my sister

my sister is one of the funniest women i know. she cracks me up. i'm constantly telling her that she needs to do stand up. i've also granted her the permission to use most anything about growing up with me for a laugh :) and boy is that a lot of material.

she recently found a video on our mom's computer that i took at my house. this was just last year when i was still in my first tri. check it out, it's pretty goofy. you should really read her other posts. :) i love my little sister. she will be a star one day.

fyi- the woman with the glasses is one of my aunt, my mom is in the other chair

ETA- the link, duh :)

http://breccabrecca.blogspot.com/

no nap = park

dear Arden didn't want to nap yesterday afternoon. So after an hour of trying we went to the park. She is getting to be so mobile!

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questions

couple quick questions:

what do you all do with food stained clothing? arden is really enjoying feeding herself. the problem is when she puts her little hands down at her sides. any food in wiped all over her pants. i can't be stripping her down anytime we are feeding her. well, i could but there will be times where it's an inconvenience.

what i've been doing is rinsing the clothes right afterwards. i try to get the food out as much as possible. then, before they go in the wash, i use a spot remover. sometimes this doesn't work. i would really like to be able to use arden's clothes more than once. also, i don't like to use harsh chemicals. the more natural suggestions, the better.

next question is regarding naps. arden is a great night-time sleeper. not so easy with naps. we have gotten to the point where we are CIO. i didn't want to do this, but arden was resisting everything. she was working us over like a pro. now, we've only been doing this for 4 days, but man is it rough. i just wanted to see if anyone else has gone through this, or is right now. i've got questions like: how long should i let her cry, what if she doesn't nap after an hour, do i keep her up until the next sleep time, how do i keep her awake, how do i not pull all my hair out?

phew, i hate nap time. and stains. :)

day 6- 20 of your favorite things

oh snap. this is a hard one.

1- my wife

2- my baby

3- my family

4- my bed

5- a good, hot, strong shower

6- snuggling

7- reading

8- sitting on the beach when it's nice and hot, but there is a breeze that is just cool enough

9- sitting in front of a fire

10- christmas

11- my home

12- working in the yard

13- talking with my sister

14- designing- that goes for various things. artwork, my home, framing, installations...

15- playing/watching a good rugby game

16- hiking

17- camping

18- my wedding

19- smelling herbs- lavender, thyme, mint, sage. i love them all. most especially when the smell is from my garden.

20- a good homemade dinner

ok that wasn't so difficult :) i'm coping out on writing more for tonight. i want to chill with my wifey. hope you all have a great weekend!!

delay on day 5- your favorite quote

i was uber-sick with a stomach bug monday. didn't quite feel like posting. then anna was sick and arden was a bit off. she still is today.

fortunately, arden didn't have the pukes like anna and i did. she was extra poopy though. twice, i put her down for a nap, only for her to wake up half an hour later with a very full diaper. my poor sick wifey had to get up to help me clean her. total mess. arden's fever never went much higher than 100 though. which was very fortunate because the past three days were extremely hot for seattle, over 90s. our basement is nice and cool, but the floor is still just cement. not exactly appropriate for a baby that wants to stand and walk all the time.

on to the topic for adjusted day 5 :) your favorite quote. this one i actually have. it's by eleanor roosevelt.

"do one thing every day that scares you."

quite the challenge huh :) i think the thing i do everyday that scares me is taking care of arden. yep. scary. she is becoming so mobile. cruising, climbing on things, crawling at the speed of light. phew! making sure she doesn't injure herself is full-time, man. :) but it's great to see her change and develop.

in the past few days i've seen a couple new things out of her. she is playing with olive, for real. she will pick up olive's tennis ball and "throw" it (a throw is usually only a couple feet, unless it bounces further). then olive gets it. brings it to me, and i hand it to arden to do all over again. she will play ball with me too. i'll roll a ball to her, she'll track it rolling towards her lap, pick it up and roll/throw it back. too cute.

the other thing is an awareness of placing objects. before now, she would set objects down with out realizing that she did. i've now seen her purposefully set a block down on her shelf and pick it back up. she will also put toys into her bath cup.

it's amazing how little things we don't think of need to be developed. setting an object down, picking it up. all done with a conscious effort. wow :)

i'll probably be m.i.a. over the weekend again. my momma is coming to town! just bought ticket today on the spur of the moment. she'll be here friday morning to monday morning. i can't wait. arden will get to show off all her new tricks for grandma :)

day 4- your favorite book

i love, love, love to read. i devour books. that being said, my hunger for books doesn't always lead to be best choices. kind of like junk food for the brain. i got in the habit, when i was still working, of going to the grocery store close by and buying a book. they had a dollar bin for a while that i would sift through and read whatever crap looked the most interesting. and it was mostly crap. when they stopped having the bin, i went to the book aisle. i was spending more than i should have on books i would never touch again. anna hated that i did this. it was a wasted of money.

now we live right by a library. it's so nice to just hop over there when i need a new book. our family often passes along books to us too, and i like their choices.

most recently, i read a book of short stories by ursula k. le guin called changing planes. very interesting. i didn't get to read the whole thing though because it was due back to the library. i wasn't able to renew it at the time.

my mom just sent a box full of terry pratchett books. i love his work. he's created a world called "discworld", and writes about the happenings of the people in it. his stories are full of dry, british humor. and the puns. oh i love the puns and other plays on words.

i do read books other than fantasy. i love mystery. like sue grafton. she writes the books that go through the alphabet (m is for malice). historical fiction is fun too. typically, i read a large batch of books from a certain genre, and then take a break.

i've been intending to read some of the classics and must-reads. if you have an suggestions, fire a way. right it's late now. off to bed.

day 3- your favorite tv program

we got rid of our tv over three years ago when we were planning our wedding. we recognized that we were spending way too much time just sitting on the couch. we would eat watching tv. we would stay up to late just to watch one more show. we would put off our household chores. it was bad. so we ditched it.

we started watching things on netflix. we watched six feet under and loved it. it was a little easier with netflix to restrict ourselves. we had to wait for the next disc to arrive, and often we would be slow to remember to mail the previously watched one back.

the rise in access to tv shows online has kind of defeated the purpose of us not having an actual tv. we watch things on netflix, hulu, and amazon now. oops :) and it's even easier to just keep watching sometimes with that nifty "next" button.

anyways the shows we have watched or are watching are:

dexter

dr. who

the x files

30 rock

law and order

weeds

heros

you can see, again, that we watch a variety. there are a couple that i watch when i just need a little "me time" when arden is napping. i've recently liked watching america's got talent. it's escpecially nice to just skip over the bad acts and all the snarky judge stuff :) i've also like modern family.

anyways, i realize we need to reevaluate the amount of tv we watch again. but it's hard to do. and there are so many excuse you can create that keep you on the couch :) i almost feel we need to take drastic measures to jump start an adjustment. then we can self-regulate from there. i've wondered if there was a program you could put on your computer to make it automatically shut off at a certain time, even if you're using it.

so, again, i ask what you guys like? how do you moderate how much tv you watch, or do you just soak up the good stuff :) i really do like to hear back from whomever is reading this... really, truly. now i'm off to watch my name is earl!

day 2- your favorite movie

hmm, well, again i like a number of movies.

benny and joon

dead poet's society

it

life is beautiful

i am sam

young frankenstein

the princess bride

fight club

ma vie en rose

the triplets of belleville

i could go on and on :) i like movies that make me cry, scare the crap out of me, and make me laugh so hard i snort. i like movies that make me think beyond my little world. i like subtitles. i like just sitting back and ignoring the outside world for a while.

movies can evoke so many different feelings. they can also hold memories about certain times of my life. when i was a kid, we would have sleepovers at my house. the girls and i had three movies we watched a lot: newsies (because of the cute boys, haha), arachnophobia, and it. the last two fall under the "scare the crap out of me" category. those spiders, that clown. yeesh. i still get creeped out watching those.

i am sam made me cry virtually the whole time. i remember sitting in my college apartment right next to the tv. my roommates mom and sister were on the couch. i don't now if i was pms'ing or what, but, man, i bawled like a baby. i'm sure my roommates family thought i was crazy :) it is such a sweet movie. it rips at you heart.

the princess bride and young frankenstein are family favorites. i grew up watching those two movies numerous times. i own young frankenstein on vhs :) god knows what i'm going to do with it since i have no way of watching it in that format. but i'm not tossing it, no sir-ee.

i've brought arden to two movies at our local theatre. it has cry baby tuesdays. the first movie we saw was how to train your dragon. that was a sweet animated movie. good to bring a little baby to that just wanted to nurse and sleep at the time. the second movie, anna came along. it was... ummm, darn i can't remember now. but i remember it was the first time arden really bit me while nursing. she was a real wiggle worm. we ended up just letting her crawl around on the floor in front of us (we were in the front row, it's a small theatre).

i love the whole cry baby movie thing. i like going to the theatre. i love the popcorn at our place. and it's another way to try to meet other parents.

what's your favorite movie? have you taken your kid(s) to see anything?

toothy mcgee

Isn't she just adorable! I think the right incisor is next. I hope that will be it for quite a while. I am so done with teeth!

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day 1- your favorite song

this list might be a little difficult for me because i don't really have favorites. but i'll use the topics as a jumping point.

a song that comes to mind that i've always liked and i find very moving is the hallelujah chorus. anytime i hear it, i get choked up. there is just something about it. this is one thing i miss about being part of a church. i sung in the choir and i loved the christmas program. i've considered joining a community choir. maybe, now that i'm a SAHM, i might have the time (haha).

i love music. all varieties. oldies, 80s, hip hop, country, rockabilly, classical. the funny thing is, i don't buy music. our newest cds are all burned by friends. i have an ipod, but i hardly update it. i kind of just forget about music. i have been trying to play more to expose arden to it. if she's freaking out in the car, usually classical music chills her out. i recently created a station on pandora based on 'they might be giants' kids music. i don't question turning on stations that i like to listen to when arden is around. of course, i make sure the lyrics are clean and the 'mood' of the music isn't inappropriate for how she's feeling.

i want her to like music as much as i do. i want her to have a well rounded education, and music is important for that to happen. what do you guys think about music, in relation to yourselves and/or your kid(s)? leave a comment or blog about it. :)

as an aside, arden is become quite the acrobat while BFing. it's like she's trying to crawl away while eating. it's been making things interesting, especially if i'm nursing her before bed. any tips?

30 days

found this list on mina's musings. since i seem to have a hard time blogging consistently, i thought a list of ideas would help. i intend to start this tomorrow :) watch out people.

Day 1 - your favorite song
Day 2 - your favorite movie
Day 3 - your favorite television program
Day 4 - your favorite book
Day 5 - your favorite quote
Day 6 - 20 of your favorite things
Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - a photo you took
Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 - a photo of you recently
Day 12 - something you are OCD about
Day 13 - a fictional book
Day 14 - a non-fictional book
Day 15 - your dream house
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 - a talent of yours
Day 20 - a hobby of yours
Day 21 - a recipe
Day 22 - a website
Day 23 - a youtube video
Day 24 - where you live
Day 25 - your day, in great detail
Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Day 27 - your worst habit
Day 28 - what's in your handbag/purse
Day 29 - hopes, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - a dream for the future

teething while on vacation

it sucks, big time. but let me back up a little and give you the whole run-down.

anna's dad is working in laos right now. he is in gold mining. he's been there since the beginning of the year. anna's parents figured out they would save a ton on taxes if he didn't come back into the u.s. for the rest of the year. so we all traveled up to vancouver island, british columbia. we went to the juan de fuca provincial park to camp for a week.

this was the first time we had camped with arden. anna and i are backpackers. we're used to packing small, light-weight items. just the essentials. for this trip, we bought a big ass 6 person tent. it's 11' x 11' x 6'. we brought an air mattress and a pack-n-play. we brought whatever food we thought of, and packed it in a big cooler. life was going to be comfortable.

ha!

turned out to be a very cold trip. we wore layers the whole time. i slept in socks, jeans, two shirts, and a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. all inside a 20 degree down sleeping bag. arden wore socks, footed pjs, a long-sleeved onesie, sometimes pants or baby legs, a fleece sleep sack, and a hat. we also covered her with a thick baby blanket, her thin baby blankie, and a baby towel. she would go to sleep in her pack-n-play but come to bed with me after her first wake up.

oh and the wake ups. man, it was like having a newborn again. i was a nursing machine. i have this terrible crick in the shoulder/neck area from sleeping and nursing (on a slowly deflating air mattress).

arden finished cutting her left front tooth at about the beginning of the trip and started cutting the right front. it was rough going folks. it didn't help that she fell and cut her lip on a cooler. she had a nasty bruise on the inside of her lower lip. it was dark purple/blue. ouch. the tooth, i think, is what made the trip the most difficult. but the memory of why specifically is starting to fade already :)

trying to keep a mobile, curious baby away from small rocks while camping is very interesting. fortunately, anna's mom brought a screen tent thing. we set that up to keep arden away from mosquitoes. then anna and her mom put down a tarp, put sleeping pads on top of it, and then a large blanket. surrounding that area, they put all coolers, boxes, and large luggage. they basically created an awesome play area that arden could safely play in (mostly- reference cooler lip cut). it was the best idea ever.

until, anna's mom had an even better idea. she had brought the inner tube that they pull behind their boat in case we could play in the water at the beach. since is was freakin' cold and there was no way in hell we were going in the water, she blew it up for arden to play in. and that is how the tumble tube was invented :) arden loved that thing. she could stand up in it and fall down without getting hurt. she could reach for thing outside the tube but we didn't need to worry about her climbing out of it. she even started standing in the middle of the tube without support! it was awesome!!

arden got to experience a lot of different things on this trip. hiking in the woods. bathing in a washtub. playing in tide pools. ooh, i forgot. we went to butchart gardens and she rode the carousel. she went to a "foreign" country.

yeah, the bad memories are fading away. it was difficult caring for a teething, cold baby while camping, but we enjoyed ourselves a lot. it was great to spend time with anna's parents, sister, and uncle. we had good food. read some fun books. had good conversations. saw beautiful scenery. i know i'm forgetting some good stuff, but you get the gist :)

next time we'll be sure to bring more clothes. we'll check the weather better. make sure the mattress will not deflate (ugh). and remember where we put the baby tylenol. :) pictures will follow. first we need to unpack the car...