The Joy of Music

Celia and Mike have been enjoying playing the piano together (you can see a pic of it if you scroll all the way down to my first blog). This video was taken Sunday night. Enjoy!

On your mark, get set . . . . .

We've had this lil' video camera since Celia was born. It's about as big as a deck of cards, and can record about 25 minutes of material. I like it a lot because it's user friendly and takes pretty good videos, but Mike and I are not really gadget heads, so what do you do with the videos once you collect a number of them? Yeah, yeah, I know we are supposed to get them professionally burned to DVD and then catalogue them, but who has the time? I know we will do that eventually (especially since the videos take up so much space on the computer), but in the mean time we felt like we needed to find SOME outlet for them. Mike didn't want to YouTube them, because that is so public, so he found this site called Vimeo where you can post videos for free. We tried that, and found it to be a little complicated. It took a long time to upload, people had to create passwords, etc., etc., etc. So - what is the point of this rant? The point is - here's a video of Celia crawling. Couple of suggestions - first, she really gets going near the end of the video (wait for it, wait for it!) Also - push play then pause it and let the video load a little before playing again so that it doesn't stutter so much.

This site, too, takes a long time to upload the video, but the whole process is a lot easier. So, I am going to try and put more videos on this site. The only potential problem is the time it takes to upload and the fact that I am *ahem* a little less than patient (no comments on this statement, please).

It's cold and gray here in the capital city, Ladybugites. Though honestly, the 20 degrees expected today is a lot better than last week when we had windchills in the -20s. This is the time of year that is hardest for Mike and me - a long stretch of cold without a holiday to get us excited. We are trying to keep the endorphins flowing by working out at our local community center (we, like my sister's recent post stated, found that our YMCA membership was a little steep for us right now - $83/month!). Our community center has a 12-lap mile walking track and a little workout room with a couple bikes, ellipticals and treadmills. It suites our needs for the time being, and it feels good to be with our neighbors and contributing to the center.

Mike's birthday is on Monday. For Christmas we received a gift certificate to the St. Paul Grille from Mike's brother, Craig, so we are using that to go out this evening. I am very excited! Mike and I haven't really gotten out much alone since Celia was born. I can blame that on our money crunch, but it also is because we just haven't made time for it. Kaarin is babysitting and has generously given us a few hours before dinner, too, so we can go to a museum, or a movie, or maybe just get coffee. Doesn't Mike look excited, too?

I think the St. Paul Winter Carnival is going on this weekend, too. If we go tonight I will be sure to post some pictures of the ice sculptures. Have a good weekend!

A Weekend of Firsts . . . . .Good and Bad

It's been an interesting few days, ladybug fans. Would you like to hear the good or the bad first? Let's start with the bad (caveat - it's really not that bad in retrospect, but still . . . .) We made our first trip as freaked out parents to the emergency room on Friday night. Now, in our defense, it wasn't even our idea. We had been watching Celia's low grade fever since Wednesday (around the 100 mark) - I stayed home with her on Wednesday, then Thursday morning, Mike taking over Thursday afternoon. We weren't too concerned, though feeling bad for her - she was stuffed up and very unhappy, though Celia always smiles through it. On Friday morning, we thought her fever had broken - Mike checked her temperature in the morning, and he said that she even seemed a little low. Yay! Our "wait and see" approach had worked. I was very proud of myself for not jumping to the "sky is falling" conclusion that I am a bit prone to. Friday night I was driving home and got a call from Mike - "where are you?" Almost home, I said. Why? "Her fever is up." Gulp. How up? "103." Alright, so, we stayed calm and headed to our local Urgent Care.

No big deal. I can do this. We get to the Urgent Care and, surprise surprise, it is PACKED. An hour wait. Celia's eyes are watering, her face is flushed, and she is looking very unhappy. I call another urgent care in town that takes appointments. I tell the triage nurse what our story is. Does she say, "sure, we have an opening at 7:00, come on over" ? No, she says, "take her to the emergency room at Children's hospital." What? Why? What's wrong? Is she that sick? So, on the way over to the emergency room I am trying to not get worked up, but a nurse - A NURSE - has told me to take my beloved daughter to the emergency room because there is an EMERGENCY. It is so dire that I have to take her to a specified ROOM that specializes in EMERGENCIES like hers and to a specified HOSPITAL because she is so LITTLE. (Are you getting the SERIOUSNESS from my CAPITALIZING?) We get to the emergency room and they take her temperature right away - It is down to 102. The nurse does not seem concerned with her temp, so I calm down a little bit. We then proceed to spend an hour (or so) in the waiting area. Mike brings me a salad from the vending machine - cubes of meat, cubes of cheese, an egg-like product and lettuce that is WAY too green - and he informs me that he spent $2.95. How very romantic. Turns out Celia has a LOT of wax in her ear and an infection. We are sent home with antibiotics, and Mike comments how it's almost like we were on a date - we left the house, stayed out late and spent more money than we wanted to. Celia is still taking meds, still cranky but doesn't have the temperature, so we are over the hump, I think.

I know, I know, many of the moms reading this blog know that babes can get temps up to 105 from not so serious illnesses, but boy is it frightening the first time it happens. I felt rather helpless - she was so pitiful, with her little red nose and her watery eyes, and was it my fault for waiting and should I have taken her in to the doctor sooner and now have I screwed everything up and she has a resperatory infection or are they going to have to put her in an ice bath because she is so warm? It was emotionally tiring - you are trying not to think the worst, trying to reason, but it is the thing you love the most in the world hurting and all you can do is drive from urgent care to emergency room and just HOPE you are doing the right thing. I think that is what parenting is all about, right? Driving and driving toward something or some place and just hoping you are doing the right thing or making the right choices.

Now on to the good first - she has begun to crawl! It is slow and deliberative - THUMP - one hand - SCOOT - one knee - THUMP - second hand - SCOOT - second knee. Pause - breathe heavily. Catch breath. Repeat. Mike and I agree that we are SCREWED when she ups the tempo, but right now it is just really fun to see her exploring her new mobility. She realizes that she doesn't have to be frustrated as much any more. She can see something and then GO GET IT! How very fun!

It's really cold here this weekend - a negative 9 this a.m. as I went to church. We are all feeling a little cabin fever, trying to stay warm in the house while our furnace tries to keep up. Until our next post, stay warm and pray for two parents who are feverishly (no pun intended) trying to put all sharp or delicate things up on shelves. Note to self - install shelves.

Efficiency and Bonnets

We are keeping busy around here. Between keeping up with Celia, Mike's burgeoning business and my work, we have nary a moment to breathe. Oh, and did I mention that we have an unfinished two story addition off the back of our house?

Yes, things here at the Robertson household are always ALWAYS moving at a hundred miles an hour. I remember thinking, "once winter hits, we can hunker down and catch our breath." Then, it was, "once the holidays are over, THEN we can catch our breath." I'm not sure what we are waiting for now, but I still feel rather breathless.

Celia has begun throwing things on the floor so that we can pick them up for her. Mothers out there - isn't this a fun trick? Don't you just LOVE to pick up the teether over and over? Now, I realize that my child is LEARNING, and PROCESSING, and starting to comprehend cause and effect. But boy - if that comprehension doesn't start to get a little old!

So Mike, ever the seeker of Ultimate Efficiency, has come up with a solution. Look closely at the picture.

Do you see that all of the toys are connected to a multi-color chain? Do you see that the multi-colored chain is connected to the highchair? Heh heh heh.

So, Mike was playing with Celia today (he has her at home on Mondays and Fridays.) I come home to find them in Celia's room on the floor, and Celia is wearing a bonnet that was mine when I was a baby. What a sweet moment - my baby wearing my baby bonnet.

She particularly liked the ribbons, pulling on them and chewing on them.

Not to get too existential, but the passing of the generations is still pretty amazing to me. Every once in a while I just have to reflect on the fact that I am now a mother, and have a child I ADORE. I think about my own mom, and how she must have felt about me when I was Celia's age (granted, Mom had two older children, so she didn't have nearly the time I have with Celia.) But to think about the magical MAGICAL relationship a parent and a child have, and to think that there are parents out there who make the choice to not participate in their children's lives. What a tragedy - not just for the children, because that is tragic, but what a loss for the parents. Because I tell you - there is NOTHING like it.

BTW - I would love for you to leave a comment, let me know you have been here. If you don't have an account with Blogger, you can just leave an anonymous note - just be sure to put your name in the text!

I also promise in the future to put in some pics of Mike and me - we do exist, it's true.

Welcome, Welcome!

Welcome to Ladybug Place! I have had requests from family to start writing a bit about what is happening in our lives, and to post some pictures of Celia on a daily basis - she is growing pretty quickly! So - I can't promise how regularly we (I!) can keep this up, but I will try - that is, in between changing diapers, wiping drool off a pudgy chin, avoiding piles of spit up . . . .

So, Celia is 7 months old, and has been starting the journey towards mobility - she is up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth, so we are starting to work on baby proofing. She has been enjoying playing the piano with her daddy, and when we start singing notes to her, she starts singing back. We are training her to be an alto, so we can have a traveling trio - you know, make a little cash on the side.

She also very much likes the keys that Grandma Jeanette gave her - she chews on them regularly.