February 2004 Archives

New photos have been uploaded to Snapfish in the February 2004 and Portraits folders. Yes, Maddie has MORE portraits. Somehow she has an uncanny ability to get photographers to stop us in the mall or any store with a studio, and offer us some free pics. These were taken for a training session for new photographers at Babies R Us. They needed a baby to pose and we were happy to comply.

In other news, Maddie and I have been enjoying being a part of the Smyrna Moms Club. Maddie attends playgroup every week, and while she and the other babies just drool on each other right now, I'm sure they'll grow to be great friends. Plus, she just loves being around other kids and even tries to "talk" to them. Heck, maybe they understand her. Moms Club has also been great for me to meet other moms, ask questions, and get together for a Moms Night Out once in a while.

Check back in a few days for more pics of Bill's birthday celebration. We're continuing our tradition of visiting a Brazilian churascuria and pigging out on every cut of meat imaginable. I wonder who will get sick this year...
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I made some major changes to the site today, but you probably won't notice any of them. I basically rebuilt the pages using CSS and server-side includes so that all of the pages (including the photo subpages) fit the same theme, and so that I can update the style with the flick of a switch. Now, when I make a change to the look of the site, it will happen on all of the pages at once.

Like I said, nothing you would notice. But it was something I'd been wanting to do for a while!
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A very Happy Birthday to Bill, who turns 32 today. It's hard to believe, but just a year ago we were celebrating his birthday AND impending parenthood. :)

Everyone, please join me in wishing Bill a great day today by leaving a comment below.

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Today was supposed to be 65° and partly sunny, at least according to the forecast. But it's overcast and cold, and it looks like it's going to rain. What's up with Atlanta? This is supposed to be a warm weather town, and we've had nothing but rain and cold for over a month. I'm so freaking sick of it.

Since I can't change the weather, I changed the style of the site. Ahhhh, can you smell the ocean breeze? Hey, it's corny, but what can you do?

By the way, this isn't the big site redesign we have planned. It's just a minor change to get rid of the snowy image I had on here before.
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There were also pictures taken with her bow and arrow, but I guess they didn't turn out as well.

Isn't she the cutest?
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While you're here, be sure to put a pin in the GuestMap. Just click on the button to the left, and you can place a pin showing where you're checking in from!
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To combat the odors created by the dear, departed Mr. Possum, Alecia and I were forced to call upon a secret weapon. That's right, we pulled out the Smelly Bear:

He may look like a soft, cuddly bear. But he's actually made entirely of hard wax. Vanilla-scented wax. No, he's not a candle. In fact, he came with a sticker that sternly said, "Smelly Bear is NOT a candle!" He's a massive air-freshener. You simply pull his bag down and let him breathe, and he fills the air with heavenly scents. We got him as a Christmas gift from Alecia's Aunt Dodo. Until now, we had no clue what to do with Smelly Bear.

To beat back the smell of decay, we took him completely out of his bag. We let him sit on the table for almost a week, while we kept the doors closed and tried to stay out of the stinky room.

Well, the possum smell is almost gone. But we're quickly discovering that we have a new problem.

The entire room now smells like Smelly Bear. I couldn't smell the possum so well, but MAN! Can I smell Smelly Bear!! It's enough to make a grown man gag.
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I know I'm going to totally jinx myself for the next week, but I just have to report that Maddie slept a WHOLE 7 HOURS IN A ROW last night. I know, I'm in shock too. But, wait, it gets better. She woke up, ate, and then went right back to sleep for ANOTHER 3 HOURS without any fuss. I'm so happy I could pee my pants right now.

I'm not sure what did it, but I plan to repeat every single part of last night from now on if that's what it takes. Including the 2 hour trip to the grocery store. I think the people at Kroger are going to get tired of seeing me soon.

Seriously, though, she was so active yesterday, talking to everyone in the store, babbling, and looking at everything. Maybe that had something to do with it.

In other news, Maddie had her 4 month doctor's appointment last week. Doc says she's "perfect" (duh, we knew that) and doing well. She's still little, or petite as doc says, and is in the 25th percentile for height and weight. She's up to 11 lbs. 15 oz. now and 24 inches long. She's reaching for everything around her and trying to put all of it in her mouth. And, like her parents, she'll talk to just about anyone who looks in her direction.

Valentine's Day weekend was great. Bill gave me the greatest gift of all: 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep while he watched Maddie on Saturday morning (see a theme here?) I love that man. New pics of our Valentine's Day weekend are up on Snapfish in the February 2004 and Portraits folders.
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Today we bid farewell to one of the little-known inhabitants of the McLochlin household: Mr. Possum. Not many people knew it, but Mr. Possum lived in the crawlspace under our house. We discovered this just a few months ago when we kept finding the door to our crawlspace open every morning. During the night, we would hear noises under the house (enough to send the dogs into insane barking marathons). One night Bill even stayed up late and spotted Mr. Possum out the bathroom window, taking a stroll outside his crawlspace apartment.

Well, the era of Mr. Possum is no more. We're not sure when, but relatively recently he passed on. Yes, we know this because our TV room now smells like something died in there... literally. There's no way to know if Mr. Possum's body is in the crawlspace or actually in the walls (he had a tendency to climb up into the spaces between them) so we're just waiting it all out. We have the TV room doors closed, the windows to that room open, and a ceiling fan running 24 hours a day. Unfortunately for all of us, the Replay TV system is in that room as well, so no recorded shows for us for a few days, unless we want to brave the smell.

Goodbye, Mr. Possum. Thank you for many sleepless nights (when the freaked-out, barking dogs woke Maddie) and for your parting gift. You won't be forgotten.
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Alecia uploaded a few more pics to the Snapfish site. There's not much there, but we haven't been taking as many pictures as we should. Check the new ones out when you get a chance.

Also, while you're here, feel free to put a pin in our GuestMap. Just click on the link to the left, and place a pin on the map to show where you're logging in from. The map's pretty empty so far. :)

We hope you're all doing well. Talk to you later!
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Okay, I'm baffled. After sending an email out to about forty people, announcing the site's relocation, I expected a little traffic. And, with the traffic, I expected a few people to post comments.

So where is everyone? Did everyone ignore the email, deleting it without checking out the site? Or did people actually stop by, but then neglect to say hi?

I'm not whining about the lack of traffic, if that's actually the case. I write for a website that gets millions of hits each month, and I maintain a blog that also gets decent traffic (though not in the millions). So I don't really care that much if this site gets a ton of traffic.

But I do care if people read without commenting. :) If you stop by, take two seconds to say hi! Is that so much to ask?
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Since I just sent out a big ol' email inviting people to check this page out, it's highly possible that we may get some traffic this week. With that in mind, I thought I'd post a little website 101 lesson for those who may be visiting for the first time.

If you're new to this site, here's how it works:

To the left, you will find links. The ones at the top are archive links (meaning you can read old posts there). Below that, you'll find a link to our pictures at Snapfish.com. This is where you'll go to see any of the pictures we've taken since Maddie was born. The site requires you to register, but it's free. Beneath that link, you'll find pictures from the pre-Maddie era. These are pages on this site, so they don't require registration. They may be slow to load on dialup connections, however. Finally, at the bottom, you'll find links to our friends and families. It's not a big list, but we'll add anyone who wants a link there.

This main area is where we post our updates. Both Alecia and I can post, if we can find the time. As it is, it probably gets updated about twice a week. I know that isn't much, but we have a baby now. Say it: Bay-Bay. Anyway, we'll at least try to post about any major milestones that happen. So bookmark this page if you want to keep up with the bigger events in our happy lives.

Finally, beneath every post (including this one), you'll see the word comment. It may say "2 comments," or "enter a comment," or whatever. This is our flat out FAVORITE part of the website. By clicking on this link, you can talk back to us! Rip on our lack of updates, start a good argument, or just say hi. Whatever you do, it will help us keep in touch with the people we're always thinking about, but never have time to call. And every time you add a comment, an angel gets its wings. So there's that, too.

Anyway, welcome to our simple site. Don't be surprised if you see some changes happen over the next month (but be even less surprised if this site doesn't get a makeover for the next year). And please, leave us a comment or two. :)
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Alecia's right, the Boohbahs totally freak me out. What are they supposed to be? They look like some kind of trippy turtles or something. Trippy turtles with pulsating foreheads, glowing, throbbing bellies, and huge, piercing eyes.

For those of you who haven't seen this show, here's a pic of some toys based on the characters. The toys fail to capture the real horror of these man-sized monstrosities. But I couldn't find any stills from the show online...

I have nightmares where one of them (Zing Zing Zingbah, maybe--or Humbah, the yellow one) finally lifts his head out of the turtleneck...only to reveal row after row of razor sharp teeth.

I love "Play With Me Sesame." It has the catchiest kids' show theme song, and you can't go wrong with Muppets. But I won't watch "Boohbah" anymore. Not until someone can tell me what's under the turtleneck...
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As much as Bill and I love television, we have decided to try and not let Maddie be raised or babysit by the boob tube. However, that being said, I have to admit that there are moments where it is a lifesaver. For example, I am able to get my daily shower without interruption (and without having to play peek-a-boo behind the shower curtain) all because of the Noggin Channel and PBS. A half-hour of television watching in her bouncy seat each day shouldn't warp her mind too much, should it?

I guess that all depends on what she is watching. In an attempt to discover just what is out there for kids these days, I decided to watch children's television programming all day yesterday while I stayed home with Maddie. There were two shows in particular that really stuck with me:

1) Sesame Street Play With Me. Maddie just loves this show, so Bill and I have Tivo'd it to record each day. That way Maddie can watch it at any time of day. It's great. Think of Sesame Street, but for even younger kids. Sure, some of the material is way over her head, but the visuals are great for her age. She especially loves when Ernie has closeups on the screen and sings. She coos and gurgles at the TV during the entire show. Man, I just love Sesame Street and everything they've been doing during the past 20 or so years.

2) Boohbah. OK, have any of you seen this? It's a new show from the creators of Teletubbies. Yeah, I remember how the Teletubbies scared me too the first time I watched the show, but that was NOTHING compared to how I felt yesterday when I was watching Boohbah. I mean, I understand the age group to which Teletubbies is catering so it's understandable that things can seem a little wacky at times (ie. toddlers). But Boohbah takes the cake. It's catered to an even younger age group (ie. infants and toddlers). Both Maddie and I sat through the entire half-hour slack-jawed with drool running down our chins. Neither she nor I could look away. We were mesmerized by these odd colorful chubby Boobahs and the rainbows and bright white light. (I swear I wish they had this show when I was in college and partying. The images are enough to trip you out, regardless of any substances you may be taking.) Of course I taped it and made Bill watch it when he got home from work. His reaction? Yep, pretty much the same as Maddie and I.

If this is truly where tv is going, then children's tv programming scares me.
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Any day now, I'm going to shut off the redirect from the old site, so if you haven't bookmarked this new page, please do so now.

Okay, than. Now that the paperwork's out of the way, how about some more pictures? Hey, I know what you come here for.

Over the next few weeks, if I can find the time, I plan on reworking the picture section. Although I like the unlimited space for storage that Snapfish gives us, I don't like the fact that it's slower than molasses and requires you to leave our site and log into theirs. I would like to return to a system like the one used for the wedding pics, but I have to figure out a way to make that section easier to update. (Check out any of the wedding pic pages now, and you'll notice that they don't match the family homepage at all.)

Anyway, Alecia took a few more pics of Maddie the other day, and they were too cute to keep to ourselves. Click on any thumbnail to see a larger image.

    Maddie looks so sweet in her Alabammy overalls...

   
...But her mood can turn on a dime!

Yes, we know the hat is a little big for her.

   
It's time for the "Great Rice Cereal Experiment!"

   
Maybe she's not ready for cereal, yet.

Just a note: We were only testing the cereal on Maddie. She's not really being spoon fed her meals just yet. We've been mixing small amounts of the rice cereal into pre-bedtime bottle on the recommendation of our doctor. It's supposed to fill her up a little more so that she'll sleep longer than two hours at a time. But she seems to hate the taste and rarely finishes it. We decided to try to give it to her straight, to see if it's really the rice cereal that's bothering her, or just trying to suck it through a nipple.

It's the rice cereal.

So, back to the boob, we go. As the Barenaked Ladies song says, "Who needs sleep? Well, you're never gonna get it!"
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