The Chronicles of The Chunkster - Part 3
Aeriana hasn't been feeling super well lately, so just to be on the safe side we took her to see the doctor today. It looks like just basic reflux problems so we're going to monitor her feeding and see how it goes, but we were able to get her weighed while we were there. She's 14 lbs 5 oz... she has almost doubled her birth weight in just 3 1/2 months. She is pretty dang chubby, but very cute.
As Erin mentioned a couple of posts down, Aeriana can stand all by herself. She still doesn't sit up on her own, but well... she's a Garner, who said logical order played any part in it? She's also discovered her long-lost love, her thumb. She's pretty much given up on the pacifier, i guess it just doesn't give the same satisfaction that an ever-present thumb can give.
She's getting much better with the Bumbo seat... though she's still quite partial to being held by mommy or daddy.
We took Aeriana to the Museum of Natural History last weekend with our friends Matt and Renee; I'm not sure if she cared at all, but I certainly enjoyed the Mickey Mouse molecular structure of some impossibly named crystal. We're definitely a Disney family.
Out of all of the cool things we saw at the museum, I think Aeriana was most interested in the lights on the ceiling. I guess it's nothing to complain about, having such an easy-to-please baby... then again ten minutes later she got bored with the ceiling and screamed her way through the rest of our visit.
We're also loving the warm weather and have been starting to go for more walks. Aeriana looks like a rock star in her sunglasses and hat.
Par for the course, it's not too long before she wants to be held. She sure does love her mommy.
Slaying the Shadow Beast
This time of year we get a bug in the apartment every few days, so this morning I wasn't as much surprised as annoyed at 3 am to see a big black spider on the side of Aeriana's changing pad. I'd gotten up to feed her and she was quite content in my arms, face full of bottle, when I noticed the huge black thing across the room. Several things ran through my mind as I watched it from afar while finishing feeding Aeriana:
- Dang that thing is huge.
- I hate spiders.
- I really have to watch where it goes, I won't be able to let Aeriana sleep in the same room as that thing if it disappears.
- Man that thing is HUGE.
- How do I keep Aeriana calm while I slay this beast? If I lay her down without changing her diaper, she'll scream bloody murder and wake up Erin...
- Uh oh, I think it's moving... please don't go anywhere, let's not make this difficult.
- Seriously, that thing is HUGE!!!
Finally Aeriana finished her bottle, I burped her for a minute (she's a pro and makes daddy proud), and then got up to take care of our
little problem... oh wait, there was no spider there. Nope, it was just a hole in the pad cover meant for some straps to go through, that whole time I was keeping close watch on a very dangerous shadow.
Next time it's 3 in the morning and I don't have glasses on or contacts in, I'm going to try to not trust my eyes, they're probably just playing tricks on me. Then again lets be honest, if I think there's even possibly a huge spider, I'm gonna watch that thing like a hawk. I hate spiders.
And by the way, the answer is yes, that same shadow has been there almost every night for the past 3 1/2 months. Feel free to be awed by my powers of perception, reason, and memory.
Labels: Aeriana
Aeriana is a big girl!
Well Aeriana had her first play date last week with her friend Raquel. They had lots of fun playing together.
She might not be able to roll over yet, and certainly can't pull herself up, but if we stand her up and let her hold on to something she can stay up all by herself for quite a while. We sure do have one strong baby!
Prodiginestitatiolosity
Jay Greenberg is a 15 year old kid, but don't call him a normal teenager. Jay is a musical child prodigy. Currently studying at Juilliard, Jay started playing the oboe at age two, has now composed over 100 works, and had written five symphonies by the age of twelve. When talking about music, Jay says that he constantly hears music in his head and it's all he can do to get it written out fast enough, his gift is truly inspirational.
I can relate, though from a slightly different perspective. That's right, I'm a mathematical genius. True there are a few differences between my and Jay's prodiginosity (technically the term is "prodigiousness", but one of my other talents is making up words that sound like they could be real); his gift is artistic while mine is scientific, his gift is practically constant while mine is relatively fleeting, and his gift is extremely impressive while mine is... well, completely fabricated. But all differences aside, I think Jay and I are kindred spirits.
I came to this realization yesterday while Erin and I were driving to church. Aeriana is not a big fan of car rides and will stop crying only under the perfect circumstances. If we're driving at a decent speed, if there are sufficient bumps in the road to give her a soothing massage, and if we are listening to piano music (especially Jon Schmidt) then she's happy. But if the music stops, if we listen to something besides piano music, or if the car slows down she will let us know in varying degrees how unhappy she is at the change. Erin and I were laughing pretty hard yesterday because she'd be quiet and happy until we hit a red light, then the wailing began; as soon as we started driving again she'd calm right down; it was like there was a switch turning her cries on and off.
My prodigious mathematical inspiration struck me at one particular point in the drive, Aeriana had been up and down in her mood but right then we came to a red light at the exact same time a song on the CD was ending, so the car was stationary and completely silent. But not for long. Aeriana's wails almost instantly became louder than they'd been at any time during the rest of the car ride. I realized that there must be a mathematical equation that could explain the volume of her cries based on the environmental variabilities. And so I present to you the fruits of my utter genius.
The Deaf Man's Theorum
(V * 10 – (B * 2) + M) = dBWhere V relates to the velocity of the car:
- If velocity is 0-10 mph then V = 2
- If velocity is 10-50 mph then V = 1
- If velocity is > 50 mph then V = 0
Where B is the number of discernible bumps in the road per quarter-minute ranging from 0-15; bumps per period shown as "bpp"
Where M relates to the type of music playing:
- If music is off then M = 110
- If music is rock/pop then M = 70
- If music is instrumental/classical then M = 50
- If music is piano solo then M = 35
Where dB is the decibel level of Aeriana’s cries on the way to church
Decibel Level Reference:
0 dB = a mosquito ten feet away
5 dB = Aeriana at 60 mph, 15 bpp, listening to piano music
13 dB = the hum of a light bulb
40 dB = whispering
60 dB = normal conversation
72 dB = Aeriana at 30 mph, 4 bpp, listening to rock music
85 dB = beginning of hearing damage
128 dB = human head hair can begin feeling sound vibrations
130 dB = Aeriana at 0 mph, 0 bpp, with music off
133 dB = gunshot at ear level
149 dB = human lungs and breathing begin vibrating with the sound
165 dB = jet airplane
190 dB = human ear drum ruptures
202 dB = human death
Labels: Aeriana, Erin, family, music
Moments Uncaptured
Ever since Aeriana got sick she's had more trouble sleeping through the night. Prior to that she'd go down around 10:00, wake up around 4:30-5:30 to eat and then go back to sleep for a few more hours always doing just fine in her crib; but for the past couple of weeks she's been up three to four times a night, sometimes because she's hungry, other times just because and sometimes she won't go back to sleep unless she's in our bed.
Anyway, Aeriana woke up early this morning for some unknown reason and was proving a bit stubborn so I took her to Erin in our bed while I got ready for work. When I came in to say goodbye both of them had passed out in exactly the same position. They were both about three-quarters covered by the bedspread, they were both lying on their stomachs, they both had their head cocked to the left, right arms down to the side, left arm up making a right angle.
I didn't take a picture right then because the flash would have woken them both up, but I'm thinking back now and wondering if it just may have been worth not letting that image go uncaptured. Oh well, maybe next time.
Labels: Aeriana, Erin, family
I Love Books
The fact that I'm a book nut is probably not news for any of you; but just in case you didn't know, I LOVE books. I've looked back over my previous posts and surprisingly don't think I've ever blogged about a website I use to keep track of all of my books. It's called LibraryThing.com and it's very cool. For the first couple hundred books it's free, for more than that it's $25 for a lifetime subscription. The site catalogs all the books you own, allows you to tag them, provides recommendations, etc. (there is a certain amount of effort involved, but generally it will add your books based on the ISBN). I also use a "Wishlist" tag to identify books that I want to keep an eye out for. Overall a very cool, very user-friendly site.
My apologies if I'm repeating something I've already told you, but I just found a really cool new feature today and had to share. The site has a program called "Early Reviewers", all you have to do is be a LibraryThing member (free or paid) and you can sign up to receive free books from publishers in the hope that you'll provide a review for them. There are more details of course, but no hidden catches; the site posts a list of books at the first of each month and you have about a week to flag the ones you'd be interested in receiving. They then randomly pick from the interested people and send them free books. The likelihood of being chosen ranges, some prior books had 15 copies and 300+ requests, other books had up to 100 copies available. Either way, it's a free book!!!
If you're a book nut like me, I highly recommend checking out
LibraryThing.com as well as their
Early Reviewer page.
By the way, if you sign up to LibraryThing let me know and I'll add you to my contacts list.
Labels: books
Toys
Erin and I been having some fun with new toys lately; we both picked up some new digital cameras last week. Erin got this really tiny Canon Elph that takes great shots and she's able to just slide into the diaper bag; I'd probably lose or break the thing it's so small and thin, but Erin loves it.
My camera is on the opposite end of the size spectrum... it's a Sony Alpha 100 digital SLR. I've been wanting to get a dSLR to be able to have more control and finally took the plunge. I'm really loving it, it's great to be able to snap pictures of Aeriana swinging without it being blurred. I also really love the rapid fire mode which lets me take a bunch of pictures in succession to capture that perfect moment of her smile.
The camera is just in time too... Aeriana has just started realizing the amazing capabilities of her hands. She reaching for things and deliberately grabbing/moving her toys. It's been so much fun watching her play because she's just fascinated by the new self-relience in the entertainment department.
I obviously have a long way to go before I'm a decent "photographer", but having the equipment to learn on is step one I guess.
That brings us to our latest "toy". We had our friends Matt and Renee down for the weekend for conference (which was amazing) and we rented a few games for the Wii while they were here. Erin and I got hooked on the new Zelda game, the controls are fantastic and just seem to flow, not to mention the gameplay being just right; so we went out and bought the game. If you don't hear from us in the next several weeks, we might need an Intervention arranged for us. Despite being so young, Aeriana is not immune either, she loves watching the action on the TV with all the colors and movement.
Labels: Aeriana, Erin, family, pictures
The Last Two Weeks
Aeriana was blessed in church a week ago on Easter. We had a great time and had a good number of family members that were able to come. My parents and two brothers, Erin's parents and grandmother, as well as Karlene, Nikki, and Nayana. Matt and Renee also came down. It was a wonderful day and Aeriana looked gorgeous in her dress.
We had woken her up a bit early, got her dressed and fed, had everything worked out so that she was asleep in my arms and we were in our seats before church even started; she looked like a perfect angel. She laid there asleep and quiet through the opening prayer and song and I started thinking we were home free. That lasted until literally the exact moment the Bishop announced it was time for the baby blessing, suddenly the chapel was filled with Aeriana's wails. Luckily she took her pacifier and we were able to get through the blessing just fine.
After church we all got together at Karlene's house for Easter dinner (we also had dinner there the night before, thanks a million to Karlene for hosting all of our guests so generously). We had a great time and Aeriana loved the attention, there were constantly new people wanting to hold her and talk to her.
By Sunday night the family was all headed home and we were left to enjoy a few more days with Matt and Renee... I took a couple days off of work and we just hung out playing games and passing the baby around. One of the greatest accomplishments of the weekend was getting Erin and Renee to play Risk. Granted I got ganged up on and was out of the game quite early, but I think the girls had fun which may open the door to more matches in the future where I will prove more resilient.
That brings us to the last couple of days... Aeriana came to church with us again on Sunday and was wonderful. Then yesterday she started not feeling well, really really not feeling well. She's been much more quiet, not quite as talkative as usual, but she's definitely still happy and smiling... at least when she's not throwing up all over the place. It's been fun. Erin took her in to see the doctor today and it looks like a stomach virus for which pedialyte and time will be the cure. She hasn't been able to keep any formula down, but she seems to do okay with the pedialyte and doesn't seem like she's getting too dehydrated so I'm sure she'll be fine in no time. We'll definitely keep you posted if anything interesting happens though.
--Check out Flickr for more pictures from that weekend, we can't post them all here.
Labels: Aeriana, family, pictures, religion
Two Months Old!
Yesterday was Aeriana's two-month birthday! To celebrate we brought her to church for the first time and she did great. Here are some pictures from the past week or so, as well as Aeriana in her church dress. Check out the end of the
One Month set, and the new
Two Months set for more pictures.
"Mom and dad try to wrap me up tight when I go to bed, but they're no match for my David-Copperfield-like skills."
"I like goofing around after a bath."
"I just went to church for the first time, everyone thought I was soooo cute..."
"... and of course, they're right!"
Labels: Aeriana, family, pictures
Coolest Music Program Ever!
Okay, so it may not be THE coolest music program ever, but it's pretty close. It's a program called Simplify Media, found at simplifymedia.com. I've always been a bit frustrated with my music collection on the computer, I've always tried to keep my collection on the main computer, but there's my laptop I want music on for when I travel and my work computer for, well, work. Transfering songs from one to the other constantly is annoying and there's really only so much space on my laptop, so I never really have full access to every song unless I'm sitting right in front of the main computer (not to mention the hastle of trying to maintain multiple libraries).
Well, not any more. I found this program, installed it on each of my computers (it's safe, small, and unintrusive, and it works on both pcs and macs), and now I can stream my entire mp3 library over the internet. Where I used to have about 30 songs on my work computer, I now have access to my entire music library. It's all extremely easy and plays right through iTunes, so there's really not anything new to learn.
The other really cool thing is that you can link to up to 30 friends' libraries just as easily. If you're interested in listening to your music from different computers, check it out.
Labels: music
Getting Big!
Aeriana is growing up so fast, it has been a blast to have her reacting to us, giggling and smiling as we talk to her. Of course, she smiles less at us than she does at the little mirror above her swing, but we take what we can get.
I figured I'd take the chance to show you some of Aeriana's favorite things...
She loves deep reds, she'll just stare at the curtains in our living room.
She also loves light and will stare straight at this corner or these mirrors for several minutes at a time.
Occasionally she'll chill in this little wrap-around pillow, though she's infinitely happier in her swing.
She also really likes her activity gym, when we put her down in the right position she'll hear the clanking of the plastic keys, then get excited and start waving her arms, which makes them hit each other more. She has no idea she's the one causing the noise, but it works!
She enjoys laying on her tummy and showing mom and dad just how strong her neck is.
And since her neck is finally strong enough, dad keeps testing her out in the bumbo seat...
That's lasts for all of about five seconds... maybe next time.
Labels: Aeriana, family, pictures
Love and Laughter - Part Two
Previously on Love and Laughter... Brett and Erin are in hiding for suspected involvement in a series of high profile bank robberies. Wait, that's not right, let's try that again... Brett and Erin were planning a wedding, yeah that sounds more like it. (P.S. This one's long too, you don't have to read it either.)
(Click here if you missed part one).
I had proposed, she had accepted; the big question now was where to hold the wedding??? New Jersey reception hall? Too expensive. Giant slingshot? Too conspicuous. Enormous wooden horse? Too Greek! (At the risk of being accused of plagiarism by Hillary Clinton, my legal council tells me I must note here that those words were originally used in the movie Monsters Inc. and are not my own... sorry for the interruption). Then we decided on a park wedding, yeah that sounded nice. So we found a beautiful park, had everything arranged, rented all the equipment, even designed and built a cool little dance floor. Then the wonderful day came on which Erin would promise to forever be subject to my odd sense of humor and much-too-long blog posts... and it rained. No, it didn't rain, it poured. Buckets. And ladders. And other assorted items you might find in a tool shed. Needless to say, the park was off (and our poor little dance floor was completely ruined), though luckily we had arranged for a backup location for just such a situation (incidentally, our backup location was the LDS Morristown, NJ Stake Center, the same place where we had first met just over three months prior).
The wedding ended up going just fine, if not quite as planned. We exchanged vows to playfully pester each other for the rest of our lives, and had fun at the reception. In all honesty, the whole day was kind of a blur to me, only a few things really stick out to me looking back; first is how happy I was, no, not happy, elated. Second was how amazingly beautiful Erin looked, and third was how embarrassed we both were. Both Erin and I are quite a bit shy in large groups, and this large group of people had gathered that day specifically to focus on us... we couldn't wait to escape the spotlight. But it was still a lot of fun, and we loved having so many friends and family join us on that exciting day.
There we were, fourteen weeks after having met for the first time, married. Looking back we can't believe how crazy we were. In the moment we couldn't understand why our parents were freaking out (as supportive as they still were); but now we're surprised they didn't freak out even more... One thing we don't wonder though is whether we did the right thing, that's something I can confidently say has not crossed either of our minds (though I'm not sure how much longer I can keep Erin fooled into thinking I was a good catch).
For a few months things were calm as we got settled into our routine, we stayed home a lot, started going to bed at reasonable hours, generally just getting "old"... and then things started to pick up a little. In December we went down to Washington DC for our endowments, par for the course things didn't go entirely smoothly. There was some confusion since Erin and I were married, but not to be sealed for another six months. We finally got things figured out, but not until Erin had sat by herself waiting to come into the celestial room for a good 1/2 hour. Despite the confusion and uncertainty, we still enjoyed ourselves.
One year and six days after our rained-out wedding we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Boston Temple. This was a mostly "uneventful" day (excepting the obvious excitement of why we were there), there was a touch of rain, but only a minor sprinkling of nuts and bolts, nothing we couldn't handle. It actually worked out well, because the cloud cover provided for excellent lighting for our photographer's work.
We had family and friends together, we were more madly in love than ever, and we had made sacred covenants with each other and with God. We couldn't have been happier to be together on that day, especially knowing that in just about 6 months we would have a little bundle of joy joining what we had just made a forever family.
--- Commercial Break ---
Today's episode is brought to you by the letters "L" and "Q", by the number "6" (my favorite number), and by Orbit gum. Orbit gum is good, except for their new flavor "Maui Melon Mint", it's not very good, in fact when my friend tried it she promptly spit it back out, so try a different flavor instead.
--- Back To Our Program ---
So there we were, a forever family of 2 and 1/7th. It was time to celebrate. We had a huge trip planned for late-June, we started off with a honeymoon/1 year anniversary in Cozumel. We explored, we snorkeled, we swam, we relaxed, and we thoroughly enjoyed the all-inclusive food at the hotel. Erin isn't much for most Mexican foods, but she devoured the hotel nachos every chance she could. We're still not entirely sure if this was a special nacho recipe or a pregnancy craving, but either way we were in food heaven.
After Cozumel, we took the ferry and a shuttle up to Cancun where we spent several days with almost my entire family. That was an absolute blast. We went to see the ruins, swam in water holes, acted like
crazy people Garners in the hotel pool, and just all-around had a great time. It was almost sad to have to finally leave Mexico, though the sadness didn't last long since we were headed back to the greatest country on earth and, more specifically, towards Orlando and a few days at Disney World with our best friends. At Disney World we just had fun, lots of fun. It was my first time there, and I definitely felt the magic making me a few years younger (though Erin will argue that it was less of a "transformation" and more of a freeing of my true self). Overall the entire trip was amazing, I think with only one thing we'd do differently next time, we wouldn't go on such an intense/hot vacation while Erin was pregnant... that part was a bit rough, but still a wonderful, wonderful trip.
The next several months included several smaller trips; we went up to Sleepy Hollow, I went on a youth trip to Palmyra (the first time since marriage that we'd been apart over night), and we spent Thanksgiving down in North Carolina. But really the vast majority of the second half of 2007 was spent getting ready for the new baby. We had extreme re-organizations of the apartment, we went to countless yard sales to pick up quality baby gear for dirt-cheap, and I constantly pestered Erin with bizarre suggestions for baby names (she was mistaken when she thought that the baby's arrival would put an end to the baby name suggestions, there's always the next one to think of).
Erin and I kept half-joking (okay, maybe one-third joking) that we wanted the baby to come just a tiny bit early so we could get a tax break, but Aeriana proved that she takes after her mom by being stubborn and coming late instead. At 41 weeks along, Erin was induced and our entire world changed. Definitely for the better. Aeriana Elizabeth has been an absolute joy to have in our home, even when she cries incessantly, or spits up on mommy's clean black shirt, or has really really stinky diapers... she's still a joy. It was difficult enough before to leave for work in the mornings rather than spending the day with Erin, but now with both Erin and Aeriana at home it's almost impossible to force myself out the door. Luckily we live close to my office so getting home early is never a problem, and coming home occasionally for lunch is also an option.
It really amazes me how much has happened over the past two years. I've gone from a geeky kid with no definitive long-term plan to an even geekier (if possible) husband and father. It's been two years today since it all started and it's been the best time of my life, so far. I look forward eagerly to the next couple of years, and hope that I can fully enjoy the time as it passes. I'm extremely grateful for all that I've had in my life, and especially grateful for those things that I have been blessed with over the past 24 months.
Erin, happy two years. I love you more than ever and am so excited to spend the next 2 years (times infinity) with you.
I hope you've enjoyed this special broadcast as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Our regularly scheduled programming will be back on the air within the next day or two... we've got some adorable video we'll be posting. Aeriana is just getting so big and has been so much fun.
Labels: Erin, family, love, pictures, Temple
