et cetera

Donated hair

2012-01-16T18:51:00.005-07:00

Violet has a friend in her Primary class who is in the hospital. Her friend Natalie AND Natalie's sister Alice both have a rare immune disorder and both are having a bone-marrow transplant that will hopefully (cross fingers!) cure the condition. If you want to read more about this amazing family, you can visit their blog Fishes for Marrow Wishes.

Anyway, at church yesterday, the class had a Skype visit with Natalie. Violet was a little worried that Natalie had lost her hair from the chemo and so we had a talk about it. After a few hours, Violet came back and said that she wanted her hair cut off and donated to Locks for Love (which mostly does wigs for children who lose their hair from alopecia areata). I asked her to think about it and say a prayer about it and if she still wanted to, we would get a haircut.

Well, today she was still excited about donating her hair. Here's the last minutes of her really long, down-to-her-waist (totally-in-need-of-a-trim) hair.

10 inches of hair is a lot on a little girl!

And here's the results! Doesn't she look grown-up and stylish? She has spent the evening telling me that it's OK, I will still be able to braid her hair and do half-ups and even low piggies. Do you like how she's reassuring me?

Do you ever have a day when, in between the sibling squabbles and constant demands and threats to lock them in their room and feed them meals through a cat flap, you are treated to a part of their personality that is generous and selfless and beautiful?

This was that day.

Birthday Boy

2012-01-10T16:35:00.004-07:00

Being a toddler is totally overrated. Do not you agree? I've spent a lot of time and effort trying to talk Smitty Baby into staying a baby.

Don't you want to stay a little snack-sized armful for a bit longer?

You don't really want those teeth, do you?

Crawling beats walking anydangday. Especially when you have a fuzzy tiger face right smack on your crawling bum.

I'm pretty sure all the cool kids are still in 6-month sizes.

Are you SURE you don't want to put some of these developmental milestones off a bit longer?

These were the most well-reasoned of my many, many arguments. I've got more!

Nothing doing, he said.

The night before his birthday, after the whole house had gone to bed, I got him back out of his crib and held his fleecy-pajamaed little self and snuffed up his not-newborn-anymore smell. And cried real tears.

And I realized that, as much as I want my baby to stay a little baby, the things he's doing now are amazing too. The pigeon-toed bulldog crawl and tiny voice saying 'momom' of 11 months is just as adorable as the scrunch-faced stretches and curled-up legs of 11 days. And we certainly get more sleep, says the rational part of my brain. Yes, says the part that's crying the tears. Only you just can't rewind the crawling to the curled-up froggy legs. You can't take 23 pounds of wiggles and make it seem like 7 pounds of helpless in your arms.

But I wish I could. Oh how I wish.

Well, my love, my own, in spite of all my advice you went ahead and turned one anyway. But we could still hold off on the walking thing. Just a wee bit longer.

Let them eat cake

2012-01-10T15:47:00.005-07:00

Or cupcakes.

Peekaboo Barn cupcakes, to be exact. Smitty's favorite thing in the whole wide world of entertainment and Possible Party Themes is Peekaboo Barn. And Elmo. But mostly Peekaboo Barn.

Also Elmo involves waaaay to much red-dyed frosting and I am not A-OK with that.

And now, Birthday Boy Smitty will tell you how one attacks ones first birthday cupcake.

And I did receive a cupcake from my sister and I did take it for my own. Also I did wonder why I was sitting on the kitchen table.

I did poke at the cupcake. I did lick it and touch it and drop it.

And behold! I found it squishy and delightsome to taste.

And I did find that the cupcake did not end at the frosting bit but that there was a manner of cake beneath which I could crush and smoosh.

And I did wiggle and laugh and perhaps do a little dance as I pondered mine own good fortune.

Yea I did savor the cupcake. And it was good.

{fin}

Our Christmas Tree

2011-12-23T14:27:00.004-07:00

When I was little, my mom would get a different ornament for me and my sisters every year. She usually tried to make them relate to the past year - the year I worked as a junior tour guide
at the museum, my ornament was a dinosaur with Christmas lights on him. This was a tradition I loved and wanted to pass on to my own kids. After a few years of trying to find ornaments that were 'special', I met Jodie, a lovely woman in our ward who is an amazing artist. Each December she has a get-together at her home where she teaches you to sculpt things from polymer clay. People do nativity scenes and ornaments and all kinds of things. So each year I make a special ornament for each of my children. Some are holiday-themed (angels and snowmen) and some are specific to each child (Dash is totally into zombies this year so he got a zombie elf). Violet has even started making some of her own (the red-gowned lady and the snowman with broomstick arms are hers).

So this is our tree. It is small and kind of sparsly-branched, but it will never crush any climby babies who try to scale its modest heights. It will never stand as a model of amazing decoration and design, but so far no one has been able to harm themselves with any of the ornaments. The kids are proud of their creations and baby Smitty loves to re-decorate his lower half of the tree every day.

I wanted this for my Christmas card

2011-12-05T15:13:00.005-07:00

But then I remembered that I had three kids. You know, instead of just this one.

So I didn't use this card.

But still....

It would have been good.

Cooties and the like

2011-11-30T13:03:00.002-07:00

I love fall. I do. The cooler weather, the decorations, the holidays and get-togethers and baking and everything good. Every year I get so excited for those first crisp, cool days that I totally forget what comes hand-in-hand with the cold.

COLDS!

And sore throats and coughs and sneezy sounds and every other bad thing. Stupid classes and stupid germs and stupid cold-weather cooped-up cooties anyhow.

After Joe and I spent a shivery, feverish, sleepless night and everyone stayed home from school the next day, I made a round of appointments for the pediatrician and I said, without thinking "I hope we all have strep throat". And Joe looked at me like I might have turned insane.

"Because" I went on as if this was making perfect sense to me, which it was "Then there will actually be Something Wrong with us all, instead of the vague 'probably a virus' diagnosis and there are actually antibiotics to take and we'll all be better".

It is perfectly reasonable, when you think about it.

So, after some taking-of-temperatures and some throat swabs and some wrenching-open-of-someone's-jaws (because the oldest, in spite of her cleverness, will never submit to any procedure, no matter how small, without a 5-star tantrum) it's official. We all have strep throat. Except the baby. He has a sinus infection.

We brought home a bag from the pharmacy that probably weighs as much as the baby, and Happy Meals for all. My dear, darling visiting teacher dropped off Sprite and popsicles. New Netflix movies arrived in the mail (a miracle!) I've confined everyone to the house for 48 hours to try and get better.

I've decided that sick days would be a better experience if you're not actually sick. I keep thinking that I'd like to sleep late, curl up by the fire and maybe crochet the remainder of Smitty's Christmas hat. Instead I lay awake all night trying not to swallow because of the cantaloupe-sized ball of ouch in my throat and wander around in a haze all day because none of the kids believe in sleeping in.

I decided to put a bit more effort into today, so instead of slouching around in Joe's pajama pants all day, I showered, put on an entirely new pair of Joe's pajama bottoms and crammed my contacts into my eyes because Smitty doesn't recognize me in glasses. Also I washed everyone's sheets, applied disinfectant spray to the house with a crop-duster.

Have you actually made it to the end of this post? Well, here's hoping that tomorrow will contain more wellness and less annoying illness than today.

To my Scrabble girls

2011-11-26T18:56:00.004-07:00

For a while, I was doing really good at keeping up with a few Words With Friends games. And then this guy, Smitty McSmitten Mittens, discovered that he too, loves that iPod.

And if you think you're going to play a great word, or maybe toss an angry bird or two, you are confronted with this.

Oh! The iPod? Are we going to play Peekaboo Barn now for the maybe three millionth time?

Do you think it will be the sheep? Or the rooster? Or maybe even the dog! We must know!

And then you think to yourself how heart-meltingly cute his little giggle is when he hears the kid say "peekaboo barn" and you absolutely and completely give in to him, every single time.

And you lose all your Scrabble games.

This is me not caring

2011-11-26T18:28:00.005-07:00

On kid #3, sometimes you flatter yourself that you are starting to figure things out. Then you get slapped in the face with (yet another) thing you failed to consider.

Holiday decorations and a pre-walking munchkin bent on terror and destruction, for example.

I left the nice nativity sadly tucked away in its box.

I put up the little tree which will, probably, most likely, I tell myself, not crush any little someones when they pull it over on themselves.

With the shatter-proof ornaments, because my kids have been known to eat tree-related holiday decor and, you know, safety first!

And the old, old, like from our haunted house old, gold garland.

And told the type-A part of my self that it's perfectly fine and everything will survive and he'll eventually lose interest and next year we can trust him with more of the decorations out.

Which is, I'm almost pretty sure, totally what's going to happen.

Apps for kids

2011-11-10T13:06:00.006-07:00

In the last week I've been on a quest to find good apps for the Smittens. He loves the iPod but how much Plants vs. Zombies does he need to play? So I've been browsing interactive games and books for little kids. What I've found is that a lot of them have
a. super annoying voices
b. lame graphics (this bothers me... a lot)
c. ways to make you (or the kids) "accidentally" buy more stuff

Grrrr, right?

So in the middle of my quest, guess what happened? My friend released an app.

How often do you get to say this? Let's say it again.

My friend just released an app.

I KNOW!!

And it's a totally great one for little kids - counting, letters, shapes, colors, all in these interactive little games. Love it.

Oh, and did I mention that it's totally beautiful?

So yes, totally check it out! Click here or search for Make it Pop in the app store.

Experiences in photographing children

2011-10-24T07:44:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving Wreath

2011-10-23T13:35:00.004-06:00

Maybe I've mentioned how much I love Pintrest. Everything I see on there is beautiful, so fun, so ImustmakethatRIGHTNOW! Exclamation point!

My husband has been gone the entire weekend and the kids expressed a desire to sit around and make Halloween decorations. Well, the oldest wanted to make Halloween decorations. The middle child declared his intentions to play video games for several hours (whatever, dude) and the baby said "I'll go along with anything as long as I don't have to be strapped in a seat. And make sure there are snacks. Also check out how my language skills have progressed."

So after a quick trip to the craft store, an iPod loaded with Bartelby's Book of Buttons and quantities of Apple Jacks scattered on the floor, this was our first finished creation.

It's not technically a Halloween decoration. I already have one of those that I love. But this one will be perfect for fall AND I needed to use up some of this $1.50/yd grey fabric I've had laying in my work basket for 3 months. It will just have to wait for Nov. 1 to be put up for Thanksgiving.

On being nine months old

2011-10-08T05:43:00.002-06:00

When you are only nine months old
The world is on your string
There's things to climb
People to slime
A single tear earns snuggle time
Your mother makes up silly rhymes
When you are nine months old.

Oh clever little nine months old
Every thing a toy
A lock of hair
A rock to share
An empty box, a joy
Your world is full of things to eat
A toe or two will taste so sweet
A phone can be a scrumptious treat
When you are nine months old.

Exploring little nine months old
New wonders to behold
To climb the chairs
And scale the stairs
The fridge's heights
Hold new delights
And treasures yet untold
From far across the kitchen floors
To bang the pots and climb the drawers
There's springy things behind the doors!
The cupboards are the place to play
Who locked these darn things anyway?
Yet on we go, come what may
For we are nine months old.

When you are but nine months old
There are things that get you down
Your delicious sticky face is wiped
Your treasures and your toys are swiped
Your tantrums quelled
Your bum is smelled
Tasty tidbits are withheld
Without your saying so, you see
There isn't any dignity
In being nine months old.

When you are only nine months old
'Mama's boy' is no bad thing
For too soon, they all will say
10 months will be on its way
And we will look back on the day
When you were nine months old.

And when someday you stand alone
Out of my arms and on your own
All owies patched and tears been dried
Though I'm filled with mother's pride
To my secret heart inside
You'll still be nine months old.

School pictures

2011-09-30T08:30:00.003-06:00

School pictures just get more and more expensive, ya know? This year's price increase was the breaking point - I decided to take them myself (actually, I let Jenny talk me into taking them myself - she's the best). I even ordered prints and wallets and the whole thing. I guess we won't get a class picture, but I can live with that.

And hey, what do you NOT get with the chicken man's school pictures?

An 8 month Smit

2011-09-14T15:27:00.006-06:00

Smit 8.0 is so wildly different from all previous versions - by the end of this post you'll be running out to get your own!

Your 8 Month Smitty comes with a variety of New & Improved features!

-Crawls, scoots and pulls up.
-Loves to hip-ride. He clings to me, baby-koala-like, one hand wrapped in my shirt collar and the foot behind me kicking away contentedly.
-Is compatible with all fruits, vegetables, meats, grains - all foods and treats in general.
-Comes with a fascination with the electrical outlet covers.
-Has a love-hate relationship with Joe's hat. He grabs the brim in both chubby fists, talks to it animatedly then loses his temper and tries to take a big slobbery chomp out of it. Joe says his viewpoint of the experience is quite unique.
-Eats cheerios, puffed cereal and bits of cracker by rolling his drooly fist in the pile, sucking the bits and crumbs off and starting over.
-Has a lot to say, (translation book sold separately)
-Loves Baby Einstein and Sesame Street videos (manamana... doo dooooo do do do).

Bugs in Smit 8.0

-Nursing is a little more high-energy with increased levels of arm-waving, hair-pulling, foot-kicking, pulling, nipping and general distractedness.
-If your Smitty is not fed promptly and fast enough, it will develop (between bites) a high-pitched yowl that will grow into a piercing shriek unless the problem is remedied.
-A mean old tooth is trying to work its way in, causing night-waking and general crankiness (a temporary patch is available in the form of frozen mangoes and bananas.)

It had to happen someday

2011-08-29T19:15:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I told someone that baby Smittins did not, at all, for any reason, crawl.

Thanks for making a liar out of me dude.

Fortunately, we've started construction on his prison.

Why I don't accomplish things

2011-08-22T11:34:00.001-06:00

7 months is made of...

2011-07-27T14:16:00.008-06:00

1 part chunk-style thighs

3 parts toothless, milky grins

2 parts longing to be bigger

15 parts popsicle-snatching stickyness

1 part splashy bathtime clean

2 parts sad and frowny

5 parts super-sidekick

3 parts bouncy sleepyhead

7 parts pinchy pinchy bums

1 part future technological genius

4 parts mischief-making kitten

Fold together gently with plenty of hugs, a splash of kisses and enjoy.

A little bitty change

2011-07-20T14:27:00.003-06:00

I've been scouring Pintrest (ahhhhh, Pintrest) for a while, looking for a way to freshen up the entryway on the house. As I typically do, I taped dozens of paint chips to the doorframe and when I went to buy the paint color, got something else entirely. What I chose, almost at random, ended up being the perfectly perfect, not-too-green, not-too-purple shade of blue. I'm trying to figure out if Joe likes the color. When he saw it, his only comment was "that was unexpected."

I've heard it's called Jenny Blue.

These two darling little birdies and several yards of ribbon became a fun wreath. I think this might be a kid-friendly project. All you have to do is tie knots.

The siren song of Hobby Lobby made me buy more sets of little birdies than I originally planned. So the second pair lives in a fun yarn wreath. I should name them. Suggestions?

I'm thinking of saving it for springtime or Valentines.

The paint color for the door is Benjamin Moore Spirit in the Sky

Angst of an infant

2011-07-18T14:11:00.002-06:00

In case you were wondering (and I know you were) it is not a good idea to accidentally give your sleepy baby the empty side when he's looking for his snack-n-nap. If you do, you can expect the following sequence of events.

1. Angry furrowing of brows and frustrated kicking of feet (if you're lucky, the kicking feet will pinch your soft elbow skin against the hard chair arm for the 5,387th time today).

2. Baby will pull off and yell angry baby yells at his uncooperative lunch.

3. After yelling all the baby curse words he knows, baby will resume sucking furiously.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 until mom realizes what the heck is going on and switches over to the side filled with delicious lunch.

5. Drift off into blissful dreams of full tummies, succulent fingers and splashy baths.

In which I lost a rubber duck... and my mind

2011-07-01T14:01:00.007-06:00

Who knows why this memory is sitting here, in the front of my brain, right now this very second. But it is. And I think it will not go away until I type it into my blog, Pensieve-like, and store it forever. So here goes.

One day I was playing with a very little Violet and a very helpful husband scooped up a then-baby Dash (about the same baby-size and baby-cuteness as JackJack) and took him for a diaper change. From the other room I hear:

"What. The....?"

It's the tone of voice that lets you know, from two rooms away, that there is Something Wrong. So I helpfully call out "what the what?"

"There's a rubber duck in Dash's diaper!"

"Like, IN his diaper?"

"In it."

My first crazy thought : The baby ate a rubber ducky? Is that even p o s s i b l e?

"Are you sure?"

".... pretty sure..."

So. What ACTUALLY ALL CAPS happened, as near as I can tell, was that Dash was playing with a rubber ducky as I was changing his diaper. Obviously, something distracted me (squirrel!!) and he somehow stuck the duck between his legs and I totally didn't see it as I strapped him in. I also didn't notice it as I buttoned up his onsie or as I carried him around before his nap. And if you don't believe it, you obviously haven't witnessed my amazing powers of obliviousness.

The husband did not appreciate that the rubber ducky left a dent in Dash's naughty bits.

No rubber duckies were harmed in the making of this post.

Kids' room

2011-06-19T11:11:00.005-06:00

Remember, forever ago when I decided to decorate and paint the kids room and promised update pictures?

I know, right?

Well I actually worked on and completed the project and HERE just for YOU are pictures of the finished room. Because I love you.

The challenge of this room was to pick a color-scheme that both a boy and a girl would like. And then I had to incorporate the bright colors that both kids love, with an overall look that is not blindingly bright. The husband would have let them paint each wall pink, blue, purple and red in a crazy-go-nuts festival of color, but that sort of thing makes me itch.

What I decided on was a neutral base with really bright accents. I really wanted to try a grey wall, since I had never done that before. Grey feels very fresh and modern - you can add crazy, high-intensity colors or make it very sophisticated with other neutrals. Violet has a really pretty plum bedspread that I love and it became our first accent color. I added a cool blue for Dash and then yellow because... I love yellow and grey! The paint colors are:

Valspar Spa Pool
Valspar Soft Duckling
Valspar Plumberry
Olympic Goose Grey

You can buy a 7 oz. paint sample for just a few dollars and this was more than enough for the accent pieces. I have more than half of the Valspar colors left.

This is also a design on a dime type of project because almost everything is re-purposed or re-finished. This dresser lived in my sister's room and was very 80's-fabulous. Instead of getting something new (it is a nice solid-wood dresser after all) we decided to give it a new life with a fresh coat of lacquer and some fancy, mis-matched drawer pulls. There are lots of Anthropologie-style pulls at Hobby Lobby - for about 1/4 the price!

The pennant banner is one of the few brand-new things. It took about $10 of fun fabrics, fusible fleece and bias tape to make. The valance was very simple to sew - two panels with two ruffles. The raw-edged ruffles are as easy as they are adorable.

This art wall is an idea I particularly love. I gathered up random, unused picture frames from around the house and found others in clearance aisles. I mixed in a mirror and clock for variety. Then everything got a coat of paint. The empty frames are great bursts of color, but they serve an even better purpose. Each frame is easy to take down and fill with anything the kids like - artwork, dried flowers, Lego sculptures, photographs, patterned papers...

So, fun yes?

Things of wonder

2011-06-16T14:20:00.007-06:00

I did wake from a nap in my chair. And behold, I discovered a multitude of toys dangling before me.

I will reach out unto them and I will eat them for my own.

I will continue to reach out...

Golly these are hard to get!

And lo I did give up on the stupid dangly toys and did discover that there are also feet in this chair.

Feet I tell you!

And lo I did taste them and lick them and eat them for mine own.

And they were good.

And yea, after much squirming and murmuring and arching of backs, I did finally get what I wanted all along.

Also it was totally time for a blog redesign - do not you think?

Pop and lock

2011-06-13T14:22:00.005-06:00

Is anyone else tired of the word 'pop'? Colors pop. Accents pop. Every time I turn around, someone is talking about something that pops. And sometimes the poppable items are things that should never be popped, for any reason.

Like your eyeballs.

I instinctively mistrust anything that claims to make my eyes pop. When you say your product will pop my eyes, I feel like I have two very clear options:

Option A: Back away very, very slowly. Check for obvious exits.

Option B: Ram my elbow into your solar plexus.

I bet that would make your eyes pop.

For absolutely no reason, I will list other words that I've come to hate:

Green
Wow-factor
A-ha moment
Organic
Epic
Chillax
OMG

Let's just finish this post up with some unrelated cute pictures, okee dokey?

This baby goat tried to steal my keys.

Yes or no?

2011-06-06T11:16:00.002-06:00

I'm trying to be more creative with my hair. You know, something other than a plain ponytail every day. Ponytails are so fabulously easy and simple... but maybe a little boring.

I don't know why I have the need to spice up the ol' hairstyle. You can tell how fashion-conscious I am just by observing how much makeup I've put on. (The answer is none. Wait, I might have chapstick on. It's from last night.) I can't leave my hair down because baby pulls on it. Plus I hate having it fall in my face all the time.

So I'm experimenting with scarves. I got two really cute ones while I was in St. George, this yellow silk and a wide white one with shiny silver stripes. Cool! The problem is, I don't know if scarves look good on me. Unless I slide it really far forward on my head (like Axel Rose) the stupid things always want to slip backwards.

Any thoughts? Advice? Cute hair-scarf styles you want to share with a not-so-trendy mama?

Blue eyes and deep thoughts

2011-05-28T07:16:00.000-06:00

Sometimes, as I watch these sparkly blue eyes taking in the world around you, I wonder what you are thinking. I wonder if you understand how much you are loved. I wish you could tell me.

Sometimes your thoughts are more obvious. There are, really, only a few things that babies usually need.

I want to eat
I want you to make me feel better
I want that thing over there
I want someone to hold me and love me
I want to sleep.

As we get older, our needs only get more sophisticated;

I want to eat something full of chocolate and calories

or more worldly

I want that iPad2 over there.

It will be a few years before you can articulate your thoughts into words. And even more before those words actually make any sense.

Then sometimes I wonder if I knew what you were thinking, would you seem so miraculous? Certainly it would seem less amazing than inexplicably, intangibly knowing what you need and want and feel. If we could use words right away, would I feel like I recognized and connected with your little spirit? And if I recognize you here, did I know you before, in another existence? Did we hug each other goodbye and promise we would meet again?

These are the things I think when I look into these blue eyes.

4 months

2011-05-26T09:20:00.005-06:00

He is an angel, if I say it myself.

Sweet baby Smittins is 4 months old! Well, he was 4 months old when I took these pictures - now he's even older! This is his blessing outfit and a gorgeous blanket for his special day that Jenny's lovely mom gave to him.

At 4-something months, he:
- snacks on his fingers all the livelong day
- also snacks on his sleeves, shirt-fronts and blankets. He has a little lovey blanket that's now named Chewy.
- drools and slobbers and slimes everything he's wearing, holding or has near him
- will roll from front-to-back if he's bored with being on his tummy but it usually takes a good deal of yelling to do so
- can roll from back-to-side in an effort to chase down those ever-elusive toes
- spends a lot of time staring at his fingers. So fascinating!
- thinks that being wiggled from side-to-side is hilarious. This makes us sing songs about 'side-to-side', trying to make him laugh. Babies turn adults into babbling idiots. You try to resist him! Let me know how it goes.
- will arch his back and hold himself up, as if he's making himself easier to pick up. "Look at me! Wouldn't it be easy to get me out of this crib! Effortless, really. Look, I'm helping!"
- will protest (loudly!) if his sister leaves his side
- loves his family and is excited to see any of us, at any time

Gray and I are in a fight

2011-05-25T09:55:00.004-06:00

Who knew gray was such a touchy, tempramental color? Gray is the Robert Downey Jr. of colors. When it is right, it is smooth, suave, slightly edgy and possibly possessed of super-human, crime-fighting qualities. But when it is bad, it is oh-so-very bad.

Also complicating the issue; you have to choose from 13 million paint chips with names like Rain Soaked Pebble, or Bullet Hole or Cape Cod Ghostly Fantasy or Gum From Underside Of Denny's Table. None of these names are particularly helpful in choosing a color. Neither, strictly speaking, are the actual paint chips because what looks like the perfect, trendy, European Children's Bedroom color when taped to the doorframe, looks like Really Old Lady Hair when slathered on the wall.

Such was the case in my project room (the room that Violet and Dash share). I painted sample swatches of Goose Grey on two walls. I hated it. I let it dry. Still hated it. Painted another coat. Loathed it. Took a drive to find a change of perspective. Hate hate hate. Then the husband came home.

"Why did you paint their room purple?"

"It's not purple. It's Goose Grey."

"It's totally purple."

"It's grey. Maybe it's the light reflecting from the bedspread."

"Dash is going to hate it."

And he was right. He was also willing to go back to the store and have the paint re-tinted a not-purple color, which was super nice AND helpful.

So the project moves on. And because I never think to take a 'before' picture, you get the standard 'somewhere around the middle' picture. My camera-phone has totally betrayed me because it's not capturing the purpleness of the two paint swatches the same way cameras never captured the Salmon Mealoaf Grunge color of our old carpet. Oh, and the reason this room is such a disaster is the dresser is in the garage. Also being painted. Not grey.

As a side note, I should totally be in charge of naming paint colors.

I may have gone crazy

2011-05-23T13:49:00.007-06:00

I don't sleep. We've discussed this. I also don't have friends anymore, unless you count the nurses at the pediatrician's office. We're total besties. Call me!

Even when the baby does cuddle up peacefully in his crib with his wooly blankie and congestion-battling humidifier and snooze the night away, I can't turn off the part of me that listens for every snuffle, whine or cough. And so I stay awake, watching way too much HGTV and browsing way too many lovely pictures on Pintrest.

These are dangerous for me because it all involves things I love - namely color combinations and bargain-hunting and the use of power tools. Also when I bounce these ideas off others, I always wonder if they're thinking "that is super creative!" or "wow... I'm glad she's not painting anything at my house." And speaking of combining colors, why does this spell-checker think that 'combinations' is not a real word? Discuss.

I know that I may have gone off the deep end when I start thinking that it would be a Good Idea to put some wallpaper in the linen closet. Because you know I hate wallpaper. Not just a casual dislike, but a soul-deep, white-hot burning hatred that I usually save for snakes, flying bugs, child predators and that one Chuck Norris movie that is half soap opera, half seminary film and none butt-kicking.

So. This week's project may be inspired mostly by insomnia, reality television and diet Dr. Pepper, but here is just a taste.

It tastes good.

When you don't sleep...

2011-05-12T10:24:00.001-06:00

...you spend a lot of time thinking weird, unimportant thoughts. Namely how much I hate the blatant misuse of the words 'sell' and 'sale'. Now, I do not know all the word-for-word grammar rules about prepositions and nonessential clauses and inverted quadrupeds (the way Joe does) but I do know that there are a lot of people out there who apparently do not know what these two simple words mean.

For example, if you are a sales rep you do not sale your product. The word you're looking for is 'sell', conveniently located right there in the English language, waiting for you to use it.

Alternately, all you sells reps, your product or house or item on KSL Classifieds is for sale. It's not for sell.

Are we clear on that? Good.

In baby-related news, he's now covered with red bumps and spots and I assume he's allergic to his antibiotic. Unless it's a reaction to his vaccinations. He spends a lot of time yowling and babbling in a complainy way (mostly to his fox toy, but also to his hands) and consoles himself by visiting his favorite boob. He also talks and complains to it.

The saga of sleep and solids

2011-05-10T12:24:00.002-06:00

Brought to you by the letter S and the number 4 (which would be the number of hours of sleep I got last night).

So. Yesterday I got a box of rice cereal. And a pack of baby spoons. And a cute bib with a lovely little elephant on it. Love the elephants.

And then I decided that I didn't really feel like forcing the little guy to eat cereal from a spoon because he just has absolutely no interest in it. And judging by the way he wiggles and coos and smiles and jealously guards his nursing territory, he does have a very decided interest in continuing to breastfeed.

He usually does have a bottle in the evening though (Joe and the kids really like to feed him too) and so I put a teeny bit of the rice cereal in the bottle, just to see if there was any truth to the cereal = sleep theory.

There isn't.

At least there wasn't last night. If anything, he got up MORE (ALL CAPS!) than he ever has in his entire livelong life and that includes the first night he came home.

So. What to do, what to do?

When he woke up last night, he was more angry than hungry. In fact, I only fed him one of the 4 times he woke up. One time I held him and rocked him. Twice I gave him his pacifier. Each time I waited (to no effect) about 10 minutes to see if he would settle down on his own.

Right now he is taking his nap. He sleeps in longer stretches for his nap than at night! The differences are:
- at night he sleeps in his crib and I wrap his blanket around him because he tends to wave his arms around and wake himself up as I put him down. He sleeps on his back. There is a white-noise machine in his room.
- during the day he takes his nap in my bed because it's quieter and has less little brothers parading back and forth. There is a fan on. I just lay down with him and nurse him until he falls asleep, then I tuck his blanket around him and leave him there. He usually sleeps halfway on his side (I put a beanbag by his tummy to keep him from flipping onto his face).

I know he can sleep through the night because he's done it before. What on earth can I do to help him sleep longer now?

Solids schmolids

2011-05-09T12:33:00.003-06:00

The wee one, while still a precious angel from heaven, has decided that sleeping all night is totally not as party funtime as waking up multiple times to eat and snuggle and eat and eventually be taken into bed with me, where he snoozes away contentedly, tiny fists tangled securely in my hair, holy run-on sentence Batman.

So this is definitely something I addressed at his 4-month well-check today. It's worth mentioning that I have the best pediatrician in the world. I love him. I highly recommend him. If he was in general practice, I would take the whole dang family and possibly some of the neighbors to him. When I die I will have his entire staff entombed with me so they can take care of my whole family forever and ever. I hoped that he would have a magic miracle solution for the no-sleeping problem but I don't know why I was surprised when he suggested starting baby on a little rice cereal.

So now I'm feeling all sad and frowny, thinking that my baby is not old enough for solids, he has exhibited no interest in them and I'm really enjoying nursing this, my last baby.

But baby is 4 months - a perfectly good time to start solid food and his brother and sister both did fine with rice cereal at this age. He's also almost 16 pounds, big enough that he's probably super hungry.

Does this post feel rambly and confused? Good. Because that's how I feel. It could also be the 3 entire hours of sleep I got last night. Sleep would be super wonderful and fabulous. I didn't want to start cereal for another month or so. Sleep.... solids.... not enough Diet Dr. Pepper in my day....

What do I do?

Working as a team

2011-05-02T10:29:00.002-06:00

Mr. Naughty has recently discovered that he has opinions. About things! Most importantly, that he would rather be held and cuddled and watch his own TV shows, thankyouverymuch and that napping all by your lonely lonesome is for losers.

So today he is my coworker. Which, while it makes the time pass quickly, does nothing for my typing speed.

Why Easter as a secular holiday is Not My Favorite

2011-04-23T22:24:00.004-06:00

It's one of those holidays that involves Waking Up Way Too Early

There's too much candy in my house.

There's way too much candy being consumed by children who turn into the Chocolate-Faced Crazypants Pirates of Hard Face Punching.

It's ever so awesome to break up arguments over who:
a. found more eggs,
b. got more candy,
c. got the wrong color of egg
d. re-hid the wrong color of egg in the wrong spot
e. hid in a corner and stuffed their face full candy before the other one thought of it

Peeps are not a part of this balanced breakfast.

YOU try suiting up the Crazypants Pirates of Hard Face Punching team for church.

There's always the risk of not finding one of the real eggs. Then there's the penalty of actually finding the missing real egg, many months down the road (this actually happened when I was little - we found 1 extra egg one Easter and then we didn't dare to eat any of them).This is not a hazard you run with Christmas. If a fruitcake gets tucked away and you discover it at the 4th of July, no problem. Just put it away for next year.

No other holiday demands that I let the children dye their hands, clothes and the better part of my countertops.

And finally, for no apparent reason, everywhere I go, I keep finding plastic eggs filled with rocks.

A bit of my childhood

2011-04-22T08:48:00.003-06:00

When I was little, my Grandma Bev had a record player that you could hear throughout the entire house. She had two records we could listen to - The Smurfs All Star Show and Urban Chipmunk (by The Chipmunks).

Grandma was so little that at 8 years old, I could easily wear her dresses and shoes. She had so many fancy cocktail dresses and lovely little heeled sandals and a box full of costume jewelry that we were allowed to wear. We would dress in the fanciest of outfits and whirl and twirl around to the sqeaky-vocals of country music. And, like most things that were fabulous when we were young, these songs are just as funny and catchy today. Violet and Dash have been dancing around to the music all morning.

Favorite banana bread

2011-04-19T11:45:00.004-06:00

This recipe is a combination of my mother's recipe and my attempts to make the bread a little less deliciously calorie-laden. The sour cream and yogurt gives the bread a faint but nice tang. The bread is dense and moist without the oily feel you get from using all butter or vegetable oil.

Jeri's Banana Bread

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
6 eggs
3 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt
1 cup chopped walnuts
5-6 very ripe bananas, smooshed up (great job for kids)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Shortening and flour** four 9x5 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time and vanilla, sour cream and yogurt - mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the walnuts and bananas. Divide evenly into the prepared pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool. When still slightly warm, wrap in plastic wrap. Freezes really well.

** Get a dab of shortening on a paper towel and smear into every corner of the loaf pan. There should be a thin film of shortening on the entire inside of the pan. Put a palmful of flour in the pan and shake shake shake it all around, tapping the excess out. More labor-intensive than non-stick spray but it will release your cakes and breads a million times easier.

Oh my!

2011-04-12T11:16:00.004-06:00

Three months already?

At three months, baby:
- weighs 15 pounds
- has graduated to bigger size of clothes, rendering another entire wardrobe useless
- eats and eats and eats
- can hold his head up all he wants
- still is not in love with Tummy Time
- likes to be tickled
- will laugh at stupid noises that no self-respecting adult should make... but we will do absolutely anything to get any smile or giggle out of him. Something is funny only three times though and then the would-be comedian needs to gather new material.
- loves to bite and suck and slobber and chew his wee dimpled fingers

Oh... the fingers. They're in his mouth every waking moment. In fact, he's almost given up the binky in favor of those succulent little digits. After a while, sucking on the fingers makes him think that a snack would sure go down nicely. Then he's hungry again. Even in his sleep, if you see his hands inching towards his mouth, you know he's only minutes away from waking himself up.

And food will be the first thing on his mind.

Project, part II

2011-04-07T14:22:00.004-06:00

So my quilt is done. Yay! It looks pretty much the same as the last pictures I took except I totally did not screw up the binding and it actually looks like a fer realz quilt. And, like most labor-intensive creations, I'll now hand it over to one of the children so they can slobber and ooze various fluids all over it. What was I thinking?

On a more inspired note, look what I did with some of the leftover scraps! I love fabric flowers, I could sit and make them all day.

Random pictures

2011-04-03T10:21:00.002-06:00

Being the parents of three entire children still kind of freaks me out. We are starting to have a fairly substantial herd.

Pictures that Jackie took of my sweet little guy.

April Fools

2011-04-01T08:55:00.002-06:00

This was my trick for the kids. Candy bacon and eggs. The eggs are white chocolate and a Lemonhead. The bacon is caramel and Tootsie Roll. And salt water 'juice' on the side.

Project, cont.

2011-03-31T13:39:00.003-06:00

It's coming along!

In which he earns himself another bath

2011-03-29T22:14:00.004-06:00

Smittins is an accomplished ruiner of outfits. Lose your focus for one second and he'll pee an entire change of clothes. Plus the new diaper. And any other dry materials within a 3-foot radius.

Don't let the pudgy sweetness fool you, he's endowed with crafty baby skills. He's laid off this particular trick just long enough to lull me into a false sense of security. I was changing his diaper today and thought to myself 'self, it's sure been a nice long while since I've had to change all of baby's clothes along with his diaper.'

One should not think these things, even in the privacy of one's own head, because baby will employ his super-sensitive Power To Read Minds (the power that lets him know you're about to lay him in his crib, allowing him to snap himself wide awake and start batting himself in the eyeball with renewed vigor) and choose that exact second to whiz all over his pants, socks, onesie, twosie and overshirt. And possibly his own face.

And then he will look you straight in the eye and giggle. Fer realz people.

As punishment, I should have dunked him in the ever-loving mess that is the kids' bathtub. But he got to try out the Bumbo seat and the kitchen sink instead.

The indignity. It can't be that bad, right?

I thought not.

Dragon paws

2011-03-23T11:20:00.003-06:00

Definitely the best 99 cents I spent at Gymboree. How much do you want to squeeze his wee fatty legs?

Cake Boss Buddy's got nothin' on me

2011-03-23T09:23:00.001-06:00

Violet and Dash have their birthdays 3 weeks apart (don't even ask what I was thinking when we set that up... Dash was supposed to be a summer baby OK?) So in addition to their party with friends, we also make a combined cake to share at a family celebration. I didn't want to tackle a requested Barbie/StarWars/Mermaid/Lego/Princess/Batman/Butterfly masterpiece, so we settled for something that everyone loves equally - Angry Birds.

My drawing skills peaked in about 3rd grade, so I didn't really trust myself to pipe a recognizable angry scene. But I did have lots of leftover white fondant, a rainbow of gel dyes and a spare morning. A friend taught me to sculpt polymer clay a few years ago and fortunately fondant is really similar.

Once I got going, I was really excited. These are simple shapes that came together pretty easily. My one big hangup was Violet sitting at my side requesting more and more pigs and "the red bird mom and you forgot the yellow one and what about the black bomb bird...." So here's our finished collection:

I know right? Totally angry.

To keep me from feeling too awesome, my first-grader sculpted this from the leftover PlayDough that Dash tried to start a house fire with last summer.

We made a red velvet cake with buttercream/raspberry filling and I didn't really want its deliciousness ruined with boring white icing on the outside, so we just set up our angry scene right on a chocolate battlefield.

Dash ate the black bird (pity) but I have the rest of the pieces left over. Now what on earth will I do with them?

2 months

2011-03-11T11:34:00.003-07:00

At 2 months, sweet baby Smittens has:
- enough hair for a teeny weeny fauxhawk
- developed adorable elbow dimples
- lovely dark eyelashes coming in
- discovered that his thumb is the most succulent of all the fingers
- a love-hate relationship with Tummy Time
- been trying to roll over
- remianed the most content, darling baby in the entire world

Some people have all the luck

2011-03-09T08:04:00.004-07:00

Yesterday I french-braided Violet's hair in pigtails for school.

Today I took them out. Voilà!

Instant perfect waves. They'll stay like this all day. I can't imagine what my hair would do if I tried this. Something not-cool, that's for sure. Something along the lines of this.

Or perhaps this. But, you know, without the intentional style factor.

Also my neck is not 17 feet long. But we can't have everything.

On the job with Mr. Fussypants

2011-02-28T11:43:00.002-07:00

I think this affects my productivity. But we're getting things accomplished. That's what matters.

Project

2011-02-24T11:10:00.002-07:00

I'm starting a new project. Here's step 1.

What I WISH I was doing today

2011-02-16T13:37:00.003-07:00

What I'm actually doing is starting work again. Which, while not necessarily a bad thing, is different from napping in the sun and helping Smittins grow new chubby rolls on his legs.

Who is one month old?

2011-02-08T09:42:00.002-07:00

Me? Really?

Sweet!

Our new favorite thing

2011-02-03T08:07:00.004-07:00

It's taken me a while to figure out the perfect way to 'wear' the baby in this super-cute sling I ordered a few months ago (FYI, don't try to size a sling whilst sporting a pregnant belly). But we finally figured out how to load Smittens with a maximum of comfort and not-squished-neck-edness.

The best part about this sling is that I can sit at the computer and type while he's in it. As I'm writing this, he has drifted off to sleep. Resuming normal work-related duties is now starting to seem possible.

As a side-note, the bathroom scale claims that the baby is 9.5 pounds of snuggly. And he's too long to fit his newborn sleepers and stretchies anymore. All those sleepless nights of feeding him are getting us somewhere!

Apparently I can't be trusted with boy clothes either

2011-01-31T14:00:00.002-07:00

My daughter loves clothes. I love to shop for girl's clothes. My husband knows that I can't be turned loose anywhere near a rack of pretty dresses. And heaven help us if there's a sale rack.

When Dash was a baby there simply was not a wide selection of Outfits of Supreme Cuteness. You could choose from monkeys, farm implements, ball-related sports, monkeys driving farm implements and camouflage. I didn't go totally crazy buying clothes for him because there wasn't a lot to tempt me.

Apparently this is not so much the case anymore.

The best part - I almost bought something similar a few months ago but it was $20 and I couldn't get myself to do it. I love the hoodie on this one even more and it was at a second-hand store for $3!!

On being short

2011-01-28T10:50:00.007-07:00

Growing up, I never thought of myself as a short person. I'm the tallest of my sisters. I'm taller than my mom. In fact, until extra-long-length jeans came into style, I fervently wished to be a few inches shorter.

Then I married Joe. Almost everyone in his family is significantly taller than I am. And now I can easily buy jeans with a 35" inseam. So the 'tall or short' thing hasn't really concerned me for several years. But today, while trying to make strawberry milk for one of the munchkins and no tall, dark and handsome hero to come to my rescue I realized that I might not be so tall, after all.

Oh, you actually wanted pictures of Shorty McSmittens?

Fine.

Yes, thank you, I believe I will go kiss him on the lips.

Today I...

2011-01-27T14:28:00.006-07:00

Slept 1 hour between 3am and 7am but consoled myself with a little snack of milk and cookies while rocking a too-bright-eyed-for-4:47am baby.

Actually got 1/3 of the kids dressed and off to school on my very own. Made sure the other 2/3 are both clean and fed. Declared victory.

Wondered why I'm still procrastinating the blog book.

Finished made-to-order Valentines for Violet and Dash. They are glorious to behold.

Put pictures in a frame for Joe's desk at work. Marveled at the similarities in the three kids (still surprised that we are parents of three entire children). While they don't have that weird, cloned look-a-like thing going on, they were all definitely in the same aisle when they picked out their eyes, noses and chins.

Took a moment to be grateful that I can take my wedding rings off without removing an entire finger.

Tried to get 5 metric tons of melted wax off the kitchen counters because even though Joe the Stud spent his vacation time doing a massive cleaning of the house, he is still OK with letting the kids play with stupid toys that encourage the breaking of perfectly good crayons.

Changed a hozillion diapers.

Swapped out JackJack's clothes for the third time today people and decided that those silly Clifford the Big Red Diapers and I are officially In A Fight.

Wondered when JackJack will start loving the idea of a bath.

Ran another load of baby laundry because he has only a handful of clothes right now that don't swallow up his little body.

Thought up 5 different things that would be Good For Dinner and rejected them all as being too labor-intensive.

Plan on sitting with the baby Smittens on the couch and working on a pair of booties.

The new Silence of the Lambs

2011-01-17T10:27:00.001-07:00

Apparently you can also silence them with sliced deli meats.

39 weeks

2011-01-16T12:22:00.003-07:00

The fastest way to lose 17 pounds in 1 week. Also the cutest.

A Baby Story

2011-01-13T09:22:00.004-07:00

The short version:
She was brought to bed of a fine boy. 10 points if you get the literary reference.

The long version:

Displaying the same forward thinking 'lets get this thing over already' attitude as his brother and sister, baby Star Wars decided to surprise us all and arrive 2 weeks early.

We weren't caught totally off-guard. I knew that I was dilated. I just figured that he'd hold out a little longer. So when I went in for the my regular checkup on Friday the 7th and Dr. W. said "you're at a 5 - there's no way you'll make it to next week" I still didn't get my hopes up that he would arrive quickly.

That night we went to a birthday party for Aidaleena and visited with Grandma and Grandpa for a while. Joe played WordShaker on the iPod for hours, all the while hassling me about being addicted to the game. I talked to my parents about the visit to Pearl Harbor they had made that day. We came home, put the kids to bed and watched some TV and played some more WordShaker before going to bed late.

At 1am I started having contractions that woke me up. I've had them on and off for a few weeks and they never get regular so I went back to sleep. I dreamed I was timing the contractions on the WordShaker game. By 3am I couldn't go back to sleep between them so I started watching the time. They were coming every 8 minutes and by about 4am were painful enough that I woke Joe up - mostly so he could feel bad for me and rub my back. We kept timing them but I'm pretty sure he kept falling asleep between each one. After a while, laying down felt awful so I got up, finished putting things in a hospital bag and finally asked Joe to call his parents. The contractions had gotten to 7 minutes apart but no closer and I really felt like we were going to be sent home - I almost didn't want to go.

His parents hustled over - by the time they got there I was starting to cry during each contraction. They still wouldn't get any closer together. The drive to the hospital was really hard. Sitting up in a seatbelt was about the worst position I could imagine and I was glad the drive wasn't any longer. I made Joe leave my hospital bag in the car - I didn't really want to get sent home and wheel a suitcase back out with me. We walked into the hospital right at the same time as my friend Jessica, a nurse who works in Mother/Baby. I was excited to see that she was on shift while we were there.

Joe told the triage nurse that I was in labor and she said she would check to see if I had made any progress because the contractions still weren't coming very fast. She kind of loitered around a little but she finally came back, checked and said "oh wow... you're at a 7. Let's get you across the hall and have a baby!"

After two inductions, for some reason I had imagined that going into labor on my own would be a slower process. So when the anesthesiologist (who fortunately had just arrived for the day) explained that she couldn't do an epidural because there wasn't enough time, I was really surprised. She decided to do a one-shot spinal block which would take effect faster. This part is a little bit of a blur - people were running around doing IVs and setting up the table for the baby and finding the on-call doctor. Joe and I laughed a little because we really hadn't thought we were here for an express-lane baby. Dr. H. commented that it's a good thing we hadn't waited for the magic 5-minutes-apart contractions because we never would have made it to the hospital in time.

The anesthesiologist did the spinal as quickly as she could but baby was ready and we started pushing before it had set up all the way. It did make the pain more manageable though so I'm glad it worked. It seems kind of funny to think about now - during the contractions I would push and the nurses would give instructions and it seemed really noisy and between them (they were 6 minutes apart) we would all chat about trips to Disneyland or how Violet and Dash would feel about waking up to a new little brother. We told the doctor that Violet was absolutely sure that this was still a baby girl and she had just been holding a carrot in the ultrasound pictures. How did she get ahold of said carrot? Mommy ate it of course. The nurses laughed a lot at that.

After just a few pushes we had us a baby! Dr. H. said there was definitely no carrot and it was a boy - what's more, he looked exactly like his father. I really like this hospital (the other two were born at a different one) because they let you hold the baby right away. With the other two I felt like I didn't see them until they were wrapped up in their little swaddled cocoon. They wiped him off a little, weighed him (7 pounds, 1 oz) and put him immediately on my chest. Then they just left us alone so we could see his precious hands and check to make sure he has that funny turned-under toe that Joe has (he does). He had been yelling at the top of his lungs and as soon as I got him back he settled down and opened his eyes and just looked around. He even nursed for a few minutes and I was relieved to find that I remembered how, even though it's been 5 years. Apparently I got 7 stitches but the spinal block had finally taken effect so I didn't know. Whew!

This is when we realized that we had left the camera in the car. Because I was so sure that L&D would find a reason to send me home, I wouldn't let Joe take the suitcase into the hospital when we arrived. It had the camera in it. So the only pictures we had at that point were taken with our iPod. Joe, to his credit, decided to NOT play WordShaker while I was in actual labor. He also waited until the baby was delivered to tell me that he had set a new high score.

Another reason the spinal block is my New Favorite Thing is that it wore off fairly quickly and by the time I had some breakfast (a delicious veggie omelet) and was moved downstairs I was pretty much ready to be back on my feet. I really hate being paralyzed for hours and hours after an epidural. One of the nurses told me that she started punching our info into the computer at 6:20 and we had the baby at exactly 7:02. All in all, it was a fairly eventful start to the day.

And no, I didn't get either of the Christmas trees taken down.

Happy 2011!

2011-01-04T08:36:00.004-07:00

My first resolution is: actually think about making resolutions.

Perhaps less of a resolution and more of a task for today: take down at least one of the Christmas trees. Perhaps start with the one that has been up for more than 1 calendar year.

Guess when the baby will be born!

2010-12-31T18:16:00.001-07:00

If you are the winner... I don't know... I'll text you the code to visit the cute baby in the hospital and let you hold him.

Let's take a nice picture

2010-12-28T10:31:00.002-07:00

Christmas Eve... cute new jammies... sitting in front of the tree... what could possibly go wrong?

Oh yeah...

Christmas Card

2010-12-15T12:04:00.003-07:00

In my quest for a scaled-down holiday season I only sent out Christmas cards to grandparents. However, the digital version is here for everyone else to enjoy. Have a very merry and more relaxed Christmas!

The Third Trimester Lament

2010-12-07T10:07:00.003-07:00

Feet
When did we grow so far apart?
Thank goodness for boots
I miss you.

34 weeks

2010-12-04T13:43:00.004-07:00

alternately titled: A Little Slower Every Day

The cold weather is actually a welcome change because I don't feel obligated to chase after bike-riding munchkins, climb into tree houses (except to retrieve my paycheck... and I'm not making that up) go on long exploring hikes or participate in any activity that requires a bathing suit.

What we have been doing involves putting up Christmas decorations, sitting by the lovely fire, crocheting Christmas presents, indulging in some fabulous movies and wasting too much time at the doctor's office as scheduled appointments increase in frequency. Baby participates by pushing his knees, elbows and bum out to be patted and petted by any siblings who happen to be nearby.

11 random things I'm thankful for

2010-11-22T11:35:00.005-07:00

This is a list that could go on forever but I decided to limit it to just a few.

1. Talking to small children - if you need a fresh perspective on life, you should discuss it with a 4- or 6-year-old.
2. My job - I'm glad every day that I get to do something that is fun but lets me put my family first.
3. The garage - Joe lets my car live there and I don't have to scrape windows.
4. Scooby Doo Meets Batman & Robin - you arrived just in time to entertain a not-feeling-well little boy.
5. Being pregnant in the winter - sitting by the fire and crocheting hats and toys for the new baby is so much more cozy than feeling like a midsize killer whale at the pool.
6. America's Funniest Home Videos - if you've never watched this show with two little children and a scoop of rocky-road ice cream, you should give it a try.
7. Joe's job - how many people get to say they get to work for honest, competent people in a company that actually cares about you and your family?
8. Pie for breakfast - I can't wait for all the delicious leftover pie to eat later this week!
9. Various conveniences of the modern age - washing machines, text messages, movies that appear in my mailbox, delicious low-calorie pudding, shopping online, Egyptian cotton sheets, waterproof boots, Kitchenaid mixers, Dancing With the Stars, blogs, DVD-players in the car, take-out Thai food, telecommuting, Dr. Pepper, waterproof eyeliner, the iMac.
10. Friends with skills - people who knew how to sew and an online tutorial resulted in some maternity jeans that actually fit and look good!
11. My awesome, handsome, super-cool husband who has a plethora of talents and who will run to the store for rocky-road ice cream at 11pm.

I hope that you too can find a million things to be thankful for this year.

30 weeks

2010-11-15T10:58:00.003-07:00

Being in the '30s' seems a little surreal - we're actually getting there! Not too many more weeks and we'll have another little bundle.

Sprinkle/Star Wars/Hiccup is getting big and wiggly. All the sudden I feel a lot bigger. I don't know why it seems different this time around but I can see and feel the different parts of the baby shifting around. Joe sat in the back of Sunday School yesterday with his hand on my belly, feeling little knees poking and wiggling all over - we thought it was so funny. Of course we maybe should have been paying more attention... sorry Bro and Sister West!

He hasn't (yet) started hooking his toes into my ribs or trying to stretch out full-length, like Minnie always did. How are babies so strong? I thought she would puncture a lung. If I put on my seatbelt or wear a waistband that is tighter he sits and elbows and punches and fights against it. Long car rides are the best.

I've gained 20 pounds and I hate looking at the scale. I think I'm in the nesting stage because I work on the house a lot - I keep the kids' room obsessively straightened up, I've turned into a Person Who Makes Everyone's Bed and I've put new flooring down in three rooms all by my very own self! I took pictures but haven't posted them. Oh! I also made a car seat cover (again... haven't posted pictures) and I'm working on a cute crochet hat for the little nugget. I hope his cute brown blankets and clothes make up for the fact that I have no plans to take down the pink-and-orange curtains in his bedroom.

Internet names

2010-11-10T21:41:00.003-07:00

Lisa has cleverly pointed out that the blog names Bart and Lisa will not work with the upcoming baby boy (if it had been a girl, Maggie would have been perfect). Yeah yeah... totally a critical decision, right? It's either that or go back to mourning the loss of Kurt Warner on DWTS. I miss you Kurt! And seriously, WHO is voting for Bristol Palin? Anyway, at Lisa's behest, I've been thinking of other threesomes. Here's what I've got:

Ellie, Crash and Eddie

Violet, Dash and JackJack

Candace, Phineas and Ferb
Thoughts? Suggestions? Votes?

Sharing 101

2010-11-08T08:17:00.006-07:00

I've moved the kids into a shared room. They've always had their own, so this is uncharted territory for us.

Lisa's room is bigger than Bart's, with two windows and she chose it herself when we moved here. Unfortunately, the bigger room is also closer to ours and further away from the hustle/bustle of the rest of the house, making it the ideal room for Hiccup. I know plenty of people with 2+ kids per room so it seems silly to feel bad for her but hey, I had my own room growing up and asking her to move in with her little brother gives me guilt.

A big sell for the idea of a shared room was: a bunk bed. What kid doesn't love sleeping at unusual heights? We've had a bunk bed frame for more years than we've had actual children (a cast-off frame from Joe's mattress-delivery days that we've hauled with us for 4 moves.) However, we've already had one bunk-bed related incident, so Joe spent all day Saturday welding up new, higher safety rails for the bed frame we already had. The kids spent all day Saturday climbing up and down their new jungle gym.

The other half of my bribe was: you can both pick new bedspreads. If you know me, this is a big concession. Most kiddy color combinations and character-inspired patterns make me itch. Also one child has a level of indecisiveness (inherited from her father) that makes shopping experiences pure torture.

This trip wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. Granted, confronted with rows and rows of pink, flowers and ruffles, Bart escaped to an adjoining aisle to indulge his taste for All Things Super Hero. His sweet little heart could only be satisfied with the complete Iron Man sheet set but he agreed to a solid black bedspread of super soft fluffiness. Lisa carted around 4 entire comforter sets for half an hour (feeling textures, comparing all coordinating sheet patterns) before deciding on this one.

OK. Cute right? I was actually a little surprised. But she could never pair the comforter with something as tame as pale green sheets. No... we got these instead.

I vetoed a feathered accent pillow (it was $20 people!) but she was all right with it and said she would add it to her Christmas list. Is there a show for Amercia's Next Elementary School Fashion Star? Look for her in the final four.

The space villian and the Spanish beauty

2010-11-02T09:57:00.004-06:00

This year the kids did not want to dress up as a pair. One child wanted a licensed-character, out-of-the-box costume and the other... well... she had her own ideas. I borrowed this gorgeous flamenco dancer dress from a friend (we had a little bookclub costume exchange) and thought she would be so excited because the dress was all the way from Spain. Then she had herself a right little tantrum because apparently red is not pink enough and... well... I stopped listening. But after scouring all the costumes at the local Buy-and-Large and bribing her with a new red lipstick for her very very own, she mysteriously changed her mind.

And I'm glad she did. Because she was ever so lovely.

This was a birthday party outfit and instead of being a regular princess, she wanted to be a Halloween princess. Have I mentioned less than 5 million times how much I love her beautiful hair and how much fun I have doing it?

Fall Break Fashion

2010-10-19T09:53:00.003-06:00

Or...
On Holidays I Will Let You Wear Whatever You Want In Public So Long As We Don't Have to Discuss (Argue About) It.

25 weeks

2010-10-14T09:36:00.003-06:00

More than halfway there!

All my jeans still fit fine, if I can just keep them on my hips where they belong. I'm considering suspenders. I'm starting to grow out of regular t-shirts though, which is really frustrating. A few years ago I loaned my maternity clothes to a few friends and every single piece of clothing got lost. Sheesh. I borrowed a few shirts from my sister-in-law that will last a while. At least I have lots of pajama pants that are still comfy.

I've been managing to get to the gym at least once a week and I've gained 17 pounds. The extra weight makes running harder and those stupid ligaments in my lower abdomen are starting to stretch and hurt.

Baby moves around a ton and everyone can feel him. He gets really excited when the kids talk to him.

The art of procrastination

2010-10-09T09:37:00.006-06:00

I've been meaning to post pictures of the finished floors for several weeks, but something always gets in the way. First it took a while to get the carpet in... and then the furniture put back in place... then a few more weeks to get the nose of the stairs finished... then I had furniture ordered that wasn't here yet... pretty soon months have gone by and I never took pictures of the result.

BUT I FINALLY DID!

OK, remember the before?

The pictures never quite captured its stained, worn, 1991 pinkness and we took down all the hunter-green curtains that went with the color scheme. If you never saw the house in person, rest assured that it was awful.

Linoleum and wallpaper... I never want to see a scrap of it again.

Jessica had the oh-so-fabulous idea of doing crime-scene body-outlines on the floor but I read the comment AFTER most of the flooring was in. We had to settle for this under the carpet in the formal living room.

OK here we go!

Finally the wood trim looks like it's here on purpose and not just a leftover from the 70's. Wood trim is back in style, right? I'm still debating over that big black chair in the corner.

We got rid of the big white couch that was in the bay window and I really wanted an oversized story-time chair in its place. It took a long time to find what I wanted but I'm really really happy with this chair and ottoman. I haven't gotten Joe to put the legs on yet and I'm still trying to decide if I even want them, or if it's just another place to lose toys. Also, should I paint the front door?

So there you go. It's not 100% done because the laundry room still needs a closet ripped out and tile put in and the kitchen is not painted and the toy room is not done and the basement is still in its state of post-flood-disaster... no one tells you that owning a home is this much work! But this is huge progress and I'm so SO happy with it.

In denial

2010-10-04T14:06:00.005-06:00

This pregnancy has gone by in weird chunks. There's the first bit, where you're convinced that you're going to be sick for the rest of eternity (because that's just how long the first trimester lasts). Then time lurched its way along to now - 24 weeks. Sprinkle/Baby Star Wars/Nameless Fetus is apparently the size of a Chicago dog... at least according to the last 'this week in your pregnancy' update I read with Minnie, who is obsessed with knowing how big the baby is. So there you go.

Mmmmm, Chicago dog...

Anyway, I'm more than halfway through this pregnancy and I'm still waiting to feel excited. Forget excited, I'm willing to settle for one day without intense baby-related stress. Where is the call-in show or helpful newspaper advice column for my questions?

Dear Addie - My oldest daughter had terrible colic and didn't sleep a full night until she was two years old. If we repeat this trend, how will I keep from throwing myself off the deck? And what will I do with the two sprained wrists that is all that will result from throwing myself off the deck?

Dear Addie - There is a juvenile Labrador retriever masquerading as my four-year-old son. How will I keep this oversized, energetic, slobbering animal from tackling a newborn baby?

And speaking of two older children, dear Addie, how will I keep them from feeling neglected, forgetting to do their homework, going to school dressed like street urchins, eating nothing but Pop Tarts and eventually sinking into a life of crime and door-to-door alarm sales?

Maybe this seems excessive, but these are the kinds of worries that keep me from sleeping at night and from doing absolutely anything to prepare for the baby during the day. I have a big box of boy clothes waiting to go through - it sits. People are asking if there are things that we need - I pretty much don't think about it. Eventually I need to move the two existing children into one room to get the other ready for baby - I don't. I can't figure out what is wrong with me.

I have issues. That's what blogs are for, right?

Bathtime

2010-09-30T09:35:00.004-06:00

Bart has so many toys in the bathtub with him right now that, with little or no exaggeration, this is what the tub looks like.

More senior pictures

2010-09-25T09:19:00.006-06:00

After editing this set of pictures, I wanted to tell Taylor that I was tired of looking at his face. But... that was a lie. Seriously, the kid is pretty dang handsome.

And apparently the good-looking genes run pretty strong in this family because he also has a completely beautiful sister.

It's not a puppy

2010-09-14T08:14:00.002-06:00

Ahhh, the ultrasound. To be honest, I wasn't as anxious for it this time around. I was excited because Bart and Lisa would get to see if they were getting a brother or a sister. And I was dreading it because one of the two was going to be grievously and heart-wrenchingly disappointed and I didn't really want to deal with it. You know, because I'm a good mom like that.

Our ultrasound technician was f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s. When we went to Bart's ultrasound, the tech breezed through the whole thing as fast as she could, pointed out that it was a boy and slapped down some pictures that, as I look at them 5 years later, are totally unrecognizable as a baby or any of its adorable bits and pieces. Her attitude was an unmistakable 'I look at babies all day and this is totally not interesting - now will you please leave so I can enjoy a refreshing beverage?' The tech this time was totally enthusiastic, pointed out all the arms, legs, fingers and toes we could possibly want to see, explained everything she was measuring (and why) and even wrote happy little messages from the baby to Bart and Lisa that got printed on some of the pictures. She made it so wonderful and involved the entire family.

On to the good stuff.

Sweet, sweet little face. I'm taking a little poll here because I think the baby totally shares features with Bart and Lisa and looks like our family. And my dad insists that this baby is completely indistinguishable from any other baby on the entire surface of the earth. I have some silhouettes I've done of both children for objective comparison. Feel free to weigh in on either side of the debate.

Here's where baby gets uncooperative. The nice ultrasound lady tried and tried and tried to get a good face shot with the 4D camera. Baby covered its face with its arms and huddled up.

I'm sure none of you care about any of these and scrolled immediately to the bottom to find out. OK OK here you go - the money shot.

Yep. It's a boy. Lisa was devastated. She's starting to come around. And we have like... zero names for boys (and two totally beautiful girl names that someone else will have to use.) Name suggestions are welcome but I'm absolutely not naming a boy anything that ends in 'aden' or using any names that have at any time been used in the Twilight series of not-books.

Beating Beethoven

2010-09-11T14:23:00.008-06:00

Since I got hurt last year, I've been trying to get healthy and start running again. Obviously being pregnant has done nothing to further these goals. I feel like I have a narrow window between morning sickness and being too big/heavy/round to run and I really really wanted to do at least one 5K in that time.

Our local rec center has an annual Beat Beethoven 5K where you try to run the race faster than Beethoven's Symphony #5 (it's about 32 minutes long.) Since I've logged less than 10 miles in the last 4 months, I knew there was almost no way I could run faster than Beethoven. Pushing myself way too hard seems unwise so I made an alternate goal. Last year I ran a 5K in 39 minutes - in two ankle braces (see pic below), pushing two kids in a jog stroller that had 2 flat tires (I barely make it to the start line and didn't have time to air them up.)

So instead of chasing Beethoven, I made it my goal to beat my 'injured' time.

Here we are at the starting line with adequately aired up stroller tires. These two bed-headed monkeys had about a gallon of hot chocolate, 5 cereal bars and a movie on the iPod to keep them happy. Nugget #3 was much more content and didn't do any complaining or demanding of snacks.

The race started with about a mile and a half of long, slow uphill climb. It was a killer with the stroller. Beethoven and his pace car passed us at the halfway aid station. The last half was more flat and I kept a better pace.

The result? 38:11. So yeah, I'm not setting any records or winning any races (or beating any 240-year-old composers) but I'm totally happy. This was really important to me. And I'm pretty sure that even though Beethoven wasted me, I placed high in both the Obviously Pregnant and Toting Over 100 Pounds of Children divisions.

Also, Minnie took this picture of me on her own. She's a skilled camera woman already!

Halfway there!

2010-09-07T06:51:00.003-06:00

At this point I'm in that frustrating 'I have nothing to wear' phase. So I spend most days in pajama bottoms. Most of my regular pants still fit but I get really really really tired of hitching them back into place every 3 seconds. My 1 pair of maternity jeans is too big. I did get one of those belly bands that are supposed to hold your pants in place and it works really well, as long as you are only standing or walking. It doesn't hold up to activities of a sitting/bending/picking-up-of-4-year-olds nature. At some point I'll have to break down and buy new clothes, but I haven't worked myself up to it yet.

Senior pictures

2010-09-02T19:43:00.003-06:00

Decreased mobility plus a definite upswing in laziness has really put a dent in the time and energy I can put into photography. However I've done a limited number of shoots and this is a recent set of senior pictures. Isn't she totally gorgeous?

Little faces

2010-08-31T07:42:00.004-06:00

These little monkey faces, with their bed-head and sweet, tired eyes
Looking at me over the bar, with their bowl of morning cereal
They tell me all about their dreams at night and their plans for today

These are the things that make me remember how much I love being 'Mom'

A constant state of alteration, perhaps of improvement

2010-08-26T09:08:00.005-06:00

This is a project that's been hanging over our heads for about 6 months. We've had a wood picked out, plans made, measurements done, quotes bid out and still we couldn't quite bring ourselves to pull the trigger on this massive undertaking. Even though the actual floors were being installed by professionals, we would be doing the actual tear-out. And oh golly... what a project it was.

The carpet came up easily, even though it was secured with tack strips along every single inch of the perimeter. Seriously, someone cut down 2-inch strips to angle around closet corners and the fireplace. And the pad was held in place with, minimum, 5 billion staples. I never thought I'd long for the cheap-as-free construction techniques used in our old house.

Fortunately Bart and Lisa are as handy with staple-removal as they are with wallpaper. No, Bart did not gouge out the drywall. That was courtesy of the electrician who tried to burn our house to the ground. Now that I think of it, I think Sprinkle might be having second thoughts about being born into a one-family demolition team.

The carpeting, all 10,000 pounds of 90's-era dusty pinkness, was a total dream to remove compared to the kitchen linoleum. We discovered that we had not one, but two layers of it to take out, plus another layer of particle board. And the number of nails in the lower layer was probably someone's idea of a practical joke. Honestly, I think whoever put down the second floor bought his first-ever nailgun and then went totally insane with it.

Oh and let me point out here that Joe, who is training for a marathon, ran 15 miles about an hour before he started this project.

We made it a hard-and-fast rule that the kids had to wear shoes at all times. So Lisa wore high heels while she pulled up staples and hauled out debris. I stepped and knelt on so many staples, tack strips and nails that I'm sure we're due for tetanus shots all around.

After 2 days of crazy, intense work we had bare, staple-free particle board floors throughout the house. The furniture is all in the garage. Like I don't have enough pregnancy-hormone-related stress to begin with, this made me start having nightmares that we were moving again.

Because we had to move the fridge and the stove, we pretty much eat anything that can be made in the toaster.

The installers put in half a day yesterday and here's their progress. I'm ever so excited for the finished product. Also I'm excited to have my computer desk and chair back because right now I'm sitting on the floor in the basement, listening to Bart play Lego Batman behind me and the unholy racket of air tools, circular saws and classic rock music upstairs.

Bring on the chaos

2010-08-23T08:13:00.004-06:00

The thing with this home remodel is that it just goes on and on... and on. It may have seemed like we took a break from projects for a while, but that's only because there was a flood in our basement and we've been working on getting that area dried out and put back together. So right now, our basement is an unlivable disaster area with small walking paths between piles of toys, beds and overturned furniture.

I suppose that we're just gluttons for punishment because, even with the half-finished projects downstairs, we decided to schedule the installers who will put in the flooring upstairs. Hopefully this professional install will go better than others in the past. And while I was busy being excited that we were having the floor installed by someone else, I completely failed to remember that we have to move furniture, pull up 30-year-old pink carpet and scrape out dirty linoleum by ourselves.

So yeah. Now our main level is an unlivable disaster area with slightly larger walking paths between piles of toys, furniture and random household items.

Weep with envy

2010-08-21T07:53:00.000-06:00

Or... you know. Just go get your own.

Shabby Straps has an Etsy store but you can also check these out live and in person at Pro Digital Photos on Main street in Pleasant Grove - which is where I got mine. Cute, no?

The fall-back excuse

2010-08-20T08:42:00.004-06:00

"I'm pregnant" is a great excuse for most of my failures right now. Examples:

I DID make my children a non-cereal-based breakfast (fresh strawberries and milk) but totally let Bart put maple syrup in his bowl. Not good maple syrup either. Generic-brand, corn-syrup-based, regular ol' pancake syrup.

I have a meeting with a client and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make it out of my pajamas.

There's a strand of Christmas lights that has blown off the top of the house that hangs attractively next to the front door. It's been that way for a week. It will probably stay that way until Christmas.

I'm sure I can think of many, many more... but right now I'm too tired.

I'm pregnant.

The waiting game.

2010-08-10T13:59:00.007-06:00

Today I am waiting. Waiting for instructions. Waiting on information. Waiting for people who have never, nor will ever be, on time.

I hate lateness. It wastes my time and yours. Plus (and call me old-fashioned if you like) it's Just Plain Bad Manners.

We were brought up to be on time. Arriving on time is a sign of respect. It means you are a person who does what she says she will. It's also a sign that you are not a self-involved twit.

I think I'm getting hyper-sensitive to lateness because I deal with it almost every single day. It's not the "5-minutes-behind" variety of late, or even the "traffic was awful, I'm so sorry!" kind. It's when people say they'll be over to eat at 6:00 so you have dinner ready to go... and then they casually stroll in at 7:45 and tell you that they stopped for pizza on the way because they were SO hungry.

To take the edge off the waiting, I had an eclair.

My mom's are better.

Cooking blind

2010-08-05T16:23:00.004-06:00

...or possibly deaf. Either way, it was definitely cooking with a handicap.

I go to the gym a few times a week and I usually listen to NPR's 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!' on my iPod. Sometimes music helps me run faster but lately that's not so much of an option and the show just gives me the patience to stay on the machine for an extended period of time.

So I'm riding a bike, listening to my iPod AND watching the Food Network on a TV channel at the same time. The TV had no sound but I watched the hostess make something that looked really good. It was some tortellini with what looked like a stroganoff-esque cream sauce served over it. I couldn't tell exactly what ingredients she was using but I re-created her recipe as best I could with what sounded good (and healthier) to me. If that isn't a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is. But... it turned out really good! So here's the recipe (mine, not hers. I never did figure out what it was.)

3-cheese tortellini (4 servings)
3/4 pound lean beef (sirloin, ranch steak, whatever) thinly sliced
1/2 onion cut into very thin strips
1 medium portabello mushroom, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup water
big sprinkle of beef bullion or soup base
garlic powder
1 cup milk
2 tbsp flour
salt and pepper
tarragon

Get the water for the tortellini boiling

Spray a skillet with with non-stick spray. Sprinkle your sliced beef with salt and get it searing in the pan. When it's about half done, add the onions. At the end, add the mushrooms and saute' them down.

Sprinkle in the beef bullion and garlic powder - add the 1/2 cup water, let the meat and veggies simmer in the broth for a minute. Get your tortellini in the hot water and cook according to package directions.

Whisk your flour into the milk and add the mixture to your meat and veggies. Mix well and simmer until sauce tightens up. (Real cooks would use heavy cream here instead of 2% milk but I can't deal with those calories.) Salt and pepper to taste. At the very end, stir in just a sprinkle of tarragon. Serve over hot tortellini.

If you've timed it right, your sauce and tortellini should be done at the same time. The whole meal took me 20 minutes to put together. If you give it a try, I'd love to know what you think!

Feeling better

2010-08-02T08:57:00.003-06:00

Thanks for everyone's comments and phone calls. I'm feeling much better this week - if a bit tired and worn out. We never did figure out anything past "fever of unknown origin" but at least it's gone.

Other than that, the first part of this pregnancy has gone by uneventfully. We finally heard baby Sprinkle's heartbeat, the doctor estimated it was 155-160 beats per minute. So now I can start wildly speculating about the gender of the baby, even though we have a good 5 weeks before we can find out for sure. I'll give you the answers to some old wive's tales and you can speculate and assume with me.

Cravings: definitely sweet. I could have French toast and strawberries at least once a day and never get tired of it.

Aversions: some meat, but it's only a texture thing. Acidic things (like spaghetti sauce) give me heartburn so I avoid them.

Carrying: high. This baby is up in my ribs already.

Chinese birth calendar: says it's a boy

Skin: I definitely have had more break-outs and skin problems during this pregnancy.

OK that's all the OWT I can think of. The kids are really excited to find out what this baby is. Lisa insists that not only is it a girl, but that Sprinkle will be her twin and they'll look exactly the same. Bart doesn't have his heart quite as set on a brother, he's more focused on the fact that he won't be 'the baby' anymore. In some ways he's happy because he insists he's too big to be the baby and in others I can see that he's worried about being displaced. Already I'm having a hard time picking him up and letting him lay in my lap and he's said to me "there was always room for me to be your baby before THAT baby!" Sheesh.

With sprinkles please

2010-07-27T19:11:00.006-06:00

And if you're one of the 5 people who don't know yet, I'm sorry. Bart and Lisa have been such efficient news-spreaders that I pretty much haven't said anything.

So yes, we're having another baby. The kids have affectionately named him/her Sprinkle, because when we first showed them pictures of how big the baby would be, the comparison was "your baby is as big as a sprinkle on a cupcake." Lisa was especially taken with the description and started saying things like:

"Mom! Don't jump around like that! You're shaking Sprinkle!" and

"Do you think Sprinkle needs some more peach pie?"

Yes. Sprinkle does need more peach pie.

Sprinkle is due next January, on my sweet Grandma Bev's birthday. This makes my heart happy.

When 'they' say that subsequent kids show much faster, 'they' ain't a-kiddin. Either that or Sprinkle didn't need more peach pie.

This pregnancy I crave bread and sugar. Through the whole morning-sickness phase I ate toast in all its varieties (French toast, peanut butter toast, buttered toast, toast with jam...) and tons of fruit. Too much sugar (like a doughnut) makes me ill. Go figure.

What I can't eat is ground meat. It doesn't matter what species of meat it is - turkey, beef, venison, chicken - if it's ground, loafed or meatballed, I can't even look at it or even think about it. Bleh.

I've turned into a person that cries. A lot. Pretty much over nothing. Like, I started to cry on my way to Sunday School because Bart was being a stink and when I rubbed my eyeliner off and had black on my hands, I was prrrreeeeeetttttyyyyy much in hysterics because I had to teach the Laurels and there's no way you can do that without eye makeup on. Seriously.

At 14 weeks I've gained 9 pounds which seems... well... OK. It's harder than I thought it would be to see the numbers on the scale go up and up. I took a few of the sickest weeks off from the gym but I've started going again and am keeping my fingers crossed for a healthy pregnancy.

Today we finally finally got to hear the baby's heartbeat and that was very re-assuring, especially considering the last week.

As any Facebook friends will know, I've been in and out of the ER this last weekend with an unexplained fever and headache. It seems like such a silly reason to spend hours and hours in the emergency room but the fever can be scary for a 14-week fetus and they ran tests looking for all manner of bacterial infections.

Results: nothing.

With no improvement over the weekend, one doctor wanted to do a lumbar puncture to test for meningitis (scary!) but then decided against it. He did order a lot of blood work though and I think those vampires took half my blood because I've been wasted and dizzy ever since.

Results from blood work: nothing.

In fact one doctor said "you're really a very healthy person... except that you're sick."

So that pretty much catches you up to right now. Baby = healthy. Mom = not so much. Joe is taking good care of me and right now I'm eating a Kneader's cinnamon roll that he went to get me. I'm telling myself that I'll wake up better tomorrow.

Remember how I used to blog?

2010-06-01T21:38:00.006-06:00

Yeah... good times.

My excellent excuse is that I've been really super busy. The end of the school year, family trips, getting ready for Girl's Camp and some extra design work have kept me running. The extra work keeps me busy but I LOVE it. I've had the chance to work on some really fun projects these last few months and I have been pleased with the results.

Since it's getting late and I still haven't put the kids to bed, I thought it would be the perfect time to post some of these projects. Obviously I have time-management issues.

All of these customers had great websites that you should totally check out too!

Pro Digital Photos (more than just printing, cute CUTE photo boutique products)

ShadowCase (gorgeous shadow frames for your special memorabilia)

Bloggin' Bout Books (for all you bookworms and avid readers)

On How to be Lovely (everything everything lovely)

I'm sure there are things I'm missing too, but these are the ones that I've had fun with recently. So there you go. Excuse for not blogging #42.

Bending over backwards... to be the worst ever!

2010-04-15T08:00:00.002-06:00

So you would think that the Brent Brown Toyota saga would be over, right? You'd think that after we had to drive all the way back to the dealership to pick up the license plates that they had not (and had no intentions of ever) put in the mail, we could wash our hands of the whole debacle.

You would be wrong.

About 2 weeks later we get a call from someone who has 'taken over our account.' Since they still supposedly owe us $$ for the safety inspection we had to get, Joe took the call. It went a little like this:

Sales Weasel: Hey there! I've taken over your account and I just wanted to touch base with you and (insert more smarmy weasel-talk blah blah blah.)

Joe: Oh yeah?

SW: Yes! I wanted to ask you why you didn't purchase the '05 Tahoe from us.

J: .....................?

SW: You know, I took over this account and wanted to see if there was any way I could get you into a different car with us?

J: Are you talking about the Tahoe I bought in February?

SW: Oh... well... really? My notes said.... Umm..... The guy who had your account is..... no longer with us.... uuuuhhhh.

J: While I've got you, I did want to ask about the money they keep saying they're going to send me for a safety inspection.

SW: Umm, well I could ask... But it would probably be better if you just called back and spoke to someone else on your own.

You know Sales Weasel, that is a pretty good idea. If only anyone at the dealership understood the finer points of answering or returning calls. Which they don't. So, dear readers, if anyone ever goes to that dealership and embarks on a months-long Festival of Incompetence, don't say I didn't warn you.

I've converted

2010-04-06T11:21:00.003-06:00

For the last 6 months I've been going to our city's rec center. It may be small but you can always get the machine you want and the limited selection of weight-lifting apparatus was actually a good thing - much less confusing for the beginner.

The only downside to the rec center was the daycare. While it was always empty and I really liked the ladies that ran it, it cost $2 per hour for the kids to be there. It didn't seem bad while Joe was on an afternoon shift and he watched both kids in the morning, but this month (with Spring Break thrown in) my $15 rec center pass has already doubled in price. So the idea of free daycare finally lured me into a Gold's Gym membership.

Fortunately Joe found someone who was desperate for a sale and scored me a killer deal on the gym pass. Today was my first day and I think I enjoyed it. There are a whole lotta people who are in much better shape than I am (as opposed to the rec center where you work out equal parts senior citizens and firefighters.) The number of weight machines was a little bewildering. I think Joe needs to come and set me up a new weight-lifting program.

And I do so ever love the hot tub.

Oh yeah... the cake

2010-04-01T17:05:00.001-06:00

I almost forgot that I meant to post pictures of the birthday doll cake.

My papa was a master baker - he owned a bakery in Helper, Utah for many many many years. In addition to baking, he made beautiful cakes. My mom said that the roses on his cakes were so realistically light and delicately colored that you wanted to smell them. I wish I had pictures of the things that he made.

Not learning any of his skills will be something I'll probably regret all my life. I've only learned a handful of cake-decorating techniques (mostly from the Wilton site.) I can pass off a few of these with a limited measure of success - just enough to decorate a child's birthday cake without it being scorned and ridiculed. I had to bring out my entire arsenal of skills for this one. Fortunately a crowd of 6-year-olds are easy to please. Just don't look too closely at those ruffles.

Lisa's party was a masquerade ball.

The little 'cake' she's holding is actually a Keebler Clubhouse Cracker, stuck to the doll's hands with frosting. Bart ate it and pronounced it delicious.

And apparently if you have the audacity to let the girls make fun, feathered masks to take home instead of a princess-themed bag full of cheap plastic jewelry (that their mother is going to curse you for and throw away) the group of girls will totally call you on it.

Mothers of soon-to-be-6-year-olds, you've been warned.

The Tale of Two Fish

2010-03-31T16:59:00.001-06:00

or: Reason # 317 We Don't Have Pets

Once upon a time there was a beautiful Princess, her mother the Queen, and a Fairy Grandmother (who was also the Queen's mother-in-law.)

The Fairy Grandmother had threatened on numerous occasions to purchase an enchanted aquarium for the Princess. The Queen feigned deafness whenever this plan was suggested. The wiley Fairy Grandmother snuck the aquarium into the Princess's Christmas presents and cast a spell which got the Princess all excited about raising fish.

The Princess, who has been known to form unrealistic expectations about aquariums, pets, toys and life in general, immediately began plotting to fill her 2-gallon aquarium with several breeds of tropical fish, sharks and possibly a small whale.

The Queen resigned herself to travel to Ye Olde PetSmarte in search of a very tiny whale.

After viewing completely every possible type of fish and convincing the Princess that neither a rat nor a parrot would be very happy living in an aquarium, the Queen was able to purchase 2 small and allegedly durable fish to return home with the Princess. They were named Silvermist and Shadow. The Queen took several really lousy pictures to post on Her Royal Blog.

Silvermist.

And Shadow (their names were originally Squirt and Bat Fish but the Princess wanted something a little more enchanting.)

The Queen let the Princess decorate the aquarium with all manner of pink plants, a fish cave and shiny jewel rocks. Everyone was pleased.

The fish lived happily ever after... for 1 week. Then an evil spell was cast on Shadow and he was turned into a female and spawned 28 baby fishsticks, which both fish proceeded to gobble up. The tank got stinkier and stinkier (possibly in a misguided attempt at escape). One day the Princess noticed that they were both floating upside down. She laughed her head off and we transferred them into the toilet so they could swim out to sea.

The end.

Works for me: keeping track of the remote

2010-03-30T07:35:00.000-06:00

Looking for the remote, listening to kids complain about looking for the remote, telling other people to look for the remote their own dang selves and replacing all the furniture after successfully locating the remote takes up approximately 83 hours of my week. I've tossed around various ideas for keeping them in once place. My favorite involved hooking them to a retracting wire (like a janitor's keychain) that pulled them all the way to the ceiling and out of the reach of marauding 4-year-old pirates and the like. The problem with this plan is that I can't reach the ceiling either.

Finally I remembered that I have a giant roll of stick-on velcro. It's two different adhesive strips, one with the hook side of the velcro and one with the fuzzy side.

I stuck the hook side to the side of my computer desk (conveniently located next to the couch) and the fuzzy side to the back of the remotes.

Voilà! The remotes have a 'home' of their own and don't spend quite as much time under the recliner or lost in the sofa bed.

This also works well in the craft cupboard for pencil sharpeners, flashlights, lighters and the elusive Big Ol' Sharpie.

Remember my love for vintage cake pans?

2010-03-29T07:59:00.000-06:00

To go along with the boy-themed cake pans from my mother-in-law, my own mother gave me this Wilton doll mold that she used when my sisters and I were little.

Fortunately Wilton still sells the doll toppers because we needed a fresh one. I wish they still had the headband that you could decorate without getting frosting in the doll's hair.

Anyway, here's the start of Minnie's birthday cake. She wanted a masquerade-themed party this year, so the doll pick has a feathered mask on. It kind of messed up her hair so I need to figure out how to re-set her curls. I'll put up pictures of her cake when I get them off the other camera.

Take that Spring

2010-03-22T16:05:00.001-06:00

I may not have seedlings planted and my house is not any sort of cleaned (let alone spring-cleaned) BUT I updated my blog background when the season actually changed. And not 3 months late. So there.

Time changes are hard on everyone

2010-03-19T08:51:00.003-06:00

Even the littlest of monkeys.

It's hard to get him to preschool on time when he wakes up like this, because he drags his tired little bed-headed self to the living room and wants to sit in your lap until he's more awake. So, more often than I would like to admit, he just goes to school with messy hair, yesterday's shirt and too-short pants.

What am I thinking?

2010-03-10T08:40:00.005-07:00

Brittany and I are going snowboarding.

I am kind of nervous. I haven't been snowboarding since before Bart (that's 5 long years for those who are keeping score.) If you have any prayers to spare today, maybe mention that I would not like to become injured or dead today.

Update: we have both returned un-injured and non-dead.

I love snowboarding and can't wait to go again! We had about 3 inches of powder, light snow and an almost completely empty resort. In the middle of the day we rode the lift to the tippy top for a twice-baked potato and the most chocolaty, indulgent, whipped-cream-with-cinnamon cup of hot chocolate. Totally fabulous.

Officially 4

2010-03-09T07:12:00.003-07:00

You're pretty much not an official 4-year-old until you've fought crime and saved princesses whilst wearing a dishtowel cape. It's like a right of passage. Bart prefers the vintage flour-sack dish cloths. Because he rocks.

Batman cake

2010-03-08T09:39:00.004-07:00

The finished product.

Oh yeah. He just oozes justice and crime-fightability. We tried to limit the amount of black icing by using some grey and purple - I think he looks pretty awesome! Here are some of the pictures of the decorations. We kept it pretty simple but birthday boy really loved it.

Joe drew this awesome Batman poster and we played Pin The Batarang On The Utility Belt (or whatever.)

Minnie colored the poster after Joe drew it so everyone got to be involved.

Online-issue magazines for $1

2010-03-04T07:35:00.002-07:00

Click here for details

Super Hero birthday

2010-03-03T08:50:00.005-07:00

It's Bart's birthday today! My supa-cool mother-in-law was digging through her basement and found her Wilton cake pans from when her 4 boys were little and she gave them to me!

I think my husband was way more excited than even I was, because he remembers all his Superman and robot cakes that he had for his birthdays and he was thrilled that we have these pans. Also this was really lucky because Bart wants a Batman cake this year. Yay!

So later today I'll be trying to ice a cake into a respectable Batman and use the least amount of pure-black icing. Wish me luck!

Also this was our cake-related discussion this morning. I had to ask him all this over the phone while his dad chased him through the dinosaur museum, so it took much longer than seemed strictly necessary.

Mom: What kind of cake do you want?
Bart: Batman
M: But what flavor?
B: Batman!
What would Batman flavor be? Thinking about it kind of makes me gag.

M: OK.... What color do you want your cake?
B: Vaniwah
Try not to imagine me rolling my eyeballs until they rattle themselves loose.

M: Do you want white vanilla or yellow vanilla?
B: Yeh-wo vaniwah Batman cake.
M: Done.