Time Scales

My dad went in for his bloodwork last week.  The creatinine was still too high for the CT scan so he has an appointment to go back this week and check again.  This waiting is driving me crazy!  But the doctor seems comfortable with the time scale we're working on right now.  He said its not a particularly fast moving form, so we don't need to worry about anything drastic happening between now and when they can get a good picture of the whole thing.  Plus, if he gets it now, the iodine might kill him.  So, you know.  Worth the wait.

Came across this video about a girl who wanted to learn to dance in a year.  It's impressive. 

Baby Graduation

Mila turns one on Saturday.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!  Where has the time gone??  I know all parents say that, but boy does it hit home.

Despite her inner ear issues, Mila is learning to toddle.  She cruises along furniture everywhere and has taken an unassisted step here or there, but yesterday she decided to take things a little farther.  When I picked her up from daycare, the teacher had her standing up.  She took a step back and coaxed Mila to her.  She took 6 steps all by herself!! 

Then, when we were in the bathroom at the ENT yesterday afternoon, she did it again with just me.  I tried to get a video of it, but only got a few steps on my phone.  Here she is, sporting her Hello Kitty sticker from the hearing specialist:

Mila Can Walk! from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

Aiden took his first steps a week before he turned one.  I spent a little time remembering that...  :)

Eating Metal

This is actually a little gross.


Magnetic Putty Magic (Extended Cut) | Shanks FX | PBS Digital Studios from Joey Shanks on Vimeo.

Time Passes

When I think back to my childhood, I felt like it took forever.  I felt like I was a child for so long I couldn't stand it.  I longed for the day when I could run my own life.  Now that I have it, I enjoy and would never want to go back to my childhood.  Not that my childhood was bad, by any means.  I have many fond memories of my family and friends.  I just hated the rules.  When I was younger:  Having to be in bed by 8.  Having to be home by a dark.  Not allowed to have a Nintendo.  Not being able to go from one friend's house to another without asking my parents first.  Not being allowed to wear makeup.  When I reached high school:  Not being allowed to go on dates.  Having to be home by 10, and later midnight.  All are typical childhood limitations.  

I see so much of myself in Aiden.  Stubbornly independent.  I know he cannot stand the limitations and rules we have about watching TV, playing LeapPad, getting dressed and going to bed.  I just hope he can see the fun in things and not focus on all the limitations.  Childhood takes a long time when you're in the midst of it.  

The older I get, the faster time seems to travel.  College was fun, but it was over before I realized what I was living.  Travis and I spent a couple more pre-parental years running amok, but that was soon over as well.  Next came the marriage, house and kids.  Aiden is already 3 years old and our second child is Army crawling all over the house with her mouthful of 5 teeth.  

TIME FLIES.  It really does.  This video puts it into artistic perspective:

 

THE EAGLEMAN STAG from Mikey Please on Vimeo.

LOVE

A CGI Disney short that was made to look like the old school hand drawn movies I grew up with:

If you had 8 hands...

...and then laid on the piano...

Childhood Games

I used to jump over cracks in the road while I sat in the front seat of the car.

 

This cat came with a Jump Button

Silly Mayans

JK. We're all still here. Yay!

Cinematography

I added a new link in the side bar.  Whenever I have some time to kill, I visit this website.  Every week they upload new short films.  The majority of them are pretty fantastic.  It amazes me what some people's imaginations can do.  Check it out if you find you have some time to kill as well.

Short of the Week

Pop Danthology 2012

Popular music of 2012.  I wonder how long it took him to put this together...

Pure Awesomeness

As terrified as I am of birds...

Just a quick step onto my soap box

I do not like to push my political beliefs on others.  99.9% of the time it just ends in anger.  These days, I can't even talk to my husband about it.  But since this is my blog, I figured I'd throw out one comment.  I cannot stand Paul Ryan.  We have complete opposite beliefs.  That is all.

Gummy Bear

Well, Ariel still has not scheduled an appointment with the neurologist or the follow-up visit with the general practioner.  She continues to have episodes pretty much every day.  She said she can feel it coming on for an hour beforehand.  It sounds horrible.  Sometimes I find her very frustrating.

We had a good weekend.  A friend came to visit from out of town so I had a few of our mutual friends over for dinner.  We stayed up late and I drank too much.  It was totally unplanned, but we had a great time!  We let Aiden stay up since our friends had their daughters with them (3 and 8 years old).  Both girls fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie.  Aiden was sitting straight up, eyes wide open, refusing to fall asleep.  When everyone left and it was time for him to go to bed, he still fought us.  I swear, that kid would never sleep if it was up to him.

Sunday we went over to the Yeager's house for dinner.  Aiden and Luke had a dance party towards the end of the night.  I had turned on music before everyone came on Saturday and he showed me his break dancing moves for the first time.  I had no idea he liked to dance like that!  In the past, he has pretty much refused to dance for us.  That's why we put him in the dance class at his daycare.  I guess it opened him up to getting his groove on because he chose to dance on his own.  The funny part is he and Luke have very similar moves.  It was so cute.  They really enjoyed dancing to this music (it really is very catchy):

Men Throwing Rocks With The Other Hand

I'm pretty sure this is how I look when I throw, no matter the arm:


Men Throwing Rocks With The Other Hand from Juan Etchegaray on Vimeo.

Outrageous

Lots of things will have to go right:

Perhaps his seat was uncomfortable?

Vacation Time!

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting over the next week.  My family is in town for the holidays and I plan to keep busy with them.  In the meantime, check out this giant waste of aged grapes:

Hope everyone had a grand Christmas!

Aiden's Dance Moves

Yesterday I left work for a couple hours to watch Aiden's dance class perform.  It was so cute.  I teared up with happiness/pride the entire time.  Thank goodness I recorded some of it because otherwise my only memory would be of a bunch of blurry kids moving around.

In the beginning they are just stretching.  In a couple videos they actually start dancing.  Well, as organized as a bunch of toddlers can be...

There are a lot of other videos if you'd care to watch more than this one.  I could watch them all day.

Happiness Factory

This isn't even Christmas-themed, but there is just something about Coca-Cola commercials this time of year.