new beginnings

It's been an interesting week. On the one hand, it's been nice to get back into the very regimented routine of a teaching semester. All four of us have really loved having our new little study in the used-to-be-a-dining-room, and it's been particularly nice to be able to answer student emails and grade papers while the girls play quietly with THEIR toys, rather than fiddling around with the treadmill.

On the other hand, Juliet and I are still sick (ten days for Juliet, seven days for me) and I have so little energy that something like canning salsa or mowing the lawn seems like an insurmountable barrier (both of those knocked me out for the rest of the night). I can feel my heart thudding like mad when I finish my usual 3-mile run, and the fact that I have to grade or update things on my website during naptime makes me want to cry.

But on the bright side, it's a three-day weekend (although our to-do list is eight miles long) and Juliet hasn't nursed in 48 hours! (I see a wide vista of freedom and gloriousness opening up before me...if you've ever had a child who nursed exclusively for 13 months and absolutely refused to ever take a bottle, you'll know what kind of excitement I'm talking about!) We're moving onwards and upwards, even if we do backslide every now and then.

Nie Nie Day

As I mentioned yesterday, today is "Nie Nie Day," with auctions held (literally) worldwide to benefit the Nielson family. If you haven't already checked out Design Mom's site, stop on by, and don't miss the auctions over at Flowerchain!

I'm not hosting an auction here (I'm not very crafty and I didn't think anyone would really go for a free resume-editing package, although maybe they would), but I did want to take a minute to talk about Stephanie Nielson and the enormous impact she's had on my life through the blogging world. This may not be particularly well-worded or developed, but I really wanted to say a few words about someone who has touched me and influenced me so deeply.

Last week my dear friend Rachel wrote a post that really struck me. She said, "My heart has ached for this family--for all the families involved--this week. It's amazing the things you can feel for people you've never met. And in the process I've realized that what many criticize as the impersonal nature of communication in the electronic age is not always so impersonal. In fact, blogging has transformed what could have been just another 30 second news story into a tragedy the weight of which I feel in my very flesh."

I loved that idea--that while we talk about how disconnected everyone's becoming in the electronic age, the aftermath of the Nielsons' crash has shown how many thousands of women Stephanie has touched. Many have written posts or comments about how she inspired them to spend more time playing with their children, to unabashedly show their devotion to their husband, and to appreciate life in the moment.

I'd have to add my own voice to these thousands of other women. I've been reading Stephanie's blog for several years, so the way she mothers has influenced my own parenting style quite a bit. Because of her, I make homemade tortillas. Because of her, I run and do yoga. Because of her, there are crayon scribbles on my floor and I don't mind. Because of her, I try to actively voice my affection for my husband. Because of her, I've been inspired to try so many new things that seemed intimidating to me before. I have loved reading her blog and seeing how she greets each day with so much optimism and hope and faith. I once read a post on Martha Stewart Living's blog where they described her as "perpetually sunny," and I think that's a wonderfully apt phrase. I pray that her zest for living and her faith in the Lord will help to carry her through this ordeal.

Some of my favorite Nie Nie posts. Take a minute to check them out, please.

Treasure

Ticket City:

Father Week

and last but not least, a post she wrote just a few days before her accident about a family party she threw for her two girls before they started school. For some reason, this one touched me so much. I love how she made this such a special event for her daughters.

Juliet

This is Juliet.

Juliet can walk.

Nay, Juliet can run ( insofar as fat curled-up toes can be said to run).

Juliet likes toilets.

Abigail is potty-trained.

Abigail forgets to put the lid down after she uses the toilet.

Juliet is being weaned.

Juliet is thirsty.

Juliet does not like cow's milk.

Juliet likes water from the toilet.

Juliet can use her hands to scoop water from the toilet into her mouth.

Juliet doesn't mind if someone is sitting on the toilet while she does this.

In short, Juliet's mother has her hands full.

extending a helping hand

Gabrielle Blair, who writes the fabulously fun and outrageously popular blog Design Mom, is hosting an ENORMOUS silent auction tomorrow to benefit Stephanie and Christian Nielson, who were severely burned in a small plane crash nearly two weeks ago. Many other bloggers around the web are doing the same, as tomorrow is "Nie Nie Day" in the blogging world. Gabrielle will be linking to these sites as well--from what I've been hearing from friends and blogger friends, there will be several hundred of these auctions going on tomorrow, as well as various stores on etsy giving proceeds to the Nielson family's recovery fund.

I'd really encourage you to think about checking out and bidding on some of these auctions tomorrow--and whether you bid or not, please keep the Nielson family in your prayers. No, I've never met them, and you probably haven't either, but pray anyway.

For updates on the Nielsons and their four young children (ages 6, 5, 3, and 1), go here.

making it work

There's nothing like the frenzied yell "Mommy, I went potty on the carpet!" to really get your blood going in the morning (especially when you're nursing a baby and temporarily unable to move).

Which has got me thinking today about some of the little tips and tricks I've learned that make parenting so much easier. Like the rule of Children Playing: 1 child moping around being lonely= no housework done, 2 = children playing happily in another room; lots of housework done. Playdates rock. Or speaking of housework--the best time is RIGHT after breakfast, when everyone's tummies are full and the kids are content to play happily without attention from me (they're tired of me trying to convince them to eat, so they're excited about running off and hiding. Perfect time to clean bathrooms). Or that one can blog while a Tonka truck is zooming across the desk in front of the keyboard. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, one of my favorite little things like this is to pop in a book on tape while the kids are eating lunch. Disney books on tape are great for toddlers, since they have lots of sounds and songs. My grandma recorded a tape of herself reading stories (from a book that she gave Abigail for Christmas) that's also been a real hit. Right now, Abigail's really into listening to the Book of Mormon audiotapes...we had an animated discussion the other day over who the angel was that appeared to Alma the Younger ("Was it Moroni, Mom? Maybe Jesus? Just somebody you don't know their name? Who was it, Mom? I want to know!").

In any case, it's a great way to keep their attention focused while they're eating lunch, since I'm often washing dishes or paying bills or something and not actually sitting down with them (time where they're both sitting in the same place safely occupied is almost invaluable--can you blame me for cleaning the kitchen?). So this way they sit happily eating, listening with wide eyes to the stories, laughing and asking questions about what they're hearing. It's nice (and we fill in our mealtime conversational needs at dinner).

What little tricks keep your life running smoothly?

oh the cuteness

Current status of our redecorating-in-progress dining room-into-study project

Is there anything more heart-warming than...

• a chubby-cheeked baby putting a phone to her ear and saying, "E-yoh? Yuh? Yuh?"
  
• a dressup-clad child saying, "I am all done eating. Please may I be excused?"
  
• a drowsy-eyed little baby folding her arms of her own accord and babbling softly through family prayer

Motherhood is really about those shining moments.

(and trying to forget the not-so-shining days)

a love letter to my husband

Dear Neil,

Today I've been thinking a lot about how grateful I am for you. While I sniffled and coughed and dragged around all weekend, you were so unfailingly thoughtful and sweet that I wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with you (and sneeze on your chest. Sorry about that). It was delightful to snuggle with you last night and make fun of silly movies. I especially liked it when you told me my hair smelled like flowers, but better. That was so silly and sweet.

One of the things I love most about beginning a new semester is the way we work together as a team. I am so grateful that you don't "expect" me to do certain things, like make dinner every night or keep the house clean, and you always compliment me for those things. Every day. Like it's the first time I've ever done them. That means a lot to me (and I especially like the way you taught Abigail to applaud at the end of dinner and say "Good dinner, Mommy! Thank you!"). Where I'm really going with this is to say this: I'm grateful that you appreciate the "woman's role" things that I do, and/but you don't mind doing them yourself. I love how you look at our schedules to see who can do what when, and you don't sit back and watch me frantically juggling. You pitch right in. I truly feel like our marriage and parenting and lives are a team effort, and I thank you for that.

It was so nice to come home from work this morning, by way of a trip to the grocery store, and see the beautifully clean house you'd left when you came to exchange the children with me. The dishes (from the fabulous French toast you made before I left for work) were done, the counters were clean and shining--I could dump the groceries right down. The sheets on the beds were changed, and the laundry was folded and put away. The children were dressed, fed, and happy. I'm so grateful to you that I can have the best of both worlds. I'm grateful for what you told me last night--that you love to see me being able to use my education and training, and you're excited to do whatever you can to support that. I'm grateful for your daily gratitude for what I do as a wife and mother. I'm grateful for your unconditional support for me in all the many roles in my life.

I appreciate your efforts to help me to grow and develop in all these different roles. It really touched me when you joined Goodreads so that we could have an "outside intellectual place" to compare our thoughts and start conversations about what we're reading. I'm grateful that your to-read stack is composed of books on subjects that I'm really concerned about and thinking about. I appreciate your 100% support of whatever projects I undertake, whether it's recreating the dining room as a study or Abigail's "mealtime manners" sticker chart (and thank you for heading up that "princess party" for last week's sticker chart when I was too exhausted to move. You did a fabulous job).

I'm also so grateful that you're doing all this for me while you're incredibly busy yourself. The life of a third-year doctoral student is far from easy, but you're focused and excited about what you're doing--and you always put our family first.

What I'm trying to say is...I appreciate you. I'm grateful for you. I love you.

yay!

I'm redecorating. So exciting! Pictures to follow...eventually.

eating with Abigail

Abigail has four food groups: drinks, treats, yuckies, and corn.

I cannot even begin to describe how much she loves corn. Not just any corn: corn on the cob. A few weeks ago I bought sweet corn to make a soup I'd read about in Bon Appetit. Abigail helped me to husk it, then watched in horror as I sliced the corn away from the cob. When dinner was served, she sat staring at her soup, shaking her head in dismay.

So when we next bought corn at the farmer's market, she insisted on carrying the bag. When we got home, she would only agree to relinquish it if "you just cook it just like that, okay? No cutting." I admit, I really felt awful when I realized how traumatized she was by the previous week's corn desecration. So we ate corn that night, then we bought more corn the next day and ate that again. I can sympathize with this, since corn is also my favorite vegetable-that's-really-a-grain.

On Monday evening, we were out painting the fence when one of our neighbors asked us if we liked sweet corn. Abigail practically went mad with joy when he handed us a grocery sack FULL of corn and told us it was from his father-in-law's farm. So the next night we had corn for dinner. When we were clearing the table, we noticed that Abigail had collected all three corn cobs and was busily going over them, nibbling off any stray kernels. So the next night we gave her two cobs of corn all to herself.

She ate them both.

She ate them both fast.

Today for lunch I asked her what she wanted to eat. She responded, "Some of that bread we just made, and some corn, and some cheese, and some peaches, and peppers and tomatoes, and...some corn. She made sure I understood exactly what she wanted.



She ate her corn, and then she got really close and sat there looking at me.

She asked, "Mommy, are you done?"

I responded, "No, I'm still eating."

"Oh. Are you full. Do you want me to eat your corn?"

"No, sweetie...I'm still eating."

"Maybe Daddy can come home and we'll make him some corn and I'll eat his."

She got closer. A lot closer.

So I sighed, looked at my corn, then asked, "Abigail...do you want to finish my corn?"

"YES! Thank you, Mommy."



And all was well in Abigail land.

mommy clothes

Remember back when I used to be known for never, ever, ever wearing jeans? When I only owned dress pants? When I routinely wore nylons, tailored skirts, and high-heeled shoes to class when it was snowing outside? When I considered a made-in-Italy dry-clean-only blazer a great toss-it-on-for-all-occasions coat (although I do love that blazer and wear it regularly still...)

So this morning I woke up an hour late, because Alarm Clock Juliet, who is usually as regular as...well, as an alarm clock going off with loud yelling at 7:08, slept in. I woke up at 8:25 and she was still silent. Abigail was sitting in the hall wearing nothing but princess panties and was also strangely quiet. I don't know what the deal was with them today, but it was sort of nice for me (except I was planning to run this morning, so I guess I have to run tonight. Yuck).

Anyway, we had to be at the doctor at 9:45, so I really had to hustle. Fortunately I showered last night after another marathon bout with the fence and a bucket of stain, so that was out of the way, but my hair definitely looked like it had been slept on wet.

So I resorted to my favorite trick: dressing up to remove attention from the hair. I always wear full makeup no matter what, but instead of my favorite jeans and battered old T-shirt, I pulled out a pair of gray Banana Republic dress pants that Neil had bought me for my birthday. I ripped the tags off, pulled them on, and thought "These are SO cute! Why haven't I worn them yet?" I added my favorite black shirt, a pair of razzle-dazzle earrings, gelled my messy hair, and put on black pumps instead of my mud-covered sandals. I felt pretty good-lookin', if I do say so myself, and sashayed out to the kitchen.

Then Abigail immediately told me to take my shoes off because I wasn't allowed to wear shoes in the house. Juliet wiped her snotty nose on my pants, sneezed graham crackers over my shirt, tried to wipe the mess off her face with her hand, then rubbed her hand through my hair. At the doctor's office, my pants were too tight to allow me to sprawl comfortably down on the floor with my girls and check out the puzzles. The entire time I was visiting teaching, my shoes pinched my toes. Juliet rubbed more crackers over me. And then some more.

When we got home, I kicked off my shoes, ditched my earrings, and raced into my closet for some jeans.

I felt like myself again. I felt ready to play and get messy and have fun with my girls.

It's nice that there are times I can dress up and wear my pretty clothes (like teaching), and lots and lots and lots of time where I can crawl around on the floor with the girls, pretending to be a family of puppies (who can only eat food placed on white plates on the kitchen floor) wearing love-holes through the knees of my jeans.

the perils of not procrastinating

I'm one of those people who always has to do it now. The instant I get an assignment, I get started. I can't stand to have it hanging over my head. I usually have papers written several weeks before they're due, and my grading is generally back to the students within two class periods. I can't relax and enjoy my life if there's something I have to do lurking there in the back of my mind (which is also why I have to run early in the morning, because it ruins the rest of the day if I'm feeling guilty all day for not running yet).

Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't work this way, which means I just spent an hour revising my syllabus to reflect updated changes on the part of the department. And I had to file an amended tax return this year when the university sent out forms a month late.

This bothers me to no end. I can't stand to procrastinate. Why does everyone conspire against me, eh? Who's trying to come down on the "gotta get it done NOW" people?

Just my rant for the day. I guess I better get back to my syllabi.

one more

Not like I haven't posted enough today already, but...I keep thinking I need to do a little "where Juliet is now" post for my chronicles.

Juliet is essentially walking now (she has been taking steps for almost two months, but she's more confident now and can walk as far as she wants). When we say "Up! Up!" she stands up and holds out her chubby little arms and wobbles toward us. Her feet are still so cuddly and fat that she has to curl her toes to maintain her balance.

Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds: we now recognize the words "Mama" and "Daddy" (not Dada anymore!) and "Ahba!", plus dollie, dog, more, no, out, down, hi, wow, whoa, whee, and bumpy (that one was a surprise on a VERY bumpy road). I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but essentially she's imitating most of what she hears now (especially from Abigail).

She likes to make barking noises at any animal she sees, and will pound her pointer finger onto a picture in a book until we tell her what she's seeing (speaking of which, she LOVES books, and is pretty careful with them, even if they're not board books). Julesie likes to color, and she especially likes to chew on crayons when she thinks we're not looking. She's a real climber these days, and has been able to get down from things (like the couch) for about a month now. One of her favorite games is to run across the couch and fall facedown on the cushions--it makes her giggle hysterically, and she's content to play her couch game for as long as we leave her on the couch--or bed--or any cushy surface. She will now climb all the way up our slide and then slide back down, saying "wheeeeee!" in her darling little baby voice. One of her favorite toys is Abigail's little kitchen--she loves to stir up the plastic food with a spoon in her favorite little bowl. She adores her blankie, the sheepskin rug, and adopts a different stuffed animal every day (let's just say that Neil isn't the only candidate for George's (the stuffed elephant) affections).

And last but not least--her favorite food is STILL black beans.

making up for lost time

Now that our internet is FINALLY working again, I have an enormous backlog of pictures to upload (and work to do...).

For instance, when I realized that my family is coming to visit this weekend and I still hadn't blogged about our visit there a couple weeks ago...well, I was grateful the tech support man had done his stuff today.

Why all the frequent family visits, you ask? Well, for one thing, it's super fun. For another, my sisters are heading (back) to BYU. Ruth (four years younger than me) and her husband are already there--she's a junior in the accounting program (#2 program in the country! Go Ruth!). Mary Beth, who is two years younger than me, is starting law school at J. Reuben Clark this fall. Yay Mary Beth! And Elise, who is seven years younger than me, is starting her freshman year at BYU. Hurrah Elise!

One thing my parents must be very grateful for is the intelligence of their children. It's always on display.



Like I was saying.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Juliet and Abigail got squeezed and loved to their heart's content. It was nice for them to have someone pay them attention. At home, we just throw some food in their general direction.


I think one of the most adorable sights in the entire world is a little baby in a sleeper. Especially one who has just been presented with her very own box of Goldfish crackers. It just doesn't get any better than that.




Surprisingly, Jules loved the sand...

...and Abigail has finally come to like sand. It took a good three years. This was the first time she's actually deigned to sit on it (she still won't go near the water, but it was pretty cold, so I can't really blame her).

One of my favorite things about any visit with my family is the food. When you hear "cookout," you think hot dogs, right?

Try marinated steak grilled over the fire, encased in a crunchy baguette smothered in Brie, and topped with mushrooms fried in butter. You really can't improve on that formula.

Although adding baked Parmesan-topped zucchini, fresh watermelon, plums, and peaches, plus a side of molasses-swirled baked beans does help.

Right now Juliet's really into that "Where's the baby?" game. She LOVES it. Hours of time could go by before she'd tire of it.

Love that kid!

nienie

I'm sure many of you read Stephanie Nielson's blog. Hers was one of the very first mothering blogs that I started reading, and is one of the very few that I still read regularly. She's bursting with creativity, eternally optimistic, positive, hopeful, and delights so much in her husband and four children. Her entries are always a treat and I always finish reading them with renewed joy in motherhood and life.

If you haven't heard yet, she and her husband Christian were in a plane crash on Saturday. Christian's flight instructor was killed; Stephanie and Christian remain in critical condition. Her family is holding a special fast for them today and would welcome prayers on their behalf.

what i've been doing...in pictures

In all honesty, even if my internet HAD been working reliably all week, I doubt I would have had much time to blog. It seems like this week the summer caught up with me...in the form of lots and lots and lots of food. So much food-processing, in fact, that I started to dread the idea of even making dinner, which is normally one of my favorite parts of the day. But having spent the vast majority of the day in the kitchen on my feet processing something...it just didn't sound appealing to go in and make another meal.

Anyway. Here's what I canned or froze or whatever...

Several bushels of peaches...



Another couple of bushels of apples (into applesauce, which was probably the kids' favorite, as you can see...)

One of the best things about applesauce is that it doesn't matter how banged up or chewed the apples are.

Emphasis on "chewed."

...they all make lovely applesauce.

I also attacked the garden and started making pesto for the freezer...

...some canned salsa...

...and 19 lbs of green beans (also destined for the freezer). Sad to say, my green beans this year just...did not do what they did last year, so I picked these at a local u-pick place. It seemed very intrinsically wrong to be paying to pick green beans, but oh well.

And in our "free" time this weekend, we stained the swingset.

We went to the farmer's market so often this week that I let Abigail wear her Snow White dress. It felt like home at that point anyway.



And speaking of being exhausted by all the ruckus around here, when I woke up Sat. to go clean nursery toys at the church, I noticed that Neil was sound asleep with one of the stuffed animals the kids had left on our bed. Pretty cute.

too precious not to post

a daily life update

Increasingly creative in my efforts to hydrate Juliet...strawberry smoothie, anyone?

Right now I'm going insane.

Let me qualify that. Here's what's really bothering me:

• The internet connection lately has been TERRIBLE, just when I absolutely vitally need it (online editing project that needs to be done pronto). Plus, I'm totally disconnected. I can't check if the library has storytime today or if it doesn't start up again for another week, I can't find the number of the apple orchard, I don't know the weather forecast. I have to call Neil at work and ask him to check my email. It's driving me nuts.
• I'm in the process of a) trying to wean Juliet from nursing and b) trying to transition Juliet between two naps to one nap. I'm not sure how well either is working...mostly I have a dehydrated little baby who is so tired she refuses to take nap, period (but still wakes up nice and early in the morning. Plus, her morning nap is when I usually run on the treadmill, so now I have to find a new time to exercise (I don't like to do it at night).
• Despite daily weeding and careful watering, my garden has been very disappointing this year. We had a very late, wet, cold spring, then we were gone for a couple weeks in July, and the combination seems to have devastated plant production. Last year we were spending (literally) every evening harvesting and processing produce; this year we've gotten only handfuls from the peas and beans, a grand total of 4 zucchini (from six plants), etc. I had high hopes for the tomatoes and peppers, but it's starting to get pretty chilly at night, so those may be toast too without the long hot days of August and September to do their thing. I can't even tell you how depressing this is to me--I'm such a natural foods junkie that every time I go out into my garden I just get angry (especially since I weeded EVERY SINGLE DAY).

So that's what I'm grumpy about. On the plus side, the cooler weather and lousy garden has allowed for more family fun time in the evening (bike rides with a chaser of strawberry smoothies last night!) I canned 2 cases of peaches last week, and I'm planning to do applesauce this weekend or next week, and Abigail and I feasted on freshly baked baguettes (we started the dough rising during breakfast), creamy ripe Brie, and juicy grapes for lunch. A true child o'mine, Abigail approves of Brie. Good girl!

ouch!

I spent about seven hours today editing the websites for my courses this semester. I have a love/hate relationship with online syllabi; most of the readings for my students are online so it's nice to just link to the specific reading, or upload a Powerpoint I'll show in class, etc.

But my fingers hurt from scrolling all day! Plus all my "free time" (naptime and after the kids are in bed) is totally shot.

But on the other hand...huge weight off my mind. So good to have that done. A bit scary to realize the semester starts in two weeks and I'll go back to "work" again (as opposed to my much more grueling and demanding work as a mother. And no, I'm not being sarcastic--working outside the home is definitely easier for me in a lot of ways!)

I may not be blogging much in the next few weeks...I really need to cram all the excitement and fun and playing humanly possible into the next two weeks (plus my to-do list is a mile and a half long). On the other hand, blogging is therapeutic, so I'll probably be blogging anyway.

Juliet's birthday (part I)

I haven't been a very good blogger lately in terms of what's actually going on. Juliet's birthday? Mentioned it in passing. Her surgery? That got a quick mention too. The fact that Neil's parents were here last week (visiting from Utah?) I didn't even manage to break out my camera, much less blog.

So now I'm noting all of those and trying to make up for my bad blogger ways, but to justify myself, I will note tht the last month has been insanely busy, and we're still not back into anything approximating our normal routines.

And here are some pictures from Juliet's birthday, which we celebrated with Neil's parents (I did manage to take a few pictures of presents and her 1st cake, but that was about it).

Oh, and here's Jules sneaking in a few quick hors d'ouevres. Can't beat those Crayolas for taste and texture, eh? (We did have her favorites for dinner later: roasted garlic soup followed by veggie-stuffed omelettes with fresh baguetttes).



Here's Jules with her mini cake. I borrowed Abigail's bundt pan, and it turned out pretty dang cute. I don't go in much for cake decorating, but I love the flavor of lemon poppyseed.

Juliet--very daintily--ate ALL her cake.

And she climbed on her presents (this is what Abigail picked out for her...)

..and both she and Abigail fell in love with this toy phone from Neil's parents...

...and then we ate this (Abigail was quite relieved, since when Juliet demolished her cake she [Abigail] thought she wasn't going to get any cake, since Julesie ate it all).

last hurrah

We're off today to Michigan and Silver Beach, one of my all-time favorites (the pictures date from a summer a few years back when we lived there while Neil did an internship for Whirlpool Corp.--betcha didn't know their international headquarters are in Michigan!) It's a little bittersweet because this is the last time I'll see my sisters before Mary Beth goes back to BYU to start law school and Elise goes to BYU to start her freshman year--I am really going to miss Elise, since we've gotten closer the past few years since Neil & I moved here for grad school (Mary Beth, I miss you too, but I'm used to you being gone).

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the weekend of family and fun and beaches--and a bunch of our friends in the ward are going up to the beach too, so Abigail will be able to splash in the surf to her heart's content with "all my favorite people!" as she told me yesterday.

Hope your weekend is just grand!