If it works for them, it works for me.

If you can't tell, Ben and Thad are playing Super Mario Brothers Wii and Eliza is having a stomach ache.

Blessing Day

Eliza was blessed on the 19th, she borrowed her sister's dress for the occasion.

She had her Dad, Grampa and all her Uncles (even Uncle Dave) and the Bishop circled around her and she only cried a little bit.

2010 in Summation

2010 was a whole year, the history books will definitely acknowledge it as a year that happened.

Basically all I remember was I was pregnant for the first 9 months and caring for a deliciously adorable newborn for the last 3.

We traveled a lot, I went to Texas, Ukraine, Russia AND drove to Illinois (and back), and Ben started traveling a lot more for work going to New York and San Francisco and Boston and lots of cool places. Also in travel news, we recently bought a car, 2008 Mazda CX 9, and we (I) couldn't be happier with it. This also meant that we had to say goodbye to the Honda that Ben bought the summer before we met. It was hard but definitely time to move forward.

Anna turned 2 in February, she's grown a lot this year too. Especially her hair, this is from Jan 1 2010.

And here is her hair today.

Eliza's not going to be left out, she didn't even have hair cells at the first of the year and look at her now!

I just asked Ben what else happened this year and we both agreed that it was a very long year and there's no way we could remember/generalize/accentuate what happened in all that time, so I guess you'll just have to reread all my blogposts from 2010. because, isn't that why they're there?

Letters

Anna has gotten into the literary spirit of things, she likes to draw letters and I have trained her to trace over the things I write.

example: Here is a present that I recently wrapped for Ben. I asked Anna to come draw on it (to distract her from her request for scissor time). After some freehand scribbles, she asked me to help her do Letters. We ended up doing names in all the santa beards.

So anyway, just something I thought I should document.

She wouldn't let me finish this blog because she wanted to type. all things letters and communication I guess. Now she won't let me finish because she wants to do markers.

I miss naptime.

Good Times

We're just happy people.

2 months

21 inches tall
10 pounds 5 ounces

everything measured within 30-40 percentile

She is super adorable and smily and we all like her a lot.


more pictures someday

Good Eliza pictures

She is such an adorable, happy baby.

Especially when her hair sticks straight up.

I can't believe it's already been over 6 weeks.

I'm still trying to figure her out.

Anna was super excited to get a new basketball shirt from Daddy. She's our little Deron Williams.

These are our gratitude turkeys. Anna has been giving us lots of appropriate answers all week for things she's "thankyou for." While making these though, I had a hard time getting her to say anything other than Feathers and Markers. She finally gave me some other answers, they include:

my teachers, milk, gramma's and grampas, baby sister, pink, Toy Story 3, Jessie doll etc...

Eliza's are along the same lines, we asked Anna what she was thankful for and there were plenty of repeats.

Recipes That Don't Work - warning

This is a warning, not a mistake. Just don't try this because it's gross.

French Toast Turkey Sandwich

2 slices thick homemade wheat bread

2 eggs

2 T milk

Turkey

tomato slices

cheese

guacamole

dip the bread in the milk/egg mixture, french toast them in a frying pan on the stove on low heat. Since it's lunchtime, and you are hesitant to eat syrup and bread when you should be on a diet (but it's ok for breakfast), and your 2 year old asks for a cheese sandwich you decide "hey, I like to put egg on my turkey sandwiches, how is this different?" So you add cheddar cheese, deli turkey, tomato slices and guacamole. As you take the initial bites you realize that they are different. And you are grateful that you didn't add miracle whip.

Stuff and Stuff

I don't get to the computer very often, so I thought I'd show off some pictures while I have the chance.

Anna has watched Toy Story 3 everyday since it came out. She likes to recreate the last scene with her toys, she also likes to relate the most intense part because she has no idea what's going on. Example: She thinks Andy's mom's name is "Yard Sale" No idea what's going on.

Here she is hiding in the basket pretending to be Bonnie from the movie. When she fell out, she found that it was all fun and games until someone got hurt.

Here are some new hairdo's

Aunt Jan did a french braid for anna, with a bow in it like Jessie.
Eliza got a mohawk because she's hardcore.

Burrito Babies!

In conclusion, Eliza still looks identical to Anna. I have a hard time calling her Eliza, I just think of her as Anna II. how long until she gets a look of her own?

The Higher Realms of Optimal Experience

I recently read this article called "The Hidden Key To Happiness: Participant Experiences" wherein the author tells you that happy people don't focus on gaining material things, but instead try to pile on the Great Experiences. So it's one of those articles that makes you feel bad that you don't like hiking, or you've never been to Nepal or been skydiving in Alaska...you know the type.
So I was getting frustrated that I don't have a ton of those kinds of experiences and don't really foresee any in the near future.
This is the closing paragraph:"When you're in an activity where your skills meet a challenge, you're vaulted into the higher realms of optimal experience, or flow, a state of absorption so complete that your thoughts and deeds are one. This is as good as it gets on the third planet from the sun, as close to anything that can be imagined to what we know as happiness, as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the father of flow, has put it."
Then yesterday, I was doing my usual things and as I was soothing E and getting her to smile at me, I realized that everything in the background just kind of faded away. Nothing else mattered because I was experiencing something so profound, so magical that very few people get or think that they want. Being a mother is one of the greatest experiences - I never have to go skydiving or hitchhiking to feel like I've gotten the most out of this life, I'm in the middle of a life-long experience that will enrich my life forever.

One Month

I admit that I have not photographed this baby even a fraction as much as we did Anna. I make no excuses. Today I did my best to get some pictures of her to celebrate that she has been around for a whole month!

She's in her Winston Churchill stage. Chubby and balding, I tell her she only has 1.5 chins to keep her self-esteem up.

This was not taken today. Its was hard to find good pictures of her.

I Love this picture. I love these girls.

I don't know where this picture came from, but if anyone is looking for a good album cover, look no further.

The Best Halloween Costumes You Will See This Year

Toy Story Alien #1

(hat compliments my ultra-talented friend El Jay)

ummm

yeah.

Jessie.

any questions?

Recipes That Don't Work - cookies!

A common fundraiser in our area is selling cookie dough. So a few months ago a neighbor girl came by raising money for orchestra tour or something. We bought 2 buckets. They were delivered this week, so I decided to make a dozen for a treat.

Recipe: Charcoalate cookies

ingredients

tub of cookie dough

preheat oven to 350, shovel frozen dough out of tub and onto a cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes.

Start folding laundry, soothe a crying baby, answer the phone - It's your husband! His car battery won't start (again)! gather baby and hurry out the door to save the day, remember halfway to the rescue about the cookies and hope the house doesn't burn down before you get home.

(Here's the thing about this - investment. If you take 15-20 minutes to actually mix the ingredients and mess up your kitchen, you're going to remember that you have cookies in the oven. Spooning the dough out of the tub is as forgettable as it gets. I'm not saying the tub isn't worth it. Just make enough of a mess that you can imprint the action into your brain and remember that you're waiting for something.)

Bonus Recipes That Don't Work!

For your patience and diligent checking of this blog, I give you this extra RTDW!

Recipe: Truly Scary Haunted Gingerbread House

Ingredients

1 - haunted house kit (including frosting and candy!)

1 - impatient 2 year old

1 - impatient mother

Read the directions on the package, skip any directions that say "wait 15 minutes" Get really excited and throw frosting on haphazardly until your confidence peaks. Then watch as the entire building seems to be leaning forward, or you see the roof sliding down and the frosting falling into the building.

At this point, you might expect the 2 year old to go all to pieces about her broken house. But you'd be wrong. She's happy the roof has caved in. She wanted to put all the candy inside the house in the first place.

In the end, you have a roofless house filled with bubble gum pumpkins.

and you've effectively wasted $11.

Congratulations.

pictures

Thanks to my friend Stephanie: sweetbeanphotography.blogspot.com

Round 2

The thing that makes the second baby so much easier (for me) is that I'm not reading all those condescending parenting books that are telling me I'm doing everything wrong. I feed her when she acts hungry, or when I need her to eat. She sleeps whenever she can and has figured out how nighttime works. She's only a few days old, there's no need to put us all on a strict schedule and stress us out further.

I am able to put more trust in myself. That makes it easier.

Just How Anna is Doing

We're all a little concerned about Anna's reaction to the new baby. So here are some of her reactions. pictures to come

A) Anna is in charge of the pacifier. Which means she touches it and squishes it and gives it to the baby.

B) The baby should always be in her bassinet, I'm not sure why but she is always telling me to put the baby in there.

C) Whenever she sees the baby she uses her smallest voice to point out that she has a tiny nose, or tiny feet, ears, etc... and that she is so cuuuuute.

D) After Ben got the new bouncy chair set up and Eliza was taking it for a spin, Anna got her the pacifier, and a bottle and sat next to her and read a story: "Are You My Mother?"

E) We had moved the bassinet into the kitchen so she could sleep and we all randomly congregated in the bedroom. In just a few seconds I see Anna struggling to roll the bassinet into the room with us. It was both adorable and heart attack inducing because of the thought that she might someday try to take baby sister downstairs in like manner.

F) She found the little yellow sponge that we got from the hospital to give baby her baths. Anna used it to scrub down all the furniture she could find.

I will update this post throughout the week, so check back. also, I might add pictures.

E

Introducing Eliza Nicole*

born 5:22 pm 10/01/10, 6 lbs, 11 oz. 19 inches.

lots of hair, tiny feet, loud voice.





*name subject to change in the next 24 hours.

Dreaming in verse

When Anna woke up this morning (next to me in bed) she started singing "I am a Child of God."
this is the song she has basically blocked us from singing at home. She will sing it in nursery but we are on no account to sing it at home.
So I get excited when she sings it of her own accord.

Fresh Market

The store formerly-known-as-"Albertson's" that is by our house has a fairly odd layout.

One time I went in and couldn't find any canned fruit. I looked down every aisle twice and did not find my desired can of pineapple.

Today I went in looking for body wash. Did not exist. They had their aisle of shampoo/conditioner, but no body wash on that aisle or the adjacent. So confusing.

I'm half intrigued, wanting to go more just to figure it out or have more bizarre disappointments

but the other half of me is beyond frustrated and never wants to go in there again.

Mischief

Note: This story is not particularly entertaining if you are at all aware of these small individuals called toddlers/preschoolers. In fact, I would say for most it's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. But in Anna's case, she's never been one for mischief, never sneaking off to make messes or getting into things, so this was unusual for me.

Naptime is not a fun time at our house. In fact, it's turning out to not be a time at all. Anna fell asleep in the car at two, woke up when we got home, and I put her in her crib. Pretty standard naptime procedure. Including the endless screaming-turned-convincing-sweet-voice. She is constantly winning this fight when she turns on her convincing sweet-voice. I wasn't going to let that happen today, so I left her in there, eventually she got quiet but she would talk enough that I knew she wasn't asleep.

At four I went up to check on her. This is what I found.

See the pile of paper on the left side of the picture? That used to be a bag that held all her potty presents. Unfortunately she remembered them, opened them all, played with them, then threw them out of the crib along with her blankets. She was at this time asking me to open some of the presents that were in packages. I refused, took a picture, cleaned it all up and re-hid the toys, much to her chagrin.

I almost laughed, almost cried, almost turned around and walked out of the room again. Ultimately I called Ben and took a picture. I guess that was the right thing to do.