high hopes

Jonah just tried out his high chair for the first time a couple of days ago. He enjoyed it, especially if he could play with a spoon or lick some water off a cup. I bet he will enjoy his rice cereal which he will try in a few days! Can't wait.

sister

My sister is in town! I'm in seventh heaven. Today Jonah, my sister, and I went out for a walk. The morning started off sunny, but five minutes into our walk, the darkest clouds gathered overhead, and we were hit by a torrential downpour, much like what I imagine a tropical rainstorm to be. Tim came to our rescue, the kind chauffeur that his is.

I will be a groupie for the next few days, accompanying my siter to her shows. I'm even taking a couple of days off work! This will be the first time I leave Jonah over night. He will be with daddy for two nights. I've been storing up milk for this mini vacation for weeks! I hope no hives stand between me and my good time. I am pretty sure Jonah will do well with his surrogate parent pair - dad and uncle.

work scandal

The madness at work continues. A new HR guy was hired recently after the previous HR manager was given the pink slip. He's had a hell of a job. He's already had to do an investigation on an employee about whom someone filed a complaint. And just last week he had to sack an employee who was supposedly embezzling money. Boy, the drama just doesn't stop.

earthquake

Last night Jonah experienced his first earthquake. It happened at 6:00 pm and was 2.9 in magnitude. We were all sitting in the livingroom. The house wobbled for about five seconds. I've already felt a few eartquakes in this area, so I'm no earthquake virgin. This last one was fun. Small and brief. I did wonder if there would be another bigger one folllowing. But that didn't happen, thank goodness. I looked up the earthquake on my favorite geological website and got all the info instantly. The epicenter was 30 miles south of town and 10 miles deep. The website has a section where people can report earthquakes they felt, so I did that right away. Then we turned on the news and found we already knew. Tim went to the store afterwards and heard a lady at the checkout counter tell the clerk that there was just a 6 point earthquake. Yeah, right. Crazy lady. Better check your sources.

food allergy

I must be having some kind of a food allergy. I have had some hives appear on my back, thighs and arms. It must be the shrimp I ate. I have never had an allergic reaction to shrimp, but Tim thinks it could have happened because of some toxins or bacteria in the shrimp. Apparently the shrimp weren't cooked thoroughly. Sad, since I cooked them myself. I'm waiting it out, but if it doesn't go away quick I'll have to go to the doctor. And on the weekend, it would have to be the emergency room. So, I'm hoping it'll resolve itself by tomorrow. I don't really feel any other symptoms.

water

Jonah had his first sip of water the other day. He'd been eyeing us drinking and eating and during bath time holding his plastic cup and licking the droplets off it. So, I decided I would let him try drinking a little water for real. He spit most of it out, but swallowed a little and enjoyed it. He is so into holding cups and tasting water that he gets upset when I try to get him to move on to another activity. His first taste of solid food (rice cereal) coming up very soon!

strange goose by the name of Richard III

Yesterday was a beautiful day after an extra long stretch of rain. Finally some sunshine! I took Jonah on a walk to the Rhododendron Garden again, where it looks like just about everything will be blooming soon. The geese were circling the lake in magnificent formations, landing on the water and taking off again and again.

We brought along some dry bread. One goose that had a hurt wing was so forthright that it would walk right up, demanding its share, almost touching my legs with its beak. It reminded me of Al Pacino's Richard III in the film Looking for Richard. From now on that's what I will call this peculiar goose who has no fear of humans or strollers. I was more afraid of it than it was of me, let's put it that way. Jonah wasn't impressed. But once he can run, he will show Richard what he's made of! So be warned, Richard.

Jonah napped in the stroller while I pushed it along, reading a book as I walked. I didn't have too much trouble doing both simultaneously. I was so engrossed in the book that I just had to keep reading, watching the sidewalk ahead with my peripheral vision. The book is non-fiction (my favorite genre), in a fact a memoir, called Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. I highly recommend it!!!

Here is a picture of Jonah checking out the birds.

enter the landlord

Our landlord, who is a cross between an automaton and a nerd, made his appearance to put new caulking around our leaky toilet yesterday. He is an awkward man of undeterminable age who blinks often and speaks with an insider smirk and a jolly tone of voice. His eyebrows tend to always be up, and his eyes behind glasses, though wide open, have a faraway look. He laughs at odd times and pauses for a while between listening and reacting to what is said, which makes him seem a bit calculating. But have you ever met a landlord that wasn't calculating?

Our landlord always wears the same cheerful hat with ear flaps most likely made of bright-colored Peruvian wool. It's his trademark look. Also, he usually wears sweats or eightees-style light-colored jeans.

He was quiet in the bathroom, going about his business. Jonah and I were quiet in the living room, going about ours. When the work was done he informed me that he had just put soft caulk around the toilet and that no, it wasn't hard caulk. Yes, my robot landlord, the same distant yet jolly look in his face, said "hard caulk," emphasizing "caulk" with a gusto.

Saturday on the snow

We made it to the mountains for a crosscountry trip finally today. It snowed the whole time and the snow was perfect for gliding... and falling. I wiped out twice. Good thing Tim was the one carrying the baby. We had a good time.The only thing was that about two thirds of the way Jonah started crying uncontrollably and didn't want to be in the carrier anymore. Which meant carrying him in our arms - not very conducive to skiing. We ended up taking turns carrying Jonah and the skis and polls. I was glad the snow was tightly packed. Otherwise we would've been falling in three feet deep. It turned out Jonah was cold. We warmed him up and fed him in the car and he slept "like a baby" the whole way home. I put more pictures in the outdoor adventures album.

grandparents

Jonah's Montana grandparents visited this week. We had a nice time together. The highlights were our walk around the beautiful Rhododendron Gardens (see picture) and the dinner we had at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant. My dish was superb! And I don't usually feel that way about most dishes, as my friends know. I had ling cod with gnocci and bay shrimp in the most delicious buttery lobster sauce. Yum!!!!

the most beautiful place

Today I took Jonah on a long walk to a new place. I had heard of the Rhododendron Garden, but never gave visiting it much thought. It's walking distance from our house, so I finally went to check it out. It's the most beautiful park in Portland! It has some Japanese-style footbridges, a creek, a huge lake with tons of ducks and geese. The birds were parading around right by our feet... I can't wait to go back with some bread.

On the way I discovered some cool stone faces in a garden plot along the street, there for people who walk by to see. The funny thing is that it seems that hardly anyone walks that way. Coming across the faces was like discovering a little secret treasure. Here are a couple of them:

baby shower for a friend

Today we had a work baby shower party at a Korean restaurant for a friend who will be having a baby any day now. We are looking forward to the arrival of Jonah's new friend!


Here is a picture of the expectant couple and of my boss holding Jonah.

Here is a link to more pictures from Mia and James' baby shower. You can see some of the crazy people that I work with in this photo album.

five months old

Jonah turned five months old yesterday!

dream about grandfather

The other day I spoke to my grandmother in Prague. We both had a dream about my grandfather, her husband, who passed away five years ago, on the same night! They were both sweet dreams about my grandfather coming back and me telling him that I loved him and my grandmother getting clothes ready for him - her way of telling him she loves him.

roly-poly

Jonah rolled over for the first time all by himself from his back to his stomach yesterday! It was very exciting. I was right there.

Also, we went to a friend's baby shower (another new friend for Jonah is coming soon!). The father-to-be took this picture of us.

A short video of Jonah rolling over can be viewed here: http://bottmanbros.com/jonahroll.MOV

those crazy Czechs

So, the other day I took Jonah for a walk. We decided to walk around a very pretty campus of a nearby college. I had been to the campus several times before, but this was the first time that I had noticed signs around the periphery, prohibiting those not associated with the college from entering the grounds. Man, that's really too bad, I thought. I hate the feeling that I'm breaking rules. I decided to disregard the signs. A student security guard walked past me to check Jonah and me out. I tossed a cheerful hello his way. He didn't check my ID, ask for a secret code or strip-search me, so I kept walking. I could probably easily pass for a college student. But Jonah? He has a few years to go.

On the sports field, I noticed a sign prohibiting dogs from using the field as a bathroom. Too bad dogs can't read, I thought. Maybe they should have a reading class for dogs at the college. And what do you know, I see a woman walking her doggie. The little devil is happily pissing on every tree it sees. It seemed obvious that neither she nor her dog were associated with the college. I felt encouraged. No tresspassing. Private property. Who cares? When she got closer, I recognized her. She was my mom's friend that I recently met. A cool lady - an artist and also a Czech. We chatted. Knowing this, would you ever trust a Czech to obey rules? I know I wouldn't.

walk in the park

We got out for a nice walk today in a 600+ acre city park - more of a forest really with a creek. During our trip we saw three rainbows, a nice symbol for the new year. I posted more pictures in the "outdoor adventures" album on the right. Happy New Year, everyone!

teething

Jonah is officially teething. He is very slobbery and wants to stick everything in his mouth. Last night we are pretty sure his gums were hurting him. He just couldn't get to sleep and cried like something was hurting him. At 10:30 we finally gave him some acetaminophen, and within twenty minutes he was fast asleep. This was the first time we had given him medication. And it was the first time he had tasted anything other than breast milk. He spit most of it out, of course. Well, I guess teething will be another adventure for us.

nice shot

I was trying to take a picture of the coolest hat that Aunt Jenni knitted for Jonah. Look at the shot I got !