Decor Dilemma

It's been over a year since we've been in our house now. Yay! We love it and our neighborhood and our ward (and living in this climate this time of year). One thing we don't love though is deciding what to hang on our walls. Yes, folks, it's been a year and a good number of our walls are still bare. This is not due to the fact that we have nothing to put on them. In fact, the opposite is true. We have too much to put on them, and frankly, we don't know what to put where, or what to do with some of the very thoughtful and / or time-consuming and / or expensive wall decor we have been given over the years that is just not our...um...taste. Every time we go to tackle actually hanging things on our wall we end up going through our vast supply of decor and just putting it back in the same closet, with maybe one more thing hung up.

The problem is we watch too much HGTV, I think. We've become quite picky about what we actually want in our house. However, we also don't want to be ungrateful for all the things others have provided for us. Why should we waste or spend extra money on even more decor when we already have plenty? There are impoverished people all over the world and I want to complain that some very thoughtful gifts just aren't my style so I feel justified spending more money to get what I really want? This is what we go through every time. We feel like we should hang all this stuff up, yet we don't get excited about a lot of it, so we just give up all together and our walls remain bare.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this dilemma? (BTW, if you are reading this, it's not likely you have given us anything we don't want to hang up. Some gifts from non-readers are the biggest culprits here). Do we just not worry about hanging up things people have spent a lot of time and money on and get what we want? Do we get over our vanity and be grateful for the generosity of so many people that allow us to decorate our home w/o us breaking the bank? Seriously, it's such a ridiculous thing, but I feel like our home still feels unfinished and I am really ready for it to be finished, so how do we deal with this?

What Says "Merry Christmas" Better?

Isn't he adorable?

Proud Mama

I haven't done much blog reading or writing recently. It is just too busy this time of the year, but I am pausing this regularly scheduled holiday busyness to relate what just happened that made me so proud. It will show just how much of a nerd I am.

One show I actually really like Adie watching is Little Einsteins. We have it on On Demand, so there are 4 or 5 episodes she can watch at a time and they switch a couple out every month or so. If you haven't seen Little Einsteins, and there are probably a good number of you who haven't, you should know the basic premise is each episode is built around a particular piece of art (or art type), a piece of classical music and a geographical location, or sometimes multiple locations. I love Adie learning about art, music and geography. I know, I'm weird. Anyway, a couple of episodes that are no longer on On Demand featured "The William Tell Overture" by Rossini.

Fast forward to today...as I was changing Chase's diaper, I was humming "William Tell" (If you don't know what it is by name, look it up on YouTube or something and give it a quick listen. I promise you, you've heard it.). Adie says, "Hey, Little Einsteins!" I then ask her who the composer of the song is and she pauses for a moment to think and then says, "Rossini." Yes! My daughter is learning to distinguish classical music. I was so excited. I then ask her what the name of the song is. She needed a little prompting but was able to tell me that too. Then, about a minute later, she says, "Overture is all gone," because those episodes are no longer On Demand and she recognized that. I'm not claiming Adie's a brainiac since she seems to a little slower on that curve than some kids, but I am just happy she has taken to music so much.

My second musical brainwashing ploy is a success! Now, Adie not only loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but she has an ear for classical music ;) I think maybe Santa will need to bring a Little Einsteins DVD to her.

Trip planning tool

So I discovered this tool which I think is pretty cool. Often times (especially in winter) you care about the weather along the path you're traveling in addition to the weather at the start and at the end of your drive. The problem is, if you want to know what the weather will be like, you need to look at the start and end of your trip and then maybe 2 or 3 spots along the way. It's a pain. Anyway, I found a tool at the weather underground that will show you the weather along your travel path based upon your expected departure and arrival times. It will also give you directions. The tool is at: http://www.wunderground.com/roadtrip .

Wonderful wife

So every once in a while your wife does something so unexpected that you just have to comment on it.

The other night, we were watching Star Trek, The Next Generation's final episode. I tend to watch frequently and Sabrina will occasionally watch as she does other things. We were talking about it for a couple minutes after the show ended and she turned and said "Does Netflix have Star Trek? I think we should get it and watch the entire series from beginning to end in order."

Frankly, I was dumbfounded. This sort of comment was so unexpected as to leave me momentarily speechless. I quickly recovered, and assured her if she were willing to watch, I could find all the episodes. Yea, I admit to being a bit of a nerd. But I have a wonderful wife (even if she's a bit of a nerd too).

Worth the Read

My friend sent me this article yesterday and it's really worth the read. I especially liked this quote:

"We are a nation of hyper-consumers. We encourage our children to major in consumption and minor in frugality!"

This is a topic Brett and I discuss a lot. We'd like to not be hyper-consumers but it seems there is always something "worth buying" and it's hard to just be content with what we have at present. We try to be somewhat frugal and, at least, informed consumers, but I still feel our house is too full of stuff. How do we simplify? Any good ideas?

Christmas decorating

This is really the first year we've had time to prepare for Christmas "away from home". We no longer have ready access to borrowing a Christmas tree from family. I've been quite excited to get us a nice big Christmas tree of our own. We also have a home with 9' ceilings. As such, I wanted to get the tallest tree possible that would still fit in our space. That means an 8.5' tree. Do you know how hard it is to find that size of tree? They do exist, but it's next to impossible to find one anywhere in a store.

One of the things I'm also amazed at is how expensive Christmas trees can be. Sabrina has been kind and said I could spend a couple hundred on a tree. However, I have come to find out that trees tend to start around a couple hundred dollars and go up from there. I found many that cost over $1000. I'm sure they're wonderful, but that's a lot of money for something that I'll only use 1.5 months a year and that will take up lots of space in my garage otherwise. Anyway, it's looking like I'll have to have a sight unseen purchase off Costco.com. Fortunately Costco is great at taking stuff back. Guess that's why I shop there so much.

3 Months Tomorrow

Chase will hit the three month mark tomorrow. In celebration he decided to give himself a tooth. Yes, the little guy is already cutting a tooth. I've been suspecting he's been teething for a while with all the drooling he's been doing and some unusual crankiness. This morning, I officially felt a little part of the tooth poking through. The poor guy still has a little way to go to get the whole tooth out, but hopefully, that part will be over for him soon. Three months, folks, and he already has a tooth. I know some babies have been known to be born with a tooth, but I don't think it's too common to have a teething child this early on.

On another note, he can also sit well in his bumbo chair and actually does fairly well in the exersaucer already. He also is so smiley and can grab toys hanging above his head. Have I mentioned he sleeps through the night? He generally sleeps 8 - 10 hours at night. Yes! He's a good kid and I promise to post some more pics next time.

Thoughts of Christmas

Maybe it was the crisp, cool air in the house (thank goodness for A/C) this afternoon that really got me thinking of Christmas, maybe it was the Christmas music playing on the stereo (thanks Sabrina), but I thought I'd impart all of the wisdom I have. Should take about the rest of this blog post to do it.

So I'm opinionated. Very opinionated. It's likely the reason why Sabrina and I get along so well. And as such, I thought I'd weigh in on 2 items that are likely on the shopping lists for several of the readers of our blog. Netbooks and cameras.

I've ranted about cameras a number of times, but people always ask, so here's the latest (and hopefully short) rant. Most people just want nice pictures and don't necessarily want nice cameras (too expensive). So how do you get nice pictures without a nice camera? Learn to use the one you have obviously!

Well wait you say, you're actually willing to spend a little bit of money to get a new camera, but don't have the money to buy into an SLR system? You have two choices, get a little one that you're more likely to carry with you or a larger one with more controls. You can actually do quite a bit with a your standard $150-$200 camera. So while spending more money on a nicer camera can get you some nice extras, don't feel that if you're limited this christmas on your budget that you can't get a camera that you can use to take good pictures of your kids. Learn to use it. Buy a camera with manual mode that you can set the aperture and shutter speed with. And learn what those mean and why they're important. Learn that bumping ISO often times gives you nicer (but grainier) pictures than using that built in flash. Anyway, take away is that even less expensive cameras take nice pictures, so if yours is old, you don't have to drop $600+ to get a camera something worthwhile.

Netbooks
The current craze striking the computing world right now are things called netbooks. They're low powered computers that all seem to run the same Atom processor with 160 gb hard drives and 1 gb of ram. We've owned one for over a year now and I have to say that I've loved having mine. We bought an Acer Aspire One back when they were one of 3 options on the market. It's run well and gets lots of use. It's a little underpowered for watching Hulu fullscreen, though some of the newer netbooks have better grapics/cpus that might handle it better. If you're looking to get one as a second computer, I definitely recommend it. It's great being able to look up things wherever. Sabrina brings it into the kitchen a lot for recipes. She can have it upstairs when she's rocking Chase to sleep. It's light and super portable. Plus the 5+ hours of battery life on it are the best part. You can use it for a couple of days (light use) before you need to plug it back in.

Anyway, this post didn't turn out to be quite as in-depth as I had envisioned it, but then again, people might still be reading at this point, so it's a trade off. But in case you're wondering what to get me for Christmas, feel free to get me one of these. It's exactly why you need to be careful if you start getting into photography.

A little rant on the health care reform

It's been a while since I wrote about anything political. I've actually become tired of the entire debacle that is our nation's political system (although I still read far more about it than is probably healthy). That being said, I was listening to NPR for a few minutes in the car this morning. They were talking about the health care bill being up for vote in the House soon and I decided I just needed to say a few words about this whole charade.

It will come as a shock to you all (no, it won't) that I am vehemently opposed to all the health care reform ideas that have been bounced back and forth in Washington DC as of late. In fact, unless there is a health care reform bill that retracts all federal involvement into the health care sector of our country, it's likely I would oppose it. Adding bureaucracy to any system will, at best, be less efficient and more costly, and at worse, breed corruption.

There are myriad reasons why I hate the idea of the feds getting even more involved in our individual health care. I know the status quo is problematic for a lot of people. If you don't think I understand, you are wrong. I have fallen into the category of being uninsurable, not working, but with too much money to receive government aid. I spent a whole day crying a couple of years ago because we couldn't afford COBRA (over $1000 / mo) after I quit my job and no insurance company would insure me because of some acne medication I had been taking. The situation is not good for a lot of people. However, I don't see how government intervention will lower costs or improve care. Look at the government's track record with anything: medicare / medicaid, social security, public education, etc. Anything the government touches becomes a money pit while standards are lowered. How will it be any different with government health care reform?

Do I have a solution? No, I don't have a perfect solution, but I certainly believe the free market, unfettered by government intervention, would be more likely to come up with solutions than government oversight.

Anyway, I have way more thoughts on this subject and I don't have the time to write them all down. I just wanted to officially go on the record, before they strap us with more entitlements that our children and grandchildren are going to have to pay for, saying this is wrong for the American people. Some say it's immoral to deny people health care. I say it's also immoral to make future generations pay for things we can't pay for today. If the government didn't force the taxpayers to take care of those who are uninsured or otherwise not being cared for, altruistically-minded individuals would find ways to care for many of those in need. I'd rather my money go to private charities (such as Primary Children's, St. Jude's, etc.) than toward taxes to pay for questionable bureaucracy and government health mandates.

Down with entitlements and onward with personal responsibility and private charity.

And finally, because I can't shut myself up on the subject, this should be rejected outright because the federal government has no constitutional authority to even touch our heath care issues. If you believe health care is a right, you need to ask your representatives to get that amended in the Constitution. In the Constitution's current form, health care is not a right, so stay out of it, Federal Government!

Now the flogging of the cold-hearted libertarian can begin.

Obligatory Halloween Post

I admit to being a Halloween humbug. It's not my favorite holiday (despite the fact that I love all things made of sugar). I never feel like figuring out a costume, then spending time and / or money on it. Then there's that whole horror / satanic side of Halloween that always makes me question whether it's a holiday worth celebrating. However, for the sake of the children, we did do some Halloween-y things this year. (Ok, so I like seeing others' costumes, and it's fun to dress up the kids. I will never complain about candy and seeing how much fun Adie had trick-or-treating was very worthwhile, so it definitely has its good points too). Here are some pictures from our Halloween. Sorry, if you have way too many blogs in your reader like I do, this is probably at least the thirtieth Halloween post you've read, but who doesn't like seeing kids in costumes?

Grandpa Savage came to visit this week. Somehow we managed to leave the pumpkin carving until an hour before him needing to be at the airport so it was a rushed job but we still had a good time.

Adie, like many other kids her age, refused to touch the inside of the pumpkin. I've come to think it's rather fun. Carving pumpkins is one part of Halloween I do enjoy.

The finished projects were, um, rudimentary, but as I said, we left it until the last minute, and well, we're not artists, although I thought Adie's drawings on the pumpkins were quite beautiful. All moms are proud of their 2-year-olds' art work, right?

Here we are starting on our trick-or-treating adventure. Adie had never gone before. She loved it. She would say, "Let's go to the next house," and "More candy!" after every stop. Although you can't see my costume (and it's such a nice pic of me!), I did dress up. I am Thing 2 from "The Cat in the Hat". Brett already had the shirt. I didn't mind buying some new pj pants, and I sprayed my hair blue. It's the first time I've dressed up in many, many years.

Here's the Jolly Green Giant with his pea pod. It was also a make shift costume. Brett's legs have green make-up on them, but he didn't want to do his face. Go figure! Do you like the lava lava he's sporting?

Our little lion

Our little pea pod

Happy Halloween!

Now begins my very favorite time of the year, Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Bring it on!

Pumpkin Patch day

So, Saturday we had a chance to go to our community fall festival thing. They had a pumpkin patch, but by the time we showed up there wasn't much left. Here's a few pictures detailing Adie's thought process.

This one's no good. It lays on its side.


OOOOHHH. This one looks promising.

I'll take it!

There were maybe half a dozen pumpkins left. The one we purchased had a crack in it, but Adie didn't seem to notice. Adie chickened out of going into the jumping castle or any of the activities such as that. They did, however, have some country music going on and she did start swing dancing with one her friends.


However, when she got on the hayride, she wasn't super certain about it.

Chilin'

I am feeling better since my last post, maybe still not super motivated, and still not getting too much done, but we're having a good time here. Thank you for all the advice and encouragement. It's kind of nice to just throw a thought or two out to friends and family and get some great feedback. I guess that's one reason I like blogs so much.

Here are a few photos I took yesterday morning. Adie was hamming it up for the camera on the stairs and Chase was being his usual content (and even sleeping part of the time) self on our couch. He loves it there. Don't worry, I am always very close by while he's laying there. We don't want to see any amazing rolling Chases.

Funky

So, I have been in a funk this week. I am lacking in the motivation department, big time. I have an exhaustive to do list, and I woke up Monday morning, ready to get started on it. Then, life happened. I really enjoy having Sunday be a day of rest, and I really try to not do too much housework on Sunday. However, waking up Monday can be depressing when the dishes are piled high, and I am rushing to finish them before Chase wakes up. Then, there's all the stuff that has been strewn around the house from a busy (and fun) weekend with very little time to pick up after one's self. So, we started Monday ready to get the house all clean from the weekend. However, because small children make it difficult to do anything efficiently, I only got about 1/8 of the things I was planning on doing, which means it carries over into the following day. Yesterday, I again had grand ambitions to get caught up (why do I do that to myself?) but I ended up hosting the Jehovah's Witnesses (that's a post for another day, can I just say, now I know what it's like to be on the other side of the door from the missionaries), and having a son that would not sleep anywhere but in his wrap. I had my visiting teachers over, and thought I had him to sleep at least three times, but after ten minutes, he'd be crying and I'd have to go console him yet again. I am grateful for my wrap. It makes life a lot easier in so many ways. However, there are still a lot of things I can't do with my child strapped to me, like scrub bathrooms, steam vac the carpet, sew, etc. Chase really did not want to be put down all day yesterday. I am pretty sure it's because he wasn't feeling well since he had immunizations last week. So, after two days of getting so little done on my to do list, I am just feeling like there is little point in having a to do list unless there are items on there that are of critical importance, like feeding myself and family.

I know we all get in these funks. What is your strategy, dear readership, for pulling yourself out of them?

Football

So, BYU's been playing relatively well as of late. The offense at least. I find myself quite frustrated by the defense. But they've been beating everyone (except that darn FSU game) so I can't complain too much.

This last week was no exception. BYU played a tough SDSU team and came out with a 10 point victory. The only problem was we made their quarterback look like a Heisman contender. SDSU looked much improved (or was that BYU not being great?) and I anticipate them rising up the conference ranks over the next few years. They brought in a great coaching staff that I have to believe will motivate the team.

The defense didn't look like it had any fire until the last quarter of the game. If they don't bring intensity the full 4 quarters of the TCU game, BYU will lose. The offense has been looking good lately. Aside from the fact that Max Hall still locks in on his receivers, the offense is firing on all cylinders.

Now, to my biggest beef. The MTN commentators. Seriously, where did we find these guys? In particular, I refer to James Bates and Todd Christensen. Fortunately, for the last two weeks they've been calling the Utah game, but as Sabrina is a big Utah fan, we end up watching these games as well. For the BYU game I'd love to turn down the commentators and just listen to the internet radio broadcast for KSL, but I usually DVR the game, so that's not really an option.

I don't know what it is about the two previously mentioned commentators, aside from the fact that they're awful, that I don't like. It could be things like "They got it to the O.C. and the O.C. goes down near midfield." Excuse me, the O.C.? Who is the O.C.? Does he regularly go by that nickname (no). Don't be making up nicknames for players. You're not that cool. Another thing that's bugging is Todd Christensen and his crusade against the helmet to helmet penalty. Every week, every chance he gets, he complains about it and that the officials call it. I can understand you personally not liking a call/penalty. But TV is not your soapbox (contrary to popular belief) so don't complain every week about the same thing. Oh, and who came up with the idea to have a commercial of them riding a scooter together? What the heck is that all about? (I'm sorry if any of my readers was the one who actually came up with it, I think it's an awfully dumb idea.) If you haven't seen it, you're not missing out.

Anyway, football's great, I just hope that James and Todd don't call this week's BYU game. Oh, and if you live within driving distance of BYU, make the drive to Provo this weekend and represent at espn college gameday! First time ever in Provo. Go Cougars!

2 Months

Chase is now 2 months. It's so true what they say about time flying by and kids growing up quickly. I am not sure I remember there being a September this year. It was all one big haze of no sleep, feeding, trying to establish routines, tantrums, etc. I feel more grounded now (getting better sleep helps) and now I am itching to do the many projects in my queue. The problem is, my 24 hours each day still go by far too quickly. All of the sudden, I realize I have a giant 2-month-old. I know, shocking! Chase's 2 month check-up was today. I know you are all dying to know how big he is. First, let's review.

At birth:

Weight: 7 lbs 14 oz
Length: 19 in (although at the doc's office a few days later he was 20.5, so we are more inclined to believe that)

At 2 weeks:

Weight: 8 lbs 2 oz (I think, can't remember the oz for sure)
Length: 21 in

At 1 month:

Weight: 11 lbs 4 oz
Length: 23.5 in

At 2 months:

Weight: 14 lbs 1 oz
Length: 25 inches

Depending on what growth chart calculator you look at, he falls in the 90 some odd percentile or off the charts for both height and weight now. It took Adie 4 months to reach that milestone.

Now, let's compare:

Adie at birth:

Weight: 6 lbs 10 oz
Length: 19.5 in

Adie at 2 weeks:

Weight: 6 lbs 13 oz
Length: 20.5 in

(Adie didn't have a 1 month check-up so I have no comparison here)

Adie at 2 months:

Weight: 12 lbs 3 oz
Length: 23.5 in

So, Chase is beating Adie in the growth department. Granted, he is a boy and was in utero a week and a half extra. The fact of the matter remains, we produce large children who grow quickly. Adie is still going strong. I measured her the other day at a friend's house, who had a growth chart on the wall, and then again today on the paper on the table at the doc's office and came up with about 40 inches both times. That is extremely tall for a not even 3-year-old. She weighs about 36 lbs, which is also quite heavy for a girl her age. However, she seems to be proportionate, off the charts for everything!

Go to Starbucks, NOW!

Holy cow! Adie and I had the most delicious drink today. Remember how I was having a mini crisis about the canned pumpkin shortage? (Thank you, btw, to all of you who let me know where I could stock up. That crisis has now been averted.) Well, obviously, I am a pumpkin flavor fan. Today, while shopping at our local Fry's grocery store, which has a Starbuck's inside, we were offered a free sample of Starbuck's pumpkin spice frappacino (no idea how to spell that). Before taking some they assured me it had no coffee, or even caffeine in it. It was soooooo delicious. Adie and I both thoroughly enjoyed our small cups. I will be going back for a full size one one of these days in the near future. So, if you like pumpkin spice flavored things, this is a drink you absolutely must try.

Kids

The sad reality of life is that we all too often get caught up in the day to day events of life and don't take the time to realize how quickly our children grow up. As I talked with my brother tonight, I was reminded of how few pictures we've taken in the last few months. That, along with some coaxing from Sabrina, was enough to bring the camera out and for us to do a full on photo shoot with the kids. While we've attempt it before, this is the first time we've gotten pictures we (and by we I mean me) are willing to put on the blog. Here's a few of the favorites.

What the...?

This is not an Obama bashing post. You all know how much I dislike pretty much every mainstream politician, so I am not singling him out because I abhor his policies (which I do, but I do most others' as well). However, what in the world has Obama done to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? Since he was put in office, there has been no decrease in our military presence or aggression around the world. In fact, it has increased.

In this article it states:

"Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said their choice could be seen as an early vote of confidence in Obama intended to build global support for his policies. They lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama's calls for peace and cooperation, and praised his pledges to reduce the world stock of nuclear arms, ease American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthen the U.S. role in combating climate change."

Guess what, intentions are far different than actions. There are lots of things I would like to do to make this world a better place too, and I can also talk about until I am blue in the face. Until he actually DOES something, this is absolutely ridiculous. Not only that, he really can't do a lot of these things that he claims he wants to do to make the world more peaceful. He doesn't have that much authority given to him in the Constitution, not that that matters to him.

Anyway, this has just diminished, in my eyes, the importance of the Nobel Peace Prize. If they are awarding people who have good intentions, but haven't shown any fruits of their intentions, it's nothing more than fluff. Sad, really.

In Search of Fall

After spending the entire day indoors listening to General Conference (which was, of course, wonderful), I felt we needed to get out of the house for a bit. Madera Canyon is only about a half hour drive southeast of us, so we decided to go on a drive there in search of something that indicated it was fall. I am extremely jealous of all you living in 4 season climates right now. Fall is one of my very favorite times of the year and it doesn't much exist down here. I thought maybe we'd have a shot if we went up into the mountains. Here's what we found:

Lots of turkeys roaming the streets. This wasn't even all of them. I think they're getting ready for Thanksgiving :D (Not a great photo as it was shot from inside the car window. They were crossing the road when Brett took this).

A lone tree whose leaves are changing color. (An even worse photo as it was taken by me, the non-photographer, from inside the car as we were quickly driving past).

And, that's it! Nothing else really indicated it was fall. However, the weather has cooled a lot. The highs are in the 90's, or even the 80's some days, and the nights are wonderful. It gets down to the 60's. Hooray! Still not sweater weather though. We might get some of that in January. Fingers crossed.

Although we didn't get to see spectacular bursts of fall color from changing leaves, we were graced with these beautiful views as we drove home:

This was taken just as the sun starting setting.

And then there was this one! We had been driving north with some pecan groves to the west of us, so we only saw the top of the sky. Then, we turned west and BAM! we were suddenly hit by this brilliant sunset that totally lit up the whole sky (the photo hardly does it justice). It was pretty windy yesterday so the dust that was kicked up created a magnificent colorful sunset for us. It made up for the lack of fall colors anywhere else. The sunsets are one of my favorite things about living down here.

All of you bloggers out there who are experiencing true fall weather, please post lots and lots of pictures so I can continue to be envious ;) or just live vicariously through you. If you bought a new sweater for the season, I want to see that too. I think sweaters are my favorite type of clothing. Eat lots of donuts and cider too (yes, Karen B., that especially means you) and enjoy fall!

Where's the pumpkin?

Have y'all (no, I am not from TX) heard about the canned pumpkin shortage going on in the country right now? Here's a news article about it if you haven't. I read about it a few days ago and went to the local Fry's to see if I could grab a few cans. Sure enough, the area of the shelf where canned pumpkin can normally be found was emptied out. I am totally bummed! I have a few very tasty recipes that I love making in the fall for which I need canned pumpkin. I have a couple of cans, but I feel like I need to save them for a special occasion now, just in case I can't procure anymore.

Is anyone else totally bummed about this? If I find any canned pumpkin I will be buying it in quantity and keeping it as part of my food storage. If any of you local readers find some and aren't going to buy out the whole shelf for yourself, call me or buy it for me and I'll pay you back. I am totally serious about that. I love my canned pumpkin recipes. I suppose I can just buy a pumpkin and bake and puree it. However, I understand it just never turns out tasting quite right that way. Desperate times my call for desperate measures though.

Swaddling Revisited

So, Chase hadn't been a big fan of swaddling up until this point. He just seemed to get too hot, even if we turned up the A/C or swaddled him with only a diaper and a thin blanket. We hadn't tried it in a while though and he still was only going 3 hour stretches between feedings at night, mostly. He's a big kid and I was pretty sure his stomach could last a little longer. I decided we needed to revisit the swaddle. Luckily, one of Brett's sisters sent us a couple of great thin, large blankets, perfect for swaddling. We decided to give it a go. We were a little rusty in our swaddling technique the first couple of days, so he would pop out of his swaddle after a couple of hours still. However, last night, we got him good and swaddled. He went from 9 pm to 3 am without waking up. Victory! This comes after a somewhat challenging week and very little sleep. What a blessed event. I hope it continues. It still took him about 2 hours to eat and get back to sleep after that stretch, but I was so happy I didn't even mind. I feel like I might start to feel a little sane again :)

Here he is in all his swaddled glory. Of course, next to him are the toy bears Adie felt she needed to provide him for his entertainment. She's always so thoughtful, sharing things with him (we just have to stealthily remove them when she doesn't notice so he doesn't suffocate on the toys, blankets and shirts she likes to share with him).

Chaseman

Not to be outdone by his sister, let's check in on Chase at one month. He has already gained 3.5+ lbs and 4.5 inches if his birth length was accurate, though we question that. He routinely eats 6+ ounces at a single feeding (eating every 2.5 hours or so). He continues to not like laying on his back. We give him back time as opposed to tummy time. Occasionally it takes him 2.5 hours to eat and get settled again. Fortunately he chooses a time convenient for him, usually between the hours of 10 PM and 8 AM to pursue this habit. The poor kid has a herniated belly button. We are told this doesn't hurt him and is not a problem. It should take care of itself. However, it protrudes at least half an inch. Maybe one day we'll post a picture.

He still doesn't enjoy his swing or bouncer, though we've been able to get him sitting in his bouncer for up to 30 minutes at a time. He usually prefers to be snuggled up next to someone. Thank goodness for a wrap. It's a lot harder to put him to sleep, since he doesn't go for the methods we learned with Adie, such as shooshing or swaddling or swinging. Luckily he does like a binky, so a little ride in the wrap with a binky will usually do the trick. Eventually. We think he's starting to see things and tends to stare at you when he's awake. Here are a couple pictures for your viewing pleasure. Amazingly enough, Brett has not been camera happy this time around.

The Adster

Oh Adie, Dear Adie, in the past you've been such a mellow child, not getting into much trouble. You were maybe a little clingy or shy at times, but generally, I could count on you to not get into things you weren't supposed to. We hardly had to childproof the house. You didn't even really have tantrums for more than a couple of minutes at a time, and they were fairly rare. We could always reason with you, even long after you turned 2. You were a cinch to potty train and rarely had an accident.

Then, you had to share the attention we give you and, wow did your attitude change. Maybe it would have whether or not Chase had come. Maybe you've just hit your testing my boundaries stage. Maybe your body really did suddenly go from needing around 12-14 hours of sleep per day to only needing 8-10 (although somehow I doubt it). I can't imagine how hard it is on you to have such a huge change come into your life. I know someday you'll thank us for giving you a sibling, even if it isn't until you are adults ;)

This post, though, is in honor of all the things you do and say that still make us smile and laugh.

-You are a great counter. You consistently count from 1-10 (sometimes skipping 8) and you can get up to 18 with only a little prompting (we have 18 stairs).

-You can sing the ABC's and are starting to identify the letters and their sounds. You are really good at identifying A, D, H, M, O and S.

-Whenever someone seems sad or is crying, you run to them to give them hugs of comfort. You have always been very affectionate.

-You still love to draw and are somewhat starting to understand the idea of coloring in the lines (well sort of). You also love playdough.


-You like to get into mischief when I am feeding Chase and am less able to watch your every move. Some of the classic things you have done lately:

-Let yourself out of the house at 6 am to watch the construction workers from the porch (ok, this one wasn't funny and didn't make us smile when we discovered you were missing). Good thing we now have locks high up on the front and garage doors.

-Peel all the clementines I had on the counter and leave me a trail of orange peels leading up to the computer, so I could find where you left those little oranges.



-Bring your bathroom stool into the kitchen, climb up onto the counter and peel all our bananas while simultaneously playing with playdough, and our dirty dishes, in the sink.

-Pull every single one of your clothes out of your drawers and throw them on the floor. Plus knock the boxes stacked on top of your little drawers off so you could get to the box of Halloween costumes.



-You say some pretty funny and cute things (don't all parents think that about their children). A couple of my favorites are:

-When we tell you we can't do something at the moment, or something is not possible, you say, "Try hard!" and then make a grunting noise like you are trying to move something really heavy.

-You say, "Miss you too!" and hug people (or objects) you haven't seen for days (or hours) who you miss. You especially like to tell your green shirt that you miss it.

Ads, we love you and hope you get through this transition in one piece. I hope I do too ;) For every difficult moment with you, there are many joyful ones. Thanks for keeping us smiling.

Did you know Urban Meyer attended General Conference?

Well, at least Urban told my brother that he did when he lived in Utah. He sat right next to Orrin Hatch. It turns out, even though he left the U of U after only two excellent seasons, he really liked Utah and was excited to meet my brother who was from there. Some of you may not be interested in this post, if you aren't a fan of college football, or more specifically, the U of Utah or the U of Florida. However, for those of you who may be interested, my brother went to watch a live radio show last night that Urban Meyer did at a restaurant and got to go meet him afterward. It was a huge highlight for my brother because, well, even though he graduated from BYU, his heart is still with Utah. We grew up a stone's throw from the U of U campus and both he and I have been fans for a long time. My brother attends the U of Florida now, so he is doubly excited about Urban Meyer. Anyway, you can read the account of their encounter here. I think it's pretty awesome and seriously a dream come true for my brother. The best part of the story, in my opinion, is the part about relaying a message to Urban from the late Elder Wirthlin. Way to go, Trent!

8 Years Ago

I am sure you all remember 8 years ago today. It's one of those defining moments we all remember. I was at the gym watching CNN. I saw the second plane hit the tower. It is still surreal to me.

Many of you may have already seen the latest Mormon Message about a 9/11 survivor. His message is a message of hope. I think it's a very fitting memorial of that infamous day. Here is the video for any who haven't seen it. It's very well done and I absolutely love the last line, very powerful.



I pray all those who were personally affected by the events that day have found or are finding solace.

Toddler Advice

It's time again to solicit the sage advice of our readers. Adie has, on and off, had sleep issues. However, I'd say, for nearly a year and a half, she had been a good sleeper. Enter Chase into her world and now part of her coping strategy seems to be boycotting going to sleep. Even putting her in a toddler bed only took her a few days to get used to. Now that Chase has come along, she has a whole new way of trying to get attention, I suppose. It's called, sit in my bed and not fall asleep, even when I am extremely tired, and then leave my room after about 20 or 30 minutes and try to sneak around until my parents catch me. She does this both at naptime and bedtime. A couple of days ago, after trying for 2.5 hours to get her to bed, she finally fell asleep around 11 pm. She was up again at 7 am the next day. Eight hours is just about enough for me, but for a 2-yr-old? Not only that, but she refused to nap when she was sooooo cranky and tired all morning. It took over an hour to get her to go down. I know she is not ready to drop her naps because she has been acting like she really needs sleep, rubbing her eyes, acting out, having tantrums at the drop of a hat (which is not normally in her nature)

We have tried a number of tactics - no watching any movies the next day, no treat the next day, no playdough the next day if she leaves her room. She has been "grounded" from these things multiple times (much to my chagrin, since they are great ways to keep her busy if I need her to be distracted for a while) with no change in her behavior. Last night, we finally said, you stay in your room or we'll lock you in. I didn't want to do that and felt bad that she went to sleep on such a poor note, but it worked. Then, naptime struck again today. She has been acting tired since about 10 am, but we had a play group at 11 and after having her calmly sit and relax and read in her bed for about 30 minutes, I decided she was fit to go to that. After play group and lunch though, the battle began. We did our normal naptime routine. She told me she was ready to sleep and I said I didn't want to see her out of her room until after her nap or I'd lock her in. She was great for about 30 minutes. Then, I went to put Chase to bed and I heard her sprinting back to her room as I went up the stairs, so lock her in I did. She was screaming, "No locked in, no locked in!" It's heart-breaking. She used to be so easy to put to bed. She was so compliant, but now it's a battle ground.

Anyway, it's been about 15 minutes and there is no noise coming from the room, which probably means she gave in and went to sleep. Perhaps a few days of this will do the trick. However, I would love a little less harsh way to coax her to sleep, w/o allowing her to manipulate us. Has anyone dealt with this before? Does anyone have any good ideas? I know she is dealing with so much change in her life, so I hate having to be the evil disciplinarian all the time. I am sure she is just looking for reassurance and attention since she isn't getting it in the same quantities as before. How do we communicate to her that we still love her just as much, but the same rules that applied before Chase was born still apply now.

Other football thoughts from the weekend...

The Mountain West Conference (MWC) was a resounding 6-2 with 2 victories over the Big 12. We showed well. One of the most interesting things is the begrudging respect Utah and BYU are starting to have for each other. IF things pan out and BYU goes to the National Championship game, it will be for a number of reasons, one of them being that Utah did so well last year and upped the respect level of the conference. I feel much more of a vibe of "Kill your OOC opponents so the conference looks better even if it means that you're doing well." Where as previously many fans' opinions reflected the saying on a T-shirt I have: "I'm a fan of BYU and anyone who is playing Utah". Anyway, on to other thoughts:

Air Force 72 - Nicholls State 0
I don't care who you are playing, 72-0 is a whooppin. I didn't see the game (to the mtn: Thanks for showing football on opening weekend, too bad it was women's soccer) but what does an Air Force team do when they're up by that much, pass?

Utah 35 - USU 17
Pretty close to what I expected. An improved USU and an uninspired looking Utah. I really do wonder if are uninspired or just played to the level of their competition.

Wyoming 29 - Weber St. 22
Note to Wyoming, loss to a FCS team is grounds for immediate dismissal from the conference (I wish).

New Mexico 6 - Texas A&M 41
This surprised me some. I would have expected around a 17 point victory for A&M. New Mexico just dropped to the near bottom of the conference for me. I had expected them to be better than their preseason ranking this year. At first glance it doesn't look like it.

SDSU 14 - UCLA 33
I watched some of the start of this game. I thought SDSU might have a chance. They've risen slightly and I think they might actually be able to win a few games this year.

UNLV 38 - Sac State 3
I didn't see any of this game (Thanks to the mtn!) but UNLV seemed to be efficient (from the stat line). I see UNLV as the hardest road game for BYU the rest of the year.

CSU 23 - CU 17
Way to go CSU! Didn't expect this, though I figured sooner or later CSU was bound to get better.

Final thoughts: There are still plenty of people trying to discount BYU's win over OU because of the Bradford injury, but there have been a good number of people who point out that OU wasn't winning the game when Bradford was in there and that BYU had at least as many problems/injuries as OU (though it's true that we didn't have a Heisman winning quarterback that we could lose. I think Bronco (coaches et al) did a great job game planning for this. With the depleted O-line they chose to cross train them and not just leave everyone in the same positions (see how that worked for OU?). Anyway, I've reveled in this all weekend, but it is time to go forward, because if BYU chokes at Tulane, this weekend loses a lot of luster.

And that is why we play the game

I didn't give BYU a chance. I really didn't. Ask my coworker who is an Oklahoma fan. I gave BYU about a 10% chance. I actually blame the basketball team losing every year in the tournament for my cynicism. Well that and the fact that BYU hasn't beaten a top 10 team in nearly 2 decades. Maybe it's the aftertaste of the first half of the decade where we performed underwhelmingly.

I didn't realize that the game started at 4 here, not 5. I ran to the store to pick up a couple of things, and returned home around 4:25 to find BYU still hanging 0-0 with Oklahoma. Then McKay Jacobsen fumbled a punt return. My immediate thought was "Well, this where the wheels start to come off." Then UO scored. Definitely was well on my way to being prepared for a BYU loss. I couldn't be happier to be wrong.

Some might try to take something away from BYU because Sam Bradford was injured at the end of the first half. Hate to break it to them, but Oklahoma had scored a touchdown off a muffed BYU punt return. Other than that, they had a 52 yard drive for a field goal. Not much else doing for UO. BYU's defense was fantastic. Surprisingly enough, we found cornerbacks in the off season. They played well all night. BYU also realized that blitzing works if you do it well. And boy did they do it well. I still can't believe the defense.

As a side note, it's going to be hard, really really hard, to keep expectations for BYU's football team down now. In large part because if they go undefeated, there is a good chance (pending every other team losing once) that they get into the national championship game. Yea, I know. A bit over the top, but quite frankly, true.

Here's some pics of our adorable kids:



I admit it, we broke down, bought a TV and got cable for the college football season. It's been worth every penny so far. My only regret, we should have got a DVR...

FYI, if you live nearby, feel free to give us a call and stop by on game day next week or any week.

Progress

Chase is 3 weeks today. Wow, the last half of August flew by. Thank goodness because it won't be so hot soon and Chase should start sleeping better soon. Actually, he is. That's the progress being made. As we speak, I am waiting for him to wake up. It's been 4 hours since I last fed him and he is stirring a little but still pretty fast asleep. I want to see how long he can go. This gives me hope that in the near future, he'll only be waking up once or twice in the night and go right back to sleep. Ah, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer.

And the Story Goes

I know some people absolutely love birth stories, and others, well, they'd rather not have that level of detail. So, fair warning, this is Chase's birth story because I want to write it down to remember it and hey, it's a pretty significant event in our lives, so definitely blog-worthy. In my mind I had the idea of what would be the perfect birth scenario, but I certainly didn't really think it would turn out how I wanted it to in my mind. However, things went actually almost perfectly according to plan. We feel very blessed.

It all started Wednesday, Aug 12th. My mom flew in, arriving at our house around 11:30 pm. My mom is a school teacher and with Chase being due on Aug 22, my mom was trying to figure out when the best time to come visit would be since we didn't know exactly when he'd come and she needed to be back for preparation and the beginning of school. She bought a ticket for mid-August and another for mid-September. That way, in case Chase wasn't born by the time she came the first time, she'd definitely get to meet him in September. We talked a few times though about how nice it would be if he were born the day after she arrived so she could be there for Adie and have the maximum time to meet her new grandson. Imagine my surprise when, at 7:30 the next morning my water broke. As Brett explained earlier, we were chilling in bed, avoiding getting out of bed for a few minutes, when my water broke. With Adie, it wasn't super obvious my water had broken, but I had absolutely no doubt about it this time. I couldn't believe our luck. My mom hadn't even been here 12 hours yet. The other great things about the timing were that Brett has every other Friday off and this happened to be one of his long weekends, so he wouldn't have to take so much time off. I was hoping for this as well. Also, I was really hoping to not go into labor in the middle of the night. Adie was born around 7:30 pm. I was hoping to have another daytime birth. It just sounded so much less tiring. I also had a fear that I would go into labor in the middle of the night when my mom wasn't here and we would be frantically calling all our neighbors to find someone we could wake up so we could drop Adie off. Multiple people said they'd be happy to take her when the baby came, I just was worried I wouldn't be able to get a hold of someone right when we needed to. Anyway, I didn't need to worry about that since he wanted to come during the day, when my mom was here. Seriously, it was perfect timing!

After my water broke, I wasn't in a super big hurry. Sometimes, you don't go into active labor for a while, even after your water breaks, and I wasn't getting a ton of contractions, and they weren't too strong yet, so I was nonchalantly grabbing some last minute items for the hospital, unloading the dishwasher, etc. I really didn't want to be in the hospital laboring for a really long time, so I wasn't in a huge hurry. I did call my midwife group about a half hour later though and they suggested I go to the hospital since we live about 40 minutes from the hospital, I had group B strep and would need to get some antibiotics pumped in me and I had had some high blood pressure issues the last few weeks. We hopped in the car, on our way to the hospital, at about 9 am.

At the point we left, my contractions were about 15 minutes apart. They still weren't extremely painful either. I figured that even though we had a kind of long drive to the hospital we were going to make it in plenty of time. As we were driving my contractions were starting to get more and more painful, and were quickly coming with more frequency. By the time we made it to the hospital they were about 2 minutes apart and were hurting pretty badly. Checking into the hospital only took a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity. They were asking me if I was sure my water had broken. At this point I was starting to feel like I needed to push, so yes, I am pretty dang sure my water had broken.

They got me into triage to check my progress. I got on the lovely hospital gown. How I hate those things! Then, the nurse checked me and declared I was completely dilated, so they immediately whisked me away to a delivery room. Another one of my perfect scenarios had come true. I wouldn't be in the hospital very long, but I did make it in time. I didn't want to be giving birth on the side of the road. I got there at the perfect time, in my mind.

The nurses were getting me all hooked up the fetal monitor and an IV when my midwife arrived. In my perfect scenario, I only wanted intermittent fetal monitoring and no IV because I wanted to be able to move about freely. My midwives knew this and had written it into my orders. However, because I had group B strep, I would need an IV at the beginning to get the antibiotics in, then they were going to hep lock it. Because I was so far along when I arrived, they were trying to hurry to get the IV in. I have horrible veins and it takes people a few tries usually to draw blood or put in an IV, so I really hate it. As they were about to poke in the IV, my midwife told the nurse I didn't need to be tortured with an IV since I was so far along, so I didn't have to get an IV at all. Yes! Yet another great outcome for not being at the hospital for a long time.

Now for the hard part, the pushing. I had read a lot about how to manage the pain while getting through dilation, but that was all taken care of while we were in the car. Besides, I have decided my contractions aren't as painful as a lot of people describe theirs. I have read and heard lots of accounts about people throwing up from the trauma and the pain, and how pushing is such a relief after all the pain of going through the contractions and transition. However, for me, the pushing was way more painful and the other stuff was pretty easy to breathe through and deal with in comparison. I pushed for about a half hour. It was easily the most painful thing I can remember going through. It was so hard to direct all my energy where it needed to be. There was one point where I just yelled that I just wanted to get him out of there. I would have been all for a forceps delivery at that moment. I just wanted it to be done and over with. I just felt I had no more capacity to push or deal with the pain. I started crying too. I felt like I had hit a wall. It's one of those moments when you feel like you can't go on, the low point. However, when you push through, a calm determination comes over you and helps you get through to the end. After that little cry, I just felt calm and was more focused in my pushing. I had been praying through every contraction too, which I think helped. At some point, my midwife mentioned "the Ring of Fire" (which is such an apt description for the stretching going on during the pushing stage) and I couldn't help but think about Johnny Cash. That was a good temporary diversion. After about a half hour of pushing, we got to meet our little boy. Right as he came out they handed him to me to put on my chest. As I was pulling him up, his eyes popped right open. It was amazing. It was like he just turned on. He was born at 10:52 am, so from start to finish, my labor was less than 3.5 hours.

The nurses cleared out some of the fluid and Chase began to exercise those lungs right away. He got a 9 out of 9 on his APGAR and was as healthy and pink as could be. They wiped him down but, did it quickly and gave him back to us and left us alone with him for about an hour, which was so nice. Adie was really cold and her heart rate had been dropping during her delivery, so they only held her up to me for a few seconds and then took her off to the nursery for a few hours. This time, we got to have immediate bonding time, which was so nice.

I felt so much better after this delivery too. With Adie, I had a forceps delivery and tore really badly, and lost a lot of blood. I was also very shaky and itchy after my epidural. They tried to get me to get up and go to the bathroom and I couldn't walk. I fainted and almost threw up a few times. I also had to be catheterized. This time around, I felt that instant relief as soon as he was born. In fact, I felt amazing. I did tear a little bit. Chase really likes his hands next to his face and refused to move one of his little hands away from his head when he was born. However, it only took a few minutes to stitch me up. It look about a half hour when Adie was born. When they came to wheel me to my postpartum room this time, I pretty much hopped right down and walked on my own without a problem. I felt really good. The nurse helping me commented how I was ready to go back out and work in the fields. The only pain medication I have used at all is some ibuprofen. I was a fan of the more powerful stuff with Adie for a little while (although I had tried to just do ibuprofen). Anyway, the recovery this time around has been sooooo much better than it was with Adie. I was bored of the hospital after about 12 hours this time around. I felt well enough to go home. I was such a nice change.

In any case, I got my natural birth, w/o an IV, or even hep lock, on the exact day and time I was hoping for. How does that happen? I feel very blessed. I feel the Lord blessed us with so many tender mercies. Don't get me wrong. I would be grateful for any scenario that resulted in a healthy baby, but the fact that we got that and pretty much every other thing I was hoping for is simply awesome. Now, I am just waiting to go back for my postpartum visit to get the clearance that all is back to normal. I am dying to go on a run.

Great Health Care Reform Article

Hopefully, my next post will be about Chase's birth story. I've been meaning to post that, but alas, there isn't much time these days for blogging ;) Thanks, everyone for all your kind words and encouragement. The last couple of days have been a vast improvement and I am getting the hang of juggling the needs of both kids. Not to mention, I've been taking my neighbors up on their offers to help. It is a lifesaver, and Brett should get the dad of the year award for going to bed late or waking up early to take care of one child or another so I can get extra rest.

Anyway, I just read a fantastic article about health care reform written by the CEO of Whole Foods. I agree with pretty much everything he says. If you are following the health care reform debate (how can you avoid it?) this is a great, down-to-earth, opinion on the matter.

Adjustment

How's the adjustment going? Um, it's rough. I won't go into details. Anyone that has gone through the newborn phase will know that it's tough, and it gets tougher when you have other kid(s) to watch too. That whole sleep when the baby sleeps goes right out the window most of the time. Then, there's the whole anxiety that Adie is getting neglected and feeling bad about that. Having my mom here for a week was wonderful. She's been gone 4 days and I think everyday has been a little harder than the last. Just a week and a half until my mother-in-law comes for a few days. I can't wait. I don't think I ever appreciated more than now how nice it is to live close to family. Not to say, our neighbors and ward haven't been great, because they have. I know we have plenty of support, but what I really need is someone who can be there at 6 am when Adie wakes up and I have just gone to sleep, finally, after being up with Chase for most of the night, or someone that can take Adie to the park or pool at the drop of a hat because she's getting restless. I know I can call people for help, but it's hard to know when Chase will actually sleep, which is when I need Adie gone, so I can get a nap. 2 or 3 hours a night of sleep really starts to take its toll. Anyway, don't mean to complain. We have a lot of blessings. We have a healthy boy and girl. We have so many luxuries in our life. Chase eats well and sometimes sleeps for 3 hours at a time. I know we'll survive. I just needed to write something down, because I can only cry on Brett's shoulder so many times.

Link of the day

From time to time, I'll send Sabrina what I refer to as the "Link of the day." Often times, it's an interesting article, sometimes about politics, sometimes sports, sometimes random nerd stuff. Today I'd like to highlight one of the sites that I always forget about but has some of the most interesting (but random) things. It's Lifehacker.com. It's full of ideas and links to other articles about computers and nerdy things but also other random things which should help improve your life. Case in point: An article about how to make your own butter. That article also links to another one about how important butter care is in making the best cookies (worrying about your butter, keeping the dough cold, etc...). Anyway, any time I go to that site, I always find something interesting to read if nothing else. Check it out.

This is Love

Many of you know that Adie's security item is an old green shirt of mine. She must sleep with it and she uses it to comfort herself when she's upset. We have two back-ups just in case hers gets lost. She doesn't like them as much, but she'll take them in a pinch. The other thing she likes to do with her back-up green shirts is share them with others when they are upset or sleeping, because, of course, that's when she wants her green shirt. This morning, she discovered Chase sleeping without a green shirt so she promptly went to find one for him to sleep with. It's her way of saying, "I love you."


Yes, I know he's sleeping on his tummy. He loves it. I put him down for tummy time, and unless he's hungry, he'll just fall asleep rather than struggle and cry. He doesn't like to be swaddled (probably because it's way too hot around here) so frankly, if I am up and about, I don't mind him sleeping on his tummy. Does that make me a bad mom?

More pictures, as promised

I'll let the pictures do the talking.