Yellow Wallpaper

That's my latest nickname for Little Dude--he's getting very fat and he's slowly learning how to be jolly. He just turned four months old yesterday and it's amazing how fast time is flying. And if I've learned anything from fairy tales, it's that if you get what you want there will always be a catch. After spending S-Boogie's entire first year in a sleep-deprived stupor, I hoped for a child who would do a better job sleeping at night. And I got it: Little Dude will go to sleep around 8 or 9 (10 on a bad night) and sleep until at least 7 the next morning. Bliss. But he still doesn't sleep much during the day and we aren't on much of a nap schedule yet. He also hasn't yet discovered how to be awake and happy either, so there is much crankiness. And my body has been having some trouble adjusting to the long stretch of sleep, so during the day my milk supply has been slow to catch up, resulting in a very angry baby who is miffed because nothing is co...

I just peeked in to make sure that S-Boogie really is taking a nap, and she's sprawled on her back on her bed, surrounded by stuffed animals and clutching two duckies, sucking her thumb, and wearing her paper crown from nursery. So cute.

I've been pretty busy for the last few days; my mom flew up here for a brief little visit on Monday and left this evening. She's been doing all the classic grandma sorts of things, including doing S-Boogie's hair in all sorts of fun styles, buying cute clothes for the grandkids (like an adorable bumblebee suit for Little Dude for Halloween), and spending way too much money on us. On Monday evening we decided to head down to the Chittenden Locks , which is where boats have to pass through to get from Puget Sound into Lake Washington. Master Fob was a little skeptical about the fun potential of such an excursion, but we all had a great time. It was a beautiful night with a gorgeous sunset, and we got to see salmon swimming up the fish ladder, a boat going through the locks, and a train passing by on the trestle bridge overhead. That's the kind of fun S-Boogie goes for--loud noises, machinery, and space to run around. Yesterday morning we headed downtown and went to the aq...

All this talk of spinach in the news has actually made me start craving a nice spinach salad. With dried cranberries, almonds and feta cheese. Or maybe with bacon and mushrooms. Sigh.

Last night we finally unpacked the very last box. Plus we got a free couch yesterday. It's kind of beat up and definitely looks like a free couch, but at least it doesn't smell like one now that I washed the cushion covers. It was the only one I could find on craigslist that would deliver, so we couldn't really be picky. There's no way we were going to fit a couch into our car. We did, however, find a nice dining set, a free desk, a dresser for the kids room, and a nice little bed for S-Boogie. And we managed to furnish our place for just under 200 dollars, with most of that going for the dining set. We liked the bed from Ikea, but it wasn't in stock and we found one on craigslist for half the price. I'm not super happy about our couch, but at least we have one and maybe we can find a nice slipcover for it. I think I would eventually like to get a rug for the living area also, since we have brown carpet, brown drapes and brown bookcases. A lighter-colored rug wo...

At church on Sunday they announced a variety of events coming up over the next few weeks for the Relief Society. I was excited, because I like getting to know people in the ward and things like parties are an easier way to do that than trying to talk at church. But, now things keep coming up for the same times and I'm trying to decide what to do. Next Tuesday night is a social/party at a lady's house from the ward. But my mom will be here so we'll probably be doing something else. I wasn't super excited about that one anyway--it's an Alice in Wonderland-themed tea party and for some reason that weirds me out. This Saturday night the stake is having a dinner before the women's broadcast, but we got invited to a party by some of Master Fob's friends from work and I think it would be nice to go meet them. Of course, I'm a little nervous because we're the only ones with little kids, but they said it was OK for us to bring them. And tomorrow night is the ...

As Master Fob stated , we really are becoming groovy people. Yesterday morning we decided to try walking over to the library. I was a little nervous because it's a mile and a half away and I've been in pretty bad shape for the last few years. But, we made it in a little less than half and hour and I didn't die on any of the enormous hills. We actually didn't spend very long in the library because once you get S-Boogie out of the stroller it's quite difficult to get her back in. We did pick up some new books and a cool new Veggie Tales: Lord of the Beans (watch out for Lord Scaryman and his army of Sporks!). After the library we went to the park across the street and ate our picnic lunch, then stopped by the Saturday morning farmer's market on our way home. The farmer's market was really cool, but the only thing we bought was a loaf of bread. We'll come back next week with a little more cash. Yesterday afternoon we got our washing machine hooked up and we...

I know I've posted before about how wonderful my sister is. But, today is her birthday and she is celebrating it all by herself in Morocco. I had meant to send her a little package with fun things like trashy celebrity magazines and nice-smelling lotion, but that didn't happen. I'll try and get a package sent for another holiday, like Christmas or Groundhog Day or something. But, we can send our love and I hope she's having a great birthday. If you haven't read it, you should check out her blog and send her a birthday greeting. I love you Skye!

Actually, the move has mostly not sucked after all. I'm just feeling tired from too many late nights and too much stress. We are in Seattle, and our apartment is partially unpacked. We still need to track down furniture, but at least we have internet access. And S-Boogie is overjoyed by the fact that we have a playground right outside our front door. On Tuesday we met one of our new neighbors as we were moving in, and when we pointed out which apartment we would be in he knowningly replied "Oh, the fishbowl". Yeah, I think we know why this one was vacant for a while and why we were the ones who got it, since we were willing to take it without looking. We have a nice big sliding glass door and a little patio off our living room, and about 10 feet away from our door is a walking path. Just beyond the path is a fence and then the entrance to University Village, the large outdoor mall that's right behind our housing complex. There are a few trees, but they don't do a ...

But they're changing for a really good reason! University housing somehow managed to find an apartment that's available for us next Tuesday, September 12. That means no temporary apartment, no storage for a month, etc. We're still going through with the move on the schedule that we had planned, since we've already arranged for our utilities to be shut off here this weekend, and I have plane tickets, and Master Fob has to be there on Monday for his job. We'll just get to stay in a hotel for Monday night (well, Master Fob gets to stay in a hotel for a few nights). We actually have a real, confirmed address and we're going to be able to move right in. Whew--I think this is the craziest move ever! (Hopefully it's still not going to be as bad as the time my family moved from California to Idaho and all five of us kids managed to get the stomach flu at some point during the three-day drive).

I can't believe this week is already here! We've already started packing up some stuff and have quite a few things in boxes. All the furniture we wanted to get rid of has found a home--a few things went through craigslist (I'm typing on top of a box since our computer desk has a new home), a few more pieces went to our next door neighbors that recently got married and have no furniture, and our lovely futon couch is going to a new home with friends in Salt Lake. I would have liked to make a little more money on our furniture, but it's all so old and junky and we'd rather be kind and generous than make a profit. We'll just look for free junky furniture in Seattle. Today and tomorrow Master Fob is working, so I don't know if I'll get any more packing done. Plus we're temporarily out of boxes for the moment. Thursday is our big day for packing everything up. Friday morning we get the truck, load it up, and Master Fob and his brother leave for Seattle. I...

We heard from university housing in Seattle two weeks ago that they actually had an apartment available for us, and were astounded because it was much sooner than we thought it would be. They didn't give us any details at that time, and it took them nearly a week to get back to us. Unfortunately, they finally replied that we would have an apartment ready in October, over a month after we need to be in Seattle. After much deliberation we decided that the best option would be to forget the idea of university housing and simply find another place, even though it would cost more per month. Well, the housing market didn't change much during the week we weren't looking for places and we still could find no one willing to even consider renting to us without meeting us in person. And it would cost us $400 each to fly up there and look at places. Then university housing got back to us with a firm move-in date of October 5, which really isn't too bad, especially since we are pret...

Plop a spoonfull of peanut butter in a bowl and sprinkle it with chocolate chips. Microwave for about 30 seconds until everything is nice and melty. Top it off with a few dry roasted peanuts. Peel a banana, dip it in the chocolate/peanut butter, and feel virtuous because you are eating fruit.

For anyone who only reads my blog and not Master Fob's as well, you are also invited to our final Utah blog party next Monday evening. We will provide pizza (probably from Costco, not homemade) and probably a guava cake since I bought all the ingredients for it a few weeks ago and need to use them up. Besides the pleasure of our company, you will also get the chance to pick through items we are trying to unload and that will be on their way to DI. Most of our stuff is so crappy it's not worth selling, but not so crappy that I wouldn't mind giving it away to friends (if that makes any sense). Off the top of my head, some of the items that may or may not be available on Monday are: a couch (the cushions are starting to get holes in them, but otherwise it's quite large and comfy) microwave cart (quite useful for extra storage space, despite the drawer with the bottom falling out) our older, sort of junky stroller (it is nice and small, though) assorted videos, cassette ta...

This afternoon we sent S-Boogie off for one final sleepover at her cousin's house. Master Fob was off work at 4, a little earlier than most Saturdays, so we celebrated by going off to have some fun while unencumbered by the interruptions of Little Miss "Look at ME!" (Little Dude is still pretty easy to take places, since he just curls up in his sling and goes right to sleep). The first place we headed was actually Babies R Us, since Little Dude had a gift card from grandpa that we needed to spend. We had been thinking of using the money to get a new carseat for S-Boogie, with the justification that Little Dude can then start using the convertible seat she's in now (we want to leave the infant seat here in my sister-in-law's garage so we don't have to worry about storing it in Seattle. It belongs to her and we're just borrowing it). But, then I started itching to buy a new stroller, one of the fancier models. I bought the one we have now two years ago on cl...

This morning we got S-Boogie all prettied up and trekked down to the Target photo studio for her annual professional portrait. And I remembered why we only do this once a year. Looking at the camera, holding still, keeping her hands out of her face and smiling all at the same time is apparently an impossible task for her right now. Also, the nice girl doing the photos thought we wanted perfection and just kept shooting after all three of us, even S-Boogie, announced that we were tired and done. Going in we knew what to expect and weren't too worried about the perfect shot--that's impossible with three-year-olds. But we got a pretty decent one and we all survived. And since I'm that crazy, we're going back on Saturday morning to get a shot of S-Boogie, Little Dude and their cousins (ages 5 and 10 months). Now that should really be a blast. Oh, and thankfully all S-Boogie managed to pick up from nursery was a bit of a runny nose. Crisis averted for now.

So yesterday at church when I went to drop S-Boogie off for nursery, there was another mom there explaining that her daughter had a runny nose, "but it was just from a sinus infection and she's been on antibiotics for a week now". The nursery leader kind of questioned her, but didn't send the girl home with her mom. I can understand, because it's annoying not to be able to take your kid to nursery, especially when you have three other kids there at church and it's not that easy to just go home. But today S-Boogie woke up with the first cold she's had since March, and I'm crossing my fingers that she doesn't have an asthma attack and that Little Dude doesn't get sick either.

1. Finish my stupid paper for my stupid class so I don't have a stupid incomplete anymore (can you tell how I feel about that one?) 2. Sell/get rid of a bunch of stuff, including a bunch of books to sell on Amazon and figure out some way to get rid of my wedding dress while still making some money off of it. 3. Clean out several closets, two filing cabinets, and S-Boogie's toy collection. 4. Decide what to do about school/thesis/registration, etc. Get my Honor Code endorsement taken care of and turned in so I don't have a hold on my account anymore (yeah, I'm a slacker). 5. Pack up everything and move to another state that I've never been to before. 6. Pray that none of us get sick or injured or have to run to the emergency room for another late-night battle with constipation. 7. Try really hard not to die from stress. (I just bought one-way tickets for me and the kids for Monday, September 11. I'm going to Seattle and not coming back).

When I was a kid, we had a set of Tupperware dishes that came in groovy colors like yellow, orange, avocado green and brown. For some reason, if you were lucky enough to get the brown plate, you were very special. And if Mom happened to give you the brown plate with the matching brown cup, you were definitely better than anyone else in the family. I've often wondered about how the brown plate acquired it's mystique, especially since that coveted status was later transferred to the blue spoon (the one spoon with a blue plastic handle that came in our flea market assortment of silverware). S-Boogie has already assigned special status to the blue diapers, for some inexplicable reason. Luvs come with a little design printed on them, either red, yellow, orange, green or blue. So only 1 in 5 diapers is blue. I've tried explaining that eventually the blue diapers will be gone and we'll be left with only the other, lesser colors. But, logic has no place in the toddler world. Lu...

Master Fob just got an email from UW Family Housing offering us a two-bedroom apartment. Hooray!! Affordable housing that's close to school, has washer/dryer hookups, decent management, and is in a nice setting with other families. And I don't have to call any more landlords and beg for a place to live. We'd kind of prefer 3 bedrooms, but I am definitely not going to complain at all. Hopefully it won't get too crowded over two years and we can just forget about moving again until we're done with school. I think one of the most stressful parts of moving is over. This decision is finally starting to feel like a good thing after all...