Picture Essay

Don't touch the candle while we sing to you.

Commence snarfing.

Touch Down!

I can't believe I ate part of the whole thing!

I'm gonna blow!!!

Happy Birthday Anna-Bear.

Thanks to everyone for their phone messages, gifts and well wishes - Best Birthday Ever.

One minute - One Year

I didn't mean to mislead you with the previous post, Anna's birthday is actually today. We just did her birthday shopping last week because we had money and time.

So here is her tribute -One Minute Old


One Year Old



Tongue.

Confessions of a mini-shopaholic

We took Anna to a few stores to pick out her birthday presents. Once we got the boring stuff (books and toys) she insisted on some new sleepers and onesies, so we went to the store. Instead of us picking out clothes that we think are cute, but that we know she will hate, we just gave her some money and let her pick them out herself.

She was amenable to this arrangement.She meticulously inspected and appraised racks and racks of clothes looking for the right thing
eventually she came out with some sleepers, onesies and a ducky outfit, and called it a day.

Follow up

ok, here's the problem. Neither Thad nor Bryce have children. Also they are saying exactly what Ben would say. dumb boys, never even been to Relief Society.

I took Anna to Enrichment last night, a meeting with all women, it consisted of a few speakers, lots of audience participation, and a cute little toddler who kept walking laps around the room. That baby was resistant to being picked up, held or restrained in any way. She screamed like a Banshee on several occasions. Despite the fact that I - i mean her mother - had brought toys and treats and books, that toddling fool just wanted to go and go and go. Nothing could stop her. Everyone was nice about it, they all pointed out that they had kids too - however none of them had brought them to the meeting...

So anyway, here's the plan. Start small, like getting Anna to sit still while she gets dressed and gets her diaper changed. Then maybe sitting still while reading books. Then sitting on my lap and playing with toys. It's all about attention span.

and if that doesn't work, i just won't leave the house ever again.

and if anyone has any helpful advice, please share

Survey

Is it *Really* ok to let my toddler walk around in Sunday School and Relief Society? Everyone says, "Oh she's fine" and she mostly stays quiet while she roams, definitely quieter than she would be if I had to confine her to my lap or next to me, but she can be distracting even still. Even worse is when she finds the other babies that have toys to steal, she is the most mobile baby of all the little babies and she can get into more mischief and cause more injuries and tears to the other babies than they can to her (she's a bully).

So what do I do? Continue to let her have her way around the classroom?
Confine her until she has to be taken out? Thus leaving me with no religious education on Sunday?
Continue to spend time in nursery where they know us even though the sight of babies causes wigglies?

Decisions, Decisions

I have boiled down many of the major and many, many minor decisions in my life and come to the irrefutable conclusion that I am a horrible decision maker. I never really realized before what an important skill this is, there is probably a chapter somewhere in a Covey book about the value of good decision making. I have not read that chapter.
This is especially especially true in high stress (or even mild stress) or hurried situations. I find myself totally unable to process the information, to assess the positives or negatives in any kind of coherent manner and almost always end up with "What Could It Hurt?" which is inevitably the wrong decision. (Salesmen are trained to make every sale seem high pressure, to trick people like me into betting the farm)
I have wasted probably in the thousands of dollars on these decisions (they are always expensive) and not only my own time, but others as well.

I recently read an article about a guy who resolved to stop making his own decisions. He would, from then on ask total strangers what he should do with his life. From ordering coffee to buying clothes, he even went to an airport and asked bored businessmen to look over his finances and health care options to decide for him (they were, oddly, very willing to do this). I should do this. But then I think, I would have to decide who and when to ask advice from, which I will inevitably botch.

Even in writing this post I thought, maybe this wouldn't be a good idea to post it for fear of ridicule, - but What Could It Hurt?

Will you make all my decisions for me?

Walk Tall

We posted that last video on Friday night, and I took this one on Monday morning. She is now the walkingest thing you ever did see. Seriously she just walks and walks, it's liberating for us both, a new step towards independence

Guess who...

...can WALK!



if you guessed Anna, then you are correct, if you guessed Ben, you are also correct, but you shouldn't get any satisfaction out of it.

ummmm, what?

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=358&sid=5459925

Spy Tricks

How is it that in spy/action movies, whenever the hero needs to scrounge up some borrowed clothes to keep in disguise/replace their ruined clothes, they always seem to fit perfectly?

i.e. in The Saint, Val Kilmer falls in the river, gets hypothermia, gets new clothes from the hooker, and somehow they fit perfectly?!

my life doesn't work that way, does anyone else?

Flushing Out Some Good Pictures

I just moved the pictures to my computer for the first time since...November?
it's possible. brace yourself, there's a good story at the end.

These are not in chronological order, and you may have to provide your own captions.

eating blueberries

In her cute new Christmas dress from Nana Gaines

almost walking on her own...

Ok, so here's the story. This is Anna playing with a new "toy" I found some old fabric scraps and I figured they were an easy way for Anna to make a big, impermanent mess, so I gathered them up and put them in a very cute hatbox. She's really good at taking things out (magazines from the cupboard, laundry from the basket, garbage from the can, books from the bookshelf) so she makes a mess, I clean it up etc... She has also recently discovered the joy of splashing in the toilet. We try to keep the doors closed but, there are no guarantees in life.

Tonight we were downstairs watching TV, Anna got bored of making a mess and went exploring. I found her several minutes later, standing next to the toilet with a perfectly innocent angel expression and a yellow fabric swatch on her head.

I just about died laughing.

Anna's Video Diary II

The thrill of those pants is too overwhelming each time I check my blog, so here is a new video. I was trying to get Anna dictating to a hanger, but as soon as I opened the video program on the computer, she came running (crawling).
So here she is trying to type her thoughts about Obama and being a 'Generation O' girl.

hot pants!

Anna and I spent the day at my parents getting it prepped for painting.
After Anna stepped in a bucket full of...... water, we had to quickly shed a sock and her pants.
Luckily we found a replacement sock in the diaper bag - where baby socks go to die - but when it came time to go out, she was still pants free.

In a fit of genius, my mom decided we could just craft her some makeshift pants while they were in the wash.

They are beautiful.
Skin tight pink gingham with bright yellow, blue and red stripes down the legs.
They are definitely hip huggers as they don't have a waistband. Actually, they don't even make it over the diaper. That was mostly my fault because I convinced mom to freestyle it without a pattern, she said I was brave, mostly it's just laziness.
So, mom says she's taking orders, this will be the new style for young (under 1) ladies this generation.

proud to be a model of such ingenuity

Another Recipe that Doesn't Work

This one is great. Keep in mind, it was still edible when all was said and done.

* = inner dialogue

*Anna is pretty sick of eating bananas in the morning, I should make them into little muffins, she might eat them then.

Find mother's banana bread recipe and muffin tin.
Explain to husben my genius idea - he suggests making it a little healthier

*no problem! I can substitute apple sauce for the oil!

The recipe doesn't call for oil, but a half cup of butter/margarine

*margarine is oil based!

mix 1 c sugar with 1/2 cup applesauce

instruct husband on the rest of the ingredients while I give baby a bottle.

*hmmm, it's really runny and looks nothing like banana bread batter. Add more flour!

fill each muffin and bake at some degrees fahrenheit for 30 minutes.

Remove and try not to alarm husben when they look like this...
Feed to baby for a week

Resolute

While I hesitate to make New Year's resolutions for myself, I am more than willing to make some for Anna. I mean, to share with you the resolutions that Anna has made for the year...for herself

1. Start Sleeping through the night, even just a few times a week
2. Learn how to walk
3. Sprout upwards of ten teeth
4. Learn some new words
5. Gain some weight
6. Learn basic shapes and colors
7. Get taller
8. Grow enough hair for a ponytail (or at least a fountain of hair)
9. Laugh every day
10. Make lots of messes

Hopefully by the end of this year we will have some results to post.

Who Wants a BATH?!

Apparently Anna has some beef with how we handle her hygiene, so she has taken it upon herself in a somewhat unorthodox manner to rectify the situation.





Any experienced advice from other "Mother's With Climbers?"

I love Christmas

I love Christmas, yes I do! I love Christmas, how about YOU!?

Holiday Parties

This was just too good not to post, it's from the NYTimes.

December 22, 2008, 9:55 pm

Really, It’s the Booze Talking

By Glenn Eichler

Alcohol is often called a “social lubricant,” which I always took to mean that it was friendlier than other lubricants — like that party-pooper, motor oil. But “social lubricant” apparently refers to the fact that alcohol eases conversation by removing your fear of saying something idiotic, or, if you have no such fear, by dulling the fight-or-flight reflex of acquaintances who otherwise would be nimble enough not to get stuck talking with you.

The quotations below bear that definition out. Every single one of them is something I actually heard said by someone holding a drink at a holiday party. Or maybe misheard because of all the drunken holiday babbling. Or, O.K., maybe they’re things I might have heard if I ever got invited to any holiday parties, which I don’t because of my habit of following people around with a notepad waiting for them to utter something stupid.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. Oh, really? Right next door? Ten years?”

“We’re not really budgeted for a vacation this year, what with the exchange rate and my gambling addiction.”

“I have to apologize for not reading your new book yet. It’s just that the last one was so awful.”

“That’s a great outfit! It really shows off your breasts.”

“What I really want is a job where you don’t worry so much about money and prestige. Are there any openings at your place?”

“You know what I like about you? You gain weight in places that other men don’t.”

“I’m lucky in that my business is recession-proof. People will always need stool softeners.”

“So I told human resources flat out, it’s not sexual harassment if I can prove I’m impotent.”

“I haven’t seen you in forever! Whatever happened to that morals charge?”

“I would love to show you Italy like a native. The Italy of the Its.”

“I could be further up the ladder, but I won’t play their corporate games. Men’s Room, Women’s Room — too many rules.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you have the air of a much more successful person?”

“Sometimes accidental electrocution can be a blessing in disguise, but try telling that to the other mothers in the playgroup.”

“You’re that pregnant man I saw on TV!”

“Have I shown you the pictures from my hernia operation?”

“Did anyone see a prescription bottle with a label reading ‘Do Not Take With Alcohol,’ and if so, were there any pills in it, and if not, do you know where the nearest emergency room is?”

“You know, in this light you don’t look cross-eyed at all.”

“Einstein didn’t talk until he was three either, but it sounds like your kid’s just stupid.”

“Did you have some work done? Because, you know, too little too late.”

“I don’t usually drink this much, but you’re insufferable.”

“I had pants on when I came in, right?”

“Aren’t holiday parties great?”

How is this not a monty python sketch?

Productivity, thy name is nap.

I just made this during Anna's nap.

It's much to large for her at present but in all fairness I did it without measuring anything. "If I can't cut corners, I just won't do it!" that's my motto.

Thanks to LJ for the donated pillowcase and to Jan for giving me the push to get sewing.
It is the same style as the other two dresses I made, but I added a second pillowcase (cut in half and doubled) as a petticoat, which I think the others could have used.

Miscellanea

I was going to post about something entirely different, but as I went to find pictures, I found these gems.




Beetle and her friend came to babysit for us on Saturday night while we went to Ben' s work party. I guess they had a little fun on the mac, now I have a few more pictures in my files.

I am at a loss recently of things to post. Anna has been teething, she has two little ones poking up from the bottom. We are excited that Ben is done for the semester and can hang out with us all the time. I tried to make cinnamon rolls today...
They aren't great, and I didn't have any icing to put on, but they are edible. Unfortunately Ben is on a diet, so unless someone comes over, I guess I'll just have to eat them myself...I made Anna some warm babylegs for these winter months. I just cut holes in some fuzzy/cloud/muppet socks, she really likes them and they got a great reception on Sunday.

So anyway, Merry Christmas to all...

Cheese Sandwich, No Cleanup

here is a simple recipe that MIGHT work.

put two pieces of bread in the toaster
get out a slice of cheese (cheddar is preferred)
while the bread is toasting, hold the cheese over the heat as long as possible.
when the bread pops out, quickly place the sweaty cheese between the slices and hold together until cheese melts thoroughly. (about 30 seconds)
cut off crusts and slice into 4 strips

serves one crying baby, which will then stop crying as she gnaws at it and her poor little swollen gums appreciate all the texture.


mother may feel free to eat the crusts.

Paganism please

I think my top three favorite things about Christmas are
1) celebration of the birth of Christ
2) presents
3) the lengthening of days

And when I get overwhelmed with the first two, and contemplate never looking forward to Christmas again, I can remind myself that, 'hey, after Christmas, the days will get noticeably longer, isn't that great?'
Before Christianity added the other two elements, non-christians or "pagans" celebrated at this time as a signal for brighter, longer days in the future, and that is what I intend to do as well.

Merry Paganmas to you.

Did You Know?

It is called Black Friday because it is traditionally the first day of the year that stores become profitable - pushing them out of the Red and into the Black.

Now You Know!