Movie Blog

In the spirit of Julie & Julia, I'm going to be more thorough and consistent in my movie reviews. I'm going to throw in TV reviews (I watch a few fun things on hulu). I may even go crazy and throw in a book review or album review.

Make my day and comment on the movie blog!

9 months

Violet had her 9 month checkup. She continues to be long and lean - 50 percentile for weight, 90 for height, and 95 for head. The doctor described her as developing preciously since he said that the average baby crawls around 10-11 months and she crawled at 6. I kind of don't believe him, though, since I see the other kids at daycare doing the same thing. My baby development book has her tracking right on target, with some things a little early. Of course, I think she's brilliant.

Violet only uses her pacifier while sleeping. Today she woke up and took it out of her mouth. It's a tiny thing, but something she hasn't done before. It's so cool to get to witness her learn new associations and more complex behaviors. She wants to keep the binky, but she knows that the next thing that is going to happen is I'm going to dramatically drop it in the bed.

And, she loooooves black beans. Yuck!

Everyday changes

9 months old on Friday! I'm amazed by how much Violet grows and changes every day. She is starting to develop a vocabulary. We know she can say momma, and think she has daddy (sounds like da-ee) and no. She's good at communicating her need non-verbally, but hasn't picked up on any of the sign language we've been doing for the past 4 months. Since she seems to be good verbally, I'm guessing that she'll skip signing and go straight to talking.

Her dismounts are getting a little more coordinated now that she realizes that she can bend her knees, making it a little easier for her to get from standing to sitting. Today she made her first attempt at cruising - travelling while holding on to furniture. This was accomplished while also mastering the fine art of clothes sorting (aka pulling clothes out of drawers and bins).

Her eating skills have exploded as well. She can now eat with her hands and get about 50% of it in her mouth. She will eat ANYTHING that we give her - eggplant, hummus, zucchini, feta, pita, carrots, pizza, spaghetti, lemons, oranges, onions, celery, lettuce, tomatoes... She's just now cutting her first tooth, so it all has to be pretty mushy. It keeps her quite busy, freeing us up to eat like civilized people. Yay!

On a different note, I have returned my wedding ring. It has spent almost as much time at the jewelers at it did on my finger, so they have agreed to a refund. Let me know if you find any cool rings that I should look at!

Mama

Violet continues to be a very happy and sweet baby. She is becoming more communicative/interactive which means she's better at indicating what she wants and what she doesn't want.

The big challenge seems to be around food. She'll eat baby food/purees great at daycare, but doesn't want to do this at home. We think this is why she tends to be crabbier on the weekends. She's getting good at eating finger foods and loves citrus fruits.

It's a lot of fun to watch her stand and then make her way to sitting again. She slowly lowers herself down using a variety of different methods. She will put her butt down on carpet and do a mish-mash lowering and butt down and splits on wood floors. We keep trying to get it on film, but she gets distracted by the camera.

Violet is also saying "mama" and knows that word is for me! She clearly knows that I'm the smartest, funniest, and most interesting person in the world. Just ask Jim :)

Video of Violet

Though she has been doing it at daycare for a couple weeks this is the first time Jodi and I got to see Violet pull herself up. Now it's on, she has already started to grab things from higher up on shelves.

Baby Pics

Here's a link to the pics from the photo shoot we had a few weeks ago. The event code is our kid's name. (Email me if you don't know her name and I'll send it to you) Jim & I needed some specific head shots or nature shots for work, so there are a few odd ones thrown in there.

Let me know if you would like me to order any for you.

Also, please consider donating to the Ohio Environmental Council! It's such an amazing organization, that they hired me to work there!

Violet's First Halloween

Violet proved to us that she can hang on to something, if she really wants to. She clung to the mini candy bar for about an hour, turning it to mush.

coin scam

My dad told us about how you can get a ton frequent flyer miles for spending $ on a credit card. He bought silver dollars, which we thought was hilarious. Here's a guy that has taken it to the extreme. Scroll down to the entry with all of the pics. It's crazy and impressive all at the same time.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/833911-buy-presidential-dollar-coins-cc-face-value-free-shipping-341.html

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Circleville pumpkin festival

This American Life and Health Care

So anyone that had ever been in a car with Jodi and I knows that we listen to NPR all the time (and yes we do give). Over the years I have had an on again off again relationship with This American Life, an NPR show. Having bought an Iphone last year I started listening to a lot of NPR shows via podcast, including This American Life (I finish about one out of three episodes, some weeks Ira Glass really gets on my nerves).

The last two weeks This American Life tackled the sticky subject of the health care debate. They did a show two weeks ago talking about the three things that make health care expensive: Doctors, Patients and Insurance Companies (Episode 391). Last week they looked at Insurance Companies a little closer (Episode 392). I'm only 15 minutes into last week's episode and they are really interesting. For example they say the evidence shows that the time when health care costs actually decreased and health care improved was when HMO's were in power (remember how much we all hated them?). As usual it's NPR's dispassionate look at things from a truly journalistic perspective.

I know this is a sticky issues for a lot of people, I'm one of them. Coming from the perspective of someone who thinks we are simply delaying the move to a single payer system, these episodes gave a me pause to think otherwise. Though I'm still convinced single payer will win out to be honest.

You can listen to them or download them on their web site

new photos

We're so busy that blogging has seriously fallen by the wayside. We got pics taken at our house and the nearby park on Sunday. Here's a sneak preview of the photos.

http://www.amysuzannephotographic.com/apps/blog/show/1924831-living-life

Some decision are so tough

It was tough for her to decide but we had a long conversation about it and Violet has finally decided where she wants to attend college.



Go Blue!!!

Bananas!

Violet started on solids last weekend. So far she's had apples, rice cereal (who knew that rice was a cereal?), and banana. Here's video of Jim feeding Violet some bananas.

disappearing car door

It's only a concept, but man if it's real it's really innovative.

Thoughts for the day

A friend sent these to me, thought you might enjoy.

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized you're going in the opposite direction of where you’re supposed to be going? But instead of just turning 180° and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I’d watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*ck was going on when I first saw it.

The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I’d already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that, “Both go left, Both go right” game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that's is when I realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through - and the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can recognize their own image.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

Whenever someone says, "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say. "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in ... (10 second lapse) ...ummm ...G-Spot".

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

While driving yesterday, I saw a banana peel on the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it ... thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be much more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."

Ever notice how bad decisions make good stories?

I don't even know where my camera is. Bad parent.

At 5.5 months, Violet is working on sitting up and standing. She is a very determined little person. She can sit up, unassisted for a couple of seconds, although she can't get herself into a sitting position alone. She can also stand, hanging on to something for a few seconds. Same story - she can't pull herself to standing. She hasn't made any progress on crawling forward. She is, however, quite a pro at accidentally scooting back.

In 2 weeks she gets to start on solids. She really wants to eat now, but Jim has a ton of allergies and waiting until 6 months gives her the best chance of reducing her allergic reactions. According to her due date, she's 6 months now.

Is that cheating?

We went hiking in the Hocking Hills yesterday. Violet loves being outside. She can spend hours and hours just looking around. Bring her indoors and she can only maintain her attention span for about 10 minutes before she wants a new activiity.

In other baby news, our plan is to adopt a child in a year and a half. It takes a while to save the $ and go through the process, so we should be starting now. I'm surprised that it isn't more expensive. There are 2 nonprofits in town that charge 16k and there is an 11k federal tax credit, for a grand total of 5k. It's possible that there will be other expenses, depending on the individual sitution, but that fee includes homestudy and all other usual costs. I've talked with 2 couples who adopted from these local nonprofits and said it worked great. I need to ask the people who chose other options why they didn't go this route, just to make sure it is as easy as they all saying. If you have any insights, please share them!

Movie Reviews

Lo and behold, people did read my movie reviews. Now that I have an audience, so to speak, I'm going to start writing again. Check out new reviews for Religulous, Bill Maher's documentary on religion, and The Contract, a semi-thriller starring Morgan Freeman and John Cusack.

http://jodismovies.blogspot.com/

Darling Violet

Darling Violet, my little heart, sweetest little baby, all full of laughter and smiles, 5 months old... has started to whine.

Party over.

Recent pics

Violet sleeps with her bum in the air.

Chillin' on the back deck. Yay Jim for rebuilding it!

4 month checkup

Violet had her 4-month check up on Monday. She now weighs 14 pounds, 2 ounces which puts her in the 70 percentile for weight and is in the 80 percentile for height. She remains a champion head-grower in the 90th percentile.

The most exciting update is that she laughed for the first time yesterday. I tried to get it on film, but she clams up as soon as I break out the camera!