, only having to make my bed one time, etc. Both days were fairly busy with a good mix of calls, maintenance, and training.

I started my task book for the Acting Lieutenant position, so that has given me something new to work on at the station. For the last two days, I was still driving the truck, but I handled most of the administrative stuff – organizing the day, keeping us on task, doing the log book, completing the reports, etc. Next tour (Sun, Mon), I will start my training in the Lieutenant’s seat.

When it came to how things were for Ahna and Ezra….again, pretty much like expected. Ahna was busy at work, so extra meetings and extra things to do occupied a lot of her time. Ezra spent both days in daycare; the first day wasn’t so good, but the second day went a lot better. They were able to stop by the station yesterday afternoon for a few minutes, but our time was cut short by a call.

So logistically, it went fine. On the other hand, it was difficult for me to be away from home for that duration, and Ahna and Ezra missed me being at home as well (or at least they are telling me that). There were a few moments on the first day that I was a little resentful of the schedule, but hopefully those will be balanced by the excitement of being home now for the next four days.

It’s only one tour of two days…both of which we were able to sleep the better part of the night. We will have to wait to see how this continues to develop and change, and we will see what happens when the nights get shorter at work, or at home.

Filed Under: Life in General

Ah, The New Schedule

January 14, 2009 by littlehippie 1 Comment

So I have spent the last two days at work….including tonight. Officially, it won’t be until tomorrow morning that it will equal 48 hours, but I thought I would let you know how it is going.

On second thought, I’m tired. We’ve been busy, so I thought about asking Ahna for her take. Alas, same answer. Guess you’ll have to wait. 🙂

Filed Under: Life in General

The Best Of 2008, Musically Speaking

January 6, 2009 by littlehippie 1 Comment

For a part of the gift that I gave to Mary for the gift exchange, I made a mix tape (okay, CD) of the best music that I came across in 2008. And since we have the blog thing happening, I figured it was a good place to share it with all of you! Most of the music is here because lyrically it hit the mark (the best of the best: #1, #6, #13, #14). There are two African covers of U2 tunes (#2, #11), some electronic stuff (#16), something close to pop (#7, #12, #15), and some good old fashioned rock-n-roll (#18). Enjoy!

1. Patrick Park: Here We Are

2. Angelique Kidjo: Mysterious Ways

3. Eddie Vedder & Jack Johnson: Constellations

4. The Fratellis: Flathead

5. Mike Doughty: Busting Up A Starbucks

6. Kimya Dawson: Loose Lips

7. Coldplay: Viva La Vida

8. Au Revoir Simone: Fallen Snow (Redux)

9. The Avett Brothers: In The Curve

10. Adem: Loro

11. Soweto Gospel Choir: Pride (In The Name Of Love)

12. Yael Naim: New Soul

13. Jake Troth: All The Weight Of God

14. Flobots: Handlebars

15. M.I.A.: Paper Planes

16. Nine Inch Nails: Echoplex

17. Goldfrapp: Ooh La La

18. The Raconteurs: Salute Your Solution

Filed Under: Life in General

7 Months!

January 5, 2009 by littlehippie 2 Comments

Today is Ezra’s 7 month birthday. Holy cow.

7months

Filed Under: Ezra!, Photos Included

Holiday Party: Denver Family Style

January 5, 2009 by littlehippie 1 Comment

In our household, there are at least two meanings to the word family. I suppose that it’s about time to explain two of them….the first one is the obvious one: genetic family…you know, Mom, Dad, Cousins, etc. The second one is the Denver Family, or the family that we refer to when we are going to Family Dinner (which is held once a week). It’s comprised of the folks that used to live in the Columbine House (where Ahna lived before we got married), and their respective partners in crime life.

The Denver Family all got together yesterday to celebrate the holidays. We met up at Gabe and Charlotte’s new house in the Whittier neighborhood of Denver (just north and a little west of City Park) for a mid-afternoon dinner, gift exchange, and white elephant gift exchange. Each year we draw names to purchase/make something for; and this year we added the White Elephant aspect to the party. For the real gifts, Ahna got some homemade tea mixes from Claire (with homemade pouches to hold it), and I got a couple of gifts from Tori including a photo frame with pics of Ezra (for work) and the newspaper front pages from Obama’s victory…something to put in a safe place to share with Ezra.

The White Elephant exchange was fun…as there was much stealing of gifts, conspiring to end up with stuff, and disappointment that you ended up with something potentially worse that you came with. For example, I wrapped up a CD of Alan Jackson (that someone had given to me as a joke), and ended up taking home a pair of salt and pepper shakers that are in the shape of a cowboy boot and painted to look like the Texas flag. Oh boy. Ahna ended up with a nice sent of plates that we might actually be able to use…..

The attendance at Family Dinner varies from meal to meal due to work, travel, life, etc….but when everyone gets together – like yesterday – it’s a wonderful reminder of how much fun it is to be with everyone at the same time. Can’t wait for the next one…