A message to the faithful few - the Raspberry World readers - I am having some problems with my site. I think my host updated something and now my version of WordPress is not working properly. The problem manifests itself in displaying my WordPress blog entries in chronological instead of reverse chronological order. This is why you’re seeing entries from early 2007 instead of from March and April 2008.

I think I just need to update my WordPress files to fix the problem (I hope) but at the moment I don’t have the time to dig into it. That requires first making a backup of my files, then deleting some files, then uploading some more files - or something - I just can’t manage it right now. If I understood it better, I’m sure it would be easier, but at the moment I’m just trying to remember what all my passwords are for all my different domains and that’s about all I can manage.

The good news is, everything is still here. If you click on the monthly archive names over on the left (April 2008 for instance), I think you can see the recent entries.

I will fix it as soon as I can. In the meantime, I’ll keep updating Flickr when I can.

Thanks for checking in.

There’s a lot of howling going on these days.

The other thing that seems to infuriate him is naptime. He’s happy to go to sleep in the car seat while I’m driving, and he’ll sleep for thirty or forty minutes (which is a normal nap for him). But he seems to feel that the crib is for use only at night. Even if he’s yawning his head off and rubbing his eyes at 11:30 AM, a trip to the crib is cause for lusty protestation. At night, it’s a different story — we put him down and he goes to sleep. In the daytime, he will yell for as long as we leave him there (my limit is about 20 minutes).

I have to admit, listening to all this yelling makes me tired and stressed. Especially the yelling that happens just because I’m going down to the basement for five minutes to check on the laundry. But I just remind myself that I don’t understand what’s going on in Alex’s head. And that this is surely a stage that will pass.

Boy, it feels like this year is way more than two weeks old. Our whole household was sick this past week and it just threw everything off. New year’s day seems like it was a month ago now!

To throw things a little more out of whack, my chorus sang our final holiday performance today. I am not sure why the customer wanted us to sing Christmas music on January 13, but we were happy to oblige. But I did feel pretty strange putting on my red blouse and my jingle bell today.

In other news, Alex has a new tooth (you can see it here, sort of) and can clap his hands. Hip hip, hooray!

We first met back in 2000, and I fell head over heels. Blogger was soooo much easier than updating that huge .html table every time I wanted to write an entry on my site. I could log in from anywhere and update. Anywhere!

Over the years, we had a mostly uneventful relationship. Sure, the passion dwindled after a while, but for the most part it was good for both of us. It was comfortable. Reliable. I updated my site whenever and wherever I wanted — all I needed was an internet connection and a web browser. I recommended Blogger far and wide.

Then things began to change. Every once in a while, Blogger would do something stupid. Something uncaring, like not letting me update my site for no obvious reason. It seemed to happen around Christmas a lot. Once it was when I was on vacation in Berlin. There’s nothing more frustrating than sitting in an Internet cafe and writing an entry on a German kezboard, onlz to find that Blogger won’t publish. Again and again.

Last year I’d had enough. During Christmas 2005, Blogger really let me down. I felt betrayed. I felt so betrayed that I downloaded Wordpress. I even printed out the Famous Five-minute Installation Instructions. Then I tried to install it, and I couldn’t make heads nor tails of it. Seriously, it was beyond me. Blogger slowly started letting me update again, and then I sort of forgot about my resolution to leave.

Then it happened again at Christmas 2006. Once again, during Holidailies. Blogger wouldn’t let me update! I was even angrier this time. And it didn’t get any better in January, either. This time, I meant it. I really was going to leave!

And I did. Maybe Blogger just pushed me too far this time. Maybe the Wordpress instructions were just a little more foolproof this time. Whatever the reason, I finally did it.

So here we are, on Wordpress. I hope it’ll be another long and (mostly) happy relationship. The scary thing is, I don’t completely understand how it works. But I’ve gotten this far, right? So I’m sure I’ll figure it out or find someone to help me, when I have questions.

I’m a little wistful about Blogger. It’s been powering Raspberry World for a very long time. But I’m not really sad to leave — mostly just proud that I finally figured out how to do it myself.

That said, if you have any problems reading the site, please let me know. I’m sure I’ll be tweaking things for a while to come.

Almost there now!Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Alex climbs the stairs almost every day now, usually at bedtime. He enjoys it and seems motivated to get to the top. Of course, we give him plenty of supervision — especially since he doesn’t know how to come back down safely yet.

We still have a baby gate at the bottom of the steps, but if we let him through it he will climb all the way up to the second floor. I am surprised at how fast he can get up there — my fear is that one day he’ll find the gate open and be upstairs before I even know he’s climbing!

He’s walking!

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

It’s not the greatest picture, but I took it the second before Alex took his first steps! He started walking today and practiced this afternoon. He has taken five or six in a row, so far. He seemed to know that he was doing something new. Wow!

I think he’s also started saying “all done” when he’s finished with a meal in the high chair. This little boy is really growing up!

Making a phone callOriginally uploaded by Raspberry World.

I haven’t had a chance to figure out how to personalize this new page template much. That’s why the links to Flickr and Youtube are no longer on the front page. I’ll get it worked out soon.

In the meantime, if you are looking for the PICTURES or the VIDEOS, click on the link over on the left that says “Classic RW.” Flickr and Youtube are the first two links on that page. You will always be able to find the links there.

You can also find the RW Memory Game on that page if you have some time to kill!

The picture above was taken a year ago this evening. I was scheduled to go to the hospital to have labor induced. Just as Marty and I were walking out the door, suitcases in hand, the labor and delivery department called to ask us to wait until the next morning. Apparently, a bunch of pregnant women had shown up without appointments to have their babies. The nerve!

(I should mention that the reason I was being induced at 39 weeks was the gestational diabetes, or as I liked to call it, GD. Otherwise I never, ever would have wanted to be induced.)

Anyway, our plans were postponed, so we settled down to a nice game of Scrabble. Ziggy climbed up on my “lap” (ie, on top of Alex) and Marty took this picture. I’m glad he did, because sometimes it’s hard to remember what things were like before.

Tonight I’m wearing a different blue hoodie (it fits me better than the one in the picture does now) and Ziggy is sitting next to me on the couch, not on my lap. And Alex is sleeping upstairs in his crib. Tomorrow we will celebrate his first birthday.

I know how lucky we are. I think about it every day.

Helping Dad unpack a box from Georgia

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Our big boy is one year old today! Alex had a good day. He woke up in a great mood and had a good breakfast before daycare. Just before we left the house, he noticed his new barn and seemed very interested in it!

When we got to daycare, he got birthday kisses from his teacher. His class made him a big birthday card with all the babies’ names in it. I think he had a good day, although he only took one very short nap.

Then, this evening, Alex unwrapped his presents from us and all the ones that came in boxes from his grandparents. What a lot of great toys he got! And he has really learned to unwrap a present since Christmas! He’s a regular pro at it now! He loved helping Daddy unpack the boxes and get the toys out of their packages, too.

After that he had some dinner and then a birthday muffin, on a special plate that Nana made him. Of course we sang the birthday song! Then it was upstairs for a bath and bedtime. What a nice day!

On Saturday, we will celebrate with some of our friends. The birthday fun continues!

What a great year it’s been. I am so happy that we get a chance to do this. If you’d like to remember the early days (as I’ve been doing), check out last February’s gallery!

I promise to update about Alex’s birthday party soon… in the meantime, you can check out the pictures in the February gallery on Flickr.