Mike, Heather, and Melchi

Today, another sunny Friday, we all hit Albany.  Mike worked in the coffeehouse while Melchi and I went shopping.  For the first time in 179 years, I went antique/junk browsing.  Albany has a number of stores in this range.  I was in the market for egg cups and small wooden furniture appropriate for a certain cutie to climb on, but no dice.  

Oh, but I did find some lovely things for Melchi in the downtown toy store!  You'll notice that we have a certain animal obsession around here: I got squirting tub toys (3 pigs), a bubble wand, and a Wheely Cow.  What's that, you say?  http://wheelybug.com/products.html  It was difficult to choose, but in the end, the Holstein won.  I think these are the same little cars Melchi and I encountered at the Play Factory in Corvallis last week, when I thought he might get run over in the little car area (too many older kids for babies to feel safe).  Speaking of such outings, Melchi is a sociable child with no sign of separation anxiety, as he crawls away from me speedily to make new friends.  How this happened from me and Mike, I'll never know.

Our current hens continue to produce more than enough eggs for our use.  Thank you, chickens!  We appreciate you!

It looks like all 4 of Melchi's top incisors are coming in at once!  Finally bought some Motrin for him!  I tried so hard to avoid the pain drugs, going with homeopathic drops and stuff to chew on, but he's been crying several times a night.  I figure the drugs are better than the stress all of that causes him during the night.  This is really the root cause of the sleep problems.  The rest is just getting him used to other sleep associations so I don't have to do the breastfeeding during the occasional entire nap - strangely, his night sleep has been better in that regard for a long time, just not the daytime naps.

In this baby swim class, the parent holds and instructs the child two days each week for half hour sessions.  With Melchi so young (babies can start at 6 months), this means moving him around the water while he kicks and splashes and plays with toys.  Part of the attraction of the class is when the instructor demonstrates submerging the child: warn baby with something like "ready, set, go," which he eventually associates with "I'm about to go under water"; blow in the child's face so he takes a breath; gently and smoothly move him into and out of the water; and afterward, pat his back to help him get rid of any inhaled water.  Parents are also shown how to help baby relax on his back and eventually learn to float, keeping baby's head next to parent's or on parent's chest.  At the end of class, parent and child go down the water slide together.

I enjoyed taking Melchi to this class, though Melchi had mixed reactions.  I think the class is held at an awkward time of day for babies, 5:30 pm.  Melchi is often tired and winding down at that time, and going to class meant abbreviating our dinner and bedtime routine. Often, Melchi fell asleep on the drive back, and a few times, I carried Melchi straight into bed from the car.  While he never seemed traumatized by the activities, he did not enjoy being submerged (understandably) and still makes unhappy noises when placed on his back. I think the environment, especially the noise and other people, was overwhelming to him.

We won't be attending the next session - I missed the short window for signing up, as this popular class fills quickly.  I'm going to request a morning class, because the instructor is available to teach, but the pool already has a full schedule and little open swim time.  As for me and Melchi, we'll go to an open swim period earlier in the day and practice having fun in the water, repeating what we've already done. Then, one day, Melchi will swim away from me happily...maybe!

Mike enjoyed taking pictures of our splashing.  Photos website (photos.garfias.org)

Our first professional family photos have been placed into their own album.  They're still in the 2009 group for the purpose of tracking requested ones by number.  

We're in the process of taming the mess of photos in Melchi 2009.  There are too many, lots of extremely similar ones, and other things that bother me.

The ones you probably care most about are in Melchi 2010.  

New photos:

Sledding at Hoodoo (yesterday)

Melchi asleep on the floor, playing in the dishwasher, swinging around, eating, playing in dog food, etc.

Melchi and I at the Stayton swimming pool baby group

Right now, we're fighting with the photo printer.  Mike and I were finally going to print pictures we promised people around New Year's.  Looks like our printer is a big pain in the rear.  I think we'll be ordering prints from now on.  They've gotten to be so cheap.

Did you notice that you can order prints through SmugMug?  On our photo website (photos.garfias.org) you can order all kinds of photo products using SmugMug.  Some of the products, like calendars, aren't obvious.  Ask one of us if there's something you're looking for and you can't find it. 

Now I need to figure out how to pay for it.