happy birthday to me

First of all, thank you all SO much for your comments on my last post.  I have seriously reread them half a dozen times.  Thank you. 

And I'm back again for a bit, because I want to remember this forever and ever.

So it was my birthday today, and the events were not very fun (car-shopping and then Isaac starting a fever.  Seriously, I hate car shopping so much that I was literally hunched over on the floor tonight rocking back and forth trying not to throw up from the stress.  Dramatic a little?  Yes.  But spending that much money on a conveyance that could kill my family if I choose wrong really stresses me.) 

Anyway.  My husband is the best thing ever.  He got up at 6 am to make me breakfast (after staying up until midnight making his secret swirly chocolate cheesecake that was soooo good).  And then just when everything was truly truly awful today, I got this in my email.  Some of the pronunciation is a little odd ("hexagons") and there are some inside jokes (once we were driving through Iowa in the middle of the night and we both simultaneously and spontaneously started singing the Menards jingle--and we occasionally have dance-offs in our kitchen to see who can come up with the most awkward and dumb-looking moves--think Elaine on Seinfeld), so it may not be as funny to everyone as it was to me, but boy, do I love that man.  I'm even looking forward to spending all day tomorrow looking at more overpriced cars, because I get to do it with him.  (And Luke.  And maybe Isaac if he is still feverish--just discovered that, Mom.)

going dark

I'm trying to decide whether to delete my blog entirely or just stop posting for awhile...in any case, I'm taking a leave of absence for a bit.

The Toddler Way

Just remember, calories on your face don't count!  In this photo, Isaac demonstrates what to do if someone tempts you with a strawberry milkshake.

Ever notice how babies have these huge chunky thighs and enormous cheeks and arm rolls, and then in two years they've slimmed down into a bony semblance of their former selves?  Want to capture that same metamorphisis yourself?  I present to you:  The Toddler Way.


DIET
1) A bird in the bush is better than one in the hand: food is best when procured from a high spot.  This means that rather than eating the bowl of cucumbers set out on the table, you should use a chair to climb up on the counter and get the banana on top of the 'fridge.

2) Only eat two bites of that banana. Unpeel the rest and leave it someplace that someone will accidentally squash it (double points if they sit on it) so you're not tempted to finish it off. Same goes for any other food that you request someone to make.

3) Eat one food a day.  Refuse everything else.  Act like this is the best thing you've ever eaten (doesn't matter if it's black beans or brussels sprouts).  Get everyone excited about how much you like this food, then refuse it every time it's offered for the next week.

4) Don't underestimate the value of chewing on food while it's still in the package.  No calories are actually consumed, but it still feels like you're eating something!  If you do this to a wrapped cheese stick or package of tortillas, be sure you put them back where you found them so you leave a nice surprise for the next person to come along.

EXERCISE
1) Run everywhere.  No walking allowed.  This is key.

2) Jump up and down frequently.  The best way to replicate the frequent jumps required by the Toddler Way is to pick a common word (like "the") and jump as high as you can whenever someone says it.

3) Spend at least an hour per day running back and forth in the largest space you can find in your house.  Intermittently pause to smash your head into the couch, flip your body up onto the couch, and jump (this builds flexibility and maneuverability).

4) Should you find yourself fatigued, underneath the kitchen table (while everyone else is eating) is a good place for a nap.  Bonus points if you fall asleep on the missionaries' feet and your parents don't notice. 

more birthday

Proof that we actually did celebrate Isaac's birthday this year (sort of.  Do blueberry muffins count?  I used oil instead of applesauce so they felt decadent).  Actually, my friend Melanie made these really adorable little cupcakes for our playgroup, since all the little boys have birthdays right in a row.  I was really grateful that she was so on top of things, since I am still sort of floundering with Luke and all (although she's 37 weeks pregnant, so I don't have much of an excuse!) Anyway, we had a blissful morning outside with all the kids running around and having the time of their lives while I got to sit on a blanket under a tree and chat with my friends.  I love playgroup day!  I started it thinking that Isaac needed some time to play with boys his age, but whom am I kidding...it's for me.  :-)

So while I was checking out Amazon's offerings before Isaac's birthday, I came across this really cool magnetic gear toy thingie.  You can move all the gears around, and then it's battery-powered so they turn and interlock with each other.  Awesome, right?  Except one of them makes this clicking noise, and Isaac insists on having it on ALL THE TIME.  I was telling Neil the other night how Isaac literally will come running across the house and turn it back on if I've turned it off, and he was like, uh-huh, and then later that night he said, "Honey!  You were right!  The noise was driving me crazy, so I turned it off, and Isaac came out of nowhere shrieking for it to go back on!"

So.  Great gift for Isaac, but the clicking gear may mysteriously disappear if its appeal doesn't wear off soon.

because I wish I was small enough to do it too

 

end of an era

 }
One of the occupational hazards of making friends with lots of doctoral students is that everyone is here for years--long enough to really become a part of your life--and then they move.  We're nearing the end of our time here, so everyone who arrived before us has gone, and I've gotten somewhat used to it, but today is hitting me really hard.  We just said good-bye to the very first friends we made here--the first people who ever had us over for dinner.  Neil and Tyler worked in the same lab for the last five years, and Andrea was my 5:45 am workout buddy for years.  For the last five years, we've done date nights every single month, playdates every week, temple trips, overnight kid-swaps, parties, dinner groups, carpools, bike rides, playground visits and walks around the neighborhood (they lived half a mile from us).  Abigail and Elise were in the same kindergarten class and rode the bus home together every day.  We've seen each other through five additional children (almost six!).  It's hard to imagine what next year is going to be like without them.

Isaac turns two

the birthday boy this morning

checking out the fountains on the 4th of July (not his toy)

helping me make pizzas last week

My darling little boy is two today.  Two!  Already!  It seems like just yesterday was his actual birth day (oh wait, maybe that was Luke...).  (And it's Bastille Day, so we had crepes with peaches for his birthday breakfast.)

This sounds a little clichéd, but words cannot express how I feel about Isaac (who is sitting on my lap rubbing my face while I write this).  If you know him in real life, you know that he is the most enchanting and endearing little boy.  And beautiful, with those huge brown eyes and longer-than-possible eyelashes.  He is universally sunny-tempered and good-natured, and loves above all things to sit on a lap, cuddling his little head under your chin while you read him stories.  And I defy anyone to hear him say, "O-tay" without a complete heart-melting.  I love, love, love, LOVE my little Isaac.  (And you should go back and look at this post because he is quite honestly the most darling thing ever.)  Happy birthday, sweetie!

Sunday night Settlers

Every single Sunday night after the kids go to bed, Neil and I play Settlers of Cataan (our favorite is to play Cities and Knights).  I look forward to this all week--I love playing with just the two of us because the game goes super fast and we can just hang out together for a couple of hours.  The best part about playing on Sunday night is that we don't feel the pressure to be doing anything else--nobody's thinking about homework or working or doing laundry or mowing the lawn like we would any other night of the week.  All we have to do is just be together (and maybe eat something tasty).

2 months and some catching up

Two months!  Already!  I can hardly believe it.  We're starting to see some "smiles" (like that winner just above) and occasionally get a 3-hour stretch at night. 

Luke weighed 15 lbs 6 oz when we were at the pediatrician today (24.25 inches long)--bigger than Isaac at ten weeks, and at the time I thought Isaac (who was just over 14 lbs) was enormous.  It's funny because I am always so stressed (so, so, so stressed--to the point where I have to consciously relax while he's eating) about whether Luke is eating enough--he only nurses for 3-4 minutes on one side and then he's done, and nothing I can do will make him eat more.

Looking at my blog I realized I haven't posted in a week, which is a long time for me.  We've had lots of visitors--my mom and my sister Ruth were here last week, and we got to spend an hour or two with some friends from Provo and another from Texas--but I think mostly I just haven't felt like I have anything nice or fun that I want to record about our "regular" life.  I'm not being a very nice or fun mom right now...we're really struggling to get everyone to sleep at night, and so the kids are all horribly cranky and I've been reading Positive Discipline and making good resolutions and then blowing them all as soon as the whining and hitting and complaining starts again.  I'm looking forward to swimming lessons starting next week to force us into a more rigid schedule (and praying that the new room arrangement we're going to try tonight works...seriously, last night all 4 kids were still awake and yelling at 10 pm, and then they finally fell asleep and Luke woke up at 10:45, and then we got him to bed at 11:12, and Juliet woke up screaming at 11:21, and Neil and I finally turned off our light at 12:14.  Plus Luke is still waking up six or seven times at night--sometimes he just needs a pacifier and sometimes he needs to eat, but it's always loud!)

I think the most difficult thing for me right now is that I'm a very routine-bound person, and I have no idea what's going to happen from minute to minute.  New babies always throw me for a loop, but for some reason I'm having a really hard time getting back to a normal schedule this time--I think because I'm so tired that I'm just taking things five minutes at a time, and it feels like trying to move a mountain to even think about getting everything figured out.  The only time I feel normal these days is when I run.  Things are hard right now.  Understatement. 

On a more positive note, we picked raspberries and blueberries last week, and raspberry jam is the best taste ever.  It takes me back instantly to summers in Idaho picking berries from my grandmother's raspberry canes--I can almost smell the dusty wind blowing over the desert.  And my "no junk July" thing has been going really well (although I did indulge and eat the Parisian chocolate my sister brought me, and the Mexican pastries that Neil's friend Phil brought us), but I have passed up all kinds of treats and instead eaten half my weight in hummus and cucumbers.  And when we were at the pediatrician's today I weighed myself (do you think those scales are adequately calibrated if you weigh more than 50 lbs?) and I've lost all but a pound of the weight I gained with Luke (which means I still have more weight I want to lose, but hey, 22 lbs down from where I was two months ago!).

And now I'm going to go mop my kitchen floor, which is covered in Neil's delicious lemon meringue pie, thanks to Isaac (a pie which I did not eat.  Talk about self-control.  If only I could exert this kind of domination over my temper).

no junk July

So I have a problem with self-control around food.  I love to make it and I love to eat it, and I will happily down half a pan of brownies with no shame or guilt.  This has never really bothered me much in the past because I'm running enough to be happy with my body, brownies and all, but in the post-baby stage now I'm really feeling like it's time to accelerate the weight loss.

So I'm not eating desserts or "junk" in July (chips, which are my other major weakness.  Wavy Lay's, if you want to know).  And it is KILLING ME.  Seriously.  Not making a festive Fourth of July dessert?  That was awful.  Not baking something fun Saturday afternoon with the kids?  Also really hard.  Not stress-eating chocolate chips from the freezer when the kids were driving me insane?  Worst.  I've been eating a lot of raisins instead.

I suppose I should more carefully define my "not allowed" lines, because I've been resorting to a spoonful of Nutella every day to satiate my cravings (but it's better than half a pan of brownies, right?) I love Nutella--once in Luxembourg I ate a whole jar of Nutella and an entire baguette while sitting on the balcony listening to the cathedral bells (my family was walking around the city but I was sulking like your standard seventeen-year-old who has been dragged to Europe.  Oh, poor me).

What has surprised me most in the last five days is how incredibly hard this has been for me...which is exactly why I'm doing it. 

Goal for next week--lose the Nutella.  :-(

summer garden

I've been really pleased with my little garden this year--I doubt it will be its most productive year ever, but considering that it's been sadly neglected in favor of Luke, it's doing quite well!

This has undoubtedly been our best year for lettuce.  I've been keeping a 2-gallon bag in the 'fridge full of washed lettuce; it supplied multiple salads for our 20 visitors a few weeks ago without batting the proverbial eye.  It's just finally starting to bolt; I'm hoping I can get one or two more out, but I don't think our lettuce has ever lasted to July before!  The box here has been growing its lettuces faithfully, but the volunteer lettuces that sprung up all over the garden have been supplying us with the majority of the lettuce.  Think GIANT heads, with individual leaves about ten inches in diameter.  Seriously, it's been awesome!

The tomato plants are showing signs of blight (we've had an extremely wet spring) but I'm hoping that I can combat that with spraying (someone recommended a Melaleuca product, so I'm trying that this year, since the commercial stuff didn't do anything last year) and pruning.  The beans, however, are making my heart feel all warm and fuzzy.  Go beans!!  Produce like crazy!!!

My only regret with the raspberry bush is that we didn't plant an entire forest of them.  They're just starting to come on, and mmmm....so tasty.

And the peppers--somehow this year we are growing the biggest peppers we've ever grown.  I picked the first peppers and eggplant today.  Pizza tonight!!!