RT and M's goings-on, mostly involving school

RT

RT is getting into some research for his master's thesis (yes, this is a PhD program, but he can do a master's project along the way if he wants). There are a lot of big numbers and Greek letters and integral signs involved, as well as a lot of writing/using computer codes, so I don't understand much of it, but he's figuring out some interesting things. I enjoy it when he explains things that he is figuring out. He is making models to better understand how galaxies work, so he brings home some pretty cool animations. He and his advisers have also been working on a request to get some time on the Hubble Space Telescope so they can get some data for their research. Pretty cool, huh? He is taking a visualization class (one of those special classes that are only offered occasionally, not on a regular basis), which is perfect timing because it is about things that will help him with getting his thesis ready.

RT is also still in cub scouts. He moved up to Webelos with the boys who were in our Bear den last year. I think he's having a good time with them. He says that some are already close to earning their Arrow of Light.

M

I am still in school, taking Calculus II. It has been a challenge for me. I don't have a lot of time or energy (essential ingredients for success in math classes), and I just don't have a lot of interest in it like I used to. A couple of days before my first test I had practically decided that I was definitely going to quit school, but I changed my mind and I'm going to plow through this beast of a class and see if it gets better once I get into the meat of my program. I remembered that there are so many things that I really want to understand and learn about, and Calculus is necessary for me to accomplish that. I'm finishing my fourth year of college, and it's frustrating that because of various things I couldn't have planned for I haven't made a lot of progress towards a degree, and now I'd rather be doing mommy/homemaker things. But I am glad that I have this opportunity to learn, and I do feel that it is important for me to continue my education, at least for now. The general authorities have talked a lot lately about getting as much education as we can, and I feel that right now this is the way I need to obey that counsel. Learning is important to me, and even though it's hard I am grateful that I have been blessed with the opportunity to attend college. Like I said, once I get past Calculus I will probably enjoy it more. I appreciate having something to do that is for my own growth and enjoyment, outside of being K's mamamamamamama.

I am also making some changes in my plans for my education. I am currently enrolled in the Science Education program at NCSU, but I will probably be transferring to UNC to study Environmental Geology. I was looking hopelessly at my degree audit one day and thinking about the zillions of long bus rides to NCSU that I would have to take for several more years, the eight unbearable education courses I was going to have to take, the student teaching I was somehow going to have to complete while still being a mom, and the disrespectful and apathetic high schoolers I would have to teach if I ever needed to get a job. And then I started looking at majors at UNC, and Environmental Geology stuck out. I would graduate faster, the material interests me, the classes I've already taken will count towards the new major, and my classes would be a fifteen-minute bus ride away. In case you were wondering, this will be the fourth college where I have earned credit. Yeah. (Sigh.) It's a little frustrating, but I do know that there was a reason I was supposed to go to NCSU first. The only thing I can think of at the moment is that I had some small missionary moments, but someday I will understand.

I think I needed to get that out of my system.

I knew it!

Snopes.com is a fun website. It's useful when you get a forwarded email about some girl who was kidnapped or a little boy who has leukemia and the American Cancer Association will donate $1 for his treatment for every person who forwards the email to ten of their friends (not sure how they would know if you forwarded the email or not). I've also started checking it when I get invites to groups or applications on Facebook that seem questionable. Anyway, today I was checking something on Snopes and I noticed that it had several links about old wives' tales. I got some good laughs from some of them because I always had more than a suspicion that they were wrong. Here are some of them, with links to the pages.

1. It takes seven years for your body to digest chewing gum. (link)
   
2. Hair grows back darker and thicker after it's been shaved. (Some other interesting ones on this page: Split ends can be repaired [so many shampoo companies claim that they can do this], and shampoo loses its effectiveness as hair becomes accustomed to it.) (link)
3. You must wait at least an hour to go swimming after you've eaten or you will get cramps and drown. Even if it was just a popsicle. Even if you are just getting in to splash around. (link)
4. A tooth left in a glass of Coke will dissolve overnight. (link)
5. We only use ten percent of our brains. (link)
6. The average person swallows eight spiders a day. (link)

crawled right out of his pants

what K is up to

K is a week and a half shy of seven months. Yes, we have begun the adventure of solid foods, and he loves it. He bounces around the whole time he is being spoon-fed and gulps it down as fast as he can get it. I'm sad that my little baby is growing up, but it's fun to see him having new experiences like this. It's a learning experience for me too.

A little over a week ago K decided to start sitting up on his own. Yes, he decided. I think he knew how before, but didn't feel like doing it because it was more fun to be on his tummy and scooting around. He went straight from arching his back and tipping over on purpose to sitting up for fifteen minutes in the same place. It is so convenient to have him sitting up on his own! For example, I can put him in the bathtub and he will sit up so I can grab the washcloth and soap without holding onto him the entire time, and when I'm putting his shirts on I can do it with him sitting up. I didn't even realize what I was missing! And of course he looks so cute and (sniff) grown up in the sitting up position.

K is also possibly working on growing some teeth. People have been asking me if he's teething since he was two months because he drools and wants to chew and suck on everything, but I think it's just that he likes to chew and suck, not that he was teething. Anyway, it does look like there are a couple of bulges that weren't there before on his bottom gums, so maybe sometime something will emerge.

Sleep has been an interesting issue lately. It's always been my biggest struggle with K, not because he's a bad sleeper (he's actually a very good sleeper), but because I can't figure him out. Every time we get some kind of routine going, he changes and the routine stops working. Until recently, the soothing routine was rocking in the rocking chair while K sucked on something--generally my finger or his thumb. But lately he only wants to play when I do that, so I've started just reading him a story and putting him in his crib. He generally protests for less than a minute before soothing himself to sleep. I am grateful that he knows how to soothe himself to sleep, but it has still been difficult to figure out what his sleep needs are. I kind of miss the rocking and sucking routine too.

K learned how to make the sound of clearing his throat, and he does it almost all the time. He thinks it's very interesting.

Last Sunday RT did a photo session of K. He got some nice ones.




Lately he's been sticking out his tongue a lot.

post-Christmas trip

I don't think I was expecting to go home for Christmas this winter, but sometime a few months ago we found out about a sale that Southwest was having, so we were able to get a good deal on plane tickets to go see a couple of RT's sisters and my family on January 7-11. We had a really nice time, and I was so grateful that we could go.

The plane flights went well, although K didn't get especially good naps. RT's sister picked us up from the airport and we stayed the night at her house. She has a baby a couple of months older than K, so it was fun for all three of us to meet him. We had fun listening to her kids tell us about all sorts of things and just chatting together.

The next morning we went to Provo and RT talked to some previous professors for a while. We also stopped by the PS100 TA lab where I worked during our dating/engaged days. My supervisor and a couple of TAs I worked with were there. Most of the TAs I worked with don't work there anymore. I talked with my supervisor for a while about my plans with finishing my degree. She said she likes it when people come back and say hi, so I was glad we stopped by for a couple of minutes.

Being back at BYU was not what I expected. I sort of expected it would be like coming home and I would be excited to see all the places where I spent so much time. But it actually wasn't that exciting. For some reason it didn't matter as much as I thought it would. I think it was a confirmation for me that I'm not supposed to be there anymore. I was sad that I didn't have time to see any of my old friends, though.

There was one thing that struck me almost immediately. Here, whenever I go anywhere with K I get lots of comments and oohs and aahs about the cute baby. At BYU I didn't get that at all. Maybe that's because a baby isn't such a novel thing for people there. Sort of interesting.

We had dinner with RT's sisters and their families. Here's a picture we took of K with two of his cousins:


Soon my parents and sister arrived and met K for the first time. It was so great to see them, and K really liked them (can't say I blame him--I like them too). We rode home with them to my parents' house.

We got to my parents' house pretty late, and then my dad went to pick up the rest of my siblings, who were staying at my grandparents' house. When they got back, I was feeding K, so they all had to wait to meet him. It was so fun when they got to see him. I think everyone held him for a little bit and we all just talked a lot and watched K be cute. For some reason my brother (7 years old) couldn't stop laughing when he was holding K. Maybe it was just so strange for a 7-year-old uncle to be sitting there holding his nephew.

The next day we mostly just hung out at home. We did go shopping for a little while, and one of my sisters babysat K (you can imagine how not reluctant she was). In the evening we did our traditional sibling gift exchange, which had been postponed until we came, and opened some presents from my parents.

The next day was Sunday, and we went to church at my family's ward. Let me just say, I am so jealous of the mother's room they have. It was nice and open, and it wasn't the coldest room in the building. It was weird to be in a ward that isn't mostly composed of graduate/med school/dental school students and their families. It makes me a little nervous to someday be in a ward where the people aren't all the same age as me.

After church we went to my grandparents' house for dinner. K met Grandma and Grandpa and then took a REALLY long nap. Poor kid--his sleep was sort of neglected on this trip sometimes, and he was a very good sport about it. We had a really nice time talking about books, memories of Kimberly, ID (where I grew up--as did several generations back on my Dad's line), and what we all had learned in the past year.

Monday we went home. It all went by too fast, and it was sad to leave my parents, but I'm grateful that we got to go. I must say, it is not as relaxing to travel with a baby. All he wanted to do was play and lick everything in sight. But he was happy the entire time we were flying.

And here are some pictures from spending time with my family:



K squared. (K is named after my dad.) I had been looking forward to them meeting for a long time.


One thing I miss about Utah is that in most places there's a huge mountain range taking up half the horizon.


Pictures taken at my grandparents' house:





Can you tell it was bedtime?


K with his uncle and aunts:

cooking with wheat

Wheat grinders are really great for using wheat, but you can still use wheat if you don't have one. Recently I have been experimenting with cooking wheat and then using it in my recipes. Here's how to cook it (similar to boiling rice):

1. Measure some whole wheat kernels into a large pot (I usually do 1-2 cups). It helps if it has a transparent lid so you can see without lifting the lid.
   
2. Cover the wheat with water--I add about 4 cups of water for every cup of wheat.
3. At this point you can add spices if you want. I have added chicken bouillon (about 1/2 tsp. or one cube) and thought it was really good. Most of the time I just add 1 tsp. salt and spice it later depending on how I'm using it.
   
4. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer it until the water is absorbed and the wheat is soft. You can add more water if it looks like you're going to run out of water before it's soft enough. The wheat kernels will burst a little. This takes quite a while (as in, a few hours).
   

I hear you can also cook wheat in your crockpot. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it works. I would just put the wheat, water, and salt/spices in and cook it till it's done.

After the wheat is cooked, you can store it in your fridge in tupperware containers until you want to use it. Two cups of wheat yields a lot of cooked wheat.

Here are some ways I have used cooked wheat:

• I made meatloaf and added some wheat to the mixture before baking. It was great. RT liked it too.
• I spooned some into chicken soup in the last few minutes of cooking.
• I add milk, brown sugar, and maybe cinnamon, then microwave it for one minute, and eat it like that for breakfast or lunch (kind of like oatmeal). You could also add fruit to this, and I think that would be very good.
  
• I put it in the microwave for one minute (possibly with a little water), then eat it plain with a little more salt, or with spices (a sprinkle of onion powder is very good).

There are lots of other things you can add cooked wheat to, such as stir-fry, many different soups, breads and quick breads, and chili. The other day I even sampled something from Costco that had cooked wheat in it.

Cooked wheat does have kind of a different texture. I think it's a good idea to take it slowly so you can get used to it and learn to like it. Adding it to dishes like soup and stir fry helps because there are a lot of different colors and textures already in those, so you won't notice the wheat as much.

I love this idea because it's a way to get the nutrients of grains into your diet while still having a variety of foods, and it doesn't take a lot of work to toss a half cup of already-cooked wheat into something you're already making. Plus, wheat is very inexpensive. At the cannery, a 25 lb. bag of red wheat costs $6.35 and a 25 lb. bag of white wheat costs $5.80 (you can find LDS canneries, also known as home storage centers, here, and download the order form here). 25 lbs. of wheat can go pretty far, and for that same price you can only buy a few boxes of cereal (although coupons do help a lot for cereal).

If this sounds complicated, I dare you to try it anyway, and I think you will see that it's pretty easy. Try the crockpot method--that's pretty simple.

K's favorite things

Power cords, shoelaces, headphones . . . anything long and cord-like
Wet washcloths
Door stops
My hair
Fingers and toes (very nice sizes for sucking)
Keys
Paper
The sensation of his nails scraping skin
Anything he can chew or suck or lick