Derby 101

So as some of you know, and all of you should, This weekend is the 134th running the the Kentucky Derby...the fastest 2 minutes in sports. This year also will be the fourth annual Crevier derby party. So if you happen to know me, or know where i live... the party starts at 2:30 and will be over around 6:30, with the actual running at 5:55pm. In true Derby tradition we will have juleps, roses, and fancy hats along with some good traditional Kentucky food. I plan on making X a "silk" (the traditional jockey garb) inspired onsie and on taking many pictures.
Aside from our derby party on Saturday we plan on going to Louisville for The Oaks on Friday and on crashing the Third Annual "Unstable Clown" Party sponsored by your favorite "Girls on Speed", held up the street from The "Barnstable Brown" Party, which is considered the hottest place to be on the night before the Kentucky Derby.
I know we will have good times, and hopefully we will have some good stories and good photos to share with you all commemorating the first of many derby parties for X.

ALSO... 100 days until the Olympic opening ceremonies

Mommy play time

1/2 a year down

Xavier turned 6 months old on Saturday and we had our pediatrician appointment today. We are 50% height and weight at not quite 18 pounds, and 30% head diameter.

We also started eating carrots yesterday. After a few interesting facial expressions we decided they were good and we wanted more. On Thursday we get yellow squash.

here is a sweet picture from today.

too cute

NOOO PICTURES!!!!

Subconjunctival hemowhata??

So, What do you get when you cross powerful sneezing, and intense rubbing as a direct result of allergies?? Subconjunctival hemorrhage (broken blood vessel in eye)...
how do i know this. Well i woke up yesterday and looked in the mirror was more frightened then usual because i got to see this.





Cool things to point out: The fine line of white between the sclera and the iris. The distinct line that separated the top half of my eye from the bottom half. The lack of facial hygiene. And the waddle that is developing under my chin :)

I thought you might enjoy the pics, or at least be disturbed by them, and maybe feel bad for me.

and since you have made it this far, here is a happy picture...

A couple videos

Sitting tall and stacking rings:


He loves to bounce:


he loves to bounce more:

pictures from today

FOOD

SO I started making baby food today. This weekend the boy turns 6 months old and we are starting real food. He has been eating oatmeal for about a month now and is still on breast milk. Our goal is one year of B-milk. SO far so good.
You may be thinking what is on the menu first? you may be also thinking he is making his own baby food, is he nut?
Well it may be nuts but it is also , cheap, easy, and healthy. Costco sells vegetables and fruit in bulk. SO i pull some aside for Karen and I, then I steam the rest down and puree, freeze and thaw at a later date. Frozen purees are good for up to 2 months, and their is no salt, no preservatives, and no additives. This to me is a good planing, and super easy.
So today I made carrots, and yellow squash. Next we will try rutabega (have i even ever had this?) and parsnips. Then some apples and pears...avocado and papaya...sweet potato and broccoli, then butternut squash and bananas. in no specific order.
It will be interesting to see what he likes, and what he does not. More on that next week.

24 hours on the front line of humanity

Interesting quote from an interesting lady. Maria Shriver was on (you guessed it) the today show this am, and she said that she was taken aback when her son told a stranger that his mom was not a journalist, model, book writer, or first lady of California, but instead she is a house mom. She however did clear up that she felt that it was just as honorable to be a house mom as all of those other things, and that being an at home parent was very important. It is like "spending 24 hours on the front line of humanity" and that we are in fact "shaping our own future." It is funny, and awe inspiring, to think that this little boy, who loves to bounce, is our future.

Side note, I had a great "its good to be dad" moment yesterday. I was sitting on the couch watching a movie and the boy was asleep in my lap. The next thi9ng i knew, he was sitting up and staring (or is it starring, or stareing, or stairing, bad word) at me with a huge smile on his face. then he curled up into a ball, which his hands in his mouth, and started giggling like he does. He was so happy to just be sitting there looking at me. It was sweet.

Happy earth day

that is all

Happy Earth Day

Under Construction

As you can see, i have made a few changes to my layout over the last few days. If you have any tips, or complaints, please let me know.

A little late, sorry...

Here are somethings that I should have mentioned earlier, and pics too.
(and the today show finally started, just in time to see Ashley Simpson sing. Maybe i could have dealt with 10 more minutes of earthquake news.)
X says thanks to his godparents for the ice cream maker. Even though he has yet to enjoy its offerings, Mom and dad and grand mare have. The pumpkin ice cream is great.

Also thanks to Grand mare for watching the boy





and to the Kathman's for letting us hang
(with a wink)

(look at those eyes)



and congrats to Emily for the great show. "how to succeed in business without really trying"

I need a hit.

As i previously posted, i am addicted to today. Well, as some of you know their was an earthquake this AM at the Indiana/Illinois boarder just north of interstate 64. And becouse it was very feelable here in Indy, it is on the local news...still...at 8:15, Today starts at 7:00 (not at midnight like some may think), AND FOR THE PAST TWO PLUS HOURS THEY HAVE HAD FIVE MINUTES OF NEWS ON REPEAT. I am not kidding...

We had an earthquake this morning and it was a 5.2, almost the largest recorded in the area, that was a 5.6 in the 60's, the last quake felt in Indy was in 87 it was a 5.0, here are some comments from local geologist Dr. Hamburger (no i did not make up the name)..."expect aftershocks but none that you can feel." Now lets read a local e-mail, "i was awoken to my house shaking at 5:30ish" thanks. On average we have one every ten years, so the next time it happens, stand in a door frame, or near sturdy furniture.
We had an earthquake this morning and it was a 5.2, almost the largest recorded in the area, that was a 5.6 in the 60's, the last quake felt in Indy was in 87 it was a 5.0, here are some comments from local geologist Dr. Hamburger (no i did not make up the name)..."expect aftershocks but none that you can feel." Now lets read a local e-mail, "i was awoken to my house shaking at 5:30ish" thanks. On average we have one every ten years, so the next time it happens, stand in a door frame, or near sturdy furniture.
We had an earthquake this morning and it was a 5.2, almost the largest recorded in the area, that was a 5.6 in the 60's, the last quake felt in Indy was in 87 it was a 5.0, here are some comments from local geologist Dr. Hamburger (no i did not make up the name)..."expect aftershocks but none that you can feel." Now lets read a local e-mail, "i was awoken to my house shaking at 5:30ish" thanks. On average we have one every ten years, so the next time it happens, stand in a door frame, or near sturdy furniture.


All they need to do is run what i just typed as a banner at the bottom, and then we would be set. OR, they could just play this news every 20 minutes like they do normally when they show the local news clip after the weather on the TODAY SHOW.

oh, and there was one building damaged in Louisville.

Now for my story. I did wake up to the earthquake, I distinctly remember sitting up in bed and looking at the clock at 5:40 (our clock is a little fast). I only felt a shake for about 5 seconds, and i heard a low rumble. It sounded like a truck drove through my neighbors house but at a lower octave. Immediately after i sat up, both cats jumped up into the bed, and the dog came scampering in. Karen, and X both slept through it. I sat still for a few seconds to here if there were any other noises in the house, things falling, glasses shaking, etc. Nope, no other noise, So i went back to sleep.

The one cool things, is that i can check another thing off of my "life list" and i did not even need to do anything or go anywhere to do it :)

addicted to today

I am addicted to the today show. Xavier's schedule has balanced out and generally i am awaken by his squawking at about 6:50, plenty of time to turn on the today show at 7:0. After that the tv stays on NBC until noon, when I realize it is still on, and the turn it off. Lately, i find myself saying the following allot, "yesterday on today..." Well I feel i need to share two stories with you because they are funny/ironic.
1) water bottles cause cancer. SO this is not funny, but in my story it turns out to be quite ironic. It has been discovered lately that one of the components(BPA)in the chemical composition of some water bottles have been linked to the cause of cancer. Apparently the way to tell if you are at risk is to look at the bottom of your bottle and look for a recycle triangle. Inside this triangle is a number which indicates which chemical composition your bottle has. If it has a 3,6 or 7, you may be at risk. The down side to this story id that it does not only apply to water bottles like nalgene, but it also applies to baby bottles, and all other plastic containers. Nor the intro to the irony. Even though I do not believe in global warming, and am convinced that nuclear power is the way to go, I AM a big supporter of cleaning up the world, and doing what we can to help each other live life to the fullest. Basically even though we, as people, can not destroy the earth, we should not try to. This being said, I am a sucker for products that donate to a cause. I have blogged on this before. I like the (red) line. I am more inclined to by things that donate then things that do not, especially if it is something i was going to buy anyway. About a year ago, Target had a big Susan G Colman product push in support of breast cancer research. One thing that they had an over abundance of was cute little pink sport bottles. Karen, at the time, was looking for one that was skinny, with a narrow mouth, that she could carry around work without bumping into people. So i bought one.We needed one, and it supported A very very important cause. Now we find out that the pink, Susan G Colman, supporting breast cancer research, drink out of me while you run a marathon, bottle that i purchased has been found to increase your chance in developing cancer. If that is not ironic, I do not know what is.
2) this is a "you don't say" story. Last week they did a expose on "the hidden dangers of gymnastics" and one thing that they took the liberty of pointing out was that of the hundreds of thousands gymnastics injuries that show up in the emergency room every year, %80 are female. "you don't say." I wonder if that is because about %80 of gymnasts are female????

For Fun

Vegitarian? I think not.

We are quickly teaching the boy that meat is the thing to eat. here are some pics.





Unfortunatly not only does he like to eat cow, he will try to eat almost anything you put infrunt of his face.





We have discovered that the one downfall to introducing solid food into the boyse eating regament, is that solid poop has been introduced to his BM regiment, and it does not always come out so easy...

first picnic

It was a beutiful day today, so we decided to take a picnic. as you can see we messed ourselfs a bit and had to make an outfit change, and we also got to play a little frisbee.