Catching up with the Joneses

Drumroll . . . Ultrasound results!

2012-02-07T21:48:00.001-07:00

I really wanted a brother for Noble, but at our ultrasound today the wee bairn in my uterus was not a boy. She was a she. Wah wah. I obviously have mixed feelings about it. Besides wanting a brother for Noble, I've been an adolescent girl and would just as soon spare my children from that fate! Girls be crazy. Not to mention, ~~my lack of obvious femininity~~. Let me backpedal here. I am not without womanliness, but I don't over-exert myself on maintenance. Having a girl definitely adds a whole different dimension of pressure to being a female role model. You can bet your bottom dollar I am now hoping for a pseudo-tomboy, and they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree so I have hope.

On the bright side, once we leave all the pink and princess at the store, having a girl will be pretty darn fun. I'm excited for cute boots and dress patterns and frilly things. I've had a strong feeling from the beginning of this pregnancy that whatever gender the baby was, it was what our family needed. I am excited and very grateful that Noble will have a sibling and we will have a daughter.

The technician was super friendly, but perhaps not super experienced (ironically the opposite of our last experience) since we were there twice as long as expected, she had to come back for other views, her supervisor had to come back for other views, and none of the printed images were really all that great. But we got to see the sweet little face of our baby girl. Her name is Afton. ♥

Head turned away a little, one hand by forehead, other hand to the right.
We may have a thumb sucker.

Give Him the Chair

2012-01-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

I don't want you to think we have the Boob Tube on all the time at our house. We don't. But each of us has our favorite shows. Jonathan watches football. I watch cooking shows like Chopped--inexplicably, because 1) I don't cook often and 2) my relationship with food right now is definitely love-hate-hate. And Noble watches Dinosaur Train and Curious George. Mostly Dinosaur Train. We also discovered last week that he can last through an entire movie (Monsters, Inc.), and his preferred viewing angle is with his face 12 inches from the TV screen.

We appreciated his focus. We enjoyed watching him turn his head side-to-side to catch the action, like he was at a tennis match. But as relatively new parents, we were exasperated. We felt a little like failures that our 21-month-old was glued to the screen for 1 hr 20 min. If our kid enjoys watching some TV, that's fine, but we'd never seen Noble focus on it so long. We didn't even want to watch the whole movie! We were just going to let him wake up from his nap, wait for him to lose interest in the movie, and then take him out. Instead, he never lost interest and watched the whole thing.

Long term goal: don't rot out our child's brain with TV. If you have advice, we would appreciate it!

Short term goal: get him a throne to watch TV from an optometrist-approved distance.

p.s. In other news, I've been hankering for Moochie's meatball sandwich. For our Sunday dinner, I whipped up my best approximation. I couldn't find a recipe claiming to be a copycat, but I still felt very Italian (ha!) and the results were satisfying.

The Elephant in the Womb

2011-12-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

I am happy to tell you that we are cooking up a sibling for Noble! I am eleven and a half weeks along so Baby is due June 30, just two weeks after my spring finals end. I suspect Baby will come a week or so early since that's what Noble did, so hopefully the timing is perfect. We are very blessed. And we are excited for this new addition to our family. Yesterday was my first doctor's appointment and Noble, Jonathan, and I took a look at our new one for the first time.

The Not-So-Skinny: I am still not a fan of being pregnant. Morning sickness is stupid and I resent it. I wouldn't mind being tired, except I miss life. And everything is somehow different this time. For example, you are not being deluged with an overly-lengthy, overly-excited narrative of finding out we are pregnant, nor are you being shown a stick with my urine on it. Improvement?

Recipe for a Family Favorite

2011-11-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Food Eaters,

We don't run an extremely civilized culinary ship around here, but once in a while we do something that gives us hope. Several months ago, I was looking for a recipe to recreate a meal that Jonathan had years ago. He has raved about how awesome it was. I remained skeptical, but finally decided to give it a shot. I couldn't find quite the right recipe, so I mashed four or five recipes off of AllRecipes.com together and found perfection. Hearty. Unexpected. Delicious. Completely worth handling raw chicken and onions. If you don't believe me, come visit! I love you and I will make it for you. If you do believe me but live far away, I love you and am sharing the recipe with you. Let me know how you like it!

Hungry Love,

White Bean Chicken Chili

Serves 8-10.

Ready to eat in about 40 minutes. I am getting faster with practice :)
Ingredients

2+ tablespoon vegetable oil
20-24 oz skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into cubes
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
6-16 oz. salsa verde to taste (about half a jar of World Table Salsa Verde for mild chili)
1 (smallest) can green chilies
1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
3/4 cup water
1 can of sweet white corn
3 (15 ounce) cans white kidney beans (Northern and cannellini), rinsed and drained
Optional: mash 1/3 of the beans for a thicker chili
1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste
optional: a jalapeno or serrano pepper, chopped

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a medium/large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, chili powder, cumin, oregano, onion, garlic, and pepper (optional) and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the onion is tender, stirring often.

The saucepan. You might be asking yourself, "Where is the onion?"
That's a fine chop job right there. I have a phobia of onions.
Thank you, Food Processor.

2. Stir together the salsa verde, green chilies, soup, water, corn, and beans in a pot and heat to a boil. Add the saucepan ingredients (chicken, etc.). Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
(Alternatively, throw it all in a slow cooker instead of a pot and it comes out great.)

3. Chili is technically ready to go, but cover and simmer for another 15+ minutes to let the flavors come together.

4. Suggested garnishes: limes, cilantro, cheese, avocado, sour cream, tortilla chips.

To freeze chili, transfer the chili to a freezer container leaving an inch of head space. Let cool completely, then seal, label, and freeze for up to 12 months.

Camping tip: Makes a great ice block for your cooler. Thawed and ready to heat for dinner by ~2 days into your adventure.

Breakfast tip: Leftovers make AWESOME breakfast burritos. Combine leftover chili, scrambled eggs, and garnishes of your choice and wrap it all up in tortilla goodness.

The Lion Cub

2011-11-01T09:29:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time there was a lion cub who didn't want to grow his lion's mane. His parents were excited to show him off either way, but really, really wanted him to wear his mane proudly. You see, the lion cub got his mane from his Papa Lion. Papa had worn the mane as a little cub himself, so Papa's old mane meant a lot. But the lion cub just wasn't sure what to make of all that stuff on his head.

Much to the his parents' relief, the lion cub was finally willing to don the mane. With ample Smarties bribing. And a cute little kitten to look his best for.

The lion cub wore his mane without complaint, and wore it well. He used it to full advantage, knocking on doors for sweets and treats. Tell me honestly: could you say no to this?:

Happy Halloween!

We had a good one.

Trick or treat?

A Love Note

2011-10-31T22:23:00.003-06:00

There are these people that we've kind of been spending a lot of our free time with lately. They make us laugh. They go on adventures with us. They share good food with us. Each of us Joneses has a Roberts to dote upon, and dote we do. Did I mention that the cute Mrs. likes to quilt and do-it-herself and garden? And that the Mr. likes sports and going to the gym and talking about animal poop? And that "Lydia" is an oft spoken word from our child's mouth? The Robertses have become our dear friends, and we are so glad.

This is belated, but here are a few pictures of our trip to the pumpkin patch. Beautiful weather and beautiful garlic balls!

Dear Robertses,

We like you so much. You are a kindred family. Thank you for dinner last night. It wasn't gross at all.

Love,
The Joneses

Happy Half

2011-10-13T21:37:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I woke up and sang Noble "Happy Half Birthday to You!" And then I realized half way through the day that I had my days wrong, and it was only October 12. After Noble went to bed for the night, I worked through the fastest sewing project I've ever done. In a way, it is an official acknowledgment that Noble's other blanket really was more for me than for him. He doesn't use that other one at all. Maybe someday he will, maybe even someday soon. But until then, he can use THIS little piece of awesomeness!:

I gave the blanket to him this morning, and we sang "Happy Half Birthday to You" again. (For real this time.) Happy half, Baby Mine. I love you always <3

P.S. Jonathan, it is your fault you are jealous. Maybe next time you shouldn't select such awesome fabrics :)

The Last Hurrah

2011-09-26T22:32:00.000-06:00

School is in session. Summer is over. I have many things on my summer to-do list that will now have to wait until next year. But when you are a compulsive comprehensive list-maker, that is the nature of the beast--some items just slip on by, but boy, was it fun to brainstorm The List. Now I guess I need to brainstorm a new list for fall. P.S. I do love lists, but sometimes they only exist in my head. I only very occasionally can't sleep until I write down my to-do's.

We did check one last summer fun item off the list: the beach! Oregon beaches have their goods and bads (tidepools and cold water, respectively, etc.), but the bads didn't stop Noble. Are you as impressed as we were by his determination? Did I mention that water is cold? I was wearing a sweater, and I wasn't frolicking about in the tidepools in quite the same way as this kid.

So long, sweet Summer. Hello, Fall!

Home Again

2011-09-22T17:38:00.000-06:00

Like thieves, we stole our way home in the night. We are home. We are settled. The dandelions are conquered. I am overwhelmed about catching our blog up, so this will mostly be a picture post. On the way back from Colorado, we stopped in Utah and visited lots of family and friends. We loved seeing them, and wished we could have seen a few more.

Onion Days Parade!

Grandma is a good slide climbing spotter.

Hanging out with Aunt Marcie.

Visiting the Bearsses, during which Noble learns to make a war cry and swing a sword.

Is it love or is it chocolate shake? With Grandpa, you can have both.

Visiting Great Grandma Grace, and enjoying how her garden grows.

Not even 1½ years old, and already gaming with his cousins. Boys!

Great Grandpa Sully is a kindred spirit. . .

. . .and Great Grandma Lynn has a good game of pattycake.

Hi, Grant! Nice to meet you!

Hi, Owen! Nice to meet you, too!

Sweet little Mae, your big brown eyes are enchanting.

Thanks for lunch, Dad! And it was fun being your group activity for Homecoming, Maggie :)

Learning to wish.

Who knew? Shoulder rides really aren't punishment.

Cousin Kaleb. Go Cougars!

Cousin Grace.

Out for a stroll with Poppy and Meme.

Cousins Kaela, Isaiah, and Noble.

And now we are home. We went with friends to the Salem Carousel.
Noble proved us liars and loved it.

First bike ride! We have awesome neighbors.

It was strange for us to come home after being gone so long--like we were moving here for the first time all over again. All the same, we are happy to be home.

Do you like our new banner?

2011-09-09T00:03:00.003-06:00

I didn't dislike the old banner, but it was time for something new. We went from this sweet little mug . . .

. . .to this. Not as sweet, but that is life.

Summer Picnics

2011-09-03T18:17:00.000-06:00

Our summer adventure is waning. We did many fun things, but my favorite thing of all was having a picnic almost every day. We lived just a few minutes' drive from where I worked, and Jonathan would pack a lunch, pick me up, and take us to a park nearby. We highly recommend picnic lunches.

Fort Collins was a great place to run . . .

. . .and bike friendly, too. I biked to work pretty often on this awesome classic Schwinn.

Goodbye, Fort Collins. We will miss your airy sunshine, but we know there are other parks in our future. Like this one, with the fish.

Our Grand Roadtrip That Never Was

2011-08-24T20:14:00.001-06:00

I had the grand idea that we would take the scenic way home from Colorado. Why not stop and see friends along the way? Why not have an adventure? Why not see some sites along the way? I had it all planned out. We even bought a map of the western United States for me to mark up and pin on the wall and dream. (I was inspired by my aunt and uncle's trip map of Scandinavia, complete with pins and dental floss and awesomeness.) Here is a map of my plans:

We changed our minds. It would have been fun. But it also would have been torture. Not all of us enjoy trips in the car, and the other two of us don't enjoy trips in the car with a loud toddler. Too bad we had already told all our friends along the way that we were coming. Sorry, Friends, we are not coming. We still love you, and hope to see you soon. Instead, we are taking the "fast" way home, with a stopover in Utah to see family and friends there. We don't plan to be in Utah again any time soon, so we'll make the most of it. And maybe buy some earplugs for the rest.

The Sunshine State of Mind

2011-08-12T23:05:00.002-06:00

As part of my summer program, Colorado State sent me to a symposium in Florida. I presented during a poster session and attended two days of lectures and networking. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but the best part of the trip was that Jonathan and Noble came with me. This picture was taken before we left at CSU's poster session.

We got to stay in a posh Disney hotel that we would never have been able to afford on our own. You can see our hotel behind us in the picture below, taken when I was on a lunch break and we went for a walk.

The hotel had a fabulous sand-bottom wading pool. Amazing! If that was the only activity we had available to us, we would have been completely satisfied with our vacation. We loved it!

We also visited a couple Disney parks. None of us had ever been to Disney World, so that was kind of a big deal. Disclaimer: We are not big Disney fans, although we admire that they have made a business of selling nostalgia. "Let the Memories Begin" and they will sell you whatever memories you had in mind and put a Mickey Mouse sticker on it. BUT it is undeniable that Disney is magic for kids, and all the hype and expensive entrance fees were definitely worth the bother. What is magic for our boy is magic for us, and it was so much fun for all of us.

Wild Animal Kingdom
We spent most of our time in Dinoland, and Noble fit right in with his stegosaurus backpack. Highlights include riding Triceratop Spin, Finding Nemo: The Musical, and the Jungle Safari. Oh, and the tiger enclosure was straight out of Jungle Book.

Can you spot the tiger?

Magic Kingdom
We saved Magic Kingdom for our last full day in Florida, and the whole day was charmed. We didn't have to wait for the shuttle, the afternoon parade started a couple minutes after we walked in the gates, and we didn't wait more than 20 minutes for any of the rides. I finally got Jonathan on It's A Small World (3 times!), which ended up being Noble's favorite. We also really enjoyed Pirates and Peter Pan. After trial and error, we now know that in Noble's opinion rides that take you on a journey are A-Okay, but rides that are just to ride (e.g. the carousel or Dumbo) are suspicious and untrustworthy. And that is just fine because then you don't have to wait in those lines. We also discovered that nothing is better in the heat of a Southern summer day than giving Noble a cup of ice, and we refreshed his cup several times.

We had a wonderful family vacation. Thanks for the memories, Disney! And thank you CSU for sending us out that way.

July

2011-07-31T22:22:00.005-06:00

Hi! You may be surprised to know that we have not died or entered into some Bermuda Triangle/Twilight Zone. We have had a really great July. A whole month of happenings is rather cumbersome to fit into one blog post, but I'm going to try! Here is a week-by-week attempt:

Week One: We kicked off the month with a Poole Reunion, and it was so much fun to see everyone. Noble and his cousins were all in heaven on their diet of popsicles and rootbeer floats. It has been awhile since all my siblings were together, and my mom had a great vacation property for us to stay in. We drove to Colorado on Jonathan's birthday, but stopped to have french toast at Kneader's with the Robins before we hit the road.

Week Two: We settled into our temporary home in Fort Collins, and closed the week with white water rafting on the Poudre River with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. A woman at my work watched Noble for us, and he probably had just as much fun as we did. Well, maybe just almost as much fun--it was amazing! I had never been, and Jonathan's last experience was about ten years ago, so it was fresh and exciting. The river is running really high this year, so it was a wild, awesome ride. Thank you for the adventure, Colorado Pooles!

Week Three: We went camping with the Svenson family! Kim and Gavin added a beautiful baby girl to the family in April, and are currently living in New Mexico. Considering Gavin just got a permanent position back east, it may be the closest we will live to them for several years to come--so we both drove five hours and met in the middle. (Who would have thought that our first time camping with Noble would be in southwest Colorado?) Nani chased off a black bear (and came back!), and Noble learned to tickle baby Zoey's toes. The mountains were beautiful, the Svensons secured an awesome campsite for us, and it was so fun to hang out with them. Thanks again!

Week Four: After a crazy week of work to get my research done in time for a poster session next Monday, we met up with my co-fellow Rebekah and her boyfriend Andrew and went to the Denver Zoo. It's a great zoo, and it was fun to get to know them better. Crazy true story: Rebekah and Jonathan went to the same elementary school in Hawaii at the same time. Also crazy true story: Jonathan and Andrew are mad beardies.

Happy summer, Dear Reader, I will be in touch again soon.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

2011-06-30T09:21:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I have really stupid ideas. These ideas are tricky, because they seem like good ideas until I'm smack in the middle of them. But then again, once we've pushed through to the other side, I don't usually regret the whole mess. It has been a long 3 weeks, but this afternoon I get to see Noble and Jonathan again. As an added bonus, we are attending a family reunion. I'm so excited to see everyone!

I'm also excited that I found a place to call home for the summer. I get to bring Jonathan and Noble and even Nani (our whole little family! together!) back with me to Colorado next week. Finding a place was a nightmare, but I posted a wanted ad on craigslist and an angel disguised as a travelling working woman replied. Note to self: periodically scan the craigslist wanted ads to see if I can restore balance to the universe for our extraordinary good fortune. We are blessed and so grateful.

Picture from here.

Blanket Statement

2011-06-17T19:44:00.002-06:00

We've made it through the transition to summer, and it isn't even officially summer yet. Jonathan and Noble are playing in Utah, and I started my summer fellowship at Colorado State University. It's a great gig, but I miss my menfolk! I knew I would. I started getting homesick and needy before we even parted ways. I somehow got the notion that maybe I could sew a blanket for Noble. Once the notion existed, nothing would do but for me to make one--and of course that meant I ended up working on it during finals. More and more I am convinced that life now shouldn't play second fiddle to life someday, and that included sewing my dear bambino a blanket he could take with him to Utah since he couldn't take me.

There are several things wrong with the emotional logic that lead me to the blanket-sewing, however. First, it is June. Second, the menfolk are visiting Utah, known for its more than warm summers. It's no Phoenix, but still. Warm is warm. Third, how tragic would it be if some silly blanket could really take my place in Noble's life! But I sewed my little heart out, and created something that made me happy. I gave the blanket to Noble and we had fun playing with it. Our last night in Oregon, I put him down for bed all wrapped in my love. And he promptly scooted right out of it. Did I mention the blanket is cotton? His baby blankets are all flannel, so they stick to him when he moves. Not so cotton. After some internal debate with myself, rational self won out. I don't regret having made it. I enjoyed designing and constructing. All the right heart strings are struck for me by how it turned out. But the next morning when we left Oregon, the blanket stayed behind.

Bocce BBQ

2011-06-06T00:29:00.001-06:00

We are so lucky to have our cozy little home to live in while we go to school. My parents are passing it off as an investment (and I hope it makes them money!), but having a permanent place to live is a major blessing for us. Thank you, Mom and Dad! We are setting off on summer adventures soon, and we wanted to get the backyard fenced off before we left. I hope the girl house sitting for us will appreciate the extra security more than she would have appreciated air conditioning, since that is next on the list. (It seems strange that it is an option to go without AC, but it doesn't get as hot here.) Our fence is beautiful and was completely installed within a week of scheduling. If you are in our area and in need of a fence, ask me for our contractor's phone number.

So there we were with a brand new fence, and only a short time to enjoy it. What better thing to do than celebrate with a bocce barbeque? We invited over our new friends, Jonathan grilled up the best salmon I've ever had, and then we played bocce ball on the lawn. Noble and Lydia were on their own bocce team and we made several mad dashes to save the pallino (small white ball) from their good intentions. Mad dashing became more of a game than the game was.

I may or may not be prepared for my final tomorrow. But I know if I died tomorrow, I wouldn't regret how few hours I studied today. Happy Sunday!

The Real McCoy

2011-05-14T23:37:00.000-06:00

There are many amazing people in the world, and my husband is one of them. This post is a shout-out to him. My status as full-time medical student has put Jonathan in the unconventional position of full-time father. Jonathan does pretty much everything to take care of Noble. The only things I take care of on a daily basis are bath time and teeth brushing. Jonathan also does all of the yard-work and housework. ALL of it. Sometimes I empty the dishwasher. Jonathan never expected that he would spend a few years of his life in this role, and yet he does an amazing job at it, and it is hard, thankless work most of the time.

Now I know you stay-at-home moms are thinking, 'No big deal, I do that, too!' I commend you, and freely admit that it's far easier to be a student than a mom. But Jonathan is a man. There are no other stay-at-home dads that may have similar interests and appropriately-aged children for Noble to play with. He doesn't have any neighbor moms he can talk to in the middle of the day, and he can't take Noble on play dates. He gets funny looks at the grocery store. People say odd things like "Oh, you have your hands full today!" as if he is doing his wife at home a favor by taking the kid out for an hour. When people find out he stays at home, he gets double the helping of whatever judgement stay-at-home moms get. If people have a hard time understanding the huge impact a stay-at-home mom can have, imagine trying to convince people that a dad can do the same thing.

Thank you, Jonathan. Thank you for being Noble's Papa. Thank you for keeping our house running. Thank you for taking care of me, so I can focus on studying. Noble and I are so lucky to have you in our lives, and I love you a kajllion zillions. I am so proud of you, so proud to call you mine. If you, Noble, and I were hanging on a cliff, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you rescued all of us--and had a mochi picnic waiting for us at the top.

Meme and Poppy Visit

2011-05-10T23:16:00.000-06:00

Jonathan's parents came out for a long weekend of fun. We were very happy to have them over, and know we are especially lucky--Poppy doesn't take vacations for just anyone! While I was in school Thursday, Jonathan and Noble drove up to Portland to pick them up. They hit up the zoo while they were in the city, and everyone had fun. (Except me. I was in class learning about horse colons.)

The next day I played hooky and we drove out to the coast. It was the first time I've ever felt as camera happy as my dad and sister sometimes are. It drove everyone crazy, but we got some good pictures.

Besides visiting the tide pools, we also went to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It has a very old iron staircase all the way from France. Be careful to take the stairs two at a time when the crazy volunteer lady isn't watching, because somehow it is akin to vandalism.

Saturday we visited a tulip farm just north of us. It was beautiful but windy. We recommend it, and plan on visiting again next year.

On Sunday we lazed around, and ate steak and cupcakes.

Then on Monday, our special visitors flew back home. Thank you for visiting, Kathe and Randy! We had a great time, and hope you come back soon. We love you!

Our First Haircut

2011-05-01T22:52:00.000-06:00

Noble and I had our first haircut. I did the cutting, and he did the wiggling and squirming. Back when Noble didn't even have much hair to speak of, Jonathan and I agreed we would let Noble's golden locks grow and grow forever. But we didn't really mean forever, and it was time. I refused to lose all of his beautiful hair to a buzz, and went to my go-to source of all information worth knowing: YouTube. This one is my favorite, "Learn to trim your son's hair yourself, while he's still too young to object!."

I'm pretty much a professional now, and you can be too if you watch the video. In fact, I learned so much on YouTube that after Noble's hair, I might cut my own hair. Yes, I'm being sarcastic, but I really did find some good how-to-cut-hair-with-scissors information. For those of you who are professional hair dressers, please be kind about my finished product. I'm proud of the three of us for taking the plunge, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I am giving his haircut a few days to grow on us (as should be done for any haircut, not just do-it-yourself baby haircuts). By then, I hope to be less critical and more objective about what further corrections I should make to his new 'do, if any.

For those of you who would like to attempt this at home, we highly recommend a third person to keep the kid's interest. Jonathan was pretty much a genius with his last chocolate banana.

Before

I am a wild, naked child with unkempt hair that gets in my eyes.

If Noble knew how to let out a long-suffering sigh, he would have.

During

It's pretty obvious what Noble thinks of this whole thing.
(I love this picture.)

After

Still golden, still beautiful, still mine. Still bored.

The Taste of Freedom

2011-04-30T14:08:00.000-06:00

While there is plenty of indoor fun, there is something torturous about spring. Call it spring fever if you like, or the call of the wild. The two young creatures at our house have both had a taste of freedom--and to them, it tastes like dirt. Yes, I said it: freedom tastes like dirt. Beautiful dirt, with its satisfying grit and sun-soaked smells, and a canopy of sky up above. Where there is dirt, there is time for a concentrated study of even the smallest detail. A piece of bark or a blade of grass are both worthy sources of knowledge, to be inspected and pondered and appreciated.

When the weather clears in late spring, a whole world is opened to would-be explorers. The world over, fickle Spring teases us. She entices us outside, away from our work, and allows us stolen moments of brightness. But then she turns her back for a day or two, and the cold and rain are colder and rainier than before. Worse, when she peaks back through the clouds to smile upon us once more, the world is wet and muddy. Not that these two would care. But the mother of the boy child does.

I am not ready to see my baby become a damp, dirty, wild explorer of the world. I use the excuse that he may get too cold. I use the excuse that we have no fence yet. But we all know I am holding on to a quickly fading babyhood. I am not quite ready for the mud and the scrapes and the adventures that he will get into. I will enjoy that when we get there. And I will also enjoy that Jonathan does the laundry.

One Day

2011-04-16T23:09:00.002-06:00

We take our birthdays pretty seriously around here. We do our best to remember how much we love each other on un-birthdays, but a birthday is a golden opportunity. Growing up, my mom had a plate reserved just for birthdays. It read "You are special today!" and she would set it at your place on your birthday. I always loved that plate. Since then, my mom has given my siblings and I more modern versions of it for our own families, but I'll always consider the original the most special.

For Noble's birthday, I played hooky and we went to breakfast at The Original Breakfast, a local restaurant that claims fame for having been featured on the Food Network. Don't ask me what show--I looked, but couldn't find.

After carefully considering the options . . .

. . .Noble reminded us it was his birthday and got both pancakes AND french toast. He also got the eggs, but changed his mind.

We spent the morning leisurely, and during Noble's morning nap set up his cake and presents. You can see the video of him coming out and seeing it all in my last post. Yes, he was obviously the most impressed by Jonathan's gift pick (the Cat dump truck). But I'm still rooting for my gift pick as being awesome: an electric toothbrush. I know it sounds lame, but every morning we brush our teeth together and Noble always borrows my electric toothbrush. I figured one just his size would be welcome. I try, but it's pretty obvious to all of us that Jonathan is better at choosing gifts. All the same, our teeth will be sparkling.

We read lots of books these days. We can't get enough. Sometimes, we love a book so much that we start reading it again as soon as we've finished. Noble's favorite book used to be Dogs, but he has since moved on to the more sophisticated Brown Bear, Brown Bear. For his birthday, I thought about how I could make Noble a Brown Bear cake. I thought it would be hard. I am not a chef of any sort, let alone a pastry chef, so I thought again and went with a close second favorite by the same author, Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I shamelessly patterned Noble's cake after one by Coco Cake Cupcakes. Yes, I want you to say you like mine better, but before you think I'm falsely modest about my pastry chef skills, I must tell you my friend did most of it. (Thank you, Melissa!)

We let Noble open presents at his own pace, and served up his cake around 11 am. We didn't have anyone over, but Noble didn't mind. He thought the caterpillar was his you-are-special-today visitor, and he was right.

Movie Trailer of One

2011-04-13T23:24:00.000-06:00

Noble is one year old today! I had good intentions of writing up a full post, but you know you have the paparazzi bug when it takes longer to look through your photographs of an event than the actual event took. I have my favorite photographs narrowed down to something around 30. That is too many to blog, and I refuse to make a facebook album until after I've blogged for such a momentous occasion as a first birthday. The full post will have to wait a day or two. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy a couple video clips and a few photographs as a teaser. Happy birthday, Noble!

Prologue to One: The Daffodil Barn

2011-04-10T12:56:00.000-06:00

Spring here in Oregon takes its time. I am used to a spring that must hurry, hurry, with just a few weeks between snow flurries and full blown sun. Cheerful daffodils grow wild and thick in fields and along the freeway. So of course we paid to go pick some. Before you start thinking we are suckers, you should know that for quite some time I have been in love with a barn. I pass it on my commute to school every day, and early on committed to having a photo shoot there. I had it all planned out: I would go and knock at the house and ask very nicely if I could please take some pictures on their property because their barn is so charming. I'm a hard person to say no to when my mind is set on something.

But then a few weeks ago, something wonderful happened. The field of daffodils next to the barn sprouted a "Daffodils" sign. They want to sell me flowers! They want me to stop and visit! And then, as if that weren't perfect enough opportunity, another sign sprouted from that muddy field: "U Pick!" Not only did the signs give me permission to stop, they were asking me to go tromping around. So we did.

This post is dedicated to Jonathan, for not only putting up with my photo shoot antics, but for being an essential assistant in them. As I said, I'm hard to say no to when my mind is set on something.

Noble is one whole year old this Wednesday. I have ambitious plans for a cake, but no plans for a party. We are still trying to decide what qualifies to a one year old as The Best Day Ever. If we figure that out, that's what we'll do. Noble loves to eat, so cake isn't a bad start. Maybe we'll get mochi, too. Please let me know if you have any fun and simple suggestions for Noble's big 1.

Donuts and Punch Bowls

2011-03-28T23:40:00.001-06:00

We had a great spring break. I think it is the longest length of time we've ever spent with just us. Not that it was just us all the time. We met the Jennings (friend from school+wife+baby) at Voodoo Donuts down in Eugene. Noble had his first donut: Double Bubble Gum. Delicious! I am glad he shared with me.

We also went out to the coast to visit some tidepools. Just north of the closest coastal town to us (Newport) is an odd rock formation called the Devil's Punch Bowl. The ocean hollowed out a cliff from the inside out, and then the roof collapsed on itself, leaving a huge . . .well . . .punch bowl. When the tide is low, you can go wandering around inside the punch bowl--if you don't get too distracted by the tidepools like we did, that is. Maybe next time we will make it to the punch bowl. Or maybe not. But we will visit again!

Catch of the Day!

The Devil's Punch Bowl is on the other side of the cliff behind Jonathan and Noble in this last picture. All we had to do was hike over and around a few odd boulders and go through that arch. Like I said, maybe next time. In the mean time, does anyone have good suggestions for Spring Break 2012? I think I'm in love!

one and one make eleven

2011-03-21T00:33:00.002-06:00

Another month has come and gone, and Noble is now 11 months old. This kid cracks us up, and we are very grateful for how healthy and happy he is. After our trip to Utah for the funeral (see my last post), Jonathan and Noble stayed a few days extra. As a result, we are officially weaned! Noble still won't take bottles, but to be honest we haven't tried. Most parents have to take a kid's bottles away, so we are considering it good luck. We rely on sippy cups to keep him hydrated. So far, so good.

He has become even better at walking since the video I posted. Sometimes he just stands there. Sometimes he run/falls. Sometimes he doesn't wait for us to be around before he boldly sets out. Most of the time it ends well. It still kind of scares me to death. I am glad our house has no stairs.

He says Mama, Papa, and Nani. Considering we chose Nani's name knowing it would be easy for kids to say, it is gratifying that Nani was Noble's first word. Besides warming my heart and letting me know that Nani is still earning her keep, listening to Noble practice her name is entirely charming and endearing. He says the first part quite well, but has to really work to get the "e" sound at the end:

He also says dog and cat, although he drops the ending consonant on both. His favorite book is a touch-n-feel book called --can you guess? Dogs. There is a cat hiding at the end of Dogs, and Noble loves to find it and say "Ca(t)!"

To reward our Nani-Dog for earning her keep so well, we got her a new chew toy. We haven't gotten her a new toy for along time, and she is very happy. Noble is probably happier. He loves trying to get her attention, and now he has a guaranteed way:

And yes, the following is the now requisite reel of photographs. Even if I could, I wouldn't help myself. But I can't help myself. We love this boy!

At the aquarium.org.

Visiting Utah after the funeral.

Noble and Poppy are kindred spirits, with a penchant for pointing

and no need for too many words.

Noble has become quite the connoisseur. He loves to sample.

They had samples of berry shake at Costco.

Costco, you knocked this one out of the park.

This is the first year I have welcomed Daylight Saving Time.

Noble's hours of operation are now about 6:30 am to 8:30 pm.

I find this much more agreeable than 5:30 am to 7:30 pm.

We went to play frisbee golf.

Jonathan was very patient with me, since I kept getting distracted by moss.

Jonathan was very patient with Noble, who quickly got tired of watching us play and me look at moss.

We only played 9 holes. Best 9 holes of discs, mud, and moss ever!

Noble may become a wrestler. He is one slippery fish.

I was trying to get him dressed the other day, and his onesie

didn't make it on quite right, before he wiggled away.

We catch and release at our house anyway, so I took a picture instead.

The picture tells this story better than I can.

And here are a few pictures taken on

the big one-and-one-make-eleven-months-old-today day:

Achievement unlocked: Fish face!

So stoic. So resigned.

Lunch has never taken so long being served.

He crinkles his nose when he smiles. A lot.

This small smirk is the very mild cousin

of what we call his Green Goblin Grin,

which I have lots of pictures of but choose not to share.

Maybe next time.

The Past Month

2011-03-20T23:15:00.001-06:00

This past month has been very full. Without question the event with the most impact was my nephew Jeremiah. My brother and his wife are amazing, and the funeral was beautiful. I am so grateful that we were able to attend and had the chance to say "Hi-Bye" to their sweet baby boy. Second to sympathizing for their loss, I am especially sad that Noble won't get to grow up with his cousin--and I feel horribly selfish for feeling that way.

Another big event from this past month was that my family flew here to Oregon for a weekend visit. I've decided spending time with family is so much more enjoyable when you don't have to travel! And when they are awesome like my parents and little sisters. And when they have a hotel with a pool for your baby to test the water out in. Thank you for visiting, Dear Family, please visit again whenever you would like. ♥

Scattered between the familial visit and the funeral were midterms and finals for the term. I have tested my newly resolved family-before-studying policy to the extreme. Right now I feel like trading a few points for quality of home life is definitely worth it. True, I haven't seen my last two grades yet, but my hope is that I continue to strike a similar balance. My first term I was less sure of myself, and my daily routine was no fun for little Harpo. Or little Harpo's husband and baby. For one thing, I have given up riding the bus. Who besides Betty White can get up that early every day?! (Oh yeah. Noble can and usually does.) For another, I only study when I've got a quiz or test coming up, and so far my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants approach has had results I'm happy with. Yay, for having a life!

Now I am on my first Spring Break since I started college. BYU doesn't believe in Spring Break. The truth is that BYU schedules extra time on their campus for Education Week and they don't schedule time for Spring Break on their semester system as a result, but I like to say they don't believe in it. Wild bikini parties, booze, and sex are not Mormon institutions. Not that I ever wanted to booze it up in a bikini, but I would have appreciated a break around that time. I've digressed. The point is that Spring Break is pretty much the most amazing invention since syrup for your pancakes. And I really love syrup on my pancakes.

Baby Steps

2011-02-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

When I got home from school today, we were hanging out and tried this for fun. We weren't expecting much, but to our surprise . . .

A Fish Says What?

2011-02-13T20:18:00.002-07:00

Noble is ten months old today! When Noble was only three months old, one of my cousins had a ten-month-old baby. I remember thinking that my cousin's baby was no baby at all--that kid was a kid! Noble is a kid in a lot of ways. He has abandoned his army crawl for a proper one, shakes his head no, and makes a fish noise with his mouth:

Nani makes him laugh more than anyone, but we aren't jealous of her. It's kind of become her job. We just love that we get to hear him laugh. And sometimes, the things we do are funny:

All of us love being outside. We love it here! We are lucky this is considered a dry winter for Oregon, because Jonathan, Noble, and Nani get to take a long walk every day. Sometimes I get to go with them.

It is harder and harder to say goodbye every morning as I leave for school. I hate leaving. But if I didn't leave, I wouldn't get to come home to this guy, waving hello from the front window. Coming home is my favorite part of the day.

He pulls himself to standing, even where he shouldn't.

He got his first goose-egg last week, which I think bothered us more than him.

Maybe Noble is already practicing his tough guy look, complete with battle scars. His goose egg turned into a little bruise on his noggin.

Noble's middle name should be Trouble. When he's crawling around the house, he loves to carry one of my socks with him. Or one of Jonathan's socks. Or two of his own socks. I guess that makes sense, since his socks are so little. At the end of the day, he has usually rearranged all his toys and all my socks, and our living room looks like this.

Noble is a snuggler. We are very lucky. He makes an "awwww" sound, and leans his head into whatever part of you is closest. Sometimes he gives kisses. If he is hungry, though, watch out for those teeth.

He loves to have someone walk him around. A lot. If you stop walking him around, he lets you know that is not a good idea. We keep all the bedroom and bathroom doors closed, so that he is limited to the hall and living areas. When I go in a room to do something, he crawls after and purposely places himself right in the way. He knows I want him out of the room, and walking is the fastest way.

We love our Noble Cade. Happy 10 months!

Patty-cake Love

2011-01-16T23:40:00.000-07:00

I suspect you have pretty much come to expect blog posts with little substance but lots of pictures. I won't apologize for it. Jonathan has lately (and affectionately) accused me of being more in love with Noble than I am with him--in spite of having known Jonathan for over 9 years now but only having known Noble for 9 months. I put up a poor defense of myself at the time. Given time to ponder, I refuse to say I love one more than the other. But one will repeat himself if I ask very nicely, while the other must be paid attention to. His mercurial facial expressions may only happen for a moment. With a baby, there are no do-overs or "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening--will you say that again?" Which brings me back to posts with little substance but lots of pictures. The things that are important to me right now are hard to put into words. How can I describe how expressive Noble's eyes can be? And that is just his gaze--it's even harder to share an appreciation of the first time Noble played patty-cake with me. So I'll share a video of it instead:

I've promised myself that sometime soon I will blog about the first few months of vet school. But in the mean time, here are some pictures of 9-month Noble taken with a camera and not a phone.

Progress on the solid food front.

Nilla wafers and croutons are mostly kosher,

although he occasionally will still gag when he gets a piece in his mouth.

Still besties.

Nani is already looking forward to when she gets

all the crumbs of the aforementioned solid foods.

And the rest are from our 9 months + 1 day photo session. Yes, I like brick. We went to downtown Albany to walk around and window shop, and I couldn't help myself. Hope you like them!

9 months grown

2011-01-13T15:53:00.001-07:00

Nine months ago today, Noble was born. Part of me feels like I should be writing a nostalgic tribute of the time Noble spent in the womb, and how he has spent just as much time in the world on his own now. But I don't feel nostalgic for pregnancy. No, I am still elated to be un-pregnant, and that relief is a more prominent feeling than any reluctance I may have to see my baby grow up and apart from me.

That being said, my baby is growing up! I am amazed at how changed he is. He's practically a little boy in so many ways. I haven't taken any 9-month-old pictures yet, but here are a sampling of pictures off my phone over the last month. (Someday we will remember to take the real camera with us on vacation.)

Before Christmas, Noble and I watched Elf. I think he liked it.

On the plane waiting for take off. I worried about how well

Noble would take to flying, but he was a champion.

The first day in Arizona, I put Noble down for his nap in the closet.

He didn't want to at first, but Mama won.

Sunshine! Swing! Smiles all around.

Now we are home and back in our usual routine. Noble goes through bursts of acquiring new motor skills. Most recently, he pulls himself to standing. His new favorite activity (besides getting a bath) is having us hold his hands and walk him around the house, especially if his soccer ball is nearby.

Happy Nine Months!

2010

2011-01-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

Last year was a great year. We had a baby, I quit my job, Jonathan transferred his job, we moved to Oregon, and I started veterinary school. While we have powered up to a much higher stress level, I love where we are in life. Not only do I feel like we are going in a good direction, but for the most part we enjoy each day.

Noble is a joy. We are so grateful for how happy and healthy he is. He has two baby cousins (one born, and one yet to be) facing congenital health problems, and that has definitely put things in perspective for me. For example, how can I complain that teething makes it hard for Noble to sleep? (He is getting his top two chompers in right now.) If I felt like Frederick the mouse collecting memories before, my nephews' health problems have only added depth and fierceness to that impulse. My heart goes out to these babies, and their mamas and their papas. If you are the praying type, Dear Reader, please pray for them.

On a lighter note, here is a video taken on Noble's first Christmas morning. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, until we meet again. ♥

Happy December

2010-12-17T15:35:00.003-07:00

I love not having snow. Rain we have plenty of, and I'm told this is a dry year. But you don't have to shovel rain. You don't have to scrape rain off your windshield. You don't worry that the other drivers on the road don't know how to drive in the rain. Well, you don't worry as much. Happy December, Oregon!

Here is Noble at 8 months old. If you look closely, you will see his fancy new teeth. He has brachydont teeth, if you were wondering.
Ready . . . go! was never quite so much fun.

Mobile Noble

2010-12-10T17:51:00.002-07:00

I took my last final this morning. No class for three weeks! The goal for the next few weeks has therefore become to spend as much time doing non-school things as possible. Firstly, time with Noble and Jonathan. Secondly, visiting family. Thirdly, crafting. And lastly, resuming a semi-regular blog post schedule. Oh, and sleep in and take naps and maybe do my hair once in awhile. I'm sure other things will work onto the list, but for now here it stands.

So to kick off this most wonderful time of year, I am blogging. We had a cute little family from Arizona over for Thanksgiving, and putting a meal together all on our own was surprisingly fun and exciting. I'm not saying I want to do it every year from here on out. Nor am I saying the food was wonderful. But everything was edible. And really, it's all about the yams, anyway. Our pan of yams was gone before the weekend was out. I am contemplating adding "make more yams" to my vacation agenda.

I cooked a turkey breast, and not a whole turkey. Is that cheating? I baked it with this elastic net around it, since it came with one. After dinner, I was cleaning up a little and threw the net into the garbage can. Nani came by and swallowed it down in 2 seconds flat. Her name is mud. I didn't want to pay for exploratory surgery when that net tied itself up around her innards. I sent the men off to buy hydrogen peroxide and a turkey baster. And then I proceeded to force feed our poor dog hydrogen peroxide to make her throw up. It worked. She threw up, and up came the net with it. Good thing Jonathan fed her a Thanksgiving-appropriate-sized breakfast that morning. I wanted to take a picture of the net and the naughty culprit. But Jonathan thought it was a gross idea, and I get less sure of myself when I have company over, so alas. No picture to show. But all is well that ends well.

The day after Thanksgiving and seemingly overnight, Noble went from wiggling a few inches to army crawling everywhere. Here is a video taken the morning of November 30:

He also started waving. He has gotten really good at it. But he doesn't wave in the appropriate social context all the time. If he isn't army crawling, it's a good bet that he is waggling his fingers and wrist around. Unless we ask him to say hi or bye to a person, and then he just stares. I'm pretty sure half of Albany thinks we're delusional and that he doesn't wave at all. Here is a video taken November 26. He is way beyond this level of waving skill now, but I adore his wave no matter how he does it.

In the evening, I usually bathe Noble, Jonathan puts him in pajammas, and then I put him down for bed. With Noble on the move, simple tasks have begun to resemble wrestling matches. Jonathan is much more entertaining than I am. Here is perhaps my favorite video of all time. I snuck up on Jonathan putting Noble in his jammies. Have you read The Very Hungry Caterpillar lately?

Seven, Eleven

2010-11-24T20:33:00.002-07:00

If you can't tell, we still kind of like Noble. I might as well rename the blog "Catching up with Noble." I should probably blog about what I learn in school. But I figure few would rather hear about dog physiology than see pictures of our Bhoyo. Noble is the best thing I've got to blog about, and I am not complaining--we still kind of like him.

We recently hung up a picture of Jesus in our living room. Noble LOVES the picture. Other pictures? He couldn't care less. Books? He will chew on them. But the instant we hung up Jesus' picture, Noble noticed. He constantly looks up at it from his play. If we hold him up to the picture, he will make his happy noise, lean in, and smile and chatter to Jesus. The glass is smudged with fingerprints, but we don't mind. What better friend is there?

I know this is 11 days late, but here are photos of Noble at 7 months old.

Gobble Gobble Yes, Gobble Gobble No

2010-11-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Noble loves to eat. I know that's not surprising. But we finally found our high chair, and I'm pretty excited about it still. My Aunt Jan and Uncle Brad generously offered to buy it for us back in August, but we were moving, and then the chair I wanted was in Utah and they wouldn't ship it, and then we finally found a company in downtown Portland that had The One.

We suspect that Noble will be ready for finger foods soon. But currently he is most assuredly not ready. We have tried avacado and banana. Not ready.

Bathing Baby

2010-11-04T12:31:00.000-06:00

These pictures are from over a month ago. I meant to share them then, but I forgot. But I still like them, so here they are. It's crazy to me that he looks different week by week still. We have since graduated from the toddler tub to the regular tub. Noble loves his rubber ducks, and gets a little peeved if they float out of reach. He sleeps much better on nights that he is bathed, so it's usually part of our bedtime routine.

Look at those moobies!

The King of All Wild Things

2010-10-31T16:34:00.000-06:00

I listened very carefully to what Noble had to say, and learned that he wanted to be a monster for Halloween. He wanted to be a wild thing like his friend Maven. So we tried our best to make it happen. And then we visited a local pumpkin farm to have a wild rumpus with our little monster.

The farmer and his wife were very nice to us, even though we didn't have cash to buy anything with. He would have taken us on a free hay ride. That seemed to be taking advantage of him, though, And there was mud. Jonathan and I agreed we would go back next year. We will visit next October with a baby that will care about the ride, and with the wherewithal to purchase even the loveliest of pumpkins. Hopefully next year the costume is finished earlier than the day before Hallow's Eve. BUT we still asked the farmer to take our picture for us. I'm pretty sure he thought we were silly, but he thought our monster was cute all the same.

A Whole Half

2010-10-19T14:06:00.000-06:00

Noble is six months old! Here are some fun pictures.

For the record

2010-10-16T19:59:00.002-06:00

My first day of school.

Some of you may have noticed it has been a long time since I posted. It's tough work being a vet student and a mom! I do my best to be everything, but it's a balancing act for sure. I haven't had any midterms yet, so we'll see how well I've prioritized at that point. If I do really well, it means I should spend more time as a wife and mom. I'm hoping I don't do poorly, because I really don't have much more time in my days. But for the first time in my life? I am aiming for average. This may seem like a lackluster approach to being a student, but my future employer isn't going to care if I have to look up the answer.

On a typical day, I get up at 530. I feed Noble no later than 550, and then at 615 we leave the house. Jonathan drops me off at the bus station, and I study on the 625 bus to Corvallis. I get to school at 720 and then study until class starts. Class usually starts at 8 or 9. I get a lunch break at noon every day, and spend it making a meal for Noble and studying some more. Class ends by 4 or 5 pm, and then I walk to Jonathan's work to get the car. I pick Noble up from daycare at 530, feed him in the car, drive back for Jonathan, and then we come home. Jonathan fixes dinner while I spend time with Noble. My brain is usually mush, but I try to study from 7-8pm every night. More time with Noble and Noble's bedtime are from 8-9pm. Then my bedtime should be about 9pm, but lately NickToons has been airing The Last Airbender at 9 and I have been indulgent. Noble still wakes up pretty often in the night, but here's to hoping. The next day: rinse and repeat.

Jonathan has been so supportive. He hasn't complained about my schedule once. Come to think of it, after the shock of the first few days of this schedule, he hasn't complained about anything. He watches Noble every morning, and all day on T and TH, and he doesn't complain that I need him to take care of Noble in the evening a lot, too. He does his best in the night to get up for Noble. But he is a heavy sleeper, and I am a light sleeper, and if Noble is hungry I've got the goods, anyway. I'm rambling. The point is that I am very grateful that my husband is awesome. I love you, Jonathan. For the record? I think this will work.

Cataratas

2010-09-26T18:36:00.001-06:00

Last Tuesday, we went on a day trip to the Silver Falls State Park, which is about an hour's drive from where we live. It was beautiful. Here is a selection of pictures. P.S. Cataratas is Spanish for waterfalls.

Belated Five Months

2010-09-26T18:21:00.000-06:00

House Tour

2010-09-26T17:49:00.000-06:00

Since the videos are too large to send to the interested parties, I am posting a tour of our new place. Don't judge us, it's a mess still. It's unfortunate that you can't move into a place without moving into it at the same time.

The Oregon Trail

2010-09-12T20:31:00.000-06:00

We made the move. We now live in Oregon. We drove up last Sunday and are mostly settled in, thanks to my awesome mother-in-law--who not only packed us up in Utah but unpacked us in Oregon. AND drove us up here. Roadtrip! Kathe, you are amazing. You are by far one of the most generous, caring persons I know. Thank you isn't enough, but it's where I have to start. Thank you!! Noble is not a fan of car trips yet, but he tolerated our drive much better than we'd hoped. We drove all day and got in around 8 Sunday night. I will post about our new place next, but I will say here that Jonathan did an wonderful job finding a place for us to call home.

We wanted to make Kathe's visit a mix of fun and work. Honestly, I would have just made it fun, but I couldn't have gotten as much done in a month as she and Jonathan did in the few days we had. P.S. moving with a baby is hard. Slow and steady would have won the race, but we fixed the race with a third person on our team and wham-bam, now we are deciding where to hang things on the walls. Okay, so we wanted to make the trip fun, too. We went up to Portland on Wednesday, and mostly just shopped. We also visited the Rose Gardens that look out over downtown Portland--when you can see through the trees, that is.

The next day we drove out to Newport and visited the beach.

Saturday was the annual "Antiques in the Streets" event in downtown Albany, which of course I loved. Jonathan had work at first, so Kathe and I happily ported Noble around to find old treasures and Jonathan joined us later. We found a few things for the house, but I'll put that in with the house post coming soon.

Dear Patrick

2010-09-12T19:25:00.001-06:00

Dear Patrick,

Before you were even born, your mom told me you had a leaky heart. I have been so very anxious to help you and your parents somehow. I even oh-so-awkwardly offered to mail breast milk for you. Perhaps not helpful. So instead, I decided to knit you a monster mobile--which turned into a set of three small monsters that your mom can choose to dangle on rings or leave loose for you to chew on. I hope you like them. I hope your mom likes them. Perhaps, they are not helpful. Perhaps, I knitted them more to feel like I was helping. But I love you, and wished you well with every knit stitch I knitted. So perhaps that is help enough.

All my love,
Aunt Carissa

Five

2010-09-01T07:00:00.009-06:00

Jonathan and I got married five years ago today. I would marry him again without a moment’s hesitation. I love him. He is my home, and he makes me laugh every day. Happy Anniversary, Jonathan!

Rawhide

2010-08-22T17:53:00.000-06:00

We've been having kind of a hard life lately. I never seem to have a spare minute, and Jonathan has too many of them. But just a week and a half to go! And then Jonathan can stop being a lonely single guy living in the dorms and I can stop being a single working mom living with her parents.

Noble slept better last night than he has in the past two weeks. Not his best, but better. Too bad Nani has an upset stomach and I ended up awake for just as much of the night as has become the usual. I think she ate something, but who is to say what when we are staying at a home not our own? My best observational guess is that the culprit is either a green plastic something or raisins. Or both. Poor Neener.

This morning Noble was a champion. First, he let me sleep in until 730. Kind of. I guess I should just say he let me stay in bed until 730. And then he rolled over! Three times! Quite premeditatively, I might add. He had rolled over before. First at just eight days old (which everyone knows doesn't count), then a few times over the past month on inclines (which everyone knows doesn't count), and then once completely unassisted at his Meme's this past week. Of the three rolls this morning I recorded the second roll, and then the camera battery died. Rollin' rollin' rollin' . . .

Four Month Photo Hash

2010-08-15T11:33:00.003-06:00

He laughs

2010-08-09T10:08:00.000-06:00

We are lucky Noble is such a happy baby. He smiles all the time. On occasion he will even smile in the middle of fussing. He first laughed back in July (July 20th, but probably no one is counting but me), and by doing so wrapped me around his little finger even further. I was so happy that both Jonathan and I were there to hear him. I have been trying since then to record him laughing so you can hear him, too. His uncle Ethan made it happen:

He is delicious, I eat him up. And now he laughs when I do.

Exodus

2010-08-03T11:52:00.004-06:00

Last week, we packed up our townhome and put everything into a pod. The pod people tried to convince me to order more than one pod, since a typical household uses two or three. I told them no, and decided that anything we couldn't fit, we couldn't take. We don't know where we'll be living yet, let alone how big it will be, so I felt that was reasonable. I wasn't counting on my awesome father-in-law. He is a champion packer, as far as I'm concerned. We didn't have to leave anything behind, really, except a bright pink pool noodle.

Thank you so much to our helpers! The first day of moving, Jonathan's brothers Adam and Ethan helped move the big stuff and then all the boys went golfing. I wish I had a picture of Jonathan's arms. He did not receive symmetrical UV rays. My in-laws were there several days, packing and cleaning and sweating in the July heat. I'm sure they did more for our move then I did, since I only took a couple days off work. I haven't arrived at a suitable way to thank them yet for all their hard work. I made them let me take a picture right before we closed the pod up, and Randy stepped on Kathe's foot right as I was taking the picture. Aren't they cute?

Noble and I have been over to the house a couple times, doing last minute chores around the house.

In the mean time, Jonathan drove out to Oregon last Thursday and started work at his new branch the very next day. He took this picture of Oregon State's campus near the veterinary school building.

When Jonathan isn't working, he will be house hunting for us. I hope he finds a place soon, because then Noble and I can move there, too. Right now I am living in my parent's basement and still working full time (thank you, mothers, for tending Noble while I work!). It feels like I am camping, and there are spiders. Nani is our defender, and she wanders around gobbling them up. She's a good girl. She started eating spiders all on her own when she was a puppy, and we encouraged her in it. I don't like killing things, but if the icky thing gets eaten, that's a part of life, right?

So we are waiting. And we are in different states, apart from each other. We've done it before, so we can do it again. But this time I can't sleep in.

The Mountains

2010-07-23T21:29:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, we escaped the heat of the valley and went up to the Uintas. Noble did great on the drive.

We call it camping. My parents own a few acres with a playhouse on it. We were immediately made aware of how many zillions of bugs call the mountains home. I do not remember this many crawlies being there when I was a kid. But then, when I was a kid, I liked all the creatures much better. And I didn't have a three-month-old to protect from them. Anyway, we applied bug spray. And re-applied frequently.

We went on two hikes while we were up there. We saw some wildlife (in addition to the crawlies).

Here we are on our sunrise hike.

And here is the day hike later on. Noble is sleeping.

Noble fell asleep on both hikes. He must have gotten tired tromping around the mountains.

We had fun. I got to eat s'mores. I didn't get to eat as many as I said I would, but there is always room for improvement. Next time, I will really eat 10 s'mores.

The Nightlights

2010-07-22T22:20:00.000-06:00

Almost a month ago, my sisters and nieces and mom and I rocked out a nightlight party. It was my idea, so I mostly helped with others' crafting. It was my first (possibly only) venture into papercutting. Maybe someday I will cut again. I liked it.

The first nightlight I did is just boring. I wanted to have one done at the nightlight party, so I threw paper on the shade and called it done. I regret it now. I should have saved it to do something better.

I did the other three nightlights I ordered for myself at home. (Yes, three. I am a greedy crafter.) They are finally all finished. For the second nightlight I copied my sister Jessica's robot theme. Thanks for letting me do the same nightlight, Jess. Jonathan was kind of set on it. Apparently little boys like robots better than bunnies? Whatever the case, the robot is all gobbledy gook because he ended up glued leaning over a bit more than I intended. At night when the lamp is on, the GI Joes come out to sneak up on him.

And of course I had to do a bunny. . .

. . .and a honeybee.

If you want to do this project yourself, here is the kit we used (the "muslin shade" nightlight kit at 3.99$ each + shipping), and fairly straightforward decorating directions to follow. The bunny is a shameless copy of my original inspiration, taken from an Etsy seller (Fog and Thistle) whose store is currently on hiatus.

The Nursery

2010-07-22T21:35:00.003-06:00

One day a long time ago I promised to post pictures of the nursery when it was put together. It is put together now. Not perfect, mind you--just put together.

I will be sad to leave it behind. It is a happy room.

He

2010-07-14T22:41:00.000-06:00

I feel like the mouse in the Leo Lionni's book Frederick. All the mice know winter is coming, and know that they need to prepare. While the other mice prepare by gathering food, Frederick prepares by gathering memories. I can see how some people in my situation might spend their time packing or searching for a place to live or cleaning . . . the list goes on and on of the good things I could be doing. But someday when I look back, I know that I won't want to remember packing or cleaning. So instead, I am giving my heart as many chances as possible to soak up memories of this summer. I often stop and consciously take mental pictures of moments I want to always keep with me. Almost none of these moments are special occasions. Most of them are simply of my little family just being. I am pretty sure I will adopt this life philosophy permanently.

Our household vocabulary has become he-centric. The word "he" has slowly moved up in popularity ever since we found out Noble is a he. "Him" is a close runner up. What is he doing? Oh, look at him! He should be hungry. When did he fall asleep? He burps like a grown man. I can't believe how big he is. I love him! When we say he, we mean Noble. He's pretty much a big deal around here. Noble is three months + one day today. Of course I had to take some pictures. I can't share my mental pictures, but the kid photographs well enough that I'll share these instead.

Blessed

2010-06-30T10:21:00.039-06:00

My little family is extremely blessed. Sometimes I feel ungrateful, or at the least that I take things for granted. It was less than a year ago that we decided to try to have a baby. Honestly? I wasn't really expecting to become expecting given the short window of time we had to try for. But trying quickly led to expecting, which led (not so quickly) to a new little Mr. Jones. It still seems so surreal. I don't feel any different, but everything is different--and I don't even care because I love Noble so much. Words aren't enough to describe how grateful we are to have him in our family.

This past Sunday, Jonathan gave Noble a baby blessing. For those of you unfamiliar with LDS/Mormon practices, when a baby is born we have a ceremony where the father officially names the baby for the church's records and gives the baby a blessing. Noble's blessing was beautiful. I cried. Apparently motherhood makes women cry easily, because now I understand why women are known for waterworks. The main points of the blessing I remember were that Noble will have compassion and love easily. Jonathan and I are on the same page when it comes to what we want for Noble in life. We don't care if he is the smartest or the most athletic or the best anything. We just want him to be happy.

We kept the event small with just immediate family. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

One Mister Jones.

Three Mister Joneses.

We love to love our Mister Jones.

All of our menfolk. Aren't they handsome? From left to right: Adam, Ethan, Randy, Grandpa Sully, Noble & Jonathan, Michael, Bryce, Greg, and Braden

Grandpa and Grandma Sully were looking fabulous, as usual.

My older sisters Jessica (and baby bump Pedro) and Danica (and baby cousin Allen). Danica graciously shared Allen's day with us--Allen was blessed earlier the same day. Thank you, Gardiners!

Our parents have been so supportive and awesome. Thank you, parents!

The men of the day.

Our little, blessed family ♥

some videos

2010-06-19T12:01:00.004-06:00

Here are a few videos of Noble taken over the past few weeks. I recommend watching them on mute. I hate listening to myself. I'm putting myself out there for you.

fashion stickers

2010-06-17T16:35:00.001-06:00

I hate needles. A lot. Odd, considering I work with needles practically daily, but there it is. Noble had his two month appointment today, and I was not looking forward to it. In the end, though, it wasn't so bad. And the nurse gave Noble his first fashion stickers.

Two Months

2010-06-13T15:48:00.002-06:00

Noble is two months old. Today! Jonathan and I agree that it seems like it has been much, much longer since we met little Mr. Jones. He is definitely big enough for people to think he may be a lot older. We've been trying to guess (without cheating with a scale) how much the chub will weigh at his appointment this week. Not that he is overly chubby. He just keeps growing longer, so his weight has been trying to keep up. Our conservative guess is that he weighs at least 15 lbs*. If only we could have the nurse measure him without giving him his dreaded first round of shots.

Noble is much more interactive now. He loves faces and will smile and talk to us when he can see us. His favorite thing to do is kick his legs. When he is especially serious about it, he gets a very intense expression on his face and kicks around like it's going out of style. Here are a few pictures Jonathan helped me take just today (including the one above).

*Post note: Our "conservative" guess was way off. We kept upping each other's guesses until we were in obese baby ballpark. At Noble's 2 month appointment (on June 17), Noble weighed 14 pounds (91st percentile) and measured 25 inches (97th percentile). He has a wee little noggin (37th percentile) and we love him (infinite ∞ percentile).

The Junk Drawer

2010-05-29T12:07:00.013-06:00

Do any of you have drawers full of random stuff? The stuff that you want to keep, but there doesn't seem to be a logical, organized place to keep it? In my junk drawer, for example, I have a bunch of the spare buttons you get when you buy a new shirt and rubber bands, among several other random, junky things. I hope you aren't disappointed, but I have nothing specific to blog about in this post. Rather, this post is a junk drawer of blogging, in which I am going to throw odds and ends together and call it clean.

Order it Double Double
Two weekends ago, Jessica and Braden were our house guests. We had Noble's Meme come watch him for an evening, and went on a double date. Jonathan's man crush is Russel Crowe, so we went to his new movie Robin Hood. We all quite liked it, and it was the latest I had stayed up in oh forever. Come to think of it, I didn't get much sleep that whole weekend and it was awesome. Between having three other people to shower Noble with love and getting out of the house a lot, my sanity was much restored and I almost felt like normal. It was good to know normalcy exists after being thrust into the kingdom of baby.

Names
We love our baby. We have several different monikers we call him as a measure of our abiding affection. Most commonly, Jonathan calls him Stud, Bhoyo, Son, and Goose (because Noble's "I'm hungry!" sounds like a lone goose searching for goose friends), while I call him Sweetie and Bonobo. We'll see if any stick around long term. I never had a nickname growing up, so he will have one or several!

Night and Day
Noble's circadian rhythm is pretty well established. He starts his long sleep at about 9 pm, and is ready to be awake at about 6 am. Of course he still eats meal or two at night, but now he goes right back to sleep like a champion.

Shakin' Baby

Work
I bit the bullet and returned to work this past Thursday. It's weird, it feels like I never left! Between Jonathan and our two mothers, Noble is always with someone who loves him. Of course I miss him while at work, but now I cherish my time with him so much more. Even his 2 am meal is sweeter for it.

Cravings
I have had far more culinary cravings in the past six weeks than I ever did while pregnant. I really want smores. Anyone have a firepit I can come use?

Smiles

2010-05-22T12:03:00.005-06:00

Noble has been smiling for over a week now. The first day he smiled at us was my mom's birthday (May 12th). He smiled at me while J was at work and then smiled at J after he got home. Since then, he has smiled more and more every day. He is a lot easier to talk to now.

We've done our best to capture his smile in action, but so far these are the best videos we have. No pictures yet. I love his open-mouth smile, even though it doesn't exactly look like a smile.

Noble tienes una mes

2010-05-13T22:15:00.001-06:00

Happy one month in the world, Noble Cade! We love you.

Jamma Time

2010-05-10T12:34:00.004-06:00

Four weeks ago I was at work. I am more than halfway through my leave. That means that in less than three weeks I will go back to work. On a typical morning since adding baby to my routine I am not ready before ten, so I need to figure out how to be ready two hours and fifteen minutes earlier. Working out work is kind of on my mind, but for the most part I am still on vacation and soaking up baby cuddle time as much as I can. And who wouldn't want to cuddle this?:

In other news, yesterday we officially retired Noble's newborn clothes. Jonathan also fed Noble his first bottle last night, which I was far more anxious about than either of them. Food is food, right?

Some pics

2010-04-23T12:43:00.001-06:00

I don't think many of these are different from the facebook album J posted, but I thought I'd post them here anyway.

Going Home

First bathing attempt. Noble wasn't impressed, but liked getting his hair washed.

Sweet boy

Jazz buddies that watch together, nap together.

The L&D TMI

2010-04-18T19:03:00.002-06:00

This post is for those of you who, like me, enjoy a little too much information. I don't intend to include anything too graphic, but consider yourself forewarned. This is the story of Noble's arrival into the world.

The Setup

Saturday Jonathan and I went on a date, as a premature birthday celebration for me and knowing very well it could be our last date before Noble was born. We went to Tucanos for lunch and then to a movie. We could have gone to any movie, and probably should have gone to a grown-up movie, but saw How to Train Your Dragon instead. I had been having practice contractions semi-regularly for a day or two, and after we got home that night we decided to time them just for kicks. We were surprised when the contractions were predictably about 6 minutes apart and 1 to 1.5 minutes long.

In case it was the Real Deal, we decided Jonathan would sleep downstairs on the couch until the Real Deal happened. I went to bed Sunday, and Jonathan went nesting and cleaned our whole house. I'm convinced that he got that symptom for me, since I never felt like nesting or cleaning much beyond the usual.

Sunday morning we timed again, and the contractions were still about the same. We knew that we should go to the hospital when my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and consistently lasting longer than 50 seconds, but I'd thought things would be a lot more intuitive. My contractions weren't at all painful--at most, they were a little uncomfortable. Still, to be safe I called the hospital and asked the on-call doctor about it. He was very adamant. Labor hurts. I was not in labor.

I was fine with that answer, but frustrated that I couldn't read what my body was doing. All my reading said that regular contractions meant real contractions, but how I felt agreed with the doctor. I felt fine and wasn't feeling stressed or uncomfortable or anything. Monday, Jonathan and I both went to work. That night we just chilled, and went to bed separately again. My contractions picked up during the night, and while they still didn't hurt, I couldn't sleep through them.

The Morning Of

Tuesday morning we timed again. My contractions were now only 2 or 3 minutes apart. Considering they were strong enough I couldn't sleep through them, and how close together they were, I waited until my doctor's office opened and called. I could tell the nurse I spoke to didn't think it was anything, but asked me to come in and get checked out anyway. I felt silly, since based on my conversation with the on-call doctor I didn't think I'd be in labor, but I wanted to know what was going on so off to the hospital we went.

When we got there, the nurse hooked me up to contraction and fetal monitors and asked me to hydrate. The monitor room was quite comfy, and they had old Friends episodes for Jonathan and I to watch. (I wished that they had something equally entertaining but not so funny, because every time the show made me laugh the contraction monitor would show a sharp peak.) The monitor ran out of paper, so the nurse changed the paper and monitored me a little longer than planned. Then the nurse looked at the readout. She went and got another nurse. She looked at the readout, too. The two of them seemed surprised that my contractions were 2-3 minutes aparts and lasting about a minute each. Apparently, they didn't believe me over the phone. Maybe I sounded too chipper?

They moved me to a regular exam room and my doctor (who had been occupied with another patient in Labor & Delivery) came in to "check things out." He said I was dilated to 3+, 75% effaced, and my water might break on its own at any minute. I thought that was great. He said he wanted me to be admitted to Labor & Delivery. I was like, "What? I don't want to be at the hospital yet." He reluctantly agreed I could go get a light breakfast, as long as I came back to be admitted within the hour. By this point it was 10:30 am. We went to Chick-Fil-A and got me a fruit cup. Poor Jonathan wanted something from the breakfast menu, but they had just stopped serving it. I still didn't want to go to the hospital so we went to the library and got a few books. I got two on child care and two on beekeeping (obvious choices, I thought). The librarian wanted us to stop and take a survey on our library use, but we said no and why. I don't think the librarian believed us, but what are you going to say to that?

Back at the hospital, we got checked in and installed in a labor and delivery room. The nurse assigned to me was confused. She asked a few times if my doctor wanted me put on pitocin to get labor started. By this time, it was pretty obvious to me that I didn't know how to act like a woman in labor. I said no to pitocin.

The Real Deal

At around 2 pm, I was 90% effaced but the same dilation (3+) my doctor came in and broke my water to get things moving a little faster. This is the point I would consider labor beginning, since things started sucking. Going into labor, I hadn't decided on going natural or getting an epidural. It seemed silly to me to decide before I knew what labor was like. Labor was progressively suckier. I am apparently not the kind of woman who likes to be touched or talked to or move around during labor, which left Jonathan with not a whole lot to help me with. I knew my doctor would come check me at the end of his office day, and decided to stick things out until that point. At 5 pm, I was 100% effaced and only dilated another centimeter (almost to 5 cm). Faced with the choice between things sucking for another 8 hours or so and not feeling my body do its work, I said yes to an epidural quite happily.

I am convinced epidurals are magic. The anesthesiologist was quick and having the epidural placed wasn't nearly the trial my Baby Story tv show watching made it out to be. In fact, the IV the nurse placed when I first got checked in to L&D was far more painful. And once the epidural kicked in, I was back to my usual self and Jonathan and I got to hang out together for the evening while my uterus worked away. Uteruses are also magic. How awesome that my body could do most of the work without any direction from me? The epidural was less effective on my right side, so I spent the rest of the evening lying on my right side to even things out.

From that point, my dilation progressed steadily at about 1 cm an hour. My doctor was at home, but he had the monitor readouts streaming to his computer at home and the nurses updated him throughout the evening. By about 10:00 pm, I was fully dilated except for a small portion of the cervix on my right side--a result of laboring on my right side. So I spent another 30 minutes lying on my left side, and was fully dilated and ready to push by 10:30 pm. Noble's heart rate had been recovering more slowly after contractions, so we had to wait for my doctor to arrive before I could begin pushing. My epidural level was perfect and I really wanted to push--so waiting for my doctor wasn't much fun. He lives close to the hospital, though, and soon enough he was there and giving the go-ahead and pushing instructions. Noble's head was already very low before I began pushing, and because of the just-right epidural dose I had great control of my legs--at least, my doctor said so a few times. I pushed through five contractions and Noble's head was delivered (with an episiotomy). His heart rate had been showing delayed recovery because the cord was wrapped around his neck once. The doctor quickly fixed the problem and the rest of Noble arrived with my sixth contraction at 11:08 pm. All total, I was only pushing for a little over 20 minutes. Combining that with the fact that I was only in pain for a couple hours in the afternoon, and I knew I'd gotten off easy.

The Afterward

Those are the details of my labor and delivery, but I don't have the words to describe how I felt. Besides relief that what I'd thought would be horrific was actually quite easy, I was so happy to have a healthy baby. His APGAR scores were 8 and 9, and after a couple hours of listening to the fetal heartrate monitor continue to lag after contractions, I can't describe how grateful I was to have a baby healthy enough to get to hold him right away. I know he is much more beautiful now, but even all swollen-faced from delivery he was the most perfect thing I've ever seen and I could only admire his chubbiness. Of course I am in love with him! Jonathan got to cut the cord, and I held Noble while the nurses cleaned him up. After taking his birth measurements and a couple other things, they handed Noble back to me and we got our first try at breastfeeding at about midnight.

Jonathan was amazing through the whole thing. He remains amazing now--I couldn't ask for a more helpful partner in figuring out this whole baby thing. Noble is a champion, and puts up with our shenanigans like a saint. In fact, he slept through his circumcision procedure completely. There are other anecdotes from my hospital stay (like how the pharmacist was excited to find a kindred spirit who doesn't like taking medications--isn't that like a lactose intolerant dairy farmer?), but those are the important parts.

I love not being pregnant. I love being home with my little family. Noble is thriving: he was back to birth weight by three days old, and I feel like all my time goes toward feeding the little porker. All in all, the past week has been an excellent vacation.

Noble's first ten minutes

2010-04-15T10:02:00.000-06:00

A little bit of both of us

2010-04-14T22:04:00.005-06:00

Noble arrived April 13 at 11:08 pm, measuring in at a respectable 8 lbs 1 oz and 21". We have decided that the winner of the baby poll is Jessica, who guessed Noble would be born April 12, weigh 8 lbs 3 oz, and measure 21.5". I haven't decided what her prize will be yet.

I will post more pictures and details later, but for now (and a bit of fun) here is an I-was-born-today picture of each of us (Jonathan, Noble, Carissa). Who do you think Noble looks more like?

The Monsters

2010-04-05T11:27:00.031-06:00

Thanks to brilliant family planning, this year will see the arrival of three babies. My sister Danica had baby Allen on March 22. Our baby Noble will arrive sometime this month. And my other sister Jessica is due in September. Three babies. Same year. All boys.

In honor of these achievements, and in light of the completion of my erstwhile all-consuming knit project, I decided that something must be done. Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is a plush monster for each household. With that in mind nothing else would do, and so I have been somewhat obsessively knitting up monsters in my free time these past two months. I would like to humbly introduce you to the monsters.

These monsters are a tight-knit bunch. While any one of them can mean trouble, be extra watchful when the three are together. They like to sit on each other and do acrobatics. They especially enjoy hiding on the back of the couch, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting who sit down. They speak their own monster language with each other and love to tell jokes.

The oldest monster is Milo. Milo loves to work out. He has a hearty appetite, and eats at least ten meals a day. On the outside, he is a macho monster--a tough guy with attitude. On the inside, he is a softie. Milo is a great listener and friend. He loves rootbeer floats and being outdoors. His favorite animal is a cat, and sometimes he pretends to be one. Milo is in the gremlin family, but will soon be adopted into the Gardiner family.

The next monster is Diego. Diego is a philosopher. He loves to sit and contemplate the meaning of life. You can trust Diego with any secret, and he won't tell a soul. He loves to cuddle, and will sit with you for hours. He is the sneakiest of the monsters and has quite a sweet tooth, so guard your mochi well. He loves to help you play good-natured pranks. Diego is in the demon family, and is a distant relative of El Chupacabra. He is waiting for his travel visa to come through so he can go live with the Robins family.

The youngest monster is Maven. Maven gives the best hugs. He loves to do yoga and show off how flexible he is. If you are sad, he tries to cheer you up by being silly. Unlike his friend Diego, he is not really a thinker; Maven pretends to meditate but really just watches the world go by and takes long naps. He plays hard and talks too fast sometimes. Maven is in the goblin family. He is just a baby, but will grow his goblin wings soon. Maven will stay home with us Joneses.

For the knitters out there, these monsters are based on patterns available from DangerCrafts on Etsy, although none followed the pattern strictly.

Motivation and an Eviction Notice

2010-03-31T11:29:00.016-06:00

It's spring! The season for swimsuit shopping has arrived!

I know. Most of you are looking at my last post (starring me as a hiphoppopotomus) and debating whether or not to burst my bubble about whether or not I will like my body in swimsuits this year. Rest assured: I am fully aware that my body won't magically be likeable overnight once this baby is born. That being said, I want something to look forward to as I claim back my postpartum body.

Jonathan is in great shape and works out all the time. All he needs is a little sun, and he's ready for a pool party. I've seen Noble's chubby cheeks in an ultrasound, and he has the cutest little boardshorts waiting for him (thanks to his Meme :) ). Once he is born, all he needs is some sun protection, and he is also ready for a pool party. Oh, and also a swim diaper.

But me? My body is obviously not ready for a pool party. yet. But someday, it will be.

In anticipation of someday, I am showcasing this amazingly cute swimsuit by Lime Ricki swimwear:

I love bees! I love stripes! I love summer! I love this suit! I must have it. I'd like to give a shout out to my sister Jessica for discovering this suit and thinking of me. Thanks, Jess!

Dear Noble,

At 37 weeks today, you are now considered full term. This is your eviction notice. You are required to exit the premises sometime in the next five weeks--preferrably sooner, rather than later. Please pack all your belongings and leave everything as it was prior to your occupancy.

Sincerely,

The Management

Maternity Photos

2010-03-29T15:53:00.011-06:00

I realize that most people have maternity pictures taken when they are cute pregnant, if they are so inclined. By cute pregnant, I mean when they are far enough along to be obviously pregnant, but not so far along that they resemble some sort of unwieldy balloon being dragged along in a parade*. In my pregnancy, that would have been early February (shortly after this). Never one to follow convention for convention's sake, however, I did not have photos taken then.

No, unlike more sensible people*, I waited until eight months pregnant to photocapture the imminent change to our little family. It's like I woke up one day and took stock: limited wardrobe of ill-fitting clothes? check. chubby face? check. sun-free, pasty complexion? check. ginormous midsection? double check. And somehow from this list, I seemed to have the perfect ingredients for a photography session.

(Side note: I know my pregnancy has been good to me, but these statements are all in comparison with me pre-pregnancy, and not compared to anyone else when pregnant.)

I asked my friend (practically sister-in-law) Stacie if she'd be willing to snap a couple pictures of Jonathan and I. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! Stacie has her own photography business, and her enthusiasm saw us doing a couple different photography sessions. She had me model some shots all by my lonesome. I felt silly at first. But then I saw the pictures she took, and I was glad. For any of you in the Salt Lake area looking to hire a photographer, contact her! She does amazing work, and we had fun while we were at it.

Sorry for the chatty intro! With no further ado, here are a few of the photographs from our maternity session (taken at about 35 weeks pregnant):

*Correction: Apparently it is common to have maternity photos taken at eight months pregnant. I stand by the fact that I felt so much cuter a month and a half ago.

In Six Months

2010-03-19T13:02:00.007-06:00

I did it. I mailed my decision letter to Oregon State essentially saying "Yes, I accept your offer for a position in the veterinary college class of 2014." I had no problem dropping that letter in the mailbox, but Jonathan did the honors for the "decline offer" letters for Colorado State and Washington State. It was a team effort.

In six months . . .

I will be on the campus above
I will be a student again
my little family will live in Oregon.

I will be a mom
Jonathan will be a dad
Nani will have a new best friend
we will have a baby.

. . . a new chapter begins.

It will be a team effort.

Baby Shower

2010-03-11T11:53:00.021-07:00

A little over a week ago, my mother-in-law Kathe and my sister Danica threw me a baby shower. I can't thank everyone involved enough for all the preparation time and gifts and thoughtfulness! Thank you! I'm so lucky that all of you love me so much :) My sweet sister-in-law Angelique was nice enough to take pictures and share them with me. Here are some of my favorites.

Kathe prepared all the invitations and food and decorations, and everything turned out absolutely lovely. Noble's room (subject of a future blog) is themed (subtly) after the children's book Guess How Much I Love You? and Kathe put together adorable handmade cards and lunch bags.

Mom and my younger sisters. I was so glad Maggie and Marcie came, but I felt bad before they even did because I knew they would be bored. Don't they look thrilled? Sisters are love ♥

My Little Mother Kathe and me.

Ashley and Sister Hurst.

My grandmother and Mom.

Kathe and her two sisters (Jonathan's aunts). They were hiding behind the couch to sit in the sun.

Danica and Mom put this diaper cake together! You'll have to ask them how long it took, because I'm sure it took a long time.

Danica and me. She is due with a baby boy just two weeks before me, but she's cheating in this picture. We were supposed to be doing side profiles, and she angled. Danica brought a few games to play that were most excellent. No candy bars melted in diapers! No tasting unknown baby foods! Everyone had fun--thank you, Danica :)

My sister-in-law Angelique and me. Thanks for your help and the pictures, Ang!

Jonathan got off work as the shower was ending, but he showed up in time to help clean up. I love that he has to dress up for work, I get to see him all done up all the time! I will be fine if Noble comes out looking more like me, but I really hope Noble looks like him.

Can you guess?

2010-03-03T14:43:00.002-07:00

Noble's arrival is getting closer and closer! He is welcome to come as early as he wants--Jonathan and I can't wait to meet him, and my ribs can't wait to see him on the other side. My cousin-in-law Geoff put together a babypoll, and I would love to see what your guesses are!

Click here to take the survey.

Wild Animal Park

2010-02-19T13:54:00.029-07:00

Jonathan and I became house crashers between Christmas and New Year's, and I am finally posting something about it. We wanted to spend time with my sister Jessica and her husband Braden, but they were visiting his parents in California. No need to visit a different time, just join the party, right? Huge shout out to Norma and Ward (my sister's in-laws) for being totally awesome. Not only did we feel completely at home, but I'm pretty sure I gained 5 of my maternity pounds off of Norma's cooking that week. Thank you, Ward and Norma! Hopefully Jonathan and I live somewhere you want to visit someday and we can return the favor.

In anticipation of our visit, for Christmas Jessica and Braden gifted us with tickets to San Diego's Wild Animal Park. We went together while we were in California (plus Braden's brother). Hopefully everyone else loved it at least half as much as I did. The weather was perfect, the animals were amazing, and the company was great. Thank you, Jessica and Braden! I feel bad that I didn't even pack my camera, but Jess was nice enough to lend me some photos she took while we were at the park. Which makes me feel worse, because the only picture with her in it was taken with the timer on her camera. Belated New Year's resolution: take my own pictures, instead of just stealing someone else's.

Did you know that giraffes run in slow motion? It's harder than it looks. We tried. Also, it was easy for me to empathize with Madame Pregnant Gorilla and gorillas smell really, really bad.

I was about 23 weeks pregnant when we were there. I think Jonathan was making a joke about how I'd get big like Madame Pregnant Gorilla. He's lucky I apparently thought it was funny. . .
. . .or it would have been on like Donkey Kong.

Braden is a bird whisperer. The lorikeets wanted him to settle a dispute between Handsome Lorikeet and Special Lorikeet. You will have to ask Braden who won.

It was legendary.

Papercut

2010-02-12T14:13:00.006-07:00

It seems that in addition to quilting and knitting, I must need another form of time-intensive art therapy with little to show for the effort. I have been looking into the art of papercutting. Basically, the papercutter uses an exacto knife or very small scissors to turn a sheet of paper into an elaborate scene or pattern. In German, this folk art is called "scherenschnitte."

This video blows my mind. It's made by stop animation 3-D papercutting. I thought I'd share it with you and blow your mind, too. It's friday, after all. What do you need your mind for?

Noble's Mobile

2010-02-05T14:37:00.016-07:00

Noble's nursery is finally coming together. I know, we won't be using it more than a few months, but that hasn't made it any less fun. The most recent touch has been to make the crib wall the focal point of the room. I thought about painting a mural (no I didn't), but found this awesome wall decal on Etsy instead:For those of you who are familiar with my special brand of obsessive-compulsive, you will appreciate that I finally finished the bird mobile project I've been working on forever. Okay, I only learned to knit a year ago, and I take summers off from crafting in general, so it hasn't really been forever. It started before then, though. The day my brother-in-law got married, Jonathan and I were kicking it between events by window shopping. We stumbled into this boutique that had a knit bird mobile. I loved the idea, but the birds were not very cute and it cost over $100. Besides, I could do that on my own, right? So when my friend at work suggested I take a knitting class with her a year ago, I was all for it--with the ultimate goal of making my own mobile.

Of course, it would have been too easy if someone already had a pattern that I liked. But alas, they did not. I decided to make up my own pattern. The first bird was way too fat, and his belly was down where his heinie should have been. The second bird was about right, and can be seen in the finished project (he is the light green bird). So with that as an introduction, I present Noble's Mobile:

From volley to basket

2010-02-03T11:47:00.002-07:00

I'm not sure when we fell in the habit, but every morning we end up cuddling for the last thirty minutes before the alarm goes off. By cuddling, I don't mean actual cuddling like I would love to do, but rather Jonathan puts his hand on my stomach and we lie kind of closer together. That's the best we can do given the pillow palace I sleep with. (Side note: I'm not sure if I'm more excited to someday be able to sleep on my stomach again, or to be comfortable cozied up to Jonathan for more than 5 minutes.)

Jonathan is an active dreamer, which is funny until I am the wolf he is kicking. (He dreams about wolves chasing him on a semi-regular basis.) So this morning, we were "cuddling". Jonathan fell back asleep, and his whole hand began to repeatedly tap on my pregnant belly. I threw in the towel for the morning and got up, since obviously I was then awake. Jonathan woke up enough for me to ask him what he was dreaming about.

For a couple weeks now, I have been asking Jonathan if my belly is basketball-sized yet. He kept telling me no; maybe a volleyball, but not a basketball. Guess what he was dreaming? That's right, he was playing basketball. Not volleyball. Basketball. He was dribbling my stomach. Half asleep, he told me "I guess you're a basketball."

The Burgeoning Bump

2010-01-22T13:52:00.025-07:00

I finally decided to take some pictures of how I look when gravid. I know some of you are probably mildly disappointed with me that I did not make a pregnancy picture journal of my changing body from the very beginning, but I apologize that I just wasn't ready yet.

Wednesday marked about two-thirds done baking. Here I am at 27 weeks up the duff:

I am thinking about making leggings my new Charlie Brown uniform (you know--he wears the same thing every day), because they are so comfortable it's like not wearing pants! And while not wearing pants is pretty dang comfortable, I'm pretty sure that everyone else wants me to wear pants. Leggings seems to be a good compromise, AND I can wear them with boots. Very important, considering snowy/rainy Utah weather. I just have to get over the feeling that I'm wearing tights around in public.

I Caved

2010-01-19T11:36:00.004-07:00

I have stubbornly resisted going on Facebook since I was an undergrad and it was a brand new thing. I'm not good at staying in touch with people, and I generally have no remorse over that fact. I didn't want a bazillion random emails and digital snowballs and pokes flooding my computer time. Mostly, though, I was mulish and refused to be on Facebook precisely because everyone else was. I figured if someone wanted to tell me something, they knew how to get in touch with of me.

Enter 2010. I haven't been in school for three years. I am going back this fall. It's gotten me thinking about being a student again. For example, I am going to get my eyes checked and probably get a pair of eyeglasses.

Yesterday, I finally caved and opened an account on Facebook. I hate it. I hate that I caved. I hate the flood of emails in my inbox. I hate the emotional angst over the choice: do I add someone as a friend, or ignore their friend request?

No matter how much I hate it, though, I am left with the same conclusion: in going back to school, all the other kids will be on facebook. I don't want to be the weirdo who isn't. And I will grudgingly admit that it would be nice to stay in touch with friends who aren't in my everyday life anymore. So go ahead: friend me on facebook. Just know I probably won't write on your wall every day (or ever?). Who knows? Maybe someday I'll grow to like it, and I'll be that crazy person who talks about how she made a funny noise while brushing her teeth this morning.

Accepted!

2010-01-07T13:19:00.012-07:00

Jonathan already blabbed it all over Facebook, so I figured I might as well post something about the fun emails I got this week. Colorado State,

Oregon State, and Washington State veterinary schools will all be sending me official acceptance letters in the mail over the next week or so! Hooray, for being accepted! Vet school here I come. Also, Utah selected me as one of their WICHE sponsored students, so I will be paying the equivalent of in-state-resident tuition at any of the three. Hooray, for less debt!

Now we have three things to figure out: 1) How to sell our house. 2) How to get student loans. 3) Which of the three schools is the best fit for our little family. Any advice on any of those three points is most welcome. For example, I have never been to Pullman WA, Corvallis OR, or Fort Collins CO. Come to think of it, I have never sold a house or held a student loan either. In for a penny, in for a pound, right?

What's in a name?

2009-12-21T10:09:00.003-07:00

You know how people often reflect the characteristics of their given names? A woman named Chastity, for example, isn't as likely to have loose morals. I've been thinking about the name we picked out for our little bundle. Noble is great. Positive connotations all around, and it's a family name to boot. With a last name of Jones, choosing an unusual name is definitely a bonus as well. But maybe we should have held off deciding on Noble's middle name. Cade is Welsh and means "small battle" or "spirit of the battle." I think Noble has taken this as a personal directive against my insides. This morning as we were waking up, Jonathan rolled closer and put his hand on my stomach. Although perfectly still and quiet beforehand, the instant Jonathan's hand made contact it was like a bugle call to war. Noble instantly went bananas exactly where Jonathan's hand was. I think it's probably too late, but maybe we can fake him out and pretend to change his name to Noble Peace.

Eat Your Vegetables

2009-12-14T14:11:00.003-07:00

Today I went to a business lunch to welcome a new co-worker. She chose a Chinese buffet. I am not a fan of buffets to begin with, and Chinese even less so. I hate that I don't know when the food was prepared or how many customers have breathed/coughed/sneezed. I hate the avarice that lights up the other customers' faces and I hate waiting in line. Mostly, though, buffets are a waste of money because I can't eat enough to make it worth it. In this case, however, it was a work lunch and I wasn't paying, so whatever.

They had a Mongolian grill section, where you pick out what you want and they grill it for you. I was waiting for my food to cook, and there was a man behind me waiting as well. We had an interesting conversation I thought I'd share:

Man: I love Mongolian barbeque!

Me: I do, too. I love that I can leave out the
vegetables I don't like.

Man: What do you mean?

Me: Well, I can decide what vegetables I want. That's great for me because I don't like many vegetables.

Man: What vegetables don't you like?

Me: I don't like onions, or green peppers, or blah blah blah . . . (I was looking at the vegetable offering at the buffet)

Man: But . . .aren't you expecting?

Like somehow "expecting" means I suddenly love vegetables I hated before! Blegh. Is there a magic "must-love-vegetables" button I forgot to push?

Son of a Grinch

2009-12-09T15:05:00.005-07:00

This week marks the first occasion that someone was brave enough to ask me if I am pregnant. In my opinion, asking someone cold "Are you pregnant?" is very brave, and you should be pretty sure of the answer before you ask it. On one hand, that is good. It means I'm getting past "Is she getting fat?" and moving into "Is that a baby bump?" On the other hand, it is more than mildly disconcerting to have your belly stick out further than your boobs (now not inconsiderable), and just as far as your butt in the opposite direction.

Pregnant bellies are weird. Women with pregnant bellies look weird. I am funny looking with a funny looking belly. I recently watched "The Grinch" and can't help but compare myself with Grinch. Not only do we have pretty much the same body type right now (round belly, long feet, and all) but being pregnant makes all my body hair grow. I have fur, yes fur, on my belly. Just like the Grinch. (Jonathan doesn't agree that I have fur, but I have taken to trimming it back, anyway.)

On a positive note, I'm not weirded out by Noble kicking around inside me like I thought I might be. I even like it when he kicks and reminds me he's in there, although I could wish the sensation wasn't quite so squirmy sometimes. I love when Jonathan can feel Noble kicking, which adds a certain challenge to my day when boo is being contrary (maybe he inherited some from me, although I hope not!). That being said, I stand by my opinion that when you can see the baby moving inside someone's belly it's a little too scene-from-Alien to be sweet and precious. I'm not saying it isn't fascinating, but sweet and precious it is not.