Have You Seen?

I'm wondering how many people check out my Picturetrail Photo Album even if they don't see an update on my blog. I wonder that because a couple days ago I posted a picture - with a cropped "close up" - of Sydney's teeth.

It was done before work right after I took the picture. Then I didn't get a chance to post about it until now. So how many people checked and saw the picture(s)?



As you can clearly see, the right front tooth is well in. (That's her right.) That was the first one. The left front tooth just came in the day I took this or sometime the night before. (It's to the right of the tooth you can plainly see.) The second tooth is still barely up, but it's definitely there.

Sydney didn't have much trouble with getting them. She had that one bad night I wrote about previously. Other than that she has had a sporadic bout with teething pain but little long-term anguish from what we could tell. She slept generally well, sucked on her fists, her toys, her teething rings and occasionally our fingers.

My buddy Neal arrives tonight. Just about two hours from right now, actually. I'm staying up late to go pick him up at the airport.

More pictures should be coming next week after his trip. If I get a really good one I'll post it sooner - though I won't necessarily make a blog post to announce it. (No promises either way, though.)

And, I'm sad to say, I neglected to get any pictures of Sydney with Grandma and Grandpa M while they were here. Anne got one with Sydney and Grandma M, which is in the photo album. One I took of the three of them was blurry and we never took another one. They left this morning and now I'm sad I didn't take more pictures. Sorry.

Beach Party

Sorry. No time for a whole, full blog entry. Spent all my spare time uploading pictures and writing descriptions.

Go see new pictures over at my Picturetrail Photo Album. Among the various new pictures are several - with description and some story - of Sydney's first ever trip to the beach. She looked too cute in her bathing suit given to her by Aunt Helena.

There are no tooth pictures yet. Between lips, tongue, fingers and hands we haven't been able to get a clear shot. Hopefully we can get a good smile soon that will show it.

This Friday Uncle Neal will be visiting for several days. He is one of my best friends and former long-time roommate (almost ten years together!). He and I moved to Las Vegas together back in 1992. He still lives there. There should be more pictures to post after his trip.

The Tooth of the Matter

As you may have been able to deduce from the title of this post, big baby news is about to be revealed.

Yes, that's right. Right here before your very eyes.

Are you ready for it?

Sydney has found her feet!

She hasn't really discovered discovered them yet, but she knows they're there. She will frequently grab them, but she has yet to get really fascinated by them and, I think, realize they are a part of her. She has yet to stick one in her mouth.

The first discovery of the foot actually happened while Grandma B and Cousin Kimmy were visiting. Sydney was sitting on Mommy's lap. She reached down and grabbed her foot and held on. This has been repeated regularly - while on a lap or on her back.

Oh, yeah. Sydney has also gotten her first tooth. It's front, bottom. It came in with little fuss.

Grandma M was the first to really notice it. She kept saying that Sydney was acting like she was teething because she drooled a lot and constantly had her hands in her mouth. Anne and I, though, actually seemed to believe the nurse practitioner from Sydney's four-month check up. I think partly because Sydney wasn't crying and fussing like you normally hear about teething babies doing.

On Wednesday I came downstairs after getting ready for work. Grandma M said that when Anne gets home from work she and I should take a good look at Sydney's mouth. She said if a tooth wasn't coming in then she had a deformed jaw.

Sure enough, there was a bit of tooth poking through.

Today, unfortunately, Sydney didn't have a good day. She was a little fussier than normal this morning. Nothing too bad, but still a lot fussier than she normally is. (And since she's hardly ever fussy that's still not a very fussy baby.)

Tonight, however, I guess things got really bad. Nothing seemed to be able to console Sydney. Anne finally passed her off to Grandma M. Anne was tired and had to go to bed so she could get some sleep for work. Grandma M tried a little bit of everything, but Sydney seemed inconsolable.

Grandma M says she finally had a big poop that seemed to settle her a little bit. It's possible that an upset stomach was the cause of her suffering, but I have a feeling if it was involved it was only part of it. Grandma M seems to agree. Since Anne is currently asleep, she neither agrees nor disagrees.

I got home from work about 9:45 pm tonight. Grandma M had just gotten Sydney to sleep and up to bed a few minutes before I pulled in. That's around two and a half hours after her normal bedtime. The poor thing did not have a good day.

If Sydney is cutting another tooth she's definitely not having as easy a time with this one as she did with the first one.

The Visit

First things first.

Sunday Brunch is no more. The lady that started it didn't have time to do it anymore. When she stopped another lady took it over. That was about the time I started doing it. Now the second lady apparently doesn't have the time to do it anymore. Not much of an explanation is given. And it's given by the first lady on top of it, so we really don't know what's happened to the second lady.

Ah, well. It was fun while it lasted. Well, usually it was.

Now on to other things.

Last week my mom and my niece Kimmy came for a visit. (They shall be referred to from this point on as Grandma B and Cousin Kimmy - their relationship to Sydney.) They arrived on Wednesday, August 3, and left on Wednesday, August 10. It was great to have them here and we had a great time.

I was at work on Wednesday when they arrived. Thursday morning I took them out for a drive. Grandma B had rented a car. She has a terrible sense of direction, though. I showed her where major points of interest and major byways were. She diligently took notes and then consulted her map.

Grandma B and Cousin Kimmy went to a local water park Thursday afternoon. I worked again that day and Anne (Mommy) stayed home with Sydney.

On Friday we stayed home and relaxed. Friday, however, was August 5 and Sydney's four-month birthday.



During the visit Grandma B did, naturally, spend lots of time with Sydney.



Cousin Kimmy got in on some of the action, too. At first the two of them didn't seem greatly enthused by each other. But before long Cousin Kimmy was playing with Sydney and making her smile and laugh. Cousin Kimmy sat next to Sydney in our car when we went somewhere. She would constantly give us updates about whether Sydney was awake, smiling, drooling (Cousin Kimmy even wiped up the drool more than once), making funny faces or anything else she would do.



On Saturday we went to Art on the Green. It's a large event held in the downtown area of Coeur d'Alene. It is actually a couple different events rolled into one. There is a street fair along the main street of downtown. This is comprised mainly of booths of local shops and businesses. But there are various food vendors and private vendors with booths there, too.

In the city park along the lake is the Taste of Coeur d'Alene. Various food vendors set up there. There are some craft type booths set up for shopping, too. You may remember me talking about the Italian sausages that are so good that I look forward to getting every year. That guy was here. I know he does other local events, too, but this is the only one I really go to so I look forward to it. Mommy and Grandma B each had an Italian sausage, too. We couldn't talk Cousin Kimmy into trying one, though. She had some soggy, greasy curly fries.

A short walk from the park is the North Idaho College campus. This is where the actual Art on the Green is. There are lots of booths here selling all sorts of art things and some crafts. They also have other things set up. There's a public stage where they have various forms of entertainment throughout the weekend. They have a kid's art area where kids can go make whatever the current art theme is. (We didn't actually see this, but we weren't looking too hard for it by that time of the day.) There is also a guy there that makes a giant sand castle sculpture. He works on it for the entire three days of the event and it lasts for up to six weeks afterward. (I didn't get a picture of it, but Grandma B did. I'll link to hers when she gets them posted.)

Art on the Green was really the first time we have used the baby harness for Sydney.



It was actually pretty comfortable. Sydney seemed to enjoy it. One of the straps stretched across right at her mouth level so she chewed on it almost the whole time. When she started to fall asleep leaning against it and with the strap in her mouth we took her out and put her back in her stroller.

On Sunday Grandma B took Cousin Kimmy and Daddy on a seaplane tour. Cousin Kimmy got the funniest look on her face when we were getting on the plane. The pilot told her to sit up front with him. Her eyes got huge. She didn't want to be in the front of the plane.

The pilot was a funny older man. The flight was a little turbulent. In the afternoon (we went at 2:00) the heat from the land makes updrafts. He made sure to tell us this several times. (He told us many things several times, actually.) He seemed a little surprised and disappointed that none of us got sick on the flight. Overall it was fun but, as Grandma B said, "I'm glad I did it but don't want to do it again."

If you're interested in pictures you can see them here.

Even though we were right down at the city park I didn't feel like getting another Italian sausage after the flight. All of our stomachs were a little upset. We went and got snow cones to help settle our stomachs.

On Monday Grandma B, Cousin Kimmy, Sydney and Daddy went to Wallace, Idaho. Wallace is about an hour east of Coeur d'Alene. It's a nice little town. It's where's the movie Dante's Peak was filmed. It's also where Lana Turner was born.

But the reason we actually went there was to go on a silver mine tour. Cousin Kimmy and I went on the tour while Grandma B stayed in town with Sydney. On the tour they show you what they do when mining. Some of the demonstration is done by turning on loud machinery. That's not good for babies.



Cousin Kimmy and I had fun. We got to wear hardhats. On the trolley to the mine we got to ride on the back. That means we got to ride backward! The tour was quite educational, too, which undoubtedly means that Cousin Kimmy didn't enjoy it as much as I did.

On Tuesday my long weekend was over. I went back to work. That afternoon Grandma B, Cousin Kimmy, Mommy and Sydney went horseback riding. Actually, only Cousin Kimmy and Mommy went horseback riding. Grandma B again stayed with Sydney. From all reports it was fun.

Wednesday Grandma B and Kimmy got up way too early (though Daddy was up slightly earlier with Sydney) to spend the day traveling back to Michigan. Though it was tough to leave Sydney they were both ready to be back home. Grandma B managed to find the airport in her rental car. The trip back was uneventful and they made it safe and sound.

Pictures can be found in the online photo album. There are many new pictures posted (and not all related directly to the visit). The new pictures can be found in this album, this album and this album. Enjoy.