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.

funny

Lego Man Prank Call
Uploaded by gagfilms

As Pumba said...

"You've gotta put your behind in the past."

I had a very neat/odd experience a couple weeks back. I was perusing the facebook pages of some friends and saw a comment from a childhood friend of mine on another friend's page. At the time, I wasn't "FB friends" with the childhood friend, but I immediately sent her a friend request. Shortly after that, another childhood friend added me as a friend. On that day, so many memories started rushing through my mind, it was like someone had just opened the floodgates as old emotions and experiences came pouring out. So many things I hadn't thought about in 20 years. I was amazed that they were even still in my brain somewhere.

I don't know how other people remember their past, but I do know that for me, most of my experiences as a child and teenager are pretty fuzzy. I tend to remember them about the same as I remember movies that I've watched--often the emotion of the situation is not really there and I don't remember a lot of specifics. I wish I remembered a lot of the experiences more vividly, but I don't. I've wondered if part of it is that when I left for college I was really ready for a new start. I'd had a pretty great life up to that point, but hadn't really felt like I had discovered who I really was. I was ready to leave a lot of the old me (at least the me that had developed during adolescence) behind and become who I was truly meant to be. I think perhaps this conscious separation from my former self might have severed some of the connection to a lot of the memories. Plus, after leaving my hometown to come to BYU, I never returned for more than a week or so at a time, so I didn't have much chance to remind myself of the past. One time I went home, probably about 6 years after I'd left and I went to my old high school just to walk around. I felt so many old emotions and feelings come over me that it was almost frightening! It was certainly unnerving to have those thoughts and feelings come up unbidden.

Well, I've strayed from my original intent, which was to somehow address the uniqueness of experience and how we really do live in isolated realities, but this is getting somewhat lengthy so perhaps I'll save those thoughts for another day. But I am curious if anyone cares to share what memories are like for them and how vivid they are. I hope that in the next life we'll easily be able to recall our favorite experiences and get to feel the thrill again of some of the best days from various times in life.

too blue to blog

So I've not been up to blogging lately. I find that when I'm feeling down, it's hard to work up any motivation to share thoughts or connect with others (though a couple of friends have been kind enough to listing to me rant and cry). Lately I've just been feeling overwhelmed (again). Though it hasn't been the kids that have been overwhelming me, which I count as a sign of good progress in that area!

Noodle & Spud have spent much free time this week playing with the Legos that David brought back from his parents' house. Oh what fun they have! Noodle plays Legos a lot like I did when I was a kid - building houses, making little Lego critters (I made birds as we didn't have any lego animals, she is lucky enough to have two Lego horses and a shark!) and acting out scenarios with the various Lego people. Luckily I snagged the "girl hair" we had at my house way back when, as otherwise we only have helmets and hats, and Noodle doesn't like pretending that the helmet-wearers COULD be girls whose hair you just can't see. One of these days we'll do an order from the Lego store and get some more girl hair...then it will be less of a "Smurfette" situation. Anyways, it's pretty fun to watch them play, especially when they play nicely, which they have been doing most of the week!


We went to the Walter Wick exhibit at the BYU Art Museum yesterday afternoon. He's the "I Spy" guy. Pretty fun stuff. If you're local, I highly recommend it. Even Spud enjoyed it. It runs through sometime in August.

I think I'm turning the corner in my melancholy, though, so in case you are dying to see more random videos, lolcats, or pictures of my kids, you might soon be in luck!

14.8 pounds

with his clothes on. He's seven weeks old today. :o) At least we know he isn't starving, right?

noodle & sprout

David's sister Tina came up for a visit this week. She was hanging out with the kids for a while and got these pictures. I love the ones of Noodle & Sprout--you can see what a loving big sister she is.

Music Monday

ha ha ha!!!

sprout

Well, I haven't posted much about him since his arrival five and a half weeks ago, but it isn't because I'm not madly in love with this little guy. He is SUCH a sweet little baby. He really doesn't care to fuss much, only when he needs to tell you what's going on. The first three or so weeks he LOATHED getting his diaper changed, but now he's cool with it. He's still not a huge fan of having clothes put on or off if they have to go over his head, but he doesn't cry every time we do that, either, so he's learning that his head will not, in fact, come off with the onesie.

During the night, he sleeps pretty well. We co-sleep with his crib next to us, though for now he's still on our mattress. He wakes up a couple times usually to nurse, but then goes right back to sleep. He also takes pretty good naps during the day. Today he sat happily in the bouncy seat while I bounced him softly with my foot while I brushed Daisy. He's not a huge fan of the car, but usually calms down after a bit.

I think we got some early grins today...very subtle, while we played peek-a-boo. Soon enough, I'm sure.

He had his first cold this past week. We were a but nervous since he is so young, but he came through it all okay.

Oh, and he doesn't have colicky (i.e. unexplained fussy) times AND he doesn't spit up. So he's pretty easy to have around.

His baby acne still flares up, and I wonder if it's stuck around this long because I'm having some thyroid issues.

Noodle has been a great big sister. She loves
to carry him around, which is pretty cute because he's almost half her length/height. She does great, though. She is careful with him and is happy to walk around and do anything she can to help him be happy. It's great to have an extra set of arms that can hold him while I do other things occasionally. Spud loves him, too, though he isn't really interested in holding him. Mostly he just asks how he's doing and brings him toys and such.

So, yeah, Sprout is doing great.

"Look Lisa, I'm Learnding!"

So the word for the weekend (I guess, since it's been up for more than a day) is pied-a-terre, which I actually had heard before, thanks to Baby Mama. Being a huge fan of both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, I was happy that I loved this movie so much. I saw it twice in theaters, once with my sister-in-law Anita and once with some girlfriends. Then once with David at home on video. And then another time on video when I needed something to watch while doing laundry/chores. And I still laugh every time.

So, you should see it if you like their kind of humor.* You might learn something new, even.



*I am not responsible for your enjoyment or lack thereof of this movie. This is not intended to replace competent medical advice.

shadows

I am NOT diggin' this

Stupid "In like a Lion" March.

a benefit of homeschool

It's okay to bring your pet to class.

don't you wish...

your family was cute like mine?* (Okay, so that only works [or has a chance of working] for any of you who know the "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me" song. So, 'fess up--who knows that song?)


*And actually, I know you all have very cute families.