Grandma's birthday presents

Here's a video of Kevin opening his birthday present from Grandma (Marcelaine's mom):

Kevin always wants to play with our phone, and unfortunately that isn't an option while we're using it, even if we use speaker phone, because he loves pushing the buttons and tends to hang up on whoever we were talking to. So if he is awake and we are talking on the phone, he is screaming very loudly through the entire conversation because he wants the phone. Hence the phone from Grandma. We'll see if that will appease him.

And here is sporting his new tie from Grandma, which I think is so cute. (The rest of the clothes were good finds from the consignment sale.)

I know the next two are very similar, but I can't decide which one is cuter.

a visit from a friend

Kevin had a friend come over and play for a few hours while her parents went to the temple. He was ecstatic to see another little person and had a great time, although I think she was feeling quite overwhelmed by him by the time she left. It made me realize that K would really benefit from having more friends come over to play. I hope she's not too traumatized to come over again sometime!

For some reason Sepia was the only edit that seemed to work for this picture.

recent developments

This has been a week of developments. I feel like K has reached a lot of milestones lately.

He's started to walk. He still mostly crawls, but he will frequently let go of the couch or wall and walk for a few feet without help or support. It's kind of hard to believe it's happened. When he was born it seemed like walking was such a long time away.

Today he figured out how to climb onto the chairs that go with our table. He went straight for the salt and pepper shakers and RT's laptop. He was rather upset with me when I turned all the chairs on their sides, an idea I borrowed from RT's sister Eliza. I'm not too thrilled with the prospect of having chairs on their sides most of the time, but it's better than the alternative.

K knows what "no" means, and now that we've found that out, we are using it to our advantage to try to get rid of some of his bad behaviors (pulling hair, hitting, and playing with the computer keyboard and mouse, to name a few). We are finding that if we tell him no, he will protest quite loudly but does stop. It's interesting to be the one doing the disciplining. It didn't generally occur to me that it was just as unpleasant for my parents as it was for me. I'm sure I have much more to learn.

Kevin has also started feeding himself with a spoon or fork. I used to think I would be excited when he could finally do that, except what I didn't realize is that it doesn't make life easier. It just means that I have an even bigger mess to clean up. But I'm still enjoying seeing him learn a new skill.

We think he tried to sign "eat" once. I was in the kitchen and Ryan and I both looked down at Kevin and realized that he was very purposefully tapping his palm against his mouth. So we rewarded him for communicating with us by feeding him, of course! It's nice to know that the things I've been trying to teach him are actually sticking.

Remember this changing pad, and these changing pads? Today I had the one with the dogs in the diaper bag. During Relief Society K grabbed the bag and was pulling everything out one at a time and throwing it over his shoulder. When the changing pad went flying, it made me think about my thoughts when I made the changing pads before he was born, especially the ones with the dinosaurs and the dogs.

I had conjured a beautiful scene: a sweet little boy sitting happily and contentedly in my lap, pointing at the pictures on the changing pads and saying, "Look, Mommy, a doggy!"
 "That's right, Kevin. What color is it?"
 "Blue!"
"And what color is this one?"
"Brown."
And then I would grin proudly, feeling like the best mom in the world because my son was so intelligent and cute. I had to laugh at myself as I remembered that, because that scene is not going to happen, at least not quite like I imagined it. I'm sure K will learn his colors and such and we will identify colors together, but the part about sitting quietly in Mommy's lap? Hahahahahahaha . . . . I just think it's funny that I had no idea what kind of child was coming into my life.

It's always interesting to see people get to know Kevin. When K was only a few months old, a sister in our ward asked to hold him, and after a few minutes of him constantly wriggling she turned to me with an amazed look on her face and said, "Is he always like this?" Yes, always. I also had a friend who babysat him for a couple of hours, and she told me that she was amazed at how active he was and that she could see why we got a gate. I need a gate. It's a relief to me to hear these comments because it makes me feel like it's okay that sometimes his energy level and his persistence make me really stressed and frustrated. It's because he's a particularly active baby, not because I need to get a grip or I'm doing things wrong or something. And even though sometimes he drives me crazy, I wouldn't change him for anything. Once there was a comment in Relief Society that made me think that those very traits are probably the same ones that in the future will be the talents that he will need to serve God.

Cinnamon Muffins

Today I tried this recipe with half whole wheat flour, and it occurred to me that this would be a great recipe to use if you're just getting started using wheat. I think the cinnamon and brown sugar help to mask the whole wheat a little bit so that the wheaty taste isn't too overbearing. I couldn't really tell that I had added whole wheat.

Mix together:
1 cup sifted flour (or 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt

In a separate bowl combine:
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup melted shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar (I actually only used 1/4 cup today, and they still tasted great)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together with a spoon. The batter will be a little lumpy. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and spoon the batter into the pan. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes. This recipe makes about 9 muffins.

You could also add chopped fruit. Apples or peaches would be very good.

appliance review: Nutrimill

I just used my Nutrimill for the first time, and I just wanted to say what I like about it.

Before I bought the Nutrimill, I was using the ward's Magic Mill II. The Magic Mill was a good mill, but it was really noisy, and the noise was at just the right frequency to make me feel almost sick. It's also built so that the motor sits on top of the metal pan that catches the flour, so when you're done grinding wheat you have to lift up the heavy top and then set it on the counter to get to your wheat. The top would also be covered in flour, so it got a little messy and it was hard to clean it all off. It was convenient because after you're done milling you could just flip the grinder part over and store it in the metal pan, which made it pretty compact, but cleanup was such a pain that I didn't care if it was compact. Like I said, it's a good mill and I appreciated that it was available to me, but those were some things that were a little annoying about it. (The Magic Mill is very similar to the BlendTec mill. If you want to understand better what I'm talking about, you can watch some videos here that show how it works.)

These were some of the reasons I thought that the Nutrimill was the grinder for me. The grinder has a plastic bowl with a lid that slides under the wheat grinder, so when I'm done milling I just have to slide out the bowl and clean that and the lid, instead of having to lift up the heavy wheat grinder part. I just used a new paint brush to brush off the flour that coated the lid. It was much easier and not very messy. The trade-off is that the wheat grinder is pretty big, but for some reason that doesn't bother me as much as having to wrestle with the heavy top of the Magic Mill. I'm storing it in our closet when it's not in use. It's not very heavy, so bringing it into the kitchen isn't a big deal. It was also a lot quieter than the Magic Mill. It was about as loud as the vacuum, so it didn't really bother me. I think it took longer for the wheat to grind, but I always try to do other stuff in the kitchen while I grind wheat, so that didn't bother me either.

So anyway, I'm glad I bought it. I hope it will last me a long time, and I think it will be enjoyable to use. It will also grind many other grains and also beans, so I'm excited to try that out.

sorry, no fancy cake pictures

Ryan's family is very talented. One of the talents that at least a few of them have is decorating cakes. I remember before we got married, RT's oldest sister invited us to her son's birthday party, and she started telling me about the fire truck cake she was making. It was really cute. I was a little intimidated by her creativity, and I wondered, "Are they going to shun me when they find out that I can't do that?" Well, I quickly learned that they are also all incredibly nice, and they're not the sort of people that think less of someone just because they don't make creative and fancy birthday cakes for their kids. I know that I could probably learn some basic cake decorating techniques and make cute cakes like that, but right now I'm a little more interested in investing my time elsewhere. So that is why I haven't posted a picture of a cute birthday cake. There wasn't one. And I appreciate that I don't have to feel bad about that.

a birthday week

Our ward has been having a Park Day every week during the summer. I normally haven't been coming because I don't like Kevin to miss his morning nap and I didn't think he'd have much fun at the park anyway, but I decided to go this week because I've been needing some contact with other moms. We had a really good time, and I think we're going to start going regularly. It's worth it to me to get some time with my friends and to get out of the house. Kevin had a good time on the swings. He laughed and laughed and clapped his hands because he was so excited. While at the park I did learn a couple of things:

• Bring lunch to the park so that when you go home you don't have feed everyone when you're exhausted.
• Put the kids in shoes. I didn't have any shoes for K at the time and I wasn't terribly excited about him being in the bark barefoot, but he just had to get down and play.
• If it's rained recently, bring a towel for the slides. Kids can slide down the slides sitting on the towel without getting all wet.
• You can put two babies back-to-back in the baby swings so that they stabilize each other.

On Thursday I started making a can rotator out of a cardboard box. At first it was really overwhelming, but once I got going making it, it was pretty easy. (Here is where I found the instructions.) I'm going to make a few more so that I can have a better system for rotating through our food and so that I can use the space a little more efficiently. I can fit a lot more cans on my shelves this way than if I have them in rows, and I don't have to reorganize it all every time I buy a new can. Fortunately, I have an endless supply of free cardboard boxes because there are a ton of people who live in our apartment complex who think it's okay to leave enormous piles of boxes by the recycling bins rather than flattening them and putting them through the slot where they belong. (How's that for having a positive attitude about something that drives me nuts?)

On Friday K and I went to a big kids' consignment sale. I had a list of what I wanted to get for him, mainly toys, and I found almost everything I wanted. I was hoping to get a bunch of size 2T clothes for Kevin (yes, that's probably the size he will be wearing this winter), but we were too tired by the time we had found all the other things we wanted, so I gave up and got in line, although I did pick up a few size 2T clothes that people abandoned while they were waiting in the long line. While we waited in line, K had a great time playing with one of the toys I had picked out for him--it was great to have some reassurance that it was something he would have fun with!

Saturday was Kevin's birthday. The three of us got up early and went to the farmers' market. We found peaches, potatoes, and cantaloupes for really good prices. After we were finished there, we went back to the consignment sale because it was nearby. We got plenty of clothes for Kevin, and we also found three pairs of shoes that are really cute. It was really nice to have RT there with me this time. Let me just say, I am a huge fan of consignment sales now. We have saved a ton of money by buying K's things at these sales. I'm grateful for all the people I have met in this ward who have taught me so much about how to save money.

Kevin had a nice birthday. He got some fun new toys and he got to eat a chocolate brownie and lots of peaches.

You may also notice our new outlet covers in the previous picture. A friend hired me to clean her family's apartment for them after they moved, and they left their outlet covers as well as a couple of those wire keys that you can use to unlock the doors that have a hole (make sense?). I'm often amazed at how observant Kevin is. I often notice him staring at the keys above the door frames (which you can barely see poking over the edge), and he went straight for the outlets the first time he saw that they were different. That was when we discovered how cheap the faceplates are. They're really flimsy/bendy, they only have one screw in the center to attach it to the wall, and they never actually got glued to the wall. As soon as K noticed the new outlet covers, he went straight for the nearest plugs, dug his fingers behind the faceplate so that it bent, and pulled enough that the top outlet cover came off, and then he promptly put the outlet cover in his mouth. We were really impressed with how smart he is, but not too excited at the prospect of our kid getting his fingers into all the wires and things behind the faceplate, and we couldn't stop him from doing it over and over again! The outlet covers are great--they fit quite snugly, and Kevin can't get them off. It's the faceplates that are the problem. So we superglued them to the wall. Problem solved, apparently.

 I was debating about whether or not to get a toy like this because I knew he would love it, but I was worried that it would only be used for a short amount of time before he starting walking. But I'm glad I got it. He thinks it's an awesome toy. It also folds down so that it's one of those little bikes that they can scoot with their feet, and I think he'll also be able to use it when he's a little older to do role-playing games, like mowing the lawn or going to the gas station.

 


K is a good kid. I'm starting to learn to be content with him being a little crazy during church, and I'm learning new ways to keep him occupied so I can get something out of the talks and lessons. He is a very fast crawler and has figured out how to get into rooms even if they are closed.


K's top teeth are growing in, and it's cute. Sometimes we catch him grinding his top and bottom teeth together. Apparently he likes the sound and the way it feels. It's kind of unnerving, but it still makes me laugh. I don't think it will become a habit as long as we don't make a big fuss every time he does it.

What's wrong with this picture?

I'll give you a hint:

This is why we bought him new sleepers at the consignment sale.

Eating spaghetti:

Standing on his stool by the window:

Dancing to La Vida Loca on the keyboard. I think he is so cute when he dances. He's having so much fun.

Guess what I just bought!

This is my new Nutrimill, aka wheat grinder. I started saving up for a mill several months ago, and then a few days ago I randomly got on Craigslist, not even looking for anything in particular, and I clicked something and this was the second thing on the page. It was $150, and these normally sell for $240. I was quite excited, because this is the kind of mill I had been planning to buy anyway. I can't wait to try it out!

forgot to mention . . .

K is also finally tall enough that he can reach the door handles and even walk forward enough to come into the rooms. This means we are starting to have to lock bedroom and bathroom doors. Fortunately, we inherited some of those wire key things from some friends who moved, so we can keep those above the doors and not be too inconvenienced. He can no longer be contained by just keeping doors shut. I have a feeling that between walking sometime soon and being able to open doors, Kevin is about to radically change my life again.

some new things about Kevin

Kevin has started clapping. I've been trying to teach him to clap for several months now, and now that he's doing it I have to wonder if it even had anything to do with me. Maybe he just figured it out on his own. At any rate, it's pretty cute and he's very pleased with himself.

This morning he accidentally stood up without any support. The reason I say accidentally is because he is determined to not stand up by himself. Whenever I stand him up and try to let go, he just falls down on purpose. He does not want to even try. But occasionally he will be standing by something and get interested enough that he forgets to hold on and he balances himself quite well. This morning he was probably standing for at least fifteen seconds before remembering to fall.

I know that sounds a little weird to say that he is falling down on purpose, but I really think it's true. I don't know if he is unwilling to move on to something new or he wants to be sure that the milestones occur on his own timetable or what, but standing and walking are not going to happen until he decides it's time. Maybe he wants to enjoy this stage in his life rather than rushing into new things too fast. I think that's an admirable trait. I have a feeling that he won't be a baby much longer. He'll still be my baby, but I feel like walking is one of those steps that will transform him from a baby to a little boy. I guess it's a little sad, but I don't think I need to look back on his babyhood with sadness. Every stage of his life will have its rewards and I think our relationship will continue to be strengthened and become more meaningful, and I wouldn't give up those fun experiences to have my newborn back.

Apparently he can also go down stairs properly. Since we live in an apartment, Kevin doesn't get a lot of experience with stairs. At church he gets a little exposure to stairs because we have Sunday School in the choir seats in the chapel, but since they're more like landings than stairs, he can just go down headfirst. I didn't know if he'd ever figure out how to do stairs. But yesterday I thought I'd take him down to the first floor of the building where there are some carpeted stairs so he could practice, and he went down backwards almost immediately and didn't even try to go down headfirst.

We have a little footstool that has been sitting by the windowsill in our living room. K likes to go stand on it and look out the window. At first he was frustrated because once he was up there he couldn't figure out how to get down, but he seems to have figured out a way to get on his belly on the stool and then crawl off. It's cute to watch him playing at the window. There is a big spot with tiny fingerprints all over the window.

This evening we were playing a game where I was hiding behind the couch and then popping out and growling. Kevin thought it was so fun and laughed hysterically every time I popped out.

I have a keyboard that I'm borrowing from our choir director so I can practice playing the music for choir. Today I took it out and Kevin was playing with it. It was pretty cute. I turned on some of the songs that were programmed into the keyboard, and he was dancing just like he does with the music on the exersaucer, with the biggest grin on his face.

Two little teeth have popped through on the top, and the bulges for two more are showing. I'm excited to see what Kevin looks like with more teeth. This also seems to be one of the things that will make him be more like a little boy and less like a baby.

I bought whole milk and gave it to K. He seemed to like it just fine. I can't imagine him going through an entire gallon of it. Yesterday at dinnertime I was drinking a glass of milk, and he wanted me to give it to him. He yelled loud enough that I yielded, and then he managed to take the cup right out of my hands. I figured he was going to dump milk all over his face, but he actually did quite well. Maybe I'll find some small plastic cups and let him start learning to drink from a regular cup. He knows there's a difference between his sippy cups and Mommy and Daddy's cups, and he wants Mommy and Daddy's cups. I don't know if I want to deal with him spilling liquids all over the floor yet, but based on his performance last night, maybe he'd be okay with close supervision.

He has become much more opinionated about his food. It's not that he's picky; it's more that he wants what he wants. If he wants a drink, any food we offer him goes on the floor. If he wants fruit, anything else goes on the floor. If he's done with his drink, it can not remain on his high chair tray, or even on the table--it must go on the floor. In other words, he throws a lot of food on the floor. Very frustrating, but apparently I am supposed to have experiences to teach me patience.

There are at least two things about the apartments in Baity Hill that are strong indicators that they were designed by somebody who has never had kids. First of all, the kitchen is only big enough to be a kitchen, so you have to eat on carpet. Anybody who has had kids would know that kids and eating above carpet is not the best arrangement, even if you can get a plastic mat to put under their chairs. Second, the door stops are springs that are close to the floor and have a rubber thing on the end that is the perfect size for a child to choke on. I know a few people who have just taken the door stops out of the wall altogether, and we have recently taken that step as well to prevent Kevin from doing it for us. That being said, we are very grateful to have such nice housing available to us. Considering how much we pay for rent compared to what other people in our area are paying, we are getting a pretty good deal, and the apartments are really nice.

Sometimes K and I just go and walk/crawl the halls. He's starting to need more space to move, and he really enjoys being able to go up and down the hallways. It's a nice alternative to going outside, where it's too hot right now for most of the day. He's generally pretty upset when I feel like we need to come back into the apartment.

Next Saturday is his birthday. I've been thinking it would be nice to get him some new toys (there's a big consignment sale next week, which would be a good opportunity to get some cheaply), but I don't really know what he would enjoy and I don't want to invest in something he won't use much. Then again, he likes almost anything that's new to him, so maybe I can't go wrong. Hopefully I will find some nice books for him at the consignment sale too.

Today at church we sang The Star Spangled Banner. I felt that the words of the song were very timely for me because they brought peace to my heart with respect to some things that have been worrying me lately. The United States is a great nation, but I worry because there is a lot of corruption in our government and many people are rejecting God and refusing to obey His commandments. I don't know if things will get better any time soon, but I at least felt hope and comfort. I know that God will guard and protect us if we are righteous, and even if there isn't a lot I can do to change the direction things are going, I will still be blessed if I continue to live a righteous life and if I try to share the gospel. I feel very strongly that the best thing we can do to change the direction our country is going is to share the gospel and stand for truth and righteousness. It's also important to keep an eternal perspective and try to remember that ultimately it will all work out. I look forward to the time when Christ will rule and reign. Many people are offended by the suggestion that Americans must trust in God and obey Him, but I firmly believe that unless we do so, our country will fail and fall.

Here are the words of the third verse of the song, which struck me so powerfully:

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

pictures

We've been borrowing this exersaucer from some friends for several months, and Kevin still loves the music. Check out that dancing! (And there's a movie button now!)

It was sort of interesting to see this happen. He was playing with the stroller, and then suddenly a light bulb appeared above his head and you could tell he had just gotten an idea. Then he leaned over the basket and dove right in. It didn't take too long for him to realize that this was not as fun of a place as he had expected! His face looks so sad.











RT took out his Camelback and filled it with water, and when we weren't looking K discovered the tube where you can suck water out and quickly figured out how to use it. Check out the water all down his front and soaking the carpet. He was quite excited about it.

















K received his first birthday card from Ryan's parents. It is on the counter, and yes, there is a bite taken out of it.

what's been happening lately

I got sick with swollen lymph nodes and an earache. It seems like I have that happen at least a few times a year. After several days I finally decided to call a doctor, but I couldn't get an appointment until the next morning, and of course by that time the raging pain in my left ear was gone and I was practically better, so I didn't go. But it's thrown everything off because I didn't feel like doing anything since turning my head hurt. I was doing really well with going on my morning walks and keeping the kitchen clean, but now it's all stopped and I'm going to have to try to get back in the routine. I have missed my walks, though, so I'm excited to start doing that again on Monday. I've been listening to conference talks and Jane Eyre on RT's ipod while I walk, and that helps me feel more motivated to do it since having something to listen to means I'm not bored.

K also was sick or something last Saturday. He woke up crying twice during the night, and when RT went to get him he had a fever. We probably will never know exactly why he was crying--it could have been his top teeth growing in or a sore throat or swollen lymph nodes or something else. But he was very snuggly for once and even took a nap on my chest, which was very sweet. He doesn't sleep too well in places other than his crib anymore, so it's kind of nice when occasionally he will fall asleep in our arms. He was pretty much back to normal by the afternoon. I'm grateful that he hasn't been sick too much and that when he has been sick it's never lasted too long.

Ryan is teaching again for the second summer semester. We always miss him when he's gone at school. He's continuing to work on his research.

We went to a ward pancake breakfast this morning. It was fun to talk to friends and eat yummy food.

There is a deaf woman in our ward named Julie. A couple of girls know sign language, and they talk to her and interpret for her. They have been teaching classes this summer about some basic signs, so I decided to go and learn a little bit so I can talk to Julie sometimes. I haven't learned much since it's only once a week and I don't get to practice very much, but it's still something. Today I finally got a chance to introduce myself in sign to her. I told her my name is Marci (I can finger spell Marcelaine, but I thought it's so long that it would probably be hard to follow) and that I'm learning a little bit of sign. It's not much, but I think she must be a little lonely when she can't really communicate with most people, and the impression I get is that she really appreciates it when people make any effort to talk to her. I've also started trying to sit where I can watch the girls interpreting for her at church. Sometimes it's hard to follow since they're always about one sentence behind, but it's helped me to learn and remember signs. So this has been a fun learning experience.

on the Idaho Spud

First of all, I must apologize to my mom for writing this about the Idaho Spud. She used to tell us she had a treat ("What is it?" "It's a secret . . . " ) if we would clear our places after dinner and then go put on our pajamas, and then she would come out with a case of Idaho Spuds. I think she was really excited at the thought of that case of Idaho Spuds under her bed that she had bought to share together as a family. And it was fun to sit at the dinner table wearing enormous T-shirts for pajamas and eat Idaho Spuds before we went to bed. I cherish those memories of the old house in Kimberly. Thanks for the treats, Mom. I really do appreciate the many times you bought secret treats for us and we enjoyed them together. (They weren't always Idaho Spuds--for example, I distinctly remember feeling very excited one time when several Hershey's Cookies 'N' Cream candy bars were revealed, and there were many other yummy treats.)

What is an Idaho Spud? It's kind of a candy bar. The center is chocolate "marshmallow," and the "marshmallow" is covered in chocolate, which has coconut sprinkled all over it. Idaho Spuds look kind of like a potato--hence the name.

The reason marshmallow has quotation marks around it is because, in the words of Candy Addict, the marshmallow is very slimy. That is why I didn't really like Idaho Spuds. The texture of the "marshmallow" just didn't really appeal to me. Other than that, they were fine. Then again, I guess I'm not terribly fond of marshmallows in general, unless they're melted (NOT burned) and put on a s'more.

I think there are a lot of people out there who love the Idaho Spud for sentimental reasons. It's a really old, classic candy. There's something about them that makes you think about all the things you like and miss about Idaho. It does that for me too. The thought of that brown wrapper brings back images of Shoshone Falls, sagebrush, Grocery Outlet, fields, our long gravel driveway, ditches, tractors, wind whipping my hair and the trees, and more. So if you like Idaho Spuds, I can understand and respect that. Some people like the taste, and of course not all candy has the ability to take you back in time like Idaho Spuds. But I probably will not be buying any next time I go back to Idaho.

So are the loyal Idahoans going to come lynch me now?