After lunch zonk out

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Watch out Old Dog

Bill is starting to look more and more like a little boy and less like a baby each day. He is quite the quick little crawler, taking off across the carpet much at the expense of Butch. Luckily for Butch, Bill hasn't learned to sit up or stand up yet.

Bill likes bouncing in the Johnny Jump Up, but he typically needs someone to play with him.

Daddy was going to run a 20 miler today, but felt terrible this morning and postponed it until Saturday.

We are going to try and get out fishing this afternoon, hoping it clears up more. Gotta get all the fun in that we can on Steph's day off.

Smelling the flowers

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Washington strawberries

Ahhh, Insurance Fun

Daddy spent the morning wrestling with the health insurance company over a bill.
William went to the dermatologist in December, to check the hemangioma on his finger. The doctor submitted the bill to Premera. We assumed that Regence(my former insurance) ended at the end of November. Apparently, it ended at the end of December.
So we had presented our Premera cards on this appointment. Premera paid the bill. But then a few months later, their henchmen(Calypso) audited their records and found that they could get $77.06 from our doctor. They told the doctor it was under the deductible, and the doctor would have to get it from us. The deductible part wasn't made clear until my second call of the day. On the third call, Premera said it was because they were the secondary insurer. OK, Nothing about the deductible. I would have to call Regence and find out why they didn't pay. The Doctor's office said that I wouldn't be able to submit the claim to Regence, it was too late. And they reminded me that it was MY responsibility to pay the $77.06. I called Regence, they claimed the Aaron act on this one. New to me, but I could run with that. Apparently Regence only covered Bill for the first 3 weeks of his life, which ended a couple of days before the appointment. Back to Premera, I actually got the same person again. WooHoo! They sensed maybe something was wrong and that they would contact Calypso to have them repay the doctor.
One thing is clear, they are playing games to get people to pay things they don't have to and only pay when you push them.
Each phone call to Premera involved putting me on hold multiple times while they "researched" the case, went to the bathroom, chatted with coworkers, shopped online, etc for all I know.
Of course this is all a ridiculous game, that took about an hour of my time. Everyone was easy to deal with, the Doctor's office was a little testy but they have been getting the shaft, too. But the system is setup to wear you down.

I feel like I won this time, $77.06. But it is about the principle.

These days Health Insurance and Cell Phone companies seem to occupy the place once reserved for Used Car Salesman.

Walk in the Greenspace

A nice walk before Mommy has to go to work. It was cool this morning, in the 50's but wasn't raining.

Bill has a tooth!

It's small and sharp on the bottom, he doesn't like you to look for it but it is there.

Butch ponders Bill's mobility

Johnny Jump Up

Destructor Strikes

Mom & Dad have noticed alot of changes over the last couple of weeks.

Bill is crawling now, he is still refining it but he is definitely crawling. He is grabbing things and pulling himself around quite a bit. He rolls whenever he wants.

He can be quite active while on the changing table. This morning was cool when I told him to stop, and he did stop squirming.

He talks alot, very often. Sometimes it is just DadaddaDDaaaaaDaDaaaDaaDaaDaaaa, but then other times it is much more varied.

Bill wants to eat what we eat. Bottle feeding was easy compared to now because he is now known to make quite a mess while eating.

While we haven't seen it, it definitely feels like a tooth is coming in the bottom. His gum line has gotten sharper.

He is napping at least twice a day. It's amazing how much he can wear himself out before 10am.

We definitely have to pay attention, as the photo illustrates.

Home from Houseboating

We made it home.

Many thanks to Bill's Grandma and Grandpa for a fun week houseboating in California. It was fun hanging out with Steve, Judy, Eleanor, Annette, and her boyfriend Joe.

The drive went fine with a Motel 6 stop in Eugene to split up the normally 10 hour drive.
Butch was quiet most of the time and Bill was not too much to handle.

Dad got in a quick run this afternoon, it is warmer in Seattle today, about 77 degrees and the trail through the park is a bit over grown.
Now to get back to our schedules.
During the drive Dad found a Johnny Jump-Up on Craig's List to pick up on Sunday.
According to the CPSB, they were recalled for bad clamping on the doorway. Apparently 3 kids got bruised foreheads, knees or shins. Gotta skin your knee sometime.

Bill has swimming on Tuesday. I hope the weather is nice.

Thanks to my Dad

Thanks to my Dad for teaching me how to be great at driving a boat.
Sure has come in handy.

Middle Fork Snoqualmie Trail Run

We headed out to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie for a hike/run this morning. Bill and Steph hiked while I ran. I was going to run solo, but a friend decided to join me. He is 91 years old, I figured he would drop off and hike with the family after a mile or two. But I could hear the jingle of his equipment behind me as I ran down the trail. 4 miles, he was on my tail. An hour into the run, 6 miles, he was still there. I stopped for water, this guy was all over me. He's old, but he was keeping up. I thought for sure I would drop him soon. At seven miles, I was running out of time and needed to turn around. I pulled up and said, "Time for me to turn around". What did this guy do? He took off down the trail like a dog after a rabbit. I yelled, "I'm heading back". He stopped and gave me that "You wimp" look before he started to follow me back towards the trailhead.

We ran back towards the trailhead, past the huge waterfall. Up and down, around each bend. Finally, after about 11 miles he started to drop back. But everytime I took a break he was not far behind. He was just pacing, probably planning on running further than me. He caught up as we got close to the bridge. This is the same old codger that takes his sweet time smelling every flower when we walk a 1/2 mile around the neighborhood. I didn't think he had game, but he's still got it.

REI SteriPen Journey LCD

I tried out our new REI SteriPen Journey LCD today. We bought it a couple of weeks ago at the REI Flagship store in Seattle. It was just inside the door. The reason we bought it is that I need a quick, light, and simple water purification system for long trail runs. At $129 dollars, it was a little expensive but it has some great promised benefits.
First, it kills giardia and other pathogens using ultra-violet light. So there is no chemical taste whatsoever. It also isn't that heavy, it weight less than 1/2 a pound. I carry a bike bottle in my hand while I run. With the SteriPen, you pull it out of it's cover, press the button twice, stick it in the water and stir for 40 seconds to purify your water. Purify is the wrong word, disinfect is probably better. Once done, it displays two smiley faces. One for the battery and one for the process completing successfully.

So how did our REI Journey LCD work on it's first trail run? I used it twice in the first 7 miles to fill my bottle. It was great. Scoop up a bottle full of water, stick in the pen and then walk while it works. I'll need some sort of smarter carrying option while running than sticking it in my small backpack.
After I turned around, 7 miles from the trailhead I went to use the SteriPen Journey again. Push the button twice, stick it in the water....Double Unhappy Faces! I tried it a few more times on the run back. Luckily, it wasn't a hot day and I can run 7 miles without drinking, but I wasn't really happy about it. I ran 3 miles and tried again, no luck. I was tired of it, and ready to huck it.

After we got home, I pulled out the SteriPen Journey again and sure enough it seemed to work. Re-reading the manual, you have to dry it completely between uses. But the confusing thing is that the double unhappy faces means that the battery is worn out and the process failed because of that. The batteries are the originals, pretty darn new as far as I know. I'll chalk it up as user error this time, but want to test more to see if it is actually reliable.

So mixed reviews, I plan on giving it another test trip. I'll let you know if I get giardia or any other amoebic parasites from those original couple of bottles of water.
On my long long run this summer, I might just have to carry some backup Potable Aqua.

UPDATE 6/29/2008:
I did another run to see if it was just user-error with the Steri-Pen. Sure enough, an hour into the run I refilled the bottle and the dumb thing just wouldn't work. It would sometimes go for a second and then give me the single unhappy face. I gave it the mad face back.
Testing at home, it worked great. So what was different? After considering things, I tried shaking it a bunch before using it. Whammo, it didn't work. Running with it in my pack seems to make the Steri-Pen inoperable. Waiting 10 minutes or more seems to fix it. I don't have that kind of time on a run, so I will be returning it.
If you have a lightweight, quick solution for clean water on runs please let me know?

Bill is just starting to crawl. He is irregular in his movement, but he is able to go forward now a little at a time. It's pretty cool. I've been sending video emails to the Grandma's for their enjoyment.

Mmmmm

Yes, the weather is not acting at all like summer yet. The weather forecast yesterday had a snow level of 7,000 ft. A Snow level?

Since we moved to Seattle years ago, my favorite fruit has become Rainier Cherries. They are difficult to transport, bruise easily, and have a short season which makes them a particularly delicious and special snack. Before Seattle, I guess fresh peaches were my fav. We get peaches here, but late in the Summer and it is hard to find the good ones.

Low tide

Today there was a -4 ft tide in Seattle. So after story time and a trip to the Vegetable market, we drove down to Seahurst Park in Burien. Along with a 100 school kids, we walked around the beach looking at all the sea creatures. Some starfish, sea lemons, lots of crabs, small fish, hermit crabs, sea snails, and sea anemones were all over the place. We also saw what looked like the end of a geoduck, a type of Puget Sound clam that grows over a foot long. Well Mom & Dad enjoyed the tide pools and low water, naturally Bill enjoyed sleeping in the backpack.

Most people in Seattle are trying to figure out what season it is. The flowers are blooming, and the calendar says it is June. But today, we woke up to temperatures in the 40's and some persistent drizzle.

Story time

Steph, Bill, and I went to storytime at the High Point Library this morning. It was fun and nice to see another Dad there.

Siberian iris blooming

Peas and Banana

It's hard to see how much food he is wearing in the picture, but it's there. Bill eats about a 1/2 a banana at a time, and some of whatever other baby food you try to hide with it.

Daddy is recuperating well from his long run on Saturday, after 3 days off he is gonna try a short one today. The quarter is winding down. With 1 class long finished, another done last night, he has two to go. A take-home final for Project Mgmt and a presentation for the PIM class.

I had an interesting thing happen in one of my classes yesterday. A classmate said, "Congratulations" to me. I was kinda struck, "What for?". She had read about my 50k run on Facebook. I had forgotten about the friends connections there. Facebook is actually a pretty interesting tool. Says the old fogey.

Well off to a run

Swing

I don't know, when he wears his sunglasses and swings it just makes you want to snap a picture.

Sometimes you gotta go with the Breakfast you have, not the breakfast you want

Yep, we've moved onto a new phase. Food via the spoon, albeit a small one. Mommy is the champion of this phase. Dad seems to lack the enthusiasm for the low yield delivery via a very little spoon and a picky mouth.

If we eat something, Bill is starting to want his own cut. Typically, he doesn't like the gruel type foods. He does like fresh fruits more than canned.

Bill still likes Salmon, preferably freshly cook, grilled or poached with some moistness remaining. Reheated salmon is not as popular as fresh. And actually he likes his meats more than most things, devouring shredded salmon.

We've had a couple of head dings and a cut finger that got stuck in a fastex buckle, these created somewhat grouchy days. He's definitely letting us know his thoughts a little more often.

I love my pickle rattle!

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