Indianapolis drivers
Apparently, Indianapolis drivers are pretending they’re qualifying for the Indy 500. Of course I shouldn’t generalize an entire city’s drivers, but I’m gunna anyway.
I’ve been irritated at the tailgaters (I’m doing the speed limit or a tad over!). I don’t like how people here zip in and out of lanes and cut other driver’s off.
And what is with people running red lights like it’s legal!? I usually make a habit of looking both ways if I’m first starting out at a green light, and already I’ve avoided several collisions because of people running lights.
Today, I was in the right lane going down 86th. A service vehicle was pulled over slightly in the lane with it’s flashers on. Not enough room for our van to go around it in the same lane, so I needed to pull into the left lane to go around. Except I couldn’t. Cars whizzing past me, and cars behind me in the right lane zipping along past me.
Um, common car courtesy is to let the person ahead of you go first!
In Pittsburgh, this doesn’t happen. People go out of their way to let you over. They wave you on even if you don’t really feel like merging. They encourage you do do Pittsburgh Lefts so you aren’t sitting and waiting for a whole line of traffic to go past before you can turn left. They let you get into their lane and they don’t tailgate.
They let you merge when you have to hurry up and do so or miss your turn. They are courteous drivers. Probably it’s because they have to be, with crazy roads that are found in that city.
I miss a lot of things about Pittsburgh. One thing I definitely miss is their driving attitude.
Fourth of July weekend
We had such a fun weekend! This is proving to be just a fun summer, really.
On Saturday, we went to Spencer Farm in Hamilton County to pick some blueberries. I put Vivienne in the Ergo on my front for a little bit, and then spun her around to my back (with Shane’s help!) so I could better pick the berries. This was the first time wearing her in that and it went well, but it will take me some more practice before I really feel comfortable loading her in by myself.
Johnny thought picking blueberries was “awesome!” and “so fun!” He ate them immediately after picking for awhile, and then started to load his container. He was good about choosing the bluest ones instead of the greenish or reddish ones that still needed more time to ripen.
It was fairly hot out though, and he got pretty pink fast. He has a little tan line around the collar of his shirt where I missed some sunscreen.
After we paid for our berries, we went to West Park in Carmel. It took awhile to find it because several roads were closed that our GPS wanted us to use. GPS Betty gave up on us and shut off, but we turned it back on and eventually found the park. This one has a few fountains and a little wading area the kids can play in. Refreshing.
We followed that up with dinner at McCallister’s. Because I’m a weirdo, I was really wanting some chili. When it was 90 degrees out. Yeah. But I ended up with a club sandwich and a bowl of meaty chili. I should have had them mix some veggie chili with the meaty, because my bowl was nothing but meat and sauce. Whatever. I think I was craving substantial protein because I’ve been trying to cut back on refined sugar and my body just wanted some meat, I guess.
Sunday we went to Lafayette for a little while to see my parents and then we caught a fireworks show. I wasn’t sure how the kids were going to react to the noises. The bookies were giving Vivienne a 3:1 odds of crying first, and Johnny’s was 5:1, with 6:1 odds of them crying simultaneously.
Good thing I didn’t place any money on either of the kids, because they surprised me and neither of them cried. In fact, they liked it! Johnny was amazed and thought it was so fun. He yelled “boom!” and talked about the colors and wanted more, while jumping around and pointing at ‘em. Viv just watched with a really serious look on her face while she munched on a water bottle. She was safe in her daddy’s arms, so really, what could she worry about?
Johnny also got to meet lightning bugs at the fireworks show. I didn’t see many in Pittsburgh and none while camping for whatever reason. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. Anyway, he thought they were “so funny!” when we caught them and showed him how they lit up. And really, they are pretty funny. Probably my favorite bug.
My least favorite bug also made an appearance. I have several mosquito bites and I don’t know if any got the kids or not.
Of course traffic was a pain getting out of there. In the car, Johnny said, “I want a bagel.” “We don’t have any.” “I want to go to the store.” lolz. Good try, bud. He fell asleep moments later and I carried him in and he just kept on sleeping. Same with V.
On the Fourth, we went to a family cookout here in Indy. It was great! About 30 people came out. Johnny doesn’t have any first cousins yet, but he does have a bunch of second cousins and first cousins once removed and other complex things like that.
He was playing with his second cousin who will be two years old later this week. They enjoyed playing in a little truck that they could both squeeze into, or have one drive it and the other ride on the tailgate. Too cute! We’ll get together later this month while he and his family are in town.
It was great to just enjoy the food and conversation and nice weather. There was plenty of shade and it wasn’t too hot, but the AC in the house was nice to cool off for a bit. We couldn’t have done something like this if we didn’t live here.
The kids were wiped out at the end of the day and both fell asleep in the (short!) van ride home. I carried Jonathan in and laid him down and he never really woke up until morning. At one point, I changed his diaper, because ew! And he didn’t really wake up for that much. Good ol fresh air is great for little boys.
6 month checkup
We just got back from Vivienne’s first visit to our new pediatrician. She’s about a week late for her 6-month checkup, so keep that in mind when I tell you she is a whopping 20 lbs. 8 oz. and 27.25″ long. Sheesh, girl! No wonder my arms are so strong from lugging her around.
She had two shots today and the first, she just kinda pursed her lips and grunted. Hah! She cried for the second one. The nurse said that one was the stinging one.
Her mobility has really improved over the last few days. Her crawling is better and if she loses balance and falls, she can usually catch herself or raise her head high enough where it won’t bonk.
We’ll be back in September for her next check-up and also Johnny’s flu shot.
We may be on the crunchy spectrum with natural birthin’ and breastfeeding and whatnot, but we are strong believers in vaccinations and the science behind it. I did a
Updated later: Oh, I saw that my post didn’t finish. WordPress is being weird. Hmm I can’t remember where I was going with the “I did a…” part. Oh yeah I remember! I did a happy dance when I found out they make a chicken pox vaccinne and that my children won’t have to have the pox.
I had a severe case and I still have scars from it. It was a horrible experience and I remember it pretty vividly. Chicken pox is rarely fatal, but it sometimes can be.
There’s a resurgence of measles and whooping cough in Indiana and that scares me for Viv and younger babies who might be exposed. Breastfeeding is helpful for warding off illness, but I just don’t know that I can protect her from measles, ya know?
Ok this is going further than I was gunna take it. kbye
Nice day!
We had such a fun busy day. Didn’t really have plans, but it all just came together. Shane started the day by giving himself a hair cut then fixed a thing on the car and also installed our spare car seat.
Michelle came by for a quick visit and I gave her some moving boxes to use. I also got to see her on Monday. She lives in Chicago! So two visits in less than a week is awesome. We have some lost time to make up, though.
After that, we hit the road and went to Quaker Park in Westfield where there is a playground and also some splashing fountains you can jump in or just touch. Johnny thought it was pretty great. He didn’t get really wet, just got close enough to get a spray.
We then made the trek to the Avon Pizza King. It’s decorated with a train theme and when you order your food (from an intercom at the table), an electric train brings you your drinks. Johnny thought this was ah-may-zing and every time the train went by he was so excited. There are individual TVs in each booth and for a quarter, you can watch TV for a little while, or play a video game. It’s cute and fun and the pizza is better than I remembered.
We drove through some more neighborhoods and saw where some open houses are happening tomorrow, so we’ll check it out and see what we can find.
Also stopped in to say hey to my grandma for a few minutes. I love that I can do that so easily now!
Vivienne has made some real progress in terms of her mobility. Her crawling is getting much better. She can also put herself in a sitting position. I’m impressed with that girl. We put her in the swing at the park but she didn’t really seem to care about the swing. She just wanted to munch on it. Uh, no. Don’t do that.
I went on a really short run through the neighborhood today. Didn’t have to walk so that’s nice. I am not timing my runs because at this point, it’s just better that I not know. Plus, I don’t have a wrist watch and I don’t want to carry my iPod with me. So whatever. I’ll time ‘em after I’ve been at it for awhile, I think.
Mid-writing this post, I signed up for a 5k. It’s at the end of July. I have to do it now since it’s paid for and done with. I hope I’m not last. But people (the ones who stick around that long, anyway) do still cheer for the cabooses so it’s k.
Miss V is 6 months!
Good gravy, Vivienne is six months old today. Looking forward to this next half year! She won’t go to the pediatrician until later this month, so I don’t know her stats.
However. She is wearing size 12m-24m clothing depending on the item. 24m shorts fit her well and some tops do, as well. Boggles my mind!
She continues to be a happy, social, jolly little roly poly thing. She likes to catch people’s eye and flirt and coo and grin their way. If she wants your attention, she might do a little fake cough.
She’s been rolling around for awhile and sorta pre-crawling, but her crawl is a little different than I expected. She pushes up onto her toes rather than her knees and sorta pushes around that way. Planks and pushups. The girl is strong. I’ve been trying to keep leggings on her at home so her knees won’t get rugburn, but maybe she just prefers getting around that way.
She uses her arm as support to help her sit, and it’s sort of a sideways sit but that’s ok. Balance takes time.
She will swipe food if you give her a chance. Johnny had a bowl of pretzels on the floor the other day and she got over there and was about to munch on ‘em. She’s also been known to swipe at cake, sandwiches, fruit and anything else that’s edible.
We’ve given her a few solid meals of mushy bananas and she seems to enjoy that, but she’s still figuring out the whole “how to eat solids” thing. I need to figure out which box has our highchair with a tray and put some things on that for her to feed herself.
Her personality is pretty mellow and she just kinda goes with the flow. Some babies don’t tolerate it well when their routines are changed up, but she just puts up with stuff. Second child syndrome, perhaps.
She loves her brother and they enjoy playing together. I recently bought a double umbrella stroller on craigslist and they can hold hands. Aww! Johnny calls her “Vivie Girl” and he watches out for his baby sis. LOVE it!
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