snapshot

It's 10:20

Both babies are now in bed

Kevin is working on his heat pump/stirling engine in the garage

My mom's pounding in vinyl tiles on the bathroom floor* [trying to wake the babies!]

I have a headache and I'm a bit nauseous.

[Because] I got new glasses and my dinner was brownie batter and 3 days old chuck roast.

I spent most of my day keeping my babies from crying and my mom from smoking a cigarette.

I need sleep.

*She needs sleep too, she painted and recaulked our hall bathroom today.

Baby Tuesday

Oh my gosh, it's Baby Tuesday again!



How happy would we all be if as adults we were this joyful at a little orange ladybug rattle? I think we would have less problems.
Granny G rattled it for him for a very long time-- it never got old.



The handheld shower is a must for bathing a little baby, as well as censoring his little bits.

Um big ladies, what is going on? I'm naked, you're spraying me with water and now you're flashing me in the face with the camera. Can someone put me back in my blankie and hold me?


I put strapped them into the stroller and went back inside to get my keys. When I came out, they were giving me this expectant look.


Look, Baby R and Great Auntie Sandi are color coordinated.


Great Auntie Norma came to town and we immediately put her to work baby-holding. Nothing Baby R likes more than being held and looking outside.


Granny G and her first grandson. Oh love.




...yes, still watching the ladybug...

why do I do this?

I have this need to know about local crime news. My motivation being if there's some sort of serial offender, I need to be on the look out, or if there's a dangerous area that I'm unaware of, I should become aware of it.
But inevitably I get depressed by it.
Like just now, I was reading brief synopsises of San Jose's homicides from 06 and 07 and I'm totally depressed because a handful of them were small children. I can't take that. In order for me to function during the day, I have to not think about innocent little children and death or else I'm overwhelmed by empathetic grief, and any joy I might have experienced is then tainted.
(I'm sensitive, hence no sad or R movies for me)
And now, I'm about to go to bed, and what have I filled my head with? Tragedy!
I might as well have watched a double feature of Schindlers List and United 93.
Gah! What is my problem?!

how could he not?!

I saw this sticker on a car the other day and I seriously considered buying it and sticking on Kevin's car without his knowledge or consent.
But then sure enough some guy would say "hey! Promise Keepers!" and he'd go "huh?"

(I also considered making my own that said "Back Off Hussies!")

Baby Tuesday

This B.T. is gruel and water compared to the richness of other B.T.'s of recent past.
It' s my fault the camera ran out of memory space, I kept forgetting to clean it out




The Bumbo rides again! The blur of his head turning was no doubt because of Baby C galloping towards him, insisting that she sit in the seat instead.
Oh and those jammies no longer fit him, he's too fat. They're 6M and he wore them about 4 times.


Jowls!


Baby C likes to play in Baby R's room with all her old toys. If it's a toy and she's happily and quietly playing with it, fine with me.
While I was putting away laundry, I saw her walk into his room and try to crawl onto the walker. I told her when I passed by to be careful not to fall off it and that she's too big to get in it.
When I returned down the hall and looked in, this is what I saw. She not only got into the walker, she had brought her blankie and a cold beverage as well.


This one is really old, like two months old, but I don't think I had posted it before. This is when he wore 3M clothes, not 12M clothes like he does now-- now that he's a beluga whale.



Whichever parent is holding Baby R often must endure Baby C climbing in between. She's not mean about it, she just thinks she'll fit on the lap too. Many times she has a pretense of purpose to climb on the lap, like here. "Look Daddy, I brought you the phone. I thought you might want to call someone."

In other baby news, Baby R rolled over onto his back for the first time this morning, just in time for his 3 mo checkup this afternoon.
I bought Baby C those Color Wonder markers that only work on the special paper and they're great. The first thing she tried to do was color on herself and the carpet, once she knew that they were "pens." Thwarted!! At this point, she's more interested in pulling out the markers and putting them back in the box over and over again, but s'okay with me.

chi chi bug sings the blues

If Mojito did this, I might not get so mad at him for pooping in the house.

ToysRUs Giraffe: "Giraffe's are from Africa?!"

I heard about this documentary on TV this afternoon about kids and skin color preferences. It makes me sad, somehow moreso because the little kids the filmmaker interviewed are so gosh darn cute. Here's the entire 8 minute documentary, but



if you can't sit through it all, here's a
a quick synopsis
(with a KFC ad in the beginning, sorry)

It makes me want to get Baby C a whole bunch of dolls with different colored skin. That's probably not the desired response from the film, but hey maybe if there's more demand, toy makers will make more cute "ethnic" dolls that all kids will want to play with?

Baby Tuesday

All of the photos this week are jumbo size (when you click them) because I wasn't able to shrink them in Photoshop.
Because my "scratch disks are full."
Anyody know what a scratch disk is?
Yeah, me neither.
When I asked Kevin he made a face like I was making the term up.



Sears portrait studio, eat your heart out.


Unlike Baby C did at this age, Baby R gets really excited to see me when I come around.
Terribly charming.


"Here, let's entertain you-- I'll tie this ribbon up here and stick a few toys on it, and them I'll velcro a rattle to your left hand and slip another rattle over your left hand! There! Happy?"
Oh and note his unbuttoned pants, he just doesn't know when to say when. Milk binger.


And he's out, ladies and gentlemen.


It looks like she just finished a competitive jazz dance routine, doesn't it?


"Daddy, get out of my way, I need room to frolic!"


Sandbox shmandbox. Little minibark and a cup, that'll do.

I feel the weight of an impending minivan

I was looking for SUV's with 3rd row seating when I came across this article.

It sounds believable...even though Mercola can get quacky sometimes.

I found this one too.

Darn those frumpily safe minivans.

I think the 08 Subaru Tribeca may be my only hope.

41% of the population favors blue

This is what I did tonight.
AIDS Walk T shirt designs.
Our team wanted orange, but after designing orange ones, the people [men] with the money said "we want blue."
Of course they did, right?
So I did these.
I think the last one is stinky, and I fear that's the one they'll pick!

beauty is pain

Ok fair warning everyone: I'm getting the piercing/tattoo bug again.
I'm really really happy with the one tattoo I have. It was worth the pain and worth the fight with the artist who didn't want to do it for me.
I've never regreted it and I said I wouldn't get another one.
But lately I've been brainstorming about getting another one.
I'm incredibly picky so I haven't come up with one I think I'll be eternally happy with yet.
Should I put it on a place on my body that I don't like, so that it'll be "decorated" and then I'll like it more?

I want people to see it, but do I want everyone to see it all the time?
No, I'm pretty sure no. Like as much as I think arm tattoos on women are cool, I know that there will be many occasions in which I don't want to look like a badass, so I won't be getting anything like that. If they made them only last a few years, I would go for the arm.

I'd like to get something that reflects my faith, but I'm not happy with any Christian symbols, and I don't want text either.
I like my pink star that I have, I almost want to get another pink star somewhere else, but that's dumb.
I don't want any black in the design. I want it to make sense on the symmetry and compostion of my body...yeah the jury's still out. I'm up for suggestions, as always.

So until I figure it out, I think I'm gonna pierce my nose.
ha
But yeah seriously I am. :)
Not a big ol' honkin' ring. Just a tiny stud like Sandi or a pleasant Indian woman you might meet while eating Chaat.
I've always wanted one, but hated my nose. Now I've come to terms with my nose and I might as well spice it up.

Kevin thinks I'm crazy, but he also disdains things like belts and hair products. He's a minimalist. I don't expect him to understand.

I wish I was this cool

to think of this:

news flash that can't wait a week

Baby R slept for 3 hours last night in his bassinet!
Hooray!

And right now, he's napping in it!
Hooray!

(for those of you who don't remember, he has slept soley in his swing for his entire life)

This would be my compromise

My sister Aurora loves camping.
I'm not too crazy about it.

I mean, I like cabins and things with doors. But tents, no thanks. I'm convinced that if I can't lock killers out, they will come and kill me.

RV's are fine with me if you just happen to have one lying around.
But I think this is more "cost effective" for people like me, the hesiitant camper.



How cute, right? And it has a door!

So Aurora, they rent them here. Yosemite + HardTent = fun for both sisters
Okay, $100 a night is kinda absurd, but we could split it?

Baby Tuesday

Her best friends are the dogs, can you tell?
Mojito carries the rope around in his mouth, why can't I?


Kevin took this one...he was *really* excited about something.


Apple cheeks full of apples.

I'm trying to ween him off the swing as a bed and onto his back. Pacification is key.


Baby E, V and C.

fair warning

Baby Tuesday will most likely be posted very late in the day tomorrow.

Because I was working on this and this:


(For Westgate's Family ministries)
I've been staring at it too long and I don't like it, so I'm going to bed.

I love the Faire!!

We just got back from the Maker Faire and it was FUN!

I could have spent thousands of dollars on all the fun Bazaar Bizarre crafts, but instead I took business cards and have decided to try and make alot by myself. After all, what's an art degree good for, if not plush carrots and silkscreened underwear?
Once again I didn't buy anything from Jenna because Kevin cut off my funds after I blew 25 bucks in about 10 minutes.

Speaking of silkscreening, they had free silkscreening, as long as you brought the article of clothing. I just happen to have a long sleeve (unisex) baby tee in the diaper bag, so now Baby R will have a cool "Save the Bees" shirt when he's 12mo's old. :D

Kevin talked to the Stirling engine guy (who looked like Morgan Freeman), while we (the babies and I) cruised around and bought stickers and ate cheese sticks and watched weird guys fight with swords.
The only downer was that I bought a board book for Baby C and then she tossed it out of the stroller at some point during the day and we never found it. Oh well, it was only 5 bucks.

We also saw Grant Imahara from Mythbusters there at one of the booths! I wanted to say hi and get his autograph, but Kevin and Devon agreed that that was a nerdy thing to do, so I didn't. ;)

I loved seeing all the cool crafty families there with their kiddies like us. Ours were very well behaved and had fun too (snacks, flowers and stickers go a long way with a toddler).

woo!

books for the short attention span

I just bought some books.

Wanna see?

Look into my virtual shopping bag:

The Book of Baby Animal Butts

D.I.Y

Comedy Thesaurus

Currently I'm re-reading Case for Christ .
And when I'm indisposed I'm reading the silliest girl book ever written that I got for free in the mail from MOPS, but I keep reading it because I have ovaries.

(Hmm, add those all up and it's symbolic of my life...the comedy of do it yourself baby butts, Jesus, and hormones.)

Mommy S.A.T. studyguide

I remember before I had babies, I would interact with toddlers that would gibber something and the moms would interpret it into English for me. And I thought "how did she get that from that?"

And now I have my own little "nell" and it's like breaking a Navajo code trying to understand her sometimes.

This is a sample of Baby C's dictionary:
(I have organized to emphazise minute similarities in sound)

ahaugh- n. apple, apple juice, pear

awh!- n. Olive the cat
(She always yells it, because most of the time that I say the cat's name, I'm yelling it)

bah- n. blanket, bottle

buwh- n. Big Bird, "Can I watch Sesame Street?", any bird

beaw- n. bear, or Baby Bear

beh- adj. big, n. goose

bey- ?, *undertermined*
(she says this occasionally and no one can figure out it's meaning)

dada- pr n. daddy

daw- n. dog

dawdaw- n. pl. The dogs, Franklin and Mojito

momo- pr n. Mojito

frefre- pr n. Franklin

sawbees- n. pl. strawberries

sawee- adj. sorry

taigh- v. to tie, or adj. tight
(this homonym is maddening like who's on first)

jayjay- n. Ernie, Bert, Grover, or Cookie Monster
(where this term came from, I have no idea)

jews- n. juice

jeez- n. cheese
(many times she will say jeez when she really just means food, hence, she eats alot of cheese)

fooh- n. food

frooh- n. fruit

faoh- v. to fall

muh- n. milk

moh- n. more

pawpaw- n. Grandpa, pinecone, penguin

off my back!!

I finally did these logos!





I know, they're kinda weird looking, but I had to use some other guy's logo and make them match. (poo!)




And this is our newest series at Westgate. It's very manly, action-adventure, Nicolas Cage-y.