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 |   Exploring the future through the present. One day at a time. |
| Thomas went in yesterday for his 4-month checkup. Again he received more vaccinations. We all responded much better this time. I didn't cry anyway, though it was still painful to watch. It didn't help Thomas was a grump most of the day. He seemed to know something was up when I held his arms and the nurse held his legs. She poked him once and for a second his expression changed to shock, then the screams came, his face turning bright red. Afterward when we put him back in his carseat, he stared at me with an expression saying, "Why did you do this to me?" Yep, I'm a mean old mom. But better a small pain now he won't remember by the time he wakes up this morning than increase his chance of measles, hepatitis and the like. They also weighed and measured him. His head measures at the 50% mark (16-1/2"), which makes him average. However, he's in the 25% for weight at 13lb 10oz. And yet height-wise he's in the 75% at 25-3/4". I'm not concerned about the percentages, because that's based on averages. Thomas is growing exactly how he should. He's simply going to be tall and skinny like his dad. Developmentally, such as how he's moving, holding his head up, talking, laughing and aware of his surroundings, he's right on schedule. The day ended on a good note for him, though. First my dad came over to visit, then Dave's cousin Kyle, and then our neighbors from across the street. Thomas was the center of attention, and he loved it. Yesterday must have wore him out, because he's still sleeping. He's been sleeping through the night for over a month now, but more often than not he's up before 8 (after an early-morning feeding between 5 and 5:30). It's now 8am, and he's still sound asleep. I hope you all have a grand weekend! |
| Well, it looks like this time was the 10th. I definitely came down with a touch of the flu. Whoopee. The fever broke about 10 minutes ago. I had reached a temp of 102. I'm down to 99 now. I tell you, there's few greater feelings than a fever breaking. Sure I feel all sticky from the sweat, but no more achy muscles. That to me is the worst. Well, aside from the sore throat, swollen glands, headache, coughing,  My only hope is I don't give it to anyone, especially Thomas. The flu can be dangerous for one so young. I'm not too worried about it. I'm taking obvious precautions such as not kissing him and making sure we both stay clean. I'm also still breastfeeding, so that gives him extra protection. It's not full-proof, I know, so I'll be keeping a close eye on him. Hey, it's Mother's Day today!  HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY |
| I added more photos, starting with this one: Invalid Photo #1014145 . Right now Thomas is sleeping off his fun from last night. He was quite the charmer with the ladies, and with all the action going on around him, he didn't want to sleep. Who could blame him? He was still wired when we came home at 10pm, and he didn't get to sleep until 11. Hope you're having a great weekend! Edit 5/5/08: I forgot to add the book in the picture above is a gift handcrafted by karabu. She sells other such books and toys at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5026538 Thanks, Kara!! |
| I don't have the case of the blahs so much as a case of the apathies. When it comes to writing anyway. I have many an idea percolating as well as three projects I need to finish. Darn it. I hate when I have so much of a to-do list hanging over my head, but at the same time never have enough motivation to tackle it. This blog and yours are a part of that list. Sorry for neglecting you. Even now, part of the reason I write is because I'm in the process of archiving old projects, and that takes a while. Instead of watching files move from one hard drive to another, I decided to write a little something to pass the time. Thomas is looking and acting more like a little boy instead of an infant. He can hold his head up almost all the time now, and he can hold his weight on his legs for about a minute or so at a time. He really loves it, too. He hates ‘belly time,' to the point I've mostly given up on it. I figured it's because he can't see much, whereas on his back, he can see almost everything. He's a watcher. He's also no ADD kid. This boy knows how to concentrate. As people talk to him, he'll be completely engrossed in watching facial expressions and how the mouth is moving. Once as I chatted at him, I stopped and stuck my tongue out. He jumped not expecting the move. It was quite funny. He's adjusting well to the new schedule. It's harder on me. Last week he woke up early, so I decided to play with him before I went to work - get my Thomas fix. Dave said to put him back in his crib, because it was too early (7am), and we should start him on a schedule. Disappointed, I put Thomas back. I then hooked myself up to the pump so Thomas would have milk during the day. As I anticipated, Thomas started to cry, both from hunger and wanting attention. I figured Dave would let him cry himself to sleep, but no, he picked Thomas up to feed and play with him. I cried, feeling Dave cheated me out of spending time with my son. It hurt me bad enough I continued to cry at work, darn it. I told Dave why I was crying, and he apologized. He didn't intend to ‘steal' Thomas away. He also made the point it will happen again - to both of us. I'm sure I will steal Thomas from Dave at times, if I haven't already. I suppose that's not the worst way to fight over a child. My reaction was more hormonal than anything, I think. The next day we argued over something else - a very minor something else, and I cried then too. Sheesh. My body must be better regulated this week, because I haven't felt the need to blubber since. Shoot! I was going to post more pictures, but I left them on my computer at home. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have the wherewithal to catch up with the rest of you as well. Tonight we get to show the little guy off. Dave's cousin is holding his yearly Cinco de Mayo party. Since the day falls on a Monday, though, we're celebrating early. Lots of sumptuous Mexican food and drink to be had by all. Yes, I will allow myself a glass of wine, but that's as wild as this lady will get. Impressed you are, I can tell (no I haven't been watching any Star Wars movies lately). Happy Friday! |
| I went back to work full-time on Monday. Though it took all morning to get back in the groove of things, I didn't have an irrepressible urge to go back home because I missed Thomas so bad. I did go home for lunch, so that helped. I was surprised how easy it was. Dave had a more difficult time, because he couldn't do much other than take care of Thomas. He was going understandably stir-crazy. Still, the transition for both of them seemed to go quite well. Until yesterday. Thomas cried most of the day until he saw me. Today was even worse. When I came home for lunch Thomas had just crashed from crying so long and so hard. He only drank one bottle when usually he's downed downed two or three by now. It isn't so much Thomas's crying that wrenched my heart, but leaving the house while his screaming followed me. Half-way down the sidewalk I stopped, fully intending to turn around and not go back to work. My brain kicked in and said, "Don't. Thomas is just going through a bit of separation anxiety. He needs to get comfortable with spending long hours with his dad. Go back now, and the transition will be even more difficult." Taking a deep breath, I continued to my car and drove to work. I'm here now writing this entry. I know I did the right thing, but I wish I could convince my heart of that. It's going to be a long afternoon. For all three of us. |
| But that's not hard. I'm just plain easy to confuse. Simple minds and all . . . Thomas is sleeping through the night, and has been for the last almost two weeks now. Well, mostly through the night. I put him to bed at 8:30 and he gets up at around 4 or 5am. That's still 8-9 hours in a stretch. He then sleeps for another 3-4 before he's up for the day. The problem is, I'm now on his previous schedule. I tend to wake up at 12am, 2am, 4am . . . Sheesh! Two more days, and no more freedom. I go back to work on Monday. Dave switched his hours to evenings and weekends starting Monday, so he gets to play Mr. Mom. We decided even before we had kids to avoid daycare. As expensive as it is these days, one person's paycheck ends up going to daycare, so what's the point? Plus we're both uncomfortable with leaving Thomas for any length of time with people we don't know well. It'll be tough not seeing Dave as much. Luckily I live close enough I'll go home for lunch every day, and he has Thursdays and Fridays off. I may be able to at times work 4-10 hour days or 4-9 hour days and take a half-day on Friday. That's one nice thing about working for a smaller company. I went in for an hour today to pick up some data and help a coworker out with a software problem. I left not wanting to go back. I pointed out a potential problem with a project, and the project manager proceeded to bite my head off. Nice. All I did was relay something told to me by someone else. It's possible he knew of the issue himself, but there's no cause to snap at me as if I was some sort of nag. It's not as though I knew he knew, now is there, so why act as if I did? Some people are just too [censored] sensitive. Hmm. That wouldn't be me, now would it? Have a great weekend! I plan to spend as much time as I can with Thomas, because I know I will miss him terribly come Monday. Even though I won't be with him for only 4 hours at a stretch, it'll be rough. I best get to bed now. I have to wake up in 1-1/2 hours  . |
| My mom and I discussed art the other day. At one point she said Margaret had more artistic ability than I did. That both threw me and insulted me a bit. Margaret has always been 'crafty' such as knitting, but as far as art went such as painting, pencil, pen & ink, chalk, etc., that was my forte. I asked, "Then how come she never took art classes like I did?" "Because she was good at it, whereas you had to work for it." I thought about it a few days, and I concluded she was probably right. I took art classes every year in high school in order to learn more about art and hone my abilities. Margaret having natural ability didn't think she needed it. I saw a show on the Science channel the other day about Stephen Hawking. When he attended Oxford, he at first skated through, so certain in his natural ability of mathematics he didn't apply himself. All that changed when he was diagnosed with ALS during his third year. Suddenly he realized his time here might be short, and he had nothing to show for it. Now he is considered one of the greatest minds of our time. You can read about it on his website: http://www.hawking.org.uk/disable/dindex.html It's quite inspiring. That's not to say I'll be some great artist, but that desire and dedication can often take us further than natural ability. Sometimes it's our lack of talent that can spur us to do wonderful things. |
It seems there is always a concern with uploading our writing onto websites like this one whether or not we're sabotaging our ability to submit said works for publication. A member asked this very question in the "Technical Support Forum"  . I answered which then spurred an email conversation. The user pointed out the item: "Invalid Item" [] by A Guest Visitor .For those who add items here to be critiqued and then published, this is a frightening article - until you read the entire thing. It basically states some publishers, be they books or magazines, consider what we add here as previously published, but they're few and far between. Still, I wanted answers from more people "in the know." I emailed Randy Ingermanson asking if posting work on sites such as writing.com, faithwriters.com and fanstory.com are considered previously published works. Here's how he responded: I don't know absolutely for sure, but the word I've heard is that stuff posted like that would be considered previously published, unless it is on a critique board and is a small chunk of the story. But a story posted on a fan-fiction site is generally considered published. I also left a post in another writing forum (http://www.christianwritersforum.com/), and the administrator had the following email conversation with Dr. Dennis Hensley: Hi Doctor Hensley; I hope you remember us over at the Christian Writers Forum. We certainly enjoyed your chat with us several months ago. I received the question from one of our members and I am at a loss as to how to answer her. My understanding is that if the rights are not sold then the work is not considered previously published but I am not sure enough to answer her question with any level of authority. I know how busy you are so if you can just give a quick answer to this > >email that would also be great. We appreciate your help and all you do to inspire us. Dennis Hensley wrote: As with any publication, online or in hard copy print, it is important to >verify from the publication's Guidelines for Writers what the rights are that are being purchased. Once that is established, you'll know if you can market the piece again or not. If just "first rights" are offered, then the piece will revert to the writer after publication and can be sold again, but if "all rights" are sold, then the publication owns it. I always charage TWO fees if a magazine wants to print my article in hard copy and then also run it on the web. I consider this two different media, so I expect two payments. Doc Gretchen Ricker wrote: So, posting novels or articles on the Forum or on Writing.com or Faithwriters.com for review by other writers does not constitute being published and does not preclude the work being sold to publishing houses that require first rights, is that correct? g Doctor Hensley wrote: That's the way I see it. Doc I conclude then, our works posted here are 'safe' as far as not being considered pre-published. It could be argued blog entries are an exception, because entries are rarely if ever critiqued. Still, I'm not worried about anything I write here as previously published, because whatever I decide worthy of publication would be so re-vamped as to be entirely different from the original. I would also either remove that entry or make it private, because like I said before, I'd rather make money on what I write than give it away for free. It may be selfish, but that's the way the world works sometimes. I also believe in quid pro quo. I don't expect any of you to give me for free your published works; I expect you to receive payment for your published works just as I do. I also think it's important to support our fellow writers, so I will buy what you've published without hesitation. Lecture over. Have a great Saturday! |
| Now you got 'em. Photos of Thomas: Invalid Photo #1013807 There's seven so far, the above being the first one. Enjoy! |
*Barbara Maria*  described in "Invalid Entry" the excitement of a new idea - one that seems to come straight from God. If you haven't read it yet, you should. Some of that excitement will rub off on you.It did me. I woke up early this morning thinking about one of those ideas I hinted at in my last entry. Then it hit me. Instead of trying to answer the question "Does God need PR?" with a blog entry or article, how about a story instead? This question came up twice in the last few days. First was from one of my characters in the novella I'm working on publishing (the same one I showed you the cover on), and the other was a comment in Voxxylady  's blog made by Anyea (see "to each other" ).I'd describe the images that filled my brain, but that would give away part of the story. As soon as it's done (it may take a few weeks as I have other projects that need completed as well), I will post the link for your comments. Hope you all have a great week. |
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