Here is the first video of Brenden walking, shot this afternoon. I’m sorry if you can’t see it. I’m still new at this and don’t know how to fix it for you.
Faucet Pics
Here are pics of the faucet project. First, the old master bath faucets:
Now, the new faucets:
Baby Update
On Thursday we had our first sonogram for Newbie. The sono tech says Newbie is 2cm long (maybe 3/4″), our due date is still around January 30, and we are having Newbie instead of Newbies. I have the sono printouts but haven’t had a chance to upload them yet. Check Newbie’s page soon.
In other news, Brenden is now walking! It’s a drunken baby walk that’s a bit scary to watch, but he has taken at least 6-8 steps a few times and a smaller number several times. We’re so proud of him! I’ll try to capture him on video soon.
Remembering Michael Jackson
Today the world lost one of the most talented entertainers. In case you haven’t heard, Michael Jackson died Thursday of a heart attack in California. Surely some of the cynics will focus on his eccentricity or his legal and financial troubles. I even saw one Facebook comment of “good riddance”. Few people doubt that he was a bit unusual and made some poor choices. Michael seemed to live in his own little world. Maybe I would, too, if I’d lived his life. But I’m still not convinced he was guilty of the molestation charges, and neither was the jury. I prefer to remember him as an electrifying singer, dancer, and songwriter who brightened the world a bit.
Growing up in the 80s, my sister Lisa and I listened to Thriller on – get this – VINYL. I wonder whether Brenden will ever hear music from a record. The cover was black with Michael in a white suit and a tiger. When we wanted to rock out, we turned that record up in the game room. We liked lots of the songs, but when “Beat It” came on, we loved to dance on top of the pool table. Eddie Van Halen provided the awesome guitar solo on that track, although I didn’t know it was him until today. Michael was so cool he got one of the greatest rock guitarists around to play on his album. Lisa and I also watched the bizarre, groundbreaking, amazing video for the song “Thriller” on this weird new station called MTV. Vincent Price always creeped me out at the end with his “Darkness falls across the land…” reading. Even today, “Thriller” reminds me of Halloween.
A few years ago we attended a friend’s wedding. The groom, although normally preferring to avoid the spotlight, could do the Thriller dance. His groomsmen and friends pitched in and raised a huge amount of money for their honeymoon to get him to do the dance at their wedding reception. And after initial reluctance, he did. You remember the dance, right? Zombie-style? Hands folded down, arms extended, marching in unison for the world’s weirdest line dance? Yeah, he did it. After a while I think his boys joined him. It was coolest reception dance EVER.
My other main memory of Michael was at Super Bowl XXVII in January 1993, the only time I ever saw him in person. My dad took me to Pasadena to see the Cowboys destroy the Bills. Michael Jackson provided the halftime show. Each of us received a large, folded piece of paper in a solid color. When we got the cue during “Heal the World”, we held up our papers so that the entire stadium turned into a 360-degree picture of children of all races. Remember that show? I had a white paper that formed the background. It was one of the best parts of a fantastic day.
Yes, he was a little strange, but we haven’t seen many people with his combination and level of talents. CNN.com posted a tribute to Michael that discusses how much ground he broke in the music industry and the staggering number of records he sold. Mark Davis wrote his own excellent tribute to Michael’s troubles and triumphs. We are all poorer for his loss.
Plumbering is Hard Work
Our latest project, moved up due to leaks and other problems in the old ones, is replacing the master bathroom faucets. After reading online about how it works, I decided to buy them and install them myself. Sounds like famous last words, right? Well, it actually wasn’t terrible and would have been fairly easy if not for a couple of problems. I finished up Wednesday night with a sense of satisfaction, great relief, and a new appreciation for the plumbing profession. I learned a few things in the process:
- Most sinks have shut-off valves between the water pipe in the wall and the supply line that leads to the faucet. They allow you to turn off the water just for that part of the faucet instead of shutting it off to the whole house. The old style has an oval-shaped handle and are often hard to turn. I learned that old style faucets, since they often doesn’t get used for decades at a time (ours probably hadn’t been touched since 1983), tend to develop internal problems. Once you close and open them for the first time in 25 years (to replace the faucet, for example), they often develop leaks on top of being very hard to turn. I needed a big wrench and lots of grunting.
- Supply lines have two different types of connections. If you buy a line with the wrong kind of connection, like I unknowingly did, it won’t fit. Spending 30 minutes at 2:00am trying to screw the wrong connector onto your supply nipple doesn’t work. Neither does using a metal file in a futile attempt to file down the nipple to make them fit together. Asking the guy at Lowe’s instead can save you hours of frustration.
- There’s a reason plumbers are expensive. Plumbers combine two different disciplines: uncomfortable physical labor and intelligent problem solving. Car and aircraft mechanics share this combination. I can’t tell you how many times I crawled under the sinks, squirmed my way out to check something, and wiggled back underneath. Or how many times I banged my head on the cabinets or sinks. Or how many times I had to turn wrenches at awkward angles. Or what was in the mysterious gray gunk I pulled out of the drains. I also can’t tell you how long I spent on Google reading DIY articles and looking at pictures to figure how what was wrong. Or what kind of shutoff valve I have, which is one of the main reasons I am hiring a professional to replace them instead of trying the job myself.
I am forever grateful that there are people out there who know more and can do the job better than I can. But I must say it feels good to look at those pretty brushed-nickel faucets and realize that with some help, I got this particular job done.
Happy Father’s Day!
It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought today would be a good day to do so. First – Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there – I hope you have a wonderful day full of people telling you how great you are. But this post is about how great my husband is after his first full year of being a dad – so here’s the “Observations from a new momma – brag on the new daddy edition”:
the Dude and his dad
1. From day one, Andy took the attitude of “other than breastfeeding, if Jenny can do it for Brenden, I can do it, too”. He’s changed diapers and given baths, fed him bottles and cleaned up messes. He knows his schedule and can give him whatever he needs without too much encouragement from my end. I’m proud of how well he can care for his son!
2. Brenden lights up when Andy walks in the room. There’s no one who gets a bigger smile than when he first sees Daddy each day.
3. Andy can get Brenden to laugh this great full belly laugh that you can hear throughout the house. Even when B has to stay still for a diaper change.
4. As much as it stresses Andy out, he’s willing to lend a hand when we eat out with Brenden. If you’ve been around B for very long, you know he can sit still for all of 2 seconds before he’s ready to move, so restaurants are always a challenge. But Andy helps with feedings and toys to keep him busy so that we can spend time with friends or family, which is a HUGE deal for me. Thanks, hubs!
5. It still cracks me up when I look at Brenden and see a little version of Andy looking back at me. There is no doubt he is daddy’s boy!
6. Whenever I go out for a day and Andy spends the day with B, I am always so encouraged when I come home to find a house still in one piece, and two happy boys playing in the floor.
Happy Father’s day, hubs – I’m so happy to get to do this parenting thing with you!
