Baby Wallace Blog

Number 2 Makes Number 1

2012-01-23T18:51:00.007-06:00

So, I did it. I managed to go six months without writing about our kids.
I blame them.
There's just not room in the schedule to sit down for 2 hours on a Sunday and write something worth reading. (especially when you did almost the same thing three years earlier while balancing only half of the responsibilities)

I also blame Paul, because he always has his camera out when here, so we don't take as many pics, which were always my cheatsheet to blogging.

So there it is. The fault for this blog lying dormant lies with everyone but me.

But I'll make up for their negligence now, by giving you a rundown of where we stand.

First off, as of about 12 hours ago (my time), Avery is officially one year old. Of course, plenty of things have happened in her life since my last post, but I'll, fittingly, procrastinate those to another day.

This weekend, we had a little birthday party for her. I say little relative to Riley's first, which was a crawfish boil for 75 people.

This was a much more manageable pizza for 30-something, but she liked the more intimate crowd.

Since Joan has been bitten by the Pinterest and baking bugs, she made the cupcakes and cakes that looked pretty good. (Well, at least temporarily)

But eventually, the time came for the goods to meet their demise. After Riley helped to blow out the candles, Avery suited up and gave it her best shot.

She actually destroyed most of one cake (notice "destroyed," not "ate")

Then a quick pose with her spoils before heading off for a quick bath.

While she did that, the bigger kids enjoyed the new (to us) trampoline

and the biggest kids enjoyed one of their own, failing to master a kids' ride on toy.

Then it was time to fill our house with more things we don't have room for. (We're not ungrateful, just full after a bountiful Christmas)

But Avery will surely appreciate all of the thoughtful gifts. (or at least the chance to unwrap them.)

Of note, a couple of friends got her some baby Toms. I didn't know they made them, but they're pretty cool. And now some kid in a third world country will get a pair of shoes, that he'll hopefully put to better use than she will. (she refuses to walk.)

and, to give her motivation to get her figure in check before the summer, she got her first two piece. (Cajuns colors of course)

To make up for our failure to adequately document both kids' aging, we headed out for studio photos on Sunday. While the process could have gone smoother with Avery, Riley was very cooperative and we got some good shots (mostly because there was no one scheduled immediately after us.)

eventually, she calmed down and her cuteness made brief appearances.

She was especially happy when she got to team up with her big brother

and The Original Cajun Baby Wallace came across looking way older than we see him.

Almost half

2011-06-26T18:39:00.008-05:00

By now, you are all familiar with every aspect of Avery's life so there really isn't much to say.

Wait.

What's that?

"Who is Avery?" you ask.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a bad blog parent and you, the loyal reader, barely know that we have two kids now, but that's going to change. (at least for today)

Avery is now five months old and really starting to come into her personality.

She's laughing, smiling, trying to sit up, and attentively studying every detail of her brother's behavior. (who knows, maybe she can figure him out.)

She hasn't been too much trouble so far.
We were lucky that she didn't have the same milk protein intolerance that her brother had, but she did have some reflux problems that took a couple of months to get under control.

Now, aside from being somewhat restless at night if she loses her pacifier, she's on a pretty good course.

At her 4 month visit, she was at the 25% for height and weight and the 80% for head size.
Contrast that to Riley's usual 50% height and head and 5% weight.
Definitely children of differing proportions.

Despite being generally healthy, she did give us a good scare a couple of months ago.

One morning she had a pretty high fever that came on pretty quickly.
Joan called the ped to see what she would recommend.
The answer, unfortunately, was a calm "get her to the ER asap."
Due to some test results around birth, she was potentially positive for a bacteria that can manifest itself as meningitis. So, the instruction to send her to the ER also came with the warning that they may want to spinal tap her and keep her for a few days.

That was quite a jarring way to start a Saturday morning, but it ended up not being so bad.
The doctor found an ear infection and decided that a spinal tap wasn't warranted, though if this had happened just a few weeks earlier, it would have been the first test.

The worst part of the whole trip was that she was given an antibiotic shot and then decided to hold her breath for a minute or so and turn blue.
She was quite the drama queen that day, but I'd rather her get it all out of her system now than save it for the teen years.

She's developing on track and has recently perfected rolling front to back.
Unfortunately, she likes to do that all the time now, which leads to difficulties in trying to get photos of her.

and , usually, at least one shot of her looking really disheveled and mad that I keep flipping her back over.

She has recently started solid food, and, around the same time, earned the nickname, "Piggy."

It was a slow start, but she had a change of heart and now is quite interested in having the food shoveled into her mouth.

Within a week, she was grabbing at the spoon and trying to help/speed up the delivery.

While we have no visual evidence, just this week when Joan walked away, Avery grabbed a bowl, pulled it towards her, grabbed the spoon and put it in her mouth. At 5 months old.
Riley still doesn't do that. (eating is pretty low on his priority list)

We've even caught her trying to smuggle food to bed in her neck folds.

She is a lot like her brother in many ways.

She took pretty quickly to the Baby Bjorn and the "deathtrap" walker.

She's content to watch mommy get ready for work.

She loves destroying clothing, but is pretty good with sunglasses.

Aside from the appetite and size disparities (and junk), they differ in very few ways.

For one, she loves the sling that he wouldn't tolerate.

and, well...... that's all I have photo evidence of, and all I can think of, but I would assume they do have a few other differences.

She does have quite a talent for making mean or at least strongly indifferent faces. (again something I'm hoping she gets out of her system.)

But she's just as likely to be making a goofy face when the shutter clicks.

All in all she's just a pretty little girl, and a pretty good kid.

I think we'll keep her.

(especially if she keep up the habit of laughing when I do things like throw cold wipes on her bare stomach. dad-o-the-year)

Cast Bios

2011-04-04T19:24:00.011-05:00

I've been so neglectful of this place that procrastination paralysis has set in. Too much unsaid to be able to get anything said.

I already posted a little rundown of what we've been up to recently. Now this one is just about the kids. You know, our fashion accessories.

Riley is now three years old and is rapidly becoming a real kid.

Our new neighborhood is great for him being able to get out and run, explore the adjacent cane fields, and "fish for crawfish."

We still have to push food on him to keep him on the weight chart, but he's got great local tastes and can always be counted on to eat pulled pork from Johnson's, Meche's donut holes, or a bag of Crawtators.

Upon finishing that bag he told me, "Those chips feel like they have fire in them."

And he put a good dent in the minicake from Southside that he had for his Birthday Breakfast.

Much to our satisfaction, he seems to really like music.
In addition to having a toy trumpet, saxophone, 2 guitars, 3 harmonicas and plenty of drums, he's also gone to a few concerts at Lafayette High and seen the Symphonic Band and Percussion Ensemble (his favorite)

He's been really good about sitting quietly and paying attention to the music, except at one point where he had to be taken out, crying, because he wanted to be the one playing the drums.

(and I count him pretending to conduct to be good behavior, though it would probably not be considered so for an adult.)

If you are looking for an activity that is good for the kiddos' brains and free, check out the calendar over at www.lhsband.net (note: during marching season not everything is free, but most concert events are.)

Mr. Walker's groups always have something good going.

I'm sure other schools do stuff too, but that would be like a Blood telling you to go hang out with some Crips and you ain't gonna catch me slippin'.

But wait, there's more. For the same low price, we'll double your order and bludgeon you with photos of not one, but two of our offspring.

Avery is almost three months old now. Joan has been back at work for two weeks and the baby's sleep schedule is kind of hit and miss.

But she's starting to look more human-like and, as of this week, is smiling and attempting to use her voice.

Joan has had fun playing with Avery's hair and perfecting the "bowhawk" which capitalizes on her hair's natural tendency to 'hawk up. (which is different from hock up)

She was born with a lot of hair and, for a while, was shedding like a Husky in Ecuador in July.

But she had enough to start with that she only ended up with a couple of thin spots.

She's old enough now to allow us to go to gatherings with our friends, where Sarah and Traci compete to see who has the most "baby whispering" skills. They're both pretty good.

and Traci better be, because I've heard tales of what her husband was like as a kid.

Most shots we have of Avery come with a pacifier in her mouth.

but we have a few good ones without

and at least one that will be used as a screening tool for future potential boyfriends.

Both kids get along pretty well for now.
We know it won't always be that way, but we'll take it as long as it lasts.

and finally, we want to extend a special thanks to our old high school pal Christian, for Avery's custom bedroom art, inspired by a photo of her bedding.

People with talent have always amazed me, and Christian definitely has some.

The Goings On

2011-04-03T20:19:00.011-05:00

From the start with Riley, we tried to integrate him into our normal lives instead of dropping everything just because we had a kid.

I strongly feel that it is important for kids to get out and about regularly, even just for trips to the grocery store. I think this blog documents the fact that we were pretty successful in living that philosophy when Riley was new.

While having two kids does seem like more than twice the work of having one kid, we've still been able to be fairly active and get Avery involved.

Despite some pretty good temperature swings, we actually attempted Mardi Gras 2011.

I used to be one of those people who spoke of how Lafayette Mardi Gras is family friendly and better for families than NOLA and blah blah blah. I don't really believe that anymore.

This year my eyes were more open than ever to just how much the trash, of all ages, crawls out of their festering septic tanks/gene pools and inflicts themselves on the world.

Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of family friendly spots, but the same can be said for NOLA.

We have the great fortune of my having a colleague with a large yard, just steps off of the parade route, who loves to open his home to everyone he knows. Without that, Mardi Gras would not be part of our lives.

This year we tried the Monday night parade with the whole fam.

Avery got all bundled up and behaved pretty well for a five week old.

Riley stoically observed the parade, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

Overall, it was a success.

Tuesday, the gals stayed home, and the day was pretty dreary. Riley got to play with a few colleagues' kids and grandkids, but we called it quits pretty early.

Just before Joan went back to work, Avery had her baptism/christening (I don't remember what they call it at a Methodist Church.)

Lesley (their godmother) was able to make it in, while Eli (their godfather) was stranded near the beach in St Augustine, Florida with his new wife. Poor Things.

But Avery wore a little something to symbolize both.

(explanation: Lesley lives in NOLA, has season tix and went to the Super Bowl,and gave her these bloomers. Eli is a Saints fan as well.)

(explanation: Eli's name starts with an E.)

For a couple of years, we've been going to Covenant Methodist Church on Martial. I'm not really quite sure what Methodism actually is, but I know these people don't pester you and they don't seem kooky. That 'bout meets my criteria for a church. And they supposedly have a good preschool. We'll find out in August.

Just this week, the original star of this show had his third birthday and accompanying tiny party. We figured that after his extravagant first birthday party (The Cousins' Collective First Birthday Boil) we'd take a few years off.

So this year he enjoyed the immediate family and couple of friends that stopped by, and everyone enjoyed the food from.........Can you guess?

Yup, Johnson's Boucaniere.

The quality of the cake art was questionable, but you can't beat a double doozie cookie cake.

We figured it was so bad that Disney couldn't possibly assert any copyright claim.

and it's just going to end up a mess anyway.
Poor Buzz.

In the lead up to the party, we had a treasure hunt in the backyard to indulge his current stage wherein the body we named Riley is often possessed by Captain Hook.

Conveniently, when Captain Hook and Smee buried their treasure in the backyard, they marked it with an X made of discarded border stones. Such thoughtful pirates.

He was probably a little too young to really get into the digging process.

But he got a little excited once he saw the chest.

and was pumped once he was able to play with his plundered loot.

He surprised me by unpromptedly saying, "I wish Caroline was here to see my gold doubloons." I don't know if he wanted to share or gloat, but we can assume the best.

He's even been nice enough to share with his cousin Gavin.

One reason for a small party is we're already so stocked that we don't have room to take on many more toys. But he did get a few fun things, like a tunnel that's great for hiding things like Dads.

and a tricycle for learning to pedal.

Learning to pedal will bring him one step closer to his ultimate goal of getting a "pedal bike."

Last year we got him a running/scoot/balance bike and he's started to get really good at it. He can now go some pretty good distances and down small slopes with no feet. here's a couple of clips from the first day that he figured that out.

I really recommend one of these to anyone who wants their kids to learn bike skills early. I totally buy into the idea of teaching balance before putting a kid on a "pedal bike," and I think because of it, I will feel more comfortable putting Riley on a "pedal bike" earlier.

And I vouch for the Strider brand. Good quality and a very good price compared to some of the other brands.

Finally, in furthering our transition to textbook suburban family, Joan and I have each gotten new wheels in the last couple of months.

In replacing her old highlander, Joan scored a new 2011 Toyota Sienna.
She had been enduring a spiritual struggle between acknowledging that a minivan is the most practical vehicle format for her, and the thought that minivans just don't look "cool."

But she liked the Toyota redesign and eventually came to grips with being a 31 year old mother of two kids, married to me. (in other words, sapped of all coolness)

But who needs cool when you've got almost twice as many cup holders as you do seats?

If you're in the Market for a toyota, I was happy with Mark Smith at Musson Patout.

I shopped every dealership between Houston and NOLA and they had the best price with none of the typical car sales BS.

My new wheels were a little cheaper and came in a cardboard box. (a pretty big cardboard box)

Our yard is too big (for me) to push mow.
I mean, I've got short legs and three college degrees.
I need easy physical tasks.

The yard also has lots of landscaping, making a traditional riding platform somewhat awkward to use.

Solution-- Zero Turn Radius.

It's fun, and it takes me less than a half hour to mow, with very little effort exerted.

I'm down with the Dad Life

(though I'll never wear sandals)

No Coherent Theme

2011-03-01T12:51:00.019-06:00

How many years of therapy do you think I'll have to pay for just because Riley got a weekly blog and Avery is getting much less?

I could try to make excuses, but I'm too lazy. (well, actually, that's one of them)

But, for now, there is no sibling jealousy. Riley has taken a liking to his "little sister named Avery," as he tends to address and describe her.

The lack of blogging really is Mother Nature's fault, though. Riley was born deeper into Spring and we could get out and do a lot more.

Avery's first few weeks were freezing. She was mostly stuck inside, staring at a plain, white (popcorn-free) ceiling, getting dolled up or blowing out diapers.

Riley coped with winter by doing normal, sane things, like sword fighting the TV.

and turning his stuffed George into Cajuns football player.

He also started to learn the responsibilities that come with living in a house with three very large oak trees. Responsibilities destined for a firstborn son.

Ok, I lie. Actually, he just stood in the back of the truck while I loaded 20+, 55 gallon bags of leaves to drive 50 feet to the front yard.

He did help a little with stick gathering and making a fire. Ya know, safety first.

And he was also a pretty good helper when we used my Jeep to rip a few crappy trees and stumps out of the ground.

But, meteorologically, things have started to change.

Avery and Joan have had a few visitors, as it seems that many people we went to high school with have bred in the last year.

First, she met up with two month old buds Austen (son of Beth and Jude) and Ryler (son of Laci and Chris, and star of Laci and Chris on the Go )

Their conversations were riveting.

A couple of weeks later she met up with four month old Maggie (daughter of Katie and Mike and star of A Baby is Brewing)

I think they plotted on how to find out all of the bad things, if any, Katie and I may have participated in when we shared an apartment in college. They're hoping to have a stack of Get Out of Jail Free cards for their teenage years.

As for outdoors, the new neighborhood is all dead ends, and very low traffic, so we get to go for lots of walks, weather permitting. These are great lessons for Riley who learned how hard it is to ride a bike with a sword and a hook hand.

Since she hasn't learned to talk yet, Avery has had no choice but to be dragged along for the things the rest of us like to do.

She made a trip to the Baton Rouge Zoo.

And combined her first Jeep ride and first trip to Johnson's into one giant ball of overstimulation.

But she missed out on a Lake Martin hike with Granny and Caroline and Paul.

(yes, the person pushing the double stroller through the grass is the same person who just had a broken ankle and broken elbow surgery, but she didn't complain. Oh, yeah, y'all don't know that story yet, 'cause I still owe a Disney World post.)

Unfortunately, it was still cool enough that the gators weren't active and we didn't see any until we spotted a tiny one just as we were walking through the gate to leave.

That made Riley's shirt even more appropriate.

No pics of this, but, along the way, Riley got to pee outdoors for the first time. He immediately exclaimed, "It's just like watering flowers!" He was a natural.

With this temporary winter temporarily respite, our Big Green Egg has been getting a multi-tasked work out.

First, it's been cooking lots of chicken.
Since Avery started to show signs of stomach trouble similar to what Riley had, Joan immediately cut out dairy and other common intolerance inducing food, again. Combine that with some Zantac, and things on the infant digestive front have calmed down considerably.

But the Egg was also charged with the more pleasant task of backyard marshmallow roasting.

and to wrap things up, here's a couple of kooky kid examples.

First, Riley has taken to calling anything he does an "exercise."

His most recent "exercise" is to stand on the rail of his bed and the arm rest of the adjacent chair, usually nude or in his underwear, post bath. At one point he dubbed it the Captain Hook Pirate Exercise Trick.

and I promise you, the only part of that I am responsible for is that he has any clothes on at all.

Not being happy with just balancing precariously a few feet off the ground, he then added the element of stomping his foot while singing "Step In Time." Behold Mary Poppins meets Cirque. (if you've got 90 seconds to spare)

I also made the (possible) mistake of letting him watch the You Tube video of Three Little Pigs by Green Jelly. Now he wants to watch it, or at least hear the song on my phone, all of the time.

He doesn't know all of the words, but he's getting a feel for the intro, and the overall vibe.

for reference here's the original (sorry, they disabled embed. Warning- claymation violence and the word a$$ uttered once.)

That's it for this week. I would promise to post more regularly, but I don't make promises I can't keep (unless I think I'm going to get something in return)

But stay tuned anyway. Please?

One Down

2011-01-30T18:23:00.009-06:00

Last week you saw photos of a baby all covered in biological gunk. A baby we were surprised to see so soon.

This week you'll see a baby not covered in biological gunk and a baby we aren't surprised to see.

This will be a long one with lots of pictures (thats what she said?)

Part I-- The Incarceration

Before we brought Avery to the nursery we brought Riley in for our first family time. Pics of this meeting are sparse because she was also having her first meal, and this just isn't that kind of website (unless you sign up for the $29 monthly membership)

Then, as per protocol, we abandoned her in the nursery to be the subject of secret government experiment and to receive her security tag capable of putting the whole hospital on lockdown if you get too close to a stairwell or door.

Riley's first act as a big brother was to fuss at the nurses through the window for hurting his little sister. He was legitimately upset, which answers a burning question we had, yes he is human or at least capable of having human emotions.

In addition to having a mass of dark hair, Avery was also a few rhinestones and some yellow polish away from being a star cashier at WalMart. Her mommy fixed that real quick like.

and then they both got some sleep, which seems to be what WalMart cashiers are doing when we are forced to go there.

with her newly shorn fingernails she confirmed that she is Riley's sister and went straight for the thumb.

The rest of the stay was pretty uneventful. All of the nursery nurses and a few of the floor nurses were really good.

Surprisingly, there were only a couple of employees whose personalities and idiocy made me want to rip their heads off (and one of them was a supervisor).

After a couple of days cooped up in that small, drab room, we were paroled and made our way home.

But while we were there, Riley had his own doctor's visit, just to be safe. Our pediatrician, who we really like, told us that in the last month she had put 5 infants in the ICU with RSV that they got from older siblings. That's more kids than she had put into ICU in her 5 years of practice. You could see in her face that it was something that bothered her.

Because Riley had been snotty for a few days, she urged us to get him tested. Fortunately, he passed, and she was visibly relieved. She is either a great actor (doubtful) or she really cares about her patients (probable) and she definitely won us over even more just by showing that she cares.

That visit then led to a week of me having to play "Dr. Hubal" [sic] and let Riley listen to my "heartbeep" and check my eyes for eyelashes.

Part II- Homecoming Week

It was everything you remember about Homecoming Week, just without the cheerleaders, jocks, marching bands, pep rallies and awkward dances.

Avery has gotten progressively more eye opening, literally.

and her hair has demonstrated the insane ability to stay in a mohawk no matter what.

i had forgotten how many silly faces they involuntarily make, especially when sleeping. I was actually momentarily concerned a couple of days ago because her eyes were doing weird Stevie Wonder type movements. Then I realized she had just opened her eyes in her sleep. But that almost makes it more creepy.

Riley has taken to her pretty well, treating her just a couple of steps better than he does Jimmy.

He has rocked her.

and let her lay in his bed.

Held her hand for comfort through he first "bath"

and had sing-alongs while playing spastic movement peek-a-boo

He has only shown a little bit of jealousy toward Avery, but that manifested in the form of mimicry.

he got into a little fight with his cousin Caroline over whose baby it was, but, generally, he's been a pretty sweet kid about everything.

Most people seem to ask me, "Is she sleeping?"

To which i can only reply, " I don't know, but I am."

Despite what Ben Stiller said, there's not much I can do to take care of the baby's most basic need. But from my semi-well rested vantage point, it seems that everything is going well.

And we are less scared this time around and have started allowing occasional tummy sleep when she's having trouble.

Joan has posting privileges, so she may come on and tell the actual horror story of her current life as a 2x mother, but things are sunny behind my rose colored glasses.

Thats pretty much it for the organized thoughts, if that what you want to call what you've just read ( I mean skimmed over while looking at pictures.) Now here's some randomness.

I figure you can't be a truly obnoxious new parent unless you post a video of your kid sleeping.

But this one is actually kinda funny (to me) because it is a 4 day old snoring.

and Riley's musical "talents" have been steadily progressing. He's got the rage of a metal drummer, and the posture of an old blues man.

Here's his percussive interpretation of Mahna Mahna

and the same song jazzed out with his Nanny on the "bandstand", while hitting himself in the eye with his saxophone (easier than you might think)

for reference sake, here's what he thinks he's playing

While it is mildly fun to be doing this again, I can't guarantee weekly posting, so be sure to sign up on the right to receive emails when new posts go up.

Arrived

2011-01-23T11:45:00.002-06:00

Avery Christine Wallace

7 lbs 2 ozs

born 11:15 am, January 23, 2011

despite a quick descent, she is lacking the facial bruising we were warned to expect.

Very quick and much easier than Riley. Hopefully that is some sort of foreshadowing.

Poor Planning

2011-01-23T05:32:00.007-06:00

I had such grand plans for this chilly Sunday.

With a baby on the way, I figured it would be a good idea to get the old blog muscles moving again and that catching you up on our last few months (including a great trip to Disney World and Eli & Amanda's kickass wedding) would be a great way to do that.

I was going to hit you with great pictures, maybe a little video, and possibly (very remotely) a smattering witticism. With adequate cooperation from life, I was even going to work on the layout and maybe bring this little project up to a visual standard you may go so far as to classify as "tolerable."

But if things were going as planned, why would i need to tell you what I was planning? Right?

So, what changed those plans?

Being woked-uped by the statement, "I either have a bladder problem or my water broke." (rough paraphrase)

So now we sit in the Labor & Delivery Suite, waiting for something to happen.

Unlike three years ago, the hospital now supplies WiFi, and we don't have to rely on the unintentional generosity of a less than tech savvy neighbor.

and now instead of having to talk and interact with a human to pass the time, the world in the palm of your hand can keep you company.

So, if anyone on a Droid phone is playing Word Feud, Jaydub1024 is looking for opponents. She should make plays pretty quickly for at least a few hours. No promises after that.

Stay tuned to watch the (facetiously) fascinating progress of our income tax deductions doubling.

Un Thirdo de Ano

2010-09-06T19:52:00.008-05:00

Sooooo, it's been over 4 months since I posted. Please accept my sincerest apologies for the hole that absence must have left in your life.

The dry spell is not due to a lack of happenings, but more so to an over-abundance (real word?) of happenings.

I won't bore you with all of the details, but here's your dose of catchin' up.

Back in May( the last time it wasn't too hot to step foot outside) we spent a weekend in New Orleans for some friends' wedding. Nonnie came along and watched Riley while we did the wedding thing. T'was a weekend full of zoo, aquarium, riverboat, streetcar, ice cream, food and strolling the quarter.

it was also a weekend that set a dangerous precedent. Just a few weeks ago, Riley heard me say "New Orleans" and he said, "I ride the boat and the streetcar train."

We can't afford this kid's memory.

Around that same time, Granny got Riley the toy he had been promised since before he was born. The Step 2 Extreme Coaster.

It is a very well made, fun piece of equipment.

'bout that same time too, Uncle Eli graduated from UL.

Here he is being applauded by a married man who screws high priced prostitutes (literally) and the rest of us (figuratively)

and uncle Eli got in on the fun of the Step 2 Extreme Coaster.

Riley was having such a good time at the afterparty that he got his arm stuck and required amateur rescue from a toy that needed to be thrown in the attic anyway.

(I wonder if Ol Hypocrite Davey V ever ran into that problem, and if the clock keeps running.) (terribly inappropriate, yet appropriate at the same time)

Riley also took his first swimming lessons with Anna, gabe and other kids belonging to our assorted friends.

He still counts it as one of the most traumatic experiences in his short life, but is beginning to move past the damage.

To avoid the heat we mostly did nothing all summer.

But Riley did catch his first movie, Toy Story 3, and actually saw it twice.

He perfected his Space Ranger aerial acrobatics when he got a visit from a real Connecticutian, Cousin Hailee, back in July.

That was just before he decided that he needed a walker again to get around. (that phase lasted 30 seconds)

It seems like most of the summer has been spent in doctors' offices. Everything from sinus infections, to hives, to constipation to a weird mystery rash, he has had a problem with it this year.

through those maladies though, we've discovered the wonders of Acadiana Urgent Care on Ambassador in Cordoba. Much quicker, cheaper, friendlier and cleaner than any ER I've ever seen. (though my only recent ER experience was at LGMC at 2am on a Sunday, or as I call it-- Angola Lite)

Acadiana Urgent Care is definitely our first choice for afterhours/weekend, non-trauma care.

and now for the big news, which some of you may already know.

A few weeks ago, Eli and I caught the Deftones at House of Blues. it was awesome.

But I guess that is overshadowed by the even bigger news that Riley is potty trained.

After a miserable Memorial Day weekend potty training boot camp, and a few weeks of learning, he only needs diapers overnight and accidents are getting pretty rare.

its nice.

But even that seems to be overshadowed by the even bigger news that we bought a house last month.

No we were't looking, and no we haven't sold this one, so yes, it does not make sense.

But we couldn't pass it up.

The new shack is 5 doors down from Joan's parents. Its the last house on the second block of a three block, dead end, tree lined boulevard.

The house is the same size but the lot is almost twice as big, and it has a shop that I can park my Jeep in.

It'll probably be another month before we move in.

So far we've stripped down all of the popcorn ceiling, repaired & painted all of the ceilings, painted a couple of bedrooms and ripped up old carpet. Now we just have to paint the common areas and have some new carpet put in and we'll be ready.

I'll do a more detailed post later, but here's a little taste.

Taking down the popcorn ceiling texture was a mess, and due to the fact that some brands used to contain asbestos, we took extra precautions. Respirators, disposable jump suits and acres of plastic sheeting.

If anyone knows anyone looking for a 3 bed, 2 bath, plus office, and screened in patio, 2,050sq ft house, off of Verot in a good school zone, please send them our way.

That just about does it for the major news.

I'll be back if anything else interesting happens.

oh and Joan is pregnant, due in February with a girl.

Bye.

Up & Down

2010-05-02T09:49:00.007-05:00

2010 has been a year of ups and downs for us.
Unfortunately, so far, the downs have tended to be downier than the uppitiness of the ups.

The last month has been a little different, so here's a rundown of where we stand.

A few of the ups:

1. It previously looked like Caroline's family would not be able to come to Disney World with us because none of Paul's job possibilities would allow it.
Then, as if arranged by Walt's frozen head, a job appeared, right up Paul's alley in Baton Rouge and he landed it. Yay for ups.

Then we realized that because Liz works for a major retailer and we are going between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she wouldn't be able to get time off. Well that's fitting.

Then as if Walt's frozen head got bored again, she was granted the time off. Yay for ups.

Then we called to book them a room at our hotel, and there were no rooms left. Well that's fitting.

Then as if Walt's frozen head bankrupted a family from Minnesota, when I called back to make them a reservation at another hotel, a room had opened at ours.

Aside from the fact that my Dad obviously won't be going with us as originally planned, the trip is now as complete as nature will allow it to be. I'm super pumped.

2. Having a big yard and two grand kids who will be around for a while, Joan's Mom bought a playhouse for her backyard that we assembled. The set up is made by Step 2, a company whose products have impressed me.

But the final product (not pictured above) looked like a nightmare to mow around, so we built an enclosure and filled it with rubber mulch and it came out looking great.

Fortunately, I picked up some skills from my Dad over the years and I'm pretty capable of doing these things. I also picked up a predisposition to overbuild things which I always have to battle. It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to build it, then 30 minutes to work backwards from overbuilding it, but I'm happy with the finished goods.

3. Our Goodnight NOLA weekend (see next post)

4. A few weeks ago Melissa Stevenson & The Dill Pickle Band played a show at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. Hers is the only real kids' music, aside from classic Disney stuff, that Riley has listened to. It took him a while to warm up, but eventually he and his pal Anna got into the show.

5. Festival international was a mixed bag this year. Riley was sick but got to have fun with his cousins.

6. Office crawfish boil. Riley had fun, rode his bike, made friends, ate a lemon and splashed in the pool.

7. I went to the cardiologist who said my heart sounds good, and, at least for now, i don't have to worry about having the same problems my Dad did.

The Downs

1. The day after I dumped all of our photos from New Orleans, our computer died for the third time this year. Unfortunately this time it was a hard drive. Unfortunatelier, it was the hard drive that had all of our photos and videos, that I hadn't backed up since before Riley was born.

After a sickening, sleepless night, we were able to get the equipment that allowed us to get everything off of the drive, and it is now backed up in two places. But, for a while, the office was a war zone.

2. The lorakeet feeding at the Zoo of Acadiana is not as much fun as it sounds. They are more interested in eating you and fighting with each other while sitting on you than they are in the sticky cup of food spilling all over your hand.

Granny seemed a little amused, but neither Riley or I enjoyed the experience. I've never considered birds scary, but when they are on you and you can't see them, it is a bit unnerving.
Especially so with the second hand smoke stained Zoo of Acadiana birds. With the crowds that they see all day, I'm surprised they haven't learned to tie little birdie nooses out of grass just to end their misery.

3. As I write this, I feel like I've been beaten up from the inside because, well, essentially I've been beaten up from the inside.
Despite not being symptomatic for a couple of months, all the tests showed that my gall bladder was shot.

The doc said he couldn't believe I wasn't hurting with the numbers I had, but then I flexed for him and he understood what he was dealing with.

Ok, only half of that was true.

But since it sounded like removal was inevitable, I went ahead and had a laproscopic cholecystectomy last week.

Four incisions later and I have one less internal organ than I was born with.
Warning, you can't unsee what you are about to see...
.
.
.
.
.
.
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That's like a self esteem booster for 95% of guys out there. Pretty good gut for a skinny guy, huh?

I'm bouncing back now. Some soreness still, but I ate crawfish and chips and salsa yesterday without any additional pain, so I'm pleased with the results. And I didn't say anything too embarrassing under anesthesia, so I'm happy.

The hardest part really was the mental weight that came with showing up on a cold, early morning to a hospital in the same parking lot as the hospital my Dad was at. Felt too familiar, but even more personal knowing I would be the one with the bracelet on this time. But that's in the past now, and you've all seen my sexy bruised belly, so I expect the hit count to skyrocket and make it all better. Electronic ego is a wonderful thing.

4. While I was building the playset at Joan's parents' house, she and Riley were playing here. At some point, she stepped over him just as he sat up, resulting in a cut on his forehead. He took to explaining to everyone that , "Mommy walk on my head." often adding that she went to time-out and that it was not nice. No scarring involved.

Goodnight NOLA

2010-05-01T18:48:00.017-05:00

As you all know, we're nerds.
You also know, if you are a regular, that we've kinda become semi-photo geeks since we bought our dSLR last year.

That hint of a hobby, combined with trying to raise a literate toddler, sparked an idea for a little photo project that I'll share with you today.

If you've been around kids, you are probably familiar with the book Goodnight Moon, wherein the narrator goes through a catalog of impractically juxtaposed items in a bedroom, acknowledges them, and then gives them a dismissive night time greeting.

Fortunately, from this crap on a page, a Louisiana author had the idea to do a New Orleans themed version, but less crappy.

Riley's Nanny, Lesley, introduced us to the book Goodnight NOLA by Cornell Landry and Louis Schmitt.

It's like Goodnight Moon, but good.

The book sticks to the "Goodnight (insert object)" formula, but with New Orleans/Louisiana items, and much better illustrations than the Moon based original.

Here's some examples from the official website:

you can pick up your copy at www.goodnightnola.com or at some of the chain book stores.

Now to why this is relevant here.

I thought it may be fun to set aside a weekend, head down to NOLA, and "recreate" the book with photos depicting Riley with the subject matter.
Throw it all together online and we've got a neat little keepsake. Then we can do it again as both he and our family grow.

So, a few weeks ago we ran like mad all around NOLA trying to be sure that we got everything.

Our rules were simple:
1. All shots had to be taken that weekend.
2. We had to incorporate all of the featured objects in the book.
3. Shots had to include Riley unless absolutely impossible due to legal or sleep reasons.

It was quite an ambitious project with a 2 year old with active sinus congestion, but it made for an interesting weekend.

We got some good shots for some pages, and had to settle on others, but, 800+ shots later, here's our handy work. (cropped, but otherwise all natural)

Goodnight red beans, goodnight rice

Goodnight pralines and Zatarain's spice

Goodnight Cathedral, goodnight French Quarter

Goodnight Cafe DuMonde

Goodnight Muddy Water

Goodnight po'boys and Hubig's pies, Goodnight Lucky Dogs and Cooter's fries.

Goodnight to the Saints and the Dome filled with noise. Goodnight to the fans cheering "Bless You Boys!"

Goodnight to the Hornets and the balls that they dunk,

Goodnight to the bands playing Jazz, Blues, and Funk.

Goodnight to the restaurants with their glitz and glam. Goodnight to the cooks and to chefs who yell, "Bam!"

Goodnight to the Aquarium and the Audubon Zoo, Goodnight to the fishies and animals too.

Goodnight to the Bunny and the bread that he bakes.

Goodnight to the Causeway that crosses the Lake

Goodnight to doubloons and Mardi Gras things

Goodnight to Rex and to Cakes made for Kings

Goodnight to streetcars and rides which are breezy

Goodnight to the city they call the Big Easy

The End

If you don't have the book, pick up a copy, for yourself or as a gift for a parent trapped in the cow-pie minefield of most kids books. Well worth the price.

We learned a few lessons during the trip, including:

1. Riley is afraid of cooked crawfish, but not live ones;

2. In our post 9-11 world, the sight of three late-20s looking, pasty white people, with a toddler, photographing the Causeway Bridge is apparently some sort of threat to national security worthy of police attention (fortunately he was polite, unlike most stories at www.photographyisnotacrime.com)

3. Most of the non-Ron Paul supporters at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference are major douchebags. (yes that includes all of you chubby frat boys wearing seer-sucker suits and white shoes and ranting about gay marriage like it is actually a pressing political issue.)

4. To get a shot of a Lucky Dog cart during the day, you have to stand in the middle of Decatur.

5. I like taking shots reflected off of Riley's sunglasses.

in closing, here's some miscellaneous shots we just liked.

If the sign fits...

Street

His middle name

Allergies

Safety First

Looking older

Strike a pose

Rockin' the milkshake at Creole Creamery

Chartin'

2010-04-04T18:54:00.005-05:00

Tuesday was Riley's second birthday.

Doesn't seem like 2 years ago that I was stealing someone's wi-fi at Women's & Children's Hospital between trying to sleep on a hard couch and occasionally being interrupted by complaints about the pain of childbirth or something petty.

But anyway, time has flown.

Riley celebrated his birthday by having a doctor's visit with no shots.

If he'll tolerate the Flu-mist this year, he won't have any shots until he turns 4.

The doctor liked what she saw when his weight registered on the chart for the first time in a year and a half.

She didn't like what she saw on one of the developmental questionnaires where I answered "yes" to "Do you ever think that you child is deaf?" and some other equally obvious mistake.

She's cool though, so we laughed it off.

Wednesday, we headed down to Abbeville for a photo shoot with Beau Thomas, of JLang Photography.

Riley was not super-cooperative, but Beau did a good job wrangling what he could out of him.
And, in a small world way, it turns out that Beau is Anna's mom's godmother's son.
At least that's what I heard from my uncle's roommate's nephew's cousin's aunt.

Thursday, was the first Rhythms on the River of the spring, and Cedric Watson and Buckwheat Zydeco were playing. Killer line-up.

Riley played it cool until he and Gabe carjacked some innocent little girl's ride.

But Anna loves him even if he is a violent criminal.

and I got to enjoy one of my favorite beers. I'd probably enjoy it more often if I could have even a single drink without getting a headache.
My body lives in the wrong state.

(Maybe my body is telling me I may be better suited for Colorado or Northern California)

On the way to River Ranch, Riley kept repeating a phrase that lets us know we've raised him right.

(English translation- "I'm going see some bands")

Friday, the weather was perfect and there was another great band to be seen at Bach Lunch--- The Howdies, and Taco Sisters burritos to be eaten.

Riley even took a short nap in the parking garage just to get prepared.

Unfortunately, the sound equipment and its operator were horrible, so the band's full effect didn't come across, but they played fine anyway.
Neither Riley nor Gabe noticed a difference.

That afternoon we learned a new game called "Daddy jump off castle and scare me"

then a game/assault & battery called "Knock,Knock, Wake Up."

That evening, Riley unveiled his new-found ability to climb out of Jimmy's dog door on the patio.

and that is why he will not be in a "big boy bed" until high school. (when he needs room for chicks)

Saturday morning we took him to the epicenter of Amuhrican commercialism--- Sam's Club.

an hour and a half and an obscene amount of dollars later, the Highlander's back suspension was sagging like an episode of Golden Girls and we were rolling with a lifetime supply of Slim Jim's, ketchup and paper towels. Goooo team!

as a humorous aside, I heard the following (verbatim) statement from a 10 or 11 year old kid to his dad, in the liquor section : "Dad, Jack Daniel's is so good that other wines, I mean beers, are made from its old bottles."
Sip on that beer drinkers.

Our Sam's adventure was followed by a tip to Joan's Aunt Connie's for egg dyeing with Caroline.
The photos should tell the story that one kid was concerned with the finished product, while one kid just wanted to play with stirrers and drop eggs.

Fortunately, preferences aligned and one dad was willing to dig in and help , while the other is repulsed by vinegar unless it is mixed with salt and sprinkled on Zapps or Pringles.

But Riley found a creative outlet in Connie's piano.

and got some laughs out of Granny riding the clown bike.

Then we made the mistake I am paying for today, at least when anything occurs to my left.
We hit the trampoline.

Riley was too chicken to jump for himself, so he sat in one of our laps while the other bounced.
It was fun, but unwise for this old body. (and yes, I now know that there is no way to look cool in a photo while jumping on a trampoline.)

Beware the Double Bounce

That evening we tried Saketini, a sushi restaurant on Albertson's Parkway.
Their regular rolls were alright.
Their spicy tuna was really hot.

What was awesome though was the Candy Cane Roll ($13) and the Tuti-Fruiti Roll ($14).
Pretty pricey, but worth trying.

C'mon, who-da thunk 15 years ago that the metropolis of Broussard would someday be the home of three sushi restaurants?

Behold $70 worth of food.

Eating healthy ain't cheap.
Maybe that's why we don't do it much.
Yeah, that's my story.

Speaking of eating habits (do I ever not?) my immediate family gathered Sunday morning at Another Broken Egg.

So let's play a guessing game.

Which plate belongs to a former college athlete who still works out and maintains a healthy lifestyle, and which one belongs to a lazy lawyer who doesn't work out and can only do a pull up by virtue of weighing just slightly more than most 10 year old girls?

it's not a trick question.

But I enjoyed the hell out of my cinnamon roll french toast with cream cheese icing and whipped cream.
and fruit.
Don't forget that I ate fruit.

And, by chance, as Riley and I were hunting bugs and sniffing flowers outside while everyone else ate, Anna's family arrived and my Mom got to see her two grandsons and proxy granddaughter for Easter.

Before you click away, this is one of two posts for the week, so you're not quite done.
Keep reading. (it's worth it 'cause I tell you how you won't have to read much anymore)

Just Like Babs & Brett, Cher

2010-04-04T17:15:00.011-05:00

2 years and 5 months ago, I created a dinky layout on Blogger, posted the news that Joan was pregnant with our first gender unknown (at the time) child, and mailed the link to a handful of family and friends.

Back then, he/she/it looked like this

Since then, I've logged on 173 times to write about our life.

Sometimes we were at the beach, and sometimes we were in a bad dream that we'll never wake up from, but we always had pictures.

This has been my haven from the wasteland of Sunday evening TV, and a pressure relief valve for the corny, weak jokes floating in my head.

It's been a way for far flung relatives to feel like they're here, a way for my Dad to proudly showoff his grandson to his friends at work, and a way for us to preserve memories that are too often crowded out by the small stuff that won't really matter in a few days/week/years.

Now, 25 lbs and over 25,000 hits later (from all over the globe), the star of the show looks like this.

As anyone with a kid knows, at first everything is new.
After a while, things settle down and start to get routine.

Sure, he's barely two and uses sentences more complex than half the population of our state, but that doesn't translate to a blog post.

It started getting harder and harder to make something happen here every Sunday, so a few months back, I set an arbitrary deadline for myself--- I would post regularly until he turned two, then I would walk away (kinda).

Tuesday of this week marked his second birthday, and, with that, my deadline.

I now officially enter (semi) retirement.

I have removed my self obligating edict to post here every Sunday.

But I'm not quitting cold turkey.

I mean, Shifty Shellshock has been on three seasons on Celebrity Rehab and he's still smoking meth.

Why would I be any different?

I don't want to set the bar higher than ground level, or create any expectations, but, in the future, I will only post when I feel that there is something that has to be said or seen.
Imagine that.
Quality over quantity.
How novel?

Maybe it'll gives me the motivation to live an interesting life, in hopes of coming here and getting my little fix.

Or maybe not.

Maybe I'll actually learn Spanish or learn to play the beautiful Ovation Adamas carbon fiber guitar sitting in the guest room that I've never really committed to.

The possibilities are endless and limited only by my patience and pain tolerance. (shucks, the future doesn't sound quite so rosey anymore)

I know. I hear you through the interweb tubes and you are saying "Why all of the melodrama for the semi-end of a dinky blog about some kid?"
And for that question I have no answer.

But I do want to thank everyone who has read, commented, emailed, and even said "hey" in real life.

Since it probably won't be worth a click to stop by once a week, as many people do, I ask that you please sign up over in the right sidebar to receive notifications, via email, when new posts come.

Riley doesn't like it when people stop paying attention to him, as demonstrated by the change in his demeanor when Anna became distracted during their Ring Around the Rosey show.

Like Barbara Streisand, Brett Favre and Cher, we'll be back, and we hope you're here when we return.

(maybe we shouldn't try to be like three people I can't stand. oh well)

Scaled Back

2010-03-28T17:39:00.006-05:00

So, for those of you not in the know, Toy Story 1 & 2 came out this week on BluRay and DVD.
We watched TS2 on Blu Ray and it is awesome.
It was almost like there were a bunch of toys actually playing in our TV.
I highly recommend going out and getting them both. They've got some pretty good deals going if you do a little net searching first.

and don't forget, before you buy a stand-alone Blu Ray player, compare its costs to a PS3.
Going with the PS3 is probably worth it.

On to the weekend:
Loyal readers will remember that for Riley's first birthday we had a crawfish boil for over 75 people (see "Its Big and Fun" in the right sidebar)
This year, for a number of reasons, we decided to scale things back alot.
Saturday we had just our immediate families, Riley's Nanny and her beau, Jeff, over.

The small scale gave Riley a chance to give and get some cousinly love (appropriately, not hillbillily)

Of course, if you've been here before, you know that this week's title has nothing to do with our bathroom scale.

Never a family to make healthy decisions, we opted not just for cake, but also for bread pudding from Johnson's Boucaniere.

the local bread pudding looked even better on the Lafayette landmark plate that Eli and 'Manda got us for Christmas.

(click to get to the full size w/ detail)

The cake was from Anjo's.
We've had it before when they call it Mardi Gras cake, but this week it is Easter Cake.

three different layers of cake: yellow, raspberry and almond.
Two different fillings: strawberry and White
Coated with a light whipped icing.

It is really good, especially chilled.

Riley was eager to dig in and had to be held back

and was surprisingly successful at blowing out the candle.

Riley and Caroline enjoyed.

Frankly, one of the reasons for a scaled down party is we wouldn't have room for a whole lot of presents. But Riley did like the "new toys" he got.

While I hoped he would hop right on his new Strider bike, he refused.
He likes walking with it, but just not in the straddle position.

but its got a spinning wheel, which is all he requires for a premium plaything.

and to go along with the new Toy Story DVDs, he got Woody and Buzz toys, and Toy Story coloring supplies, along with a bunch of helicopters and a new, giant Tonka truck.

(in an attempt to excuse the character themed commercialism that we usually try to eschew, here's my justification for all of the Disney stuff: We're trying to prep him for our Disney trip in December, and since the TS characters are everywhere, we're trying to get him to know and love them. But I still stick to my two Commandments. Thou shalt not bring Elmo into my home; and Thou Shalt not bring Barney into my home, lest ye face the wrath of.....me? scary, huh?)

Lesley, having recently been to the Super Bowl, tried to teach Riley to catch.
Unsuccessful in this take.

But Jeff, who was at the big game with her, did better with handoff technique

To finish off the evening, we ordered from BJ's.
Hard to beat a good old Full House.
and for those that don't know, their sausage pizza uses breakfast style sausage. Killa!

(don't forget about 40% off Mondays)

Sunday, being the nerds we are, we were cooking for the week by 8am.
The weather was nice, so for the first time in months, I cranked up the Egg and seared up some fajita meat from HEB.

It should be good once we finish all the cake and bread pudding that we've been substituting for meals.

Later, despite previously witnessing juvenille violent crime and a train derailment (catch a first person account at the Tanory Tantrum) we headed to the zoo.

Since I'm pretty open here I'll let you know our reason: The reason we went to the zoo was that he saw his stroller in Joan's car and said, "That's Riley's stroller. I go see animals at zoo."

So, of course, we went to the zoo. Who's the Boss?

Despite the crowd that would seem trashy even by WalMart standards, and the general filth that permeates the zoo, its actually a pretty cool resource to have nearby.

You can get close to the animals and run up a hill.
That's 100% compliance for certification as an official "Cool Zoo to a 2 Year Old"

The highlight of the trip was that he got to ride to lunch in Nonnie's Jeep.

Lunch at Royal Panda was typical. Riley acted like a ham and Caroline ate like an adult.

the little bit he did eat consisted mainly of his first ice cream cone.

But, as you can see, he is pretty inefficient and not understanding that eating an ice cream cone is a race against the clock.

then, since he dropped his cool guy sunglasses into the monkey moat at the zoo, we were forced to bravely venture into the mall.
He actually fit in a little (to the extent that, like most people there, his clothes were too small for him.)

(I know, those shots have nothing to do with that stament, but I like 'em so i'll post 'em)

Finally, a video clip to give all you mothers out there a heart attack.

A game Uncle Eli and I created this summer that we call "That Thing Where We Each Hold an Arm and a Leg and Spin Him."
Riley likes it.

Unfortunately Necessary Disclaimer- We are very careful not to swing him too hard and not to put any shock forces on his joints. 'Bout as safe as you can be and still have fun. But thanks to me, we've almost met our deductible this year, so whats a little ER visit?

How big is the hill?

2010-03-21T07:42:00.007-05:00

As much as I would love to regale you with wondrous, hilarious, adventurous tales from this past week, I won't.
Why?
because it was a pretty routine-ish week.

Now, that won't stop me from posting, it'll just stop me from gaining any new readers.

To save time we'll fast forward to Friday, the day on which I embarked on my fourth decade on the planet. (that sounds way older than saying 30)

I started the day exactly like most youngsters do, having blood drawn for tests and making a cardiologist appointment.

If that doesn't scream "youth" I don't know what does.

Which brings me to philosophical ponderings:

When are you over the hill?
30, 40, 50?

And is the hill the same for everyone?
Going back 2 generations, I only have one direct-line ascendant who has made it past 60, so if the hill is a flexible concept, I'm on the downslope.
Joan, on the other hand, has never had a relative die before 80 (i think) and still has some living relatives who went to school with Abe Lincoln (or as they called him, Funny-Hat McBeardface). Thus, though older than me, she is still little-engine-that-could'ing up the grade.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. (if that's legal in your state)

But, as a birthday present to me, I gave me the day off.

It was borderline warm enough for Jeeping, so Riley and I went topless to Bach Lunch.

The place was crowded for the great weather and Bonsoir Catin.

Riley didn't like the volume level and was kinda embarrassed and style cramped to be there with just his old man, so we didn't stay long.

To punish him for his scorning me, I went and scored myself a burrito from Taco Sisters and made him watch me eat it while drowning in toddler jealousy.

ok, not quite true. Though their burritos are spectacular, he doesn't know it.
And, since I'm actually a nice guy, we stopped and saw Granny at work and he had red velvet cake, while I ate.

Product Plug- Taco Sisters is now open 11-2 on Saturdays and until 6 during the week. Well worth the trip down Johnston to Vermilion. this is high quality food. Find 'em on Facebook. If only Taco Sisters and Johnson's would move to the Southside, I could live my life in a 1 mile wide bubble.

Event Plug- Mark your calendars for the Good Friday Bach Lunch in 2 weeks featuring The Howdies. They're the bomb-diggy-yo. Made with Pure Lighting.
< /crass commercialism>

After much needed haircuts, we headed to Downtown Alive to meet most of our family and friends.

Riley and Gabe battled for Nonnie's affection, though they both suck at climbing.

Jake and Gavin got the obligatory "South Louisiana, Make It Look Like the Baby is Drinking" shot.

and Riley was as cheesy as ever.

literally- he had Cheez-its all over his face.

Saturday we headed to the cess-pool to visit Heather and Trey's newest accessory, Ian.

Riley was a little confused by the fact that there is a baby whose name is not Gavin, but he got over it by doing some gardening with Ian's big sister, Lillian.

Then, since we can't leave BR without being uncomfortably full, we headed over to Nagoya.
Despite dozens of selections of good sushi, traditional Asian buffet items and Pineapple rice......

Riley chose Cheez-its and yogurt. Trailer trash gourmet, but it's in his DNA.

and, like always, the highlight was the fish pond, where Riley identified "fish", "turtles", and "trash," the three necessary elements of a thriving aquatic ecosystem.

our abnormally large lunch (by most human standards) precluded dinner that evening, which I think makes it a great bargain. (forget the future medical expenses it accelerates)

Sunday morning, ready to once again pig out, we headed to Another Broken Egg with my family and Joan's parents.

Gavin eyed the food,

Riley ignored the food,

and I documented the food (specifically my strawberry banana pancake)

and, again, I don't think we'll be eating another meal today.

Now a couple of stories about the wonders of technology.

We were able to find a new home for the squatter dog that showed up last week.

We posted her everywhere that someone looking for a lost pet would try, and after 5 days of no response, we deemed her abandoned.

Fortunately, we were able to find someone looking for a new pet who picked her up Wednesday.

What was cool was how fast the email that i sent to about 30 friends got around. Within a day, people I know in Lafayette were getting the email from people I don't know in other cities.
The person who got the dog received the email with at least three degrees separation from anyone I know.
It was neat to see the 'net work for something other that than pictures of the People of Wal mart, fake vIAgra and ciAli$ ads, and rumor emails about how various companies and the US Mint have, in fact, killed God.

Finally, Joan was very crafty and scored me a pretty cool birthday present, a Canon PowerShot SD960 IS Digital Elph.

Most of the shots on this site are taken with our Nikon D60 digital SLR camera, which takes great photos, but isn't always practical to lug around. Our old point & shoot wasn't pocket size and is starting to age, so we now have this one.
It is tiny, but takes good shots, boots quickly and shoots video in HD.

Here's a few that we played with.

Video documentation of an event that was thought extinct 18 months ago--- Caroline allowing herself to be fed, however briefly, with a spoon, by an adult. (she's usually too independent.)

And somehow, from some story book, Riley has concluded that anytime you smell a flower, you have to sneeze. We didn't know this but it worked out to be quite humorous on our Saturday afternoon trip to the nursery.

and finally, the ABC's.
I told him he had to know the alphabet before he turned 2, or he was going to boarding school in Kazakhstan.
But given the current exchange rate between the US dollar and the Kazakh Tenge, I'll call this substantially correct enough to keep him around.

Next weekend he gets his birthday bike. and I can post that here, because he doesn't like this site, so he'll never see it.
He probably won't like the bike, but it'll make me feel cool, and that's why we have kids anyway, right?
no, seriously, you agree, huh?

Feeling The Models

2010-03-15T16:43:00.013-05:00

Still having internet trouble, but I'll try to knock this out while I seem to be getting through.

If you're just stopping by for the first time this week, please see the post below regarding a stray dog that has taken up residence in our front yard.

We can't keep her but we don't want her to die. If you know of a friendly home, please let us know.

The dog is really cramping Riley's style. Earlier in the week, we had resumed the garage breakfast picnic which actually gets Riley to eat and helps him learn lots of words like "Slow down jacka$$" and "Look it's Tweedle Dumb and Tweedler Dumb."

(though the dog is friendly, we're trying to keep her out of the garage, mostly because she doesn't want to leave once she's in.)

Making signs, calling shelters and trying to get the dog to find its old home took up most of our Saturday. But we did have a chance to go and test drive a van that we'll likely be buying in the next 6-8 months or so.

After realizing that we would have to buy a $300 ticket for Riley to fly to Orlando, we decided it would be better to drive, but that driving would require a new vehicle.

So, to save $300, we're going to spend $XX,000.
Makes sense doesn't it?

We got Riley to consent to the test drive by telling him it was a "Disney World van"

For at least a year, we have know that a mini-van is the most practical choice for Joan's next car, but she refused to relinquish her self identification as being "young" and "cool." That is until the 2011 Toyota Siennas came out.
Saturday, we headed down to Musson Patout so see the color we want in person.
We know know exactly what we want and are just waiting until the timing is right financially to pull the trigger.
Behold the 2011 Toyota Sienna in Pre-Dawn Gray.

But if the 2011 Odysseys look good when they come out, then we're back to square one. Unfortunately though, their preview pics are pretty bad, so it seems like our decision is made for us.

Now, for your entertainment purposes, that leaves just Sunday.

In honor of Dr. Uncle Paul's birthday and in order to give Riley some face time with his long lost Nanny, we headed down to NO to check out the last weekend of the Disney animation exhibit at the Museum of Art.

I can tell you it was a certifiably great idea, judging by the fact that EVERYONE else in Louisiana was there except for you. (yes, I do mean you, my Everyman-ish reader.)
The exhibit looked pretty cool, but was really crowded and Riley needed a nap after traffic had stretched our drive an extra 45 minutes.

After the museum we ate at Theo's Pizza near the corner of Carrolton and Canal.
Riley wasn't in a pizza mood, but proudly demonstrated his ever evolving yogurt eating skills.

The place seems pretty hip and instead of a number identifying your table, you sport a placard with a cool-cat cult figure. We happened to be Christopher Walken.

The food was pretty good, but Riley was much more impressed by the beautiful day outside and the sights of New Orleans.

He took special delight in his massacre of, literally, micrograms of ants who dared to scurry about his sidewalk domain.

(while brandishing a 2 inch long pointed stick as an ant smasher, his kill accuracy was on par with Bobby Hebert's pronunciation accuracy after a Saints win)

He also found it hilarious to tell me that he had ants in his mouth.

(his new trick is talking with his tongue out like the Melissa Stevenson song Love To Move)

Our plan was to then head to the Audubon zoo.
This weekend was Soul Fest and we were hoping to catch Rebirth and maybe a little soul food.

Unfortunately, it looked like everyone in Louisiana (except you) was at the zoo too.(though you were "axt" for by the monkeys, tigers and elephants)

We were still a half mile from the zoo and people were parking on the side of the road and walking. Definite no go with two nap deficient 2 year olds.

Instead we made the oh so undesirable compromise of going to Creole Creamery and contributing to the local economy, and the general decline of our own health.

As I've posted before, this place does mini scoop samplers and with a menu like this, it is hard to choose just a few.

The hit of the day, for the women folk, was the Lavender and Honey, while the mens were all hopped up by the Guinness Cherry Stout, (get it?) which actually tasted like cherry and beer ice cream. Quite cool.

Riley showed us how it looks to live life like no one is looking at you, while Caroline, knowing that people were looking, tried to camouflage herself with ice cream.

That's about it aside from these shots of Riley's new Buzz Lightyear pajamas in honor of the re-release of the first two Toy Story movies.

To Infinity and Beyond

PS- In addition to recommendations on where to send the stray dog, we're also taking pro and con advice on Toyota salesmen/dealerships. Thanks.

Temporary Solution

2010-03-15T07:00:00.004-05:00

Thanks to all who helped spread the word, we found the dog a new home, so disregard this post but for memory's sake.

Got in late last night and having crappy internet this morning.
hopefully a real post will come this evening.

But in the meantime:

Friday evening an adult female, fat dog, looking to be a yellow lab mix took up residence on our doorstep and will not leave.
She has no tags and no microchip implant.
i've walked her all around the neighborhood and she hasn't gone toward any home. I have signs up in our 'hood and those around us.
The local no kill options seem to all be full.

Anyone have any suggestions or want a dog?
She's very friendly and soft, and was clean.
If we dont hear something in the next few days, we may have to do what we don't want to do and take her to the parish pound which is a pretty bad place to be a stray adult dog.

Plugging Away

2010-03-07T14:34:00.004-06:00

Week 101 of Riley's life is in the books and we can call it a success (but not quite as successful as 101 spotted dogs may be)

and fyi, by successful, I mean no future ward of the state randomly kicked my kid in the face. We aim high.

But I'm going to stay away from the anger this week. There's a couple of products/sites I want to point out and don't want them associated with my violent wishes.

Not much to report from the weekdays, so I won't.

Saturday though, we, well... did what we normally do.

Since the weather was pretty nice, we dusted off the Jeep and headed to Johnson's, where we were joined by Shane, Tara and Eli.

They too have suffered a tragic, unexpected loss this year, so it was nice to get to see them and just hang out in a normal (read: non-hospital or funeral) setting. And, of course, we talked Disney, since I just booked our December trip this week.

Riley and Eli stayed occupied for a while because Eli's parents, unlike Riley's, have the foresight to bring toys.

But they eventually found their way to Riley's favorite area, the gravel.

If Johnson's would just fence in that area so that we don't have to pay attention to our kid, the place would be perfect. :)

Finally, in a "game" designed to get Riley closer to a state of nap-readiness, I tested how far he was willing to run to fetch a ball.
Considering his short inseam, I'd say, to scale, he did close to a half marathon.

To live up to our promise that he would get to feed ducks, we headed over to Girard Park where there was not a parking spot to be found.
We then, being the spontaneous, flexible, random people that we are famous for being, headed to Veterans Park where the ducks are pitiful and gross (ok, the live ducks are pitiful. the dead ducks are gross.)

But ONE was hungry, so we partially lived up to the representation that he would feed duckS

Post duck letdown, Mommy and Daddy tried to get the yard/flower bed at least half a chance at looking good this year.
We also broke out the Cozy Coupe that we bought before Christmas.

I'm pretty handy but that thing was such a huge pain to put together. They put 4 inch screws in spaces only 6 inches wide and just generally make things way harder than they need to be.

Then after at least an hour of fighting this chunk of plastic, Riley climbed in, and he's almost too tall for it. He's middle of the pack height-wise for a kid who is almost 2, and his legs are too long for it. He can barely move it without hitting wheels or pinning his feet.

But he really likes the siren sounds that came with the fire & rescue package.

and the fact that it is hard to use will hopefully push him toward his birthday present, a Strider Bike.

We finished off the evening with Wall-E on Blu-ray on our "new" Tv in our new entertainment center from Cajun Closets. Visually stunning.

Long time readers may remember that Cajun Closets put in the closet in Riley's room, which has been incredibly practical, and I think we're going to love the entertainment center just as much.

It turned out looking really nice. It's actually almost too nice for the rest of our house.

We've got nice lighting across the top shelf

But, best of all, we have tons of storage.

And, like everything you read here, this thing is deep. (24 inches to be exact)
That has allowed us to have decorations toward the front, with baskets full of DVD's, cd's, and accessories partially hidden toward the back.

Then, because we custom designed the system, we've got enough space to later accommodate a 70 inch TV. Werd up!

I really can't stress how happy we've been with their products. A few of our friends have also used them and have been really happy.

Look to your right for the link to the Cajun Closets website when you need a closet, entertainment center or any other organizational solution.
My cousin Erin does their sales, so tell her you heard about them here.
It probably wont get you anything, but maybe it will get me something (kickbacks rock, I would expect)

The second product to plug is this cool hard plastic popcorn tub they are selling at Target for $1 right now. Nothing special, but a neat idea for that cheap.

and finally, I would direct your attention to the links on the right and a new blog on the list, The Tanory Tantrum.

The blog is actually written by someone I went to school with 15+ years ago. I was directed to it recently, by a mutual friend, and liked it immediately.

If you like CajunBabyWallace, you should really like The Tanory Tantrum.
Same basic theme- cute kid with a smart-ass dad, but Bobby is consistently funny.
Check it out.

(when I reach my self imposed contractual obligation of keeping this up until Riley's second birthday, which is only a few weeks away, I don't want to leave you out in the cold.)

Wishing You all the Worst , Kid!

2010-02-28T15:54:00.011-06:00

So, dearest followers, a post here means that our desktop pc is back up and running, thanks to the skills of Paul and some scavenged Frankenstein parts (Thank you, Aunt Connie!).

Below this pos,t you should find a make up post from last week.

Double the pleasure? Double the fun? (sorry, no sets of twin models)

The week was pretty slow.
We spent a couple of evenings finishing up our entertainment center, which came out awesome.
I'm going to wait to post about that next week though, because of the tone that this post takes later. Don't want to drag any good company down with that.

Wednesday, I went to the doctor who, after extensive interrogation, stuck to the theory that any problems I'm having are caused by my gall bladder, and that the way to fix it is to cut it out. He agreed though, that it may be wise to wait it out to see what my symptoms will be and if they are bearable.

Pain once or twice a month with a gall bladder may be preferable to the risks of permanent bathroom related side effects that come with its removal.

Regardless (not irregardless), I'll be seeing a GI doc for a full work up and getting a gauge on what, if any, problems I'll continue to have.

Friday was Caroline's 2nd birthday, and since her Mommy is laid up with the sickness right now, the birthday girl and her Daddy headed in to town and hung out here.

Saturday, we headed to the Cajundome for Riley's first stage show, Curious George Live.
We had really good seats because we bought early.
But, judging by the fact that no one was there, we probably could have held out and still been ok.

Riley was initially freaked out by the loud music, but settled in once he saw George.

He spent the second act feeding my Mom popcorn, but he never caused trouble.

After the show, everyone came back here, where we were joined by Caroline's Granny Jill, for Caroline's birthday cake.

Caroline has recently learned to blow her nose, which made for some interesting, very earnest attempt at candle extinguishment.

but eventually the fire was cleared, non-nasally, and the cousins partook.

This morning, we headed to the Zoo of Acadiana, where Mr. Cool was laid back and ready for the day.

He wasn't impressed by the llamas' ability to open the chute door on their feed machine, but the adults were. (we're easy)

We were prepared for the playground to be the highlight of the day, as usual.

(Warning: Hatred and anger directed toward a minor follows)

Unfortunately, after a few minutes, some white trash POS kid named Jace (I'll remember your face) thought it would be fun to walk up to Riley (who was playing on his knees) and just start kicking him in the face. Riley started screaming, Joan told the kid to stop and his grandparents walked over and just stood there watching, never saying anything to us or the kid.

My blood is boiling again just thinking about it.

Of course, kids are going to do bad things, but without correction, they'll just keep doing it.

Those grandparents will be so proud when their sweet little Jace is in prison in 16 years getting treated like Derek Vinyard.

But aside from that particular hope for their future, I would also wish them the same fate that Jimmy Pop so eloquently expressed on the lead track from the Hooray for Boobies album (Look it up)

Why?

Well, I think Chapelle expressed that best in his "Popcopy" sketch (all these references should keep you busy and make up for the lack of content here)

Now that I've re-ruined my day, I'm going to wrap this up.

But I'll remember that kid's face, and in 16 years, when he's certifiably an adult, I'm gonna wheel my walker over to him and get all Jules-style Ezekiel 25:17 on that punk.
(I'm sure I'll be using a walker by 46. that's pretty old)

Regulars- you know I'm usually a pretty nice guy (on paper), so to say those things, I've gotta be really mad.
So, do me a favor.
Next time you see a kid named Jace, kick him in the face, just in case.
(ok maybe that suggestion was out of place)

Last Week (if now was a week ago)

2010-02-28T15:53:00.006-06:00

As stated above, this is a make up post.

I promise you, if i had been able to do it on time, it would have been great, but with the passage of a week, my memories of good one liners have faded and now you're stuck with this.

so (assuming the tense of presently being in the past) it was Mardi Gras week, a week I used to really like when I was a kid.

I'm fortunate enough to have a great colleague who lives along the parade route, which means we don't have to fight for space, bathrooms, etc, or have much contact with the general public, thus making it worth the trip.

Tuesday started pretty cold, and Riley had his first experience wearing gloves, which he tolerated because of their officially licensed Saints emblems.

Riley was tolerant of the parade, but his interest was waning until we met up with another colleague and his daughter, Bayley, who is 10 days older than Riley.
Last year she could walk well and he couldn't, so their interaction was limited.
This year though, they seemed to hit it off.

But we need to teach him that it's not nice to bounce ball off of people's heads.
(unless it is us doing it to him, then it's good family fun)

Gavin has joined the crew here this week and Riley is trying to help him fit in.
Riley wants to play, but doesn't quite understand that an 8 week old really has no use for a tool set.

Thursday night, Eli and I headed over to the armpit for a Sevendust show at the Varsity.
As usual, these guys are one of the best live shows around, and as long as they keep touring I will keep buying tickets (despite not really listening to their last three or four albums)

On Saturday, we headed back to the armpit for a trip to the zoo with Caroline's crew.

The BR zoo has a pretty nice playground, but it is usually crowded.
We got there right at opening time though, and headed straight to the toys, where we had the place to ourselves for at least a half hour.

Caroline had fun showing us how to half grasp concepts, such as the proper placement of sunglasses, without consideration for size.

Riley was less than thrilled with the prairie dog tunnels

and his favorite part of the petting zoo was washing his hands afterward. That boy ain't right.

Paul played with our long lens (formerly his) and got to satisfy his inner spy.

Riley, despite being in the darkened reptile/fish house, insisted that his future was so brilliant that sunglasses were necessary.
(that just doesn't have a ring to it)

To close out the trip, as he gripped the last thread of his awake-ity, we took a spin on the train.

Back in Lafayette, the kids showed of Paul's really cool, (non-saints) Fleur d'ecrevisse shirt design.

On random notes, one of the best food deals in town is the Royal Panda buffet to go. Cheaper than dining in, and you can get up to 10 pieces of sushi. Add one roll and you've got a great meal for two for $15.

and between second hand Rock Band and Celebrity Rehab, Riley has taken an interest in being the Man in the Box.

That's about all of the fun times for this week. If you only come here for cheery, stop here and we'll see ya next week.

If you're still around, what I left our was part of our Saturday that wasn't fun.

Sadly, some family members lost a daughter this week, a good way into the pregnancy.
Saturday afternoon was the small funeral service, as she was far enough along that arrangements were necessary.
Even though I've seen it a couple of times before, a shoe box size coffin is always heartbreaking.

On a similarly emotional note, Sevendust has a memorial song, written for one of their friends killed in a car accident, entitled Angel's Son. The song took on even more meaning for them when the lead singer's brother was murdered a few years ago.

The song got them their most mainstream success, and they always play it.
I've seen it 3 or 4 times and Lajon always cried, but I never connected with the song.

Given the events of the last couple of months, at this week's show, I heard the song as if for the first time, and it really connected.

(Sorry if you tube is blocked for you. I didn't know where else to post it with that size file.)

if you are interested in the song, check out the two alternate videos on YouTube. I found the hospital one a few days after we lost my dad, and it was damn hard to watch.

bad timing

2010-02-21T19:08:00.003-06:00

'twas a busy week.

mardi gras, sevendust concert, medical news, baton rouge zoo, and a very sad funeral.

then, after i dumped all of this week's photos, our desktop pc crapped out.

that means you get nothing.
sorry. hopefully it'll be back up next week.

The Gall?

2010-02-14T18:30:00.007-06:00

Did ya hear?

The Saints won the Super Bowl.

No, really.

I have proof.

Ya know how they always said the Saints would win when Hell froze over?

Well, it snowed here this week.

So what does that tell ya?

Ok.

Lafayette is far from hell, so maybe that logic doesn't work.
And snow is old news here.
I mean we've had it two years in a row. Geez, where's the originality?

But in a way this week was my own personal hell, so the logic could fit. (since 2010 was going so great so far)

The symptoms that landed me in the ER last weekend kept me up most of Monday and Wednesday nights and made me generally hurt all week.

Pain is one thing, but the worst part was I couldn't eat anything.
For me, that is the ultimate punishment.
It's like taking away DJ Pauli D's hairspray or Hugh Hefner's little blue pills.
I love and depend on eating.
Why is the world so cruel?

But I went to the doc on Thursday and he said all signs pointed gall bladder, for lack of any better option.
An ultrasound was clear so I'm going in on Monday for some nuclear testing. Laying on the table for an hour, not moving, with no source of entertainment. Yee ha.
I better be able to eat on Tuesday.

On the bright side though, I've been fine since Friday morning. Oh well. That is the preferable outcome to surgery anyway. We'll see what the test says.

and if you want a little laugh at my expense: On the way to get the ultrasound, I got stuck in a cold parking garage elevator for about 20 minutes. Yeah. I was incredibly happy.

Since I was feeling ok, and the temp warmed up a few degrees past freezing, we headed out to the Children's parade on Saturday.
(I'll just assume you foreigners north of I-10 know it's Mardi Gras season down here)

As you can see, the turnout was tremendous.

but we ran into some old high school pals whose kids were actually old enough to enjoy the parade and get into the spirit.

Riley , like his parents, was a pretty passive watcher.

He tolerated the police, mostly because they were on horses. (insert snide libertarian comment)

but he was quite impressed by the dog riding the fire truck.

For 20 minutes after it passed, he told us he "saw Pluto on a fire truck."
This confirms that his head is going to explode when we go to Disney World this year.

Sunday, the weather was actually nice, so we picked up Nonnie and headed to the zoo in BR.

We were joined by Liz, Caroline, and Liz's mom, Ms. Jill, along with BR residents Heather, Trey, Lillian and Ian (but you won't be able to see him until next month.)

Lillian is quite the social butterfly and played very well with the younger kids.

Even the animals at the zoo were in the Valentine spirit.
(or this elephant made a bad drunken decision back on spring break in college)

Riley continued his pattern of easy amusement.
The otters weren't active but he was thrilled with the stick in their pond.

and the playground had a "spin-it" (gears) that kept him occupied for about 20 minutes.

The rain and temps held out and the cousins were able to pose for a couple of shots with their non-mutual grandmothers.

Hope everyone has a safe Mardi Gras, or as you call in in the rest of the country, a safe workday.

At this time tomorrow, my pee will be radioactive. How cool is that?

Super Bowel Sunday

2010-02-07T20:02:00.008-06:00

Things were pretty good around here for most of the week.

Riley is singing along to lots of songs and can recognize songs within the first few notes in most cases. If he didn't get his mom's musical ability, I hope he at least got both of our good tastes.

On Monday, Riley used the big boy toilet on his own request. He has now used it every day this week. He still mostly uses his diaper, but if you put him on the pot, he'll make something come out.
He's still pretty early to be potty trained, especially for a boy, so we have no expectation of full success any time soon. But it is a positive first step.

He's also gotten into putting toys where they aren't supposed to be.
Many of his small toys ended up in his ball popper this week.

and he thinks he's funny.

As the week wore on, Saints fever took hold of everyone in town.
On Thursday, my office has Saints Day, culminating in some people parading around the office.

Friday evening, we ate at Pop's Black Pot with Joan's parents, Caroline and Liz.
If you haven't tried it before, they are off of Saloom road, kinda diagonal from Fresh Pickins, next to Oishi Sushi. They are open for lunch during the week and for dinner wed-fri.
Sandwiches, burgers, plate lunches and some fried seafood. Family owned and friendly.

Riley and Caroline ran around and played with one of the owners' daughters.

Joan and I split the Pop's crazy burger, which is really good. I tacked on a cup of gumbo, which was good, and, at 2.95, was a great value.

Saturday we had lunch from ________ (fill in the blank) and dinner at O'charley's.

All downhill from there.
At about 8, I started having abdominal pain like nothing I've ever felt before.
After becoming well acquainted with the cold floor in front of the toilet, it wasn't getting any better. So after reading up on the warning signs of bum gall bladders and appendices and a coupe of hours of internal debate, around 2 am, I headed to the LGMC ER.

After an hour and a half, I got called back and had an IV inserted (1st in my life).
An hour and a half later, I finally saw a doctor.
Fortunately the signs all pointed toward no major (read: surgical) problems.
Good news of course , but sometimes you wish there was an explanation for why you are in the most pain of your life. Doc said it could be anything: virus, food poisoning, bigger problems that had not yet fully manifested, or just random bad luck.

Oh well. I left 5 hours after getting there, and having not slept for 25 hours, with a script for an anti-spasm med. No real pain today, but lots of nausea. Couldn't even stay at my Mom's house to watch the game 'cause the smell of the gumbo was making me almost lose it.
And I haven't been able to eat any of the chocolate covered "Fleureos" from Cakes by Paperwings (look her up on Facebook) but everyone said they were really good.

But I'm not the real story.
How 'bout them Saints?
What a ridiculous game.
Right now I wish I owned a company that made black and gold icing for cakes. I'd be a millionaire, just off of the Saints' king cakes that are being bought up in this area.

We've only really followed the Saints since about 2002.
We started watching in law school and have been to at least one game every year since 2005.
I never, thought you would ever hear them referred to as Super Bowl Champions.

Lots of changes have happened for us this year.
Finally liking a winning team is one I can live with.

and since this is a blog about family and cute kids, yes, we were both holding back the tears with the shots of Breesus and his son on the field after the game.

Body Modification

2010-01-31T12:45:00.008-06:00

Slowly returning to the new normal around here, which for you means that this page will be much less interesting.

We had fun this week though.

Our high school classmate Emily and her daughter Whitney were in from Japan again.
They came bearing gifts, again, of assorted Japanese gummy candies.
I love those things, and really want to go to Japan someday, mostly for that reason.

We joined them, along with Paul and Caroline for breakfast at Another Broken Egg on Saturday morning. (accidentally cut Emily out of the shot.)

One of the main draws was to try the restaurant's new dish, "Cinnamon Roll French Toast."
The description says it consists of slices of cinnamon roll, prepared like french toast, covered in cream cheese icing and then topped with whipped cream and mixed berries.

Here's the photo I was able to capture.

Oops! I guess I was a couple of minutes too late there, but trust me, it was good.
There are still a couple of other things I like as much, if not a little more, but I was actually able to walk away from the table without extreme discomfort, which is quite unusual for our visits there.

Riley wasn't too big on that dish or the "biscuit beignets" (yes they are as good as they sound) but he did thoroughly enjoy his lemon wedge and orange slice.

We then came back to the house, where Riley and Caroline played very well together and Paul continued, graciously, repairing our computer, often while holding two kids begging for Muppet You Tube videos.

(Riley wants me to thank Ms Nicole and Mr Harlan for stealing some of Garrett's outgrown toys and dropping them off here. dueling 4 wheelers should be fun.)

For dinner, we raided the prepared food section of Rouse's and put together a pretty good, fairly inexpensive meal. We fed five adults and two kids for less than 60 bucks, and we were all stuffed with: 2 large fried shrimp plates with fries, mac & cheese, shrimp pasta, 3 sushi rolls, bread, banana pudding, chocolate mousse, and strawberry shortcake. (that tasted like cough syrup, but everything else was really good).
Then, for dessert, we had Blue Bell Black Berry Cobbler and Blue Bell Mexican Praline ice creams. Portraits of health, we are.

Caroline, seemingly enjoyed herself.

and Riley put a hurting on some banana pudding, though it was quite inefficient to eat it using just the tip of his finger.

I guess the amount of food we eat kinda ties in with the title of this week's post, "Body Modification" but that was unintentional.

I've got some ink (and plan for more soon) and had my ear pierced when I was a young punk, but that is not hardcore.
The hardcore body modifier in our house is actually Riley, and unfortunately, that is our fault.

We've known from early on that he had wide feet, but we've always bought wide shoes and have been rapidly upgrading sizes.

Imagine my shock this week when putting his socks on and noticing that one of his feet now looks like this:

One of his toes appears to be crowded up, and it's only on one foot. The other appears to be fairly normal.

(it's like the first step toward being a Chinese lady from the 17th century)

I took him to Greenwood's and had him measured, and sho' 'nuff he was fully filling out his 5.5 wides that he's only been wearing for 6 weeks. He now wears the same shoe size (in a wide) as kids who weigh 10 pounds more than he does.

It fact, though he wears a 12 month shirt from Children's Place, we have to get him 24 month pajamas so that his feet will fit.

Maybe it will help him get a career as an NFL back up punter (league minimum is still a nice chunk of change.)

I would close with a big ole "who dat" but I don't want the NFL to sue me.
Riley wouldn't like that.

But let's see if we get a cease and desist letter for Joan's fingernails.

Better Late than Never ??

2010-01-25T08:30:00.004-06:00

Ok.
For reasons that should be obvious, I was unable to post on Sunday night. But don't worry, not much to say this week anyway.

We are thankful that at least one thing has gone right in the first month of 2010, in that the Saints are in the Super Bowl.

Some may take that as a sign that the end times are drawing near, but we'll just use it as a little picker-upper.

Pretty slow week for us as to things you may want to read about or see here.

On Friday I picked up a bike for my Mom at Academy. Never being one to pass up a good impulse buy, I also picked up a little pop gun that shoots foam balls.
Riley and Anna immediately took to it.

They both know that if they stand against a wall, put their hands in the air and say I "freeze", they'll get shot. Kinda like real life. (low blow, I know.)
The best part is that they think picking up all of the balls afterward is half of the fun. Suckers!

Twice now, Riley has pulled me away from whatever I was doing, saying "daddy shoot me."
He goes to the end of the hall, closes the doors around him and waits.

The balls aren't hard and he hasn't complained even when one accidentally hit him in the face. (the accuracy of the toy and me are both horrible. Of the 10 shots per load, only 2 or 3 hit the perp)

But, we discovered yesterday that they do leave some pretty macho marks for a couple of minutes when they hit bare skin.

(Note of clarification , so no one gets the wrong ideas- We discovered the red dots after shooting one loading of the gun. The unraised red dots disappear in a minute or two, but, just in case, he now has to wear a shirt when we play with the gun. And I shot myself in the face, point blank, and it doesn't hurt. I know most sensible people would think nothing of it, but some sensible friends have pointed out that not everyone is sensible people)

Most of my weekend was spent on the installation of our new, custom entertainment center by Cajun Closets.

Here's a shot of the old one.

and what we started with Saturday morning.

and one step into the process.

Taking shape

We've still got another day's worth of work before it is totally done, but its in enough right now to be able to get our electronics set up and make the room usable.
Final product shots to come soon.

Riley got to play with Caroline alot as Uncle Paul spent most of his weekend trying to fix our computer that was decimated by a virus last week. No pic because I was busy constructing.

All work had to stop though for the biggest pro football game, to date, in Louisiana history.
We packed up an headed over to Anna's house.

We watched the second half at home which was a good idea, given how stressful it was.

Thats about it.

oh, I almost forgot...........WHO DAT!!!

Good from Bad

2010-01-17T12:38:00.005-06:00

Now is where we start to move forward. Though the bad is still there, now is the time to talk about the good surrounding it.

On Monday, my Dad's services were held at Delhomme funeral home.
Between the Sunday visitation and Monday services, I know that at least 400-500 people came through.
For the services, all of the seats in the chapel were filled and there were people standing in the back. One of the directors told me that the seating capacity is between 300 and 350. It was an amazing turnout and we thank everyone who came.
I have never seen so many grown men cry at a funeral. I think that means a lot. Seeing the broad spectrum of people that my Dad's death affected was a great reminder of what a guy he was.

Seeing such a crowd made us a little nervous though, as Joan and I offered to have the traditional "afterparty" at our house. I told a few people, "Even if only a third of these people show up at our house, we're going to be packed."

Now, after making a list of everyone we can remember being here, our final guest count was 125 people.
And that was basically all in our living room, kitchen and patio.
It was so crowded you could barely move. People were passing trash around instead of trying to fight to the garbage can.
Here's a few shots from before it got really packed.

We went through so much food it was unbelievable. Two Hams, a brisket, a few sandwich trays, 3 or 4 chicken finger trays, a few fruit trays, big pans of side dishes, veggies trays and at least two king cakes. Food was disappearing as fast at it hit the table.

Family members who hadn't seen each other in decades were able to reunite. It was great. All of his surviving paternal aunts and uncles were together for the first time in a long time.

Over the last year or so, my dad had been talking about planning reunion with his cousins. That didn't happen, but a majority of them were here this week.
I don't think there is anything that would have been more fitting than what we had here Monday.

Best of all, the uncle that my Dad was closest to wore his overalls, just as my dad would have if he was here.

While the adults caught up, the kids enjoyed what ended up being a nice day.
We had a stash of foam swords that kept kids of all ages entertained until all of the swords were destroyed. (fortunately target had more and I restocked swords and foam battle axes.)

(yes, I was out of breath for at least an hour after 10 minutes of vigorous playtime.)

I know all of the family being here helped my Mom a lot.
Plus she got to see Riley, Anna, and Gabe for the first time in a few weeks.

Thursday and Friday we were at visitation and services for Joan's grandfather.
Riley proved himself to be surprisingly socially inclined and made lots of new kid friends.

As a sign that things are getting back to our new normal, we at Johnson's twice this week.

Once with Darren, Sangee and Hailee

and once with Shane, Tara and their dozens of kids whose names I can't recall (just kidding?)

Doesn't get much better that this plate right here. (L to R: country style ribs, boudin, mac & cheese, cornbread dressing and grilled hot wings. not pictured: bread pudding and Abita Root Beer)

Saturday, as you all know, the Saints put a whooping on the Cardinals, and Riley watched a lot of the game.

We figured out how to rig things so that he can play with the basketball goal Nonnie got him for Christmas.

Sunday, Riley showed us why he's not yet ready to be trusted for more than 2 minutes unmonitored.

But we took him to the park to feed the ducks anyway.

He enjoyed the sense of accomplishment of making a pretty difficult climb (to him)

And also learned that he's not quite ready for the big, bumpy slide yet.
Here's a shot right as he went airborne off of the second bump and probably made a little contribution to his diaper.

That's about it.
The weather forecast for next weekend is looking nice.
We could use some time out in the sun after the cooped up stresses of the last few weeks.

Again, thanks to everyone for their prayers, encouraging words, food, flowers and Lung Association donations. I hope it's a long time before our family goes through anything like these last three weeks again, but it has been a great reminder of what good people we have around us.

Rain, Pour

2010-01-15T11:01:00.003-06:00

I'm thinking of changing this blog name to CajunBabyBummer.com

I know I said this wasn't going to be a depressing space anymore, but there are things that are obviously out of control.

Earlier this week, Joan's maternal grandfather, John Robert Burton Sr. passed away.

We're kinda all talked out, so here's the official write up.

NEW IBERIA - Memorial services will be conducted for , 82, on Friday, January 15, 2010, at 2 p.m., at the First Assembly of God Church, with Rev. Paul Neel officiating.

A gathering of family and friends will be held in the David Funeral Home Chapel on Thursday, January 14, 2010, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. and at the First Assembly of God Church on Friday from 11 a.m. until the services.

A native of Oil City, LA and a resident of Erath, LA, Mr. Burton died on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010 at L.S.U. M.C. in Shreveport, LA. He was a veteran of World War II having served in the U.S. Air Force and was a proud participant of the Honor Air Flight. As a descendent of Louisiana Oil Industry Pioneers, he was instrumental in research and development of various high pressure production equipment widely used within the petroleum industry today. He was a member of the American Petroleum Institute.

Mr. Burton worked for the Joy Corporation in Fort Smith, AR from 1984 - 1986. Mr. Burton and his wife, Margaret were residents of Van Buren, Arkansas from 1990 to 2000. During that time they edited and published "Bind Us Together". This well received monthly Christian newspaper was recognized throughout Northwest Arkansas and Southeast Oklahoma.

He was survived by his wife of 63 years, Iris Margaret Barnes Burton, of Erath; his sons, John Robert Burton, Jr. and his wife, Sherie, of Youngsville, and Paul Christopher Burton, of New Iberia; his daughters, Martha Evelyn "Lynn" Darby and her husband, Larry, of Lafayette, Margaret Theresa "Terry" Bates, of Pensacola, Fla., Cecilia Carolyn "Carol" Boudreaux and her husband, Danny, of Erath, and Mary Constance "Connie" Andre and her husband, Rusty, of New Iberia; his brother, Keith W. Burton, of Oil City; eleven grandchildren; and six great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul H. Burton and Sallie Bamburg Burton; his daughter, Mary Anne Burton; his sisters, Joan Burton and Mary Carolyn Burton Crain and two grandchildren, Angelina and Cassie Burton.

Here he is last year with all of his kids.

and at Riley's baptism

This will hopefully be the last obit here for a loooooooooooooong time.

If you hear fireworks in a couple of weeks, it will be our New Year Party as we are officially erasing January and staring over with February.

The Words

2010-01-13T14:36:00.005-06:00

When I started this blog, I originally envisioned it as a way to get news and photos out to family members and friends far and wide.
A secondary purpose though, was to create a chronicle of Riley's life to be able to look back on someday.

Some of the most profound events in Riley's life have taken place over the last 2-3 weeks, and he doesn't even know it, but I want them here as part of his history.

On Monday, at my Dad's services, I gave a eulogy in front of the 2-300 people gathered. It was the hardest yet most natural speaking gig I've ever had. I think doing it made the whole process easier on me and I'm glad I did it, even if 90% of my friends, family and co-workers have now seen me cry.

I bring this all up because a few people have asked me to somehow share with them what I said. Contrary to all good public speaking practices, I wrote down everything I wanted to say. But, I did so just in case I needed someone to get up and read it for me.

I want to acknowledge our family's loss here and, starting next week, have the blog reflect our moving forward. So here is what I prepared and, pretty accurately, delivered as a eulogy.

My main point to get across was the legacy of family that my Dad created. Because this blog is about family, I think it belongs here. If you come for happy stories and cute pics, come back next week. If you read my words below, thank you.

Chris Wallace eulogy, delivered 1-11-10

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Brandon, Chris’ oldest, yet smallest son. I only say that because it has been pointed out to me a few times over the last couple of days, and I just want to get it all out there.

For those who do know me, I know you think of me as the toughest guy you’ve ever met, but I’m not making any guarantees I’ll get through this intact. Just in case though, I’ve written out everything I want to say and I have a professional voice artist and radio personality here to back me up if I give him the signal.

I can think of two main reasons that anyone would be here.

The first is that you knew my dad and knew what a great guy he was. The second is that you know me, Jake or Eli and like us enough to come. But that actually means that you also know how great of a man my dad was, because we are what we are because of him.

I’d like to give a little story from my personal life that I think illustrates the true impact that my dad had. Before Joan and I got married, we had to go to a weekend retreat called Engaged Encounter, where you sleep on hard bunk beds and use communal bathrooms. Between those conveniences you participate in various question and answer exercises designed to get you thinking about your relationship. You then share your answers with your future spouse and sometimes the whole group.

One of the questions we were presented with was “what first attracted you to your future spouse?”

I naturally thought Joan would answer that it was because I am the studliest guy she’s ever met. Shockingly though, she didn’t. Instead, she said that it was the way I treated and cared for my family. I know that would come as a shock to Jake and Eli at certain times too.

But when I really thought about it, her statement didn’t say nearly as much about me, as it did about my parents. Neither Mom or Dad ever sat us down and gave us lessons on how to act like a family. They didn’t have to, because they lived it. They led by example.

One of the examples they set is that they were best friends. Their marriage wasn’t just a certificate in a filling cabinet in the closet or a tax break at the IRS. They truly lived as a couple.

If she needed something at WalMart, unless he had something pressing to do, he went with her. If he needed something at Home Depot, she went along for the trip. And why not? What might be on Tv that is more worthwhile for your soul than spending a half hour with your best friend?

And when they didn’t have anything to do, they would get in the Jeep and drive. Top down, doors off and feet hanging out if the weather permitted. They often didn’t necessarily know where they were going or when they would be back, but it didn’t matter. They were with each other.

Aside from being a good husband, he set the bar high as a good father. He was always there for whatever we needed, whether that was helping out with Jake’s baseball teams, helping out with school projects, or the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours my parents both dedicated to the Lafayette High Band over the course of 10 or 11 years. They were always there.

If you stop by my parents’ house, you will see half finished projects everywhere, but that’s not because my Dad was lazy. It’s because he was always willing to drop whatever he was doing to help us with what we had going on. He didn’t have to spend a month of cold nights in the shop, helping me build a cart for my bbq pit or toy tables for Riley and Caroline, who has no blood relation to my Dad, but he did it anyway. He was never too busy or too tired.

Two years ago, my Dad’s life changed. Joan and I had Riley, and my Dad became a grandparent, a role I think he was just made to fill. Then, just 6 weeks ago Jake and Sara had Gavin and brought another light into my Dad’s life and took him to the next level, if that was even possible.

We gave Dad the choice of what he wanted his grandparent name to be and he chose the name Poppy, after my Mom’s grandfather who he loved and respected immensely. From day one, he was part of Riley’s life in every way he could be. They saw each other 3 or 4 days a week and spoke on the phone almost every day for the last few months.

People tell us that Riley is one of the happiest kids they’ve ever met, and say that it must be a sign we are good parents. I appreciate that compliment, but give just as much credit to our parents for the roles they play in Riley’s life. A major part of that equation is gone now, and I grieve for Riley’s loss more than for my own. Dad told me once that even though he loved his three sons, being a grandparent was just different and magical all over again. He became, and thoroughly lived as, Poppy.

Even if you weren’t a family member, you could connect with my Dad. He was one of the least pretentious people I’ve ever known. Its hard to be pretentious when you’re wearing overalls or a tie dye shirt, or sometimes, overalls with a tie dye shirt and you’re miles from the nearest farm. Sometimes, you would see him at Downtown Alive, walking up in the overalls or tiedye and you’d kinda get a little embarrassed. I consciously told myself though, “At least you have a dad who cares enough to be here and to talk to you and your friends.” We don’t anymore.

If he didn’t like you, which was a rare case, you probably knew that, but I know he gave you an honest chance first. And if he did like you, he would have a smile and a wise crack and all the time in the world to talk. Downtown Alive, Festival and Rhythms are going to be very different for us and our friends now.

My Dad was squarely middle aged, which may not be very comforting for those of you around the same age. But, he had something I aspire to have. He had the spirit of a young man, with the wisdom of an old man. That thought came to me yesterday, and I sat for a while and thought about what an awesome combination that is. I don’t know that there is much more that you could ask for.

Before he went in for the surgery, Dad told multiple people that he was the happiest he had ever been. He had his family nearby, and he was happy at work. He had two grandsons that meant the world to him and any stresses that had bothered him in the past had been resolved. We can all take comfort in knowing that his last memories were those of true satisfaction and joy.

Our family thanks everyone here for their friendship and the thoughts, prayers and vibes you’ve sent out over the last two grueling weeks. You all mean so much to us and did to my dad to, even if it was just because you were a positive point in one of our lives. Thank you for being there, and your support will only become more important over the coming months as we all adjust to a radically different way of life.

Love You, Poppy!

2010-01-10T08:11:00.003-06:00

This is officially the hardest post I've ever made.
After making progress toward getting better, my Dad passed away late Thursday.
There's not really much else to say.
We've all suffered a loss, but what saddens me the most is that my Mom has lost her best friend and that Riley has lost one of his.

I can't think of much to write so I'm just going to go pic heavy.

LAFAYETTE - Memorial services will be held at 11:00 am on Monday, January 11, 2010 in the Delhomme Chapel of the Flowers for William Christopher “Chris” Wallace, 53, who passed away on January 7, 2010 at Heart Hospital of Lafayette, surrounded by family and friends.

Reverend Steve Horn, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Lafayette, will conduct the services.

The family requests that visiting hours be observed on Sunday from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. and will continue on Monday from 8 a.m. until time of services. Musical selections will be provided by longtime family friend, Scotty Walker.

Chris was a native of Lafayette and, at Lafayette High, met the love of his life, Ellen Hebert. He followed his father’s footsteps into the Army and the helicopter aviation industry. For nearly 30 years, he worked for IHTI/PHI, keeping helicopters safely in the air. Chris was the proud father of three sons, and was always there in any way needed, whether as a baseball coach, a band booster, an auto mechanic, or a general handy-man. He was a talented woodworker and mechanic and lived by the philosophy of “why buy what you can build yourself?”

In the last two years, Chris found a whole new type of love in the eyes of his grandsons, Riley and Gavin. He was their “Poppy” and their hero. Just before entering the hospital, he told his best friend that by having his family nearby and a new generation to celebrate, he was the happiest he had ever been. His family members are fortunate enough to be able to say the same, thanks to the man that he was.

He is survived by his best friend and loving wife of 33 years, Ellen, and sons, Brandon and wife Joan (parents of grandson, Riley), Jake and wife Sara (parents of grandson, Gavin), and Eli and future daughter-in-law Amanda Hill, all of Lafayette. He also leaves behind his mother, Lois “Gerry” Wallace, two brothers, Richard “Ric” Wallace (wife, Jackie) of Lafayette, and Darren Wallace (wife, Sangee) of New Hartford, Connecticut; two sisters, Susan Wallace of Jackson, Mississippi, and Summer Stone (husband, Shelton) of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, along with dozens of nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father, Gene Odell Wallace; and sister, Lisa Gene Wallace Smith.

Pallbearers will be his sons, brothers, and brother in law, Shelton Stone.

The family wishes to thank the entire staff of Heart Hospital for their expertise, care and compassion.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to American Lung Association, 2325 Severn, Suite 8, Metairie, La 70001, or louisianalung.org in the name of Chris Wallace and AJRF, sponsors of the annual Jeep Jaunt, an event which he truly loved.

with big brother Ric

Chris, Susie, Lisa, Ric and Darren

a face Riley has inherited

Darren, Susie, Summer, Chris, Ric, Lisa

In the Army

Day before their wedding October 1976.

Mom & Dad Wedding 1976

Newlyweds in Germany

with me and Jake

at work

whole family circa 1988

White House 1994

Mom, Joan, Me, Dad, LHS grad 1998

Ric, Chris, Susie, Darren, and Summer, 1999

at our wedding 2002

parents, Michael, Sylvia, Chris, me , Joan

Mom & Dad 2003

Parents & Sylvia

Eli, Parents, Darren, Sangee, Hailee, New York '04-ish

Jake's basic training grad

Men in Black

Inked Up w/ Wallace Clan crest

Poppy & Riley

Jake & Sara's wedding, Summer 2009

Jeep Jaunt 2009

Gavin's actual birthday

Watching Pinocchio w/ Riley, Christmas 2009

with his grandsons, on top of the world, Christmas 2009

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers over the last couple of weeks.
They have been truly felt.

Life Support

2010-01-03T08:40:00.004-06:00

Nothing clever, witty or funny about this week's title.

My Dad had his scheduled heart surgery on Wednesday.
They tried to repair the valve but were unable, so they had to replace it.
The surgery itself was generally ok.
Unfortunately, he did have some internal bleeding that required another surgery on Thursday.

Since the first surgery, his oxygen levels are staying lower than they should be and his lungs just aren't taking back over like they should.
It's not unheard of, but still far from ideal.
He is totally on respiratory support.

His heart and brain seem to be working, and his lungs are inhaling and exhaling.
But, inside the lungs the oxygen isn't exchanging like it should.
There are no medications or treatments to fix lung tissue, only giving his body time to try to heal itself.

He made a little progress on Saturday, but had a little hiccup overnight and undid a little of that.

He still has a long way to go even in a best case scenario, so there's nothing we can do but wait.

Whether you are praying, sending positive vibes, or whatever, we do appreciate it and ask that you keep it up until I give the "all clear" signal.

But since you don't come here to be depressed, here are some shots from the week of one of the main reasons my Dad has to fight to live. (and I am shameless enough to admit that I can't type that without tearing up.)

Playing the Rock Band drums

and having breakfast with George and Dumpty.

TV is the Best Medicine

2009-12-27T13:27:00.012-06:00

Most hits to this site come on Mondays and Tuesdays.
This coming week is a four day work week, which means most people don't do anything all week.
It's an amazing phenomenon that the thought of working less than usual leads you not to work at all.
I mean, other people think that way. Not me.

But for those of you looking to not work much, rejoice, as this post might be long.
Look.
We're already two paragraphs in and I haven't said anything of substance.
It takes training to be that evasive (they call that training law school.)

First, a follow up from last week.
I now have video proof as to why he is the metaphorical "kid who pees in the pool" when it comes to Ring Around the Rosey.

Now let's resume where we left off last week, with a sick kid.

He's mostly better now, but Joan stayed home with him on Monday.
Something about this Monday made him vigorously resist shirts, so, to keep the peace, he went topless all day.

But he helped Momma clean up.
Not because he's helpful, but because he loves the Dust Buster.

For most of the week, he was in a terribly foul mood that could be calmed only by the soothing powers of the idiot box.

Until now, we've only let him watch TV on long car trips, but he parked it and watched movies all week.

Now we're trying to break his newly formed habit and he is having significant withdrawals.

One positive about the TV watching is that he is learning Disney characters.
We're planning a WDW trip next December and I want him to be somewhat familiar.

Between the movies and our Christmas tree, he knows the Jungle book characters, Mickey, Pluto, Woody and Buzz.

He's also learned from his new stuffed Nemo, given as a corrective action.
When he went to Disney on Ice with my parents, my mom asked the merch seller for a Nemo, but received a Flounder, not knowing the difference. We had to fix the confusion, so that he doesn't make us look like fools among the other flocking tourists.

Now we just have to fix the fact that "Nemo" is not pronounced "Elmo," as that furry red demon of commercialism is not allowed on these premises.
(Yup, Disney is acceptable commercialism, but Elmo is the devil)

Wednesday, we headed to my parents to give Anthill her gifts, so that she could head off to Texas to be with her blood fam.

Riley enjoyed watching some TV with Uncle Eli and Gramsy (my g-ma)

And he wasn't going to let any fuss over Gavin interrupt his viewing.

Amanda and Eli gave Riley a Sit & Spin that plays horrible techno music.

Amanda got lots of stuff.

Here's a shot of her playing with her cans....

...of pineapple for a cake mix, perv.

Riley finished the evening off with an extended, diaper clad, interpretive dance and a capella remix of the UL fight song. (which nearly caused Nonnie a heart attack)

Gavin showed himself to be quite the opposite of his older cousin, and shied away from attention.

Thursday, we had dinner at Jake and Sara's, where Riley paid progressively more attention to Gavin.
But, toys or football on TV still trump a baby in his mind.

At church, he was well behaved.
He sang the UL fight song during The First Noel, but was drowned out by everyone else.
The same can't be said of his communion rendition of Old McDonald, but he was still one of the better behaved kids in the audience.

Friday, he slept about 45 minutes later than usual before we headed to Nonnie and Poppy's.
He wasn't really into unwrapping, but he liked his gifts, especially his new guitar. (which he plays like a drum, hence the broken string within 48 hours)

Being a simple minded addict, he got all that he wanted when he was allowed to watch Pinocchio.

.

Next it was off to Granny and Granddad's, where he scored a sweet 100+ piece train table set from Paul, Liz and Caroline.

Fortunately, he also scored an infinitely more portable train set from Anna, Mitch and Virginia that was able to provide instant entertainment, and calm the train hungry beast.

He still needs to learn a thing or two about track obstructions.

For the last stop of the day we headed to Aunt Connie's in New Iberia.

There Riley taught Caroline how to make homeless baby, leaf soup, which, in addition to throwing leaves in water, involves dunking your hands in a bucket of freezing water until they are red and swollen.

along those same lines, he added another hundred or so leaves to the swamp/pool in their backyard.

He showcased both his roaring and mess making skills with his new set of blocks (one of a few he received.)

but don't think that only the kids got to have fun.

The adults rode unicycles

and I played with Courtney's super-futuristic-robot-spring-stilt-thingies with the help of the always steady Uncle Rusty.

Those things are freaky.

and in a move that would inspire confidence in anyone looking for a lawyer, Joan and I both showed our skills on the mini-clown bike.

Friday morning I set up Riley's new train table.

If you just look at these shots you would think he was helping.

but, in reality, he was playing where I was working and shortly knocked it all over onto my head.

Alas, the assembly is done and his room was reworked to accommodate the new toy.

Now I'll get back to playing my new Rock Band on the PS3, since I'm not coordinated enough to play a real guitar.

No big plans for New Year's Eve, though we'll probably end up visiting Poppy in the hospital since he is having heart surgery on Wednesday.
So, if you're of the religious persuasion, do your thing. Thanks.

The Holiday Sneezin'

2009-12-20T19:22:00.005-06:00

Been busier than we expected today, as you'll read, so no frills.

Riley took his first steps toward potty training this week.
He's been able to tell us for a couple of months when he was about to make stank in his diaper.
Over the last couple of weeks he's been telling us "I poopoo peepee potty" but wouldn't sit on his mini toilet.

Last night, things changed and he sat and even strained a little, showing that he knew what he was supposed to be accomplishing.
Nothing happened, but it is a positive first step, initiated by him.

Early in the week, the house smelled like baked goods as Joan made Christmas themed red velvet cupcakes for her work peeps.

Then the fun began.
on Thursday, Riley started getting sick.
By Saturday morning, he was just a walking fountain of snot and could not be entertained by anything except Pixar shorts, in short bursts.

The fight to keep him entertained led us to Veterans Park with a couple of loaves of stale bread.
He enjoyed feeding the ducks for a little while, but was quite mad when we had to leave.

If he weren't so young, and a male, I'd swear he is pregnant, based on his moodiness.

Eventually, he had a 20 minute nap on Mommy's lap, which was the extent of his sleep for the day.

That wasn't quite enough to keep him happy at Anthill's graduation party which was held at.......... wait for it............ Johnson's Boucaniere.

I heard a few Texans remark on how good the food was.
When multiple Texans acknowledge the quality of your smoked meat, you're doing something right.

After the meat and sides, everyone ingested huge slabs of a very nice cake from Southside.

and Uncle Eli scored some boyfriend points with a really cool rose arrangement done by florist extraordinaire, Michael Quinones.

I couldn't get a great shot, but it is a bouquet of red roses with UL written in white roses.

Michael did our wedding and a few others that we've been to, along with some occasional special orders from us, and he is always awesome.
Next time you need flowers, contact him at the Winn Dixie on Ambassador.
The dude is magic.

When we were able to pull Riley away from throwing rocks and sticks into puddles, he enjoyed the Johnson's Christmas tree.

he even recognized a couple of ornaments.

Sunday, we headed down to New Iberia for Christmas with Joan's Dad's side of the family.

Riley, despite being in full on, nose goo explosion mode, was quite excited to get to see Caroline.

He didn't know he was also going to get to play with Cousin Eli (since he probably had no real idea who Cousin Eli was)

Despite the fact that Riley used to wear Eli's "hand me up" clothes, (Eli is 8 weeks younger) they are pretty close in height now. (probably still no contest in weight, but that can be said of Riley compared to most small objects)

Riley then played ring around the rosey and showed why it is much better for him to just play alone... he likes to skip straight to the end.

Then he got his first ride-on fire truck of the season.

The other one is a Cozy Coupe Fire & Rescue Edition, from Mommy and Daddy, but shhhhh, don't tell him.

We capped off Sunday night with a quick visit to Acadiana Urgent Care clinic in Cordoba on Ambassador.
Pretty quick in and out, but we were there at 6 on a Sunday.
The assessment is bilateral ear infection, sinus infection and a touch of bronchitis.

Happy Christmas?

Unpaid Advertising

2009-12-13T19:38:00.001-06:00

I almost have too little to even make post this week, but when has that ever stopped me before?

So now your random thoughts.

Riley is finding interesting places to lay when he's tired but doesn't want to go to bed.

Witness the end table and Jimmy's chair.

Mid week, I filled in as baby sitter for a few hours.

It's pretty funny the games they think up on their own.

Anna thought it would be fun to walk around with rings on her feet.
Riley, of course followed along.
But his wide feet were too fat to fit in the leftover rings so he had to settle for just being half shod like a preschool stripper.

Since Riley likes Mexican sodas, I also let him try some Mexican candy.
Chocolate covered marshmallow on a stick was a hit, even though Joan said it tasted like pretty cheap chocolate.

That's fine though. Keep his tastes in the Wal-Mart spectrum and save us some money.

and for those of you noticing how sloppy he looks in those shots, don't worry, he's gotten a haircut since.

Riley spent Friday evening with Nonnie and Poppy while Mommy and Daddy froze to the core while riding a trolley around town for a party involving people in my office, but not an office party. (it's an important distinction for alcohol consumption purposes.)

He got to hang out and play with Gavin, who he has warmed up to a little.

Riley has continued to help decorate the tree and helped Mommy put Pluto on, then take Pluto off, then put Pluto on, then take Pluto off, then put Pluto on, then take Pluto off, then put Pluto on, then take Pluto off, ad infinitum.

We also continue to find unique decorations buried in the tree.

in addition to playing in the tree, he's also had a couple of instances of playing in the toilet.

Correspondingly, he's getting pretty good at accepting discipline and sits very well in "time out."

After we took him out the last time he kept saying, "I go timeout, I splash da toilet."

Sunday our house exploded while we watched the Saints game.
Ok, not really, but it looked like it while Joan was wrapping presents.

After the Saints made it to 13-0 we headed out to the Broussard Christmas parade for a cultural experience quite similar to a Wal-Mart visit.

We saw things you can only see in South Louisiana.

and things that we'll hopefully never see again.

If you can't see what is wrong with that shot, let me zoom in a little for you.

Yup, that's actually a 1 or two year old in the open trunk of a moving vehicle.
At least she had another kid to play with (see pink bow on the left)

Though the cultural studies were fun, the real reason we went was because Anna's dance class was riding in the parade.

She was excited to see Riley, but her presence didn't register to him until she had already passed.

Now, since you value my opinions over those of anyone else, and I'm sure you have lots of shopping to do, here are a few easy to procure gift ideas. Again, I don't know why hyperlnks don't appear here, but just copy and paste the addresses.

For reasonable parents, I highly recommend the book Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy.
It's all about keeping the dangers of the world in perspective and allowing kids to grow up to adults, and not just oversized kids. Fun blog to follow too.
www.freerangekids.com.

For the parent with musical taste who really may drive off of a bridge if they hear Hokey Pokey again, here are a few discs we've found to be not only tolerable but good.

Los Lobos- Los Lobos Does Disney
These Legends of Latin Infused rock put their own spin on lots of Disney hits (available for download at Amazon for a good price)

Various Artists- Funky Kidz
Lots of excellent New Orleans jazz and funk musicians give their takes on children's classics. Very cool way to introduce a kid to local flavor. voted Album of the Year by Creative Child magazine (whatever that is)

(available for download at Amazon for a good price)
http://funkykidzmusic.com/

For the lady or cross dresser in your life, check out the Miche Bag.
It's one purse body that you cover with an endless selection of different outer shells to change your look without transferring all of your crap from one bag to another. really neat idea.
http://www.michebag.com/

and finally, for the person in your life with good taste in food, you can never go wrong with a gift card to Johnson's Boucaniere.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/johnsons.boucaniere?v=info&ref=ts

You can all thank me later for the ideas (maybe in Johnson's gift cards)

Wudup Cuz

2009-12-06T14:14:00.011-06:00

The first few days of the week were pretty uneventful.

Things cranked up on Thursday when Riley got a new cousin.

Jake and Sara welcomed Gavin Joseph to the world at 6 lbs 10 ounces and 20 inches.

Riley can say "Baby Gavin", but was less than thrilled to walk into a room and see his Nonnie holding another baby.

He wasn't much more excited to see his Mommy holding Gavin, but was eventually nice enough to pet him softly.

I don't think he really understood that Gavin was anything more than a head sticking out of a blanket until he saw him unwrapped.

Friday, we headed down to New Orleans with Granny Lynn, Paul, Liz and Caroline for a day of zoo-ing and aquarium-ing.

Of course, when we planned the trip a month ago, we weren't expecting it to be a day with near freezing temps and forecasted snow. But you make do.

I'd love to tell funny stories about what went on at the zoo, but I can't.
I was stuck at a nearby CC's, working, because some lawyers (who have a professional reputation roughly equivalent to that of Tiger's marital fidelity) think they don't have to play by the rules and follow deadlines. That leaves lawyers who do care about the rules in a jam. But oh well.

I don't sound bitter do I?

From what I can tell from the photos, everyone made the best of a pretty chilly day.

Like visits to our local zoo, while the animals were popular, a good bit of time was devoted to playground exploration.

After perfecting his technique on our patio, Riley made the public debut of his head first sliding method.

And even though Riley enjoyed the carousel last time, they both staged a revolt this time around.

it actually got colder as the day went on and everyone eventually migrated to the Aquarium.

We hit the penguins at feeding time and they were way more active than last time we were there.

Riley pushed every button within his reach, which kept him from pushing our buttons.

Like the zoo, most of the time was spent in the kids' play area.

Riley did what he does best--solo Ring Around the Rosey.

Both kids mustered up the courage to try to pet the shark.
Don't know if either of their arms were long enough to reach, but, thanks to refraction, it looked like success.

It snowed in Lafayette that evening, but since we were coming up from the south, we never saw any.

Saturday we headed to BR for Lillian's birthday party. But first we stopped by Louisiana Hot Stuff on what seems like an impossible quest for a Saints polo shirt.
for those of you unfamiliar with this particular store, one side is Ragin Cajun merchandise, and the other is all purple and yellow LSU stuff.

Riley gave us the first example of a kid not having a filter when, in the middle of the store, he broke out into a loud, repeated chant of, "Boo Tiger."

It was beautiful.

We came up with the ex post facto explanation that its because Shere Khan is the bad guy in Jungle Book, but we know the truth.

When we traveled to the home of the "Boo Tigers," Riley got to hang out with Connor, son of Jennifer, a friend from law school, and Ryan, a former LSU football player.

He also renewed his friendship with Lillian's cousin Claire. She's great with him, but I guess you can expect her to be good with kids since she's one of 8.

Riley is trying to break away from his "cute" image and thinks that wearing sunglasses inside will help him look tougher. He got some funny looks but refused to take 'em off.

Then we met Paul and Caroline for some Nagoya buffet.

Caroline double fisted egg rolls......

.....while Riley played under a high chair.

guess which one is on the weight chart.

Caroline, liking to eat with two hands, but only having one spoon, then started using an ice cube to eat ice cream.
Cold Cold.

On the way home, Riley was fully occupied by a Monsters Inc DVD, even though he originally requested "Jungle Bear"

that face is the reason we don't let him watch TV. Pure zombie.

Sunday was supposed to be a recovery day.
Riley woke up saying, "I wanna see Go Saints."

Unfortunately, it was still a few hours till game time, so we had to redirect his attention.
Never one to be reasonable, he then insisted on playing outside.
He was bundled up enough that he actually lasted about 5 minutes.

Once game time rolled around, he watched a good bit of the first quarter and shared some popcorn with Mommy.
His commentary included such football insights as, "Oh no, they fall down," and "He hit/hurt the head."

For anyone who saw the 4th quarter, you know it was anything but a relaxing view.

That's about it. Pretty weak week ahead, so I don't know what will be in this space next week, but I've resolved to try to keep up weekly posts till he's 2, and I don't want to quit too early.

Making the Rounds

2009-11-29T15:23:00.005-06:00

All work weeks should be only 3 days, right?
But kids should always have school 5 days a week.

Could anyone but kids and teachers disagree?
and who listens to them anyway?
Let them complain to each other while we're out playing. :)

But being off of work still requires some work.
Joan spent her first couple of evenings baking and dipping cake balls for work.
It allowed Riley a chance to eat some calorie dense batter (and create a pretty sinister looking facial hair pattern.)

and when he wasn't getting enough attention, he walked around with a blanket over his head, laughing and banging into things.
That's ma boy.

Wednesday (which was playing the role of Friday), I watched a trial in the morning and watched the kids in the afternoon.

Though this would be a great chance to comment about the behavior patterns of toddlers vs lawyers, I will refrain.

On the way home I picked up some tacos from Tres Hermanos on Eraste Landry.
After trying just about every taco shop in town, I'm convinced theirs are the best.
Their pupusas aren't as good as La Pagua, but you can't have it all.

My visit allowed Riley to confirm that he likes grapefruit sodas.
He wouldn't stop bugging me for more.
That's ma boy.

Thursday, we got up early and started cooking macque choux (with Johnson's tasso) on the stove while the Egg handled a Turkey sprinkled with Johnson's seasoning with Fat Tire in the drip pan.

To accompany the cooking, we tried Wells' Banana Bread Beer which smelled awesome, but tasted kinda blah.

Our lunch guests were Joan's parents, Paul, Liz & Caroline, and Liz's mom, Jill.

The kids had a blast and stayed occupied for a long time playing with the cheapo little LED lights Uncle Paul had.

Riley now has a few hooked to his key chain so he can take them everywhere.

The food was plentiful and included Paul/Liz's "Sugar Free But You"d Never Know It Sweet Potatoes."

Being the innovators we are, we all ate too much.
Bet your family doesn't do that.

While the adults without ongoing wisdom tooth/gum complications over indulged, Riley and Uncle Paul played a game we call "I got it, I knock It Down" which only Riley enjoys playing.

But in return, Riley let Paul drive cars on his back, so it was even.

That night, we went to my parents' for round 2, and Riley finally took interest in some food- sweet potatoes and marshmallows.

Friday morning we skipped the shopping insanity and opted to set up the Christmas tree.
Because the usual tree corner has been commandeered by the toy table, we had to flip our furniture arrangement.
That also meant cleaning up a year or two worth of Jimmy's Dust Bunnies, which Riley actually helped with.

Riley also took quite quickly to helping decorate the tree.

Within a minute of me putting up the first section, he was throwing toys into it.

Now our tree is filled with items including, but not limited to: blocks, balls, plastic people, a stuffed Mickey, a plastic bottle, and a book.

Next we headed out to meet Granny Lynn.
There, Paul gave some rides on the Stroller Coaster-- Ditch Edition.

(If Riley can just grow alot, he'll have a blast at WDW)

Then we headed down to Ms. Angela's house to help her clear off her satsuma tree.

Satsumas have become a reliable, but low calorie part of Rley's diet, and he asks for them by name.

That night Paul cooked a gumbo that Riley ate three (riley sized) bowls of.
He also ate at least a dozen marshmallows and was visibly distended.

And after picking Paul's brain, I set out on the potentially hazardous quest of visiting Best Buy on Black Friday.
Yet I managed to get in and out in less than 15 minutes, with a new PS3 in hand.
Close Call.

Saturday, we headed down to Erath for a 100th Birthday party/Family Reunion.
Riley and Caroline had fun filling Aunt Carol's pond with dirt and leaves.
Riley wrecked the homes of many crawfish in the process, and learned the futility of throwing leaves into the wind.

That was followed by half of the last Cajuns' football disappointment of the year.
Oh Well. we'll still buy our tix next year.

Then I crashed my car into a tree.
I mean my wife beat me with a golf club.
Wait.
No.
That was Tiger Woods.

Now Mommy and Daddy get to try out the new PS3.
The first game system I've had since a Super Nintendo. I'm over a decade behind.

And to share a little money saving with you.
We bought the PS3 mostly because it is also a really good Blu Ray Player.
According to Paul, our full time tech advisor, Pixar movies are awesome in Blu Ray.
Since we'll be at WDW in about a year, we want to familiarize Riley with the characters.
So, the timing just seemed right (except that whole rebuilding the entertainment center thing)

Back to the deal.
Right now, Disney is selling many of its current releases in packages that come with a Blu-Ray, and a regular DVD. That's cool since a BluRay won't play in a portable system.

Amazon has been running some really cool specials on Pixar Blu Ray/DVD packages.
We bought a package that was Cars, UP and monsters Inc, on BR and DVD for $30 total.
If you have a BluRay player or may get one in the future, you may want to look out for those deals.
Here's the one we got.
http://tinyurl.com/ylf9ghd

(sorry its not hyper linked, I can never get those to show up on this page.

The Suck Stops Here

2009-11-22T13:16:00.007-06:00

Disclaimer- the title of this post is not meant to reference the quality of said post, but you'll see that by the end.

Things have been a little rough around here thanks to a great disturbance in the star of the show's sleep schedule.

If you are actually around us, or just follow the progression of Riley's slowly bucking front teeth, you know that he is a bedtime thumbsucker.

We're lucky in that he only does it when he's tired and holding his "blanket", but it's pretty much the only way he'll calm down to sleep.

Because of this, he has a huge callous on the thumb, which the doctor said is normal.

But last week it dried out a little and cracked. That was followed by a little infection and a good bit of inflammation.

Now it hurts too much for him to suck, thus making sleeping difficult.
Even though it was rough, we hoped it would maybe break the habit.
Alas, he is slowly regaining suckage strength. oh well.

Saturday, Riley, who sees very little TV, headed to the Cajundome to see Disney on Ice with Nonnie and Poppy.

We were worried that he wouldn't care much because he doesn't know the characters.

Despite what his face says in this shot, we were wrong.

They had great seats.

and reported that he was mesmerized the whole time (except during the Incredibles.)

He was a little scared by the Beast, who was huge, and by the Genies, who look way more tripped out than I recall in the movie.

After the show, they stopped by Jason's for a grilled cheese and fruit that he barely ate despite his seeming enthusiasm.

Joan and I were at the funeral of a good friend's father that morning, and by the time we got back in the car, were thoroughly convinced that the cold rain made it too miserable out to even attempt the Cajuns game.

The cold and rain didn't stop us from getting Tagalong(TM) Blizzards from Dairy Queen, but.......... whatever............ Don't judge us.

Sunday he watched the Saints game in his new, retro Sir Saint shirt from his Nanny.
He's getting really good at spotting things around town and either saying go Cajuns or Go Saints.

We're still working on "Boo Tigers"

To round out the week, blocked off Sunday evening for the member showing of the Safari of Lights at the Zoo of Acadiana.
We've always said we needed to go, but never got around to it.

Entry tonight was free for annual members, and even then, I'm not sure we got our money's worth from it. It was pretty weak.

Except the Santa helicopter. That was cool.

and in closing, I'll get back to bad puns and semi-running jokes.

Riley and Anna had a picnic on the patio this week.

and yet again, he took a food name at face value and was way off base when he heard that restaurants were having success with cooking Sliders.

Ouch. Even Anna didn't think that was funny.

but you keep coming back anyway.
It's almost embarrassing.

I'm on A Boat **

2009-11-15T15:26:00.008-06:00

Mark this weekend down in history, as a similar situation may never come again.

We had absolutely nothing that we had to do.

Nothing.

Just two empty calendar squares.

That's boring though, so we found stuff to do.
C'mon. Like I'd let you come here and be bored. (great place for a sarcasm font)

Mid week, the weather was nice, so Riley and I met my dad and brother for a little boat ride in the Basin.

Things went south when we put the life jacket on, but he eventually calmed down a little.

He liked scaring up the ducks, but was unimpressed by the cajun architectural ingenuity.

He cooperated a little when Uncle Jake let him drive.

But really, he just wanted to push buttons on the fish finder.

He found his maritime calling when Poppy let him reach in the water, and the rest of the trip was just us holding on tight, and looking out for gators, so that he didn't disappear on us.

Thursday, we headed to my grandma's house to meet 3 of her siblings who had driven in from Michigan: Aunt Marcia, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Sandra (not pictured)

Riley looked kinda funny since a mosquito bite on his forehead was causing swelling down to his left eye, but the visit went well and everyone had fun.

Tonight though, we had dinner with everyone at Coyote Blues and Uncle Ron quickly became Riley's new best friend.
Riley stayed in a high chair for a world record duration and laughed the whole time.
When we got in the truck he kept saying "I wan see Untle Ron."

Riley keeps friend all over the country, just in case he ever needs to get away and drop off the radar.

Saturday, since "Untle Paul" and "Keh-line" were in town, we headed out to Lake Martin for a little nature hike. Granny Lynn and I handled the kids while Paul and Joan played nature photogs.

Joan tested out a new lens and got this pretty butterfly.

and this 55 gallon drum mysteriously nailed to a tree.

Riley and I were the tour guides/wildlife spotters. All of the adult gators were in hiding, but we were able to find a few babies.

Unfortunately, the most prevalent creature was all too willing to find us, which took alot away from the beautiful setting, and left plenty of marks.

Riley and Caroline celebrated the end of the hike by sharing mini Nilla Wafers and having a truck bed drum jam.

To replenish the calories burned in that hike, and then some, we headed over to Johnson's where the kids met up with their Granddad.
Riley quickly remembered the joys of playing with salt and pepper shakers, so everything was basically just a challenge for us to keep them from him.

Eventually, we gave him a purpose and assigned him to throwing away the trash.

And for the second week in a row, (this time completely randomly), he was recognized by a blog reader, Ms. Kelly.
Pretty neat.
Thanks for saying hi.

After adequate napping, Caroline came over to play and Riley showed her the joy's of one of his favorite toys, his magnets.

Then everyone headed out to Hong Kong Buffet, by the new WalMart and HD in Broussard.

I was disappointed by the selection at first, but everything I had, except the sushi, was abnormally good.

The buffet is very seafood centric, and everyone liked what they tried.
The few pieces of sushi I got were disgusting, but you can't have it all.

Riley found his niche in eating "Jello" with a fork. The "jello" tasted like garbage (as would be expected) but he loved it.

Despite liking the"jello", his favorite part was the fish pond in the front.
He could've stayed there all day.

In fact, that thought is going to lead me to give away another million dollar idea.
If the restaurant would gate off the fish pond, hire a teenager to hang out, and let parents pay $5 for their kids to hang out and look at the fish while the parents eat, you would have the most popular restaurant in town. Fortune 500 company in no time.
Just make sure no one drowns or gets stolen, and you're golden.
Hell, I may have to open up a buffet, just to give the idea a whirl.

But back to the real world, and by the real world, I mean our tendency to over eat.
(as if plate lunches followed by a buffet hadn't clued you in)

Seeing that at the other end of the shopping center housed an after dinner treat shop, we had no option but to stroll down there after our fortune cookies failed to predict massive heart attacks before age 40.

And let me just say thank you to the person who decided it would be a good idea to combine a Hershey's Ice Cream shop, with a Great American Cookie shop. You are a genius.
Likely a morbidly obese, adult onset diabetic genius, but a genius nonetheless. (and the drive-thru is just icing on the cake, err, cookie)

Riley and Caroline had fun running amok and dreaming about the contents of the cookie case.

If you're ever out that way, stop in and try the Honey Bun Ice Cream. It will melt your brain (even though it is cold)

That's about it.

but I'll throw in a Who Dat? for good measure.

** Google it if you don't mind bad words, or find the clean edit

I Read, Me

2009-11-08T14:34:00.009-06:00

So, in that 1 to 2 year span between learning to walk and learning not to crap your pants, the only really noticeable area of development is language.

Riley's vocab is expanding at an amazing pace (to us. don't know how it compares to smart kids)

He has taken a little step backward though, and I can only attribute it to something in the air or water. (or both since our air is mostly water)

His verbal handicap is one quite common to our area, but not one used by anyone he is regularly exposed to.

This abomination is the use of "me."

I don't know enough about diagramming sentences to explain what part of speech the word plays. (maybe if Loula reads this she can clue us in)

What was once, "I reach it," has now become, "I reach it, me."
I like it, me.
I eat it, me.
I silly, me.

Hopefully it'll be something he grows out of, but for now it is pretty hilarious just because it is so common around here. He's now well on his way to being a Waterboy character.

If anyone actually reads this and lives anywhere but South Louisiana, I would love to hear feedback on whether such appending of "me" is common in other regions or cultural enclaves.

I'll move on now, me.

Last Sunday, Riley got all mechanical and helped Daddy and Poppy change the water pump on Nonnie's Jeep.

Just like Daddy and Poppy, his shirt was feeling a good bit of tension in the gut region.

Saying that he helped may be a little stretch, but he did stand right by us and bang a screwdriver on his 4 wheeler.

Then he moved on to putting sockets and other tools in the frame rails and bumper of my Jeep, which is a major man faux pas and got him kicked out of the garage.

Danzition

When bedtime approaches, we pretty much split the reading duties.
Usually, Riley is ready for bed and goes down easy, but not on Wednesday.
No big deal though. He fussed for a little while, then fell asleep.

The next morning, I looked at the monitor and saw an open book in the bed.
I asked Joan if she put it there and she denied.
He's grabbed books from his bookshelf before, so I didn't really think anything of it.

Things proved to be a little different when he finally woke up and I went to retrieve him.
On the monitor I had seen one book.

When I got in there, I noticed that it was actually 20 books.
He had just about cleaned off the bookshelf and had very little room left to sleep.

I really wish I could see what he did with them during the night, especially since the open book was his "Go Cajuns" book and it was opened to the fight song page that he tries to sing along to.

But no complaints here. Whatever it takes to foster a love of reading (before formal schooling kills that spirit.)

Friday's weather was perfect, so I took Riley and Anna to Bach Lunch to see the Lost Bayou Ramblers.
Anna enjoyed the music, but Riley is on a "fear of loud noises" kick.

One thing they both agreed on was the fun of riding in the Jeep, and the wonders it does for your hair.

After catching the band, we headed over to Johnson's, where Riley had his first encounter with (semi) random public recognition and he and Anna got to meet some of the nice ladies who read the blog: Ms Christi, Ms Becky, Ms Nicole, and Ms Frances.
At the same time, Anna got to meet her semi-doppelganger, another 2.5 year old red-headed-girl named Anna.

Riley's not big on his celebrity status though, so he refused to tell them hi.

Then while Anna killed a brisket stuffed grilled cheese (a hearty meal), Riley discovered the non-gastronomical joys of salt and pepper shakers.

Now do you see why we try to only bring him to outdoor restaurants?

Saturday, Mommy and Daddy were scheduled to go to an engagement party in New Orleans.

Coincidentally, Anna's family was spending the weekend at Lesley's for a Saints game.
It worked out because we were able to turn it into a zoo day, and we had built in babysitters during the party.
Added bonus- we've already gotten our money's worth out of our Audubon membership, less than a month after buying it.

Riley is usually hesitant about approaching most non-goat animals, but really enjoyed chasing a giant tortoise.

Then both kids manned up and petted a baby alligator.

(is "petted" really a word?)

One of the highlights of their day, of course, was the very non-zoo-specific act of running laps through an archway in the Mayan ruins.

Riley made a few unassisted trips up Monkey Hill, and only had one close call were he almost tumbled backward to certain doom.

All of that hill climbing made them tired.
Zombie mode set in and was quickly overtaken by log mode.

After a short nap, Riley enjoyed the sea lions (a name that melted a few of his brain cells)

and then, for the second day in a row, a set by the Lost Bayou Ramblers.

Riley and Mommy enjoyed some exploring and finding the oddest zoo creature of the day.

Riley and Anna both enjoyed their new white-alligator-chomping-head-on-a-stick-thingies.

One of the many positives about the Audubon zoo is that their merch prices, in addition to the memberships, are really reasonable. (and you get 10% off merch as a member.)

2 alligator chompers and an alligator fridge magnet came to 8 bucks with tax.

Taking advantage of cheap prices and membership discounts, we headed over to the carousel.

It's only a dollar for members to ride, and adults don't have to pay if accompanying a small child. That makes it less than half of what our local zoo charges for their rickety, quarter mile train loop/exhaust huffing experience.

After much debate, Riley chose a lion for his first carousel whirl.

He started out with a two handed death grip on the pole.

then, as we got up to full speed, he went kinda bullrider with one hand.

and finally got cocky enough to pull a "Look ma, no hands!"

On the way out, Lesley was brave enough to attempt a photo with both tots.
Here's as close as we got to success.

On the way home, we stopped at Creole Creamery on Prytania, for ice cream.
They've got some pretty unique, homemade flavors.

Best of all, they do something every ice cream place should do.
Instead of locking you down to ordering a single scoop of a single flavor, they offer the option of ordering a 4 mini scoops sampler, which Joan and I both did as we are royalty in the Land of Indecisiveness.

Some flavors were hits, and some were misses.
Don't order the Creole Cream Cheese unless you really, really, really like cream cheese.
Even if you just really, really like cream cheese, stick with something safer like Brownie Batter or Bananas Foster. (both excellent.)

Regardless of ice cream quality or local ambiance, Riley and Anna always have fun together.

We ended family day back at Lesley's so Mommy and Daddy could get dressed up for the party.

Finally, since he's been busy with lots of letters and numbers (H1N1, PhD, etc) I'll hijack a little bit of Paul's blog theme and write about food and recipes.

When mealtime comes around, Riley's back on a guacamole kick.

And he tried his hand at cooking this week, but was a little too arrogant and presumptive when he decided to take a shot at making rice pudding.

Ha, Ha. See what I did there?
Rice.
Pudding.
Rice Pudding.

Bet you're saying, "I wish I hadn't read that, me."

Life is a Highway

2009-11-01T15:47:00.003-06:00

I could bore you with the usual, "Riley is talking more and more." but from now on lets just assume that would be said in every post.

Let's just pick up where we left off last week.

Early Sunday afternoon, we headed down to Joan's family's compound in Erath to tell her great grandmother happy 100th birthday.

Riley got to be around a baby, Hope, the daughter of Joan's cousin Ben, and his wife, Jen.
She held his attention for about a second and a half before he went back to playing with the big boys, Hope's older cousins David and Evan.

It was the first time he's gotten to really play with bigger boys and he held his own pretty well considering his communication skills relative to theirs.

He also got a chance to play with a real piano, and quite pleasantly he did more than just mash handfuls of keys.
He very deliberately pressed one or two keys at a time and even explored the full dynamic ranges of the instrument.

From there , Mommy and Daddy headed down to New Orleans to meet up with Nanny for the Our Lady Peace show.

On the way down, we listened to the atrocious first half of the Saints game.
We almost didn't watch the second half, but we decided to grab a seat in the bar at Copeland's cheesecake Bistro, just in case.
We were not disappointed.
In addition to their awesome crawfish ravioli (imagine ravioli fried in Popeye's batter, then covered in cream sauce) we got to see one of the greatest halves of a football game I've ever witnessed.

It was also a totally different experience because everyone else in the bar was New Orleanian African American Church ladies whose cheering style is quite different from that of our Lafayettian yuppie friends. Fun times.

With a great win in the books we headed downtown to the HOB.

We got there pretty early and had a great spot.
Even better, for the first time in the dozens of shows I've been to, there was an opening band I'd never heard of that was actually good.

Check out Company of Thieves. not the greatest band ever, but pretty entertaining.

By 9:30 OLP came on and played a very strong set.
All of their big hits virtually non-stop.
They could definitely teach Blues Traveler a thing or two regarding show pacing.

The only downside was the blinding backdrop lights.

Best part was the show was done by 11 and we were back on the road to Lafayette.

Life was life during the week, not worth typing about.

Friday evening we went to Ciao Bella Pizza with Anna's family. My parents also came with my g-ma.

There are not many things Riley likes more than spending all day and all evening with Anna and my mom.

The pizza was pretty good, but there are a few pizza places in Lafayette I'd pick over it.

Riley's main course was a sucker.

He couldn't be distracted from the toy choo-choo by either tiramisu or brownies and ice cream.

Saturday morning we hit Great Harvest for breakfast.
He didn't want anything to do with their excellent baked goods, but they have books, so he survived.

Next we were off to Granny & Grandad's to visit Caroline and the Baton Rouge crew, now freshly de-swine-flu'd

There Uncle Paul taught Riley the humbling game of Chase the Laser Pointer.

and Paul learned his own lesson regarding the cardio effects of the indoor stroller roller coaster game.

The kids loved it, and were not afraid to say so.

Then everyone took advantage of being on the last block of a dead end to have a nice family stroll.

Aunt Liz heard everyone was walking down the street so she wore her street walker shoes.

With near perfect weather we headed down to Johnson'ss Boucaniere for lunch.
Hard to beat superbly seasoned boneless ribs in a plate with boudin, beans and mac.

Unless you're Riley, then its hard to beat 2 bottlecaps.

When he finally went down for a nap, mommy whipped together his first halloween costume.
He got to dress up as a highway.

As the legally appointed hour drew near, Cousin Caroline arrived dressed as a pirate with her crew in tow, and we all headed down to Cinderella's castle (Anna's House)

Three kids in strange outfits don't make the best studies in photographic cooperation.

Riley first decided it would be fun to hit Anna with her princess wand,

but quickly retreated when she got fed up.

Then he tried to make up for it with a goofy hug.

The great thing about his costume is he always had a toy to play with and a prop to ham things up with.

Eventually Caroline got tired of Riley and Anna's dillying and dallying and ringing around the rosey and signaled that the trick or treating should begin.

Riley and Anna raced ahead like kids itching to run in the streets.

Caroline decided to be the responsible one and help push the empty stroller.

Things peaked kinda early when Riley got a sucker at the second stop.
That was all he needed for his night to be complete.

He and the other short-legger spent the rest of the night chauffeured in the stroller with his face/neck/chest becoming progressively browner and stickier as he made headway into the sucker.

There's social commentary to be made about trick or treat trespassers who just pull up in cars and start walking the neighborhood, but I don't have the energy.
Plus Joan and I are about to leave to go see This Is It, the closest we'll ever get to a Michael Jackson concert (until he comes out of hiding for that triple bill with Elvis and Tupac.)

I do want to leave you with a question, and since I know you read this every week, you might be able to help:

When did our little baby become a little boy?