Happy Halloween!

Say hello to the Blues Brothers, BananaNoah and BumbleBird!

10 Good Things - Sundee Edition

1. Sienna hummed Praise to the Man all day.

2. The primary program.

3. I helped out in Sienna's nursery today and realized I need to STOP telling people I want to work in primary again.

4. Early church meant a nice chunk of afternoon to enjoy.

5. Instead of napping, I got to know my new visiting teacher.

6. We had dinner at a friend's house. I love when someone else does all the cooking. She asked me to bring chips and salsa. Okay!

7. Trunk or Treat at the church last night. Sienna doesn't remember that her pumpkin bucket with treats is still in the car. I will be sneaky and eat it all before she does!

8. Although Noah only had a 15 minute nap and a two hour nap today, he was really quite pleasant.

9. Papa Murphy's pizza last night. That was my first time. Um, yum.

10. Ending the day reading Walden.

You Will Be Dumber After Reading This

*Sometimes I check my People.com app first thing in the morning. Hey! I need some juice to replenish my juice ... the juice my son is always drinking. First thing in the morning.

*Speaking of first thing in the morning, this is what you'll see if you come to our house first thing in the morning. Blue bathrobe with white snowflakes! Make that ALL morning. It's comfy! Don't judge.

*I am in the bathroom typing this right now. The bathroom is the only room in the house that is not occupied by sleeping people. How nice am I? My other options are the garage or the car. Did you know I've considered banishing one of my children to the car while I soothed the other one to sleep?

*Brian Williams' eyebrows are at times compassionate and at other times condescending. I think they are the key to his success.

*Coldplay has a formula. It was pointed out to me by Adam which has kind of ruined the band for me. But he's right. "Feels like para para paradise" was in my head in no time flat. They need a new sound, so says Adam. He should become their new band manager.

*I have now moved to my bedroom to type. Noah woke up literally the minute after Sienna stopped making noise in her room. So now we are hanging out in my room. Me and my Mr. Noah. He is getting so cute. Did you know he's always been a tummy sleeper? He'll be crawling in no time because of it.

*Kim Kardashian ... just who is she? Well, when I get obsessed with a celebrity, I read their entire Wiki article. So now, unfortunately, I can tell you. She's a lot of everything but most of all she's just annoying. I saw her on Ellen recently and her husband seemed so nice that I felt sorry for him. She seems like a self-absorbed snot. He also looks like a dude my cousin used to date. And what about that height difference? How does THAT work?

*I made pumpkin cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting this morning. And then ate four for lunch. No regrets!

*Beyonce. She is something else. "Beyonce" really is synonymous with "super star." I've watched Love on Top and Best Thing I Never Had on YouTube about a million times each and I really am agog at her confidence and talent. Especially when that confidence is displayed in clothes that you are positive she is about to fall out of at any second. That wedding dress! Those boobs! She kept them in, though. How? you ask. Because she's Beyonce, that's how!

*Sometimes motherhood makes me just angry. And sometimes I don't want it to end. It is a sentiment I have expressed before but is summarized so perfectly in this blog post. Isn't that so perfect? Love the last line ... the culprit is the cure. Amazing and maddening stuff, this mothering business.

*Last week was our book club's first meeting. The book club that I started. Boom. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. Just ladies talking about books and all the answers to all the questions in the world. Girl power!

*Buying the right make up is impossible. How much money do cosmetic companies make just on the crap that ends up sitting in our drawers? And how many times do you buy some lip stick or eye shadow thinking THIS is the product I've been looking for ... the one that's going to change everything?! Like, turn you Beyonce pretty much. Well yesterday, it must be noted, I bought a bronzer and lip stain that I used today, and I actually like it! It's a miracle, I tell you.

*Can you believe the Feminist Mormon Housewives had a meet up recently in Seattle and I missed it? They even met at one of my favorite dessert shops evuh! I sure hope there is a next time!

May blog posts like this nevuh have a next time. Psych!

Mr. Noah and I will now go on a walk without the other two sleepy heads!

Bye.

10 5 Good Things - Applesauce Edition

{This is yesterday's post.}

1. Lazy morning with kids. Adam even made a few appearances between studying and exercising. Good thing because we won't see him until 10 tonight.

2. Folded all the laundry I washed yesterday and cleaned the grubby finger prints off the front windows all before 8:30 am. Did I mention it was an EARLY lazy morning (with a little bit of productivity thrown in)?

3. We went to the park. I love when we can spend a dry morning there.

4. Noah fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep when I got him out of his car seat. I love having his tiny chubby cheek nestled in my neck while I carry him from the car to the house to his crib while he's knocked out like that. Sleeping babies! What is it about them?

5. Our neighbor gave us a huge bag of organic red delicious apples from his dad's farm in Lake Chelan. They are ah-ma-zing. Red delicious apples from the store are bad. Red delicious apples straight from a real life apple orchard, turns out, are GOOD. I turned about 10 of them into applesauce today. Deluge! (Delicious.)

***

That's it. The rest of the night was crap.

The end.

10 Good Things - Punkin Patch Edition

1. I fit into my old brown corduroys pants. I have 5 more pounds to lose to get all the pregnancy weight off but it may as well be 15 cuz it is not. budging. But fitting into old pants is miraculous, so I'll take what I can get.

2. Right when I was about to strangle both kids this morning before getting out the door to the pumpkin patch, there was silence. Sienna was quietly and NICELY entertaining a very sleepy/cranky Noah. So cute.

3. I took the kids to a pumpkin patch with my friend, Angela, and her two kids. It was raining cats and dogs when we left and halfway to The Farm in Snohomish, the rain stopped and the sun even made a few appearances throughout the morning.

4. Snohomish is beautiful farm land. A nice break from the citay.

5. There were baby piglets and baby bunnies at The Farm. I was kind of in awe. The big mama sow was lying in front of her piggies and the mama bunny was standing guard by her babies. I don't know, but it was this weird moment of reflection for me during which I was proud to be a big mama sow providing suck (sorry to any dudes reading this) to my babies and also a protective mama rabbit, always watching out for my little ones. Odd feelings at The Farm indeed.

6. I was spent by the time we got home and dreading the putting down of children for naps. They EVENTUALLY fell asleep at the same time so I got in a 45 minute nap myself before Birdie was calling from her crib. It would be safe to say that that nap changed the course of the rest of my day for good.

7. I cooked two meals tonight, one for us and one for a family in the ward. I really relished it, which is saying a lot because cooking sometimes just seems like a chore for me, a means to an end. But I was thinking about how I really am just a homebody who sometimes loves feeding people (but especially myself) good food.

8. Adam came home at 6 pm and I delivered the meal to the family by myself. Listening to whatever I want on the radio without hearing shouts from the backseat of "more songs!" is glorious.

9. I had leftover steam to help Adam clean the kitchen and pay attention to Sienna. THAT is why the nap is so life altering.

10. Watched some of the World Series with Adam and even had quiet hang out time while the kids slept. RARE.

10 Good Things - Weekend Edition

I am in the funkiest funk going into the new week, so I need to get my gratitude journal on before it's too late.

Here goes. 10 Good Things about this weekend.

1. Friday night we went to Adam's school Halloween party. We dressed up as the Blues Brothers, Noah was a banana and Sienna was a bee. It was fun. In some ways.

2. Saturday morning I went for a jog in the spray/mist/rain. It felt really good.

3. Saturday evening we went to an "autumn open house" that a couple in the ward invited us to at their house. Lots of delicious homemade soups and root beer from glass bottles. And Sienna sticking their black and orange jelly beans in the decorative haunted house. Sorry. (They are due with their first child soon, so I figured she was doing them a favor by leaving sticky surprises.)

4. After putting the kids to bed (unsuccessfully), our friend came over to babysit while Adam and I got out for a little date for our half anniversary. I think it's more romantic to celebrate our wedding in the autumn months, so that is the reason for the half anniversary celebration. We went to a book store and talked. It was lovely. We returned home to two still awake children. Good part: once they did fall asleep, they both had great nights and even slept in a bit.

5. This morning I got up with Noah at 6:30 (yes, that is his "sleep in" wake up time) and watched two conference talks and caught up on some Mormonish news around the web that is not worth linking to. That Maureen Dowd can be such a poo-face. Also, if you care at all about Mormon NFL wives, don't go look at Deseret News. Snoring.

6. I wore a sexy librarian outfit to church today. Rave reviews from Adam.

7. This outfit included these new shoes from Target. I've never worn anything like them but the minute I saw them, I knew I needed them.

8. I wore red lipstick. More where that came from! Entire month of December, here we come! Except: how not to make it go pink?

9. We had two new/newlywed couples from the ward over for dinner this evening. And realized even though it is tiresome to only talk about kids to couples with kids, it is more tiresome to find something in common with people whose lives revolve around work and hanging out. But I'm not jealous. NO I AM NOT.

10. Did my visiting teaching today. Word.

10 Good Things

Today 10 excellent things that happened were:

1. The morning was sunny and clear and the afternoon was gloomy. It was quite nice to have a little switch, plus when the sky gets darker I swear the kids nap better. That was the case today for sure!

2. A blog post I am quite proud of about decorating around a TV.

3. I took a silent stance not to get out of bed this morning unless the house was on fire. Luckily Adam was around until 8 am to let me do so. Also luckily: Adam came home at 6 tonight! 6! Dreamy!

4. I had a breakfast burrito and PW's sour cream pancakes for dinner.

5. Sienna's appetite is up these days. I am always glad when this happens.

6. Noah laughed harder than I've ever seen him laugh today. It was after his morning nap, he was watching Sienna jump on my bed. He was cracking his head off. Loved it.

7. I'm so tired of putting Noah to bed late, so after I nursed him to sleep at 7 pm and him waking up and freaking out the moment I put him in his crib, I decided to let him cry it out. It only lasted 40 minutes! He's definitely cried longer than that before. So I'm going to try the 7 pm bedtime again tomorrow and let him cry again. I'm not getting my hopes too high because sleep training has let me down me a thousand times before, but for tonight, this is a victory.

8. Taking the covers off the couch cushions and taking them down the street to be washed in a front end load washer. In all the years we've had our couch (5) I have not done that. A victory in better housekeeping today!

9. Also, I mopped the floor.

10. Adam's letting me wear his extra snuggly grey socks lately. And I am warm because of them.

10 Good Things

That same title over and over again is getting old. But I have bigger fish to fry, so it will remain "10 Good Things" until it becomes something else.

This daily gratitude journal stuff is really working. In fact, get this:

True, eh? It is helping me so much right now to just focus on the positive instead of internally flipping out over so much that I can't control (my kids' moods and temperaments and sleep patterns).

Here's today's list of gratitudinal:

1. Another clear, sunny day! Hooray!

2. Eating Jen's chocolate cake for breakfast. H-e-a-v-e-n.

3. Skipping the gym and meeting friends at Greenwood park. I think I'll try to make the gym a MWF thing. That means, tomorrow, gym: you, me.

4. Sienna being obsessed over "Rubber Ducky's Sister." There's a toy that has re-emerged from the bottom of the toy bin that is a rubber ducky in a pink swimsuit and surfboard and I told her it's her beloved Rubber Ducky's sister. She's always talking about her. "Where's Rubber Ducky's Sister??!"

5. The children did not contest their naps this afternoon. It is always worth noting when this happens. Plus they woke up at exactly the same time. Noah was asleep from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm and Sienna slept from 2:20 pm to 4:30 pm. GET OUT.

6. Which meant diving into the internet black hole and completely ditching all responsibility. Among the things I read/viewed that were awesome and inspiring, this blog post brought me to tears. I've never experienced infertility first hand, but I've been reading what CJane has to say about it for years. And sometimes she just knocks it out of the park when describing some things in life.

7. Photos of "daddy." Since about a month ago, Sienna has been asking for Adam constantly, all day. We talk nonstop about how "daddy went on the bus, daddy's at school, daddy's coming home late tonight, we won't see daddy tonight, he has a class..." so the only thing we have during the day to stave off the dad craving is to look at pictures and videos of him. We did that after naps yesterday and today. It helps her a little. Nothing like the real thing, though!

8. Target. That place can be a joy sometimes. Tonight it was a great place to go to burn off some evening hours (since tonight is dad's late class). We saw a friend there plus I bought my own darn box of cheap pens. I lose every single one I touch, so no more buying Pilot pens.

9. A sweaty Mr. Noah face on my shoulder at 9:10 pm. Had to practically pin that kid down with my neck to get him to sleep tonight. Night falls and he becomes a fighter.

10. Adam just got home. Word.

10 Good Things

Welcome to my new nightly therapy session aka gratitude journal that helps me see the forest through the trees. Or is it the trees through the forest? Whatever that saying is.

Here are the 10 things that I was grateful for today:

1. A clear, sunny day.

2. Running my guts out on the treadmill. You could almost see smoke, I was burning that mom-angst right off.

3. A delicious leftover lunch of roasted pork loin, fennel and garlic plus broccoli. No mac and cheese today! Only gourmet! Plus a huge chunk of leftover chocolate cake.

4. Finding an old flame's blog. Which is mostly weird, but it did make me happy to see he's happily married after a divorce.

5. Getting a message on FB from an old DC flatmate. Memories!

6. Going to the park at dusk. And even feeling chatty at the park! Check me out all chatting with the other moms and dads. Usually I'm the anti-social park mom.

7. Seeing (really good) tight rope walkers at the park. Seattle weirdness never gets old.

8. Watching Beyonce's Love On Top music video. I think I figured it out. The clothing starts out 80s, then with each key change it reverses a decade going from 80s to 70s to 60s and ending at 50s. Am I right?

9. Kind of being obsessed with The Killers now that Brandon Flowers is all "I'm a Mormon." And watching his videos that aren't so "I'm a Mormon." But whatever. Claim it if you want.

10. Noah is giggling more and more! And also has a brand new deep rumbling grunt. It is excellent.

Happy Noah, Sad Noah

This morning Noah was all giggles:

Tonight Noah was all a mess:

10 Good Things

Maybe this will become a daily thing ... it really helped me to write all that down last night. Focusing on all that positive made less room in my brain for focusing on the negative. So, welcome to my public therapy sessions. (I don't blame you if you skip these over entirely.)

Here's today's list of 10 good things that came to pass on this Sabbath day:

1. We had the bishop and his wife and daughter over for dinner and it was delightful! Who knew the bishop was just a normal guy? They are really funny and their daughter and Sienna played pretty well together, too.

2. The pork tenderloin I cooked didn't turn tough! Yay. Cooking in my oven is a continual guessing game, so it's usually a miracle if things turn out the way they are supposed to.

3. I wore my 3+ inch (which make me feel 100 feet tall) high heels to church for the second time and decided, yes, they must go on eBay. I gave them a shot. And they hurt like the dickens. Goodbye ridiculous but very cute shoes.

4. The weather turns cold and out comes my grey/black wardrobe. And for some reason that makes me happy.

5. I ate 2 big pieces of Jen's (bishop's wife) chocolate cake.

6. Adam took wiggly Mr. Noah for all of Sunday School and I enjoyed an excellent lesson from the book of Hebrews.

7. Mr. Noah went to bed at 8:15 pm! Lately I cannot read him, but tonight, I discovered patting on the back WHILE nursing was the trick. He's a crazy li'l sucker.

8. I cleaned the kitchen tonight in ALMOST 7 minutes. I set the timer. Someday I'd like to write a book called "7 Minutes for Highly Effective Cleaning." But apparently I need to hone my craft first.

9. I have a goal to be in bed by 9:30 pm.

10. I'm ending the day with this conference talk. And NOT going on Facebook, aka the black hole.

10 Good Things

I had this blog post brewing in my brain tonight entitled "Moments in Hell" wherein I complain once again of being a mom. But then I read this post from Stephmodo and realized how good it would be for me to focus on all the good things going on in my life right now. It will help me move past so much I am struggling with.

So here goes, 10 good things about today (it really was an especially good Saturday):

1. Joining in Sienna and Adam’s favorite Saturday tradition of riding the city bus to Green Lake and getting hot chocolate (Adam and me) and an ice cream cone (Sienna). Seeing Sienna literally shake with joy at seeing the bus is … no words. It’s the best.

2. Sitting a little longer than usual on the bed tonight with Noah snoozing on my neck while playing Words With Friends. He fell asleep at 9:30 pm for the second night in a row and I’m glad tonight I was less mad than last night.

3. Going to the gym without kids for 1.5 hours. BLISS.

4. Eating leftovers from Fu Man Dumplings and doing the hard thing by saving Adam half of them. He was grateful. But it was still really hard. Everything we had there last night was GOOD.

5. Having an appetite with which I think everything at Fu Man Dumplings is good. Last time we went I was pregnant and despising the whole dinner. Boo to pregnancy. Hooray for nursing.

6. Finally finishing watching Gone With the Wind … starting in the morning and continuing intermittently throughout the day. Yes, the kids woke up at the butt crack of dawn, which is why I started it first thing in the morning. BUT, the good thing is, that movie is just straight up tragically wonderful and it made me happy.

7. Both kids did not contest their naps today. BLISS.

8. Taking a brisk walk to the grocery store this evening with Noah in the Bjorn. He has red nose syndrome when it's cold, just like me! Adam and Sienna have no such syndrome. Sad for them!

9. Doing the easy thing and buying frozen pizza for dinner. Doing the hard thing and making butternut squash soup after dinner (for later).

10. Finishing off the evening with this conference talk. And watching the Brandon Flowers “I am a Mormon” video for the second time today.

2 Videos

Noah is Kicky Boy!

A conversation with Sienna:

Change

Things. They are a changin' around here.

The wade pools are closed. The weather is chilly. Adam started school last week. Summer is officially over!

As Adam mentioned in his previous post, he got a full-time offer from Amazon.com to start next year when his MBA program is over. This means we will be looking at staying in Seattle anywhere from 5 to 10 years, we estimate. The big change here is: permanence! EEK! Can it be done? From Extended Stay America in Boston to a studio apartment in Vista, Calif., to a one bedroom apartment in Irvine, Calif. and then two more moves both to two bedroom apartments in the same complex. And now to Seattle; we still have a two bedroom apartment. But if we are staying here does that mean ... gasp ... home ownership? Those two words are the very definition of permanence. And it is a scary and exciting concept. We love everything about Seattle except two things: no immediate family (thank goodness for cousins, though) and terribly depressing weather 10 months out of 12 (according to this past year). Those are two big things. And yet we will stay because it is a job opportunity that couldn't be matched anywhere else.

The kids are changing. Sienna is now 2 years and 5 months. She now hates Noah and wants to be held constantly. (Baby regression.) She no longer delights in naptime or bedtime. (She relished it for about 6 months before this.) She is becoming adept at stalling. (Getting out the door with socks on? Forget it!) On the positive side: she can be very sweet still, loves to sing and learn new songs with Dad, and is putting together sentences nicely. Yesterday she and I were on a walk and she said, "Go this way or that way?" and pointed in the two different directions. It surprised me that she used "this" and "that" in perfect context because I remember having a hard time teaching those two words to the kids in Taiwan. I love being surprised by all the things she's picking up. Noah is now 4 months and I'm finally starting to really be smitten by him. I'm feeling less like a machine that takes care of him and more like a mom who gets to enjoy a bit more the fruits of her labor. His naps and nights are still spotty - sometimes good, sometimes bad. But he is rolling over and lifting his head really high will probably be crawling before we know it! He's a very strong little guy. The sad thing about Sienna hating him and swatting him every chance she gets is that he is in love with her! Whenever she's nearby (and not slapping him in the face) he grins and practically chokes on his smiles. It is too adorable. The kid just loves attention.

And me. I'm still getting used to the workload and love load of two kids. Some days I feel good and some days I feel very snappy. I've managed to come up with some better solutions that make it so I don't feel like strangling Sienna when I'm tending to Noah. Basically this involves fruit snacks and cartoons. It usually buys me just enough time to put Noah down for a nap. If it takes longer than 20 minutes, she comes wandering in ready to chat and all the soothing goes down the drain because Noah is awake and wanting to stare at his favorite sister who hates him. :)

Something that I wish would change is my attitude about weekends. I've been a mom for 2 years and 5 months and I STILL wake up on Saturdays surprised that they are no longer Saturdays. They are child care days, just like every other day. No more vegging and checking out. It just about kills me. If you have any advice on getting over the long lost lazy Saturday, please, do tell.

Now for pictures!

I went to Utah to see my family in the middle of September. It was a blast. It made me want to move back home. Not just to Roosevelt, but move in with my parents! Why not? We'd all enjoy it! So many pros, I'm telling you.

After one bad day, Sienna finally got used to the cousins and even had a really fun time with them. When everyone left or went to bed for the evening she'd say, "Where are my friends?" So cute!

I stayed with Heather in Salt Lake a couple days and we got in some time with Mark, too. Maybe I should move to SLC. Why are we in Seattle again?

Uncle Roger hoarded Noah from time to time and carried out these death defying acts that I did not approve of.

The sibs - together against her will.

Mr. Noah was finally blessed! He looked dapper in his blessing outfit that was quite snug. It was worn by 3 Ware family boy cousins and Uncle Jason and Dad Adam before him, but none were quite as old as Noah when they wore it. He looked like he could have jumped out of Adam's arms after the blessing and walked up the chapel aisle. Not the usual newborn you're used to seeing up there. Nevertheless, it was a lovely blessing and I loved having both mine and Adam's parents there (plus some Crapo cousins) to share this wonderful weekend.

We are a family of four. Don't judge Adam and me for having the same haircut. He needs a break from 5 years of the faux hawk and I just need a break from doing my hair.

Noah's hungry, but not hungry enough to really take to solids just yet. I'm still trying, though. At times I have nothing left to give and he's like, "I don't care! I will not take bananas in place of liquid gold!"

We got Birdie the most fabulous little apron at Pike Place the other day. Here she is helping me make honey butter. She IS my little honey butter.