...And They're Off!

It's official. We've left Boston. And we're feeling homeless. At least for the next week or so.

The Way Our Minds Work

John is writing again. Specifically poems in his William Tell series. (Ask him to read you a few. He gets so animated and excited.) It's clearly something that he loves doing. And it makes me happy that he's doing something he loves.

John was writing on his flight out to TX (a house hunting trip) and noticed a gentleman across the aisle doing sudoku. He looked at his notebook and had an epiphany about how he and I think.

When creating, the blank pages we use are different. John writes organically. He gets a hint of an idea, pulls out a blank piece of paper, and writes. No planning. No structure. He just writes. My mind works differently. I start with some sort of structure. Like the sudoku page.

Why? Obviously, John is very much a creative thinker and my mind is intensely logical. But there is more than that. We create in ways that feel right. That are comforting. For John, that means freedom to let things go anywhere they want. Too much structure unnerves him a little b/c he worries it won't come out right. I'm afraid of the blank page. I need to know that if I use the structure and follow the process, it'll come out "right".

Somehow this works for us. We make well thought out decisions because we're able to think about things from different angles. We're good at different things, so (as much as we can) we divide up chores, child care, and the like so that we're playing to our strengths. But I don't think we've ever realized it before. It's funny to think about how differently our minds work.

As long as I don't have to pay for it...

Ethan: "When I was a teenager I'm going to wear a teenager shirt."

Me: "What's a teenager shirt?"

E: "It's red. Like my red car."

M: "You have a red car?"

E: "When I'm a teenager I'll have a red sports car."

M: "Who's going to buy you a red sports car?"

E: "I'll buy it."

M: "You're going to get a job and buy a red car when you're a teenager?"

E: "Yup. I'll go to work and buy a red car. When I'm a teenager."

3000 Visitors!

And that doesn't count the people who use the rss feed. Who are you???

Why Are We Moving???

I had to ask myself that this morning after yet another wonderful visit with our pediatrician. I LOVE him! Today he celebrated with Ethan for wearing underwear to bed, gave hugs all around (before we remembered we'd be back next week), and gave us TWO CASES of formula! It was just another reminder to me of everything and everyone we're leaving. And a few of the reasons it's time to go.

- All of the friends we've made here over the years. We've made so many b/c of the turnover in our ward. It's finally our turn to contribute and not just miss everyone who left us behind. And we'll all stay in touch, even if it's mostly through blogs!

- Our AMAZING ward. This ward is like a training ground. It functions exactly like the Lord intended. Each member is cared for spiritually, physically, and emotionally, and contributes to the care of everyone else in their own way. Not a simple feat when nearly half your membership changes each year! We'll never be in a ward quite like this again, but it's time for us to put some of what we've learned to good use.

- The wonderful doctors I spent years finding. Literally years. Just the perfect combination of top-notch medical skill and friendship in both our pediatrician and my OB. How can I stand to leave them? I don't know. This is one of the things that I'm hating about this move.

- Boston. Oh, Boston. How we love the culture and history. And hate the traffic and city life.

- The trees of the Northeast. I've written about how much I love trees before. They just make me feel alive. I hope Austin has enough for me.

Those are the big things for me. Why I'm both excited and not so much about this move. If you ask me about how I feel, it'll depend on the day. Or minute. Right now I'm already missing our pediatrician, so I don't want to go.

For the grandparents:
I know I can't leave out how Edward's 6 month dr's appt went. He is doing great developmentally, dutifully showing the dr all of his tricks. Like holding his own bottle. And trying to roll off of the table.

Growth is slowing down, but not enough to worry. He's at 17 pounds, which is 50th percentile. Down on the charts, but so is his height. He'll hit a growth spurt soon enough. I think he may have the shorter J genes. We'll just have to wait and see!

Sleepers

Wow. My boys may be demanding when they're awake, but when they sleep...they sleep.

Ethan has always been an amazing night sleeper. Even as an infant he didn't wake up much. He hasn't been napping lately (which I HATE!), but it means that by bedtime he is so ready. His routine is short and sweet and then he's out like a light. Fabulous.

This evening we kept our big boy awake a little late. (You don't want to know why. It was gross.) By the time we kneeled down for family prayer, Ethan was curled up on John's lap. For the first time in months he let someone else say the prayer. Only a few minutes later, he was sound asleep. And he'll sleep until his clock says 7. How great is that!

Edward finally started napping on a semi regular schedule. He takes two 2 hr naps during the day, with the weird quirk that he's awake for a while in the middle of the first one. Bizarre. And at night, he's is only waking up once. We've even had one night when he didn't wake up at all!!

Our adorable little guy has some funny sleeping requirements. First, except for rare occasions, he will only sleep on a flat surface. Not in the car, not in our arms, only in a crib or (in a pinch) on the floor. Second, he needs his pacifier in his mouth. That one's normal. Third, he has to be holding on to something. A blanket, a toy, anything. He just needs something in his hand. I think it may even be his right hand, but I'm not sure. And fourth, his face has to be covered. He started this on his own, but we quickly caught on. Put him in bed, put a blanket over his head, he rolls onto his side and falls asleep.

I wish I could have taken a picture of Edward they way he fell asleep in the car this morning (again, a very rare thing). He had his pacifier in his mouth, he was holding on to his toes with one hand, and he was holding his hanging toy up against his eyes with the other. So him. He really is an angel when things are just right.

Best argument I've heard

"If you need drugs or alcohol to "have a good time," you aren't having a good time, the drugs are. They're using your body and your brain to do it, but you and your mind aren't even invited to the party." -Orson Scott Card

Photographer Shout Out

My photographer friend Liz had a photo shoot with the boys a few months ago. She did such an amazing job that it's taken me this long to decide what to have printed. (The printer she uses also does amazing work. The photos look so much more wonderful in person.) If you're looking for a photographer in the Boston area, or possibly UT if you could convince her to work while vacationing, check her out here.

Here is a very small sample of our favorites. More of Ethan b/c he's just so photogenic.

Counting

The Wink

Those eyelashes just make me melt

And our little guy, who loved having his picture taken

EDIT: The pictures seem to be visible now. I'm not sure why though, b/c I didn't get rid of the code Blogger stuck in. Weird.

Ethan's reading of the scriptures

"Once upon a time, there was a dragon and a dinosaur. They were going into the forest to find three little sticks. They needed more dragons to find more big sticks. And then there was a good dragon and a mean dragon and they were nice to someone."

I bet the scriptures would be more exciting for little boys if they were about dragons...