My computer nerd in training

With so many tech heads in the house, a daddy that has gamed his whole life, web designed and built computers, and a Papa that has been a computer engineer the past 30 years - its any wonder the toy of choice Sully tends to gravitate towards.

One thing Sully really looks forward to is his ritual mornings with his Papa - talking about politics and computers over some coffee. He really loves the damn laptops and its the first thing he'll go to grab if you're near one.

Since he has such an interest, soon as he gets old enough we plan on passing down an old computer system to the little guy. I'd rather him learn how to use things properly when the interest is peaked then constantly be a "no" household. Its the way my folks were with me. I see a lot of myself in Sully in regards to the way he seems to learn - observe and conquer. I want to help promote that the best way that we can. There wasn't much we weren't allowed to try or use in our house growing up, because we used things the right way. I'd rather him be shoving cds into the dvd player than say, crackers. I give props to my dad for not even batting an eye when Sully grabs at the laptop, bangs on the keys, drools all over his cursor and pulls at the wires. I love watching him explain to Sully what everything does, and show him how to load up cartoons on it.

What can I say, we start em early.

Sharing some morning joe

No time for pics! This is serious computer business mom

Oooh a butterfly

Control, alt, delete - Damn!

Can we just get a imac instead?

First family vacation

Vegas was great, went by way too fast. Didn't become millionaires because we obviously came back to our respective jobs, but came back with money in our pockets, so I'll take that as a win.

I give Shaun props for making us take a front pack carrier there and leaving the stroller behind. We watched parents trying to navigate strollers on the strip, through hotels, around escalators while we walked everywhere with ease - Sully strapped to Shaun, his very own little Carlos.

He did awesome on the ride, only losing his shit the last 20 minutes of the drive once Vegas came into sight. He did great on the way home as well, only crying when he was hungry. It gives us hope for future travels. Sam and Jessica had a great 21st bday bash time which involved foreigners, exotic dancing midgets, magicians, some River dancing, karaoke, strangers, giant wheels of fortune, weird tattoo artists, bad taxi rides and lots of alcohol among other things. Shaun and I were able to go out one evening thanks to them and have a nice dinner together, see District 9 and do some gambling for a couple hours. We traded Sully off most the time so I could go out with my sister and so he could lose at craps. Had lunch with the girls and Sully at Margaritaville, where the waitress oogled my baby. Spent a day on the strip and then at Excalibur's arcade where I beat the shit out of a grandma and 12 year old playing the ball toss game to win a stuffed tiger that was worth less than the 6 dollars I blew trying to win him. But we had fun.

First time in, well ever that it wasn't just Shaun and I in our traditional self pic in Vegas. I tried looking for some from the past 9 years of going but they won't be an easy find, so our most recent one will have to do instead. Should have took more pictures, but I didn't. The ones I did take aren't really worth the effort to post to be honest. Oh well.

Heres to my wolf pack. Looking forwards to the next vacation already.

Vegas 2009

Up

I'm normally not a throw my kid in front of the TV in his jumper kind of person, but everyone has their breaking point. My child has been up since 12 am, and active since about 3 am, rolling all over the bed after he refused to go back to sleep in his crib. After his second bottle and me getting punched in the face, I decided it was time to just get up.

I threw his ass in front of The Wiggles, which he's currently having a shouting match with. Up next, floor time. Whatever wears this kid the frick out, so I can maybe get some sleep. Figured there was no sense both Shaun & I being up.

I just asked him if he thought he was funny, and he laughed at me.

This kid has our number good.

Well don't it make my brown eyes blue

What do Sully, Alexander the Great and David Bowie all have in common?

Their eyes! Heterochromia to be specific.

People keep asking me about Sully's eyes, so here ya go. The story thus far.

The first day Sully was born we noticed, to our surprise, that he had blue eyes that were different in shades. I know most babies are born with a variation of blue/gray eyes that eventually change color - but being two brown eyed parents, (my mom and both of Shaun's parents all have brown eyes, my dad being the only blue eyed in our family) we assumed Sully would come out with the same.

We noticed almost immediately that his right eye changed to a dark brown, within days. But again, to our surprise, his left eye stayed blue - really really blue. As a newborn he was dubbed with the nickname "Husky" due to the drastic eye difference. I was a little freaked out at first, okay so a lot freaked out mainly because I know its not normal for a baby to have two completely different eye colors - and we had no idea what it was from. I had fears that it may have some effects on his vision in the long run. The doctors let us know that sometimes it can be related to deafness, but since he hears just fine, that more than likely its just a genetic quirk that was hereditary. We were also told that his eye could change color over time.

We think that what he has is called heterochromia and it occurs in about 2% of births. Pretty cool huh? Its just easier to give the wikipedia explanation than to try and do it myself.

In anatomy, heterochromia refers to a difference in coloration, usually of the iris but also of hair or skin. Heterochromia is a result of the relative excess or lack of melanin (a pigment). It may be inherited, due to genetic mosaicism, or due to disease or injury.^[1]

Eye color, specifically the color of the irises, is determined primarily by the concentration and distribution of melanin.^[2][3][4] The affected eye may be hyperpigmented (hyperchromic) or hypopigmented (hypochromic).^[5] In humans, usually, an excess of melanin indicates hyperplasia of the iris tissues, whereas a lack of melanin indicates hypoplasia.

Heterochromia of the eye (heterochromia iridis or heterochromia iridum) is of two kinds. In complete heterochromia, one iris is a different color from the other. In partial heterochromia or sectoral heterochromia, part of one iris is a different color from its remainder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterochromia


Because Sully's form is hereditary, we knew it had to come from on of us, probably me since my dad is a blue eye gene carrier, and my whole family of Otwells on my dad's side are blue eyed. (Fun fact: My sister and I are the only brown eyed grandchildren on that side.) But in reality it was still just a guess.

I keep in touch with one of my aunts (my dad's sister) through email, sending her pictures and updates of where Sully is at, what he is now doing etc etc etc. I was explaining in one of my emails about his eyes, and sent her a picture where you could really see the difference. She wrote back that she too has a from of what sounds like partial heterochromia. She said that as a little girl it was a lot more noticeable, but one of her eyes had a brown spot in the blue. Go figure, I guess he really does get it from the Otwell side. And here we were just assuming. Apparently my dad's side really is a carrier of the gene - who would have thought?

His left eye has started to change - and it goes from a gray blue to a green hazel depending on what day of the week it is. We don't think they'll ever be the same color, more than likely a brown and a hazel. Its less noticeable when you're looking at him these days, but when you know what you're looking for, you can really see it, especially in pictures because of the light. My favorite question people ask is what color his eyes are, and when I tell them they're two different colors and they look, their first response is always "Oh my god! They ARE two different colors!"

Its kind of funny to think back now about how freaked out I was about them at first. Now, I absolutely adore the fact that they're different and hope they stay that way. I think it just adds to the uniqueness that already is Sully - just one more layer to this complex little soul we're learning about every day. It'll be fun to see when he hits school aged what color he makes his eyes in pictures of himself.

Here are some kind of good pictures of his eyes - I'm in the works of getting a new one that is close up, if the child would sit still long enough.

Sully's 4 months (okay and some days, okay okay! and some weeks)

Sully is 4 1/2 months old now! Usually I've been able to post pictures with his updates shortly after his monthly "birthday", but with being back at work after 4 months - lets just say its been a bit crazy. All I want to do when I get home is spend some time with Sully, get dinner ready and do whatever errands/chores need to get done before the next day. Shaun and I try to get in a few words together before we hit the sack to do it all over again. So yeh, I'm a little behind.

Sully had his 4 month checkup, got some more shots and is doing perfectly, according to the doctor. He weighed in at 16 1/2 pounds roughly and was in the 80th percentile for weight. He came in at a whopping 27 inches for height, and is in the 97th percentile - no real big surprise there given Shaun and I's height.

He can roll from back to tummy, and tummy to back. He's a lean mean rolling machine most days and will attempt to do it in some pretty unconventional places like the changing table, in the bathtub, in your arms, in his highchair, onto the dogs. He loves to "talk" and has been known to wake us up for a midnight chat. This makes for a grumpy mom and daddy most mornings trying to get out the door on 2 hours of sleep. He has started to cry for certain people, and will hold out his arms for say his Daddy or Papa when he sees them. Do you think Mommy gets any arms held out? Fat chance. He's army scooting on his belly when he feels the need, but mainly still likes to stand up and bounce around. Shaun and I have been trying to teach him how to get up on his knees and elbows and move them together, which makes for pretty whacky floor time.

Happy belated 4 months Sully Monster - You amaze me a little more every day!

The quality sucks, it was taken with my video cam on my camera, but you get the point.

11th reason

11. I hit a fucking squirrel on my way home. Seriously, seriously?!

I cried.

10 reasons why I'd steer clear of me today

10. Little to no sleep. Awake from from 1:00 - 4:30 am with a thrashing baby

9. Missed Alarm. Due to The Thrasher & being awake - I missed my alarm - hence waking up late hence getting out of the door late

8. No Coffee. Due to the occurrence of #9 (see above) I had no time to stop for coffee today (Big No No)

7. Monster Zit. I have a angry red third eye growing out of my forehead.

6. Aunt Flo. I'm on a period from hell. Seriously, I wasn't aware you'd pay for the 9 month break 10-fold after all was said and done or I would have seriously reconsidered adoption.

5. Washer Jeans. I had to wear washer jeans today. You know, the kind you do aerobic exercises by your bed to fit into right after they've been washed? Yeh, good times.

4. Dieting, again. For some insane reason I decided this week would be a great week to start a diet - again - and I want cupcakes.

3. My Office. Work is a fucking disaster trying to get stuff sorted and done

2. Headache much? I've had a migrane going on 3 days now

1. Cupcakes. Did I mention I want a cupcake? Like, I'd seriously contemplate killing someone for one right now.