I'm a bad blogger

I'm terrible at blogging. I always have such good intentions when I start. And I don't know if it's good or bad to admit this, but I'm constantly thinking of stuff to write and sometimes even type it out, but never post. Why is a whole other story but it has to do with a good mix of laziness and thinking it isn't good enough. More laziness, I think. My nickname isn't Lazy Laney for nothing!

But now I have so much to catch up on. Which is why I never was good at keeping diaries when I was little. I always felt the need to catch my diary up on everything that had been going on. I couldn't just start talking about how Steve and I were in a fight. I had to tell how the first day of 9th grade we started talking and then went to Skatin' Place and started "going out" and then he cheated on me and now we were broken up. For the 105th time. How would my diary be able to keep up if it didn't know all the background? That would get to exhausting so I would just stop writing.

But after reading "Go Ask Alice" I always destroyed my old journals. The thought of me dying and those being my lasting words haunted me. I think I confessed to much to those diaries. I could see them being read out loud to me by a prosecutor one day. You know how much they care about high school keggers. So I ultimately always ripped out every page and tore them into lots of tiny pieces. I remember once even pouring water over them thinking they would get into this big mushy mess. But they were sorta slick pages that just kind of beaded up with water.

So now I've realized that, besides all of the tons of little things that have happened since I last blogged, lots of big things have happened, too. I should catch this blog up so it knows what I'm talking about. And then maybe I'll destroy this one day when Sam wants evidence of my laziness to get emancipated or something.

bathtime

Sam hasn't liked baths since he was born. The 5 weeks he was in the NICU he had to get sponge baths and then when he finally came home we couldn't give him regular baths until his shunt incision healed. So it was always cold and unpleasant. Then when we finally got him in the bathtub he seemed less than thrilled. I don't think he liked laying back in there. I worried that he would hate baths forever and soon I'd have Pigpen from Peanuts on my hands.

But now all has changed since Sam can sit up on his own and has learned the joy of splashing. I laugh so much when he takes baths now. He has so much fun. Baths should be this fun for everyone.

This video clip is from yesterday, right after he ate some watermelon. So you may see chunks of red floating around. When I first put him in the bath I realized he was still eating! He also just learned to clap and loves to do it - it's the cutest thing to me.

parenting advice

Just a little tip I learned today - don't feed your kid prunes and then put him in the jumperoo. Bad news all around.

abracadabra

So magically my camera started working again. I have no idea what happened. But I was using the time without it to get things done - organizing and cleaning things that I had seriously been neglecting. I got so much done on Sunday.

Then yesterday, literally as I am about to pack everything up to ship off to Nikon, I decided - what the heck, let's see if it works... So I plug in the battery charger and slip the battery in. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? A beautiful flashing orange light to tell me it was charging. I had tried that so many times over the weekend. Always feeling foolish thinking it's not going to just magically start to work again. But sure enough, it did. So I let it charge for a little while, then tried the battery in my camera and the camera worked again, too.

It's wonderful. It's a blessing. I'm so happy I checked it once more! I was really bummed at the thought of being without it for so long.

In lighter news... sweet Samuel cut his first tooth. It seemed like it was never going to come. You can kind of see it in the picture here. It's on his bottom right. It looks the the bottom left one is about to pop up, too. I love the look of baby smiles with two bottom teeth!

Oh wow, I just love this baby boy more than I could ever begin to know how to express into words. It's overwhelming.

it was good while it lasted

After only a month in my care, I have broken my camera. I have no idea how. Thankfully I am better with my child than my things.

Last Friday I took several pictures of Sam and was uploading them to my computer when my camera shut off. Thinking it was just the battery being drained, I tried charging the battery. But the light indicating it was either charging or completely charged didn't illuminate, so I tried the charger in another outlet. Still nothing. I tried the battery back in the camera and nothing happened. Then I tried plugging my camera in with the a/c adapter and it still wouldn't come on. So it appears to be trouble with both the battery AND the camera.

This is quite upsetting. I've become so fond of my camera. I take pictures constantly. It's my instant cure for boredom. And I love capturing Sam's cute little faces and new tricks.

So today I am going to mail it to Nikon in hopes that at least the majority of the issues are covered under the warranty. But the whole process of shipping it to them, having the issue diagnosed and fixed, and then getting it shipped back will all take about a month, I'm guessing. A whole month without it! That's as long as I've had it now. This sucks big time.

I still have my old camera so I suppose can just use that. It's much better than nothing, no doubt. But I have really grown accustomed to the beauty that my D40 produces. The quality is just so superior to anything I've had before. I feel like it's improved my skill tremendously. I want to take better pictures because it's such a great camera.

Woe is me...

same ol'

So I'm terrible at keeping up with this. I always have good intentions with blogs or journals but it always ends up this way - weeks or months between postings, only to have the next posting be all about why I never post. Oh the cycle...

The Griners are doing well these days. Sam is 9 months old now - NINE months!! I can't believe it. Forgive my triteness - but it really does all happen so fast. He'll be one in only 3 months. He isn't crawling yet and really doesn't even seem close. But he's learned to give kisses which is so sweet.

Sometimes he messes up and instead tries to gouge your eyes out.



Sammy sure loves his Justin.

Sam is developing so well despite being preemie, a grade III IVH, and the resulting hydrocephalus and necessary VP shunt surgery. We were told by a couple of his doctors to expect the worse, basically. That he would be severely delayed at best, but at worst he could have Cerebral Palsy or wheelchair-bound. There still may be issues that arise from all of this. It certainly makes me freak out over any cough or fever. But he is doing so well. It's such a blessing and so amazing to see him thrive.

He is totally normal for his actual age and is developing just as he should. Sometimes I think he's smaller, but it seems like so many kids are big for their age. Justin isn't the tallest guy in the world, so it isn't crazy to think Sam will be short. But this girl at our church nursery asked me if he was 4 months old. I told her he's 9 months old and she said - wow, he's so small. This is a woman who is pregnant and has a child. Sam doesn't look 4 months to me. But whatever. Maybe she was looking at my baby belly that doesn't want to go away.

Oh yeah, and my new camera is the best! I love it so much. I'm really thankful for it and have used it a lot already. I'm trying to learn as much as I can now about how to take better pictures.

Hey, it's a start

I'm so happy that I had Sam during a time with digital cameras. I can't imagine having to buy and develop tons of film. I take so many pictures of Sam - borderline obsessive, I think. That would be a lot of dough for film. And I would have so many wasted shots. I delete a lot of blurry and bad shots. Although not all. Even the awful ones - it's so hard to delete his cute little face!

I do long for a new camera, though. I want a Canon Rebel or a Nikon so badly. They are really expensive though and I honestly can't imagine a time when we will have that sort of discretionary income. But, stranger things have happened. Is a camera a bad thing to pray for? I'll have to pray about that.

I was so upset for awhile though because Justin asked what my hobby was one day and I thought "I don't have a hobby!". I mean, I like to read, watch movies, tv, play with my son. But are those hobbies? No, not really. I don't want tv watching to be my hobby. Nothing I'd admit to anyway. But then it hit me. DUH! I love photography. You don't have to be amazing at something for it to be a hobby! I compare myself with my sister too much. She is a fantastic photographer. But Sam is a good muse. He makes me want to take better pictures. In time, we'll see how I grow.

I've been wanting to start a blog for a really long time and I finally set this one up a couple weeks ago. Then I've been wondering how to start off. What should my first blog be about? I finally decided today to stop making it so dang complicated and just write something. It doesn't have to be funny or profound. So here it is. Neither funny nor profound. Just regular daily crap.