Recycled Halloween

What do you do when you have a totally awesome costume that took you weeks to make? That's right--you move to a different state and USE IT AGAIN.Sadly, the giant gingerbread man looks a bit mangled after two moves (and the various attacks of children who seem to think that Jon was actually dressed as a giant punching bag). But we still won the Best Adult Costume, thank you very much! Our prize? Some disgusting cocoa-flavored Peeps that I promptly gave away at piano lessons two days later (sorry, Bente).

In case the picture doesn't make it clear, we had a family theme going on. Jon was (obviously) the gingerbread man, I was the baker who forgot to wear her oven mitt in the picture, and Seth was the fox who eats the gingerbread man. I was really missing your baker's hat this year, Spencer. Everyone thought I was Alice in Wonderland...

Seth did remarkably well, despite being passed around the ward so his parents could eat some soup and pie. This, of course, is how he ended the night:When we got home I made Jon take some pictures of Seth's costume so you could all enjoy how adorable he was.And, of course, this is our pumpkin. Not as cool as years past, but having a kid makes things infinitely more complicated. We thought we were pretty clever by having the tail coil around the pumpkin, but all this accomplished was to make it impossible for the candle to stay lit due to some pretty serious wind.We hope you all have a fabulous Halloween!

PS--There are two more new posts below this one, if you care.

Seth's Pimping Chair (and other photos)

Yes, you read that right. We do, in fact, use the word "pimping" around our 3 month old baby. And yes, Sommer, that is the chair you let us borrow.

A short explanation: Usually while I'm making dinner, Jon will take Seth downstairs with him to "check our finances" (interpretation: play Warcraft). Our basement gets quite chilly, so Jon decided to pad Seth's chair with luxurious blankets to keep him warm. Somehow, Seth's "Pimped Out Chair" got shortened to "Pimping Chair." Jon gets to explain that one when Seth starts asking...The above picture is what happens when you try to make your child do tummy time while laying on your tummy. The joys of motherhood, or, why you should ALWAYS use a burp rag.

And, finally, my child is adorable with no clothes on. Sadly, it's getting way too cold for that. I feel like I should be wearing gloves every time I touch the kid--he gasps and jerks when we touch his skin with our cold hands. Poor kid!

I have two little hands? Seriously?

TA-DA! We have a camera again! Ready for thousands of pictures of our child? Well, don't worry. Our new camera came with a 32 MB memory card (our last camera had 256 MB, for some perspective) so it only holds somewhere around 10 pictures. Next purchase: bigger memory card. Thank you, Canon, for messing with us.

Seth has just started figuring out his hands. He's been holding his own hand for weeks now and attempting to grab his blanket. This week something clicked--he has been consistently grabbing my hand to get my ring (and suck on it) and will sometimes swipe at his toys.

Jon has been trying to teach Seth how to grab things. Here's how the lessons usually go down:

Step 1: Distraction

Step 2: Excitement

Step 3: Very intense concentration

It's so amazing to watch him figure things out. Sometimes I get frustrated watching him try, fail, and try again (over and over and over...) and I just want to hand him whatever he's going for. Parenting is a delicate balance of keeping your child happy and helping him learn to do things on his own. Like falling asleep (and STAYING that way) without parental assistance. Progress in this area--zero. In fact, I think we've regressed quite a bit. At this point I could care less if he never sleeps in his crib--as long as he's sleeping NOW, I'm thrilled.

And no, I'm not revoking my right to whine later about how my child won't sleep in his crib.

For Jeanne

Not only did Jeanne tag me on her blog, she actually CALLED me and told me she would cry if I didn't do it. So here are 25 things you didn't know (and probably don't really care if you know) about me:

1.) I can't stand touching wet popsicle sticks. I'm getting the chills just thinking about it.

2.) For years, I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. Then I discovered that astronauts have to be good at math...

3.) One day I will have a bunny named D'Artagnan, a cat named Xibalba, and a fish named Optimus Prime.

4.) When I was little, I used to stand out in my backyard and sing "ah, ah, AH, ah, ah AH" like in The Little Mermaid. My vocal skills were tremendous, to say the least.

5.) I have read the unabridged version of Les Miserables twice. There's a good reason why that book should be abridged.

6.) Songs about kids, babies, or time passing too quickly make me cry. This is a very recent development.

7.) I refused to watch "The Princess Bride" for years because the scene in the Pit of Despair terrified me as a child.

8.) I worked as a janitor at a preschool during high school. I cleaned toilets, vacuumed up sand, and loved every minute of it because I was working with my three best friends.

9.) I wrote a science report on Orca whales FOR FUN one weekend. I blame it entirely on "Free Willy".

10.) I'm a compulsive reader. I will read all the ingredients on a cereal box if it's left in front of me, and it takes all my willpower to skip those stupid non-cartoons in the Sunday comics.

11.) Halloween is my favorite holiday. I dress up, carve a pumpkin, and decorate my house every year.

12.) I used to get so stressed out during finals in high school that I would completely lose my voice. One year it was gone until after Christmas.

13.) I'm an official ex-Student Electrical Technician. I can fix your fridge, stove/oven, microwave, dishwasher, vacuum, and tampon dispenser. Gotta love those FHPs, eh, Christine?

14.) I have swum in the Mississippi River in March. Twice.

15.) I can sing, play the piano/organ, and write a little bit of music, but I absolutely cannot dance. No sense of rhythm. Seriously--it's painful.

16.) I studied English in college, so naturally my post BYU jobs include retail (Target), cake decorating, business to business telemarketing (so, so awful), and piano teaching.

17.) My shortest relationship was six months long. Commitment-phobic I was not.

18.) I had a gigantic obsession with Johnny Depp. Those of you who were in Nauvoo with me will be pleased to know that things have cooled down considerably in that department.

19.) My first job out of high school was getting paid $5.25/hr to design and create a work of art for the community. Donald the Jaguar reigned over Naranja Road until he was mysteriously removed a few years later. Your tax dollars at work, people of Oro Valley, Arizona...

20.) I have reoccurring dreams about showing up to various classes, realizing that I haven't been there since the first of the semester, and panicking (no, I never actually did this). One night it was a math class, then Spanish. Most recently it was chemistry. Interpretations, anyone?

21.) I fully believe that avocados are the fruit of the gods. Sometimes I will buy them to put on/in a meal, but will just end up eating them straight because they're too good to mingle with other flavors.

22.) Charles Dickens and I do not get along. "Verbose" doesn't even begin to describe the man...

23.) I didn't know what Three Mile Island was until I watched an episode of The Simpsons. Jon was so embarrassed that he wouldn't even tell me--he made me look it up myself.

24.) There was a point in my life where I really, REALLY wanted to be an elf from LOTR. Sadly, I was 16 at the time so there really is no excuse for it.

25.) I married the best guy in the world and we have the cutest baby ever. The rest of you are just going to have to stand by and envy my happiness.

Sorry if some of these are kind of stupid. 25 is a LOT of things.

I tag Mindy, Alicia, and Megan Marie. Which means you three have to get blogs. Peer pressure, PEER PRESSURE!! (Work on Mindy for me, Adrian).

Seth Smiles (finally)

...and laughs a little bit right at the end.

Weekends need to be longer.

This has been one of those weeks that just leave you exhausted (even though you didn't actually accomplish all that much).

First of all, Seth has a cold again. Poor kid. This is actually a mixed blessing--when he first gets sick he's up every two hours at night. But as he works his way through, he actually sleeps LONGER. As in 10 to 4:30 am last night. And he's still happy as a clam during the day, just slightly congested.

My biggest stress was my very first cake decorating job. Yes, I worked as a cake decorator last year, but this was the first time I've done the whole job--baking, decorating, and delivery. Joyce requested a fairy (NOT Tinkerbell) cake for her daughter. It turned out pretty well, but I sure wanted to shoot myself when I was about halfway through. I was paranoid that it wouldn't be good enough, but the look on Natalie's face when she saw the cake made it all worth it. Hallelujah.

I was also given a calling this week that totally threw me for a loop--Young Women's Second Counselor. I have never worked with the Young Women and it has always seemed like a daunting job. In Primary the kids are (generally) too young to be doing stupid things that can ruin their lives. By Relief Society the women have generally gotten past that point. Not that I think all Young Women are going to do stupid things, but it's a rough age (as we who have survived it can attest). But once I learned who the president and 1st counselor are, I just felt so RIGHT about everything. I've never felt this way about a calling before. Accordingly, Tuesday nights are now officially male bonding time at our house.

The best news this week came from the Daniel & Wendy version of the Blood family--a new baby girl. And guess what they named her? That's right--Megan. How many of YOU have a kid named after you? Okay, so actually they just liked the name, but I'm going to claim her anyway. Apparently her older sister, Jocelyn (she's 2), was insisting on calling her "Baby Seth." I find this totally adorable.

So now my house is a disaster, my baby is asleep, my husband is doing the dishes (bless him), and I want to go crash for 5 hours. The odds of Seth letting me do this: zilch. And it's getting to that time of year when life just gets insane--Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. Luckily for us, the faster time goes, the faster we'll get to go home to see our families!

Oh, and our camera should be here this week. Then I will inundate you all with pictures of our child which I will find totally adorable and unique and which you will think look exactly the same. Hey, at least his grandmas will appreciate them, too.

To hold you over, here's a video from Oct. 6th (now that we've got our firewire card working):

Overheard yesterday at KFC

(Read this line while conjuring up your best half-deaf old hick lady voice):

"Obama's tryin' ta wipe out the white race!"I nearly choked myself trying to keep from laughing out loud.
He's got one heck of a job ahead of him.

Baby Boot Camp Graduate

It's official. I've now survived Baby Boot Camp (or, as others call it, the 4th Trimester). Allegedly now that Seth is 3 months old, things will start to get lots better--as in more sleep and more fun. As of right now, I can attest to the latter. Still holding out for the former.

At three months old, Seth weighs exactly 15 pounds and is 2 feet tall. Which basically means he's a chubster. Still. We have now grown out of our 3 month clothes and some of our 3-6 month clothes. Oddly enough, he's not too chunky for the outfits--he's too tall. Our child must have a long torso. Sure didn't get that from me...

Things Seth can do at 3 months old:

*Smile--it's adorable. I'll prove it soon.

*Laugh (usually at his dad)

*Chew on his hands

*Concentrate really, REALLY hard on grabbing his blanket, but then give up and go back to sucking on his fist.

*Shriek like a banshee

*Hold a 5-15 minute conversation consisting of coos, babblings, and banshee shrieks

*Sleep from 9 to 9 with only one feeding. Number of times he's done this? Once. But still...

*Have an opinion about taking a bottle. We're just happy he'll still take one.

*Spit up all over Mom in the hallway during Stake Conference

*Blow raspberries.

*Put himself back to sleep occasionally when Mom is too lazy (read: exhausted) to get out of bed again. That's right--I'm already letting my child cry himself to sleep. But only for 5 minutes at this point.

*Have exactly 5 rolls on his thighs. Obviously we don't NEED those late-night feedings.

He really has gotten a lot more fun recently. It's nice to see that he really does like us. One thing I miss, however, are his milk smiles. They used to happen all the time, but I haven't seen one in several weeks. He's also lost the newborn cry (which I don't miss too much, although it's cute in its own way). All in all, he's a fabulous baby. I'll take a good-natured crappy sleeper over a grumpy sleeper any day.

Sorry. Pictures soon.

One Productive Weekend(ish)

Jon has flex time at work, which means he works 9 hour days and gets every other Friday off (and we LOVE it). This weekend he not only has Friday off, but Monday as well. Thank you, U.S. Government, for inventing holidays and then giving your employees the day off.

To celebrate, we're doing some things we've been meaning to do for a long time. First of all, to please the grandmothers, we bought this:It should be here in a week or so.

And, with my hard-earned piano teaching money, we bought and assembled this to put in our kitchen:...and bought this, which I have been longing for since I saw it in the chapel of the Nauvoo Temple.We also caulked our bathroom shower and fixed the drain ring in the sink. Today our plans include vacuuming out our disgusting cars and finishing "fall cleaning" the upstairs. Yes, I deep clean my house every 6 months. You can blame my mother for that obsession.

On Monday we're planning a nice "hike" in Gunpowder Falls State Park (you can't really hike when you have no mountains).

In other news, Seth is officially 13 weeks old today and will be 3 months old tomorrow. To celebrate, he has decided to abandon his previous nickname of "Serious Seth" and has started smiling up a storm. He is currently working on perfecting his high-pitched shrieking skills and his hand-gnawing skills. Aren't you all just dying for pictures? We just hope the camera shows up before Halloween. Because let me tell you, we're going to look good (provided I can find the necessary costume pieces for Seth).

By the way, THANK YOU ALL for the book recommendations. Keep them coming. I just grabbed 6 books today and requested a few that were checked out. And, in case you care, Mylicon seems to have helped the gas issue a little bit. We're nowhere close to making it all night, but we usually make it from 9 to 2 with no problems. Hallelujah. If only that stuff weren't so bloody expensive...

Do you ever wonder...

...if your baby secretly hates you? Why else would your child sleep from 9pm to 4:45 am one night and then only from 9:40 to 12:40 the next? I think Seth secretly enjoys watching me get my hopes up and then dashing them REPEATEDLY the next night. You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now.

On a very closely related topic: is my child the only one who wakes himself up 3 or 4 times a night with gas? What am I supposed to do, give him Mylicon before bed every night? And no, it doesn't depend on what I eat. I'm just praying that his next growth spurt will include a fully-functioning digestive system (which will hopefully lead to a decent night's sleep for me).

In other news, I got to eat at the Cheesecake Factory for the first time last weekend (thank you Christine, for coming to DC!). Their lemon-raspberry cheesecake was PERFECT--not too lemony, and not too heavy.

Still no camera. Sorry guys. I promise our child is still adorable. We'll prove it soon.

Book Rants/Recommendations

We don't have TV. There are two main reasons for this: #1--we're cheap, and #2--it forces us to be creative with our spare time (which really means we just watch an X Files episode on the computer).

I quickly discovered that nursing can be very, very boring. Yes, occasionally Seth will look up at me and we'll have a bonding moment, but usually he's all business. Things have improved now that he's usually done in 15 minutes flat, but back in the days of 40 minute nursing sessions I was dying. Other moms joked that I would end up addicted to shows that neither I nor anyone else knew existed because they only air at 3:30 am. Then I'd explain about our TV situation and get some funny looks. Apparently not having TV is borderline "overzealous Mormon" trying to remove the evil influence of the world. But really, we're just cheap.

To cure my boredom, I've taken to reading books. LOTS and LOTS of books. I've always been a fast reader, but I never realized that could be a problem until now--I've practically exhausted the library's collection of decent books and I still have many months of nursing left. Having this perpetual reading marathon has allowed me to make a few conclusions:

1--There are way too many books about Camelot/Arthur.

2--It's very dangerous to just pick a random book off the shelf. You never know what you're going to get.

3--Finding a book in the adult fiction section that DOESN'T include at least one skanky scene is very nearly impossible.

This last conclusion came after a frustrating experience where I had to return 5 out of the 7 books I borrowed. I'd get partway through the book and then hit the skanky part and have to put it down. This really ticked me off because I got far enough into a few of them to actually care what happened. But that's my new rule: any scandalous activity and my reading is DONE.

This is a significant problem. Now I'm not only limited by my book-snobbery (I can't help it--I'm an English major!), but I have to avoid what seems to be the focal point of 90% of adult fiction books. Thank heaven for C.S. Lewis. I can at least bank on him when nothing else works out.

So I'm here pleading (again) for recommendations. In exchange, I'll give you some of mine. These books all passed the snobbery and skankiness tests (thought that doesn't necessarily mean they're suitable for sensitive readers):

March--Geraldine Brooks
Till We Have Faces--C.S. Lewis
A Separate Peace--John Knowles
When the Legends Die--Hal Borland
The Giver--Lois Lowry (Gathering Blue was decent, I'm working on Messenger)
Chronicles of Prydain--Lloyd Alexander (the last two are the best)
Chronicles of Narnia--C.S. Lewis (the first two are boring, the last ones are best)
The Whistling Season--Ivan Doig
Last Lecture--Randy Pausch
Peace Like a River--Leif Enger
Freakonomics--Dubner & Levitt (just a warning--the section on abortion was hard to read. Not difficult, just...hard).

Can't think of the rest right now. Please pass on anything good you've read lately--I'm getting desperate!