Reporting For Duty

India House

James' niece wanted to go to India House with us so we all went tonight. James and I get take-out from there about once a week, so they know us at the restaurant. A new girl seated us, but later the regular girl came by.

She said, "You dine out as well?"
We laughed and said "Yes."
She said, "I am so used to seeing you on Sunday. I see you more regularly than I see my temple (church.)

Just a funny moment.

Dinner was fun. It was nice to go out and be a bit social. Although I am always intrigued by the food choices of the vegetarian niece. Indian food includes many "vegetarian" dishes. They also do a lot of chicken and lamb, but our favorites are the spinach based vegetarian sauces. Anyway, she ordered three Naan, which is just flatbread. Tasty, but not a meal, just bread. It was just odd since she was the one who wanted to go there. I realize kids are picky but I am not sure why she wanted to go there. Or why she wanted to go with us.

Headache

It's bad. 1 Exedrin, 4 Ibuprofin, 1 Ginger & Bayberry, 1 Acetaminophen PM, 1 Prescription Migraten, 2 Melatonin. Bed at 10:00.

Nerts Night!

The young woman came over to my house tonight to play games. It was a blast! There was three leaders and four girls and we sat around my living room floor eating popcorn and playing cards. We played Five Crowns first because one of the girls doesn't like Nerts. Then on to the real fun. Most of them left around 8:30 but three of them including my friend Tiffany stayed until 9:00. They want to start a regular night for games...not just a YW activity, but a game night. I would love to do that. It was so much fun to be social and play games. I miss it so much! The only thing is that there are a few of them who are VERY loud. Louder than all of our family playing together loud.

James kept Max downstairs most of the time and took him on his walk. I was holding him for one round (which I won) and as it ended and the noise level jumped he got scared and started to cry. Then in between one round I went in to say goodnight to him. I picked him up and he proceeded to puke all over me. It was bad enough the first time but three more pukings later all I could do was laugh as it covered me and splatted on the floor. I felt so bad for him but all I could do was laugh. Guess that is better than getting upset about it.

Crazy Walkers

There was a 500-acre wildfire in Draper today. We went out for our nightly walk, not realizing how bad it was. I remember thinking that we should make it a short walk but didn't want to wuss out. Wish I had listened to myself. It was so windy and smokey that by the time we got home we had dust in our eyes and smelled like we had been camping. I had to wash my hair twice just to get the smell out. All because I didn't want to wuss out. Silly Mom.

Move Over Bindi

Bindi is Steve Irwin's (The Crocodile Hunter) eight year old daughter. She has a show, Bindi The Jungle Girl on discovery channel.

Max likes the little tiger his Aunt Kimber gave him.

Checking each other out

Crocodile Wrestling

Yummy

"Now what do I do with him Mom?"

Shots

We took Max in this morning for his DTap. James was home so went with me. What a different experience it was this time. Last time there was so much crying (Max and me.) He only had the one shot this time and the nurse was so fast. She had it in and out before he even realized. And he only cried for just a second and then was as cheerful as ever. I was glad, I really was...but it was a little unfair. James didn't have to experience holding him while he cried and cried and cried some more because of something he did to him. But how mean of me that I even thing like that at all. I am just going to be glad that Max did so well this time and hope for similar results in the future.

Max wasn't cranky like last time but he did have a bit of a fever and was really lethargic. I gave him some Tylenol and he had a good nap and was fine. Although he has been very jumpy tonight and keeps bowing his back. He seems to really like hanging upsidedown. Don't know if that is a shot thing or just an infant thing.

*Notes: DTap Shot in left leg. Reactions: Slight fever, loss of appetite & lethargic. No bruising around shot area.

James' Birthday

James stayed home from work and spent the day chilling with us. He said that it was his best birthday ever...because it was just so relaxed, and because he got to hang out with his little boy.

Yesterday I wrapped up his first gift and addressed it from Max. I actually put a pen in Max's hand and wrote "To Dad, From Max." It was silly and cute. It was the DVD "God, The Universe & Everything," with Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Arthur C. Clarke. I also gave him three books written by Carl Sagan; The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, and Conversations with Carl Sagan. Books with long titles are so up his alley. :) Hopefully he will enjoy them.

To offset the serious (although humorous) Carl Sagan I also gave him season three and four of the BBC comedy, A Bit of Fry & Laurie.

Five Months Old

Music Together

My friend Tiffany is a Music Together teacher and invited me to take Max to a demonstration class. Because James was home for the day he also went with us. It was fun! We signed up for 10 weeks of classes and I am really looking forward to it. It will get me out once a week and will Max a chance to interact with others as well...and the chance to learn and enjoy music.

Music Together is an internationally recognized early childhood music program for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, and the adults who love them. First offered to the public in 1987, it pioneered the concept of a research-based, developmentally appropriate early childhood music curriculum that strongly emphasizes and facilitates adult involvement.

Music Together classes are based on the recognition that all children are musical. All children can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, and participate with confidence in the music of our culture, provided that their early environment supports such learning. By emphasizing actual music experiences rather than concepts about music, Music Together introduces children to the pleasures of making music instead of passively receiving it from CDs or TV.

Central to the Music Together approach is that young children learn best from the powerful role model of parents/caregivers who are actively making music. The program brings families together by providing a rich musical environment in the classroom and by facilitating family participation in spontaneous musical activity at home within the context of daily life.

We signed up for 10 weeks of classes and I am really looking forward to it. It will get me out once a week and will Max a chance to interact with others as well...and the chance to learn and enjoy music.

Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales

John gave me the complete collection of the Grimm's fairy tales. They are funny, tragic, silly, odd, interesting, random... grim. Thanks so much John!

Girl Shirts & Music

I tried on 39 shirts at DI today. After shopping with Mom & Kimber on Saturday and finding absolutely nothing I decided I was going about it all wrong. All I wear right now are T-shirts, mostly James' T-shirts which are really not flattering. Also, they tend to be in dark colors and just not look feminine. I rarely see anyone other than James and Max (and the people at Walmart and the bank.) Well, James would be fine if I walked around naked and Max looks at my clothes as a landing pad for spit-up. So, all I really need are some T-shirts to get me through the rest of the summer. (I have hoodies for fall and winter, which I am really looking forward to.) So, I tried on a ton of t-shirts and came home with eight. Girl shirts, in light colors with feminine embellishments. A big part of the shopping experience was not trying to hide the belly, but trying to look cute with the belly. I am really working hard to stand up straight and love my belly. Thanks for all the encouragement and perspective Mom & Kimber!

At DI I also picked up three music CD's. I took a chance but figured the few dollars it cost might be worth it. And it was. I now have a fun collection of kids songs. We listened to them with Max and as James and I sang along he really seemed to enjoy himself.

Baby Enstein

Max watching Baby Enstein while I get some work done.

Thanks Aunt Lauren!

Kimber & Mom Visit

Mom, Kimber and Hyrum came to visit for the weekend. I had been looking forward to them coming but had not been having a very good day. We had a good time eating at Zupas and Sweet Tomatoes where I don't usually eat. I'd like to say the shopping was fun, but it was mostly just discouraging. At least I was in good company and the boys were good as we dragged them all over.

While we were in Fashionbug Mom took both the boys.
I wish I had gotten a picture of her with a boy in each arm.

The best part of the shopping was that Mom found a great outfit that she decided not to get. Kimber and I sneakily picked it up while she wasn't looking and gave it to her that night so she could wear it for Stake Conference.

It was so much fun to see her reaction.

I copied this from Kimber's post about the weekend. After reading what she wrote I found it hard to add to what she said, so I thought I would just copy it. "Maybe the funnest part of the trip was seeing Max and Hyrum together. Even though they are only 3 days apart, they are so different in personality, even at only 5 months old. Hyrum is very laid back, doesn't move around much, grins but not freely, sleeps best in and enjoys his carseat and is total chub. Max is very laid back, constantly moving and observing, smiles and giggles at everything (so Adorable!), really doesn't like his carseat and is tall and slender. We weighed the boys and found that Max is 14 pounds and Hyrum 17 pounds and Max is taller. This picture doesn't really show the difference in size but the ones we took of them just in their diapers shows that they are build very different.

Every once in a while Kara and I would notice similarities in their features but wonder if it is just baby similarities rather than really looking at all like they share family features. Either way they are both fabulous little boys and we adore them."

They look like buddies. I hope they will be as they grow up.

Autumn stopped by and it was fun to spend some time with her and Landon. The rest of the weekend was spent staying up too late, watching Olympics and talking. It was not a restful weekend, but it was a fun one.

Usually we would have skipped church (heathens that we are) but I mentioned that Elder Ballard would be speaking in my Stake Conference so we decided to go. It was a really good meeting. It was also interesting to see how each of us was affected by different speakers. I most enjoyed Elder Ballards talk. He spoke about mental conversion vs. spiritual conversion. That a spiritual conviction must burn in the heart to backup the mental decision we made. I feel like that describes me perfectly right now. I have spent my entire life in the church, I know the steps, the "Sunday School answers," mentally I know the things I should do and why they will help me if I do them. I keep trying but my trying is half-hearted because it is based only on a mental conversion. I don't have the spiritual conviction that would make the things I do meaningful and uplifting.

Girl's Camp

This year I went up for the Girl's Camp family night. I'm not actually a part of Young Woman anymore but I did camp for three years and it is all the same girls and leaders. It was really odd to be there. I wasn't in charge of anything, which you would think was a good thing, but I felt out of place being there and not really being a part of it. Maddie, one of the girls, told me thanks for all the camps I had done and that she missed me. The new leader has really focused on getting their certifications done but hasn't left them much free time. It is always hard when you switch to new leadership. It was that way my first year. I think they are missing my style a little. They haven't had any time to play games. Playing Nerts and Five Crowns was the favored activity of the last few years. It was kind of fun to have a legacy...I taught them Nerts and they love it. I wanted so much to play games with them.

The evening was fun though. I rode up with the bishopric and was able to read most of the hour drive. Both of the wives had brought the fourth book in the Twilight series. It was hilarious to see these two women (especially the bishop's wife) swooning over Edward and the vampire love story. I was hoping that it would be okay if I read and it turned out they were both thinking the same thing. What conversation we did have was fun and enjoyable.

We had a yummy dinner and watched the girls perform a silly skit. Sang happy birthday to Maddie and had cobler and cake for dessert. Tiffany is the one I missed the most. It was always great to spend a week with her. She was my unofficial assistant as I turned to her for help (especially last year when I was having morning sickness.)

I had moment of missing camp. Some of the handouts and acitivities, seeing the skit, things like that. But remembering the amount of work it took I am also glad that wasn't part of my summer. Next year they go back to "Princess Camp," the church campsite in cabins. My first year was there and I wasn't fully able to appreciate it becaue I wasn't sure what I was doing. I wouldn't mind doing it again next year. Now that I know what I am doing and have had a break, I think I could really enjoy it. But right now I am just going to enjoy being a mom.

Ouch

It was a pretty rough day. I went into work for an 8:00 meeting. Which was OK until I got chewed out a bit by my boss. He is the nicest guy even when he is trying to chew me out. But it just reminded me of my responsibilities and how much I have been dropping the ball lately. I do the bare minimum and it just isn't enough. Even though I later found out that what had happened was not because of something I had not done; it didn't change the fact that I have been slacking.

It was a small thing that for some reason affected the rest of the day. I am struggling so much with time and the amount of things I need to cram into that time. It seems that if I concentrate on doing well in one area then another suffers...so I end up doing a just barely ok job in all areas. Usually the one thing that I feel pretty good about is being Max's mom. But today my confidence struggled even in that...I felt disconnected from him and unsure of how to handle the things that are normally just come naturally.

And then I saw this...
The big old scratch on the side of his face just made me cry. I have thought so many times that I need to cut his fingernails and I just didn't get to it.

I cried periodically throughout the day. I don't even really know why. When I look back over the day there really wasn't anything wrong. Maybe just hormones. Maybe just me still trying to find a balance.

Thank You Food Network.

James and I watched the show "The Next Food Network Star." It was fun to watch (especially with James.) After having watched who won, we were excited to watch his show: Big Daddy's House. The first thing I noticed was his spice drawer. Now he has a gorgeous kitchen with much more cabinetry and room than mine...but I really liked the idea so I re-organized my kitchen.

I have already made three of the recipes from his first show. First is the Big Daddy Seasoning, spices that smell so good and can be used on just about anything you want:

Big Daddy Seasoning:
1/2 cup smokey paprika
1/4 cup granulated onion powder
1/4 cup granulated garlic powder
3 tablespoons seasoned salt
1/4 cup fresh cracked pepper
1/2 cup kosher salt
(The large container in the drawer is his rub. I halved the recipe.)

For dinner I made his Chicken Tenders and Oven-Baked Seasoned Fries.

The first time I make anything is a trial run and things don't go quite like I had hoped. But it was a good meal and something I will make again. The fresh Rosemary and Thyme smelled so good and the fries were awesome. I would do a few things differently with the chicken tenders including dipping them in his rub before the chips.

The Food Network site is great! I am finding recipes that I want to try and can save them in a recipe box online. And I love being able to watch someone make something and then find the recipe and make it myself. I actually watched a few bits of the show again as I was cooking to see exactly how and what he did.

I am even beginning to like Alton Brown. I didn't at first, but he actually gives really great information and is just dorky enough to pull everything off enjoyably.

Am I Really This Lazy???

I started looking into maid services. Even had one of them come to the house for a walk through and pricing. It is about what I expected: $85 bi-weely for just the upstairs. I would so love to just have someone come in and clean my house extremely well. But I am also totally capable of doing it myself. Financially I don't feel like we should do it. Even if we could I am not sure we should. It is just the last thing that I want to do so it is the last thing I ever get to. I just need to change that thinking.

This morning I woke up before Max and since I was in the bathroom I grabbed the clorex wipes and started cleaning off the counter top. That led to cleaning the mirror, wiping down the tub and cleaning the toilet. All of which took me maybe 20 minutes. None of it is difficult. I don't do a stellar job but it looks good and is clean.

If we were rolling in the dough I would be happy to pay someone to do a great job of cleaning and eliminate it from my forever list of things to do and use the time for other things. (I wouldn't be one of those women who cleans before the maid gets there.) But as it is I just need to stop being lazy and clean once in a while. It is not like I have to take one day and clean the entire house top to bottom. Just pick something to do everyday. The lazy remark might be out of line for myself, since I am crazy busy as it is. But I excuse a lot of the stuff I do such as reading and TV as "downtime" needed for relaxing. But if I am honest with myself, I also know how much of that is just me avoiding the things that need to be done. And truthfully, I really like it when the house is clean and would probably be able to relax a bit more in that environment.

Work BBQ

It was kind of a crappy day. I was supposed to go to a work meeting this morning. I got up an hour early to have time to do some yoga and shower. Then the boss called to say he was going to be late. Because he was working on the project up the street from my house, I suggested he just come over when he was ready. Two hours later he still hadn't shown up. I got up for nothing, and I prepared all the reports for the meeting for nothing. It is one of my biggest pet peeves when I take time to prepare for something that they don't follow through on.

So, then I headed for my Real Estate Code of Ethics class. It is required every few years, and although it is important...it is mind-boggling boring. Three hours later I picked up some food and went home to my boys.

We headed to Sugarhouse Park for James' work BBQ where we hung out for about an hour. Max did great. He was chill, even with all the strangers and loud music. I however, didn't do so well. My big mistake...I ate the food. I started to really not feel well so we left. We stopped at the Barnes and Noble nearby where I proceeded to the bathroom for some throwing up. I did feel much better afterward, but the during really sucked. And then I just felt woozy. So, back at home we went on a very condensed walk. I am looking forward to a different day tomorrow.

Perfect Moment

I was ready for church 1/2 an hour early. You all know the story...feeding Max and all of a sudden he spits up everything he just ate all over me. I was more emotional about it than I should have been. I wasn't upset with Max. Just emotional over a silly little incident. I so seldom bother dressing up at all. And when I try I just end up with sour milk all over me. All I wear are my husband's hand-me-down T-shirts because most days I end up going through three or four of them. I don't feel attractive. My hair just gets in the way. My wedding ring doesn't fit. My shoes don't fit (especially any cute Sunday shoes.) Most of my clothes (especially the cute ones) don't fit. I am working on that (some of the time) regularly, but seriously how do you work out your feet? Will they ever be the pre-pregancy size again or should I just get rid of all my shoes and start over?

I came home from Relief Society a bit disappointed. I keep wanting something more than I am getting there. Max was sleepy and wanting to be held. I lay on the bed with him and then James joined us. We took a family nap all cuddled up together. There with my two boys I felt so content, peaceful and loved. It was a perfect moment.

Jumperoo

He may be a bit too little still and I don't want him to grow up so fast but after the initial unease of a new thing, he really enjoyed it.

Daddy's little cookie monster

"I want the cookies Dad!"

Giggles

Bumpo

Max loves his Bumpo. Now that he can hold his head up (most of the time) he is really enjoying sitting up. (Thanks Aunt Ally.)

Stroller Sleep

We did a killer walk tonight...some good speed walking.

Max tends to fall asleep right as we are getting home.

Wish I could be asleep in the stroller along with him. :)