Pool Party

Swimming with Eliza is fun!

I like maps, such as...

Okay so most of us have seen this youtube video that currently has over 10 million hits.

It is painful on many levels, but most notably because she is a graduate of my dear 'ole alma mater, Lexington High.

Yes, Katie Upton was on the girls' cross country team with me when I was the senior captain and she was in middle school. To her credit she seemed to already be a very talented athlete and kind individual.

Ironically, I always thought she was one of those girls who simply feigned ignorance just to get more attention...

Plus, historically it's never been smart to start w/ South Carolina (we all know how that went for the Confederacy).

Recipe of the Greek

"When some mighty forest is all ablaze-
The eddying gusts whirl fire in all directions
Till the thickets shrivel and are consumed
Before the blast of the flame."
-Iliad, Book XI

In order to pledge our support for the victims of the Dionysian flames which are raging across Greece (more than half the country is currently on fire) Amy and I decided to make some no-bake baklava bars. Here is the recipe for any who wish to support the Hellenistic cause and the non-baking of all things Greek:

Baklava Crispy Bars

2 tbl spoons butter
1/2 c honey
4 c mini marshmellows
1 1/2 tsp grnd cinnamon
1 tbl spoon grated lemon zest
6 c oats and honey crispy cereal
1 c chopped walnuts

-Lightly spray a 13x9x2-inch baking pan w/ nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

-In a large saucepan set over low heat melt the butter w/ the honey, stirring until blended. Add the marshmellows, cinnamon, and lemon zest; cook and stir until melted and blended.

-Add the cereal and walnuts; mix well. With a large square of wax paper; press cereal mixture firmly into prepared pan. Cool completely. Cut into 24 bars. Store in covered containers b/t layers of wax paper.

-Makes 24 big bars.
Recipe from No-Bake Cookies by Camilla V. Saulsbury

Είναι ο στόχος ενός καλού ατόμου να βοηθήσει εκείνοι στην κακοτυχία.

Happy Anniversary!!

I wanted to thank and congratulate my parents for their 25 years of marriage!! I sure am grateful for the love and sacrifices ya'll have made these past TWO AND HALF DECADES to maintain your relationship and bring love to our family. I can't ever thank you enough!! Way to go! Here's to another 25! ;)

Discovery of the Week 8/26

I'll begin with my discovery of the week before I reveal Eliza's. Mine is very exciting, relieving, somewhat expected, but nevertheless beautiful! It allowed me to go on a 9 hour trip to do a wonderful and much appreciated session at the DC temple yesterday with the relief society.

My discovery of the week is ...




Steve!!!!

Aren't they cute in this picture? I especially enjoy Eliza's drool puddle dripping down the front of her onesie (Yay for teething!).

Steve and Eliza got to have some real fun daddy-daughter bonding time on Saturday. At least some LONG bonding time. We'd been storing milk up all week in the fridge and freezer, and I was worried that Eliza would give Steve a rough time. But the report is in and not only did Steve keep Eliza alive but he kept her happy, fed, clean, and comforted! Yay! This is a huge milestone for all of us! I'm so proud of them!

This was also a sorta a dry-run for me if I start to work on the weekends, and it seems so much more feasible after yesterday's triumph. Yay Steve and Baby (and Medella pump and bottles)!

Eliza's discovery of the week is...

that she hates her car seat! If one of us isn't sitting in the back seat with Eliza (and often even if one of us is), she ends up screaming the whole way to Steve's office or the post office or Sam's or the Gym and then all the way home unless she manages to scream/cry herself to sleep. It's really sad... and loud.

It's a great car seat- one of the best we saw on the market (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Morrison!), but I guess Eliza just doesn't like being strapped down or even put down out of our arms. We considered trying to get a picture of this since we have ample opportunity to, just for the sake of the blog, but then we thought there was something ironic about that... thus her car seat picture.

Another discovery of the week for her includes her ability to bang on the computer keyboard while she's in our lap.
She contributed this to the blog:
00000000000

We think she has a great future in C++ programming.

Some other accomplishments include: figuring out how to wiggle to the bottom of her swing, scoot in circles on her activity mat, grab the dog's tail, grab Mommy's lip, shriek with laughter when playing with Aunt Katy, smile at herself in the mirror during tummy time, and tap dance in the bath tub (we have a really great video of that, available upon individual request).

Discovery of the Week (DOW)

So I was thinking that this blog could use a little more structure to it. I feel like I just post so randomly, and that it would be nice to have a specific type of update from the polka dot world to count on every week.

So I decided to institute 2 weekly discoveries-- one discovery or development that Eliza has made and one discovery that I have made in the world of mothering/parenting/life. If we're lucky maybe we'll even get one from Steve too! I think the hard part will be narrowing down Eliza's discovery to just one.

I feel like every day she makes such huge progress and is just learning and discovering all kinds of things about her world. Like how to pull my hair or my glasses off my face or how to make sounds with her drool that sound like pooping and then employing the skill right at the perfect moment like during the prayer at a dinner party...! See~! There are so many inadvertent or very adverdent (maybe even stubborn) skills that she is mastering! I feel so lucky to be able to have a front seat to see them occurring (even when it causes me bodily harm!).

So this week's discovery for Eliza is....
POODLES!!!

Okay, just kidding, it's really only one poodle (although the real poodles at Oma and Grandpa's house are getting more and more interesting every visit). More specifically, Eliza's discovery of the week is her TOYS. She has finally mastered the ability to GRAB. I guess it probably happened before this week, but for the sake of this blog's theme, it's the discovery of the week.

Eliza has loved being able to grab her rattles, teething rings, (as previously mentioned) my hair and both Steve and my glasses, pans on the stove if I'm not careful (thankfully it wasn't hot- yikes!), etc. But her pink poodle has become quite popular. She loves for us to put him (or her?) on her belly when she's lying down and make our pitiful versions of a high-pitched bark while we pat her face with the stuffed toy.

She just squeals and beams with pleasure and then bites its black poodle nose and pulls it legs and tail and ears all around. I think one of her discoveries of the week will soon be rolling over b/c she follows the poodle around on the mat and will roll onto her side but is not quite ready to make the plunge to her belly. Anywayz, Yay for the poodle, right? and for Oma who gave it to us!



In some ways I cringe to think that my child is playing with such a grotesquely pink toy but at least it's not a doll (although she does like her little doll rattle too). I remember swearing to myself in my psychology of gender class that I would not burden my young children with the artificial boundaries of gender-typed toys that lacerate babies prematurely into their future roles of oppression and artificial duty (for example- I don't believe that baby girls have a predisposition for dolls b/c they are born with such an overwhelming talent for nurturing or baby boys with trains b/c they are natural engineers and providers).

But since the pink poodle is a DOG, I am telling myself that I am teaching my child to love animals and nature! and I keep telling steve that we need to buy Eliza some more cars, trains, and balls.

My discovery of the week is...

a baby sling! We've had this since Eliza was born but when I first tried it the week she was born it really didn't seem like it worked for us (Maybe now that she has more head/neck control or coordination it works better?). So I went out and bought a backpack which she loves and we use a lot for walks.

But this sling that I found on amazon for pretty cheap ($28) works for us now too especially for just around the house activities! It gives me two hands again while letting Eliza still feel close, secure, and pressed against me. And unlike the backpack I can see in front of myself b/c the sling holds eliza lower and more next to me. So this might seem pretty un-extrordinary or ... maybe the word for that would be ordinary, but what this has allowed me to do is COOK again! Yay!

It's impossible to cook with one hand, as many of you moms out there know. But I can be stirring, cooking, pouring, peeling, blending, rinsing, scrounging in the fridge or freezer, setting the table, the list goes on! I was so excited because as many of you know, Eliza can kinda be a needy baby at times, but she loves to just be held and entertained by me (all day long... and sometimes all night long too). So this way I'm "holding" her (hands-free) and entertaining her by doing interesting things with water and food and noisy dishes!

This enabled me this week to make some yummy Rachel Ray Moroccan food for Kate and Steve on Thursday night. We had veggie Boca burgers with Mango Chutney (homemade) on whole-wheat buns and this yummy yogurt, parsley, mint, cucumber, shallot, etc couscous with sliced watermelon on the side- yum! (I didn't slice the watermelon with Eliza in the sling- don't call DSS). Steve actually ended up wearing the sling on Thursday night, and Eliza slept in it through dinner!

But on amazon this sling had all kinds of differnet patterns and designs (that aren't humiliating for Dad to wear also), and I actually learned to wear it even better then is pictured. So fun! Wow, this kinda became a recipe of the week too, sorry guys.

Graduation Celebration

So my big accomplishment of the week (or perhaps of my LIFE) is that I have officially graduated from Brigham Young University on August 16th. These last few weeks/months have been quite challenging for me, even though I was completing two of my easier courses.

This was obviously due to the fact that much of my studying, quizzing, notecard-making, and reading was done while balancing a newborn in my lap or bouncing her in her chair with my foot or while breastfeeding her! SO! ::Big sigh of relief:: I am done!

I did not have the finality of walking across a stage and being applauded by family members and greeted with BYU colored flowers, but nevertheless am finished (and don't feel like doing any more school for a while- at least not with a 3 mnth old).

I now officially have my Bachelors of Science in Social Work, and I'd like to personally-- or maybe impersonally via blog-- thank all of the people who helped me get to this point!! Especially... Mom and Dad, Steve, and Grandpa Bob and Grandma Ruth. I'll forever be in your debt! (literally and figuratively ;) )




I especially like how in this picture you can see my over-flowing trash can, recycling bin and messy kitchen in the background!! Very accurate! If the angle were just a little different you could probably also see my kitchen sink which was probably full of dishes! I think this picture was taken like an hour before I went to take my Humanities final about a month ago. I was trying to cram in names of post-modern artists, romantic poets, baroque musicians, Dada philosophers and existentialist authors. Luckily for me, Eliza was (and still is) quite enchanted with our ceiling fan-- it's like a giant, speedy mobile!

In case any of you are wondering. I plan on applying for a couple positions at various social service agencies in Charlottesville working with youth in foster care or mentally ill or something similar to that with flexible hours like weekends or evenings. So wish me luck-- we'll see how it goes!


Otherwise, we took a family trip to the library yesterday, and I am glorying in the opportunity to read whatever I choose to... Current projects include White Teeth (recommendation from Katy), a new translation of Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis, Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole, and Young at Heart: 120 Things You can do right now to give your older dog a longer, healthier life.

Steve also found these recorded course lectures for me from professors at Stanford, so I'm listening to a course called "Feminism and the Future of Women." I'm excited!! Who knows, maybe I'll even get around to reading the new Harry Potter book one of these days!

Now I just hope 'Liza starts taking some great naps!

We got to go down and visit my parents this weekend in the boiling hot South Carolina! It was a fun trip, and we were able to fit in some YUMMY southern bar-b-q!! To commemorate the event we made Eliza Mae pose with Aunt Abby on this gorgeous bronze, life size pig!