Great Eight

This is the Mermaid when she was a fat and strong 10 month old. And here she is at her low key 8th birthday party today. Where has the time gone? Where did those cheeks go?

Donate Breastmilk to Haiti

I just saw this article in the LA Times. Wish I could help, but I'm no longer lactating. To all you breastfeeding mommies out there, I'd encourage you to look into the possibility of donating your milk to the babies in Haiti. What an awesome way to give.
xoxo,
Bekah

icrazy

And can I just say, I'm all aflutter about the new gadget being revealed by Apple tomorrow. I don't even like gadgets. I have no money for i-anything. But just the invitations and marketing strategy get me- a complete technophobe- kind of excited. I'm a little aghast that I even know that it's tomorrow. I wonder what time.
(someone left their ipod touch or iphone at the gym and I turned it in to the desk because if I weren't so darn honest, I would have stolen it in a heartbeat.)

The Bug's Going Around

The kids have been trading a virus for the last week or so. Nothing super serious, but it has impinged on my sleep and workouts. Tragic, I know.

The monkey threw up in the car. Gross. She had been sitting in the school office for the 15 minutes previous. Why she couldn't do the deed there and not in our new car? Right after lunch? Where she ate a whole lot for someone who was feeling ill. "I've thrown up two times in my life, right?" I guess so.

The Mermaid is baffled by illness as it occurs once every other year in her body. She's not sure what to make of the stuffy nose and sore throat. She woke up rather dramatically at 5:30 this morning crying that she couldn't swallow. I gave her some magic motrin and now she's hooked on the stuff. "Can I get more of those pink pills?"
No. Toughen up.

Jesse is not allowed to get sick. He's too busy. I suppose I could get sick. But it's incredibly inconvenient for the family when I do, so I won't.

Das Wandern

I did not marry a miller (if you get this reference before clicking on the link, you are as random as me). I married an academic. Who knew they were both wanderers (with deep attractions to water). I kind of wish we had a magical gypsy wagon that unfolded with all our belongings inside. We could take it on our roving way and always be at home.

So our next adventure will lead us to...

We have no idea.

My guesses are:
-there will be water nearby.
-we will get to be near people we love.
-we will make wonderful new friends.
-we will experience amazing new things.
-we will miss the friends we made.
-we will be together.
-we will be happy.

(Jesse says it sounds like I'm trying a little too hard to convince someone that I'm ok with this. He's right. That someone is me.)

Perfect Presents

The Christmas when I was seven I got the perfect present. It was in my stocking an probably cost my mom less than $1. It was a jump rope. It was all I wanted and all I remember getting that Christmas. I'm sure I got plenty of other presents, but that jump rope was PERFECT.

G's perfect present this year was a set of Hello Kitty Crazy Eight's cards that Grammy Pammy put in her package. I'm not sure if Pammy knew when she wrapped them up, but they were PERFECT! She and Ada played Crazy Eight's all vacation (cheating to their heart's content, I might add). G has all sorts of Crazy Eight strategy, which she will gladly share with you. She even refrains from cheating just so I'll play with her.

I loved all my presents, but my perfect present came from my brother Dan. He gave me the softest, warmest hat and the softest comfiest pair of socks. I didn't know that I wanted them, but they are PERFECT! When it's just too cold inside, I put on my fuzzy socks and slip into my fuzzy house shoes (another perfect gift, but I picked them out, so it kind of doesn't count. sorry J). The double fuzzy comfiness thaws even the most frozen toes.

The possibility of giving the perfect gift is one of the reasons I love to give friends and family gifts. One year we found out that we had given the perfect gift when we had given Adam a whole bunch of Chinese calligraphy brushes, ink and paper. We'd purchased everything from the dollar store in Taiwan, so we really hadn't spent a lot. And we weren't even thinking it would be the perfect gift. But turned out, Ad had a good time showing Mikey how to draw calligraphy. Perfect.

And sometimes, what seemed like a nice gift later becomes The Perfect Present. At M's baby shower someone gave me an 18 month outfit. Honestly, I thought she was crazy. I couldn't imagine her ever fitting those clothes. But less than a year later nothing she had fit. She had grown so quickly and we had moved so I had no clothes for the poor girl (she was literally poor as she was the daughter of a new grad student). Then I found the purple outfit in the closet. Ta da! Perfect Present!

So thank you for the perfect presents and thank you for the almost perfect presents, because you never know. Next year, they may become The Perfect Present.

Doctor's Without Borders

I donated. You can, too.

Good Changes

When we lived in California, most of my friends (98% ish) were from church. It was fun and almost necessary in order to feel a part of our mega ward. Here in Maine, our ward is super spread out and though I'm friendly with a lot of the folks there, we're just not that close geographically. I like it!

We still hang out with friends on Sundays, we have playdates, and book clubs, but now it feels more like the community at large, not just our Verano/church friends.

And the newest coolest folks I've met are a group of women who exercise 5x a week every morning. Sadie leads us in boxing, yoga, and pilates on alternating days. Between her and the gym at school I might lose some of this awful trying to get pregnant weight I gained while I was doing fertility treatments.

I'm trying to get in good enough shape that I can compete in some sort of 10k or mini triathlon. I've been encouraging Jesse to start training for an Iron Man. You know he could do it. He said that if he ran a marathon or participated in an Iron Man, I'd have to do something as well. I think I will!

Engage 2010!

Christmas break could go on and on as far as I'm concerned. I love having no structure imposed on me. I also loved seeing my family.

But now we're back home. It's a new year. A new decade. And I do have a few goals.

I am trying to implement the monthly dinner plan. Over break I wrote out a list of dinners that the family will stomach to varying degrees. It was surprisingly long when I really looked at it. So this week has us eating enchiladas, chowder, bean burritos, spaghetti, pizza, tomato soup, and fish. We'll see if it works. Now I just have to find a store where the meat doesn't scare me.

Last year I wanted to simplify my life. This year my goal is to engage.
So, I'm picking the kids up from school so we have more daylight to play. I'm really trying to be active at church, not complain about J's calling or my calling for that matter. (Though I have very little to complain about as Jesse is the only member of the bishopric w/ kids they always give him a ride and have meetings before or after bedtime so he can put them to bed.)

And if you were wondering, it's still cold, there's still snow on the ground, and we kind of like it.