The Cutest Conversations

Saturday morning, Grig had to work.

Kevin, who had randomly woken up at 4:20 a.m. said to me, in an imploring manner, "Why can't I go to work with Daddy?"

Which began one of the cutest conversations ever.

Kevin really loves his daddy.

Kevin: Why can't I go to work with Daddy?

Mom: Because Daddy's work is dangerous.

K: Oh. There's big rocks? And sharp knives?

M: Basically. You're too little, but Daddy is big and strong, so he's safer.

K: Big rocks can hurt your toes, and you shouldn't touch the ends of knives. They're sharp.

M: Yep. And there's also bright lights that can blind you. (Grig is a welder)

K: Oh.

M: Daddy uses the light to make two pieces of metal into one.

K: And he takes three pieces and makes four?

M: Maybe. If he's cutting them.

After that, the conversation kind of petered out, and we both fell asleep.

It was super cute.

Then, at church yesterday, we had just finished primary, and one of the primary kids was standing out in the hall when an older man came walking toward him.

The child was between four and five, and the old man had a long white beard and walked with a cane. As the child caught sight of the older gentleman, his eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "Santa!"

Without batting an eye, the older man asked, "Have you been good this year?"

The boy nodded eagerly and said, "Yes! Do you have presents with you?"

I didn't hear any more of that conversation, but I was left with the distinct impression that this older gentleman was the coolest person ever.

People can be pretty awesome.

A Backyard is a Wonderful Thing

This post isn't written to rub the fact that we have a backyard in your face.

I just wanted to point that out at the very beginning.

However, I am super grateful for our backyard, and even though it's been a lot of work, things are finally starting to look better.

That's not to say that we're done with it. In fact, our yard is currently in badly need of a haircut, but we haven't yet bought the trimmers.

It's been kind of weird actually. We decided on a lawnmower, and Grig went to the store to buy it. Both times he tried, his card would not work. There was plenty of money on the card, it just wouldn't work.

Every time since then, when I've planned to go to the store and pick up the lawnmower, it's been raining. We're not complaining, since it's free watering, but it does discourage lawn mowing. There's probably some reason we weren't supposed to buy it yet. I'm sure someday we'll know what that is.

Meanwhile, our grass keeps growing. Grig kind of likes how our backyard looks like a jungle right now. My only complaint is that it's getting hard to find the dog poop.

Oh well.

I love this picture!

Strangely, there are still bare patches, so it adds a lot of variety to our yard. We're hoping to re-seed those patches, but if we leave the grass alone, maybe it will go to seed and we won't have to?

It's worth hoping for.

Kevin, the dogs, and I spent some time outside today, and I finally had to bring the camera out because they were all being really cute.

It was a good day to take pictures. They were all super-photogenic.

It's such a nice thing to go outside, and not have to worry about keeping Kevin out of the road. I love just letting him run around and do his own thing, and not having to have the dogs leashed all the time. We love our house and we're super grateful to our Heavenly Father.

Later in the afternoon, Grig and Kevin climbed trees together. I wasn't here or I probably would have joined them. Or I might have taken pictures. They are really cute when they play together.

On a completely unrelated note, since some of you have been wondering, we still have our snake. He is getting bigger.

Kevin loves his snake. He becomes very sad when we put it away without letting him play with it. We have to keep reminding him to be gentle, and he's learning. Oryx (our snake) is getting a lot bigger. We might need to buy him a new cage soon.

Our fish is also still alive. I haven't killed Renji yet, and he's now lived longer than Gin. That's made me pretty happy.

Saving Snails: Our Second Vlog

Enjoy our newest video!

Our First Video Blog!

Our first video blog (vlog) is up!  Please follow the link below.  If you enjoy it, please like and subscribe to our youtube channel.  We will have a new vlog up every week at noon EST.  Thanks for your support!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhArn3yFgFw

Fashion is Stupid

When I was a kid, I was one of the most awkward things you will ever see.  I had huge glasses that covered half my face, and they were as thick as coke bottles.  I always, except maybe on school picture day, wore my hair in a pony tail.  I wore sweat pants to school, usually of the hot pink or hot orange variety, and I loved baggy t-shirts (that usually clashed with the pants.) 

When I got to Junior High, my father told me that I couldn't wear sweat pants to school anymore.  I was a bit upset.  They were really comfortable!  However, I honored my father's wishes, and to my surprise discovered that jeans could be quite comfortable too, if you could find a pair that actually fit.  I still wore t-shirts, but it's much harder to clash with jeans.  In my eighth grade year, I received contacts, and suddenly I didn't look so bad. 

I've really never cared about fashion.  If someone asked me what the popular trend in clothing is right now, I'd tell you that I really couldn't care.  I'm now in my mid-20's.  I still wear my hair in a ponytail nearly every day.  Due to my c-section, I still have to wear comfortable, stretchy pants because I can't fit into my jeans.  I still prefer t-shirts, and I don't really care if they make me look like a huge pillow.  My personal appearance has never really mattered to me.

However, I do try to make more of an effort to look nice.  I have a friend from South Africa who changed the way that I take care of myself.  She is a really good friend, and she as we were getting to know each other, I realized that she loved me even though I didn't try to look nice.  She, of course, is always gorgeous and wears adorable clothes that accentuate her beauty.  She loved me first, and because of that, I listened to her suggestions.  Just before I roomed with her, I made the decision to get bangs, which made me look less like a boy.  She taught me how to style them so that they looked decent. 

We would go on shopping trips, and she would help me find clothing that was comfortable and cute!  While we were rooming together, I ended up getting my ears pierced.  She helped me feel beautiful, and I did like it.

However, while she was teaching me the finer points of dressing myself, she was also teaching me something else.  She taught me that it still doesn't matter what the current trends are.  She wore what she wanted to wear.  She wore things that made her look good, and she had her own style.  She taught me that cute clothes are always cute, and you don't have to follow fashion in order to be beautiful and feel good about yourself. 

Fashion is always changing.  If you were to try to keep up, you'd bankrupt yourself.  Things that are fashionable don't look good with every body type.  Not everyone, in fact, very few people, look good in a bikini.  Find fashions that work for you.  I don't dress up very often still, but at least I know how to now. 

For me, it's best if the belly fabric is loose.  If it's too tight, it accentuates the wrong kinds of...rolls.  Ruffles don't hurt, and my friend told me to stay away from collared shirts.  My shoulders are too broad for them. 

The other thing that my friend taught me is don't dress up for other people.  Dress up to look good for yourself.  When you look good, you feel good.  She was right.  However, I don't mind looking good for my husband too.  My wonderful husband loves me regardless of what I'm wearing, and I'm grateful for that.  However, he does like it if I occasionally dress up. 

Basically, I guess I'm saying, don't follow fashion.  Things that they are trying to sell you are generally overpriced and don't always go well with different body types.  Find a style that works for you and stick with it.  Cheaper is better.  If it's on sale and it's cute, why not buy it if you have the money?  There are tons of cute clothes that aren't super expensive.  The fashion industry is just out to take your money.  That's why they change fashions so often. 

Heaven forbid we actually wear the same clothes more than once in our lives.

I've never understood fashion, and I probably never will, but thanks to my good friend I at least can make myself look good while staying within our budget.

Fashion is stupid, being beautiful isn't.  Be pretty for you, choose clothes that you like, and find your own style.  We're all unique, why not show it with our clothing?

Puppies vs. Babies

Which is Better?

Lately, I've really been wanting to get a puppy.  

Really, like, a lot. 

However, though our housing situation would allow it, we currently we can't afford one.  Since puppies have been on my mind so much, I've been thinking about when I first gave birth to Kevin.  Afterward, my dad, who knows how much I like dogs, kept asking me the same question over and over.

"Isn't he much better than a puppy?"

Okay.  Obviously the answer is yes.  However for those of you who've never had a baby, I would like to tell you my reasons why.  Those of you who have had children, let me know your thoughts on the matter.

When I was in High School, one summer I decided to breed my dog and raise a litter of puppies.  It was a really good experience, and I really enjoyed it.  However, comparing that experience to my current situation of being a mother brings up some interesting differences and similarities. 

Yes, I did draw these pictures.

Newborns:

 

 

A Short Thought on Poop

Let's face it.  Newborn animals of any variety aren't very cute.  They come out all slimy and wrinkly, and generally have very little hair.  Newborn puppies are fairly easy for humans to take care of.  We just let the mom handle it.  However, newborn puppies are incapable of defecating on their own.  In order to keep the puppies alive and healthy, the mother dog has to lick them to stimulate their bowel movements.  Then, to add to that, she eats the puppy poo so that the smell won't attract predators.  As nasty as that seems to us, to a dog it's a natural part of being a mother. 

I'm really glad we don't have to do that.  A lot of people will complain about changing diapers, but after watching how animals take care of their babies' poop, diapers don't seem so bad.  Babies are also able to poop on their own as soon as they are born, which is an advantage in the evolutionary side of things.   Babies diapers are also not very stinky when they are newborns.  You have to change them pretty frequently, but it really isn't that much trouble and you get used to it quickly.  

Nursing

Nursing puppies is quite easy as well, if you're the human.  The mother dog usually does all the work again.  There is the rare situation when a human has to take over, and then it can be a major pain!  You have to get up and bottle feed the pups every two hours.  That can really cut into your sleep schedule.  Luckily, my dog Dakota was a fantastic mom.  She took great care of her pups.  She ended up having eight of them, and all of them survived until they went to their new homes.  Can you imagine having eight babies at one time?  I can't.  One is plenty thank you, and I'm still learning how to deal with one.

When someone first handed Kevin to me, I looked down and thought, "What do I do with this?" 

Don't get me wrong.  I've been around babies my entire life.  I have six younger siblings and I spent a lot of my teenaged years babysitting my siblings and other children.  I'm no novice when it comes to taking care of babies.  However, none of that even remotely prepared me for nursing my own baby.  It doesn't come entirely naturally.  However, once you and the baby figure it out, it is a rather peaceful thing.  There is a connection you feel with that baby that is unlike any other relationship I've ever had.  

When my dog had puppies, I felt proud and I loved them.  I took good care of them and I wanted them to have good homes.  However, the bond I have with my baby isn't even close to the same.  Grig and I made Kevin (with a lot of help from Heavenly Father).  He is our baby.  He is part of us and we are part of him.  I've loved my dogs, but the love I feel for Kevin transcends that love and makes it look trivial.  

Nursing has nurtured that bond as well.  I love putting him down for a nap and feeling connected to him.  Puppy-love just doesn't come close.

Infants:

Development

Babies change fast.  Even now, nine-months after Kevin was born, I can't believe how fast time has gone.  Everyday it seems like he learns something new.  He's already walking and running, and I some days I miss the little baby who would just lay on my chest.  Kevin only does that if he is asleep now or very, very tired.  Otherwise, he is constantly moving.  It's been a real treat to watch Kevin grow and learn.  We love showing him new things.  We really enjoy watching him try to understand this new world around him.  

However, as fast as babies grow, it's nothing compared to puppies.  At nine months, a puppy would be almost fully grown and well into his teenage months.  He would be awkward, gangly, and pushing his limits.  They are still cute, but sometimes by that point the cuteness is wearing off a bit.  Between eight and eighteen months is when the majority of puppies are given to shelters.  After that, they mature more and people can handle them again.  Before that, they are cute enough to get away with stuff.  Puppies are only puppies for a short time, and then they become dogs.  I think they're still cute, but a lot of people love that puppy stage and really miss it when it is gone.  

That's probably why so many people get tiny dogs.  They can keep pretending they are babies.  The problem is a tiny dog is still a dog.  If you treat a dog like a baby, they never learn discipline and think that they are in charge.  This causes a lot of bad behaviors that go unchecked because the dog is 'cute.' 

Which is why a great many people don't like small dogs.  They often get away with everything because they're not a threat to people.  

Babies remain as babies for quite a while.  We have more time to teach them the things they need to know before they are considered adults.  Children and puppies take a great deal of patience, perseverance, discipline, and love.  However, dogs will never reach the development level of a human.  They will never be able to have deep conversations with us.  Children eventually will. 

Chewing

Kevin still has no teeth.  His cousin, who is a week younger, has four or five.  She actually has been known to leave little teeth marks in the furniture.  Babies in general however, don't chew on things nearly as much as puppies.  

I've never heard of someone coming home from work to find that their child had eaten their favorite shoe or hat.  Though someone in my family used to chew the fingers and toes off of our barbies, we never found the entire barbie digested.  

Puppies, however, will chew on everything.  Furniture, clothing, toys; you name it, they've eaten it.  That's one nice thing that you don't have to worry about as much when it comes to babies.

A Little More on Poop

When my dog had her puppies, at first it was easy to clean after them.  She took care of most of that.  Then, as they grew and developed, they began to defecate on their own.  Soon, I was the one who had to pick up after eight growing puppies.  It was a full-time job.  

Again, I'll take diapers over that any day.  Both baby poop and dog poop however gets stinkier as the owners get older.  That's part of life.

  Longevity

I think this will be the last thing I'll address in this blog.  Puppies are cute.  They take a lot of work, but when you take the time, it pays off into a wonderful dog.  However, the oldest living dog only lived to 29 and 1/2 years old.  That's pretty old for a dog.  However, for a beloved family member, that's not that long at all.  

Children (hopefully) will be around the rest of our lives and beyond.  They don't just bring joy and heartache, they also are the future of our families.  They pass on stories of us, our teachings, and our experiences.  They also bring grandchildren.  

Dogs bring happiness for a lifetime, but children bring happiness for an eternity.  They can continue to bring joy to others after we are gone.  

So, yes, Dad.  Children are better than puppies. 

At this point, my experience with having my own children has caught up with the present.  I could speculate on what will happen in the future, but until I go through those stages myself, I'll let other people tell me what it's like.  I've raised a puppy to adulthood, but I'm still on my first kid.  Eventually, Kevin will have a few puppies to grow up with him.  Every kid needs a dog.  It's an earth-rule.   

Hopefully Kevin will turn out well.  We'll do our best, and that's all we can do.  The rest is up to him.

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Kevin is a Lady's Man

Ever since Kevin was first born, he has been a little lady's man.  As soon as he was socially aware, he would flirt with everyone he met.  When he was smaller, women would say hello to him, and he'd tuck his little chin in, give them a 'shy' smile, and bat his eyelashes.  It was pretty adorable.

Then, when Kevin was only a few months old, he met a little girl at church.  By his own instigation, (I didn't help or encourage in any way) he reached over and grabbed her hand.  She tried to get away, but he was determined to hang on.  Soon, he was trying to hold hands with every little girl he met.

Boys, on the other hand, were meant for wrestling.  Kevin is pretty gentle with babies who are smaller than him.  In fact, he has surprised me on more than one occasion where he is crawling toward a little baby, and I jumped up to stop him from attacking them.  However, instead of trying to claw out their eyes, he settled back on his rump and just sat watching them.

When the baby's bigger though, there are no rules.  Kevin thinks they can take it.  He climbs on top of them, pushes them, steals toys from them, and generally acts like a little boy.  He's not purposefully mean, and usually boys play right back.  Sometimes, he gets a little rough with older girls, but usually they win.

At my brother's wedding the other day, he and his new wife had their first dance, and then they invited everyone else to dance with them.  While Grig and I danced together, Kevin made the rounds with one single woman after another.  He had a great time, and he helped some nice ladies feel less lonely. 

Pretty good for an eight month old.

As Kevin nears nine months, it's hard to believe that he is growing up so fast.  My aunt made the comment that now he's been outside of my stomach as long as he was inside.  Weird!  Time seemed to pass so much slower when he was inside.  I know as he grows up, we're going to have to keep an eye on him.  He's cute, and he knows it.  We don't want him breaking too many hearts....

At least, not before he turns five.

Cockroach: MENACE or Misunderstood?

Cockroaches: MENACE or Misunderstood?

From my childhood, I have heard of a creature that cannot be stopped, that is impossible to kill, and that reproduces at an astronomical rate.  Stories abound that this creature would even be able to survive a nuclear blast.

This almost sounds like a mythical creature, and, in a way, it was to me.  I grew up in one of the few states that has no native species of cockroaches, and if there were any, I never saw them.  However, we had heard of them, and we were very careful when we bought things from people to leave the boxes outside in the cold for a day or two just to be sure we didn't become infested.

So, a month or so after we moved into our new apartment, I was startled to see a small creature in the sink that looked like the dreaded menace.  Quickly, I squished it.  However, the next day, my husband announced that he had found another one and that it definitely was a cockroach.

Not having dealt with cockroaches before, I did what every self-respecting American would do:  google it on the internet.  I could have immediately reported it to my manager, but I didn't want to be a bother, and I wanted to see if I could take care of the problem myself before I went to someone else.  What I found surprised me.  Are you ready for this?  Cockroaches aren't monsters.  They're just bugs.

According to some of the experts, the cockroach menace is completely manageable, but some people (particularly pest control) thrive off of the abhorrence that people have for this small bug.  From looking at pictures, I figured out that we had a  couple German Cockroaches in our home.  According to a couple experts, cockroaches are a useful creature in their natural habitat.  They help get rid of  garbage in the environment.  However, in a home without proper cleanliness, they can quickly turn into a problem.  Some of the stories horrified me, but others made me laugh.  I won't relate the gross stories here (unless someone wants me to add them in the comments), but one of the stories was about a scientist who spotted a cockroach on his table at a restaurant.  Instead of killing it, he put a small drop of wine (about as big as the bug) on the table.  The bug quickly drank it up and then went and hid behind a painting on the wall.  A few minutes later, it came back out and he gave it another drop.  It drank that drop too, and then went and hid again.  As they watched, the bug presently fell from the wall and began to spin in circles on the floor, obviously intoxicated (http://insectexpertphd.com/cockroaches.aspx).

After reading these accounts, I came to a shocking conclusion.  Cockroaches are just bugs.  I've seen stinkbug infestations as bad as cockroach infestations.  Cockroaches might be resilient, but I've killed more than my fair share, and they've died.  Cockroaches aren't evil or good, and some are quite beautiful.  Don't believe me?  Well look below.  I think these are pretty bugs.  Click on the pictures to read the article about them.

The internet then instructed me to make sure that there was no food out in the kitchen, but more importantly, that there was no standing or leaking water.  The sources I read explained that even though bugs can survive for a long time without consistent food, if cockroaches don't find water within a week they will die.  I quickly cleaned every surface I could and put everything away.  Our home, which wasn't really dirty before has become spotless.

After talking to my mother about the problem, I did inform the manager that we had spotted a few, and she immediately called the exterminator.  They came yesterday and put a little borax poison down in the hinges and sprayed around the baseboard.

They informed me that though there was no sign of roaches in our home, there were a couple other apartments in our complex that wouldn't be able to completely rid themselves of this pest until they were cleaned.  Meanwhile, we will continue to put our food completely away.  As much as I am now looking at cockroaches in a more realistic, non-panic-stricken way, I still don't want them on my shelf or in my home.

Old fears die hard. 

Finding Balance

Over the past few weeks, I've been learning to be a stay-at-home mom.  For the most part, I love it!  However, it has been a new experience, and at times a very difficult one.  I've found that the most difficult part is not staying busy.  The most difficult part is finding the balance between caring for Kevin and getting chores done.

Some days, I'll be busy all day and I'll accomplish a ton!  I'll do the dishes, make meals, clean the whole house, organize boxes, made desert, serve others, do my scripture study, work on video editing, and feel really good about how I spent my time! However, I have a very grumpy baby because he didn't get the time and attention he needed.  He'll have spent the day crawling after me and seeking my attention, which I give him in short spurts, but evidently not sufficient.

Other days, I feel like I get nothing done.  Those days, I'll spend too long working on videos, reading, or Kevin and I will be watching Arturo Trejo on youtube together.  Those days I don't feel very good about how I spent my time, and I look at my house at the end of the day and wish I had done more around the house.

Then, other days, I'll spend nearly the entire day just spending time with Kevin.  We'll play with toys in his room, go outside and sit on the grass, and take two hour naps together.  On those days, I don't feel bad about how I spent my time, but I still look at my house and wish it was cleaner.

I am working on finding the balance between doing my stuff, doing homemaker/wife stuff, and taking care of Kevin.  After thinking about this difficulty for a while, I came to the conclusion that the most important thing that I can do with my time is to spend time with Kevin.  As he gets older, he can 'help' me with the household chores, and while he is taking naps now, I can get a lot done.  However, I only have a short amount of time to spend with Kevin before he grows up and leaves our home.  I want him to know that he is more important than anything else.

As I've been working on showing him that, I find that I still have time to get things done.  Kevin is unusual.  Most eight month baby are still learning to crawl.  I've even seen a few who are still working on rolling over.  However, Kevin is working on walking.  He'll now just stand in one place with nothing supporting him for a couple minutes or more.  He is very quick and can get into everything, but he also does quite well at entertaining himself.  When he is in his bedroom playing with toys, I can get a lot done, and when he wants me, he just comes crawling down the hall saying, "Aaa?  Aaa?"  That means he wants attention.  Then, we spend time together.

Grig right now is working at very early hours in the morning, and so I can get a lot of video editing, scripture reading, and blogging done before Kevin wakes up.  After that, our time together is precious.  I need to make the most of it and do my best to be a first class mom.

Swimming with Kevin

 Yesterday, we had a birthday party for my Uncle.  We enjoyed a nice swim at the local water park.  Kevin loves water.  It wasn't super warm, but he enjoyed swimming in it for a couple hours until he started to get cold. 
Grig's brother has been living with us, and he and Kevin get along great.  So, for part of the party Grig and I went down the water slides while Kevin enjoyed being with his uncle.  There were two slides.  One was very curvy and longer, and at first Grig and I wanted to slide down that one because we thought the other slide was just for kids.  However, when we got to the top, it turned out that all the kids were on the curvy slide, and the straight slide had only older kids on it.

So, after we went down once, and found out that the curvy slide was pretty slow, we went and grabbed Kevin and took him down a couple times.  He was really cute.  His hair was sticking up in all directions, and a few of the kids on the slide to a fancy to him.  One little boy called him 'fluffy-head' and patted him on the head.  Kevin loved it!  He loves other kids.

Then, we handed Kevin back to his uncle, and went down the straight slide.  It wasn't until I'd launched myself that I realized what I'd gotten into.  The straight slide was straight...with a 20 foot sheer drop.  I ended up screaming on the way down.  It was great!

So, we did it again.  Of course, we didn't bring Kevin on that one, and soon after he got cold so we had to leave for the dinner party.  We had a great time!