Cold Snap

The news around these parts is how cold it is, with temps reaching -25 below (without factoring the windchill). Despite the cold, Ang and I are still working and Cal is still at daycare. Since the last time I wrote, he's really turned a corner with food. I wish I could say the same thing for sleep. Speaking of sleep, we are going to a sleep class tonight at the Amma Parenting center in hopes improving the situation. His problem isn't going to sleep, it's staying asleep. Most nights he gets up anywhere from 20 to 40 mins after he goes down, then anywhere from every 1-3 hours for the rest of the night.

Work has been slow since after xmas, so I've made some good progress in web training. I've finished the HTML Dog book and now I'm working through CSS3 The Missing Manual. Once I complete that, I'm going to start building out my portfolio/resume website.

Looking forward to my birthday this Sunday, and going ice fishing for the weekend later in the month. I really hope it isn't this cold when we're out on the lake, that would not be ideal. The Wild are once again falling out of the playoff picture and now both Koivu and Parise are hurt. Since we don't have cable, I've been watching and enjoying the NFL playoffs instead.

Long December

It's been a quite a December so far. Cal finds new ways to amaze us with his development everyday, we just wish we could put together a few days of sleep. He's on quite a run of back-to-back illness, having just gotten over a nasty stomach virus that was going around and now moving on to a cough and cold. Add to that the teething and you've got some pretty rough nights for everybody. He still finds a way to be happy and smiling and he is beginning to "talk" more each day. We've also been trying to introduce food, but we having had much luck yet. So far we've tried squash, banana, applesauce, baby oatmeal and sticky rice. He did take a few teeny bites of squash but that was it. He seems to do best with self-feeding, rather than having the spoon in his face. We're going to keep at it and try to do some avocado next.
He really enjoyed meeting Santa for the first time this weekend, as you can see from the photo. I love how well he does around new faces, it seems like the more people he's around the more fun he has. If it wasn't so insanely cold I would like to take him out to a few stores in the stroller, he really enjoys that. I pushed him around Fleet Farm last weekend for a good hour and he didn't fuss once.
I'm excited for this last full week of work before the holidays. We've been extremely busy but I imagine it will all end around Friday. Ang and I have finished our shopping and plan to wrap everything this Saturday. We both are off work on Christmas Eve, so we plan to make Lefse that morning before heading over to my Dad's for dinner.
I've finished quite a few HTML/CSS online training exercises over the last few weeks. I've got my foot firmly in the door of website design, I just need to start building my portfolio page online when time allows.

UPDATE:
Cal took a few good spoons of sweet potato last night! He didn't do the usual "icky" face and gag, so I think we could be on to something. Still are going to try some avocado soon.

ANOTHER UPDATE:
Cal took a few good bits of avocado last night. He used his fingers and we fed him from our fingers. Improving every day!

The Best Laid Plans

I don't know what it is about the Fall, but every year around this time I get really inspired, reflect on my life and think about what changes I can make for the new year. This year I've decided to take the initiative towards adding HTML/CSS to my professional repertoire, possibly resulting in an eventual career change. I've been doing production, printing and graphic design for over 10 years now and I'm running out of real estate to move forward.

My first steps are to learn some of the basics via online courses (Code Academy, Lynda.com) and then plow through a few choice books that have been recommended. After I get my feet wet, I would like to build my own portfolio online, which will serve as both a learning tool for me and example of my capabilities to employers. Plans change and things are bound to come up, but I feel satisfied with my first steps and motivated get started ASAP.

I'm looking forward to a stay-cation next week, since I have Thursday - Monday off of work. The following Tuesday Cal goes in for his 6-month checkup, after which time we should have the green light to start introducing rice cereal and food - very exciting!

I had a great time at the Wild game last night with Kris, they continued their winning ways, beating Winnipeg 2-1. This year has been one of the only times I miss having cable to watch the games, but I just can't justify all that money to watch one channel.

I've still got quite a bit of Xmas shopping to do, I try to have most of it done by the end of November. This year might be the first time I don't have any video games on my wishlist, since I've all but retired from my Xbox and don't have any plans to buy a Xbox One or PS4. However, I still have all my Rock Band stuff and would like to host another party sometime, it's always a fun indoor winter activity. Maybe we can give Cal a tambourine?