Home Sweet Home

Last month, we bought a house.  It was a long process of getting to that large table in the title office and signing all those papers.  To be honest, I wasn't that excited.  I loved the house we picked, don't get me wrong.  I had just gotten to the point of thinking it was never going to be mine. 

Well, it is.  And it's amazing.  It's the first place that is MINE.  And Kevin's too.  Lol.  But I own a house!  Hol. y. Crap.  I still can't believe it.  We dove right into painting it.  I knew a few colors right away.  I'd love to get Gunnar's room all finished before he sees the house. I'd love to open the door to his new, finished room and see him run around it and check everything out.  I know that he's going to take this transition hard.  He's used to seeing his grandparents regularly and he has his friends at school.  I hope he gets over it quickly since he will have his own space finally.  

I have always wondered what having complete control over where I live would feel like.  So far, it feels amazing.  

Cheers!  

At the closing.  Got the keys!!

Packzi Day!

Did you get yours?!

Cheers!

Once Bitten

Last week at daycare, another child bite Gunnar.  From what the teacher tells me, Gunnar was playing on a riding toy and the other child sort of fell on him and bit him on the chest. The teacher said these things happen.  Lots of teething going on, you see...

Hmmm.

Here's the problem(s) I'm having.  The chest is a flat surface with little fat, usually.  I would think that if a baby was teething, they would want a round, chewy surface to bite down on. Little effort, big pay off.  The fact that it's a chest bit, something accomplished with some effort, leads me to believe that teething was not the primary factor.

Gunnar was on a toy.  Probably a cool toy.  Did the other child want that toy?  Did Gunnar take the toy away from another child?  I will probably never know since neither child really talks.

How was the the child able to bite Gunnar on the chest without someone intervening?  Again, a chest bit requires effort.  Effort requires time.  If there was a struggle over a toy, no one heard or saw something?  The teacher gives me the impression that she did see it.  Are there too many kids in the class for the number of teachers?  What else is slipping through the cracks?

The bite broke the skin.  Again, a chest bite is hard enough, but one that breaks the skin?!  And they didn't put bacitracin (Neosporin) on it.  Because I didn't fill out a medication form.  Really?  I think since it's an over the counter thing that its okay to have on hand and apply.  Its better to get yelled at by a parent that to have the kid get a serious infection (which also gets you yelled at by the parent but now yo have guilt because yo followed a stupid rule).  I blame all the stupid anti-vaxxing parents for this one.  They've put our children at risk because now we're afraid of common sense.  

I'm not mad at the other child.  They are young and these are lessons to learn on both sides. Secretly, I wish Gunnar had pushed the other kid down  or swatted him or something.  I don't have a problem with kids defending themselves when its necessary (think of that scene in A Christmas Story).  But, not going to lie, I'm a little peeved at the other parents and the teachers and the daycare over all.

Parenting is hard.  Parenting 45 minutes away from your child is harder.  

Cheers.

Update:  Facebook "fights" later and lots of opinions and chatter and I'm fine with things. Gunnar is no longer in that room with those teachers (he aged out this week).  I'm really happy about this.  I think the room he was in has too big of a range of ages in it.  They have babies that have just started crawling and Gunnar, who runs around, climbs everything and yells.

First School Pictures

I call daycare school when I talk to Gunnar.  I want him to get excited about going to school. I want him to associate the place with fun and socializing and learning.  Not a prison or work.  I have always liked school and I hope to pass that on to Gunnar.

He had these pictures taken when he was 8 months old at school.  I was so excited for him. Probably more excited than I should have been.  I stood right there and watched the whole thing.  It went very fast.  Gunnar seemed to cooperate with the photographer and she said he was the easiest baby.  I was hesitant to think she got anything good.  Then I saw the proofs...which were ready when I picked him up.  

O.M.G.  

I have the cutest baby.  

Cheers.

Gunnar's First Birthday - Part 1

Better late than never...

I can't believe my baby is one year old.  You never know how fast time goes by until you have a child.  They grow so freaking fast it's amazing.  I can't wait to see more of Gunnar's personality develop, but I miss the little bundle that used to just snuggle with me all the time...

I took the day off from work to celebrate Gunnar's birthday on his actual day of birth.  Kevin and I took him to the Toledo Zoo.  None of us had ever been to the Toledo Zoo before and Gunnar had never been to any zoo.  We had nice weather, a bit hot but not too bad.  And the zoo wasn't too crowded because it was during the week.  All the animals were out and about and we got to see a bunch up close.  I think Gunnar really liked looking at all of them.  When we were looking at the hippo, Gunnar blow raspberries on my cheek for the first time.  It was one of those mommy moments you don't forget.  Kevin was able to snap a picture.  It was a great day.  :)

Cheers!

We started the day with birthday balloons!  Best $2 I've ever spent.

First Haircut

I went back and forth with when to get Gunnar his first haircut.  This past weekend, we pulled the trigger.  When I look at the before and after pic, I can't believe I let him walk around like that!  He looks so grown up now with his big boy hair.  My baby is officially no longer a baby.  

Cheers!

So serious getting his hair cut

I love his face

Summer Photo Shoot

When we got our dSLR for Christmas a couple of years ago we had high hopes for learning how to actually use it. We didn't want a glorified point-and-shoot. But it never really happened. During my summer as a stay-at-home dad I had some time to read up about apertures and shutter speeds. I used to know these things when I was a yearbook photographer in high school, but I've long since forgotten everything. So after reading up a bit I thought I'd try it out with a little photo shoot down at the playground. It was actually a pretty sunny day, so there wasn't much I could really do with the settings. That isn't to say I didn't get some great pics. At some point I want to learn how to get blurry backgrounds with the subject in focus.