A Louisiana Kitchen

We like to get a lot of the kids' clothes from Gymboree, as they have really cute stuff, but more importantly it's very durable and can last for more than a few washes, unlike a lot of other brands.  Carter's is also a good place to get clothes.  It's not quite as cute as Gymboree, but it's a lot cheaper, so we try to get clothes from both.  Their website is lacking, though, but they have a location at the Legends.  Clara needs some new clothes, so we decided to make a trip up to the Legends to get her some more outfits.  While we were there, we went to dinner at one of our favorite restuarants, Jazz.

Substitute Laptops

Meghan makes heavy use of her laptop. In addition to it being her work computer, she does everything at home on it too, from projects to e-mail to texting (thanks to Google Voice) to watching TV shows online, etc. Because of that, different parts of it have worn out here and there over the three years that we've had it. We have Dell's in-home service as part of the warranty. So in the past when it needed to be repaired, I'd call Dell, they's ship out the replacement part, and the next day someone would come to our house and make the repair, and we'd be done.

This time, though, the problem was seemingly a little more severe. When she opened her laptop to work on it, smoke started pouring out of the vents, first just a wisp, but then full-on pouring smoke. When I called Dell, they said it was too much of a risk to repair it in our house (I suppose they realize I would probably sue them if they set our house on fire), so they said we had to mail it in. So for the next couple weeks Meghan is without her laptop. I'm letting her borrow mine, so I'm using my work laptop at home, but she's also supplementing it with the use of her tablet, as she's doing here.

Exercise Partners

Meghan's mom is staying with us right now, and it's been a huge help to us. Shes's been so willing to help us out with everything from changing diapers to watching the kids while we go out to eat. It's been really great for us, but it's been just as great for Clara and Joshua, as they are loving having Grandma here. Barb tries to get some outdoor exercise every day, so while she's here she tries to incorporate that with a walk or a ride with the kids. Today was Joshua's turn as she took him out in his little trike. While she's getting real exercise, his is more symbolic as he can't quite reach the pedals yet, so he's just along for the ride.

Out to Dinner

It has been a long time since Jason and I have been able to go out to dinner alone. But my mom is in town right now, so we took the opportunity to head out to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. It wasn't the best weather, so this is us between rain showers in heavy winds, but we ate inside and had a really great meal.

Concrete Jungle

Today I'm in New York City.  Last time I was here, I got to stay in Times Square.  This time, our customer was in the Financial District, so we're staying in Soho to be closer to them.  Hotel prices were absolutely insane but I managed to secure a reservation at a decent Hampton Inn for a not-as-expensive-as-the-rest rate.  Fortunately for me, I got upgraded to a room on the top floor with a private balcony.  Here I am on my balcony.  Unfortunately it's a cloudy, rainy day here, so the view isn't all that great.

One Small Step for Cow, One Great Memory for Me

Texas isn't part of my sales territory, but sometimes we help other members of our team, and today I'm in Houston helping my counterpart who covers Texas.  While in the airport, I saw this amusing statue of an astronaut cow holding the Texas flag.

Also notable to me was the memory of the last time I was in this airport when five-day-old Joshua and I went to pick up Meghan after she got back from Michelle's wedding in Orlando.  I even walked by the spot where my favorite little guy and I waited for Meghan to arrive from the terminal.

5 Months

Today Clara turned five months old. She weighs about 10.5 lbs and is much more interested in her surroundings this month. She loves bouncing in her Exersaucer or anywhere (except her doorway bouncer; she hates that so far), puts everything in her mouth, shows some interest in food, and mostly just loves watching Joshua. She also found her feet this month and is pretty excited about that.  She is only marginally interested in sitting so far, but is much more interested in scooching and trying to crawl or roll.

18 Month Check

Today I took Joshua to the pediatrician for his 18 month check. He is meeting all his milestones and is growing appropriately. He is in the 13th percentile for weight and 23rd for height. We think he has dropped in weight because of his high activity level, so the pediatrician is not concerned. Joshua was not thrilled with gettng two vaccinations, but he is a tough little guy and barely cried.

Grocery Shopping Buddy

Meghan does most of the grocery shopping for our family, as she's more efficient than I am, partially due to having a much better knowledge of the layout of the store.  Today I wanted to give Meghan some time at home, so I took Joshua and we went to Wal-Mart to do our big grocery shopping trip.  We had a lot of fun, and as always, Joshua was a perfect kid the entire time.

Casual Observers

When Joshua took his nap this afternoon, I decided to mow the yard.  Towards the end of the mow, while I was doing the back yard, I looked up toward the house and saw two different little guys watching me from the windows.

Ah-Boo!

Joshua has been getting much better recently about saying words.  Recently he decided he loves apples, but when we give them to him, he actually doesn't like them all that much.  But he seems to forget every time, so when he sees one he excitedly says, "Ah-boo!" which is how he says apple.  We've noticed he's not quite sure what's an apple, so anything that's about that size that's red or green (from tomatoes to green peppers) is an apple to him.  He says "gung-gung" when referring to any beverage, as I think that's his best interpretation of the sound he hears in his head when drinking. Here are most of the other words and phrases he's said so far, roughly in the order they happened:

Ball	Ball!
Daddy	Daddy
Mama	Mama
Hi	Hi
Bye-Bye	Bye-Bye
Please	Zzzzz
Help	Hep
Share	Zhohm
This	Dis
What is this?	Wudiss?
I know	I know!
Book	Ghoul
Apple	Ah-boo
Uh oh	Uh... Ohhh
Shoe	Zhoo
Hello	Hewoh
Vitamin	Eye-nee
Ice	Eye-eee
Oh buddy	Ohbuddy
Banana	Ah-neenee

Terrence is My Co-Pilot

Terrence has some problems with his teeth where the way they grew in causes them to be more likely to need to be removed as time goes on.  So far he's had nearly half of his teeth removed over the course of various vet appointments over the years.  Fortunately for him, he doesn't chew his food, but instead inhales it in seconds (Natalie takes her sweet time), so his teeth aren't all that necessary, and even the vet doesn't find it concerning.  Today Terrence had another appointment to have some teeth removed, and I picked him up and brought him home.  Usually I make him ride in the back seat even though he really wants to sit in the front.  His favorite spot is in my lap, but unless we're stopped somewhere, obviously that's not allowed.  Today I let him sit in the passenger seat for part of the trip, and he did pretty well.  Sometimes he would try to inch toward me, as you see in the first picture, but mostly he just sat there like a good dog, as you see in the second one.

Is Some Poor Guy's Last Name Really Schmick?

I was in Chicago today for meetings culminating with a team dinner.  We went to McCormick & Schmick's, which is a restaurant I really like but had never been to outside of KC.  I wondered if they would have the same glass domed ceiling that the KC one does, and they did.  I wondered if they would have the same outstanding menu, and they didn't.  The choices were good, but not as good as what I've seen in KC.  Here I am at dinner with my manager and my VP, the latter of whom decided to change the picture from a pleasant one to a creepy one.

Oh, and regarding the title of this post, I guess he's not poor anymore.  "Sure, make fun of my name all you want, losers.  But I won't be here to hear it, as I'll be busy taking my 14th vacation this year" - Mr. Schmick

When Rednecks Speak Spanish

Look, I realize Taco Bell isn't a Mexican restaurant.  No one talks about their authentic Mexican food, and I'm sure even they would agree.  So if they want to stay away from Spanish, other than the names of actual food items, that's fine.  However, their new marketing slogan is "Live Más", meaning "Live More".  Aside from that being sort of a weird slogan that doesn't make much sense, especially within the context of a fast food restaurant, it does give them a tie with the Spanish language.  And they didn't stop there.  Separately, they recently introduced two new salsas.  All of their salsa packets have mildly humorous sayings on them, but their new salsa verde, which I tried today over lunch, has one particular bit of text, as shown above, that isn't humorous.  One would suppose that it's just meant to be informative.  Except it's not.  I minored in Spanish, and while I'm not fluent enough to watch Univision and enjoy it, I do have very good pronunciation.  And some of the most basic things to pronounce are the colors.  The word for the color green is "verde".  I know how to pronounce it, and it's not "vur-day".  That's maybe how a slow-talking southerner might say it, but it's not right, as the e is much closer to a long a, or at least a short e, but certainly not the u or schwa sound, as proven by real Spanish speakers.  So Taco Bell, stick to your Tex-Mex fast food, which I happen to really love, by the way, and leave the Spanish to those who actually speak it.    

Little Bookworm

We would like Joshua to be interested in books.  For most of his life he has had interest in them, but only in how far across the room he could throw them.  Recently, though, he's started to sit down with a book and flip through the pages while looking at the pictures.  We started leavng some of the ones with hard pages in his room overnight and also when he naps.  So now when he wakes up, he'll just look through his books for quite awhile without making a peep.  Today after his nap I went in to get him, and he was reading one of his animal books (he doesn't mind upside-down pictures) and looking up at me as if he was slightly annoyed that I was interrupting his reading time.

Cleaning with Steam

Because we have children/babies and pets, sometimes unpleasant things happen to our carpets.  Vacuuming and hand-cleaning the carpets just doesn't get the job done, and renting a steam cleaner is expensive.  Several years back we decided to address this problem by buying our own steam cleaner.  This has proven to be a worthy investment.  We don't need to use it often, but when we do, it does a really good job.  Our house is about due for it, so tonight I started by clearing all but the biggest items from our living room floor and giving the carpet a needed deep clean.

Big Girl Bottles

Clara was born underweight (5 lbs, 3 oz), and she's been tiny since then, although steadily growing, but remaining around the first percentile in weight (though recently up to the 13th percentile in height).  This is partly because she's just a small girl, but also because she's not a big fan of eating.  Since Joshua was a baby, he'd tank down any formula you gave him, but with Clara it's sometimes a struggle, to the point that we track how much she eats in every feeding.  For months it was an accomplishment if we could get her to eat a full four ounces in a feeding, making it difficult to get over the 20-ounces-in-a-day barrier.  We finally did that, but still four ounces was pretty much her maximum.  Recently though, she started eating more, and we've been able to get her to eat five and six ounces at a time.  As a result, we finally were able to move up from the smaller 4 oz Dr. Brown bottles up to the 8 oz bottles.  Here she is with her new up-sized bottles.

Joe Cool

We got these sunglasses for Joshua last year, when he was a baby, before we went on our trips in the summer. He refused to wear them. Even though he wasn't very old, he was very adept at ripping them off his face in a matter for seconds. But this year, he really likes them. Since these are made for a baby, they have a head strap which means he can't put them on himself, so I might buy him a normal pair because he really likes to be able to take things off and put them on.

18 Months

Today Joshua turned 18 months old.  It's really hard to believe that it's been a full six months since his first birthday.  He was walking somewhat then, but now he can run.  He had started to say a few words, but now he knows quite a few and is always talking about something, even if it's in his own language.  He used to only enjoy throwing books, but now he'll sit down and look through them on his own.  But he still brings a ton of joy to our lives and is a shining light in our day, every day.  He's so happy and such a good kid.  We love him so much and feel so blessed that God brought him into our lives. 

Perhaps Chartreuse Cabeuse?

Chartreuse is a color.  Although, for whatever reason, many people seem to think it's a pinkish-purple (perhaps confusing it with fuchsia?), it's actually a greenish-yellow.  I'm a pretty good speller, and it bugs me when things are spelled incorrectly.  But it bugs me even more when a company intentionally misspells a word (Kwik Shop, Shur Fine, Double Stuf Oreo, Reddi-Wip, etc.).  Tonight I met some friends for dinner at a place that specializes in philly sandwiches, called Chartroose Caboose.  I love their food, but I have a few problems with the restaurant.  First, they have a few locations, so I can't speak for all of them, but the one I've been to barely has anything to do with a caboose.  They do have a few train-type items on the walls, but it seems like a flimsy theme.  Second, there is nothing chartreuse about it.  Their corporate logo is chartreuse, but not a single thing anywhere in the restaurant, and not even the front sign, is chartreuse.  Finally, I get that chartreuse has an uncommon spelling in the English language.  And I get that rhyming is fun.  But it still totally bugs me that they changed the spelling of the word to be more similar to "caboose".  Stop dumbing down America!  I'll continue to eat their tasty sandwiches, but that won't stop me from being irritated by their name.

Round Peg in a Round Hole

Joshua really enjoys hitting things against other things.  So we got him a toy where there are pegs that can be hit by a little wooden hammer, thinking that he would really enjoy hammering the pegs.  Instead, he doesn't care about the hammer and would much rather just use his finger to push the pegs through.  Oh well, close enough.  As long as he enjoys it, that's good enough for us.

Freaky Fast, With Certain Conditions

Jimmy John's advertises as being "Subs so fast, you'll freak" and "freaky fast".   Although they are ridiculously fast if you go in and order from within the restaurant, they're slogan generally applies to their delivery times.  However, it turns out one of the reasons their delivery is so fast is because they have a very limited delivery radius.  Apparently we are outside of that radius, so for us Jimmy John's can only be had as fast as I can drive there and back.  Here Joshua and I enjoy delicious Jimmy John's subs that were not delivered to us.

Easter Sunday

For Easter this year we started the day at our house.  Joshua was old enough this year to look for eggs, although the, uh, Easter Bunny was sure to hide them in some very obvious spots so Joshua would be able to find them.  Later we went to Lawrence to celebrate with the rest of the family.  Joshua didn't get a nap, but he still did really well and had a lot of fun, including making a not-as-subtle-as-he-hoped attempt to steal Clara's headband.

Nerd Alert!

My friend Kevin just turned 30.  His wife threw him a party with a surprise theme: nerdiness. She did a great job, as the party was complete with nerd glasses for everyone and Nerds candy.  Kevin and I are both proud nerds, as we both found this shirt to be totally awesome.  We also have some nerd friends, Steve and (another) Steve.  Not surprisingly, we all met at our nerdy jobs at my company.  Here we are wearing our glasses and celebrating Kevin's 30th.

Pretending to be a Mechanic

When I went to start my mower for the first time this year, it didn't start.  I don't know much, but I could still tell it was a carburetor issue.  One time several years ago I had the same problem and had to take the mower in to be fixed.  There was a four-week turnaround time, and it wasn't all that cheap.  So this time, I figured I might be able to do it myself.  Granted, my mechanical skills are similar to my woodworking skills, in that I basically have none. Still, I figure that with a little help from the internet, including some YouTube videos, I should be able to do it on my own.  It's not all that complicated, but it takes a little know-how, and while I don't have that know-how, the internet does.  So we'll see how it goes.

To The FanCave!

Today my company hosted an event at Progressive Field, where the Cleveland Indians play.  We invited many of our customers and prospects and rented out the FanCave, a double suite loaded with food, beverages, flat screen TVs, and even a pool table.  We had a pretty good turnout, so hopefully we can drive some business from it.  On top of that, I got to be part of a little bit of history, as the game went 16 innings, making it the longest opening day game in MLB history.  And of course I stayed for the entire game, because that's how I do my sporting events.

Scoocher

Clara is a fairly proficient roller, and while she's not crawling yet, she can definitely move small distances by scooching around.  Here she apparently got bored with her play gym and decided to move on to bigger and better things such as the plain carpet.

Getting a Boost

Joshua has been in his high chair for quite awhile, but we want to start working on eating at the table, and he's big enough, so today we transitioned to a booster seat.  He seems to enjoy sitting up to the table with the rest of the family at dinner time.  It's adjustable too, so he should be able to use it for quite awhile.

First Field Trip

Today, as with most Mondays, the kids went to the Becks for the afternoon so I can work. Deanna Rose Farmstead, our local petting zoo, finally opened up for the spring after being closed all winter so the kids all went for the afternoon. Here you can see Joshua looking at the swans, goats, and fish. He is a big fan of animals so they had lots of fun. I am not sure Clara really appreciated it at this age.

A Coupe That's Supposedly Cozy

Most kids in America in the past 30 years or so have been the small owners of a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe.  I know this because I've seen tons of them, but also because statistics show that if it were an actual car, in several different years it would have been the top selling car in America.  Being suckers for conformity, or perhaps just because it's a really useful and fun toy, we bought one for Joshua.  I noticed this latest version has the new addition of some unnecessarily large cartoonish eyes, which I would think might cause Pixar's lawyers to salivate, but apparently not, as this model has been around a few years now, and I'm sure the cease-and-desist letter would have taken care of the problem if there were one.  After putting it together, despite a maddening experience with the front pillars installation that made me consider throwing them through our front window, Joshua was finally able to enjoy his new vehicle.