Insomnia

Well, this is proof that insomnia can lead to anything. Far too many ideas are running around in my head to allow room for sleep. I blame the tiny bacteria invading my lungs. That's right. I've been sick for over a week now, and I can't wait for my immune system to kick in and kick all the bacteria out!

So let's talk a moment about my favorite subject -- Dylan! This kiddo is pretty hilarious, I'll tell you what. This week he added "roll it" to his list of tricks. You know -- "Roll it, and roll it, and mark it with a D, and toss it in the over for Dylan and me!" Now we've got the clapping and rolling it down, the game is a lot more fun to play.

I love watching Dylan's eyes as he figures out he's doing something we either like or dislike. He doesn't really care which emotion he's evoking. He mostly cares that there is a response and that he is the reason for that response. Talk about excitement. So far, the best positive response he's gotten out of me came when he started saying "Mommomomomomom." I think he's still working on figuring out that I'm the Mom, but he definitely knows that Mom means something, and that it's probably something good.

The struggle to walk continues, but every other kind of movement he has down like a pro. Well, except for standing up without something to pull up on. But in all other respects, he's a mover and a shaker. I'm pretty amazed at how quickly he can get around the room. When Dan comes home at the end of the day, everything we're doing stops as he high tails it to the top of the stairs where he knows Dad will soon appear. It's pretty awesome to watch.

I suppose I ought to throw a few picture in here to demonstrate some of the many faces of Dylan. We tried and tried to get a picture of his super sad face, but this is the best we got:



It's unbelievable how far he can stick out that bottom lip. This picture only captures about 25% of the full impact! It just keeps coming farther and farther out!

One of the most frustrating things about the month of November, aside from my horrible fight against illness, is my lack o'camera. There's nothing quite so frustrating as having an adorable child and no ability to take pictures of him. The only thing that makes that worse is realizing it's your own darn fault since you must have misplaced the camera somewhere. Grr! I can find the camera case, but no camera, despite several serious attempts to tear our apartment apart. So these picture are courtesy of October.

I intend to end this bizarre blog entry with a few additional representations of our October. Hope you enjoy them. Of course, it I can't figure out how to add more than one image, maybe you'll be stuck with just the Sadface Dylan picture. Let's try this one more time.

Well, I guess I lose. I suppose that's what comes of only blogging on the rare occasions that boredom or insomia strike heavily. Maybe someday I'll actually figure out how to use all this programming. I can't help but feel that it's much simpler than I think it is, either that, or I'm a lot dumber than I think I am. Hmm . . . my Bejeweled Blitz scores would seem to support the latter. I see all these elaborately decorated friends' blogs and wonder, "Now why can't that be me?" Then I remember, I'm just not quite that cool, and I'm pretty okay with that. Good night!

Mommy's Brain

I've never seen the movie Dumber and Dumber, but from the title alone, I'm living it each and every day. I don't know if this happens to all moms via sleep deprivation or what, but I know that I used to be a relatively intelligent person, and lately, that just isn't the case. I'm constantly losing things, and not just physical things. Words I used to use frequently now sit on the tip of my tongue refusing to go any farther.

This phenomenon is particularly evident in this blog because there's so much that I can't figure out how to do. Apparently my brain is especially resistant to new learning. For instance, it took me most of yesterday's free time to figure out how to upload exactly the pictures I wanted to show in a slideshow of our visit with Uncle Shawn. I finally got most of the correct pictures to load, and now I can't figure out how to post it as a slideshow. It seems I have to make the album public to turn it into a slideshow, but surely google protects privacy better than that while allowing you to publish things to your own blog without making them public to the world. Oh well. Maybe if I work at it long enough, this old dog will learn some new tricks.

Uncle Shawn's Visit

Interested in seeing the pictures from Uncles Shawn's visit up close? Check out the following link:

DMAD's Written Adventures Begin

I suppose it's time to stop procrastinating and get on the blogging bandwagon. It's a great way to keep a journal of family events, but I've never kept a public journal before, and the prospect of having an audience is actually a bit daunting. Nevertheless, the grandmas would like a better means of seeing this little kiddo progress, so here we go. Just be patient with me and my son who doesn't like his mommy to do anything for more than five minutes that doesn't place him at the center of attention. This will mean primarily one handed typing and short, unorganized compositions.

Why DMAD? Why, Dan, Marnee, & Dylan Adventures of course! Honestly, I couldn't come up with a title. Hopefully inspiration will strike me, and I can still figure out how to change it later. Otherwise, this is what we're stuck with. =)

Our most current adventures involve a visit from Uncle Shawn, a visit to the Kansas City Area, and teething. That's right -- TEETHING! I can't believe it for a number of reasons. First, it's really early. The Bates family typically experiences delayed tooth development. I didn't lose my first tooth until the end of 2nd grade! My niece started teething around 9 months or so. Dylan's just 7 months, and technically he's more like 5 months due to his prematurity. What does he think he's doing trying to get teeth? Also, I just can't picture his adorable, gummy smile with teeth in it. I suppose it's inevitable, but he can't even sit on his own yet, what does he need with teeth? I don't know how long the process takes. Right now he just has a really hard bump on the bottom center right of his gums, and he's super cranky and feels warm to the touch. A half dose of Infant Tylenol (off brand due to the recall) allowed us all to get a bit of sleep. Today I'll make a call to the doctor's office for advice, and then we'll just see how things proceed. So check back for more details on the Adventures of DMAD!