Punch Kick

I enrolled Dane in a gymnastics/karate class that Joel and I have taken to calling Punch Kick. Dane loves it. It's the first organized activity he's ever been in, and he gets really excited to go. He keeps track of how many days it is until Tuesday, and when the day is finally here, he carefully gets dressed, saying, "I want to look my best."

Here is a picture as we were leaving for his very first class:

Then he took a self-portrait:

They spend at least half the class in the karate room, learning to punch and to kick. Then, they escape through the ninja tunnel. Here, Dane is emerging from the ninja tunnel with his game face on (I was holding a fussy June and hadn't figured out the right settings for taking pictures through the window, so I apologize for the blurry photos):

Then they got to run down the tumble tramp into the sponge pit. Here, Dane is asking Coach Cory if they get to go down the zip line (not yet).

Here's a little video of Dane's big jump. Soundtrack by June.

Yesterday was his second day, when they did a little more tumbling. (These are phone photos, so they're not much better.) First, you warm up on your own trampoline.

Then Coach Cory spots you as you do a handstand flip into the sponge pit:

Sometime it's hard to climb out of the pit:

And at the end, Coach gives you a stamp for a job well done!

I think it's so cute to hear Dane say, "Bye, Coach," as we leave.

I know I'm pretty late jumping on the bandwagon of enrolling my child in some sort of class, but I am pretty happy with myself for finally doing it. It makes him so happy. I'm excited to give him a little coaching at home so he can perfect his moves! (He's going to the same gym I went to when I took gymnastics. The same one Shannon Miller trained in. It is the gym of champions).

June: Five Months!

Does being a bad blogger make me a bad mom?

A few days ago was June's five month birthday. I am only a few days late...except that I never blogged about her four month birthday. So I'm really just over a month late for the four month post.

Anyway. I intended to post five month pictures with her four month stats, but now I can't find her stats. They're here somewhere.

But the point is, she is absolutely adorable.

Her current loves and developments:

-She is crazy drooly. I'll go through several bibs a day to keep her clothes dry because she leaks through them so quickly. I was afraid she was getting more teeth, but she just drools.

-Yeah, she has teeth. Two bottom ones. They appeared about ten days before she was four months old. The doctor said the average age for first teeth is 7 1/2 months; Dane was five months.

-She loves her nightly bath. When she hears the water running, she gets really excited, says "gaa gaa," and flails around.

-We've been feeding her a little bit of rice cereal, peas, and sweet potatoes for the last three weeks or so. She does pretty well with it, though I am really sad she's getting so big. Oh, and all this is aided by the amazing Baby Magic Bullet we got for Christmas.

-She's sitting up pretty well and can sit for like 20 minutes on her own. She's not completely stable, but she's one strong girl.

-She can roll over but hardly ever does. It's just not her thing.

-It's kind of tapered off lately, but around four months, she would yell "gaa gaa" ALL THE TIME. I don't even know if it was trying to communicate or just entertaining herself or what. But it was loud and happened a lot.

-She loves her feet. As soon as we pop off her socks or pajamas, she grabs for her feet.

-She loves her mommy. She gets almost as excited to see me as she gets about her bath. It melts me every time.

-Her four month mark was characterized by teething, crazy holiday schedule, and the natural sleep changes of that period. That resulted in terrible sleep. In the last week, it got better, but she's got a little cold and it's gone downhill again. Poor baby. And, by extension, poor me.

-Dane loves her. He gets so excited to see her in the morning that he sometimes wakes her up. Good things it's cute. She's so big and archy that it's really hard for him to hold her, though.

-It seems like she's just itching to be mobile. My guess is she'll be crawling before too long, but I really hope she stays my little fat baby for a little while longer.

-She likes to hold my hand while she's nursing. It is a sweet little connection that I hope will stay.

-Joel can sometimes get her to just crack up, and her laugh is so beautiful.

-We call her Junie, sweet baby, Jun-chan, and Junebug. Dane is also a fan of calling her Junie Cutie and Sweetie Little Baby.

-I love her fuzzy little stuck up tuft of hair. She never lost her hair like Dane did. And she has these pretty blue grey eyes. I have no idea where that came from. Must be the Frost side because no one on the Hood side has them.

I love my sweet June. While I will appreciate more sleep whenever it comes, I hope time doesn't go by too fast.

2011: A Year in Review

This is something my sister-in-law Monique has done for the past few years. Every year, I think, "I like this. I should do this." And then I don't. But not this time!

Warning: I talk a bit about breastfeeding in this post. I've highlighted those sections in green so you can avoid them if you want.

What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before? I moved home to Oklahoma, allowing me to live near my parents for the first time in my adult life. It required some mental adjustment because for a while I was equating "moving home" with "moving back in with my parents" which was not the case. All in all, it has been great, especially for Dane.

Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't even remember making them last year--so no guilt about not keeping them! Resolutions for 2012: go to bed earlier and floss every day. The first one has been pretty easy since I've been sick, but because I've been sick, I have not prioritized the second one. 1 out of 3. That's pretty bad.

Did anyone close to you give birth? Like a million people. I did. Four sister-in-laws did (3 Frost side, 1 Hood side). And like 15 friends. I didn't even know I had that many friends.

Did anyone close to you die? No.

What countries did you visit? None.

What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? Energy. First I was pregnant and then postpartum/new baby. I've forgotten what it feels like to not be exhausted when you wake up in the morning. That's where the going to bed early will come in. I guess I should probably exercise, too, since I would like to be less fat.

What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? January 4, when we had an early ultrasound that showed us that baby was healthy and developing well. March 11, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. May 13, Joel got a job offer from the OU cancer center, which ended almost a year of underemployment. August 18, June was born!

What was your biggest achievement of the year? Besides the obvious achievements of giving birth and managing two children, I think I am most proud of staying peaceful and hopeful despite all the months of being at half our usual income.

What was your biggest failure? My first thought is the cake pops from Dane's birthday. But a real one would probably be getting my house unpacked/arranged how I like. It's still not done. And since we only have a year contract and we've been here about six months, I am feeling less and less motivated to actually get it al done. Fail.

Did you suffer illness or injury?! The biggest medical problem has been the breastfeeding pain/yeast/pain/yeast/pain/yeast cycle that I am STILL battling. That has been the biggest obstacle to my exercising plan because I think any woman would tell you, when the *special pouches hurt, exercising is completely miserable (I mean, much more so than exercising would be just on its own).

What was the best thing you bought? This wasn't the year for big purchases. But I did pay $45 for a small tube of prescription cream to deal with the aforementioned problem. That's been a big help.

Where did most of your money go? Moving costs a lot of money. We also have recently had some car repairs that haven't been totally worked out yet.

What did you get really, really excited about? Joel new job, living near my parents and sisters and sister-in-law, having sweet baby June.

What songs will always remind you of 2011? I've gotten out of the music scene in my old age. I'd kind of like to get back into it. But a couple of songs I heard for the first time are "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars and "Firework" by Katy Perry. The first makes me weepy and grateful for Joel, and the second is a nice little inspirational anthem (although I must say "Do you ever feel/ like a plastic bag" is pretty weak writing for the opening line.)

What do you wish you'd done more of? I wish I had done more structured activities with Dane and set up more playdates. He really misses his friends in Sandy and hasn't really had the chance to make more friends here.

What do you wish you'd done less of? Feeling stressed about things I can't control.

How did you spend Christmas? With the whole Hood family!

Did you fall in love in 2011? With a baby named June and a hot guy named Joel. I'm pretty sure he likes me too.

What was your favorite TV program? Parenthood, Project Runway with our friend Josh Christensen, Person of Interest.

What was the best book you read this year? The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Thing Around Your Neck, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

What did you want and get? A new job for Joel; a sweet, healthy baby who slept well. (Yes, I used the past tense on that)

What were your favorite films of this year? Um...Harry Potter 7.2, X-Men: First Class. One that didn't come out this year but I enjoyed watching this year was The Concert.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? We were right in the middle of packing up and moving in the space of two weeks, so we spent the day packing. We got together and had dinner with a couple of families and laughed like crazy and had a grand old time. The next morning Joel took me out for French toast at Kneaders. All things considered, it was a great 28th birthday.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? More sleep.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010? Big and frumpy.

What kept you sane? Joel. And (this is going to sound insane), when I feel overwhelmed, I try to recall random lists, like remembering names of Joel's giant extended family in age order, or who won or lost each challenge on Project Runway, in order. It sounds obsessive, but it kept me sane.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I can't think of anyone but Sesame Street characters.

What political issue stirred you the most? I think a lot about the distribution of wealth, the working poor, and those living on public assistance. I know it is quite a polarizing issue, that some feel like we're not doing enough for those in need and some think we're doing too much. As a therapist, I worked with a lot of people whose treatment was funded through Medicaid. Some of them were "milking" the system, but I also knew their stories, why they are in the situations they are. There are no easy answers.

Who did you miss? Our good friends in Utah.

Who was the best new person (people) you met? One of my Young Women, Kerri, is such an amazing girl.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. I really need to develop greater humility.

What are you most excited for in 2012? Part of me is really looking forward to new adventures with our four-person family, and spending time with my sisters and parents. But part of me just wants time to stand still. I like now.

What are you least excited for in 2012? Moving again. I just moved!

*On Dane's birthday, we were eating ice cream, and I was trying to nurse June. My dad asked Dane if June would get chocolate milk because I was eating chocolate. He kept saying no, and my dad kept trying to convince him. Dane finally said, "It won't turn chocolate because the ice cream goes to her stomach, not the special pouches!"

Disasters

We had a little string of minor disasters in the fall.

Washing Woes

For the first time in roughly a decade, I had a major laundry dye disaster. Without thinking, I put a green checked tablecloth in a load of light colored laundry, resulting in lots of green clothing. Most of the clothes didn't matter, so my pride is what was damaged the most.

Within the week, another major laundry disaster:

We had allowed our ironing pile to get too large and extra wrinkled, so Joel scooped it up and threw it in the dryer with a damp towel. Unbeknownst to him, he had also scooped up a red crayon and a pink crayon.

Since the ironing pile almost exclusively contained Joel's clothes for work, it was a pretty big laundry disaster.

But thanks to Google and mom blogs, the vast majority of his clothes were salvaged. And I will post the magic mix here in case any of you ever dry your clothes with some crayons:

2 max amounts (line 3) of laundry detergent
1 cup Oxiclean
1/2 cup 20 mule team Borax
1 cup Shout liquid
1 cup white vinegar

The websites I found this remedy on made it sound like one treatment magically got it all out, which wasn't the case for us. We soaked and washed the clothes probably five or six times, rubbing the stains by hand with Zout in between washes. I can't say it was a miracle cure; a couple of the shirts and pants were ruined, and some of the salvaged clothes still have a couple of little spots. But all in all, I am grateful most of the clothes were okay.

Bad News Bites

Back when I was working on Halloween costumes, I couldn't find the yellow rib knit that I needed. So, inspired by all the wild sunflowers that I'd seen around town, I hatched a plan to naturally dye some white rib knit yellow.

I ventured out to collect the flowers and found quite the cache of flowers. They were all on the edge of a ditch, and I was only wearing flip-flops, so sometimes I was standing kind of precariously. Walking around in the brush, I kept getting scratched and stuff, so when I felt some prickles on my feet, I didn't think much of it. But the prickles kept increasing, so I looked down and found that I was standing right on an anthill. I brushed them off, but they had managed to crawl around between my toes and under the straps of my sandals, so it took a while to dislodge all the ants. At this point, I just brushed them off and didn't give them a second thought. But by the time I made it back home, the bites were burning, and I finally gave my foot a good look.

I think there were about 12 bites; many of the worst ones were between my toes, so they are harder to see. Just a word of advice: don't stand on an anthill. The bites hurt a lot more than I expected, and they kept hurting for days and days; they itched for weeks. Many of them got all swollen and pus-filled...it was gross. Disaster.

Photo Fiasco

You may have noticed that many of my recent pictures have gray bars across them. Somehow, my memory card corrupted and resulted in lost data on almost every picture. There weren't any major losses, but it was still very disappointing. Most of them can be cropped easily:

But some of them just won't work:




For some reason, the thumbnails show the entire photo, but the actual files are missing data. I reformatted my memory card, and now all is well.

So. Disasters abounded. But if bad things were going to happen, it wasn't too bad.