Alec

Welcome to our family, little one. 

My labor was MUCH faster with you than with your brother. I think I worried your dad with my pain management techniques. Let's just say that engaging my diaphragm helped with the contractions, and you can ask me for my "Gregorian monk inspired by cow" impression when you are older. 

I'm excited to share a birthday week with you. I was a little worried that you would have to deal with Mother's Day on your birthday (which just seems like it would be hard as a guy!) but you held out. I promise I will do everything I can to make our shared week special for you!

Jesse is so excited to have you here. When he met you, we found your nose and toes and belly button. When you cry, he gets worried, and says "S'ok, beby. Don' worry. I here." He loves to help me with you. I can't wait to see how you two become friends.

A World-Dominating, Butter-Laden New Tradition

My uncle Gary jokes that in our ritual-obsessed extended family, if we do something two years in a row, it "officially" becomes a tradition. I sure hope that I can carry that over to Jon's family, because I would LOVE for this to become something we do every year!

What could have me so excited? Risk-y Baking Night, of course!

 Here's how it works: We play one of those strategy board games that are really fun, but take FOREVER. As people get out of the game, they come help the rest of us with the Christmas baking!

 Jon's family really likes to play Risk, but his dad LOVES it. In his own words, Kip tends to be ruthless. He won't pull any punches, but he will very helpfully point out what you are doing to let him crush you. 

 

 In this house, Risk has been banned from Sunday play - it's impossible to play and stay reverent. Joseph may be accusing Isaac, but it looks like, as usual, it's Kip's fault. 

 We start them young in this family! Jesse is learning the ins-and-outs of world domination from Auntie Chel.

 There are some of us that don't love the intensity of the game as much (my mom would call it "one of those stratty games") so we baked instead! You can see Laura and Ginny in the back working on the Almond-Cherry bars.

Ginny rolling out the lemon cookies. Kip didn't know it, but we were actually baking all of these goodies for his surprise 50th birthday party that Sunday! He thought they were just for neighbor gifts.

Of course, we had to take a fudge break! My Grandma's fudge is my favorite Christmas treat - it just wouldn't be Christmas without it.

 Sneaky Issac getting into the treats after being paid off by an older brother. *coughJoncough* It's hard work being a mercenary!

 Speaking of being paid off... Jon ran out of ones, so Joseph got a whole FIVE dollars to let Jon sweep through his area. Jon defended himself by saying, "It's not cheating! He's receiving a gift from a benevolent older sibling!"

 Kip said, "My insidious sons are plotting against me! I feel like the King of England!"

Despite his sons' efforts, Kip began to sweep the board. Look at that triumph on his face!

Eventually, Jon was pushed out, and only Chelsea (the red) was left to face the mighty wrath of King Kipper the First. She had a stay of execution when she and Jocelyn left (Jocey was studying for finals this whole time - we missed her, but she got straight A's so it was worth it!) for the midnight premier of Sherlock Holmes 2. Kip studied the board for a good half hour after she left, plotting her inevitable destruction.  I missed the final carnage, but I hear that she put up a good fight!

11-11-11: The Eleventh Hour

For you non-Whovians out there, I'm sorry this is the third Doctor Who post in a row. Why don't you go try it out? Then you'll know what we're talking about! Start with Blink. It's on Netflix! You REALLY won't regret it.

My hair is supposed to imitate a fez. What do you think?

Friday was 11-11-11 - the Eleventh Doctor's Day, as declared by Geek To Me (I actually was already thinking of doing something like this, but that was just the encouragement I needed). And because my love of Who knows no bounds, I decided to turn it into a full-fledged Eleventh Doctor Party!

My cousin Tasha and her husband Ben, my sister-in-law Chelsea, and of course, Joseph all came to watch The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks. We also had some pretty awesome food, if I do say so myself!

Here are our Sonic Screwdrivers (Green, of course, for the new Sonic) I would totally make these again!

Fish fingers and "custard"! Just what we needed.

We start them young around here! Jesse already knows that hanging onto that sonic screwdriver will serve him well!

Ginger companion cookies with homemade English custard. The cookies were probably the best part of the whole meal. The egg in the custard got cooked a little bit, which was a shame, but it was still delicious.

TARDIS self-destruct, or Jammy Dodger? (Well, as close as I can get in America)

From a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, time is more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey...stuff. It also is good to eat.

We know that bow-ties are cool!

Thanks to everyone who came! Thanks to my kind husband who helps me clean when I spring a last-minute party on him, because he knows it makes me happy. And thanks to Stephen Moffat and the BBC for making the most clever, heartwarming, funny, exciting show on television!


EDIT: Geek To Me actually grabbed some of our pictures for his Doctor Who slideshow! Whoo-hoo!

It was a graveyard smash!

Because Salazar asked, my brothers-in-law:

Issac, as Calvin (his stuffed Hobbes is on the couch behind him)

And Joseph as the Tenth Doctor, guarding London (you can't see his red Converse, but they are totally there. And yes, that is my sonic screwdriver.)

Joseph is my Doctor Who buddy. I introduced him to the TARDIS and her lovely crew this summer, and we've been slowly making our way through the new series. It's fantastic to have someone who gets as excited as I do!

We did the Monster Mash!

Everyone loves the food & family holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but for me, Halloween beats them both for sheer childlike glee. I'll use any excuse to dress up, and no one looks at you funny if you wear a hoop skirt or a sword on Halloween. I start scheming about my costume in July. It's even more fun now with Jesse, because I have someone who will dress up with me! Jon tends to be a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to Halloween (Except for the candy part--this year he bought 24 pounds. On October 5th. It was not a positive contribution to my weight loss endeavors!)

Part of the fun of Halloween is showing off your clever costume (at least, for the little diva in my head). I wasn't really sure I would get to show mine off this year: I'm too old and Jesse's too young to go trick-or-treating, and none of our friends were throwing parties. I decided to just go trunk-or-treating with my parents and siblings, so at least the people in our ward could admire our costumes.

I usually go over to help my sisters get ready for school on Halloween morning. The excitement and creativity of finding the perfect way to put a costume together is one of my favorite parts. This year we had a pirate, a Cirque de Soleil dancer, a bottle of ketchup, a knight, and a cowgirl. Mom invited me to go to the various costume parades at my siblings' schools, and also asked for my help with Dad's costume. I ended up spending the whole day with her, at two different schools, Costco, a party supply store and a craft store. LOTS of people saw my costume, and I got lots of comments! I loved the attention, although that's not a surprise to most of you.

I really wanted to do paired costumes for Jesse and I, but I wanted him to be comfortable as well, so no itchy polyester suits. After tossing around a ton of ideas, I saw this hat at the farmer's market. Frankenbaby was born!

Of course, when Dr. Frankenstein realized that his creature was actually a baby, he needed someone to care for him (at least until he was old enough to pillage on his own). Enter the Nanny of Frankenstein!

It's a mix between Mary Poppins and the Bride of Frankenstein. Any day I get to wear a wig and a poofy skirt is a good day in my book! Excepting the wig, I actually already owned all the pieces for this outfit, including the slip from my wedding dress. You'd be surprised how much use I've gotten out of that...

My mom and I spent most of the day gathering things for my dad's costume. He's the bishop of our church congregation, so we've often talked about making him a bishop chess piece costume. Neither my mom or I sew--our lack of skill is actually a running joke in my family. That said, who needs a sewing machine when you've got duct tape, staples and safety pins?

The finished product:

Not bad for six hours and duct tape. Pretty much, we rock.

One of my life achievements happened while we were working on Dad's costume. Mom will often say "YOU can be replaced" when we are giving her a hard time about something. I teased her about her sewing skills as we were finishing, and she said, "You can...well, actually, I don't think I could replace you!" She said that the costume would never have gotten finished without my help and encouragement. Basically, I win at being a CHODAT! (I understand that few to none of you will get that reference, please pardon my self-indulgence.)

After trunk-or-treat, various friends stopped by to show off THEIR costumes - Betty, Barney and Bam-Bam Rubble, the Tenth Doctor and a Plasma-vore. All in all, a fantastic Halloween! I'm already planning what we can do next year when Jesse can walk...

PAR-TAY!

If you asked one of my younger siblings how old Mom turned on Saturday, they would tell you she was 24 (actually, that's what we older kids would say too, since we value our lives). My dad was already going on a business trip to San Fransisco, so they decided to make a romantic whirlwind birthday trip of it. I heard there was a gourmet chocolate walk.

All of this meant that Mom and Dad were gone this weekend, and I WAS IN CHARGE! WOO HOO!

So we:

Took naps in the middle of the day,

Played with our food,

Ate cupcakes for dinner (hey, who picked in the frosting?! Oh, right...me.)
Going...

Going...

Gone! (That raspberry lemonade one on the bottom left was the favorite - so deliciously tart!)

After dinner, we plotted to take over the world,

Set fire to our homework,

And made a BIG mess! (Mom doesn't like puzzles because we never finish them quickly, so they get left out and pieces get lost. This was the only puzzle in the house that still had all of the pieces)

I am the coolest big sister ever.

The Hot Zone

Everybody Loves Raymond became a lot funnier to me after I got married. All of the sudden Jon and I were having the same conversations: where to spend the holidays, how to divide up chores, and where to live in relation to our parents. Actually, the episode where Ray and Debra remember how they ended up so close to Ray's parents (Why Are We Here?) is still one of my favorites.

"If my mother can make sauce and have it still hot when she gets here, it's too close! We'll call this the 'Hot Zone.'"
via

This was seriously on my mind when we picked out our apartment. My parents and Jon's parents live in the same neighborhood. Let me be clear here - my in-laws are NOTHING like Marie and Frank. My mother-in-law is one of the most sincere, kindest people I know, and my father-in-law is very intelligent and visibly loves his wife. My parents are amazing, too, and I was happy - excited, even! - to live in the same city as them. But I didn't want to live TOO close. I wanted Jon and I to be able to build our own family, to learn to rely on each other instead of just being extensions of our original family units (Does that make sense?). So when our original apartment near school fell through, and a basement in the Parental neighborhood opened up, I was pretty apprehensive.

Pink is Jon's parents, green is mine, and blue is the basement apartment. That's what I get for marrying a local boy!

I was wrong. I LOVE being so close to the family. Both side have been awesome at giving us our own space, and always calling before they come over (In fact, now we tell them they don't come over enough!). I think we've only eaten Sunday dinner on our own a few times, and that's usually something quick and easy like grilled cheese. It's especially wonderful now that we have Jesse. The grandmas and grandpas get to see him all the time! There was always someone around to help right after he was born - doing the dishes, making meals, folding laundry - but they didn't have to sleep on our floor. It also helps to keep me sane. If I need a little adult conversation while Jon is at work or school, I can just walk over to visit my mom, or my sisters-in-law. I'm at one house or another three or four times a week. I have a whole ready-made community right here, and I adore it.

Now we are talking about moving. We three fit fine in our tiny little apartment, but if there are ever four (this is not an announcement (AMBER), we're just planning ahead) we would be out of space. I told Jon, "If your mom can make sauce, and have it still hot when she gets here, that is JUST RIGHT. Let's call that the Hot Zone."

If you'll excuse me, I need to go take these cookies over to my mom. Ta!

Off we go!

What a wonderful weekend! We went on a (very) quick trip to Oregon for my cousin Lacey's wedding to her fiancee Alex.

I wake up more often than I used to, what with the feeding of the Jesse and all, but I still usually get to sleep for about 7 hours altogether. After going to bed at one (because of course we packed the night before, even though we've known about this trip for forever) and Jesse eating at three, I was not my chipper self at our six-thirty departure time. Which is why it wasn't until we were halfway to the airport that I realized we forgot the camera. I was pretty disappointed - I've been really enjoying learning to use my camera - but I knew lots of other people would take pictures, and I'd get them eventually. For now, all I've got are some iPhone pictures.

After reading this post from Jenna, we decided to travel with Jesse in my Moby wrap. It was brilliant. I did have to take it off at the security checkpoint, but Jesse was content to just hang out and sleep. We got a lot of big smiles, too. I think people were tickled to see him looking all around with his big eyes. Some older ladies came up and cooed at him and said what a good idea it was. We checked his carseat at the gate (because we were renting a car in Oregon) and it came back in great condition.

Jesse LOVED being on the plane. I was really worried we were going to be those people - the really annoying ones that couldn't quiet their screaming child. But he was so good! He kept looking all around, back and forth, so he could see ALL THE NEW THINGS! Bonus: when traveling with a child, you get to be the first one on the plane! Bwah ha ha. I think Jon became a lot more amenible to traveling while Jesse is little after we learned that.

The majority of my Mom's family lives in Oregon, so we've been going there for Christmases and special occasions for longer than I can remember. I was actually born in Portland, and Mom says I have rainwater in my blood. Add to all of that that Jon and I went to Portlad and the Oregon coast on our honeymoon, and you've got a place that has a big section of my heart.

On our way to the wedding we stopped for some lunch at a lovely little place in Corvallis. They had gelato! Who expects really good passionfruit gelato in the middle of Oregon?

The wedding was beautiful. Lacey, my cousin, worked really hard so that everything would be very easy to set up the day of. My favorite part was when they came back down the aisle to this:




It took me a minute to realize what it was - doesn't it sound like a wedding march at the beginning?

Once the CRAZY dance party and adventures in the photobooth were over (I sure love my cousins), we headed back to Portland. We had booked our honeymoon hotel for the night, and planned on going to dinner or Powell's City of Books. But even though it was only 8pm when we checked in, we were just too exhausted.We ordered room service (I got a delicious cheese plate, and a slightly too-burnt creme brulee) and I fell asleep as we were eating dessert in bed.

Mom, you're a wimp.

We got to sleep in the next morning in our delicious king bed (well, I say sleep in. After his second feeding at six, Jesse came into bed with us and we all dozed until about eight). I took a bath in the lovely deep tub (do you see why I like this hotel so much?) while Jon got us breakfast. One order of pear, ham and brie french toast later, we were on our way back to the airport.

All in all, we were only gone for about 34 hours, but it still felt like a vacation. I've never flown to Oregon before - I definitely prefer it over the 14 hour drive! I'm also glad that Jesse is such a good traveler. Hopefully he'll get a lot more experience!

Maggie, Jesse and the Binkys

My littlest sister, Maggie, is almost exactly 21 years younger than me. To put it another way, Jesse's aunt is only 3 years older than he is. I think it's great - Jesse will have someone older to play with and boss him around, and Maggie will learn how to share with someone younger (we hope!). I have an uncle that isn't much older than me, and he taught me how to shuffle cards and how to spot constellations. I can't wait to see what Maggie will teach Jesse.

Also, DIMPLE!

Maggie is adorable. She's very bubbly and talkative. Sometimes in a family of eight kids it's hard to get attention, and she's learned that she can be in the spotlight if she's cute, so she milks it for all it's worth. She was SO EXCITED when I was pregnant. She couldn't wait to hold the baby, and was very eager to teach him. She told me that I got pregnant because I "jumpded on da trampoline, and opened your mouth, and the baby went in'da tummy!" Mom even used Jesse to (successfully) wean her from binkys at bedtime. "The baby needs this, sweetie. Can we put it in the bag for the baby?"

When my siblings came to visit me in the hospital, she proudly presented me with the bag of binkys, gave me a kiss and began happily pushing buttons on my bed. Then we introduced her to Jesse.

She was having NONE of that. Wouldn't look at him, wouldn't touch him, nothing. I'm not sure if she realized that her spot as the adorable youngest one was being usurped, or if she was just uncomfortable with this small thing that just lay there, but she was very much not pleased and NOT interested in cooperating.

Until we asked if she wanted to give Jesse a binky.

All of the sudden he was DOING something. Something she understood! Binkys were the best and that was something they had in common! Maybe this baby thing wasn't so bad.

Since then, though, she hasn't been really eager to interact with Jesse very much. She gets shy and a little apprehensive when he is around, and seems to view him as a necessary evil.

I babysat her this morning while my mom was on her way to a wedding (that's what I get for living in the same neighborhood as my parents!). We colored, and played with puppets, and read stories.

This is a ribbon.

While I was fixing lunch, Jesse started fussing. "Could you put his binky in, hon?" After a minute: "He dun want it." Fuss fuss fuss. I got to a stopping point and came over. "See, sweetie, you put his binky in, then hold his cheek like this. Now he's better! He just wanted a little attention." She watched me for a minute, then twirled away, uninterested.

A little while later, I was...otherwise occupied (okay, I was in the bathroom) and Jesse started fussing again. I sighed to myself and started wrapping up, and all of the sudden he stopped. When I came into the living room, Maggie was sitting next to him with her hand on his cheek, saying "Shh, Jesse, is okay. Don' worry, Jesse." just like she had hear me say earlier. She beamed up at me with that dimply grin. "Look! I helpded him!" Yes, you did, sweet girl.

 

She might still get a little nervous, but I'm confident these two are going to be great friends.