site backups

Since my wife and I started using a blog again, I was thinking it would be cool to go back in my archives and grab the old posts I had on here years ago, and try to find a way to import them back into the blog.

So I started looking in my backups folder for a database dump that would have the blog posts in it, and I searched and searched, but could not find the most recent version of it. I have a coupe older ones, and some really old ones, but not any that were from right before I deleted the blogs.

I don’t know why I didn’t make a backup of them, or if I did, I don’t know why I didn’t keep it in a safe place, but I didn’t.

So I jumped on the wayback machine, and found one more post that I didn’t have in my backup. I imported the backup into my database at home, installed the version of WordPress I had when the posts were made (also via the wayback machine), and posted that last one that was missing. Then I installed the latest version of WordPress, made an export file, and imported them into this incarnation.

So now I have posts that go back about 5 years (albeit very sporadically), with the possibility of a few missing that are probably gone for good, unless I happen to find an old dump somewhere that I didn’t know about, but I doubt it…   oh well.

I’m off to make a backup of my site right now, and I’ll label it ‘Keep’, because obviously, the method I have now doesn’t work.

Maybe I should start putting my site backups in Subversion…

Anywho… enjoy the old posts.

cuter and cuter

I’m sitting here at work, watching my picture frame flip through pictures of my little girl, and came to a strange realization…   she’s not as cute as I thought she was when she was younger.

It may be (and probably is) because she has become so much more adorable, but it is strange to look at pictures of her as a teeny infant and think, hmmm…  not quite as cute as I remember. It may be because I mentally photoshop her current face, mannerisms, and personality onto a smaller body and when I look at younger pictures of her, they’re not what I have in my head, and the difference is what is throwing me, not that she’s not as cute, just different.

But don’t get me wrong, she has been, and always will be the cutest baby I’ve ever seen…  it’s just my memory of her is changing, as most memories do over time.

It’s a good thing cameras were invented.

Now someone just needs to invent a way to capture the smell of the moment along with the image, then when you go back and look at the image, you can smell it, too. Because, as you may have noticed, whenever you smell something from your past, the memory becomes so much more vivid, and real. So much so that you are practically transported back to the moment, with all the emotions, faces, thoughts, and everything else that goes with it. Time travel is possible, you just need to find the right smell.

But I digress. Point is… my little Skyeberry, cute as she was, was not as adorable as she is now, and is getting cuter and cuter all the time.

nursery pics

I thought I should post some pics of Skye’s favorite room, hers! I don’t know why, but it’s really calming and relaxing in there. Maybe it’s because so much time and effort went into creating it for her. I still remember vividly Benjam and I talking about how, soon, there would be a little person to fill up all the furniture we had for her, use all the clothes and diapers that were ready to go, and just trying to imagine what she would be like, and if she would ever get here!

my turn

today is my second round with Skye all by myself with nothing to do (there was one day I had her where we were so busy that day, I hardly had time to notice the day go by).  it’s amazing how difficult it is to entertain a person who’s vocabulary is non-existent, and who’s skill set consists of drooling and whining.

she woke up today at around 8a (not counting her nightly feedings and hour-long wide awake moments), and since I was working on my projects last night, I didn’t get to bed until around 1-2a, so I was pretty tired when she woke up. I took her downstairs and tried to fall asleep with her on my chest on the couch to no avail. she has this thing about being on anybody’s chest when she’s not either already asleep, or too tired to care. she gets really uncomfortable and just squirms around until you have to get up and pace the room with her in your arms. so I did that… and she finally fell asleep at around 10a, so I put her on the boppy.

around 10:45, she stirred and ended up with her face in the boppy, which isn’t a position that lends itself to a safe feeling for any parent, so I thought I could gently pick her up and have her quickly fall back asleep with her on my chest on the couch (I’m still pretty tired at this point), but alas… she woke up and was ready for another bottle and some more awake time.

after trying to get her to sit calmly for longer than ten minutes in any one position, she fell asleep again at around 1p, so I ate my now stale sandwiches, and got sucked into a television show (my fault, I know, I should have taken my nap).

she awoke at around 2:30p and I gave her another bottle, and a diaper change, and tried to fall asleep with her (I’m still really tired), so I pulled her close to the couch in her favorite chair and took a little cat nap until she started getting bored about 10 minutes later, so I turned the chair around so she could watch the TV, but that only lasted for about 10 minutes as well.

I got up, feeling mildly rested and decided a walk might put her to sleep. I got everything ready, went outside and it was nice, not too hot, cloudy, with barely a sprinkle of rain…  until I got about two blocks away from my house…  then the sun came out, in full force, and the temperature went up about 10-15 degrees. I didn’t have a hat for her, and I was getting pretty hot, so I turned around and walked back home.

as I walked in the house, she fell asleep, so I went downstairs to fix another issue with my projects, and have finished that, and now here I am, with my little girl, still strapped to my chest in the baby carrier, she’s beginning to get really fidgety, and I’ve just finished this post, with enough time available to go and get another bottle ready so she can fall asleep for 20 more minutes before Chels gets home.

maybe then I can take a nap…   or maybe not.

nap time

My new favorite time of day is when I put down Skye for her second nap in the morning. The first nap she falls asleep on my morning walk. The second, and only guaranteed nap time, I can set my clock to. We go upstairs to the nursery, close the blinds and turn on some lullabies and have the fan humming in the background. She’s already had a bottle and is sleepy. Her entire body is pressed with the ultimate trust and comfort on the left side of my chest; her diapered bum cupped in my hand; her feet dangling under my supportive arm; the top of her head pressed against my jaw; her right hand grasping my shirt collar; the left hand is balled in a fist; her chin or cheek is resting lazily on my shoulder and her sweet aroma fills my nose. And we just dance and sway in a circle quietly. With each deep breath she exhales, her body becomes more and more limp until she finally falls asleep.

outgrowing the boppy

Skye doesn’t fit in the bobby so much anymore. She used to be able to fit her entire body within the middle. I don’t know what we’ll do when she can’t fit into the only place she’ll nap.

poo, poo, and more poo

I just had my first “poo everywhere” experience.

I had Skye in the swing so that I could do my noon pumping and I got a call from a student at work so I didn’t hear Skye unload what seemed like 3 days worth of crap. After I pumped I picked her up and set her on the boppy so that I could give her her thrush medicine.

At first I thought I just spilled the medicine since it’s the same color as her poo. I did that this morning too–somehow got her medicine all over the lower half of her body. So I thought, great, I did it again. Then I noticed it near her legs and had the “uh oh” moment. There it was. All over the lower half of the left side of her body. She just sat there, happy as a clam, and why not, I always feel better after a big dump, too.

So then I see it on my pants and my arm and her clothes and the blanket. I don’t think I put the diaper on center or something, not that it mattered at that point. I cleaned up a little bit with a paper towel, but that only seemed to make it spread somehow. I took her upstairs to clean her up and had the realization that she probably did this masterpiece while she was in the swing. After I got her all cleaned up, I went to check and sure enough, there in the corner of the swing was the biggest pile of poo yet. Just sitting there in a puddle. Yes, there was enough to make a puddle. A poo puddle. I had to take the padding off of the swing and saw that it was also on the straps that don’t come off easily. So then I went downstairs and added to the laundry that I already did this morning after the medicine mishap all of the above mentioned items painted with her yellow-seeded poo.

that laugh

I heard her laugh for the first time yesterday, and not just the little ‘heh’ that she puts out sometimes (which is pretty cute in itself), but a full-on laugh!  Chels had told me that she heard her laugh a couple of days ago, and I was understandably a bit jealous that I missed it. Then I was holding her on my lap as I do, and was doing nothing more than talking with her and squishing her cheeks (and why wouldn’t you, have you seen them? they’re so squishable) and she was smiling more and more, and then it happened. I couldn’t believe it, it was so adorable, I couldn’t help but laugh, which scared her a bit, but then I stopped, and started squishing her cheeks again, and she did it again!  That was it, I lost it, I was laughing so hard, it was hilarious. She didn’t laugh again, but she gave me a few more smiles.

My amazing little girl got a sense of humor finally, although I’m still not sure what triggers it. As soon as I find out though…

random thoughts

I don’t think Skye looks particularly like Benjam or I. However, when I look in her face, I see something very familiar.

I think Skye’s skin is softer than porcelain.

Looking back, I wish I would have stuck with trying to breastfeed a little longer. Knowing that that stressful state of sleep walking would pass, I wish I would have persevered through.

Something has clicked and I feel myself returning to normal. My patience seems to have come back as well. Although a little bit of sleep loss seems to take all of that away.

Thrush sucks.

100 degree weather also sucks when it makes your dog shed bucketfuls, and no amount of vacuuming will get it all.