Merry Christmas!

Mormon Christmas Song

My husband alerted me to a Mormon Christmas song Conan did recently on The Tonight Show. I hold my breath whenever my faith is mentioned or portrayed in the media--it's very much like overhearing someone talking about you when they don't know you're listening, and what they say can make you really like them or write them off completely.

This situation was especially dicey since two things I hold dear--Conan and my religion--were involved. Even though the song isn't very factual, the singers imply they don't really know what they're talking about, so that saved it for me. I thought it was pretty funny even though Mormons DON'T currently wear old-timey clothes and live in their own small communities or practice polygamy (no thanks--although how many times as a stay-at-home mom have I thought another wife would come in handy! "Can you watch my kids while I go to the store/take a nap?" "You cook tonight and I'll take tomorrow," etc. Assuming, of course, I didn't want to claw the other woman's eyes out).

Here's the song if you haven't seen it:

Oh Hells Yeah!

It was announced yesterday that the Captain EO ride is coming back to Disneyland for a limited time starting in February! We were thinking of an end of January trip, but that might have to be postponed now.

P.S. I saw This Is It over Thanksgiving and found it fascinating. I'd suggest it to anyone who is even a little bit of an MJ fan.

6 and 7 months

Look at those delicious, bread dough thighs!

A cute picture of the boys when Mr. Bear from pre-school spent the weekend with us in mid-November:

-First solids at 5 1/2 months: oatmeal cereal, which continues to be his favorite (why is rice cereal the norm? Do they want babies to be constipated like 1st Brother was?) He likes veggie more than fruit baby food. This time-consuming, messy eater stage can be cute, but I'd skip to age 3 if I could to get past it. Having a spoonful of food swatted away or trying to keep your child from eating his feet between bites is messy and frustrating.

-We were calling him "Hank" a lot, which evolved to "Hankers," then 1st Brother started with "Mankers" and it's become very popular with us

-He does this terrible corner of the mouth, head twist and clamp down move when nursing. He only looks up at me bewildered and/or laughs when I sternly tell him no. No teeth yet, thank goodness. He's become a pretty distracted nurser lately too.

-Reaches out with his feet a lot to touch things around him

-Started reacting around the beginning of December when we'd do something he didn't want--take a toy away, walk out of the room, etc.

-Laughs almost every time lately when we say the word "bam!"

Thanksgiving 09

Thanksgiving is usually not that blog worthy, but this year was different.

My sister was married the Friday before in the Provo, Utah temple, with a lovely dinner at The Bungalow the night previous. I left my recommend in SF (genius!) but made the ceremony after jumping through some hoops.

The happy couple (once again, my mom made the dress!):

A candid family shot in between the photographer's efforts:

1st Brother had a bike trailer adventure courtesy of my husband. They went through the drive through at Wendy's,

stopped for some Tree of Wisdom time at BYU,

and fed the campus botany pond ducks:

2nd Brother busied himself by chewing on celery sticks,

playing the old Fisher Price piano,

and getting acquainted with a new 2nd cousin who is about 5 months younger but can also roll over (since he was 3 weeks old! I wouldn't be surprised if he walked before 2nd Brother):

We had our first ever Thanksgiving with the in-laws; so delicious! Grandma thoughtfully set up the kids table with a DVD player. 1st Brother got a Thanksgiving present because I found a Lego Star Wars shirt and couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to him:

Grandma also bought mylar balloons for all 3 grandkids. 2nd Brother REALLY liked his:

We took advantage of the great weather the day after Thanksgiving and did a hike in Zions National Park, down and back in a day. 1st Brother stayed home--we thought it'd be a bit much for him--but I couldn't figure an okay way to leave 2nd Brother. BYU Outdoors Unlimited came through with a baby backpack rental at $8/day (if they didn't have one, I didn't know who would):

He was pretty good in the car (3 hours each way) and was like this for much of the 5-mile hike:

Gramps planned everything out. We were in the Kolob section of Zions near Taylor Creek, and it was lovely.

At our destination, a cool, cavernous rock alcove. It was a great mini trip despite being slowed down by nursing and diaper change needs.

See you again in a couple weeks, Utah! Bye for now.

Slow Jam

The very catchy Tiger Woods "Name Off Your Phone" Slow Jam has been in my head constantly since I heard my radio boyfriends play it:

What a bone head he is! Has there been a time in his marriage when he's even TRIED to be faithful?

Which side are you on?

I'm thinking Safeway should have used the word "fight" as the verb on this sign:

Kiva

My husband decided to leave his job in mid-September after 8 years to explore an opportunity in Utah. He's done some contract work for the company there (we are still living in SF) but is continuing to look for other options. He has some good prospects, but if you know of anyone who needs a great IT security strategy/compliance guy, we're all ears.

Anyway, to fill some of his down time, he's been volunteering 8 hours per week at Kiva. They allow you to use Paypal or a credit card to make small loans to people in developing countries who are trying to start or improve their own businesses. These entrepreneurs pay the money back, and you can then re-lend the money or cash it out. A little U.S. money in these countries goes a long way, so you don't have to lend a huge amount to have an impact. With Thanksgiving around the corner, it's a nice thing to check out at http://www.kiva.org/.

Halloween '09

It's Dash from the Incredibles!

And a baby monkey!

Our first preschool Halloween party (sans eyeliner/washable marker mask on Dash for this occasion):

Then off to our church party on Saturday. My husband and I are Target workers, which I kind of don't want to tell you since we'll probably use the idea again:

This year marked 1st Brother's first real San Francisco trick-or-treating experience (the at-night, in-a-neighborhood kind). In the past we'd done trick-or-treating at the Chestnut street shops during the day, but since he's 4 and more into it now, my husband took him to Sea Cliff:

And here we are with this year's carved pumpkins. We trekked to Kevin's Pumpkin Patch in Marin for them--STAY AWAY. These 2 small pumpkins were $11 (!), it was right next to the freeway, and they wanted $5 for each bounce house your kid wanted to go into (there were 4, so 1st Brother had to choose one). I felt ripped off and was grumpy all day about it.

I have to fight to keep the carving tradition alive--the boys aren't into scooping out the guts and we have no outside space to display our pumpkins--but hopefully the memories will pay off. The jack-o-lanterns did look festive for a couple evenings on our kitchen table, even if they were banished to the fire escape most of the time so we wouldn't get fruit flies.

Back to short

I decided to cut my luscious locks off at the beginning of October because:

-My locks weren't so luscious, usually just gross and flat
-I'd been doing that 4-ish months post partum, lose-tons-of-hair thing
-When I asked what he wanted for his birthday, my husband said, "You with short hair." That was the kicker.

Thanks Gary at Eclipse salon on Polk near Broadway! He's very good.

I'm hoping my eyes don't look this crooked in real life:

5 months

I like this one because it looks like he's doing some coordinated boy band dance:

-I love how he raises his top arm up and claws at my face/puts his hand in my mouth while nursing these days
-I really love how he opens and closes his mouth while making sounds; it frequently sounds like he's saying "mama"
-I'm not thrilled with the 12:00am and 5:00am night nursings he continues to favor. Such awkward timing, but I know it won't last forever
-He's only legitimately rolled over once, from belly to back on October 10th
-He's traumatized my poor husband several times with screaming fits soon after I walk out the door lately. He also refuses the bottle. I'm glad he likes me, but come on little guy!

Ick, Dave, Ick!

Looks like I have to remove my Letterman magnet from the fridge and possibly Goodwill my Late Show sweatshirt...

Daddy drinks because you cry

I've had a taste of single motherhood for the past week and a half while My Husband has been out of town for work--blech! That's not a cry for help; things have really been okay, just relentless, you know? I bow to any single parents out there and to My Husband, who is a really big help. It must be my current circumstances that got me thinking of this list of "rejected children's books," originally sent to me by a co-worker several years ago (and not real, by the way). My favorites:

1. Daddy Drinks Because You Cry
2. You Are Different and That's Bad
3. Fun four-letter Words to Know and Share
4. Hammers, Screwdrivers and Scissors: An I-Can-Do-It Book
5. Julie Was So Bad Her Mom Stopped Loving Her
6. Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence
7. The Pop-Up Book of Human Anatomy
8. Things Rich Kids Have, But You Never Will
9. Why Can't Mr. Fork and Ms. Electrical Outlet Be Friends?

Pull Aparts

Speaking of birthdays, it's a tradition in my family to have cinnamon pull aparts for birthday breakfasts and for just about any other reason. It's possible that every Mormon in the western United States has some version of this recipe, and with good reason as they are off-the-hook delicious:

-24 frozen rolls (Rhodes, etc.)
-1 small pkg Cook 'N' Serve butterscotch pudding (NOT instant; that's important)
-1 cube butter or margarine
-1 cup packed brown sugar
-1 tsp. cinnamon

Grease a bundt pan with cooking spray and place the frozen rolls in it. Sprinkle the pudding powder over the rolls. Melt the butter and mix in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour the mixture over the rolls. Cover with a dish towel and let rise over night or for 8 hours. Put bundt pan on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Flip over onto a serving plate and enjoy.

Four big ones

1st Brother turned 4 in mid-August--hooray! The day of he did a morning treasure hunt for presents and we spent time with friends at the Discovery Museum. We shared one of those single pieces of cake from Safeway and had ice cream in the evening.

A few days later, we had a week day morning Chuck E. Cheese party where we provided pizza, cupcakes, and tokens and let the kids go nuts. This worked pretty well, especially for me since I don't have a love for party planning, and making cute cakes and decorating things stresses me out. I don't think I "stood in that line" [in heaven] as My Husband likes to say; my talents lie elsewhere.

The favorite gift this year has to be Transformers. In the past 6 weeks, he's told a number of acquaintances and strangers, "I just turned 4. And I have Transformers."

4 months

Don't his legs look so much chunkier when they're bent?:

At 4 months, 2nd Brother is blowing lots of spit bubbles, grabs toys placed near his chest and chews on them (he especially likes to slime up his silky rainbow scarf), and kicks a lot while lying on his back, especially when excited.

Morning nap is 2+ hours but afternoon and evening are only about 45 minutes each (too bad since 1st Brother is in afternoon preschool and I don't have the free time I imagined). He sleeps at night from about 7:00pm-8:30am but is usually up twice to nurse. This makes me sleepy since I stay up too late expecting him to wake for that 1st feeding any minute. Must develop self-discipline soon and go to bed before midnight.

Several people have noted 2nd Brother has his own look, and I agree. Here's the same-outfit evidence with 1st Brother on the left:

2nd Brother has less forehead, smaller eyes and nose, and ears that are closer to his head I think.

Like Mike

My husband decided to get a buzz cut while we were in Utah. He'd never had one before--can you believe it? If I was a boy and looked even semi-decent with a buzz, I'd never have any other hair style. So easy and handsome:

Shortly after he got the cut, 1st Brother said to him, "Hey, Mike!" and kept referring to him as Mike. He explained he thought My Husband looked like this ape-like man pet from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish:

Can you see where he's coming from? Looks like 1st Brother may have inherited my family's talent for drawing strange and funny but true look-a-like comparisons.

Man Hater

The woman who cleans the common areas of our building took a trip to the Philippines recently and brought me back this shirt:

Hee hee! I don't think the message is funny, but I was very amused imagining how horrified and embarrassed I'd feel wearing it.

Utah Summer '09

We had a delightful 2-week trip to Utah near the end of July. I was thrilled to enjoy temperatures in the 90s every day (hooray for real summer!), eat too much crap, take advantage of lots of babysitting, and spend time with my favorite people.

My Husband gave 2nd Brother his baby blessing at my family's home. Part of me thought we should have it at our church in SF, but it was too convenient with so many family members in Utah:


1st Brother had his first (and second) water park experience. If you're near Utah County, you should totally check out the Lindon Aquatics Center. It was a huge hit and only cost $5/person.

1st Brother got to spend some quality time with my sister's adorable dog,

with the son of My Husband's best friend--these boys are almost exactly the same age--

and with 2nd Brother of course:

My in-laws treated us to a trip to the Thanksgiving Point farm and dinosaur museum = awesome:

note the superhero pose in front of the giant shark:

And the real reason we came: for the marriage of my youngest sister! Most of these shots were taken outside the Salt Lake temple where they were married:

My sister and her husband decided to stick with the temple plus afternoon dinner with family and close friends at Macaroni Grill on their big day--no reception, bridesmaids, etc. My Husband and I did this too, and I've never regretted keeping it more low key. Here's 1st Brother on the way to dinner:

And here are the happy youngsters! My mom MADE the dress (and the bouquet) when my sis couldn't find what she had in mind. Any daughter of mine in this predicament is out of luck.

Look at her sassy red shoes!

A better look at the veil, which my second-to-youngest sister made: