potatoes and monkeys...

Before we had our own children, Caleb and I would often debate about which type of babies were the cutest.  I always had a soft spot for "monkey" babies--you know, the ones with big, bright eyes and gangling arms and legs.  Caleb loved fat babies.  The squishier, the better.  I told him they just looked like a lumpy potato.  And I didn't want no potato baby.

Well, I've since changed my mind.

And while I'm at it, here are a couple more side-by-side comparisons:

a crafting catastrophe...

Well, catastrophe might be a bit over dramatic, but it was something of a disaster.

I decided to try out a Pinterest craft with Jane.  We put cookie cutters on a cookie sheet and poured plastic beads inside (side note:  I think I used the wrong kind of "cheap plastic beads" because they were really hard to get to melt, and they smelled like cancer).  I was feeling super proud of myself since Jane was thoroughly enjoying the moment.  I got a little too cocky with my mad Mom skills and decided to let her run her hands through the remaining 5,843 beads in the bucket.  While she explored the sense of touch and the ornaments slowly emitted cancerous fumes, I decided to multi-task and load the dishwasher.  Bad idea.  All of a sudden I heard a strange noise.  It sounded like a horrible hail storm.  It took me several seconds to realize that Jane was pouring the beads from a 60 oz bucket into a 6 oz cup.  What I heard was the sound of hundreds of little beads hitting the chair, the floor, and the dishwasher and scattering in every direction.

It took at least an hour to clean up as we had to individually pinch each little bead and put it back in the bucket (I know you are wondering why I didn't just vacuum them up...I am wondering the same as I write this).  The worst part was all the beads that fell straight into the open dishwasher.

I picked each and every bead out, only to realize that many, many more had fallen down past where I could reach.  I got out my tools and dissected the dishwasher as much as I could, but wasn't able to get all the way to the beads.  I gave up and (cringing) did a trial run dishwasher cycle.  It sounded like a rock polishing machine.  And now, three months later, it still does.  However, my dishes come out as clean as ever, so if I just ignore the noise, no harm done.  And the ornaments turned out cute enough, so I guess it was worth it.

christmas 2012...

Some pictures from the holidays--a few months late.

While these are mostly self-explanatory, a few deserve comment.

Ornaments.  First, Jane loved decorating the tree.  However, she wasn't so great at spacing her ornaments.  Whenever she turned her back, I'd try to sneak a few off and place them elsewhere.  I also tried to be a better momma and do a craft with Jane.  It was a success, but there's more to the story (see here).

Gingerbread.  The Humbles invited us over for a gingerbread house-making party.  Jane did almost all of the decorations herself!  I'm not sure why she's grumping in the picture, though, because she really did enjoy herself.

Mall shot.  We did our first ever Christmas flash mob at Superstition Mall.  We had a few setbacks and it didn't go at all as planned, but it was SUCH A BLAST!  This is the only picture I really have, though I do have video which I still need to upload.

Stockings.  I had intended to make each of us a stocking with my new-found sewing skills.  However, I did not anticipate the lack of motivation that took over right before the holidays.  So come Christmas Eve, I dug out what I could find:  my childhood stocking (which I turned around to hide the embroidered "Becca"), a large stocking my mom bought me when I spent Christmas in Greece, a five-toed frog sock, and a little penguin sock.  It worked.  Sort of.  Maybe next year I can tap into some as-of-yet-undiscovered-awesomeness.

Merry Christmas.

catching up on the A-Man...

Asher is super considerate in hitting milestones.  Since I haven't been keeping good records of him, he has been kind enough to only do significant things right around his "month marks".  Here is an update:

5 months-sitting on his own
6 months-crawling
7 months-pulling to standing
8 months-"cruising" on furniture, 8 1/2 months, cut both bottom teeth (on the same day!)
9 months-clapping


A few facts about Asher:

• He loves to make a loud "aaaaaahhhHHH" sound while sucking in air
• He wakes up super happy and smiley from naps and nighttime sleeping
• He knows how to manipulate Mama (still sleeping in bed with her)
• He is a total Mama's boy.  The longest separation being about 3 1/2 hours.  He will cry for no other reason than he wants his Mama <sigh>
• He loves books, baths, and FOOD (surprised?)

9 month stats:

weight:  23 lbs, 12 oz (about 90th percentile)
height:  30 in (about 92nd percentile)
head circumference :  18 1/4 in (about 75th percentile, but who even cares about head circumference anyway?)

1 mo, 2 mo, 3 mo, 5 mo, 6 mo

9 months!

He's such a fun baby and usually very good-natured.  He does seem to have the sensitivity to milk like Jane did, so when I'm not careful enough, it makes for a couple of really long nights.  He grunts and growls just as a male baby should.  We love this little (big) guy!

hogar, dulce hogar...

I tend to be long-winded, so I'm going to try using a bulleted list to sum up our journey of the past year and a half:

• spring 2011-Caleb accepted an offer to oversee the building of a cabin in Show Low 
• June 2011-realized we could buy a house and rent out our upside down death trap on Delta
• July 9, 2011-headed to Show Low for what we thought would be 2 or 3 months, leaving our house to a newly married young couple
• August 2011-had an offer accepted on a fantastic house on Inglewood
• end of September 2011-found renters for our house on Delta, kicked out the young couple, moved everything we owned into a storage unit, then backed out of our contract for the Inglewood house (toxic mold!)
• end of October 2011-Becca came back to Mesa, moved in with the Wheelers
• beginning of November 2011-Caleb came home and we moved into a temporary condo
• January 2012-began looking at houses again
• February 14, 2012-had our offer on the Kachina house accepted by the seller, but had to wait for the bank's approval
• January through April 2012-put in over 25 offers on houses all over the valley, with only the Kachina house being accepted
• April 30, 2012-Our offer on Kachina was unofficially accepted
• June 8, 2012-Kachina was offically approved, with less than 3 weeks to get financed
• July 5, 2012-we closed on the house with our backup plan of a hard money loan after asking for one extension and never hearing on a second
• July 7, 2012-moved out of the condo and into Caleb's parents' home while we painted, prepped, and cleaned the carpets at Kachina
• July 12, 2012-officially sleeping at Kachina
• November 2012-refinance finally went through, settling in to our new home!

If you notice the highlihted places, from July 9, 2011 to July 12, 2012, we lived in 6 different places!  I wish I had dealt better with the changes, and most of you know, this was a really hard time for me.  From being pregnant, to dealing with Jane's sleep issues, living above an angry woman, and having a new baby, I was not in a good emotional state.  I complained a lot.  BUT!  We are finally here, and we are so happy with here!

Let's call these the "before" picures:

dining

laundry

kitchen

1/2 bath

family room

entry

hall bath

living room

Jane's room

master

Asher's room

4th bedroom

backyard

sleep deprivation and other non happenings...

These last couple of weeks I have felt more overwhelmed and worn out than I remember feeling ever before in my life.  My house is a mess, I don't return phone calls, my hair goes unwashed for days on end.  You might think that I am busily engaged in some good causes that take up my time.  Or at least in causes, whether good or bad.  It seems if I can not find time to check my voicemail, go to the grocery store, or fold laundry, I must be busy reading, socializing, crafting...something. No.  I am not.  And one more thing I am not doing:  sleeping.

Our little Pashy is using his mad skills as a fat cutie to trick me into allowing him to sleep with us every night.  And once we (read I) gave in, he pushed a little more and now only takes naps if I'm at his side.  You know that precious time during naps when you can have a little "me-time"?  Yeah, non-existent.  It's all "him-time" now.

<insert judgement here>

I know, I know!  I used to judge people like me.  I'd find myself thinking, "Stop whining and let the boy cry it out already!"  But for some reason (or reasons, like his super round chubby head and giant smile, and the fact that he is cutting his first tooth), I haven't talked myself into it just yet.  I also hear a lot recently about the cry-it-out method being damaging.  I don't think I believe that, but that tiny shred of doubt combined with dread of hearing him scream has been enough for me to put it off.  

But I'm getting there.  I think.

By the way, anyone else scrutinize other moms' Facebook photos in the hopes of finding others' floors as dirty as their own?

two...

Two is a much better age for celebrating a birthday than one.  This year, she actually got the whole birthday thing.

We invited Papa and Nana over for dinner and cake (aka rice crispy treats), and Anson and Kieren dropped in to celebrate with us and give J a cute matchy-matchy nightgown.  She loved all the attention and toys.  

Happy birthday to our beautiful girl--we love having you in our family!

Jane's 2-year stats:

weight:  26 lbs. (41%)

height:  24.5 in. (71%)

head circumference:  19 in. (70%)

Nicknames include:  Jaygee, Janey-Lane, Janaygee Zampagey, Zampajito, J-Chicken, and J