Nathaniel sleeps between me and Carl, in our king bed. He has a little hand towel he sleeps on in case he leaks somehow in the night, and also so he can have a finite territory to himself.
Every night before we sleep, we put him down in his spot and just marvel at how awesome he is.
The other night, Carl turned to me and just asked: "Why doesn't everybody sleep with their baby? It's worked out so well for us."
<3 <3 <3
So glad to be bedsharing with my baby, and with a husband who is glad about it too!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
can't think of a good title for this post
Happy Thanksgiving Eve!
Nathaniel has been so cute lately. He's developed an interest in cups--not all cups, just the bright green ones I use. There are two cups in particular that he seems to love. He reaches out for them, and when I bring them close to him he wraps his hands around them and puts his mouth on the rim of the cup just like he sees me do.
Just now I tipped the cup just enough to let a little lick of water into his mouth.
Judging by the look on his face, water is not quite as yummy as he was hoping it would be. :^P
He's sleeping right now, thankfully.
We've started to work out in the mornings, rather than at night. On the one hand, it's nice to get the workouts out of the way. On the other hand, it means Nathaniel is waking up earlier than he used to (because he gets up with us) and his sleep schedule is probably off.
We're all getting way stronger. Two months ago I couldn't do one man pushup; now I can do like 30 of them over the course of an hour-long workout. Yesterday I noticed that I can see my tricep. Pretty sweet.
Let's see. I got new glasses a few days ago; they should be in soon. Glad to have thinner frames! I've never loved the ones I have now, but they were the only decent ones available when I had my emergency need for glasses out in California a year ago (two years? something like that). So it'll be good to have glasses I actually like. It's lame to leave the house and not like how you look.
Speaking of that, my hair is FINALLY to the length I asked for it to be cut to yes, like eight months ago. And it turns out, I don't really love it at this length, either. So, good for me: just got to spend 3/4 of a year with a horrific hair cut, and now I get to wait for another year or two for it to be long enough to like again. Oh well. Learned my lesson. Also it made me more humble, and also less likely to judge people with super awful haircuts.
They can happen to anyone.
My high school's five year reunion is coming up this weekend (I actually graduated 6 years ago, but I was a year early). The reunion is being held in a bar (of course). So will I go? Well, it's doubtful. Though I am curious to see what everyone is up to.
Nathaniel has been so cute lately. He's developed an interest in cups--not all cups, just the bright green ones I use. There are two cups in particular that he seems to love. He reaches out for them, and when I bring them close to him he wraps his hands around them and puts his mouth on the rim of the cup just like he sees me do.
Just now I tipped the cup just enough to let a little lick of water into his mouth.
Judging by the look on his face, water is not quite as yummy as he was hoping it would be. :^P
He's sleeping right now, thankfully.
We've started to work out in the mornings, rather than at night. On the one hand, it's nice to get the workouts out of the way. On the other hand, it means Nathaniel is waking up earlier than he used to (because he gets up with us) and his sleep schedule is probably off.
We're all getting way stronger. Two months ago I couldn't do one man pushup; now I can do like 30 of them over the course of an hour-long workout. Yesterday I noticed that I can see my tricep. Pretty sweet.
Let's see. I got new glasses a few days ago; they should be in soon. Glad to have thinner frames! I've never loved the ones I have now, but they were the only decent ones available when I had my emergency need for glasses out in California a year ago (two years? something like that). So it'll be good to have glasses I actually like. It's lame to leave the house and not like how you look.
Speaking of that, my hair is FINALLY to the length I asked for it to be cut to yes, like eight months ago. And it turns out, I don't really love it at this length, either. So, good for me: just got to spend 3/4 of a year with a horrific hair cut, and now I get to wait for another year or two for it to be long enough to like again. Oh well. Learned my lesson. Also it made me more humble, and also less likely to judge people with super awful haircuts.
They can happen to anyone.
My high school's five year reunion is coming up this weekend (I actually graduated 6 years ago, but I was a year early). The reunion is being held in a bar (of course). So will I go? Well, it's doubtful. Though I am curious to see what everyone is up to.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
spicy tuna wrap recipe
Let me preface this recipe with the side note that while I love fish, I don't particularly adore tuna. And in addition to that, I find mayonnaise super disgusting. Everything about it just creeps me out. But this recipe was actually good and I'm excited to have it for lunch today as well.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 can tuna
- 1 spoonful mayonnaise
- bunches of hot sauce (I used Sriracha, but I bet Cholula would be great too)
- a little bit of chopped onion
- 1 tortilla
- 1 cup brown rice
Mix everything together and stick on the tortilla. Bam. Done.
I think I ended up using half (or 3/4) hot sauce and half mayonnaise to hold the tuna together and it was good. And spicy. But that's good.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 can tuna
- 1 spoonful mayonnaise
- bunches of hot sauce (I used Sriracha, but I bet Cholula would be great too)
- a little bit of chopped onion
- 1 tortilla
- 1 cup brown rice
Mix everything together and stick on the tortilla. Bam. Done.
I think I ended up using half (or 3/4) hot sauce and half mayonnaise to hold the tuna together and it was good. And spicy. But that's good.
on food, part 2
Read the first post on food here.
Since I wrote that blog entry, several things have happened!
Notably, there was Halloween. I know I, for one, ate WAY too much Halloween candy. However, I excused it because I am nursing. Bad excuse, but oh well.
Next up, Shawn T caught up with us. We've all been doing the Insanity workout. We just started the second month (we did the first month for 6 weeks because I went out to that funeral so we did one week twice). Six weeks into the workout, we can really see a difference. And, I think, feel a difference. I can do way more pushups now, and I can see more muscles on myself than I could before. I can see WAY more muscles on Carl, now.
Anyway, yes: Shawn T has caught up with us. In the past, we've done a 40-minute workout with Shawn and then sat down with bowls of ice cream while we literally cooled down. But recently, I have felt strongly enough about eating nutritional food to actually 1) buy it and/or 2) make it.
I started making bread for us (using this recipe). We go through 2.5 loaves per week of my homemade bread, mostly because it is way better than storebought bread so we eat more of it. But making it from scratch saves money and is just generally better. I should have taken a picture of my bread from yesterday; it was beautiful.
I've been reading through health blogs for recipes and I tried one yesterday that was actually pretty good. I'll post it on here in a bit.
We are the only people who control what goes into our bodies. So it's worth it to be intentional about that.
Since I wrote that blog entry, several things have happened!
Notably, there was Halloween. I know I, for one, ate WAY too much Halloween candy. However, I excused it because I am nursing. Bad excuse, but oh well.
Next up, Shawn T caught up with us. We've all been doing the Insanity workout. We just started the second month (we did the first month for 6 weeks because I went out to that funeral so we did one week twice). Six weeks into the workout, we can really see a difference. And, I think, feel a difference. I can do way more pushups now, and I can see more muscles on myself than I could before. I can see WAY more muscles on Carl, now.
Anyway, yes: Shawn T has caught up with us. In the past, we've done a 40-minute workout with Shawn and then sat down with bowls of ice cream while we literally cooled down. But recently, I have felt strongly enough about eating nutritional food to actually 1) buy it and/or 2) make it.
I started making bread for us (using this recipe). We go through 2.5 loaves per week of my homemade bread, mostly because it is way better than storebought bread so we eat more of it. But making it from scratch saves money and is just generally better. I should have taken a picture of my bread from yesterday; it was beautiful.
I've been reading through health blogs for recipes and I tried one yesterday that was actually pretty good. I'll post it on here in a bit.
We are the only people who control what goes into our bodies. So it's worth it to be intentional about that.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
baby stats
Took baby to the doctor yesterday for his four month visit.
Head circumference: 42.5 cm (50th percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs 13 oz (75th+ percentile)
Length: 25.75 inches (75th percentile)
The doc gave us a prescription for his eye gooeys but I'm not sure we'll use it. She said they were optional and massage is the best treatment for a blocked tear duct anyway.
He got one vaccine shot in each thigh and an oral vaccine. He gave a few loud cries but otherwise was happy. I distracted him with a binky and he was fine.
Everyone said that he is such a good, happy baby.
I think we have to agree.
Head circumference: 42.5 cm (50th percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs 13 oz (75th+ percentile)
Length: 25.75 inches (75th percentile)
The doc gave us a prescription for his eye gooeys but I'm not sure we'll use it. She said they were optional and massage is the best treatment for a blocked tear duct anyway.
He got one vaccine shot in each thigh and an oral vaccine. He gave a few loud cries but otherwise was happy. I distracted him with a binky and he was fine.
Everyone said that he is such a good, happy baby.
I think we have to agree.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
decorating the tree!
Today, my mother, Nana, Grampy, Jacque, Elli, Nathaniel and I all went down to the temple to decorate the Christmas tree for Seneca Stake. We have been excited about it for weeks.
Nathaniel enjoyed sitting with Grampy:
And the rest of us decorated. The tree was clearly tall:
We started at the top of the tree and worked our way down. The top of the tree represents Heaven and it's all glitzy and covered in stars and balls and angels and ribbon. The ribbons represent how we are all tied together as children of God, and how we are all tied to Heaven. The balls represent the planets, that God created along with the stars. Down at the bottom of the tree, the poinsettas are symbolic of the Christ and the fruit boughs are symbolic of the fruits of the Spirit.
Baby fell asleep in the sling:
We had the tree closest to the Christus--prime real estate for the awesomest tree in the Visitor's Center. This is Nana and me, putting lights up around the creche in the center of the tree:
Babies slept. People decorated. Ladders were everywhere.
In the end, the tree looked pretty good (if I do say so myself).
Our tree's ornaments are ones we made ourselves, from creches bought in the Czech Republic. The creche pieces are very small, but we blew the images up and then added beads and sequins. The creche we used is of all the native Czechs bringing presents to the baby Jesus. Here are some of my favorites. Below you can see the artist's self-portrait (he's the one with the art, duh. we actually had to Photoshop the pipe he was smoking out of the picture), a tailor bringing a jacket, a shepherd bringing a lamb, and a musician playing his horn:
Here is the creche, the wise men, some animals and children coming to view the baby:
A band of musicians (I love the cellist) and a baker bringing a birthday cake:
The city of Bethlehem:
The geniuses behind it all:
The tree took 30 manhours to decorate, not counting the many many hours spent hand-creating each individual ornament.
This time, for the first time, decorating the tree was very spiritual for me. I kept looking at the pictures of the people taking things to Christ: the birthday cake, the jacket, music, bread, horses, chickens, piglets, toys. What could I bring Him?
All He asks is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. That's the best gift anyone can bring to Jesus Christ.
But in the meantime, the gifts portrayed on our tree are pretty cool.
Nathaniel enjoyed sitting with Grampy:
And the rest of us decorated. The tree was clearly tall:
We started at the top of the tree and worked our way down. The top of the tree represents Heaven and it's all glitzy and covered in stars and balls and angels and ribbon. The ribbons represent how we are all tied together as children of God, and how we are all tied to Heaven. The balls represent the planets, that God created along with the stars. Down at the bottom of the tree, the poinsettas are symbolic of the Christ and the fruit boughs are symbolic of the fruits of the Spirit.
Baby fell asleep in the sling:
We had the tree closest to the Christus--prime real estate for the awesomest tree in the Visitor's Center. This is Nana and me, putting lights up around the creche in the center of the tree:
Babies slept. People decorated. Ladders were everywhere.
In the end, the tree looked pretty good (if I do say so myself).
Our tree's ornaments are ones we made ourselves, from creches bought in the Czech Republic. The creche pieces are very small, but we blew the images up and then added beads and sequins. The creche we used is of all the native Czechs bringing presents to the baby Jesus. Here are some of my favorites. Below you can see the artist's self-portrait (he's the one with the art, duh. we actually had to Photoshop the pipe he was smoking out of the picture), a tailor bringing a jacket, a shepherd bringing a lamb, and a musician playing his horn:
Here is the creche, the wise men, some animals and children coming to view the baby:
A band of musicians (I love the cellist) and a baker bringing a birthday cake:
The city of Bethlehem:
The geniuses behind it all:
The tree took 30 manhours to decorate, not counting the many many hours spent hand-creating each individual ornament.
This time, for the first time, decorating the tree was very spiritual for me. I kept looking at the pictures of the people taking things to Christ: the birthday cake, the jacket, music, bread, horses, chickens, piglets, toys. What could I bring Him?
All He asks is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. That's the best gift anyone can bring to Jesus Christ.
But in the meantime, the gifts portrayed on our tree are pretty cool.
Baby's hair--then and now
I just discovered a bunch of pictures. Can you remember how hairy he was when he first came out? Here's a reminder:
He was so cute and hairy--a true Phur:
He had the best turtle face ever:
He had the looks. He had the brains.
He had curls when his hair was wet.
He out-haired other babies:
He had the most Gollumy sideburns this side of Middle Earth:
But then he started pulling out chunks of his own hair (note bald stripe):
Then his mom treated his cradle cap and he lost all the hair in the front of his head--so he had Gollum sideburns AND no bangs but long stringy hairs on the top of his head:
Then his mom cut the sideburns and finished treating the cradle cap. Now it looks a little better and we are all a little happier:
But not that happy. Because he is still bald on the top of his head.
He was so cute and hairy--a true Phur:
He had the best turtle face ever:
He had the looks. He had the brains.
He had curls when his hair was wet.
He out-haired other babies:
He had the most Gollumy sideburns this side of Middle Earth:
But then he started pulling out chunks of his own hair (note bald stripe):
Then his mom treated his cradle cap and he lost all the hair in the front of his head--so he had Gollum sideburns AND no bangs but long stringy hairs on the top of his head:
Then his mom cut the sideburns and finished treating the cradle cap. Now it looks a little better and we are all a little happier:
But not that happy. Because he is still bald on the top of his head.
Friday, November 11, 2011
postpartum exercise questions
Okay.
For the past six weeks, my friend and I have been doing Insanity with Shawn T. The workout. Let me tell you, after three weeks of that, Jillian Michaels is like a joke. Anyway.
We've noticed ourselves getting a lot stronger, and we've noticed more definition in our arms and legs, but for both of us it seems that our abdomens have actually gotten flabbier.
Technically this can't possibly be true (right?) because I know for a fact that our ab muscles are stronger now. However, they are actually getting bigger instead of smaller, if that makes sense.
My friend had a C-section three months ago and I delivered vaginally four months ago. Anyone know why ab work is making our abs bigger instead of smaller?
For the past six weeks, my friend and I have been doing Insanity with Shawn T. The workout. Let me tell you, after three weeks of that, Jillian Michaels is like a joke. Anyway.
We've noticed ourselves getting a lot stronger, and we've noticed more definition in our arms and legs, but for both of us it seems that our abdomens have actually gotten flabbier.
Technically this can't possibly be true (right?) because I know for a fact that our ab muscles are stronger now. However, they are actually getting bigger instead of smaller, if that makes sense.
My friend had a C-section three months ago and I delivered vaginally four months ago. Anyone know why ab work is making our abs bigger instead of smaller?
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
cradle cap part 3
As of this morning, my darling baby is a Baldilocks. :^( It's so, so sad. He's got his real hair growing in on the top of his head, but it's short--no more than an inch long, and very pale. The rest of his head, including the crown of his head, still has 3-inch-long very dark hair. So he's like half bald and half super hairy. I ended up trimming those blasted Gollum sideburns just so he wouldn't look AS weird, but he still looks weird. At least to me.
I miss him being so cute and hairy, but I tell myself: those hairs weren't even attached to his head anyway. I just cleared them off, and now his real hair can grow in.
It's true, but it's still so sad.
Maybe I'll post a picture--I took a few yesterday--but maybe I won't. The poor kid wouldn't want you to see, probably.
I miss him being so cute and hairy, but I tell myself: those hairs weren't even attached to his head anyway. I just cleared them off, and now his real hair can grow in.
It's true, but it's still so sad.
Maybe I'll post a picture--I took a few yesterday--but maybe I won't. The poor kid wouldn't want you to see, probably.
Halloween pictures!
Here are some pictures of Nathaniel from Halloween. He was the best cowbaby I know of. Thanks to Heatherfor the awesome pics!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
cradle cap part 2
After writing that post, I got so distraught about his cradle cap I decided to try some remedies I found online. First, I massaged his head with baby oil. I let it sit, then combed it out. Then I washed his hair with Head And Shoulders shampoo.
He is way balder now than he was three hours ago. :^(
:^(
My poor baby!
He's still got bunches of hair, but those baldish patches just make my soul frowny. When I was combing his hair after the baby oil application, clump after clump of hair came out.
Of course he doesn't have any cradle cap on the sides of his head; no, just the top of his head. Sad sad sad sad day.
He is way balder now than he was three hours ago. :^(
:^(
My poor baby!
He's still got bunches of hair, but those baldish patches just make my soul frowny. When I was combing his hair after the baby oil application, clump after clump of hair came out.
Of course he doesn't have any cradle cap on the sides of his head; no, just the top of his head. Sad sad sad sad day.
cradle cap
For the past few weeks Nathaniel's had cradle cap. It's pretty sick. He has giant flakes of skin peeling off all on his head. I hadn't done anything about it because I figured he'd just grow out of it.
It's worse than that.
I realized just lately that every time a flake of skin comes off, it takes off all the hair that grew through that flake of skin, too.
:^(
Yesterday he had a sad moment and frantically pulled out a whole fistful of his own hair. It's not hard to do, with all the flakes (and therefore hair) peeling off as they are. He has a baldish patch where the hairs were, now (I say baldish because he still has a bunch of hair to masquerade the area... however, all those hairs are cradle-capped as well).
I am worried that the cradle cap area of his head is going to make him bald there. And then we'll be left with a bizarro bald-head baby with a rattail and Gollum sideburns still. :^/
It's worse than that.
I realized just lately that every time a flake of skin comes off, it takes off all the hair that grew through that flake of skin, too.
:^(
Yesterday he had a sad moment and frantically pulled out a whole fistful of his own hair. It's not hard to do, with all the flakes (and therefore hair) peeling off as they are. He has a baldish patch where the hairs were, now (I say baldish because he still has a bunch of hair to masquerade the area... however, all those hairs are cradle-capped as well).
I am worried that the cradle cap area of his head is going to make him bald there. And then we'll be left with a bizarro bald-head baby with a rattail and Gollum sideburns still. :^/
random thoughts
I think I am going to do something cool like this with the empty drawers randomly in our garage.
Here is an interesting blog entry about early puberty in girls and how that may be linked to father absence. The implications are intriguing.
Article on the need for our young males to step up and become men.
Article from a Baby Boomer on why they are the most selfish generation. I have to agree with him. Sorry, Boomers, but you have collectively destroyed the future for your kids and grandkids and great grandkids. I know not all of you are to blame, but a majority are, and I for one am not happy about it.
Here is an interesting blog entry about early puberty in girls and how that may be linked to father absence. The implications are intriguing.
Article on the need for our young males to step up and become men.
Article from a Baby Boomer on why they are the most selfish generation. I have to agree with him. Sorry, Boomers, but you have collectively destroyed the future for your kids and grandkids and great grandkids. I know not all of you are to blame, but a majority are, and I for one am not happy about it.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Christmas Lists, UPDATED
Nathaniel would like:
- a cute and cushioned sling for Mom to carry him around in
- another fun sling for Mom to carry him around in
- stuff for eating (as in, toddler spoon and fork sets, little plastic plates and bowls)
- fun toys to play with
- clothes size 9 mos and larger*
- Amazon money for buying random baby supplies as needed
Carl would like:
- short white socks
- Smores pop tarts
- headphones
- new casual shoes
- athletic shorts
- a new white shirt for church that fits (I don't know what size that would be, but he is a small in T-shirt sizes)
- a toaster--yes, we don't have one
- a laptop for his wife (aw)
- new slacks for work
- Barnes and Noble money
I would like:
- a new quadruple combination, preferably the tiny kind--although I just got a compact New Testament and Book of Mormon for my diaper bag, so maybe I could handle having a full size quad now. That would actually probably be easier to take notes in. I wrote so much in my last one with acid pen that all the pages are eaten through with my notes. :^(
- non-acid pens, or mechanical scripture marking pencils, or other scripture marking tools so I don't utterly destroy my new scriptures whenever I get them
- Amazon gift cards (you can buy nursing clothes on Amazon with free shipping! Hooray!)
- Money toward our family Gun Fund
- Money toward our family Mom's Computer Fund (this laptop is OLD)
- a cute nursing dress or so (I believe I am a medium at this stage in my life) (here is another one)
- a nursing tank--most of the ones I've tried don't hide my G's but I think this one might! The black one would be sooo useful.
- Money toward new jeans
- the Parasol Protectorate series
* A note on clothes: It's safe to assume at all times that Carl is a size small.
Nathaniel is about to move into nine month clothes--so far, he's been growing into a new size about every two months, so I've started stocking up on 12+ month stuff for him. We have 4 drawers full of 6-mo clothes for him and we only use about half of that now. So it's probably safe not to buy him lots of stuff in one size.
For me, I'm nursing! And planning to do it for a while. So I've committed to only buying nursing clothes for the foreseeable future. Any non-nursing clothes I end up with will most likely be returned, unless they are cardigans or jeans that fit, although I have way too many cardigans as it is (ahhhh I cannot overstate the adoration in my heart for a cute cardigan! I have a zillion of them. Okay, even though I already have a million cute cardigans, I would take another one).
As far as nursing clothes go, I am being picky and only using the kind that let you nurse without basically stripping. This nursingwear site shows the different kinds of nursingwear openings. I don't use pull-down clothes, drop-front clothes, or built-in bra stuff, or clothes that make you pull everything up.
- a cute and cushioned sling for Mom to carry him around in
- another fun sling for Mom to carry him around in
- stuff for eating (as in, toddler spoon and fork sets, little plastic plates and bowls)
- fun toys to play with
- clothes size 9 mos and larger*
- Amazon money for buying random baby supplies as needed
Carl would like:
- short white socks
- Smores pop tarts
- headphones
- new casual shoes
- athletic shorts
- a new white shirt for church that fits (I don't know what size that would be, but he is a small in T-shirt sizes)
- a toaster--yes, we don't have one
- a laptop for his wife (aw)
- new slacks for work
- Barnes and Noble money
I would like:
- a new quadruple combination, preferably the tiny kind--although I just got a compact New Testament and Book of Mormon for my diaper bag, so maybe I could handle having a full size quad now. That would actually probably be easier to take notes in. I wrote so much in my last one with acid pen that all the pages are eaten through with my notes. :^(
- non-acid pens, or mechanical scripture marking pencils, or other scripture marking tools so I don't utterly destroy my new scriptures whenever I get them
- Amazon gift cards (you can buy nursing clothes on Amazon with free shipping! Hooray!)
- Money toward our family Gun Fund
- Money toward our family Mom's Computer Fund (this laptop is OLD)
- a cute nursing dress or so (I believe I am a medium at this stage in my life) (here is another one)
- a nursing tank--most of the ones I've tried don't hide my G's but I think this one might! The black one would be sooo useful.
- Money toward new jeans
- the Parasol Protectorate series
* A note on clothes: It's safe to assume at all times that Carl is a size small.
Nathaniel is about to move into nine month clothes--so far, he's been growing into a new size about every two months, so I've started stocking up on 12+ month stuff for him. We have 4 drawers full of 6-mo clothes for him and we only use about half of that now. So it's probably safe not to buy him lots of stuff in one size.
For me, I'm nursing! And planning to do it for a while. So I've committed to only buying nursing clothes for the foreseeable future. Any non-nursing clothes I end up with will most likely be returned, unless they are cardigans or jeans that fit, although I have way too many cardigans as it is (ahhhh I cannot overstate the adoration in my heart for a cute cardigan! I have a zillion of them. Okay, even though I already have a million cute cardigans, I would take another one).
As far as nursing clothes go, I am being picky and only using the kind that let you nurse without basically stripping. This nursingwear site shows the different kinds of nursingwear openings. I don't use pull-down clothes, drop-front clothes, or built-in bra stuff, or clothes that make you pull everything up.
New Piano
It's Allie on Carl's account. Anyway, we GOT THE PIANO!!! It was crazy. The piano is an old-style player piano that no longer plays. Not a big deal (it can still be played manually), but it's extra extra deep. And our house is built on a hill. So not only could it not go up the stairs, it couldn't fit through ANY doors in the whole danged house. In the end they had to dismantle one of the back doors and we were able to get it into the living room. I'd hoped to have it in the front of the house--I had a whole music nook all ready for it and it was beautiful--but oh well. WE HAVE A PIANO!!
Also, here are some random pictures from this morning. Don't worry, Carl isn't actually asleep:
I love how we've done our bookshelves, organized by color and genre. I think they look so cool.
Also, here are some random pictures from this morning. Don't worry, Carl isn't actually asleep:
I love how we've done our bookshelves, organized by color and genre. I think they look so cool.
Friday, November 4, 2011
procrastination and cleaning thoughts
Yes, this is me postponing cleaning by blogging about cleaning.
Since I became a SAHM, things have been interesting. For my whole life, I've been a productivity freak: everything in my life has to be done better, faster, more efficiently. This is from the time I was just a baby; by the time I was nine months old, I was walking, talking, and eating with silverware. People thought I was a midget.
Now I'm a mother and I mother my baby at home. I can't imagine leaving him every day, or any day--he is my priority right now and I love being his mom. We sing and dance and play finger games, and we nurse and be silly and I love every second of it. But for a productivity freak like myself, things get complex. What am I supposed to be doing with my spare moments now??
In the past, I would spend those times studying. French, Latin, Spanish, German, even (in a moment of unparalleled geekdom) Quenya. I studied history and science and language and music--tons of music--and I would write essays and poems and stories and music for hours every day.
Now, though, in addition to those things, I have the primary obligation of cleaning in my household. In the past, Carl and I (or I and my siblings and parents) had a semi-equal division of labor, because we all worked. When Carl and I were both working, there was no reason for me to do all the housework, too. We divided it up. But now that I stay home all day, it's my job to maintain the house while Carl makes the cash.
So I've been trying to be a better housekeeper. I've started reading a bunch of housekeeping blogs for ideas, and some have been great: like one that pointed out that you can solve a lot of messes by addressing the problem areas. I didn't state that very articulately. What I mean by that is, as an example, we had a problem in our bedroom with someone other than myself ::cough:: placing dirty clothes on the floor next to the door. Every day I would go pick up those clothes and, annoyed, take them to the proper hamper. Until it dawned on me that actually, I could just move the hampers next to the door.
Bazam. Problem solved.
Similarly, we have a problem where all of our shoes always end up in a pile next to the front door, even though the coat closet is like 5 steps further down. There is a solution: a decorative shoe holder thing near the door, where we take off our shoes anyway. I just need to put one there.
Anyway. My room is a giant mess right now and I'm just procrastinating. To fix the bedroom's problems, the biggest thing I could do would be to install some hooks on which to place things like the bathrobes that seem to end up everywhere (how is it all even possible?? We only have two of them!!). Secondarily, bringing in more shelving for Nathaniel's clothes would also help.
Argh. Guess I'll get cleaning. How much can I get done before the baby wakes up??
Since I became a SAHM, things have been interesting. For my whole life, I've been a productivity freak: everything in my life has to be done better, faster, more efficiently. This is from the time I was just a baby; by the time I was nine months old, I was walking, talking, and eating with silverware. People thought I was a midget.
Now I'm a mother and I mother my baby at home. I can't imagine leaving him every day, or any day--he is my priority right now and I love being his mom. We sing and dance and play finger games, and we nurse and be silly and I love every second of it. But for a productivity freak like myself, things get complex. What am I supposed to be doing with my spare moments now??
In the past, I would spend those times studying. French, Latin, Spanish, German, even (in a moment of unparalleled geekdom) Quenya. I studied history and science and language and music--tons of music--and I would write essays and poems and stories and music for hours every day.
Now, though, in addition to those things, I have the primary obligation of cleaning in my household. In the past, Carl and I (or I and my siblings and parents) had a semi-equal division of labor, because we all worked. When Carl and I were both working, there was no reason for me to do all the housework, too. We divided it up. But now that I stay home all day, it's my job to maintain the house while Carl makes the cash.
So I've been trying to be a better housekeeper. I've started reading a bunch of housekeeping blogs for ideas, and some have been great: like one that pointed out that you can solve a lot of messes by addressing the problem areas. I didn't state that very articulately. What I mean by that is, as an example, we had a problem in our bedroom with someone other than myself ::cough:: placing dirty clothes on the floor next to the door. Every day I would go pick up those clothes and, annoyed, take them to the proper hamper. Until it dawned on me that actually, I could just move the hampers next to the door.
Bazam. Problem solved.
Similarly, we have a problem where all of our shoes always end up in a pile next to the front door, even though the coat closet is like 5 steps further down. There is a solution: a decorative shoe holder thing near the door, where we take off our shoes anyway. I just need to put one there.
Anyway. My room is a giant mess right now and I'm just procrastinating. To fix the bedroom's problems, the biggest thing I could do would be to install some hooks on which to place things like the bathrobes that seem to end up everywhere (how is it all even possible?? We only have two of them!!). Secondarily, bringing in more shelving for Nathaniel's clothes would also help.
Argh. Guess I'll get cleaning. How much can I get done before the baby wakes up??
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
good morning pictures--plus, baby hair cut?
Baby was being funny this morning--here are some pictures of him. He loves smiling and does it a TON.
Yes, he has Gollum sideburns. I keep thinking I might cut them off, but then AH! I remember that that's all the hair he has! Can I really do that?
We'll take a vote. Comment your thoughts. Cut his hair and get rid of those weird Gollum sideburns, or keep the hair because he's a little baby and he needs every hair he can get?
Yes, he has Gollum sideburns. I keep thinking I might cut them off, but then AH! I remember that that's all the hair he has! Can I really do that?
We'll take a vote. Comment your thoughts. Cut his hair and get rid of those weird Gollum sideburns, or keep the hair because he's a little baby and he needs every hair he can get?
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