I had to have these stamps

I'm in love with them. Can't wait for them to come!

It's like learning to ride a bike...

We had the best day on Sunday. It was the first day in over a month that Jason had the day off and we made the most of it. After church we visited with his parents and then headed to the ball field to try out the bike with no training wheels, something we'd been talking about all summer but haven't had time to do. Carter was convinced he wouldn't be able to ride a bike until he turned 5 (just a couple weeks away) and he was quite apprehensive about it. But Daddy knew best. He knew Carter was ready, but he just needed to want it. And he did. We took his bike to the baseball field and spent the afternoon riding and taking a break and hanging out in the shade and riding some more and just hanging out. It was really nice.

Here's a video for your enjoyment:

Carter learning to ride bike 4 from Michelle Anderson on Vimeo.

The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher

I just finished reading John Taylor Gatto's "Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling." I was beside myself. It really helped me to think critically about the kind of education I want to give my kids. I'm not sure how much I buy into the Totalitarianism or conspiracy to dumb down our kids, but it did get me thinking which is a good thing. I'm consolidating my thoughts and need to talk it over with my husband before I publish anything here, but here is a copy of The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher speech that Gatto gave upon accepting an award for NY State Teacher of the Year in 1991. You should read it. And another chapter of the book, a speech he delivered in 1990 when he acepted an award from the NY State Senate for NYC Teacher of the year is entitled "The Psychopathic School."

Inspiring Layout: Hearts

I ran across this beautiful scrapbook page yesterday. Enjoy!

Gyoza!

The kids and I made Gyoza tonight and it was very fun. Missa taught us how to make Gyoza last year at our MOPS steering retreat and I still dream about them. I came across a blog post about Gyoza and it inspired me to make my own. It was a bit of work chopping and folding them up, but the kids got into it and I just made sure we had plenty of time this afternoon.

And here are the results!


If you want to make your own Gyoza you definitely should. I followed the recipe here, but added a little sesame oil and shitake mushrooms. I didn't mess with the cabbage, just cut up the leaves and mixed them all in with pretty good results. But I made a sweet and sour sauce that Missa gave me to dip it in. Can't find it right now but can give it to you if you want. It rocks!

Here are two different videos on how to fold Gyoza:

Silly Songs with Carter and Sabrina

As we were cleaning up and getting ready to go home from the Cabin, the kids started goofing off. Luckily I remembered to grab the camera!

GoFish's "Get Your Jammies On"



Sabrina Beat Boxing - Watch her turn into Action!



God You Reign



Mighty to Save

Magically clean inbox

I just found a cool trick for cleaning out your gmail inbox. When I started my gmail account the transition from folders to lables was akward and I had so much space it didn't seem like I'd ever use it. But now that I'm a GTD convert (sort-of) it really bothered me that I had 10k emails in my inbox. So I deleted some obvious spam and then archived the rest (see: http://www.ainotenshi.org/cleaning-up-your-gmail-inbox). Now my historical email is still there, and I can process the rest as it comes in by labeling and archiving if I want to save it. But I delete a lot more email than I used to and the satisfaction of having the Inbox at 0 messages is huge!

Time flies

wish I was having fun though. ParentMap uses word to keep track of employee time, and even excel is a bit annoying for this task b/c it doesn't handle calculations of time well. It can subtract time if i enter start and end times, but summing time becomes problematic when you get to 99 hours.

I looked for a free tool, because this is a simple task I want it to do. Start, end, date, project. Keep track for me and then add it all up at the end of the month, but break it down by day or project or both if I want.

I downloaded and started using HourGuard, and it is great except that I can't break down the report by day. Suck.

Other free tools:
simple - http://online-stopwatch.chronme.com/ allows you to keep track and export to csv
http://www.toggl.com/ - looks clean and simple
http://www.trackmypeople.com/ - seems fancy and am afraid they'll charge me to export csv or something
http://klok.mcgraphix.com/klok/index.htm - seems clunky to me. maybe just ugly.

I'm trying Toggl next. But I downloaded their widget for mac and setup an account and my login/pass failed so that is annoying. But it is nice that they have an online interface. We'll see how it goes. Any suggestions?

The new more efficient me

Ahh...the illusion of productivity. In an attempt to get organized, dump tasks out of my head and associate them with projects I went online looking for a good tool to keep track of my tasks. And I quickly discovered the world of Getting Things Done (GTD) and the cult of productivity that seems to flow from that. I hadn't heard of GTD before but some of the ideas resonated - that I function better when I get stuff out of my head and on a list. That there are some things I need my computer or the internet for that I can't do at the cabin on the weekend, but other things that I need to be able to sit and think which doesn't happen with the kiddos underfoot.

Anyways, I wanted to use the task feature in outlook/entourage. I like that I can assign categories to them, and due dates and priorities, etc. But I didn't want to pay for office. So I downloaded iGTD and I kind of like it. My only beef is when it comes time to process tasks - I'd like a view where I can see everything on my list grouped by project so I can sort it and still see everything in one place. Maybe it does this and I just haven't figured it out yet.

more GTD resources:
good place to start - http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/08/getting-started-with-getting-things-done
5 sentences - http://www.43folders.com/2007/07/12/five-sentence-email
Quicksilver - http://www.43folders.com/2007/06/19/buffington-igtd-01
http://blog.circlesixdesign.com/2007/06/21/my-personal-igtd/


Note: I resisted buying office for my mac b/c i didn't want to spend anymore money just so I could work. I already own 2 licenses for the PC and switching to a mac was pretty expensive already. But the home edition isn't really that much and I broke down. Open Office just didn't cut it for the excel data minipulation I needed to do (lots of data in many tabs, pivot tables, vlookup, if/then statements, etc.) - it choked or it just didn't work. I'll concede that it is possible that I didn't spend enough time learning the interface on a few of those, but the choking with big data sets (only 10k rows) was a big waste of time.

Salmonberries

DSC08285
Originally uploaded by egerdahl

Uploaded our pictures from this summer to my new computer and they are so cool! I was playing around with my camera and took these pictures of the salmonberries we picked...yummy

Book: Outrageous Learning: An Education Manifesto

I devoured Scott Oki's book this weekend. I found it easy to read and well organized. It was written in straight-forward prose that everyone can follow and is packed with ideas for incremental change on 11 main planks, as he calls them. It made so much sense to me that I was surprised that some of the recommendations were even there (which highlights my ignorance on how public schools work). For example, do we really not give principals the ability to hire whatever teachers they think are most qualified? Or, do we really not pay our teachers based on how well they perform?

The book makes me want to buy copies of the book for some of my smartest friends and gather them together to start a conversation about Bainbridge public schools. So if you get an invitation, you'll know that I think you are very smart. But if I'm really honest, it also makes me want to seek out the best alternatives to public schools for my kids. I really just want to run the other direction. In the preface of his book, Scott states that he “believes the lack of sufficient emotional energy to make a positive difference in public education is due to the fact that we, as individuals, feel powerless to fix a problem that is a multi-headed hydra of gargantuan size.” That is how I feel.

Scott's premise is that there is not a unified view of what the problem with our schools actually is. He thinks the real problem “is rooted in just a few essential things. First, there is an almost total lack of freedom for school leaders – principals and superintendents – to innovate, make policy corrections and change any number of things when warranted. Second, there are an insufficient number of capable, insanely great teachers in the classroom, and there are many weak teachers who should receive heavier and more frequent doses of professional development, or who should seek another line of work. And third, in many places, there is a lack of involvement of parents and neighborhood communities in improving local schools.”

Makes me think about a story I heard on This American Life last year about underperforming NYC school teachers that were sent to a holding room for weeks in lieu of firing them. Facinating. And scarry! But alas, I digress...

The 11 suggestions for improving public schools in Washington offered in the book are:

1. Let local leaders lead. Need to start with “inspired leaders who are empowered to make key decisions and who accept responsibility for delivering results.” “Teachers should be able to make the decisions that impact the learning for each and every one of their students without the burdensome constraints of bureaucracy.” “As the school's CEO, the principal should be ultimately responsible for the quality of the teachers, the effectiveness of the instruction and the health of the school's learning community.” He suggests each principal has a Board of Directors helping him to succeed.
2. Insanely great teachers. “We should create a meritocracy in which good teachers are recognized and paid for superior teaching performance...We should allow schools to hire qualified teachers from the broadest talent pool possible...In addition to attracting top talent, constant and continual improvement should be a part of the teaching culture.”
3. The freedom to choose. “Yet when it comes to one of the most important decisions affecting the future of our children, their education, parental choice is often nonexistent in public schools. Parents are largely told where to send their child and what teacher the child will have...In contrast, no one would dream of accepting a system in which a government official assigned each citizen to use only the public gas station within two miles of his house especially if the gas were underperforming and overpriced.” “Without consumer choice, managers, whether public officials or company executives, have no incentive to innovate, improve quality, provide inspired leadership or create a culture of excellence.”
4. More time spent educating. Some reasons kids don't keep up in school include: “student-to-teacher ratio, quality of instruction, quantity of instruction, pace of instruction, and duration of instruction.” Consider “lengthening the school day, increasing the number of teaching days in the school year, and/or adopting a year-round school calendar...”
5. Early learning rigor, optional high school. Only half of the children entering kindergarten are ready to learn. “...a person's foundation for how they feel about themselves, self-esteem, is established in childhood and that lifelong intellectual curiosity is shaped in the earliest years.” The Hart-Risley study found that “the level of income, ethnicity, and level of parents' education had no explanatory power in determining the level of cognitive capacity that the children achieved. It is all explained by the amount of language dancing, or extra talk, over and above business talk, that the parents engage in. It accounted literally for all the variance in outcomes [of success].” “...if parents and caregivers would simply engage children in adult conversation with more frequency, children would be more intelligent than if not spoken to in this matter.” “We have to stop warehousing teenagers where the educational self life is quite limited, based on where we would like them to go (college), and get them into learning environments that are appropriate for their long-term goals. I believe many students will flourish if we engage them in classes they find meaningful, excite their interests and are relevant to their futures.”
6. Muster an army of volunteers. Parents, mentors, tutors, Teach Corps. “Parents are teachers of their children, and can meaningfully contribute to the learning by checking homework, reading to young children, asking questions, engaging kids in conversation, and the thousand other ways parents create a stimulating learning environment at home.”
7. No standardized curriculum. “While managed instruction strategies are ideal for the earliest grades, more freedom and flexibility in pedagogical approaches is necessary for the higher grades.” “We should return to a more focused approach [to curriculum], with more class time devoted to a smaller number of essential subjects. Even though the breath of subjects would be more limited, we should embrace many different ways to teach the same material.” First Move program taught chess to second and third grade students in order “to stimulate higher-level analytical thinking skills and to improve the learning outcomes in the areas of math and reading”. What does it mean to be educated? At minimum, “upon leaving school our children need to be literate, with strong working knowledge of spoken and written English, to have mastery of mathematics (including geometry and algebra, though trigonometry and calculus are probably overkill), to understand the natural world, to grasp the core concepts of science, to understand how democracy works, and to know the history of their country, region, and state.” But most important is the ability to think critically.
8. Early intervention and specialized instruction. Leaders should focus on immediate, micro-remedial action to help kids showing the first signs of difficulty. Stop social promotion, all kids need to be prepared before advancing. Stop teaching to the least common denominator, lowers the rigor of the lesson and wastes resources babysitting and disciplining. Segregate special needs if appropriate, to target to students individual needs.
9. Spend money as though it were your own. “We are the only country in the world where non-teaching administrative positions exceeds the number of teaching positions.” Outsource whatever tasks you can, including transportation and food service and consider nurses, therapists, security, janitorial, clerical, and administrative positions. Eliminate the costs associated with WASL and other standardized tests. Let capitalism work and it'll be obvious which schools are suceeding.
10. Plant the seeds of success in life: values, character, leadership. Boy and Girl Scouts as model to “focus on values, character and leadership, and the equally important goal of establishing a pattern of accomplishment for kids”.
11. Establish a culture of excellence. Excellence DNA “takes many forms: open and honest communication; teamwork; the elimination of bureaucracy; a shared vision and passion for the work to be done; a unified view of wanting to be the best; a commitment to constant improvement; the elimination of the attitude, “That's not my job.”” Develop level 5 leaders as described in Good to Great. Example of Toyota culture based on continual improvement and mutual respect.

Tackling all of these issues seems daunting, but Oki recommends focusing first on choice. All else will flow from that, but have to focus on four areas of choice:

1. Student. Using the Disabilities Education Act as a model, Oki recommends some rights for students, including: assessment of each student's present levels of performance, allowing students to choose the school suited to their learning style, if student experiences learning difficulties a team will convene to develop a detailed plan for addressing, explanation to parents of the need for intervention, alternative or modified assignments, specially designed instruction, in-class teachers aides, and access to other related services that lead to effective learning progress.
2. Classroom. Improve on the quality of the students entering colleges, implement new curricula for teacher that optimizes teaching in a customized way, increase the starting salaries for new teachers, offer bonuses to entice more teachers to pursue math and science or teach in tough schools, create new compensation that is merit based, create better system for assessing teacher performance (Lakeside school and Ohio Teacher Initiative Fund evaluation criteria).
3. School. “Granting greater freedom to principals would lead to increased responsibility and accountability.”
4. Community. Girl and Boy Scouts, YMCA, Boys & Girls Clubs, mentoring, tutoring, etc. Specified outcome might include “reducing behavioral problems at the school, decreasing truancy,improving study habits, improving subject matter competency, or building a more involved parent community.”

Ends with Japanese concept of Kaizen – management concept for incremental, gradual and continuous improvement. Success “relies on the long-term view of encouraging everyone to participate in making small improvement suggestions, frequently and regularly.” Can lead to substantial change.

Add to mission statement of schools: “Provide a joyful education that allows every child to pursue his dream.”

I want to reread or go find the following sources sited in the book:'

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Annual Report, 2008
• Washington Learns, World Class, Learner-Focused, Seamless Education 2006 Report chaired by Gov Chris Gregiore. Current generation is less educated than parents for the first time.
• Lakeside schools and the OTIF teacher evaluation performance standards and peer review guidelines
• Good to Great, Freakonomics
• Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation by Robert Lynch
• Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Young American Children, by Betty Hart and Todd Risley
• Disrupting Class by Dr. Clayton Christensen
• First Move, American's Foundation for Chess

Workin' 9 to 5

I had just decided that I was content being home with my kids. It had been a year since I took a project consulting and I was grateful to not HAVE to work. But we ran through our savings and things were getting uncomfortably tight. A girl can only go so long before she needs a new pair of shoes.

Contentment is something I’ve been struggling with since I had kids. I think it is part of our nature but I think the culture we live in plays a big part. To long for what you don’t have. To think that satisfaction lies in the next ‘thing’ acquired. That if we just had XX our life would be so much easier. That if only we finished this one project on the house it’ll fit us perfectly. It seems like there are so many things that I was coveting and longing for. When you and your husband are working full-time it is easy to buy most of what you want or need – new clothes, cars, furniture, crafts, etc.

My decision to quit work was not hard for me. Carter was 10 months and I knew I wanted to have kids that were close in age. And the project I was working on at Amazon wasn’t challenging me and didn’t feel like it would make a difference. After you’ve influenced the growth of a billion dollar business, launching an incremental feature on an ad server just wasn’t cutting it. It was easy. I could do it in my sleep. And I was getting paid relatively well to work a couple of days a week in the office. But boys at 10 months are very fun – Carter was starting to walk, was very responsive, content, happy, exploring and just a delight. I figured I might as well start trying to have another baby it could take a while. And it would be nice to get diaper/preschool years over with and get back to building my career as quickly as possible.

And I really feel like kids need their moms close. That so much happens developmentally in formation of self before the age of 5. That I was best equipped to care and love on my kiddos. And that mothering full-time is the most important job I could take on – even if it was mind numbing at times and incredibly tedious. And generally I’ve been happy with that decision.

Except when I’m not. When what I do doesn’t feel significant. When I feel like my brain is fried and my memory shot. When I never get a pat on the back or praised for how smart I am. But it is really hard to network and drum up work as a mom, especially in the recent economic climate. Finding childcare to have lunch with former colleagues much less finding cash to pay for lunch wasn’t happening. And I didn’t have the energy or quiet time on the phone to make calls to people I haven’t seen in a couple of years to ask if they had projects they wanted to farm out off-site on a part time basis.

So when Sarah Bryar called me a month ago and asked if I’d consider working part-time from home I was surprised and at the same time not surprised at how excited I was at the prospect. The fact that Parent Map is a virtual company of a couple dozen women that work from home on a mostly part-time basis sounded unreal. And the fact that they needed help developing products on the web to generate revenue and meet clients needs fit right in the sweet spot of what I am good at – analytics, strategy, and online marketing. And the fact that they haven’t had anyone thinking about this piece of their business means that I can walk in and add value quickly makes this a no brainer. And it doesn't hurt that I AM the target customer, that I am in the thick of parenting and intimately know the customer. And I get to work ‘just enough’ - No more or less than fits in my life. Cha-ching! You can see why I’m excited. I’m a month into the job and loving it.

It isn't perfect. I need to get some help with the kids - I have no idea how I’ve worked 20 hrs a week this past month but I have. Things feel a little out balance right now. But once summer settles down a little and swimming lessons are over and I get a little bit of help, I’m looking forward to having blocks of time to think and be creative and feel productive. I can’t wait to see what we can build over the next few months and years.

The JW came knockin'....

I'm not sure why I invited them in. The two older gentlemen seemed so friendly and I just thought about how much nerve it takes to knock on someone's door and how much rejection they must face as they try to share their 'good news'. And I was a little curious. My grandmother is Jehovah's Witness and I've never really tried to understand what they believe or why she converted after her husband died so many years ago.

Admittedly, my experience with the Jehovah's Witness is limited. I've grabbed flyers they were handing out at public events and have shoo-ed them away from my door when they knocked in Seattle. I had heard that the JW believe that the sky is falling and that only 100k people will be chosen to live with Jesus in heaven forever. And that just seems crazy and hopeless to me. Isn't the point of religion to give you some sort of hope for the future and comfort in our current condition?

So this is your official warning. If you are not a Christian or don't like to talk religon skip to a different post...I've had quite a few people ask me about this so I decided to post the progress.

It was almost two months ago that I first invited the JW in to 'talk'. I let them believe that I was open to what they wanted to teach me, but was in control of the conversation. Within one additonal meeting, they suggested I meet with some women - that it might not be appropriate for the men to meet me alone in my home with my kids. I had already decided that they were not serial killers and was comfortable chatting with them, but didn't object to the handoff. Turns out they weren't equipped to have the type of conversation/debate that I was engaging in so they brought in the big guns - Phyllis and Mary. Turns out Mary is a leading teacher in the area and her side kick is a new recruit. So I had to bring them up to speed. They came weekly for 4 weeks and then I told them that I needed to take a break, that I wasn't satisfied with their answers to my questions and didn't feel like they were prepared to talk about what I asked. So I made a copy of the the four questions we had been addressing and made them take it with them and study it. And they are coming back next week to talk about it after a month haitus.

It has been an interesting game of cat and mouse. I posted my research/notes that I used to prepare for our talks and I think the approach worked well. At this point, I have them on the defensive. The strategy was to focus on one issue and force them to address the issue before we moved on. I made them look at me when we spoke - somehow that took them out of debate mode and I think it helped them to hear what I was getting at. They are very well prepared and will throw lots of scripture at you to demonstrate how much they know as they talk you in circles. But if you really listen to what they are saying - it sounds like crazy talk! Nothing is directly answered. It is very frustrating and takes lots of patience. I've published my rough notes with scriptures here. I spent up to 4 hours a week preparing for a 1-2 hour conversation.

I didn't engage in this debate to 'convert' them. I really did feel sorry for them because I perceived that there is so little freedom and joy for the JW and I wanted to understand. I think I wanted to connect to my grandma. I wanted to get a feel for how someone could be drawn into to a religion like this. And I wanted to demonstrate another way of thinking - critically understanding truth and struggling to come to my own conclusions. I've gotten what I wanted out of our meetings and think I'll cut it off after I hear the response to my questions. They are now inviting me to local JW events and I don't want them to waste their time on me or mislead them as to my intentions. They are working hard for their salvation, and every door they knock on and every convert they are able to 'save' gets them one step closer to heaven.

The next thing for me

I've found my next big project. When I decided to have children, I knew that it would come up. But it is just so big and overwhelming, and I feel so small and inadequate. Who am I? But I saw this video on the Julia Roy blog and it really got me thinking....



It got me thinking that even if the public schools were delivering on the basics, they still aren't going to be sufficient.

I moved from Seattle to Bainbridge in large part because I wasn't happy with the public school situation in Seattle. I didn't want to have to work in order to send my kids to private schools, and I wasn't happy with the crazy life I saw families leading. I wanted the option to stay home with my kids and work when I want to on projects that are interesting and fulfilling. And I wanted to slow down our lives and focus on the little things that matter. Bainbridge and Belleview had the highest scoring public school systems in the area. Little did I know that these schools also teach to the WASL so that they can maintain the high scores, or that the class sizes were growing significantly each year, or that even in a district of highly-affluent well-educated citizens the schools wouldn't be able to gather the funding they need to fix leaky pipes or replace a school that has outlived its usefulness and may be a safety hazard. Of course most of this information is second-hand from other moms with older children or from what I read in the local paper. But I really do not want to have to home school my children - I would be a terrible teacher. I am not patient enough and it just seems like so much work. And I don't feel like that is what I'm being called to do.

So, I was listening to a conversation with Scott Oki, a former Microsoft exec turned philanthropist, on NPR about a month ago that sparked my interest. He was offering some ideas on how to improve public schools that sounded simple and achievable. He wrote a book entitled "Outrageous Learning: An Education Manifesto" that I ordered and received in the mail last week. I cracked it open this morning and am looking forward to this read. I would love to introduce it to our book club and start a larger conversation.

The problem still feels huge and I have no idea where to start, but I do know that I really need to get on top of this issue and figure out how to plug in. I don't think it is OK for us to opt out of the public school system because we can afford to do so. All of our kids deserve a chance at the best educational opportunities we can create. Really. Not just talking about it, but really making it happen.

Simple foodie pleasures

it is the little things that matter. today i had the opportunity to have a long lunch by myself and it was lovely. most people are uncomfortable dining alone but not me. i get the chance to slow down and think and savor. potato gnocchi with pesto cream sauce. ice cold sweet tea. almond cake with bing cherries and whip cream. delish. i was working through lunch but even that was nice because i had time and space to be creative.

Feels good to be outside w/o a parka or scarf

Look what you can find on a walk if you look for it.

Wired Kids

A couple of weeks ago I attended a session on “Unplugging our Kids and Plugging in the Family” by Gloria Degaetano. Gloria was an engaging speaker with a fascinating background and I left feeling very passionate about something I knew very little about before. She validated concerns I had about exposure to electronics in kids, but more importantly helped me to understand the science behind why these tools can be harmful to kids as they develop. Here is a transcript of my notes from the 90 minute presentation she gave.

Look what we did today!

I got a new scrapbooking tool called a Cricut that cuts any shapes I want. It is very fun and a little addicting....

Hair Clips and Headbands

I cannot get over how expensive the little hair clips are around town. For some reason Sabrina won't keep them in even though her hair is driving her crazy! I'm going to make some, but am surprised there aren't tutorials or ideas out there. Lots of hideous ribbon concoctions...

I stumbled across these ones and think they are great!



So, I think I'll start with these cute clips from the AngryChicken site and some more ideas, and then make some headbands and play around with ribbon on alligator clips. Going to get supplies tomorrow and will let you know how they turn out!

Simple Pleasures

Who knew the doctors office could be so fun? Nevermind the fact that we have trains at home. This was the first time I hoped the doctor was running behind... We spent over an hour setting up and playing with the Brio track, which included a ferry and a cute draw bridge! Very fun. You know that when I find one for him to add to his train set he won't play with it for more than 5 minutes. Such is life.

Beloved Bainbridge

Another article from the NYT, this time about our little island and geared toward the wealthy. I hadn't really thought about Bainbridge as a vacation desination beyond the Puget Sound but I can see how people would fall in love once they visit. Still feel lucky to be here...

What a relief!

As a mom you get so much information in our culture about the next thing you should be doing for your kids to make them happy and healthy. And most of the time you feel like a failure because you didn't think about that or you lose sleep over the vulnerability that you unwittingly exposed them to. I love that someone is telling me that dirt is good. That my messy floors might actually be helping my kids. That using all the anti-bacterial stuff isn't really helping. That it is ok to take a deep breath and for kids to be kids and get messy.

Eating Real Food

I just finished reading Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food" and I highly recommend it. It really changed how I think about what we eat and made me relax a little bit about weight and reconfirmed my commitment to being healthy generally. Like "Fast Food Nation", it describes in some detail how 'food' is processed and manufactured, highlighting how different grocery stores are now then they were when my great-grandmother did her shopping. Little in the store (except the perimeter) is real food. Even stuff you think is made of good stuff (like bread) is often highly engineered. But the most shocking part to me was how much of the nutrition info we are given has very little scientific basis. As a numbers person, I liked reading about the statistics and scientific process that goes into the underlying studies with the latest health claims. I walked away from the book trusting no one (not the FDA, not the American Heart Association, etc.) because endorsements are bought or negotiated. Much of the health claims on food aren't based in science. For example, the mini-wheats i've been feeding my family because they have a lot of fiber claim to increase attentiveness in kids by 20%. But Jason read that is compared with kids who have no breakfast! Eek. Makes me want to crawl in a hole. I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but we are setup to fail in so many (often sublte) ways.

The tenets of how he thinks you should eat are summarized here. They are quick and punchy principles that can't hurt as far as I'm concerned. Common sense but not always easy to do.

Ultimatly, it made me take my role as mom even more seriously. No more processed foods at our house, as much as possible. No cereal, crackers, bars, etc. I'm planning on baking bread, crackers, cookies, etc myself. And we'll eat fruit as opposed to fruit-like stuff for kids. I'd already done some of this, but I'm more committed than ever.

I'm even planning on baking bread and making my own yogurt at this point. Somehow high fructoce corn syrup made its way into our house in these products...eek. Kari recommended a book on breaking artisan bread in 5 minutes a day. Really. It just came from amazon, I'll try it out tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm really excited.

Fun Stuff - Visual Personality

I actually like it!

I finished a project that I actually like. Yeah! It is made with a lucious wool yarn that is so soft. It is a little big, but it is so warm and I don't want to take it off. I actually finished this in the spring, but finally took a picture this week. Just thought I'd share.

We miss the summer concerts!

Wishing summer wasn't over... We loved the concerts at the park, even when it rained and we had to be inside. A couple of videos for your enjoyment! Don't laugh at my sideways video - I was just getting the hang of this...

Do-wap dancing


Sabrina's the center of attention...at least at first.

You've got mail!

Oh, the excitement of getting mail. Combine that with a birthday and Carter was over the moon! After opening the gift from auntie melissa today, the kids had fun playing in the box. Go figure. You'd think they would grow out of that by 4...




I lost my camcorder. How does that happen? It has to be around here somewhere!!! That's the problem with getting a big house with little storage. It could be anywhere!

Summer Swimming

Carter loves the water and had a great time in swim lessons this summer. Check out some highlights from his last lesson. He's jumping and swimming by himself! His teacher Eric calls him Welcome Back Carter, which Carter doesn't understand at all. Over the 8 sessions they shared all kinds of info - including the color/description of their houses, details of our upcoming camping trip, info on his family, the olympics, etc. Seems Carter was a chatty one in the class. He definitely had fun. Sabrina had a hard time sitting by and watching. I think this is the last time we'll get away with that.

Life Jacket Race



Show off


Jump!


Jump and swim under the rope!


Backfloat


This is our first foray into digital video. I used my camera to capture these videos and they turned out alright and it was easy enough to put them up like this. But I think I need to work on it....any ideas?

The Pony

Sissy in a pony tail! She is such a big girl and she knows it.

Sicko

We are so tired of being sick...going on week 4 of this terrible cold/flu bug and no sign of it letting up. It wouldn't be so bad if EVERYONE wasn't needy at the same time. And if we could go out and do something fun without fear of getting everyone else sick. Between the ear infections, pink eye, and the hacking that is going on around here - we are a sorry bunch.

But I've been very productive knitting - finished making another hunter hat I lost (after wearing it once...) and am getting close to finishing my shrug. Hopefully I can get unstuck on the shrug tonight - I made some modifications that are tricky to fix.

Carter is growing up fast all of a sudden. His vocabulary is growing exponentially again - he uses lots of suddenly, actually, prefer, and makes this weird clicking sound when he starts a new idea - where did he pick that up? He is loving preschool, mostly playing with his friends and the play dough. It seems like other kids are painting and creating lots of artsy things and all carter wants to do is the play dough. So this week I made some at home - Sabrina likes it too, but it only keeps them busy for about 10 minutes. Now, if I could just come up with 10 more of those ideas I might be able to really boost the productivity of this household!

Sabrina is so girly too. She brushes her hair out of her face in a very grown up way. Loves wearing dresses. And likes to pretend with dolls. I broke down and bought her a Barbie the other day - Easter Barbie was at safeway for $7 - how could we pass that up? Being home sick for weeks will make you buy just about anything to keep the kids busy and happy. She's so articulate now - she can communicate what she wants very well. But she is also little miss temper tantrum when she doesn't get her way. Intense, face bright red, arms wailing, scratching, angry temper tantrums. So watch out! Our mantra right now is "don't give in" "don't give in" "don't give in"...

But we have been enjoying the sunshine and dry weather. Today Jason cut down a cedar tree by our house - it was very exciting. And we've started our walks with the double stroller again - the kids like to get out of the stroller now and push it or just dawdle and that really reduces the exercise benefit of the whole walk. But it is good fun, so it balances out. The frogs are coming out and we walk across the street to a huge puddle/small pond where they are really loud. Sabrina loves all the different sounds - frogs, birds, airplanes, etc - she gets really excited when she recognizes them.

Generally loving winter and our house and the island. Life is good.

Finished but not loving it

Anyone who knows about my knitting habit likely knows that most things I end up knitting I'm not crazy about. I'm still learning why that is and as frustrating as it is, knitting is relaxing for me and something I can do while hanging out with the kids so it satisfies my need to 'feel' productive.

Take the latest:


I'm not sure why I thought a beret would look good on me. All the women in the patterns I looked at are so chic. And I'm chic (right), so then the beret should look great! Not so much. First it is huge. I have a big head but this hat is huge. Second, it makes me look like a blob. Not what I was going for. Jason just cracked up and insisted on taking a picture - so there you go. I'm about to rip it out and just make a ski cap. I really like the color of this yarn, I can't wear much green but I like this one I found in Hawaii while we were there. In case you want to make it, it was in the most recent issue of Knit Simple magazine.

Some finished objects to share:

I finished Teva's capelet and I hate it. The pattern was messed up - the shoulder shaping was confusing because somewhere along the pattern they forgot about 20 stitches, so that was frustrating. I finished it up as best I could but the shoulders looked silly when I put it on and the neck was too wide. It was a bit too short and it made me look like a blob. Not sure why I keep picking blobby patterns to make. So much for using up my stash. Think I'll make a vest with the yarn instead. Right now it is shoved in a bag. It was a good project to learn how to make cables, though, so not all is lost.

Things I'm currently working on:
Cowl neck from Last Minute Knitted Gifts - http://www.purlbee.com/cashmere-cowl/
And I love the Fitted Knits book I just got and cast on for these quick ones first:
Back to School vest - http://yarncrawl.typepad.com/fittedknitsalong/backtoschool_uneck_vest/index.html
Shug - http://yarncrawl.typepad.com/fittedknitsalong/twotone_ribbed_shrug/index.html

like i need another craft...

i took a needle felting class in october and it was so fun! i made a little lamb and a penguin out of raw wool and it actually turned out cute. anyways, my friend marci gave me some alpaca and i am dying to work with it. not sure yet what i'll create with it but i wanted to document the steps before i forget. so here you go.

1. washing alpaca fleece: http://www.owning-alpaca.com/washing-fleece.html
2. cool characters and teachers site: http://www.woolpets.com/

well sabrina woke up - so much for a brain dump. at least i can clean the fleece now!

what's done is done

well, i did it. i wanted something new and i got it. 'nuff said.

fall photos!

i'm uploading and sending out new photos from kodakgallery*. if you didn't get the email link, let me know and i'll send it to you. things we've been up to over the past month are captured there including:

• our recent trip to appleby's (who knew it would be such a great photo op?)
• scrapbook weekend '07 and my favorite pictures from lindsey's wedding
• our impromptu picnic on the beach (shiver - bad idea in november but couldn't resist a sunny day!)
• my bolero sweater i've been knitting for sabrina but ran out of yarn so one sleeve was longer than the other. i've since fixed it but it is a little big for her so maybe it'll work in the spring since it is short sleeved now?
• playing in the leaves. it really feels like fall around here, the crisp air and all the maple leaves on the ground. we get to see even more sunshine now that all the trees are bare!
• and mr b. carter and i made an ugly doll. he wanted one but i couldn't justify it so one day when sabrina was sleeping and carter didn't want to nap we whipped up this tooth shaped doll. he loves it!

* why am i still using kodakgallery, you might ask? for a few reasons, but mostly because it requires people to sign on so i know who is watching my kiddos. plus my family (read grandparents) know how to use it and all of our pictures are stored over the past 5 years. plus uploading is easy and i don't have to pay for space. so i've got a great/free copy of all of my favorite pictures.

what to do with my wednesday

our day started at 6.30am today and we were having a hard day by the time 8.30 rolled around so i knew we needed to do something and get out of the house. so we headed to silverdale to return some things to target (generating cash :) and went out for lunch. i wanted to try the new weight watchers menu at appleby's and i hadn't been there in a while. the salad i had wasn't very good, but they comped me the salad and i just ate a chicken strip from carter's plate. however, we shared a small dessert and the kids had so much fun eating in a new place. sabrina did this funny thing with her spoon - she was so proud that she could hold it in her mouth without using her hands - and we were cracking up. almost rolling on the floor, uncontrollably laughing. everyone said my kids were so cute (duh!) and we had fun tearing up the place. it was definitely kid friendly - and it helped that they put us in a back corner so we could run around a bit. a souvenir for you from our trip...

knitters tea swap 4

hey there,

i'm just going to pretend that i've been posting regularly all this time. when there is a lapse in posting it is hard to get started again because nothing feels significant enough. anyways - i finally posted a thank you for a knitting swap i did online. i forgot to take a picture of the package that I sent, but it was fun to get a nice surprise of tea and yarn. you can see my post and picture here.

We're back

I'm finally back online after a tough few months. Adjusting to our expanding family is taking all of my energy right now. I used to think that people called fussy babies colicky, but I now understand that Colic is a very real (and difficult) thing to deal with. I'm excited that Sabrina is here and am looking forward to the next few months getting easier. I'll go upload photos and repost links once they are ready. Hope all is well with folks and would like to talk to you soon.

It's a girl!

We found out yesterday that our second baby, due April 9th, will be a girl. Needless to say, we are very excited for this new adventure and are frantically trying to get ready.

First Birthday

We celebrated Carters first birthday on September 3rd at Hood Canal and had a great time with our family. He was not into the presents or cake, but more excited about playing with his cousins. Who could blame him? We've had a great first year and I'm looking forward to next year. Some final monthly milestones for you:

• Carter is blubbering, all the time. He is talking away to himself when he is reading stories or playing on his own, and he'll walk up to you talking gibberish and expect you to understand what he wants.
• He's surprisingly good at communicating what he wants and it is clear that he understands a lot of what we are saying. You can tell him to go find his shoes and he'll track them down from his bedroom. Some of his favorite words include ball, shoe, hat, truck, up, down, boat, and Chewy (Keith & Maria's dog who is staying with us this month).
• He loves books. He likes you to read to him, but he turns the pages and determines the pace. And he'll take all of the books off his shelf one at a time to have you read them to him. He also sits and reads to himself.
• He pretends to talk on the phone. He holds the phone up to his ear backwards and starts jabbering. Really cute.
• He's doing better at playing independently - he loves taking stuff out of the kitchen cabinets and getting into the garbage. Time to install some locks on the drawers...
• He's fascinated with buckles - tries to unbuckle his highchair or car seat.
• Easily frustrated if something isn't going his way. And he gets overstimulated quickly if there are too many people around or it is too noisy - Gets very fussy. He also started biting when he is mad. We've got to work on that.
• He's a good eater - loves eggs, grapes, edamame, beans - pretty much any finger food that isn't crunchy. We've got to work on the vegetables a little bit. Still having a reaction to tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots. But it is nice because we can feed him food that I prepare for dinner.

I posted new pictures to his first year album from the birthday party. I've also created a new one for his toddler years since there were almost 180 pictures in the other album. Enjoy!

11 months

Almost one year - I need to get busy planning his birthday! The highlights

- Carter is starting to understand that objects can go inside other objects. It is very fun to watch him carefully remove a block and then put it right back in the bucket. Really cute.
- He carries around a big truck his grandma brought him that he can also put stuff in the back and take it out and put it back in and take it out and put it back in.
- Loves walking - will take your finger and walk back and forth. Most of the time though he pulls himself up on furniture and then takes off across the room without help. No place in the house is out of reach now - and he loves practicing this new skill all the time. He also grabs onto the Jeep on the ExerSaucer and walks around in circles dragging the jeep with him.
- Carter is a ham - he's totally social. He'll walk up to folks and get right in their face to force them to look at him. He loves playing with other kids and doesn't understand when they get scared (because he's running to them to talk or wants to give them 'kisses' with his teeth!)
- Teething - Is working on his 8th tooth right now.
- Is starting to get adventurous with finger food. Is still very picky about texture and takes some coaxing, but last night he liked to munch on noodles, cheese, peas, and tomatoes.
- Favorite toy is a wooden alligator on a string he pulls behind him walking up and down the hall.
- Talking a lot - now has entire conversations with you in jibberish, he likes to join in on any conversation in person or on the phone, and can say up/down (one word more like p-dow) in addition to truck, dad, mom, dog, annika (an-ka). sometimes will mimic words right after you say them.
- Still not loving the sign language we are working on. Will use all-done but the rest he understands but won't use himself yet. He's already trying to say the words we want him to sign.
- Started to throw temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Starts screaming, face all red, body all stiff, pulling at your arm or finger hard and arching his back so you can't hold him. This is going to be fun...

I quit

I've decided to quit Amazon at the end of September. I'm feeling pretty good about my decision to stay home with Carter and focus on our family right now. It was a surprisingly freeing decision - while I could figure out how to make it work and my part-time gig is pretty nice - I choose to step out of the paid work force. I was really scared that if/when I did make that decision I'd close a lot of doors in terms of future opportunities to work on something compelling and exciting. Let's face it - we work in a culture where mom's aren't really valued and taking time off of work for a long period of time is suspect. The other risk is that I've developed an expertise in an industy that is rapidly changing and while I've focused on building a general management skillset - I'll have to sell myself pretty agressively in the future. And of course as soon as I made that decision I got a ton of external director and vp level job opportunities at local companies that were almost too good to pass up. But it was easy in a way because I don't want to work full-time. Carter is way too much fun and having two working parents is really stressful. I'd rather simplify our life and enjoy this time as a family. As soon as I made the decision I felt much better - I'll let the future take care of itself.

I'm also excited about leaving Amazon. I thought I'd miss work more than I did - being on maternity leave gave me some perspective on how crazy Amazon really is. It isn't a fun place to work anymore and I'm ready for a change - I've been working in online marketing at Amazon for almost 6 years.

I didn't anticipate how challenging motherhood is either. Not only am I caring for Carter (nanny), but managing the family finances (CFO), coordinating our activities/volunteering/planning for fun stuff, cooking (chef), running errands, cleaning the house, and taking care of myself has been crazy. Caring for Carter has required me to be the most creative I've ever been. Plus I'm having a blast.

So come October I'll have time to reconnect with friends and take care of my family.

10 Months Already!

The past couple of months have been very eventful and full of big milestones. We've been camping twice and hung out at Hood Canal a couple of times. It is getting harder to live in the moment and soak it all up - but we're having a great time watching Carter's personality develop even more. Here are some more milestones to share with you:

• Eating well - likes everything we've tried so far. Starting to feed himself cheerios, though isn't excited about anything else I've put in front of him.
• Reads books to himself - cracking up at little faces as he reads the stories
• Still loving his bath - now splashes and reads books
• Talking to the birds and dogs on our walk (first official word is Dog)
• Walking along furniture and with one hand
• Carrying things with him when he crawls or walks
• Loves to dance to music or rythms
• Looks to the sky when he hears airplains and gets excited when he finds them
• Fascinated with buckles and straps
• Getting used to camping in the camper. The first couple of times were a nightmare - he wakes up and doesn't know where he is. But he loves playing in the playpen Jason made for him.
• Teething like crazy - now has 4 teeth on top and two on the bottom

I posted more pictures in our online photo album if you'd like to see them. Some fun camping pictures from our trips to Kelso and Kalaloch.

8 Months

Technically we are at 8 1/2 months - but better late than never, right? Here's the latest milestones:

• Mastering holding and minipulating objects - but still explores everything with his mouth
• Playing with ears and plays with his hair while drinking his bottle
• Walking around the coffee table, sofa, etc and moving between objects that are close enough to hold onto
• Vocalizing a lot - Carter likes to talk and will walk up to a chair, pull himself up to standing, extend his hand high up in the air, and yell at the top of his lungs
• Waves like an expert when people come or go
• Knows that when the garage door opens someone is coming home - knows that when dad puts his coat on he's leaving for work
• A little separation anxiety - when I leave the room he gets upset and when dad goes to work he cries
• Allergic to carrots and sweet potatoes still
• Loves typing on the keyboard and pulling off letters
• Re-learning how to fall asleep on his own
• Three teeth and more coming on top
• Attacks other kids when he greets them still - tries to give them kisses by pulling them on the ears to come closer
• Doesn't like loud environments
• Loves playing in the mirror - giggles, waves, and talks to himself
• House is now babyproofed - loves outlets and cables
• Likes playing with dogs - chases them around and pulls their tails

Congrats Lindsey!

I'm excited that my little All-American sister just landed an internship at Nike in LA working with their entertainment group upon graduation. Just one more dream she's accomplished in a long and impressive list. Way to go!

More pictures of Lindsey here.

Ear Infection!

I probably should have detected this sooner, but we found out this morning that Carter has an ear infection. Poor kid has had a hard time sleeping and started pulling at his ears a little bit this weekend, but has been his normal self until he woke up this morning screaming bloody murder! He should start feeling better tonight with the antibiotics and hopefully we'll be able to start getting a full nights sleep again.

WestSide

We are in the process of becoming members of WestSide Presbyterian church. It was a hard decision to leave my home church, but I'm excited to join a church closer to home and make new friends. Pastor Paul Smith is a dynamic, bright speaker and I'm learning a lot. I highly recommend his book 'God's Plan for Our Good' - it tackles tough issues including the sovereignty of God, presense of evil in the world, and human freedom in a way that is easy to understand.

7 Months

This month has been high-energy. It is amazing to me that Carter is still developing so quickly - you would think my lists would get shorter, not longer! More highlights for you:

• second tooth popped through on bottom - really cute when he smiles now
• waving at people to say hi or bye
• standing up as often as he can - will use anything as a prop to stand
• babbling sounds like real words instead of same thing over and over
• not sleeping through night anymore - wakes up once or twice but can be rocked back to sleep pretty quickly
• picky eater - as well as being allergic
• understands NO
• bath time is chaotic - immediately rolls over and slips all over the place
• gives kisses and reaches for people
• likes to watch dad working in the garage or on the camper
• crawling really fast - still need to baby proof
• no fear - crawls right off our bed or would lunge down the stairs
• hair is getting long enough to curl
• in process of changing schedule to two long naps (1.5-2hrs) instead of a nap each feeding cycle - carter is much happier when he takes longer naps
• still likes to read books
• started water babies class on Weds and he loves splashing me in the face!
• doesn't like crowded or loud places

More pictures posted in his one year album.

6 1/2 month milestones

This month was very exciting. I couldn't wait for the whole month before creating new milestones. Carter kept us busy as he started to become mobile. Highlights:

• Crawling forward and scooting backward
• Propping himself up with one arm by himself in an almost sitting position
• Communicating very well - excited when you read his favorite book, communicates when he wants more food or is done eating, wants to be picked up or go to someone else, when he is bored, hungry, etc.
• Plays independently for longer periods. Favorite toys are his teething butterfly, keys.
• Standing while holding onto something (play table, crib, etc.). Tries to grab the mobile in his crib by pulling himself up.
• Persistent attitude - is a good problem solver
• Loves talking to people (especially ones he knows, though he will smile at just about anyone)
• Sleeping 10-12 hrs between feedings at night
• Eating 2 meals/day (allergic to most veggies - good excuse eh?)
• Tooth popped through on lower left
• Loves it when you sing to him - especially 'the wheels on the bus go round and round'
• Took Easter pictures with his cousin Elyse
• Loves playing with himself in the mirror
• Is a wild man in the bath - splashing like crazy with his hands and feet, tilts his head to the side so one eye is under water and he can gulp the water

A tooth!

Carter's lower tooth on the left poped through on Sunday. He's been drooling for a couple of months and a little fussy the past couple of weeks and now we know why! He doesn't seemed to be phased by the sharp intruder in his mouth and is enjoying chewing on everything he can get his hands on.

6 month milestones

This past month went by so fast, I can't believe it. We are having the most fun playing together. Some highlights:

• fascinated with paper
• crawling, scooting, inching (forward and backwards)
• reaching for people or objects he likes
• watches contently while we eat dinner, started solid foods
• loves his daily walk in the stroller
• is great in the car now, rarely cries
• is doing really well with his grandma's who babysit once a week
• shaking rattles to make noise
• feeling textures with his hands and mouth
• especially responsive - easy to make him smile, cries when you leave the room
• sitting up well, though not completely by himself
• really active - no more cuddling, this guy wants to play!
• needed to trim his hair around his ears
• favorite toys are the remote control and telephone
• wearing clothes sized 12 mo
• wearing disposable diapers now to improve mobility

More pictures

Created a new album with pictures since we've been to Hawaii. You can find it here.

Pears!

So we tried pears for the first time today. Carter mostly spit them out and made funny faces, but he was really into the spoon and kept grabbing for more. I'm not sure he actually swollowed anything, but it is a good start. I'm sure he'll get the hang of it soon.

Bought some baby food books today that came highly recommended. I'm planning on making as much as I can. My organic fruit delivery each week makes it really easy to add variety and make sure he is eating well.
- Simply Natural Baby Food
- Mommy Made & Daddy Too!
- Annabel Karmel's New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner

New Phase: Eating

Carter is getting ready to enter a whole new stage of development - eating solid foods. I'm looking for a good high chair and am totally disappointed by what is out there. Most of them are hideous - not something I want displayed prominently in my house. The one high chair that has a little personality to it is $200! My favorite is the Peg-Perego (here: http://www.barebabies.com/pegpedorohic.html), but from what I've read (including the Baby Bargains book) it is impossible to clean and too tall for most babies. But it sure looks nice! The high chair that has the best reviews and would probably be the most practical, is an adjustable booster but is just plain ugly. I don't know what to do...

5 Months!

I can't believe Carter is already 5+ months old. New milestones include:

• getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth
• sleeping 10 hrs between feedings
• talking, talking, talking
• holding his bottle during feedings
• loves his baths - is getting more brave each time!
• fascinated with food - will watch us eat and try to grab our glasses
• flirting with strangers - everywhere we go he's making people smile
• rolling over both directions
• loves books - his favorite is hand, hand, fingers, thumb

I had no idea how fulfilling being a mom would be. I'm having my best time ever!

Hawaii

We had a wonderful time on the big island. We spent 18 days snorkeling, soaking up the sun (and rain), laying on the beach, reading books, and hanging out as a family. Carter did reallly well on the plane and hit the following milestones while we were in paradise:

• rolling over from back to front
• scooting on his tummy
• talking up a storm (favorite words are still boom and mom)
• lots of independent time playing (even rocks himself in vibrating chair)
• slept for 8-9 hrs at night

You can find some pictures here.

I've found Minky!

I discovered oh so soft minky fabric a little while ago when shopping for baby gifts. There were very simple baby blankets made with this softer than chenille fabric that were selling for ~$100. You can now buy the fabric online here. Thought I would share.

Three Month Milestones

This month Carter is:

- Grabbing at objects and pulling them to his mouth
- Bringing his hands together and playing with them
- Totally into his activity center
- Smiling, cooing, gurgling, etc.
- Says mom, whoa, and boom (sort-of)
- Grew out of most of his clothes (he's wearing 9-12 months now)
- Hates his bed and mobile
- Avoiding bedtime, even when really tired
- Sleeping about 6 hours at night
- Grew out of his car seat and infant stroller (he was too tall)

Carter Pictures

I've been updating the album on Ofoto for my friends and family to see. Here's the link if you can't find it in the emails I sent. Enjoy!

Two Month Milestones

At two months, Carter is doing the following:

• Smiling a lot, especially to faces
  
• Cooing and making lots of vowel sounds
• Discovering his hands - watches them and bops himself on the head
• Sucks on his hand (not his thumb or fingers yet, just the whole fist)
  
• Loves diaper changes - is most happy here for some reason
• Holding his head up pretty well
• Will pull himself up if you give him your hands and help him a little
• Standing a lot while you hold him
• Tracking moving objects with his eyes
  
• Will push up his head until it locks under your neck when trying to sleep
• Taking a pacifier consistently but spits it out a lot accidentally
  
• Hates riding in the car - will cry the entire ride unless rocked or given a pacifier. Why don't they make vibrating carseats?
  

I'm Learning Italian

I'm doing a Pimsleur Instant Conversation course and have only had a couple of lessons, but so far I can say...

• I don't understand
• Do you understand English?
• I understand a little Italian
• Are you an American?
  
• Yes
• No
• Excuse me, Miss
• How are you?
• Very good thank you
• Goodbye
  

Typical Day in the Life

At two months, this is what our typical days look like...

4-5am - Carter wakes up to eat. I try to sleep through as much of this one as I can. Jason takes him after he eats and entertains him while he gets ready for work so I can sleep a little more. Usually he hangs out in the swing and doesn't sleep much this cycle.

8am - Carter hungry again and because he didn't sleep much he is fussy. After a diaper change and about 2o minutes of playing he is usually tired and wants to go to sleep. I rock him to sleep but if I put him in his crib he'll wake up within a few minutes and need to be rocked to sleep again. Somewhere in here I'll try to have breakfast.

11am - Mom and Carter are hungry. I'll try to make lunch as he's waking up and eat before I feed him, but that doesn't always work out without him screaming for a few minutes. The swing usually buys me a little time. He'll stay up and smile and play with me for about an hour before getting tired again.

2pm - Carter wakes up hungry. After feeding he is usually very happy and after a diaper change sleeps pretty good (at least an hour). He usually falls asleep on my chest and I'll watch a little TV while he sleeps to relax. I haven't been able to catch a nap during the days, so watching what I've TIVOed in the afternoon is how I wind down.

5pm - I'll try to make dinner before feeding Carter, but that isn't always doable. I've had to keep meals really simple the past couple of months, but I did make a turkey last week so we'd have a ton of leftovers to munch on. When Jason gets home he usually plays with Carter and gives me a little bit of a break. Carter will usually sleep for about an hour in this cycle.

8pm - Feed Carter. He's really fun during this time and I try to keep him up as long as possible so he'll sleep at night a little more. After playing for an hour or so he can get really fussy and doesn't really want to sleep anyways.

10-11pm - I try to get in an early feeding at 10 if Carter wakes up because he tends to sleep longer if he's full. It is usually hard to rock him to sleep after this feeding and I get really tired.

2am - Most of the time Carter wakes up in the middle of the night for a feeding but a couple of times he hasn't. It really depends on when the last feeding of the evening is. It is usually pretty easy to get him back to sleep after a diaper change.

Baby Products I Can't Live Without

I wanted to share some of the books and products I've found most useful the past couple of months.

Books & Movies
The New Well Pregnancy Book - Good book that describes physiologically what was happening to my body and how labor works. Not too scary.
The Baby Whisperer - This book was helpful in developing my intuition around how to care for an infant. Has great charts that list different reactions a baby has and what it means.
The Happiest Baby on the Block - This technique works. Book outlines the author's theory that the first three months are the fourth trimester and helps you think like a baby. But the DVD was the best at describing the technique to envolke the 'calming reflex' - works every time to quiet down Carter when he has a meltdown.
The Baby Book of Bargains - Essential. There is so much crap out there and an entire industry created to convince you that you have to spend thousands of dollars on baby stuff. I've followed the advice in this book and haven't regretted it.

Stuff for the Nursery
BabyDiaper Service - Super convenient service that isn't very expensive.
Crib Mobile - I love this mobile and so does Carter. He will sit and stare at it and listen to the music for up to 15 minutes!
Activity Center- Carter was using this after the first week and gets more interested each day
Swing - Cannot live without this, allows us to sleep when Carter is really fussy
Kick & Play Vibrating Chair - Great to put him in when I'm making dinner so he can watch me. He hasn't figured out that his feet are what cause the sound but it'll be fun when he does.
Snap 'N Go Stroller - Really convenient and a great value. No need to buy one of those travel systems.
Combi Stroller - Great stroller - lightweight, collapsable, cute, lots of room to store stuff. Best of all, little speakers for Carter that I can plug my ipod into!
Baby Jockey Onsies - Great quality and two snap setting so they fit him longer
Baby Monitor
Baby Bjorn - Not sure this is better than a snuggly. Carter is now 16 pounds and my back hurts after a walk to the store with him in it. But great when he needs to be held but I need my hands.
iPod - Must have for walks and convient music listening. I plug it into my stereo and use it at home too. Easy because my entire CD collection fits on it and I've created fun playlists so no messing around with CDs.

Things I could live without
Boppy - While some people swear by these, i didn't find it that useful. it was easier for me just to hold Carter, but that could have been because he was so big.

more to come...