Sara Love

Just a few things about Sara I want to jot down so I don't forget them in 20 years.

I love:

• when she calls me Mama instead of Mommy. (or Papa for Daddy)
• that she says, "I so love you."
• how "I wanna hold you Mama" means "pick me up."
• that movie = oofie, as in "I wanna watch a oofie Mommy."
• when she says something she thinks is funny, and then makes a cute shrugged shouldered, squinty eyed, head titled back, short puffs of inhaled air, open mouthed laugh.
• the face she makes when she is excited about something, or when she thinks something is silly. (wide eyes with big open mouth / wide eyes with tight 'o' shaped mouth)
• how she shakes her hips when she dances.
• when she makes her soft-singing face (dreamy, heavy-lid eyes).
• that she runs everywhere she goes.
• how she gets excited over the tiniest things.
• how caring and empathetic she is (she is very concerned when someone gets an owie).
• that she is starting to make up her own words to familiar tunes (just like her Mama!).
• that she loves rocks and collects them everywhere she goes.
• how she always wants to "help" with whatever I'm doing, or she wants to do it herself.
• how expressive her eyebrows are!
• her mean face (is it wrong to think it is adorable?!)
• that she is starting to speak in surprisingly complex sentences.
• how "thanks" and "thank you" = "ganks" and "gait you"
• when we give her something new, how she gasps and says, "Wow! Oh WOW! Gait you Mommy!"
• that she (usually) wakes up happy. Before switching to a toddler bed she would wake up and just play/sing to herself for at least a half-hour before wanting to get out of the crib.
• how she loves her cousins and friends and is starting to play really well with them (although she still needs frequent reminders to play nice and to share!)
• her sweet little voice.
• when she makes her lovey face (squinty eyes, closed-lip smile, head tilted to the side) and gives me a hug (usually accompanied by "I so love you Mama.")
• and much much much more!

Did I mention Grandma has a big house?

I don't think I need to exercise anymore with all the house and yard work I've been doing lately.

On a related note:

I need a leaf blower.
Rug tassels are not my friends.
I wish dust did not exist.
Carpet should stay clean longer than 5 minutes after being vacuumed.
Same goes for floors after being swept and mopped.
Laundry really needs to learn how to fold itself.
And dinner, please just appear before my eyes every now and then would you?

I'm tired.

I'm having trouble keeping this thing up to date.

Perhaps you've noticed.

Stuff to look forward to:

Our trip to CA
Halloween
Sara's incoherent ramblings

and I guess that's pretty much it. Man, for as busy as we've been lately, you'd think I'd have more to blog about!

Ok then, TTFN.

Thumbs Down

Did you know Pandora has a monthly listening limit?
I did.
I just found out yesterday.


Apparently they only allow 40 free hours of listening per computer per month. What?!! ... The fact that I have already reached this limit and it's only St. Patty's day (aka the middle of the month) means, I do a lot of Pandora listening. A LOT. As in, it's on all the time. I like to have music on in the background as I go about my day, and I like the variety and new songs I hear from giving my thumbs up or down on Pandora. So now my dilemma is, do I want to pay the requisite $0.99 to be able to keep listening for the rest of the month? (It's only a dollar, but it's just the principle of the thing. Free stuff should stay free, ya know?!) Or do I want to go old-school and bust out some CD's to listen to during the day? But then I don't have the luxury of song shuffling (I got rid of my bulky college-era three disc changer long ago) or of hearing new artists based on ones I know I already like. I guess a compromise would be to start downloading all my CD's onto iTunes so it can shuffle them for me, but that just takes time! Well I guess it's worth a try, 'cause I can't suffer through 14 more days of all this silence!

It's raining, it's pouring

there's no old man snoring. Sara did go to bed (nap), let's hope she didn't bump her head, 'cause I'd like her to get up in the morning. Or in about an hour or two rather.

I need to stop answering the door

Or actually, I just need to start showering at a reasonable hour, 'cause when it's 4:00 in the afternoon and I'm still in my pajamas, it's really embarrassing to see somebody from church passing out flyers, or my neighbor who needs to use my phone, or the cops who show up in response to that neighbor's phone call. Really, really embarrassing.

I don't like candy

But I do. But I don't. I like the taste, but I don't like the way my mouth feels after I eat it. Chocolate on the other hand.... Probably the perfect treat. Tastes good, and no weird "my teeth are falling out" feelings after. In fact, I think I'll go eat some right now to cure my sugary mouth syndrome. Or I suppose I could just brush my teeth, but that's not nearly as tasty.

She's a GIRL!!

If Sara isn't wearing a headband or an obviously girly outfit when we go out and about, she is often mistaken for a boy. The truth of the matter is: she does look like her dad! So I guess it's not hard for people to think she's a boy if she's dressed too neutrally. Today we were at the grocery store and Sara was sitting in her carseat in the front of the shopping cart. She was wearing brown socks, jeans with no noticeable girly embellishments (there are hearts on the back pockets, but those aren't visible while she's sitting) and a tan hoodie sweatshirt, again with the flower embellishments being hidden by the shoulder strap on her carseat. BUT the lining of her hood (which was clearly visible) is a purplish pink, and she had a PURPLE blanket on her!! Last I checked, purple is traditionally a color worn exclusivley by girls. But dispite this, a lady at the checkout came up to Sara and kept saying, "Oh he's so cute!" "He's smiling at me!" "How old is he?" -- I was very polite and didn't correct her error, but I am now recommitted to making sure she is obviously dressed like a girl when we go out!

I think I'll move to Arizona

I've decided I don't like Daylight Savings Time, 'cause I don't care if it's totally dark at 5:00 AM, but when I can't see my own hand in front of my face at 5:00 PM, I've got a problem with that. SO to whoever made the rules regarding your so-called "Daylight Savings" -- what do you have against saving the daylight for the evenings? 'Cause seriously, nobody will miss it from the mornings. Gimme back my sunshine please.

Oh.

Ok, so I just did a little research, and it turns out that Daylight Savings Time is during the Summer, which means right now we are in regular "Standard" time. Good ol' Wikipedia says, "Daylight savings time is the practice of advancing clocks so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less. Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in autumn." So I think I owe an apology to Daylight Savings Time. I DO like it after all! It is Standard Time I have the problem with! I say, why do we need to "Fall Back"? Let's just change to Daylight Savings all year round, because when we switch back to Standard Time in the Fall (like right now) it just gets too dang dark too dang early.

Ok. Sorry again DST. Hugs and kisses.

Still here

I've been chastised by my sister-in-law to update my blog.......................yes, I guess it has been a while! Ooopsy. Well here's a verbal update for those who are interested. Video of the babes below.

SO things here are good. Rob started school again last week (he's getting an MBA). He's got one class on Wednesday nights and one on Saturday mornings. The Wed class is 8 weeks and the Sat class is only for 3, but each session is 5 hours!! He's still working hard and not getting paid enough at Rockwell Timekeepers. He seems to enjoy it, and still comes home with a new watch every now and then.

Sara is doing great. She has been crawling for a few weeks now! At first she would do this little belly-flop thing to get a round. She would get up onto her knees and then flop forward onto her belly, then get back up on her knees and flop forward again. Very time consuming and calorie burning! But now she's got the regular cross-pattern crawling thing down and she LOVES to cruise around the house. She just follows me everywhere I go! She's pretty fast. She loves to get into things she isn't supposed to, especially cords and wires of any kind. Now that she's mobile I'm realizing our house is SO not baby proof!! I had to hide all the computer cords under the desk, but she still loves to crawl under there and pull herself up and sit on her knees and hang out in her little under-the-desk cave. Her favorite spot while mommy's at the computer!

Nothing is going on with me really. I've been super lazy since becoming a mother! I haven't even started exercising since Sara arrived, and I'm really starting to feel icky about it. My weight is the same as before I got pregnant, but my body is definitely not the same! I'm sure all you mommy's know exactly what I mean!! I decided I want to get into shape before the end of the year so I can look FABULOUS when I see my family for Christmas (but don't hold me to it, k?). Now all I have to do is get my booty in gear and start exercising. Uhg! Makes me tired just thinking about it. Which is weird because I actually really love to exercise once I get going. But right now it seems like too much work. That's the attitude of a true lazy procrastinator!

Alrighty, well that's enough blabbing for one post. Enjoy the visual stimulation below.

You know what I hate?

Rob and I went to Old Navy tonight. We got there at about 8:30; a solid half-hour before closing time. While I was in the dressing room, the lights dimmed and the music stopped playing. Thinking we had somehow stayed until closing, I looked at my phone to check the time . . . but it was only 8:45!! Hey Old Navy, I've still got fifteen minutes of good shopping time left. Turn those lights and music back on right this instant! -- ARRGH, I just HATE when stores close early. The sign on the door says you close at 9:00, so don't turn off the lights and music until then! What they don't realize is I just might have purchased that cute little fall jacket I was trying on if I hadn't felt so pressured and uncomfortable and rushed. Seriously, it made me feel like my patronage meant nothing to them. All they cared about was locking the doors behind them promptly at 9:00. Store Hours until nine does not mean you get to go home at nine, it means I get to shop until nine! Show some courtesy to your customers and give them every second of shopping time your little "Store Hours" sign says they have. GRRR! Anyway, let's just say a strongly worded complaint has been sent to Old Navy headquarters. Let's hope the big bosses feel the same way I do.

In a much better display of customer service, before our Old Navy excursion we also stopped at World Market (love that store) and got a free tote bag! No purchase necessary!! -- although we did end up buying some dark chocolate almond cookies and a bottle of pink grapefruit soda. -- See Old Navy, make me feel valued and special, and I'll walk out of the store with a receipt in my hand.

And to end the evening, I walked out of Target pushing a stroller with a screaming baby inside with several onlookers sending looks of disapproval my way. Always a pleasure. Next time we'll have to do our shopping during the day to avoid all such catastrophes, although the screaming baby one can unfortunately happen any time of day without warning! But I had it coming walking into the store at 9:15 (they close at Ten, mind you). Don't try to squeeze in one more shopping rendezvous when you're already out past baby's bedtime! Lesson learned.

Somebody found her feet

She's been doing this for a while now. Of course I think it's adorable. She actually started sucking on her big toe today. My youngest brother (who is 12 years younger than me) used to do that too, and my other younger brother (2 years younger) and I would call him "Sun Baby". It was his Super Hero name. I think he also had a blanket or something with a sun on it. We would tie it around him like a cape. His super power was sucking on his toes. Every time he sucked on them, we would say in a cartoonish, announcing a super-hero kind of way, "Sun BABY!" . . . . I know. Weird. But we were 12 and 10 and we thought we were pretty hilarious. We still do.

early to bed, early to rise

Rob and I have been trying to get Sara to go to bed a little earlier recently. She's gotten in the habit of staying up 'til midnight, so then we don't get to bed until almost 1:00. Not good. SO Sunday night she went down at 10:30, and then last night she went down at 8:00!! This seemed great until this morning when she woke up at 4:50 to eat (normal) but then had no interest in going back to sleep!! (side note, even though Sara went to bed early, Rob and I still managed to stay up until 12:30. Darn night-owl mentality!) Finally at 6:30 I climbed back into bed after putting her in her bassinet in hopes she would fall asleep on her own. Eventually she did, but she was just laying there cooing and singing to herself in the meantime. It was really cute. Anyway, there's really no point to this story. Just rambling. Also, 8:00 might just be too early for bed time. Tonight we'll see if we can find some kind of middle ground.

I hate when people use all three lifelines on one really easy question.

That's all.

In Bloom

Ok, so perhaps my little pity party was slightly unjustified. I may have over-reacted just a tad. (Me? Over-react? Never!)

Admittedly, I am sad about not living downtown anymore. I really enjoyed having restaurants and shopping and Trax, etc. within walking distance. But our new apartment really is pretty great. I'm not so excited about the location (kinda in the middle of nowhere) but the apartment itself is nice--has a washer/dryer in the unit, has a second bedroom so Sara doesn't have to sleep in the living room anymore, has vaulted ceilings which help make it feel more spacious, has a nice large covered patio that we can enjoy when it's not freezing outside, has a pool and weight room and covered parking, has a great view of the mountains, and is close enough to Rob's work that he can come home for lunch. How's that for a silver lining? I guess I just got worked up for nothing. I am still sad about moving away from friends and from the location, but I can't let my sadness about that ruin the possibilities of our new place or keep me from enjoying our life as it is now, no matter the circumstances. "Bloom where you're planted." That's my new motto. It may not be perfect, but I'll do my best to make the most of it.

p.s. -- Thanks to those who gave words of encouragement during my pity party. I needed it!

pity party for one

We moved into a 2-bedroom apartment in North Salt Lake last week. I miss our condo. I miss being downtown. I miss owning. Renting sucks. I'm pretty bummed out about the whole thing. There are still lots of boxes to unpack but I just don't feel like it. Trying to find the silver lining....

Random

Whenever I look at a clock and it says 3:06

I always think to myself, "...Parkview Circle"


I'll bet there's a few of you out there who just did the same thing!

Ahh, the good ole days.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Today is the first time it's really felt like the Christmas season to me. Rob and I left this morning to drop Rob off at work, and during the time we were in the car, it started to snow. (off topic -- during the transition from rain to snow, I started singing a made up parody version of "Should I Stay or Should I Go". It goes a little something like this: "Should I rain or should I snow now. If I rain there will be trouble....but if I snow there will be double. So c'mon and let me know! Should I rain or should I snow." -- yes, I am a nerd for those of you who didn't already know.) ANYWAY...by the time I got back home it was snowing pretty heavily, and when I walked into our condo the heater was blowing and the lights on our newly purchased Christmas trees (a grouping of the three little ones of varying heights) were glowing at the back of the room. And in that moment, it felt like Christmas.

Baby Talk

So I don't mean to make this a pregnancy blog, but I was writing an email to a friend and felt like sharing part of it with all y'all (that one's for you Ericksens!). It's more pregnancy talk, so for those of you who aren't interested in such things, tune in for the next post (whatever that may be!). For those of you who are interested (or are just bored and will read it anyway) here goes:

This belly of mine sure is getting bigger! I sometimes forget and bump into the table when scooting in my chair, or try to sneak sideways through a tight space but then realize that's not so much of an option anymore. I even walked past a mirror the other day and was seriously surprised when I saw my protruding belly. It was like, "Whoa! How long has that been there!?" -- you'd think I'd be used to it by now. It's still so fun to feel her kick. Sometimes I don't feel much, and then other times it's like she's a little acrobat in there! I felt hiccups for the first time a few days ago. That was pretty funny.

I've said to Rob many times how weird pregnancy is, and how crazy it is that I'm carrying an actual person inside of me. A real, live, fully-formed (yet very tiny) person! Rob doesn't think it's that weird, and says, "Wouldn't it be weirder if the stork dropped it off on our doorstep?" To which I replied, "NO! I think that would be perfectly normal!" -- more recently he said, "Wouldn't it be weirder if we were marsupials and gave birth to tiny babies but then carried them in a pouch until they were mature enough?" Ok, you've got me there. That would be weird. But I still think carrying them inside of me is pretty dang strange. Anybody with me on this?

On a similar note, some friends of ours (who are also pregnant) recently shared an ultrasound photo that they had done at 12 weeks, and the baby was small enough at that point that they were able to get the entire body in view. We had an early ultrasound to determine the due-date, but we were only 6 weeks at that point so all we could see was a little peanut-shaped blob. Then by 20 weeks when they looked for gender we could only see sections at a time. So it was cool to see my friend's ultrasound with the whole baby all at once! But what's weird is, their baby at 12 weeks is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime according to babycenter.com) and weighs only half an ounce. That's SO TINY! But even at 2 inches long, the ultrasound shows arms and legs and a fully-formed (yet still in need of much development) body! It's just so crazy. You'd think I'd be over the craziness of it by now seeing as I've got a 15 inch, 2 1/2 pound butternut squash inside of me, but no, it still baffles my mind every time I think about it.

It's just so weird! :)