William, Samantha, and co.

The Blog is Moving

2010-01-08T01:57:00.000-07:00

Our blog is moving to a new address and platform. Visit us at our new address:
http://samantha.williamfnewman.com/

New Parenting Theory

2010-01-05T14:33:00.003-07:00

I have been learning a whole lot about myself in these past four months since Clive's birth. And obviously I have been learning a lot about parenting. As time goes on, the way I look at things adjusts and changes. Some of the things I have realized have really helped me get through the challenges, especially with the difficult age Zara is currently going through.

So, I have a new parenting theory. I am sure I am not the first person to discover this, but it feels brand new and illuminating to me!

The abstract: Kids are crazy.

Should you care to read on, here is the elaboration.

If adults acted how kids act, they would be put into an institution that would help them and be fully equipped and prepared and trained to deal with them and provide counseling to improve their behavior and worldview. You know, help them stop doing things like throwing food, pooping in their pants, jumping up and down for hours on end, running into the street, hitting people, repeating every word they hear, throwing themselves on the ground when they aren't given fruit snacks immediately or when someone takes their pen away, and other crazy activities. And when the counselors and professionals have done their job and the person is "cured" or whatever, they release them into the world.

Consider this:

Cute and funny for kids, totally crazy for adults.

So, as parents, you are given totally crazy little people to take care of and be counselors for. But most of the time, parents have no training or experience to prepare them to be counselors to these crazy people. You just have to do it. You have to be their counselors and teach them over the years how to eventually be normal and functioning, and talk them through their crazy times, and in the meantime try to control their craziness as much as possible so you can go out in public. And then hopefully by the time they're 18 you have successfully cured them of their Crazy and can release them from your institution/home.

And this type of crazy is often contagious, especially to the unprepared, so as parents it's difficult to not get a little crazy yourself.

This has helped me immensely! Now Clive, he's little enough where I don't have to remind myself that he's currently crazy. But Zara, she's getting big, and frustrating. She can say basically anything, so she seems old enough to me sometimes where I forget she's still crazy. When I remind myself of this, it is A LOT easier to get through the frustrating two-year-old-crazy moments. I just look at her and think "OK, she's still crazy, I have to teach her about how to not be crazy. It's gonna take a while."

I recommend applying this theory to your life as your children get older, unless you already have and this is the great secret of parenting that all you veteran Crazy Kid Counselors (parents) already know.

And that is my advice to up and coming parents. You might be giving birth to a baby, but you will very soon have a crazy little person, and you should remember that.

**I probably shouldn't bother, but because tone is often hard to catch online, just in case it's not obvious...I'm being pretty sarcastic here. And sorry if you think using the term "crazy" here is wrong... but... I'm still using it.**

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2009-12-28T14:29:00.001-07:00

...to you and yours, from us.

I hope this year was good for all of you. Someone recently asked me, "so how was 2009?" And I suddenly thought- wow, it has been quite a year for me and us and that didn't really occur to me until I was asked, so now I'm all contemplative and stuff.

Every Movie From Now On

2009-12-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

[Watching the movie trailer for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Lightning Thief.]

Samantha: So everybody has superpowers.

William: Yep.

Samantha: Why are we so obsessed with that?

William: 'Cause it'd be awesome.

Samantha: But how many movies can you make about that?

William: Every movie from now on—ever.

Should I be super angry?!

2009-12-13T13:03:00.004-07:00

I have been having some realizations lately. Maybe I'll blog about more of them, but here's one.

During a recent conversation with William, something hit me, and I would like to ask other moms about it.

I think most of us moms have had numerous times when someone else - a stranger, a friend, someone at church, even a family member - has made an insensitive, unthinking, ignorant, offensive, strange, whatever etc. etc., comment about something to us. Sometimes it's to you when you're pregnant ("wow you're a lot bigger than my cousin is and you're the same amount of months pregnant!"), sometimes it's about your baby ("He's 3 months old? He's SO LITTLE!" or when he/she is crying, "Is he OK!?"), sometimes it's about your parenting ("Have you tried to do ____insert advice here____ with her?").

Sometimes it's really hurtful, sometimes it's really minor. People don't usually think about what they're saying, I don't think. For example, I recently was asked if Clive was premature, someone was so surprised apparently at his (relatively) small size. This was hurtful to me. (And might I add he's just fine.) Or more minor things, like people asking how he's sleeping at night, or how Zara's getting along with him, etc.

First off, this DOES happen to fellow moms right? People making comments about you/your kids- whether it's hurtful or not, just saying something, making an observation, whatever? I feel like I've heard that it happens to everyone.

Secondly, what I realized is, THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN TO ME WHEN I AM WITH MY HUSBAND. And, it doesn't happen to my husband, period.

When I am out and about by myself with the kids, people sometimes ask questions or make comments, as explained. But when I am with William, people do not. They don't ask how Clive is sleeping or how breastfeeding's going, they don't give me unsolicited advice about anything, they don't have anything to say about Clive's size or Zara's behavior. Nada.

And when William is alone with the kids (which is rare, but say we are out and about and he's with them and I have walked somewhere else, in a store, or a party for example), or even when he's by himself without the kids, people don't ask him things or make comments or give advice. I'm sure it's happened a few times, but it's rare; instances are few and far between.

My question is, when you fellow moms think about this, is this the case with you too? Do people talk to you more about your kids when you're without your husband?

I'm guessing it's the same for many of you. If so, I wonder why. At first I thought, oh my gosh, people are super sexist! Like maybe people just assume, if you're a woman by yourself, you must need or want advice, you must want to talk about your kids, and you are kind of "vulnerable to attack" if you will. But if your husband is with you, maybe people just assume, oh she's got it taken care of, her big strong husband is with her, and I'd better not ask any personal questions b/c her husband won't need that and will probably be mad! But if you're alone, they swoop.

Although this doesn't happen like all day every day, don't get me wrong. It's enough to notice. Then I thought, maybe it's just us? Maybe William gives off a "don't approach me" vibe. Maybe he makes it clear he doesn't want to have those kinds of personal conversations, doesn't want to chit chat about his kids. And maybe I give off a vibe of wanting to.

I realize our personalities do tend toward this. I have recently begun to see that I must give off some sort of "impart all your knowledge unto me!" vibe, b/c I seem to attract know-it-alls. I can see that I am inquisitive, open, and I ask questions. Recently I've begun to realize just how inquisitive I might come across to the world, and I don't think that's a bad thing. But maybe it comes across as more naive than I think or want. Maybe vulnerable, maybe like I need or want your advice, which I don't, unless I ask. I just like to talk and ask questions. Me asking a question doesn't mean I want YOU to answer it, it just means I want us to wonder about it together.

This love of talking is one of my recent revelations- I need to cut back on this b/c sometimes I don't really want to talk about some things and I just keep going... even when I am in a conversation that I know is going to leave me feeling down as soon as it's over. I won't cut off the conversation, I have a hard time abruptly changing the subject, and perhaps my biggest downfall is that I don't just tell the person to eat it. I don't just let my thoughts/annoyance/anger/hurt be known. I kind of let it happen so I don't hurt anyone's feelings. Lame, I know.

So maybe the answer is that it's a combination of these things. Maybe people really are a bit sexist and don't approach you with their advice when your manly man is around, and maybe my particular husband gives off a certain "I'm not interested in that conversation" vibe, and maybe I give off a "I want to talk about my kids and I don't know what I'm doing and I need your advice" vibe (which might I just add, for the record: I admit I do like talking about my kids, but not comparing them to yours, and I also like talking about other things, and I do know what I'm doing, even if I'm a mere 25, and I don't need your advice if I didn't ask for it).

But aside from my own personal qualities that might contribute to it in my case, I'm still interested in hearing if this happens to other women, and what you think about it as a phenomenon.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live

2009-12-05T19:14:00.004-07:00

"There's a Party in my City!"

I am a big nerd for how excited this got me. Let me get that out of the way.

Our good friends Emily and Jacob Moffat, the manly counterpart of which works for Yo Gabba Gabba out in LA (and the womanly counterpart once stood in as Muno for the Bonnie Hunt show!! I'm so proud.), hooked us up with 3RD ROW seats to the live show here in Chicago! THANKS SO MUCH!!! We even paid for valet parking. I felt like a celebrity.

It was awesome. I took a friend, Tiffany, and her son, Miles with (rather, she drove...) and we all had a great time. Including Clive. I am surprised by how much fun I had, and how pumped about the whole thing I was and still am, and how much more I love and appreciate the show now. So. Fun. I guess it reminds me that good live theatre really has power for me, even if it's for kids! It was just a fun time, and the kids did great.

About the TV show:

If you haven't seen the show on TV, and you see it now, you're gonna think we're all totally weird. It is a nuts show. It is crazy and doesn't make a lot of sense and seems all over the place at first. For a while I felt bad letting Zara watch it, b/c it's not "educational" and seems kind of schizophrenic sometimes, when you're not used to it, but she loves it so much. I got used to it, and after that it doesn't seem so weird. Until you try to explain it to someone who has never seen it...

Then I kind of had an epiphany about it actually - the show is just FUN. It's all about music and dancing and fun and colors and happiness. And I think that's so good for kids, especially how things are today when we're all trying to teach our kids all sorts of stuff all the time and get them ahead and yadda yadda, it's just fun to have fun. And the show and its music are way fun for adults too. When that show comes on Zara is bouncing around yelling the words to the song.

WHAT A NERD am I that I am so psyched about having seen this show?!

It was totally sweet to see everyone up close, especially DJ Lance Rock, whom Zara calls "TJ Lance Dance." Up close I appreciated the talent of all the performers, especially in those huge costumes, performing for hundreds if not thousands of toddlers. I expected it to be mass chaos but it wasn't. I mean the bathrooms were one giant changing table, and it was noisy, but I didn't notice a lot of meltdowns. That said, both Zara and Miles cried when it was over. The end was the worst part. Sad to leave. Zara threw herself on the floor and screamed in the lobby after it was over and honestly I barely got any looks. Only of sympathy. Everyone had their own sad kids to deal with.

I think all the kids at the show were just maybe so excited and happy to be there that they were all behaving really well, until it was over at least. Maybe all the parents were using seeing it as blackmail to get their kids to behave. I am not above that anymore, let me tell you.

They really did a great job with the live show. The TV show lends itself well to a live performance, I think more so than other Nickelodeon shows. Awesome music, and the way they ordered everything was really smart. Mixing up fast and slower songs, having interactive aspects like dancing, guest spots, Brobee flying up in the air (which Z loved), bubbles at the end of the show (which Z also loved. We were so close to the bubble machines it got pretty intense; we were like getting wet). Balloons poured from the heavens just before intermission, and then they did a get-the-wiggles-out song (which Zara did not participate in b/c for the most part she was just staring, enthralled except for with a few songs, even though she gets way into it at home), and then all the kids had the balloons to play with for the intermission. Brilliant!!

Jacob was right. This show was meant to rock a 2 year old's world and it did. Tiffany and I were laughing that how close we sat was like, beyond anything a 2 year old could imagine in their wildest dreams. We adults were pretty impressed too!

DJ Lance is a brave soul to wear that tight jumpsuit.

Zara could not wait for it to start.

At the end THE Biz Markie came out and did a beatbox lesson with us all! So fun.Clive did great. He loves watching the world nowadays, and all the colors and stuff- he seemed to be pretty amazed and happy. When the show first started, he startled a bit and started crying when the crowd went crazy, but he calmed down and enjoyed himself. I had him on one knee and Z on the other. Then he slept through the 2nd half.

Another funny detail is that at the end of the show, during the last song or 2, parents were bringing their kids up to the stage to be blessed by DJ Lance basically. Well, to give him five, but it was like they were offering them up unto him, and it was funny.

Thanks for driving Tiffany, and thanks for getting Zara the T shirt!! I didn't get as many pics as I would have liked, but she took a few of us, so when she sends me the pics she took I'll post them.

Yo Gabba Gabba now definitely has some more loyal fans. A great time had by all.

Pardon the quality of these videos. Crappy camera. Just little snippets. If you'd like to see what we saw, someone recorded the whole thing and it's on youtube. Part 1 is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFFdLs9g2Zk and it's a lot of fun.

Kids. 2 of them.

2009-12-03T20:39:00.002-07:00

Today I visited a friend's house. She said "wow he's getting big!" when she saw Clive, and by the end of the visit mentioned that he's doing a lot better. It gave me pause, and I realized he is. The last time we were there, maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago only, Clive was very fussy, I had to hold him the whole visit almost, and he cried a lot and didn't interact much. Perhaps I'd gotten used to that, but it was good to be shaken into the realization that he now cries less, interacts a lot, and is pretty content to look around at the world.

Here he is doing his favorite thing, gazing at a cooing face. He had a great holiday weekend with many faces to gaze at and chat with.

Zara is constantly kissing him still, and LOVES that he smiles a lot now. He basically just flinches when she comes around, but he does seem to like her quite a bit.

Today and yesterday I laid (or is it lay...crap.) down with them on our bed to get them down for their afternoon nap (and naps have been ridiculously long lately which needless to say I LOVE) and I thought it was a cute picture opportunity.
They were shortly afterward transferred to their respective beds, limp and sleeping. Yes, Zara still has a binky. Don't judge. She also still has a diaper, and at this rate will until she's 5 b/c she surely shows no interest in ever ditching the diaper. >:(

And here is Mr. Clive Jive himself, being super adorable.

For a comparison on the SAME SHEETS even, see:

http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?pid=979599&id=597800638

where Zara is older (Clive is 3.5 months here, Zara was probably closer to 6 months), more feminine, but a very similar shot.

Zara's new trick

2009-11-17T17:57:00.002-07:00

Zara has a new trick. This video has a particularly robotic sound, too, strangely enough...

Halloween, other domestic items.

2009-11-11T18:19:00.005-07:00

I stalk everyone's blogs and then don't post enough myself. As if I have nothing to say. Ha!

Until recently, Clive has enjoyed the position pictured:
It may look like that photo captured an odd moment of him throwing his head back, but no. He really loved being in that position whenever awake. It seems in the last week or so, he has gotten a lot more head control, and maybe that's why he isn't so into this anymore. Either way, it was funny.

Clive is 3 months old now. 13 weeks. Nuts. Goes by so fast.

I have a million parenting things I could complain about but generally that just makes me feel like I'm doing a bad job- pointing out all the things I worry and stress about - so I'm gonna keep this benign.

Zara was a clown for Halloween. At church:

At the library:
Here is a series of our wee ones in their monkey feet PJ's.

Has anyone else ever wondered why when you only have one child, calling him or her your "kid" sounds kind of rough and rude and sarcastic, but if you have two, calling them your kids is not only normal but expected? Not rude at all. Calling them your "children" is overly formal. Hm.

Zara does all sorts of weird stuff with her toys and it cracks me up. I walked into the front room to this a few weeks ago:
Dinosaurs fossilizing on a blanket on a chair, I guess.

Peekin.'

Just hangin' out, mom. What.

Several weeks ago our ward had a fun Iron Chef competition and this is William and our friend Brad. The two of them made dishes that tied for best overall, and a tie breaker involving everyone running to the person whose dish they preferred made Brad the winner. He made a very complicated gourmet pizza involving...a bunch of stuff, I forgot what, but it was good. William made sweet potato ice cream that tasted like pumpkin pie. And he wore the chef suit Christy made for him last Christmas, ha.

Welcoming the Christmas season, and welcoming seeing William more over break, although my hopes for that are low since he has PhD programs to apply to over break. One day we'll get to hang out again. William pointed out that lately we don't really "hang out" or talk...it's usually "managing chaos together." Instead of me managing chaos on my own when he's not here! We do watch Mad Men together though, at least we have that...

I have been having a lot of help from friends on Wednesday nights so that's good. I realized that if William goes right into a PhD program after he's done with his masters degree this spring, then when he's done with his PhD, we will have been married for 10 years, and only two of those years will he have not been in school!

Winged Migration

2009-11-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

I was walking home from school just after the sun had set when I heard the distant sound of honking geese steadily growing from the north. It grew and grew and I looked up to see what certainly sounded like the largest migration I had ever seen. I was more than right about that.

The sky directly above me was fairly dark but I could make out a V-formation heading south. It wasn't until it was right over me that I grasped the scale of this migration. It stopped me in my tracks. After the point of the V passed I could see on either side of me the two sides that spanned the length of the visible sky. I tried to do a quick estimate of the numbers and feel confident in saying there were well over one thousand geese in a single V which looked to span a mile. The two sides were not perfectly straight but it was unbroken as far as I could tell. Trying to survey such a large moving target, I nearly lost my balance.

The sound of all these geese was not deafening, but it was enough to drown out every other ambient sound I had been ignoring until then. As it faded away and I began pondering on the awesome display of the animal kingdom I had just witnessed when I heard the second wave approaching. This V was about half the size of the first, but that's still half a mile. It had barely passed when the third wave, half of the second, flew over head. After that several smaller wedges, in numbers of tens and twenties, would occasionally pass.

This provided a rare moment of pause to delight in the abundance of life on earth.

Fun, lately.

2009-10-15T13:18:00.005-06:00

We've been having a lot of fun lately, with lots of family in and out of our teensy apartment. Well it feels teensy when you fit so many people in it, but it was fun!!

Lots of family was here for Clive's blessing on the 11th. It was a really sweet day. I was very impressed with how these pictures came out; nice setting up, William! (And I am sorry Kelsey, I couldn't find a picture with Teresa's finger not in her nose, but how cute! And Sean is looking away too. Oh well. Cute with his thumb in his mouth though.)

Fran bought Clive a cute little white sleeper that he fit into PERFECTLY and looked angelic in. I will keep it for always.

I told William, the story behind this picture is like one of those "moments of my life." It's Clive's first on-camera smile, and he was being so sweet and adorable and charming everyone - I think I took this picture and around William and Clive were Beth, Adam, me obviously, Kelsey, Rachel, my dad I think...who else was there? If you were there speak up because I want to remember the entire moment. It was just a bunch of us admiring him and him smiling and being all cute and excited, and all of us just ooowing and awwing and it was such a sweet moment on such a sweet day. One of those things, as my mom says, "your heart takes a picture of." Good thing my camera took a picture of it too.

After Clive's blessing, someone mentioned in their testimony about the memories it brought up when William was blessing his son. William turned to me and said "I have a son!!!" Weird. A son. And a daughter. So warm and lovey. You like all this cheese folks?!?!

We went to a nearby orchard on Saturday, and it was cold but super fun. Here is Zara in the corn pool. I think she had a hard time sharing this slide and that's when we got her out of there.

And her first horsey ride, courtesy of Kelsey. Zara was scared but then had fun. So cute.

She also went into a petting zoo area, which she was mostly afraid of, and down a gigantic slide with daddy lots of times and once by herself, which was not as fun as with daddy. Our camera died, thus no photos :(

While grandma was in, she did lots of this:
And this:

Zara with the paternal grandparents.

This grandpa (my dad) also enjoys rough housing with Zara, which she also enjoys:
And she plays with my mom all the time, which apparently I need to get a picture of!! Sorry mom!

When the cousins were in they did lots of playing and throwing toys all over the place.
And they got kinda crazy, so on came the TV, the savior of many a modern mother:
Thanks for the memories and love, all!

And as a side note, I don't want to speak too soon, but Zara's behavior has been quite good lately, and Clive's naps at least seem to be regulating and lengthening. Night time is still a different story. But I'm feeling better, and enjoying things more.

What's been goin' on

2009-10-06T13:56:00.004-06:00

A mom post.

The last couple of weeks have been kind of hard for me! After a few breakdowns, I am currently feeling a bit better, but not counting on that continuing...how's that for positive thinking?

I am now SO GRATEFUL for help. Any time anyone helps me around the house, or in public, in any way, I feel so grateful. Not anymore like, oh I should do this myself. I just feel like, I usually do this myself, so I am so glad someone is doing it for me.

Examples.

My parents came over a few weekends ago, and William was gone at school, so I had them watch the kids while I went grocery shopping. When I got home my mom had cleaned the whole front room and kitchen, and I was so grateful, it was such a relief I just cried. SO NICE.

This weekend Tim and Fran were in (William's parents), and I think I'll call Fran the cleaning tornado because when she cleans she just whips through so fast and effectively, and she did that many times this weekend, again, for which I am so grateful. Last week was especially hard for me, so this weekend having help and entertainment for Zara and company for us all was just perfect timing. Zara had the best time playing with grandma and grandpa.

Last Wednesday I took Zara (and Clive) to story time at the library. Another disaster. I am not going alone with them anymore for a while. Zara runs all over and Clive needs tons of attention. At one point she had the hissy fit of the century, screaming at the top of her lungs, bullying other kids around- I was holding Clive trying to drag her out of the library but I had all our books and our stroller and my purse still in so I couldn't actually leave and I was just standing there, Clive in arms, Zara screaming, like, what am I gonna do? Some lady offered to hold Clive while I took Zara out, and b/c I could see the lady wherever I took Zara to calm her down I gratefully agreed. That was so, so nice of her and really saved me. I was so embarrassed by Zara's behavior and so mad at her and so upset about this whole thing and how I didn't deal with it the way I should have that I was upset the whole rest of the day. Not coping too well right now.

So, since William is gone on Wednesdays 9-9, I finally asked for some help from friends from church and other places in the area. Wednesday nights alone with the two kids were terrible. Both crabby, trying to do a million things and take care of both, I hated it and it was so hard. Now I have Wednesday evening help and company, which I am so glad, but kind of embarrassed, that I asked for. Maybe one day I can do it alone. I sometimes feel it's a harder adjustment for me than for some other people I know, but maybe we all generally keep these things quiet.

Anyway I'm grateful for help and for the rejuvenation this weekend brought me, and although it may sometimes seem otherwise, especially to William, I love my kids so, so much. I was just thinking, what a mom I am because I legitimately think, as most moms do, I have never seen a more beautiful baby boy than my son. He is getting cuter and cuter. He woke up this morning suddenly older, it seems, as well.

From like a week ago:
Mom POV.

I appreciate my breaks during the day, naps, etc. My entire goal in life is to get Zara tired in the mornings so she'll nap, and she does, and then sleeps well at night. Clive's nights are another story but the last few nights weren't terrible. I don't want to stress myself out about "sleep training," but I think I'd be a better person with more sleep...

Things I am trying to give up for a while:
-wanting a clean(er), less messy apartment
-wanting to look good, makeup, hair nice, etc.
-wanting to have tons of private time
-cooking elaborate meals

And now some photos.

A delicious focaccia I made.

Playin' with gramma.

Zara plays with her little figurines all day, and the setups she comes up with crack me up. This is one of many. I've seen strange toy rituals too horrid to describe...

On Dealing With Uncertainty

2009-10-02T19:44:00.002-06:00

On Dealing With Uncertainty
Bruce C. Hafen

This is the best talk that I've ever read by a General Authority (if the President of Ricks College is a General Authority). At least I think so at this point in my life. I'm pretty sure I am a 'pessimist' but this has motivated me to become an 'improver.'

My current Bishop has told me that as a church we are not doing as well as we were in the '70s, the tone and topics of General Conference talks are evidence. Reading this, I'm inclined to agree. They spoke to the church like adults then. It's more like Primary all the time now.

Happy Conference this weekend!

An explosion of cute

2009-09-18T21:16:00.004-06:00

A little over 2 years ago we took pictures of Zara when she was 2 weeks old. I wanted to continue the tradition and get pics taken of Clive at 2 weeks, and get some 2 year shots while we were at it.

Zara was a little model and posed and smiled up a storm, cracking me and Fran up. And Clive of course slept.

Get ready for your eyeballs to bleed from the cute.

She was thrilled that we were allowing her - nay, ENCOURAGING her - to actually touch Clive and kiss him and put her head on his head. Usually it's all about "Zara stop it, Clive needs a break."

WHAAAT?!?! I can't believe THIS is MY kid. So proud.

DOUBLE WHAAAT??!?! The photographer was like "put your hands on your hips" and I was thinking "she never does that, she's not gonna do it," but we showed her how and she full on struck this pose. Someone pay us millions of dollars for her to be a model. We'll spend all the money on our kids, promise. Except for the money we spend on ourselves.

This cutie-tootie already looks different! Slightly.

There is a very similar shot we got of Z at this age to the one below.
I didn't order this shot but they gave it to us...in sepia for some reason...

Checking him out/about to attack him.

Thoughts on being a mother of 2

2009-09-16T19:57:00.002-06:00

Holy cow.

I could end the post there.

Fran left as of Labor day. I was feeling ready to tackle things on my own. So far, it's gone better than I expected, but saying "I have my moments" doesn't quite cut it.

I am exhausted. Sleep deprived too of course. By the end of the day I am sore all over just from dealing with the two of them all day. I don't know what I ever complained about with just one, and I'm sure if we have another I'll think "I don't know what I ever complained about with just two!"

I don't have enough time to do anything. I mean cleaning, folding laundry, doing dishes, dinner, going to the bathroom, doing anything for my own hygiene, doing anything... everything takes twice the time or more, and a gazillion times more stress it seems. Just balancing whatever you're trying to do with the needs/ whims of two wee ones, particularly a newborn. I snap at Zara more than I'm proud of or willing to admit to just anyone. Come on moms, ya hear me?!?!

I have gotten out of the apt. every morning with both of them, and what a project. Every time I go out I'm like "what's the point?!" it's so much, but then I remember if I was just staying home it would be way worse with all of Zara's energy. I'm not really complaining though, b/c my days sure do go by a lot faster, and I appreciate my relaxing time much more. And, I have two beautiful children. And I know things will slow down, so in a way, even though I do actually complain and cry and yell quite a bit, I'm enjoying this, and I know I'll miss SOME of it. SOME. Not all.

Fran took this pic, cute. Zara just loves him. To a fault. (Apparently someone loves her a lot too, judging by the lip prints on her cheek...)

Zara started doing this a few weeks ago, and we have no idea where she got it.
Sooooo handsome. We love him to bits and want to smush him into a little ball.

I shall now go collapse. Hats off to all moms, hats off.

More Clive Jive

2009-09-01T13:00:00.002-06:00

He is so much easier of a baby than Zara was. Super easy going.

His jaundice seems to be clearing up.

Zara loves him so much, and our days are spent trying to prevent her from hurting him with her love, kisses, touches, etc. But at least she loves him.

Fran is here with us and I am so grateful!

Clive Cillian Newman

2009-08-19T20:17:00.002-06:00

Meet Clive Cillian (klīv | kil'ē-un) Newman. Born 3:51pm on August 18th, 2009, to the delight of his mother, father, and elder sister. 7 lbs. 5 oz., 19 in., and practically perfect in every way.

Our doula, Katherine Keyes, is also pictured, and to whom we owe a great deal of thanks.

Not about bread...

2009-08-13T14:01:00.002-06:00

...unless you count that William was making bread and I was doing other things so we needed something to occupy her, and this is what I came up with:

First just some flour in a bowl, and a spoon, then some corn starch mixed with water, then licking the bowl of chocolate cake William made. She was so happy and surprised we were letting her do this. She kept coming out of the kitchen and saying "This is fun!!!!" So if I feel like cleaning up, I know what to do with her- I think she'll love actually helping cooking when she's big enough. I'm not brave. I think I don't let her do messy things indoors too often.

She had a bath after this, needless to say...

I am now 37 + weeks pregnant, so let the countdown begin, I suppose!

Death of a Starter

2009-08-09T20:04:00.002-06:00

My wild yeast starter died.
I know not why.
Perhaps because I took it out and cleaned its container.
Try, try again.

Wild, Wild Yeast: The Second Rise

2009-08-03T23:22:00.005-06:00

Now that's more like it. Built from my wild yeast starter I made a successful loaf. The previous loaf which is still hanging around, a clear indication of bad quality bread, shall now become breadcrumbs.

The starter is alive and well, but not the least bit sour. Starting with this feeding I've changed the ratio of water and flour to 2:1. I was doing 1:1 but I read a tip that the bacteria responsible for sourness prefer a wetter environment.

With this loaf I went for the bread pan. It's probably a good thing because the dough was still too wet to hold a shape. I may have solved the mystery of the tearing dough from last time. All other things being equal, despite having an extremely sticky dough after the first rise, I resisted the urge to work anymore flour in. And it didn't tear when shaping this time.

I've also read that steam in the oven during the first minutes gives bread a spring, helping it rise more by the moisture delaying crust formation. So I punched a couple small holes in a disposable pie tin and filled it with water when I put the loaf in, hoping the constant dripping on the hot oven floor would consistently create steam for the first few minutes. I've no idea if it was successful or whether the result was different than it would have been otherwise.

Now it's difficult for me to identify a point in which I disagree with Alton Brown, but here goes. A recipe in his book I'm Just Here for More Food, includes brushing a cornstarch slurry on the shaped dough before going in the oven to aid browning. I tried this on a loaf once and it ended up with a white powder on top that appeared to eliminate browning altogether. I realized later that I had missed an important step, that is, heating the slurry just until the starch gelatinizes. So what I did was brush on cornstarch suspended in water and then let the water evaporate in the oven leaving cornstarch all over the bread. So I did it right this time, but look at the results. The picture clearly shows that even the gelatinized paste somewhat prevented browning. The brownest portions are the edges where I did not apply it. So, unless I am alerted of something else I'm doing wrong, never again will I attempt it. (Of course I must confess that this dough included butter where AB's did not, perhaps making the cornstarch application redundant. I can never fully turn against him.)

As is usual with my baking, it came out of the oven after 10:30pm, and that was a little early. I baked it for 50 minutes, but it could have used five to ten more, but I couldn't wait. I had to fight the urge to stay up late and consume the whole loaf, for Samantha's sake, a clear indication of success this time. It's just a shame that crispy crust goes away when bagged.

I think it's awesome that my bread will rise simply by leaving a flour-water paste on the counter for three days. And there I was all those years, buying yeast like a sucker.

Japanese Festival, other stuff

2009-08-03T19:21:00.003-06:00

This Saturday we went to a Japanese festival (Awa-Odori related, for any of you familiar with that- we went to a real one of those in Japan in 06 and it was awesome) at a Japanese grocery/marketplace type thing about an hour away, called Mitsuwa Marketplace. I like that place a lot, to me it's like walking back into grocery stores in Japan, and weirdly I suppose, shopping was one of my favorite things to do there. The festival was fun, and super busy. All of a sudden I felt really pregnant since then, like it all of a sudden hit me. Still fun though. Even despite some Zara meltdowns, which she's back into having lately. We met some friends from church there and that was fun. Zara loves their kids and they seem to love her too.

Dancing.

I swear she doesn't have buck teeth in real life.

This is at a park by our place; we took Zara there yesterday. I only go to this one when William can go too b/c you have to follow her around into the labyrinth and I'd...rather not.

Maybe two weeks ago there was this local activity called "Touch a truck touch a tractor." I thought Zara would love it, and she did. However after a while I realized it was pretty dangerous...like, a truck started rolling down a hill kind of dangerous...then I thought, time to go...

I was debating sharing this picture with all of you, b/c WHAT?!?!! I am getting "large and in charge" as a wise man once put it. I mean I look like I may be about to give birth, and ... I've got another month. What. The. Heck. I saw this picture and immediately got a little downhearted for lots of reasons I won't go into b/c they are boring and obvious. I mean unless you ask. Then I'll gladly go into the reasons.

That's also Zara mid-run-towards-daddy.

At the ultrasound last week (yes, it's a boy!) the doctor said the baby is about 5 pounds 3 ounces, and to add about 2 pounds and that's its birth weight. But I heard to add half a pound a week. So, I think I'll be lucky if this one is under 8 pounds. Zara was 7 lb. 15 oz. I just want this one that weight or less. Gah. I can do this, people, right? Right?!?!?

The Wild Wild Yeast

2009-07-29T21:00:00.009-06:00

I'm experimenting with baking bread using a wild yeast starter, the way it has been done since before yeast was made commercially. I've read that organic rye flour harbors a lot of wild yeast, so I combined one cup of rye flour and two cups of warm water and let it sit for three days (Alton Brown's suggestion).

By the end of the three days it was smelling yeasty and sour. The good kind of sour. It seemed to be going all right. For all the trouble I have read that people have developing and maintaining a starter, it seemed pretty easy to me.

On the fourth day I decided to feed it some more. Everything I've read suggests having equal parts flour and water in a starter so I added only a cup of all-purpose flour. (My first mistake, doubting AB). Well the starter lives on, but whatever variable changed, the aroma (and potential flavor) disappeared.

I first used the starter for pizza dough. It worked as it should. The dough rose, produced bubbles, great. I used half the dough for a pizza on Tuesday and let the other half rise in the refrigerator overnight and made a pizza Wednesday. The 2nd crust had a better texture, and I think flavor. I guess a slower rise does make better bread.

I refreshed the starter with flour and water to equal the amount I used for the pizza dough. The next day I attempted bread.

Here is the first loaf. It did not turn out well at all. The yeast are alive, I know that. Usually sourdough starters take much longer to rise than dough with commercial yeast. This dough doubled volume in an hour, maybe even faster than commercial yeast. I don't think the bacteria that give the sourness are doing very well though. So I avoid calling this a sourdough starter, yet.

I don't think I worked enough flour into the dough before kneading. When shaping the dough for baking it was unmanageable. I tried working in more flour so it would hold its shape. And I thought I kneaded a lot but when I was shaping, the dough was tearing. Is this a symptom of not enough kneading or trying to work in flour too late? I need feedback on this.

I finally got it in the oven and baked it not long enough. After a half hour of cooling Samantha and I were rewarded with a tasteless, nearly flatbread.

So, my starter is bland, my dough was too wet, and I baked it too short.

Breadmaking Fail!

If you are interested in stories about a 2 year old...

2009-07-20T20:40:00.003-06:00

Yes, just posted yesterday, posting again.

Zara has always been a talker, and lately it seems to be blossoming into some actual conversation. I wonder when everything she says and does will cease to be cute anymore... well maybe it's not to everyone. Just us.

She just declares everything. She has to tell us what she wants to do (which she usually describes as a need- "I NEED IT!"), what she's going to do, what she is doing, what she just did, what we are doing, what the other parent is doing, etc. It's pretty constant. When I am around other kids who are quieter I just can't imagine what that would be like, but then I have to realize those kids are probably being quieter b/c non family members are around.

Auntie Rachel gave her a brownie at the Nauvoo Pageant, and Zara victoriously walked over to us and declared at least twice, holding the brownie up in the air, " I YIKE MY CAKE! I YIKE MY CAKE!"

Also during the pageant- well this story requires some background. William and I are big White Stripes/ Jack White fans. Zara can usually recognize Jack White music when we play it and can tell us that it's Jack White, and sometimes she rocks out to it (the rock out hand symbol to her is just pumping her fist upside down with the pointer finger out). One White Stripes song has bag pipes in it, and I didn't know she took notice of that, but I should have b/c she takes notice of everything I'm pretty sure. During the pageant at one point, some bagpipes started playing and she watched for a minute, then turned to William and me and said "that's not Jack White."

This is what cracks me up- I can see her thought process. She must have watched, heard bagpipes, thought, hey that's Jack White, then thought, wait if I tell them that they'll say no it's not, so I think that's not Jack White...I'd better tell them.

Tonight I was on the computer and she came in with a chunk of bread with something on it, munching away, saying "there's cheese on it! there's cheese on it!" I knew she hadn't gotten into cheese, so I thought for a moment and immediately knew what she'd done. Went to investigate. Was correct. She now knows how to pull the chairs out from the table, and climb on them of course. She had gotten onto the chair, gotten bread off the table, taken the top off of the butter dish, and dipped said bread into the butter and declared to me that it was cheese. Later declared that "this is good bread!"

Yesterday she cracked me up. She loves nursery at church. When I tell her she's going she gets pretty happy. By the end of sacrament she was asking "go to nursery?" And before church, as we left the apartment, she said in a sing song voice, "have fun in nursery today! Bye bye!"

She loves babies, which I hope translates into loving our soon - to - be baby. When she sees a baby, she does a fake sing song voice, and scrunches her face up like it hurts a little bit and says "Oh! A baaaaaybeee! A baaaybeee!" This has made me realize that adults make idiots out of themselves when babies come around, and Zara has picked up on this.

She's answering questions about the past correctly- like what did you play with in nursery or at daycare at the YMCA, or what did you eat for a snack, etc.

During sacrament in church we sat in front of some friends who have a 3 month old Zara really likes. By the end of the meeting, the baby started crying. Zara looked at us and very carefully, very slowly said "That. Baby. Is. Getting...really....crabby." Cracked us all up. Then they took the baby out and she's going "where da baby going?" She repeats just about everything she says at least twice, fyi.

Tonight William put her to sleep. I was doing some work on the computer, and after a while she started crying. William went in there and sang to her a bit, and later told me that after a little singing, she looked at him and said in that same deliberate, slightly surprised at her own ability way, "My foot's stuck." And indeed it was- he said it was stuck in the crib slats almost up to her knee, which is what woke her up.

That's what's funny- she's starting to be able to tell us things very well, very clearly, and she seems surprised at this ability every time she successfully forms a larger sentence. We are endlessly amused and impressed at this as well. She's pretty fun.

More things probably only grandparents/aunts/uncles will care about.

2009-07-19T20:10:00.004-06:00

We went to Nauvoo this weekend with Mike and Rachel and co. We have been so lucky to be able to see them a lot lately and I hope it continues. Next time they see us we'll have a wee baby!!!

We stayed with them the night before and after Nauvoo. We did get to see the pageant, which was enjoyable although I feel like I've seen it before...

I had no idea Luke and Zara would ever play together but they had a party all weekend and it was so cute. Zara thinks "Yukey" is just about the funniest thing she's ever seen- she laughed harder at him than I've ever heard her laugh before- and Luke seems to have just as much fun entertaining her.

In Nauvoo they had a "pioneer pastimes" section with all sorts of fun stuff for wee ones. Like I have said before, kid-friendly stuff has a whole new appeal to me now. It's so much fun to watch your kid love something so much. Kids do have much more fun in life it seems!

In the pioneer school.

She spent most of the time getting on and off of this lamb and commenting on it of course.

She'd get on this (with help) and almost immediately say "I'm all done!" and want to get down.
My hair is doin something awesome in this picture.

Zara was a cute little pioneer.

This shirt does make my belly look bigger, but I must be getting pretty big b/c I am getting lots of comments like "any day now right?" (No...I'm coming up on 34 weeks now so not quite...) and "you're brave to be out here!" and "how are you feeling?" all sympathetic like they expect me to say "MISERABLE!" Fortunately I do not feel too miserable yet. Things are getting a bit tougher and I am slowing down a bit but this time around I would say is treating me much better. I am getting a lot more exercise so I think that's helping.
She got in this wheelbarrow on her own then didn't know how to get out...

The stilts look a lot easier than they are apparently. I wanted to try them out but was afraid of getting looks from people and of falling on the belly.
Sean and Zara had a good time with a baby doll.

Again, she loved this lamb.

On Saturday at Mike and Rachel's house Zara and Luke played outside for hours. So cute. They spent some time catching bugs too.

Sean was much braver on this than Zara was.

Zara likes to make ugly faces when I take the camera out. If you can tell there is a wee frog in William's hand.

And now in her hand. She would take it and say "here ya go! Here ya go!!" to William to take it back. And then laugh and laugh when it jumped off. Mike and Rach also have a kitten now which Zara loved of course.
We got married here almost 6 years ago and this was our first time back. I would really like to go back and do a session sometime in the next year. It's a really special place to me for lots of reasons and I liked going back a lot, even if there wasn't time to go in this time, and even if it was only for a day.

Lookin' at a bumblebee.

I finally remembered to have William take a pregnancy picture of me, at about 33 weeks.

Luke took this picture when we went to Starved Rock. I just saw it on their computer and I think it's the neatest picture. Maybe they have a budding photographer.

Did you know we have a kid?

2009-07-12T13:37:00.004-06:00

Did you know she had a birthday?

Did you know William also had a big birthday?

We had a combined party for the two of them on Saturday, thanks to my mom and dad and everyone for lots of help. Everyone was very generous with presents as well. Nice weather, too. William made pulled pork and I made some yummy side dishes. Zara was happy b/c she got to play with a dog, and stay outside all day long.

Here are a very few pictures.

Zara with my cousin's little girl.

Eatin' cake.

Gah!! Why is it that when I turn the pics the right way in iphoto they still come out sideways here?

Zara sang William a very sweet rendition of Happy Birthday to you.

Zara's 2nd birthday

2009-07-07T13:36:00.000-06:00

Our wee Zara Binks turned two yesterday. She had a cute little birthday with William and I, opening presents, going to the pool (took pictures on an oldey timey disposable camera I suppose we'll have developed at the end of the summer), getting her first Happy Meal, nap taking, cupcake eating.

By the way, we are happy to report that we are quite sure she got my tanning ability and not William's burning ability. Z and I just tan, and our skin is somehow impervious to sunblock...although impervious may not be the right word.

Opening up Grandma and Grandpa's gift they sent...

Opening up one of the gifts we gave her...

I DID rotate this photo but apparently it didn't work and I don't feel like investigating. CUTE OUTFIT! THANKS G and G!!!

After pool and lunch and nap came cupcakes...

She loved the "sprinklers." (Sprinkles.) Many times yesterday and today has she declared that she "needs sprinklers."

And this is from the 4th, where she made sudden friends with people sitting near us. This is how she dances a lot lately- bent over, wiggling.

And then clapping either for herself or the sweet band.

I think this video is the cutest, sweetest thing. Happy birthday to my Zara Juliet. We love you so, so, so much. Watch out for her declaration of NEEDING something at the end.

The 4th, and goofy faces

2009-07-05T12:57:00.002-06:00

Each summer has been a new experience with Zara as she gets older. It has gotten more and more delightful, I must admit.

She enjoyed the parade in Kirkland, IL. Sat on daddy's lap most of the time, commenting about what she saw, asking what things were, occasionally picking up candy and demanding she get to eat it: "I need it! I need it!" "You need what?" "I need da....I need da...cocolat." We only gave in a little bit. Luckily she forgets about things she "needs" pretty quickly.

She really manages to make some yuck faces when I take a picture.

The 4th of July celebration here in town was really nice actually. The Municipal Band played and they were awesome. Then fireworks... Zara is not a freaker-outer over things like that, and I thought she'd really enjoy how fireworks look. I have never sat very close to the source of fireworks before, and we did this time. I didn't expect how loud or bright they'd be so close. She spent the fireworks display like this:

and this:
Not crying, but pressed as flush against us as she could possibly be, holding my hands, and shivering every once in a while if it got super loud. She did not cry though, which I found odd. After fireworks were over I think she clapped though, and she said "Yay fireworks!" and kept talking about how they were "so youd" and other comments. So she did like them on some level... and you'd never know it from the above pictures but we did really enjoy the fireworks. It looks like we were just depressed. Not so.

A few days ago I discovered Zara has somehow learned the universal kid silly face. I swear, anywhere you go, you ask a kid to make a silly face and they do this:

I don't know where she learned it, but she gets pretty hard core pulling her lips so far to the sides she has red marks. She thinks it's really funny b/c we think it's really funny.

...and then feeling mischievous apparently...

This is from a few weeks ago when I walked in and found her asleep like this:

She is such a great sleeper now. Such a HUGE change from the first year to year and a half of her life, but sooooo nice now. We just put her in her crib, maybe sing a song, hugs, kisses, and leave. She sings and chats herself to sleep and sleeps all night, 11 hours about, and then 2 and sometimes 3 hour naps during the day. She sleeps way better and way more than she did when she was littler. Therefore, we do too. I am enjoying it immensely, especially since in two months we'll have a new teeny baby to challenge our sleeping. Hopefully Zara continues sleeping alright, and hopefully wee baby #2 sleeps better than she did, at least a little bit. (PLEASE?!)

I need to take some pictures of my pregnant self during this pregnancy. I took them all the time when I was pregnant with Zara.

I promise you all I do think about and talk about a WHOLE LOT other than Zara, but what's the point of pretending this blog is primarily for those things anymore?

For a good laugh...

2009-06-28T12:37:00.002-06:00

Please go here and watch all of them. Waste your whole day. Sooo funny.

http://current.com/sarah-haskins/

Starved Rock

2009-06-16T13:39:00.002-06:00

Here are some pictures from this Saturday at Starved Rock with Mike, Rachel, Luke and Sean. We had a really nice time and got lucky with the weather! Zara had a wonderful time too with only a few, pretty minor, meltdowns - aka toddler behavior.

I hope Rachel posts some pics b/c I know for sure they got more, and better, pics than we did!

Lots of water, which is difficult for Zara because she just wants to go in it.

The position she was in for the hikes, and she did remarkably well up there.

Nothing to report...

2009-06-04T14:49:00.002-06:00

...except some funny Zara stories as of late. I could write a book.

We are in the car, and some other car does something dumb so I harshly remark toward them. Zara, in the back seat: "Don't worry mommy." I giggle, and realize she is right.

Zara wakes up early this morning. I go in to get her and she says "I wanna snuggle wiss daddy." Done, and done.

I'm working in the kitchen. Our freezer is overpacked, so suddenly a ton of frozen items come tumbling out and onto the floor loudly. I kind of yell about it, so Zara runs in, "Oh no!! Fell down! It's all ovah da playce! Pick it up!" And starts helping me pick it up, and looks at me and says "I'm sowwy mommy!" What a sweetie.

She does this dance that looks just like that famous running in place move from the movie Flashdance to the song "Maniac," so we call it her maniac dance, which she will do on demand. This morning she looked at me and said "do maniac dance." I said, "Ok, go ahead." She said "I wanna show daddy." I said, "alright then" and we walked into our room, where William was on the computer. She does the maniac dance, and then says "I wanna poke him!" and runs to William and pokes him (b/c he screams YOW YOW YOW! when she does so, which she finds hilarious).

The other day she says "I'm so happy!" I said "great!!" She said "I'm pooping my pants!" I try to stifle laughter, and she says, "I'm so sad!" That's moody.

She hears a garabage truck outside (she is very sensitive to any noises, which is great actually, I find it perceptive), and says "ice keeem tuck. Ice keem tuck." William says "no, that's just a big truck, not an ice cream truck." This repeats a few times and she says "I wanna see see see!" Which for some reason she says a lot now, "I wanna see see see."

Can you tell both Zara and I are SO ENJOYING all the time we get with William while he's (mostly) off for summer break? It's been so wonderful these last few weeks.

Exciting day, depending on your definition of the word "exciting."

2009-05-26T19:23:00.004-06:00

Man I bet my non-childrened friends think I'm lame. I'm a mommy blogger. Bleck.

Before pictures of our busy day, here is an anecdote:

Zara really likes Dora, and for some reason Swiper, the "bad guy." He "swipes" stuff sometimes and hides it and says menacingly (kind of) "You'll NEVER find it noooow!" which she has taken to repeating a lot (she kind of repeats everything on Dora...)

So yesterday when she woke up from her nap, William went in to get her and she was standing up, dangling her binky over the edge of the crib, and dropped it onto the floor, looking at William and saying "You'll NEVER find it nooow!" She also did this a few times today at the museum. Crazy.

From Christy's talented hands to our happy, grateful selves and our cute daughter (who I told to put her arms up since she kept bending up and down in the dress) :

Thank you! Christy, my sister in law, MADE this dress for Zara, who will be the flower girl in my cousin Nikki's wedding in June. The sash will be cornflower blue then (we will match, since I am a bridesmaid), and I think I'll do pigtails with matching blue ribbons. On Zara. Not me. Can't wait. So cute I just melted.

At night when Zara falls asleep I usually check on her, half because she's usually in weird positions. Last night it was this:
I've never seen her sleep with her hands under her head like that. She frequently has her feet in between the crib slats though.

Today we went to the Shedd Aquarium downtown (Chicago). Thanks mom for the free tickets! (She gets tons of free tickets to sweet, expensive things through her work, which we often benefit from.)

Hopefully other parents of toddlers (or older for the matter) can agree: it's a bit of an ordeal taking her anywhere these days. I sympathize with and understand parents a whole lot more now. It's really difficult to take kids places. Even (or especially) when it's a fun thing you are specifically doing FOR the kid to have fun, which makes it even more frustrating. She just gets mad if we don't let her do exactly what she wants to do, we have to watch her every second, so we can't exactly "enjoy" the location (but we do enjoy those moments where she is content and having a good time- fun, gratifying to watch). She throws little to large fits if we take her away from whatever it is she's doing and enjoying. Really nothing makes her quite happy. It's overwhelming, lots of people, lots of sites, and then she's super tuckered out at the end. I still think that doing things like this every once in a while is worth it though, because it is pretty fun, and it's a good learning experience in many ways for her and us. And I know it won't be like this forever. Better not.

As soon as we got there, she saw this duck and enjoyed it lots.

In the coral reef area you can step on this, where sting rays swim under you. Zara liked it but stepped on it really weird at first like she didn't know what texture it would be.
Zara then sat in front of the large reef fish tank with our friend Ashley (Ashley and TJ came with us, and were a big help with Zara, who loves them and gives them constant hugs) for quite a while.

Also in the coral reef area, all of a sudden we saw this swimming above us:
That is not my image so hopefully I won't get a "don't hotlink my image" message- anyway I think it's called a sawfish, although from underneath it looked like a saw nosed shark ray, which is what I deemed it. It was awesome and pretty reclusive, and I don't think I'd ever even seen a picture of it. I only saw it for a second but I was pretty in awe.

They had a splash area, which of course was a huge hit with Zara, who could have stayed there for like an hour I'm sure.

This part had water that came in and out, which she loved. It's the small pleasures, folks.

THEN they had a dress-up-like-a-penguin area (across from the real penguins, which were only minorly interesting to Zara compared with the be a penguin part). Cuuuuute. Here she is about to go down the slide. She was pretty happy to dress up like this too, which I was suprised by.
After that she stood there or sat there while tons of other kids played around her. She just watched them. It was weird, and cute.

Here she is with TJ, very interested in the little eggs that would "hatch" open and reveal baby penguins. She would hand him the eggs and say "YOU can hold it." She also does a pretty mean penguin walk when she wants to.
After all of this and much more (like watching the belugas, singing Baby Beluga with us, and screaming "I want to get in!" at the water in which the belugas were swimming...and really just commenting on everything she saw today) - during a beluga/dolphin show, she finally fell asleep in my arms, which is rare for her these days. She was wiped. Then only slept for like half an hour, much to our dismay.

It was a tiring day for all of us. My "belly" is getting bigger (obviously), and I just refuse to believe that at 26 weeks it could possibly already be getting cumbersome and causing me discomfort. I REFUSE! I get lots of exercise and take care of myself, so I refuse to accept physical discomfort until AT LEAST 30 weeks.

The end.

Answers to your burning questions!

2009-05-11T12:27:00.002-06:00

I loved getting questions from you folks. I hope you enjoy the answers. I feel like that's a tall order. This is kind of long because I got lots of questions, and because I'm long-winded.

I have corrected spelling and grammar mistakes in your questions, in case they looked different to you...

Question 1:
"What names are you considering for your new babe? I love Zara's name (Zara Juliet, no?)..."

Answer:
Juliet, yes! We have a totally sweet first name picked out and a debatable, but sweet, middle name. Some of you know the first name, most don't, but we are keeping it under wraps until the baby is born. But we love it. Sorry, this was a non-answer, wasn't it?!! You'll have to wait until September, or late August if I'm lucky!!

Question 2:
"Having voted for our current president, are you happy with the decisions he has made so far? If so, why? If not, why not?"

Answer:
Truthfully, I haven't put much thought into this, and I don't really get what's going on with all this financial b.s. I also haven't been following him like I did when he was campaigning, but I do keep up with things (thanks NPR).

That said, things I like about Obama: hearing him speak, hearing him answer (sometimes tough) questions thoughtfully and intelligently. I feel good about him still. I believe he is a smart, thoughtful man who doesn't jump into things and is using his head and advice of smart, knowledgeable people he's surrounded himself with.

As far as the financial situation, with all the bailouts, I don't know. B/c I don't think you can keep throwing money at a problem and it will get better, but I also don't know what he SHOULD be doing, other than what he is. He seems to be taking aggressive steps, which is better than just sitting there. But as far as the economy goes- and I have no idea about this really- it just doesn't seem that any economy can just eternally grow, which is what our economy's "success" seems to be based on (eternal growth). Might work for LDS people, not so much for our economy if you ask me. That has nothing to do with Obama really. I think he's doing the best he can given all the total crap he's been given to deal with, which is A LOT for one guy.

Also, really, the only difference I've felt in my personal life is who they talk about on NPR and who I see on TV more, and now it's Obama and not Bush, which I'm cool with.

Question 3:
"What would you say if I told you I'm talking w/ my father now?!"

Answer:
I would say, Angela, write me an email and tell me more. I would have questions like, "WTF?!?" and "How did this happen? Who started it? How's it going?" and "is this hypothetical or real?"

So...email me about that one Angela.

Question 4:
"What are some dumb movies you love, and why do you love them even though they're dumb?"

Answer:
So like, guilty pleasure movies? Titanic all the way. I love it because...I don't know why. The costumes, the setting of the Titanic, the tragedy of it all, like what I'd do if I were in that situation. I hate the "love story" though. It's lame.

I also love Hook. I think it's a pretty good movie but it's not like a movie that a "movie snob" would like to own up to, not that I'm a movie snob really, which I will address...

There have got to be worse movies that I love...William? What crappy movies do I love?

Question 5:
(more of a series of questions)
"Where do you like to shop for clothes? Are you a movie snob? What type of movies do you like? Are these supid questions? I've really enjoyed your makeup blog posts. Maybe you can give more tips soon."

Answer(s):
I don't buy new clothes as much as I'd like, but I do buy from Old Navy a lot b/c it's cheap. But I get mad at their quality and fit sometimes so I might not go there as much. I like GAP but it's too 'spensive so I don't buy much there. Target. New York and Company. (This is all when I'm not pregnant.) Kohl's sometimes, if the prices are good but I don't love their clothes that much. Anyone else been shopping with me and have a place to add that I buy clothes from? I am in maternity stuff now, so options are limited. There are lots of stores I wish I could afford to shop at, like Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie.

Am I a movie snob...not exactly, but probably more so than a lot of people I know. I hate to say it people, but I when I talk to most people I know about movies, I have noticed that they don't really think about movies they watch that much. Like what they really mean, what they're saying, if they are made well in general and specifically, what they are implying, etc. Or how people like certain movies, when really those movies are full of things those people claim to not stand for- I think it's b/c they don't really think about the things I just mentioned. Just general non-thinking about movies frustrates me. I think I am opposed to escapism as a rule for movie-viewing.

I know that my undergraduate education in theatre has a lot to do with it, b/c we spent ... most of our time analyzing plays, performances, and films. But I think that made me a lot more aware of what I was watching, what I should watch, and what it means, which is good. The term "media literacy" sounds snobby, but I believe in that- media is something to facilitate discussion about life, not something you should escape to. I think a fluffy movie every once in a while is fine, don't get me wrong, but again, when people use escapism as a rule, I think that's wrong and not helpful, quite frankly. It's all about thinking and talking about it.

So I think I'm pretty discriminating... I mean if I'm watching something that I really don't see as having anything redeeming or positive at all (and I don't mean just a happy ending), I won't watch it, but I do give things chances.

I don't pay much attention to the rating system, meaning I don't not watch rated R movies. However I don't watch NC-17 so I guess I do pay attention to that.

William has also been a big factor in my movie watching. I don't watch all the movies he watches- the quantity of them, or the obscure-ness of them, so I can't really call myself a movie snob, but I guess compared to most dopes I know (I'm talking to YOU readers!), I am.

This debate could rage on for centuries, and William and I will always, always, until the end of time, be right.

Some favorite movies: Oklahoma, yes. Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Millions. 28 days later. There Will Be Blood. Moulin Rouge, but that's kind of a high school movie for me, I don't feel so attached to it anymore. I did like Children of Men. Kill Bill. (Anyone know others that are my favorites??)

Makeup tips: Here's one I recently picked up that I can't believe I didn't figure out on my own- put your lower mascara on first, b/c when I put my upper mascara on first, it always smudges onto my eyelids, but putting on lower first eliminates that. And wiggle the brush, but I already said that.
How about another one- pick the right foundation color, get help to do it if you don't know how to pick one. And you'll have better, more even coverage and results if you use a sponge or brush and apply it in smaller streaks, little brushstrokes instead of big motions covering your whole face. Start in the middle and work your way out. Oh, and pluck your eyebrows, gosh. And when you apply stick eyeliner, try applying it in short strokes to add up to a line, instead of one long line. It will probably look more even that way. And smudge it a bit. Don't do liquid eyeliner until you've had lots of practice, or it will look bad.

Question/Demand 6: "Blog about your 10 favorite things to do in downtown Chicago"

Answer: In no particular order, and excluding some fun things...keeping tourists in mind, and needing nice weather for some:

Millenium Park
Field Museum
Shedd Aquarium
Buckingham Fountain
Navy Pier
Art Institute
Science and Industry Museum
Boat tour on the Chicago River/lakefront
Department stores/other shopping
See a professional theatrical performance, like something on "Broadway in Chicago."

Question(s) 7: "I want to know more about all of your theater experience! What shows have you been involved in, what were your favorites, were you a drama nerd in high school, etc.
Also, I really enjoy your music blogs! What play lists do you have on your iPod right now?"

Answer: I did theatre in high school all four years, acting and doing behind the scenes stuff but I liked acting best. I had such illustrious roles as Abigail in The Crucible, and the old teacher lady in Grease. I'm very versatile.

In college I started out wanting to do music dance theatre or acting. Turns out you need to be able to sing really well to do music dance theatre at BYU, and then it also turns out I didn't want to do acting that badly, so I chose to focus on costume design, makeup design, and playwriting. I took those classes and some other theatrical design classes, and was TA for a makeup class one semester. That's the jist of my emphasis in college.

As far as shows at BYU I was involved in, I think my first one was assistant costume designer on Bus Stop. I did makeup and hair on Music Man, one of the operas...which one was it...La Boheme perhaps? I honestly don't remember now. I designed makeup and hair for Arsenic and Old Lace and for Fuente Ovejuna. I did assistant makeup and hair design on ... some other show. I swear to you my resume is bigger than this but I can't remember now. I must have this written down somewhere... I enjoyed being the hair and makeup designer the most, I'd say, but actually applying hair and makeup for shows, although time consuming, was fun too.

I also danced in lots of little things at BYU like some folk dance shows and lots of tap dance shows.

As far as music goes, I am still listening to a lot of New Weird America (on pandora usually) like Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart. I love Iron and Wine, Kings of Convenience, Sufjan Stevens. I like Sean Hayes, I am loving Ray LaMontagne A LOT lately because I love his voice maybe more than most people's. I like Laura Marling a lot. The White Stripes are always there for me. I like swing a lot, like Dean Martin and Bobby Darin. Zara likes Raffi a lot so we listen to a lot of Raffi around here.

Question 8:
"What kind of mother do you think you will be? (As in overprotective, strict or lenient, put kids in lots of activities or keep them home more.)"

Answer: I know things change as kids hit different ages. I honestly feel like I'm a good in-between. I pull myself away from being OVERprotective, even if that's hard for me. Right now that's just things like letting her get (minorly) hurt sometimes, or leaving her in nursery even if she cries for a few minutes. I totally let her get dirty too, because she loves that so much, but is that really non-protective? I think it's good for her. Things that help her grow, etc.

Strict or lenient- again, really I think I'm in-between. Strict when it matters. Showing her who's boss, who's in charge, and that I don't bluff and I mean what I say, and I won't tolerate certain things, which is something I learned from my mom, and thank her for. But I let Zara get into things when appropriate, let her explore, etc. I don't think I'll really be able to be described as "lenient" - I can't picture myself being the type I associate with that word, but I also am not a mom-Nazi.

Activites- I think activities are great but no, not too many. When they are little, one, MAYBE two extracurricular things a week, depending on what they are and how much they cost. As they get older I think that changes, like in high school, but I still think kids/adolescents need some time at home with family to recharge, do not much, relax, not be going-going-going.

I just need to develop more patience as a mother, and get less easily annoyed at things OTHER people say or do about my parenting. I think we're doing a pretty good job over here.

Question 9:
"How was your Mother's Day? "

See previous post!

Thanks for the questions! Even though I can count at least like, 10 people who didn't post questions. >:( I would do it for you. I won't now though.

"Mother's Day"

2009-05-11T11:51:00.003-06:00

I put quotes around it because every day should be mother's day.

After an unfortunate day at church, we decided to go to a pretty park/preserve in Geneva, IL. The following two pictures were taken in the Japanese garden area, which we thought might be fun for Zara, and pretty for us. These pictures make it look like we had a great family time, but shortly following the taking of them, Zara had the meltdown of the century. It involved throwing herself on the ground, flailing limbs, and screaming "NO WAY!! NO WAY!" all the way back to the car. All because we wouldn't let do everything she wanted to do, which is usually all dangerous things, like run into ponds, throw rocks, walk anywhere without holding our hands, and run into parking lots. She's so fun at this stage.

I took this picture to show how small she is, and how big the world is. This is her on her way to run into the parking lot.

I dressed her in the cutest get up, and she looked SO CUTE. Pigtails, kind of puffy dress- but somehow the painful cuteness of it doesn't quite translate into this picture. It was more intense in real life.

Before your answers, come some pictures

2009-05-05T13:08:00.004-06:00

I will post my answers very soon. I'm working on them! Thanks for your questions, those of you who RESPONDED! Even though I KNOW there are readers out there who have not asked a question, and I'm watching you.

I took Zara to a local natural history museum last week. Pretty tiny but fun for her. She actually spent quite a while just looking at the "stuffed" animals, and talking about them. Not scared, which is good.

She spent a while hugging this turtle sculpture, and talking to it. "Heyo Mister To To. How ah yoo."

A spider I had to pretend didn't freak me out. She liked it...

...and as you can see by her hands, began to sing the itsy bitsy spider song to it. Not quite so itsy bitsy though, gross.
Identifying colors. She's getting a lot better at that. Everything's not just pink anymore.

On campus at the lagoon on Sunday, checking out baby geese and things with Uncle Adam. Most of our time at the lagoon is spent trying to get her a) to not run into the water (now she says "water, be careful" upon approaching, so that's a step...), and b) not to try to get too close to the geese. I get nervous about how territorial they get when it's baby season. She has said "be careful. Get real mad" about the ducks/geese b/c I keep explaining to her that we can't get too close b/c they might get really mad, etc.

A lovely spring picture of her picking flowers. Keep in mind that her little nose was running like a faucet, and she was coughing almost uncontrollably the whole time. :( Seeing the doctor about that tomorrow. Not that there's much you can do about toddler allergies, is there?

Ask Away.

2009-04-30T12:06:00.003-06:00

So I want to blog, but I don't feel like coming up with a topic.

So if you read this blog, ever, really, ever, you should leave a comment with something you are wondering about me, my life, my opinion on, whatever. Serious or non. After I get enough questions I will respond with a blog answering those questions I feel comfortable answering. My prerogative, peeps.

Ask away!!!

And really, do, or I'll feel really stupid if I get no questions after a plea like this!!!

Finally saying so.

2009-04-23T11:28:00.004-06:00

On this, our 230th post, I shall make my pregnancy so official that it's online for all to see. I know, it's nobody's business, right? But everybody's doing it. So I thought I'd join the club. Even though most of you know this already.

Anyway I'm about 21 weeks now, and due very early September. Feeling good right now in this 2nd trimester. I'll probably ask for lots of advice and free stuff in the upcoming months, so get ready.

Tidbit of the day

2009-04-18T19:00:00.004-06:00

Zara likes our ipod touch, and apparently, being shirtless. Here she is listening to "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," by request, which she also loves singing. The next thing I need to get on video is her singing Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," which she heard and took an interest in and now knows the first two verses, for better or worse...

Today at Target, Zara (and I) heard a baby crying- kind of having a bit fit actually. She listened, looked at me intently and said, "Somebody sad."

Daily, things like "Hear da train? Listen. Listen."
"Are you OK mommy?" when I cough.
"Be careful mommy." For no reason that I can see.
"Stop people! Stop!" when on a walk.
"Doggie! Arf! Arf!" when seeing a dog obviously.

and the like. deeeelightful. But don't get me wrong, she has her hissy fits too, which lately, are driving me NUTS.

Easter for us, or, just Zara basically.

2009-04-13T19:39:00.005-06:00

We got to see Mike and Rach and co. again, which is always fun. I think Zara had the time of her life playing with Luke. Too bad it's quite impossible for us to give her an older sibling, because she loves older kids. Luke was pretty obliging and seemed to have fun too, until Zara tried to follow him under the table, where he went to have some clothes-changing privacy.

She got very huggy with Mike as well...

And had the most fun with her kitchen that she's had in a while! They played in there quietly and happily for quite a while. It's cool to have a kid that's somewhat old enough to let play without constant supervision/touch.
Zara decided Easter was a perfect time to get sick. Saturday morning we wanted to take her to an egg hunt around where we live before we drove out to my parents' place for Easter. She'd been a bit sick, faucet nose, sneezing, tons of coughing especially at night (I hate when she's sick especially for selfish reasons, because I get very little sleep when she is sick, since she gets very little sleep). We drove there, got there, and she threw up all over herself and her car seat. So...we turned around and went home. Poor thing. Cleaned her up, attempted cleaning the car seat but to be honest it still smells unpleasant to me...

Anyway, don't get all "she still lets that kid have a binky!?!" She was sick and whiny! So I let her have it! She does still have it at night, fyi, and I'll admit, in the car. I'm not very strict about that. Maybe one day I will be. Maybe when she turns 2. Or 8.

Finding eggs around the house and putting them in a basket, like the millions of other pagan children across America.

My mom got her the CUTEST Easter dress, so even though we didn't take her to church (my mom stayed home with her while we went...Z was too sick. We also got to go on a little date c/o my mom, so thanks mom! We go on quarterly dates it seems, but I'd like to make them monthly), I wanted to put her in the dress for a while. If only for pictures.

This one captures the prevalent mood of the weekend best:
But she was pretty happy seeing herself in the mirror. I love this dress. And the shoes. Love. It would only be better if it were packed with tulle underneath and HUGE.
Sideways, sorry. And not Easter related. Just cute, eatin' a pancake I believe.

Evolution of sleep

2009-04-01T19:46:00.003-06:00

It started with Zara needing to be held to go to sleep, and held all night to somewhat stay asleep. (And us not getting much sleep. For like, a year.)

It graduated to her needing to be held to go to sleep, then she'd almost sleep through the night, on the floor next to our bed. (I started getting a bit more sleep here...)

It then moved on to us holding her and singing to her until she fell asleep then moving her to her crib where she started sleeping well.

Then, it changed to us holding her hand through the crib slats and singing until she fell asleep herself, and stayed in her crib all night! (And now, I finally get pretty good rest!!! Praise the heavens!)

After Christmas, we started being able to put her in her crib, sing to her a bit, then leave the room- sometimes fussing, sometimes going back in there a few times, but then she'd sleep through the night.

Recently, I learned that lullabies kind of lose their affect when the baby sings along, which Zara does.

But now, I put her in her crib and she sings herself to sleep. She's in there singing and chatting in the dark, by herself now, been doing so for 15 minutes. No complaining, just singing. She'll fall asleep eventually.

And sleep all night, which she declares to us in the morning: "Sleep aaaaaalll night."

Visit with Mike and Rachel and co.

2009-03-18T12:24:00.002-06:00

We had a great weekend at Mike, Rachel, Luke, and Sean's house.

Zara LOVED their cat. "Kitty kitty kitty!" Giggling like crazy. The cat even seemed to like her back.

Luke and Zara watching Dora together. A highlight of the weekend was hearing Zara yell "YUKE! WHERE ARE YOOOOOU!?" just about whenever he'd leave her sight.

Enjoying the weather, learning about baseball.

Also learning how to paint her face with chalk.
A video of her and kitty. For more pics, see Mike and Rach's blog. Thanks for a great weekend!

Angela's Stella Pearl

2009-03-09T20:01:00.004-06:00

My good friend from BYU, Angela, had a thing going on her blog where if you were one of the first 5 people to comment, you'd get a free present from her! So I COMMENTED. Little did I know...part of the deal was you are supposed to pass this on on your blog. Now...I don't think I'm going to. I just don't think I'll get around to doing it, and everyone would just get a pack of home made greeting cards, in like a year. So instead, I will devote an entire blog to her AWESOME gifts that I got today in the mail and to plugging her business! Awesome hair clippies from "Stella Pearl"!

THANK YOU ANGELA!! I LOVE them. They are the perfect size for Zara's wee head, and they are pretty and bright, just in time for spring and summer. One will even match her Easter dress I believe. And I think I'll wear them sometimes too. Spice up my hair as it grows out.

Angela sells these on etsy here.

Pink flowers, and huggin' a bear.

Brown flowers- I told her to let me see her face, and she heard face, which made her do this (part of the song "if you're happy and you know it then your FACE will surely show it" - she touches her face at that part, so heard the word face and ... touched her face, and got real cute).
Purple.
And bright yellow!

I love these. Thank you Angela. And here's a plug- everyone should buy things from her, b/c these are all really cute and well made and affordable. Even though I got them for free. It made my day, thank you for taking the time Angela! Who knew I'd get something so awesome out of a simple comment on your blog.

Crayons, apple sauce, and the Joker

2009-03-06T09:27:00.002-07:00

Zara's first realization that crayon is fun on walls:

Then I took away said crayons, which resulted in this:

Funny: This morning, soon after Zara woke up, she looked at me and said "Waat dooo yoooo want? Appo saas." (What do you want? Apple sauce.) I do say "what do you want" quite often. Again, our little tape recorder.

And maybe one day we'll explain why we dressed William up like this for school last night:

More funny things

2009-03-04T17:02:00.004-07:00

Not to trump William's hollandaise victory, but Zara has been cracking me up today. My parents call her a tape recorder lately, and I think that's true.

1) We walked outside and it was pretty nice out so I said "Oh, Zara, it's beautiful outside!" She said "Boooful. Booful." Then William got into the car with us and I told her to tell daddy that it's beautiful. She said "Boofull. Daddy, I love you." So sweet! Usually she waits until we tell her to repeat that one!

2) She picks up her little pretend telephone and says "Hello? HI!!!!" Like someone was on the phone she was surprised to hear from. I asked her who was on the phone, she said "Gamma!" Then she did it again later but had her binky in her hand, and said "Hello? HI! Hi Binky!"

3) Whenever something goes wrong, like something breaks or falls, she'll say "Oh, no! What happened?" (Whaa haapppedd?) It's funny to notice the things we must say repeatedly.

There's more but now I can't remember...she really does parrot everything these days.

I don't think I ever posted this picture...it's from a while back but it's cute. However, even though I DID turn it vertical in iphoto, it still came out sideways here.... Yes, she's playing with a stapler, don't worry, we don't let her do that usually...William was in charge here I think...

Happy Hollandaise

2009-03-03T23:14:00.002-07:00

This morning at breakfast I made Hollandaise sauce for the first time. I also poached my second and third egg ever. Didn't have the remaining ingredients for Eggs Benedict so I just served it over toast. The sauce wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought. And poaching is definitely the best way to cook an egg.

She does still do things.

2009-02-27T11:58:00.003-07:00

Zara is a CHATTERBOX, constantly and cutely blabbing about things, until we get the camera out.

But here, for some reason it cracks me up that she knows how to unlock the ipod touch. She looks like she knows where she's navigating. At the end of this video she does what she usually does when we aren't giving her the attention she needs; starts destroying things, like throwing my magazines off the table.

Other items.

2009-02-23T13:23:00.003-07:00

Zara does hilarious things daily, as you know, but for some reason I haven't been posting - sorry. I should start again soon but I make no promises.

I did want to say that I am going to another tap dance workshop this weekend! Thanks to my parents for babysitting! I am really excited and nervous b/c last time I was EXHAUSTED. This time I signed up for only 3 classes, not four, I am in better physical shape (I think), and I am more in-practice as far as tapping goes, so it should be great.

I also wanted to talk about how we grocery shop. I'm not sure why.

When we were in college/newly married, I don't even know how we survived. I don't think we ever bought produce (OK, rarely), and we didn't cook very much. I don't remember what we did. Lots of pizza and eating out I guess.

But we cook a lot now, and not too much is really pre-packaged. But in order for me to really cook meals, it is necessary for me to have a meal plan. So we meal plan every week or so, for the meals we want in the next week, and shop by a list. This saves us money and time, and it's much easier for me to get the meals together when I have a list of possible meals to make. I even get excited to eat whatever it is I have planned. And when William is REALLY involved, he shops around online for deals, and we shop according to that, which also seems to save money. I should do that myself.

This week we have delicious things planned. If you don't shop like this but have a hard time saving money and getting cooking together, I recommend this. I want to get better and be one of those super bargain shoppers, but not to the point where it stresses me out.

Not sure why I wanted to blog about that.

#8- Wants

2009-02-13T10:15:00.002-07:00

Apparently, Zara understands "want." This came to my attention yesterday.

Exhibit A: I put a sippy cup on the table and told her "here's your bottle." She backed up and shook her head and said "dooonn wannitt."

Exhibit B: As we were laying down together on the floor, and she was pointing out things in the room as usual ("Pinano [piano] ovah dere." "Dat's a toto [turtle]"), she crawled over to the turtle in question, and picked it up and showed it to me and asked "want?" I politely declined.

Exhibit C: Not a moment later, she spotted a toy on a shelf that she wanted and started trying to drag it out but it was stuck. So she turned to me and said "Wannit. Wannit." Until I got it out for her.

They say kids this age learn something new every day, and I think that's true.

#7- There you go.

2009-02-10T09:37:00.001-07:00

We usually keep her out of the kitchen, but William had her in there a few minutes ago. She opened up the cabinet under the sink and a bottle of dish detergent fell out, so she picked it up, put it back, said "there you go," and closed the cabinet.

Just to keep up...

2009-02-09T11:34:00.002-07:00

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes, and if you didn't send them, I know you were thinking it...

I had a fun weekend and I have stories and pictures/video I can post, but I can't do it right now, so I just wanted to blog and address the fact that I am behind on Zara anecdotes, but they will return soon! Forgive me!

#6- More Doodeedots, sneaky hugs.

2009-02-04T21:51:00.002-07:00

I was doing dishes today and Zara walked up to the kitchen gate with a "doodeedots" in her hand and a book in the other, and shoved the doodeedots face down onto the book, and repeated several times to herself: "Doodeedots reeed a book, doodeedots reeed a book."
So. Cute.

At church tonight, Zara's wee "friend" Miles, who doesn't actually seem to have any interest in her, walked in the room. I told her to go give Miles a hug. She started to walk towards him, stopped to look at me and smile, kind of asking for permission in her little way, then kept going. When she got close enough to go in for the hug, Miles totally shoved his arm out and pushed her away!

But don't worry, Zara was undeterred. A few minutes later, when he was on the other side of the room, unsuspecting, with his back turned, Zara walked up and sneaky hugged him from behind. And laughed. Way to be persistent in the face of unfriendly, but cute, peers!! But I don't think he's ready for a relationship right now.

#5 - Tripod, Doo Dee Dots

2009-02-04T09:08:00.003-07:00

I am pretty sure that since we got back from Christmas vacation and Zara got over her illness, she has been going through an educational growth spurt. Lots more talking, lots of new stuff, all at once.

Often, when we are feeding her (and she does like to eat on the run- she'll be playing and swings by the table saying "mo mo mo!" which is "more" every couple of minutes), she has us fake feed a toy of hers before she'll take a bite. It's usually a toy that, if it were real, it could eat, like animals. Sometimes it's things like her binky though.

She has discovered William's camera tripod, and loves playing with it. Talking about it, setting it up, knocking it over, balancing things on it, pinching her fingers in it until she cries. I think you see where this is going. She was playing with it the other day and wanted some of William's food, but kept shoving the tripod at him, and he was like, yeah, I see it, great, now eat- turns out she wanted him to feed the tripod first. So he did. Then she ate.

Zara has these little toys my mom and dad got her- it's a little Backyardigans circus set. She doesn't really watch that show, and neither do I, so I don't know their names. When she asks me what they are, I'll just say "little guy." There are three figurines and a horse which she calls "Nay howse." I have heard her say "little guy," but not often, and the play set plays the Backyardigans theme song so I've heard her repeat "Backyardigans" in some fashion.

But I noticed the other day that she consistently calls the figurines "Doo dee dots." Always. We think it's her official first made-up word. You ask her "who's this" and show her any one of the "little guys," and she'll always say "doo dee dots." I have no idea where she got that, or if she's actually repeating some other word, but it sounds made up, and it is high-larious.

And I took her to the grocery store today and she was sayin' hi to everyone, and the occasional "hi people" if there were 2 or more people. Playing peekaboo with the lady at the fish counter. She's not a shy one. And that could be scary but I still love it. She's got a fun personality.

#4 - Laundry and Diapers

2009-02-02T20:27:00.002-07:00

Laundry

Today I told Zara, "let's go do laundry," not knowing she knew what that meant at all. But she grabbed a random shirt (we were in William and my room) and went over and put it in an empty laundry basket, saying "laundry" (laah-dee) all the while.

Then we went to do laundry, and she actually helped me - I'd drop laundry on the floor for her to pick up, and she'd stuff it in the drier, and shove it and shove it until not one bit of it was sticking out of the drier. (This helping us thing is a new development that can actually be quite convenient, and I'm working on capitalizing on it for my own benefit...)

Diapers

Now when I say "let's change your diaper," she goes into her room and lays down on the floor and puts her hands behind her head and waits and usually says "seeping."

So I changed her diaper in the front room earlier, and told her to take the dirty diaper to the garbage. She knows garbage, but didn't know where one was. I kept telling her to take it to the kitchen, just drop it over the gate (b/c I know she knows "drop" too, so I was trying to use words I knew she knew...) but she couldn't figure it out. I just kept saying "Go put it in the garbage in the kitchen." She finally walked away and came back empty handed. I asked her where the diaper was, and she said "table." So I went into her room, and there was the dirty diaper on the countertop of her little kitchen set. At least she got it into SOME kitchen.

I don't think I've mentioned how now she says "Rock on." I'll have to get that on tape. That's a thanks to Auntie Beth for teaching her that! "Rock on Auntie Beth. Rock on Binky."

I should say, I am doing this daily story partially to share the hilarity, and partially so that I don't forget this stuff b/c I don't write it all down. We save our blog though, so one day I will print it and remember all of this and have it recorded. I hope.

#3- Nursery

2009-02-02T13:18:00.002-07:00

This is for Sunday.

Not that funny, I just thought it was super cute and I was so proud of how good she's doing in nursery.

Right now, nursery at church is only 3 kids- Zara, an almost 2 year old boy, and another little boy about to turn a year and a half.

For singing time they bring out a big quilt and sit on it and sing songs. Last week Zara learned "Follow the Prophet" and was singing it all week and marching like they do in nursery.

So yesterday as soon as they brought the quilt out, the other kids were all climbing on tables and stuff and Zara ran right over and sat on the quilt and was super attentive and excited waiting for them to start singing, and she said "Snowman? Popcorn?" in anticipation of the commonly used songs. So. Cute. I was so proud of her listening.

Not funny. Just something her mom loved that you can all barf about now.

#2- Salt

2009-01-31T22:12:00.002-07:00

Today as I was in our room working, William was giving Zara lunch. She was in her high chair, he in the kitchen. He told me later that when he turned around, she had grabbed the salt shaker and was shaking it onto the mat below her high chair.

Later today, not knowing what had happened with the salt shaking, I looked and Zara was on her hands and knees licking the mat. I told William, and...yeah, she was licking salt off the mat. Happily. Not making a yuck face or anything. And when we laughed, of course she kept doing it. Until we stopped laughing.

#1 - Food

2009-01-30T07:48:00.003-07:00

Zara cracks us up all day every day, so I thought I'd share the hilarity. I will try to post a blog a day sharing a Zara anecdote for the next... while, until I stop. I hope it makes you laugh.

It's actually hard to pick just one. Maybe I'll cheat and do more than one sometimes.

Just now, we were eating lunch - William was cutting tomatoes and gave her a nice, big, flat slice of tomato.

Zara: "Tomato cookie."

Eating it, a second later:

"Thank you mommy. You're welcome daddy." (More like "teetoo mommeee, yo wehcum daddeee")

My stance on things.

2009-01-21T21:41:00.002-07:00

Methodists, take no offense. Mormons, take note.

"I never thought it was right to call up a man and try him because he erred in doctrine, it looks too much like Methodism and not like Latter day Saintism. Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be kicked out of their church. I want the liberty of believing as I please, it feels so good not to be tramelled. It don't prove that a man is not a good man, because he errs in doctrine."

Joseph Smith, Jr.

Hamburgers Home Made

2009-01-16T21:55:00.008-07:00

I took another culinary step forward today. It is my goal to quit paying for anyone to prepare food for me who is not a professional chef. Hamburgers seemed to be the easiest item to remove first and I've been working on it for a few weeks now. It's more difficult than I supposed. The efficiency of the assembly line and the skill of the chemist are challenging, but not impossible for the amateur to beat. At tonight's dinner of hamburger and fries I believe that I did so for the first time.

The flavor of fast-food or restaurant hamburgers is probably the easiest hurdle to jump. I finally came to terms with the fact that hamburger needs help. Ground beef alone cannot a good hamburger make. The seasoning that I'm happy with is garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt (kosher, of course). Someday I'll try adding liquid smoke but I have to remember to buy it first. Tonight I believe I had additional help because the beef came from a locally owned market that buys locally raised beef.

Cooking is the next concern. Currently without the weather or equipment to grill, the true way to cook any meat, I opt for the broiler, an indoor upside-down grill minus the smoke. A skillet is too greasy, a Foreman grill too dry. I nailed the doneness tonight as well. In the middle of the patty the last trace of pink nearly gone--just a hair's width on the rare side of medium.

The bun is the element that I overlooked the longest. Store brand enriched buns are the cheapest and that's what I always bought, Wonderbread in bun shape. And besides being merely a barrier between hand and meat with nothing to contribute for taste or texture, it was a lousy barrier. Any hamburger over 1/8th of a pound would reduce it to a paper-thin sop. Now I go for the good stuff. Hearty bread with a good diameter, usually kaiser rolls. That is, until I start making them myself. But with the buns the diameter of the raw patty is important. It's going to shrink, and usually the way I shape them results in something like a football, thick and small, a shape that does not cooperate between bread with any other fixings. Tonight's patty, other than being a touch too thick, matched the diameter of the bun exactly.

Fries were the most daunting element of making this meal at home. Are the most daunting. The flavor and texture of baked fries don't do it. Might as well have a baked potato. Frying at home is a bit more work, but proper preparation provides perfection. When I began frying them they weren't much better than baked. They didn't stay crisp. Then, like usual, AB enlightened me. Fry 'em twice. Or should I say, blanch them first at 325, drain, and finish them off at 375 = golden brown (crisp) and delicious. This is tricky for me because I use a FryDaddy with no temperature control. I do have a fry thermometer so I'm constantly unplugging and replugging to maintain the right temperature, but I'm getting pretty good at it. I still do use frozen fries. Two times ago I got cocky and tried to do fresh-cut fries and it was ugly. It was like my first time ever frying. The bulk of them now reside in a landfill. It'll be a while before I get back on that horse.

What really came together for tonight's dinner was the timing. Previously I had been see-sawing between a good hamburger one time and good fries the next; or hot fries accompanying a cold burger or fries cooling while waiting for the burger to cook. Many of those also resulted in overcooking one because I was busy tending the other. And an hour is a bit much for a hamburger and fries. Tonight the burgers came out from the broiler as the last batch of blanched fries went in the oil. Two to three minutes later and the burgers had rested and were ready to eat with fresh, hot golden fries. It was beautiful. And the overall time, well I think I was waiting on the broiler and oil to heat for once. I may be close to maximizing efficiency with my current equipment.

Home cooking generally saves money, but factoring in time and effort, there are those items that may cost more, especially if using quality ingredients. Hamburgers were this for me. I think I can say 'were' after tonight's success. I figure each patty was $0.95, the bun $0.46, I can't imagine more than $0.35 for condiments and spices combined, $0.75 worth of fries, and I'll say $0.25 of oil because I reuse it. I have no idea what the electricity would be but considering I'm at $2.76, for that quality, and the amount of beef I used, I feel I'm way ahead.

Next up, pizza.

Children's Museum

2009-01-12T14:46:00.004-07:00

I have no pretenses; know that our blog is basically for family and friends, and not to gain a wider readership or notoriety. Therefore, more about Zara.

We took her to a relatively nearby Children's Museum, with free tickets, thanks TJ! I haven't been to one in my memory before, and had no interest before, but it is really cool for kids. Lots and lots of stuff, really exciting for kids like birth to at least 10 or 11.

She liked this. The museum had lots of signs insuring that we knew it was patented.

Wind tunnel. She liked it more than this picture lets on, and it was windier too.

Sometimes she likes things so much it makes her kind of mad, and the water / bubbles (not pictured) were some of those things. She also got a little too wet and cold though.We all enjoyed the drums and she just kept taking whatever drum sticks we were holding.

She sat here with her mouth on this thing for at least 3 minutes straight.
After the excursion, and hanging out with TJ and Ashley (new friends courtesy of William's grad school), she was poooooped.

As you know, Zara has always had a keen interest in language. But these last few weeks it seems like it's surged even more and she's blabbing up a storm. A STORM! Here's an example. Yesterday at church when she saw the bishop (who she seems to really like, and hasn't seen in three weeks) she said "Bishop! Bishop!" He didn't hear her and turned a corner, so she says "Bishop where are you!" Then later we were back at church for a baptism. Right at the quiet, important part, you know, the baptism itself, she saw the bishop up front and starts yelling "Bishop! Bishop! Bishop where are you!" It was really funny, but it seemed so loud and disruptive! Turns out the bishop didn't even hear her, and not many people turned around, so it must not have been as loud as we thought. Couple all of this with just about constant chit-chatting and it's become apparent that it's about time we start working on getting her to whisper or not talk during Church.

I'm not complaining, b/c her talking is super cute and fun. It's always fun to get a glimpse at what she's thinking.

Now, Idaho.

2009-01-06T22:20:00.009-07:00

We spent most of our 2 weeks in Idaho with William's family, and a few days of it in Utah with more of his family, but no pictures of the second leg of the journey.

I think she took a bite of these, hence the yuck face. That could very well be the last thing she ate all week...only half kidding.
She started hugging Lidia a lot (Lidia = Julia to Zara). When we went to their house, she started hugging Tristan and everyone else.

Enjoying Sean's toy. It was a favorite among all the cousins. Turns out we kind of had a Melissa and Doug Christmas; unknowingly, many parents bought some of that brand's toys for their kids. Or, Santa did, I mean.

Hugging the sock dog Christy made her.
This one's for Rachel and Christy. Cute, huh? (This is Lidia and Sean.)

I think this is her melting. She learned a bunch of songs this week- what I mean is started singing them or doing motions to them- and "Once there was a snowman" was her favorite. If she saw a snowman or anyone mentioned the word, it's all she wanted to do is sing it. And as you can see, she melted at the end. I think.

She also liked Teresa, or "baby Teesa."
And then started sitting in cousins' laps while they watched a movie. I don't think they wanted her to though.

Coloring with the cousins. At first they said she couldn't color b/c she didn't color in the lines, but then some adults made them let her, which she liked. Actually she didn't care either way I don't think.

She took a liking to Sean-Sean, or "Tahn Tahn." She actually learned most of the family's names by the end of our time there, which was sweet. Even if she did call Mike Sean Sean and Rachel Luke.
Tristan was very sweet with her.
She only saw Sage (in the background) for a few minutes, but really liked her. It has come to my attention that Sage (William's cousin) and William resemble each other.

William, by luck of the draw, got Christy as his gift giver in the gift exchange. A highlight of his trip was this sweeeeet chef outfit she made for him!!

...which was appropriate b/c he/we cooked Christmas dinner. Here, he and Cory fried a (brined by William) turkey. He's a serious chef now.

With the dinner we made (with help!). I was a little sick, here.

Taking an interest in Baby Teesa a few minutes before they left. Poor sweetie was so sick that week. This picture could have been snapped at the very moment a virus was passed....again only half kidding.

Which brings us to the sad part of the trip. Everybody got sick. I was sick most of the first week, everyone else got sick by the end with like 4 different things that were being passed around.

The second week, Zara got sick. Really, pretty sick. Sicker than she's ever been. It was scary sick for us. Most people reading this probably know the details. We aren't sure what it was, but her cousin Sean, poor kid, was in the hospital with RSV, and it looks like it was probably that, but less severe for Zara b/c she didn't need to be hospitalized. I was worried for a while though. It was the scariest episode for me as a mom. This picture sums up what she wanted to do (and did) for a few days, all day:

And this picture doesn't quite show how sick she was:

It was 4-5 days of fever, really high fever, with crazy lethargic behavior, doing nothing but lying flush against us, like weird eyes and weird breathing and whimpering and not being a normal toddler, and not eating really at all, drinking when forced. Then a cough, day and night, more bouts of fever, day and night, finally a scared trip to the doctor, which revealed an ear infection (yes, her first one). Yucky eye dripping and crusty eye in the morning, I could go on and on. She was pretty bad for a while but is now doing well, mostly back to herself. Except for not eating. We just have to get her sleeping on track now. She still has a hard time at night. How sad it was when she was so sick, I am really happy she's back to her into-everything self. We love our tweety binks. And we are very happy Sean is OK now too.

A few songs she picked up singing this last few weeks: Mary had a little lamb, Snowman, Itsy Bitsy Spider. Super cute. She's talking more clearly, more like little sentences now. She also does an awesome Dragon Ball Z move, which you must ask her about if you ever see her.

Another mom post! Eat it!!

Aside from the illnesses Zara and everyone else got, we had a great time!!! Happy to be back!

Early Christmas with my family

2009-01-06T22:15:00.003-07:00

So we just got back from Idaho/Utah for the last two weeks. Before we left, we did our Christmas gift exchange with my family. Zara "won" Christmas for the second year in a row, for sure.

Zara really does love Dora, for better or worse, and gramma H. indulges her. We like this robe a lot.

The next two are not really Christmas related. A few days before we left she was just nuts for a whole day, doing all sorts of crazy hyper stuff. Here she is with oranges in her hair.
And then stuck in the stroller. She panicked a little after this shot was taken.
Thanks to Adam and Beth for the sweeeet Melissa and Doug sushi. Zara loves the cleaver... watch out.

She also LOVES this dollhouse.

Super fun Christmasy things

2008-12-14T15:04:00.003-07:00

We had a super fun Saturday. My parents came out to visit (a common occurrence, since they live an hour away) and took William and Zara and me and Adam and Beth (my brother and his wife) out for lunch, which they always do when they come out (thank you!). Then we went to a nearby historical house that was all decorated for Christmas, which was really fun and charming. I love historical sites. Of course Zara just wanted to run around and touch everything, but she was really good.

Outside the main house there is this little wee house, with cute decor inside; I suppose it's possible for kids to go in there but it's really just for looking and it's so cute.
In the visitors center, they had some museum displays, and here is Santa waiting to greet children. Now, Zara knows Santa by looking at him in pictures or stuffed toys or whatever, and knows he says "Ho Ho Ho, Maaaadeee Dupas," but her comfort zone in front of the "real thing" is about 6 feet judging by this picture, which was taken just before a meltdown. Santa didn't take it personally. She even told him he says Ho Ho Ho and everything, just from about 1o feet away. She freaked out when we took her to the mall Santa too.

We tried again...
She liked being on this fake horse at first, then got nervous, as shown here:

And drumroll pleeeeaaassseee...

Thank you Adam and Beth for Zara's LOVELY AWESOME SUPER FUN CUTE AWESOME AWESOME Christmas present! (I love, love, love fake food and kitchens, etc.) Isn't it sweet? She loves it, I love it, we love it. Yes, our apartment is a bit small for it but oh well, it's awesome. We moved it into her room. She loves the noises it makes, particularly the stove, which when you put pots on it, it makes bubbling and sizzling noises. Lots to discover about it.

The box, of course, is a hit as well. My dad made it into her little house. I want to cover it with paper and draw windows and stuff on it, but I don't think Zara would care much, and she likes pretend talking to and feeding the kids on the box.
A highlight of my weekend has been Zara starting to count to ten. I've said it already, but I must say, I don't know if I've ever been this proud of her! When she does it I almost cry. So let me gush. She knew 1 - 2 - 3 for a while, then William said the other day at church, he counted some pointsettas for her, up to 7, and she just said "eight, nine, ten!" WHA?!?!?!??! She is 17 months old in case you're counting! A GENIUS! So then the next day, she just started counting all the way to ten. I've got to get it on camera, but it's so cute b/c "ten" is said with much gusto, then she looks at you with a big smile on her face and waits for your applause, and then applauds and laughs with us. She entertained us all at the visitors center, including some strangers, and what a proud mom was I when another employee walked up a minute later and said "Is this the baby that counts to ten?" Stick a fork in me, people.

She can sing the abc's too. I should say the ABC'S sometimes consist of "q r s t u v" several times, and counting to ten is often "1 2, 8, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!" But often is actually correct, let me assure you. I've heard her attempt some teen-numbers as well. Really she'll repeat just about anything you ask her to, which is a blessing and maybe a curse later.

Let the gushing and congratulating begin...

Have I made you all sick yet? I'm sure I have. I have no remorse. Come on, we all show off on our blogs.

Pic update

2008-12-08T13:48:00.003-07:00

I took a look over our recent posts and realized there is not nearly enough Zara on here. I stalk other people's blogs so much, I should be posting like every day to match what I wish others did.

Decorating the tree with grandma H. after Thanksgiving. She was "helping," usually by placing her binky on the tree.

We all know babies like non-toys better than toys made for babies.

She often likes to put food on her forehead....
We took her to a tree lighting/Santa thing in a nearby cute little town. It was FREEZING. But Zara is really into this Christmas thing this year, it makes me cry a little it's so cute.
She got hold of an apple a while back.

So like I said she's into Christmas. Loves trees, "Pretty wee!" (pretty tree...?) lights "yaites," and when she sees Santa (or anyone with a white beard) she says "Ho ho ho!" We worked on getting her to add "meeerrry Christmas" to that, so now she does, but it sounds more like "ho ho ho, meeeydee doopus." Which is also OK.

Update on the Zara-Obama phenom: we think she may just identify anyone in a suit as "Obama," as well as news programs. We'll have to work on this.

She started singing the ABC's pretty clearly this week. Mainly it's "Q R S T U V" a few times.

I feel like I should post a funny thing she does every day just so I have it to print out one day, b/c I don't write them down like I should, and she's funny every day. She is talking more and more, into little sentences now. I could go on and on but I think that would be boring and sound like showing off. One of my favorites though is "Oh no, binky down" or "Oh no, ______ down," for when anything falls down, b/c I kind of taught her that, and it cracks me up. She also says "Oops" when things fall.

Everyone who is interested in toys for your babies, check out Melissa and Doug. I hate to do a plug like that, but they have the CUTEST wooden toys you will just love.

Yeah, another mom post, you're used to it.

2008-12-01T20:36:00.005-07:00

Just a crazy picture for good measure.

Just now, Zara was asleep on our bed as I worked on the computer, and I transferred her to her "nest" on the floor near our bed (she's been pretty sick for a good week, so I'm indulging her! Hey...I let her sleep there most of the time anyway, who am I kidding?) and as I transferred her, she opened her eyes, looked at me and said "Grandma Grandpa Teletubbies." I tried not to giggle, but of course I did a little. Then as I put her down she looked right at me and said, all staccato, "Hi. Hi. Hi." Then curled up, closed her eyes, and went back to sleep. She is a crack up sometimes.

Speaking of Teletubbies...she loves them. Which is OK with me b/c I like them too and they hypnotize her when I need to work. But sometimes when I'm on the computer, she'll come up to me and say "teletubbies" and then "Up. Up mommy" with wee hands outstretched. So we usually pick her up, and if you type "Teletubbies" into google, a few videos come up. One is the intro to the show. She has watched that 4 minute intro about 300 times. She has begun singing the song, and now, I kid you not, she sings almost the whole thing along with the video. It's so funny. I've got to get it on tape, I could hardly believe it when I noticed she was really singing the words along.

I was talking to people recently about how when you become a mom you do things you always said you'd never to when you had kids (I've talked about this to many of you I think...) like riding in the back seat with your baby (Rachel I think that one's yours), letting them watch TV (remember when I was like "I totally won't do that!" Ha. Well now I echo something I once heard Kelsey say - sometimes you just need them to be zoned out for a few minutes. Ie to do dishes, or get ready for church, or especially for me, to work. I feel bad even about my 30 minutes a day though.) or letting them eat ANYTHING THEY WILL SWALLOW. She's been sick, as I said, and barely eating. So when she wants my mom's rosemary tea, or pretzels for breakfast, or even some of my sprite, I'm like, you know what? It's better than nothing. Go ahead.

Fry Daddy Fry

2008-11-29T23:34:00.004-07:00

As part of my quest to follow Alton Brown's quest to rid the kitchen of uni-taskers (except for the fire extinguisher of course) I made an obvious but excellent discovery today.

I received a small electric fryer about a year ago. Not the least bit concerned about my weight or arteries, I try to employ it as often as I can in food preparation. (I no longer prefer fast-food french fries after discovering the secret of double frying to make them crisp.) But clean up is annoying. Waiting for the oil to cool down, filtering it (which I rarely do), and storing it for another use. When the oil has fried its last fry, disposing of it is a pain too. So, the FryDaddy doesn't get out as much as I would like.

I've been coveting an electric kettle since seeing AB put one to multi-task on Good Eats. Well tonight I was about to prepare hot chocolate when I looked at the FryDaddy sitting neglected on the stove, three-day old oil going bad inside and the fry thermometer still attached. It hit me. The FryDaddy works the exact same way as an electric kettle! I dumped the oil, gave it a good sudsy scrub, put in six ounces of water and plugged it in.

I've never liked using a microwave to heat water, but for hot chocolate it just seems to be the better alternative to getting out an entire pot to heat a single cup. And although the laws of physics may not confirm, I swear microwaved water cools faster.

I had washed off the fry thermometer as well just to watch how fast the water would heat. I didn't time it, but the mercury (alcohol really) started rising immediately and the water was boiling in what couldn't have been more than a minute. I almost shouted for joy. A whole new world of culinary possibilities opened up to me. Never again will I boil water in a pot on the stovetop. Even if the water ends up there it will start in the FryDaddy. Hot soup from can to mouth in a minute. Hard- and soft-boiled eggs. Heating up the water was always that one little annoyance that prevented the attempt countless times. In fact, after the success of my hot chocolate this evening, soft-boiled eggs from the FryDaddy is on tomorrow's breakfast menu.

The one drawback is it's lack of temperature control. When it's plugged in it's on. To turn it off, unplug it. When left heating oil it will top out at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, but water would just boil off. Were it able to maintain sub-boiling temperatures for poaching and if it included a fryer basket with a notch for draining I would probably give it a name and consider it part of the family, but you can't have it all. I can't even think of anything else to do with it, but I will. From now on, any liquid that needs heating will now be the exclusive domain of the FryDaddy.

Squirrel-mouse

2008-11-21T10:34:00.003-07:00

Yesterday, Zara saw a coloring page on the floor of our apartment. We had gotten it from the library earlier this week. It had a squirrel on it. She stepped on it a few times, then paused, then said, "It's a mouse. It's a mouse." And moved on with her day.

A good sampling...

2008-11-19T20:25:00.002-07:00

...of the types videos I have learned through my job are prevalent, and popular (see how many views/comments these have...) on youtube. There are many, many more videos just like these, and even dumber.

On the actual youtube webpage corresponding to these videos, there are usually totally stupid, uninformative descriptions like "I was bored, enjoy!" or "plz rate and comment! Subscribe!" Or super long descriptions.

Also, the comments section is full of highly insightful conversations between intellectuals, so don't miss that.

Please don't bother watching the whole videos, unless you feel like killing some brain cells.

Item #1:
people acting like idiots with their friends in their rooms, singing lame songs, lamely. These are usually with girls, but this is a good alternate, male example.

Item #2:
Anime-related fan made videos, set to lame songs.

Item #3:
Just a lame song, set to a slide show of its lyrics. Viewed by thousands.

Item #4:
A usually-underaged person singing a currently popular, lame, cheesy pop song. Again in their room. They try to emote a lot in these videos. And this video has been seen 243,441 times!!!!

Item #5:
So lame you don't even want to watch it for 2 whole seconds. LOTS of videos out there like this. Someone playing a video game, set to some laaaaaaaaaaaame music, showing other gamers tricks they can use on the game, or glitches in the game, etc. ................................... I'm sorry, I just fell asleep.

There is much, more more where that came from. Like videos of people opening up new products from their boxes, like ipods or Guitar Hero games. Average, or below average, people doing TERRIBLE movie reviews. Or " almost" porn- as pornographic as you can get on youtube. Like it will cut off before it becomes porn, but it makes sure it shows you the URL for the full disgusting thing, or videos of girls in their bedrooms shaking their butts wearing almost nothing (No, I am not watching these by choice! And I don't watch the entire thing, thank God. They come up sometimes for my job, which is why I know youtube much more intimately than I'd prefer).

What kinds of videos have you seen on there that I am missing? I know there are other common dumb videos.

Here's something from The Onion that sums up the problem quite perfectly! Do watch this whole thing, and laugh:
YouTube Contest Challenges Users To Make A 'Good' Video

PS, this is our 200th post!

The Latest Video Project

2008-11-14T16:01:00.002-07:00

This is a video I made for a departmental competition. The winner will become the advance trailer for all NIU Department of Communication productions.

Political Baby

2008-11-12T14:33:00.003-07:00

She has surprised us with this amazing ability:

After about :18, she stops being so amazing. I don't know how to cut these videos shorter, or I would have. Let me assure you, she actually does know her eyes, ears, hair, head, nose, mouth, chin, and more, but apparently after showing off her political knowledge she chose to withhold her body part knowledge.

How we see each other.

2008-11-12T11:47:00.005-07:00

This post has some (not much) adult content, but I wouldn't call it offensive. Again, for my very sensitive readers.

I grew up in a very conservative Republican household, and aligned myself that way for years. In recent years, I'd say about the last 5 or 6, my views have shifted more and more and I now "lean left" as I say, b/c I don't REALLY align myself with a party (although I will say I would certainly not align myself with Republicans, so I guess I'd align myself with Democrats).

As a side note, some (mom?) would blame this on William, since I've known him for 6 years, but you should know he is much more extreme than I am in many ways, and he is not really a Democrat. He's a dirty commmie!

Back to the task at hand. Having somewhat seen both sides (admittedly, as of late I am much more flustered and frustrated and made-emotional and angry by the Republican side of things), I've noticed there are many misconceptions and strongly held thoughts on both sides ABOUT the other side. Republicans believe certain things about Democrats and vice versa. I thought I'd share my observations here. So here are things I've seen that Dems think about Reps, and Reps think about Dems. Of course, exaggerated...but not always.

How Republicans/Conservatives see Democrats/Liberals.

Now picture either a fat, rich white man in a board meeting, or your average Joe, just home from work at the factory, drinkin' a beer, readin' the Bible and complainin' about Democrats and how ...

-They want to outlaw all guns in every situation, no exceptions.
-They have no morals.
- They are anti-American, unpatriotic.
- They hate the troops.
-They don't really mind terrorism.
-They think we should never go to war for any reason.
-None of them believe in God, and they hate people who do.
-Along those lines, they want to take God's name off our pennies, out of our pledge of allegiance, outlaw the 10 commandments being displayed in any public place, and ban any kind of praying in any school.
-They like abortions. Love em. Don't even think twice that they might be wrong. They want all women to have abortions at least once in their lives, and they want the government to fund abortions so people can get them for free, easily, at any age, at any stage of pregnancy, without parental consent.
- They LOVE welfare, and think free money and food should be available to everyone, and they don't notice that no one who is on welfare works at all. Democrats love giving hand outs. As a matter of fact, they are actually socialist-communist, and want to play Robin Hood.
-They want everyone to be gay, or at least bi. They also want to shove the prevalence of homosexuality down everyone's throats, like by teaching children in school how-to's about gay sex while explaining to them that it's absolutely OK to do and straight marriage is not that important.
-They want to hand out free birth control to kids while telling them, "now go and have sex and don't tell your parents!"
-They complain about our country, and Republicans know if anyone complains about it, they need to leave.
-They think immigrants should be given stuff for free, like citizenship.
-They think we should have universal, government paid health care, which means our quality of care is going to drop through the floor, we will have to wait in lines for days, and the government will be able to decide how we are cared for, ie. the gov't will be able to tell our doctors what to do.
-They are elitist, over-educated snobs.
-They want to make sure kids believe only in evolution and don't even consider "Intelligent Design."
-They are dirty tree-hugging hippies.

How Democrats/Liberals see Republicans/Conservatives.

Now picture either a hemp-wearing, pot smoking hippie or a snobby, high-class Dem pontificating about how ignorant Republicans are, and saying:

- They are gun-obsessed hicks.
-They love war.
-They are racist.
-They want to make as much money as possible and never give any of it away. They want to hoard it all and not share or donate.
-They think anyone who doesn't have enough money, or lots of money, doesn't deserve it anyway b/c they are lazy, not working hard enough.
- They are religious fanatics, blindly following the tenets of their faiths/their church's leaders.
-They don't want gay people to be happy, have any "rights" (Democrats see Republicans as thinking "rights" does not apply to homosexuality at all) and they want gay sex (and gay marriage obviously) to be illegal.
-If they actually thought about anything, they would be Democrats.
-They want to make their religious (Christian) beliefs into law that everyone, Christian or not, has to obey, b/c they think their beliefs are the ultimate truth, no matter what you believe, so they should be law (as our founding fathers would have wanted, according to Republicans.)
-Along those lines, they might as well worship our "founding fathers." Democrats would also point out that Republicans don't know many things about our founding fathers that would probably upset them if they knew about them. Or, Republicans would just deny those facts.
-They believe the Constitution is perfect in every way, even though this seems to go against many things they believe.
- They think that if a woman is raped, even by a relative, and they become pregnant, that woman needs to go ahead and have that baby, no matter what. Or if a pregnant woman might die, according to doctors, if she tries to have the baby, she needs to have that baby anyway.
-They vote, and think, along the lines of two issues: gay marriage and abortion.
- They think we should never, ever negotiate or talk to anyone opposed to America.
-They think America is a nation chosen by God, better than all other nations, and we should try and do everyone the favor of making their nation just like ours.
-They think there should be no form of government welfare, or at least WAAAY less than there is now, and people should have to somehow prove how hard they are working if they are to receive any aid.
-They want everyone to pay for their own health care, and again, if they can't afford it, they aren't working hard enough.
-They are under- or uneducated.
-They hate immigrants.
-They believe all Middle Easterners or Muslims are terrorists.
-They think we should preach abstinence only, and if we work hard enough, this will work, and solve problems of teen pregnancy, etc.
-They think we should stop teaching about evolution and just read Genesis in science class.
-They could care less about the environment. They think the environment and animals were all given to us to use as we'd like, so we can "drill baby drill" and eat all the animals we want and shoot all the rest of them.

Please comment on anything I may have missed.

The funny part is probably that we all read these and think..."Wait, that really IS what the other side thinks," or, "Wait, that really IS what I think about the other side." Me too.

I guess this is my way of getting some of my political frustrations out without actually posting a blog about what I personally think about all the opinions going around lately. Or it was a "passive - aggressive" attack.

Obama supporters unite!

2008-11-11T21:29:00.005-07:00

I did indeed post this to my facebook page but I don't feel it got the attention it deserves.

I know a million people who are obsessed with Obama, and I tend to lean that way myself (I have even had a dream in which William and I hung out with Barack and Michelle, and was disappointed upon waking up to the reality that the Obamas have not, in fact, chilled with us)... So here we are, Obama lovers:

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

I'll have to post a video of Zara telling us who the new president is.

Here's a non-election related...

2008-11-04T20:41:00.004-07:00

...quote for today.

From a 5 year old in a tap dance class I teach:

"Your hair looks crazy today."

I think she meant crazy good. B/c today was one of the few days as of late that I like my hair as it's growing out a bit. But she probably actually meant "different" by "crazy," b/c one of the other girls asked me if I got a haircut, so it must have looked different today.

These girls are always doing and/or saying something hilarious, and I should post about that more often.

Here's an unrelated picture of Twinkie Binks. Grandma N was reading her a book and I think Z growling or something, but I really took this pic to showcase HER crazy hair.

Halloween Festivities

2008-11-01T22:12:00.002-06:00

I figure no one else is posting about what they did for Halloween, so someone should. Plus who wants to talk about important things like politics anymore, gosh.

We went over to the beautiful home of some friends from church on Halloween to trick or treat their hoppin' neighborhood. This is Zara and her buddy Miles, whose name she loves saying all the time. They were tickling each other shortly before this photo was taken, and despite Zara's love of saying his name, she apparently did not want him to hug her.

Halloween was more confusing/overwhelming than anything for our Binklestein.

Sometimes it was fun though. Isn't this a heartwarming shot?!
She figured out to take the candy from people and put it in this oversized bag (above).

She is on an "I don't need to eat anything ever" kick, so I let her eat some not-so-good-things sometimes, like m&ms. I mean, not good for you. Delicious, yes. She basically painted her tongue with it.
Can you believe someone with as dark eyes as I have, produced offspring with these lovely blues? Thanks for the genes, William!

Prepare yourselves for the gruesomeness of what is to come...

From the annual Zombieween, 2008 edition at Adam and Beth's. (BTW, Zara loves them. Especially that they pick her up whenever she asks, which is constantly.)

William and I were zombie cowboy/cowgirl, and Zara was the zombie/monster cow with mad cow disease, which is how we died/became zombies, according to our lore. Note her scary teeth.

We threw these costumes together like, this morning. If I would have thought of them earlier they would have been way sweeter, but I didn't think of them until like, yesterday morning. We could have been normal cowboy/cowgirl/cow for Halloween, and zombie ones for Zombieween. I think this kind of costume/party may be too scary for her next year, and beyond, for a while. She wasn't scared, just nervous about all the people. Adam and Beth have crazy scary decorations in their apartment, like a decapitated head and a floating skeleton man and dismembered limbs, and Zara, we kid you not, wanted nothing more than to tickle these items, and spent a good portion of time doing so. She loved them. I feel kind of bad, but it's kind of awesome and hilarious at the same time. (Sorry to the people who are appalled by this!)

Happy Halloween, Day of the Dead, Zombieween to all.

I'll have that cake, and eat it too.

2008-10-28T22:31:00.004-06:00

Dear Readers,

What prompted Samantha to call for this post was the obvious contradiction in my opinion on tax policy. I am aware of the contradiction and go on living without trying to resolve it, like the smoker who sees the Surgeon General's warning on every pack of cigarettes.

I will begin with an idea that I've related to some of you before - the negative income tax. This method of taxation would provide a credit to the citizen up to an agreed amount - say, the poverty line - after which progressive taxation would take effect. So, if the poverty line is $20,000, someone who made $5,000 would receive a tax refund of $15,000 and someone who made $10,000 would get a refund of $10,000 etc. A person making over $20,000 would fall into a progressive taxation bracket similar to what we have now. The higher the income, the larger percentage of taxation.

Everyone I've ever talked to about this has the same response - society would collapse, because people are all lazy, shiftless jungle-bums. No one would ever work again and all the institutions of society would cease to function. I acknowlege that this system depends on people wanting to work, but unlike all you pessimists, I believe people do, and there was a study done that supports my point of view. It found that working class individuals living under the negative income tax worked negligibly fewer hours than they would have otherwise. The extra time they took off was usually related to illness or similar obligations that may have been skipped when faced with wage loss and therefore contributed negatively to quality of life. But no one in the study quit working altogether, even though they knew they could and would still get paid.

Obviously if someone knew they were going to make less than $20,000 they wouldn't work at all, but this would only increase the demand for workers by decreasing the supply. This would guarantee a healthy wage - it has to be worth the effort for the compensation above the line. $30,000 a year really becomes $10,000 a year, so the time and effort would correspond. What this allows is a society free of wage slavery - people forced to work jobs they hate in order to have food and shelter - and instead create an entire society of entrepreneurs with the ultimate safety net. Education and creativity would flourish. The worst jobs would be the highest paid, as people always joke they should be. Who's going to mop the floors if everyone has a guaranteed minimum income? The person who wants $100,000 a year, or the person who wants $50,000 for working six months a year and shares the job with someone else.

Not everyone would take advantage, but I argue that those people who want to live on welfare already are, and if not exactly, the number of people now working who would stop would roughly equal the number of people now on welfare who want to work.

Now, here comes the part that makes Samantha angry. I made the comment that I think it's every citizens' responsibility to try to avoid paying taxes. While being extremely socialist with the above view, I also favor smaller government with fewer controls. I think larger incomes should be taxed higher than smaller ones, but if I had a large income I would exploit every tax loophole to avoid paying as much as possible. I don't know that hypocrisy is the right word here because I fully expect everyone else to do the same. I don't accuse the rich for exploiting tax loopholes, or even for illegally avoiding taxes. Before the income tax was instituted, the government had to raise taxes in much the same way businesses have to raise capital, meaning they didn't just increase the rate of income taxes, but they had to go begging. (Read Downsizing Democracy) So to secure funding for the civil war, Lincoln sent out salesmen peddling war bonds. A far cry from today's deficit spending government.

The point is, if government is really for the people, by the people, I should feel very willing to donate to the public good. I don't. So I want to make it as hard as possible for the government to get my money and feel everyone should do the same. Don't pay taxes. But, I think the entire population should be subsidized by a negative income tax funded through the taxation of higher incomes. I want it both ways. I want the impossible. I am the reason behind empty campaign promises.

she crazy, pt. 125,635

2008-10-27T21:38:00.003-06:00

Here's a story to illustrate Z's crazy personality.

She doesn't eat much these days, to my eyes at least. I'm not really worried about it b/c she's obviously doing fine, but I guess it's natural for moms to be concerned about their kids' nutrition. So I do my best to make sure she's eating well an enough and a variety. This means I kind of feed her very tiny "meals" all day, of whatever she'll eat, really.

Last night I was feeding her some baby food type fruit mixed with yogurt and barley cereal. She was also snackin' on cheerios (I should say here that they are not actually cheerios, they are probably called "happy-o's" or something, being the cheap version).

Sometimes, she won't eat this fruit mush, but a while ago I decided to try and lure her into eating it by putting something else she likes ONTO it, and she liked it when I put a single cheerio on the spoon (?).

So yesterday, I'd offer her a bite ("mo bite" as she says) and then she'd place a cheerio on the spoonful of fruit mush, and she really wanted to make sure this cheerio was ON THAT SPOON so she'd really mash it in there so it was good and all over her hands, and then eat it. We continued this for a while, and after a long pause, when I offered her maybe the 4th or 5th spoonful, she pauses, looks at me, and very slowly shoves about 4 mushy cheerios out of her mouth with her tongue, into her hand, and then goes to put them on the spoonful of fruit mush.

She crazy.

I accepted these mushy cheerios b/c if it means she will eat, I'll do it.

PS, everyone who wants to know William's CRAZY political theories, please request that he post a blog about this. If he posts an honest blog, he will explode your mind, and probably make you really mad, and question my relationship with him.

A spiritual teaching moment

2008-10-22T21:15:00.004-06:00

At church, Zara sees paintings of Jesus, which she now identifies as "Jee-Jeeeesssssss."

In our room, we have this tin "poster" on the wall:

Today William was carrying her and he walked over near that tin, and she pointed at it (I don't think at any Beatle in particular) and said "Jee-Jeeeeeeessss."

Needless to say we both laughed.

Then William took the opportunity to make the moment even better:

"No, sweetie, they are bigger than Jesus."

Needless to say I laughed a lot.

I hope people get the joke (see Beatles history if you do not).

Oh....

2008-10-19T20:59:00.001-06:00

I just took this down b/c I was uncomfortable having our last name on the blog for some paranoid reason, so someone tell me how to obscure the last name on a jpg file, or Adam, make another one, and I'll put it back up.

Bleeeckh, the "p" word

2008-10-15T12:28:00.005-06:00

I was going to have "playdates" in the title of this post but I hate the term so much I couldn't bear to have it displayed that prominently in my blog.

Sometimes on facebook I post status updates. It seems like the thing to do, so you know, I have to do it. I posted one that said every time someone says the word "playdate" I want to puke. A friend told me "don't knock it! It's kept me sane!" And I mentioned my hatred of the term to another friend and she laughed and wanted to know the story behind it, why I hated playdates.

I talked to William about it today, and thought I could shed some light on the matter here.

It's not REALLY the actual idea of a "playdate" (I just puked) that I hate. OK, it is a little. Mostly it's the term, but I'll get to that in a second.

The term itself just makes me cringe. "Play" is a term used by kids with each other, ie., "Want to play?" or to ask their moms for permission to "play" with their friend. "Date" is a term used by adults to describe formal outings with members of the opposite sex, used for romantic connection purposes. Connecting these terms just feels icky to me. And wrong and silly.

William pointed out maybe part of the reason I don't like the term is that it sounds so formal. I think that is a big part of it. To me, it adds to that idea of living your life in a rigid, scheduled, parceled out way, and especially with little kids, that isn't how I want my life, or theirs, to be. I think when kids are little they need unscheduled, unstructured free time. At least, that's how I want mine to be.

Plus, specifically here, if I get together with another mom primarily for our kids to play, I don't want it to feel like a formal event. I want it to feel casual and noncommittal. I don't want it to be a set apart official time of start and finish, and I don't want to feel like I have to obey any rules. I don't want to dress up and sip tea and compare our children. Not that "playdates" imply these things, but to me, the term kind of does.

Like William said, we're getting together to basically sit our kids in front of each other. Does it really need a name?

I think primarily though, I hate the idea of hanging out with other moms JUST because we have kids/babies the same age. There's something desperate about it, and it's NOT FUN. It always turns into a compare-our-kids fest anyway. You don't see moms with lots of kids doing that too often, probably b/c they are too busy. It seems like most "playdates" are set up by bored, unhappy stay at home moms as desperate attempts at socializing and taking up some time out of their days. I am saying that frivolously, when I know stay-at-home motherhood is hard and full of challenges and I feel really terrible for women who do feel the ways I just flippantly described, and if "playdates" with women you know well, or don't know at all, will help you not feel those ways, then do it. But again, doesn't sound like a blast to me.

Now don't get me wrong: I know what it's like to feel a bit bored with just one baby at home (I'm not bored anymore though; part of it is that I didn't want to be, so I make sure I'm not, part of it is that Zara is big enough now where she's all over the place and I can't be bored, and I've got enough to do, like cleaning and working and other things, beside taking care of her!), and to want adult company and socializing, and to just want some time killed during the day. But I don't want to fill that up with forced friendships. I tried being friends with some people in a way like this, and I soon realized I was only hanging out with them b/c we both had kids; without our kids, we had nothing in common. These were not fun friendships for me. They were actually kind of terrible.

I do want friends who have kids similar ages as mine. But that's the order I want them in; friends first. Then we happen to have kids. I enjoy hanging out with other moms in similar situations as I am in, but only if we have things in common beyond our babies. As much as I do talk about baby stuff, I want to talk about other things, and relax, and laugh, and exercise our minds, and be friends. Hopefully our kids/babies will enjoy their time together as well.

I also have heard of people making "playdate" business cards. Bleeeeeeeeeeckh, more puking. Like cards with cutesy designs on them, and their names and contact info, and names of their kid(s). Or maybe open times to schedule "playdates." Or even better, just business cards for their kids. Watch. I'll be doing this one day. Puking the whole time.

I was going to create an example if possible, but then I found this, which is better than anything I could have imagined:

http://www.felixdoolittle.com/web/product_pdc3.aspx

The unicorn one a few rows down is my favorite.

Feel free to fill in your name and number with that graphic, husband of mine. And thank you to that website. Hopefully they don't sue me. Hey, if you're into playdate cards, readers, this website sells some sweet ones! Buy them there!

In conclusion: You may say, "but don't you want your kid to play with other kids?" Yes, of course. Sometimes. And she does. Well, right now they mostly look at each other and sometimes she takes swipes at their faces. I just will not be calling these get-togethers "playdates," or setting up "playdates."

It's mostly the term. I know. Dumb. Petty. But don't tell me there aren't words that just irk you. Please post comments with words / terms/ phrases, etc., that just irk you, and I'm sure I'll think of more on my list as well. And we'll all laugh together. Hey, let's make this a comment-date!! A blog-date!

Grandparents Visit Illinois!

2008-10-13T10:48:00.005-06:00

This is a family-oriented post, and therefore likely uninteresting to those unrelated to me.

William's parents are currently visiting their relatives here in Illinois. We have all had a wonderful weekend! William's midterms are this week so now he has some catching up to do, but this weekend really has been so nice.

Their first stop was visiting us. They did a whole lot of babysitting. Friday William and I went to a social for the grad students, of which I think I am the only spouse, and our sitting and talking together reminded us both...wait...we don't get to chat very much anymore. (So now I'm making my parents watch Zara every few months so we can go on dates.) William also enchanted everyone with stories of his famous "The Rock" impression, which none of us will ever see, b/c he retired it. But everyone was very impressed at his description.

William and I have been kind of "in charge" of our ward's roadshow, and the stake performances were on Saturday. We wrote and directed the play, and we had lots of help from the ward, and they did a wonderful job. I was really proud. And happy it was over though, b/c it was a lot of work and there was behind-the-scenes drama I was glad to be through with. I got to know some people in the ward though, so I was really happy for that, b/c they are awesome.

Tim and Fran watched Zara while we rehearsed and did the show, which I was infinitely grateful for, b/c for most rehearsals over the last month or so, I had to try and watch her and direct at the same time b/c William was at school, and that was nearly impossible and very very frustrating.

Here is a picture of the play: it was set at the gates of heaven.

During the roadshow rehearsals on Saturday afternoon, Tim and Fran took Zara to a Japanese garden, and reports are that she loved it. One of Fran's favorite things Zara does is when she's outside, she wants to have either 2 sticks - one in each hand- or a stick in one and a rock or something in the other. Here she is in action.

I thought Tim and William looked cute eating their ice cream together out of cups.

Sunday Mike and Rachel and co. came up to visit with us all together, which was really so nice. We all had a DELICIOSO dinner together courtesy mostly of William but help from others, and went to the nearby awesome park together. Two pictures were taken at said park, but one had Zara's eyes closed and one Luke's, so...here's one.
Z at the park.

It was so nice to be with all this family. I love visiting with them. I wish we could all live near each other. Zara and Luke entertained us all as they had a grand ol' time chasing each other and laughing, which was adorable. Here they are in their PJs.

It's weird to think all these kids will be grown up one day. How can you ever take your kids seriously when you saw them so little and silly and diapered and such?!

Tim and Fran took Zara on lots of walks over the weekend, which she loved, and then they tuckered her out. Apparently she felt the need to hold Grandpa's hand at some point.
Fixing the vacuum with grandma was very fun for her. Frustrating though b/c she wasn't allowed to walk around the apartment with the screwdriver, with good reason.

She kept throwing books at grandpa to read to her, and he obliged. She loves this Elmo puppet book.

Before they left on Sunday evening. It was a packed apartment, but fun! Cozy, if you will. I think Luke is always a little confused as to why we would want to live in such a small place!! One day we'll have a house you can come play in Luke!
So now Tim and Fran are off to more IL/WI relative visits. Zara loooooved having people to entertain and play with all weekend, I loved how much she napped, I got work done, we got to see far-away family, go on a kind of-date with William, and Fran revealed her super power, which is doing dishes super fast and super stealthily, and organizing kitchens. Zara is a good baby, but it's still easier when you have 4 people around at all times. THANKS FOR COMING! We'll see you Friday. And again in December!

Now for some "Upbeat" Music

2008-10-06T21:49:00.007-06:00

I do listen to happy music, (Hotel Song was a happy one! In tone at least!) so here are a few "happier" songs that I like. These should make you and/or your children dance a bit. OK CHRISTY!?!?!

Mika, "Lollipop." A bit suggestive... I did read that Mika wrote it for his little sister about holding off on sex, which is a message I can stand behind, but I'm not sure if I believe that's what the song's actually about. It's a cool song whatever it's about though. Ask William: my favorite songs, I have no idea what they are about, usually. That is a criteria for me to love a song: it has to be a bit ambiguous.

Anyway, I always want to dance to most of Mika's music. And he reminds me of Freddie Mercury, who I love. And if you didn't know, my family's nickname for me is Meeka, so maybe that's part of the reason I like him.

I must point out that I also love the song "Big Girls." I know. Wha??? It's catchy and dancy, I can't help it.

"Littlest Birds" by the Be Good Tanyas - I love this song. I haven't heard much of the rest of their music, but what I have heard I like alright.

Of Montreal, "Wraith Pined to the Mist" - I don't think I've ever heard any other song by this artist/band, but I can't get enough of this song. This and the Littlest Birds song, a BYU professor of mine introduced me to- Chris Clark, thanks for that cd you made me from TMA 236.

The White Stripes - "The Denial Twist." I know judging by the rest of my musical taste you wouldn't guess this, but I really love the White Stripes. Really it's just Jack White that I love, so I love the Raconteurs too. Although with my recent viewing of the new Jack White/Alicia Keys video, I have a new appreciation for Meg White. Jack and Meg work well together. Meg brings out Jack's awesomeness, or at least lets Jack be awesome. Alicia Keys is too busy being Alicia Keys to really let Jack's awesomeness show or something...I don't know, that wasn't working for me. But Meg and Jack does work for me.

William and Samantha trivia: we were once the White Stripes for Halloween, and it was awesome, even though like 1 person all day long "got" it. I should put a picture of this up here.

I love The White Stripes' music, lyrics (usually a bit ambiguous, to me anyway, see?!), image, rocking-outness, videos, and most of all, Jack's voice. I'm tellin you. Pumps me up.

William and I enjoy rocking out to The White Stripes. We try to get Zara to rock out to it too but she's not too into it yet. In time, in time. Jack White pumps me up like no one else, except Wolverine. It is a dream of mine to see him perform live. Jack White, not Wolverine. Although if Wolverine has some kind of live show, I'd totally go.

A series of thoughtful images

2008-10-01T11:41:00.002-06:00

While lots of my friends seem to be posting about important philosophical issues, I thought I'd post a series of thoughtful, important images.

They are titled "Mango lassi mustache, in pajamas."

So angry!

She was drunk by the time she took this sip, apparently, and it cracked me up. I hope it makes you laugh as well.

Yes, a mommy post, no, no pictures.

2008-09-29T22:16:00.002-06:00

I stalk everyone's blogs every day, so I thought I needed to post.

We have two entrances to our tiny kitchen. One has been blocked by a gate since we moved in, one is sometimes open and sometimes blocked by a tipped over chair. Zara recently acquired the skill of climbing over and under and through things, so she learned how to crawl past that chair and into the kitchen. Sooooo I bought another gate.

I couldn't figure out how to get it up properly since the doorway seems to be skewed. So I lodged it in between things so it blocks the door, but you can still jiggle it around.

I had TONS of dishes to do today, so I spent quite a while in the kitchen.

This is the type of baby Zara is:

instead of doing anything else, like with the seemingly millions of toys and books she has at her disposal, the entire time I was in the kitchen (nearly 2 hours!!! On and off.) she just stood at the jiggly gate and whined and cried and talked and yelled and shook the gate back and forth. For almost 2 hours straight.

She does not like to play by herself. She is high-maintenance. Admittedly, I need to find a new approach. I try different things to get her to play alone, and I need to try some new things apparently. Some of my attempts work, some don't. Some work sometimes and not other times. She is not the most structured baby, meaning she is a bit different every day.

My mom suggested giving her some tupperware and a wooden spoon. I did so. She loved it. Figures, b/c I was done doing dishes.

I rotate her toys from room to room, her books too. I rented library books. I offer her food and sippy cups to enjoy for a while. I sit her in front of the TV for a little while. That's about the only thing that really works. I show her her various toys and all the fun to be had. I guess I need to whip out the tupperware more often. When she gets older and can do more, I think it will be easier. Coloring and whatnot. But if she had some older siblings I think things would be a lot easier with keeping her entertained. I like to get her around other kids.

So sometimes she frustrates me, and when that is the case I usually pick her up and love her up and that makes me feel better, b/c then she usually starts right up playing with me and giggling and being funny and cute and I am no longer mad. Well, not really.

A new cute thing she says: Peekaboo ("peeteeboo!")

How's THAT for a mommy post!!!

Something to read for fellow blog-stalkers.

A Response to "Music," a post by Samantha

2008-09-18T07:44:00.004-06:00

I like music, less and differently than most people, but it affects me as it does others. To properly state my relationship with music I would say that I'm not "into" music, as the saying goes. In the past I have tried to follow music, learn bands, in order to develop a critical vocabulary similar to what I do with movies. The problem is I can't keep it up because music does not capture my attention. There have been phases in my life when I wanted to be in a band, I even got an electric guitar and took two lessons, but it never worked because I was not interested in the music, just being in a band.

I almost never listen to music for entertainment. My iTunes library will play for an entire week, but in an average week for me, I listen to less than one full song, maybe a minute or two. I have an iPod that I use exclusively for podcasts of talk radio. Now and then I'll get the urge to rock, and I have the White Stripes, or if I'm nostalgic I have Tumblin' Tumbleweeds, but my typical interactions with music relegates it to a supporting role.

I often hear people remark "music is my life." I wouldn't necessarily say that about movies and my life, but I am trying to make it my area of expertise. And movies from the very beginning, even silent movies, were accompanied by music. The soundtrack is how I most often listen to music. In this context I am very much interested and affected by it. Here is an example, my favorite musical number in a movie:

I tear up whenever I watch this. The reason that I love this sequence from Rio Bravo so much has to do with my personal theory of film I have termed "Durative Mimetic Processes." The antithesis of this is a musical montage. A musical montage has too much artifice of the technology of moviemaking to feel personal and intimate. In Rio Bravo we have the characters performing the music in real time. As a viewer we get to experience a process with them. A process that is not truncated through editing or broken up through the spatially transformative power of editing between remote locations.

Apart from movies I think I appreciate music more when it is live. I can be captivated by almost any live performance, at least if there is an attempt by the musician to connect with the audience and establish the intimacy of a performance. The grander the scale, the more difficult it is I suppose. That's why Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan, with just a guitar and a harmonica, is the perfect example of successful music.

Music

2008-09-17T21:10:00.005-06:00

I like music, like most of us, except William, who doesn't care about it.

If I were to post a blog about all the music I like, it would take a long, long time. So instead, here is some music I have been very into lately- obviously, more than just the song I'm posting, but these are some of my favorite songs lately, and some of my favorite songs from the particular artists. I thank last.fm and pandora.com for introducing me to many of these awesome artists, except Nick Drake and Iron and Wine, and a few others, who I found out about from other sources.

If you want to compare my musical tastes with someone you might know about, I like music Zach Braff picks out for his movies. What a cliche! I am unashamed!!

These are not official videos; usually fan-made, from what I can tell, but some of them look artist-made.

Regina Spektor- Hotel Song. When I first heard this song I could NOT get it out of my head. It is a catchy one. I usually have to stop whatever I'm doing and just listen to it.

Joanna Newsom- "Book of Right On." I could listen to this song several times a day, every day, since I first heard it; I love it.

Iron and Wine, "Upward Over the Mountain." Something about this guy's music I just love. It's so sleepy and cozy and comforting and lovely, and sad, yes. This song makes me want to just cry, but I love it.

(Note: I don't know what the "carousel leaves" part in the title is, but I wanted to post this version b/c it was the lovely slow soft version. At 6:00 about, the song turns into something else, which I don't know what it is or who sings it, and I don't really like it, just ... keep that in mind. Stop listening after 6:00.)

Nick Drake. A high school teacher told me about him, and I'm so glad she did.
Here's one of my favorites, "Cello Song."

CocoRosie, "Noah's Ark." The ladies of CocoRosie are nutjobs, and from what I can see, as people they are unbearable, but most of their music is pretty cool. Not as cool as they think it is though.

Antony, "If it Be Your Will," by Leonard Cohen originally.
I first heard Antony's voice on Bjork's latest album, Volta. I thought it was probably a black woman, which I read Bjork also thought when she first heard his voice. Anyway, his voice is unlike anything I've ever heard, and I know many might find him strange, but I think his voice is beautiful. He seems a bit tortured and quite interesting.
This song is lovely, soaring.

Rufus Wainwright, "Hallelujah." I think this song is originally by Jeff Buckley, and he sings a beautiful version. But the first time I heard it, it was by Rufus, whose voice I have mixed feelings about, and who William wants to punch in the face whenever he hears him sing. I, however, sing this song to Zara to get her to go to sleep and it's been stuck in my head for days.

There's a lot more where that came from, so maybe I'll do a follow-up post one day.

Way post-pregnancy

2008-09-16T20:48:00.003-06:00

Here's how I feel:

When I was pregnant, I was not worried about losing the weight post-pregnancy. My body had done everything pretty well up till then, and everyone told me it would "just melt off." I wasn't getting stretch marks, I was/am young, in pretty decent shape (that's a was), so I figured it would just come off pretty fast.

It didn't. And I've constantly been very aware of that.

I remember a week after Zara was born, thinking I didn't think I'd look this good a week later. Like I thought I looked pretty thin. I don't think I did.

I have always been very conscious of my looks, and I've always been lucky to be pretty thin. Before I had Zara though I was always self-conscious about my stomach. Looking back, I should have been wearing bikinis all day long every day.

The weight didn't "melt off." Granted, I didn't work really hard to lose it, but I know other women who didn't either, and their weight came off quite fast.

I will spare you the details I see about my post-baby body, but I haven't been very happy with it. I'm at a weight now that I can stand, but I don't love.

Seeing how fast celebrities lose their weight, even if it's by unnatural means, has been hard for me. But it doesn't end there; blog-stalking hasn't helped. I see so many pictures of girls who have babies and look like they never did about 2 months later. I have seen people in person who have tiny babies and again, look like they never did. It's really hard for me b/c I constantly compare myself to others anyway, and this is no exception, and I really feel like the weight just hasn't totally come off- I mean I know it hasn't- I feel like my body changed permanently in many ways, and other womens' don't seem to. Then again, I analyze every corner and curve of my body, and not other womens'.

No one has said anything negative to me, but no one said anything positive like "wow you look so good!" either. So I know people must notice. After you have a baby people tend to look right at your stomach anyway, and that doesn't feel great. I do it too though, I think, to others. Anyway the weight / shape thing has been hard for me, and I've been hard on myself. It just makes you feel bad to see other women in your same situation looking so perfect.

I am still trying to just accept it; I had a baby, and there is really no need for me to look like I never did. I try to see the negative things as battle scars of a sort. I could try harder to get fit (I do go to the gym now!), and I hope with my next baby I do, but I doubt I'll have more time on my hands, and I feel like I shouldn't go crazy with that. It seems like by the time I get down to a weight I'm really HAPPY with, I'll probably just get pregnant again and have to do it all over. Maybe one day I just won't feel bad about it anymore!

I need to stop looking at pictures of people and comparing myself though! Let's all stop doing that, yes?

I saw a website somewhere that has pictures of women's "real bodies" after having babies, and it kind of made me feel better to not be the only one struggling. And I'm not saying I have had it harder than anyone else b/c I totally haven't.

Another thing that's weird for me to accept is that I'm kind of "older" now. I mean I'm only 24 but I'm not a teenager, not a college student. I'm a married woman, a mom, a college graduate, not one of the youngest people around anymore. It's kind of weird to be out of that stage still for me.

I guess I wanted to share this b/c maybe somebody reading felt or feels the same way. Or similar about another situation. If you do, please share.

hi-larious

2008-09-15T10:57:00.004-06:00

I only want to start a political conversation here if you agree with me. Ha!

But this was satisfying to watch, b/c it pretty well sums up how I feel. Which is hate. For this whole McCain/Palin issue.

Some adult-ish content, for my more sensitive Mormom readers.

I've finally accepted the facts.

2008-09-15T10:19:00.005-06:00

Listen, talking about being honest... and this will make everyone hate me and think I'm a jerk! But we all think our children are the best, right??

When I hear about how much other babies Zara's age, or even older, talk, how many words they say (and I'm not saying this to rub it in to anyone whose kids don't talk much yet b/c you know they will), I just think, I can't lie to myself anymore, Zara really is a genius. I'm not impressed by how your 18 month old says "baby!" My baby has been saying baby since she was 10 months old and if I were to make a list of all the things she says, it would be a never-ending, boring post. My point is, Zara is a genius. Ask anyone who knows her. It's true. Your baby will never catch up.

I almost erased that last sentence but I decided to keep it b/c I know it's how all of us moms feel about some aspect of our kids.

Zara tidbit some of you know:

the other day she figured out how to tip over this basket that was in front of the TV to block her from it (now she just climbs onto it and tries to stand up) so she couldn't press the buttons. She tipped it over like 3 times and started to press the buttons on the TV, and each time I'd say "NO NO NO! Zara!" and put it back, etc. The third or fourth time, I sat in front of her, and really close, face to face, said, "Zara! No! Don't do that!" and she just looked at me for a second, then kissed me on the lips and walked away. WHAAAA!?! What do you do! So cute, so not good.

this picture is old but everyone likes pictures in a post.

An afterthought:

The reason I post this is b/c I was thinking about how whenever someone tells me Zara is so smart, I say something like "Oh thank you!" or "Well she's just really interested in talking, you know?!" and try to downplay how I feel about her smarts (B/c a) I don't want to show off and b) maybe part of the reason I do this is b/c I think people are just saying that b/c they want me to like them or to feel good, and it's not a sincere comment). But inside I'm screaming with pride, thinking "I KNOW! Let me tell you all the things she already says and all the awesome things she does!"

So I thought I'd own up to my true feelings on the matter.

Tagged by Brooke

2008-09-10T13:16:00.001-06:00

I am: quite open with my emotions and thoughts.
I think: that’s part of what makes me me.
I know: I am full of contradictions.
I want: to change a lot of things about myself.
I have: a shoe on my windowsill to keep the blinds from banging around- it shoves the blinds to the window so the wind can’t blow the blinds around and make noise.
I dislike: things in other people that are usually the same things I dislike in myself. I also dislike insincerity and putting on airs. Does that mean I do that? Oh no!!
I miss: certain things / people about BYU. Much, I don’t miss.
I fear: that there may be spiders anywhere in our apartment. I shake out all towels and I am constantly on guard. What happens if I encounter a big one near Zara and I am forced to be super woman and kill it myself?!
I feel: snoozy
I hear: bad things about Sarah Palin
I smell: misplaced clothing items to see if they are clean. Gross but true.
I crave: soda, all the time.
I cry: when I’m stressed.
I usually: don’t get enough sleep.
I search: for things I’ve never heard of on google (b/c of my job), and often things I wish I didn’t know about now.
I wonder: what Zara will be like when she gets older.
I regret: not even trying out to be a dance major. I don’t necessarily regret not being one, although I might, I’m not sure; I just regret that I didn’t even try. I would have liked to know, looking back, if I would have gotten in or not.
I love: my little family
I care: about what William does during the day, even if it would sound boring.
I always: think about the future.
I worry: about just about everything you can think of. Or if you’re William, things you never thought of.
I am not: laconic or spartan
I remember: what those words mean
I believe: that God is always right.
I dance: a few times a week now! Well, as of next week.
I sing: to Zara every day.
I don't always: wash my hair every day.
I argue: with William about things he’s not arguing back about. It’s pretty one-sided. And embarrassing.
I write: my signature as my first initial and last name
I win: ....turns out I’m never in competition - type situations, so I can’t answer this...
I lose: arguments
I wish: I didn’t care so much about how I look.
I listen: to NPR
I don't understand: not having the need to talk
I can usually be found: with Zara.
I am scared: of being left alone. In life, not just like, for a few minutes.
I need: mascara, coverup, powder, blush, lipgloss, water. every day.
I forget: things when I don’t write them down, but I think I’ve trained myself that I need to write things down.
I am happy: on Sundays when me, Z and W are relaxing together
I tag: buildings with graffiti.

"pretty good lookin, for a girl"

2008-09-05T15:08:00.009-06:00

Here's the rest of our apartment:

I gave you a more accurate impression of our messy kitchen than what the rest of our house usually looks like. And ew, b/c I didn't realize until I saw this picture how dirty the back of the stove and the wall above it looks. I clean that too. I guess it's not working. I've seen some things in this apt. that make me think maybe the people living here before us didn't clean everything.

The kitchen is so tiny and we spend so much time in it that it's like we're constantly cleaning it and doing dishes. Ah well, it's cooooo. Although, any dishes advice? We don't have a dishwasher, so how do you get dishes super clean without one? Sometimes I feel like they are still yucko.

I like our living room area more than our bedroom area. I'd like to get some style going in our bedroom, but I'd also like to win the lottery. I guess I'd have to start playing the lottery first. One day all our bedroom furniture will match. We'll be 65.

Sometimes we put the papasan cushion on the floor next to our bed. She sleeps really well that way, and for longer, which I need, so I can work. She likes sleeping in this position (in her crib as well), so we like it too. And it's sooooper cute.

I loved this outfit on her. It got even cuter later with her pink cupcake Robeez. When William put these pants on her yesterday morning I almost peed it was so cute.

Zara tidbit of the day: I think everyone knows she's been walking for a while now, which is fun, and crazy. But now she likes praying, which I guess is good! But she likes it too much. In the last few weeks she really picked up on it, and whenever anyone in church prays she started folding her arms so we started working on it with her, and now when you say "say a prayer!" or "fold your arms!" she obediently does so. Or when we are about to eat, with all the food out on the table, she'll fold her arms and say "EMU!!" (Amen.) So we follow her lead, and pray. Then halfway through the meal, a few times actually, she'll do it again, so we say a few little prayers b/c she seems to enjoy it so much. Hilarious.

I think most of you know that she wags her finger and says "no no no no" when she's getting into something she shouldn't be- chastises herself.

Is this election thing making anyone else mad? Every day I get annoyed at something about it.

For Christmas I want lots of things. But mostly I want this blog printed in a little book. A bound book would be nice. Hint hint, William. Wait, I already told him I wanted to go see Savion Glover in November. Either way there's no way he bought me anything yet so I figured I'd you know, let him know, in public form. So in case he forgets everyone can remind him.

weed whacker death

2008-09-03T10:05:00.003-06:00

There are few things more annoying to me than the sound of a weed whacker. I hate those. I bet I could come up with a pretty big list of other things that annoy me though.

Let's all blog more, b/c we all know we stalk each other's blogs.

2008-09-02T19:11:00.004-06:00

Firstly, CONGRATS TO KELSEY AND BILL on the birth of their beautiful Teresa- I wish so much I could be there to adore and help.

Secondly, here's a Zara tidbit for the day:

this morning as I was working, our bedroom door was closed and William was watching her, and soon loud, incessant banging starts on the door. Super loud, like she's got something in her hand. I ignore it, giggling, then she starts crying. William opens the door for her, and she toddles in, big smile on her face. She had been banging on the door with some of my creme eyeshadow she found in my makeup bag on the kitchen table. Apparently she wanted to see me.

another bit: she had her first taste of soda the other day (accidental! William let her sip on his straw, b/c she hadn't figured out how to get liquid out of straws yet- but this time she did it quite well)- and after the initial shock, with us cracking up, she perked right up and screamed at the soda cup on the table- "MO! MO! MO!!!!" (more). We cracked up more. We're gonna have to drink our soda in secret so she doesn't get jealous. Or, we could stop drinking soda.

Here are some pictures of our apartment. I didn't get any of the front room yet but I will soon.

From the entrance to our room:

From the other direction:

obviously

miss Z's room

and one of Z with a mango lassi moustache, for good measure.

Here's an assignment: all you readers who really don't have any friends except your immediate family (I'm talking someone you hang out with, feel way comfortable with, etc. Someone you live by too, long distance doesn't count), give me a shout out. B/c that's how I'm feelin' right now. Let's just be proud of it instead of feeling pathetic.

Thoughts on school, getting in trouble.

2008-08-28T13:57:00.005-06:00

Driving William to campus, now that school has started, I'm seeing, obviously, students on said campus. I can't explain why, but it is infinitely weird for me to be seeing people smoking on campus. Lots of people. The revealing clothing on girls (I actually saw a guy with some nice chest hair showing too) is one thing, but for some reason I can not get used to the idea that people smoke on campus! (In case someone reading doesn't get this, I went to BYU, where smoking, and just about everything else, is prohibited on campus. And in life.)

Whenever I see someone smoking (which again is way more prevalent than I expected) I have this feeling like "you are not supposed to be doing that!!" I mean I know my only college experience was vastly different from this college experience, but you'd still think I'd be able to get used to this.

I also feel like everyone is looking at me like "What are you doing here? You have a kid. Get out."

I also don't understand why, but I still associate myself with being a student. I am not, and I may not ever be an official "student" again. I used to be, yes, but for 4 years (college I'm referring to). I USED to be many things I no longer am, and I don't associate myself with those things anymore, so why being a student? Perhaps I miss the thought, even if it was forced. It was more like "led- thought." Or would that be "lead-thought?" See? I need to go back to school. I do miss the aspect of college that every day you have something interesting to do (although if you asked me 3 years ago maybe I would have said much of my day was boring, I don't know), and you had intellectual conversations with many like-minded people. Or few like-minded people but at least you could make fun of the morons together.

For some reason all this has made me think about an aspect of myself that I always think is obvious but when I mention it to people sometimes they seem a bit surprised. I hate being yelled at, having people mad at me, or getting in trouble. I especially hate/fear getting in trouble/yelled at by authority figures, but it goes beyond that. Really just in life in general, I just don't want anyone mad at me. I want everyone to like me. It's gotten out of control sometimes. Sometimes there's someone who I really don't like, but they like me, and I really wish they didn't like me, but not enough to actually make that happen. I just want everyone to at least passively like me and not think anything bad about me. It's completely hypocritical b/c I think tons of bad things about other people. And often say them. Just not to their faces. So maybe I have a constant fear that everyone else is doing the same thing to me...

And if I ever get in trouble with anyone in a position of power over me, forget it. Like if I get yelled at by someone I look up to (or maybe anyone?) I just want to curl into a ball and cry. I usually do cry, just minus the ball curling. In that moment I feel like my life is ending. I am saying this with a laugh but it's true.

I think many of the "bad" things I've avoided doing was out of fear of getting in trouble. It's funny b/c what's the worst that can happen if you get in trouble? Well to me, in my mind, I don't even want to think of the possibilities. I never could understand the kids that did bad stuff and got in trouble at school, got a detention, or whatever. That stuff isn't hard to avoid, so just don't do anything that gets you in trouble, gosh! Like smoking in the bathroom at school, what the heck are you thinking!!

People that aren't afraid of getting in trouble- I just can't imagine that. I always stayed as far away from any kind of punishment as possible. This is related to my fear of people being mad at me. I guess you can analyze this and say I need tons of reassuring and praise. Which is true.

I remember once in high school some teacher or something showed me the place in the school's basement where the "bad kids" were stored away during like...day detention, whatever that's called. The room was empty at the time, luckily, or else those kids would have eaten me alive. Down there they go to school but not class, just stay in this little dungeon class room and can't talk or do anything all day and are under scary security guard supervision. I promise you I felt like I was visiting the gas chamber of a Nazi concentration camp.

So please don't get me in trouble. I will cry lots. Maybe that's why I get so nervous about the people on campus smoking. I just want them to avoid getting in trouble, which is inevitable if you are smoking on campus!!

Snooozy, or "HNOOHNEE" as Z-girl says.

2008-08-23T18:10:00.004-06:00

I felt so bad doing this, but she was taking her nap too late and it would mean a bad night for everyone. And it really captures some of her sweetness. Watch all of it. It's cute.

5th Anniversary and Union, IL

2008-08-22T18:14:00.002-06:00

Beth watched Zara while William and I went to Geneva, IL. (Thanks Beth, or "BET!" as Zara enthusiastically says!)

We went to a cool big park area some rich peeps used to own back at the turn of the century. It included a windmill, as pictured here, and a Japanese garden, and a private island, and a Grecian style pool with pillars, and a zoo, with a bear den. Crazy rich people. When I get filthy rich I will do nothing of the sort. I will just buy lots of makeup and perfume.

We also ate Japanese food, which was delicious.

Here's that garden:

And us at the train museum in Union.

Maybe I'll start posting funny tidbits about the wee one, b/c she does crazy things every day. Who am I kidding thinking this blog will ever be anything other than a mommy blog?

Here's one: lately she has begun wagging her finger back and forth and saying "No no no no no" when she's not supposed to do something. It's kind of like she chastises herself and it's hilarious.

I can't get it together!

2008-08-19T16:00:00.003-06:00

Here's us a few weeks ago on our webcam.

I totally want to post and I have lots to post about, but I don't have access to my old pictures yet b/c SOMEONE hasn't uploaded them onto our new computer, and someone else (me) doesn't know how to do that herself... and now I can't find the wire to upload my current pics onto this computer...

We moved, stuff is good, joined the ymca today in the hopes of losing 10 lb by Christmas (and I'm terrified of leaving Zara at the KidZone), stuff is busy, William started school, baby is crazy and hilarious, I'm starting to realize there's not enough time in a day if you want to spend any of your time not working on something, one of these days I'm going to get everything together and start posting something decent again...

See Mike and Rachel's blog (there should be a link to the R?) for pics of our recent excursion with them.

tappa tappa tappa

2008-08-04T08:44:00.002-06:00

The last class I took was from Jimmy Payne Jr. He was cool enough to let us record him doing the exercises we learned. I hope to take from him again, it was a good class. His website is: jimmypaynejr.com. I almost have the combo down pat- my excuse for not already having it down is that it's been 2 years. If you're reading this, Jimmy, thanks for the great class!!

Weekend recap: rode the train Saturday, drove Sunday, almost fell asleep driving. My entire body is sore, I'm out of shape, I developed blisters after about 45 minutes of dancing (probably due to the fact that after I had Zara my feet got a little bigger), but that's totally OK b/c it was worth it. The first day was a bit discouraging b/c I'm out of practice and probably not as good as I once was, and b/c I couldn't remember the stuff I learned enough to practice it or write it down, and b/c my first teacher was an egotistical diva. But the rest of my teachers were very cool, and I hope to do this again. More classes in February I plan on going to. I hope I get the teaching job I'm going for up here.

Isn't this funny?

2008-07-30T14:50:00.003-06:00

Like I said, I've been looking forward to this tap workshop for years. But I am getting increasingly excited/nervous about it. Reasons:

1) I am out of practice. I'm ashamed and dismayed by this, but it's been like 2 years since I've REALLY put on my tap shoes and danced, and I had a baby, so I'm also not really in shape- I'm going to be dancing 3 hours each day on Saturday and Sunday, and that would be tiring if I WAS in physical condition. So I'm nervous. And I haven't taken a class in years so who knows if I'll be able to pick things up.

I'm also sad I won't be able to do this just ALL THE TIME b/c I'm going to love it. I wish I had the money to sign up for a million more of the classes.

2) I feel like these workshops with famous choreographer/dancers get a bit competitive among the students in the classes.

3) This is the funniest, weirdest of my reasons for being nervous: I am going alone. I have not done anything alone like this, I kid you not, in years. I don't even remember the last time I just spent a whole day doing something out of the house, by myself. Between having a baby and before that just being married, I spend all my time with other people. They are people I love, so that's essentially how I want to spend my time, so I'm not complaining. But it feels weird. I am taking the train most likely, and with all the time b/t when the train leaves and when it arrives back here, I'll be gone like 12 hours each day. I find myself thinking...I wish I had someone to keep me company! Then I think, ek, this will be so good for me, being alone for a while. I can finish Les Miserables. I can think. I can stare. I don't have to take diapers and toys and wipes and baby food and a stroller with me. I can do whatever I want, kind of. But it's by myself! HOW WILL I SURVIVE?

4) Also I don't want to get lost.

5) Did I mention that I feel like I need to call William every 2 hours to make sure Zara's diaper is changed and she has shoes on and is clean and is being fed and not choking on things? And not watching TV all day?

As you can see, I'm like a small child here, all worked up about this, it's like all I think about all week. What a nerd.

Photo Booth

2008-07-28T19:15:00.000-06:00

We have a webcam on our new computer, and Zara had fun with it earlier.

super fast update!

2008-07-27T16:53:00.002-06:00

We are in our new place and very happy! I've just been running around trying to get as much done as possible in as short a period of time as possible. We've had lots of help, which we are immeasurably grateful for. Zara is going through an adjustment and seems to be taking it out on me- I'm not her favorite person since we moved in. I'm sure when things settle it will be better.

I'm trying to throw away a lot, which feels good. I'll post pics of the apartment when we get everything settled.

PS, I have a tap dance workshop in Chicago this weekend and am super psyched and NERVOUS b/c I'm way out of practice!! EEK! I really feel like I might cry b/c they go too fast, but I have been looking forward to this for years, so I'm excited. See www.chicagotap.org.

Here are a few pics of Z's bday party:

avocado frosting on her cupcake cake (you can't see the & before William's name!)introduction to the cupcake
after warming up to the cupcake
singin' to em both!

William is mourning.

2008-07-19T20:25:00.003-06:00

Our beloved Mac has passed on. We hope its spirit is with those of other heavenly Macs, glowing, prancing, responding quickly to the computing needs of happy heavenly Mac users. We are working on replacing him. Until then, you'll have to just imagine how cute Zara's birthday party was. Pictures will come eventually. We move next weekend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM!

2008-07-10T10:06:00.001-06:00

Last year, his birthday was trumped by Zara. Perhaps the same thing will happen this year. And every year.

But HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I could go on and on, but I have discovered two words that describe him in the best way possible:

spartan.
laconic.

look them up. I had to.

So I will be spartan. And laconic.

Happy birthday my B!