I've found my ideal job...

From this article

Robert Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County who studies laughter, notes that dogs pant in a certain way when they're playing, and rats are known to chirp.

So he thinks the roots of laughter might go even further back and would like to see more studies like this one that compare different animals' playful sounds.

"I think that it's about time we get out there, start tickling the dogs and the cats, and the pigs, the rats, as well as the chimpanzees," Provine says. "I think we'll learn a lot about what we have in common, as well as our differences."

Can't you just see me as an Animal Tickler?

most recent portrait session

Check it out here.

last week...what a week!

We got off to a good start, at least...

On Memorial Day we got a lot of work done, plus I got to go to Savers with my friend Leah (in case you didn't know, Savers has everything 50% off on all holidays) and got some great stuff. Some jeans for Noodle, a cool vest for Spud (that he wore nonstop the next two days), some clothes for Sprout, a little stuffed toy for Noodle & Spud, I also got four very cute juice glasses (okay, to the untrained eye they probably look like plain juice glasses, but trust me...) and two fabulous blue dinner plates. And it was fun to hang out with Leah for a bit with just the babies.

Monday evening we went and had a picnic at Rock Canyon Park which was also a lot of fun.

Tuesday morning our internet was down. And it was down Wednesday. And Thursday. There were a couple of hours during those days when it "flickered" on. This wouldn't be such a big deal if my job didn't require the internet. On top of that, we have this preschool thing for Spud that he is supposed to do 5 days a week, 15 min/day that requires internet, and we are also working through some online phonics lessons with Noodle. So, not having the internet was a major disruption in our regularly scheduled life.

David's grandmother came into town on Monday, his sister Tina arrived on Tuesday and his other sister Jenn came on Thursday for their youngest sister Anita's graduation. So there was all those things to do, too. David and I had a "misunderstanding" on Thursday morning, which caused hard feelings between us the rest of the day. Thankfully we had a chance on Friday to talk and resolve things. After nearly 8 years of marriage, we still have serious glitches in our communication at times. We feel like we're finally making some progress, though. I think we'd been stuck in a rut for quite some time.

Jenn came to hang out with the kids on Friday, then Friday evening she, David & I went out for dinner. The kids slept over at their Nana & Pop pop's house. I worked a whole bunch of hours to make up for the downtime.

Saturday the internet was down for a while again, my computer crashed, I had book club and then we had a family BBQ with David's family. The evening ended with us all trying to mediate a dialogue between Joe (David's dad) and Anita. She is having a really hard time being at home and the parents, especially Joe, aren't making it easy. He says hurtful things to her without realizing or remembering them. We had to end before we made much progress, but we are planning a "group session" for later this week. At least Joe is willing to try. Most fathers of his generation wouldn't even bother.

David & Keith are in the processing of restoring my computer and we bought a 1 terrabyte back-up drive since it is essential for my photography business. Oh, last Saturday I did a family portrait session with a very cute family in our ward. I'll report when those are on my website. So I've also been editing photos this week.

This week was a painful reminder that my life doesn't function smoothly without an internet connection. Weird to be so dependent on something.

So, yeah, that's my life lately. And Noodle turns SEVEN this Tuesday!!

(And the irony is that the internet died yet again as I was trying to get this posted Sunday afternoon....)

tummy time

He's not a huge fan, but he sure is cute. And drooly.

it's a dog's life

This is what the dogs were doing while I was working this afternoon.

being a mom...

means that sometimes the oddest things will make you emotional. I was cleaning off the table and I came across Noodle's drawings for the day (click to view them on her blog). For some reason, the fact that all three depict such happy scenes just got to me. I especially love the laundry one, and I'm glad that she is familiar with clotheslines as I imagine there are many kids in the world who aren't! It made me so happy to see these pictures and know that she is having a happy childhood. What a wonderful little girl.

thank heavens...

for baby slings. For some unknown reason, Sprout is refusing to nap today unless I am holding him. He usually naps just fine upstairs on the bed, but not today. So after a couple of HOURS of holding him, I decide to just grab the sling and strap him in. Since he weighs about 17 lbs now, this is a much better way to hold him.

Last night we ran a bunch of errands and stupidly left all of our slings at home (we have three plus one that is missing). That is a mistake we won't make again! He was very content just being held in our arms, but we certainly could feel it!

On a semi-related note, we got a new battery for my pedometer. It calculates calories burned, also, based on your weight. I figure I can probably add 1-200 extra every day for packing around this "little" guy. :o)

end of pity party

Yeah, I'm over it. I had a nice mother's day, complete with a homemade card (plenty of glitter) a primary teacher-assisted bookmark, and yummy food made by my husband. Also, a box of chocolates (that I specifically told him to get). I think next year for my birthday I'll just make sure he knows that I want something wrapped. :o) He's very accommodating and thoughtful, even if he isn't "into" birthdays and made up fake holidays.

i guess i skipped over...

...my birthday. Well, to be honest, there wasn't all that much to report. David's folks are always really kind to get me something nice, but we hadn't settled on anything this year. I was leaning towards chickens, but then decided that at present I'm not up to being responsible for any more living things. David tends not to get too into birthdays, preferring to do nice things and give gifts unexpectedly at other times of the year. Which is nice, but I would be lying if I didn't confess to wanting at least something to unwrap on my birthday. A very sweet friend brought me over a gift card, and I am enjoying contemplating what frivolous thing I should get with it. Another friend brought over some cookies that night, and another friend came back into town and brought me some delicious treats. Also, I went and bought myself a birdbath a couple days later for the backyard as my birthday present from David. The best part of the day was the delicious hot fudge brownie sundaes we had instead of a cake. I just wasn't in the mood for cake this year.

I think what I'd really like in the future is for him to coordinate something with the kids to give me. I know they'd like to be able to give me something, but they are too young to come up with things all on their own. And having Mother's Day the same week as my birthday (and also not having much fuss made over that) is also kind of a bummer.

Anyone want to come to my pity party? I've provide the cheese to go with my whine... :o)

happy kids

We've been having a lot less fighting around here lately. I attribute it largely to the new "consequence" I've imposed -- they each get to pull 10 weeds every time they fight.

3 months old

Can you believe it? Why does time seem to go by more quickly every year and with each new child?

April...

April was my worst blogging month ever, I think. EIGHT posts? sheesh, pathetic!

april showers

I took pictures of my sister-in-law Anita and her prom date tonight. It was fun and we got some good shots, even though we had to shoot inside and I was really looking forward to an outside session. Oh well. I felt the need to document the "beautiful weather," though, and I am glad I did (even though it was a bit of an ordeal to hold my camera, my camera bag, my step stool, my umbrella, and my collapsed photo umbrella. Maybe that's why I liked the shots so much, it was quite an effort to get them.

kids

Family

So this is my family. We are missing a niece and a nephew, but for some unknown reason there are an extra guy (about my missing nephew's age) and some random girl (about my niece's age). I'm really not sure why they joined the picture. So the number is right even if the faces aren't!

It was pretty cool, though, as it is the most of us we've had together in a LOOONG time. We had Leif's blessing at church in the morning and then my nephew Spencer's mission farewell after that. My nephew Jason just got back from his mission (to Philadelphia) in February, my brother Eric's family just moved back to Idaho from Belgium in March, and Spencer went in to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) today (he'll be going to southern France) and another nephew and possibly a niece will be heading out on missions this summer, so we won't all be together again for at least two years.

itching to blog

I've been doing lots and lots of thinking lately...the kind where you realize you've been mistaken about some things for a long time, and you kind of feel like perhaps now you are ready to see the world through a slightly less smudgy window, but you're afraid that the new found illumination isn't going to last. (Okay, maybe that's just me.) Lots of thinking. But I've also been doing lots of working. I don't think I've told you that I've worked 30 hours every week since the first of the year. Yup, that includes the week that began the day after Sprout's arrival. There has been tasks available to do, so I've done them. It's been intense. I like to think that I'm developing self-discipline, and that when I no longer have this job I'll be able to put those 30 hours to good, productive use in other ways. I hope so.

Anyways, I digress. I really feel like sharing some of my thoughts as a way to help myself sort through them, but I just haven't found the time. I hope to find it soon enough, but with my sister and her family coming up later this week (yay!) I'm not sure how soon it will actually happen.

I seem to have missed the "obligatory" Easter post, but we had a very fun day. During the preceding week we read about the last week of Christ's life every morning as part of our devotional, and that was really neat. I think the kids even got something out of it, and I know I did. If I had my druthers, I'd move all the "egg/bunny stuff" (which I think is great fun) to the Vernal Equinox and have a big ol' pagan-inspired party and then save Easter for more spiritually enlightening activities. Unfortunately, David's dad is not so keen on the idea, and they are the ones who head up the family Egg Hunt each year. Oh well.

10 weeks old

Looking like a baby Clark Kent.

doggy drama

As if three kids don't create enough drama...

So my little fluffhound, Daisy, finally got over her grudge against me this week. Details: We got Daisy at about age 2.5, and from the beginning she was SUPER playful. Always delighted to play fetch with her plush squeaky toys or tug with her rope. It was one of my favorite things about her. Due to working a lot of hours and then Sprout's arrival, she wasn't getting played with nearly enough. About 3 weeks ago I started feeling up to "things" enough again and wanted to get back in the habit of playing with her. She would have NOTHING to do with it. In fact, she just gave me these looks of "I have no idea what you are doing," when I'd squeak or toss her toys. I have to admit I was worried and disappointed. What if I'd "broken" my dog? I tried every few days with no success. Then last Friday we had some friends over and she got really excited. She kind of forgot herself in all the excitement and ran to bring me one of her toys. I thought, "YAY!" and threw the toy. Nothing. It did seem like a baby step, though, so I was hopeful. A couple of days ago she played the game of "run around like a crazy fluffy demon" and then after that she ran off to find a toy, and we played fetch again. Today we had another great game of upstairs-hall fetch, so I think she might be back to her old, playful self again. And it makes me really happy.

And now a story about Rudy. He was having his crate time today (he doesn't "chill" very well, so he spends a fair amount of time in his crate so he can have some relaxed time) and we suddenly hear some "yowp yowp yowp" sounds. He whines on occasion when he wants out, but this sounded like pain. It stopped and Spud checked on him and saw nothing wrong. Then a minute later it started up again, and didn't stop. I ran over and opened his crate and he hobbled out, dangling his left front paw and yowping like he was about to die. I couldn't figure out what he could have done to it, but I took him outside for his potty break and he was still not putting weight on it. He stopped the crying, and after a couple of minutes gingerly put some weight on his foot. I think his foot fell asleep and it freaked him out, which is kind of funny once you get past feeling sorry for the doofus. :o)

i like this

2 months old!

I think one of the craziest things about having a baby is the effect it has on your perception of time. Babies grow so quickly and learn so much that two months is pretty notable. By the time they are two, though, two months doesn't mean quite as much. And when they are five or six, any change is almost imperceptible.