How do you say "Ball"?

If you're Edward, than most balls are "Bah". But not footballs. Footballs are "BAAAAAHHH! BAAAAAHHHH!"

Hee hee. This boy cracks me up.

Movies

John and I love movies. We rarely get to see them in the theaters anymore, but when we do, we try to go see something at an arthouse venue. An independent or international film. They're our favorites. (Plus cheesy sci-fi, of course.)

On friday night, we had family in town and they kicked us out of our house. For the whole night. We had a leisurely dinner with no kids yelling or running around. Then we went to see Slumdog Millionare . This was the best movie we've seen in a while. Afterward, we found the hotel, umm... did some stuff, and then took some Unisom for the best sleep we've had in ages. Thanks Grandma J and Mo!

A conversation I had with my brother on the way to the theater made me want to share some of our favorite movies that you've probably never heard of. In no particular order:

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring - This is our favorite movie. Really. Our absolute favorite. You have to watch it with no distractions. Soak it in. The use of silence is breathtaking. And the scenery... you just have to watch it.

Absolute Giganten - Unfortunately this isn't available in the US. We caught it at Sundance way back when. (If you live in UT and aren't taking advantage of Sundance, you are missing out.) BUT, you can watch the fooseball scene. You'll never see fooseball played like this again.

Quitting - Another Sundance find. This is a true story about a Chinese actor quitting drugs. All of his family, friends, and fellow rehabbers joined in to reenact his recovery. We own this one if you live close enough to borrow it.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not - A love story... sort of. I'm not going to say any more than that.

The Emperor's New Clothes - What if Napoleon only faked his death on Elba? And tried to go back and return to power. Serious and funny.

Delicatessen - A dark comedy in a post-apocalyptic world. The entire movie is set within an apartment building that has a delicatessen on the ground floor. We love the Caro/Jeunet directing team and their bizarre ideas. You will either love or hate this movie. We love it.

The City of Lost Children - Another Caro/Jeunet masterpiece, and this time with an actor we love, Ron Perlman. This is even stranger than Delicatessen, so we only recommend it if you're up for something dark and bizarre.

Spirited Away - This is a Hayao Miyazaki. If you don't know his work, you need to. We particularly like this one.

The Station Agent - A beautiful finish for this list. Quiet, powerful, funny, poignant. Peter Dinklage is wonderful. Oh man. I'm moving this the top of our Netflix queue. It's been too long.

Edward at almost 13 months

Edward is such a talker. He babbles nearly all the time. Even with his pacifier hanging out of his mouth. Combined with signs and gestures, he makes himself understood reasonable well. Our current favorite is when he does different voices for different toys. High pitched screechy noises for some, and deeper daddy type voices for other.

The words he says right now (that I can remember) are:
Uh-oh
Whoa
Side (outside)
Uh-sat (what's that)
Mama
Dada
Ama (grandma)
Eeta (Ethan)
Paa (pacifier)
Baa (bottle)
Bah (ball)
Up (cup)
*grunt* (I'm poopy.) This really is a vocalized response when you ask if he needs a diaper change, not just the grunt you thought of.
Moo (cow)
Boo (scaring you)
Rar (lion)

Of course, he still signs eat and all done. And shakes his head no.

He has also learned to beep noses. That's less fun at bedtime when he can reach my nose and beep it from every angle. Mom flinches when you jab the inside of her nose. But it's cute the rest of the day.

Edward's walking has gone from a few steps to a definate goal, to walking just because it's a way to get around. He still doesn't take more than five or six steps before switching to a crawl, but if he's standing, he'll walk a while first. Even switching surfaces easily.

Our little guy is getting bigger by the second. He seems less and less like a baby every day, and more and more like a kid. I love watching this stage!

Mommy Milestone

I got to make my first call to Poison Control today. Yay!

Edward found a cold pack that had fallen out of the freezer. I used to let him gum them on occasion b/c he didn't have teeth and the cold felt good. BAD IDEA. He has a tooth now. When I discovered him, Edward grinned up at me with red gel all over his mouth.

Luckily, they're not toxic. The nice guy at Poison Control was quick to tell me that Edward was fine. Then he said that he may have some minor irritation, but giving him something to drink and cleaning him up would help prevent that. It sounded like they have calls about these cold packs relatively often. Often enough that he didn't need to look up anything.

I expected that the call would be lengthy with lots of questions about how it happened and exactly what brand the unlabeled cold pack was. But it was quick and painless. The only questions they asked were for tracking data - age, sex, and zip code. The whole call was less than a minute.

I'm glad that my first call to them was easy and a non-issue. Because I'll know how helpful they are when one of the boys eats something that's actually poisonous. Rumor has it they'll call 911 for you and stay on the phone until help arrives. To keep answering questions and give first aid instructions. Lets hope I never have to find out!

Dental Adventures, Part 1

Did you know that you don't have to wait until your kids need braces to spend thousands of dollars on their teeth? Ethan is teaching us new things every day!

Ethan had a cleaning today with his new dentist. He was a champ. The boy went in for the cleaning portion ALL BY HIMSELF! This office prefers it that way if the child is ready. I hadn't told about that part because I figured it would freak him out. (It probably would have.) But as soon as the hygenist saw his Cars T-shirt and told him that she had Lightning McQueen toothbrushes, he was off. Mom or no mom. I did poke my head in a few minutes later, but the boy was chatting away. He was just fine.

The x-rays didn't go quite as well, but they got two. That's two more than last time!

After a LONG wait for the dentist, he came in to check Ethan's teeth. As expected, the boy has cavities. Plural. We were very aware of one (that we couldn't get the previous dentist to treat! ARGH!) and expected one or two more. But the boys mouth needs some serious work.

I had to check the treatment work-up to make sure I had my numbers right. Ethan needs five fillings. Bad, but not horrible. He also needs two pulpotomies. To avoid medical jargon, lets think of them as partial root-canals. Yes, I just said root-canals. My four year old will have two crowns. CROWNS.

And how do you do a root canal on a four year old who won't even let you get an x-ray? That's right, sedation. Full-on general anesthesia. At the hospital. In a surgery suite.

I'm kind of freaking out over here. I can handle just about anything in the medical world, but I have this thing about general anesthesia. I'm afraid of it. And I'm really afraid of how Ethan will do coming out of it.

We've told Ethan that the yucky spot on his front tooth needs to be fixed before it hurts. So the dentist will fix it while he's sleeping and he'll wake up with a new tooth. He's actually excited for a new tooth.

We're aiming for the surgery date in mid-February. (The pedi-dentist only books the suite once a month or so.) We have to pre-pay, so we may not make it, but we're hoping.

Anyone else have to put their young kid through general anesthesia? How did it go?

PS - I think I should probably mention that we take very good care of Ethan's teeth. I discussed with the dr why his teeth have so many issues. First, genetics. I have incredibly soft enamel that decays when you look at it funny. Ethan inherited it. Second, spacing. Ethan also has my teeny tiny mouth. I'm missing two full sets of teeth and still barely have room in there. Ethan's teeth are packed so tightly together that brushing is not as effective as it should be. We need to floss morning and night. And third, the gain weight diet. Remember all that whole milk/cream stuff that Ethan used to drink? He had to drink so much of it that he took a cup to bed with him. We knew it risked damaging his teeth, but didn't expect the other problems to compound the issue. We stopped doing that more than a year ago. Plus we have always been cautious about sticky foods and don't allow juice. We've done just about everything right. But what was started before has only gotten worse. At least we have the option of sedation and don't have to traumatize him.

Way Back When... We Went to Florida

With all of the sudden trips last fall, and then the holidays, I never managed to catch up here on the blog. I'm going to attempt some of it.

If you remember, we went to Florida at the beginning of October. After a fun day at the beach with friends, we got down to the real business. Disneyworld. We spent the week with my mom (Grandma L), her husband (Grandpa T), T's oldest daughter's family, and a friend of my mom's from New Zealand. Quite a crowd.

We did it all. Magic Kingdom (the equivalent of Disneyland for you westerners), Epcot, Animal Kingdom, even a water park. (Did you know Disney had waterparks? I did!) Plus, we went to the awesome Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom. Seriously so fun.

I would share horror stories, but there really weren't any. No one was hurt or became violently ill. No one got lost. Even the babies were angels the whole time. We had a great time.

(Our only recommendation when you have a large group of varying ages is to not try to stay together too much. Split up for a few hours and meet back up. There are things to do together, but everyone will have more fun if they have some time when they can go on the rides that THEY want to go on.)

Here are some snapshots from Epcot, and then a character breakfast and the safari at Animal Kingdom.

Us in front of the iconic Spaceship Earth

Ethan was a little bit freaked out by the shark teeth

John and Ethan with Goofy (you can see some of the "cousins" as well)

The whole clan with Mickey

Edward being adorable at breakfast.

The Safari ride at Animal Kingdom is my all time favorite.
You actually go through the habitats, getting amazingly close to the animals.

This rhino was a troublemaker. He has been known ram the jeeps and often stands right in their way. We had to stop and wait for him to move and then he stood about three feet away eyeing us while we inched by. I was so busy holding onto the kids I didn't get any up-close pictures.

He did it!

Edward took his first wobbly steps this morning. About five of them. And John was still home to see it. We all cheered, but the boy was too interested in his toy to pay attention to us.

I'm so glad that he finally decided he could walk. He's been on the verge for more than a month but was waiting until he was more sure footed. I wish he'd have the same caution when it comes to climbing! Now I need to gear up for having a little runner again. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.

2009? When did that happen?

It seems like only a few weeks ago that it was the end of 2007 and I was very pregnant with Edward. I'm feeling stunned that it's more than a year later, that I have a one year old and a four year old, that I'm in a house, in TEXAS of all places, and that we're moving beyond the "temporary" stage of our lives.

So, at this beginning of a new year, it's time for resolutions. Here are the ones that aren't too small or too personal to share.

1. John got me a Wii Fit for Christmas. I excitedly started it up and was almost immediately learned that my bad back (which is not in the shape it needs to be) bumped my "Wii Fit Age" up by many, many years. So I resolve to strengthen my core body muscles, with both the Wii and swimming when I can manage it.

2. See that list of books on the sidebar? Those are the books I've started and fully intend to finish. When I find time. I resolve to read all of those books this year. And have a completely new list over there.

3. I've been cooking. A lot. Enough that I want to be sure I keep it going. So I resolve to do this. I think it'll be fun to share. I've already started with a few from the last week or so to give you a glimpse.

4. I've been building up our food storage. We have so far to go, but I quickly realized that I had no idea what to do with it. I resolve to learn how to use our food storage to make delicious and nutritious meals so that I could sustain us with it if I had to.

5. Finally, I resolve to say thank you more. I'm becoming more aware of my own mental blocks with this. Somehow, I got this idea into my head that family members or friends simply do things for each other. That it's part of being a family or a friend. That its expected. In part because I don't expect a thank you when I do these type of things. This isn't really a conscious thing, but it affects the way I treat those I love. And I don't like it. Going forward, I'm going to make a conscious effect to thank those around me.

What are your resolutions? And do you want to help me with mine? I could sure use some babysitting over here.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Updating the blog. New look. New links. New fun little tidbits if you look hard enough.

Day of Faith

Harvard recently had a "Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose" panel. They had five undergraduates talk about their religions, their beliefs, and how Harvard has affected their faith. Really interesting.

I was really blown away by the LDS junior who participated. She explained difficult topics clearly, she was well prepared for even the toughest questions, and she even clearly differentiated "We believe" from "I believe". She was a wonderful representative for the the church.

So if you're LDS, watch it to learn a little about how to present yourself. And if you're not, watch it to learn a little about us. It's worth the twenty minutes.


Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

Yes, I am a Nerd

John got me the best present ever. Check it out! He couldn't decide which microbe to get me, so he went with a neuron. Because we could all use an extra brain cell or two. I love it.

I've been looking at all of them and I don't think I could decide either. I want so many! Clostridium perfringens, a Leukocyte, Yersinia pestis, Helicobacter pylori, ... I could go on and on. These are so awesome!

Some Random Things

- Edward got his first tooth on his first birthday. That could have been bad, but we didn't even know he was teething. Yay for my stoic, sweet guy!

- Ethan is having sleeping issues. Mainly going to sleep issues. It takes hours every night, and napping is non-existent. (It was only four days a week before, but he still needs it.) Our boy is exhausted. He's so tired that he's started having tantrums again. Like he's two. And the nearly constant whining and crying is driving me out of my mind. We have no idea what the problem is and have found nothing that will keep the boy in his room. Really no fun at all.

- Edward is a chatterbox. He almost never stops talking. I love that he looks at me and rattles off whole sentences, like I should understand exactly what he's saying. We've figured out a few. Mama, Dada, and Hi are all obvious. Then there are those that no one else would get. Ethan, All Done, What's That, Ball, and Raaar (as in roar). Also he has a specific grunt that means "Yes, my diaper is stinky." And he has the "no" head shake down pat. Loving that we can communicate more!

- John is shaving off his goatee in three days! Really, two days and a wake up. I'm so excited!! I've decided to call it a Christmas present to me. I've been ready for it to be gone for a while. He's had it for a year, people. A year of a scratchy faced husband is not my favorite. (I love him, just not his unkempt facial hair.)

- My Grandpa's doing great. We couldn't even let ourselves hope for this before, but he should be home for Christmas! Probably even the traditional Danish Christmas Eve at the farm. I wish I could be there. (Also, this means I really need to decide on a layout program and a printer so that I can buckle down and get his book ready for publishing. At least the first volume. Any suggestions? I've used Blurb, but have some issues with their layout program. Solvable ones, but it's easier to avoid them all together.)

- How is it that Christmas is so close and I haven't finished my wrapping???? Usually I'm done shopping before December hits and I'm done wrapping by the middle of the month. I like having the last few weeks to just relax and enjoy the season. Life managed to get in the way this year. At least I'm done shopping. (Unless you're family. We're aiming to have your gifts done by the end of January. Hopefully.)

- I need to clean the boys bathroom. But I think I'm going to go make some chocolate gingerbread cookie bars instead.

Testing All Toys

I'm sure that most of you have heard about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) by this point. I've known about it for about a year, but was unaware that it would be incomplete.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for this legislation. Safer toys? Fabulous. But, especially because of this. Yea. That would be the lead analyzer my dad's company is making. The company that we all hold stock in. We've been excited for the CPSIA ever since word first leaked out. And we all watched for the news when the bill passed in August. It was great news for us.

The problem I have with the legislation is the reason you may have heard of it. They made no provision for handmade toys. I am a firm believer that people should have the right to accept the risks of an "untested" handmade toy if they so choose. Without this provision, most makers and sellers of these toys will go out of business as the cost of testing is just too high.

So, if you are planning to write your congressman or something of the like, suggest that the CPSIA be amended to allow for handmade toys. Even if it means we as the consumer have to sign a release form to buy them. Don't bother asking to have it repealed. There were only 3 votes against it in the congress and senate combined. They LIKE this bill. But they may be convinced to fix some of its flaws.

Haven't heard of this bill? Here is a great overview of it. And here is a good analysis of how it may affect toy sellers (as far as anyone understands right now.)

NY Pictures and a Video

Fooled you! No pictures here.

I'm stretched a little thin for the next week or so and have no idea when I'll get around to posting my own. So I'm just going to point you to some from my dad's family blog.

Pictures of the boys are here, and a video of the Indian war whoop is here. Enjoy! (And thanks to Chris for posting them.)

Christmas Gifts

The last two weeks have changed my perspective on the Christmas season. I'd already been trying to focus on family instead of things, but apparently I had a ways to go. Since being home, I've had this obsessive need to rearrange and declutter my kitchen. I've been sorting through every cabinet, adding lots to the garage sale box. Because I need more room for good memories. Here's what changed me.

Spending time with Grandpa was so great. And we didn't need any stuff to enjoy our time together. It made me realize that the best gift he can give any of us is himself for as long as he can. After that, we'll be happy with his memories. Thanks for letting me help you get them into a form that will last for generations, grandpa.

Spending time with my parents and siblings and extended family made me miss them. And the east coast they live in. I was absolutely giddy about spending two weeks in the cold weather. I loved being able to watch my boys play with their grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Someone should move out here near us. Ben? Hannah Banana?? Dad???

Spending so much time with my kids (way more than I wanted because they slept with me) reinforced how much I love them and will do anything for them. I had several people comment on my mothering skills while traveling back home. In a good way. Each time I said thanks, but thought "I'm just doing what I need to. What are they talking about?" Looking back, I see that simply by not giving up when all of us were falling apart, I was showing them how much I loved them.

Spending so much time apart from my husband was horrible. We both decided we'd never do that again if we can help it. Grandma and Grandpa J, I don't know how you do it. I heard that song "All I Want for Christmas is You" on the radio while in NY and realized, besides the fact that I can't stand it, that all I wanted was to be home with John. I didn't need anything else. Just John.

So that's what's on my mind this December. I have my family and I don't need anything else.

Except maybe Rock Band for the Wii. And some black boots. I'm not perfect, people.

PS - I read this post today and it simply reinforced how important family can be. And reminded me of my favorite Christmas. Anyone else remember Ben sharing his pizza from Santa?

Too Fast!!

Slow down Edward! We love that you're so smart and that you're growing up, but we're not ready. This is what you've done, just in the last two weeks. (Sorry that you missed it all, daddy.)

-Standing
-Threatening to walk (We've been stopping him so that daddy doesn't miss it.)
-Indian War Whoop (I'll post video of this. It's hilarious.)
-Two teeth coming through at once
-Combing his hair (It's the cutest thing you've ever seen. I'll try to get video, or at least a picture.)
-Sharing, and not just the give and take back kind

I'm sure I'm forgetting some. It's all happening so fast, and I'm not ready to lose my baby. So Edward, cut it out!

Moments in a Hospital Room

Everyone should have the opportunity to spend so much unfettered time with each of their family members. I wasn't able to spend as much time as I would have liked because of my own boys, but the time I was able spend in the hospital with grandpa was wonderful. I wanted to record some of my favorite moments so that I don't forget them.

-The incongruity of grandpa in his hospital bed, wiggling his toes under the sheets, leading a meeting. He's a CTO and isn't willing to let anything slide while he can't be at work. He'd even participated in the 3 hour Board of Directors meeting that morning. That's grandpa. Always getting his work done.

-The opportunity I had to bring him two surprise books. One, the first volume of his memoirs. It was just a test printing. Unedited and without photos. But he loved it. The other book was from all of the family. He's been writing his book for us, so we thought we'd make one for him in return. It's a simple scrapbook with a page from each of us. I loved being able to watch him read through it. Tearing up at what each person wrote to him, and talking to their pictures. I wish every member of the family could have seen it.

-All of the people and life lessons we talked about. Grandpa has had a long, storied life. I'm looking forward to continuing to read his memoirs and learning even more from him.

-Going through the photos for his book. We were labeling them so that I'd know where to put them. But anyone who knows grandpa knows that this meant I spent hours getting to listen to grandpa's stories. I loved it.

-Tucking grandpa into bed. I'm grateful for the blessing it is to serve him. He's spent his whole life serving others and I love that he'll let us give back in these little ways.

No matter the outcome, I'm overflowing with gratitude for the opportunity to spend this time with him. I love you, grandpa.

Grateful

It's hard not to see how many things I have to be thankful for today. Now that I think about it, it could be hard. I've been without a husband for kid help and emotional support for more than a week (I'm dying here!) My grandpa spent Thanksgiving in the hospital while we had dinner at his house. I could complain about so many things today. But I just can't.

I'm grateful that I have a husband who is so wonderful with the kids, one who holds me up and allows me to do the things that make me happy. I'm grateful for happy, healthy, smart, fun, loving, and oh so adorable kids. I'm grateful that, after all these years, my parents are happy. I'm grateful for all that my dad's wife is doing to make sure grandpa is cared for. I'm grateful that, with the miracles of technology, grandpa was able to sit at the head of his table and preside over Thanksgiving dinner while still in his hospital bed.

And the smaller things. I'm grateful that I finally learned to make the yummiest rolls. I'm grateful that I know my mom's recipes off the top of my head and could bring a few family favorites to Thanksgiving. I'm grateful that my boys have slept through the night several days in a row so that I've been more rested. (And for their grandparents who happily get up with them in the morning.) I'm grateful for this computer that allows me to stay connected to my life, even when I'm away. I'm grateful for my cell phone that keeps me connected to my husband, no matter where we are.

I could go on and on. But these are the things that stood out to me today. I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving.

For My Family

Every member of my family is both a science or tech nerd AND a music or drama geek. This video is for all of them. Enjoy!

I'm My Mother's Daughter

If you don't know my mom, then you're missing out. For many reasons. But one of them is extra nice for those around her. When my mom is having a hard time accepting something (loss of a loved one, for example) she bakes pies. Emphasis on the plural. We all know that you can tell how much mom loved someone by the number of pies she made when they died. There were times when we would have to invite everyone we knew to come eat because the entire kitchen table was covered with pies.

I think it's a great coping mechanism. I realized today that I bake when I'm stressed out. Why add something else to my list of things to do? Because you get yummy things afterward! It's nice to put in the effort and get a result you can enjoy. I'm not extreme as my mom, and I've branched out from pies, we still have a lot of yummy food. Right now, we have oatmeal cookies, apple crisp, funeral potatoes (you bake them...), and dough for sugar cookies chilling in the fridge. I may need to start giving some of this away.

The even bigger upside is my mood. Even with so much to do in the next three days, and completely different stresses involved with traveling and why I'll be in NY, I'm in a really good mood. I guess it's ok to be like your mom sometimes.