Sunday, September 27, 2009

Thai Kitchen

So,
We went back and forth on what to do for dinner tonight. Such lovely weekends (bicycling, garage organizing, happy baby, bicycle ramp building, Octagon art festival, neighborhood block party!!...studying?) should only be capped off by a night on the town, or at least a delicious feast - right?
Right.
So ...we wasted all of our time trying to decide (yes, it took something like 4 hours) aaand by 7pm decided on Thai Kitchen which we regularly eat AT LEAST once a week. Quite possibly the greatest food in town - yeah I said it, better than The Cafe (though I do enjoy the changing menu, variety and AMAZING desserts there, don't get me wrong!).
But as I sit here with my Green Curry, chop sticks in hand, typing periodically... I realize I am full. Then I realize... I could offer it to Jared and he would eat it ALL. ...I could save it for lunch, but jared would... take it before me as HIS lunch leftover... So what am I left to do but gorge myself?!???

Then it occurred to me. Benjamin is also a growing boy.
Soon... he too will want the Green Curry from my plate - he will eye it as Luda and Jared do, WAITING for me to say "I'm done, would you like my leftovers?" ............ . . . .

Well, you can't have them!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

roll-over.

Benjamin's latest thing is rolling over. He however is slightly backwards in that he hasn't yet learned to roll from his stomach to his back (which most infants learn first) but proceeds to roll from his back to his stomach. This results in obscene-pissed-off-ed-ness. Just when we got to the phase for the past few weeks where he will lay in his crib and put himself to sleep before bedtime... now he lays in there, begins to fall asleep, rolls over and begins to believe that the world has taken away his family, stripped his pride, shot his dog and spit in his face!
Dude, just roll back the way you came!

Other than that... the little man remains QUITE charming.

:)

Friday, September 18, 2009

Bath Time Woes

Well... it is official... officially time to switch to the "sit-me-up" bathtub. Let me tell you why....... nah, let me SHOW you why:



well our little precious man... has been into his grabbing [and inserting into mouth] phase. And though this kidbath of sorts has worked wonders thus far.... well it has a little plug in the bottom of it and... Ben's arms are long enough these days that when he felt that little plug there at the bottom, he didn't know any better but to PULL IT.
Yeah folks... he pulled the plug, and No we don't use the tub IN the regular tub, we put it on a countertop of sorts so it is a more comfortable height. ....
I didn't end up too wet, and it could have been worse, but it was just one of those "ooooh parenting" moments.

Then we shared a few smiles together


and read a few books before bed. Makes a little bathtime accident not seem too bad. :)



Friday, September 11, 2009

Theory vs. Practice

This week, our daycare provider was on vacation, so we had to fend for ourselves.
This meant I got to hang out with Logan on Wednesday morning while Brooke was away. One thing I made note of....*do not have another child when Benjamin is 2* ...not that that was a plan anyway, BUT... holy buckets, 2 year olds are terrifying!


and they move fast!!



Logan is a rather well-behaved child and it helps that he is entirely adorable... but a 2 year old is curious, ready to explore, open any doorway, and explore all coffee table surfaces. Eventually I realized Benjamin will someday be a 2 year old. How on earth does one deal with a TWO year old??!? .......
Then I remembered... the day before Benjamin was born, I didn't know how to deal with a newborn.
I wasn't sure how we would ever figure out how to deal with the first diaper explosion.
Not sure what to do when we'd get spit up on.
Benjamin was 3 months old as of yesterady, and yesterday I didn't know what to do with a 3month and 1 day old kid.
But today is here... and by 8am I had washed poop out of pajamas, been dressed for school and gotten thrown up on, and had been laughed at by a toothless drool-bucket. And not only did we manage... it always creates a sort of fun adventure. And even more importantly, we figured it out, survived it.. and we're ready for tomorrow, too.

SO even though everyone has been telling us all along that ...."you'll figure it out and it will work" ....that was their theory. Easier said than done, but I think watching Logan on Wednesday was a good reminder that we Will figure it out.. and it will most certainly work.

...even if we are all exhausted by the end of the evening when Benjamin has long gone to bed.




---------

The current state of our garage:


Bike-parking rack for Christmas, anyone???


Jared's painting progress:

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Latest adventures

First, I apologize for the image quality lately... the last batch were all washed out... and these too don't seem as bright - I think as I upload them they're losing ...information. Oh well. Use your imagination.

The easiest way I could try to update you would be by saying... we are trying to make a gallon of orange juice out of 3 oranges. ........ Fortunately we have plenty of help along the sidelines donating fruits and if we're lucky we'll come up with the Simply Orange Mango juice...

have you tried that stuff? Its pretty awesome.

Jared has been doing his best to get back into TKD

He even participated in a demonstration the group did for Destination Iowa State (some big orientation sort of thing that freshman go to).

Even though he has taken a bunch of time off for Benjamin (and me) he still looked quite good out there.

While keeping up with tkd, Jared has also been trying to build up a fixed gear bicycle.
(original frame)

We got the frame for free from some guy... and now are conquering the task of stripping the paint.


Jared wants it green and orange in color, of course. The other secrets of the build you will just have to wait and see. All I can say is........ it will undoubtedly be Jared's ride.

On top of that, Jared has been training for the MS ride that we did last weekend!!




Thanks thanks thanks for those of you who donated... for those of you who didn't........ one last plug of its not too late!!
This was the first year that Paul had finished - you should read his touching story about it here.
For Jared and Brooke... they were first timers. Each of them had hardly ridden a bike for more than the summer. Brooke trained her ASS off and... well you can read her thoughts on it here.
For me personally... The fact that it is two days of beautiful riding, great company/support, and of course a good cause is just the tip of the iceberg. It is a personal test - not to do it faster every year, but to invite others to join, (i.e. ....jared and brooke, and last year I joined a team to do it) and to remind myself that the things I can accomplish physically are truly a privilege... and not a privilege to be taken for granted. The first century ride I ever rode (seems like forever ago!! oooh TOMRV ---brooke doesn't know, but she's riding this next year...) was eye-opening in terms of what the human body can do... the only thing more revealing of this is probably... uuuuh BIRTHING A CHILD! but I digress...It was awesome. Being out there on my bike for that many hours, knowing Benjamin was being well taken care of (thank you so so so much mom/dad!), getting to talk about nothing except corn, clouds/sunshine and bicycles, riding with a perfect 70degree temperature... oh oh! and a free massage at the finish line to top it off???? It was certainly the most stress relieving thing I've experienced in Months!