Heather Shaw

River, weeks 44, 45 & 46

gryffyn@there.net — Fri, 26 Sep 08 12:49:00 UT

New pics up of the past three weeks over at Flickr.

River has stood on his own several times. And this week? He started taking a few steps while he's up there. Very exciting!!

On the island, we do it island style

gryffyn@there.net — Wed, 10 Sep 08 20:21:00 UT

I wanted to do a whole fancy entry, describing the wonderful time I had in Maui with pictures scattered throughout. And, while I still want to do that, I know myself well enough to know that I should probably not wait until I have to link to my Flickr set of Maui pics. It's a huge one, though. Here are a few highlights, for those of you not inclined to click-through:

River, week 42 (not Hawai'i yet)

gryffyn@there.net — Sun, 7 Sep 08 12:55:00 UT

Hey, I finally got the week before our Hawai'i vacation up over at Flickr. Check out River, week 42 for some cute pics!

Maui coming soon!

Two new sets of River pics!

gryffyn@there.net — Fri, 22 Aug 08 13:17:00 UT

My baby got glasses! They told me it would take 2-4 weeks for him to get used to them and wear them all the time. We put them on, he fussed for a few seconds, then he looked around. He got it. He could see! I swelled with a new emotion -- parental pride. He didn't freak about this thing strapped to his face, he just realized why and dealt with it! My smart boy!

I went with the comfy, bendy glasses (made in Italy) that are a bit on the dorky/ goggly side, rather than the stylish Fisher Price glasses that have hinges and don't bend. I mean, the kid still falls on his face on a regular basis, and he still has to master standing and walking on his own! After that, we'll buy the cuter ones.

Though, to be honest, these are awfully cute in their dorkitude.

River, week 40

River, week 41

I sold a story! (and a short River film)

gryffyn@there.net — Wed, 20 Aug 08 08:50:00 UT

Hi everyone! I sold a story!! Yay! It's to the same place that Tim sold one a few months ago, and it's still sekrit, so I can't tell you exactly *where* I sold it, but it's a really cool project that I'm very proud to be a part of. The story I sold was "The Little M@tch Girl" (and, even though Tim sold them "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" this is not a Hans Christian Andersen themed antho) and it's one I'm very proud of (the most recent one I've written, too, not counting my short shorts and novel chapters).

I'd forgotten how good it feels to sell a story! Whoo!

I know I never got around to posting River pics last week. To tide you over, here is a short film (28 seconds) of River discovering the cat's water dish:

Cheers!

River at 9 months!

gryffyn@there.net — Fri, 8 Aug 08 11:29:00 UT

We've reached the equinox of in-vs-out! River at 9 months is up at Flickr!

He says "Ba-ba!" when he wants his bottle.

He has stood unassisted for a few seconds several times in the past week.

He clearly understands some of what we say (including, of course, "turn the page").

He enjoys screaming at a high pitch, just 'cause he can.

River turns the pages

gryffyn@there.net — Mon, 4 Aug 08 16:52:00 UT

This one's backlit; I'll try to get a better film of this sometime (and preferably when I'm not all sniffy from my cold), but for now, you can watch River turn the pages of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?

River, week 38

gryffyn@there.net — Sun, 3 Aug 08 22:17:00 UT

River, week 38 is up at Flickr. It's only through Thursday of last week, because I've been doing this a bit at a time since then. We had a busy weekend, and I didn't have time to put them up before today.

River and I both had a cold (he got it first, as near as I can tell, from the YMCA daycare. Sigh.) this week, and we're both still recovering. It's making physical stuff -- like walking to and all around, and from, the Lake Fest today -- exhausting. Still, I also managed to go see my sister's Flamenco show at La Taza de Cafe on Friday night (she was awesome! I love Flamenco in an intimate, restaurant setting), and to the Impressionist's Picnic where we hung out with Stephany and Zach (who is only a couple weeks younger than River) yesteray. No wonder I've been so tired lately.

River, week 37

gryffyn@there.net — Sun, 27 Jul 08 16:28:00 UT

A new batch of River pics up over at Flickr! As always, here are a few of the best for those who aren't into clicking through that many photos every week:

River, week 36

gryffyn@there.net — Sun, 20 Jul 08 19:28:00 UT

I finally got pictures of River, week 36 up at Flickr. Enjoy!

River at 8 months!

gryffyn@there.net — Sat, 12 Jul 08 06:55:00 UT

Well, in case you haven't heard (from Tim's blog or via Facebook or Twitter), yesterday went about as well as it could have. They put River under, which was harder this time because he wouldn't just lie there and let them put the mask on, so he sat against me while we he struggled, and the anesthesiologist caught his head as he nodded off and I struggled not to sniffle as I teared up in the sterile room. But! They only had to do an exam, and the exam showed that the left eye looked "phenomenal" and that the right eye, while not great, is at about half the pressure it was last time (17 instead of 35, whatever that means) and does not, at this time, need surgery. If both had been awesome, we'd come back in three months for pretty much the same thing, but since that right eye is borderline, we come back in two months. But! No surgery yesterday! No bug, not even a pirate, but a full-sighted babycakes! Yay! What a relief!

This week's photos, including some at the hospital, are up over at Flickr.

And we have two YouTube videos, too. The first is a very short of one where we got River to say "Mama" which he says all the time but we wanted to catch on film. He hasn't eaten in over six hours, which is part of the reason he was saying it so much. I don't usually respond by saying, "Yay!" but we'd been trying to get him to say it for the camera for awhile.

The second is Tim roughhousing with River and making him giggle in delight, despite the fact that this is one *hungry* kid. River's always surprisingly good at the hospital.

Stress and worry

gryffyn@there.net — Thu, 10 Jul 08 21:33:00 UT

Hi all.

So, I was hoping to get the pictures up tonight, but I've just been too scattered all day long, worrying about River's surgery tomorrow. Well, it's an appointment where they put him under to check his eyes, but looking at the right one, it's clear to us that he'll most likely need surgery on that one. We're hoping for a pirate (one eye) this time, and not a bug (both eyes). And, of course, we hope it all goes perfectly well (knock on wood) and this is the last surgery and he can get by without them from now on and he'll be a healthy, happy kid (knock on wood).

Anyway, just wanted to say sorry for not getting the River pics up. And to ask you all to think good thoughts or pray or whatever it is you feel comfortable doing to send some good energy our way.

Thanks.

River, week 34 (and other things)

gryffyn@there.net — Thu, 3 Jul 08 20:49:00 UT

Hey, the picture I took of sea turtles at the Maui Ocean Center is in the iPhone version of the Schmap Maui and Molokai Guide. No, I'm not sure why my last name is (the only one) in all caps. I don't think I submitted it like that.

A very busy week for me, filling in for my coworker while still trying to keep up with my usual day job. At home, in my tiny bit of spare time, I've been keeping up with the WiiFit every day. I'm not sure how much progress I'm making, though it must be some. I cannot believe how out of shape I am! Of course, a lot of it comes from the C-section, and the fact that I still don't have good core strength. It's hard, not being able to do exercises that I have, no matter how out of shape I've been in the past, been able to do (some of them well). Or have them just wreck me like this. My lower back hurts sometimes so badly I worry, but at the same time I need to do *something* to start getting that strength back there. And then there's my hip, which I'm in physical therapy for but has not felt right (always out of sorts, sometimes very painful) since the baby was born. I don't think I've quite grokked this whole major abdominal surgery, at least not the vastness of what that means to me as a person. It's hard to accept that your fan kicks will never be able to soar over people's heads again...

What a bummer that is! The truth is, even if my hip is never the same, River is completely worth it and I'd do it all again in a heartbeat to have him. So there.

River's been quite the little milestone baby, and he can crawl pretty well (he doesn't pick up his legs much, but drags them now with his knees bent, which is progress) and is, I think, working on standing while not holding onto anything. He'll pull himself up and stand for awhile, just hanging out, getting used to standing. And other times he pulls himself up an lets go, clearly trying to balance himself without having to hold on (he usually does this in the big bed, where it's soft landing for his little butt as he falls on it over and over again). If you put him down in the living room or office he will crawl over to the music center, get it going, then pull himself up to standing at it. It's very cool that he can go after things he wants now. And terrifying.

Anyway, his week 34 pictures are up at Flickr. Behold his adorableness!

The Magic of Aleister

gryffyn@there.net — Wed, 2 Jul 08 10:23:00 UT

My sister sent me this story about 5-year-old nephew, Aleister in email today, and it was so sweet and kind that I got all teary and just had to share:

"I had an incredibly fun day flying across the country with Aleister today, if you can believe that spending your day on airplanes and in airports could be fun.

"But seriously, on our return from Indiana, Aleister and I caught a 6:00am flight out of Indianapolis and arrived in Houston at 7:15 in the morning for a three hour layover. Lucky for us there was a kid's play area right next to where we got off the plane and so, having hours to kill, I didn't mind obliging Aleister with some play time. I settled into the comfy couches lining the play area and noticed there was one other kid there with his mom. The kid happened to have Down's Syndrome and was a little bigger than Aleister. He was twirling these long socks around and shouting very loudly with mostly incomprehensible words. Of course, Aleister didn't give it much thought and proceeded to climb around and begin playing. I tried to catch the mom's eye to give the usual "mom to mom, gee kids have so much energy, eh?" smile thing, but I couldn't catch her eye. When I looked over at the mom she just had this extremely uncomfortable look on her face, she was standing with her arms crossed, brow furrowed, and kept making faces at her kid as though she was extremely embarrassed by him. I felt for her cause although this kid's behavior didn't really make either Aleister or I bat an eyelash, I can't imagine what she must have gone through that would have created this uncomfortableness for her in regards to her kid.

"So, I sat there and read my book sipping coffee and Aleister played and then a really really cool thing happened. Aleister asks the kid if he wants to play. The boy didn't really make full comprehensible sentences, but he seemed open to the exchange. So, Aleister starts running to the top of this little toy bridge thing and then jumping off the other side and saying, 'do like this! do like this!' I try my best to not appear nervous, but the truth is I am a little worried Aleister might embarrass the mom further because I have no idea what the kid's capabilities are. But then I am pleasantly surprised as the kid also begins to follow Aleister around and does everything he does. He drops those long socks, starts smiling and saying 'wheee!' and before you know it the two boys are 'flying' the play area with arms outstretched and taking turns climbing things. Even better is the other boy turns out to be a bit of a comic and makes a show of climbing up things and pretending to fall down and him and Aleister have me in hysterical laughter. The other mother seems to relax. She is now smiling and laughing in wonderment. Her other, teenage son comes over smiling and sits down next to his mom and I hear her say to him, 'this is incredible! Jimmy never plays with anybody!'

"At one point, Jimmy picks up one of his long socks again and starts swinging it around. Aleister asks him, 'Can I play with the other one?'

"'Oh I don't think so, honey' the mother chimes in 'those are like security blankets to him. Nobody else is allowed to touch them.'

"Much to our surprise, the boy, Jimmy, not only hands Aleister the sock, but leans over and gives him a manly wrestling type of hug.

"Now, Aleister of course is a very kind hearted special magical kid, and my first intention in writing this email was to extoll his unique virtues as such. But the even more amazing thing that I have come to realize in composing this story is that, most children would have done exactly the same thing.

"This is the beautiful magic that we all start out with, the gift we're all given: The ability to see a potential friend in anyone and to bring out the best in others just by asking them to join us in some fun.

"Needless to say, it was a very beautiful beginning to my day and yet one more of the millions of moments that I feel so blessed to be Aleister's mother."

Two You Tube Videos of River

gryffyn@there.net — Fri, 27 Jun 08 11:40:00 UT

The first one here is only 16 seconds long and is pretty cute:

This next one we'll call a "Grandmother Special" and is 3 minutes of River standing and playing. Probably only of interest to his family, but I thought I'd go ahead and post it here anyway:

Have a great weekend!