Expressions

When I went to visit Sadie a few nights ago, I spied a new toy for her enjoyment -- a walker that looks like a sporty little car!

Sadie is 4 1/2 months old now, and as I took photos of her in her car, I noticed expressions that I recognized from when her mom and aunts were growing up.  Expressions that will be nurtured and honed through the years, until as a teenager she will have them perfected.

You're gonna let me drive?

I guess I'll give it a try...

Tell me everything -- I'm listening.  I'm focused.

How long is this going to take?

Geez, Mom --  enough already!

The eye rolling comes naturally to most girls.  It will be absolutely devastating in 10 or 12 years!

Okay, pre-drive prep -- horn, check!

Adjust mirrors, check!  Flipping off the other bozos out there will come later.

I'm outta here -- whoo-hoo!!!

This little girl looks like she's out to conquer the world -- fearless and at full blast!  Just like her mommy.

Sadie and Santa -- 1st Meeting

Sadie looks very regal here, don't you think?  Santa, on the other hand looks shifty.

In this photo, Sadie is beginning to sense that Santa has designs on her candy-striped shoes.

Okay, I haven't actually spoken to Robin about Sadie's Santa Experience, but from the looks of it, she kept her cool. 

Sweet Sadie

Robin and Chad went to the State Championship Class 3A high school football game in Dallas this weekend, so Sadie has been on an adventure. Not an adventure with Mom and Dad, but her very own adventure.

She spent Friday at daycare, but Friday afternoon she was picked up by her Aunt Becky. Actually, Becky is Chad's aunt, so she is Sadie's great-aunt. But, to keep it simple we'll just call her Aunt Becky. Aunt Becky was hosting a slumber party for Sadie and her 1st cousin, Maggie.  Maggie is about 16 months older than Sadie, so she's all experienced.

Robin has a tag team in place for the weekend because Saturday morning they were leaving Dallas and heading to New Braunfels, where they will attend a Jerry Jeff Walker concert.  My turn with Sadie is today, Saturday.  I picked her up from Aunt Becky's about 10 AM.  Sadie fell asleep on the way home, so I brought the carseat inside and loosened part of the 5-part harness, but left her in the seat to finish her nap. 

After about an hour, she woke up, probably wondering where she was and how she got there.  She fussed a little bit while I undid the rest of the carseat harness.  Once I got her out, she promptly spit up on me (and herself).  Then she played happily while I changed her diaper, took the video, and put fresh clothes on her.  I was just about to call Dee and she if she needed a "baby fix", when Sadie decided she'd had enough and needed some personal attention.  So, I held her while she calmed herself down with her paci, then put her in a bouncy chair while I got her bottle ready. 

She almost snatched the bottle out of my hand when she saw it approaching.  It had been almost three hours since her last bottle, so she was ready for the next meal.  She finished the bottle and fell fast asleep in my arms.  She has been back in the bouncy chair, napping for almost an hour.  She'll get one more bottle here, then Nana (Chad's mom) will tag in and take over. 

Nana was in Dallas for the football game  -- along with between three and four thousand other Ricebird fans.  Nana's oldest grandson, Clay, is on the Ricebird team.  They didn't win, by the way -- but a lot of points were scored, so it must have been a very exciting game to watch.  The final score had Stephenville winning 70-35. 

Sadie needs a staff to keep track of all the things a three month old needs for a weekend get away.  Besides all the little bags of frozen milk, she has a bag with blankets, her boppy pillow, toys, extra diapers, bibs, & burp cloths;  there is a thermal bag for toting the frozen milk and clean bottles; a bag with more diapers, wipes, diaper cream, long onsies and another container of extra bottles (Robin must not want any of us to have to wash bottles, although I am just using the same bottle and washing it between feedings); a bag with a baby monitor, her favorite Baby Einstein CD, more clothes and some small waterproof pads and smaller blankets.

It's about an hour till her next feeding.  And at some time this afternoon, she will arrive at Nana's to brighten her day. 

Enjoy the video.  Sadie has been trying to talk since she was about 6 or 8 weeks old.

The Apostrophe Protection Society

Virgie came to visit one day last week and left me a book she thought I might enjoy. It's called Eats, Shoots & Leaves. It's a book about punctuation by an English author, Lynne Truss, who is a stickler for proper (correct) punctuation. Imagine! An entire book about punctuation.

Apparently, there is an actual group called the Apostophe Protection Society. I'm assuming that group is to be found in England...not in the U.S., where we can't be bothered to worry much about punctuation. I, for one, pretty much make up the rules as I go along.

But, Ms. Truss is humorous and I do like British humor, so I thought I would give the book a go.

I skipped the acknowledgements, but read the Foreward by Frank Court, the Publisher's Note (yes, I had to look in the book to see where to put the apostrophe), and the Preface by the author. Before I had completed 4 pages of the actual book, I had already disagreed with her on one example and then checked to see how many pages were in the book. 204...not including the Bibliography.

I can't imagine that my interest will be sustained, but I'll give it my best effort. I would truly like to know the rules so that I can break them on purpose and not just out of ignorance.

And, as I said, I really do enjoy British tongue-in-cheek humor.

Excerpts from Old Letters

It's been a very lazy Saturday afternoon.  I'm watching movies and started looking through the box of old letters again.

From October 5, 1962

I'm trying to learn how to do all sorts of acrobatic tricks.  I tried flips today.  But I only managed to land on my head.

From October 6, 1962

I'm watching the Georgia Tech-LSU game now.  LSU is ahead 7-0.  Georgia Tech's quarterback is number 18 just like Marion was.  I've been looking for a 55 too, but I haven't seen one yet.

Last night we gained 247 yds. and Johnston only gained 97 yds, and they made 2 touchdowns.  I don't understand how that gaining business works.

I just found a 55 on Georgia's team.  I don't know what (position) he plays though.  They have a 22 too.

I think 55 is a center because he has one of those towels on the back of his pants.

The above excerpt from October 6  strikes me funny for a couple of reasons.  First, I had been a cheerleader at St. Philip's and by fall of 1962 was in my 3rd year as a high school cheerleader.  And yet, I didn't understand how that "gaining business" worked.  Secondly, my only apparent interest in the college game I was watching was in finding numbers that matched the numbers of people I knew...Marion-#18, Wayne-#55, and Harold-#22. 

From August 6, 1962 at cheerleading camp in Dallas (at SMU, I think)

If this is an extremely short letter, please bear with me--I think I have polio, or at least rigor mortis has set in.  I can't move anything but my thumb and one finger.  Such pain I've never felt before.

The letter from cheerleading camp must have been written on the 2nd or 3rd day.  We would have been really sore by then.

These excerpts might not be as entertaining to you as to me.  I see my teenage self and I kind of like her.

 

iPhone upgrade

All I meant to do when I plugged my phone into the computer at about 11 last night was to sync it.  When iTunes came up on the screen however, it informed me that there was a new upgrade and asked if I wanted to download it.

I decided to wait until after I had synced my phone to do the upgrade.  But, before the sync started, another message came up telling me that there was an upgrade to the iPhone, and it asked if I wanted to download and install it now.  But, no, I wanted to sync first and update apps before I did the new upgrade.  Wouldn't you know that 19 of my apps needed updating and so that took a bit of time. Then I synced again to install the app updates before I was ready to do the iPhone upgrade.

Do I know you?

It turned out that the upgrade was for a new operating system, iOS 6.0, which is the operating system for the new iPhone 5, that is coming out soon.  And it has some pretty cool improvements, one of which is the ability to insert photos and videos into an email document.  Prior to this, you had to select a photo or photos before you started the email.

There was really no reason for me to put a picture of Sadie in the middle of this email. I just did it because I could.

And, in case you're wondering, this is an email.  I can compose a post on my phone and email it to my special address on Blogger which lands it, in draft form, in my list of posts.  From there I can edit and/or publish it.  Or just delete it if I realize it's just crap.  I could probably delete this one.

So, now that you've read this, you can add it to your list of things you didn't really need to know.

Except...you should probably upgrade to the iOS 6.0 if you can.  Some cool stuff.  Plan it for evening when you won't need the phone much...the upgrade is 912 MB.  I got it started and then went to bed.  I woke up at about 3 AM, and it had completed the download and install.  So, I finished up the last bit of it and went back to bed.  

I guess I'll do the iTunes update tonight.  Oh, the thrill of it all.

Excerpts from Old Letters

I must have written this letter after a high school football game.  It was an away game, I didn't mention where it was in the letter.  The football team always stopped to eat somewhere after the game and the cheerleaders always stopped at the same place and joined them.

From September 21, 1962

At supper after the game Coach Hayes called for a moment of silent prayer...we were silent, but the juke box was playing.  It was the first time I had ever prayed to the tune of one of Brenda Lee's songs.

I'm pretty sure it was the only time, actually. 

It's fun going through the letters, although I'm not tempted to read very many at once...it's a pain getting the letters back into the envelopes.  Back then I bought boxes of stationery with envelopes.  The paper was almost exactly the same width as the envelope.  What were they thinking?

I guess they weren't thinking that I might be looking through those letters 50 years later.  Neither was I.