brain freeze

Me: I think I have freezer burn in my brain.
Ryan: [stare]
Me: . . . um, I mean . . . what's it called . . . brain freeze. Yeah, brain freeze.

I think that might explain why I'm having such a hard time doing Calculus in the evenings.

last year

A year ago today, we found out that we were going to have a boy. We had been den leaders in cub scouts for several months, so I was scared to death that I would someday have one of those in my house and have to deal with that all day long. It seemed like they were constantly wrestling, yelling, punching each other, bouncing off walls, and basically ignoring any attempts at restoring order. An hour a week of that was hard enough. Despite these fears, however, I did receive a feeling of peace that reassured me that I would be able to handle the challenges that I was about to face.

Now that white and black blob is a real person and is eight months old, and sometimes it's really hard, although not in the ways I expected. Kevin is active and curious and can be very determined, and I get really frustrated sometimes when he's crawling from power cords to my hair to the bathroom to the garbage (and yes, all of these must be tasted) and all I seem to be doing is chasing him around. But I didn't know that I was going to be blessed with such a sweet child. Every time I go to the store, I see people's faces light up because of his sweet smile. He has a talent for sharing light and joy with people. I wish I could describe it better. It's amazing to see people who aren't feeling particularly happy suddenly light up when they see him and then continue on their way with a smile on their faces. He's a good baby. He has a sweet temperament, and for the most part only complains if he really does need something. I'm grateful for the special relationship I share with him.

two things K figured out in the last couple of days

Yesterday I was washing Kevin's face after he ate, and he took the washcloth away from me and started playing peekaboo. I was a little surprised because I had been playing it with him a little bit but didn't think he cared much about it. He likes to hold the washcloth up in the air, and then he lowers it and smiles expectantly, waiting for us to say peekaboo. What a smarty! I guess he understands a lot more than I realize.

The other thing that's coming along is the ability to pick up things with the thumb and pointer finger. He likes to eat things that he can hold himself, but mostly it's been bigger things that he can hold in his fist like pieces of bread. But today I was giving him small squares of cooked carrots and he managed to pick up quite a few with his thumb and pointer finger and get them into his mouth. I was very impressed. Feeding time is a lot more messy lately. I'm trying not to stress about it.

"Are you one of those crafty people?"

I've been asked this several times, and my answer is no, definitely not. But then people find out that I can sew, and they say, "I think you really are one of those crafty people."

So this is what I consider to be "crafty":

• homemade cards made with ribbons and cute flowers and cute brads and cute cardstock
• cute scrapbook pages with things like nice cardstock and pretty/cute translucent paper and fun borders
• buckets or baskets of goodies with decorations like nice ribbon, cute notes written with glitter pens, and tissue paper
• cute invitations, like the ones that were made for our next Relief Society birthday dinner--the girl who made them cut out flower petal shapes, attached about six together with cute brads, and wrote a snippet of information about the dinner on each petal
• homemade headbands and flower clips
• homemade bracelets and necklaces
• anything that involves painting or stencils, especially plaques with nice sayings and fancy lettering
  

I don't do any of these. They don't interest me. I'm not really the sort of person that enjoys making cute stuff like this, or thinks to make them, and I hate the idea of spending any money on the supplies that are needed for it because I'm cheap. (This is why our wedding album [when I finally get time to make it] is going to be pictures glued to white cardstock and nothing else--because I'm tired of stressing about making it look fancy and buying the supplies I need to do so.) When I make things, it's usually because I need it or think it would be useful. The most recent things that I sewed were some washable changing pads and some cloth baby wipes. I thought they would be useful and didn't want to pay someone else to do it when I could make them myself for less, and in the dimensions I wanted. I admit I did put a little effort into making the changing pads cute. The cloth baby wipes are two layers of brown flannel with zig-zag stitching around the edges to prevent fraying--no craft there. Other than the changing pads and wipes, most of the things I've sewn were clothes for 4-H. I was in 4-H from second grade until the end of high school, and every year my grandma or my mom helped me with a sewing project. If people are impressed that I can sew in a straight line, they should know that I spent a good portion of my summers at a sewing machine, especially the years when I decided to make a suit and a formal (with Grandma's close guidance--I couldn't have figured out where to put the pieces without her). I wanted a nice black suit with a long coat, and I wanted a nice formal, plus I had watched all the older girls in my 4-H club make suits and formals and assumed that someday it would be my turn. I do enjoy sewing, and I do think I have some talent with it. I wish I wasn't so busy with school so I could sew more. And I hope we have a little girl someday so I can make her some cute jumpers. But I consider sewing to be under the category of sewing, not under the category of crafts, so that's why I don't answer yes when people ask if I'm one of those crafty people.

I don't mean to say that the crafts I listed aren't useful. We need people who can make nice invitations and cards, cute headbands, wall plaques, and such. Those are great talents, and I admire people who have good taste in those things and can do them. They're just not the talents I'm interested in developing right now. We should all be working to develop and use the talents that we have to bless others and make life enjoyable. Creative cards lift my spirit, and so do beautiful houses, gardens, and computer models.

One more post: 8 months old on St. Patrick's Day

Today Kevin is 2/3 of a year old. He's wearing green. And he had green beans for lunch. How's that for celebrating?

Forgive me if I proceed to write a long post all about Kevin. This blog is a way to motivate myself to keep a journal, so sometimes I write things just to get them recorded. Besides, I actually haven't blogged about Kevin much for a few weeks.

Kevin can move pretty fast now. He knows his way around the apartment. He loves the kitchen, the storage closet, the bathroom, and Mom and Dad's bedroom. It's getting harder and harder to keep up with him. I've given up on trying to do anything during the day that requires consolidated time, which doesn't happen when I'm constantly trying to keep him out of things he shouldn't have. And that's fine. He gets up into the crawling position and can do bridges (up on his hands and feet), but he hasn't quite figured out how to do a real crawl.

One of his latest interests is opening and shutting doors and cupboards. We're looking into methods of locking cupboard doors, because he knows exactly which cupboard has the extra grocery sacks. Actually, I'm starting to think a gate would be a good option. He can be entertained by a door for quite a while. A couple of times he's accidentally shut himself in a room by himself and then cried because he was scared (and then I couldn't get him out because he was crying right by the door). Poor kid.

Kevin has two tiny teeth growing in, and he thinks chewing on things is a fun game. We've given him some foods that require some chewing, and although at first he didn't appreciate that he actually had to put some work into eating, he really likes it now.

It's fun to listen to him talking. The things he says the most are Bababababababa and Mamamamamama (which I'm convinced means "I'm hungry"). He enjoys blowing raspberries too. He can also click his tongue, which can actually be quite an expressive gesture. Another thing that he's figured out how to do is to suck on his mouth, if that makes sense. He kind of sucks on his bottom lip and his tongue and makes a smacking noise. I was trying to get a video of him doing it this morning, but of course he stopped and sucked his thumb as soon as the camera was out.

Kevin can get over some obstacles, such as a pile of clothes or a pillow on the floor. This has started to develop into pulling himself into a standing position. He can do it with a short box or by using someone's back if we're lying on our sides on the floor.

Sometimes he likes to lie on his back and watch what his fingers can do.

He has a new smile where he wrinkles his nose, squints his eyes, and grins. He seems to be pretty aware that he's adorable when he does that. It makes me laugh every time.


A good chunk of his day is spent in his high chair eating. It takes longer to eat table food, especially when you're just learning how.


Kevin isn't really addicted to his thumb. He generally only sucks his thumb to get to sleep (which is probably why he slept through the night at such an early age). I guess someday we'll have to work with him to stop the thumb-sucking, but right now he needs the sleep (and so do I!) and there's not a lot I can do about it.

lots of posts today

For all of my fans who check my blog twenty times a day in the hopes that I've posted again.

I guess I'm in a blogging mood. If only I were in a Calculus II mood. Maybe then I could actually get caught up and possibly get a decent grade in the class.

the dropping-it-and-then-they-pick-it-up-and-we-do-it-again game

What baby doesn't love this game?