Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Trash talking at Tiny Tots soccer

Ryan has been going to parent/kid soccer classes for the last several months, and I believe this is his second or third session. He is one of the older kids in the class and by now knows all the games the coach uses. When we enrolled him this time for the same class, we were concerned he would be bored, but the coach likes him and said he was a little young for the next class. Our concerns were justified as the following story from last Saturday will attest.

The coach had a miniature soccer field set up and the game was dribbling red light green light from one end line to the other. Ryan is somewhat of a spoiler because the coach can only get at most one red light in before Ryan is at the opposite end of the field. So after a couple trips back and forth and a lot of waiting for everyone else, Ryan says to me, “Everybody in this class are doofuses.” I’m sure at least a few parents heard him so I’m in full on damage control. I come back with, “Ryan that is not a nice word we don’t call people that.” Then he says, “Everybody in this class are butts.” “Do you want to go sit in the car and soccer will be over for the day?” Ryan, “No. Yes. Everybody are booties (meaning butts). No, I don’t want to go to the car.”

I don’t think we do anything to cause our children to behave and say some of the things they do, but man everybody looks down at you when your kid does something like that. My kids are also especially fond of informing people that they have fat tummies.

Oh the joys...

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Some pictures of Alison (aka Ki-Ki)


Here are a few pictures of Alison that we took on Sunday. I decided to give her a bath and then put on the dress and then I figured we should take pictures. This was all at a time when we should have been making/having dinner, but sometimes you just have to take pictures of the baby. I tried to get Jacob and Ryan to put on nice shirts so that they could be in a nice picture with Alison but only Jacob complied. Ryan, in his 3 year old way, said that he did not feel like changing his shirt for the picture. Hence, the orange shirt.



Jacob, Alison, and Ryan in the backyard. The boys called her "ki-ki" before she was born and while we were very clear that it would not be her name, even John and I are having a hard time not calling her Ki-ki, the kik-ster, kik-meister, kiks, etc. I think the nickname will stay around for awhile.

Alison getting a little tired of the photo shoot.


Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Alison Lorena Young

This is a test. We found out all our pictures of Alison's birth were 4000 X 3000 (pixels?) and about 2.5MB per photo. It has taken us awhile to find on our computer the functionality to shrink these images.
If this post works we will post more.

Here she is.

Here are the monkey men doing what they do.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Nearing the finish line...

John is probably going to pass out when he sees that I actually posted on our family blog.  I know he started it so I would write but that just hasn't seemed to happen.  I haven't been that motivated since I broke our digital camera and felt it would be lame to post without pictures. But, I guess written documentation still has its merits so, I thought I would post a few random thoughts about the end stage of pregnancy.  Due date is Saturday, 7/26, but what does that really mean?  It means the end is near but near is such a relative term after being pregnant for 9 months.  It could be tonight or next week or even (gasp!) August.  For some reason, if this baby decides to come in August, that just seems like such a psychological blow for me even though it is less than a week after my due date.  The changing of the month makes it seem very far away. 
 
I have been feeling good the last few weeks and have not had the feeling that I am so big that I can't even get any bigger - a common feeling at the end of my last pregnancy.  I love the comments people make to me and have people telling me (on the same day):  "wow, were you this big on the last one?  I don't remember you being this big" or "you look ready to pop" as well as others saying "you look great" and "I can't believe you are almost due".  I have decide the second group of people are liars but I do appreciate them. 
 
I have been trying to go the gym twice a week to walk on the treadmill and while no one makes comments to me, the lady at the front desk tells John "I feel so sorry for your wife".  So, I guess I do look like a big cow on the treadmill.  Going to the gym has been difficult since the heat wave we had here a week or so ago which made my feet swell up like sausages. Seriously.  I had never had pregnancy swelling before and it was fairly disgusting.  I still could manage to get my running shoes on but barely had enough lace left to tie a knot.
 
This weekend we (read "I") spent a lot of time nesting.  I cleaned, did laundry, put away baby clothes, thought about writing thank you cards from my baby shower, and put up the fancy pack-n-play with bassinet addition in our room.  John actually did that and moved the bed over a few inches so I can squeeze between the bed and the pack-n-play.  I think I would be ok now if the baby did come.  For me it is always "don't come, don't come, don't come. Ok, you can come. Anytime. Ready. Please come soon. Are you listening to me?"  Last week I finished a few other remaining items on my list:  pedicure and eyebrows.  I mean, you never look good in the delivery room but at least I will know that my toenails are painted and my eyebrows are well maintained.  It will help. 
 
I have a secret wish that the next time I go to the MD she will say "Oh my, you are a dilated to a X (number greater than 3) and need to go to the hospital now".  It happened to my sisters but has yet to happen to me.  I just get "Oh, you are still at a 3 like you were the last 3 weeks" and "I can't believe you are still around" and the "do you want to be induced?"  Luckily, my doctor does not seem to think that you need to wait until 41 or even 40 weeks to be induced.  She offered to do it last week but I told her I wasn't ready.  Unfortunately, I see the nurse practioner this week and I think she is a little less carefree in the induction offers. 
 
We will keep you posted with any news over the next few weeks (I will try to not be too graphic in the descriptions  - maybe this post was already too graphic.  John hates most words associated with delivery and I think even "dilate" may be too much for him). 
 
  

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

This one is dedicated to all the new mothers.

So tonight during Family Home Evening the following conversation occurred:

Suzy: "When the baby comes there are going to be some changes at home."

Ryan: "Like I get to color the big James (the train) coloring book."

Suzy: "Yes, but you only get to color the James coloring book when I'm feeding the baby."

Jacob (yelling because that seems to be his only volume setting nowadays): "YOU MEAN WHEN YOU'RE MILKING HER?"

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Recent entertaining quotes from the boys

Ryan & the calenator

Ryan beating repeatedly on a calculator: “This calenator isn’t giving the Os (meaning zeros). It’s broken. It’s not giving the Os.  Oh, there go the Os (after hitting the decimal point).  That’s like a hundred Os.”

Daddy:  “Really?  Why don’t you count them and see if there are a hundred?”

Ryan: “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. SEVEN Os!  That’s almost a HUNDRED!!”

Jacob & the alligator swimsuit

Jacob as I walk in the door after work: “Dad, guess what? I got new swimming shorts today and they have alligators on them!”

Daddy: “That’s awesome! I saw them hanging in the garage.”

Jacob: “Yeah and they’re cool, they have a sunscreen in them in case the sun gets in my pants!” (I believe this is in reference to the inner liner typical in most swimsuits for males)

Friday, June 20, 2008

Momentous day in the lives of cube dwellers

Suzy thinks I’m a little crazy for enjoying this guy’s videos as much as I do. The best I can say is there is a joy/hope that comes across from his videos. Below is his latest which was released earlier today.

After his first one he admitted the popularity and effect his videos have had with people was purely by accident. It was originally intended as a goofy travel log that he and his family would watch. He continues however to make videos that for me (and apparently a great deal of other people) are true to that innocent/honest joy of the first.

I guess sometimes I feel I am consuming my life sitting in a box staring at meaningless stuff on a computer screen. This guy gives me a few minutes of sitting in the box staring at stuff on the screen that makes me realize I shouldn’t waste my life sitting in the box. I just wish the path that this guy took out of his box were big enough for all of us.

Anyway time to get back to my pursuit of nirvana in Microsoft Excel.

Enjoy the video. (It's much better in high quality directly on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&feature=user)