She's 69 and 78 and Getting Married Today

You might've heard: Rosalind turned a year old yesterday. What the what. It has been an INCREDIBLY long, challenging year. But also rewarding, interesting, and I've learned a lot about a lot. Let's be as vague as possible, shall we?

For her birthday, I invited over my parents and Sam's parents for a little shin dig involving strawberry cupcakes that I made from scratch (which involved only two strawberry-purée explosions to begrudgingly clean up). We also opened presents (by we I mean me on behalf of Ros, of course). Then there was a bath and lots of crying, and then grandparents went home. Good times!

Of note lately:

Ros is now 22.5 pounds and 30 inches tall. She hasn't changed much at all in the past few months. I think she used to weigh more, but she didn't eat much the past couple weeks when she was sick, poor thing. She still has rolls to spare, but I can tell she's leaning out a bit. 

She has 7 teeth now: the front two on top, the front four on the bottom, and her bottom left molar (fun fun fun when that came in). I think she might also be getting her next front top right incisor, but I'm not sure.

She's almost down to just one nap a day, which, since she's in transition, makes it tough to gauge when she's really tired, and she is usually VERY ready to go to bed at 6pm. Still sort of early, but hey, I'm not complaining since she goes right to sleep and doesn't make a peep til 7am (usually...I probably just jinxed myself). I don't think she's ready to ween quite yet, since she still asks for a bottle three or four times a day, but that's fine. I will let her take her time on that one since I enjoy bottle time.

She cruises everywhere. She has been known a handful of times to stand on her own, and will walk if you hold her hands. She doesn't like rolling much anymore, but does it when necessary. She also learned to crawl on her hands and knees a week or two ago, but she only does it about a foot or so at a time, at most (she mostly army crawls). She can't really pull up to standing, but she can pull up to kneeling, so that's a start I guess. She also can't get into sitting position from lying down. This girl, I tell you.

Ros loves to read books with you, and takes great pride in turning the pages for you. She also loves to stack things, put things on shelves and into baskets, take out things from where they go, and cause general destruction. This morning she pulled a heavy thing onto herself, which knocked her back so that she hit her head, and I about had a heart attack, but she didn't even cry. Tough kid! She is persistent in refusing to dance, but she does mimic me doing yoga (which is hilarious...she has about 3 moves), and loves when people sing.

Ros knows lots of words (relatively speaking). She says "uh oh" all day err day and it's hilarious. She says "hi" and can wave "hi" and "bye." She has once or twice said "mama" but I don't know if she got the context. Sometimes she calls Sam "DA!" She also says "bwuh" or more like "bw" for book and sometimes button, and says "pw" or "puh" for diaper sometimes too. She stopped saying "ah da" for all done when she got sick over Christmas, but has recently started saying "ah ah" instead (and more often lately she has started using the sign for "all done" instead). Weird regression there. Oh, and she says a whispered "sah" when saying things like "what/who is that?" She also knows the sign for "bottle" (we use the sign for "milk" instead because it's easier for her)-- which she also uses for water, and "more," and will grab her chest when we tell her to fold her arms. She also points at everything and claps when she is happy or excited.

She is curious about everything and totally gets into trouble exploring about a thousand times a day. She doesn't like being left alone to play anymore unless she's really distracted, which is a huge bummer for me. She'll still do it if she can at least see you, but that's harder to do in our new place. Maybe she's just not used to it yet.

She loves her bunny rabbit, and she knows it lives in the crib and she can only have it while sleeping, but I still catch her trying to pull it through the bars so she can snuggle it. Speaking of which, she snuggles everything by cocking her head and pressing it to her ear (and sometimes patting it on the back). I even saw her doing it to her fork during dinner the other day. Weirdo.

Anyway, Ros is a hilarious and cuddly kid and I like her a lot. Like I mentioned, she got really sick for about two weeks over Christmas, and that made it difficult, but she's mostly all better now, so she's back to her cheerful self again. There are times recently when she just cries and cries that remind me hauntingly of her colicky days, but those are just in the past couple of weeks and she is always either hungry or tired in those cases. I'm just still learning those things since obviously she can't tell me when she wants food because she refuses to learn the sign for "eat." ANYWAY. I still like her. I'm nervous but excited to have her be a toddler with more personality and preference. Yikes!

A New Home

So! We have our own place! It kind of worked out really well, actually. We wanted somewhere under a certain amount per month, but with enough space, and within a certain radius from our workplaces. 

We had been actively searching since like October or November with no luck. We saw lots of places, talked to lots of people, filled out applications, and always came up empty-handed. It was discouraging.

Okay, let me back up. We have really loved the opportunity we've had to spend time mostly rent-free living with parents. I think it was good for my mom too, because they had just moved into a big new empty house, so we were able to fill it for the adjustment period. It was great to have help whenever I needed it (especially when Ros was really little), and good for Ros to be around a lot of people and animals too. Midway was nice for all those things too, plus the added bonus of being able to spend time outdoors. We had a good deal.

But after 9 months without private space or our own stuff, it was just time. You understand. I love our families.

So back to the apartment search. Nothin' after nothin'.

Then one day we decided to go see a too-good-to-be-true duplex at a great price. It looked a little scammish. It turned out not to be, but the guy we met with seemed skeptical of us (four jobs? You moved why? Etc), so we wrote it off. I knew if it was where we were supposed to be, we would get it. 

Then, lo and behold, a few days later we heard back and he offered it to us! That was a joyous moment. We signed paperwork the next day and spent the following week moving in.

We are finally getting settled a bit. Almost everything is unpacked and has a place. We purged a lot, too. That was something we had already planned on doing, months ago, but the fact that this is kind of a small place helped that along.

We still need a couch though. That would be nice.

Here are some pictures of our progress, for those interested:

I'll post more/better pictures when things get more finished. Yay!

And To All A Good Night

Christmas break was pretty eventful! We spent the 5 or so days leading up to Christmas up in Midway to spend time with all the siblings who came out. It was fun to just hang out and eat food and sit around. Rosalind got to play with her cousin Bea, who she LOVES. It was so hilarious to watch them interact. Bea would run away, Ros would scream and throw her hands in the air, then Bea would run toward her and hug her, they would both laugh hysterically, and then they would do it all over again. And again. It was pretty funny.

For Christmas Eve and Day, we were at my parents' house. My siblings all came over and it was fun. Christmas Eve we put on a little program, which consisted of silly songs, serious songs, and a "Christmas Wrap" performed by me...(I hope it was funny).

I feel a little bit like a loser mom because this was Rosalind's first Christmas and I didn't make a big deal out of it. I mean, it's not like she sat in a corner and sucked on coal while everybody else partied, but you know.

Christmas Day we had breakfast at our leisure and opened gifts. Ros got a few things, but she didn't really understand opening them, and then needed to take a nap halfway through, so she was a bit of a Scrooge. I didn't even think to take pictures, but fortunately my sister Megan did.

The rest of that day and the next, we basically hung around, and it was really nice to be able to hang out with all the siblings and spouses together. It's not something we get to do often, especially for extended periods of time. I'm thinking especially of Megan and Jared, because they usually leave earlier on family dinner nights, so they aren't really around for games and chatting. Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and I felt happy after all the sib time.

Also on Christmas Day, we got to Skype with Abby in Idaho. It was fun to see her. It almost doesn't feel too much like she's been gone that long since she stays in touch so well and sends lots of pictures, but it's always good to see a friendly face! Rosalind enjoyed seeing her too. Abby is a babymeister.

Rosalind ended up getting sick Christmas Day with whatever was going around, so she had a fever, cough, and congestion for the next little while. She also happened to be getting teeth at the time. More fun. She also ended up getting an ear infection (her first one!) last week from this, but it's just about cleared up now.

New Year's Eve we went back up to Midway and had the opportunity to go swim as a family in the Crater where Sam works. It was so nice in the water (as always), and Rosalind seemed to enjoy herself until the life jacket started to annoy her. So we went back to the sitting pool and I took it off, and she was enjoying herself in my lap until (I didn't realize the bench was slanted, k?) I slid down the bench and she went underwater for a couple of seconds, which terrified her. Mother of the Year, I am.

Later we took a sleigh ride at the Homestead, which was cool and fun but it was I think -5 degrees Fahrenheit that day, so it was PRETTY chilly. The kids liked seeing the horses though, so it was fun, despite the frozen nose hairs.

After the sleigh ride we came home and had hot chocolate, then red beans and rice. We watched a hipster Daniel Radcliffe movie and then went to bed (at like 9:30pm). Party animals!

All in all, though there were crazy parts over the break, it was really good to see family for so long (Caity was here for a month!), and it was nice to have two weeks off of work (Sam got several days off too!), and we all had a good time.

Twaddle and Bleat

This horse is so dead and beaten it's like...actually, no, that's a freaky metaphor.  Let's just skip it.

So as you've heard by now, Sam and I opened an Etsy shop called Twaddle and Bleat that sells natural baby toys that we have made by hand, yes, ourselves.

The idea actually came about when Rosalind was a couple of months old.  If you know me, you know I perceive babies as incomprehensible aliens, and it didn't truly occur to me while I was pregnant (well, until I was about 8 or 9 months along, anyway) that an infant needed anything other than a way to eat, sleep, and poop in safety.  And actually, that's true, up until they get to be a couple months old, at which point, they need extra stimulation.  Enter books and toys and the like.

I knew in advance that I wasn't a fan of flashy, noisy, single-purpose stuff.  This usually means the alternative is toys made from natural materials, and something simple enough that it can be used for a long time without getting hackneyed.  So I started reading about Montessori, Waldorf, etc etc, and found lots of interesting stuff (and a lot of stuff that made me roll my eyes, for the record).  But the thing I liked the most was the approach to play, even from Day One As Parent.  I looked into some Montessori-style baby toys and LE GASP they will cost you an arm and a leg.  So I decided to make my own.

The first thing we made was a bell rattle.  Ours was a little more ghetto than you might find being sold elsewhere, but it was easy, and it cost probably $1 in materials (and a little more for time).  Rosalind loved it, and I loved it too, until she started shoving the bells in her mouth at every opportunity and it started to tarnish.

Ta-da!

Whoa!  She looks so young

By this point, I had made a couple of other things for her, like a bead jar, and learned by observing her play with her own stuff and stuff at Grandma Wasden's what kind of things she was interested in.  There were these plastic slat things on an old Sesame Street toy that she really seemed intrigued by, so I set out to make some out of wood.  Thus was born The Clapper!  I like these especially because so far as I've been able to find, I might be the first person to think of the idea.  I won't be offended if I find out I'm not, I just thought I was pretty clever.

The clappers were OLD NEWS by the time I did these photos, so she all but refused to pick them up for the picture

Anyway, after I'd made a handful of Rosalind's toys and she really seemed to like them a lot, the idea that I might make more to sell (which my mom had been drilling into me over and over from the second I made the bell rattle) started to seem a little more possible.  I'd done tons of research on natural approaches to play, on materials, on pricing, on government restrictions and regulations in children's toys, etc.  So I made it happen.

It took me like 4 hours to get this logo and it's still not how I want it.  Paint is cool and all, but really, pixels?  >:(

Rosalind loved this photo shoot.  I mean, toys!

Sam was a huge support through all of this, by which I mean he handled the saws, drills, and did all the fancy knot tying (because he is a pro at knots, and I can use tools but I'm a bit wobbly, being a runt, so it looks much nicer if he does it).  You've seen that rattle, right?  Very cool, and all his idea (once we were looking for a design without exposed metal).

Piles of bead rings

The drill press was a life saver for the 40 clappers we made

We spent hours sanding together and going over designs and construction, not to mention rubbing ev-uh-ree-theeng with beeswax (baby safe!) once we decided it would be better to condition the wood.  Good times.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the in-progress stuff, but oh well.  Just know it was fun (but taxing) and we did it all for YOU!

Anyway, this weekend was the Christmas Gift and Craft Fair in Spanish Fork.  It was fun to share a booth with my mom (she was there selling books and invited me along) for the two-day event, and she actually did pretty well, but alas, we sold 5 toys the entire weekend.  But considering most people there were the sort who were very interested in the booth next to us selling 3-Wolf-Moon-type shirts and BB guns, I don't think it was the right target audience, so to speak.  These people couldn't even pronounce "Twaddle."

The setup on Day 1 of the fair (kept getting messed up and the table was in the wrong place for being welcoming)

The setup on Day 2 of the fair, plus a sign my mom made to draw people in

A better view of the Day 2 setup.  Notice the addition of more information and pictures...still didn't help sales!

I did learn a lot though, and we only need to sell a certain number of items more in order to comp for materials and such, so I'm happy if we just trickle-sell on Etsy from now on.

Oh, and I'm hoping to continue to make more stuff for Ros as she gets older, so hopefully in the future I will have items available for toddlers yaaaaay!

If you want to see more cute pictures of a baby playing with toys, I put some up on my photo blog, which you can find here.

Also, a bunch of people have been confused by the name of the company.  They are both phrases from Sherlock Holmes.  HAST THOU NOT READ THY SCRIPTURE?  Ok, just me then...
Ineffable Twaddle = "A Study in Scarlet"
Unmitigated Bleat = "The Adventure of the Red Circle"

Cambodge

I can't believe how fast this year is going by! It's halfway through November already. Crazy stuff.

So. On November first we got all fancied up and had a nice date.

I did not take any pictures because, like, "living in the moment" and junk.

But we had dinner at Firehouse Subs, which was actually way tastier than I expected. And I had never even heard of it before! Have you had it before? If not, go.

Afterward, we drove around and looked for apartments for rent in neighborhoods we like in Orem. We found a couple, but they all fill up too quickly :(

Next we drive down to BYU to the HFAC to see the Royal Ballet of Cambodia. It was quite the amazing experience, really. It felt good to experience another culture again. I miss anthropology sometimes. Le sigh. We even had an introduction to the evening by the Royal Prince of Cambodia himself!

There were two dances, then a musical interlude with three songs, then two more dances. I was seriously impressed with the amount of balance and control it took to perform these dances (which were choreographed by the Royal Princess herself oh la!)

My favorite dance was one called "The Dance of Moni Mekhala" (among other names), which told the story of the water goddess, who had a magic shiny orb. She danced around and showed off her orb, which made a demon giant really jealous, so the rest of the dance was them dance-fighting, and it was really cool. 

Ok sorry, sacreligious interlude over :D

At one point the demon threw his silver axe at the water goddess and it made me jump.

Other ones they did that I liked were the first dance, which was a portrayal of the four cardinal directions and Brahma, and the famous dance they've done at Angkor Wat since the 10th century.

It was a neat experience, and while I was worried the audience would be disrespectful, they were actually very polite and I hope Utah made a good impression on Cambodia's finest.

Anyway, I think we definitely need to get out more. Oh boy.

In the wings I have a rather exciting project we've been working on that I will hopefully be able to unveil next week. Stay tuned!

Know Thyself

Before I start, watch this TED Talk. It's enjoyable and is basically what I want to talk about:

Talithia Williams: Own your body's data

Have you ever tried this? I do it all the time.

I have spent a little over half my life being sick. Downer, yeah. When I was 11 or 12, I started having problems with my heart and with my stomach. Through both issues, I kept journals of how I felt day-to-day, symptoms, episodes, etc (Not much fun for little Harpo). When I outgrew my heart condition at age 20, I could tell when things were changing because I had been keeping track of my body. And, at age 23, when I wound up in the ER with acute pancreatitis, I didn't realize that this "data" (because it wasn't really numbers) would end up being incredibly helpful. 

After my initial hospitalization, when I told them the problem was recurring, doctors would test my blood levels and find nothing. They did scans and scopes and tests and found nothing. They did not believe me that my problem was a recurring one, even though I had been keeping track of my symptoms and episodes since I was in my teens. Eventually I found a doctor who was willing to believe me, and together we found evidence (numbers, pancreatic enzyme levels) that proved that I had been keeping track accurately all along, and we were able to fix the problem.

Since then, I have been a personal advocate for keeping track of your body. When Sam and I started trying for a baby, I forgot about this, and we tried unsuccessfully for a while. But then I found out about Kindara, a cycle-tracking app. 

I find Kindara incredibly interesting. I tracked temperature and the other stuff for a couple of cycles, and I learned enough about my body to be able to optimize my chances of getting pregnant, and it eventually worked.

Even after all the baby business, I have used Kindara to track my body. I have several months' worth of new data that has been incredibly useful for various purposes. I know when something isn't right because I know what's normal. And I know when something *is* normal.

I highly encourage all of you, male or female, to pay attention to your body, and track things that matter, especially in conjunction with any health goals you might have. What better reason do you need than to be the expert on your body?

I also feel the need to briefly advocate for rounded education on specific health topics relevant to you. Be wise about your body. Study nutrition, fertility, pregnancy (if relevant), blood type, metabolism, etc, anything pertinent to you. Don't let your doctors tell you what's good for you if you feel they might not have the whole story.

The best health tips:

1. KNOW YOUR BODY

2. BE INFORMED

And goodnight.

All I Can Say Is That My Life Is Pretty Plain

I lied earlier.  I mean, yeah, my life is really boring and such.  But we have actually done a couple of "interesting" things lately.

I realized I never reported on the AFSP Walk last month.

We had a pretty fun time.  We walked the loop in Sugarhouse Park a few times.  It seemed a little bit unorganized, like the start wasn't really announced, nor the number of times you were supposed to walk the loop, but there was a huge turnout, and it was good exercise.  I also had the chance to have a nice long chat with Adrien, who lives far away now and works a lot, so I don't see her much.  Sam's mom and my parents also came, and I think they had a good time too.  I worry that my efforts didn't really make a difference, but I feel in some small way they did.  So that is good.

We also did a few hikes lately, trying to get out and enjoy the mountain air before it gets too cold and the inversion makes it impossible to breathe.

Sam and I hiked to a glacial outwash in Wasatch State Park, which is down the street from his parents' house.  It was a longer hike than we anticipated, and hot because there wasn't much tree cover until the end, but it was quiet and very pretty, and the huge pile of boulders was really fun to explore.

We also did a hike on conference weekend to Lake Solitude in (you guessed it) Solitude ski area.  That was a beautiful hike, and pretty easy.  I think when I'm in better shape, I want to go further and summit the mountain behind the lake.  There wasn't a path that I could see, but I saw people hiking around way up in there, and it looks like a lot of fun.

This past weekend I also had the opportunity for an impromptu hike of Stewart Falls just past Sundance.  My mom and Adrien and Eric went too, along with about 5,000 BYU students.  It actually got really annoying, but the aspens were in full Fall splendor, so it was very pretty.  After the sun went down behind the mountain, it got pretty cold, and I felt bad, because it had been hot earlier, so the baby was just in a shirt, socks, and her diaper.  She doesn't have teeth, but they were chattering.  But she got all toastied up once we got into the car to head up to Midway.

I also try to go on lots of walks.  It's easier when we're up in Midway, because there's more walking areas and more to see.  In Springville we sort of just have the one paved walkway that winds through the neighborhood, which isn't bad, but it does get a little old, and it's lousy with little kids on bikes that have no respect for pedestrians.  Harumph.

Other than that, life is basically just work and taking care of the baby.  Sam is gone a lot working in Midway, but I try to get up there as often as I can (which is usually a day or two, since the baby doesn't sleep as well if she's switching beds every three nights).  This week in particular has been harder since we're taking care of Sanjay while Sam's parents are out of town, and I have work and appointments, so Sam will have been away for over a week by the time this is over.  Ah well!  I'm grateful for opportunities to grow and get stronger.  But I do long for the day when we don't have to be apart half the week, every week.  And I'm grateful it isn't worse.

Side note: I miss archaeology.  And travelling.

Tra la la.  I promise to update if anything interesting ever does happen!