Well, it finally happened.

So yesterday N. and I to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) to see N.’s parents be set apart by a leader of our church and officially begin their mission to Korea. While we waited for the meeting to begin we stood in the hall and chatted with one of the secretaries. Miranda and I had both brought the babies and I was holding E. The secretary asked N.’s mom how many grandchildren she had and N.’s mom said that she had six but was expecting one more any day now. And then the secretary turned to me and asked me when my due date was!

I was SO embarrassed. And because of the situation, I couldn’t say something snarky. I just had to politely murmur that it was their daughter in Oregon that was expecting. To be fair to the secretary (who was a tiny size-2 Filipino woman), I was wearing an empire-waisted dress that I wore when I was pregnant because I’m in sad need of new clothes. But still. I didn’t think I look pregnant in it. Lame!

Except for a little setback from while we were on vacation, the weight watching has been going fairly well. I’ve been feeling pretty positive about the whole thing. But her comment kind of shattered the self-confidence I’ve been gaining. *Sigh.* I guess I just need to regroup.

Because I’m a huge spreadsheet nerd I started tracking my progress on a chart.

I gained 3.8 lbs. while we were on vacation, but yesterday morning I weighed in and I had lost almost all of the weight I had gained. So yesterday I was feeling pretty good about everything until the incident. I guess I just need to stop whining and work out some more.

And maybe buy a new dress

.

Heceta Head Lighthouse

When we were in Oregon with N.’s family we went to a couple of lighthouses. One of them, Heceta Head, is dear to N.’s family because they would visit it during their summer vacations in Oregon when N. was growing up.

The view is pretty amazing. The lighthouse is perched on a bluff that’s edged by forest. To get there you walk through the woods up a winding trail and then BAM! – there’s a lighthouse.


Back in 2001 the lighthouse lens had to be dissembled, repaired, and reassembled, which was a huge undertaking.

But now everything’s working again. You can take a tour and climb up to the lens. It was pretty neat to see the ridges in the glass that focus the light. Apparently on a clear night the light can be seen for 21 miles.


While we were waiting for our tour, N.’s sister Miranda noticed an interesting plaque on the bench she was sitting on.


Wow. Can you imagine being at that wedding? It would have been crazy! The lighthouse is pretty remote and so it would have taken an ambulance a long time to get there. I like to think that Grandma Manja just sat down on the bench and peacefully slipped away before anyone else knew what was happening. There are definitely worse ways to go.

Laying Down the Law

(I was going to post some more pictures today, but our mouse mysteriously quit working and I have no idea how to edit and upload pictures using just the keyboard. Navigating around websites using only TAB and ALT is bad enough. Try it for “fun” sometime.)

So on Wednesday I disciplined E. for the first time.

He had picked up a cold while we were on vacation and was/is still feeling under the weather and acting kind of fussy. Anyway, I was nursing him and he, um, bit down. He didn’t do it that hard and I was feeling sorry for him and so I let it slide with a mild, “no.”

A minute later he bit down again HARD. Yeouch! Definitely not cool.

I sat him up and looked him in the eye and sternly said, “No!” E. looked at me quizzically for a second and then his face crumpled and he started crying. It was a pretty sad sight. To be honest, I was pretty surprised. I hadn’t really expected him to understand. Anyway, I settled him down and then we went on with the feeding.

It’s been a couple of days and so far he hasn’t done it again. Here’s hoping the lesson stuck!

Cousins Galore!

This vacation was the first time that all of the kids were under one roof. It was fun to see them all together.

E. takes a break to munch on his toes.

Little cousin E. basks in the elusive Oregon sunshine.

Big cousin E. enjoys ice cream.

C. eating her dinner.

D. examining starfish at the aquarium.

L. exploring the taste of sand.

E. really enjoyed watching his cousins bounce around; they really cracked him up. It’ll be fun to watch him interact with them more once he gets a little bit older.

Oregon Coast Vacation

N.’s family wanted to get together for a family vacation before their parents go to Korea this summer. And so last week we rented at a beach house in Yachats, on the Oregon coast. The weather was even lousier than average for the coast (brrrrr!), but the trip was a lot of fun.

Vacationing with a baby is a lot different than vacationing without one, but E. was a real trooper. We drove there and back and E. was great in the car even though we were driving for about 15 hours each way. He mostly played on his own with his toys and napped. He got fussy a couple of times but didn’t start screaming or crying even once. He was pretty awesome.

I’m still sorting through the photos I took while we were there, but here are some that I like in particular. I’ll be posting more this week.




Letter: Month Seven

Dear E,

This last month was full of new experiences for you. You started eating solid foods–so far they’ve been a big hit. You’ve had rice cereal, peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes and have liked all of them. I think that carrots might be your favorite so far. It’s a lot of fun to watch you eat. Sometimes I can barely get the next bite of food ready before you’re craning your head around, mouth open wide.

You’ve gotten a lot better with your hands this month. You like to carefully rotate and manipulate objects with them; you love things that crinkle like wrappers or paper. This month you also started rolling over consistently. You’re not really big on crawling, but you’ll roll over and over to get where you want to go or until you run up against something in your way.

You’re still such an easy baby to be around: cheerful, funny, and mellow. As you grow you just keep getting more interesting and lovable. I know that you’re going to grow through difficult times (the terrible twos and your teen years come to mind) but sometimes your father and I just sit and wonder aloud at how great you are. We appreciate you breaking us in gently.

Love,

Mama

Gardening

I had vague plans to plant a garden this year. I thought it would be fun and had visions of tending it while E. rolled around on a blanket in the sunshine. But then the weeks flew by and I thought it was too late. Especially since we had mistakenly turned on the garden soaker hose when we turned on our sprinklers. This meant that for the last month we had been generously watering the weeds that sprung up in the garden which resulted in some very impressive dandelion specimens. The amount of work it would have taken to get rid of them all was too imposing.

But then, a very helpful neighbor (Thank you, Mr. C!) assured me me that it wasn’t too late and offered to bring over his rototiller. In about 15 minutes, he turned my mini-dandelion farm into lovely clear ground. (That thing on the left is a rhubarb plant that we inherited from the previous owners along with the raspberry bushes on the right.)

A couple of days ago we planted four tomato plants, about 6 various hot peppers, and squash and zucchini.

Elliott enjoyed hanging out on the lawn with N. Well, he liked it until he got tired and started screaming bloody murder.

But overall I think he liked it.

Um, seriously?

So I admit it, I had grown complacent. I know that baby boys are well-known for their tendency to pee when their diapers are removed, but E. only did it twice when he was really tiny (as in under a month old).

(Yeah, I think we all know where this is going.)

Anyway, the other day I was changing E.’s diaper and I noticed that it looked like he was getting a little bit of diaper rash. And so I fanned his bottom with a clean diaper to let it air out a little.

And then I looked away for a second to grab his diaper cream.

And then I noticed that the diaper I was holding was wet, along with my arm.

And then I noticed that his belly button was filled to the brim with pee.

Two Bits

Yesterday I got a haircut. I had planned to post before and after pictures of it today, but there was sadly little noticeable difference. It’s my own fault – I want to do something different with my hair but I’m not sure what to do yet. So yesterday I stalled and only got it trimmed. Does anyone have any good ideas? I need to find some pictures to take with me next time.

So here’s a picture of E. sleeping in his crib instead (I love how his hands are up by his head):

Also, I wanted to congratulate Marissa (a former college roommate of mine) on her engagement. Congratulations!