Favorite Things

Some of my favorite things about life right now include . . .
1-The wee one saying "woof." Obviously is doesn't come out quite this clearly, but he does make the same sound every time he sees a dog. Or whenever we ask him what a dog says. Which is often since we need him to perform for us on a regular basis. We are demanding parents. This is the part where I bless the existence of books. He taught himself how to "say" this from reading. Because you know we don't own a dog (much to my dismay. though not really bc though I yearn for puppies in my life I probably couldn't handle the responsibility right now. but do not misunderstand. I will someday have puppies to snorgle.), but we do see dogs quite regularly in books. And we hear them while on walks. And when the wee one saw a random dog on a calendar at Rich's work, he knew just what to say. It was a proud mommy moment.

2-The kid's fascination with the shape sorter. I really wanted a shape sorter for Devin and Grandma Downing complied with this wish. I did not, however, plan on this becoming a favorite toy. But it has indeed taken it's place as ruler of toyland. Devin carries it to me, throws it at me, throws tantrums when wanting to play it, and carries around the shapes all in efforts to have shape sorting time. This kid must be a reasoning kid like his daddy. He can put in the circle--which is his preferred shape, we must ALWAYS start with the circle, and if the circle cannot be found, there is thrashing and confusion and a moment where the wee one PANICS BC WE CANNOT SORT SHAPES WITHOUT SORTING THE CIRCLE FIRST--and gets lucky with some of the other shapes. And let me tell you, sorting shapes over 20 times a day does not get old. Ever. And I have never hidden the shape sorter one day when I just could not handle sorting anymore. Not once.
3-Favorite books. Devin has always just been like "whatever. read to me. don't care which book." (Though I must mention the board book Hooray for Fish because that has been a favorite since like 5 months old. Promise.) But lately he has certainly shown preferences on reading choices. Especially at bedtime. His current favorites are Move! and The Big Yawn. In fact, his obsession with Move! inspired our last library trip and we checked out several books by the same illustrator. Though some were a little over his age group, he was still interested in the illustrations. Interesting.

Of course he never wants to read the really funny kids' books, and a direct quote from Rich was, "He just kept trying to shut the book and I wanted to see how it ended!" Life is hard with a one year old who knows exactly which stories he would like to hear, thank you. Another favorite book is an old board book with trains that I got pretty much for free at a library sale, he starts pumping is arm is preparation for the "choo-choo" part even before we get to that page. Love. Him. (PS. My favorite storybook is Big Plans by Bob Shea. Hilarious. The wee one never wants to read this, so I usually read it to myself.)
4-The kid's obsession with his socks. Whenever I go to get him from a nap, his socks are always on the ground in the exact same place. It's like Devin knows exactly where he would like his socks to fall. And when I pick him up, he whips around and points to the location of his socks, just in case I needed to know where to find them. And after I retrieve the socks and hand them to him, he holds them close to his cheek and snuggles down on my shoulder--showing the socks his true feelings.

(He does wear pants sometimes.) As I type there is a pile of dirty socks in the living room because before the night is done he takes off his socks and carries them around. And a favorite time-filler is going into his room, retrieving dirty socks from the laundry basket and then carrying them around as well. He gives these socks loves too. Awesome.
5-This picture. Because, well, you know.

6-Good ice cream. Sometimes I just need real ice cream. I realize that this sounds trite next to the musings about the kid, but honestly, good ice cream can do wonders. And I may try to hold back and savor that $4 pint but then eat the whole thing in two days, but that's okay. Because I feel better after this occurs. Even if I spilled some on my shirt. So thank you to Ben. And Jerry. And really the whole Vermont crew.

Okay, very into lists right now. And I wrote this late at night. So it might be wonky. But it's all the truth. Straight from the heart.

Success!

Since I post about complaints and regrets, and always about how wonderful my kid is, I thought it was time to post about the wonder is me! I'm pretty awesome you know. I'm totally jumping up and down and clapping for myself right now. A bit prideful. But isn't it okay to be prideful sometimes? Mainly I'm just so impressed that I stopped being lazy and actually finished something.

Anyway, the big reveal is that I FINALLY finished Devin's quilt! (Plus ten thousand more exclamation points.) 

People. I have had the material and the intent to make this quilt for over. a. year. I could give many excuses as to why it took me over a year to complete this quilt. But I shall only remember the top three:

1) I bought the material six weeks before the wee one was due. At the time I also had a freelance project. The freelance turned into a nightmare for me, and for the publisher, and it took all of my spare time. There was much stressing that I would birth the babe before the project was complete.

2) I gave birth and then moved. Into a small apartment. I did try to work on the quilt while in the apartment, but after pre-washing the fabric and attempting to make a few cuts, I realized that trying to quilt would be insane because there was no way the ironing board, sewing machine, baby, and my nerves could occupy the same area at the same time. Plus putting away and taking out materials whenever we needed to eat wasn't fun.

3) By this excuse I hadn't quilted in over a year. And I was terrified of cutting the fabric wrong. The fabric, in case you were wondering, is made up of part gold, and was more expensive than I led Rich to believe it would be. Because you know I cannot pick fabric that is less than $8.00 a yard. Making a mis-cut would have made me cry. I needed moral support. So I waited till my mom came to visit so she could help me cut the fabric.

My goal was to have the quilt done by the end of the year--by the time the kid turned one. I did get the quilt pieced and ready for the binding by the middle of November and asked a nice lady at Rich's work to quilt it for me. Joan was so wonderful and worked Devin's quilt into her already busy schedule. She found time over Christmas and when we returned from Utah it was ready for the binding.

My new goal was to finish by the end of January. I couldn't let myself down again, so I squashed my nerves about binding the quilt and did it! And you know what? The binding wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And after a phone call to my wonderful mother-in-law and a viewing of a YouTube video, I overcame the hand-sewing part and FINISHED. THE. QUILT.

I love how it turned out. 

It looks adorable in Devin's room, and I made it. 

I'm so proud of myself right now.

Regret

I just saw a movie trailer that included the line: "The greatest sorrow is regret." I think this is true. I hate when people giving interviews say that they "have no regrets," because honestly, you have no regrets? Then what is wrong with me? Because there are many things I regret--whether that be in things said/unsaid, done/undone.

Take for instance one of my greatest regrets of 2011 so far. You see, I resisted the urge to buy some Christmas candy when it was 75% off, and ever since then I've been regretting this moment of self-control. Because I have no more candy cane Hershey's kisses. And I cannot have anymore for 11 more months. 

Huge regret.

Another regret? My moments of impatience. I lose my cool way too often. A mere two hours after vacuuming and steaming the floors the other day, the wee one had lunch. And purposely kept dropping bits of sandwich on my brand clean floor. Can you believe that a one-year-old would do this!? 

Shocking. I know.

We've been working on curtailing this tendency for awhile, but I just got so upset. And then, I realized that I was more concerned about a floor that can be re-swept than the tone of voice I was using with my sweet boy. So I calmed down. And apologized to the wee one. 

Any kid with this face deserves my love. He is: cutie cute, monkey, crazy, puppy, one-sock, kid, wee one, and sweet boy. And I love him so.

Something I do not regret is giving my time to love and snuggle the kid for 45 minutes this morning. Yes, he was supposed to be taking a nap, and I did need to be getting ready for the day, but he was just having a rough time of it for some reason. And I'm so thankful I got to be part of the solution. 

 I'm so glad this sweet boy will snuggle with me sometimes, because there is never enough snuggle time.

Do you know what I also do not regret? And what I will never regret?

Including these two in my life. 

For who could do without the squishyness of the matchy-matching?

Some Things Involving Complaining

Something smells wretched by my sink. Seriously. Wretched. And I cannot figure out what it is. Dish rag? Changed. Disposal? Ran lemon and orange peels through it just yesterday. Pipes? Husband cleaned those out a two months ago when I tried to put an entire bunch of carrot peels down the drain and some (a lot of) clogging occurred. Container where we keep the dish brushes? Cleaned yesterday. I kind of want to gag everytime I approach the sink area. Especially since I'm wearing glasses from seven prescriptions ago, making everything seem a little skewed, and the extra eye-straining required puts that squinty-vision onto everything and the world seems all awry. It's a very wobbly Wednesday. Suggestions welcome.

Secondly, the husband and I are back on the double. As in 12 inches smaller (width-wise) than the king we are used to sleeping on. And let me tell you, that extra foot is sorely missed.

Why are we back on a double when we just bought a new king bed last March (see here for more of my complaining)? Because the new bed was not all it promised to be. At first I loved the bed. We were in love. I talked about its wondrous softness. But then the bed said, "Hey, I can no longer keep up pretenses. This is what I have to offer you in the long run: indents where you sleep (2-in. deep) and a ridge down the middle where you do not sleep." And since I do not put up with beds that cannot fulfill my sleeping wishes, back to Costco it went.

Also, as a side note, because I am nothing if not long-winded, did you know modern beds are made to fail? I told the mattress salesman I just wanted a bed like the one I slept on at my parents' that is 15 years old and still comfortable, and he outright told me that the mattress manufacturers are just making crappy beds now. Isn't that such a sad existence? Knowing you were made to be a failure? It is also sad that I have to purchase one of these failures. Another side note, the mattress salesman was sweating profusely in a not-hot showroom and had horrible pit stains. I felt bad for him. I mean, am I that scary of a mattress consumer?

Anyway, let's discuss some positive and negatives of the double-bed situation we now find ourselves in.
Positive:
1. When I get into bed it's all nice and warm and cozy because the husband is like a radiator and emits 10,000 degrees of heat and has warmed the bed up nicely since there is not much of it to heat.
2. I do not have to stretch my legs out as far as they can go to get my cold feet onto the husband's warm legs so he can warm up my feet. Now, he's right there. Barely a knee-bend away.
3. Cuddling is so much easier, as it is almost a requirement.
4. The bathroom light does not shine directly into my eyes when Rich is getting ready in the morning since the bed puts me in a different locale in the room and because we are cool and put the box springs directly onto the floor.

Negative:
1. It's too hot. See #1 above. I cannot get away from the heat. It's always present. And sometimes I need one leg in a warm zone and one in a cold zone. But there is no cold zone because my 10,000-degree heater is heating all of the double-bed area.
2. The king-sized comforter is so big and heavy that it spills over the edges and then uses its weight to constrict me to the point that I feel a little claustrophobic. Plus, when I want to put one leg out of the covers (cold zone) I cannot find the outside because there is too much blanket to wade through and it's all very distressing and causes flailing.
3. The cuddling never ends. See #3 above. I love my husband. I like to cuddle with him. But we are not cuddly sleepers. There is a time when the cuddling must end. But there can be no end with the double bed. All cuddling, all the time.
4. I need to turn over approximately every 5 minutes, making the closeness very frustrating for all, for where do I turn when the husband is lying in my next turn zone? (am I correct with the "lying"? or should this be laying? Kalie?)
5. The smallness makes my use of a second pillow too claustrophobic. But then, when I'm on my side, my knees are touching. And this is obviously not acceptable.
6. The husband's arm is almost always touching me. The heat problem returns. Except I only like warm/cold zones with my feet because I like the covers up to my chin. But since the arm-touching makes my upper half all warm, I am forced to take my other arm out of the covers to compensate. But then my shoulder gets all frigid. Do you see how hard my life is?
7. I like to have one foot all the way to the end of the bed, hooking the edge. Perhaps this makes me feel as if I have a secure hold on the bed and will not fall out? I know not the reason. But if I do this, the husband's arm will most certainly hit me in the head. Forcing me to sleep in an area that is completely foreign to me. And that is not a good feeling to fall asleep feeling.
8. Coughing attacks that go on to the point of retching most certainly wake the husband. The change in bed sizes coincided with the sickness. Making the husband sleep on the couch a few times, which may seem great since now I have all sorts of room to myself. But this means I'm sleeping alone. And I do not like to sleep alone.
9. The twitching. That man of mine is a twitcher to the extreme. So extreme that when we were first married I would wake up in the middle of the night to the twitching. I know he cannot control it. Because if he could he would be much better at hiding the fact that he has, indeed, fallen asleep again whilst watching TV with me even though he is pretending to be very much awake. And on the double bed the twitching involves us all.

Clearly my life is very trying at this point in time. And it is obvious that I'm neurotic when it comes to sleeping.

I'm so lucky to have a husband at all.

Secret Time

So, I have a secret. It's a little bit shameful. Though, to be honest, I did forget about it for awhile. But then I remembered today, and it's making me crazy. You see, last week, a little tornado named Devin happened to drop by by drawer full of dish towels. And after this occurred, do you think I folded all of the towels up nicely? No. I most certainly did not. And then I promptly forgot about the drawer full of disarray. Until today. When I folded the freshly laundered towels and then went to put them away. And then it was like DARK SECRET ALERT IN THE TOWEL DRAWER. But you know what the real secret is? I just put the nicely folded towels on top of the disarray and then shut the drawer again. I know at some point I will, in fact, have to fold the towels, and that I should be doing that chore right now. But instead I'm blogging about the fact that I have a towel drawer that is out of control. Because that's the type of person I am. And though I would be ashamed to have you come over and look into that drawer yourself, deep down I know the chances of that happening are slim, so, the drawer shall stay in that state. Probably if my mom were coming, then I'd fold the towels.

Is this not a life analogy? We are all a little messy underneath--though we try to present ourselves as perfectly folded and organized as possible. There are certainly things in my life that need folding and straightening and organizing. Character flaws that need tweaking, thought processes that need a crisp turning, but, for the most part, I leave these things alone. A lot because I'm lazy, and a little bit because I like them. I may be completely irrational sometimes. I may have unfounded fears. And I certainly have many insecurities, but life would be pretty boring if I were completely put together.

 I guess the fun of it all is making those changes that we know will help us become the best version of us. I'm a work in progress. Heavenly Father knows this more than any. So while I may present myself (sometimes) as put together and with it, secretly, underneath I'm as complicated as anyone. And each new day is an opportunity to "fold" another little piece of me into the shape that Heavenly Father wants me in. I hope I take those opportunities more often than not. The time to not be so lazy is now!

Dun, Da Da Dun, The Kid Turns One!

We had such a great time celebrating Devin's birthday. The whole day I just kept remembering what we were doing one year ago. It's hard to believe how fast Devin's first year has passed, and it feels like just yesterday we were timing contractions and driving to the hospital and meeting our wee one for the first time.

I am in love with him. 

In case I haven't made that annoyingly clear already.

I wanted to take a picture of Devin at exactly 5:40 p.m., instead he was finishing up his 3-hour nap. And I didn't want to wake him up and chance him being grumpy for his big night, so, no picture at the time of his birth. We'll have to start that next year. I was worried the poor kid wouldn't get to have his first birthday party since he had a rough night and woke up on his birthday pretty snotty. But, a 2-hour morning nap and a 3-hour afternoon nap will do wonders, so the show was on.

He spent the whole day until his party in his pajamas. Just chillaxin'. He decided to make his transition to toddlerhood official by practicing his walking skills for Grandma and Grandpa. His little toddle is adorable to watch.

This picture is a fave. Grandpa was holding Kate and when I walked over, Devin just looked at Kate and then reached out and placed his hand on Grandpa, all protective like. Then Devin decided he needed to be in on the action just to ensure Kate knew Grandpa was his. They're staring each other down over the Grandpa rights.

Had to throw in the this pic of Kate because isn't she a cute little bug? Adorable, says I.

 

 I also couldn't pass up this pic. Definitely know that Troy is Maren's daddy!

We combined Devin's birthday with the Millett family birthday party, so the Millett clan and Great Grandma Peterson was there to celebrate.

Saying "Hi" to Great Grandma.

We had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner, and Devin LOVED them. After dinner he demonstrated his walking skills, and then Grandma and Grandpa Britton came for presents and dessert.

Again, Devin didn't care so much about opening presents.

He did, however, care when I tried to get him to move onto another present and he just wanted to play with the stacking cars the Millett grandparents gave him.

Man he got upset! Devin's first birthday was brought to him in the form of cars and books (and a pair of adorable shoes).

Perfect gifts, says I!

All the kids wanted to help play with the new toys.

After the presents we moved to cake time. Daddy helped him wish for a 55-inch TV, but Devin just laughed about that.

The kid was so funny with the cake because he would only use his right hand (which is really odd since he normally eats with his left) and would just scrape some icing and then lick his hands.

He didn't like the texture of the blue frosting and would shudder when he got a mouthful of that. He was very neat and methodical about the whole thing, until Daddy finally shoved his hands into the cake, but even then he still would just take one bite at a time.

What can I say, he's a really good eater! It was pretty fun to have everyone gathered around Devin just watching him eat. We knew when he was done because he just started rubbing the cake everywhere.

He really didn't get the dirty, which I was grateful for, and I still can't believe how big he is!

When we were spraying him off in the sink he started trying to drink from the faucet.

He looked just like a little puppy drinking from the hose. My kid is cute.

Devin ended his first birthday by, in Rich's words, "becoming a man," as he shattered a Christmas ornament off of my mom's tree and drew his first blood. (Don't worry, it was just a prick.) We have got to watch that kid every second!

All in all, a good first birthday for the wee one. He was certainly spoiled and had a great day. Our monkey has made the past year our best one ever.

Favorite Things

As I've been going through the pictures from our trip to Utah, this is certainly been a favorite. 

This boys loves his grandpa. 

I'm glad he got to have story time with grandpa right before we headed back home.

He Walks!

After practicing his steps for the past two weeks, I think it can be said that the kid is walking.

 

I love seeing his little toddle and catch him walking around all the time now.

I finally snapped a few shots last night and got a good video. Enjoy his cuteness.

PS, wearing pants is way overrated. He pulled them off earlier. And I was too tired to care.

This is obviously not a picture of Devin walking, but it was too adorable to leave out. So, it's really just for the grandparents. I wish the camera had been faster because right before this shot he was all the way inside with his back to me.

Welcome, 2011

We rang in the New Year with the Millett family. Devin lasted till about 9 o'clock. I probably could have gone to bed with him. But I stayed strong till the ball dropped. And then was wide awake

The cute parents.

Devin spent most of the night continuing to perfect his walking skills and playing with the cousins. 

 

 

Rich and I spent the night eating too much food, watching sports, and playing games.

Erik held a baby. And he watched Devin while I played a game. And when I say watched, I mean, watched Devin continue to whine at me until I picked him up. Devin, not Erik. :)

We all watched the ball drop together; clearly were are very intense about the ball drop.

Rich and I kissed at midnight and welcomed a new year in the life of us.

2010 was such a big year for our little family, so it will be interesting to see what life has in store for us this time around. Last year we celebrated the new year by turning on the TV in the hospital right before midnight, snapping a pic, and then going to bed.

How much changes in a year.

Our favorite things from 2010 (in no particular order. except for number one. obvs.):

*Starting out the new year by bringing Devin home on January 1st.

*Moving to California for Rich's first, post-graduation job.

*Buying our first (new to us) car.

*Buying our first home!

*Britton family adventures.
*Getting free grapes from up at Rich's work so I could bottle grape juice. 

*That man of mine building me a walk-in closet, single-handed style.

*Eating a fresh mozzarella Caprese salad on our anniversary. (It was that good. Promise.)
*Also, being married for 3 whole years was great, too.

*Anything Devin related, ie. smiling, laughing, sitting up, army crawling, walking, giggling, being generally adorable and amazing and rocking at life.

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve was spent, as usual, preparing our yummy feast. 

Devin helped a lot. As you can imagine.

First Christmas family picture.

Great Grandma was able to celebrate with us, and Devin got to visit with her for a bit. 

I really didn't help cook much this year, Susie did everything but the Brussels sprouts, and it was all amazing. 

Seriously. Amazing.

While we were cooking, Devin showed Grandpa how much fun he is.

 And I really just couldn't pick which picture to add, so you get both.

Between his scrunchy nose and pointing finger, this kid has me completely head over heels in love with him.

Christmas morning we woke up to find that Santa had come!

Devin was really excited. 

 

Obvs. 

He attempted to tear some paper a few times, but really he was more interested in playing with the new toys that made sound. 

About the time he opened his most favorite gift--the Mickey Mouse walker airplane, he had a meltdown. 

It was like he needed food and a nap immediately. He can be very dramatic. So we all took a break and finished presents later. 

He got a haul of fun new things and will certainly not be without entertainment in 2011.

He is already super excited about his walker plane.

He, of course, likes to push the button using "the finger." And none other.

Rich and I had a more practical Christmas, and my favorite gift: new socks. Mine were in a sad state. Holes everywhere. And slippers! My feet can be warm again!

Rich's favorite present: a remote control helicopter.

Unfortunately the one he got had a defect, so he's waiting for a replacement in the mail.

We didn't get out of our pajamas all day. And we were alright with that. 

 We certainly had a great Christmas with family. It was fun to celebrate Devin's first Christmas out of the uterus, but I'm sure that he'll "get it" more next year.

Devin loved helping Grandma figure out her new KitchenAid. He says, "I play with my mom's all the time. You just point to this part right here. And when you're really excited, you chew on the side of the bowl."

Merry Christmas everyone!