Windows 8 So Easy a Toddler Can Use It

Last year at the Microsoft Build conference I got a tablet with Windows 8 pre-beta on it.  I was initially unimpressed, but two weeks ago I put the release version on the tablet and my opinion has changed.  Maria loves it, she uses it to paint pictures.  We love the fact that she gets to finger paint without making a mess.  Most of her pictures trend toward Jackson Pollock, but her pictures are fun to look at.  Here is a video of my 21st century digital girl.

Here is an example of our little artists work

All good things must come to an end

Today was a jam packed day for the Tylers.  We started the day off with breakfast tacos from Rudy's.  Amelia and Maria went to Locomotion, a local jumpy gym. Cal and I stayed home and watched the USA Men's basketball team win gold.  Both kids took a long nap simultaneously, which is unheard of in our home.  For dinner we went to Hyde Park Bar and Grill, where for the first time we put Cal in a high chair, which he took to immediately.  For dessert we had some ice cream at Amy's.  I like Amelia's homemade ice cream the best, but Amy's will do in a pinch.  When we got home, the closing ceremony for the London Olympics was on TV.   Maria loved the music and spent much of the telecast showing off her elite dance moves.

Slip Sliding Away

Today, Maria and I went out on our usual Tuesday Daddy daughter night.  We went to Costco to get a couple of things and then had dinner at Firehouse subs.  Kids eat free on Tuesdays and kids get a little fireman's hat.  Maria had a blast wearing her fireman's hat and best of all she got to eat some Oreo cookies that came with her kid's meal.  After dinner, we went to Maria's favorite playground and she did something that is very unusual.  Maria is best described as an incredibly cautious child, she doesn't like slides.  She refuses to go down them.  At the playground she ran into another little girl who not only would ride the slide, but would ride backwards screaming with glee the entire time.  I can't say for sure that it was peer pressure, but Maria decided that she likes riding down slides and climbing back up the slide. 

You got served

So far two has been a fun age.  Maria does have moments where she can be a real terror and we do experience the rolling on the ground screaming fit a little more often than we would like.  For all the frustrating moments there are ones like this where she decides to put a swim diaper on her head and dance. 

Maria at the playground

Every Tuesday Maria and I go out for daddy daughter night.  Most of the time we do something that needs to be done for the family and then we do something fun.  This week we went to home depot and then out to a park and then to Mandola's where she got some mint chocolate chip gelato.

Maria is ready for her basketball scholarship

Today we got on Craig's List and found an exersaucer for Calvin.  His favorite thing in the world is to bounce.  While it is a good arm workout, he is nearly 18 pounds so we decided to let him do his bouncing as a leg workout for himself.  We found a family that was selling the model that we wanted and they also were selling a play set.  Maria doesn't really have anything like a slide at the house so we purchased both and the video below is Maria enjoying her new play set.

P.S.  Calvin spent an hour happily bouncing in his exersaucer.

Singing and dancing

I believe the answer to sustainable renewable energy source must be associated with a two year old.  After a pizza dinner Maria bounces and sings for the camera.  I love the look Cal is giving her in the background.

Maria's Bubble Bug

As a treat for Maria I got this little bubble blowing bug toy.  It moves around and when it hits a wall it turns around.  Maria loves to watch it roll around in the house and on the deck.

High, High up in the sky

In an effort to get out of the house a little more for Maria's enjoyment and our sanity, we headed out to the Zilker Park kite festival this weekend. Cal slept through most of the festival.  Maria loved all of the kites up in the sky.  We were even able to prevent her from getting hit by the kites that were falling from the sky.  The kite festival is a little chaotic in that there are people and kites everywhere. That chaos can be a little stressful if you are trying to protect a 20 month old and a newborn, but we did just fine.  It was a really nice day to get out!

bp isn't the only gas i hate. . .. .

she cried all day until she wore out. effin' gas bubbles!!!!!

she did wear her first little dress today- maybe that is why she cried so much. . . .

walks and poops

today maria is 5 weeks old!

hmmm. . . . what happened this weekend?

friday morning i took my first 'solo' walk with maria and daisy. we went about a half-mile and maria was awake for about 200 feet of that walk. on friday afternoon, my friend sara stopped by and brought lunch. she watched maria for a little bit while i took a shower.

on saturday i (amelia) mowed the yard and cut down some annoying vines that grow over the fence from our neighbor's yard. chris was super great about taking care of maria overnight and all day saturday and sunday. on saturday she got a bath. she is getting more comfortable with bath time and we are getting better about not drowning her. we took a little walk sunday afternoon so chris could use the baby bjorn that my brother gave us. chris was pretty excited about using the bjorn. he's been waiting years to carry a baby in front of him. it was the most spontaneous thing we have done in 5 weeks. so spontaneous that we didn't have the camera.

i haven't entirely given up on breastfeeding but i had to make the executive decision that i just can't provide anywhere near enough for maria. we've been giving her more and more formula. more formula has led to less poop but the poop that comes out is amazingly gross!! i'm doing my best to give her as much breastmilk as i can in hopes that her poo gets better. it probably won't. i haven't been grossed out by her poop until last night. it was really bad. it was the first time i wanted to wear scrubs and a surgical mask and gloves to change her. she was smiling the entire time. that little stinker.

rootin' tootin' morning alarm

very, very early this morning, maria ripped out a fart soooooooo loud that it woke all of us up. i got up to see if she was ok. her eyes were half closed and she was looking side to side and had the goofiest grin i have ever seen.

that's my girl!!!!

Rockin' the cache-bear jammy jammy style

alright- i have to add this one thing for today. bug was crying this morning and when i walked by the toadies poster we have hanging in the hallway she stopped crying. we stood in front of the poster for a good 20 minutes. she was mesmerized by it. she loved it. i love that she stopped crying. chris was so happy. all we really wanted was a healthy baby with a healthy appreciation for texas rock bands.

also- our good friends from www.podcacher.com sent her a super cute panda bear from the san diego zoo. thanks triple s- sandy, sonny and sean!! i can already tell she loves it!

tonight- she is sleeping in some jammies- the kind with footies! she looks really cute.

Bug Life: 1 Month

Hi Bug- its your Mom. Today you are 1 month old. This will be a long post because I want to tell you about the day you were born. Your due date was May 3, 2010 but that came and went. In fact, I went to work on your due date and the day after that! I was really hoping you would be born on May 5 so your birthday would be 5-5-10. Well, the fifth came and went. That was my first day of maternity leave. It felt really weird to be at home with not much to do. I can't even remember what that was like! I waited out the rest of the week for you but you wanted to stay in. Your Dad and I checked into Seton Central Hospital on the night of May 9. I have to tell you- I was really disappointed because that was Mother's Day! I'm going to have to wait an entire year to celebrate Mother's Day.

Once we got settled into the labor & delivery room, I got some medicine to help ripen my cervix. I also took 2 Ambien because I knew it was my last night of uninterrupted sleep for a looooooong time! I fell asleep right away. The next thing I knew, it was 6:30am and I was having a really strong contraction. The contractions just kept coming. The nurses shift change was at 7am. The new nurse asked me if I wanted anything to help with the pain (narcotic) and I couldn't say yes fast enough. Around 8am-ish I had a really, really strong contraction and my water broke. I thought I had peed because the same thing happened on the next contraction. Your Dad asked for the nurse to come in and she was totally shocked when she saw the my water had broken. She checked me and I was dilated to 6cm! This was happening a lot faster than anyone had planned. She asked me if I wanted an epidural and again- I couldn't say yes fast enough! The anesthesiologist came in close to 9am and gave me an epidural. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. By the time it kicked in though, I wasn't feeling anything and the narcotic had kicked in too. I was actually falling asleep inbetween contractions. Around 10am-ish my doctor came over to check on us. She wasn't supposed to be on call for another 2 hours but you weren't going to wait that long. Around 10:30am-ish I was fully dilated and you were ready to come out. I started pushing but nothing really happened for about 40 minutes. After that, everything happened really quickly. The nurse had to call my doctor to come in and then a whole bunch of people came in. You came out about 20 minutes later- 11:34am. It was all such a blur- I don't remember everything. I hardly remember holding you for the first time. Your Dad went with you to the nursery to get you measured and cleaned up. I don't know how long it was but after a little while you came back in with Dad and you were all wrapped up. I remember being shocked by how much hair you have! You were a little wiggly but mostly pretty sleepy- I was pretty sleepy too. You weighed 7lbs, 15 oz and were 21 inches long.

We spent the next 2 days at the hospital. Your grandparents (my parents) and your grandmother (your Dad's mom) came to visit you. There were a bunch of different nurses that checked you and the pediatrician came by twice a day to check you. The first night with you was really rough. I didn't feel very well and neither did you. You cried a lot and there was nothing I could really do to help you. Eventually the overnight nurse took you to the nursery and we all got some sleep. The next day you were a little more alert- you would open your eyes for a little while. We started calling you Bug because you looked like a little bug when you opened your eyes and looked around. The second night with you was a little better- you stayed in the room with us. On the morning of the of twelfth, your Dad and I were soooo ready to leave the hospital. We got released around Noon. We were a little nervous about your first car ride home.

Your grandparents were all at the house when we got there. Daisy threw up all over the living room rug with in five minutes of us walking in the door and then you started crying. I think I started crying shortly after that. We all took a nap for the rest of the afternoon.

So here we are- one month later. I have to say Bug, this has been a long month. It has been pretty rough. I'm having trouble feeding you enough to get you back up to your birth weight- you have about 5 ounces to go. You cry a lot and it makes me a little crazy. You also poop a lot and you've had a couple of blow out diapers. I was starting to think you had a butt on your hip because that is the only way you can get that much poop out the side of your diaper! Pee diapers send you into a frenzy- you really hate them. We get them changed as fast as we can. In one month, you have gone through approximately 275 diapers!

Sometimes you smile at me and my heart just melts. Sometimes you make little coo noises and sometimes you snore when you sleep (you get that from your dad!). You have super long eye lashes and big eyes. We laugh at how long your feet are- I hope they get a little more proportional as you grow. You have already outgrown your little newborn onesies. It makes me a little sad because you will never be that little again. However, you have a whole closet full of cute clothes and I look forward to getting you dressed everyday.

I love you Bug!

-Mom

4 weeks!

today maria is 4 weeks old and what a day it has been. she woke up at 7am spitting up. i got her cleaned up, diaper changed, and calmed down. then i fed her about 8. she cried until 9. i fed her at 9. then she cried until 10 so i fed her at 10. this went on until after noon. she went to sleep about 5 minutes before chris came home for lunch. she and i slept until about 2:30pm. i fed her at 3pm then she cried until 4pm, so i fed her at 4pm then she cried until 5pm. she fell asleep 5 minutes before chris came home for the day. she woke up and started crying about halfway through our dinner. so guess what? i fed her. she thanked me with a huge blow it out the side poop diaper. chris cleaned her up while i cleaned myself up. then guess what? yeah- i fed her some more. chris took over maria care for the night and i took a shower. she has been asleep the whole time for chris.

so the theme today is i got all the spit up, poop, crying, sore nipples from feeding, more crying and more crying. chris gets all the sweet baby sleepy breathy noises and snuggles. all i have to say is- mom, if you are reading this and i did this to you- i am soooooooo sorry!

Happy Memorial Day

First and foremost, today is the first day where Bug finally figured out how to open up her mouth to get a proper latch. Previously, Amelia would have to wait for Maria to start to scream. Generally, Bug's lips were held too tightly to attempt to get a decent latch. The net result is that she isn't screaming as much during each feeding, which is better for both mom and baby.

Today, twice Maria decided to pee while we were in the in between state of changing a diaper. I now change her diaper like a NASCAR pit crew. I have learned that speed matters, especially because I don't like having to clean up the mess.

Her second accident led to a Maria first. Bug got her first real bath today. She definitely liked it much more than the sponge baths that she was getting.


We celebrated Memorial day in the traditional way. My brother Tony cooked some burgers and our friends Mike and Angie came over to eat with us.


It has been a good day.

Curious Maria Goes to The Doctor

We went to the pediatrician today. I hate taking Maria to the pediatrician. First, even though there is a sick and a well child waiting room, invariably in the well waiting room there is a child coughing up a lung. I am a bit of a germaphobe and so with every hack I am sure that my new born is going to catch the plague.

When we get called back they have to weigh Maria naked. Amelia is awesome about getting Maria undressed, but I really suck at it and for some reason I always end up being the one that is holding her come weighing time. The scales at the office are ancient (I mean they look like they are out of the 70's) and they are not calibrated, which means we have to weigh Maria twice. Wisking a naked new born between scales is not the easiest feat, especially given that Maria likes to pee when she get a blast of cold air. Most of the time we are sucessful in avoiding an accident, but we failed once and I got a really dirty look from the nurse. I was only able to shrug and say "Woops".

The scales always give two answers that are significantly different so either Maria is 7lbs 4 ounces (which is way down from her birth weight of 7lbs 15 ounces) or she is 7 lbs 7 ounces (which is down but all that bad).

They should move into the 21st century and buy a digital scale.

Short of the addition of a diaper, Maria kept naked for the appointment, which makes her extremely fussy. We haven't introduced her to a pacifier yet, but I do let her suck on my pinky. Of course I am so skeeved about being in a doctor's office that generally afraid to let her comfort suck on my finger without washing my hands several times.

The one positive is that our Doc, Mike Ward is extraordinarily calm. His zen master calm seems to transfer well to Maria. The time with the doc isn't bad, generally. This visit he has asked us to begin supplementing with formula for a couple of weeks. It isn't our preferred mechanism, but really right now we are very concerned about Maria's weight.

Worst of all for Maria, three of our four visits have ended with a heel stick to draw blood for different tests. It really sets our child off and I don't blame her because it looks very unpleasant. I keep telling myself that someday these visits won't be so upsetting and while we are there I try to put on my calm persona, but it really wears me out.

I've got no strings

Today was a big day for our little Maria bug. This morning I was changing her diaper, when I noticed that she was missing one of her pieces. Her umbilical cord had fallen off. Now she gets to enjoy the world of real baths, instead of the crumby sponge baths.

We take her back to the Pediatrician's office tomorrow for another weigh in. It feels like we are being called in to the Principal's office. We have made a concerted effort to get her weight up without turning to formula, so we shall see how it goes.

I am still doing my "open wide" exercises with her, but to what effect, I am not sure. One can only wonder at what is going through her mind when I am making that face at her.

Weight Gainer 3000

Today's adventure in parenting involved going to a Lactation Consultant. Our little Maria bug is not putting on the lbs like she should so we set up an appointment with the best lactation consultant in town.

The lady was very nice and had a proper English accent. The room that she did her consult in was very Cotswold, with flowered wallpaper. It was a bit like having Mary Poppins lecturing you on the proper latch and suckle.

We came out of it with two pieces of knowledge. First, Maria does not like to open her mouth wide. Second, there is not enough milk being produced to have her gain weight.

My homework is to sit with bug while she is alert and open my mouth and say "Open Wide". I have been doing that quite a bit with her. I got tired of just saying the words and making the face, so now I add an "Awwww" while I have my mouth open as if I were having my tonsils checked. I don't think I am making any headway, but the consultant said it would take a couple of days. We will see.

In order to boost production Amelia had to rent a pump. Whatever Amelia gets out of the pump we will feed to Maria.

At this point we are willing to do anything to get her to gain some weight.

Like Cold Play once crooned "Nobody said it was easy, but nobody said it would be this hard".

Hopefully, she will go from a 7lb 3 ounce weakling to an 8 lb behemoth.

Beefcake!!! Beefcake!!! - Eric Cartman