Edwin - Back to Normal Despite Bruise!

Financial Crisis Hits Cincy Sports Radio

Pretty much all Cincinnati sports radio personalities & programming have been eliminated except Lance McAlister. (Nationally-syndicated Fox Sports content will fill the void.)

So now if you just desperate to hear first-hand radio evidence that the Bengals stink, you'll have to get your fix between 3-6 p.m. weekdays. (Second-hand evidence will still be available from a national perspective the other 21 hours of each weekday.)

IDOL Reverse Power Rankings 4.28.09

5- Matt
4- Alison
3- Kris*
2- Danny*
1- Adam**

**I'm not officially tracking it, but thought our readers deserve to know that these performers also rank high on my Goose Bump Scale!**

5+ Hours at the ER

Today started like any other Monday. Edwin and I got up around 7:30am and ate breakfast, played for a while, and started the laundry. It was beautiful outside, so I took the 'Super Happy Fun Zone' outside and Edwin sat in the shade watching me do some yardwork. He started to get cranky, so I got him out and we were sitting on the porch watching cars go by, singing ABCs, and practicing our counting when...the entire day changed...

Edwin dove off of my lap, head first, onto the cement. It happened soooo fast. I didn't even have time to react. Before I knew it, I heard his head hit the cement. It sounded like an egg cracking. He immediately bursted into frantic tears and his head began to bruise and swell. I brought him inside and tried to put ice on it...and he had no interest in keeping the bag of frozen corn on his head...

I called Dave and explained how bad it looked. I called the doctor and the suggested I go to the hospital...I called our friend Keith (Dr. Ridel) and he suggested the same. I loaded Edwin into the car (after changing his diaper - you know what they say about having on clean underwear in the ER) and off we went...I was crying uncontrollably...I called and canceled my physical therapy appointment and my walking date with a girlfriend - I know, so responsible! I called my sister and she immediately got in her car and headed to the ER to meet me there. My girlfriend ended up meeting me there too...and Dave came too...

So, after 5+ hours at the ER, Edwin seems to be okay. It seems to be an external injury - it looks awful! The doctor warned me that it will probably get worse before it gets better...I can't believe that - at least I don't want to...I feel so bad about this...and I know - it will probably not be the last time we have to go to the ER - but I simply feel bad...

Edwin is one tough little man - THANK GOD!!! Really could've been so much worse!

Learning My Name

3 Parks in 2 Days!

White Castle

So does anyone else think White Castle's balance of advertising spending vs. janitorial budget is a little out of whack? I mean, I realize they're not Super Bowl-quality commercials, but you can tell they've hired some high-priced Madison Avenue shop that's costing some money (see example from their homepage here). Is it too much to ask for them to allocate a couple of dollars toward bleach, or at least some odor-masking Febreze?

P.S.: I found this clip on Youtube of a 1992 White Castle commercial featuring Don Adams. Embarrassing, yes, but for Don Adams or for White Castle?

WEEK IN REVIEW

Finally some weather where we can be outdoors! We actually had hail/snow this week. Ohio weather at its best. The thunderstorm this morning rattled the windows and awoke Meredith at 6 am. Boo! This is my day off and I am up earlier than a work day?!? Something isn't right here.

We have acquired a goose couple living in our backyard around the pond. They come about halfway up the yard , not welcome mind you. The poop is disgusting ! I sneaked up on the couple and took some video. They actually talked to each other and then flew away!

We celebrated Matt's 33rd birthday on Tuesday. His request was buttercream icing. I insisted that just a bowl of icing wasn't really appropriate to put a candle into it. I doubled the recipe and made a butter (yellow) cake. It was quite tasty, but not the healthiest thing in the world. We had a great dinner at the Blue Wolf except one thing. We were sat in front of the fireplace which has a wolf on it. Meredith's back was facing it (rather close I suppose), and thus bothered her that the dog was there. When we were leaving , I had to put her on the ground to get my coat off, and she screamed , "PICK ME UP!". She actually gripped me so hard that I needed no arms to hold her. So dramatic.

Since we've been outside, I decided to snap some pictures of everything blooming. The girls are obsessed with this one solitaire pansy and all the nasty dandelions that invaded my flower bed. Sure they're pretty now, but those white fluffs are disaster for yards and allergies.

And as far as American Idol goes, I am sad to see Anoop go. He wasn't going to win, but I was hoping that he could outlast at least Allison. She has so much potential, but totally lame song choices. I guess my full support can go to Kris Allen now. :)

General Edwin Update

It has been a while since I posted, so I thought I should write a general update for our readers.

Edwin has mastered crawling and is now onto bigger and better things...crawling to anything that he can pull himself up on (couches, tables, chairs, baskets, vacuums, etc) and trying to walk along the furniture (holding on). He has had a couple falls on the hardwood floor - but the bruises on his head add character, right?

Edwin celebrated a belated Easter with Grandma Nikki - and yes, another Easter basket. That makes 7 for Edwin - 0 for me! What's up with that?

I met a girlfriend and her son and nephew at a park today and we had a great time! It was a perfect day! Edwin got to try a swing for the first time and really seemed to enjoy it.

I also forgot to post Edwin's 10-month picture...so here it is...he was in no mood for pictures on April 12th (Easter Sunday) so this was my best shot! Hope 11 months is better!

I have also uploaded all of my April pictures, so check out the link to the right if you are interested and have lots of time!

:>)

IDOL Reverse Power Rankings 4.21.09

7- Lil Rounds
6-Anoop
5- Matt
4- Kris*
3- Danny*
2- Alison*
1- Adam**

**I'm not officially tracking it, but thought our readers deserve to know that these performers also rank high on my Goose Bump Scale!**

Dave's Version of Week in Review

Sunday, 4/12/09 - Easter. Dave eats too much ham.

Monday, 4/13/09 - Steelers sign LB James Harrison to a long-term deal. The particulars: 6 years, $51.75 million, $20 million guaranteed, 2nd highest-paid player in team history. Not bad. Let's hope the off-season gives him the chance to recover from that 100-yard TD run in Super Bowl.

Tuesday, 4/14/09 - North Korea pulls out of the six-party talks. This should turn out great.

Wednesday, 4/15/09 - Tax Day comes and goes in a relatively quiet manner--unless you count the people yelling and chanting outside my office window during lunch hour--precisely 35 days after our Federal tax refund was direct deposited to our checking account (thanks, Phyllis!).

Thursday, 4/16/09 - Yankees open their new stadium (at the bargain price of just under half the cost of the USS Jimmy Carter) to a 10-2 shellacking at the hands of the Indians.

Friday, 4/17/09 - FITB up 11.8% for the day, 41.6% for the week!

Saturday, 4/18/09 - Dave runs outdoors for the first time this year.

WEEK IN REVIEW

It was definitely celebration central here at the Ross house. Good Friday brought Aunt Mindy, Uncle David, and Edwin to town!! We had a yummy dinner from The Blue Wolf Tavern. Our final fish on Friday meal. Man, it gets to be a challenge during Lent to come up with something new to eat without getting bored of the usual fish fry. The girls and I had fun dressing up Edwin with a pair of bunny ears. He looked so cute! Saturday was our official dyeing of the Easter eggs. My Aunt Ginny and cousin Claudia arrived from N.Y. to help assist in the festivities. Edwin seemed a bit tired to fully appreciate this activity, but that time will come for him to plop an egg and crack it. HAHA. Right, Meredith? Easter Sunday began with the mad search for the Easter baskets from the Easter bunny. The night before we set out the designated baskets on the counter so that the Bunny knew whose basket was whose :) Madeline was drawn to where Meredith's was hidden and we tried to pull her away from the box with the basket in it. Madeline just kept saying, "BUT IT FEELS HEAVY!!!". After locating their baskets, it was off to mass at 9 am. The kids looked so adorable and behaved so well through church. We then prepared for a delightful Easter meal at our house. With everyone's help we had a delicious feast. YUM! Thanks so much to everyone! After dinner we had an Easter egg hunt set up by Jill and Aunt Betsy. Even Edwin participated... if that is what you want to call playing with an egg that keeps being taken by Meredith! For dessert we had birthday cake from Das Dutch Haus , banana. Love it! It was my birthday which the celebrations continued on Monday with a dinner at the Youngstown Crab Co. I ordered a bucket of crab legs. Meredith did NOT care for that leggy bucket sitting next to her. I had to show her that there was no body connected to those legs! We now have web cam (courtesy of Dave and Mindy). So if you want to video chat over the Internet, let us know. :)

Edwin Standing

IDOL Reverse Power Rankings 4.14.09

7- Lil Rounds
6-Matt
5- Anoop
4- Alison
3- Danny
2- Kris*
1- Adam**

**I'm not officially tracking it, but thought our readers deserve to know that these performers also rank high on my Goose Bump Scale!**

M5???

Is this what the Rosses of Canfield would look like with a 3rd kid, Milton Edwin Ross????

Happy Belated Easter!

WEEK IN REVIEW

On Friday, Aunt Megan and Uncle Chris came to visit us for the weekend. The girls just go crazy for company...especially when they bring gifts. HA. On Saturday morning, we made some bunny cakes to take with us to Pittsburgh for a visit with Papa and Deb. The girls had a fun time icing them and eating the icing and eating the egg sprinkles. Meredith's cake was the most "tested". Although, I believe it was the tastiest as well :) We made plans to meet Papa and Deb at the Carnegie Science Center. When we arrived I called them to see where they were...it went something like this. "where are you, dad?" "at the back entrance ... we already bought our tickets" "where is the back entrance...there is only one that I can see? " "what floor are you on?" " the first floor" " do you see the dinosaurs, Melinda?" "NO!?!?!?! Where are you??" "the museum of natural history!" "you are at the WRONG place hahahahahah" They ended up getting refunded for the tickets and met us at the correct location. The girls enjoyed the hands-on stuff there.

On Tuesday, Madeline had her Easter program at school. We along with Grandma attended the packed play center performance of a whopping 15 minutes! She got to sing all her poems and songs that she had learned. In fact, she got to lead all three classes into the playcenter. The only problem is the little boy's bunny ears were blocking Madeline's face at times. I have included some videos of her singing.

Today, Nanny Karen gave the girls their Easter gifts. Meredith starting screaming with joy when she saw her babydoll. She just loves to powder the "bum bum" and feed the baby. Madeline had a really cool princess kit full of art and crafts supplies.

We are looking forward to this Easter weekend and will show you all the pics from the celebration next Friday. Happy Easter, everyone!

Edwin Crawling

IDOL Reverse Power Rankings 4.7.09

8- Lil Rounds
7- Scott
6-Kris
5- Danny
4- Anoop*
3- Alison*
2- Matt*
1- Adam***

**I'm not officially tracking it, but thought our readers deserve to know that these performers also rank high on my Goose Bump Scale!**

Easter Eggs w. Edwin

Edwin Laughing...Makes Me Laugh

Extreme Diaper-Changing Challenge: Round 1

Time & Place: 6:30 p.m., Saturday, April 4, 2009 / Ruby Tuesday bathroom, Kenwood, Ohio

Participant: Ross, David E.

The Challenge: Attempt to change son's diaper without him freaking out.

The Details:

After a pleasant family meal, it is decided that Edwin's diaper should be changed at the restaurant so family can make a few stops before heading home for the evening. Dave volunteers to check the men's room for a changing table hoping there one won't be available so Mindy will be forced to do the deed. Much to his chagrin, the act of pseudo-chivalry blows up in his face as the men's room is in fact, equipped with a changing table.

Thus, the challenge begins.

The bathroom is dimly lit with the not-so-pleasant odor of industrial-strength cleaner failing to mask the odor of misfired urine permeating through the air. Edwin immediately does not like this room.

The situation worsens as Dave and Edwin approach the changing table, which is positioned within spitting (could use another bodily-function verb but won't) distance of one of the urinals. Trying not to bump elbows with the current user of said urinal, Dave starts to place Edwin on the table. Edwin resists by grabbing the sides of the table and pushing with what seems to be super-baby strength. Dave fights through Edwin's resistance and arranges him squarely onto the table.

Realizing his 1st attempt at insurgency has failed, Edwin moves to plan B: screaming bloody murder. Not wanting to disrupt all the urination that may or may not be getting into toilets, Dave picks Edwin back up and offers a hug with a few consoling words a la, "it'll be OK, little buddy."

Edwin seems to calm down so Dave lays him back on the table. Edwin whimpers softly as Dave rushes through the removing of Edwins's tiny jeans. Before the onesie can be unsnapped, the screaming recommences. Dave continues unflinchingly so Edwin is forced to add squirming to his already effective screaming method.

After what seems like 3-4 minutes of struggling, Dave's able to remove the old diaper and put on the new diaper in a manner that would clearly be insufficient in accomplishing any purpose a diaper was designed to serve. Dave runs out of the bathroom with Edwin and diaper bag without any re-pantsing or onesie re-snapping.

The Clean-Up:

Mindy carries Edwin to the car wrapped in Dave's fleece, finishes the diaper change, and puts Edwin into pajamas. No further stops are made.

The Result:

Failure, complete and utter. In case you're tracking at home, this makes Dave 0-for-1 in the Extreme Diaper-Changing Challenge. Stay tuned as Dave tries to get up to .500.

Teeth Picture

Got one!!!

Edwin Update

Edwin now has 4 teeth - two on the top and two on the bottom. The tip popped through last Tuesday, and it is clearly visible now...too cute! He looks completely different with teeth! I haven't been able to get a smile big enough to get all of the teeth, but I'll keep trying!

Also, last night we went to a friend's house. Dave played Hold'Em and we hung out with Cassie and her daughter Amelia (14 months) and Jen. It was a great night. Dave ended up winning poker, Edwin took a couple great crawls FORWARD, and Cassie helped me prepare the rest of the components for Edwin's birthday invites. It is times like this when I think we need to purchase a video camera. It takes Edwin a long time to start crawling forward and when he does it is for just a couple seconds...so I can't use my camera - I miss it everytime! So, you'll just have to believe me until you see it with your own eyes...he is doing AWESOME!!!

WEEK IN REVIEW

Madeline and Meredith each received a gift card to Build A Bear for their birthdays. Well, we finally experienced the creations this Saturday. This is one of those moments you wonder, "why didn't I think of that??!" The girls each selected their stuffed animal which at this point is just the limp outer shell. Madeline was willing to step on the fluff injection pedal (Meredith was too shy). Meredith was up to selecting the heart for her bear and put it inside. Now came the time for clothes selection. I am wanting some of the outfits for myself! I thought that they did an excellent job. And finally the name. Madeline decided that her rabbit's name would be "Easter Bunny". Meredith was persistent that her bear's name was "Bear". Yep, she wouldn't budge off of the generic name. Too funny.

As we left Build A Bear, Meredith was going to town waving at the Easter Bunny! He was conveniently placed within yards of the store ready for picture taking. So we asked the girls if they would like to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap and we got a scared to death, NO NO NO!!!! Madeline wouldn't even take a step further. Wow. I guess I passed on that gene. I was totally being brave myself and walking towards that abnormally large headed furry thing. Maybe next year!

We also took a trip to Grove City Outlets that morning. What a beautiful day that turned out to be. We usually go there when it's down pouring. You have got to love Children's Place there. However, we shockingly walked out of that store with nothing.

On Thursday , we had Madeline's parent/teacher conference for 10 minutes. Apparently, she is just a gem of a student. Mrs. Meister just praised her and praised her. She mentioned how easily Madeline picks up concepts. Also, that Madeline is very smart and will continue to be. :) Way to go. I was surprised to see the criteria these children are evaluated.

We have been watching Aladdin in the minivan when we travel to Pittsburgh. It is a frequent occurrence to hear Madeline offering, "Meredith, do you want me to show you the world? Shining ,shimmering, splendid. I can open your eyes". I laugh every time I hear it.

Guess Who?

Madeline, Meredith, or Edwin???

Think they are related???

:>)

The Day Mindy Has Been Waiting For...

The 1 has made an appearance on the scale for the first time since the week after I found out I was pregnant...feels good to almost be back to me!!!

Baby's Take on the News

Edwin illustrates his opinion regarding the quality of the local media...

Anyway, I get the feeling Edwin will look back on this picture of himself in the same manner I look back at pictures of myself as a kid using my record player.