Happy Halloween!

Last night, my brother had a really fun Halloween party complete with costumes, decorations, and even The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. We got to debut our costumes- Jay and I went as Mexicans (can you see the stache? It's real.) and The Frog was a burrito. My parents showed up as Beethoven and Mozart's wife (none of us are sure that Beethoven ever got married...)- so fun! I don't think I've ever seen them dress up before :) John was headless, and I sadly didn't get any shots of Audra- a very cute ninja turtle. My nephew was a little studly fire fighter, and his little brother was an adorable bee (I forgot to get his picture after he woke up and got out of his carseat). Look at the veggie plate my mom brought. Believe it or not, that funky looking center piece is a deformed carrot from their garden. All in all, it was way fun :) Hopefully this will be an annual event.

Yesterday was also a big day for the Frog. I'm convinced that he is capable of smiling on purpose now, and he's figured out how to suck on his fist! He is so talented :)

Mac-ing It Up

I'm typing this post from a Mac! Not sure how I feel about it yet... I have always been a PC user, though I appreciated being able to check email or print on a Mac in college, since those were the computers that were always empty in the computer labs. I've always been quite proud of my PCness, in fact. However, living with a Mac-er, a very enthusiastic, avid Mac-er, has perhaps helped me have a change of heart. I admit that I am seduced by the sleekness, the lighted keyboard, and clever use of obvious names like "numbers" all exhibited by the Mac. But I have been using Windows for quite sometime and it will be an adjustment.

Now, here I am, on my very own Apple MacBook Pro. (And no, it's not one of the awesome new ones...) Given my inherent cheapness, you would be accurate to guess that I would probably never purchase a Mac, since they are more expensive for a comparable PC machine... but I inherited this from my man who did get a new MacBook. I admit, the apple key will take some getting used to, and I still go to the top of the screen when I want to scroll up, even though Apple ingeniously put both arrows next to each other for convenience purposes. I fear that all the clever features that make Macs so great, will be ill taken advantage of, since I have been using a PC for so long.

I really miss my right-click.

We'll see how it goes.

100th post!

Knowing this post would be my 100th, the pressure was extreme to make it a memorable one. However, I lack the desire (and ability) to list 100 fun things about me or events that happened in the last year and lack the resources to give away 100 ferraris. I'm at a loss for ideas and it's just been much too long since I've posted, so you'll all (and I will) have to be satisfied with mere recognition of this fact.

Mostly I'm just proud that I've kept it up long enough to hit 100 :)

Frog update:
I've started putting him in pajamas at bedtime, instead of just letting him sleep in whatever he wore all day. Doesn't he look adorable in his fuzzy green giraffe pjs?

He went to church for the first (and second) time: pretty uneventful exCEPT he also had his first injury.

So I'm sitting in Sunday School and The Frog makes his usual loud presentation of filling his diaper. We promptly sneak out and head to the ladies' room. Luckily, my building is equipped with a "mother's room" off of the bathroom, containing multiple comfy-cushy rocking chairs for nursing and a plastic fold-down changing table. There's even a special diaper garbage can! But anyway, I put the frog down on the changing table and proceed as usual. Now, for those of you who haven't met the little guy, he make a frequent habit of flailing his arms in unpredictable ways, and during diaper changes is no exception. This time, however, he flailed his little hand right into a conveniently placed slot in the plastic part that attaches to the wall, and got his hand stuck. He immediately let me know he was hurting and I remedied the problem quickly. Wanting to pick him up, but realizing this would be poor judgement without replacing his diaper, I hurried to finish the process when the Frog flails again and gets his little hand caught again in the same plastic slot! Who designed that changing table anyway? Are they not aware of little flailing fingers in the vicinity? Anyway, by the second incident, his diaper was on and he was quickly placated. Don't worry, he still has all 10 fingers and they seem to be working fine. (I could tell you were worried)

We gave in and have embraced the pacifier... So has The Frog.

Now, this one might be wishful thinking, but I thought he smiled yesterday. It was brief, but he was awake. Now, I initially dismissed it as gas pains, because that's what everyone says for the first few times, but I'm pretty sure he smiled twice today, so it could be for real. Pictures to come once they are more predictable.

The frog has also been spotted flexing his guns while wearing his future college sweatshirt :)

The Frog turned 6 weeks old yesterday. We celebrated by me going to the doctor and getting the a-okay to resume all pre-pregnancy activities AND to find out that I am back to pre-pregnancy weight. :) (A big surprise seeing as how my only physical activity as of late involves soothing The Frog in some way. Go breast feeding!) This is a good segue into a

Me update:

I've managed to take a shower every day :)

On Sunday, I finally cooked dinner for the first time since The Frog has arrived. I can't believe we've been able to hold out for so long! Between my awesome neighbors, my fantastic mom, and frozen pizzas, we've done well.

I've decided to stay away from dairy for awhile. I briefly mentioned an extreme diet, awhile ago, which involved avoiding dairy, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. I did that for about a week and then decided to try eating dairy again (which is the hardest to avoid) but The Frog got gas starting the next day, so I think this could be the problem. I'm going to stay off it for awhile and try adding back the other things (not that I eat them as regularly anyway.) Wish me luck. (Cheese, I miss you!)

I went to the ward sewing group last week. It was fun, considering I was the only one there under 65. It was neat to hear the women talk about buying their house for a few thousand dollars, and what the neighborhood used to be like. Funny, but most of the women there weren't even sewing. Most of them just sit around and talk. The Frog was a big hit with them too, as you can imagine. I got to get a bit of work done on some applique I had planned to finish before the Frog arrived on a receiving blanket. Still not finished...

My wonderful friends threw me a super-fun shower, complete with the nasty baby-food taste testing, and "guess the melted candy bar in the diaper" games. Classics. The food was great, the decor very cute, and the company so fun. I think people should make up more excuses to throw showers more often.

Finally, a very unexpected surprise... any of you remember my tomato paste rant? Well, a dear friend found tubed tomato paste at a European market in Palo Alto and sent me one!!! Thanks Laura, you're the best :)

Pumpkin Picking

About a month ago, Jay went off to play D&D one Saturday evening, and I found myself at home feeling extremely lonely and dejected. I hadn't noticed how exclusively my social life had been revolving around him. When he got home for the evening, and announced their next meeting, I vowed to take matters into my own hands so as not to relive that oh-sooooo-boring night without him. The result? Best Saturday Evar!

Mel and I decided to scope out a pumpkin patch in Santaquin, UT and carve pumpkins! (Fulfulling #6 of her funtastic fall activities) It was sooo much fun, even though it was unexpectedly cold. Next time I'll take gloves and a hat- really windy- but luckily I had my own personal heater strapped to my tummy. :) (The Frog was good and slept the whole time.)

Here are the winning pumpkins:

We decided we wanted to go to a Thai restaurant we visited with friends awhile back, but couldn't remember it's name or location- only that it was in an old house.  I emailed Tay the night before to find out what it was, but he didn't get back to me before we left. LUCKILY, he texted me right as we were doing google searches on my iPhone trying to find just any old Thai place, and we ended up back at Thai Village, in American Fork- two thumbs up from this girl!  The pad thai and masman curry were both delish!

So, after getting it to go and scarfing to our little hearts' content, we began the carving and the hot chocolate  (pumpkin carving calls for hot chocolate, no?).  I decided to make my family in pumpkins, and Mel helped me so she could save her pumpkin to do fun learning activities with her 2nd grade class.  By the time Mel finished carving a Jaykin and I finished my self pumptrait (haha, go me) we decided to save our Frog carving for another night to be enjoyed by the happy couple.  (that's Jay and I)  

Here's our Pumily so far:

Finally, we wrapped up the evening with a little apple pie made by my could-make-a-tasty-pie-out-of-an-old-boot-mother-in-law who so lovingly made them for us during her visit, and watched Stardust.  What an awesome evening.

Sleeping Smiles

So when The Frog was first born, he pretty much slept the whole time we were in the hospital. It was quite awhile before I got to see what his eyes looked like- probably over 12 hours. (but I didn't keep track, sorry) Something particularly interesting to me is that babies spend a lot more of their sleeping time in REM sleep than we (adults) do.  Now, not much is known about what REM sleep actually does for our bodies/brains, but we do know that this is when people dream.

Which leads me to my first question:  What on Earth could a brand new baby possibly be dreaming about?  Since my dreams seem to stem from things I've lived or read about or seen (except usually with some really bazaar twist) the only thing I can think of is life in the womb- darkness and lots of loud heartbeats, breathing and the occasional gastrointestinal noise.  And I thought my dreams were weird...

And now, that he's been alive awhile, he doesn't sleep as much as he used to, but he still sleeps a whole lot.  As far as I know, he still can only really focus on objects about a foot away from his face, and even then it's not entirely a consistent thing.  (give him a break, he's still perfecting it)  So what are his dreams like now?  Lots of blurry movements?  Eating? (since that's basically what he does when he's awake) And we all know where he gets his food from...  And then how's his memory doing?  Does he still remember the womb to have dreams about that?  I wish he could talk.  (but that's a whole other post)

My last thought about The Frog's REM sleep is that it's so funny to watch him (besides the occasional, freaky, eyes-opening-and-rolling-around) because he sometimes exhibits a bunch of facial expressions that I don't usually get to see when he's awake.  For example, he has not yet learned to smile on command (you know, to show emotion), but I've seen him do it in his sleep a number of times and let me tell you- if you thought he was cute while looking dazed and confused, that is nothin' compared to when he flashes his gummy reds.  I simply can't wait!

As a result, when I can see that he's moving through some faces, I can't help but take PeeWee Herman's advice to "take a picture, it will last longer."  Therefore, I often find myself hovering over his face with a camera, hoping to catch the cuteness more permanently.  It's quite tricky, though, as I usually only get a quick flash of a smile and my camera is slow.  Most of the ones I tried to get are either shots on the way into a smile or on the way out, but I still think this on is cute enough to show off anyway.

Anyway, I dedicate this post to cute pictures of a sleeping Frog.

White Shirts Don't Mesh With Huggies

I've been meaning to post, mostly because of the excitement last Friday, but we spent the weekend at grandma's for conference and then The Frog has been needing extra attention lately- even now, I'm typing this one-handed with The Frog asleep in the other.  Poor little guy has been super gassy, which means I'm gonna have to go on an extreme diet so I can figure out what it is I ate that did it to him.  

Other excitements?  We dressed The Frog in pants for the first time!

So.  Friday. 

Jay and I used to have lunch together every day before the arrival of our little Frog, but we haven't been able to pull it off much since. However, last Friday we did manage to make it there with plenty of time to eat and for Jay to make it to teach class. Everything was going swimmingly, we finished our food and were pleasantly chatting while Jay got to lovingly hold The Frog. 

All of a sudden Jay mentions a strange warm feeling on his arm and I simultaneously spot a growing patch of nasty on his white shirt. Yes, my friends, The Frog managed to defy Huggies and get his poop to run down Jay's arm onto his shirt and even drip a little on his pants. Need I remind you that Jay was to be teaching class in T-minus 30 minutes? I frantically changed The Frog's diaper and tried to baby-wipe the shirt as best I could (why did it have to be white?) and we decided our only option was to drive home and have Jay change his clothes.  (It even soaked through to his underwear!)

Luckily he made it back just in time for class and I was able to get the stains out. 

Oh man, I'm still laughing.

Moral of the story? Go with Pampers.