The Dutton Family Weblog

We abandoned this blog about 9 months ago. Maybe it is time to bring it back?

Last week Mom came down for a visit. She was here from Tuesday until Sunday afternoon. It was a laid-back trip for her consisting of mostly sitting around the house and playing with Ivy. It had been about 7 months since Mom had last seen Ivy in person. So she wanted to maximize her time with the grandbaby. It was also a break for me from babysitting duties while Mom doted.

We didn’t anything too exciting while she was here. But we did go to kemah Boardwalk one afternoon. Everyone enjoyed it and Ivy got to ride her first carnival ride - a double decker carousel. She also rode a mini-ferris wheel with her Grandma.

One Sunday we went to Lakewood Church and then had lunch at a chinese place. We were almost late in getting Mom to the airport. The plane was already boarded when she got to her gate. She had only about 10 minutes to spare. Close call!

Anyway, here are some fotos Mom snapped during her visit.

On October 14th, U2 came to town to do a show in the Reliant Stadium. The place was nearly full, but I don’t think it was quite a sell out show. Still we paid $150 for two tickets to sit in the rafters.

A video clip from the concert

The stage and light show was epic! It was a clean show with no foul language and no pole dancing or pelvic thrusting. Bono did a good job at being a rock star. The music was good too, although it sounded a bit muffled at times. The sound could’ve been better. Overall, I enjoyed it though! Good times.

OK, so I went to get contact information for guy who directed my brother’s band’s music video, and followed his ant trail to IMDB. Joey and I were extras in that video, and lo and behold… because of that, I am now in IMDB. Cool (Sorry, Joey… for some reason you’re not listed! Doh!) As of today, my “popularity” is down 56%. Uh-Oh! Time to appease the fans and papparazzi.

Anyhow.

Ivy’s been taking a step or two here or there for a couple weeks now, but this morning she finally did what I think can be called a “walk” — it was 5 deliberate steps, not those foot movements that accompany falling forward, heh. Her little toes were pointed out and she was reaching for me as she let go of her Joey’s hand.

Awwww.

Oh, and tooth #2 has appeared as well!

I think we officially have a toddler now

The mystery item was a PlayStation 3. Christmas and Birthday’s came early this year! We kicked off our usage of the PS3 with a round of Little Big Planet. What a cute and clever game. Here’s a clip…

I can sense something in the wind… *grin*

Now that Ivy is crawling everywhere, a whole new world of tasty objects is within her grasp…. including toilet paper! This week she seems to have discovered she likes eating paper. All kinds of paper. Pages ripped from the phone book. Sleeves from CD or DVD. And especially toilet paper!

Okay this is cute, but a little weird. I have heard of people eating toilet paper before. Maybe I heard about it on Oprah or something like that. I don’t remember. But it is a behavior called “Pica” which is the desire to eat things that are not food (more info here… Pica ) Well, in all likelihood, Ivy is eating TP just because it is something soft, new, and goes easily into her mouth. When you are 1 year old everything goes in the mouth! So we will probably just have to put a guard over the TP like they have in public bathrooms. Or maybe buy a TP guard that you can get at a Pet Store to keep your cat from unrolling the toilet paper.

Well, the meeting with the doctor today was fairly uneventful, which is good. Results from the stress test were normal - “no blockages.” In fact, the BP today was great - 118/78

So, I “just” have a mild mitral valve regurgitation. Cause is not known - could have been congenital, but who knows. The doctor said just keep losing weight to take the stress off my heart, and he wants me to get my “bad cholesterol” down below 100. It was 125 in December (which is acceptable), given the BP issues. That reading was 8 months and about 30 pounds ago, so it may have gone down since then anyhow.

Follow-up appointment in 3 months to take blood work and see how the body chemistry looks. Otherwise, things appear to be just fine with my innards.

I have been a hobby-level househunter for going on 15 years now. It’s taken me from the outskirts of Ft. Bend county where a very early boggy version of Sienna Plantation was under development in the mid-1990s, to now around and in the Heights area of Houston (where we currently rent).

Along the way, marriage and baby (and now two dogs) have entered the picture, so my “ideal” house has shifted a bit. Thankfully, Joey and I are on the same page about two important aspects of a house: we want to stay in the area and we both like bungalows.

The time isn’t quite right for us right now, however. Even though it’s certainly an excellent time to be buying, what with the $8K credit for first-time owners, the good market in Houston, the low interest rates, etc., something in my gut (and Joey’s) isn’t quite ready yet.

In the meantime, though, I’m content to look and read and learn and daydream. We both like the idea of building our own place, starting with an empty lot, and I’m a fan of the Owner Builder Book methods. My current favorite source of inspiration, though, is a restoration project being tracked online at 1912Bungalow.com — wow, finding a gem like that buried under neglect and layers and layers of paint would be just wonderful. That’s the kind of project I could gladly undertake, and put up with hard work for awhile — seeing the personality and nature of the house shine through, while guiding it through our own tastes and style… man.

So, in the meantime, I’ll continue to try things out in my head and on paper. Hopefully the planning will spill over onto this blog (maybe as a dedicated section), to document the birth of our first home.