Chat Stew

As was clearly evident in a previous post, Anna is quite a computer aficionado, in fact, the keyboard is one of her favorite toys now. She has typed emails to her grandma's and chats occasionally with Ben. Today she started chatting with my friend Marci. Marci knew all the right questions to ask, Anna considered carefully how to answer each.

me: tbg dfs gh;djsj9j.8u

from, anna

Marci: oh hi anna!

how are you?

2:57 PM me: b kdwtn n bgu gnbv n

Marci: oh fascinating. what did you do today?

me: j vmmmmm m

Marci: fun!

2:58 PM so how are things with that boy next door?

me: fxd c zccw

o oo

Marci: ooh scandal!

me: ccws iu

2:59 PM /a,wrs'xc i8zzzcbv dbb

3:00 PM Marci: well just remember who you are and what you stand for

Thanks Aunt Marci.

Consistency

I wouldn't say I'm a perfectionist, I don't have any skills that way, but I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to organization and consistency.
As we've discussed earlier, in Toniland, everything would be on shelves and hooks, only similar things together, no mixing, in order to prevent confusion.

Unfortunately, we do not live in Toniland. yet.

In coloring books, when I was younger, I never liked mixing mediums, like stickers and crayons, or even markers and crayons. I thought it gave it all a very unorganized look. That's why I have such a hard time scrapbooking now. I set off doing a bunch of scrapbooking with the supplies I have, I'm okay with mixing mediums now, but they styles are what I have a hard time with. I can't just go to a craft store and buy some highly stylized chipboards or rub-ons or diecuts (a pretty gruesome term if you think about it) because it would ruin any vibe I might have had with the pages I have already made, and I don't want to go through my scrapbooks later and have an obvious break in which I use super fancy things for awhile until I run out then go back to the plain and precious. It just doesn't work that way. So I either have to stop scrapbooking altogether, or buy everything and try not to forget how everything works together, or just deal with whatever crappy style I have now and abandon all hope for having cute pages.

A Revelation

I have come to believe that mothers, when required, can carry infinite number of miscellaneous items.
the other day I went to the mall (with Anna), I stopped at the food court for a hot dog and Orange Julius. After I paid I figured out how to carry:
Car seat (with sleeping child)
hot dog (in shoddy paper tray)
Orange Julius
napkins
knife and fork
Diaper bag.
and I made it all the way to the table without dropping, spilling or waking.

Last night we went out to sit on the lawn, when we got tired I picked up:
Wiggly baby
toy blocks
giant outside blanket
and was able to keep everything up off the ground.

So, here's to motherhood and my new found appreciation for the "Responsible Woman"

Mac Daddy and Mac Mini

They say you have to start 'em young...

Baby's Busy Day

You think you can trust a baby...
But then they get all mobile on you.

Where I put her:

Where she ended up within 5 minutes:

Also, because she was wearing her Red Sox onesie, when it came time to eat some squash-rice cereal, Ben knew just which bib she should wear.
(Is "bib" short for something?)This was a homemade Christmas present from Aunt Jan.

Delirium

This is why you should get enough sleep, you don't want to end up like this.

Smurfette?

I know some people see it as an abhorrent vice, but I finally figured out that the secret to productivity in my life is having the TV on. I always knew I had this gift, but it wasn't until I had a Relief Society teacher tell us she had the same problem that I felt able to fully accept it.

I spent yesterday morning trying to avoid turning the TV on, but then I realized that I wasn't getting anything done, and that's not for lack of things to do. So I decided to cut my losses and turn the TV on, at least for background noise. I spent the next few hours doing dishes, working on my quilt and tidying the house. Other days I've used the TV to get caught up on scrapbooking. The only thing more inspiring is watching a movie - without commercials I feel infinitely more productive.

Oman, Omen!

I'm a pretty big believer in fate, omens and signs.

It's how I get around making decisions myself.

For instance:
House buying is a HUGE decision. If it turns out that we have to make a final decision between two houses, house A is mostly nice but needs some fixing up and house B that is nearly perfect but the faults we find in it are not at all found in house A, how would we make that decision?

Signs - Anna has cried in the realtors office for every visit EXCEPT when we went to make a final offer on house B.

We couldn't find the ward building for house B - we looked at 3 different buildings in the immediate area and it wasn't any of them.

House A, when we visited it, had a very spacious room dedicated to sewing and almost all the beds in the house had beautiful homemade quilts on them.

The current owners of house A have a potbellied pig. - not really a sign, just cool.
Not that any of these have actually swayed me one way or another, but in a dead heat, I might possibly depend on signs and coincidence to make a decision.

Some People

Some people, when they decide to buy a house, look at dozens of houses over weeks and months to find the perfect house in the perfect location with the perfect lighting.

Other people, when they decide to buy a house, look at one house, offer to buy it, and when they are rejected, look at another house, and offer to buy it, and when they are rejected, look at another house, and offer to buy it, but they are finally serious - it is just right

Would you call this the goldilocks method?

or the gaines method?

The ANNA show!

Tonight an event occurred that I've been waiting for for over 4 months,

dun-dun-dun.

Anna tried rice cereal.

I was really excited, she showed little emotion - then tried to eat her bib.

Let's go to the video.


That pretty much sums it up. Not too exciting, but baby worship is our game around here.

PS. her sleeper is super cute but I only found it last week and she'll only get to wear it twice because it's already too tight.

She might, actually be, a contortionist

This baby is the rollingest thing you ever did see. She has perfected this move, but she needs to work on getting back on to her back, which she used to do, but probably discarded as these new talents emerged.
I finally got her on video for any Grandmas or Aunties who don't usually get to see her.


On the 4th of July we went on a walk with my parents and used the stroller they have for such occasions when Grandbabies need to go on walks but their parents forgot the stroller. She was just barely able to lay down in the bottom so it was like a pram.
On our way home she decided she wanted to look around and so, without being caught in the act, she managed to turn herself over in the stroller so she could poke her head out or at least through the leg holes.

Happy 4th - Artifacts for All

Happy Holiday all -
Independence Day, is probably the only major holiday that is celebrated ALL DAY. This is probably due to the season, but think about it, most Holidays that we celebrate generally focus around one or two events, on the 4th there is a parade in the morning, BBQ's and softball during the day, and fireworks at night. It's ALL DAY.
That's all, no real revelation of truth, just conversation.

In other news, it is being reported that archaeologists have discovered the boyhood home of George Washington in Virginia.

This will undoubtably lead to a new historical theme park for which they will charge $45 per person to look at replicas of slave quarters - the homestead was called Ferry Farm.

When did they lose the location of George Washington's boyhood home? It seems like around 1800, they would have thought - "hey, we should keep that place from being burnt down or something." but they didn't.


Also in the news, members of the FLDS in Texas have launched a website where you can buy some of their homemade clothes. Apparently all the attention they got from the raid has garnered some notice from the fashion world. Either that, or it will be a great Halloween costume.

Hanging out with Clarkie

Anna and her cousin Clark are very good friends. Clark is always pretty excited to point to Anna, he likes to hold her and help her with her pacifier. Anna talks to Clark and gets pretty excited when she sees him.

They got to play together quite a bit during the last few weeks, here are some pictures of their adventures.
Clark, helping Anna with her toys
Super Clark - wearing his dish towel cape
Making homemade pirate hats
Getting wet (mostly just Jan and Clark)Smiling, kicking, laughing and (almost) turning over

Obviously, they have had a great time together, as did their mothers.

The #1 Baby in America!

So, what do a frisbee, a ruler, and a 10% off coupon to Dress Barn have in common?

What if I add a blue ribbon medal?

That's right. Those things all came in a gift bag.

Anna Gaines, on the day of her 4 month birthday WON FIRST PRIZE IN A BABY CONTEST - (collect 10 dollars)

At Beetle's suggestion, I entered Anna in the Provo Freedom Festival Baby Contest at UVU.

She competed in the 4-6 month category, wore her "Shake your Buddha" t-shirt and a yellow flower headband on her head and kicked her little feet all the way to sweet sweet victory

We have the option of walking in the 4th of July Parade and the Children's Parade (opted OUT)
and all the bragging rights we could ever want because we have irrefutable evidence that she is the cutest baby - at least in Utah County.

Sad Panda

I'm a fool
I was looking at my blog dashboard and all the cool elements you can add to your blog, and even though Ben has repeatedly told me that I can't do it, I upgraded my blog.

The reason Ben is repeatedly warning me against it is because the last few times I tried it, all but 7 of my links inexplicably disappeared from the sidebar. This means Ben does some magic and fixes it by un-upgrading it. so I get my links back but I still can't add cool things.

Well guess what. Ben is in California. and currently in a business meeting so I can't bother him to do it right now.

So I will start the arduous process of re-entering all the links that I lost
if I forget yours - let me know.
Also, I forgot what colors my template was, so I picked another one - so sad

Newport Beach Pics

The problem with a really big fancy camera is that you only want to take it out when you're sure you will be taking pictures.

We only took the camera out for 2 days while on vacation and on the drive back, Thad and I documented some things.

This is taking Anna to the beach, but it represents much more, 20+ hours in her carseat.
She was highly tolerant of the cold ocean water and the sand. She even splashed a bit in the resort baby pool and fell asleep as I held her in the hot tub. She may turn out to be a water baby.
This was our second photo-op at another beach. Anna was asleep in her stroller so she didn't get any pictures taken of her. This was not a swimming beach - after we saw what happened to this pteradactyl, we stayed away from the water.
This is a scary ride that Thad and I documented on the way home after we saw how much it freaked Ben out on the drive out.
And here's another picture of Anna, because I know that's why you visit my blog.

All Alone with a Pineapple Penguin

I like the way Ardently writes so much, I'm going to try to take down some of my thoughts, kind of stream-of-consciousness like.

Having just returned from vacation, I have quite a bit to do around the house. It's not dirty thanks to a relentlessly tidying husband but the tables are covered with a weeks worth of mail and the odds and ends of unpacking. Ben is in California for another week, hopefully the last, so I have no real motivation to get things done, or to go places, or to even shower (just kidding, I still shower).

I like watching Anna play when she's awake, but when she's asleep I read the magazines on the coffee table, or watch TV. This is not helpful and my mind is continually finding projects and chores that need to get done.

vacuum the carseat
clean the tub
make dinner (for one?! not worth it)
lose 1o pounds
run errands
read for bookclub

One of my favorite pastimes is excusing my lack of ambition with the fact that we're living in a little apartment, and that when we buy a house, I'll be more motivated.
This is apparently when I'm delusional from eating pudding and cereal all day
Why on earth would I be more motivated to clean a bigger living space?

Anna has also been difficult. Since Ben left she has become very picky about if and when she eats. She used to be more diligent in her schedule than I was so I didn't need to worry about it. Now I'm constantly on eggshells - will she eat? will she cry when I try to feed her? Will she continue to cry for the next 6 days until Ben gets home? If she does eat, will it be enough or will she want another snack in an hour? This gets old pretty fast and leaves me wanting to just sit and read magazines on the couch while she naps

In the end, I somewhere summon something resembling ambition, but thankfully it only lasts about an hour. - thats enough when you live in a little apartment.

Pop Quiz Baby

We all know the first baby, but who is this mystery second baby that looks so similar?

If you know the answer, don't spoil it for everyone else

Debate in the Blood

You know what argument I am just sick of hearing?
"Humans are the only animal that ______"

Humans are the only animal that doesn't sleep with their young.
Humans are the only animal that wears shoes.
Humans are the only animal that doesn't fling poo at intruders.

It's just a ridiculous fallacy that just because other animals do it, that nature intended it that way. Humans are blessed with intelligence, wit, and shame these are notably absent in the animal world - thus we should be relieved of these expectations. So I don't want to hear anymore about it.

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word
itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words -
"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's
why so is mankind.
- Jack Handey

Pretty in Pink

Thanks to all of you who tolerated the picture on the last post.
Here is what she really wore yesterday, she is actually cute, not a tortured soul

From her hat to her toes, it's pink, pink, pink.
(actually her socks are white)

And here's an obligatory lambie pic - they're friends