Finally Caught On Film!

Thanksgiving 09

This year my grandparents reserved their chapel for Thanksgiving dinner. We had our family pictures taken with everyone except one cousin who had to work. Lovely N was kind enough to come take them for us. We had the traditional feast and played some games. We had an indoor "snowball fight" with big marshmellows. It was pretty hilarious. Red Fish loved dinner but I think she loved having all of her older cousins dote on her and play with her. She was running around with them the whole time we were there. It was pretty cute. New Fish was just grinning from ear to ear the whole day. She got snuggled by everyone. It was a great Thanksgiving.

Thankful

I've had a couple of really bad, call your mama before noon to cry kind of days lately so I'm trying to conentrate on being more grateful for the good things in my life.

Things I am thankful for in no particular order...
Crooked baby smiles, Chubby toddler legs, Parenthood, Sweet daughters, Wonderful parents, Grandparents, A husband I am totally smitten with, Good friends, Sweaters, The Gospel, Paint (and little painters), Good music, Good books, Adoption, Birth, Birth families, Scuba Diving, Anitbiotics, Travel, Great Brothers, Inlaws, Memories, My Health, My House, My job, Two Fish's job, My dog, Holidays, Reasons to celebrate, My computer, The smell of clean babies, Bubble baths, Adventure, Hiking, Camping, Laughter, Sushi, Shoes, Pants that fit, Christmas ornaments, Water, The outdoors, Skiing, Slippers, Mint M&Ms, My Savior, The Atonement, The scriptures, A living prophet, Cheesecake, New art supplies, Cheese, Kisses, Mail, Photographs, Sidewalk chalk, Bubbles, Ipod, My Itunes, Piano, Violin, Sea shells, Airplanes, 4 wheeling, Boating, Play dough, Snow, The park, The library, The aquarium, Art museums, Self employment, Marriage, The temple, Eternal families, Mac and Cheese, Ice Cream, Pacifiers, Swings, Slings, Red hair, Fuzzy baby heads, Toothbrushes, Dog shampoo, "Celebrations of birth", Girls Night, Freedom, Bill HR 213, Internet, Tea parties, Dress up clothes, Puzzles, High fives, Tippy toes, A husband who cooks, Spontaneous dance parties, Popsicles, Swimming pools, Christmas shopping, My new yellow purse, Road trips, National parks, Fish, The armed forces, Coos, First laughs, Cute sisters, My rocking chair, "Bones", High fives, Fingerprints on my windows, Project Runway (although this last season wasn't as good and Heidi needs a new stylist), A two year old's sense of style, Christmas books, and maybe some other things I will think of later.

Turkeys

Cute little water color turkeys Red Fish painted for the tables tomorrow. We glued texas snowflakes and turkey bodies to a piece of cardboard. Well I glued them really. I also managed the burn my fingers with the hot glue gun. This is why I usually stick to arts and not crafts. When I have to worry about how the project turns out I get burned. Red Fish is pretty excited about the way they turned out. She keeps pointing at them and gobbling.

Make It Work

I've found that there are a lot of "make it work" (thank you Tim Gunn) moments in motherhood. I've done a lot of things I never thought I would do. Here are a few examples:

1. Yesterday in church I REALLY needed to blow my nose but I accidentally left the tissues and whipes on my kitchen table because I was in a rush to get to church. I didn't have a burp rag or anything in my bag because I was with Red Fish by myself. Red Fish was in the middle of coloring a masterpiece and I knew that if I grabbed her to run to the bathroom for tissue she was going to scream bloody murder and the peaceful sacrament meeting we were enjoying would be destroyed. There is no way she would have settled back down when we returned from the bathroom. So I searched my purse for ANYTHING to blow my nose on. I found a sock. (My sock.) Why was a sock in my purse you ask? No idea, but it appeared to be clean so I carefully folded it in my bag (trying to disguise it) before using it. Yes, I blew my nose on a strange sock during church.

2. Today I spread peanut butter on slices of cheese because that's what Red Fish wanted for a snack. Gross.

3. I wore my pajamas all day today and even when my brother and his wife came over to get something I didn't care. There just wasn't a spare second for showering and now that I have a few seconds without a phone call, email, or scream to tend to it no longer seems important. It's already past 5 so why bother?

I could go on but I think you get the idea. This motherhood business is making me strange. Or perhaps it is just making me stranger. I'm pretty sure these aren't even the weirdest things I've done in the past couple days. They just happen to be the only ones I can think of at the moment. The strange things don't even stand out in my mind anymore.

Dinosaur Museum

We haven't been in a while. Now the little dinosaurs get kisses blown to them and the T Rex is officially scary. I had to carry Red Fish past him so he couldn't get her. Red Fish directed me to the dinosaurs she needed her pictures taken with and she was sure to wheel New Fish into the picture. I have a new goal to try and get out of the house with the two of them a little more. We've pretty much been quarantined because I'm afraid of New Fish catching something from all of the sick people out there. I don't think we even saw anyone at the museum though so I guess I can't use that as an excuse. I need to get more practice or I will never be able to get out of the house with two little kids in a reasonable amount of time. Right now it takes FOREVER to bathe, dress, bundle, prepare a bag, and buckle them in. THen inevitably someone has a blowout just as it's time to leave. I must practice until this process is easier. I can't stay quarantined forever.

New Fish enjoyed her stroller ride.

Tummy Time

No More Hoarding

I have a terrible habbit. I'm a hoarder. I have boxes and boxes of lovely art supplies but I spent years rationing them out like I might ruin them by using them. I haven't made any art for fun in a long time. I can barely keep up with my design artwork (although sometimes that can be REALLY fun) so I haven't touched most of my supplies in years. It's tragic really. I have vowed to hoard no more. Art supplies are meant to be used. Red Fish is happy to delve into them. I opened my case of pencils and pastels for her today and I think she almost died of an explosion of color.

Now my next goal is do some artwork just for myself sometime soon. I did design some fun birth announcements recently (I haven't quite gotten them out yet) but the printing came out a little blurry and it bothers me. It was really fun to just design for the fun of it rather than to please a client or make a living. When I was sewing some things before New Fish was born I got the same sort of rush. Maybe I just need to find time for a little more creation. Helping Red Fish create makes me want to do more of my own creations.

2 months & Laundry Day

New fish is two months old today. She hasn't had her checkup yet so I don't know how big she is but I'm guessing just under eight pounds. (Uncle M put her on our package scale at work.) I had to put away the first batch of clothes the other day. She doesn't fit in the newborn size one piece jammies. It always makes me sad when they grow out of their clothes. Red Fish never even wore newborn size. Her little shoes are from Spain.

Red Fish is really into helping me with my chores lately. Her favorite is laundry. She actually gets upset with me if I try to do the laundry without her. First we sort the laundry in my bedroom and then we pick a pile and throw it over the railing so it lands next to the laundry room (this is Red Fish's favorite part.) Then she hands me the laundry to stick in the washing machine (this can take forever, a sock at a time.) Then when it's washed I hand her each piece to stick in the dryer. When it's dry she gets each piece out so I can fold it. The process takes a long time but she is so cute and happy it makes it totally worth the extra time. Mondays are a happy laundry day. I love having my little helper.

Pen Pals

I just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It is written in letter form and details the correspondance between a single writer and a group on the Chanel Islands. A Guernsey farmer, Dawsey Adams, finds a single female writer's name in a used book and starts up a correspondence. Their relationship widens to include other neighbors on Guernsey and detail the war and the German occupation. The letters are a little disjointed and sometimes jump from one random incident to another but I liked the overall rhythm of the book. The characters are like-able and endearing.

I think mostly I liked it because I just like the idea of pen pals in general. When I was around seven years old, I flew to Houston to visit my cousins with my Mom and brothers. I was the oldest child and had to sit in a seat a few rows away from them. I somehow befriended an older woman who was sitting next to me and convinced her that she wanted to be my pen pal. Her name was Pauline and she wrote to me for years. She even had a relative in Utah drive a doll to my house on Christmas day one year. I'm not sure if she passed away or what happened but eventually the letters stopped. It is still a fond memory for me. What a lovely person to write to a strange little girl she met once on a plane. I also kept up correspondence with my Great Aunt Kate. She used to send me wonderful letters for years and years.When I was doing my internship in London during college, I couldn't afford to call home very often so I sent LONG LONG emails to all my friends and family. I sent a bunch of postcards to Two Fish (who I was not dating at the time) and his roommates. I wish we still had them! I think I've always just loved to get mail. Maybe that is why I like blogging. It feels sort of like writing letters to pen pals who send back little comments. Much more fun than journaling.

Party Time

I Apologize...

for the unearthly scream that shattered your windows earlier. It was the only proper way to respond to the situation at hand. Lucky for Red Fish, she had already left for church when I discovered this little treat. To the apple store we go. I'm hoping they replace keys and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.