Long Weekend

Adam had to take a few days of furlough, so we tacked that onto President's Day and - voila! - we had ourselves an extended weekend of rest and relaxation at his grandparent's home in St. George. It was glorious!

Sienna had her first introduction to the piano.

Adam got to have an incredible view while doing his recuperative riding.

Sienna played with her great grandpa.

Snuggled with dad when she became sick.

Smiled for grandma when she let her have full reign over the reading glasses.

And dirtied all glass surfaces in sight.

Four Surprises

It's raining today. But that's not a surprise anymore. Sienna and I went for a refreshing walk. I think we will do that again this afternoon.

The real surprises this month, besides Sienna's masterful crawling skills and Adam's very unfortunate luck on the bike are as follows:

Sienna not only pulls up on furniture now. She pulls up on people. This was a surprise to me. She follows us around like a little doggie and then climbs on us. It is my new favorite thing. It makes me feel like she really does prefer us. After the 6-week smile milestone, this is the first real milestone that says, "Mom, Dad, I like you."

She can balance on her knees. Who knew she'd be doing this? I certainly didn't. But she does. And she's a champ at it.

She claps! One day, after weeks and weeks of slapping the floors and walls, she figured out she could make the same sound by putting her two hands together. She will clap after you clap, too. Another sign that she is finally starting to understand this world she lives in and maybe even enjoying it.

Her top two teeth are here. Como what? And they are going to be gappy. So cute!

Things my Baby Girl Can Do that I Can't

Hello all! I'm back for my annual guest post. Here is a short list of things a nine month old baby can do that a fully grown man with a broken clavicle and rib cannot:

1. Roll over
2. Crawl
3. Laugh
4. Raise both arms above the head
5. Smile (and mean it)
6. Get through the day without heavy use of opiate based pain medication
7. Sleep longer than 3 hours at a time
8. Sleep comfortably on one's stomach
9. Sleep comfortably on one's back
10. Sleep comfortably on one's side
11. Sleep comfortably
12. Sleep

Here is a short list of things both a nine month old baby and a fully grown man with a broken clavicle and rib can do with assistance from a beautiful woman in her mid to late twenties:

1. Eat
2. Bathe
3. Dry off
4. Dress
5. Brush hair
6. Get in and out of bed
7. Get up and down stairs
8. Get the remote control from the TV stand

Here is a short list of things a fully grown man with a broken clavicle and rib can do that a nine month old baby cannot:

1. N/A

Hugs on Hold

Adam's first race of the season was last Saturday. It was in Santa Barbara, about 4 hours away, so The Bird and I stayed home. Here's a photo of him at the starting line.

Five miles into the race they were going downhill at 40 mph when the guy in front of him went down and Adam had nowhere else to go but over him, so he literally rode over his back and flew off the front of his handle bars, landed on his right shoulder, skidded on the road on his right side, and finally came to a stop on his back. He broke his collarbone (the same one he broke in a cycling accident 4 years ago in Boston in which a person opened their car door, he veered to miss it and went flying off the bike) and a rib in his back.

Poor guy! He is more mad than anything because his whole season is probably over already. He tried to give that guy a piece of his mind but it was kind of hard to do while pinned on a back board with his head fastened straight ahead.

The ambulance came for him after about an hour and took him to the hospital. The Bird and I headed to go pick him up, but he ended up feeling good enough to drive home himself. (He's a master at stick shifting with his left hand from the previous collarbone incident.)

Here are his battle wounds:

You can see the bump on his collarbone in the one below:

Lots of road rash on his leg, too, but I will spare you his bodacious man thigh. You just might get jealous.

Dear Julian, No More Squished Corner Tables, Please

We took a day trip yesterday to the tourist trap, Julian, Calif. to see snow and eat pie. Adam and I visited Julian when we were newlyweds and let me just tell you, this time was much different. In a sentence: Julian is not family friendly. Also, we are not accustomed to snow and cold. It was a day of just trying not to whine and complain.

Here's the entourage: 6 adults, 4 kids, 2 cars. The morning opened with a 15 minute cry from The Bird and then a peaceful 40 minute slumber, followed by an hour of spitting. Thank you for that shower, Bird.

At least she is super cute and especially so when cuddling with her cute daddy:

After looking around anywhere, ANYWHERE, for seating, we finally got in to this BBQ joint. I ordered ribs.

Conversations afterward included:

"I hated my beans."

"Me, too!"

"Me, too!"

"Me, too!"

"That potato salad was flavorless."

"Just like everything else."

"Even the BBQ sauce, which, in a BBQ joint, is the only thing that HAS to be good."

"Those biscuits were the worst!"

"Did anyone like anything?"

But by then, I was too bitter to admit that I really loved my ribs. The wait was long (20 minutes was too long with the appetite I was harboring), the table was squished in the corner, the bathroom locks were precarious and there was nothing even resembling a changing table (don't ask Adam where he changed the Bird; it haunts me still), Sienna would not eat a bloody thing (who can blame her when at home she has warm cuisine, and on the road she gets gelatinous vegi beef from a can?) and after all of that I had to change her again after a fresh one (do you mind if I just say poo here?), so I hiked back to the car, bonked her head twice once inside, lots of crying, major stench .... and .... and ... it's cold outside and there's snow. Life is hard.

The Malfatto clan. They make traveling with kids look like a cinch.

Romance, by Christian:

My darling little matching duo again:

Finally inside Mom's Pies. After complaining as much as possible that Julian was much too cold for waiting outside in long lines for pie.

Staking out a table in THIS joint? Don't even bother.

Stuffing down a piece of apple crumb pie before The Bird has her way with it.

At last! A table. A very small one, squished in the corner (again!). I scarfed my cold boysenberry and grabbed The Bird for another hike back to the car for feeding time.

A good feed indeed. The Bird is out and we head home.

She loves her bird puppet! (Thanks, KarieAnn!)

Sleep is good. Julian, not so good.

Bird turned Bulldog

The Bird crawls!

Food Face

Sienna is an excellent eater. It probably won't last, so I'm going to enjoy it as long as I can. So far, her repertoire includes: green beans, peas, cauliflower, red pepper, yellow squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, broccoli, asparagus, corn, carrots, apples, pears, prunes, apricots, blueberries, chicken, turkey, rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, wheat cereal, mixed grain cereal and tomorrow I'm pureeing spinach. Mmmmmm, spinach!

Mom Notes, 8 Months

Sienna is 8 months old today and about to crawl any minute. Here are my latest thoughts on this mom journey as of late.

*Vacations are small scale nightmares. I don't regret taking them when all is said and done (The Bird has already been on 3 plane trips and one painfully long road trip), but you better believe that when I'm in the hellfire of them, I swear them off permanently. Vacations are exactly opposite of what they used to be. They used to be restful. Now they are not restful. But I will keep taking them. Because life in general is not restful anymore, so what's the diff?

*My new sleep philosophy is called Whatever Works (also a funny movie by Woody Allen). If you would have told me many months ago that Sienna would still be waking me up once or twice per night at 8 months, I would have died on the spot. She has taught me something valuable, though. "Mom, I can't be trained. Not yet. So don't bother. Let's just enjoy our time together, even if it's sometimes at 3 a.m. If you want to continue training, I will cry." And she has. I regret letting her cry a lot in the past. No more crying it out; much more answering her cries and listening to her. I'm much happier this way, and so is she.

*I've been trying to come up with a good analogy that sums up what being a stay at home mom is like. This is all I've got: Have you ever done service for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? Neither have I. But on May 6, 2010, her first birthday, I will have come really close. Because nearly all the hours you're awake and she's awake, you're serving. You are forced to forget yourself and make sure someone else is happy. It's kind of like a boot camp for learning how to be selfless. Your kid force feeds you selflessness everyday. She's like, "Do you want a spoonful of selflessness, or a mouthful of crying? Because you KNOW I can cry!" Also, being a mom is only one part of it. Being a homemaker is another job entirely. Cooking, cleaning, generally making a happy home. That's a whole different animal. I just wanted to use that "animal" phrase. I'm taming animals over here! Keeping dirt at bay, feeding hungry lions. I like homemaking. It's a lost art. Let's bring it back. Forget sexy, I'm bringing homemaking back. Can you imagine the music video? I envision me in an apron over sweats, raising the roof with a rolling pin. Oh yeah!

*When Sienna rolled over at five months, I knew the "grow up suh fast" was here. Since then, she has shown serious signs of independence and there's just no stopping it. She is just growing up suh fast, and there's nothing I can do about it.

*I've read five sleep books. I know more about sleep than I ever wanted to. And it's still nowhere to be found. And THAT'S the true lesson of parenthood for me so far: trust your instincts. Really! Just trust them! It's hard to do that. I want to live by books. But it just doesn't work that way for me as of yet. (Yes that was another paragraph about sleep. BAH.)

*I'm less easily embarrassed. I remember the first grocery shopping trip that had me in a panic. Sienna started crying halfway through, and I was sweating bullets. No more of that. Now if she cries, I'm easy breezy. Of course, I hurry up, but I no longer worry about what other people are thinking. As a bonus, being less easily embarrassed has led to a new kind of confidence. Like a more "I'm in charge" kind of thing. I don't know how to explain it. Being a mom is empowering. It makes me proud.

*I'm more compassionate. I have a bigger heart and a deeper sadness for people in bad circumstances. Because I know everyone is somebody's child. And I don't want my child to ever be in a bad circumstance.

Bum's away!

Happy New Yeh

Martha's resolutions:

*Read the scriptures every morning

*Pray morning and night

(This year's motto: Aim low.)

Adam's resolutions:

*Get into a good business school and start going fall 2010

*Upgrade to Category 4 bike racer

*Spend more time doing quality things in the evening with family and watching less TV

(There's room in this family for only one high achiever.)

Family resolutions:

*Go to the temple once a month

*Have FHE every Monday night

*No chain restaurants

(So far we've already got a new favorite, a place called "Chinese Food.")

Sienna's resolutions:

*Sleep through the night

(Unimpressed so far.)

Sienna's First Christmas

We made it to Denver, saw snow, and my life was complete.

The Bird also met her blond, blue-eyed cousins and realized she really wasn't adopted.

Regrets First, Resolutions Later

Regrets re: Christmastime…

*I regret listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. It made me sick of it by December 18.

*I regret getting my Christmas shopping done early because I was really twiddling my thumbs that last week.

*I regret trying to fly to Denver on Christmas Eve because it meant a cancelled flight; calling three friends to get us to the airport, home from the airport, and back to the airport all in one day; a McDonald’s cheeseburger for dinner; and worst of all, seeing all the people stranded in the airport for the night as I was deplaning to go enjoy the remaining 30 minutes of the Eve in a warm home with family.

*I regret not putting Jesus in my Christmas newsletter. It haunts me. Who doesn't at least add one sentence about how happy they are to have Christ in their life? Huh? WHO? Must be symbolic or something…

*I regret using the word "crap" in my holiday newsletter. No refined person does such things. No refined person also makes a reference to “nog” when they don’t really much care for the stuff.

*I regret not making holiday treats to deliver to local friends. I really wanted to but the budget was far spent by the time I got around to it. It didn’t stop me from loitering in the baking aisle of the store on about ten different occasions to pine for ingredients to make truffles.

*I regret not really decorating for Christmas even one time in my life. We have about five moves left before we settle down, and I keep thinking that’s when I’ll let loose. But I should just do it. December in California is already depressing enough, which is a good reason to decorate. And yet, that’s also my reason not to decorate. It’d be like covering a gaping wound with a princess band-aid. Pine trees and sunshine just don’t go together.

*I regret not sending out Christmas cards sooner in my life! Just take a look at my blog header, plus more came after that photo! Which leads me to believe two things. If you send people a Christmas card, they'll send you one, too. But more than anything, if you have a baby, it makes you a legitimate family and therefore the Christmas card receiving type (judging from the fact that we got way more cards from people we didn't send anything to ... oops).

ACK!

Are you wasting time like I am today? It's that blasted week between holidays, and I don't feel like doing a thing. These videos are a good way to waste some time. I call this the "ACK Game." You ACK, she ACKS, we all ACK.

Here's Adam and The Bird ACKing. Enjoy his soul patch and her burp at the end.



Here's The Bird and me having an afternoon ACK a couple weeks ago. Enjoy my deep, rumbling man voice ACK.

A Song, From Our Home to Yours

Our 6:45 a.m. flight to Denver was cancelled this morning so we will be getting there instead at 11:30 p.m. tonight.

Don't worry, we're home spreading some holiday cheer with our voices. As a consolation prize for those we are seeing later or not at all this Christmas, enjoy this little tune from us to you and yorn.