The Burlingames

Chronicling the adventures of the B's

Category: Random

August 19, 2010

The latest…

by Dave

I just realized its been a long time since I last update all of you on the happenings of the Burlingame clan.

Eli…is now well adjusted to his new bed. He does a great job of staying in bed and has only fallen out two separate times (once at our house and once at Grampa and Gramma’s house). I have to laugh, a few times I’ve needed to get the pack n’ play out for other kiddos to sleep in and Eli gets mad. He must think it is for him to sleep in. It has been fun for us to see his language (talking/signing) abilities take off and we really enjoy communicating with him now that we can understand him. Eli LOVES LOVES LOVES to watch some signing DVDs we have on loan from Gramma P. called, ‘Signing Time’ (can be found at http://www.signingtime.com). Lots of verbal language and lots of sign language has been picked up by both Eli and Dave (sign language component). Eli enjoys helping Dave and I around the house. He has his own water can (my old one) and likes to carry it out to my raspberry and tomato plants to help me water them. Just this morning he and Dave finished putting a culvert ring in the fire pit. Eli’s feet have also grown by leaps and bounds this summer, in the spring he was still wearing a size 4 but now he comfortably wears a 7 and sometimes an 8. I think this is just an indication of how much shoe shopping we’ll be doing as he grows up.

Dave…has been keeping very busy at work. They have needed him to come in early many times this summer. Lots of deliveries needing to be made. Softball is now over, but his team did a great job and played well together. Eli and I didn’t make it to very many games due to times, the heat and other events going on. Dave has been very diligent about working on the house and has made some great progress. We (and by ‘we’, I mean Dave) have been making steady progress in getting things done around the house to make room for the baby. I’m excited about what is done and a little anxious about what still needs to be done (pray please!!). Dave has gotten some new musical gear and has been selling other musical gear. He has been ‘fine tuning’ one of his basses and has been enjoying every minute of that. I love my husband!

Me…I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer home with Eli. We’ve had lots of fun hanging out together, working around the house and yard, running errands, going for walks, etc. I used my one free day each week (Eli had to go to daycare one day a week to maintain our spot) to get homework done. I took a class this summer called ‘Environmental Education’ it was a requirement for my teaching license. I have no intentions of using the knowledge at all, but who knows, maybe it will come in handy one day. I head back to work full-time next week for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year. Part of me is excited to go back (because I love my job) but part of me is not looking forward to going back (because I love being home with Eli).

Gilbert…has steadily been growing, the doc says I’m on target for size and should be on target to deliver a nice size baby boy (not quite sure what this means). Gilbert has taken to waking up and moving a lot from 10-11pm and 5-6am. If he can have a sleep pattern like that when he’s born, I’d be alright with that.

Dave and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on August 7th. We had a great weekend together, kidless (well, as kidless as we could be). Eli spent the weekend with Gramma and Grampa Paulson. They had all kinds of fun. Dave and I got a hotel room for Saturday night, ordered in pizza, went swimming and went to see a movie (we wanted to test out my new hearing aids in a theater). Sunday we did lots of house and yard work, it was a very productive day. Then we went out for a fancy dinner at Vic’s in Minneapolis. It was such wonderful food and a great experience. We took a little stroll down by the waterworks system as well, since it was right there. We also saw a beaver!

That’s our not so quick update.

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July 15, 2010

Swim Lessons – Week One

by Dave

We started a toddler swimming class this week. The parent(s) are in the water with the toddler. Here’s a break down of how week one went for us…

Monday – Eli screamed and cried most of the time. I did get him to stop crying for a few minutes while we did some playing. I was getting a lot of pity looks from people. Dave did not come with to the class.

Tuesday – Dave came with us (lessons are in the morning before Dave has to work) and it went much better. Eli cried as soon as we entered the building, fussed as I got him ready to swim, whined as he got in the water with Dave and I, but was laughing within 5 minutes. Dave did a wonderful job of getting him comfortable and laughing. Eli had a much better day in the water.

Wednesday – Eli was happy the entire time. We played ball with the swim instructor and the other student. He had tons of fun hanging out with Dave and making faces at me. He kept signing ‘more please’ throughout the entire class. We all had a great time!

Thursday – Eli waltzed right into the building and headed toward the locker room. He claimed a locker for us, took off his shoes and hat, he needed help with his shirt. He scurried toward the pool door, as soon as we got into the pool area he babbled about the water and balls (there are toys to play with in the pool). I jumped in the pool and Eli insisted on taking the ladder into the pool. He kicked and swam, watched me blow bubbles, threw a ball around in the water for us to chase, put a floaty device on and swam only holding onto one of my fingers and giggled a lot. Eli was having fun until we went over to the landing. He was able to stand up on his down and the water was up to his chest. However, he was not happy. It was something new and different, he wasn’t comfortable with it. There was a lot of cry, screaming and clinging to me for the last few minutes of class. Dave wasn’t able to come with us today due to his work schedule.

Each day, Eli has fallen asleep on the way home from swim lessons. Apparently swimming tires him out! We have four more days of swim lessons next week. Hopefully we can have a great week and end the lessons on a good note.

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June 23, 2010

It's a…

by Dave

BOY!!! Dave and I had an ultrasound today. Everything went well and the doctor called to say all is well. This was very reassuring and huge news for us (me especially). We were very pleased the baby showed us his goods so we could find out the gender. We are very excited to add another little boy our family!! Eli is going to have a little brother!!

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June 5, 2010

I'm Watching the Watchmen…on DVD!

by Dave

I finally saw Watchmen again this evening after having seen it originally in the theater during its initial release. I enjoyed the movie just as much as, if not more than, the first time I saw it. It was fun to know the story and watch for subtle details I missed the first time round.

TANGENT ALERT: Forgive me if you prefer the word ‘film’ to ‘movie,’ but I have an aversion to using the former as it sounds a little too snobbish for my liking. ‘Film,’ in its current, common use, seems to imply superiority over the other. I liken it to the jargon thrown around in various industries. My own educational experiences yielded many similar examples, most glaring of which is the design industry’s preference for the term ‘typeface’ over ‘font.’ People using the latter were often corrected and occasionally perceived as amateurs. ‘Film’ conjures up similar feelings of elitism. These terms seem to be used in a way that attempts to legitimize taking the time to discuss them. </TANGENT>

I enjoyed the way the movie explored the darker side of heroes and humanity. Oddly enough, I found a similar theme in another movie the other night: The Incredibles. The heroes in that story were also shut down by the government and forced into hiding, living mundane lives as seemingly ordinary people. However, being a Disney flick, their return to glory had a bit happier ending.

A friend asked me after originally seeing Watchmen what I thought of it as a person who had not read the graphic novel [the ill-informed might have called it a comic book; perhaps I should have]. I told him that I liked the great detail that was given to each character and, because it was well done, didn’t mind the length of the show (a long 162 minutes). It would have been very easy to cut the movie down to a more common length by eliminating much of the detail and sticking to a linear plot line, but it wouldn’t have had the same impact.

I didn’t set out writing this post with any great purpose other than to say I liked Watchmen. That said, I would highly recommend this movie.

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May 17, 2010

Too Much Puking

by Dave

Eli had a rough Friday. Megan had a rough Saturday night and Sunday. I’ve had a rough Monday (starting right away at about 1am). Eli appears to be better, though he threw up on the way home from the retreat this weekend. Megan is much better today, but took the day off to finish recovering as she’s still very tired. I also took the day off after feeling like I was going to die during the night. I’m feeling better this afternoon after sleeping until 11am. I haven’t eaten much today, but my appetite appears to be coming back. I hate sharing sickness.

There were some others at the retreat that were sick toward the end as well. It’s hard to say if they were related, but it seems like more than just coincidence. Who knows.

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