Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving
We have been very lucky to have visitors lately! My dad, aka Pops, came to visit a month ago. He was a very generous guest and he left us feeling very spoiled. Pops is welcome any time! We went out to eat and I got the best pasta I have ever had in my life. The restaurant is Eleven Eleven, if anyone dines in St. Louis. Pricey, but amazing.
For Thanksgiving, my brother Chris and sister Anne came to visit. We played lots of games and watched Brian Regan dvds and ate lots of dessert. And drank gourmet root beer. Apparently I have the king of all suppliers of gourmet root beer right down the street at a grocer called Straubs. I never knew what I was missing, but now Chris is very jealous.
We went to some Indian Ruins--the Cahokia Mounds. Pretty cool.
On Thanksgiving, I cooked all morning—mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls, and turkey. It all turned out ok, except I still don’t make as good rolls as my sister or mom does. I was nervous about cooking a turkey but it was surprisingly easy. Chris did the hard part of carving. We went to the arch and for a walk around our neighborhood and to the medical school.
And then our visitors left the next day. That’s ok, because we fly to Utah in three weeks!
Happy Thanksgiving!
For Thanksgiving, my brother Chris and sister Anne came to visit. We played lots of games and watched Brian Regan dvds and ate lots of dessert. And drank gourmet root beer. Apparently I have the king of all suppliers of gourmet root beer right down the street at a grocer called Straubs. I never knew what I was missing, but now Chris is very jealous.
We went to some Indian Ruins--the Cahokia Mounds. Pretty cool.
Woodhenge (no really, that's what it's called)
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we took off for Independence, Missouri to see some church history sites. We planned on leaving at 8, when Isaac usually wakes up. However, Isaac didn’t sleep very well that night and woke up much earlier than usual. So I was really worried we were in for a cry fest in the car. We left at 8:30, right when Isaac was wanting to take a nap. Chris sang to him in the back seat and Isaac sucked on his pacifier and watched Chris and fell asleep with no crying! Amazing! I was floored. Throughout the whole trip, Isaac did so well. I am so proud of him!
Being entertained by Chris
We walked around the old Independence temple lot in Independence. We then drove up to Adam Ondi Ahman (also in Missouri). It was beautiful, even in the winter. Then we drove down to Far West and saw the cornerstones of the old temple there.
Truman's House in Independence
On Wednesday, we drove to Liberty and saw the jail, which is inside a visitor’s center. It is rebuilt on the original foundation. It was neat to see the place where Joseph Smith was incarcerated for so long, for no reason. Then we drove to Richmond and saw a couple graves. I didn’t get out for the last two graveyards because Isaac was falling asleep while I sang endless verses of Old MacDonald had a farm. . .
I am so grateful for our pioneer heritage. Traveling to these sites made me again realize the sacrifice that the pioneers made in standing firm in their beliefs and not giving in to mobs and temptation. They were endlessly persecuted for their beliefs but had the courage to endure and build up the kingdom of God.
On Thanksgiving, I cooked all morning—mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls, and turkey. It all turned out ok, except I still don’t make as good rolls as my sister or mom does. I was nervous about cooking a turkey but it was surprisingly easy. Chris did the hard part of carving. We went to the arch and for a walk around our neighborhood and to the medical school.
And then our visitors left the next day. That’s ok, because we fly to Utah in three weeks!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Isaac laughing
He loves this toy! Good thing, because Blake spent lots of time putting it together...
It's so fun to be at this stage, where Isaac is laughing more and more. So cute!
It's so fun to be at this stage, where Isaac is laughing more and more. So cute!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
About my boys
Blake was published! He spent three years as an undergraduate/graduate student in a lab at the U and the research he did contributed to a paper in Nature magazine.
Life is not fair. I also sent in my graduate research to be published, now fully two years ago. It was rejected by one of the reviewers and given ten thousand comments by the other reviewer. I spent hours fixing up my paper with the help of my advisor and now it is under review again. It has been such a pain. And Blake didn’t have to do anything and now his paper is all pretty in a journal! OK, so actually I only spent one summer on my research and a couple months writing, so Blake collectively took more time on his. And between the two of us, I’d rather he was published. I don’t need to write a resume to our kids and list my publications in the Journal of Geotechnical Engineering so that they will hire me as their mom. But Blake’s publication will help for residency, etc. So fine. But I still wish my paper was published!
Blake also did research this summer and he just displayed a poster at the medical school. Isaac and I went to see it.
Isaac fell asleep on the way home.
Halloween was fun. Isaac was a dragon. It is hard to make costumes! I don’t know how people do it--this just about did me in. I don’t even know how many hours I wasted on it. My machine kept going crazy and I kept making mistakes. So I never actually finished it—notice the unfinished sleeves. But it was fun to dress Isaac up and go to our church’s trunk or treat. Isaac fell asleep right after we got there because it started at 6 PM, just about his bedtime. I guess he didn’t want any candy...
Life is not fair. I also sent in my graduate research to be published, now fully two years ago. It was rejected by one of the reviewers and given ten thousand comments by the other reviewer. I spent hours fixing up my paper with the help of my advisor and now it is under review again. It has been such a pain. And Blake didn’t have to do anything and now his paper is all pretty in a journal! OK, so actually I only spent one summer on my research and a couple months writing, so Blake collectively took more time on his. And between the two of us, I’d rather he was published. I don’t need to write a resume to our kids and list my publications in the Journal of Geotechnical Engineering so that they will hire me as their mom. But Blake’s publication will help for residency, etc. So fine. But I still wish my paper was published!
Blake also did research this summer and he just displayed a poster at the medical school. Isaac and I went to see it.
Isaac fell asleep on the way home.
Halloween was fun. Isaac was a dragon. It is hard to make costumes! I don’t know how people do it--this just about did me in. I don’t even know how many hours I wasted on it. My machine kept going crazy and I kept making mistakes. So I never actually finished it—notice the unfinished sleeves. But it was fun to dress Isaac up and go to our church’s trunk or treat. Isaac fell asleep right after we got there because it started at 6 PM, just about his bedtime. I guess he didn’t want any candy...
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Apartment
We love our new apartment. It was the cheapest two bedroom around. And it is way nice, especially compared to what we have been used to. But we are renting from an individual condo owner, and I don’t think the place has been really cleaned in years. I have been going at it, little by little, washing walls and cleaning blinds and washing the cabinets. I will be so happy when we finally settle down into our own house and I will not have to clean anyone’s filth but my own family’s. I always wanted to fix up a house but now I’m rooting for brand new. Anyway, I was cleaning a deep kitchen cabinet and found a receipt for 1992! Scary.
Our neighbors, for the most part, are very quiet. But last week someone buzzed us three times at 3:30 AM. Blake finally went to the door. It was some drunk girl trying to get in to our neighbors. They weren’t home so she buzzed us. That would be a logical step if it were 7 PM. Blake yelled at her that she was going to wake up our baby. (The buzzer is really loud.) She said that Blake didn’t need to be so rude and wasn’t he going to let her in? He said no and knocked on our neighbor’s door. No one was there. 5 minutes later we heard him get home and open his door to let in a whole party of people! At 3:30 AM! We didn’t care—we couldn’t hear them in the apartment, but we wish our neighbors had friends smart/sober enough to realize it’s not exactly kosher to buzz a random person in the wee hours of the morning.
Our neighbors, for the most part, are very quiet. But last week someone buzzed us three times at 3:30 AM. Blake finally went to the door. It was some drunk girl trying to get in to our neighbors. They weren’t home so she buzzed us. That would be a logical step if it were 7 PM. Blake yelled at her that she was going to wake up our baby. (The buzzer is really loud.) She said that Blake didn’t need to be so rude and wasn’t he going to let her in? He said no and knocked on our neighbor’s door. No one was there. 5 minutes later we heard him get home and open his door to let in a whole party of people! At 3:30 AM! We didn’t care—we couldn’t hear them in the apartment, but we wish our neighbors had friends smart/sober enough to realize it’s not exactly kosher to buzz a random person in the wee hours of the morning.
Isaac got an early Christmas present from Grandma Karen and Grandpa Kent. He loves it already! The first time we put him in it, he played/looked at each toy, one by one, moving himself around the circle, until he had gone around three times. It’s amazing to me he can do that already.
Isaac also loves to see how many fingers he can fit in his mouth...
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
4 Months
Isaac is the spitting image of his dad. The following picture is one of Blake that Blake’s mom sent us. Crazy. Although I think Isaac is not quite as chunky. We went to the doctor last week for the four-month visit and Isaac dropped from 90 percentile in weight to only 75th! Congrats to 15 lb 10 oz, 24.5 in. Sir Isaac. I will celebrate by eating a cookie.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Google Picasa
Wow, coolest program ever! I made the above collage from it. I know it’s not very fancy and you can do much more things with digital scrapbooking, but it doesn’t get much easier than Picasa collages. I am addicted to editing our pictures now. I look so much better airbrushed! Just think, I was going to ask for a new camera for Christmas, but now I am just as happy because my pictures look cool with all the gadgets. Favorites: sharpen, warmify, glow, retouch. OK, sharpen isn’t saving right now, but I’m sure those google engineers will get it working soon. What can you do, it’s the beta version.
Isaac is doing so much better sleeping. He is definitely outgrowing his colic or fussiness or acid reflux, whatever you want to call it. He goes to bed at 6:30ish and sleeps until at least midnight, but usually later. Once he slept until 5 AM! After that he’s eating and sleeping until 8 AM. Life is good. Last week, I was even able to start putting him down during the day for naps. It was getting really exhausting holding him all day and having him insist to be held during his naps. He doesn’t always let me put him down, but at least once or twice during the day I get a break. And then I’m really productive and do things like edit pictures or read novels like the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which was really good.
We just got new insurance, and they are stinky about pre-existing conditions, so they won’t pay for Isaac’s reflux medicine. But we think he is outgrowing it anyway, so we are going to see how he does with tapering off the meds. Wish us luck!
Isaac is doing so much better sleeping. He is definitely outgrowing his colic or fussiness or acid reflux, whatever you want to call it. He goes to bed at 6:30ish and sleeps until at least midnight, but usually later. Once he slept until 5 AM! After that he’s eating and sleeping until 8 AM. Life is good. Last week, I was even able to start putting him down during the day for naps. It was getting really exhausting holding him all day and having him insist to be held during his naps. He doesn’t always let me put him down, but at least once or twice during the day I get a break. And then I’m really productive and do things like edit pictures or read novels like the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which was really good.
We just got new insurance, and they are stinky about pre-existing conditions, so they won’t pay for Isaac’s reflux medicine. But we think he is outgrowing it anyway, so we are going to see how he does with tapering off the meds. Wish us luck!
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