Christmas Photos

It's a little early, but I haven't been on my blog in a month and it'll probably be even longer before I'm on it again. We bought a new Christmas dress for Bug, and she did have fun being pretty and swishing it. She screamed when I took it off, but that's life. Let me tell you that getting a good photo of Naya is hard. She doesn't hold still for a second. But we did manage to get a few cute ones.

Hallowen and other goodies

I won't post a ton of pictures from the Family Reunion since I didn't take too many. But I though some of you would like to see Linaya's Halloween costume and some of the things that have been occupying my time lately.

The first one is the afghan I just finished for myself. Next is Liz painting Lucy's face. I thought it amazing watching her work. The third is Naya's new favorite spot. She found out that the ottoman comes open. So now she pushes the top of and it becomes a little nest for her. She puts anything in it that she wants to play with or read and will sit there cuddling her blanket for an hour. It's really cute.

The last picture is her halloween costume. We couldn't get her to hold very still for pictures that day, but she was still a really cute kitty.

Pictures

It's been a while since I've posted pictures, this isn't because I haven't wanted to, it's because I'm notoriously bad at remembering to take pictures. However I did so this morning and I thought I would post them while I was thinking about it. Here is the quilt and hat I just finished as well as the little sweater I made to match the hat. Luckily they both fit Bug well. Notice that she's getting better at looking at the camera when I take her photo. Also included is one of her stacks, yes she still stacks, silly monkey that she is. Usually she does it while I'm trying to cook and I end up tripping over her work.

Expectations great or small

Altogether I have a happy marriage, it goes to show how little I let myself expect to be content with what I have. I love Sandin, but the boy hasn't got a romantic bone in his body. Oh he tried while we were dating, but his idea of romance certainly never meshed with mine. I've never really been bothered by this, after all I'm enough like Daddy in certain ways that I'm oblivious to a lot of it. But the expectations I had that shattered early on about love, those were the most difficult to give up. And let me say that all those old cliches are never right. "Love means never having to say your sorry," should really say "If you really love someone, you'll apologize for everything you may ever have done. Marriage is hard, but loving someone when you really want to hit them is harder. And harder still is speaking gently and lovingly to someone who just did something that you'll be paying for until the end of time, one way or another.

Like Jane I've been dying to keep my hand's busy doing something. I finished Bug's quilt finally, and after a conversation with Jane, I decided to go back into making hats. I finished one last night that I think is quite cute even though it's blue. I don't know if it will fit Bug, if not Gwendy may get it. But I was thinking of doing a hat and shawl for me for fall. I doubt I'd wear them in winter, but I like hats in the fall. I look cute in them.

In case you notice the time of this posting, I couldn't sleep, woke up disappointed and relieved, either way I'm here. Once I eat a little to slow down my tummy demons, I should be able to sleep again, I hope.

Soup season

So I'm really picky when it comes to soup, though it's the season where I really start thinking about it. I don't really like chicken noodle soup, even homemade. I want a soup with flavor, but that's fairly easy to make. I like potato cheese soup, but I don't like to make it too often because it takes too much effort. I usually make it about once a year is all. What I really like are soups and stews that I can throw together quickly and taste great. An example of this is Marilyn's bean soup recipe (with a few alterations of my own preferences and Sandin's limitations). It takes few dishes and is really good both fresh and as leftovers. Well I bring this all up because I found a new soup that I love. I wanted to make a tomato soup of my own without too much effort. So I looked online and found a simple recipe which I of course altered. It ended up being so good that I thought I would share it with those who like soups in the fall too.

Tomato Spinach Soup

1/2 sweet onion

2 cloves garlic

2 cans diced tomatoes

6 cups chicken broth

1/2 bag of baby spinach roughly chopped

1 tsp. salt

Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil (or butter). Add tomatoes, broth, spinach and salt. Cook for ten minutes or until spinach is wilted and soup is hot. Serve with bread, rolls or cheese sandwich.

Try it I know you'll love it and it's soooo easy, and cheap.

New news!

Sandin has a job, well mostly. Ever since he's been seeing the chiropractor he's been hopeful enough that he decided it was time to get a real job. He'd been approached by a company he does occasional work for in St. George so he called them up and asked him if he could get the job. After about a week he found out he had it, at least on a trial basis, until they can see an example of a website for a client from him. It's the perfect job because it allows Sandin to work from home, gives him flexible hours, and allows him to get full time hours.

So in hope and for help we finally decided to get Sandin his new computer. He's been needing one for years, and wanting one for longer. So we got him an Imac. It's beautiful and shiny and so cool, and I'm writing on it as we speak. We got an Ipod too, and Sandin goes back and forth between using his computer or the Ipod, and when he's not on either he's talking about them. He's just so excited.

Doug is finally moving out of our front room (fyi: we had it rented out as office space to a friend). It's been a while since I've felt we needed the extra room, and Doug finally gave up making money off his business. He was struggling before the recession but since his business has gone completely. The only downside to this is that Sandin isn't giving me the living room for the house, instead he's moving his office in there and we'll be converting his current tiny office into living space. On the up side I got a new chair, a red wing recliner. It's not actually new but it's still well padded and surprisingly comfortable.

And just so you don't think that Sandin's getting all the perks right now, we just got me a bike, and Bug a seat for it. We've already been on a good ride on it. This is in the hope that I can start getting more healthy. I've been overweight and feeling low recently and I thought this might be an enjoyable way to spend more time outdoor with the Bug, getting exercise , without having to chase her around, which is hard on my back.

Bug is staying cute and growing tall. She can reach doorknobs now, though just barely on her toes. This means it won't be long until she figures out how to use them. She's smart that way. We have latches on most of our cupboards and she knows how to get them open. We can't keep our cans in the cupboards, instead they usually end up in a large single stack in the center of the room. This propensity for stacking has inspired us to get Linaya some blocks. However all this has really done is made our cupboards full of blocks, the cans are still in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Silly Bug

Linaya has been going through some strange and cute phases lately. She likes to get herself wound up and laughs and laughs until she's just hyper. She's been walking around lately with her eyes closed both hands out in front of her. Actually she cheats a little, I think she likes the disorientation. She also has decided it's fun to walk backward. She goes slow until she hits something then runs to the middle of the room and does it again.

Her other new thing is singing. She's never tried to sing much before, but just this week she was watching her favorite song on Sesame Street, and she started singing with it. She didn't hit many notes, but she stopped after each word. She still doesn't say many words but she's cute.

She finally has moved away from ripping books. Instead she wants me to read to her, or she sits quietly and turns pages by herself. Sandin thinks this is because she sees Sandin and I reading all the time. Her favorite book is Piggies, and she won't go to bed unless I read it to her.

Doug is finally starting to move out of our front room. And as a last trick to teach her, he keeps trying to get her to wink. Actually she's almost got it down. She already can close only one eye but for less than a second, the other closes too because she can't just hold one down. She works pretty hard at things like this and it wouldn't surprise me at all if she can wink before most of you see her again.

Sandin and I are doing pretty well. We've both been to see a Chiropractor and it seems to have helped us both. Sandin's got work and he's staying busy. We hope he'll get more work soon.

Purses, Pacifiers and Paddling

Linaya is a full on water baby. Her first time swimming she went straight into deeper water and kicked where she wanted to go. It seems almost instinctual. We took her again just yesterday with Gwendy, Charlie and Abby. (Thanks for visiting girls.) Linaya is a cutie and would just kick and paddle to whomever she wanted. She also likes running through the sprinklers and even playing on a slip-n-slide that her aunt Lori set up for the Fourth. While the others hung back and complained that it was too cold, Linaya lay down and kicked her way across it splashing all the way.

On top of swimming, Naya has also started clinging to her binky and blankie. She's always wanting them and then she sits and sniffs her blankie. I tried to capture her in that moment.

She was carrying around my shoe over her shoulder and putting little things in it like her binky, so I realized that she was using it as a purse. So I pulled out an old purse of mine and she's adopted it. She carries it around, even taking it to church. We put little things in it for her, a small flashlight, chapstick (unopened), and small toys like a mini slinky and a glow in the dark bracelet. She loves it.

Also she's finally started dancing. It is hilarious. She really just goes in a circle with her hands behind her back until she falls over, at which point she swings her arms around until the room stops spinning. Then she gets up again and starts all over.

No time like the present

I feel a little guilty about the length of time between my posts. It isn't like I don't have stories about my darling baby, or things that have been on my mind. It's just been a bad month. I haven't been feeling well this month, and to add on top of that the temperature in the computer room. It makes it a bit difficult to think, not to mention write.

We took Linaya for her first swim. I knew she'd love it, since she loves water, baths, being sprayed by the hose, even washing her hands and face after dinner. What I didn't realize is what a natural she was. As soon as we put her in the water she started kicking. I could see her analytical mind at work as she figure out how to turn in the water and kick the direction she wanted to go. She followed Jane, or Evelyn around, then she'd push and kick her way to the stairs so she could stand on her own and splash. It was amazing and so much fun. I don't know if or when we'll have another opportunity to swim, but I can't wait to take her again.

Sandin is delighted with Naya since she started saying "Daddy" very clearly. She'll say it to get his attention and when he asks "what?" she starts to giggle. Then we all giggle because she's just so cute. He has started to ask "what" in different tones to get more of a reaction out of her. I love my little family.

Mommy initiation

Monday Linaya was sick, not just a cold. She kept on throwing up again and again. By the end she was so weak she would fall asleep before she even finished. She was pale and listless and it was very scary. I stayed up with her until 1:30 a.m. and I think it's my true mommy initiation. Because although she's had such trifling things as colds, I've never seen her so weak and helpless. I felt like the worse villain when I wrestled with her so she wouldn't touch her ickies. It truly was one of the longest nights of my life. Even when she finally fell asleep, I kept worrying about whether she was warm enough, if she would wake again, and what I would do if she went through both sheets again. (We only have two sets).

Since then she's been eating listlessly and is a little grumpy about everything. I feel very sorry for her, but there isn't much I can do to help her. We went to the doctors yesterday for her year-old shots and she really didn't like that much either. And today Kitty scratched her across the nose. She's really just not having a good week. But I truly feel like a mother now seeing my baby so helpless.

I just feel sorry for Sandin, who's birthday it was. What a horrendous birthday.

Weekly Rant

What ever happened to the comedy?

Decades ago there was Ghostbusters, Clue, Without a Clue, Oscar, and a boatload of other hilarious shows. These shows focused on clever wordplay and comedic timing. They were funny and smart and quotable. Now there isn't a comedy out there that appeals to me. Every movie that comes out is crass, rude, crude, and embarrassing. I don't laugh through them, I squirm. I don't enjoy them anymore, and I definitely don't want to quote them. And no Mormon comedies don't fill this void either. They also make me uncomfortable, because they make light of doctrine, or create worldly situations that are supposed to be funny.

So what is the answer? I don't know. Somewhere out there must be someone with an actual sense of humor. Wit can't have disappeared completely, I see evidence of it occasionally in shows, but too much do they rely on sexual humor, or gas jokes. It makes me sad. So my appeal is suggestions for humorous shows. I have Lark Rise to Candleford, funny and clever, and Big Bang Theory, which tickles the geek in me, but is still to dirty. But this is about all. Any suggestions for good shows or movies would make me happy.

Aren't we sick of winter?

On nice days we go on walks. Not too far, and it's usually one of two routes, but the weather is just so nice. It's sad though, because every few days it turns into winter again. This is especially annoying because about the time it stops doing this it also starts to get so hot its not fun outside because of the heat. Why can't spring just stay spring? I went to the park with Linaya and she played with a few other kids. Her favorite part of the park was the tunnel on the play set. It slopes upward and is a little too slick for her to crawl up it, but it didn't stop her from trying. She just kept right on crawling for like five minutes, not going anywhere, but still feeling like she was one of the kids. She's just so cute.

She's also been giving me kisses lately. They've always been super sweet, light and not even slobbery, but just yesterday she suddenly decided that kisses including a bite. Ouch, I sure didn't expect that.
The little video is of her walking. She's so proud of it.

idle time

Lately I've been so stuck on my book that I've felt a bit useless and aimless. So I decided to take up a new project. For months now I've been dying to capture Linaya's eyes, they're so beautiful and expressive, so that what I chose to do. I realize that most of you will never get to see this in person, but I thought you might enjoy seeing a facsimile. Here's my finished project (minus framing and matte). Not bad?

Unofficial Walker

Linaya is unofficially walking. Around my home, which has tiny rooms and plenty of knee high shelves and surfaces, she never gets to her knees. When she's comfortable and happy somewhere she sticks to walking between individuals taking up to two or three steps without aid. But any where else she is a crawler. She is funny though she stands without aid for long periods of time, until you bring it to her attention, then she immediately drops to her knees. It reminds me of Wiley Coyote hanging in midair until he realizes it.

Her other newest trick is getting down nodding. She has been shaking her head for a few weeks now, but she doesn't always want to say "no" (I'm sure that will change). But at the moment she is determined to nod. It's difficult, and sometimes halfway through it changes to a head shake. She realizes that she messed it up and giggles, then tries again. But today for the first time she managed two head bobs in a row, I'm so proud of her.

The last piece of baby news I have is Bug's new word. It's by far her favorite word, "That" only she says "Dat". She says this to and about everything. She points to something and says "dat", or she plays with something in her hand and repeats it again and again. It's darling, and definitely of infinite use.

Bath time and Bumps

Lately Linaya has been getting so very cute. She's saying words, doing actions, crawling and even walking a few steps without help. She's so close to walking it really scares me, I'm already having a hard time keeping up with her. But she still just so darn cute I can't help but love her. Unfortunately she's also really curious, and this has recently cause her some rather painful bumps and scratches. Kitty scratched her the other day because she found him and started pulling his fur out it big clumps. And she tried to get something from the table from her high chair, by standing. She fell and splatted hard, and I just couldn't get to her in time. I've been all tense since.

On a higher note, she has finally started to love baths. On Saturday night I started running a bath for her and she crawled to the bathtub, stood up and looked in then said "Eeeeee", which is her way of saying "yeah".

We also decided in the nice weather to take her swinging for the first time. We tried to take a video, but though she enjoyed it, the whole time she was watching all the other kids in the park or on the swings next to her. She's just such a people person.

The final image is of her new hair-do. Now that she has some hair, it curls wildly after her bath. It's just so cute that at least occasionally, I mousse it and let it dry that way. Naptime inevitably ruins it, but it's just so cute until then.

All Done

Recently Linaya has picked up a few signs. She signs "more" and "all done". The latter she tends to do fairly frantically when she is forced to do something she doesn't like, for example, she signs it as soon as I put her on the changing table. "More" is less recognizable and I'm not sure she understand what it means. She signs it all the time just to show us she can.

Bug is really a sweetheart, only she's at a difficult age. She's just old enough to get across the floor faster than I can get up, which means she gets into everything that she shouldn't. Still, her favorite person is Mama and she comes to me fairly well even when I'm telling her "no."

As a bonus for reading my rambling, above are a few recent pictures.

Scrambling Baby

Well, Linaya has mastered crawling. I put her down on one side of her bedroom and before I get to the door she's behind me already. She wants to discover everything around the rooms where she is which includes ripping books, eating papers, (and everything else she finds), chewing on cords, and in general making it difficult to watch her and do ANYTHING else. Luckily she hasn't figured out that it allows her to get away from us, only to us. At which point, she climbs to a stand and grabs at any fingers that she sees.

She wants primarily to walk still. And she's growing fast at that. She chugs across the room, matching paces with Sandin as she follows him. This is a bit hard on my back of course, since she's still so itty bitty. She doesn't even come to my knees, so she gets upset after I stop playing with her.

On top of all this, Linaya has also got another tooth, right top incisor. This means when she isn't using my fingers to walk with she's trying to bite them.

Still she's the cutest little thing, and really good. She's rarely in a foul mood that can't easily be distracted. Even when she gets hurt she is easy to distract. I love her dearly, and I love motherhood.

Skipping the crawl

Recently, Linaya has decided that she would rather not crawl, but is determined instead to walk. This is difficult for her considering that she still hasn't figured out the basics of the process. When holding our fingers it is her practice to take steps as long as her little stride allows. She steps on her toes as well. This makes the entire movement a little spastic. Still she has realized that it still beats crawling since she can only still manage to scoot backward in increments. So now realizing that walking is in fact a superior way to get around, she is working her hardest to get going. This means that she manages to push herself up onto her feet, in what is known in yoga terms as downward facing dog position. At this point she gets stuck, unable to figure out how to straighten without landing on her face. Instead she topples over and then cries in frustration. Mama, the sucker that she is, immediately goes to rescue her poor bug, and Linaya promptly grabs her fingers and scoots of her lap, thus enabling her to walk, which is what she wanted all along.

Now if only she could only figure out how to grab things without losing her balance when letting go of those fingers.

Books

These days I hardly do any reading at all. There are several reasons for this, first being motherhood. Actually it isn't as difficult to get reading done as you would think, Linaya is such a good baby, and she sleeps at least four hours during the day, most of the time. But like I said that is only one of the reasons. The biggest reason recently is that I'm writing. That's right, I'm re-writing my book for the fifth or sixth time. And I've found that when I write, I tend to take on the writing mannerisms of the books I'm into. Sometimes that's good, but most of the time it's bad. Whew, you should have seen what I wrote while I was taking my Dickens class. Ouch.

Despite my excuses and avoidances, there are some books that cross my path that I just have to pick up and read. One of those books I just finished. It's called Faith Among Shadows. I came away from it feeling awed and inspired and very humbled. I won't tell you what it's about, but I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good book.

Feeding the Bug

My sister-in-law, who has a baby just two weeks older than Linaya, thinks I'm crazy. This is due to the fact that I feed Linaya anything we're eating, usually in a big pile in front of her, and let her feed herself. There are reasons for this, first Linaya has been chewing despite lack of teeth for two months now. Secondly, she refuses to let me feed her anymore, usually making a much bigger mess fighting me for control of the spoon or fork than if I just let her feed herself. And of course the biggest reason is ease, I love that I don't have to bend over her for half an hour hurting my back to make sure she's eating all her food. So far she loves food. I have only found one thing that she didn't like. I made an artichoke soup, but to be fair to Linaya, neither Sandin or I liked it either.

Right now as I type she's destroying a muffin. She prefers them whole so she can smash them up as small as she wants but she still manages to eat a good portion. She's even getting good a picking up the tiny crumbs, she just can't quite manage to get a lot of the food into her mouth. Much of it ends up in her lap. But she is so happy at the end of a meal I find I can't take back that control.

Come on, could you take a muffin back away from that happy face?

Teething and mutant binkies

The past few days Linaya has been teething. I hate to complain because Linaya is so very good, but at night she's been having pain in mouth that keeps her awake if not crying constantly. It's harder on me emotionally than it is on her. Any advice to help a teething baby sleep?

As a side track, my Mom got Linaya a new binky for Christmas. Its the same size and shape as her current ones, but it has a ring on the back. Linaya uses it, sometimes, but every time she does it bugs her until she pulls it out and tries to rip the ring off the back. It just isn't her binky.

Blog envy

I don't know why it is, but every time I read Marilyn's blogs I feel inadequate to write in my own. This may be because she manages to say witty things, or philosophical things, or maybe it's because her family is just so gosh darn cute. But ultimately it comes down to one thing. Pictures. Marilyn has a picture with every entry, usually more. I scan through them admiring the quality of the pictures, the lighting, and the general cuteness of her kids and then I look through my scanty choices for photos. Perhaps it's the ADD in me, but I never can remember to take the camera with me to important occasions, or if I do have it, I forget to take pictures.

For example, a year and a half ago, Sandin and I were able to go to Hawaii. I remembered to pack the camera, but then as we went on our little adventures around the island, I forgot again and again to bring the camera with me. It stayed in our suitcase the whole time, until the last day, then suddenly I went Oops! So our Hawaiian memories are limited to about three hours before heading to the airport. And since we only went to an arboretum it's mostly flowers and trees.

Since Linaya's birth I've been trying really hard to remember to take her pictures, but once again, it seems to be limited to down time. I remember on a Monday afternoon when nothing is happening, but I forget to bring it to Christmas Eve or New Years celebrations. Christmas morning we remembered only after all the presents were opened. I feel bad about this, but if any of you wonder at my lack of photo journalism in this blog, now you know why. *Sigh* just one more reason why I wish I had Marilyn's talent.

Baby's first Sushi

For Christmas Sandin got a gift certificate to the local sushi bar. Yum, we took Linaya and she loved it. We put a bit in her mouth and she went, Mmmm! We gave her two pieces, all chopped up and mixed together and she stuffed them both in her mouth as fast as possible. And for those of you out there worried about giving baby raw fish, we didn't. Both the rolls we ordered had well cooked fish in them and no fish with high mercury count.

Pre-eaten sushi rolls. Her place and face were a mess afterward