Nations of Jorgensen

a video is worth a thousand words?

2012-02-04T23:56:00.000-08:00

we know how to have a good time

2012-01-25T09:47:00.001-08:00

It's true. Way back in November, for Thanksgiving, we went to Portland, OR where my brother Mike lives. It was fun but a little rough since both the kids were sick and Kris was sick on the last day and a half (of a 3 day trip). Otherwise, Portland seemed cool, it was nice to be with the majority of the Nations clan, and it was fun staying in funky, old Portland houses.

I have next to no pictures of it, but I do have this cute one of Sam in his warm hat--we were walking from the house where we stayed to the house my parents were in.

In December we went to Bakersfield to visit my Grandparents and wish them a Merry Christmas. I also have no pictures of that except one at the park in my parents' neighborhood and one from the drive.

Can you see the smog hovering over Los Angeles as we approach it from Orange County? It felt like we were driving into a dust storm.

In December I made vanilla pudding from scratch, for the first time ever, and died it 3 colors to do pudding finger painting. It was delicious. And probably the kids' favorite art project.

I'll post about Christmas soon, but while we were in Utah just after Christmas we got to go bowling with the Jorgensen clan. It was really fun. Kris's dad bowled some crazy score like 200, Kris did well, I did average, and Sam was awesome.

He had bumpers in the lanes and this alligator thing to aim the ball (he was very particular about how it was positioned) and he is now convinced that he is an awesome bowler. He really loved it. He had a million questions about how they reposition pins and get the ball back to you. Perhaps the best sport for this boy right now.

the cookie apprentice

2012-01-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

Sam loves projects. He tells me projects usually involve paper and glue, but I consider baking a project too, and he loves baking. He's a good helper, especially when it comes to licking spatulas, bowls, mixing blades, and anything else with sweet or dougy remnants on it.

For my birthday my in-laws got me a David Lebovitz desserts cookbook. It's maiden voyage in my kitchen was for chocolate chip cookies and they did not disappoint.

Lebovitz says he never likes to use chocolate chips in his cookies b/c they are made to resist melting. I have mixed feelings about this, but as a lover of chocolate probably just much as him I went for chopped, dark chocolate.

It was a Sunday afternoon and Sam and I did our baking while Lucy was napping. I love those time with him. We have something we're focused on physically so he talks really freely. He loves those times too and one way we know is the number of times he expresses his love. It's really adorable, whenever either Kris or I do something like this with him he'll tell us he loves us many, many times.

I added the oats to this recipe instead of the nuts, I just really love some oats in my cookies, but I think next time I'll follow his recipe exactly. Next out of that book is the apple galette which as a small amount of creamy, eggy, almond filling in the bottom.

Yucky

2011-11-21T14:41:00.000-08:00

Yucky has been coming around our apartment for a few months now. According to Sam he is small, dirty, and very smelly. He does mean things and sometimes makes our house dirty or smelly, so he must always be thrown out. Lucy has picked up on the Yucky stories and now tells her own. In this video I was trying to get her to retell a story about Yucky she had just finished but didn't get the complete thing. I did, however, get some decent footage. The funniest thing is that often when she talks about Yucky she says things like, "And then I hit him, and kicked him, and scratched him, and then I push him down the stairs! And then I blowed him and I say, 'Go away, Yucky!'" So violent for such a tiny person. Sam's version of Yucky is a little more mischievous but also must be expelled from the house whenever he enters.

Lucy seems to think that if she blows on people she can make them blow away, like the wind blows out of her mouth. Before I turned on the camera she was shooting spider webs (I think) from her hands at Yucky. Also in this video she points out that, even though her fingers are purple from chalk, she is not turning into a blueberry like Violet does in Willy Wonka. I haven't decided yet if she's reassuring herself or me by saying this. Maybe both of us. The video is unedited...

Anyway, hopefully Yucky will stay out of our apartment while we're gone to Portland for Thanksgiving. Maybe our temporary sub-letters can hold down the fort and keep him out (thanks Ruts).

Update: Tonight Lucy said two noteworthy things. Around 8pm she said, "It looks like Daddy will be home soon." I don't know if that seems funny if you're not looking at this very tiny person with a furrowed brow while she's saying it, wondering what about the situation makes it "look" like Kris will be home soon. It's so hilarious to hear her try out new phrases. Before that she was listening to a recorded story told by Grandpa Nations and he used the word "experience." She pulled that out of the story and asked me, "What's es-peer-ance?" I told her what an experience is and she just said, "Oh." I can't believe she's already asking me questions like that.

Sam also said something noteworthy. On Mondays our friend Ashley watches the kids. Sam LOVES Ashley. Of all the adults in his life Kris thinks he seeks her out the most in a social situation and is most excited to see her. I think Ashley has a few tricks up her sleeve, like letting Sam watch Wall-E most Mondays, apple juice, and best of all, one-on-one adult time complete with a craft. She knows the way to this boy's heart. Today he told me, "Ashley is really smart." I asked him why and whether it's because she answers his questions. He said, "Yeah, she always knows the answer. She knows everything." I thought kids were supposed to think that about their parents but Sam knows better because he asks so many questions I have to tell him "I don't know" at least once a day. He's always upset when that's my answer. Apparently that's not the answer he ever gets from Ashley.

2011-11-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite things to come out of the Occupy movement thus far: Occupy Christmas! How to be a little less commercial on this holiday. Not to say I'm anti-purchased gifts, but we do go to extremes at times. My biggest complaint about consumerism at the present moment, however, is Black Friday. Thanksgiving has been practically obliterated by Christmas decorations that go up just before and after Halloween and the crazy consumer-push of Black Friday.

glasses and Mr. Tomato Face

2011-11-15T22:36:00.000-08:00

I am the first person in my 20/20 vision family to need glasses before the age of 30. I got them today, the day before I turn 30. Painful. I do feel grateful that I haven't needed glasses up to this point but I really just don't look good in glasses. I've known this for a long time. Kris helped me pick some out and says they look good, but Lucy took one look at me and said, "I don't like em! You don't look bootiful!" That crushed any glasses-wearing confidence I had managed to muster. Happy Birthday to me...

Another Lucy quote. Our good friend was watching her and said that Lucy and our friend's son were playing together with Mr. Potato Head. Our friend heard Lucy crying and when she asked her what was wrong Lucy said, "He took Mr. Tomato Face from me!"

Twick oh Tweat

2011-11-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

This year was our best Halloween yet. Last year I kind of forced them to be vikings. They totally had fun, and looked super awesome, but they never loved it. The year before that Sam was into his Peter Pan costume but Lucy was too tiny to care about what an adorable, fat, bald Tinker Bell she was. The year before that I had to pin Sam down to draw on his Emiliano Zapata mustache and Lucy was the size of a pinhead in my uterus. So...this year was kind of magical by comparison, not because the costumes themselves were better (every previous year has had better constructed and designed costumes) but because the kids LOVED their costumes.

Ms. Lucy-lu was a froggy. I, yes I, actually sewed her a green tutu with frog ribbon trim on it. I was proud of my crafty feat and realized it's good for the former stay-at-home mom in me to do such things because it reminds me that maybe I could be cool and crafty like some of the "house wives" I know. The first time she put it on she told me she was a princess, then a ballerina, then a froggy ballerina. She wore her froggy hat and we made her some webbed, froggy feet. She did froggy hops and told everyone she was a froggy. Kris did the awesome cat stencil on her candy bag. Lucy discovered that her favorite candy is Skittles, but she'll eat pretty much anything that's called candy and requests it at the most improbable times of day and night.

Can you guess what Sam is? No, you can't, that's because there is no actual correlate in historical or contemporary accounts of superheros.

It is his own creation. He originally wanted to be a red superhero. That was the only explanation he gave. For weeks I attempted to convince him to choose a theme to make the costume more interesting, the best of which was Kid Dynamite. He said no to all my great ideas. Finally I sarcastically suggested a shape, specifically a cube. Yes! says he... So that evolved into a Rubik's Cube. Kris did the stenciling, the rest was easy. Every time I snapped a shot of him he got very serious.

This is the only not-so-serious face.

Sam ran around like a superhero all night, with no specific powers or abilities, just 4 different shades of red clothing and a black, jack-o-lantern candy bag. He was so happy.

We went to way too many Halloween activities and consumed way too much candy. On the 31st we trick-or-treated around our little neighborhood and after 8 or 9 doors Sam said, "I have a enough," so we went home. Pretty awesome. He's really into relishing each and every piece of candy and is less interested in getting as much candy as possible. I hope that continues and evolves into some awesome traits/habits as an older kid and adult.

2011-10-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about being an adult and getting to make my own decisions about what I eat is that I get to eat chocolate on a daily basis. Often times more than once a day. All in moderation, of course.

I prefer it dark. With almonds is best.

My kids always assume my favorite color is brown due to my love of chocolate. Although after watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory--in which the overweight kid loves chocolate and ultimately nearly drowns in chocolate--Sam emotionally told me, "Mom, I don't want you to get fat!" I've tried to have conversations with him about the mischaracterization of obesity in the media, but to no avail, I ultimately had to reassure him that I will only eat a reasonable amount.

kids

2011-09-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

We've got two of them and we're big fans. We're even considering going for a third sometime in the future (not so near future, don't go getting any ideas). Sam told me the other day that we're going to have one more boy and one more girl. Oh, and the boy will be named Yucky. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than his other name suggestions: Woffle Poffle and Candy.

Some quotable quotes from this past week:
Sam: See your nipples Lucy? When you get bigger you're going to have breasts, like Mama.
Lucy: That's funny!

Sam: The red blood cells, those make your blood, and the white blood cells, those attack the germs. And your skin protects your body.
I didn't hear Lucy respond, but it's so entertaining to hear Sam share information like this with her. He's so matter-of-fact about it and seems to think it's something she really needs to know about.

Lucy: (to me, when she saw a little "ouchie" on my foot) You have an ouchie Mama?
Me: Yeah, I don't know what that's from.
Lucy: You got burned, the hot lava burned you.
I love that hot lava seemed like the most likely culprit.

We've been working on weaning Lucy from her pacifier lately. Yesterday Kris was being hard core about it which was making Lu sad. He was busy vacuuming and she was busy trying to figure out how to get her pacifier down from a high shelf. She gave up, ran out of the room, and eventually came back in with her shirt pulled up over her mouth and nose. Very sneaky, but Dad figured out that she was covering up a pacifier pretty quick.

cousins

2011-09-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Sam and Lucy love their cousins. We got to see the Jorgies for a few days last week, including all the Jorgensen cousins. The trip was way too brief but definitely worth it. Sam and Lucy especially enjoyed their newest cousin--little baby Ingrid. This was the only decent pic Ingrid's Mom got of them playing together but I love it.
Sam was super gentle and sweet with Ingrid. I think this is a good representation of how Sam is generally, he's such a sweet kid. And he was at his absolute cutest when we were with the Jorgies. We love this boy.

Nations Family Reunion 2011

2011-08-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

Back in June the Nations family had a reunion. With a last name like Nations you get to make up funny little titles for things. For example, when we were young my Mother ran her own preschool and called it, "Nation's Best Preschool." For this family reunion Kris and I decided that we needed t-shirts and that they should say something like, United Nations Convening 2011. And they did. Complete with a UN logo and everything. The delegates were even all listed on the back.

Left to right, Mike, me, Sarah, Joey. Of course in front are the 'rents.

When we were growing up my parents took us camping (and later to beach houses, when they had more money OR my Mom just boycotted the trips unless she got to stay in a house, I'm not sure which happened...) at the central coast. Morro Bay and Cayucos were our usual haunts. Even though I now live in Southern CA with nicer weather I LOVE going to the central coast. It's much less crowded, less touristy feeling (the locals may feel different), and less busy. There is so much wildlife to see with a fraction of the people. Plus, there are loads of great memories there and we usually go with family.

Kris has done a wonderful job stepping into the craziness that is sometimes our family and finding his niche. He loves this area of CA coast almost more than I do and he has won over most of his nieces and nephews.

This is Zeke transforming into a muscle man. Or maybe a sandy version of the Hulk? Zeke and Sam bonded on this trip over super heroes. Sam would be missing and I almost inevitably found him with Zeke. Zeke would make up some super hero something or other and the boys (usually Moses and Gideon in tow) would be playing along. Zeke is Sarah's oldest. I used to hold this boy as a baby and babysit him when he was tiny. And now he's super old--10! Like all of Sarah's kids he's turning out to be a pretty rad little dude.

While there we celebrated 2 birthdays--Charlotte's (my little brother Joey's wife)

and my Dad's. Charlotte is the most recent in-law addition to our family. Joe and Charlotte were married two years ago, but we knew Charlotte belonged right when those two started dating. They're really a perfect match. Every time I'm around them they remind me of how great it is to be in love, seriously, I'm not just being cheesy. They do a great job of being thoughtful of one another and showing love and respect. They are cleaving! (you know, from the Bible, "cleave to your wife and none else," or however that goes). Oh, and that is not their kid, that's Sarah's second to youngest, River. River LOVES Charlotte and probably likes Joey, too. But she really loves Charlotte. It's pretty adorable, as is this next photo...

My sister made up the plan for Dad's party which was way fun as you can see from his thrilled expression (just kidding, he laughed pretty hard, I think he was just in awe of my cake here). My mother made the cake for Charlotte's party which was way more exciting to look at than mine. Under the Sea!!! The kids LOVED it. And so did Charlotte.

Lucy was attached to her cousin Megumi while we were there. She still talks about her and the good times they had. Megumi is my sister's second kid. This is another one I used to hold as a baby and now she's super big--just turned 9! Since Megumi was very small she has had an aptitude for empathy and athletics, a combination I absolutely adore.

The adults (minus Joe and Charlotte who volunteered to babysit the kids, so nice!) and Zeke and Megumi caught a play at the Melodrama while we were there. Zeke loved the popcorn and soda...

My brother Mike (3rd in our family--the age order is Sarah, me, Mike, Joe) came a little late to join us but we met him at the airport with a grand welcome.

I was so glad to see him--I love this guy. I think I was hurting him in this photo, though. Love hurts! He practically stole the show in the mini-skit we did for my Dad at his birthday party (Cosby-style, "What is older than Dad," anyone?). What is older than Dad? Some species of dinosaur are older than Dad...

One of the things I always find myself reflecting on after being with my sister's family (which is often a whirldwind for me being around that half dozen small people) is what a wonderful bunch of kids they have.

I mean, look at these cuties! Seriously though, they're fun, they generally get along well, they're creative, they're all super bright, and it seems like they generally know who there are (from a religious standpoint). Most likely my sister would be humble and attribute this to them but we all know what she's leaving out--they have some amazing parents who express love often and teach with patience. Plus, look at how cool their Dad is...

And lest you think I forgot you, baby Selah...

This is Sarah's baby. Pretty stinking adorable. She actually figured out walking while we were all together which was fun to watch. With 5 older siblings this girl gets a lot of attention from siblings and is showing an ability to get what she wants very early. She seriously sounded like she was talking in short sentences during the trip.

And how could she be anything less that brilliant with Sarah as her Mom, seriously?

When we were in elementary school Sarah used to hang out with her BFF Brandy and read books for hours. My BFF and I (Brandy's sister, Melanie) thought they were super lame for doing that instead of playing mermaids or princess unicorns like us. I guess both Sarah and I turned out alright...but Sarah is still a voracious reader. I saw her reading at 6:30AM with a fussing baby around, 10:00PM after putting kids to sleep, and in the middle of the day with kids running all around her. I mean, not that she reads constantly, I'm just saying she has figured out how to keep it up with the distractions 6 kids can bring (although I'm sure she got to read a bit more at the beach house than is usual given that she was on vacation).

Our kids had such a great time. They generally slept well, had a blast with their cousins, enjoyed some aunt, uncle, and grandparent time, and partied hard. Sam loved the sand dunes. In some ways, though, this trip was only a preview for Sam--2 days after leaving the beach house we went to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA with my Mom and Aunt. That seems to be the highlight of this boy's life up to this point. He talks about it a lot and still mentions it in his prayers, "Thank you that we could go to the Jelly Belly Factory."

It's really fun that Sam is at an age where he can just run off with his cousins to play. They're great examples for him and great playmates. Lucy isn't quite there yet, but she did seek Megumi out every chance she had.

None of the pictures taken of our little family really turned out, but I think this captured us well enough. We're really loving our kids ages and stages right now. As my dear friend Amy once said, each stage seems better than the last.

And last, but certainly not least, the dogs in attendance at the UN Convening:

Rex, or as my Dad likes to call him, "El Rey de los Perros!"

And Rusty, Joe and Charlotte's gentle, loving pit bull.

You may not think those words belong together but Joey and Charlotte beg to differ (please feel free to link to that photo series of pit bulls protecting children in the comments Joe or Charlotte).

We love the Nations and Jordans and look forward to being with everyone again!

New wheels

2011-07-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Sam's 4th Birthday

2011-07-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

On May 30th we celebrated Sam's birthday by throwing a pirate party! They began by getting mustaches and beards drawn on their faces (sorry for the weird shot of you, prima).

Most the boys showed up with some amazing pirate costuming, but Sam didn't want to wear anything pirate-ish at all. AT ALL. Never been much of a costume kid--and who am I to make him dress up on his birthday? Hence, Sam did not participate in this first pirate activity.

After that we colored pictures of pirates that were glued onto treasure bags.
Then we were off on a treasure hunt with our bags!

We had a map that lead us to...a mermaid! The mermaid helped us decipher the treasure map to get to...our lost jolly roger flag! From there we found...a parrot! Which gave us the last hint to get us to...THE CANDY FOREST.

The candy forest is something Sam made up. There's one part of our apartment that can get virtually pitch black when the bedroom, front room, and bathroom doors are all shut. He closes all of them and then pretends he is in "the candy forest," where licorice grows out of the ground and jelly beans grow on vines. It's a wonderful place. We did our best to create a real candy forest. Suckers hung from trees, M & Ms were on trunks as well as on the ground with other candies. The boys had a good time.

When we got back with our pirate booty the boys took turns hitting the pinata. The pinata was AWESOME. We went down to Barrio Logan, right by Chicano Park, so Sam could pick out a good pinata. He chose this enormous rainbow pinata.

It was huge, pretty well made, and really hard for the boys to break. We filled (well, filled the bottom--it was so big!) it with party favors like spy glasses, pencils, stickers, other pirate stuff, and little insect toys and stretchy frogs. Oh, and the all important fruit snacks.

The boys each took multiple turns with 10 hits each but it wasn't budging. Our adult friend was there and he took some good swings at it after which the boys finally broke it open. Lucy's hits didn't do too much to contribute (no offense, Lu, your swing will improve). After that I think we opened presents. Then we ate cake.
This was seriously the perfect thing for our party. Lindsay made a pirate ship cake! But this wasn't just any pirate ship cake. It had a battering ram, cannons, those really essential holes that you see in the sides of ships, sails, a multi-layered deck, a canon and canon balls, and pirate figurines.

But best of all it was not made of pre-prepared ingredients. This was pure homemade chocolate cake and ganache. Not only is Lindsay gourmet, she and Aaron together make a mean edible ship! Thanks again!

We also had some essential pirate snacks. A bunch of crackers, cheeses, salami, these fried pea snack things,
"adult cheetohs," watermelon,
salty almonds, dried mangoes, and I can't remember what else. It was good! Well, at least thes mates thought so.

AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

Sam and his projects, Lucy and her entourage

2011-07-10T22:10:00.001-07:00

Sam continues to conceive of and work on interesting art projects. This one happened under my supervision.
The one below is of a piece he created today using colorful markers stuck together end to end and passed through the belt loops. He had fun trying to navigate through the house without breaking it.
Lucy has long slept with her little stuffed giraffe. Since then she has added other creatures to her entourage. She got an adorable handmade cat from a friend for her birthday, and we won the jumbo panda prize playing a game together at the county fair. Every time we go to get her after she wakes up, she gathers all her animals, her baby, and her blanket in her arms and holds on tight to them as we pick her up. Also, please note the little pig tails that are finally possible now that she grew some hair.

estoy vieja

2011-07-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm going to turn 30 this year. But I feel much older than that today for 2 reasons:

1) I still don't have a facebook account and have no plans of getting one, something my own Mother ridiculed me for recently.

2) The only social networking site I belong to is myfitnesspal.com where I network with a friend and 2 family members about exercising and counting calories.

What happened to me?!

june 2011

2011-06-29T23:40:00.000-07:00

June was an extremely busy month for us, especially the first 2 1/2 weeks. This is our planning calendar, the key to our success.

But as Kris pointed out, it probably only has half of what we did on it. Since you can't really read the fine print...

I wrapped up my third year in my PhD program (no, I'm not almost done; no, I'm not sure how much longer but somewhere between 3 and 5 years; yes, that is somewhat normal for social science PhDs in the UC system).

Kris worked his usual 2 shifts a week and picked up several Saturday shifts. He also rode his bike around our part of SD with the kids in the bike trailer. They (Kris, Sam, and Lucy) love it.

Sam was a total charmer this past month. He told me many times that I was beautiful. He gave me flowers and told me to put them in my hair because when I do I "look even more bootifuler." He has also gotten more interested in taking pictures. Unbeknownst to us he took over 30 pictures with our camera in one day. This is one of them. I love seeing what Sam thought was photo-worthy. In this case the subject is stretchy frogs. He even included his signature touch--part of his finger is in the frame.

Lucy has begun making up her own songs about pretty much anything. A recent one was something like, "And I shake shake shake, and I shake all day." Many of the songs involve some animal family, like "And the baby horse and the Mama horse and the Daddy horse goin', baby horse happy..." I can also get pig tails in her hair--finally!

Both kids have become fixated on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the new version). I got the movie so Sam could watch it. The kid loves candy and machines so I thought it was a perfect fit and I was right. After watching it the first time he said, "Can we watch that movie all the time?" and a minute later, "Can we watch that movie tomorrow after breakfast?" What I did not anticipate was how much Lucy would love the movie. She talks about it multiple times every day and requests that Kris or I sing the songs from the movie. Since we don't know the songs we make them up which, as my Mother can now attest, is sometimes musically disastrous. Anyway, last night she was talking about some scenes in the movie and I was able to catch it on camera.

Here's a translation (just of what she says) for those of you who struggle with scratchy-voiced, toddler speak.

On Augustus Gloop:

"Um, the boy suck up the pipe…I wanna see the picture. And the boy suck up the pipe and the oompa loompas sing about it. And the mama’s sad about it. I want to see the picture. Um, you can, the oompa, um, the boy suck up the pipe…oh that’s a baby!"

On Violet Beauregard:

"Um, she turned [into] a blueberry and take the gum. And turnin’ blue. The squeeze the juice out her! Little pimple."

On Veruca Salt:

"Um, she take a squirrel and go down the garbage chute. And the Daddy push, and the squirrel push the bum to the Daddy. Yeah. And fell down into the garbage chute! And the kids, and the oompa loompas sing about it."

-------------------------------

We also had some great adventures in June and celebrated Sam's birthday May 30th. Those posts will come... To be continued!

is it wrong to boast about your babies?

2011-05-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Lucy told this story to Kris recently. It was influenced by a book we had just read and stories we tell which usually end with Lucy and Sam rescuing some animal and then holding them.

Lucy: There's lots of frogs, and and, lots of frogs, and, we sweep the frogs but there's so many frogs! And the frogs disappear! And, and I hold the baby frog in my hand.
Kris: What did the frog feel like?
Lucy: Uh...fluffy.
Sam: Frogs aren't fluffy!

Also recently I asked Lucy what I should put on a sandwich I was making for myself. She first suggested something silly, I think it was noodles. When I asked her again she said, "Uh...taste." I love how she's associating the words flavor and taste with food and is trying to use them. Brilliant!

Every day since Lucy's birthday Sam has been asking me if it's his birthday yet (10 more days!). He wants to have a lot of candy at his party in the form of a "candy forest." This is a make believe game he plays where he's in a dark forest and there are candies growing on the trees, grass, vines, bushes, etc. So he wants to live out his fantasy for the birthday. He has also been requesting a pinata at his party. At some point he did some very clever reasoning all on his own and presented it to me: "Mom, at my birthday party we could have toys in the pinata so that we can have lots of candy in the candy forest."

I asked Kris if this had been his suggestion so we could avoid candy overload and he said they hadn't talked about it. Sam totally anticipated our inevitable response that candy in a pinata and a candy forest were too much candy, so he came up with a clever little solution. Brilliant!

Update: I asked Sam this morning if he wanted to go on a "date" with me. He accepted. A few hours later he was telling Kris how excited he was to go and asked, "When will it get dark so me and Mom can go dating?" So cute!

marathon post

2011-05-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

Hi world [or small sub-section of the world that reads this blog]. It's been a while. And it will probably be a while until my next post. I only want to do one post that covers the last chunk of our lives as opposed to 5 separate posts, so here goes.

We did, indeed, return from New Orleans to find our kids happy and fulfilled after a week with their beloved Nations grandparents. They had a great time and still talk about that visit fondly. My Mom hasn't shared any of the pictures with us [hint, hint], but the kids got to go on daily walks with my Dad and the dog, Rex. Lucy fell in love with her "Gampa" and helped him wash the dishes whenever she could. Sam bonded with my Dad over Wallace and Grommit movies and napped with Grammy. My Mom took them on play dates, read books, and sang songs. They loved it!

The rest of our New Orleans trip was fantastic. We sought out some Creole food, which we enjoyed. Found some croissants. Went to a nature preserve that's within the city limits--Bayou Sauvage. This was a highlight because it was beautiful but also because of how striking it was. By this point we had been to the Hurricane Katrina museum in New Orleans where we learned all about the levy failures, the flooding, and heard a lot of personal stories about the Hurricane. The museum interviewed many people who spoke very candidly about the issues of race and class that emerged regarding who was rescued, who was not, and how people were treated. Anyway, the Bayou Sauvage showed us what the Hurricane did to plants and animals. Because of the levies and the decrease in swamp land hurricanes are much more destructive for land areas because the protective buffer that used to protect inland areas is gone. Also, once salt water gets into a levied area it often can't get back out. This picture shows an area that used to be a cypress tree forest.

When the salt water came in the trees that lived here died after weeks of overly salty water. There are efforts to replant,

but many of the larger animals that called this their home have gone elsewhere, and the area won't get back to its pristine state for many, many years. Oh, and we loved the lizards.

Did I mention that I co-presented at a conference in New Orleans? That was the original purpose of our trip. I presented about the research I've been doing with a team of researchers regarding the educational pathways of low-income women in community colleges. Combine high unemployment rates with decreased funding for public education with a changing economy and labor market and you get a serious puzzle for policy makers and sociologists.

But before any of that, we had been living our usual lives [which involves said research, but I won't talk about that here]. Sam goes to a co-op preschool that Kris helps out with--Sam really loves it. The kids are learning many pre-school basics, but my favorite thing they do is show and tell. One of the kids brings something, talks about it, and then they open it up to the class to ask questions. The kids are so serious about their questions--and they ask great ones! Last week Sam took his crane for show and tell (it's a wooden toy, about 1.5 feet tall, with a hook that can lift things including the pallet which came with the toy) and one of the questions was, "Can that crane save princesses?" As long as the princess can get on the pallet, yes.

Sam's growing up. He'll be 4 really soon! He likes to talk about how he's getting bigger, but lately he's especially focused on how long his arms have gotten which he says is the result of eating his dinner. Here he is practicing for puberty (although he tells me he will not have hair like his Dad).

Lucy is as busy, vocal, and hip as ever.

She's such and enjoyable little person. We just switched her to a toddler bed which has gone more smoothly than we had anticipated. She stays in all night, but getting her to bed takes a long, long time. We've decided to try to teach her basics in meditation (seriously) because she just cannot unwind.

This is her anticipating eating at what our kids like to call the tomato restaurant, aka Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation. They love that place. Earlier she had told Kris, "I gonna eat a tomato!" Kris asked, "What else?" Lucy: "Uh, I gonna eat flavor!"

We also venture out to the beach, the zoo, the aquarium from time to time, but not as often as we would like.

We also get visitors from time to time (see Mama J back there?), but also not as much as we'd like.

We had a nice Easter complete with a neighborhood Easter egg hunt and bunny ears and a dinner with family (the Ruts).

Lucy and Sam's best buddies continue to be Ada and Seth, respectively. Sam and Seth especially have reached new heights in their friendship--fighting bad guys, choosing funny words for a day, switching shoes and identities, running around the neighborhood, and wearing super hero capes. They really, really love each other. It's a beautiful thing.

Lucy and Ada's friendship is definitely blossoming.

This past weekend we got to celebrate Lucy's 2nd birthday. One of the things I love about my kids' birthdays is the opportunity it gives me to reflect on their lives thus far and all that is wonderful about them. Lucy is so full of energy and light. It's generally so enjoyable to be around her. For her birthday we wanted to throw a party that she would love. The theme was cats and dogs because lately she's been crawling around the apartment meowing--and not talking--for prolonged periods of time. She requests stories about dogs most nights and loves any dogs or cats we see. We only invited kids we knew she'd be excited to see and who would be excited to see her. We ended up with a fantastic group of friends who we enjoy but who also enjoy our small baby girl. We're so grateful for this community of people who are invested in our children, and whose children we also enjoy.

A friend and I made dog and cat ears with headbands and felt. We painted dog and cat faces on and had a mirror for the kids to admire themselves.

Lucy even painted her Dad's face and was very serious about the quality of her work.

We played "dog, dog cat," the close relative of "duck, duck, goose." This game was great because every time someone got up to chase the "it" person around the circle 2 or 3 other kids would join the chase. Lucy was always among the 2 or 3. We also did pin the tail on the cat, crawl through a tunnel holding a frisbee in your mouth, and more. We had sandwiches, potato salad, tortelini and roasted veggie salad, and a delicious cake made by prima Lindsay. Everyone took home a doggie bag with cat and dog stickers and bone shaped cookies.

The best part about the whole party was that Lucy was smiling, laughing, and enjoying the whole time. She's still figuring out how the birthday thing works though, because at some point she said, "I not two, I Lucy!"

Whew! Done for now, hope that was enjoyable.
heart,
Jenn

NOLA

2011-04-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

I had a conference presentation this week in New Orleans so Kris and I decided to turn it into a full-fledged trip, no kids invited. My wonderful parents have taken over full care of those babies of ours and they seem to be having a splendid time.

Thus far highlights have included a little French Quarter Fest jazz music, area architecture and history, and a swamp tour complete with a Cajun guide.

Out of all the music we've stumbled upon Kris says this was his favorite. Agreed!

Gators everywhere! And some amazing birds, turtles, and fish that jumped a foot out of the water to catch bugs. Plus, gorgeous scenes with cypress trees and many others, Spanish moss, and more. Kris also held the baby gator but we didn't get a picture :(

When alligators got in front of our boat or weren't positioned very well for people to see the guide would whistle and call to them and they would actually do what he wanted them to do. He claims that it's because he used to feed them marshmallows.

Listen to that accent! I was wondering the whole time if it was for real since I know nothing about cajun or creole accents. Guy could have been from the back-country of Massachusetts for all I know.

2011-03-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

Just read this:
"The demands of writing [in academia] lead one to not be present at home, and the demands of family life can, at times, impede one's work. But family members also provide private sustenance; this support is critical.... In the clockwork of careers, wherein we are assessed according to our productivity, families are not really counted as a legitimate force. But to be speedy is not everything, or even, when all is said and done, much at all. To have the gifts of companionship, nurturance, and good humor in daily life, however, is quite a lot." Annette Lareau, acknowledgments in Unequal Childhoods.

I would add that, for me, school may not count family as a legitimate force, but I would not produce what I do produce (though it may be meager compared to some with fewer restraints on their time) in the way I produce it if it weren't for my family. Especially the conversations I have with Kris, who inspires not only reasons for what I do but the will power to do it. I once had a conversation with a cohort mate who mentioned that she needed a hug because she hadn't had one all week. I contrasted that (only to myself) with the hugs I had gotten just that morning from two tiny people and Kris. I then shared the love :)

When I was an undergraduate I had a plan all mapped out whereby I would complete a PhD by age 27 or 28, then I could focus on family. Things did not go that way, and I could never say what it would be like otherwise, but I'm glad for where I am (even though I'll be somewhere over 33 when I'm done!).

Lucy the jumper

2011-03-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I never posted this adorable video of baby Lucy on the blog, but maybe I did... Regardless, check her out! This looks like it might be a good activity for Lucy's newest cousin, baby Ingrid, once she gets big enough. Lucy still loves jumping. She jumps all over the house, she pulls all blankets and pillows off Sam's bed and jumps there, she jumps off of curbs (scary!)--she's just a jumping girl.

Just in the past few weeks it seems like Lucy has begun entering the "terrible twos." Sam's "terrible twos" weren't all that terrible (I actually think it's kind of a silly term), but his more tantrum prone phase began around 2 1/2. Like every aspect of her life, Lucy is starting a little earlier than Sam. Lately she's more opinionated, gets upset quickly, wants to be independent but gets frustrated that she's tiny and can't be that independent. I remember my cousin Lindsay frequently saying to a very young, upset Seth, "I know, it's so hard being tiny," and it's such a true statement!

One of Lucy's quotable quotes lately happened at Lindsay's house. Lindsay's second born, Ada, was pointing to Lindsay and saying she was her Mama, then pointing to me and saying I was Lucy's Mama. Lucy didn't understand and got mad, got in Ada's face and yelled, "No, Ada! That's my MAMA!" She also frequently says, "I don't want it!" She's so itty bitty and soooo mad it's hard to not laugh, so I'm trying to respond in helpful ways.

2011-03-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

How soon we forget: Feds approve exploration for new deep water oil drilling in Gulf of Mexico. Let's set the timer and see how soon the nuclear contamination issues in Japan are forgotten.

good question...

2011-03-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

Sam has had some amazing questions lately that have totally stumped me or have required some serious depth of explanation. I really enjoy trying to explain complex things to this sweet little person because he actually does want to know and I want to reward his curious little mind.

From today:

What's a mummy? After a discussion of decomposition (we'd seen a bird decompose near our apt. over the last few months and the other day found it's leg bone, so we'd seen the process the whole way through) I explained all about how Egyptians wrapped people up, held their bodies together, were trying to preserve bodies, etc. He was digging it, but then had to know their good/evil status: do they fight bad guys or are they bad guys? He said Seth had been "telling me all about mummies." I really wish I had heard that conversation.

How does a dragon breathe fire? Where does it hold the fire? This one totally stumped me. Turns out it's completely illogical that a dragon could breathe fire, which I told him, but said I suppose it's possible that the dragon has some kind of lighter fluid in its body and a sparking mechanism...but not likely.

These are serious questions. Any good answers for the fire-breathing dragon?

Also, I want to apologize for the lack of pictures lately. I can never seem to find the camera lately because I just haven't been home much (I'm not even home right now). If you would like to see pictures you might put some pressure on the man with the camera (Kristopher Nels...).

Love,

Jenn

quick, before I forget

2011-03-02T20:29:00.001-08:00

Lately the kids have been saying funny, amazing things that are remarkable to me but I keep forgetting them before I can write them down.

Tonight, after books, song, and 2 stories Lucy told me a story: "Lucy walking. It's a forest. Lucy see owl, owl flying!"

I was also impressed by her memory tonight. At first she was commenting at a shifting series of photos she saw of her baby cousin Ingrid (~4 mos. old) a few days ago,
Lucy: The baby Ingid, she laughing. The baby Ingid laughing.
Sam: What baby?
Me: Baby Ingrid, your cousin, Kirk and Eva's baby.
Lucy: Baby Ingid. Moses. And Moses.
Me: Oh, is Moses your cousin too?
Lucy: Yeah. And Goomi (Megumi). They tickle me, ha ha.
Me: Who else is your cousin?
Lucy: Iam (Liam) my cousin.

Moses and Megumi are my sister's kids who she saw at Christmas and who, apparently, tickled her. She has talked about Megumi before but I was really surprised that she A) picked up on Moses's name and B) remembered him. Liam we've seen on skype and we have some cute pictures of, as well as a Liam doll.

The other night I had put both the kids in bed and was walking out when Sam stopped me by raising his hand and with a smile said, "I'm gonna think about worms." He loves worms.

The other day Seth, Sam's best buddy, was here and both boys were tired and crabby. They were fighting over some toy and at one point Seth got upset and said, "You're not my best buddy anymore!" (I can't believe they're saying that already). Sam's response was awesome: "Yes you are!!!"

muffins!

2011-02-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

We've made these before and they are amazingly delicious--buttermilk does wonders for baked goods. I made them this morning but since Sam doesn't like blueberries I put chocolate chips in some of them. Both the berries and chocolate are excellent paired with the orange zest. I also tweaked a few things, like did 1.5 cups of white whole wheat flour and 1 cup all-purpose (unbleached); I didn't add all the oil, I substituted some apple sauce in; and I did about a 1/4 cup less of the sugar. After they came out of the oven Lucy gulped down two mini ones immediately. Here's the recipe, I recommend it to any and all!

a short, crude story

2011-02-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the poo story, but this one was great. A day or so ago Sam pooped and then excitedly told me that there were two big ones and three little ones. "It's a poo family!" Such a family-oriented young person.

back when they were chubby

2011-01-31T22:20:00.000-08:00

addendum

2011-01-26T00:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Lucy told us, "I'm a wet baby, I'm a nakey baby," after her bath.

Sam has begun jumping off all sorts of furniture--very daring for our typically cautious boy.

a little about Lucy-lu

2011-01-23T22:52:00.000-08:00

Lucy's vocabulary and comprehension routinely impress us, as does her physical coordination. Sometimes we're not sure if we're not remembering what Sam could do at this age or if she really is just ahead of the game. She and I have these awesome mini-conversations where she is able to communicate real events and talk back and forth with me. She has also figured out how to get Kris to do just about anything. She says, "I want some too, Daaaaddeee!" in this super cute voice (or just about any sentence followed by "Daddy"--you should see the smile Kris gets every time she does it).

Recently we had some people over and were discussing something that prompted me to exclaim, "you were so tiny!" I was talking about this person's youthful age. But Lucy came running from the other room and shouted, "I'm tiny!!!" Tiny is one of the things I routinely call her, because she is just that--tiny. She's small-boned, light weight, and short.

We can't leave Lucy alone for any amount of time because she gets into everything and is a mess-making pro. Today I was dealing with Sam in his bedroom, Kris was doing something in that part of the apartment, and we realized we didn't know where Lucy was. If she's not in sight and it's quiet you know something bad is happening. We found her in the kitchen dumping freshly squeezed lime juice all over a cookbook--not that bad, but exemplary.

Lucy LOVES songs. She requests at least 8 or 9 songs a night, usually making a request long before the song you're singing is over. Many of the songs are songs we actually sing, but she has begun making a long list of requested songs that I am not familiar with: the cat song, the gummy song, "the other baby song" (after I've tried 3 or 4 different baby songs), and more. I usually just make one up but it doesn't always satisfy. She also loves to contribute parts to songs. She says "ho, ho, ho" in the "Sanna song," sun beam! in the Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam song, "woof woof" in the doggy song, etc. Kris found recently that if you pace the song really slowly she can actually sing way more of the words that that. I also caught her singing to her baby doll the other day when she thought no one was watching. She also loves books and also requests 8 or 9 of those a night.

Tonight Lucy was spinning around until she was falling over. She really doesn't ever hold still, is always curious, and loves to play games--specifically board games ("I wan pay game! Box game!"). Of course, she doesn't actually play the board game, she just likes having all the pieces out. I think for both she and Sam board games are a way to get Kris or I to sit down and focus on just them--the playing of the game is irrelevant, it's all about the captive audience.

Lucy also loves kisses on her ouchies, her blanket (babet), her stuffed giraffe (aff baby), her brother (one of her favorite sentences is still, "Hi Sam!"), talking about owls and cats, taking baths, seeing and talking about babies, and lots of cuddle time. We're so glad to have her in our family. The 6 months after she was born were some of our hardest, but now we couldn't imagine life being nearly as fantastic without her.

a little about Sam

2011-01-23T22:28:00.001-08:00

Today Sam said, "Sometimes I don't talk because when I do I can't think better." Since Sam was really small he's been more of a watcher and thinker than other kids his age. He's an active kid, but he's definitely still very contemplative. Also today we had a conversation about decomposition because he was wondering what had happened to a dead bird we had seen a while back. I told him about how it had basically fallen apart until it was dirt. Then he had about a million questions about where it went and how it would resurrect (we had been talking religion, specifically how we would live again), "How can Heavenly Father put it back together again?" I didn't have a very good answer for that one, but I did my best with reverse entropy...

From there he moved onto asking how jelly beans were made and luckily Kris knew a little about that (Kris never ceases to amaze me with his random knowledge of sports stats, yo-yo tricks, and now knowledge of jelly bean creation). Next was a discussion about how bumble bees make honey. "Where do they hold the pollen, in their stingers? Why do they sting you? How do they carry it in their mouths if there's no room? How do they make the containers for the honey?" We decided we better get a book about it.

Instead of having an imaginary friend Sam has an extra set of parents. He tells us stuff about them, like the things they all do together or the things his parents do for him, or let him do. The stories I've heard about imaginary friends are that kids will tell a story about their friend wherein the friend is allowed to, or capable of, do(ing) something the kid can't do themselves. That's sort of how Sam's parents are. They sound like a pretty rad set of parents. Thankfully, he does still like us. Whenever we talk about school Sam tells me he only wants to go if we come too (and if not us, his best buddy Seth).

He hums or sings "duh duh duh" to the tune of Ode to Joy lately. A lot.

Sam is way into cooking/baking lately. He has enjoyed helping Kris or I in the kitchen in the past, but recently he has been telling me stories about the things he is going to make when he's bigger. Mostly pasta. But in the past few weeks I find it hard to make anything without two little "helpers." Sam is actually helpful, Lucy not so much. Tonight I made pancakes for dinner and Sam fell apart when he realized I had made the batter without him.

Needless to say, he's turning out to be a pretty rad kid.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T21:28:00.000-08:00

I've never been as in love with Christmas in my adult years until this year. Sam was really excited to decorate our house and tree, we got to talk about the Christmas story a lot all month long, and we started establishing some family traditions.

One was that a couple nights each week, after we got our tree, we would put a bunch of pillows and blankets on the floor, turn off all the lights, lay down and talk about the birth of Jesus Christ, and sing Christmas songs. The kids loved it. Sam loved snuggling up in all the blankets and talking about the story. Lucy loved the animals. I'll explain: once all the blankets were out Lucy decided the scene was not complete unless every single stuffed animal was also in attendance, so she would run in between the front room and her bedroom grabbing animals. She'd drop a few off, make another run, all along talking about "da an-ih-muhls, more an-ih-muhls!"

Another couple of traditions I hope to keep up are homemade wrapping paper, salt dough ornaments (they didn't quite turn out this year, but we're learning--we'll be experts next year), advent calendars of some kind, and at least a few homemade gifts for family (we did ALL homemade one year--wish we still had time like that).

Sam also helped me bake a cake. I've been thinking it would be fun to bake a cake each year with the kids to celebrate Jesus's birth--I think they would like that. We'll do candles and everything. We did candles on this one, they both love blowing them out.

If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful day! If you don't, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Christmas in July, or summer in December?

2010-12-16T13:00:00.000-08:00

It was a cloudy, cold summer in SD. The "winter" has been a little chillier and wet. However, for two glorious days the sun came out and the temperatures were in the high 70s and low 80s! On Monday, we hit the beach. Sam wanted tide pools, so we obliged, but we all ended up running into and splashing in the water. Here are a few pictures and videos.

At one point Sam told me he "loves" sea anemones. And I believe it. Actually, that reminds me of a story... The other day Sam was at the playground with a little boy about his same age. That kid kept wanting to run around with Sam, but apparently Sam didn't feel their relationship was established enough to where Sam felt comfortable letting lose around this kid. So instead of being a pirate or whatever this kid wanted Sam to do, Sam turned to him and said, "Hey, what's your favorite animal?" The kid said, "huh?" multiple times, he just was not prepared for the DTR. Eventually he got it and told Sam his favorite animal was a tiger. Sam's reported favorite animal? "Yeah, I like worms. They're slimey." After said conversation they played wonderfully.

One of our favorites from Lucy lately is, "I okay." She's so adventurous and active that she's always falling, and now when she does, if she doesn't think she's hurt, she hops up and says "I okay!"

After this trip to the beach (we hadn't been in a long time, prompting Sam to ask me a few days prior, "Why we never go to the beach anymore?") I decided that one of my favorite sounds is my kids' feet on wet sand.

If you are currently in a place that is snowy and cold I hope this makes you feel happier, and not just insane with jealousy...

helpers

2010-12-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

My two kids are generally great "helpers": Sam stays on task fairly well when helping clean-up, Lucy stays on task for as long as you could expect for a one-year-old. Generally they help willingly, which is really nice. This morning I needed to wash some dishes--a nearly impossible task when both kids are awake and aren't being distracted by a movie or another person. This morning was different. Sam wanted attention so I asked him if he could rinse the dishes. He did such an awesome job! He rinsed and put dishes in the dish drainer with only a few distracted periods and virtually no water spilling. Lucy started pulling all the tupperware out of the drawer they're kept in, then she got into the dish towels, and then pulled all the magnets off the fridge. I pulled up another chair for her and gave her the job of putting dishes into the soapy water. She was very diligent. Every time she ran out of things she could lift she would say, and sign, "more."

(I'm wearing a baby carrier around my waist, in case you're wondering what that is)

Kris walked in on this wonderful scene, except by that point I think Lucy was pulling the sopping wet wash cloth out of the sink and getting herself and her chair soaked. Nothing a little mopping couldn't fix. Once we were done with dishes I started asking Lucy for help with the various messes she had made before being my dish helper and that's what this video is about.

"Keen upt, keen upt..." Love it. I hope working together remains part of our family's life, even if it's hard sometimes.

pop pop pop music

2010-12-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

i haven't really been able to handle much pop music in English (American or British) since 5th grade. when i say pop i don't mean "pop-y," i mean the super-simplistic, mass-audience, corporate radio type stuff. this has something to do with social and political views, but mostly is an aesthetic issue--I just don't like how it sounds. i can't really stand pop in other languages either, and I can't handle pop from Spain. but Mexican and other Latin American pop is awesome! one of my favorites is julieta venegas. she plays an accordion!

burrrrrrrr

2010-11-30T22:49:00.000-08:00

Today in the library I saw a girl wearing super short shorts, a button-up blouse, loafers (no socks), and a HUGE scarf. The only reason I noticed her was because her scarf was enormous. Apparently the only part of her body that was cold was her neck.

It actually has been colder than usual for a SD winter and I've realized how under prepared our family is for this phenomenon called weather. A trip to Utah and Idaho will whip us into shape, though. Just a few more weeks until break!

2010-11-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

Kris just left to take the kids outside for a little while so I could get some work done. On his way out the door Sam looked up at me and said, "Have a good day!" I love my sweet boy.

halloween is for vikings

2010-11-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

My cousin Lindsay (plus her Mother and my Mother) made viking costumes for our kids and her kids. It was a big project b/c of all the detail she wanted, and they turned out marvelously.

The boys had furry vests, leg covers, belts with sword sheaths attached, and amazing hats w/ beards attached. My favorite quote was, "We're nice vikings!"

There was a decent amount of talk for a few weeks prior about best buddy vikings.

The girls had furry capes over tunics, leg coverings, weapons, and more amazing hats. They kept their costumes on all night--miraculously.

Everything was great for Halloween: all four kids had a good time, so of course the adults did too. The four kids won first place in a category of the church costume contest, ate unthinkable amounts of candy, and rode in the long ship my Dad and Kris made. Thanks, Lindsay for some memorable costumes and a good time (and for helping my kids get in touch with their obscure viking roots)!

punkins

2010-11-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

100 babies

2010-10-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

The other day Sam was telling me he didn't want Lucy to get bigger, he wants her to stay little. We then had a conversation about having more babies in our family (no, I am not pregnant, so don't think I'm dropping any hints). I asked if he would like another baby,

Sam: "Yeah! I want 100 babies!"
Me: "100 babies?! That's a lot, where would 100 babies sleep?"
Sam: "Uh, maybe they could sleep in Lucy's bed."
Me: "They can't all sleep in Lucy's bed. We would have to buy 100 beds."
Sam: Thinking... "If 100 babies all clapped at the same time, it would be really loud."
Me: "Good call."

Oh, how I love this boy.

Coming soon...Halloween is for vikings!

warning: no pictures in this post

2010-10-21T23:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry, our camera is MIA.

Recently, while the Jorgensens were visiting, Sam said this to them while playing outside at the playground: "Let's just sit and think. Let's think about...squids. Let's think about mama squids, and daddy squids, and baby squids." The kid likes to think. One of my favorite things he does lately is pace around a room while he's explaining something or telling a story. Sam has almost completely given up napping. At the beginning of the month I upset him and he gave me a time out--he was very harsh about it. Today Kris told Sam about the BP Deep Water Horizon oil spill and he seemed deeply concerned. He asked to see more pictures, videos, and talk more about it just before going to bed. Budding environmentalist? Hope so, I developed my first understandings of environmental justice at a pretty young age (thanks Mom and Dad).

Lucy has recently discovered the joys of "ring around the rosey," so she's becoming an expert at the controlled fall down. She has also started mimicking the ABC song, saying "I want some" and "I want to," saying excavator ("es-uh-vay-duh"--pretty good, huh?), and going down the big slide with no help at all. This tiny girl is still under 20 lbs, and bald, so it's crazy watching her do these things. She looks like some 9-month-old kids. Lucy is in love with animals and learning animal signs. She can easily sign over 20 animals, and now she says a lot of their names and sounds too (my favorite is fish, said "pish"). Lucy has an incredible knack for making messes--I think above and beyond some other kids. Today, while we were walking home, she saw a muddy puddle. I told her to not mess with it so she immediately stuck her hands in. Then, annoyed to have mud on her hands, she started rubbing them together. Before I could whip out a wipe she had rubbed her hands on her sweater and then, for whatever reason, all over her face. Love her. She takes a lot of baths.

Kris does everything right. He takes care of our kids, watches other people's kids, does great things at the library, cooks delicious things (biscuits yesterday, buttermilk pancakes this morning, naan and roti tonight--I guess he likes from-scratch carbs?), cleans our house, keeps up with political and social issues, and is probably the most handsome he's ever been. I had a humorous, half-joking/half-serious, conversation with my dear friend Camille one time about how our husbands do everything better than us--homemaking, child rearing, earning a living...it's too close to the truth.

I'm just trying to survive this week, so I won't go into details. But school and work are engaging, I love my little family, cooking and eating are wonderful with our CSA box produce, and I'm loving SD lately. Life is busy and hectic, but good.

birthday

2010-09-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

Kris is 33! We accomplished three goals of Kris's today to honor his special day: we hiked around Torrey Pines State Beach (that's where this photo was taken--loved it!), ate Ethiopian food (excellent!), and went to Mt. Soledad (too foggy, couldn't see anything). There was a nice 2-hour nap squeezed in there too as well as some blackberry pie and homemade vanilla bean ice cream.

He tells me he had a good day, which is really what matters. The kids gave him lots of special birthday hugs and kisses and we generally tried to make it a pleasant, fun, but also restful day filled with delicious food. I think we succeeded. And most of all...we love Kris!

candle picture

2010-09-05T22:09:00.001-07:00

That picture in my last post merits an explanation. Sam and Seth do not have the same birthday and their birthdays were not celebrated together. However, every time we celebrate a birthday or even just have a dessert with the Ruts, Lindsay is thoughtful and kind enough to put birthday candles in both of the boys' desserts. They love blowing them out. Two nights ago they blew out candles perched in some creme brulee for Aaron's birthday, in that photo they were blowing out candles for Lindsay's birthday, and I feel like there was another time during the summer that they blew out candles, but I can't remember when. They sing the happy birthday song to the appropriate person every time, but then they blow out their own candle while the birthday person blows out their own. Pretty cute.

quotable quotes

2010-09-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

The other day I was asking Sam to make a decision in a very matter-of-fact kind of voice. I get that tone when I have lots of things to do and he's taking a while to respond, but I'm pretty sure I didn't sound upset. After I asked him what he wanted between two options he kind of looked at the ground and said, "You can be nice, if you want to." We had a good couple of hugs and I apologized to my sweet, sensitive boy.

Last night, referring to staying up late, I actually told Kris, "I'm too old for this." It's true, too.

Anyone who reads this blog knows Sam has a best buddy, Seth. Yesterday another kid in the neighborhood was getting a ride in the front of our double stroller but both Sam and Seth wanted to get in the back seat. Kris suggested they squeeze in together. After they both were in Sam said, "That's why Seff is my best buddy, cuz we can squeeze together like this."

And one of our recent favorites from Lucy: "yep."

love

2010-08-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

That's what we've got around here. Lots of it.

The days when Kris is at work Lucy seriously talks about him all day. "Where Daddy?" "Want Daddy!" "Daddy! Daddeeeeeeee!" She loves her Daddy. She even prefers him over me much of the time. I've tried not to be jealous since Sam preferred me for the first 2 years of his life.

Speaking of that wonderful boy...here we are in all our baking glory. He's pretty great in the kitchen. My friend did a blog post recently about cooking with children and wrote, "Cooking with kids is...you fill in the blank." I still can't think of one adjective to describe it. I can think of 3 though (and one modifier): fun, messy, and sometimes stressful.

We made this (an apple tart with an almond, buttery, eggy delicious base underneath the apples--so good):

While I was cleaning the kitchen today Lucy found a bag and began filling it with some necessary items: a board book, a toy, a spoon. Then she tried putting it on, so I helped her a little. After walking around with this huge bag for a while she decided she also needed to wear my shoes.

I think there's something wrong with my camera--notice how this last picture is kind of blurry with brighter spots? It's doing that if I don't have the flash on.

Anyway, here's some brief footage of Lucy with her latest skill: two-word sentences. It's funny to me that she does this because I wouldn't say her vocabulary is huge for a 15-month-old. Her comprehension is pretty out there though, I guess. For a while I thought she was just mimicking us because she's been saying "It's a (fill in noun)" for a month or 2, but it sounded more like "Tss car." Now I'm positive that she's actually pairing words because she does it all the time and mixes up which words the combos contain.

I FOUND MY KEYS!

2010-08-14T10:14:00.001-07:00

Over a month ago my keys disappeared. We did multiple searches all over the house and I was about 80% certain Lucy had thrown them in the trash (she throws stuff in there all the time) which had been taken out a while before I noticed them missing. I recently recommitted myself to cloth diapering and, in a search through boxes of too small baby diapers, I found them! I seriously have no idea how they got there. I screamed and laughed about it for 5 minutes since I was on the verge of shelling out somewhere around $150 to replace my 3 campus keys. HOORAY!

epic journey

2010-08-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

We went on an epic journey. We went to Yellowstone with part of the Nations clan and to Utah with the whole Jorgie clan. In classic Jenn and Kris style we couldn't find our camera for 1/2 the trip, so we don't have the most amazing pictures. Regardless...the trip was awesome.

In Yellowstone we stayed in hotel-like cabins: out our window all we could see were trees and just a short hike away were some gorgeous waterfalls. We rode horses (and saw a red tail hawk!), went on a wagon ride through some back country to a cowboy cookout (cheesy, but fun--and we saw a coyote!), did some manageable hikes with 8 kids in tow (osprey! deer!), took a dip in Yellowstone lake (Sam took a dip, on accident, the rest of us only dipped our feet), played games, had a talent show, saw lots of wildlife, and lived it up with my parents and my sister's family.

Besides a few exhaustion-induced meltdowns, Lucy and Sam did wonderfully. They loved being with their cousins and wandering around in the foothills, valleys, and forests of Yellowstone. And incredibly enough, Old Faithful really is that cool.

Sam seemed to be a different person at the Jorgensen house. I think he was overwhelmed and overstimulated (in good ways) at all the aunts and uncles who were constantly playing with him. He was seriously wild, not a word I would commonly use to describe him. Both the kids had a great time there with their other cousins, grandparents, and Kris's siblings (plus sis and bro-in-laws and significant others).

While there we mostly hung out, played, ate yummy food, celebrated birthdays, and talked. We also got to see my littlest bro and his wife, some old-time friends, and I saw some Nations cousins. The only bad thing about our trip was that it had to end.

By the time we came back home, though, we were all pretty exhausted. After a fairly unpleasant flight we made it home and the kids were both ecstatic to be here. They ran around like crazy people, reacquainting themselves with our apartment. Within two hours our clean house was torn apart, complete with items in the bathtub, courtesy of Lucy (a favorite pastime of hers).

My conclusion: traveling with kids is tiring, but totally worth it.

Lucy's getting cuter

2010-07-09T11:11:00.001-07:00

And funnier.

She brought me a cloth diaper to put on, over her clothes. Then she walked around the house in it for almost an hour. She puts Mr. Potato head glasses on her face and gets your attention to make you laugh.

She dances.

Her favorite game is to have someone put a blanket on her head so she can go recklessly careening around the house, laughing as she knocks into walls and other things. She's done this almost every day this week--hilarious.

cuz I've got 2 kids and I ain't ashamed.

2010-06-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

Two kids and I love them both the same. Let me tell you about my baby Lucy:

A few weeks back I lost my keys. The last thing I remember doing with them for sure was handing them to Lucy, and that was my mistake. She stashes things all over the place. This morning when I went to get in the shower I found Sam's missing pajama pants and 2 diapers. Today when I started pulling things out of my backpack at school I found a gnawed carrot in my zipper pocket. I am about 99% sure of who the culprit is in both cases.

(In searching for a photo of Lu on this computer, and finding none that are less than 3 months old, I've realized that I actually have way more video of her b/c photographing her is nearly impossible: she doesn't stop moving. Ever.)

Let me tell you about my other baby. His name is Sam:

(I only have a pre-haircut pic on this computer)

I've wondered sometimes in the past if Sam knows how to sing b/c he won't do it in front of us. Recently I've realized that he does indeed have a memory for song words and tunes, he just doesn't like an audience. A few minutes after we put him to bed Kris and I thought we heard something so Kris went to check on the kids. He called me back to the hall and we stood outside the kids' door listening to Sam sing a very good rendition of the chorus from Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," words and tune perfect. He then moved on to some monologue about ovens and fires and turning the oven off...good to know he's concerned about fire safety.

thus far in the month of June

2010-06-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

Lucy regained a taste for avocados. And avocado pits.

My sister visited with her two youngest kids and we all had a fantastic time together, a good portion of that time spent lounging in my parents' pool (pictures of this to come). With Sarah here Sam met his cousin Selah and helped her feel better about her baby acne by showing her how bad it could really be.

I was able to reduce my work hours to 10 hrs/week so the summer will actually be enjoyable, hooray!

Lucy perfected her spin.

Sam turns 3

2010-06-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

A month ago when I asked Sam what he wanted to do at his birthday party this conversation ensued:

Me: What do you want to do for your birthday?
Sam: I want to have a special party.
Me: What kind of party?
Sam: I want to have candies at my party. And I want to have a costume like a sea anemone.
Me: With sticky tentacles on it?
Sam: Yep.
Me: What color?
Sam: Uh, white.
Me: What kind of a costume should Lucy have?
Sam: Uh, Lucy should be a baby sea anemone. And you should be a big mama anemone, and my Daddy should be a big daddy sea anemone!
Me: Who should come to your party?
Sam: You, and Lucy, and my Daddy, and Ada, but not Seff, and Lindsay too.
Me: Why don't you want Seth to come?
Sam: Because he will eat all the candy.
Me: Well why don't we invite him and when he gets here we will tell him to share the candy with everybody.
Sam: Okay. Cuz Seff is my friend, I like Seff.
Me: Should Ada and Lindsay and Seth wear costumes?
Sam: Yeah. Seff should have a bird costume cuz he likes birds.

Determined to make this dream come true, my cousin Lindsay crafted hot pink sea anemone hats for Sam and Seth, the party involved many sea themed games, and there was plenty of candy to put on toddler ice cream sundaes. I actually don't have many pictures of the party besides the boys enjoying their sundaes as they cruise the waves on their boogie boards (inflatable dolphins in tow).

Check out Lindsay's blog post about it, she has 2 awesome pictures of the boys up donning their anemone hats (which were pink in the end b/c that's how Sam currently likes his anemones).

A few days before his birthday Kris asked Sam what he wanted to eat for his birthday breakfast. He wasn't giving a real response so Kris suggested chocolate chip pancakes. Sam's response: How about just chocolate chips? We decided to put the chocolate chips in the pancakes anyway, but we did cover them generously with whipped cream, which Sam sunk the bottom part of his face into toward the end of the meal.

Sam got some fun toys but I'll highlight these awesome aprons my Mom made for him.

When Lucy saw him with one on she had to have one too, so they both paraded around the house with them on (Lucy also brought me Sam's sweatshirt and Kris's hat to put on, that explains her outfit here).

Sam's favorite feature are the pockets he can slip stuff into. We'll have to make some cookies soon--that's Sam's favorite time to help out in the kitchen.

Thanks to the Ruts and Sam's grandparents for making it such a wonderful day.

lizard on a leash

2010-05-22T22:19:00.001-07:00

Kris's lizard catching skills are the envy of the whole neighborhood. Well, maybe not the whole neighborhood, but of a few local kids.

And I think Sam's estimation of his Dad, which was already excellent, went up even further. Actually, I think it even impressed my parents. Way to be skilled, Kris.

"live wire"

2010-05-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

...is just one adjective my in-laws used to describe Lucy during their recent visit. On observing her a few months ago my Grandpa (Lucy's great Grandpa) said, "she's moving every which way all at once" and my Grandma said, "watching her is just making me tired." Today I was thinking that people would probably call her an "active" child, but "maniac" may be more appropriate at certain points in the day.

We love this baby, but she is a tough one to keep up with. She stands up in her high-chair and throws her leg over the side to climb out, she climbs the stairs of the tallest slide and prepares to slide down by herself, yesterday she threw herself down the smaller slide head first (and cracked up the whole time), today she got mad at Kris for not letting her ride his skateboard standing up, she tries to jump and do somersaults, she gets out the front door and runs to the stairs and tries to start walking down them, and once we get down the stairs out front she immediately begins climbing up a steep hill that is right in front of our apartment.

She surprises us at times with her comprehension, which I remember happening with Sam too: it's hard to know what a 1-year-old can really understand. She has started following simple commands (except, "Lucy, don't walk off the side of that ledge"). Yesterday, however, she really surprised Kris. He told her it was time to go and asked her to find her shoes, and she did. She went to another part of the house, found her shoes, and brought them back to him and sat down so he could put them on.

Sam has never been very hard to keep up with. He is much more contemplative, laid back, apprehensive, and cautious. We love the ways he has changed and gotten over a lot of fears lately but also appreciate his tendency toward reservation just because it's part of who he is. He used to hate any bugs or lizards, but now he wants to catch lizards all the time (Kris taught him how), and he loves finding pill bugs, snails, lady bugs, worms, etc. A week ago I was talking to a neighbor, he was trying to get my attention, but I was finishing a sentence before responding and all of the sudden my cautious boy was cruising down a hill on someone's bike (with training wheels). Then just a few days ago he started experimenting with riding Kris's skateboard down some hills.

Sam's latest obsession is the ocean. He loves talking about sea anemones (which he pronounces correctly--I didn't get that one right until like last year), jellyfish, squids, dolphins, not sharks (which live in shark houses, btw), star fish, and octopus. I've started making up stories about our family going on various snorkeling adventures. He usually makes sure I get to the part where a star fish latches on to Lucy's tummy and the other part where we touch the "sticky tentacles" of the sea anemones. Sounds like we're due for a trip to the aquarium.

Lucy turns 1

2010-05-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

May is a joyous month in our family: Lucy and Sam have their birthdays, we celebrate mother's day, my sister is due to have a baby any minute, one of my sister's other babies has a birthday this month, my brother Mike is a May baby...and that's all I can think of right now.

First comes Lucy's birthday on May 6th. I decided to have an actual kid party, a first for me, and it was fantastic. The criteria for guests was that Lucy would recognize them, so her current and former care takers and families came, cousin Lindsay's family, and a family from my grad cohort. It was a 2 hour party at the time of day Lucy is always awake (4-6pm). We had dips, drinks, and desserts. Best of all Lucy had a great time wandering around, playing with toys, watching all the kids, and eating shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate. All week leading up to her birthday I felt all emotional about how wonderful and sweet my little baby is--we are so grateful she's in our family.

And girl's still got talent!

I'm bald like Lucy!

2010-04-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

In the last 6 months Sam has developed a habit of twisting his hair around his finger while sucking his thumb. He would oft times end up with his finger tangled in his hair or with hairs he had accidentally pulled out on his hand. After a while this evolved into a bald spot. We started having talks about not doing it, I showed him the bald spot in the mirror, etc. but it kept growing. Last week it was getting too big to hide under his hair and I buzzed his head. I love Sam's beautiful hair so it made me really sad, but it had to be done. He actually looks like he could fit into my sister's family now (all the boys get a buzz cut), it cracks me up.
When Kris got home from work the day I buzzed it Sam excitedly ran to the door saying, "Daddy look! I'm bald like Lucy!" Our concern with having two bald babies is that people will think we're neo-Nazis...hopefully all the love vibes we try to emit will negate that perception.

Also, we made it to the beach twice last weekend b/c the Jorgensens were in town. We successfully took a family photo and ate out all in one night. Miracles do happen, but only when you have two extra adults on hand.

the cuteness of Ms. Lucy

2010-04-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

As if it could be truly captured on film...

welfare

2010-04-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Did you know that J.K. Rowling was once a single mom on welfare? She says that without state support she couldn't have come to where she is now. This article she wrote spoke to me. Although it's about politics in the UK, I think it's applicable.

amigas de verdad

2010-04-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

I don't have time to do a real blog post right now, but I just got emails on the subject of potty training from two of my favorite people, my good friend Camille and my sister Sarah. After reading them I just felt so glad to have such wonderful ladies in my life! Not just them, but fantastic sisters-in-law, a great mother-in-law, a wonderful Mom, my prima favorita, and so many friends and neighbors who are uplifting, kind, thoughtful, and willing to deal with my craziness. Thanks for being fantastic!

And just for good measure, my favorite little boy painting with my favorite big boy.

teeth

2010-04-09T21:08:00.001-07:00

Sam age 11 months

Sam frequently tries to evade our nightly tooth brushing ritual and as a result we have had many talks about the importance of practicing good dental hygiene. Tonight, after Kris had given him yet another reminder, Sam said this: "It's good to brush your teeth so they won't fall out and fall to the ground and then Lucy will wake up and then she'll eat my teeth." Good call, gotta watch out for that.

girl's got skills!

2010-04-01T11:11:00.001-07:00

Lucy has acquired two new skills, both of which we have tried, and mostly failed, to document. Regardless, I'm including some footage because she's so tiny and so dang cute.

She has a new record of taking about 8 steps in a row. What I think is really amazing is that she gets up without any help. Here's our attempt to capture the walking:

She also growls like a bear when she sees bear figurines or pictures. However, she also growls when we say bird sometimes and sometimes does the sign for bird when we say bear. She's learning.

My friend also asked that I update what we did for sleeping arrangements here to solve our problems. We tried a bunch of different things, and I obsessed over it for a while, and what finally worked was this:
We moved the kids' large dresser so that it was perpendicular to the wall. Lucy's crib is on the far side of it, meaning she can't see the door or Sam's bed (we took some precautions so that it's not an earthquake hazard, mind you). We have a fan plugged in over there and the rocking chair is there. We put her to sleep every night around 6:30 or 7pm sleepy, but awake. It took a while for her to learn to do that, a bit of crying, but it was the easiest time of night for me to handle the crying b/c I wasn't being woken up.

Next we do most of Sam's bedtime routine in the front room except a story once he's in bed. We started doing this earlier than we had been, which seems to help--he is better rested. He has also become skilled at whispering when in his bed. We get him settled and then check on him 3 or 4 times because when we don't he comes out repeatedly and doesn't end up sleeping until 9:00 or 9:30pm.

Lucy usually wakes up at some point but has learned to settle herself back down really well. She wakes up around 5AM for a feeding, which is fine, and then sleeps until around 7AM. Sam usually wakes up before her but is good about coming out quietly. There was definitely an adjustment period for all of this but I decided the best thing to do would be to get them used to sleeping through each others sounds in the same room since we're not moving to a 3-bedroom place for a long time. Sam has adjusted fairly well and can sleep through more of Lucy's noises; Lucy has improved slightly in sleeping through Sam's noises, but is still a pretty light sleeper.

All that said...Sam got pink eye, Lucy finally got a first tooth, Lucy seems to be working on a second tooth, so our entire routine has been thrown off. We will recoup after this has all passed. I was glad to see so many people felt my pain but also sad that it is such a trial for many. My Mom says when you become a parent you sign some sort of document giving up all rights to adequate sleep. I think the document says you are allowed occasional decent nights' sleep, but does not ever guarantee that this will be regular or even normal in the first few years.

messers

2010-03-24T14:27:00.001-07:00

My Mom called us "messer pies" when we made messes as kids. Come to think of it, she still calls me a messer if I make a big mess while cooking--I guess you never grow out of some things.

Keeping in those fine traditions of making messes and labeling people as messers, here are some shots of the kids, two advanced messers.

Sam mixed water and chalk on the balcony which neither he or Lucy could resist coating themselves in. Clothes, feet, hands, faces, the balcony, the carpet by the door...

Sam often helps me cook, especially if it involves some kind of dough, and on this occassion he (unbeknownst to me) kept swiping flour off the counter on to the floor and the top of Lucy's head. You can't see it that well on her, but it's there.

Lucy can hold her own with messing though, she does not need Sam's help.
She loves smoothies but gets so excited when eating them it inevitably coats much of her bib, face, and clothes. She tears apart cupboards and drawers, pulls as many toys as she can reach from any toy container, tears apart paper, rubs food on her head, and still spits up a lot. Sam was such a laid back baby I didn't have to child proof hardly anything. He didn't even try to get in cupboards, I had to show him. Not Lucy: she cannot be contained.

beach season and school season do not mix

2010-03-24T14:14:00.001-07:00

We've been trying to make it to the beach now that the weather has warmed up again and it's not raining as much. Lucy is just as wild about the beach as Sam, which we love. She chases seagulls (crawling), they both love the water (even though it's still a bit cold for down here), Lucy eats a lot of sand, and Sam does some serious digging.

Fortunately for me I get to start classes again, which I enjoy. Unfortunately for me that means life will be really busy again so our beach outings will not be as frequent as we would like.

halloween

2010-03-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine had a Halloween post in November and called it the "latest Halloween post ever." Well Natalie, I think this beats yours for the latest ever. I never had pictures of my kids at Halloween because my sweet Mom never sent me photos, but as I'm at her house, downloading pictures off her camera for her (from as far back as Halloween....c'mon Mom), I finally got them!

Both these costumes were made by my wonderful Mother-in-law who is handy and creative with a needle, thread, and machine. They were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, in case it's not obvious. It took over a week of coaxing to get Sam to wear his costume and he still refused to wear the little belt that went with it.

The collar of Lucy's costume was soaked with drool within an hour. But man were they both adorable! There was another PP and T duo at the neighborhood party (who were cooler than us b/c Mom and Dad were Captain Hook and the Crocodile) but their kids' costumes were not nearly as awesome. Thanks Gayle.

plans

2010-03-03T22:35:00.000-08:00

This past Monday we decided to go hiking on the cliffs/hills above a local beach. We waited for Lucy to take her first nap then started getting the kids and gear ready. We fought with an under-rested Sam for about 45 minutes just to get his jammies off and clothes on. We had all our stuff packed: snacks, water, extra clothes, hats, sun block, etc. We got in the car to drive the 20 minutes to this beach. Lucy fell asleep 5 minutes into our drive and Sam 10 minutes into the drive. We looked at each other, laughed, and drove on by our destination, shaking our heads about trying to plan things with two small kids.

We ran an errand once the kids woke up. Sam was upset we weren't at the beach, so we did finally make it there, but to one even closer to us. Lucy crawled after seagulls and ate sand, Sam found a large hole ("nest") in the sand he played around, and we all got soaked though none of us had swimsuits on. It was a fantastic time. We did take pictures, I just don't have the cable to my camera and I'm at my Mom's house. So here's a picture from the archives of her computer:

This is Sam in the trunk of my Mom's car a year ago. When I see pictures like this of Sam I think, no wonder I was so obsessed with him, he really was that cute. And he still is.

ms. lucy

2010-02-21T21:09:00.000-08:00

She laughs even when she isn't laughing.

sleep

2010-02-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

This is a long post about children and sleep. Just a warning.

The biggest challenge in my life right now is trying to function on completely inadequate amounts of sleep. I don't know if Kris would call it his biggest challenge, but I'm sure it ranks up there for him too. My cousin and I have discussed how we now understand why they use sleep deprivation as a form of torture--it negatively impacts your emotional, cognitive, physical, and spiritual well being.

Sam has never been a very good sleeper. When he was a baby, old enough to be sleeping through the night, we (or I, is more accurate) couldn't stand to hear him cry for forever, so the "cry it out" method was not in the plans. Eventually, however, we did a modified version of cry it out. It would work briefly, then we would go on a trip or he would get sick or we would stay up a little later than usual. Now that he's bigger we know he just really hates to be alone (he follows me from room to room all day) so that may partly explain it. Once he upgraded from a crib to a bed he could get in and out of himself he began coming into our room in the wee hours of the morning, a habit we sometimes fought and sometimes indulged based on our level of exhaustion.

When Lucy was tinier she slept really well. She was doing 6 and sometimes 8 hour stretches in her earliest days. It was like she just got it--when it was dark outside I sleep for a long time. She would get mad if I woke her up to feed her. She held constant in this, for the most part, until she was about4 months old. When I went back to school full-time, and she was with a care taker for between 4 and 7 hours a day, she became a "nocturnal feeder": she would hardly drink anything from a bottle while I was gone and would play catch up during the night. I didn't fight this because I was concerned about how little she was eating while I was away. Teaching her to unlearn this behavior has proven extremely challenging.

After being sick recently Sam reverted to some of his poorer sleep habits. It took forever to get him to bed every night, he would come out multiple times before falling asleep, and he would wake up 3 or 4 times a night. The kids share a room, so oft times they would wake each other up. Even when they didn't we were woken up every other hour (or more) that we were able to be in bed.

We decided to "sleep train" Lucy so for a while we had Sam sleep in our room on the floor, and eventually in our bed. His sleeping didn't improve much, but we were able to get Lucy to go all night without eating. However, Lucy still wakes up 2 or 3 times a night and so does Sam. We don't want them back in the same room because we don't want them waking each other up, and because we're trying to teach Lucy to soothe herself. We've temporarily moved Lucy into a large closet we have (which temporarily housed Kris's sister Kari last winter) so that we can teach her better sleep habits without waking Sam, but our apartment is small and the noises we create in the front room wake her up. Plus, Sam still gets up and comes in our room. Do I lock him in his room and completely freak him out? No amount of discussion has deterred him thus far.

I feel like a crazy person half the time lately. I've been racking my tired brain for solutions but I don't know how to make my kids sleep better, whether in separate places or not. Help me. Please.

budding stars

2010-02-03T22:47:00.000-08:00

Our children have recently begun to take very seriously the admonition to develop their talents. Lucy has taken up the kazoo as her first instrument at the early age of 9 months.

Sam has been working on various art installation pieces and photography.

(No finger in the frame, hooray!)

the ku-wa-wu-wum

2010-01-28T10:46:00.000-08:00

The kids and I went to the nearby aquarium last Saturday. Sam had a great time. His favorite parts were looking face to face at a fish,

a fish opening its mouth really big and him imitating, playing in the water trough current things with boats, splashing in puddles outside, seeing the octopus "put its suckers on the glass and suck it!", and feeding cheerios to Lucy so she would stay happy.

Lucy only had a moderately good time. She just wanted to crawl around on the ground and it took constant convincing that she could be happy in the stroller or carrier. She did seem to enjoy the jellyfish, however. And the cheerios Sam put in her mouth.

A kind stranger had the bright idea to snap a photo of the three of us (why don't I think of things like that?).

eyes

2010-01-27T15:05:00.000-08:00

Today Sam and I were reviewing the eye colors and shapes of the people in our family. Our eyes have an oval shape. And everyone has blue eyes, was the conclusion we came too, except me. I told Sam my eyes were green and brown. He looked closely at them and said, "Your eyes are red!" Guess I've been a little under rested and overstressed lately.

surviving Haiti

2010-01-22T21:08:00.000-08:00

Few things have angered Kris and I more lately than the U.S. media's recent treatment of the survivors of the earthquakes that recently hit Haiti. Pictures and videos of people walking with goods are usually followed by words about looting, vandalism, and disorder. Troops have been called in to "keep the peace." This type of media treatment is not uncommon: the media, for whatever reason, has a tendency to focus on any disorder or conflict that follows tragic events like this. However, social scientific research has repeatedly shown that in times such as this people band together and help one another, form organized groups, and sacrifice for one another. They think less of themselves and their own possessions and tend to reach out to others. Research has also shown that media reporting of this nature is more common when the victims are people of color.

Reports from doctors and less corporate media reps who are on the ground in Haiti report different circumstances. They claim the soldiers have little to do because things are mostly peaceful. People have, generally, organized themselves by communities and distributed goods amongst themselves equally. A recent article in The Nation points out that in the aftermath of a disaster like that in Haiti people must take food whenever or wherever they can find it. What would we do under those circumstances to ensure the survival of those who have made it? Especially when aid is not arriving quickly enough? We should value the survival of people over the protection of goods. The author points out that a caption from the L.A. Times under a photo of a man carrying powdered milk should read something like, "Survivor of the earthquake that recently ravaged Haiti saves children in his neighborhood by bringing back powdered milk," rather than "Looter steals powdered milk as disorder reigns in Haiti" (I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point).

The reason this inaccurate portrayal really bothers me is that I worry it will give people less motivation or incentive to send aid to Haitians. The suffering they are experiencing is unimaginable to me, I can't really comprehend it and wish I could do more than donate money or send clothes. I hope we all can look past the overblown portrayals of chaos and violence and reach out to these people in their time of extreme need. Below is a list of alternative articles and other reports on the aftermath of the earthquake and disasters generally.

Democracy Now!
The Nation, 1
The Nation, 2, also linked above
Enrico Quarantelli (disaster sociologist)

bob the builder!

2010-01-15T08:42:00.000-08:00

Bob the Builder is Sam's latest obsession. He walks around the house singing the chorus, and bits of the verses, of the theme song fairly often. He has also renamed several of his construction machine toys with names of machines in the show. I actually caught him singing on video which is amazing since the boy generally will not pose for pictures and definitely will not perform on camera. As you can see it didn't last long.

This video is in response to a request from Sam's cousins, so this one's for you t, d, and l!

try as i may

2010-01-12T16:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have those perfect days with my kids where they both eat well, take good naps and are well rested, I somehow keep the house clean, dinner is made and tastes good, I make it outside with the kids once or twice, I get a nap, and I even find a moment to read or send an email. On those days I think, "Being a stay-at-home Mom is a snap! Why am I not doing this full-time?" Then I have days a bit more like today where, try as I might, no one seems happy. I'm exhausted from a crappy night's sleep, Lucy fights every nap, Sam fights everything ("Let's go outside!" "No." "Do you want a snack?" "No. I don't want to eat." "Let's change your diaper." "No, I don't want a new diaper!" "Do you want to have fun today?" "No."--all from today, not in that order). No one seems adequately rested or fed and, although I'm trying really hard to meet their needs, the kids aren't happy and I'm frustrated.

This is the nightmare of someone with anxieties regarding pleasing people and making others happy (me),that despite all I do it's just not enough sometimes. I've thought on days like today that this is one reason I'm grateful for my religious beliefs--that I know that even though I can't do quite enough, that's alright, because God provided a healer and redeemer who can make up the difference between what I can give and what my kids need. It's also a blessing for me to be able to pray and receive comfort, guidance, and an added measure of patience. I'm much too imperfect to live without this.

muy talentosa

2010-01-04T16:14:00.000-08:00

Here is our most talented baby. She figured out crawling a few days ago and likes to practice all day long. She's also way into jumping, whether in the jumperoo or in arms. She also figured out how to clap today (I'll get that on video soon enough) although I don't think she's applauding anything in particular, just clapping.

Daddy

2010-01-02T22:21:00.000-08:00

Hearing Sam call Kris Daddy still makes me smile. I love seeing Kris as a father: he is patient, respectful of our kids' needs and personalities, hard working, tender, and loving. On my days when I feel I'm not being the best Mom I can be I often think about how Kris would handle a particular situation because he is so much calmer and patient that I am. Sam loves his Dad and recently has expressed it more verbally. A few days ago, as we (Lucy, Sam, and I) were walking outside, he stopped and said, "I love Daddy" four or five times. Just because he thought of it, I guess. Yesterday I told him that I love Daddy and he said, "I love Daddy too!", seemingly so excited that we have this in common. This morning he asked me where Daddy was and I told him Dad was getting ready for work. "Is he goin' to work?" I answered in the affirmative and he said, "No way!"

Usually once a day Sam tells me "Dad is comin'! He's comin' to our house." Or else he tells me that we are going to Dad's office where "they have M n' Ms!" and "big books." It seems like he tells me this once he has decided Kris has been gone long enough. Well today he told me in the morning we were going to Dad's library office, and I said we weren't. Around when Kris would be beginning his 30 minute commute home he told me Dad was coming home. Once Kris started opening the door Sam jumped up and ran for the door saying, "Dad's home! He's here!" Poor Kris walked in with a white face, threw up in the bathroom a bunch, and collapsed on the couch. Sam and Kris didn't get their usual excited reunification.

I talked to Sam about Dad being sick and needing to rest. He suggested we put a band-aid ("ban-deed") on his finger, which we did, but though Sam said "He's all better" several times Kris just wasn't. I was getting Lucy ready for bed, cleaning up the back part of the house, etc. and poor Sam was just running in between the front room where Kris was dozing on the couch and the back, not sure what to do. He was very good about being quiet and not bothering Kris but he wanted to be near him so badly. For a while he sat on a chair near the couch sucking his thumb. Kris pulled it together to be able to talk to Sam about his day for a minute before Sam fell asleep--a ritual they have had for a while now, and one that I think is important for Sam. I want to always have engraved on my memory the look on Sam's face when Kris walks in the door. Love, that's what it looks like.

I know what it's like to have a loving, doting Dad, and to admire and love him. Watching my sweet Sam adore Kris--whom I also adore--is a wonderful experience. I hope Sam always loves his Dad this much.

keepers

2009-12-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

I like these two, I'm keeping them both.

stackolee

2009-12-16T00:01:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to Jenn on finishing another quarter! This one was even more hectic than when Jenn gave birth to Lucy a couple weeks shy of the end of last quarter.
Here are some titles from the stack: Citizen, Mother, Worker; Science at the Bar; Timescapes of Modernity; Western Times and Water Wars; Social Theory and the Global Environment.

what was in your bike lane today?*

2009-12-12T00:53:00.000-08:00

My bike has gotten a lot more use this quarter than ever before: I trek between home and campus many times in the week. It is by far the most efficient way to get to my department. The other day, as I was riding, I was wondering why it is difficult for so many people and objects to observe the sanctity of the bike lane. It seems there is general reverence for the car traffic lane while bike lanes are routinely profaned.

So I thought I would start documenting, mentally if nothing else, what I see in my bike lane. The list from the other day went something like this: a styrofoam plate, a jogger, long boarders, a few cars, some string, power walkers (yes, there was other space for these people to walk), a bus, and a golf cart. What was in your bike lane recently?

*If you haven't ridden a bike in a while and are therefore unable to answer that question I suggest you ride as soon as possible. You will remember why learning to ride a bike was such an exhilarating experience.

breakfast

2009-10-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

When I was in high school my Dad used to get up early in the morning and make me delicious breakfasts: french toast, pancakes, eggs and toast, hot chocolate, etc. I had early morning seminary (like a religion class for 0 period) so I appreciated the sacrifice then and now, though I'm sure I didn't express it much then (thanks Dad!). Anyway, that's just to say that I still really love breakfast foods. Our little family is pretty into breakfast. Sam always wakes up half starving, and I kind of feel the same. Lucy is being initiated into the Nations of Jorgensen Breakfast Club and we're so happy to have her. This particular morning we were eating Kris's favorite: oatmeal with peanut butter, honey, and milk.

pelona

2009-10-06T22:59:00.001-07:00

She's still totally bald on top. And a little drooly. And probably the most perfect baby ever.

el amor de mi vida

2009-10-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

How is it that I've been fortunate enough to be married to this guy? It's so easy to find new ways and reasons to love him.

la playa (my most frequent blog post title)

2009-09-27T12:02:00.001-07:00

Some highlights from our most recent beach outing:
We saw 3 Amtrak trains so Sam was in heaven.
Both our kids love the beach. Sam loves to dig, he cracks up as waves crash into him, he splashes and stomps in the shallow water, he requests that we build sand castles so he can destroy them, and he's giddy until he's so cold he's shaking all over. We decided that Sam is most animated at the beach, even moreso than when we see trains and signals. Lucy loved watching the waves go in and out, she liked feeling the sand on her toes, and she was happy to have her feet dipped in the water.
It was a Monday, so there were hardly any other people.
The weather was nice and the sunset was gorgeous.
We live so close we only had to go for an hour and didn't leave feeling like he hadn't done enough!

The bad thing about our outing: we talked about how we will probably never live on the coast again after our time here, which made us sad. It also just made us more resolved to go as often as we can while we're here.

I wanna paint!

2009-09-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

Sam and I were recently looking at our friend Chelsea's website. He was very interested in her paintings and kept saying, "I wanna see it; I wanna watch it," while we were looking through her recent work. He's been excited about drawing and painting lately. Below you'll find a pair of paintings that he produced after seeing Chelsea's work.

happy number thirty-two!

2009-09-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Any other well wishers for this guy today?

Let's all say something we like about him, I'll go first. He's the best friend I've ever had: sincere, gentle, great to talk to, passionate, devoted, bright, and soooooooooo good looking.

la playa

2009-09-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I objected to returning to our hot, damp house after church and we headed for a beach. We ended up in Del Mar, walking along an ocean cliff next to railroad tracks, as fog rolled in and the sun set. Magical. Sam got to see 3 Amtraks roll by (Amtrak is his favorite), got his church clothes soaked in the water (inevitable when you go to the beach straight from church), and we all cooled off.

There is an unspoken system in our housing complex wherein people leave unwanted items in the laundry room and anyone can take them home. A few months back there was a 9 foot surfboard by our laundry room, so we took it home. We love free stuff! Kris went surfing last week for the first time and loved it (the kids and I were still sleeping).

thumb suckers and baby straight jackets

2009-08-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

When Sam was a baby he was pretty addicted to his pacifier until he discovered his thumb and began spitting the pacifier out to suck his thumb. He was probably 9 months old when that began and it hasn't ended. Lucy, at a mere few weeks of age, found her thumb randomly. She periodically finds it again, except now intentionally.

I was imagining them, both teenagers, sucking their thumbs together while watching a movie on the couch. Will Sam still want to play with someone's hair while he sucks? Will Lucy have hair by then for him to play with?

From the day we brought her home Lucy has been a much better sleeper than Sam ever was. She started sleeping 4, then 5 hours a night during her first week or two home. She began backsliding a few weeks ago, waking up every hour or so. She wasn't hungry, she just wanted her pacifier back in, or wanted to be swaddled, etc. After one night during which both kids woke up and I got out of bed 7 times in 6 hours I decided to take the plunge and spend $11 on what my cousin and I had ridiculed as being a baby straight jacket:

Best $11 I have spent as of late, last night she slept 8.5 hours!

It's hard being a dog

2009-08-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

This evening Sam pretended to be a dog. He's been doing this pretty frequently. He crawls around on the floor and he lets us pet him. He usually doesn't talk while he's pretending to be a dog because everyone knows that dogs can't talk. Occasionally he'll ask for a bowl of water to be put on the floor so that he can drink. And tonight he asked for a ball so that he could carry it around in his mouth.
Also tonight when he got in bed he kept asking for borscht and naan. Seriously.

2009-07-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

We went to the San Diego Zoo today with a friend from school. This is one of, or maybe the, premier zoos in the United States. All Sam really cared about were the fish. We saw elephants, camels, tigers (sleeping), a polar bear (sleeping), orangutans, monkeys, gorillas, birds, zebras, hippos (swimming!), otters, etc. He was mildly interested in the rolling orangutan, he smiled at the elephants, but most of all he liked this fish tank and kept requesting to see it again. This morning this same kid sat for 20 minutes straight watching an excavator dig up sidewalk in back of our apartment. I have since decided we will not be investing in a zoo membership/annual pass after all.

as of late...

2009-07-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

Before Kris started work we made a trek to visit the Jorgies, hosted touring musician The Boy Who Could Fly and her lesser-known traveling companion, and had a visit from Eva and Kirk from the famed Sycamore Street Press.

Though there are many momentous events to recount from those ventures I'm choosing the following:

Peggy Sue's 50's Diner in Yermo CA off of I-15. We went for breakfast. I would recommend it to anyone, but less for the food than the atmosphere. Who doesn't want this guy seating you?

The inside is kind of standard for a 50s themed place, though much busier.

What is amazing are the murals painted on the bathroom walls and the "diner-saurs" outside.

There's also a king-kong, as you can see. Oh, and a large pond with huge koi fish, ducks, and turtles. The weirdest part? It's in Yermo.

As many have heard, this is the "Summer of 10 Cakes." I have a goal to make that many before I go back to school. This was number 2, made for father's day.

It was yummy: lemon zest, raspberries, cardamom, dulce de leche. On the 4th of July I made a carrot cake, to celebrate Kris's job my Mom and I made a chocolate pound cake with fresh fruit and whipped cream (the best yet). Next up is a beehive cake that my prima and I are making.

Dressing Lucy is way more fun than dressing Sam has ever been. This outfit I concocted (with green leg warmers) made me think that if my Mother had been in on the current styles when I was a baby in the early 80s she would have dressed me like this.

The kids are fantastic. Lucy is an angel, really. She sleeps well, she's easy to soothe, she's happy, she coos and says "ah-goo," and she doesn't cry when Sam gives her slobbery kisses on her head or when he puts his belly on her face hoping she'll blow/razz on it (she never does).

Sam seems to be struggling a little with Kris going off to work all day but he's generally such a joy. I recently introduced him to painting for the first time. He loves using this bigger brush and making strokes on paper. He now frequently requests to do so.

One of the keys to our success thus far is going outside and playing with my cousin Lindsay and kids. Both my kids love that time and, since it's been warmish here and no one has air conditioning, it's generally a relief for me too. Kris does the same on his lunch breaks, I just wish he were closer so we could explore together.

p.s. the photo at the top was taken by Kirsten, Kris's sister.

initiated

2009-07-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last night I realized that I had not only had no opportunity to take a shower the whole day, I had not even brushed my hair. That may sound like nothing to some of you. The crazy thing about it, for me, was that it's not that I opted not to, it's that I didn't have time. I've been fully initiated into the mom-of-more-than-one-kid-with-a-husband-working-full-time club. I like this club. Well, not the husband working part (due to his absence, I do like the income part), but I like the kid part.

This is one way of telling everyone that Kris found work after searching, applying, and interviewing for 9 months.

school's out for the summer

2009-06-30T00:50:00.000-07:00

During my last 2 weeks of class during the quarter the Jorgensen parents came to help out around the house so I could work non-stop on school and Kris could survive. They were 1) an enormous help, 2) tons of fun, 3) extremely generous, and 4) fantastic company. Sam especially loved their "big car" and the black candy (licorice, pronounced "back cadjy") in "Papa's big car."

On my last day of class we drove to Bfield for my little brother's wedding. Joey and Charlotte are hitched and they are a perfect match. We failed to take pictures at the wedding but these were the Nations of Jorgensen personal family highlights:
Sam and Mom dancing;
Lucy pooing so much it got on her dress that Aunt Sarah bought her, Mom's dress, Mom's shoes, and Mom's food wrapping, wow;
Me being an awesome Mom and having an entire extra dress/outfit that actually matched the wedding colors;
Sam wandering around in Mom's shoes;
Kris staying late to help clean up despite being on 3 or 4 hours of sleep.

During my finals week we went to a Nations family reunion at the beach. I wrote papers on almost no sleep the week before and during that week and somehow am passing my classes--with good grades. The reunion was excellent. The highlights:
Sam sleeping in a series of progressively smaller closets--he loved it;

Lucy sleeping everywhere: the beach, the house, the car, etc.;

Jenn sleeping--actually, really sleeping (after I emailed my last final paper);
Kris also sleeping (this is actually a picture from last Thanksgiving, but I needed a sleeping shot);

Jenn simultaneously flying a kite, carrying Lucy in a sling, throwing a ball for parents' dog, and playing with Sam in the sand;

Kris surfing and boogey boarding with my brother Mike (what's with that pose Mike? To infinity, and beyond!);

hanging with family and my sister's awesome kids who we don't get to see much;

Sam playing in the sand but not being interested in the frigid central coast water;

seeing cool animals at the tide pools, a few seals, and Kris swimming with dolphins.

---------------------------------------------

Lucy will be 8 weeks on Wednesday.

She is the most fantastic baby on the planet and we're so glad she's in our family. She smiles and coos in response to our smiles and coos which is just as exciting with baby number 2. She is still bald on top and probably will be for a while, but it has become endearing.

Sam is 2 years old.

He is the most fantastic toddler on the planet. He loves going to the playground; being read to; playing with mixers, trains, vacuums, and trucks (or turning any object into those things); and songs. Who could ask for a better family?

fotografias

2009-05-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

First bath

Sammy Bedhead

Mom Nations after a hard days work helping with the kids

Little Lucy

labor

2009-05-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

The funny thing about Lucy's birth is: I didn't actually get to enjoy any of the perks of the birth center because it all went so fast. Except for the post-partum perks, which were many (big bed, Kris could spend the night, they didn't bother me so often, the room was all mine and big, and more). So just a quick recap of birth, since I've been asked. We'll post new pictures of Lucy soon--she's almost one week old!

I woke up with contractions on Wednesday, May 6th around 5AM. Since I'd been having somewhat regular contractions for periods of time in the past month I didn't get too excited but I couldn't go back to sleep. Kris woke up, I told him the situation, and said I was walking to get some bagels. The contractions were fairly regular for the next hours but didn't increase in intensity. Somewhere around 11AM they got stronger and were still regular and by 1PM I decided to call the midwife. She said to come on over to the hospital, which we did. I was checked for dilation around 3PM and was only at a 3 (this is me recounting the story to Lindsay 2 hours after birth, gesturing 3 for centimeters dilated),

was 90% effaced, and baby was at -2 station. In other words, I was nowhere. This was incredibly discouraging as I'd already been having contractions for hours. They said to go walk around for a few hours and if labor had really begun we could head upstairs to the birth center.

Around 5PM we headed back, me full of fear that labor still hadn't progressed even though the contractions were more frequent and way more painful. They checked me and, to their surprise, I was at a "7 or 8"--major progression (later the midwife admitted that when she originally checked me she thought it could be 24 or 48 hours until the birth). They began filling up a tub in one of the birth center rooms and wheeled me up there. I had a few contractions in the wheel chair because I couldn't move, a bunch draped over a birthing ball, and the tub was finally ready. After a contraction I started walking over there but decided I needed to pee first. The midwife and nurse suggested I just get in and pee in the tub, which I balked at, and insisted on peeing in the toilet. That was my big mistake. I could have had a water birth. Instead Lucy was born in the bathroom.

Basically I went from a 3 to a 10 and birthed this babe in 4 hours. Her head was perfectly round when she came out because she was hardly in the birth canal. There wasn't time for me to get in the tub, the doula hadn't arrived yet, I got no massages except from Kris and a nurse, and I didn't use any of the distraction methods I had planned on. All I can say though is I'm glad I could do it without an epidural, or any drugs, because it's what I had wanted--it decreases the chances of unnecessary interventions significantly. I hated my experience last time and am glad it could be so different, and so much more in my control (kind of, as much as birth can be in your control) this time. I'm also glad that Lucy and I are well.

I'm also grateful for the most fantastic labor partner ever. Kris was a dream, and since he and I did it virtually alone as we made laps around the hospital grounds (at one point outside a woman walked by and said, "Are you in labor?" half joking. I shook my head yes and she said, "Really?!?" and I just really wanted her to go away) he was why I got through it. I was only in the birth center for about an hour before I pushed her out. It was really intense.

Baby Lucy

2009-05-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

Name: Lucy Marie Nations Jorgensen
Weight: 7lbs 2 oz
Length: 20 1/2 inches
D.O.B.: 5/6/09, 7:02pm

Talents: Lifting head up, nursing, pooping, burping, sleeping
Favorite sibling: Sam

Looks most like: Dad Nations due to male pattern baldness

I feel dumb for this, but I shot this video with my little digital camera vertically and you can't flip it once it's shot, so tilt your head to the side for the best view. The video is too cute to keep off this blog.

2009-05-07T00:03:00.000-07:00

Lucy Marie Jorgensen, born May 6, 2009; 7 pounds 2 ounces.

talents and obsessions

2009-04-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

This video shows Sam performing one of his latest talents, and probably my current favorite: mock counting. He generally gets several numbers in the correct order but they usually aren't the same ones. Nevertheless, he likes to count to six. He counts stuff all the time. Here, in case you need a translation, he says, "two, three, four, three, four, five, six" and then a bunch of gibberish and then "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy."

This video sums up a lot about Sam's life right now, including sitting at the table and not eating the things his parents prepare for him, being very interested in himself in pictures and videos (that's why he says Sammy, he wants to watch a video of himself), trying out new words in English and some other language of his own making, and (the part of the video I cut out) him saying "no" A LOT.

His favorite pal, besides his cousin Seth and his Daddy, is this stuffed cat. Its name thus far is "Cat." This was my favorite stuffed animal when I was a kid though I called her "Kitty." Sam takes this cat most places he goes and helps it do most of the things he does (ride in his little car, eat his food, drink his drinks, get hugs from parents, walk around in his Dad's shoes) and this particular day the cat joined him in the bath. We thought it appropriate since it had recently eaten beans and was a bit dirty.

At church one of Sam's nursery leaders saw him bring it in and said, "That cat has to be older than Sam." Yes, correct, hence it has various bald spots, a sad looking heading, and has lost its original luster. Why Sam chose this stuffed animal out of all the ones he has only I can understand--actually, I really don't, even though I loved that cat as a little girl. My favorite thing about his attachment to this cat is how gentle he is with it. I've only seen him throw it once. Usually he hugs it (and says, "hug"), gives it kisses, tucks it under his arm and scratches its head, and talks about its various body parts. We're hoping he'll be just as sweet with his new sibling.

Recently my parents came down to hang out. Kris and my Dad put in a garden, which hopefully Kris will blog about soon, my Mom played with Sam, and I read books and went to class (that's my life). At the Poway Farmer's Market my Mom (who he calls "Manny" in an attempt to say Grammy) got Sam a bag of kettle corn which I imagine he could have eaten all on his own, but we required him to share. They also rode the train together.

After getting off the train my Dad looked down at him and said something and Sam just looked up at him and said, "Papa, signal." He was ready to go watch the train signals again, which my Dad, being a fantastic Grandpa, helped him to do. I think my parents were pretty amazed at how obsessed Sam is with train signals--you can't really grasp the depth of his love until you see him over several days and count the times he asks to watch train videos with signals or go see real signals. It's generally the first thing he asks for in the morning (before breakfast, it's literally his first word upon waking up oft times) and the last thing he talks about at night. When we ask him what song we should sing at night he requests the "signal" song. We made one up.

A note about pregnancy. I made it to term, which is a relief, so now I can deliver in the birthing center instead of the usual labor and delivery (Sam came at 36.5 weeks and ended up having to be induced, blah). Pretty excited about that. I'm strep B negative, which means no IV, and baby is still head down. Hopefully I can go all natural, as long as I can manage the pain. I'm a pretty big wimp though so we'll see. Kris says he has full confidence in my ability, and since he'll be my main coach, that makes me feel good.

This shot is an attempt to show how lopsided my belly is. I love this picture because it's like a bizarre family photo: we're all in it in some form! Kris's finger is showing where my belly button is so you can kind of see that things are off-center. This baby is almost always hanging out on my right side and sometimes it's so obvious it looks super strange. I was asking Kris if he thought from now on I would always have extra skin on the right side because it's so much more stretched out than the left. Anyway, hospital bag is packed, baby clothes are organized, diapers are on hand, professors are notified, Kris is trying to actually keep his phone on his person and turned on, Mom Nations and Mom Jorgensen are standing by--any time now girly girl.

Up until recently Sam hasn't seemed interested in babies, besides pointing to my belly and saying baby. The last few times we've seen Lindsay's baby Ada, however, he begs to hold her and sits for a decent spell to do so. The bad thing is that Seth then gets jealous and they fight over the baby (the first time they had a minor tug of war--Ada is going to be tough). We decided it's time for Sam to have his own baby.

bus!

2009-03-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

Like I said in my last post, Kris was nice enough to bring Sam up to campus to visit me a few times during finals week. More than once they accompanied me to school on the bus. This is probably one of Sam's favorite things to do right now. He loves talking about the bus while riding it (bus! bus! bus!), spotting other buses, looking out the window, talking about the stars on the seats (the fabric has shooting stars), and sitting in his very own seat.

Also featured in this photo: a rarely seen shot of my now 8-month pregnant belly.

Above is Sam with the Cat in the Hat and Dr. Seuss. The UCSD library is called the Geisel Library after Dr. Seuss who donated loads of money for it (somewhere in the realm of $20 million). It has a huge special collections permanent exhibit of Dr. Seuss stuff. Sam loves Dr. Seuss books, but Kris thinks he didn't get who this was a statue of because it's really big, and he's just small.

This is the library. Kris likes it because it looks like a spaceship. And because he can access all sorts of fantastic books there through me.

Spring break has been fantastic. Today we went to the beach but failed to take any pictures. I don't mean to make people jealous (heh heh), but we go to the beach often enough that we don't think to take the camera much. It's like going to the park, except it requires more preparation, and usually requires a post-beach bath. Other than that we've been mostly lazy, with a little errand running, rail fanning, and house cleaning here and there.